Chapter 11
Wraith looked down at his right hand and examined the intricate stitching in his gloves. He felt a deep void in his heart continuously be refilled with positive energy each time he set aside the pain of reality. Wraith could not help but marvel at the hand clothed by the fabric. It stretched around his whole palm and encapsulated each finger to the tip. Even the thumb was inscribed by all that there was to offer by the semi-elastic fibers. Wraith smiled as he stared down at the cuff. It curled downward from the base of the palm and extended completely around the ends of his radius and ulna. He could barely see much of the cuff when he was not as focused. This was due to jacket he wore. Said jacket was accustomed to having its long tan sleeves sinking below the desired position. It was one thing that the young Hedgehog actually despised about his favorite wear. He cursed the appearance should it interrupt the value of all his gloves had to offer. the gloves he wore were especially tantalizing due to the seamless seams that made up the two halves. You really could not tell whether or not the glove was one piece or two melded together through a sewmaster's heartfelt handiwork. The latter was actually the case; the glove was originally two halves merged into a single entity. Lefty received similar treatment in terms of a warm overcoat. The feeling could be verily described as "magical" to the one who set aside a decent amount of time to inspect such wonder. Wraith's glove was a majestic work of art that could co-exist among its peers.
The only thing these gloves could ever have trouble competing with would be the socks. Wraith loved his socks with a white hot intensity of a thousand suns. He knew that in order to be successful and receive the best comfort from continuously donning other outer footwear such as shoes or boots, one needed to gain the respect for proper suiting. Such suiting required specific attention to detail in terms on socks. The wool and/or cotton materials melded into a fibrous spawn worthy of pleasing a god. Wraith was very careful with a cautious eye in order to select the proper accommodations for his feet. A lot of people Wraith knew did not allow their body the time to respond to the clothing that they wore. Socks were probably the single most important article to wrap around the soul's vessel. Without these items, it would be the same to say that you barely cared for your gift of life to begin with.
Likewise, Wraith hated sandals. People who wore these without socks were bad enough, but if they wore socks and further abused them with sandals covering a scant amount of the fibrous encapsulation, then that was just downright mutiny toward your body's inner karma machinations. For example, imagine a hot summer day. What would happen if you walked around in this array of so-called disrespect? Well, wouldn't it just defeat the entire purpose of gaining a sustainable temperature to secure your body's overall satisfaction with the environment? The short of this argument is as such: Why go through such trouble to keep cool when you just end up hurting your entire equilibrium through a process of unreliable self-assessment? It's one thing to be fashionable, but when you actually torture yourself with no intention other than disrespect for socks, then you have just gone too far. People who wore this outfit along with shorts and heavy sweaters were definitely an abomination as well. These vile scum should be eliminated by some sort of wise police force that is well-versed in seeking weary souls.
On that note, Wraith felt more complaints weigh deep in his heart. The Treasure Hunters were a formidable foe for sure. However, were there any who dressed properly? Did they appreciate their feet and dedicate enough time to ensure the socks that they wore were catered toward a clear amount of delicacy? He had seen the guards and they wore boots. Wraith felt strong feelings deep in the depths of his heart wishing that each and every one of his opponents (and Kit, Ken, and Enoch's as well) had been wearing socks. It was hard for him to have beat up a bunch of people who could have very well been normal folks with normal lives who unfortunately got caught up in a bad rap. Wraith hoped that these people run by such hateful higher-ups would be decent individuals under their suits of Treasure Hunter armor. It's better to think these kinds of thoughts after all and one good way to do so is to think about socks and how they are best treated.
Wraith was frustrated with socks in some ways though. His father, Sonic the Hedgehog had done some pretty nasty stuff to him, including killing his best friend ever. Wraith just could not accept the fact that, yes, his dad wore socks. Not only that, but the socks that Sonic wore were respectfully tailored to suit him. Sonic wore these socks with pride and showed off just what kind of person he was. This frustrated Wraith for a simple yet complex reason: Sonic was abusing the stereotype that came along with the proper sock-wearing ethic code. If you wear socks, you should be easily identifiable as a strong and morally just individual. Such was not the case for Sonic. Not only was Sonic an vile piece of scum working for an evil enterprise, but Sonic also left his family many years ago to pursue such endeavors. Wraith just could not accept his father's sock performance as a component of reality. So many conflicting factors complemented this mental assessment. It also worried Wraith. Could he become just like his father one day? Was the element of respect tied to footwear an entirely fruitless mindset to dwell on? Wraith knew that one day this judgment would have to be determined through a reaffirmation process, but that would have to wait. Right now, there were much more important things to attend to. He and his friends were in the Treasure Hunter base. They were neck-deep in the belly of the beast and there was no turning back. Wraith needed to stay focused on keeping his life as opposed to musing on it continually. That was what the gym at Empire was established for. He looked forward to the time he would be able to return and merely live life based on an effective psychological regimen mingling with physical activities. Straining the brain and muscles equally was the true key to success and Wraith knew he was the best there was at that now more than ever before thanks to Kit's guidance. He was definitely in debt to the Tortoise, but like the planned workout, that form of thanks would have to wait before its implementation.
In terms of the quest within the secluded enemy base, Kit had just secured a new strategy for infiltration. The sewer systems, accessed via the bathrooms, would be an ideal place to resume their search for the base's core. A reactor was the goal, and these tunnels were so far their last bet in order to resolve this goal. The team of four crawled down a large pipe after remove the manhole cover. They were sure to replace the cover in order to prevent straying from their initial espionage tactics. They're presence may have been known at the moment, but that did not mean hiding out and staying under the radar was out of the question. The better they hid, the more fruitful the rewards would be.
Due to the lack of a portal emitting light, the passage was now dark. Luckily, despite the darkness, the gain still had a keen sense of sight in due part to Enoch's robot suit. The suit was equipped with a bright flashlight atop the head-covering. It was still difficult to descend due to the lack of ladders, so much feeling was needed to gain stable footing and to understand the structure of the journey downward. It was essential to remain close to Enoch's light and also keep attentive to situations that may spark controversies. They were hiding as best as they could after all. There was no doubt actual strong members of the Treasure Hunters would be lurking in the base. They had only seen fodder such as armored guards and lab workers so far, but that meant nothing if a more secret area was kept in closer quarters. Kit continuously warned his teammates of these possibilities and was getting really sweaty out of both nervousness and from the extreme heat of the tubular interior. He was a Tortoise, so cold-blooded considerations were on his agenda sometimes. Wraith and Ken had to respect this about Kit, and to a lesser extent, Enoch (because he's a Snake, but also part cyborg).
Kit announced sooner that he saw the bottom of the pipe. He dropped down and somersaulted for safety onto the platform below. He motioned to the others to come along and follow his lead. They obeyed with ease and then rejoined their wise Tortoise companion for continuation's sake. They were now in the sewers underneath the base of the Treasure Hunters. Things were now starting to heat up, more in the figurative sense was the strength and power in comparison to the likeness of the pipe. Now things had gotten seriously major. Kit told Enoch to take a closer examination of the new environment. Enoch's flashlight played along the walls and painted a gradually developing picture of their surroundings. Kit smiled and gave a reassuring thumb-up. "We found 'em," he said happily with his thumb.
"What do you mean, Kit?" asked Wraith with his jacket ready. He held it with passion and made sure his cuffs looked cool as well as effective. You could say that if a lady saw Wraith, she would fall head over heels for the boy. Wraith was a respecting man when it came to his clothes and now he was exemplifying courage and muscle with a jacket. He was on the road to stealing any dooby points away from the competition. There would be nothing but forgotten bachelors left in this world if Wraith was to keep up his hotness levels. His attractiveness was getting to the point where anyone would want to date him, even Doctor Eggman.
"Check out these walls for a second," said Kit. "It looks like some carefully crafted interior work. To the untrained eye, that means nothing but a good structure to the underground aqueducts. However, I'm a smart man, man. Look harder and you'll spy something awfully peculiar."
Wraith looked harder, but saw nothing out of the ordinary still. He looked at Kit with a mad face. He walked up close to Kit and pressed his forehead up against his. He grunted in a furious way at Kit and flared his nostrils. "Dartmouth, Kit! You've led us into a bad place! I renounce everything I said about you! I wish you hadn't come with us. You're such an old guy and have totally gone senile! You have no idea what anything is anymore. You've been grasping at blank air all this time and have found nothing, but nothing. Everything is stupid that you look at. We should abandon you because you haven't been any help so far!" He reared back for a punch, but Ken grabbed it and said not to punch the responsible Tortoise.
"Don't be so hasty in conclusion jumping, Wrath," said Enoch.
Wraith heard Enoch and got so furious in his gut. He relinquished his hand from Ken and ran up to Enoch. He socked him so hard in the face that his helmet cracked slightly, busting the flashlight equipment. Enoch fell to the ground in pain like a snake in robotic armor did. "You said my name wrong!" roared Wraith. He punched Enoch in the gut with a hard fist. The armor in that region cracked a bit and sparks and wires flew out of the crater of his rage's physical imprint. "If you ever mispronounce my name again, I'll kill you, Enoch. You've been nothing but trouble either."
Kit sighed deeply as he watched this happen. Wraith looked like he was getting mad at him and the others. "I have proof, Wraith," he said sadly now. His nose twitched because he felt a sneeze coming on due to the fear that Wraith was angry.
"No you don't because you're stupid!" yelled Wraith. He then ran up to Kit and punched him really hard in the face. Kit stumbled backwards and fell on his back. Since he was a shelled species, he had immense trouble getting back on his feet. He felt bad about how unwell he had made the situation.
"I'm sorry, Wraith…" announced Kit with a low tone and a sneeze sounded. The sneeze shot out blood because Wraith punched him that hard. Really!
"Dartmouth…" groaned Wraith. He tossed his long green hair back and placed both hands in the respective pockets on his jacket. "I should have worked alone by myself! I can't trust you three because you're not good enough at what you do. No wonder I was Knuckles's best friend. He must have hated all of you for being so bad at the best work."
Kit exhaled another deep breath as he returned from off his back. "I suppose you're right, Wraith. I guess I have been a tad careless about everything."
"I just want to go home and watch the Food Network."
"Me too."
"But I can't do that. And do you know why, Kit? It's because I need to defeat the biggest baddies this side of the planet. My dad is one of them so I have a really good excuse to be anxious. I'm so mad because he left me when I was a kid and had to learn my martial arts elsewhere. Knuckles was one of my teachers and I quickly became the best friend he ever had. I'm just really impressed with myself, but not anyone else because they don't deserve to talk about Knuckles."
"What do you want us to do, Wraith?" asked Enoch weakly.
"From now on I'm the only person allowed to talk about Knuckles and if I ever hear anyone mention my best friend ever again, I'll make 'em wish they were never born!" He growled his words like a paper shredder that got jammed from too much junk. He ended his rant and demands with a launched wad of spit from his mouth into the darkness. It made a "plop" noise so it must have hit water which made sense due to their present location. "Now ain't you three gon' follow mah lead?"
One by one Kit, Ken, and Enoch followed after Wraith with a caring heart and a feeling of responsibility to him. I guess they just did not actually know where he was coming from. Maybe Wraith deserved more attention. Maybe he should have been more recognized as a friend of Knuckles.
Enoch grunted to himself and thought Wraith was a stuck-up brat. He thought about how Knuckles did not have to be Wraith's best friend or vice versa because he believed that Knuckles was best friends with everyone. He was starting to really dislike Wraith especially since he punched an old person.
Ken smiled to himself though because he thought it was really cool that Wraith was standing up for himself. He thought that there were a lot of people out there in the world that could learned from the young Hedgehog's display of maturity. Maybe the Empire would make him the new leader due to how strong-willed he was about everything.
Kit had feelings in his own head. He thought things about Wraith. He wanted to be friends with Wraith, but Wraith was being a very distant kind of emotion and this hurts the feelings of others from time to time. He wondered if he should like Wraith's attitude and protect how he felt from haters at his school. He heard Wraith talk a lot about how he hated a bully named Murray the Armadillo. Maybe that guy needed a personal talking-to from Kit. He was putting on a constant frown the whole walk as he and the rest of the gang followed Wraith. The frown helped him from having a bloody nose. He needed to stick a bandage in it when he got back to Empire. Kit was good at being a doctor just like Doctor Eggman, but he was nicer and did not have a criminal history.
Wraith was proud of himself because he finally stood up for what he believed in. He believed in his own confidence and hoped that little kids would learn from him about how to be a better figure of society. He had it all: looks, talent, a full head of hair. It was up to the world to accept just how great he was. If they refused to do so, he would have to assert his authority and crush their faces with his fists. It was a good thing that he was Knuckles's truest friend in ages.
"Kit," Wraith called back to the group he was now leading. "I love you, man, but you're too slow and old for this. I'm glad I punched you because now you know just how important I am."
Kit smiled and some blood fell out of his nose so he had to tilt his head up. Wraith saw this and laughed because the sight was silly. Kit wanted to laugh too, but knew it would be gross if he did. He did think Wraith was a really great kid after that. He wished that he could have been more like Wraith when he was younger. A full head of hair would have been the best thing ever. It isn't every day Johnny Bravo becomes a Tortoise.
Ken was still putting on his smile and his cheeks went up high because he was so happy when he smiled. Enoch was still pretty miffed though. He thought that Kit was being too accepting and that Wraith was still nothing but a salty brat with a booty attitude. He wanted to lick the sewer floor in disgust, hoping the residue would cling to his soul and wash out the even darker impurities residing in the deep confines.
