Nightmare Reborn

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: The night of Kreaton's takeover.

* * *

Kreaton chuckled to himself as he finished loading up the specifications of his new warrior robots into the computer. He had taken the base design of the SWATbot, retrofitted it with new armor, gave it more weapons and a new outer structure. Also the ugly blackish paint that was used on the old SWATbots was replaced with a brilliant blue paint that would repel moisture and dust.

The computer began processing the data and it sent the specs to the mini-factory that had been built within Kreaton's lab. Molds were created, components were fused, and within fifteen minutes the first of his new breed of warrior robot was built. It was humanoid but unlike the clunky robot designs of Robotnik, this robot was streamlined and efficient.

Kreaton walked around his new warrior looking it up and down. He would create other designs, designs which would be far more efficient, but he was satisfied with the work he had done in such a short space of time. This series of robots would be able to take over the city while he continued to redesign Robotnik's toys into his own unique machines.

"Your series will need a name," he said aloud, "for the enemy must have a name for you. I name thee the first of the Strikerbots, for you shall lead the first strike in the takeover of this planet for the rightful ruler."

The Strikerbot saluted. "MY WILL IS TO OBEY. ORDERS?"

Kreaton pointed out the door. "Go through that door. Begin hunting for all other life forms aside from myself. Cripple them using your knowledge of their physiology, but kill those who have the capacity to harm you. I shall stay here and create more of your kind, who shall help you in your task."

"AFFIRMATIVE." With that the Strikerbot turned and walked right through the door, causing the framework to collapse but the robot itself was unharmed. It then disappeared down one of the corridors and left Kreaton to chuckle to himself as he began creating more Strikerbots.

He had already won.

* * *

Rad put one hand on the tree next to him for support as he looked over the short ridge at Mobotropolis. "I still don't see any cops at our place. You sure they were gonna hit it, Gyro?"

"Positive. They're stupid, but they stick to their schedule. Something must be holding them up."

Rad looked straight at the warehouse and sighed in the twilight of evening. "Well, maybe that'll mean that we can head back home. The Tusk might be giving them more probs than we thought."

Claire would have snorted her drink, had she had a drink. "The Tusk? Give the cops trouble? Those wussies don't know what being a streeter means!"

"Still," Rad waved his other arm in the general direction of the city, "maybe they got a handle on some popguns. See, look there! It looks like a shootout."

Sure enough, when all of them looked to the right of the warehouse they could see weapon fire from several guns. Occasionally there was an explosion and debris would fly up into the air, sometimes with a humanoid shape or two being flung with it.

Digger picked himself up and took the time to look at the scene and seemed to see something that the others didn't. "Whoa, that ain't anything they can get on the streets! They're using some heavy stuff! And there should be only five streeters in the Tusk. That looks like a real war or something!"

"Too many weapons firing..." Gyro muttered.

Rad got a sick feeling. "Is it another gang? Or did some of the gangs get together?"

Claire sat down. "No way. Gangs don't join gangs. And besides, could they really get that many weapons? I think I've seen at least four different types, and I don't think the police are winning."

Rad bent down and grabbed his pack. "I don't like this, Rowdies. Doesn't smell right. We'd better beat feet into the Great Forest."

Gyro adjusted his belt. "You think it's that bad?"

"Worse. This might be bigger'n all the gangs and cops combined. Maybe we can check back in a couple days, but right now we'd better find a hiding place. A cave, maybe."

They all agreed. All of them saw that the weapon fire was pretty heavy and that things like this usually didn't happen.

Then the big blow came.

The warehouse was standing completely straight as they stayed to look one second longer. Then an explosion hit near the base of the building causing parts of it to fly, other parts to crumble into rubble. They could hear their home shattering and then they knew that something was dead wrong.

Rad hit the tree with his fist, breaking the silence. "Whatever it is, we can't stop it. All we can do right now is move our tails deeper into the Great Forest, pronto. Which means that we should move it. Let's go, Rowdies."

They all gathered everything together and walked deeper into the Great Forest. They left their home behind them for now but Rad vowed that they'd get back at whoever had done the damage.

