After a very long break, Icy Knuckles returns. It should've been obvious that I was not gone for good. I just merely had to take some time off to focus of college life. It's very busy work, and I don't mean all book work either. But I digress. Here's the first installment of my new story, The Hunted. Enjoy!
A warm, spring day was afoot on Angel Island. There was a gentle breeze in the air. The birds were chirping and the sun had just risen. The peace and tranquility that could be felt in the air protruded over the entire landscape. Well, almost. Towards the center of the small floating island near the altar where the Master Emerald stood, two anthromorphic creatures could be seen combating. One was an echidna and the other one was a bat.
Knuckles' next punch barely missed as he grazed the side of his rival's face. She, in turn, retaliated by grabbing him by the arm and giving him a rough toss. He slid back but remained on his feet. They now stood, gazing at each other with a look of aggression in their eyes. Rouge's, however, was a little more playful.
"My my, Knuckie! It's not like you to attack first," said Rouge in her normal, flirty tone.
"What can I say? You bring out the worst in me," said Knuckles. "Now, you're not going to beat me as usual; so just go."
"What's with the attitude? You don't like me anymore?" asked Rouge.
Knuckles simply turned his back to her and walked back up to his shrine. When he turned back around, he saw that Rouge was gone. With her out of the way, he kicked back and stretched out in front of the green, glowing rock with his eyes closed.
"You can't be serious. Is that really all that you do every day of your life?"
Knuckles opened his eyes and jumped up into a fighting stance. He looked around for the voice until he finally saw Rouge sitting on top of the Master Emerald as it rotated.
"What are you still doing here?" asked Knuckles.
"I'm enjoying the sun," said Rouge.
Knuckles stared her down with an annoyed look on his face.
"Relax. I don't want your dumb rock. It's just not worth all that you put me through to get it," said Rouge.
"Well, there's nothing else here that you could possibly want; so why do you continue to hang around here then?" asked Knuckles.
Rouge looked almost heartbroken by Knuckles' harsh response, but she quickly reverted back to her normal charming smile.
"Your sunny disposition just warms my heart every time I come up here," she said with glee.
Knuckles understood her sarcasm and chose not to respond.
She took his silence as a sign of defeat. Suddenly, Rouge's ears began to twitch. She looked over towards the forest area that surrounded the shrine. There was a very faint rattling coming from those bushes. At first, she thought that it might just be a forest animal, but the object sounded too big to be any animal that was naturally seen on the floating Angel Island.
"Hey, Knucklehead, I think you have company," said Rouge.
"I know. It's an annoying bat who won't leave me alone," said Knuckles.
Rouge scoffed.
Out of nowhere all of the sudden, a rope flew through the air. It was one of those ropes with weights on both ends. The rope caught Knuckles by the feet and tripped him up. Knuckles fell forward onto the ground. His mouth was filled with dirt. He quickly sat up, spat the dirt out, and ripped the rope in half.
"Rouge, what was that for!" he yelled.
"What? I didn't do anything," said Rouge.
"Face it. There's no one else here. Who else could've done it?" asked Knuckles.
"Duck!"
Rouge pushed Knuckles down as a small dagger flew between her and Knuckles.
"Whoever threw that!" said Rouge.
Knuckles got up again. Twice, someone had taken a shot at him. He was getting a little infuriated.
"Show yourself!" demanded Knuckles.
No one answered his call.
"You sure showed them," said Rouge.
"Who asked you for a smart remark anyway?" said Knuckles.
A small blue sphere rolled up to both of them. In a split second upon stopping at Rouge's heel, it exploded. Both Knuckles and Rouge were sent flying by the blast effect. They both landed on their backs.
"Who the hell is doing this?" asked Rouge.
"I don't know but I'm going to find out," said Knuckles.
"GET DOWN!" Knuckles punched the ground and caused a small tremor. Two figures fell from the bushes. One was a tall, brown male fruit bat and the other was a very perky and voluptuous pink echidna.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" asked Knuckles.
"Not bad, echidna. I see that you'll prove to be a challenging prey," said the bat. "My name is Valon, and I'm a bounty hunter."
"Don't think that you're off the hook, Rouge," said the female echidna. "My name is Crystal, and I'm taking you down. You have quite a taste for gems, but once I'm done with you, your jewel hunting days will be over. All the world's gems are mine to have."
"I beg to differ, girlfriend," said Rouge.
With that, Rouge lunged herself at her target. She turned and prepared for an aerial roundhouse kick. Before contact could happen, Crystal grabbed Rouge by her boot and punched her to the ground. She then raised her own boot to the air and revealed a needle lodged in the heel. Before she pierced a hole into Rouge's head, Rouge did a quick roll to the side.
"Your blood will be spilled before the day is through," said Crystal.
"Don't you ever shut up?" asked Rouge.
Suddenly, Rouge and Crystal lunged themselves at each other and their tussle erupted into a serious cat fight. Knuckles and Valon were having a similar struggle. Knuckles kept attacking and attacking and Valon kept blocking and blocking his attacks. Valon wasn't even trying to put up a descent fight. It was almost like he wanted Knuckles to attack him. Finally, after several failed combinations, Knuckles tried grappling. He reached for Valon. Valon simply grabbed his arm and flipped him onto the ground. He then tossed an orb at Knuckles that transformed into metal wire. It enshrouded Knuckles so that he couldn't move.
"What do you want from me?" asked Knuckles.
"It's very simple. The nature of my quest is not for money nor dislike but merely a search for a challenge of someone who can prove themselves worthy. Then, after I defeat this admirable opponent, his emerald I will claim as my trophy and proof of my victory. Then, I'll bury you with dignity in an unmarked grave far from here," said Valon.
