After taking a few steps out onto the sidewalk, just a bit away from the pizza shop’s entrance, Katorasu could smell the heavenly aroma of the pizza mixing with city air. He clutched onto the box, while on his left and his right a handful of people walked on by him, some even going into the pizza place behind him. He didn’t pay attention to any of them, he was more focused on getting just a quick glimpse of the boxed food he held in his arms. Now holding the box with one arm and hand, he slowly began to open it up and as he did, the smell of the cheesy delight became stronger.
“Hey! Somebody, stop him!”
Katorasu’s left ear flickered, the nephalem quickly glanced over in the direction from where the shout had come from, only to be quickly spun around as someone rushed past him from that same direction. Quickly regaining his balance after nearly losing it and— most importantly— the pizza, the ebony hedgehog watched as the person that just barreled past him continued to do the same to anyone that was in their way. In their arms, Kato could see that they were holding onto some type of leather bag.
From behind the nephalem, the owner of the container ran a little bit past the hedgehog, though they quickly gave up their pursuit.
“Got somethin’ important in that bag?” The vigilante asked, approaching the distraught male who was busy covering his face with his hands.
“Yeah… it’s kinda why I’m chasing after him in the first place...” He sighed, lowering his hands, practically giving up then and there.
Watching as the thief gradually got further and further away, the nephalem spoke confidently, “Here, hold this, I’ll be back.” He quickly handed the distraught man his box of pizza, before immediately giving chase to the thief.
With surprising speed and coordination, Katorasu moved through the crowds ahead without making contact with any of them; his enhanced speed, reflexes, and endurance made it a breeze for him to catch up with the thief. This would practically be a piece of cake for the hedgehog, as he was getting closer and closer and within arms reach of the perpetrator soon. Though much to his surprise, after the thief gave him one quick look himself, Katorasu was soon falling chest-first towards the ground as he had carelessly slipped on something. Letting out a loud “oomph”, he watched as a few metal marbles rolled past him.
“Chump move…” Katorasu shook his head lightly at himself, as he quickly got back up onto his feet.
Noticeably, from the quick look that our hero had gotten, this thief wore a black mask with goggles that perfectly covered their head. Whoever they were, they were overdressed for petty thievery such as this. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop Katorasu from doubling his pursuit of the masked individual. Both evader and pursuer moved through the crowds ahead of them; one pushing past those that didn’t move out of the way in time and the other carefully avoiding them to not bump into them.
Just ahead of Katorasu, there was enough of a clearing between the people that the thief had made. Though that was quickly rendered into a challenge, the masked persona quickly layered a handful of marbles in front of the black hedgehog’s path. Each step was made with careful precision, though that itself slowed Katorasu down a bit, giving the thief enough confidence to quickly escape into an alleyway to the right.
Stepping over one last marble, the vigilante quickly entered the tight area, just barely catching sight of the masked thief aiming a handheld device at the top of one of the buildings the pair were between.
“Y’know, one time was funny but two was definitely annoying.” He huffed, as the thief turned their head to the nephalem. The masked Möbian slowly deposited the device into his fur-collared jacket.
“I can say the same thing,” Their voice was modified to an extent, to conceal how it sounded, “I thought you would have backed off by now.” The thief had set down the leather bag against one of the exterior walls.
“I’m stubborn like that, plus my mom always did tell me stealing is wrong and to help others that need it.” He snarked, folding one arm over the other in an incredibly casual manner.
“Did she also warn you about stranger danger?” The thief remarked, almost in the same way as Katorasu had done.
“I also sometimes don’t listen.” He shrugged, as the thief secretly glanced over to the bag he had gone through the trouble of snatching.
“I’ll give you one chance, if you don’t take it then I’m gonna have to kick your ass into next week.” From behind the thief, their tawny yellow tail swayed from left to right as the owner raised his fists.
“Better make it a month, because I don’t go down so easy.” Katorasu returned the gesture with his limbs rising before his face.
“Same here.” His masked adversary spoke again, before taking the charge towards Katorasu.
To Katorasu’s surprise, the thief moved at a surprising speed, as the nephalem had barely managed to block a kick that was close to striking the side of his head. Though the limb quickly retreated away from Katorasu’s forearm, with its other half swiftly striking the chest of the casually dressed hedgehog. His shirt had been dirtied by the boot of the thief as he staggered back.
Looking down at his shirt, Katorasu realized how deep in trouble he would be with Jamie later. “Oh, now I’m mad!”
Now, while Katorasu could use his powers to make himself a harder target to hit, he didn’t want to risk anyone outside of the alley peering in and watching a hedgehog turn into a smoky mist. It was one thing for him to be fighting a masked thief in a tucked-away spot, it would be another if he popped an ability. Still, it’s not like he couldn’t hold his own against someone who appeared to be powerless.
Quick strikes were thrown and traded, some landing across the face or on the body, as the pair tested each other’s endurance. Theoretically, Katorasu could outlast the thief but one never really knows until the fight is finished. His opponent quickly delivered another kick, this one aimed squarely on Kato’s face. With a quick and narrow dodge, having only moved his upper body to the side, the nephalem grabbed ahold of the thief’s leg and then quickly spun the individual.
Having been turned over 360°, his opponent was now flat on his ass before the vigilante himself. In one swift motion, Katorasu pinned the thief against the ground before glancing around to spot the bag the two of them were fighting over. His hands were firmly pushing down on the adversary’s wrist.
