The Hartley Don't Stop

Two youthful Mobians, Mackenzie Hartley and Schnee Ainekas have both faced their own types of trials throughout their lives, and it culminated in them going to Soleanna... unfortunately, both of their hopes are running out, and it looks like they have nowhere else to go. How will the tables turn for these two anthromorphs when they hear about a plot to murder the princess?
==Included Characters==
*Mackenzie the Tiger
*Schnee the Hedgehog
*White the Rabbit (mentioned)
*Tina the Bat (mentioned, indirect)
*The Hartleys (mentioned)
*Vitos Aorki the Lemur
*Hera Aorki the Lemur
*Brand Festus the Falcon
*Buster Cojol the Hippo
*The Rhino Gang/other NPCs
==Chapter 1==
HONK! VROOM! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! 
The business of the traffic was apparent to all who’d gone onto the road, with cars and other vehicles of all types stopping in the famous Soleanna. The area was fairly busy, and this part of Soleanna was nice-looking, too, with a large clock tower, bridges, and bodies of water making it appear quite presentable. Near one road, a good-looking car was exited by a teenage, brown-furred and brown-eyed tiger.
He wore a yellow sleeveless jacket with a long-sleeved black undershirt alongside modest jeans, but anyone could tell just by looking at him that we wore only the most popular and expensive brands, head to toe, to the point one might even wonder if he was even attempting to be modest. All of his clothes also read "Reaganne" in gold, cursive letters somewhere on them. Alongside his outfit, he wore a gold necklace, with a dollar sign symbol in the center.
“Thanks, Geoffrey!” Mackenzie Hartley said as he closed the car door. His driver, an elderly koala, smiled warmly at him and began to drive off. Mac had a black and gold purse strapped across his chest, and two cases on wheels that were extended for carrying purposes. Mac had a tired grin as he looked around Soleanna, seeing the people that lived there; sure, there were way more humans than there were more animalistic Mobians, but ever since famed hero Sonic the Hedgehog had passed through, it was far more open to visitors.
Famed hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mac thought again, realizing what’d he’d internally said. What a guy, that even someone like ME can call him famous! Sonic wasn’t all too much older than Mac; only a two to three year difference, as Mac was a teenager. Despite the slight age difference, Mac wasn’t relenting in already setting up the comparisons and potential greatness that was in store for his future.
Mac began to recount his journey to that point as he walked forward, going to head to his obviously pre-ordered 5 star hotel suite. Hopefully Soleanna’s got a much better system for people who wanna be heroes than the other places. Mystown was a mess; it was so boring, I’m not surprised I couldn’t find any help there! Central City was just as boring, Mystic Ruins was really gross, and… okay, why did I even GO to Angel Island? That Knuckles guy kicked me out as soon as he saw me! Okay, I did try to touch the Master Emerald, but still! No respect for young superheroes-to-be in today’s society.
Mac looked at his phone, which was the thing giving him the directions to his hotel. Sure, it would’ve been easier to just ask his taxi to take him there, but if he was going to be rejected an opportunity again, he at least wanted to get a good Soleanna experience. However… boy, do I hope that I don’t get screwed over by life again. Mac clutched his necklace and looked to the sky. I won’t disappoint you, Marlee.
----
Meanwhile, there was another young anthropomorphic creature popping into Soleanna. Her situation was a complete foil to Mac’s however; while his arrival went smoothly, hers was… not as much.
“IT’LL BE EXTRA?!” Schnee Ainekas the Hedgehog yelled at her taxi driver, a young adult blonde giraffe. Schnee was getting a lot of attention from passerby, and not solely because of her behavior. She was an 11-year-old, white-furred hedgehog with bright yellow eyes, and her quills were pointed upward and were numerous on her head. Her fashion sense was nigh-nonexistent. She donned a black tank top with a pink skull and pink lining with camo-colored shorts, and over all of that she had a far too large blue long-coat that nearly touched the ground. Something that made it all the more appalling was that she only looked like she was around eleven or twelve years old. Curiously enough, she only held one thing, a grey, beaten-up suitcase.
“I told you, kid, if you wanted to go for stops the whole time, it’d be three times the original price!” The giraffe’s attitude was also apparent, but it was ultimately nothing compared to the wrath Schnee was withholding.
“How the heck was I supposed to know that it was a SEVEN HOUR DRIVE?!” Schnee whisper-yelled, as if she were a very young child milliseconds away from throwing the biggest temper tantrum of their entire existence.
“That’s what you use phones for, idiot!” the giraffe shot back. Schnee’s face became flushed, and she was going to yell again, but the giraffe put up a finger, like a babysitter who was done with their kids’ crap. “Listen, little girl, I drove this whole distance from Ginmethgow listening to you fidgeting around with your toys, and now you’re calling attention to us! I just want the money, man!”
Schnee clutched her case like it was her child. “These aren’t toys, they are highly advanced devices that a mere TAXI DRIVER wouldn’t be able to get the importance of-”  
“GIVE ME MY DAMN MONEY!” the giraffe snapped.
“Fine, jerk!” Schnee opened her case and pulled out a tacky-looking Ringmart bag, before reaching into it and handing the giraffe around a thousand dollars. “I really could’ve used that money! Now you’re going to leave a young girl in the city having lost some serious bank-”
The giraffe gave an angry expression to Schnee before rolling up her taxi window and driving away at speeds the government officials would not appreciate. Schnee shook her head and stormed off, trying her hardest to ignore all the people looking at her, including Mac (who was trying his hardest not to laugh at what he’d just witnessed). I can’t believe it! This could’ve gone so smoothly, and yet, now it’s all a mess! Now these people are looking at me! 
"FIND SOMETHING BETTER TO LOOK AT, PEOPLE!" Schnee yelled in distress, trying to get the attention off of her. However, this had the opposite effect; now people were gasping at her, and she had nearly everyone's attention. Embarassed by her outburst, Schnee quickly scurried away to escape everyone's judgement.
Schnee’s face became less flushed as she began to calm down. Schnee, calm down, getting angry isn’t really going to help this situation at all; actually, all getting mad has really done for you so far is make you infamous and kicked out of your house.
Schnee stopped walking and pouted after thinking about that last part. That wasn’t my fault though, Alban needed the help and Dad was just an idiot for not letting him take it. I can’t believe I’m really in Soleanna now. Schnee looked around. What’s the place I’m supposed to go to, again? “Mark’s Motel?” Well, okay, I better look for it. 
Schnee began to walk again after sighing. Oh, God… what am I going to do now?
----
Later in the morning, around noon, Mac was relaxing, lying down on a bench while having three scoops of rainbow sherbet ice cream in a cup. Huh. A whole four hours, and still no luck looking for trainers. Mac sighed and sat upright. He had watched a lot of movies, and he was kinda expecting his life to go as if he was in one... however, based on his current experience, it wasn't turning out that way.
Mac chuckled to himself, thinking about the predicament he really was in. “I am Mac Hartley, and I shall become a hero!” Mac had to cover his mouth to make sure he didn’t spit his ice cream out while resisting his urge to laugh uncontrollably. Maybe it was ridiculous. Maybe it’s time to move out and just go to another place. Dyrska is really nice this time of year, I’ve heard; maybe I can check that place out.
Not too far from him, Schnee was walking around, sightseeing. Well, the motel sure did go a lot more smoothly than the taxi did, she thought, slightly gritting her teeth. She was still quite bitter about the experience she'd had earlier that day, and it was clear in her movement, as her walking looked like stomping to passerby. She couldn't believe the giraffe had the nerve to assume that she had a phone, either! Schnee shook her head in disapproval just thinking about it.
After her temper had cooled a little bit, Schnee sat down, wondering how her life was going to go moving forward. Before she'd left the house, she had dreams of having a heavily-respected occupation, like an engineer or doctor, but... now, just like that, her life had been turned upside down, and she wasn't sure how to move forward, or if there even was any "forward" for her. Was she supposed to pop into a local orphanage? No, that was ridiculous... Maybe call Alban up? No... he'd given Schnee the money, but he wouldn't be able to help from so far away-
“What do you mean, you can’t do it today?!” a gruff, strong voice yelled. It was a blue rhino talking to another rhino, this one moss green, and they were sitting on a bench with several bushes and other flora-full organisms nearby. They were both ripped, a lot like the clothes they were wearing.
Mac took one glance at the rhinos and barely managed to suppress a giggle, wishing his sisters were there so he could tell them about the horrendous fashion sense Soleanna folks had. Nevertheless, he and Schnee both looked to see what was happening, intrigued by the recent outburst.
As soon as the blue rhino exclaimed his disappointment in the green one’s lack of attendance, the green rhino punched him in the arm. “Shut up, bro! You never know who’s listening!”
I am, now, Schnee thought. Despite their totally different circumstances, Mac and Schnee both had the same idea. On opposite sides of the conversation, they both inched closer to the rhinos, as to not be noticed, and then jumped into the bushes like professional Hide and Go Seek players. They were both quiet as mice in order to listen in.
The blue rhino rubbed his arm before whispering so quietly, the two youngsters had to move even closer in order to comprehend what he was saying. “Sorry, dude. I just can’t believe you won’t be there to-" The blue rhino looked around, checking to see if anyone else was nearby. "-put the hit on the princess! It’s the biggest job of the year, my dad says, and if you’re not there I don’t know if Dad’ll let you out easy!”
The green rhino crossed his arms. “...well, that makes it sound like you’re threatening me.”
“I’m just warning you, bro!” replied the blue rhino, holding his arms up in a folded position to show innocence.
“Okay, sorry, I get it, you’re looking out for me, dude,” the green rhino admitted, patting the blue rhino’s shoulder.
This conversation is stupid, Schnee thought, trying her best not to just jump out of the bush and leave.
“What time are you guys going there, again?” asked the green rhino.
“1:30 AM. We start at 2.”
“Alright then, it’s a date.”
“Bro!” The blue rhino stepped back. “I appreciate you… saying that, but I don’t like you that way!”
“You’re an idiot,” the green rhino joked with a smile before lightly punching the blue rhino in the arm. They walked off, leaving Mac and Schnee to their own thoughts.
Time had barely passed since the rhinos left, and yet the balnk expression on Mac's face transformed into a smirk. And from there, a smile, and from there, a grin that stretched as far as he'd ever smiled before. This was literally everything he'd been waiting for! Imagine the headlines in the papers! “Son of Olivia Hartley Stops Plot to Kill Princess Elise!” “Millions Adore Him in National Celebration of His Bravery!” “Sonic the Hedgehog: ‘This guy’s the coolest in the world!’” Mac silently pumped a fist to himself, remembering the time 2 AM to confront the rhinos and stop their misdeeds.
Schnee was less enthusiastic, attempting to think rationally about how she would handle this information. Like Mac, she found her issues begin to dissolve into nothingness after hearing that. She was bamboozled about how stupid they'd have to be to discuss a murder plot in the open where literally anyone could've heard them, and she happened to be around! How great was her luck?
Schnee thought about her past for a few seconds.
Okay, obviously not great, but still! Schnee thought some more. The intelligent move in this situation would probably have been to call the cops, but after entertaining the idea for a few seconds, Schnee dismissed it with a slight wave of her hand, realizing that she'd need evidence and she didn't even know the police number in the area.
Schnee looked in her Ringmart bag, seeing the money she had left and frowning. Sure, Alban was very generous, but... considering how young and needy she was, it wasn't enough. But perhaps if Schnee foiled the rhino's plans, she'd be rewarded with cash! Schnee nodded excitedly. Looks like I’m heading to the place tomorrow! Watch out, Soleanna!
----
Normally, during a Soleanna night, the lights were shining bright and it was arguably just as busy as it was in the morning… but this was technically Soleanna morning, 1:57 AM. The castle was tall and dark, showing that the royals were all asleep, and there was a small bridge carrying over to the palace with a garden along the bridge’s barricades. Mac was hiding in another conveniently placed bush that was in the garden as he watched to see just who was going to harm Elise. ...to his surprise, there were several more rhinos. The rhinos came in all colors and muscle density; however, all of them made the two he’d been listening in on seem like mere chumps in comparison, and Mac gulped when he saw them.
Okay, they’re a wee bit tougher than I expected, so what, Mac lied to himself with shaking knees. Normally, he wasn’t scared of big, strong men - or women, but he’d definitely prefer being attacked by a chick - because there were always bodyguards of bigger, tougher men to protect him at the mansion, and he didn’t often have to deal with people confronting him because he was homeschooled. However, Mac was nearly about to pass out when he witnessed just how scary the rhinos were.
Mac watched as their leader - the buffest purple rhino with tattoos from head to toe - talked to the group and motioned for them to follow. Mac began to rip the bush out of the garden it was in and crouched as he walked with it casually, though from a distance it’d simply look like a bush was moving. Making sure to stop whenever a rhino turned around, Mac followed the rhinos into the castle they’d apparently broken into and then discarded the bush before walking in.
The inside of the large and booming castle was just as dark as it was outside. His eyes bulged in surprise when he noticed that there was a nigh-complete absence of guards as he looked around, and it only further increased the chances of him simply turning tail and pretending he never heard anything. Maybe the door was supposed to be locked… but then how did they break in in the first place? Mac found the closest room there was and hid in it, but when he looked at what was inside, his blood ran cold.
There were human guards all slouched against the wall, unconscious and battered, with some even bloodied. Mac rationalized that the rhinos must've attacked them in order to get rid of any potential threats as chills raced down his spine and his mouth filled with saliva faster than normally. I don’t need to be scared, they were probably sneak attacked. With this logic, Mac was surprisingly managing to convince himself. After all, he believed that all he needed to do was sneak attack them, and perhaps he'd actually leave the palace alive.
When Mac was done hearing footsteps, he walked outside the room, tiptoeing casually for a few seconds…
...before being tackled.
“EEEEEEE-” Mac began to scream with closed eyes, but before he could fully alert anyone of his whereabouts, his mouth was covered by a furry, small hand; definitely not one of the rhinos. Mac slowly opened his eyes only to see someone with fur so light, he could see a clear outline of the person, even in the darkness.
“Shut up, you dummy,” Schnee said, slowly taking her hand off of  Mac’s mouth. “You screamed like a baby, so you’re obviously not with them, but I can’t have you jeopardizing my mission.”
