Chapter 3 – The Tension Rises
Third Person's POV, 28/01 (at 1pm)
It was still night time and the two wolf brothers slept peacefully.
Eventually.
Belt struggled to have a good sleep. He kept tossing and turning causing his blankets to fall off. There was this dream he always had and it would never go away. But it was more than just a dream. It was a flashback…
11 years ago…
Coming from the back door, a robot smashed through. It had a round grey body with two red eyes, a dark grey visor, black arms and black legs, and the hands were blasters. None of the wolves knew where the robot came from.
"Belt! Get behind me!"
Belt went behind his parents, fearing the robot in front of them. It started to move forward.
"What are we going to do?" whimpered Belt.
"Clay is still in his room," said Booth. "We need to get him!"
"I'll distract the robot," said Dory. "You'll get Clay."
Dory looked at the little wolf. "Belt, hide behind the sofa!"
Belt did what his mother told him. As Belt quickly hid, Dory went on the left. She called the robot and caught its attention, arming herself with an ax.
"Eyes on me here!" she said.
Booth sneaked on the right and headed upstairs. But the robot acted quickly.
It shot a beam of a laser in front of the blue wolf, causing him to fall down the stairs. Dory threw her axe, but the robot just shot it, breaking it into pieces.
The robot pointed its hands at the parents. Left was Dory and right was Booth. It was about to shoot before Belt quickly revealed his hiding place.
"STOP!" he cried.
But then, Belt accidentally made a mint-green ball of energy and it zoomed towards the robot. But it missed and instead hit the oven.
KABOOM!
"NO!" yelled Belt as he quickly woke up from his dream.
He looked around his room. Even though he couldn't see without his glasses, he could tell that it was just another dream.
Putting on his glasses, Belt saw clearly was the picture of his parents on a desk. Slowly, he got out of bed and came close to the picture. He held it up and looked at it for a while.
Tears slowly came down from his face and he felt more upset.
Eventually, he lost it.
Letting out a howl of agony and pain, he pushed the books of his shelves. He then LITERALLY tore the entire bookshelf down letting its wooden planks crashed onto the floor.
He then proceeded to destroy almost everything in his room, not caring if he was making any noise.
When it looked like it was almost time to stop, he grabbed the picture of his parents and threw it outside the house. It landed on the floor with the glass cracking a bit.
Looking at his rings that ALWAYS stayed on his wrists, he desperately tried to take them off, but they wouldn't budge.
Tired and filled with anxiety, he collapsed and started to cry. He couldn't move on. He would always be haunted by those sad memories of his late parents.
It ALWAYS come back to him.
Looking from the window, he saw the large full moon; giving him the urge to howl.
Feeling as if he needed to let the pain out, he decided to go outside to a clearing that was far away from the treehouse to not disturb Clay.
He quickly changed into his outdoor clothes and went outside.
Clay's POV
SMASH!
I woke up to hear a loud smashing noise. I wasn't sure what was going on. Refusing to go out of my room, I listened very carefully. I have a good sense of smell and hearing since I am a wolf.
The first thing I heard was Belt. He was roaring in anger.
This was then followed by glass smashing. I was shocked to hear what was going on in Belt's room.
Smash.
Roar.
Crash.
Shatter.
Scratch.
More crashing.
Finally, it was silent.
Then, all I heard was Belt crying. I was thinking to go see him, but I stayed in my spot.
It was silence for a few minutes until I heard Belt's footsteps and then a door opened.
That was followed by the door hatch opening.
Throwing my blankets, I looked out of the window and saw Belt sadly walking away from the tree-house. At first, I thought he was going to the town he usually got our supplies from, but he was going in the opposite direction.
On the other side of our tree-house was a tall hill with a dirt track. Belt started to walk upwards before disappearing on top of that hill.
"Typical," I thought. "That would be where Belt take me to a clearing to howl at the moon. Something must be wrong with him."
I looked up to see the moon. Not going to lie; seeing it almost made me want to howl.
