I still can't believe it...

Even though it was morning, not a single beam of sunlight poked in through the windows of the Knife Chamber. The sole candle in the room had long since gone out, leaving the room in a near pitch-black shadow. Only the light taps of falling rain outside the windows and the ticks and tocks of the nearby clock kept it from being completely silent.

Throughout the rest of the night into morning, Sonic just laid on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. His reacquired bag rested on the floor beside him. He didn't stir or move an inch; he just gazed up above. Vague twinges of pain still flashed on his face, leaving his face twitchy. A whirlpool of thoughts churned through his mind. In just over a single day, through the wicked machinations of the masked imp, he went from a blue supersonic hedgehog who was thought to be unstoppable to a deku scrub trapped in another world altogether alone, with his only real company being a complete brat of a fairy who proved to be more annoying than anything he ever had to deal with back on Earth.

The blankness in his stare masked an emotion he rarely ever felt: fear. As the thoughts of the Skull Kid executing the town guard flashed before his very eyes, a deep chill ran up and down his spine. If he was capable to killing someone that carelessly, even making light humor on the fact despite having nearly killed a goddess, there was no telling what he was capable of.

Finally looking over to his side, he reached into his bag and pulled out a blue jewel. Easily twice as big as his new diminutive hands, its azure glow faintly lit the room around him. As he stared into the gemstone, two more thoughts raced through his mind. On the one hand, he was glad that he had the foresight to bring it along with him - he didn't have to worry as much of Dr. Eggman causing a lot of trouble with only six of the other gems of its type. On the other hand, as he pondered, just having one of the emeralds in the same world as the maniacal imp is a cause of concern: just what would he be capable of doing if he knew of the powers that the emerald could grant?

Before he could ponder any further, a loud series of knocks rang out from the door. The knocks were made in an oddly rhythmic fashion, like someone was trying to play the beginning of a melody.

"Huh…?" Stuffing the blue emerald back into his bag, Sonic slowly got off of the bed and trudged over to the door. He heard the loud tinkling of bells as he weakly walked along. His body was as drained as his mind, and yet, every time he tried to close his eyes, the image of the Skull Kid flashed in his mind, shocking him back awake.

Finally reaching the door, Sonic reached up and opened it, muttering, "Hello…?" Standing in his doorway was a sight that he was almost hoping to not see: Tatl.

The fairy girl smiled brightly at the disheveled scrub, carrying a large red umbrella in her hands. Clad in her usual yellow dress sans her pouch, droplets of water soaked her glowing body from head to toe, cascading down onto the wooden floor below her.

"Heya, Dek!" Tatl cheered. "How was your first night here in Termina?"

Sonic turned away from the fairy. "Meh..."

Folding her arms, her smile curled into an offended frown. "Well, sheesh, what's gotten into you? Not a morning person, or what?"

Ignoring her, he trudged over to the room table and hopped onto the chair. Walking into the Knife Chamber close behind, Tatl closed the door behind her and set her soaking wet umbrella aside.

"Dek, seriously, what's up with you?" Tatl asked, walking up to Sonic. "And why is this room so dark and gloo-?" Finally getting a good look at the scrub in her glow, the fairy girl cringed. "Yeesh, Dek! You look like you got into a fight with a cucco and lost! What happened to ya? Didn't get any sleep last night?"

"I did," Sonic replied, laying his head on the table. "It's just… I saw him... the Skull Kid."

"What?" Tatl grabbed Sonic's hand. "Where'd you see him? Was my brother with him? Did you try to get that mask from him?!"

Sonic shook his head. "I saw him in the area near the Bombers' Hideout. While I couldn't get that mask back, he..." He pointed over to his bag. "... decided to give me a present."

Looking over to the bag, Tatl sighed. "Well, at least you got your stuff back. Still, though, I wanna know where that guy went off with my brother." Clasping her hands together, she said, "Oh, I hope that child is alright without me…"

Tael... As the fairy boy's name echoed in Sonic's mind, he pondered. What if it was the Skull Kid who planned that attempted robbery and Tael was just forced to go along with it?

"Anyway," Sonic said, shaking his head, "any reason you decided to pay me a visit?"

"Huh?" Tatl snapped back into attention, saying, "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: Dek, something huge went down in that square you were talking about seeing the Skull Kid in last night!"

