Scarlet vs. Rain: Close Encounters of the Icy Kind (formerly An Ice-Cold Rivalry Begins) - Redux
A while back, I decided to make some tweaks and additions (nothing too drastic, though) to what I believe was the first real story I made for my Sonic fancharacters, Scarlet and Rain, involving them meeting for the first time and getting into their first real fight that cemented their relationship as rivals. Now I'll share the improved version with all of you, along with some art based on the story that I've been wanting to make (which also involved actually trying to make a non-abstract background for once; applaud me). I'll keep the original version up, though, for the sake of preservation and comparison. Enjoy.
What you see below is only a portion of the story's start; the full version is under the "Keep reading" prompt.
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Scarlet Pyraga couldn’t get enough of the sensation of flight. The freedom to go in any direction she wished. The wind blowing through her quills. The sheer rush of speed that made her feel the exhilaration she figured her idol, Sonic, felt every time he ran (which was often). It was a good experience to have, and it never got old.
The hedgehog girl cartwheeled over Station Square, whooping in delight as she literally blazed a trail over the city skyline. Before she had these powers, she'd been ordinary, leading a boring existence. Now she could hold her own with the worst crime had to throw at her (and, of course, have fun punching their faces in).
But Scarlet's happiness would be quickly interrupted. A sudden force slammed into her side, sending her plummeting out of the afternoon sky into the asphalt road below. Cars swerved out of her way at the last moment. Fortunately, it wasn’t rush hour; in fact, traffic had been relatively light today (and for Station Square, that was an accomplishment). For a brief second, she lay in the small crater her impact generated, groaning in pain.
“What the heck hit me?” she asked, slowly getting to her feet.
“Not what-- who.”
That voice-- it came from behind. Maybe somewhere above her, too.
Scarlet whirled around, craning her neck up to find her-- a blue fox girl glowering down at her from a balcony on the building to her left. She was wearing a dark-blue top with a white line running down it, followed by a black midsection and black and white pants that led to a pair of blue and white heels. She had icy blue eyes, one of which was covered by a small tuft of hair sticking out of her forehead. Two ponytails ran from the back of her head with yet more hair hanging loose down the middle, and her look was completed by a dark-blue-lipped scowl on her white muzzle.
The fox stared for a couple more seconds, then backflipped from the balcony to meet Scarlet at street level, landing on the ground effortlessly before slowly walking towards her… with a purpose. Scarlet had no idea who on Earth this total stranger was, but clearly, she wanted to pick a fight. To what end, the red hedgehog wasn’t sure. Perhaps this was an unprovoked attack at random.
But then, Scarlet's confusion tapped out and gave way to anger, as was typical of someone with a hair-trigger temper like hers. To heck with why; any way she sliced it, it didn’t change the fact that she wasn’t a fan of random people messing with her like this. She was of half a mind to retaliate by punching this girl in the face so hard, she’d be out cold until next century.
And by “half a mind”, she meant every last bit of her gray matter.
“Oh, now I see what happened!” she snapped, a fiery aura quickly surrounding her. “It was you that knocked me out of the sky! What's your problem?! I was minding my own business before you nailed me!”
“Oh, but you're my business, Scarlet,” the fox snarled. “You think you can just fly around, kicking butts and looking all cool, and no one would have a problem with it? Well, I do. I want to show this city that you're not all that. You're nothing but a lucky show-off who doesn’t know what the heck she’s doing.”
Scarlet folded her arms in disbelief. “And who are you to make that judgment, rando?! Do you even have powers like I do? If not, I’m not the one here who doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
In response, the fox's arms began to morph into water, then froze into icy sharp ends, pointed directly at Scarlet. “Does this answer your question? Ice to meet you.”
Of course she uses ice puns, Scarlet mentally groaned. As if this wasn't bad enough.