“You’re pretty good at fighting, for a bag snatcher.” He snarked, as his golden eyes landed on the leather bag that was next to a dumpster behind them.
“Same for you,” The thief under him let out a small chuckle, before suddenly his gloved hands wrapped their fingers around Katorasu’s wrists, “Not good enough though!”
A quick shock flowed throughout Kato’s body, a small yelp escaped from him as he jerked his hands away from the thief’s grip. Without warning, the latter being pushed themselves back so they could slide a bit on the alleyway floor. As he did so, another solid strike was delivered to the chest of the emerald-streaked male, sending him backward just a bit and nearly causing him to roughly slide out of the alley and onto the sidewalk, where a few civilians were watching this scene happen.
“Should’ve done that, to begin with,” The thief spoke, as they walked over to the leather bag and picked it back up, “Non-lethal shocks always knock out bugs like you.”
Just as the thief reached for the device from earlier, Katorasu surprisingly hopped up onto his feet, “First off, I’m not just any bug; second, I’m a hedgehog; and third, you messed with the quills. I think all that calls for a round two.” He palmed his fist soon after, as the ends of his quills seemed to look frizzled and whatnot.
A brief silence fell over the pair, another standoff was about to go down apparently. As if it were all a scene straight out of a climactic showdown seen in most cowboy films.
Eventually, though, the thief broke the silence, “Y’know what? I’m done with this, take the stupid thing back to that nerd.”
To Katorasu’s surprise, the other Möbian tossed the leather bag towards him and into his hands. As if dumbfounded, he looked down at the strapped luggage he held in his grip and then back up at the thief. “Seriously?” He asked, “You’re just giving it to me? That’s a bit… anticlimactic.” Kato motioned the container towards the thief, almost waving it at them.
“Not everything ends excitingly, Supe. I was paid to steal that bag and that was it, no one told me I’d have to fight over it. Not worth the time and effort. That and we’re both attracting too much attention.” They motioned over to the small group at the entrance of the alleyway.
“I’m not a ‘Supe’ or whatever that is.” Kato shrugged off the name, trying to not confirm the accusation from the thief.
“Sure you’re not, I guess you’re one of the sturdier hedgehog’s out there who just happens to know how to fight so well.” The thief reached into his jacket, pulling out the device which they then slotted onto their right wrist, “For your sake, I hope those people don’t start talking about you later. Otherwise, it’ll spread around, and then you’ll get the cops on your ass, which is why I invested in a mask.” They pointed at the facial gear, before turning around to move towards the end of the alleyway.
“You’re not gonna tell anyone about me?” Katorasu asked, moving forward as well, though maintaining a fair distance from the thief.
“Nah, losing a paycheck isn’t all that annoying. Besides, I’m a bleeding heart, you’ve got people in your life that would probably get hurt. So be careful, you won’t go up against guys like me always, Supe.” They responded as they looked over their shoulder.
Soon after, the thief’s wrist device fired off a grapnel that hooked onto the roof of the building above them. Without giving Katorasu a chance to say thanks, the mystery Möbian was swiftly propelled upwards and was gone after climbing over the roof’s edge. Essentially letting the hedgehog go with the bag in his hands.
Left a little dumbfounded, the nephalem could only say, “Alrighty then…” before making his way out of the alleyway.
Having stepped outside now, with the sun shining its light down upon the black hedgehog, one could see how Katorasu’s outfit was thrown through the wringer during that quick scuffle with the thief. His green shirt was stained with two dirty boot prints, the back of the jeans covered with grime, and his shoes were pretty scuffed as well now. His quills too were messy, being out of place at the ends and some bits of random garbage in them. All things considered though, his face looked untouched despite being punched at least a few times; no signs of bruising were present anywhere.
Slinging the leather bag over his head and onto his right shoulder, the nephalem looked around him at the small crowd of civilians that were lightly staring at him. “What? I normally don’t look like this.” He spoke, intentionally missing the reason why they were gathered around the entrance in the first place.
After a bit of a long and awkward walk back, the nephalem had returned to both the pizza shop and the person whose bag he had retrieved. Despite having come out of a dirty alley, he still kept up that smile of his as he walked past all the judging looks.
“Here you go, chief,” He said, rather chipper as he traded back his box of pizza for the man’s leather bag, “Next time, keep a tighter grip on that thing,” Kato suggested as he cleaned his fingers on his dirty shirt.
Having opened up the box by now, he reached in and bit into a somewhat still warm slice of chili cheese pizza. It was pretty good, everything blended so well together and practically made his tastebuds fire up at the taste. His eyes were shut as he enjoyed the slice in his mouth. For a few seconds, at least until a small questioning sound came from the person he had just helped, he had completely forgotten that he looked terrible.
Opening up his left eye first, then the other, the nephalem chuckled as he placed the slice back into the box, “You should’ve seen the other guy, kicked his ass into next month.”
Bidding goodbye and good luck against any future attempts of thievery, Katorasu ventured off for Jamie’s shop. In his head, he could tell that he would get reamed by Jamie upon entering his shop, for bringing home one of the greasiest of fast foods and for the state of his clothes. Though perhaps the explanation would make up for it, or at least lessen the verbal, and possibly physical, beating.
