Hunter's Night
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic; he and related characters belong to Sega. Predator(s) belongs to their proper owner(s).
To Phoenix the Eternal; thank you, glad to see you don't criticize me for a lot of my background or music tastes or the fact that I'm not a fan of Knux/Julie-Su, though I don't always put in a nice way, if you like the couple; that's fine, it's your opinion and liking, I respect that as long as you respect mine. About the Predators and why they've killed; I don't read the comics but using my imagination and the fact they never killed a dying old man or pregnant woman shows that they have mercy; and I will apply that, but I need you to remember a couple of things; their ranks or labels and youth and pay close attention to the next chapters; more insight to these hunters will be given, and things will clear up later; keep reading…it'll all be known soon…soon…I have no idea why I wrote that so evilly…or twice for that matter.
Bloodyvampire701; short and simple; thanks for reading.
Enjoy, I had it pre-written or semi-prewritten, the two week break was a little sad but very relaxing I must say, I got knew ideas for everything now; getting them down on paper/computer screen is the hard part.
Chapter Three — Love and War
Angel Island;
It roared letting it know he was after him. He was fearless; he enjoyed hand to hand combat. The blood shed; the hitting of blades, the stealth used; the force and brutality of the armor breaking and the flesh being cut; he enjoyed war. He heard its roar from the searing; it got lucky, uncharted land was its escape.
He ran after it. It was heading off the island; the gear could be heard clanking and thumping from its heavy body's running. He chased the faded yellow foot prints he could see on the ground; it was heading back into the city. No matter if it got away for now; it was in their blood to hunt for fun; sooner or later it would give into another trophy need. He admitted he had the thirst as well which is why he killed the ones that tried to protect that one mongoose; any fight is a good fight; no matter what kind.
He wondered why it had been at her living quarters before and then why it left like a coward; was it the because of the energy signature? It might have been trying to hide using it.
He purred as he followed the tracks. He checked the stats of his plasma blaster; it was full on energy.
(2:12 am)
She didn't call anyone; it was way too late for that. Hell, she'd be cranky if anyone called her at this hour. But now she walked around her room, trying to forget her horrible nightmares.
She was safe from peeping toms from getting a look at her in purple silk nightgown. It was very short, she bought two weeks ago, since she would only be sleeping in it she didn't mind if it was a little short and kind of a hip hugging fit. It the end of the nightgown was above the halfway point of her thigh. It was comfortable and she never slept with windows or blinds open so no one would be ogling her from outside. Though only problem was, very strangely, it was very chilly whenever she wore it.
She bent over and turned on the other lamp on the left side of her bed.
And at the same time the world recognized white warp that recognized as Shadow's entrance formed behind her.
He had closed his eyes when he ran; it made it more pleasant for some reason. He had learned a cool new advantage of the Chaos warp; he could use the emerald and cut a hole and pass through just about any object. People, were the only ones that it didn't work on…and the girl's spa room.
He opened his eyes as motion returned to normal for him. He looked to the left as he stood in the center; no one. He looked to the right:
His eyes went wide as the sight not to mention his cheeks turned redder than Knuckles' fur.
She clicked the lamp on before she had noticed. She stood up straight and turned around, she had that 'Someone's behind me, but how?' feeling.
She was right.
Yelping she tried to cover her very exposed legs, the ones that Shadow had been gazing at. She grabbed the covers on the bed finally realizing that her hands could barely cover the sides of her nightgown, let alone her whole thigh. Covering her self shoulder to toe he swung with her open palm.
"You pervert!" She yelped, blushing with embarrassment. After slapping him out of his eye humping, she; out of habit tightened the covers on her body which didn't help the staring aimed at her curves;
'This is the girl who's in love with that faker? What the hell happened in the last two weeks?' He couldn't believe his eyes. 'Focus! That thing could be on its way any second!' He shook his head and cleared his mind quickly.
"I need your Chaos Emerald," He said looking into her eyes and nowhere else.
