Chapter Four: Toy Soldier
Blades of grass kicked up from the sheer speed that this famous character possessed, a shell of navy blue surrounding his body as Sonic the Hedgehog slid underneath a fallen tree before going back on the run. Following slowly behind him was his so-called brother, Tails, the vermillion fox flying above the blue blur with the use of his two tails. Coming up ahead was the face of a mountain side, the world class hero smirking before increasing his speed slightly. As if he had gum on the bottom of his shoes, he dashed along the mountain with such ease.
"Great day to go on a little adventure, don't ya think Tails?" the hedgehog said with a joyous expression.
"I agree, it's been real quiet lately without Eggman though." the fox replied.
"True but Ol' Eggy was never one to stay down for too long. He'll be back and at 'em soon!"
Finally reaching the tip of the land formation, Sonic halted to a stop and took a nice gaze at the scenery. It was truly a beautiful sight to see nature at its finest, bringing luscious life to the planet. The air was so clean and clear while the different birds soared through the skies majestically. Although it was a great view from up there, the hedgehog wasn't one to stay too long in one place thus he jumped down, descending for the ground like a comet. Tails grabbed his hands before the cobalt hero could hurt himself before throwing him onto a tree.
Quickly transitioning into his ball form, the speedy persona bounced through the forest like a pinball before making his way to the ground and sidestepping through the tall trees. He ran up a steep log and launched towards the ground though neither character continued on. Off to the side was the unconscious body of one of his allies, Knuckles the Echidna. The duo of heroes dashed over to aid their friend, the blue blur slapping him across the face to stir up the scarlet warrior. Amethyst pools groggily opened to see two familiar faces before punching the carefree male in the nose.
"Ouch! What was that for?" Sonic exclaimed, holding his injured body part.
"That was for smacking me across the face of course!" Knuckles softly answered, rubbing his cheek tenderly.
"I think we should talk about the matter at hand. What happened Knuckles and how'd you get all the way out here?" Tails questioned.
Trying to go back into his memories to find the answer, the Master Emerald Guardian sighed of disappointment.
"Two strangers, a golden dog and a yellow hedgehog, came to Angel Island asking for the Master Emerald and I declined to give it to them. I battled against the dog and he knocked me out. Everything else from there is blank." the spiked knuckled character explained.
"Then it's safe to say that they have the emerald and Angel Island's been destroyed as usual." the fox said.
"Have you ever thought about getting better security because you really suck at your job Knucklehead?" the freedom loving male joked, earning another punch to the gut.
"That would be a disgrace to my people Sonic!"
The trio of heroes shook their heads and there was only one plan of action. They had to find the two who stole the emerald and get it back. Who knew what they exactly wanted with it?
"Let's get going! We've got an emerald to find!" Sonic declared as the three dashed off.
"Mission accomplished if I do say so myself!" the dog said with a smirk as the helicopter landed.
"We barely made it out of there with our lives so just be happy you did." his calm partner replied as the two unloaded the Master Emerald from the flying machine.
"I think it's a bit too big to put into the house but what do you think?" Damien asked.
"Just leave it outside, no one knows where we are." Mario answered as the two walked towards Donatello's safe house.
The door was left partially open so Damien and Mario walked inside of the small house that belonged to Damien's elder ally, Donatello who was in the middle of the room meditating. The golden hound walked over to the old raven and waved his hand in front his face much to the bird's dismay as his face began to squish up until the point of retaliation. Mario leaned in front of the door and only sighed as Donatello proceeded to smash the vermillion hero around his house like a rag doll, Damien's cries to the former G.U.N agent only turning to dust as Mario brushed them off.
"For damn sake young and eager one, you know how I don't like when people disturb me when I meditate. Do you not have respect for your elders Angels?" Donatello asked, the hound twitching on the floor.
"Please forgive my friend here old master but he isn't really the patient one if you know what I mean." Mario stated, taking a bow in front of the old raven from respect.
"Ah, at least someone here understands how proper manners can make a good impression." Donatello stated bowing to his former student Mario Toki.
"So what? He's a mama's boy and guess what? I showed him how it was done in battle didn't I?" Damien asked to the other two.
