Day of the Supervillains

by Shax

Searching for the next Rune of Awakening, Sonic and co land in a desolate, depressing town, which just happens to harbour a few characters who would like to see Sonic dead. The very end is a present for long-time Shax readers!

DAY OF THE SUPERVILLAINS

Series 3 - The Runes of Awakening
Episode 9
Quest for the Rune of Nine

E-mail the author at shaxr@angelfire.com

---

"I wonder what it's like to be a superhero,
I wonder where I'd go if I could fly around downtown..."
--Matchbox Twenty

---

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

The character Kardot is created and copyrighted by NetRaptor, used with permission. Visit the
Domain of NetRaptor at www.netraptor.org.

***

To hold a grudge, dear listeners, is something which will come back to hurt you later on, without fail. For it is part of the great circle of life that whatever you give to the world is what you will take out, and if you mean harm to somebody, you will recieve nothing but hatred and your own eventual misfortune. Gather 'round the flames, my friends, because it's story time once again. This time our tale is of venegence and karma, of hatred and indifference and the consequences of such. The travels of our hero continue, and you should listen closely, because they're almost done. We're close now, so very......

........very CLOSE!" Rasputan snarled, before grinning and nibbling on his fingernail, the finger with the mood ring at the base of the second knuckle, which was yellow - mirth and excitement.
The nervous porcupine standing next to him, the light orange one, shivered with fear. "B--b-but, I c-can't go further! The... the Wood Devil..."
"The Wood Devil might claw you a little, but it can't put forty rounds of hot LEAD into you, can it!" Rasputan replied, and he raised a long-barrelled pistol, aiming it at the other porcupine. "Magic and druid curses have NOTHING on technology, my friend! So your tribal elders can split the world in two? Cinos and I can rip it to SHREDS! Now GET MOVING!"
"You're a f-fallen one, Rasputan Nethergate! It's going to come b-back on you, just see if it doesn't!"
"GET MOVING!" Rasp screamed, and he fired a warning shot into the air. The other porcupine quite nearly tripped over himself, and then bolted into the thick woods. Rasputan hopped on one leg, shooting three bullets into the air and filling it with his insane, hilarious laughter...

Thousands of miles due west...
He picked the razor blade up, and delicately moved it towards his face. Ever so softly, he scratched the sharp edge across his cheek. Utter silence filled the air, as in a vaccuum. Then the shout came from outside, ripping through the atmosphere like an explosion:
"TIME TO GET UP, EVERYBODY!!"
"YAAAA-HAAAARGH!!"

***

"Oh, for the last time, I'm sorry, okay? I've never met a fox who SHAVES, before."
Niles held a rag against his cheek, frowning. "One must keep oneself neat, dear hedgehog, and one would request that one not be distracted while doing so!"
"Oh, it was only a little nick."
"Little nick nothing! Since you've hoarded me away from Stratospherion, I've been cut, bruised, roughed up.. I'm not an outdoors person! And I'm not one to go hanging around in towns like this! It looks like I've been thrown into a spaghetti western!"
"Welcome to Desolation." Espio said, rounding the corner to meet them, "Biggest little town south of nowhere and east of nothing. For the first time since we left the Crux Desert, I feel at home."
"Peh! Desolation is right!" Niles said, "The only name more appropriate would be 'Cesspit'... or perhaps 'Trashcan'."
Espio whispered in Sonic's ear, "Whose idea was it to bring this guy?" Sonic just shrugged in response, then aloud said "Lets get going. See if they have a museum here, or ask if anybody knows where the rune with the squiggly lines is. The textbook in the cloud-city called it 'Adam'."
They began to walk, observing the scenery as they did.

CHAPTER ONE:

Desolation was a large town. One wouldn't have thought so, being the centre of nowhere, but it was, and Sonic noticed quite fast the lack of law enforcement within. This would perhaps not be such a sudden surprise, if they hadn't just travelled from the over-enforced and merciless stronghold that was the City of Clouds. After the city had docked at the town of Sun Port, Sonic, Espio and Niles were all but thrown off by the Grand Judge Snortzworth, so it was lucky they hadn't wanted to take the ride back north anyway. Niles was the only one frustrated with the affair, but he couldn't really go anywhere but in with the tide. So the three of them had gone over hill and vale together, passing more farms like the ones outside of Storm Port, which grew sparser and sparser until they reached another arid wasteland of dust and rock. Sonic thought at first that they had stumbled into the Crux Desert again by mistake, but Espio, being a desert dweller himself, knew otherwise. This was more of an outback than a desert, and if they looked closer, they could see just how much life was really around. Instead of sand and cacti, the landscape was dominated by red dirt and rock. No longer bound to follow close behind Cinos, who had gone his seperate ways, they were able to explore and camp wherever and whenever they wanted. Eventually, they found their way to Desolation. It was a huge complex of small-town buildings built into a ring of cliffs in the middle of nowhere, like a valley. It was nightfall when they arrived, so they quickly went in, found a place to stay and had a long, comfortable sleep.
Espio said he had the constant feeling of being watched.

"Okay, okay, so let's go over this one last time, shall we?" Niles asked, "Just to, you know, 'clear it up', if you will."
"Here we go." Sonic moaned.
"You have an evil twin," Niles said, "Instantly noticable by the fact that his name is the exact reverse of your name. How convenient, that sure is enough evidence for me. Not only that, but your evil twin has stumbled onto a worldwide conspiracy involving a bunch of porcupines and some rocks, and he's discovered a way to become a god?"
"Higher than a god, apparently, if you can believe him." Sonic corrected.
"OH! Oh, my apologies, HIGHER than a god. Well, I don't know about you folks, but the next town we come to, I'm kicking my feet up and staying put, wot."
"Nobody's stopping you from staying here." Espio pointed out.
"Well, I could do that if I wanted to spend the rest of my life in as much comfort and prospirity as a sewer rat with a contageous disease." Niles mumbled.
As they walked down the street, which was sparsely populated, Sonic kept glancing behind him. Though the town was desolate, the people were not unnerved and Cinos was a thousand kilometers away, Sonic couldn't help but feel an overpowering sense of dread.
Espio noticed his nervous back-glances. "Sonic, you okay?"
"Yeah..." Sonic replied, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. Come on, you reckon we can find an information booth or something around this place?"
"You want information?" A voice asked.
Sonic stopped dead and looked behind himself. Nobody was around. "Did anybody hear that?" he asked.
"Hear WHAT?" Niles demanded, turning around, "What is there to hear?"
"Somebody just asked if we want information."
"Oh good!" Niles replied, "Now we're getting somewhere, then."
"I didn't hear anything, Sonic." Espio said.
Sonic shrugged and walked on.
"I SAID... do you want information?"
"Whoa.." Espio said, spinning around again, "I heard THAT one."
"Something's wrong, I know that voice." Sonic said.
There was no movement around them, though. On both sides of the street, people went about their daily business, entering shops, talking amongst themselves... the mysterious voice was nowhere to be seen.
"Who are you, the Invisible Man?" Espio asked.
There was laughter in response. And then, in a singsong voice, "I know something you don't know... do-dah, do-dah..."
"Who are you?" Sonic asked, "What's your so-called information?"
There was a pause, and then, "Information is, Sonic, that this is your last day on Mobius. Hope it's been swell. Nah, actually, hope it's been crap, but how often do wishes come true?" Sonic gulped. The voice continued.
"I don't know where you're heading. I hope you've been trying to run away from me, that would make my job SO worthwhile. Nice effort, too, I gotta say, but futile, big pity for you."
"Enough of this fishwollop." Niles announced, and marched into the shadows. "Show yourself and stop mucking around."
Suddenly, there was an explosion, and something burst out of the shadows around the sides of one of the buildings. It slammed right into Niles and continued hauling, taking the shocked fox with it. Whatever it was was equipped with some kind of rocket booster.
"Mecha Sonic?" Sonic asked.
The figure landed, chuckling like a maniac, and turned to face Sonic and Espio, Niles caught in a choke-hold around the neck.
"WRONG, Sonic!"
What was standing before him now was something that Sonic barely recognised, but, then again, recognised all too well. It was armoured like a tank and armed like a military strike force. Though it was equipped five times more heavily than Sonic remembered, he knew that the twisted thing inside that monstrosity was none other than never-say-die Zero Tolerance.
"You didn't send me a postcard, Sonic. I'm offended!"

"Put him down, Zero." Sonic demanded.
"No... no, I think not." the black hedgehog replied, and tightened his grip instead. He raised his other arm, which had a gun attached to it, and pointed the weapon at Niles' head.
The fox was waving his limbs frantically.
"Now, Sonic." Zero said in a manner similar to that of a friend striking up conversation, "I'd like to be the first to ask you, exactly what are you doing? Do you even REALISE how far you are from home? Did the Freedom Fighters finally get sick of your ugly mug hanging around, screwing everything up?"
"What I'm doing here is nobody's business but my own." Sonic replied, "And ESPECIALLY not yours. Now, let me ask YOU something. Why are you following me? Why are you even alive? Amy told me that she squashed your head like a grape last December."
Zero just laughed, and wrenched Niles' head a little. "Interesting.. was that her analogy? I'd be more inclined to liken it to the cracking of a ripe walnut."
"Isn't anyone... going to help me?" Niles choked out.
"As for what I'm doing here," Zero continued, "That just falls to one of the greatest coincidences, would you like me to tell you the story? Yeah, of course you would. See, after my unfortunate chance meeting with your little girlfriend's size ten MALLET, I managed to crawl my way to the nearest surgeon. Pretty good for a guy who has a cracked skull and is bleeding from the face, I must say. Due to my poor success in destroying you, I decided it was time to go after the next target on my list... a shiny blue bucket of bolts named Mecha Sonic. Now, I don't know how you did it, but in the time I was unconscious you managed to level Robotropolis. Fair enough, I says, so I go after his scent and find him, of all places, settled in a one-horse desert town somewhere on the other side of the Crux wasteland. If you're wondering, Sonic, why I came after you, the fact is that YOU came to ME! Was I supposed to ignore such an offering? Especially since you were so kind to free up my schedule by eliminating my original target for me."
"Zero, let him go. Your beef is with me, although I have no idea why."
"No idea why? NO IDEA WHY? Oh, Sonic, you disappoint me. Revenge is only proper when the punished knows what his crime is, am I right? Have you forgotten the time you let me fall from that cliff?"
"I knocked you off the cliff because you were already after me." Sonic protested.
"Oh, sure. The SECOND time. You fall off too many cliffs and you start to get a little more than peeved, believe me."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"STOP SAYING THAT, Sonic, I'm not in the mood for mind games!"
"And you think I AM? Just put the guy DOWN, Zero."
"No... no, I think not."
"I think SO, Villain."
That last exclamation did not come from Sonic's mouth. Oddly enough, everyone involved in the standoff turned around in time to see a masked stranger, not dissimilar to Superman in appearance, stand behind them with his hands on his hips.
Zero, still holding the gun at point blank range of Niles' skull, cocked his head and hoisted an eyebrow. "And who might you be? Or don't I want to know the answer to that?"
"I am," the stranger announced, pausing there for dramatic effect, "The ETERNAL AVENGER! And your days of terrorising this city are OVER!"
Zero seemed to take this seriously for a matter of seconds, and then burst out into fits of laughter. The Eternal Avenger, who was actually a weasil in green tights and a purple mask, did not find it amusing.
"What a pity!" Zero said, once composing himself, "My days of terrorising this city... well, township... no, make that VILLAGE... have just begun! And you want to end it already? You make me sad. Tell me, what's preventing me from just shooting this guy in the head and flying away?"
Niles whimpered and struggled some more.
"....who's going to stop me?" Zero continued, "Batman?"
By now, a crowd of people had surrounded the proceedings. Sonic watched in awe, no longer feeling like he was playing any part in the situation whatsoever.
"Those who cross the Eternal Avenger will NEVER prevail!" The Avenger announced, and he pulled something out of his bulky utility belt. It looked like a boomarang.
Zero saw it as well, and it only made him laugh louder. While he chuckled, however, the boomarang struck his arm with surprising force, knocking his weapon away from his hostage. Zero wailed in surprise and looked up at the Avenger, who was now running towards him, purple cape fluttering in the wind. Zero yelled incoherent curses out of rage, dropped Niles and began letting off rounds of gunfire in the Avenger's direction.
But the Avenger was as quick as lightning, and he dodged every bullet. Zero went from amused to unbelievably enraged in record time, and started shooting off rockets as well. They exploded on contact with anything, and the Avenger was soon having a hard time getting past all the debris.
"HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES?" Zero screamed, but something grabbed him from behind. He turned to see two large humanoid robots groping at him.
"What the heck is THIS, then?" he demanded.
"We are the JUSTICE BRIGADE!" one of the robots declared, "And you are finished!" The other robot started wrapping him in some kind of rope.
The audience, which was pretty much the whole population of the town, began cheering and whooping, and Sonic and Espio joined them, grinning from ear to ear.
"Is it me, or did we just stumble into a comic book?" Espio asked.
Niles approached them, holding his neck tenderly in both hands. "I'm glad YOU had fun." he said, "Bloody heck!"

