Kyle just sat in the living room of his house, simply watching the TV. Mancer wasn’t around to help him with training, so he had just decided to sit and attempt to relax, but he soon found himself a bit bored. It hadn’t been that long since Trenton had told Kyle about the Dark Horses and left, but it had been long enough that Kyle had some thought put into thinking about the Dark Horses and who they are. Kyle tried to imagine what they might be like if they weren’t under the mind control that Trenton had mentioned, but he found it since his thoughts kept wandering off to reality and what he knew about them right now, their outward personalities. He tried to believe Trenton was telling the truth about the mind control, but he still found it difficult.
Kyle’s thoughts were jarred from him when he heard a knock on the front door. He quickly got up and opened the door. He was quite surprised to see that the person standing there was none other than the blonde haired Trenton. “Trenton? What in the name of Freedom City are you doing here? I don’t mean to sound mean at all, but you were just here not too long ago!”
“Yes, I know,” Trenton said with a nod, before giving Kyle a look as if to ask he could come inside. Kyle noticed this and moved out of the doorway. The bat closed the door on his way inside the house. “But, I have a reason for deciding to come back, or at least I would call it a reason for coming back.”
“Well, then why did you come back?” Kyle asked. “Did you forget to tell me something? Was it something important?”
“No,” Trenton replied. “After I left your house, I did a bit of thinking on my way away. Well, I decided that I want to attempt to go see if I can do anything to break my brother or the other Dark Horses out of the mind control that they are being held under.”
Kyle’s eyes widened in surprise at what Trenton had said. “You’re honestly going to go see if you can do something about the Dark Horses? By yourself? Why in the world would you try that by yourself?! You could get seriously hurt by yourself! They’re powerful!”
“I’d rather you not raise your voice,” Trenton said as his ears moved down slightly. “Now, I was coming back to your house to see if you wanted to come with me and try to help. You told me, if you remember that you would try to bring them out of their mind control if you could, so I’m attempting to give you your chance to do so.”
“Well… if they’re nice people under mind control, then I want to try to break that mind control,” Kyle said with a nod.
“If you want to come do so,” Trenton suggested. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but I was going to figure that you wanted to. Are you going to come or not?”
“Well, I can’t go anywhere until I ask my parents,” Kyle replied. “I don’t want to just suddenly leave and go somewhere without telling them first. That would be awful of me to just run off without telling them. …At least in my opinion.”
“Then go tell your parents, and then we’ll go,” Trenton said as he crossed his arms and went over to the front door. He leaned against the wall and watched as Kyle nodded his head and quickly walked off to go find his parents.
Trenton had to wait for a few minutes until Kyle came back, but at that point the bat had gotten a bit tired of the waiting. He looked at Kyle, who told him that his parents said he could leave for a short while, and then they both opened the front door and went out, closing the door behind them.
“So do you know where the Dark Horses HQ thing is at?” Kyle asked, turning his head to look at Trenton.
“Yes, I’ve been there a few times,” Trenton replied, half closing his eyes as they continued walking down the sidewalk away from Kyle’s house. “I’ve tried going there before by myself, but to no avail, as you can see that they’re still ‘evil’ like they were before. I’ve tried talking my brother out of it, as I felt he was the one that would be the easiest to snap out of it, but so far that hasn’t worked at all either, so I was going to attempt to give it another try.”
“What do you think I’m going to be able to do compared to what you can do…?” Kyle questioned, feeling a bit confused. “I mean, if you couldn’t break them out of it alone, then what makes you think that two of us together will increase the odds?”
“I never said I thought both of us would increase the odds,” Trenton replied, keeping his head straight as he continued walking. “I don’t know if both of us will increase odds, but again, you wanted to help."
“Well, you are right on that. How long will it be until we reach where the Dark Horses are? Will it take a little while? Or just a few more minutes?”
“It depends on how fast you can walk,” Trenton replied in what sounded a bit like an annoyed tone of voice. “The faster we walk, the faster we get there. It’s as simple as that”
“Do you think that they’re going to attack us?” Kyle asked as he turned his head to look at Trenton. Trenton turned his head just slightly to look at Kyle, wearing a look on his face as if the yellow hedgehog had asked a horribly stupid question. Kyle stayed quiet for a few moments before his ears drooped down onto his head. “Right, never mind. I know that was an idiot question. I know they would attack if they saw us there… or at least I know they would attack if they saw me.”
“Just be careful and keep your guard up, alright?” Trenton said. “I’d rather take you back to your house without you missing teeth and having a black eye.”
“I know to be careful… Anyway, how long will it be until we get there? Are we getting close yet, or is there still a little ways to go?”
“Let’s just say that this will go by a lot quicker if we keep walking and perhaps speak to get our minds off of it,” Trenton replied. “Sometimes talking to someone can really help me pass the time when something is taking quite some time, though I can’t say that I’m an extremely social person.” Kyle started to respond to what Trenton had said, but was afraid that he might lead the conversation in circles, so he simply moved on to what Trenton suggested and began bringing up different topics to speak about as they walked, ranging from school to whatever else they could think of to talk about.
The walk did indeed take quite some time, and Kyle’s legs and feet were already feeling worn out by the time they reached the Dark Horses HQ building, which was a building hidden by trees, quite hard to see from the road unless you paid very close attention. Kyle released a sigh as he walked with Trenton, who shot him a small “hush and be quiet” glare once they got closer to the building.
“I can’t help it, Trenton, my legs are killing me!” Kyle complained, lowering his voice as they got closer to the building. “Ugh, I hate walking if there’s any way at all that I can avoid it… My legs and my feet get really tired and then they really start hurting.”
“Walking was the best option that we had,” Trenton replied quietly with a frown. “A car would have made way too much noise, if I made a Rasoul Cloud to carry us Vice might have been able to sense it and detect us, and running would have just tired us out even worse than we are right now. I’ll admit I spent quite a bit of energy walking all the way here, but you’re just going to have to deal with it like how I am.”
“I never said I wasn’t going to deal with it,” Kyle said. “Wait, you know how to make the Rasoul Cloud thing? Mancer hasn’t showed me how to do that yet! He’s just been teaching me the Rasoul Punch and Rasoul Kick."
“Let’s not get off track, alright?” Trenton said, going up towards the side of the Dark Horses HQ building. He looked up at the side of the building, attempting to search for a point of entry that they could use, such as a vent or a window of some kind.
“Do you see anything yet? If you’ve been here multiple times, I’m going to guess that you know your way around this place better than I do,” Kyle said. “The times I’ve been here before, I’ve been captured, so… I didn’t really feel like stopping to look around at what the place looked like.”
“And I can understand that. However, once again, let’s try not to get off track,” Trenton said as he pointed up towards a high window. “Let’s try that window, shall we? Do you think you can climb up to that, or do we need to find a lower window or vent for you?”
“I’m perfectly fine with the climbing,” Kyle said as he looked around for something to place his feet on. He saw a dumpster that he could put his feet on, and he thought he would be able to reach the window with his hands if he got on the dumpster lid and stood up on the ends of his toes.
Trenton watched as Kyle climbed up onto the dumpster and looked up at the window. Kyle stood on the ends of his toes and held his hands up to the window in an attempt to reach it, but he was just barely unable to. “Trenton, can you boost me up?” The hedgehog asked, turning his head to look at the blonde haired bat.
“I can fly up if needed, but thank you for helping,” Trenton said as he climbed up onto the dumpster next to Kyle. He moved to the side, holding both of his hands down. “Alright, give me your feet."
Kyle placed both of his feet on Trenton’s hands, putting his hands on the wall for support, and reached out to the window as Trenton pushed his legs up. The boost was enough to get Kyle to the window, and he took ahold of the edge of the window and climbed up onto the outside windowsill.
“Now before you pull me up or do anything such as that,” Trenton whispered quietly, attempting to be as quiet as possible. “Be extremely careful and look in the window to see if you can see anyone in there. If you see them, get down as quickly and as quietly as you can so you don’t get seen.”
“I don’t see anyone, and the room is dark. They must not be in here,” Kyle whispered back quietly to Trenton, reaching one of his hands down to the bat. Trenton reached up and grabbed ahold of Kyle’s hands, who pulled him up onto the windowsill.
Trenton grabbed ahold of the window and slowly began pushing it up to open it. He squeezed in through the window when he had it opened enough before quietly lowering himself to the floor. He looked back at the window, watching as Kyle also squeezed in the window. He motioned for the hedgehog to close the window quietly, so Kyle turned around and shut the window slowly.
Kyle and Trenton both looked around the room in silence, struggling to see in the darkness of the room. They moved closer to the door of the room, still attempting to be as quiet as possible, and listened closely for any sounds of talking or footsteps. Neither of the boys were able to hear anything, so they both walked over to the door and pushed it open quietly, with Trenton leaning his head out into the hallway slightly to look out. The blonde haired bat was unable to see or hear any signs of the Dark Horses being around, so he slowly stepped out into the hallway while motioning for Kyle to follow.
They stepped out into the hallway quietly and looked around, but they were still unable to hear or see any sign of the Dark Horses. After a silent discussion about what they were going to do, they decided to stay in the shadows of the rooms and the dark hallway, using the shadows for cover.
After quite some time of walking through the hallways and looking in the rooms, Kyle decided to break the silence very quietly since he still couldn’t see or hear the Dark Horses anywhere around. “…Where do you think they are?” He asked in a quiet voice, causing Trenton to jump slightly.
“I don’t know,” Trenton replied back quietly, taking a slightly deeper breath. “I would have thought that we would have seen or at least heard at least one of them by now.”
“Do you think they’re even here right now…?” Kyle asked, continuing to listen for any sounds or signs of the Dark Horses. Since they weren’t making any noise that made Kyle wonder if they possibly knew that the two of them were there. “Do you think that they know we’re here…?”
Trenton stayed quiet for a few moments. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, we don’t hear them or see them anywhere, so maybe they saw, or heard, us coming, and maybe now they’re hiding from us so they can attack us in some kind surprise attack,” Kyle said. “I might be acting paranoid but that’s all I can think of to explain this.”
Trenton thought over what Kyle had said; the hedgehog had made a point, but he wasn’t so sure if that’s what was actually happening. As Trenton stood thinking, his ears began twitching when he began hearing a sound; he could hear the sound of voices, almost as if multiple people were having a meeting or a discussion of some sort. Kyle also heard the noise, and both boys turned their heads to look at each other as if to ask each other what they were going to do. After a very brief and quick silent discussion, they both decided that they were going to carefully follow the sound. They thought that perhaps it would take them to the Dark Horses, if they were the people who were having a meeting.
After carefully and quietly following the voices and sounds, Kyle and Trenton found themselves near a staircase. Both boys continued on their way down the staircase, still attempting to be as quiet as possible. The bottom of the stairs led into a giant hallway-like room, which was filled with a vast amount of cells and bars from what Kyle and Trenton could see. They hid around the corner, just barely peeking into the room. Trenton was determined that the voices were coming from towards the end of the hallway where cells with thicker bars seemed to be.
The blonde haired bat slowly stepped away from the corner, moving over to another corner further up in the room near the side of an empty cell. He stayed in the shadows and stayed quiet, before motioning for Kyle to come and move up as well. Both boys stayed quiet as they continued moving up together, until they came to a very quick stop and dove behind a corner to stay out of sight; they had caught a glimpse of the Dark Horses inside one of the cells at the end of the hallway. Kyle backed up into the corner as much as possible, wearing a look of fear and stress on his face. He did not want to be caught. Trenton, however, leaned forward as much as he could while still staying behind the cover of the wall corner; he wanted to see what the Dark Horses were doing.
