Story 52: Big Trouble in Little Chun-Nan
Chun-Nan. A country on Mobius very much like the country of China on Earth. Chun-Nan was full of pagodas, bamboo forests, temples, dragon sculptures and many kung-fu teachers. Chun-Nan was home to many peace loving clans that fought against any evil force to try and make sure Chun-Nan remained in peace. Unfortunately, there was one force that threatened to consume all of Chun-Nan. And that was the deadly kung-fu mistress Zira the Ruthless. Zira was a leopard dressed in Chinese attire that consisted of a black shirt with no sleeves, an orange tie around her waist, orange wristbands, black baggy trousers that came to the knee, orange ties around her calves and sandals on her feet. She had a long pony-tail that came down to her bottom. Zira was ruthless by name and ruthless by nature. She learnt some very advanced kung-fu skills and those skills gave her the strength to take on a thousand warriors and be home in time for tea. Zira's evil nature had gotten her banished from Chun-Nan but the evil kung-fu mistress was not going to let that stop her. She wanted to rule over Chun-Nan and she didn't care if no one wanted her around, she would get what she wanted even if she tried for a million years. And as of this moment Zira was making a very steady trek back to Chun-Nan dressed in a red hooded cape. Years of exile were about to come to an end. She had spent her exiled years training and building an army. Now she had a bunch of ninjas and two kung-fu masters at her side. Alone, she was hard to defeat but now she had an army, she was invincible. Zira's soft footsteps were unheard to anyone as she headed towards the entrances gates to Chun-Nan. The only people who saw her coming were the two panda guards standing by at the gates. They were both dressed in samurai armour complete with shoulder pads, chest plates, tunics and helmets and they were both armed with axes. They saw the caped leopard coming up to them and they didn't know it was Zira due to the fact she had a hood up but years of guarding duty and experience taught them that they could never trust anyone in a hood. They raised their axes and ran up to Zira. Then suddenly shortly after the guards charged, there was a sickening crack sound and the two guards collapsed to the ground dead. Zira just walked on as if nothing had happened, leaving the dead panda guards to slowly rot away into the earth. Zira came up to the huge red wooden gates decorated with golden dragon details around the edges that shut the outside world out of Chun-Nan. Zira drew her arm back and punched the doors in kung-fu style. The doors were reduced to splinters as if they were cheap wood and Zira marched on. She came across a training arena that she remembered all too well. This arena was the very place she was educated in. Every kung-fu lesson she took was in this very arena. At this moment, an elderly monkey dressed in Chinese attire with added shoulder pads and a tunic and armed with a staff was teaching some children kung fu lessons. Zira remembered him all too well. This monkey was her former teacher and the one person who defeated her and kicked her out of Chun-Nan. He was the first person to kill on her list of people to kill so she decided to put her plans into action. She marched onto the arena and pushed past the baffled children who just stared at her in disbelief. None of the young minds here knew a thing about her but they were about to. The monkey looked up from the kids and stared at the caped leopard that stood before him. He frowned at her and pointed his staff at her.
"Halt!" he ordered "Who are you and why are you here?"
Zira said nothing. She just pulled her hood down, revealing herself to the monkey. The monkey gasped in horror and he immediately bent down into a battle ready stance.
"Young ones, get in the temple!" he ordered "You're not safe out here!"
The children had no idea what was going on but they didn't dare question their teacher so they ran for it and headed into the temple behind the monkey. That didn't stop them from peeking nervously through the door and out the windows to see what was going on. The monkey kept his staff pointed at Zira, the leopard just stood there with a straight face on.
"Zira! What are you doing here?" boomed the monkey furiously "Treasonous people like you are forbidden to set foot in this peaceful country!"
"Oh Master Shan, is that anyway to treat one of your fellow kung-fu students?" sneered Zira, taking the cape off and throwing it to the side "I didn't come all this way to get a rude greeting you know."
"You are not my student anymore! You are a traitor Zira!" snarled Master Shan, his legs itching to spring into action and send him pouncing on Zira "You assassinated three innocent clans, destroyed a village and plotted to ransack the Pagoda of Prosperity which you failed to find! You were banished long ago and you are not welcome here! Leave now or I will have to use brute force!"
The children hiding in the temple looked at each other, wondering what was going to happen. Zira stood still and didn't move whatsoever. She appeared to be completely frozen due to how still she was. Master Shan didn't like that one little bit so he kept his senses alert for any sign of attack. Zira grinned wickedly at her former master.
"Oh Master Shan, for a kung-fu master you are such an idol of idiocy." she taunted "Did you really think I travelled through ice-cold mountains, treacherous valleys and stretching forests just to get kicked out again? I will not leave. My place is here in Chun-Nan and don't think you can kick me out again. My skills have tripled since the last time you saw me Shan."
"Zira, don't make me have to attack you!" warned Master Shan "I beat you before and I'll do it again!"
"Oh we'll see about that won't we?" cackled Zira, baring her claws and hissing at the monkey master "How about we have a nice little duel to determine my fate? If I win, I stay, if I lose, I leave. What do you say Master Shan?"
"I accept." said Master Shan "You'd better hope the tides of victory are on your side you insidious leopard!"
"I don't need to hope." said Zira coyly, bending down in a battle ready stance "The tides of victory ARE on my side. You will be nothing more then a gentle ocean wave lapping weakly at the towering shores that stand above it."
The two stared daggers at each other and prepared to fight. The hiding children all stared at the two fighters with their eyes wide open.
"Master Shan's going to fight!" whispered one child.
"Is he going to beat that scary leopard woman?" whispered another.
"I hope so." whispered a third.
Zira roared a threatening leopard roar and Master Shan bared his teeth threateningly in proper monkey style. Then the two lunged at each other at speeds unachievable by the average person. Shan swiped at Zira but Zira leaped over Shan and dropkicked him in the back of the head, sending him falling flat on his face. Zira landed and then tried to kick Shan but Shan kangaroo kicked her in the stomach and sent her skidding across the arena floor. Shan leapt back to his feet and Zira lunged at him. She leaped into the air and began to launch a series of kung-fu kicks onto the master monkey but Shan defended himself by spinning his staff around. Zira flipped backwards and charged at Shan again. Shan whacked her with his staff but Zira flipped backwards and landed on all fours. She unsheathed her claws and lunged at Master Shan.
"Spitting cobra!" she yelled.
She held two fingers up and curled them in the style of fangs and lashed out at Shan in the style of a cobra lunging at its prey. The blow hit Shan directly in the abs and he was sent flying backwards. Zira then kick slammed the ground and caused some floor tiles to stick up. She threw one into the air and kicked it towards Shan. Shan whacked it away with his staff and leaped out of the way just as Zira was lunging to him. Shan ran behind Zira and began to rapidly whack small chunks of debris at Zira with his staff as if he was hitting a million golf balls at once with a golf club. Zira defended herself with a series of chops and punches but those stones were just a distraction. Shan charged towards her with his staff glowing a deep crimson red at the tips.
"Crimson bat of the mighty!" he bellowed.