Zero Tolerance, after his short and utterly unsuccessful stunt, was taken away to a jailhouse by two large civilians, and the Eternal Avenger asked for everybody's attention.
"I have an announcement to make. This has been the five hundredth crime thwarted by the Justice Brigade!"
This incited a large fanfare from the audience. The Avenger held up his hands for silence so he could continue. "It is also the first crime that has been committed in just over three months. At last, villains are discovering that crime does not pay. I regretfully announce that we are retiring from crimefighting."
There was a long silence, and then the chattering picked up.
"I would like to thank my associates, Andy and Rustbucket." the Avenger announced, gesturing towards the two robots that had helped to fell Zero. They both waved to the audience. The one on the left, Andy, was painted blue, and looked like a beefed-up SWAT-bot. The one on the right, Rustbucket, was painted brown, and was considerably less complex. It looked like a walking rubbish bin, its head was nothing more than an upside-down tin bucket with a grinning face painted onto it.
"But what will we do next time?" a concerned citizen shouted out.
"I have arranged for a team of police officers to be trained." the Avenger replied, "They will be some of the best enforcers in the business, I will see to it personally. But I cannot fight forever. Soon I will be unable to serve you, regardless of my own wishes."
"Sounds like the last issue, to me." Sonic whispered to Espio, "What happened, did the artist go out of business?" Espio chuckled.
"Nevertheless, we ought to go thank the guy for what he did just then." Sonic said, "C'mon, let's go catch him before he disappears into the shadows. You too, Niles."
Niles groaned.

When they found him, the Eternal Avenger had removed his mask, and he was looking at it contemplatedly.
"Uh, excuse me?" Sonic said, "Eternal Avenger?"
The weasil looked up at him and smiled. "Not anymore. Call me Karl." he said, "How are you? That villain seemed very interested in you in particular. I haven't seen you around these parts."
Sonic took slight humour every time the word 'villain' was mentioned in regard to Zero Tolerance. He was more of a pest, really.
"We're fine." he replied, and motioned towards Niles, who was looking another direction with his arms crossed. "We'd like to thank you. In my business, you appreciate all the help you can get."
Karl, the retired caped crusader, smiled even wider. "That's very kind of you. It's not often I recieve personal thanks for what I do. Uh... did. What IS your business, if I might ask?"
"Kinda the same as yours, I guess." Sonic replied, "I'm a Freedom Fighter. I was a big factor in overthrowing Doctor Robotnik last year, have you heard of him?"
"Can't say I have," Karl said, "But not much news travels up here, to Desolation." Sonic nodded. "Ah well. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, and these are my friends Espio and Niles."
"Pleased to meet you all! Karl Winterburn." Karl shook Sonic's hand, and then Espio's. Niles just looked to the side briefly and muttered "Charmed."
"Sorry to hear that Zero was the last fight of your career. It didn't look like much of one." Sonic commented.
"Eh." Karl shrugged it off, "Zero, was that his name? It doesn't matter, I'm old. Back in my day, there were plenty of good fights... Toxic Sludge, The Marksman, Warhead, The Commando... If I had to fight any of them these days, I might very well lose. That's why I'm giving up while I'm ahead."
Sonic laughed, "They're all names of people who came here?"
"Oh, sure! See, Desolation is what people refer to as a Black Spot. It's practically a magnet for criminal activity. People who live here just seem to get these magnificent urges to suddenly start hurting people, and all the greatest criminal masterminds seem to wind up here eventually. It's only me and my robots that have kept them at bay all these years."
"Weird." Sonic replied, and cleared his throat. "Say... we've come here as.. well, kind of a quest, really. We're looking for an artifact. A rune, like, a symbol. On a rock. Have you got anything like that around here?"
"Huh?" Karl asked, "Uhh, not that I know of. But I'll keep my eyes open... anything to assist the Path of Right!"
"Yeah, right." Niles grumbled.

"I can't believe this always happens to me." Zero snarled, and his eyes shrank to slits in the dull light. "I'm getting tired of that stupid hog always slipping through my fingers."
He was in prison. It wasn't a large prison, but just a reinforced metal cell somewhere in some dilapidated office, like a watch-house. His fingers clenched, then loosened, then clenched again.
But he wasn't alone. Zero, stripped of his weapons and left with only the barest of bare armour, was quite aware of company behind bars. He took no notice of it, except for the occasional muttering.
Soon enough, he was approached, and by another armoured figure, no less. It was an opossum, dressed in some kind of dull purple medieval plate mail. He lifted his visor, looking over Zero's mechanical suit, and muttered "Pretty crappy armour, if you ask me."
"I didn't ask you." Zero grumbled.
"Hey!" the opossum stepped back and held up his hands in surrender, "Fair enough! Just speaking my mind, it's something I can't help. The name's Axel. Axel Gear, nee Ringtail, the Rocket Knight, one and only. How about you? Or should we just call you John Doe?"
Zero looked up at the suited opossum and scratched the back of his head. Eventually, he brought himself to say "Zero. Tolerance. Name to fit my nature."
"Whoa, attitude, groovalicious! Well, do you wanna meet the gang? We have one policy here in Desolation Prison, and that's to keep off each other's nerves."
"Sure, whatever." Zero said, and for the first time he turned to check out his cellmates. The first thing he noticed was that one of them was female and considerably attractive. Almost instantly he forgot his outrage and grinned a crooked grin.
"Okay, let's do this left-to-right." Axel said, "We haven't got many newcomers in here, so my associates should be at least half pleased to meet you. First off the bat, this is Shred the Raptor. Shred, Zero. Zero, Shred."
Shred was a velociraptor, curled up in the corner, who looked quite ferocious and very dangerous. When Axel spoke his name, he opened his eyes, and Zero saw that the eye on the right side of his head was fake, just a painted ball squeezed into the socket.
"Pleased to eat you." Shred hissed, and then started chuckling, "Heh...heheh....heheheheheh..."
Then Axel motioned to the next in line, who was the attractive girl. She was an anteater, and she wasn't looking at Axel or Zero, but out through the bars of the cell.
"This," Axel said, "Is Kardot. That's all we know, and we don't know no more. We don't know where she came from, how she got here... in fact, we're starting to believe she doesn't even know that stuff herself. Go figure."
Zero walked up to her. She was rather ragged, a bit tattered, and very distant. He put his hand up in front of her eyes and waved up and down. She didn't even flinch.
"What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" he whispered.
There was no reply.
"How's about we bust ourselves outta here sometime and run away somewhere?" Zero probed.
Slowly, there was movement. Kardot's eyes moved to fix on Zero's, and she raised her left hand to where he could see it. He was shocked to discover that the pointer finger on that hand was missing, and the stump was sparking. Kardot was some kind of android, and a very realistic one.
"I don't like your tone." She told him, "And if I were you, I'd move right along. I don't know what reality I'm in, but back in my world, anybody who spoke to me like that didn't live to see another day, do you understand?"
Zero snorted and backed off. Axel took him and whispered into his ear. "She's a little crazy." he confided, "Keeps rambling on about parallel realities... lizards with wings... robot echidnas, that kind of garbage. Talks to herself a lot. Probably a short circuit, we're guessing. We don't speak to her much... let's just move along, shall we?"
Zero nodded, (Don't think I like her anymore, anyway, he thought) and looked at the last jailbird in the line. He was a squirrel in a dusty army uniform, and he was sitting in a ditch, playing with his own beard, twisting it in his fingers.
"He's been here the longest out of all of us." Axel said, "He's called The Commando. For a long time, he was the Eternal Avenger's arch-nemesis, or so he says."
"Welcome, soldier." The Commando droned, and gave a small salute.
"We all have one thing in common, in here." Axel announced, "How we got here is always different, but we're the same in the way that we all fought with the Justice Geeks and lost."
"How poetically awful." Zero murmured, "Geriatric Jones and the Rust Brigade got the best of all of us. But I don't intend on sticking around in this cell for the rest of my life. Even to the end of the day, if I can help it."

CHAPTER TWO:

Evil things happened in Desolation.
There are places on Mobius, and indeed throughout the universe, that could be described as 'Black Spots'. Places where lightning really does strike twice, or three times, or four. Whether it was the luck of the draw, or whether there truly was something sinister about the nature of things in Desolation, evil things happened. They happened often. And they happened to good individuals.
One of these things, these evil things, was about to happen to one of the best.

Rustbucket didn't have eyes to open. His face was painted on. But if he did, then he would have. And those eyes would have frowned. But the mouth would have gone right on grinning.

