Shining Hope: Heaven and Hell
Smashing Laziness Part 1
Hope and his new ally, Rena, were travelling like they always did. They soon came to a beautiful white city surrounded by water and the sun shone brightly on it.
"Hmm, this is Soleanna, the City of Water." Hope said, reading the map he had.
"Oh Soleanna, such a beautiful, romantic place, don't you think so Hope?" Rena said dreamily.
"Yeah," Hope said clueless. "Anyway, this place should have lots of supplies for us to buy. And who knows. We might even find something to do." Hope looked up to find Rena gone. "Huh? Rena?"
"Hope! Look!" Hope looked to find Rena looking at something at the wall. Hope walked up to it, and saw a poster, advertising what seemed to be a fighting tournament, where the winner would face the champion.
"Oh can we enter Hope?!" Rena asked hopefully. Hope shook his head. "Why?!"
"Because I want to fight worthy opponents, and none of the guys here would be able to match me!" Hope explained with a proud smirk.
"Man, you sure are arrogant," Rena chuckled.
"Hey, I'm the son of two great heroes. What do you expect?" Hope told her.
"Well can we watch a match? The poster says that there's going to be an exhibition match featuring the champion."
"Sure why not." Hope shrugged. "Besides I want to have a look at this champion of theirs."
"Good let's go!" Rena grabbed Hope's arm and dragged him away.
"Rena!" Hope shouted. "The ring's that way!"
After arriving at the ring, Rena and Hope took some seats around the ring, which was difficult since Rena hated standing still.
"Rena, stop squirming around," Hope told her.
"I can't help it. I like to move around," Rena replied.
"Listen, this match won't be long. After this you can move around all you want." Rena understood, but still didn't like standing still.
"Ladies and gentlemen! It is time for the exhibition match!" The announcer announced. The crowd cheered at this. "Introducing to the match, Bruno the Coyote!" A massive, muscle-bound coyote came into the ring. He flexed his muscles towards the crowd, and the girls fainted at this sight of them.
"All brawn, no brains," Hope commented, making Rena chuckle.
"And his opponent, the champion, Smash the Wolf!" Who came into the ring surprised the two.
He was a 14-year old brown wolf with grey chest fur, blue eyes, and a scar over the left side of his mouth. He wore grey pants, a black vest, yellow shoulder pads, a red sash around the waist, and red boots. What surprised them was his expression: it was one of laziness and dislike of being here.
"Do I really have to be in this match?" Smash asked the announcer.
"This is my opponent?! What a joke!" Bruno laughed. Smash just sighed, seeing as he had no choice.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let the exhibition match…begin!" And just as quick as it began, it ended.
Faster than anyone could follow, Smash had delivered a punch to Bruno's gut. The coyote's eyes were wide and his mouth was wide open as he fell back to the ground, unconscious.
"The winner is the champion, Smash the Wolf!" Smash simply left, not even responding to the cheers of the crowd.
Hope and Rena looked on in shock at what they saw. Hope was able to follow the movements of Smash, and saw he delivered a series of strikes all over his opponents with unbelievable speed. Hope then made a decision.
"Rena." The sorceress turned her towards him. "We're going to enter the tournament."
--
One week later, the tournament was about to begin. Rena and Hope had entered the tournament and were going to try and fight their way to Smash. The wolf in question was going to watch the tournament from a balcony along with Princess Elise. But the wolf would rather watch the clouds. They were just fascinating to him.
"Oh isn't this exciting?" Elise asked Smash.
"I guess." Smash said distantly, not caring at all.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the tournament to decide who will face off against the champion, Smash the Wolf, will now begin!" the announcer told everyone. "Now for our first match! Introducing, coming off his loss to Smash, Bruno the Coyote!" Bruno came into the ring, still seething over his loss to Smash. He vowed to make him pay, and hurt whoever his opponent was.
"And introducing his opponent, Hope the Hedgehog!" Hope came into the ring with a serious look on his face, and stared at him.
"Hmph, this is going to be a piece of cake." Hope stated, smirking.
"Why you! I'm going to beat you into a pulp, then take out that wolf!" Bruno threw a powerful punch at the hedgehog, but Hope easily evaded.
"I don't even need my sword for a dumb brute like you," Hope told him. Bruno got even angrier and blindly threw punches at Hope.
The hedgehog easily dodged the fists for he was faster than coyote, but Hope was soon backed to the end of the ring.
"Game over, rodent." Bruno threw a final punch at Hope.
"I'm a hedgehog," Hope corrected, the smirk still present. "And you're stupid."
Hope easily swerved around the punch and spun around behind Bruno. He kicked him in the back, and it caused Bruno to lose his balance and fall out of the ring.
"Winner by Ring Out: Hope the Hedgehog!" Hope left the ring, people cheering for his victory. Smash became interested in the hedgehog. He wasn't like the others he faced.
