The water seemed to stretch endlessly in front of an isolated island. This island, we named the island South Island. On top of all this beach, palm trees, huge hills, huge hills.
A red blur raced past, fast with Mach speeds.
It was Nico, a young humanoid leopard. He looked like a human and walked like one too. His fur was red and dark spots all over his body. His chest all the way through to there around his crotch were white. His muzzle too white.
He wore no clothes, but did wear black gloves that didn't cover his fingers. He also had some black sneakers built for running.
His face looked friendly and suggested peace. For some strange reason he had black ears and had an athletic build.
His long and spotty tail fluttered in the wind as he ran past dozens of palm trees. His feet almost melted at how fast he was moving out there.
Nico saw a small monkey in the distance, no higher than 1 ft in height. It was engulfed in a weird black shadow which seemed to absorb light.
"Not another one..." Nico sighed, sprinting towards the pure black monkey.
As Nico punched the shadow monkey in the face, the darkness enveloping it seemed to splatter off its body, vanished when the sun grazed it, leaving the monkey unharmed.
"You stay safe out there!" Nico snorted, dashing past the monkey who was dancing with joy again.
"Damn that Dr. E and his shadow minions!"
Some minutes later, Nico arrived at a small workshop on a green cliff, overlooking South Island.
"Yo!" he said to the workshop as he entered the workshop, waving his hand at a young humanoid fox boy with dark red fur.
"Nico!" the fox said, jumping up from his seat and walking over towards the leopard.
"I haven't spoken to you in days!" the fox said.
The fox looked young then young and intriguing. He had dark red hair but had a white nose and torso as well. He wore brown boots and was wearing a utility belt with all manner of tools and gadgets and stuff like this thing.
"Long time, no see, Viper." Nico replied and grabbed something from behind his back.
Viper, as ever, could just watch as Nico pulled out a blue gem.
"Wait… is that what I think it is...?" Viper asked.
"Yup! It's a Phantom Ruby! It's the blue one!" Nico said to Viper.
"That's so cool... If you collect all 5 Phantom Rubies then you can access a new version of yourself with exponential strength and the ability to defy all odds..." Viper replied.
Viper leaned closer to the gem, the blue light reflected in his eyes.
"You're serious?" he said quietly. "You actually found one."
Nico tossed the Phantom Ruby gently in his hand before catching it again.
"Found it after smashing one of Dr. E's shadow beasts. The thing was guarding it like its life depended on it."
Viper crossed his arms, thinking.
"That means Dr. E has already been searching for them. If his shadows were protecting it, then he knows what the rubies can do."
"Yeah, I figured that much…" Nico said. "That's why I grabbed it first."
Viper turned back to his workbench. Tools, wires and half-finished gadgets were scattered throughout the surface.
And then a sound pierced through the area.
"NICO, YOU BITCH! GET OUT HERE NOW!"
Nico's ears twitched slightly when the noise turned extremely loud.
"Ah, that sounds like Dr. E..." Nico said.
"This is the 4th time this week..." Viper said.
As Nico stepped outside, he saw Dr. E, in the flesh, standing on his electric scooter floating 30 meters in the air.
Dr. E had jet black and slick hair. He wore a black, fancy moustache and dark black coat and an array of dark pants. His black shoes glittered in sunlight, they seemed freshly polished.
"What the hell do ya want, Dr. E?" Nico protested, resting his face in his palm.
"Dr. E, huh? It's Dr. EvilMcEvilton to you, ya little rat!" Dr. E declared with a disrespectful finger extended at Nico.
"What a stupid ass name..." Nico looked dumbfounded.
"And I'm not a rat, you bastard! I'm a leopard! You can never catch up to me! Also, did your mother not teach you pointing fingers at people is considered rude?" he continued.
"Enough talk! Let's duke it out right here and now! You'll pay for destroying one of my shadow minions..." Dr. E exclaimed.
By inspecting him more holistically, Nico realized that Dr. E had bought a wide variety of high-tech machines and robots to back him up to fight.