Then, all of a sudden, the sharp ends fired off like needles, flying at Scarlet at rapid speeds. Shocked, she barely had enough time to put up her Fire Shield, against which the ice needles harmlessly evaporated. As the shield remained up, she looked around to see several citizens staring, fixated on the ensuing fight.
“What are you guys doing just standing around?!” she yelled to them. “Get out of here! If you wanna watch the fight, you can do it safe at home!”
Logic finally sinking into their minds, the citizens scattered, off to not risk getting hit by friendly fire. Good, Scarlet thought. They're safe. Also, I don't need so many people around staring at me while I’m in a life-or-death situation. Kinda distracting.
“Always thinking about others, huh?” the fox girl asked, stretching as she continued to unload needles from one hand. “Why bother? Once I've beaten you to a pulp, they'll see who the real top dog is and abandon you. People are always so fickle like that.”
“You're just living in your own little universe, aren't you?” Scarlet snarked. She knew this girl was wrong; her efforts to clean up Station Square were and would always be genuinely appreciated. She was told that by a good chunk of her fellow citizens all the time. They wouldn’t just leave her in the dust because of a lost fight.
Of course, some folks thought she was a reckless fool and would be more than happy to watch something bad happen to her so she’d lose her nerve, but that was beside the point.
“Yeah, I am,” the fox answered, grinning. “And I like it there.”
Scarlet glowered. “Well, it’s time I snap you back to reality, then.”
Engulfing herself in flame to continue to protect herself from any more needles, Scarlet dashed forward, seeking to deal that devastating punch to this new foe--
In an instant, she felt her entire body being squeezed, then slammed into the ground. It felt cold, suffocating. She turned her head to see that she was encased in a giant icy hand belonging to the fox girl. Her teeth grit in annoyance.
“Could you at least introduce yourself?!” she yelled. “I can't properly form a hatred of you if I don’t even have a name to scream into the sky! Gimme somethin’ to work with.”
The fox girl smirked at the remark. “Call me Rain,” she spoke. “That is, while you’re still conscious.”
With introductions out of the way, Rain casually tossed Scarlet high into the air like a piece of garbage, the hedgehog tumbling end-over-end in mid-air as she flew through a nearby building; Scarlet could barely see the startled expressions of the employees inside as she crashed through several office rooms before busting through the other side, activating her foot jets to regain control.
“All right, Rain it is,” she hissed, floating in the air. “And if you must insist on poking the dragon, then I’ll humor you… by breaking your funny bone. Let's see what you've got.”
She flew through the same holes her body had created, once again passing by shocked onlookers on her way out, sheepishly apologizing to them for the mess all the while: “Sorry! In the middle of superhero business; you know how it is! Heated, destructive battles all the time! Your insurance probably doesn’t cover this, but good luck!”
Flying out of the building she’d unintentionally vandalized, Scarlet curved downward to aim her trajectory close to where she thought Rain still was, and sure enough, she saw a blue dot back on the road, waiting patiently in the same spot for her to return. As she approached what seemed to be her new rival (to tell the truth, she’d always wanted one of those), she squinted to get a better look. Was Rain kicking back on a lounge chair now? Made of ice? In the most condescending manner possible? Scarlet had only been away from the fight for 30 seconds, and this girl was bored already!
Scarlet's mouth morphed into an annoyed sneer. So, she thought that little of her, huh? Fine. All the more reason for the pyrokinetic to look forward to the point where she could stomp out that arrogance.
Scarlet let off a burst from her foot jets, propelling her toward the ground faster. She cut them off to make a perfect three-point landing near Rain, then stood up to glare at her opponent, who slid up her ice sunglasses and stopped drinking her ice water out of her ice cup with an ice straw to return the favor with an icy look of apathy.
Scarlet’s fist tightened, shaking. Ah. Obnoxious and insufferable. She knew this one would be a handful.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Your Majesty,” she mockingly spat. Pointing an angry finger at the fox, she followed up with, “You better stop lazing around on that chair before I break it over your stupid head. You clearly know who I am, what I can do, and that getting on my bad side is hazardous to your health, to put it mildly, so who the heck do you think you are, slighting me like this?”
