Hey everybody! Getting this out a little later than I wanted to, sorry for the delay. Frankly, I'm a bit skeptical on whether I did a good enough job on this chapter. But I'm sure my readers will find it much better than I worry it is. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 4
"Shady Scheme"
"Thanks for carrying me, Hawkodile!" thanked Puppycorn happily, laying comfortably in his arms. "I could've climbed that cliff on my own though."
"I don't think so, slugger," replied Hawkodile, approaching the top of the cliff. "It's way too dangerous to climb something that steep."
"Uh, are you okay though? You seem tired," asked Puppycorn, concerned for his bulky friend. "Sorry if it was hard to catch up with me, I guess I was going pretty fast..."
"I-It's fine," said Hawkodile, clearly short of breath from the strain of carrying his and Puppycorn's weight. "My wings just, aren't used to supporting anything besides myself. Nevermind it, we're here."
Hawkodile landed on the cliff and Puppycorn jumped down from his arms. Puppycorn felt great after the flight, but Hawkodile was exhausted.
"There you two are!" said Unikitty joyfully. "It's about time, I was growing a beard!"
"Hey sis!" greeted Puppycorn, running over to his sister to embrace her in a hug.
"Princess, please don't fly off like that again," scolded Hawkodile, still out of breath. "This isn't the time to be kidding around!"
"Aw, I'm sorry Hawk," apologized Unikitty. "Did you manage to get up here okay?"
"I'll, be fine," sighed Hawkodile in exhaustion.
Suddenly, before anyone could start searching, they heard a heavy sneeze from somewhere nearby.
"God bless you!" chirped Unikitty to Hawkodile, mistakenly believing he had sneezed.
"Thanks, but it wasn't me," replied Hawkodile, glancing around, wondering where the mysterious sneeze came from.
"But then, who's sneezing?" questioned Puppycorn, scratching his head.
Momentarily after Puppycorn finished speaking, they heard another, similar sneeze.
"It's coming from in there!" gasped Unikitty, pointing towards the wrecked doorway of the dojo.
Instantaneously after Unikitty pointed out the sneeze's location with her paw, Hawkodile swiftly stormed towards the building, screeching a battle cry. When he reached the doors, he ripped one off by the hinges and violently threw it aside to continue moving forward. His sudden rage was quite precipitated, to say the least.
"I'M COMING TO SAVE YOU, FOX GIRL!" boomed Hawkodile, Unikitty and Puppycorn chasing after him in a hurry.
When Hawkodile made it through the doorway, to his great surprise, there stood his arch-rival; Eagleator!
"Ugh, freakin' allergies..." mumbled Eagleator with a sniffle, wiping his scaly snout with his right arm.
Eagleator glanced up from his embarrassing behavior, noticing Hawkodile and his two friends staring at him in shock. The crocodilian hybrid displayed an odd, somewhat baffled expression. Hawkodile's sudden entrance into the dojo caught him completely off guard, which felt a bit humiliating.
After a few moments of awkward glances between everyone, Hawkodile acknowledged who was being dangled by their tail in Eagleator's dark blue glove; Dr. Fox! She was alive, much to his relief. It felt as if two tons of emotional pressure was lifted from his heart, but this wasn't over; he still had to rescue her.
Unfortunately, although Dr. Fox was alive, she certainly didn't appear thrilled. Her lab coat was dirty with grass stains, and her fur was matted and unkempt. Clearly, Eagleator hadn't treated her very kindly.
"DR. FOX!" gasped Unikitty, Puppycorn, and Hawkodile simultaneously.
"H-Hey guys!" waved Dr. Fox nervously. "Did you miss me?"
"Well, well, well!" said Eagleator with a smirk, shaking his baffled expression off. "Looks like someone remembered to check the mail!"
"EAGLEATO- Wait, what was the last thing you said?" asked Hawkodile, his voice at first sounding bellicose, before becoming perplexed.
"Ugh, it was a punchline? Duh!" spat Eagleator, putting his free arm on his hips."It was supposed to be clever!"
"What does kidnapping Dr. Fox have anything to do with checking my mail?" asked Hawkodile. "It literally makes zero sense-"
"THE NOTE ON THE DOOR!" roared Eagleator angrily, losing his patience. "THE THREATENING MESSAGE SAYING I KIDNAPPED YOUR LITTLE VIXEN FRIEND HERE?!"
