The Curse of Day/Part4

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3rd Day, 7:15 AM
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A small airplane appeared in the sky, in a place that would be visible to a certain group of five Mobians on street level. The plane was emitting a strong Chaos Energy signal, due to the Sol Emerald sitting in the plane, and also happened to be exactly in the center of where electrical disturbances would begin a moment later. The passengers of the plane, however, seemed to have other things on their mind.
"Yay!" yelled Taglumo, one of the plane's three occupants. "We made it! Thanks, Mac—" Then he looked down. When he looked up, his face showed obvious consternation. "Vee, I don't think we're in Marble Ruins any more!"
"Well, yeah," said Vereco, another one of the plane's occupants. "We're in Starlight City. That's what happens when the plane goes really fast. You're lucky we didn't wind up floating over the middle of the ocean."
"Well, it isn't my fault that the plane fell out of the tree!" said Taglumo hotly.
"Okay, okay, it's not your fault," said Vereco. "Now can you please land the plane so we don't run the risk of being hit by a real airplane?"
"Sure," said Taglumo, landing the plane. "Real airplane," he muttered under his breath, as the plane landed inconspicuously on top of a nearby tall building.
Mac, the plane's third occupant, was lazily relaxing in the back, kind of tired but proud that he'd helped the team get an Emerald. "So, hedgies, where are we going next? Green Hill Zone? Lava Reef Zone? Chemical Plant Zone? There's so much of the world to explore!" Mac said with a grin.
Downwards, underneath the trio were five anthromorphs with a Sol Emerald. Kennedy and Aqua were about ready to leave, but Kennedy grunted suddenly, sounding like he was choking for a few seconds. Aqua quickly noticed and came to his side, catching him as he almost dizzily fell down. "Kennedy! Are you okay?" The blue hedgehog asked.
Mackenzie's Chaos counterpart sighed and was breathing heavily as he slowly got up, feeling sick and overwhelmed by an amazing pressure. "Aqua.... don't worry about me, Alexia. Just being dramatic, it was nothing. I fear we should get going, however," Kennedy lied, staring into space deeply. So many confusing energy signatures.... it's honestly quite overwhelming. I'm getting my allies', whatever is wrong with Lee's, a Sol Emerald's, another Sol Emerald's, and three more powerful ones above us. This can't be good.
Padparadscha rushed towards Kennedy, intending to offer him any medical assistance she could provide -- but before she could reach him, she tripped over the Sol Emerald (which Lee had dropped earlier). She scrambled to her feet, anxiously checking her smartphone to make sure it hadn't been broken by the fall. Once she had reassured herself that it had escaped the tumble unscathed, Padparadscha looked at the ground to see what had tripped her up. Surprised to see the light blue gem still lying there, unattended, she picked it up, absent-mindedly tucking it into her back pocket with her phone, and continued walking to Kennedy. When she reached him, she asked quietly, "Is there anything I can do to help? Your mind is fizzling more than seems to be normal for you, which is usually a sign of serious stress. Would you like a hat?"
Meanwhile, up on the roof, Taglumo, completely oblivious both to what was going on down below and to the fact that Mac had just spoken to him, jumped out of the plane, causing it to sputter loudly. "Oh right, the plane!" said Taglumo. "Let me see what's going on with it." He ran over to the back of the plane and started poking it.
"Mac, you might want to get out of the plane," said Vereco, getting out of the plane. "It's probably about to explode." She sounded bored, as if this were an everyday occurrence.
Mac smiled, not because of what Vereco said but because he found something that caught his eye - his Chaos counterpart, Kennedy, was here. Without even alerting his group, he jumped off the rooftop, his sudden impact leaving a small crater in the corner.
Taglumo was too busy to notice Mac's departure, but Vereco noticed. "You stay here and fix the plane," she said, "and here's one of the grappling hooks if you absolutely need to get off of the building." Before Taglumo could give her a thumbs-up, she had disappeared.
