There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Hosea 4:2
THE LOOP
And a Conversant Upsurge
ACT 2
Red
That fucking bastard.
Groaning huskily, Sonic got a boost from the swivel stool to lift his leg and have his boot push down the table. His right palm, albeit trembly, closed around the handle and, with a violent tug, plucked out the knife through his injured hand, leaving the furniture relatively intact save for its center. Herdsmen stationed nearby didn't even notice what had just transpired, clearly enraptured in their own hedonism.
On his way out of the lounge, Sonic spat a gnawed pea with slivers at the bouncer's feet and tightened his grip around the weapon, taking a few splinters off his knuckles. He had no qualms about disguising the scowl on his face, visibly sprinkled with cuts. Unconcerned about his own condition, Sonic rejoiced in his personal victory, ambling towards the secluded restroom as innumerable droplets of blood followed his steps.
Blowflies got startled after the moldy swinging doors were abruptly pushed open. Unlike the refreshment area, the men's room looked rather grotesque on the inside. Fluorescent lights flickered as insects dispersed, flying or crawling away to hide from the newcomer's brash entrance in the wood stalls, affording them false shelter behind tilted, busted and shot down partitions.
Sonic's gloved fist, carrying a bloodied knife like would a butcher, oozed a significant trail of vital fluid down his sleeve to the warped flooring, evidently stained with body waste. The hero didn't have time to spot the vandalized walls, nor care about the plain sounds of whiffing and fornication, let alone register the unbearable stench of urine, shit and vomit in the air. He was already joining Shadow in, who eyed his daunting figure from afar, standing at one of the grimy, lined-up urinals with his cock in hand.
"Looks like I hit a nerve and you hit a vein," Sonic came to a stop at a urinal alongside Shadow's, switching the knife to his other hand, so he could flap the former and get rid of the blood excess. A few dots splattered on top of a vacant one, landing at thin lines of some white powder arranged scrupulously next to human glasses. Coincidentally, a numb scrawny rat emerged from one of the noisy stalls to relieve himself in that same urinal, oblivious to sneaky fingers reaching for the red hanky in his right pocket before he left. Sonic wrapped the cloth tightly around his slashed fist, staunching the bleeding. "Fair to middlin'," then he cleaned the knife by sliding it across his tongue, spitting a thick mixture of saliva and blood on his rival's dick just as he started peeing.
"Someone needs to be taught his place..." Shadow paid no heed to his cock, studying the insolent hedgehog through a broken rectangular mirror over the flush valves. "Did you come after your target?" he signaled to what ensued behind them with a tilt of his head.
Emerald eyes laid on the cracked reflection as he sheathed his knife. There was a busted door hanging ajar, wide enough to divulge where an inconstant male whimper and low squealing came from. Two big hogs, one wearing an apron while the other had a greasy tank top on, kept company to a human in his thirties, hunched over with his sole on the faulty toilet.
The door creaked once hit by the giant pig's elbow, having his entire fist up the heaving man's rectum, forearm shaking mid buttocks. The drooling wild boar, bruised in the arm and somewhat catatonic, leisurely scratched an itchy thigh under his bloodied apron, hooves scraping the wet floor. In that viewpoint, Sonic guessed the human's cock had to be shoved into a glory hole, considering the urgent rub of his sack against the wooden partition. Whoever sucked him from the other stall remained unknown.
"Heh, they must be speedballing," Sonic played along, incisors grazing his tongue. He kicked a used needle and its yellow-ish brown contents back to their stall with his spur, admitting those guys were indeed having a hog-killing time. "If I were to use my fist, not even you would make it," he clenched and unclenched it to send the message, coaxing his own dick out afterwards.
"Don't write checks you can't cash," Shadow retorted grimly, taking a couple of glass shards off Sonic's eye ridge and muzzle to disperse onto his member like crystal dust. "I would break your arm in one sitting."
Obvious challenge aside, his tone sounded awfully sultry in Sonic's opinion.
The rivals' parley was cut off by a dreadful coughing fit. A man dressed in an olive-green suit came out from the second stall, tripping over his own feet to head for the urinal on Sonic's left, creamed pants outing him as the mysterious cocksucker. Observing his arrival in silence, Shadow continued pissing while the human with light-brown hair rolled up a bill and hastily snorted one line of the bloodstained drug. Wiping the powder residue off his nostril to rub it on his gums, the foreigner blinked a few times and put his glasses on, lenses faintly steamed up. The restroom's lights twinkled as he brought his prick out to have a leak, gawking past the azure hedgehog to take in Shadow's face with dilated eyes.
"Hey, aren't you the famous Mr. Shadow?" his eyebrows raised when the alien looked up. "I'm Elkan. It's a pleasure to–"
The Rancher's comrade didn't get to finish his sentence, for he choked unexpectedly and threw up on his own dick into the urinal. Shadow's lip curled in disgust, reckoning the gory liquid he had inhaled perhaps contributed to the state he was in, thanks to Sonic. Hogs squealed when the putrid odor increased, making the heroes turn away from a knelt Elkan trying to loosen his tie.
Wincing over the human's predicament while unable to help, Sonic glanced at Shadow's erect tail and lighted up another cigarette, focused on the sound of their piss flowing out with a hand around the base of his cock. Despite being the bigger – but not the thicker – out of the two, he begrudgingly deemed his rival's length worthy of his title, based solely on their one-night stand. Blowing a cloud of smoke forward, Sonic felt his hole involuntarily flex at the memory of Shadow pinning his head down and fucking him relentlessly.
"Does it excite you?" asked a gruff voice, causing Sonic to retain his urine in a daze. "Staring at another man's cock while he's taking a piss."
The blue hedgehog gave the air a long sniff, opening his mouth to breath in. "Piss and beer taste just the same when you put smell aside," he patted Shadow on the back, implicitly complimenting his dick, and set his priorities right. "I thought you had a train to catch."
"Hmph. You would know it, wouldn't you?" Shadow dismissed his rival's attempt to sound philosophical, swinging his cock around before licking a thumb to scrub the bloody spit off his shaft. He only realized what Sonic was postulating after his pee stream tentatively returned. It felt tempting to retribute the stare, he couldn't lie. "Wait. What do you mean by–"
The hero smirked, well-informed.
"What's with that scar on the slit?"
Shadow froze, his pocket watch ticking down as if he were a time bomb himself. The nosy hedgehog had been leering at the tip of his member with half-lidded eyes, puffing smoke out like a damn chimney. Blowflies danced in circles above Sonic's head, forming a halo of pests – slowly driven away from his cuts by the fog. He knew exactly what scar the other was talking about, and why it never healed; why he never wanted it to.
"It's nothing to do with you, hedgehog," Shadow squashed a blowfly on his face before it got into his eye, concealing his dick from view as it receded back into its pouch.