Hawkodile looked to Unikitty behind him, waiting for an explanation. But Unikitty's expression was every bit as baffled as Hawkodile's, and all she replied with was a shrug. Neither of them understood what Eagleator was talking about; what note?
"OOH, that's what it was!" laughed Puppycorn, wagging his tail in delight.
"Puppycorn? What are you talking about?" asked Unikitty suspiciously, looking over to her younger brother with squinting eyes.
"Well, there was this random paper on the castle door," explained Puppycorn, "and while you were flying over to Hawkodile's treehouse, I saw it there. And since I was still hungry after breakfast, I ate it!"
"You ate it?!" exclaimed Unikitty in shock, throwing her arms in the air. "Puppycorn, we talked about this! No eating random letters you find on doors!"
"Sorry sis," apologized Puppycorn shamefully. "I couldn't help myself. I thought it'd be good for me since it has fiber in it!"
"So does normal food, lil' bro. Like vegetables, cereal, and fruit?"
"Oh... Whoops."
"Are you still hungry?"
"Nah, I took care of it," smiled Puppycorn, continuing to wag his tail. "I found some chocolate under a bush earlier. Tasted a little funny, but I'm not complaining."
Eagleator burst into sudden, howling laughter at Puppycorn's questionable decision to consume "chocolate."
"Hawkodile, your friends are even more MESSED UP than me!" said Eagleator, roaring with laughter.
"Leave my friends out of this, Eaglator!" snapped Hawkodile threateningly.
"Alright bro, LISTEN!" snapped Eagleator back, tightening his grip on Dr. Fox's tail. "I'm SERIOUS now; you'd better watch that beak of yours unless you'd like to see if foxes fly!"
Eagleator swiftly darted past Hawkodile and his friends, rushing through the broken doorway. Hawkodile, Unikitty, and Puppycorn chased after him in a hurry, believing he was trying to fly off with Dr. Fox.
They instead found him standing at the very edge of the cliff, dangling Dr. Fox by her tail over the huge drop. She immediately took notice and began frantically waving her arms around helplessly in a panic. Her tail puffed up in alarm, although it was somewhat hindered by Eagleator's hand.
"DON'T DO IT!" shrieked Hawkodile in horror, believing Eagleator was legitimately about to release his grasp on her and allow the poor vixen to plummet to her inevitable doom.
Eagleator cackled maliciously, finding humor in Hawkodile's highly dramatic and terrified reaction.
"Ooh, I wanna see if foxes fly!" said Puppycorn excitedly, beginning to run around in a small circle in excitement. "I've never seen one fly befo-"
Unikitty slapped her paw over Puppycorn's mouth, causing him to briefly freeze mid-run.
"No, Puppycorn, no."
"Aw c'mon sis, aren't you the tiniest bit curious?" asked Puppycorn, removing his sister's paw from his mouth.
"Alright, maybe I am," laughed Unikitty sheepishly, "but that's no excuse to have Eagleator drop Dr. Fox to her doom. Okay?"
"Oh yeah," realized Puppycorn, scratching his chin. "That's probably illegal."
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" barked Hawkodile, his face briefly flushing red with rage from being mortified. "And WHY'D you kidnap Dr. Fox!? She didn't DO anything!"
"I must confess, she put up quite a struggle," admitted Eagleator, speaking more angrily as he went on; "She kept freaking scratching me and a stupid tree to get away! Where the HELL did she get that RABBID behavior from?!"
Unikitty groaned and flew over to Hawkodile, handing him thirty dollars. He stuffed it in his pants and cracked a brief smirk.
"I-I mean, anyway," scoffed Eagleator, his voice growing more hostile as he spoke. "Isn't it obvious? I. Want. Those. SHADES! And I WON'T ALLOW YOU, or ANY of your CRAPPY FRIENDS to stand in my way! And after spying on you for some time, I know that your little 'fox friend' here is all I need to get what I WANT!"
"Dude, you were spying on me? That's hella creepy," commented Hawkodile, shaking his head.
"QUIET!" barked Eagleator. "I was able to secretly learn that YOU... YOU... uh..."
Eagleator went silent for a minute, scratching his head as he struggled to recall whatever he was about to say.
The intense sentiment towards the situation vanished single-handedly because of Eagleator's awkward pause. Everyone simply stared at him, anticipating him to continue speaking. All they could hear was Eagleator mumble to himself, struggling to jog his memory. Even Dr. Fox, who was practically staring death in the face, seemed now incurious about her fate.
