A New Sanctuary?

Gear let out a sigh, lucky him they weren't gonna attack. 

"S-sorry, my engine overheated and I fell here, I heard y'all and was hoping to hide behind the waterfall," the metal hedgehog nervously scratched his head, "Silly me huh?"

He already noticed that the red hedgehog, who he heard called Caen, didn't trust him at all. Not to mention he was one of the many who also thought he was apart of this "Eggman Empire" 

"Well, uh... I should probably introduce myself," Gear dusted himself off and spun in place, stopping in his signature pose, facing the group, "The names Gear, Gear the Metal Hedgehog. Nice to meet y'all." His pose was short-lived as the Chao that had been with feline was circling him, promoting the others to come out and also marvel at him, one even landing on his head looking down at the green bot.

"So uh..... " Gear said as he slightly distracted by the chao currently on his head, "What is this place and what are y'all up too?"

Yukiko breathed out silently in relief. He was friendly for certain. These little chao wouldn't have even considered going near him, let alone sit on his head.

"It is very nice to make your acquaintance, Sir Gear," Yukiko spoke softly to the robot. "M-my name Is Yukiko, and the chao who just bopped you is Melody. She is r-rather curious, please don't mind her."

The purple leopard slowly advanced forward to pick up the little white and blue creature to removed her from the green robots face. "Melody, that was ru-rude to just hit him like that, apologise to him."

The baby chao looked up to her partner with huge glittery eyes, only to be met with a stern expression; one not normally shown on the female cats face. A tiny sigh escaped the chao before she wiggled free and floated back to hover in front of Gear with a sad face. 
"Chao, chi kooo..." She lowered her head slowly in submission before holding a stubby little hand out in an offering. She held a small chao fruit out to Gear. She floated down to his metal hand and placed it into the palm area before making her way back over to Yukiko and sitting on top of her head.

"Everyone else c-can introduce themselves. I must get some s-supplies out to make a start on t-this garden some time t-today." Yukiko looked to the group and nodded slightly before making her way back to where she dropped her bags just by the entrance.

Caen continued crouching for a few minutes, talking softly to the chao who flew around, absolutely carefree. When he had finally been satisfied that none of them were harmed, he stood up again. “Yes, Mr. Gear, sir, I apologise for my rash behaviour,” Caen said, shoving the shovel into the dirt so it would stick upwards. 

He turned to the robot, bowing, “I am Caen Flare. Pleased to meet you,” he said, before straightening up again. Cinder looked up at the hedgehog, frowning a little. Caen merely smiled softly, as though to tell the small creature that all was safe. Cinder remained apprehensive, however. It was as though he had seen robots similar to Gear in the past. 

Caen held out a hand for Cinder to land in as he spoke, again “this is a chao garden. A rather old one, at that. It’s a sanctuary for these little creatures, often to protect them from animals... and people...” Caen turned, looking to Yukiko “what would you like me to do first, Yukiko?”

(going to try this rp out)
A bat in civilian clothes,but in a mech pilot flight suit would make it after a long trek walking up the mountain to this chao garden. He will take a deep breath cause it was a long climb. ' Should have.... just fly... I'm a bat and why I forgot that?' Mike would think to himself as he walks into the garden. As soon as he sees the clear water he would run over and dunk his head in there. He was tired for this trip.

When he sticks his head out the chao were staring at him as he stares back. The big reason he came here cause he wanted to find something for the love of his life Natalia and what better way to show his love than to find a chao for her to call her own.

As the metal hedgehog introduced himself, Dione turned back around and listened to everyone conversing. When it was her turn to introduce herself she stood up and smiled awkwardly. "I'm Dione. Uh, nice to meet you." She quietly waited for the Yukiko and Caen pick something to do, and then proceeded to walk towards the pile of tools towards the entrance of the garden. 

She picked up the larger shovel, thinking she could start by shoveling up the dirt and turning it over so the leaves could compost and the seeds could be planted. "Is it okay with you guys if I start digging the dir-" Before she could even finish talking, she noticed a man coming through the entrance of the garden. How did he know it was here? It was quite well hidden and not many people knew of its existence. 

