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“Welp! This outcome wasn’t exactly surprising, right, big guy?” Bean asked, elbowing Bark.
He wasn’t wrong. The tournament ended with the hero as the victor. Sonic had won and taken the Chaos Emeralds with him, earning the right to defeat Dr. Eggman once again.
Sitting on a grassy hill, they watched the rocket until it was an orange twinkle in the sky. As soon as Bean could no longer see it, he yawned and stretched his sore limbs. He held his arm straight out and arched his fingers up, Bark tilting his head when Bean grimaced. He massaged it, grumbling about how Amy might have hammered it to the point where she had fractured the bone.
Bark doubted that was the case. If Amy had injured him, then Bean’s theatrics would have duped her into losing. He would have wailed and flailed on the concrete until Amy either forfeited or came close enough for him to detonate a bomb that would have blasted her out of the arena.
Waving his hand, Bean grinned. “On second thought, I don’t feel any pain! But this cracking noise it keeps making when I roll it sure is annoying,” he said, rotating his wrist. Each subsequent twist caused it to pop. “Maybe I’m throwing my bombs too much. You know how I kick them, too? I gotta start doing that more.”
Bark nodded. That seemed like a viable solution. As Bean ruminated on his tactics, Bark’s mind wandered to his lone fight in the tournament. He battled against an echidna named Knuckles. They were equals in strength, matching blows for blows and only striking each other with opportunistic flurries.
But as the final round continued, he grew tired. His limbs ached, and his movements grew cumbersome. Exhaustion had worn him down to the last second of their match when Knuckles uppercutted him into unconsciousness.
On the underside of his jaw lingered a deep blue bruise. It throbbed every so often, occasionally reaching the nerves in his teeth and making him wince. He loosened his scarf as if it would help. The thick, cotton material warmed his neck, discomforting his wound, and he snorted, lips pursed in frustration.
He was thankful Knuckles hadn’t harmed him too terribly, but although they shook hands when he blinked his eyes open, the loss still stung worse than his injury. He thought the odds were in his favor when he had towered over Knuckles, but he wondered if his arrogance had been his downfall. If he had conserved his strength like Knuckles had done so throughout their fight, then he might have stood a chance.
“Need an ice pack?” Bean offered, dragging Bark out of his thoughts. He hitched his thumb over to Tails’ workshop. Other combatants had gathered for refreshments and first aid around a long table. “Hey, looks like that fox kid is giving out lemonade, too! What a great host!” He clapped his hand on Bark’s shoulder and jumped up, a bright grin breaking out on his beak. “We should get some while the pitcher’s still cold! What do ya say?”
The corner of Bark’s lips raised. He nodded and rose to his feet, stumbling slightly. Bean caught his arm and steadied him, worry briefly crossing his eyes. He wrapped Bark’s arm around his shoulder and guided him down the hill, exclaiming to Tails that they wanted drinks.
A chuckle rumbled in Bark’s throat. Bean had always found a way to cheer him up. Although his boisterous nature was off-putting to several people they had met along the way, he could never bother Bark. He knew that beneath Bean’s brand of sly zaniness was a duck with a heart of slightly polished gold, someone who always strove to be by Bark’s side and accompany him through thick and thin.
Accepting the ice pack from Tails, he took a plastic cup of lemonade off the table and gently tapped it against Bean’s glass raised high above his head.