… … … … … …
Wraith and the others could not believe their eyes now. They had taken a few turns and walking was starting to get to be a real pain. But just as Ken was about to keel over in exhaustion from hunger, Wraith spotted the bingo on his chance card.
"Hi-ho diggety, bruh, I found what we was lookin' for," Wraith said darkly with a seeping acid encasing his tone like a toxic waste bucket being poured into a cool drink of Elvis Costello.
The other three soon saw exactly what he was looking at. It was a giant machine with tubes extending in all directions. It looked like a reactor of some sort. Style did not matter though. All that did truly matter was that the thing was definitely a reactor with purpose. It was still running and looked important enough to be a source of the Treasure Hunter's under hands. Wraith winked something awful to his friends. They returned his gaze with smartness.
"I'm glad we took this corner as opposed to the other one that we debated about back there," said Ken. He held up his hands and shrugged. "I'm such a nimrod for ever having suggesting that. Just made me hungrier from the stalling aspect, if I do say so myself!"
"We haven't the time to idle," said Wraith. "Kit, where are the bombs?"
"I gave them to Enoch because he is good at holding things. He is a robot halfway," said Kit with a smart look on his face. His nose was much better now so he was able to give a smile out for once.
"Enoch, you are up, chap!" Wraith said with happy hope. "Give us each four bombs each. We'll pop them on that puppy and get out. Then we activate the charges and we'll be all set."
Enoch was a tad reluctant because he felt Wraith was a bit of a rushing type, but he realized that the Hedgehog was still young and unexperienced. He sighed and took out the bombs from the case attached to his back. He dispersed them among the team evenly just as Wraith had ordered. He was really good at following orders when he wanted to because he really liked doing that thing. Wraith smiled as he received his bombs and said that Enoch was a pretty cool person. Enoch smiled and liked how Wraith was being a better behaved individual now.
"I will take four of these sixteen bombs," said Wraith. He did just that and picked them up. He slipped one into each of his pockets, the two in his pants and the two in his jacket. Man, he just really loved his jacket. "I hope my jacket doesn't get blown up!" He felt kind of sad, because he kind of wanted his jacket to blow up. But he only wanted a slight wear so that he could have cool battle scars on the jacket. He would wear the jacket to his wedding in the future and talk about the scars to his extended family and maybe a pirate through time travel. It was a good thing Wraith learned fighting with cutlasses off of the Discovery Channel.
"I get two, right?" asked Ken.
"You're such an idiot, Ken," Wraith growled and grabbed four of the bombs. He threw them angrily at Ken. "You need four of them, stupid! If I ever hear you talk like that again, then I'll rip your shoes in half. Don't think I won't just 'cause I'm a nice guy. I can be a bad boy when I get my jimmies rustled."
Ken reassured his head and took all four of the bombs and shoved them into a single pocket in his pants. It was the left pocket to be exact and this pocket was especially deep. This was because Ken usually kept his wallet and cellular devices in there when he had a leisure life to do. He saluted to Wraith that he did the job better and Wraith accepted the salute, but still thought Ken was a big thorn in the team's side. He was practically a bigger screw-up than Kit, but Wraith tolerated him because he was an Echidna just like Knuckles. This was a probable fact and a likely story.
"I get four, man…" Kit said with his encouragement. Wraith nodded and then handed the four to Kit. He handed the remaining four to Enoch and Enoch put them back in his secret compartment. "We're going to do good, man…"
"I'm glad we're friends!" said Wraith.
"Can we get this over with because it's dangerous?" came out the whines of Enoch. The whines were noble though, and everyone felt the same way anyway.
"Here's the plan, dudes! We sneak around this puppy. Plant your charges in a dispersed manner that makes sense. If we do good at the thing, the blast will be more done and big stuff will happen. When we hit the button to activate the bombs, we'll be able to get rid of this whole reactor. This is only in theory, but it's a good theory." Everyone nodded to Wraith that they were all ready to continue. Wraith used a signal with his fingers and told them to break. The four dashed off stealthily in a lot of directions and got to the reactor.
The reactor was hug because it was about two hundred meters tall. The good thing about this was that when it died from explosions, then it would render the whole base useless. This would only be temporary, but then the Empire would be stronger when dealing with foes for a while. The team worked on four separate levels. Wraith took the top because he was fast and could get to the greatest height fastest. Ken took the second highest, Kit took the third highest, and Enoch took the bottom. Each level was covered. The area around the whole lot was pretty big and the bombs were kind of small. It was going to take a lot of work to properly assess this placement strategy. The radius would need to eat out a significant amount of the machine's innards. This needed to be done elaborately.
Each of the four noticed that there was bad stuff abounding their worksites as well. Guards were still afoot. Each was controlling a specific perimeter and there was little space to sneak around. The team was no Obi-Wan, so they couldn't use the Force to distract the troopers. They had to rely on ninja-like feats in order to stay in the game. It was hard because Wraith liked to make noises in his spare time and hated quietness. This is why he bought bigger stereo speakers for his Xbox.
Wraith had to do a lot of yelling in his head to keep quiet. He really wanted to walk up and punch some more guards just for revenge on Knuckles. He almost felt like his gloves were going to burst from the tightness he made when he clenched out of fury. He gritted his teeth with pained ears too.
"What a sight to behold!" said a voice from behind. It was a voice that Wraith unfortunately recognized. The tones stung his ears like a swarm of hornets who hated auditory receptors.
Wraith stepped around the corner from behind him and checked out the new scene. "That's my dad's voice…" he said to himself very quietly so he did not blow his cover like some idiot. That would be so amateur!
He saw Sonic the Hedgehog step out of the doorway with two guards at his side. Sonic was not in his Werehog form which was weird to Wraith because he had not seen his father like this yet. He had seen him like this when he was a kid and in family pictures from his albums. However, it was weird seeing the "Treasure Hunter" Sonic with no bulging muscles or cleats. Sonic just looked like a normal Hedgehog. He looked like Wraith, except blue. Sonic had gloves as white as snow with no sign of wear or tear. He wore shoes that were red with a white stripe in the center of each. Each shoe was adorned with a golden buckle on either side of the arch. The shoes were different from the gloves and actually looked worn out from harsh physical activity; Sonic had a harsh look anyway. Sonic wore other apparel too. He had black leather pants and a black cotton fiber shirt. In addition, Sonic wore a long leather jacket that reached down to his knees. The jacket had the emblem of the Treasure Hunters on the back of it. It made Wraith want to pull out his guts and beat them with a hammer when he saw his dad. His dad was such a bad guy and you could tell most of this understandable for kids like Wraith his age. Wraith felt more anger well up inside him when he noticed Sonic's socks.
"Straight black…" murmured Wraith with a very icy tone. He saw the socks that Sonic wore were of the utmost disappointment to any onlooker. Sonic's socks were a deep ebony shade with no signs of actual picturesque assortments. You could say Sonic's dark attitude was wholeheartedly reflected by just the socks alone. The socks were so frustrating. Wraith barely could keep up with how much his emotions hated the look of his dad's appearance. He considered the attack strategies on his side. He would blow his cover, but he would also teach his dad a brilliant lesson. It would be so good to beat him in his own home. Then Sonic would learn the hard way about Wraith's connection to Knuckles. Sonic would probably rue the deeds that he had been responsible for.
Wraith took a step forward and suddenly returned to reality. He could not believe he was just about to risk the mission just due to some petty angst. Wraith felt the darkness leave him and then he returned to sneaking around. He heard Sonic cackle from behind him, but just ignored it because it was all a trap when it came to feelings. It was best that Sonic did not learn of his whereabouts. It was pretty dangerous already since they had alerted the upper area of the base that they had succeeded in their infiltration escapade. Wraith tried hard to suppress his shameful feelings.
"BLIMY!" cried Sonic in an angry voice. Wraith heard the noise and took a quick second to hear out the situation.
Sonic beat the side of the reactor with a clenched fist in a tight manner. Sonic was on a portable transmitter discussing business with someone on the line. He seemed very distraught about whatever was causing the sudden disturbance. "You can't tell me those fools can't handle a simple house pest! I've had it up to here with their incompetence!"
The guards looked at one another in a worried way. They wondered if Sonic was about to go ballistic on them. This was a worst case scenario, but highly likely due to Sonic's love for violence.
Sonic roared angry things into phone and then chucked it at the ground so that it broke into many different pieces. "This whole situation is bogus!" he snarled.
"What happened?" asked one of the guards.
"Dumb losers down below in sector three ran into one of the losers from before. They say they need backup and I'm the closest guy… This is so stupid, why do we pay you for when you can't even handle a single dork? I suppose I'm off…"
Wraith gasped internally. One of their own had been struck by misfortune and was terrible at stealth. He knew that if Sonic was headed in to fill in for skill, then the teammate would surely meet a terrible fate. This time would be another time when Sonic would kill them just like he did to Knuckles. Wraith and Knuckles worked as a team and they could barely defeat Sonic. Wraith was stronger in body, mind, and soul now. He was the only hope that his team had against Sonic. He finally stepped out of the shadows and into his father's view.
The guards gasped when they saw Wraith and Sonic looked annoyed with the big reveal. "Well, if it ain't Wraith…" Sonic mumbled. He craned his neck. "This is a bad time, son. You see, my fists have a date with some other fella downstairs. If you don't mind, your old man's gotta take care of this lame-o and get back to business. If you're here to apply, go visit Shelby at the front desk for the deets."
"I'm not here to join you," Wraith said with darkness and gruff abounding his soul. "I'm here to end you." He took a step closer to Sonic and showed off his six-pack.
Sonic frowned and crossed his arms. "I'm not in the mood to deal with Empire scum that I wasn't assigned to deal with."
"Just think of it as some golden father-son bonding, brohan."
"I can't say 'no' to that… Fine, I'll fight you, but we're doing it on my terms." Sonic grabbed the sides of his jacket and slipped it off his shoulders. It slid down his arms and landed at his shoes. Wraith noticed that he wasn't the only one who had been working out. Sonic had some pretty tight biceps and lack of the jacket allowed Wraith a closer look at just how muscular is father was even without the Werehog form he was used to seeing.
"What are your terms, dad?"
"Number one: Just me and you. Let's not have your crew get in on the action. Same goes for my guys." He beckoned for his two guards to leave the vicinity at once. The two obeyed and ran off as fast as they could. "Number two: We stick to a bare bones winner-takes-all brawl. You and I will stick to our standard forms. I agree to say out of my Werehog form so long as you stay out of… whatever it is you have…"
"It's a done deal, stinky." Wraith was in a taunting mood. He smirked a bit as he removed his jacket. He had planted all the bombs so it was okay to take a break and fight Sonic. This was a really important thing to him. He hated his dad after all and Knuckles would have agreed with this.
"Why don't you wear a shirt?"
"Because I'm rock solid, pops!"
"Then I suppose we're all set." Sonic got into his starting battle pose. He flexed one hand above his head and thrust one hand out forward. He crouched and jutted his head out slightly toward Wraith. "Have at you, Wraith!"
Wraith flicked his long green hair back so he could see with ideal peripheral vision. He flexed a pose too by getting into his cooler and more ready position as well. He crouched slightly and raised one arm upwards near his forehead and another arm out to his side so that it looked like he was hiding behind a rabbit. This duel was serious and would finally decide who the better Hedgehog family member was.
Sonic and Wraith just stood in position and waited for the other to strike like they were Samurai Kirby from that game, you know? Sonic was barely breathing because he had really tight control of himself and could be a dangerous foe. Wraith wondered how good of a fighter Sonic was without the big muscles and claws. The appearance of a Werehog could insure special victories. Wraith and Knuckles working together could defeat this Sonic form, but not bring him down completely to seal the deal of certainty. There was the explicit case that Sonic was working out prior to their new encounter, especially since previously he had the strength to actually kill Knuckles. Wraith thought really hard about Sonic and how evil his black socks of hatred were.
"Jet black…" Wraith murmured once again to himself. He felt the sting of each syllable poisoning his soul. It was so bad that Sonic wore those kinds of feet coverings. The transformations Sonic had to endure each time glorified the existence of killing socks. Only a madman like Sonic would do such a thing. He needed to kill the sock-killer if he wanted the rights of love to endeavor the war times.
Sonic watched Wraith's every move, which there were few and far between because both stood like statues. When Wraith blinked, Sonic would count the nanoseconds in between each interval of an eye opening and closing. He studied the patterns abounding from Wraith's position. He mapped out a strategy based on thoughts and hypotheses. He really knew that Wraith was a strong fighter, but he believed he was better. Back in the days before his horrid conversion, Sonic was adored by the world over for being pretty hot stuff. It really would not be surprising to anybody if Sonic still toppled the competition due to his charisma and movement abilities. Sonic had himself on his side and his wits backing him up.
Wraith heard the floor creak slightly and realized the vibrations exuded from below Sonic's feet. The battle had begun.
Sonic's eyes widened and he slowly lurched back. Wraith lunged forward with such speed. Sonic returned the advance with his own. The two met in the center at amazing speeds and each delivered a powerful punch to each other. Wraith caught Sonic's right-handed punch with his left hand. Sonic caught other right-handed punch from Wraith using his free left. The two were strong for each other and from this first punch, many decisions were made. Wraith and Sonic struggled with one another for the strong power. Wraith broke free of the grasp and started wailing on Sonic. Sonic blocked all the incoming blows with relative ease. It was almost as if Sonic could make crushing rocks seem such a breeze.
