Chapter 11: Encounter With the Titan

"Who…?" Skye was battered completely, bruises spotting his body in bright blacks and blues beneath his now rugged fur, a cut streaming slowly from his cheek, right above the bone and below his eye, just barely an inch away. His leg felt broken, but he knew it must have just been an exaggeration of his condition. A sprain, maybe? He didn't feel like thinking about it, all that mattered was that he was hurt. But how hurt? And how hurt! The pain sizzled quite strongly in his leg from his twisted leg, and it radiated throughout his nerves. A very unpleasant feeling, as he was not seriously hurt very often, even with such a dangerous job. His eyes close shut and his teeth clenched tight; he moved an arm from the ground to touch it softly, and then returned it to the cold ground. He was almost on his side, the knee of his left leg pointing toward the ceiling in the large and unusually spacious room and his right leg, the bad one, laying slack on its side upon the ground, knee pointed to his right. He felt weak, but he still managed to keep his torso twisted to the right, hip pressing to the ground and supporting him on the right side, neck held upward. A thick and gray rocky dust had built up on his hands from his impact into the ground. But what had hit him? He remembered awakening with this pain, but then… a strike came? Was that what he had felt upon his consciousness? A strike, then, he decided.

He felt another strike smash against him from the front this time. He definitely knew it was a strike he had felt before. Something hard dug into his flesh against his chest and lashed up to his face, cutting his face again, across his nose. He held a paw to his bleeding nose and exclaimed a curse, eyes shortly after jolting open to witness his attacker.

"Weak, weak… weak. Weak, even for a youngling. Can't take a little kick? Now, how can I have any fun if my foot is the least of your worries?"

"W-who… who are you, and what the heck is wrong with you!?" Skye struggled to think of much else to say in his anger and growled with a sudden and expected feeling of rage. He painfully moaned with a slight squeak in the back of his throat as he rocketed himself up to his feet and glared into the eyes of his enemy. The eyes glared back and Skye's fur began to stand up all over his body in a quick reaction, his eyes widened at the feeling. A cold and sinister silver glare met his, one from a mysterious fox who had a striking resemblance to his own… more than just a striking resemblance; their features were near identical, though their eyes, fur, and clothing were obviously greatly apart.

"Heheh… don't like that? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger… or so they say." The fox walked away a step so he was facing away from Skye and sighed out. He waved his claws along the air and laced them along his arm, his other paw cupped on his elbow, his almost mystical eyes shining with the darkness of the cavern. A haunting sapphire glow filled them as the indigo blue of the shady caverns reflected back from his deep grays and filled them with the light.

"Who are you, then!?" Skye's teeth were bared, his own cerulean eyes dank with his surroundings. His paw remained clasped on his nose to keep it from bleeding more than it already was, that bit that he could not stop. He could feel his heart pounding already, and for a brief moment, he remembered the rest of the team. Were they okay? He could only hope they were… it was lucky for him enough that he avoided all of the spire-like sharp rocks that filled the area around him. He could not focus on them with the intimidating fox taking all of his focus, but he still saw the area around him when he awakened. He felt lucky to be alive.

"Your future leader, all's future leader, if all goes swimmingly… of all of this."

"I don't think owning a buggy eatery, a vast expanse of quicksand, and a section of underground moon caves is going to be prime real estate." Skye rubbed his arm, particularly on a large bluish bruise as he spoke, eyes low and dim with anger, though obviously filled with great restrain. "Now would you mind giving me a name?"

"A name, hm?" The brutally insensitive figure scoffed and broke into a fiendish laughter. "From where I'm from, such a luxury fetches a fine price." He smiled and gestured Skye upward with a sharp claw tip. "I took this off of you. You were pretty mashed up from the landing, so I took my time to investigate your belongings." His paw had the metal grip of Skye's blade within it, the thin steel mangled very slightly from the crash impact.

"What do you want, then? A trade? I don't think I'm in a condition for haggling, whoever you are."