As soon as Schnee got off of him, Mac scuffled backwards on his hands, breathing heavily like he’d already just gotten out of a battle. “W-W-Wait, you’re here for them too?” he asked, regaining his composure. “B-But… aren’t you the chick who made a fuss with her taxi driver yesterd-”
Schnee punched Mac in the arm hard, making Mac want to yelp, but he knew he couldn’t, so he just breathed in through his teeth heavily. “So what if I am? I’m not the ding-dong who came to stop a murder in Reaganne clothes!”
“Reaganne is a very well-respected brand!” Mac shot back, offended. “And did you say ‘ding-dong?’ How old are you, nine?”
Schnee breathed out through her nose and shook her head. “Look, there’s no point in arguing, they could be killing Elise as we’re talking.”
Mac nodded. “Exactly… which is why I should be running to them and beating the tar out of them before they can get to her!”
Mac stood up and was about to run off, but Schnee tripped him, resulting in him falling on his face. “Nuh-uh, Richie, you aren’t doing that alone. You shrieked like a girl when I tackled you. If you really want to help, come on, we can do this together.”
Schnee got up and began to speedwalk to where she’d heard voices, and Mac quickly got up, dusted himself off, and followed. They hurried up the stairs, and as they progressed, the voices gradually got louder until Schnee put her hand out, stopping him.
“They’re right in here,” she whispered to him, her heart beating a million beats per minute.
“Wanna back out now? I won’t judge,” Mac responded, trying his best to convince her even though he really just wanted to not get embarrassed when he was inevitably defeated.
“Like heck, Richie,” Schnee replied, and she opened the door.
The rhinos had just finished beating up more guards, and the lights were on, and considering how large the castle was, the doors opening alerted all of the rhinos that there were intruders. The room was empty, which just put all the more attention on the frightened tiger. Mac gulped, stepping in front of Schnee.
“We know about your plan to kill Elise,” Mac said with pure bravery on his face. “I’m not going to allow that. I don’t think I’ll have to say that much, but basically, you should run while you can or else you’ll have to fight with me-”
The purple boss rhino dashed to Mac as he was talking, grabbed his mouth, and threw him to the center of the room, which was surprisingly empty. Mac felt the impact as he hit the ground hard; this rhino was obviously not holding back, and he actually wanted to hurt him.
The boss rhino walked to Mac slowly as the tiger got up. “You do know we can’t let you kids leave now, right?” The rhino’s grin was maniacal, and he seemed to already know what was going to come next.
Mac got up, fake confidence in his smirk. “I could tell you the same-”
The boss rhino made a fist, ran to Mac, and backhanded the tiger, sending Mac off on his feet. “Kid, I don’t know what I’ll do with you, but you’ve made a big mistake coming here. Boys, leave and get Elise, pre-murder meeting is over."
“I-I WON’T LET YOU!” yelled Schnee, who was spreading her arms in a feeble attempt to block the doors of the room.
“...do what you want with the girl,” the boss rhino said.
The rhinos all smiled, and the blue and green rhinos that the kids had been listening to from before were the first to advance towards her. Schnee, sensing that the fight was coming, ran to them and tried punching the blue rhino in the stomach, but he simply caught her fist.
Screw my life, Schnee thought quickly before she was punched in the face so hard, she did a flip before hitting the ground. The green rhino picked her up, kneed her in the back, and walked to the wall. Schnee tried resisting, but he just tilted her sideways in his grip and kneed her side so hard, saliva was shot out of her mouth. When he finally reached the wall, he sent Schnee’s face flying full force towards it, and Schnee felt some of the most excruciating pain in her life as she felt her head between the rough, textured wall and the rhino’s huge hand.
Mac wasn’t doing much better;  he tried kicking the boss rhino in the side, but he caught Mac’s kick and punched him in the crotch. Oh, GOD! Mac thought before he was slammed on the ground. After that, the boss rhino picked Mac up by his leg and proceeded to repeat his actions again and again before Mac was finally yelling out in agony. Then, he picked Mac up by his armpits, put his rhino horn through Mac’s shirt, and repeatedly headbutted Mac in the head to the point where Mac was bloodied already. Seeing this, the boss rhino laughed and headbutted Mac so hard, the boss rhino’s horn tore through Mac’s shirt and the tiger fell to the ground.
“Sure are some saviors, huh?” the boss rhino said, but then, the strangest thing happened…
Mac got back up.
“I…. won’t… stay dow-”
“YOU IDIOT!” the boss rhino yelled with glee, taking his enormous fist and punching Mac across the face, sending Hartley flying onto his back. After that, the boss rhino rushed to Mac and kicked him hard in the side, sending Mac to all the other rhinos (who watched in amusement instead of actually carrying out their plan).
Mac wiped some of the blood from off of his head and looked at Schnee. Her face was still being slammed into the wall by the younger rhino assassins. I can’t believe I thought this was a good idea, Mac said to himself, managing to get onto his knees. Thinking about how pathetic his performance was, Mac began to chuckle to himself.
“What’re you laughin’ about, punk?!” asked the boss rhino, who walked to Mac and kicked him in the side of his head so hard, it nearly snapped his neck. “You’re going to die here, and your lil’ friend here isn’t going to last much longer than you.” Mac was lying on his stomach, and tried getting up, but he was experiencing too much pain at once for his body to listen to the commands it was being given. The boss rhino walked to Mac’s battered body casually before stomping on Mac’s stomach, making the tiger throw up in his mouth.
The boss rhino shook his head. “Not even crying, yet? You just have to take all the fun out of this, don’t you?” He reached into his pocket and took out a revolver. “I’m done with you kids. We’ve wasted enough time, and now, it’s time we waste you.”
“How long… d-did it take you… to think of that o-one?” Mac cockily asked with the slightest of smirks.
The boss rhino stomped on his stomach again, making Mac release a deafening shriek of pain. “Say goodnight, kid.” 
His finger neared the trigger, and Mac laid there, thinking he was about to die. He looked to Schnee with hope in his eyes, but it died instantly once he saw they’d beaten her unconscious… and possibly to death. How many heroes are killed before they become heroes, I wonder? Mac asked himself, smiling like a broken person. I guess I’ll join the list… sorry, Marlee, Camille, Mom, Dad…
“My, my. This is simply outrageous!” a scratchy, elderly voice said, distracting the boss rhino for about two seconds. In those two seconds, the gun suddenly was sent flying out of his hand, and the rhino himself was… floating?
What the hell? Mac thought, watching as the boss rhino hit the ceiling. Though Mac’s vision was blurry from the torture he’d just felt, he could’ve sworn that the purple rhino was being outlined by a blue and purple line, one that stopped the rhino from moving at all.
“WHAT- WHAT IS THIS?!” the rhino asked, struggling but still unable to resist the apparent barrier.
“Down we go,” the same old voice stated, and down the boss rhino went. Mac used what was left of his energy to roll out of the way, and the boss rhino faceplanted onto the ground, still covered in the aura. “That was an awfully weak punishment, wasn’t it?” the old voice continued. “Assault of two minors… how repulsive. I believe I could teach you a harsher lesson.”
“NononononononononoNO!” yelled the boss rhino, to no avail. Again, the rhino went up, but at much faster speeds than before - ones that actually made Mac worry for his life - and just as suddenly, the rhino went back down. Then, the process repeated about four more times, with Mac silently wincing every time he saw the rhino hit the ground. After a fair bit of time, the boss rhino stopped hitting the ground and was just floating about five feet over it.
“...the hell?...” the rhino questioned, using his peripheral vision to see what’d happened. It was then that Mac finally got a good view of who’d just saved his life. He was a mostly purple-furred lemur (which Mac found ironic, since the boss rhino was that same color) with blue stripes along his arms and legs, along with a darker shade of blue around his eyes. He was obviously on the older side as well, with wrinkles all over his face. When Mac looked at his eyes, they caught his attention, as they differed between glowing yellow and purple. What really convinced Mac this guy was special, however, was his outfit; a long, flowing grey cloak that allowed him to move swiftly as he jumped onto the boss rhino.
“AAAAAAAAHHHH!” the rhino yelled in pain, followed by another groan when the lemur got off of him. The lemur looked pleased with himself as he watched him get up, panting heavily. “Old man… you’ve got some nerve, taking up some attitude with me… who the hell do you think you are, trying to fight me?! Me and my boys could take you down in two hits.”
“My boys and I,” the lemur said, a dull look on his face.
“...what?” asked the rhino, with nothing on his face but confusion. 
“You said ‘Me and my boys,’ and I’m sorry, but I cannot let such a horrible grammatical error persist in your speech,” the lemur said with a completely straight face that made Mac chuckle. “Perhaps your obvious lack of a decent education is what led you to this heinous lifestyle-”
“I’ll smash your face in!” the rhino yelled, taking brass knuckles out of his pocket. Mac gulped when he saw him charging at the elderly lemur, but the lemur simply stood there and waited. When the rhino got into range, the lemur grabbed the rhino’s outstretched arm and pulled it over his shoulder before turning around and giving the rhino a hard elbow to the stomach. Then, the lemur put his hand against the rhino’s chest, and… a purple/white ball of energy appeared between the lemur’s hand and the rhino’s chest.
“Have a nice flight,” the lemur quipped before releasing the energy ball. The rhino yelled in anger, but as soon as the lemur let go of his arm, the energy ball carried the rhino out of the castle, carrying him to a wall and sending him through it with force. The lemur looked at the remaining rhinos with an expression of slight interest.
“Now, do any of you want to join him?” he asked.
Mac watched Aorki with half-open eyelids, a hopeful smile on his face as he watched to see what happened next.
“Let’s beat ‘im, boys!” Mac turned his head with what little energy he had left to see who was talking now. The blue rhino was holding Schnee by her neck, and after yelling his chant, he threw her to the side. Mac winced as he watched her hit the ground. “He can’t beat all of us! It’s 34 to 1!”
“That’s no fair,” the lemur replied casually. “You’ll need at least 40 to pressure me.”
“We’ll see about that,” the green rhino shot back cockily. “Boys, attack!”
The rhinos, all at once, charged at the lemur, and Mac worried for him. Even if he has magic, I don’t know about this… will he have enough of it to beat all of them at the same time?
Long story short: he did.
Mac watched in amazement as the lemur quickly dispatched the rhinos. He seemed to know every trick in the book; he paralyzed some with stunning movements (Mac snickered to himself at his pun before yelling quietly at his reoccurring pains), he flipped some over, and he hit several of them out of windows, without even using the magic he’d used on the boss rhino!
The lemur flipped around and smashed a rhino’s head into the floor with a flip-kick and then kicked him to the wall. Then, he looked around and the endless beatings he’d given - Mac could’ve sworn he had a look of disappointment - and shook his head. “Oh, me. It’s a good thing that I hadn’t used anything supernatural on the rest of you, your bones would’ve been turned to mush!” He put his hand to his mouth and laughed daintily.
I think I’m…. safe, Mac said, his eyelids lowering. I’m just gonna…. Take a lil’ nap… Mac finally went into unconsciousness, death not being a possibility but the cause being his wounds. The lemur’s eyes opened wide as he looked at Mac.
“Hm… looks like that one was finally overwhelmed. His energy signatures completely gave out,” he noted scratching his chin. “However, it appears I can’t say the same for you, little girl.”
Schnee (who’d been “unconscious”) rolled onto her back and stood up slowly, an expression of bewilderment on her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but the lemur cut her off with a slight smile. “It will take far better acting than that in order to convince me that you’re out, youngin.”
Schnee shook her head. She saw how they were beating up the rich kid; there was no way they’d go that hard on a girl, and if she played dead, she was sure that they’d leave her alone, and it worked quite well in her favor. She did feel bad about hearing Mac get beat up, but it all worked out. 
Schnee dashed to the wizard-like savior with the energy she had left, her expression still carrying loads of surprise. “How- Why- When- What did you do?!” Schnee blurted, still trying to comprehend what’d just occurred in front of her. “I-I mean, I’ve seen some crazy stuff on TV, like that Dr. Eggman’s robots, but that- that was insane!”
Schnee looked at the sorcerer, expecting an honest answer, but she got nearly the exact opposite; a half-hearted smile and a pat on the head. “What is a little girl like you doing in such a scary place like this?” he inquired, like a preschool teacher asking why one of their kids was crying.
“No! You answer me firs-” Schnee was cut off when the lemur simply waved his hand and shook his head. Then, with his other hand, he gestured to all the unconscious bodies that lay across the room. Next, he pointed at Mac, and Schnee sighed, remembering that he'd just saved them from what could've been a very painful death. “Fine. We heard that they were going to kill the princess, and we mutually decided separately that we needed to stop them.
“Mutually and separately, you say?” Schnee nodded. “Yet neither of you decided to contact those more… equipped, to handle something like this.” Her face now flushed and feeling embarrassed at what, in hindsight, was a really dumb decision, Schnee nervously nodded again, expecting a lecture. Instead, for the first time, a toothy grin appeared on the lemur’s face. “How impressive! We need more youthful upbringers of justice like yourself! You’re certainly piqued my interest!”
“...all we did was get beat up,” Schnee admitted shamefully. “And even then, I faked most of it.”
“That’s true, yes,” the lemur honestly stated, his words striking Schnee a little bit even though she knew he had no intention to hurt her feelings. “But had I not seen you two foolishly approach the castle, I wouldn’t have been able to stop this nasty gang and prevented the murder of the princess! Isn’t that wonderful?”
“Yeah, that doesn’t feel like much of a victory,” Schnee followed.
The lemur’s face turned serious before he stepped back and put his palms forward, facing up. His arms and hands began to glow purple, and a light appeared above his hands. Schnee jumped back, thinking he was about to attack her, but the lemur shook his head. After a few seconds, the lemur was standing normally again, and instead of a light, there was a brown scroll in his hands. Then, he handed it to Schnee, who took it worriedly.
“No need to fret. If you want the full story on what I’ve performed, the address of my current headquarters-” Schnee snickered at how he titled it- “-is on that scroll. Arrive when your friend wakes up.” The lemur turned around. “Now, I’ve got to alert the authorities and clean up this mess I’ve left. See you soon!” In a blinding flash of light, the wizard had teleported away, leaving Schnee to look at the scroll.
Huh, she thought, eyeing it and the address he left. This… was unexpected.