"Circumcision gone wrong or... you into sounding, right?" Sonic let out a brief chuckle, both at Shadow's previous scorn and another fly he had chewed up and spat on the mirror, utterly aware he was heading for a fall. "What was it, an ice pick or Omega's claw? Bet your hole even winked."
Shadow went straight for his neck, palm constricting his windpipe through the wild rag.
"Since you can't resist a futile provocation, I have no choice but to strangle you," his posture emanated hostility.
"Oh, I see..." the aloof hedgehog rasped out, steadying his cigarette in the corner of his mouth, lips curved upwards. "Don't mind if I sign my own sentence," then he put the fire out by ramming it against his rival's cheek, turning the cock in his hold sideways to aim and shoot.
That motion ultimately brought Shadow to ruin, now burnt and soaked in his golden shower.
Urine stung amber-ish red eyes after Sonic sprayed his assailant, hoping the distraction would weaken the other's resolution and aid on his liberty. And it did, much to Shadow's chagrin. The hero gasped for breath as his dark counterpart shouted, consequently releasing his neck to rip the cigarette off his seared muzzle with a growl and eyes tightly shut. Drenched from head to toe, Shadow tried to find his bearings while Sonic swiftly removed most of the dust-like shards from his shaft, allowing his dick to hide into its protective sheath safely.
Truth is, the raven-black hedgehog had drunk his piss, and for some reason, Sonic could've sworn he had enjoyed its acidic taste. Whether he was right on the money or not, he wouldn't stay behind to find out. Therefore, he gave Shadow a top kick in the chest, sending him flying till he crashed against the graffiti wall, only to fall in a sitting position on the rusty faucet with his legs spread-eagled around a washbasin, placed under a scrawl saying 'No Rest for the Wicked' in uneven black letters. Engraved spurs jingled. Watch pointers moved. Elkan cleared his throat, done airing the paunch. The continuous tick-tock against the Ultimate Lifeform's rib waned step by step as he regained his sight completely.
Red pointy wings on a duster coat were the first thing Shadow saw.
An irksome, cocky grin was the last.
"You're through!" then Shadow spin-dashed away from the sink to chase after his foe.
Two flashing blurs dyed the lounge in cold and warm colors. The crowd hadn't scattered entirely after the show ended, meaning the commotion didn't go unnoticed by patrons who convinced a few dancers to indulge them exclusively instead of withdrawing. Dodging tables where painted ladies rocked it on top, Sonic snickered over his shoulder at Shadow skating behind him, up until they ran side by side in a zigzag toward an open cul-de-sac, where a gangbang comprising of fifteen guys was taking place.
Both hedgehogs shouldered the other harshly, creating a winded shock that knocked some partakers down. Sonic moved around the totem pole a bobcat with glistening round breasts was tied to, holding their caged erection like a gear lever when making a perfect U-turn to collect some rings and bring the fight to the main house. His spurs carved a crescent moon into the slippery floor, its half-loop sparkling among bodily fluids under strings of sunlight, that descended through cracks in the architecture.
Shadow didn't lose his balance, nor let the pain on his crotch slow him down, sprinting in the direction of the sunbathing cowboys to pursue Sonic on a whim. He encircled the dead-end ferociously, skating over a pile of bodies that couldn't get up and against the bare torsos of men wanking it while standing around their sacrificial bitch. Such uproar left a curved trail of wreckage in Shadow's wake, after broad shoulders and exposed private parts were stomped and scorched to raw flesh by high levels of Chaos energy, spurted through soles akin to fiery tires. The Ultimate Lifeform jabbed the tip of the bobcat's chastity belt on his way to a seltzer bottle, coercing its teary-eyed bearer to come as their suitors screamed for the heavens. Surfing on the gush of water over the bustling zone, Shadow leapt down and delivered a spin kick to his rival's backside during an announcement that turned many heads.
"...after ten whole years, they're back! The Chao Chaos!" and the whole bar was overwhelmed by an energetic, western guitar song.
Mustached Chao put on their leopard print hats and hit the chords at once, welcoming the azure hedgehog's dramatic entry. Flung across an arm wrestling table, Sonic broke its muscular competitors' grip and plunged their meaty forearms down, lurching incredibly quick before striking a house of cards that a marksman wearing a beret had just finished building. Havoc began when the teal ocelot smirked mysteriously and flipped the table over the hero, mistaken for a desperado, firing his dual, revolver-styled wispons. At last, the barroom brawl had clients scrambling for furniture to throw and unwary fuckers to clobber.
Avoiding the Cyan Laser shots, Sonic eluded Shadow's forthcoming fist with a quickstep, edged studs smashing the table behind him in half. Teeth clenched, the former swung his leg inward, not expecting Sonic to grab his chaps with both hands. Shadow hovered, igniting his boots to take flight in vain, since the other started to spin his body mid-air before hurling him over a set of bare spikes.
Grunting, the striped hedgehog lost a few rings, rather fortunate that his rifle cushioned said obstacle. The raise of a blue eye ridge and a mocking whistle increased his animosity, rousing Shadow to grip a toppled bottle by the neck and break its base against the cue rack. Sonic had caught a flying bottle of his own, cracking its bottom on a shell belonging to some drunken boxing turtle. Their sharp gazes bore into each other's amid the skirmish for a split second; the unpredictable duel a harbinger of what would be a fight to remember after Sonic mouthed a single order.
Come.
Shadow boosted forward instantly, barreling into his opponent and knocking them both down on the same pool table from before. Everything happened just how they liked it: fast. The back of Sonic's head collided with an organized cluster, its triangular formation breaking out to disperse a myriad of balls around the play field, rapidly taken and used in blows to eye sockets by bikers holding their sticks like baseball bats.
The dark hero positioned himself in-between Sonic's legs, seizing a knee that attempted to hit him in the chin. Neither broken bottle reached its destination yet, for Sonic grasped his adversary's wrist as it lunged down, while Shadow bit the leather-covered forearm across his muzzle once it shifted to smash the weapon against the side of his face. Restrained with some difficulty, the rivals applied further might into their individual strikes, watching the other struggle to contain extra pressure with an injured hand and an open jaw.
"Wow! Not bad, Shadow," Sonic said patronizingly, identifying the scent of his piss in Shadow's stinky breath. "You didn't waste a single drop."
Shadow crunched his sleeve, unbreakable fangs piercing through skin and drawing blood until a rumbling snarl was torn from the blue hedgehog. He was genuinely about to reach the muscle underneath, aiming to fracture his bones, but that would make his obvious win too easy, since tears were already emerging from the corner of Sonic's eyes – a disappointing sight to say the least.
"Don't try to butter me up," he mumbled into his flesh.
"I wasn't trying to!" then Sonic cried out, twisting his arm against Shadow's mouth.
