Disclaimer: We do not own Chao, Sonic, Tails, Mighty, or Rouge. Those are owned by Sega.
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"For the last time no! We can't afford it." She said to her offspring. "We can get one for your birthday, but you'll have to wait until then."
"But mom . . ." Protested Ken.
"Everyone at school already has one." Added Ren a pleading look in his eyes.
Jen finnished at the end next to her brothers. "They can't talk about it when we're around because they don't want to spoil it for us."
Their mother sighed, the eight year olds wonder they had broken through her defenses but she repeated her stance, they couldn't get the new fifty dollar game CD for Sonic The Hedgehog, she had bought them the music CD that went along with the game already and that should have been enough in her opinion.
Truth be told, the kids didn't really care for the adventure part of the game, what interested them was the chao raising game that was built into the main game. Experted would contrabute it to triplet similarities, however, Ken, Ren, and Jen were not identical triplets, they just all happened to enjoy raising the cute little rain drops and playing them as best they could with the play character's limited options.
Of course their mother just saw the oversized price tag attatched to the franchise video game.
Ken prepared to try another last ditch attack on their mother's sympathy, Ren decided to just let things go where they may, and Jen went for another go at the diplomatic rout.
Their mother decided to sweep the battle field clean by simply declaring they were leaving and would return their perchase already and for them to be happy with what they got when there were childern in Africa who were starving to death.
That was when Ren off handedly noted a small LCD type game on the counter that looked like a larger and more detailed version of the digi-pet, except it was shaped like a chao with the emotion dot being an attenna.
"What about that?" Said Ren thinking maybe a compromise would work, dimly. The teenager behind the counter was quick to lanch into his sale's pitch, having sympathy to kids who were gamers at such a tender age (and of course to spite protective mothers everywhere) and went the price route having herad the cries of battle.
Under this Four Pronged Assault, the Triplet’s Mother finally gave in - at least to the Digipet, which was much less expensive. However, she was not exactly sure WHY she gave in... It was as if something influenced her subconcious mind...
Happily, the Triplets cheered as they got at least SOMETHING out of the deal. Of course, Ken being the agressive one was the first one to play it, even though the comprimise was Ren’s idea. Jen really didn’t care either way.
Their mother decided that it was a good thing the toy came with batteries, otherwise she would have had to buy them there at the counter, in spite of the fact they had plent at home. When kids wanted to play with a new toy, they wanted to play -now.-
With all the focus on the new game, not the triplets, nor their mother noticed when the music CD feel out of a tear in the plastic bag it was in, due to some conviently placed potted plants it hit the ground undamaged, left and unseen by it's buyers.
After Ken had messed around with the chao egg that came up when the game was started up for the very first time for a few minutes his sister suggested that he share it with his siblings now. Ken said he wasn't done. Jen said she wanted her turn and Ren seeing he was the deciding force took sides with Jen to have a turn with the virtual chao in the car ride. Their mother decided to only interven if it degenerated into a yelling contest between the triplets.
Ken was being even more stubborn than usual, not allowing his siblings to even try. Of course, this ended up with the predictable shouting match, and for once, Ken seemed to be winning. Their mother decided to intervene now and have Ken give the game over to his sister, Jen.
Ken gritted his teeth and tossed the game to Jen seeing if she would miss. Jen just giggled when she caught it while Ren brought his hand to his mouth and tilted his head slightly at his sister.
After a few minutes of also messing around, Jen smiled to herself... Maybe I should let Ren have a turn?, she thought.
In a rather liquid motion, Jen took the game and handed it Ren, who tilted his head again with his hand in his mouth before smiling broadly and doing the tinyist of jumps in his seat belt. After which he calmy began to play the game as well, still smiling, the chao egg had hatched to reveal an infaint chao.
Of course at this point there was no telling which of chao it would become, the back of the game's tiny box said that all depended on the person who raised the chao.
Ken had an afinity for dark chao, he liked nasty cute, Jen perferred light chao because they were so tranqul and calm, while Ren just went with the normal chao, not trying to push them either side of the line.
Ren had a strange feeling that something was happening, but he let it slide. Maybe it was just his shock over how his sister had practically skipped her own turn.
The Three Siblings may not have been able to be any more different, but they were completely inseperable. They seemed to be getting closer just by playing this game too...
Finally the car stopped in front of their house and three hyper active kids ran out. Their mother was rather surprised and pleased that the kids didn't automatically go inside to turn on the TV or just crowd around each other to play the game, kids these days just didn't spend enough time outside.