Rain scoffed. “I figured that’d be obvious, even to you,” she responded, slowly getting out of her ice chair and tossing her ice glass to shatter on the ground as the ice sunglasses liquefied and were absorbed into her forehead. She continued: “I think I’m better than you. Even with those fancy moves of yours, you’re a joke. You’re lucky I even bother to give you the time of day. Who have you fought so far in your ‘illustrious career’? Normal gangs? Run-of-the-mill criminals? You don’t know where you are on the totem pole. You wouldn’t last ten seconds in a real fight, and yet these idiots cheer your name. So here I am to bring you back down to Earth.”
“How about you shut your big mouth and prove you’re such hot stuff, then?” Scarlet fired back. “Enough with the cheap shots. Enough treating me like I’m a ‘joke’. I’m not your plaything, so cut the crap and actually fight me! We’ll see if you’re so smug when I’m done with you.”
“You oughta be more careful what you wish for, but whatevs.” Rain spread her arms out to either side of her, welcoming Scarlet’s impending approach. “Go ahead. Come at me, and we’ll do this for real.”
Now, that was more like it. Scarlet looked towards the ice chair, moving to grab its two front legs with each hand and ready it behind her as she dashed forward with her fire jets; she was intent on making good on her threat of breaking it over this jerk’s head. She screamed in anger as she approached Rain, beginning to swing the chair down atop her--
Inches from its intended destination, Rain caught the chair with one hand. Because of course she did. Scarlet berated herself in her mind; she’d given her opponent all the warning in the world, like an idiot.
The fox melted the chair, incorporating the water back into her hand… which grew in size, then froze over as she swung it up into Scarlet’s chin. The blow sent the hedgehog girl flying into the air, at which point, another fist formed from the water vapor in the air to spike her back down into the ground. She leaped back up, not wanting to leave Rain time to press the attack. Besides, at this point, she was too pissed to stay down.
After rubbing her aching chin, Scarlet burst forward towards Rain again, then threw constant punches and kicks at her, but she bobbed and weaved away from each of the attacks without missing a beat, almost in a ballerina-esque manner--
Scarlet felt her leg get grabbed at the end of a kick, and she was swung around, Rain's liquid arm extending as her solid hand metronomically slammed Scarlet multiple times onto the ground; she was then dragged across a building, crumbling the concrete and glass in her path before being let go on a downward swing, causing her to slam into the ground hard.
As a stunned Scarlet slowly picked herself off the asphalt, every inch of her nervous system screaming at her not to let herself get put through so much punishment and just get out of dodge to end the pain (a request her pride and fight-obsessed nature refused), she could see Rain several feet across from her with the widest, cruelest grin she'd ever seen.
“Ya get it yet?” she smugly asked. “You’re outclassed.”
Scarlet’s patience was officially wearing thin. This girl is really irritating to deal with, she thought. But still, gotta concede, she's pretty good. Must have trained herself, like I did. As much as I like to savor these kinds of fights, I better end this quick before things get too rough for even me.
With that course of action in mind, Scarlet dashed towards Rain, dodging or outright melting ice pillars the fox caused to erupt from the ground. Her fist, cocked backwards in preparation, swung forward and connected… but not with flesh. Instead, her hand went through Rain. No, not in a messy sense; the fox’s entire body had become water. Scarlet was surprised for a moment, but undeterred (and guided by frustration more than logical thinking), she kept punching, displacing water onto the street, then closed her eyes for one last punch…
…and was shocked back into focus by the loud clink of her fist making contact with something hard. She opened her eyes to find that Rain’s body had now morphed into ice. Solid ice. And her fist was firmly planted on the fox’s left cheek.
Inhaling sharply, Scarlet calmly and slowly pulled her fist away, clutched it with her other hand… and hopped around, yelping in pain as she shook her aching hand; all the while, Rain's mocking laugh rang in her ears.
