Why Do You Fight?
Conquering Storm, Egg Boss of the Yurashia Egg Army, was distracted. This was surprising, as that did not happen very often. Conquering Storm prided herself on her focus, her discipline, and her unwavering devotion to her goals. But as she attempted to mediate, key word being "attempted", she could not obtain her usual level of focus.
Conquering Storm liked mediating. She liked clearing her mind of all unneeded thoughts and all superfluous feelings. Mediation was how she calmed down from a long day of conquest and fighting in the name of that rotund scientist. As her thoughts shifted to Eggman she scowled, thinking about him was never very pleasant.
It was no secret that Conquering Storm loathed Eggman, heck most of his Egg Bosses did, although many for different reasons. For example Hood hated having to bend the knee to someone he tried to pretend he could stand, though that coward was too pathetic to try anything. Kukku hated having to share the skies with Eggman and his foul polluting machines and Akhult, well Akhult just hated someone else telling him what to do.
As for Conquering Storm herself she despised his attitude. The way he swaggered about, filled with his own ego and self-importance, sickened her. If any of her soldiers acted like that she would have beaten them into unconsciousness and sent them to spend a few days imprisoned, to give them a fresh perspective. But Eggman was not one of her soldiers and thus she could not do that, unfortunately. So she tolerated his ego and swagger out of having really no other option.
It was not like Conquering Storm did not know what she was getting into when she signed on with Eggman. She knew she was bending the knee to an outsider, a non-Yurashian, and she did not have a problem with that. Contrary to popular belief Conquering Storm did not want to rule the world, she had never had much interest in the world outside of Yurashia and that had, for the most part, not changed. So, as long as she had her power, her army, and Eggman gave her the space she wanted, she did not care.
There was something she did care about thou, or was starting to at least, and that was what was distracting her from her meditation. At first she could not put her finger on what was bothering her. At first she thought it was Dulcy and her band of Freedom Fighters; that annoying dragon and her friends had been thorns in her side for a while now, so it would not be terribly surprising that they occupied her thoughts
But it was not the Freedom Fighters that were bothering her, the feelings were not same. When she thought of the Chun-Nan Freedom Fighters, especially that traitorous tiger Jian, her feelings were ones of anger and disdain, and those were not what she was currently feeling. Then she thought it could be her deceased parents, thoughts of them sometimes weighed on her mind. The hours of training, of schooling, of forced expectations, and a lack of true affection, had not lead to a very happy childhood for Conquering Storm. Not that she resented her parents or anything; no she never did that, their ministrations had made her into the powerful woman she is today.
No what was bothering her was something new, something she had rarely felt before and it had begun recently. It happened during another "team-up" mission, as the doctor called them, a mission were two or more Egg Bosses worked together on something or another. The doctor liked to do it to "build more cohesion" and because it was "amusing". Despite what Sonic the Hedgehog would have you believe Eggman won more often then he lost. Sure he very often lost to Sonic and has friends, but the Knothole Freedom Fighters could not be everywhere and Eggman had far more resources at his disposal. One did not get to be the ruler of almost half the planet by letting one group of rebellious curs interfere to the point of internal collapse.
Anyway, the mission involved her helping in smashing a group of random rebels that popped-up every now and then. It was nothing too special, just some ex-GUN soldiers that thought that their way of fighting Doctor Eggman was better then their former superiors, she had seen that before. The mission had taken her to Northamer, because the request for back up had come from one Clove the Pronghorn. This part had interested Conquering Storm, at lest a little bit. She knew little about Clove, she had only met her a scant few times and those times did not involve much social interaction.
This bothered Conquering Storm because she liked to have as much information as possible on her fellow Egg Bosses. They were coworkers, yes, but they were NOT friends and anyone of them could cause her problems in several ways. Her lack of knowledge about Clove had bothered her, so this was a chance to rectify that. Her initial meeting with Clove had gone just as she expected it would: cold and professional, no trust or feelings of comradery here. Before the strike they had planned out how they would go about it inside Clove's base, and while in the base Conquering Storm had met Clove's sister Cassia.
Unlike with Clove this was the very first time she had met Cassia, and she had made quite the impression. A boundless ball of energy Cassia was immature and naive, if still competent at her actual job, and had irked Conquering Storm a bit. She had expected Clove to act like a typical Egg Boss when it became clear to her that Cassia was annoying her guest, but she did not. She treated Cassia with patience, understanding, and affection, thus settling things without even once raising her voice.