---

"So, what do you reckon Cinos and his trusty companion are up to right now?" Espio asked, lying on Sonic's bed.
Sonic stood at the window, looking out at the quiet town. "I dunno." he replied, "Dunno where he went. He's somewhere over the ocean, looking for runes... with nobody there to stop him."
"Which brings me to a point that you to have yet not considered." Niles announced, and the other two looked at him in interest, for it wasn't often that Niles made a point.
"What's that?" Sonic asked.
"Dear hedgehog, if your mysterious rock really is in this town, and you find it, where exactly do we go next?"
Sonic looked at him for a moment, then shook his head. "Aaah, I dunno. I never think that far ahead."
"Exactly. So, while we're here, we also need to find..."
"Another library."
"Exactly."
Sonic scratched the back of his neck and groaned. "The City of Clouds had the biggest library on Mobius, so of course we found what we needed there. But this place?"
Niles sighed, "Fear not, dear hedgehog, and be glad you brought me along. for, if there is one person on this planet most suited to extracting information, it's Niles T. Fox."
"Oh! I think I saw an atlas in here somewhere, just before!" Espio announced, jumping off the bed, "That might be helpful!"
"Just what we need!" Sonic exclaimed, "Maybe we can work out where Cinos was headed!"
"Here it is." The chameleon said, and he pulled a large book out of a drawer. It was a little old and a little dusty, but should have been relatively up-to-date.
Niles took the book and put it on the floor, and the three of them sat in a circle around it. The fox opened it and flipped through the pages until they came to something familiar. It was a full-page representation of the southeastern part of the continent.
"There's where I come from." Sonic said, pointing just below a large star labelled 'Mobitropolis'.
"You're from M-tropolis? Cool!" Espio announced.
"Well, you certainly are a fair way from home, aren't you." Niles said, and he pointed to another dot more than halfway down the page, a tiny pinpoint labelled, in tiny letters, 'Desolation'.
"Whoa..." Sonic gaped, and compared the distances, "Well, I've been on the road for at least seven months now, I'd say. I guess it shows."
"Here's where I'm from!" Espio announced, and pointed to the vastness of the Crux Desert, "Uhh... somewhere."
"Here's Storm Port and Sun Port, where Stratospherion docks." Niles said, pointing to two more tiny stars, "Sonic, where is it you say you've found these... rocks... of yours?"
"Do either of you have a pen?" Sonic inquired. Niles handed him a pencil. Sonic studied the map and began making marks. "The first was here, somewhere... the second was on Stratospherion, but I'll mark Storm Port... the third is supposed to be here, somewhere, and Cinos went off in that direction."
He put three 'X' marks on the map, and an arrow to show where his evil twin was headed. Niles studied the map and looked at the arrow. "That doesn't make sense," he said at last, "There's no adjoining map in that direction. If he went that way, then there's nothing but open ocean for kilometers... MILES... probably the full way around the globe until you run into this continent again on the other side."
"Well, that's where he went. You saw it too, with your own eyes."
"No... no, he must have turned. Gone south. It would take a while, but he'd eventually come up to another continent, down Elhorn way."
"Wait, what's that?" Espio asked, and he pointed to an 'X' mark that was printed onto the map. It was in the middle of the ocean, right where Sonic's arrow was pointing, and it was marked 'Annual Isle Last Seen Here'.
Niles looked at it and chuckled. "I'm surprised they even printed that," he said, "It's a silly story. Years ago, some delirious explorer reported that he crash landed on some island, after he was trying to get home from a long uneventful journey and his ship, he said, was attacked by a sea monster. He said there were a bunch of natives there who nursed him back to health and sent him home. Since then, there have been a couple of people looking for fifteen minutes of fame who swear they, too, saw the island, and that it only 'appears' for a short time every year. It's rediculous, there isn't an island there and there never has been." Sonic scratched his head. "Odd. Well, do you think Cinos believes that story?"
"I wouldn't have a clue, dear hedgehog, but if he does... well, he's only going to be disappointed."
Sonic nodded and looked back at the map. "Well, say I do mark it, anyway... these four points are very orderly, aren't they. If there's a pattern here, we might be able to figure out where the last rune is."
"Well I can't see a pattern." Niles snorted.
They stared at the map for a while, and then Espio said "Four points make an arrow."
"Yeah," Sonic replied, "Yeah, you're right. But pointing in which direction?"
Espio put his finger on Annual Isle and dragged it up towards the desert. "If we have it going in this direction, it points right towards Mobitropolis."
"Hey, you're right!" Sonic exclaimed, "You reckon the last rune is back home in Mobitropolis?"
"I heard Mobitropolis was overthrown." Niles said.
"It was." Sonic confirmed, "Twice. It's an Arack Empire stronghold, now."
Niles gasped suddenly and jerked back, "NO." he exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" asked Sonic.
"There's no way this expedition is having ANYTHING to do with the Arack Empire." Niles replied, "At least not as long as I have anything to do with it. You go back there, and I'm calling it quits."
"Hey, get a hold of yourself!" Sonic said, "They might be big, black and furry, but they're nowhere near as bad as robots! At least you can negotiate with the spiders. Come to some agreement. They love to boss people around, that's all."
"Boss people AROUND?" Niles shrieked, "You don't know the HALF of it! If you live near a colony of spiders, you might FEEL safe, but you won't be around to feel much of ANYTHING for very long, believe you-me! You should just feel glad that you're down here in Desolation fighting black tin-cans and evil twins, instead of up there being wiped out like a disease!"
"You've had a bad experience with them, haven't you." Sonic said.
"I don't want to talk about it." Niles insisted, "Let's just get back on task. Although I still don't believe I'm doing this."

Night fell. There wasn't a sound anywhere throughout Desolation, save for the steady clanking of metal feet.
Clank...... clank.......
They woke Zero up from his restless sleep easily. The black hedgehog, heavy in what remained of his battle suit, sat up and listened. The footsteps were coming closer. Probably a guard, he assumed, but he was forever the suspicious one, and he squinted in the darkness to see who it was. The approaching figure was either a robot, or it was wearing heavy metal boots. Either would be considerably odd for a guard in a backwater town such as this.
All of a sudden, Axel was standing behind him. "Who's making all the racket?" he asked.
"Shh." Zero hushed him, and pointed out into the watch-house. "We've got company, and it ain't too discreet."
There was someone on the other side of the bars. The clanking came almost right up to them and then stopped. Zero tried to see who was standing before them, but couldn't make out any details. The figure was large, bulbous, almost spherical. It stood there for a long time, staring in at them, and then there was a whispered voice...
"Day of the supervillains..."
And the figure turned and clanked away again. The footsteps grew quieter, quieter, and faded away into the night.
"What was that all about?" Axel asked.
"Beats me." Zero replied, "But I don't think we've seen the end of it." There were about ten more minutes of dead silence, and then the fighting sounds began.

The sounds that echoed through the darkness of the town did not wake Sonic, but they woke Niles, and the ruckass that Niles made as a result did wake Sonic.
"WHAT IN BLUE BLAZERS IS GOING ON OUT THERE, I SAY?" Niles screamed out the window.
Sonic moaned and sat up in bed. "What's the problem, Jeeves?"
Niles pulled his head back inside for a moment, "Can't you hear that? Some group of inconsiderate sods is out there playing their infernal rock music, it sounds like!"
Sonic could hear the sounds as well, now. Not like music at all, of any kind, but like somebody was beating pans and buckets with metal poles. Sonic pulled himself out of bed to look, but by the time he got to the window, they had stopped.
"Weird." Sonic said, squinting in the darkness, "If that happens every night, we ought to make sure we find the rune tomor-"
There was an explosion like an atomic bomb going off.
Espio fell out of bed with a shout.
"HOLY SMOKES!" Niles yelled, shielding his eyes from the blast of light, which disappeared in moments. Then there was more silence, but this time it lasted.
"What was THAT?" Espio asked, from his sprawled-on-the-floor position.
"Beats the heck out of me!" Sonic exclaimed, "But it sounded like a jumbo jet just crashed into a bullet train!"
"Unlikely analogy." Niles commented, "But, knowing you, I can be rather sure you're going right down there to investigate, wot?"
"Egh. In the morning." Sonic replied, "I need my beauty sleep."
"Just as well, I'd say."

In the morning, everyone in Desolation was investigating, and Sonic was almost the last resident out of bed.
"What's the ruckass about?" Espio asked, trying to see over the tops of the heads in the crowd.
"Well, someone's found something." Sonic replied, "Niles, you're tallest. What do you see?" Niles was standing on the tips of his toes, peering into the gathering.
"A smouldering mess." He reported at last.
Eventually, a hole opened up, and Sonic managed to squeeze through and see for himself. Indeed, the ground was strewn with twisted, black bits of charred metal. He could still feel the heat of some of the larger chunks, still smouldering.
"What was it?" One of the citizens shouted out, "WE NEED THE JUSTICE BRIGADE!"
"Uhm..." Sonic murmered, and he picked up a barely recognisable arm-shaped chunk of debris, "I think this WAS the Justice Brigade."
"What?" someone asked, and Sonic held up the twisted object. "Wasn't this one of those robots that the Avenger used to clean up crime?"
"It's true!" someone else exclaimed, "That's Andy of the Justice Brigade! The unbeatable martial arts master! He kicked into submission such villains as The Entrapolator, and Communicatory Vax!"
"Well, the only thing he's kicked this time is The Bucket." Sonic replied, and threw the arm back onto the smoking pile.
Everybody in the town went into panic mode. There was screaming, shouting and chanting, everybody demanding the return of the Eternal Avenger to put them at ease.
"Reckon the Avenger is coming back?" Espio asked.
"Beats me." Sonic replied, "All I really know is that I want to move on from this place before we get fried, or something. You heard, back there... that robot had beaten such villains as the Entrapowhatsit and the Communist Hoobajoo, and someone just popped him like a cork. I don't wanna stick around and see what they'll do to US."
"Do we really need to find this silly rune of yours?" Niles asked.
"Absolutely." Sonic replied, "And so we need to split up, right now, and search every building in this darn place until we do."
Niles moaned, and Sonic began to map out a course of action for each of them.

Zero was softly banging his head against the bars of the prison. Though he was almost intolerably bored, his cellmates had all found something to amuse themselves with. Axel and Shred were sitting together, rolling Shred's glass eye back and forth to each other. The Commando had a scrap of metal that he was slowly but surely carving into a knife. Kardot, as always, seemed completely content just standing and staring outside the prison.
"I have to get out of here." Zero grunted to himself, "And when I do, Sonic is mine. I don't know how much rage a flesh body can sustain, but I think I'm at the threshold." And then there was that clanking again. The footsteps, approaching slowly but surely. And, this time, the daylight would allow Zero to see the figure's face.
"Fellers, we have company." he announced. Axel and Shred looked up, and then down again. The Commando snorted. Kardot did nothing.
Zero looked back out the bars again. It was close now, rounding the bend...
"The suspense is KILLING me!" he exclaimed, "Show yourself!" The figure shambled into view.
Metal skin.
Round, bulbous body.
Painted, grinning face...
"ARGH! It's just you." Zero said, and kicked the bars. "Anticlimax extroadinaire. Well, what do you want?"
Rustbucket stood before them, the largest and strangest-looking member of the Justice Brigade. The robot with the upside-down bucket for a head and the emoticon-face said nothing.
"Don't talk to that bulbous, bulging, brainless bucket of bolts." Shred told Zero from the corner.
"The Eternal Avenger has retired." Rustbucket suddenly stated, in a hollow, oily voice.
"What did you say?" Zero asked.
"Andy is deleted." Rustbucket continued, "They say there is no more crime."
"Well, that's just fine and dandy." Zero said, "Why do you expect us to care abou-"
"NO! IT! ISN'T!" Rustbucket screeched, and now his voice sounded like rusty gears that badly needed to be greased, "FOR ALL MY EXISTENCE CRIME HAS BEEN MY LIFE DO YOU SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING ALL OF A SUDDEN THE WORLD IS TURNING INTO A HAPPY-HAPPY LAND! CRIME NEEDS GOOD AND GOOD NEEDS CRIME AND NO CRIME EQUALS NOTHING! But that's about to change oh yes it will change they will SEE that there is STILL CRIME and STILL BAD and NOTHING will change because the world has BUILT UP to this moment it HAS!"
Now, all five of the criminals behind bars were staring at the crazy robot.
"The Eternal Avenger has retired," Rustbucket continued, calming down, "And Andy has been taken care of. Now nobody can stop us. It is time to make our move on this town. THE DAY OF THE SUPERVILLAINS IS AT HAND!"
Zero was slightly dumbfounded at being referred to as a 'supervillain'. In truth, he had never considered himself even a regular villain. He was simply a hedgehog on a mission. But, now that the motion was put forward, he kind of liked it.
"Aah, pipe down, ya lunatic." Axel called.
Rustbucket raised his arm, from his hand was dangling a set of keys.
"Hey... Hey NOW you're talking!" Axel exclaimed, "The loony is gonna let us out!"
Shred jumped up and landed softly beside the bars, returning his glass eye to its socket. "Heh...heheheh...heheh...niiiice robot! Hand Uncle Shred the keys!"
Even Kardot looked interested, now.
Rustbucket did not give Shred the keys, but nevertheless he used them to unlock the cell. The moment the door swung open, the raptor bolted through the opening like a stroke of lightning. Soon to follow were Axel, The Commando, Kardot, and, finally, Zero.
"AAAH!" Axel gasped, "YES! Say, Zero my good buddy, what's it feel like to be a FREE MAN?"
Zero didn't reply.
He was laughing too hard.

