Guiding Light

"I'm just a food delivery person..." he replies, "And no tip is ever going to make this outing worth it..."

The hedgehog snorted softly.

"So should I not bother givin' you a tip at all, then?" she asked, "I won't complain about savin' a hundred or two."

"It's always good courtesy to give a tip. It's not worth it to get roughed up though. Regardless of the amount." the raccoon clarifies.

The hedgehog eyed him.

"Never been a fan of smartasses," she pointed out, "Now, can you get up on your own? What's broke?"

"I think I can manage... I don't think anything it broken... I'm just sore I believe." the raccoon replies.

She gave a nod. "Alright then." Her eyes moved back over to where she'd last seen the coyote and then over to the open doorway. "Guess I better check on Flame and get the hell outta here."

She stood up again and began digging through the front pocket of her jeans. The hedgehog withdrew a wadded-up hundred dollar bill. She tossed it down to the raccoon. "Sorry you got dragged into this." With that, she stepped away and started off back towards the motel room Flame was still in.

"Ugh... you and me both ma'am." the raccoon replies after watching the bill drop to the ground beside him.

The hedgehog offered no further conversation as she made her way back across the parking lot. She carried the wolf to the motel room, pausing briefly in the doorway to look back towards the bed.

Flame didn't appear to have stirred yet either.

The older hedgehog let out a breath, stepping into the room and then taking a moment to carefully lower the wolf down across the foot of the bed, opposite of Flame and leaving his feet towards the door. She then stepped around to the far side of the bed and braced one paw on the mattress while she leaned forward to examine the navy hedgehog.

"Flame?" she asked, watching the teen's ears and face for a sign of her waking up. When none came, she reached over with her free paw to gently shake Flame's shoulder. "Flame," she said more firmly.

This time, Flame's eyes opened suddenly as her body jolted. She appeared panicked and saw nothing more than a dark shape looming over her. As quickly as she'd awakened, she lashed out with her right arm, slamming a clenched fist hard across the other hedgehog's jaw.

The purple hedgehog flinched from the blow, grunting and stumbling back away a couple of steps. She brought one paw up to her face while Flame winced and grabbed onto her injured arm, having only further agitated the damaged bone there with her attack.

"Geez..." the older hedgehog commented, flexing her jaw back and forth, "Some thanks I get for comin' to get you and your little friend."

The familiar voice made Flame open her eyes and she looked up to the other hedgehog. "...Mom?"

"Who'd you expect? Aiden?" the hedgehog replied dryly.

Flame furrowed her brow, but relaxed and let her head drop back onto the bed. She continued to cradle her arm as she stared up at the ceiling. A few moments of silence passed before the hedgehog stepped back towards the bed.

"Where are you hurt?" she asked, clearly indicating Flame's arm with her gaze.

"Can we just get out of here first? That guy won't stop gettin' back up."

"Ehh... He might stay down for a little longer this time."

"... You didn't kill him, did you?"

"No promises, I didn't go check."

"Ugh, Mom..."

There is a brief spell of quiet from outside, before a voice breaks it.

"What th-ahhhhhhhhhhh!!"

A brief shockwave rattles the walls and furnishings inside the room. Then the cry from outside is cut off moments after the sound of something smashing through glass can be heard.

The sudden rumble and a shout from outside made both hedgehogs suddenly look towards the door. The darker-furred one clenched her paws.

"Well, I've been wrong before... Flame, if you have stuff to take home, grab it so we can go."

Flame's quills were bristling nervously and she winced as she sat up as quickly as she could. A wave of dizziness washed over her however and she had to pause and put one paw to her forehead. "My phone... It's on the floor.. somewhere. And my backpack," she muttered.

The other hedgehog briefly glanced around, easily spotting the backpack where it had been thrown to the floor during the earlier attack. She stepped over and snatched it up, but never took her eyes off the door. The backpack was tossed onto the bed between Flame and Wolf.

"When you got your stuff and his, peek outside and, if it looks safe, holler," the hedgehog ordered firmly. Before Flame could reply, a whirl of fire appeared and promptly engulfed the purple hedgehog, then vanished with her.

Flame frowned, but slowly began to rise from the bed to try and find where her cell phone had wound up.