Wraith reared back and attacked with another flurry of punches. The attacks may have been rapid fire, but they still could not connect with Sonic in any other places aside from his blocking arms. The part Sonic used to block was in the forearm area where the ulna and radius were. Wraith concluded that Sonic had really strong ulnas and radii, so he backed off and thought about a new approach.
Sonic smirked and shortly afterward lunged forward. He dashed into Wraith and knocked him over. He rode him on the ground like a skateboard. The attack was very strong and hit hard to Wraith. Wraith was being attacked. Wraith hit the wall when Sonic had finished. Sonic leapt from the impact and landed on his feet with cunning achievement. When Wraith hit the wall, there was a big explosion of dust and debris from all angles. Wraith was hurt badly and was in a struggle for survival. He got up slowly and grunted from the pain he had been feeling. His body hurt and that was not it. His heart hurt too because he had to fight his own father. He wished his father loved him, but at the same time he resented the love because Sonic did not deserve to love things. He had sold his soul to aid in evildoing, so Sonic's heart was blacker than his socks at this point.
Wraith panted as he watched Sonic look good with his strong appearance. He was so mad that he could not fight back as good as he thought he could. He wondered how many times Sonic went to the gym to buff out his arm muscles. The strength in Sonic was immense, especially in that area. Maybe this would be a lot harder than the first fight. There were not even any loose dowels for Wraith to shove into him like last time. Wraith wondered about life and darkness.
Sonic got back into his fighting pose and awaited Wraith's next strike. Wraith really hated the idea that he was named by his dad. His dad obviously chose the name because he hated him for being born. Wraith not only had a name easily mistaken for "Wrath", but he also had a silent "W" and a "TH". This was obvious trolling by a dad that deeply offended a lot of individuals. Wraith thought about becoming a leader who would abolish stupid names like that. He also thought of cool names he would have preferred over "Wraith", like McKinley and Harris.
Sonic lunge attacked again in a split second. The attack was so instant that Wraith barely had any time to react. He quickly blocked for a chance, but was met with a big sock in his face and this hurt so badly. Wraith was sent spiraling into the wall again and had blood falling from his brow and fogging up his vision. "I feel like James Frog…" he said to himself. He hoped these little snarky pep talks could not only revitalize him, but also catch Sonic off guard.
Unfortunately, Sonic was not buying the sick attempts by Wraith. Sonic quickly picked up Wraith and spun him around in his hands like a Hedgehog baton. Sonic used the centrifugal force to be powerful. He made his launch so much scarier for Wraith when he released him. He tossed the kid at the ceiling and Wraith hit it with so much force. The ceiling dented in the metal places and held Wraith up in suspension. He coughed up more blood and it fell down onto Sonic's face. Sonic smiled when this happened because he was psychotic and not a good person. Blood made him feel evil just like onion rings make people on diets feel like cheaters. Wraith decided that Sonic was a lot stronger than him. There was no way he could beat him now.
Sonic smirked again with his evil grins and then rolled into a ball. He launched a Homing Attack at Wraith and swatted him out of the ceiling's confinement. Wraith was falling to the ground. On the way, Sonic punched him in all areas, spinning around him like the attachment on a toy top; Wraith was the top. Right as Wraith was about to land smacked in pain on the floor, Sonic swatted more impactful power through the young 'Hog's skull with a double axe handle. Wraith's impact almost sent him drilling into the floor below. He was only stopped by how amazingly constructed the prepared area was.
The impact resulted in a crater and Sonic was standing right there at the foot of it. Wraith was at the bottom feeling rough inside. His body ached in every place, but not so much outside than inside. He hoped his organs were okay. He was sure that Sonic had the strength to do that kind of damage to him given enough time in the brawl. Wraith slowly climbed his way out of the hole with as much strength that he could muster. Sonic stood in front of him as he got to the top. Sonic grabbed Wraith by the right wrist and pulled him out forcefully. Sonic then tossed his son on his back as he flung him behind himself. Sonic had his back facing a badly beaten Wraith. He did not even care anymore because the kid was so easy to beat.
"You, boy, are an absolutely waste of my time," said Sonic with a taunting tone and also malice and haughtiness. "What were you so sure of before we fought? You really thought you could defeat me? You're just a joke, kid. Look…" He then turned to Wraith who was still lying on the ground suffering. He raised his eyebrows in thought. He then lowered his head in disgust. "I thought you were going to be much stronger than this and actually give me the challenge that I had hoped for." He looked back up at Wraith. "I went through all that trouble to get you riled up with Knuckles's death and this is the thanks I get?"
"Why?" Wraith struggled out as he coughed up a load of saliva that had pooling up due to forgetting how to swallow. He slowly rose from his back and looked up at Sonic. He started to drool out a mixture of the saliva and some new blood. He coughed as he spoke thoughtfully. "Why did you want to fight me again?"
"Isn't it obvious, bucko?" Sonic folded his arms and looked at Wraith like he was some big idiot from band class. "You know I wanted revenge for when you did hurtful stuff to me. I already got half of my revenge on that dumb Echidna with the cowboy hat. Now what I was seeking was for you to be gone."
"But you attacked Empire first."
"And it all started when Knuckles left the Treasue Hunters. He was the first offender in this long line of wrongdoings."
"But you guys are so evil! You should have known Knuckles would have never rejoined after all the things you did!"
"I didn't even care if he would have never rejoined. My duty was just to eradicate any potential horrors that might cause this great organization to be vanquished."
"You're organization is a trashy butt!"
Sonic was highly offended by what Wraith just said. He remembered back in the day when he had had troubles dealing with Lemmings in the base. He had to use important ways to salvage his own understandings of judgment and justice. He had to use a mixture of flowers and a flingmaker to be good at this. Sonic just really hated it when people made allusions to those kinds of haunting ideas. Sonic had several people killed for doing things like that and that's why he has such an infuriating design in his mind. "This organization is a great one, Wraith. You'll never understand because of that thick skull of yours. You're such a brat!"
"I might be a brat, but I will always have the correct and moral code of justice in my heart. I must eliminate your foul behaviors and replacement them with truth and honor!"
Sonic was annoyed by Wraith. He considered kicking him, but he did not go through with it because he was busy. "I need to wrap up this silly ordeal and get back to work!" He ran up to Wraith and grabbed him by the leg. He flung around Wraith in the air and then hurled the kid through the air at high speeds. The speed was crisp enough to shatter hearts. It was a good thing that Wraith had an iron heart or he would have been crushed by the velocity.
Wraith crashed into the wall and was defeated. He was hurt by the impact and then collapsed to the ground with an aching body and soul. He could not believe he let everyone down already. Knuckles would have been so disappointed.
Sonic frowned at the whole situation. This time he was concerned because Wraith barely pulled any threats. The threats he had was useless. Sonic just scoffed at the whole thing and began to walk away. "I'll have some guards stop by to pick you up…" Sonic pulled out a communication device as he advanced away from Wraith. He was about to call up the help he required, but that's when some unexpected occurrences took place. His communicator was shot clean out of his hands by an attack that was so fast for eyes. Sonic watched as the communicator struck the wall and melted into nothingness because of the intensities of heat contained within the spontaneous blast. Sonic spun around on his heel and looked at the new threat.
The new threat was Wraith, and he was looking awfully mad. The anger was expressive through so many ways and feelings. There was anger literally pouring out of his body. He was emitting a dashing glow of aura that coated his body and flowed all throughout his everything. His core was focusing a central emanation flame that exuded from all points on the outside. Wraith was literally on fire with power now. Sonic was as surprised to see this as any person would be. It did not matter if you were big or small or had a nose or toes; Wraith was scary with his newfound powers. Wraith was not aware of his unlocking yet. He just stood there blinded by anger. One of his arms was raised with his right palm facing Sonic. The hand was still letting off light puffs of smoke from the shot that had been launched earlier. The communicator was Wraith's first victim of the anger. This was so powerful because it glowed horrendously. The new powers inside Wraith did make sense when the applications were finished. Wraith growled with his teeth clenched and let off more and more of the deadly aura as time passed.
Sonic fixed his posture after he had completed his momentary stray from reality. He stared at what stood before him now. It was a Hedgehog who had tapped into some sort of hidden strength reserves. The impact he felt was an omen for his destruction, but he refused to let the fear consume him. He was a member of the Treasure Hunters after all so he had to swear allegiance and dispose of an heinous threats. Sonic steadied his pose and got back into his fighting position. He raised the hands in such a way that he was prepared. He let the hand go out front just as before, making sure each finger in his glove was crooked to promote gripping readiness. He positioned the other arm upwards and allowed his hand placement to slightly mirror his other hand's. He crouched lower that before due to the immense pressure that overcame him from Wraith's personality. He grinned something awful though, because now he felt excited that he had finally found a foe well worth his time and effort. "Lousiness no more…" he managed out of from between his teeth."
Wraith released himself from the grasp of the anger and shot the radiant aura out like a microwave that just exploded. He felt like a supernova that just made sense. He still had a lot of aura flowing around him, but it was now more pure and less rigid and primitive than before. He was now totally in control of the powers he had just awoken. He readied his fighting pose as well, doing pretty much exactly what a good kid like him would do before. He was ready to fight again. Albeit the wounds on himself, he was looking as good as new. The colours radiating from him were a cool reddish orange and the flow looked like the top of a jello mold. This meant he was ready for anything. The pain meant nothing and his new shell was looking sick and nasty, but also pleasing, like when you eat too many wheat thins and then look in the mirror.
People would be really scared of Wraith because of his new appearance, but you don't have to worry about that as long as you can read the notes left behind by socks and the like. Wraith's socks were still looking better than ever in most people's opinions. Due to this, you can be proud of Wraith and his life. His treatment of socks were interstellar on so many levels and today was no exception. Wraith had the power of Knuckles on his side and this meant great wonders for the green socks he decided to wear. These socks had power etched into their embroidery. Anyone who thought that he could not be a hero with them was dead wrong. Sonic was no exception. If Sonic did not learn to accept the embracing of good over evil, then there would certainly be no hope for him. Sonic was in a pickle and he did not even know about it yet. The power coursing through Wraith would have been the best hint given, but Sonic was too blinded by evil stupidity to acknowledge.
Wraith kept his eyes keenly on his dad's. He then decided he would be the first to strike this time. Wraith pulled back ever so slightly and then rushed forward with tremendous strength to hit the 'Hog. He launched with such power that Sonic was caught totally off guard and this was enough to send him hurtling back into the same wall that Wraith had cratered earlier. Sonic was met with a lot of pain and some of the metallic splinters pierced his shirt. Sonic hated his shirt for this reason and growled at it. He tore himself from the wall's entrapment because he had to get back to the fight. His shirt tore as he was released from the wall by force of his own will. The shirt was starting to become cumbersome, but this was war so it did not matter to a warrior.
"Gotta play my cards right and get my game on!" announced the gruffness in Sonic's voice. He was feeling pretty ready to continue. He was excited to finally be given a challenge to accept and do, but the pain from the last attack made him worry about future decisions he could make. The threat level was high thanks to Wraith's sudden shift in power. He really had no idea what was going on because this new aura ability was different than the form he saw Wraith take last time. He wondered if even Wraith knew what exactly was going on at the moment of their bout. It was apparently a thing that Wraith had muscles exceeding limits and all sorts of powers at his disposal now.
Wraith had amazing control of his powers though which was weird to a lot of people's perspectives. How did Wraith attain this new strength anyway? It was all mysterious and foreboding, but luckily for Wraith, the answers did not matter too much. All that was important now was destroying the evil organization of the Treasure Hunters. Wraith launched forward again and started beating up Sonic with a flurry of robust punches succeeded each other in power with each consecutive blow. Wraith had the upper hand now and Sonic was getting his blue booty handed to him like a Lucario in For Glory who forgot how to camp. Wraith just had really strong attacks coming out of him. They were all backed by the seemingly infinite energy pouring out from him daily. He was really doing a solid number on both Sonic's body and his self-esteem. The strength was getting intense and varying in degree by ages. Wraith clearly had more power to dish out and Sonic was not in the mood to receive for his own sake of survival.
Sonic managed to break free of the attack with a skilled block. He grabbed both of Wraith's fists with his own two hands and used this off-guard moment to land a headbutt directly to Wraith's gut. Sonic then jumped back from the momentary shock break and then steadied himself from falling because he felt sore from Wraith's barrage. He was mad at Wraith for being so tough and for having great management skills. It was impossible to see how this was factual.
Wraith ducked back to a safer area too. He stood looking at Sonic and he held his guts lightly because the last attack still hurt quite a bit despite his new form. Wraith was kind of surprised to see Sonic so flustered. I guess my new powers are quite the powerhouse to be dishin' n' fishin', dawg, he thought deeply to himself. This observation was clear as the days without clouds. Rainy days and Monday's would never get him down ever again because he had the strength and courage to pursue life's obstacles. His strength had pretty good prowess and his courage had a hankering for justice over fear. This was the perfect combo and it made smiles appear on Wraith's face. He winked at himself because he felt cool and important to his cause.
Sonic did not like the wink Wraith gave himself because he thought it was lacking proper etiquette in battle. He did not like how Wraith had been treating this whole fight like a game because it was not a game and actually supposed to be a threat. Sonic was not scaring Wraith anymore and now Sonic was scared of Wraith. It was really weird to him that he was a dad scared of his own son. He thought about how stupid it was for him to have been improperly assessing this situation. Maybe it had to do with Sonic. It was not about time to lose, so Sonic had to get ready in his mind to sync with his heart soul. Sonic had attention to give this. He thought about his next approach now.