The precipitate motion caused his teeth to slide across the limb, gashing part of the hero's sleeve and forearm before finally slipping away. Shadow didn't let the element of surprise deflect him, so at the time Sonic released his wrist in response to severe pain, he attacked. The cracked bottles exploded on each hedgehog's face avidly, slitting eye ridges along with peach and tan cheeks.
Warm beer drops and glass shards went flying in all directions as the duo tumbled down the billiard table on opposite sides, moaning post the impact of their fresh wounds hitting the floor. Antipathy fostered, Sonic ran over Shadow's body and ducked a Chaos Lance, stray amidst the contagious mayhem, snatching and flapping a roll of unused trash bags next to a cowering waiter. His grim rival darted behind the bar, pulling cobalt spines back roughly, though Sonic elbowed his nose to get the upper hand, switching their positions and taking charge of the rest.
Shadow couldn't abide being manhandled in any regard, still finding himself unable to escape Sonic's grasp after his hands were forced behind his back, wrists glued together above limiters by a duct tape within reach. The weakling beetle took courage and ran off, carrying the damaged whisky packaging on the counter when the situation got extreme. He refused to stay longer once Sonic tossed the other's fringed hat aside to put the conjoined black bags on his head, thick ends wrapped around his neck rather tightly. His patience had reached its limit, meaning he whirled Shadow by a knot – pulled up to his quills from the plastic's edge – and thumped his face so hard his head fell back, nostrils seeping a considerable amount of blood under the sack.
Wretched and furious, the dark hedgehog jerked his head side to side while raggedly sucking air into his lungs, ungloved fingers twitching to envelop his hands in Chaos energy since his oxygen intake got dangerously cut. It would've been simpler to ambush if Sonic hadn't gripped the back of his head and violently hit his face against the wall, pinning his skull with his arm on the superficial hole beyond another of the Hooligans' – Fang the Nun?! – wanted posters.
Exhaling shakily, Shadow held his breath and ripped out the tape linking his wrists, palms grabbing for Sonic's ass under the duster to fire tips of Chaos Spears into his buttocks. His blue counterpart didn't sound pleased about a shock to the system, given how he yelled and sped up Shadow's suffocation, kneeing his groin from behind over and over until his legs buckled, muffled scream outlining the shape of his mouth, hung open through the trash bag.
"Feels nice, doesn't it?" Sonic teased dryly, soothing the area with his thigh.
A mix of desperation, rage and frustration made the hedgehogs react viciously. Shadow teleported in short bursts from a chain of unbridled Chaos Snaps, bringing Sonic along while he tightened the bag to stifle the garbage he called a rival, imposing presence equivalent to a leech stuck to the weapon on his back. As they neared the mechanical bull's suspended ground, the Ultimate Lifeform was able to skate backwards and nastily wallop Sonic against a shelf, hearing vials, decanters and other glassware shatter.
Even so, the hero didn't grumble over colorful shards peeking out of his coat's design, spinning a dizzy Shadow around until the next flash made them reappear inside the padded stage. Neon lights pointed towards a pair of human and mobian women riding the machine at its center, receiving hollers and a rain of cash money. Mesmerized fellas turned a deaf ear to the generalized scuffle, watching the hookers passionately scissor over synthetic fur with nothing on but hats and boots in pink and purple.
"Room for two more?"
The interruption startled the sporting ladies, incapable of navigating the bull's unpredictable jerk. Sonic didn't mean for them to clumsily fall over, even if he had pushed the human's ass out of the way before it was crushed by Shadow's head against the machine's rear. Once a string of slick separated their cunts mid tumble, Sonic launched his rival onto the rough seat, nailing his own position in front of him by leaning slightly onward. Wearing a shit-eating grin, the hero anticipated the mechanical bull's quirks and spins while punching Shadow's face whenever it shifted, fingers preventing the bag from budging.
Naturally, the striped hedgehog threw his legs over Sonic's and wrapped his ankles around his waist, missing an adequate grip on the thing since the damp handle was squeezed between their crotches, rubbing sheaths cruelly in every rapid turn and rotation. Sonic displayed impeccable balance, especially after Shadow began headbutting him repeatedly with a palm around his nape, spines and facial features taking form through deep wrinkles in the black sack, that horny cowpokes mistook as a latex mask. Bucking the assault, the blue blur simply held on to his hat not to lose it.
It might've been the lack of oxygen, consumed to its finality, or perhaps the tightening of his abdomen could be at fault, despite its crucial role in countering the ride's motion pattern. Lightheaded, Shadow couldn't see, couldn't breathe, but his body and mind processed it all sensually, the violent and obscene; his head bumped into Sonic's until his entire form pounced to a firm peach chest, bypassing the handle with hips rolling forward, directly against his crotch.
The daredevil hedgehog laid on his back over the leather surface, eyeing the way Shadow panted and used his core strength to chase some friction. Clamping his thighs down securely, Sonic adjusted his weight once the bull dictated another change in position, challenging him to reciprocate the rutting after Shadow fell backward on the machine, blinded to the erotic circling of his loins in their hypnotic dance, for one ended where the other started.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Mastered the bull and the hedgehog, Sonic raised an arm in the air, bloodstained smile admiring the other's stubbornness to remain conscious. The erratic, smooth and vertigo-inducing moves executed in their back-and-forth aroused Shadow, wheezing and humming deliriously as they conquered whatever attraction they were fighting in. Besides the cold handle parting his asscheeks, he felt an intense open-mouthed kiss on his covered lips, foreign tongue sliding up the round gap of his maw while floating banknotes with Sonic's face grazed his limbs, further waning his focus on their stimulated groins. Upright once more, Shadow let go of Sonic's wild rag and delivered a blow to what he hoped to be his jaw, poising a risk by inserting his claws into his own mouth and madly tearing the plastic layers apart.
Freed, Shadow audibly gasped, splitting his improvised trap in half, stuck to his face like shed skin. Trained to be a weapon, it would be impossible for Sonic to land a strike on him despite his current state, reflexes sharp enough to evade any unwanted surprises. With a battle cry, the hero zeroed in on Shadow's exposed crotch and jumped, lifting his leg in a move recognized as the Sonic Eagle, a somersaulting overhead axe-kick that Shadow remembered from their battle in Emerald Town.
In a show of speed and ability, Shadow spread his legs wide over his head in a V, witnessing the force of the attack bend and part the mechanical bull in two instead. The stomp, intensified by his spiked wheel, hit just a hair's breadth away of Shadow's pouch. Smoke coming from short-circuiting wires fogged Sonic's vision at first, but once it all cleared out, he saw his rival grinning perversely, saliva dripping down bloodstained lips and thighs vulgarly open. No damage delt whatsoever.
Even worse, the guy was wielding the Shadow rifle, its barrel pointed straight to his chest. Typical.
"Aiming for my weapon?" he didn't mean the one in his hand.
