Another dull night for the hedgehog, it was like a mind game of just waiting for some action to occur. Katorasu had ditched jumping across rooftops and was now just alright with casually walking down the sidewalk, stopping to take a gander into alleyways in case something was going on. Of course, nothing was happening, so far. Again, don’t get him wrong, he was glad there was no trouble stirring for anyone that wasn’t looking for it but he was also irritated by that as well. He figured a few more blocks and he would call it an early night, maybe find something else to do before heading to bed. The ebony male needed to find something else to do other than dressing up at night to dispense some wisecracking justice.
A cool breeze licked his cheek and flowed through a portion of his ponytailed quills, it was rather nice against his face. Moments like that were great, yet nothing beats the satisfaction of doing some good. Even though he would likely get slapped in cuffs for his deeds, though what good would those restraints be against someone whose body can become almost ethereal in a sense for a short time. He thought about how over time, at least this was his thinking, he would become accepted as the new hero of Station Square. All he needed was some form of a big break, hopefully, he would get that from intervening in the business of the crime organization beginning to make their moves here.
For now, and even after becoming accepted, he would deal with petty crimes. Such as the one being committed past the door of the convenience store, that he had just walked by. Stopping mid-step, it took him a few seconds to realize that there was a commotion going on in the store. Turning back around, he then peered in to see the scene in front of him: one robber aiming a handgun at the cashier, who was trying to diffuse the situation while slowly emptying the register; there was also a mother with her son, who had his eyes covered by her hand, sitting close to the ground as another robber threatened them too, hopefully, that was just a threat to urge the cashier into not stalling for time so the police could arrive in time.
The police weren’t here though, instead what they would get help from was in the form of a vigilante with such an exaggerated swagger to him. Stepping into the convenience store, with its bright white lights hanging overhead, a loud happy chime rang out and alerted the robbers to the fact that someone had just entered. The first robber quickly aimed in Kato’s direction while the other seemed to get closer to the mother, the barrel of the gun coming closer.
“On the ground, now!” He threatened Kato, who had a vague grasp on the damaging effect of firearms but didn’t care over the potential of being shot, stuffed his hands into his pockets.
The nephalem took in the view of the situation he had just put himself in, before casually sauntering over to a rack that held chips of various sizes, flavors, and brands. He seemed to have more of an interest in picking out just the right bag of chips than the threat of a bullet piercing his head.
“You deaf or something?” The first robber asked, growing quickly tired of the distinguishingly black hedgehog.
Settling on a small bag of Hot Cheetos, specifically the puff ones, the nephalem grabbed a hold of one and opened it up without a care in the world. Popping a Cheeto into his mouth, he turned towards the man that held him at gunpoint.
“Y’know, I don’t get why people like these things all that much. They’re not even that spicy, even after a whole bag of large ones all I feel is like a little tang on my tongue.” Katorasu began to walk towards him carelessly.
The first robber, despite being caught off guard by Kato’s casual attitude, held his aim, “I will blow your head off if you take another step!” He threatened, urging the hedgehog to just walk away if anything.
Stopping after hearing that, the nephalem tossed another Cheeto into his mouth— this was probably his fifth one— as he seemed to heed that warning. Truth be told however, he felt that he was at just the right distance for him to initiate his “plan” of attack. In a move nobody could have predicted, Katorasu suddenly rammed his index and middle fingers up the nostrils of the first robber. The whole bit with him grabbing a random bag of chips served its purpose, he had covered his fingers with the spicy powder while making it look like he was just enjoying the snack in an unfitting situation.
“Getting them up the nose is a whole different situation though.” Kato had added onto his previous statement, as he removed his fingers from the first robber’s nose. Though just as quickly he delivered a quick and powerful kick to the abdomen of the robber. Leaving him as a sneezing person in a whole lot of uncomfortable pain.
