The Power of Dreams

Chapter 17

About halfway on her walk back to the villa, Kate came to the conclusion that her plan to befriend the Babylon Rogues was easier said than done. Already, learning how to ride an Extreme Gear board in the span of three days was challenging enough, but adding in the fact that she had to keep it a secret from the others and train in secret made it even more difficult. Also, she couldn't forget about the fact that she learned that the Rogues were forced to work for the creep stalking her against her will.

But despite the odds against her, she didn't want to let it hold her back. Kate had the goal to genuinely befriend the Rogues, now without giving them too much personal information, and she was going to do her best to achieve it.

When she was back on the street that led up to the villa, she found a good spot to hide the Extreme Gear board out of sight. Kate knew she couldn't bring it in right away, so she would have to hide it until she could sneak out later that night to bring it in and put it in her closet. After hiding the board in some bushes, she spent the remainder of the walk trying to figure out what her go to plan was to practice using it. But by the time she got back to the villa, she had nothing.

Much to her relief, no one questioned her on why she was out by herself, and Shadow seemed satisfied with her report on how she did on the task he gave her. the only details she didn't tell the black hedgehog were regarding the Babylon Rogues.

Kate tried to look for Mario and Sonic. After she had talked to them about her research on her powers, they said that they wanted to read up on her notes and read the book for themselves while she did training, so that they could be on the same level of information as her. She remembered them telling her that they were going to hide in the garage, for it was most likely the ideal place to get enough privacy to themselves as they studied, but when she got to the garage, there was no sign of the boys. Instead, the only one there was Tails, who was taking a break from finishing up some work on the Tornado.

Kate looked around the rest of the villa, but she couldn't find her friends. During her search, she noticed that Knuckles wasn't anywhere to be found either, which she also found odd. Then the thought that the guys were trying to help Knuckles in some sort of attempts to ask her out crossed her mind, but as she began to blush and felt her heart beat rapidly in anxiety, she did her best to get it off her mind. And luckily, she was able to achieve that when Cream and Cheese came up to her and gifted her a flower crown, and asked if she could play with them for a little bit.

As the day came to an end, everyone turned in for the night. Once she was sure that it was late enough and everyone else was asleep, Kate got out of bed. She opened up her window and jumped down into the gardens. Using her speed, she made a mad dash to where she hid the board. She found the board right where she hid it untouched, much to her relief, and hurried back to the villa. She managed to sneak back in and hide the board in the closet without anyone coming to her room and knocking on her door. Everyone remained asleep, so no one had a clue what she was planning.

Closing the closet door, Kate let out a sigh of relief. She lied back down in bed, trying to think over how she could train in secret within the span of a couple days. It wasn't going to be easy, because after she reported to Shadow, the black hedgehog told her to do a little bit more training tomorrow. More specifically, he wanted her to continue sword training with Sonic. Which meant that her availability as going to be very tight, and since it would be broad daylight, she couldn't sneak out to get some training done.

So she came down to two options: she could try to train at night when everyone was asleep, or she could use her powers to even her skill level with Jet's. the second option made her shake a bit, for she felt like it was cheating. But then again, she had used her powers to enable herself to run like Sonic, so she could not only enjoy racing with him, but also be a faster reactor when danger would arrive.