He whacked Zira with an energy enhanced swipe of the staff and Zira hurtled backwards to the edge of the arena. If she fell out, she would be declared the loser and Master Shan would have won once again so she was keen not to fall out. Zira got back to her feet and she leaped into the air and hurtled towards Master Shan. Master Shan swiped at her with his bat but he missed and Zira punched him with both fists. Shan staggered and Zira tripped him up with one swift kick to the back of the ankles. Shan fell onto his back and Zira snatched his staff. She snapped the powerful weapon in two and threw it away. Shan got back to his feet and the two began to rapidly launch punches at each other. Due to how fast they were both moving their fists looked like blurs and it was hard to tell who's punches was who's. Both opponents were blocking each other's blows at breakneck speed as they launched punches at each other. Zira stopped punching at Shan and she back flipped away from the kung fu monkey. She bent down on all fours and charged at Shan like a ravenous tiger chasing a deer. Shan just stood there and prepared for the attack. Zira pounced on Shan and spun around in mid-air. She walloped Shan on the head and sent him hurtling towards the edge of the arena. Shan managed to stop just before he could fall out of the arena and he leaped towards Zira. He walloped her in the head with one hefty swipe of his tail and he punched Zira with both fists before she could recover. Zira skidded backwards and she came to a halt just by the edge of the arena. The moment she stopped, Shan charged towards Zira and kicked her in the stomach. The kung fu leopard was sent hurling out of the arena but like all cats do, she landed on her feet. She glared grimly at Master Shan, not happy to have been defeated by him yet again. The children all beamed happily. Their teacher had won! Now Zira was out of here! Master Shan stood before Zira and he glared down at her.
"You have been defeated Zira." said Master Shan "You may leave now."
"I will leave…" said Zira smoothly "If you can defeat THIS lot."
Then, right on Que, a swarm of about twenty-five black ninja cats dressed in black ninja attire appeared from nowhere and stood behind Zira in battle ready stances. Every single one of them wielded shuriken. Then two more creatures appeared from nowhere and stood beside Zira. One was a red falcon with claret feather tips, two long feathers from either side of his head and three of his feathers stuck up from the top of his head and were held in place with a golden band. He wore a bronze coloured robe with long sleeves and a dragon symbol on the left side of the chest area. He wore nothing on his feet since he often fought with his razor sharp talons. He had a look on his face that suggested he wasn't thrilled with this. The other was an iguana with a row of tiny spikes starting from the top of his head and going down his back. He wore a sleeveless black shirt with the yin-yang symbol on it and two Chinese words (威武, 爬行动物 ) which translated as "Mighty reptile". He wore a blue tie belt around his waist and baggy trousers with yin-yang symbols on the legs and blue ties around his legs. He wore the same kind of sandals as Zira. He too had a straight face on suggesting this kind of stuff was just another day for him. Master Shan was speechless to say the least.
"Y-y-you've formulated a gang?" he gasped "And you have Masters Bladefeather and Mushu on your side? How did you do that?"
"Well when I was making my month long trek back to Chun-Nan, I came across this group of shadowy ninja cats and I managed to get them to work for me." explained Zira "All it took was the promise of riches to get them on my side and now they serve me faithfully. As for these two kung-fu masters? Well, they've betrayed you too Master Shan and have decided to join me in my glorious conquest of this little country. You're only just enough for me alone but can you defeat me, Bladefeather, Mushu and a gang of ninjas all at once?" she sneered.
Master Shan was stumped. He was not trained to take on a large number of people at once since he refused to take those kind of lessons. He believed that was a way of falling to the dark side. Still, he couldn't let Zira and her gang take over Chun-Nan so he put up his fists and prepared to fight, showing no signs of fear. Zira laughed mockingly at her former master and she and the gang all lunged towards Master Shan, all yelling at once…
"I'm so glad you took me to Chun-Nan with you Sonic." said Amy Rose, Sonic's biggest fan and would-be love interest "I've wanted to go to Chun-Nan for years and now I'm finally visiting it! And it's such a beautiful place!"
"Whatever you say Ames." said Sonic, clearly not very pleased he took Amy with him.
Things had been going slowly since the altered-timeline had been restored back to normal* and Sonic hadn't had any missions or Eggman schemes to foil so far so Sonic decided to spend his day-off in Chun-Nan. He had taken his best friend and twin-tailed sidekick Tails, Amy, the ever polite and sensitive Cream the Rabbit, Tails' love interest Cosmo the Seedrian from another world and Ruben the Water Panther, newly recruited Royal Fighter and former inhabitant of Chun-Nan so this was like going home for him. Knuckles the Echidna, Guardian of Angel Island and defender of the Master Emerald had tagged along with them since he fancied visiting such a well respected and much loved country in the east of Mobius. Everybody had been enjoying the cheery villages of Chun-Nan that they walked through. Never before had Sonic seen so many happy people in one place. It made him think of what Mobius used to be like before Dr. Eggman came and ruined everything with his invasion. At this moment, Tails was showing Cosmo some of the wonderful things that the people sold in the market stalls they walked by. Cosmo had been thrilled by the decorative pottery, tapestries, silk robes and elegant vases on sale and all were made by hand. Chun-Nan was a very old tradition country with nothing modern so most things on sale were made by hand. Cream the Rabbit and her pet Chao Cheese were sticking close to Amy as she admired the clothes on sale at a market stall. Amy had a fondness for trying on new clothes and even shopping for them whenever she visited a new place and she couldn't wait to try on the gorgeous silk robe she was admiring. It was red with an image of a magnificent golden dragon sewn around the shoulders and all the way down to the waist. As for Ruben, he was entertaining some little kids with his water powers. He pointed up at the air and squirted water straight up above his head. He then twirled his hands and made some twizzling water shapes with his water powers. The kids squealed with delight and clapped in applause at Ruben's little show. Sonic smiled. So many happy faces in one place made him feel warm and good inside. If only this war wasn't going on! Then there still would be happy faces around and there would be no Dr. Eggman to ruin everything! Nevertheless, Sonic had to make the most of this slow day before the inevitable happened and he needed to foil another Eggman scheme.
"I've heard a lot of stories about Chun-Nan and I had no idea the country was this nice." said Sonic "No wonder this is a much loved country by many."
"I couldn't agree more Sonic." said Knuckles "Chun-Nan's as grand as legends make it out as."
"So what made you wanna come here Knuckles?" asked Sonic "I never took you as the kind of person who loved to sightsee."
"I came here because I have a day-off from guarding the Master Emerald." said Knuckles "I hate to leave it unprotected but it's in good hands. The person guarding it right now is at my level of guardian intellect so no one's getting near that giant gem."
"Cool." said Sonic "Nice how you have a chain of guardians that work on a Rota so neither one has to guard it 24/7. After all, guardians need their breaks too."
Knuckles smirked at Sonic's remark.
"I know that guardians need a rest every now and again but I love guarding the Master Emerald." said Knuckles "It's a job we echidnas have stuck to with dignity and whenever I'm on guard, the one thing I have on my mind is "I'll guard this gem until the very end and nothing will make me deviate from it"."
"No wonder you echidnas are a proud race." said Sonic with a mock snigger "You're all hot-heads that love nothing more then guarding a giant gem on a floating island day-after-day."
Knuckles frowned but he didn't react. He knew Sonic was a kidder and he had learnt he needed to be patient with Sonic since he loved to crack a joke every now and again.
"Just out of interest, how are the Chaos Emeralds?" asked Sonic.
"The guardians made a special tomb for them to stay in after you sent them there after your super showdown**." said Knuckles "The tomb's thick strong build hides their energy signatures so no one will be finding them anytime soon. They're safe as safe can be."
