Alright, huge wait for this chapter but it was a lot to get through. This one will take a depart from Sonic and focus more on Dart, telling about where he went after the fight, and a little bit about his past.
I thank you all for your reviews in the first chapter, it was nice hearing from all of you! And without further wait, go enjoy the chapter!
A young boy pushed through the ice cold rain, the rain smashed against his small body, trying it's best to freeze and break the boy.
He was no younger than eight years of age, his soft brown eyes were filled with tears and fears, he couldn't see far ahead, for all he knew he could be walking for a cliff about now.
Finally he broke, collapsing to the ground, letting the rain pound him and the thunder laugh at him. He wanted it all to stop, he wanted the cruel, cruel world to just…
Stop.
Chapter Two: Remember.
A young man stepped through the dense jungle, sweat rolled down his face as bugs harassed him. None of that seemed to bother him, he was focused on where he was going.
His dark brown hair, deeply suntanned skin and brown eyes did their best to protect him from the harsh sunlight, his white T-shirt that read 'I *heart* New York' and light brown pants were covered in dirt and mud from the trip.
His name is Dart, and it had been five months since he had left New York City, after the Chaos incident he felt it was best to leave for a bit, he needed to get more powerful. So he left one morning and traveled back down to South America, he was heading home the long way.
He broke through the tree line, a dazzling waterfall fell in the background, it's loud noise, the fresh smell of water and the blue sky was just what he needed. Dart had enjoyed his time in the city no doubt, but this was where he grew up, this was his home and he much preferred the sounds of nature over the sounds of the city.
He stepped down the hill until he reached the end of the waterfall, it was a large pound, surrounded by colorful flowers and a wave of mist from the pounding waterfall.
"…Boy," Dart muttered to himself, placing his hand onto his forehead, "Talk about nostalgia…"
He said to himself, staring deeply into the pound, he closed his eyes for a moment before taking one step into the pound. The water moving softly against his dark skin as he slid into it, it was a good temperature, and to Dart it felt like heavy.
And like the waterfall falling onto the pound, wave of memories began flowing into Dart's head.
CLASH! Lightning struck not to far away from the young boy, echoing through the mountains that surrounded the forest. He stayed tightly all rolled away as the tree provided little shelter from the dangerous rainfall.
He closed his eyes, whimpering with every lightning strike that came. Fear consumed him, images of scary monster making the noise and eyes watching him sprung into his mind.
Fear turned into desperation and he got up and ran again, his knees cut and bloody for all the times he had ran into large bushes with thorns, but he legs carried him despite the terrible abuse to them.
"M-Mom!" He screamed out as he ran, flashes of a beautiful woman with long dark hair echoing into his head, "Please! WHERE ARE YOU!"
He ran blindly through the forest, until he tripped and fell right into water. A river that was flowing downstream.
"Ahhhh!" He screamed trying to find footing, but the water swept him away effortlessly, he managed to keep afloat, right up until he was swept off a waterfall, "N-NOOOOO!"
He reached out, hoping for anything to grab him, to pick him up, he hoped for his Mother or Father to grab him, he wanted so badly to be in the arms of his parents. But that didn't happen. No, he just fell, faster and faster.
Splash!
Splash!
A sudden noise awoke Dart from his thoughts, he glanced around but when he saw nothing terrible he closed his eyes….
SPLASH!
He opened his eyes once more and managed to see a pretty sizeable rock fly through the air and land into the water.
"What… the…?" Dart stood up from the water and tracked from where the rock flew from, there he saw it, four men standing on the other side of the water, one in particular was yelling at the others to keep going.
"COME ON, THROW IT FARTHER DAMMIT!" He yelled, he had dark skin, sleeveless shirt, short cut hair, and short dark pants, "How am I supposed to make a successful detective business WHEN I HAVE WEAK PEOPLE LIKE YOU!"
Dart wasn't sure what to make of them, nor did he want to bother with any people right now. He turned around to walk away when he stopped, on the man's shoulder was a tattoo… a crocodile. He remembered that mark, it brought back instant memories of the past.
"No…" He said to himself, fist clenched, anger consumed him, and before he noticed he had picked up a rock and threw it at them.
The rock sailed through the air, it's blunt rocked edge growing more dangerous as it sailed through the air, know one noticed it until it smacked into it's target.