==Chapter 2==
The next morning, Mac woke up with a jump, and he felt something very hard hit his head. He laid back down, and then he began to feel something cold on his head. He opened his eyes before getting up more slowly this time and looking around. He was in a diner, and he had a couch-like seat near a window. Mac felt his forehead; there was an icepack on it, which Mac took off as it was now nearly completely water. Mac felt lots better than he had the last time it was conscious.
"Wakey wakey, sleepyhead," Schnee greeted, waving to him.
"Wh-Where are we? Am I dead? Was I dreaming?" Mac asked,looking around. Everything was normal; at least, it appeared to be. "How am I not dead?!"
"I don't know either, Richie, but things definitely started looking up once that weird wizard guy saved us." Schnee nudged her head to the side with a smile on her face. Mac looked next to her, and there was a black, snazzy-looking briefcase. In it was... a huge pile of cash?! He gawked in surprise, and Schnee grinned after he saw his reaction. "I know, right?! I didn't expect to get this much either! This is like, perfe-"
"God damn it!" Mac said, slamming his fist on the table. I went through all of that, only to get more of something I already have too much of? What's the point? Mac slumped into his seat and crossed his arms, disappointed and miffed.
Schnee looked confused at Mac's outburst, a single bead of sweat going down her head. "...whoa there, Richie! Calm down, why are you upse-" Schnee thought about what she called him, and she connected the dots. "Ohhhh. You are rich, aren't you!"
Mac nodded, and like someone who was bipolar, his expression immediately changed to one of a proud smile. "Don't be too surprised, but... I'm Mac Hartley, from the Hartley family!" Mac waited for her inevitable surprise and stood proudly, expecting Schnee to automatically recognize him.
.
. .
. . .
Silence.
"...I'm the son of Olivia Hartley," Mac explained, disappointed.
"Oh my gosh, really?!" Schnee responded, her face flushed with excitement. "You're mom's, like, the coolest ever! I remember seeing her in The Cross, The Double Cross, The Triple Cross, the Quadruple Cross, and The Quintuple Cross!"
"...now that I think about it, they made a lot of Cross movies," Mac rationalized with himself. "But yeah, I guess that what it takes for people to remember me. Then my dad's-"
"The Christian Hartley! Isn't he, like, the richest Mobian on the planet after he sold that gem thing?" Schnee looekd even more excited as she spouted information about Mac's parents, and he merely sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I don't know about richest, but he might still be top 5," Mac replied, trying to lessen her excitement. That... wasn't the reaction he was expecting. Was he really that overshadowed by his parents? Mac shook his head and put his elbow on the dining table, leaning in a little bit. "But enough about me - or should I say, enough about my parents." Mac resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. "Who're you? It'd be nice to learn some stuff about you besides the fact that you really hate taxi drivers-"
Schnee instinctively punched Mac in the arm, and Mac yelped, getting the attention of a few people in the diner. "Not that arm, dammit! It still stings!"
Schnee winced and took a sharp breath in. "S-Sorry! Forgot we just had a near-death experience and all." Schnee scratched her chin. "Why do you want to know about me? Your parents-" Mac mumbled to himself- "-are like, super famous, and I'm just some irrelevant girl you just met." I'd really prefer not to talk about myself, Schnee thought, anxious. He might laugh, or even worse, treat me like I'm some sort of charity case! God, I'd just die if that happened!
Mac chuckled a little bit, and for some reason, all of a sudden, Schnee found him more charming - his eyelids were lowered the tiniest bit, his laugh was warm, and he wore a tempting smile. "C'mon, it's no big deal! Besides from the whole tackling and punching, you seem like a very cool girl, and it'd just be horrible if I left you without finding out this pretty girl's name, at least. Would you do me the pleasure?"
...is he flirting with me? Schnee asked herself, beginning to blush a little bit before looking Mac up and down, a bit curious. Despite her internal thoughts, Schnee relaxed. Mac particularly noticed Schnee lowering her eyelids as she stared at his stomach and abs area, though she ceased immediately and instead looked around the diner as soon as she noticed he noticed. He is kinda the reason I didn't die earlier today, too... ah, screw it, I'll tell him a little bit.
Schnee sat upright. "My name's Schnee Ainekas, and I come from a small town call Ginmethgow. I'm really just a nerd who traveled here looking to make it big."
Mac smirked. "And then you met someone who's already made it big."
"You mean someone whose parents made it big?"
Mac blushed and looked away. "God, you don't have to be so mean about it!"
Schnee put her fingers to her mouth as she chuckled about it. "Hey, it's no problem, we did kind of save each other's butts, after all. I doubt you could've lasted mre than a minute in the palace without me."
"...to be honest with you, I don't know if I did last more than a minute in there, but thanks..." Mac's eyes appeared more friendly as the corner of his mouth curved. "...Schnee." 
The two sat in silence a little bit, thinking about how they'd just initiated a friendship, but then a thought popped into Mac's head; Wait, why did she even bring me here? I'm surprised she didn't ditch me. "So, Schnee... I appreciate this little friendship that's starting, but why didn't you leave me in the middle of nowhere?"
"Well, hate to break it to ya, but remember that weird wizard guy?" Mac nodded, and Schnee took out the scroll that the lemur had given her. "Yeah, he was really proud of us, and he told us that if we wanted to see how he did what he did, we should meet him. He wanted you there, too."
"schneeiloveu"
"What?"
"I was saying, this is exactly what I was looking for!" Mac snatched the scroll from out of Schnee's hands and looked at what words it contained. "Cyclos Village, huh? I think I passed by there while I was on the drive to Soleanna, it's not too far!" Mac pumped his fist in the air and bared his claws. "Let's go meet that lemur!"
His excitement was interrupted by his growling stomach, and Mac slouched back into his seat, watched by a giggling Schnee. "After we eat?" Schnee proposed.
"After we eat."
----
A few hours later, Mac and Schnee exited another taxi, this one red, and then they stepped onto the sandy terrain of their location. Mac handed the driver payment before smiling and waving. "Adios!" he said before turning around. "Yeah, that guy's a part of the Hartley Deliverance Foundation. Makes getting rides through traffic really easy."
"He sure was a lot more pleasant that that giraffe jerk," Schnee huffed, remembering her experience with taxis just a day ago.
"But..." Mac looked closely at the scroll. "...literally all it says here is 'Cyclos Village.' How're we supposed to find this place?" Mac bared his claws and got on all fours. "Maybe I can sniff it out. Tigers are born hunters, y'know." Mac stood upright. "Or maybe... it's an exploration challenge! We might be supposed to look around for clues to where it is!" Mac continued to think deeply. "...or maybe he wants us to use the resources we already have! That's it!" Mac punched his fist into an open hand. "I think I'm supposed to call up a helicopter, or-"
"Slow down, Mac," Schnee stated before pointing at a sign that read "Cyclos Village." "We're already there."
The disappointment of Mac's face was obvious as his eyelids lowered. "Oh... lame!"
The two walked forward, and they began to get a good look at their environment. In Cyclos, there were straw huts all around, and Mobians walked in and out of them, carrying clothes, water, and other materials for everyday life. The shining sun seemed to allow some of the inhabitants to dry their clothes outside their houses.
"Huh. It's like we time traveled a million years ago," Mac said, observing the village like he was at a museum of the past. "Doesn't everyone get their clothes washed by their butlers these days?"
Schnee was about to shoot a snarky response at the spoiled tiger, but to her surprise, a bright light appeared before them, similar to the one that the lemur was enveloped in before teleporting away from Schnee much earlier that day. Schnee and Mac jumped back in surprise, landing on their bottoms.
"Welcome, my visitors!" the lemur greeted giddily. He wore a beige cloak-like robe and white sandals. "I see you've arrived. It was quite the distance, and I'm glad that you made it safely! I'm assuming you've been enjoying the reward money GUN sent you?"
Mac opened his mouth, about to reveal the harsh truth, but Schnee covered his mouth at the last second, effectively shutting him up. "Yes we have, Mr...?"
"Call me Aorki," Aorki said. "My full name is Vitos Aorki, and..." 
"How did you do the magic?!" Mac excitedly interjected, wanting to get straight to the point.
Aorki responded with a hearty laugh. "My, my! It appears that we are anxious to begin, aren't we?" Aorki took out a wooden stick from his cloak as Mac and Schnee's eyes widened, and he tapped in on the ground twice. The world around Mac and Schnee seemed to ripple like water in a pond before it materialized, and they were now in a blue-colored room. "This is where I'll be staying for a little bit. I couldn't have us discuss something so crucial in such a public environment, could I?"
Aorki gestured with his stick, and a two-legged wooden table with three chairs - two on one side, one on the other - skidded its way to the trio. Aorki sat in the single chair, and Mac and Schnee took their seats on the other side. "This is quite exciting," Aorki admitted. "I was honestly expecting a no-show. The youth of this generation has trouble handling money, after all, but it appears that you have done well in arriving!"
Mac chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I'm super appreciative..."
"Anyway, where was I?" Aorki seemed lost in thought for a few seconds, but afterwards, he was as focused as ever. "Oh, yes, of course! My name is Vitos Aorki, and I am proficient in utilizing... energy."
"You mean magic?" asked Schnee, who thought she understood it at first, but now was confused.
"No, no, magic is something entirely different," Aorki explaining waving his hand like by doing that, he was dispelling the thought of it. "Magic... well, if all goes well, I'll tell you about it. Let me explain energy to you. 
Energy flows through all things, living and non-living, like matter itself. Everything has the ability to produce and conduct that energy, and thus, it was used back in the day by nearly everyone; to mimic natural elements, to strengthen themselves, for healing... it truly was the ultimate resource.
However, as us mortals began to evolve, we obviously took advantage of this resource and instead searched for something that required much less effort; technology. As technology became more and more dominant in society, more generations completely ignored what everyone had used long ago, and within a matter of decades, the use of energy in beings had nearly completely disappeared. However, determined to not let his created resource die out, the God of Creation Sol persuaded a single tribe to keep using it as their way of life. I come from that clan, the Solvage Tribe.
Not to speak too much about myself, however; you must be wondering how I went from there to saving you two at Princess Elise's palace. Well, while the Solvage tribe seemed content keeping their energy-heavy lifestyle to themselves, I looked out to the world and saw... failure. Mobiankind, time and time again, has proved its tendency to worsen the environment for its future, and I decided that I should take on students, who would hopefully spread their learning onward into the world and make the future a better place; one without rushed victories, or this 'technology' that'd reigned supreme and worsened Mobius."
Aorki sat down, looking at the faces of the duo he'd brought in. Schnee appeared to be uninterested - he noticed that she got especially pouty whenever he'd insulted technology - but Aorki could practically feel the positive energy emanating from Mac, who had the biggest grin on his face either Schnee or Aorki had seen from him yet. Mac couldn't believe all of the good luck that was raining upon him. This. Is. Perfect! Oh my God, this is literally exactly what I've been looking for! Magic- no, scratch that, "energy" user? Check. Well-trained with it? Check. Taking students? CHECK!
Mac was bouncing up and down in his seat, and Schnee smiled upon looking at him. Mac quickly asked Aorki "Can I become one of your students?! Please, Aorki, this is the opportunity of a lifetime and I do not want to miss out on this!"
Aorki put on an expression that was only slightly less excited-looking than Mac's. "Well, I sure am happy to here that, young tiger!"
"It's Mac," Mac explained, realizing he hadn't even told Aorki his name yet.
"Yeah, and I'm Schnee," Schnee followed.
Well, Mac, Schnee," Aorki continued with this information. "Before either of you join, I have a trial I want to put you through to see if you really have what it takes to join my apprentices." Mac nodded rapidly, but Aorki's expression became more grounded. "I suggest you do some training before you appear; it will not be easy. You'll meet us at noon tomorrow at Ringstone Avenue, and your trial will commence at Stellarby Pond later that day; for tonight, we have a free room four rooms to the right of this one, you can use. I'm excited to see your performance."
Mac and Schnee got up and left, but Mac lingered around the door for a few seconds. "So am I, Aorki!"
----
The next day, Mac was wearing a white T-shirt that read "Reaganne" on its front and black gym shorts, flexing while Schnee was sitting on a rock near them. Ringstone Avenue showcased on one the more civilized parts of Cyclos Village - there were roads, if you could call them that, that were marked by black painted thick streaks through the sand. Okay, so I guess they're not that far back in time, Mac thought examining the area.
Mac was feeling confident; all the stars were aligning just perfectly for him. Sure, it would've been bad if he were some sort of unathletic dweeb, but good for him, he wasn't. As he was homeschooled, his parents bought trainer after trainer to make sure that he, Camille, and Marlee all stayed in shape, and Mac had a three-pack to show for it. Alongside that, Mac had been training his hardest the previous day - cardio, anaerobic and aerobic exercises - to prepare for the challenge. Mac was sure that things were gonna go great.
Schnee eyes opened farther and she pointed towards the one of the paths the road split off to. "Mac, look! Looks like we've got company." Indeed, there was something occurring; Aorki and three others around Mac and Schnee's age approached them. There was another lemur and a hippo who were conversing, and after a bit of conversation, the hippo began to laugh; next to him, there was a falcon who patted the hippo on the back. Aorki still had his wooden stick, and he waved at the newcomers.
"Welcome, one and all! I've decided to meet with you two today in order to introduce you to who you might be working with!" Aorki pointed his stick to himself. "As you know, I am Vitos Aorki."
He then twirled his stick around, pointing to then youngest-looking of all of them, a cobalt hippo who wore neon-yellow clothing and didn't have shoes. "This is Buster Cojol the Hippo." Buster waved at them excitedly.
Aorki then pointed at another lemur, a pink-furred lemur with orange stripes similar to Aorki, ginger patches of color around her eyes, and long, flowing ginger pigtails. She donned a white Greek tunic that sagged diagonally across her chest, partially revealing a gold singlet underneath. Wrapped around her waist and a golden belt. "This is my daughter, Hera Aorki."
Mac's jaw dropped when he saw her. He was not expecting to find a hottie in this place. This was completely unreal! He told himself that he'd be sure to win her over! Mac winked at Hera, and she giggled a bit to herself before giving him a kind smile. Mac internally cheered. Progress already!
Aorki waved his stick quickly, getting Mac's attention. "If you're done ogling at my daughter," Aorki shot at Mac, making Mac blush and Hera and Buster laugh, "our last apprentice is Brand Festus the Falcon." Brand was an orange falcon whose wings had highlights of red on his edges, and he had bangs that cross over his forehead. One of his eyes was red, and the other was yellow. Mac smiled at Brand, who completely ignored him, looking at Aorki as soon as he realized Mac was trying to be friendly. 