"Don't worry, take your time, we've got alllll daaaay," said Unikitty sarcastically with an awkward chuckle, before whispering to her brother; "I think Eagleator's muscles aren't the only thick part of this jerk-face's structure."
"AHA! I REMEMBER!" declared Eagleator proudly, putting one hand on his hips.
"Oh finally," whispered Dr. Fox to herself with a facepalm.
"It's simple!" snickered Eagleator. "Hawkodile, you like Mrs. Science Fox here!"
Hawkodile's heart skipped a beat as a look of horror swept across his face; he was petrified. He did not suspect such a dumb brute like Eagleator would find out his number one secret.
"Well u-uhm, o-of course I do!" stuttered Hawkodile in an unsteady voice, awkwardly laughing and attempting to speak certain and proud. "She's my friend! Everyone likes their friends, duh."
"Don't play DUMB, birdbrain!" spat Eagleator. "You find her attractive!"
"Wait, what?" asked Dr. Fox, highly surprised.
"That's right, fox nerd!" cackled Eagleator. "I knew Hawkodile was soft, but this surprise put me in stitches! Also, he spends way too much time around a picture of your face. I think he's a got a problem."
"SHUT UP!" cried Hawkodile, his face flushed red with both anger and embarrassment.
"Aw, are you gonna cryyyy?" taunted Eagleator, further provoking Hawkodile.
"NO!" barked Hawkodile angrily, almost tearing up from his distress. "DON'T YOU MAKE ME COME OVER THERE!"
"Would you come over fast enough to catch your 'girlfriend' as she plummets to her death?" laughed Eagleator maliciously, reminding Hawkodile that Dr. Fox's safety was standing on thin ice.
"HEY! You're STARTING to get me ANGRY!" snarled Unikitty, gritting her teeth as a brief flash of fire burst out of her tail and horn. "Arguing won't solve anything, so if you could SAFELY put our friend down, it'd be APPRECIATED!"
"Yeah, this isn't right!" said Puppycorn, beginning to grow bitter at Eagleator himself. "You're acting like a big jerk!"
"AAH! GUYS!" yowled Dr. Fox. "I don't mean to rush, but you should PROBABLY get him to put me down before I fall! I'm pretty sure his grip just loosened a little!"
"THAT'S IT!" roared Unikitty, flaring up in rage as she flew into the air. "I'VE TAKEN YOU DOWN ONCE YOU BIG MEANIE PANTS, AND IF I ABSOLUTELY MUST, I'LL DO IT AGAIN!"
"NO NO, DON'T!" begged Hawkodile, waving his arms around frantically. "STOP! HE'LL DROP HER!"
Unikitty's fury was immediately shut down by the thought of losing her friend.
"You're right," realized Unikitty sadly, landing on the ground again. "B-But, you shouldn't have to say goodbye to your awesome shades, it's not fair!"
"I know," admitted Hawkodile, turning to Eagleator, "but it's my duty as a bodyguard and Action Hero to guard bodies at all costs... e-especially Dr. Fox's."
"Wait, wait, 'especially mine?' What are you trying to sa-"
"But Hawkodile, you'll be blind without your shades!" cried Unikitty. "Especially since it's so sunny today!"
"Oh, that? It's not a problem anymore," replied Hawkodile rather confidently.
"Wait, what do you mean?" asked Puppycorn, cocking his head to one side.
Hawkodile carefully reached for his shades and removed them. He revealed a pair of masculine, somewhat circular-shaped eyes with dark yellow pupils. To everyone's amazement, he was unfazed by the shining sun beaming overhead.
This surprised even Eagleator, for, in spite of his seething hatred towards Hawkodile, found it impressive. It took him a few moments to realize he had been unknowingly displaying an astounded expression. Upon noticing, he immediately shook it off.
"WHOA, YOU HAVE EYES!?" cried Puppycorn in amazement.
"Oh my gosh! Hawkodile, you can SEE?" gasped Unikitty in awe, briefly forgetting the crisis at hand.
"Yes, Princess, I can," nodded Hawkodile, facing Unikitty with a thin smile. "I began training my eyes after I was unable to fight without my shades. It was a weakness I hadn't realized before, so I eliminated it."
"Wow! I've never seen your eyes before!" gasped Unikitty in astoundment. "This is so cool!"
"Yeah! Why didn't you tell us sooner?" asked Puppycorn, wagging his tail.
