[ALERT! DEFENSES HAVE BEEN BREACHED! INCOMING EGG-FORCES!"]
"Egg-Forces...?" Rizotto murmured in confusion.
"Another raid!" Tangle clicked her tongue and spun on her heel, dashing deeper into the village. Jewel yelped in surprise as she watched Tangle run off.
"T-Tangle! Hold on!" Jewel called out, but to no avail. The lemur was already gone.
Rizotto frowned, and turned towardw the beetle. "Jewel, find somewhere safe to hide until everything calms down. I'll go after Tangle."
Jewel couldn't even refute. The moment she opened her mouth, Rizotto had already left in a burst of speed that left the beetle stunned. She worriedly glanced in the direction of where her friends had run off, before hurriedly flying into her musuem and slamming the doors shut to find supplies to barricade her doors and windows.
Rizotto ran through the streets as he followed Tangle's ki. Explosions shook the earth, but he didn't stop his pace. He could hear the screams. Both frightful and agonized, and sped up. Bearing witness to plumes of smoke and fire billowing into the air and darkening the skies. The Earthling turned a sharp corner and saw Tangle deliver a flying kick to an orange egg-shaped robot that aimed a blaster at an Islander couple. While it didn't go flying, it stumbled, it's shot being thrown off and impacting the wall.
Tangle slipped under a swipe and used her tail to throw the Egg-Pawn off balance. Wrapping her tail around it, she threw it with all her might, slamming it against a building. The metal dented and sparks flew from the damaged circuitry. She turned towards the couple and smiled. "Make your way to safe shelter near the medical bay! Hurry!"
The couple nodded, though their eyes widened and they pointed behind the lemur. She blinked in surprise to see a Buzz-Bomber aim it's stinger at her, preparing to fire. Just before it could, a ball of energy slammed into it and exploded, destroying it in an instant.
Tangle's eyes widened as she looked down the street to see Rizotto with a hand outstretched, smoke billowing from his palm. He rushed over and looked at the couple seriously. "Get to the shelter. Now."
They shakily nodded and scurried to their feet before running off. Tangle stared at Rizotto in surprise. "How did you...?"
"I'll explain later. Give me a run down on the way, there's a lot more people to save." Rizotto said, breaking out into a sprint and dashing down the street.
"Uh--right!" Tangle nodded and quickly followed after him, running up to his side. "We've been experiencing a lot of raids from Empire forces for the past couple of weeks. We've set up a local militia with help from the Resistance and have been able to hold them off for a while. But this seems to be the biggest one yet."
"I see." Rizotto nodded slowly. He'd been told about the Eggman Empire. Founded and led by the maniacal Doctor Eggman, a renowned genius, possibly the smartest man in this dimension's Earth, hellbent on conquering it in the name of total and utter world domination.
It disgusted Rizotto. But also scared him. Tangle said that the mad doctor had almost succeeded, having started a full scale war against the entire globe. Going as far as to defeat Earth's most renowned hero, Sonic. Rizotto would dare say Eggman had intelligence comparable to Trunks' mother, Bulma Briefs. It made him wonder what would have happened if Bulma went rogue. The woman was capable of creating a time machine, after all.
Shaking his head, he and Tangle reached the plaza in a couple of minutes to see the local militia holding down the line and bringing injured civilians to safety. Rizotto and Tangle shared a look, and nodded. No words needed to be said. They only moved.
Rizotto rushed in first, slamming a fist into an Egg-Pawn, carrying enough force to send it flying through the air. Tangle's tail shot forward like lightning, coiling around the damaged robot like a snake. With a flex of her tail, she threw it into a group of badniks, setting off a chain-explosion that rocked the earth with a violent shockwave.
Rizotto weaved around several lasers fired in his general direction, bursting forward and slamming his palm into one Egg-Pawn. The armor dented and warped around his strike, and he ducked low to avoid the swing of another, before sweeping it off it's feet and roundhouse kicking it into a Moto-Bug.
Tangle flipped around two Moto-Bugs, twirling through the air and delivering a spin kick to a Buzz-Bomber just as it opened fire. As crashed into the ground, it's blast careened off to the side and exploded against the two Moto-Bugs that she had avoided. Catching a large chunk of stray shrapnel with her tail, she hurled it at another Egg-Pawn like a javelin, the jagged piece of metal tearing straight through and impaling itself into the street below.