She turned to face him and hesitantly spoke. "Uhm.. Excuse me, sir, but uh.. How did you find this place?"

Gear accepted the fruit the Choa gave him with a bit of puzzlement, "Oh... uh... thanks," 

Gear gave nervous chuckle when Caen called him "sir", "Heh... no need to be formal, Gear is just fine." He then took a mental note of each of the surrounding members: The Green wolf was Dione, the red hedgehog was Caen flare, and the purple leopard was Yukiko.

"Well... since I'm here and all... mind if i help out a bit?" Gear took this as a good opportunity to learn more about mobians and about the world, something he would need, "I can help with whatever you need, In fact let me bring up something to lighten the mood..." His audio began to swap and change, almost sounding like he was flipping through radio stations. A second later a calm Relaxing theme played softly through the garden from him. A lot of the Chao seemed to immediately enjoy it.

"Ah... there we go," Gear smiled a bit, "Knew I recorded that music for a reason."

The robot, Gear had turned out to be rather pleasant. He even offered to help out with fixing up the garden. Then the most unusual thing happened. He stopped talking and before they knew it, music was playing from him, enticing and relaxing the chao around them. It made Yukiko feel at ease too ,even though she normally didn't listen to music unless she was cleaning up. 

All in all it matched up perfectly if they were to be tidying up the garden. 

"You do not have to if you do not want to. There are many of us here already, so if you want to instead relax here, feel free to."
She looked over to Caen who had asked for her input on where to start. She honestly didn't have a clue, but knew she wanted to get started on the fountain pond in the middle at least herself. 

"I-if you could perhaps help by removing some of the moss and foliage from the statues, that may help at least freshen up the main f-focus of the center of the garden? I'm going to t-try and fish out some things from the w-water in the fountain to put the filter inside it."

Turning to the others, Yuki smiled as Melody floated beside her silently. "I guess if there is something you think you can assist with, then go ahead and do your b-best ."

Just as she turned around to see a male bat who had just entered the garden suddenly and dunked his head in the very place she was just about to start to clean up. She wasn't sure if the guy was completely sure he wanted to do that or not, but it brought out a nervous giggle from her. She picked up the filter from the ground and walked over to him. 
"Um, sir? You do know that water is not v-very clean, right ?"

The bat looks to the people and falls down rubbing his fingers on the tounge ' eww eww eww.'

The bat will flop on the ground as the other person ask how he found this place.

'I heard rumors in town of something in the mountains and I spend 5 days to try to find it. I had to ask from Sherpas and there rumors until I found this by accident. I am sorry I came in unannounced, I just wanted to find a chao for the love of my life.'

As Yukiko suggested Caen begin removing moss and foilage from the statues, he merely nodded, turning to get to work. 

Just as he was about to, another person ran in, sticking his head in the... Rather dirty pond water. He couldn't help but feel a little amused as he began to scrub his tongue. However, when he mentioned that he had found out about the garden due to rumours in town, he raised his eyebrow "that can't be good. We need to keep these Chao safe..." He shook his head "I'll sort it out, soon."

Caen walked to the first statue, scanning around the ivy and moss gathered around it. He thought for a few seconds, using his hand to grab a few bits from around the base. "Hmm... In fact!" He held up a hand, igniting a flame in it, before holding it towards the free statue. In an instant, the foilage and moss caught fire, burning away and leaving behind a much cleaner-looking stone statue. "Ha, much better!" He said, grinning. 

Cinder, meanwhile, had flown around to check out Gear some more. Staying away from him, mostly out of unease. When Gear began to play music, the red and white Chao sat down on the ground, looking up at Gear, his mouth hanging open "chao chao?"

The music Gear started to play was actually quite nice and calming. It seemed to fit well with the environment and its inhabitants. What followed was quite amusing, the newcomer, a bat man, started rubbing his tongue after realising what he had just drank from. It was quite a comic thing to witness.

