Foreshadow

Mobius: The Second Saga

by Tergonaut

Sonic the Hedgehog and all other related characters and themes are © SEGA and DiC, Mobius: The Second Saga and all related characters and themes are © of Tergonaut.

Setting: Mobius, Northern Continent, Mobotropolis, the year 3336, one hundred years after Sonic Hedgehog defeated Robotnik for the final time. One day before Marty Kreaton takes over.

* * *

Jarc T'nash, daring soldier of fortune and all-around rogue, ran out of the base complex holding the priceless Summerstar jewel in his left arm while he brandished a grenade launcher in his right. Lobbing a few grenades back into the tight corridor he jumped onto his trusty Dartfire flightcycle and flew off just in time before the grenades exploded, destroying that part of the base and the robot sentries that were chasing him.

"Ooh, that's gotta sting!" Jarc slipped the Summerstar into the Dartfire's saddle pack and laughed as he dodged the weapons' fire of the defensive perimeter. His mission was to retrieve the Summerstar for the Lady Embany, who had lost it to burglars that were in the employ of Yzander the Villainous, Jarc's arch-nemesis. He had accepted the assignment mainly because this would annoy Yzander out of his gourd and that was payment enough, although the ten million rubles did round out the deal.

He had just gotten past the outer perimeter of missile launchers when the familiar hum of another flightcycle reached his ears. He looked around and saw Yzander himself, a black-hooded human who wore heavy armor and currently wielded an ionic shotgun.

Jarc put the grenade launcher away and pulled out a phase pistol. "Hey, Yzandy, how're ya doin'?"

Yzander's glowing red eyes narrowed. "Much better than you will be, mercenary scum!"

The fox that was Jarc quickly fired a shot at Yzander's flightcycle and dodged around the shotgun's spray of ionically-charged projectiles. Unfortunately, he was too slow, and the Dartfire underneath him jerked once, and then fell like a stone down into the jagged wasteland. A few seconds before impact, two words flashed before his eyes, and he knew his time was up.

(GAME OVER)

* * *

"Oh, man! So close!"

The Mobian jackal took the virtual simulator helmet off of his head. He was not truly Jarc T'nash, but rather he was Rad, an ordinary guttersnipe who had dreams of adventure and danger. Of course, he had lost at Perils of Jarc T'nash again and he would merely be added to the list of losing scores that was kept at the Mobotropolis V-R Games Center.

He put the helmet down on the floor and stepped down off of the platform. "Well, there goes another Mobium spent on a failed game."

There were three other Mobians at the bottom of the stairway, one of them being a skunk, another being a cat, and the third of the trio a mole.

Rad gave the skunk a quick look-over as he adjusted to reality from virtual shock. She was Claire, the artistic member of their group. Her skill with the brush was equal to her skill at the virtual sims and she sometimes made a quick sketch with scavenged materials to sell for a quick Mobium. It had been necessary more than once to buy food for the group and that fact made her a valuable member of their little gang. She wore a short denim jacket with her worn-out sneakers, all of which had at one time been resting quietly in a dumpster. She had gotten her clothes from the cleanest spot of all of her comrades.

His eyes went over to the feline who was wiping his wraparound shades so that they shined when he put them on. The shades were the cleanest thing he had. He also wore fingerless gloves, a heavy-looking tool belt around his waist, and some heavy work boots. He looked like the suave tom cat with a girlfriend in every house. Actually Gyro was a little embarrassed by his good looks and preferred to work on machinery rather than romance. He wanted to emulate the famous Rotor from the Great Struggle and had the talent to maintain a ramshackle warehouse and supply the Rowdies with running water and electricity.

Digger was a quick-witted mole who could send back insults faster than he got them. He also was the best at scavenging for anything that might be useful, not to mention that he could find parts for Gyro to use in building up the warehouse. He wore a green cap with a pair of sturdy pants, a green shirt, and heavy boots like Gyro's except that there were many more scratches on them because he climbed junk heaps constantly to look at the top for useful trash.

Then Rad took a quick look at himself. Reddish fur with white fur punctuating his stomach, chest and chin. Worn-out brand name sneakers. A large jacket with a high collar. And he felt a bandanna wrapped around his head keeping his headfur out of his eyes. He was a Mobian jackal.

Yeah, he was okay.

