Adventures of Sticks the Badger - Season 1

Episode 4

On the far side of Seaside Island, in an underground lair, Tyrone stood in front of a mirror in a bedroom, holding the Phantom Ruby in his hand, unsure whether to smile or scowl.

"What is it, honey?" He asked as he turned to see Fiona walking in.

"How're you holding up with Shadow gone, darling?" Fiona asked as Tyrone frowned.

"So he really thought I wouldn't break out, huh?" Tyrone responded as he looked down at the Phantom Ruby again, "So he left the badger girl here with the Emerald he took from me..."

"Tyrone, he'll come back, I'm sure." Fiona replied as she walked up to Tyrone, kissing him, "Why would he leave anyway?"

Suddenly, Tyrone remembered their conversations during the time he and Shadow were once friends...before Shadow killed his squad.

"He's gone...to the mainland. To fulfil that prophecy he used to ramble on about..." Tyrone answered as Fiona stepped back, "He used to tell me about his creator, the grandfather of that roboticist from Mobotropolis. How he was meant to bring down their government or something like that."

As Tyrone held the Phantom Ruby in his hand, it began to radiate with a crimson glow as he grinned.

"There's no way he'll survive there, Fiona...that government has wanted his head on a silver platter for 50 years..." He explained almost gleefully, "If he really went to Mobotropolis...there's little chance he's ever coming back. They'll kill him for me, and I'll be all the happier for it."

Tyrone chuckled, as Fiona looked down for a moment, seeing Tyrone's arm beginning to glow as tendrils of energy came from the Ruby, seemingly fueling his rage.

"Tyrone, honey, are you okay?" She asked as Tyrone looked straight at Fiona, his eyes beginning to emit a misty crimson glow, "Can you put down that gem for a minute, please?"

"Why? I've never felt better." Tyrone responded, his voice beginning to take on a deeper tone, "Shadow will die, I finally have the gemstone of my ancestors, and now I'll kill that badger girl as retribution for me not being able to strangle the life out of Shadow myself!"

Tyrone chuckled menacingly, scaring Fiona as she quickly ran forward, pulling the Phantom Ruby from his hand and dropping it to the ground.

"Wha-what?!" Tyrone responded as Fiona saw the crimson glow fade almost immediately, "What are you doing?"

"Calm down, Tyrone, I could see it doing something to you, you were starting to scare me." Fiona explained as Tyrone sighed, taking a deep breath, "It looked as if it was trying to control you...fuel your rage more than usual."

Tyrone sighed, before walking over and picking up the Ruby, placing it on his desk.

"Can you go get a safe to put this in, Fiona? I feel a bit off all of a sudden." He asked Fiona as he began to walk towards the door to an ensemble, "I think I'm gonna take a bath, the last few days have been taxing."

"Go ahead, honey, I'll join you soon." Fiona replied, smiling warmly as Tyrone smiled weakly back at her, closing the ensemble door behind him.

Fiona glanced down at the Phantom Ruby on the desk, a look of concern crossing her face as she looked back to the closed ensemble door.

Back at the town hall, all the citizens had departed, leaving Sticks at the hall with Mayor Fink, Whisper and the other Diamond Cutters. Prim was playing in a kids' playground outside with Stratfort and the other kids, with Wendy Walrus and the other mothers supervising them.

"So, what do we do now?" Whisper asked as Smithy shrugged, lost for words.

"I dunno if there's much we can do, Whisper. You saw that gem he's got, it seems more powerful than the Chaos Emeralds." Smithy explained, "Even in the years Shadow's been here, I've never seen him pull off anything close to that. Not to mention he somehow killed Sticks' Emerald."