Chapter Nine: The Devil's Advocate
Crimson eyes grazed along the ocean's flat surface, the sun's horizon stretching over it like a looming shadow. The canine's gray fur whipped furiously as gales of wind breezed along the beach that he currently stood on.
His breathing was a steady and slow pace, obviously he was in a calm state. A smirk crept along his facial features as his eyes moved left and right, scanning his surroundings. Darius unsheathed his broadswords and slowly took his fighting stance, his smirk being replaced by stoicism, his eyes closed making him look solemn.
"If you wanted to ambush me, I would believe you would need to be more silent and calm than that. Come on out and face me hedgehog and your little lackeys should come out as well." Darius stated, the now uncovered enemies slow to oblige, eventually revealing themselves.
Twenty G.U.N soldiers barrel rolled out of random places, guns in hand all aimed at Darius which didn't faze the canine one bit. The hound's true focus was on the leader, the vermillion and onyx hedgehog that took the direct place in front of him.
Reading his body language, he saw no visible negativities about him. It was as him he was a robotic being although he looked nothing of the sort.
"Darius Angels…the legendary bounty hunter. G.U.N has been hot on your trail since your first taste of infamy. I, Mario Williams, will have the pleasure of handing you over to the cops." Mario said quickly drawing two golden and ebony submachine guns, the barrels of the guns aimed at the bounty hunter's hands as to quickly release his two broadswords.
"And if I refuse arrest?" Darius asked, a snarl emitting from his mouth.
"Isn't it obvious? We'll use force to take you." Mario explained.
"But you should know what I'm capable of doing to all of you…isn't that right Mr. Tempus Toki?" Darius questioned, a smirk glued itself upon his face as he saw Mario's eyes slightly widen, "You are surprised I know your real name aren't you? Well don't but, I have my sources. Mario is the nickname you took up from your friends because you spoke fluent French and Williams was just an alias. Oh yeah and I know about the little experiment you underwent on yourself." Darius told as Mario just shook his head in defiance.
"I really don't care what you know about me Angels, I'll still defeat you all the same. Men, take the offensive." The hedgehog commanded as the soldiers ran towards the hound. In one swift swipe of his broadswords, he was able to push the soldiers back and make them fly back from where they had once came.
"Is that all you got Toki?" Darius asked, "I really wanted some true raw competition."
"Your wish is granted then bounty hunter." Mario exclaimed as he dashed forward with his guns trailing behind him.
Darius stood there waiting for an opening, the yellow hedgehog leaped forward and shot two rounds at the canine forcing him into a block. Mario landed directly in front of him and went for a leg sweep which Darius back flipped over.
The hound swiped his broadswords forwards in vain as Mario countered with a quick elbow strike to the face. Darius reeled back giving Mario an opportunity to attack, quickly drawing two kunai and throwing them forward.
The devilish dog had no time to dodge or block thus he took the direct blow as the kunai exploded in his face sending him flying into a tree. Smoke enveloped Mario's vision, his instincts took over as he began to swipe his forearm around to clear the coal colored air.
Stabbing his swords quickly into the tree he collided with, he sapped the positive and negative energies from it before ripping his signature weapons from the bark. Dashing forward, Darius flew into the smoke and tackled his opponent to the ground before smacking him with the blunt hilt of his sword.
An opening became visible and Darius hopped right on it, slashing Mario with one sword, then the other, finally ending it with a slash to the chest with both swords. The attack sent the G.U.N soldier flying a few feet although he was quick to recover, landing on a nearby boulder.
Nice attack…It seems that his swords feed off of some sort of energy source. Well I guess that he can't do much without his weapons so why not take them from him?
Mario jumped forward and drew out a vast amount of explosive and wired kunai tying them together to form a whip like weapon. Darius saw it and tried to block with his broadswords which was exactly what the hedgehog knew he would do.
He lashed his whip of kunai around before whipping it forward, his newly formed chain wrapping around Darius' black broadsword, yanking it away from its rightful owner. Darius growled trying to retrieve it, failing utterly due to the immense distance between the chain and himself.
Mario smirked before spinning and throwing the chain of projectiles at Darius, the whip wrapping around him like an anaconda squeezing the air out of him, its grip tightening with every pull Mario performed onto it. The canine struggled to free himself, his legs trying to gain distance from Mario and his arms trying to pry themselves from the deadly hold of the chain.
"Don't worry Darius, I just wanted you to stay still so I could give you a going away present." Mario exclaimed as he withdrew another explosive kunai and quickly throwing it forward, the weapon slicing through the air like a hot knife through butter.
Oh damn!
The kunai connected with the tip of the chain creating a giant web of explosions in its wake eventually obliterating anything in its radius, the G.U.N soldier floating down safely and away from the carnage. Out of the bellowing debris emerged the bloody bounty hunter taking giant whiffs of air, his only sword feet away from his location.
Scarlet orbs glanced over at the weapon laid out to the right of him desperately calling out to its master. Hand extended forward, his fingernails dug into the tan sand and he pulled himself forward inch by inch until he could almost feel the raw power in his sword in his veins.