Before Kyle and Trenton could react to really anything, and right after the whispering ended, Vice suddenly spoke out in a louder voice, as if announcing something to the other Dark Horses. “Now! Let it began, Azarika. I do believe we’re all ready by now, and I can’t stand to wait any longer. We all prepared, so let’s start!” Kyle and Trenton looked at each other in confusion before they attempted to look inside the cell from their hiding spot. Trenton was able to see all six of the Dark Horses members, and what looked like a passed out male. The male was a Rasoulin Seeker, based on his appearance, though he seemed to be unconscious or sleeping.
Kyle and Trenton were able to see Azarika step out to the side slightly while forming Rasoul energy around his hands. The Rasoul energy began spreading out, moving out in front of him. It seemed to be moving closer to the passed-out Rasoulin Seeker.
Kyle and Trenton watched in surprise as the Rasoul energy wrap around the Rasoulin Seeker, with the Seeker’s own Rasoul energy began flowing out, almost as if Azarika was somehow channeling the Rasoul Seeker’s Rasoul with his own Rasoul. “Wait, you can channel that Rasoul energy yourself, Azarika?” They heard Vice ask in surprise. “I didn’t know that you could do that!”
“Is this not what you wanted? Yes, I can channel this, though it’s quite difficult. Do you mind hurrying along with that plan of yours?” Azarika asked in what sounded like an annoyed tone of voice.
“Are you that impatient?” Vice asked, sounding a bit annoyed himself. From the two stalkers were able to see a silver colored energy forming around Vice, though they couldn’t see it in detail from their location.
“I can only hold this for so long,” Azarika snapped back at Vice, sounding quite annoyed. “Either let me release this energy or start your plan. I am not trying to sound harsh, but this is incredibly difficult to hold together.”
“Fine, fine,” Vice said through a sigh, frowning slightly. He held his hands up towards the Rasoul energy that Azarika was channeling about. Kyle and Trenton watched as the silver energy began forming around Vice’s arms, spreading to his entire body until he was glowing with a silver energy. Kyle thought it looked like Rasoul energy, but he had no idea why it would be silver if it was actually Rasoul.
“Now, the plan has to do with this right here,” Vice said to the other Dark Horses members, who were all watching. “I had a plan to absorb as much as I could of this Rasoulin Seeker’s Rasoul, as I know it would make me more powerful. With it I could perform better, whether it be in battle or otherwise.” Kyle and Trenton both turned their heads to look at each other in shock. Kyle wanted to try to go ahead and try to stop Vice before he started, but Trenton held him back before the hedgehog was able to rush out.
Vice held out his arms, causing the silver energy to stretch out towards the energy that Azarika was channeling out of the Rasoulin Seeker. “Azarika, I advise that you let go off that energy as soon as my energy makes contact with it, or else I may accidentally wind up absorbing what you’re using as well."
“I thought as much, though thank you for the warning,” Azarika said, watching Vice’s energy carefully as it began wrapping around the Rasoulin Seeker’s Rasoul energy. Kyle and Trenton both looked to see if they could move any closer but they could not afford to be seen, and stayed put.
Azarika waited until the silver energy wrapped completely around the Rasoulin Seeker’s energy, almost like a coil, then he released his own energy just as the coil consumed the Seeker’s energy. “Are you sure this was a good idea, Vice?” Azarika asked, looking towards Vice while chewing on the corner of his lip nervously.
“Oh, I can’t be sure if this will even work as I’ve never tried absorbing Rasoulin Seeker Rasoul before, but if this does work, I would call it a good idea due to the fact that it’ll make me more powerful!” Vice replied, wearing a grin on his face as he continued holding the energy coil together, watching as it continued absorbing Rasoul.
“Are you sure that is not going to backfire on you?” Azarika questioned, which caused all of the Dark Horses to turn their heads towards Azarika as if they were either surprised or confused by what the fox had just asked. Even Vice himself turned his head to glance at Azarika, though he still kept his primary focus on the silver energy coil.
“Now what in the name of the Rasoul Dimension would make you question something like that?” Vice asked, raising an eye brow slightly. “I’ve never known you as pessimistic, Azarika. I’ve never known you as thinking of thoughts such as that, involving something not working or failing. Are you not optimistic that this will work?”
“I have never been a pessimist, and I do not plan on being one any time soon,” Azarika replied in an annoyed tone. “But if you do not know if this will work, than how can you know that it will not backfire?”
“Well, I can’t say for certain but I doubt it will,” Vice said, turning his attention back to the silver energy. The energy coil was growing larger as it continued absorbing the Rasoulin Seeker’s energy at a steady place.
“How long is this going to actually take?” Astra suddenly questioned, sounding a bit annoyed. “Does it honestly take this long just to absorb energy or whatever?”
“Oh, I could absorb it much quicker, if you wanted me to completely lose control over it and let it go everywhere,” Vice replied. “If I tried to absorb it too quickly, it would shoot around the room, doing whatever it wants. It’s fairly unstable anyways, and that would certainly just make it worse.”
“So you’re basically saying it would explode?” Astra asked, tilting her to the side as she crossed her arms. “And that would either kill us or seriously injure us?”
“Exactly, so I have to keep a cautious pace,” Vice replied, watching as the energy continued being absorbed into the coil; there was a smaller amount of the energy left, but Vice was still taking it. Even just a small amount of energy becoming unstable.
Kyle turned to Trenton, attempting to start a conversation silently by mouthing to his bat friend. “What are we going to do? Are we going to approach them while they’re off guard? They don’t even know that we’re here yet from what I can tell!”
Trenton had to watch Kyle’s lips very closely as he talked, and remained quiet and still for a few moments as he tried to put together what Kyle was saying in his head. “I don’t know what they’re actually up to, Kyle. If Vice is right about what he just said, if we try to approach him or the others, we might startle him, which would cause that energy to most likely explode like he said if he’s correct.”
“So we really just have to sit here and watch them until Vice is finished?” Kyle mouthed back at Trenton. “How can we just wait for that?! Vice said that he was going to make himself more powerful!”
“Do you want us both to be killed in an explosion?” Trenton mouthed back with a frown. Kyle remained quiet.
“We didn’t have enough time to make a move before he started with that, so all we can do is let him finish or risk being blown up. Besides, I doubt even if it didn’t blow up that we would be able to take them all on.”
The room fell quiet for the next minute or so; Kyle and Trenton didn’t mouth back to each other or make any noise, and none of the Dark Horses seemed to be moving or making any sorts of noise, though out of the corner of his eye Kyle managed to see Azarika’s face, which was showing what looked like a small look of worry as if he was afraid about what was going to happen or knew something bad was going to happen. Kyle found it strange that Azarika would have such a look on his face, and the hedgehog turned his head to see if Trenton was observing Azarika’s behavior as well; he was not, and he was instead focused on Vice and just Vice alone, also watching the silver energy that Vice was commanding to absorb the Rasoulin Seeker Rasoul.
Azarika began backing away from Vice and the energy very slowly, keeping his eyes locked on the Rasoulin Seeker’s energy, which was almost completely absorbed by Vice’s energy coil. The other Dark Horses were too distracted by the energy to notice Azarika’s movement. Kyle and Trenton actually both noticed Azarika backing away, and they both looked towards the fox in absolute confusion. Azarika continued backing up extremely slowly, attempting to not be noticed by the other Dark Horses. The fox stood completely still after reaching a cell wall, keeping his eyes locked on the energy.
“Now, I’m almost finished,” Vice said, continuing to absorb the Rasoul. “And once we are finished here, I have a plan. First of all, I plan on taking this Seeker out somewhere so he doesn’t wake up and attack all of us. After absorbing this energy, I’m most likely going to have to rest. This is taking its toll. I’m more than sure this will probably throw my Rasoul balance off, but I still think it will give great benefit from power increase.”
Everyone, including Kyle and Trenton, who was paying attention to the energy that Vice was absorbing watched very closely as the last bits of Rasoulin Seeker energy were absorbed in to the silver energy that Vice was using. Vice carefully and slowly let the silver energy that he was using come apart and absorb back into himself, wearing a grin on his face as he turned to fact the other Dark Horses; his body was now sparking and glowing with the extra Rasoul energy that he had absorbed from the Rasoulin Seeker.
“And now, I have finished,” Vice said as he turned to face all of the Dark Horses members, who all turned their heads to look at them; that was also when he noticed that Azarika was backed against the wall. “Wait, Azarika? Why in the world are you against the wall? Did you think I was going to mess up and explode the energy?”
Azarika didn’t respond, but he kept his eyes locked on Vice and the extra Rasoul energy that was floating around the Dark Horses leader.
“What’s wrong with you?” Vice asked as he raised an eye brow towards Azarika. “Is something bothering?”
Azarika continued watching Vice in silence with a frown on his face, until his frown turned into more of a look of shock when he saw that the Rasoul energy Vice had around him began sparking and bending, which confused the Dark Horses and Vice greatly. “Vice, what’s happening?” Astra questioned, watching the mixed look of surprise and confusion on the Dark Horses leader’s face. He simply just shook his head quickly to what Astra had asked, watching as the energy continued sparking and bending.
“I’m not honestly sure what’s happening, Astra,” Vice replied. “I’ve never seen Rasoul energy do this before, unless it was going to-“ Before Vice could finish what he was saying, the energy began sparking more and more, beginning to become quite unstable. All of the Dark Horses looked at the energy in shock before they backed up slightly. Vice attempted to control the energy himself, but to no avail.
“What should we do?!” Kyle mouthed to Trenton.
“Kyle, I don’t even know what in the world is even going on,” Trenton mouthed back. “I’ve never seen Rasoul energy just suddenly start sparking and going crazy like that, even when it was going unstable.”
Vice continued trying to control the energy, but it continued sparking until it finally exploded in a giant pulse of Rasoul energy, catching himself and the Dark Horses member in the range of it. The explosion was not large enough to reach Kyle and Trenton, but they were certainly able to see the it to its full extent. The pulse wrapped around all of the Dark Horses as it continued sparking, until it suddenly disappeared in an explosion of spark-like pieces of Rasoul energy. After the explosion and sparks were gone, all of the Dark Horses were standing in place, until all of the Dark Horses members except for Vice and Azarika started looking around as if confused; Vice simply stood in place with frozen expression on his face. Azarika kept his eyes on Vice.
“Where in the world are we?” Astra suddenly questioned while holding a hand against the side of her head while looking around. She had felt a pain in her head when she was struck with that energy pulse, and she heard a sound that had sounded almost like a snap; a very similar experience that Azarika had had previously while talking with Vice.
“I think we’re… in a cell of some kind, Astra,” Sniper suddenly said, also feeling a headache in her head as well. She turned to look at Astra, seeming just as confused as she was. “Does anyone else know where we are? Devin? Willow? Vice? Azarika?”
“Like you just said, I think we’re in some kind of cell,” Devin said, also looking around while holding his head slightly. “…And why are we all in these black robes?” The bat questioned, looking down at what he was wearing. “I knew Azarika wore one a lot of the time, but why are we each in a robe ourselves?”
“How did we forget what we were doing? Were we doing something important?” Willow questioned, looking around with wide eyes. All of the Dark Horses not counting Azarika and Vice simply just shrugged their shoulders at each other and continued looking around in obvious confusion.
“Why did they suddenly start acting like this?” Kyle mouthed to Trenton, making sure the bat knew he was speaking with a nudge. “ They seem like they’re acting and talking as if they’re completely different now. What happened to them?”
Trenton seemed as confused as Kyle, thinking over any reasons possible. “…The way they’re acting right now strongly reminds me of how they were before I was told that they were under hypnosis; well, Azarika and Vice aren’t acting quite like how I remember them, as Azarika doesn’t constantly stare and back away, and Vice is normally that quiet, but the others remind me of themselves.”