The triplets started out by running around the grassy front yard as kids will. This running soon became skipping, which in turn transformed into graceful frolicing. Jen took off her shoes then socks. feeling her toes grip the grass, then just running her feet over the smooth grass. Ken and Ren followed suit without much of a second though.
"Happy, happy." Ren said smiling still holding the game in one hand, Ken and Jen thought he was acting a little odd, but they were feeling good too and didn't want to spoil something happy. After all. Happy was as happy does, and the point of existence was to be happy. Not being happy wasn't happy, and not fun at all.
They noticed some other kids from the other yards looking at them strangely, but they waved it off. They simply weren’t happy, that’s all.
Their mother noted their strange behavior, but chalked it up as a Phase. They’d grow out of it, right? Of course they would...
Standing in front of an invisible audience that only she could see in her mind's eyes, Jen curtsied, stood her legs together, and began to sing an amazingly simple song. Her eyes closed, her voice was cheerful if lacking passion.
"La-La-La-La-La-La-,La-La-La-La-La-La." She swayed right and left as she sang.
Her mother was rather surprised at this, Jen could barely sing, but her songs were always heavily vocal, kids changed she calmly remembered, it was nothing to worry about. The others who hadn't decided to ignore them were now looking at Jen with raised eye brows and a bit of slight couriousity.
"La-La-La-La-La-La-,La-La-La-La-La-La." If Jen thought her song was rather bland, she sure wasn't showing it, and Ken and Ren really didn't seem to mind at all, in fact the simpliness of the song made it easy to follow along, and easy to listen to, and if they somehow lost track of the song, they could pick it right back up! While Ren was smiling, Ken was grinning.
Ren started to chime in, and then sung as well... The duet revived some kid's attention for a minute or two more as the simply performance. Ren and Jen were happy that they might be able to make all the kids listening happy, and it was so good to be happy rather than not happy, and her song was happy, so it was bound to make others happy, and that made them happy. After all, their song was happiness, coming from happiness, to happiness of happiness.
Ken mentally gagged at the cuteness, and wondered why he wasn’t doing anything about it... Not that he really cared. He could do better than those two anyday, but he preffered to be the center of attention. If the others are singing too, then they’d be paying more attention to them than to him.
The chao on the LCD screen continued to change and grow without any button pushing from the device but still recieving input from the players. Grinning . . . Ken 'sneaked' away from his brother and sister's concert, which was actually holding the other kid's attention now, they felt like they couldn't turn away.
Picking up some sidewalk chalk that had been left outside, still grinning, he eyes narrowed slightly, pranced over the concrete and began to scribbling a full color picture on the ground with a single stick.
Running back in for just a minute, their mother put dinner in the micro-wave, missing Ken draw the flamming chao skull as his artistic expression, the kids who weren't transfixed by Ren and Jen's repetativitly, simply, happily songily, got their eyes somehow glude by Ken's nasty, creepy, darkly artisty.
Getting up from his hands and knees position, Ken did a small jumping jack as celebration over his new picture, his cuffs reaching his fingers from the streach. The other kids were now swaying to Jen and Ren's song, a smiling tugging at some of their faces. The other kids were grinning as they looked more and more intently at Ken's picture.
"Kids! Dinner!" The spell was broken, and the other kids felt dazed as Ren and Jen stopped singing (their voices sounded rather similar for being different genders). And Ken actually smeared his own drawing so no one could look at it without them knowing it was his and take it for their own credit. The kids who had been looking at blinked, the last few minutes feeling rather foggy. But . . . they had felt . . . happy . . .
Question marks might as well have appeared over the three kids heads as they turn around, and those question marks would have turn to exclaimation marks as they saw their mother and all did slight jumping jacks and ran towards her. Jen beamed, Ren smiled and Ken grinned as they ran towards their mother almost tackling her. The other kids outside meanwhile were trying to remember what Jen and Ren had been singling . . . and what the smug on the sidewalk had been before.
Their mother was now a bit... confused as to what they were doing. Why were they acting so... Active? They had never done that before...
It was like they weren’t themselves... But that can’t be it. She noticed Ren was STILL holding the game...
"Ren, we don’t have games at the table!", their mother shouted.
Ren gave his mother the biggest, strongest, puppy dog eyes that were phyically possible for a human being and his mom felt her heart string pulled. -Still- rules were rules. "Please Ren, put it down." Ren did put the game down, at the table and pushed it slightly out of the way. It wasn't making any noise, and it was rather small, so his mom decided to let it slide just this once. She had already taken the pizza out and placed it on the table, after grace they each began to nibble their slices holding them with both hands, humming as they hate wabbling their heads back and forth.