CHAPTER THREE:

Weapons and belongings were stored in a chest just outside the barred cage which had formerly contained the prisoners of Desolation. The flimsy lock was immediately remedied by a swift, mighty kick from Shred. Axel reached in and recovered a sword and a compact jet-pack, of all things. The Commando pulled out an enormous rapid-fire laser weapon as long as his arm, and Kardot delicately picked out a hand pistol and loaded it. Zero recovered his helmet, some additional armour accessories, and about two dozen guns and blades of different sizes, all of which had a place to clip onto his body somewhere.
The villains, whooping and celebrating (except for Kardot, always quiet as a mouse) then immediately proceeded to exit the building.
"What do ya wanna do?" Axel asked the others, "Bust this joint?"
"You bet your hands, you fast-talking frenzied.. freakin... field mouse!" Shred replied, "But first... REVENGE! Heh..heheh..."

---

"Okay then, the first matter we need to attend to, obviously, is that of the Eternal Avenger's retirement." the mayor of Desolation announced. He stood before four policemen and a sheriff in the town board room, and they comprised Desolation's entire political structure. "Does anybody have any ideas about how we might restructure our town for the continued safety of every resident? I'm going to completely open the floor, on this one." The mayor was a cat, and his tail flicked back and forth in frustration.
"The Avenger has sent for a posse of highly trained enforcers to be commissioned to me." the sheriff, a fox, replied, "In addition to the four men present, who are all highly qualified and skilled."
"Yes, but is it truly enough?" the mayor asked, "Never before have we had to worry about law enforcement in this town, it's always been taken care of. But now the Avenger has retired, and one of his warrior droids has been completely obliterated by an unknown force. We need to curb criminal activity, and we need to do it now."
"Sir, if I may, we haven't had any active supervillains here for a record amount of time... unless you count yesterday's uneventful farce."
"Criminals, please, sheriff." the mayor corrected, "This is no longer a pulp comic book. Even if they have fancy powers and shiny weapons, they're still criminals, just like any other. There's nothing 'super' about living in the centre of a crime hotspot. Don't give them that credit."
At this point, as on-cue as any well-rehearsed play, the door swung open on its hinges and someone stepped in from outside, the breeze whistling in the background.
"Oh, I think you'll find that the SUPER-villains are going to have their day, Mister Mayor." the newcomer announced.
Everyone in the room fell silent and looked towards the open door... where SHE now stood.
"Who are you?" the mayor asked her as she stepped into the room, moving sleekly like a trained model down the catwalk, swinging her hips and baring her long, sharp claws... The sheriff began to unholster his gun, never taking his eyes off the mysterious girl. She was an anteater, dressed to kill, with a strange glint in her eyes.
"Oh, no need for that, Sheriff. I'm unarmed. You wouldn't shoot at a gal like me, would you sweetie?"
"Who are you?" the mayor repeated, "How did you get here?"
The anteater didn't reply. She put both hands on the sheriff's shoulders and rested her chin on top of his head. The fox's hand remained on the butt of his gun, dazzled and confused. "Name's Kardot." she said, "That's all I can tell you, honey. That, and that you big macho men aren't in charge anymore. New world order, you know. Starting here." "What are you talking ab-" the sheriff began to ask, but he cut himself off when he saw the hand that was softly caressing his left shoulder. Each finger had a claw that was at least an inch long. The pointer finger was missing, and what was inside the stump was not organic. It sparked loudly.
The sheriff leaped to his feet, pulling his gun, but Kardot grappled him with immense, impossible strength, snapped his gun violently from his own hand and threw him clear across the room. The other police jumped to their feet, but Kardot leaped over the table, as able as a cat and twice as sleek, and grabbed the mayor in a headlock, pressing the gun against his neck.
"DOWN, boys." she commanded.
The police, unsure of how to handle the delicate situation, aimed their guns and stood their ground.
"P-Put them down." the mayor said, "P-Please, do as she says."
"Empty the cartridges first." Kardot added.
The cops were trained to stay on top of hostage situations, but they did so under the able command of their sheriff, who was lying unconscious on the other side of the room. The next authority figure was the mayor, who was telling them very firmly to do what his attacker told them to do.
So, slowly and carefully, they emptied their bullets onto the ground and tossed the spent weapons on top of the pile.
"Good boys." Kardot said. She aimed her gun directly upwards, and fired three shots into the air. Then she shoved the mayor into the gathering of police, who all collided and stumbled. The doors burst open again, this time with an explosion that blew them off their hinges, and five more strangers entered, laughing and screeching like a pack of hyeenas.
"Wait.." the mayor whispered, "I know who they are... That was Kardot. She came out of nowhere a while back, and had an argument with the clerk at the Feed-store. Ended up shooting up the place, and the Avenger had to come in and sort her out. There's Axel Gear, the vill... the criminal who robbed the petrol station at sword-point, demanding cash and fuel. There's Shred, the creature who attacked people after sundown every night for a couple of weeks. Everyone thought he was some kind of unholy demon who had to be exorcised from the town. And then there's The Commando, one of the Eternal Avenger's greatest adversaries! And there's the armoured hedgehog that attacked only yesterday... and is that Rustbucket? The Avenger's own warrior droid? One of the Justice Brigade?"
"Enough talk!" Axel exclaimed, storming in and dragging his sword along the wall so that it cut through the plaster, "There's just gonna be a few changes 'round here, in case you don't mind, starting with who calls the shots and who mans the cages! Sheriff Shred, would you mind laying the law down on these offenders?"
"Abso-friggin-lutely, Officer Axel... heheheh..." Shred replied. He dragged the unconscious body of the real Sheriff out into the open, clasped his hat (which donned a very official looking badge) and put it on his own scaly head. "You are charged with being deviously delicious, moronic WOOS-bags, and I sentence you to prison and eventual devourment... heh... heheh..."
"Take them away, Officer Kardot!" Axel shouted, and laughed loudly, "Well then! Looks like this little meeting has some new paticipants! As we now comprise the only government this town has, what do you reckon we can do to change the tide on this humble little burg?"
"OH BOY, ROLE PLAY." Rustbucket suddenly shouted, and he stormed across the room, approaching the mayor.
"Why, Rustbucket?" the mayor asked, gazing into the painted-bucket eyes of the insane robot.
"Because EVIL and GOOD need each other." Rustbucket replied. With that, he tore the mayor's sash off his body and wrapped it around his own. Then he clambered to the official seat at the head of the table and sat at it.
"Now I rule this town!"

Elsewhere, at the town library...
Niles was ecstatic, beside himself with glee, even though there weren't many books. Three shelves stood over him, around a single small table with four chairs, and a desk with a librarian, an old brown hedgehog, who just glimpsed up at him and down again at her book. Sonic and Espio entered afterwards. "Hey Niles, how come you bolted like that?" Espio asked, panting.
Niles turned to them. "Books!" he announced, "Reading material! Oh, what joy, after all this time tramping through the desert, over the hill and vale, finally something to..."
"SHHH." the librarian hushed.
Niles glomped.
"Excuse me," Sonic asked, "But do you know where we might find some information on porcupines?"
"Sure." the librarian replied, and she pointed vaguely over towards the furthest shelf on the right of her, "There used to be a really big porcupine research setup here, but they lost interest after the artifact was stolen. They never did interpret that symbol, either. Rotten shame."
"Hey, what?" Sonic asked, his eyes widening, "What did you say? Stolen?"
"Yep."
"Oh NO! How long ago?"
"Uhh.. I dunno, a while."
Sonic slapped his forehead and groaned. "What a waste of time, we've lost another one!"
"Hang on Sonic, that's a good thing!" Espio replied, "If we can't find it, surely Cinos won't be able to either!"
"Yeah, unless it's him who stole it."
"That can't be true, you've been following him since he set off."
Sonic shook his head, "Only since he set off from the Great Forest. He's been planning this for a while, now, he could have taken it before I even knew he was up to something."
"But Sonic, he doesn't wear any CLOTHES, you'd see him carrying it!"
"Not if he left it in the Anti-verse."
"SHHH." the librarian hushed.
"Well, what now?" Niles asked, keeping his voice down.
"Good question," Sonic replied, "We don't know where the rune is, we don't know where Cinos is... Oh God, we don't know where CINOS is! I haven't let him outta my sight in the best part of a year, and now I don't have the vaguest idea about where he is!"
"Oh, calm down, will you." Niles said, "It'll be alright, we'll get back on top of this, right proper."
"Oh, maybe we can't." Sonic protested, and he turned and stomped out of the library. Niles and Espio looked at each other.
"Oh-kay, what was that all about?" the chameleon asked.