“Well, what in the name of Freedom City do we do now?” Kyle mouthed back. “Do we try to approach them or do we just leave or what do we do?” He was going to continue mouthing something more until he noticed that Trenton was no longer paying attention and had turned his attention back to the Dark Horses. He released a silent sigh before turning his own head back to the Dark Horses.
“Everyone, pay attention. Now is not a good time to be confused. Trust me, you are going to need to pay attention now,” Azarika said to the other Dark Horses, who all turned their heads to look at the Dark Horses fox with confusion on their faces.
“Why would we need to pay attention?” Sniper asked, her voice sounding a bit more timid than it did before. “Azarika, what’s going on…? Where are we…?”
“Just trust me; I will tell you later,” Azarika said in a firm voice, keeping his eyes locked on Vice. “Vice, can you hear me? Are you listening to me?”
Vice stayed completely silent, looking straight down at the ground; his ears twitched at the sound of Azarika’s voice, however, so that did indicate that he did indeed hear what the Dark Horses fox said. He slowly and quietly raised his head up, staring at Azarika with a rather blank look on his face. Azarika frowned at Vice before trying to speak to the Dark Horses once more. “Did you hear me? Can you talk to me?”
“What are you trying to do?” Astra questioned Azarika. Wouldn’t Vice be able to hear you? Is something wrong with him?”
“Please be quiet for a moment, Astra. I need to keep my focus on him to see what he is going to do,” Azarika said before turning his attention back to Vice. The Dark Horses leader had finally started to blink his eyes and to look around, as if observing where he was as well. “Vice, are you-“ Azarika started to talk to Vice, but he stopped himself from talking when the Dark Horses leader raised his head and looked at the fox while having a rather glazed look in his eyes and a slightly dark grin on his face.
“Oh, I’m just fine… Azarika. I’m perfectly fine, don’t worry about it,” Vice said, still having that glazed look in his eyes. He began stepping towards the fox, who began backing away. “In fact, I feel a bit more than fine. I feel charged; powerful with energy.”
“I… this is not right, Vice,” Azarika said to Vice, still backing away as the Dark Horses leader continued walking towards him. “You might want to release that Rasoulin Seeker Energy as soon as possible.”
“How could it not be a good thing?” Vice questioned, tilting to the side. “It doesn’t matter, I feel like I have much more power and stamina now. Surely it’s only a good thing. But again, it doesn’t matter. …I must have more power, though. I need more of it.”
“And how do you plan on getting that extra power?” Azarika questioned, knowing very-well what how Vice planned to get extra power. His entire body tensed up as he continued keeping his eyes on Vice, as if waiting for the Dark Horses leader to make a move.
“It doesn’t matter. With even more Rasoul energy I can be even more powerful. There’s always room for more power and strength. Do you all… care to share yours with me?” He asked with a slightly devious grin. He quickly raised his hands before the other Dark Horses members had a chance to react and shot that silver energy towards them. The Dark Horses sprung away, barely being missed by the energy shot at them.
“What are you doing?!” Devin questioned with a look of shock on his face, trying to hold his balance as he ducked to the side. “We’re your friends, Vice!”
“Devin, he is not himself right now!” Azarika suddenly yelled towards Devin, trying to talk over Devin’s panicking voice. “Just pay attention and try to dodge anything he shoots at you! He got a taste of that Rasoulin Seeker’s power and now he wants to take our Rasoul energy as well!”
“What are you even talking about?!” Astra questioned, looking at Azarika with a frown. “What Rasoulin Seeker?! What happened that we can’t remember, and why do you remember if none of the others but Vice can?!”
“Vice only remembers what happened because of that Rasoul energy that he absorbed! The Rasoul energy kept him from forgetting what happened when he came back to his senses!” Azarika said back to Astra. Azarika quickly whipped his head to the side just in time to see Vice with a rather devious grin come charging towards the Dark Horses with his arms now covered in the silver energy. It began morphing into blades of Rasoul energy, which he swung strongly towards his former subordinates.
In an attempt to block the attack from hitting his allies, Azarika quickly ran in front of Vice and threw his arms up, allowing the blades to slam right into his arms. The other Dark Horses members, and even Kyle and Trenton, all gasped at the sight. Azarika was among the living still, but the blades were cutting deep into his arms, causing a black liquid to spill out from the cuts like blood.
Azarika, seeming to ignore the pain, quickly raised his foot and formed Rasoul energy around it before slamming it hard into Vice’s stomach, sending the Dark Horses leader stumbling back until he fell, his face twisted in pain from the kick. The fox quickly turned his head to the other Dark Horses members, who were just staring in a wide-eyed shock. “Everyone, move! It will only take him a few moments to get back to a standing position in which he could attack!”
Kyle and Trenton just watched what was happening between the Dark Horses and Vice in shock, their jaws hanging open. A serious expression began to form on Trenton’s face just as he began to step out of the hiding spot, but the hedgehog grabbed the back of his shirt to stop him.
“What are you doing?! They’ll know that we’re here!” Kyle mouthed to Trenton when the bat turned around to look at Kyle.
“I’m not going to just stand around here while Vice is coming after them!” Trenton mouthed back quickly, wearing a frown on his face. “I don’t know why in the world Vice is suddenly turning on them and attacking them, but one of those people is my brother, so I’m not going to just sit here!” Kyle started to stop Trenton again, but the bat jerked his shirt out of the hedgehog’s hands, and started off towards the Dark Horses. Not wanting to sit still and let Trenton go by himself, Kyle mustered up the courage to come out of hiding and follow Trenton.
Trenton saw as Vice charged forward with the silver energy blades once again at the Dark Horses, making sure to dodge Azarika this time. The members dove to the side, dodging once again. “Devin, pay attention and watch out!” Trenton called out to his brother, who turned his head around in shock to look at his sibling.
“Trenton?!” Devin questioned. With his attention focused on his brother, he didn’t see Vice rushing to attack again, which caused Azarika to try to knock Vice back before he got close to the Dark Horses again.
Azarika glanced back over his shoulder once he had knocked Vice back again, looking at Trenton and Kyle with a mixed look of what looked like shock and anger before quickly turning back to face Vice. “Listen to your brother, Devin!” He then spoke to Kyle and Trenton. “Now what are you two here for?! This is the number one thing that M-“ A blast of that silver energy from Vice stopped the fox in mid-sentence, sending him flying directly into the concrete wall. Azarika hissed through his teeth in pain, raising his head back up to see Vice charging towards him. Azarika pushed himself out of the wall and quickly moved to the side to dodge Vice’s swinging blades, which hit the wall with incredible force and became stuck in the wall due to the force.
“I know that he said that he didn’t want us to get involved in a fight like this, but I’ve disregarded orders before for the greater good!” Trenton said as he formed Rasoul energy around his body, preparing to try to help fight back Vice if his help was needed. “Kyle, stay back!”
“I don’t want to just sit around and watch all of you get hurt from all of this!” Kyle said back to Trenton, watching in shock of what was going on around him. “And who gave you orders?!”
“Never mind that, just pay attention so you don’t get hit!” Trenton hissed through his teeth.
Kyle stayed back, watching as Vice managed to yank his bladed arms out of the wall with a snarl of anger before swinging his blades at Azarika’s neck, causing the fox to jerk his body backwards with an almost abnormal flexibility to dodge the blades. Trenton quickly shot a blast of Rasoul energy towards the Dark Horses leader, knocking him away from Azarika; the fox looked back at Trenton, giving a nod towards the bat in thanks for the help. Kyle continued to stand back and watch in shock, as did a few Dark Horses.
“Vice, why are you trying to attack us?” Astra questioned. “Do you not realize who we are, or are you doing this for some kind of reason. Can you even listen to what I’m saying?”
Vice shot forwards towards Trenton and Azarika, once again swinging blades made of that silver energy; Trenton and Azarika both jerked to the sides to avoid the blades, which gave Vice an opening to run past them to come at the other Dark Horses in an attack. “Everyone get out! NOW!” The fox yelled desperately.
Not feeling right by just standing around and watching everyone around him get attacked, Kyle pulled his own arm back, charging a small sphere of Rasoul energy in the palm of his hand, and then he fired the energy at Vice. The energy didn’t seem to even affect the Dark Horses leader, but he did stagger slightly to the side. Trenton turned his head back to look at the yellow and black hedgehog, as if shocked by the hedgehog’s act.
“Kyle, I told you to stay back! Don’t get him focused on you or else he’s going to come after you!” Trenton said;
“Trenton, I don’t care! I want to help you and I don’t want to just stand back and let everyone get attacked when I could do something about it!” Kyle said. “Good guys or bad guys, they seem defenseless right now and they need help! You and Azarika or whatever his name is over there can only do so much by yourselves!”
Trenton and Azarika both dove out of the way of the blasts, trying to watch out for the wild blasts and Vice’s physical attacks with his bladed arms as well. They both looked back at the other Dark Horses and Kyle to see if they were okay, and felt a bit relieved to see they were fine.
Vice hissed in anger at Trenton and Azarika while raising his arms quickly, shooting even more Rasoul energy blasts that began bouncing around the room. Before anyone could react to this, the energy knocked into most of Dark Horses, Trenton, and barely missed Kyle.
Kyle looked above him at a large hole the energy left in the ceiling, greatly thankful that that hole was not him. He turned his head back to Vice, Azarika, and Trenton quickly, and had to jerk his head to the side to dodge another crossfire blast that came flying past him.
Azarika, sooner than most of the others, realized that the battle would not be won here. Despite their energy, Vice was simply too crazed, and too powerful, to take down here, and with a quick glance about the room’s damage he estimated it would not take much more to cause the roof to collapse on top of them. “Trenton, Kyle- EVERYONE!” He yelled, instantly dictating the attention from his allies. “This is not getting us anywhere, we have to leave, and leave NOW!”
“What? How can we just leave while Vice is attacking like this?” Kyle questioned, still looking confused. “He could leave and go into the city to use all of that power to seriously hurt a lot of people! Shouldn’t we be trying to stop him right now before he goes out and uses that power against everyone?”
“We can’t stop him like this.” Trenton replied. “We need more support, and this room won’t last forever!”
“But…” Kyle started to say something, but a very cold glare from Trenton made him stop talking. His ears lay back as he looked around the room, trying to look for an exit that would be easy to get to; Trenton was also looking for the same thing and pointed out the door that the other Dark Horses members had previously exited from.
Azarika quickly moved to the side, dodging a swing from one of Vice’s silver Rasoul energy blades. “Hurry! Go!” He called to Trenton and Kyle as he tried to fire Rasoul energy into Vice’s back. Vice was now focused on the two people who were trying to escape. Trenton quickly slammed the door open and yanked Kyle out into the hallway with him, pointing to a door that was at the end of the hallway to tell Kyle that they needed to run. Vice quickly dashed after Kyle and Trenton, determined to chase them down and prevent them from escaping from him, with Azarika in tail.
Kyle found it very difficult to run and focus; the throbbing in his head was becoming worse due to the running, so he tried to focus on where Trenton was going instead of where he was running himself.
Trenton glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Kyle was still behind him, and yanked Kyle over to the side via his jacket once he saw a silver Rasoul blast come flying towards them; the Rasoul energy barely missed Trenton and Kyle, flying into the wall at the end of the hallway. “Kyle, you’re going to have to try to pay attention! I know you’re probably still dizzy but you’re going to have to pay attention and move faster!”
In his daze of a state Kyle could do little to nothing in reply except nod begrudgingly.
