Lightfox Origin Chapter 8

As the sun rose above the horizon and began to set the flower field in a beautiful morning glow, purple eyes cracked open with a groan before a brown furred arm covered them. Mel continued to lay there for a minute, enjoying the sun rays warming his body. He would have continued to lay there except for the fact that someone was now standing over him and blocking the light. He lifted his arm and looked at the silhouette of a coyote. He let out another groan and covered his eyes again.
"You realize that it is the butt crack of dawn and if you're planning to arrest me for something, you can wait till a decent waking hour for the rest of the village." He rolled onto his stomach, using his arms as a pillow as he laid his head back down in the soft flowers. When he felt a boot gently nudge his tail, he sighed and unholstered his pistol before pushing himself up with his other arm. "Apparently you want to be shot this early in the morning..." He glared at the man standing to his side. Without the sun in the way, he could make out more wolfish features on the coywolf's face and body.
"Guten Morgan Herr Lightfox, vas it. I vas vondering if you might chance be able to help me." The thick accent was hard for Mel to catch what was being said as he was talking rather quickly, but he stood and brushed the leftover pieces of grass from his dew covered fur. He put his gun back into its holster and snapped it before turning to the coywolf, who was busy glancing around at the tree line.
"Judging by your stance and the fact that you keep looking over your shoulder, I'm going to guess that you're being followed." When he got a nod as a response, he quickly scanned the edge of the trees, spotting movement behind at least six trees. His shoulders slumped and he sighed before unsnapping his holster and handing his firearm to the coywolf. "Here, if I can't hold them off, take that end," he pointed to the barrel "and point it at anyone coming at you. You'll need to pull this," he pointed to the trigger "just watch the recoil. You'll knock your teeth out." He turned and started moving only to stop.
"Vait! You vant me to vhat with dis thing?" The wide eyed coywolf was holding the pistol between two fingers. His hands were shaking as he pointed with his free hand. Mel glanced behind him, he rolled his eyes and turned, taking the coywolf's hand and correctly setting the firearm in his grasp. He let go and made his way closer to the tree line, seeing the movement starting to come from behind the trees.
"I'm sorry, but the Mobian you are after can not be reached at this moment. You'll have to leave a message... Through me." He took a defensive stance, watching these dark hooded figures launch quickly through the darkness of the trees.
He grabbed the arm of the closest charging him, using the momentum to bring the figure into his bent knee. He heard the grunt of pain and a wheeze before letting them drop at his feet and turning to dodge a fist aimed for his face. He quickly grabbed that hand and used the force of the blow to toss them into two of the oncoming enemies. He let out a laugh as he flipped backwards to dodge another launching in the air at him. He landed only to be smacked in the chest by a figure's shoulder. They tumbled to the ground and grappled the other's hands before he brought his legs up and connected them harshly into the offender's sternum. He pushed off the ground and landed on his feet to see the remaining figure making his way to the coywolf who was shakily aiming the pistol. With a loud bang, the figure stopped in their tracks, placing a hand to the now bleeding chest wound before collapsing to the ground. The force of the shot sent to coywolf backwards and onto the ground where he dropped the firearm as if it were on fire. Mel could tell the look of shock and ran over, sliding to a stop and taking the shaking pup by the shoulders.
"Hey.... Hey, look at me. Focus on me.." The wide blue eyes stared into his purple ones before arms wrapped around his middle and the coywolf was sobbing into his white chest fur. He pulled the other closer, running his hand gently through the course hair between the fluffy ears. "It's alright. Shhhh, you did what you had to." He heard the sounds of footsteps and looked up to notice that some of the village had come to see what the sound was. It wasn't often that a firearm was discharged in their forest. He locked eyes with a worried Shane and glanced down at the now hiccuping coywolf. "It's alright now. You're safe."
"Agent... What happened here?" Mel looked up to see Princess Sally making her way over in what appeared to be her pajamas. He stood, bringing the Coywolf with him to his feet. He reached down and grabbed his pistol as well as the shell casing, he snapped the gun back in his holster and placed the empty shell in the pouch against his back.
"To be honest Sally, I'm not sure. I fell asleep out here last night and woke to this gentleman being followed by these people. I did what I had to, to stop them." He looked at the unconscious figures still concealed by their hoods. Shane followed his friend's gaze and gasped when he recognized the cloaks. "Those five are just unconscious, but I'm afraid I had to kill the final one before he could hurt anyone."
"Let's get the remaining into custody and we can dispose of the body. I'm glad you both are safe." Sally said and gently touched the coywolf's shoulder only to have him jump and clench his hands against Mel's arms. "I'm Princess Sally. You're with the Freedom Fighters now. What's your name?"
"Prinzessin Sally. I am Düster. I am fürchterlich sorry dis has happened." He let go of Mel and rubbed his arms, looking at the gathered crowd of Mobians. Most were in their pajamas, but had grabbed whatever weaponry was handy. This included, pitchforks, steak knifes and even a cast iron skillet.
Mel made his way over to Shane, who pulled him into a quick hug and whispered in his ear. "I was worried when you didn't come back last night, but you lied to the Princess. You didn't fire that shot. Did you?" Mel hugged his companion close and shook his head. He looked behind him to see that Düster had followed him over and was standing awkwardly near them.
"He didn't know what the weapons could do. I didn't tell him, so I might as well have shot them." He pulled from the hug and placed a hand on the jumpy coywolf. "What did those people want from you anyway?"