"What is THIS all about?" the Commando asked, cradling his huge laser weapon in both arms.
The Villains all stepped aside to let the veteren criminal have his say. He had shaven since he got out of prison, and now had a neat triangular beard, like the Devil stereotype. He loaded the laser, which made an electronic powering-up sound. For a few seconds, he stared across the hall, directly at Rustbucket, who sat in the throne like he truly owned the place.
Rustbucket cocked his inverted-pail head. "I DON'T KNOW what you ARE talking ABOUT!" he exclaimed.
"Sure you do." the Commando replied, and began to walk towards the robot, "The mayor? You think you're the mayor now? You think we're going to answer to you?"
"I AM the MAYOR now, and you WILL ANSWER to ME!" Rustbucket confirmed, "YOU ALL! YOU WILL KNEEL to me!"
"Oh, we will kneel to you? Oh yes. Lets get a few things straight. There are five individuals standing around you. Each one of them is armed to the teeth. Each one, you yourself are partially responsible for putting in prison. What are you? You have no powers. You have no weapons. You're just a rusted-out tin can with a three-second scribble for a face. Let me ask... what exactly are you going to do about it if we decide we're not going to TAKE orders from you?"
"I have powers!" Rustbucket debated. He sounded like a whining three-year-old. But, even so, his metal body began to grow abnormally warm.
"Oh, you do." the Commando replied, "What are these magical powers of yours? Powers of annoyance? I'll tell you one thing. You will NEVER be our superior officer. We will NEVER take orders from you. In fact, I have a mind just to open fire on your metal carcass right now, and blow you right outta my target zone. In fact I think I will."
"You WILL KNEEL TO me." Rustbucket warned, and those standing close to him could feel the heat emanating from him now. He was turning bright red in some places. The robot stood up and faced the Commando, his artificial face still grinning like a clown.
The Commando aimed his laser gun, a devilish grin on his already devilish face, poised to blow away the wretched droid. But, just as he did, Rustbucket's chest split open. The two sides of his body swung open like doors and squeaked on rusty hinges. There was something inside, glowing like the sun, but the Commando had no time to see what it was.
There was an explosion, and a beam of light. Everybody in the viscinity was blown backwards. The windows along the sides of the hall were blown out. The table was blown aside, and the chairs flew around like leaves in the breeze, one every so often striking something and shattering into splinters of wood.
Then it was over. Axel pulled himself to his feet with a heavy grunt.
On the floor in front of Rustbucket was a pile of black ash, and two newly-shined army boots.
The robot was back together again, staring into space with his sightless eyes.
"Uhh... what do we do about that?" Axel asked.
Zero was already up. He inspected the pile of ashes, and then dropped to one knee. "We kneel. To the glory of our master, now and forever. Rustbucket the Great."
"You have GOT to be kidding me." Shred grunted. But he kneeled as well as a raptor could kneel, and so did Axel and Kardot, none of them wearing a mirthful expression.

"Hey, did you hear another explosion?" Espio asked.
"No." Niles replied, "Look, there's the chap."
Sonic was sitting on a bench, looking into the town. People were shopping, dining, going about their daily business as usual. Sonic watched it without interest.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Espio asked.
Sonic sighed, and shook his head. "I just got to thinking... what do I think I am, a superhero or something?"
"Yes," Niles said, "It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Mood Swing Man." Espio jabbed him in the ribs.
"You look around and see these people," Sonic continued, "With their normal lives. Their normal, social, small-town lives. And what am I doing? I'm trying to save the world from a madman. It sounds like something out of a comic book, or some kind of adventure story. But look at me, now I'm lost. Disoriented... I'm not smart enough to be a hero. I can't even keep up with someone who thinks exactly like I do."
"Well, Sonic..." Espio replied, "You can't just lose faith in yourself now... you have to stop Cinos, or he's gonna win!"
"No, he won't. You can't just march up and steal the life from two worlds. I'm stupid to think I can do this alone. Someone else will stop him. And that's assuming that what he wants to do is even possible."
"ALONE?" Espio exclaimed, "What are WE? Chop liver?"
Sonic shook his head, "I'm sorry for dragging you guys away from your homes. Because of me, neither of you have anywhere to live. I have somewhere to live, though. A little village called Knothole. Well, New Knothole. And I'm going back to it. You guys can come, if you want, but I think I'll be running most of the way. You probably won't keep up for very long."
"I can't believe I'm hearing this! This isn't the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog!"
"No. It's the voice of reason."
Espio kicked the bench, and then turned to Niles. "Come on Niles. While he's sitting here moping, let's get back to the library and figure out how to stop his evil twin from destroying the Universe."
Niles looked at Sonic, then at Espio, then back to Sonic. "Actually, my dear boy, this is the first time I've heard our friend Hedgehog talk any sense. We aren't heroes, you know. We're a hedgehog, a librarian and an... iguana."
"CHAMELEON!" Espio shrieked, "There are several thousand of us!"
"Yes, whatever."
Espio growled and stormed off. Niles sat down next to Sonic. "So, chap, when is the hedgehog express departing?"
Sonic looked at him and sniffed, "What?"
"How long are you hanging AROUND?"
"Oh. I dunno. I guess I'll get some supplies and a map, first." He looked towards the horizon, and then he frowned, "You know, maybe I won't even go back to the Freedom Fighters. If I do that, I'll just wind up fighting against spiders. And robots. And shamans, and even Zero if he gets out of prison. I haven't sent a letter since Newton, and that was months ago. I don't even know if they got it. Maybe they think I'm dead. I could go to Catilina, that's a huge city, miles away from Robotrop... uhh, Terantulopolis. Get myself a normal life, like these people."
"Ah yes, the simple life is best!" Niles said.
"But I'd never see my friends again."
"Oh, there's always more friends, dear hedgehog."
"Friends who are as good?"
"Friends who are BETTER!"
Sonic thought about this, and then nodded silently.

"I'm getting out of here as soon as I can," Axel announced, "This is humiliating." Zero glared towards one of the shattered windows in the hall. Rustbucket was elsewhere, celebrating his victory.
"I know." the black hedgehog replied, "WORKING for somebody... it's embarassing."
"Oh, it's not that." Axel replied, "It's working for somebody who looks like something off the back of a cereal box. No, I've worked for the greatest powers you can imagine. I was the chief advisor for the Lizard King himself, Detrious Kimodo, as he overthrew whole kingdoms." Kardot began to chuckle softly. Axel looked at her, offended. "WHAT?"
"Sorry to burst your bubble, sweetie. Lizard King? Never heard of him. Where I come from, there was only one lizard king I ever followed an order from. Leviathan. A dictator who overthrew more land and robotized more people than Robotnik did in his entire lifetime."
"You're both talking nonsense, heheh..." Shred said, "Lizard kings? I AM the Lizard King! Guy I worked for never bothered with piddly cities. Dominatrek was out conquering GALAXIES! HEH! Heheh...heh..."
"Wait." Zero said, and held out his hand. The other three looked at him. "Wait, so you're telling me that the lot of you... are just a bunch of SIDEKICKS?"
"Hey!" Axel exclaimed.
"Watch it, honey." Kardot added. Shred just frowned.
"No, no, just wait a second." Zero continued, "Today... we're all supervillains, right? You get any given comic book, flip it open, and WE are the guys who make the action happen. It's not who you WORK for that makes the villain... write that any way you like, and it still spells 'sidekick'. Take a hint from me... when you guys get out of here, cause some of your OWN trouble. I'm completely self-employed! It's freedom encarnate! The only thing I have to do is eliminate all the people on my grudge-list, and then I'm free as a bird! One's already gone, and soon, too, will be that wretched Sonic Hedgehog."
With that, everybody groaned. For a while, they listened intently, but at the end they all pulled back and made frustrated noises. Axel was banging his head on the wall. Zero was confused. "What did I say?"
"The 'S' word." Axel replied, "I hate that little wretch. There's no beating him, I had a run-in with him back in '98."
"I came close to making a meal out of the... meat... of that moronic... moron." Shred added.
Zero was amazed that all three of them, though he'd never seen them before, himself, seemed to know Sonic very well. He looked at Kardot, "You too?"
"If we're talking about the same Sonic Hedgehog." She replied, "Of course I know him. I've run in with him a few times, annoying little twirp. Heck, I even pretended to BE him, once. Long story, you don't need to hear it."
"Oh..." Zero said, "So... all of you know... and HATE... Sonic the Hedgehog?"
"That's an accurate statement, I'd say, yeah." Axel replied.
Zero grinned. His revenge-driven mind was working overtime. "Well then. That's very interesting. Because, guess who's staying here, in this very town, as we speak. I'll give you a hint, it ain't Santa Claus."

Espio trotted through the town streets, frustrated. Just that morning, Sonic had been anxious to find the next rune and continue on their quest, but now they were at a standstill. Niles had gone back to their room, and Sonic was still sitting, feeling sorry for himself.
"Am I the only one around here with a sense of ADVENTURE?" Espio asked himself. He looked to the sky, but there was no answer there. So he looked down again... and his gaze fell upon the largest building in the town. The town hall. And something was going on.
The sun was going down, and all the lights in the hall were on. There was a great noise coming from inside, like small party was in full swing. It could be easily heard, because all the windows on the building appeared to be busted. The chameleon, curious, walked up and peered through one of the windows, standing on a box to gain some height.
Inside were three very drunk individuals - an opossum in a suit of armour, a velociraptor, and Zero Tolerance. They were swilling some kind of broth that may or may not have been beer. Off to the side, an anteater stood with her arms crossed, looking on in disgust.
"THIS IS FREAKING FANTASTABULOUS!" Zero yelled at the top of his lungs.
The opossum laughed, almost falling backwards, "What, you mean to mean to tell me that you mean... you've never EVER drunk before?"
"NOT ALCOHOL!" Zero screamed, "I'M NEW TO A LOT OF THINGS! HA! This flesssh body, I mean, I used to hate it but.... ya know THERE'S A LOT OF STUFF ABOUT IT THAT isn't that BAD! HEY KARDOT! BETCHA WISH YOU COULD HAVE SOME O' THIS GROG, EHH? Ya ROBOT!"
The anteater glared at him. "Not really. You have no idea what idiots you are making of yourselves."
"AAAAAAAH, she's JEALOUS!" Zero screamed, and almost toppled over.
"A TOAST!" the raptor suddenly announced, and held his glass high in the air, "To the IMMIMMINANT DESHTRUCTION of SHONIC the EDDOG!"
"No, no, no!" Zero corrected, "You mean SONIC! Sonic the... uhh, the Sonic Pain in the... in the Eddog."
"HEDGEHOG." the anteater said, loud and clear as if instructing a child, "The DESTRUCTION of SONIC the HEDGEHOG, sweetie. Wipe your chin."
Zero wiped some froth off his chin (after two attempts), and clanged his glass against the raptor's so hard that they almost cracked.
"To the Day of the SHUPERVILLAINS!" the opossom toasted, and then they all began to drink some more.
Espio, shocked beyond belief, traced his eyes to the other side of the hall, where the mayor of Desolation was tied up and gagged. He couldn't bear to watch, and jumped down from the box to think. The situation as it appeared, was that the town had been taken over by four drunken self-proclaimed supervillains. And they were making a toast to the destruction of Sonic the Hedgehog. The chameleon looked around and realised it was dark - nighttime. He turned and ran back to where Sonic was sitting. Obviously, they would have to get out of town straight away, lest Sonic would have more on his hands than just an evil twin and a half-baked porcupine.
Espio reached the bench where Sonic had been sitting. The hedgehog was gone. The seat stood empty underneath a burning oil lantern. Espio turned and looked at the sky.
"SONIC!"
His voice echoed back to him. And then silence.

CHAPTER FOUR:

Zero opened his eyes. They were red.
"Unnnnnnnnnnnghhhh..." he groaned. He began to get up, but his head screamed at him to stay put, so he did.
Axel appeared suddenly in his blurred view. "You okay?" he asked. Each word pounded into Zero's skull.
"What... is... WRONG... with... me?" the black hedgehog asked. "My head hasn't felt like this since it was cracked by a mallet."
"First hangover?" Axel asked in response, a question for a question.
"Yes, I suppose SO." Zero groaned, "You didn't warn me."
"You're not supposed to get a WARNING, it's just something you... DO. How come you're so naive?"
"I haven't been flesh for long."
Axel snickered and offered Zero a hand to get up off the cold floor. "You keep saying that. I dunno what the heck you're talking about. You're not insane, like HER, are you?" He pointed to Kardot.
"Who's insane?" Kardot asked, with a sarcastic smirk on her face, "Filling yourselves with alcohol until you're so blotto you can hardly stand, now THAT is insane, little man."
"Yeah, well it's a long story." Zero said, "And you don't need to hear it. I'm going to go get something for this THROBBING pain, as well as my war suit, and then we're going out to kick some blue hedgehog." He walked out, and kicked the mayor on his way.
"Sure." Axel replied, "Looking forward to it."