“Y-You should see yourself right now!” Rain spoke through bouts of laughter as her body returned to its normal state, clutching her stomach and almost doubling over. “You haven’t hit me once outside of the times I let it happen, and even then, you didn’t hurt me! You're the new hero of Station Square?! You're pathetic!”
And that was the final straw. Scarlet didn't spend three years forming her own fighting style, slowly start to gain mastery of her powers over the past few weeks, and save people from numerous threats just to be called “pathetic” by some girl she'd known the existence of for all of two minutes.
Teeth and fists clenched, Scarlet's rage bubbled to the surface, showing outwardly as a burst of flames. She flung herself at Rain, who barely had enough time to stop laughing to notice before she was subject to a flurry of punches from the hedgehog, then a backwards cartwheel kick into the air, and finally, a two-handed spike that sent her crashing into the pavement-- a little bit of ironic justice from Scarlet for that first cheap blow Rain dealt her at the start of all this.
“How's that for 'pathetic'?!” Scarlet spat as she landed back on the ground and started panting, each breath carrying an audible fury. Finally, she’d landed a few blows of her own while Rain was vulnerable, and she was intent on keeping up the momentum.
Rain, loopy for a moment, staggered to her feet. The laughter was gone. In its place was a look of annoyance. “You were just lucky my guard was down,” she growled. “I’m gonna get you back for that.”
Scarlet’s voice took on a mocking tone as she responded: “Then come at me, and we’ll do this for real.”
A look of offense crossed Rain’s face. “Hey! You don’t get to throw my own lines back at me!”
Scarlet’s eyes went half-lidded as she shrugged casually. “Last I checked, I didn’t see that in the rulebook. Or a rulebook at all, for that matter.”
Rain scoffed. “Double-edged sword, Miss Smart Mouth.”
Scarlet’s brow furrowed in mild anger. “Again, look in the mirror, Miss Irritating.”
Teenagers trading trash-talk: truly, an intellectual spectacle for the ages.
After a brief standoff, the two charged at each other, meeting in the middle and engaging in a frenzy of swishing limbs for a brief minute, during which each of them landed an occasional blow on the other. Finally, their hands collided in a struggle, each trying to overpower the other through either raw strength or enlarged ice hands.
But despite the heated battle, as the two stared each other down with determined eyes… they were both smiling.
“You know, you're not half bad,” Scarlet observed. “You’re right-- I haven't fought anyone that could challenge me like this.”
“I do have to admit, that was a nice combo you pulled off there,” Rain agreed. “You actually have some merit. But merit only helps you so much. You're still going down.”
Rain’s grin intensified. She lifted her hand--
A split-second later, Scarlet’s vision went dark, and she felt something on her face, beginning to claw away at it. She stopped once she realized she was feeling a cold sensation and put two and two together-- Rain had hit her with an ice blast that had covered her eyes. She quickly put a hand to the coating and channeled her flames through it, melting the ice in seconds.
Scarlet blinked rapidly as her vision returned, clearing it further. Well, she could see again, but now there was nothing to see; Rain was gone. There was a brief moment where she scanned for her frantically, but couldn’t find--
Scarlet felt a sharp slash to her back. The searing pain forced her to her hands and knees. She looked behind her, seeing the back of her shirt had four new holes in it, and who else was there but Rain, with an icy clawed hand, in an “I just attacked you” pose?
And she's a dirty fighter, Scarlet sighed. Great.
“Hey!” she yelled out loud. “Do you know how much fire-proof clothing costs?! I should make you pay for that-- not just in pain, but money!”
“Really, now?” Rain retorted. “'Cause the way I see it, my friend, if you don’t step it up, you'll be the one that pays.”
Scarlet's eyes narrowed further. “I'm not your ‘friend’!”