"No, not really, Mario was toying with you." Donatello answered causing Damien to hide in a corner and weep his eyes out while Mario and Donatello sweat dropped. "Anyway, you have the Master Emerald correct?"
Mario nodded, pointing to the large jewel that was outside of the raven's house as the old fighter nodded in satisfaction. He walked over to Damien and placed his palm against Damien's chest, a pulse of purple and black coursing from Damien's body to the raven's hand. After that, Donatello walked over to one of his closets and began to rummage through his stuff before pulling out something and surging the energy that came from Damien to the new object. He dropped it on the floor as Damien and Mario couldn't believe their eyes.
In front of the two was a plain old chestnut colored teddy bear with tan palms and feet, beady black eyes, a stitched up mouth and a light crimson bowtie around his neck.
"Angels…meet your new partner, Plush." Donatello said as the bear took a step forward in front of Damien, the dog leaning over to meet the bear at eye level.
"You have got to be kidding me man! My new partner's a bear, a teddy bear to be exact? If I wanted something useless, I would have asked for a scarf." Damien stated.
Plush gazed into Damien's ebony pools as Damien did the same and after a few seconds, the toy gave a powerful uppercut to the goldenrod colored hero which sent him sailing out of the hut at lightning speeds, the hound landing in front of the Master Emerald.
"Awww, he likes you." Donatello joked as Plush's mouth turned from a stoic face to a smile.
"That was quite powerful for a teddy bear. I'm guessing you added an essence of Damien's demon powers into him." the hedgehog stated, earning a nod from his former master.
The raven, hedgehog walked outside while Plush leaped through the hole he made from his uppercut upon the hound. Donatello made his way to the Master Emerald and nodded, impressed that the duo were able to get an object such as this. He knew that the Master Emerald's protector was incredibly powerful thus he wasn't going to be a pushover.
"So who was it that battled against the echidna?" the martial arts master asked, the former G.U.N agent pointing towards the dazed canine.
"His powers have increased tremendously since our last encounter but I don't know about his control over Nightshade." Mario explained.
Damien rose to his feet and walked over as the raven placed his hands near the massive gem of legend, a dark aura beginning to emanate from his hands. A tiny fabric of space opened near the jewel before ripping into a large gapping portal. The new partnership of Damien and Plush looked at the hole in amazement, wondering what it was like on the other side.
"Hell is one disastrous place. Only demons and non-living objects are allowed to go into Hell without means of death. That's why Mario and I will remain here and protect the emerald until you return. You and Plush will go meet the master that I have assigned for you and train under him for however long it takes." the bird proclaimed.
"But how will we get back?" the dog pondered.
"I will be watching your every move with the power of the emerald and when you're done, we'll open a portal to return you two home."
Damien nodded to his godfather before looking down at Plush, the teddy bear adjusting the bowtie around his neck, nodding at the hound.
"One door closes and another one opens!" Damien said.
Mario walked over and smiled at the new duo.
"It's good to be back." Damien said with a cocky grin.
"You could say that again." Mario replied.
"It's good to be back." the hound repeated, Plush kicking him through the portal and jumping in after him as it closed.
"Just how much stronger have I gotten?" a mysterious cloaked male asked himself as they walked through a heated plain, sighing to himself.
It had been a while since he had last returned home though he didn't mind, his house was one plagued of memories that while he was at his finest, he rather not remember. The emotions shown by the people he'd hurt crossed through his mind though they were particularly sweet faces. He shook his head and remembered the lashing out he'd gotten from his master.
"I'm going to kill that fool when this is all over." the person said though his thoughts were interrupted by the cacophonous screeching off in the distance.
A blazing scarlet bird outlined in fiery streamers for feathers and talons darker than his eyes sailed through the air like a blimp, its jade green eyes piercing into the soul of the figure. He shook his head, awaiting for it to pass by him though it began to descend.
Of course, it's feeding time.
The cloaked figure removed his disguise and revealed his identity. It was a gray dog with crimson eyes, his hair combed forwards but still a bit messy. He had two bangs, each bang slightly covering one of his eyes. He had black chest fur that went upwards in the shape of an arrow and his muzzle was a dark gray, showing that he doesn't have very good personal hygiene. Ebony stripes ran along his arms also in the shape of arrows.