Espio opened his eyes at the same time. He was on the floor of their rented room. Niles was on a bed, nearby.
"Oh NO!" the chameleon grunted, and picked himself up.
Slowly, Niles' eyelids opened. "Oh, what is it?"
"I fell asleep. And Sonic never came in."
"He'll be out somewhere, don't worry about the chap. He can take care of himself, I'm sure."
"You don't understand. I saw something last night!"
"Oh. Well, that makes it PERFECTLY clear, then."
Espio ignored him and walked towards the door. "I'm gonna go look for him. If he comes, keep him here until I get back!"
But Niles was snoring. The chameleon sighed and left.

Sonic opened his eyes. For a moment he didn't know where he was. Then he looked down, and realised he'd fallen asleep on an open book.
He lifted his head, looked past the bookshelves and settled his eyes on the librarian, who was still reading at her desk.
"Don't you EVER leave?" he asked. She glanced up at him momentarily, and then back down at the book. Sonic sighed and rubbed his temples. He didn't know why he had come back to the library. The last thing he remembered was wanting to read one last page before heading back. Well, so much for that.
He closed the book and stared at the cover, deep in thought.
"Hey." someone said. A female voice, but not the librarian. Sonic looked up and saw an attractive, sleek anteater standing before him. Dark brown fur, almost black, with a lashing of blonde in her fringe. The rest of her hair was just below shoulder length. She smiled sweetly and cocked her head at him.
"Hey." he replied, clearing his throat and trying to look busy.
The anteater stared at him for a long time, as if sizing him up. Then, surprisingly, she pulled up a chair and sat next to him. "What'cha studying?"
Sonic looked back up at her. She had a smile that could melt ice, and she was staring at him in what looked like genuine interest. Sonic couldn't help but smile back at her. He stared into her unblinking eyes, which were a strange light olive green, almost cat-like. "Oh, uh... porcupines."
"Porcupines." The girl picked up one of Sonic's books and read the cover. "Now, what would a spikey-haired blue cutie like yourself be doing, reading up on porcupines?" She slipped in and out of a very cultured, high-class accent, although her appearance did not match her voice. Sonic snorted a little and looked down again, trying to hide the fact that he was blushing.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
The converation ended there, for a while. Sonic pretended to read, all the while aware that she was staring at him. It was kind of bizarre, but in a very egotistical, very male way, he didn't mind at all.
"Adventuring, are you?" she asked, suddenly, "Saving the world, are you, Sonic?"
"Well, I actually think... wait, how did you know my name?" He looked back up at her. She still stared.
"Oh... I just... know." she said. Then, after a pause, "I am Kardot."
"Kardot." Sonic repeated, "Pretty name."
There was that stare again. Sonic suddenly realised what she was doing. She was studying his behaviour - searching for something. Something in his face, his expression, or in the way he reacted. But somehow he didn't want to grill her about it.
It seemed an insult to her beauty.
"You really don't recognise anything, do you, Sonic." she said at last. She was smiling again, but it was a different kind of smile.
"Should I?" Sonic asked.
Kardot ignored the question. She stood up, not taking her eyes off him, took a step backward and raised a hand to her chin. "This is so bizarre. It is you, it really is... but here, it's like we never met. You don't recognise anything about me."
"Of course not, we just MET." Sonic said, flustered and a little annoyed.
"You recognise nothing! Kardot? What about Kit? Konya? Konya Talon Mori? Leviathan? Zephyer?"
Sonic was shaking his head. Now she was just speaking complete gibberish to him. It sounded like another language.
Suddenly, Kardot went back to her sweet smile, and strolled up to him again. Her hips swung from side to side as she walked with simple poise. "Oh, this is just perfect."
"I don't understand what you're talking about," Sonic admitted, defeated, "I think you've mistaken me for somebody else."
"Oh, quite on the contrary." Kardot replied, "I know a lot about you, Sonic Hedgehog. We've met before. In another world. You probably find that hard to believe."
Sonic's mind drifted to thoughts of the Anti-Verse. "Not as hard as you might think." he stammered.
Kardot was behind him, now, pressing up against him despite his spines. Her hands landed on his shoulders, and strangely, she began to give him a shoulder massage.
"There are other worlds than these, Sonic. I know that now. I don't know how I got here.. but it's oddly coincidental that we should meet up again."
"R-really?" Sonic asked. He was beginning to enjoy the massage - she was good at it. "We're friends in another world?"
Kardot smiled even wider. "Friends. Funny you should make that assumption. You know what the best thing about this is, Sonic?"
He shook his head.
"The BEST thing about this is that I can walk into your life now... I can tell you all about yourself. But you wouldn't know anything about me, would you. In another world, we could have been friends. We could have been married, even. Would you like that? We could work together. We could even be the bitterest of enemies, Sonic, and you wouldn't... even... know."
"Oh, I dunno how I could hate you in ANY reality." Sonic replied, "Not when you give a massage like... OUCH!"
He jerked forward a bit. It was then that he realised Kardot had very sharp fingernails. Claws, actually. "Watch it, will ya?"
Somebody walked into the library. He was dressed from head to toe in a medieval suit of armour. This time, there WAS recognition.
"Hey." Sonic said, and he didn't notice that Kardot had firmed her grasp on him. "Don't I know you?"
"Oh really, ya THINK?" the newcomer asked, putting his hands on his hips.
Sonic gasped, "Axel RINGTAIL?"
"Gear." Axel replied, "I no longer wish to be associated as a Ringtail, thanks very much bob. Now, are we gonna do this the hard way or the easy way?"
"Take him." Kardot said.
"WHAT?" Sonic tried to get up, but Kardot was monsterously strong. Stronger than any normal anteater of her stature should be. But he didn't have much time to ponder this, because he was soon knocked out cold with the handle of Axel's very large sword.

Espio's search for Sonic came up empty. He searched the library, about ten minutes after Sonic was dragged away from it, and found no trace that the hedgehog had ever been there.
He began to worry that Sonic actually had fled Desolation like he threatened to. Although this would assumedly make him safe from the drunken rioters, it also would leave himself and Niles without a home.
"Psst." Someone was trying to get his attention. He turned around and saw Karl standing there. The weasil wore an expression of sadness.
"Karl! I mean... uhh, Avenger!" Espio exclaimed.
"No..." Karl replied, "Just... just Karl. Listen, something isn't right. Have you noticed?"
"You're darn right I've noticed! The town hall has been taken over by four weirdos, and I don't think they're good news!"
"Can you describe them?" Karl asked.
Espio thought about it. "Uhh, there's a raptor, there's an opossum in a metal suit, there's an anteater - a girl - and that guy Zero who attacked the other day."
"Supervillains." Karl said with disgust, and clenched his fists. "It's what I've always feared. They have to be stopped, or else they'll take over everything!"
"What are you going to do?"
Karl looked surprised. "Nothing! I've retired!"
"WHAT?"
"I can't just leap back into crimefighting! Someone else is going to have to do it!" Espio couldn't believe his ears. "Like WHO? They said they were going to try and kill Sonic!"
"Well, he told me HE was a crimefighter. Maybe he could do it."
"Well, okay, have you SEEN him lately?"
"Can't say I have."
Espio slapped his forehead, "This is useless, you're not even going to do ANYTHING?"
"I'll help if I can. But just not as the Eternal Avenger."
"Just great. Well, what CAN you do?"
"First of all, I'm going to find out how those villains got out of prison. You can come with me, if you want."

When Sonic came-to, he was in prison. The same prison that villains were thrown into when the Justice Brigade was done with them. Now, the tables had turned in Desolation.
Around him, also imprisoned, were the sheriff and the town police. They moped around sadly, powerless.
"What the heck happened here?" Sonic asked.
The sheriff raised his head and looked at him. "They took over. The villains, I mean. Criminals.. whatever. They took the whole town."
"What, you mean Axel?" Sonic asked. He didn't get a reply, so he just stared out through the bars into the rest of the jailhouse. "I hate prison." he grumbled.
All of a sudden, the door squeaked open, and daylight flooded into the building. Sonic expected to see something sinister, but he was shocked to see Espio and Karl instead.
"Guys!" he exclaimed.
They seemed equally surprised to see him. Espio flew to the bars. "Sonic! What are you doing in THERE?"
"Beats the heck outta me. You got a key?"
"Uhhh..." he looked at Karl. The weasil shrugged.
"Drat." Sonic replied, and sat down.
"Well, heck," Espio said, "Maybe we can bust you out some other way."
He looked around the virtually empty room, until his eyes landed on a broken chest. Inspecting it, he found some interesting objects inside. Guns, tools and bizarre kinds of clothing. He removed some kind of rod with a handle and a button. Curious, he pressed the button. The length of the rod above the handle lit up like a lightsabre, and Espio almost dropped it. "What's THIS?"
Karl scratched his chin. "That belonged to a villain who called himself En Guarde. It was his laser sword. I dunno what it's doing here, still."
"Will it cut through metal?"
"Well, it sliced Andy's leg right off, once. Had to repair him."
"That's good enough for me." Espio replied, and turned to Sonic. "Stand back, Sonic." The light in the room suddenly dimmed, as a shadow fell over them. Someone else stood at the doorway, now. Espio turned and didn't recognise who it was, but everyone else in the room knew very well.
"The Night-stalker." Karl gasped.
"SHRED?" Sonic added.
"WELL well well." Shred the Raptor snarled, stepping into the jailhouse, "What have we here? Heheh... if it isn't the simple stupid snivelling sappy... stupid... SOMETHING superhero! And a purple alien from Star Wars, by the looks." Shred grinned evilly.
"Hey, stay back!" Espio warned. As he brandished the laser sword, it made a zapping sound, blinked once and then went out completely. "Ah crap."
"Heh...heheh...." Shred chuckled, and began walking back and forth in front of them. "I'm hungry. Reckon two tasty morsels such as yourselves can keep me going 'till dinnertime? Heh...heheheh...heh..."
With that, the raptor leaped towards them. They just barely managed to get out of the way, and Shred almost collided with the bars. He picked himself up and turned.
Espio yelled a war-cry and swung the rod like a baseball bat. It smacked Shred in the side of the head with an audible 'clang'. The raptor's head flicked to the side a little, and then went on staring. Espio pummeled him again. Shred hardly seemed to notice. He whacked him a third time. The contraption snapped in half, and now he was only holding the handle. "Ah crap." Shred grinned, showing what seemed like a hundred teeth. "The time has come to show you why they call me 'Shred'." he said.
Two blue arms suddenly reached through the bars, grabbed him by the sides of the head and jerked backward. Shred wailed in surprise as his head collided with a metal bar. His glass eye popped out and rolled somewhere, and the raptor himself dropped to the floor.
"Hey, good on 'ya Sonic!" Espio applauded.
"Yeah, and look what's around his neck." Sonic replied.
Shred was wearing a key on a string. "Three guesses what that's for."