Kennedy was about to answer Padparashca's question, tell them the truth about what he though, but he winced again. The familiar energy signature was getting closer, and closer, and still a bit-
Mac landed on right by Kennedy, smiling as he spotted the Emerald in Padparascha's hands as he took one of his guns, Zip, off his belt. "Nobody move, or I'll shoot! Just gimme the Emerald, and you might not get hurt." Looking at Aqua, Mac shook his head. "'Cept you, ya little cinnamon roll. You can just mosey on back home."
"Excuse me," said Vereco, moving between Mac and the rest of the group. "Nobody's shooting anyone on my watch."
Mac lowered his gun, depressed. "Aw, you're no fun, Vereco. You're starting to gain a 'nagging big sister' role, you know." Mac took his other gun, Zap, and aimed both it and Zip at Padparadscha and Lee, glaring at Vereco. "I heard your conversation with Tag, y'know. I know you're going to try to convince him to call it quits." He lowered his voice. "If I catch you doing that again, I will stop you. Do it after that, and oh ho ho, it will not be fun for you. Just a warning."
Vereco was too distracted to answer, as she was watching a small fireball moving stealthily around the group.
Lee stepped in front of Rasha, a fire in his eyes previously unseen.
Skylor held her hands behind her, starting to spark them. She glanced to Kennedy, wondering who would move first.
"Guys, stop, okay!" Padparadscha said, finally regaining her voice as the shock of having a gun pointed at her wore off. She hadn't even noticed that she'd pulled the Emerald out of her pocket and begun fidgeting with it while she spoke to Kennedy, and she mentally scolded herself for the habit. "First of all, even if none of you have any moral qualms about attacking someone, there's a G.U.N. officer sitting right over there with his eye on us, and I bet he could get to a phone before you could get to him, not to even mention all the other people watching us since we are in the middle of the sidewalk. Second, Mr. One-Gun-Is-Not-Enough-For-Me, why do you even think this is an Emerald? What kind of person randomly carries around an Emerald as a worry stone, huh? And third," she sighed, "I'm only going to say this once, so you'd better listen. I am about as civilian as someone can be. Pulling weapons on me is seriously dishonorable. I'm off limits."
"Rasha.." Lee whispered. "I don't think you can talk this dude down." He repositioned, making sure his armored arm was the one in front of her.
Padparadscha gave Lee a nervous smile, drawing her limbs part of the way into her shell to make herself a smaller target, and easier for Lee to protect. "Well, I thought it was worth a shot." She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, staring with wide eyes at the two groups squaring off. Her voice trembled a little as she asked, "Is there anything I can do at all? I appreciate that you're willing to protect me, I do so much, but I wish I could pull my own weight." She lowered her voice even further. "What should I do with the Emerald? Put it back in my pocket? Throw it to Kashon? Should I try to get it to my kickbike and leave with it, go someplace safe where everyone can meet back up with me? If it's necessary, I think I could move that guy's mind into something harmless. I never move unwilling minds, but I'll do it now, if he's going to hurt you. I don't want you to get hurt."
"Rather....." He turned to Kennedy, then to Skylor.  "Let's hold these guys off while she gets away." He said, forgetting Aqua. "You'll have a chance, but right now you need to run."
Skylor grinned, this sounded like a great plan.
"Okay," Padparadscha said, hesitantly, "though you must remember, I'm not fast." She lifted her chin resolutely. "May the Bottom Tortoise support us all," she prayed, then began to edge unobtrusively towards her kickbike, tucking the Emerald back into her pocket as she did so. As she passed Alexia, she tapped the hedgehog on the shoulder and whispered, "Aqua? I need your number so I can text you where I end up, so you guys can come find me and the Emerald after... all this is over."
Alexia was about to give Padparascha her phone that she took out of her pocket, but the second she did, a bullet passed through it, decimating it. Mac, who fired the bullet from one of his guns, snickered. "Sorry, turtle lady. I'ma hafta say no to that." So that Alexia wouldn't be able to repeat her number, Mac zoomed behind her, grasped her neck, and hit a vital spot, knocking Alexia unconscious. I'll get you a new phone later, he thought.