"You don't say..." he murmured, tapping his fingers on the wooden table.

"I kid you not, Dek - someone was actually killed out there!"

Another chill went down Sonic's spine upon hearing Tatl's words. He tried to keep eye contact with the fairy girl, trying not to appear nervous. "Y-you're joking, right?"

Tatl shook her head. "A town guard in the area actually had his heart container removed, like what happened to my mom! And not only that, but in the Northern Park, someone had literally been blown to smithereens! That's some crazy stuff there!"

At that point, Sonic couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief to himself at his new Deku form - if he was back to normal, sweat would practically pour out of his body!

"Um… you don't think those deaths are actually connected, right?"

"Could be…" Tatl reached over and grabbed her umbrella. "C'mon, let's go check it out. My mom's out there with the other guards. We can also grab a bite to eat while we're at it."

Sonic grabbed the room key from the table. "Alright, then we'll start searching for the Skull Kid."

"You're not gonna take your bag with you?" she said, opening the door.

He shrugged as he exited the room. "Eh, it'll be fine - it's not like anyone's gonna sneak in here and take it again."

"Hmm… fair enough, I guess. We'll just leave out through the veranda door."

"The veranda?" Sonic said, locking the Knife Chamber door.

"Yeah, it's just across from your room here. Lucky for us, Anju always keep forgetting to lock it. Let's roll!"

Back out in the inn's second floor hallway, Sonic and Tatl, reunited once more, walked out through the veranda, back out onto the roof. The sky over the town was thick with clouds of the darkest shade of grey imaginable, with a huge torrent of rain falling down from above. The rain was heavy to a point where everything was a blur to Sonic, barely able to make out what's immediately in front of him. Seeing all the rain filled him with dread: if Deku Scrubs were apparently so opposed to water despite being plants, how would he able to get through town in the dreadful weather?

Tatl looked down at Sonic and smirked. "Oh, relax, Dek." With a simple flick of the wrist, her umbrella opened wide over the pair. "Got ya covered."

Smiling, Sonic walked over to the edge of the veranda. As Sonic looked down, to his surprise, a huge crowd of people had gathered in the East Clock Town square, arguing and gossiping amongst themselves. Some of them, such as the pair of women clad in matching dresses and the juggling men, Sonic could somewhat recognize from the day before. Others, like the man carrying a horned music box, was as unfamiliar to him as the rest of the new world. As Sonic listened on, he heard them talking about the dead guard and the exploded thief from last night.

"Wow," Sonic said, looking down upon the massive crowd. "It's like everyone in town's here!"

"Well, not everyone!" Tatl said, steadying her umbrella. "Those carpenter guys are still working on the festival tower back in the South!"

Sonic looked around the area, trying to look for where the guard was. As soon as his eyes locked onto the higher area, he spotted a huge bright blotch surrounded by several gray others. Three strobes of lights appeared to down the lighted blotch's back. As he gazed at the obscured figure, a thought suddenly came into view.

"Hey, Tatl..." Sonic muttered, "is that your mom?"

"Oh, you see her?" Tatl replied, and Sonic pointed towards the brightly colored blotch. Hand over her eyes, she squinted and nodded. "Oh, yeah, that's her."

"How can you even make her out in this storm?"

She pointed her free hand to her face. "Fairy eyes, Dek. We can see from really long distances with 'em. But anyway, let's go see her!"

"H-how? That crowd's blocking the door out of the inn!"

Tatl stroked her chin with her free hand, humming to herself. "... Ah, I got an idea!" Hand on her hip, she looked back toward him. "Hang onto me, okay?"

Raising an eyebrow, Sonic said, "Why?"

"I'm gonna try to get us over there. Trust me, it'll be fun!"

Grunting, Sonic wrapped his arms around her bare legs. "Um, you sure you can fly in this weather?"

"Well, I can't exactly fly, but I can at least try to glide us down to the ground. Hold on tight!"

Careful to hold her umbrella over her wings, she started to flap them. After a couple seconds, she, along with the tenaciously clinging Sonic started to hover over the roof. Once she was high enough, she leaned towards the higher ground and, hanging to her umbrella, she started to glide along the air. As she slowly drifted past the stairs, Sonic couldn't help but smile. While it wasn't exactly his idea of travel, it at least save him from having to cut through the crowd. and potentially getting caught by anyone in it. Approaching the higher square, the blotches were starting to unveil, revealing the Great Fairy standing in a tight circle with a group of guards near the pole, their faces away from view. Sonic gulped, hoping that he wouldn't be recognized by any of the guards.

