Split Souls (an OK K.O. fanfiction)

Chapter 11

K.O. ran up to T.K.O. but was stopped by more electricity shooting out from him. K.O. had to duck to the ground to avoid the blast. But soon the blasts had calmed down and T.K.O. had finally stopped yelling. He was crouching on the ground now, panting hard. K.O. was relieved to see that he looked uninjured—no burns or scratches or anything. "T.K.O.! Are you okay?" K.O. asked.

T.K.O. didn't reply, but he was still panting heavily—K.O. thought he could hear T.K.O. growling. "T.K.O.?" K.O. repeated. T.K.O. opened his eyes and suddenly glared at K.O., growling. K.O. instinctively shrank away from his gaze; he noticed T.K.O.'s eyes were glowing the same dark purple as the orb. 

"T.K.O., are you okay?" K.O. asked. T.K.O. growled and stood up. His fists started sparking with electricity, more intense than K.O. had ever seen them, and to K.O.'s surprise, T.K.O. actually swung at him. K.O. ducked. "Hey, what was that for?" K.O. asked, slightly angry. But T.K.O. didn't care. He just growled again. His fists started burning before he attempted to punch K.O. again. "T.K.O., what are you doing?" K.O. tried to read T.K.O.'s thoughts, but to his surprise, he couldn't read any. T.K.O. wasn't thinking about what he was doing. "T.K.O., please stop! You're not thinking straight!"

T.K.O. didn't listen. He leaped at K.O., trying to kick him. "I'm not going to fight you!" K.O. told him, leaping out of the way to avoid a kick to the face. T.K.O. made a fist and lit it in a dark purple fire. He aimed a powerful punch at K.O. K.O. caught it, his own fists burning with light blue fire. The impact sent smoke billowing out. T.K.O.'s punch had made K.O. fall over, but he was still holding his counterpart's punch, trying to keep it away from his face. "I'm...not...going...to fight you!" K.O. repeated, straining from the effort of holding back the punch. "Please, stop! Please..." K.O. closed his eyes and started to cry. However, to his surprise he heard a gasp come from T.K.O. Opening his eyes, he saw that T.K.O.'s expression looked more concerned and surprised than angry, and his eyes had stopped glowing. 

"K.O.?" he murmured softly. He put out the fire on his fist and stepped away. He and K.O. stared at each other. K.O. was finally able to read T.K.O.'s thoughts—What am I doing? What happened? Why am I attacking K.O.?

Suddenly a ball of fire blasted T.K.O., knocking him away. K.O. looked back and saw that Enid and Rad had finally regained consciousness. "I knew we couldn't trust this guy," Enid stated. "You okay, K.O.?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but there's something wrong with T.K.O.," K.O. told them, looking back at his counterpart. T.K.O. was lying on the ground, but as he looked back up, the eerie purple glow was back in his eyes. When he stood up, ready to attack, K.O. heard a voice in his head, and it wasn't T.K.O.'s. 

"That's enough, my puppet. Return to me now."  K.O. recognized the voice of Shadowy Figure. T.K.O. stopped and had an empty expression on his face. 

"No, wait!" K.O. called, but T.K.O. teleported away. K.O. stared at where T.K.O. was, tears welling at his eyes. But then, he snapped. With a shout, K.O. punched the ground, causing a crater to appear in the asphalt and a blast of energy to radiate from the impact with a loud BOOM. The energy caused Rad and Enid to fall over.

"K.O.! Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Enid asked, standing up and running up to him. K.O. was facing the ground, crying and watching tears fall to the ground in little puddles.

Across the way, exiting the Fitness Dojo, was Carol. She'd felt the energy blast from inside the Dojo and was shocked to see her son crouching on the ground and sobbing. "K.O.!" she shouted, running up to him. 

"Mommy!" K.O. said as she approached, still crying. Carol sat next to him, and he hugged her, still sobbing.

"Shh, shh," Carol said, stroking K.O.'s hair. "K.O., what's wrong?" Carol asked.

"I-it's T.K.O....Sh-Shadowy Figure t-t-took him," he sniffled.

"Good riddance," Enid scoffed.

K.O. glared at Enid, tears still sliding down his cheek. "You don't understand," K.O. sobbed. "He...he wasn't thinking straight." K.O. closed his eyes, remembering the purple glow in T.K.O.'s eyes.  He shuddered. "Shadowy Figure hit him with something. He made T.K.O. attack me."

"What did he get hit with?" Rad asked.

"I don't know," K.O. admitted.

"But I might." K.O. looked up and saw Dendy looking at him.

"Dendy!" K.O. said happily, standing up and hugging her. "You know what happened?" Dendy nodded.

"Shadowy Figure hit him with a corrupted glorb. They haven't been used in decades, but it seems he found one," Dendy explained.

K.O. was confused. "Corrupted glorbs?"

"Yes. They're much more dangerous than normal glorbs. They can be used to increase someone's power, but, if they are programmed to, they can control a person, which is most likely what happened to T.K.O.," Dendy explained.

"How do we make him snap out of it?" K.O. asked.

"We need to combat the power of the corrupted glorb with the power of a pure glorb," Dendy replied. "The only problem is, glorbs are extremely rare."

"Oh! I know where to find some!" K.O. said.

"You do?" Dendy asked in surprise.

"Yup," K.O. replied.

"Wait, hold on. Are you sure you want to help that guy?" Enid asked. "He just tried to kill you.

"I have to help him. He...he's like my brother," K.O. admitted. "I can't just let him go. I have to get him back." To his surprise, Rad put his hand on K.O.'s shoulder.

"I'll help you out, buddy," he said. K.O. smiled at him and stuck his hand out. 

"Who's in?" he asked. Rad put his hand in first, then Carol. "I'm not gonna let you kids have all the fun."

Dendy put her hand in next. "And I'm not going to leave my best friend to deal with this." K.O. smiled, blushing a little. Then all four of them looked at Enid. She rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, fine." She finally put her hand in. K.O. smiled even wider.

I'm gonna get my brother back even if it kills me.