The Power of Dreams

Chapter 12

The rest of the Oracle of Delphius's visit went by rather quickly. Shortly after he finished having his one on one discussing with Kate and what he knew about the Power of Dreams, the Oracle then went to check in on the hedgehog triplets. The triplets were rather surprised to see that their old friend had come by for a visit, but none of the less happily caught up with him. Sonic even took in the liberty of introducing the oracle to all of his new friends, and sharing stories about his life with his siblings before he left Mobotropolis.

The only people who didn't hang around for the last bit of the oracle's visit were Knuckles, who strangely left the villa and didn't tell anyone where he was going, and Kate, who was still pondering what she learned from the oracle during their session.

Kate couldn't tell if she felt more or less anxious about the whole aspect that she could be bad because of her powers. Though the oracle's words contained genuine concern and reassurance, Kate still couldn't make out if she had the choice to be good and help others. But she knew that the oracle was right about one thing: she shouldn't completely neglect how she feels. And knowing that she was feeling confused, she was more determined to try to ensure that she would do her best to protect her friends, which meant that she would have to get back to training, and finish it.

By the time the oracle left the villa, it was time for dinner. Knuckles still wasn't back, but Vanilla had cooked dinner for everyone, so they all sat together at the dining table and ate their meal. While everyone else was having conversations with one another, Kate just ate in silence. She was rather hunger, and eating some food helped her feel a bit less anxious than she was before she had dinner. Though once she was done eating, she decided to excuse herself and head back upstairs to her room.

Today had been kind of a crazy day. Already, the Oracle of Delphius came by for a visit to talk to her, but some more awkward stuff took place before he arrived. There was the whole mess with Manic asking her out and how Knuckles saved her from that mess, but she also found herself in an awkward state with the echidna.

Though since Knuckles wasn't home, Kate didn't feel any better about what happened between them and the situation she found herself in with Manic. If anything, the whole thing helped her realize something: she had a crush on Knuckles.

So she wanted to talk to him about what happened, try to sort things out. Even if the echidna didn't return the feelings for her, Kate was fine with staying as friends with him. He was someone she felt comfortable with, aside from Mario and Sonic, and she couldn't remember when the last time she had such feelings for a friend. So even if Knuckles only saw her as a friend, she would be okay with it.

Besides, maybe talking to the echidna about it will help her realize if the feeling was just a crush indeed, or maybe really something more.

Kate retreated to her room. She glanced over to the spot where she had hidden the book that she had been reading for her research. Hearing what the oracle told her, it made her curious to read the remainder of the book, to see how the history of her powers came to an end and how it connected to her and the present day.

But she wasn't ready to continue reading. She still felt a bit anxious about the whole ordeal on whether or not she could end up a Dark Dreamer, so she decided to keep putting it off until she was ready to continue.

Feeling exhausted and tired from everything that happened that day, Kate changed into her pajamas and decided to try to get some sleep, despite how it wasn't even eight o'clock yet.

Though she dozed off to sleep rather quickly, Kate didn't have a pleasant slumber. It had been a while since she last had strange dreams, for she had them before her powers had awoken. But despite reading the unsettling chapters in the research book, she still had no strange, unpleasant dreams. It seemed that the real trigger was meeting the Oracle of Delphius.