I put on my headphones, necklace, my vest, my pants and shoes. As I grabbed my gloves, I looked at my rings. I have been wearing them for a long time ever since when I was little and I never take them off. That is because they can NEVER come off and always be stuck on my hands for an unknown reason. Before, Belt refused to talk about them and the only thing I knew about them was that I could place my gloves underneath them and the rings would go on them as if they could expand in size quickly.
I went outside the tree-house and started to follow Belt's trail. However, I stopped in my tracks when I found something rectangular lying on the ground.
I picked it up.
It was a photo of our parents.
For some reason, I started to think that our parents must be related to Belt's problem.
And if their disappearance was the reason, then that meant…
"I need to get some answers now," I thought.
Placing the photo in my vest pocket, I continued on, but when I reached to the top of the hill, something collided into me.
The two of us tumbled down the hill before making a stop. When we got up, I found out it was Belt. He was panting so hard like he was running the whole way back here.
Belt gave me a look. "What are you doing outside here?!"
"What are YOU doing outside wandering off?" I said back.
Before Belt could say another word…
BOOM!
A missile exploded, hitting the ground a few metres away from us.
Both of us looked up. On the top of the hill were two robots. Both had a round grey body with two red eyes, a dark grey visor, black arms and black legs, and the hands were blasters.
And oh, they were taller than us.
"Oh bloody hell," I said.
"Get inside!" said Belt.
I didn't need encouragement. Both of us quickly climbed up to the treehouse with the robots following us. One of them started to climb up and opened the door hatch.
"GO AWAY!" I said, banging my foot onto the door hatch, closing it shut.
Belt pushed the TV table and put it over the door hatch. That way, they would never get in.
But we were still in trouble.
The robots continued to try to break through the entrance. That wasn't good because the door hatch was only made out of wood and it was breakable. So was the TV Table.
"Where do they come from?" I asked to Belt.
"I think they might come from the Eggman Empire," said Belt.
I was shocked. "Why the heck do they want with us?"
"I don't know," said Belt. "But we have to go right now! Get anything essential and we'll find a way to get out of this place!"
I ran into my room and grabbed my backpack. Along with the picture, I stuffed some clothes and objects into my bag until it couldn't carry any more things. I was ready to go when I remembered about the headset glasses I ordered yesterday. I quickly ran to my desk and opened the drawer. Founding it untouched, I grabbed them and placed them in my bag.
I met with Belt who was staring at the TV desk. We already blocked the door hatch so there was no other way to get out.
"How do we get out?" I asked.
All of a sudden, a large beam of laser shot through the house, leaving a big hole near the door hatch and the wall.
"Whoa!" I said. "That was close."
"Go through there!" said Belt. "It's our only way out."
I ran towards the hole, but quickly stopped. It was a long way down. Without thinking twice, I jumped and landed on the ground hardly. Belt jumped next. With him taking my hand, we ran into the forest, pursued by the two robots.
"Where do we go now?" I yelled.
"Just keep on running!" Belt said.
We were dashing in the forest, stepping over bushes, plants and broken branches. The robots were behind us and they were fast.
Finally, one of the robots shot out something and it hit Belt.
KATWAP!
It was a fish net and it covered all over Belt. He was glued to the ground, unable to get out of the net.
"Clay!" called Belt.
I quickly went to him and was about to cut the net. But I looked up and saw the robots. They were coming in close.
At this, the question came to mind; do I save Belt or myself?
"Don't just stand there!" said Belt. "Run!"
"But Belt…" I said.
"Just go," said Belt. "Run and hide somewhere safe! You got to go!"
"But…"
I looked up. The robots were coming close. A mixture of nervousness and confusion pained my head.
Shaking my head, I cowardly ran away.
I had forgotten about Belt.
I wasn't sure where I was going and only running in one direction. There weren't any good places to hide.
One of the robots was coming towards me, but it was far away.
RUMBLE!
I heard thunder. Rain was going to come down soon. And there I saw it. There was a big cave which could be the perfect hiding spot. Just before the robot went through the tall bushes, I quickly jumped into the cave and hid behind a wall.
It was dark inside but I have night vision; I can see in the dark. Smelling and hearing the robot scanning the place, I was worried it might catch me in a second. I held my breath hoping for the robot to go away. It was looking around the place.