Trenton quickly dashed up the staircase that he and Kyle had previously traveled down to go into the cell-filled hallway, trying to be careful not to trip on the stairs as he dashed up them as quickly as he could. Kyle tried to run up the stairs after Trenton, afraid of falling; his fear proved to be correct, as the speed that he tried to gain while going up the stairs caused him to hit one of his feet on the stairs and trip, hitting the stairs with a large thump and a yell of pain. Trenton quickly whipped around to see Kyle as he started to fall down the stairs, unable to stop himself from falling down the stairs and towards Vice. Azarika quickly looked over Vice’s shoulder as he continued trying to catch up to Kyle and Trenton. Azarika closed his eyes while still running before his body began to turn into a slightly grey, foggy-like version of Rasoul energy; the fog then began breaking up until it look like nothing more but a mist or a haze. The fog quickly shot forward at a very quick speed, going above Vice and dropping down in front of the Dark Horses leader before he was able to get to Kyle. The fog quickly blasted into Vice, sending the Dark Horses leader flying back down the stairs himself.
Kyle continued to slide down the stairs, trying to grab ahold of one of the stairs but he found himself unable to get a hold on any of the stairs as he continued to fall. Trenton quickly started to come back down after the hedgehog, but he stopped when he saw the grey fog that Azarika had turned into shooting down on the stair where Kyle would slide by on in a few seconds. Kyle hit the fog as if it was a solid figure, gasping in pain slightly from the pain that came in his back when he smacked against the fog. He quickly looked up in confusion, watching as the fog grabbed ahold of his arms and pulled him up to his feet.
“Get back up and go! Follow Trenton! Leave before Vice recovers!” The fog said as it slowly turned back into Azarika’s body shape.
Kyle nodded to Azarika and tried to start up the stairs again at a quick pace, but he found himself almost tripping again. He quickly lost his balance, about to fall again, but he was close enough to Trenton so the bat could grab ahold of Kyle’s shirt and pull him forward back to his feet. “Thanks, Trenton,” Kyle gasped, trying to get back on his feet. He found it very difficult to stand, as his legs were becoming extremely sore from all of the conflict.
“No time to be thanking. Get a move on; we need to get out of here as quickly as possible,” Trenton said as he let go of Kyle and started back up the stairs quickly, expecting Kyle to follow him. Azarika quickly turned to face the bottom of the stairs, the fox quickly formed Rasoul energy around his hands, preparing to try to slow Vice down once again.
Kyle tried to follow Trenton up the stairs as quickly as possible, leaning one of his shoulders against the wall as he quickly went up. Leaning against the wall was slowing him down a bit, but he was still hoping that he wouldn’t fall and get hurt again on the steps; he also didn’t know if Azarika would be able to catch him again before Vice would get to him. Trenton glanced over his shoulder as he made it to the top of the stairs and the doorway, seeing that Kyle was still down quite a bit of the stairs and coming up them slower than he was before due to leaning against the wall as he tried to make it up the steps.
“Hurry up, Kyle! Azarika can only keep Vice distracted for so long!” Trenton commanded from the top of the stairs.
“Hey, I’m trying to go as fast as I can!” Kyle called up the stairs, moving off of the wall; he quickly tried to make his way up the stairs, but he once again had to put his hands out on the wall to gain his balance once again.
Trenton watched Kyle come closer until he was just a few steps away from the bat and the door. Trenton started to open the door, but the sound of a Rasoul blast being fired made him glance over his shoulder and jerk his head to the side to avoid having his head hit by the Rasoul. He glanced down the stairs slightly, seeing that Vice was attempting to fire past Azarika. The fox quickly tried to shoot a blast of Rasoul into Vice but Vice simply moved out of the way. Azarika switched to both of his hands and tried shooting larger and more powerful blast, but this time Vice simply let the blasts hit him. The Dark Horses leader staggered back just a bit and had to put a hand out on the wall to prevent himself from falling, but he didn’t seem to take any large damage; the blasts had gotten much smaller as they had gotten to him, as if he had managed to absorb some of the Rasoul energy before it hit him.
Trenton quickly slammed the door open and ran out, turning his head back to watch as Kyle came up the last few steps and dashed out of the door with a look of pain on his face as he was still quite sore from the fight that they had went through with Vice. The yellow hedgehog looked towards Trenton, who was already beginning to dash down the hallway away from the stairs and doors. “Come on, hurry up!” The bat yelled back to Kyle.
Kyle tried to force himself to run faster, but his body continued to protest against him. He continued to wear a pained look on his face as he looked towards Trenton, who was moving further and further away from him. “Trenton, wait! I can’t catch up with you at the rate that you’re going!” Kyle called ahead to the bat, watching as he quickly dashed around a corner; he was unsure if Trenton would be able to hear him.
Kyle waited for a response from Trenton, but he was unable to hear one, so he assumed that the bat had already moved too far ahead to be able to hear him. He turned the turner as quickly as quickly as he got to it, almost tripping while running due to how fast he tried to turn. He looked down the hallway that he had turned into, noticing that he couldn’t see Trenton anywhere. The yellow hedgehog released a sigh, figuring that Trenton had already run ahead without him. Suddenly, a loud whistling noise that began near the hallway door towards the stairs started up, causing Kyle’s ears to stand on end at the loud sound.
A few Rasoul blasts that came shooting by Kyle’s head caused the yellow hedgehog to quickly whip his head around in shock, noticing that silver blasts of Rasoul energy from Vice were flying at him; Kyle wasn’t able to see Vice, however. The blasts seemed to be flying up the stairs and through the hallways as if they were chasing him down. The blasts whistled louder and louder, irritating the hedgehog. Kyle tried to speed up to get away from the Rasoul blasts, but he was struck in the back, sending him falling forward onto the floor with a thud and a yell.
More blasts were coming towards him. The yellow hedgehog braced himself, expecting for the high powered Rasoul blasts to slam into him, but he instead felt what he thought was a pair of hands grabbing the back of his jacket. He turned his head as far back to the side to try to see who had grabbed him, but he was unable to see who had grabbed his jacket before he was jerked to the side through an open door.
Kyle once again turned to try to see the arms or the face of whoever had just grabbed him, but he was unable to do so once again as he was quickly and a bit painfully jerked upward to his feet; he could feel someone’s head move close to his own head and ears, as he could hear their breathing close to his head. Before Kyle was able to react to the person right next to his ear, the person whispered into his ear “Shh, don’t say anything. Be absolutely quiet,” He thought that the voice sounded like Trenton. “That kind of Rasoul energy move tracks down its target with sound. It’s called a Shriek Seeker.”
Looking out in the hallway, the bat was able to watch as one of the whistling Rasoul blasts flew past them and then disappeared. “Don’t run or try to do anything other than moving quietly unless Vice chases us down and tries to attack us himself,”
The bat gently let go of Kyle, giving a nod towards the yellow hedgehog. He quietly started to walk onward. Kyle and Trenton eventually found their way back to the large door that served as the entrance for the Dark Horses base. Kyle released a heavy sigh, feeling quite worn out.
“See, I told you we would find the exit,” Trenton said as he made his way through the large room, heading towards the large door.
Kyle was about to slam the door open himself, but paused briefly when he heard Azarika yelling from behind them “He’s right on my heels!” The hedgehog felt conflicted about leaving Azarika behind, and remained still. Trenton however promptly opened the door and made his exit, pulling Kyle with him.
Kyle began to protest but Trenton spoke before he could. “When I say now, we close this and lock it shut.”
“Will that even wor-“
“No time.” Trenton interrupted as he barely dodged Azarika as the fox blasted out of the base. The blonde bat let out a large “NOW!” and the two of them slammed the door shut. A large bang came from the other side.
Azarika had only just stopped running in time to turn around and catch on to what they were doing. He knew that the door would not hold Vice for long and without warning shoved the two out of the way before placing layer after layer of Rasoul Energy around the door to block their path.
“Won’t he just absorb that?!” Kyle questioned, deciding to ignore the shove for the moment.
“Not from that side of the door. He’ll have to break it before he can go through it. Now move!”
They all began to run away but were greatly tired out from the conflict. “After that fight with Vice, I don’t think I have enough Rasoul left to make a Rasoul Cloud for us to ride on.” Trenton noted.
“Yes, then it is best not to use the Rasoul Cloud and simply make our way away from here on foot,” Azarika said, turning his head to look at Trenton as they continued running. “Also, I am just going to tell you now, but I will not be staying with you on this entire run. I highly doubt Kyle wants my presence to be here as I am sure he is still bothered whether I have broken out of the control or not.”
“Where do you plan on going?” Trenton questioned. “
“I have an idea on where I am going to go,” Azarika replied quickly. “However, I may try to find where the other Dark Horses members ran away to. I am sure you can find your brother on your own, right?”
“I have an idea about where he would go to hide,” Trenton replied. “If that doesn’t work I can at least call him.”
“Trenton, I’m not trying to interrupt, but what in the world am I supposed to be saying or doing?” Kyle asked. “I feel a bit left out and lost on what to do other than just sitting here and listening.”
“No, you’re fine. Just keep moving,” Trenton replied. “Don’t stop running or moving no matter what you do. We wouldn’t want Vice to catch up to us again if he’s gotten that door open.”
“Fine then…” Kyle still felt as if he was still a bit out of place in the conversation, but he didn’t know what else to say since Trenton had pretty much just silenced his question for him. The yellow hedgehog just let his ears droop down as he continued to follow Azarika and Trenton in their run; his body and head still was protesting against the running with pain.
After about ten minutes of moving along the road, the small group of three came to two different roads; one that would lead into town and another that would move away from town. Azarika quickly said his goodbyes to Trenton and attempted to say goodbye to Kyle as well, but the yellow hedgehog was a bit afraid to accept the goodbye from the Dark Horses fox; the fox quickly dashed off and disappeared from sight down the road leading away from town almost as quickly as he said his goodbyes. Trenton pointed out that he believed he knew how to get Kyle back to his house from the road that led into town, so Kyle agreed to follow Trenton and head on his way back towards his home; the hedgehog could only hope that his family would not fly into a panic and/or anger upon seeing and hearing about the fight he had gotten into with Vice.
Kyle’s thoughts were jarred from him when he heard a knock on the front door. He quickly got up and opened the door. He was quite surprised to see that the person standing there was none other than the blonde haired Trenton. “Trenton? What in the name of Freedom City are you doing here? I don’t mean to sound mean at all, but you were just here not too long ago!”
“Yes, I know,” Trenton said with a nod, before giving Kyle a look as if to ask he could come inside. Kyle noticed this and moved out of the doorway. The bat closed the door on his way inside the house. “But, I have a reason for deciding to come back, or at least I would call it a reason for coming back.”
“Well, then why did you come back?” Kyle asked. “Did you forget to tell me something? Was it something important?”
“No,” Trenton replied. “After I left your house, I did a bit of thinking on my way away. Well, I decided that I want to attempt to go see if I can do anything to break my brother or the other Dark Horses out of the mind control that they are being held under.”
Kyle’s eyes widened in surprise at what Trenton had said. “You’re honestly going to go see if you can do something about the Dark Horses? By yourself? Why in the world would you try that by yourself?! You could get seriously hurt by yourself! They’re powerful!”
“I’d rather you not raise your voice,” Trenton said as his ears moved down slightly. “Now, I was coming back to your house to see if you wanted to come with me and try to help. You told me, if you remember that you would try to bring them out of their mind control if you could, so I’m attempting to give you your chance to do so.”
“Well… if they’re nice people under mind control, then I want to try to break that mind control,” Kyle said with a nod.
“If you want to come do so,” Trenton suggested. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but I was going to figure that you wanted to. Are you going to come or not?”
“Well, I can’t go anywhere until I ask my parents,” Kyle replied. “I don’t want to just suddenly leave and go somewhere without telling them first. That would be awful of me to just run off without telling them. …At least in my opinion.”
