Hey, I'm back! A couple of things to say:

1: Secret Rings have been cancelled, just lost interest in it. However, a new story took its place. It's called Fan Fiction Storytelling: The Black Knight. Categories are Sonic and X-overs.

2: I have to visit my dad this weekend and go to my sister's next weekend, so don't expect any new chapters during those weekends.

3: Suggestion box is still open, feel free to tell me yours through PM or review.

Now with out of the way, let's do this!

Chapter 10 : Stranded

Normal POV

Cole and the others got out of the tunnel when Moya called.

"Cole, what happened down there? Is Sasha dead?"

"I wish. Beat the living hell out of her, but some guys in masks came and grabbed her. Brought the whole tunnel down." Cole explained.

"It was probably the First Sons. If we're lucky, they'll take care of her for us." Moya said.

"Yeah, that'd be swell. Listen, the power is out throughout the entire borough. We're going to get the nearest substation back online." He then hung up and turn to the others.

"Moya?" Sora asked.

"Yeah."

"Substation?"

"Yeah."

"OK. You guys stay here and out of sight until we get the power back on." The others nodded in agreement and Cole and Sora was off to the sewers. Along the way, Cole called Zeke.

"Zeke, pick up."

"Hey, brother. Where the hell you been?" Zeke asked.

"It's a long story. Wanted to let you know that we're over in the Warren."

"The Warren? Damn man, that place was nightmare central before the blast- hate to see what it's like now."

"Hasn't got any better, that's for sure. I'll give you a call when we figure out how we're going to get back home."

"Keep your nose to the wind, man." Zeke then hung up.

After the two entered the sewers, Moya called.

"Pulled some intel on the Warren. A couple of days after the blast, the homeless people living there banded together and seized control of the entire borough. They call themselves the Dust Men."

"Guess that explains why they're all wearing trash bags." Sora said over his phone.

"I suspect they are being led by an extremely powerful conduit, so it'd be a big mistake to underestimate them."

"We get it." Cole said. She then hung up.

(Sora and Cole gained: Static Thrusters)

After the two exited the sewers, the area came back to life. Then, Zeke called.

"Hey. guys. You remember Dwight? Just ran into his sister and she thinks he's in some kind of trouble. Wants to know if you'll look for him."

"Dwight? Didn't that guy steal your car and strip it down for parts?" Cole reminded.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was a real tool. But you know I've dug his sister for a real long time now, and uh, you'd be doing me a real solid with this one."

"And you think that if we find Dwight, she'll 'reward' you?" Sora guessed.

"Hell, it's not like I can do anything from here. she says Dwight was hangin' around the Chummy Chicken the last time they talked, guess he was workin' over there. That might be a good place for you guys to start." Zeke then hung up.

After we got the others, Trish called.

"Cole, are you there?"

"Hi, Trish."

"It's getting bad over here. People are dying and there's nothing I can do. I need to get a bus over to Bayview and see if it still has any supplies."

"We came through the tunnel and it was trashed. Same with the Stone Canal Drawbridge." Sora said over his phone.

"You remember Roger Miller from Amy's graduation? He's a city engineer that use to work with my dad. If anyone can fix the bridge, it'd be him. He lives by Valentine Park."

"We'll try and find him." Cole said and then hung up.

After some side missions, Sora and Cole learned some new moves:

(Sora: Overload Burst, Arc Lightning and Megawatt Hammer)

(Cole: Overload Burst and Gigawatt Blades)

Sora's POV

We arrived at the last known location of Dwight to find his dead body.

"Dwight's dead, Zeke. Someone really messed him up." Cole said over his phone.

"Ah man- his sister's gonna flip out when I tell her that. Hell, you should find the guys who did it - I could play off that angle. Maybe. C'mon man, I need this." Zeke said.

"There's something deeply wrong about you, Zeke." Cole said.

Cole then walked over and puts his hand over Dwight's head. He then puts his hand back and sees an echo.

"Follow me." Cole said to the others.

While we followed Cole, Zeke called again.

"You use that psychic vision-dealy to see the killer?" He asked.

"Hard to make out, looked like a man and a dog or something." Cole answered.