These streeters were going to prepare for war. No bones about it.

* * *

Bandit had kept a careful eye on Kreaton and he saw that the scientist's mini-factory in his lab was very efficient and the robots that came off the line looked sturdy. About every five minutes another one was pumped out ready to kill, and Kreaton looked like he was putting the finishing touches on another design.

The raccoon had no idea what to do now. The Royal Guard wasn't covering that entrance now but there were so many of the robots that Bandit couldn't sneak away very quickly. The robots seemed unstoppable! He had watched as the Royal Guard, the elite soldiers of the king himself, fell before the onslaught of the Strikerbots as Kreaton called them.

If he could only put a monkeywrench into the works...

But there was really nothing he could do now except keep watching. Maybe he would find a weakness that he could exploit or maybe he could disable the factory so that it couldn't produce more.

Hold it, Bandit, he thought to himself, think about this. You can't take on these things by yourself. First things first. You have food, so that's not a prob. Right now you should probably make a map of this place and make sure you mark where all the sensitive stuff is! If anyone's escaped then they'll need your help soon, and the secret entrance might be the only hope they have.

He looked around until he found the materials he needed and then he started to make a rough map of the Palace including where the mini-factory was, where the entrance that he had used was and most importantly, a map of the ventilation shaft.

Bandit folded up the piece of paper and put it into his jacket pocket. Yeah, that should do for now...

There was the sound of someone shouting and he went to the nearest grate to see that a Strikerbot was dragging the queen by her hand to the lab. Another one was close behind with an arm pointed at the king's back and Bandit could see a barrel poking out of the arm.

Man, this just keeps getting better and better! he thought sarcastically, They've got the king and queen! But where are they going? Bandit crawled along the ventilation shaft toward the laboratory and he got there just as the king and queen were led into it.

Kreaton turned to them and chuckled. "Welcome, Your Majesties! I hope you are not too uncomfortable?"

"This is treason, Kreaton!" the king shouted. "I will not stand for it!"

Kreaton pressed a button and a platform raised up with four chairs on it. "If you cannot stand for it, then perhaps you should sit down."

The king and queen were pushed toward the platform and they were strapped into two of the chairs by Strikerbots. Bandit then noticed that there were glowing pads below and above the chairs.

The king shouted, "I shall be avenged, traitor! You will be beaten!"

Kreaton shook his head. "I am afraid that your hopes are unfounded. I have already disabled any communications that Mobotropolis has with any other city. There are no escapees. And yes, I know where your son is, on a vacation in Knothole. Well, since Knothole has been made into a public resort for tourists instead of being kept a royal secret, I know where to strike next. Your son and his friends will soon join everyone else that has survived in the glory of roboticization."

Then Bandit had to shield his eyes from the bright flash that came next and when the light died down he could see that both the king and queen of Mobotropolis had been roboticized.

He shuddered as he saw the king's face, once emotional, now completely deadpan and shiny with metal. He turned and went toward his little lobby near the center of the ventilation system and knew he would have to try to escape to make sure that the prince and his friends would make it out okay. After all, it had been a princess and her friends that had led the Freedom Fighters to victory.

Perhaps there would be some hope after all.

* * *

Rad ran with his comrades trying to find some cover. The rainstorm struck only minutes after they had managed to get away from the ridge near Mobotropolis and now they were getting soaked. It would be a cold and miserable night unless they could find some shelter soon...

Flashes of lightning outlined the Great Forest in a colorless veil, revealing the path before them for only microseconds before they stumbled in the darkness for what seemed like an eternity. The mud underneath their feet slipped and slid making for bad footing at best. Branches whacked them in their faces making the going even worse.

Rad was really going to get back at whoever had destroyed their warehouse. Man, I could be sleeping through this now in a nice, warm building...

He hardened himself. This wasn't some game. Something had gone wrong in Mobotropolis and they might be the only ones who managed to get away. They owed it to the dead to figure out what had happened and to avenge them.

"There! I think I see a cave to our right!"

Rad only barely heard Digger's exclamation over the pounding rain, but he heard it. "Good eye, Digger! To the cave!"

