Firon the Hedgehog X - Recently Updated Pages

Dark Regret

FironandAelita — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:14:02 CDT

No one could forget the true beginnings of Firon's past. Troubled, confused, and lost in his own mind brought him to be the creator of his worst enemy. It was never his fault. But its basic mobian nature that others put the blame on someone. Firon was the victim of this blame, being framed by the darker half of himself who eventually manifested into the creature known as Shadow Shade, the imitation of a God. Speedix, Violet, and the others who had eventually sided alongside the silver hedgehog were the first ones to lighten their ordeals with the isolated victim. Firon, imprisoned within a world of discrimination was forced to put aside the true silver hedgehog within him, to become something just like his darker half to eliminate the insults and terminate the insulters. He would obtain their respect, even if it meant killing them intentionally. This was the beginning of a new era for the Freedom Fighters, and he was about to show them just how wrong everyone was about him.

This era began with the simple determination, one that he held onto strongly. He had just realized the potential of his Chaos powers. His hands and feet were scarred with blood from his practices, and the anger he held onto for so long was cooling off. Lying down before him was an injured opponent. The hedgehog was female with a body that proved to be matured to the point of near-adulthood. Firon was only eight years old, yet he had the improvised mind of a tactical genius. His calculating and cold behavior left the female hedgehog in a paralyzed daze, his eyes unwavering and burning with a fierce red color. Firon was mortally wounded across his chest where his opponent had cut deeply into the chest cabinet, but lifelessly, he still stood with no sign of weakening. He took a few steps forward to get a closer look at the hedgehog who's breathing was fading uncontrollably. A monstrous grin occupied his blood-sticky muzzle.

"Don't worry, Aelita. Suffering does not last forever...even if it should," he spat at her weak form, disgusted by how she stared at him with fear rather than vengeance. He turned his back to her and spoke again "Beaten by a little kid; how disgraceful. To think you'd drown the grass in that raw blood of yours is sickening. You should have died from that attack...fallen apart more...my little dummy,"

The real Firon would have never said such a hurtful opinion, but yet, this little eight year old was corrupted beyond comprehensible means. He saw nothing but disgust for his once-good companion. He hated her with a passion for selfish reasons. Yet, there was no one around to stop him from what he was going to do to her.

He returned to her side, crouching onto his knees with one hand's fingers wrapped around her arm. Seconds passed without anything occurring, until a sizzling began its work. The smell of burning fur and flesh produced itself from the decaying of the arm, and Aelita groaned in terrible pain. Firon smiled widely, deeply enjoying his torture as the burning continued to intensify. The fur rotted away, the flesh melted into bits of black charcoal, with the muscle and bone following soon after. Aelita's stuffed groan grew to a panicked, muffled scream. Firon's smile continued to grow, ripping past his own skin to spread abnormally, his teeth bared.

"Don't you just want to die, Aelita? All I wanted was a friend...someone to hear out my troubles. Oh, how I lust for revenge for being isolated like a little rat! To imagine, a girl with such a prestine beauty..." he bent his head down and dragged his tongue along her exposed, scarred belly with satisfaction at the taste of her blood "Involving herself in the act of hurting me for the fun of it, taught by her parents to hate the disgraceful Firon the Hedgehog. Oh, how you must have loved hurting me with the attempts of keeping me away as if I were a monster. Truth is, my little beautiful dummy, we're all monsters on the inside. Even you."

Seconds passed with the flames of scorching muscle before Firon finally backed off, examining his work. All her skin and fur was removed cleanly from the spot where her muscle once was, revealing a clean white bone structure. He chuckled in a playful mood, walking a step back. He then charged in and smashed a foot into the bone, breaking it into shattered fragments. Aelita had no choice but to scream at the top of her diseased lungs. Firon laughed manically as his ears picked up the scream.

"I haven't had fun like this in a long time, Aelita. You're...so...weak!" Firon yelled out in sudden anger. He repeatedly smashed his fast into her body, kicking the hardest he could with his energy proving to be Aelita's worst nightmare. Her ribs cracked, her legs began to burn from the energy scorching, and her left cheek was skinned away to the bone. Firon did not pause, nor did he feel like trying. He slowly lost his mind and form as a dark monstrosity slowly returned to temporarily take part in this enjoyment. The monster covered Firon's silver fur in a dark aura, his eyes slowly starting to bleed at the torture he was now receiving from within. The night would go on with tortured screams of agony and of sick amusement.

Blood spilled and flowed like a small stream down from the grassy hill in which the burning carcass of Aelita lied. The rain poured in like a flood to wash it away, and to cover the scene completely. Firon stood nearby, motionless and expressionless. Despite having the mind of an adult, his control over his emotions was unsteady. He stared at the murder he had committed, haunted by the deed his darker half had pressured him into. His eyes swelled up a bit, tears flowing from his eyes across the fur of his shaking body. He was horrified and hated himself eternally for taking the life of an innocent. His energy pulsed to life and allowed him to fuel his fear into a boiling hatred at his own self-esteem. He felt a burning sensation within his head. Suddenly, he was forced to recoil and fell down the hill as he held onto his head with clenched fingers. His body landed against a rock at the bottom, the back of his head impacting the rock's surface the quickest, bringing him to fall into a coma.

This was the beginning of a new era for Firon. But where he would take this lesson could only be discovered later on in the future. As long as Shadow Shade continued to exist, Firon was at risk of falling apart. However, he is changing and that is a good sign. But can he challenge his darker half and finally regain his own sanity?

Short Story provided by FironX2 (aka FironandAelita)

FironX2 - The reason I wrote this was because I wanted readers to get a good idea on why Firon is like what he is now. He obviously holds regret for something he committed, but what? This short story is meant to show one example of how that regret formed, and what Shadow Shade really is.

Characters of Firon X

FironandAelita — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:17:53 CDT

Firon the Hedgehog:

Firon is the main character and protagonist of the series. He is a bit of a mood swinger, but all around retains a state of respect with all those he meets, whether by earning it or by force. His powers derive from Chaos Energy mainly, and his genetic trait as a hedgehog allows him to run at supersonic speeds. At times he can be completely serious and with a cruel attitude, or the opposite where he can be obnoxious and happy all the time. The true him has never been truly revealed, as it is always hidden with his many masks of emotions and mood swings. Love to him is so-so; he neither accepts nor denies its a new thing to him despite the fact he can be terrible at talking properly. He takes his promises rather seriously, and if he fails to keep it, takes the full blame on himself. The cause for his mood swings may most likely be chained to his stress level and inner demons.

Love Life: He has been shown to have a love life, the girl being Violet Chaohog. The two have similar personalities, and work together a lot. Because of this, the two have always been together and have always done anything possible to keep each other out of danger. In Act 4: A Hedgehog's Secret in Season 2: The Fate of Mobius, the two kissed a second time, the first being in Season 1: The Battle of Mobius in Act 4: A Plan to Surpass

Series 1 Info: As one of the leaders of the Freedom Fighters, Firon has a few team members, those being Speedix the Hedgehog, Violet Chaohog, and Fists the Echidna. Any others who help out are either new members of his team, or ordered by the other leaders to assist him.

Appearances so far: Season 1: The Battle of Mobius, Season 2: The Fate of Mobius

Sonic the Hedgehog:

Even though Sonic isn't the main character, he's in the story. Although he isn't as heroic as his Sonic Team counterpart, he is still the same blue hedgehog that everyone knows, with a few differences. He is a hedgehog that is always trying to stop Dr. Eggman from dominating the world. He reacts to the doctor's every latest plot with his fast speed, but sometimes without thinking which could get him into serious trouble. However, his awesome moves and faster then sound speed makes him a worthy rival of the unbelievably intelligent Dr. Eggman.

Love Life: Although not yet shown in Firon X, his love life would be Amy Rose, an over-obsessed, pink hedgehog who loves Sonic more then anything. Although Sonic seems as though he doesn't wanna be even near her, he still helps her out and the two do work together a lot (even hugging and cuddling a few times). In future seasons, Amy Rose will make her appearance and Sonic's love life will begin in Firon X.

Series 1 Info: The blue hedgehog is the main leader of the Freedom Fighters, no Sally Acorn there to help him. He is a lot more serious and cunning then his Sonic Team counterpart, and can be more punishable but understanding when trouble arises.

Appearances so far: Season 1: The Battle of Mobius, Season 2: The Fate of Mobius

Speedix the Hedgehog:

The rather annoying half-brother of Firon, Speedix the Hedgehog is more or so a half-breed between two different races. Because of this, his genetic coding is mixed up and scrambled, messing around with how fast he ages or how quickly he can become skilled at a new move. Because he has traits or both an echidna and a hedgehog, his possesses longer quills, unusual strength, and supersonic speed. Although different from everyone else, he is regarded as a unique individual. He's never fallen easily in a battle against any evil, and hates evil with a deep passion. Being proclaimed the Guardian of the Chaos Emeralds, he was originally the one who had kept each of the seven gems in his possession for safe-keeping. During the war, he was forced to split them apart across the continent in hopes Eggman and his armies would never find them and utilize their powers. His powers are directly derived from Chaos Energy.

Love Life: Although, not presently shown, Speedix is an all-girls' man. He considers himself the center of attention and will sometimes show a sign of affection towards girls (like in Act 4: A Plan to Surpass in Season 1: The Battle of Mobius, where he winks at Violet and makes her blush and giggle). In the series of RapidiX Freedom Fighters, Speedix does find the girl of his dreams and, being slightly a little older and just a little bit crazier and more hyper, Rapdix is an ideal match for him.

Series 1 Info: Speedix is an obedient and kind hedgehog in the good story, a power-crazed and evil hedgehog in the neutral story, and a spoiled and completely hateful hedgehog in the evil story. His personailty only changes slightly throughout each story, with some of it untouched.Appearances so far: Season 1: The Battle of Mobius, Season 2: The Fate of Mobius

Violet Chaohog:

The beautiful young female hedgehog who assists Firon and the crew on their quest to reclaim freedom to Mobius. Because she is not skilled as a fighter, she focuses more on technology and as the technician of the group. She is passionate in her hatred for Eggman's rule and for her sudden attractions towards Firon. Being thirteen, she can still be naive at times and often is helpless without anyone there to guide and/or protect her. This gives her the impression of a damsel in distress, but she is far from useless. Practically, she may be the only one of the group who is smarter than the average mobian so to speak.

Love Life: The one and only hedgehog she has ever fallen in love with is Firon the Hedgehog. Because the two of them have similar personalities, likes, and dislikes, they usually get into romantic conversation (when no one is there or no one can see or hear them). She and Firon have kissed before, twice (see above for location) and both have the habit of blushing a lot due to embarrassment or because its part of their love interest.

Series 1 Info: A purple hedgehog who is mostly found with Firon the Hedgehog, or usually thinking about him. In all stories, she is still the same, loving and caring friend that Firon knows her as. She is always protected or saved by Firon the Hedgehog, as he is always risking his life to keep her alive or out of Dr. Eggman's grasp.

Appearances so far: Season 1: The Battle of Mobius, Season 2: The Fate of Mobius

Fists the Echidna:

Survivor and Veteran of the Chaos Wars as a United Guard, Fists has now reentered the war zone as a freedom fighter. Although he has lost most of his lust from fatal injuries and a deep regret for butchering his wife's feelings, he makes an attempt to become of use to the crew. He is very slow to anger as he can now sympathize better with others, and his avoidance of combat keeps him in a calm mood. When forced into battle, he uses brute force but no energy attacks whatsoever. Although one of the last of his race, he was never gifted with the powers of Chaos like Knuckles gratefully was.

Love Life: He had once been married to the unknown mother of Firon and Speedix, through reasons not known. The two might of married due to love at first sight, but due to different personalities and trouble with taking care of their son, the two of them had a divorce. Ever since, Fists has never married another woman, and his only family member is the red hedgehog, Speedix. His current love interest is slightly younger and fitter than he, and goes by the name of Chika the Echidna. As their relationship progresses, Chika is revealed to be the eccentric granddaughter of Tikal the Echidna, linking Knuckles, Chika, Fists, Speedix and Firon to the royal family. When Chika is forced to either abandon her new family for life in luxury, or take them with her, Fists and Speedix go with her to become the next king and prince of the Mystic Ruins. Firon, however, decides to live life in the fast lane and continue his adventurous ways.

Series 1 Info: Personality is changed at a surprising rate through each story. In the good story, he acts more like a father then an uncle to Firon and is more caring and friendly. In the neutral story, he acts more like a friend then a relative, and doesn't show much interest in family. In the evil story, he seems as though he is a complete opposite of what he is in the good story, noticeable as he attempts to kill Violet in Act 3: The Aftermath in Season 2: The Fate of Mobius.

Appearances so far: Season 1: The Battle of Mobius, Season 2: The Fate of Mobius

Knuckles the Echidna:

The guardian of the Master Emerald, and one of the last remaining echidnas. He is less stronger then his Sonic Team counterpart, and is more social. He shows a arrogant and angered attitude towards most people he meets, but only if they say the wrong thing. His duty to protect the Master Emerald is an obsession to him, and he's done everything in his power to keep it away from the wrong hands. However, because he is gullible, he is easily fooled into doing evil deeds, but later realizes the truth and uses his strength to solve the problem he led to.

Love Life: Nothing currently known about his love life, but future seasons might introduce Rouge the Bat.

Series 1 Info: Not much is known besides the fact he is a leader of the Freedom Fighters, and the guardian of the Master Emerald. He rarely speaks and no other information is given.

Appearances so far: Season 1: The Battle of Mobius, Season 2: The Fate of Mobius

Miles "Tails" Prower

The smartest mobian on Mobius, second to smartest living creation on the planet, with Eggman being the smartest. This orange and young fox is Sonic's best friend, and the Freedom Fighter's doctor and builder. With his high IQ level, building skills, and medical skills, Tails is very helpful in a lot of ways. He is also a caring, helpful, and sometimes childish friend. He has helped Firon and his team several times, and will do anything to defeat Dr. Eggman!

Love Life: Nothing is known about Tails' love life, and it is unknown if he will ever get a girl. It is shown in some episodes of Sonic X that he shows an attraction towards the Cosmo the Mobian.

Series 1 Info: In the good story, he is totally obedient to Firon and his team and is always willing to help with his latest creations and skills. In the neutral story, he saves Violet's life but ends up siding with Speedix as a result to a power shift in the Freedom Fighters. In the evil story, he is either afraid of or hates Firon for unknown reasons.

Appearances so far: Season 1: The Battle of Mobius, Season 2: The Fate of Mobius

Striker the Hedgehog

An engineering-obsessed hedgehog with the attitude of a shy rookie, Striker had never once in his life accepted by others because of his inability to perform other tasks easily besides building. At age twenty-three, he invented the speed shoes, a marvel and wonder to behold as it could allow fast speeds without the burning of friction. Jet shoes were later invented by himself as a means of faster movement for those not gifted with the intensity of naturally supersonic speeds. His knack at building and creating amazing technology makes him a valuable asset indeed.

Love Life: It is currently unknown if Striker will fall in love, but chances are, he will find the girl of his dreams sometime later on. He has a small interest in Haze Rose, the sister of Violet Rose, Armi Rose, India Rose and Amy Rose.

Series 1 Info: A totally obedient and very unsure hedgehog at first, but later on becomes helpful in the search for a chaos emerald. He joins the assault on Dr. Eggman's base in an attempt to help Firon and the team save Mobius!

Appearances so far: Season 2: The Fate of Mobius

Rod the Fox

The similar opposite of Striker. Though not cursed with the inability of lacking in simple tasks, he is struck with an unusual sense of nervousness towards nearly everyone he meets, most often Firon. He has acquired piloting skills and has the ability to pilot the Fire Wing, a carrier/attack jet requiring the most talented to control its insane speed and cargo hold, despite the gravity within that holds everything in place. He has a serious distaste for battle, and avoids it as much as possible. However, if forced to enter combat, he will most likely flee.

Love life: He is slightly attracted to Violet Chaohog, but cannot make any type of move whatsoever towards her, because of Firon the Hedgehog The fact that Rod is ten years older does not help the fact. He also has another, more secret interest, Rosa Prower. She is four years younger, single, and the two have had a lot of fun together. This would be an ideal relationship that would stabilize Rod's life.

Series 1 Info: With Striker, appears to be a friend with Speedix and obedient freedom fighter. He puts his skills to the test later on, but at the beginning of his appearance, simply goes on a mission with Firon and his team to retrieve a chaos emerald.

Appearances so far: Season 2: The Fate of Mobius

Shadow Shade:

Once a God known as Shadous, the God of Shadow, who has now become corrupted by his own power into the living nightmare known as the Dark God, Shadow Shade. Once thoughtful and justice-fulfilling, Shadow Shade has transformed into nothing more than a monster of pure insanity and tortuous thoughts. His ability to use his power to corrupt other beings like Firon make him even a disease. The only two forms known of him are his horribly deformed blob form in which he is only a growing fetus of hatred within a host, and a hedgehog with disoriented spines and quills with a pair of bloodshot eyes and a body of raven black color. He is most likely the greatest threat to the universe as his intentions can become reality if he ever gained possession of his real form, with no chains bounding him to a confined realm that displeases him.

Love Life: None

Series 1: Only appearing in the evil story, Shadow Shade takes control of Firon the Hedgehog and takes the form of his super form, to exact revenge on Dr. Eggman, and to kill all living creatures (including the Freedom Fighters).

Appearances so far: Season 2: The Fate of Mobius

Destiny and Adventure

armishadow — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 06:19:18 CDT

FIRON X SEASON 1: THE BATTLE OF MOBIUS

During the conquest of Doctor Eggman, birth is given to a new speedy hero/villian inside one of the evil doctor's prisons. He is rescued by Fists the Echidna, top researcher and explorer of the Freedom Fighters.

As Firon grows up, he begins training his speed and strength that somehow surpasses that of Sonic's speed and Knuckles's strength. Now he has become a fully-trained and powerful leader of the Freedom Fighters.

In this all-new adventure, you will have the choice of choosing Firon's fate. Will he choose the Path of Good? The Path of Evil? or perhaps go neutral? Only you can choose how the story of Firon's quest turns out.

FIRON X SEASON 2: THE FATE OF MOBIUS

Good Story: With the chaos emerald obtained, the Freedom Fighters now plan to put a stop to Eggman's rule once and for all. But in this season, Firon will have to rely on his friends in order to obtain yet another chaos emerald, and the final two from Eggman, to gain the power to take out the evil dictator once and for all!

Evil Story: With Eggman dead, Firon no longer has a vengence, and with the dictator no longer on Mobius, what will happen next? Will Firon's new dark power destory the world? Will Firon be betrayed as Eggman said he would be? Find out in this season!

Neutral Story: After breaking two laws of the Freedom Fighters, Firon is up for trial with Freedom Fighter leader, Sonic the Hedgehog, and the rest of the sub-leaders. What will happen to Firon in this season? Will he be forgiven? or exiled?

Now you can contiune how the story goes! Will the planet of Mobius be saved? destoryed? or become nothing but a past memory? Choose the path you like: Evil, good, or neutral, and find out!
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Important: This story is not related to the Sonic Series in anyway, credit is given to the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Team for the sonic cast, as well as any items in the Sonic Series (i.e. the Chaos Emeralds).

Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters and indica Â© and â„¢ 1991 - 2006 (e.g. presnt) SEGA, Sonic Team. Sonic X pictures used for recreation were made respectivly by SONIC TEAM, TMS, 4Kids Entertainment and Jetix. Sonic X Â© 2003-2006 Project SONIC. No copyright infrigment intended.

Firon X was made respectivily by Team Firon 2005-2007, stealing or copying of anything related to the work of Team Firon will be notified as a crime and punishment will be done if this crime is done. Copyright Team Firon 2005-2007, please ask permission first before usage of Firon X material and credit must be given if used.

When choosing a story, you have two ways of finding it. One, using the side menu by clicking any season or finale of choice, then clicking any Act or certain story you want to go to. Two, using the quick menu down below (non-completed intros, acts, seasons, or anything else will not be shown, for if you wanna see it early before its complete, go with choice number 1). Other then that, enjoy the story!

You may also look at parts of the website that include fan pages, link pages, videos, questions and answers page, and more that will come soon.

Evil Story is rated PG13+

Neutral Story is rated E10+

Good Story is rated E for Everyone

New Stories, Intros, Acts, Seasons, and Finales are made almost at anytime, so stay tuned! and watch out for anything new!

Also, a new series can occur when the story is changed from one area to another, or it goes into a different timeline or story with other characters. Any other reasons will be notified in the future.

New Pictures will replace the old pictures in the Characters Page, for both better organization and better look. Please comment before all new pictures are finished and put into action.

Are you a fan of Firon X? Take the first Firon X quiz here

Quizzes contiune! Here's the Season 1: The Battle of Mobius quiz

Quizzes go on! Here's the Season 2: The Fate of Mobius quiz

Enjoy the series of the offical Firon the Hedgehog X-treme!!!

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Series 1: Fight for Mobius

Season 1: The Battle of Mobius

To view the Battle of Mobius: Evil Story intro, click here

Act 1: Disobeiance
Act 2: One Last Chance
Act 3: Late Night Pursuit
Act 4: Shadow Shade Unlocked

To view the Battle of Mobius: Good Story intro, click here

Act 1: Chaos Retrieval
Act 2: Trouble Underneath
Act 3: Escaping with Chaos
Act 4: A Plan to Surpass

To view the Battle of Mobius: Neutral Story intro, click here

Act 1: Discovering Chaos Control
Act 2: Beginning of Chaos
Act 3: Questioning Conclusions
Act 4: Accused and Forgotten

Season Complete!

Season 2: The Fate of Mobius

To view the Fate of Mobius: Evil Story intro, click here

Act 1: Shadow Shade's Threat
Act 2: Possessed
Act 3: The Aftermath
Act 4: Super Sonic
Act 5: Battle of the Demons
Act 6: Final Finisher
Act 7: Fate

To view the Fate of Mobius: Good Story intro, click here

Act 1: Chaotic Blizzard
Act 2: Top of the World
Act 3: Capturing Chaos
Act 4: A Hedgehog's Secret
Act 5: Plan B
Act 6: Speedix's Finisher
Act 7: City Invasion
Act 8: Birth of Super Firon
Act 9: The Final Conflict
Act 10: Renewed Freedom and Hope

To view the Fate of Mobius: Neutral Story intro, click here

Act 1: Exiled
Act 2: Firon vs Metal Firon
Act 3: Chaotic Finisher
Act 4: Two Hedgehogs
Act 5: Hunt for Chaos
Act 6: Replanning
Act 7: Demonica
Act 8: Shocking Truth
Act 9: Freedom At Last

Season Complete!

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Acts: 44

(Note: Intros are part of the total amount of acts, since they are written parts of the story)
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Pictures made by FironandAelita (last one by Armishadow)

Sonic X pictures made by Sonic Team

Original Pictures made by Sonic Team and the crew at the Mystical Forest Zone, who have also been given credit

Credit is also given to Team Artail for some of the huge Sonic X pictures, because someone from Team Artail took these pictures him or herself. So credit is given to him or her also.

SECRET ENDING

FironandAelita — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:40:59 CDT

WARNING!!!*READ THE WARNING FIRST BEFORE PROCEEDING TO READ THE SECRET ENDING*!!!!

This ending is only meant for the readers who have read Firon X, a 2006 multi-path story consisting of dramitically different storylines and events. If you wish to make this ending exicting or make sense, read Firon X first!

You have been warned of a possible spoiler!

All Firon X readers who have finished reading the series, you may proceed!

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Deep within the ruins of Robotroplis, on the very scar of Mobius, was a glowing red core of unknown energy. The power it emitted was creeping its way within the ruins, almost like a defense mechanism to keep intruders away from the core. The pulsing energy beat like a heart as it took the form of an egg sac; its defenses stealing away the lives of hapless souls to aid the core in its growth. The day passed by quickly as the ruins fell into a zone of darkness, the core shining a bright pink as it drew closer to its next phase. The night sky lost its beautiful stars and the moon as the darkness concealed the core within the protective body of a dark shell.

Suddenly, the core flashed its lightest tone and a hand burst from out of the top-most egg. The hand was diseased with bleeding scars and wore a single decorated glove that was swallowed into the darkness by its black color. The fingers twitched violently as it adjusted to its new freedom, finally clutching into a fist as the host still within the egg sac was reawakened with an old hatred. Part of the face broke free of the fluidized membrane of the egg sac, revealing a single, red-obscured eye. It searched its surroundings, then stared at its clutching fist. The pupil grew disturbingly small and the host's first frown changed the eye into a demon's point of view. Suddenly, the host roared in agony as it began to realize what had come to happen before its rebirth. The growing creature was going to break free, to satisfy his blood-thrist.

As a response to its reawakening strength, its other hand ripped through the egg membrane, allowing the head to fully reveal itself to be masked in black with spines that refused to obey gravity. He tore the rest of his body out of his prison, and stepped onto solid ground for the first time. The dark shell was swallowed into his body by his immense and superior power, and his skin slowly healed from birth defects as it became flawless in appearance. He blinked a few times to ensure he was in reality, then allowed himself to grin out of excitement from his thoughts of torture and pain.

"I'm back..." his voice carried on like an echo and reverberated in the ruins of Robotroplis. It was cold and dark, and stricken with evil. Within a flash, the creature disappeared from sight, no longer taking interest in useless ruins when there was blood to be spilled.

Nobody was aware of it, but a nightmare had been reborn...

A New Adventure

FironandAelita — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 09:41:38 CST

On the planet of Mobius, set after Firon X, begins a new age of conflict and secrecy. After a year of painful losses and drastic changes, a new evil arises in the form of the Evil Entity, Cage. Being one of the last few Chaos Controllers, Firon the Hedgehog sets out on a mission to defeat this new evil, whatever it takes from his efforts. But when he and this evil battle, unleashing their great power, they create a rift through time and space, capturing someone from another universe and bringing this person into Firon's world!

The fourteen-year-old human girl named Becca, has now been trapped in this world, and now has a certain entity after her, unless Firon can help her! The silver hedgehog will have to find out the secret behind this girl's destined arrival, obtain the Seven Chaos Emeralds to defeat Cage, and obliterate all evil before something even darker awakens...

Season 1: One Cause, Many Effects...

Introduction
Episode 1: Looking Back...
Episode 2: Cage's Illusion
Episode 3: Past History
Episode 4: Enter Indigo
Episode 5: Sage, a Survivor
Episode 6: Victims of the Same Cause
Episode 7: Fatal Trick
Episode 8: Familiar Foes
Episode 9: Ghost Town
Episode 10: Legendary Fallen Angel of Light

-End of Season 1

Pictures

Artwork of Becca, made by Indigo

The black and white picture of Sage (above) and its colored form (below)

This is for my friend, Indigo (not her real name, but a cool nickname she uses) and I drew it to cheer her up. Hope you like it, Indigo!

Indigo's picture of Firon, Sage, Indigo, and Cage. It's a freaking awesome picture! And it's rightfully owned by Indigo-inside and/or Fifth-heart. I just simply admire this artwork of hers. Good work Indigo!

This is between a quick and slow draw, and I drew what came to mind. I got some of the poses from a Kingdom Hearts 2 cover-art, and I think it came out pretty good. Enjoy!

These guys are the Dark Reapers, nine mobians who opened themselves to darkness, let it consume their hearts, let it control their minds, and became loyal subjects of the Dark God himself (aka Shadow Shade). Each one has his or her own distinct weapon and personaility, the only similarity between them being the robes they wear. They are the most elite of anyone under Shadow Shade's wing, and the most dangerous for their shockingly high intelligence and extreme skill with their weapon (s) of choice. Like most who had become one with darkness, they lack the emotions to sympathize and empathize with. Enjoy the picture!

I'm pretty much proud of this picture of Etrius, it has really nice detail compared to my other drawings. His pose may look simple, but take a look at what he's holding and you'll realize why he looks irritated.

This is a Christmas picture for my very awesome and best friend, Indigo (aka fifth-heart and indigo-inside). Merry Christmas Indigo! Hope you like the picture!

インディゴは!! 揺れる
(Indigo Rocks!)

FTH Intel Page

FironandAelita — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 09:32:24 CST

This page was specifically manifested to fill in the blanks of any questions readers may have about FTH's characters or story. Either that, or it's for the sheer entertainment in reading much more about the basis, origins, and useful information of each character, or of different places introduced. Much more will be added as the series goes on.

Notes *MUST READ*

*Updates will be made on a ranging scale of one-or-more days, depending on the convenience of the writer.

*Information may be changed as prior to updates and/or removal of a character. This is to ensure no one becomes lost as they read the actual story, and then double-check with this Intel page.

*All of the following information, characters, places, etc. are property of the Firon X Team, and any items related to the Sonic franchise are owned respectfully by Sonic Team. Any violation by stealing and misusing any of this will be issued as a crime, and law may have to do what it does best: catching and busting those behind the crime. Some characters are owned rightfully by people who have been willing to lend their characters to our stories. We thank those people for their kind offers, and promise to never abuse their copyrights.

*If there is anything wrong with the following information, or if you feel something must be added and/or removed, please notify the staff by commenting down below.

*(Personal Note) I know there are no pictures for some of the following descriptions, but isn't that the point of reading a book? Picture everything you read as if it were a movie? It's all determined by the skill of imagination and supreme vocabulary that catches the readers' interest and lures them into a world in which they are not familiar with.

Characters:
You cannot, repeat: cannot make a story involving loads of action and adventure without a main character or a set of main characters. Supporting characters are optional, but can add to the realism and excitement of the story. The following information records what is known of FTH's characters, both main and supporting, throughout each season, and may change as the storyline leaps further towards an ending that will leave the reader wanting more.

Firon the Hedgehog

Nicknames/Referred Names: Fironkku, The Silver Hedgehog
Age (s): 15
Sex: Male
Skin/Fur Color: Tan/Silver
Eye Color: Blue
Preferred Colors: Obviously Red and Black
Height: 5'2 (Five feet and two inches)
Wieght: 95lb (Ninety-five pounds)

The star of the entire series, Firon's life follows from the aftermath of the previous series (Firon X: Repurification) and what has followed through untold up to the point where everything which had once been him completely decimated. He is not a happy-go-lucky individual, preferring loneliness over social life to avoid bringing demise upon those he cares for. His thoughts have been literally choke-held by vengeance, as he wishes to see the murderer of his one and only love, Violet Chaohog, burn. Being the offspring of two genetically, cybernetically, and bionically altered hedgehogs, he is an abnormally powerful beholder of the power known as Chaos Energy. He relies on his speed rather than his strength as he can run up to 1,000 mph (One thousand miles per hour). Like most hedgehogs, he is gifted with the natural ability of spin dashing and slide kicking, and there is always the space gene that allows him to reuse the air he breaths out in a hazardous zone, or even in the vacuum of space. He, like his new rival in FTH, Cage, is a very calculating and aggressive pursuer of whatever goals he fashions in his cranium. His leadership is superb, and although he is unnecessarily serious about everything, it does allow him to tell a lie from the truth just as easily as a finger snaps. He is a one-hedgehog army, and he will do anything to keep his promises impenetrable; even at the cost of his own life.

Cage

Nicknames/Referred Names: The Demon Hedgehog, The Black Hedgehog, Bastard, The Opposite
Age (s): Unknown
Sex: Male
Skin/Fur Color: Black/Black
Eye Color: Red/Black
Preferred Colors: Black
Height: 5'5 (Five feet and five inches)
Weight: Unknown

The loyal servant of Shadow Shade, Cage is a character driven by self-determination, and believes nearly everything he hears. He has willingly given himself up to the Power of Darkness, and every trace of his existence has been hidden away, or even lost forever. He is Firon's new rival, and quite frankly, the two of them misunderstand each other by a long shot. To Firon, Cage wishes to see the world burn along with the entire universe, but to Cage, he wishes for peace and that the only way to achieve it is by following his "master's" commands and using the power he has acquired as the stepping stones of his plan. He is a very gruesome, hateful, and merciless figure with no intention in holding back his fueled anger, but as of late, he is just starting to grow outside his dark bounds to feel sympathy for Firon and others. However, as long as darkness continues to wreck his heart with painful emotions, he may never find out the true mealiness of his ways. He uses powerful energy attacks and sly manipulation to try and force all who go against him to succumb. He may have possibly been the Flame X character Major Cage Blackmore at one point.

Becca

Nicknames: Unknown
Age (s): 14
Sex: Female
Skin/Fur Color: White/Unknown
Eye Color: Blue
Preferred Colors: Blue
Height: 5'6 (Five feet and six inches)
Weight: Secret

A human who is not originally from the Mobian Universe, but rather from an alternate universe where humans thrive, Becca is a girl who just beginning to adjust to mobian lifestyle. Because she lacks combat skills and is easily unable to defend herself, Firon has scarified his own life in order to protect her; not only because Cage is after her for unknown reasons, but because he senses a destiny behind her sudden arrival. Her arrival was caused by a violent energy reaction between two opposites, which resulted in a universal portal that literally captured another being from another universe. Becca was the one who ended up captured, and in good timing. On her own world in the alternate universe, her family was murdered by a group of thieves and she was to be the next victim for them to slaughter. She would of been killed if not for the portal that took her away as a result of Firon and Cage's battle in the Great Forest. She is known to be intelligent, shy, caring, and somewhat ticklish (as hinted in Episode 1). She is later referred to as the reincarnation of the Angel Goddess, the one who locked Shadow Shade within his prison, the Dark Realm, thousands of years ago, and therefore, she is hunted down as she holds the key within her. Although she does not approve of Firon's erratic obsession over keeping her out of harm's way, she allows him to go far with his ideas as she does not fully understand how the mobian mind works. Because of this, she can be very naive for an intelligent human.

Indigo Lance

Nicknames: The Purple Hedgehog
Age (s): 13
Sex: Female
Skin/Fur Color: White/Violet, Indigo, and Purple
Eye Color: Green
Preferred Colors: Indigo
Height: 5'0 (Five feet)
Weight: Secret

Descendant and survivor of the cataclysm of her old clan, The Angel Believers, along with her brother, Wren, Indigo has adapted to a traveling lifestyle. She is more or so like a tomboy as she simply takes combat as an opportunity to test her skills, and is objective to sitting back and watching. She, like her brother and the Angel Believers, possesses a power known as Angel Energy, an energy that is calm and co-existent with its partner (the controller). She is not very skilled at using her power, and her teachings are cut short after a fateful trip through Waterfall Forest, leading to the death of her brother at Cage's hands. Since that day, she has sworn revenge on the black hedgehog. Like Firon, she wishes to give Cage a death that is too slow to imagine. Unlike Firon, she is not as obsessed as this is a first-time thing for her, while with Firon, he has encountered and dealt with this type of problem many times before, but had miserably failed and lost his loved ones forever for being cocky, pushing him into a spiral of tormented emotions. She has many special abilities, two of which are Heart Purification, an elimination of negative emotions stored in one's heart, and Feel Sense, which is able to derive what one is feeling at the time. As implied by Sage Pure several times, she is highly sensitive to what she feels physically (read Episodes 8 and 10) and emotionally, and it is hinted she may be having certain romantic feelings for Sage, who also happens to be a deserted Angel Believer. Unlike the other characters, Indigo displays innocence even as she fights, as her heart is pure as indicated by her brother and the Angelwing Necklace he passed onto her. She is a fan of swords.

Sage Pure

Nicknames: The Green Hedgehog, The Stained Hunter
Age (s): 15 1/2
Sex: Male
Skin/Fur Color: White-Tan/ Green
Eye Color: Blue
Preferred Colors: White and Black
Height: 5'4 (Five feet and four inches)
Weight: 94lb (Ninety-four pounds)

Cursed with a rage towards evil, Sage is one of a few lucky survivors of the cataclysm laid upon his clan, the Angel Believers. Possibly the only one who survived within the fire that consumed and destroyed his home, he came face-to-face with the one who he claimed responsible: a black hedgehog with two entirely bloodshot eyes. His luck proved to be his only savior after he successfully was able to resist the hedgehog's influence from within, what had attempted to control using his hatred, even managing to steal away with a power of the demon. Forced to retreat, the demon left his body, and the chaos around the green hedgehog completely, leaving Sage to take a good look at what was once his home. And his life. Nearly eight years later, Sage has become a fearless Stained Hunter, armed with a weapon solely meant for the purpose of evil's elimination, the Angel Magnum. He sees very little mercy for any who follow the path of becoming evil, believing once they are removed, they will no longer plague Mobius. Despite this cold and dark outlook on the world's inhabitants, he can be friendly and caring but, on the downside, be very gullible to even the most evilest mind. After falling blindly to a well-thought out trick made up from none other than Cage himself, Sage's first encounter with the silver hedgehog Firon became very violent exceedingly. An intervention made by Indigo and Sage's inner regret stopped the battle completely, Sage receiving minor wounds on the outside, but suffering a brutal cut on the inside as he finally began to realize how useless it was for him to exterminate evil. Regardless of his actions, he was gratefully forgiven by Indigo, and later, Firon and Becca, becoming part of their team, officially dropping the title of a Stained Hunter. Sage is an aggressive gunman, and takes pride in his dead-on aim that has a very high percentage in always hitting the supposed target. Despite this "hardened shell" that displays his wild attitude in fighting, he is shown to have a softer side, especially towards girls like Indigo Lance, suggesting he can be very shy and have a hard time thinking on what to say. He seems to have a liking towards flustering Indigo with nice compliments about how she looks or what she is like, hinting that he may in fact have a crush on her. He is skilled in sharpshooting.

Episode 10: Legendary Fallen Angel of Light

FironandAelita — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 22:24:43 CST

Firon’s eyes were wide with apprehension as he looked over three red-and-black robed mobians, all three hedgehogs with distinctly different features and stances. The hedgehog in the center of the group was a red-and-blue furred mobian with thick and fine quills that struck in all directions, with blazing red eyes and a dead silent expression, his eyes narrowed only at Firon. The female out of the trio was a pink hedgehog with fairly straight quills that snuck into her robe shirt, with passionate purple eyes with a seemingly kind-hearted smile on her face. The last hedgehog had a wild array of quills, crooked and pointed like needles at the tips, with a pair of scary golden eyes that glowed within every shadow cast by the town’s small lights. As Firon soaked in this entire moment, the red-and-blue hedgehog stepped forward with his hands raised outward, as if praising.

“You can refer to me as Fire Hog, and as for these two-” the hedgehog spread his arms out wider to point out his two lackeys “They are Sakura and Daix,” the introductions were cut short by the blunt tone of an untrustworthy silver hedgehog’s voice.

“What do you want?” Firon demanded, stepping forward to represent himself and his team. He held the blade-less and encrypted hilt, unaware of its presence for the time being. Fire Hog smirked, closing his eyes as he walked several steps forward. As soon as both hedgehogs were face-to-face, the robed hedgehog’s eyes opened to reveal a deathly pair of red eyes, abnormal and terrifying. His eyes, combined with his vicious grin that was full of sharp fangs, allowed him to imitate a monster.

“You have someone we want...the human girl, Becca.” Firon was unaffected by the evil glare, and grimaced angrily.

“Low lives under Cage’s wing...” Firon assumed, then yelled out “And you can forget ever laying a finger on Becca!” The devilish grin died away from Fire Hog’s face, replaced by a frown.

“Last I remember, I take orders from the one and only Dark God and those blessed by his authority...not some weakling shone in light,” The angered hedgehog jabbed a finger into Firon’s chest, and immediately, the silver hedgehog’s chest felt like ice for two seconds. Firon’s breath was stolen away from him, and he became wondrous.

“What...are you?” he asked slowly, the pupils of his eyes becoming minuscule instead of wide. Fire Hog huffed, and crossed his arms behind his head.

“Someone from the Dark...” the robed hedgehog answered with mirth “And you, are the cancer that sickens my master.”

“I am no disease!” the silver hedgehog spat in his opposite’s face, clinching his fists tightly. Fire Hog was not convinced.

“You interfere with the plans of the Dark God, and that is punishable by Death.” The taunts grew intensely with each passing second, but Firon had just as quickly figured out what the older hedgehog was attempting to do. He was trying to drive him into a rage, where in turn, he would do something entirely stupid. So, unexpectedly, Firon smiled gleefully, and the taunts came to a terse end.

“Tell ya what, skirt-man,” the sudden insult forced an irritated frown to crease Fire Hog’s features, and giggles were heard from Sakura. Diax kept to himself, as if not having any interest in the conversation. Firon continued “Lets settle this, over a battle. Cause, I ain’t giving up so easily to a bad-fashioned mobian that is ‘Someone from the Dark’,”

“Alright smart ass...” Fire Hog’s voice darkened to a pissed-off tone, and he lashed out with a hand behind his back, as if reaching for something “This battle will be over, quickly and simply,” Instantaneously, the hand behind his back summoned a surge of lime-green energy with black sparks, focusing it into the shape of a ceremonial, archaic scythe. A flash of light brightened to an intensity too much for everyone’s eyes, and when it finally dimmed back to normal, the scythe was complete. It bended shapelessly with a symbol made of gold at its blade-less tip, a black-and-red stripped hilt that Fire Hog held angrily to, and a giant curved blade made of energy. Fire Hog performed a variety of spins with his weapon, then held it in position behind his arm with a nasty grin on his face.

“Where is your weapon, weakling? You fight without insight? That is a mistake for which you will pay!” Fire Hog swung his scythe clear across where Firon was, the energy blade sizzling as it flashed through the air. Firon dodged it just barely, the back of his jacket suffering a graze from the lava-hot blade. He lazily landed on his feet, the hilt just anxiously between his fingers.