"Your 'trial' will be-" 
Brand was cut off by Aorki, who waved a hand. "While it would be entertaining allowing you to know what challenges await you, first..." Aorki's eyes glimmered. "I want a background check."
"Well, that's easy enough!" Mac said with enthusiasm, pointing his thumb to himself. Schnee smirked and rolled her eyes, already knowing what was about to ensue afterwards. "Now, don't get too surprised, but my name is Mac Hartley!"
.
. .
. . .
Silence.
Schnee walked over to Mac and nudged him in the elbow, and Mac groaned. "...son of Olivia and Christian Hartley."
Hera's eyes widened and Buster yelped, both of them showing their surprise. Buster ran over to Mac and shook his head, a look of admiration shining in his purple eyes. "Oh my gosh, you really look like them, too! I can't believe it! I'm meeting someone who's related to the Hartleys!" 
While Buster was still shaking Mac's arm with a surprising amount of speed and power that made Mac feel like the hippo was turning his arm to jelly, Hera got a few words in as well. "Wow! I'm surprised someone who's related to people as famous as the Hartleys was able to be in the same place as Daddy. We've never really had the media take any notice of us."
Buster was still shaking Mac's arm, and Brand huffed before flying over, grabbing the back of Buster's shirt, and flying back to where Aorki and Hera were. Brand looked back while he was flying, and Mac's blood ran cold; Brand was giving Mac a glare so fierce, he almost wanted to run away. Okay, that kid does not like me, Mac realized. Daaaang, that's rough.
Mac coughed into his hand and continued. "Well anyway, the reason I'm here in the first place, you wonder?" Mac's eyes took a look of pride. "I'm searching for power! More specifically, someone who can train me to have that power! So far, I've not had really good luck, but it looks like my luck's turned around!"
Hera's eyelids took a stance similar to if a human had curved their eyebrows as she crossed her arms. "And why do you want that strength?"
Don't tell them about Marlee. Don't tell them about Marlee. Mac shrugged, acting as if he hadn't heard the question. "I think it's a really great coincidence that Aorki and I happened to be in the same place! I don't know if he told you or not, but Schnee and I saved Eli-"
Before he could even finish his sentence, the three kids exploded in laughter. Buster was rolling on the ground, Brand was slapping his knee, and Hera was crying. Brand pointed at Mac. "You really- You really thought- you two- saved Elise- HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Schnee grumbled. She wasn't even a part of the stupid conversation; why were they making fun of her, too? Schnee shook her head. She'd been trying her best to keep quiet, and it was taking all of her effort not to explode and flip out at the apprentices.
Mac looked hurt. Okay, THAT'S a little excessive, now.
Even Aorki wasn't completely stoned; he had to put a fist to his mouth and pretend to cough extremely as to try not to hurt Mac and Schnee's feelings. Schnee looked to the grond and shuffled her feet. "Doubt this 'background check' matters anymore, but I'm Schnee Ainekas, I guess."
Despite Schnee's efforts, her introduction was still drowned by the kids' insane amounts of laughter. Aorki desperately tried to get ahold of himself as his coughing became more violent until it stopped completely. "Well then," he started, and the apprentices began to stop laughing (though it took some time), "Brand, go ahead and tell them the challenge."
As soon as Brand heard this, he smirked and pointed at Mac. "You? Yeah, you're fighting against me, one-on-one, mano-to-mano."
"Easy-peasy! If just have to beat up this kid, then you all can expect me in your group in no time!" Mac responded, cocky. His words made Brand's face flush with anger a little bit, and Buster looked at Brand.
"Mac's talking smack, Brand! Are you gonna take that?" Buster asked, trying to start a bit of a riot.
"Oh ho, he'll see what's coming to him on the battlefield," Brand responded, punching his fist into his open hand.
"Hey, boys, calm down," Hera joined in, shaking her head. "The fight's not until later today, keep your tempers under wraps."
"Yeah, you guys'll want to stop talking so big," Schnee also interjected, walking next to Mac with a proud expression. "You should be scared of Richie here, I bet he's gotten some pretty good training."
Mac looked Brand (who was snickering to himself) up and down. Eh, him being a falcon means he can fly, but he shouldn't be strong enough to actually lift me up, Mac thought. It'll probably be just like wrestling with Camille and Marlee at home, I'll be fine! "I... accept the challenge!" Mac announced confidently.
"We'll see you soon, then," Brand followed as Aorki, Hera, and Buster turned away, leaving. "Prepare to taste dirt, Hartley."
"I could say the same to you, Festival!"
Schnee snickered to herself, imitating what the group was doing when Mac said that he and Schnee'd saved Elise. "IT'S FESTUS, YOU IDIOT!" Brand breathed heavily through his beak before he turned around and flew, catching up with the others.
Mac waved with a sarcastic smile on his face. Schnee watched the four walk away, attempting to appear confident, but there was a sweat bead traveling down her head. I have a really bad feeling about this...
----
The next day, Mac and Schnee were heading towards Stellarby Pond at around 11:54 AM. Mac was dong jumping jacks while heading there, along with a mix of other exercises, causing Schnee to sigh and shake her head. "Richie, shouldn't you be doing things that don't involve getting you tired before you start to fight that Brand loser?"
"Don't sweat it, Schnee," Mac responded, giving her a thumbs-up and a cheeky smile. "At the Hartley Mansion-" Schnee snickered to herself- "-I had trainers who would show me what to do if I was ever being attacked."
"Those sure came in handy when we were saving Elise," Schnee remarked.
Mac stopped doing jumping jacks and put his hand to his heart. "Ouch! It was a few years ago, I might've forgotten everything BUT the important thing is that I've done it before, so I can probably do it again, no problem!" Mac shrugged. "Why're you so worried about me, anyway?"
A heavy breath came out of Schnee with closed eyes. "Just... the vibe I got from those three..." Schnee remembered looking at the three kids; specifically, the image of all of them laughing. "It seems abnormal. Plus, they've been trained by Aorki, and he made the rhinos look like chumps."
Mac thought about it for a little bit, scratching his chin. "It is kinda weird how much they laughed... I mean, had I told literally anyone else, they would've praised us." Mac rapidly shook his head. "But listen, Schnee! There's no way I'm going to disappoint anyone else, starting today!" Mac stomped his foot into the ground. "Plus, the rhinos already beat us up, and there's no way I would get pummeled twice in one fanfiction, right?"
"What?"
"What I'm saying, Schnee, is that you don't need to worry. I've come too far to just fail here, right?" Mac winked at her before walking to her and putting his hand up for a high-five. "Alright?"
"Alright, Richie!" Schnee responded with pride, returning the high-five.
Afterwards, they talked the rest of the way there, discussing random subjects.
Their conversation would end abruptly, however, when they heard a familiar voice. "Look what rich kid decided to show," Brand yelled from a small distance away. The Stellarbay Pond was behind him, and it had turqoise-colored water with shining minerals making it glimmer. The group had finally exited the sandy terrain of Cyclos, as well; now, beneath their shoes was just pretty lush green grass. Near Brand, Hera was standing with folded arms, Aorki was right behind her, and Buster was doing push-ups.
"Oh, they're here?!" Buster asked excitedly, quitting mid-push-up and falling onto his stomach. Then, he flipped onto his feet (which made Schnee gasp in surprise) and skipped over to Aorki and Hera. He smiled suspiciously, which made Mac glare at him closely and Hera lightly nudge him... but upon Mac's further inspection, Hera couldn't hide a smile on her face, either.
Inspecting their faces, Mac saw the look of confidence on their faces, which surprised him, as he thought that they'd be more on the side of "root for a new guy who's going to join your group because you guys only have three kids and you look lonely," but it looked like they were instead putting all of their faith in Brand. Mac tried his best to remain unbothered. "Alright, I'm ready for the trial! Bring it on-"
Aorki waved his stick in the air with bulging eyes. "WAIT!"
Mac stopped his announcement, curious as to what Aorki was freaking out about. "What's wrong?"
Aorki snapped in front of him. "How could I be so careless as to not plan out the seating of our spectators? This simply won't do!" Aorki tapped his stick on the ground twice, and where Buster had been doing push-ups previously, there was now a large set of bleachers. Unsurprised, Hera and Buster hopped onto the bleachers, taking their seats.
Mac and Schnee's reaction was quite different. Mac was gawking, unable to find the words to say, but Schnee was able to create some dialogue. "A-Are none of y-you going to react to that?!" she stammered, not able to believe Hera and Buster's casual nature.
"Eh," Hera began, relaxing. The golden sen rays began to hit her hair and brighten it, which made Mac grin. "For Daddy, this is just a weekly thing. You get used to it."
How come I look like the dumb one here? Schnee wondered to herself before scurrying over to Mac and giving him a fist-bump. "You got this, Richie! I'll be rooting for you!" Mac nodded at her, and Schnee turned around and got onto the bleachers.
"We'll start on a count of three," Aorki said.
Brand smirked. "That's how long it'll take me to kick your ass."
"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this," Mac retorted.
"Three!" Aorki started. 
Brand got into a fighting stance.
"Two!"
Mac slightly skidded his foot on the grass.
"One!"
Both of their eyelids lowered, making direct eye contact.
"BEGIN!"
Mac honestly didn't know how he would start the fight, but he began by winding up a punch, running to Brand and throwing it at his face...
...only to hit thin air.
What? How? wondered Mac, looking at the image of Brand in front of him. He was just here-
Mac was dramatically cut off when he felt a feathery hand hit him in the side of the head, hard. Mac was knocked off of his feet nearly instantly and he bounced on his sides several times before hitting a tree that was near. Mac stood back up and rubbed his head, but when he looked up, he saw Brand right in front of him, preparing a punch of his own. Mac didn't get a chance to ask what'd just happened when Brand punched Mac directly in the stomach, his blow having so much force Mac felt the tree behind him crack in half.
"Guk-" Mac began to grunt before his collar was grabbed by Brand. The falcon shoved Mac's head into the ground and jumped over him before flying above and moving forward while in midair. Mac didn't get an opportunity to protest as his face was dragged through the dirt for about fifteen seconds. Mac was still able to hear Brand's laughter when he let go of Mac and picked stood on the ground, picking the tiger up by his hair. To finish his short combo, Brand gave Mac a hard kick in the gut, forcing Mac to clench over and grab his belly. Brand spun around rapidly, and before long, he rotated behind Mac and kicked the wealthy teenager in his back, knocking him a good distance.
Schnee was wincing again and again watching it, almost wanting to turn around and wait for its finish. Oh, man...
Mac got onto one knee, breathing heavily to regain his strength. It looks like that jerk is gonna give me some time. I don't see him approaching me- Out of absolutely nowhere, Brand seemingly teleported in front of Mac, making the tiger gawk and stammer. Then, Brand kicked upwards at Mac's chin, sending him flying into the air before Brand followed up by flying alongside him and slapped him to the ground.
Mac puked in his mouth a little when he hit the grass, and he'd left a "ground angel" with his impact. He'd bounced up a little after reaching the floor, but that little bit of time was all Brand needed to get under him. Mac wasn't prepared when he felt his feathery adversary appear under him, and Mac felt a hand under his back.
"Wh-What are you... doing?" nervously asked Mac, struggling for breath. Brand began to ascend once again, reaching around twenty five feet in the air.
At this point, Schnee couldn't take it anymore. "MAC! JUST TELL HIM YOU GIVE UP!" she cried in desperation. "THIS ISN'T WORTH LOSING YOUR LIFE OVER! HE'LL KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T QUIT, JUST TAP OUT!" Schnee waited for Mac to respond, but he stayed there, being lifted in the air by Brand. "MAC, PLEASE!"
Brand looked at Mac's under-body expectantly. "You heard the girl. Is the spoiled kid gonna run away now? I'll show you mercy if you just give up. Just say uh-huh if you want this to stop, and Master Aorki can heal you little boo-boos, okay?"
"In... your dreams... jackass..." Mac courageously responded, coughing after giving his retort.
Brand grinned. "Your funeral." Then, Brand gripped Mac's leg and threw the tiger downwards, and Mac screamed shrieks of horror that made Schnee want to cry. Mac hit the ground full-force, and he hit it so hard, dust and grass erupted from his landing spot, appearing like a smokescreen to anyone watching.
Brand hovered down to the ground level, shaking his head. "I think it's time we end this."
The smokescreen passed, and Mac was in another ground angel; except this time, we didn't move. He couldn't move. All of his brain urged his body o get up and fight, but his body refused. It was like it was shutting down, except Mac could still feel all of the grueling pain. G-Get up, he told himself, trying to attempt self-encouragement. You can't stay here. You've worked so hard to lose again. Get UP! 
...Mac didn't get up.
Brand shook his head. "How pathetic. As fun as it is, I think it's time I show you how far I am out of your league." He stuck his palm out facing Mac, and it took all of Mac's energy just to turn his eyes to see what was happening. Brand began to glow; to be specific, a fiery, orange aura was appearing around his body, and about two seconds later, it'd gone from all around his body to just his hand. In a matter of seconds, Mac was surprised at what was happening; right before his very eyes, in front of Brand's palm, there was a ball of orange fire floating. Even Schnee heard Hera gasp once she saw it, though Buster just seemed all the more invested in the fight.
"Don't come back," Brand commanded, and the orb began to move towards Mac. Mac was bracing for the worst as the fire's heat was consuming him, but then, suddenly, it stopped; or, actually, it exploded in a puff of smoke. Once it cleared, standing in front of Mac was Hera, who Mac could only see the back of her head.
"Brand, that's going too far!" Hera yelled, pointing a finger at him. "You beat him an inch within his life, and then you were going to use energy on him? That's insane!"
Brand crossed his arms and huffed. "It's no big deal. I put, like, zero effort into that blast, there's no way it would hurt him that badly."
"He's a normal person, Brand," Hera replied, making Mac mentally wince with her pity. "Just that tiny bit would be able to incinerate a Mobian. You need to be more careful!"