The hero would look down if he hadn't been shot by a Chaos energy projectile at point-blank range, its massive recoil hardly endured. The single spear's potency blew Sonic across the circular stage and past hapless onlookers, body sailing through the air until it was knocked off the balcony on the upper level. Curled into a ball at the last minute, the azure hedgehog slithered down a loop-de-loop and dashed over a malfunctioning flipper, now launched face down on a suspicious reverend's dessert plate. The elder blasphemed when its mascarpone frosting and cocoa powder splashed over his pipe and Holy Bible, scaring the knelt choir boy – who was speaking in tongues around his adored limp dick – when a ladyfinger pastry dirtied his swashbuckling mask.
Sonic ran a hand over his sugary face till it rested on his heart, threatening to burst after absorbing the shot. He sighed when Shadow materialized himself before him, throwing the bouncer's dead body next to the priest while donning his extravagant hat, newly recovered. His frown was deadly, and so was his nose wrinkling at the tasty scent of tiramisù.
"Sorry! He's a sourpuss," Sonic told the human, whose eyes couldn't stray from the puma, not giving a damn about his rival's menacing aura.
Although he had contributed to his tachycardia.
"And what does that make you?" Shadow grappled the hero by his lapels when he tried to rise, hurling him on his back against the plum table to straddle his torso.
The striped hedgehog bluntly pushed the plate to the floor, noticing how Sonic's chest heaved wildly since the blast to his mid-section, certain he would be fine. Pinning his wrists above his head against the surface, Shadow let the flat of his tongue run harshly over his weakened rival's thorax and face like sandpaper, wiping every drop of tiramisù off his fur as the religious man sat there, petrified. Bound and unable to counter, Sonic growled at Shadow's test of his quick decision-making skills and ignored the younger dude's prayers to exorcise them, reciting lamentations about how 'the Judgment Day approaches' in another language. Nonetheless, he was mindful of rhinestones prickling his eye and nails scratching the cloth tied to a lacerated hand.
When the reverend went for his rosary beside a fork and shakily pressed it to Shadow's temple as he bit and pulled at his hidden nipple, Sonic found an opening amidst the hypocrisy. It didn't take a second for Shadow to snatch the beads from the priest's grasp and use the back of his hand to smack him across the face, leading to unconsciousness. The choir boy screamed and fled after Sonic stabbed his opponent's cheek with the fork, provoking his urge to retaliate further.
However, he didn't expect it to pierce through his oral cavity, watching Shadow remove the tool slowly and throw it away as his muzzle and gaping mouth oozed blood liberally.
"You'll regret this," the Ultimate Lifeform croaked out, eyes glowing bright crimson and hands bunched into fists. The elder's rosary was tightly wrapped around his left palm.
"...!"
Without a miraculous item box in the vicinity to save the day, Sonic had no way out of Shadow's sudden hot-tempered behavior and impromptu brass knuckles. The former made the table rumble with the number of times he pummeled Sonic's face callously, bared teeth splattered by the other's blood in his intention to disfigure and cease the yapping permanently. Survival instinct kicked in after Sonic failed to protect his face, doing anything in his power to shove Shadow out of his lap, despite the clashing throb flowing through their semi-hard mounds. The stars on the back of the dark hedgehog's gloves had Sonic seeing literal stars, ornate cross slicing and kneading an eyelid's thin skin during the frenzied sequence of punches, craving to break fangs and swell eyes.
If Sonic were anyone else, his skull would've been long smashed into a blood pool. The nonstop disruption made the table's legs give out underneath the duo, stained fists destroying tiles beyond razor-sharp quills with each powerful thwack. Punished by capable hands, Sonic dropped countless of rings before finding the reverend's possession under the debris. Shadow didn't see a heavy book being swung until it banged against the side of his muzzle, a mere blur halting such violent haze. Yelping, the Ultimate Lifeform got thrown off the wild hedgehog's crotch, palm uncurling around the bloodied rosary. He still attempted to stomp down Sonic's calf as he turned to stand, heel fruitlessly slipping on a pipe instead.
Regardless, Shadow gazed up and smirked at his labor, observing his rival fix the hat and realign his broken pointy nose while staring back down, half-boner partially hidden by the duster. Sonic wore gashes and bruises with pride, blackening eyelid marked by the exact shape of the crucifix till he opened his screwed eye, revealing a bloodshot sclera where deep red contrasted green.
He looked terrifying, and that itself earned a rapacious exhale.
"...Knuckles' punches are harder," the blue hedgehog winked, thick eyelashes caked with clot, and spat a wisdom tooth out, tongue sliding across his incisors over a lascivious grin.
Shadow unholstered his single-action revolver decisively.
"Guess I've got a sugar rush," as if the tiramisù splashing were a power up of some kind, Sonic got on the run faster than ever.
Shadow skated after his rival, comprehending he wouldn't go far from the rampage. He raised his nickel-plated six gun and fired ahead, but the speedy hedgehog had already leapt onto a bandicoot's head, using it as a bumper to spring on top of a large rack, one he recognized from the saloon's hall. The zebra tending the bar kept swearing and lurching a broom around, believing it would intimidate some booze robbers on a failed quest for polite society.
Outlaws and bandits, styling double bandoliers and sombreros, revealed themselves to take Shadow's side at the foyer, holding repeating rifles, shotguns and double-action revolvers, on a rash dispute to take the blue pistoleer out like a target in motion. The barging in made the Ultimate Lifeform fume, since he disliked the idea of competing over Sonic. His fall was his to take. Nevertheless, the gang left him no choice but to grip the pearled handle and fan his weapon by sheer will, barrel aimed at the hero's legs. Injured or not, Sonic seemed to enjoy running from a shelf to another and popping along with gallons and waffle cones hit on accident.
"Yee-haw!"
Bullets and shells joined TNT, flying teeth and iron stools. The fight became widespread among patrons of varied ages and morality levels, instigating the noble leader's girls to find an escape quickly, only to be shot in the back after reaching the swinging doors. Their mobian co-workers watched the scene impotently, surviving unfair beatings and promises of violation from humans, whose amicability got thrown out the window. The three city marshals had to deal with murderers and abusers of both species, somewhat unaware of the gunfire that had one Sonic the Hedgehog kicking away decanters and powder cans on his way down to raise the stakes.
"I may dig playing like this, but you guys ain't my type!" he mocked.
At some point, Sonic managed to balance himself on a moose's trophy head and hunched over with fists on his hips, chuckling breathlessly at the gunmen writhing and cursing under a shower of moonshine and rat poison. No longer hard, Shadow wasn't included in the bunch, engaged in selecting cartridges from his belt to reload his revolver. Once their eyes met, Sonic turned around and slapped his own butt through the coat a few times, taunting his rival below with an eyelid pull and a long tongue out – unserious till the end.