Another Eyebrow raising development. What was with those kids of hers? They never acted like this... And she didn’t think they would... What was going on? Something in the back of her mind told her it was normal, but that something seemed... foreign. That same something that got her to buy the game, in fact...
Right after the trio had gone back inside the kids tried to figure out exactly what had been going on, it had felt so out of place, yet so embracing and becoming. Kids have not as many preconceptions as adults about what's real and what isn't, thus, they didn't knock off the yellow orange fractle point of light with it's trail of microscopic embers. Some of the girl said tinker bell, while others thought firefly, and the fewest who took a step back thought ghost. The adults of course told themselves they saw nothing as they called their childern in for dinner.
As the various childern got back inside for dinner, they knew they had been happy with the triplets' performance, even if it was all so vague, but as vague as it was, they would never forget it. ...Whatever it was...
When each kid was about half through a slice, they would drop the pizza almost as a reaction, they mother would ask them what was wrong but they would proceed then to just pick it up and begin nibbling again cheerfully. The Triplets had soon finished their food, and had quickly grabbed the game and ran into their rooms... well, into Ren’s room. Ren & Ken tended to stay out of Jen’s room. Much too PINK for them. Usually tho, Jen stayed away from the Boys’ Room as well. Although wondering what was up, their mother simply returned to her usual tasks, as she had to finish them incase unexpected company dropped by.
Still bare foot, the triplets all sat in a circle looking eagerly at the toy their mother had bought them, tapping on the button controls in turn, watching the chao, it had already began to walk on two legs rather than crawling. Ken's room emitted a rebulshion to Jen, and the same could be said about Ken and Jen's room, however, Jen didn't really feel anything towards' Ren's room, akin to Ken's feelings. Ken wanted to take the game for himself and grinned at the idea, but then he'd have to deal with mom and Jen and Ren wanting it back. Jen liked the idea of having the toy to herself as well, but it was always nice to share, and since it belong to all of them that wouldn't be right. Ren accepted having both Ken and Jen in his room without a second thought.
As the chao on the screen took it's first steps and was given a bit of fruit, Ken, Ren and Jen put the game down for the moment to celebrate it's growth. The three danced in a circle around it, their motions fluid and simple.
Although they did not notice it, Each of the Triplets’ Skin was changing color... Ren’s turned blue, but got yellow at his feet and hands, Jen’s turned white and got blue at the hands and feet, and Ken’s turned black with a pinkish-redish color for the Hands and feet.
Suddenly, little objects appear out of nowhere and start floating over the triplet’s heads... A small yellow ball that looks like the Antenna on the Chao Game for Ren. Jen got a blue halo, while Ken got a pinkish spike ball.
The triplets stopped their circular dance at the same time, sensing the others' motions perfectly, feeling perfectly calm and natural with this sense. Ken showing a toothy grin, Ren a smile clear across his face, Jen an open mouthed beaming on her features. They each saw the new color their skin had taken and that of their siblings, but instead of panicing and go to their mom for help, they just kept on their respective expressions.
The motion above their head catching their eyes, each looked up at the others and saw the objects floating above them, each changed into a question mark as they watched. What were the objects they wondered. They had seen them before. They knew they had. Their thoughts echoing each other for the moment they each came to the realization at the same. They were emotion dots! That was what they were called! The emotion dots turned from question marks into exclaimations as they all jumped in cheer at them all getting it right without anyone telling the answer. It felt so good, and made them so happy even at such a minor success.
As Renny was playing the game while Jenny and Kenny were looking at opposite ends of the room thinking they didn't look 'cheerful/creepy' enough, their heads started to bend in shape a bit, until they looked like water Droplets - Well, Renny's was a water droplet, Kenny's was Jagged, and Jenny's was like hair jel. Over the point of the "droplets" is where the emote dot was hovering.
Looking over to see what they could do to remmedy this Kenny and Jenny spotted each other and their new 'hairdo.'
Kenny pointed and laughed in his voice a little on the gravel side. "You look funny!"
Jenny made a cutie pose and retorted, her voice a little high. "I look pretty."
Renny looked between his siblings, trying to think of what to say so neither one would hate him... "Umm... I think... uh..."
"Well?", they both asked.
Renny sighed. He hated when they got like this... They did it all the time, and it was always him who had to settle things. Couldn’t they ever just get along?
"I think I'm cute." He finally said.
