The Battle of Foret

Inside the forest our hero Aqua Lizard was walking inside the deep forests of Foret, he was trying to find the lost young mouse named Ryons who was a Foretian himself who accidently wandered into the dangerous woods.

"Darn it, the poor kid is going to end up being lost if he carries on getting deeper in these lands" said Aqua by himself as he tried to find Ryons. He heard a noise, a twig being crunched underfoot. He turned to see a dog stumbling towards him, like he was drunk or something. His clothes were strange, a yellow jacket and goggles the most striking pieces, as well as the lightning mark on his forehead matching the one on his shirt.

"And may I ask who you are...stranger?" Aqua acted and spoke like a noble warrior would do, at first it was a gentlemen like question but the stranger had a more different approach.

"I? Am...Shockgoggle," was the response, the stranger stopping several feet from Aqua. He snapped his fingers, letting Aqua see a brilliant arc of electricity appear briefly between his fingers. His eyes seemed empty of emotion as he put his goggles on, pointing a finger at Aqua. "You are dead."

Aqua was fazed by this, why would a stranger randomly turn up and decide to try and kill him, it would be normal for a criminal to do this sort but looking at the eyes of the stranger didn't seem normal to him. "Who are you working for?!?" said Aqua demanding to know the purpose of him being here. "And where is Ryons?" he also added.

The stranger, Shockgoggle, decided not to reply verbally, instead spinning and flinging a bolt of crackling electricity at the new hero. Aqua quickly dived away from the attack that the stranger made and got back up to his feet.  "I do not want to hurt you, I'll give you one more chance to answer my question." said Aqua as he slowly reached the hilt of his sword incase Shockgoggle failed to respond his question.

Shockgoggle instead cried out, clutching his head, as if it were in terrible pain, little sparks sparking off of him as something was affecting him. Would it be safe to approach? To help? That question was soon answered as Shockgoggle shouted angrily, a few bolts flying off him and striking trees, stripping them of bark and scorching the wood.

He took an unsteady step towards Aqua, his fur spiking up with static.

"I am here to kill you," he said, twitching a little, something was wrong with this dog, very wrong, but Aqua didn't know what.

"Alright, you've left me no choice..." Aqua drew his sword out and went into his battle-ready stance. "...but to make me fight you! Care for a decent weapon to make it even?" Shockgoggle growled, flinging out more lightning bolts at Aqua, it seemed he already had all the weaponry he needed.

Aqua was  struggling to find a way not to kill him. He could feel the goodness inside this creature he was facing, but the aggressive way he was acting was making this challenge very difficult.

"Die! Die! Die!" he called out, punctuating his speech with lightning bolts, which burst against the trees Aqua was weaving through, buying time until either this 'Shockgoggle' was worn out or he came up with a plan to disable him.

Aqua swung his sword in a vast distance and th tidal wave sweeps out of the blade aiming towards Shockgoggle.He was hoping this attack would try and least disable his electricity. "C'mon this has to work!" he thought to himself. Gritting his teeth he didn't want to really hurt the stranger by any means, the Shockgoogle didn't look like a bad guy by any means.

The heavy wave struck the dog in the chest, knocking him onto his back. He growled, rising up, hiding behind a tree as the next wave neared. Once the barrage of magical waves were done he once more stumbled out from behind the tree, reminding Aqua of a zombie, and cursing the lizard as he charged up more electricity.

"Darn it!" Exclaimed Aqua as he tried to come up with another technique to try and deal with Shockgoggle. The water slowed him at least, dispersing his electrical reserves, but by no metric of measurement was Shockgoggle looking close to defeated. A tree practically exploded next to Aqua, splinters and wood shards flying by him, some striking him, cutting him even! It seemed the strange assailant was done playing around.

"You...Are dead," he said, and despite the threatening tone in his voice? There was no life to it, almost as if...he wasn't entirely in control of himself, as if something were making him act this way.

Aqua was slightly hurt from the damage caused by the flying splinters but he quickly recovered and ignored the blood slowly pouring down the slght scratches, the damage wasn't that severe, they could be sorted with a cloth to clean it up. "What can I do?" Aqua thought to himself as if for the first time he was uncertain on what to come up with. This was not normal for Aqua, he would figuire out a way to deal with the enemy, but this one was proving to be a tough opponent.