“Then go tell your parents, and then we’ll go,” Trenton said as he crossed his arms and went over to the front door. He leaned against the wall and watched as Kyle nodded his head and quickly walked off to go find his parents.
Trenton had to wait for a few minutes until Kyle came back, but at that point the bat had gotten a bit tired of the waiting. He looked at Kyle, who told him that his parents said he could leave for a short while, and then they both opened the front door and went out, closing the door behind them.
“So do you know where the Dark Horses HQ thing is at?” Kyle asked, turning his head to look at Trenton.
“Yes, I’ve been there a few times,” Trenton replied, half closing his eyes as they continued walking down the sidewalk away from Kyle’s house. “I’ve tried going there before by myself, but to no avail, as you can see that they’re still ‘evil’ like they were before. I’ve tried talking my brother out of it, as I felt he was the one that would be the easiest to snap out of it, but so far that hasn’t worked at all either, so I was going to attempt to give it another try.”
“What do you think I’m going to be able to do compared to what you can do…?” Kyle questioned, feeling a bit confused. “I mean, if you couldn’t break them out of it alone, then what makes you think that two of us together will increase the odds?”
“I never said I thought both of us would increase the odds,” Trenton replied, keeping his head straight as he continued walking. “I don’t know if both of us will increase odds, but again, you wanted to help."
“Well, you are right on that. How long will it be until we reach where the Dark Horses are? Will it take a little while? Or just a few more minutes?”
“It depends on how fast you can walk,” Trenton replied in what sounded a bit like an annoyed tone of voice. “The faster we walk, the faster we get there. It’s as simple as that”
“Do you think that they’re going to attack us?” Kyle asked as he turned his head to look at Trenton. Trenton turned his head just slightly to look at Kyle, wearing a look on his face as if the yellow hedgehog had asked a horribly stupid question. Kyle stayed quiet for a few moments before his ears drooped down onto his head. “Right, never mind. I know that was an idiot question. I know they would attack if they saw us there… or at least I know they would attack if they saw me.”
“Just be careful and keep your guard up, alright?” Trenton said. “I’d rather take you back to your house without you missing teeth and having a black eye.”
“I know to be careful… Anyway, how long will it be until we get there? Are we getting close yet, or is there still a little ways to go?”
“Let’s just say that this will go by a lot quicker if we keep walking and perhaps speak to get our minds off of it,” Trenton replied. “Sometimes talking to someone can really help me pass the time when something is taking quite some time, though I can’t say that I’m an extremely social person.” Kyle started to respond to what Trenton had said, but was afraid that he might lead the conversation in circles, so he simply moved on to what Trenton suggested and began bringing up different topics to speak about as they walked, ranging from school to whatever else they could think of to talk about.
The walk did indeed take quite some time, and Kyle’s legs and feet were already feeling worn out by the time they reached the Dark Horses HQ building, which was a building hidden by trees, quite hard to see from the road unless you paid very close attention. Kyle released a sigh as he walked with Trenton, who shot him a small “hush and be quiet” glare once they got closer to the building.
“I can’t help it, Trenton, my legs are killing me!” Kyle complained, lowering his voice as they got closer to the building. “Ugh, I hate walking if there’s any way at all that I can avoid it… My legs and my feet get really tired and then they really start hurting.”
“Walking was the best option that we had,” Trenton replied quietly with a frown. “A car would have made way too much noise, if I made a Rasoul Cloud to carry us Vice might have been able to sense it and detect us, and running would have just tired us out even worse than we are right now. I’ll admit I spent quite a bit of energy walking all the way here, but you’re just going to have to deal with it like how I am.”
“I never said I wasn’t going to deal with it,” Kyle said. “Wait, you know how to make the Rasoul Cloud thing? Mancer hasn’t showed me how to do that yet! He’s just been teaching me the Rasoul Punch and Rasoul Kick."
“Let’s not get off track, alright?” Trenton said, going up towards the side of the Dark Horses HQ building. He looked up at the side of the building, attempting to search for a point of entry that they could use, such as a vent or a window of some kind.
“Do you see anything yet? If you’ve been here multiple times, I’m going to guess that you know your way around this place better than I do,” Kyle said. “The times I’ve been here before, I’ve been captured, so… I didn’t really feel like stopping to look around at what the place looked like.”
“And I can understand that. However, once again, let’s try not to get off track,” Trenton said as he pointed up towards a high window. “Let’s try that window, shall we? Do you think you can climb up to that, or do we need to find a lower window or vent for you?”
“I’m perfectly fine with the climbing,” Kyle said as he looked around for something to place his feet on. He saw a dumpster that he could put his feet on, and he thought he would be able to reach the window with his hands if he got on the dumpster lid and stood up on the ends of his toes.
Trenton watched as Kyle climbed up onto the dumpster and looked up at the window. Kyle stood on the ends of his toes and held his hands up to the window in an attempt to reach it, but he was just barely unable to. “Trenton, can you boost me up?” The hedgehog asked, turning his head to look at the blonde haired bat.
“I can fly up if needed, but thank you for helping,” Trenton said as he climbed up onto the dumpster next to Kyle. He moved to the side, holding both of his hands down. “Alright, give me your feet."
Kyle placed both of his feet on Trenton’s hands, putting his hands on the wall for support, and reached out to the window as Trenton pushed his legs up. The boost was enough to get Kyle to the window, and he took ahold of the edge of the window and climbed up onto the outside windowsill.
“Now before you pull me up or do anything such as that,” Trenton whispered quietly, attempting to be as quiet as possible. “Be extremely careful and look in the window to see if you can see anyone in there. If you see them, get down as quickly and as quietly as you can so you don’t get seen.”
“I don’t see anyone, and the room is dark. They must not be in here,” Kyle whispered back quietly to Trenton, reaching one of his hands down to the bat. Trenton reached up and grabbed ahold of Kyle’s hands, who pulled him up onto the windowsill.
Trenton grabbed ahold of the window and slowly began pushing it up to open it. He squeezed in through the window when he had it opened enough before quietly lowering himself to the floor. He looked back at the window, watching as Kyle also squeezed in the window. He motioned for the hedgehog to close the window quietly, so Kyle turned around and shut the window slowly.
Kyle and Trenton both looked around the room in silence, struggling to see in the darkness of the room. They moved closer to the door of the room, still attempting to be as quiet as possible, and listened closely for any sounds of talking or footsteps. Neither of the boys were able to hear anything, so they both walked over to the door and pushed it open quietly, with Trenton leaning his head out into the hallway slightly to look out. The blonde haired bat was unable to see or hear any signs of the Dark Horses being around, so he slowly stepped out into the hallway while motioning for Kyle to follow.
They stepped out into the hallway quietly and looked around, but they were still unable to hear or see any sign of the Dark Horses. After a silent discussion about what they were going to do, they decided to stay in the shadows of the rooms and the dark hallway, using the shadows for cover.
After quite some time of walking through the hallways and looking in the rooms, Kyle decided to break the silence very quietly since he still couldn’t see or hear the Dark Horses anywhere around. “…Where do you think they are?” He asked in a quiet voice, causing Trenton to jump slightly.
“I don’t know,” Trenton replied back quietly, taking a slightly deeper breath. “I would have thought that we would have seen or at least heard at least one of them by now.”
“Do you think they’re even here right now…?” Kyle asked, continuing to listen for any sounds or signs of the Dark Horses. Since they weren’t making any noise that made Kyle wonder if they possibly knew that the two of them were there. “Do you think that they know we’re here…?”
Trenton stayed quiet for a few moments. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, we don’t hear them or see them anywhere, so maybe they saw, or heard, us coming, and maybe now they’re hiding from us so they can attack us in some kind surprise attack,” Kyle said. “I might be acting paranoid but that’s all I can think of to explain this.”
Trenton thought over what Kyle had said; the hedgehog had made a point, but he wasn’t so sure if that’s what was actually happening. As Trenton stood thinking, his ears began twitching when he began hearing a sound; he could hear the sound of voices, almost as if multiple people were having a meeting or a discussion of some sort. Kyle also heard the noise, and both boys turned their heads to look at each other as if to ask each other what they were going to do. After a very brief and quick silent discussion, they both decided that they were going to carefully follow the sound. They thought that perhaps it would take them to the Dark Horses, if they were the people who were having a meeting.
After carefully and quietly following the voices and sounds, Kyle and Trenton found themselves near a staircase. Both boys continued on their way down the staircase, still attempting to be as quiet as possible. The bottom of the stairs led into a giant hallway-like room, which was filled with a vast amount of cells and bars from what Kyle and Trenton could see. They hid around the corner, just barely peeking into the room. Trenton was determined that the voices were coming from towards the end of the hallway where cells with thicker bars seemed to be.
The blonde haired bat slowly stepped away from the corner, moving over to another corner further up in the room near the side of an empty cell. He stayed in the shadows and stayed quiet, before motioning for Kyle to come and move up as well. Both boys stayed quiet as they continued moving up together, until they came to a very quick stop and dove behind a corner to stay out of sight; they had caught a glimpse of the Dark Horses inside one of the cells at the end of the hallway. Kyle backed up into the corner as much as possible, wearing a look of fear and stress on his face. He did not want to be caught. Trenton, however, leaned forward as much as he could while still staying behind the cover of the wall corner; he wanted to see what the Dark Horses were doing.
Before Kyle and Trenton could react to really anything, and right after the whispering ended, Vice suddenly spoke out in a louder voice, as if announcing something to the other Dark Horses. “Now! Let it began, Azarika. I do believe we’re all ready by now, and I can’t stand to wait any longer. We all prepared, so let’s start!” Kyle and Trenton looked at each other in confusion before they attempted to look inside the cell from their hiding spot. Trenton was able to see all six of the Dark Horses members, and what looked like a passed out male. The male was a Rasoulin Seeker, based on his appearance, though he seemed to be unconscious or sleeping.
Kyle and Trenton were able to see Azarika step out to the side slightly while forming Rasoul energy around his hands. The Rasoul energy began spreading out, moving out in front of him. It seemed to be moving closer to the passed-out Rasoulin Seeker.
Kyle and Trenton watched in surprise as the Rasoul energy wrap around the Rasoulin Seeker, with the Seeker’s own Rasoul energy began flowing out, almost as if Azarika was somehow channeling the Rasoul Seeker’s Rasoul with his own Rasoul. “Wait, you can channel that Rasoul energy yourself, Azarika?” They heard Vice ask in surprise. “I didn’t know that you could do that!”
“Is this not what you wanted? Yes, I can channel this, though it’s quite difficult. Do you mind hurrying along with that plan of yours?” Azarika asked in what sounded like an annoyed tone of voice.
“Are you that impatient?” Vice asked, sounding a bit annoyed himself. From the two stalkers were able to see a silver colored energy forming around Vice, though they couldn’t see it in detail from their location.
“I can only hold this for so long,” Azarika snapped back at Vice, sounding quite annoyed. “Either let me release this energy or start your plan. I am not trying to sound harsh, but this is incredibly difficult to hold together.”
“Fine, fine,” Vice said through a sigh, frowning slightly. He held his hands up towards the Rasoul energy that Azarika was channeling about. Kyle and Trenton watched as the silver energy began forming around Vice’s arms, spreading to his entire body until he was glowing with a silver energy. Kyle thought it looked like Rasoul energy, but he had no idea why it would be silver if it was actually Rasoul.
“Now, the plan has to do with this right here,” Vice said to the other Dark Horses members, who were all watching. “I had a plan to absorb as much as I could of this Rasoulin Seeker’s Rasoul, as I know it would make me more powerful. With it I could perform better, whether it be in battle or otherwise.” Kyle and Trenton both turned their heads to look at each other in shock. Kyle wanted to try to go ahead and try to stop Vice before he started, but Trenton held him back before the hedgehog was able to rush out.
