WriterXero: Alright, here we are again! If you were here for the last chapter, then you know that Story-me was about to fight Sonic. If you weren't… um… why'd you, y'know, click the 'chapter 3' button?

Silver: Writer, are you stalling again?

WXero: …maybe a little. Anyway, on with the show!

A few miles off from Westopolis, things were usually rather peaceful. Such beautiful clichés as singing birds and babbling brooks were abound, and it never seemed to rain. Truly, it was the epitome of tranquility.

Unless, that is, there was a battle of epic proportions between a blue hedgehog and a purple porcupine.

Xero's first strike met its mark, but Sonic was wise enough to put up the impenetrable defense of blocking with his forearms. Anyone who's played a fighting game understands this strange phenomenon: For some reason, forearms are invincible limbs, not capable of feeling any pain whatsoever.

Now that we've addressed that terribly unrealistic happening, let's get back to the fight between talking anthropomorphic rodents, shall we?

After blocking, Sonic did one of his fancy 'break-dance kicks.' Now, a common problem with this attack is that it can be avoided simply by jumping. While not many robots or other enemies of Sonic's realize this, Xero did, jumping up and trying to jackhammer kick Sonic in the head a few times.

He was met with a much more efficient guard, as Sonic began to charge a spindash just as the blows hit. Imagine putting your feet in an electric pencil sharpener. Well, it was kinda like that.

Things continued in this manner for several minutes. Tails stood relatively useless on the sidelines, thinking to himself, 'They're almost evenly matched… I don't think Sonic's been met with a challenge like this since Shadow!'

Eventually, the two rodents parted, both breathing heavily. Sonic grinned, "You're pretty good… why're we fighting again?"

Xero growled, "Save it, hedgehog. I know what you've got planned, and I'll stop you, no matter what the cost!"

The hedgehog sighed, "It's kinda poor form to not tell someone why you want them dead, y'know."

"… I'm going to kill you for the sake of this planet. For all those who would have fallen under !'s might… I guess you could say it's to reclaim the future… to reclaim the present… to reclaim…"

No. I'm not working the title into this story. Even I'm not that cheesy. Just as the porcupine's rant was coming to a close, he was met with a spin dash to the face. Xero was knocked to the ground, and sat up, looking at Sonic incredulously, "Did you just spin dash me during my dramatic monologue!?!"

Sonic rubbed his nose with his index finger, "Maybe a little."

"… fine, if that's how it is, I'll have to get serious." Xero suddenly reached into his quills, and ripped a particularly thin one out, holding it like a katana, "The spine blade. Impressed?"

The blue hedgehog nodded, "A bit, but I doubt that…" suddenly, the burgundy porcupine was behind him, Sonic only just managed to avoid the slash that followed, "That was too close… how'd you get so…" he was quick to dodge again, the blade coming within a centimeter of his face, "How'd you…" he had to dodge again, "WOULD YOU LET ME FINISH A SENTENCE!?!"

Xero smirked, swinging his quill/sword about with expert skill, "Not so funny when it happens to you, huh?" The porcupine leapt back, holding the blade straight up to observe it, "Although… I've gotta commend you, Sonic. This is the first time I've had to use this in a long time."

Sonic sighed, "I'm still not really clued in on why you have to use it at all. Really, what did I do?" he smirked, joking, "It was saving the world from Eggman all those times, wasn't it? I knew they'd come back and bite me in the ass eventually…"

"… no idea who you're talking about, sorry."

"… so Xero, what rock have you been living under, anyway?"

Xero growled, charging again, "Now you're just stalling again!!!"

Sonic was quick to charge up a spin dash. As he rolled toward the porcupine… he realized that Xero was now readying his quill as if it were a pool cue. The hedgehog quickly jumped, "Well, that could've ended badl-" he again was cut off, having to dodge an upward blow from Xero, "Then again, at this rate, it still might."

~XIX~

Now out of popcorn, Eggman still watched the fight intently from his base, chortling with glee every now and then. Hearing a nearby rustling, he turned his head, seeing Lupus donning a suit. He seemed to be struggling with the tie…

"… honestly, Lupus. Come here…" Eggman began to help his assistant with the neck piece, "The rabbit hops over the log… then crawls under the log. Next it runs around the log, because it's trying to outrun the fox, then dives into its hole, only to be captured and turned into a robot!"

Lupus smirked some, adjusting the tie a little, "I'm not familiar with that version, sir."

"Clearly. So, why exactly are you donning the penguin suit?"

