Magic on Mobius: Chapter 10

Location: Angel Island

Twilight could feel her heart leap to her throat at the sound of the deep, threatening voice, overflowing with malice. She whipped about to face whatever had called out to her, but saw nothing aside from the forest she had just left. Adrenaline coursed through her system, her brain screamed at her to run and hide from that menacing voice, but she somehow managed to keep a level head and innocently ask, “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

“You heard me,” the voice growled in response, just a bit to the right of where she had entered the clearing. Twilight’s eyes darted to its source and attempted to pierce through the thick layer of vines and leaves that obscured the unknown being with her eyes, searching for something that would tip her off as to what the creature was. Her gaze shot to a small rustling in the leaves, and she was able to make out a small bit of unnaturally bright red through the slight gaps the movement had made before the vegetation shifted back into place.

“What the hell are you doing on my island?” the voice asked again, a bit more anger in it this time. The foliage hiding the stranger was dislodged by a double-spiked, gloved hand as the creature finally decided to show himself, though as he did so, Twilight wished that he would have stayed hidden within the cloak of leaves. The red Mobian was the picture of fury with his sharp teeth gnashed together in a jagged line and hands balled into alarmingly large and spiky fists. Flames seemed to roar in his red eyes as he looked at Twilight.

“M-me? Well, I got a little lost, so now I’m just trying to find a good place to wait for my friend to come and find me. That altar over there seemed like a good option. Do you mind if I look out for my friend up there?” Twilight asked, optimistically believing that the red Mobian merely had a bracing personality and wasn’t actually angry to the point of bursting into flames. At the sound of the idea, though, the Mobian’s eyes flickered to the top of the altar, hardened, then returned to Twilight.

“Aaaaah, I get it now. Well, you can forget about stealing the Master Emerald, Rouge. I’ve seen through your stupid disguise,” Red announced cockily (Twilight figured she might as well refer to him as Red since she didn’t know his name and everything about him seemed to be red).

Twilight blinked. Had she just been called Rouge? “You seem to be mistaken,” she began. “I’m not-“

“-trying to steal the Master Emerald? Ha, that’s a laugh. That’s all you’ve ever wanted from me.”

Twilight tried again to make Red see his error. “But I’m not-“

“Save it. Don’t try to give me that ‘oh, you’ve got the wrong girl,’ act. You’ve done it all before. Besides, I know it’s you under that ugly disguise. Who else could get this close to the Master Emerald without alerting me?” Red sneered haughtily.

Apparently, I can. Twilight felt a twinge of annoyance surge through her at the rude remark, but let it go with a deep breath so as not to risk getting Red any angrier.

“So, you protect this ‘Master Emerald’?” Twilight asked politely, trying to cool Red’s anger and change the subject.

“You know fully well that it’s my duty as Guardian of Angel Island to protect both it and the Master Emerald from harm, Rouge,” he responded coldly.

“Really? Then you’re like a knight of sorts.”

Red nodded smugly. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Course, no knight could be quite as awesome as I am.” Twilight began to have a little hope that she was working her way to his good side, but he immediately grew stolid. “But your sweet talk won’t get you anywhere with me, even if it is true. Not this time,” he admonished.

Twilight grew even more confused with Red. She had just given him a compliment, so why was he still acting so coldhearted? Twilight sighed and about-faced to look at the ancient altar.

“I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say that this ‘Master Emerald’ you’re protecting is on top of that altar over there. If it’s simply sitting out in the open for all the world to see like that, you must come across quite a few altercations while doing your job. Protecting it properly seems like it would be a formidable task. Whoever thought that was a good idea probably has scant knowledge in proper architecture and may need a few lessons on how to properly protect and/or conceal something,” she stated honestly. “But I’d bet my brother would have several ideas on how to better protect it,” she claimed proudly.

Though Twilight didn’t notice, with every cuttingly honest remark she made that attacked the red Mobian’s pride and honor, another vein popped in Red’s forehead. At that last bit about Twilight’s brother, Red snapped. “THAT’S IT, YOU’RE GOING DOWN!” he screamed out as he lunged at her.

Twilight turned about at his battle cry to see a spiked white fist flying towards her face. She ducked just in time for the fist to just barely miss her by centimeters, whiffing through her hair instead. Another one, aimed square at her jaw. She jerked back and one of the spikes on his glove grazed her chin. A thin stream of blood trickled down her neck, down her chest, slowly changing the top of her tank from a blue-purple to a purple-magenta. He continued his onslaught with the old one-two, a round house kick, a spiraling punch, and couple of other classic moves of his. Each one was barely dodged or blocked with increasing difficulty, adding more and more little scrapes to her lavender body.

Now Twilight was getting irked. The red Mobian had threatened her, accused her of being Rouge, essentially called her ugly (not that she really knew if she was ugly. She had no clue what Mobians thought was beautiful and was not. Still, it wasn’t very nice.), talked rudely to her, and, to top it all off, he had attacked her! Still, it wouldn’t be very nice of her to go and attack other people like that, even if they had been incredibly rude to her. Fine. She would try the diplomatic approach one more time.

“Stop!” she pleaded. “Please, I don’t want to fight you!”