He barked an order back to his team “Stay back!” Indigo was about to object until Sage held up a hand to block her progress, and reluctantly backed off along with the willingly pair of Tay and Becca. Firon hid the hilt in his jacket, then curled his hands into fists with the tip of his energy rising to threatening levels throughout his arms. A vicious triangular blade of Chaos Energy struck out of his right fist, its very tip burning away the earth at his feet. Fire Hog laughed evilly at the sight of hatred strewn within Firon’s expression.

“Pitiful, mindless anger. Doesn’t it feel persuasive? Let it fuel the rage you’ve held onto for so long, bring about the true hatred that dwells within the depth of your heart! Only then, will you understand the Darkness, its strengths and weaknesses, its glorious intentions and demands!” Fire Hog screamed out a temptation, laughing all the while, then leaped with a crazed, maniacal expression on his face, swinging his scythe into an X-pattern. Firon deflected the attack, costing little energy in the process. But Fire Hog was relentless, and operated more of his power into his rampage, slashing and lunging at every nook and cranny his demented eyes could find.

“Why must you resist! Why pit yourself against the immortal himself? Against the royalties of which we are? You’re making this choice too racially, full of stupidity and ignorance to the fact: There is only one path!” There was a change in tactics as Fire Hog delivered a gruesome kick into Firon’s stomach, rocketing the silver hedgehog straight past his team and into a nearby building. The building collapsed partly, but the silver hedgehog was far from surrendering, picking himself off the rumble and dashing straight at the adversary from the Dark. Fire Hog’s eyes widened and he hurriedly held his scythe straight in front of him, and instead of deflecting the spin dash that Firon performed, it was holding him in place. It was a sparring between who had the superior power to rebel against the other, and right now, both powers were leveled in neutral. Fire Hog’s serrated teeth clenched and he roared defiance, pushing harder and more valiantly into the bashing form of his foe. Firon also pushed, way past his limitations and into a near-exhausting state. But whatever kept him from fainting, was unknown to even himself and it surprised Fire Hog beyond the doubt that he was losing. Or would be, if he didn’t act fast.

“I am impressed...” he admitted shamelessly “Your abnormal resistance is greater than I imagined...but, as you will find out soon enough, YOU ARE NOT SUPERIOR TO MY POWER!” Fire Hog’s anger came into play at last and, as a way of cheating, blasted a surge of energy right into Firon’s spinning form. At first, it disappeared as if it had been absorbed, but the aftereffects were violent to behold. Firon was electrocuted beyond natural pain, and was blasted like a cinder straight back into the crumbling structure of the building he had last been flung into. This time, however, the building fully collapsed and consumed his helpless body in a mass of stone and heavy wood. At that exact moment, the battle seemed to be over, and Fire Hog walked impatiently over to the human girl that his intentions had importance for. Indigo and Sage immediately jumped into his path, only to be unaware of what was coming to them. Within a second, a powerful thump struck both hedgehogs in the back of their skulls, knocking them unconscious and revealing the robed figures of Sakura and Diax. All three reapers turned on Becca and Tay and, as a last sign of defense, Tay put a hold to their progress, stepping into their path and holding her arms out wide.

“Step aside, weak mortal, or your blood will stain the earth on which you stand...” Fire Hog demanded, stepping forward with a blood-thirsty irritation.

Tay frowned, ignoring the tremor in her hands, and stayed put. “Over my dead body...”

“That will be arranged as you please.” He lashed out with a gloved hand, cupping his fingers around the small throat of Tay, slowly enclosing his fingers to crush her throat. Tay struggled, gasping for the tiny bits of air she could breath, gagging at the reaper’s cold and menacing choke hold. Diax and Sakura took advantage of the situation and rushed after Becca. The human was too paralyzed to move, making it fairly easy for the hedgehogs to grab her, taking hold of her arms and legs. Dark energy bolted down onto the two reapers, making their getaway with their prize with as little frustration as possible.

Fire Hog stared at the pink vixen before him pitifully, pulling her to his face and whispering “I’m afraid your death will have to wait..weak imbecile. Perhaps next time, you’ll think twice before putting yourself in Fate’s path...” With that said, he loosened his grip and threw Tay aside like a piece of trash. The nearly suffocated vixen lied on the ground, breathing in huge amounts for air, with all the energy in her body sucked away.

“We best be on our way...the Dark God must be agitated by our prolonged departure from his realm-“

“You’re not going anywhere!” an ear-splitting voice shouted. A bleeding Firon ran at full speed, jumped at mid-height through the air, and making a fast slash of his energy blade. Fire Hog was too slow to react, and suffered for his lack of foresight. A long, gaping gash spread across his shoulder, and black-red blood flowed out of the wound in large quantities, as if being pumped out. His eyes, as if a switch had been flicked on, bursted into a shiny coat of red, displaying that he was now, more than ever, pissed off in an incomprehensible manner.

His scythe came into possession and his original idea of leaving the scene, gone. He teleported tersely, and in a moment of fast-motioned reality, swung his scythe with a long, graceful curve. The attack would have killed the silver hedgehog, but there was an unpredictable occurrence of Fate being played at its own game. Within a bang of light, the hilt teleported into the hands of its newfound owner, and coming to life on its top, was a gigantic blade with amazing capability. The giant, broad-side blocked the oncoming blade of the scythe, deflecting it right out of the hand of the dark reaper, and shocking the hate-controlled hedgehog right out of his mind. Firon made use of his chance, and swung his mystical weapon as if it was part of his body, cutting deeply into the chest of his opponent and finally bringing the two to another state of neutrality. The fast-motioned reality ended as they both fell and collapsed into the ground, stealing away the attention of Diax and Sakura from Becca, who hung half-conscious in their hands.

“Firon...” she weakly called, but had to finally give in to the blackening of her vision. She fainted, and now it was an inevitable kidnaping that had surfaced Firon’s worst nightmares.

As the silver hedgehog saw the dark energy consume the trio, he screamed “Becca!” Running on hurt legs at the fastest speed his injuries would allow, only to catch a glimpse of her pained face before the darkness swept its three occupants up and, at last, vanished into thin air.

Firon fell onto his knees in disbelief, the humongous blade dropping with a loud thud! as he felt his control disappear. His pupils of his eyes shrunk to small dots, and his body slightly trembled at the reality of his promise being shattered. He had promised to protect her. He had failed to protect her. She was gone. Control returned within the hedgehog’s reach, and out of pitiful rage, he smashed his fists against the earth where Becca and her captors once stood. He yelled out in a mix of emotions, from sadness to hatred. He could only think the worst of what was to come of Becca, even if it did hurt him even further. Suddenly, a voice sounded off from behind the pained hedgehog, with a darkened edge that seemed to match the high level of fiery anger that grew larger within Firon’s soul.

“So, I see the Cosmic Blade has found the new protector. Figures, there’s always a chance where someone chosen by the Gods and Goddesses will bring calamity to my master. But...” There was a pause, and Firon slowly, mercifully turned his head to see the grim expression on Fire Hog’s face. He wasn’t smiling, nor did he share in the pain that Firon felt. He simply frowned, and continued “The Dark God is always one step ahead of his enemies...you don’t even know the history of this town, do you? Why such a powerful toy would be left in this graveyard, only to be found by none other you? Hm, Fate has its ways, doesn’t it?”

“What the hell do you mean?” Firon demanded out loud, grabbing his sword back within possession, and facing the dark reaper. Fire Hog spat in disgust at the amateur threat, but kept his talk up nonetheless.

“This town was once a secret hideaway, built as a town to hide its true purpose, which was, in fact, to rebel against the Dark God. One of the few who resisted, was a mobian we call Etrius, and he was the last one to wield that blade...” He pointed to the Cosmic Blade that Firon held with powerful vigor “He was the only one who sacrificed everything to do what he thought was right. Such a waste...committing heresy against a god who only wished to perfect the universe as the way it should be, but yet, the imperfection of the mortals makes them so bothersome. So irritating. So terribly foolish. But who I am to blame for how his brothers and sisters who created Life as it is? They only sought bringing about an infinite universe, of which, they had no understanding of, and all my master had wished to do, was proceed with the finishing touches. Do you understand, Firon the Hedgehog? The meaningless of your heresy? The stupidity of your resistance? There is no other option, and you fail to accept that.”

“That’s because Darkness was never meant to tip the balance!” Firon yelped. He had started a controversy, and as strange as it seemed, it made more sense as he got the idea of the explanation. But, he had started to understand the trick that Fire Hog was trying to pull off, and Firon was not going to fall for anything. Not anymore, and that would ensure no more promises would be broken for his mistakes.

Suddenly, there was someone new on the scene, coming out of a dark hole in the fabric of reality, and approaching beside the dark reaper.

“We have what we want, we’re leaving it at that...” a familiar voice ordered. Fire Hog’s healing eyes stared unfairly at his superior, anger built up at a tremendous level.

“We only have part of the prize...the silver hedgehog must die if we are to-“

“We have no time for this...Get. In. The. Portal.” the voice ordered aggressively and, distastefully, the dark reaper walked away and into the vortex in which the stranger had entered through.

He gave one last stare at Firon, vowing under his breath “We will meet again...Firon the Hedgehog,” And in little time, the portal consumed his form and took him elsewhere. The stranger revealed himself to be Cage, the blob of darkness lifting off of him to show off the deathly pair of red eyes and his black-shrouded fur. As the two rivals glared eye-to-eye, Firon spotted something he had never seen in the hedgehog he believed to always be a heartless and emotionless killer. Sympathy. Cage was nowhere near happiness, standing straight and tempted to look down, resembling what Firon thought of doing: crying.

Out of the blue, the black hedgehog said “What is a drop of rain, compared to the storm? What is a thought, compared to the mind? That’s my question about you, Firon. What would you compare to? Certainly not a god in which you keep rebelling against...”

“GO TO HELL!” Firon screamed out in hatred, a single hot tear dripping out of his right eye “I don’t care about your religious belief in a stupid god! What gives you the damn right to toy with my life, or the lives of others? WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT?”

“I’m sorry...but, it’s not my choice. In time, we will exploit the secret of the Angel Goddess’s power, the prison will be unlocked, and Shadow Shade will be unleashed into the reality. It’s not Becca we want, it’s the reincarnation that has imbedded itself into her existence.”

“Shadow Shade...” Firon gasped silently, breathlessly. Cage nodded, but then faced away with a finger snap. Another portal opened to replace the one occupied by Fire Hog, stepping halfway into its dimensional-splitting atmosphere. As his body split itself into particles of energy within the vortex, he said one last thing.

“I’ll leave you with a reminder: This is far from over...” Cage drifted inside the portal, and evaporated out of sight. The portal collapsed upon itself, and Firon was left to wallow in self-pity. He struggled to keep his sanity, tears falling out like tiny waterfalls, and his hands curling to blood-bursting fists. Unable to hold it in any longer, he took his blade and threw it with all his might, smashing his fists hard again into the dirt to relieve some of his anger. No improvement. His chaos energy flowed like a stream of lava out of his body, burning away the particles of dirt that his fingers touched, his eyes flaring up between a mix of red-and-green colors. Nothing seemed to break him out of this trance, not even the reminder of what he could become by letting his hatred go too far. But, there was a new presence during this limbo of insanity; a very light-hearted and calming sensation that suddenly swept itself throughout every inch of Firon’s body. The trance was shattered as the Cosmic Blade teleported back within its owner’s grasp, and became clearly the cause of this stress-relieving technique.

Firon questioned “Is this...what Angel Energy feels like?” He reorganized the white pulsing flame of that one energy as it engulfed him in its harmony of peace of mind. He allowed it to flow into every inch of his existence, surpassing his chaos energy’s fury, and finally burning out the fire in his eyes. Although it didn’t take his mind off of Becca’s capture or the pain his friends had to suffer, it did get him through the obstacle of his own hatred.

“Firon,” Sage’s voice broke the silence in Firon’s sensitive ears, gripping his attention, with his head turned forcibly on its own. Sage was arriving by his fallen side limply, one hand rubbing the back of his head to banish the aching pain that had stayed dormant there. The Angel Magnum had been returned to its holster, particularly useless at the moment, and it showed its depression by dimming itself to a dull silver color. Firon recovered the ability to stand and did so, feeling the Cosmic Blade pick itself off the ground and perfectly balancing itself on his shoulder, with the aid of its master’s hand.

Sage continued “You alright?” Firon sighed and gave a short nod.

“Honestly, no, I’m not,” he answered, giving his full attention to the awakening Tay and Indigo, who Sage hurriedly raced to aid. Changing the subject, and the volume of his tone, Firon ordered “Search the dock for any boat sturdy enough for a long voyage, and is big enough for four occupants. Time is a stub right about now, and I don’t think any of you want it to get any shorter,”

Indigo was about to object, that they needed more time, when Sage tapped her shoulder and made her look around. Becca was nowhere in sight, and understood why the silver hedgehog was rushing them. He was worried what could be happening to the human girl, where the mysterious group known as the Dark Reapers might have taken her. But there was only one way to find out, and that was through traveling throughout the world in hopes of finding her. She quickly nodded, allowed Sage to help her pained body up onto her feet, and headed off towards the shoreline along the lower levels of the mountainous area of the town. Sage followed soon after Tay was back on her feet, but before she could trip on her knees and grasp her bruised throat, Firon rushed to assist her. The Cosmic Blade disappeared from sight for the time being to allow Firon to use both hands in literally carrying the tired vixen.

She smiled weakly, saying “Thanks,” as she felt the pressure disperse. Firon attempted to smile back, but had to admit what bothered him.

“Why did you jump into danger like that? You could’ve gotten yourself killed...” he questioned her seriously, staring deep into her eyes for a mental answer within her mind. She thought of an answer that seemed satisfying enough, and gave that up.

“I was trying to stop him from taking Becca...I’m sorry if I accidently got in your way...” her golden eyes looked saddened, on the verge of a shameful expression that could of been tear-ridden. In a way, she reminded Firon of someone in his past, of a certain yellow fox that had given him the same look when he believed of getting into his leader’s path accidently; being somewhere he shouldn’t have. Thinking about it, the more the silver hedgehog came to knew about this pinkish-red vixen, the more he came to realize that it brought back memories that he believed were lost. Were the two foxes somehow connected?

Literally halfway to the lower levels, Firon lowered Tay to her feet, and made a quick grab for his right glove. It came off easily, and his willingly placed his bare hand on Tay’s furry cheek. For a second, she was taken by surprise, but felt suddenly soothed and rejuvenated. She placed a hand on top of his, pressing it deeper into her cheek, silently sighing. Firon accomplished his smile.

“The only way we’re going to get through this is together, and we all have something to learn from this adventure. Go on and give me a smile, and you’ll know that you are forgiven.” Taking Firon’s words in like magical poetry, she did as the silver hedgehog begged her to do. She smiled, beautifully and cutely, and that lifted Firon’s spirits a little.

“Good. Now, we better get going. I don’t think Sage and Indigo would like to wait forever, now would they?”

“Agreed, let’s get going!” Tay exclaimed, then ran the rest of the way down to the docks, her entire body seeming as if it had been given new life. Firon slipped his glove back on his hand, then proceeded the rest of the way to the docks. With his superior sense of foresight, he knew that his prediction was correct, and that the journey out to sea would begin very shortly. All he hoped, was that he could stomach the pain he was hiding, and possibly enjoy sailing for the first time.

* * *

It was past midnight, the sea relatively energetic, rocking the fairly large vessel in which the four mobians traveled in. It was a willow wooden and steel-reinforced ship that was about four decks, complete with plenty of sleeping cabins, a dining room, supply rooms, a small kitchen, and a wide array of other necessities and emergency-related locations. It had been at least an hour or so into their voyage, and already the weather was on their side, allowing them to sail at a fairly fast pace right out into the ocean, and away from the sight of the shore. All the while, it a was peaceful and relaxing trip.

Indigo lied in messy bed, preferring to wear only her undershirt and her old pair of camo shorts. Tiny droplets of water dripped out of the ceiling and wall, through the cracks that were not too dangerous to worry about. The purple hedgehog had a difficult time sleeping with the small blanket provided in her cabin, especially since it provided little protection against the cold temperature, and annoyingly allowed the coldness to frostbite her hands, feet, and the calves of her legs. Her eyes were closed about halfway, unwilling to collapse all the way until her entire body was warm and comfy. This was her first time sailing across the unpredictable seas of Mobius, and she never known how hard it was for sailors to sleep at night. She was about to get the idea of getting up and heading straight to the closest supply room to grab something big and warm, when a knock sounded off on her cabin door.

“Who is it?” Indigo asked with a tired, but loud voice. The door opened a little, just enough to reveal the green fur of her friend, Sage. He stepped into the cabin room all the way after being given permission from a nod, walking very uncomfortably as the small puddles of cold water splashed up onto his feet and legs. He took a seat on the only wooden chair in the cabin, to end his little torment and allowing his tired form to rest awhile. Indigo looked him over, and realized how different he looked without the undershirt or his boots, resembling more or so like Firon with the muscular arms and thin body. Knowing she wasn’t reaching dreamland anytime soon, she brought her upper body up and let it rest against the wall, her feet warmed by the grateful protection of the thin blanket.

She asked “What are you doing walking around at this time?”

“Late night guard duty, because you never know what might happen, so it never hurts to be careful.” Sage answered with pride, but allowing himself to succumb to a lazy closure of his eyes to admit the fact that he was tired. Indigo suddenly felt much safer with Sage in the room with her, realizing what his intention was. But questions still lingered on in her mind. “Did Firon order you to?”

“No, I volunteered. Almost all four decks have been checked thoroughly, so it’s all good” Sage’s head started to drop a little onto the backrest of his chair, but he still managed to stay awake.

“How come ya came to my room then?” she asked curiously, her eyes narrowing into the sleepy blue eyes that Sage had a hard time keeping open. A warm-hearted smile was his expression.

“To make sure this cabin’s sole beautiful occupant was alright.” The compliment made a blush creep along Indigo’s muzzle. She had never heard such polite and kind comments before, not unless it was from her brother. But she had longed to gain the attention of other guys; at least one compliment that would make her feel beautiful. Sage had gotten far into the game she had set up, and he was serious about playing his cards right.

Sage took a glimpse at Indigo carefully and secretly, taking interest in her body. A batch of her darker fur hung loosely over her sparkling green eyes; her breasts, even though it was perverted of Sage, were perfect in his opinion and made her much more of a woman than a simple girl; he also saw that her soft belly was exposed, and then he admired her lean legs and even her small feet. He didn’t reorganize the feeling he was receiving, but it felt very satisfying.

That was when he noticed that she was shivering more ferociously than he has. He got up from the chair and moved off to sit on Indigo’s bed. The bunk bed titled a little towards Sage, who gripped the collar of his vest and slowly lifted the light metal off of his upper body. Indigo’s eyes widened as she saw much more of Sage’s body, and for a while, seemed entertained with examining the muscular and furry chest and broad shoulders of the green hedgehog. Being totally oblivious to the fact he was being looked over, Sage put his vest aside, within Indigo’s reach. It warmed both of them rapidly, its white metal flaring as a response to the two hedgehogs’ discomfort to the cold. Curiosity had been sprung from that moment on.

“Uh...why did you take your vest off?” Indigo asked, tapping the Angelikor metal with a newfound interest. Sage inhaled slowly, then did the opposite as he clearly halfway down a path to dreams, his eyes drooping dangerously low. He still found the will to speak.

“My armor is pretty warm, so why not leave it with you? The cold doesn’t really bother me that much,”

“Nothing doesn’t seem to bother you...unless I am missing something,” Indigo narrowed her eyes again at Sage, who stared back at her with a reassured expression. He chuckled silently, then repeated a smile.

“I guess you have me figured out...Maybe, almost everything bothers me.”

“Like what?” Indigo asked, reaching out and placing a gloveless hand on Sage’s shoulder. The green hedgehog didn’t react in anyway, simply looking at his hands as if he something spiritual stained on them. He cringed, and shivered violently from a painful memory that literally stabbed the back of his head and sent a cold chill down his spine. But then, his nerves finally felt Indigo’s touch, and he calmed slowly. He answered before the dreadful feeling of his memory faded away.

“Ever get the feeling there is always blood on your hands? Death in the wake of your footsteps? I feel cold...heartless...not all the mobians I killed were evil...some were pure innocent...I feel so stupid for the years I wasted committing all those murders...” A hidden depression snuck out and darkened the green hedgehog’s face, which he bowed even lower. Indigo felt sorry for him, knowing he must be feeling so much grief that it could kill him. She drew closer to him, moving around so that she supported her body with her knees, and she reached over Sage’s shoulders, placing both of her hands onto the center of his chest. There was a sudden warm and comforting sensation that spread throughout Sage’s chest, and into his heart. He felt the memory slip away, along with its depressing power over his emotions, and closed his eyes all the way; humming peacefully.

Indigo whispered softly into his ear “I know the feeling, but you shouldn’t hold onto regret and guilt. Just let it go...”

“You make it sound so easy...” Sage chuckled, placing a hand of his own over the smaller pair of hands of the purple hedgehog, obviously enjoying her magic touch. He then asked “What is it you’re doing?”

“I call it Heart Purification,” Indigo explained simply, drawing closer until her right cheek touched Sage’s shoulder “My brother taught it to me when I was younger...it helps relieve bad feelings to get rid of the stress put on someone, so that they feel so much better,”

“I’ve been meaning to ask this but...” Sage was hesitate for awhile, not wanting the process to get interrupted as it helped him more than the purple hedgehog behind him could ever comprehend. As he left his question lingering within his mind, he altered the subject and continued “Why are you leaning on my shoulder?”

Indigo shot her head back with a crimson-red blush across her entire face, too nervous to bring her head up. She was about to draw her hands away from Sage, but the green hedgehog was quick to hold back one of them. He caressed the soft skin of her hand with his fingers, and smirked with pleasure.

“I didn’t say anything about it being bad...I actually liked it,” Sage reassured Indigo, turning around and facing the purple hedgehog with her hand held gently by his. He commented “I’ve never really held a girl’s hand before...It’s so warm and soft,” Indigo’s head lifted up a little, and Sage saw a cute smile form on her burning face. Strangely, both hedgehogs felt like there were not anywhere inside the traveling ship that voyaged them across the seas. Sage was the first to snap out of it, changing the subject quickly before anything awkward could be taken any further.

“So...did you notice anything strange about our leader lately?” he asked rhetorically. Indigo took her hand away slowly, and brought it back with its twin as she brought back her memory of the past few hours.

“Yeah...He’s gain possession of a new weapon, and now all of the sudden, even though he isn’t an Angel Believer like us...he’s been given angel energy. How is that possible?”

“So you sensed it to, huh? But, it must all be related to that blade he obtained. It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen, but it seems similar to your blade, Indigo,”

“Like how it suddenly appears when both of us were in a time of danger? I still have the scars from the battle we had in Fireleaf Village...” Indigo extended her right leg and both arms towards Sage, and the green hedgehog looked worriedly at the angry red scars that were long and deep along her skin. The scar on her leg scrapped from her knee to her ankle, but was barely noticeable through the patches of purple fur. Sage traced a finger along the scar on her leg, avoiding unnecessary touching to prevent the wrong impression on Indigo. Surprisingly, the scar felt smooth and it was colored tan-peach, with a darker shade that indicated it was still healing. When his finger accidently went a little further than her ankle, her foot twitched violently and recoiled a few inches away.

“Sorry,” Sage apologized, holding up his hands with a small grin on his muzzle “You seriously are sensitive, huh?”

“Yes...now watch it next time where you place that finger of yours,” Indigo snapped back at him, bringing back her limbs to safety and changing the subject “Something tells me, we’re going to be dealing with more than just a search for ancient gems... “

“That’s because, we’re now involved in something that has to do with the entire planet. First it was Cage, and now, we’re dealing with these Dark Reapers...not to mention, that report you found said something about a Dark God,” He groaned in aggravation “Yes indeed, this is bigger than we thought,”

“Whatever,” Indigo replied hastily “I’m ready for anything.” The purple hedgehog got on her knees and shook both of her fists, and had a determined expression on her face. Sage could tell she was taking her goal seriously; the image of vengeance vanished for a good few seconds. But, shockingly, sleep deprivation finally got to her, and her body sloped over, and fell towards Sage. The green hedgehog caught her, her head thumping right into his chest. She moaned blissfully as she felt something she believed to be a pillow on the back of her head, a relaxed smile on her drowsy face. The green hedgehog’s eyes were wide, and he quickly tried to think up a choice of whether he should let her sleep alone, or stay with her tonight.

He was nervous and cautious about his choice, but appropriateness came to mind as he slowly moved his armored vest closer to the edge, and rested Indigo’s sleeping form on her bed, doing what he could to cover most of her body to provide the best of warmth. He stood by her bedside and simply stared at her, smiling uncontrollably. To him, she looked very cute and beautiful when she was asleep peacefully, and her soft breathing added to that. He was hesitant to move as he felt temptation to return a favor. So he allowed himself to draw closer, closed his eyes, and rewarded a warm kiss on her forehead.

As he recovered from a burning blush, and stood straight, he whispered clearly “Thanks for the kiss in Fireleaf...”

* * *

Do you believe in fallen angels, Firon? The silver hedgehog heard a voice echo throughout his mind, as he lied out in a featureless area colored in white. The voice sounded somehow familiar to him, as if it were his own being used by another. He certainly did sense another presence, but it seemed to fade in and out. He opened his eyes to see if he could find the ‘other’, but his vision began to alter rapidly. The white nothingness he was trapped in suddenly mutated into a paradise. There was a small pond being thrashed upon by a waterfall that reached far towards the sky, falling from a gorge. Trees surrounded the pond, and climbed all the way up the face of the cliff wall. Firon was nowhere on the shore, but rather, lying deep within the pond towards the sandy ground. He gasped in shock at the realization that he was actually underwater, and what shocked him further was the sight of another individual under the water with him. He stood up and eyed the hedgehog that now stood close by the waterfall. The other hedgehog had a lighter tone of silver, with red-and-blue stripes spread throughout his quills, and wore black-blue gloves and shoes. In a way, he resembled Firon himself and, to the silver hedgehog’s surprise, Fire Hog.

So, they chose you to become the next Fallen Angel of Light. I thought I’d never see the day, the hedgehog said in praise. Firon backed off as the hedgehog walked towards him, growing suspicious by the second. He didn’t understand what this stranger was talking about, but for some reason, he felt that it was familiar. It did began to make sense as he thought about it, but then as the stranger drew closer, he still repelled against staying anywhere near the approaching pseudo hedgehog.

“Who...are you?” Firon asked with a surprisingly calm voice. The hedgehog stopped in his tracks, and glared at Firon with a form of betrayal. That just rose more questions in the silver hedgehog’s mind, but before anything more could be said, the stranger gave out his answer.

I, am Etrius, the last heir to have been the Fallen Angel of Light. I am your ancestor, the hedgehog replied tersely, apparently irritated by Firon’s lack of memory for his own family. Firon’s eyes widened at the mention of the stranger’s name, remembering about the report he read in Falls’ Harbor.

“You’re the mobian who wrote that report...”

Ah, yes. I see you found one of the pieces. They should prove quite a assistance in your journey. I would know, I wrote them. Firon felt suddenly reassured, but then was left with curiousity to wallow in his thoughts as he wondered where he was or, how the hell he was breathing underwater.

“What is this-“

Your mind, or at least the part that I reside in, Etrius answered, obviously reading Firon’s own thoughts instantly through the atmosphere of the silver hedgehog’s own mind. There wasn’t anytime to gaze in astonishment at the paradise displayed within this region of his mind, as everything around him began to bend out of shape. It began to fade away leisurely, the water brightening to a light teal color. Etrius was close by then and reached out to his ancient son, Firon doing the same with volition.

“What’s happening?” he asked out loud, leaning over to reach his ancestor as something powerful began to pull him away. Etrius effortlessly kept his hand outstretched, calm all the while as if everything was normal.

You are awakening, we cannot continue our exchange of words. I apologize, but this talk will go forth next time.

“Etrius! What is the Fallen Angel of Light?” Firon made his last question before the powerful force that pulled him away silenced his voice and made a grab for his face; to pull it under with the rest of his body. Etrius smiled, and strangely kept his hand offered in the erasing existence; his answer was just as strange as that.

The hope we all longed to save us. Cage is the opposite, you must beware his temptations and secrets.

“Etrius!” Firon’s call was blocked out, and all of his senses were blackened to a point where all five were disabled. He fell through a white abyss, and fainted as he dropped. Slowly, painlessly, his own existence was erased from the depths of his mind as he floated back up to reality.

* * *

“Firon...” Tay said softly into the right ear of her friend. Firon’s ear twitched violently as her voice became heard, and his eyes opened an inch as a response to the ear’s irritation. He gave a blank stare to the pink fox, almost pretending as if he were blind and only predicted she existed by his bedside. He mumbled, and slowly awakened as he rose from his makeshift bed. His jacket and undershirt were hanging on the backrest of a chair, so as he was able to recover his upper body to rise, Tay was shocked by what she saw. His arms were highly muscular, and his chest was no exception either. But regardless of his muscle mass that made him look powerful, he was fairly skinny and furry. Firon was drowsy and aggravated as his eyes opened a few more inches and exposed the blue color of his eyes to shine in the moonlight. But whether or not he was angry at Tay, he showed no sign of it.

“Yeah?” he asked simply, lacking the strength to say a lot. The pink fox stood uncomfortably on the cold and hard wooden floorboards of Firon’s cabin. Water dripped from the ceiling onto her neck, and it mercilessly gave her several cold chills as it slid down her throat and within her nightshirt. She shivered all the while, but Firon’s vision was too limited to notice it.

“Sorry that I woke you up, Fironkku, but-“ Before she was allowed to continue her sentence, Firon placed a finger to her lips, apparently disturbed by the name in which Tay had referred to him as. It brought Violet back to his mind, as he remembered the childish nicknames she used to call him. Fironkku was his favorite, and it turned out to be Violet’s as well since she called him that more frequently. The memory brought back very old pain, and it wrecked the silver hedgehog’s heart with grief.

“Don’t call me that...” he ordered with a deeply serious tone, pulling his finger away. Tay nodded as an apology and continued.

“Well, I just wondering...could we talk?” the question made Firon’s eyebrows cock up in surprise.

“It’s a little late to be chatting, ain’t it?” the silver hedgehog shot back with a sleepy tone, yawning in the middle of his sentence. Tay frowned, and grabbed the silver hedgehog’s unguarded left hand tightly.

“It’s important!” she exclaimed, immediately being shushed by the alerted hedgehog.

“Alright, alright. What is it?” He shook the drowsiness off, and stared appropriately at the pink vixen’s face.

She spoke with a hushed tone “Sorry for the rude introduction in Fireleaf, I was just wondering about who Cage was...When did you two get so enraged with each other?”

It was a very good question, even to the only hedgehog on the boat who knew anything about their recent encounters with the black hedgehog. He sensed the importance easily, knowing clearly he and his team would be quite busy tomorrow on their journey for the Chaos Emeralds, and decided to willingly give up his breath to answer “To be honest, all I truly know of his intentions is that he is alined with that my alter ego, Shadow Shade...and what that bastard wanted to do to all life as we know it,”

“Alter ego?” Tay asked quietly, steeping nearer to the silver hedgehog in curiosity. Firon could feel her breathing on his arm, and could tell she was getting into this conversation of his past. He didn’t felt any reason to argue and continued.

“Another side of you, someone else who shares their existence with yours...Shadow Shade was an evil entity that forcibly became part of my existence. He used my body as a physical connection to the real world, but his powers were incredibly limited due to his imprisoned state. He never told me where he was imprisoned, but simply said ‘I am nowhere in reality’,”

Tay’s eyes were wide with astonishment at this new discovery she had just heard, and was very eager to hear much more. Firon was still a bit clueless about anything else he knew; he was awfully tired. He placed a hand on the shoulder of his friend, and gripped firmly to relax it and its owner.

“There’s not much else I know...you should get some rest,” Firon suggested tiredly, resting his head back onto his somewhat fluffy pillow. Tay bowed her head low in disprovement.

“Well, before I leave, could you tell me...Who was my brother?” The question rose a certain amount of discovery searching through Firon’s memory, to bring something to light. He stared at her unbelievably, at her sunny yellow eyes that seemed to raise a memory of a fox he knew in his past. But the name was misplaced, but he knew the image of this fix; that he was golden with yellow eyes and enjoyed mechanics. It didn’t seem to make sense, because Tay enjoyed cooking and brewing, both of which were entirely different from the fancying of mechanics and the process of building machines. Regardless of their personal interests, they somehow were related to one another. But where was the name placed within his mind? How could he have forgotten so easily?

“I know that he was a lover of mechanics, a great friend, and he had the same eye color as you. Why do you-“

“I heard about you two during the war, when I was little. I just wanted to know how he’s been...”

Something zapped with the feeling of realization as a memory was retrieved out of its archive from the memories that had begun to fade into a locked-away state. Although it was simply a name, it would possibly mean a lot to Tay.

“I’m sure Rod is fine. Who knows, maybe we’ll meet him on our journey,” he told her with a reassuring tone, rubbing through the fur on top of her head as a sign of honesty and closeness. Sure enough, Tay’s reaction was a heart-warming smile as she believed every word. She had never known the silver hedgehog to lie since their first personal meeting in Fireleaf Village, and he still held strongly to that concept.

Firon ripped the blanket off of the rest of his body, rubbing his eyes as he struggled to lift himself out of his bed. He sat on the bed side where Tay awaited, his arms crossed with a serious gesture. The only article of clothing he was wearing was his pants, seeing as how it would be considered inappropriate for his members to see him more naked than was necessary. He sighed deeply as he brought himself up onto his feet, offering to guide Tay to his cabin’s door. She had no reason to disagree as she felt herself become totally wiped out by her own sleepiness. Staying calm the whole while, Firon picked her up into his arms and proceeded off to her cabin, ensuring that she had fallen asleep and was comfortably in her bed. It took only a few minutes, then he decided to head out on the top-most deck of his boat, where his eyes would be allowed to gaze upon the night sky and the sinking moon. He was totally gratified with both sights.

The silver hedgehog walked up to the east flank of the deck, and took his time taking in the scenery. He was often used to a calming sensation provided by the stars, but something was different in him. He felt his chest grow abnormally warm, and his heart pulsed so fiercely that Firon hadn’t any use for his hand to feel for its pulse. He cringed as the heat swept across his throat, past his muzzle, right through his eyes, and into the center of his head. There was a great deal of pain delivered through this exercise, and Firon immediately felt his own body give up on its own as it fell on its knees. He heard a voice as the warmness began to pierce through to get out of his back, and it was clearly perplexing.

If you plan to rescue the Goddess, and to defeat Cage, you will need my help, Firon the Hedgehog.

“Etrius? What are you doing!” Firon asked in a pained moaning of his question. He felt something begin to sprout from his back where his quills were, and it tore away the bone, muscle, and flesh that stood in the way of its progress. It was so painful that Firon’s couldn’t even speak. He heard the sigh of Etrius through his mass of confused thoughts.

In order for my assistance to become reality, our being must be shared. You and I will co-exist in the same existence, and with that partnership, we can surely take on Cage and find her immortal-ness, the Great Angel Goddess, Angelight, Etrius declared unofficially and somewhat unfairly. Firon couldn’t response properly as whatever sprouted on his back had finally broken free of his body and had grown to a pair of giant, white-feathered wings. They were extended as far as they could stretch, defining a majestic pair of wings of that of an angel whose heart was purified. Firon’s pain died away instantly, getting up off of his two knees as if possessed. His eyes glowed a pale white instead of their usual ocean blue, and he brought out a hand towards the moon.

In the unified voice of Etrius and Firon, he spoke “Marooner the Mood God, creator of the mystical influence of the nightly mist, give to me your powers as evil has arisen unpredictably to repeat history. To halt the opposite path from taking its plans further, I request your help. The help of you, you brothers and sisters, and those who have not fallen to grip of darkness. Hear my plea, and give me a key, to the greatest power of all,” His proposal was heard impossibly by the invisible ears of a deceased god, and a flicker of shining silver dropped over the fallen angel’s white wings. The extended hand that Firon continued to hold out summoned his weapon, the Cosmic Blade. The gigantic weapon of unknown origin teleported within the possession of its master, and glowed the calming silver shine of the power invested by the Moon God.

Firon nodded acceptably as the blade flashed away with its new token, and lowered his palm. Then, with his time being expired, the white wings shrunk back into the shape of the hedgehog’s quills. His eyes went suddenly blank as a transition occurred between the two occupants of the body, and as soon as the wings made their appearance no longer present, a few last words were given off by the true Fallen Angel of Light that Firon was.

“Beware, Shade, the end of your chapter has arrived...”

Fan Page

FironandAelita — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 07:57:04 CST

This page is deicated to anyone who enjoys or likes the Firon the Hedgehog X-treme Series. Their comments will be added to this page so they can be remembered on this website as one of fans of Firon the Hedgehog. Any negative comments will not be tolarated and will be erased if the negative comment includes any negative cussing or inapporiate language. All you have to do is say your comment via the comments down below and then give your first name. It doesn't have to be your first name, it could be any nickname you made up, as long as it isn't inapporiate. Thank you for listening!

Hey I think this site is awsome it rocks!!and I really like the characters!good job!!-blackheart5
My response: Thanks, I worked hard on this website, but this is only the beginning!

I totallly agree!! yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell me when chapter three is ready - harrens
My response: Thanks, I'll tell when any of the stories reach chapter 3, probably sometime next week.

hi. i reeeeeeaaaalllllllllyyyyyy need to find my pants... oh.. there they are.. in my auto dryer!! duh... anyho.. i realy like your storii!! keep up tha gewd work! ^-^ - Krad
My response: Thanks

I love you! and yor storii! - Krad
My response: Thanks Ashley

YOR SITE ROOLZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you rock at storii writing! You KICK ASS at writing! All tjose ppl who get paid a lot of cash dont got nothin on you!!! - Krad
My response: Thanks Ashley! You really like my writing?

Krad's response: YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My response: Thanks Again!!!!!!!

i put a lot of exclaimation points lol. YOR SITE ROX!DON'T EVER CHANGE! [well... you can change clothes but don't ever change your personality!!!] I LOVE YOU! -Krad
My response: Thanks again! Didn't know my website would make me this popular

yes. youre a gwd kwl writer! awesome blossom purdy possum ya kno man? -Krad
My response: I didn't know my writing skills were that good

Your site is so awesomely awesome! i is a gewd riter two! >.<
Nevermind that. anyway, you should like, self-publish that book. It turns out really cool! It;s definatly good enough.
did i say good? i meant FREAKIN AWSOME - Harrens
My response: I'm planning on joining Sonic Team, and I'm taking my writing skills with me and that includes my drawing skills. I have to study a lot about Sonic and everyone else, the history and all that. I'm also allowing any fans to introduce a character I can put in at certain spots, but if the character is accpeted, I have to put him or her in a certain spot in the story to avoid getting stuck. Anyway, thanks for the comment, I really appericate it! Thanks again!

you RLLY need to add a chapter where Firon uses his super form to fight the main villian of each storyline - Nelonadam
My response: Well first of all, Firon uses his super form in certain key points in each story. In the Path Chooser storyline, he has three different super forms. Dark Firon (Shadow Shade), Chaos Firon, and Super Firon. Firon's true form is still up for debate in future Series and Finales, but it is suggested that Light Firon will be his permant super form. And also, he does fight the main villian or enemies in the last parts of each story.

when you can, try to make some flash animations for firon x for some more enjoyment, so those not very much fans of reading can get it it easier - Nelonadam
My response: When I am able to find people who know how to do animation, or if I learn how to do computer animation, then I'll try making episodes of Firon X in an animated series (only for computer though, meaning you will only be able to watch it on the internet, not on a television).

Will firon and speedix ever go Hyper(2nd superform), Turbo(3rd Superform), or Nitro(4thSuperform) Speedix and Firon? - Nelonadam
My response: Well, that is also up for debate. It is suggested that Series 2 will be based on the Super Emeralds, which, if you ever played Sonic 3 and Knuckles, you will know what they do. Speedix I cannot say for sure since he is copyrighted by my brother, but Firon might have a 2nd form. A list is made on his true super forms: Super Firon (1st), Light Firon (2nd), Hyper Firon (3rd), and Immortal Firon (4th). Please note that some of these super forms might change in the later future, or some will be switched around.

k, you probably dont really know me, but I'm from zoomshare and i just had to make an account so i could post a comment. This site and the story are AMAZING. It's really cool, so don't quit on it! please?
god, i just can't say in words how cool this site is. so just know that it rox. k? (^_^) - Fifth-Heart
My response: Thanks! I appericate your great comment! I'd like to add you to my new series if you want. Same would go for nelondam if he was here.

Well, I'm sure that you know me, Firon. I'm planning on joining Sonic Team too in my later life, and I've progressed a lot with my storywriting and pictures. You have, too, and I'd love to read more of your work! - Armi-Shadow
My response: Thanks for the comment! It's great to hear your improving, and that you wanna join Sonic Team someday. Perhaps we'll see eachother in the future by then. Anyway, nice to see ya dropped by, hope you come back more often.

Firon X: Repurification

FironandAelita — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 07:24:28 CST

THE RECREATION OF WHAT STARTED IT ALL:

To tie its prequel, Flame X, and its sequel, FTH, Firon X is being currently recreated to fill all the holes in the plots of all three stories, to create the new Firon X: Repurification. New characters will be added, some characters will have a better importance, and adventure and fantasy will run wild throughout each season as Firon grows from a child to a mature teenage leader! Along with his friends and half-brother, you will be able to see everything reformulated from all three paths of the original Firon X to allow you, the reader, to see a truly exciting adventure that you have possibly waited for a year! As soon as the introduction is up, it's time to party!