"Moron." The purity of shadow tossed his flowing hair aside and followed with the flight of the silver weapon, like a gray comet sailing across the sky into his light ego's hands. The toss missed its mark considerably and the blade barely missed striking into Skye's breast like a throwing knife. Skye winced and flailed his paws through the air to grasp it as it came, but he was off-guard and thus could not reach it at its speed, appearing very unskilled and foolish in the process. The handle of Skye's all-important weapon glinted as it shot by his side and fell with a clatter on the ground. Skye stepped backward, eyes locked onto the apparent foe. A gesture of great precision, the dark shadow that was Skye's newly made adversary had never intended to kill him, or hurt him in any way.

The scramble for the weapon was short-lived, this Dark Skye waiting patiently for the panicked fox to ready his stance.

"Quite finished, you?" The words followed with a blink and a bored stare. "Most people can ready themselves about twice this fast, even if they are surprised, though I suppose your condition merits you a little bit of pity. And I give your catching ability a one out of five. As is all your other abilities, I surmise. Hurry up and get ready so you can die with speed, unless you'd like to suffer… which I am, as always, fine with."

"You're crazy…" Skye spat and huffed, a claw pressing into the side of the blade and flicking it on, enveloping the sword with a sharp light and energy that covered the blade with a thickness of roughly two inches, those of which could cut through stone with little trouble. His paw slipped into his pocket while his eyes gleamed with fury.

"No, no, no… I said I went through your things, right? You're not going to find this in there." He tossed Skye's Star Fox seal-marked blaster onto the ground and buried a foot into it, crushing it slightly, the material starting to bend inward and release a very high pitched and metallic squeal. "Cheap piece of junk. Not as if it would help you much… at all." In a blinding flash, the blaster was sparking and fizzling with destruction, a shining beam of a sword in Skye's doppelganger's hand as well. "And now, we ride. Last words before I rend you sans your dignity? And life?"

"No point in wasting them on a supposedly nameless thug like you. If you're really so tough as you claim, then shut up and fight me already!" Skye glared and dove forward in assault.

The two met weapons together with a sizzling noise of hot laser biting together. Skye felt his arms begin to fold quickly at the extremely surprising force of the darkling fox and they soon began to fail him, only in a matter of mere seconds. He bit his teeth together with a dull sensation of pain, holding the ground of his frail bastion until the smirking shadow flooded his power forward and launched Skye's weapon away, as well as Skye himself to the ground.

"Hahaha. Not much effort on your part, but I do admit… that gleam in your eye gives just the slightest iota of hope… on my part, that is. Get up!"

Skye grimaced and swiped his blade back into his hand. He was already panting, though not exhausted so much as panicked, filled with adrenaline. After all, that was the only thing that would get him back to his feet in such a hopeless situation. His palm pressed to the rough floor with the weapon balanced within the outermost reaches of his fingers and along with the aid of his left leg, he rolled to the right and sprung up with a lift of his right foot, a spin that caught him back on his feet.

"Amateur recovery. If I wanted to, I could've sliced a beam right through your head. Of course, that describes your hopelessness through this entire happening. Try practicing a little more." He grinned and snickered. "I can always give you some practice with recovery, old dog, but you're on your own with your offense. Let's try again. With swipes, this time. Sword up, punk."

A first swipe from the horizontal, Skye's shadow form arced his elbow and threw his wrist into one smooth and charged motion. Skye bit into his lip as he watched the swing close in on his torso, he'd never quite fenced before, never duel style. He had always used sword fighting as a last resort, but whoever this stranger was, he certainly was serious with his swordplay. Not necessarily advanced, but he had power, and that was enough to keep a large advantage against the weaker and less skilled Skye. Skye's tongue exposed just the small tip against his lips, a grave focus had possessed his body. Though the new enemy was clearly just toying with him for now, he did not deny that he would not hesitate to do something crazy… he seemed unstable enough. He swung vertically and was reflected again, his foot pressing to the ground tightly to hold his place and balance. He paid more attention to his enemy's movements this time and blocked with a diagonal guard against a curving swing.

"Am I doing better now?" Skye panted still and his eyes felt buzzing with a strange sensation of alertness.

"No, no, you've got a lot left to do, you little punk. Everyone deserves a last lesson before they die… even those who think they know everything. It's happened to others, but it's always nice to see I can give a last lesson before death. I am always willing to teach that lesson."