A dog Islander dressed in the Resistance militia uniform screamed in fear as EggRobo aimed it's firearm at him. Just as it was about open fire, Rizotto swooped in and uppercutted it into the air before firing off a ki blast to finish it off. The Earthling pumped ki into his legs and blurred with motion as he picked up the defenseless Islander and took them to safety.
Tangle whooped as she threw more badniks into each other, rolling out of the way of several laser blasts and lashing her tail out. Grapping four Egg Pawns, she gripped her tail with both hands and tugged, constricting the badniks' movements and increasing the pressure as their metal began to dent and crack, circuitry began to fry and spark, and the badbiks exploded, damaging her tail in the process.
Tangle sucked in a deep breath and restrained the urge to scream, a strained grin crossing her lips as she thrusted her fists up in victory. "Woo!... ow. Woo, and ow!"
Rizotto was at her side in an instant, glancing at her tail. "You gonna be okay?"
"Psh," Tangle laughed and waved off his concerns with a shake of her tail. "I've had worse injuries!"
As the badniks began to swarm them from all sides, both fighters tensed and entered their own respective stances as they prepared to fight. Rizotto paused however, as his senses picked up on a specific ki signature.
"Heads up!"
A blue blur burst into the scene with speeds that Rizotto had trouble being capable of even tracking, crashing against the badniks and clearing the way in an instant. They exploded in unison, illuminating the plaza in a hot orange glow, and revealing their mysterious ally. Tangle gasped in shock and restrained a squeal. Rizotto's confusion grew.
Skidding across the ground was a hedgehog Islander with cobalt quills, triangle ears and vibrant emerald eyes; with a peach colored muzzle, arms, and stomach. Only wearing a pair of white gloves and red shoes with white socks, straps, and a golden buckle on each shoe.
Sonic the Hedgehog smirked confidently and glanced over his shoulder. "Hope you don't mind if I crash the party!"
"OmigoshitsSonic." Tangle mumbled with wide eyes.
Rizotto's eyes widened as he turned his attention back to the blue hedgehog. "You're Sonic?"
"The one and only!" Sonic grinned, thumbing the bottom of his nose. "Heard of me?"
"A bit." Rizotto smiled and clenched his fists as they were once again swarmed by several badniks. "I think we should save the small talk for later."
"You read my mind!" Sonic started stretching with a smirk, glancing at the two with a playful gleam in his eyes. "Think you two can keep up?"
Rizotto sent a smirk right back. "More than."
Tangle shook off her excitement and clashed her fist against her palm. "I've been fending off the odd raids for a while now! This? Piece of cake!"
"Then let's do it to it!"
The three split off with equal synergy. Tangle would wrap her tail around several badniks to trip them up and launch them at other robots, leaving them open for Sonic and Rizotto take pot shots. The hedgehog sped around the battlefield, curling up into a spin-dash and tearing straight through the badniks like wet tissue paper. Rizotto worked with Tangle, as she sent badniks into the air, he destroyed them in one fell swoop with his punches.
Several EggRobos lined up and aimed their sights on the three heroes. As they opened fire, they all leaped out of the way. Sonic curled into a ball and revved himself up before rocketing off and slamming into two. Tangle snapped her tail out, which Rizotto latched onto. She tugged, spinning around and launching the Earthling at the armed robots with all of her strength.
Rizotto twisted through the air and crashed into an EggRobo with a flying kick, using it as a launchpad to avoid a barrage of bullets from two more. He outstretched both arms and fired two more ki blasts. He was doing his best to conserve his energy and not using too many flashy techniques. He didn't want to overexert himself, especially when he was nowhere near his complete strength at the moment.
Sonic skid to a stop and dusted his hands off, humming. "The random gangs are starting get more organized. This is crazy. I'm gonna have to look into this."
Rizotto arched a brow. "They weren't like this before?"
Sonic shook his head. "Nah. The last attacks were far less chaotic and uncoordinated. This is a whole different ball game."
Tangle clenched her fists with a tight frown. "Big, big Moto Bugs! 12 o' clock!"