Vice held out his arms, causing the silver energy to stretch out towards the energy that Azarika was channeling out of the Rasoulin Seeker. “Azarika, I advise that you let go off that energy as soon as my energy makes contact with it, or else I may accidentally wind up absorbing what you’re using as well."
“I thought as much, though thank you for the warning,” Azarika said, watching Vice’s energy carefully as it began wrapping around the Rasoulin Seeker’s Rasoul energy. Kyle and Trenton both looked to see if they could move any closer but they could not afford to be seen, and stayed put.
Azarika waited until the silver energy wrapped completely around the Rasoulin Seeker’s energy, almost like a coil, then he released his own energy just as the coil consumed the Seeker’s energy. “Are you sure this was a good idea, Vice?” Azarika asked, looking towards Vice while chewing on the corner of his lip nervously.
“Oh, I can’t be sure if this will even work as I’ve never tried absorbing Rasoulin Seeker Rasoul before, but if this does work, I would call it a good idea due to the fact that it’ll make me more powerful!” Vice replied, wearing a grin on his face as he continued holding the energy coil together, watching as it continued absorbing Rasoul.
“Are you sure that is not going to backfire on you?” Azarika questioned, which caused all of the Dark Horses to turn their heads towards Azarika as if they were either surprised or confused by what the fox had just asked. Even Vice himself turned his head to glance at Azarika, though he still kept his primary focus on the silver energy coil.
“Now what in the name of the Rasoul Dimension would make you question something like that?” Vice asked, raising an eye brow slightly. “I’ve never known you as pessimistic, Azarika. I’ve never known you as thinking of thoughts such as that, involving something not working or failing. Are you not optimistic that this will work?”
“I have never been a pessimist, and I do not plan on being one any time soon,” Azarika replied in an annoyed tone. “But if you do not know if this will work, than how can you know that it will not backfire?”
“Well, I can’t say for certain but I doubt it will,” Vice said, turning his attention back to the silver energy. The energy coil was growing larger as it continued absorbing the Rasoulin Seeker’s energy at a steady place.
“How long is this going to actually take?” Astra suddenly questioned, sounding a bit annoyed. “Does it honestly take this long just to absorb energy or whatever?”
“Oh, I could absorb it much quicker, if you wanted me to completely lose control over it and let it go everywhere,” Vice replied. “If I tried to absorb it too quickly, it would shoot around the room, doing whatever it wants. It’s fairly unstable anyways, and that would certainly just make it worse.”
“So you’re basically saying it would explode?” Astra asked, tilting her to the side as she crossed her arms. “And that would either kill us or seriously injure us?”
“Exactly, so I have to keep a cautious pace,” Vice replied, watching as the energy continued being absorbed into the coil; there was a smaller amount of the energy left, but Vice was still taking it. Even just a small amount of energy becoming unstable.
Kyle turned to Trenton, attempting to start a conversation silently by mouthing to his bat friend. “What are we going to do? Are we going to approach them while they’re off guard? They don’t even know that we’re here yet from what I can tell!”
Trenton had to watch Kyle’s lips very closely as he talked, and remained quiet and still for a few moments as he tried to put together what Kyle was saying in his head. “I don’t know what they’re actually up to, Kyle. If Vice is right about what he just said, if we try to approach him or the others, we might startle him, which would cause that energy to most likely explode like he said if he’s correct.”
“So we really just have to sit here and watch them until Vice is finished?” Kyle mouthed back at Trenton. “How can we just wait for that?! Vice said that he was going to make himself more powerful!”
“Do you want us both to be killed in an explosion?” Trenton mouthed back with a frown. Kyle remained quiet.
“We didn’t have enough time to make a move before he started with that, so all we can do is let him finish or risk being blown up. Besides, I doubt even if it didn’t blow up that we would be able to take them all on.”
The room fell quiet for the next minute or so; Kyle and Trenton didn’t mouth back to each other or make any noise, and none of the Dark Horses seemed to be moving or making any sorts of noise, though out of the corner of his eye Kyle managed to see Azarika’s face, which was showing what looked like a small look of worry as if he was afraid about what was going to happen or knew something bad was going to happen. Kyle found it strange that Azarika would have such a look on his face, and the hedgehog turned his head to see if Trenton was observing Azarika’s behavior as well; he was not, and he was instead focused on Vice and just Vice alone, also watching the silver energy that Vice was commanding to absorb the Rasoulin Seeker Rasoul.
Azarika began backing away from Vice and the energy very slowly, keeping his eyes locked on the Rasoulin Seeker’s energy, which was almost completely absorbed by Vice’s energy coil. The other Dark Horses were too distracted by the energy to notice Azarika’s movement. Kyle and Trenton actually both noticed Azarika backing away, and they both looked towards the fox in absolute confusion. Azarika continued backing up extremely slowly, attempting to not be noticed by the other Dark Horses. The fox stood completely still after reaching a cell wall, keeping his eyes locked on the energy.
“Now, I’m almost finished,” Vice said, continuing to absorb the Rasoul. “And once we are finished here, I have a plan. First of all, I plan on taking this Seeker out somewhere so he doesn’t wake up and attack all of us. After absorbing this energy, I’m most likely going to have to rest. This is taking its toll. I’m more than sure this will probably throw my Rasoul balance off, but I still think it will give great benefit from power increase.”
Everyone, including Kyle and Trenton, who was paying attention to the energy that Vice was absorbing watched very closely as the last bits of Rasoulin Seeker energy were absorbed in to the silver energy that Vice was using. Vice carefully and slowly let the silver energy that he was using come apart and absorb back into himself, wearing a grin on his face as he turned to fact the other Dark Horses; his body was now sparking and glowing with the extra Rasoul energy that he had absorbed from the Rasoulin Seeker.
“And now, I have finished,” Vice said as he turned to face all of the Dark Horses members, who all turned their heads to look at them; that was also when he noticed that Azarika was backed against the wall. “Wait, Azarika? Why in the world are you against the wall? Did you think I was going to mess up and explode the energy?”
Azarika didn’t respond, but he kept his eyes locked on Vice and the extra Rasoul energy that was floating around the Dark Horses leader.
“What’s wrong with you?” Vice asked as he raised an eye brow towards Azarika. “Is something bothering?”
Azarika continued watching Vice in silence with a frown on his face, until his frown turned into more of a look of shock when he saw that the Rasoul energy Vice had around him began sparking and bending, which confused the Dark Horses and Vice greatly. “Vice, what’s happening?” Astra questioned, watching the mixed look of surprise and confusion on the Dark Horses leader’s face. He simply just shook his head quickly to what Astra had asked, watching as the energy continued sparking and bending.
“I’m not honestly sure what’s happening, Astra,” Vice replied. “I’ve never seen Rasoul energy do this before, unless it was going to-“ Before Vice could finish what he was saying, the energy began sparking more and more, beginning to become quite unstable. All of the Dark Horses looked at the energy in shock before they backed up slightly. Vice attempted to control the energy himself, but to no avail.
“What should we do?!” Kyle mouthed to Trenton.
“Kyle, I don’t even know what in the world is even going on,” Trenton mouthed back. “I’ve never seen Rasoul energy just suddenly start sparking and going crazy like that, even when it was going unstable.”
Vice continued trying to control the energy, but it continued sparking until it finally exploded in a giant pulse of Rasoul energy, catching himself and the Dark Horses member in the range of it. The explosion was not large enough to reach Kyle and Trenton, but they were certainly able to see the it to its full extent. The pulse wrapped around all of the Dark Horses as it continued sparking, until it suddenly disappeared in an explosion of spark-like pieces of Rasoul energy. After the explosion and sparks were gone, all of the Dark Horses were standing in place, until all of the Dark Horses members except for Vice and Azarika started looking around as if confused; Vice simply stood in place with frozen expression on his face. Azarika kept his eyes on Vice.
“Where in the world are we?” Astra suddenly questioned while holding a hand against the side of her head while looking around. She had felt a pain in her head when she was struck with that energy pulse, and she heard a sound that had sounded almost like a snap; a very similar experience that Azarika had had previously while talking with Vice.
“I think we’re… in a cell of some kind, Astra,” Sniper suddenly said, also feeling a headache in her head as well. She turned to look at Astra, seeming just as confused as she was. “Does anyone else know where we are? Devin? Willow? Vice? Azarika?”
“Like you just said, I think we’re in some kind of cell,” Devin said, also looking around while holding his head slightly. “…And why are we all in these black robes?” The bat questioned, looking down at what he was wearing. “I knew Azarika wore one a lot of the time, but why are we each in a robe ourselves?”
“How did we forget what we were doing? Were we doing something important?” Willow questioned, looking around with wide eyes. All of the Dark Horses not counting Azarika and Vice simply just shrugged their shoulders at each other and continued looking around in obvious confusion.
“Why did they suddenly start acting like this?” Kyle mouthed to Trenton, making sure the bat knew he was speaking with a nudge. “ They seem like they’re acting and talking as if they’re completely different now. What happened to them?”
Trenton seemed as confused as Kyle, thinking over any reasons possible. “…The way they’re acting right now strongly reminds me of how they were before I was told that they were under hypnosis; well, Azarika and Vice aren’t acting quite like how I remember them, as Azarika doesn’t constantly stare and back away, and Vice is normally that quiet, but the others remind me of themselves.”
“Well, what in the name of Freedom City do we do now?” Kyle mouthed back. “Do we try to approach them or do we just leave or what do we do?” He was going to continue mouthing something more until he noticed that Trenton was no longer paying attention and had turned his attention back to the Dark Horses. He released a silent sigh before turning his own head back to the Dark Horses.
“Everyone, pay attention. Now is not a good time to be confused. Trust me, you are going to need to pay attention now,” Azarika said to the other Dark Horses, who all turned their heads to look at the Dark Horses fox with confusion on their faces.
“Why would we need to pay attention?” Sniper asked, her voice sounding a bit more timid than it did before. “Azarika, what’s going on…? Where are we…?”
“Just trust me; I will tell you later,” Azarika said in a firm voice, keeping his eyes locked on Vice. “Vice, can you hear me? Are you listening to me?”
Vice stayed completely silent, looking straight down at the ground; his ears twitched at the sound of Azarika’s voice, however, so that did indicate that he did indeed hear what the Dark Horses fox said. He slowly and quietly raised his head up, staring at Azarika with a rather blank look on his face. Azarika frowned at Vice before trying to speak to the Dark Horses once more. “Did you hear me? Can you talk to me?”
“What are you trying to do?” Astra questioned Azarika. Wouldn’t Vice be able to hear you? Is something wrong with him?”
“Please be quiet for a moment, Astra. I need to keep my focus on him to see what he is going to do,” Azarika said before turning his attention back to Vice. The Dark Horses leader had finally started to blink his eyes and to look around, as if observing where he was as well. “Vice, are you-“ Azarika started to talk to Vice, but he stopped himself from talking when the Dark Horses leader raised his head and looked at the fox while having a rather glazed look in his eyes and a slightly dark grin on his face.
“Oh, I’m just fine… Azarika. I’m perfectly fine, don’t worry about it,” Vice said, still having that glazed look in his eyes. He began stepping towards the fox, who began backing away. “In fact, I feel a bit more than fine. I feel charged; powerful with energy.”
“I… this is not right, Vice,” Azarika said to Vice, still backing away as the Dark Horses leader continued walking towards him. “You might want to release that Rasoulin Seeker Energy as soon as possible.”
“How could it not be a good thing?” Vice questioned, tilting to the side. “It doesn’t matter, I feel like I have much more power and stamina now. Surely it’s only a good thing. But again, it doesn’t matter. …I must have more power, though. I need more of it.”
