A Different Kind of Normal

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The author of A Different Kind of Normal considers this page to be unfinished. As such, some sections may change.

Hi guys! This is my first fanfic on this wiki, and it's designed to introduce some of my characters and build the world of the Skyblade Continuity. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

I opened the door to the apartment and threw my bag in the corner. I knew mum would shout at me for not putting it where I should, but right now, I didn't care. I just wanted to be alone.

"Welcome home!"

I was surprised to find she was home already. My shoulders slumped as mum walked out of the kitchen: a white hedgehog with bright blue eyes and a slender build. If I was dad, I probably would have married her too. But, then again, I never would know what dad thought, would I?

"Hello Natalie!" She said in an exceptionally cheery tone. That changed almost instantly when she actually looked at me.

"What happened here?" She asked, pointing too the black eye i'd received less than an hour before.

"Just walked into something" I replied, trying to step round her. She body blocked me before I could get anywhere.

"I'm your mother, Natalie" she said "I know when you're lying. What's wrong?"

I sighed. I didn't want to tell her, but I didn't see the point of just keeping it bottled up.

"I did it again. I don't know how, but I used my powers"

"What happened?"

"I was halfway between here and the school. Some of the boys were jeering me, calling me a weirdo, saying I wasn't Mobian...and I just turned round and told them to pi..."

"I get the idea. What happened next?"

"They started laughing, saying I was hard, and then one of them walks up to me and punches me in the face. That's how I got the black eye. I looked him in the eye and he just...fell to the fall, screaming. The others were trying to help him and I just walked off". I never looked at mum while I said this. Now, however, I looked her in the eye. "What am I mum? Is this normal? Was Dad like this?"

"I know you're scared" She replied "Everyone's scared. The people who fear powers are as scared as the people with them. I know some people who may be able to help you"

A feeling of hope rose in my chest "You do?"

"Yes. It's the reason I came home from work early. I know someone, a friend of a friend. He's a social worker and he's running something at the local youth centre for people with powers, just so they can come to terms with them. I thought you might be...reassuring for you"

The idea sounded almost laughable."A social worker of all things? How is that supposed to help?"

"He's got powers too!"Mum replied hurriedly "He's just trying to get you to control them, so you have less of a problem with having them! What you have is a gift, Natalie."

"It doesn't feel like one"

"It will" She said "It will. It's tomorrow, by the way. Just after you've come home from school."

I ignored what she said. It didn't really matter when it was. After moving to Westopolis, I didn't have any friends, and I didn't have many back in Iravia anyway. Nobody wanted to talk to me after my powers manifested themselves. It just meant I spend ages doing nothing. There was only one thing I cared about.

"Was dad like this?" I asked "You don't have powers, and I must have got it from somewhere."

"Yes, your dad had them." She said, sounding like she was a world away "Look, i've got to get back to work. I've been working from home the entire day, and I can't stop now"

She walked off, leaving me alone in the corridor.

"I can't stop now"? What kind of excuse was that? Every time I mentioned dad Mum brushed it off. She gave a small insight into who he was, but not much. The most I got until a minute ago was that I had his eyes, and even what I was just told i'd worked out anyway. She seemed to want to forget dad completely. She legally changed her surname to Walker, what it had been before she married dad. My surname is still legally dad's, but Mum looked suspicious every time I use it and so I got used to calling myself Natalie Walker. There was no point on dwelling on that now, though. Tomorrow I was going to meet others like me. And maybe, just maybe, I can feel more normal.

Chapter 2

The day afterwards, after I got home, I had barely any time to change and ear before I left the flat again to go to the youth centre. I hadn't been there before, but I knew the way, and I had my phone with me so I could Google it whenever I wanted.

Westopolis was an ugly city. Even an architect from 30 years ago couldn't deny that. It was designed as a "modern city for a modern world". By "modern" it meant "functional":everything was laid out logically and used the least amount of bricks required to make it. The buildings were also ridiculously tall as building up took up less space than building to the side. It was completely different from Iravia, with it's twisting streets and beautiful architecture. I miss that city, but there's no point thinking about it now.

The youth centre was in a modern part of the city called the Crater. It was called that because not that long ago that's all it was: the Black Comet warped down here and when it was destroyed the area it was on went with it. It was rebuilt by Kabletech into an ultra-modern complex of apartments, parks and other things for the locals. Including the youth centre.

The centre was a square building about two stories tall. It was covered in graffiti which Kable the Fox himself had commissioned. I walked through the glass doors into a room filled with pool tables and other teenagers talking, human and Mobian. A few people looked up as I walked in, but didn't talk to me. Instead, I turned off into one of the smaller side rooms: a rectangular room with several couches and the occasional armchair.

Right now, there were 4 other people in the room. One was a Mobian polar bear, obviously extremely fit from the appearance of his biceps. He was wearing a blue hoodie, black tracksuit bottoms and white and blue trainers. He hadn't chose to sit down, despite the fact that there were plenty of chairs in the room, and had instead chosen to lean against the wall. He probably thought it looked cool, despite the fact it looked really stupid.