Kennedy, enraged by Mac's attack, punched him in the face, knocking Mac a few meters back, causing the mercenary to smile. Anyone watching might have noticed that, as Mac flew backwards, a fireball shot out from behind him and to the side.
Kennedy faced Lee and Skylor. "You two! We make sure this man suffers!!" he angrily exclaimed.
Vereco held up one hand. "Excuse me," she said, "Before you start fighting, would someone kindly explain what this fireball is doing here?" She pointed to the nearby fireball, which was now pointed at Mac.
Kashon, the G.U.N. agent mentioned by Padparadscha, emerged from the subway station, where he had been for the entire confrontation. "Oh, yeah, that's just me," he said. "I've been keepin' it around here, just in case. Looks like it'll be useful now." The fireball got closer to Mac, as Kashon pointed at Mac and said, "Hey, you—"
Kashon never got to finish his sentence, as Taglumo abruptly fell out of the sky perched on a flying suitcase (which had formerly been Taglumo's plane). This crash-landed between Mac and everyone else, causing the suitcase to crumple into a shape resembling a Sol Emerald. Taglumo hopped off of it, unaware of what was going on. "Hi!" he said, waving. "What's up?"
Mac, rolling his eyes, twirled his guns around and purred. "Ooh, a GUN agent. I trust you'll prove a challenge? The police start to bore me after a bit, y'know," he taunted, continuing to twirled his guns around. He then seemingly teleported in front of Kashon and tried to punch the agent in the gut with an energy-fueled fist.
Kashon tried to sidestep out of the way of the punch, getting hit in the leg as a result. "What I was tryin' to say," he said, "is that you gotta stop threatenin' these people, or suffer the consequences." Kashon, who had been manipulating the fireball ever since Mac moved, had moved the fireball over to right next to Mac by this point. "And if you don't believe that there'll be consequences, well, I've got a fireball right over here pointed at you, and there's an entire squad of G.U.N. troops comin' in from a random direction, so don't think this'll be easy for ya."
Meanwhile, Vereco had stepped out of the line of fire and was trying to drag an extremely bewildered Taglumo out of the area. "I don't get it!" said Taglumo. "I said hi, and they started fighting each other!"
"This is a long story," said Vereco. "Let's just get out of here."
"But Mac!..." said Taglumo.
"He'll be fine," said Vereco. "Let's go...this way," she said, abruptly using her grappling hooks (she had recovered the one that Taglumo had from him while trying to help him leave) to pull herself and Taglumo around the combatants and over to Padparadscha. "This is your opportunity to leave, while they're distracted," she said. "We'll come with you for support."
"We will?" said Taglumo.
"Yes," said Vereco. "We will."
Cowards, Mac thought, sneering and shaking his head. For once, he showed no reply to Kashon, instead extremely bored by his threats. "Ya know, Mousey, you talk big. Let's see you back it up." Before Mac tried to attack Kashon again, he went over to Taglumo and said in a whisper "Don't let Turtle-Girl get away, okay?" Then, glaring at Kashon, he charged at him again, but jumped mid-sprint before firing an energy grenade downwards at the agent.
Kennedy cursed beneath his breath and looked to the heroes. "Plan switch. I'm helping Padparadscha escape. It'll be faster and easier, along with a lot safer." He looked Skylor and Lee down. "Please don't let your guard down."
"Got you covered." Skylor said. Her form changed to the same blue that was previously emmiting from her hands. "Alright, punk." She said to Mac. "You just stay there."
Kashon threw the fireball that he had summoned at the energy grenade, causing it to explode in mid-air. The explosion knocked Kashon a few feet away, causing him to land on his back, slightly damaged from the combination of being caught at the edge of the explosion and having been recently hit in the leg. However, Kashon threw another two fireballs at Mac just before hitting the ground. The explosion also blasted the metal off of the Emerald-shaped object, revealing it to be the purple Sol Emerald.