Outside on the roof, the hedgehog reappeared in a similar burst of flames. She scanned the parking lot, fists raised level with her middle in preparation to fight if need be.

As it turned out, the coyote was not as dead or incapacitated as the hedgehog had hoped. In fact, he was perched on the roof, above the room Wolf and Flame were still inside. The injuries he'd received were quite serious, but somehow he was still capable of getting up and moving.

It was quite a shock for him when there was a burst of fire almost directly beside him. He slides back to avoid getting burned again, even though it wasn't like to make him much worse off than he already was in that regard. He's only about two arm lengths away when the flames have begun to disperse and he already has one arm raised up towards them, a ball of energy formed but still growing in front of his paw.

Once he realizes the form there is of the hedgehog, there is no hesitation, no pause for commentary. He releases a blast that would be about three times harder than getting hit by a football tackle.

As the world reappeared around her from her teleport, the hedgehog was more than a little surprised to see a shape right there within reach. By the time she recognized the coyote, he'd already unleashed his attack, sending her flying back through the air with a short yell. She went tumbling across the roof, rolling to a stop on her side with her back to where the coyote had been.

Rather surprisingly, however, she didn't stay down for more than a few seconds before her body tensed visibly and she shifted to start pushing herself up onto her paws and knees. There were a couple of soft grunts and groans from the hedgehog, but she turned her head to try and look towards the coyote again.


Meanwhile, inside the room, Flame had managed to get down on the floor and start looking for her phone under the bed. She'd just grabbed it, surprisingly undamaged (no doubt thanks to that stupidly expensive case on it), when she felt a shockwave from overhead and heard a shout. The navy hedgehog sat up, a bit quicker than she should have, and looked up worriedly.

"Oh shit..." she muttered softly.

She braced her paws against the bed and pushed herself back up to her feet. Flame looked to Wolf, hoping maybe he'd be waking up by now.

The coyote presses his other paw down against the roof. About eight seconds later, the roof underneath the hedgehog began to glow brightly. A few seconds after that another blast would go off, tossing her into the air if she was still there.


Inside the room, Wolf doesn't seem like he's any closer to regaining consciousness. He continues to lie prone on the bed.

The hedgehog spotted the coyote still in one place. She was just pushing herself up to a kneeling position when the roof beneath her started to glow. Her eyes narrowed, but she promptly scrambled on all fours to get clear of the glow. She only just got out of the way before the second blast sent another shockwave that knocked her over forward and sent her tumbling again. She managed to avoid landing on her face and instead hit the roof with her shoulder and rolled a little ways once again.

Not about to wait for another attack, however, the hedgehog raised one paw almost as soon as she'd come to a stop, blindly hurling a fireball in the direction she thought the coyote was in. It was more of a distraction as the aim was quite off. She looked up promptly after, focusing her gaze to find him again and try to throw another attack.


Flame glanced around, not entirely sure of where Wolf's bag had wound up either. At the same time, she also reached down to his shoulder to give him a gentle shake. "Wolf?" she asked, "Come on, dude."

Another blast from somewhere overhead shook the building and Flame looked up warily. She had to wonder if her mother was evading these attacks or just being blown to high hell over and over.

The coyote aims a blast down at the roof below himself, intending to follow the hedgehog. Instead when he sees her move clear and instead get blasted across the roof and then counterattack, he instead changes the angle of his attack, launching himself across the roof. He doesn't head right towards the hedgehog, but instead comes close to where she had landed after his first attack.

He doesn't really land though. Just as he touches down, he triggers another blast from one paw to send himself right at the hedgehog, while also charging up another blast in his other paw.


Wolf stirs slightly as Flame shakes him, but it isn't enough to rouse him.

The hedgehog spotted a blur of movement from the coyote sending himself flying through the air, first heading behind her, then rushing right towards her. It was fast enough that she didn't even have time to get to her feet and try to attack. It was quite surprising that he could still move so much, considering his injuries.

A scowl formed across her muzzle before she disappeared in another burst of flames to avoid the attack. Rather than appearing elsewhere on the roof, she re-formed inside the motel room, not far from the doorway.


