Chapter CCCIII: If His Ego Doesn’t, His Fists Will ~Multehx

As the group of the five Wanderers made their way back to the inn they filled their companion in on the events as of late. Though, they failed to notice a man leaning against the doorpost of a quite dilapidated shop. So it was a given that they missed this man sneering evilly before he took a remarkable leap that defied physics and landed on the building's rooftop. He then proceeded to follow the group at a distance, leaping from building to building as his method of transportation.

The man snickered to himself. Hyah, these drips are more easy to catch up with than that pathetic 'goody goody', he thought to himself as he cleared the gap to another building. I guess you just can't beat the tracking abilities of the species.

He stopped his pursuit on the edge of a small house as he caught sight of a strange figure making its way along a side street. He hunched forward, squinting slightly to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. He hesitated there, simply observing this person for a time before bounding to a building across the street and leaping down to the alley in front of the person. The being stopped in its tracks. The two simply sized each other up as they stood there. The "hunter" who had just appeared in front of the other was a being with forest green skin, light green hair, a flowing darker forest green cloak, black satin pants, silver boots, and a prominent green marking under his left eye.

The hunted was a statement as well. His skin was solid silver and gleamed with reflections of the street lamps. He appeared to be a robot of sorts, but bore the same pointy ears and noseless face as the other.

The green-skinned one spoke first. "Ah...I seem to recognize you, sir, though you got a bit of a facial since I last saw you."

The robot quirked an eyebrow. "Oh?"

The green stranger nodded. "Yes, your name is Rebdok. You're one of that pathetic Council that tried to destroy the Wanderers."

The robot shook its head. "Whomever I might appear to be, you are mistaken. I know not of such a group and their foolish affairs with anyone else. I simply am Tractul, servant of the controller. And whom might you be, sir who knows so much about who I supposedly am?"

The other bowed. "Forgive me for not saying sooner. It did not strike me to state my name, Tractul."

He paused then smiled at the robot. It was not a smile that sat easy with Tractul. There was just something....sinister about it; deceitful, conniving, not telling the whole story of what his intents.

"My name is simple," he continued, "You may have seen my double around, dreadful hero he is, but I am not quite as rash and foolish as he. They call me Tehxnot'lucan. I'd be a Twilighter demon; what you were before your slight 'change' I dare say."

Tractul tightened a fist, growing uneasy. "Whatever I might have been, it holds no meaning to me now. I exist to serve the controller."

T'lucan grinned innocently at this. "Yes, you did say such already. But I must say; your statement seems almost as if you were trying to run away from what you were. Why don't you wish to realize your true identity?"

Tractul glared back. "Such liberties would not be appreciated by the contr–"

T'lucan waved a hand, rolling his eyes. "Controller, Great One, Time Bender, Sir, Lord, titles are titles man, and nothing more! A title doesn't make them any better a person with any greater potential than you have!"

Now the robot was getting angry. He waved a hand out angrily, roaring, "Silence!! You will NOT insult the controller with your meaningless drivel!"

The demon smirked. "Ooh, seems I hit a nerve there. Not sitting well with you the fact that your controller might not be all he's cracked up to be?"

"SILENCE I TOLD YOU!!" the robot snapped.

Quite impulsively he grabbed a loose brick in the wall of a building, pulled it loose and hurled it at the Twilighter. Though, just as he was about to get pegged between the eyes with the brick, Tehxnot'lucan leapt and became airborne. He seemed to flip once in slow motion over the robot's head before landing gracefully in the middle of the alleyway behind him. He grinned ruefully, waving a taunting finger.

"Temper, temper."

He took a step back and disappeared into the darkness of the night. "Want to play?" his voice echoed from the direction he had disappeared in, "Then come fox, hide all!"

Tractul growled as he ran full throttle along the alley. Eventually and quite abruptly, he emerged from it into a crossroads of a quite desolate section of the city. Something caught his eye and caused him to look to his right.

It was T’lucan, leaning against a crumbling building that comprised one of the alley walls, grinning smugly. "Game time then, I take it?" he winked.

Tractul responded by angrily unleashing a brutal right cross that would send his head flying from his neck when it connected. Instead, at the last minute, T'lucan sprang upwards once again and all the punch managed to do was take out a fair-sized section of the fallen building.

T'Lucan back-flipped nimbly aside. He sneered at his foe. "You'll have to do much better than that to scratch me– has-been!" he taunted.

Tractul fumed, steam erupting from the vents in his plating. "Grah, you're no match for the minions of the controller! I'll wipe that cocky smile right off your face!!"

T'Lucan beckoned with a clawed hand, grinning. "Right here, metal moron. Take a swing at me then."

Tractul needed no further invitation. The cobblestones shattered under his metallic boots as he charged forth. As he was upon his prey, the robot twisted his body and wound up his fist. With thunderous might and precision the blow was delivered. Tractul's fist blazed downward for the head of the demon. T'Lucan grinned a now trademark canine exposing grin.

Near instantly following this, the robot's punch decimated the stone street. As the dust from the destroyed stones settled, Tractul removed his fist from the wreckage and stood erect once more. His eyes narrowed in frustration. In a gruff voice he shouted to the vacant street, "Okay, WHERE are you, you little–!"

There was the noise of someone clicking their tongue in a "tsk tsk" fashion from a nearby alley. He spun around to see Tehxnot'lucan standing in it, waving a finger in a scolding motion.