"Way past cool." said Sonic, flashing Knuckles a thumbs up sign "That's why I sent them to Angel Island, because I knew you echidnas would take good care of them."
"Thank you Sonic." said Knuckles "By the way Sonic, if memory serves me correctly, didn't you run through Chun-Nan on your worldwide showdown with Metal Sonic***?" he asked out of interest.
"I sure did." said Sonic "I ran across the Great Wall over there." he pointed to the notorious Great Wall that resembled the Great Wall of China and stretched for miles around. No matter where in Chun-Nan you were, you would always see the wall.
"That wall is so long and far stretching its awesome when I run at supersonic speeds!" cried Sonic excitedly "I felt way past cool when I ran across the wall and I think I'll do it again while I'm here!"
"Go on then, you've got your chance Sonic." said Knuckles "Run all around the whole wall for all I care."
"I'll do it later." said Sonic "It'd be rude of me to run off without telling anyone where I am. I can imagine Amy shrieking like a maniac at me if I ran off without telling her where I'm off to." he said lowly.
The one thing he never wanted to think about was Amy's hammer. She was such a scary girl when she had that giant mallet by her side! It's a wonder to anyone that Sonic had actually taken Amy on a date that didn't end particularly well the other day****. Speaking of Amy, she had just come out of a tailor's shop wearing the red silk robe she had been wanting to try on. Sonic looked at her and gawped. Amy looked absolutely gorgeous! That silky red robe really made Amy look beautiful and Sonic wasn't afraid to admit it to himself! Amy did a very pretty twirl and the robe flailed about around her as she twirled. Sonic stared at her, unable to keep his eyes off her. Amy stopped twirling and admired herself.
"This robe is gorgeous!" she trilled merrily "I'm so glad I'm wearing it right now! I think I'll buy this."
She went back into the shop to buy the robe. Sonic snapped out of his daze and focused back onto reality. Knuckles snickered evilly.
"What was that about Sonic old buddy?" he sneered "Is Amy becoming too much for you?"
"No! Not at all!" protested Sonic "It's just…she looked rather…um…cute in that robe she was wearing a moment ago."
Knuckles chortled with laughter.
"I thought you fancied that hammer-swinging hedgehog!" he taunted "But don't worry about it Sonic, your secret is safe with me."
"What secret?" blurted Sonic "I don't fancy Amy! True she's cute and all but I don't fancy her!"
"Sure you don't." sniggered Knuckles.
Sonic began to go red in the face. These were the times where he wished embarrassment wasn't an emotion, he didn't like experiencing it. Tails and Cosmo walked up to Sonic, hand in hand each wearing a bracelet shaped like the yin-yang symbol around their wrists. Sonic eyed their bracelets and wondered what was going on.
"Hey Tails, Hey Cosmo. What's with the fancy bracelets?" asked Sonic.
"Cosmo thought they looked pretty and the seller said that any pair who wears the symbol of yin-yang will forever be together in eternal happiness so I thought me and Cosmo should have one each." explained Tails.
"We'll be together and forever be happy while we wear these." said Cosmo dreamily "How wonderful."
Sonic didn't know what to make out of that statement other then Tails and Cosmo's fondness for each other seems to get stronger every passing day.
"That sounds pretty nice Tails." said Sonic "I always thought yin-yang represented good and bad though."
"Yin-yang usually means polar opposites that are interconnected and interdependent on the world and how they give rise to each other in turn." said Ruben, who had finished entertaining the kids and decided to see what the others were doing "It has nothing to do with good and bad at all."
"Well I can't argue with someone who actually hails from Chun-Nan." said Sonic casually "How does it fell to be home again Ruben?"
"It feels like I'm walking down memory lane." said Ruben with a happy sigh "I remember these villages and the Great Wall like the back of my hand. Five years ago I would be happily making my way through these villages gazing at this and that and wondering what everything does and what everything is used for. If only it could have been like this always." he said in a suddenly sad tone, his ears drooped down and his face fell into a glum expression "I was so happy in Chun-Nan but now Chun-Nan brings me nothing but sad memories."
"Why is that then?" asked Sonic "What is it about Chun-Nan that makes you sad Ruben old buddy?"
Ruben was about to answer Sonic's question until a cry for help was heard not far away from where they were. The villagers seemed to have heard the cry too and began worrying about what was happening. Then suddenly out of nowhere, two black cats dressed in ninja uniforms complete with the masks that concealed their identities, leaving only their eyes visible appeared on the roof of a stall. They each had a katana in their hands. The villagers panicked and began running around fearfully.
"Run! The Yīnyǐng Mao clan is here again!" cried one villager as she ran for her life.
Sonic, Tails, Cosmo, Ruben and Knuckles began to wonder what was going on as the villagers panicked. The two cats held their katanas at the ready and they prowled through the village as if they were looking for something to pounce on. Sonic stared at them suspiciously and wondered what they were up to. Amy and Cream burst out of the tailor's shop and they ran up to Sonic. Amy was still wearing the robe she'd brought.
"Sonic! What's happening?" asked Amy "Everybody's panicking and getting scared and running around!"
"Two ninja kitties have appeared from nowhere and are supposedly looking for trouble." said Sonic "Ruben, what's the story behind these felines in their pyjamas?"
"They're members of the Yīnyǐng Mao clan." explained Ruben "Yīnyǐng Mao means "Shadow Cat" in Chinese. The Yīnyǐng Mao are outsiders who live outside Chun-Nan's gates in exile. They go around pillaging villages and stealing riches which vary greatly from jewels to robes and even pottery."
"No prizes for guessing why those two clowns are here then." said Knuckles "Let's teach them a lesson or two!"
"No Knuckles!" cried Ruben "We cannot attack those two without a plan! Yīnyǐng Mao ninjas are very swift and sneaky and if you're not careful, they'll run you through with those katanas of theirs."
"In that case, we'll hide and pounce on them when it looks like they don't suspect a thing about us." said Sonic "Let's get behind that pile of woks."
Surely enough, everybody did as they were told and they ran for cover behind a pile of woks on display at a wok stall. They crouched down and peeked around the side of the wok pile to see what was happening. Two villagers, one a bunny rabbit with a ponytail and the other a wombat with earrings and no shirt on stared up fearfully at the two cats that glared icily at them with their steely green eyes that showed no signs of sympathy or regret of doing this. They pointed their katanas at the villagers and kept them in place as another ninja cat showed up from nowhere. He had a considerably grander appearance then the two foot soldiers with circular shoulder pads on his shoulders, a chest plate and a black vest-coat that flowed beautifully behind him as he walked. He removed his mask, revealing a very gruff look on his face and a crescent moon shape on his forehead. He scowled at the two villagers the two cats had cornered. He looked down at them and he pointed sharply at them.
"Rrrright you two scrrrrubs." he growled gruffly. He rolled his R's every time he spoke "I have a proposition for you two."
The couple said nothing; they just stared up in fear at the mask-less cat that stood before them menacingly.
"If you two would be so honourable as to tell me where the Pagoda of Prosperity is then my men will spare your lives." he said in a kinder tone of voice.
"W-w-w-we d-d-don't know w-w-where the Pagoda of P-P-Prosperity is." stammered the bunny, her eyes wide with fright and looking like they were about to fill up with tears.