As they came to a landing, Tatl skidded to a halt, careful not to send Sonic flying into the wet stone street. "See, Dek? We made it down, safe and sound! Now, was that fun?"

"Yeah, yeah..."

"Huh?"

Sonic looked up and saw Lady Venus, with the town guards standing behind her. She, too, carried a red umbrella, huge enough to cover her significantly larger body. Unlike back in the Fairy Fountain, she was clad in a long green dress, fitting favorably to her figure. Further contrasting how she appeared when he restored her, her calm, gentle smile was replaced by a stern frown. Whatever she had seen there, it had drained her of her earlier happiness.

"Tatl," Venus said, looking down at the pair, "didn't I tell you not to come over here right now? You know I'm trying to conduct an investigation here!"

"I know, mom, really, but Dek here wanted to talk to you about something." Tatl looked over to Sonic. "Right, Dek?"

"Uh… yeah, actually I do!" Sonic replied, nodding. "I'm here to talk to you about that… um, 'curse,' from yesterday."

Venus leaned down towards the small Deku Scrub, bracing herself on her knees. Looking at the Deku Scrub's face, she gasped. "Oh my goodness… what happened to you, child?!"

"I…" Sonic stammered, "a-accidentally burned myself?"

Squinting her eyes, she hummed to herself, a worried look on her face. "... Alright, I guess. Hold on."

Using her free hand, she touched his face. Sonic cringed, as the touch suddenly ignited the twinges of pain from the earlier assault, but the pain was immediately subsided as the warm feelings suddenly coursed through his body. After a few seconds, the warmth itself subsided… and the pains from earlier along it.

"Ah, there we go!" Venus said, smiling as she lowered her hand. "Good as new!"

Sonic touched his face. It didn't feel chippy or burnt anymore - it was like he was never struck by the lightning blast at all! "Hey, thanks!" he said.

"You're very welcome, Dek. Just… be more careful around fire next time, okay?"

"Got it..."

"Anyway," Tatl murmured, stepping in, "can you do anything about his curse, mom?"

Venus sighed. "I'm sorry, Dek, but as you can see with all the ongoing uproar, I am very busy at the moment. As Tatl have probably told you already, something terrible happened last night, and I'm trying to figure out what caused it."

Looking over the guards looming behind Venus, Sonic folded his arms. "Well, is it possible that I can come back later?"

She smiled. "Oh, of course, Dek." She looked over at Tatl. "Tatl, can you do me a favor and take him over to the Treasure Chest Shop? I know it'll probably be closed, with all that is going on at the moment, but still, can you at least check?"

Tatl pouted. "Aw, but mom, you know how much I-"

"Tatl…"

Noting the frown on her mother's face, Tatl immediately nodded. "Alright, mom, I'll go take him there..." Just as she turned towards Sonic, Venus raised her hand.

"Oh, I almost forgot: can you please not get into a fight with Fuchsia? Again?"

The fairy girl sighed. "Yes, mom, can we go now?"

Frowning, she stood back up straight. "Yes, you may. Dek, go follow Tatl - she'll take you somewhere that you can go have fun while I finish my work here. You can come visit the Fairy Fountain in about a half hour; hopefully, I'll be done by then, okay?"

Sonic nodded. "Got it, ma'am. I'll see ya later!"

"Perfect, thank you." As Sonic and Tatl made their way back down the stairs, Venus waved them off. "Alright, you two have fun!"

As they waded through the crowd at the square, Sonic heard the various conversations that went on from within. Mentions of how shocking the scenes were, disbelief over who could possibly commit such crimes, musings over the apparent lack of sanity on the part of the culprit that could've done the things they did.

"Who'd you think would do such a thing?" said the woman in the blue-trimmed dress, folding her arms.

"I dunno," said the woman in the matching red-trimmed dress, "but whoever did it must be some kind of lunatic..."

Hearing all the speculation and gossip sent Sonic's heart racing. What if the old woman was in the crowd? What would happen if she pointed him out? Would he actually be attacked himself by the incensed crowd over something he didn't intentionally do?