Under the circumstances they were not really thinking about what could be in the cave already. Better to get dry and comfortable and then they could think in the morning...

They stumbled into the cave, falling all over each other at the last puddle at the mouth, but they had gotten in out of the rain. Gyro started laughing and everyone else joined in, sprawled as they were all over each other. After a few minutes they finally stopped, but they all felt better and now they were more keen to check out the cave.

They all got to their feet and Gyro turned on a flashlight. The cave was big enough for even the tallest and bulkiest Mobian to go through and it seemed to stay that way all the way down the cave. It looked natural enough with rocky little crevices all around. Rad was too relieved at getting out of the storm to think of what could be looking out of those holes and the group went down the cave out of unspoken curiosity.

A few meters from the entrance the cave split into two different directions. Gyro pointed the flashlight down the right path and they saw several multifaceted crystalline structures reflecting light in a thousand directions. The beam pointed the other way and the cave seemed to swallow up the beam after a certain point.

"So which way, guys?"

Rad asked the question and no one answered for a minute. Then he walked down the right path, and they followed.

What they saw was breathtaking. It was a crystal cave with light bouncing in every direction and it struck them as bright and cheery. Crystalline stalagmites and stalactites poked up and down from the ceiling and floor. Water coursed down currents cut into the crystal by time itself and it made a gentle tinkling sound that added to the aura of beauty and wonder that seemed to pervade the cave.

Claire walked in front of one larger facet of crystal in the wall and she saw her reflection in the mirror-like surface. She walked up to it and looked at herself. "Wow, this is like...a dream..."

The crystalline room had one more surprise for them in the form of a pool at the end of the room. Rad wasn't much for natural beauty, but he was awed at the perfect stillness of the water and it was so clear that one could see the very bottom. The light made intricate little lines that danced and wove, being reflected and refracted by water and crystal alike. The underwater lake continued out into the darkness but they could see the other side and the water seemed connected to the outside by a sort of tunnel that was partially in and out of the lake.

Digger broke the peace. "Umm, I hate to break it to you guys, but we've explored this room as much as we can without gettin' even more wet...we'd better see what's in the other passageway first before we set up camp anywhere."

Everyone else acknowledged that the mole was right but all of them were reluctant to leave the beauty that surrounded them. Even so, they managed to get back into the dark place where the road became one again and then they turned to the other passageway.

Gyro walked a few steps forward and then shook his flashlight. "My light is working all right, and yet it doesn't seem to go any farther than a certain point down that corridor."

Rad followed the beam but stopped at the very edge and he saw that Gyro was right. He also saw something else...

"Guys, come over here. You gotta see this."

They did. It was like a wall of darkness was set into place there, restricting all light that went through.

Rad huffed. "Sitting here and looking at it isn't going to make it do something. There isn't a real wall here. See?"

And with that he made a daring move and thrust his arm at the darkness. But he miscalculated and suddenly he fell through the wall! He could hear the surprised cries of the other Rowdies as he rolled back to his feet and looked around. But then he took another look around and he could not believe his eyes. "Man oh man oh man, this is outta whack..."

The others joined him and they soon were muttering their own exclamations of surprise. For the cave opened up past the wall of darkness into a huge cavern reaching higher and farther than they could see. But that was not what caught their eyes.

The houses did.

There were several small houses all arranged in a circular pattern of sorts around a few central buildings that seemed to have more significance. Once in a while, a computer terminal set into a pedestal about shoulder-high would break up the rhythm of the houses, and tiny lights glowed to show that they were still working.

Suddenly they heard the sound of something powering up beside them and they turned to see a computer screen set into the cave wall. It was turning itself on and a section of wall next to it opened up and out popped a camera which pointed itself at them in turn. The computer screen ran through a diagnostic and then it said in a droning female voice, "Welcome to Freehome, Mobians. Please register yourselves into the system." The screen then showed an outline of a hand and it stopped.

The ragged streeters looked at each other stupidly for a few moments, but then Gyro stepped forward. "I think we should. It looks like we've stumbled onto one of the old Freedom Fighter bases!"