Noticing this, Mario would have no such thing happening on his watch so he walked over and stepped on Darius' hand, grinding the sole of his sneakers into his fingers. Hisses of pain tried to escape Darius' mouth but he would not allow himself to be so weak in front of someone such as this Toki character. It was just unacceptable that he could be defeated as he was.
"And you thought you were all that huh? I didn't expect you to put up such a ridiculous failure of a performance Darius. I guess we can get to negotiating now." Mario stated easing the weight he put into his foot until he completely got off of the canine's hand.
Darius felt the foot come off and almost sighed of relief though he wouldn't even allow himself to do that. Grasping his sword, he used it to pull himself up and tried to move. No such problem was made present as he walked forward, twirling his sword in his fingertips.
With Mario's back turned, he rocketed towards the unsuspecting soldier. As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Mario was able to grab the dog's arm and flung him over his shoulder, the attacking dog sliding across the sand on his back, unbeknownst to him that Darius was able to retrieve his other sword from his possession until he saw it in his hand.
"Nice little distraction Darius…but that won't help you defeat me. I'm skilled in nine forms of martial arts and a skilled marksman plus I got a secret power that I still have yet to use in this battle." Mario explained, his guns ready to fire at the dog.
"I don't need your little comments or boastings, I just know that everyone has a weakness and I'm going to expose yours by the end of this battle. Now come at me with the heart of a lion." Darius demanded.
Mario nodded and jumped forwards, shooting a volley of bullets that were all blocked by the canine. Barrel rolling in mid-air, he threw a barrage of explosive kunai, the Posinegi swordsman flipping over the attack in the nick of time.
Putting his guns in their holsters, Mario clasped his two hands together, attempting a sledgehammer attack though unfortunately, Darius blocked his attack and kneed him in the torso hard. Kneeling on the floor once he crashed into it, Mario could only watch as Darius planted his swords into the sand in a cross shape, the outline of a cross surrounding him as if he were trapped. Growls escaped his lips and Darius cackled with pure insane laughter.
"Good-bye foolish boy, meet your end. Posinegi Burst!" He screamed as a gray light began to blanket the two.
"Not on my watch you monster! Pause!" Mario exclaimed.
His left arm took a mysterious jade glow and with it, time had begun to slow down until all of a sudden Mario was able to somehow freeze the flow of time although he was the only one able to move in this paradox of time and space.
He smirked and took out many explosive kunai and he walked around the canine's catatonic like body. Each kunai was stabbed in a various place on the dog's body ranging from his arms, legs, forehead and torso. With the final precaution of escaping the blast radius, he snapped his fingers which caused the flow of time to go back to its normal pace.
Darius' Posinegi Blast overshadowed him, unknowing of Mario's escape and the blast triggered the chain of explosions from the various explosive kunai in his body, screams of inflicted pain reigning Darius' vocal chords as Mario watched his body fall to the ground in defeat.
Quick to make his way over to the elder Angel brother, he placed his index and middle fingers on Darius' neck to check for a pulse. It was feint but at least he was able to survive the explosion.
"Hopefully the fool can wake up and give me an answer." Mario whispered and turned to the groans emitted from the dog.
"An answer to what Toki?" Darius asked, hopping to his feet with no concern of his injuries whatsoever.
Mario looked at him for a few seconds and gave a small smirk to the hound who just growled in response, obviously still peeved at his defeat at the hedgehog's hands.
Sheathing his swords in their proper place, Darius kept his icy cold gaze at the soldier before speaking again.
"What is it that you want me to answer Toki?" Darius screeched in pure annoyance.
"Are you familiar to your younger brother, Damien?" Mario asked, receiving a nod in response, "He was spotted in a tropical rainforest with an ally heading east. I know that you two battled in Dusty Desert…it seems that he's stronger than you thought. But getting to the point, by orders of the President, I must have your assistance in the capture of the criminal you call your brother and by any means, I will use force if you deny the offer."
"So you never really want to arrest me?" Darius asked.
"No, we just needed to find a way to convince you to fight us…it worked pretty well in my opinion. So what do you say Angels, are you up for the challenge?" The question obviously lingering in the canine's mind.
"I'll advocate your search for my brother, I want to be there when he's defeated once and for all. After all, I do need to face him again to answer a few questions." Darius explained as he walked away from Mario in a rude manner, his footsteps printing themselves in the grains of sand.
Mario shook his head and followed the lead of the dog with the soldiers following him in suit. Unbeknownst to the Angel brother, he wasn't the only one getting defeated once and for all.
To be continued…
A/N: FINALLY!!! A NEW CHAPTER!!!! Well there you go, I wrote it and uploaded it after I don't know how many months and now you read it I hope. Yes, Mario's real name is Tempus Toki, Tempus being Greek (I think) for time and Toki being Japanese for time as well. Just call him Mario Toki for now on. What will happen to Damien and Lia next? What is planned for Darius and what is going on here?! See next time people! Bye!