One of the sofas was currently occupied by a female Mobian fox, her red hair cut short and a confident smirk on her face. She was wearing black jeans and a leather jacket, with a T-Shirt under it with some kind of writing that was impossible to read. She was tapping the sofa's arm impatiently, as if waiting for something to happen. Which it probably would in a few moments.

The third was a Mobian hamster, a fairly rare species of Mobian and more respected for it. The hamster in question was the shortest in the room, fidgeting and looking at the floor, clearly nervous. He was wearing shorts and a T-Shirt, the latter of which had a pixilated heart on it with the words "You are filled with determination" under it. No clue what that meant.

The last person was a Mobian hedgehog with purple fur. He was wearing grey and white boots and grey gloves. A grey streak ran along his left arm. He was the first to notice i'd entered and smiled as soon as I entered the room.

"You're Sasha's daughter, arn't you?" He said as a I sat down on one of the armchairs. I nodded in reply.

"Great." He said, perking up a little. "Well, I think that's everyone." He got up, checked the door was shut properly, and turned to the others.

"Well, it's nice to meet you all. Just to check before we begin...you have all got powers, haven't you?"

Everyone nodded.

"Phew!" He said, slumping slightly "Well, I've got one thing right. Anyway, now we're here, let's introduce ourselves! Going round clockwise"(the polar bear looked slightly annoyed at this seeing he was first up)"we're all going to say our name, something we like and what our power is. Starting with you" The hedgehog pointed to the polar bear.

"Name's Rugal Paramount" The polar bear said. He sounded completely uninterested and I don't honestly blame him. "I like boxing. My power is that I can overheat my attacks"

"Overheat? What's that supposed to mean?" The fox replied. Her accent sounded like she came from somewhere like Station Square.

"I absorb heat and it makes me hit harder" Rugal replied with a smirk.

"Technically, increased heat shouldn't increase the kinetic energy behind your punch" The hamster interjected. No one replied, although Rugal gave him a stern look that shut him up.

"Why are you standing up, anyway?" I asked "Do you have chairphobia?"

"It's cathedraphobia, actually" the hamster mumbled under his breath.

"The question is, why are you sitting down?" Rugal asked.

"Because it's comfortable?"

"Ah...fair point" the polar bear looked slightly disheartened and sat down.

"Moving on" The hedgehog said before pointing at the fox "Who are you?"

"I'm Angel Skyheart" She said, looking around the room. "I like sprinting and my power is that I can attack super fast."

"Like the Flash?" The hamster chipped in.

"Kinda, I guess." Angel replied. She was the first person to acknowledge the hamster, even though it didn't look like she cared."Like, I can't run fast, but I can punch fast"

"Yeah, you stupid ham..." Rugal never got to finish the sentence. A second later he was clutching his stomach and Angel was looking rather pleased with herself.

"Well, at least we know what it looks like now..." the hedgehog muttered. He was still standing next to me by the door. "So, moving on, what can you do?" He said pointing to the hamster.

"Oh, right, uh..." the hamster said extremely quickly, not looking like he was ready "I'm Carl, the, um...hamster"

"Carl the Hamster?" Rugal snorted "What are you trying to be, the next Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"What's wrong with Sonic the Hedgehog?" I asked.

"Haven't you seen him, he's all like 'Oh, I can run super fast, i'm going to save the world for the fun of it, screw having an actual'...OW" Rugal soon went back to clutching his stomach.

"Look, Angel, you can stop now." The purple hedgehog said. That didn't change the expression on the fox's face.

"Er...Anyway." Carl continued "I'm Carl the Hamster, I like Star Wars"(Rugal looked like he was trying to avoid snorting so Angel didn't punch him again)"And my power is that I can control technology"

"Too what extent?" The hedgehog behind me asked

"Well, er, I can control software, delete files, move machinery, that sort of stuff."

"So you could reset my phone password?" I asked.

Carl's hand glowed and he smiled for the first time he had been here "just done it"

I checked my phone immediately afterwards. He had.

"Could you tell me what it is, please?" I asked.

Before Carl could tell me, the hedgehog behind me stopped him.

"Maybe it's not a good idea right now. We'd prefer you to keep in the conversation here and now and not back in Iravia...com'n, it was obvious from the accent. Anyway, who are you?"

I sighed. Here we go.

"I'm Natalie Walker, I like...Snapchat, I guess, i dunno."

"And what's your power?" Angel asked. She seemed more interested now than she had the entire session.

"I'm...er...not...sure" I replied. Rugal looked extremely annoyed at this.

"Are you joking? We got the hang of our powers, so how come..."

"Angel, No." The hedgehog interjected

"...how come you can't?"

"Well, like I said, I don't know what it is."

"Then let's work it out" The hedgehog said "When has your power manifested yourself?"

I didn't exactly feel comfortable talking about this to anyone other than mum, but hopefully it would mean I knew what it was, and hopefully, how to control it.

"The first time, somebody tried to punch me and...I just knew when he was going to do it. I don't know how, but I just knew"

"Sounds like telepathy" Carl said.

"And then yesterday, this guy in front of me randomly started having spasms of pain"

"...brain manipulation?" Carl suggested.