He walked out of the V-R Center and they followed him. They had banded together out of a simple need: survival. In Mobotropolis you needed to be with a group if you wanted to live on the streets long. Rad didn't have many talents that helped the group aside from his gaming skill and the fact that he was a good streeter to have on your side in a fight. There had been a fifth member of the Rowdies who went by the name of Bandit, but he had disappeared almost three months ago. The raccoon had been their inside man, the guy they called on when they needed to make sure a street was clear of troublemakers or the Mobotropolis police. He was also good at getting inside of places and had bragged that he had found a way into the Royal Palace itself. Of course no one believed him, since the place literally crawled with Royal Guards, but he stuck with his story and now he was gone without even a word as to where or why.

But that meant one less mouth to feed, although it also meant that they had to work a little harder to replace their lost streeter. Now they were four, and numbers meant a lot on the streets where gangs could grow as large as twenty Mobians strong. Fortunately those gangs were busy with the cops most of the time, so the little gangs could battle it over for control of their territory in relative safety.

Rad had to admit that he had not known any life other than this one. The stories about the Great Struggle with a poorly-armed group of Freedom Fighters fighting an ongoing guerilla war with the evil Ivo Robotnik were almost fairy tales. Mobotropolis had been rebuilt, robots had been outlawed, and the current king was the son of Sonic Hedgehog and Sally Acorn, King Alec Acorn. He ruled reasonably well although the police force was still undermanned because society during the Great War, which was before the Great Struggle, depended on robots for almost everything. That was how Robotnik managed to take over, or so the stories went.

But it all came down to their little group, relatively poor, surviving almost everything the city could offer. And keeping their warehouse from the hands of other gangs.

The Rowdies stopped in front of the warehouse, looking up at the dark, lonely building. It was located at the edge of Mobotropolis, and was perfect for a group of streeters like them. It had an upper platform with a corresponding window so that they could see if anyone was coming toward them (this had saved their lives more than once), which was extremely useful for seeing either cops or rival gangs. Running water, plumbing, and electricity made it a comfortable place to stay. And it even had a small room near the back where a door was hidden behind some boxes, leading to an underground tunnel that came up outside of the city limits. Nobody knew where the entrance on the other side was except for the four of them and Bandit.

They went inside and Rad hopped up onto a box. "So Rowdies, what're we gonna do?"

Gyro went over to his designated corner, which was filled with junk in many shapes and sizes as well as a decent cot for sleeping when he wasn't staying up with his projects. He sat down at the computer there and quickly brought up the local newsvid report. "No headlines that interest us. I'll hack into the police network and see if they have any raids planned today or tomorrow."

Digger climbed the ladder that led to the platform above and leaned against the windowsill, looking out onto the streets. "Nobody tailed us as far as I can see."

Claire leaned against the wall and yawned. "It's getting late. We should probably go to bed."

Rad nodded. "Sounds good, but first let's hear if the cops are going to hit any of our friendly neighborhood gangs. Gyro?"

Gyro reached over and turned off his computer after taking a peek at what he wanted to see. "They're going to hit the Tusk gang tonight!"

That statement was followed up by whoops of excitement from the rest of the Rowdies. The Tusk gang had been one of the most antagonistic gangs, and if the police managed to capture them then there would be more room in the outskirts.

Gyro then proceeded to pack a small bag. "But before you break out the soda, you should know something else..."

Rad hopped down from the box. "Yeah? What is it?"

Gyro slung his bag over his shoulder. "It's going to be a two-pronged attack. They'll be hitting this place too!"

Digger groaned, which was what everyone felt about the situation. They had to pack up and get out before the cops struck and they also had to make sure that they disabled the electricity and plumbing so that it wouldn't look like people were living there. Gyro made quick work of the disablement, since he had designed the place for easy sabotage. The utilities could be fixed once the group got back and they could easily stay in the forest for a couple of days.

They had to pack up and bail out. Time was short.

* * *

Deep within the Royal Palace itself the Royal Head of Science, Marty Kreaton, was walking through the halls quietly. No need to alert anyone to his presence, but even if he was seen it was more likely than not that he wouldn't be stopped. After all, he was practically royalty, and he had achieved several scientific awards and an awesome reputation. His hard work was beginning to reap the rewards he expected.

He walked up to a red door marked ROYAL HISTORICAL COMPUTER LIBRARY. Disgusting how the king has the word 'royal' pasted onto almost everything, he thought to himself as he slipped his keycard into the door and opened it.