CHAPTER FIVE:

"He ESCAPED?" Zero screeched, "He was only locked up for TEN MINUTES!"
Shred was holding an ice pack on the back of his head. "Can you can it, tin can?"
"Who's idea was it to throw him in JAIL, anyway?" Zero continued, "We're supposed to be exacting mortal revenge upon him, not arresting him. What was the charge? SPEEDING?"
"Relax," Axel insisted, "He's too dangerous to just drag in HERE with us! Had to lock him up, he isn't exactly known for STAYING PUT."
"So I see." Zero growled.
"Hey." came another voice. Kardot. "Zero.. is that your name? I think you should calm down. Don't start thinking you're the leader here, babe. Because you aren't. Got it?"
"I AM!"
They all turned to see Rustbucket grinning at them from the doorway, still wearing his mayoral sash.
"Morning, Rusty." Axel greeted, with a salute.
"Are YOU all BEING EVIL?" Rustbucket asked.
"Yes." the villains replied in unison.
"GOOD!" the robot turned and walked jerkily away.
"Excuse me while I go kill him." Axel said, unsheathing his sword and stepping towards the door. Zero grabbed him by the shoulder and held him back. "Wait... he might be useful."
The opossom raised his visor and gave the hedgehog a look that said 'are you mad?'
Zero didn't reply, instead he followed Rustbucket himself while the other three remained.

Rustbucket seated himself in the mayor's chair, and stopped moving completely. He apparently thought of himself as being deliciously evil. He still did not move when Zero came in.
"Rustbucket?" the hedgehog ventured.
"HAIL! And well met!" Rustbucket replied, without motion.
There was a long pause. Then Zero, walking around the room and inspecting it, said "Still being evil?"
"YEP!"
"Might I say you're doing an excellent job."
"YES YOU MIGHT say THAT!"
Zero walked around behind him, unable to stare into the robot's painted smiley face and take it seriously. "You've taken over the whole town. You know that."
"YES!" the robot replied, "Mission: COMPLETE."
"Sure, if you want it to be."
For the first time, Rustbucket moved. His head swivelled about ten degrees to the left. "WHAT do you mean I DO not understand."
"Oh, I'm saying you could do better, that's all. I mean, you have a town, sure. But why not have.. the WORLD?"
"HMM. Yes. Why not, indeed!"
"You would be the greatest supervillain of all time." Zero insisted, "You would bring about, not just the day of the supervillains, but the AGE of the supervillains!" Rustbucket suddenly stood up. "YES!"
"But there is a problem."
"Yes?"
"Yes."
The robot sat down again. "Then that IS a problem. WHAT is the PROBLEM?"
"The problem, Rustbucket, is... the superhero problem."
Rustbucket let out a digital squeal that almost forced Zero to block his ears. After it ended, he realised that it must have been some kind of laugh.
"The Eternal Avenger is no longer a problem!"
"Oh no, not HIM." Zero replied. He put a hand on Rustbucket's shoulder. "There is another one. He just arrived, as a matter of fact. His name is Sonic."
"SONIC? WHAT a STUPID name for a SUPERHERO!"
"Indeed. But he is a problem nevertheless."
"WHAT do we do about THIS PROBLEM?" the robot inquired.
"I'm glad you asked." Zero picked something up from the floor. It was a beer can, empty, its use expired since the previous night. Several were strewn across the floor. He placed it on the table in front of Rustbucket.
"This represents Sonic."
"INNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN-teresting." Rustbucket exclaimed, leaning right in, his attention fully focused.
"And THIS... is what we do." Zero continued. He stood back, put his arm out in front of him, and pressed a button on the side of it. Some kind of small gun popped out of a compartment. He fired at the gun, which was blown to small shreds of aluminium. There was a bullet-hole left in the table, and another in a direct line in the floor.
"I understand." Rustbucket assured him.
"Well then." Zero said, putting the gun away, "No time like the present!"

"So, that's what it all boils down to." Espio said, "Someone has to save the town from the supervillains!"
"...and it sure as heck won't be me." Sonic replied, "I've had it with this."
"Or me, I've retired." Karl added.
"Well, don't look at me, I don't even sodding well know what I'm doing here." Niles added.
"Well that's just great." Espio replied, "There's four of them, and I reckon the four of us can take them on. But none of you will get over yourselves enough to try."
"EXCUSE ME, I take great offense to that!" Niles exclaimed, "I've never fought anybody in my life! I'm a librarian!"
"If anybody should be doing this, it's KARL over here." Sonic insisted, "It's his JOB."
Karl sighed, "Does anybody even REMEMBER my retirement speech?"
"Oh poor baby, I shouldn't even BE here!" Sonic said, "I came looking for a RUNE printed on a ROCK, and it isn't even here! So I'm wasting my TIME, and I don't have the PATIENCE right now to go saving some HICK NOWHERE-TOWN!"
"HEY! SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!" Espio screamed, "THIS ISN'T MAKING THINGS BETTER! You shouldn't be so righteous, Sonic, after all, THAT WAS THE THIRD TIME I'VE RESCUED YOU FROM PRISON!"
Sonic kicked the dirt. His face was turning red. "Then YOU save the town, you little HIPPIE FREAK!"
"YOU'RE ALL GIVING ME A MIGRAINE HEADACHE!" Niles screamed.
"You're VOICE is giving me a ruddy migraine headache." Karl said under his breath.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Niles screeched.
"Oh, look out, Niles is getting cranky." Sonic said, brimming with sarcasm, "What are you gonna do, give him a paper cut? Hit him with your bookmark?"
"COME OVER HERE AND SAY THAT, HEDGEHOG!"
"WITH PLEASURE, FRUITCAKE!"
Sonic stomped over and shoved Niles hard. The fox regained his balance and shoved Sonic back. Sonic screamed and gave Niles a right hook to the jaw, sending him head over heels.
"WAIT!" Espio screamed, shaking his head madly.
The hedgehog and fox continued going rounds with each other. Espio had to try and hold Sonic back. Karl, who also seemed to come to his senses, pulled Niles away.
"Wait, calm down." Espio urged. Sonic was flustered and furious, panting and giving Niles dirty looks.
"This happens a lot." Karl admitted, "There are a lot of fist-fights here. On the street. Nobody seems to have a very long fuse, is all."
"No, this is too weird." Espio said, "That was the first time we've gone rounds with each other... where did that COME from?"
"It happens when I get ticked off." Sonic replied.
"No, no, I think there's more to it than that, I really do. Karl, you said that you get a lot of villains here, like it's a magnet for criminal activity. And I don't think I've seen one genuinely happy person here since we came. Heck, WE haven't been very happy. There's something about this town, I'm telling you."
"What are you suggesting?" Karl asked.
"No, I... I think he's right." Sonic replied, "I've been depressed since I got here. I think there's some kind of weird power over this whole place."
"Rubbish." Niles panted.
"No, I really think so. It makes sense, now. And I think... I mean, I could easily be mistaken, but I think it's because the rune is still here somewhere."
"Wait, are you talking about Adam?" Karl asked, "The porcupine artifact? That was stolen, a year ago!"
"I don't think so." Sonic replied, "I think whoever took it is still here... and it's a very powerful rock. Um... I'm sorry, Niles."
"Oh, think nothing of it." Niles replied, "If it's the rock that made you do it, then I suppose I'll have to forgive you."
"Well then, let's search!" Espio suggested, "From scratch! High and low! It can't be far, surely."
"I think you're forgetting something." said Karl, "Our little supervillain situation."
"Oh yeah. What do we do?"
"You STAND STILL and SHUT UP!"
Axel Gear suddenly flew out of the shadows, literally, his sword outstretched in front of him. Jets of smoke were pouring out of his rocket pack, and the group of four just barely managed to scatter in time, before somebody got sliced. Axel landed on a balcony, chuckling. Something else jumped out at them. It was Shred, grinning like a maniac, glaring like a demon.
"Round 'em up, pardners....heheh..." He ran around them in circles, rounding them up into a tight group. Wary, each of them stood with their back to one another, protection from all directions.
"Karl, don't you know some kind of jujitsu or something?" Sonic asked, "This would be a great time for some comic book superhero action."
"I'll level with you," Karl replied, "I don't do well without my robots. And now they're both gone, one dead and one missing."
"Wonderful."
Axel blasted to the ground, his sword aimed. Zero appeared before them all, suited up and armed to the teeth. He grinned. "Glad you could make it. We have come... for the blue hedgehog."
"Zero! Are you the ringleader of this three-ring circus?"
"He wishes, honey." came Kardot's voice from off to the side.
"No, I'm afraid not, Sonic." Zero said, "I have been taken under the wing of a very good new friend of mine. Say hello to Rustbucket, the most devious villain of them all."
"WHAT?" Karl shrieked.
Rustbucket stepped into view, grinning and bulbous. "PREPARE for DESTRUCTION, SONIC!"
"Rustbucket! Are you actually working WITH these clowns?" Karl asked, not believing his eyes.
v"AFFIRMATIVE. I was created IN A WORLD where EVIL was RAMPANT. You only had USE for me when EVIL WAS something that WAS happening in A world, of EVIL! Then you say, no more evil! THEREFORE, NO MORE USE! NOT WITHOUT EVIL! So I created MORE! So USE would EXIST!"
"Oh cripes, he's short circuited or something." the weasil lamented, "He'll be no use to us."
"No kidding." Sonic added.
"I come to ALLOW the AGE OF THE SUPERVILLAINS!" Rustbucket reported, "AND FOR THAT, Sonic THE Hedgehog MUST DIE!"
"See, that part I really have to object to."
Rustbucket's metal began to heat up. Zero felt it, and stepped back hurriedly. The robot's chest swung open like rusty doors. There was a bright light inside.
"SCATTER!" Sonic shouted, and everybody pushed off at once. There was an enormous explosion, and a beam of terrifically bright light sliced through where they once were. Shred and Axel just had time to duck out of the way. The opossum screamed out an expletive.
"Holy crap," Karl said, shocked, "He has a chest mounted laser that makes a little 'zap' noise and shoots a small stun beam!"
"My dear boy," Niles replied, "Were you PAYING ATTENTION?"
"I know! I know! But I really can't explain it! I didn't build ANYTHING like that into him!"
"This SUCKS, I'm running for cover!" Shred reported, and scurried away. Axel blasted into the air and over a building. Kardot was already nowhere to be seen.
"He's over there!" Zero yelled, pointing at Sonic, "Get him again!"
Rustbucket let out a digital screech and shot another beam. Sonic just managed to duck as it went over his head.
"You guys duck for cover! He's after me, I'll run the other way!" Sonic jumped to his feet and ran across the street. There was another explosion, another beam, and the sound of windows shattering around him. Glass showered down on him from above.
"Shoot again! Shoot again!" Zero demanded.
"HEAT LEVELS CRITICAL!" Rustbucket exclaimed, and he shot another beam anyway, the force nearly toppling Zero over. The black hedgehog looked down at Rustbucket's feet, and saw that the tar in the road was melting around them. "Uh-oh.." he stammered, and then turned and ran away.
"USE IS VALID!" Rustbucket screamed.
*BOOM*
"NOT NO EVIL!"
*BOOM*
"THE AGE OF THE SUPERVILLAINS, HURRAH!"
*BOOM*
"HEAT LEVELS UNSTABLE!"
*BOOM*
Sonic was dodging beam after beam. Not only did he have to avoid the beams, but everything they touched fell over, and he also had to avoid street lights and falling building materials. He heard Rustbucket's awful excuse for laughter, and as a final escape he leaped into an alleyway. Then, as he hid between two rubbish bins, he heard the biggest explosion yet. It echoed through the entire town, almost seeming to cause an earthquake.
There was no beam of light, though.
Sonic peeked out in time to see a shower of twisted debris rain over the street. He was confused at first, until one thing in particular landed in front of him. It was charred and bent in, but there was no mistaking a tin bucket with a smiley face painted on it. It bounced twice, rolled a little way and stopped.
"You can come out, guys." he announced, "The bucket's dead." He reached down to touch it, but jerked back - it was searing hot.
"Oh Rustbucket." Karl sighed, looking down at it.
People began to come out of their homes to see what was happening. Sonic turned to Karl. "I think the Eternal Avenger has one last duty. Explain to these people what happened, and keep them away from all this red-hot metal. You can help the sheriff and the cops find the mayor and hunt down those supposed supervillains." Karl nodded and smiled, and then turned around to make an announcement. Sonic motioned for Espio and Niles to come with him. "We have work to do, as well."