“And how do you plan on getting that extra power?” Azarika questioned, knowing very-well what how Vice planned to get extra power. His entire body tensed up as he continued keeping his eyes on Vice, as if waiting for the Dark Horses leader to make a move.
“It doesn’t matter. With even more Rasoul energy I can be even more powerful. There’s always room for more power and strength. Do you all… care to share yours with me?” He asked with a slightly devious grin. He quickly raised his hands before the other Dark Horses members had a chance to react and shot that silver energy towards them. The Dark Horses sprung away, barely being missed by the energy shot at them.
“What are you doing?!” Devin questioned with a look of shock on his face, trying to hold his balance as he ducked to the side. “We’re your friends, Vice!”
“Devin, he is not himself right now!” Azarika suddenly yelled towards Devin, trying to talk over Devin’s panicking voice. “Just pay attention and try to dodge anything he shoots at you! He got a taste of that Rasoulin Seeker’s power and now he wants to take our Rasoul energy as well!”
“What are you even talking about?!” Astra questioned, looking at Azarika with a frown. “What Rasoulin Seeker?! What happened that we can’t remember, and why do you remember if none of the others but Vice can?!”
“Vice only remembers what happened because of that Rasoul energy that he absorbed! The Rasoul energy kept him from forgetting what happened when he came back to his senses!” Azarika said back to Astra. Azarika quickly whipped his head to the side just in time to see Vice with a rather devious grin come charging towards the Dark Horses with his arms now covered in the silver energy. It began morphing into blades of Rasoul energy, which he swung strongly towards his former subordinates.
In an attempt to block the attack from hitting his allies, Azarika quickly ran in front of Vice and threw his arms up, allowing the blades to slam right into his arms. The other Dark Horses members, and even Kyle and Trenton, all gasped at the sight. Azarika was among the living still, but the blades were cutting deep into his arms, causing a black liquid to spill out from the cuts like blood.
Azarika, seeming to ignore the pain, quickly raised his foot and formed Rasoul energy around it before slamming it hard into Vice’s stomach, sending the Dark Horses leader stumbling back until he fell, his face twisted in pain from the kick. The fox quickly turned his head to the other Dark Horses members, who were just staring in a wide-eyed shock. “Everyone, move! It will only take him a few moments to get back to a standing position in which he could attack!”
Kyle and Trenton just watched what was happening between the Dark Horses and Vice in shock, their jaws hanging open. A serious expression began to form on Trenton’s face just as he began to step out of the hiding spot, but the hedgehog grabbed the back of his shirt to stop him.
“What are you doing?! They’ll know that we’re here!” Kyle mouthed to Trenton when the bat turned around to look at Kyle.
“I’m not going to just stand around here while Vice is coming after them!” Trenton mouthed back quickly, wearing a frown on his face. “I don’t know why in the world Vice is suddenly turning on them and attacking them, but one of those people is my brother, so I’m not going to just sit here!” Kyle started to stop Trenton again, but the bat jerked his shirt out of the hedgehog’s hands, and started off towards the Dark Horses. Not wanting to sit still and let Trenton go by himself, Kyle mustered up the courage to come out of hiding and follow Trenton.
Trenton saw as Vice charged forward with the silver energy blades once again at the Dark Horses, making sure to dodge Azarika this time. The members dove to the side, dodging once again. “Devin, pay attention and watch out!” Trenton called out to his brother, who turned his head around in shock to look at his sibling.
“Trenton?!” Devin questioned. With his attention focused on his brother, he didn’t see Vice rushing to attack again, which caused Azarika to try to knock Vice back before he got close to the Dark Horses again.
Azarika glanced back over his shoulder once he had knocked Vice back again, looking at Trenton and Kyle with a mixed look of what looked like shock and anger before quickly turning back to face Vice. “Listen to your brother, Devin!” He then spoke to Kyle and Trenton. “Now what are you two here for?! This is the number one thing that M-“ A blast of that silver energy from Vice stopped the fox in mid-sentence, sending him flying directly into the concrete wall. Azarika hissed through his teeth in pain, raising his head back up to see Vice charging towards him. Azarika pushed himself out of the wall and quickly moved to the side to dodge Vice’s swinging blades, which hit the wall with incredible force and became stuck in the wall due to the force.
“I know that he said that he didn’t want us to get involved in a fight like this, but I’ve disregarded orders before for the greater good!” Trenton said as he formed Rasoul energy around his body, preparing to try to help fight back Vice if his help was needed. “Kyle, stay back!”
“I don’t want to just sit around and watch all of you get hurt from all of this!” Kyle said back to Trenton, watching in shock of what was going on around him. “And who gave you orders?!”
“Never mind that, just pay attention so you don’t get hit!” Trenton hissed through his teeth.
Kyle stayed back, watching as Vice managed to yank his bladed arms out of the wall with a snarl of anger before swinging his blades at Azarika’s neck, causing the fox to jerk his body backwards with an almost abnormal flexibility to dodge the blades. Trenton quickly shot a blast of Rasoul energy towards the Dark Horses leader, knocking him away from Azarika; the fox looked back at Trenton, giving a nod towards the bat in thanks for the help. Kyle continued to stand back and watch in shock, as did a few Dark Horses.
“Vice, why are you trying to attack us?” Astra questioned. “Do you not realize who we are, or are you doing this for some kind of reason. Can you even listen to what I’m saying?”
Vice shot forwards towards Trenton and Azarika, once again swinging blades made of that silver energy; Trenton and Azarika both jerked to the sides to avoid the blades, which gave Vice an opening to run past them to come at the other Dark Horses in an attack. “Everyone get out! NOW!” The fox yelled desperately.
Not feeling right by just standing around and watching everyone around him get attacked, Kyle pulled his own arm back, charging a small sphere of Rasoul energy in the palm of his hand, and then he fired the energy at Vice. The energy didn’t seem to even affect the Dark Horses leader, but he did stagger slightly to the side. Trenton turned his head back to look at the yellow and black hedgehog, as if shocked by the hedgehog’s act.
“Kyle, I told you to stay back! Don’t get him focused on you or else he’s going to come after you!” Trenton said;
“Trenton, I don’t care! I want to help you and I don’t want to just stand back and let everyone get attacked when I could do something about it!” Kyle said. “Good guys or bad guys, they seem defenseless right now and they need help! You and Azarika or whatever his name is over there can only do so much by yourselves!”
Trenton and Azarika both dove out of the way of the blasts, trying to watch out for the wild blasts and Vice’s physical attacks with his bladed arms as well. They both looked back at the other Dark Horses and Kyle to see if they were okay, and felt a bit relieved to see they were fine.
Vice hissed in anger at Trenton and Azarika while raising his arms quickly, shooting even more Rasoul energy blasts that began bouncing around the room. Before anyone could react to this, the energy knocked into most of Dark Horses, Trenton, and barely missed Kyle.
Kyle looked above him at a large hole the energy left in the ceiling, greatly thankful that that hole was not him. He turned his head back to Vice, Azarika, and Trenton quickly, and had to jerk his head to the side to dodge another crossfire blast that came flying past him.
Azarika, sooner than most of the others, realized that the battle would not be won here. Despite their energy, Vice was simply too crazed, and too powerful, to take down here, and with a quick glance about the room’s damage he estimated it would not take much more to cause the roof to collapse on top of them. “Trenton, Kyle- EVERYONE!” He yelled, instantly dictating the attention from his allies. “This is not getting us anywhere, we have to leave, and leave NOW!”
“What? How can we just leave while Vice is attacking like this?” Kyle questioned, still looking confused. “He could leave and go into the city to use all of that power to seriously hurt a lot of people! Shouldn’t we be trying to stop him right now before he goes out and uses that power against everyone?”
“We can’t stop him like this.” Trenton replied. “We need more support, and this room won’t last forever!”
“But…” Kyle started to say something, but a very cold glare from Trenton made him stop talking. His ears lay back as he looked around the room, trying to look for an exit that would be easy to get to; Trenton was also looking for the same thing and pointed out the door that the other Dark Horses members had previously exited from.
Azarika quickly moved to the side, dodging a swing from one of Vice’s silver Rasoul energy blades. “Hurry! Go!” He called to Trenton and Kyle as he tried to fire Rasoul energy into Vice’s back. Vice was now focused on the two people who were trying to escape. Trenton quickly slammed the door open and yanked Kyle out into the hallway with him, pointing to a door that was at the end of the hallway to tell Kyle that they needed to run. Vice quickly dashed after Kyle and Trenton, determined to chase them down and prevent them from escaping from him, with Azarika in tail.
Kyle found it very difficult to run and focus; the throbbing in his head was becoming worse due to the running, so he tried to focus on where Trenton was going instead of where he was running himself.
Trenton glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Kyle was still behind him, and yanked Kyle over to the side via his jacket once he saw a silver Rasoul blast come flying towards them; the Rasoul energy barely missed Trenton and Kyle, flying into the wall at the end of the hallway. “Kyle, you’re going to have to try to pay attention! I know you’re probably still dizzy but you’re going to have to pay attention and move faster!”
In his daze of a state Kyle could do little to nothing in reply except nod begrudgingly.
Trenton quickly dashed up the staircase that he and Kyle had previously traveled down to go into the cell-filled hallway, trying to be careful not to trip on the stairs as he dashed up them as quickly as he could. Kyle tried to run up the stairs after Trenton, afraid of falling; his fear proved to be correct, as the speed that he tried to gain while going up the stairs caused him to hit one of his feet on the stairs and trip, hitting the stairs with a large thump and a yell of pain. Trenton quickly whipped around to see Kyle as he started to fall down the stairs, unable to stop himself from falling down the stairs and towards Vice. Azarika quickly looked over Vice’s shoulder as he continued trying to catch up to Kyle and Trenton. Azarika closed his eyes while still running before his body began to turn into a slightly grey, foggy-like version of Rasoul energy; the fog then began breaking up until it look like nothing more but a mist or a haze. The fog quickly shot forward at a very quick speed, going above Vice and dropping down in front of the Dark Horses leader before he was able to get to Kyle. The fog quickly blasted into Vice, sending the Dark Horses leader flying back down the stairs himself.
Kyle continued to slide down the stairs, trying to grab ahold of one of the stairs but he found himself unable to get a hold on any of the stairs as he continued to fall. Trenton quickly started to come back down after the hedgehog, but he stopped when he saw the grey fog that Azarika had turned into shooting down on the stair where Kyle would slide by on in a few seconds. Kyle hit the fog as if it was a solid figure, gasping in pain slightly from the pain that came in his back when he smacked against the fog. He quickly looked up in confusion, watching as the fog grabbed ahold of his arms and pulled him up to his feet.
“Get back up and go! Follow Trenton! Leave before Vice recovers!” The fog said as it slowly turned back into Azarika’s body shape.
Kyle nodded to Azarika and tried to start up the stairs again at a quick pace, but he found himself almost tripping again. He quickly lost his balance, about to fall again, but he was close enough to Trenton so the bat could grab ahold of Kyle’s shirt and pull him forward back to his feet. “Thanks, Trenton,” Kyle gasped, trying to get back on his feet. He found it very difficult to stand, as his legs were becoming extremely sore from all of the conflict.
“No time to be thanking. Get a move on; we need to get out of here as quickly as possible,” Trenton said as he let go of Kyle and started back up the stairs quickly, expecting Kyle to follow him. Azarika quickly turned to face the bottom of the stairs, the fox quickly formed Rasoul energy around his hands, preparing to try to slow Vice down once again.