Meanwhile, Taglumo had no idea what to do. His sister and his friend were telling him to do opposite things, a bunch of people had gotten into a fight just because he fell out of the sky, and to top all that, his entire plane (which he had converted into the suitcase that he descended from the building on) had just been destroyed by the fight. All of this resulted in Taglumo standing perfectly still, as if paralyzed, and looking back and forth between the battling groups and the group that he had been pulled over to.
Padparadscha had frozen in place when Mac attacked Alexia, and anyone who looked at her would have noticed her shaking slightly as the others began to fight. When the purple Sol Emerald was revealed, she finally snapped out of her stunned state. The strange itching impatience she’d felt since they’d arrived near the first Sol Emerald was doubled, and, following an instinct she’d never before experienced, the tortoise pulled her limbs all the way into her shell and spindashed over to the purple gem, moving faster than she ever had in her life. She popped back up, grabbed it, and shoved it in her pocket with the other, then turned to Mac with mounting fury. In that moment, she didn’t feel like the small, defenseless girl she’d always been, the person who was known for her soothing bedside manner and generous nature. “You DON’T hurt my friends,” she said, her focus narrowing in on Mac’s mind, “and I’m NOT a turtle!” With that, she threw all her power into pulling Mac’s mind from his body, aiming for it to land in the nearest inanimate object – in that case, an empty soda bottle which lay by the curb.
However, while Mac was momentarily distracted by Padparashca's ability and was knocked back by the fireball explosion, somewhat stunned. After a few - maybe ten - seconds, Mac got up and dusted himself off, wasting no time to transform into his TAI state. His ability to resist mental powers had apparently protected him. "Alright, Turtle Girl, let's see if you can keep up with me."
Mac then seemingly teleported behind Padparashca, but Kennedy teleported in front of him and punched him square in the face, blasting him with a Chaos Spear onto his butt. Mac skidded across the ground before getting up again, rubbing his derriere. "Hey, Ken, that was a cheap shot and you know it! But if you're going to stop playing nice..." Mac put his guns on his belt and took out his sword Angel, smirking. "Let's prove that I am superior."
"I'll have you know I'm much more than just a carbon copy of you, Mac!!" Kennedy said, his purple aura rising and getting larger. Kennedy was starting to lose his patience to his intense nuisance of a teammate. "I don't know what you're here for, but I'm putting an end to your plot now!"
These people are actually, certifiably insane, Padparadscha thought, staring at the brawling tigers with morbid fascination. She still felt a little woozy from her failed attempt at moving Mac's mind, but she recognized the opportunity to escape while they were distracted, and took it. She hated to leave the rest of them, especially while Alexia was unconscious and vulnerable, but Padparadscha had already proven herself to be useless in battle, and she wasn't too proud to admit that if she stayed, she'd only be a liability to her new friends. Spindashing over to her kickbike, Padparadscha took off the way they'd come. She headed towards the train station, the weight of the Emeralds in her back pocket a sobering reminder of everything that was at stake.
Vereco and Taglumo both thought for a moment, then went after Padparadscha; Vereco because she realized that Padparadscha might need someone to help defend her, and Taglumo because he realized that he couldn't really help Mac get what he wanted, so he might as well follow along with Vereco's plan.
Kashon lay on his back, trying to figure out what to do. Kennedy and Mac were reaching extreme power levels, he himself was somewhat injured, and his reinforcements were sending him constant text messages giving him updates on their status. He decided to wait for a bit and not get involved in the battle...at least not in its current state.
Skylor, now completely glowing dark blue, changed into a snake-looking creature, moving into the Mac V Kennedy battle.
Lee looked at both groups, silently wishing he wasn't the most useless one here. He took off after Rasha, Vereco and Taglumo, hoping it was the right choice.
Mac, ditching Kennedy but disappointed he wouldn't get a fight, dashed towards Rasha, just passing Lee due to his TAI quickness and at Vereco's level before going back to his base. "Get the gumdrops away from the enemy, or I assault you right here." Mac wasn't bluffing, wearing a serious, darkened expression. Then, after his dramatic speech, he shrugged. "Oh yeah, forgot to mention - lay off or I do some serious damage."
