Chapter #28: Victory (and What Happened to the Villains)
The news spread like wildfire across Animal Crossing. Big Boss and his cronies had been overthrown! Animals everywhere rejoiced! Soon the AC military was able to drive out and/or destroy all of the Evil Alliance's robots, tear down all the factories and plants, free all the enslaved animals and capture all of the spies; those spies, which included Resetti, Crazy Redd, and Lyle, were convicted and sentenced to prison. Double agents like Phyllis were at first investigated with suspicion, but then released. At the same time, construction was under way, and many villages were completely restored. The dead were buried in a memorial, the injured nursed back to health, and the lost were found and returned to their loved ones. It was one of the greatest times Animal Crossing had ever known in its long history.
Behind many of these restorations was the gang of heroes. Sonic, Ratchet, Clank, Spike, and Knuckles helped with the robot and spy hunting; Tails, Amy, Jimmy, SpongeBob, and Patrick helped with rebuilding towns and befriended the homeless. Soon after most of this was complete, Tortimer called for a national celebration at AnimaCity, and everyone, even the heroes, attended.
The victory celebration was like a mix of every holiday in the Animal Crossing calendar. There were Fourth of July flags and fireworks, Christmas lights on almost every tree, and plenty of Thanksgiving food for all. Tortimer even ordered for special carnival rides like Ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds to be put up. Games and contests were endless: sack races, food-eating contests, tug-of-war, and so much more! Everyone laughed, talked, ate, and drank the night away, and there was no sign of unhappiness on any animal's face.
But perhaps the best part of the night was the medal ceremony. Tortimer gave a long speech about the war with the Evil Alliance and some of the horrible crimes they had committed. But he did not forget the ordinary animals that had put their lives on the line to free their country. He awarded Tom Nook and his sons, Copper, Booker, and K.K. Slider Medals of Valor for their service. At the end, the old tortoise then said that although these animals had fought well, the real heroes of the war were the outsiders who had been willing to give everything for this country's independence. He called them up to the Wishing Well and awarded them each (yes, even Patrick) Medals of Honor. The audience clapped and cheered their hearts out for the gang.
After the awards, the eight heroes found many fans. Many young boys asked Ratchet, Clank, Spike, and Jimmy to show off their weapons, and several people wanted autographs. Unfortunately for them, they found themselves having several female fans as well. Sonic had it the worst, being an animal; wherever he walked he was constantly fought over by girls. It was pure torture for Amy to see other girls like her following her hero around; she nearly attacked the Able Sisters when they sheepishly introduced themselves to Sonic. The eight celebrities eventually hid away in the secret base under AnimaCity's Police Station, which Copper had decided to keep for future development. They sat and talked about their experiences and adventures for the rest of the night. There was one matter that was on all of their minds, and Sonic ended up voicing it.
Whatever had happened to their archenemies?
Many miles away from AnimaCity, on a small island with thick jungles, Eggman came to, lying on his back on a beach. He sat up and walked for a while down the shore, but the beach and ocean stretched as far as the eye could see. There was also no sign of their escape pods; they had wrecked off the coast, and the villains had somehow managed to swim to the beach. He returned to find that his "friends" were waking up.
"Ugh…where are we?" Dr. Nefarious asked, knocking some sand out of his head.
"We are on an island, and no mainland in sight," the evil genius replied.
"I'm surprised your little pods got us that far," Specter muttered, and the blue robot glared at him.
"What do we do now?" Plankton said.
Nefarious clenched his metal hands into fists. "Find those conniving little squishie heroes and make them pay!"
"He meant how we get off the island, stupid," the white monkey snapped. Once again, Nefarious glared at him, but said nothing.
Suddenly Eggman got an idea. "Nefarious, do you still have your remote to contact your butler?"
Dr. Nefarious caught on and brought out his remote. But when he tried to use it, it wouldn't turn on. "Something must be wrong with the circuitry…help me with this, would you?"
