"You good, Ace?" Tiara asked me.

I stretched my limbs a bit and checked myself for any damage Bark might have caused despite my protection. Fortunately, even with the incredible force behind his blow, my suit had absorbed most of the shock; at worst, I was going to be left with a rather large and sore bruise later.

"Nothing serious as far as injuries," I replied briskly, "the presence of those three fellows, however, isn't something to casually brush aside."

Rouge had a disquieted expression upon being reminded of the Hooligans. "It wouldn't be too bad if it was just Fang, but those other two just add more trouble."

"You make it sound like you have a history with them," I surmised with no small amount of suspicion.

"Not a story I feel like sharing right now, Ace," she answered me, continuing on ahead without looking back at me or the bandicoot.

Fair enough, I thought. We all had certain tales about ourselves that we were hesitant to talk about, even if they had information that would be helpful in a particular moment.

We guided the blue Flicky with us to safety, watching him disappear through the Dimension Ring before moving on. While the foliage grew sparser as we neared and then entered the Rusty Ruins, there was still enough greenery that it wasn't too barren or drab. The cliffs changed from an earthy brown to a dull gray, while the ground was made up of dirt and rock with a green and yellow checkerboard design. Tall and partially damaged columns decorated much of the place, along with vases, decorative marble entrances into tunnels, and worn suits of armor similar to that of the ancient Minoans. Father had told me that our Babylonian ancestors had crossed paths with many peoples, including the Minoans, and that he often wondered if what had been destroyed during the Thera Eruption had been Atlantis itself. He wasn't alone in positing that theory, but if that was true, it meant that they had reached out further than history initially believed; after all, Santorini was on the other side of the planet from here.

Interesting as it was to ponder, we weren't there for archeological reasons. Tiara had led us here well enough, but admitted on the way that she wasn't quite as familiar with this Zone. Thus, it would be a bit more touch and go as far as figuring out where to look when it came to encountering and dealing with our mysterious group. There was also the matter of Fang and the other two members of the Hooligans lurking about the island, so we couldn't let our guard down. No doubt they'd already informed their employer about us, and if they were smart, they'd take extra precautions against us.

"So, here's something I've been wondering," the bandicoot said aloud as we headed down a short slope southeast of where we'd entered, "if it turns out one of those cursed things is here, what're you gonna do with it?"

I glanced over at Rouge, who had a more subdued expression on her face than usual at the mention of gems. "Well, I don't really know, hun. The Commander wouldn't want us keeping it to ourselves if he learned what they could do."

"Assuming he doesn't already know," I replied mildly, "but as far as the artifact, it would be wise to move it now that more and more people seem to know that it's here."

The matter of where was something to consider for later. We continued past a pair of green bumpers, descending a bit further to a section blocked by broken columns. Rouge took point and busted them down by flying at them feet first and twisting herself around at impressive speeds; something she called the "Screw Kick." This allowed Tiara a clear path while the bat and I hovered a couple of meters above, continuing to go down and then over a large hill on the way. As the three of us entered an open area, we found a pair of troopers from the same group as the cockatiel trying to capture another kind of Flicky. This type was a bit bulky, with green plumage and eyes, as well as an orange belly and curious bun of "hair" on its head, and it was doing its best to try and get away from the two Animals.

Tiara ran forward and went into a Rolling Attack, knocking one of them off their feet and causing him to flip over several times. He didn't land immediately, but rather got smacked down into the ground with an axe kick from Rouge, causing him to elicit a loud groan of pain. The other one was ready to raise his sidearm, though he didn't get the chance to before I grabbed him and flew us both many meters into the air. His confused yell turned to screaming when I subsequently dropped him, although he never made it to the ground. After a couple of seconds, I caught his other wrist, then let go once again so that he had a rough, but non-lethal landing.

"Alright, yet again," I growled with annoyance as I yanked him to his feet and tore off the helmet. I was greeted with the sight of a black ram, who appeared to be doing his best not to freak out from what I'd just put him through. "Who are you working for and why are you here?"

The scared sheep peered over at his comrade, revealed to be a goat after his unmasking, then back to me. "What's going on? Who are you people?"