The Nephalem immediately took glances around him, before his eyes settled on a two-liter soda sitting on the counter next to him. With zero hesitation, he grabbed a hold of the bottle from the neck and hurled it towards the head of the second robber, just in the nick of time as he had just aimed Katorasu. Seeing as how their captor had been taken down, no matter if it was for a short time or not, the mother had quickly picked up her son and bolted out of the store, with the nephalem giving a wide berth for her. Without missing a beat, the hedgehog quickly grabbed the two handguns that had been dropped before placing both of the firearms on the counter.
“Never used one of these, don’t plan on it at all for tonight. You know how to handle one of these though, right? Or at least make it look like you do?” He quickly asked the cashier, to which the man nodded his head and took ahold of one of the two guns. Holding it rather flimsy.
Reaching into his coat, Katorasu had pulled out a roll of duct tape. After some fiddling with it, trying to find the edge and all that, he began to duct tape the first robber’s legs together. Halfway through the process though, the masked male sat up and reached for a knife in his boot and attempted to stab the hedgehog in the neck; instead, though, his small blade made contact with nothing but a cloud of mist. The last thing the robber would see before his lights went out was the boot of the ebony hedgehog coming down on him. Moving on from that attempt, the nephalem finished duct taping the legs and arms of the first robber; after that, he repeated the process with the other robber, though he lightly kicked him in the side to see if he was still conscious or not.
Lumping one robber over the other, the nephalem figured he did a job well done. “Sorry about wasting a perfectly good bag of Cheetos like that, how much do I owe you?” He asked, looking over at the cashier.
“Don’t worry about it, that bag isn’t worth all that much anyways.” The cashier responded, shaking his head.
“Alrighty then…” Kato’s eyes landed on the nametag that was pinned to the shirt of the cashier. “... Josh.” The nephalem soon smiled, though his gaze fell upon the price sticker that was on the other bags of chips. Most of the stickers saying $1.
“Sooo… you’re a vigilante? ‘Cause, the way you took those guys down so fast was just… amazing.” The night shift worker seemed to be taking in the whole outfit that Katorasu wore.
“Yeah, I guess I am. I’m aiming to be a hero, and before you even ask, yes, I know it’s highly illegal. So what? I’ve only helped people, not like I’m bringing in some new supervillain to the city.” He went off on a bit of a tangent.
“Well, anyways, you know the cops are still on their way, right?” Josh, the cashier, asked.
“Oh, forgot about them. Guess I’ll be on my wa—“ He stopped in the middle of his step again, as he noticed that on a little bookshelf was a copy of ‘Past The Sound Barrier’, an autobiography of the once-famous Sonic the Hedgehog.
It looked to be a rather thick book with a cover that featured the blue blur, from how he used to appear twenty years ago to now. Despite the length of time, the cocky smile never changed at all. It didn’t look forced at all, despite heroics being outlawed, he still smiled genuinely in his iconic way.
“Y’know, that book sells pretty well with kids and rebellious teenagers. Guess they like reading about what it was like to run free with the wind.” Josh said, leaning over his counter a little as Katorasu held the book in his hand.
Taking it with him to the counter, he pulled out a $20 bill, the price of the book. Setting the book down along with the money, with an addition of $1.50, the nephalem urged a little, “I’m paying for this, might be something worth learning about in it. Plus I don’t wanna be freeloading just ‘cause I stepped in at the right time.”
Nodding his head, the cashier accepted the payment as Katorasu looked over at the two robbers still unconscious and still bound. “Welp, I’m heading out, have a good night, Josh.” He waved a small goodbye to the cashier, with the book in his hand again now.
After a few seconds, Josh piped up, “What’s your name?”
Kato’s yellow eyes looked over at a camera, which recorded the whole thing, before looking back at Josh. Since he was in this deep without knowing, he figured maybe it was time to get a bit more ballsy. Picking up the bag of Cheetos he had dropped earlier, he answered, “Katorasu. Katorasu Naitosutoka. Don’t forget my name when I’m on the news.” He flashed a smile, stepping out of the store as he popped another Cheeto in his mouth.