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie

FironandAelita — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:46:34 CST

Made in 1996 in Japan as Sonic the Hedgehog, this movie was originally supposed to be an anime series, but had become a commercial failure in Japan. It was later dubbed English and both of its 30-minute episodes were adapted together to form a direct-to-video movie in 1999. Although meant for children like most sonic franchise, there were some scenes that were considered inappropriate for young viewers, some of these scenes were either corrected or removed from the movie adaption before it was released.

We hope you enjoy watching this Sonic classic, of adventure and fantasy.

(Note: If you cannot watch any videos from Youtube, you will not be able to watch the movie. We are sorry, but Firon Team does not hold ourselves responsible for the inconvenience. If you can watch videos from Youtube, enjoy the videos and comment)

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Part 1

Destiny and Fate

FironandAelita — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:55:14 CST

Flame X

Before the War , There was Chaos...

The year is 3235, during the times where the nature city of Mobotroplis existed, when the Mobian United Government was allied with the Kingdom. A war was being fought over control, with a group known as the Outlanders attempting to crush the Allegiance of the Government and Kingdom. The war has reached a point where thousands-to-millions were dying, and morale was running rock-bottom, forcing the Allegiance to create a special division in their military called the United Guard. With this new division, the war has taken a serious turn for the best and its every mobian for his or herself, and only time can tell whether or not that good or evil will win.

But there's more to the war then just winning or losing. There's a much greater evil at work that neither sides know about, and it could ultimately change the world into a nightmare far beyond imagination. Betrayal and treason is done, Life changes take place, and the fate of the planet of Mobius lies in the hands of only the United Guard. But can they defeat the evil that has planned this from the beginning?

Season 1: Enter the United Guard

Introduction
Chapter 1: Preparation of the Fittest
Chapter 2: Assault on The Bloody Crusader

Episode 9: Ghost Town

FironandAelita — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:26:50 CST

Dusk had fallen across the west, stars marking their appearance across the blue-black sky of approaching night. The miles of grass fell into the rock formation of several mountain trails, right next to the coast where waves crashed viciously as if reaching for unexpected victims, like a predator. The air grew abnormally bitter, and it bit and froze patches of Firon’s silver fur as he hiked across the wide and narrow mountain trails, cautiously avoiding the rocky ravine that appeared on most of the trails. He crossed his arms behind his head, staring up at the beautiful gleaming stars that shone in the blackening sky to relieve himself of stress. He and his team had gotten a hold of a lot of nice supplies from the locals of Fireleaf Village, and even new outfits as more appropriate traveling garments.

Firon finally wore clothing over his fur, sporting a dark red hoodie jacket with a black angel wing symbol on the back; and a pair of jet black trousers that were somewhat baggy towards the bottom. Indigo wore a long-sleeved, customized shirt that was white with purple straps, still fancying the purple tie and Angelwing Necklace; and she wore similar pants to Firon’s, only they were a bit thinner and colored in the same fashion as her shirt. Sage hadn’t changed much, only preferring to wear a long-sleeved black undershirt underneath his Angelikor-armored vest to replace his old T-shirt, with a long white chain hanging from his belt as a show of personality, rather than having the use of an actual weapon. Tay wore pink-and-white robes over her forearm-long sleeved red shirt, and her new red-and-black calf-extended skirt. Lastly, there was Becca, who was more than thankful for the new clothing she had been made, for a whole lot of reasons. She wore a longer, more nicer version of her normal blue-and-white school dress, refitted with stronger cloth to avoid easy tear, with a pair of black gloves and boots made just for her, and to her, the new outfit she had was plenty more comfortable than what she had once wore. Now, with proper traveling clothes, sacks of supplies and gear, and a world map to guide them, Firon and his team of companions were off to a good start.

Firon kept Tay’s world map in his sight, trying to ensure he and the others were heading the right way, to a harbor town known as Falls’ Harbor. Unlike Firon, the others in his group did not have the advantage of supersonic speed, and were therefore, incapable of simply running across the ocean to other continents. As a true leader at heart, Firon thought of those under his leadership, not of himself, and that was precisely why he needed to a boat to sail away with. His eyes were crossed as he looked over the map more than what was necessary, never intending to object to the possibility that Cage would be very close by. It seemed more like a game of hide-and-seek to the demon, but to Firon, it was more like vengeance versus survival. He looked back at the emotionless faces of Sage and Indigo, seeing clearly they wanted this nonsense to stop. Sage wanted to kill Cage for the manipulation the bastard had pulled on him which nearly crippled his life, Indigo wanted revenge because Cage had murdered her brother, and Firon himself wanted to see the black hedgehog pay for all the deaths he had caused, including the death of his girlfriend, Violet. Tay and Becca were nowhere near on this idea of vengeance, since Cage hadn’t done anything to either girl that would be considered unacceptable. Even so, they all knew their first priority wasn’t to hunt down the killer, but to find the Seven Chaos Emeralds which would ultimately be the key to destroying Cage once and for all. Firon allowed himself to smile, even if it was small, at the thought of ending the genocides committed by the demon who held no compassion for the innocents of Mobius, all that bastard wanted to do was kill...

Just than, his eyes came across the dimly-lit light of a faraway town, just on the edge of a flat precipice that was steep up the mountain’s body, and soon became a slope down below the balanced piece of land the town was built on. Firon took one last examination of the map, identified the town he saw, and called his team to attention, pointing and partly-shouting “There’s Falls’ Harbor!” And they all ran the last stretch of mile along the trail to get there as fast as they could, all eager to get hell off the continent.

* * *

The Dark Realm, a spiritual place that wasn’t practically part of the planet of Mobius, was shrouded in the unforgiving darkness that covered its innermost secrets, hence the name. Cage walked among these secrets, and to him, they were more like archives filled with priceless information on nearly everything created by the Gods and Goddesses of the Universe. Those were only some of the secrets, while others were fairly different in origin and purpose, and there was one in particular that Cage was interested in: the prison of one of Shadow Shade’s loyal Dark Reapers. All the black hedgehog knew about the Dark Reapers, were that they were those who opened themselves to the power of darkness, allowing it to overrun their hearts, control their minds, and become die-hard subjects of the Dark God himself. Cage never thought he would of had to release one of the members of the unfortunate group, but circumstances had changed. He approached one out of the nine red panels which had the name of a Dark Reaper encrypted and digitized on its surface. They circled around Cage, floating just off the edge of the coherent surface on which they and Cage stood on, bending only slightly near the darkness that seemed to carry on like an abyss.

The black hedgehog tapped a code into the panel, reading the name ‘Fire Hog’ on its screen as he worked. His hand hovered and pressed every key that was required for the code, and was gratified with the sight of something new appearing within the darkness. It was a cylinder of red, filled with a life-sustaining liquid that kept the cylinder’s lone occupant alive. The occupant was a hedgehog that had a wild array of spines and quills with blue markings on top, different patches of red all over his body, wore jet black steeled-gloves and spike-soled boots, and covering his entire body was a specialized black robe with a hood. The hedgehog’s head hung low halfway past his shoulders, his arms hovering lifelessly within the liquid, with the rest of his body pointing straight down in a symmetrical pattern. As Cage took careful precision in his work on releasing the Dark Reaper, Shadow Shade made his spiritual appearance in his realm. He took the form of a demented, featureless, tall-spined hedgehog that was shrouded in black; the only exception being his full-red eyes that shone with the evil that he was.

“I see you’re allowing the Dark Reapers’ leader to run amuck in order to kill the infidels...” He took a look at his loyal pawn that he hadn’t seen in hundreds of years, his hopes neither raising nor dropping. He flashed his deathly pair of red eyes to stare at Cage, glowing with question “I believed I asked you to take care of the silver hedgehog, not my reapers,”

“I apologize, my lord,” Cage said “But, you and I clearly understand that I stand no definite chance in a battle with Firon, who is now accompanied by two fighters who wish to see me burn. Therefore, your legendary Dark Reapers will be put to the test,”

“And if they fail? If Firon succeeds in dispatching my only nine reapers?”

“If they succeed or fail, it makes no difference. If they fail, it will only prove...I am more powerful than them,” Cage pressed one final key, the panel beeped and the Dark Reaper’s eyes shot open to reveal a pair of pupil-less white eyes. The hedgehog’s name disappeared from the panel as the occupant of its cylinder had been awakened, shattering his old prison and somehow falling onto the platform where his master awaited. Fire Hog noiselessly landed and kneeled before Shadow Shade, who stepped forward as if to show off his superiority over the swift Dark Reaper.

“Fire Hog, it has been centuries since we last made our acquittances,” Shadow Shade said as an introduction. Fire Hog grinned a pair of disturbingly serrated teeth as a sign of appreciation to the greeting. He bowed his head much lower below his shoulders, to avoid disrespectfully looking right into his master’s eyes.

“Time hasn’t weakened me in any way, master,”

“Good to hear...” Shadow Shade replied, then snapped his fingers to summon Cage to his side “Cage awakened you for the purpose of exterminating an individual who I want revenge on, and-“ He snapped his fingers again to bring up two ghostly models of Firon and Becca, indicating the two individuals he was speaking of “The capture of the human girl, who is the reincarnation of the Angel Goddess,” The mention of the Angel Goddess brought a world of hate into Fire Hog’s expression, and the Dark Reaper spat in disgust at the sight of the human girl’s ghost model. His face then grimaced at the silver hedgehog’s model. His cycle of emotions was flicked off as Cage spoke.

“Your master has given me the authority over you and the other reapers until these two are dealt with,” he informed the Dark Reaper with a dead-serious tone. Fire Hog nodded, then looked back at the two ghost models, focusing and remembering what he saw.

“So,” he began “Where does the chase begin?”

* * *

Firon entered through the limits of Falls’ Harbor, taking a quick sweep of the area to see if any locals were outside, just to be sure at this time at night. He frowned as he figured out not one living soul was out, and that made it all the more difficult to gain information. Tay started forward, for reasons unknown to the whole group, but Firon stopped her with a quick grab of her shoulder. His ear twitched violently to an almost-invisible sound in the town: breathing. The silver hedgehog figured as much that they were hiding, and it bothered him as to the real reason why they were. Did they ambush newcomers and steal everything the unlucky stragglers had on them? Or were they hiding from mysterious terror that haunted the town every night? Only one way to find out, and Firon led his group further into the town square.

What he had expected to be an ambush of simple-minded attackers coming out of the shadows, turned out to be a miscalculation as he realized it was his own breathing he was hearing. After a minute or so of standing out in the open, nothing happened; everything seemed lifeless. Firon began to question himself if Cage had anything to do with the feeling of Death that floated in the harbor town’s air. He couldn’t be too sure, and taking his mind off of that, he turned to his team.

“It seems there isn’t a soul in the proximity, so we’ll have to investigate to see if anyone’s home,” he motioned two fingers at Sage and Indigo, then pointed off to the nearest house. Both hedgehogs nodded and moved off, Firon passing up the Angel Magnum to Sage’s outstretched hand and a sudden burst of light summoning a blade to Indigo’s hands. There was a long and deep sigh that was shared among Tay and Becca.

“I wonder when I could learn about magi-er, I mean, Chaos Energy...” Becca started, her head hung low and her hands to her hips.

“Or Angel Energy,” Tay added, imitating the same pose that Becca had done. Firon scratched his head, deep in thought, distracted by the importance of the task that Sage and Indigo were undertaking and the worry he felt about being off-guard.

To elapse little time, he quickly turned away with a smirk on his face, saying “Usually...you don’t learn it, you’re born with it. But I suppose there is something to improve upon, something I hadn’t seen before...” He spun around again until he faced only Becca “For a human who’s never been on Mobius, there is something...similar about you, I’m not entirely sure how that could be...” A puzzled look expressed itself on Becca’s face, but knowing it would pass, Firon turned to Tay, who was in a limbo of excitement and sorrow, but nonetheless curious about an answer.

“Please. Tell me, am I born with a power?” she asked hopefully, and for a while, wasn’t rewarded with a direct answer as Firon examined her thoughtfully. The seriousness deepened into Firon’s eyes as he tried to sense for an energy signature, and every time he came close to feeling an energy spike or power flow, it disappeared; out of reach. He then figured out another way of telling, without the use of energy sense.

He took two steps forward towards Tay, and asked “May I see your arms for a second?” And willingly, Tay allowed the silver hedgehog to take hold of both of her arms. Firon pulled back the sleeves of her robe top, exposing her pink-furred arms to the chilly atmosphere as his eyes scanned them. Throughout the entire process, Tay was clueless and Becca felt left out again. Finally, after Firon discovered an ancient mark on her right forearm, Tay felt warmth return to her frostbitten arms as Firon ended his examination and pulled the sleeves back to her wrists. Becca and Tay closed in on Firon as he kept silent about his answer, and the silver hedgehog gave in to the annoyance the girls were giving him, reporting “You do have a power, but its neither Chaos nor Angel. It’s an unknown energy that I have no knowledge of. Perhaps, when we make way on a ship, we could find someone in a distant land that may know a thing or two about your power,”

“I have a totally different power? Cool!” she said excitedly, only to be shushed by Firon and Becca.

“Don’t say anything like that too loud...Cage is always searching for individuals with powers other then that of Darkness, or of Chaos, and now, Angel. If he heard you, he’d try to kidnap you...like he’s trying to do with Becca,” Firon explained persuasively, Becca nodding in agreement to the truth. Tay showed comprehension for the explanation, then trailed off to a nearby house to join Sage and Indigo on their task. When Becca was at last alone with Firon, she asked a question.

“What you told me about me being ‘similar’, what did you mean?”

“I didn’t mean anything. I just felt like, you belonged to Mobius...or you had something no one else ever had, including humans,” And with that said, the silver hedgehog grabbed hold of Becca’s hand and gently dragged her alongside him to the house Tay had went to investigate. The silver hedgehog wasn’t gonna leave Becca out in the open, out in the Dark, where Cage lurked.

* * *

Up on the roof of one of the tallest buildings in Falls’ Harbor, vigilantly monitoring Firon and his friends was Fire Hog himself, accompanied by two hooded figures that were of the same kind as him. Fire Hog was the only one with his hood down, allowing his blue eyes to scan the entire area below him, his black-and-red hooded robe cloaking with the night. One of the hooded figures walked up beside him, possessing a feminine body that walked surprisingly silent. The unknown mobian pulled back its hood, exposing pink fur, shoulder-length quills, a pale-white muzzle, and a pair of beautiful purple eyes, revealing the mobian to be a female hedgehog.

She spoke utterly out of impatience “So, when do we take down this ‘Firon’ character and capture the human? It’s a waste of effort just waiting when they are clearly are unaware of our presence,” Fire Hog turned away from his monitoring duty, glaring coldly into the pink hedgehog’s eyes to remind her of his power.

“It doesn’t matter whether or not it’s a waste of our time or effort, Sakura. Must I remind you that you have no say against a true leader when you can’t sympathize what I’m capable of. Besides, our master wishes to keep it...dramatic, in a way,”

“Dramatic?” Sakura asked out of curiosity, cocking a thin eyebrow.

“The silver hedgehog’s weak emotions have played a part in his weakness. He’s fallen for the human girl, and taking her away will make it very...shall we say, distressing?”

“I see,” Sakura replied, understanding at last. The second hooded mobian snuck up behind the two hedgehogs with an anonymous presence, but Sakura quickly took notice.

“Come to join the talk, Diax?” Sakura assumed. The mobian removed his hood and his quills sprung up like razor-sharp spines with a tang of light blue coating his fur. His golden eyes opened and wavered over his two fellow reapers, and he joined the small pair without second thought. He changed the subject automatically.

“When do you believe the others will awaken?”

“When the time comes, but for now, let them enjoy their slumber...” Fire Hog jumped off the roof, followed by Sakura and Diax who reacted so suddenly to their leader’s unexpected leap. As they dropped to the ground below, a grin passed over each of their faces. “We’ll be having fun in the meantime...”

* * *

Indigo sat within a room consumed by hills of paper and books, her attention drawn to it by the clues the mess left behind: a struggle. There were specks of blood still fresh on the floor, but literally no sign of a body where the blood may have originated from. There were also bullet holes riddled throughout the walls unblocked by bookcases, and deep gashes engraved into the wood by claw marks. The purple hedgehog had begun to read a few books that she had found in a small sack, predicting that they were originally meant to be carried away by the unknown owner of this library, but was too late as something had murdered him on the spot. They were all history books, and the date that the archives were based on was more than a thousand years ago, and it had defiantly caught the eager little hedgehog’s attention. She flipped through each page slowly, taking her sweet time to examine as many as she could, despite the blood that dried right into some of the pages and made it impossible to see some of the words. However, the information and pictures she saw were good enough to satisfy her knowledge. Her eyes narrowed at the minuscule print, and she read on from the first page of ‘Chapter Epilogue, Darkness Prelude’. It was a report written by someone entwined with a character known as ‘The Dark God’ , and it read...

Report I, Chaos Renewed
Etrius

Log #1
Out of all the enigmas I’ve encountered, this one is by far the most extraordinary. Needless to say, his powers are wondrous and unimaginable, but there is a serious down-side to this discovery. He’s a dangerous parasite, and like many would agree, shouldn’t even be considered one of the Gods and Goddesses who formed our shining universe. Those who worship this “god” call him the Dark God, the creator and master of the Power of Darkness. All I know for sure, is that he manipulated those poor fools, transformed them into heartless souls, and used them as pawns.

Log #2
I’m one of the few mortals who truly know this god’s intention, and it’s impossible to believe. But, it’s happening, and it will take full effect in a matter of days. He wishes to take over not only the world, not just our galaxy, but the entire universe. All that hard work, stolen from his brothers and sisters, and for what! His own selfish obsession to destroy? Why couldn’t the Gods and Goddesses have let us have our word? Even in the heavens, the only way to get there is by death and I’m not dying anytime soon! Already I can see, his worshipers have finally given in to the will of Darkness, and they are not the mobians I once knew. Their dead, and from their carcasses came nine monstrosities! Those who are not induced in Darkness, help us!

Log #3
We’re losing more and more of our kind each day, and the sky seems to grow darker. IF this keeps up, there won’t be any hope left on this god-for-saken planet! Why must the Light ignore us in our time of need? If only I weren’t just a mortal, I could easily study further into this, and perhaps stop the madness before it becomes a riot of chaos!

Log #4
The Dark God has finally done it. One-Half of the planet is under his control, and he now has a physical form to strike fear into those who he wants to see perish. All those innocent mobians...dead. How did a god become so corrupt? So imperfect? I need answers!

Log #5
The nine monstrosities I referred to earlier in my report are turning out to become more and more powerful with each passing second, even growing an entirely new intelligence and gaining the possession of new names and new lives to completely destroy what had once been their original selves. They have dressed themselves in black robes, their faces hidden by large hoods to represent what they now call themselves. The Dark Reapers.

Log #6
Recent news came in from a war zone, that yet another large chuck of land has been conquered and stolen away from the mobians. We’re fighting a losing battle against the Dark God, and no matter what we do to hold back his forces, his immortal powers obliterate us! The Dark Reapers have also been reported murdering specific mobians that their original selves had known, still in an obsession of eliminating the memories that lie dormant in their minds. I hate this! Why must the mobians pay for the disappearance of the Gods and Goddesses? Why is the Dark God doing this to us? Why!?

Log #7
Once Mobius falls...the cradle of the universe Breaks......

The rest of the report was covered in blood, separating the last paragraph of the last log. Indigo’s eyes were frozen in place over the last sentence, wondrous of its meaning. Questions flooded her mind like a humongous waterfall. Who is the Dark God? Who wrote this report? Who are the Dark Reapers? Is history going to repeat itself? The last question sent a shiver down Indigo’s spine, and fear crawled throughout his entire body. She shuddered viciously, torn out the page of the report aggressively, and threw the rest of the book into the piles of paper. The cacophony ended up getting Sage’s attention, and the green hedgehog mysteriously appeared at the doorway to the library, impressed with the wealthy amount of knowledge despite the messy condition. Then he saw Indigo, her head hung low. the pupils of her eyes diminutive, like something had scared the hell out of her. He approached cautiously to his friend, ducked on his knees, and extended a hand to reach for her face. As he lifted her head up by her chin, his eyes refused to leave the fine print of the report that she held so protectively. Sage looked at it in irritation, and finally asked “What is that?”

Indigo’s words came out slow and cold “It’s a report...from an archives book,” Her eyes then curiously met straight-on with Sage’s, asking “Do you know anything about a ‘Dark God’?” Sage shifted uncomfortably at the question, examining the report slowly and intelligently. He didn’t have a ‘sure’ answer, but he had a good guess.

“Maybe Cage is somehow related to this ‘Dark God’.”

“We have to show this to Firon! He knows more about Cage and his intentions then any of us!” Indigo suggested logically, getting up and already halfway out the doorway within a few seconds.

“Right,” Sage agreed, getting up and stuffing the report away safely within his clothing, then running alongside Indigo out of the doorway, into the hallway, and towards the outside of the building.

* * *

Firon searched through the piles of collected corpses, pushing aside bodies that blocked his path. There was one extra that he had to manually remove, but it wasn’t in his way, it was covering something. He hefted the carcass, dropped it to the side, and saw what had been drawing him close: what looked like a hilt for a blade. He bent on his knees, and quickly swiped it off the ground. As his eyes drifted across the ancient architecture of the two foot-long hilt, he saw words engraved very deeply into its impenetrable surface, perhaps as a way to preserve it. What the words showed had Firon puzzled.

In Hope, In Light, The Cosmics Awaken, In the Hand of the Protector, The Immortal Destiny becomes Prophecy

“I don’t...understand,” the silver hedgehog told himself, examining the hilt further for any further clues. Nothing. He hid the hilt away in his jacket, got back on his feet, and was about to leave the room to regroup with Becca and Tay, when he heard his name being shouted.

“Firon! Get out here, we found something!”

“Be right there!” Firon shouted back, accelerating at half-speed out of the room, coming across Becca and Tay fairly quick in the crumbling hallway and grabbing their hands, and with his powerful strength, pulled them right off the ground and hanging in the air. It certainly defied the laws of physics, but nothing had been normal since Firon or his team had been in the harbor town. What was this place? What was its history?

Firon stumbled upon Sage and Indigo just outside, coming to a screeching halt and gently allowing Tay and Becca to drop. Tay growled at the bad treatment done to her red-marked hand, but Becca was silent. The silver hedgehog drew closer to the other two hedgehogs, his arms crossed.

“What did ya find?” he asked at last. Sage’s hand scoured through his vest, and he pulled out the crumbled report, handing it over to his leader. Firon tugged it out of Sage’s grip, and his eyes studied every log. As he did so, he made use of a hand and pulled out the mysterious sword hilt, passing it up to Indigo.

“You’re a fan of blades, aren’t you? Try and see if you can figure out the description engraved on it-“

“What description?” Indigo interupted, spinning the hilt slowly between two fingers, irritated by the lack of any engravement. Sage had his fists to his hips, feeling Becca and Tay’s pain of being left out. He decided to search along with Indigo on the hilt, also disappointed with what he saw. Firon’s eyes widened as he took back the hilt and looked it over. He wasn’t convinced, as the words till lie engraved and undisturbed on the hilt’s surface. Firon thought, What the hell is this!

“I don’t get it. I can see it but, you can’t?” he stared eagerly at Sage and Indigo, both who gave questioning looks in return. But before he could say anything further, or even read what the hilt said, something appeared out of the ordinary. At first, it was just a cold chill that even the amateur rookies, Becca and Tay, could tell it was unnatural. It grew colder with each passing second, followed a blackening of the sky that covered the stars, and a sudden darkness. Last but not least, a voice was heard with an introductory tone, striking fear like no other into the group, but mostly their leader.

“You must be Firon the Hedgehog...”

Episode 8: Familiar Foes

FironandAelita — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 02:15:14 CST

It was late in the morning as the sun passed the center of the sky, shining its light onto the west of the continent, where the quest for the Chaos Emeralds would begin. Firon, being the only one with experience, nominated himself as the leader of his small group of ragtag survivors, seeing himself as leadership material. Indigo and Becca agreed whole-heartedly to Firon’s choice to being leader, all for the exception of Sage, who kept silent throughout their entire trip across the land, only suggesting where they could go to in order to pick up supplies and be on their way. Personally, Firon had an antipathy for the green hedgehog’s earlier attempt to kill him the night before. But he sensed that it wasn’t because he free-willingly wanted to kill him, but that something or someone else was behind the Stained Hunter’s true intention for assassination, but held that subject deep within his mind until it was the right time to bring it up.

As soon they passed the last few forests that populated the boundary between the east and the west, the silver hedgehog’s eyes were drifting upon the sight of hundreds of miles of grass, then large farmland. Sage, only talking where he was required to, had explained earlier that in his travels in the west, there were many villages that were dependent of agriculture and fresh water rivers in order to survive in the intense heat. Firon began to understand that as soon as entered a large savanna, where the green color of the grass faded into patches of light green, and soon into a peach-orange color. Tall, isolated trees seemed to provide a plentiful amount of shade, but there were so too few to actually protect anything from the dreadful heat. That’s when a gloved finger pointed out past Firon’s vision towards a small settlement, and the new leader had comprehension that Sage actually knew this place. It was only when he heard the name “Fireleaf Village” did he get convinced, and ordered his group to follow him there.

As they walked through the last stretch of mile towards the village, Firon heard Becca and Indigo breathing heavily, and turned only one side of his head to see the problem. Becca had been carrying Sage’s gear, full of supplies such as fruit and canteens of water, along with a large array of combat knives in all sizes. Despite the small size of the pack that the gear was all packed into, it was heavy enough. Indigo, on the other hand, had an obvious reason to be suffering from strain. She was holding the cumbersome armored vest that Sage had been previously wearing before having to give it up for the time being. Despite it’s thin, clothing appearance, it was far from light. It was white in color and felt comfortably warm in Indigo’s feminine hands, but the pressure from lifting a heavy piece of equipment splashed red within her fingers.

The last item Firon had ordered to be secured from the Stained Hunter was his gun, the Angel Magnum. Sage had reluctantly given it up due to trust issues between himself and Firon, and it was truly difficult to carry or even handle. Firon examined the Angel Magnum, curious about its unusual design and abnormal, twenty-inch long barrel. The gun was all white, and it felt distinctively warm as Firon used sturdy effort to try and wield it. But the grip was built in a way that not even the hedgehog’s hand could hold onto, as if the way of gripping the gun was meant to be built in the way of the wielder’s personality, and nothing else. All in all, trust issues would last until Sage eventually became a true part of the whole group, but for now, he was an afterthought for reinforcements. Sage, just being glad to be given a second chance at renewing his life and happy he would be accepted someday, kept quiet to avoid ruining everything.

It was a fifteen minute walk by the time they reached the limits of the village, and entered through them. The locals near the gate, probably posted as guards due to Sage’s encouragement for protection and democracy, quickly noticed the seemingly captured green hedgehog walking behind the small group. They were confused, not knowing why their hero was in this state of despair, and most importantly, why he was traveling without his gear with a group they presumed were his captors. They were avoidant, and prevented themselves from speaking to any of the four travelers.

Sage kept his eyes away from the stares of all the locals, not wanting to feel embarrassed in front of the only mobians who actually valued his efforts and encouragement in saving their village. Even though he didn’t see their faces which might of had looks of awkwardness, he felt his face burn like fire. This was the first time in his life where he was vulnerable, and he hated the feeling of weakness. Indigo noticed the shame and embarrassment and, even though he could of avoided it altogether, she felt sorry for him. She slowed down just long enough for Sage to appear at her side, and he looked only at her and not at the locals.

“Don’t worry so much, okay?” Indigo suggested to him, then added “It will bother you less if you get enough courage to suck it up and ignore it. When you look away like that, what do you think it’s really doing?” It was a rhetorical question, and Sage nodded, lifting his head all the way, and finally seeing what expressions were displayed by the locals of Fireleaf Village. They were all surprised, not shocked or ashamed, by their hero’s sudden return in a wreck. Sage would make sure to fix up the wreck he made himself look like and, to take Indigo’s advice to avoid actual or any further embarrassment. He chose to walk normally like his newfound companions, literally showing no sign of his shame as if it were locked in the back of his head, or banished completely. Firon then became clueless soon after.

“Where can we get supplies? I don’t see any stores,” Firon’s words summoned Sage without even having his name mentioned. He shoved a finger past Firon’s vision, proclaiming where he believed they could buy supplies.

“There. At Tay’s Bar, it has a small shop that sells mostly fruit, cold water in canteens, and many of the bar’s own beverages,” the information was short and explanatory, enough to satisfy the silver hedgehog.

“Alright, lead the way,” Sage nodded in acceptance, taking point and heading off to the bar that was on the other half of the village, Firon, Becca, and Indigo following not far behind. His attention was only focused on the bar, and getting there, and that partially worried the green hedgehog because it left him off his guard. He hadn’t been acting like himself at all since he encountered this newly-formed ragtag team of survivors, but he knew for sure he wasn’t the only one adjusting to a new life that would certainly test every bit of his abilities, and see how far he could go. He sighed for a long while as he kept his normal pace of walking, his eyes closed halfway. This would be his toughest mission just trying to be accepted by mobians who were more similar to him than he would ever truly know.

Firon groaned as he saw a few of the locals staring at his shoulder; the one that Sage had shot in deadly-accuracy. It was healing, but his entire shoulder was covered in dried blood, since neither he or his group had any medical supplies or bandages to have stopped the blood pumping earlier. Firon’s left arm felt numb and weak because of the lack of treatment to any infection his shoulder might have caught, and that bothered him greatly. They couldn’t of used anymore of Becca’s cloth, because her dress was already on the brink of falling apart into pieces and, it would have been very embarrassing on Becca’s part for being half or completely naked. He hoped there was at least something at this store that Sage had mentioned that could stop the painful anaesthetization in his left arm.

Sage entered into the bar, now passing through an actual miniature double-door instead of just empty space from his last visit. Indigo came in after him, then Becca, and very gingerly came Firon. As soon as they were inside the bar, they dispatched swiftly to a nearby table in a corner. Firon made a speedy inspection of the entire bar, seeing at least twenty of the village’s locals sitting at both the tables and bar stools, making sure no one was close enough to hear in on any conversations he and his group were to have. Sage eyed a familiar young fox barmaid as she made her way over to their table, allowing him to smile. He reorganized the pinkish red fox who was now wearing a new uniform, still colored in red and black. It was Tay. She was at their table in seconds.

“What would ya like?” she asked Firon first, since he was the closest to her. The silver hedgehog stammered, not sure what the bar had for drinks. Tay crossed her eyes impatiently, and made a quick switch to another customer at the table. That’s when she noticed Sage sitting in the middle of the group, in the far back of the corner.

“Hey! Welcome back, Sage!” she called out excitedly, but was quiet enough to avoid getting the attention of the other locals. The smile still laid out on Sage’s seemingly innocent face.

“Hello, Tay. I’ll just have what I had last time I was here, and my friends will have Waterfall blues,” Sage kindly ordered, with Tay nodding and smiling in a childish way. She was back to the bar counter in a few heartbeats as they all waited. Indigo spoke up first to start conversation.

“So, after we’ve got everything,” she started, turning to Firon to indicate she was talking to him “Where do we go? To find a Chaos Emerald?” The question didn’t puzzle Firon too much; he was an expert tracker unlike Cage, so that gave him much more of an advantage. However, he still had to think to know what he needed, and how he would use anything important to complete his search. He looked back up, still halfway through thinking.

“We need an entire world map of Mobius, it’s the only way I can point out the location of where we would go, or where an emerald would possibly be,” Firon informed, heading back into the realm where he could think clearly. Sage heard in on the silver hedgehog’s words, tapping Indigo’s shoulder. She turned to face him.

“There’s no cartographer in this village, but Tay might have a map,” he suggested logically. Ideas, they flooded in all three hedgehogs’ minds, while Becca was totally clueless on what next part of the plan was. Before she could say anything however, a large clear mug filled with a sweet-smelling blue drink was placed in front of her. The same happened to Firon and Indigo, while Sage was given a mug full of red liquid and a glass of water.

“Thank you,” the green hedgehog said, speaking for everyone as they nodded. He mixed the water with his mug full of redon, creating his mixture of a pinkish energy drink. He gulped it down quickly, smacking the empty mug to the table, and sighed whole-heartedly. Tay was still at the table for a reason not apparent to Sage or his group of friends, and the Stained Hunter made use of this prolonged stay

“You mind we talk, either now or later?” the question was answered by a nod from the smiling pink fox, who motioned towards the bar counter. Sage, with a bit of effort to get past his companions who were in his way, got out of his seat and followed Tay willingly. Finally, with no chance of an interruption, Becca spoke.

“Not to be the one to bring bad news,” she started, titling her head in the direction where she thought a store might be “But I don’t think we can buy anything without any money. Besides, what do you guys use for money anyway?” Firon had comprehension for the human girl, knowing that money must be different here then where she last lived, but Indigo was perplexed for a short while. They all took a long sip of their drinks before anything was continued.

“We mostly use coins made of a special wood,” the silver hedgehog informed her “You are given them when you do a job here, or it comes to you from a family fortune. Sometimes, although rarely, mobians just give it away,” Firon’s explanation seemed to have Becca confused, not to mention worried.

“Wood? Most people would be able to make their own money by literally crafting it because, wood is so easy to cut and shape. That’s profanity and illegal where I lived, because it was considered the same thing as stealing,” Becca was only worried because she thought some of the mobians were corrupt, because of an overflow on cash that would give them ultimate power; quite ignorant to the fact there’s more to life than money. But the stern look that Firon gave her somehow reassured her, or at least gave her the glad feeling she was wrong.

“There are very few mobians who know how to craft Cosmeck wood into coins, and from what they carve into the wood, it’s easy to tell a real one from a fake one. Because only they know the most perfect way for every curve, every nook and cranny. Besides, Cosmeck wood is nearly as strong as alloy, and any mobian with normal tools couldn’t make a scratch on its surface,” As if to prove his point, Firon pulled a coin from his old mission pack, showing both of its surfaces that displayed mysterious symbols and carvings that made it seem ancient. The color of the coin was moss-green, the carved-in symbols showing the black inside. The silver hedgehog flipped the coin to Becca, who caught it gracefully with both of her hands and examined it. She didn’t feel normal bark on her fingers but, a hard metallic surface. Before she could further examine the interesting design of the coin, Sage returned to the table, an old piece of parchment held loosely in his right hand, with Tay tagging along behind him.

“I have the map,” he waved the parchment a few times, then passed it along to Firon who swept it up off the table and looked it over. As he did so, Sage walked to the side and allowed Tay to approach the table.

“Tay wishes to know if she can be an assistance on our adventure,” the little red-pink fox beamed with her hands held together in hope, and her eyes glowed with affection. When Firon’s eyes met with her appearance, it looked more like she tried to win him over with her beauty. Despite the huge effort, Firon didn’t lose and replied with a blunt tone.

“What can she do?” Firon’s eyes widened as the fox’s ego shone like a million suns, and she answered in a formal manner that kept the silver hedgehog’s interest focused on her.

“Let’s just say, if you were starving or bone-dry thirsty, I could make something satisfying enough for ya. I’m also handy at much more than cooking, but you will find out more about my potential if you take me along,” As Firon listened to each of her words, he pictured her as acting like a child begging to be taken along on a trip, and he was stuck being the father. His eyes drifted from her to the map, and after eyeing it for a second time, he saw that the map was neat, properly drawn with specific legends and keys pointing out several locations. Already, even though he hadn’t answered, he was discovering her potential much further. He stared back at the excited fox.

“She can come then,” he said simply, with a not-so-rare smile on his face “Welcome to the team,”

* * *

Cage stood on the tip of a tall hill, his red eyes narrowed with unquestionable intelligence. He had another devious plan, and he had convinced himself and his master it would work. It wasn’t related to manipulation; that plan ended in failure when he tried fooling the Stained Hunter, but because of some unknown change in feeling, he couldn’t push himself that far to finish off the silver hedgehog in the battle that Cage had witnessed. His arms were crossed in impatience, and he telepathically summoned his new minions. The minions were a group of heavily-muscled and dark aura-concealed mobians, possessing red eyes like their new master. Cage snapped his fingers, and the dark aura lifted off of them and revealed them to be none other than the Harvester Bandits themselves. The bandit leader, who Cage perceived was a teenage orphan, by the name of Gash, had the darkest and most evil image out of all the bandits, his young innocence stolen away from him. Cage swivelled his head over his shoulder, and gave a terse nod to the ghoulish monstrosities.

“There’s a human my master has a need for...Capture her and slaughter any who stand in your way,” he paused for a short while, the memories of Firon, Indigo, and Sage making him cautious. He added “Make their deaths slow,” The bandits nodded with comprehension, then marched off down the hill in dead silence, lifeless and controlled with the thought of their task the only thing on mind. They no longer had the will to live, Cage possessed that will now and had the choice to destroy it should the bandits fail him miserably. Cage hoped for their sake they would accomplish what Sage was originally supposed to complete. The only reason the heartless hater of Life actually hoped, was because of fear. He only feared one thing, and that was his master’s dark rage.

If Cage failed for too long, his master wouldn’t just punish him with mind pain, but eternally cripple him, inside-out. But throughout the entire time he monitored his group of minions and the village down below, he showed no emotion at all. Just the blank, red stare of the demon he truly was...

* * *

There was a lot of commotion outside Tay’s Bar; thrashing of physical action and the breakage of wood. Sage and Tay broke out of their conversation of plans, their eyes wavering randomly throughout the bar room. Silence fell onto the mobians inside the bar room, and they clearly heard the sounds of havoc taking place outside. Firon leaped up from his table, rushed to the miniature double-door of the bar, peeking around and over the corner to see what had occurred. There wasn’t any movement, just ruined remains of some of the village’s wooden cabins and the horrifying sight of grotesquely-torn corpses of the villagers. Whatever happened, a genocide was taking place and it wasn’t something the villagers couldn’t handle. The silver hedgehog turned to Indigo, who, by curiosity, had trailed up next to him to see the outcome as well. His leadership kicked in as he tried to show authority over the purple hedgehog.

“We got trouble...” he informed her. Indigo nodded, then hurried off to get Sage’s equipment. Becca was at Firon’s side in a heartbeat after Indigo was gone, giving a questionable glance to the wreckage of the village’s houses and the smouldering carcasses. She was probably the first to guess it.

“This is behind Cage, isn’t it?” it was a rhetorical question to Firon, and he wasn’t surprised when he felt the winter-cold touch of Darkness creep into the bar room. Firon had come in contact with the energy so many times, he could easily tell if it was Cage’s or not. Nimbly, he identified it as Cage’s dark energy, and being like a vector of a disease, the demon made it almost impossible for his presence not be known. Unless, it wasn’t Cage who was dealing the casualties to the village. Firon was sure to find that out soon enough.

“Behind him, but it ain’t him causing the trouble right now,” the silver hedgehog declared truthfully, his attention being stolen by a tap on the shoulder. He turned to see Indigo, her hands cradling the Angel Magnum. It’s pale-white metal shone with a bright light, as if sensing the darkness that began to infest the village’s atmosphere. Sage came up next to Indigo, with Tay behind him.

“It’s calling for me, the gun.” he told Indigo, offering a hand for the gun. Firon eyed Sage closely with suspicion, a lack of trust displayed in it. Tay must had seen the change, for she came up to the leader with a reassuring look. She whispered into his ear.

“He saved our village last time he visited, give him another chance. He deserves it,” Firon thought for a good ten seconds, knowing time was short and there wasn’t much of it for thinking when scum ran loose in the village, committing extreme vandalism and genocidal murder. He sighed in defeat, understanding he had no control over the customs of the village or the fact that Sage didn’t necessarily want to assassinate the silver hedgehog back then.

“Fine...Indigo, give him his gun,” he ordered adequately, and Indigo was fast to comply. She passed up the mystical magnum to the green hedgehog’s stretched-out hand. His gloved fingers fit perfectly into the grip of the Angel Magnum, his index finger slipping right onto the trigger. The bright light that shone from the weapon dimmed a bit as it felt some comfort within its master’s hand. Instead of taking the chance to shoot Firon, or any of his companions like the silver hedgehog believed he would, Sage headed off outside with the Angel Magnum held at shoulder-level. Tay followed after him, then Firon, with Becca staying close by him for protection, and finally, Indigo high-tailed it outside with everyone else. If this was one of Cage’s schemes, Firon and his newly-fledged team would prove it to be another failure.

* * *

Sage’s eyes flashed all around him as he tried to search for the ones responsible for the deaths of the many innocents that once lived within the village. He was pissed, and didn’t go far to keep his anger from showing. He breathed heavily; inhaling and exhaling very quickly to prove that he had lost control of his air. All he wanted to do now, was kill the killers. The Angel Magnum flared viciously at the presence of his heated anger, and power lifted up form Sage’s body to supercharge its flaming barrel. He took a quick look at the others, examining if they had weapons to use in the ensuing battle. Sensing the energy in Indigo and Firon, he knew they would combat the evil sons-of-bitches with their physical endurance and energy offenses and defenses. Tay and Becca on the other hand, weren’t armed with any sort of weapon, and had no energy or muscle to rely upon. He drew back to form a semi-circle with Firon and Indigo to protect his friend and the human girl. At the last second, something moved out of the corner of his eye. He was swift to react; he raised and aimed the Angel Magnum, clenched the trigger, and shot one dead-on bullet from the dangerously-charged barrel.