"Oh come on you little villagers, don't play stupid with old Fong Zarr now." said the cat in a dangerously soft voice "Now tell me where the Pagoda of Prosperity is or my minions will tighten your belts and suffocate you."
"My wife has told you already! We don't know where the Pagoda of Prosperity is!" snapped the wombat, putting on a pretentious brave act "Now go away and leave us poor villagers alone you Yīnyǐng scum!"
Fong Zarr didn't seem awfully pleased with the wombat's tough talk.
"Men, grrrab that man and tighten his belt." he ordered "Suffocate him until he talks."
The two cats did not hesitate. They seized the wombat by his arms and hoisted him off the ground. The wombat shrieked in fright and began to flail his legs around madly. Fong Zarr grabbed the wombat's belt, undid it and tied it back around him again. But he didn't stop there, he began to pull on either sides of the belt and tighten it around the poor wombat's waist. The wombat yelped and spluttered as Fong Zarr tightened his belt. The wombat could feel his waistline getting shorter as Fong Zarr pulled on the belt harder and harder. Sonic's quills quivered in rage. He hated seeing people being attacked and tortured for no reason and he felt like just leaping out of his hiding place and spin-dash Fong Zarr into a pulp.
"Look what that horrible cat is doing to that poor man!" cried Cream in pity "We must help him!"
"That's just what we're doing Cream." said Sonic "Let's go team!"
He leaped out from behind the pile of woks he was hiding behind and he spin-dashed Fong Zarr directly in the back before anyone could stop him. The ninja cat yelped in surprise as he was knocked onto his face. The two cars holding the wombat dropped the wombat in surprise and he ran off with the bunny rabbit to take cover. Fong Zarr got back to his feet and growled a vicious tiger like growl.
"Who dares to attack the grrrreat Fong Zarr?" he demanded angrily.
"I do Mr. Whiskers!" retorted a voice from behind him.
Fong Zarr turned around and scowled at Sonic the Hedgehog who stood before him with a big smirk on his face. Fong Zarr snarled at Sonic and he drew out a pair of katanas.
"Who are you servant boy and why do you dare to stand to me?" he roared at him.
"OK first of all, I'm not a servant boy." snapped Sonic "And second, I have a hatred of evil people who love to harass innocent villagers so I'm teaching you a lesson or two. You and your pair of cronies better skedaddle before you regret it!"
"Seems to me like you are forgetting your place you little termite!" snarled Fong Zarr "Looks like I'll have to put you back into it! Get him my minions!" he ordered.
The two ninjas did not wait to be asked twice. They lunged at Sonic with their katanas glistening in the blazing sunlight and they hissed viciously. Sonic leaped out of their way and the two cats crashed into each other. Sonic ran up to the ninja cats and kicked them both in the head. The ninja cats staggered backwards and they shook their heads furiously to regain their senses. Sonic spin-dashed both cats and sent them falling onto their sides. Fong Zarr clenched his teeth and he ran up to Sonic, roaring like a lion. Sonic back flipped over Fong Zarr and kicked him from behind. Fong Zarr fell onto his face once again and Sonic quickly snatched up his katanas and threw them away before he could pick them up again. Zarr got mad and he kicked Sonic in the stomach ninjutsu style. Sonic staggered backwards and punched Fong Zarr in the face. Fong Zarr growled and punched Sonic back. Sonic tried to attack Fong Zarr again but Zarr flipped over Sonic and double-kicked him in the back. Sonic hurtled into the wall of a stall and sent its contents spilling everywhere. Ruben decided that he and the others shouldn't stand idly by and let Sonic take the punishment from a powerful ninja warrior so he leapt out and joined in the fight. So did Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Cream. Cosmo stayed put, knowing she would be of no help to anyone in this fight. Sonic had just gotten back to his feet until Fong Zarr kneed him in the gut and karate chopped him across the face. Sonic fell onto his side and spluttered. Zarr tried to stomp on him but Ruben squirted him with a jet of water and sent Fong Zarr falling over in roly-poly style. Zarr got back to his feet and he pulled out a pair of shuriken.
"More termites that need to learn their place in this country!" he grumbled "Guess I'll have to take you all on!"
"Get your facts straight fuzzy!" yelled Knuckles, giving Fong Zarr an uppercut that sent him hurtling into a stall, destroying it as he landed on it "We're not from Chun-Nan so we don't need to learn our place here! You're the one who needs to learn his place!"
"Of all the courrrageous and overbearing…" mumbled Fong Zarr, picking himself up from the wrecked stall and scooping up his shuriken "Chun-Nan rrrresidents or not, you will succumb to the might of Zira the Rrrruthless, leader of the Yīnyǐng Mao clan and destined to be Empress of Chun-Nan!"
Ruben's tail straightened and his face went pale.
"Zira! Z-Z-Z-Zira the R-R-Ruthless?" he choked "No! It can't be! S-s-she's e-e-exiled! She d-d-doesn't live he-he-here anymore!"
Tails looked at him in wonder. What was Ruben suddenly so scared at? And who was he on about?
"Shows how much you know water panther." said Fong Zarr coldly "You live here so how are you so slow on the updates here?"
"You leave Ruben out of this!" snapped Amy "Let's fight!"
"If you're so desperate for a broken neck then be my guest!" snarled Fong Zarr.
He put his shuriken away, charged towards Amy and elbowed her in the gut. Cream retaliated by throwing Cheese like a baseball at him. Cheese fisted the cat in the eye and Fong Zarr yelped in pain. Amy summoned her hammer to her hand and she whacked Fong Zarr with it. Fong Zarr hurtled through the air in a rainbow arch and he landed on his back. His two cronies got back to their feet and they both ninja-kicked Amy and Cream in the back. Knuckles fisted them both in the face and bashed their heads together. The two cats saw stars and they fell to the ground, dazed and dopey feeling. Fong Zarr kick slammed Knuckles on the head and dodged an uppercut from the echidna. He roundhouse kicked Knuckles in the face. Tails dropkicked Fong Zarr in the face while flying and sent him falling onto his back. Fong Zarr threw a shuriken at Tails and the star skimmed him across the hip. Tails yelped in pain and plummeted to the ground. Sonic caught him before he could crash into the ground. He settled Tails down and spin-dashed at Fong Zarr. Fong Zarr held his arm up in front of his face to defend himself and Sonic hit him. He didn't knock Fong Zarr over but he did hurt his arm. Fong Zarr rubbed it better and threw his other shuriken at Sonic and narrowly missed him. Knuckles and Sonic both double teamed Fong Zarr with a punch each and Fong Zarr tried to kick them both but he missed. Knuckles grabbed his leg and slammed him into the ground. Fong Zarr yanked his leg out of Knuckles' grasp and threw some dust off the ground into the echidna's eyes. Knuckles yelped and rubbed his eyes as Fong Zarr gave him an uppercut to the chin. Cream and Tails both kicked Fong Zarr while flying and Fong Zarr swiped at them but the rabbit and fox were out of his reach so he missed. Fong Zarr leaped up and since he was a ninja, he could jump high and he found himself in between Tails and Cream. He did a split-kick and walloped them both in the stomach. The two fliers fell down and landed on a hammock on sale at a hammock stall. The hammock broke their fall luckily and it didn't rip after they crashed so it was still fit to sell. Amy tried to hammer Fong Zarr again but Fong Zarr gave the hammer an upwards chop and knocked it clean out of her hands. The hammer landed on the roof of a pottery shop. Amy tried to run away and retrieve it but Fong Zarr grabbed her by the robe and threw her into the hammock stall. Amy landed in a hammock and ended up snapping one of the strings so the hammock sagged onto the floor. Cosmo decided to do something to help her friends in the fight so she picked up a rather light but tough wok and threw it at Fong Zarr like a Frisbee. Fong Zarr defended himself from a pair of attacks by Sonic and Knuckles but he got conked on the head by the wok and the wok had hit him so hard it actually knocked him out! The ninja cat collapsed onto the ground and closed his eyes. Cosmo put her hands to her mouth in surprise. She hadn't expected her wok to hit him THAT hard! For once, she'd actually helped her friends defeat the enemy! The very feeling made her feel good inside. Sonic stared at the knocked out Fong Zarr and scratched his head.
