Freedom Dies With Me CHAPTER 4

The sun shone brightly through the windows of the Treehouse that day, a wonderful velvet-esque blanket of light cascading onto the nearby table. Everything was still, quiet and quaint; none of the treehouse's occupants were awake yet. Lilac had eventually walked back into bed and eventually managed to get some sleep, the nightmares and the Half-Zetis vanishing into the ether for the night. Carol and Milla too had fallen into deep and rewarding sleep, dreaming of their upcoming adventures across the world. Master was, at the moment, nowhere to be seen. There was a clanking sound as a gloved hand slammed onto the top board. It was Torque, who was climbing up the ladder to the Treehouse and was already dragging himself to the table that was set up near the kitchen.

"Hello?" Torque called out, helping himself to his feet, "Anyone awake?"

Torque sighed. Nothing. Guess the girls were heavy sleepers. Torque didn't want to just wake them, though. He knew he needed them as awake as possible to get through this adventure in one piece, and hopefully not one that was big and flat. His impulses had already doomed his captain and a good percentage of his friends to the endless void of death and he was...unwilling, to say the least, to lose anyone else. He turned to the doorway and quickly jumped in mild shock. Master was leaning against the doorframe, his eyes clasped shut and his arms crossed across his body. His snoring confirmed he was still asleep.

"...Master?" Torque asked, giving Master a quick poke. Master responded by jumping and losing his balance, quick babbling sounds escaping his throat. He stopped and straightened himself up.

"Oh, hey Torque..." Master yawned.

"Sorry about that," Torque quickly said, "It's just that...well, you were sleeping standing up."

"I do that sometimes," Master said, "Carol said I couldn't sleep on the sofa. Didn't want quills in the pillows, know what I'm saying?"

"...And you agreed?" Torque asked, looking a bit miffed.

"Well, let's put it this way..." Master said, a small grin visible below his scarf, "Quills in wooden planks? WAY harder to remove. Anyway, what're you doing up here?"

"Just...waiting for Lilac and the others to wake up," Torque shrugged, "We've got a lot to do today."

"Yeah..." Master sighed, scratching his head, "Gotta get the Kingdom Stone back from Mayor Zao and stop it from getting into Brevon's hands."

"I don't know why you guys bother with that Brevon guy..." Blade said, somehow yawning also, "He's small time compared to what we've seen."

"Oh! Actually, that's something I wanted to ask you two about," Torque said, "About last night. Where you asked about Brevon's blade. I heard you mumble a few things. Like this thing about...War Lilac, I think."

Master's eye shrunk in shock, "Uh, what? No, uh, I have NO idea what you're talking about!"

"Don't bother, kid," Blade sighed, "He heard us. He's curious. He wants to know."

Master sighed too and arched his head up at Torque, "So. You really wanna know, huh?"

"I do," Torque said, "You're not from this dimension. Hedgehogs like you are rarely seen on this planet and are often hated when they are. Which isn't helped by the fact that you look nothing like an Avalonian Hedgehog. And you do seem to go on about Chaos and Master Emeralds a lot. Strictly Mobian artefacts. You seem to know little about this adventure but a lot about everything else. So, why're you here?"

"...Well, you've told me everything about yourself..." Master said, getting off the doorframe with an audible crunching sound, "Guess I have to do the same. I don't suppose you want some tea?"

"What, Red Leaf Tea?" Torque asked.

"Ah, Chaos no!" Master responded, visibly repulsed by the thought of it, "No, that stuff sucks. I mean Earl Grey. Normal stuff."

"Huh...okay," Torque shrugged. Master walked off into the nearby kitchen and it did not take long for the sound of boiling water to fill the area. They soon ceased and, a good few minutes later, Master walked out of the kitchen with two mugs of pale tea. He gave one to Torque, who sipped it, "Thanks. Been a long time since I've had this kind of blend."

"Yeah, every universe has their own preferred tea type," Blade said, slightly irritated, "Earl Grey, Darjeeling, Black, White, Green, Blue, Orange...you just get sick of it, you know? So we keep a bag of Earl Grey teabags on our person at all times. Strange custom, but we're happy about it. Well, he's happy about it."

"I'm a United Islander," Master shrugged, "I kinda have to. Fills people with a sense of comfort to see someone of my...position drink tea instead of water. Anyway...you want to know what's gong on with us. And I'll tell you..." he stopped, placing his mug on the floor and digging a photo out of his pocket, "You're right, I'm not from this universe. I'm from Universe 112233C, an offshoot of the U123 line of parallel universes. The difference in question being...well, the fact that I exist within it. And did...things...well, I'm not from around here, no. All things said and done, I'm not even sure how I got here. I was relaxing in what they call the Boomiverse with a few friends and my girlfriend. We were studying this portal that had just opened in the middle of the village square. No-one was allowed in it, just in-case the area beyond it was uninhabitable. And it...kind of was. You know what a planet on the brink of dissolving into dust is like, don't you Torque?"

"I...I do..." Torque said, his voice wavering as he stared deep into his half-empty mug of tea, "Brevon has laid waste to so many places across space and time...just seeing the faces of the downtrodden mashed into paste for to sake of a madman's lust for power he has no right to own...it's sickening."

"Testify, comrade," Master sighed, "Large, blood red skies looking over hideous amounts of debris, blood and dust and Super Jam everywhere. All I remember was some hand reaching out of that portal and there I was in a hellish wasteland. I sought the nearest library to see what was going on. This group called the Red Scarves, far different to what we've seen in this timeline, had been keeping notes and trying to record history with faulty memories. They say that, in 2015, this Warrior turned up, pulling a meteor..."

"Well, meteor-sized spaceship."

"...Out of orbit and slammed it directly into the ground. Straight up obliterated one of the three major cities on this part of the planet and encased the others in a dust cloud. The Warrior went on a four year rampage, slaughtering all in her wake."

"...And who was this Warrior?" Torque asked. Master said nothing, instead giving the photo to Torque, who went silent with the shock, "L-Lilac?"

"War Lilac, specifically," Blade said, allowing Torque to absorb all the details, "Killer of her own kind, went on a massive killing spree just to see us again, called us imposters straight after doing so...our new best friend."

"So..." Torque asked, getting things clear in his head, "You're here, because unless you do something about this, Lilac's gonna go insane and just start offing people without pause?"

"Yes. I don't know how or why, but apparently I get involved with her descent into madness. And because of that, I now have to do something about it. I was trusted to do so by the future Carol herself."

