THE ART OF WAR

Within the show, the Locusts, the Chosen and the Technos all fought for control of the City at different times, but what if they had all fought for it at the same time? The Art of War tells the story of how the City is suddenly thrown into chaos once more when these tribes vie for power all at once. The Mallrats, who have hidden ties to all three invading tribes, get stuck in the middle of this deadly game of war. Buried secrets threaten the very fabric of the Mallrat's unity and soon the only tribe which can stop the City from falling apart… begins to fall apart itself. In the No Man's Land that the City becomes, all must learn the art of war, and the successes, failures, and terrible losses that come with it.

AMBER refuses to accept that she was ever anyone but Eagle, and ever anything but an Eco. Her life with the Mallrats keeps coming back to haunt her. When her cousin Raven, who she was reunited with when she joined the Ecos, goes missing, Amber must confront the very thing she has been running from – the past.

RAM, the enigmatic and droll leader of the Technos, is planning great things for his tribe. But he hides his deep yearning for love and belonging with war-mongering. Java and Siva don't love him, yet he won't let them go. So who is it that will finally bring to Ram's life what he needs?

LEX cannot seem to find his place as everything he thought he knew crumbles around him. Everyone he has come to love has drifted from him, and he's lost what made him who he was. Until – someone with a familiar face tells him he will have a very important part to play in the future. He soon realises what this part is when a stranger crosses the path of the Mallrats— but in classic Lex style nothing goes to plan.

TRUDY'S life is falling apart at the seams. In the midst of great terror she found great love, and now she has lost it forever. If she were to reclaim it, she would have to pay a terrible price. She's also keeping a secret from the tribe that will throw her recent past into question, and cause havoc for the Mallrats.

SPIKE has visions of a glorious future ahead of him. He will be the next Zoot, terrible and revered. As he fights for his place on the Loco throne, he begins to learn the price of power, and what his actions to gain supremacy have done to the lives of innocent people around him.

LUKE wonders about the truth behind his life with the Chosen, and asks himself if this is the life he really wants. The Guardian knows he's hiding something – something that will inevitably threaten the very future of the Chosen, and Luke fears for his life if his leader should ever discover it.

EBONY is losing her touch as her carefully ordered world comes crashing down around her. The Queen of the Locos isn't handling the trouble in the City very well. What will she do when she is finally overthrown by her own tribe and abandoned by the Mallrats? With revenge in mind, will she do the worst thing she could ever possibly have done?

BRAY'S calm and authoritative personality slowly unravels as he sees the city for what it really is. He begins to realise he has no control and never had any, and he cannot see how he will be able to bring the peace he so longs for to the city.

-O-

Main Tribe characters: Amber/Eagle, Bray, Danni, Ebony, Ellie, The Guardian, Jack, Jay, Java, Lex, Luke, May, Pride, Ram, Salene, Siva, Spike, Tai-San, Trudy, Ved

Original characters: Anubis, Archer, Asha, Blaze, Caden, Cypress, Echo, Jax, Micah, Milton, Phoenix, Roe, Robin, Sienna/Raven, Tigra, Viper, Zack

Tribes featured (canon and original): the Mallrats, the Locusts/Locos, the Chosen, the Technos, the Gaians/Ecos, the Gulls, the Outcasts, the Demon Dogs, the Slave Traders, the Pyros

Main Locations: the City Cathedral, the Gaian Camp, the Horton Bailey Hotel, the Phoenix Mall, the Rail Yard, the Techno Base, the Ministry of Defence

Important Notes: Although I would say the time frame for this fiction is late series 2, many characters and plot arcs from later series have been incorporated. Take everything from series 1 as a given, but things from there on are mostly different. Ram, in this story, is not wheelchair bound, Spike is not dead, Trudy has not betrayed the Mallrats to the Chosen, and Ebony's lie to get Amber to flee after the explosion is different to that in the show. This fiction is also written similar to how the series is presented, which a rounded view of everything going in, romance is a big factor, and characters have mostly been kept true to type.

-O-

Part 1 – Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

The City is at war.

Long, brutal years had passed since the Virus destroyed the lives of so many. Years of vicious warfare, of death in the streets, of disease festering in alleyways, of gang rapes and of misery for those too young to even remember why the world was like this.

For all the trying on the part of the willing, the City was in no better shape than it had been in the Lonely Time. The Lonely Time… the time of confusion, isolation and fear immediately after the Virus. People were still confused, isolated, afraid… only now there was more reason to be. Power and chaos, the Locos' fear-inducing motto almost seemed ironic now. Power was fought for and chaos was the result, no matter if you were a Loco or not.

Loco Queen Ebony had gone soft some said. She had taken up with the do-gooder Mallrats, and the Locos were nothing more now than their glorified bodyguards. Ever since Zoot had died she had lost her touch. The proud name of the Locos was losing its potency and all because of her weakness, or so said her lieutenant, Spike, anyway.