Closing the loading gate, Shadow opened fire at last, not surprised about Sonic taking his hat off and performing an upside-down trick to avoid his shots and a tipsy crook's thrown dagger. The disgraced brigands got replaced by native meddlers, impelling the cobalt hedgehog to stay on the move after a handful of bows pointed high and strings pulled back. Skidding down the ripped wallpaper, Sonic slid across the counter fluidly as a piano glided into the bar, frightening its slouched target who hugged his broomstick while braying, covered in liquor and shattered glass.
The lack of friction suppressed the bump in the hero's crotch, still tingling but largely subdued. Wearing a serious expression, Sonic busted a few green, star-shaped piñatas in the air with a series of homing attacks, ears flicking towards the sound of Shadow's last two bullets. On higher ground, he jumped from cage to cage, dodging a swarm of arrows that whistled past slicked-back quills and a fluttering duster. Gagged strippers held onto the gates once their hanging enclosures wobbled, prattling curses around silicone balls sloppily.
Shadow's attention was forcefully split during his maneuver of the six shooter's cylinder. He didn't believe somebody would be so foolish to attack him from behind. Therefore, it was too late when he turned around to catch the defective slot machine that Trevor Burrow had aimlessly flung at his body. The heavy apparatus buried Shadow into the floor, its cracked monitor stinging his skin and reopening healed wounds. Out of order per chance, the striped hedgehog got overloaded by a surge of ring energy from a presumed jackpot. Hearing the Desert Raider approach prompted Shadow to lift the burden while exuding a sanguine light, growl increasing in volume until his fists created enough space to–
"Chaos... Blast!"
The purple mole couldn't predict the explosion's intensity, receiving the machine back tenfold stronger as customers within its radius were condemned to a grisly fate.
"T.B.!" Spike neared the outburst, amber eyes widening at the traveler standing on its epicenter. "S-sonic...?! Are you alright, sir?"
Said hedgehog had landed on a grizzly bear mount a few meters away. The man in front of him stared back coldly, brushing a forearm across his bleeding muzzle. Spike gulped at the four smeared blood lines sprung from gruesome holes in tan fur, hesitant to take on a defensive stance when the drifter holstered his weapon. Shadow wouldn't concern himself with the small fry who worked for the law. However, since they got in his way, he would eliminate them one by one – starting with the orange porcupine.
Especially after such fatal mistake.
"I'm Shadow," he corrected, taking one step forward unblinkingly. "Shadow the Hedgehog," then he tilted his head to the side, ensuring a lost dynamite stick would find its destination before helping Spike reach his own.
Ironically, the explosive blew up exactly where Sonic was stationed, disturbing his brief second of peace just to be sent away with a scream, considering the taxidermized animal and part of the girder got demolished. For the hero's everlasting luck, he plunged directly onto Aristo's lap. Holding a tomahawk steak by its bone, the seminude gambler leaned against a toppled down table, awestruck over the discovery that hedgehogs fall from the sky more often than not. He didn't comment on Sonic's battered appearance, though.
"Phew! This wasn't the battle I had in mind with you," Sonic grumbled in vexation, hand stretched on the human's sweaty bare chest.
Aristo ducked a buckshot, frowning in confusion when a farmer randomly smacked the gunslinger's ass during a fight. He placed an arm around the short alien's waist once things got uglier. "Let me guess: the one you expect me to bet my boxers on."
"Heh, you sure did some thinking. Can it wait until sunrise, Aristotele?" the azure hedgehog jested, stroking and palming Aristo's cock through his underwear before their cover was blown, overcooked meat reflexively thrown at the slain farmer's cadaver. "Shit!"
Sonic held the blond man closer as they rolled across the chaotic hall, escaping from the shotgun's range. There was a headless hare seated at the wrecked table where they came to a halt. Aristo hid under it swiftly, outstretching his arm to grab Sonic's hand. Instead of taking shelter, Sonic saluted and acknowledged his concern with a nod, snatching the red cloth from the late frequenter's buffet on a whim. From where he stayed, Shadow could be spotted drowning a mobian into a barrel of gasoline, their torso partly submerged. If Sonic's compromised vision were any reliable, they seemed to be a member of the local Freedom Fighters, given the metal badge gleaming in his rival's fingers.
"Yo, Shadow!" he called.
Shadow raised his head, piercing eyes darting over the roadhouse till they found blue. He casted Spike's unmoving body aside and waited for the sign, bending the old deputy emblem by clenching his hand. Smirking condescendingly, Sonic flipped the tablecloth to his left and adopted the posture of a matador, capturing Aristo's interest despite his growing fear. He wiggled his eye ridges, then Shadow charged, hellbent on finishing his rival off by delivering a barrage of punches and kicks. When they were almost face to face, Sonic gracefully tossed the makeshift cape upward to reveal a fist behind it, blaring an 'Olé!' before striking Shadow in the chest with so much vigor he formed a wind shear, rapidly unclosing the other's shielding arms.
Jostled backwards, Shadow went down a considerable distance away from Sonic, panting while stretching to draw his revolver. Furthermore, a certain fennec nearby attempted to put him on a chokehold, hindering his retaliation. At that moment, the cobalt hedgehog stole a rose tucked in a brawling gigolo's thong and brought it to his nostrils, cherishing its scent prior to kissing and flinging the red flower in Shadow's general direction. With half-lidded eyes, Sonic rubbed one digit under his nose, regarding Aristo serenely as a familiar voice took over the musical act.
"Now this is how you stop a b–" he got ambushed by Miss Possum herself, clicking a pair of handcuffs around his squirming wrists, now bound to his back. He queried indignantly. "What's this? Handcuffs?! Not again!"
"How come whenever you show up everything falls to pieces?" Sonar accused the wrong hedgehog, crying out after he gun-butted her fangs until there was nothing left to break.
"Step aside, blondie!" Shadow threatened the sheriff in lieu.
"Jealous?" Sonic had to tease.
Apathetic about Sonar's pitiful state, Shadow stepped on the gifted rose and proceeded to shoot Sonic down. His cheeky bullseye refused to be a goner, considering how he smiled before bending over and raising his arms for the bullet to snap the chain linking his handcuffs. Miss Possum yelped at the acute noise, crouching to protect her already ruined hair bow. Determined to win his blue counterpart's game of tag, Shadow looted a broom from the cornered bartender and sprinted onwards.
The blaring sound energized Sonic, even more after noticing his foe itch to decimate him. In the midst of slugs, broads and brew, an adventurous Sharps, playing his trademark instrument outside of the stage, was mugged by the band's former vocalist. The parakeet's lower beak dropped when Sonic strummed his red guitar like the very old times, except he wasn't meaning to reunite with the Forget Me Knots, despite its current singer's collaboration with The Chao Chaos.