She turned and launched a blast of flame at Rain from her cupped hands, knocking her off her feet and sending her tumbling across the road. She then walked forward as her opponent slowly got to her feet and generated another shield, letting loose a continuous stream of fire and not allowing her a moment's rest. But trying to cut through the anger that clouded her mind, some tiny voice briefly squeaked, “Wait, isn't getting close to her a bad ide--?”
Logic came too late; Rain bashed her with the shield, then soaked her with a wave of water-- a bad turn of events for someone who utilizes an element weak to the stuff. Scarlet mentally cursed her anger. Sometimes it helped her; sometimes it didn't.
“Not such a fire-starter now, are you?” Rain quipped.
“Y’know, if this is how you treat your ‘friends’,” Scarlet growled, shaking away the water dripping off her body, “I’d hate to see what you do to your enemies.” She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I don't need my powers to kick your butt.”
“Me, neither, with the way you're fighting,” Rain said. “But it’s fun watching you struggle against them. And I’d watch my surroundings more if I were you, ‘cause I get the feeling you’re about to be iced.”
The malicious grin on the fox’s face as she finished her sentence did not bode well.
Out of the corner of her eye, Scarlet saw a little ripple in the puddle of water below her. She glanced down, only to be met with a giant fist of ice rising out of the puddle and sending her flying into the air. Gravity slammed her back down onto the street, dazed, and Rain, not letting up on the assault, turned her tail into an ice sledgehammer.
“It's tail time!” she sung, pivoting her body around to swing her tail at Scarlet.
“You can do way better than borrowed materi--” Scarlet began before the hammer slammed into her side, sending her flying through the wall of a nearby restaurant.
Within the next few seconds, Scarlet found herself lying on her back in a pile of rubble and scattered foodstuffs, surrounded by concerned diners and mildly annoyed. “Man, I am not beating the ‘doesn’t know when to shut up’ allegations,” she muttered to herself, then proceeded to pat her face in an attempt to focus. “C’mon, Scarlet, it’s past time to lock in!”
She got up and jumped back out of the Scarlet-shaped impression in the wall, running towards Rain as fast as her legs could muster before taking a mighty leap at the fox and managing to land a punch; the two traded blows again until Rain sweep-kicked her, then swatted her away with a big hand. But the assault would only continue-- Rain again grabbed Scarlet from a distance with her extending arm maneuver, reeled her in, then clotheslined her to the ground. While Scarlet was still on her back, Rain jumped on top of her, grew her fists, and began punching her relentlessly.
“So much for all that bravado!” she screamed. “Who's the tough girl now?!”
With each megaton punch, Scarlet could feel consciousness slip further and further from her grasp, as it had been with every attack Rain landed. She was slowly becoming one with the road.
I’m in real trouble, she thought. She's just gonna keep wailing on me until I've blacked out-- or worse. But I can't let her get the best of me, especially not on her first try. I gotta keep fighting-- I have friends to get back to and a city to protect. Those, and I don't think the headline “Local Hero Beaten Senseless by Random Newcomer” on tomorrow's edition of Station Square News would be good publicity for me.
Even from within the relative darkness of her rocky tomb, Scarlet noticed something. Her hand was beginning to smoke. Slowly, she curled it into a fist, at which point, it burst into flames… igniting a more figurative fire inside of her. Her powers were back. And now was as good a time as any to use ‘em.
From above, Rain continued her assault, almost gleefully embedding Scarlet deeper and deeper into the asphalt with her giant ice fists. But then something stopped her, snapped her out of her fervor. Orange rays of light from under the rubble. Then smoke. Then fire.
Her eyes widened. She had just enough time to realize what was coming next before it happened. “Ohhhh, crap,” she quietly uttered.
“Get off!” Scarlet bellowed, letting loose an explosion of flames that sent Rain flying. She caught up as the fox landed on her feet, and the two once again fought in close quarters; it was only through a combination of determination and sheer adrenaline that Scarlet was still standing at this point and slowly eking out an advantage over her foe. A punch to the face here, a kick to the head there, and it was Rain's turn to start feeling the pain. Finally, her barrage of blows ended with a fire-wreathed punch that hit Rain so hard, it caused a mini-explosion that sent her flying back.