Whatever the bullet hit, there was a loud screech of pain that was unearthly. It terrified all five mobians, as the scream was blood-curling and seemed endless, almost like eternal and sluggish pain that defined itself to be worse then Death. Sage’s fear eased after the scream died away, and a black aura-covered, abnormally muscular mobian collapsed in a mass puddle of his own black blood. Knowing its host was dead, the dark energy consuming the helpless corpse lifted and revealed a familiar sight to the green hedgehog’s eyes: a Harvester Bandit. It looked as though he was gonna have to force the bandits to suffer the same fate as their old leader, as promised.

Shadow Bandits, as Sage dubbed them now, literally leaped out of the corners of wrecked buildings into the open area where their combatants waited for them. They growled hatefully at the sight of Sage and Firon, but a few kept silent at the sight of three females of the group, unusually interested with them. It seemed as though the dark energy hadn’t fully corrupted their old personalities; just their will of life and their actions. The Shadow Bandits charged forward, surrounding the group with the hope of no escape. Sage opened fire with a series of bullets to the bandits that came his way, as Firon and Indigo unleashed blazing energy blasts to repel the adversaries. Several bullets impacted through the chest of one of the bandits, who went plummeting to the ground without a heartbeat. The rest of the bullets rushed through the center of the heads of the bandits who remained, but they didn’t even flinch to the sudden offense and kept charging. Damn it, Sage thought in curse, they’re adaptive to the same attacks...

Firon’s chaos blasts and spears proved to be quite effective as he switched every now and then. He knew before anyone else that those induced with dark energy were very adaptive, and learned to adjust to the same attack, eventually making themselves invulnerable to damage if the attacker didn’t get it through their thick skulls to try something else soon. He made sure that none of the bandits drew close enough to bestow harm onto either Becca or Tay, but knew clearly that nowhere in the village was exactly safe, especially after seeing that some of the buildings had been obliterated and being assured that no shelter would be good enough to keep the bandits out.

Indigo was having the worst luck out of the three who could fight. For some reason, even though she switched through the wide selection of energy attacks her mind could produce, her energy was literally soaked into the dark aura that inflamed and seemingly protected the bodies of the bandits. Some damage had been done, but it was only enough to force them to wince before they would continue. At that time, at that moment and place, she wished she had something else to fight with rather than with her own energy. Despite the numerous teachings of her brother, she still lacked supreme skill over her powers, and with each lack of control in all of her blasts and lances of energy, she was growing weaker. Her options were running out fast, and the bandits somehow knew that as if reading the feeling of regret expelled from her shamed face. That’s when one of the Shadow Bandits jumped high into the air, an arm horribly deformed into a wicked claw, and Indigo clearly saw that she couldn’t do much to keep the attack from landing home. Her eyes closed on their own, and her heart cried, Wren, unlock the power the necklace contains, I am pure!

Time froze as something extraordinary occurred. The Angelwing necklace fell away mysterious from Indigo’s neck, right into the palm of her hand. The indigo-colored jewel that hung on the string brightened to pure white, blazing with the sudden unlimitedness of Angel Energy. It exploded in a flash of white sparks, filling Indigo’s view with nothing but the color it shone. But she had no use for her vision as she felt the necklace disappear, and in its place, a large, crystalline hilt. As the light dimmed away, time slowly played along to create the final piece of this transformation. The hilt’s top shot out the concentrated Angel Energy from its concealed core, using the pureness of Indigo’s heart to bring about its form. In seconds, a gigantic blade of white light was now in the possession of the purple hedgehog. Time played normally after that.

Indigo shot the blade up into the air to defend herself from the offending claw appendage that the bandit so unskillfully slashed. The sharp, roughed edge of the claw made contact with the blade’s side, and instead of feeling resistance like the purple hedgehog should have, the claw evaporated into oblivion. Slowly, the energy that made up the blade burned away the claw’s existence, and it continued to crawl its way throughout the entire bandit’s body. The Shadow Bandit screamed in hellish, eternal pain as the energy literally ate him alive, dropping dead quickly to end his suffering as the dark aura retreated to its own destined disappearance into the air. All Indigo could do was gasp at the amazement of how powerful the blade was, and it clearly proved to be the weapon she hoped for. She performed an attack stance, and with the definite legendary skill of a master, she fought back with valiant vigor. Now, it was the bandits’ turn to panic.

Firon and Sage were elsewhere when the transformation occurred, their attention focused primarily on the bandits who had gotten real close and had fully adapted to their attacks. Instead of rampaging right onto Firon and Sage like they could have, they rushed past them to get to Becca and Tay. Sage holstered his gun and leapt onto the back of one of the bandits, using his forearms to perform a choke-hold as he held on with a suffocating grip. Firon did the same with the other bandit, and neither hedgehog ceased the opportunity of taking down their foes with brute force. There was a loud snap! as the bandits’ throats were broken and pulled to the back of their necks. Blood gushed out of their crooked necks, and they fell noiselessly to the ground; inches away from Becca and Tay who sighed in quiet relief. Six bandits had fallen, but the last three were unhindered, even after witnessing the deaths of their fellow peers, and something completely unexpected happened after the dark energy became aware of the currency of the bandits’ situation.

Indigo rejoined Firon and Sage, who saw first-hand what was happening: The Harvester Bandits were transforming. Whatever had been the mobians original form melted away from existence, and in their places, huge clawed, thorned, and spiked monsters with bodies made of nothing but the energy that had fully taken their toll. They roared with defying hatred and incoherent pain, their arms and legs forming into giant, serrated claws and blades. Their heads popped off; totally useless, and in their places, angular black-colored heads with red eyes and lipless mouths full of red jaws. Whatever monstrosities were born from the lives of the bandits, their sinister eyes leaving ghostly trails as they stared conditionally at Becca. Their mouths curved slightly as if in a wince, which could of passed for a grin, and they charged directly for the prize they wanted so dearly.

Firon spun into his spin dash form, and rocketed through the air towards one of the three monsters, successfully colliding with one right into its darkened chest. Sage lifted the Angel Magnum to shoulder-level, aimed with the skill of a perfect marksman, and pulled the trigger. He repeatedly triggered the charged barrel of his gun, shooting several groups of bullets right into the left monster’s forehead; its red eyes glowing with twisted amusement in the sudden attempt to kill it. The last monster came face-to-sword edge with Indigo’s blade, but unlike the Shadow Bandits she had killed earlier, the monster did not evaporate to the touch of the blade’s energy. It simply twitched viciously, and swiped one of its claws at the purple hedgehog. The mystical claw bended as if it had no firm structure, and made a clean cut along Indigo’s leg before withdrawing. Indigo growled angrily, clenching the wound with her fingers for a second to try dispersing the pain, then she took the hilt of her blade in both hands and attacked the monster with a series of slashes. She missed every slash, and in return for her constant failure, the demon-like entity cut her with the needle-sharp tips of its blade-arms. Indigo groaned with silent pain, dropping to one knee, realizing a pressure point had been lacerated. She recovered weakly and practiced harder at concentrating her attacks, slashing the blade in more complicated and divine ways. Satisfaction was formulated from her mind as the monster took damage, thin lines of white crossing the darkened chest of the unearthly creature.

Firon and Sage were having some luck against their destined opponents. Firon had literally scorched his monster with energy that it seemed unfamiliar with, spotting it with green-yellow circles of burnt life force. The silver hedgehog snapped his fingers once, summoning a mass amount of Chaos Energy to fulfill his next move. As soon as his energy was loaded, his snapped his fingers again like a trigger, yelling “Chaos Control!”

Everything slowed down to a speed slower than a slug, and took his personal advantage to take out his foe. He brought back a fist, consumed it with Chaos Energy, then let it loose right into the monster’s face. There was a violent splatter of black, energized blood as one of the red eyes literally blew up, and the monster somehow reacted to it despite the effects of Chaos Control which were still in play. It twitched a few seconds, waved its arms faster with each second that passed, and finally wrung its way into Firon’s slow-motion world. The silver hedgehog cursed the fact he forgot that these monsters were still adaptive, and that eventually they would adjust to the effects. Firon only hoped that the monster hadn’t become immune to his powers, or else he was screwed. He was relieved when he threw another punch at the monster, and found that his Chaos Energy sliced through the monster’s form, unaffected by the adaption. However, before Firon could continue his attacks, the dark creature lashed out its blade-arms and struck the pressure points on Firon’s elbows. Weakened, the Chaos Control’s effect disappeared and Firon’s arms hung loosely along his sides; practically stunned and disabled for a short time. But it was all the monster needed to give Firon one real nasty cut onto his chest, the arm-blade going halfway deep through the entire cut, but luckily, not close enough to his heart. The silver hedgehog staggered backward, and dodged the rest of the monster’s barrage with his speed, finally coming back into the fight once his arms obeyed his command to rise and attack.

Sage was elsewhere, his imagination playing foolishly with his eyes as he saw something more than just one of the three monsters. He saw the same black hedgehog who had tricked him earlier, who had so easily manipulated him in killing the obstacle that stood in the demon’s path. Sage was angry, and it fueled his rage dangerously, his Angel Energy beginning to flare throughout his entire body as a response. He flipped the Angel Magnum end-for-end and took hold of the barrel, gripping the unloaded gun as if it were a melee weapon. He dashed across the sooted earth towards the monster who stole the identity of the black hedgehog, and drove the butt of his gun right into the side of its triangular head. It wobbled, recovered before it tripped, and attempted a vicious counter-attack with all four of its bladed and clawed limbs. Sage deflected all the limbs with a rapid spin of his twenty-inch gun, then jostled the deforming chest with painful force. The monster tripped backward, screeched hatefully, and panicked with realization at the difficultly of regaining balance with its inverted limbs. The green hedgehog that stood menacingly above the befallen monster flipped the Angel Magnum in its proper posture; his fingers wrapped around the grip and trigger. His energy constructed bullets out of thin air and loaded the barrel, and Sage fired in kind as each bullet came and went. The black hedgehog’s form vanished from Sage’s sight, replaced by the gruesome display of melted darkness on the ground. The only sound that reached the hedgehog’s ears was a loud shriek of pain, mixed from the voice of thousands of others. Sage held fire, lifted his finger away from the trigger, and felt the grip become loose in his hand. The shriek grew somewhat silent as his anger ceased to blaze any further, and for a moment, Sage felt grief. He had killed the monster, and the bandit that it had once been, but a memory from yesterday had returned to haunt him. The crying face of the bandit captain’s son, stricken with grief at the loss of his father. He hadn’t just killed the monster, but the son as well, and it was the memory of tears that reminded Sage how many other times he had to see the same thing. No matter what he did to prevent evil, someone other than him had to pay the price. He bowed his head low at the fading body of the monster, the original son of the bandit captain, asking “Why?”

* * *

Firon and Indigo were back-to-back, huffing with exhaustion as the last two monsters circled them with scattered blades and mangled claws. Firon’s monster had lost most of its black color; scarred eternally by burning spots of plasma. Indigo’s monster had been cut in many places, lacking shoulders and half of one leg. Both monsters swayed to the serious amount of punishment, their red eyes glowing with vengeance in mind. Their lipless mouths bared their needle-like teeth, as if to cause a tremor with their fearful appearance, to no avail. The demons hurdled themselves into the air, lashing out with all four of their sharp manifested limbs. It was a mistake they so willingly fell into, and Firon and Indigo had just so easily moved out the way before the blade-arms made contact at the area where the two hedgehogs once stood. Adding to their problems, the monsters were trapped as they couldn’t remove their blades easily from the thick dirt, and that single misfortune gave Firon and Indigo all the time in the world. Firon supercharged his entire body with flowing Chaos Energy, then unleashed it onto the two monsters with no intention in stopping. Indigo raised his blade to her side, and did a single swift slash across the defenseless beasts of burden. The burning corpses of the two monstrosities were dispatched before they could feel any further pain, four uneven halves of two bodies lying to rot; totally harmless and truly useless. They faded away into darkness, and Firon exhaled the air that had been dormant in his chest. He turned to Indigo, who still held the blade with caution, but calmed herself after a while of being sure of his surroundings. A rare smile made its appearance on Firon’s tan muzzle.

“Nice job, Indigo,” he congratulated the purple hedgehog. She simply gave a nod as she couldn’t find the breath to reply.

As Firon turned his back on her to check on Becca and Tay, the blade in the purple hedgehog’s hands vanished in a dim flash of white light, the Angelwing Necklace taking the place where the hilt was once held. Indigo slipped her index finger through the string of the necklace, bringing the indigo-colored crystal that hung from the string to her eyes. She marveled over the fact she knew what Wren had meant by a pure heart. She slung the wide string over her head and let it rest onto her neck. She whispered “Thank you, Wren,”

Firon walked up to Becca, offering a hand to her, and she gradually allowed herself to be lifted up by it. Sage appeared into sight, and did the same for Tay. Both hedgehogs were relieved to see that neither girl was hurt. Becca stared worriedly at one of Firon’s arm, taking it in her hands to look it over, and the silver hedgehog clearly knew why. He took a quick look at the arm Becca held and saw that blood dripped as a thin sheet along his forearm, from the deep, clotting hole in his elbow. He eased his arm away from the human girl, and tried maintaining his stance to show that Becca still had an able protector. He smiled kind-heartedly at Becca, oblivious to the ill pain of infection.

“Just a scratch compared to what I’m used to,” he told her, even though Becca wasn’t truly convinced as she saw some sickening sense of discomfort in the hedgehog’s eyes. She decided to go along with it, to not hurt the hedgehog’s sense of pride. She changed the subject.

“Any idea on why Cage is so obsessed with capturing me?” she asked with a sense of righteousness. Firon understood why she demanded what Cage had against her, but in truth, he had no idea why either. He simply nodded as a response.

“To be honest, I don’t know,” he turned away and looked far off into the distance, as if feeling watched “But it clarifies a point we should defiantly get moving before he comes up with another scheme-“

“Point taken,” Sage interrupted, walking past the silver hedgehog and the conversation he overheard, towards Indigo. He threw the Angel Magnum over to Firon, who caught the unexpected throw with unbelievably reflexes, commenting “This is how it’s gonna be until we learn to trust one another,”

Tay joined together with Becca and Firon, and, very quickly, started up a new conversation “So, what’s it between you guys and Sage? I didn’t know he was under someone’s lead,”

“He wasn’t originally, and I’d rather not get into details...” Firon replied seriously, then granted his attention to the Angel Magnum in his hands, and he suddenly had a change of mind “At least he’s taking this seriously,”

* * *

Sage snuck up behind Indigo, growing questionable about why the purple hedgehog laid on her knees and stared into a sparkling, semi-transparent crystal that hung from a string in her hand. Without thinking, he slipped his arms under hers, and lifted her up, breaking her out of the trance. Her reaction was intense, pushing away from Sage in shock and falling away from his grip. Sage’s response was a simple sigh.

“Someone’s sensitive...” he remarked with a smirk, rubbing the red-hand mark on his arm to relieve himself of the sudden jab of pain. Indigo’s expression was in between sorrow for her dense behavior and irritation for Sage’s ignorance. Her hands were at her hips, a frown on her tired face.

“You could at least give me a warning next time...” her voice had a dead-serious but somewhat shaky tone, as if Sage had startled her. The smirk disappeared just as easily as it appeared, and Sage looked down at the ground with a hand behind his head, to hide the burning red area on his cheeks that came out of nowhere. He was speechless for a few seconds, but finally lifted his head back up, revealing that he was blushing.

“Whatever you mean by a warning,” he started, nervously smiling “Sometimes I’m incapable of thinking straight when it comes to...pretty girls,” His serious stare came into play to display his honesty, but the blush just grew hotter. He stammered “I-I’m not saying...that I like you, like that...Just saying, it happens,” He then held out his hands as if trying to vouch for himself, and he struggled to smile. Indigo, everything else forgotten like magic, blushed deeply and smiled happily at the compliment, and she somehow felt there was a hidden meaning behind it. A question had tried to make its way from her mind to her lips, and she begged mentally for the message to hurry up.

But before either hedgehog could continue this flattering conversation, Firon called out to them “Indigo! Sage! It’s almost dusk, we’re getting our supplies and leaving, Pronto! So, let’s move!” Sage was the first to start walking back to where Firon and the other waited, but Indigo stopped him for a second. The green hedgehog turned curiously, and before he knew it, he felt warm lips graze his black nose and saw the purple hedgehog wink affectionately at him. Sage then continued to walk, but slower as he was bewildered by the sudden sign of affection from the passionate little lady, grinning childishly as the beautiful hedgehog never left his eyes. Indigo knew the obvious truth as she looked back to see an attracted expression on Sage’s face: Sage had a not-so-secret crush on her.

* * *

There was a irregular black scar onto the narrow hill outside Fireleaf Village, mixing in with the changing colors of dusk as the sun peaked over the horizon, retreating ever so slowly as if afraid of the unnatural scar. Anyone with a keen eye would realize the black scar was Cage’s aura, and within the aura; Cage himself. His anger was sky-high, his teeth clenched so tight that his jaw cracked and bled, with his hands tempted to commit murder to satisfy every ounce of his anger. His breathing was out of his control, but somehow, without its master’s permission, it willingly allowed itself to inhale and exhale slowly to assuage the rage built up inside the heartless shell in Cage’s chest. Shadow Shade was summoned by the negative feeling that grew so suddenly and filled every limit of Cage’s existence.

Shadow Shade’s dark voice spoke reverberantly “Another failure...How long are you planning to endeavor? An eternity?” Cage frowned at the insult, biting his tongue to avoid saying a comeback. As blood dripped out of the new cut on his tongue, he replied.

“Why does it matter to you? We’re not dealing with one hedgehog anymore...we’re dealing with three hedgehogs with a serious abhorrence against me...” Cage lashed out with a hand, sending out a flare of energy into a nearby tree that was imbedded into the narrow hill, sparking it into a bonfire of leaves and branches. Shadow Shade chuckled.

“What’s this ‘we’ you’re referring to? You’re the one in control of a body, a mind, and my dark powers,” the evil entity sneered, but Cage refused to flinch or take the blame for anything. The dark hedgehog grinned as he combusted a pair of trees into a shower of flames. The merciless grin widened as his thoughts came upon the truth that his master pushed into his mind.

“True,” he admitted shamelessly “I have an able body, an intelligent mind, and your gifted talents of the darkness,” He turned slightly, his arms crossed with a finger pointed downward, bursting more trees into flames to join in with the growing storm of fire “But, it wasn’t my idea to go after some human girl and to kill that silver hedgehog, Firon, for revenge. Vengeance may be sweet, but the only thing I’m interested in is capturing the human girl...”

Shadow Shade stiffened in respect, sensing the real meaning of what Cage was trying to imply. Still, he asked “Why just the girl? Doesn’t the blood of those you kill satisfy you? Or, are you feeling soft for some human imbecile?” Cage’s grin stretched to abnormal length, half-covering his entire gray-strewn muzzle with sharp, vicious teeth of a monster. His eyes narrowed past the black smoke that rose and faded, and his demonic red eyes spotted the human girl amongst Firon and a few other mobians in the village below. However, the human girl, through his eyes, was completely white and glowing that one color, with feathery, white wings attached to her back. The answer was crystal clear, and Shadow Shade dropped into dead silence as he realized what he was seeing.

“That girl...is the reincarnation of the Angel Goddess,”

“The one who imprisoned me!?” Shadow Shade screamed, reawakening an old hatred that ignited the dim flame of his rage into a hurricane of fire. Cage felt a throbbing pain his head, but managed to ignore the anger his master was feeling. He cared less for his any hurt that his master suffered, believing that ‘worrying was for the weak’. The nuisance ended fairly quickly, but the cold, threatening edge to Shadow Shade’s already corrupted voice still existed as he spoke “Now my assumption is correct...she does deserve to suffer for what she had done to me! If it hadn’t been for her, this world would’ve been corrupted by darkness thousands of years ago!”

“Easy come, easy go, my lord,” Cage replied, shaking his head in mock pleasure. A sudden jolt of skull-breaking pain shut him up instantly. The coldness of Shadow Shade’s was gone; vanished without a second thought.

“Perhaps we could use this to our advantage. Gods and Goddesses have power greater than what any mortal would wish for. We have to use that power against her, or more specifically, her hedgehog safeguards...”

“But, my lord, we are descents from the dark. One touch of the pure light of Angel Energy could kill me, or more importantly, you. What would you obviously be thinking in that immortal cranium of yours?” Shadow Shade calculated for a long while, thinking of a summary that seemed convincing. What he said nearly surprised Cage.

“The human girl, the vessel of the Angel Goddess, has no memories of what the Angel Goddess possessed for her powers, or even what she had done in her previous lives. All she remembers, is the fake life bestowed upon her to ensure those memories didn’t come back too soon...otherwise, she would end up jumping into a situation where her vulnerable mortal shell would fall to the mighty dark power of a true God,” Cage’s thoughts were cut off from the rest of his mind as he halfway discovered that Shadow Shade was the one enjoying this discovery, and was taking the credit from him. His grin was ripped off of his muzzle at last, replaced by a downward curve of the mouth to indicate irritation.

“I understand...But I’ll still ask. What is the plan?” Cage asked impatiently. Shadow Shade was quick to answer in kind, with an almost enjoyable attitude.

“We revive the lost memories in the reincarnation, and bring about another great danger to my nemesis and his friends...” Cage watched the trees below as Shadow Shade himself reached out spiritually, and set all the trees he could reach aflame, a nasty, twisted amusement in his work. He continued with glee “The uncontrollable rage of the Goddess’s power, and the thoughtless shell in which she is trapped, will bring about unbearable pain to the girl, and Firon. Hopelessness will be the key for this goal to be reached, and I believe you will not fail me this time...Or, am I just falsely foreshadowing?”

“No, my lord...False or not, it doesn’t matter. The human girl is our ace in the hole, and I’ll be sure to accomplish my goal soundly...no matter what gets in my way,” And with that said, Cage took one last glance at Firon, the silver hedgehog seemingly staring back as if taking that exact moment to trade hatred with one another. Cage spat disrespectfully at the sight of the fire-blazed eyes of the silver hedgehog, and snapped his fingers. He disappeared within a crackle of dark energy, leaving the forest to burn to its death, leaving the mark that Cage had seen and went. To Firon, it left a scar of the past so deep that even words were too incoherent to describe the pain he felt.

Chapter 2: Assault on The Bloody Crusader

FironandAelita — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 12:47:56 CDT

A grav-copter, designated as Zealot 121, rocketed through the storm clouds undetected as rain pelted the landscape below. Its pilot, Amy Gold, who referred to herself as Goldshine, managed to maintain a decent flight since their departure from Mobotroplis, braving a perilous journey towards enemy territory. She hoped for the best that the storm would disrupt the Outlander’s sensors and allow her dropship to pass by swiftly, and oh so quickly to make everything run smoothly. The long ride however, had not been smooth and the grav-copter rocked side-to-side as large bolts of lighting and hail inside the clouds impacted its metal surface. So far, no serious damage had been done to the hull or the fuselages.

Flame sat closest to the main hatch, waiting patiently when a landing would be made, and when he would be given the signal to open the hatch, and be the first one to exit the passenger compartment to get his own team of United Guards organized and ready for the mission. He studied the faces of his peers, seeing that most of them were holding their breath, the exception being Linda, Kelly, himself, and one other who went by the rank and name of Staff Sergeant Major Wesker Chaohog, or Wesker for short. He shared some sympathy with them, realizing that the lower-ranks had a harder time with dealing with missions that were often considered “Suicide”. Adding to their worries was the fact that, it was a stealth operation and it required no unwanted attention, and one mistake would screw up their only chance. The CO keyed his mike, connected to both teams’ com frequency.

“Listen up! As soon as we make our first stop, Stealth Team One and I will move out and neutralize their sensors, and cause havoc among any Outlander sentries. Stealth Team Two will be dropped right nearby their communications tower after we give the signal. In the meantime, Goldshine will keep you guys held up until we send the signal. If you don’t hear from us in less than three hours, evacuate immediately.” There was a series of double clicks on the com channels, signifying acknowledgments and that they understood their orders. Flame nodded to Kelly, Stealth Team Two’s commanding officer, and she nodded back. Everyone checked to make sure their weapons were ready for usage, that their cloaking devices would properly operate, and that their supplies made little noise as much as possible. Just then, Goldshine radioed in on each of the United Guards’ earphones.

“We are five to dirt! Repeat, five to dirt! Lock n’ load!” her light voice yelled, informing Stealth Team One they were five minutes away the official start of their part of the mission. Flame stood up from his seat, using one hand to hold tightly to a ceiling rail, using the other to grasp the hatch’s release-and-seal handle. Linda took his seat, Wesker took hers, and the last two members of the first team, Corporal Dawkins and Corporal Carrie, followed suit. Only Flame and Linda carried blades out of all the United Guards getting ready to kick some Outlander ass, with everyone else using customized assault rifles bigger than their own two arms, while Wesker wielded a gigantic chain gun.

“Ten seconds to dirt! Go have some fun, don’t forget to tell me how it went!” the pilot said with a chuckle, everyone generally laughing as a response. Flame unsealed the hatch, saw the large metal door shoot itself out of the grav-copter’s hull, and he was the first to feel solid ground beneath his feet as he jumped down about ten feet from the hovering grav-copter. The rest of his team repeated the same landing routine, activated their camouflage, held their weapons at ready, and watched as Zealot 121 lifted off back into the storm clouds, the hatch door sealing shut and the dropship itself disappearing from their sight.

Flame took a quick sweep of the area they landed in, examining the map that popped up on his eye-monitor, and realized he and his team were on the path to the heart of their objective. Since enemy radio traffic was bound to pick up their com channel’s signal as soon as they came within range, Flame gave a hand signal that silently ordered all his troops to cut off their communication for the time being. They willingly did so and hurried along the low path with their leader. The silver hedgehog was known as the one of the best leaders in the entire Allegiance, and didn’t have to take his sweet time to guess that anyone at his command would not please him. However, it wasn’t the reputation or his duty that encouraged Flame to do his best, it was Linda.

Ever so often though, Linda’s innocent and beautiful smile was more than enough to lift his spirits and morale past their limits, and he loved the feeling. He concentrated on the path before him, and made use of his eye-monitor’s mini-map. Already, they were past the border between enemy territory and Old Mobotroplis, and the path grew narrower by the second. If not for the cloaking devices, Flame and his team would have been detected by now as they were forced to move in single file. And then, the CO felt the inhumanly hot air and saw the unforgiving darkness of an Outlander encampment, and knew he was getting closer. He grasped the hilt of the Safeguard Blade, pulling it out of his back-scabbard, and held its gruesome sharp edge forward. Linda had done the same with her weapon, the Valor Blade, and the whole team was ready for some hide-and-go kill.

* * *

Commander Ravage stood high within the relative safety of a command tower, watching as his new army of five thousand Outlanders marched across the wide-open air field where hundreds of dropships lied in wait for their passengers to get on board. Although there would be little-to-no battles in Ravage’s newly-assigned mission, it would surely make future conflicts worth watching. His top priority, and the only one he had, was to gain possession of the seven Chaos Emeralds that his superior had told him about. He thought of it as being ludicrous to put so much hope and trust into jewels that could most likely exist only in legend, but he dared not question the authority and demands of his superior. As he watched the other half of his army get mounted up, and half the dropships preparing to lift off, he heard metal footsteps approach him.

“Report,” the commander ordered, as if eyes had popped out the back of his head and saw the lower-ranking officer inches behind him. The officer, a first lieutenant, saluted honorably, and spoke with a deep, scratchy tone.

“The Superior has informed us that our first objective is located half across the continent, in the snow-covered caps of the South Mountains. He has given us the suggestion of dividing our troops as so to not waste all of them if an avalanche were to occur,” an eye brow cocked upward on Ravage’s face, his expression grim. The superior never gave the Outlanders a suggestion without good reason, and he realized that these emeralds were located in environments more dangerous than anything in the wild, more hazardous then the deepest reaches of enemy territory, and simply too well organized by the mysterious beings who may of hidden the emeralds thousands of years ago. He sighed with a ghostly silence, then nodded the lieutenant off, who complied and left his presence unquestionably.

Ravage was an Outlander at heart, if he somehow had one, since the day he was born, and had never known the meaning of the word ‘mercy’. He had grown in ranks faster then a jet plane after the several thousands of casualties he inflicted upon the Allegiance that he and his armies so hatefully fought against. But unlike the other Outlanders, who had literally no emotion left in them due to the war’s stress and their mechanized minds, Ravage had feelings, and because of those feelings he had always felt the urge to question the Outlanders’ seemingly indistinct declaration of war against the Mobian Kingdom, then the United Mobian Military, and eventually the United Guard. Was it only for world domination? Or some other purpose his superior had never wanted to tell him or the others?

All the commander could believe was that his answer lied with the Chaos Emeralds, and he finally decided to head off to the air field to get on board his transport, taking the same lift that the first lieutenant had, and spent the next ten minutes walking across the miles of dirt and rubble until he finally felt the cold metal interior of his transport. As the pilots of the transport were notified of the commander’s presence, they went through a series of complicated preparations, sealing all hatches and lifting the transport off the air field. After a full-minute of fighting air pockets, and the controls that kept the piece of metal hovering, the commander’s transport had at last joined alongside the fleet of dropships as they flew off to the South.

* * *

Stealth Team One was finally within the outer reaches of the Outlander encampment, identifying it as ‘The Bloody Crusader’ after listening in on a dead Outlander’s radio. They were infiltrating a base that was very well defended, and if not for their camouflage, they may have been torn to shreds by a storm of bullets from the huge machine gun turrets positioned high in towers. Flame guessed they were meant for anti-aircraft fire as they pointed upward towards the sky, but he knew clearly they could do just as much damage to infantry as they could flying objects. His team continued onward, moving deep into the steel-and-titanium reinforced walls that stood half a mile tall, and spanned a complete, irregular circle around The Bloody Crusader.

Wesker was always the one to take point, and he led from the moment they exited the wall, into a neighborhood of officers’ quarters and the endless rows of bunkhouses for the lower-ranks and subordinates. They were nowhere near their objective, but their curiosity had somehow purposely led them here. And so, Wesker quietly entered the residence of one of the officers’ quarters, Dawkins backing him up and the rest of the team keeping their eyes peeled for any unpredicted arrivals of the enemy.

The quarters was surprisingly small, only providing a bedroom with some added features from a kitchen and dining room. A female Outlander slept deeply in a trance, unaware of the fact she was at a high risk of being assassinated. But Wesker, although tempted to pull the trigger of his chain gun, resisted the chance to do so and continued to search for clues that could lead him and his team out of the neighborhood, and into the sensor section of the base. He slowly slid open a rusted titanium door, and averted his eyes from what he saw: the half-eaten and rotting corpse of a Mobian Kingdom proselyte knight. He swallowed the gag that threatened to make noise, slid the door shut silently, and felt sickened to the core. The corpse he had just seen was mostly bone, with little resemblance to a mobian, forcing Wesker to realize that Outlanders ate the mobians they killed. Dawkins must had seen the paralyzed expression on Wesker’s face via his eye-monitor’s de-cloak camera, and nodded to the Sergeant to quietly inform him he didn’t want to ask. The Corporal left the quarters first, completely bummed out, but before Wesker had ever chosen to set one foot outside, he strapped his chain gun, ripped his combat knife from its sheath, and held the sharp blade to the sleeping Outlander officer’s throat. The last thing the Outlander would remember as she abruptly awakened, was the blackening of her vision as she felt something slice her neck open, and felt herself lift away from the tyranny of reality.

Flame frowned at the Sergeant as he exit the quarters, a bloody combat knife held loosely in his numb fingers. Wesker pretended not to notice, knowing damn well that his commanding officer had no idea why he had killed the Outlander inside. With the CO’s trust wavering, Wesker was promoted to guard the rear; a promotion he was not grateful for. Carrie, the nervous, but trigger-happy second corporal, took point and led the group to the interior of several quarters, and a couple of bunkhouses, eager to find a map or piece of information that would ultimately give them a clue in on where they needed to go. After a wasted thirty minutes of searching, and a few adequate murders of Outlanders who woke up from their slumber, Dawkins had found what the team had been looking for: a map of the entire base with specific details, legends, and keys. It took a precious minute to find the way, and Stealth Team One was back on track. They sprinted out of the neighborhood, map secured with Dawkins in the center of the team, and headed off to avoid wasting anymore valuable time.

* * *

Amy rested back into her pilot’s seat as the auto-pilot kept her dropship hovering within the clouds. Her efforts to relax for the next hour were futile; she worried about the first team putting themselves in critical danger, right into the laps of a monster. In an attempt to try and banish her worry, she began allowing her physical discomfort at the moment to come alive. The storm within the clouds played hell with Zealot 121's power, disabling the air-conditioning and electric-powered, body-compressed pilot and co-pilot seats. Sweat rushed down her face as the heat increased to a heart-stroking ninety degrees, and the golden cat was forced to remove most of her armor, if not all of it. It was a useless attempt still, and the cold trickle of sweat crawled down her neck and dampened into the collar of her shirt. She wished she were a United Guard, with a biochemically altered body that cooled or heated itself depending on the change in temperature. Not only would it improve her senses and ability as a top-of-the-line pilot, but would allow her to relax away her stress. Yes, she began day-dreaming, that would be nice for a change.

She pushed her boots aside with a golden furred-foot, and got up from the back-breaking, decompressed pilot seat. Despite the seriousness of the mission at hand, Amy wasn’t going to let herself get distracted by aching pain. She eyed a picture held to the impenetrable wall by work tape, and it showed the beautiful smiling face of her thirteen-year-old daughter, Melissa Gold. One of the main reasons she ever joined the nobility and became a pilot for the war was to protect her own flesh and blood, and to avenge the death of her husband, Frye, who was killed by the ruthless hands of an Outlander that most mobians were familiar with: Ravage the Blood Luster, the Second-in-Command of the entire Outlander Empire. Amy hated that single Outlander out of all of them, and hoped that one day she’d been given the chance to let him suffer the fate of all the mobians he killed, only a thousand times worse. A frown creased along her face and obliterated the innocent features she so casually had , but the frozen smile on her daughter’s picture destroyed the thought of Ravage and Frye’s death, and made the beautiful mother smile and her heart leap forward.

There was a bane knock on the cockpit door that pulled Amy out of the deep bowels of her severe thoughts and mixture of emotions. She rushed back into her pilot seat, thankful for the small space of cockpit, and called out “Enter!”

One of the United Guards of Stealth Team Two, who Amy identified as CO Kelly, stepped into the cockpit with a concerned expression. The pilot kept to herself as the Third-in-Command took a seat on the co-pilot’s chair, groaning in pain as the discomfort of both her armor and the iron-hard surface of the chair combined. Amy looked at Kelly respectfully, and waited for a response, her tail curling as a sign of curiosity. Finally, after a full minute or so shaved off the mission cloak on the cockpit’s wall, Kelly spoke with a blunt tone as she scanned Amy’s facial features.

“Concerned about something?” the CO asked, seeming as though she had forgotten the mission and the lives of her fellow United Guards which were at stake. However, Amy never had been the one to question the higher-ranking officers or their uncanny behavior of forgetting and remembering. She placed one foot on top of the other, slipped her gloved fingers through one another, and replied.

“You know us pilots, we’re always worried about those to drop off and get aboard with suffice reasoning, ma’am” The pilot dared not avert her eyes out of disrespect, and easily saw her words bring a small smile crease along the corner of the fox’s furry muzzle, with a hint of confusion in her eyes.

“That’s quite surprising,” Kelly remarked “Especially given the fact that the United Guard is considered an abomination by both the Kingdom and the Military,” Amy shifted nervously as Kelly referred to the ambitions and egos of the millions of mobians who still lived to fight the war. Most soldiers and knights were offended as the United Guard proved to be too effective against the Outlanders, even going as far as stealing honor. The officers and nobles of both sides of the Allegiance thought of the United Guard as nothing more than an army of freaks and show-offs meant to be in the dustbin of history. Amy nodded.

“I’m not part of that group, ma’am. I respect the United Guard, one-hundred percent,” the CO scanned her face for any hint of a lie. She was even more surprised to see that there was none, and her small smile widened. Amy had a good reason for not being like the knights and soldiers. First of all, she didn’t care about honor or pride and was thankful for the fact that the United Guard were fanatics. And second, she had a large reputation that took years to form. Her ears twitched as Kelly spoke again.

“Very well then. Anything from Stealth Team One yet?” the CO asked, her mind back on the mission. Amy turned her chair towards the control panel, and examined the digital interface which brought up a wide list of messages. Her fingers danced over a keypad to specify the messages she wanted, and to her disprovement, there were no messages listed under the current mission tab.

“Negative,” the pilot reported, perceiving a sigh from the blue fox seated nearby. Amy chanced a quick glance at the fox’s face, seeing her gloved hands pressed against her cheeks. Either the CO was getting tired, which to the pilot was highly unlikely; or, Kelly was concerned just like she was. After a moment of sympathy, the golden cat broke the uncomfortable silence which, despite the instantaneous thunder booms inside the storm cloud and the pelting of the hail stones against the hull of the Zealot 121, had captured their emotions.

“Would you like to hear a poem I wrote, ma’am? It could reassure you about your worries,” Amy suggested, pulling out the main keyboard for the control panel, and tapping the keys to bring up a file saved into her dropship’s data base. Kelly grew interested at the subordinate’s suggestion, and watched as the file opened, with words flickering on-screen. Amy read them out loud willingly, unbeknownst if the blue fox really wanted to hear the poem or not.

When you fight a battle, it’s all choice

Fighting for pride is not to be rejoiced

Realizing the truth is hard to find

Because a lie creates the wrong bind

True brilliance is born and uncorrupted

Inside the minds of those un-erupted

And only they have power to control Fate...

The poem, to Kelly, translated into something related to what a true leader was: a brilliant mastermind who determined his or her own fate, and that of those under their command. It eased her worries a lot, and she gave a comment “Well written,” also adding “,Did you inspire to be a poet?” The golden cat simply nodded in amateur misery, not happy of the thought she could have never been what she originally wanted to be.

“I thought about it,” Amy said in a matter-of-fact tone “But, I realized I had other talents which proved more useful in the sky. So, my poems were just considered, by everyone, as a type of ‘morale booster’,” Before Kelly could reply with a comment, a high-ringing beep sounded off from the digital interface, and the lighting-fast reflexes of Amy allowed the pilot to see what was happening first-hand. Her head swiveled to her shoulder, a grave expression on her face.

“Outlander air patrol...” she said informatively, then added “On what seems to be a normal flight routine, they’ll be within detectable range in five minutes,” Kelly cursed with silence, keyed her mike viciously, and barked a series of orders to her team in the passenger compartment.

“Someone man the turrets on this dropship, now! Outlander air patrol heading our way in five minutes! Get prepped up, keep your aim adjusted, and wait until they’re clearly within range!” as the orders were given, one by one, movement was heard as Stealth Team Two quickly became promoted to defense duty for Zealot 121. Kelly hoped to buy back Flame, Linda, and the rest of their team the time they needed in order to complete their half of the mission; because if they didn’t, Zealot 121 and those aboard her would perish, and Stealth Team One would be imprisoned without any chance of escape. Amy deactivated the auto-pilot, punched a few controls for pilot-controlled weaponry for Kelly, and perilously grabbed the control-sticks for her dropship. The grav-copter dropped out of hovering, and accelerated at top-speed, turrets all gunned and ready to fire at will. This was going to be one hell of an aerial battle...

* * *

An hour and thirty-five minutes left, and still the Bloody Crusader remained unalarmed. It surprised Flame beyond doubt, and he and his team raced through the seemingly endless alleys, streets, paths, and open fields to find the sensors they so aggressively wanted to destroy. The only problem was the size of the base, and the strange occurrence of how it seemed they were following the same path over and over again; like a maze. They couldn’t request air support to guide them; either that or risk getting everyone killed. But Flame was patient, and carefully examined each path his team took, leaving clues such as a noticeable grouping of rocks or small hills of dirt which would confirm the path had already been taken.

After a good thirty minutes had been wasted to find the way out of the maze, there was a single street that seemed to stretch for miles, the last few miles disappearing into the night’s darkness. They followed along the street, avoiding contact with any vehicles, sneaking past security whenever they came across them, and even having to use the underground sewer to journey past areas where everything was too well barricade, reinforced, and defended by a mere hundreds of guards. None of the members of Stealth Team One had to even guess they were close to an important location in the base. There guesses were proved correct as they surfaced, and were rewarded with the sight of gargantuan buildings that stood tall and firm; giant radar dishes spinning slowly along a three-hundred-sixty degree angle on top of the roofs. Dawkins, being the top-stealth expert in the team, activated his infrared-vision goggles, and nodded his head as if everything he saw resembled child’s play.

“Not only are there invisible laser trip wires that could raise an alarm within a mili-second, there are also land mines planted just an inch under the dirt from what I can see.” Wesker’s response to the report was the producing of a grenade in his hand, and a serious temptation to pull the pin off. Flame made a cutting gesture across his neck, strictly ordering Wesker to keep his personal rage against the Outlanders to himself for the moment. The Sergeant simply nodded with reluctant attitude, and returned the grenade to his belt. Linda stepped forward next to Dawkins, whispering in the hedgehog’s ear.

“Any idea on how to get past this?” the question seemed more like a challenge being offered, and a grin passed over his muzzle like an approval.

“Of course,” he answered “We just need bait, like just enough Outlanders to blow us a path directly to the sensors,” His words summoned Carrie, the pink echidna’s ego shining brightly as she was the team’s explosives-expert. Because of her valuable knowledge on all the current models of explosives and how each one could be counter-used, she would prove quite useful in removing the mines and taking their original owners along with them. But what of the trip wires which could trigger a base-scale alarm?

