Readying for War

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: Two days after Escapade.

* * *

"This is Nicole, and welcome to the training simulator! You have all been chosen for your athletic ability but also for your particular skills and your mental capacities. This training is to develop you into effective soldiers quickly yet without seriously injuring you. You are here of your own free will and that is the first part for becoming a Rowdy. If anyone wishes to leave now, this is the time.

"Still here? Good. As you know, during the Great Struggle the Freedom Fighters faced several shortages of weaponry on the Northern Continent. The first strikes against Robotnik basically consisted of blowing up factories with makeshift bombs. Only later on were they capable of waging true war.

"That was then. Freehome is equipped with enough weaponry to supply an army and this is where you will get your training with that weaponry. You will learn how to use guns, explosives, and how to use these skills as a team. Depending upon your success with these weapons and after you have gotten the feel of them you will be assigned to specialize in one aspect of this training. If you can get a bomb ready and placed faster than anyone else consistently, you'll be a bomber. If you can snipe, you're a sniper. If you're good at a lot of things then you'll be an anchor to help out in case someone gets killed.

"Yes, people will get killed. But if you can do your best and finish a job fast enough then there won't be many deaths and some deaths will be prevented. The enemy uses robots, robots that have no feeling, no pain. They will capture or kill anyone that gets in their way. If you don't get them first they will certainly get you.

"With that cheerful start to our training session, let us begin."

* * *

Rad and Gyro were meeting with Nicole in the War Room just as Claire entered. "Sorry I'm late, but Tracy had a few questions for me. What'd I miss?"

Nicole greeted her with a pleasant smile. "We have just been discussing the Salamander units and how to handle training and division into the four other squads. We were also going to talk about who to use to fill up that fifth slot in your squad."

Gyro nodded. "The training has gone pretty smoothly. Most of the volunteers are really working at it and some of them are getting good. Nicole's suggested that we take some of the best recruits and train them for Salamander duty in a few days."

Rad leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, that's hot, but how are we going to tell the squads apart? Are we going to use numbers or something?"

"I did believe that you would have something to say on the matter, Rad." Nicole gave him a knowing look. "What is your suggestion?"

Rad shifted his weight forward as Claire sat down at one of the empty chairs at the table. His chair hit the ground with a thunk as he leaned forward. "I say let the guys of each squad talk it over. They put it to a vote and they come up with a name. That will encourage them to think about stuff, at least a little bit, and it'll be interesting to see what they come up with. Then the Salamanders of each squad will be painted so that the squads can be told apart at a glance."

Nicole looked wary. "I am not sure that I would recommend that. It might segregate the squads too far apart, make them too competitive. We want the squads to be one big team, not five little ones."

"A little competition never hurt anyone," Rad rejoined, "and besides a guy from a squad can be prouder of a group whose name he had a part in naming. If they're feeling good about being in their squad then they should be able to do better in combat."

Nicole seemed to consider it for a few moments. "I think that would be for the best. But let us be careful. At this critical time we must stick together as a group. The Rowdies can't afford to have groups with differing opinions to separate and try to fight Kreaton on their own."

"We'll be careful," Rad promised.

"Now about filling up the fifth slot in our squad?" Claire asked. She was a little interested in what they were going to do about the fifth slot.

"I don't like it," Rad said flatly. "It doesn't seem right somehow."

"Why not?" Gyro queried. "We can keep going without a fifth tank, at least until we get a sufficiently-trained Rowdy into the slot."

"No, it's not anything about training or equipment or anything like that!" Rad looked pained as he asked, "Is anyone here forgetting Bandit?"

Claire winced mentally. She hadn't given the raccoon much thought ever since they had wandered into Freehome. But now she remembered that he had disappeared just after claiming he had a way into the Royal Palace without any of the Royal Guard knowing about it and he had probably been there when the enemy took over...

"My point is that the fifth slot belongs to Bandit. He was one of us! He was a Rowdy!"