"So that's why you asked me about Brevon's own dagger," Torque said, things now quickly slotting into place, "Because Brevon's involved somehow."

"War Lilac had Brevon's blade on her when she met us," Blade explained, "Pretty good skill with it, too. In fact, too good. Nicked Master in the stomach and even with my healing powers going full pelt the freakin' thing refuses to heal."

"Brevon's blade eternally bleeds with the blood of the millions he's wronged," Torque said, his tone taking on the same informative tone as it had done the night before, "So much of it, in fact, that it's somehow given it new properties; never stops bleeding, can cleave through almost anything, hurts like hell and can inflict wounds that overpower even the strongest of medicines. Just so the victims stay alive longer."

"Great..." Master sighed, "So, this will never heal?"

"It will, in time," Torque said, his tone returning to normal, "But try not to do anything too extensive for the time being. If that wound opens up again, you're probably done for."

"Well, it's going to now you've said it..." Blade snarked, "I know how this works."

"Look, don't worry about me," Master said, finishing the last drop of his tea, "While my mission is important, it's nowhere near as important as yours. There's no point in saving Lilac if there's no world for her to change for the better."

"Good point," Torque said, "We have to stop Brevon above all else. THEN we can turn attention to keeping Lilac sane. How were the others?"

"Carol was the leader of the Red Scarves during that time period," Master said, "War Lilac probably killed Spade, so she took over. A wounded, jaded, empty person. No hope and no soul. As for Milla...huh. We didn't actually see Milla. I mean, there was a voice in Brevon's blade which sounded a little bit..." Master stopped, his face becoming twisted and pained, burying his head in his hands, "Oh, GOD no..."

Both stopped and jumped at a sudden ringing sound. The phone just on the table near the window was active and ringing like crazy. Both stopped, frozen in their seats, until a "Coming!" sounded off from down the hall. It was Lilac, rushing headlong towards the room and zooming past Master and Torque both. She grabbed the phone and put it to her ear, "H-Hello?"

"Hello. Uh, this is General Gong..." came a muffled voice from the other side of the phone, "We were looking over your skills from yesterday and thought, well, we might need your help."

"Help?" Lilac asked, "What for?"

"Just...we think we may have use for your...talents," General Gong stammered across, "Uh, meet us in the Lavender Fields just outside your valley. And come soon!"

The phone beeped and clicked, endlessly whirring afterwards. Lilac put the phone down, "Strange...oh! Morning guys!"

"Morning, Lilac," Master said, putting his mug away.

"So, was that General Gong?" Torque asked.

"Yeah," Lilac said, smiling as much as ever, "Said he wants to meet us in the Lavender Fields. Got a proposition for us."

"I dunno..." Master said, sound sceptical, "Sounds like a trap."

"Probably...but it's not like we can just wait around either. I'm gonna go wake the others up, you two get ready!" Lilac was beaming like the moon and was soon rushing back into the bedroom to wake up the still snoozing Carol. Torque paused, looking at the photo of War Lilac for a final time before giving it back to Master.

"Those eyes...what could've happened to someone as innocent and pure as Lilac to make her that thing?"

"Trust me, I've got a few ideas..." Master sighed, "Better get back to your tent and prepare. Oh, and Torque?" Torque stopped mid-turn, "Make sure Lilac doesn't know I'm here to save her sanity. I think she passed it off as a joke last time, and I have the horrible feeling this adventure is going to put a lot of pressure on her. The last thing she needs is the idea that she might turn into KillCrazy.exe. Got it?"

"You have my word," Torque said in his usual stoic tone.

"Thanks Torque. You're a good man," Master sighed, "Kinda wish there were more people like you across the multiverse..."

Torque gave a final smile and soon vanished down the ladder.

===============
5 Minutes Later
===============

"Huh. I was wondering when you'd be awake..." Torque said quietly. It was about one in the afternoon, and the four adventurers were standing in front of him in a line; the smiling Lilac, the yawning Carol, and adorable Milla and the silent Master.

"You can blame Carol for that," Lilac said, "She sleeps for like, half the day sometimes."

"Totally worth it!" Carol said, smiling through a yawn, "What's going on, anyway?"

"We got a call from that General Gong fellow," Master explained, "He's going to help us in some manner."

"When is he coming?" Torque asked, feigning some slight ignorance.

"Actually, we have to go meet him," Lilac explained, "He'll be waiting for us north of here, in the Lavender Fields."

"Perfect!" Torque said happily, "I fixed my radar last night, so we can use it to find the meeting point."

"Great!" Lilac called out, "Ready, people?"

"All set!" Carol called out.

An excited Milla squealed out, "To adventure!"

The group then turned tail and headed into the distance, going north to the Lavender Fields.

======================
In the Lavender Fields
======================

Well, Torque had to give them some credit; the Lavender Fields were...well, Lavender. Well, more a deep and soulful purple, but still. The rocks and rich vegetation of the lower parts of the Valley still permeated the area, however, and cherry blossom trees were almost everywhere. Some sharp bones were laid scattered across the plains, for reasons best left unexplained. Torque was in his Shellduck disguise as the moment, and while he knew it was needed to 'blend in' as it were, he hated it; heavy, bulky and somewhat ill-fitting, but it was the best he had with what little he could scavenge from his maiden ship before being forced to escape. The screams...oh the screams of his crewmates...

He snapped out of it as a beeping sound met his ears. His radar was going off like mad, the screen a glowing green with circles and blips of light everywhere. He checked thoroughly.

"According to the radar, we seem to be at the right location..." he mumbled, staring blankly at the screen,

"Umm...I think it's a little off..." Carol sighed, looking straight at the ribs on the floor, "I think you might've used just a little too much percussive maintenance..."

Milla paid no attention to these proceedings. She was looking around, smelling the air. Around them was a sweet scent that tickled the young hound's noise, causing it to wriggle as she laughed alongside it. Its silent laughter ceased, as another scent soon met her nose. Something darker, less sweet...wait, never mind, MORE sweet. Like some kind of chilli sauce. She looked up, back across where the group had just come; above them was a small cliff of some kind, and the scent was coming from there.

"This way!" Milla cried out, looking up towards the cliff face. Lilac turned around to see it too.

"Up there?" Lilac asked, "How're we gonna get up there?"

"Easy!" Milla said sweetly. Before anyone could react, she jumped straight up into the air and did something most peculiar; she started flapping every available appendage at her disposal and, with every flap of an arm, leg and ear, she ascended. The little hound hovered up over the cliff face and was gone, briefly pausing to look at the four left below her, "Come on!"