"You know it always ends the same, right? I always destroy your robots, hit you a couple times and send you packing!" Nico reminded the Doctor.
From out of the scooter emerged what seemed to be dozens of bazookas, and all of them pointing at Nico.
Nico was shocked for a few seconds before regaining composure.
"Seriously, how the hell did he fit those bazookas into that scooter?" Nico pondered.
"Whatever, just attack me with your so-called army, Dr. E."
"Gladly." Dr. E answered.
Nico lowered his stance as soon as the first missile hit.
And with a shriek, the rocket tore through the air. But Nico disappeared before it could reach him, and there was nothing except a long red streak spreading across the grass.
The missile slammed into the ground behind him and exploded.
More followed.
There were dozens of rockets shot out from the scooter like a storm. Nico was zigzagging across the field faster than the eye could follow, each explosion chasing the afterimage he left behind.
"Hold still!" Dr. EvilMcEvilton shouted.
"Not my style!" Nico called back.
Nico suddenly planted his foot on the ground and launched upward. His red blur shot straight toward the hovering scooter. One of the robots deployed and fired a laser directly at him.
Nico twisted in the air and drove his fist straight through the robot's metal face.
The machine broke into pieces scattered across the sky.
Three more robots rushed him.
Nico landed between them and spun at incredible speeds. The force produced a small shockwave that threw the machines into the air. Before they could stabilize, Nico leapt again and kicked through the first robot, punched straight through the second, and slammed the third into the ground with a downward strike. Metal crumpled.
Sparks sprayed everywhere.
Dr. E gritted his teeth.
"Fine! Send the heavy units!"
Larger robots dropped, weapons charging.
Nico sprinted ahead. He ran directly up the side of one robot and shoved both feet into its head right onto the shoulder. The machine collapsed instantly.
Another robot swung an arm the size of a tree trunk. Nico ducked, sprinted under it, and delivered a rapid sequence of punches that caved in its torso.
The final robot fired a barrage of bullets.
Nico disappeared again.
A couple moments later he reappeared behind it and slammed his heel into its back. The robot dropped face-first to the ground and exploded.
Silence fell across the cliff.
Dr. E looked down at the smoking pile of destroyed machines.
"You know," Nico said somberly, brushing the metal dust off his gloves, "this is getting expensive for you."
Dr. E pointed at him angrily.
"This isn't over, you oversized house cat!"
Nico sighed.
"Leopard."
Dr. E slammed a button on the scooter. The machine roared upward, its engines whining as it turned away from the cliff.
"You may have won today, Nico!" he shouted while retreating. "But next time I'll have an army you can't outrun!"
"Sure," Nico replied. "See you tomorrow."
The flying scooter shot into the distance until it vanished into the clouds.
Nico stretched his arms and walked back into the workshop.
Inside, Viper was already staring at the Phantom Ruby again.
"Did you beat him up?" the fox asked.
"Same as always," Nico replied.
"Hey uh, Nico..." the fox asked.
"Hm? Yeah, what is it?" Nico responded.
"Do you mind if you leave the Phantom Ruby with me for a week or so?"
"Uh, yeah sure? But why?" Nico asked.
"I might be able to make a Phantom Ruby tracker with the energy given off with this one," Viper replied.
"Oh- Well in that case, of course you can. There's no telling if Dr. E might hatch some crazy plan that we'll need all 5 Phantom Rubies for!" Nico says.
"Mhm... And not even just Dr. E. There could be a world ending threat coming soon. You remember the giant earth worm that nearly wiped out an entire city?" Viper asks.
"Yeah… I remember... That was last year, wasn't it? The same earth worm that took our whole group to defeat …" Nico says.
Viper pauses for a moment before pointing to the door.
"Alright, get out so I can do my work. It'll take a while before this tracker can be completed... Besides, you're dragging this conversation out." he laughs.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. See ya never!" Nico says, running out the door smiling.