The warrior crossed his arms. “Let me hear it one more time: are you certain you can undergo such an intensive training in such an unpredictably short time?” If his own calculation last night had been correct, the siblings had no longer than two weeks to learn the ancient arts of Echidna combat. Fourteen days to assimilate what would be usually taught in years. “Yes!” The two almost shouted eagerly. “You know, we are… quite big fans of the ancient ritual of Not Dying Horribly.” Desi muttered. “Besides…” Mayhem trailed off for a moment, mimicking a very familiar motion. “We power-bumped on it. There’s no turning back now.” “Very well, then.” Knuckles nodded, relaxing his posture ever so slightly. “Let us begin by putting you to a simple test.” “A test?!” The other tried to protest. “Oh c’mon, there’s no fuckin’ time!” “What for?” Desi inquired instead. “Before coming up with the proper training method,” the red echidna answered, “I need to observe for myself how unskilled you are, so to know which gaps need to be filled in.” “Fairs.” The siblings answered at the same time. “So,” Mayhem scratched the back of his head, “what should we-” “Think fast!” Knuckles suddenly turned to the duo swinging a left hook. With a startled “whoa, shi-”, Desi instantly ducked; all she felt had been the air moving just above her head as the fist flew by. Mayhem hadn’t been as lucky nor swift; one moment he was standing next to his baby sister, the next moment he was sent flying several feet across the field, his startled yell echoing nicely through the woods nearby, until he crashed into a boulder, shattering it on impact. “Ow…!” He groaned weakly. “Whoops.” Desi stood sheepishly back up, then brought her hands to the sides of her mouth. “Sorry, ‘Em!” Her voice echoed over the glade. “You still with us?” From their position, the duo could see the other raising a shaky thumb up. “Just need… a moment.” His dizzy voice echoed back. “Do not apologize for your brother’s lack of reflex.” Knuckles crossed his arms again, standing next to the yellowy echidna. He studied her for a moment, then added: “That was quite an impressive reaction time, for someone completely untrained.” “Thanks. I guess…?” Was her doubtful response, her concerned gaze still on her decked brother laying in a pile of rubble. After seeing that he was, in fact, overall fine, she turned to the muscular echidna next to her. “I, uh… Guess I might be not as untrained in dodging as I tho-… Whoa!” Desi barely dodged a new fist aimed at her chin. “Let your actions speak for themselves, echidna.” Knuckles hummed. The test was now officially underway.
[ID: A two pages mini-comic depicting what goes on in the excerpt above, taken from "Eye of the Echidna" on my own AO3, a story linked in the very first line of said excerpt. End ID]
Idk, I had this very silly idea floating in my head for a few days, and eventually couldn't resist the urge to ask @d-structive to put it into a likewise very silly mini-comic. She also warned me that this was among the things she never drew before, and that's how in the end the entire style turned 99% close to anime/videogame than movie (<- NOT A COMPLAINT!)
Also: the mini-comic was born first. It was supposed to come with the snippet above. Then my brain got MONCH!ed by same ol' plot-bunny, and next thing I knew I was sitting on an 84 pages long story.
And yes. It's about echidnas. In plural. Best part is: those two disasters (affectionate) aren't even the only. All is explained in those 19 chapters on AO3 (if you have an account)~ (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