"...She can fly?" Carol asked incredulously.

"Oh my Chaos, that was so cool!" Master belted out also, leading to a quick glance from the others. He quickly cleared his throat, "Ahem! I mean, uh...impressive."

Lilac was the first to climb up there. An odd aura surrounded her and she quickly zipped upwards into the air, leaving only a shockwave of sound behind. Carol quickly explained to Master that it was a Dragon Boost, some kind of magic pseudo-spring move that Lilac had trained since she had first met her, before digging her claws into the wall and climbed up that way. Torque was next, using rockets in his shoes to ascend, two shining tongues of flame erupting out of his boots as he sailed over the cliff too.

"Ptth. Showoffs..." Blade grumbled. Master ignored him and thrust Blade towards the cliff face. Once more, Blade split into multiple segments and extended, clasping the very edge of the cliff with the tip, before Master jumped and retracted the segments to pull himself up the cliff and over its edge. Grinning at this show of powers, he quickly joined the others at the meeting place. Alongside Lilac and Carol and the others, there was also General Gong and another blue bird guard opposite them. Two yellow planes were sat either side of the meeting place too, pristine but inactive.

"Well, that hound of yours sure has a good nose..." General Gong said., bowing, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am General Gong of Shang Tu."

"Yes, we know," Master growled, "We had the...pleasure of meeting you yesterday. Where's your royal quisling, Miss Neera-Li?"

"She couldn't make it," General Gong explained, "Said she had some work to do back at the base. Anywho, the Royal Majister has a proposal. We'd like you to help us get the Stone back. It's in the greedy little hands of Mayor Zao, in our neighbour city of Shang Mu."

"I'm guessing the next city is Shang Zu?" Blade snarked, "Or maybe Shang Tsung?"

"Why do you need our help?" Carol asked, slightly annoyed, "Don't you have soldiers and spies and stuff?"

"And tanks and robots and...VHS tapes..." the General sighed, "We wanna try and resolve this thing peacefully if we can. No good starting a war over something like this. So we're sending in a neutral party to negotiate. Given the, uh, current state of affairs in Shuigang, they're out of the picture."

"Aww, I really wanted it to be Shang Tsung!" Blade moped.

"I see," Torque said, nodding, "So you need us to fly to Shang Mu and convince Zao to give the Stone back."

"Precisely!" General Gong nodded too, a boisterous nod at that.

"Yeah, like that's gonna work!" Master called out sarcastically, "Let's just toodle on up to the madman who just stole the most powerful artefact in the known world and just ask him to return it. Pretty please?" His mocking tone did not amuse anyone, but Lilac stood forward anyway.

"Let's give it a shot!"

"Right then!" Torque called out, walking towards one of the planes with a good tone of uneasiness in his voice, "I assume we'll be taking one of these planes..."

"Yeah..." General Gong said, "You DO know how to fly one, right?"

"Of course I do, heh heh!"

"Good..." the General said finally, "When you get there, head straight for the City Hall. We need to be on our way back to HQ, so we're relying on you to get this done fast."

"You can count on us, General!" Lilac called out, "We'll get the Stone back before you can say 'Dinner for Three!"'

"Quack!" said the duck.

===============
Some Time Later
===============

It took another five or so minutes, but soon everyone was in the plane. Torque was in front, wearing his goggles and manning the wheel. Carol was next, wielding goggles of her own. Lilac was after her, perfectly sandwiched in the middle, while Milla was stuck in the back, looking out the side like an excited little puppy. Master, on the other hand, had attached himself to the plane's tail wing.

"Are you SURE you want to sit there?" Milla asked in concern, "I mean, you're not in the cockpit and you're kinda close to the exhaust!"

"I'll be fine!" Master called out, "I used to do this all the time! An old friend of mine taught me how to do it! Right before he went mad...uh...Torque? Quick aside; you REALLY do know how to fly a plane, r-right? It's just that, I'm a bit...well, I'm not acrophobic, but I'm kinda...uh...I mean, come on, you can fly a spaceship!"

"Flying a spaceship is easy," Torque quickly said, "Flying a more primitive plane is...less so. And landing the plane...uh..."

Master gulped, a visible look terror spread across what was visible of his face. Blade sounded slightly amused;

"Well, we're going to die..."

=================
A Good Hour Later
=================

Tyres squealing. Burning rubber. Brakes active. Coming to a stop. Thank Chaos. Torque's plane was finally coming to an abrupt and yet so welcome stop. Master breathed a sigh of relief, but he dared not let go of the plane. To him, there were no sights, no sounds, no wondrous views of above the see he had wanted to see since he was a little MasterSelf. Or, at least that's what he thought he wanted. To him, it was a black void the entire journey, with only the sounds of the plane's engine, the rushing air and the others voices for company. The voices spoke up again.

"We're here!" came Torque's voice, a bit shaky but otherwise stable.

"Man, that took a while..." Carol sighed, her voice wavering much more frequently, "Torque, how can you fly a spaceship but not a plane?"

"As I said," Torque explained, "A plane is rather...primitive compared to a starship. No thrusters, no blasters, no gyros, just an engine and some clever exploitation of physics. As Blade said, your technology is strangely basic, even for Royal inventory."

"I know that!" Lilac called out, her voice the exact same as it always was, "So...let's see...we've landed in Shang Mu, as planned. Best guess, we're in the public park. Just go over those hills there and we'll make it into the edges of the city centre. Then Mayor Zao's HQ will only be a short walk away."

"Yay!" Milla called out, before quickly stopping, "Wait, why haven't we just landed right next to his HQ?"

"Sorry kiddo, Zao isn't THAT dumb," Carol sighed, "Dude's got cannons everywhere, makes stealing from his vaults a royal pain. He's got more than enough weapons to blast us out the sky. A master of anti-air combat."

"Speaking of..." Lilac said quickly. Master felt a quick poke on his nose, "Mr Master Guy? We're here! You can open your eyes now. You made it!"

Master slowly opened his eyes, as instructed. The others were staring at him from the plane's cockpit. He cleared his throat and stopped gripping onto the plane, revealing the dent marks he had left during the ride, and climbed off the vehicle. His voice was slightly shaky and he himself was twitching quite a bit, but he talked anyway, "I-I knew that...I just, uh...was getting some sleep, you know?"