Kyle tried to follow Trenton up the stairs as quickly as possible, leaning one of his shoulders against the wall as he quickly went up. Leaning against the wall was slowing him down a bit, but he was still hoping that he wouldn’t fall and get hurt again on the steps; he also didn’t know if Azarika would be able to catch him again before Vice would get to him. Trenton glanced over his shoulder as he made it to the top of the stairs and the doorway, seeing that Kyle was still down quite a bit of the stairs and coming up them slower than he was before due to leaning against the wall as he tried to make it up the steps.
“Hurry up, Kyle! Azarika can only keep Vice distracted for so long!” Trenton commanded from the top of the stairs.
“Hey, I’m trying to go as fast as I can!” Kyle called up the stairs, moving off of the wall; he quickly tried to make his way up the stairs, but he once again had to put his hands out on the wall to gain his balance once again.
Trenton watched Kyle come closer until he was just a few steps away from the bat and the door. Trenton started to open the door, but the sound of a Rasoul blast being fired made him glance over his shoulder and jerk his head to the side to avoid having his head hit by the Rasoul. He glanced down the stairs slightly, seeing that Vice was attempting to fire past Azarika. The fox quickly tried to shoot a blast of Rasoul into Vice but Vice simply moved out of the way. Azarika switched to both of his hands and tried shooting larger and more powerful blast, but this time Vice simply let the blasts hit him. The Dark Horses leader staggered back just a bit and had to put a hand out on the wall to prevent himself from falling, but he didn’t seem to take any large damage; the blasts had gotten much smaller as they had gotten to him, as if he had managed to absorb some of the Rasoul energy before it hit him.
Trenton quickly slammed the door open and ran out, turning his head back to watch as Kyle came up the last few steps and dashed out of the door with a look of pain on his face as he was still quite sore from the fight that they had went through with Vice. The yellow hedgehog looked towards Trenton, who was already beginning to dash down the hallway away from the stairs and doors. “Come on, hurry up!” The bat yelled back to Kyle.
Kyle tried to force himself to run faster, but his body continued to protest against him. He continued to wear a pained look on his face as he looked towards Trenton, who was moving further and further away from him. “Trenton, wait! I can’t catch up with you at the rate that you’re going!” Kyle called ahead to the bat, watching as he quickly dashed around a corner; he was unsure if Trenton would be able to hear him.
Kyle waited for a response from Trenton, but he was unable to hear one, so he assumed that the bat had already moved too far ahead to be able to hear him. He turned the turner as quickly as quickly as he got to it, almost tripping while running due to how fast he tried to turn. He looked down the hallway that he had turned into, noticing that he couldn’t see Trenton anywhere. The yellow hedgehog released a sigh, figuring that Trenton had already run ahead without him. Suddenly, a loud whistling noise that began near the hallway door towards the stairs started up, causing Kyle’s ears to stand on end at the loud sound.
A few Rasoul blasts that came shooting by Kyle’s head caused the yellow hedgehog to quickly whip his head around in shock, noticing that silver blasts of Rasoul energy from Vice were flying at him; Kyle wasn’t able to see Vice, however. The blasts seemed to be flying up the stairs and through the hallways as if they were chasing him down. The blasts whistled louder and louder, irritating the hedgehog. Kyle tried to speed up to get away from the Rasoul blasts, but he was struck in the back, sending him falling forward onto the floor with a thud and a yell.
More blasts were coming towards him. The yellow hedgehog braced himself, expecting for the high powered Rasoul blasts to slam into him, but he instead felt what he thought was a pair of hands grabbing the back of his jacket. He turned his head as far back to the side to try to see who had grabbed him, but he was unable to see who had grabbed his jacket before he was jerked to the side through an open door.
Kyle once again turned to try to see the arms or the face of whoever had just grabbed him, but he was unable to do so once again as he was quickly and a bit painfully jerked upward to his feet; he could feel someone’s head move close to his own head and ears, as he could hear their breathing close to his head. Before Kyle was able to react to the person right next to his ear, the person whispered into his ear “Shh, don’t say anything. Be absolutely quiet,” He thought that the voice sounded like Trenton. “That kind of Rasoul energy move tracks down its target with sound. It’s called a Shriek Seeker.”
Looking out in the hallway, the bat was able to watch as one of the whistling Rasoul blasts flew past them and then disappeared. “Don’t run or try to do anything other than moving quietly unless Vice chases us down and tries to attack us himself,”
The bat gently let go of Kyle, giving a nod towards the yellow hedgehog. He quietly started to walk onward. Kyle and Trenton eventually found their way back to the large door that served as the entrance for the Dark Horses base. Kyle released a heavy sigh, feeling quite worn out.
“See, I told you we would find the exit,” Trenton said as he made his way through the large room, heading towards the large door.
Kyle was about to slam the door open himself, but paused briefly when he heard Azarika yelling from behind them “He’s right on my heels!” The hedgehog felt conflicted about leaving Azarika behind, and remained still. Trenton however promptly opened the door and made his exit, pulling Kyle with him.
Kyle began to protest but Trenton spoke before he could. “When I say now, we close this and lock it shut.”
“Will that even wor-“
“No time.” Trenton interrupted as he barely dodged Azarika as the fox blasted out of the base. The blonde bat let out a large “NOW!” and the two of them slammed the door shut. A large bang came from the other side.
Azarika had only just stopped running in time to turn around and catch on to what they were doing. He knew that the door would not hold Vice for long and without warning shoved the two out of the way before placing layer after layer of Rasoul Energy around the door to block their path.
“Won’t he just absorb that?!” Kyle questioned, deciding to ignore the shove for the moment.
“Not from that side of the door. He’ll have to break it before he can go through it. Now move!”
They all began to run away but were greatly tired out from the conflict. “After that fight with Vice, I don’t think I have enough Rasoul left to make a Rasoul Cloud for us to ride on.” Trenton noted.
“Yes, then it is best not to use the Rasoul Cloud and simply make our way away from here on foot,” Azarika said, turning his head to look at Trenton as they continued running. “Also, I am just going to tell you now, but I will not be staying with you on this entire run. I highly doubt Kyle wants my presence to be here as I am sure he is still bothered whether I have broken out of the control or not.”
“Where do you plan on going?” Trenton questioned. “
“I have an idea on where I am going to go,” Azarika replied quickly. “However, I may try to find where the other Dark Horses members ran away to. I am sure you can find your brother on your own, right?”
“I have an idea about where he would go to hide,” Trenton replied. “If that doesn’t work I can at least call him.”
“Trenton, I’m not trying to interrupt, but what in the world am I supposed to be saying or doing?” Kyle asked. “I feel a bit left out and lost on what to do other than just sitting here and listening.”
“No, you’re fine. Just keep moving,” Trenton replied. “Don’t stop running or moving no matter what you do. We wouldn’t want Vice to catch up to us again if he’s gotten that door open.”
“Fine then…” Kyle still felt as if he was still a bit out of place in the conversation, but he didn’t know what else to say since Trenton had pretty much just silenced his question for him. The yellow hedgehog just let his ears droop down as he continued to follow Azarika and Trenton in their run; his body and head still was protesting against the running with pain.
After about ten minutes of moving along the road, the small group of three came to two different roads; one that would lead into town and another that would move away from town. Azarika quickly said his goodbyes to Trenton and attempted to say goodbye to Kyle as well, but the yellow hedgehog was a bit afraid to accept the goodbye from the Dark Horses fox; the fox quickly dashed off and disappeared from sight down the road leading away from town almost as quickly as he said his goodbyes. Trenton pointed out that he believed he knew how to get Kyle back to his house from the road that led into town, so Kyle agreed to follow Trenton and head on his way back towards his home; the hedgehog could only hope that his family would not fly into a panic and/or anger upon seeing and hearing about the fight he had gotten into with Vice.
Tak And Meph, You May Want To Take A Look At This...Please Dun Kill Me, Either Of You ;A;
link
It Was Just A Thing I Saw Going Around On DeviantArt And People Said It Was Fun...So, Here Ya Go XD
Most Of You Probably Don't Even Know Any People On The List Except For Tak, Meph And Leslie...I Wasn't Sure/Couldn't Remember If Anyone Else Was There So...GOODBYE AND HAPPY EASTER!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I Also Didn't Post This In The 'Links' Because No One Really Looks There...At Least I Don't Think People Do...
link
It Was Just A Thing I Saw Going Around On DeviantArt And People Said It Was Fun...So, Here Ya Go XD
Most Of You Probably Don't Even Know Any People On The List Except For Tak, Meph And Leslie...I Wasn't Sure/Couldn't Remember If Anyone Else Was There So...GOODBYE AND HAPPY EASTER!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I Also Didn't Post This In The 'Links' Because No One Really Looks There...At Least I Don't Think People Do...
Seid Voslokv hailed from Russia until he was kidnapped and took to America. At age 10,He found out that his parents died and he had to go to school where he was. When he grew 21, Seid grew into a scientist apprentice. And that same year,he went on his major date or the final date with Phoebe The Cat. But once he got the ring out Phoebe turned him down and Seid grew psychopath and killed her. Then he went on a rampage killing scientist. Finally he killed Sliths,Tyke's dad, for everything he done with their 'old friendship'. Both of them got killed by Seid somehow and Seid didn't want to attempt to kill Tyke yet not yet. He grew he eviler and once making his army of Seid-Bots,They nearly destroyed Seid. But Seid only got his arm cut of and he replaced it by a hook. He is now working to rule the world as Tyke finds who killed his parents.
Emerald stoore out the window and sighed. "What I wouldn't do to be free, away from all of this..." she whispered to herself. She was looking at the ocean, forest and plains that were nearby. "Milady..." Emerald turned around swiftly. "Keith, whats wrong? You look like you haven't slept for days."Keith was human, he was also one of the messengers from a nearby palace called Millicion. "Y-yes.., its true... but you do not need to freet over me milady." Keith reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled paper. He read aloud,
"Dearest Emerald,
We invite you to our royal ball at Millicon palace at 8pm. Lords will be awating for you.
Yours truly,
King Dixion
King of Millicon"
The words ringed in her ears. "Hehe, tell the king I'll be there... but I already know whats happening." Keith raised his brow. "He wants me to marry... we all know thats not going to happen." Keith bowed, and left.
"Dearest Emerald,
We invite you to our royal ball at Millicon palace at 8pm. Lords will be awating for you.
Yours truly,
King Dixion
King of Millicon"
The words ringed in her ears. "Hehe, tell the king I'll be there... but I already know whats happening." Keith raised his brow. "He wants me to marry... we all know thats not going to happen." Keith bowed, and left.
BLACK HEART LYRICS
Been in the darkness long enough
People say I've been acting too tough
Trying to stay low
Living on a cup of Joe
Cause I'm just a black heart (repeated 3 times)
Somebody left a note
Saying that I've been so bad
I thought It was a joke
My mom was so sad that she left my dad
Cause I'm just a black heart (repeated 3 times)
Living on the lamb
The perfect place for a grown man
Darkness rests in my hand
With no demands......
Cause I'm its ruler! (Repeated 2 times)
Being like The old devil
I feel like I've been leveled
On the 666th floor
With no doors to escape the
DARKNESS!!!
Cause I'm just a really really rotten black heart!
Been in the darkness long enough
People say I've been acting too tough
Trying to stay low
Living on a cup of Joe
Cause I'm just a black heart (repeated 3 times)
Somebody left a note
Saying that I've been so bad
I thought It was a joke
My mom was so sad that she left my dad
Cause I'm just a black heart (repeated 3 times)
Living on the lamb
The perfect place for a grown man
Darkness rests in my hand
With no demands......
Cause I'm its ruler! (Repeated 2 times)
Being like The old devil
I feel like I've been leveled
On the 666th floor
With no doors to escape the
DARKNESS!!!
Cause I'm just a really really rotten black heart!