When Ebony had made her proud band of Locos form a Militia to guard her new tribe, the Mallrats, Spike hadn't been happy. Why would he want to protect a tribe of do-gooders who would get him nowhere? Why would she?

Ebony was the devil incarnate, only with more sex appeal, more charm… and more lip gloss. She could've ruled the City if she'd continued down her track with the Locos, but she chose lesser routes. So Spike would have to do it now. Protecting a bunch of kids wasn't exactly what the Locos been fighting tooth and nail for since the Virus hit. They'd been fighting for freedom, supremacy and control. Spike would make sure they got it.

The Mallrats, they thought they could run this city, introduce laws and rules, and make it like the old world. Spike couldn't let that happen. It was wrong. The old world had been wrong. The Virus had given them a chance for something more visceral, something instinctive, to bring back ancient ways.

People had become mindless automatons, abiding by man-made rules. Tribes inhabited the city now — and it was about time they started acting like tribes. Real tribes — strong, powerful, warrior-like. They would abide by that one all-powerful natural law: survival of the fittest.

Spike smiled into the darkness. He could hear his tribe creating havoc down by the pool. They should have their fun, because soon there would be no time for it. Ebony wouldn't let her power go very easily, there would be a fight. A war. And he would be ready.

Spike wasn't the only one with dreams of dominating in that sprawling metropolis. The Guardian and his band of Chosen followers were going about it carefully. The Guardian had been a Loco himself once. He had seen the great Zoot in action, and had created this tribe to worship his memory. He believed that it was time to begin the ultimate offering to Zoot… this City on a plate.

The strung out girls, the drunken, useless boys, the starving and dying kids, the desperate gamblers, the petty thieves… all of them needed someone to turn to. Why not the Chosen? The Guardian would welcome them in with open arms. Zoot would protect them. Care for them. As long as they followed his way and his way only.

In the middle of nowhere on the edge of a cliff, The Chosen had set up camp. The Guardian knew that Zoot would eventually lead him back to the city where he had found the Supreme Mother. Not yet though. Not yet. But when he did, The Guardian knew who he would go to to form an alliance

Ebony.

The Guardian knew all about Ebony. He had known her since high school. Since they day she had breezed into the classroom and announced herself – a fourteen year old siren, with bronzed skin, mesmerising eyes and bee-stung lips. She'd wanted power even then.

He couldn't believe she had fallen from grace so hard. What he'd missed out on since leaving the Locos, Trudy had filled him in on. The girl had told the Guardian all he needed to know about Ebony's love for Bray and much, much more. She had talked and talked until she could talk no more. It's amazing what people will do under pain of death, the Guardian often marvelled. Death was not so awful, not with Zoot waiting at the other side.

Well, he supposed, it didn't much matter now, because the girl had gone on to Zoot now. Taken her own life. Stolen her presence from the world, from the Chosen. How dare she? The Guardian tried not to think about it much. It angered him. He needed to be calm.

He had a City to conquer.

The City was not just under threat from the Locos or the Chosen. Another, vastly more powerful tribe was eyeing it for conquest. They were less a tribe and more an army. The Technos. Their form-fitting black suits, their silver masks, their futuristic weapons - they would soon strike fear into the hearts of the weak. Ram had been born for glory. He had the mind of a genius and the resources to pull off his plans.

After the Virus had killed all of the adults, he had burst into action. His father had been a military man, so Ram knew his way around an army base well. He had crafted the one his father had commanded to his liking. He had recruited intelligent kids and trained them. Every single one of his Techno warriors had been primed and moulded for one simple purpose.

War.

The moment Ram had singled out the City as his first challenge, he had sent a scout on ahead. His scout had found an abandoned army base – perfect for Techno headquarters. His scout had also brought him information. About Ebony. About the Mallrats. About the Locos.

From his vantage point, on the look-out tower in the middle of the base, Ram smiled. He wasn't an evil boy. He wanted the simple things, love, laughter, life… but his thirst for power sometimes clouded his desire for these.

Although the trio of enterprising leaders vying for power were well-informed, they weren't aware of much else but their own visions of power. Other threats weren't on their mind. Their own plans were. And diabolical these plans were. It didn't seem that much good would come of them. In the end, not a lot of good did come of them for many people.

But before the City War, there was the beginning. Back when the City was at peace. From the highest skyscraper down to the lowest sewer, there were people of all kinds mingling together in mismatched tribes with mismatched morals. No tribe was perfect, and no tribe could possibly expect the chaos that would soon befall everyone in the City.

Least of all the Mallrats. Trouble of all sorts had always visited at their door, and they were no strangers to it. Even under the pretence of peace in the City, the Mallrats were experiencing a war of their own. A war of minds. A war of hearts. A war of pain, grief and sorrow. Every Mallrat had his or her own personal war raging inside them.

And their story begins now…

-O-