Thinking fast as her feet made contact with the asphalt, Rain turned her shoes into ice cleats that ground into the road and slowed her backwards momentum. As she came to a stop, she started breathing heavily; her vision was blurring and doubling up, her body getting wobbly to the point that she collapsed to one knee. Scarlet’s attacks and her own constant power usage were taking their toll, and she was fading fast. The writing was on the wall: either she found a way to knock Scarlet out now, or Scarlet would do the same to her.
To that end, as Scarlet looked on, Rain formed a baseball bat out of ice behind her back, waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it. As she’d hoped, Scarlet made the first move, screaming at the top of her lungs as she launched at her foe, not knowing that Rain was readying the bat to swing. Closer… closer…
Soon enough, Scarlet was within inches of punching Rain’s lights out.
Now!
With a flick of her wrist and a twist of her upper torso, Rain swung the bat into Scarlet's side, causing her to veer off-course and past Rain to slide down the road, groaning and writhing in agony on the ground as she held the bruised area. Rain took advantage, running up to her and pressing the bat horizontally against her neck, holding her from behind in an attempt to choke her out.
“You’ve put up a good fight, but admit it-- sooner or later, I'm gonna put you on ice,” Rain quipped.
Scarlet's eyelid twitched, and the pain in her side was immediately forgotten. That was one pun too many.
Furious, she flung her elbow into Rain's midsection several times, eventually causing the fox to release the hold and stagger back in pain. Acting fast, she yanked the bat out of Rain's grasp.
“I'm sick of your lame puns!” she screamed, cracking Rain across the face; the impact shattered the ice bat and once again flung her away. For a second, Scarlet felt the satisfaction of briefly seeing her dumb-struck expression.
Arrogance-stomping achieved. Home run.
Scarlet could hear the roar of a bunch of baseball-crazed fans in her mind. But no matter how much she wanted to, constantly replaying the moment in her head for her own amusement like she was running some sort of sports broadcast would waste precious time.
Instead, she burst upwards after Rain, landing punch after rapid-fire punch while the two were in midair, then blasting her down into the road with a concentrated stream of fire. As a follow-up, she thrust herself towards where the fox lay, her fist aflame and ready to strike. With one final battle cry, she slammed the burning fist down into her opponent-- who only just had time to put her arms in front of her to guard herself-- with overwhelming force.
A massive explosion rocked the area, setting off car alarms all around. Thick smoke rose from the point of impact. For a moment, other than the alarms and a resonating rumble, there was stillness and silence.
Then a fingerless glove grabbed the edge of the crater the explosion had created. Slowly but surely, a battered Scarlet pulled herself out, panting heavily. She turned to sit on the lip, staring down into the cloud of smoke with an expression of uncertainty. Her body was tensed, her mind on edge. Had that finisher been enough?
I swear, she thought, if she comes leaping out of the smoke with a surprise attack after all that, I'm going to scream.
Fortunately, she had no reason to worry after all; the smoke finally dissipated, revealing Rain sprawled motionless on her back in the crater, her eyes closed and her chest slowly rising and falling. It was clear that last tremendous blow had rendered her unconscious. Had it not been for the fact that she'd been fighting like a savage beast moments before, one could almost say she looked like she was peacefully sleeping. Almost.
Scarlet breathed a sigh of relief, her aching muscles finally able to loosen. The spontaneous throwdown was done and dusted. What had only been a few minutes felt like an eternity. Regardless, she felt a twinge of disappointment. That had been the best scrap she'd been in since she got her powers. Again, Rain had been correct-- all she'd really punched at this point were normal crooks and ne'er-do-wells. This girl had given her what she'd been craving for-- someone to match her in skill. Someone to give her fighting know-how a workout for once.