After reaching the other side of the gathering, Sonic found himself standing in front of a reasonably big building of a most peculiar appearance. Exactly as the name implied, it was essentially a gigantic wooden treasure chest, with a door placed exactly where the keyhole of a real treasure chest would be. As Sonic looked at the building, he couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief.

"Hmm, and I thought the stuff in my world looked weird..." he thought, before he felt a small tap on his shoulder.

"Well," Tatl said, walking up beside him. "this is the Treasure Chest Shop. Whaddaya think?"

"It looks..." Sonic said, looking the building over once more, "interesting, I guess?" What's the deal with this place?"

The fairy girl only walked up to a sign near the entrance, written in letters that Sonic could barely understand, and started to read. "'Open the chest for something splendid! The thrill of surprise...' Tch, the only thing that's surprising about this place is how big a scam it is..."

"'A scam?'" Sonic repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"What I mean is," she replied, closing her umbrella, "this game is run by a girl who is so obviously biased, it's crazy! You see, if you just happened to be cute or outright handsome, she'll practically let you give it a go for free! However, if you're either ugly or just someone she dislikes for whatever reason, it'll cost you an arm and a leg to go! Even I'm not that snooty!"

"No lie?"

"No lie! In fact, one time, when I tried to give it a try a few weeks back, she charged me 25 rupees, yet when some Zora dude went right after me, she only charged him five!" Folding her arms, Tatl pouted. "You know, I'm starting to think that girl actually has a thing for Zoras!"

Sonic blinked. "... Okay, before I wind up giving myself insomnia from what you mean by "thing", I have to ask: what exactly is a Zora?"

"It's basically a fishman."

Hearing that sent a chill down Sonic's spine. "Okay, now that's messed up..."

"Exactly!" With a single kick, the fairy girl swung the door wide open. "Hey, Fuchsia!" she yelled into the building. "Where are you, you sneaky little snake-in-the-grass!"

Ignoring the ranty fairy, Sonic walked inside and looked around. To his surprise, it was significantly more spacious than it appeared from outside. The building was mostly empty, with over half of the floor in huge alternating black and white tiles. The area running from the entrance to the other side of the room had triangular tiles alternating blue and kaleidoscopic colors. Over the black-and-white tiled area, the ceiling was a woody brown with giant "nails" painted on like the inside of a treasure chest, while over the entrance, the desk and walls had a more jarringly psychedelic look to them. A line made of alternating shades of green tiles separated the two areas.

As Sonic walked towards the desk, he saw that it, too, was sparse with only a single bell in view. Lining the wall behind the desk was a smaller desk holding a stack of gold bars and a trio of wooden treasure chests stacked up like a small pyramid.

"Hello?" Reaching the desk, he reached up the high desk, standing on his tiptoes, and hit the bell three times. A few seconds passed, and no one else came up to the desk.

"Perhaps the shop's closed today?" Sonic said, and Tatl flew up beside him.

"Nah, I bet she's just oversleeping again, the lazy fool!" She slammed her hand on the bell repeatedly, yelling, "Hey, Fuchsia! Wake the heck up already! You got a customer out here, ya bum!"

Suddenly, a part of the floor behind the desk flew up, with the top of a blue ladder poking out from the sudden hole made. "Alright, alright, hold your horses..." Climbing up from the hole in the floor was a purple-haired woman, clad in a matching pink shirt and pajama pants. She let out a loud yawn as she climbed out of the hole, closing it away. Rubbing her eyes, she groggily stammered over to the desk.

"Hello, welcome to the Treasure Chest Shop, where we-" The woman opened her eyes, revealing a pair of eyes as green as Sonic's were, and immediately scowled. "Oh. What do you want now, Tatl?"

Tatl fluttered up above the desk, folding her arm. "I don't want anything from you, Fuchsia. My friend here wants to play your crappy 'game'!"

Looking over the fairy girl's side, the woman, Fuchsia, finally noticed Sonic and let out a loud squeal. "Oh my goodness! Come here, you little cutie!"

"Wait, what?!" Before Sonic knew it, the purple haired woman snatched him right off the ground and started to hug and pet him.

"Ooh, you're SOOO cute!" Fuchsia shouted, squeezing Sonic as if he was a teddy bear. "I wanna hug ya, and pet ya, and squeeze ya, and call ya lovely names, ya cutie!"