Sonic had a chance to be victorious with his Werehog form, but he promised not to use that. His honor would prevent him from refusing his own orders he had made up. He just decided on a better alternative. Due to Sonic's position as a Treasure Hunter member in position, he was in the position to use powers. He had learned several useful techniques that his position allowed for. Some stuff he did would be very frightening to Wraith.
Wraith saw Sonic was ready to fight again so he charged toward him and used the punching attack he did before. He lunged over and grabbed onto Sonic. He grabbed him by the shoulders from behind with his hands and threw him between his legs like a launcher. He threw Sonic at the wall and the wall was harshly cracked from the impact. Sonic was hit stuck and Wraith dashed toward him to deliver more painful lessons. He launched himself into Sonic's gut with a sick knee and had a lot of world's worth of hurt that critically landed on Sonic. Sonic was in a lot of pain when he received this pain in his gut. He coughed up blood and it landed on the ground and stayed there because it was the floor and it was metal too.
Sonic was badly weakened and Wraith appeared to have a significant ability to win. It was actually pretty amazing that no one expected Wraith to win, including himself. He showed off this ability now because he had some pretty nitro powers that suddenly activated out of seemingly nowhere. He was so proud of himself for being lucky like this. It was a really great day for fortune to have smiled down upon him and liked his profile.
When it came to the time that Sonic felt scared of his own weakness, he finally decided to do it correctly. He broke free from the wall entrapment that he had gotten himself into and decided it was time to prepare. He broke out of the wall because he was trapped before, but not now. Sonic was out of the wall and as he broke out, the wall's extra metal debris went out like that. The little pieces that came out frightened Wraith kind of, so he shielded his face from the scary ones and protected his face from beautification damage. The fact of the matter was that Wraith cared about good looks almost as much as clothing that you wear. He had his priorities listed like this:
5. Pants
4. Gloves
3. Faces
2. Jackets
1. Socks
Those were his top 5 most encouraged things he relied on. He knew without these assets a person has fatality. It really is not hard to be great like Wraith, you just need a careful plan. Strategies are key essentials and it's great to think them up and use them to your advantage, especially when fighting. Some people use them for cooking though, and other things.
Wraith panted as he focused on Sonic's escape. He considered grabbing him again with a quick dash and repeat the same last mechanic because it worked so good last time. Sonic's shirt was really taking a toll and it meant that it would not be around for long so Sonic was in the process of getting to exhausted to continue. It would play into favor if you could do that.
Sonic focused intently on how he was fighting. He thought Wraith would try to get him now, but he did not so it left Sonic slightly confused. Now was not the time for caring about such trivial things though. Sonic had to make a comeback and reduce this brat to ashes before he was taken down himself. He had to make sure everything worked precisely exact. Failure was not an option for the Treasure Hunters and it was already bad enough that he had one losing bout with the Empire that one time. Sonic was frustrated by these thoughts and decided to take matters into his own hands. As stated by himself beforehand, he was not about to go into his Werehog form because he had a strong sense of honest to past observances he had established kindly. He was in the mood for other things though. Sonic had a last resort tactic or two. The other attacks would cost a lot of energy, but he would also have strength to result things. He backflipped a few paces behind himself and stared into Wraith's eyes from afar.
Wraith watched as Sonic got defensive, but wondered if the backing up was just a ploy to get on the offensive for once. Sonic was so offensive that it made Wraith want to cry, but he was really strong when he thought about heroic deeds and sometimes wrestling. He liked fighting because his old teacher Espio did that and taught him too. He was glad those two things synergized so effectively; now he had a purpose in this fight.
"This harmony is not going to waste, Dad…" growled Wraith as he jutted out a finger. His aura flared up to a higher intensity now. Wraith did not notice this about himself, but Sonic did.
Sonic was panting from exhaustion already and could not afford new threats from Wraith. He quickly bent down in a fighter stance and tucked his hands to his side into a butterfly-like shape. I've had enough of my son! he thought with fire. He focused his remaining energy into the hands of his. The hand started glowing a deadly blue energy. Sonic would now launch his new offensive strike and this was something Wraith saw but was unaware of to an extent. Sonic growled to himself as he charged up his blast. "CHAO… MAY… HAO… MAY…" The blast started glowing brighter as Sonic started shouting out random syllables.
Wraith blinked when he got confused about his sight. He wondered just how strikeful the next attack from Sonic would be. The projection appeared bleak for his soul, but healthy for Sonic. He knew this was a threat worth attention and Sonic looked scary when the mixture was cooking. Sonic had to be doing something chaotic within his palms. It was probably just like the attack Kit had used. Wraith had to get the details from that Tortoise before it was too late. They were all about to end up like Knuckles if Sonic won between the two of them.
Sonic winced in pain as he poured so much more energy into his blast. He then jutted his hands out forward to in front of himself and roared. "HAAAAAAAA!" The energy swirling in Sonic's palms stopped spiraling and converted into a single beam of pure chaos. The shot extended and flew straight toward Wraith. Wraith had almost no time to react, but he was still able to get out of the way in time. The blast was so impactful that it pierced into the reactor and created a huge hole. The impact was so great that it caused the four bombs around the reactor to blow up on the spot. The detonation effect was so catastrophic at this point. Damage to the reactor on this floor was beyond belief. Wraith saw the damage was heinous and jumped off the floor's thick bridge to the more bottom one just to escape the explosion. Sonic was freaked out when he saw that he had missed. But he was also concerned about another issue. The reactor was breaking into pieces now. The machine used very precious energy that had been built up and contained. Now that the energy was free, chaos abounded from all angles. Sonic was so mad at how unclear he was with himself. He really did not expect Wraith to be able to have dodged his lightning-fast attack. Now since he had no time to react, the blast had destroyed the reactor and a lot of bad stuff was about to transpire. It was a very scary and a bad time for everyone on the top floor of this floor because now it meant that no one would be able escape in time. Sonic braced himself from the impact of the blast he had triggered within the reactor, but was immediately blown away by the force and energy retaliated. There was a lot to consider now because Sonic was badly defeated by his own self.
Wraith fell down to the floor below him and fell asleep mid-flight because the battle had exhausted him. He was caught though by a hero and this was good because it was not a bad guy that had caught him. It was Ken the Echidna, the one that Wraith trusted the most out of all of his companions from Empire. "Ken…" he said weakly. "How did you know to save my sorry bum bum flingy dooker baby honey hotcakes, yo?"
"I knew because I heard the most disturbing ruckus going on right above my head," replied Ken as he slowly lowered his bud to the ground. "I took a jaunty look 'round the area for safety and then saw you drop. I caught you then afterwards."
"Didn't you run into peril? I heard some guards caught you!"
"I busted them good with my strong skills and now they've all run home to their mums. Now we can do better."
"Did you plant the charges?"
"I forgot how to do it, so I only did one on each side of the reactor."
"That's okay becaue that's the same way I wanted to do it."
"Cool! Now you're playing with power!"
"Just make sure that we tell the others to ask them. It's good when teams have certainty in teir communication. I'm just glad my fight is done?"
"I can see you had a fight because you are badly beaten up and you have no jacket."
"Dartmouth…" Wraith silently wailed to himself. He was really despising the fact that his jacket went missing because it was a literal part of him in his life. After all, he had his list of priorities listed as so:
5. Pants
4. Gloves
3. Faces
2. Jackets
1. Socks
Any threat to that list was pretty unwelcome. He and Sonic may have had a battle that resulted in a stalemate, but that meant nothing due to the jacket loss. Sonic had won the battle in that case. This frustrated Wraith immensely and he wanted to cry and tear something valuable like a necklace. He decided against the violence though because he had morals that named his position better than other people's. He flexed a little bit to get the stiffness out of his joints. Apparently he was aching a lot more than he thought.
"My aura…" he said suddenly.
"What's up, doc?" asked Ken with his curiosity intact and thought with abundance.
"Oh…" Wraith considered for a second before speaking. He had just noticed that his orange and red glow had disappeared and was no longer a part of his haunting appearance. He now just looked like a normal Wraith the Hedgehog, save for his jacket. His hair was pretty messed up too and Wraith believed he may have lost a few several locks in the blast capturing too. Sonic's blast was no joke, but it was a good thing that hair was not on Wraith's top 5 list (it might have been on the top 10, though and this was slightly a bit concerning in regards to his personality). "This is no skin off my nose…" He turned to Ken and smiled greatly. He decided against telling Ken about his new ability because he thought it was the wrong time to let his friends worry about him. He thought that when they all returned to their base back at Empire, then he would ask Dr. Eggman for his opinion. He did not like Eggman, but it was a risk worth taking because the guy knew a lot of things about Hedgepires and maybe this was an extension of those types of Hedgehogs. He thought long and deep about this and then he sighed with contempt about his dad winning the fight. He then looked back up at Ken and kind of sighed some, but it was barely noticeable. "Let's keep moving then. The top floor is destroyed due to the lunacy that is my dad's muscular mishaps. We should get back into hiding and sneak our way down to meet up with Kit and Enoch."
"That is a well-informed plan, Wraith. We'll try that so we can be good at it."
"Well, you're right about that." The two then ran off into the shadows in order to disguise themselves. Obviously, everyone in the base knew they had been here, but that did not excuse the idea to be sneaky. It was very protective to think this way. Wraith and Ken hid out for a long while to make sure no more bad things transpired in the meantime. It was only a matter of time before the mission was over and would be declared a success, but it also meant that they had to be twice as careful now or face the casualties resulting from being sloppy with work and espionage.
Wraith really hoped that he would one day be reunited with his jacket though. He just knew his dad was probably keeping it as a crude trophy somewhere. Wraith would do anything in his power to get his righteous threads back because it reminded him of the Empire and the Empire reminded him of his best friend Knuckles.
... … … … … …
The scene was at the floor that was second to the bottom. This floor was located between the bottommost one and the one that Wraith and Ken were now hiding out inside. Kit was on this specified location. He felt really special to own the opportunity in being here. It was a matter of pride and looking at things that you saw recently, and Kit had both of them. He was a Tortoise after all.
Kit was sneaking around the area and planting the charges like a G. He knew how to do it well because he was the oldest member of the team. He had seen this type of action in the past and he had a knack for doing it. He could see deep inside himself when it came to opportunities. It was only a matter of time before Kit would have had broken deep into respectable confines in order to deal the most damage to the enemy. The base of the enemy might have been big, but Kit was an attractive Tortoise with cool shoes. They were like boots, but he was well respected by the elite attitude they preserved. This is where the fun begins.
Kit walked and turned around, he saw a bomb he had already planted and it was puzzling. "I already have this one in my hand…" said Kit to himself in a questioning way with opposition towards reality. "However, I see that I have already planted here in this area one. I need to plant one more, but it seems that the way I have distributed the guys has been foiled by circumstance."
Kit felt like he was about to cry because he had failed to place bombs accordingly. Now his friends would call him names and refuse him the right to watch cool shows on the telly after midnight. Wraith would shake his head in disapproval because he was Knuckles's very best friend and had a very high self-esteem that rivaled hockey players'. Ken would probably laugh at him and call him an old man even though Ken actually knew his true age. Enoch would also be the kind of person to disagree with Kit's resilience because of his frail validity. Not much could be said about the other people at Empire, but they would probably hate Kit for forgetting how to count to four. It was so basic of a principle that even you would want to kick Kit in the face for his injustice. Kit was almost as much of a terrible person as Dr. Eggman was and Dr. Eggman was still pretty trustworthy this week. It seemed as though Kit would never live this down and would have to rely on his heart evermore.
Kit had a few ideas though because he was smart. He was old, but not as old as dirt. He could use his thoughts to proceed. Eventually he would get fixing. He turned to the bomb he placed and pulled it off safely. He ran back with his stealth mission to the next two areas and repeated the process. He was ecstatic thanks to his brain thoughts. He smiled at how good he was. He smiled deep inside too and thought about his basic powers. He smiled.
Kit had four bombs once again which was three more than he had before. "I could have sworn that I plugged one of these in on each side." said the guy. "That means…" Kit gasped. "I needed to put them better on! This reactor area is shaped like a triangle because a triangle has only three sides." He frowned because he hated the thought. "How do I distribute four bombs evenly on a three-sided figure, man?" He felt the crying in his eyes start to reboot and this was despicable to his heart again. He had one tear drop from his face and flow down his cheek. It landed on the ground and then he felt really, really sad. The fear of symmetric doings was a bad sign of courage. It meant that Kit rushed his duty. Duty-rushing was a common thing that impatient and not artistic people did and it made Kit bad inside to feel that way about himself. He quickly turned to the bombs in his hands and thought long and hard about his position.
A lightbulb went off in his head all of a sudden. He knew the solution and it was even better than he thought. "I will just break each bomb into three pieces each!" He quickly karate chopped each of the four bombs into a total of twelve separate pieces. He made sure to break them with accordance to logical science so that they all still worked well. He then stuffed all of the bombs into his pockets. "I can now place four bomb pieces on each side of the three walls. Through this mathematical endeavour, I can be flawless." He smiled at this thought. Boy, he sure was glad he did not have to cry about his stupidity anymore. Now he could watch a lot of late night programming and not be considered old by crooked standards. It was really bad that people developed those stereotypes for old people, but he blamed telemarketers who called a lot for creating said stereotypes. It's really obvious when you think about it because telemarketers do that too much. It should not be that way, especially for cool guys like Kit the Tortoise.
