Chapter 15 - The Rift Grows

Ekyt and Sonic were having a stare-down. Ekyt hadn’t forgetten how Sonic had forced him to stay in town, thereby humiliating him. Sonic was SURE that Ekyt was after Elise.

“Look, I’m going to ask you to lay off Elise.” Sonic said, uncharacteristically. “I can’t lay off something I don’t do. She likes YOU.” Ekyt supplied with a slight snarl. “For that matter, you wouldn’t have this paranoia if you had let me leave like I wanted.” Sonic’s glare got harder. “Are you telling me that this is my fault? You’re a womanizing jerk, and it’s because I wouldn’t let you leave town?” “Except for the “Womanizing” part, I’d say that’s accurate.” Ekyt said, trying to diffuse the situation. This was Sonic’s turf, Ekyt was here by chance, and he didn’t want to be. So why not just agree, as long as what little bit of a reputation he had was safe. “You’re saying you’re a jerk?” Sonic said incredulously. “Yeah, I guess. Jerk is in the eye of the beholder.”

Linda was sitting there the whole time the two guys were looking like daggers. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. “Sonic, come ON! The only time this guy’s been near Elise is when you or Silver, or Shadow has dragged him there. You’re insanely jealous over nothing.” Sonic didn’t agree. “He’s a human, he would be attracted to other humans! It’s in his nature!” “How would you know my nature? Maybe I’m attracted to echidnas!” Ekyt said, getting progressively redder in the face. “What, you gonna shack up with Knuckles?” “No, you know damn well what I meant!” Ekyt snarled. Linda coolly walked up to the two of them. She put a hand on each of their shoulders for a moment, then banged their heads together?” “What the hell?” they said in unison. “Will you cut the macho crap? Elise isn’t into that and, frankly, neither am I!” Linda blushed as she realized what she had just said.

Elise joined the conversation just as Sonic and Ekyt were about to fight. “Oh, please don’t fight you two!” Both stopped on her request. “Sonic, Ekyt isn’t after me. We talked about it…the fortune came true…almost all of it. I’ve picked you.” Sonic looked taken aback, while Ekyt showed no emotion. “While we’re trading confessions…I have one…” Linda said.

“Rouge, I’m glad you’re okay!” Knuckles exclaimed, helping the scared girl to her feet. “You? Came back? Knuckles, I…NEVER WANT YOU NEAR ME AGAIN!” she snarled. “You didn’t do anything to help me! I had to count on a HUMAN to save me! He would taken a bullet for me!” “So would I! He just beat me to it!” Knuckles yelled. “I saved your life once! More than once! I saved you from falling into that vat of lava (That was in Sonic Adventure 2)!” Rouge stopped, embracing him suddenly. “Knuckles…I’m so confused…”

“My confession is…” Knuckles suddenly ran up, punching Ekyt hard in the face. A slash mark appeared under Ekyt’s left eye. Knuckles stood, hyperventilating, while Sonic tried to hold him back. A wall of guards got between the two. Ekyt, however, dropped his good manners. He leapt over security, punching at Knuckles. The two brawled, as security tried in vain to break them up. Knuckles rolled up on top of Ekyt, his right fist coming down. Ekyt raised his left fist. It continued this way until Elise’s guards started pulling the two apart using nightsticks. Ekyt and Knuckles forgot their battle and started fighting the guards.

Finally, they were pulled apart. Both panting, Ekyt had gotten the worst of it. His heart wasn’t in the fight. “Wait, why the hell did you just hit me?” Ekyt asked suddenly. “Rouge loves you!” Knuckles shouted back. “What?” Three voices at once. Ekyt, Linda, and Rouge all said. “Knuckles, I never said that! I said he saved my life!” Knuckles felt incredibly stupid, and it showed. “It’s cool Knuckles. If I thought someone was homing in on my girl, I’d have done the same thing.” That was a small lie, but it saved Knuckles considerable embarrassment.

Ekyt closed his eyes. “I really should leave Elise. I’m causing rifts I don’t even know about until it’s too late. You’ve got a great city. I want to make sure it stays that way.” Ekyt walked toward the gate. Rouge flew next to him. “You know what I said would happen if you tried to leave?” Rouge asked him, deadly serious. “Yes. But I don’t think you’ll do that.”

Rouge leapt on him, trapping his arms at his sides with her legs, biting his neck. “Get off! You’re crazy!” Ekyt shouted. “Get off Rouge!” Linda said, yanking her off. “I warned him!” she called, laughing. “You could have killed him!” “Relax, I didn’t really bite him!” Rouge laughed, pointing at Ekyt. His face and neck had turned red in embarrassment. Rouge proceeded to stir the crap even more.

“You know, you were about to make some big confession Linda. What were you going to say?”

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment