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Back with the Old Man

The old man had been pacing for a while, ignoring the world as his kids explored it, too deep in thought to care, when suddenly an alarm went off. Someone was there to see him. He quickly caught up on recent events using his magic, before going to the meeting world. He stood there watching Sonic and Rose, then waited for them to call out a couple of times before appearing before them in a white robe. To be more precise, he appeared to BE the white robe, as looking into the mask there was no head.

"Before we begin, I would like to apologize for my daugher. She doesn't know how to knock softly," the old man called out.

"You mean that wasn't you closing the barrier?" responded Sonic.

"Of course not, I am not so clumsy," said the man. "Unless, of course, I intend to be."

"If that wasn't you closing the barrier, then why can't we leave?" asked Rose.

"I have my reasons," started the man, "some of which are for me to know, however I can tell you that if you were to leave now you would be unable to return. You don't want that, do you?"

"You have a point there," said Sonic.

"Now, about those creeps," Rose said, her anger obviously increasing.

"Say no more," interrupted the man. "My son is normally quite well-intentioned, however he does have an evil streak in him that he has found he needs to satiate every so often. He does not, however, mean any harm."

"That explains the boy, but what about the girl?" inquired Sonic.

"Ah yes, my daughter," said the man. "She is quite the opposite of my son, as you may have figured out. She doesn't seem to realize she has a good streak in her, however. Good thing, too, otherwise your trip to Risa would have to be cancelled."

"How did you know about that?" Rose exclaimed, partially shocked. "And for that matter, what does this good streak have to do with it?"

"You weren't exactly secretive about it, for one thing," responded the man. "As for how it matters, that is none of your business. If you really want to know, go ask her."

"How rude," said Rose quietly.

"I am sorry," snapped the man, "but you have KOed my son and are now essentially prying into my daughter's past. If anything, YOU have been rude."

"What about the trouble they cause to other words?" Sonic snapped back. "Isn't that rude?"

"To be perfectly honest," said the man, "my daughter is the primary cause of the trouble you speak of. My son usually plays cleanup."

"That pervert plays CLEANUP?!" yelled Rose.

"Give him a chance, would ya," replied Sonic. "Don't you ever give into the evil that keeps your power balanced?"

Rose stood there for a moment, blushing as she calmed down. "Sorry, I'm just on edge from him trying to take over my mind, it's clouding my judgment. That, and I may have been around Happosai a bit too long."

"There," said the old man in a more cheerful tone. "Now that we have settled that matter, was there anything else?"

"Yes, in fact," said Sonic. "I don't suppose you can tell us anything about that Dark Pulse we felt?"

"Ahhh, yes," said the old man thoughtfully. "My daughter's first experience with a pervert, and it happened to be Happosai. It didn't end well for Happosai, as you probably realize."

"Well that is a shock," said Rose. "Dark energy doing something useful for a change."

"Although it is a surprise," Sonic interrupted. "She has been around for quite a while, yet that was her first experience with a pervert. Surprising."

The old man just stood there, smiling to himself, although Sonic and Rose couldn't see it. After a moment Sonic and Rose prepared to leave, when Sonic suddenly turned around.

"One more thing," said Sonic. "I don't suppose you actually HAVE a face that we will see some day?"

"This day you shall not see, but some day it will come to be, have patience lik e the bee, honey doesn't grow on trees," the man replied, vanishing.

"Curioser and Curioser," joked Rose as the two left.

The old man returned to his lair just as Jeremy awoke. Emily, on the other hand, had gotten hungry and gone in search of food. He knew that they normally ate enough to keep them going for years, but they didn't have that much here and apparently it had been a while since they last ate. Their human side needed the nourishment, but that would just add to their disguise as they had to eat as much as any normal human anyway. She looked so innocent as she ate her salad, the old man unable to tear his eyes away.

At least, not until Happosai landed on her lap.

Happosai wasted no time in jumping up, but instead of latching onto her he decided to throw her off guard by kissing her first. He figured that might buy him a few seconds, at least. Emily did indeed go into shock as she was kissed right on the lips by Happosai, but that didn't last long. Emily's eyes glowed red as an un-tapped power inside her erupted into a pillar of dark energy that shot into the sky, causing Happosai to freeze with fear. He stood still long enough for Emily to summon a dark mallet and use him like a golf ball, sending him hurtling into space. His space jaunt didn't last long, however, for just as Emily was collapsing from the exertion the old man appeared out in space, with his own much larger dark mallet, and blasted Happosai back to the earth with three times the force Emily had hit Happosai. The impact left a burn on Happosai's shirt that read "NEVER KISS MY DAUGHTER AGAIN!"

After the man had calmed down he decided to take his mind off things by working on his next major curse. He had gotten far, but still had a ways to go on it. Besides, if anyone messed with his kids again an alarm would go off, he made sure of that.