"L-let go of me, lady!" Sonic yelled, struggling to get out of her tight embrace.

"Hey, hey!" In a flash, Tatl reached into the struggle and slapped Fuchsia square in the face. "Knock it off!"

The sudden force from the slap sent Fuchsia reeling back, sending Sonic out of her hands and right into the wall behind them. "Ugh..." he muttered, cursing that he was sent into a wall again.

"Owww!" Fuchsia yelled, hands to her face. "What the heck was that for?!"

"You almost squeezed my friend there to death, you idiot!" Tatl yelled back, flying straight into her face.

"You didn't have to do that, though!"

"Who said I had to, though?!"

"Hey, wait a minute..." Finally righting himself, Sonic hopped back on his feet. "We don't have to be like this, ladies! I mean, come on, the day's already all dark and gloomy and stuff as is, especially with what went down last night. Can't we all just get along and have some fun here?" Sonic looked over at Tatl and smiled. "Besides, unless I'm mistaken, Lady Vee didn't want you scrappin' with anyone here, so unless you want to get in trouble with your mom..."

The fairy and human immediately turned away from one another, folding their arms. After a few seconds, they dropped their stances and looked back at each other.

"Hey, Fuchsia?" Tatl said, fluttering back from the human. "Look, I didn't mean to do that… okay? No hard feelings, right?"

"Nah..." Fuchsia replied, smiling, "we're cool. We both kinda got carried away there..."

Both Fuchsia and Tatl started to laugh, albeit weakly. The sudden turn of events baffled Sonic: one minute, they were just seconds away from going after each other's blood; next, they're just laughing it off like it never happened? Sonic just sighed and shook his head. At least things were actually simmering down now.

Fuchsia reached into a shelf in her desk and pulled out a small bottle filled with a red liquid. Opened the bottle, she put it and downed the crimson fluid. As the drink went down, the bruise on her face faded away as if it was never there. By the time the bottle was empty, the purple-haired girl were no worse for wear.

"Hey, Deku Scrub..." Fuchsia said, setting her bottle down. "you're alright? Sorry for squeezing you like that."

Sonic smiled, waving his hand. "Eh, it's cool. I'm used to it."

"Good… say, what's your name, little guy?"

"Just call me Sonic!" He leaped over the desk, back onto the other side. "Now, I was recommended to come here to have some fun, so let's get started with that. So, what's the deal with this place?"

"Ah, right!" Fuchsia reached under her desk and a loud click sounded off. Suddenly, on the farthest corner of the facility, a white tile lowered into the floor. After a few seconds, it rose back up into place, with a treasure chest resting on top of it.

"See that treasure chest over there?" she said, pointing to the faraway chest. "If you can make it all the way there and open it within the time limit, I'll give you a special prize!"

Sonic folded his arms. "So, what's the special prize?"

"Well, I obviously can't tell you what is it - it'd ruin the surprise! Finding out what's inside is half the fun of the Treasure Chest Game!"

Tatl leaned in and whispered in Sonic's ear, "'Fun' in relative terms, of course."

"Hey, I heard that! Anyway..." Fuchsia reached under her desk and, with another click, the line of green tiles suddenly lit up. "So, do you wanna play, Sonic?"

Sonic laughed. "Sure!" As he walked over to the starting line, he thought, "So, all I have to do to run over there and open that chest? This'll be a piece of cake!"

"Wait, I almost forgot..." She reached under the desk and pulled a huge metal device covered with knobs and buttons. "Of course, you'll have to pay to play!"

"Oh, duh!" Sonic said, chuckling. "How much?"

"Well," Fuchsia said, operating the weird device, "normally, I charge twenty rupees per game, but for an adorable little guy like you…" With a final dig of the machine, she stopped. "it'll only be ten. Is that alright with you?"

"Oh, more than! I'll just-" Suddenly, it struck him. He had already deposited the purple rupee at the Bank the day before. "Oh, darn, I forgot. I'm broke!"

"Really?" Fuchsia frowned. "Oh, no...I'm sorry, but you can't play then…"

"Oh, relax, you two." Tatl flew up to the desk. Reaching down the front of her dress, she pulled out a red rupee. "This should cover both me and him."

"Oh, so you actually want to play again?" Fuchsia said, cringing a bit as she took the rupee.