Flame gave a frustrated sigh as Wolf didn't wake. She ducked down a little when another shockwave went off right overhead, then was followed by another farther off. She had to wonder how much of this the building could take before starting to fall apart...

The teen quickly looked around the room and spotted Wolf's bag over by the bathroom doorway. She was just picking it up when her mother appeared, looking rather rustled judging by the scrapes on her and her bristled quills. The sudden, fiery appearance made Flame jump and she held out one paw to attack if necessary. Upon recognizing the older hedgehog, she lowered her arm.

"We're leavin'. Now," the purple hedgehog stated firmly, stepping over between Wolf and Flame as Flame joined her and also picked up her own backpack, holding both backpacks with her uninjured arm. "Hope you got everything 'cause we're not comin' back," she added in as Flame took hold of her mother's arm. The elder hedgehog also reached down, setting one paw against Wolf's shoulder. "Watch the door." She lowered her gaze and furrowed her brow to try and gather enough focus to teleport all three of them.

Flame gave a nod, keeping one paw rather awkwardly raised towards the door, despite the backpacks hanging from her arm.

The coyote is surprised to see the hedgehog disappear again before he reaches her. He passes through the flames as they quickly die away. He comes to a stop a short distance beyond and quickly looks around, bracing himself for the follow up attack he was expecting.

After several moments and no attack came and with no sign of the hedgehog, he's left puzzled for several moments. Then with a flash of insight, he starts moving back towards the room that Wolf and Flame were in as quickly as his body would allow.

Inside the room, the hedgehog was noting the difficulty of having teleported too many times in a short span. It took her several seconds to actually pull herself together enough to take herself, Flame, and Wolf out of the area.

After what felt like too long, though, it worked, and the trio disappeared in a significantly larger whirl of flames that enveloped them all before dissipating into the air.

Moments later, the coyote steps in through the doorway. He's just in time to see the last of the flames disappear. He clenches his paws and then lets out a howl of rage and releases a blast of energy that brings the room down around him.

Farther out in the city, the trio appeared up on the flat rooftop of what looked like a two-story office building. The hedgehog let out a breath as the flames receded from around them. Oops, and Wolf dropped from under the paw that she'd had on him and landed flat on the roof. It seemed he'd arrived in the teleport at the same height off the roof as the bed had been from the floor.

"Shit," she muttered as she knelt to one side of him to check how he was doing.

Flame dropped the backpacks and also lowered herself down onto her knees on the other side of the wolf. "Geez, Mom, what'd you do that for?" she asked.

"I didn't have time to really think about the difference between the bed and where we'd end up," the hedgehog admitted, "At least we're hidden. For now."

Wolf lets out something like a cross between a groan and a sigh slowly as he lies there between the hedgehogs.

"... az... bot..." he says faintly, a short time later.

"What'd he say?" the darker hedgehog asked, appearing confused.

Flame returned the look. "No idea..." she admitted. She then glanced around. "Why didn't you just take us home? Why are we still here?"

"Hey now, I just teleported probably across the country to come and get you," the hedgehog pointed out, "Then I had to fight the crazy guy after you two, then teleport, what, three more times alone and then again with two extra people? That takes a lot of energy, Flame. I need a little time to recharge. Hopefully we can watch our backs from here and lie low until then."

Flame frowned, but gave a nod. "Yeah, yeah, okay... That guy freaks me out, though. ...Why didn't you just beat him?" she asked.

"You kiddin'? He's about got the dark, edgy version of your powers from what I felt. I wasn't about to risk gettin' knocked out and leavin' you two on your own."

"Was he that strong?"

"Almost. He got the surprise advantage. I wasn't totally sure I'd win fast enough to get back to you."

"Ugh. I'll be glad if I never have to see him again."

"Same."

As the two hedgehogs talk, Wolf slowly regains his bearings.

"Ugh... too much pain... to be dead..." he says softly as he opens his eyes and glances upward.

The duo both looked down at Wolf as he started to speak. Flame leaned over him a bit. "Yeah, just barely," she replied, "How you feelin' otherwise, though?"

The other hedgehog remained silent for now, listening to the exchange.

"I don't think I could feel much worse... Next time... you get the door..." Wolf replies.