[heirtothemonado]

Krystal limped away from the stadium, her foot bound up with some gauze. It was quick fix, but she wasn't going to be walking very far for a couple days at least. Spotting a bench on the side of the path, Krystal slowly made her way over to it and sat down, letting out sigh of relief as she took her weight off the injured limb.

What had went wrong during that fight? She wasn't a star fighter by any stretch of the imagination, but she had expected to do better then that. Very few of her attacks even connected, and Shadow had literally run circles around her! She had basically made herself a laughingstock in front of the entire stadium. Krystal sighed. Well, once this foot healed up, she needed to dedicate some time to training with her staff. Because that performance was downright pitiful. Perhaps a few practice rounds and the a return to basics was in order. Also an equipment check. She might be able to return to the stadium in due time, but for now, she just had to work off this loss and get better. That's all she could do right now...

[cynda1]

The striped hedgehog stepped out of the stadium, slightly scathed but otherwise fine. It was clear that he was the victor of whatever fight had just broken loose. To whomever hadn’t witnessed the event, it could have been that he forfeited, although the moment they noticed the rather proud smirk on his face, they’d probably realized he won a fight. A fight that he was quite eager to win, no doubt. Perhaps they’d think a little less of him for being proud that he beat a woman in a fight, but he knew plenty of ladies who could hold their own.

Besides, if they knew the details, it wasn’t he who started the fight. Not in Shadow’s perspective anyway.

On the contrary, Krystal had decided it would be smart to bring up his title and question it. Certainly, she’d never make that mistake again. The fox seemed eager and ready to fight, and yet lost so pathetically easy it almost wasn’t even worth it in the first place. Whatever the case, Shadow put her in her place and that was all that mattered.

Or was it?

In the distance, Shadow could see the injured Krystal sitting on the bench. The hedgehog smirked as the fox looked much less confident than she had moments earlier. The stride the hedgehog took was direct and yet he appeared as though he was just taking a stroll. As the hedgehog passed by the fox, his expression didn’t give the slightest hint that he was surprise, but then again his intent wasn’t actually to fool anyone.

It was the beginning of his gloating.

“Oh, my, I didn’t see you there, um… Krystal, was it?” the hedgehog spoke in a mighty condescending tone, but Chaos, you could not wipe that smirk off his face even if you desperately wanted to. He looked down at her injured foot and shook his head making a ticking noise in feigned sympathy. “My, does that look like it hurts. Gee, I bet you made the guy you fought really mad, huh? Guess it’s better than him going easy on you, but then at least you’d have a chance to win.”

Shadow folded his arms over his chest, still rather smug overall. “I’m sorry, where’s your witty remarks? Perhaps you’d like to tell me what you’ve learned from this whole experience?” Oh yes… the poor fox got a taste of the Shadow the Hedgehog gloat. This means that she made him really mad, and didn’t even impress him one iota. Is Krystal going to take that lib from him? Let’s find out...

[heirtothemonado]

Krystal heard the condescending tone coming toward her and had to fight with herself to not roll her eyes. Why did she not see this coming? She had called his title into question and lost. Of course Shadow was going to come here and gloat to her face. Well, even if she did lose, it didn't convince her one bit. "Ultimate Lifeform" ha! His winning didn't convince her of anything!

"First of all, this wasn't from you. I tripped and landed wrong. And second, the only thing I learned from that was that I need to train more. That's it. You've still done nothing to convince me that your title means anything to anyone other then yourself." As much as Shadow didn't like Krystal, Krystal equally didn't like Shadow. It wasn't that he was strong. She'd admit that he was stronger then her. It was the way that he acted like he was completely untouchable. Which, actually she had hit him a couple times, so she already proved him wrong. Not enough to really count though.

"Don't you have anything better to do? Surely the 'Ultimate Lifeform' has better things to do then taunt those he's defeated already?" Krystal asked. She didn't really believe he had better things to do, if he was spending his time here. Then again, maybe he does and he just enjoys taunting people. Who knows....

[cynda1]

Shadow had to refrain from chuckling. Seems like the shoe was on the other foot now, huh? Boy was she mad. It was clear the vixen did not wish to admit that she had underestimated him badly, but she could tell in her eyes. Certainly she would not make the mistake of picking a fight with him again like this anytime soon. He had a hunch. Though she was stupid enough to pick this one, she certainly didn't seem like the stupid type.

Of course, it was possible he was wrong.

"First of all, I never said I caused your injured foot," Shadow retorted. "That was just a case of your lack of balance. Some would call that... hm... what's the word? Incapable? Incompetent? Ooo, how about pathetic? You know what? All of the above sounds about right." Clearly the fact that she had injured herself only seemed to cause the hedgehog to smile all the more. It was his goal to make her regret targeting his title, and regret he made her. "Also, if you haven't trained enough, what on Earth made you think you were going to win a fight against me? Seems pretty foolish to pick a fight you clearly weren't ready for." Shadow glances up and down Krystal's battered form, clearly unimpressed. "I mean... clearly." He made a point to emphasize that with a smirk.