"Coward! You craven, duplicitious fiend!" he called out furiously. Something was changing in Shockgoggle, Aqua could hear it, and when he peeked out around a tree, he could see it. Shockgoggle was moving with more liveliness, but still stumbling, as if fighting his own movements. His voice was starting to carry a small fire in it, but that was it; just a sign of life, nothing big yet. "If you are brave enough come out and fight me!"

"A fiend? I'm the good guy here, you make it sound like I'm evil!" Aqua replied angrily as he was rather unhappy with what Shockgoggle said to him,  "I am pure of heart, I serve and protect, and you calling me a "fiend" has insulted me!" Aqua then said gritting his teeth, it was as if Shockgoggle was becoming cocky. But the young lizard knew that he needed to control his emotions and not let the enemy get into his mind.

"You are a devilish knave!" Shockgoggle replied, a tree near Aqua's hiding spot getting blasted, he was getting closer! Aqua had to think of a plan fast, or else he might be next! "And I shall extinguish your villainy here!"

Aqua turned round and spotted Shockgoggle about to perform the "last attack". he blasted a huge amount of water at Shockgoggle in an act of defense, this made the dog get compeletely drenched as he was flung towards a few trees like a homing missile, striking them hard and falling to the ground, still and unmoving.

Was he defeated? Or, had Aqua gone too far and accidentally killed the dog-kangaroo?

Aqua slowly approached towards the dog-kangaroo to see if he was alright, he felt Shockoggle's neck to see if any pulse could be felt. There was a pulse, and Shockgoggle was breathing, thankfully. One lens on his goggles had a nice crack in it now, but otherwise it seemed the combination of Aqua's attack, the collision with the tree (also cracked,) and exertion from his attacks had rendered the unfortunate being unconscious.

Aqua breathed a sigh of relief from this, he was lucky that he didn't kill him from that powerful water spray that acted like a firing torpedo, it has how strong he managed to produce it that amazed him. He even petted the top of Shockgoggle's furry head to feel that he is sorry for what he did.

The dog-kangaroo's eyelids cracked open a little, granting him a close-up view of Aqua.

"Who...are you?" he asked, his voice was quiet and soft, probably from being pretty injured, but unlike before there was some life to it now, something behind the words.

Aqua was shocked to realize that the impact against the trees must've completely knocked off the dark magic, he took a deep breath and was about to speak. "My name is Aqua Lizard, I am a hero who protects and serve, it is my sworn duty to take down evil" he said to Shockgoggle.

"A hero?" he asked, looking over the slightly wounded warrior, "What's a hero doing out here?" He looked around, growing more and more confused, "Why am I out here?"

"You were trying to kill me before, you even looked posessed" Aqua quickly explained as knew that Shockgoggle was finally back to normal.

"What? I would never!" He looked aghast, "I wouldn't, I'm sorry!" Tears welled up in his eyes, "I'm so sorry Mr. hero Lizard!" It was almost too funny, the jump between the possessed and normal Shockgoggle.

"Hey, hey, hey...don't cry" Aqua tried to comfort Shockgoggle by patting him on the back. "Do you know where you come from, and who tried to control you?". Aqua then asked as he was curious as to what led him to this darker self. He shook his head.

"I don't remember much, I was...getting off of work and heading home," he spoke slowly, trying to remember, "There was...a man in a strange outfit, a frog I think? And...After that it gets a little fuzzy."

"You were hypnostised by a frog? He must have been a cunning fellow to make you become what you were, who was that frog working for?" Aqua asked again.

"I don't know, he did have a P-shaped badge on, maybe that means something to you?" Shockgoggle asked, trying his hardest to think, but the frog had really done a number on his mind.

Aqua's mind went blank for a second and clicked. "Emperor Pogona!" he exclaimed as he  gritted his teeth in sheer anger. Shockgoggle paled.

"No, it can't have been! What would someone like him want with an electrician like me?" he asked, stunned. But the more he thought, the more accurate it seemed, that P-badge had been familiar, and now he was placing it as the symbol of Pagona's forces.