"I'm asking the questions." I stepped on one of his hands when it reached for his blaster, coaxing a cry from him as he tried to yank away. I didn't let him, but neither did I increase the pressure. "Now, who do you work for?"

He tried putting on a brave and defiant face despite the aching in his hand. "I-I'm not gonna tell you. I'm n-not afraid to die for our cause..."

"Oh really?" I crooned at him with a measure of my father's influence. I let my beak curl into an unsettling smile, which definitely unnerved him, by the look of things. "Well, if you won't answer, I suppose we can just ask your comrade while we enjoy some lamb chops."

Rouge looked like she could barely contain her laughter at my threat, while Tiara shot me a cocked brow. That seemed to be effective enough for our captive audience, though.

"Okay, okay!" he pleaded, making me roll my eyes at how easily I called his bluff. Even so, I disarmed him just to make sure he didn't try anything, then released his hand from under my boot. "H-he never takes off his outfit, so I don't know what he actually looks like. Everyone refers to him as 'Al', but I don't think that's his real name."

It wasn't much to go on, but it was a fair bit of information for one inquiry. The apparent leader was male, used "Al" as an alias, and was constantly equipped with some manner of suit that obscured his identity, just like his underlings. I could worry about who he really was later, because the more important matter was his goal.

"What does he aim to do?" I inquired, pointing his own blaster back at him, "what do you all want?"

He let out a startled bleat and held up his hands in a show of surrender. "I-I don't know what the boss wants." I responded by pressing the barrel to his forehead and squeezing the trigger the smallest bit tighter, but not quite enough to cause the gun to fire. His eyes began watering a bit at that. "Please, I'm telling the truth! He just tells us what to do, not anything about why we do it!"

That still told me something about the fellow; that it was clear he didn't trust his subordinates. I briefly theorized about why that could be and came up with a couple of ideas. Perhaps he was paranoid of whatever plans he had falling apart if any workers were savvy to what he was about. Or maybe if they knew, they wouldn't be so willing to follow him. Whatever the reason, I'd get to the bottom of it and shed a light on "Al" and why he seemed to have it out for me.

"Well then, do you know why he would hire someone like Fang the Hunter?" I asked next, "maybe an educated guess?" When I was met with a shake of the head, I shrugged. "I suppose I can't expect all that much from grunts."

With that, I determined that there wasn't anything more that I could get out of him. I tossed the gun to one side and raised my other hand to activate my suit's Shocking Blast, sending an arc of electricity into the ram that caused him to spasm for a few seconds and then fall unconscious. The goat tried to go for the discarded firearm, but a swift kick to the back of the head from Rouge was enough to knock him out as well. Now that both were down, I used my armor's energy shot to destroy their weapons, then redirected my attention to the green Flicky we'd rescued.

"You okay, little guy?" Tiara said as she came over.

He flew back from her in a bouncy manner, likely in part due to his rotund shape. "Please don't hurt me, I just wanna go home."

"We won't hurt you," I assured him, knowing how he must've felt after dealing with those two troopers, "and we can help you find the Dimension Ring if you're willing to help us in turn."

The Flicky stopped and gazed at me with wonder. "You know what I'm saying?"

"Yes, I can understand you perfectly," I replied while folding my arms, "and I can promise you that we aren't with those other Animals. We're trying to figure out what they're up to so we can stop them from causing any more harm."

I could see the reluctance in his eyes, but a few moments of thinking it over was enough to convince him to come along. He guided us to an opening in the wall some meters away, which in turn brought us down a narrow walkway and into a half-pipe turn that deposited us into a new area. After climbing up several steps, we were almost immediately set upon another set of minions, and unlike the last two, they weren't distracted with chasing after Flickies. I ducked under the blaster fire of one and answered with a Shocking Blast, dropping the grunt to the ground. I whipped over at breakneck speed to bust up his weapon, then took to the air and circled around the next guy. While he was preoccupied trying to get a bead on me, Rouge dove in with a kick from behind to knock him off his feet. She followed up with a pinpoint stomp on the guy's sternum, knocking him out despite his protection, though she left herself open to the remaining target. Fortunately for her, Tiara was quicker on the draw than the grunt, blindsiding the fool with what I could've sworn was a Spin Dash and making him join the pile of unconscious lackeys.