"Who threw that wok at him?" he wondered.
"I did." said Cosmo, emerging from the wok pile and walking up to Sonic "I was only trying to help you so I threw a wok at him to distract him and give you a chance to attack him. I hadn't intended to actually knock him out."
"Well that was pretty amazing Cosmo." said Sonic "I always wondered if you'd ever be of use to us in battle and it seems you can be. All you need is something to throw and you're good to go."
"Thanks Sonic." said Cosmo, smiling with pride.
As for the two ninja cats, they had recovered from their head bashing and they scooped up their knocked out clan leader. They carried Fong Zarr away and ran for it before anything else could happen. Sonic just watched them run away and he folded his arms.
"What a creep that Fong Zarr guy is!" he said crossly "If he dares to come here again I'll give him a good helping of hedgehog fury!"
"One thing I wonder is why he and his two minions even came here." said Amy, dusting herself off "What do they want?"
"They said something about the Pagoda of Prosperity." said Tails "What is it and why is it important to them?"
"The Pagoda of Prosperity is where the emperor or empress of Chun-Nan live." explained a shaken but seemingly OK looking Ruben "If I were to guess, the Yīnyǐng Mao clan are obviously attempting to ransack the pagoda for Zira the Ruthless who is supposedly in charge of them now."
"Who is this Zira the Ruthless person?" asked Knuckles "Is she ruthless by name and ruthless by nature?"
"She epitomizes the word ruthless." said Ruben "Zira is the most evil thing that's ever hailed from Chun-Nan. She was a student of fellow kung-fu master and local hero Master Shan. She was his star student and was destined for greatness. But after her mother died and her father left forever, she suddenly turned evil and began attacking innocent villagers for no apparent reason. She had decided to use kung-fu for evil and wanted to take over the Pagoda of Prosperity. She never found it and in her desperation to find it, tore up a whole village while asking questions on it's whereabouts. A wise old fortune teller then foretold of a prophecy that is yet to unfold."
"Which is?" asked Sonic.
"The prophecy stated that Zira would be defeated in battle by a member of a clan and some other being and peace would return to Chun-Nan." explained Ruben "Zira didn't like the sound of that so she slaughtered the three clans that lived here. One of them was the Hǎilàng clan, (Hǎilàng meaning "ocean wave")the clan I originated from. Zira killed all the clans and their brides. I'm the only one of the Hǎilàng left. All my friends and family, Zira killed them all just to prevent a stupid prophecy from becoming real." his eyes began to well up and his ears drooped back in despair "That's why I feel so sad returning here, I get bad memories of my clan's demise and that horrible leopard woman. I left Chun-Nan to get out of my despair but all that happened was more despair when I got captured by Marcus and Celia Punch and trained to be a slave for Dr. Eggman*****! I wish my mother, the Bride of the Gentle Waves was still alive! Then I wouldn't always be in despair right now!"
He broke down crying and knelt down on the ground. Cosmo felt sorry for the water panther and she knelt down beside him. She put a hand on the panther's back as he wept.
"There, there Ruben." said Cosmo gently "Don't let your sorrow get the best of you. I know how you feel and how sad it is to feel alone. My entire race is at war with another and I feel like I'm the only one left on this planet but I don't let that bring me down. I can rely on my friends to make my happy and I'm sure you can too. Please be strong Ruben, for me, for everyone and even for the people of Chun-Nan. I'm sure your mother would have wanted you to be strong for her."
Ruben stopped snivelling and he looked at the caring Seedrian with a thankful smile on his face.
"You're right." said Ruben, wiping his eyes "Mother would want me to be strong. OK Cosmo, I'll be strong, for everybody in Chun-Nan."
"Well done Ruben." said Cosmo, giving him a friendly hug.
"Mr. Ruben sir, forgive me for asking but what happened to Zira after she killed all the clans here?" asked Cream politely.
"Master Shan had decided Zira had gone too far and had to be stopped so he single handily defeated her in a kung-fu match." explained Ruben "Zira was no match for her master since Shan hadn't taught her the skills of his level. Zira was sentenced to life in exile and we haven't heard a peep from her for five years straight. And now Fong Zarr shows up, claiming she's their new leader and demanding the location of the Pagoda of Prosperity. She must have returned to get revenge on Master Shan or something."
"Well if Master Shan beat her before, he must be able to defeater her again." said Knuckles.
"I hope so." said Ruben "I do not wish to see her again and I cannot leave her knowing my country is under siege from that vile woman."
"If we see this Zira gal, we'll kick her butt right out of Chun-Nan!" declared Sonic, pounding his other hand with his fist "We'll take her down no problem!"
"Zira's no push over Sonic!" blurted Ruben "She destroyed three whole clans without breaking a sweat! She'll not be so easy to defeat! Only an advanced kung-fu master has a chance against her and if Master Shan cannot defeat Zira again then we're all doomed!"
Sonic's face fell into an "Oh right." kind of expression.
"In that case, we'd best hope that Zira doesn't get here." he said.
"As for this Pagoda of Prosperity." put in Tails "Do you know where it is Ruben?"
"I do indeed." said Ruben "I remember the way as if I'd only walked it yesterday. Why?"
"Well if Zira wants to attack the emperor and the emperor has no idea that she's here, someone needs to warn him." suggested Tails "Not to mention, we would be good protection for him."
"If the emperor knew about Zira's return then all of Chun-Nan would know of Zira's return so the emperor is obviously oblivious to Zira's return." thought Ruben "We'll have to warn him. Come on friends, follow me!"
He scampered off as quickly as he could. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream and Cosmo ran after him. Ruben led them through the village and onto the Pagoda of Prosperity. If they didn't reach the pagoda in time then Zira would strike and bring turmoil to Chun-Nan…
Meanwhile, General Bostock and his right hand man Commander Mortimer were standing outside the iron gates of Robotropolis with a horde of men at their side. Fellow fighters Wilson the Dog and Mandy Mouse were by their side. They also had the Chaotix, Espio the Chameleon, Vector the Crocodile and Charmy Bee with them too. Vector had a bag of supplies on his shoulder and these supplies were for the siege. Ever since Wilson and Mandy's successful mission in Grand Metropolis****** Bostock and Mortimer had destroyed all of Eggman's forces and Grand Metropolis had been won back. They had found some of their roboticized men during their assaults and thanks to the researchers using the portable roboticizer machine that Tails had given them after sealing it from Eggman*******, they had de-roboticized them and now they were back in action and waiting to attack. Wilson and Mandy were pleased to see Bostock again and Bostock was pleased to see them again.