Finally, it gave up and turned back, disappearing behind the bushes. At the same moment, rain began to pour down.
I looked outside and saw little pellets of water dripping on the ground making mud and puddles.
I realized that I left Belt. He would be taken by those robots. They might do something to him.
The memory of seeing him in that net overwhelmed me.
"Don't just stand there!" said Belt. "Run!"
"But Belt…" I said.
"Just go," said Belt. "Run and hide somewhere safe! You got to go!"
"But…"
I looked up. The robots were coming close. A mixture of nervousness and confusion pained my head. Shaking my head, I cowardly ran away. I had forgotten about Belt.
It was my fault.
ALL my fault.
I was RESPONSIBLE for that.
Even if he was eager to sacrifice himself, it wasn't worth him being killed.
Feeling sad and guilty about Belt, I started to shed tears. Uncontrollably, I collapsed on my knees and wept.
"Belt…" I cried through tears. "Belt…I'm so sorry…now…I'm not going to see him again…"
For the past 14 years, I had been together with him and at that moment…he was gone.
I was thinking of trying to save him, but I was no match for those robots. They would already took Belt away if I tried to catch up with them.
I looked outside through my teary eyes. Rain continued to pour down heavily and there was no way I was going outside.
Feeling that I had no choice, I decided to take some rest in the cave until morning arrived. I found an empty cave room that might hide me away from being seen.
I put my backpack on the floor using it as a pillow and lied down on the floor. I closed my eyes which were still wet from tears.
"Why…why is this going on?" I though, continuing to cry. "What is going on today?"
I continued to cry until all my energy was wasted.
Before I knew it, I fell into a deep sleep.
Bubblegum's POV, Forest Tournament Town (at 6 pm)
"Oh shoot!" I screamed. "We're late!"
Grabbing onto Emerald's ears, I ran out of the restaurant we were at and made our way to the tournament stadium.
We were late for a team meeting. And our leader wasn't going to be happy.
We quickly arrived at one of the cafes and I opened the door.
"Oh holy crab," I thought. "I hope that Tom's not-"
"BETH LEHEM!" screamed a black cat, suddenly appeared in front of my face. "EMERALD STONE! YOU ARE 5 MINUTES LATE!"
I took a good look at Tom; he is a black cat with two tufts of fur poking from the sides of his head and wore purple goggles, purple eye contacts, a yellow hoodie with purple stripes, white gloves with purple flames printed on them and yellow sneakers.
"Don't be so harsh on them, Tom," said Fuchsia's voice. "You KNOW that they won't be able to arrive soon."
Tom slightly calmed down and stood up. I looked behind him; I was glad to see Fuchsia and two other members.
One of them was Cassie Daisy; a yellow female wolf with amber eyes and wore a sky blue sleeveless jacket, sky blue gloves with purple pen printed on it, black shorts and blue shoes.
Another was Xander Matcha; a jaded pink male bear with teal eyes and wore a teal sleeveless hoodie (the hood on his head with his ears popping out from the hood), a teal left leather glove, a gold right leather glove, a large dark purple belt, black pants with pink lightning stripes and black shoes with yellow tongues.
I sighed in relief and gave Emerald a look. "We would be here by 6 'o clock IF you didn't order dessert."
"But I finished all my broccoli!" protested Emerald.
I rolled my eyes as we joined their team, Tom started to speak.
"OK, Blazers. This is the semi-finals and we are against the Death Shockers. If we want to beat them, we have to do this challenge without making a flaw. Xander, you're on the pod area. Cassie, you're on the speed running area. I am on the wall climb. Emerald, you're on the monkey bars. Bubblegum, you're on the last one; the swinging vines. However, there is a twist. Some of the pods, ledges, bars and vines may fall off unexpectedly, so keep all your SENSES open."
Tom then looked at me. "Bubblegum. Mecha is doing the same area as you are, so be careful. The places are already set so there is no going back."
I nodded. "I'll make sure that I'll break his beak."
"Don't worry too much," said Cassie kindly. "This is the first time we reached the semi-finals. It should be fine."
"No," said Tom. "I'm done with Mecha's crap to us. This is serious and I want to get to the finals, so we shouldn't keep our guard down."
