"Takeshi, settle down!" Queen Aleena ordered her five-year old son, who was zipping from one side of her office to the other.
"It's Sonic, Mom!" the young blue hedgehog protested, jumping from the bookshelf to a decorated armor statue. "That's what Unca' Chuck calls me. He says I can run as fast as the speed o' sound, lika' sonic-boom!"
"Regardless, you are a hedgehog, not a monkey," Aleena scolded, "Now get down from there before you hurt yourself.
'Sonic' stood up on his feet at the tip of the armor, getting ready to dive off, but upon standing, the armor wavered back and forth. He swung his arms to maintain balance, but it did no good as the armor toppled forward, with the little hedgehog falling down with it. Aleena wasted no time jumping up from her desk and quickly coming over to the boy's side. "Are you okay, dear?"
Sonic rubbed his head. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Now didn't I warn you that you could hurt yourself?"
"Sorry, Mom... I'll clean it up." Sonic got to his feet and picked up the armor's chest plate as Aleena picked up the statue, righting it back up. Sonic only stared at the plate, pulling it closer as he tried to read an inscription inside. "The powers split, north and south... Two worlds, separate lives... In the greatest per... peril... the powers yu... yuuuuniiii-..."
"Unite," Aleena corrected.
"Yuuniiite... And two become one..." Sonic looked up at his mother. "What's all that mean?"
Aleena took the chest plate from her son and tried to connect it back to the armor. "It's an ancient prophesy from an old, old story, long before your time. Long before my time even."
The word "story" was more than enough to rile the little hedgehog. "Tell me, Mom!" he cried, jumping up and down like a Mexican bean, "Tell me! Tell me!"
Aleena chuckled. "Oh Takeshi, it's not like it's a bedtime story or anything. You might not understand."
"Awww, come on, please?" Sonic clasped his tiny hands in a pleading manner.
Aleena sighed and smiled, then scooped him up into her arms. "Oh all right," she said, "Only because you love hearing stories." She placed him on the desk chair and sat on the edge of her desk, looking down to her son as she spoke.
Many many centuries ago, there stood a powerful kingdom. This kingdom held the highest power, and was the mightiest on the planet, perhaps even in the entire universe. An evil warlord wanted to use this power to his own selfish advantages, and struck a civil war in the kingdom. Before it could collapse under his rule, the great power of the kingdom divided itself into two. Instead of being divided from one, two were united to defeat the warlord. In order to preserve the power, the kingdoms remained separated to protect themselves from any of threats, including the warlord's spirit. Until then, the universe waits until these two worlds were called upon to unite into one once again.
"I just love that story, Mother," mewed the princess kitten as she snuggled into her bed.
Her mother smiled and stroked her forehead. "I know you do, Blaze," she spoke, "Though for the life of me, I'll never understand what fascinates you about such a fable."
"Cuz it gives me hope," Blaze happily responded, "No matta' what's happening, I know our kingdom will be safe. It gives everyone hope that we'll get stronger and beat up all the bad guys, an' be a happy planet!"
The queen cat gave a light kiss to her five-year-old daughter's cheek. "If it brightens your spirit, then I will never stop telling you the story."
EIGHT YEARS LATER...
'The powers split, north and south
Two worlds, separate lives
In the greatest peril, the powers unite
And two become one...'
The saying replayed itself into Blaze's mind as the teen princess looked over her land from the highest tower of Sol Castle. This was her land, her responsibility, her duty... to do it alone.
She sat up from the ledge she was leaning against, scoffing. "What a stupid story..."