"...Sure, Master Guy..." Lilac said, looking doubtful for a few seconds, "Hey, quick question. Have you got another name I could call you by? It's just that calling you Master'll get a little...awkward."

"Well, some across the Multiverse have become accustomed to calling him 'Traveller'," Blade said, "Since, you know, that's what he does."

"...Traveller..." Lilac mulled it over, before smiling, "Yeah, that's a better name!"

"Better than Master, at least," Carol sighed, "Let's get going! That Kingdom Stone won't re-steal itself, you know!"

"Carol's right," Torque said, adjusting his shell as he spoke, "Let's get moving!"

Torque, Milla, Carol and Lilac soon ran off. Master quickly turned to Blade, a look of confusion spread across his eyes, "Traveller?"

"What?" Blade retorted, "You like the name, too! It's not like you can trust your own. Master T. MasterSelf, what kind of cringe-worthy ham and cheese was that?!"

"I'm sorry!" Master called out, "It was completely off the top of my head! Oh well. At least I know the story itself will still refer to me by Master. Helps keep things simple."

"Please don't break the fourth wall yet, we're barely starting the third stage. Besides, that's my job. Look on the bright side, the further we get away from the Master label, the further away we get from-"

"Traveller!" Carol called out, "Haul some butt, why don't you!"

"...Why do people always talk over us when we discuss him?" Blade whined.

"I dunno, but it's probably for the best that they DON'T know unless...he shows up. Got it?" Master said, to which Blade made a nodding motion, "Good. Let's wreck some scrubs!"

"...Seriously?"

Master ignored this and ran off to where the others were. The four were running quite quickly, running past the jaded green grasses that made up the edge of the city, before finally scampering over the hill to see over the boundaries of the park. The rest of Shang Mu was now in full view, and it was impossibly beautiful; deep red buildings of a wondrous design sprouted just everywhere. Bright lights illuminated every square inch of the city, the massive stature it was, and the slabbed paving under their feet was well-cut and clean. No chewing gun or spilled bananas here. In the distance were cars and lanterns, a flame-licked orange haze that brought more life into the city. Granted, a lot of it was spoiled by the smell of burning fuel and the statues of this garishly garbed midget bloke everywhere. Still, this Mayor Zao may have been a strange and stupid fellow, but what a place to rule.

"Damn, son..." Blade said soulfully as Master wiped a tear from his eye, "That's one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen."

"I'm with you..." Torque too had an astonished look on his face, "The culture, the atmosphere, the lighting, just the look of it all..."

"Good views, huh?" Lilac teased, looking and sounding almost proud, "This place is in all the travel books. Great food, entertainment, shopping..."

"So of course it's just a deathtrap underneath just like anywhere else, right?" Master sighed. Lilac nodded, "Of course."

"Well, a little help from yours truly helps speed progress along. Zao is a coward, after all, but he's rich one."

"...I recognise that voice!" Carol growled, teeth bared.

"Yes..." Master sniffed the air, "It sounds like a certain Red Scarf! Spade! Reveal yourself!"

"Gladly..." came that old sneer again. The white wolf stepped down from the ceiling of a nearby decoration and landed right in front of the group, Three-Point, both feet and left hand. Very impressive. He leaned against the nearby lamppost and crossed his arms, "You just had to follow me here, didn't you?"

"How did you know we were coming?" Carol asked.

"You seemed pretty determined to get that Stone of yours back," Spade shrugged, "It's like I'm staring at a couple of books over here."

"So you're the thief that Lilac was talking about!" Torque said, his voice angered and almost insulted.

"I've been called worse..." another shrug and another smug grin from Spade.

"Where is it?!" Lilac demanded, arching forward into a combat pose.

"Don't bother. I've already finished the job. It's time for my brother to play his hand."

"Brother?" Torque asked.

"Prince Dail of Shuigang," Lilac quickly explained, "Same father for a king, but different mothers."

"Really?!" Torque called out, sounding quite impressed.

Master assumed a combat stance, digging out his handgun, "Royal Blood, eh? In that case, why are you leading a group of glorified murderers? Why not just rub your money into the faces of the masses like everyone else?"

"Because I have no intentions to rule that little kingdom," Spade spat back, seemingly disgusted by the question, "I'd rather kill for my fellows than be just another crazy royal leader for some over-his-head vigilante like yourself to kill. For the greater good, as you say. I get the impression you've seen a lot of my brother's kind over the years. When he finds the man who murdered our father, there will be no mercy for the kingdom responsible."

"We know who's responsible!" Lilac called out. Spade grumbled.

"Nice try."

"Will you just hold on for a minute and let us explain?!" Carol seethed, "Or are we gonna have to beat some sense into you?"

"No thanks!" Spade growled, grabbing his exploding cards from before, "I won't be thrown off with your lies again! You made a grave mistake betraying my group the last time around."

"Look, let's not go through this again!" Master called out, "For the final time, just calm down and let us explain ourselves. There's no need for this pointless shouting and fighting."

"Perhaps..." Spade said, "But I have no time for you. You're a hanger-on, that's all you are. But... a hanger-on with the skills of a warrior. Perhaps when this is all done, you could join my Red Scarves. You've already got the initials down. The clothing and the murderous gleam in your eye..."

"Shove it!!" Master growled, "I'm not some greedy killer! Not anymore!"

"Wait...anymore?" Lilac quietly mumbled.

Master's grip on his gun tightened and he raised it up to full height. Before he could get a shot off, however, some bright light came screaming out the sky towards the heroes. It struck the ground in front of them, baring through the pristine rock like one would put a knife through a meringue. Everyone jumped back, the heroes landing in a crumpled heap, while Spade lurched backwards and then dashed away, leaving only a faint green image of himself in his place. Torque was the first out of the pile and soon looked up at the laser's origin. It was a large, domed flying machine, held aloft by four rotating rockets revolving around a ring mounted in the middle of the machine. The laser was still emitting and slowly moving towards the group.

"It's Serpentine!" Torque called out, "Looks like Brevon's found as after all! Everyone split up! We'll meet up by the mall, it's right next to Zao's HQ!"

"Got it!" Lilac called out, "Carol, Milla, go around the left! Master, Torque, do the same with the right! I'll go straight on!"

The others nodded and soon began to book it into the distance, to look over and race though the slowly shredded beauty of Shang Mu.