Vereco pushed Taglumo towards Padparadscha, whispering quietly and quickly, "Keep moving," before turning to Mac. "Did you actually think I'd comply with your plan?" In one swift motion, she pulled a three-section staff out of the back of her shirt, spinning it around at blinding speeds before stopping it in a resting position with one section in each of her hands. "My ID card didn't call me a weapons expert for nothing." Holding one piece of it in her left hand, she spun it towards Mac, trying to knock him away from her and to her left.
Kennedy looked at Skylor, then Mac, then Rasha, and then at Aqua. "You must go, Skylor. I must heal Aqua to full consciousness. Just... send that man's heinie all the way to kingdom come for me, alright?" Kennedy asked with a charming smile.
Skylor, still in her snake form, slid across the floor, coming up behind Mac.
Lee pulled back, crouching into a jumping position.
Mac easily blocked the obvious attack with his sword, unimpressed. "Ooh, this is fu-u-un! I don't want to hurt the kids already, since I know them, but I'm going to enjoy fighting you." Continuing to run, Mac chuckled. "Y'know, Vereco, you're really losing the hot big sis vibe you were givin' me before. I guess beauty doesn't make up for personality." Midway in his sentence, Mac swung his sword at her, putting energy in it so that while he was back in his base form, his sword had energetic chainsaw-like edges. While he swung with his left hand, with his right he fired an inaccurate yellow beam at snake Skylor.
I cannot help in a fight, Padparadscha reminded herself, every time she was tempted to turn back and try to assist her new friends. She knew that she was not capable of violence, but it was still hard to remember that her role was protecting the Emeralds, not the people. She chanced a glance over her shoulder as she scooted down a clear stretch of sidewalk, and realized that she'd left most of the others behind. As she turned her head back to look where she was going, she caught sight of a fast-food restaurant, and a plan popped into her head.
She braked abruptly, then walked inside as fast as she could, wheeling her kickbike. With any luck, she'd blend into the crowd of people entering and exiting, but she wasn't counting on that. As soon as she was inside, she looked around for the sign for the ladies' room, and navigated the crowds until she got there. It was a small enough restaurant that the restrooms were one-person-only, instead of the kind with multiple stalls. Fortunately, the ladies' room was empty. She made a beeline for it, and, with some careful maneuvering, managed to cram herself and her kickbike into the tiny room and shut the door.
Once she'd locked the door, she let out a small sigh of relief, and relaxed marginally against the sink. Pulling out her smartphone, Padparadscha dialed Taru-Na's number. As she waited, listening to the dial tone, the tortoise thought she heard some sort of commotion outside -- but then, that might have been no more than her anxious mind playing tricks on her.
The dial tone lasted for long enough for Padparadscha to hear that there actually was, in fact, something going on outside her door. Taglumo had dutifully followed Padparadscha into the building, had briefly lost her in the crowd, and had located her just in time to see her go into the ladies' room. Taglumo had then pulled himself to a halt very obviously, attracting the attention of one of the other Mobians in the building.
"Hey, that's the ladies' room, you can't go in there!" said the Mobian.
"I'm not trying to go into the ladies' room," explained Taglumo. "I'm trying to find this lady who just went into that room."
"Well, you still can't go in there," said the Mobian.
"I'm not," persisted Taglumo. "I'm...waiting for the person in there to get out, I guess?"
"Okay, okay, sure," said the other Mobian, and left, just as Padparadscha would hear the dial tone stop.
"Hello, this is mission organizer Taru-Na," came the voice from the other end. "I assume that this is Padparadscha?"
Meanwhile, outside the restaurant, Vereco spun the staff to block Mac's strike with the middle section of the staff while allowing her to continue holding the other two parts of the staff. "Please stop taunting me by citing my dedication to my brother and my theoretical attractiveness," she said in a completely serious tone, repositioning the staff. "It's not actually going to get you anywhere." Vereco spun her staff around like a pair of nunchuks, then tried to hit Mac in the chest with them. Despite the fact that the move would be easy to block, it was largely designed to continue distracting Mac so that he would be more open to Skylor and Lee's sneak attacks.