For ten whole minutes, the two doctors toyed with the remote, trying to get it working. But nothing they did seemed to work. Then, impatient, Specter grabbed it from them, and opened up a panel on the back of it. He removed the two AA batteries inside it and held them up. "It's out of batteries, geniuses," he growled.
Eggman slapped his forehead, very embarrassed. Nefarious, on the other hand, snatched the device from Specter and looked at it for himself. When he saw that the monkey was right, he threw the remote into the water and screamed in fury. Strangely, he seemed to freeze in the middle of his scream, and out of his mouth came a broadcast from an Animal Crossing radio station for young kids. The song ended up being, of all things, "The Chicken Dance". Specter and Plankton snickered, but Eggman wasn't very amused.
"You foolish hunk of junk," he muttered. "If we can get batteries, we can still use that remote. Plankton, fetch it! Specter, snap him out of it. We don't need that song stuck in our heads."
Plankton ran into the water, and fifteen minutes later, he came back with the remote. When Eggman took it back, he collapsed in exhaustion; carrying it back had worn him out.
Nefarious, who had been whacked out of his frozen state by Specter's Stun Club, stamped his foot and yelled, "But where are we going to find batteries on this primitive island?!"
"For stupid animals, the natives of this land have decent technology," Eggman retorted. "We might find someone here with batteries. You never know. Now let's march!"
So the four villains trudged into the interior of the island. The jungle was dense, and there wasn't much of a path to follow, making the going hard. But their persistence was rewarded when they came upon a clearing. There were campfires and huts there, and several animals—lions—were walking about.
"Island inhabitants," Specter whispered. "They don't look technologically advanced enough to have batteries."
Dr. Nefarious yelled, "I say we enslave them and force them to send us home!"
Eggman forced him down to the ground. "Don't be such a fool! The best way to handle this is to deceive them. We just persuade them to give us supplies and then we can get back to our HQ. Specter, go talk to them."
With a grunt, the monkey walked into the village, and the islanders instantly surrounded him and poked him with spears. He explained the situation, but it didn't help. The tribe only found the other three and prodded them into the circle with Specter.
"We just want to get some stupid batteries and leave your island!" Nefarious protested.
"But we like intruders," said one lion with a creepy smile. "We like them very much." His fellow tribesmen also stared at the four with same look.
Then all four of them realized that those were hungry looks. Plankton panicked.
"Aaaaaahh!! Cannibals! Help! Murder! Police!"
He ran away, and the others followed suit with the islanders on their heels. They ran through the thick rainforest, constantly falling and getting up, getting whacked by tree branches, and nearly being caught by the islanders' traps. But then they must have crossed a border to the lions' territory, because they halted and turned back. They rejoiced for a moment, but then a tribe of tigers surrounded them. Suddenly the lions, who had changed their minds, raced in and began to fight with the second tribe; they were constantly warring with each other. The villains took advantage of that to flee again for the beach.
Suddenly, as they were running past a large, knotted tree, they heard a voice call out, "Sir, would you mind helping me?"
They looked up, and were surprised to see Lawrence hanging upside down by a rope; he had been caught by one of the tigers' traps. The villains worked to get him down, and Nefarious demanded, "How did you get here, Lawrence?!"
The robot butler cleaned himself up while he answered. "I picked up the signals of your pods and came via my own pod, which, unfortunately, crashed in the ocean. When I found your pods, I radioed the remainder of our robot army for help. Their transport is on the way."
"When will it get here?" Specter asked.
"…At best, seven days."
"Seven days?!" Nefarious bellowed. "That's too long! They need to be here now!"
He yelling attracted the attention of yet another tribe of islanders: bears. They closed in the four once more, licking their chops.
"Lions, tigers, and bears!" whimpered Plankton.
Lawrence gulped. "Oh my."
The Evil Alliance somehow broke through the ring of bears and raced into the jungle again. Revenge on the eight heroes was now far from their minds; now they only wanted to survive on the island until the robot transport came to rescue them…
It was going to be a long week.