"You come into my house, ogle me in my nightgown and now your demanding my Chaos Emerald; Ultimate life form or not, just who the hell do you think you are?" She shouted gripping the fabric of the covers from underneath.
"I don't have time for this; give me the Chaos Emerald; something is hunting us down for them!"
"What are you talking about?" She shook her head and groaned, clueless as to what he was shouting about.
"Amy, where is your Chaos Emerald?" He barked getting fed up with this conversation.
That purr was the last thing he needed to hear;
'Could this night get any worse?' He gripped his glowing emerald and clicked the laser aim on his gun. Turning around he glared around the room;
"S-Shadow, what was that?" The pink hedgehog asked nervously.
"Where's the Emerald?" He growled.
"I-Its downstairs, the basement." She shook as her legs wobbled with fear.
Upon hearing her answer, a purr revealed its location. It was right in front of them, in a corner of the bed room. It took a few steps forward; Shadow noticed that it was slightly hunched forward; it was a little too tall for the room. Its eyes glowed a bright yellow and faded back to the clear camouflage just as quickly as they lit up. It growled fiercely once and quickly, like a lion's.
"W-What the hell is that?" Amy yelped as she saw the figure's shape, she stumbled backwards onto her bed.
It made a soft and questioning 'Rwar?' sound on seeing Amy panic. It growled at Shadow who had aimed at it, it growled at him as warning. Inside the mask, only to him; a humming noise sounded as his mandibles switched the type of vision from his natural heat only eyes to a blue x-ray type. Lines of red and green seemed to fume through vents on the floor of the wall.
They filled the entire three level home; the top floor was filled only to the floor, vague colors. The second level was filled top to bottom the strength of the energy was weaker than the bottom but stronger than the top floor. The bottom level had the thickest color and was filled top to bottom with the red and green hazes.
He looked down and purred upon seeing the brightly glowing object; it was colored white; which meant it was red in color, it had red and green lines venting excessively from all around it. It was resting on a cushion in the bottom level of the home. It looked at Shadow and noticed the object similar to the one downstairs; it gave off blue and yellow vapors. He changed the vision back to heat, the colors from before and the vapors were gone.
Shadow gritted his teeth as he saw it look down. He wasn't sure but he could only assume that it could feel or see the energy of the Chaos Emerald;
'Damn it. Now what to do? Its looking at my hand, it knows there's one downstairs. I can't let Amy die—'
The dual blade on its right arm made a metal sheathing sound as it extended out quickly. It snorted like a bull once as it walked two steps closer.
Shadow could hear its bones cracking as it made a fist and flexed its fingers. He backed away; the thing only moved closer. Another blade snapped out of its other arm; he gazed at them, they had to be at least 3 feet. It growled once more; he acted on impulse.
He fired once randomly hitting it in the chest and used Chaos Control to get Amy to safety. It growled at the empty room; he saw him once and he flinched as the bullet lodged itself in the metal armor. He blinked once the two hedgehogs were gone. He changed his vision; night, nothing; electrical: nothing; heat: nothing; x-ray: nothing; energy: the area was filled with white lines.
He tilted his head as he stared the room in silence. The hedgehog had disappeared in less than a few seconds; did he use the jewel? He wondered…snorting he shook his head and kicked down the door. He hunched the entire way to the bottom floor.
The few trees, the flies, the wind; all was almost motionless; slowly they barely moved a millimeter. The tree swayed to the left but remained still, the trash bag in the middle of the air refused to go down. The air was still and the bugs silent as he bolted through the city. His air shoes hummed quietly as he jetted through the streets.