The two other kids looked at each other and laughed at this, their emotion dots forming into hearts. Renny laughed his own emotion dot turning into a cute heart. The chao game beep getting Renny's attention, picking it up he offered it to his triplets.
"Whose turn was it next?"
"I think it was Kenny’s Turn next," Jenny said.
Kenny snatched the Game from Renny without even saying thanks.
Jenny and Renny’s Emote Dots formed into small tornados of frustration. Wasn’t Kenny EVER going to grow up?
The three didn’t notice it, but they had shrunk down to a very small size, and their clothes had all vanished. It’s as if they were always that way... The Triplets looked totally different now.
In addition, their hands and feet seemed to fuse seemlessly with their arms and legs. Still, they didn’t notice, or at least care. The kids were fixated on the toys in the room.
Locating a colored ball that was nearly as tall as them, Renny and Jenny began kicking it back and forth between them as they waited for Kenny to finnish his turn with the game. Finally, Kenny got bored and tossed the game aside. Jenny noticed this and picked up the game, the chao still hadn't entered it's second egg yet. Which meant it had become a light, dark, or normal chao.
"What should we name our chao?" Jenny asked. She blinked her blue eyes turned white in black. "I think Hikari is cute."
Renny blinked as his brown eyes turned blue. "Buddy might be good, if it's okay of course with everyone else."
"Baw." Scoffed Kenny, his brown eyes turning white in blue. "Yami’s a much cooler than those!"
Suddenly, The kids’ backs started to hurt as little wings sprouted out of them. Also, markings appeared on Kenny and Jenny’s Stomaches... Kenny’s was a Pinkish-Red Marking that resembled the crecent moon shape on Knuckles’ Chest. A Blue marking appeared on Jenny’s Stomach. Kenny also started to grow fangs.
"Chao! Of course you’d say Yami was cool name." Jenny laughed. "It's your name!"
Yami crossed his arms and tried to assume a ‘don't care’ pose. "It's still a cool name! Chao! And it's still better than Hikari or Buddy!"
Renny looked between Jenny and Yami his emotion dot turning into a question mark. "Chao?"
"Then again, I guess we’re no better," Hikari laughed, "Considering our names."
"Yeah. I guess not," Buddy said, sighing.
Something wasn’t right, but Buddy couldn’t put his finger on it. Something was different, but all is as it should be... Is that even possible? Giving up, he mentally sighed, and thought that it didn’t matter. Thinking like that just made him unhappy. And not being happy was not good.
The game beeped again and all three of the kids gathered around the machine.
"Chao chao! I think it's gonna enter it's adult stage!" Said Hikari cheerfully.
"Yippie!" Added Buddy.
"Wouldn't it be fun to be a chao?" Said Hikari outload, glade mommy had gotten them this cute game.
Yami leaned closer wondering if the chao would be dark when it came out. All three of them sat down on their rears around the game, their eyes focused on the game screen, they saw the chao beginning to enter it's second egg. Their vision started to blurr white and it became harder to see the screen, but at the same time, they felt more and more comfortable and safe with things.
Soon, everything was clear again for Buddy. That was a nice nap, he thought as he looked around.
The place was just as he remembered it. A nice green pasture, with a waterfall at the side. He knew from experience that the waterfall held races and martial arts tournaments just for Chao like him! If only Sonic would stop by... Oh well. Maybe he could use the Chao Walker that Tails had invented for him. It was hidden underwater in the Chao Garden. He’s glad that he can swim, because that lets him get to the Chao Walker without needing Tails’ help retreving it.
Nothing lasts forever however, and soon the egg vanished and Yami was once again back in the darkness garden. Nice deep Pool of Blood. Dead trees. Jagged gray rocks everywhere, graffiti on anything remotely flat. Nice view of Skull Chao Mountain. ‘Nothing could possibly beat this place!’ Yami sniggered wondering if he could find something cute and innocent to stuff in the pot when no one was watching again! Maybe he could cause some Mayhem with Dr. Eggman’s Dark Chao Walker. It was hidden deep within the pool of blood. Only Dark Chao who could swim were able to get it, let alone locate it without having to wait for Eggman, who not even Yami liked very much... He wondered if the white bat who always called him cute would be by today.
Hikari yawned as the egg she was in vanished. She loved where she was at. Her home, the Light Chao Garden. Green grass growing everywhere, Marble Chao Fountains... And a marble pillar with a church bell. And with the river, it was absolutely heavenly. Idly, she wondered if Mighty or the others would be visiting today...