"So?" said Xander with a blank look. "We only just win a puny gold trophy. What's the deal with it?"
"This is MORE important than anything now. We got to show the Death Shockers that we are not a failure. I'm done of being a laughing stock."
"And what IF we lose?" said Emerald.
Tom just shrugged, unsure how to respond to that question. "Now let's go already. The challenge will start in 15 minutes."
We went outside of the café and headed into the main hallway of the stadium. As I walked, Cassie came over to me.
"Feeling confident about this?" asked Cassie.
"Yeah," I said, even though I was nervous on the inside. "Definitively."
"Hey, where did your cop vest go? I thought you were going to wear it today."
True to Cassie's word, I was dressed differently at that moment. I was wearing a black ninja sleeveless robe with magenta linings and dark purple shorts.
"I'm not going to," I said. "Not after my first day at work. I'll wear it later."
We all got in position at the parkour course. How it worked was that each team member faces a list of obstacles. When one member gets through, the next member goes on and so on. When the last person goes through the final obstacle, their team wins the challenge.
I headed to my spot. It was the last obstacle. I stared at the long vines hanging on the long bars. Beneath it was a large long pool. They were a few meters away from each other to avoid touching each other. When it was my turn, I had to swing using the vines without touching the water. If so, I had to start again.
For me, it was DEATH. It was kind of obvious as…I was a poor swimmer and couldn't get out of water.
No. I'm not scared of water. It is just that most cats can't swim
"Why didn't I asked for a life jacket in the first place?" I thought grimly.
I looked on my left and saw Mecha at his place on a separated stage, but with the same obstacles.
The turquoise bird turned to see me and shaped his hand to an L-shaped meaning 'loser'.
Let's see who the loser is when he fall in the darn pool.
"You're going down today, Death Shocker," I hissed, making a fist.
Mecha rolled his eyes. It was clear that he didn't like to be called nicknames. "Why yes I AM the captain of the Death Shockers, but I prefer you to call me 'Mecha'; the champion who's about to kick your butt."
I gave him a deadpanned look. "Is one of your real names 'Jerk-Arse with an attitude'?"
The turquoise bird frowned and sighed. "Whatever."
"Teams!" called the intercom. "Get ready to start!"
The countdown began before the sirens went off, meaning to start.
The teams were off. Both the Blazers and the Death Shockers were able to make it through the obstacles almost at the same time with different styles. However, I knew that it was Mecha who was going to win as he was the hero of his team.
When it was Emerald's turn, she was up against Ryan. She hung onto the monkey bars and advanced forwards even though she stopped sometimes when she nearly fell upon seeing some of the bars falling off. Ryan – on the other hand – decided to cut loose. He started to grab the second bar and swung over to grab the fifth bar. He was starting to grab bars at great distances away from him. And then…
CLANG!
The bar fell off. Startled, the silver bird fell into the water. Now he had to start again! The crowd gasped.
So far, so good.
Emerald wasted no time and quickly got to me in time. "GO!"
Taking the lead, I grabbed one of the vines and swung across. I had to be quick because once I grabbed one of them, they would slowly started to break apart since they could not hold my weight for any longer.
Meanwhile, Mecha was panicking. He couldn't start until his teammate finished the obstacle. "C'MON! Get going!"
"Yes, captain…" said Ryan wearily.
I was close to finishing. I jumped onto the last vine, but my grip slipped!
I nearly fell.
However, I was able to hold on. I looked up to see the strings of the vine started to break apart from the ceiling slowly.
Yes. Slowly AND dramatically. How nice…
I looked down to see the menacing-like pool. My long tail was touching it. I shuddered, feeling the dreadful, freezing water below. My hands were slipping. It would be only a matter of time until I let go. I didn't want to drown.
Taking a huge breath, I swung with all my might and leapt…
But in slow motion, I could see Mecha jumping from vine to vine without stopping to take a swing. The bird looked at me and made a nasty smirk. I was…kind of confused. I looked in front to see that I WASN'T flying to the finish line.
I was flying towards one of the support beams of the vines.
CLONK!
My head collided with the hard support beam. The only thing I remembered after that was stars appearing in front of me.