Skye sighed out hard and locked his eyes to his darker self. He shook his hands until they would stay steady and coughed to keep his voice from shaking, too.

"Okay… then what's next, you maniac teacher?" He spat toward the dark Skye and the projectile landed on his foot. The darker Skye smiled with a large amusement and put the blade onto the steel toe with a hiss. His expression was unchanged and the black boot grew white and brown with a small burn.

"Nice shot. Perhaps guns are your strong point, after all. Then again, saliva and lasers are two completely different things."

"And swordsmanship comes next, y'know… I'm rusty, but now that I've back on my feet…" He paused and smirked with mischief in his eyes and paws, sword gripped in them firmly. "You're toast."

"Oh? Well… how interesting to know. How very interesting." The dark mirror's eyes dulled and fell halfway shut. "Allow me to test this hypothesis."

His feet launched him forward in tapping steps that raised dust scarcely into the air. Two feinting swings and twirls of his blade in the shape of an infinity symbol preceded a true swing that curved from below and met lower than would be expected, but was narrowly blocked within a hair's reach, all the while biting through the air with a harsh whooshing and crackling of laser with the air and dust. The brutality resumed with a buck of the doppelganger's weapon and a spin that caught Skye's ribs with a painful elbow. Skye gasped with pain and fell back; trying to both recover and preempt a blow that he was sure to receive. His chest and body bent and caved forward, but in his shock, he swung his blade upward and reflected a fourth blow, then a fifth then knocked him backward once more. He coughed with a slight taste of blood on his lip and wheezed from the impact.

"Very good! Most people don't see that one coming. I see you do have more skill than I gave you for. I guess I'll have to call you 'Worm' instead of 'Punk' now, huh? Congrats." His blade rose again. Skye's eyes widened for a split second, but he shed his doubt with a quick succession of blinks that cleared his eyes from fear and pain. "Of course… I can tell you've nothing for endurance. Look at that coughing! Nor power, we've been over that. But you've got enough skill to block me and enough coordination to see it coming. Very, very good! A worm's got to be able to block."

He whipped his blade up vertically from under Skye's with one paw that caught the second in midair for a concussive force that was blocked, but flipped Skye to his back nonetheless.

"We all want power, and I've got power. You, however, have a way to go." He pointed a sharp claw Skye's direction and snarled.

"Oh…?" Skye growled and shook the dust from his body. "You freakish little dirtball. I'm a man of observation, and I still have no idea what you're up to. You still never gave me a name and you still never told me why you had to get all crazy and attack me in the first place… so all I have left to believe is that you are either crazy, or you're some kind of freak hermit trying to teach some stupid lesson. What're you gonna do, then, huh? Are you going to be my grand 'Sensei'? Teach me the ways of your power?" Skye spat onto the ground with a small cough. "Tiger Claw, Eagle Fang? Teach me how to pluck people's eyes out?" Skye growled once more with a large air of irritation with his crazy newfound enemy, claws curling, speaking with an angry sarcasm. "Huh, that the plan?"

"Haha… no. Of course not." The darker Skye spat in formation into the same spot that the lighter Skye had before. "I'm just gonna torture you! And maybe, when I'm done, I'll kill you if you play nice enough! Sound fun? Okay, let's go, then, youngling. Let's have some fun, eh?" He laughed and deactivated his blade. Skye looked with both surprise and the creeping sensation of fear that had once again filled his eyes. But also with it came a new element of confusion at the apparent contradiction.

"You…?" Skye muttered, softly panting.

"Haha. I'm not gonna sit here and make you dance all day like a ballerina, I wanna see you face a real challenge."

"So you've said… had enough swinging like a madman for today?"

"Madman? Nah. Swinging? Oh, yes." He grinned wide and tucked away his blade. "It's quite clear that you've learned to fight against sword-wielders when in emergency situations, even though you're used to using a gun... many institutions tend to work that way."

Skye readied to strike again with his enemy's guard down. "Oh…? Then what do you have for me this time…?" His arms tensed, but he had otherwise no signs out preparation.