"Wilson, Mandy. It's a delight to be working with you two again." said Bostock gruffly.
"The pleasure's ours." said Wilson "We're happy to be on a mission involving laying siege to Dr. Eggman's hideous city."
"As for you Mandy." said Bostock, looking at the young but skilful mouse "When we heard rumours of your death, I was devastated. I cannot begin to describe my relief when it turns out you were actually alive, you were just in captive all the time you've been out of action. It's good so see you back on the battlefield."
"Thank you Bostock." said Mandy, saluting him "I need to pay Eggman back for having the nerve to lie about me like that. I'm even more disgusted at the fact he used me to make Automatons of me to trick Sonic and friends. The fat demon won't know what's hit him when I'm finished!"
"That's what I like to see Mandy girl." said Bostock cheerfully, patting the mouse on the shoulder "Determination to carry out the mission. You are a fine soldier indeed."
"And these Chaotix chaps look like fine soldiers too." said Mortimer, admiring Espio, Vector and Charmy "I'm looking forward to seeing you in battle."
"And we're looking forward to this heist." said Vector "We've got some scores to settle with Eggman ourselves."
"Whee! This is going to be loads of fun!" cried the Chaotix moron Charmy Bee "Loads of laser thingies blasting and blasting, loads of robots getting destroyed! And we'll be the ones doing it! Hee, hee, hee, hee!"
"Hmm…a little excited isn't he?" mused Mortimer "Is he always like this?"
"Charmy's an excitable little boy but he means well." said Vector "Despite his small size, he's a great help to us three and he's had training on how to kick an Eggman robot's behind."
"Yeah!" said Charmy excitedly "Dr. Eggman's not gonna know what's hit him!"
"He especially won't with me around." said Espio "I can turn invisible so he'll never see me."
"Aaaah, invisibility powers." said Bostock "A trait found in all chameleons. Very useful. I bet you'll be a great asset to us in this battle."
"I shall be at my best on this mission." said Espio.
"That's why I'm so proud to have Espio on the Chaotix." said Vector with a big fat smile on his face "He's always willing to fulfil his tasks and accomplish his missions no matter the costs."
"No wonder you three are so formidable in battles." said Mandy "Your teamwork is faultless and you have evenly balanced skills. Eggman's gonna have a tough time with you three I can tell."
"Just you watch us Mandy." boasted Vector "We three are a one-bot wrecking crew in battle!"
"Enough talk now fighters, it's time to attack." said Bostock "Mortimer, are the detonators set?"
"Primed and ready general." said Mortimer "Those gates maybe near invulnerable but these bombs will take out the gate's weaker points and allow us to invade without second thought."
"Then set them up and prepare to press forward." ordered Bostock gruffly.
Mortimer obeyed and ran over to the gates. He'd enjoyed working with Bostock ever since the Royal Fighter's Service had been formed and he was so pleased that his friend had turned back to the good side after the Operation Drill ordeal the other month. And now he and Bostock were here, ready to invade Eggman's city and do a good deal of collateral damage to the city to hinder Eggman's forces. He set the two detonators on either side of the gates and sent them to blow in ten seconds. After setting them to go, he ran for it as the countdown started. The moment he was out of range, the detonators erupted and exploded in a brilliant explosion. the explosion tore through the gates' attachment points and completely destroyed them. The gates fell forward and crashed down on the ground with an enormous clang. Everybody beamed with pride at how beautifully the detonators worked. The gates had fallen down and now they were free to attack with all haste.
"Royal Fighters CHARRRRRRRGE!" bellowed Bostock.
Everybody obeyed and they charged through the entrance to the city and into Eggman's notorious city. The masses of Eggman robots that occupied the city all jumped in surprise and they immediately began to attack. As for Dr. Eggman, he was up in his headquarters, which was being repaired from after Egg-Timer exploded and took half of the building with it yesterday. He looked out the window and was not pleased to see he had intruders in his city while his quarters were still being repaired.
"Dang and blast those stupid Mobians!" he grated "Can't I get any peace around here?"
"You can't even repair your headquarters without Mobians invading your city and making a mess of things!" griped his "loyal" servant bot Alonzo "We're going to have to get rid of them!"
"Well I'm limited with choices." said Dr. Eggman despairingly "Metal Sonic, my strongest weapon ever is destroyed, the explosion of Egg-Timer destroyed my four Mechas and I haven't had anytime to build anymore Mechas or even a new Metal Sonic!"
"So what options do we have master?" asked Alonzo "We can't let them stay here or they'll wreck your city!"
"I still have Egg-Dog from the time I kidnapped Sonic********." said Dr. Eggman "We'll use that. Egg-Dog will destroy all those pesky Royal Fighters with one blast of it's deadly cannons! Come Alonzo, let's get going!"
"Right away sir." said Alonzo, saluting.
Dr. Eggman and Alonzo ran out of the room as fast as they could and headed for the hangar bay where Egg-Dog was kept.
Outside, things were already going in the Mobian's favour. All the robots on patrol at the minute were mere pawns and scout units and not much of the heavy artillery was out at the moment so the Mobians were having an easy time smashing the robots to pieces. Rather then a belt of bombs, Mandy had decided to wield two laser pistols since she wanted to use a different weapon for once. Wilson however, still had his trademark spinning blade weapon which was a double-bladed pole like weapon he threw at his enemies like a boomerang. Bostock and Mortimer had their rust guns which caused any robot they blasted to crumble into a rusty pile of metal parts. Espio, Vector and Charmy just had their usual weapons, shuriken, brute strength and stinger respectively. Mandy began rapidly shooting any Eggman robot that dared to come near her. Her twin pistols were very powerful, despite their small size and they destroyed any robot Mandy shot at. One pull of the trigger and the robot was blasted to smithereens by the pistols. Mandy shot an Egg-Pawn and the whole bot was reduced to tiny metal pieces. She smiled at her handiwork.
"Maybe I should use these things more often." she said to herself "These pistols are very effective."
Meanwhile, Wilson was surrounded by a swarm of Egg-Pawns and Blast-strike bots but he of course, was not afraid as he knew how to deal with them. He threw his spinning blade at the swarm of robots and the deadly weapon spun towards the robots, its twin blades becoming ferocious blurs as it boomeranged towards its targets. The Egg-Pawns tried to run away but the spinning-blade sliced them all to pieces as it churned through them all. The weapon boomeranged back to Wilson and he caught it in his hand. Two Blast-strike units began rapidly firing at the dog but Wilson dodged their attacks and plunged one of the two blades into one of the robots, killing it instantly. The other shot at Wilson but he deflected the blast with the other blade and he threw the weapon like a dart at the second Blast-strike robot. The blade impaled the robot in the chest and killed it. Wilson yanked the blade out and ran on to attack again.
"There's nothing in the world more fun then smashing Eggman robots!" he cried excitedly.
As for Bostock and Mortimer, they had their fight completely in their favour. Not only did they have rust guns but their horde of soldiers they had brought with them had rust guns too. Any robot foolish enough to get too close to the Grand Metropolis Royal Fighters were shot by the guns and reduced to a rusting wreck. The poor robots had no chance and sooner or later, Bostock and his men had brought all the robots attacking them into a miserable wreck of rusty metal.