Linda would fill the role of leading the bait right into the grinder, allowing them to experience a death far more gruesome then what her own hands could do, and forcing them to trigger the alarm to make it appear as an accident. Flame took a quick glance at both women, then nodded with agreement. Dawkins assisted Carrie with choosing the correct mines for the ‘accident’ that was to happen, and Flame and Linda went off to find a suitable-sized group of Outlanders to make the plan play out. Personally, Flame felt ridiculously sorry for the Outlanders that were about to suffer a death worse then what any United Guard was capable of.

* * *

Amy kept a close eye on all monitors, interfaces, and uplinks. Because of her experience as a pilot, and her reputation of being one of the best, all she had to do was keep Zealot 121 from taking too much damage. She knew from previous encounters with Outlander patrols and aerial squadrons that there were often ten or twenty air fighters total. It was a risky bargain to go up against combat-suited fighters with a single Haloka-class gravity copter dropship, but Amy had faith in her bird, and the team of United Guards who manned all of its weapons. Still, she hoped they’d win this battle.

Just then, the five minutes of preparation had been erased, and the Outlander patrol had just picked up Zealot 121's signal, but not before one of the jets suffered a barrage of machine gun fire and the impacts of missile pods exploding across its existence. The jet blew to a thousand pieces, taking another jet who strayed too close with it. The counter-attack was avoided gracefully as Amy maneuvered Zealot 121 side-to-side, up-and-down, and diagonally. She knew clearly of the jets’ weaknesses, and that was they couldn’t shift, only turn to head left or right. That allowed her to dodge enemy fire while allowing the United Guards to give them serious punishment. In the first minute of combat, seven jets were obliterated, and the pilots of the last remaining jets chose that moment to retreat.

No one cheered however, because awareness was an important aspect. And they were adamantly aware of the sound of a large battalion of jets streaking up into the storm clouds. Amy chose that time and place to curse, and Kelly didn’t even try to shut her up. A battalion often consisted of over one hundred jets which were rightly countered with a force just as equally as powerful. There was no possible way she could go up against a hundred jets with her limited ammo, and vulnerability to surround fire. While Amy was struck with grief, Kelly had begun typing in commands into the co-pilot’s keyboard, and the golden cat had become quite curious by then as the CO pressed fifty keys-per-second.

“What are you doing?” Amy asked, eyeing the monitor in which Kelly was connected to. The cat’s eyes widened as she saw that the CO had tapped into the mainframe of the Outlanders’ communications, and was making a valiant attempt to trick the Outlander pilots who had command over the battalion. Stealth Team Two held their fire, as if sensing their commanding officer’s plan. Finally, after a series of commands and responds had been typed, the battalion changed course and headed back to whatever airfield they originated from, with exception of a small group of jets still heading towards Zealot 121's position, perhaps as a check-out committee. A questionable glare formed onto Amy’s face. Kelly finally replied with a grime smirk.

“Lessening their forces, cutting off their communications, and buying us time,” she said, and that reassured the pilot most defiantly. The United Guards clicked off the safeties of their turrets, aimed carefully, and waited patiently for the sight of a jet to enter their scopes. Kelly kept working her magic to further the plan to an even more successful state, and Amy accelerated her dropship to half-speed towards the incoming position of the small group of enemy jets.

In a couple of minutes, the dropship decelerated and shot all its weapons on concentrated targets, missiles flying like streaks of smoke across the interior of the storm cloud, and destroying two of the twenty jets that appeared as red dots on Amy’s radar monitor. Stealth Team Two fired at each jet they saw, concentrating their fire on single jets, to boost their weapons’ effectiveness. The Outlander pilots attempted to retreat away from the dropship, realizing their communications were cut off, but Amy was in hot pursuit. Zealot 121 rocketed through the storm clouds towards the retreating jets, missiles chasing after them in a speed that was faster than what Zealot 121 was capable of. Half of the remaining dozen of jets were gone, the rest taking casualties from the United Guards who unleashed a hellish bombardment of bullets.

The last two mangled jets turned and made a last stand, blasting and overloading their missile tubes with rockets which were locked onto the much larger hull of Zealot 121. Amy forced her dropship to dodge most of the rockets, her head almost crashing into the control panel as the last rockets blew across the cockpit’s armored shell. She cursed silently as she felt her unsheathed combat knife cut into her foot, blood dripping across a deckplate. Adding to the problems of the two jets violently attempting to destroy her dropship, was that her turrets were now out of ammo, and the missiles that remained in the dropship’s missile tubes had been degraded to only three left.

As the other United Guards double-timed it to make a grab for extra ammo, Kelly made use of her advanced computer skill to lock onto the two jets, pointing a final lock-on crosshair neatly down the middle. She clutched the fire control for the missiles, and pressed the button three times within a half-second. The last of the dropship’s artillery screamed across the corrupted air, and the jets reacted by turning back. One of the three missiles made a hit, bursting one jet into flames and suffocating the pilot within. The second jet was able to avoid its destined missile, but had a fatal encounter with the last missile that had been originally aimed towards the middle of the two jets’ formation. But now, unable to pull away, the jet flew right into the last missile willingly, suffering major damage and crashing into its flaming brother. Both jets exploded in a flash of light, and ceased to exist.

Like clockwork, luck, and faith would have it, Amy, Kelly, and Stealth Team Two were still alive and undetected, and the mission would go on. The pilot rose the dropship higher into the storm cloud, activated the auto-pilot, and relaxed as Zealot 121 hovered in triumph. She sighed, then gave Kelly a smile, which was returned by a congratulated grin from the CO. Before the two could make conversation, Kelly spoke to her team first and calmly gave out orders.

“Reload those turrets, make sure the safeties are on, then get back in your seats. Good work, team,” the blue fox switched off her mike, then glanced back at Amy, smiling “That was some good piloting,” A praised grin crept onto Amy’s muzzle.

“It was easy,” she replied with a cocky attitude, but then grimaced as she felt pain shoot up her leg. The pilot then remembered about the deep gash on her foot from her combat knife, which had somehow been thrown out of its sheath, across the deckplates, and had finally stabbed her arch. Kelly quickly noticed the puddle of blood gathered underneath the cat’s foot and the wound itself.

“I’ll get my medic to patch that up, but in the meantime, be sure to check if Stealth Team One has checked in,” the blue fox got up from the co-pilot’s seat, and exited the cockpit back to the passenger compartment where her team waited. Amy sighed, and returned to waiting for the signal like before, her patience running thin. All she could think of and known for sure was that this was the ‘easy’ part of the mission.

* * *

An explosion rippled across the mine field, accompanied by the presence of dead Outlanders, whose bodies flew in every direction; blown into pieces of flesh. The trip wires had been crossed and an alarm was already whining throughout the section of the base that Flame and his team were stationed in. Stealth Team One ran like lighting across the open path, careful to avoid stepping onto the mines that still waited under the dirt for something to kill. Outlanders rushed into the area where the alarm had been triggered, and all one hundred of them saw nothing but black scars where mines had exploded, pieces of meat and shards of bone scattered across the mine field, and charred armor and weapons thrown free from their original masters. With no clue how everything had happened, the Outlanders were left to wallow in their confusion.

Flame split his team in two, sending Wesker and Dawkins inside the main building to cut off the sensors from within, while Linda, Carrie, and himself climbed up top to blow each of the sensors to smithereens. Once the sensors were taken off-line, and with the sensors themselves destroyed beyond repair, all Flame and his team were required to do was await pick-up, become the armed personal for Zealot 121, and provide cover-fire for Stealth Team Two if necessary. In the meantime however, he had to try and avoid contact with the Outlanders who actually used their old noggins and stayed put, but it was also a mistake they would pay for.

Flame and his squad had been able to climb at least two levels, and there were a few groups of guards keeping an eye on anything out of the ordinary, some of them oblivious to the catastrophic event that had happened down below. It was because of their lack of coordination, bad awareness, and sleep deprivation, that they didn’t see Linda sneak behind each of them with a combat knife wielded loosely in her graceful fingers. In a matter of seconds, all guards had a slit throat, and blood streamed across the metal floor. The squad continued their climb, and ignored the sore feeling against their pads.

* * *

Wesker was excited, despite the grueling risk of being seen and reported by the Outlanders. He cared less if any Outlander detected him, and his ego shone like the sun. He held his combat knife loosely, blood dripping off its sharp edge as several Outlanders lie dead behind him. Dawkins kept silent and out of the action as he trailed along behind the aggressive hedgehog, his assault rifle slung over his shoulder and his hands readied for grabbing hold of any stray victims that Wesker wanted to kill. Blood still stained his chest plate.

As Wesker and Dawkins ventured up through levels, they saw improvement in the technology that consumed the occupation of each level as they ascended. They also saw normal mobians, both dead and alive but traumatized, scattered throughout some of the levels that had little-to-no Outlander presence. They were clearly afraid of the deaths that Outlanders often performed on those with less power then them, and it was more sickening then gruesome. But not all Outlanders thought murder was the best pleasure, and it was those Outlanders who held more sick thoughts than a crazed psychopath. Wesker’s anger rose to a dangerous level as he remembered the half-eaten body of the proselyte back in an Outlander officer’s quarters, disgusted by just how crazy and monstrous the Outlanders truly and shamelessly were. More deaths followed as more blood colored Wesker’s combat knife in black-red.

Only two levels from where the pair of United Guards believed the sensor controls were, something had forced both hedgehogs to freeze in what resembled a mess hall. A female vixen was being mauled by a group of Outlanders, bite marks and gashes displayed all over her body. She screamed, yelled out in pain, panicked, and bucked, but all it did was encourage the Outlanders as they bit deeper into her skin, in an attempt to tear off her flesh. There were only four Outlanders, each biting into their own shares of the vixen’s body. Blood streamed from the deep wounds and stained the vixen’s fur, but to the Outlanders’ dismay, she still lived. Wesker couldn’t take anymore of this sight, shook himself free from his mental ice cube, and leaped forward to kill all Outlanders with one fast motion of his combat knife. Each Outlander took a nasty cut to the face, right across their mouths, and a second and third swipe of Wesker’s blade put them out of their misery. For a moment, the vixen lied out on the mess hall table, hurt, confused, and paralyzed . She didn’t react in anyway surprised or shocked as she felt strong arms lift her up, as if sensing the invisible mobian was good in the heart and the one that saved her life. Wesker took point to defend Dawkins, who carried the exhausted mobian in his arms, and soon, both hedgehogs were back to ascending the last two levels of the building to their destination.

* * *

A ten-meter high radar dish spun slowly along its axes, its powerful sensory gear at work, but unfortunately unable to detect the motion of Flame and his squad as they moved into position. Carrie tore her pack from her shoulder, and pulled out a specialized bomb that was specifically meant to disrupt electronics and rupture metal into pieces: The Lag Bomb. She wielded it, walked up to the spinning axle that spun the large radar dish, and rammed the Lag Bomb’s underside into the cold steel. Sharp clamps struck out of the circular design of the bomb, and clamped onto the axle with a satisfying click. The bomb was set as a red light flickered on at its center, and nothing would be able to remove it from its destined position now. Flame, Linda, and Carrie jumped down from the roof to the level below as the red light beeped, then whined with annoyance as it laid destruction upon the radar dish. Seconds later, Carrie examined her work, and was gratified with the sight of molten metal where the radar dish once stood. As she climbed back onto the roof top, tagging alongside Linda as the squad ventured to another radar dish, her ego shone more brightly then before. She loved blowing things up.

* * *

Wesker and Dawkins silently entered the domain of the sensor control room, up against the wall and avoiding contact with the oblivious Outlanders who were stationed at different control panels. They had left the half-shocked vixen they rescued in a safe area they had earlier cleared up, and promised to themselves they would return for her. There were only a few Outlanders armed with assault rifles, standing guard with their eyes narrowed mostly on the operators. They seemed more suspicious of the operators then of any possible threat, and that meant most of their attention would be derived as a disadvantage, and neither Wesker or Dawkins wasted time to take out the poorly-trained guards first. The Sergeant pushed himself further into the wall, tracing along its unusually warm surface as his knife came to bare. Dawkins brought out his assault rifle, and waited near one end of the room with its muzzle ready to pop some caps into an Outlander’s ass.

The guards remained intangible as Wesker snuck up behind one, and ever so delicately, eased the knife’s razor-sharp edge to the soft, fleshly neck of the female Outlander. As soon as the chilling coldness of the blade touched the Outlander’s neck, Wesker slashed the blade with abnormal speed. The guard choked, blood pumping out like a geyser from the wound and her mouth, and she collapsed without the will to live. By the time the other guards saw her lifeless carcass, Wesker gave the signal and the hedgehog jumped for cover.

Dawkins pulled the trigger effortlessly, and a hail of bullets sought after targets. The remaining guards fired their own weapons in panic, searching for the invisible attacker that fired the shots, but it proved to be a futile effort as bullets blew their heads apart. Their guns clattered to the blood-soaked floor, and their headless bodies landed in a heap. Hysteria erupted among the operators, and they all ran to the doorways to escape the massacre. It was foolish enough for them to even try as Wesker identified and shut down the door controls for the control room, shutting and locking the doorways, and blocking the operators’ only way to freedom. Dawkins kept watch on the group of operators, his gun raised high enough to shoot a stun-shot into their legs or arms if any of them attempted to run. Wesker made quick progress shutting down all sensory equipment, then destroying the controls to ensure they wouldn’t be reactivated too soon. After the Sergeant was satisfied enough with seeing plenty of haywire control panels, he made his way beside Dawkins. The operators’ eyes darted in all directions, unbeknownst of where the two United Guards could be. Wesker spoke with authority.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering what you got yourselves into,” he predicted with clarity, nods confirming his prediction. He continued “We will allow you to extend your lives if you promise to keep this little incident to yourselves and lie about it...or else,” And as if to prove his point, he gave out a hand signal and Dawkins pushed the muzzle of his assault rifle into the chest of one of the operators, startling the Outlander. They all nodded with comprehension, pretended that never wrong had happened, and proceeded to go about everyday business. A few operators began remove the bullet casings that littered the floor, to remove evidence of an attack, as the last of them unlocked the doorways and allowed Wesker and Dawkins to leave. The two hedgehogs left without hesitation, returned for the vixen, and proceeded to exit the building. Their part of the job had been complete.

* * *

The last of the radar dishes had been decimated, and the Bloody Crusader’s sensors were totally useless. Flame was busy sending an electronic signal to Zealot 121 as Linda and Carrie made a quick swipe of the rooftops and the level below to ensure no Outlanders had witnessed their sabotage. Only a few had been present, all unaware of the treachery, but killed nonetheless. The signal had been sent after the last Outlander had fallen, and the squad regrouped and waited patiently for the last two members of Stealth Team One. Carrie stepped forward beside Flame, her eyes fixed into his own.

“We’re pulling this off too easily...it’s agitating me...” the Corporal’s words made sense, and he completely understood her concerns, but his expression remained unchanged. The Outlanders weren’t known to let their guard down so easily, especially since they’d been in the war for two decades and knew all the tricks that the Allegiance pulled against them. It was awkward that the Bloody Crusader’s inhabitants had no clue what the United Guard itself was capable of, and that was a huge mistake on the Outlanders’ part. Then again, what if he and his team were falling right into a trap?

Flame’s thoughts were interrupted by the scrapping of metal as Wesker climbed onto the rooftop, reaching down and pulling Dawkins up to the roof, with one extra. An eyebrow cocked on Flame’s face, and Wesker’s most recent actions grew more questionable by the second. Before the CO could say a word, the Sergeant gave out his explanation.

“We found her halfway through an Outlanders’ gorge...Sir, we did what we could to save her-” Flame waved his hand viciously, across his throat and pointed to his eyes. That meant to shut up and look at him with respect, which the Sergeant did obediently. A sigh escaped the CO’s irritated lips as he spoke with agitated anger.

“If you remember clearly, Sergeant, I’m the one in command here. But do you see me trying to solve personal vendettas? Of course not, but you always forget about the chain of command and the damn rules that are enlisted to not only the leaders, but those who follow their command. This isn’t a time where you can go around freelancing like a child where most of the rules don’t apply; this is war. Acting like a child will get you killed, very fast and very soon. Do I make myself clear?” he took a step closer until he was an inch from Wesker’s tensed face “Do you understand?” The Sergeant’s tension grew, and instead of giving it up like most lower-ranks did with their commanders, he sucked it in and narrowed his eyes.

“Sir, no sir!” The Sergeant barked with confident “Sometimes it’s not the chain of command who knows what’s best, with respect, sir.” The CO’s anger degraded, and comprehension was all he could feel at that moment. He nodded with admiration.

“I understand you don’t always believe I, or any of the commanding officers, know what the best course of action is, one hundred percent of the time, but the fact of the matter is personal feelings can lead you right to your grave by getting you involved in events you didn’t cause. I’ll let this pass, but next time, I won’t be the one to decide what happens...Now, do you understand?” A minute passed, and the Sergeant nodded; defeated. Their conversation was officially over as the powerful shock waves being pushed their way as they heard the familiar humming of a grav-copter’s engines. Zealot 121 lowered from the sky, the hatch released and served as a ramp as it touched down onto the rooftop. Flame waited for his team to triple-time it into the passenger compartment, then stepped inside him, sealed the hatch shut, and took a seat next to Linda. Zealot 121 lifted back up a kilometer, turned halfway, then blasted off to its new destination. One last stop, Flame thought gratefully, then we’re getting the hell out of here.

* * *

Minor Corporal Lust scanned the sky area around his anti-aircraft tower, his partner sitting lazily in the machine gun turret seat, boredom drugging him to sleep. He had heard a report about an accident occurring in the sensor section of the Bloody Crusader, but had a bad feeling in the pit of his mind that it wasn’t truly an accident. No one Outlander would be stupid enough to step right into a mine field and take a lot of his companions with him, but then again, Lust had little facts to support his theory that the accident was perhaps a trap. He continued to survey the sky.

Lust’s partner, Major Corporal Fang, shook himself out of his half-asleep state, brought the turret’s scope to his eyes, and still saw nothing. He didn’t see much of a point in guard duty, there was nothing to shoot down for the day, no blood to see spill from a wreckage of an aircraft. He groaned and hit his head against the scope’s metal frame to keep himself awake.

“What’s the point of this?” he started complaining “There hasn’t been anything to shoot at for over a week...” Lust heard his partner’s whining and answered calmly.

“What’s the point of complaining about it? Once you’re higher in ranks, I’m sure the superior will be more then happy to hear your lame-ass story,” both Corporals laughed, but just as quickly, returned back to their duties. Just when the Major Corporal’s eyes were placed against the scope again, he saw movement. Nothing much, just several flickers of silver bending light. He was about to confirm it as a hallucination, before he heard the humming of an engine, and slowly realized it was a hidden ship. The Minor Corporal must have seen it as well, as his binoculars were examining the flickers of silver. He pointed two fingers at the flickers, and that was Fang’s cue to fire at will. As he prepared to unload the hail of bullets within his turret, he hadn’t heard the clank of metal against the turret’s muzzle, where a beeping device gabbed its clamps the reinforced metal and waited patiently for itself to detonate. Lust had finally seen the device three seconds after it was placed, and barked an order to hold fire...

It was too late. Fang strangled the trigger of the turret, let loose with the ammo within its barrel, and shortened the mine’s timer to zero as bullets struck its center core. It exploded with vigor, decimated the tower’s top half, and the two Corporals were blown to hell.

* * *

Carrie grinned viciously as she saw one of the anti-aircraft towers blow to rubble, courtesy of her knowledge on bombs and of Zealot 121's missile tubes. She had collected a few mines from the minefield as she prepared the trap, and she realized first-hand how powerful the little pains-in-the-ass really were. The Corporal sat back in her seat between Wesker and Dawkins, just as Goldshine spoke over the ship’s interior speakers.

“We are one to dirt! Get ready for some more ass-kicking!” Kelly got up next to the hatch, her team sliding one seat closer to her, and they all already knew what to do. Flame got up from his seat, rechecked the passenger compartment to make sure the mobian Wesker had saved was safely within the cockpit, and yelled out an order to his team.

“Defense duty, Guards! Let’s move it, the Core ain’t paying us by the hour!” Stealth Team One jumped into action, and took up the seat of every turret that the Zealot 121 had to offer. They were filled in seconds, and Flame fell in line behind Stealth Team Two, to provide cover-fire with the portable turret loaded in the ceiling one the team had gone underway.

Everyone felt the thump of a landing, air waves crusading along the interior of the passenger compartment as the hatch was released, and Goldshine yelled “Touchdown: Hit it!” and Stealth Team Two leaped out into the LZ, where they immediately were granted the appearance of the communications tower, which stood wide and vision-consuming before them. Flame punched the ceiling, a large opening bashed open, and the portable turret fell into place by the edge of the opened hatch. Flame manned the turret, clicked the safety off, and waited as Zealot 121 rose from the LZ to provide him and his team with an opportunity to fire. It only took half a minute before the sounds of gunfire and explosives reached Flame’s ears as Outlanders took casualties and sent in reinforcements, and he opened fire on the first Outlander that entered his range. Stealth Team One fired in kind, combining their assaults together and leaving a gruesome, bloody display along the wall of the communications tower. Now, and forever, the United Guards’ presence was now known in the Bloody Crusader...

* * *

Kelly was an aggressive fighter, an invaluable tactician, and was clinically brutal at close range, which is why half her body was already covered in blood, including her hands. She struck the muzzle of her assault rifle into the back of an Outlander’s head like a blade, clenched the trigger, and left the headless body to fall. One of her team, Lieutenant Red, was busy hacking into a nearby terminal that led to an exterior elevator. He was body-guarded by Sergeant Lister and Sergeant Torch, both of who fought with vicious vigor and burning hatred. They whacked, blasted, and tore every Outlander that entered their range, and acted as a blanket for Red as they were the only ones getting splattered in the blood of their foes. The last member of Kelly’s team, Field Adept Ruby, had held his position at the LZ with unbelievable capability, his assault rifle stowed away with a double pair of combat knives twirling in his fingers. Nearly sixty dead bodies accompanied his presence, and he continued to follow his orders to hold their LZ.

The Outlander’s forces had doubled by the time Red had finished hacking into the terminal, its connected door sliding open noiselessly. The Lieutenant ran into the hallway, with Sergeant Torch trailing behind him, providing cover fire for her teammates. Kelly killed the last few remaining Outlanders in her path to get within the hallway, but Sergeant Lister stayed behind with Ruby, to assist him in keeping the LZ secure and out of enemy hands. No one questioned the order that Kelly had previously given him, and Kelly and her small squad raced to the elevator in record time. In a few mili-seconds, the elevator doors slid home, and out came a squad of black-armored Outlanders with their faces obscured in visored helmets. They pulled out a rare weapon, a huge-ass rocket launcher, and with the strength provided by the entire group, aimed it carefully at Kelly, Red, and Torch, and pulled back the large trigger. A rocket exploded it from its tube and raced straight towards the United Guards, and within the enclosed space, there was nowhere to run. Kelly’s eyes flashed before the sight of Red within another mili-second.

“Red! Counter-defend that rocket! Now!” the CO ordered in a lighting-fast voice. Red made the order reality as bashed his fingers into the nearby steel wall, gripped as hard as could, tearing and throwing a meter-sized section of steel right into the rocket’s path. The two objects connected, the rocket cracked as it punctured the interior of the metal, and both pieces blew into oblivion. Smoke puffed within the hallway, and for a moment the group of elite Outlanders’ visors were disrupted by the particles of radiation produced by their own rocket. As soon as the disruption dispersed, the lead Outlander had his armored chest cracked in two, and a sheet of bullets delivered into his chest. The Outlander was dead before he could even yell out in deathly pain, and collapsed in a leakage of his blood. The Outlanders, enraged by the loss of their leader, hefted the rocket launcher and prepared to fire it once more. But Red was once step ahead of them, threw something metallic into the barrel, silently timed with glee, and saw the rocket launcher destroy itself and fatally wound its wielders. Kelly put them out of their misery with several head shots, then raced into the open elevator with Red and Torch at her sides. The doors slid shut and the elevator rose at abnormal speed. Looks like we’re going up, Kelly thought.

* * *

Flame had underestimated the Outlanders who controlled the Bloody Crusader, recounting Carrie’s concern from the rooftop. Now that their presence had been known, the base’s aircraft had been sent in to neutralize them, and what used to be a normal aerial pin-down now became a bloody aerial conflict. The CO shifted the turret’s aim to the nearest enemy jet and fired, rewarded with the sight of an exploding aircraft that sparked fire. Several other jets fell to Flame’s mercy in much the same way, and his team proved to be just as efficient. The jets were not the only ones suffering serious punishment, as Zealot 121 had taken several hits to its hull, forcing Goldshine to maneuver in outrageous ways. Flame pressed his armored speed shoes further into the dented metal bulkhead of the floor, his grip white-knuckled on the turret’s handles and triggers.

One hundred jets fallen, one hundred jets risen. They just kept coming in more then just waves, but swarms. They were deviously planning to overwhelm the single grav-copter that meant the difference between Life and Death. However, it just hadn’t occurred to the Outlanders they were dealing with United Guards, and they paid the price dearly for their mistakes. The silver hedgehog turned his head over his shoulder while pulling the trigger and feeling the violent vibration of the turret in his hands.

“Linda! Wesker! Concentrate all your fire to the left! Carrie! Dawkins! Fire to the right!” There was a chorus of “yes sirs” as each of the United Guards shifted their aim and continued their barrage of firepower at individual targets. Jets burst into flames, given little chance to open up with their own armaments, and twice more replaced those that had failed. Just as Flame had grown too sure of himself, his turret’s barrels suddenly stopped twirling, and the silver hedgehog read the ammo counter ‘Empty’.

“I’m out! Dawkins, cover the south for me while I reload!” Flame yelled out, reaching up into the turret’s storage area in the ceiling, getting his hands onto a large canister of bullet belts. He grasped it, pulled from out of the storage area, unloaded one of the belts, and inserted one end into the turret’s ammo receiver. There was a noiseless beep, and the counter now read ‘10,000' and with renewed vigor, Flame stowed the rest of the ammo, grabbed onto the handles, aimed and skillfully pulled the triggers. The loss of ammo had been a wake-up call for the CO, forcing him to realize he and his team had limited ammo, and there were about a seemingly unlimited number of enemy fighters to shoot at, who did not waste their advantage as they called in reinforcements. A grimace formed itself on Flame’s face; he spat blood and saliva, and forced himself to endure the hardship of making every shot count.

* * *

The wind blew at Kelly’s furry tail as she and her squad reached the end of their elevator trip and onto the roofless top of the communications tower, where the main transmitter was located. Red’s eyes lit up with challenge, his glasses reflecting the image of the towering transmitter, and his thoughts racing through his head. The main transmitter was one of the access points to the hub of all Outlander radio traffic, and hacking into it would allow any unauthorized intruders to listen on anything the Outlanders spoke of. But its security was one-hundred times more complicated then any regular terminal or control panel, because even the idiotic minds of the Outlanders emphasized how vital it was to keep their enemy’s hands off their information, latest plans, schematics for new prototypes, and so and such. But nothing ever kept the eager Red away from his mischievous schemes as a hacker, and the Lieutenant was already at the front of the transmitter, unpacking all his gear, and getting straight to work. Sergeant Torch kept her assault rifle at ready, listening to the slight whistling of the wind to hear anything out of the ordinary.

Kelly’s eyes drifted to the sky as her hyper-sensitive ears picked up the fading noise of machine gun fire and harrowing explosions. She reorganized the noise from the aerial battle she had recently fought an hour ago, and realized Zealot 121 was under heavy fire from the fleet of jets she had worked hard to avoid. Time was short, and as a natural habit, she tapped her foot due to impatience. If Red didn’t do his work fast enough, Zealot 121 would be nothing but a giant slag of obliterated metal. Her thoughts were interrupted by the silent thud of an elevator, and the clanking of metal. Torch opened fire before she even had a chance to identify the anonymous arrivals. There was a sudden yelp of agonizing pain as Kelly saw a black-armored Outlander drop to his knees; a gaping chest wound pouring out blood like a fountain. Six other of the unknown Outlanders stepped past their useless brother, and armed themselves with chain guns. They all fired in unison, and Kelly leaped out of the line of fire.

“Kill the infidels!” the leader of the group ordered aggressively, charging right towards Kelly with abnormal velocity. He threw his chain gun to the ground, roared with defiance, grasped hold of a hilt and pulled it from his armor, and within seconds, energy jolted out of the hilt into a ceremonial, hexagonal blade of crimson-red light. The blade sizzled with stroking heat, and the Outlander held it in a style similar to that of a United Guard. As the Outlander leader stood before his adversary, the subordinates under his command assaulted Torch and Red with concentrated bursts from their chain guns. Kelly examined the armor that the Outlander wore with pride, and saw there were red and gold carved symbols and lines throughout the entire black suit. Perhaps as a way to identify the difference in ranks, but Kelly had no knowledge of these new Outlanders, and so she had no way of knowing.

The Elite Outlander took several steps forward, the energy blade closing in on Kelly. The blue fox cursed the fact she had no blade to counter-defend with, or that her gun couldn’t hold itself together against plasma. So she chose to use something every mobian was born with: her fists. She stowed away her assault rifle, met the Outlander’s charge, and grabbed hold of his wrists. Her genetically-altered strength came into play as she pressed against the massive arms of the energy blade-wielding and bloodthirsty Outlander, for her life. The Outlander tried angling the energy blade so that its tip grazed the top of Kelly’s shoulder pad, but failed as the CO pushed the energy blade-wielding arm further away, but it forced her other arm’s strength to dwindle dangerously. The Outlander laughed with superiority as he shook himself free from the blue fox’s grip, kicking her square in the stomach. The CO flew through the air, crash landed on her back seven seconds later, and gasped for breath.

“Damn. It.” she cursed under her breath, her attention switching from the Elite Outlander to Red and Torch. Both of them were still alive, but Torch was taking casualties faster then a bullet leaves a barrel. Pieces of armor were scattered across the ground; completely useless and riddled with bullet holes, and blood spewed from the gashes on her body. But she still stood, and that was good enough for Kelly to know she wasn’t giving up. Three of the lower-ranked Outlander elites had been eliminated, but two remained to cause the young echidna trouble, and they switched tactics to try and wipe out the exhausted Sergeant. But before Kelly could further watch the outcome of the battle, an energy blade flashed a centimeter from her face and she was back in the game.

The Outlander leader screamed “Surrender! Now! Or I will slaughter you with the slowest pain imaginable!” but Kelly continued to resist and elbowed the armored rib cage of the Outlander, forcing him to recoil and back off. He refused to drop the energy blade however, and started forward again to try his luck. He swung the blade with irritated hatred, slashed it up and down, and tried casual stabbing. Kelly dodged all of his attacks, most of them by mere millimeters, but still the United Guard proved to be superior. Kelly couldn’t tell what kind of expression the Outlander had because of the mirrored visor, but it somehow created a tremor within her as her hands quivered from fear. Distracted by the tremor, a solid hit had been made right into her shoulder, and at first there was no reaction from the CO as she socked the Outlander’s visor, sending a crack down the middle, and stunning the leader for a valuable five seconds.

Then at last it came, a loud scream of unforgivable pain from her lips. The energy blade that stayed put in her shoulder was pulled out with a grimacing yank of the hilt, and the blade clanked to the ground, the plasma dispersing as a fail-safe activated. Kelly’s placed a finger where the energy blade was struck, and felt the flaming-hot fluid stain them, dripping all the way to her forearm. She examined her blood-covered fingers, rubbed them together, then clenched them into a fist as she heard the Outlander preparing yet another assault.

No more of your games, she thought hatefully, it’s time to end them. In a quick multi-task, the injured fox brought her assault rifle to bare, aimed accurately, and pulled the trigger. Without the energy blade to defend him, the Outlander fell victim to the sudden assault, feeling his armor being ripped open and his chest ruptured until his beating heart lay exposed to the last bullet to be fired. His heart blew apart, his breathing stopped, and he lifelessly fell backwards with a loud boom!

Sergeant Torch had lost half her armor and had suffered mortal wounds that would’ve slowly killed a normal mobian within minutes. But, she wasn’t going to let her team down, not now, never any other day. There was one last Outlander to deal with, and like her, he had been burdened with severe wounds that spilled red-black blood and camouflaged with his black-plated body armor. Both of their guns were muzzle-to-muzzle, tensed fingers nervously pulling the triggers back. Torch wanted to finish the Outlander off, but somehow, she could see past the visor of her opponent. What was she seeing? Pain? Regret? Sorrow? Whatever it was, it kept the Outlander from trying to hurt her any further. When she was just a second from triggering the barrel of her gun, the Outlander dropped his chain gun, raised his hands, and stepped forward until the muzzle of Torch’s assault rifle touched his chest plate.

“Go ahead, shoot me. Death would be more pleasing then Life. So if you please, just shoot me,” the Outlander illegally ordered, raising his hands much higher to emphasize how badly he wanted to die. Instead of gratifying the orange echidna, it concerned her. Not only were these Outlanders new in the field, but they also had noggins and weren’t afraid to use them. But she hadn’t expect one to use his for expressing an emotion. Kelly’s voice screeched across the roof.

“Eat lead!” There was a sudden click of a trigger and bullets rocketed out of the barrel of Kelly’s assault rifle. Torch reacted almost foolishly, jumping into the line of fire and taking the punishment of ten bullets to her stomach, in which the pain was unbearable. Kelly screamed “God damn it! Get out of the way, Torch!”

“Hold your fire, ma’am!” the Sergeant officiously ordered her superior, a grimace expressed on her face. The Outlander still held his hands over his head, and backed away from the defending Sergeant; who was completely oblivious to his sudden movement. She continued “Recommend we take this Outlander as a prisoner! He could give us a lot of useful intel!” Kelly’s eyes focused past the shoulder of the echidna, and a frown creased her features.

“Recommendation granted. But, there may not be an Outlander to take prisoner...” the CO pointed off past Torch, who spun around and saw a terrifying sight. The Outlander stood on the edge of the roof, his arms spanning straight across from his shoulders, and his head was exposed after deposing of his helmet. He resembled a half-mobian, half-cybernetic hedgehog whose fur was blackened to a shadowy brown coloring. The Outlander gave Torch a smile as she ran to stop him, and said “An insurmountable heart is bliss.” Before Torch’s outstretched hands could grab hold of him; it was too late.

He fell backward, closed his eyes and smiled more broadly, and plummeted to the surface below. All Torch saw last of the Outlander was his body smashing into the solid earth, a humongous stream of blood flooding from the horribly grotesque and misshapen body of the Outlander that splattered as if swashed. Torch was breathless and stunned; her thoughts all based around the Outlander’s final words, and had somehow forced herself to return back to Red and Kelly.

* * *

It took another ten minutes before Red had finally broken through all the security coding and had free access to the Outlander’s radio traffic. He recorded as much information as was necessary, plus some extra for his interests, then pulled out a small, bug-like device from a side pocket. He threw it onto the burnished surface of the transmitter, and instead of falling victim to gravity, a sharp, needle-like tool struck out of the device’s small body and inserted it through the metal; like a parasite. Red slowly hid the recordings in his pack, and nodded to Kelly that his job was done, and that the virus had been injected. Kelly gathered her two teammates and headed off back to their LZ. The United Guards made a hurried return trip down the elevator and through the battle-scarred hallway that Red had intruded, all of them worried as hell about Ruby and Lister, who they hoped were still at the LZ, holding it secure. As soon as they exited out of the hallway and out onto the blood-drenched battleground, they got their answer fairly quick.

Ruby looked as though he was ninety-nine percent towards Death, his entire body covered in foot-wide gashes and several hundred bullet wounds. How he still stood was a mystery, but the pay-off really made sense after Kelly saw that over one thousand Outlanders lay scattered on top of one another, dead. Sergeant Lister approached out of nowhere from the small hills of bodies, wiping his hands together to drip away the blood that he could, and his maroon eyes tracked Kelly as the commanding officer made her presence known. He saluted casually, a wide grin on his muzzle.

“Glad to see you’re still in one piece, ma’am,” he said gratefully. Torch snorted as she heard the comment, and stepped forward with a sarcastic smirk.

“And what of the other two that fought alongside her? Did you forget us? How typical of you,” The Sergeant’s grin widened, his salute still held strong.

“No, of course I never forgot you, Torch,” he reassured, but immediately darkened as the subject changed after at last seeing half of the Sergeant’s body, covered with deep bloodied wounds and armor-less. He asked “What kind of resistance did you encounter?” and before Torch could reply, Kelly cut in.

“We’ll explain later, but right now, we need to radio for evac and get the hell out of here. Ruby, patch up those wounds. Torch, Lister, provide him with cover. Red, try your best to get a signal from Zealot 121-“ the commander was cut off as the sounds of the aerial battle faded away, then finally fell silent. The blue fox felt something cold trickle down her spine, a feeling of hopelessness expressed from her eyes. But whether or not her team had seen the unexpected change in her, they didn’t seem to care, and they leapt into action.

* * *

As soon as the last of the jets had been blown to pieces, and no reinforcements came to sacrifice themselves to the mighty power of the United Guard, the battle had become officially declared: over. Flame exhaled for a good full-minute, then flashed a rare smile of white, pearly fangs. He keyed his mike, assumed connection with his team, and shouted “Good work, team! Reload those turrets and kept those triggers ready! We’re dropping back to the LZ and I want any enemy on sight taken out! Pull, bam, and clear!” A loud fracas started as Stealth Team One hurried to get their orders through with. Goldshine, hearing in on the team’s freq, changed her grav-copter’s course, and headed straight out of the battlefield back to the communications tower.

Flame packed the portable turret back into the ceiling, shutting and locking the opening. He wielded the Safeguard Blade and sat onto one of the passenger seats, the sword-less hand reached out and grasping a railing for stability. Zealot 121 accelerated down-spin, and Flame’s grip tightened, and dented the fine metal of the railing. Knowing Kelly, and her hand-picked team, they would’ve finished the mission off by now. The silver hedgehog was too sure and believed too deeply in his fellow United Guards, and it was a stubborn flaw in his personality. Just then, he heard Lieutenant Red’s voice speak into his ear piece, bits of static mixed in.

“LZ is clear! Requesting immediate dust-off! If you hear this, please respond!” Flame was rewarded by the praise of his foresight, keyed into his mike, and made a reply.

“CO Flame to Lieutenant Red, I read you. We’re heading back to the LZ as our top priority. Over and out,”

* * *

A relieved smile crossed the muzzle of Red, as he heard Stealth Team One’s leader respond over the comm freq “We’re heading back to the LZ as our priority. Over and out,” A sudden click ended the message, and not only did it end Red’s worries, but it relinquished the hopelessness that Kelly had been feeling, as she had heard in on the transmission.

Ruby had bandaged half his body in black medical tape, packaging the bio-foam that was sealed within his wounds to numb the pain away. It worked wonders as he began to feel more normal with each passing second, but still required two bodyguards to keep any unwanted threat away from him. Ruby didn’t question their concern and continued his medical routine, hoping that if he patched himself up just enough, the two Sergeants would let him go. He closed his eyes, sighed deeply, and went on with the procedure.

Sergeant Lister held his and Ruby’s assault rifles at ready, his ears twitching to a strange difference in the sound around him. His eyes flashed throughout the area, searching for the source of the divergence. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. It had only happened for a split second, but he didn’t take any chances to sit this one out. He moved off to investigate, leaving Ruby with only one, battle-torn United Guard to play bodyguard. He rounded a corner of decaying bodies, being sure to spot whatever lurked around in the rows of dead bodies before it found him. When he least expected it, something dropped, he saw it and turned, and took pot-shots at the opportune target. There were no screams of pain or anything that a living being would do if shot at; and to Lister’s dismay, it was only a dead body that had fallen off the top of the hill. He groaned, lowered his weapons from disappointment, and his awareness dropped like an avail. Before he knew it, something really was on the move, and headed straight for him. However, he couldn’t react fast enough to defend himself, and felt the ice-cold feeling of metal puncture into his chest and out his spine. He stared weakly at the murderer, his vision filled with the color of black, and his fingers feeling impenetrable metal before him. He wheezed for ten seconds, closed his eyes in shame, and allowed himself to breath one last time before he finally died. The killer, with no intention of keeping Lister’s body, threw his corpse among the thousand of others. He called over more of his kind, ten in all, all equipped with blades, and together, they scavenged the rest of the deceased-filled battleground. Lister hadn’t deserved such a death, but nonetheless, fell victim to Fate.

Torch wasn’t sure if any of the others had heard something, but she certainly did. There was an almost noiseless crunch of something metallic being smashed, and a choking wheeze. She hadn’t heard it since the last twenty minutes of waiting, and knew something was up. She notified her leader, brought her assault rifle to bare, and had Red volunteer to investigate. That only left two members of Stealth Team Two to hold the LZ. Any less, and an ambush would easily overwhelm the sole United Guard who stayed behind, or steal away with the LZ with no interference. It took a while for Ruby to convince Kelly he was fine, and after the short while it took him to do so, Torch and Red were off.

They moved warily through the carnage of stinking bodies, back-to-back, with their assault rifles held in all directions. One could never be too careful in enemy territory, especially after what they encountered earlier on the roof of the communications tower. The black-armored Outlanders were like no other Outlander before them. There were well-coordinated, well-trained, and obviously increasingly more deadlier in all terms. Torch and Kelly had suffered casualties just fighting seven of them, where as if they were normal Outlanders it would’ve been a whole other story. Remembering what she knew so far of the new threat, Torch doubled her awareness to stay sharp.

