Chapter 88 - War Stories

“Thanks for helping me Ekyt.” Greg said with a sigh. “It seems like you’re always doing that…You helped me walk, and now you’ve saved my life twice.” Ekyt grinned. “It’s what I do. You know, you’ve saved my life too. When you whacked that guy over the head with that cane when he was about to skewer me…that’s not something every kid could do.” Greg beamed. “Thanks. I still wish I could help you more, though…” Ekyt pointed across the street at a little girl who was being bullied. “You can. Let me know when things like this happen…HEY! PUNKS! LEAVE HER ALONE!” Ekyt took a hard step toward them, sending the two older boys scattering. The girl was shaking. Greg jogged over. “Hey, it’s okay. He’s cool! My name is Greg, what’s your name?” “Tasha.” The little girl said with a sniffle. “That’s an awesome name! Hey, where’s your mom?” Tasha pointed to a house behind them. “But she’s asleep. She worked all night, then all morning at her other job. She has too…I don’t have a daddy anymore…mommy says he’s asleep, but he won’t wake up…we had to bury him in the ground in this big box…” Ekyt stepped back a little as Greg talked to the little girl. She stopped crying and was actually smiling. Greg pointed at the girl’s house. “Can you get your mom? I want to meet her, is that okay?” Tasha nodded, and skipped off to get her mother. Ekyt looked at Greg. “You know, you’ve really got a gift for that.” Greg looked at Ekyt. “Huh? All I did was tell her things would be fine…” “But how you said it made all the difference.”

Tasha’s mom, twenty-six year old (Tasha is about 5) single mother. She hated her no-good-rotten-college-sweetheart-boyfriend for leaving her and Tasha. But she worked as hard as she could. She listened intently as Ekyt told her what happened. “Thank you for helping…I’m just so tired…” “Thank him.” Ekyt pointed at Greg. “He calmed her right down.” Tasha’s mom smiled at Greg. “Thank you sweetheart.”

Sweetheart? Ekyt thought of “her” again. Linda. What will it take to get over her? No more relationships, no point, I know she was the one…but what if she wasn’t? NO! I can’t betray her, no matter what she thinks of me!

Linda was shaken by the dream. “You just thought about him for a second…relax…breathe…good. Okay. You’re home. He’s probably got a new girl.” The thought did nothing to comfort her. “Mom’s right. I WILL get over him.” She told herself firmly. She would have to very quickly…

“Tails, how’s that thing coming?” Sonic asked urgently. “Almost done Sonic! I can’t believe Eggman is going to attack us already!” “We need all the help we can get! We need Ekyt. You said that since humans aren’t common here, some of Eggman’s traps won’t affect him.” Tails nodded. “Yeah. I’ve almost got it…Done!” A huge blast rocked the whole place. “Oh man! I’ll go find him! You keep everyone else hidden!” Tails pushed Sonic back from the machine. “It’s going to explode!” The machine did just that. Tails coughed. “Oh man! By the time I fix this, we’ll be done for!” Sonic formed a wise-guy grin. “Whaddaya mean, done for? We haven’t lost yet pal!”

Ray served the guy with the goofy eye another beer. “This is your last one pal.” Ray warned him in a friendly manner. The man smashed out the beer bottle. Ekyt was walking by with Greg when he heard the glass. He looked inside. “Whoa!” He ran toward the guy. His goofy eye caught Ekyt running. The man ducked under Ekyt, sending him into the air. Ekyt landed hard on the bar. He rolled off with a moan. Ray punched the man in the face, dropping him. “You okay kid?” Ekyt got up, shaking his head. “Yeah. What was up with that?” “Oh, that happens every Friday. Would you just kind of lay him on the pool table?” Ekyt and Greg dragged him over. “It’s not like you to miss like that…Linda on your mind?” Ekyt nodded. “Yeah. Always. But I’ll get over it.” Greg looked at his watch. He didn’t want to leave, but he had to get home. He said goodnight and left.

Ekyt watched him go. “You know…I think…you remember the first time you were in here with her? How she forced you to get cleaned up?” At Ekyt’s nod, he continued. “I remember telling her she was the first one to give you an order…I remember wondering where the heck you found an echidna. I dropped a glass when she walked in with you. I shouldn’t have been surprised…And all the others…my point, kid, is that you’re a good guy. And you know what’s right in your head and in your heart. Heck, when I was in Viet Nam, I found a family of innocents. Standing orders were to kill anything that moved (THIS IS NOT A TRUE IDEAL OF THAT WAR). I raised my rifle, but I stopped. I couldn’t do it. And you know, when I took a closer look, I realized that they were scared. They didn’t want anything to do with the war. They fed me, and I left. I still keep in touch with them…Anyway, the point I’m making is that you’re at war with yourself, just like the US was with Viet Nam. You aren’t into creating casualties, same as the story. My story is set in stone, I’ll never see Kim again, she died just before you came. YOUR story is still being written. You’ve got a lot of blank pages left kid. Don’t end the chapter on your love life just yet…”

Ekyt thanked Ray. He was in an emotional knot. Part of him wanted to forget the last year all together. Another part of him would have done anything to get Linda back. Even the sensible part of him (Rarely used XD) was chewing at him, telling him it was his fault. He finally got up to his room on the tenth floor. He laid in bed, staring at nothing, trying to clear his mind.

It didn’t work.

Back on Sonic’s homeworld, things were critical. Sonic and company were fighting a losing battle. They had to form a plan. Shadow had an idea. He wanted to freeze time. He and Tiffany (Shadowthe_Hedgehog) would keep up the chaos control (With Kurt as the power source) until more help could be found. With the resistance effort all but done for, everyone agreed. But things could go wrong, and they did…

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