Dione decided to keep out of the conversation they were having, knowing that if three people were to ask stuff all at once, it would seem as if the guy was very unwanted and not welcome. She understood that for the safety of these chao and the garden, they would need to be kept secret but it wasn't as if the wolf wanted to make anyone feel like they were to be outcasted. 

Instead, she just focussed on her work in the garden. She started digging up some patches of the grass where it was overrun with moss and other weeds. It was a heavy task but she could handle it. She wasn't the weakest person and had pretty good stamina after all. The main issue was how warm she got so quickly. A few minutes into the digging, one of the chao started watching Dione, sitting on the ground next to her and babbling away to itself. It was actually quite the adorable thing. 

The chao was mainly white with hints of purple and blue, clawed feet and mediumsized wings. It seemed to already be an adult chao, as it had a halo floating above it. The little blob had two pink and white feathers sticking out of its head and its arms were resemblant of a seal. It seemed it had taken on the features of a few animals combined. When the canine stopped to stare back at the chao, it smiled, floated upwards and started circling Dione while softly murmuring what seemed to be a song. 

The girl kept an eye on the small water creature while continuing her work, noticing it had gotten closer to her, only for it to land on her shoulder. The sudden contact slightly startled Dione and she dropped her shovel to reach out to her shoulder and pet the small thing on its head. "Aren't you quite the adorable thing?" After a few pets, the chao floated back down to the ground, sat down and kept on watching Dione again, neverending chatting and babbling away to herself.

As the music played Gear looked around for something to do to help the group when the Chao that had been following Caen stopped to look up at him.

Gears usual smile widened as he bent doen, handing the fruit he had to the small Chao,"Here you go little guy, you'll have better use for this than me." he then stood up and stretched as he walked around the garden looking for a task that needed doing.

Soon he found himself something as he began to clear large fallen trees and rocks fom around the garden, placing them in a more clean manor to smooth out the gardens looks and remove potential hazards from Pits which he filled with the racks and dirt to various ruins he put back together as much as possible.

The sound of his plasma beam was soon heard as he fused various rocks together to create small stone structures and clear the area for Dione to keep gardening with minimal obstructions.

All the while the music kept playing with him humming along softly.

Mike will get up as he not only try to drink 'who knows where it's been' water, but also people freaking out why he came here.

'What? All I knew was it was a possibility. I thought they were lying, but I needed to find a chao for Natalia. Besides, I wasn't going to steal one. Issac Marakov's book of Chao said that the best way a chao will love you if it wants to be with you.'

Mike will just take a seat. Waiting until the group is okay for him to do anything since he was a stranger to them.

Everyone seemed to be calm and relaxed. Tidying up the garden was going well, and this new male bat wasn't any immediate threat to the chao either, as told by their demeanour's towards him. While everyone had their fair share of amusement from the event in which he threw his head in the water for a drink, Yukiko had gone into her own bag to produce a bottle of much cleaner water. 

"Here, sir," She held out the bottle to him if he was still thirsty after that. "I-i'm certain this will taste much better and w-will not make you sick, I promise."

While she waited to see if the bat decided whether to take the drink or not, Yukiko looked over to the sound of another member of their 'team' conversing with a chao as well. Dione seemed to have befriended an adult hero chao that looked to have been cared for possibly in the past. However with nobody around except for them, and the little creature taking such an interest in the purple haired canine, it made her believe the possibility of them becoming partners could be a very real thing. "T-that one seems to have taken a s-shine to you, Miss Dione. Maybe you could be p-partners perhaps?"

The garden was full of people at this point. Many of the chao themselves were growing a little flustered and excited that the garden was attracting people to them, as they all walked or crawled around them, showing interest. As the violet and white female looked around some more to find anything else that could be taken care of today, a thought had struck her.
If there was a hero chao in here, then wouldn't there be a garden connected to this one above? She read that most known gardens would unlock expansions of sorts if there was a hero chao and a devil chao born and raised to an adult in the neutral one. That would mean a potentially bigger place for them all to explore, and they could spread out a little more and give the little water creatures some space if needed as well. the garden was big, but not majorly huge.