"Maybe he's the one…" he thought.
Several matches later, the final match of the round had come.
"For the final match of the round, let us introduce Resh the Hedgehog, the famous boxer!" A red hedgehog wearing boxing gloves came into ring, cocky and full of himself.
"And his opponent, let's meet Rena the Fox!" Rena came in as her usually cheery self, waving to the crowd happily. Smash, for the first time in a while, didn't feel like being lazy.
His eyes were focused solely on Rena. He never saw someone as beautiful as her before. He held his chest as his heart start to beat rapidly, and heat rushed to his face. Smash looked away to hide this, but Elise had notice this.
"Let the match…begin!"
"Hmph, I'm going to take you out like you're nothing, because I'm Resh the Hedgehog, and I'm the best!" While the boxer was gloating, Rena pointed her staff at him, and out of it shot a stream of water that hit Resh in the chest and sent him into the wall out of the ring. Everyone looked on in shock at Rena, who was still smiling.
"What? Never said I couldn't use magic." Rena said innocently.
"Winner by Ring Out: Rena the Fox." Rena happily walked away from the ring, Smash following her with his gaze. He sighed.
"Man things are getting interesting." he commented.
Rena and Hope fought their way through the tournament. Although they had some difficulties, they were beat their opponents without much work. Eventually came down to just them.
"It is now time for the finals, which will decide who will face Smash for the title! Introducing first, Rena the Fox!" Rena came in very energetic and excited.
"And her opponent, Hope the Hedgehog!" Hope came into the ring with his usual serious expression. The two friends stared at each for a while before speaking.
"Don't pull any punches." Rena said, readying her staff.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Hope said, pulling out his sword.
"Let the finals…begin!"
Hope charged at Rena and swung his sword at her. Rena swerved around it to avoid it, and jumped away. Hope continued to swipe at her, but Rena used her speed and athletic and flexible body to maneuver around the sword. She jumped away, knowing she was at a disadvantage up close. She then cast fire spells by sending fireballs at him. Hope ran around the rings, the fireballs trying to hit him. Hope then skidded a bit before he started to charge at Rena, slashing the fireballs in half with his sword. But then Rena used her earth magic, to raise a column of earth in Hope's path, and before he could stop, he crashed straight into it.
"Ow that hurt." Hope stated as he pried himself off of it. Hope's instincts had him move away as a lightning bolt struck through the column, destroying it.
"I'm having fun, Hope." Rena said cheerfully.
"I'm glad you are Rena, but I have to win." Hope said, standing up.
"Let's see how you handle this then." Rena then cast a torrent of fire at Hope, but the swordsman decided it was time it use his own magic.
He created a shield of light in front of him, which protected him from the flames. After that, Hope ignited his sword, gathering light into the tip in a huge spherical form, and fired it at Rena. The fox used her powers to send the sphere away, although with difficulty. Hope used the distraction to kick Rena in the face, nearly sending her out of the arena. Hope then summoned a volley of light arrows at her, but Rena easily took care of them with lightning bolts.
Hope knew that he would lose to her in magic, so he had to use sword skills to beat her. Hope charged at her and jumped into the air, bringing his blade down on her. Rena rolled out the way as the blade struck the ground, and then, taking a risk, swung her staff at him. It didn't pay off as Hope quickly used his sword to block it and then gave her roundhouse kick. Rena staggered a bit, and Hope drew back his fist for a punch. But Rena quickly recovered and then summoned gales of winds that caught Hope and spun him into the air. The gales struck Hope on all sides, and then he was brought down hard.
"Sorry about that Hope." Rena apologized.
"Don't worry about it." Hope grunted as he stood up. "You're really good, Rena." Rena blushed at the comment. "But like I said, I'm going to win."
Hope stayed as he was for a few moments, but then disappeared into air, revealing to be an afterimage, surprising Rena. She felt a kick to her back, and she fell to the ground. Rena turned around only to be met with the glowing sword of Hope.
"Sorry about this." Hope fired a beam of light at Rena and she was hit directly in the chest. The beam shot her out of the ring and onto the ground, ending it.
"Winner by Ring Out: Hope the Hedgehog! He will face Smash for the championship!" The crowd cheered wildly, clearly astonished by the amazing match they just witnessed. Rena groaned as she sat up, and saw Hope extending a hand to her with a warm smile. She took it with a smile and stood face-to-face with him.
"You were amazing, Rena." Hope told her.
"Thank you." Rena replied. "But you were obviously better. Now you better take home the title."
"I'll be sure to Rena," Hope promised. Smash, who for the first time focused his attention, watched the whole thing.
"Man when do the surprises ever stop." he sighed.
Hope now has to face Smash, in what is sure to be an amazing bout. But why is someone like Smash the champion? Does he even want to be champion? And who will win in the upcoming match? Find out in the next chapter of Heaven and Hell.