"How's that, genius?" Rugal asked.

"She could have activated the pain receptors in his brain" Angel said.

"That...actually makes sense." I said "Thanks, I guess."

"Anyway" Rugal said, turning to the hedgehog "Who are you, exactly?"

"Me?" He said "I'm Johnathon Persona, I like Guilty Gear and my power is...uncontrollable"

"What is it?" Said Angel.

"I have multiple personalities. One's me, one's a hero like Sonic, one's an anti-hero and one's a villain. I have drugs to control it, but it means I either have my power on full throttle or don't have it at all"

But I wasn't listening to that. At least, not intently. There was a whispering in the background. No one else had noticed it. I focused on it as hard as I could.

"Sol...Badguy...is your main?" I said. That's what i'd heard.

"In Guilty Gear, yes. Well done" John smiled. "I don't expect you to understand it, by the way" he says hurriedly, seeing the confused look on my face, before looking at the rest of the group.

"So, incase you're wondering what we're doing here, every week we're going to meet up at exactly the same time. We're going to practice using your powers, talk about anything that may be on your mind...that sort of thing. If there's something power-related that you can't tell anyone else, here is the best place to do it. According to that clock, we've got a good half an hour left. So..." He clapped his hands together "What do you want to talk about now?"

Chapter 3

My immediate reaction when I got home was to use my phone to check what Guilty Gear was. When I remembered that my phone was still on the password Carl set it too, I borrowed mum's laptop instead. Well, apparently I had read John's mind.

The question was, now what? I had no idea how I had done it. The information had just come to me. I had no control over what I read. I tried to read mum's mind at dinner, but nothing came in the same way it did for John. So how was I supposed to control the power?

School was a little different now. The bullies who had attacked me before now averted their eyes from me like I was the sun. The rumour that a guy had randomly broken down in agonising pain in front of me spread like wildfire. None of the teachers believed me and no one had come forward to say they did it other than the people who had attacked me, so no charges were ever brought against me. Still, that didn't exactly make things better. It would've been great if I could talk to Marcee right now wherever she is in the world, but of course Carl locked me out of my phone.

The next time the club meet, the first thing I do is ask Carl the password to my phone. Before he can say anything, Rugal intervenes.

"You're kidding, right?" He says. "You're meant to be a telekinetic..."

"Telepath" Angel corrects him.

"...Whatever. Anyway, you're supposed to be able to read minds. Can't you just read his mind and work it out?"

"No!" I reply, slightly annoyed "You know I can't control it!"

"You read my mind." John says. He was taking a less active role in the proceedings this time, hanging back while the rest of us worked things out by ourselves.

"That was different! It sorta just came to me. I didn't try and do anything!"

"Then maybe you're trying to hard" Angel says.

"What do you mean?" I ask. Angel was the one person in the room who sounded like she knew what I meant.

"Whenever you used your powers, you never focused that hard on using them. Maybe if you just stop trying to get them to work and just let them?"

"Yeah...that's how my power worked." Carl interjects.

"Ok..." I said quite slowly before looking at Carl "Can you tell me how you did it?"

Carl shrugged "I dunno. I just told them to work and...they did"

I raised an eyebrow "Are you trying to be unhelpful?"

"Look, i'm just telling you what I know."

I sighed "no, I get that. Thanks anyway."

"So..." John said "Do you want to try it on someone?"

"Yeah, sure" I said. I didn't know if anything would happen, but I might as well try.

"Just relax. You can do this"

I relaxed. I tried to just let my power do whatever it liked. I could hear the whispers again, like I heard a week ago with John. I tried to focus on one of them as hard as I could and they just...disappeared.

"Try again." John said, as if he already knew I had failed.

I tried again. The whispers were fainter than before, which was probably down to me being less relaxed after my last attempt, but they were still there which I suppose was something. Instead of focusing on them I just decided to let them come to me. I'm instantly bombarded by useless information, and i'm not even sure who's thoughts they are. I try to push past them, find something useful. Then I find something and the whispers disappear

"Carl" I said, looking slightly annoyed "you seriously set my phone password to 12345?"

Carl shrugged "It's the one you'd most likely guess first."

"Nobody ever sets their phone password to 12345!"

"Regardless of who set who's phone password to what" John interrupted "You still read his mind."

"Well...yeah" I said. I'd been so annoyed by my own stupidity that I'd forgotten i'd just read Carl's mind.

"It's a start I guess." John said "Try it out on some other people at school or home or something"

"I don't have any friends at school"

"Try it out anyway"

"That's just creepy"

"You're reading somebody's mind, Natalie. It's going to be creepy however you look at it."

"Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better"

"If they're not your friends, why do you care?" Rugal asked.

"Because they're still sentient beings" I replied.

"Er...ok." Rugal replied, looking slightly confused.

"I'm a social worker, not a philosopher." John said "Natalie, your homework is to read people's minds. Anything else you guys want to talk about?"

The others got back to talking about...stuff. Something about Carl's T-Shirts. I decided to read Rugal's mind. Push past the useless information. Find something I want to know. What I find is...interesting, to say the least. We're going to have to talk at some point.