'Damn it…that's two…how the hell did that thing get in there without making a sound? Arrgh, that thing is making me choose between lives and the damn Chaos Emerald…not that I care of course but I can't let Amy or Mina suffer just because that thing is after some damn diamond.' He growled at the thought, 'And after I bitched at the faker about the Chaos Emeralds…I knew we never should've entrusted woman with the emeralds…What now? The plan was for us—Tails, Sonic and Knuckles to take it down…now with Mina and Amy we're crippled—then we have to add in Rouge. I know that dumb echidna is gonna want to tag along…I swear if this gets anymore complicated I'm gonna shoot myself.' He shook his head, frowning at the small amount of possibilities they could take right now.
"Where are we going?" Her voice was faint at this speed.
He didn't hear her, and before she knew it, she was in someone else living room.
She yelped as she stood before Sonic, in nothing but a nightgown and bed blankets. She hugged the blankets more.
"What happened? Where's the emerald and why did you bring Amy?" Sonic demanded his answers, he was frustrated not angry.
"It cut me off faker; it was already in her room!" Shadow barked back.
"What happened to our lives or the emeralds?" Sonic retorted.
Shadow gritted his teeth and growled back. He had a point; Shadow wasn't doing what his plan called for. "I wasn't going to let her die; did you get a hold of Rouge?"
"No…" Knuckles mumbled as he came with a blood soaked bandage around his arm. "She's not picking up." He stared strangely as he noticed Amy standing up nervously, "Whoa…why are you—"
"—don't ask, just get me some clothes! That pervert barged in on me and I didn't have time to change—what are you waiting for? Get me something to wear!" She yelled angered.
"I am not your servant!" Knuckles growled back
"Listen you, if you don't get me something decent to wear right now that cut is going to be the last of your worries!" She roared.
"There are some tee-shirts and shorts in one of the closets upstairs, just do it Knuckles." Sonic pointed to the steps.
He growled quietly as he reluctantly obeyed. He stomped up the steps grumbling something about murder.
----
She rolled over as it slammed its dual blade into ground, just missing her ribs. It roared loudly as she kicked it with her heel at full force; good thing she was wearing her jump suit this night. Rouge's heel dung into its abdominal flesh about a quarter of an inch; she gagged at the sight of the green blood. The creature still cloaked crouched on one knee above her body; she had been avoiding death by just little bits.
It activated its other blade; the single one. It jabbed at her head; quickly she tilted her head and avoided it. She took her heel out of the wound and kicked with both feet at it. She sent it stumbling backwards, it grunted as it slowly recovered and got back to its feet. The single blade extended to 3 feet, making her growl;
"Can't fight a real woman with your fists, huh?" She retorted flexing her fingers.
Another purr made the one she was fighting looked to the side. It revealed itself and ignored Rouge. As it looked to the side it growled fiercely, it held up its hand as if were holding cup. Its dual blade extended as it balled a fist.
Rouge ducked for the nearest wall when she heard a low and violent whirling sound. A small ball of white and red flew past her and almost hit the thing standing in the middle of the road. The ball made a small explosion sound upon impact of the ground and made small foot deep crater. She peeked above the short brick stair case that she was hiding behind. They were in the more rundown parts of the city. Not one of her brightest ideas tonight to cut through this area to cut 30 minutes off of the forty-five minute walk around.
Her eyes went wide as she noticed two of them. The one she had been fighting had three slashes across his mask; the one that growled as it walked down the inclined street had yellow mark across its mask (Assassin). It extended two dual blades as it roared in returned to a purr made by the one with three slashes (Bounty Hunter). The bounty hunter was at least seven feet; the assassin was 6.8 or 6.9, in short the bounty hunter was much taller. Rouge's confidence was crushed when the second appeared, and the fully visible weapons and armor and deadly appearance did not help.
The assassin suddenly bent its knees and roared; making the bounty hunter flinch. They exchanged 'Rwar' sounds;
'What the hell are they doing? Its like they're talking to each other.' She assumed.
Her curiosity engulfed her and urged her to watch.
The bounty hunter charged at his foe and stabbed at its ribs. The assassin grabbed the oncoming arm and flipped the bounty hunter over. He slashed it in the arm, squirting the glowing green blood in a line on the floor. He would not let his competition get him this time, the bounty hunter ignored his wound and grabbed the assassin's foot; he jerked the foot back causing it to fall.