===================
Three Minutes Later
===================

Milla was scared, there was no denying that. But she knew she had to press on. For Lilac and Carol and certainly Torque. She was always one in the past for simply lounging around and watching from a distance, playing with whatever was in the sewers of Shang Tu, keeping the monstrous creatures and robots at bay. Not anymore though. She had to take action against this...whatever it was. Granted, it's not like she was at that strange meeting all the way through, but she had a good idea of what was going on regardless; this madman called Lord Brevon was killing his way across the galaxy and the Kingdom Stone was to be kept out of his claws at every possible opportunity. Simple. Sort of.

Milla took careful notice at the three at the meeting; Lilac was sitting on a red toolbox, sitting silently, taking in all the details with no change of facial expression. Carol was sat on an identical red toolbox next to her, looks of worry and content splashed at random across her face. And finally was Master, hunched over a table in the strangest possible position. He almost never looked Torque in the eye, just staring down at the floor in silent and haunted contemplation. Perhaps he thought this was nothing to him? If this Brevon was any worse than those old mean Shang Mu soldiers...

Milla stopped, stifling a quick yelp as a sudden laser almost caught her jacket. It certainly LOOKED like Brevon was going to be worse than those Shang Tu people, as his robots were EVERYWHERE. Then again, Milla had heard from what little gossip she could catch from sewer workers that Mayor Zao was rich enough to employ smart engineers to design robots for him. And it wasn't like she couldn't disagree with them; she had seen the robotic claws attached to the base of the truck within the Temple yesterday. It's kind of why she followed it to Carol and that Master/Traveller guy anyway. The robot above her looked like some kind of traffic light, with three eyes that were even now firing lasers at Milla. She dodged to the left, skidding onto the grass as she did, before leaping up and grabbing the robot in question, throwing it head-first towards another enemy that was shaped like sort of fireworks dispenser rebuilt for combat. Both exploded in a fireball, flinging bright red fireworks into the air. They exploded soon, sending a crackling sound throughout the sky. The robots elsewhere in the city HAD to have seen that, which Milla took as a blessing and ran off towards the mall as planned.

These robots were dangerous, no doubt about that, but luckily for Milla she had a secret up her sleeve. For as long as she could remember, she was able to interact with the invisible energies around her, manipulate them towards the creation of what could only be described as blocks of pure energy. As Milla ran, she could see more robots on the horizon, so it was time for another one of those blocks. Hands held above her head, Milla concentrated and felt the familiar and comforting sensation of the air above her changing, swirling, forming. Soon, a bright green cube materialised into her hands and she threw it with perfect accuracy. The heavy block sailed through the air with all the grace a block of energy can and smashed sidefirst into the the tank-like robot. The robot exploded, sending its singled-eye pilot flying off into the distance. Satisfied, Milla dashed forward and placed both hands before her. At the final moment, a green shield suddenly swooped into reality and slammed into another traffic light robot, causing its demise and the parts of it spilling onto the other robot, destroying that one too. Happy, Milla grinned and ran off, stumbling along on all four limbs and flying through the city as much as possible. Every now and again came a few sets of lanterns that bended upwards and connecting to the odd part of the city's decorational architecture, which Milla would follow up and around the arches until she finally hit street level.

At street level, Milla soon came across some kind of small shopping area, lined with buildings and more of these pretty floating lanterns. Their dotted locations blared out a rich yellow light on the scenery and doubtlessly enriched the experience for late-night shoppers. Milla looked to the right and noticed Lilac just standing around, catching her breath. She was quite footsore and was mildly wounded, with more of those red leaves wrapped around her arms and legs as a sort of makeshift bandage. Milla had encountered little of those leaves in the past; in fact, the only time she ever came close to them was when some bigshot's attempt to synthesize the leaves' medical abilities into a drink form failed and his company dumped the entire lot into the sewers. Guess that explained that giant fish monster she had to fight before she even got to the temple.

Milla quickly approached Lilac, calling out, "Lilac! I'm over here!" all the while.

Lilac looked up and grinned, "Milla! How're you holding up?"

"I'm fine..." Milla said, screeching to a halt just beside the dragon, "It's taken a while, but I'm here!"

"Me too. Those bots Brevon and Zao are employing hit hard, don't they? Good thing I had enough of those red leaves to knock even General Gong out. Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Good..." Lilac sighed. She quickly looked around before turning back to Milla, "We have to keep moving, Milla. Zao's HQ is just across this mall. We can check it out later, but for now we have to move. Right? Okay, let's mo-"

"Hold it right there, you sparkly twit!"

Milla gasped quickly in response and spun around fast enough to catch even Lilac off guard. Behind them was a snake in power armour and a helmet, pointing some kind of laser pistol at them. Lilac studied the creature, and it was indeed Serpentine from before. His hands were wrapped in fresh bandages and his laser guns were new and bigger, baring bright blue glows within the barrels. Lilac looked shocked for a short while, but then something seemed to click within her and her mood worsened.

"Wait...what did you just call me?!"

"Mindless creatures..." Serpentine growled, holding his gaze as steady as his guns, "You think you can just walk into this conflict, don't you? Well, I have news for you; this isn't your fight!"

Lilac quickly went on the offensive, "It was the moment you brought it to our homeworld!"

"Y-Yeah!" Milla blurted out, looking quite scared, "What she said!"

"So,..the duck man couldn't keep his mouth shut..." Serpentine growled. He advanced, both guns pointed forwards and a devilish grin across his face, "Well, I hope he realises that he just cost you your life! When I drag you before Lord Brevon, you will beg for your life before the end of the hour! Prepare for combat!"

"Lilac..." Milla whimpered, "Maybe we should run..."

"Relax..." Lilac said in a relaxed tone, "This Snake Man is a joke. Just gotta blast his hands and we should be fi-"

She stopped, a laser bolt to the shin sending her crashing to the ground. She snapped out a pained yelp before getting up and looking at Serpentine. He had both guns drawn and was firing rapidly, pelting the area with a hailstorm of blue and purple lights that exploded on contact with the ground. Lilac shielded her eyes, awaiting the stinging pain of the blaster bolts, but a sudden warbling sound and sensation stopped her. Milla had jumped in front of her and, groaning with the strain, had formed a shield directly in front of the two upon which the lasers and bolts just bounced off. One of them even collided with Serpentine's tail and caused him to let his guard down in an attempt to fan out the opening flames. Lilac marvelled at this obscenely good fortune and charged forward, leaving Milla to catch her breath. The hound fell onto her backside and the shield ceased, causing a ripple to send a spike of green energy towards the snake. It struck him again in the chest and caused him to stumble, allowing Lilac to rush in and swipe her hand towards the creature's side.