Then, appearing first to her eyes then Red’s, they saw the dead body of Staff Sergeant Lister Lilac. The poor bastard had his chest cut open, and on closer examination, turned out to be a large, clean hole of streaming blood all the way through the United Guard’s body. Torch didn’t have to think twice to know it had to be the new branch of Outlanders who were behind this, and she quickly sprinted off as fast as she could back to the LZ. Red stayed behind, taking the deceased body of his friend over his shoulder, and lugging the heavily armored body. He wasn’t going to rot with the enemy, he was going to get a proper burial; appropriate or not.

Torch arrived just in time to see Zealot 121 dropping down slowly from a hundred meter distance between itself and the surface. Kelly was distracted, but Ruby stood around patiently without a weapon to his arsenal. She raced to the broad-shouldered hedgehog, tapped him repeatedly, and as soon as he turned around to face and question her, she warned “Serious threat heading our way. These are not your everyday Outlanders. These ones killed Sergeant Lister,” the mention of Lister’s death startled Ruby, and he quickly equipped himself with two blood-stained knives. Torch heard motion, reacted with a quick spin, aimed her assault rifle, but didn’t see a black-armored Outlander. Red tried running as he could with the lifeless body of Lister held over his shoulders, his face struck with unusual fear. Just then, a blade clashed against the ground where the Lieutenant had been just a split second ago, with one of the attackers running past the positioned blade towards their prey. Torch released the whole clip stored within her assault rifle as Red ran past her and Ruby, with the Field Adept leaping head-first into the chest of one of the rampaging Outlanders with stunning strength. The start of the battle had defiantly gotten a hold of Kelly’s attention, and the blue fox had already opened up with her assault rifle the minute the whole group of Outlanders charged into the LZ.

Zealot 121 would have to wait before the LZ could be cleared, because now Kelly had to deal with more of these elite Outlanders. Even though she, Torch, and Red had the advantage of firepower, Ruby was left without a firearm and was dependent on combat knives; both of which were quite smaller then the gigantic blades the elite Outlanders were using as their weapons of choice. Regardless whether it was a disadvantage or not however, the Field Adept held on and made several attempts at stabbing at nearly-unnoticeable weak points in the Outlanders’ armor. Red and Torch were back-to-back again, firing concentrated, surprisingly calmed bursts as the blade-wielding Outlanders entered their range. Sadly, despite the efforts of the United Guards, the Outlanders were standing tall and victorious in this conflict. To prove that point, a giant blade struck Torch right on her exposed hip, and the Outlander was rewarded with both a cry of pain and a full-clip of bullets into his face. Blood spewed from her fractured hip, and the Sergeant was quick to remove the blade from its place. In anger, she continued to shoot at the Outlander who had attacked her, and he was the actual first kill out of the ten that cared less if any of their kind died.

One Outlander, who was dressed in the black-and-gold engraved armor like the one that Kelly had met on the rooftop, focused all his attention on her, having the predicably right idea that she was the leader. He lifted the giant blade he carried into the air, bringing it down with all the strength he could use, and believed he had gotten the CO. But the tricky fox had thoughtfully dodged it, and counter-attacked with a sheet of bullets into the side of the armored chest plate. Shockingly, her bullets only dented the black metal, and the Outlander leader slashed his blade sideways to try and catch her off guard. It missed, but tripped the panicked fox onto the earth with a painful thud. The Outlander was right on top of her before she had the chance to get up, threw his blade to the ground, and tore the assault rifle from her hand with growling anger.

“Death to the Infidels!” he roared with authority, his fellow Outlanders doubling their efforts to finish off the United Guards. Kelly was trapped. She couldn’t get up, she couldn’t reach for her weapon; nothing, and the Outlander leader was quick to capture this benefit. He ripped the fox’s chest plate open with immortal strength, exposing her vulnerable, white-furred chest. He took hold of the hilt of his fallen blade, brought it up over the weak point, and was prepared to thrust it downward. The CO was too paralyzed to do anything, her arms held in place by the Outlander’s armor. She closed her eyes, waited for the winter-cold feeling of Death to bestow upon her, and allowed the sound of battle to drown itself out of her ears. But that moment never came...

There was a loud clank as something impacted and thrashed in through the Outlander’s helmet. The blade the Outlander carried was stolen away from him, and he was freed of the tyranny of physical reality. The lifeless leader in the armor fell to the side and allowed Kelly to recover from her near-death experience. Standing before her was Flame, the Safeguard Blade held loosely in his shaken fingers. He was now more of a savior then anything else at that particular moment, and Kelly was completely and blissfully thankful for it. She looked around her to see that, along with the Outlander leader who Flame had killed, seven others of his kind lay down due to an unexpected reinforcement from Stealth Team One. The surviving two Outlanders retreated, knowing it would be better to live to fight another day then die worthlessly at the hands of their enemy. No one cheered, as they mourned over the death of Lister which had come back to haunt them.

Flame examined the LZ to make sure nothing else would go wrong, then yelled “Alright guards, back on Zealot 121! We’re leaving this shit-hole, ASAP!” That’s when Kelly reorganized the humming of engines as sound came back to her, and quickly ran into the open compartment of Zealot 121 with the rest of her team. Flame’s face was grim as he saw the wounds inflicted upon his fellow United Guards, Ruby, Torch, and Kelly. But what truly bothered him to no end was when he saw the dead body of Lister being carried aboard, and thought to himself, No, why must another one of us die? Why damn it!

He nodded the cursed thought away, climbed aboard, sealed the hatch shut, and took his seat. Zealot 121 rose off the ground until it towered over the hills of the deceased, then rocketed its engines to full speed to get the hell out of the Bloody Crusader once and for all. There was dead silence within the passenger compartment of the grav-copter, everyone disturbed the unexpectedness of the mission. The black-armored Outlanders, the possibility of an United Guard’s death so easily proceeded; perhaps Cage had been correct about the Outlanders making a vicious comeback after all. This time, they had evidence to support the Major’s theory, and all Flame could hope for was that it would get through the rest of the Leadership Personal’s heads to help finish this war, fast and focused. If this mission had taught the silver hedgehog anything, it would be two things. Expect the unexpected and never underestimate an opponent. And that’s all he thought about as the grav-copter broke free of the boundaries of the Bloody Crusader, and onto the territory of the Allegiance...

Chapter 1: Preparation of the Fittest

FironandAelita — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:56:23 CDT

Flame lied out on his bed in his quarters, the covers inaccurately piled under him. The open-cut over his rib cage was bandaged, and the United Guard’s top doctor, Dr. Zamamee reported gratefully that he would heal and it wouldn’t interfere with his Instinct Melee Training. Things had been going so well lately, that the leaders of the Kingdom-Military Allegiance decided it was best to give not only their soldiers and knights the time to train in all extremes, but to give the United Guard the best training there possibly was. Flame knew that Instinct Melee was something every mobian had but, only several could realize it since he and the others had to be told by their leader, and didn’t naturally find out. Depending on whether you were a hedgehog, a fox, or an echidna, the fighting styles and requirements were different and every United Guard had to partner up with a mobian of the same race. Flame’s partner was a girl hedgehog by the rank and name of Lieutenant Linda and, Flame could never admit to himself that she was better at him at most things, even fighting.

The silver hedgehog was deep in thought as Linda came to mind. She was a beautiful hedgehog with red-pink fur, often wearing a gold T-shirt with a tie, a violet-colored skirt with arrow markings at the bottom or a pair of camouflage shorts. She also wore speed shoes similar to Flame’s, and god damn, she was better at speeding as well. What had always surprised Flame was that she and him were not very different, even if she seemed to be a superior version of him in a female body. They liked the same food, loved to run, preferred blades over guns, had delight in each others’ presence, and we’re very close friends. Sometimes too close, Flame thought. Just then, a knock was heard at the door, and Flame speculated it was someone sent to retrieve him to take him to the United Guard Training Center or so and such.

“Enter,” he said shortly, picking himself off his bed and getting up. A fairly moderate-sized echidna stepped in through the opening door, and Flame determined by just looking at the way the echidna stood and his nervous stare, that the echidna was only a private. The dog tag that was pinned to his uniform shirt read the name PFC Delta. Private Delta quickly saluted the higher-ranking CO, then got back to business.

“Major Blackmore informs you that it’s time for training, and that he wishes to see you at the training center in less then an hour, sir,” the information proved helpful, at least Flame knew how much time he had to get ready before going head-to-head with Linda. The silver hedgehog nodded approvingly, and made his way to retrieve his armor and speed shoes. But the private, who still stood in his quarters, added “He also says no armor or ability enhancements should be used during training,”

Flame didn’t feel too comfortable without his armor, even if it was heavy and bit hard into his chest and shoulders. And without his speed shoes, he couldn’t run fast without burning his feet off literally. But orders were orders, so he quickly gave a “thank you” to the private, who saluted once more, then nodded crisply, and left finally. Flame hurriedly took a ten-minute shower, and despite the fact it felt really good and relaxing for him, he didn’t allow himself to succumb to personal needs and wants. He quickly got dried off, and put on a silver and black-rimmed training uniform, which resembled a loose shirt and a calf-reaching pair of pants. As soon as he was set, he triggered his quarters’ security alarm, made sure his armor and valuables were locked away safely, and stepped outside into the direct path leading to a tram station. He checked in with the security staff, boarded one of the many trams, and waited patiently in his seat as the fleeting tram made a one-hundred and fifty mile per hour trip around the large military city of Mobotroplis.

* * *

The legendary leader of the United Guard, Major Cage Blackmore, sat in a confined and locked-away meeting room with King Steeler II of the Mobian Kingdom and Admiral Aim of the United Mobian Military. Today was one of those days where a meeting was vitally important, mostly because of the similar worries of all three leaders: Why were the Outlanders letting themselves lose so miserably? Steeler and Aim believed that it was because of the United Guard’s creation two decades ago, but Cage wasn’t convinced.

“We have so few United Guards, only about one-hundred that have lived so far, and I doubt that small few could of turned the war so abruptly, even if they are my own men and women,” Cage explained without much clarity, with a disapproving nod coming from Aim.

“During the start of this war, gentlemen, we’d lost so many brave soldiers and loyal knights that it wasn’t even to be considered a joke. The death rate was in the high millions! Only when we created the United Guard, did things start turning out for the better,” Steeler nodded in agreement to the admiral’s statement.

“It was a truly remarkable choice, and because of it, our people can always live to fight another day,” Cage had gone eye-to-eye with the King and Admiral by then, this time being dead serious.

“My men and women are not subjects to be toyed with, and they are not suicidal alienists that should be used for testing...they are mobians just like us, they know their limits as well as the rest of Mobius. The Outlanders are planning something, I just know it...otherwise, they would’ve taken their sweet fucking time to fight more effectively. They are planning something, and just when we let our guard down for too long, believing we’ll win this war without a problem, they’ll strike back,” Cage said, altering the dilemma and making a strong attempt to avoid a controversy. This time, he had the other leaders reconsidering what they said.

“You do have a point,” Aim started, then added with information “Our scouts have reported seeing numerous enemy groups watching from afar, possibly spying on our city’s defenses as a hope for a chance of weakening. We have yet to confirm this, since we have searched the outer limits more then once and have not found one living soul,” Cage crossed his arms and made a look as if he thought the admiral was stupid.

“You often have to realize that, this is the future. We have exceeded our old technology, and have created what we thought we’d never dream of making real. Energy-charged weapons, giant light-weight blades, superior jet planes and aircraft,” he paused, then added “Stealth technology, most obviously a cloaking device.” Steeler made a gesture for attention.

“My knights have carried around thermal-detection gear supplied by our military allies. Given to me and of what I know of the cloaking devices, they exhaust large amounts of heat due to altering the sunlight’s pattern and protection against the heat to make anyone wearing the device, invisible. Because of this, the wearer is always cold, even when in the direct path of sunlight. In other words, the device, when active, reflects the sunlight and even blocks heat, so obviously if they were any cloaked Outlanders, the scouts would have detected large amounts of heat,” the King explained thoughtfully, with the admiral going along with Steeler’s explanation. But Cage still had more up his sleeve that continued the conversation.

“Yes, but if you didn’t realize it, the Outlanders stole our cloaking devices and may have possibly learned to improve upon from it. Meaning, they might of found a more logical way of using it in the field, and adding to that, they might of also figured out what causes the heat-generating effect of the devices and altered it to something non-thermal,” Now, with two equally spectacular explanations: one predicting an alternation of the incandescent heat effect of the cloaking devices, and the other believing the devices were never being used at all, it was a difficult choice indeed. Cage and Steeler were on different sides of this disagreement, while Aim was neutral, and only he could be the tie-breaker. He chose to go with the neutral’s typical choice: Ending the conversation.

“That’ll be enough for today. I’ll have the council vote on this, I’ll check in with the scouting parties, bring my soldiers up to awareness, and if all else doesn’t work out, I’ll have every mobian in this city vote on it. We’ve gone through so much to not lose this war, and we’re not taking the chance to ruin everything we worked so hard to obtain,” He sighed, got up from his seat and proceeded to the one and only door in the meeting room, then added “Dismissed,”

* * *

Flame stepped in through the front entrance to the United Guard Training Center, the hub of where all the United Guards came to improve their skills, test each other in combat, and where everything new was tested for field use. He had entered into a huge hallway filled with customized doors, each with their own unique training aspect. It took him under a minute to find the white and tan colored slide door that had the word Instinct Melee painted above it, and he didn’t waste anymore of his limited time to get inside. He wasn’t surprised to see Linda waiting for him, her quills rising up as she saw Flame finally arrive as a indication of happiness, making her seem taller.

“Look who’s here, the Immortal Survivor,” she teased, pointing to the silver hedgehog’s rib area where the bandage was located beneath his shirt. Flame grinned as to play along.

“You better believe it, I’m always going to live to fight another day,” a cocky expression spelled itself out on Flame’s face, his arms crossed and his hips slightly titled. In a way, he looked too sure of himself. Linda giggled.

“You can live, but you can still lose,” she told him, then added “To me, at least,” Flame couldn’t argue, she had always beaten him in most training exercises, despite his continuous rampage of over-exhausting improvement in his skills. However, he didn’t want her to know that.

“We’ll find out soon enough,” he remarked smartly, still keeping his cocky grin on his muzzle. A smile came to Linda’s face, and all Flame could see was an acceptance for a challenge. He examined her body and saw that she wore a similar, more thinner and feminine training uniform. And like Flame, she wore no socks or speed shoes, as required for the training exercise, putting her also at a disadvantage when it came to speed. Her pinkish-red fur combined with the violet color of her uniform matched perfectly, distracting Flame with her beauty and barely allowing him to hear her next words.

“Our battle starts in about five minutes, want to warm up?” she asked with a challenging tone. Flame had no reason to not accept a good warm-up, and was adamant about his choice.

“Sure, why not?” Linda’s reaction was a kind-hearted smile, and she and Flame walked off to an appropriate area in the arena room for a warm-up. They ended up finding a large portion of the room where no arena stage was positioned, with nothing but body-compressing mats on the floor, which immediately shallowed every step they made, making it as comfortable as possible and the most suitable area for a quick fight. The hedgehogs stood parallel of each other, and each made a proper fighting stance. Flame’s fighting style was more rough with loosely clenched fists raised up to his front and right side, one foot in front of the other. Linda’s was more delicate, one fist raised up to shoulder-level, the other down near her hips, her feet barely a few inches from each other. The rest of their preparation minute went down from one to zero, and Flame and Linda charged at one another.

Linda spun into a spin dash form, making a calculated attempt to ram the silver hedgehog in the face which would ultimately send him crashing into the mat. But Flame was already one step ahead of her as he watched her spinning form carefully, and regardless of its fast motion, he saw the curled body of the pink-red hedgehog spinning with her spines and quills extended. Just centimeters from Flame’s face, she missed and shockingly failed her attempt, suffering the consequences as the silver hedgehog put his counter-attack into action. He reached out with a disappearing and reappearing hand, and successfully took hold of her right ankle, using all his strength to throw her into the far reaches of the mat. She landed with a soft thump, the bottom half of her body swallowed into the mat’s compressing form. She smirked as she brought herself back up, replenished with her body full of energy. But they both soon realized that time had went by in a flash, and had only one minute to get ready for their battle. The skirmish was over, sooner than Linda had hoped. The hedgehogs walked off the mat and proceeded to their assigned arena stage.

“Looks like I underestimated you. You’re pretty good,” she said remarkably to the silver hedgehog, who was now the one to smile.

“Thanks,” he simply replied, arriving at the arena stage first and pushing his back against the wooden and steel-reinforced wall, waiting. Linda joined him.

“I guess victories don’t last forever,” Linda partly informed, telling Flame in a way that she had just realized this part of the lessons they had learned from childhood. He pretended not to notice however, only because she’d never really lost that often.

“That’s true,” the silver hedgehog’s ears perched upright as he heard his name being called, with Linda’s name following soon after. They pushed their backs off the wall, walked up the makeshift ramp into the arena past the last pair who had fought, and once again stood opposite of each other. The ramp rose up until it completed the arena floor, with top-edge technology propelling three sets of rubber rings across from each of the arena’s four corner poles. There was a loud snap! that informed the two combatants that the railing was secure, and that the ramp was firmly in place and wouldn’t be wobbly. As in their warm-up, they both performed a fighting stance, scanned each other for any weaknesses, then charged.

Naturally, as hedgehogs, their main mode of attack was spin dashing, and that’s exactly what they did since they couldn’t use their extraordinary speed. They rammed each other several times, each impact more powerful then the last, and despite not making contact with the arena below their hovering forms, it still shook from the force their impacts produced. It wasn’t long until Flame saw his chance to bring her down, and changed his course slightly away from her. He purposely missed her, extending an arm which scooped through hers and took hold of one of her sides, dropping them both of out their spin dash forms. The silver hedgehog had taken hold of Linda’s rib cage as his arms slid there, giving him the advantage for the moment. He made a planned attempt to smash her against the training mat that was several feet below them, but this time, Linda had time to come up with her own counter-attack.

The red hedgehog brought one foot up, bashing it downward, and nailing Flame straight in the back. The hit was often to force the silver hedgehog to recoil and release his grip, allowing Linda to kick him into the mat. Flame was muzzy, and his back ached from pain, but he recovered quickly, bouncing himself back up off the mat and into his aerial spin dash form. He dove upward, then blasted his way down back to the arena. Linda’s feet had already made contact with the mat by the time Flame’s sharp quills punched their way into her chest. She suffered minor wounds, but it was plenty enough to bring her down. She collapsed reluctantly, but not without swiftly performing a spin kick to the silver hedgehog’s face which was powerful enough to force him out of the air and smashing into the mat. She’s too good at kicking, Flame thought, she’s got feet of fury.

Both hedgehogs took a ten-second break to get back into their fighting stances and charge, already sweating with effort to continue their assaults on one another. Flame had taken two blows to the face and his back, and was too surprised to even realize he was still up. Linda had tiny droplets of blood pumping from the tiny cuts in her chest by Flame’s quills, ignoring the ill feeling. It was like a mirror between the two as they brought up parallel fists, and readied them for some serious punching. They let loose with their fists, their knuckles sounding out a crack as they collided. Energy evaporated from their fingers as they supercharged their attacks, challenging each other to see who would fall fast. There was a reverberating vibration and pressure which intensified with each passing second, pushing both of the hedgehogs’ feet first deep into the mat, instantly hidden completely from sight. Flame tried a subsequent punch to throw Linda’s balance off, but she repelled it with a hasty counter-punch. It was an intense struggle, sweat almost literally falling like rain from their faces. To avoid prolonging their struggle, an idea popped up into Flame’s head, and slowly and carefully, he backed up. Linda still had her fist combined with his own, but was now leaning forward and on the verge of tripping on her face. Flame backed up with a quicker pace, knowing that the red hedgehog didn’t see his idea come into effect just yet. She tripped, he leaped, and the tie was broken.

All Linda felt was the cool surface of the mat, and the slight motion of Flame landing somewhere where her eyes could not see. She tried to bring herself back up, but that only continued to make Flame’s idea existent and flourishing. She felt the silver hedgehog’s fingers wrap around her heel, lift her up off the mat, and a gust of air brush against her chest cuts as Flame threw her and sacrificed half his energy to do so. The rest of his energy was used in a methodical spin dash attack, once again successfully impacting the red hedgehog on her stomach, forcing the air out of her and exhausting the last bit of effort she still had. Flame’s spines struck her stomach like blades, but knowing he wasn’t supposed to kill her and that he didn’t want to kill her, he made sure he inflicted small cuts. Nonetheless, blood still dripped from the cuts and onto his fur. Flame landed in a heap, both his hands and knees pressed against the mat, while Linda plummeted and crashed into the mat, wiped out. It didn’t become apparent to Flame at first, coming as a huge surprise to him at first, but the battle was now officially over as Linda did not even try lifting a finger, nominating Flame as the winner. He panted heavily, finding it difficult to move or speak, but was able to say “Looks like I can live and win,”

* * *

Cage was watching from the sidelines as he saw the battle between Flame and Linda play out, monitoring to see any recent improvements in either hedgehogs’ skill. He didn’t bother sitting down, his mind filled with thoughts that seemed to keep him away from comfort or relaxation. In other words, there was always a lot of work to be done to keep his subordinates in check, informed, trained, and battle-ready. Bags formed underneath his eyes due to the lack of sleep for weeks, only being delegated the time to sleep during appropriate matters. Other than that, he was a very particular mobian that most admired and respected, with his brutality as a soldier, his die-hard leadership skill, and his immortal compassion for his United Guards. All in all, he wished he could have gotten to know them better instead of being too involved in the war.

His adamant silver-white eyes trailed along Flame as the silver hedgehog landed on his hands and knees, while his opponent simply lied out behind him, all the energy derived from her body. He was only slightly impressed with this first victory in the CO’s record, the first of many against his partner, realizing his lengthened exposure to the battlefield had strengthened him in all forms. He didn’t seem to have much care for the injuries or casualties brought upon from those battles, as long as they taught each of his United Guards a lesson that would ultimately bring them up in status, and make them just plenty more immortal in public.

Just then, the completely silent Major heard the sideline’s east door open, and a United Guard came to greet him. Just by looking at the navy blue fox that walked up beside him, Cage already knew the name and rank of this newcomer, but ostensibly read the dog tag imbedded into the fox’s armor, reading CO Kelly. She was the Third-in-Command of the United Guard, the follow-up for Flame in case the silver hedgehog couldn’t fulfill his duties or if he was supposedly dead. She quickly saluted her superior-ranking officer, then reported in.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” the question was rhetorical in Cage’s opinion as he drew his attention away from the exhausted hedgehogs on the arena stage, and to the tough-looking but causally beautiful fox before him. His appearance to her showed a demanding authority and fearless attitude, and the CO respected that with no question in mind.

“Yes, I scheduled a meeting for you and the Second-in-Command to meet with me. I want you and him in my office in less than thirty minutes, at the main headquarters-“ he paused, looking back to the partially-rejuvenated silver hedgehog who helped Linda to her feet and managed to carry her recovering form off the arena stage down the descending ramp. He continued “It’s related to a stealth operation, so no use of the com channels in this manner. Eavesdroppers are a pain, but there are plenty in this city. I’ll be seeing you...” And with his order explained and given, he walked out the opened door and disappeared into the approaching darkness of night outside, with Kelly getting right to work and avoiding the temptation to use her mike.

* * *

Flame and Linda sat outside the Instinct Melee training room, in the hallway, tired to a point where coherent speech was hard to speak out. Flame was kind enough to ask one of the many staff members of the training center to get them water, and the staff member hurriedly ran off down the hall to the kitchen in the mess mall. Linda rested her head on Flame’s shoulder, dazed but her eyes still shining with a gleam from her defeat. She didn’t know whether she was starting to lose her touch, or that Flame was simply improving. Either way, she was proud of the older hedgehog.

“How did ya learn to fight like that?” she asked curiously. Flame didn’t have a definite answer, knowing he was also clueless about how he got so good so fast. He kept his ambition to himself though, not being the one to brag.

“Decades of practice. Practice makes better,” Flame answered, managing a small smile. The staff member returned from out of nowhere, two large glasses of water falling right into the two hedgehogs’ hands as the overworked mobian passed them, and sprinted back down the hallway, disappearing as if summoned by silence. Linda’s tension subsided as she drunk the water, refreshed and replenished, and finding comfort on Flame’s furry chest. The silver hedgehog appeared not to notice, sipping the water blissfully and enjoying the warm feeling of Linda’s head against his chest where his heart beat. Despite the fact they were United Guards, fighting in a crucial and fateful war, and were past the age of twenty; they acted a lot like teenagers.

Of all the friends Flame had, he believed Linda was the best, being the one of the few who ever understood him and accepted him for who he was. The silver hedgehog had never been sure about his feelings, but if he ever admitted to himself that he liked her more then just a friend, he couldn’t outright tell her. She was married to his brother, Fists the Echidna, and was the mother of the echidna’s son, Speedix the Hedgehog, who was a half-breed. Flame was also a half-breed, being a crossbred between a hedgehog and an echidna. He resembled his hedgehog mother, with only a few things inherited from his father such as his blue eyes, longer quills, and great upper body build. Fists was like a near-complete incarnation of their father, only he had shorter dread locks and the blood-red eyes which were from his mother. Ever since his parents were killed by the Outlanders, Fists and Flame had never developed their brotherhood, and only thought of each other as friends or enemies since that day.

Flame didn’t fully understand why Linda flirted with him, teased him in a good way, and hung out with him more than her husband, but the hedgehog knew about his brother’s non-clandestine anger. There were times where Linda had told only Flame about the heart-breaking arguments that she and the golden echidna had, some of them related to the debate over their son. The silver hedgehog felt sorry for Linda and Speedix, but he felt no sympathy or sorrow for his brother. He and Fists never got along as well, even to the point of a bad-side to their rivalry.

Just then, as soon as Flame placed his empty glass onto the wooden floor, he heard footsteps approaching him and the half-asleep Linda on his chest. He stared up to see Fists, a grimace displayed with a pissed-off frown, squeezing fists crossed across his chest, and fire ablaze within his eyes.

“Looks like the Immortal Affair-lover,” Fists said hurtfully, accusing Flame of stealing his wife. Linda snapped to attention and rose from the ground, an enigmatic glare forming on her face. She was angry now, hands on hips.

“You always were a hot-head and a dumb ass...” she started, but Fists cut her off with a blunt swipe of one of his knuckled fists. His higher-rank superiority came into play as he chewed her out.

“You better show some respect, El-tee...or you’ll be finding yourself in a fate worse than any Outlander can bestow upon you, after I’m through with your sorry ass...” the demand was never met as Linda’s anger rose to a painful headache, and she didn’t hesitate to release it its pain with a tone not commonly used.

“Show some respect? To what, an idiot? A selfish jackass? A terrible father-“ the last complaint hit Fists like a bullet at point-blank range. He swung a fist, impacting the red hedgehog on her cut-dotted chest, his needle-sharp knuckles slicing deep into her shoulder. His punch was accurate, because her body plummeted right into Flame, whose head was smashed into the wall with a loud thump. Before any of the two hedgehogs could react, Fists stormed off down the hallway. Flame was surprised, he had never seen his brother in this type of mood before. Most of the times he ever caught Linda with him, he nodded it off, believing that it wasn’t anything personal or a threat to his relationship. What had just happened now, was very unexpected.

Flame helped Linda up onto her feet, and examined the two-inch thick cut in her shoulder. However Fists had done it, he partially damaged her entire arm’s nervous system, as if he knew just where to strike. He had purposely attacked her out of anger and rage, and possibly some newly-formed hatred. Perhaps their arguments were much more serious than Flame had ever anticipated. The silver hedgehog nodded in shame at his brother for what he did, offered to help her to Dr. Zamamee’s office for medical help, when, before the hurt hedgehog could reply, a blue fox showed up. CO Kelly, dressed in her battle armor and expressing a vital glare at Flame, made herself noticed as she forcibly stepped in front of Linda. However she came about, she just appeared out of nowhere, and didn’t hesitate to continue her surprises.

“Major Cage Blackmore wishes to see you and I in his office, in less than thirty minutes from now,” she paused, then tried in vain to whisper in one of his ears
“We’re being briefed on a stealth operation, don’t say a word of it on the com channels,” Despite her incredibly silent voice, closeness to Flame’s ear, and assuredness, Linda had heard every word and looked at Flame with hope in her eyes. It wasn’t an innocence the silver hedgehog saw, but a beg to become part of whatever mission their top-leader was issuing. Often, Flame understood that one of the ways she dealt with serious pain, was by fighting and taking her pain and anger out on the Outlanders. He nodded, then turned to Kelly with a serious expression that requested her attention.

“Is it possible he will be allowing helpers on this operation?” the question forced an unsure look to form itself on the young fox’s face. Flame was now just as hopeful as Linda, and waited ever so patiently for an answer, whether it to be verbal or not.

The short fox formulated a reply, saying “Just bring her along just in case. He didn’t say anything about helpers, but that doesn’t mean we won’t need the extra help, now let’s move,” A groan of silence exhausted itself from Flame’s mouth as he, Linda, and their guide took them out of the training center and back to the tram station. He bent his head low towards Linda and said “I don’t like taking orders from lower ranks...especially from her,” The red hedgehog did not bother talking back, and simply nodded in agreement. She had the same dislike, and as they got past security and onto a tram, she wondered about her serious dislike of taking orders from higher ranks, and the hatred that formed within her for Fists.

* * *

Cage laid back in his chair, deep in thought and holding a stylus to take his mind off anything else that could possibly distract him from his flood of thoughts. The black hedgehog still thought of the meeting he had with the leadership, and wondered if he was right or wrong. He had no evidence, no promises, and no backup. All he had was luck. Luck that could ultimately mean the difference between life and death, whether or not it was good or bad. There were so few mobians that believed in luck, and those who didn’t were so very likely to die in battle. But despite the numerous victories against the Outlanders, he felt a very deep and terrible feeling which predicted that only bad luck had occurred. The Allegiance was turning their back on the Outlanders, letting their guard down, and leaving themselves open to whatever nasty surprise the Outlanders were planning. He closed his eyes, drifting closer to sleep as his patience wavered and faded, only to be reawakened by the sound of his office door sliding home, and three United Guards entering the large, decorated, and neatly cleaned office. Cage spun his chair around so that he faced his desk, the stylus dropped onto the metal surface. All three mobians saluted.

“CO Kelly and CO Flame reporting, sir!” Kelly reported, with Flame calling out his own name. The black hedgehog’s attention wasn’t on them however, but at the red hedgehog who trailed behind Flame. His expression didn’t darken, but lighten.

“I see you’re thinking outside the box, Flame,” he commented the silver hedgehog who replied with a “thank you, sir”, then added “Are you reporting in as well, lieutenant?” Linda nodded yes.

“Very well, at ease. Have a seat, and we’ll get started,” Cage’s chair moved off near the side of his desk, making way for the large monitor that slid out of the ceiling and held its position behind the desk. It flickered on as the office lights dimmed, and after a five-second boot to get the monitor’s electronics working, a map of the continent Kingdom Blade, the large land mass on Mobius where Mobotroplis was located, popped up in a flash. Cage reached over to his desk and took hold of his stylus, pressing a hidden button which extended the needle of the device to at least three feet. The Major’s computer, located to the side of his chair, was on and tapped into the monitor’s mainframe. The Major pressed a few keys, opening up a file, and the three subordinates seated nearby watched as the continent map was turned into a coordinate outline, red dots displaying the locations of important key areas on the map, and lines extending from each point and having an unknown origin so far. The black hedgehog took his stylus and pointed its tip to a red dot near the south-west of the map.

“This mission is one of the most complicated you will have so far, as it requires you to be silent and swift for ninety percent of its duration,” the Major began explaining, lightly dragging the tip of his stylus to another dot as if the last dot didn’t satisfy him “You’ll be arriving here, in Old Mobotroplis, just on the edge of Outlander territory, where our scouts had recently discovered a strange, seemingly natural path that leads into the heart of an Outlander encampment,” He then tapped the single line that shot out of the red dot that signified Old Mobotroplis, and continued.

“So far, all we know is that it leads into one of the Outlanders’ major intelligence camps, which is our ticket to listening in on their most recent plans.” the Major paused as he took his stylus away from the map, tapping with clarity as he uploaded a map area of Old Mobotroplis, surrounded by other landmarks in a distance of thirty-thousand kilometers. This time however, he did not lift the stylus to point out where he was informing his small group of, as he knew by now they should of been catching on.

“Regardless of our currency of victories and triumphs, and whether or not we won them fairly, there’s much more than just simple winnings. They could be doing anything that could tip the war back into their favor as we kill their endless numbers of cloned and mechanized troops. Which is why I have decided on a secret mission, between myself and the United Guards, to find out their latest reports and planning. It’s risky, but ever so often a risk is worth taking if it will continue our long run of good luck. Do you understand?” the question was more of a trick question to see if Flame, Linda, and Kelly were listening, and as predictable as it seemed, their ears were open and their eyes were wide with questionable interest.

“Yes, sir,” they all said in unison, and stayed silent after that to hear more. Cage’s outward expression hadn’t changed to much more then a curve of his mouth to a barely noticeable grin. His inward impression however, was frightened. He wasn’t scared of the Outlanders, the deadly environments, or the renegade insurrections that had separated from both sides of the war. He was scared that his United Guards, his own men and women, his supposed sons and daughters, would never come back alive. He pushed all feelings aside to avoid making his fear appear on the outside, and continued.

“There will be two stealth teams of United Guards, five members per team.” He looked dead-on into Flame’s eyes “Flame, you will lead the first team on a basic make-sure-no-one-notices operation, and you have permission to use violence if necessary.” He then turned to Kelly “You will be leading the second team, and your main objective is to connect their communications into our radio traffic so either of us can record everything we hear, or anything heard or will be heard. And, just to make things a little more interesting...insert the fools-virus into their communications after you’ve completed the recording, just to make everything a bit more difficult for the Outlanders, and to probably distract whatever plan they are putting into action,”

“What shall I do?” Linda asked demandingly, close to the verge of complaint. Cage’s grin became partly visible.

“You will be tagging along with Flame. I never underestimate a woman and what she’s capable of. You will be issued to stealth team one,” A gratified smile brought out the beauty in Linda’s face, and how she felt being part of this mission. She didn’t have to come, Flame thought with gratifulness, but she did anyway.

The Major took a quick look at Flame and Linda, seeing them still dressed in their training uniforms and without protective metal gloves or speed shoes, his grin disappearing. It was replaced with downward curve of his mouth, a slight narrowing of his eyes, and a sudden change of mind. He quickly informed them “Get suited up properly for this mission. I sure as hell know you can’t live without your armor,” he paused, focusing primarily on Linda “And I bet you wouldn’t like the feeling of hot blood or cold mud on your bare hands and exposed feet, now would you?” Linda's blue eyes crossed for a split second as she remembered about Cage's awakard opinion of women and their wants for a perfect-looking body. Understanding with comprehension, both Flame and Linda nodded.

Cage made a few last taps on his computer’s keyboard, switching off the monitor and bringing the large screen into the ceiling, brightening the lights in his office, and finally shutting down. The black hedgehog and his chair slid firmly back behind and in the middle of his desk, the stylus somehow shortened to normal and gripped in his fingers. With a quick motion of his hand, the stylus’s needle slipped into his fangs, and he said “Dismissed,”

S1: Enter the United Guard

FironandAelita — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 02:30:08 CDT

Introduction

Shock waves shook the rock beneath everyone, created from the destructive forces of explosions that shattered and obliterated large craters into the battlefield. It was an everyday event, and this battlefield among hundreds of others was leveled from what used to be a mountainous region into a water and lava submerged area with barely any land left to blow to pieces. The ear-splitting noises of gunfire and explosions began to return the barely-conscious Second-in-Command leader of the United Guard, Flame the Hedgehog. His silver fur was dampened to a dark gray from swimming for his life to avoid sudden death at the hands of the Outlanders, each spine still dripping with chemically-infested water.

As soon as his vision cleared up, and his ears perched up to bring him back to awareness, he hurriedly gripped the Safeguard Blade, his oversized sword, which laid out next to him, holding it by the hilt and ran for cover. He felt the heavy weight of his cumbersome armor press against his shoulders as he ran at an abnormally fast speed, literally six hundred miles per hour, his blade not making it any easier to go faster. Despite having the advantage of protection and speed, an explosion could injure or severely cripple him to the point where fighting would be a death wish. He’d gotten lucky that he was only knocked unconscious for a few minutes, seemingly dead to avoid attracting the deathly interest of the Outlanders. He tapped into his radio com, which was shockingly still wrapped around his right ear, with the speaker held near his mouth and connected to the headphone.

“This is CO Flame of UG unit-two,” the determined hedgehog spoke with a balanced volume in his tone, finally finding a perfect area for cover to speak with as little interference as possible “Are there any UG personal? Any proselytes or acolytes, or even UM soldiers. Please respond!”

There was static for two full minutes, but Flame knew better than to give up hope that his comrades or allies were taken down that easily. He especially doubted his fellow United Guard soldiers and knights would let themselves fall to the Outlanders so simply. He and the rest of the Guard were trained to handle any type of situation during war time, no matter how fearful or suicidal it seemed. Finally, after another minute of hopeful wishing, a response was heard.

“Flame? I hear ya buddy. This is CO Fists of UG unit-four,” A smile of relief drew itself on Flame’s muzzle as he tapped back into his radio com.

“I’ve been separated from the rest of my unit, and may possibly be the only survivor left of it. Where is your current position?” There was a ten-second pause as Fists punched in his location through the wireless digital interface of the CO’s armor, popping up on a small monitor that hovered around his eye and hung from his left ear, connected protectively to his left shoulder-pad for power. He saw his own location, and that of Fists and what was left of his unit, fighting and very likely winning a long-fought battle against the savage Outlanders on another island. They were only a few ten miles away, and it wouldn’t be difficult to get there. Flame wasted no more time, running at the fastest speed he could go in his heavy armor and with the Safeguard Blade held tightly in his metallic-gloved hand.

Flame passed by an embankment, running onto the polluted water and literally skiing across its thick surface. The silver hedgehog knew he left himself exposed because of the gray-white trail of water that shot up behind his fleeting feet, but he could care less. As soon as the other island appeared, he wasn’t surprised to hear the rattle of automatic weapons firing from both sides of the conflict, and the clashing of metal against metal as swords smacked in response to attempted murder and self-defense.

“Say hello to my little friend, bitch!” a soldier yelled out, killing several mortally wounded Outlanders with a barrage of bullets from his assault rifle. Flame arrived just in time to see twenty Outlanders fall to the mercy of his fellow United Guards, more then half of them using large blades similar to the Safeguard Blade that the silver hedgehog wielded. The minute he approached onto the battlefield, he saw the unit’s commanding officer, Fists the Echidna, holding an abnormally, massive blood-coated blade over his shoulder. The echidna’s face had a convenient expression, he seemed satisfied with most of the blood being spilled by his enemies rather his own peers or allies. He saw Flame out of the corner of his eye, and a grin crept onto his muzzle.

“Flame! My god, you’re still alive! Course, you’ve always been the Immortal Survivor,” the golden echidna made a cocky look, and Flame returned it with a terse nod.

“What’s the situation, Fists?” the hedgehog asked in his natural, serious tone. Fists’ facial features seemed annoyed, but to prove a point without telling, he picked his blade off his shoulder and lifted its tip towards the battlefield where he and his unit fought. There were a few UM soldiers lying decapitated on the blood-soaked earth, but there were at least a hundred, or so Flame could see, Outlanders dead from bullet wounds and body loss from sword slices. There was a single dead United Guard, who was originally a black vixen, whose body was riddled with large bullet wounds that barely made the body identifiable at anyone’s first glance. Fists noticed the mournful expression on Flame’s face, and brought his blade back to his shoulder.

“We lost Kree. Poor bastard got his head blown off,” Fists’ face frowned in hatred, tightening to a white-knuckled grip on his blade’s hilt “I killed the one who slaughtered him, Kree and I were close,” His head snapped to attention as he came back to reality. Flame was deep in thought by then.

“This was a small victory, and at the cost of one of our own...” It seemed hard for Flame to accept the loss. Those who were bred and trained in the grueling and difficult years during the formation of the United Guard, were all like family to one another; literally brothers and sisters. When a United Guard died, it was as if a part of every guards’ heart was butchered. He nodded the cold feeling of regret off of him, and got back to what was happening now.

“So I missed all the action, didn’t I?” Flame asked with disappointment. But he was suddenly reassured by an encouraging grin from Fists.

“No, the party is just getting started, my friend,” the CO turned his back to the silver hedgehog, who watched in astonishment as the golden echidna brought his entire unit of twenty United Guards, fifty UM soldiers, and thirty-five acolytes and proselytes to attention.

“Regroup and get in position! We’re expecting more guests, and you’re all going to be the perfect host...” Fists’ opening statement made a vicious grin pass onto the faces of his peers, excitement to the soldiers, and uneasiness among the knights “I hope you’re ready to clean up the mess they bring in. And I mean, clean it real good,” To stop any possible confusion from forming any further, Fists took his blade and slashed its sharp edge onto the deceased body of an Outlander, the head sliced off and began to roll away. A battle cry rose to a fracas as everyone’s morale was replenished, and was ready for even more bloodshed. Flame was impressed, his arms crossed as a gesture to his honest opinion.

“Well, let’s at least make this party fun,” Flame said with enthusiasm, holding his blade at ready “Shall we?”

* * *

Marching across one of the largest islands in the war-scarred battlefield, was a large army of over two thousand Outlanders. It was more of a search-and-destroy operation to their commander, Ravage, than anything else that could be considered a battalion. He stayed in the sky, hovering in a special transport that was armed with missiles and lasers, meant for the well-being and safety of all commanding officials of the Outlanders. He spied his large army marching through the many craters and dead-infested patches of the island through his binoculars, always having a interest at the combat that would be ensured. It was also his duty to find out more information on their enemies, to study how they battled, what weapons they used; any weaknesses he could tell his superior. So far, the battle had barely even begun.