“You were saying about me still being conscious?” she spoke as she stood up to strike a triumphant pose, smiling. “And to think, you almost had me. You ever want a rematch, I’m game… even with the bad first impression.” Flashing a “V” sign, she finished, “‘Til then.”
With that, Scarlet had no real reason to stay, so she took flight, arcing into a loop as she embarked skyward. Yes, she was well aware she looked stupid talking to the passed-out fox who couldn't hear her, but she didn’t care because it wasn't like anyone was around to see it. Besides, the monologue was more of a release valve for her inner pressure than anything else, now that the battle had ended… though what she was saying was absolutely the truth: she welcomed another fight with Rain. The girl had potential.
Now free to replay the fight in her mind as much as she wanted, the red hedgehog continued her journey towards home, knowing she'd have a heck of a story to tell to her friends later.
----
Scarlet arrived back home a few minutes later, passing by Hertz on the couch playing video games. “Bust heads as usual?” he inquired, briefly taking in her beat-up outfit and many bruises.
“You know it,” she confidently answered.
She slowly staggered her way up the stairs towards her bedroom door, barely able to stay on her feet. The numerous injuries Rain had dealt her, the exertion of the battle-- everything had finally caught up with her, and she was drained. The adrenaline that had kept her going during the fight had long since faded; she'd almost fainted mid-flight and slammed into the ground a few times on the way back here. On the bright side, taking naps was one of her favorite activities, so she didn’t mind passing out for a bit. It was somewhat late in the afternoon for a nap, but it’s not like that ever stopped her (nor could she stop herself, seeing as she was running on fumes).
Scarlet opened the door, walked to her bed, and collapsed into it haphazardly; her drooping eyelids were finally allowed to slide shut as the soft mattress caught her fall, the heroine too spent of energy to even bother pulling the blanket on top of herself or adjusting her position to something more conventionally “comfortable”.
But two questions hung in her mind as her few remaining shreds of cognizance were gradually devoured by exhaustion: where the heck did Rain come from, and why did that girl really have such a beef with her? She couldn’t place it-- especially since her mind was way too far into dreamland at this point to even try piecing it together--but it felt like there was a little something… more behind Rain’s drive during that fight than… just wanting to… prove her a fake…
It didn’t take Scarlet much longer after that last drowsy thought to drift off to sleep, forcing any further rumination of Rain’s true nature on her end to be put on the back-burner for the next few hours. But as Raging Red faded into a well-earned post-brawl slumber, on the other side of the city, her less-fortunate opponent was just exiting unconsciousness…
----
Every square inch of my body hurts.
That was the first thought that passed through Rain's barely-working mind upon her return to the world of the waking. As she opened her eyes and slowly stumbled to her feet, her second thought was the realization that Scarlet had kicked her derriere to the half-destroyed moon and back, and her third was the frustration with herself that followed. So close.
Ignoring the pain and the concerned civilians watching who had gathered around her while she was KO'd (they’d probably been too afraid to get close to her the whole time), she slowly clambered out of the crater she'd been lying inert in for the past hour or so and walked away from the scene in an annoyed huff, slinking off towards a nearby grate and morphing into water that poured down into it. After a few minutes of snaking her way through the maze that was Station Square’s sewers, she was back in her smelly, decrepit “home” underneath the city dotted with (stolen) furniture, laying back on “her” couch and using her own frozen hand to ice her aching head. All the while, the gears in her head were grinding away to conceive a new plan to get back at Scarlet.
Yeah, the hedgehog had won that time. Big deal. She'd come back to challenge her again. And again. Repeat ad nauseam until the heat death of the universe, if it had to come to that. At some point, she'd win. Then maybe people would respect her for having the skill to take down the city’s hero. And then maybe she'd stop feeling so empty inside.
Regardless, deep down, she was looking forward to the next time they crossed paths. That Scarlet made for one heck of a rival, not just because she was a good fighter, but because, after all, they were opposing forces. Power and grace. Fury and control.
Fire and ice.