Once we were sure that they'd been disarmed and wouldn't wake up too soon, we were greeted by yet another type of the diminutive bird Critters that inhabited the island. This Flicky was pink and purple with two high ponytails on the sides, as well as a strand of "hair" jutting from the forehead. The marking on the belly was orange and in the shape of a heart, while the eyes were green like those of a certain hedgehog's. And I could tell that while not all Flickies of this variety were as they appeared, my knowledge of their anatomy confirmed that this one was indeed female.

"You're okay!" she chirped at the green one with us as she flew over, "I saw bad people chasing you, so I was worried!"

"These good Animals helped," the male replied as he remained close to me, "and this big bird can talk to us!"

The female tilted her head and let out an inquisitive, yet excited peep. "He can? I didn't know any other Animals could understand us!"

That certainly gave me pause for thought, as it implied that they had already met an Animal aside from me that could comprehend them. At first, I thought it might have been my rival, but I had my doubts about that.

(Yeah, I've never been to Flicky Island, so it definitely couldn't have been me. Also, just out of curiosity, have you met anyone else besides me that can understand Tweet?)

(I haven't, and I think it's kind of a shame. Flickies are keen on some things you wouldn't think they'd be, Prower, especially the ones from there.)

"Indeed I can, little one," I answered, drawing a look of wonder from her. I would be lying if I claimed it didn't disarm me at least a little. "And we're trying to figure out why those others are after all of you."

The two of them flew closer together and considered me as they began chirping quietly. I made out bits and pieces of their conversation, some of it questioning whether or not we could be trusted ourselves. I chose not to comment and simply waited until they appeared to come to some sort of consensus.

"Well, uh, I don't know," the male answered first, "but maybe they want the shiny thing."

Not that I had that many doubts, but it seemed that even the Flickies were aware of the relic that my ancestor had left behind.

"What is this 'shiny thing' you're talking about?" I pressed.

The female took her turn to reply. "Most of us have never seen it, but we know where it is because we can feel it."

She trailed off and turned her gaze towards the northwest, as did the other bird. I saw that both of them were specifically looking out at the volcanoes that dominated much of the landscape in that direction. That told me all I needed to know about the location, and as I translated for them, the group as a whole started to wonder...

"Have you seen any of those other Animals out that way?" Rouge questioned them.

"We haven't," the pink one responded, "but maybe the fire bird has?"

Tiara perked up at that. "Oh yeah, that was another story my father told me about this place." We all gave her our undivided attention upon hearing that. "Supposedly, there's a bird that lives deep in the Volcano Valley Zone, unrelated to the Flickies aside from being on the same island. The legend goes that it guards an ancient treasure, and he believes that it's the same one mentioned in other tales about Flicky Island." She shrugged nonchalantly. "He and some other scholars also seem to think that it might be a phoenix or something like that, but I dunno."

"Whatever he is, he's been here for a long time," the green Flicky commented, "long before any other Animals came here. Some say he's been here for even longer than us!"

I didn't share the bandicoot's skepticism. After all, phoenix Critters have been proven to exist, as have other mythical ones such as dragons and unicorns. The Flickies, however, were implying that this might have been a phoenix Animal instead, which had only been spoken of in fables. It was a little harder to swallow, but as anyone familiar with them knows, Flickies don't lie.

(I can say from experience that that's definitely true.)

(Indeed, I've yet to meet one that has.)

"If that's what those guys are after, then we should start heading over to Volcano Valley," Tiara suggested, taking the initiative to change our course, "we'll have to pass through the Diamond Dust Zone to get there, but it shouldn't take us too long!"

The pink Flicky appeared both surprised and worried by the bandicoot's declaration. "Wait, wait! You can't just go to the fire bird's nest!"

"And why not?" I interrogated her, "we're here to stop those interlopers. Surely he would have enough sense to see we mean no harm."

The green one shuddered a little. "He doesn't like it when anyone goes into his territory, and that's where the shiny thing is."

If this "fire bird" was protecting the object my ancestors left behind, how did they contend with him? Were they the ones that charged him with such a duty? Could it have been someone else, perhaps, or even something that he took upon himself? Were the ones that came after Great Battle Kukku the First granted a special exception when they trod these grounds, or had they been subjected to some manner of trial? I suppose I would find out in due time; no number of warnings or amount of heeding would cause me to turn away.