"I don't wanna hear no ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya, I got you daydreamin'! With the mongoose waitin' under the sheets for ya snake to slither n' not miss, oh, baby... sing it!" none other than Mina Mongoose had joined the group, exciting the country Chao to chant along into her microphone, hand snaking down curly lilac hair to her vintage, yet sexy western costume, designed by fashionable fighter Honey the Cat. "La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, you got me movin', boy. You got me suckin', you might want to pursue me!" she clutched the protection grids and bucked her hips naughtily against them, unafraid of sharp objects being pitched by fans.
Under a breach in the ceiling, Sonic confronted his formidable rival briskly, swinging the electric guitar at the back of his head. Shadow dodged every time he brandished the instrument, swerving to thrust the broomstick into Sonic's hole once his coat swayed. Unfortunately, the Ultimate Lifeform failed to pocket it, since the other feinted the assault, making a fuchsia hawk – who was using her keys to drub a thief – screech in pain after her cloaca got violently stretched. The dark hedgehog paid no mind to her perforated organs, taking the momentum to clasp a wooden chair from under a nauseated tortoise and smash it across Sonic's back.
When the seat came into his view, everything moved in slow motion. Knee-sliding under maple legs, Sonic hit a single chord on the guitar over his thighs, its enrapturing tone and flair matching the band's flow perfectly. Blurred sound waves pushed clients back as green orbs honed on the crater in the roof; the late afternoon sun glowed warmly against the hero's damp torso, crooked grin and white and red sclera, contrast bordering ethereality if it weren't for the chair fracturing a carpenter's posterior limbs. Unforgiving, Sonic straightened his posture and bashed the red headstock straight into Shadow's vertebrae, leaping without notice to slam the body of his guitar against the other's lithe form like a true rockstar.
Grimacing while lying on his stomach, Shadow shifted around and uplifted both legs to destroy the instrument before it met his head, tough metal soles tearing its structure apart to kick Sonic square in the face through it. The guitar disintegrated as his rival was launched to the farthest wall, spines impaling and cracking a traditional longhorn skull into pieces. Bewildered and sort of mad, Sonic tried to find his footing while stuck in the oddity, its horns swelling out the sides of his hat like a hunted prey reshaped into a mythical spirit, crowned and on display.
Somewhere in the zone, a sturdy black canine delivered an uppercut to a gump's chin.
"'Ugly as a burnt boot'... at least hit me properly," The Rancher spat on the frail reveler who dared to insult him. "And where's Elkan, goddamn it?!" he shouted to no one in particular, surveying the barroom until he recognized Shadow by the rifle on his back, standing fearsomely ahead. "I'll be damned... hey, Black Blur! Catch!" he tossed his rope to the hedgehog, whose ear flicked and hand raised to take it. "Was it you who crawled his hump?" enlivened, the wolf kicked a wife-beater's kneecap and gestured with his snout to the blue devil storming towards them, inquisitive about his calm demeanor.
"What do you think?" Shadow disregarded his presence, skillfully tying a bowstring knot to form a noose and bring such dehorned quarry into submission.
"Hah, I wouldn't hogtie that nerve-racking son of a bitch!" the informer smashed a wrangler's head into the loud jukebox, changing its jolly tune to a dramatic showdown instrumental.
He wasn't going to either.
"Still not done hunk hunting?" Sonic provoked fiercely, gaze on the coiled lasso his rival twirled overhead.
"Hmph. I'm not you."
Once it was casted forward, Sonic felt his neck encircled by a loop just above the neckerchief, settling around its intended mark precisely. Shadow applied tension in the lariat and skated to the center of the hall, closing the gap between his tool and the other's nape.
Dragged across the saloon at breakneck speed on his back, Sonic gripped and tugged the string unsuccessfully, faced with blocked airways and patrons stumbling over his limbs. He thrashed severely, quills and duster wiping the floor since his spurs wouldn't function as brakes. Labored breathing turned into hoarse yowling after the entire rope glowed a yellow-ish green, tasing the hero until his eyes squeezed shut and body convulsed. Responsible for the electric shock, Shadow soared upwards and past a chandelier, securing the lasso through its prismatic arms before diving down to suspend his rival higher.
"Now swing!" he released the lariat and kicked Sonic in the back, Chaos energy burning through the wings outlined in his coat as he spun and swung like a pendulum.
"Bloody hell!" The Rancher exclaimed, beholding the hanged man in astonishment.
Sonic was at the cusp of blacking out when the dangling caused his wounded hand to hit a candle cup. Reminded of his trusty knife, the cobalt hedgehog reached for his leg strap to pick it up, quickly going for the knot at his scruff afterward. Seconds until experiencing death by hanging, Sonic almost cut his neck in the frantic process of tearing the noose apart. With arms folded over his chest, Shadow watched his choking adversary fight against time for what felt like an eternity, lips curving down in a scowl once he finally dropped to the ground on his own two feet, radiating finesse under a set of harsh breaths.
"Heh, thanks for the necklace! Too bad it didn't suit me," Sonic loosened the loop and let it slide down his silhouette smoothly.
"What about a bridle? That would shut you up," Shadow insinuated, receiving a sardonic tsk.
The rivals circled each other under the wobbly chandelier. It was time for a closure.
"Is there a third option?" Sonic switched his grip on the knife and smirked, blade transversing his pinky in a new fighting stance.
"Die."
Needless to say, Sonic chuckled obnoxiously, lunging forward to slash his enemy high. Shadow could be disarmed now, yet he knew the other was most likely hiding a trick up his sleeve. Refusing to take his eyes off the blue hedgehog, Shadow stepped back and to the side, yanking a barber down by his belt and using him as a shield, his cowardly move to cut a black-haired hostess' tits with a straight razor backfired.
Far from smiling, Sonic halted a split-second before his knife met the bumpkin's white shirt, terrified gaze fixated on his own in a quiet plea for mercy. The hero's fist clenched around the hilt at Shadow's dare, stuck in place by the weight of his roguish gaze and the shaving object in his hand, blade dangerously close to the powerless human's exposed Adam's apple. His trousers darkened involuntarily, hot urine pooling between the rivals and illustrating their leaked antagonism.
"Too slow."
And the barber's life was forfeit, cut-throat razor put to use in its most literal form. Backing off with a gasp, Sonic gritted his teeth after Shadow sliced the middle-aged guy's neck crudely, blood gushing out from an uneven line and landing on peach muzzle like an unsightly reminder of their differences. The azure hedgehog sprinted toward his foe as soon as he disposed of the corpse. Warping out of his knife's range, Shadow recovered a gallon containing some fraudulent solution under the dead harasser's stash, commercialized as snake oil. From smell alone, he realized it held a flammable oil instead, proud of himself for sending such monster straight to the underworld.
Sonic seemed to dislike his remarkable decision, given how his blade swiftly found and marked a striped forearm with a diagonal gash so they were even. The dark hero hissed over the stinging peel, skating widely around his opponent while splashing the phony snake oil in his wake. Once his circle was complete, detaching the stunned hedgehog from the rest of the whorehouse, Shadow casted the empty gallon aside and ignited one boot with Chaos energy, stomping on the soaked floor before leaping inside the ring of fire.