The attack hit and the young dragon followed up with an uppercut that lead into a shoulder grab, hoisting her above the snake. Then, in the air she delivered a swift kick that managed to hit Serpentine right in the chest, flooring both fighters. Serpentine was up first and slithered over to the floored Lilac, giving a quick smack with his guns that dragged her up and onto her feet. She threw more kicks into his general direction, which Serpentine managed to dodge or block with minimal effort, before wrapping his tail around Lilac's legs and tripping her up. He moved in to strike the girl while she was falling, but she quickly dodged out of the second tail swipe and quickly grabbed one of her two tendrils. With the long tendril in hand she swiped it diagonally across the snake, spinning the whipped snake around to be struck again with a kick to the back. The snake got back up and lunged forward with his guns. Lilac, in a fit of impressive reflexes, grabbed the snake's right gun and pushed it away, sending the incoming chuck of metal zooming past her head. The weapon fired, sending a light blue bolt of energy into nothing in particular, while Lilac's ear began to scream in agony just as much as she was. She staggered, half-deaf and head ringing like crazy, while Serpentine followed up with a whipping notion from his own tail that sent Lilac tumbling onto her back.

Then, just as Serpentine went in for the kill, a block of green energy smacked into him, sending him off balance. Lilac looked up to see Milla running towards them, holding another block in her hands, "Lilac! Get him into the air!"

Lilac complied and quickly grabbed the stumbled snake, sending a powerful kick right into his backside and propelling him into the air. Then, as he began his descent, Milla springboared off Lilac's head and thrust the cube in front of her. It narrowed, then moaned with a deafening noise, before letting loose what could only be described as a giant green laser. The snake, caught point blank in this devastating beam, was pushed screaming into the pavement, creating a crater as he laid to rest. The beam ceased and Milla landed with a panted and pained gasp next to Lilac. Serpentine, stuck in the crater, was unconscious.

"...Darn, Milla..." Lilac panted, arched over in pain, "What WAS that?"

"...I don't know..." Milla panted too, "I've been able to do that since I was a child. I've been practising it in the sewers for years."

"Well..." Lilac grinned, tussling the hound's wild hair, "Look who's little miss badbutt, huh?"

"Thank you!" Milla giggled, "But, shouldn't we get going?"

"No need!" came another voice from high up in the air. It was Carol's voice, mixed in with some heavy wind sounds. Both girls looked up to see Torque's plane, its yellow paintjob scraped away a little, with Torque at the helm and Carol in the co-pilot's seat. Sitting behind her was Master, damaged and wounded but seemingly quite content.

"Carol?" Lilac asked in astonishment, "Where did you come from?"

"It's all Traveller's fault, as usual," Carol said in a bizarrely endearing way, "He ran back to the plane and managed to activate this kinda 'auto-pilot' to fly the plane with no troubles at all. Said he didn't want to fight his way through the mall and risk running into the snake again, so he picked us up on the way!"

"What do you mean 'auto-pilot'?" Lilac asked.

"Well..." Master looked a bit sheepish, "Let's just say there's a large, sort of Blade shaped hole in the dashboard now."

"Seriously?" Lilac called out in fatigue, "That thing can fly planes, too?"

"Not really!" came Blade's voice from some invisible part of the plane, "I'm less of an auto-pilot and more of a co-pilot for the Little Green Man here! I'll help him set this junker down to pick you guys up!"

It shuddered wildly, but the plane eventually landed with a clang, The plane's passengers clambered out to get close to Lilac and Milla, with an unearthly shunting as Master dragged Blade out of the dashboard.

"You two look kind of out of shape," Torque said, "What got you guys?"

"That snake guy from the start of this adventure..." Lilac sighed, rubbing her stinging horn, "He got in our way, threatened to kill us, called me a sparkly twit. So we had to do battle and take him down. S'when I learnt that Milla here is a superdog."

"Superdog?" Carol asked, "How so?"

"Well, if I hold my hands above my head and concentrate REALLY hard..." Milla said, putting her hands above her head, "I can make these block thingies out of thin air. Watch!" she went silent and the air above her hummed with energy. Two small orbs formed and quickly spiralled around each other, before finally combining and expanding to form a giant green cube.

"Wow..." Torque said, sounding quite impressed, "Never seen something like THAT before..."

"I have..." Blade said, "Looks like Milla here is a Sira."

"A Sira?" Carol asked.

"Some kind of folklore creature," Lilac explained, "I've read about it at the Shang Tu Library. Every now and then, a being is born with extraordinary, incredibly destructive powers. There can only be about four of them alive at any one point, but a lot of them were abandoned at birth because their powerful abilities were seen as bad omens."

"No wonder the poor kid spent her life in the sewers..." Blade tutted.

"Wha?" Milla went white with shock, "How did you know that?"

"Snatch a couple of records from that General Gong fellow and you can see just about anything from their security feed," Master shrugged.

"There's more, too," Lilac said, "These powers are...well, powerful. So much so, in fact that they actually hamper the Sira's physical state. Not in any real noticeably visible way, but they tend to be more...fragile."

"Well..." Milla admitted, "I do tend to lose my breath and get hurt easily."

"Nothing a bit of proper training can't fix," Master said, "Just have to find the Mayor and take back the...Kingdom Stone."

"Yeah, we sorta forgot about that," Carol looked sheepish, "Sorry, Torque."

"It's fine," Torque sighed, "We're close. Just go through the mall and-"

"Not so fast, Commander!" came a hissing scream. The group turned around to see Serpentine once again. He had dragged himself out of the crater and, a look of anger that would scare the devil himself spread across his face, was now aiming both lasers at the group. Master had instantly stood in front of the three girls as a sort of shield and Torque was inching towards his own blaster. The snake spoke again, "If you're searching for the stone, you might wanna look up!"

The group indeed looked into the distance. To their horror, a bunch of green, wooden airships were screaming their way through the skies. Small black sphere were falling out of cannons and smashing into the city with terrifying accuracy and speed, leaving explosions and violent fires in its wake. The group looked over it in abject horror as Shang Mu erupted into flames, silent and unmoving. Master snapped out of his shocked state and dashed towards Serpentine, holding him in a choke hold with one hand and jabbed his gun against the snake's head with the other.

"What did you just do?!" he bellowed, "How many lives have you just taken?!"