"Yep. Just to give Deku Boy here a little helping hand with this, anyway."

"Wait, help?" Sonic said. "You really think I need help with something like this?"

Tatl flew up to the starting line, next to Sonic. "Trust me, Dek, this game is much harder than it looks! Just follow my lead, alright?"

"Okay, are you two ready?" Fuchsia shouted from her desk, and they nodded. "You two got 45 seconds to open that chest! Oh, and Tatl, you know the rules: no flying!"

Tatl sighed. "Fine..." She landed feet-first on the floor.

"Alrighty, then! On your marks..."

Sonic readied himself, his right foot forward. His eyes were locked onto the treasure chest. All he had to do was rush over and open it. What could possibly go wrong?

"Ready…"

He glanced up at Tatl. With a big grin on her face, she looked raring to go, her eyes clearly locked onto the prize. Looking back ahead, he chuckled to himself. "Let's see what ya got..."

"Go!"

At the call, Sonic took off like a bullet… and smashed right into a white pillar.

"Ooh," he muttered, "what just happened?"

"That's the gimmick, Dek!" Tatl said, running past him. "Follow me!"

"Grr..." Shaking himself off, Sonic zoomed after the fairy girl. As he caught up with her, he yelled, "Hey, what's the deal with this?"

"Like I said, this is the gimmick!" she replied, making a sharp left turn as a black tile suddenly rose up in front of her. "Some of those tiles turn into stone pillar things when you're about to walk into them! This is actually some sort of maze!"

"How is this even happening? This town is still stuck with candles for lights, for goodness sakes!"

"I don't know! I think she set up these tiles so that they're pressure sensitive!"

"Well, screw that, then!" Sonic skidded to a stop, with Tatl zooming past him as she made a right turn out of sight. Looking to his sides, he saw a pair of white and black pillars flanking his sides. "I hope I can still do this without those shoes…"

With a nod, he ran straight into the black pillar to his right and, just before he made contact with it, he leaped as high as he could into it. As soon as he made contact with the obelisk, he started to slide down back to the floor. With a push of his legs, he kicked off the stone pillar and zoomed right into the adjacent white slab.

"Alright, I can still do it!" Sonic thought, eyes locked on the black pillar. Then, as he started to slide down the white pillar, he kicked off and leaped right into the black pillar and immediately kicked off it. After a couple seconds of wall-kicking, he leapt right on top of the white pillar.

Scanning the scenery, he saw Tatl running through the pop-up tunnel, approaching the treasure chest. "Gotcha now, Tatl." Just as he was about to leap over to the black pillar, he heard a loud shriek from behind. Looking back, he saw Fuchsia looking up at him, mouth agape.

"H-how the heck did you do that?!" the purple-haired woman yelled.

Giddily, Sonic gave her a thumbs-up. "I leaped!"

With a single hop, he took off after the fairy girl. With her just yards away from the chest, he sped up becoming a blur as he leapt from stone pillar to pillar. Just as he reached the final pillar in front of the chest, he looked to the side and saw Tatl running full-tilt towards it. With a nod, he leaped down, controlling his fall with a wall slide. As soon as his feet reached the ground, he heard a loud yell from behind.

"Whoa!"

Just as he turned back, Tatl collided right into him, sending him and her flying into the chest. The force of the impact shattered the chest to pieces, showering the scrub and fairy in planks and splinters.

"Alright, time's up!"

Suddenly, the pillars retracted back into the floor, revealing the scrambled mess that was Sonic and Tatl.

"Hey, are you alright?!" Fuchsia yelled as she ran up to them.

"Oooh..." Kicking aside the wooded remnants of the treasure chest, Tatl dragged herself out of the pile. She clutched her chest, breathing in broken gasps.

"Ugh..." she groaned, looking over to Fuchsia. "W-what just happened? Dek… w-what do you do…?"

Sonic laid amidst the wreckage motionlessly, eyes looking straight up, not making a single sound. Various thoughts raced through his mind as he gazed up to the sky. A heavy, yet comforting feeling rested in his heart. In the world that was essentially his prison, was he really having… fun?

"Dek?" Tatl waved her hand over the motionless Sonic, a frown firmly etched on her face. "Are you okay?"

All of a sudden, Sonic started to chuckle. The low chuckle soon crescendoed into a laugh. The squeaky, childish guffaw echoed throughout the hollows of the quiet building.