After adding to the scribbles on the cave wall, Yami heard a whistle and knew who it had to be. Getting out he saw the white bat, his emotion dot becoming a exclaim then a heart he raced towards her, ramming almost into her legs. He grinned his fangs at her. The bat picked him up and snuggled him. "Come on cutie, time for you to learn a few tricks."
Hikari noticed someone enter the gateway to the garden and her emotion dot turned to a heart and jump off the ledge and flew right into his arms. Her hatcher was here. Today was a happy day. And a happy day was a good day, because happy was good, and good was always a nice thing.
"H-hello." He started as if confused.
"Hello! Chao chao!"
"Er, and what's your name?"
"Hikari, silly! Chao! You know my name! Fun game! And your name is Mighty!"
"Right. Just testing you," Mighty said, chuckling.
"What we gonna do today?", Hikari asked
"Why don’t I drop you off at the daycare center so you can learn something new, okay?"
"Okay! Learning is fun!"
Hooboy..., Mighty thought, rolling his eyes. I wonder what poor kid got turned into this hyperactive little squirt. At least, I hope it was a kid who got turned into this. I’d pity the adult who got turned into a little Chao.
Both Rouge and Mighty saw each other as they entered the Daycare center. A Stareoff went underway... Neither one really liked the other. Mighty didn’t trust Rouge, and the feelings were mutual.
Mighty had no more a clue who Rouge used to be than Rouge did, not that Rouge seemed to care anymore than Amy. He’s pretty sure though that he used to be one of Charlie’s girlfriends. Actually, he did have a pretty good idea, but he wasn’t positive...
"Hello, Mighty," Rouge said in a perfectly even tone. Only those who were good at reading people would know that she was hiding something.
"Hi. Dropping off your Chao?"
"Yes."
"And that’s all?"
"Uh-huh."
"That’s what I thought."
Both brought their chao in and set them with the teacher, before leaving.
Hikari and Yami instantly recognized each other. They had both hatched at first in the Neutral Garden after all before their hatchers had dotted on them. They wondered where Buddy was. But knew he had to be having fun wherever he was and it would be a fun story to hear when they did see him.
As the teacher chao talked about drawing, which Yami knew how to do anything, the dark chao was able to sneak out. Wonder where he was going Hikari followed, doing her best not giggle as Yami had also suppressed his urge to snigger.
Buddy was tired of waiting for Sonic. He was probably off saving the world again without him. Why couldn’t he ever have an adventure? Well, he could just go out of the garden and to the transporter... but what if he gets lost again...?
He shrugged and decided to risk it, sneaking into the Chao World Lobby, and onto the transporter... A Flash of light, and he found himself in an open green place with checkered floor and really big flowers and palm trees...
"Pretty, Chao!"
* * *
"Where are you going chao?" HIkari asked her emotion dot turning to a question mark.
"!" No description needed. "I'm . . . just looking for something fun . . ."
"I don't think we should go out of the class room . . ."
"Come on! It'll be fun! And it can't be bad if it's fun right?"
"Fun IS happy . . . but Mighty tells me sometimes that fun things for some can make others not-happy."
"That doesn't even make sense! Chao!" The two chao snaked out of the main school hall into the main courtyard. That was when they saw it. "Cool! Chao! Chao!"
"Oooh! Chao!" Hikari fluttered above the ground to the object of their attention. "You think we can play with it?"
"I don't remember anyone telling us not to." Said Yami knowing Hikari wouldn't do anything without permission no matter how fun, what a stick in the mud.
"But..."
"Come on!", Yami yelled as he dragged Hikari into the balloon, just as it started to take off!
"What!!? Where are we going?"
"I dunno, but I’ll bet it’s fun!"
The ballon just seemed to rise into the air for some time. Not going any particular direction. At last HIkari put one of her hands outside the ball on the space outside the ballon seemed to be, warp. Yami noticed this and started to do the same and the space warpped even more into the distortion became as large as the ballon. It seemed to actually pull the chao and ballon right into it.
Many swirls of colors surrounded the Balloon, and a glass tube was seen below... It looked like the perfect place for a game... Just then, they saw someone Blue running by... Sonic... He’s chasing the Dark Blue Chaos Emerald!!! And with him were two strange looking foxes. One was the two-tailed prodigy named Tails and the other was a strange blue fox with brown headfur, whom neither Hikari nor Yami knew!
"How about a game, Hikari?"
"What do you mean?"
"I try to stop them from getting the emerald, but you try to help him"
"You’re on!"
The End...