((Red has asked to be skipped this turn ,so Dione it is now your turn!))

Dione kept working, noticing Gear had started accumulating rocks and other rubble, shooting it away with plasma beams. It made her own work a lot lighter since now she didn't have to move the stones on her own. A thankful nod and grateful smile was her answer to the robot. 

The canine kept listening to everything else going on in the garden. Yukiko seemed to be minding the newcomer and taking care of him by offering him a fresh bottle of water. It was a nice gesture and it brought another smile to the wolf's face. When she realised she was staring at the feline, she quickly looked away again as a rush of heat flushed through her cheeks. Oops. 

At the leopard's remark on the chao that kept following Dione, her ears perked up and she thought for a second. "Maybe we could! I don't know if this little thing would be up for it but.." She trailed off as the chao started jumping up and down, almost as if it wanted Dione to lift her up. The wolf reached down, gently picked up the chao and laughed at it. It was making funny faces and was squirming around slightly, pointing at the girl's shoulder. 

She reached over to her shoulder, placing the small blob on it, and continued working, a bit more careful this time as to not knock off the little thing. It started singing a short song as the two of them continued. "Do you.. Do you really think she would be fit to come along with me?"  she asked the violet cat shyly.

Gear continued working happily. Taking short breaks from using his plasma beam in order to keep from over heating. So far everything looked a whole lot nicer already, between the gardening and fixing up on the ruins. Everyone seemed happy and content.

~Heh... ~ Gear thought as he noticed that several Chao still lingered around him as he worked, ~I can't help but feel rather calm and content around these little guys,~ he laughed as he watched them both play and dance around the newcomers to their garden. Gear couldn't think as to why the garden was in such disrepair. Were these people here the ones who abandoned it? Or was it abandoned long long before they found it? Either way Gear was glad that some of his first interactions were friendly and none hostile.

Gear let out a sigh as he collapsed onto the ground a few minutes later. His chest port smoking as he showed obvious signs of overheating. He sat up as he looked around the garden. He stopped for a second as he noticed something off to one side of the garden, something like a rock opening covered in foliage, off in the back corner.

Too tired to get up immediately he called out to Yukiko.

"Excuse me miss yukiko? But whats that over there?" He pointed to the nearly hidden entrance, "I'd look myself but uh... kinda taxed my battery and overheated... " he said as he laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, "Silly me."

Mike will be hesitant to take it ,but will take it anyway ' Umm thanks... ' after taking a slip he will give it back to the lady " So far it was only a rumor and the folks down there refused to come up here since they felt the trek was dangerous. Even the sherpas only followed me to a point and said to me ' You can try the rest, but it's your funeral.'

I was about to give up and hide in a cave which somehow lead me here. So I was tired, hungry, and thirsty at the same time, so I thought that was a naturally occurring spring, but I was so so wrong " Mike would finish the entire story as he takes off the large backpack and the large winter coat and place it somewhere out of harms way showing the lighter jacket, jeans, and snow boots.

The bat explained his story, which admittedly made Yukiko exhale a sigh of relief. Most believed the journey to be too dangerous? Well, there were more ways of getting to the garden; they just found a simpler way of making it. The Chao that basically lured them in helped immensely as well with accidentally finding the little piece of paradise that lay before them.
She put the bottle of water back where she got it from and looked back over to Dione who was back to working away. A small dusting of pink was on her face though; was she thinking of something possibly embarrassing? The violet cat couldn't help but tilt her head slightly in wonder. Her questioning words lingered in the air for a moment about the small Chao that was now sitting happily on her shoulder, keeping her company while she worked. It was very cute to see from her perspective, especially seeing as the little one had begun singing adorably.

"If the Chao has chosen y-you, then you may have a choice on your hands." Yukiko forced out. "You can leave the little one here and visit every s-so often, or you could use the bonding system in the garden and give her a n-name?" If you do that, I b-believe you'll be able to take her from the garden if you wish to."