"He made you become a bad guy! He must've known about your powers in order to try and kill me, he was unlocking your potential of using your electrical powers. He's becoming quite desperate to try and get rid of me"

"Well, I guess I'm glad I lost then? It would've been awful if I'd really hurt you like this," Shockgoggle seemed truly apologetic, "Maybe you should have a talk with the Emperor? He was staying somewhere near Foret right now, wasn't he?"

Aqua nodded his head sideways in disbelief. "He's bound to make a move, he's a cold hearted villain." he said as he turned his head to Shockgoggle. "We also got to find Ryons, his parents must be worried sick about him."

"Ryons? Who's that?" he asked, and was quickly filled in on why Aqua was out here in the first place. "Well, he can't have gotten far?" Shockgoggle pondered, there had to be an easy way to find the mouseboy, but how?

Aqua then spotted footprints on a gravelly pathway, in fact there were two, one of the marks on the ground looked like somebody was dragged whilst the other one was walking next to it. "Wait a minute, what is going on here?" said Aqua as he felt perplexed. Shockgoggle got down, looking at the marks.

"These aren't that old?" he said, although he sounded uncertain, electricians were not known for their exceptional tracking abilities. He looked down the trail. "Someone must've kidnapped Ryons and led you here, to fight me." He then started walking down it, with a little bit of a limp, "So if we follow it? We should find Ryons, and maybe the frog who hypnotized me."

"Good idea" said Aqua as he gave the thumbs up and began walking down the trail. After a few minutes of walking they finally arrived to where it seemed Ryons and another person were. Aqua then sneaked towards the bushes and began eavesdropping whilst a conversation was starting, "Psst, Shockgoggle, come here" he whispered. The kangaroo-dog caught up and crouched beside Aqua, peering through the bushes to see a small, terrified looking mouseboy and a somewhat mad looking mole in strange power armour, drills covering his already naturally large digging claws. A stylized P on the armour indicated that, indeed, this man worked for Emperor Pogona.

The young mouseboy was backing away a little. "P-Please, I don't know where he is, I'm being honest, why have you brought me here in this place, I want my mum and dad!" the young mouse cried out with a few tears welling out of his eyes.

Aqua felt hurt seeing the poor young mouse wanted demanding answers from a villain, but who was it was the armoured mole after?

"Shut it brat!" the mole snapped, "You ain't the target, we just gotta wait for dat lightning guy to fry the lizard and then you can go home." Of course, no mention of bringing the mouse home.

"B-But, why have y-you captured me?" the young mouse stammered as he kept on sobbing away. Even he wanted an answer to this, was he being used as a target to attract the "lizard".

Aqua ducked down and looked at Shockgoggle. "That mole guy metioned you and me, he's probably wondering what is going on" whispered Aqua.

"So, should we surprise him? I bet you and I could take this guy," Shockgoggle said, wincing a little as he got a bit more comfortable, he was definitely hurting. "But, your mouse is pretty close to his drills."

Aqua gritted his teeth, he was trying to hold his position and not to disrupt the comversation that the mouse and mole were having. "When it gets really serious we'll disrupt him," said Aqua feeling a little uncertain.

"I bet that lizard's just a charred husk by now!" the mole cackled, "Then Emperor Pogona's troubles will be all over!" Am I really that big a problem? Aqua thought, with more than a little pride.

The mole was then about to attack the mouse as he started up his drills, Aqua couldn't take this anymore and leapt over the bushes in reaction. "You want me? You got me!" exclaimed Aqua.

"Ah?" he seemed surprised, but he quickly got over that, lifting his drills and revving them up, "Looks like that worthless mutt wasn't enough to stop ya, huh? Looks like I'll be the one putting you six feet under for good!"

"You sound pretty confident for a chubby guy wearing machinary type armaments!" replied Aqua delivering an insult to the mole. He had a feeling the mole had a pretty much short fuse after his ealier comversation with the young mouseboy. And indeed he did, one could practically see the steam coming from the mole's small ears as he lifted his drills.

"I'm gonna drill you until there's nothing left but a smear of red!" he shouted, lunging with drill outstretched at Aqua. the young reptile showed no fear, he didn't even bring his sword out at this point and literally ducked down, swinging out his leg, sweeping the angry mole off his legs. The mole fell heavily with a furious snarl, his eyes behind his glasses blazing with fury.