"Tch, whatever," Brand ignored, instead flying to Mac and landing to the side of him. "You see this, Hartley? This is something that I learned through hard work, struggles, and time. You think that because you have money, you can get your way? Hell, you probably paid a lot for those stupid clothes you have on you now!" Brand's expression turned into a fierce frown as he kicked Mac in the side, making Mac yell in pain. "This world- no, this lifestyle? It's not one that you can just buy into. If you have a single brain cell left, you'll go back to the mansion from wherever the hell you came from and stay there. I don't want to see your face again!"
Brand spat on Mac's battered body, and at that point, Schnee was fuming herself. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM!" Schnee yelled, jumping off of the bleachers and sprinting, making a straight beeline to Brand. "Ever since we've gotten here, you've been nothing but mean and rude, and now you nearly killed my friend! How crappy of a person are you?!" Schnee, in her rage, took her hand and slapped Brand in the face, a move that he was not expecting as he staggered back a little. "God, you're insufferable!"
Schnee looked around to see everyone's reaction to her outburst; Buster was even more invested, though he looked worriedly at Brand, Hera was giving slight nods of approval (though she ceased when she noticed Schnee was looking at her), and Aorki? Aorki had the most bland expression Schnee had ever seen, and he didn't look like he was in a particular hurry to take action. Her emotions consuming her, Schnee slowly picked up Mac's body and began to walk away without another word.
I won't let this stand, Schnee angrily thought as she headed back to her and Mac's room. But hopefully he's okay....
----
Mac woke up with a yelp, jumping up. He looked around, and he was in his and Schnee's casual, red-colored room, covered in white bandages over his sides and wounds. Immediately after he got up, he went down and hit the bed, paining. Schnee came running to his sides, more bandages in her hands. "Oh! You're awake! That's great!"
Mac groaned, wanting to rub an itch on his head... but he didn't make any movement to scratch it. "How long has it been since-"
Schnee sighed, avoiding eye contact with Mac. "Uh... A day and a half?" Schnee walked to the window that was on the right of Mac and unfolded the blinds, and while Mac expected the light to practically blind him, instead there was a pretty purple-like night sky, with thousands of stars scattered throughout. "After he knocked you into the ground,the craziest thing happened, he-"
"Made fire, I saw," Mac finished, rolling his eyes. "And then the chick saved me. The chick."
"Richie, don't beat yourself up," Schnee consoled him, smiling. "Anyone like us would've lost-"
"That's the problem!" yelled Mac, slamming his fist downwards. Schnee jumped back a little, and upon seeing her expression, Mac's ears drooped. "Sorry, sorry, this; God, I just hate all of this." Mac slumped into the bed. "I really hate it. This- this is- this was literally everything I needed. After the Elise thing, I really thought that I'd be able to get my way from now on... but life just had to flip me the bird." Mac grumbled. "When I was all confident, a smiling idiot back there? I really didn't realize just how stupid I was to think that I could join them." Mac began laughing to himself. "Pffft- C-Can you believe it? I thought I'd be the next- get this- Sonic the Hedgehog. Hahahahaha!"
Schnee's heart felt heavy listening to his swords, but when Mac was done laughing, unfortunately for her, he continued. "Maybe that's just the way it goes. Marlee and Camille are already preparing for when we grow up. Maybe it is my future to just be some shallow guy on the cover of magazines. Whatever." Mac shook his head and turned his body away from Schnee, pouting as he laid on the bed. 
Schnee pointed a finger up, about to end his depression with an inspiring speech... but her eyelids lowered along with her finger when she realized that she shouldn't get involved. Still, Schnee opened her mouth to speak... but no sound came out. Shut up, Schnee! She told herself, hitting her head. You're no good at talking you should just let him be, you just met him anyway, it shouldn't be so important. Despite all this she was telling herself, Schnee couldn't ignore the sinking feeling in her chest... and how familiar it felt, like a more negative version of nostalgia.
----Schnee blinked, and her memories came flooding back, before she left the house, how school was going. Schnee looked around the empty fourth-grade classroom and adjusted her glasses. She could feel her enthusiasm go up for the first time in a very long time. In her hands, there was a solar system diorama, with all nine planets (yes, she included Pluto) on a piece of cardboard cut into a large rectangle and painted black. On the Sun, which was in the center of the diorama, there was a switch, like one you'd find on the wall of the house to turn the lights on.
I guess it wouldn't hurt to just take one early check to make sure these things work, Schnee thought, a giddy expression taking over her face. She flicked the switch, and what occurred next was quite interesting. The Sun shone brilliantly, a piercing golden light spreading throughout the room, and the shiny glow even appearing on Schnee as she covered her glasses. The Sun began spinning, as well as all of the other planets, who began going to their orbits. Schnee's eyes glimmered as she spectated what was happening in amazement. It looks like all of her hard work was going great!
Schnee's ears perked up when she heard voices outside. "Did you see the new brand of clothes Meganne put out?" a bossy voice asked, the amount of superiority heavy in her tone. "It's, like, totally making a comeback. Right, girls?"
Schnee whimpered, instantly recognizing the crew that was crusading by the classroom. Nikki Nothsa, a golden retriever with black hair and purple eyes, walking by the classroom, joined by her "friends" of various species and sizes. One of these minions spoke up, this one a burnt-umber pelican. "Y-Yeah! I saw that, but there's also the Reaganne bag that came out-"
"Oh my god, Patsy, shut up!" yelled Nikki, rolling her eyes. "No one cares about your opinion or Reganne! Everyone with half a brain knows that Reaganne's never going to make a comeback, anyway! If you're going to say something, make it not stupid!"
Patsy's eyes watered quickly, and she backed into the posse. Nikki, having been distracted, finally realized the lights coming from inside the room and began to walk inside. Schnee gulped. "H-Hi, Nikki..."
"Oh, hey, if it isn't everybody's least favorite outcast," Nikki addressed Schnee as her posse began to laugh. "What's this little toy you've got here?" Nikki strutted to Schnee with confidence and picked up her diorama by the Sun before rapidly flicking the light switch, making Schnee cover her glasses to protect from the alternating lights. "Looks stupid. Is this really what you're entering for the science contest?"
"Yeah," Schnee muttered, twiddling her fingers. "I p-p-put a lot of effort into it..."
Nikki rolled her eyes, looking Schnee's project up and down. "Well, my dad helped me make mine, and I really want that prize, so... drop out, loser. Not that I'm afraid of you or anything, I'm really just trying to protect you from the embarrassment of failing."
Schnee snatched her project back, putting it on a classroom desk. "No way! I've put too much time into this project to just drop out, and I don't care if you ask me to-"
"This is why nobody likes you," Nikki groaned, walking forward and pushing Schnee onto her feet. Nikki's posse all laughed when Schnee tumbled onto the floor, and Nikki held Schnee's project triumphantly. "You talk too much, you know that? I think I'll make you learn something." Schnee eyes widened, hoping Nikki wouldn't do what she thought she was going to do, and then Nikki threw Schnee's diorama full-force at the wall, grinning as it shattered into pieces.
"NO!" Schnee yelled, rushing over to the broken parts and collecting them. Schnee tried her best, but the lights were shattered, the planets were crumbled, and the whole thing was a mess.
Nikki pointed and Schnee and cockily laughed. "What a loser! You'd really do the whole school a favor by jumping off of a cliff! Don't bother me again!" Nikki turned around and sassily sashayed away, with her posse not taking long to follow behind her,
Schnee was still trying to salvage, the parts, but after sparks had died out, the look in her eyes lost all hope. Feeling pathetic, Schnee got on all fours and hit the ground with her hands. "Why...?" she whispered to herself, tears streaming down her face. "Why do you hate me, God...?" Schnee crumpled up and fell on her side, and for a good amount of time she stayed there, bawling her eyes out.
----Schnee blinked repeatedly, looking around her; her flashback seemed to be over, and she shivered, remember those times before she was kicked out of the house. Schnee sat down on a chair that was near her, wondering. Huh... I still remember that day. Schnee shook her head. I went back home, still crying, Alban was gone, and Dad just ignored me... I felt so lonely. I wanted to die. Schnee shook her head. I can't let Richie be that lonely, nuh-uh. The least I can do is try to motivate him.
Schnee walked to the bed, and Mac, hearing her footsteps, grumbled and said "Go away! I don't need you to cheer me up-"
"Just shut up, okay?!" Schnee cut him off, and though he grumbled again, Mac stopped interrupting, caught off-guard by her assertiveness. "Look. Remember at the diner, when I told you that I was just some 'nerd who traveled to make it big?' Yeah, if you couldn't tell, that was a load of crap. The real reason that I got that taxi to drive me to Soleanna that day? Trust me, it wasn't my choice. It was my stupid dad's, if I even want to call him that anymore." Schnee's face became red just remembering. "My brother got into a car accident, and he had a whole career ahead of him in basketball, but he lost his legs. And Ginmethgow isn't a bad city, but it would've taken forever for them to get him prosthetics, and I couldn't just watch him suffer. So I used tech stuff from... outside sources to help him."
Mac noticed Schnee did a slight gulp when mentioning the outside sources, but she continued nonetheless. "...my dad didn't like my sources. Not a bit. And even though I tried to argue it was for his benefit, my dad wasn't in the mood to listen. He told me to leave... and I did. And here I am." Schnee exerted a heavy breath. "And I'm not gonna lie to you; I was angry. I still am angry. Angry at my dad, for being such a deadbeat-" Schnee stomped her foot- "-angry at my mom for leaving-" Schnee stomped her foot again, but this time, she took breaths before continuing. "Angry at my brother for just going along with my dad's plans and not defending me, and angry at his friend, who I knew so well, who didn't even say goodbye."
Schnee walked back to her chair and sat back down. "Honestly, considering how crappy things already were, I just wanted to lie down and die sometimes. But I was tired of being beaten down again and again, and all of this? This is amazing, Richie!" Schnee walked to Mac's bed again and grabbed her arm, turning him around to face her. "Ever since I got here, I've saved Princess Elise, as far as the public knows, gotten pretty rich on reward money, and now I know magic- or, to be correct, energy control exists! And you, Richie? You've been with me every step of the way."
Schnee sat on the bed, resting her hand on Mac's shoulder and making the tiger wince a little. "Look, Richie; you lost to that jerk, so what? When that boss leader rhino was knocking blood out of you and was literally going to kill you, you were still ready to get back up and get knocked down again!"
"Wait, weren't you unconscious for that-"
"Anyway, you can't just take this loss as the end to your entire future. You wanna be powerful, you said? I doubt there's anyone powerful who didn't get knocked onto their butts a few times." Schnee smiled. "Plus, you have Schnee Ainekas the Hedgehog, in the flesh, as your cheerleader! That gives you, like, at least 50 extra points on the 'You Totally Got This!' Meter, so..." Schnee put her hand out. "Whaddya say, champ? How about I fix you up, and then we show those jerks one helluva Round 2?"
Mac chuckled to himself. Wow... that was a lotta information, and she finally opened up to me. It seems pretty obvious that she's right, he acknowledged. Plus... I can't give up! I've worked too hard, and done too much for my journey to just end here! Brand won't know what hit him! Mac took Schnee's hand and shook it with confidence, grinning. "You bet, Schnee!"
----
A few hours later, Mac and Schnee were heading to Aorki and his apprentice's room. Mac was in yet another outfit; he wore a blue tank top with darker-blue lining on the edges and yellow shorts, along with black and white tennis shoes that read Reaganne on them still. Mac had bandages all around his body from the previous fight; one tape-like bandage on his right cheek, some bandages wrapped ferociously around his hand, and  more underneath his clothing that were hidden. Despite all the damage he'd so obviously taken, Mac walked with pride and energy, walking to the door.
Schnee had nearly as much confidence as she followed behind him, going in front of him to knock on the door. Within a few seconds, Brand opened the door with a curious expression... but upon seeing it was the returning duo, he cursed and leaned on the doorway. Upon further inspection, Mac saw that Hera was reading a book while laying upside-down on her head, and Buster was being easily entertained by a yo-yo. "Well, well, look who it is. Did the rich kid come to tell us he was suing for hurting his feelings?" Brand lowered his voice. "I thought I told you to not come back."
Mac had a false wistful look on his face. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm not that good at following directions."
Aorki appeared behind Brand, putting a hand to the falcon's shoulder and giving a silent signal for him to head back into the room. "Mac! Schnee! I'm surprised to see you both return! My apologies for apprentice's... brutality. If I may ask, though... why have you come?"
"We're here for a rematch!" Schnee announced, putting her arm around Mac who nodded in confirmation. "We've decided together that we won't stop after just one loss!"
"You heard the lady!" backed up Mac. "Plus, you never said that if I lost, I wouldn't be able to try again. No matter how much you to take me down, I'm going to keep getting up until I can join you guys! I don't care how many times I have to get thrown into the ground until I win, but I will win eventually!"
"I've heard enough," replied Brand, once again in the doorway behind Aorki. "Master, I'm ready to go against him as soon as possible. Let's get this over with." Brand cracked his feather-knuckles, and he looked particularly upset for some reason.
"Oh, joy! I'm glad to see two youngsters excitedly going at it!" Aorki clapped his hands quickly. "Well then, we mustn't lose our time, should we? I'll go ahead and get us to Stellarby Pond." Aorki tapped his wooden stick, and Mac and Schnee looked around them; for a few seconds, the entire world was turning a blank white around them and Mac and Schnee had begun floating in this void-like place. Schnee began to scream, and it began to glow fiercely... 
...and in just a few seconds, it was over. Schnee flopped onto her face, but was glad to see they were at Stellarby Pond, where Mac and Brand had their first match. Mac landed on his feet, but due to his wounds, he winced, going on one knee and rubbing his ankle. Brand scoffed on him. "You really want a rematch, Hartley? It'll get boring, beating you up again."
Once Mac realized that Brand was watching him, the pain subsided, and Mac stood up, pointing his thumb towards himself. "Then you'll just have to deal with the boredom," Mac shot back before turning around and walking back a few more meters to give some distance between him and Brand. Schnee, Hera, Buster, and Aorki were in the bleachers Aorki had created once again, and Schnee noticed that all of them had very giddy smiles as they watched the battle begin.
Aorki raised his wooden stick. "3... 2... 1...
BEGIN!"
Brand leaned forward, looking as if he was about to blast off for an attack, but Mac didn't tense up at all; instead, he began speaking. "...you all know why I want to be strong? No, it's not for the fame, or the power, like I said before. No, that's the life I left to come here. And so far, I've been nearly killed twice, so I think it's pretty obvious that I want more than just strength. If it was that, trust me, I would've given up a long time ago." Mac shook his head. "Me? I need to be strong... not just for myself, but for other people. Because I wasn't, before, and... someone really close to me got hurt.