"Really, you've got the power but your aim is atrocious!" the demon shook his head. "I give you a 4 really; a 5 if we're including coolness factor into the picture."

Tractul sent off another blast of steam. "Why don't you stop mocking me and put some muscle behind your big words?!"

T'Lucan shrugged and smirked. "Well, then that would be unfair I say."

Tractul held back the urge to shout out an obscenity, saying instead through grit teeth, "Unfair?! What the heck's that mean?!"

The Twilighter simply laughed and looked over into his face. "Heh, you lay a finger on me, I'll raise one against you."

He snickered and his image blurred into the shadows of the alley. Tractul would have sweated nervously if he was still able to as the demonic laughter emanated from everywhere around him. He nervously took a half step backward. From the street in front of him, from within a puddle of blackness, T'lucan burst from the ground, arms folded and grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"Hello, robo," he said softly. He closed both eyes and laughed as he said in the same mock kindness "Gonna take a swing?"

Tractul yelled in rage as he swung for his opponent's jaw. T'Lucan simply burst out laughing and bent backwards at the knees in a limbo-esque sort of pose. He didn't even bother to stand up again. He simply broke into two black, formless masses of pure shadow that collapsed to the ground and were absorbed into it.

Tractul bellowed in rage. "COME OUT HERE AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!!" he shouted to the stones.

The shadows on a section of stones behind the robot distorted and the demon appeared standing in the same stance once again.

"Oh, but remember that I'm not a man," he taunted as Tractul spun about, "I'm something much better; I'm a Twilighter."

He laughed more as the robot yet again tried to clean his clock but he nimbly bowed at the knees by bending them. The metal fist cut through the air just above the tallest hairs on his head.

As he shot up on the tip of one boot to have another fierce punch missed him he snickered cruelly. "Come on! Try something new and at least ATTEMPT to hit me!" He fell back to stand on both feet and held his arms akimbo, laughing uproarously to the heavens at the situation. "Gyahahah!! Ultimate robot perhaps, but his minions are far from being better than the average toaster-oven in a fight!" he mused. He was so taken up in his amusement that he failed to detect an attack closing in fast.

"-GWAHAHAH-GWOURR!" he was cut off as a brutal punch connected with his midsection and knocked all the air out of him. He almost doubled over in pain as he awaited sensation to return to that area. His assailant wasted no time. Balling both fists above him and interlocking the knuckles, Tractul gave a short leap into the air and brought his fists crashing down upon the base of the twilighter's neck. Fireworks shot behind T'lucan's eyes as he crashed to the ground.

Tractul raised a boot above the fallen demon, readying for the kill. But in the blink of an eye, T'lucan was on his knees. He used his hands to vault up and into the night sky, seeming to vanish in the blackness above. Minutes passed and nothing happened. Then, without warning, the evil creature plummeted from heights unknown with knees bent and arms bent overhead with his hands as flat palms to either side of his head. Soon the reason for this became apparent. As he became level with Tractul's head both arms shot forth and delivered a crushing chop to either side of the base of the robot's neck.

Tractul howled in pain as he crashed down to all fours. But the demon was far from finished. As he landed he threw his hands behind him, digging his claws into the street. Then, shifting all his weight to his arms, his legs shot forward under the robot's fallen body. His knees bent then locked around the metal waist in a viciously tight leg-hold.

Forcing strength into his arms he forced himself to lift the metallic body locked in his hold and throw both it and he still attached into the air straight above. The angle of the vault and the uneven body weight caused the two to begin flipping end over end. At about the third revolution, when he was facing the ground he unlocked his legs and hurled Tractul to the ground. The stones crumbled as the metal abomination crashed down upon them on his back, leaving a massive crater of indented earth surrounding him. T'lucan snickered from his still airborne vantage point. He hovered in the air for a moment, simply thinking of what to do next. Slowly, a sneer crossed his lips.

Crossing his arms over his chest he began to spin quickly in mid-air. Faster and faster his revolutions gained speed until a shrill whirring sound reverberated through the air and his lower legs became engulfed in flames from the friction against the very air they created as he spun. Without warning and as the noise reached a crescendo the living-demon-drill rocketed for the earth below and for a fallen robot in particular.

The noise resembled that of a plummeting atom bomb as T'lucan screeched closer and closer to impact. As the whistling reached a pitch that only mainly animals could hear the deed was done. The ground pitched violently in an earthquake that would disturb to the point of self-destruction of even the most futuristic of Richter scales. The buildings in a two block radius were instantly vaporized under the tremendous heat that emitted from the now miles deep hole in the ground at what had been a long from used crossroads. Thankfully, no one still inhabited this long since abandoned corner of the city.

Minutes later, from the smoking hole leapt a figure. He was covered in dust, slightly black with ash and smoke was steadily wafting from his garments. He paused in the air above the hole for a minute, spinning rapidly and throwing the soot and mineral remains from his body and clothes. He then gently settled to the ground.

Brushing a hand through his green locks he snickered. "Heh, I truly am the most powerful being alive. Havering can kiss my boo-tahy!" He laughed to himself briefly. "And soon, my partner shall be the second strongest in existence, when I find him what he wants. Then, let anyone try to stop our will."

He chuckled to himself as he strode off into the remnants of an alley; disappearing shortly after into the darkness it provided.