“Take us closer to the other end of the island. They’ll be hiding there, waiting for their eminent doom as we outnumber their helpless lives and kill them slowly...painfully,” Ravage’s words had the power of an order, and the pain of a tyrant. The cybernetic mobians who were at his command made a confirming gesture, and proceeded to accelerate towards their new position in the sky area of the far side of the island. Ravage was eager to see the whole battle play out, where his foes would fall and drown in their own blood. But he knew his responsibility of obtaining new information, and pushed his violent obsession to the back of his head. Despite being reluctant to not being able to enjoy all the murder his soldiers would perform, he feared what punishments his superior would give to him if he failed his mission. And punishments often had to be related to never coming back, alive.

* * *

Flame kept his head low behind the hundreds of rocks that lied out, separated from the earth they once stuck to before being blown apart from it. He held the hilt of his blade with both hands, a somewhat loose grip to ensure the fastest swipe of the sharp edge of his weapon at a given moment. Fists was hiding behind a rock, at a position where his voice would reach all of his unit’s ears. The trap was ready to be sprung as soon as the golden echidna was aware of Outlander presence. But, it wasn’t long until they felt the earth shake beneath them as a battle formation walked not far from them. The guests had arrived, and all they had to do was wait for their hosts to open the door and let them in: to their death. The army of Outlanders stepped into the area surrounded by the rocks, or at least more then half of them had done so, and that satisfied Fists enough.

“Attack!” the command was like a trigger to a gun, and it went off with a bang. No sooner had the command being given, had the outer line of Outlanders been killed in a bombardment of bullets, a series of silent and deadly slashes, and the occasional punches and kicks. The Outlanders were taken by surprise, tried to lift their weapons to return fire but, were too late as a second line of their army had been murdered brutally by the hateful unit of warriors, soldiers, and United Guards. Flame jumped high into the air, his powerful legs propelling him that high, the Safeguard Blade raised up above his head. The hopeless Outlanders below him, all fell into two asymmetrical pieces of flesh and bone as the large blade cut them in half. A gruesome sight, but nonetheless, a nice job.

* * *

The first expression on Ravage’s face was shock. He didn’t expect his army to start falling like dominos to the obviously small group of enemies that hid, even from his watchful eyes. Already, half his army had died out, and a quarter of it had grown fear, while the other quarter decided it was best to avenge their fallen brethren. Ravage smacked his face in stupidity, moaning in disgust. He keyed his mike, and got radio contact with air support.

“Bombard that island, now!” the order was a personal demand from the commander, and despite the fact his own men would be killed in the bombardment, he cared less for their lives and only wished to see the enemy perish against something they could not fight. On the move at a fast speed were large jet planes, customized to fit Outlander regulations. A bottom hatch opened a large section of the planes’ hulls, and slowly one by one, gigantic bombs fell to the surface below. In the first few minutes of the bombardment, a quarter of the island was gone, and a clenched smile had created itself on Ravage’s face.

* * *

A powerful shock wave shook the earth below Flame, nearly knocking him off his feet. He looked off in the distance long enough to see huge flashes of light erupting from the ground that was part of the island he stood firmly on. Fists must have seen it to, because he was already yelling out orders to retreat before the bombs finally hit their section of the island. No one disagreed, and ran for their lives to the shorelines. Flame hoped they were all expert swimmers, or else they would never be able to get out of the burning fury of the bombs when they hit. The silver hedgehog keyed his mike, contacting the other CO.

“Eyes up! Outlander Bombardment!” the warning had already given Fists the advantage of awareness, and he got to work to make sure his men and women would live from this day.

“Flame, I have a plan to take out their lead bomber. My brawn plus your speed, you’re going topside. Now!” Flame grinned at how much fun he’d have performing one of his favorite attacks: the Aerial Spin Dash Attack. In a flash of unusual speed for the golden echidna, he grabbed hold of Flame’s outstretched hand, spun him around a hundred times per second, then flung him with as much strength as possible. Flame flew like a rocket towards an approaching bomber, who was getting set to drop another load onto the piece of land where Fists was retreating from just now.

Now slowing as he hovered right above the cockpit where the pilot was unaware of his presence, he spun into a vicious, energy-charged, and spine-springing ball. The Safeguard Blade was held protectively in his hands, spinning like a whirlwind around the hedgehog and increasing the effectiveness of his attack. With everything set, he plummeted in through the meter-thick glass window of the cockpit, and when his spinning blade and needle-sharp spines made contact with the pilot, co-pilot, and their guards; blood splattered across the walls and guts flew everywhere. Once more, Flame displayed how gruesome he was capable of.

Reacting fast, he commandeered the bomber, typing in new orders through the communications to test his luck at taking the attention of the other bombers off the piece of land they were destroying. He was disapproved when he read that all bombers were under direct orders from their commanding officer, Ravage, and that no one bomber could divert those orders. So, thinking up a new plan, he would try a somewhat risky task:: ramming this heavy piece of metal into the other bombers.

He pulled onto the control sticks which coordinated the bomber’s movements, turning in the direction of two other bombers who were seemingly smaller due to being of a lower class. He activated the weapons panel, opening up the front hatches along the nose of the bomber which exposed missile tubes. As a last minute thought before unleashing all weapons into a ball of flame, he activated the backup thrusters which were normally meant for emergency proposes, and overpowered the main engines. No matter what the other bombers did to try and avoid their unforeseen fate, they wouldn’t be able to move out of the way in time before the renegade bomber crashed into them.

Flame unleashed hell when he fired all the missiles the foreign jet plane carried, and set the timer for all the bombs in its hull to blow in exactly ten seconds. It wasn’t long until he felt the powerful clash of metal against metal, and a series of unforgiving explosions soon after. At the last second before the cockpit blew, Flame jumped out, spinning with all of his effort, and got propelled through the sky by the catastrophic explosion that was produced by the clash of the bombers, the missiles impacting, and the detonation of all of the nuclear weapons stored in their large, titanium hulls.

The silver hedgehog had almost fallen into a blackout from the superior strain of a force greater than his own body, but he still held his blade as if his life depended on it. His eyes were half-closed, and his body began to fall back down to the earth below. He wasn’t dead yet, but he didn’t feel alive. All his body allowed him to do was plummet back to the island, where Fists would possibly be waiting, radioing for a gray-copter to provide evac. All Flame could do was hope.

* * *

It was easy enough seeing the aftermath of Flame’s work: an explosion larger than most mobians usually see during battles. Its light filled up the darkened sky with a flash, forcing Fists to recoil and shield his eyes until it slowly faded away, ending with the loud cacophony of metal pieces crashing in the distance. Knowing Flame, the hedgehog wouldn’t be dead from what would be considered an “easy” job for a United Guard but, even mobians who were trained more like gods and goddesses had their limits. He squinted when he saw a silver dot growing bigger and into the shape of the CO, the fading light allowing him to see through the thick clouds. The golden echidna turned his view to look across the shoreline, making sure his unit was still alive and swimming like sharks, then he turned his attention back to his fellow CO falling from the sky. He keyed his mike.

“Flame, this is a wake-up call coming from your buddy down here,” Fists said calmly, waiting for a response. He hoped for the best that Flame hadn’t been mortally wounded in any way, or, for worst occasions, dead. There was a full-minute pause before a voice was heard.

“I’m up...I’m up,” Flame repeated in a tone that seemed more tired then awakened. The silver hedgehog wasn’t dead, but something else had happened that the golden echidna couldn’t predict. He forced a crisp smile, and thought up a reply that would bring the possibly injured hedgehog’s hopes back up.

“I’ll catch ya,” he said “You belong with us, not the dirt. Do a spin for your ol’ buddy,” A quiet laugh escaped from Flame before he decided to switch off his radio com, and follow his equal’s order. Fists kept his eyes staring high, his gloved knuckles outstretched slightly to capture the size of a giant ball, and carefully aimed so he wouldn’t miss catching.

Flame was spinning in his spin dash form, still falling downward at a slow pace as before. He was careful to avoid letting his blade go up front; he didn’t want to kill his friend in an accident. Anguishing pain spread throughout his rib cage, but he ignored the distraction and let himself drop faster. Soon, he lit up with area around him with a silver, vaporous stream of energy from his body. No matter where Fists was waiting for him down below, the yellow echidna would easily be able to see his flare.

Minutes passed like seconds as Fists jumped high into the air: Flame’s silver-flaring, spin dashing body descending right into his grasp. The impact was hard and bone-breaking, but Fists had flexed his chest to repel the inevitable pain that stung like a stinger, and he banished it just as quickly. He grabbed hold of the spinning form of Flame, carried him like a football in one arm, and glided towards another piece of land where his unit retreated to. He called for evac as soon as they landed, and it took only a few minutes before a large, angular grav-copter came to pick them up. Fists went up first, then the wounded Flame, along with the surviving members of his unit.

The last few mobians in the back of line had his top interest, three United Guards carrying Kree’s deceased body. Fists had personally ordered them to take the body with them without a second thought, knowing in his own opinion that anyone who fought valiantly enough for the good of the whole deserved a proper burial: They didn’t deserve to rot in a battlefield. As soon as the three United Guards entered through the side hatch of the grav-copter, Fists made a short sigh, shut the hatch tightly, sealed it firmly, then took his seat as the large transport hovered and fought against several air pockets before finally taking to the air. The day was theirs.

* * *

The battle that occurred today had been a total disaster, at least to Ravage. The commander had returned from his field-surveying mission, and was crestfallen to hear the news that several other battles had been lost prior to the one he had monitored. Would this be the eventual end of the Outlanders if they kept losing like this? Ravage didn’t know for sure, but his superior would not like any of the news he was about to tell him. He made slow steps into the chamber where his superior sat on a throne, his chair’s back turned to him as his superior surveyed the many monitors of battles, tactical information, lists of squadrons and armies, and much more that proved to be a panoply. Whoever sat in the seat was hidden by darkness as the monitors switched off, his red eyes refusing to be drowsed and dimmed. The chair turned, and Ravage felt a lump form in his throat.

“Leave, unless you have a very good reason for disturbing me...” the voice was deep, threatening, and held a strong demand for order. Ravage didn’t take much time starting to talk:; stammering was punishable by a bullet to the shoulder.

“My lord, you will not like the news from our recent battles but-“ A large hand was held up, indicating the crimson-red hedgehog to stop speaking. He followed the silent order without resistance.

“I’ve heard about our recent losses...a minor setback,” the superior’s words surprised Ravage in a way that seemed to spell relief for the commander, but were questionable nonetheless.

“A minor setback, my lord? We’ve lost over twenty battles in the past week, and the total subtraction of our armies is in the high one-hundred thousands,” Instead of a corrected frown, there was a fearful grin that forced the lump in Ravage’s throat to be swallowed. The red eyes glowed with a twisted amusement.

“Yes, my loyal commander. All these losses are a minor setback in our plan to rule the world. All I require, from you and the others, is your total cooperation. Do you have any further objections, or should we continue to argue over useless manners such as this?” the superior’s words held an argument too well thought-out to be quarreled over. Ravage sighed; defeated.

“No, my lord.”

“Excellent,” the superior hissed, then added “I have a new mission for you and your newly-assigned army,” Ravage snapped to attention as a large monitor blinked on to one side of the throne room. The superior was still hidden in darkness, despite the intense brightness that the monitor’s light produced.

“Since we are unlikely to defeat our enemy, and their seemingly immortal United Guard, with our conventual weaponry and technology, we shall use a power greater then anything on Mobius,” The information being heard by the perched ears of the commander interested him. And he felt some gratefulness for being trusted by his superior. He continued to listen so his superior would not have to repeat the same thing twice. The monitor changed to a picture of seven jewels, all in their own individual colors, and each of them shining in an ancient brilliance. But why his superior would be interested in jewels was unknown to him.

“These are the legendary Chaos Emeralds, believed to turn thoughts into power. They are hidden in a manner that seems fairly simple: across the world,” Ravage’s facial features changed from a questionable expression to a victorious grin of clenched teeth. If these fist-sized jewels could really do what they are said to do, the Outlanders would dominate the battlefield, obliterate their enemy, and win the war. But where to find the time to search for these powerful artifacts without too much interference from either the Mobian Kingdom, the United Mobian Military, or especially the United Guard, was difficult for even the smart mind of the commander himself. His superior seemed to have read his thoughts, as he spoke in relation to them.

“You don’t have to worry about distractions...I’ll have that handled personally. All you have to worry about is the environments you will be searching for these emeralds,” seven pinpoints popped up as red dots onto the monitor as a world map replaced the picture of the emeralds, pointing out where the superior believed the emeralds were located “Each environment that each emerald is in is surprisingly different from each other, and each one requires different specialists, different measures, and most defiantly, different preparations and precautions,” Ravage nodded in comprehension, understanding every word his superior was telling him. No matter how plain the information sounded, even the most basic statements and predictions proved useful.

“I’ll have my new army set up by tomorrow and we will start our findings,” the commander made a terse salute, then proceeded to walk out of the chamber. The superior switched off the monitor, and returned to watching the monitors he had been previously watching. As soon as he heard his throne door shut with a satisfied boom, and made absolute sure the commander was gone, he turned all monitors off but one. It had the frozen image of a black hedgehog dressed in red and gold armor, a huge, three meter-long blade held very tightly in his right gloved hand. The picture was blurry, being disrupted by the photographic smoke produced from a giant chain gun’s muzzle in which the hedgehog held loosely in his left hand. The superior knew him, even worked for him, and the hedgehog’s name was Cage Blackmore. He was the ruthless leader of the United Guard.

“Once I corrupt you, the United Guard will fall...and with the chaos emeralds in our hands, the rest of your pathetic military and kingdom will burn! And Mobotroplis, and the whole world will be mine! All mine!” If anyone had been listening in at this point, all they would hear was the superior’s maniacal and crazed laughter. It was far from innocent, and seemed to originate from the devil himself. If any Outlander saw their superior like this, they would realize his true intention: He was insane and wished to see the world burn. He had a plan all well thought out, and it was finally going to play out...at last.

Good vs Neutral vs Evil

FironandAelita — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 08:13:35 CDT

Often you may wonder, what if I could choose which path a certain character chooses? And how other characters and events will change? Well, this series of Firon X gives you that opportunity! Choose your path! Stick to that path! And enjoy a hell of an adventure!

Episode 7: Fatal Trick

FironandAelita — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 04:14:48 CDT

It was getting closer to night time, the sun's light fading within the color of blue as it fell behind the horizon. Sage was back on the trail, his supplies refreshed, his gear strapped tightly, and his gun loaded to its top-most capacity. He was on the move again after an exhausting day of saving lives and killing evil, but he wasn't about to stop just yet. He had to find a safe place to rest for at least an hour, so he could dream. Dream of a time where everything was great; where peace existed as the sole reason for how Life flourished. He had a strong will and could ignore nightmares, seeing them as only obstacles to get past.

But some nightmares were always alive, even when his eyes are open. Memories of losing everything he cherished, losing everyone he loved. He knew many others were perhaps feeling the same way he felt back then, and that's what pushed him to prevent history from repeating itself. He could imagine the pain and suffering most mobians go through, all because there is no order that exists to fit the purpose of a protector of peace. Mobians were often in their own groups, even clans and society, or even a democracy altogether. Trust was one of the most important feelings, and it was always bound to be broken by nearly anyone. Sage didn't trust anyone, he didn't see the reason to feel pain after having his trust broken to bits. But the one thing he disliked more then anyone, was that he hated all evil, a Stained Hunter's main target.

Back in the past, when Sage was only eight years old, he had lived in harmony and peace for as long as he lived, in the domain of the Angel Believers. His parents were wealthy, providing everything their only child needed. In this case, Sage got everything he ever wanted, food, water, toys, clothing; everything. He loved his parents for their love and support, and they loved him as if he was all that mattered. It was only during those times did he ever actually smile, or had compassion for other mobians; being able to make friends without much difficultly. This peaceful existence only lasted however, before an evil darkness made its way to his home. All he remembered from the day when the evil arrived, was a panicking scream, the sight of blood everywhere, a raging fire that burned fiercely, and the face of the killer.

Sage, unlike most of the Angel Believers, was a very aggressive and protective hedgehog, putting himself at risk of dying just for the well-being of others he believed were good. He came face-to-face with the killer, who had the identity of a fully black hedgehog with red eyes; his quills, spikes, and spines all pointing up towards the smoke strewn sky, black wings spanning far outward in opposite directions. To Sage, the killer resembled a demon rather then any mobian he'd ever seen. He didn't have any specialized armor or powerful weapons, only using his fists combined with his naturally born-angel energy. However, it was futile, and he failed miserably as he deflected to the ground, nearly wiped out.

The demon, however it did it, crept inside Sage's body, attempting to take over his existence and kill him from the inside out. But, Sage proved stronger, with effort that far surpassed the demon's. He pushed the spiritual form of the demon out of his body, completely refreshed and recreated with a few new powers. Whatever Sage had done to the demon while fighting to keep his control, he stole some of the demon's powers as a little "get the hell out of my body" demand. Now, with his angel energy combined with his stolen skills, Sage was about to force the demon to retreat, nearly close to finishing it off. After the fight, all the energy in his body was sapped out of him, with everything spinning and becoming a blur. Sage fainted as he could not handle it, lying in the middle of the burning kingdom that was once his home.

Now, eight years later, Sage has grown into a hunter of all evil.

Using the stolen abilities from the killer in the past, he had created an abnormal weapon capable of killing any and all evil with merely just one bullet: The Angel Magnum. The architecture and design of the weapon was superb, and unusual at that. With a twenty inch barrel, it was nearly impossible to miss a shot. The grip of his gun was specialized for Sage's hand only, making any recoils non-existent, improving his aim even more. The combination of his weapon, his fighting skills, speed and strength, and his angel energy, made Sage a virtually unstoppable killing machine. But, there were always few things that go without a price, and Sage's sudden change in Life wasn't one of those things. He had isolated himself with a personality that seemed to only fit that of a cold killer; a murderer. Sage didn't know which was worse: all the evil that plagued the planet or the fact his life was falling apart. Either way, the green hedgehog felt like dying just to end his misery, he hated being alone and hated. Because even though he saved lives, he was thought of as a freak. So much for being a Stained Hunter, he always thought miserably.

He continued to make his way along a long trailing path that went east, away from the western lands that he had spent too much time saving lives in. Personally, he began to grow completely tired of helping others, no one cared about him, so what was the point? If they ever wanted a savior again, they could all burn in hell, or at least that's what Sage believed in. He had been through so much lately in his life, with the loss of his family, friends, and his old self. For some reason though, Sage never gave up hope that others might be feeling the same way he was now; completely depressed to the point where Death seemed to try to make only itself the answer. But Sage was smarter then that, mentally and physically strong enough to resist the urge to end his own life. He wouldn't let himself run out of hope.

* * * Keeping a ghostly red eye staring at Sage from behind the many trees along the trailing path was Cage, a devious plan forming in his screwed-up mind. The black hedgehog had his arms crossed, his back against the bark of a tree trunk, and his feet floating only an inch or two off the ground. He was waiting for the right moment to put his plan into action, being unusually patient for once in his entire life. Cage's plan was simple but risky. He had to fool the green hedgehog that he saw fully equipped in gear, armor, and a hostile gun, into believing there was a major threat to be killed; meaning he wanted this individual to hunt down Firon.

But his appearance made it obvious that a simple warning wouldn't cut it. Cage had jet black fur, blood red eyes, and razor sharp teeth, the most obvious attire for one who was drenched in evil and darkness. There wasn't much of a way to fully convince the Stained Hunter that he would not be anywhere near evil, but he could at least direct his action towards another individual with a white lie. If only things hadn't gotten so complicated, then Cage wouldn't of had to rely on his intelligence to manipulate others into doing his work. One fact that stuck to the black hedgehog, was that this wasn't going to be easy and Death would be very likely. He closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to find the voice of his master for help, but if the spiritual form of his master had heard him calling out, he didn't seem to care. Cage cursed and swore silently, but got back to reality as he pushed himself off the tree, trailing along behind Sage as he waited for the right time.

* * * Something began to feel out of place, with a cold feeling of darkness just waiting in any of the surrounding trees or tall grass. Sage groaned with irritation, not finding the effort to be serious about any impending dangers nearby. He was very tired, so tired he could barely even lift the Angel Magnum from his belt. He felt himself shivering as the coldness felt like that of a blizzard. He could sense the presence of whatever darkness was following him, but just as quickly as it appeared, the darkness disappeared from his mind, leaving the cold to try and give its victim frostbite. That's when he heard a small pebble being crushed into particles of dust.

"I sure hope you aren't looking for a fast lane to hell...because that's where you'll be going if you don't think twice and run..." Sage's voice held his usual threatening edge to it, a very deep tone that seemed to bring out naturally born hatred from within. Sage turned his head to look over his shoulder, seeing the outline of a hedgehog with quills pointing like lances towards the sky. The green hedgehog felt a muscle curl in his stomach as he saw red eyes glow in the dark mist of the night. Whatever he was looking at, held the image of his cursed past: the demon who resembled a black hedgehog with unthinkable power. The stranger stepped closer to the suspicious hedgehog.

"If you are talking to me, you must be mistaken-" there was a pause as Cage looked deeply into the flaring and alarmed stare of the green hedgehog before him. An unforeseen memory came back to Cage, a memory that wasn't truly his but was pushed into his mind by some other being. The memory showed the same green hedgehog, only younger and without his armor and gun, with the same stare that seemed to spell out more then one word of hatred. Cage guessed that his master, Shadow Shade, had a violent encounter with this sole individual. Cage thought of what he would say next, taking kindly to this warning he had been given, then faked a concerned look on his face, closing his scarred eyelids to block out his eyes. Faking a convincing look, plus pretending to be blind, and his body looking as though it was burned to a black crisp, would be more then enough for his appearance to not alert the Stained Hunter. He walked limply, dragging one leg behind him, an arm bent at an inmobian angle. He focused hard to hide his powers deep inside him, to keep the green hedgehog's energy from sensing his own. Everything was set.

Sage turned around as he saw the stranger slowly walk to him, the red eyes no longer present. As soon as the stranger stepped into his view, he saw that he was limping, his body was covered black. Sage didn't sense any darkness from the hedgehog despite the freezing condition starting to get worse. What also confused Sage was that the stranger he saw limping before him seemed as though he were burnt by something, and that brought up questions and constant suspicion.

"Who are you and why are you following me?" Sage demanded, reaching for the grip of the Angel Magnum, which flared with white light as a response to his reawakened hand. The stranger groaned miserably, opening only one eye halfway and began to struggle as he tried bursting his eye. In a few seconds' worth of effort, blood dripped out of a small hole that like a hole in a popped balloon. Sage was starting to grow concern, and wanted to feel sympathy for the pain in which this stranger may of had to go through. But he didn't have the feeling, or even the emotion, to come to that.

"I'll ask one more time: Who are you?" Impatience gripped Sage tightly, his own grip being tight on the grip of his gun, which immediately glowed a contained angel white color as his skin touched the smooth rubber. The stranger looked at him with the bleeding eye, a weak clench of his teeth showing angered fangs.

"Everyone calls me Cage," the black hedgehog answered finally, moaning in faked-out pain. He held a dark hand to his chest, pretending that his heart was hurting like a fire burning his flesh. Sage released his grip on his gun, walking a few steps closer to Cage, actually believing he was hurt mortally.

“What happened to you?” the first question that came to Sage’s mind had not only began to make the green hedgehog curious, but had began forming Cage’s plan through his sickening mind. A cough was heard from the black hedgehog, forced blood coming out of his throat.

“Death almost got me,” Cage answered, his lies being put to the test. Sage eyed the black color that consumed the entirety of the hedgehog. Every part of the hedgehog’s body was smouldering, with a few puffs of smoke rising out of the flickering black fur. It was obvious to Sage that the black hedgehog was burned by something, and it wasn’t any type of accident or natural cause. Someone attacked him.

“Who was the attacker?” Sage demanded, squeezing a hand into a fist as he felt his tiredness totally evaporated, his addiction to killing evil back in mind. Cage made an invisible grin as he came up with an answer that would further his plot. He closed his eyes to fake what true fear was like, pretending that he was truly terrified. In reality, he was giddy.

“A silver hedgehog with unstoppable power...” Cage said his words with so much despair and fear that he was drawing Sage closer into his trap, to manipulate a victim that was so easy to fool. Sage was being gullible and falling to Cage’s will as he began to believe every word the black hedgehog threw at him. Sage pulled out the Angel Magnum from its holster, holding it to his side; he felt it wasn’t the time for rest right now, spinning the barrel of his gun to check how many bullets were loaded. About twenty, just enough if he were about to face a foe greater then just a lowly criminal or a crazy psychopath for a killer.

“So, what’s the hedgehog’s name?” he asked eagerly, rolling the barrel back into place until it made a satisfying click. Cage closed his bleeding eye, bending his head down and pretending to suffer from under faked-out fear. To Sage, it seemed like he was scared from what had happened to him, or more then just scared; he was paralyzed.

“Firon..his name is Firon...” that’s all the information Sage could ask for, there was no need to be told where to find this supposed evil. The Stained Hunter was an excellent tracker, a great seeker, and a vicious hunter. Altogether, he could find any place, any person, or anything without the use of a map or device. He was all set. Sage nodded as a sign of thanks, knowing that the black hedgehog still had his eyes closed, still in his paralyzed state.

“I’ll be off finding this guy...stay at an inn at a nearby village for a while, the fear will wear off. I’m sure of it.” With that said, Sage walked off down the dirt path he was currently on, no longer tired and with a new task on mind. The bait had been taken, and Cage had to be sure to reel it in if Firon were to ever be killed by this manipulated hedgehog. As soon as Sage was far away; out of his sight, he disappeared back into the trees without a trace or sound. Step one was complete.

* * *

Rain pelted through the leaves of trees, impacting like large missiles as they splashed onto the dirt which slowly became watery mud. Metal crawled out of the mud, surrounding the huge walls of Robotroplis, dripping with the rain that poured on its rusting sides. Firon the Hedgehog, Speedix the Hedgehog, and a large platoon of freedom fighters stood within the darkness of the Great Forest, hiding until the moment came to run for it. Most of the freedom fighters were gripped by fear, others by hatred. Firon wasn’t gripped by either, but he was being held by vengeance, while Speedix was totally emotionless. They knew what was to come from this battle that would certainly redefine Death and make a turn for either the best or the worst.

This was the beginning of the Battle of Freedom, a battle that was one of the most brutal and emotional conflicts in the history of the Mobian War, before even the Final Battle that was come a few years later. Firon was only eleven during this time, and he was one of the few brave enough to step into a fate worse then death. As soon as the front gates of the wasteland city opened with a cacophony, the signal was sent, and the attack began. Over half a million freedom fighters charged into sudden death, because they didn’t know that the evil dictator that controlled the city was one step ahead of them. The evil human known as Dr. Eggman counter-attacked with an army of over five million robots and roboticized mobians, overwhelming the forces who fought for freedom and the rightful justice for them and their planet.

Blood came like a shallow river onto the battle field, the many dead bodies of freedom fighters drowning in their own blood, with the exception of obliterated pieces of robots and severed limbs of roboticized mobians. In the first few minutes of the battle, half the army of freedom fighters was gone and only a small fraction of the robot army had been destroyed. Firon fought with anger, his hands glowing with his premature chaos energy. He felt the touch of cold metal as he bashed into their steel chests with his spines and spikes, and the rush of violence flow through him as he released his chaotic powers. He fought out of vengeance, not for freedom, and that’s what costed him the lives of many of his friends who chose to fight alongside him. One of his friends that died was a black and green hedgehog commander known as Wesker Chaohog, Violet’s father. Firon still remembered his last words which made him realize the truth as he lied half-covered in the blood river, dying from a burnt hole through his chest.

“You can’t win this war by dwelling in your own self-pity, Firon...You’ll only be free from everything once you realize you’re not the only one...and that freedom cannot be won if you choose to continue to want to fulfill your cursed vengeance...Please, don’t fail like this...” the rest of the words had to do with a promise to take care of his daughter and to tell her he loved her. After that, after his death, did Firon learn to calm himself for that moment and stop his rampaging anger from taking him any further to becoming a monster. He continued to fight alongside the last few thousand freedom fighters and his half-brother, but their efforts were futile in the end. Forced to retreat and leave his dead comrades and friends behind, Firon lived from that day on in regret, realizing how much risk he put others when he wanted everything to go his way, to follow his path and turn out the way he wanted it. He hated the existence of being selfish, he didn’t feel like himself. He was wrecked with pain.

* * *

Firon awoke from his sleep, jutting upright from the ground until his eyes shot open. He was breathing abnormally, sweat dripping down his forehead, along the corner of his eyes and nose, into the creases of his mouth. He felt hot all of the sudden, worrying the silver hedgehog to what he was feeling right now; and that was fear. He got up from the short grass-covered ground, wiping off the dirt that stuck to his legs and back and walking a short distance from where Indigo and Becca were sleeping. He sighed quietly, not understanding why Fate had chosen to make his life miserable.

His past never bothered to leave in him alone, even when he abandoned the thought of it during the day. It appeared to him in both his dreams and nightmares, and Firon began to think of it more of a message then just an annoyance. But what was it telling him? Most of his nightmares had to with the loss of many friends, the death of freedom fighters who pledged to fight for him and their freedom, his continuous mistakes of selfishness that made him a perfect example of what he didn’t want to be, and the promises that had been broken. Was it just blame? Or what was it a reminder for his mistakes which he could learn upon? Firon moaned sadly, he didn’t feel like he could ever learn and finally be rid of his cursed past.

He raised his head, fall on over to the ground, and looked towards the stars, their gleaming and shining sight always giving him a short moment of relief. They were beautiful and precious, each and every star that shined its own lovely color that seemed to decorate the night sky in a spectrum. The silver hedgehog smiled as the stars reminded him of his girlfriend, Violet. The beauty queen she was had always made him weak in his knees, so nervous that he couldn’t say a word, and so in touch with who he really was; she was a goddess in his own personal opinion. She had shown herself to be a capable freedom fighter during the war, and one of the greatest friends in his life. When he admitted his love to her, after the war was over and danger seemed to not interfere, her reaction was just the way he had hoped. It turned out she loved him as well all this time; since the day they met, she had a crush on him. The first moment they ever kissed...Firon was close to crying at how heart-breaking it was that she was finally gone forever, dead and deceased.

His thoughts were interrupted before it could come to that however, as movement was heard from where his friends were sleeping. He turned to look and see, hoping that it wasn’t Cage trying to make off with Becca or kill Indigo. It wasn’t him, but Indigo, who turned out to be a light sleeper. She moaned for a short while, not taking kindly to be awakened, then looked around her to find out where Firon went. The silver hedgehog didn’t bother to move as he heard the scrapping of her shoes walking through the grass towards him. He waited for her to speak first as he held his hands behind his head, nearly tiresome once more.

“What are you doing up?” she asked, yawning sleepily. A random thought raced through Firon’s head as he heard her tone, and speculated that something could be bothering the purple hedgehog that was standing behind him, knowing that it was a first time experience in losing someone you loved and cherished. He kept that off his mind for now as he turned his head as far as he could comfortably, looking back at her with tired eyes.

“Just a nightmare...” Firon replied in a matter-of-fact expression, not taking his eyes off of Indigo. She thought for a while, obviously deep in thought on what to say that could cheer the silver hedgehog up. But she nodded in disappointment at herself; she couldn’t think of anything.

“What was it about?” she curiously asked, sitting down beside Firon. The silver hedgehog closed his eyes to remember the events that replayed within the nightmare that still lied dormant within his mind. He began telling the story of the Battle of Freedom from his point of view, and Indigo’s facial features changed slightly, her impression on the silver hedgehog also being altered. Every detail, from every death to Wesker’s last words to the failure and retreat of all surviving freedom fighters to the regret that was later on felt, had obviously done something to effect Firon in a painful way. After the story was told, Indigo’s felt sympathy for her friend.

“I’m sorry to hear about what happened,” she informed him truthfully. Firon simply closed his eyes, frowning non-aggressively, and groaning. He was getting irritated, and fast.

“Do not blame yourself...too many people have already taken enough blame for my mistakes...” Firon’s frown slowly disappeared as he calmed down, his tiredness getting the better of him as he yawned. He thought up of a question that would keep the young purple hedgehog occupied, and perhaps get something heavy off her chest.

“Do you feel like it’s the end of your world?” Firon asked with a serious tone, waiting fairly patiently as his ears perked up and waited to hear an answer. Indigo’s memory of her brother’s death came back to mind, her facial expression saddened as her answer began to spell itself out into words for her to say.

“Strangely, yes-” she replied in sorrow “My brother was the only family member I grew up with, the only one who looked out for me and took care of me...”

“I know, it’s hard, ain’t it?” Firon’s rhetorical question was answered with a nod. Firon continued “I never really got to know my mom and dad, and I literally only had one sibling, and he wasn’t fully my blood. We were told to have the same mother, but different fathers. He was my one and only half-brother. He was one of the few mobians I trusted with my life, and showed me there was more to Life then just fighting,”

“What happened to him?” Indigo asked deliberately, her thoughts of her brother still hanging in her mind without much importance for the moment. Firon held a hint of confusion within him, as if he really didn’t have a way to answer her question directly.

“Let’s just say, he disappeared after he decided to test his own luck at defeating Cage but, never really died...” the answer was just as confusing for Indigo as it was for Firon. From what they both knew, someone had to die or else the demon wasn’t satisfied and became demanding for bloodshed. But, the possibility of someone living against the monster’s rampaging hatred towards all living creatures and mobians alike, was very unlikely. There had to be a reason why Cage didn’t kill Speedix back then, because the black hedgehog had a reason for not killing Indigo, mostly because he liked to see pain in others rather their lifeless corpses.

“So he just, disappeared?” Indigo asked in confusion, her eyes wide and her ears twitching for an answer. Firon shrugged, then nodded. It appeared that Firon didn’t really know what to answer with, unable to comprehend whether or not Speedix was gone for good or was still alive, somewhere. The silver hedgehog decided to change the subject back to Indigo’s hanging memory.

“Don’t let your brother’s death dwell on you like a parasite. It only hurts more when you blame yourself or feel like you could of done something to stop it. That’s Fate for ya, you can’t change anyone’s fate no matter what you do,” Firon’s voice sounded reassuring, and it helped Indigo cope with her loss. It felt like an anvil had been pushed off of her chest, finding it easier to breath and relax. Firon’s eyes drifted back towards the stars, his mind freed for the time being as he looked at the peaceful and everlasting sight of colors.

Indigo also looked towards the stars, feeling nothing extraordinary at first, until she began adjusting to the millions of stars that hung in the sky like art. She realized its true beauty, seeing the thousands of different colors dot the black sky, long stripes of red, blue, green, and gold nebula stretching across the stars, and the diminutive planets that were also at home with Mobius in the solar system. The sight was calm, derived and diminished all worries and pain, and allowed their imaginations to wander freely.

“Firon,” The sound of his name brought him to attention “How will we ever be able to defeat Cage?” The question sounded as though she was losing Hope, or better yet, wasn’t entirely sure on what to do. Firon thought for a while, to remember what had made him so victorious during the Mobian War, how it actually ended and declared victory for the freedom fighters. It was then he saw the imagined picture of seven emeralds, each with their own color, in his mind. The Chaos Emeralds.

“There’s a huge possibility,” Firon answered, shrugging again as he knew how difficult it would be to go searching for powerful artifacts with a killer on their tail. He continued “Ever heard of the seven Chaos Emeralds?” Indigo turned her head to him and nodded, forcing the silver hedgehog to explain.

“Each emerald has an unlimited amount of chaos energy, and are rumored to turn thoughts into power. If all of them are brought together, they give the user all their unlimitedness, all their power. The only way we can find those emeralds is to start searching tomorrow, even if Cage is not too far behind” Firon paused for a while, then added “Or even if he’s about to kill us,” Indigo shifted uneasily, but forced herself to be reassured.

“Well, if you were really a leader of those freedom fighters during the Mobian War, I have every bit of confidence in you and your abilities,” Indigo’s words had a meaning stuck to them, pointing out she wasn’t just saying it to make Firon feel better. She said it so Firon could prove it as time went on. The silver hedgehog gave a silent “thanks” and chose to speak.

“If you hadn’t realized it by now, he’s mostly interested in killing me and capturing Becca,” he motioned a hand towards where Becca slept on the hill “And I have been, ever since the day I fought him, trying to kill him and stop his rampage from going any further,” Indigo’s face frowned at the mention of the human girl, and Firon didn’t seem to notice as his eyes closed halfway.

“What’s so important about her? She’s just like all the humans on our planet; serious pains in the ass-“ Firon held up a gloved hand with a threatening gesture, silencing Indigo instantly as she looked at his face and saw a strong defense being expelled with an strychnine frown.

“She’s not like the other humans on our planet.” Firon snapped, lowering his hand and making an effort to remove the frown, to no avail. Indigo kept silent as Firon began to explain in an amateur calmness “She’s not even from our world. She’s learned to befriend me, and I’ve made a good example for her what most mobians are like. The last thing she needs is a mobian who changes that point of view with a grudge.”

“Sorry,” the near-panicked hedgehog replied quickly, erasing the thought from her head to not bring it up again. Firon removed the frown after her apology, a sigh escaping him. It seemed that his old self still lived deep within his ever-changing personality. However, before he could say anything, his right ear twitched to a faraway noise: something or someone was on the move. He reactively got up from the ground and ran back to their camp site, and Indigo, who didn’t react to the sound as fast as Firon had, was halfway behind him.

He was a several dozen inches away from Becca’s sleeping form when the loud bang of a gun fired, its bullet rushing right towards Firon. The silver hedgehog ducked, yelling out a warning to Indigo for her to avoid a sudden death. Firon’s ocean blue eyes scanned the entire surrounding landscape, searching for the shooter. It wasn’t long until he heard another bang and saw a flash of white light flicker across the empty air towards his head. The bullet was just centimeters from his forehead when he dodged it, tripping onto the grass. Becca was wide awake by then, and Indigo was already on the move to pursue the attacker.

“What’s going on?” Becca asked the fallen hedgehog who was on high alert, his eyes still searching the darkness of the landscape, his ears still twitching to every sudden movement. His voice was quick and light.

“We’re under attack, but not by Cage,” he answered, getting up from the ground to avoid being stationary for too long, locking his eyes on where Indigo was rushing off to. What she saw wasn’t the black hedgehog she thought it would be, but a green hedgehog wearing body armor of white and black, and wielding an abnormal, large white magnum, its barrel blowing smoke out of its hole. The hedgehog’s eyes were ablaze with some twisted amusement, as if he was trying to kill for fun. To Firon, he looked like a mad-mobian. The attacker slowly walked out of the darkness, his magnum held high in the air towards Indigo’s chest. His eyes looked her over, trying to determine if she was a serious threat to him or not, then he finally nodded her off and walked towards the hill where Becca and Firon stood, watching with both fear and anger. As soon as the green hedgehog started walking up the hill, nobody doing anything to stop him, he spoke and displayed a sight of true terror.

“I’m here to put you out of your misery for good, Firon the Hedgehog...” the stranger declared, blowing the smoke that still bellowed from the hole of his magnum, walking normally as if he thought he wasn’t in any trouble. Confusion swept over Firon the minute the stranger mentioned his name, and began to wonder why he wanted the silver hedgehog to die.

“What do you want with me?” Firon asked seriously, then added “Who are you?” By the time Firon was done asking questions, the green hedgehog was inches away from him, his hand trembling under the mental pressure to pull the trigger.

“I am Sage Pure, the Stained Hunter. I’ve heard about your little attempt to kill an innocent-“ Firon felt the hot metal of the barrel of Sage’s magnum press against his chest “And I’m here to make sure you suffer the consequences,”

“Wait...you must have the wrong guy, I’ve never-“ Firon didn’t finish his sentence as Sage pulled the trigger and the bullet was punched out of the barrel. But the bullet only rushed through thin air as Firon disappeared from sight, his speed-and-survival instincts taking place. He was on the other side of the hill by the time Sage had recovered from the unexpected shock by Firon’s disappearance. To Firon, it seemed as though Sage was going to give up sooner then ever, but then that prediction changed when he saw a challenged smile creep onto the hedgehog’s muzzle.

“I didn’t see that coming, but now I know what’s coming to me,” Sage warned his opponent, dropping off his gear to drop some weight, holding his magnum to his side. The two hedgehogs stared off at each other for a short while, waiting for the right moment to take advantage of any weaknesses. Neither of them moved, and Indigo and Becca could only watch as a battle was ensured. Then finally, Firon flashed into a dash of speed, charging towards Sage at impossible speeds. But the Stained Hunter was one step ahead of him as he disappeared in his own level of speed, his gun held at ready for when his target would be in range. The only signs of a battle starting up were the instant one-second flashes of light; impacts from Firon’s spin dashing and Sage’s melee punches and attacks from the butt of his magnum. It was intense, a ruthless battle to see which powerful hedgehog would overpower the other. Firon began hearing mock comments and taunts from the almost-equally fast green hedgehog as he felt powerful forces puncture every his chest and face.