He quickly got to his knees; he stood straight as he slashed the assassin across the mask, making a new mark from the cheek area to the mouth area. The bounty hunter withdrew his blade as he punched it across the face.
The assassin aimed blindly with his arm and fired one of his arrows. The Predator's blood sprayed in the air. The bounty hunter stumbled onto its back gripping the arrow cut; it had cut only the side but it was deep. He growled as he got up; the assassin extended his blades to the full 3 feet; he charged at full speed; his shoulder first hoping to uppercut it with the blade.
The bounty hunter saw the attack and ducked; and sideswiped it with his dual blade. Both of his blades dung pretty deep into the flesh as he slashed it through the flesh; cutting the lower rib area. He pushed it out causing more damage and more blood to spill out; he roared at his attack's success.
The assassin snarled and spun around and tried to his it in the back. The bounty hunter's armored arm caught the blade as he spun around. The assassin pushed him down and pounced on him, they fought one under in the position.
Their blades clashing repeatedly; their arms avoiding cuts and their once flawless armor earned true Predator battle scars. This was a blood-battle; not hunting or training or the manhood hunt. They fought each other; one predator against another, this was the ultimate battle for a young Predator.
---
Rouge had thrown up at the sight of the blood they had been shedding. It was on the walls, the street and of all place the slums of this damned city. These two fought to the death when there was no one nearby; just her luck. And at the same time she was amazed as she watched two never before seen creatures battle brutally.
She flinched at the one with the yellow slash roared in pain as the on he was on top of had driven its blade through its arm. She gasped as the one with torn arm used its other arm to smack the bounty hunter across the mask with a balled fist. It growled once as the bounty hunter yanked his blade out of the wound. The assassin stood up and pulled out where his blade had penetrated deeper into the rib area of the bounty hunter. Instantly it turned invisible and ran off; the bounty hunter sat up and slowly got to his feet. He gripped his rib wound and looked at his blood stained arm. He turned invisible and ran off in a different direction. Both had cloaked to avoid attention; the glowing green blood stains where a good give away though.
She clutched her pounding heart; then she remembered her bag. It was still turned over on the side walk;
"Oh no…" She whimpered, "It got it!" She looked for her purple emerald.
She had no idea why it attacked her but it was safe to assume it was after the emerald. After all, it grabbed her up by the arm and ripped her purse off her shoulder. She started attacking as soon as it turned the bag upside down, trying to empty it.
Another purr made her fearful to turn around. She looked behind; another one stood, his body turned slightly to the side. She backed away; now completely fearful of what these things were capable of. She noticed a purple glow in his hand;
"Give that back!" She ordered.
On each of its arms a single blade snapped out spooking her. She nervously backed away;
"Uhh…no problem you can keep it." It growled at her offer. It took to two steps towards her before snarling again. It placed the emerald underneath its hidden gun mounted on its shoulder. The shoulder mechanics whirled when it locked it in place; the gun popped up and bent forward; on call for shooting.
Rouge froze when she saw the gun's large round tip glow bright purple. It made deep whirling sound and beeped. The thing purred as it aimed.
Two sparks and banging sounds made the gun turn and the third thing's body (the Elite) leaned to the side; no blood shed though.
A slug of plasma energy misfired and screamed past Rouge and melted a chunk of concrete wall behind her, the hole was about the size of car tire. Rouge took control of her body and stood up to take cover as she saw something red tackle the Elite. He turned it face down it pinned down. He fought with great difficulty to keep it down with one good hand. It threw him off and at Rouge's feet.
Growling the thing turned invisible and disappeared in the cover of the dark. Knuckles got up chase after it;
"Knuckles don't even try it!" Rouge grabbed his arm and held him back. She looked at his other arm and gasped, "Knuckles what—" She stopped herself.