"You see, the problem with being super famous, my parents found out, is that apparently, people like money. I've never really gotten the value of it, like, it's just paper we think has soooo much power, but I've had so much of it that I just never considered how desperate people are." Brand snorted, but Mac ignored him. "Three and a half years ago, my sister, Marlee? Yeah, she was kidnapped in some idiot's ransom scheme. It happened so quickly, and we had such bad luck; apparently, one of our security guys didn't show up, and the rest of the thing just divebombed straight into hell. Overnight, she was gone, and the next morning, we'd already gotten a call for ransom."
"My parents weren't sure how to deal with the situation; he said not to involve government officials or the media, but they were still super young, so they did anyway. Eventually, we were able to get him what we wanted (which was money, to no one's surprise), but... he didn't like police being there, too. So when we finally showed up, expecting to see my younger triplet sister super happy to see us there to rescue her, what was waiting for us is an image I will carry for the rest of my life." Mac clenched his fist, and what he said next came in a very harsh, cold tone. "She was sprawled on the ground. Her leg was beat to a pulp, and her face was even worse off... I remember crying as soon as I saw all the marks on her face..."
Brand merely rolled his eyes, and Mac's fist clenched even tighter for a little bit. "I couldn't let that go. Not then, not ever. That look on her face... I felt like a failure as soon as I saw it. I wouldn't allow myself to see my family, or anyone, that hurt again." Mac relaxed his fists and crossed his arms. "But going to the news wouldn't help; best case scenario, I'd start a campaign that only actually effects things in the next two decades. No, if I wanted to really be strong, to protect people from harm, I needed to have the power myself!" Mac pointed a finger with an outstretched hand at Brand. "And that, Brand, is why no matter how many times killers step on me, or you blast me with whatever the hell kinda magic you have, I won't stay down! And that's just one more promise that you can be sure I'll keep!"
Aorki, Hera, and Buster all seemed more heavily invested in what was happening. Schnee saw Aorki turn to his daughter, and Hera asked "You feel that, right?! What is that?"
Aorki grinned. "I'm not sure! I've never felt an energy signature quite like that, and I wouldn't expect to see it in someone who's so young!"
"Tch, I'm going to end this," Brand immediately answered, his eyelids lowered. Brand put his palm out like in their earlier fight, and the same orange fire orb was manifested in front of Brand's hand. "Go DOWN!"
Brand fired the fire blast, and Schnee was waiting for Mac to make some maneuver, but instead, Mac did the opposite; he stood there and closed his eyes. Schnee swore quietly, and she was about to yell at Mac to move, but what happened next surprised her a great deal. Mac opened his eyes for a second, when the fire orb was just a few feet away from him, and his eyes changed color; instead of their casual brown, they shone a brilliant silver, so brightly that even Schnee and Aorki's gang were able to see. Immediately after this happened, however, the fire orb collided with Mac, causing a huge smoky explosion.
==Chapter 3==
Mac woke up in his and Schnee's room again, blinking rapidly. His body felt... extremely hot, and he clenched his teeth together before looking at himself. He was on the bed yet again, and he was covered in even more bandages that he was the first time he lost to Brand. Mac eyed what parts of his fur weren't bandaged, and his brown fur had several black, darkened spots on it, as if they'd been lit on fire.
Mac could barely remember what'd happened to put him in this position. In fact, all of his recent memories were already fading away, like he'd been dreaming the longest dream of his life. All he dreamed about, even, were victories and happy times with his family. But he remembered such an extensive amount of these dreams, there's no way he'd just been out for one night, was there? How long had he been asleep?
Mac tried to sit up straight and cringed, the pain overtaking his back and making him slump on the bed before long. He barely moved his head to the side, where he saw Schnee (who had her hands covering her mouth) and Aorki (who had folded arms). "....Aorki? Schnee? What happened?"
"Personally, I'm not all too sure myself," Aorki half-answered, scratching his chin. "Schnee, will you recount the events to our newly-awakened friend?"
"Uh... okay..." Schnee responded. Upon further inspection, Mac noticed that her eyes looked like she'd been crying for quite some time, and even now there were faint tears gathering. "Well, remember how in your first fight against Brand, there was this fire attack he was going to use, but then Hera got in the way and blocked it for you?"
Mac nodded (which still hurt him), and Schnee continued. "Well, turns out she... she really was right about how strong that fire move was. After you made that big speech about your family - that was really sweet, by the way - Brand shot it at you. For some reason, your eyes started glowing grey or something.... but you still got hit. We were all so invested in what was happening, none of us had the time to save you this time, and.... and...."
The tears in Schnee's eyes began to drop, and she went to Mac, giving him a large hug. He did not see that coming, and as soon as he felt her arms make impact, he shrieked in pain. Schnee detached as soon as possible. "Sorry! Man, you're still aching, huh?"
"H-How long have I been out?" asked Mac, breathing heavily as a result of all of the movements he'd performed since his woke up. "C-Can't have been more than.... a day, right? Right?"
Schnee bit her lip and gave a nervous glance towards Aorki, who unfortunately shook his head and sighed. "Since your and Brand's latest battle, you've been unconscious for a week."
"WHAT?!" yelled Mac in surprise, shooting into an upright position.... before immediately slouching down after realizing how hurt he was. "A week?! How is that even possible, Brand's just the same age as me!"
"Well, age doesn't matter all too much in the world of energy," Aorki admitted. "Buster is about five years younger than you, Brand, and my daughter, and he's plenty proficient. But for you to courageous challenge a full-on energy and fire elemental projectile from Brand... quite frankly, you should be happy you recovered so quickly. I've known many who weren't so lucky when it came to their awakenings."
"Aorki, you gotta let me out there to fight him again!" Mac tried rising again, but his efforts, once again, were in vain; he yelled and went back to his resting position. "That jerk has already put me down twice, like heck am I going to take this loss again!" Aorki's eyelids lowered, but Mac didn't stop at his desperate persuasion. "Look, with all your magic-"
"Energy," Aorki corrected.
"-energy, you can definitely heal me up, right?" Mac used what little strength he had to weakly flex. "If you do that, then I'll be back on top in no time! Then Brand won't know what hit him! Oh, he'll be begging for mercy once Mac Hartley comes back.... again! Please, Aorki, I can't sit here in bed while he's-"
"Mackenzie." Aorki's voice became rather cold, and Mac shut up immediately. "You've endangered your life far too many times for it to be ethical for me to allow you to rush off into the arms of danger again. You're right. I could heal your wounds, and it'd be rather simple for me to, really. But I'm not going to."
Mac opened his mouth, about to protest, but Aorki lifted a finger and Mac ceased his argument. "No. You won't convince me on this, Mackenzie. I have no doubt that you want to join my group, but I can't have you just going to challenge Brand again and again to prove yourself. That type of trial and error won't prove itself beneficial in the long run, and I won't entertain the idea."
Aorki snapped his fingers, and several thick, purple books and journals manifested in front of the master lemur. Aorki pointed to a desk, and the books all landed on it. "Before I became an energy trainer, I was a scholar in the Solvage Tribe, and I wrote several books on the concept of energy. You need to take it slow, Mackenzie, and I believe that this reading and time to rest and think about your actions will benefit you. Until then..." Aorki began to walk off, heading to the door.
"Toodle-oo."
----
After Aorki's departure, Schnee hugged Mac again, telling him that it would be alright, and she'd do simple stuff for him until he healed up. With the money they'd received for "saving" Elise, Schnee was able to be out of their room for long periods of time, leaving Mac alone with the books. Mac wasn't any discouraged by his conversation with Aorki; in fact, it only made him want to work harder.
Mac spent most of his time reading through Aorki's books. It wasn't any sort of simple task; at his homeschool, it wasn't like he'd done heavy reading, he only did work that was equal to kids his age. Nevertheless, Mac put a lot of time and energy (no pun intended) into learning about Aorki's abilities, and what he'd studied about them.
Mac found one entry particularly interesting: energy conversion, or changing one's energy into different shapes. It explained why Brand was able to make fire; though the falcon wasn't actually a pyrokinetic, he was able to shape his energy to appear that way, and converted energy always appeared the same color as the user's "aura", which explained the fire's almost artificial orange coloration. Mac wondered what type of energy conversions he would make after he managed to join the group and practice on his own.
Despite all of his reading, Mac found that he was unable to pinpoint how energy was fueled. Perhaps when Aorki was writing the books, he didn't bother to include something so simple, but simple was exactly what Mac needed. Through days and nights, Mac searched relentlessly for some small hint, just a clue, on how he would be able to get started, but it was useless; he couldn't find anything, no matter how much effort he put into finding it.
When Mac wasn't learning more about energy, he was spending the rest of his free time trying to heal himself faster. Though he hadn't any Aorki-like powers, that wouldn't stop sheer willpower, he figured, and every day he practiced doing simple tasks. First was getting out of bed, which was definitely the most difficult. 
Alright, so I can't move my legs without hurting them, Mac rationalized on his first day of moving practice. But torso moving doesn't hurt nearly as much, and if I can move my legs without specifically moving that part of my body, then I should be able to get out of bed, easy! Mac mentally cheered at his ingenious plan, and he set out to put it into action, determined to show Aorki he didn't need energy to get past his newfound obstacle.
Mac's plan was simple; all he would do is move his torso in sideways motions in order for it to slowly carry the rest of his body. He started it one noon, thinking everything would go exactly as planned. Like, why wouldn't it? What was the worst that could happen? Mac began slowly rotating his chest to the edge of the bed closest to him, and surely enough, the rest of his body followed. Sure, he felt some aches, but it wasn't anything he hadn't planned for; in fact, so far, it was going even better than he'd hoped!
At least, it was.
Before long, Mac's rolling through the bed had him getting very close to the edge, and his life flashed before his eyes. He realized that he'd planned how to get off of the bed, but not exactly what was really happening or what he was going to do after he got off. He found this information out all too late; before he could second-guess himself or correct his mistakes any further, Mac fell of of the bed, landing on his face and staying there, the pain leaving him rendered useless and unable to move.
Schnee had to carry him that day.
Besides embarrassing failures such as that, Mac's efforts in ceasing his bed-ridden state weren't wasted. After the first five days of practicing, Mac regained strength in his legs, and he was able to get out of bed without simply rolling out of it. He started with very slow walking, but with practiced, he found himself able to easily move around the room with even less pain than when he'd started.
Watching all of this intense progress was Mac's new companion, Schnee. Schnee found herself in a position she definitely was not expecting to encounter when she first departed away from her home, but it wasn't like she didn't like it. With the excessive amount of money they'd gotten and the fact that Mac was already rich, Mac allowed Schnee to use the earning however she wanted. Schnee'd never had this much freedom in her life, and she was spending a lot of her time either buying things for the two of them of helping Mac throughout his struggles.
Schnee often asked herself why she didn't just leave. With all of her gained currency, she could probably find a steady job for herself somewhere, get an apartment, and be able to pay rent with ease. There was virtually no reason for her to stay with her crippled friend. But... watching him fall flat on his face day after day and always get back up was inspiring to her. He'd been through a lot, and Schnee knew what it was like, not having anyone there for you in the times where you really need a friend. So, without any type of reluctancy, she stayed, assisting Mac with a smile on her face.
Eventually, seeing Mac so invested in Aorki's books got to her as well, though at this point Mac was just rereading them for clues on how energy was manifested. It took her at least a week in order to be convinced, but Schnee began reading them as well... only to be fascinated at how much she didn't know!
Tech was what Schnee had enjoyed for so much of her life, but this energy stuff came directly from her! Schnee was enlightened upon the reading, and she understood why Mac wanted to be a part of this adventure so badly. Schnee was a much faster reader than Mac, and she caught up to him rather quickly, to the point where they'd ask each other questions about their reading.
A week and five days had passed since Brand left Mac beaten, and one day after shopping for supplies, Schnee searched around Cyclos for any signs of Aorki's group. She found them on a grassy street called Varway Lane, where they were doing something relatively normal; just simple stretches. Schnee assumed that they were about to start one of their training sessions, and while they were stretching, Schnee approached Aorki.
Aorki paused from his toe-touching stretch and stood upright, eyeing Schnee. "Ah, Schnee. Nice of you to visit us after all this time. How's Mackenzie been?"
Schnee made sure not to show any signs of hostility, though she found it difficult with Brand standing right there. She was tempted to just lunge at him and beat him up herself, but she knew that if she did that, she and Mac would probably be banished from ever trying to enter a grop again... so she just stood there and smiled.
"Oh, he's actually doing well," informed Schnee, looking optimistic as ever. "The first time he lost to Brand..." Schnee paused on his name, but she continued after Aorki looked at her closely. "...his spirits were crushed, but now, even though he's been beat way worse, he's actually really hardworking. The most hardworking I've seen him, actually. He isn't going to quit trying to join you guys anytime soon, that's for sure."
"I'm glad to hear he took my advice," Aorki replied, doing an arm stretch. "Those with high amounts of money have proven trouble for my group of apprentices in the past." The three kids snickered. "But I'm curious. You've shown no interest in energy manipulation before, you seem content, and you don't have Mac with you. What brings you to us today?"
"Well...." Schnee shuffled her foot. "I know that the agreement was that you wouldn't take us in until we passed the trial, but... Mac's always so determined, and he really wants to join, and I think I'd be a pretty bad friend if I didn't try to help him."
Aorki took a look of interest upon his face, smirking a little. "And what you're asking is...?"
"Is there any way I can get some practice of my own before I do the trial?" Schnee inquired, just blurting it out to rip off the band-aid. "Like, maybe you can just show me the basics, and then I'll do the rest of it by myself?" Schnee sighed. "Look, I'm not very good physically; Mac's waaaaay better than me in that way, and I don't have any strength right now. I don't have any materials to make tech-y stuff, and if I challenge Brand as it is, I'd be in way worse condition than Mac."
"Hate to say it, but she's right, I'm just too strong," offerred Brand with a cocky smile of his own, making Schnee roll her eyes.
Hera gave him a sideways glance. "You did not hate saying that."
Brand shrugged. "Oh, fine, you caught me."