“You’re slow for a speed-freak,” was one of the taunts said, another being “You’re pathetic when it comes to defending your low-life piece of shit for a body,” Firon ignored the taunts, knowing them to only mess with his head and try to bring him off guard, and finally broke the speed vortex both of them were caught in by bashing into the armored chest of the Stained Hunter, pushing him deep into the hill with gravity-like force. A huge cloud of dirt burst from the hole, blocking out Indigo’s and Becca’s sight for exactly ten seconds, before white and green lights broke through the cloud of dirt and dust, landing perfectly opposite of each other once more. Sage’s smile was finally erased from his muzzle; ceased to exist as he began to realize he was being too cocky and unfocused. He spit out blood from his mouth, knowing Firon had him more harder then he thought. It was Firon’s turn to smile.

“You’re not so smart for a Stained Hunter. I thought you were supposed pay attention when you make an attempt to kill evil? Or maybe-“ Firon paused, seeing how pissed that the green hedgehog across from him was getting. Sage’s teeth were clenched so tightly that they could of broken, his fists crushing his own fingers; especially the fist that held the grip of the Angel Magnum. The silver hedgehog finished “Just maybe, you’re not really fighting evil, now are you?” The question made the green hedgehog burst into a scream of hatred.

“Lies! You’re telling me nothing but lies! I saw what you did...you’ll die like all the other lifeless evil that plague Mobius! You’ll die!” Sage raised his magnum with immortal speed, blasting five bullets in a matter of milliseconds. Firon was quick to react, dodging four of the incoming bullets, but was too slow to avoid the last one as it punctured into his shoulder, breaking several bones upon impact, spilling his blood like a stream, and bringing the silver hedgehog to the ground; exhausted and out of strength. A cackling laugh was heard from Sage, as he proceeded to move in closer for a kill, his magnum held tightly in his bone-crushing grip. Firon’s breathing was raspy, and it soon became a choking wheeze as he felt blood pump its way out of his mouth. He was still alive, but just barely: he was in pain as he felt the bullet burn its existence away along with the rest of Firon’s shoulder-blade.

“Not so smart for a Stained Hunter, huh? Watch your fucking mouth the next time you speak!” Sage demanded loudly, kicking Firon in the side, the silver hedgehog’s body rolling down the hill like a ball. A vicious grin made its appearance on Sage’s crazed face “If there will ever be a next time for you...”

Becca knew she couldn’t do anything, she wasn’t strong enough or even had the guts to stop the killer in his tracks. But Indigo, knowing what to do and having the determination to keep history from repeating itself, ran forward from their hiding place at her fastest speed. She wasn’t going to let someone else die in her life. This time, she would put a stop to it no matter what. Becca had faith in her, and Indigo sensed it and had to admit: Firon was right about Becca.

Sage approached slowly to Firon’s side, the Angel Magnum slowly rising from his side. The barrel had a direct, point blank-ranged shot at Firon’s chest. He felt the temptation of pulling the trigger and finishing him off, but something started to not feel right. He looked at Firon’s pained face and didn’t see any sign of vengeance or anger; only sorrow. Any mobian with a heart would feel sad that their life was about to end. The idea of someone evil faking it was outrageous to think about, but then again, had he been fooled from the start before he even found this silver hedgehog? His finger waited for permission to pull, but Sage’s mind was confused to the point where he couldn’t think, and he never got the chance to make a choice as he felt a feminine hand push him with great force onto the ground, his magnum flying out of the loose grip of his hand. He dropped and didn’t bother to get back up, not wanting to get up. He had made a mistake; a terrible mistake. And so he waited for the punishment that was ensured as payback.

Indigo succeeded in stunning the Stained Hunter with her energy-electrified hand, ignoring the green hedgehog for the time being as she checked for a pulse on Firon’s body. She held two fingers to the side of his neck, and felt the soft beating of his heartbeat. He was still alive and that was a good sign. She bent forward and spoke quietly into his ever-twitching right ear. “You’ll be okay, I stunned him.” She assured him, picking the wounded hedgehog off the blood-covered grass. He managed a weak smile as he felt himself being pulled gently towards safety, out of the clutches of Death.

“Thank you...” he replied with a bit effort, coughing out a few last bits of blood. Indigo carried his limp body towards the hiding place where Becca still hid, dropping his body into her lap, making sure she would take care of him for the time being, then made her way back to deal with the green hedgehog who still lay on the ground; stunned.

Sage turned his eyesight to the purple hedgehog who walked towards him, the one who had put him in his paralyzed state. He didn’t feel like he cared what punishment she would give him, just wishing it would be death. He wanted his life to end, he had lost his own will to live as he felt like how worthless his attempts at keeping peace were. There was no way he could change the world, and he knew that for sure now. Now he was making serious mistakes, and almost killed a mobian whose heart was truly good. He prayed through his thoughts that the girl hedgehog would kill him.

Indigo stepped up to Sage’s body, staring angrily deep into his eyes. She felt the powerful urge to punch and kick the hedgehog’s body until literally he bled from every sensitive area of his body. She even wanted to kill him. But something had caught her attention before she even chose to go along with her urges; an energy signature. It was the same energy signature she possessed: Angel Energy. That’s when curiosity kicked in, so she bent on her knees, and made sure the green hedgehog was listening to the questions she would ask. The first was a rare one.

“Are you an Angel Believer?” she asked. Her question had the power of a demand, and Sage didn’t hesitate to answer. He didn’t lie; he was tired of making mistakes.

“Yes...” Sage answered in a disappointed tone. He wasn’t disappointed at Indigo, but at himself. Even someone who was younger then him knew what the right thing to do was, while he was always doing the wrong thing “Yes, I am,”

“Then why did you just try to kill my friend? That’s against our oath...our law...” the young hedgehog’s sounded like that of a mother who was grounding her children. Sage felt like a little kid right now, being punished for a bad thing he did. But what raced through his head was an invisible question: Why wasn’t she killing him?

“I...” Sage stopped talking before he could say anything. Saying sorry wasn’t going to do much, especially since this wasn’t a situation with the mother and the child. He didn’t know what to do, so he simply said “I’m sorry,” and shut himself up after that. Indigo didn’t seem convinced at first, until looking deep into the older hedgehog’s eyes and seeing the hidden meaning behind it. All thoughts of pain or death for this supposed killer were eliminated, replaced by the thought of forgiveness. All Sage did was wait; patiently. He waited for her to kill him, either slowly or quickly, not sensing her exchanged thoughts. Instead of seeing his sight blackout and his blood spill, he felt arms cradle around him and lift him up, having his right arm put around the purple hedgehog’s shoulders, and his recovering body being carried away where Becca and Firon waited. He wasn’t dying, but he had the next best thing. He was being given another chance.

Act 2: Trouble Underneath

FironandAelita — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 21:30:05 CDT

Firon landed on solid ground, he could not see anything as darkness surrounded him. He was holding Violet, who held tightly on his shoulders to avoid falling onto the ground. Firon could hear the fast movement of Speedix moving towards him in the blackness that filled his eyes.

"Firon, are you here?" Speedix asked in wonder, looking in every direction to no avail.

"Yeah, I brought Violet with us just in case," Firon replied, his voice echoing in the emptiness of the very deep hole they were in "Someone turn on the lights around here..."

"I'm already on it...just let me stand up so I can get something out of my mission pack," Violet told Firon, who slowly and gently placed her on the uneven ground. It took a while for her to reach in her mission pack and search for what she was looking for. After a few minutes of waiting in the lifeless, cold darkness, Violet finally pulled out her flashlight and flicked the switch on it.

As soon as light surrounded the three hedgehogs, they all looked in horror on what was around them. Bones, rotten meat, and dead bodies lay scattered throughout the ground. They appeared to be in a huge chamber, that was very huge from every corner. In every inch of the chamber was a dead body of a certain creature or something that resembled a Mobian.

"What could of caused this..." Violet asked in shock, holding her empty hand to her chest. Firon regained himself as he began studying the dead bodies of fallen Mobians.

"Whatever happened, it could of been a war that happened long ago...the Chaos War," Firon answered, keeping his eyes on the lifeless, crippled forms.

"You're right, long ago when the Chaos Emeralds were first formed, terrible wars broke out between almost every Mobian on the planet. Many different species fought, and the hedgehogs were ruling the battlefield because of their enhanced speed and strength. However, when all seven chaos emeralds were used in the center of the planet, it cut Mobius in half, one half taking most of the hedgehog race with it, with the rest of the Mobians on the other half. Over time both halves grew into full size spheres and into their own planets...this must have been one of the battlefields, in a royal temple where a chaos emerald would be," Speedix reported, seemingly searching around the chamber "Which means a chaos emerald would be sitting on a shrine somewhere in this chamber,"

"We should start searching then," Violet suggested, turning her flashlight to full power "You two get your flashlights out and search the chamber for any signs of a shrine or something that was used to preserve a chaos emerald," Firon and Speedix nodded, unpacking their mission packs and taking out their flashlights. Violet began walking around in the chamber as the two speedy hedgehogs took their time.

"What do you think wiped them all out?" Firon asked, seemingly confused and curious.

"Perhaps they tried using a chaos blast or something, but couldn't control its power, thus it probably forced this chamber to go underground and make the residents inside, starve to death," Speedix answered, pulling out and turning on his flashlight, Firon doing the same. The two of them began searching the chamber, slowly moving across the dead-infested floor.

"Hey guys! I found something!" Violet yelled from the otherside of the chamber, her voice echoing loud enough for both Firon and Speedix to hear her. Both hedgehogs looked in the direction of her voice, seeing what was a giant tall structure with a red chaos emerald floating on top of it. The emerald glowed with a ruby-red color as Violet's flashlight traced itself on it.

"Hurry and grab it then, the Freedom Fighters are gonna start getting' worried if we're gone too long," Firon ordered her, pointing at the emerald. The chaos emerald sparkled a white-red glow as a respone.

"Alright, just wait a second," Violet replied as she climbed the stairs of the shrine, her empty hand outstretched to grab the chaos emerald when close enough. Speedix only watched carefully, mumbling words under his breath.

"If no one controlled the chaos emerald's power and the chaos emerald took control of the chamber, that means...oh no...Violet don't grab it!" his warning was heard too late as Violet's fingers touched the red chaos emerald. Soon the whole chamber shook violently, rocks falling from the crumbling ceiling. Firon became struck with fear as the chamber began falling apart, but before he could start run to the shrine to defend Violet, the dead bodies began rising from the floor, taking on a new undead life. One of them grabbed Firon's arms, halting the hedgehog before he could even start walking.

"The chaos emerald is a trigger! Pulling it will unleash its control on everything in this chamber!" Speedix yelled in alarm, jumping into the air while preparing a spin dash attack. Firon used his mighty strength to pull free of the dead creature's grip, running quickly through the uprising dead horde to Violet. Soon Firon was on top of the shrine with Violet, quickly grabbing the red chaos emerald and slinging it inside his mission pack. Speedix began attacking the dead creatures, slicing each one in his path in half but to no avail as the halves of the dead creatures formed back together.

"These things are unkillable!" Speedix exclaimed, stopping his assault and running for the shrine to join Violet and Firon. Speedix quickly halted himself, standing in front of Violet in his attack position.

"Any ideas on how to escape?" Firon asked, not letting his guard down as he positioned himself in his attack stance.

"Only one...we fight," The dead creatures then charged forward, with whatever weapons they had pointing forward as Violet, Firon, and Speedix prepared to defend themselves...for their lives.

Episode 6: Victims of the Same Cause

FironandAelita — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 13:03:33 CDT

It was late morning time, the sun near the center of the sky. It was warm unlike the night before, when Cage lurked and used Death as his pawn. At least he wouldn't appear in the morning, where the sun would burn his existence into nothingness, or at least that's what Firon hoped. Firon's thoughts had been racing since he had awoken. He thought about all sorts of ways of using his time wisely, all sorts of ways of protecting Becca and killing Cage. But in reality, there was only one way of doing either...

He and Becca had been walking further from the Great Forest, obviously aware that it wasn't a safe place anymore as it was in the past. The past, Firon thought, it wasn't much different from the situation he was dealing with now. Firon held Becca's hand, for all types of reasons, two of them being it made him feel less afraid of failing and of his own past, and he would be able to pull her away from danger. Just because the sun was up didn't mean the shade wouldn't provide safety for the sickly killer. The silver hedgehog felt he was caught in a mix of multiple personalities, his happy, go-lucky, encouraging self; his cold-hardened, serious, and calculating, freedom fighting self; and the vengeful, hateful, and spiteful self of now. It confused him, but he surpassed it to stay on task.

They had ten more miles-progress from the Great Forest, which irritated the silver hedgehog. He could've made faster progress by carrying and running if it weren't for his problem. He tried to stay calm as he was already sweating a bit from nervousness. He was very glad Becca was holding his hand to help him through it. He closed his eyes for a while to keep his eyes out of the sun, then opened them again. They had been walking down a barely directive dirt path that scaled out of the Great Forest, across a vast grassland, and into the deep unknown. Firon had never really been used to going outside the boundaries of the Great Forest, the one place where he grew up and fought for. But he knew there was more to the world then trees, leaves, dirt, and the changing sky. But his thoughts had come racing back. What if they were heading directly to another forest? Wouldn't Cage be waiting?

It didn't matter, no place was exactly safe. It was an endless chase, because both Firon and Cage defied Death. The only and final big question was, is there was a way to make an endless chase finally come to an end? Maybe there was, but Firon's mind was too crowded to think properly.

"You okay, Firon?" Becca asked him, worried as she felt his hand tremble a bit. He stared at her blankly, not knowing why she'd ask a question if she knew the answer. Then again, it wasn't her fault. He didn't quite know if he was alright, he had never felt this way before. He nodded it off.

"I'm fine...just thinking is all," Firon answered her, his eyes crossed half-way, concentrating further down the path to see what was up ahead. An outline of trees and the color of green appeared across the horizon, but it was nothing like the Great Forest. The trees were shorter, less green, and the forest itself was smaller. What had happened in this forest? Firon emptied his mind of any further questions, it was making it harder for him to think. He made use of his other hand and pointed towards the outline of trees.

"There, let's head to that forest. Maybe, Cage hasn't visited it yet..." he paused suddenly. He thought about his suggestion for a while, bringing back what he knew about Cage. Cage was never the type to leave any place unchecked, even if the silver hedgehog had never been to some of those places. Becca was still waiting for what Firon had to say, looking at him with a surprising amount of patience. He continued "Or, if he has, I know what to do," Becca nodded, understanding Firon's strong confidence in a given situation.

Finally, Firon insisted on carrying Becca and running there, making it seem that time was short. Becca agreed, but wasn't entirely sure of the hedgehog's choice. His hand was still trembling, but she didn't want the hedgehog to get angry or irritated. He hurriedly swept her off her feet with lighting speed, and ran down the rest of the path. Already, he had made faster progress then before, and was halfway to the forest.

* * *

In times of Joy, you could always be happy. When it comes to Love, you'd never be alone. Real promises that had existed in the past, now only memories. Everything good eventually ends, no matter how long it lasts. It's a recurring nightmare, something that usually didn't bother Indigo, until Wren's death. She thought he'd always be there for her, be her protector, her teacher. But now, she realized he can't rely upon someone so deeply without it hurting so severely. She learned that the hard way, through the loss of her last family member, her brother, Wren.

Indigo opened her eyes as the morning sun shined a bright white into the clearing of dead leaves and fallen trees. She was drowsy, her right arm feeling numb from the loss of blood which stuck to her arm, dried up. She got up from the ground, removing her back from the rotten bark of a tree, and wiping off the leaves and wood that stuck to her. It was a new day, and the forest didn't look as terrifying as it was the night before, where only Death lurked and stole any life it saw. She then remembered Cage, the gruesome murderer of her brother, and her vow to kill him. Everything came back to her slowly.

It wasn't just the start of a new day, but a new life for Indigo. She would have to learn to be less dependent on others for her own well-being, and from here on, only teach herself all the forms of Angel Energy. As each memory came back to her, one after the other, she remembered the necklace Wren had given her. She felt around her chest for it until its impenetrable surface was touched, calming her down a bit. It was the only item she would be able to remember Wren by, but it wasn't only a memorial item. Before Wren had died, he said it had a great power only awakened by a pure heart. Indigo's question was the next thing that came back to her. What did he mean by that?

She walked out of the shade of the trees, into the clearing where the light left a near-perfect circle in the forest. In the center of the clearing, underneath all the dead leaves, rock-hard dirt, and broken trees, was Wren's dead body. She had been up last night, burying him and letting him rest in peace. She didn't feel too comfortable with burying him in the exact same place where he was murdered, but there was no other place to do so. There wasn't a home left for her, it was destroyed by an unknown force when she was about a few years old. She couldn't think of a better place to bury him, expect in the center of a forest where that murderer would never return to, or at least that's what Indigo thought. Anger was giving her a headache, feeling like a deadly migraine gone really bad. She breathed slowly, inhaling and exhaling to calm herself down. It was working.

Indigo walked out of the clearing, back into the shade of the trees. Her purple fur darkened, just like her attitude. She had never felt what true anger was until now, and it wasn't just pass and go. It was like a disease, it hurt worse then actual pain, and it spread fast to take control, making itself the only emotion felt and seen. Indigo fell to her knees hard, shaking her head violently to make the pain go away. What was compelling her to feel such pain? It was driving her crazy!

Then, something immediately made the anger go away. A sudden sound rustled deep within the forest, in the unknown and dark parts of it that Indigo had not explored just yet. She hid herself behind a few leafy bushes that half her size, using a nearby tree as a support for her back. She looked into the clearing to see what was coming, hearing the noise get louder and much closer. Indigo wasn't scared, but alerted to the presence of a possible threat that she could ambush. She hoped it was Cage, but she knew the odds were very high and very unlikely. She just stared with one eye, past the very top of the bushes and at the center of the clearing, waiting.

* * *

Firon was in the forest finally, running past both life and death, an abnormal combination in a forest where only Life was meant to dominate. The trees, plants, and animals on one side all laid out, dead and decomposing. The other side was natural, perfectly green trees that rose higher then any normal mobian could grow, animals living deep within their huge bundles of leaves, and plants as far as the eye could see. It was very much unlike the Great Forest, where all sorts of nature had developed. Rivers, mountains, beaches; this forest didn't have very much of any of those as Firon entered a few clearings and got a good eye view of the entire forest. He was shocked to see half the forest look gray, fallen to pieces, and resembling a graveyard. Perhaps Cage had visited this forest, it was something the black hedgehog was capable of doing. Firon's thoughts began racing through his head again. All Cage ever did was kill, it was more than just a hobby to the demon, it was an obsession. He would kill or destroy anything just to get even close to Firon, even helpless and unsuspecting mobians, their homes, wild animals, even entire natural formations, such as a forest, just to flush out the silver hedgehog from hiding. Firon was only glad that the black hedgehog was a terrible tracker.

The silver hedgehog began wondering if Becca was used to the friction that often pressed against Firon as he ran. The friction was like a powerful wind; it grew in power the faster Firon went. Firon had never ran his fastest when carrying Becca, afraid that the friction might be too uncomfortable for her, or that it could literally tear her apart. But then again, she'd eventually get used to it and Firon would be able to travel at faster velocity. He remembered her request about some new clothing, footwear, and a bath from awhile back as soon as they had woken up from their last sleep. He could probably get her some armor from a village, as well as some comfortable cotton clothing, at least that way she'd be protected and still comfortable. Her blue-white school dress was beginning to get torn, and its white color was starting to fade as sand and dirt stains were littered all over it from top to bottom. Her hands, arms, legs, and feet were also covered in dust and dirt, and Becca felt truly in need for a bath really soon. Firon had sympathy for her, but he wasn't a girl nor was he a human, so he didn't fully understand her behavior.

Traveling at over six hundred miles-per-hour, Firon had made it halfway across the forest, past the borderline between Life and Death. He began hearing cracks, snaps, and rustling as he rushed through decaying bushes, decomposing sticks and branches, and dying leaves. The silver hedgehog had begun feeling cold as soon as he entered this range of dead forest. Either it was the effect that Death always had, or Cage was waiting for him. Firon hoped it was choice number one, he wasn't planning on encountering the black hedgehog so soon, but if Fate had to make it clear and bring him face-to-face with his nemesis, then the silver hedgehog would know what to do. Cage was the type to always make abrupt appearances, even if they were belated.

He held his breath for a while, then exhaled. He tried to calm himself so he wouldn't trip accidentally and hurt himself, or more importantly, Becca. He had been trained to never overreact to avoid further problems, even if it meant making himself totally emotionless in order to fit that purpose. But, he wasn't in training any longer, he wasn't an elite freedom fighter waging war against a corrupt and evil genius. Back then, it would've been easy to hold back feelings and complete a task like the snap of two fingers, but this time, he wasn't being someone he was not. He was finally being himself, the real him that he had been so afraid of becoming. He was still afraid, because now, he had weaknesses, which Cage would exploit and tear him apart slowly until every last ounce of pain was delivered throughout Firon's existence. He had emotions, which Cage would hurt until it killed the silver hedgehog mentally. After all those months of Firon having the advantage, the odds out of all evens; Cage finally had the advantage, and only one event had to be triggered to ultimately kill the silver hedgehog in all forms. He was vulnerable.

"Firon, don't worry too much okay?" Becca told him comfortably, as if reading his thoughts of concern. Firon was always the type to worry, he had to worry about something or else he'd be off guard and exposed. But Becca's words demanded he break this old habit. This wasn't the past anymore or the silver hedgehog's old life anymore, it was a new life reborn from the old one and that required changes. Firon obied Becca, inhaling and exhaling more then before and concentrating harder as he ran further into the graveyard of dead forest. That's when he noticed an energy signature that was different from the forest's, and from the dark energy that floated like mist in the air. He was heading straight for it.

Firon came to a screeching halt that nearly made him fall forward. He ended up in a huge clearing, dead leaves and collapsing trees littering the entire exposure. But, something was different about this clearing that he hadn't sensed or seen at any of the previous ones: a battle scar. A fight had happened here, including the introduction of powerful energy attacks. The first energy signature that still lasted from that fight was the all-too familiar Dark Chaos Energy that only Cage possessed. The second one was unknown, but it was clearly the same energy Firon had grown curious about.

He still held Becca with confident strength, his senses being heightened as he felt impending danger nearby. The confused girl in Firon's arms had wonder filling her entire mind, and curiosity being expelled from her. She leaned her head to the side a little, her mouth just inches away from Firon's left ear.

"What's going on?" she asked him, the hedgehog's left ear twitching to her voice. He didn't reply or speak, just listened for any sudden movements that signalled an attack. Then, at last, his ears twitched one last time as something or someone made its move. Firon immediately jumped high into the sun's path of light, overlooking the clearing. An energy lance blasted from the shade of the trees below, fusing with the ground where Firon once stood, and obliterating it until not one particle remained. Firon landed on the other side of the clearing, quickly releasing Becca from his grip so she could retreat to safety.

The silver hedgehog listened once more for another movement, this time to track down the attacker. Even though most of his battles were with Cage, he thought twice before assuming it was the black hedgehog. Cage was aggressive, and very conceited of himself. He was always the one to make the first move, but he never ever hid, nor did he try to surprise attack the silver hedgehog. Whoever was trying to take down Firon currently, it was someone scared and confused. Before Firon could think anymore, another energy lance was launched towards his position, only bigger then last time. The sharp edge of the lava-hot energy lance missed him by mere centimeters, and collided with the ground from where he once stood. Like Firon's previous position, it was now a big hole blown deep into the surface. The silver hedgehog faced towards where he had sensed the energy's occurrence, tracking the energy lances' exhaust paths back to their source. In a few split seconds' worth of time, his eyes locked onto the dark outline of a hedgehog; and as his predictions had gone, it wasn't Cage causing all the mischief.

"Hey!" he called out abruptly "Stop firing! I'm not your enemy!" Firon tried negotiating with the attacker, to create a calamity. It was an attempt gone in vain as an energy blast streaked its way across the clearing, towards Firon. This time, the silver hedgehog got serious. Charging one of his fists full of Chaos Energy, he brought back the loaded punch and let a rip!

Seconds later, the blast was torn to particles of plasma as Firon showed superior and cunning skill in energy fights. He formed a long, orange-yellow sword of energy from his gloved palm, gripping its molded plasma, and holding it steady as he waited patiently for the right time to either protect himself, or counter-attack. He really hoped it was choice number two for the attacker's sake.

"Hold your fire!" the order did not reach the attacker's ears, a blast of energy shot across the clearing straight at Firon as a sign of deafness. The silver hedgehog brought up his defenses, forming a chaos shield to block the attack. As the blast of energy was absorbed into Firon's shield, he spoke again "I'm giving you one last chance! Hold your fire! I am not your enemy!"

This time, Firon's words reached the attacker, finally stopping the assault. The attacker raised out of his or her hiding spot in the shade of the trees, stepping through the crumbling bushes and into the light. Firon saw a purple hedgehog, dressed in an violet-black button-up shirt with a red tie and green cameo shorts that reached past her knees. Her shoes looked similar to Firon's speed shoes, but lacked the fail-safe buckle that was usually meant for friction. The silver hedgehog dropped his shield, staring into her green eyes. He sensed she was hurt, and was filled with vengeance. He could literally see evaporated tears on her muzzle, and dried blood on her right arm. If Cage had been here before, he must of done something terrible to the purple hedgehog that Firon wasn't aware of. Just then, the mystery hedgehog dropped to her knees after realizing who she was really attacking. She was in shock.

"I'm sorry..." she said to the silver hedgehog, her words being meaningful enough. Firon didn't let his guard down, only walking a few steps closer to speak.

"Listen, whoever you believed I was...I'm not him or her. My name is Firon the Hedgehog," at the mention of his name, the purple hedgehog immediately remembered something from last night. It came to her as a news flash, and the memory just went through her mind like static. Cage had said something about looking for a silver hedgehog named Firon, and a human girl. Was she finally seeing this hedgehog for the first time? Was he behind Cage's death dealing search? The purple hedgehog glared right back at the silver hedgehog before her, her teeth clenched in anger, and her eyes flaring up with an inner flame.

"Some crazy demon for a murderer was looking for you...h-he killed my brother!" the purple hedgehog's words stunned Firon. She was accusing him of something. He didn't know what to say that would calm her down. Letting his guard down, the purple hedgehog leaped up off the ground, ran up to the silver hedgehog, and grabbed his throat. She squeezed with a force Firon didn't know about, choking him. The silver hedgehog began gasping and wheezing, unable to communicate.

"You were behind this weren't you? You were probably the one who sent that monster! You'll pay for it-"

"Stop!" a loud panicked yell came from Becca's lips, startling the purple hedgehog who was attempting to end Firon's life. Taking advantage of his attacker's distraction, he gripped her wrists and slowly peeled her gloved hands off of his neck. The purple hedgehog grunted with effort to continue her death dealing attack, but Firon proved to be physically stronger then her. Soon, she had lost all stamina in her hands and arms, reluctantly letting the silver hedgehog push away her hands. Firon's eyes burnt with aggression, but sparkled with question. Becca ran up behind Firon, who lifted a hand to request her to not worry anymore. He glared coldly at the purple hedgehog, his feelings of trust badly shaken.

"I have no allegiance with that bastard...don't ever accuse me of being on his side again..." the silver hedgehog's words were meaningful, and they stuck to the confused hedgehog's mind like skin. Then Firon asked her a question that required her full attention.

"Who are you?" the purple hedgehog thought about this for a while, unknowing if she should trust someone who she had just accused. Then again, she had nothing more to lose and someone had come to the silver hedgehog's rescue just by startling her. She sighed for being so clueless, talking in a quiet but confident voice.

"My name is Indigo Lance..." she informed Firon and Becca, both a bit satisfied with no longer confronting a stranger. The silver hedgehog stepped forward a bit, his aggression and irritation disappearing as time passed by. He was only a couple of feet away from Indigo. Firon saw a huge mixture of feelings and emotions caught within her, noticing her anger was acting like the cause of her confusion and pain. It wasn't long until Indigo spotted Firon's approach. She backed up reactively, with the silver hedgehog sighing. He expected this to happen.

"If you keep this up, the pain isn't going to go away," Firon informed her gravely, keeping a comfortable distance from the stunned hedgehog. It took a while for Indigo to think clearly, and when she could, a longer period of time to consider Firon's meaning. The silver hedgehog stood across from her, his expression still as serious as ever and not likely to change; but he was ready to move at any seconds' notice. Indigo breathed in slowly and out quickly, trying to calm herself down after heeding Firon's warning; but it was futile. Anger had risen back in her mind, but it wasn't the type of anger that gave her any choice. A skull-breaking pain had coursed throughout Indigo's head, bringing her to her knees and yelling out in unwanted pain. Firon was at her aid in an instant, lifting her up by her arms.

Firon sensed a dark energy running through her head and into her heart as he felt a pulse in her arm. He groaned for being so stupid earlier. How hadn't he noticed that Cage was behind her suffering? He quickly brought back one of his hands, grabbing her right hand's wrist, where he felt the connection of the dark energy come to a source. He sighed in regret on what he was about to do, but then again, if he didn't then Indigo would die. Energy struck out of his left enclosed fist, forming a half-meter long energy blade. He held tightly to Indigo's arm as he raised the energy blade over her wrist. The dark energy inside pulsed to life and electrified Firon as he drew the blade closer. It was attempting to keep Indigo in this state of pain, but Firon was more determined then it could ever be. After breaking through the dark energy's resistance, the blade came in contact with Indigo's soft skin. A mind-bending scream was heard, blood splattered in the form of droplets onto Firon's muzzle and chest, and the dark energy vanished as Firon pulled it out. The purple hedgehog before him dropped back on her knees as she tried to make the last bit of pain go away, and for once it was working. The silver hedgehog worriedly turned to Becca in a dash of speed.

"Becca, tear off a piece of your shirt and give it to me!" Becca nodded, with no other choice but to accept. It took time and a bit of effort, but soon Becca tore off a long piece of blue silky cloth from her shirt, exposing her belly. She handed it to Firon's patiently waiting hand, who then grabbed it and ran back to Indigo's aid.

"Indigo, give me your wrist!" after seeing the long piece of cloth in Firon's hand, she was convinced he wasn't going to cut her again. She shoved her stressed right hand into Firon's reach, her bloody wrist pushing out unknown amounts of bubbling blood. It was the effect of plasma that made the blood boil and bubble viciously, bringing about the cause of the pumping which shot out her blood. Firon grabbed her wrist gently, her skin feeling dangerously cold. He didn't waste anymore time and tied the cloth tightly around her wrist, stopping the blood pumping instantly. But Indigo kept on stressing out as the pain lasted for a little bit longer then usual. Firon groaned in annoyance as he sensed the pain, taking off his glove and the glove of Indigo's right hand. He took hold of her right hand, clasping it gently and giving it some time. Suddenly, the pain faded away as if it never existed, and instead of yelling or screaming, there was moaning and sighing. Firon calmed himself down as he no longer saw a threat in this purple hedgehog; or see her as a threat. He held onto her hand for a few minutes to let the full effect of his powers take place. Becca walked up to Firon's side, kneeling down until her face almost leveled with Firon's ear.

"What just happened?" she asked as a request, listening if Firon chose to answer. The silver hedgehog looked at her coldly, not exactly feeling so good currently, but still conscious enough to speak.

"She was infected by Cage's dark energy...she probably touched him, and it got in through her hand. I call it Cage's Disease. As soon as he comes in contact with a living thing physically, that living thing slowly begins to die as their own anger or fear, if any felt at that time, begins to backfire on him or her," Firon looked back at Indigo, who was now nearly asleep as she recovered slowly with each passing second. Time wasn't against them anymore. Becca looked worried as she took a look for herself at Indigo's face, seeing several beads of sweat stuck on the purple hedgehog's muzzle and her constant, but healing, wheezing. Firon noticed this worry as he looked back at Becca.

"She'll be fine, we'll bring her along with us since there's no chance she'll survive out here in a place once inhabited by that bastard, Cage..." Firon released Indigo's pale hand, slipping her glove back onto her hand. He smoothly pulled his own glove back onto his own hand, lifting Indigo by her belly, cradling her in his arms, and getting up off the ground.

"Let's get going,"

* * *

Much later in the afternoon, Firon and Becca, along with the suspicious Indigo, had traveled several tenths of miles away from Waterfall Forest, away from any forest for sure. Firon wasn't going to trust visiting a forest ever again as long as Cage existed. He shrugged, realizing that meant his home to. Becca, on the other hand, had another less-serious problem. Her dress had begun to get into much worse shape then the day before. The sleeves and torso of her shirt were badly torn, one of her ties missing, and her belly was exposed. Her skirt had ended up being a little shorter then normal, rising above her knees; for reasons unknown. The one thing that disgusted her was why she had been walking barefoot all this time and getting herself covered in sticking dust and specks of dirt. She didn't enjoy the feeling of being literally dirty for so long, and hoped she'd soon find something to wash off the dirt and dust.

Indigo was perhaps the only one who had no thoughts on her mind, completely clueless of what to do. Her wrist was tightly squeezed by the piece of cloth that Becca had offered, forcing the wound to heal overtime. There was no way a good mood would come back to her, an attitude gone dangerously bad making it clear. Not only did she lose her brother the night before, but she would of died as well if Firon hadn't been there to save her. Natural anger formed inside her, doing nothing more but giving her a headache, not life-threatening pain. If she had died at that moment, Wren's death would have been in vain and she would've never been able to get close enough to even mortally wounding Cage. She felt the impulse and urge to kill, her hands having been enclosed as fists the whole trip as she tried to hold it on and not let it out on Firon again. The silver hedgehog was clearly not behind her brother's death; he certainly didn't have any type of allegiance with the black hedgehog, so why blame him? She didn't trust him, and it was hard for her to even start building that trust that could form a long-lasting friendship. Or, could it just cause more trouble between the two? Indigo nodded off from deciding for now, continuing to put effort in her walking as her legs started to feel sore.

After several more miles, Becca had finally gotten sick of her dirty condition and demanded that Firon lead her to a place where she could get cleaned up. Nervously, Firon gave himself no choice but to follow Becca's orders and change course for a while. Indigo frowned at the human girl that she was still getting used to. She had met a few humans that still existed on Mobius, and to her, all humans were the same: ignorant, rude, and selfish. They believed that mobians were only animals gone mutated from a failed experiment, and that they murdered the rest of their kind decades ago. Another belief was that the mobians were aliens that invaded the planet with lasers, space ships, and so and such. Humans were just another thing to be avoided, at least in Indigo's mind.

They had finally arrived at an area where they could rest for a while, maybe even camp if the night came very soon. A mile-wide river bank filled with streaming, clear and clean water was just nearby their supposed camp site, and Becca didn't hesitate to run nearly as fast as Firon towards the shore, ready to jump into the water and begin cleansing herself. The silver hedgehog didn't attempt to stop her, even though he was against seeing natural formations being used as bath tubs. However, it was only one human girl who knew what she was doing and getting into, and the water would naturally clean itself up over a matter of days. Firon sat cross-legged on the short grass-covered ground, Indigo sitting far across from him with her back against the bark of a living tree. Unlike the trees in Waterfall Forest, this one felt warm and welcoming; not cold and decaying.

As Becca tore off another piece of cloth from her shirt, using it as a wash cloth to scrub her feet and legs, Firon had kept his eyes on Indigo, staring directly into her soul and trying to figure who she really was and what energy she had. Remembering the energy signature he had sensed back in Waterfall Forest, he predicted it had to be her and that she was nothing like a chaos beholder. For one, her energy felt calm and protective, while chaos energy was often vicious and violent. Second reason, she wasn't immune to Cage's Disease, most likely because her energy didn't have the immunity to handle a completely different pathogen from a completely different energy source. The third and final reason, he had never met her before. He had remembered that all chaos beholders were fighting alongside him during the Mobian War, and that he was perhaps the last surviving one from aftermath of the war, all others either dying during the war or suffering at the hands of Cage.

Firon lifted himself off the ground, walking limply to Indigo, indicating he was more tired then he had ever been in his entire life. The purple hedgehog stared at him carefully as he drew closer, finally coming to a stop as he dropped onto his legs, barely sitting straight as he repeated Indigo's stare right back at her. He held his chin in his gloved palm, his elbow balancing on his knee. He was testing her to see if she would do something extraordinary, but she did nothing.

"So, let's start over and get to know each other a little, if you want-" Firon waited for a sign, and got it after seeing Indigo nod stressfully. He continued "My name is Firon, a chaos beholder and a veteran of the Mobian War. And you?" Indigo shifted slightly as she tried to remember her past, a bit uncomfortable with what she would tell to the silver hedgehog.

"My name is Indigo Lance, daughter of Harco Lance and Rose Lance, and survivor of a cataclysm that wiped out all our clan," Indigo began explaining to Firon what clan she was referring to: a small group of mobians who believed in someone known as the Angel Goddess, and were known by all as the Angel Believers. The one thing the Angel Believers had that no other mobian had was a spiritual energy known as angel energy, a very pure and powerful substance that has protected the clan for thousands of years. However, it didn't protect them well against a diabolical and destructive evil that proved to be stronger then even the most elite of angel protectors, those who swore an oath to protect their clan. In the end, only a few survived and attempted to make a living of their own elsewhere. The rest of them perished in flames that could not be put out.

Firon's eyes grew wide as he felt very deep empathy for Indigo, realizing she had gone through a similar past that he had. However, the purple hedgehog was very young at the time and hadn't remembered that much, therefore she didn't show so much emotion on telling the story of the death of her fellow mobians, and her family. She was lucky, and Firon envied her for that. His cursed memories stuck to him like a parasite, taking away his normal life and creating a new, more painful one in its own favour.

"I know how you feel-" Firon hesitated, his thoughts sinking in the back of his head. Wouldn't he start expelling his emotions if he told his own past? One that he always remembered and had turned him into nothing more then a vengeful predator? He didn't know for sure. Indigo seemed to notice him struggling with his thoughts. She put a gloved hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look at her with curiosity in mind. She put on a wicked smile that had Firon confused.

"I forgot to mention I can sense emotions in others, and right now I'm doing it-" Indigo took a few seconds to get further into the back of Firon's head, sensing more and more emotions and feelings locked up in a mental cage. It was feelings of regret, guilt, hatred; all of the bad emotions that often continued to change a mobian until all other emotions were erased from existence, creating one nasty personality. She continued.

"I sense regret for the drastic things you did during and after the war. I sense guilt for believing you were not strong enough to save your loved ones and friends. And, I sense a powerful level of vengeance, all nestled up inside every inch of your soul...that must mean you're on the lookout for the murderer," Firon was shocked. Everything Indigo said was right. He bowed his head low for a while as he quit his struggle, speaking in a small voice.

"Yes, well...I am hunting down Cage." the truth spilled from Firon's lips, and a pang of regret was now on Indigo's mind. She had wrongfully accused him of working with the black demon earlier in Waterfall Forest, but she was now clearly wrong.

"I'm sorry," she replied, her smile disappearing just as quickly as it appeared before.

"Don't be, you didn't know," Firon told her. He wasn't the type who showed off for always being right often, he wasn't in the mood to explain anything either. He brought out his hand and gently grabbed Indigo's resting hand, exiaming the cloth around her wrist.

"Looks like the blood stopped pumping, mind if I take this off ya?" his question was quickly answered by a nod, allowing him to unravel the many knots of the cloth, until it slipped off her wrist and onto the ground. An angry red scar was in the place where her wrist had once been, indicating it must of been truly painful like the scar on Becca's cheek. Firon sighed.

"I'm sorry I had to do that..." he apologized, but Indigo put her scar-less hand on his shoulder once more, a smile appearing on her face. It wasn't the wicked one from before, but a smile that Firon would have never expected from someone who had just gone through a terrible moment in life.

"You don't have to be, you did it to save me. I don't understand why you are holding regret over something like that-" Firon cut her off by a vicious head turn and bowing. He was beginning shudder once more.

"You don't understand do you? You actually grew up in safety...grew up without any worry in the world. But me?" he pointed to himself as if holding a knife to his heart "I was nothing more then just a fighting machine meant to fight, and nothing more. I have never felt any true emotion, and its because of that lack of mobianity did my comrades have to suffer dearly. I held no true care for anyone in the world except my family and friends. Those mobians died because of me, I just let them stay there and die at the hands of a mad man gone insane!"

"How is that relating to now?" Indigo asked him confusingly, with the silver hedgehog coming back to what was going on now then what was the past. He turned around to face her without weakness. He wasn't afraid to admit more of the truth.

"You know how risky it is to perform energy removal?" the question went unanswered as Indigo nodded. Firon crossed his eyes and proceeded to tell more of his knowledge "It's when you try to cut open the body with the opposite of that energy and to kill the infecting energy there and then. Technically, it's not removing, but rather killing a parasite or disease,"

"So how is it risky?" Firon shifted for a while, annoyed at Indigo's lack of memory at the moment.

"The victim of the removal has a ninety out of a hundred percent chance of dying. You were only lucky..." a smile finally flickered across Firon's muzzle, at least showing he didn't hold any regret anymore. Indigo kept her smile as well, clearly grateful for Firon's quick actions. It wasn't until her goal came back into mind.

"I have to find Cage...I have to avenge my brother," her smile was long gone, but Firon took her hand in his and held it gently. His smile hadn't changed once, sensing something turning partly in his favor.

"We're after the same killer, and no matter what happens, I'll let you deliver the killing blow," Indigo grinned viciously, liking the idea of a fatal wound that would kill Cage. Firon let go of her hand, standing back up and calling out to Becca, who was already halfway back to the two hedgehogs after finishing up to cleanse herself. Her dress was soaked in cold, dripping water but, her skin was as clean as it would ever be for the time being. As soon as Becca was close enough, Firon turned his view towards the sky, seeing stars dot the blue-black sky as the sun set over the horizon.

"We might as well camp here for the night, we got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. And always remember this-" Firon paused, turning back to Indigo and Becca, both of them listening carefully "We're all in this...together,"