Nicole processed that. "I understand your sentiments, and the slot will be his if we ever find him. But it was unlikely that he escaped from the Palace when the enemy attacked."

Claire noticed another thing about the whole discussion. She and everyone else kept calling the new ruler of Mobotropolis "the enemy." Since they had no better name for him/her/it, it would be fine, but the name made this new foe more mysterious and untouchable, something that would impact morale if they didn't find out who the enemy was soon.

Rad got to his feet. "Bandit's got 'luck' written all over his tail. I'm not counting him out 'til we either find his cold dead body or his cold 'boticized body. But for right now, I think your leadership training program will do perfectly."

"Leadership program?" Claire asked Nicole and Gyro as Rad left.

Gyro smiled. "Something Nicole and I cooked up. Basically the program's been designed to pick out leaders from among groups of five. The test is kinda tricky but it should work fine so long as one of the people involved keeps a clear head. That guy becomes the leader of that group. We're working on a few variations but it'll be used primarily for the squads we select for Salamander duty."

"Is it safe?"

"Naturally. All of the sim programs are safe. This one just gets more intense, that's all."

Gyro got up. "I've got to get going. I'm still working getting the weapons outfitted for the infantry units once we organize them. See ya later!"

The feline left with a noticeable bounce to his step. He did like working with machines, even weaponry. And it wouldn't be surprising to Claire if he tinkered a little bit with the weapons just to "see how they work."

"Well, that's it then?"

Nicole nodded then winked out of view. Claire still wasn't used to her doing that but then again, her physical representation was a hologram. The skunk pushed her chair back and left the War Room to see if she could catch a quick nap.

* * *

Kreaton used the Spy-Eyes rather effectively during the last few days. Since that spy escaped the marten had been especially careful in redistributing his defensive forces. He would not allow another enemy through without a fight.

The Spy-Eyes were sent into every nook and cranny in the Palace as well as throughout the city. Kreaton even piloted a Spy-Eye himself through the vid-link direct control feed and soon he knew the city almost as well as the common inhabitants had. He saw all of the nooks and crannies that an enemy could hide in and marked them. A few anti-personnel mines would be placed and that would solve that minor problem until the city could be rebuilt with more production facilities and more defensive turrets.

Kreaton was also more careful about choosing locations for bases. In the last twenty-four hours several key outposts had been raided, releasing the prisoners before the permanent roboticizer units could be fitted into the outposts' prison facilities. The ranks of the Rowdies would swell with confused Mobians angry at being forced into cramped living spaces and almost roboticized.

The marten stalked through his command center cursing himself again and again. He had made a dreadful mistake. A good percent of the prisoners had been engineers, military retirees, and other skilled technicians who would have something to offer to the Rowdies.

Kreaton stopped, looked up at a command display and smiled suddenly. It showed that the remaining outposts had been reinforced by Dracobots save the ones near mountainous areas, which had instead been reinforced by Quasibots. Mobots had also reinforced the outposts and several squads were now scouring wilderness areas to try and find anything that might indicate an enemy presence. That would put a serious crimp in any plans that the enemy could form. And there were more towns being conquered and converted into supply depots. Each one would have a factory allowing them to produce their own aggressor 'bots.

Kreaton chuckled. Even if the spy managed to get away then the Rowdies would still not have enough information to defeat him. They would have to fight this with guts and hope.

One of the displays lit up and Kreaton's attention snapped onto it. One of the scout squads had found a hidden cave! And according to what he saw through the Spy-Eye's vision it was a cave well-stocked with sealed crates. Perhaps an enemy supply of weaponry?

As he looked around through the eyes of the scouts he shook his head. This cave was filled with dust and readings from the crates told him that they hadn't been opened for decades.

Perhaps this was one of the leftover supply sources that had been left over during the Great War? Or perhaps the Great Struggle? Either way it meant that these were resources that could not fall into enemy hands. Kreaton sent a transport team to recover the crates and return them to Mobotropolis. He wanted to take a look at these himself.