He and Hera giggled, and that was Schnee's cue to stop paying attention to them and focus on Aorki again, who was muttering to himself. "Well, I don't want to seriously harm either of you. You've been through a lot, and I agree, I do think that there may be irreversible damage caused to you if you challenge Brand in your current state." Aorki snapped his fingers. "Then it's decided."
Schnee's eyes widened. "What's decided, you mean?"
"I'll teach you simple energy techniques, such as layering-"
Schnee excitedly cut Aorki off; she recognized that term from the books. "That's when you use your self-generated energy to layer yourself and it acts as a shield against damage taken, right?"
Aorki stopped talking when Schnee interjected him, but then a grin escaped. "...I see you've been doing some reading," he noted.
"Oh, Mac's the heavy reader, I just did it for fun, sorry for interrupting. I'll shut up now," Schnee offerred, though she was smiling wide.
"Well then, I'll teach you layering, energy transmission, energy escaping, and energy projection. Perhaps with how battered you were at Soleanna-"
"My body's reaction to that will let me use it easier!" Schnee covered her mouth after having interrupted Aorki again. "Sorry."
"Actually, do you have any other plans today?" asked Aorki, folding his arms. "We've just begun, perhaps today will be a review for my students and a new lesson for you. I won't get into any advanced techniques until you or Mackenzie qualify, but I'm willing to soften the blow for you."
Schnee jumped in place and clapped giddily. "Nope! I've got nothing to do! I'd love to join you!" Without giving him the opportunity to say anything else, Schnee ran to the group, doing a shoulder exercise next to Buster. The three of them eyed her wearily.
"Hartley sucks, but I definitely expected him to join us before this chick," Brand admitted, whispering to the others.
"She's a bit younger than you two and Mac! Maybe she's closer to my age, and we can play games!" Buster squealed a bit. "That'd be sooooooo fun!"
"I, for one, appreciate the addition of another female in the group," began Hera. "Honestly, the male to female ratio here is way too unbalanced for my liking."
"That's true, you wouldn't have anyone to play dolls with," honestly commented Buster. "But I have Brand to play superhero with, so I guess I can see how you'd get lonely."
"You think I play with-"
"Let him dream, Hera," interrupted Brand, giving the lemur a pat on the back. "In the meantime, let's see how long this newbie lasts."
"What you guys whispering about?" joined Schnee.
"Nothing," the group said in unison.
----
Four more weeks passed, and finally, Mac had the strength to be able to perform tasks like he'd been able to before. Sure, his body was weakened heavily by the non-stop combat he'd been involved in, but he was determined to get back in shape with lots of exercises for his entire body. Along with being able to get back into exercise, with his improved physical state, Mac was now able to take strolls around town, which gave him a nice tour of the area along with a good way to clean his mind when he had doubts.
One particularly not-doubt-cleansing time occurred, however, on one of Mac's strolls. He was walking by Varway Lane, and while he was daydreaming to himself, he heard several familiar voices performing battle-like grunts, loud enough to wake him from his thoughts. Mac snapped out of his daydream and turned his head to the side in order to view the sudden fights. Of course, it was none other than...
Schnee and Buster?! Mac thought, his hands thrown into the air. Schnee and Buster looked like they were having a sparring match, except it wasn't any normal type of martial arts match. Schnee was pursuing Buster relentlessly, and she leapt long distances, trying to close the gap. Nevertheless, Buster ran around in erratic motions so fast that Mac began to get dizzy just watching him.
Since when was Schnee able to jump that far? Mac asked himself, squinting his conjoined eyelids to get a better look. Indeed, Schnee's jumps were definitely supernatural with their large strides, but they still weren't enough to catch up to Buster, who was sticking his tongue out at Schnee with a look of childlike arrogance. That's when Mac was really surprised.
Schnee's fur around her legs began to glow a light color - was that turquoise? - with energy, a feat alone that made Mac take a quick gasp. Then, with the energy still circulating around her legs, Schnee did another hop with much greater speed than earlier, making Buster wince in advance. The hippo cowered as Schnee's shadow loomed above him, and when Schnee got close , the energy that was covering her legs then went to her hand, and she faced it towards Buster.
Oh, this is gonna be like in those actions movies! Mac rationalized, punching his fist downwards into an open palm. It's gonna be so epic! I can't wait to see the look on Buster's face when she releases it!
Mac's anticipation grew higher and higher as he saw the turqoise energy begin to escape Schnee's outstretched hand, stretching towards Buster. However, what Mac expected to be a huge, awesome beam was just a pitiful short burst of turquoise energy that didn't even reach Buster. Worse yet, the amount of force ejected from her palm sent Schnee rocketing backwards, going all the way until she began to arc and shot herself into the sky.
Buster breathed in relief, and Brand and Hera both looked at Aorki, who'd been watching the match quite intensely. "I'll retrieve her," announced Aorki, jumping into the sky with one leaping motion. Within a few seconds, he levitated downwards with a very ecstatic Schnee in his arms. Aorki smiled. "Well, Schnee, how did you feel about this match, personally?"
Schnee grinned at her master as they began to near the ground. "Oh, that was awesome! I got so much closer to actually shooting the energy off than last time!" Schnee paused for a second. "....actually, thinking back on it, it might be the same. I just get so caught up in the moment, you know? Everything's so sudden, and-"
"Well well well, look who made a heel-face turn of her own," interjected Mac, walking to the carried Schnee and Aorki with a slow clap. Schnee smiled, and Aorki began to release her out of his grasp. "Nice to see that you've become more involved while I was stuck in that room, Schnee."
"Yeah, well, shopping got boring after a while," Schnee deflected, still smirking a little bit but looking into the air as to not meet his gaze.
Mac snorted, folding his arms. "You do know that I'm not mad at you for this, right?"
Schnee sent out a heavy sigh and looked Mac in the eye, exhausted nearly immediately after he announced his lack of displeasure. "ohthankChaos. I was scared you were gonna freak, Richie! And honestly, I can see why, while you didn't have any options besides staying in that room, I took advantage of the situation you wanted to enter-"
"'Took advantage?' C'mon now, Schnee, you sound ridiculous." Mac walked closer to Schnee still. "Look, a little heads-up would've been nice, but it's cool, okay? Makes it less awkward than if only one of us was going to do it, that's how I'm seeing this whole situation." Schnee nodded in approval, and Mac gave her an eager thumbs-up. "Plus, this means that when I join, I'll be your rival! You might've just made this harder for yourself after all, Schnee!"
"Yeah, well, I'll take your word for it, Richie," responded Schnee, giving him a thumbs-up back.
----Mac watched one more match between Schnee and Buster (which went about as well for Schnee as the first one did), and then he turned to Aorki, who was watching the two go at it much more diligently than he'd been. "Dang, Schnee's doing a lot better than I did! How long has she been practicing?"
"About a month, I'd say," Aorki answered, doing the math in his head. Mac gawked at the amount of time, but Aorki continued nevertheless. "She's a hard worker, haven't seen a young energy user like her besides my own daughter. Even so, she'll need much more practice. As she is right now-" Aorki's finger glowed purple and he flicked it at a tree, shooting a fast energy bullet at it that left quite a large hole. "She can't even manifest an energy blast off of her body."
"Dang.... a whole month and she can't even do that? But you all make it look so easy!" Mac complained.
"Ah, but much effort must be put in to even begin the basic concepts. Schnee has already learned how to shift her energy through her body, so at least she's on track. A few more months... and we'll see just how far she can get."
"Cool," Mac quietly responded, not talking for quite a bit after that. Then, he decided to blurt it out- "You know, I'm basically back to normal, now. I can't run as fast, but I can still do a bunch of stuff."
"Ooh, good for you," Aorki bluntly replied.
"And I think... I think I could start some training stuff!" Mac shouted. Schnee and Buster were too focused to hear him, but Hera smiled at him, and Brand rolled his eyes. "I mean, I'll never catch up to you all if I just lay in my bed and take walks! You have to understand, Aorki, I left my family so I could get stronger, I can't just sit here and fail-"
"Relax yourself, Mackenzie," Aorki cut him off. "I know your passion, and your body is healed enough for you to be able to do some light training; enough to ease you into the real concepts once you're fully healed. I'll be able to figure something out for you."
Mac's eyes widened. "Oh my God, thank you thank you thank you!" Mac gave Aorki a hug for about two seconds before realizing what he was doing and backing away, sheepishly rubbing his arm. "Heh heh... I'll get better as soon as possible! When can we start?"
"Hm.... in two days I'll have organized something for you. In the meantime, rest up..." Aorki smirked at Mac. "Because you're going to need all that passion you have right now, boy."
----Two days later, Mac had just returned from a light jog at around 8:22... if you could call it that. He was still trying to ease his body into running, but despite that, he still needed a bit more time before he was completely back to speed. He'd returned to his and Schnee's room (Schnee was gone, as per usual) and gotten a few gulps of water, but a couple of seconds afterwards, he heard knocks at his door.
"Schnee, you back yet?" Mac asked, heading to the door. He got no response and opened the door, only to gain a bit of a queasy, surprised smile when he saw who had answered. Hera was standing before him, waving at him. "Hi, Hartley."
"Hey there, Hera," Mac replied, leaning against the doorway with a flashy smile. Finally, the two would get some alone time! All this time in bed had him worried he'd forgotten how to work his magic on the ladies. "Come to visit me?"
"Oh, please," Hera half-answered, throwing her hand out in exasperation. "You said you wanted to begin your training, right? That's what I'm here for."
"Oh, you're taking me to the old man? Thanks! I'll freshened up, and-"
"No, you dolt," Hera interrupted, making Mac stop in his tracks. "Daddy is too busy to be working on two newbies at the same time. You're my problem." Hera waited for a second, and she rolled her eyes upon seeing the optimistic expression Mac's face had contorted itself into. "Oh my God, you are hopeless."
"Whaaaaaaat? What're you talking about, I'm taking this all veeeeery seriously," Mac explained, still smiling at Hera.
"If you think your training is going to be you making lovey-dovey eyes at me the whole time-" Mac ceased his lovesick gaze at her immediately- "-then you're dead wrong, Hartley. Brand was a jerk, but trust me, I'm not going to make it much easier on you. Meet me around the Chao Barn in twenty minutes; I'll start getting your body back up to speed."
"Oooh, sounds fun-"
"CHOP CHOP, HARTLEY!"
Mac flinched and turned around hurriedly, getting his stuff ready. Hera smiled, folded her arms, and left the front door in order to prepare.
18 minutes later, Mac appeared to a field near a Chao Barn wearing a black singlet that read Reaganne on it with white sport shorts. Hera was leaning on a huuuuuge rock; probably reaching seven feet tall. Mac flashed her a two-finger salute. "Hello there."
Hera smiled. "You got here early. You are taking this seriously, aren't you? And here I thought Schnee was just talking you up about how much you'd been ready for this."
"I was BORN ready for this," Mac confidently assured, doing some casual stretches. "So, what kinda hard work you got cut out for me? 100 jumping jacks? 50 push ups? Do your worst, I can DEFINITELY handle it-"
Hera stopped leaning on the rock and lightly tapped it with her knuckle, and instantaneously it shattered into five equal pieces. Mac’s jaw dropped as Hera picked up one of the pieces and approached him; even shattered, it still looked moderately large, two Chao’s tall.
“Here’s how today’s training is going to work,” Hera began, putting the rock in Mac’s hand. He was caught off-guard and nearly dropped to the ground immediately; this rock was heavy! “We’re going to jog through Cyclos while you carry that.”
Mac began to stabilize himself, feigning confidence with his usual smile. “Psssshhht, no problem! Cyclos isn’t even that hard of a place to jog around.”
Hera chuckled. “Oh, you think that we’re going to jog around Cyclos? No no no, we’re going to go through Cyclos.”
Mac winced. At least it can’t get any worse than that!
“And as we jog, we’re going to go through every street, and then we’re going to circle every building we come across.”
Mac staggered, though he didn’t react that much, considering that he was still carrying the rock. “Wh-What?! Is that even possible?!”
“Oh, of course! Daddy gave me this as one of my first exercises… I think I was five when he taught it to me, yeah. Really good way to get your blood pumping.” She held up an open hand, wiggling each of her fingers. “We’re going to do this five times. Every time we finish by getting back to this point, I’m going to add one of these rocks onto your stack.” With ease, she lifted all four of them.
“By the time we’re done with this, what you felt after you got hit by Brand's fireball will feel like a papercut. It won’t be fun. You’re going to sweat. Heck, you might even puke. And we’re going to be doing this everyday, so when we finish, you might even get PTSD. Any questions?”
“....I think I need to go to the bathroom….” Mac queasily admitted, sulking. This sounded like hell.
“Since you got here a bit early, I’ll give you three minutes to relieve yourself,” Hera informed him. “Then, we’ll start our jog.” Mac’s face looked the slightest bit dejected, but Hera wasn’t oblivious. “Hey. I know how it sounds. When Daddy first told me about it, I cried a lot. But trust me, it’s so worth it! I saw the look in your eyes when you fought Brand, and I’ve seen Schnee’s determination when Daddy’s teaching her the basics. You guys are incredible, I know it! And I admit, I’d like to see Brand get some competition besides me. So even if it sounds rough now, please stick with it!”
Mac went silent for a few seconds, but then he returned an optimistic gaze at Hera. “Don’t need to tell me twice! If you really want me around, who am I to deny you that, heh heh?” He used his hand to scratch behind his ear, promptly forgetting the rock he was carrying and causing it to drop onto his foot and making him yelp in horrible pain.
Hera winced. “Okay… how about I give you six minutes?”
----After Mac used five of those minutes trying not to cry about his foot and the last one relieving himself, he returned to Hera and they promptly started the rock run. The first round started pretty casual… but soon enough, it got difficult, and Mac could feel the severity of his current task. If Schnee’d been with the group for a month, that had to mean she’d been doing this run too, right?
Wow, I’m happy she hasn’t given up yet, Mac noted, barely able to think between pants. The thought is preeeeeeetty tempting right now.
As they ran, Mac also noticed that instead of leaving them at the field, Hera was carrying the other four rocks by herself, and she wasn’t even breaking a sweat. Whenever Mac saw this, he felt a bit… revitalized. It’s like having someone there who outperformed him by so much just made him want to work even harder.