"That thing has another emerald!" Another dark figure jumped down as he spoke, "Damn it all! Shadow couldn't you have run any faster?" He barked
She recognized Shadow with his trademark gun in his hand when he jumped down.
"Listen up you stupid echidna; I didn't have to drag you along; I didn't expect to bring extra luggage. You tagged along; I can't run that fast when I carrying someone on my back!" Shadow pulled the slide on his gun and popped the empty shell.
"Thank you," Rouge sighed with relief, "I didn't need your help though." She remarked with pride.
"Oh don't give me that crap; if it weren't for us half your body would be melted or slammed on the wall!" Knuckles retorted, he wanted some credit for the rescuing her.
"Yeah right," she huffed, "How'd you two know I was here?"
"You always stay out till 3, and you always come around here if it's getting too dark." Shadow looked around for any sign of danger.
She crossed her arms and huffed, "Stalker," She spat; it was basically true, "What were those things?"
Shadow caught her choice of words, "What do you mean 'things'? There's only one; unless…"
"There are three; two of them just fought and left, that one caught me by surprise." Rouge pointed at the blood on the street.
"Wait there's more than one?" Knuckles interrupted, "Are you sure?"
"Does it look I like did that to the one you just fought?" She pointed out the large amount of green blood on the floor of the streets and walls.
"This can't get any worse," Shadow's eyes widen, "If there's three, then that means they could all be after the emeralds! C'mon when have to go back to Sonic's! We left three over there!"
"Wait a sec—cond." Before Rogue could even finish Shadow had run off. She sighed as she stared at the empty space, "Looks like we're running it."
"We'll be lucky if we can even make it past the park."
"You need to look at the bright side of things Knuckie," She teased. He frowned at her little nickname for him; it was embarrassing but better than Knucklehead.
"I've had an arrow shot through my arm, there are three things hunting us down for the emeralds; we can't see them; they can kill us before we know it! I think the best thing we got going for us right now is the fact we haven't died yet!" He growled suddenly.
"Oh shut up and c'mon. I'm gonna get my emerald back!" She winked, he frowned; still unsure, "We can make it together, your always so down and grumpy c'mon." She smirked, and nudged him on his good shoulder, "Get over it, you die; you die, ain't nothing you can do to stop it!" She started jogging away.
He looked up at the bright moon, "I fucking hate you." He ranted as he ran off after. "Wait up, you're gonna kill yourself if you go alone!" He yelled trying to get her to stop.
---
He purred silently; they didn't hear him. Lucky for him they didn't, along with his burning ribs he had to deal with the nearly ripped arm. He looked at it; the bounty hunter's blade torn a large and deep cut; now searing it was going to an even worse pain. There were two cuts, both deep and almost symmetrical; the dual blade had cut towards the center and ripped out the side. Some of his flesh had healed but the majority rested on the arm. The arm was covered from just below his shoulder to his arm in blood. He could barely flex the hand on the wounded arm.
Snorting he reached for his medical kit. He grunted as the stinging pain from his ribs reacted to his movement. He gritted his ugly teeth and opened the kit. As quickly snapped open he looked to side of the rooftop he was on.
Using the targeting on his gun he zoomed in on the fleeing echidna. He followed the bat up the sidewalks of the road. She turned around as she ran and waved for him to run catch up; how could she expect him to do much if he had a badly injured arm. He watched as he grabbed the tools and started his special healing product. He started the flame and melted the searing material but grabbed a bright blue colored syringe.
He frowned as he looked at the point; squirted it to make sure it worked. He snorted as he looked at his arm. He aimed at the nearly dead flesh that rested on his arm. He slipped into the opening; piercing the sensitive flesh underneath.
The pained of the needle made him look up and grit his teeth. He roared a loudly as he injected a good amount of blue liquid. He gasped a he pulled it out; the pain was burning. He growled as he sprayed another small amount on his large rib wound. Tucking it away he extended his arm and held it straight and tensed. He sued his other arm and used a flat tool to pick up some of the melted material.
