Nazo could hardly believe his ears. Balance - the same Balance that Light and Dark were going on about!? He's just a kid! Why are they going after a dang kid!? Nazo glanced back at Fleetway to see if he was imagining hearing the doll hedgehog say that, only to see that Fleetway was spacing off again.
“What was with that hedgehog!?” Nazo said as he looked back at Balance, his face unmoving.
"Your name... Is Balance?" He carefully asked and Balance nodded without a single peep.
Nazo didn't know what he was going to make of this situation, it was strange to say the least. He then tried to start a conversation. "So... Um..."
"You want to know what I am doing right?" That is until Balance interrupted him.
"Er... Yes... If you don't mind me asking..." Nazo said carefully, muttering out that last part.
"The worst punishment possible... Trapped within time..." Balance rambled off as Nazo thought this over.
Trapped? Within time? Why is Light and Dark doing this to what appeared as a kid? So many questions that are left unanswered all because of some weirdo past that the five of them are trying to uncover. Nazo wanted to clear this all up, to get the answers he wanted, and it seemed like this little doll hedgehog could be his ticket for those answers.
"Balance." He said, immediately getting the hedgehog's attention. "Could you maybe show me what happened?"
Balance was quiet for a moment then slowly stood up and started walking up. Literally, up, into the sky. Balance had a certain sway with his walk that looked like he was rather lifeless. Nazo had no words for what he just witnessed. He shook his head then flew up to Balance.
"Hey... Uh... Do you have to do that...?" Nazo asked, quickly getting Balance's attention.
"Do what?" Balance asked, still walking.
"Er... That..." Nazo gestured to Balance's walking, causing said doll hedgehog to stop and float there- looking Nazo directly into his eyes.
"You are not from this time at all." Balance stated calmly making Nazo confused for his choice of words and before he got a chance to ask about that, Balance actually flew off this time.
"-At least he's actually flying..." Nazo remarked, then glanced over in Fleetway's direction. No change with him as Nazo sighed and grabbed Fleetway by his arm. "We need to find out what's wrong with you…" He sighed then flew off after Balance. It's been a few minutes but soon Balance had led them to Light and Dark approaching an older looking Balance who was watching random Mobians.
"There." Balance pointed at the two white fire, and black vine hedgehogs.
"Light and Dark?" Nazo asked, seeing the both of them from earlier.
"You know them?" Balance glanced at Nazo.
"Well, sort of..." Nazo grumbled but then saw how Balance fixed his gaze on him, making Nazo glance away. "I-In my time they did-"
"They are evil." Balance interrupted him then looked back at Light and Dark. Nazo said nothing and looked as well knowing something was up.
"Balance." The vine hedgehog announced as he flew over to said older doll hedgehog with Light just behind him.
"I have done nothing wrong." Balance immediately said, not looking at them.
"Oh sure, like we would believe that." Light huffed, glaring at Balance.
"Look at us now!" Said Dark, making Balance turn his head in an awkward angle so that he was looking at them upside-down. "Would you stop with those movements? They look unnatural."
"Why?" Balance asked innocently, tilting his head to the point that it looked like it was going to snap off.
"Because I said so!" Dark yelled.
Balance was quiet for a second then put his head back to its natural position, but didn't turn to look at them. "Go find something else to do, you two are to blame for everything."
"Why you little-" Dark growled out but didn't finish as Light held him back to prevent the vine hedgehog from pouncing onto the doll. Balance seemed to find this amusing as he glanced at both the vine and fire hedgehogs.
"Nothing is going to come from ripping his head off Dark. He can just reattach it." Light said as he looked at Balance.
"Nazo!"
Upon hearing his name, Nazo turned to look at who called him and saw Mephiles, Exe, and Scourge heading his way.
"Nazo, where were you," Mephiles looked at Nazo, but then spotted the golden hedgehog. "and Fleetway?" Mephiles quickly noticed that the golden hedgehog still had no change to his demeanor.
"Hey, who's the kid?" Scourge called out, approaching Balance and standing in front of him.
The doll's head almost looked like it was going to snap off from looking directly up at Scourge. He didn't step back, no, just stared straight straight up at Scourge.
"What's with his head?" Scourge asked, stepping back from that, Balance's gaze just followed him but not his head.
"He's... Er... Just act like that's natural." Nazo scratched his head, glancing at Balance. "That's Balance by the way."
"Right..." Scourge muttered, looking the doll up and down and watched as his head turned to follow Scourge.
"What happened to Fleetway?" Exe asked, floating over to said golden hedgehog and waving a hand in front of his face.
"He's been like that for a while-" Nazo said. "and I have no idea why that is happening."
"Maybe something triggered him into having this sort of... Whatever it is." Mephiles wondered out.