Kit made his stealth go up again and he continued a rapid ascent to do the right thing. He did what he just told himself to do and this felt great. It is always a great feeling to perfectly study and predict ordeal solutions. Sometimes people cannot do that. These kinds of situations made Kit sad to think about. He only wanted the best for people. That is why he so strongly looked up to Wraith. Wraith was a very great kid and taught him so much about life and muscles. Fights are strong and sometimes you have to be that strong.
Kit was so excited as he planted all the bombs. Each time he did, he made the coolest sounds. He was really surprised by his impact today. It was no wonder that he was selected for this team after all. Little did he know that some issues were about to take his life by storm. Like when you flip a coin and it comes up heads instead of tails, the problems were amounting in chance increments…
A shadowy figure was watching Kit the whole time during the bomb chopping and was following him with evil gazes at the strategy. Running with the Tortoise, but keeping in the shadows stealthily was this individual's strategy. You could not even believe just how deadly this appeared. I bet Kit would be scared if he knew about it all. Some people are scared of situations like these and it causes hearts to drop rapidly.
Soon after the final bomb placement, Kit turned and smiled at the wall. Tortoise or not, he certainly was an Empire extraordinaire. Unless Kit was not a guy to be messed with, of course…
"Pungent job, Mr. Turtle…" said a voice from behind Kit. It was an intense feeling in the air. During a time like this, it would drive you crazy to see it all. Kit spun around and offered his eyes to observe the sudden occurrence. This approach had him worried. Had he really just been spotted.
"Who goes there, man?" Kit asked with immense steez emanating from his core. He had those to pay back.
The shadowy figure emerged from his hiding spot and smiled as he approached the center of the room. He had been silently lurking in the back and nobody had even seen him, not even the guards that Kit had gracefully sneaked past with his strength.
"Who are you, man?" said Kit as he got defensive for his safety. The newcomer looked like a scarier version of the guards because he looked nothing like them. He wore clothes that reflected much higher ranks. This was a scary thought to Kit. "You heard me. State who you are and then tell me what you want to do today."
"I know who you are!" laughed the newcomer. "You're that punk Turtle from the enemy place. Your name is Kit, is it not?"
"My name is so Kit. But I still don't know your identity and it is giving me a bad feeling about you. Who are you? And why are you here?"
"My name is to be discussed…" The newcomer stepped forward yet again. No Kit could make out a lot more of the features that were harder to see before to him. He now knew this guy because of the looks. The newcomer was a tall and wide figure of the avian race. He had a bright yellow beak and a sickly assortment of grey-shaded plumage. The eyes he had were really tiny and blue. He had dark black rings around them and also red rings around the black rings. It was so frightening to see such a huge behemoth of a guy. This was alarming and also scary to folks who have gigantasophobia.
The guy wore tiny golden sunglasses on top of his head and it masked the forehead. It was mysterious to see his face so clear, but it also looked so evil and unworthy of hugs. The baddie had some really tough looking arms that were muscular and looked good for wrestling. He wore a black leather jacket with cutoff sleeves. This lack exposed his solid biceps and made you wonder just what this guy did for a work out. He had a black tank top that was made of a luscious cotton fiber and seemed to stretch at the seams. His legs were pretty short, but he still wore pants. The pants were black leather as well and were tight in order to conceal part of the tops of his jet black socks.
It was undeniable that the guy's shoes were probably the most important part of his getup. They were a greyish color that matched the plumage on the tips of his pronged hair. They were white in a specific area the wrapped around the top of the heel and ended midway down the foot. Locking these two white details together was a golden strap, most likely used to buckle the pair together. Lastly, the soles were a bright grey that matched the dominant plumage, but they were not worn so the entire set must have just been purchased (or stolen) recently.
The last item that the newcomer was accessorized with was a pair of golden chains plated with quartz fragments that adorned his neck. The item looked valuable and probably had a silent history that meant harsh reality to trigger. It was enough to Kit though, because the sight of the appearance made him understand the newcomer's position.
"You're an elite member, I assume…" said Kit to his watcher who revealed himself out into existence.
"You assume correct, little man," snidely remarked the newcomer. "I am the most muscular and definitely most explosive member of the organization we refer to as the 'Treasure Hunters'. My name is Storm. Storm the Albatross. Tonight you die…"
"I can't die because I am the guy, man…" said Kit's tone.
Storm was taken aback by how tough Kit was sounded, but he disregarded the madness because he simply did not care what was of the moment. It was obvious to him that Kit was just a big talker because Tortoises do that quite frequently in his experiences. It meant not a thing to him or anyone else. He would make this guy go crying home to his mum. It did not even matter if he was beating up an old guy who might not even have the mother. This was because Storm was a pretty heartless fiend and it meant a lot to see others suffer in cruel ways. Storm was a renowned jerk for this exact ideology. It makes justice thinkers sick to hear about people like this. Kit was a thinker of justice so he fit that category better than a cheese mold in a container.
Kit walked forward with his fists in power. He wanted to scare away Storm with his might, but it did not seem like the Treasure Hunter bird brain would be having it. It was a scary thought to think about and some people would cry about it. Kit would not cry though because he had warrior friends who depended on him. Plus, if he disappointed Wraith, then the coward feeling he had would be appalling to everyone. Disappointing Wraith was not an option. Wraith was really, really cool and had strong strength. Foul despisers were not the way to go when you think about it. Wraith was just the one.
"I told you that death was gonna happen and now it will, chump," Storm laughed gutturally. The large belly he had shook with the strength that he had stored within and it was scary and maybe sacred.
Kit did not care who the Albatross thought he was because Kit had power. These powers were exclusive in a sense. That meant that Kit could win, but he needed good strategies to back up his process. The process would be difficult to associate with himself, but he would indeed find a way to win the day. He stepped forward with one foot and his boot grazed the metallic floor like a knife scooping up steel butter. It made a sifting noise like sand at the beach or quarry. He bent his knee slightly to provide his fighter stance more lineage. It meant a lot to him to stand properly and execute his strong feelings properly. It meant that you had to feel every part of body feel the power. Kit had a sacred power that could be felt by many and it was tough to counter. However, he had never met this Treasure Hunter and now it was time to figure out the solution to quelling such a massive undertaking.
"Do you oppose me? I would have promised that I'd let your undoing be swift and merciful, but now you have caught me in a funky mood," Storm oozed as he took a snooty glance at the Tortoise and then flexed into his own fighting pose. He took one large step forward that almost shook the ground like an earthquake hitting a subway with fire in it. Storm then flung his arms back and flexed them around to get warmed up before the fight. It was a good thing to have those types of work-out habits even if you were a bad guy. He then thrusted his arms downward and brought his fists upward to near his face. He was standing like a pugilist, but was not covering his face with the fists with his smart yellow gloves because he was so assured of himself and the victorious depths of his heart. He smiled keenly at Kit and Kit felt the smugness pierce his sole like an arrow from Cupid, but only if Cupid was a demon sent by the hunky fire-headed guy from Hercules.
Storm looked so terrifying in that stance and Kit remarked to himself that it probably won Storm a bunch of ladies due to the hotness he emitted. Storm was certainly the ladies' man everyone wished they were. Even Wraith might not hold a candle to just how attractive Storm was. The only thing that separated the two was beak versus lima bean. The muzzle that Wraith had was probably easier to kiss and Storm's beak was probably pointier and could accidentally poke out eyes faster than a stag's antler.
It made that sickness pool up in Kit's heart because he hated evil so much. His mother and sister were killed because of it and it made him so mad to have heard Storm say that he would run home crying to her even though she was quite dead. He knew Storm was just being a metaphor user, but this still grinded Kit's gears better than people did. He growled on the inside and felt parts of his insides flow with dark energy. He calmly refocused this energy and then returned to his structural focus. His body was less tensed now and this made it so that the red energy flowed into better areas within. He repositioned himself to work alongside the stance he procured with his foot jutted out initially. He moved one arm forward in front of his face for strength and one arm slightly behind it to make sure if he ever had to punch twice in succession. He stood up straight, but kneeled forward just a tad, so that the he could walk forward with correct procedures. He bounced a little bit instead of standing completely still. He had to show off to Storm that he meant business and that he was a natural born fighter. The movement also aided Kit in feeling good about allowing his energy to flow vicariously through his system. He could be careless, but he was too good for that. Kit did wish he was wearing a bandana, a white gi, a black belt, and arm braces though. He also wished he was barefoot and not wearing gloves, but he heard that this was a rule not to do because it scared people, especially if you are in the Archie comics. Some say that's why they got destroyed in the cancellation, but I personally blame Jughead.
The antics that came across the nation felt like steaming piles of hatred being disembogued by both sources in the area. It was always about Treasure Hunter versus Empire in terms of their members. Kit wished he was just having a friendly spar with Wraith, but this was impossible because Wraith was not a friend, but more so a respected boss that Kit and everyone else owed their life to. Kit thought hard about nominating Kit to be the new leader of Empire when they all got back, but they would first have to survive the place here. The kindness of his heart and the goodness in his sock thread would probably win the whole election though. Wraith was a really good kid after all. Kit really trusted in hope.
Storm let out a snaky laugh and it made Kit shiver at the evil it was coated with. Kit felt like hurting someone good; that's how evil Storm's aura was feeling to Kit's senses. Kit wanted so badly to just end this guy and get on with securing the whole mission. It was seriously driving him absolutely batty. This was a problem. Kit really trusted in hope.
Storm grinned harder and let out another dark laugh from deep within and it made Kit sick with hatred. Kit wanted desperately to sock him square in the bottom beak jaw. Doing so would bring utter destruction to anyone. Unfortunately, Kit had no idea just how tough Storm was. The guy looked so burly and resilient that maybe that was not a fact in terms of beating up. Kit just had to hope and find a good way out of this all. Kit really trusted in hope.
Storm just watched Kit's dumb stance and kept on laughing inside and letting the poison drip out of his eyes. It was a scary sight to see just how much evil was coursing through his avian veins. This meant that like a laser beam, his eye was on Kit. The baddie just had a lot and would not even hesitate. He would rule the night away and would never save the day. He was not a hero. He was a villain. Kit was a hero though. Kit really trusted in hope.
"It's about time you stop being a guy who does evil, man…" said Kit with patience in his heart. "You should stop acting so threatening and bad and maybe I can go easy on you."
Storm stood up straight in shock and them scoffed at Kit. "You buttface!" he remarked with an icy uncoolness. "You think you're the hot salsa of this joint, guy? You can't beat this solid mass of unmeasurable death and destruction. I'm the king of the Treasure Hunter's in terms of my brutality and muscle. You think you can just take all this down like the poster of a band that you used to like, but then decided that you disliked it after ten years?"
"I'm Kit the Tortoise, man… I think you should know a lot about that since I am going to be the one to take all that brutality and muscle down. I'm the one who believes in those kinds of things due to the fact that I really trust in hope."
"Hope! SCHMOPE! You're a dope! I'mma kick you 'til you wail!" Storm flexed in his perfection and smiled hotly at Kit. "Prepare to eat your words, Hope Boy, my Homeboy!"
It was quicker that a flash of lightning though. Storm suddenly felt all of the power coursing through his bottom jaw. He was apparently levitating. No, it was different… He was being lifted off of his feet in actuality. And he was feeling all of the source in the blast he had just been met with. He Storm felt himself get lifted higher and higher off of the ground. The force that was lifting him was none other than a fist, clenched tightly right below his bottom beak jaw. The power coursing through that fist led up into his beak and Storm could feel every ounce of the pressure pain him in unimaginable ways. Now was the comeback that no one would have ever suspected in eons. The fist that had landed a successful, concussive jab on Storm belonged to Kit the Tortoise. Kit was continuously lifted Storm higher and higher each nanosecond with the power of his punch.
"TOOOOORYUKEN!" belched out Kit as he attacked. He had named his fist attack and this was meaningful to him. Kit really trusted in hope.
Storm was carried high and the blood was coming out of his beak like a fountain that had no pool for coins to get caught inside. The attack was so strong, that it nearly knocked him out hard and out cold for good. But this was not enough to defeat the vile fiend because Storm still had breath inside of himself. He was launched high up and lifted off from the top of the Tortoise's fist. The grandiose punishment was enough stress to bring into the intake engine. This meant that Storm was far off now. The upwards jab was enough to send the guy spiraling up and down like a cartoon. He coughed and winced at the apex of his ascent and then slowly descended with a roar. He hit the ground hard like a rock with social pressure. He fell and it hurt a lot of him. The end was not here though because Storm had the back up in terms of his bulkiness. He was a great figure of his organization, of course. Now Storm could not be dead so easily. Killing him meant killing a lot of things to proceed, like a Zelda dungeon with the Darknuts in many places.
Kit the Tortoise had jumped up slightly to complete his ravaging Toryuken. Now he had to land on the ground and he did. His boots quietly squeaked an easygoing steadiness. It was a threatening sound to behold and you could already tell that Storm was getting ever so salty about his encounter.
Storm arose and dusted himself off. He spat to his side to remove the blood mingling with the saliva that was being produced within his oral glands. Storm readjusted the glasses still atop his head. He was relieved to find that they felt undamaged. The only thing that mattered other than his allegiance was his style, so it was pretty cool that he was in good health in at least one of those aspects. He smiled a muddy grin at his opponent and laughed slightly gutturally. "Well, Turtle Man…" he barked in a dark tone made for evil expressions. "You almost had my life on the line. However, you now don't deserve me to look down upon you like some sort of child. You are much tougher than I initially gave you credit for. The next thing I wanna do is clobber you're cranium like a true baddie. You can't deny my power. I can carry you even harder upwards thanks to my bigger muscles."