Walking in, he saw that the room was large but very dusty. The huge computer located there had a computer access point below the hulking mass of hard drives which were completely dedicated to storing the history of Mobius as well as knowledge in general. He walked over to the terminal and activated it, and then he ran a quick file search.

The screen blinked red and yellow and then went white.

ENTER PASSWORD:

Kreaton chuckled to himself as he typed in "Royalty", which was accepted immediately by the computer and then the files that he was looking for came up. The king had neglected his duties of maintaining the Royal Historical Computer and the light security was only one sign of his misguided and corrupt rule.

The marten felt a glow of satisfaction as he saw the mother lode of information that would allow him to take over the world.

The filename was GREAT STRUGGLE DOCUMENTS.

The information that was displayed on the screen was a myriad of specifications for warrior 'bots, factories, and weapons. All of that which Robotnik had used during the Great Struggle. There was also the roboticizer and the deroboticizer. There were even Freedom Fighter tools and gadgets that had been used to combat Robotnik, and Kreaton wanted it all.

For Kreaton wanted to take over Mobius.

He inserted a disk into the infosocket, and after a quick buzz of information exchange he pulled it out. It now contained all of the data gathered from the Great Struggle. Then with some deliberation he deleted the deroboticizer from the mainframe, which would have been the one thing to give any resistance hope of survival in the oncoming storm of his vengeance.

There was the click of a weapon being readied behind him and he slowly turned around, the disk still in his hand. There was a Mobian bear dressed in the garb of the Royal Guard, armed with a gatling laser. "Sir, step away from the computer, nice 'n' easy."

Kreaton stood up slowly and he edged away from the terminal. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Don't try to fool around. I saw you download that stuff onto the disk. You also deleted the deroboticizer, from what I could see. That doesn't smell right, so until you can explain why you were doing it you can rot at the Royal Penitentiary with the rest of the scum."

Kreaton turned his head sideways. "Do you realize exactly what I plan to do? I am planning on saving this world from the king's corrupt rule!"

"Stop talking and start walking."

Kreaton gave a quick jerk with his wrist and suddenly the barrel of a gun poked out from its hiding place in his labcoat. There was a popping noise and a brief flash, and then the body of the bear slumped to the ground.

The marten went over to the body and chuckled. "You are lucky, friend. You have just avoided serving me as a helpless slave 'bot. And you have received a far more merciful death than some. But it really is too bad that you had to go and meddle with things that are not your business."

And with that Kreaton swept out of the room, chuckling quietly to himself and formulating exactly what he would do first for his takeover.

The time was at hand.

* * *

Bandit pulled his nose away from the grating and sat in the ventilation shaft, shuddering at what he had just seen. The Royal Head of Science had just downloaded 'bot specifications onto a disk, deleted the deroboticizer and had killed a Royal Guard. He seemed to be quite intent on causing another Great Struggle, and although the tale of the first one seemed almost unreal, Bandit knew enough to try and plan for action.

But what could he do? The entrance to the Royal Palace that he had used was the only real way out and the Royal Guard seemed to be patrolling that specific area daily now. It would be almost impossible for him to escape that way and completely unthinkable to escape through any other way. Trying to exit through the kitchen would be madness, although he did have access to it, which was how he had managed to survive for so long in the Palace. After all, the king wouldn't notice a few missing rolls, or a small picnic lunch, or even a meatloaf...

But this was serious. He couldn't just run away even if he could. Where would he go? Back to Rad, Claire, Gyro and Digger, the Rowdies, his old gang? While they were his friends he wasn't sure if they would welcome him back with open arms or not. And even if they did would they take him seriously if he told them a story about a mad scientist trying to take over the world?

He had to warn somebody, but who? Warning the king directly or by talking to the Royal Guard wouldn't help. Even if he could manage to get an audience with the king he would probably be scoffed at for even suggesting that Kreaton would betray Mobius. Kreaton himself might be there at the time and would arrange for Bandit's death in one way or the other.

The raccoon felt that he had to do something but there was no course of action that he could take without ruining it all except for perhaps one. He had to keep watching Kreaton and the other happenings around the Palace. Maybe an opportunity for action would come up then, but at the moment he felt that he should try to shake off his anxiety with some food. He headed toward the kitchen with the intent of hoarding against the possibility that Kreaton would try to take over within the next few days.

He would be prepared. His timing would be critical...

* * *

End of Foreshadow...