Nodding to nobody in particular, Yukiko turned away and make her way over to Gear who had spoken about an entrance of some sort. She raised an eyebrow in question, but then followed his metallic finger, and blinked at the gap in the shrubbery. Granted, they hadn't been in the garden long the first time they entered, but surely that would have been noticeable before? Maybe the excitement got to them about fixing the place up.
"Are you alright?" She asked softly. He burned himself out, the poor thing. "Is there anything any of us can do to help you out with what h-has happened?"

Keeping a tone of concern in her voice, Yukiko looked around Gear to see if it was just a temporary fix he needed, or if he did anything worse to hinder his functions.

While Cinder happily chowed down on the fruit that Gear had given to him, Caen went about his business, going to each statue and carefully burning off the moss and other such flammable debris that had clung to it for so long. 

Soon, all of the statues were free of their mossy prisons, and Caen rubbed his forehead with the back of his forearm to wipe off the small amount of sweat that had formed on it.

Caen reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a lollipop and, after quickly unwrapping it, put it in his mouth. He glanced towards the bat, as he used one hand to rub off some of the leftover dirt on a statue. “It’s like you said, though, a chao wouldn’t want to be a companion to someone they haven’t met. Perhaps this Natalia should have come with you? It doesn’t seem particularly fair to just give such an intelligent creature to someone who hasn’t even gotten to know them, after all,” he took out the lollipop, “at least, that’s just my two cents on the situation. I can’t exactly tell you how treacherous it was getting here, as I practically made it through merely wandering.”

He turned away again, rolling his shoulders “I think I’m about done, Yukiko! What’s the next thing to do?”

He widened his eyes, as a thought came to mind “oh! You said you were hungry!” He said, searching his pockets, and finding a chocolate bar. He holds it towards the bat “it might not be much, but it could help keep your strength up.”

Dione nodded quietly and looked once again at the chao resting on her shoulder. She would let the choice up to the small water creature, seeing as she didn't want to force it to come with her if it didn't want to. After all, this was its home, and to just leave your home was a big step. Especially since by the looks of it, someone had cared for it before, considreing it was an adult chao. The wolf wondered how old it was. She quietly glanced over to the machine in one of the corners of the garden, wondering if it would tell the age of chao. 

"Uhm.." Dione started, but immediately stopped again as she noticed Yukiko was already getting bombarded with questions from the others present in the garden. It would be kind of unfair to add her own question to the pile as well, so instead she put down the shovel, got a leaf rake and started sifting through the dirt she had just loosened. When she was done, she collected all the pebbles, smaller rocks and leaves, shoved them into a plastic bag and tied the bag together before sitting down and taking a breather. "Wew..."

Gear waved nonchalantly, his face one of someone who was use to the current situation.

"Nah, I'm fine... it'll cool down eventually and I'll heal after that," he said as he gingerly touched the smoking area, "My energy will be fine after I rest. Sorry to be a bother."

As he laid there he continued to let the music play, whistling along as it played. As the music drifted through many of the Chao seemed to relax and fly around more, happily watching the group as they worked.

~Gee... who would have left this place and these guys alone?~ Gear continued to look around as he hummed along to the music, ~I sure hope they visit regularly to keep this place up after we fix it. It'd be a shame if anything happened to these little guys.~

Mike would shake his head ' She is currently on assignment and It's rare for both of us to have time off even if we plan accordingly.'

He will walk over seeing the large group of chao.

'I read of them, but never seen them in person. There like happy walking, flying, swimming marshmallows. I watched videos about them as well. '

He will nod as he wanted to give them food, but before he could he stops for a moment ' Ummm... I do have a question for you all? I know of a very, very, very small of what foods they eat, but what they should not eat? I do feel like I'm intruding, so I wanted to find a way to help with this garden and this happy critters.'