"Dwight was killed by a dog? Damn! Had a cousin that went the same way. Whew, shouldn't have had an open casket, but ole Smithy wanted one. People were passing out, puking, you name it. It was horrible. Still haven't recovered from that one." Zeke said.

"Again, thanks for the image." I sarcastically said over my phone.

He then hung up and we continued following Cole until we ran into a guy with two posters on the wall.

"Holy crap, you're them. It's great what you guys are doing, the way you're cleaning up this place."

"What are those posters supposed to be for?" Cole asked.

"Just trying something out, you know, spreading the word about you two, what you're doing. Which one do you like?"

Cole's POV

I thought in my head. "Since this guy is going to hang those up anyway, we might as well decide how people should view us. Do we want to love us or fear us?"

I looked at the posters. The blue one was me holding a lightning bolt with Sora behind me holding a lightning ball in his hand with electricity trailing on his arm, the two of us back to back, with people at the bottom looking up at us in admiration. The red one is me and Sora's heads, one side is normal and showing a smile and the other half showing a skull, below them is a destroyed Empire City.

"I like that one." I answered, pointing at the blue poster.

(Good Karma +)

"Oh yeah, definitely the blue one." Sora agreed.

"Right on! I'll print up more of those and start hanging 'em all over the city! It's going to be awesome!" The guy then left.

"Zeke is never gonna believe this one." I said to myself. I then continue to follow the echo with Sora and the others to an alleyway, where the dog things came out of the dumpsters.

"You gotta be kidding me." I commented.

"OK, let's do it." Sora said.

The dogs then scurried to their left out of the alleyway.

"After them!" Gold said.

We then followed them to find a couple of Dust Men waiting for us. They opened fire but, thanks to Raze, he stopped the bullets. Sora then charged up an Overload Burst and fired, hitting the turret and making it exploded.

Sora's POV

After I fired the bolt, I then put my hood over my head, temporarily changing my karma and changing the color as well.

(Sora's karmic rank temporarily changed to: Tyrant)

My appearance changes, changing the hoodie's color to red, the shirt turned into a grayish color as well as my skin, my shoes and gloves look dirtier, and the chain is a little damp and rusted. I then fired an Arc Lightning at the last two Dust Men, quickly damaging them. I then unwrapped the chain and swung at them with crimson red electricity sparking around the chain, taking them down with three hits each. I then wrapped the chain back on my wrist and looked back at the group, who were surprised at my sudden change. I then took off my hood, returning to normal.

(Sora's karmic rank changed back to: Champion)

"All right, let's go." I said.

The others snapped out of the surprise and followed, Cole taking the lead. While following, Zeke called.

"Any luck?"

"Not yet. Dealing with some crab things that are running all over the place. I think the transients are making them from old parts." Cole answered.

"Keep looking, man. Gotta find that trash-bagger that killed Dwight." He then hung up.

After destroying some more of those trash crabs and defeating a Dust Men with a rocket, we continued on into another alleyway to find more trash crabs.

"Fricken' junk monsters." Cole said to himself.

After that, we finally found the killer, a large Dust Man with something on his back, which he then shot out more of the trash crabs.

"That's so weird." Izura said.

"Finally found his sorry ass." Cole said.

He then threw two shock grenades at him, exploding to only do some damage. More of those trash crabs came at us. We covered Cole as he went after the Dust Man. He then defeated him with a couple of bolts and four shock grenades. He then called Zeke.

"Hey Zeke, we took care of the guy that greased Dwight. And just so we're clear, this was a one time deal. I'm not doing this to help you score."

"I hear you, brother. I owe you a big one." Zeke said.

DONE! We shall continue the district when I get back on Monday. Well, I get back Sunday but, I'll be back on the CPU on Monday. So, Sora and Cole learned some new tricks, Sora shows his dark side for the first time, and the posters will be all over the city in due time.

Sora: Btw, if you guys want to, you guys can create a fanart picture of the posters I described in this chapter. That would be awesome.

Yeah, Anyways, until next chapter,... I should have a catchphrase. What should it be?

Sora: How about "And I will see you in the next chapter, buh bye!" (Congrats if you get the reference.)

Good enough. What he said, I will see you in the next chapter, buh bye!