Zero stumbled out from behind a building. In front of him was a massive black crater full of molten material and fire, like a meteorite impact site.
"Wow." he said, "Big boom. Idiot."
But something in the middle of it caught his eye. He walked up to it to catch a better look... some assorted robot remains were lying around, but underneath one was something that didn't look like metal. He reached out and batted some debris out of the way.
Funnily enough, the mystery object was a rock. Jagged around the edges, but flat, like a tablet. And on it was a marking of some kind - just three horizontal lines, two straight and one curvy, arranged vertically. He pulled it out of the crater and held it in front of him. Near it, he felt bursts of energy through him. Emotions flooded through his mind, the need for venegence throbbed harder than ever before.
"Aah... so, Rustbucket, this is what gave you all your power..."

CHAPTER SIX:

Sonic, Espio and Niles were back in their room, settling down.
"I was studying up on some porcupine culture when they caught me." Sonic said, "They sent some girl. Pretended to flirt with me, you know, to butter me up a bit. Of course, I can see through stuff like that like a pane of glass... but, you know, underneath that supervillain exterior, I think she actually kinda liked me!"
Espio burst out laughing. "What?" Sonic asked, himself chuckling, "Hey, I can tell the difference, you know!"
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Sonic, but I think she was some kind of robot! Something Zero said when I was spying on them last night... he asked her if she wished she was real so she could drink alcohol."
"Cor, you'd have to be desperate, wouldn't you?" Niles asked, and all three of them burst into fits of laughter.
"Yeah, so anyway.." Sonic said at last, wiping a tear from his eye, "I think we probably should check out that Annual Isle thing we saw in the map. See, all the evidence they've found of porcupines - the purebreeds - is kinda concentrated along the south-east coast of the mainland, right near where this mysterious island is supposed to be. I really think there's something there, and Cinos knows it."
"Well, we could check it out." Espio replied, "No harm in it. We don't have a better idea."
"Yes, but first we must find the stone that's HERE." Niles reminded them, "Any ideas about where to start?"
"Well, let's see." Sonic said, "We know it was stolen by somebody... but it's still here. Who would want to steal a rock, though?"
"Someone who knows it's power." Espio replied, "They're keeping it, they haven't gone off and sold it, so they probably want to use it themselves."
"Okay, and from what we can gather, the rune has some kind of dark energy to it. It makes people angry, makes them want to do bad things."
"So we have someone who wants to use it to do bad things. Oh, and it was stolen a year ago, so they've been here that long."
Realisation flooded into Sonic's face. "Aw man, I've got it!"
"What?" Espio asked.
"Think about it. Been here a year, in cognito. Wanted to do bad things - like start a revolution of supervillains."
Niles sighed. "Rustbucket."

They stood at the crater where an insane robot once tried to kill them. It was cooling down, and most of the fires had been put out. Someone had placed protective barriers around, but Sonic got under them, and he was looking around for the rune.
"Any sign of it?" Espio asked.
Sonic shook his head disappointedly. "I guess it was kind of a leap in logic. We oughta go back to the drawing board and think of something else."
He began to crawl out of the crater, when he heard something from the shadows off to his right.
"Psst."
He jerked his head around. No movement, and he couldn't make out anything in the darkness. There were too many shadows in this town, he decided.
"You okay?" Espio asked.
"Yeah... yeah, just thought I heard something. I was..."
"You want information?"
Sonic's heart fell in his chest. Blunt recognition. He turned to the shadows again. "Zero. You don't quit, do you. Go away, let us do what we have to do."
"Well I have some more information for you." the voice of Zero continued, "About your new friend, Karl the Eternal Avenger. Really, what kind of name is 'Karl' for a superhero? No imagination... no imagination at all."
"What ABOUT him?" Sonic asked.
"I don't like this." Niles said, "Last time this happened, I seem to remember a choke-hold."
"You see, Sonic..." Zero continued, "It's been fun. But I've had it with supervillains and superheroes and robots and whatnot. It's time to do what I came here to do, and that's to face you. One on one. I have Karl, Sonic, and he's very safe... for now. But he's in some need of a little rescuing of his own. Funny how your friends seem to so often fall into my hands. I'll meet you at the town hall. Oh, and Sonic... alone."
"Are you telling the truth?" Sonic asked. He got no response, though, so it was impossible to tell if Zero was even still there.
"What does he WANT with you?" Espio asked.
Sonic sighed. "I've never known. But it's time to find out, once and for all. You guys stay here, I have issues to sort out with a lunatic."
With that, Sonic ran off.
"Think he needs help?" Espio asked.
"Dear boy, we might only make things worse." Niles replied.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Karl asked, walking up to them.
Espio and Niles gaped. "You're free?" the chameleon stammered.
"Uhh yeah, why?"
"Ah crap."

The town hall was empty and abandoned. The first thing Sonic noticed upon stepping inside was how much of an almighty mess it was. Chairs were on the floor, which was also strewn about with empty beer cans. All the windows were busted, and there was glass on the floor.
As Sonic walked about inside, he heard the door slam. He turned to see Zero, snapping the lock closed.
"Welcome to the funhouse, Sonic."
"Where's Karl?" Sonic asked.
"Karl? Who's Karl?"
"Don't play stupid. I'm here, just like you asked."
"Oh yes, Karl. Well Sonic, I'm afraid I told a bit of a porky-pie about that one. I really couldn't be bothered with an actual kidnapping this time, not when a blatant lie can bring about the same result. You. Here. Alone."
Sonic sighed, and narrowed his eyes. "So what's this about, then? This is the third time you've attacked me. It's by far the furthest anyone's ever travelled to try and kill me. Why? What have I done to you, Zero, that's so awful that you can't see past your own need for revenge?"
Zero snickered. "Well, actually Sonic, it's the fourth time I've attacked you. Our history dates back further than that, you probably just don't realise it. As for what you've done... well, I'm sure you can figure it out if you try hard enough."
"Help me." Sonic replied, coldly.
"Oh, Sonic. Always the dull bulb, aren't you? When I was working for Robotnik, he treated me well. Very well indeed. I was his favourite creation, possibly even to this date. But there were two people who wanted to take that all away from me. And they did. There was a hedgehog named Sonic, and there was a robot named Mecha. They teamed up together, and they threw me off a cliff. Don't tell me you don't remember, it's not like it was a CENTURY ago."
"I honestly don't!" Sonic insisted, "Unless... wait... no, that's impossible."
"Impossible?" Zero asked, "Impossible, Sonic? Anything's possible. I think we've learned that today, if anything. Oh, what a fun day it has been." Sonic stared into Zero's hate-filled eyes. Something that he'd never imagined possible was starting to make perfect logical sense, and it was almost too much for his mind. Metal made flesh.
"Cyber Sonic." he almost whispered.
Zero bowed deeply. "In the flesh. Oh, so to speak."
"But... but how?"
"Not even I know HOW, Sonic, I just know it's done. And let me tell you... it isn't a walk in the park. You see all those sappy stories about robots, toys and things that want so badly to be alive. Pinocchio, for instance - and once they ARE alive, it's happily ever after, rainbows on the horizon from then on. It's a crock of BULL, hedgehog. Being... being MADE INTO a living creature... it's a living nightmare. The robot soul has no room for emotion, and suddenly it's ripped away and thrown into a completely different processing system... a computer of unbelievable storage capacity, but of a COMPLETELY ALIEN FORMAT! I was flooded, Sonic. Flooded with emotion so fast that I have no idea how to control it. I developed a personality so quickly that it's gone completely OFF THE RAILS. I'm such a sarcastic intolerable creature, and I can see it, but I cannot control it."
"Well, you seem pretty articulate now!" Sonic replied, "I think you might just learn to..."
"SHUT UP!" Zero screamed suddenly, shooting forward. "You can learn to SHUT UP, Sonic, when I'm speaking! It's MY TURN now! All I know is venegence, Sonic! Whenever someone crosses me, I CAN NOT REST until I HAVE MY REVENGE! I have a LIST, Sonic! And now there are THREE names! Sonic, Mecha and Amy Rose! Although... no, Mecha is gone, now. You saw to it for me."
"Zero... Cyber, I..."
"WHAT DID I JUST SAY? My turn, now. Hey, remember Rustbucket? Remember those laser beams he shot? Well, I HAVE HIS POWER CORE!"
Zero held up the stone with the rune on it. Sonic gasped in surprise. Zero was just full of surprises. "I just have to... you know, figure out how it works." the black hedgehog admitted,
"Then nobody will cross me ever again."
"Zero, it's really important to everybody in the world, even you, that you let me have that thing, and that you let me go. Okay? Important."
"Oooh, important. Is that the best excuse you can come up with? IMPORTANT? I never said I was stupid."
"Zero, I'm... what can I say? I'm sorry!"
"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO SHUT...." Zero began, but paused, as if in disbelief. "What?"
"I said I'm sorry. Zero, can you forgive me?"
Zero stared at him for a long time, finding it difficult to comprehend the way things had turned. His bottom lip was trembling, now. "Forgive you?"
"Yeah. I'm... I'm truly sorry about what happened. What I did to you."
Tears welled up in Zero's eyes. He frowned and sniffled. "I.. I can't BELIEVE you want to PASS THIS OFF with an APOLOGY! AFTER ALL THIS! And now... what is this? WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME... my... eyes... I'm... I'm trembling..."
The rune fell to the ground with a clatter. Zero buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Sonic, unsure about what to think, just picked up the rune and walked away. He opened the door and looked back one last time. Zero was still sobbing. Sonic closed the door behind him and let the sobs echo through the hall.

Zero Tolerance didn't forgive Sonic. He still had something missing in his heart, something he felt only venegance would fill. But he didn't persue, either. Where Sonic headed next is a story worth telling, but to be told another time. I assure, however, that his only followers were the friends he has picked up along the way.
Put out the fire, now.
It's time we got some sleep.

...

"So, where you headed?" Axel asked, sheathing his sword.
"First, dinner...heheh..." Shred replied, "And then, the sky's the limit! There's a lot of... fresh meat out there. Heh...heheh.."
"Well, I know where I'm going." Axel replied, "I have scores to settle back in Elhorn. Hey.. how about you?"
Kardot looked up at the dark purple rocket knight. "Me?"
"Yeah, you, sweet cheeks. Where are you off to?"
"Away from here, that's for sure. This world is... too bizarre."