SPLASH!
Everything went dark.
And cold.
I couldn't breath.
The next thing I knew was lying on the hard concrete surface, soaked in chlorine water. I must have swallowed a mouthful of water, because I was coughed out water.
"Are you OK?" asked Emerald, coming towards me. Apparently, she used a large fishing net to pull me out from the water.
I struggled to talk. I continued to cough water from out of my mouth. I swear that I could feel some in my lungs. "I'm…fine."
Then, I heard cheering. It was coming from the other team. Mecha got through the obstacles which declared that his team were going to the finals.
Victoriously, Finn hugged Mecha; the latter reluctantly let the teal wolf did so, but laughed it off. Mecha turned around and smugly looked at us. He blew a raspberry.
Overwhelmed and tired, I face palmed with both of my hands and groaned in frustration.
"This SUCKS!" I thought.
The town square was packed with people that night as a concert was happening to celebrate the upcoming finals. Almost everyone was there.
Well, almost everyone.
I stayed behind to take a shower. Since my robe and shorts were drenched in chlorine water, I wore my police vest instead. It felt kind of weird wearing that vest that was made to be like a spandex outfit, but it was all I had at the moment.
I made my way to the town square only to bumped into my friends. Emerald and Fuchsia followed me.
"Bubblegum!" said Jade.
They all ran up to me. I looked down in shame. I was a mess.
Immediately, Addison wrapped her arms around me.
"We're just here to see if you're alright," said Taffy.
"From what Emerald said," whispered Yumi. "You don't look well."
"Are you OK?" asked Jade.
An anger rose through my body. The fact that Addison was embracing me a bit too tightly didn't help.
"No," I muttered. "I'm not."
And then, I lost it.
"I'M…NOT!"
At this, I broke from Addison's hug. "HANDS OFF ME!"
Addison backed away, her hands up in defense.
"What the heck, girl?" said Fuchsia. "Why are you acting like this?"
"Why does it matter?!" I ranted. "I was doing good – no, I was doing BETTER than good – and now I lost my chance to prove myself. To prove that I'm not some kind of trash bag to be thrown in the bin! Now, everyone will gossip about how stupid I was back there!"
"Calm down, Beth," said Emerald, giving me a hot cocoa. "At least it was fun, right?"
I shook my head as I grabbed the cup. "Not really. How in the world can you say THIS is fun?! We lost against one of the most powerful teams again and all that hope was for nothing. Even worse, Tom is pretty upset and when I tried to talk to him, he just ignored me. Just saw me as a tool that was once useful and now not."
"So you lost once?" said Addison. "And you are just giving up?"
There was a beat.
"No…" I said. "I…I…"
I tried to find the right words to say, but this only made me frustrated. I tried to say something, but stuttered. I placed my hand onto my head again; showing signs of frustration before shaking my head. This is a known habit that I did whenever I get stressed out.
"Bubblegum," said Jade. "You're overtired and not well. Come on. There's more to life than winning. Losing to that student tournament doesn't mean it's the end of the world for you. You still have a whole life out there! You got the police job! Suck it to Mecha; he can go suck a cactus for all I want! Why would you be so upset about that jerk when you still have these awesome things?"
"Awesome, awesome, AWESOME!" I grumbled. "Is it just me or…are you pretending? You got to stop thinking that everything is so…awesome. Being so happy all the time and thinking everything will have a happy ending. You know that it doesn't always go like that and a bad thing can happen to you that will last forever just like what happened to my family."
"Geez," said Taffy. "The reason why things are bad because you were always a dark, goth rebel."
Hearing this, I crunched up the hot cocoa cup; its contents spilled and splattered onto the rabbit.
"OK. No, it's not."
I growled under my breath and said this; "You guys are so PATHETIC. I wonder why you guys get to live."
I wasn't on a good mood. I just blurted this out because I was very frustrated of losing to Mecha. I should have known what I said wasn't right, but it was already too late. I talked without thinking.
Looks of shock and disbelief crossed over every girl's face.
"B…Bubblegum…" said Addison.
Again, I got frustrated of what I said. I tried to say something, but stuttered. I placed my hand onto my head again; showing signs of frustration before shaking my head.