He furrowed his brow as he neared it.
He pressed it hard; making it sizzle and burn the partly living flesh and good skin together. His green blood rushed to the reconnected flesh. He smeared the material trying to sear the rest of the wound. He used the rest to searing his rib tissue.
All of this was not done in silent of course.
After the painful process he looked to the side again. The two had not made it out of sight. They had just made to into the park; with roof hopping he could make it there easily. He looked at his gauntlet; opening it he checked his plasma gun stats. He checked the energy of the red Chaos emerald he had; he re-routed his gun power to tap into the brimming power of the crystal. The gun's barrel extended revealing a smaller inner barrel; it was about a foot long now. The lines of the gun glowed bright red as he charged it. He carefully used his hurt arm; searing closed it but it left it sore. He wobbled as he gripped the ledge of roof.
(2:48 am)
"There are three of them!" Shadow shouted as he exited his speed warp. He was in the center of the room; Sonic, Tails, Mina, and Amy, who was dressed in a big tee-shirt and loose sweatpants, all stared at him. Mina had woken up and immediately asked for Shadow and was sadden to find out he left on important matters.
"What?" Sonic asked, not hearing a thing he said,
"There are three of those things; Rouge saw two of the fighting each other and another one almost killed her."
"What about the emerald?" Sonic asked.
Shadow sighed, "Its using it power a gun on its shoulder."
"Well what now; we can't take on three of them!" Sonic looked at him.
"We need to get these emeralds out of here and take back the other ones; we need to get them out of here." He pointed at Mina, Amy and Tails, "Screw the old plan, if they want these emeralds they can get 'em from me—"
"Are you nuts?" Sonic interrupted, "Look I don't care if you're the ultimate life form or not, even you have limits Shadow! Tails said if your internal robotic systems are badly injured, you're dead, Mina and Amy told me about this thing. There is no way—"
(Bounty Hunter: Rooaaaar) It howled all around waking neighbors and nearby people.
"Shit," Shadow growled, "Listen up, Sonic this is the last time I'm gonna tell you or any of you—get the hell out of here!" He barked.
"Shadow you're gonna get slaughtered!" Tails yelped.
"This isn't bravery or heroics, this is suicide Shadow!"
"I never said I was being I hero; I could care less about that; I'm just keeping an old promise to an old friend." He said sternly.
"What about mine?" Mina suddenly shouted, "You promised you wouldn't leave me; you said you'd help me—"
Shadow growled, "Sonic get her out of here…" Sonic froze; he didn't want to abandon his friend, "Now!" He growled.
"I'm not leaving, what are you trying do? You're just gonna get yourself killed!" She shouted, stomping her foot.
"If that thing catches all of us here with three emeralds, no one is getting out of here." Shadow yelled, "Sonic get her out of here,"
The blue hedgehog gritted his teeth; he didn't like this plan at all. "C'mon, hate to say it but he's right; let's go before it gets here."
"I'm not going to let you kill yourself!" Mina screamed. She snatched her arm away from Sonic who had tried to pull her away, "You act like you have nothing to lose, is that what you think?"
He frowned. He pulled the side back on the gun and let it snap back in place, "I don't," He said, "Now leave before that thing gets here."
"No!"
"Mina he's not gonna move; he's trying to help us, just let him," Sonic pleaded knowing Shadow wasn't going to back down, "Tails get Amy and fly as far as you can, try not to be on the ground too long."
The fox nodded as he took Amy's hand. He only got as far as the door when she got cement feet, "Shadow; don't do this." She said quietly.
The purr was louder, "Shadow just come with us, leave the damn emeralds!" Amy pleaded walking towards him.
"And then what? Leave 'em just so that can hunt us down and kill everyone in the way?" Shadow turned around and faced them;
"Why do you act like you have nothing to lose?" Mina shouted, closing the three foot gap.