"Yahoo!" Rearing his legs forward as tightly as he could, Sonic leaped right back on his feet. "That was fun! Can we go again?!"

"You sure about that, little guy?" Fuchsia said, leaning down towards him. "You and Tatl took a pretty big hit there…"

"Nah, I'm alright!" Sonic replied, waving his hand.

"Yeah, likewise..." Tatl grunted.

"So, what's the special prize? I mean, we did open it..." He looked over to the shambled pieces that was the treasure chest. "...more or less."

"Oh, right." Fuchsia motioned towards her desk. "It's in there. Follow me." Helping Tatl to her feet, the threesome walked back over to the main desk.

"Alright," the purple-haired woman said, hopping over the desk, "since the two of you both reached the chest at the same time, I guess I'll just give you both prizes!" She reached under the desk and picked up a purple rupee and a tied-up brown bag. "Here ya go."

Sonic grabbed the bag. Opening it, he grunted. Inside the bag rested ten brown orbs, each split open around the middle, revealing the golden core in them. "Hey, what gives? What are these… balls supposed to be?"

"They're Deku Nuts, Dek," Tatl replied, grabbing and pocketing the rupee. "They're pretty handy in a pinch."

As he looked closer at the old brown nuts, a thought suddenly struck him. These are the same things that she and that thief guy hit me with! Glaring over at Tatl, he muttered, "Yeah, I bet..."

"So, tell me, Sonic..." Fuchsia leaned in towards Sonic. "How did you get up there like that?"

Sonic shrugged. "Like I said, I leaped."

"Hmm, that must've been one heck of a leap, then… hey, you really wanna try again?"

"Oh, that would b-"

Suddenly, a loud grumble rang out from Tatl. Looking down at her stomach, the fairy sighed. "Actually, Dek, I'd really rather just get a bite to eat already. Can we do this later?"

"Huh?" Sonic scratched the back of his head. "That's funny. I haven't been hungry since I got here."

"That's because you're a Deku Scrub, Dek. You're, like, a plant person - you're already getting what you need from the sun."

After a couple seconds, Sonic shrugged. "Eh, fair enough. Wanna head back to the Fairy Fountain? I think your mom's back there by now."

"Gladly!" Tatl grabbed her umbrella. "Let's go! I'm starving!"

Sonic looked over to Fuchsia. "Sorry, Fuchsia, but we gotta head out now!"

"Oh, really?" Fuchsia pouted. "That's too bad! And you're just my type, too..."

"Wait, what?"

"Anyway, I guess I'll see you two later..."

"... Right."

As Sonic and Tatl walked over to the entrance, they looked back and waved back to Fuchsia.

"Later, Fuchsia!" Tatl shouted.

"Yeah, later!" Fuchsia replied. "Come back any time!"

Back outside the Treasure Chest Shop, the torrential downpour had started to lighten up, now just raining moderately down upon the streets of Clock Town. Looking up to the overcast sky, the near-black clouds from before were now somewhat greyish, with the moon barely in view from within it. Sonic breathed a sigh of relief as he looked back at the square - the crowd from earlier had dispersed, with only a few people walking around and chatting in it.

"Hey, Dek?" Tatl said, opening her umbrella.

"What's up?" Sonic replied.

"You wouldn't rat me out to Lady Vee about that slap I did to Fuchsia... right?"

Sonic looked back at the fairy girl. She had a worried frown on her face that surprised him, as if she was actually pleading with him. After a couple seconds of silence between them, Sonic finally sighed.

"Nah," he replied, shaking his head.

"Good…" Her frown curled into a small smile. "Thanks, Dek."

Author's Note: And with that, Chapter 10 is finished.

As you can see, this chapter deals with some of the aftereffects of Sonic's actions in the previous chapter, as well as establish a particular… "quirk" with Tatl that will be made more apparent as the story goes along. The next chapter will concern Sonic's attempt to make the most of his newfound "magic" power that Lady Venus has granted him. Whether Sonic will actually get the help that he wants from her, however… well, you'll see in due time.

With that said, how is the story so far? Did you find this chapter enjoyable? Boring? If you have any questions or problems with this story, post your concerns as a review or send me a private message. Any constructive feedback is, and will always be, much appreciated.

Thank you, and have a nice day.