He wore a black and white checkerboard scarf around his neck, most of the fabric hanging around his neck and two ends running down to his shoulders. He wore an open sleeveless black vest that reached to his waist, showing his chest fur. On both arms, he still wore his signature spiked bracelets around his wrists. In the back pockets of his jet black pants, he had ropes made of white tee shirts wrapped at the ends hanging out, the ropes ending at his ankles. The final touch were his black and white high-tops.
The phoenix of flaming legend fired off a stream of embers towards the Posinegi swordsman though he had become incredibly stronger since his battle at Crescent Canyon. His hands moved at lightning speeds, unsheathing his black and white broadswords, Shoukyoku and Sekkyoku respectively, and powering them with his own positive and negative energy.
He quickly sliced at the ground to form large boulders and created a shockwave of grey to propel the boulders into the air, leaping upon each one to gain better leverage. The orange and crimson combustion turned the ground underneath him a crispy ebony, the dog relieved he got out of there in time.
"You had your chance to strike but now, it's my turn to lay some damage."
He jumped towards the head of the beast and sliced with Shoukyoku first, then Sekkyoku before ending the Posinegi Combo with a slice from both. The Devil landed on the bird's beak and stabbed his swords into it, smashing them repeatedly before making its way towards its head. Unfortunately, the phoenix flipped over and tried to shake the canine off. However, this wasn't the old Darius, this one was more deadly and powerful and skilled. He twirled through the air and landed on the stomach.
"You shouldn't have done that foolish animal."
He stabbed his blades into the body of the bird and began to release the energy into a Posinegi Burst, the detonation of grey erupting through its body and knocking it around, the duo making a course to the ground. With only a little bit of time, Darius grabbed two strands of crimson hair and pulled them as much as he could, the phoenix ascending for its new master before they crash landed.
"Well, this could actually be useful." Darius muttered.
Off in the distance, a rip in space opened and from it, two characters emerged. Shaking his head from the unpleasant journey from the normalcy of Earth to the depths of the Underworld, Damien gazed throughout the desert that the portal had transported the partners to. The distance between the plateaus was immeasurable, the physics of Hell was extremely peculiar. Slumped over the shoulder of his more realistic companion, the chestnut teddy bear shook his head and looked at the shining combustion in the sky.
Damien? Alive? Guess that those fools from the government couldn't finish him off. Today seems to be my lucky day but who is that with him? Ah well.
The cacophony of a high pitched squawk rang through the ears of the hound, Damien shielding them as his eyes struggled to remain open. Although this was true, the dog was able to spot the source of the noise, the spectacle of it all just amazing him. Darius and the Phoenix came flying in their direction, the grey and black dog commanding his beast with masterful ability as if it were another blade to him.
"And the prey has finally arrived. Descend Phoenix, we have someone to capture and destroy." Darius' voice rang from on top of the flying beast.
Darius? Here? Well I'm not going to question how he got here, it's time to get some payback for the battle at Crescent Canyon. A year has passed and I've gotten too strong to lose to him again.
"Even in the depths of Hell, he finds a way to find me and try to kill me. Though it's amazing how someone like him was able to tame the phoenix. You never cease to put on a show Darius" Damien murmured as the mythical monstrosity flew down towards him.
Plush hopped down to the ground and raised his fists in a battle stance while Damien mirrored his movements.
"You try and fight Darius little dude while I handle the phoenix. A good Dark Repulsion to the eye might be able to slow it down." the goldenrod hero stated, earning a nod from his smaller comrade.
"It isn't the best move to defy the raw strength of the phoenix." the ebony and grey villain exclaimed.
"I've faced bigger problems than some stupid fire bird!" Damien exclaimed, dashing towards the bird with his partner.
Another battle between the brothers would begin.
To be continued…
A/N: A pretty good chapter if I do say so myself. Darius easily handled the Phoenix alone without revealing most of his strength and speed. Next chapter, we get to see how Damien and his new partner, Plush do against it. A good way to advance the story so review! Thanks! Bye.