At that moment, I was acting like an idiot. I couldn't get myself to talk. Not after what I called them.
"J-j-just leave me alone…" I said before turning my back.
I started to walk off, wanting nothing more than to just go home.
However, Addison quickly ran up to me.
"Bubblegum!" she said. "Just wait!"
"What?!" I snapped.
Addison sighed. "We haven't been apart for 14 YEARS. I'm your best friend. Your BFF. Your sister. Don't say things you will regret. Please. Even if I'm gone, I'm here for you."
Again, I tried to say something, but just shook my head. This was all too much and I was done. I walked off, leaving a demoralized Addison behind.
"Sorry guys," said Emerald sadly before she quickly ran after me.
As we walked away from the square, I was silently contemplating about what happened. It was nearly two minutes of complete silence when I thought about what Addison said.
"Don't say things you will regret."
"Sorry," I thought sadly. "But it's already said."
"ARGH!" said a sudden voice.
"Better watch where you're going," said an obnoxious voice.
Opening my eyes, I saw Mecha using his foot to trip a person over. The poor civilian stumbled onto the floor. Despite not feeling well, I came over and helped that person up.
"Thank you," the civilian said before walking off.
I glared at the smirking Mecha.
"You're such a child," I said.
"A macho child," said Mecha.
What an idiot.
I gave him one of my 'you're so stupid' faces.
"Wait," said Mecha dumbly.
"You know what," I said, turning around. "It's not worth it. Goodnight."
"Are you still mad, SOFT kitty?" mocked Mecha.
OK. I was FURIOUS.
I turned around. "Stop calling me that stupid name!"
"Qualunque cosa."
('Qualunque cosa' means 'whatever' in Italian)
I didn't know what he meant, but I knew it was something foul he said. I mean LITERALLY FOUL. I gritted my teeth.
"You still don't know who you're messing with," I hissed.
"Yeah, but you still don't have the badge yet so how can you take action?" questioned Mecha again. "I didn't do any crimes at all. Besides, you don't LOOK like the perfect cop for the police squad."
"What?! I'm not that bad! I have trained hard you know! I have to waste every energy, muscle and bone to become good, but you keep telling me I'm not. Just what do I have to do to gain your respect?!"
I saw Sebastian and Finn walking by to see the heated conversation. They looked shocked to hear what was going on, but I didn't care that they were watching.
"Honestly…" continued Mecha. "After what I saw at the tournament, you STINK. Therefore, that can pull you down the leader-board."
"Well…I'll get better!" I said determined.
"Not if you keep showing those stupid mistakes like today!"
"At…at least I'm not like you! I got to say; I wouldn't be surprised if you still don't have any friends!"
Emerald inhaled sharply.
Mecha's smug smile faded to an angry scowl. "Excusez-moi?"
('Excusez-moi' means 'Excuse me' in French)
I knew that nobody would like to make him angry, but I decided to continue the trash talk. I couldn't stop.
"Y-Yeah! Even though you're so great in everything from sports, work and other things, but you don't know how to show RESPECT to us! Shouldn't you go to a class that teach people about manners?! Therefore, you don't know everything. You don't even know how to make REAL friends and your teammates are just your lackeys. Are you ashamed of how you treat them or I don't know; are you full of yourself?"
This caught Mecha speechless. He hesitated for a moment, but eventually recovered.
"No," he said, narrowing his eyes. "If I am full of myself, then I wouldn't be going out acting as bossy as you are."
I grunted in agitation. "You know what? I wasn't the one who doesn't care about anyone in the world!"
"Bubblegum," said Emerald nervously. "That's a little har-!"
"Stay out of this, Emerald!" I snarled.
"Listen, punk," said Mecha in a low dangerous voice. "Don't make my fist meet your teeth. I don't CARE if I have friends or not. My popularity is bigger than YOURS. And because I'm a tyrant doesn't mean I want to people to die."
"Guys," said Emerald. "Lay it o-"
"Well, aren't you proud that you LITERALLY TORE my family apart?!" I yelled, cutting off Emerald.
