Faith's Enigmatic Discovery

For the record, I’m simply gonna say that there is in fact violence in this story. Just a warning. Also; there are a few mild expletives added in some of the dialogue-“swear words,” and suggestive themes, again just a warning for those of you who may be offended.

I’d like to thank Frozina, Mitena, Ouka-noir and Emeraldgreeny for supporting me while I was in the process of writing this-you guys are all great!!!

So… here it is-hope you enjoy

Prologue
I’m terrible at prologues

Moving on

Chapter 1 (Part 1)
Outside, the blue waters of the Mobian Ocean danced in the sunlight of a late approaching dusk. The shadows began (slowly) to emerge from their daytime hiding places, crawling behind graffiti-embellished brick walls and white flickering street lamps. Despite the colorful, explosive city lights pouring down over Faith, the dark hedgehog managed to remain inconspicuous in the dimly-lit streets while crossing the empty intersection.

As soon as she made her way to the crosswalk her bright, yellow eyes drifted solemnly up to the tall, wide-spread building. It read in massive flaring pink lettering above “Kingdom Nebula Casino.” Up ahead there were two security bots lingering in-front of the main entryway, which happened to be enshrouded in fancy red curtaining like some kind of priceless-not yet presented-item. Faith approached the entrance in a casual manner, as if she weren’t even carrying four dual-crossed katanas across my back. On the way to the doors, she probed through her black shorts pocket and plucked out a tiny square piece of paper. Written on the crumbled up sheet was but a name and nothing more. It was all she needed. “Edmund.”

Faith then rolled up the (now useless) note between two fingers before flicking it in the air the same way a smoker would a cigarette, the breeze took its course from there.

“Citizen!” The security bot to the far right wheeled towards Faith. It threw out its mechanical hand, signaling her to stop. “Identify yourse-” It stopped speaking when it no longer had a head to speak with and stopped moving when (at the same time) it had no wheels to maneuver with. All it took was an expeditious, blurred swipe of her katana before she slid it back into its sheath, continuing on through the doorway.

The security bot on the left, under the impression it was safe, reached frantically for the laser pistol magnetized to its metallic torso. It was at this time that its hand instantly dropped severed on the ground-somehow still grasping the weapon. A moment later its entire body divided into four separate units and crashed to the rugged concrete floor with a loud CLANG!

Faith found herself trudging down an open hallway lit by orbs of icy blue flames. Up ahead she immediately spotted a blazing streak of flickering (continuously contrasting) strove lights that spilled deep into the hallway corridors. It was a little surprising to see the lack of security at such a huge Casino.

The hall lead to a big, smoky nightclub-it looked like. Guests were dressed in fancy clothes, many of them crowding around the dice tables lit by hot, floating lanterns all in which nearly resembled small glowing balloons only with no strings attached. The lottery machines were crammed with party guests shelling out their life-savings and the music was defining, booming through the house-sized stereos imbedded to the cherry-pink walls, shaking the entire club with its loud, eruptive bass till Faith’s heart was beating right along with it.

She didn’t feel too left out in terms of style. Her purple tank-top, her boots, and her dark shorts seemed to match the chosen genre of apparel perfectly. In fact, she would have fit right in if not for the exposed weaponry she had on her. Faith wasted no time. Her feet guided her through the club while she slipped past all the guests without so much as trying to avoid them darting by.

The ceiling burst into a luminescent explosion of eye-tantalizing color like some laser light show, the fluttery alteration almost made it look as if everybody was moving underneath a rainbow that was undergoing a spasmodic self-destruction. Many eyes diverted themselves in Faith’s direction. A number of the male eyes clung to her though it didn’t appear as though they were interested in her weapons. Some weren’t even looking at her face. Faith sneered, doing her best to ignore them. “Pigs.” She thought bitterly.

Faith scanned the casino for telltale signs of anybody who fit the listed target’s description. This was all based on the information she’d obtained around the city-“He’s a Seedrian” (a two-tailed fox told her) “be careful, he’s really dangerous” (a small cream-colored rabbit with a Chao companion timidly claimed) “He wears some kind of vest” (declared a red echidna) he was apparently a very well-known bounty hunter, and he had “a scar on his left eye” (she’d heard mentioned by a blue hedgehog). Faith never thought it would be so difficult to find an individual who matched such a description… not until she made her way to the bar.