Knuckles didn't understand all that he said but he understood the part about Valon wanting his emerald.
"You're nuts," said Knuckles.
"Who are you to judge a man solely on his desires?" asked Valon.
"I've heard enough of your mumbo jumbo. If you want my emerald, you're going to have to kill me first," said Knuckles.
"That's but a simple whim. You're not defeated yet. Defeat is only truly claimed when an opponent is completely neutralized," said Valon.
"Well then, you might have a problem because it'll take more than the likes of you to defeat me," said Knuckles.
Knuckles mustered up all his strength and was able to break the metallic bonding wire. The second he was freed, he darted at Valon and grabbed him by the wing. He performed his spiral upper, which sent Valon flying into the bushes. Knuckles quickly dashed over to the bushes where he saw Valon fall only to discover that he had disappeared. Knuckles crept into the woods, keeping his eyes wide open and staying alert for signs of Valon.
"Where are you hiding coward?" Knuckles yelled as he swarmed through the bushes.
"The best vantage point is where the enemy cannot see. That way, they are not able to see me strike."
Valon's voice seemed to be coming from all over the place. Knuckles looked in places he thought he heard Valon talking but he kept coming up empty. As Knuckles checked behind a tree, Valon grabbed him from up high, where he was hiding in a tree and slashed him in the back. He then set a small circular device on Knuckles' back that sent 10,000 volts through his body.
"Gahhh!" Knuckles screamed in agony as the volts brought him to his knees before the device shorted out and fell to the ground. Knuckles' vision was getting blurry and he felt totally depleted. Valon then grabbed Knuckles by under his arms and took off into the air. He circled around Angel Island with Knuckles in tow. He came over to where Rouge and Crystal were still duking it out and gave Knuckles a seismic toss into the ground near Rouge.
"What have you done to him?" asked Rouge. She saw Knuckles' state and gasped. His face was covered in dirt and blood. A large burn spot was present on his back where the electrical device was planted.
"I simply proved myself as more worthy of life than he by defeating him in an honorable and fair battle," said Valon.
"You call that honorable? You use your weapons to weaken and disable him while he uses his bare hands and you call that fair?" Rouge exclaimed.
"The echidna had his advantages. I simply made up for what I lack. For example, in place of his martial arts skills, I have my stealth. While my stealth does provide me with a slight edge, it is no match for his brute force and strength; so I use non lethal weapons to level the playing field. It's all fair," said Valon.
Rouge was suddenly blindsided by Crystal. She tackled Rouge to the ground and started clawing at Rouge's face. Rouge responded by using her boot to kick Crystal in the back and off of her.
Valon was easing over to Knuckles with a switchblade in his hand. Knuckles was still dazed. Conscious, but dazed. He was also completely immobile. He could only watch his attacker approach.
"Hold still. I'm going to carve my name into your skin," said Valon.
"If only I'd let you," said Rouge.
Valon turned and was met by Rouge with an iron boot to the face courtesy of her drill kick attack. Valon's face collided with the ground seconds after impact. Rouge quickly gathered Knuckles' limp body and took to the sky. When they were halfway airborne, Knuckles actually started to slightly move.
"Rougeā¦.thanks," he said in a slightly muted voice.
"Don't mention it. Just do me a favor and lose some weight. You weigh as much your ego," said Rouge with a smile.
Knuckles chuckled softly. "Better my ego than yours," he said.
Crystal ran over to catch up with Knuckles and Rouge. She pulled a crossbow off her back and readied an arrow. "We're not through with you two yet."
Crystal takes aim and fires her crossbow. The arrow is launched with such precision and speed that it instantly rips through Rouge's left wing and continues straight in its path. When the arrow ripped her wing, Rouge shot out of the air in a tailspin formation. She and Knuckles both screamed as they smashed into the edge of Angel Island before going over the edge. As they fell into the sea, Rouge spread her wings and again tried to fly. The wing was far too damaged for her to fly accurately at all. Blood spewed from the opening in the wing and her loss of control slammed her headfirst into the side of the island. Because of the velocity at which they were falling, the impact of the crash caused Rouge to lose consciousness. She let go of Knuckles and began to fall headfirst into the jagged rocks below. Knuckles grabbed Rouge by the hand as she was falling faster than he was. He then gathered up as much strength as he could and glided past the jagged rocks and fell into the rapids below. Knuckles never let go of Rouge's hand.
"Hang on, Rouge. It's about to get worse," he said.
Knuckles screamed loudly as the current pulled him under and pushed them far from Angel Island.
Valon and Crystal gazed over the edge for signs of their opponents. No traces of either of them could be found.
"They are defeated and we are victorious once more," said Crystal, who was now eyeing the Master Emerald. "Can we claim our prize?"
Valon shook his head. "We have no evidence that the enemy has been beaten, my love. It would be cowardly to claim the bounty when prey is still at large. Until we can come up with evidence of their destruction, the prize must remain undisturbed."
Crystal reloaded her crossbow. "Let's go then. I hunger for my bounty. If they somehow do survive, they won't make it far. I'll see to it personally that Rouge gets a quick demise.
I've had this story on the drawing board for some time. It's about time I post it since my last two stories met with unfortunate endings. Actually, Mirrored ran into an unfortunate incident that caused it to be deleted. The bad part about it was that I didn't even delete it. I had high intentions on finishing that story but someone felt that I shouldn't and wrecked it. Just know that whoever did this will not ruin any more of my stories. You have my word as an author. Please read and review.