Mecha's eye twitched. That wasn't a good sign. "It was not UTTERLY MY FAULT that happened. YOU also made that mistake and it is not worth blaming each other for THAT!"
"If it is both our fault that MY real family is gone, than whose fault is it that make YOU separated from YOUR family?! Being away from them?! Not talking to them at all?! What's that all about if you're acting ungrateful towards YOUR family?!"
"That's enough," said Emerald sternly.
"But it's true!"
Mecha's eye twitched again. "Take. That. BACK!"
"Make me!" I snarled.
"With pleasure!"
At this, Sebastian and Finn ran to the scene. Sebastain grabbed Mecha by his arms while Finn grabbed me by my long tail.
I didn't give up, but I was too angry to see what I was INTENDING to do. I tried to run and was throwing my fists in the air, trying to knock some sense at that bird. Mecha also tried to break free from Sebastian's grip and his hands were clenched into fists ready. But to top all of that, both of us were yelling angry threats at each other.
"I'LL DRAG YOU TO PRISON, CUT OFF YOUR FILTHY FEATHERS AND SHOOT YOU WITH A GUN!" I yelled at one point.
"BUBBLEGUM!" barked Finn. "That's enough!"
I stopped. With Finn still holding me back. Watching Mecha screeching at me. I just clenched my hands into fists, waiting for a fight. However, when I saw Emerald, my anger gradually disappeared.
In the end – being the sole person who can look at what was going on – Emerald stood in the middle, unsure what to do. She looked back and forth to see the worried look on Sebastian's and Finn's faces. She looked at me.
Seeing how worried and concerned she was, I felt guilty. Even when Sebastian and Finn had to deal with Mecha; their 'beloved' captain.
I shook my head, trying to shove off my frustration, still hearing Mecha's yelling.
All of a sudden, an explosion could be heard.
BOOM!
"What was that?" said Finn.
Surprisingly, Mecha stopped thrashing around and looked at where the explosion happened.
However, there was a dark creature in the sky.
Clay's POV
The next thing I knew was that I woke up in a strange world.
When I opened my eyes, something wasn't right.
Where I was in some kind of city.
It looked like some kind of dystopia.
The buildings had many holes and on fire. The ground was covered in debris. The sky was red, filled with black clouds.
"What's going on?" I thought.
I stood up and looked around.
I called out to see if there was anyone, but no response.
It was all silent.
The town was so dead.
"Hello there…Dark Wolf…"
I spun around to see a strange creature.
It was an anthropomorphic black male animal with white long dreadlocks, a white collar, white stripes on the back and a large long bushy tail with a white tip. He wore black sharp gloves with silver streaks on the back, pointed metal black hi-tops with red soles. The most extraordinary thing about him was that on his chest was a glowing red tetrahedron-shaped ruby with black ripple patterns. His body was surrounded by a red aura.
I was a bit freaked out to see that guy.
"W-who…" I said trying to speak. "…a…are…y…you…?"
"You may call me…Infinite…for now…"
"Huh?"
He raised his hand and out from his palm came a red beam of laser. It nearly hit me and I quickly dodged.
"What the-?" I said.
Without thinking straight, I turned heel and ran.
"You can't run, Dark Wolf," the creature said. "I can smell your fear."
As I ran through the ghost town streets, I looked behind to see red flying pixel cubes flying towards me. I just kept on running, not looking back. But I didn't know where I was going. I was just running in a Ziggy-zag line.
And then, they hit me.
ZAP!
I felt an electrical shock on my back. My entire body was stinging with pain.
AWFUL pain.
Unable to hold on, I screamed and collapsed on the floor.
"Dark Wolf…" said another mysterious voice from nowhere.
I tried to get up, but more cubes kept assaulting my body.
ZAP!
"Dark Wolf…"
ZAP!
"Dark Wolf…"
ZAP!
Many cubes hit my body. I felt worse than before. The electrical shock was spreading through my entire body. I continued to cry in pain.
Finally, it was over.
I tried to get up, but I felt so weak. I was only able to get my head off the floor. However, when I looked up, Infinite was in front of me.
He grabbed me by the hood of my vest and hanged me high.