"This reminds me of our fights in Grand Metropolis." Bostock said to Mortimer who was standing behind him.
"The only difference is you won't turn out to be a turncoat again." said Mortimer with a big grin on his face.
Bostock just grinned back and prepared to shoot again. Team Chaotix completely had their fight in their favour too. Espio threw shuriken at any robot attacking him, Vector smashed them all to bits with his brute strength and fearsome jaws and Charmy Bee flew past the horde of robots, walloping them as he buzzed by. He stung one robot in the head and killed it and he walloped another robot into Vector. Vector punched the robot before it could crash into him and the robot was completely destroyed. A robot walloped Vector in the snout but Vector got his own back and chomped it to pieces with his fearsome jaws. He coughed and spluttered as the robot's oil seeped onto his tongue and he rubbed his tongue furiously to get the taste out. Espio ninja kicked two Blast-strike units that were trying to attack him and then he karate chopped one in the neck, knocking its head clean off its body. The other robot shot at Espio. The blast skimmed off Espio's back and Espio yelped in pain. He threw a shuriken at the robot and the shuriken sliced the robot's head off, putting it out of action for good. Espio dusted his hands off and turned to Vector who had just smashed another robot against a wall.
"This is pathetically easy." said Espio "Eggman needs to do much better then this if he wants to keep us out of Robotropolis."
"I think Eggman's still recovering from the time you, Sonic and some others destroyed his big death machine or whatever it was supposed to be." said Vector, shrugging "Oh well, let's hope things stay easy for us, we could afford an easy mission for once."
"Hey Vector, I've trashed all the robots attacking us." said Charmy "What do we do now?"
Vector took the bag of supplies off his shoulder and he pulled out two pairs of bombs. He handed a pair to Charmy and a pair to Espio.
"The General wants us to bomb one of Eggman's communication towers so he can't make contact with any of his forces abroad." said Vector "The only trouble is, I don't know where the communication tower is."
"I do." said Espio "It's directly behind his headquarters. I found that out when spying on him the other day."
"Then let's go and blow that stupid tower up already!" cried Charmy excitedly "It's gonna be lots of fun and we'll stop Eggman from calling any of his buddies that are in other places!"
"Charmy! I'm in charge so I give the order!" snapped Vector.
"Whatever boss." scoffed Charmy.
Vector scowled at the bee and turned to Espio.
"Go for it you two, blow that tower sky high!" ordered Vector.
"Roger." said Espio, running off with the bombs he was carrying.
Charmy buzzed off after him. Vector smiled with satisfaction and he ran off to join Wilson and Mandy in their attack. Mandy shot four robots dead with her powerful pistols and after they collapsed in a heap, she spun them around in her hands in the style of a cowboy and blew at the barrel as if she was blowing smoke away. Vector appeared behind Mandy and tapped the mouse on the shoulder. Mandy turned around to face Vector.
"What's up croc?" she asked.
"Espio and Charmy are getting ready to blow the communication tower." said Vector "The plan is in action."
"That piece of news is music to my ears." said Mandy, stroking her big round ears "Eggman's gonna have a lot of trouble if he can't call any of his forces abroad for back-up."
"Let's hope that nothing goes wrong for us." said Vector.
"At the rate things are going? This mission will go like clockwork all the way through." gloated Mandy.
Then suddenly, an bone-shaking rumble was heard and everybody began to wobble about as if there was an earthquake going off. Mandy and Wilson fell beside each other on their bottoms and they dropped their weapons. Vector managed to keep his balance and he held his place until the rumble stopped.
"Wh-what was th-th-that?" screamed Wilson.
"I think Eggman's bringing in the heavy artillery." suggested Mandy "Only Eggman's biggest machines cause shakes like that."
And how right Mandy was, for moments after the rumbling had stopped, the giant dog-shaped machine known as Egg-Dog appeared from behind Eggman's headquarters and hovered over to the Mobians. Bostock and Mortimer stopped firing and they looked up at Egg-Dog. They were well and truly shocked. They had faced many Eggman threats back in Grand Metropolis, but never had they been up against any of Eggman's colossal machines. To them, Egg-Dog looked like a very fearsome machine with four cannons, a dog-shaped head and four jets in place of legs that kept it airborne. Wilson helped Mandy back onto her feet and the two kept their eyes fixed squarely on Egg-Dog. Eggman's voice boomed from inside Egg-Dog's cockpit.
"Attention invaders." the voice echoed throughout the entire city "You are trespassing in Eggman territory and vandalizing my wonderful work. I am going to kindly request for you all to leave or I'll destroy you all with Egg-Dog's unmatchable firepower!"
Dr. Eggman burst into loud grating laughter that echoed through Robotropolis. Wilson and Mandy looked at each other fearfully.
"OK…this isn't what we were expecting." gulped Mandy.
"Of all the times Eggman had to get the big machines out!" whined Wilson "I w-w-wish S-Sonic was here! He c-c-could take that th-thing down one two three!"
The dog began to shake in a terrified manner.
"Relax Wilson." said Mandy, touching Wilson on the shoulder to calm his nerves "We're not here to fight Dr. Eggman, we're here to blow up his com-tower. Once Espio and Charmy set the charges, we can leave here."
"Oh right." said Wilson "Let's give them a call and see how they're doing."
"I'll call them." said Bostock, tapping some buttons on his wrist mounted communicator.
"Espio? Charmy? Do you read me?" asked Bostock gruffly.
"Loud and clear General." came Espio's deep voice "What's your status?"
"Under siege from Eggman at the moment but that's obsolete." said Bostock "Set the charges and then we can leave here."
"The bombs are in place." said Espio as Charmy fitted in the last bomb on a sensor array in the tower "We're going to set them to blow in thirty seconds."
Espio and Charmy were inside the tower and they had placed the four bombs in the towers most vital areas so they could destroy it in an instant.
"Very good boys." said Bostock "We'll wait until you and Charmy emerge from the tower."
"Roger." said Espio, switching off.
"Um…Espio?" said Charmy, his antenna quivering with fright "I don't think we'll be getting out of here in a hurry."
"Why not?" asked Espio.
Charmy just pointed out of the window and Espio looked out to see what the problem was. His eyes widened in horror, an expression the chameleon hardly ever used. Twenty huge dome shaped, heavily armoured Eggman robots armed with hammers, bazookas and shields were standing guard outside the tower. Those robots were very dangerous and very tough robots and trying to get past twenty of them in a dash would be suicide. They were hard to destroy and they were heavily protected so their attacks would be in vain. Espio switched the communicator back on and spoke into it.
"General? I think we're going to need some back up!" cried Espio "There's a gang of heavily armoured robots outside the tower and me and Charmy can't get past them without getting smashed!"
"We've got your message Espio." said Bostock "We'll send help immediately. Over and out."
The general chipmunk switched off and turned to Wilson, Mandy and Vector.
"Espio and Charmy need some help you three." said Bostock "Me, Mortimer and you three will aid them in escaping the robot guards. My men will keep Eggman's dog machine at bay."
"Well if you're sure…" said Mandy uncertainly.
"My men will be fine." said Bostock "They're fine soldiers and they are willing to go out in a blaze of glory if they have to."
"Wow. Those guys are loyal." said Vector, impressed with what Bostock had said.
"OK then boys, let's save our friends." said Mandy "Charge!"