"Maybe that might explain it." Scourge announced, pointing at the scene before them which Fleetway was staring at. The trio had followed Keeper and Neikan this whole time and were rather bored about it as Keeper wasn't interested in anything. They just so happened to come across the little scuffle that was going on with Light, Dark, and the older Balance. Keeper and Balance just stared at each other while Light and Dark did the same. The white fire hedgehog then stepped forward, breaking Keeper's seemingly unwaveable gaze onto Balance and redirecting it to himself.
"How's the little tour going?" Light asked to lower some of the ever rising tension, but before Keeper responded, Neikan stepped in.
"We haven't finished. There's still plenty of planet left to explore." Neikan said.
But Balance huffed tiredly "It's boring."
"We had a deal." Neikan reminded him. Dark gave Light a knowing look while Light did a mocking face back at him before turning back to Keeper and Neikan.
"Well, we shouldn't keep you wait-"
"Who's that?" Neikan interrupted Light, catching sight of Balance.
"Nobody." Keeper responded, looking at Balance aggressively.
"Says you." Balance shot back, sharing the same look to Keeper.
"You... Know each other...?" Neikan questioned as he glanced back and forth from the doll to the pure green hedgehog, only to gain a scoff from the latter.
"That is a prototype. Something that shouldn't exist." Keeper flicked his chains out, looking more like a twitch, similar to how one would want to kill someone else.
"You are sure one to talk." Balance shot back at him, his flower on his back unfolding to become countless monochrome ribbons. One of those ribbons pointed at Keeper like an accusatory finger. "You and everyone else have no meaning to those petty things you call lives." Balance then flicked that ribbon across Keeper's face. A clean cut was formed down his crystal face, which meant those ribbons were sharper then they looked.
Before their very eyes- the cut began to close in on itself like some terminator skin until the cut was closed like it was never there to begin with. Keeper slowly looked at Balance, malice shining in his eyes, then his chains snapped into action by tightly squeezing Balance's neck.
"You better watch what you say puppet." Keeper hissed at him with venom, but Balance wasn't affected by it.
"Right back at you, you pile of rocks."
Keeper suddenly snarled and was about to rip Balance apart for his response when Neikan suddenly intervened, pushing them both away from each other with a little blast of power.
Balance looked like he was about to talk when Keeper did so first. "Eternity should have gotten rid of you to begin with. Then we wouldn't be in this situation at all."
Keeper then walked away without a moment's hesitation. Neikan was just about to follow him when he glanced in Balance's direction, seeing how the doll was staring at him and Keeper. Neikan then went after Keeper, keeping in mind what just happened. Light and Dark shared a glance then went over to Balance.
"You had your fun Balance. Now it's time for no more fuss-"
Balance interrupted them with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "My fun isn't done." With a flick of his ribbons, Balance disappeared.
Dark growled a little. They were so close to ending him. "Damn it!"
Light then put a hand on Dark's shoulder stopping him before he went into a fit of rage. "Maybe we should let him go."
"What!?" Dark gave the fire hedgehog a look of disbelief. "Are you nuts!?"
"We all are Dark." Light said as he rolled his non-existent eyes then gave the fire hedgehog a little smirk. "We could kill two birds with one stone. That is, if you listen."
The group stopped listening after that when the two of them flew off. Scourge was the first to talk.
"Okay, something is definitely going on here!"
"You can say that again." Exe agreed with the green hedgehog.
"They are evil." The young Balance insisted for the second time now. Or was it third? Nazo didn't keep track of that.
"I don't think everything is just as simply black and white Balance." Nazo started to tell the doll. "After all, something more had happened before all of this."
Balance was silent then started to fly off, not wanting to spend anymore time with those that didn't see his point of view.
"That kid sure is something else." Scourge muttered.
"That he is." Nazo said then turned to the group. "So what do you all think we should do now?"
"If it's anything productive, we should follow those guys." Mephiles pointed out then took a glance at the golden hedgehog. "Then maybe find out what's going on with Fleetway.
"Yeah, all of this quietness is getting freaky. Especially from him of all hedgehogs." Scourge spoke up about Fleetway's situation.
Nazo looked at the group then started to plan out what they are going to do now. "Alright, Scourge, you and Fleetway continue to watch Neikan and Keeper. Mephiles and Exe, you two watch over Light and Dark. I'm going to find Balance and try to get more information out of him."
The five of them then split up and began to do their assigned mission. Unknowing to them, Balance was watching them from a distance.
"Interesting." Balance muttered then had done a dangerous smirk. "The rest of them will be good puppets." He then held up one of his hands. A voodoo doll of Fleetway hung from his claws. "Just like that golden one." Balance then flew off. So many preparations to be made, so little time.