The two boys turned around respectively to see three large Super Badniks in the form of Moto Bugs menacingly roll towards them. Sonic let out a low whistle and Rizotto blinked owlishly and surprise.
"They're pulling up all the stops, huh?" Sonic grinned.
"You wouldn't happen to have any advanced guard from the Resistance with you?" Tangle smiled nervously.
Sonic laughed in turn. "Heh, nah! Just me! Pretty sure they're all busy with their own agendas!"
"Lovely." Tangle muttered dryly, sweat-dropping. "Split them 50-50?"
"Divide and conquer?" Rizotto mused, before nodding. "Sounds like a plan!"
Sonic nodded in agreement. "Sure!" then he smirked. "If you can keep up!"
"We've done that so far, haven't we?" Rizotto quipped with a smile, only to tense. "This energy..."
A powerful wave of fire descended from the heavens and engulfed the Super Moto Bugs in a dense wall of intense heat. Heat so intense that Rizotto found himself wincing and working up a sweat. The sheer potency of energy he felt within the flames was staggering, equal to Sonic's own power, although like hedgehog's, and to an extent, himself, he could tell it was being suppressed.
The Super Moto Bugs were incinerated by the heat. Amidst the flames, a silhouette slowly stepped out, her form illuminated with orange hues. It was a female cat Islander, with lavender fur and golden eyes, a small black nose, and a stark white muzzle. She had triangular shaped ears, and a long tail, the tip flared outwards a colored a deep violet. Donning a purple tailcoat with rose trim, a gold collar, and white leggings, with matching gloves with fluffy cuffs and high-heeled shoes.
The feline looked around seriously for a moment, her golden irises glowing ambiently in unison with the smoldering flames. Rizotto noted with awe how her ki was that of fire, as though her very soul was comprised of nothing but undying flame. It was a sight to behold, seeing such a unique ki signature.
"Woah..." Rizotto and Tangle mumbled in unison.
Sonic grinned and waved. "Awh, yeah! Yo, Blaze!"
The cat, Blaze, turned towards Sonic and a small smile crossed her lips as she dismissed the flames and stepped forward. "Ah, Sonic! You are here. I knew I sensed a familiar presence..." she turned towards the smoldering scrap metal behind here. "I assume these were Eggman's robots?"
"Emphasize on were." Sonic smirked softly, rubbing the bottom of his nose. He blinked, and then snapped his finger. "Hey, I'd love to catch up, but we're in a bit of a pickle right now. Think you can lend us a hand?"
Blaze blinked for a moment, before smiling and igniting her fists with fire. "It would be my pleasure."
Sonic pumped his fist with a grin as both he and Blaze charged into battle. Tangle could only watch on helplessly from the sidelines as she watched the two heroes fight. She was snapped out of her reverie by a nudge from Rizotto, who smirked at her for a moment and rushed on ahead. "Can't let them have all the fun, now can we?"
Tangle stared on dumbly for a second before grinning and nodded, running alongside the Earthling. Blaze thrusted her hand out and eviscerated a platoon of badniks with a tornado of fire. Sonic flew overhead and before a series of Homing Attacks on several Egg Pawns, EggRobos, and Buzz Bombers. A large tank was deployed and went to open fire on Blaze. The feline's ear twitched as she whirled around to see two large missiles fly towards her.
Rizotto blurred in front of her much to her shock, snapping outwards with a kick and palm strike that sent the missiles spinning through the air wildly and exploding against the ground. Tangle wrangled up several more badniks from behind, tugging her tail and launching them through the air. The tank lined up another shot, but Tangle wrapped her tail around the base and jerked it to the size before leaping on top and pushing down on the cannons.
The cannons opened fire, promptly blowing the tank to smitherens. The lemur nimbly flipped through the air and landed on her feet, before grinning at Blaze and flashing her a thumbs up before rushing in to help with Sonic. The cat was stunned, broken out of her shock by Rizotto who grabbed her wrist and spun her out of the way of bulletfire.
The two shared a look and smiled. Rizotto spun faster and let go. The gathered momentum sent Blaze careening towards a horde of EggRobos. She wreathed her body in cosmic fire and spun like a flaming tornado, burning through the metal and destroying them with ease. She swiftly followed up with two massive fire balls towards two more Super Badniks that were destroyed, incinerating them in a violent explosion.