The wolf shrugged, "Well, as fun as it is to watch Xero and Sonic kill each other, I'd best get to my other job. They'll suspect if I'm gone too long…"

"Very well. Off you go then," with that, the doctor resumed watching the battle…

~XIX~

… which seemed to be drawing to a close. Both fighters seemed to be reaching the point of exhaustion, both seemed to be much slower than when the fight had begun.

Breathing heavily, Sonic thought, 'I've gotta wrap this up… another five or so minutes and I'm done for…'

Xero continued his ever-relentless assault, charging to swing with his spike sword. Sonic dodged, flipping over the porcupine… hearing a shout of, "Wrong move, hedgehog!!!" The next thing he felt was the spike sword colliding with his side. The blue furred hedgehog was sent flying a few feet, finding himself unable to get up upon landing.

"Sonic!" Tail shouted, rushing to his friend's side, "Sonic, you alright!?!"

Sonic smirked, "Yeah, Tails. I'm fine…" he tried lifting himself off the ground, only to collapse again, "Or not…"

The purple porcupine walked almost over dramatically toward his fallen foe, saying as he did, "You're lucky, Sonic. If my quills had blades, like real swords, you'd be dead now…" reaching the hedgehog, he lifted his blade, pointing it down towards Sonic, "Nonetheless… that can be remedied."

Sonic grinned, "Once more for good measure: why are you so insistent on killing me?"

"… even now, when you're about to die, you deny it?" Xero glared at the hedgehog with contempt, "Fine. You're the founder of the organization called '!.' Long story short, your little group essentially destroys the future. I'm sure you're very proud."

Sonic raised an eyebrow, "Hey, Xero, you sure you don't have any screws loose in that head of yours?"

Not familiar with the phrase, Xero was confused, "What?"

Tails nudged Sonic, "Um, you probably shouldn't be calling the guy who might kill you crazy…"

Sonic sweatdropped, "Nevermind. What I meant was, you sure you have the right guy? I mean-"

Xero interrupted, "Shut up! Once you're gone, me and Sasha can go home to some peace for once!!"

Tails leapt in front of the porcupine, holding his arms out in a classic-yet-useless defense gesture, "Please, sir! I know Sonic, he'd never create anything like that!!! He wouldn't even know how to form an evil organization-"

"Tails!"

"I mean, he just doesn't have anything like that in his heart!" Tails looked Xero, determined, "Sonic's a good person, Xero… I know from all the time I've spent with him…"

The porcupine was, for that moment, doubtful of his mission, and in that moment, he lowered his blade, "… this kid's quite devoted to you, Sonic."

Sonic smiled a bit, "Yeah…"

Xero paused some more, weighing his options, "… I guess I could've given you the benefit of the doubt..." he looked to Sonic, offering a hand, "Any objections to me keeping an eye on you, y'know, make sure you're all this kid says?"

Sonic took the hand, "Heh, beats dying by a long shot."

This produced a smirk from Xero, "Yeah, that's tr-"

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" It was then that Knuckles finally blazed onto the scene, giving Xero a solid punch to the jaw and sending the porcupine flying, "Sonic, you alright? I saw Xero fighting you, and thought I'd lend a hand," he walked over to the dazed boy, "I should've known you'd turn out to be our enemy, Xero…"

A large sweat drop rolled down Sonic's head, "Uh, Knux?"

"No need to thank me, Sonic, I'll deal with-"

Tails sighed, "We already resolved this, Knuckles..."

Knuckles blinked, "… oh. Well then…" he helped Xero to his feet, "Sorry about the whole misunderstanding…"

Rubbing his jaw, the amethyst porcupine replied, "No problem…" he looked to the echidna, "So you're friends with Sonic?"

Knuckles shook his head, "We're more of acquaintances…"

The hedgehog smirked, "Admit it, Knux. No one'll think less of you for calling yourself my friend."

Just as Knuckles was about to respond, a small robot that looked like a cross between a tv and a helicopter appeared out of the sky, and it seemed to be… was it chortling!?! The screen eventually buzzed to life, revealing the face of a man who actually quite resembled Theodore Roosevelt, "Ho ho, Sonic, Xero. I never expected this outcome to occur!"

Sonic glared at the screen, "Eggman… I had a feeling you were behind this."

"Yes, because no one in the world has a grudge on you. Why not suspect Shadow, or even Knuckles for once? You know, one day it's not going to be me, and-"

"You're rambling, Egg-head."

Xero leaned toward Tails, asking the fox, "Um… who is this guy?"