Shadow gave one hard look at the blue hedgehog on his left. Sonic knew what to do;
"Let's go Tails, Amy c'mon we gotta go." He started walking towards the door.
Amy looked lost, "What about Mina—" Sonic grabbed her arm and yanked her away. "Shadow be careful!" She shouted as Sonic zoomed away with her. Tails started running and flew off after them.
The yellow mongoose stared at the ebony hedgehog before her. He stood up straight, his eyes locked with hers. His frown faded into a straight line. Her blue-green eyes kept him looking at her; he couldn't look away.
"I'm not leaving without you," She frowned.
"Why can't just leave me alone?" He asked, his mind mixing up thoughts with speech.
"Because, I-I—I don't want to lose you," She felt her cheeks flush with heat. "You think you don't have anything to lose…but…I do…" She looked away, "I don't want lose you…please just come with us." She took his empty hand, lacing her fingers with his.
He gently broke their laced hands, "Mina," He hated her for this. She was breaking that barrier he never anyone pass. It was a wall that blocked off anything that could make him feel again, "Go." He finally managed to say.
She gave him serious look, "No," She grabbed his hand again and gripped it, "I'm not leaving without you; we're in this together."
"Why are you doing this? Why can't just get I through your head that—"
"—because Shadow," She paused, "I love you." She flushed as she finally said it, "And I'm not going let you die like this." He stared at her at with big eyes;
'Why now…of all times for this to come up, why the hell does it have to be now.' He froze as he took in her words, 'Love…Maria spoke of it once; she made it sound good. Two types she said; family and 'love' love. Knuckles said it was load of crap—hypocrite. What do I say back—I don't know what to say. I mean she's beautiful but I don't want to break her heart…cause I know I will—no matter how much I don't want to. Do I say the truth?'
(Same time)
Rouge slurped the water. She swallowed another gulp and rested;
"C'mon, that thing was right behind us when it roared," Knuckles said frustrated, "Why the hell are we taking a water break?" He seemed slightly paranoid.
"Because I'm exhausted, I just fought for my life in case you forgot!" She took a deep breath and started walking, "C'mon we'll walk it from here."
'I can't believe I'm actually following her…but then again I can't just leave her. I can let her get killed—no I'm caring about her, its just moral thing.' He argued within his thoughts.
They were about six feet away from each other as they walked. Rouge led him through the sides of the park, looking back once in while.
Three minutes into their walking from the halfway point one of the trees rustled. A clear figure jumped in front of Knuckles; it immediately upper cut him. The crimson echidna flew back four feet from the surprise blow. He groaned as he opened his eyes, the Assassin picked him up by his throat and used his other arm to reach behind his ribs. He grabbed a staff; it was about two feet. He gripped it harshly and the top and bottom extended about two more feet. The ends grew one arrow point with four big long curved teeth; the staff was six feet long. The extensions grew small curved spikes randomly on the silver extensions.
It was cloaked; as was the staff. It made itself visible, growling as it neared the large arrow tip in between their close faces.
Knuckles gritted his teeth as the burning pain in his arm returned with rage. He groaned as the purred in his face; he could clearly see its yellow assassin mark; he wondered why it was doing this.
"You got five seconds to let go of him before I kick your head off!" The white bat had her body turned slightly as if charging her kick. She flapped her wings powerfully to keep her body up in the air.
The assassin turned his torso and head and looked at her.
"Let go of him," She glared and growled, "Now!"
The fierce creature let his grip go and dropped the echidna. Its gun made a small buzzing sound as it turned slightly and aimed at her. His two dual blades rushed out making her flinch in the air;
'Great, I should have known…now I got three things ready to kill me; that gun, the blades, and that staff. Just my luck…' She frowned as she planned her next movements.
"Now Rouge!" Knuckles shouted as he ran behind it. Using the form of the armor and body he ran up its back and used his good arm a forced the gun to turn. Instantly his glove heated quickly; he let go as a bright red plasma ball shot out of the small caliber gun.