Mac blocked again by turning his sword sideways, starting to get very bored. "Yeesh, Vee. Is this all you got? I guess disappointment runs in the family." Mac sent a electrical charge through his sword that connected through Vereco's staff, as he was trying to electrocute her. "Y'know, I wasn't really going to hurt anyone. I'm really good at bluffing. But Little Miss Sensitive over here ruins the party." Max stuck his tongue out at her. "Your brother will be so sad when he finds out his cool big sis is hurt. The least I could do is hide your body, am I right?"
Padparadscha turned on the sink to obscure the sound of her voice to whoever was waiting for her, then said quickly, "Taru-Na, we have a big problem here. I have the cyan and purple Sol Emeralds, but I'm trapped in the bathroom of a Starlight Fries; the door is locked but it's only a matter of time until I have to come out, and there's someone looking for me standing outside. The last I saw of the others, Aqua was unconscious, although Kennedy was with her and maybe he's woken her up by now, and Lee and Skylor were fighting with the guy who knocked out Aqua. Please, Taru-Na, is there anything you can do? People could be getting hurt even as I speak!"
"Actually..." Padparadscha would be able to hear Taru-Na clicking at her tablet for a moment before Taru-Na continued, "G.U.N. reinforcements are on their way to your general area. Kashon informs me that they know that you and your group are innocent, that they're coming in to stop some glowing tiger with a sword who's battling a hedgehog. Wait, Kennedy hasn't turned against Alexia, has he? At any rate, they're in your area...now."
The combatants outside would be able to see a squad of roughly a dozen G.U.N. agents coming down the street towards them (from behind Kashon). They were obviously the G.U.N. reinforcement squad because they wore gray camouflage, and especially because one of them yelled through a megaphone, "This is G.U.N. Special Reinforcement Squad! Stop, or suffer the consequences!"
Vereco, who had dropped her staff when Mac started sending electric power through it, dodged around Mac and picked up her staff, which had its electricity drained into a nearby street lamp. She thought of saying something to him, but decided against it, as the G.U.N. threat was obvious enough that she didn't feel the need to say any more than they had already said.
Skylor, who'd been knocked back by Mac's attack, got up when the G.U.N. troops showed up. "Crud... Cops."
Lee ducked out of sight.
"Oh! Well... that's bad." Mac tipped his imaginary hat to the government. "However, I got people to see and places to be, so I'll just skadoosh my way out of here, if you don't mind..."
Before he could escape, a rune appeared below him, and he was frozen solid in a block of ice. Sighing, Kennedy and Aqua teleported to the scene. Aqua put her hand on Mac's icy form, but Kennedy faced the agents. "We'd like to preserve our reckless friend, if you don't mind. Maybe we'll keep him frozen for a bit longer." Freezing him is enough punishment. He may be idiotic, but he's still trustworthy-ish.
Kashon, who had gotten up by this point, said, "Nope. We're takin' him to prison—"
"We are?" said one of the agents.
"YES," said Kashon. "He was holdin' innocents at gunpoint for some...some...thing, and then he was threatenin' to kill them. We can't not take him to jail."
"O-kay," said the agent. "Well, as long as you're taking care of this," and the agents ambled off.
Kashon facepalmed. "Rookies," he said under his breath. "Anyway," he said, looking up at Kennedy again, "Starlight City law dictates that we should take him to prison and then thaw him. You're off the hook, since you were helpin' us out, which I'm very happy about, but we can't leave this guy frozen in a block of ice or on the sidewalk here. It's against the law."
When Padparadscha heard the G.U.N. "Special Reinforcement Squad" make their appearance, she sighed in relief. Murmuring a quick, "Thank you so much! Bye now," to Taru-Na, she put away her phone, turned off the water, and began to leave the bathroom with her kickbike, figuring that whoever had been waiting for her outside wouldn't dare attack her while G.U.N. officers were within earshot.