"Wha-!" The man with the crocodile tattoo yelled when the rock collided into his head, with enough strength to kill or terribly wound any normal person.
"B-Boss!" The group of men yelled all together, their eyes moving from their boss to Dart.
Dart had a brief moment of regret for the strength he had thrown it, it quickly vanished when he remembered what that tattoo meant.
The man stayed unmoving for a moment, until he suddenly burst up from the ground, he face filled with rage and confusion.
"Who just THREW a rock at ME!" He eyes glanced between his men, at first thinking that it was something of a sick joke one of them had planned, until he noticed Dart, who's face was equally filled with rage.
"Who are you?" The man spoke, which was actually more of a growl.
Dart stayed silent, his eyes steady on the man's tattoo as he slowly fell back into memories…
Silent and peaceful looking, the boy drifted in the pool of water, the bright beating sun tearing down on the unmoving body.
Fishes swam around him, creatures took drinks from the water, all without taking another glance at the young boy… until that it a small group of people began moving in on the pool of water.
A young looking, beautiful woman stepped into the water. The group never spoke to each other, yet even though there was a deep silence they knew each of their movements as if they were somehow relaying each and every thought to each other.
The young woman picked up the boy, holding her head to his chest, as if listening to see if his heart was beating. She lifted her head from him, looking at his face before finally speaking.
"Young man, you may open your eyes now," she spoke softly, her words being spoke with such grace that it was almost like an angel whispering into the boys' ear.
The boy opened one eye, he was more relieved to see a human then ever before in his life.
Apparently, the boy had survived the fall, but then decided that he didn't want to go any further, his plan was something that he would remain still until someone found him. Which seemed to work out just fine.
"Are you hurt?" The woman asked him while bring him to land.
"Um, ah," the boy couldn't get one word out, either from pain or shyness, "I'm fine!"
"Alright then," she began to put him down, but as soon as the boy's leg had touched the ground he yelped in pain, she picked him back up, "Your leg appears to be broken."
"I… fell off the waterfall," The boy said, his eyes glancing up the long fall, it was a miracle he was alive.
"Is that mean your parents are up there somewhere?" She questioned, his eyes growing cold with sadness.
"N-no…" He gulped, his dark young eyes filling with tears, all he could remember was fire, loud, ghastly screaming from his parents as they were burned alive from their attackers.
The woman picked up on this sadness, her eyes glancing towards one of her friends.
"He must be a survivor from one of their attacks," the man nodded at her words.
"Who?" the boy asked, "Who attacked my parents?"
They were silent, the woman took a deep breath and responded to the young boy, giving a simple name for the faces he saw, "They call themselves the Black Crocodile, and have the war tattoos to prove it."
The boy closed his eyes, the pictures of his dying parents flashed in his eyes, as men with crocodile tattoos danced around their burning bodies.
He cried, tears streaming down his face, the woman held him close for comfort, muffling the poor boy's sadness.
But inside those saddened eyes were something else, rage, he wanted to see the people who were responsible suffer the same, terrible fate. Those were not eyes of a young, innocent boy anymore, they were eyes of a man, a man with revenge on his mind.
Dart's eyes were filled with rage, nothing compared to how he felt right now. Face to face, with a man with a black crocodile tattoo.
"You… scum," Dart raised his hand, which was shaking with rage, "You're with them, aren't you!"
"Eh…?" The man questioned, it took a minute to see what he was pointing at was his tattoo, "Oh, this old thing? Yeah, so what about it?"
"You, killed them… You killed them all!" Dart yelled, rushing at him, swinging with all of his strength.
The man caught his hand, his face bored and seemly uninterested in a fight, "Oh please, I've got work to do. So, GET LOST!"
He threw him back with such force that he tumbled right into a nearby tree, that didn't stop Dart though, he got back up, which seemed to impress the man.
"Ah, so you can take a hit, can you?" He asked reaching down, grabbing a near by rock, a very large rock, "Let me pay you back for earlier then!"
He picked it up and tossed it just as hard, the rock flew through the air, Dart jumped to the left while the rock uprooted the tree he was standing next to. Such force he had, it made Dart question where he had got that power.