"I suppose it's you and me now, Sonic," Shadow flaunted the bloodied razor in a battle pose, deciding the honed substitute would do.
"Wouldn't have it any other way..." his blue counterpart sounded serious over the crackling fire, eyes aflame with purpose. "Bring it on!"
Circumspect outsiders stayed away from the blazing area, where two evenly matched hedgehogs performed a deadly ritual unlike anything ever advisable in a knife fight. Snarling gravely, Sonic and Shadow aimed for nearly lethal contact with unclothed fur and skin, quick disarming strikes becoming timed onslaughts in a combination of pirouettes, side jumps, headbutts and stabs into air. What incited fear at first glance, inspired sociopaths to roll open alcohol barrels and fling incendiary bombs over the fire.
Dancing amidst flames that only grew in quality and volatility, the short cowboys wouldn't dream of swerving their eyes from the other's agile movements, blocking potential cuts to vital organs and venous extremities while explosions rang out, caused by provisional molotov cocktails, among other substances that turned the circle into a vast spiral of fire, ideal for throwing marauders and four-flushers at as a closer alternative to hell.
The chandelier quivered over clattering wood and jostling bodies, expertly dodged by the rivals once their fighting ring spread like wildfire. Sonic couldn't pinpoint the screaming rebels who were caught on fire after breaching the perimeter, overly conscious about Shadow's unpredictable attacks to defend himself. When patrons were dumped into or slipped across the fervent spiral, the hero closed in, knife strictly raised, and lowered the striped hedgehog's extended arm with his own wrist against his, delaying the razor's lateral stab to his vulnerable abdomen.
Rejecting the implicit warning to drop his weapon, Shadow forced the stained blade sideways, managing to cut part of Sonic's bitten forearm under its teared sleeve. Crying out in awful pain, Sonic stepped on Shadow's thigh furiously, extra height used as a boost to wrap his legs around the other's neck from behind, knocking them both down on their backs at the exact time a deer ablaze flew past the heroes' former spot.
Put on a triangle choke, the Ultimate Lifeform parted his legs and lifted his lower body while the depleted crowd fled the warzone in agonous torture. He wasn't able to push further, since Sonic grasped the front line of his hat's fringe and jerked it backwards to raise his head, its motion leaving the rifle to scratch his duster. Faced with the undying hedgehog, Shadow delivered an ambush that made Sonic's eyes widen: one wrong move and he was partly blind.
Once the straight razor was shoved up to burst an unequal sclera, Sonic leaned back on the roasting floor and slid his thighs off Shadow's shoulders, keen spurs rapidly slashing a black throat in an X through the adorned scarf tie. His victim gasped and retched, palm clutching his neck to staunch the bleeding. Turning around in-between Sonic's legs, Shadow slowly let go of the superficial wound and let its blood drip down his chest fur and vest, realizing if it weren't for the cloth and the position of his rival's ankles, his artery would be butchered by now.
Interesting.
A dauting grin made itself known as red drops smeared onto peach chest, shining with sweat until a star-shaped shadow loomed over its bearer, whose spiked wheels had aimed for the kill.
"Kill... or be killed, eh?" the dark hedgehog couldn't help but run a tongue over his upper lip in approbation.
As to answer his epiphany, Sonic brought the tip of his knife under tan muzzle, slightly raising Shadow's chin for its edge to travel and prickle. The hero shook his head leisurely at how his breath hitched, smiling and repeatedly tsking in subtle discordance.
"I don't play by the laws of nature."
Clearly, Sonic wasn't afraid to bend the rules and act on his own terms. His weapon cautiously slid up till it pressed against Shadow's bottom lip, tip shamelessly grazing at unbrushed teeth. What he didn't expect was a pointy tongue licking the blood off his blade in one strenuous go, primed to swallow it whole if ever defied.
"Really?" Shadow goaded.
Vigilant, the blue hedgehog knew that was a bad sign. The question stank of malice, so he recoiled the knife to somersault out of the other's trap, having his boot seized and hip slashed instead. Awkwardly standing, the duo resumed their noisy brawl with kicks to wrists and elbows to backs within the cramped space, where bright flames steadily increased to the point of concern.
Ultimately, Sonic got his head quills snatched in combat, gleaming blade halting at Shadow's nape during the restraint. His opponent's torso pressed tightly against his back and downturned spines, making his upper arm flex below Shadow's grim face. Breathing heavily, the cobalt hedgehog felt the razor's edge part his sheath's fur from behind, scales hooked mid asscheeks to probe against his hole and tail, for Shadow purposely kept it there. He was even generous to release his scalp, bare arm bumping across Sonic's neck shortly, as clawed fingers tugged down the wild rag for dry lips and uninvited fangs to sink into the pulsing skin underneath.
Paralyzed under Shadow's touch, Sonic groaned lowly while closing his eyes and healthy hand around his forearm, head tilting slightly toward the other's. Trembly legs gently spread out to accommodate the barber's tool, open cuts throbbing in contact to toxic fumes, originated from the devastating inferno. Frowning, Sonic thought of a plan to escape and help those in jeopardy at the circle, yet his rival insisted on being a hindrance, even if the fatal back hug gave him nothing but chills.
Shadow hungrily took a whiff of his smell along with those of burnt flesh and impending death, blending in with faint, clove-scented musk. Heinously aroused, the Ultimate Lifeform brought his mouth upward to lick Sonic's right ear slowly, gnawing and sucking around the snake entangled at its lobe, whose ruby eyes stifled in alien saliva. Sonic thrusted his hips back against the scales in reflex, begrudgingly expecting Shadow to hump his ass through the duster like a dog.
But it never happened.
"Nowhere left to run, blue boy?" he whispered into a flicking ear.
"What are you gonna do? Shave my balls?" Sonic inquired coldly, even if that erotic taunt didn't fail to leave him hot and bothered. He should've known the razor's edge would be pushed harder into his pouch, piercing the hardening mound in deterrent effect. "Fuck off," he grunted, tone breathy though laced with venom.
"I will cut your dick off and feed it to a horse," Shadow grazed his fangs over Sonic's biceps and cut strands of blue fur at the dastardly offense, admiring the crucifix's mark on his eyelid.
The hero's moan turned into a brash smirk. He knew the other wasn't bluffing nor afraid of his knife, craving to match the back of his neck with its front.
"...or you could just eat it yourself."
In strange synchronicity, Sonic and Shadow slashed each other high and low, separating themselves only to face one another with explicit loathing in the eyes.
Panting after exertion, the hedgehogs held each inflicted wound, sclera reflecting their adversary's thrashed yet hazed state. For a moment, Shadow watched fresh blood leak down his rival's inner thighs from the covered pouch while Sonic zeroed in on his own, plunging in steadfast drops to the ground through a blotchy scarf tie.