Kennedy patted the ice statue. "I insist. I... I-" Kennedy felt immensely conflicted. If he refused, he'd be no better than Mac. but if he didn't... Mac and him had an on-off relationship. Though he supposed it wouldn't be all that hard for Mac to break out if they didn't know anything about his abilities.... Kennedy kicked the block of ice over to Kashon. "Take him, but don't do anything extreme if you can help it - he's just a normal tiger."
"....H-He still owes me a new phone..." Alexia commented, puffing her cheeks. "I guess when you're rich, you don't understand you can't j-just get a new phone every other day of the week."
Kashon picked up the block of ice. "Nothing extreme'll happen to him if I can help it," he said. "Though I'll see about havin' him repay damages for the blue kid over there. HEY, REINFORCEMENT SQUAD!" he yelled suddenly, causing the members of the G.U.N. Special Reinforcement Squad, who were almost out of sight, to stop in their tracks. "We need to bring this guy to prison. Where's the transport vehicle?"
One of them pulled out a box and unfolded it into a full-size tank.
"NO! Not the tank!" said Kashon. "Ya can't just drive a tank down the street to the prison! Are there any other vehicles?"
The agent shook his head.
"Well then," said Kashon, "fold back up the tank, and help me carry him to prison."
The agents complied, and all of the agents (including Kashon) walked off holding the Mac-popsicle.
Meanwhile, Taglumo—who was still outside the Starlight Fries ladies' restroom—moved to the side when he saw Padparadscha emerge. "Oh, hi," he said, fidgeting slightly. "I think I'm supposed to be following you, but I have no idea why, so, um, let's...uh...What were you going to do? Maybe I can do that too."
Padparadscha glanced at Taglumo mistrustfully. "I don't know who you are, but nobody ought to be following me," she said. "I'm on my way outside to talk to the G.U.N. officers."
"Oh, OK," said Taglumo. "I'll probably...oh, hi, Vee," he said, addressing Vereco, who had come into the building to look for Taglumo. "Do you remember why I was supposed to be following her?" Taglumo gestured towards Padparadscha. "Because I don't, and I think that's making her find me annoying."
Vereco sighed. "You were supposed to be following her to protect her," she said, "but that's irrelevant now, since the battle's over."
"Whew," said Taglumo. "Good thing I'm not supposed to still be protecting her. I'm terrible at combat. I guess I'll just go now..." Taglumo started walking out of the room, only to be stopped by Vereco.
"Before you do that," said Vereco, "I need to catch you up on what's going on." She pulled him into a corner and started whispering rapidly to him.
Padparadscha watched the hedgehogs talking for a moment, then shrugged off their odd behavior and began walking her kickbike out of the restaurant. Before she could get much further than the door, however, her phone started ringing. Turning to lean against the front wall of the Starlight Fries, Padparadscha pulled her phone out of her back pocket and looked at the Caller ID, taking a moment to wonder why Taru-Na was calling her back so soon before she answered, "Hello? This is Rasha."
"Hello, Padparadscha," said Taru-Na. "I know that this may seem odd, since you just hung up the phone a minute ago, but I've received reports that the G.U.N. agents have left the area, so I'd like to suggest that, if you still have the Sol Emeralds and are not still in danger, that you regroup and discuss what you'll do next. Also, if you need my help in the meeting, I can contact you via video-call if your phone has video-call features. And finally, I've just sent you a link to the location at your phone number, which should work if you have email on your phone. All right, any questions?"
"Only one," Padparadscha said, seriously, "are you omniscient?"
Taru-Na laughed. "No, I'm just very closely tied to the G.U.N. Information Agency, but I like to pretend that I'm omniscient. Oh, and by the way, I've been informed that there are two hedgehogs (one gray, one pink) in your area who were helping you out, but since I'm not actually omniscient (and G.U.N. didn't provide any further details), I have no idea what they're doing right now, so you might want to round them up along with your team just in case they'd be interested in joining it."
Category:The Curse of Day