"I was planning to," replied Hawkodile, facing Eagleator again. His voice grew gradually more crestfallen as he went on: "I thought it'd be cool to wait until an appropriate moment for a dramatic effect. But instead, it's going to be because I have to give them up..."
Hawkodile slouched with a despairful sigh, reaching the conclusion that his only option left to save Dr. Fox was to comply with Eagleator's demands. The last thing he wanted to do was to fulfill his enemy's desires, but if it meant saving the vixen he loved dearly, he'd do what was necessary.
"The shades are yours, Eagleator," said Hawkodile in defeat. "You win."
"NOOO!" howled Unikitty and Puppycorn in a demoralized manner.
"A wise choice," nodded Eagleator, a devilish grin spreading across his face. "Hand 'em over."
"Nice try, I'm not some dumb chicken," spat Hawkodile, his shining yellow pupils focused intensely onto the villainous captor. "You've double-crossed me once, and I'm not falling for it again. You're going first."
"You're going to have to take your chances, Hawkodile," growled Eagleator. "Because if you don't go first, I'm going to immediately release your fluffy friend here; over this drop!"
"I think YOU'LL have to take your OWN chances!" retorted Hawkodile, clenching his shades within his glove like he was about to break them. "I can snap these babies in half within an instant, and then we'll both go home empty-handed!"
Eagleator opened his mouth to bark out an objection, but he had nothing. Hawkodile had made a very good point. Either of them could make the other loose what's dear to them in a split second without warning.
"Fine!" scoffed Eagleator. "But make the stupid rainbow cat and horned dog scram! Their disgusting pastel fur makes my eyes ache, it's sickening."
"Hawkodile, we can't leave you here," said Unikitty, perturbed by Eagleator's request. "It's too dangerous!"
"I'm sorry, Princess," said Hawkodile. "But if we don't listen to 'swamp breath' over there-"
"HEY!"
"-we're going to lose Dr. Fox forever."
"Aw man!" said Puppycorn, clearly upset. "I hate having Eagleator win! He sucks!"
"I know lil' bro, but Hawkodile's right," said Unikitty sadly. "Dr. Fox is in real danger right now! We've gotta listen to whatever Eagleator says if we want her safe, even though it stinks."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," sighed Puppycorn.
Unikitty flew up to Hawkodile and gave him a quick smooch on the forehead. "I believe in you!"
Her and Puppycorn brother flew past Hawkodile and dived down the cliff, leaving him to retrieve their friend. He watched them until they were receded from view before swinging his head back around to face Eagleator with an intense glare.
Without any further hesitation, Eagleator violently hurled Dr. Fox at Hawkodile. She flew through the air before face-planting into the ground at Hawkodile's feet, causing one of the lenses on her glasses to crack.
"HEY!" barked Hawkodile, offended by Eagleator's incautious behavior. "YOU COULD'VE INJURED HER!"
"Who cares! You didn't specify I had to be gentle!" remarked Eagleator.
It seemed Dr. Fox was slightly injured from the rough landing, as for a brief moment, she was unsteady on her legs. The moment she successfully got to her feet, she quickly ran behind Hawkodile to observe Eagleator's next move from a safe distance.
Hawkodile found himself feeling disappointed when Dr. Fox didn't hide right behind his legs and instead stood several feet away. He anxiously wondered if it was because she wasn't comfortable standing close by anymore. Was she disturbed by Hawkodile's attractions towards her?
"Now, give me what I want," commanded Eagleator, slowly reaching his arm forward, despite Hawkodile's shades being several yards out of reach.
Hawkodile gazed down at the black shades in his glove. He grew irresolute and began to ponder whether he should surrender them like he promised to momentarily ago. Dr. Fox was safe now, and Eagleator was nothing but cruel and inequitable; why would he reward such behavior?
If Hawkodile simply started running off that exact moment with Dr. Fox, he would still probably be capable of successfully escaping. However, Eagleator would surely hunt him down, attempt something far more depraved to achieve revenge, and ultimately steal them eventually.
Hawkodile didn't want to risk his or any of his friends' safety. This had to be done; it was time to say goodbye to his shades.
Yes, Hawkodile can now see! I thought it wasn't too far-fetched to presume that after Action Forest, he would begin training his eyesight in private. And yes, the cover of this story is what I believe his eyes should look like. Stay tuned for the next chapter, it'll be up soon!