Taking the lead, I brought us down a narrow path to a wider area filled with broken debris, some of which appeared to have been recently broken. There were also two other routes that could be taken, which the girls elected to explore while I kept an eye on things from above. I spotted a few other minions skulking about the place, which were easily taken care of thanks to my ranged weapons and my companions' capabilities. Just in case the Hooligans came back, though, I made sure to scan the air every so often, since Bean could fly and Fang had that hoverbike of his.

A few moments later, I saw that Tiara discovered a passage that brought her into an indoor section of the ruins, with Rouge and I soon following. After a couple of minutes of moving through simple stone passages, we came out into the open again. Some cursory scouting on my part revealed we'd ended up a bit north from where we'd originally entered. Heading northeast, we found another of the thugs, which I managed to surprise and take down from behind with a close-range Shocking Blast. My bat partner and I flew over an incline and a small cliff while the bandicoot handily made her own way up. Rouge took her turn to deal with a scout by way of a kick to the back of the head, then searched for anything useful. When she came up with nothing we hadn't already seen, we just moved on.

We avoided a trap that consisted of two spiked balls on chains rotating around a central pole, then ascended several more stairs, only to come to a dead end. We traveled southeast of where we'd come from and discovered a crack in the stone like the one we'd spotted in Green Grove, which Tiara took the honor of smashing open this time. Through a short cavern, we came to the bottom of a hill so steep that only my rival and his little friend would've been able to run up the whole of it. Given how well they seemed to be getting on, Rouge graciously offered to give our third member a lift. Once past that, we were given the choice of going left, where a platform hovered back and forth over a gorge to the sea below, or right, which had another spike trap to contend with.

Tiara chanced the former, making the jump while we coasted above, whereafter we went down a long staircase to a pretty flat and open place. A pair of grunts were there to greet us, along with a third coming up from steps in the back of the area, making it three versus three. I avoided their shots as I flew above and headed for the one in the rear, coming in with a Diving Attack and laying him out with little effort. Rouge caught a second one napping with a Screw Kick, while the third attempted to take on Tiara with what appeared to be a copy of the red wolf's baton, albeit only in a short and blunt form. She danced around his movements with ease, not being particularly graceful as she did, but she got the results we needed with a Rolling Jump.

Once they were disarmed, we went northwest to a narrower set of stairs, which brought us in front of two tall columns and a broad opening. Inside, we raced around the perimeter of a spiral ramp until we came out of the roof of the place, where more grunts were perched on the ramps leading forward. Clearly, we had stumbled upon some sort of operation in this Zone, now that we were dealing with more of them. Still, they weren't any real trouble, and it's not worth going into any detail about how we handled them. I did, of course, make certain to check each and every one of them for anything about who they were working for, but I turned up nothing. Whoever this "Al" was, he was good at not wanting to be found out.

We pressed on, and after several more traps and paths that went up, down, and all around, we stumbled upon a sight that made us pause. The same blue Flicky that we'd helped guide to the edge of Green Grove was here; don't ask me how I could tell, I just could.

"Oh, it's our friend!" the pink one exclaimed as she flew over to him, "we don't usually see you here."

As the green one joined them, they had a little bit of a chat on recent events. I relayed to Tiara and Rouge the bird's retelling of our efforts in fighting against the foes we found in Green Grove, while the other Flickies told him about what we'd done here. When the other trio was up to speed, the small blue bird took point at the front of their ranks and looked up at me.

"If you really wanna see the fire bird that badly, we'll take you to his territory," he said reluctantly, "there's another friend of ours who knows the way better, but we haven't seen him around lately."

My partner was suspicious of that claim after I interpreted the other avian's words. "I thought you guys could sense the treasure."

"We can," the pink Flicky chirped with slight irritation, "but Red knows the way through the hot place best out of all of us."

"'Red,' huh?" Tiara mused, "that checks out. The last survey we made into Volcano Valley, we discovered that's where most of the red Flickies on the island set up nests." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "But, now that I think about it, there's one that likes to visit the camp on a fairly regular basis."

The green one bobbed its chunky head. "Yeah, that's him. He likes flying everywhere around here, and he likes being around the Animals in that one place. I'm worried he might've tried being friendly with those bad Animals..."