"Quite a few..." Serpentine hissed, a smug grin across his face, "Say hello to the Sky Battalion! Biggest and most powerful air-army on the planet! The Kingdom Stone is now in the care of Lord Brevon, and unless you can somehow scrape enough firepower from these idiots to take on fifteen whole airships of power, you'll never get it back before we're all set to leave! Enjoy your victory!" Serpentine suddenly wrenched his hands away from Master's arm and punched him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him to a crumpled heap. There was a sudden, loud rumbling sound that filled the area; windows shattered and gusts of smoke bellowed into the air as one of the airships in question soon came down upon the heroes. It was huge, almost the size of the Temple from before, with green sails and cannons jutting out of every possible part of it. It's wooden construction betrayed its massive plasma jet engines and the wood itself was decorated with the image giant green flames screeching across the side of the ship. Serpentine guffawed for a final time and then took off, grabbing a rung installed onto the bottom of the ship and soon clambering up to the deck. The ship then lifted, zooming right over the heads of Lilac and Torque, and was soon blazing into the sky. An enraged Lilac briefly followed it through the sky, Dragon Boosting straight into it, but alas could only bounce off the fortified wood and crash back to the ground. Master himself got up and rapidly pumped all ten of his magnum rounds into the ships, a few hitting the engine but otherwise causing little damage. He screamed in rage and frustration before collapsing back to the ground, clutching his stomach.

"No!" Torque called out, "We almost had him!"

"I guess that's what Spade was referring to when he was talking about his brother..." Carol said, her voice wavering, "The Sky Battalion is the largest military instalment on Planet Avalice and in the strict ownership of the kingdom of Shuigang!"

"Then I guess that's where Brevon's set up his base of operations..." Blade sighed, trying to force Master off of the floor, "Probably killed the king and taken his young boy to be his little puppy."

"...What're we gonna do now?" Milla asked frightfully after a short and uneasy pause.

"What else?" Carol rushed forward, "We've gotta go after them!"

"Those airships would ghost us from a mile away..." Torque said, looking to the floor in defeat, "Remember what happened to me in the valley?"

"There has to be another way..." Lilac said, quickly and hastily contemplating, "Look, we need something that's even a third of their power level...what about Mayor Zao?"

"It's gone!" came another scream. Once more the group looked behind them, seeing some vehicle driving up towards them. It was the same truck from the Temple ambush, only now with makeshift repairs littering its body and with no real driver behind the wheel. It was also only the truck itself with no carriages to speak of, leaving only two guards and some short guy. Master soon came to the realisation he was the one he had mocked in statue form only seven minutes ago, and he looked no more impressive in real life; as stated before he was short, barely the height of Milla, and was clad in a red regal outfit with a huge domed hat jammed on his head. To the Avaloians, he may have looked decent, but to Master he just looked like some kid. Behind him was a large chuck of yellow metal, roughly in the shape of a panther, with Master knowing he had saw it before.

The being screamed again, his voice wavering and blatantly immature, "My one chance for re-election is gone!" He stopped and sighed, rubbing his watering eyes. He began to look around to see if anyone had saw him, and it wasn't long before his eyes clasped onto the heroes. His expression shifted almost instantly, from weeping and furious, as the truck slowly reversed to the point that the others were standing. The small man then dragged himself to his feet and assumed a more powerful pose, "You! Over there!"

"Mayor of Shang Mu!" Lilac quickly called out, throwing herself to the floor, "Salute!"

Torque and Milla also knelt on hands and knees, heads arched low and respectfully, while Carol and Master were still standing upright. Master, his mood not softened by Serpentine's punch to his still open stomach wound, saluted in a different manner by throwing his left hand forward with only the index and middle fingers extended.

"Up yours, home boy!" came his grumbled reply.

"How DARE you?!" came the short man's response, his body flying into a barrage of kicks and punches in the air, "No man insults the Mayor and gets away with it!"

"Mayor?" Master called out in disbelief, "How're you the Mayor? The one I've heard about is a large, bold leader with his hand in all the right bowls. All I'm seeing is some garishly garbed midget bloke!"

"Uh, Slugger, quick word..." Blade said quickly and nervously, "Uh, I've been doing some background checks and it turns out that this garishly garbed midget bloke IS the Mayor of Shang Mu..." He took a second for the inevitable look of shock to appear on Master's face, a small mumbling stammer escaping his throat, as Blade resumed with a more gravelly and irritated tone, "You better bow, bozo!"

"OH!" Master yelped in response and threw himself to the ground just as hard as the others, a slight mumble of, "Your-Your Excellency..." escaping. Carol bowed too, taking the time to subtly do some pushups while doing so.

Nevertheless, Mayor Zao looked satisfied with the results and posed again, "Thank you. Now...RISE!"

They did, all five standing up on their own accord, and Mayor Zao walked back to the chunk of yellow scrap, "Were you the ones who disposed of this wretched mechanical beast?"

"...I dunno..." Lilac said uneasily, eyeing the scrap, "What even IS that thing?"

"I think it's called a RoboPanther..." Master mused, "Think it might've belonged to Serpentine. It had his name scratched into the key, after all."

"Wait, you destroyed this?" Milla asked, "When?"

"Traveller insisted we take a few laps of the city to find you," Carol explained, "We got past the Mall and managed to stop. Someone had disabled the lasers in the Mayor's palace. And the thing was there and it obviously belonged to Brevon, so Traveller suggested we pre-emptively destroy it."

"It took a while, too," Master grumbled, "That was a three person job and it STILL took us five minutes! But yeah, we destroyed it. 'S that bad?"

"Bad?" Mayor Zao said incredulously, jumping into the air and spreading confetti everywhere, "IT's GLORIOUS!" There was a sudden loud jingle as some bright letters somehow materliased over his head. Master quickly shouted in shock, but quickly calmed down and read the words; '+5 GLORY'. Mayor Zao landed on the floor and continued, "As a token of my appreciation, I offer each of you free reign over Zao's Shopping Paradise!"

"Sounds great!" Master said with an odd sort of glee, "I don't suppose you have a cake shop in there? Where they make, like, large red velvet cakes?"

"I do indeed!" Mayor Zao gloated, "I think they're the size of your average truck tyre too!"

"ROCK and ROLL!" Master shouted in a sort of odd victory, "I'll see you guys in the Spring!"

"Wait!" Lilac called out, grabbing Master by his scarf and dragging him back to the group, "We can't get distracted. We're here for something of yours."

"Are you?" Mayor Zao asked. There was a noticeable shift in his tone by this point, from all miserable and serious to jovial and genuinely friendly. It was still obvious a great deal of that was a ruse, but it still helped him be seen as more likeable among his people, "Well, we can talk about it over dinner. My treat, of course."

