Split Souls (an OK K.O. fanfiction)

Chapter 9

The week went by quickly. K.O. and his counterpart mostly played video games, and mostly POW Super Smashers. K.O. had more experience with the game, so he was actually better than T.K.O. However, this made T.K.O. very frustrated. He was angrily smashing buttons. K.O. could actually hear the controller bending.

"Whoa, T. Calm down," K.O. told him. "You're gonna break my controller."

"'T?' That is one of the stupidest nicknames I've ever heard," T.K.O. snickered.

"It's better than 'T.K.O.,'" K.O. flashed back, elbowing T.K.O. in the arm.

"Which is cooler than 'K.O.' Just, don't call me T," T.K.O. told him.

"Alright...T," K.O. added with a mischievous grin. T.K.O. shoved him lightheartedly.

A few days later, K.O. checked his counterpart's temperature as he had been doing for the past days and was relieved to find T.K.O.'s temperature was back to normal.

"Well, it's official. Your fever's gone," K.O. told T.K.O.

"Great! That means I can get out of here!" T.K.O. exclaimed happily, standing up.

"Oh, you're leaving now?" K.O. asked sadly. K.O. looked at the floor, tears in his eyes. T.K.O. looked at him, then looked away. He and K.O. had become close over the week he was sick.

"I mean...I could always come by and visit," he mumbled, sitting down next to K.O. K.O. looked up at T.K.O., his eyes glistening with tears. Then, he hugged T.K.O. T.K.O. glanced at K.O. He was crying now; he sniffled. "Take care of yourself, T.K.O. For real this time." T.K.O. blinked, struggling to keep his own tears in.

"I will," T.K.O. promised. Now tears were glistening in his eyes. K.O. broke the hug and wiped the tears from his face.

"Hey, before you leave, do you want to come to the Bodega with me?" K.O. asked.

"I don't know...what about Rad and Enid?" T.K.O. asked. "They hate me!"

"Well, you did knock Rad into orbit," K.O. pointed out. "And don't worry, you'll be fine as long as you're with me."

"Alright, fine," T.K.O. agreed. K.O. sat up and ran out the door. "Race you there!" he challenged as he ran. T.K.O. smiled. Didn't K.O. remember he could teleport? Although, before he could teleport, he heard a voice in his head: No powers! K.O. could send him messages telepathically now? Come on, I'm gonna win!

"Oh, no you're not!" T.K.O. said, seemingly to no one, although he knew K.O. could hear him in his head. T.K.O. ran out the door. K.O. was a couple yards ahead of him, looking back at T.K.O. He waited for him to catch up, then started running again. T.K.O. increased his speed until he finally caught up with K.O., then ran ahead. But T.K.O. was getting tired. His speed decreased and K.O. ran ahead. "Come on, slowpoke!" he called. But T.K.O. was already out of breath. He was bending over with his hands on his knees and panting. K.O. stopped and walked over to him. "Are you okay?"

"Just...out of breath," T.K.O. panted.

"You don't run much, do you?" K.O. asked.

"Well, usually I teleport," T.K.O. said pointedly.

"It's alright. We can walk for a bit," K.O. said, standing next to T.K.O. T.K.O. looked up at him and stood up. "Thank you for your permission to walk, O great one," he joked.

"So, where're you gonna go once you leave?" K.O. asked.

"I don't know." T.K.O. shrugged. "Maybe I'll hang out under that tree again."

"Yeah, because that worked out so well for you," K.O. pointed out sarcastically. T.K.O. punched him in the arm, careful not to hurt his counterpart.

K.O. looked to the side; T.K.O. could tell he wanted to say something. "Hey, what is it?" T.K.O. asked. K.O. rubbed the back of his head. "Well...nothing," K.O. finally said. "It was nothing." T.K.O. looked at his counterpart, confused. Curious, T.K.O. tried to read K.O.'s thoughts, but K.O. said, "Don't even think about it, T."

"Okay, jeez," T.K.O. said. "And I told you not to call me that."

"And I told you I was gonna call you that until I come up with a better nickname. Come on! I'll race you there!"

T.K.O. was shocked by K.O.'s sudden subject change, but he didn't ask any more and started following K.O. to the bodega. T.K.O. ran ahead of K.O. and into the bodega with K.O. quite a few yards behind. "Ha-ha, I win! You're gonna have to hurry up the next time you race me, or—" He broke off when he noticed Rad and Enid staring at him in shock; Rad was so shocked he dropped the soup cans he was supposed to be shelving. "Uh..." T.K.O. started awkwardly. Uh-oh.

(A/N) Yay, cliffhanger!  Yup, I'm a total troll :)