At the corner of her eye (in the lounge area) she noticed a peculiar being she did not quite recognize as a species. He had whitish/green skin, a perfectly round head framed by an explosion of smooth charcoal hair, and he wore a dark brown sleeveless vest that draped all the way down to his waist. Was this a Seedrian? Obviously he wasn’t Mobian.

In his left hand he held a small crystal glass of vodka-or so it looked. In the other he twisted and twirled a large military-grade combat dagger between his fingers. There was a crooked toothpick tucked in his mouth that he didn’t seem too worried about choking on while he jerked his head and inhaled the vodka in an instant.

“He looks like the type.” Faith thought.

She didn’t even know what a Seedrian was. Much less if this was the correct one. It would have been a gamble to accuse him of being such, but this was a casino and there was no better place to gamble.

“Edmund.” She blurted, but her voice was thrashed apart by the blasting music. She couldn’t even hear herself. Annoyed by this, she heightened her tone and yelled as loud as she could, “EDMUND!”

The plant-like being ceased from fiddling with his knife but again gave no response. As soon as Faith was convinced he hadn’t yet heard her the pale individual turned his gaze across his shoulder, frowning at the dark hedgehog through a cigarette-smoke haze materialized from one of the guests across the table. Past the cancerous fog she caught a remote glimpse of two large, glowering eyes. One was green and the other a rippling Navy blue with a patterned scar tattooed directly in its center.

“Yeah, I heard you the first time.” The Seedrian spoke in a sharp, raggedy tone not even the club music could drown out. He twirled the knife between his fingers a couple more times and then (with great force) speared it into the thick wood of the counter. The handle hung stiffly in the air as he let go.

Edmund spun to face his new acquaintance, his sleeveless vest swung back like a stage curtain in an opening scene, and now there was a full view of his pistol. It lurked in a bronze hip-holster that matched the color of his leather belt. The weapon gleamed beneath the white lights of the glass sign above, reading “Bar.”

“Look, I’m busy right now,” lazily he leaned back, propping his forearms against the counter, “can I ignore you some other time?” The Seedrian then noted the weapons sheathed across her back. “Cool medieval butter knives.” He blurted.

Faith folded her arms along her torso, glaring coldly in his direction. But she decided to humor her target while he was still breathing. “You like em?” She threw her gaze halfheartedly towards the katanas. They formed a doubled X shape behind her shoulders. “I was planning to dismember you with them.” She said flatly.

Edmund stared (not at Faith directly) but somewhere much farther into her consciousness, her charisma, her soul with his deep, haunting eyes. These were eyes that took a lot and gave nothing. She searched his face for any signs of distress, but he was still undecipherable, or was that-by Chaos-a trace of amusement? She would have preferred anger, or even a blank expression, rather than the sense of being toyed with. He tipped his head drearily back towards the bartender (a short, dome-shaped robot) and tapped his glass, an evident sign for a refill. The robot humbly obliged and took his empty glass, only moments later to replace it with a full one.

Edmund grabbed the glass by the rounded edges with two fingers and a thumb then lifted, using only his wrist. He allowed the glass to dangle for a moment then swerved it closer to his face. The toothpick still poking out of his mouth shifted idly to the left and he downed the vodka in a fraction of a second.

“Well?” Said Faith with a shrug, becoming impatient with Edmund’s lack of acknowledgement. “Do you have any comments or concerns?”

Edmund didn’t bother to look at her. “Sure.” He answered normally. “You might wanna run while you still got the chance.” He scoped out his glass, eyeing the emptiness in unsatisfactory.

Slyly Faith smiled. “Is that threat Scarface?”

“A threat?” Edmund barked a laugh. “Nah.” He let his arm fall near the gun at his waist, making an obvious show he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. Slowly he reached for the handle. “I’m a nice guy.” Somehow she doubted this.

The two were both well aware of the audience assembling around them. Suddenly Edmund whipped out his pistol only to watch the barrel slide off the handle and drop to his feet. Faith had already drawn her blade and sliced the loaded instrument in half. As his gaze fell in disbelief to where the barrel did he also noticed half his toothpick was missing. She swung less than a second later, this time aiming a little closer to his face. He lurched back, avoiding her blade by mere inches, then found himself pinned against the counter. She swung a third time with incredible swiftness.