The four continued their fight against the army of badniks. But a problem quickly arose. The more they defeated them, the more badniks that replaced them. A issue Blaze was quick to point out with a tense frown. "I'm afraid to say the four of us aren't enough."
Sonic jogged over, blinking. "The town militia is out there, though."
"That isn't the problem." Rizotto frowned, exhaling harshly and taking in another breath. "They just keep refilling their ranks the more we take them out. If this keeps up, we'll run out of energy before we can finish the job."
Blaze nodded in agreement, and Tangle frowned in worry. "So, what do we do?"
Blaze cupped her chin in thought. "We must take out the source of the army..."
Tangle blinked, and palmed her fist. "Oh! The battleship!" noticing the three's confusion, she pointed off to the distance to show a massive Buzz Bomber deploying badniks into the city from a large hatch. "It's been dispatching badniks since the start of the raid!"
Sonic scratched the back of his head, squinting. "Little beefier than the drop ship me n' Amy took out." he glanced at Blaze. "Blaze, can you make it up there?"
Blaze grimaced, folding her arms over her chesy. "Far too high. It's too out of range for me... my flight capabilities are not that strong."
Rizotto stared at the Buzz Bomber with a squint. After a moment of silence, he nodded and stepped forward. "I'll take care of it."
Sonic blinked, raising a brow. "How're you even gonna make it up there? Too high up."
Blaze frowned. "Even then, there are far too many badniks contained within for you to handle. Even if you somehow managed to make it up there, you'd be overwhelmed quickly."
Tangle frowned nervously, scratching the back of her head. "They've got a point."
"This is lightwork." Rizotto said easily, rolling his shoulders and popping his neck, before shooting Tangle an easy-going smile. "Or have you forgotten?"
The lemur's eyes widened in reallization. Sonic and Blaze's confusion brew, as Rizotto closed his eyes and took in a slow, deep breath. He looked within himself, and called upon his ki. Their eyes widened as a veil of white energy seeped from Rizotto's skin, rippling across his body like water before it roared, and a raging inferno of white encompassed the Earthling's body.
Rizotto's eyes snapped open, and he bent his legs. Blasting off with enough force to kick off a powerful shockwave that forced Sonic, Tangle, and Blaze to cover their eyes, Rizotto soared towards the drop ship and smiled at the feeling of the wind brushing past his face. He flexed his hands and came to a stop as he reached the dropship.
"Time to say goodbye." Rizotto muttered under his breath, balls of ki forming in both his hands. They started off small, but soon began to grow in size as he drew upon more of his energy. He grimaced, as he felt his reserves plummet, but he trudged, and thrusted his hands outward. "HA!"
Two beams of ki slammed straight through the drop ship, rupturing the interior and destroying any other badnik before it could be deployed. Setting off a chain reaction the caused the entirety of the ship and the surrounding aerial forces to explode in a brilliant explosion of blinding light. Rizotto lowered his hands and let out a tired breath, staggering in the air before plummeting outright.
"Rizotto!" Tangle shouted in alarm, her tail shooting forward to catch the boy. She gently set him down and rushed over to help him up. Sonic and Blaze made their way over.
"You okay, man?" Sonic frowned in light concern.
"... Yeah." Rizotto took in a breath, shaking his head and standing on his own two feet. "Just... took a lot more out of me than I expected."
"Well it got the job done, I'd say." Blaze arched a brow in surprise as she saw stray debris and shrapnel plummet from the skies and crash harmlessly to the ground. She looked towards Rizotto with a look of intrigue. "Quite the power you have."
Rizotto smiled helplessly, shrugging his shoulders. Sonic let out a sigh and laughed, clapping his hands together. "Right! So, 'bout time for introductions, yeah? Blaze, this is Tangle and Rizotto. They're locals!" he pointed towards the two, who waved. Blaze nodded in greeting and then jabbed a thumb towards the feline. "Guys, this is Blaze! She's a princess from another dimension called tbe Sol Dimension, and guardian of the Sol Emeralds. Think of them like Chaos Emeralds... but fiery."
"It is much deeper than that, but I digress." Blaze huffed, folding her arms and rolling her eyes playfully.
Tangle and Rizotto blinked owlishly.