"You are pretty slow with all of that heavy equipment on your body, I'm expecting a challenge but so far I'm really dissapointed" said Aqua as he looked at the mole. he sweeped his clothing to brush the dust off.

"Hahaha, I'm just getting fired up!" the mole called out, rolling over and burrowing underground. Where was he? There was no way to tell where under the ground he was, or where he was going to pop up!

"Darn it, where could he be?" Aqua panicked a little as looked left to right and even down to see if anything was happening to the ground.  the mouseboy went off hiding behind the bushes where he would be safe. Aqua felt the ground below him rise up a bit, giving him just enough warning to leap away before a drill rose up right where he had been.

"Did I get you?" the mole called, withdrawing the drill and disappearing again. Aqua then brought his sword out and prepared himself for another surprise pop out of the ground by the mole. And once more the ground bulged up and he moved, a drill popping out, spinning and throwing dirt everywhere.

"C'mon Aqua, you got to come up with a idea!" Aqua said to himself in frustration as it seemed the mole was just toying with him by burrowing underground. Unfortunately for him, his pondering distracted him long enough he was late noticing the next attack, leaping away a little too late, his foot getting cut by the rising drill.

"Argh!" Aqua screamed out as he felt the damage sustained by the drill, he clenched his ankle and roll over a little to try and hold the pain, and letting him feel the ground moving beneath him, he was about to get drilled straight through!

"Crap!" said Aqua's as his eyes widened and quickly rolled away as rapidly as he could to try and keep away from the drills. He looked at the ground cracking just a few yards away, but the drill didn't pierce the ground, another nearby location rose up, then dropped again. The mole had lost track of Aqua, as long as he didn't move the mole didn't know where he was!

This gave Aqua had an opportunity to come up with an attack and he had a very good idea, he struck the sword against the ground and used the water to start flooding the tunnels that the mole has created.

Soon the ground began growing soft, collapsing in a few places and forcing the mole to the surface so he didn't get trapped in the mire forming below them.

"How dare you do this to the Drillmole!" he calls out furiously, pointing a drill at Aqua. "I'll pierce your heart!" Though before he got to move a blue arc of lightning flew out from the bushes and struck him, Shockgoggle steppign out.

"Don't talk to a hero like that!" he growls, leaning against at tree. Aqua was amazed to see this attack sucessfully hitting the mole without hassle. Another lightning bolt knocked 'Drillmole' over, a few sparks coming from the system, shorting out the drills, leaving him vulnerable to Aqua.

"Who's side are you on Shockgoogle? You traitor!" Drillmole excalimed at Shockgoggle very unhappy with his machine shorting out "Now look at what you've done!"

"I never worked for Pogona!" Shockgoggle spat, limping his way towards Drillmole, "How dare you kidnap an innocent child!" His fur is starting to rise up, he's charging up a big attack!

"I wanted answers off the little brat, but since you've arrived you've decided to turn your back on your master! He will be displeased at this!" replied Drillhole unhappily as he hissed at Shockgoggle.

"I have no master," Shockgoggle growled, forming an arc of lightning between his hands, "Mind if I finish him?" the kangaroo-dog asked Aqua.

Aqua nodded as he brought back his sword on his scabbard as he allowed Shockgoggle to finish the job. Once more a bolt of lightning flew from the mutt's hands, striking Drillmole and causing his armour to spark and short out, The two approached, Drillmole was still breathing but it was quite certain he was down and out.

"I can take him and Ryons back to town," Shockgoggle offered, "If you'd rather go on alone now." Aqua had a think and decided not to go alone, he could do with a good helper. Shockgoggle proved to be a good helper indeed. "You are a kind hearted fellow Shockgoggle, I'm glad I've recovered your true self." Aqua then said. The electrician smiled, taking off his goggles.

"Nah, I'm just an ordinary guy," he said, there was a bit of blush visible beneath his fur. "Nothing special like you." And so the young Ryons was saved from the clutches of the villainous Drillmole and the innocent Shockgoggle freed from the control of a mysterious frog employed by Emperor Pogona, but Aqua's quest wasn't nearly over yet, it was just beginning.