"I'm waiting for your first strike, man," said Kit eagerly. He kept bouncing side to side in his fighting pose. He needed to make sure he had the strength and cognition if he ever hoped to eliminate his stress. "It all started when I was here. I have a duty to my people and so do you. The only difference separating us is the fact that you are a bad person who wants violence. I'm going to keep continuing my trust in hope. It's beneficial." Kit really trusted in hope.
"Why do we trust, Kit?" snarled the wide Albatross deeply. "You cannot hope to garner any headway from such a fake stunt. Do what you must in the thought of muscle respect, but you will never tamper with my steez."
"This is for my life…" Kit readied himself and exhaled a great deal. He knew he had to beat this guy for the hope he concerned with himself. Being Kit was his job and it meant sensible things.
"Have at you, Kit." Storm then got into his own pose where he crossed his arms across the ulna and radius range. He started to get veiny when he flexed the good stuff.
Kit remarked internally about how good-looking the biceps on Storm were. He felt sorry that the hot wings had to be sacrificed on him. He felt that Storm would have gotten so many girlfriends in high school if he had been a better person. But the truth was that Storm might have been teamed up with the villains for other reasons that he could not figure out with his mind. The terrapin family did not seem to have close connections with thinking about birds, so this explained a lot about Kit's thoughts. He felt bad that Storm was a bad guy because Storm was really attractive despite being a big muscle-bound lummox.
"WROOOOOOOARRRGGGH!" roared the mighty opponent Kit faced. Now that Storm was overly veiny, the power in his muscles could be seen flowing through his innards. It looked like the pipeline of a neon sign. However, instead of the neon lights displaying the word "open", the coursing sheen formed a three-dimensional bird of prey. The figure was bulky and threatening. Kit felt threatened and scared. He knew Storm was a fierce opponent, but this was getting to be quite over the top. The powers in Storm were shining brightly for all to see like a firework that got stuck in a pickle jar.
"RAH! RAH! ROOOAGH!" Storm continued his high intensity wailing like a master of rage. He flexed harder and more veins started popping up all over him. The veins kept on glowing like a chimpanzee that had a mighty need to drop his fling off at the great white round one. Kit could feel so much muscle strength being emitted; it almost felt like a creepy toenail getting stuck in the carpet.
"RAH! RAH! GROOOOOO!" Storm let out more bursts of anguish and theory. He looked surprisingly buffer than ever. Kit could not believe the muscles on this guy. Storm was getting more and more impressive while the strong radiance within him looked all the more deadly. Storm looked like he himself was a part of the bursting committee. He could kill himself with the strength emitted. Kit was starting to get very concerned about both his health and for Storm's.
"RAH! GOOOOOOO! RARAGH!" screamed the depths of Storm's might. Storm had a lot of power inside and it looked like he was about to explode. Kit was not in the mood to get covered in Albatross guts, so this was a headache for him. It was good enough to be a clean Turtle, but a dirty Tortoise was a massacre on his social status. He would have tainted socks from the intestines that flew out of feathered freak. The fleshy innards would coat his good looks like a train that got derailed due to coal loss. It meant more than anything to Kit that Storm ceased his harshness now.
"RAH! RAH! RAARARGH!" Storm continued his wailing insanity and the power coursed from even deeper within, like a fateful knight meeting King Arthur. Now was the time to get worried about your socks, Kit. But Kit did not rely on his sights because the guy he was fighting was obviously crazy.
"RAH! RAH! RAH! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The cries from the deep depths within finally stopped their profuse radiation and a new threat was at hand. "I'M FINISHED!" cried out Storm with the gruffest lines he ever mustered in recent years. "It's time you met your maker, Kit!" He flexed once more and positioned himself into a stylized battle pose. He was glowing a bright red and the veins all over him were pulsating like mad. It was making Kit scared in his tummy.
"I see you got tougher…" said Kit. He was scared, but he had strong power too. They were both glowing their own aura, but it was easy to tell that Storm's aura was much more erratic. It was bigger and had hot sensation to it. The power was vibrant and chaotic compared to Kit's. Kit had different aura though; it was red just like Storm's, but it had a piercing kindness attribute to it. It was easy to tell who had the good powers and who used theirs for evil and unrighteous occurences.
Storm growled and sneered like a bad person would. He was positioned in such a demeaning way to Kit. Storm had one step toward Kit and one leg back. He looked like was caught mid-sprint, but he was ready to advance at any given second. The effects of his bent knees were heinous. He was a tall and thick brute, but he also had impressive things inside his bulk. The veins an down the top of his head and down his arms. The impressive muscular biceps were raised in a threatening manner, towering over Storm like he was spooking young children who still believed in the bogeyman. It certainly scared Kit. Kit just had to look harder and see the fury that emanated from the Albatross's core.
"You can't beat me," said Storm with a despicable tone of honor toward the Treasure Hunters. He was really assured in his mind about himself. It was kind of scary just how mighty this veined brute was when he got the aura kicking in his body.
Kit was sweating a lot because his emotions were out of whack. Seeing Storm made him want to cry tears for fears. He thought long and hard about how he should approach the situation. Storm is bulky and has great form with his flow. I can't get too close or he'll catch me and hurt me, thought Kit's head. He knew what he had to do: defeat Storm. But how?
Storm laughed at how scared the Tortoise opponent was. This was a perfect time to whup him into oblivion. He ran up to Kit at high speeds and delivered a terrifying punch to his face. Kit was knocked into a wall by the punch. The punch that was Storm's went far though. Storm traveled with his punch so that while he punched, he went to the wall too. His fist was in Kit's face and Kit's face was buried in the wall at the same time. Storm smiled wickedly at his handiwork and prepared his next fist to do more hateful stuff to Kit's face.
"Heh…" Kit smirked out. Storm was stunned momentarily by this remark. "You have power in each punch, but you're not a good fighter for obvious reasons."
Storm got mad at what he heard. He then punched Kit in the face a second time with the other fist he had prepared. This fist dug Kit's dumb reptilian face deeper into the wall. He snarled and then growled with gruff, rasp, and a sore throat from all the screaming he had let out earlier. "How's that smart mouth of yours now, dork? I just mashed your whole skull so that it was slim enough to shimmy into a toaster. You're a Strudel Man now!" Storm then gasped when he felt something touch his back like a needle. He spun around to see Kit. Kit had a badly injured face, but the smile was not gone from it. Kit seemed pretty assured of himself now.
"That's Kit the Strudel Man, man…" said Kit in his lazy way. It was so iconic.
"You?" Storm was exasperated like a Camel without water. "You should be dead! I hit you with such radiant energy. I'm like a good person when I hit people!"
"Yeah, but you're really slow when you attack, so I could dodge like a better person."
"You dodged my second punch?"
"Yeah, it was really easy to evaluate your entire fighting style from that one sliding punch you dealt me."
"My ENTIRE fighting style? You are pulling my leg, son!"
"Nah… You see, I'm Kit the Tortoise. We Tortoises are, like, really, really intelligent because we take time to slow down and get easygoing with procedures. I was able to analyze your entire fighting composition from the first hit because you weren't patient enough to analyze me."
"What difference does any of that make? I have so much immense power that it drives folks mad!"
"But you made the mistake of completely relying on that immense strength. Watch here…" Kit bent forward and squatted while his aura flared up with an even brighter intensity than Storm's. "You see, I'm a multitasker. I can actual manage both my mind and body, man." He then launched himself at Storm's gut with a rapidly rotating, helicopter-like kick that tore through the avian like a windmill with knives. He slammed into Storm so hard that there was a lot of broken ribs sounding from the interior of his gut. Storm wailed in absolute horror as Kit reduced him to scrap. "TORTSUMAKI SOMEPOUNDCAKE!"
"OH NO!" screamed Storm as the blading kick struck his gut like very bad needles and saws. He felt so hurt by the impact that not even his abdominal muscles could protect his vital organs. The kick carried Storm high and flung him into the sky and down to the ground with a mighty thud. Storm tried to rise, but the hit had left so much aching mass within his entire body, that it was impossible for him to go any further. He wailed quietly with loose growls peeking out from his beak like a scared ghost who forgot it was not Halloween yet. "KIT!"
"That's my name, man…" said Kit slyly as he landed back on the ground in a stylish and composed manner. It meant a lot to him to hear his name roared by a fallen foe. It reassured him that he had definitely taught the oaf a grand lesson. "How's that floor taste?"
Storm growled even harder, but each time he tried to get angrier, his gut would pain terribly more and more. This increasing pain was too much for Storm to handle. He knew his insides were torn savagely and the internal bleeding he was now experiencing was definitely much more catastrophic than the pool of blood he lay in after leaking it out of the recesses of the scraping winds' targets. His jacket was shredded and the leather dug into his feathers with discomfort. He felt his veins still as his aura flared. It was beginning to hurt a lot, like when the dentist pulls the wrong tooth or accidentally steps on your toe. Storm hurt that bad, and it was no wonder bad guys are such dweebs.
"Pretty good, I see," Kit contemplated. "I should get going now since that reactor is set to blow. Good bye, thanks for the battle. May it serve you as a proper learning experience, Storm."
As Kit was about to leave, he heard Storm call out to him in a low and annoyed voice. "Wait…" the broken built Albatross let out. "I'm sick of not knowing… How did you overpower me? I had so much strength, and I even bashed your skull so good. How did you manage to withstand that and follow up with such a strong retaliation stunt?"
"It's 'cause I'm not like you. I don't overexert my power and show up my biceps like a good-looking person does at the gym. You see, I know how to control my temper and the inner mechanisms that allow each of my power gates to flow nicely. I can move all of my power all over my body in short bursts instead of flushing them out like a careless bodybuilder. When you struck me, all the protection and defense went into my head. Then when you needed to receive my Tortsumaki Somepoundcake, I focused all the power into my right foot and part of the lower leg. Then I was able to give you the most extreme of heightened blows from the toes. See? If you want to beat your opponent, then you have to know your opponent. That's why I was able to dispose of your flailing so easily and why you had no chance of beating me."
"Well, that's just stupid. I'm the Treasure Hunters' best when it comes to using strength in the muscle category. How can you, a puny Turtle, overpower all that mass with a single switch in gears?"
"It takes patience, man. That and also dedication. I've been through a lot over the years, man. That's why I've been able to develop myself into this kind of warrior."
"You're all talk, Kit! We both know that's not the truth. How did you get so strong, for real?"
"It's just as I said, Storm. Try a hand at my training regime for a couple of years and see where it gets you. Then after that, I'll gladly dispose of you again, because I know you'll never learn, man…" With that, Kit walked off into the shadows in order to regroup with his fellow Empire cohorts. Storm beat the ground with a fist in anger. He was so emotional now because he was humiliated by a dumb old hippie.
… … … … … …
It was the lowest levels and the darkness was there. Areas like this had darkness because light was a scarce recommendation. Most of the time, you would not even believe your eyes to see a single firefly. It was that dark. It was so dark, that a ninja might even have trouble seeing properly. He would probably crash and interrupt social matters. It's bad to assume those kinds of things because you do not want the ninjas to be hurt in the process. That is why you buy lightbulbs in the first place.
Down below on this level was one more guy. It was Enoch the Snake. He was slightly cyborg because of his body. As a Snake, he had no use for hands and feet or the limbs they were attached to. However, Enoch needed them for his strong thought. He was infiltrating for mission purposes and needed a competent body to perform alongside his competent mind. It was a good thing that this body was good-looking. It made Enoch feel like a winner when he had cool outfits to exemplify his courage. He did not care if the bad guys found his attire bulky and too science fiction orientated; they would just have to get with the times and stop being sorry saps.
Enoch was on a mission just like his other three fellow Empire members. He had to plant four bombs inside the area around the reactor. This reactor was big, so it required the team to split up. With Wraith as the wise leader, it was suggested to get things done in quarters. Enoch had total control to be in charge and do his part to get things done on the lowest level possible. This part was the first part that the four saw upon their entrance into the reactor's room. Here would be Enoch's busy working. He was selected to do the bottommost level because his body was most suitable for this kind of environment. It made sense because you could think of Enoch as the gang's tank character. The other three guys were sick with their agility and ability to have legs. The way these members could make their way around was one that you probably would not see a Snake partake in unless they had no robot body. Enoch had a robot body, so he had to forgive himself for being the most useless.
I obviously made Wraith sick to his stomach to see how stupidly useless Enoch was. It also did not help very much that Enoch accidentally said the head honcho's name incorrectly. It was so offensive to do those kinds of things to your boss, especially Wraith. Wraith had every right to feel this way and get all defensive. Wraith had gotten a little violent too, but that was also excusable because Wraith was Knuckles's best friend and Knuckles would have wanted it that way. Enoch liked Knuckles and thought of him as a pretty cool dude. It made sense that he respected the fallen Echidna's hopes for the future generations. It was cool to be friendly, so Enoch made a vow to obey Wraith for this mission's time being applied. Afterward, he did not want to hang out with Wraith any longer though. He thought Wraith was kind of a brat and was kind of impetuous and silly. It was okay to think this way because Enoch was kind of a bad team member who thought too highly of himself in the first place. Perhaps removing himself was the best thing for the team. I mean, Enoch should just destroy his robot suit and fall in a volcano since he is such a poor team player. He should have been more like Kit or Ken; at least they looked up to Wraith without rebuttal.