The grin shrunk on his lips but remained a smile. There were more and more surprises coming up every day of this war.

* * *

Bandit slugged on through the Great Forest. How long had it been since he had left the comfort and (relative) safety of the Palace to escape and try to find his friends? Only two days?

"Man, this rots," he said to himself. "Last night it pours so I stay up all night and get soaked. Then I get up from the one hour of sleep that I did manage to catch and remember that my food got ruined yesterday by some funky mold. And now here I am, lost, cold and hungry. Is there anything else that can go wrong today?"

There was a rustle in the bushes ahead of him and he reflexively ran and leapt headfirst to the nearest cover he could find. He knew that 'bots could be still on his tail and it would really stink to have them find him now.

He heard footsteps coming closer and he peeked out under the bushes to see several booted feet sneaking through the forest as quickly and quietly as possible. They were doing a pretty lousy job of it from Bandit's experience. He adjusted his position enough so that he could see that it was a group of Mobians.

His breath almost whooshed out in relief and he almost got up to tell them that he was safe and that he had info on Kreaton. He almost threw himself on their mercy to carry him to a safe warm place with food and a bath.

Almost.

But just as he was about to do that, he realized in horror that parts of these Mobians were roboticized. He remembered enough from what he observed in the Palace to know that these were escaped Mobians who had been only partially roboticized, driven mad by the combination of flesh and steel. From what he gathered they had formed a cult in the wilderness and Kreaton had decided to leave them alone.

Just his luck.

Bandit stood perfectly still trying not to attract any attention. He remembered that one of the heroes of the Great Struggle, Bunnie Rabbot, had been partially roboticized. She was granted superior strength and yet she still retained her sanity, making the strength a boon. But the stories told that her own victory was not achieved in smashing 'bots but in finally being successfully deroboticized.

These characters didn't look anything like Bunnie's holopics did. They looked like a gang of cyborgs with grunge-tech enhancements. They would have been sleek and streamlined if they had been fully roboticized but the partial deformity was a mismatch of ugly metal parts.

One of them, a female fox dressed in tattered rags, got his attention quite quickly. She had a beautiful figure and her commanding presence told him that she was the leader. She didn't look roboticized at all and perhaps Bandit could charm his way out of this predicament.

That was when she turned her head at him. She had an eye that was obviously mechanical and he could see the red pupil pulse with infra-red scanning. She shouted, "There, in those bushes! A flesh sacrifice!"

Bandit realized that he was in trouble when he was yanked to his feet by two Mobians with roboticized arms. Their cold steel grip wasn't comforting in the least bit. "Hey, look, you got the wrong guy! I'm the flesh sacrifice for tomorrow! You're looking for the flesh sacrifice for today!"

The vixen's emotionless stare seemed to pierce into his eye. She turned to another one and shouted, "Bring the metal sacrifice forward! We shall finish the ritual here!"

A squirrel with a headplate came forward with a Spy-Eye in his arms. The Spy-Eye was sparking and had a big dent in it that showed it to be a vague survivor of a blunt object hitting it at high speeds.

Bandit was pushed against a tree and the Spy-Eye was laid on the ground in front of him. The vixen priestess (he could only assume she was a priestess) came forward with a knife that had several nasty prongs on it. Even as she brought it down onto the Spy-Eye, Bandit cursed himself for two things. One, for trying such a lame excuse to save his tail and two, that he wouldn't be able to rescue this vixen and get her deroboticized by his friends once they figured out how to do that. A small part of his mind gave a mental groan as it saw that once again the majority of Bandit's mind was oriented toward girls rather than survival! But the rest of his mind shut this sane part out and he was looking into the vixen's good eye as she brought the knife up to stab into him.

* * *

Digger was leading a recon team away from a target outpost on foot. The trees covered their silent retreat rather effectively. They had seen some new robots and it was time to report what they found.