The run also meant that Mac could really get a feel for Cyclos Village; after all, he and Hera literally circled around every building they passed by. Though Mac had seen a few of the village’s inhabitants when he’d previously gone on walks, he saw Hera actually greet most of them by name, so he tried to copy her. This made the run somewhat simpler, but not by much.
Eventually, they even passed by Aorki’s other two apprentices and Schnee. Mac saw Schnee standing in one place and yelling a lot, and he was confused, but he nonetheless greeted her and the two of them had a quick exchange before Hera and Mac continued on their way.
Soon enough, their first lap was finished, and Mac flopped onto his stomach. He felt exasperated; he’d never exerted himself so much physically in his life. Meanwhile, Hera still looked as if she’d just gone on a leisurely stroll. “Alright, I’ll give you ten and then we’ll start with the next lap.”
“Can’t… breathe….” Mac mustered, barely able to get the two words out.
“I know, I know, it’s rough,” Hera acknowledged with a solemn nod. “Especially the first time. But hey, at least you didn’t pass out halfway through! Brand and I actually made a bet on that, and now he owes me 150 Rings,” Hera said with a joking grin.
Mac tried his hardest to think of a snarky response, but all he could do was make random noises that made Hera snort with laughter.
After a bit of time, it was time for the second lap. It took Mac more time to adjust to having two rocks in his arms, and to distract him, he watched Hera as she now only had three. Hey, I guess as it gets harder for me, it gets easier for her!
But instead, he watched as Hera simply shattered another large rock nearby into another five pieces, now lifting eight rock fragments that were all about 75 pounds each… and she still looked unbothered.
“You ready, Hartley!” she asked, interrupting his amazement.
“For…. for sure,” Mac answered, still somewhat catching his breath.
“Tell me when you need breaks, but with only two rocks, we’ll be taking maximum three minute long breaks, and you only get four,” Hera explained. “Alright, let’s get a move on.”
“Yes, ma’am,” added Mac, and they began their second lap.
The cycle of them running continued similarly to the first, except for the fact that Mac required more breaks; however, the time and frequency limit Hera had placed on him forced him to exert himself even more. To try to distract himself once again, he held short conversations with passerby, and again worked on memorizing some inhabitants’ names.
These actions would continue until late in the afternoon, when Mac and Hera had finally finished their fifth laps. Mac was practically dead at this point, and he barely muttered “Finally…” before falling onto the floor, next to a sitting down, smiling Hera.
“Okay, not even I could’ve predicted you’d actually finish your rock run today,” Hera admitted, looking into the barely-conscious Mac’s eyes. “You really are something, Hartley.”
“Don’t… speak too soon…” Mac warned her with a light chuckle, before he quickly fell asleep. Hera returned him to his and Schnee’s room, where Schnee was extremely surprised upon seeing Mac’s state.
“Don’t tell me that you beat him up like Brand did!” Schnee complained, taking Mac’s body from Hera.
Hera chuckled and shook her head. “No, he just finished his first rock run. He’s all tuckered out, now.”
“Oh Chaos, he just did his rock run? How many laps did he finish?” Schnee questioned with no longer hostile, now curious eyes.
Hera’s chuckling face instead transformed into an eager grin. “It’s hard to believe but he actually finished all five laps-”
“WHAT?!” Schnee interrupted, catching Hera off-guard. “You’re fooling me! When I did my first run, I only made it three-quarters into lap 2 before I was out like a light!”
“If his story about his sister was for real, then he’s got a lot driving him, that’s for sure,” Hera commented. “Oh, it’s so exciting! You two are definitely shaking things up around here! Tell him to meet me at 8 in the morning tomorrow.”
Schnee nodded. “Will do!”
The next morning, at 7:56, Mac was up and ready to go. “I won’t need nearly as many breaks this time!” he assured Hera.
“We’ll see about that,” Hera remarked, breaking rocks and giving one to Mac as they began their morning jog. Since this was his second time, Mac was much more eager to greet those he recognized, and he was able to actually finish the first lap smiling, though still drained. By the time they’d finished their fifth lap, Mac could, again, barely stand.
“Alright, nice work for today! Same time tomorr-”
Hera was interjected by a Mac who was, surprisingly still able to speak. “No…. again. Gimme ten minutes, I wanna go again.”
Hera had an expression of obvious surprise written all over her face. “You mean… you want more rocks?”
“NOOOOO!” Mac cried, slamming his exhausted face into the grass. “Just… I want to see how I handle more runs with five. If I do this training at a normal pace, it’d be nice, but I want to go beyond that!”
Hera’s eyes glimmered with excitement. “Well, I’m up for it! Doing more of these runs helps me, too! Alright, how about…. Three more?”
“Four!”
“You’re the man, Hartley,” Hera stated with a nod. “You won’t get as long or as many breaks, though. Are you sure you’re up for that?”
“How could I…. expect any less from my personal drill sergeant?” Mac breathed with a half-smile.
Throughout the week, Mac and Schnee would continue to get busy; while Schnee continued with her usual refresher training with Aorki, Brand and Buster, Mac would start doing up to fifteen five-rock jogs with Hera every morning, afternoon and evening. By the end of the week, Mac knew most of the village’s inhabitants by name.
There was still one glaring issue, though; one day, after they'd finished their seventh lap, Mac decided to ask Hera how exactly to manifest energy, like he saw Schnee do that one day. For the first time in a long while, Hera seemed genuinely caught off-guard.
"I... I think it has to do with how strong your will is to get it out of you," Hera answered. "Whenever I do it, all I picture is how easy it is to get all of that potent energy leaking out, and..." As a visual, Hera put her hand out, and quickly, it glowed pink. "...there it is, as soon as I call upon it."
"Well, that sounds easy enough," Mac cockily replied, putting his hand out. He closed his eyes and imagined his entire body, and pictured the energy flowing out of him like it often did in Aorki's drawings n his books... but when he opened his eyes, there was nothing. Mac groaned. "Ugh, no cigar."
"Sorry, Hartley," Hera apologized with an empathetic shrug. "This is your first week doing actual training. Maybe it'll come to you eventually."
"Sure hope so," Mac grumbled underneath his breath, grabbing eight rocks before he and Hera headed out on yet another run. Throughout the week, after their runs, Mac and Hera would try again and again to get Mac to manifest energy... but there wasn't even a glimmer of hope for the tiger. He was just flat-out unable to, it appeared like.
But Mac kept his spirits up. I'll get this eventually. I have to.
----It was the end of the week, and one morning in particular, when Schnee and Mac awoke, Schnee didn’t see Mac heading out to do his daily rock runs with Hera. “Yo, Richie, what’s the hold up?” she asked as she prepared her breakfast alongside him. “Did Hera bail out on you already?”
“Nah, she said she’s giving today to rest,” Mac informed Schnee with a scoff, muttering as if I needed it. “So…. I had an idea for today!”
“And what’s that?” asked Schnee, genuinely curious.
“Well, I thought, since we’ve both been so busy lately… why don’t I come watch what you’ve been up to every day? I mean, you’ve actually been practicing with Daddy-”
Schnee gave Mac a suspicious look, and Mac covered his mouth blushing. “Crap! Force of habit, Hera always calls Aorki that. Anyway, you’ve been training with the old man himself waaaay longer than I’ve been doing rock runs, so I might as well see what I have to look forward to.”
“Well, well, well, Richie,” Schnee jokingly taunted inbetween chomps of cereal. “I wouldn’ta guessed that at the start of this, I’d be the one doing the big girl stuff while you’re catching up.”
“Ha ha.”
“But sure! Actually, besides your rock runs, you haven’t seen what I’ve been up to, have you?” Mac shook his head, and Schnee grinned. “Great! You’re going to be amazed, trust me!”
Mac’s tail waved from side to side in a rhythmical fashion, showing his excitement. “I mean, a lot of the time when I see you, you’re just standing there screaming. What’s up with that? Are they brain torturing you or something?”
Schnee’s grin turned sinister as she faux-evilly chuckled to herself. “Oh ho ho, you’ll see… you’re just gonna have to be patient, which might be hard for you since you’re rich, but you’ll manage.”
Mac folded his arms and slouched in his chair like a grumpy kid. “Fiiiiiine. But finish your cereal soon, I wanna see it already!”
Not long after, the two sped off to go meet Aorki. Schnee was surprised at how Mac was keeping up with her running speed; at this point, both of them were probably able to match, if not outpace, a high-level track competitor without going all-out. Schnee supposed it did make sense, though; he did have better physicality than her, and his constant training with Hera definitely amplified it.
When they arrived to an open field, Brand and Buster were playing a rapid game of tag that involved them zooming all over the place, with Aorki commentating on their little game and Hera strangely absent, which was a disappointment to Mac, but he wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it. The games quickly ended once the two apprentices realized that the newcomers had arrived.
Brand scoffed, standing next to a panting Buster. “Thanks a lot for bringing Hartley into this, Schnee. Didn’t Hera tell him to buzz off today?”
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily, firecracker,” Mac taunted, wagging a finger. “I’m just here to watch Schnee today. Y’know, see what I’ve been missing and all that.”
“Oh, sick! This’ll be fun, now we have someone to watch her with us!” Buster exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air. “Since Hera started doing those runs with you, I’ve started to miss her, but now we have another talking buddy!”
“Sure… ‘buddy,’” Brand mocked, using finger-quotes. He and Mac glared daggers at each other, but Schnee interrupted their deadly silence by heading to Aorki.
She bowed to him before speaking, and he reciprocated. “Alright, Master, can we refresh on energy escaping? Mac saw me do the first steps to it a few days ago, and I’d like to show him it, since it’s what really got his attention,” Schnee requested.
“Why, of course,” Aorki answered with a hearty smile. “I’m all for motivating you both further. Remember to get stable footing first, or you could overheat yourself with the released energy!”
“Got it!” Schnee confirmed, scurrying a few meters away before stopping. She turned towards the group and dug her feet into the ground, and her smile turned into more of a neutral expression… perhaps even a frown? 
A vein lightly appeared in Schnee’s forehead, and then, that’s when Mac heard the familiar screaming. Schnee stood in place and yelled her lungs out for fifteen seconds, leaving Mac feeling quite… unimpressed as he turned to Buster. 
“I don’t get it. Is something supposed to be happen-”
“Shut up and watch, Hartley,” Brand shot him down.
After five more seconds of yelling, Schnee’s glasses went flying into the air, and Mac quickly saw what was occurring. Suddenly, a deep turquoise fire-like aura erupted around Schnee’s body, and she shone brilliantly like a humanoid star. The mere pressure blew Mac back a bit; of course, the other three (Brand, Buster and Aorki) weren’t suffering this.
“Whoa,” Mac said to himself, needing to use his hand to cover a bit of the incredible light emitting from his friend. “She wasn’t kidding. This is incredible!”
“Eh, nothing too special. It’d be pathetic if she couldn’t flex her aura by now,” Brand annoyingly added, making Mac glare at him sideways.
“Really? ‘Cuz the only thing I’ve seen you flex so far is your ego,” Mac insulted, and him and Brand glared at each other again.
Finally, Schnee’s furious yelling stopped, and her aura died down, similarly to a flame being blown out. She went to pick up her glasses, put them back on, and smiled at Mac. “Isn’t that just the coolest?!”
Mac’s staring contest with Brand ended once again as he turned to her and gave her his cheeky grin. “Oh, for sure! I def got plenty to look forward to!” He scratched behind his ears. “I’ll catch up with you in a snap, though! Enjoy it while you can!”
“I’ll be waiting,” agreed Schnee, nodding.
“Alright, great work, Schnee!” Aorki complimented. “Brand, Buster, help her with energy transmission for the next half hour.”
“Got it, Master,” they chorused, heading off with Schnee. Aori was going to follow, but instead, his path was cut off by Mac.
“Yo, Aorki,” Mac began.
“Yes, Mackenzie?” Aorki didn’t look surprised in the slightest to be referred to as ‘Aorki’ by the tiger.
“You see how Schnee’s able to do all of that energy yellation-”
“Energy escaping,” Aorki corrected.
“-energy escaping stuff? Well… it seems like she’s gotten a pretty good handle on it, and a week ago you said she’d been going pretty steady at it for a month. Even though I was injured most of the time, I’ve been practicing a bunch with Hera, and still…”
Mac flexed his arm, thinking his hardest about what the feeling of energy circulating and then appearing in his hand would feel like, but nothing happened. He sighed. “Still, I’ve gotten nothing. How is she so much… better than me at this.”
“To be frank, Mackenzie, it isn’t entirely your fault,” informed Aorki, getting a confused face from Mac in return. “I’m guessing when you asked Hera how to do it, she said that all it took was determination, correct?”
Mac nodded, and Aorki gave him a hearty laugh. “Ah…. I’m not surprised. She’s been able to perform energy-related feats since birth, it’s actually quite impressive that she was able to even tell you that much. The whole story is that to utilize energy, you need to connect it to a source.”
“Wait a second, I thought the whole point of this was that we were the source, we just needed to practice our bodies to bring it out!” Mac complained.
“That’s part of it, yes. But our life force needs a more… heavy-handed connector in order for us to manifest it outside of our bodies, you could say,” Aorki continued to explain, gazing longingly at Schnee, Buster and Brand. “The truth is that energy not only comes from the soul, it comes from the heart; more specifically, our emotions.”
“You see, throughout my various energy-related studies, I’ve learned that in order for one to use energy at its maximum potential, they must connect their usage of it to a certain emotion. The stronger that emotion is in the user, the more proficient and easier it will be for them to use and draw out that energy.”
“Really? That’s a looooot more detailed of an answer than Hera gave me,” joked Mac. “So, what does Schnee use to do it so easily?”
“The emotion that Schnee has connected her drive to is one that comes to most energy-utilizing newcomers, but it has glaring flaws; anger. You saw the vein throbbing while she demonstrated energy escaping, right?”
Mac nodded, and Aorki continued. “That wasn’t due to physical stress. To call upon that energy, she drags herself down to a sense of despair and hatred in her heart, and through that, she’s able to manifest it… quite easily, in fact. Worryingly so.”
Mac was taken aback by this, and he visibly flinched. “Wait, for real?! Schnee’s making herself angrier… just to be able to bring out her energy? That’s messed up!”
“As juvenile as it sounds, Mackenzie, I must agree,” Aorki concurred.
Category:Fanfiction
Category:Fanfiction
Category:Fanfiction
Category:Mystic Series
Category:Mystic Beginnings