Tails leaned toward the porcupine, whispering, "Dr. Robotnik, also known as Eggman. He's Sonic's enemy…"

"I see…" he stepped beside Sonic, joining the stare down against the doctor, "You 'never expected this outcome to occur?' Just what does that mean, doc?"

Eggman laughed some more, "Well, Xero, I've had myself a peek into the future recently… and I saw you performing oh-so-well against !." The doctor seemed to be gesturing wildly, not realizing that only his face was visible, "I thought, 'Why, that porcupine could prove useful to me!' So I enlisted the help of that time travelling fool of a wolf Lupus, fooling him into thinking that Sonic was the cause the destruction of his timeline."

Sonic growled, "So then this Lupus guy brought Xero here, and we were forced to fight…"

Xero looked to the doctor, "Well, that's not exactly the best plan. I barely managed to beat Sonic. What were you planning to do if I lost?"

The doctor shrugged, "I'd move on. You're expendable, Xero."

He growled in response, "… one other thing. Lupus brought someone else here with us… what happened to her?"

"You mean Sasha? The young fox currently rots away in one of my many cells… Lupus too, for that matter. Where you were expendable, she's merely useless…" the doctor seemed to be briefly deep in thought, "Perhaps she'd make a decent robot, once properly changed…"

In a rage, Xero cut the robot in half, "Bastard…"

Sonic smirked, "Blind rage aside, we can't exactly find his base without the robot taunting us, y'know."

Xero sweat dropped, "Sorry… I wasn't thinking…"

"Clearly."

Tails seemed to be checking something, "Actually, Sonic, I put a tracking device on Eggman last time we fought him, he seems to be in the Himalayas…"

Practically as soon as the two-tailed fox said this, Xero sped off in the general direction of said mountains. Sonic smirked, "Well, he's in quite a hurry." And rand off after the porcupine, leaving Knuckles and Tails in the dust, the former murmuring, "Look who's talking…" before gliding after the others…

All alone, Tails spent a few silent moments trying to think of something witty to say, finally settling on, "Hey guys, wait up!" he sighed, "Damn… I really need to think of something better for next time…"

~XIX~

Shadow placed the emerald on his boss's desk. His boss was that nameless general from the Shadow the Hedgehog game. Y'know, the one with one red eye and one blue eye.

"… well done, Shadow. Now, I need to discuss the matter of your new partner."

Shadow sighed, "With all due respect, Commander, I'm pretty sure you know how much I detest working with others…"

"And with all due respect, Shadow, I think you know how little I care."

"Touché," the ultimate life form shrugged, "So, it's Rouge again, I take it?"

His boss merely shook his head, "You've probably never met him. It's GUN policy to keep agents from meeting unless absolutely necessary."

"… then why not just partner me up with Rouge again? You wouldn't have to reveal this new guy to me."

A new voice spoke, "Pretty desperate to work with Miss. Rouge, aren't we, Shadow?"

The ultimate life form glanced toward the new voice, and saw a bespectacled wolf in a full black suit, complete with a white undershirt and black tie, "Well, aren't you just a walking cliché…" looking at the wolf's purpler hair, he revised that, "Well, maybe not completely, but pretty close…"

Laughing a little at that, the wolf smiled brightly. Once he'd finished laughing, he took Shadow's hand in his own, shaking vigorously, "It's an honor to meet you, Agent Shadow. A real treat, real treat!"

Breaking his hand free from the lupine's vice grip, Shadow made a mental note to watch the wolf's hands. Once something got in them, there seemed to be very little chance of ever getting it out. "Good to meet you too, Agent…"

The wolf adjusted his glasses, still smiling widely, "Agent Lupus, sir."

~XIX~

Writer Xero: Well, that's an interesting development.

Shadow: … so I'm working with that mutt now? Ugh…

Story Xero: Well, on the bright side, things might be wrapping up…

Sonic: How d'you figure?

SXero: Well, WriterMe has us headed to Eggman's base to save Sasha. After that, there's not much else for us to accomplish in this story, y'folla?

Sonic: Hm… that's true. So, Writer, what happens next?

WXero: … well, I'm not sure… I've got no particular plans…

Silver: What if you have the reviewers give you ideas?

WXero: D'WHAT!?! I'd never stoop so low as to…

All: Yes you would.

WXero: … fine, I would. So readers, what say you? Any ideas as to what I should write next? I'll log away any suggestions for possible use later on.

Eggman: Hey, here's an idea: how about wrapping up this Author's Note before it's longer than the chapter?

WXero: /// Shut up, Egghead! *fires bazooka at him*