"And you've done nothing to convince me why I should care about what you think." Shadow's smug smile was clear. "My goal was to merely make you regret pushing me too far. If that's not the state you're in right now, you're quite more of a fool than I thought. You're the type who learns their lessons, aren't you, Krystal? ...Yeah, I think you're right. Might not be a lot in there." Shadow placed his hands on his hips. He found it very likely Krystal would ever even say the title Ultimate Lifeform around her again after the complete fool he made of her.

"Oh, I was just making sure that my little demonstration stuck with you." Of course, he was mistaken. She did mention his title, but it seemed like her loss made him care less and less about what she was talking about. The black hedgehog only really paid attention to the vixen's annoyance. That wasn't good enough. He wanted to enrage her. Give her a taste of how he felt when she called his title into question. "Oh, but don't be too upset. You did manage to hit me a few times, so you're not a complete failure. You're just... almost a complete failure." The hedgehog smirked, hoping his words were getting under her skin the more he talked. He was relishing in his revenge, and she could probably tell by the sinister, arrogant smirk on his face. He bet she wanted to rip that smirk right off of him, but she couldn't.

She could only try in vain to watch as his arrogance grew.

"You know, I haven't had a warm up in a long while. I usually go straight to the main fight. But I guess I'll just have to be content with a warm up today. The main fight just didn't show up." Aaand the more he talked, the meaner he got.

[heirtothemonado]

Krystal listened to what Shadow had to say, and the more she listened, the angrier she got. She very, very much wanted to smack him upside his cocky little face with her staff as hard as she could. But that'd be stooping to his level. She had a distinct feeling that's exactly what he wanted her to do. Well she wasn't going to fall into his mind games. 

"....You know what? You're right" Krystal started "Picking a fight with you would be a dumb move, especially with my foot in the shape it's in. I concede that you're stronger then I am. Physically." The tone of her voice started changing, going from sheepish to sharp. "But that's only physically. You know what you're showing to me right now? That you're a bully and a coward."

"I get it, you beat me. Rather soundly, I might add. So why are you here? To rub your victory in my face? While I'm injured? That's something that someone with absolutely no spine would do." Krystal smirked right back at the black hedgehog. "You know that this isn't gonna make me respect that title of yours that seems to mean so much to you right? In fact it makes you look more pathetic then anything else. Cause that's what you are. A pathetic, cowardly, bully" 

[cynda1]

Now that response… caught him a bit off guard. Shadow stared at the fox in slight disgust and confusion, moreso the latter than the former. She had the audacity to call him of all people pathetic. Pathetic and cowardly were two words that have never been associated with Shadow the Hedgehog before now, and it was by someone he’d defeated outright. Shadow had rather… mixed feelings about this loud mouthed vixen. He didn’t know whether to be impressed that she could look him in the eye and continue to say all of these belittling things to him after losing quite pathetically, or to be angered by the fact that she dared to say said belittling things.

With all the people he’d ever called pathetic in his life, had anyone ever called him pathetic before? Honestly, he didn’t think so, so for her to do so even after losing… It was simply an impossibility for her to be so bold and so reckless.

Regardless, he refused to allow her to get the better of him. After all, this was his victory. Whatever annoyance she felt the need to try and take that away from him was her own doing. Shadow’s glare, which lasted several moments as his silence did, slowly formed into a smug smile. “And you lost to me.” Shadow said, placing his hands back on his hips. “So, would you say those things reflect well on you? How did you describe me again? Hm…”

Shadow feigned pondering as he rubbed his finger under his chin. He could’ve listed them all out then and there, but decided to prolong this as long as he could. “Pathetic… cowardly… a bully. I’m a pathetic coward, right? Well, since you lost to me, what does that make you? You didn’t just lose. You picked this fight and lost, so you’re simply getting what you asked for, aren’t you?” Shadow paused for a moment to let his words sink in. The hedgehog’s grin grew even wider. “Would you say your intentions for bringing that up were… just? Or were you doing that because you were trying to make me angry?”

Shadow’s grin was undeterred as he waited in silence again, allowing her a chance to respond before continuing. “I’m not even going to bother calling you a bully, because the fact that you’re doing that proves how childish you are.” he went on. “Are you still living with mommy little girl?” Shadow’s smirk became more devilish as he spoke in a condescending voice. “Did the mean wittle hedgehog give your wittle feetsy a boo boo?” Shadow was going all out now. He was using tactics that he’d only thought Sonic would use, but he thought calling someone out as a bully was child’s play. He wasn’t hurting her or nothing.

If anything… “Aren’t I doing exactly what you did before the start of the fight?” Shadow pointed out, folding his arms over his chest. “Really, the only difference was that I wasn’t injured, and I didn’t lose a fight to you. So the only thing that makes me pathetic is the fact that you injured yourself while fighting me? Then what were you before?” Shadow ended his point on that. On top of eager to see her fiery temper explode, Shadow was genuinely curious on how she would respond to his question. Would she be steady and fierce like before, or would she lose her temper like it seemed he was about to do several moments ago?

Shadow’s smirk widened even more as he waited for her response.