"No, he wouldn't," the blue one argued, "Red can tell bad Animals from good just as well as us. He probably flew away to hide once he saw those weird guys."

I sighed and shrugged my shoulders, moving past the three Flickies and glancing at the way forward. Like in the previous Zone, there were high cliffs that made the route impassable to all but flyers like myself, with the exception of a narrow tunnel that had been carved into the rock. It was apparent that it had been built to shepherd people towards a specific location, which was likely perilous for intruders. Well, they certainly couldn't have accounted for someone like me, both in skill and technology; of that, I was sure.

Whatever the case, it went in the direction that Diamond Dust Zone was supposed to be, so we could keep an eye out for this other Flicky on the way. I once again took the front position, rocketing through a long, flat, and frankly uninteresting passage through the cliffs. After a few seconds, it opened up into what seemed to be some sort of courtyard, and although it featured more of the same sorts of columns and suits we'd seen up to then, there was one notable difference here. There was an immense iron model of a bull Animal, or perhaps a minotaur from the human legends, it was a little difficult to tell the difference. As befitting its kind in either case, it was tall and powerful, with armor that was again like that of the classical Greeks, but not quite. Most intriguing of all was the golden yellow scepter it was holding that was topped with a brilliant rectangular blue gem, altogether rather small for something its size. It had certainly gained Rouge's attention, though.

However, much to my dismay, she wasn't the only one with her eye on the obvious prize.

"Oooh," droned a mesmerized Bean from the opposite end of the open chamber, his eyes practically twinkling as he made grabbing motions with his gloves, "is this the shiny we're looking for?"

"Hide yourselves unless things get out of hand; I'll deal with this," I told the others quietly enough so that my cousin wouldn't hear. I made my bootsteps deliberately loud as I approached, momentarily distracting him from the allure of the scepter. I wouldn't call myself an actor, but I had to at least pretend that I'd come alone. "Hello again. Where are your buddies, Bean?"

The woodpecker shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, letting out a short laugh. "I dunno. Fang said to split up and look for shinies, and I sure as heck found one!" His gaze drifted back to the object in the minotaur's hand. "Isn't it pretty, Speedy?"

"Yes, yes, it's quite lovely," I replied dismissively, folding my arms and letting out a sigh, "by the way, I never did get back to you about that little proposition you made."

He tilted his head in confusion for a moment, but then recognition showed in his features. "Oh, right! I know the boss said to take care of you, but I dunno." He imitated my actions, which agitated me a little, though I didn't let it show. "I think you'd be a pretty good fit for the whole thing, given what you used to do."

If you've been wondering why I despise Bean while he seems to adore me, it's exactly because of that. He knows how to push my buttons without meaning to, and being reminded that I'm the former Kukku prince was still something of a sore spot, I'll admit. But even worse was his suggestion that I would ever want to go back to such a life when I'd finally taken the chance to leave it behind.

"I'm not that kind of bird anymore, Bean," I told him, "I may still take orders from some authority, but even so, I have more freedom than I did in the Empire. I'd need to know more about this 'Al' person before thinking of throwing in my lot."

"Hmm, I'm not sure, Speedy," he considered, once again glancing over at the minotaur model and what it was holding, "oh, how about this? You help me get the shiny, and I'll answer your questions!"

I groaned tiredly; if this was what it was going to take to get him to cooperate, so be it. Much as I loathed his company, I didn't wish to fight my cousin if it could be helped. I flew up to the top of the bull's fist and took hold of the scepter, planting my feet into the metal as I pulled upward. I didn't even get the chance to make it budge a few inches when I saw the metallic fingers grasping it close even tighter. Instinctively, I leapt away, which proved to be the right choice as the bull's other fist came in to swing at where I'd just been. What had once been a still statue shook off millennia of dust and grime, its eyes lighting up with a white light as it turned its head towards me.

"How about that?" Bean remarked, genuinely impressed by the whole deal and making me want to smack him upside the head.