Rizotto tilted his head to the side. "What's a Chaos Emerald?"
Tangle palmed her fist in realization. "So she's like Rizotto! Cool!"
That caused Sonic and Blaze to back track, whirling to face Rizotto. The Earthling once again smiled helplessly, laughing softly. "Long story."
Sonic snickered and scratched the back of his ear with a dubious look. "Heh. I bet! But, there's still a lot of ground to cover." he placed a hand on his hip and glanced towards Blaze. "Like, what're ya doin' here? Vacation?"
"Hardly." Blaze closed her eyes and shook her head, sighing. "The Sol Emeralds warned me a grave calamity befalling the world. I came to help as fast as I could."
"You're about 7 months late."
"So I--wait, what?" Blaze's jaw dropped in confusion. Rizotto and Tangle restrained a snort of amusement at the cat's expression.
"Yeah. Egghead held me prisoner. Took over the world. Y'know the drill." Sonic shrugged with a laid-back grin.
"WHAT?!"
"No biggie, though. Friends busted me out and we kicked his butt real good. Things are all good, now!"
Blaze blinked owlishly and released a light sigh, smiling in exasperation. "I... I see."
Sonic's grin took on a sheepish look. "Heh. Sorry."
Blaze shook her head, placing her hands on her hips. "No. It's quite alright. The Sol Emeralds warned me of a danger, and something tells me it runs beyond this... war. Something is brewing."
Rizotto crossed his arms, cocking a brow. "So these... Sol Emeralds. They speak to you regularly?"
"They are not chatty," Blaze admitted, closing her eyes and cupping her chin. "And they don't speak, as much as they show me visions... but I was shown something. Chaos, and darkness. Something bad is coming. So I shall remain here, until my mission is complete."
While that vision thing was foreboding, Sonic let it roll off his body like water mixing with oil, smirking and snapping finger guns at the pyrokinetic feline. "Knew we could count ya!"
Blaze smiled at Sonic, before turning towards Tangle and Rizotto. "In the meantime though. Your village has several fires that are spreading. I will do my best to tame the flames."
Tangle gasped, pumping her fists with a broad grin. "You! Are! Awesome! I'll lead the way."
Blaze turned back to Sonic. "I wish you luck ln your endeavors, Sonic."
"Cya, Sonic!" Tangle waved and jogged deeper into town, with Blaze right behind her.
Rizotto watched the two girls walk off and peered back over to Sonic. "Where you heading next?"
"Eh," Sonic shrugged his shoulders, smiling. "I go where the wind takes me! Got a notification from the Chaotix about something, though. So I may check that out. You?"
Rizotto stuffed his hands in his pockets and closed his eyes, shrugging. "... I don't know. I guess I'll stay here with Tangle. Help around."
Sonic hummed, rubbing the bottom of his chin and nodding to himself. He grinned. "Well, you kicked some mad robo-butt back there! If I knew any better, I would have thought you've done this before."
"I've had my fair share of battles." Rizotto smirked, "Who knows. We may be fighting together again soon."
"Lookin' forward to that!" Sonic shot Rizotto a thumbs up. "I'll be seein' ya around, Rizo!"
"Rizo?"
"New nickname! Like it?"
"... Heh." Rizotto laughed, shaking his head. "It'll take some getting used to."
Both teens shared a small laugh, looking up towards the skies. Soon enough, Sonic nodded to himself and spun on his heel. "Well, I better get going. Nice meetin' ya!"
"See you." Rizotto wave.
The Earthling closed his eyes as a buffet of wind hit his face. He opened his eyes to see the hedgehog long gone, only leaving a large trail of dust behind. Rizotto smiled, his hair swaying in the wind as he shook his head and turned to catch up with Tangle and Blaze.
"I think you would have liked him, Goku."
[SAGE]
Rizotto folded his arms behind his head as he watched Blaze and Tangle move from building to building. Blaze utilized her pyrokinesis to extinguish the flames while Tangle gushed and talked animatedly to the cat. Blaze in particular tried to weather the lemur's enthusiasm as best she could. Rizotto found the interaction frankly adorable. In a way, it reminded him of when he interacted with one of his mentors.
...