"You..." the striped hedgehog trailed off.
Flaming cards in the wind were Shadow's only cue to throw the razor away and be on his guard, since the hero had begun to intriguingly run around him in circles, knife already put into its scabbard. A continuous aerial spin-dash swept him off the floor, sucking his figure into a blue tornado, which started to dissipate the smoke. The Ultimate Lifeform wouldn't wait to get disorientated, so he copied Sonic's move until they created a double cyclonic vortex, extinguishing the fiery spiral at last. When Shadow drew closer to the top, Sonic ceased it to stomp on the chandelier with his prized feet, conceding his rival a painful descent.
"Better luck next time, 'cause I'll keep on dancing," Sonic derided over Shadow's limp body, buried under the flashy debris.
Never ignoring a cry for help, the blue hedgehog kicked back his scorched coat with one spur and darted towards the stuck patrons and workers, aiding them out in the evacuation. Before his plan had come to fruition, the fire had reached the tapestry, spreading through higher levels in the zone. The saloon was doomed, but it wasn't like rebuilding should be much of a trouble for the mayor. Unbeknownst to Sonic, his rival had emerged from the broken chandelier like the undead, lifting himself up while purging a shard from his eye ridge. His ear flicked at an increasing sound, acknowledged as a train whistle.
"The train," Shadow realized with widen eyes.
"She's coming!" the wolf's distant yell put him out of his torpor.
Nearing the roadhouse, the locomotive's engine roared and flared a certain burly mole's enhanced senses. At the first sign of trowel blades cracking into tiles amidst the rumble, Shadow quakingly ran while loading his revolver to stop Trevor Burrow from reaching the train before him. Miss Possum's hushed shouts of warning did nothing to get the deputy out of the hole, granting Shadow enough time to step on his spine, pull his ponytail back and shoot the place where his eardrum should be. The guttural scream that followed got muted by the noisy whistle as the hedgehog fired again, perforating his kneecaps and elbows to buy himself time. Overwhelmed inside his hole-shaped crypt, the last member of the Desert Raiders was down after Shadow released his hair.
"Blind, deaf and crippled. Don't be coy with me now..." The Rancher smirked at his idol, who was out of earshot.
A plum blur crossed the trainyard. Rival forgotten, Shadow strode to the entry in resolution.
"Dead or alive, eggsucker! Your head is mi–" storming in to retrieve his lost rifle, an exotic bounty hunter yelped and fell into the hedgehog's arms.
Shadow frowned at the salmon ferret after he was struck by a... popgun? Had lowlife bandits gotten to the train first? Shoving the deadweight aside, he broke apart the torn swinging doors with a kick and headed outside where others gathered afraid, except for one escort.
"...dang diddly! I know that jerboa," a topless lemony rabbit wearing a red hat and cattle collar gasped. Fingered by a dwarf man who probably had a thing for cows, given the way he sucked her tit so close to the flames, she waved as the locomotive revealed said hijacker in a flash against the red sun. "Hey, joe!"
"Not that mookette again..." the purple jerboa grumbled inaudibly and tipped his hat down in shame, wishing she would go mute one day.
Uninterested about his identity, Shadow skated in the direction of the human bikers' parked motorcycles, preparing a custom black machine he considered sufficiently fast. Without proper keys or height to kick-start it, he played locksmith by thrusting and twisting his middle finger into the keyhole, sparks of Chaos energy prompting its rev up. The dark rider fixed his quills and let out an amused snort at the newly-glued poster on a totem pole, thinking it already deserved an update. Preserving his stamina, Shadow pursued the moving train to the endless desert of Mirage Saloon Zone. He felt watched, but he never turned back.
"Tsk. So fast," Sonic peered into the distance as his rival drove off at full throttle, bar-goers' safety ensured. "This is getting interesting."
The hero snapped his fingers after a thoroughbred stallion, standing alone across the railway, entered his vision. Shadow and his precious locomotive were disappearing on the horizon when Sonic untied the red chestnut horse from a metal post, then jumped into the saddle, palm brushing the animal's long hair gently not to startle it. There was a bullwhip hanging next to the old station's signpost, piquing the cobalt hedgehog's interest.
A lopsided grin etched into his face as the whip was briskly affixed to his belt. Not for the horse, but for a man equally hung.
Sonic got him to worry about now. Therefore, a race to the truth it is.
The die had been cast. He picked up the reins, held on to his hat and tittered.
"Nobody outruns me. Here we go!" and the stallion neighed, rearing up spiritedly before breaking into a gallop.
Shoed hooves eagerly joined in the chase of wheels. The speed of an unlikely partnership virtually teared that same poster out of its site. In the yellowed paper, two men shared a bounty on their heads, whether attached to their bodies or not. Wanted dead or alive, a blue pistolero was depicted lowering the brim of his hat with a sly grin, tongue poking out to lick his upper lip. To his right was a drawing of a dark vaquero holding two revolvers pointed up, intimidating gaze shadowed by a thin fringe that didn't twinkle. Under the portraits, their names were smudged in black ink as 'SONIC X SHADOW,' notorious for the aliases 'Blue Blur' and 'Black Wind.' Their crimes? Vandalism, arson and dine and dashing. Nothing about stolen horses or motorcycles whatsoever.
Riding into the sunset, Sonic and Shadow were reckoned on the run.
Only bound by a one-way ticket.
Author's Note 3: And so, the ride begins! What an increase in Shadow's body count, huh? It's interesting how his backstory in the manga adaptation showed just how deadly the Ultimate Lifeform can be, whether he's up against a robot, mobian or human. My goal of writing an uncensored action scene with crude humor and Looney Tunes elements is complete at last! Moreover, my custom avatar from Sonic Forces has made her cameo debut in "Rivals with Benefits." Let's give a round of applause for Bunny, the lemony rabbit! Clearly, Fang's wish had her going temporarily mute during the war. Ironic how she was sunbathing under the same red sun she would stop one day... Moving on, the instrumental played by The Chao Chaos in the brawl is named The Bar from Hitman: Absolution.
I'm excited to read your thoughts on Red, a war from start to finish! Act 3, also known as Black, is going to introduce another kind of famine. What are you hungry and thirsty for the most? Oh, I can smell it. If you remain clueless, give Midnight Cowboy by Jade a listen to know what comes next. Press alert to get a notification when it's out!
The songs mentioned in the story were compiled into a playlist called "Cowboy's Lounge: A Hog-Killin' Time," available on Spotify for streaming. Message me privately if you want a streaming link!
You can message me on Tumblr (self-titled blog) or on Twitter (sugarcunty) if you want to know more about my thoughts on these characters or just talk to me in private. Favorites and reviews are welcomed. Catch you on the train in Black! XOXO, galsgeneration.