She, Wilson, Vector, Bostock and Mortimer ran off to save Espio and Charmy. Dr. Eggman saw them running away so he aimed Egg-Dog's cannons at them. Bostock's men all aimed their rust guns up at Egg-Dog and began firing at it. The blasts rocked Egg-Dog about and Eggman almost fell onto his side. Eggman looked down at Bostock's attacking troops and he aimed Egg-Dog's cannons at them.
"I recognize their weapons." Eggman mused to himself "Rust guns. Makes anything rust when they shoot at it. Too bad for them Egg-Dog has rust-proof armour! Still, I'd better destroy them before their pistols do some damage to Egg-Dog."
"All cannons fire at that group of soldiers!" ordered Alonzo.
Egg-Dog's four cannons pointed down at Bostock's soldiers and fired at them. The troops immediately scattered and ran for it before they could get hit. Bostock looked over his shoulder to see what was happening and began to wonder if his men would hold out. He shook his head and ran on to the communication tower to help Espio and Charmy escape.
"Talk you obstinate monkey! TALK!" screamed Zira, kicking Master Shan very sharply in the stomach.
Zira and her gang had taken down Master Shan but instead of killing him here and then, Zira had taken him to an abandoned Chun-Nan prison for interrogation. They had chained Master Shan by his arms to the wall and had been showering him with hard punches, kicks and even whips and nunchakus. Master Shan looked as if he had been in a road accident. He was coated in bruises and cuts and he felt like all his bones were broken. It was amazing that the kung-fu monkey was still alive after all that! Despite Zira's best efforts, Master Shan had remained quiet.
"Not…matter how…much the…lightening strikes…" croaked Master Shan "It's…victim…will never…speak…"
Zira growled in frustration and punched Master Shan in the face. The punch made Master Shan spit out a tooth and a thin trickle of blood seeped out of his nose.
"I always forget that kung-fu masters are the hardest to break." sighed Zira "But still, even my level of torture should have you squealing to me former master. Do I have to take it to the extreme Master Shan?"
"Um Ma'Am, vis-à-vis this interrogation, if we push this torture to an even more pernicious nature, we may end up executing him." said the falcon "We cannot learn his sequestrated secrets if we execute the monkey you know."
"I know we can't learn anything from a dead monkey!" snapped Zira "Stop being rhetorical Bladefeather!"
"My utmost apologies mistress of turpitude." said Bladefeather politely.
"I hope Fong Zarr's having an easier time then we are." said Zira "Villagers are easier to snap then a kung-fu master after all. I bet the first villager Fong Zarr has questioned has cracked like a little insignificant egg right now." she laughed evilly at the very thought of terrified villagers succumbing to the mighty Fong Zarr right now.
Then suddenly the door swung open and in burst the two ninja cats that Sonic and friends had just defeated. They lay down the still knocked out Fong Zarr and they saluted Zira respectfully. Zira strode over to Fong Zarr and felt his pulse. He was obviously alive but Zira wasn't pleased to see he was knocked out.
"What happened to him?" snarled Zira fiercely.
"He was knocked out after someone threw a wok at him." explained one of the cats.
"At least he's alive." said Zira "Did you find out the location of the Pagoda of Prosperity?"
"Unfortunately no." said the other cat "Fong Zarr was interrogating one of the villagers and then a blue hedgehog and his gang of friends appeared from nowhere and attacked him. They defeated him so we retreated and brought him back here."
Zira was so angry she looked like she was about to explode.
"Of all the unreliable…that's it!" she screeched "I'm taking this interrogation to the max! I'll get Master Shan to talk if it's the last thing I do! And I think I know how to get him to crack at last." she purred, putting a finger to her head and thinking hard.
Bladefeather and Mushu looked at each other, waiting for something to happen. Zira strolled back over to Master Shan and, for some strange reason, unchained the kung-fu master. Master Shan fell onto his hands and knees, panting and gasping heavily. Zira knelt down before the monkey and lifted his head up so he was looking her directly in the eye.
"You know what Master Shan?" purred Zira "If you won't tell me where the Pagoda of Prosperity is…then I bet your students will."
My…my…students?" gasped Master Shan, he's eyes widening in horror.
"Yes your students." said Zira "Since you've taught them everything you know, I bet they know where the Pagoda of Prosperity is. And children are easier to break then kung-fu masters so maybe I could interrogate one of them for the information I require…"
"The young ones…don't know…where the…pagoda is…" spluttered Master Shan "They…aren't old…enough to know…yet."
"In that case, I'll just kill them all and lower the population of unneeded citizens in Chun-Nan." purred Zira evilly.
"No!" choked Master Shan "Not the…young ones…please…!"
"Then tell me what I want and I promise with my stony heart I will not lay a paw on those snot-faced children!" snarled Zira.
Master Shan stared down at the floor in shame. He didn't want Zira to learn the location of an important place in Chun-Nan but he loved children and always thought their lives were more important then older people since children have much to learn over their years so he had to for the sake of his students.
"The Pagoda…is…five miles west…from the local…village…and up on…a…hilltop just left from…the lake…" explained Master Shan with great reluctance.
Zira put both her hands on Master Shan's face and she jammed her face into his.
"Thank you Master." she said coldly "Your services are no longer required."
Master Shan's eyes widened in fight. Zira flashed her former master a sick twisted grin and then…
CRACK!
And that was it. Master Shan was dead. His lifeless body collapsed to the floor and Zira cackled a very witchy kind of laugh. Bladefeather and Mushu seemed to be horrified at this but they said nothing.
"Finally!" she cackled "I've found the location of the Pagoda of Prosperity! Now my reign over Chun-Nan can begin once I assassinate the emperor and his daughter! Bladefeather! You get the Yīnyǐng Mao ready!"
"At once mistress." said Bladefeather, taking flight and flying out through the door with one mighty swoop of his wings.
"Mushu, me and you will arrive at the pagoda and do NOT attack until Bladefeather and the ninjas arrive and I give the order!" hissed Zira "Is that understood?"
Mushu nodded. Mushu was a silent kung-fu master. He had lost his ability to speak in a fight and his only method of communication was roars and hisses as well as sign language. His quiet nature made him a dangerous foe for anybody fighting him.
"Good." said Zira "Now that's sorted, we can make our merry way to the place that is deservingly mine. And now Master Shan is dead, I have no obstacle in my way!"
Zira and Mushu left the room and the two ninja cats carried their still knocked out Fong Zarr after them. The door shut with an echoing clang that filled the entire room. Now Zira knew where the Pagoda of Prosperity was, Chun-Nan was doomed…
Footnotes:
*See the already legendary Story 50
** See Story 45 for a super showdown
*** See the whole worldwide adventure in Story 31
**** See Story 48 for a date that doesn't go as well as most dates…
***** As revealed in Story 48
****** See Tales from Mobius Arc 1
******* See Story 13
******** See Story 48 (again)
Oh dear! Looks like Sonic's in for a treat! Can Sonic defeat Zira or will he have no chance against a kung-fu mistress? Join me next time. Reviews are welcome. Also see the spin-off title Tales from Mobius as Bunnie Rabbot and Geoffrey St. John investigate some Trouble in Adabat!
P.S. I apologize for if Zira's main method of killing disturbs you.
P.P.S. You may need a dictionary to understand some of the words Bladefeather the Falcon is saying throughout the saga as you may not be familiar with most of them.