Rizotto took in a deep, calming breath. The missions he'd been sent on by Trunks and the Supreme Kai of Time had been going smoothly so far. But everything was still so... startling. The escalation of the battles proved to be growing streneous on the young Earthling. Something the Kai of Time took keen noticed of. It was then suggested that the boy take apprenticeship under one of history's strongest warriors.
Which led to him standing in the middle of the courtyard, nervous.
"I wonder who's gonna teach me..." Rizotto mumbled, glancing around with a frown.
"So you're the kid."
Rizotto jumped with a yelp and whirled around to see an older woman standing before him, with blonde hair styled in a bob cut and sharp cobalt eyes boring into his own. She wore a black shirt with sleeves snd black stripes, dark blue denim jeans and a pair of brown boots. The woman stepped forward and squinted, humming.
"So far, I'm not impressed."
Rizotto's expression became pinched. "Who... who are you? Why couldn't I sense you?"
The woman snorted. "Never met an Android before, kid? Ah, it doesn't matter." she brushed off his confusion and shrugged her shoulders. "You can call me 18. Everyone does. Now c'mon. That Supreme Kai of Time is willing to pay me a hefty sum in exchange for toughening you up."
No. 18 clapped a hand on Rizotto's shoulder, a chill ran up his spine at the tight grip she placed on him. His eyes widened at her dangerous smirk, and she began dragging him along. "Now. come on. If you disappoint me I'm not gonna hold back in kicking your ass."
.
.
.
"HUH?!"
...
Rizotto smiled and shook his head as he glanced towards the pair, walking over as Blaze snuffed out another burning building. "How's things going over here?"
"Ah... Rizotto, yes?" Blaze blinked. "Things are--"
"--going GREAT!" Tangle beamed, pumping her fists. "Blaze was just telling me about the Sol Dimension! It sounds amazing!"
Blaze sighed in exasperation, but smiled at the lemur's energy; nodding her head. "We were just making small talk. This should be the last house."
Tangle nodded gratefully. "Right. Thanks a lot, Blaze. You just saved us a whole lot of damage."
"Think nothing of it." Blaze smiled kindly, placing a hand upon her chest. "I have no problem helping others."
"Although," Blaze turned to Rizotto, arching a brow. "I hope you don't mind if I ask a few questions?"
Rizotto blinked in surprise, and slowly nodded. "Yeah, sure. I don't mind. What's up?"
"Tangle mentioned that you were from another dimension... is this true?" Blaze asked, her expression becoming a tad embarrassed. "I admit, I am aware of the existence of parallel dimensions, but it's rare to see others intertwine and interact with one another. Especially without the power to do so."
Rizotto scratched the back of his head, humming. "Eh, well. I didn't come here of my own volition."
Blaze cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?"
Tangle chimed in with a grin. "He fell out of a portal after fighting a God!"
Blaze's eyes widened and her brows rose, as she slowly craned her head in Rizotto's direction. A bead of sweat rolled down the Earthling's forehead and he sheepishly smiled. "More of a guy posing as a God. But yeah. I fought a really strong opponent and ended up getting dragged into this dimension. Been hanging around Spiral Hill for a couple of weeks, now."
"I see..." Blaze hummed, curiosity flashing in her eyes. "What is your dimension like?"
Rizotto paused, as he looked up towards in thought. "It's... kind of similar to this one, honestly. No short of maniacal madmen hell bent on taking over the world or the other. There's always something bad rearing it's head." he smiled. "But, it's one of the best places to be. A lot of exotic and wonderful places to explore. Amazing people to meet, and strong opponents to challenge. It's home."
He smiled sadly. "... no other place like it."
Blaze and Tangle frowned in sympathy, with the lemur placing a quiet hand on his shoulder and giving him a reassuring squeeze, while Blaze bowed her head. "I apologize. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."
"Nah, it's fine." Rizotto shook his head. "Really. I'm just a bit homesick. But, so far, this place has been pretty cool. Tangle's awesome at welcoming new guests." he teased, and the lemur laughed bashfully in response. He gave Blaze a respectful nod. "Thank you, though."
Blaze nodded back, cupping her chin. Then she blinked. "Ah, yes... one finally thing."
Rizotto blinked. "Hm?"
"That power you showcased." Blaze frowned. "What... was it? It felt, distinctly familiar. Like how I'd tap into the power of the Sol Emeralds, but..."