The mole's fingers tightened on his pistol. The small squad were armed well enough but they couldn't handle anything big like those huge dragon-like 'bots. It looked like the bad guys had been extremely busy and had built a new variety of 'bots to counter the Salamander chassis. It was essential that they get back to base with the information before their pilots ran into the 'bots and found out about them the hard way.

Suddenly there was the sound of metal hitting metal and Digger turned to the left. "That way. Two of you come with me. The rest of you complete the mission!"

He pushed through the bushes and when he looked out he saw a group of Mobians with cybernetics surrounding a tree where a vixen was just finishing up stabbing a Spy-Eye and was now bringing up the knife to stab at a raccoon who was being restrained against a tree.

Digger suddenly recognized the raccoon and he was stunned for a second. Bandit, alive! But in his practical way the mole realized that Bandit wasn't going to remain that way for long if he didn't interfere soon.

He fired a burst from his pistol at the vixen who screamed in pain and missed Bandit's heart by a few inches. The knife plunged into Bandit's shoulder and Digger winced as he saw the prongs bite into the raccoon's fur. Fortunately the partially-robotized Mobians were too busy with getting away to care about taking advantage of Bandit's condition. The vixen had only taken a light wound to her back and she joined her compatriots in rushing to the forest. In a few seconds they had disappeared into the forest.

Digger noticed that the two others that had joined him were firing off into the woods. "Stop shooting you diddlyheads! They're outta range and Bandit needs help!"

Digger ran over to Bandit and carefully removed the knife. The raccoon looked at him in a dazed sort of way and whispered, "Did you see the way she looked at me? You know she wants me, man..."

He slumped, and Digger started patching up his wounds as best as he could. "Dang, he's gone unconscious! We need to move!"

* * *

Kreaton was interested.

The Spy-Eye was still operational enough to show him everything that happened even after it had been stabbed with the knife. The spy had almost been mortally injured but some Rowdies must have stumbled across the "ritual" and they put a stop to it with their weapons.

Kreaton saw that there was a small group of Rowdies all equipped with gear that would be useful on a reconnaissance mission. One of his outposts was nearby with several examples of his new troops. The team had obviously seen the new designs and were going to return to base with the new data.

He swiftly called upon that outpost's Mobots and sent them after the recon team. He could finish what the priestess had started, striking down the spy before he could reveal any critical data. And he would be able to stop the recon team as well. Two birds, one stone.

When the Mobots got to the spot they only found traces of blood and a dangerous-looking knife. Spreading out, they found nothing else and there was only a minimal trail left to follow when it was found fifteen minutes later.

That was too long. They had surely gotten away by that time.

Kreaton cursed. He had been given another precious opportunity to eliminate the spy and he had failed to respond in time. If he had only-

He calmed himself. No, he had acted as quickly as possible. There wasn't anything he could have done to speed up the process. But now he had decided to send additional forces to each outpost, especially the one that had been reconnoitered. If the Rowdies tried to attack that outpost they would be in for a surprise in spades.

The cult had not proven as useful as he had hoped but he did note that the raccoon had a pleasant expression on his face as he was being restrained. From what he observed he could only assume that the raccoon (called "Bandit" according to what he heard from the mole) was a hormonal disaster, a lecherous youth who had paid more attention to his executioner than to his execution. He entered in all of the available data into his enemy profiles list which included the Salamander pilots that had successfully attacked before. This would be useful information and he could recall the data again and again although it was sketchier than those profiles of important and influential people such as the heads of corporations or holo-celebrities.

He angled his head to the side and chuckled. This database could help him figure out what weaknesses the Rowdies had and then he could use them to his advantage. Perhaps Kreaton could find a special way of dealing with them each individually.

He made sure that the profiles program was easily accessible and then he began reassigning units to defend the outposts more closely. His forces would not be caught off-guard again.