"How could you forget about me, old friend? And after all we've been through together?" came the terrible, taunting voice of Kragok, Grandmaster of the Dark Legion, his wicked grin emphasizing the harsh features of his face.
"Kragok!" roared the second Echidna, turning around in the air to face his opponent. His dark, aged face contorted in rage and resentment and his implanted eyes ablaze with raw fighting spirit.
"You and me have a score to settle, Tobor!" Kragok snarled back, pulling the second Echidna, Tobor, toward him with his natural hand, ready to reignite their furious battle.
"You and your kind could never
hope to make good on what they owe me!" Tobor cried, placing as
much sadness and bitterness into his voice as possible. "And if I
must die to end the madness of Dimitri's followers -- SO
BE IT!"
With an almighty lunge, Tobor shoved Kragok
and himself toward the Quantum Canon, a Dark Legion weapon used to
exile the inhabitants of the Floating Island to the Twilight Zone,
just as they once had been.
"NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed Kragok, desperately pressing against his foe in a vain attempt to avoid the Quantum Canon's blast.
However the concentrated energy of the Quantum Canon was far too great for either of the Echidna's bodies to handle.
Like an overpowering
gust of wind, two souls were swept away from their bodies, leaving
their broken and tattered remains to lie amongst the scraps of metal
--
Lifeless and limp.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Kragok……."
whispered a voice - dark as night, and yet somehow soft and
comforting like misty rain. "…Kragok…….."
Kragok felt
his body fall away, and his spirit sit up, light as a feather.
"Kragok!" The voice said again, louder and more impatiently.
"Where are you?
Show yourself!" Kragok exclaimed suddenly, getting to his feet,
darting his eyes left and right feverishly, looking for the source of
the voice.
Suddenly, a bright light flashed in front of Kragok,
who shielded his eyes and took a step back.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw the last Echidna on Mobius he could have ever imagined talking to again.
"It has been a long time, my son." Luger said, smiling merrily down at Kragok, who looked, if anything, fearful.
"F-father?" Kragok stammered, taking another step back. It was clear the shock had knocked all his usual aloofness and swagger right out of him. "This is impossible! We all thought you were- everyone believes that Lien-Da and I – that we – but we didn't, you just – but you - you're dead!" Kragok finished, pointing his finger at his father as if accusing him of murder.
"Calm, son." Luger
said. "I am indeed dead - In the sense that you know it to mean. In
truth, I have evolved..." Luger continued serenely, holding out his
hand for his son. "…just as you have. Take a look at your
hands."
Kragok held his hands out in front of him. At first the
noticed nothing, but then he almost toppled over backwards in
astonishment.
"My hands! They're identical! W-what happened to my bionic arm?" Kragok exclaimed in awe. He then began running his fingers over his face, stopping when he felt his left eye. It was soft."All natural flesh – the way Aurora intended them to be. The same goes for your other cybernetic enhancements." Luger explained. "In words you would understand, you are dead, too."
Like a
switch, Kragok's awe turned instantly to fury.
"Tobor!"
He spat with venom. "That accursed
Guardian! He KILLED me! HE BLOODY WELL KILLED ME! I'll rip
him apart! He doesn't know the MEANING of pain! He - I - I'll
kill him! I'LL KILL THAT BASTARD!"
"Any such
attempt would be futile." Luger said peacefully, grabbing his
frenzied son by the shoulder to calm him. "Tobor's father,
Hawking, has already shown him the way. It's time for me to do the
same for you."
"I'm not going!" Kragok said, throwing his
father's hand of his shoulder. "Not until I have had my
vengeance!!"
Luger chuckled.
"You don't have a choice,
my boy. Aurora has already chosen your path for this realm of being."
"Don't give me
that, old man! I wasn't ready to die!" Kragok protested heatedly.
"I haven't finished living yet! I don't care what Aurora has
'chosen' for me – nobody can tell me what to do!"
Luger
looked down at his son sternly, who glared back up like a furious
child.
"No, I don't think you were. But was anybody?" Luger
said. "Aurora was kind enough to extend her grace even to us Dark
Legionnaires. Don't you think the wise thing to do would be to take
what is so generously given to us?"
Kragok averted his father's
eyes.
"Why has Aurora been so charitable, anyway? We never
followed her ways. We worshipped the Great Dimitri - Lord Enerjak!"
"I guess we'll never know." Luger replied, suddenly looking at
Kragok with what seemed like pity. "I presume she believes in
nurture over nature. It's not exactly your fault your regrettably
short life was such a chaotic disaster." Kragok stood
rigid, his eyes wide, and his body frozen, still looking away from
his father.
"What did you just say?" he whispered in a low,
deadly voice. He snapped his head to face his father.
"WHAT DID
YOU JUST SAY!?" he roared again, his voice rough and full of fire.
Quick as a flash, Kragok threw up his arms, and grabbed his
father by the front of his cloak, pulling him closer and staring
lividly into his eyes.
Luger did not step back, or flinch.
Instead, grabbed his son by the wrist, and quite coolly, pushed him
away.
"Hear me out, son." Luger said, his voice shaking with
power and authority. "I didn't mean it like that. You did the
best with your life with what was given to you."
"Then where
do you get off telling me it was a chaotic disaster?" Kragok
demanded, determined not to let the comment slide. "You can't
just waltz over here and tell me about what a mess I made of
everything!"
"You never had much of a parental-figure, Kragok." Luger said, "And for that, I am sorry. Your mother's untimely death left a hole in all of us, and I wasn't there to support you and your sister, when I was off filling the void left in my life with another woman. You never took to Mari-Su – And though it doesn't make it right, it only made sense for you two to vent your frustrations out on her." Luger frowned.
Kragok felt his face burn - with something he might admit as being embarrassment, but would never go so far to claim as guilt. He knew what his father was talking about. He and Lien-Da had masterminded a plan that ensured that their step-mother suffered a 'tragic accident.'
Kragok wanted to say something on the matter, but he couldn't find the right words. It infuriated him, knowing that as Grandmaster he could say what he liked and how he wanted to say it, and no-one would dare question him. But now, he was just a son talking to his father, and certain thoughts had to be restrained.
"But after I
left your plain, I don't see why you had to continue on with your
wrath, and torment your half-sister." Luger went on to say. He
paused for the smallest fraction of a moment, before going on to say,
"Even after you yourself knew the pain of having giving up a
child."
If being told his life was a 'chaotic disaster'
stunned Kragok, 'stunned' did not even begin to describe how
Kragok felt now. He looked as though he'd been slapped right across
the face. With his own metal claw. Twice.
"NO-ONE is
supposed to know about that!" Kragok screamed, deeply resisting the
urge to grab his father by the collar again.
Luger smiled again,
aggravating Kragok even further.
"Don't think I haven't
been watching you, lad. But I have to say, what you did there was
about the most noble, respectable thing you've done your entire
life. I'm proud of you. Really."
Kragok bit his
lower lip, and screwed his eyes shut in frustration.
"It wasn't
noble and respectable, it was an accident!" He spat, after a long
pause. "And it's certainly nothing to be proud of."
Luger
merely watched his son, feeling it was better to let Kragok vent
these feelings out now.
"I tried to keep it a secret--"
Kragok continued indifferently. "—that the lady Jaya-Ni was
pregnant with my child. She wasn't my partner, so it would have
been disrespectful. But the same day he was born – Lien-Da walked
in on the three of us. I panicked – I managed to open a temporary,
one-way portal to Echidnaopolis, and I ordered Jaya-Ni and my son to
live there. I didn't even have time to name him. I have no idea how
old he is now, or what kind of life he has. I don't even know if he
knows who his father is."
For the first time,
Kragok looked a little sad.
"Father - he was my only son –
did I do the right thing?"
Luger sighed. He
stepped beside Kragok, and placed and arm across his shoulders.
"Not a day goes by that I don't ask myself the very same thing,
concerning you, my son." Luger said, giving Kragok a quick,
one-armed squeeze. Kragok scowled, and did his best to ignore it.
"But concerning your son." Luger said, a bright smile now
playing on his lips. "Come with me, and you will see for yourself!"
----------------------------------------------------
Author's Note:
Hope you enjoyed that, guys! Please take the time to review - it would be much appreciated.
Oh, and Jaya-Ni is of my own creation. If you don't know who her son is... well... In the comics, he's just made a come-back.
Thanks!