Enoch exhaled a deep and dark sigh stained with courage and painted from head to toe with aggravated cries of inner demons. Enoch thought to himself about his robot body and imagined life with arms and legs. He thought it would be stupid though because then he would have to either wear shoes and gloves or routinely clip his finger and toenails. The thought of clippers scared Enoch's heart. He hated them ever since his first dentist appointment where the doctor found a cavity in his rightmost fang. It was heartbreaking to see the doctor pull with the big pliers and uproot the infection. Pliers are like big brother toenail clippers, so you have to be careful.
"Hot Stuff" was a name Enoch liked to call himself, but he had a hard time getting the ladies to fall in love with him because he was a Snake, and all the girls he knew were deathly terrified of such species. It sure was cool that he thought he was hot though. But Wraith would probably tell him he was not later and he should because Wraith is always right about all of life's fundamentals. Wraith was just a really, really, really good kid who had proper morals and a healthy mindset that even rivaled the world's smartest monk. Kit even said once that all the schools in the world should update their curriculum to include Wraithology as a mandatory component of education. Enoch just had to get with the times if he ever was to disagree with these obvious truths.
But there were some things that Enoch liked about Wraith, like his hair. Enoch could not very much figure out sock psychology like the others, but he did agree that Wraith had the best looking ones out of anyone he had ever seen. Enoch wondered if the reason Wraith disliked him so much was because Enoch was unable to wear socks himself. It is okay to hate someone who does not dress with socks professionally; Wraith said so.
Enoch did a good job when he was working around the reactor. Unlike Kit's (mentioned previously), Enoch's portion of the reactor was shaped like a square. Due to the fact that squares have four sides, Enoch was able to quickly and efficiently deduce the best way to place the bombs on the unit. It looked neater to disperse them that way. It would also allow the explosion to be more epic and confounding. When the whole machine blew, Enoch and the others would be outside and ready to examine their handiwork like true people.
He stepped away from the last bomb he planted and smiled widely. He felt like a cucumber because he had a coolness resonating from within. He was cold-blooded like all normal Snakes, but he did have a different feeling that was harder to describe. It kind of felt like the icy greatness that adorned his sampling when he showed the spoon to Wraith the other night. It certainly is a good thing he did that or else Wraith would have killed him by accident when he was angry earlier. Wraith was a good kid though; Enoch just slightly disliked him for his sassy brattiness. But Wraith was an attractive guy, so Wraith would probably lose battles against him. Wraith would get a lot of girls while the mechanical Snake would get none.
Suddenly a bullet flew right past Enoch's head and struck the reactor and made a sharp dent in the metal of the reactor. It scared Enoch half to death and he quickly spun around to see who had just fired at him. Right in front of him was someone that he had never seen before. He was even more scared now because the guy was fearsome. Enoch's eyes widened when he saw the oppose step forward with ultimate power emanating from the depths within him.
The figure, once veiled by the shadows, had now made himself known in all facets of his encroaching atmospheric pressure. The newcomer was kind of on the short side, but the scanners in Enoch's suit told him that he was packing some serious power deep within. When the new villain had finally stepped forward completely, his whole appearance was finally all well known.
He was short, as mentioned prior, but he certainly had a lot of distinguishing features coating him. He had a dark metallic shell covering his entire body, but his eyes and mouth was left exposed. His head was a sphere adorned by a silver emblem starting at his forehead and wrapping around the back. The sphere had two large horns extending from each side. Overall, the head looked most like a Totino's Stuffed Croissant, but it was black and moldy. He wore a black jacket made of leather that gleamed in the small traces of light emitted from the background. He wore a black shirt with matching black pants. Red boots poked through the bottoms of the pant legs and noticeably bulked them up from within. Lastly, the gloves were there. The gloves were white and looked like they meant business. That was because the gloves were carrying a large rifle. It was over a meter long and had a shiny black finish. It was still emitting smoke from one end. Enoch assumed that that device was where the instigating round had just been fired from. The newcomer frowned at Enoch and blinked his greenish-yellow eyes in disapproval of the intruder.
"So you're the one causing all the ruckus down here?" said the baddie. "The Treasure Hunters received word that at least three of you had broken in and started nothing but trouble. Sonic was able to eradicate the threat on level D to a… satisfying extent… Storm was sent to take care of a much older-looking foe on level B. And then there's you. What even are you?"
Enoch gulped and readied himself into a strong-looking pose fit for his strength. "My name is Enoch the Snake, Head Weapons Expert of Empire," he said with a furious inward cry of silence. "And you are?"
The newcomer groaned and cocked his gun. "My name? Nobody knows my name. They never care enough to ask. They never care enough to remember when they actually do… What's such knowledge to you, bub?"
"I understand that we are about to engage in mortal kombat. The least we can do is exchange friend codes such that the fight is an honorable ado."
"Fine, you want to make this a formal experience? Okay, I'll entertain. The name's Bokkun. I'm what you'd call the Treasure Hunter's best when it comes to tech. The big old reactor you're trying to take down with you, that's my baby. I built that for the organization. It's going to take a lot more than four bombs on each level to tear this badboy apart."
"Wait… how did you know about the bombs?"
"There are eyes watching everywhere in this base, Enoch. You could say we all knew you were coming to do so before any of you accursed Empire scum even showed up to this shack."
Enoch was feeling discouraged inside. He badly wanted to say "Dartmouth" in anger, but he knew that Wraith would probably kill him if he ever heard about it. Instead Enoch just said "Oh no".
"'Oh no' is the correct choice of words. I'm going to defeat you very badly."
It hurt the inside of Enoch's soul to hear these threats. He prepared to get agile with the upcoming attacks at him. He really needed to rely on being a good one at this type of movement. If he did not move with the correct amount of physicality, he would be shot by a bullet and could end up dead. It would also be bad if the bullets Bokkun used hit his robot parts and knock out the screws. It would be bad to be limping in a state such as that. Bokkun sure was one scary opponent for the Snake Bot. Enoch had to be good with his directional influence and not end up like Nairo at Evo 2017. Enoch focused on hope, but he did not know how to really trust in it like others did. He just had to trust in himself and believe in cool powers.
Bokkun launched several bullets from his rifle in rapid succession. They shot out like explosive bits of popcorn inside microwaves. The silvery steel projectiles neared Enoch like tyrants, but he was able to dodge each and every one of the shots. It was a good thing too since Bokkun's bullet's deeply impacted the wall behind him. Enoch noticed the wall was the reactor. "If you hit the reactor with those guns, you could be bad to the whole machine!" Enoch exclaimed with regretful concern in his voice. It almost felt like a jellyfish to Bokkun.
Bokkun sighed and gave up on the whole deal. "I don't care, homes," he said with barely any energy behind it. Bokkun seemed like a bored guy at a pirate movie. What was Bokkun up to and why did he care so little about his 'baby'? Enoch felt the riddle plague his mind harder and harder with each shot Bokkun continuously did.
Enoch was afraid of getting hit, but he was glad that his upgrades in his robot suit were swifter than expected. He was having a hard time keeping up, but the dodging sequences were almost too easy for him. Bokkun was a good shot, but he still could not get the bullets to keep up with this slippery cyborg.
"You're good," said Bokkun. "You give my brilliant rifle a hard time t catching you. And here I thought Sonic was the only guy good enough to outspeed my coordinated assaults."
More bullets were shot at Enoch. Each hit was dodged and the bullets just ended up burying themselves into the reactor or walls. Enoch had some good speed going, but he knew that in order to get rid of the Treasure Hunter, he would have to get on the offensive. Getting on the offensive meant that Enoch would have to get up close and personal with his foe. While Enoch was a superb melee fighter, he still was in no position to get all up in Bokkun's face. Bokkun was tougher than tough and that was obvious to anyone. He was also pretty good-looking. Enoch was mad because Bokkun probably got a lot of ladies to fall head over heels for him. Enoch was not good at that though because he was a robot hybrid. He then got confused though because Bokkun was a robot too. I wonder what type of fruit punch robots have to drink in order to get really hot… Enoch wondered to himself. He considered asking Bokkun for dating advice, but then he remembered that Bokkun was a bad person who did gun things. Sadly, Enoch went back to dodging with cool fury and blistering prowess. It was obvious to him now that despite the hunk effect emanating from deep within, Bokkun was pure evil to the core. The jacket said everything. Even though Enoch could not see the socks underneath the boots and pants, he was still very sure of himself that Bokkun had disrespectful apparel abounding that area. His socks were probably black with tainted evil stains. He wondered if Bokkun filled his socks with nails and thumbtacks. Evil people are known to do that so it would make sense that Bokkun followed suit down to a T. That T that was followed down to was probably evil too and stood for scary bad things like "Terrible" and "Tush-kicking". It was a deep matter to Enoch to know Bokkun was bad. He wished Bokkun was good though, because he strongly desired that dating advice.
Bokkun kept on shooting more and more rounds like a firework with octopus arms. It was amazing to Enoch that Bokkun had kept on the shooting for the whole time they began fighting. Not once did Bokkun stop to reload his rifle. It was weird that Bokkun did this, but maybe it meant something drastic. He decided to himself that the gun would never run out due to some sort of magic Bokkun had (probably from his Treasure Hunter powers). Enoch ran up really fast between the weaving he did for evasion's sake and delivered a quick unexpected kick at Bokkun. Bokkun expected the unexpected like a green duck in a typewriter. He dodged the kick and then stuffed the butt of his rifle in Enoch's face. The attack made Enoch go flying backwards due to the impactful energy that Bokkun had backing up the wallop.
Enoch felt really hurt and almost felt like pouring tears out from his eyes to compensate for his emotions. Bokkun was not just a bad guy, but he was also mean to people. These kinds of things are pretty unexcusable in society. Bokkun needed to be taught a proper lesson right there and then. Enoch got back up off his back and faced Bokkun with an angry face. Bokkun flipped his gun around like a cool dude with attitude. He then positioned it to face the angry face of Enoch. He pulled the trigger and launched another harmful ball of steel at his opponent. Enoch had little time to react and got pretty freaked out by the reaction time that Bokkun kept on displaying fervently. Enoch dodged the bullet, but then went back to running away on his defensive phase of the strategy so that he could cook up a new way to take on the situation. He thought for sure that Bokkun was able to be defeated by a swift melee attack like a kick or a punch. However, it was now apparent that the power was in Bokkun at all times. He was not just a Treasure Hunter for nothing. Bokkun was not even the kind of useless fodder they had to deal with upon first breaking into the joint. Bokkun was on an entirely different level that Enoch was totally unaware of at the time. Plus he was really attractive!
"You are a tough one, you know that?" remarked Enoch. "I'm having a really tough time stopping you." Enoch was panting a lot now. He continued to dash away through his evasion as Bokkun pelted the battle zone with more and more deadly projectiles.
"I know I'm tough. It's the way Sammy wanted me to always be…" replied Bokkun with a slight tremble.
Enoch's battle gear caught wind of the slight tremble. Enoch used this slip-up as his one and only chance. He quickly dashed away from view and caught Bokkun off guard. He landed behind Bokkun and was able to connect a hit. The kick he sent out was strong enough jolt Bokkun into a defensive motion. He quickly got his grip back to his rifle and faced Enoch. The two met with a rapid smack session. Enoch threw out as many punches and kicks that he could muster. Bokkun blocked all the hits and tried returning his own melee assault by using the length of the gun as a baton. He smashed through Enoch, but Enoch was just as resilient. The two kept on smacking each other like metallic madness for what seemed like hours. It was getting really heated between the two mechanical beings. Each hit caused sparks to fly off in every direction. The sparks were making hotness fill the air. Both of the fighters were sweating profusely from the heat that they were generating. It was weird to Enoch to see a complete robot sweating, but he had no time for stupid things like that to worry about. He returned to getting gritty with his attacks.
Things were going somewhat well and Bokkun and Enoch seemed like they were on equal footing now. Enoch was starting to get a stronger feel for Bokkuns combat style. He would be able to convert this information garnered into his robot suit's CPU. It allowed him to think much more professionally about what things he had to deal with. Bokkun was a tough foe, but Enoch was learning the ins and outs of the techniques he used. Pretty soon Enoch would be able to deliver the finishing attack.
All of a sudden Bokkun halted his advance and actually took one of Enoch's blows directly to the face. Bokkun did not even flinch though. The blow was superbly impactful, of course. It was a clear perspective due to the apparent looks of how the air felt so fiery and the sparks were shimmering like blue bolts of lightning in every direction. However, Bokkun took the solid smash from Enoch's right jab straight to the face and he did not even flinch a tad. Enoch was so surprised to see this sudden burst of confident durability from Bokkun. Earlier, one of Enoch's much weaker kicks was strong enough to knock the Treasure Hunter away substantially. Why was it that Bokkun now had no knockback when facing an even stronger chop?
"You're attacks can't match mine, Enoch," said Bokkun. "I can tank whatever you throw at me now. I've learned to see right through your offense and defense."
Enoch withdrew his fist from Bokkun's face and brought it back up to his face and readied himself into a more defensive battle stance. He had no idea what Bokkun was on about, nor did he have a clue as what to expect as of the next move. He did not know how to attack such a guy with such a spontaneous ability to tank powerful hits over time.
Bokkun was pretty much unlike any foe Enoch had ever laid eyes upon. The guy had a tremendous knack for being suspicious and stealthy of his powers. This Treasure Hunter had bad powers that were used for evil intents and purposes. Such a way to live is uncommon for goodness. The best thing to do now was to defeat Bokkun with a strong sense of impact. Enoch did not know where his own strength would come from though. This was because the last attack was so crushingly strong, but it somehow amounted to nothing. He knew there was still one thing left to try. He had to scan the enemy for weak points and figure out how the defense mechanism worked on Bokkun's resilience. It was a scary thought to consider. It might even be an impossible feat to overcome by halftime.