The minotaur answered for me, waving its arm that held the scepter in a broad arc. The crystal at its tip lit up and shifted to a bright orange as it did, and in its trail, a handful of football-sized fireballs were unleashed. I moved to dodge a couple that came my way, only for them to home in on my position. With little choice, I balled up into an Aerial Spin Dash and barreled into the flaming spheres, gritting my teeth through the genuinely searing pain. Bean opted to pop a couple of bombs into existence and used them to counter the orbs that were after him, causing them to dissipate with the resulting explosions.

Now that a fight was inevitable, I was inwardly thankful that both Rouge and Tiara decided to stop hiding. The bat closed in on the animated figure's head, going into a feet-first dive to use a Screw Kick. Meanwhile, the bandicoot used her own Spin Dash to go for its legs, only to ping harmlessly off of one of them and uncurl after a moment. My partner had a similar result, not even moving the minotaur when she made contact, and forcing her to back off when it swiped at her. They tried again, and I attempted my own maneuvers without yet relying on my weaponry, but it was all effectively useless. Ancient though it was, the living statue was built to last and take heavy-duty hits seemingly without issue.

"Any bright ideas, Ace?" Rouge asked me as she flew beneath another sweeping blow, "I could use my Heart Bombs, but I didn't bring that many."

Right, because we weren't expecting to deal with something like this, or really most of what we'd come across. Fortunately for my comrades, I wasn't so lax with my preparations and made sure that I'd be ready for pretty much anything. Not to mention, we had another card up our sleeves in the form of my joker of a cousin.

"Bean, that thing is keeping the shiny from us!" I shouted at the woodpecker, appealing to his love of things like that, "make it..." I sighed and hesitated to continue, because I really didn't like complimenting him, even if the sentiments weren't actually legitimate. "...make it go boom with your awesome explosives."

Either unaware or uncaring of my facetiousness, Bean flashed me a thumbs-up and popped another bomb into existence in his other hand. "Don't worry, cuz, he won't be holding onto that thing for long!"

Well, whatever; at least I'd convinced him to ignore my allies for the moment. He lobbed his weapon at the minotaur's feet, the blast doing little more than scuffing the material of the statue, but that wasn't the aim. The ground beneath it collapsed a meter downward from the explosion and the weight of the creature, causing its legs to sink a little. Bean followed up by summoning even more bombs, each of them the size of a baseball, and chucked them in a loose volley. His ability might not have been as refined or controlled as my father's, but it was still quite formidable. Case in point, the minotaur was more than a little stunned as the payload peppered it, and some bits of metal started to peel away. The ladies and I capitalized on this and struck at the places where its armor was beginning to weaken in-between the explosions.

The bovine golem was hardly down for the count, however. It swung the scepter again, this time bringing about a powerful breeze that sent everyone flying for a moment. Bean retaliated with more of the same, but the bull once again used the item to shower the explosives with water, which then froze in the next instant. My cousin was disheartened at how his "precious" bombs were so easily beaten, which quickly turned to anger as he took to the air and homed in on the monster's weapon. The minotaur wasn't given time to cast another elemental attack, instead using its weapon as a makeshift bludgeon to try and knock Bean out of the air. He flew above the blow and threw a couple more bombs at close range before he landed again, completely unaffected by the force and heat of his own explosives. They made the thing's arm flinch, but it kept hold of the scepter, its fingers visibly tightening around it.

"Xekinesan, katapatetes!" boomed a voice that came from the construct as it raised the artifact up high, the gem there changing to an earthy green.

I was given no time to ponder why it was speaking in Modern Greek when a large portion of the ground below surged upwards. There was an eruption of stone and soil that threw Tiara and Bean off their feet, a couple sizable fragments striking and knocking Rouge and I out of the air as well. Not long after we hit the ground, the minotaur went into a charge with its head lowered, intent on goring us with its horns. It moved a lot more quickly than I'd anticipated, but not so fast that I was unable to get myself and my partner out of the way in time. Once we got clear, I aimed a Cutting Wave at the back of its legs, which managed to leave a noticeable gash on one. It wasn't slowed down in the slightest, though, immediately rounding on me and aiming the scepter my way as the crystal turned electric yellow. A rather broad bolt of lightning struck me almost immediately, causing my body to convulse despite the shielding my suit had to help protect against such attacks. Had it not been for that, though, I would have certainly been in much worse shape.