Surprised by the action the assassin fired his gun. He growled as he grabbed an arm behind his shoulder and threw Knuckles forward. Rouge kicked it in the chest cracking the armor there and sending it stumbling and falling back.
It got up as if nothing happened. It threw the rod at Knuckles, aiming at his chest. Knuckles dodged to the side but it caught the side of his arm; the curved spikes cut through the side of the arm. It ripped the cloth off and renewed the wound, carrying the red blood on them and led more into the air on the floor;
"Shit!" He groaned gripping the reopened wound, "Arrgh, the same damn place!" His eye twitched as the pain came back with vengeance.
The assassin extended his arm as he watched Rouge run to his aid. His hand fisted as he fired a net from a small hole just above the blade on his gauntlet. Four points wrapped around her and took her in the net's flight. They locked together at one point, her body curved into a fetal position as the net's force was overwhelming. She felt it tighten greatly and she felt the wire cut through her soft exposed arms and slice through her jumpsuits knee cover. Suddenly it stopped;
"Rarrrr…" It growled walking towards Knuckles.
Rouge began to tear in her uncomfortable and painful position. She watched as it changed its decision and walk to her. It grabbed the locked points of the net dragged her towards Knuckles. It picked her up by them and held her in the air in front of him;
It purred as it reached around its back; it came back cradling the red Chaos Emerald.
"Let her go!" Knuckles growled.
The assassin shook its head and shook the arm with the Chaos Emerald. It made him focus on it. Then he shook Rouge gently. He pointed at the emerald with its head then Rouge; his fingers loosened on the emerald and made the peace sign; it meant 2.
Knuckles understood its purpose, "Let her go…" He didn't want to give into its horrible blackmail.
It pointed to the ground; Rouge's blood dripped down into a little puddle on the ground. Knuckles gritted his teeth; the assassin tucked his emerald back under the guns shoulder holster.
"Knuckles don't tell him!" Rouge saw what the thing was forcing him to do, "Don't worry about me—"
The thing snorted and used its free and extended its blade. He brought close to her curved body and threatened to stab in her trapped condition.
"Alright, alright!" Knuckles growled, he slowly approached him, "Just let her go."
The creature placed Rouge down gently. He looked at Knuckles and pointed at the net; using his hands he laced his and brought them together tightly. He did it again and point to the net.
He was showing Knuckles what the net did. The echidna could only grit his teeth, "Rwar." It purred as it pointed to its gauntlet; he opened the top cover and pressed a few buttons.
"What are you doing—" It growled suddenly cutting him off.
Two lasers shot forth in between their four foot gap. They moved quickly and slowly began to outline a map of the city. The thing pointed at the three dimensional model of the entire city. Then it pointed at itself, Knuckles and Rouge. Then at the side of the red lined map; it was pointing a park.
Grounding his teeth again, Knuckles nodded.
"R-r-lie-r." It tried to say to him, "R-an-r-d." It made a 'slit the throat' gesture with its throat and pointed at him and then Rouge.
Knuckles understood its poorly growled words.
'Damn, why can't these things be stupid and barbaric?' Knuckles paused before he moved his hand.
"Knuckles don't!" Rouge yelled.
Underneath his mask the assassin's mandibles tapped the buttons underneath.
Rouge's eyes widened as she felt the net tighten. She gritted her teeth and whimpered a little as she felt the sharp wires cut deeper. She felt them slice into one of her long sensitive ear; she couldn't help but scream.
"Stop!" Knuckles pleaded while gripping his arm. The net's whirling stopped, but Rouge continued to cry quietly. The thing pointed at the holographic map.
Knuckles studied the area; he felt so bad doing this. He looked for Tails' home. Once found he pointed at it;
"Three," He gritted through his teeth.
That's Chap 3; yeah boy, hoped you liked it.
Peace, I'm out!