He thought about transforming, give him a good scare, but he decided not to… he wanted to break him with his real fists.
"If you're trying to scare me, you're doing a crappy job," Dart hissed, "Trust me, I've seen things a lot stronger."
"Stop messing around then," he motioned for him to come, "Bring it on."
Dart rushed at him, the water didn't slow him down, and when their fists collided it was like two brute titans fighting, it felt as if the Earth below them was going to give out and fall.
They each got good hits, Dart managed to get the first couple, leaving the man's head a bloody mess, while he wrestled Dart into breaking a couple fingers and wounding his shoulder badly.
The bright sun was now going away, it was setting as they fought, their bodies beaten and broke, they had been fighting for hours now.
"Die!" Dart yelled, his face slamming onto the man's jaw, the man barely flinched, delivering a powerful blow to one of Dart's ribs.
Dart stepped back, the man charged at him, taking the chance and catching Dart off guard he slammed him against the rock wall.
"Ahhh!" Dart yelled, the man was squeezing the air out of him, thinking fast he slammed his two hands right into the side of his head onto his ear, the pressure causing the man to drop like a bag of rocks.
"Damn!" The man growled, Dart took that chance and hit him once more, again, and again, he kept up the assault until the man fell limp.
"Just…" Dart raised his fist once more, but he was unable to deliver another punch, "Ah, forget it…"
He took a step back, and fell, collapsing right near him, he faced the sky taking in the beauty of this land, until his eyes shut…
He suddenly awoke, but the area was different, he was in someone's house, the area was well built, it was very clean and organized.
"Where…?" Dart questioned, he could tell it was morning now, he began to get out of his bed when someone caught his attention.
"Ah, you're finally awake…" Dart turned… to see the man with the black crocodile tattoo.
"Y-You!" Dart yelled out, falling back, "What are YOU doing here!"
"Well… this is my house," the man said, pulling a boiling kettle off the burner and pouring it into a cup, "Tea?"
"No." Dart answered, the man didn't listen and brought the two cups to the table.
"You know the reason why I brought you here?" the man asked, taking a sip of his drink.
"Why?" Dart questioned, not moving from his spot.
"Because I had something to tell you, you know this tattoo?" He said pointing at the tattoo, "Well, I just wanted to tell you that I'm no longer part of that group… lasted a week, I was so disgusted that I left the first chance I got."
He was somewhat calmer, knowing at least this man probably had nothing to do with that night.
Dart got up and sipped the tea, he was dying of thirst and the tea felt good, "Thanks."
"It's more then you probably deserve, you busted my face up real good. Not to mention scaring off those guys I was training, how am I supposed to start a detective agency when you got no one to work with!"
"Yeah… sorry about that," Dart nodded, this entire conversation was awkward and Dart wanted to move on, "But really, I can't be staying."
"Fine," the man waved off, "Get going."
Dart thanked him again, got up to leave before stopping, "By the way, my name is Dart."
"…" The man didn't speak right away, finally replying after he took another sip of his drink, "Vector."
"Bye then, Vector," Dart stepped out, the morning sun gazing onto him as he walked away. He had one last bit of a memory flashback as he walked down the path.
The young boy was being carried off by the woman, they had agreed that they would take him in, care for him and treat them as one of their own tribe.
"Young one, what is your name?" She questioned the young boy.
"M-My name is Dart," Dart replied, "And what is yours?"
"My name?" She asked, "My name is Tikal, and you shouldn't worry, I'll protect you from those men."
"Forever?" Dart asked.
The woman smiled, the light reflecting off her in the most splendid fashion, she truly looked like something of an angel to the young boy, and when she spoke her voice was so calming.
"Forever, I promise I'll protect you forever."
They stepped off into the jungle, Dart could vividly remember everything about that day. She taught him everything he knew, protected him from countless dangers, it brought sadness to Dart knowing he couldn't do anything to stop her death.
Dart closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath of the fresh, dense air before stepping through the forest again, the hero spoke to himself, yet he could almost feel his words carry on, hoping they would reach the person who was now long gone.
"I'll always remember those days," Dart said to himself, "I'll never forget how you protected me, Tikal."
And that's it, hope you enjoyed the look into Dart's past. Reviews are wanted, they keep me writing. While flamers will be utterly destroyed.