Even so, I toughed it out just long enough for Tiara to slam into the wound I'd given the beast, causing it to falter and take its aim off of me. I shook off the shock and slashed at the arm holding the scepter, which the minotaur just barely avoided, only to put it into the path of more of Bean's bombs. It attempted to freeze them, but a few managed to get through and cause a bit more damage around the joints. While it focused on him, Rouge circled around the back and Screw Kicked it in the shoulder, causing its grip to briefly loosen. Seeing a chance, I threw a Cutting Wave at its face, then zipped over its shoulder and used another to cleave into where the others had weakened it.

It succeeded in severing the steely limb, causing it to fall to the ground, still clutching the scepter. Now that it could no longer fend off our attacks, we each bombarded it with what had proven to be effective. While it certainly did its best to fight back, without those powers afforded to it by the artifact, it became easy pickings. We soon chipped away at its armor until we discovered the source of its power, which was a diamond-shaped zircon embedded in its chest cavity. The instant it was open to attack, I made to charge up another Shocking Blast, but instead enveloped myself in the energy and went into one last Aerial Spin Dash. Once its control device was shattered, the living statue fell to its knees and slumped over, its bright eyes going dark.

The hand holding the scepter likewise went limp, relinquishing its hold on the object. Bean was all too eager to snatch it up, grinning from ear to ear as he pounced over to what he believed was rightfully his. Tiara grabbed it first, however, and I could almost hear his beak clenching as his gaze shifted over to me.

"Hey cuz, tell your friend to give me the shiny," he told me with a dangerous edge in his voice.

It was a tone I'd rarely heard him use, but it was almost always for the same reason. Whenever Bean had his mind set on getting something, it was very difficult to convince him to give it up without things escalating.

"Not yet," I bargained, getting a surprised look from him, "oh, don't give me that face. I helped you get it from that construct, and I'll hand it over after you tell me what I want to know."

Bean didn't like my response, but he didn't make a move to attack, only fixing me with a hard glare and a smile that made me uneasy. "Oh, you mean Al? Sorry, I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to, because he hasn't told us anything besides getting rid of meddlers." I was even more livid now, having learned that I'd been wasting my time, but I didn't immediately leap to attack him. He shrugged and outstretched an upturned palm at the bandicoot. "Now, lady, my shiny."

"Yeah, how about no?" Tiara retorted, holding it tighter in both hands, "maybe I'll think about it if you let my father go."

The woodpecker tilted his head in confusion. "Huh? I don't know what you're talking about, toots. The guys and I weren't paid to do any kidnapping."

But the marsupial wasn't convinced, and neither was I, if we're being realistic. With what Tiara had told us about him, her old man had a lot going for him that their employer would want. In a heated moment, she swung the scepter like the construct had done before, and while not as impressive, she still got it to produce a decently big fireball. Bean hopped away and threw some explosives at her, but she wasn't caught flat-footed, rolling out of the way of the blasts. Rouge came in with both fists outstretched, yet she only managed to nick the other bird as he twisted his body in response. Reflexive as he was, my cousin could not outpace me, and I was on him before he knew what hit him, that being my fist. I'm not ashamed to admit that it felt rather good.

"You're being a real jerk, Speedy!" he snapped at me in a way only a Kukku relative could, both of his hands poofing a very large bomb into being, "I answered your question, now give me the shiny!"

He was a fool if he thought I'd honestly capitulate. "You gave me nothing, so you get nothing in return! And if you're going to keep getting in the way of my mission, then making it so you can't help the other Hooligans and your contractor takes priority!"

With how fickle my cousin could be, I couldn't tell if the shocked and hurt expression he put on in response to my short outburst was legitimate or not. Even if so, that wasn't the time to afford him sympathy. But, as things often seemed to go in these matters, Bean received his own chance at escaping the situation courtesy of a certain jerboa. Fang and his hoverbike swooped in from over the high walls of the outside chamber, releasing a couple of missiles while he took a few potshots at us. Reluctant though he was to abandon his precious treasure, the woodpecker flew up to join him, and while we avoided the sharpshooter's marks, they took the opportunity to retreat.