"You mean...a ROYAL FEAST?!" Milla squealed with excitement.

"Well, I am kinda hungry..." Carol mused.

"Yeah, me too..." Torque said, thinking of all the kind of foods he could taste and he smiled accordingly. He suddenly stopped, almost as if a record had scratched to a halt in his head, "Wait! What about the Kingdom Stone!"

"Hmm...I knew the item of question would be that..." Mayor Zao growled, his voice returning to the bitter tone it once was, "That scoundrel Prince took it from me! I won't even be able to chase him until my ships are repaired!"

The group of heroes looked among themselves in silent conversation, talking using silent words, before Lilac bowed and said, "Well, Mayor Zao, we would be honoured to be your guests this evening."

"Indeed..." Master said too, bowing alongside Lilac and putting on a posh voice, "It would be the greatest of positive contributions for this fine night of ours."

Mayor Zao's grin returned, "Well then, please walk this way! I shall drown your sorrows in delicious chow mein!"

===============================
A Good Five or So Minutes Later
===============================

It took another five or so minutes to reach the Mayor's dining quarters, but at least it gave Lilac and Master time to heal their wounds and rest. They soon stopped outside the area, lead by the Mayor himself into his dining area. It, as expected of someone of his position, was huge and dangerously ornate. Almost every decoration was red; the banners were red, the tablecloth was red, even the plates and napkins were red. A giant brass dragon's head overlooked the group as they entered and took their seats; Lilac, Carol and Milla sitting at one end of the table with Torque, Master and Mayor Zao at the other end. A number of red robots scuttled their way across the floor, holding plates in their clamped hands.

"Well, this is a bit of alright," Master mused, "A multiverse vigilante could get used to this!"

"I trust this doesn't happen to you a lot, then..." Torque mused alongside him.

Master sighed, "It's like visiting other countries, Torque. Each has their own little quirks, and a lot of the time they tend to screw you over, since you're out of the program and all. Some universes I've been granted a free meal, other times I've paid for them using credits, other times still I've had to steal food. There's a reason I've been named 'The Guy Who Keeps Passing Through'."

"Hmm. I see."

"Don't worry about taking turns!" came Mayor Zao's voice again, "I'm sure you must be hungry, so have at it!"

The robots scooted along, depositing plates at everyone's positions. Almost everyone began to sport wild grins on their faces. On the plates now were globs of rice coated in all manner of fish-related foodstuffs. Sushi. The nectar of the finest Gods and Elder Masters.

"SUSHI!" was the squeal of the hour, coming directly from Lilac, Carol and Milla. All three began to dig in non-stop into their sushi, devouring it as fast as the robots could replenish their supply. In the middle of this gluttonous frenzy came the voice of Milla, happily saying, "I love Sushi!"

"Me too!" Carol called out.

"Woah..." Lilac said, her shocked face causing some half-chewed sushi to come tumbling out of her mouth, "You BOTH like something?! Is this, like, the end of the world?"

Master, sitting on the other side of the table, could only watch them laugh and resume eating, groaning in misery as he did so. He had not touched his own sushi yet, merely poking at it with a chopstick.

"What's the matter, Mr....er..." Mayor Zao stopped, fumbling over his own words, "Sorry, but I didn't get your name."

"The name's Ma-" Master began, but stopped, "Uh...ahem, Traveller."

"Traveller, huh?" Mayor Zao looked a bit miffed, "What kind of parent names their kid Traveller?"

Master sighed a painful sigh.

"...Sorry. Uh, do you not like sushi?"

"Wha?" Master babbled, "Oh no, I love the stuff. It's just, uh...my scarf."

"Well, less the scarf and more what's under it," Blade said too.

"Oh, don't be like those teetotalling People Against Cruelty to Fish Types! Come on, just remove it and dig in!"

"...Fine..." Master sighed. He grabbed his scarf and removed it, resting it around his shoulders and neck. Both Torque and Mayor Zao looked on in mild horror, for on Master's muzzle was a rather heavy wound. His muzzle had, for lack of a better word, split from cheek to cheek. A large gash spread across his face, stopping at his mouth before starting again soon after, lined with haphazard stitching along the gash to keep it closed. It looked repulsive. Master sighed and spoke to the two bulge-eyed ghosts, his voice now clearer to boot, "Yes. At least you know why I keep my scarf on. Do you want me to move?"

"No, no!" Mayor Zao blurted out hastily, "It's fine. Just...enjoy your food."

Master nodded, tucking into the sushi and enjoying it just as much as everyone else. Torque looked a bit ill, seeing the stitches move as Master chewed, and spoke to Mayor Zao instead, "So, what's that giant head on the wall over there?"

"That's the pride of my Collection!" Mayor Zao boasted, all too eager to strike up a conversation, "An ancient statue modelled after the Dragons of the Before Time!"

"What's special about them?" Torque asked, quickly shifting his gaze to the still gorging Lilac, "Y'know, compared to someone like Lilac?"

"What's special?!" Mayor Zao cried in disbelief, "Did you come from another planet or something?"

"I kinda thought you did," Master said quietly. This still caught the attention of the Mayor, though, so he mumbled a half-hearted, "Sorry..." and resumed eating.

Mayor Zao decided to take pity on the Shellduck and began to spin a tale, "Long ago, a majestic creature soared across Avalice in a great ball of flame. When it landed, our ancestors were so captivated by its power and beauty that they built three kingdoms in its honour; Shang Tu, Shang Mu and Shuigang."

"Sheesh, that's one hell of a welcoming gift!" Blade snarked, "All we get at best is a bottle of champagne!"

"When the cities were built," Mayor Zao continued, "The dragon transformed into the legendary Kingdom Stone we know and love today!"

"Yes, a stone you loved so much," Master pointed accusingly, "You took it from its natural resting place. Why?"

"...Look..." Mayor Zao began, looking a bit embarrassed, "Shang Mu is on the brink of an energy crisis. With the Stone in our hands, we could've solved it overnight!"

"And it never occurred to you to use solar power?" Carol snarked, "What about water power? Your city is right next to an river, after all! Your own plan worked out SO well..."

"I don't think this energy crisis of yours is really all that much of an accident," Torque spoke next, "I think it's deliberate, and I think we know who's responsible."

Mayor Zao looked intrigued, leaning forward and looking Torque square in the eye; "Continue..."