"I have been on de run for many years. I believe dey may have been bounty hunters." Those blue eyes wouldn't make contact with the two friends. Mel chewed on the inside of his lip and then shrugged, watching the disoriented figures being lead away. They're cloaks had been pulled from their heads and he got a good look at the light colored, blue eyed wolves being handcuffed. "Dey may also have been after my knowledge of renewable energy." Mel and Shane both looked at the shy coywolf, rubbing his arms again.
"Hey, whatever reason they were after you is over. We'll make sure your safe. Let's head back into the village and you can explain a bit over some breakfast." Shane smiled and took both hands of the two that had slept outside, making his way back to his house. When he opened the door, Mel noticed most of the place had been packed away and there was a bag full of basic essentials. He smiled as they made their way to the table. Düster sat down on a chair as Mel went to making some coffee while Shane got some eggs cooking.
"So tell us more about this renewable energy. We use mostly water wheels for our power, but I'm sure that the Princess would appreciate any other avenue we might be able to take."
------------------------
Over a large plate of Eggs, hashbrowns, toast and coffee, the coywolf explained what he could to his new companions. Mel let out a whistle and leaned back in his chair as Düster finished talking. He looked over at Shane who was starting on cleaning the dishes.
"Wow, Steam Power... That's pretty amazing. I've got some memories of history that mentions it, but to hear what all it can do, just Wow." He leaned forward, grabbing the Coywolf's hand with a smile. "You totally should come with me back to my world. I bet the Professor could help you with creating those machines." He stood and started helping clean up so he could leave their new companion to think over his proposal. Shane leaned over and kept his voice low.
"I know I'm coming along and now so is this guy. Who else is joining our little party?" Shane glanced at Düster and then to Mel.
"Well, Malva is coming along cuz they said I was accident prone and would probably die without their medical care. But that's it." He smiled as he dried the wet dishes handed to him with a towel. The two shared a smile before jumping when Düster stood and slammed his hands against the wooden table.
"Vait just a moment. Did I hear you correctly dat you are from anoder world?" Mel turned to face the table and nodded, crossing his arms after putting the towel over his shoulder. "But dat is impossible! How?" Mel looked at Shane and sighed, taking a seat at the table and starting from the beginning.  All three spent the majority of the day playing question and answer. After a hearty lunch, Malva had joined the group and the four turned their thoughts on the travel.
"So once we get to your world Mel, there's no guarantee that we will ever be able to come back, is that right?" Malva leaned forward, placing their elbows on the table. Shane gave Mel a concerned look as the fox leaned back in the chair.
"As far as I know, yeah. I can understand all of you not wanting to do this and go be honest, I don't want to do it either, but if it means stopping the people who created me to make more cannon fodder. So be it." He had his fists clenched tightly against his legs before two superstar hands covered his. He looked to see Shane and Düster were concerned and trying to calm him with their gentle touch. He forced a half smile and looked at Malva who had placed their hand in the middle of the square table.
"I'm in no matter what. I'm curious what your world is like and what different plant life you have." Düster was next with placing his hand overtop of the wolf's with a smile.
"I will be happy to bring de renewable energy of steam power to your Professor Herr Lightfox. Plus, dis may get dose oders off my tail." Shane moved his hand from Mel's and placed it gently on top of the two canines.
"Where you go, I go. We're a team now and we need to stick together." Mel let out a laugh and placed his hand over everyone's gathered. He smiled softly as everyone could feel a small rise of energy from their hands. They separated, wiggling their fingers to disperse the tingling. Purple eyes were scanning his hand as he turned it back and forth before shrugging.
---------------------------------
Soon after there was a knock at their door as the sun had began to set. Shane opened it to see that the entire village had gathered. Sonic stood beside Princess Sally as she smiled at them kindly.
"It's ready. I'm guessing you've gathered all the supplies you'll need?" Shane quick darted out of sight to zip his duffel bag shut and slide it over his shoulder. Malva nodded and situated their messenger bag. Düster nodded and the four made their way out of the house, following the two leaders of the Freedom Fighters. They entered the giant metal building used to communicate with the Professor. He was again on the monitor and looking over the group with a small smile.
"Agent. I see you have a small group. Am I to assume that I will be receiving guests?" The brown haired man let out a chuckle. Mel smiled and shook his head.
"Professor. They've agreed to come along as help for us to stop GUN." He placed his hand on his hip and jumped slightly when a heavy brown backpack was pushed into his chest by the blue speedster. He looked inside to see at least a dozen power rings. He grinned and put the bag on his back and was handed a rolled up thick paper from the Princess.
"Use these to your advantage. That's a blueprint of the Warp Ring you're about to use. So if you ever want to, you can come back." She smiled at him, blinking to stop herself from crying. He leaned forward and took both her and a surprised Sonic into a hug before backing up.
Mel felt the gathering of Chaos Energy and turned his head to the giant golden ring that was slowly buzzing before with a large flash, glowing a royal blue color in the middle. Rotor, stood at the controls, typing quickly against a keyboard.
"It's all ready. It'll only hold for a short period since we don't have a lot of power for it." Princess Sally nodded and gestured to the glowing space. Mel looked at the three near him and nodded before taking the short walk up the platform to the energy. His fur was standing on end and he looked back, holding out his hand for the others. They joined hands and stepped through the portal together. It fizzled and popped before powering down, leaving. The room in a calm silence.