The second Skye bowed and slid a long, glowing chain from his pocket. One end had attached a weight of bulkier laser, and the other a small bulb. He breathed through his nose in accordance with a sudden swelling growth of the smaller bulb, until it was the size of a melon. He let the chain fall slowly until it reached the ground with a thump, Skye's observations indicating it was a weapon of good weight.

Skye panted with anticipation and dove forward with a cry of attack. His enemy had relaxed, closed eyes, and opened them with an upward swing of his weapon, bashing it against Skye's chest before he could get close enough to even attempt a swing. Skye was reflected backward with a grotesque spit and crashed into the ground.

"Let's see you fight against this." The other Skye grinned with a toying sadism and let the bulb weight hang to his side, slowly building a swinging momentum into the chain until it was swinging in circles at his side. "It's all about learning, my boy! That's all life's good for, anyway!" He cackled and swung again in a wide vertical arc, landing it flatly on Skye's back in a blunt slam before Skye could dodge to the side, Skye's legs easily giving out in a collapse, landing him on his chest, face full of dust.

"I'm disappointed… I thought you could truly amount to any challenge… I could sense it in you. But, I suppose…" His skin crawled and his muscles shivered across his arms. "You're worthless after all… not even a challenge. And there's no point in such a worthless creature like you, then, now is there?" His eyes shivered and his pupils lost shape and fell into ellipses, eyes turning red as hot embers.

"What's…?" Skye shivered and was unable to answer as the energy ball fell down toward his neck in a final finishing blow.

A deafening sound blotted out Skye's voice and the energy ball spun with an impact, spinning around behind him and striking the dark Skye in the back.

"Maddening-!? You again?" He stumbled.

"Well, there you are. I thought I'd find you here, by my luck." A figure spoke with a slight accent and fired his weapon again, another deafening sound and a splash of blood as the shot hit its target in the chest, dark Skye wounded. He growled and fiddled with the weapon in his hand for a second and spoke to himself with irritation. "Well, by Jove, I always forgot to keep this thing reloaded-" He fell back on his feet as a knife stuck through his gun, staring through the sparks and smoke at his target. "Always a good shot, that devil…" He mumbled and tossed gun aside, Skye watching in relief and confusion.

"Don't find yourself so relieved yet, hunter…" Skye and the hunter both glanced up at dark Skye as he spoke perched on a rock with an orb in hand.

"Crumbs. Um, you, run." The hunter took off on foot and Skye stumbled to his feet, following and staggering in his pursuit.

"Good luck, friends…" Dark Skye twisted his mouth into a grin of victory and smashed his paw into the central wall of the cavern, leaving the glowing orb inside, and took his escape in the opposite direction to recover from his wound.

"W-where are we going?" Skye struggled to keep his battered body running, despite his bruises and injuries.

"Somewhere. Anywhere. Oh, just shut up and run, mate!" The hunter dragged Skye rudely and pulled him into a small nook inside the wall of the cavern.

"But…" Skye panted. "Why are we-" He was interrupted a second time with a brilliant explosion that collapsed the whole ceiling, sand and rocks all, filling the room quickly, clouding the air with dust.

"That would be why, my fox friend. Skye's a tough fiend, he knows how to work this place, these things, he's good with strategy, and-"

"Wait, wait… what? Skye? Me? But… what?" Skye lower his eyelids with a sarcastic and perplexed look.

"Skye. The one who attacked us? Have you been living under a rock? Then again, I don't suppose you would know all of the infor-"

"But that's my name…"

"Well, nice to meet you, lad! I'm Lucifer. Feel free to-"

"What is he? And who is he? How was he that powerful, I mean some people can be powerful like that, but…"

"Lad, will you stop interrupting and let me… oh… just… just listen to me. Right now, this room is going to fill beyond capacity with sand and rocks… I don't have the time to explain right now, but the point is that if we don't work fast, we're going to take a dirt nap, and quite literally. Now will you shut up and work with me?"

"I don't quite…" He looked out of the nook to the quickly crumbling room and felt sand pool at his feet. "I suppose I don't have any other choice. You lead the way."

"Follow me, and hurry, lad! We've not time to lose."