Yukiko nodded, a small smile directed towards the green robot who assured her that he would be fine in a little bit after cooling down. That was something nobody wanted; a robot who was malfunctioning just after they met.

Looking over to Caen, Yukiko glanced between him and the opening. Maybe he could take some shrubbery away from the opening that was previously unnoticed? That could work considering his control over his abilities was good. "C-could you maybe come here to this opening? There may be something behind here. If y-you would be so kind to maybe burn some of the plants away and see if it goes anywhere?"

Yukiko twitched her tail at the question and turned to the bat. It then hit her; they didn't even know his name! How silly was that? She could always ask him later, if someone else didn't beat her to the punch that is. Either way, they would all be properly acquainted with him sooner rather than later if he wanted to help out in here.
To answer his question however, she couldn't say off the top of her head, so she delved back into her bag and brought out her mobile phone to connect to the internet to find the answer. She feared the gardens energy would possibly mess with her internet, but once she tapped the icon to turn it on, a signal appeared, albeit rather weak.
"It says here, while Chao eat m-mainly fruits that are provided here, they can indulge in some sweet treats that we can eat, but not too much as it can hinder their growth and abilities. They are also more prone to having health issues if they eat Mobian food all the time. I w-would guess what you wouldn't eat would be the same as the Chao?"

A mental image of Melody having a cup of tea popped into her head, making Yukiko giggle softly to herself. She may need to invest in some smaller cups if that ends up being the case.
The violet feline looked over to the last member of the group and her features softened at how much work the green wolf girl was putting into raking the dirt and leaves on the ground. She walked over to her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You do not need to overwork yourself. Take a break if you wish."

Now that all questions were hopefully answered, Yukiko made her way over to the watery fountain again and began pulling out all of the worst of what was making it dirty in the first place, and placed it all to the side. She took her brown boots off and stepped into the cool water to get in towards the middle and get rid of everything she could.

As Yukiko pointed out the passageway covered in shrubbery, Caen cocked his head. He indeed hadn't seen it, yet. He couldn't help but wonder just what was hidden behind all the greenery and foilage. He looked over at the violet snow leopard, and nodded. "I can do that. Though, I don't know just how dense it is, so... I suggest you all stand back."

He stepped forwards, his eyes scanning around the doorway, taking note of just how much the thorns, and ivy had spread. He wished that he had brought his swords, so he could at least cut through to see if it was worth burning away.

He spun around, trying to spot some way of cutting some of the especially thick branches. He spotted Yukiko's boots by the side of the fountain, with the owner in the water, tearing away at some of the gunk and debris. He cringed a little, thinking about how gross that would be. "I personally would've kept my boots on, ugh..." He said, before shaking his head.

He turned back to the passageway, sighing. "Right, I'm not joking about the standing back. This could get out of control rather quickly!" he said, stepping back and stretching out his fingers, he held his arm back, and one flaming arrow was summoned above him. "I hope this works..." He muttered, before throwing his arm forward. The arrow shot forward, straight into the shrubbery. It burned through a few layers of leaves, before disappearing, leaving some of the greenery ablaze, which soon spread, further and further into the passageway. 

Caen looked around, grabbing a bucket and running over to the fountain, scooping up some of the filthy water. His face screwed up at the smell as he walked towards the wall, again. He threw the bucket up just as the fire began to spread out of the entrance, putting out the stray flames. He carefully placed the bucket down, before continuing into the passageway, following closely behind the flames slowly burning through the thick shrubbery. 

"I'm almost there, Yukiko! Give it a few more minutes!"

Gear sat for a little while until he was fully rested and his engine had cooled off. With a jump and a spin he was back on his feet. Feeling chipper than ever. With that he started cleaning up with renewed vigor and energy.

After several minutes of quick cleaning and moving more rocks and stones to better accommodate the Chao and the mobians he wondered over to Yukiko. Considering she seemed to be the leader of the group he had a few questions. With a way he approached her. Some Chao still hovering around him as the music kept playing.

"Heya! Mind if I sit here and talk with ya? Maybe ask a few questions?"