“Like hell I’m gonna stop!” Red snarled. “The day I let you get the Master Emerald is the day that pigs fly, you stupid bat!” He cracked his knuckles and chuckled darkly. “Now, open wide for a Knuckles-sandwich!” He sprang at her, his arms moving as if they were pinwheels, and attacked her with a barrage of blows. Or at least, he tried to. Twilight summoned up a small, pink, bubble shield around herself that kept the enraged Red from reaching her and concentrated all her magic on keeping it up, but to no avail. After a long combo, he landed one solid, resounding punch on the shield, and it shattered around Twilight. Red took advantage of her surprise and took a hard swing at her head, but slipped on a shard of the pink glass-like substance. His aim went high and his blow had considerably less force behind it, but he finally made some decisive, unblocked contact with her… horn?

He hadn’t noticed that she had a horn. This disguise of Rouge’s was very good. Or maybe… Come to think of it, those words “Rouge” had used, “alterdations” or something, were way to big and smart-sounding for the likes of her. Also, Rouge couldn’t make a shield-thingy pop out of thin air. Or get her hair to float around her as if it was alive. Wait… what? Red pulled back, sweat beginning to drip down his forehead. Rouge – or at least, the woman he thought was Rouge – had an overwhelming aura cascading down around her. Her midnight blue hair seemed to have come alive and was dancing around her head like snakes. Her eyes seemed to be practically glowing as she reached up and daintily touched her horn. She cringed back, and the powerful aura seemed to grow even stronger. Her horn became surrounded in a glittering pink light.

“Nobody…” A huge blast of pink light collided with Red and he skidded back a few feet.

“BUT NOBODY…” Another blast, stronger this time, sent him stumbling backwards onto his behind.

“HURTS MY HORN!”

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In the distance, a small ways from the battle between Red and Twilight, a blue streak zipped through the forest, weaving in and out of the thick vegetation as he called out, “TWIIIIIILIIIIIIGHT! WHERE ARE YOU?” He hopped atop a large decaying log that stretched up and over a small cliff, overlooking the entirety of Angel Island. “IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, GIVE ME SOME SORTA SIGN WHERE YOU ARE!” he yelled. To his left, a great, pink explosion boomed, sending a strong wind whipping through the forest.

“That’s one heckuvva sign there, Twi,” he chuckled under his breath as he shaded his eyes and looked over at the explosion. He grinded down the log and sprinted down the mountain, racing towards the explosion. Since he now knew precisely where he was going and needn’t slow down to actually look for Twilight, he arrived on scene in a matter of seconds. A large film of dust floated lazily down, making it incredibly difficult for Sonic to see or breath.

“Twilight?” he coughed, attempting to squint through the dust that had risen. He heard a deep groan and some panting in response, seeming to come from beneath him. The dust settled a tad, to the point where Sonic could see a few feet in front of him. The hedgehog attempted to take in the peculiar scene before him. Just a few inches in front of him was an impressive crater with something that vaguely resembled his knuckleheaded friend moaning at the bottom of it. Sonic slid down the side of the crater and landed next to the red Mobian. He nudged him with his foot.

“Helloooo? Can you hear me? Don’t say anything if you’re an idiot.” His inquisition was met with a short stretch of silence. “Well, that settles it then. He’s an idiot.”

“Hey,” Red grumbled. He sat up slowly, as if every bone in his body ached.

“Good morning, chucklehead!” Sonic greeted brightly. “Who kicked your sorry behind this time?”

“It’s not my fault,” Red complained, running a hand through his dreadlocks. “She was really tough.”

Sonic grinned. “Oh, was she now? You got beat by a gi~rl, you got beat by a gi~rl,” he chanted in a singsong manner.

“Put a sock in it, hedgehog,” Red groaned, pressing a hand against his temples. Something seemed to click inside him and he shot to his feet. “The Master Emerald!” Red hurdled out of the crater and landed on one knee, panting deeply as he looked at the clouded landscape. Sonic followed him, curious as to what had his buddy all riled up.

Red did a quick scan through the dust and zeroed in on his target. “You,” he huffed, “get away from the Master Emerald!”

“For the last time, you’ve got the wrong mare!” a familiar, feminine voice answered back in annoyance. Sonic, too, focused in on the blurry silhouette stomping towards him, still partially obscured by the unsettled dust. As the figure got closer, a grin began to spread across Sonic’s face.

“Ms. Sparkle. I worked my little tail off looking all over this island for you, and here you are, having a battle with this chucklehead over here. What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?” Sonic scolded, though the goofy grin on his face made it clear that he was just messing with her. The figure halted.

“Hey, Sonic. It’s good to see you too.” The dust finally settled itself, and Sonic was able to see Twilight in her entirety. She looked a tad disheveled with a nice, thick layer of dust caked on her fur and some slight tears in her clothes, which had changed to a tank top and shorts, but other than that, she seemed to be just fine. Her gaze shifted back to Red and her eyes hardened. “And he’s the one who started this whole mess! Do you think you could assist me in convincing this male that I am not Rouge? Maybe the two of us telling him will help him understand that. I attempted to be diplomatic about it a bit earlier, but he wouldn’t listen!” she lamented, clearly quite miffed.

Sonic turned to Red. “So you thought she was…” He turned back to Twilight. “He thought you were… Well, this really does settle it. Knuckles, you are a complete and total idiot.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry about this, Twilight. It appears that there’s been some sort of mix up between the two of you. Apparently, this chucklehead right here stupidly thought, as he usually does when he comes across a stranger, that you were trying to steal the Master Emerald. Let me properly introduce the two of you. Knuckles, this is my new friend from another universe, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, this here is my idiotic frenemy, Knuckles the Echidna.”