Conquering Storm was both surprised and impressed by this. In the Yurshaian culture she had come from family was highly important, and to see this Northmerian, and Egg Boss at that, treat her sister in such a way, well it was not what she expected. After Cassia left they started planning their strike, and again Clove impressed her, this time with her tactical skills and concern for her troops. No unnecessary sacrifices here, only what was needed. She cared for her subordinates, that much was quite obvious.
Then came the actual strike and it was glorious, far more so then she thought it would be. They struck like lighting and crushed them, as expected. But during the heat of the battle she had seen Clove fight and, oh by the gods, she was beautiful. The way she moved, the way she struck, and the way she swung that laser scythe of hers, gorgeous. The strength, both of body and of mind she had shown, wonderful. After the victory they returned to Clove's base to have something of a celebration, and this is when Conquering Storm had asked her question to Clove.
"Why do you fight" she had asked, Conquering Storm was always to the point. Clove had looked surprised at the question and replied with the stock answer "For the Eggman Empire". Conquering Strom had snorted at that and replied with "That is a boldfaced lie, none of the Egg Bosses besides those zealots Thunderbolt and Maw fight for that. Please do not toy with me. I mean you no harm, just simple curiosity". Clove did not say anything she merely looked at Cassia and that was all Conquering Storm needed to understand.
"For her, your sister" Conquering Storm had said with a small amount of surprise. Clove nodded and said, "It is complicated". "I do not doubt it" Conquering Storm had replied. There was silence for a moment before Conquering Storm said, before she could stop herself, "You seem interesting and honorable. Perhaps we should get to know one another better". Clove was surprised at what she had said and so was Conquering Storm! How could she say something so mortifying, so embarrassing, and was she blushing? Conquering Storm did not blush like some teenager!
After Clove's surprise wore off she smiled and agreed that, yes perhaps they should. They spent the rest of the evening conversing with each other. During that time Conquering Storm had embarrassed herself further by at one point telling Clove she liked how well she took care of her fur. Clove had giggled at that, actually giggled, at Conquering Storm! No one had giggled at her for over a decade, and why did this not really bother her?
Eventually they both retired for the night and in the morning they said their goodbyes and Conquering Storm left for her own territory. But not before overhearing Cassia say to Clove "Man, she is smoking hot, eh sis" to which Clove responded with an indignant "Cassia" but that was all Conquering Storm had heard. Now here she was, two days back in her territory and attempting to meditate, to no avail.
Why was that Pronghorn stuck in her head to this degree? Sure she was a skilled leader, a powerful fighter, and rather good-looking, but she had met people with all those traits before, so why was Clove sticking with her so much, she was acting like. "No" Conquering Strom said as her eyes snapped open "No, no, no, no, no, no, no"! Now she realized what she had been acting like, she had been acting like when she was thirteen and had met Genji. Genji was a young leopard, a common boy who worked on her family's land for his farmer parents. Conquering Storm had met him when she snuck out of her family's compound on a dare and they had hit it off.
They talked, joked, shared secrets, and even kissed each other. It was the first and so far only romantic relationship Conquering Strom had ever had. It did not work out, they were from two different worlds, and once the consequences of that had fully dawned on them they broke it off and parted amicably. But during that time she had giggled and blushed, at this young famer's son and his stories and jokes, it had been pleasant for a while. But this, no never, never ever!
She was a fellow Egg Boss and she could not be trusted! For all Conquering Storm knew everything Clove had told her could just be lies. But Conquering Storm could read people and all her instincts told her that Clove had not lied to her, and that made things far more complicated. Love had never been part of the agenda, it was too emotionally charged, and it would make her weak! But the more she tried to resist it the more thoughts of Clove popped into her head.
It was not like Conquering Storm was homophobic, not at all. She had no problem with same-sex relationships, she had always found blood-based leadership to be foolish anyway, let them earn it she always said! No it was not the gender of the person she was attracted to that bothered her, but the fact that she was attracted at all! Love could not happen to her, it was never meant for her, it was a weakness!
But when she fought beside Clove she did not feel weak, she had felt invigorated and passionate, like nothing could stop her. "Maybe" she thought, "maybe I could, try it"? This was a dangerous and foolish thought she knew, been raised all her life to know that, but that did not matter one bit. She had to see Clove again in a relaxed setting, if only to sort out these crazy feelings. "Perhaps I will call her tomorrow" Conquering Strom said to no one in particular. She then went to let off some steam in the gym, that should help, thou it probably would not. "Don't go soft Storm, don't go soft" is the mantra she thought to herself as she walked down the hall.