Gyro walked up to the screen and placed his hand onto the outline on the screen. The outline glowed and then a picture of Gyro came up on the screen next to the handprint. The computer then prompted for him to give his name and he said it. Under the picture the word GYRO appeared and then the computer said, "Registration complete. Welcome, Gyro. While your friends register you can go to one of the other terminals and look at the historical database."

Gyro nodded to the others, and then he went off to one of the nearby pedestals, which activated when he placed his feet in a pair of shoe-shaped slots near the front of it. Rad went next, then Claire, and then Digger. After they were done, they went over to Gyro, who had an excited look on his face.

"So, what's the historical database say, Gyro?" asked Rad. He was curious as to why this base had not been dismantled like all of the others after Robotnik had been beaten.

Gyro kept his eyes glued to the screen. "This is amazing! This is old but it wasn't one of the bases used during the Great Struggle! It was built after Robotnik was finally defeated, designed by Rotor and Sir Charles Hedgehog, and was kept a secret from the general public. Only a select few have any idea that it even exists. If someone like Robotnik ever tried to take over again then this base would be used like Knothole had been used in the Great Struggle. That wall of darkness over there," Gyro gestured toward the way they came, "is actually being generated by a machine in the walls. Robots only see a solid rock wall and they can't detect the machinery, so they basically can't get in. If they tried their self-preservation programming would stop them because it really looks like a wall. Only living creatures can see it as a wall of darkness and even then most things aren't going to go near it because of an ultrasonic wave that is also generated. It scares the heck out of small animals. There's lots of other stuff here too but I think the most important thing is that each of these huts has electricity and running water."

Rad looked into the darkness but then the ceiling became brighter as lights flooded the room, making them all blink as they adjusted to the change. The screen shifted to the portrait of a computer-generated female squirrel. She bowed. "Welcome. I am Nicole, the keeper of Freehome."

Digger muttered something about everything getting weirder and weirder but Rad ignored him. "Nicole? As in the little handcomp that Queen Acorn used in the Great Struggle?"

"That is correct. I was installed into the main CPU of Freehome so that I could help a new generation of Freedom Fighters if someone like Robotnik should ever rise to power. I have conducted a long-range scan of Mobotropolis and it appears that already there have been many who have been roboticized or killed."

"What?" Rad, Gyro, and Digger said in unison.

Claire snapped her fingers. "Think about it Rowdies! Back at the ridge, we saw it all! The gunfight, the explosions, the warehouse, it fits! Maybe somebody is taking over again!"

Gyro rubbed his chin. "Yeah, but who? We could hack a guess at almost anybody who had a grudge against the king or maybe a streeter who managed to get some 'bots built! It could even be the king himself for all we know."

Rad stamped his foot. "Okay, so now that we've explained that, that means that there is somebody out there who has brought roboticization back online, has killed or captured thousands already, has taken over Mobotropolis and is responsible for destroying our home! This calls for payback, Rowdies!"

Nicole shook her head. "It is not the time. You are only four and the new tyrant has created several robots more. If he is imitating Robotnik then he has probably studied and learned from Robotnik's mistakes. You cannot strike now without risking yourselves."

"She's right," Digger said. "If we rush out now we're toast. If we wait until they've cooled down then maybe we can hit 'em hard when we have the advantage of surprise."

Rad shook his head. "This is whacked...we're tired, we're wet and cold, and I think we should get a shower and some sleep before we make any more grand plans for the future. No good fighting a war when we're as dirty as the Tusk, and we can go through all the explanations and other nice stuff in the morning. How about that for a plan?"

Everyone agreed including Nicole and she directed them to some of the shacks near the edge of the circle of habitats. They found that each one had a bed, a bathroom with shower stall and sink as well as a toilet, and there was light and a small terminal set into the wall. Rad took his grimy bandana and jacket off, shucked his sneakers under the bed, took a shower and then after a quick-dry fell onto the bed and asleep, not thinking for an instant about the repercussions of what would happen to them because they found Freehome.

There would be time for that in the morning.