"P…please…" I said. "…let…m…me…go…"
Infinite tutted. "You can't stop me now, Dark Wolf. I will take over your world and teach you FEAR."
I didn't understand why he kept calling me 'Dark Wolf'. What shocked me was that he said he would take over the world.
"What?" I sputtered out.
"The Eggman Empire is now taking over your home and nobody can stop us. You will be CRUSHED. Our army will outnumbered yours and KILL anyone who steps in our way. Unless…"
"Unless what?" I said.
"Unless you join me."
I was dumbfounded. "What?"
"If you want to join us, Dark Wolf, you will be…infinite. We can take over the world and purge the entire world."
I shook my head. "W…what? Why would I?"
"Pathetic. This is only the beginning, Dark Wolf. You're not in your true form yet. Once you're complete in real life, you'll be a part of mine. It's only a matter of time."
"W…what?" I said. "I don't understand. What do you mean?!"
Infinite sighed. "I don't have time for a weakling like you. Get out of my sight."
At this, he threw me to the ground. As my head came into contact with the floor, pain shot through my head. Everything went black.
…
When I opened my eyes, this time, everything was pitched black.
There was nothing.
No light.
No building.
No color.
No cloud.
No sun.
No moon.
Just a dark world.
I didn't know why everything was completely…dark. Even thought there was no light, I was able to see my body in full light.
"Dark Wolf…"
I looked behind to see some kind of dark shadow flying towards me. This time, I didn't ask for who it was. I stepped back, trying to get away. But as I turned to run, the shadow caught me up. It transformed into a giant hand and grabbed me around my waist. I struggled to get out, squirming around in fear.
"Dark Wolf…"
"Who…what…" I said confused.
"Why couldn't you just take his offer? You don't have a family. You lost your brother. You should work for the Eggman Empire."
I gave the shadow a confused look. "Why?"
"You will know soon, Dark Wolf. Soon, you will be filled with sadness, anger, pain, stress and anxiety…you will finally know how it feels like to be weak. You will take it all out on everyone. You will become…the ULTIMATE DARK WOLF."
At this, the shadow suddenly absorbed into my body.
Everything was dark again.
When I woke up, I let out a loud scream before breathing heavily and looked around. I was still in the cave.
So what happened before was just a dream. And a nightmare.
"What…did they…mean it's…?" I thought.
No. Those were just lies. It couldn't be. It was just a dream. I couldn't…
All of a sudden, I felt something on my right hand. I growled in pain and held onto it.
I felt darkness.
Sadness.
Anger.
Pain.
Stress.
I felt the darkness on my right hand, but it only stayed there. On the finger parts.
"Dark Wolf…"
I perked up.
"Dark Wolf…"
"Who's there?" I said.
I looked around. Maybe it was just me. For some reason…it was…calling for me…
"Is it really happening or is it just how I feel?" I thought.
Just then, I heard a ding. It was coming from my rings. I looked at my rings on my hands. They were glowing bright yellow.
"That's strange," I said. "This never happen before."
The yellow rings glowed for a while before they stopped. I was surprised about that. Eventually, I brushed it off and stood up.
I should probably get going.
Find someone who can help find my brother.
I went outside the cave, but what I saw made my heart sank.
The sky was a crimson color with dark clouds. It wasn't the blue sky anymore. It was as if a plague just entered the world or as if a bush-fire happened.
It looked…eerie.
I saw smoke coming from the background.
"What the?" I said. "What's going on there…?"
Deciding to go check out the smoke, I advanced into the forest.
Unaware that there was an attack happening.
AN: Another short chapter, but this is the nearly the start of the war. It was kind of easy making this chapter.
The tournament events are based on famous sporting games such as 'Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games'. I thought that it would be a good idea to include a special tournament happening in the town for all young teens to compete in.
In the old story, I didn't include a darker monster/creature tempting to take control of Clay, but to flesh out his mysterious powers, I decided to add in a shadow-like creature that tries convince him to let himself become...you will know very soon!
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. If you enjoy this story, be sure to follow or favorite this story, so you can get updates about this story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you think about this chapter. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).
The next chapter won't be pretty. After all, that's when the Eggman Empire starts to invade more countries around the world.
Until next time, keep on rocking!