Bokkun had so much going for him. He had looks and talent. All he needed was a full head of hair. It was not like any pencil drawings of those would be fluttering into the base through an open window or anything. It was unlikely due to their location. There were no windows in this area. Enoch could only imagine the hair strutting atop Bokkun's head. It would be hard to picture, but Enoch assumed it would be black and extremely shiny. If Bokkun was to toss his hair back after a tussle, then electric guitar greatness would be vibrating through the air like a tuning fork in a circus. But due to the fact that Bokkun was at a loss for hair and the like, Enoch would just have to envision the musical riffs playing alongside Bokkun's horn-like ears. This was a threat to Enoch, but he just had to at least believe in himself and try like a champion who was up and coming.
Enoch was trying his scan like he was playing a virtual card game with Tom, Kaz, Peyton, and Sarah. It was pretty neat that he had a scanner in the first place. The powerful object that was a part of his arsenal could look deep into the things he saw. He wore a helmet that had the eyepiece connected to it. The eyepiece recorded the seen through the eye with great focus. It then ran down a cord located along the back of Enoch's robot armour suit. It was a special cord because it hooked into a thing that modified the data into neural impulses. The part that was a real stinker was where the modifier was located. It was an irritable brick located near the lumbar region of the suit. The modifier brick had needles in it that had long ago been injected through the back of Enoch's actual snake body. Here was where the device became a literal extension of his whole. Enoch's snaky insides were attacked by the needle, but only in the best way for goodness. You see, the needles were plugged into a good spot in Enoch's spinal cord. He could move freely with the injections so he did not have to worry about moving wrong and affecting the placements of his vertebral discs. He was a snake, so his body was naturally accustomed to moving around in an essing manner. He would not screw up his nervous system and conduct some sort of horrible paralysis because he was already so good at moving through his serpentine upbringing. It made a lot of people proud to see Enoch in the suit, because fusing his nervous system with the robotics meant that he could utilize the limbs and look like a normal bipedal creature. He was just like the Crocodiles and Lizards in terms of being a reptilian now. It brought tears to Enoch when he thought about how useful the body was now to him. He was definitely glad to have it now.
The data he captured through his visual enhancements was sent down the cord, into the modifier, and straight to his brain. In his brain he learned a lot of stuff that would make identifying things all the more satisfying. It was much easier now to get a good and sophisticated glimpsed at what made the opponent before him tick.
Bokkun was a full-blown machine. He seemed important to the Treasure Hunters because he was a lot more reserved that what would originally be pictured in terms of Sonic The Hedgehog. The guy was a lot more intelligent-looking. He was superbly attractive. The lad even had a weapon to back his already mind-numbing armour (whatever it was to be made of). Enoch did his best to download the meat of the situation and detect a weakness that could be held against Bokkun.
Surprisingly, Bokkun just stood there and took all that was coming at him. It was surprising to Enoch because he thought that Bokkun would surely get up close and do bad things with his rifle. There appeared to be no limit to Bokkun's bullets, so it was weird that he would just stop firing like a madman with no further agenda. The truth was to be that Bokkun had to have some sort of hidden agenda. Bokkun looked shrimpy and unsatisfying, but the truth to Enoch told him that Bokkun was in no way a pushover. It seemed impossible to beat the guy due to the surprise Bokkun had last since incurred. Bokkun must have had a weakness though since everyone in the world did. However, fear was starting to weigh on Enoch's heart as no good readings were proving to be beneficial toward his mission's success. Enoch just did not understand why or how Bokkun did not have any weaknesses. The power in the guy was just too terrifying to behold the more Enoch dug deeper and deeper like a scuba diver with a coral reef shovel.
"Oh, the humanity…" Enoch mumbled to himself in disdain. "I cannot find a reason to strike you."
"That's because you are lacking any sort of ability to do so," remarked Bokkun with a bored expression on his face. The words he spoke were an icy cool, like blue jays eating too many mints before midnight. "If you really want to beat me, then you should just give up. I clearly have the upper hand here."
"I know you indeed have a most prevalent force in your grasp, but I just have to trust that you can be felled."
"If you believe anything that you say, then you would have tried attacking again by now. It's obvious to me that you have searched and searched, but have come across no data which can be of any use to you."
Enoch gasped as he heard these words that Bokkun just said. "You say that I searched?"
"And you searched and you searched…"
Enoch gasped again when he heard Bokkun say this phrase. His mind raced to piece together some truths about this saying. He had so very much heard the cues before. He knew something big was at the tip of his forked tongue. He could feel one tip feeding him words Bokkun had just dished out. It was like a log flume that continued to serve a delectable treat. However, the other tip of Enoch's tongue was like a real tongue. This one was stealing all the taste from the first tip such that the rest of Enoch's digestive tract never received the proof in the pudding. Enoch was so scared that he could not remember the right things that he knew he needed to know. It was so obvious to him, but he was having so much trouble remembering all that was true.
Bokkun watched as Enoch collapsed to his robot knees and fell forward to the ground, his hands supporting the burden newly imposed on him. Enoch was going through an epiphany of sorts, but Bokkun was not interested in such petty revelations. The Snake was starting to become an absolute bore to him. It was about time that he ended the stupidity that had reared its ugly head into their battle. Bokkun held up his rifle and cocked it once. He lowered the barrel to face his foe. Enoch was in no position to get up and move so hitting the target dead center would be an effortless endeavour. "Time to tuck you in and kiss you 'good night', buster…" said Bokkun in an eerie and frightening voice. The acid dripped over his grit like a tadpole with its tail chopped off. Bokkun slowly pulled the trigger back and blasted a single shot at Enoch. Enoch was as good as dead at this point. It seemed fruitless to go on due to the big, stupid misunderstanding.
But Enoch had the feeling in his heart. He might have been a machine, but he was also a regular old ordinary Snake underneath his cool and collected exterior. The armour meant nothing compared to the truth lying in the depths of a sacred heart. Enoch was the kind of guy who had a great attitude, a great love for justice, and an affinity for taking out disrespectful lawbreakers. It meant a lot to him that Bokkun be brought to justice. He knew this is what Knuckles, the grand fallen one, would have strived for amongst the loving hearts of his living colleagues. It was up to folks like Wraith, Ken, Kit, and even Enoch to carry out the love Knuckles had kept hidden in his dead dreadlocks. All Enoch had to do was search and search and search and…
"And I climbed up a wall…" said Enoch with a burning passion. Bokkun took a step back in a stumbling motion when he heard the powerful sayings escape the Snake cyborg's fang-coated mouth. "And then I started to fly…" Enoch suddenly glowed a bright crimson that struck a terrifying display of affection. Large tongues of this chaotic energy emerged from his back and formed together in the shape of a pair of majestic shining wings.
Bokkun could not believe his eyes as he saw the magnificent spectacle dart out from the depths of his opponent's final hidden reserves. "Why wings?" he said in a horrified and interested way that felt like a mixture between an electric shock and a brain freeze. It seemed like Bokkun took too deep of a slurp from his grand icy smoothie and was met with too many electrolytes to handle. Enoch was getting to be a protein in the eyes of a nutritionist skilled in decoding and relaying metaphors. "This Snake looks like a scary beast now with his wings."
I think anyone could agree that a snake with wings would be anyone's worst nightmare, even if you yourself were a Snake. Snake's were dangerous, especially the badboy known as Enoch. Enoch was already loaded to the brim with a disturbing arsenal of compact weapons and tools for trapping. Now was the time for people to scream at the horror abundant from a single glance. Enoch had awakened his true form, and the form newly entailed the ability to convert oneself into a living, breathing military aircraft.
"My dear Aran…" said Bokkun under his breath in a near-silent manner. He winced as the energy escaping Enoch grew brighter and brighter by the second. "I will not be able to combat this mighty strength. Forgive me, my love…" Bokkun was a scared person now. It looked like Enoch had finally come to terms with a suitable means of dishing out the finishers.
Enoch inhaled a deep breath and then released a highly chaotic maelstrom of a cry to impact his presence as an element all his own. "BOKKUN!" he cried inside and out. "I am your solid avenger from the Empire. I shall proceed to eradicate your evildoing! Everyone who follows your tainted guild will be restained by the glory of justice!" Enoch could sense his robotic components exert themselves past the 100 percent mark. He had a chance now to reclaim order; his power was now an overflowing river of pure retaliation. Everything he could do now was like a dream event. It was time to seal the deal on the fight he was having between his opponent and himself. It was ideally an unhealthy predicament to dwell on. Now he would defeat the evil from the first uprooting. He knew Bokkun was not the true boss, but more like a mini-boss from Zelda. He had to at least lend a solid portion of his united love for justice to the expedition. He knew deep down that all the great members of Empire would act like this in this way. It made Enoch smile inside his heart and soul about his heroic acts despite not being able to smile with his face due to the intensity he was experiences at all directions from the exterior basis of the large issue.
Enoch charged so fast at Bokkun, that Bokkun had practically no time to block the impending doom. Bokkun still managed to raise his rifle to get a little bit of the painful edge off, but it barely amounted to any form of damage-reduction. The charge Enoch had delivered was a spiral of the bright chaotic energy, shining brightly like a freshly-polished trumpet. The aura shone a piercing red that numbed the mind exponentially. It was enough for Bokkun to take in in the first place. It was getting hotly ridiculous by now. Bokkun had laced his stunning headfirst assault with a rupturing punch. The punch penetrated Bokkun's defenses, past the rifle's initial weak blockage and then tearing right through Bokkun's mysterious secondary defense system. Bokkun was completely blown back and the drilling energy spike from the darting Snake caused a deadly rush of force to blast him straight into the wall of the reactor. The impact was so great it disrupted one of the bombs attached to the reactor and the shock factor became horrifically intensified instantly.
"Blimy!" cried Bokkun as he felt the painful experience coursing throughout his entire being. It felt like Enoch had exploded like a missile into him and made a horrid burst of deadly energy consume his dark soul. Bokkun was in the middle of the biggest pains he ever felt, both physically and mentally. He felt tears stream down his face as the bombs detonated one by one around him. He was so sad that the end for him had to result like this. "I should have been a good person like Knuckles…" Bokkun slowly murmured these words and closed his eyes in preparation for his final moments. He truly wished for a redemption of sorts for his renewed visions of life. But it was just too late…
Suddenly, a shining hand reached into the explosion and snagged Bokkun by the collar of his black leather jacket. "You have my pity!" cried Enoch from amidst the flames. He was the owner of the hand and he was able to toss Bokkun right from out of the deathtrap and into a safer area. The explosion eventually let off its final bursts of pure atrocity, leaving fires and dust to cake the area with a new décor.
Bokkun was propped against the wall, observing the sorry remains of his once-divine invention smolder gradually into nothingness. The ashes reminded his of his dark heart, but he could not feel the darkness within him anymore. Things were different now that he had seen such a new life granted by a genie named Enoch.
Bokkun noticed that he was badly beaten and in no shape to get up and get back to swinging at Enoch like a reckless tangerine. He had no weapon, he had failed to upkeep the pristine status of his prized mechanism, and on top of all that, Enoch was still burning bright from what he could make out. Bokkun was superbly weakened, but Enoch looked like he was just getting started.
But some little detail still puzzled the Treasure Hunter. "Why did you decide to save me after all that chaos?" he said with a confused and irking tone. "I thought our fight would end up an honourable one. I kill you or you kill me. I say, what actually gives?"
"I couldn't have you killed by the explosion, Bokkun," said Enoch, facing the blazing residue of the battle. His back faced Bokkun with ire still disguised amongst his personality. He was standing upon his two robotic feet, wings still exended, silently flapping around in a slow motion without grim intentions or flight hopes. "I had to save a guy like you because… I know a guy. Well, I knew a guy… He was a good friend of mine. I don't care what any spoiled rotten brats say. Knuckles loved everyone equally and hated seeing folks brought down without a chance to redeem themselves later on in life. Knuckles taught me a lot about this type of honour code and I'm not going to just shun it or act like a bigshot who eats toaster strudels with peanut butter spread in between each tart like a sandwich. It goes deeper when you think about life and the thriving thrill a battle can cause your soul to anticipate. I saved you because despite your heinous alignment, I could never bear the thought of your death from an otherwise avoidable situation." He cocked his head slightly and turned it toward Bokkun with a reassuring glance of pride. "Knuckles was a Treasure Hunter who learned how to be a good person over time. You can do it too. I believe in each and every one of you trapped in the mess of a cult."
Bokkun sighed deeply and took the grand words belonging to his foe to heart. "I appreciate the offer, but whereas Knuckles could change, it will be much, much harder for the rest of us aligned with the Treasure Hunters. The rabbit hole goes so much deeper than you could ever fathom, Enoch. I applaud you for you code of honour, but be wary that despite the kind and compelling philosophy Knuckles leads, it is a foolish way to live. Not everyone wants to be your friend. You seem like the kind of guy who will find this out the hardway, just as Knuckles did. Watch your back, Enoch. Because the next time the two of us cross paths, there will be no escape."
"I entrust your words and desire the best for you. Dwell a tad on my response to you. I know it may be foolish to fight for your enemies, rather than against them, but hope is a big part of what brings true peace together in the first place."
"You needn't worry about my hopes for the future. My plans are far too extravagant for emotions to tamper with. Execution of my goals is too vital of a cause for me to have. Please, do as I say and keep that guard of yours up."
"Ten-four."