"OH! Yeah! I've never saw anyone shoot lasers out of their hands, before." Tangle waved her hands about wildly, beaming. "How'd you do all of that?"
"Well..." Rizotto scratched the back of his neck and let out an exasperated huff. While he was still tired from the battle, if he didn't do anything too strenous, he couldn't see the harm.
Rizotto held up a handle, and conjured a small ball of ki in his palm. "I used ki."
""Ki...?"" Tangle and Blaze muttered in confusion, with the lemur slowly reaching forward to touch the ball of light.
He dismissed it before she could touch it, earning a pout from the girl. "Basically, it's life energy. Plants, animals, Islanders, Humans, we all have it... and we can all use it. My friends and I are skilled practioners in the art of ki. That's how I fired off those energy blasts."
Tangle's eyes sparkled. "Woah..."
"I see..." Blaze cupped her chin in thought. "This ki... it sounds familiar to Sol Energy, the life blood of my people, and the source of power sealed within the Sol Emeralds. Holding the power of the cosmos within. Those able to harness are gifted untold power... this doesn't sound too different." her ears twitched, and her brows furrowed. "Except..."
"Ki doesn't require any gems or anything like that." Rizotto supplied, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Though it does require loads of physical conditioning and spiritual training to bring out one's ki. But if you do, you're bound to get way stronger."
Blaze nodded and smiled softly at Rizotto. "How interesting... I thank you for answering my questions, Rizotto." the feline peered off in the distance, watching the sun begin to set, she closed her eyes and exhaled. "Well. I best be off... I have a long road ahead of me, and there are other people that will require my help."
Rizotto nodded, smiling. "Right. It was an honor to meet you, Princess."
Blaze huffed out a chuckle. "Please. You can just call me Blaze."
Rizotto grinned sheepishly in response. "My bad."
Tangle beamed brightly and shook Blaze's hand. "Bye, Blaze! Make sure to come visit!"
Blaze laughed softly and nodded. "I'll be sure to. Be safe, the both of you."
The feline waved goodbye, and was shrouded in a veil of fire. A tornado of flame shot into the skies; and Rizotto and Tangle watched as the pillar of fire flew off into the distance. The two stood there in silence, before Tangle let out a calming sigh and grinned. "Well, today was exciting, that's for sure!"
"Could say that again." Rizotto huffed, scratching the back of his head.
"So~" Rizotto made a noise of confusion as he turned to Tangle, who folded her arms behind her back and smiled innocently. "This ki thing... anyone can use it?"
"Yeah..?"
"And you use that to fly?"
"If they train hard enough, yes." Rizotto nodded, blinking in confusion. As he stared at Tangle more, the realization clicked and he arched a brow. "... you wanna learn?"
"YES!" Tangle latched on immediately with s giddy grin, but quickly dialed back and coughed into her fist. "Uh--I mean. If it wouldn't be too mucb trouble."
Rizotto snorted before scratching the underside of his chin. "... Well. I've never taught anyone before. But it wouldn't hurt to try. You're a pretty decent fighter. Who knows? Maybe you'll catch on quicker than most?"
"So that's a yes?" Tangle leaned in with a wide smile and starry eyes.
Rizotto leaned back in surprise, before smiling and nodding. "... I guess so, yeah."
"YES!" Tangle bounced on the balls of her feet and pumped her fists excitedly. "Awh, yeah! Watch out, world! Your girl Tangle is about to learn how to fly!"
Rizotto laughed in amusement at Tangle's seemingly never-ending energy, folding his arms behind his head and walking down the street. "Let's go check on Jewel, yeah?"
"Okay~!" Tangle said cheerily, practically skipping down the street.
Rizotto snorted. What a crazy girl.
[SAGE]
Within a dark corridor, recorded footage at the battle at Spiral Hill was played on repeat. A set of eyes stared intently at the projection, focused solely on the monkey Islander dressed in blue. The eyes narrowed, and a sensual, sultry feminine voice echoed throughout the chambers.
"Interesting... how... interesting."
The eyes glowed with a menacing gleam, and veiled animosity. A low chuckle left the woman's lips as she paused the footage where Rizotto blasted apart the drop ship. "So you are here..."
"... Future Warrior."