I was frustrated, but it wasn't a total loss. At the very least, we'd managed to prevent our prospective foes from getting access to what was clearly a powerful artifact. Perhaps not the one either of our parties were looking for, yet nonetheless, I felt a tad safer with it in our hands. While I had the subject on my mind, though...a

"No way! I grabbed it first, so I call dibs!" I heard Tiara arguing with Rouge, not surprising me in the slightest.

The bat was, of course, indignant at such a response. "I'm not asking for the whole thing, hun. I just want the pretty gem at the tip."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's how it makes magic happen," the bandicoot answered in an unimpressed tone

Rouge puffed her cheeks and then smirked as she glanced in my direction. "Well, what do you think, Ace? Should our friend get to keep the staff? Not sure how I feel about a civvie holding onto evidence."

I rolled my eyes, knowing that wasn't the real reason she was trying to win me over. She did have a point, but if Tiara was going to be tagging along with us for the duration of the mission, then it wouldn't be pragmatic for us to hinder her ability to defend herself.

"Let it go for now, Rouge," I responded, giving my limbs another stretch as I focused in the direction of our new destination, "I would rather she be able to contribute than stand to the side, if she's going to be so insistent. And if that helps her to better do so, then so be it." I shrugged at the pouting expression she gave me and shot Tiara a side-eye. "If the Commander gets on our case about it, then understand that it's out of our hands at that juncture." She nodded in understanding, thankfully. "But, for the time being, you can do what you want with it."

She sighed, obviously crestfallen, but she knew I wouldn't tolerate any shenanigans going on on my watch. Thus, I could be confident in the knowledge that she and the bandicoot weren't going to be at each other's throats for the moment. As for Tiara, she was both happy and a bit smug at having gotten her way with a reasonable compromise. How long she'd be able to keep that up was anyone's guess at the time.

(We also recorded the accounts and testimonies of others that got deeply involved in this incident.)

(You mean like Tiara and her father?)

(Yes. There was one other, however, that got roped into that whole ordeal without meaning or wanting to.)

When those G.U.N. agents showed up and Tiara went with them to investigate what was going on in the jungle, I didn't know what to do. Sure, she told me to take care of things, but there was a big problem there: I'd only been part of this whole sanctuary deal for a couple of weeks! All I knew how to do was follow orders from her or her dad, and now both of them had left me in charge of things! Well, Gazebo didn't, since he's missing and all, and that's bad, but Tiara did.

I had no prior managerial experience, nor was I ever much of a team leader in school or with my peers. It would've been better if someone like Lanolin was left in charge; at least she can keep her head together under pressure, even if she is a little bossy sometimes. Yeah, that's what I'll do! I'll just go find Lanolin and let her know what happened...maybe leave out the part about me being left in charge. Then she can step up and make sure everything stays on track until Tiara gets back, hopefully with her dad and those other guys.

But just as I was about to march off and find the sheep girl, I ran into a red Flicky with an orange belly, blue eyes, a few small bangs, and three spikes of "hair" in the back. It sounded angry and maybe a little afraid as it started chirping at me, waving its wings as if to gesture something. I took a moment to look around, but there wasn't anyone else where I currently was in camp. Go figure...

"What's wrong, little guy?" I asked.

I'm really sure what I expected, since it's not like I can understand Flickies, but I was still concerned. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how you look at it, the little bird seemed to get that. He flew in closer and tugged at my shirt with his beak, jerking his head to the northeast. Apparently, he wanted me to go with him, though if I remembered right, that was where the Diamond Dust Zone was, which presented a problem.

"Ah, I'd love to go with you," I tried to say, "but I'm not exactly dressed for the cold."

The Flicky...actually rolled his eyes at my response. I knew they were intelligent, but I didn't think they could be rude; Tiara told me they're always nice! He ignored my surprise and continued to insist on following, then made some sort of motion with his wings in regards to my clothes. My guess was it was something along the lines of, "that's good enough."

I didn't want to leave without telling anyone else, but Tiara and Gazebo both said that if a Flicky is frantic, it's something serious. After all, two G.U.N. agents had been brought in to help deal with whatever was going on; I'd call that pretty serious. And honestly, I really didn't want to go wherever this one was leading me...unless it's a cave. I wouldn't mind if I got to do some spelunking. So, reluctantly, I followed, not even the least bit aware of what I was truly getting myself into.