Brothers in Arms

Sonic: Brawling to Bromance

Sonic's POV:

"By much you mean--?" King Acorn started to say, audibly concerned, and Eclipse and Knuckles laughed simultaneously. The alien's odd chortle sounded very odd along with the echidna's barking laugh, but Sonic was happy to hear them together, hopeful that they might set aside their differences.

"Go over there somewhere, so we're out of range," Shadow told the young alien, nodding toward the open field next to the forest, and Eclipse grinned fiercely. He turned with a quick motion, loping over the ground with surprising speed until he was a small figurine in the distance, and Knuckles, taking a running start, glided behind. The two cockily took their stances, and Sonic nearly held his breath, not wanting to miss a single bit of the action.

As soon as he was in position, Knuckles moved to rush the alien, and Sonic watched Eclipse, eagerly anticipating seeing how fast the alien could move in close quarters. Knuckles leaped, closing in an instant, but surely Eclipse would dodge--

The alien stood fast, straight and tall with a curious smirk on his face, and Knuckles landed his punch. Sonic expected some sort of trick, but the alien tumbled backwards across the ground, rolling agilely onto his feet to skid to a rough stop on the dirt.

"Why didn't he move?" Tails asked of no one in particular, echoing the blue hedgehog's exact thought.

"I think he wants an idea of Knuckles' full strength, so he knows how cautious to be," Shadow replied, crossing his arms and frowning at the sparring pair. Eclipse was coming to his full height, rising from a crouch easily, and the alien agent lifted his face to watch his opponent, showing a fierce, bloodied grin.

"Why didn't he take the hit somewhere else, instead of in the face, then?" Amy questioned, and Sonic glanced over as his rival smiled slightly.

"Honestly?" Shadow said, looking at Amy with an air of amusement. "He probably remembers that Knuckles tried to break his face when he had to shatter the Master Emerald. It's his roundabout way of apologizing."

"Makes sense he'd want to apologize through combat," Sonic grinned, watching the alien wave some sort of taunt at Knuckles.

"Eclipse is good at settling things through words, but he's seen that Knuckles isn't satisfied with just that. Between the two of them, forgiveness through fighting is probably the best route," the ebony hedgehog admitted, and the attention shifted back to the sparring match as Knuckles ran to close again--only for Eclipse to dodge like the echidna was standing still, vaulting over him with a clean jump and tuck. "That's not to say Eclipse is entirely taking this seriously, though. He's a force to be reckoned with when he wants to be, and fighting Knuckles too seriously would cause more problems than it would solve."

"This is him not fighting seriously? He must be awesome in battle," Sonic grinned wider, watching as Eclipse easily evaded a rapidly redirected punch and landed a solid left hook to Knuckles' cheek, which only served to make the echidna madder. The echidna shouted several unintelligible words at the alien, who visibly laughed, not in the slightest way intimidated.

Eclipse danced out of the way of another punch with consummate grace, flipping in a rapid cartwheel and kicking Knuckles lightly in the chin. The echidna lost his balance, and Sonic could see Eclipse's complete confidence in the fight by how the alien stood off to the side, waiting for his opponent to recover. Eclipse had his hands on his hips, cocking his head perkily and bouncing on his toes, the picture of energy and ease as Knuckles righted himself, panting.

Knuckles wiped his chin with a murderous look, clearly aware he was being toyed with.

"I said, stand and fight you coward!" The red echidna roared, audible even over the safety distance. Whatever Eclipse's verbal response, the alien stepped forward to ground himself, raising his fists, and the message was clear: Come at me, then!