Walled In
The sunblessed the last hours of the day with a particular beauty before it was swallowed by the horizon. Nobody in the peculiar city would ever see the sun set beneath the earth. Most one could glimpse is the last of the rays filtering through the tall skyscrapers, over the tops of small homes, or through the dense tree life whose fingers laced intricately through the innards of the city, coexisting with its glass and concrete partners.
Dead centerof the city was a fortress of immense proportions, a palace to shame all others and overgrown with well-kempt flora. The only barriers to protect those whom have the privilege to seek pleasure within the warm confines of the lavished walls were the tallest trees with the thickest trunks and the most deeply burrowed roots, surrounding and overpowering the palace. There was but one path through the dense forest to the front steps of such a grand home, and it was so clear-cut that it could make one wonder how it could be done without ever taking an axe to bark.
In the clearing in front of the steps was a site to behold. At the base of the stairs were hundreds upon hundreds of people, humans, mingling with fantastic creatures half their size; creatures which resembled animals of all species and genus. But they all stood upright, mimicking their human counterparts (or were the humans mimicking the creatures?). They, too, coexisted. Humans and these creatures altogether called themselves Mobians, citizens of the Acorn Palace and the planet Mobia. To scholars, though, the planet will always be Second Earth.
While the Mobians chattered silently amongst themselves, there was hustle and bustle at the top of the steps. A podium was being set up, microphones being tested, wires being strung, and chairs being occupied by richly dressed humans and creatures. Standing between the riches and the common was a row of guards, tall and grizzly humans being separated by their shorter but still as gruff creature counterparts. One of the creatures, a mole standing near the middle, flexed his clawed hands behind his back in frustration.
Finally, as the last of the speakers were set up and tuned, silence was called by a blue hedgehog with a black mustache.
"Silence, please! Queen Elizabeth Acorn is about to speak," Slowly but surely silence crept through the crowd. Once all was silent but for the occasional cough or murmur, the blue hedgehog stepped away from the podium and sat in his allotted seat just to the right. As he stepped down from the podium, a creature which resembled a squirrel stepped up from a seat to the left and held position at the front of the stage.
"Mobians of Acorn Palace, this is the sixth-hundredth year that our forest has stood, that our civilization has held rigid." The cast of those among the chairs held their heads high, but for a small blue hedgehog at the very end of the right row, whom stifled yawns and unnecessary fidgeting, "Though we have held strong for this long, it is not without the many thanks to our soldiers. Many died in the recent skirmishes with the Wolven desert lands, some still stand here today. Make it known that Monday will forever be known as a holiday, to celebrate our victory in eliminating the Wolven threat as well as paying respect to the twenty-three hundred who have died in war. Let us bow our heads together in a moment of silence,"
And altogether everybody but the soldiers tilted their heads down, and somehow, for the briefest of moments, the silence was even more pronounced. The mole guard shed a silent tear, but made no move to wipe it away. Pain veiled with pride.
The pine needles in the trees rustled a melody when light winds dance about on the high branches, lulling children to sleep at night. The queen raised her head and glanced over the crowd.
"Thank you, thank you all. However brave our soldiers were, the casualties were catastrophic. The last of our warriors stand before you and around you. They are the veterans, and the most elite, but even so they are not enough to defend our kingdom. Therefore we have enlisted the help of a brilliant scientist, Dr. Kintobor, who has discovered a technology that will, in times of great need, create warriors of metal out of the common man. Here he is to speak of his technology and demonstrate its use." The beautiful woman stepped down from the podium and went back to her seat. A few chairs down from her, an obese man with a pointed head and a charming smile stood up to a microphone especially placed for him.
"Ahem, whoa, nervous here, haven't spoken to such a large crowd before." And he gave a nervous chuckle. There were a few chuckles in the crowd as well, though scarce. "Well, as her Highness has mentioned, yes there is a technology now which allows us to, at a cellular level, morph flesh and fur into metal and wiring. Right now it can only be performed on specific parts of the body, like an arm, leg or eye. The actual math behind it is extremely complex, so I think I'll demonstrate on myself and a willing soldier exactly what this does."
On a hand gesture from the doctor, two soldiers brought out a table that had several odd contraptions on top, and a video-camera that was sending a live-feed to huge screens set up behind the podium. It took a few minutes to set up, with the camera facing the table and doctor so that everybody could clearly see what was going on.
"This is a miniaturized version of the main device. The main device could easily fit a seven-foot human with a belt that could lasso five anthros," There was a mixture of true laughter and uncomfortable chuckles. Not very often do mobians make the distinction between a small anthro and a large human. In this case it seemed almost appropriate, though. "However, since it is a bit too much machinery to transport easily-at the moment-I've constructed a fully functional miniature to test out on this arm," he states as he lifts his left arm into the air as he stated this.
There were a few uncomfortable murmurs through the crowd as the fat man sauntered down to the table, an overly please look plastered to rolls on his face. Cameras followed his movements, catching easily how his fat jiggled with each step. If one looked close enough they could see how the vibrations actually acted like shockwaves through his form. One such kid did notice this, a blue hedgehog sitting at the end of a long line of 'royal pidgeons' as his uncle liked to call them.
The little hedgehog was trying his best to look proper, to not embarrass his uncle and the rest of his family. It was proving quite difficult to do, as he was constantly looking elsewhere for something to do. Looking to the right at the line of prim-and-proper proved boring, as none of them wanted to talk or even to give him notice, and looking straight he saw nothing but the largest crowd he had ever seen. Oddly enough it didn't fill him with any pride knowing that he was witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime event, having the entire Acorn palace, including peons from far-away fields, conglomerate to discuss the future of their society.
A small whisper off to the side caught the youths attention. He let his ear flicker in response before turning his gaze far to the left and behind him. Among the planters which line the outside wall of the architectural beauty were two other kids, dressed just as formally as their partner. One was a squirrel who was a mirror image of the queen. The other was fox whom sported two tails from his backside, though looked to be just three years old, whereas the squirrel and hedgehog seemed to be nine or ten years old each.
The little blue devil looked to the right again, trying to get his uncles attention with a small whisper.
"Pst! Uncle Chuck. Can I go play?" Of course, the whispering never went unnoticed by the rest of the nobles, evident through the various sneers and suppressed laughter. The older blue hedgehog, with a huge vein on his forehead and a constipated expression, looked to the left and whispered back.
"Watch this one demonstration, then formally bid leave or so help me god I will box your ears so hard that I'll rip them apart!" Of course, the little kid had no clue how serious his words were, so he shrugged off the anger and looked back down to the table.
Luckily he was distracted enough to miss almost all of the doctors speech, seeing as the fat man liked to hear himself talk. The child giggled a little when he looked down at the doctor and though he looked a lot like an egg.
"So, without further ado, Here we go!" The eggman strapped his arm into a small, glass cylinder. It filled with what looked to be smoke or gas, and the doctor was obviously biting back a scream of pain as the cloud of nanites did their trick. When the 'smoke' cleared, what was left was a bright, metallic hand. That's when the small blue hedgehog stood from his seat, bowed before his uncle and the others, and walked off to the side. Of course, once out of sight and earshot, his friends tackled him and they took off running.
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A/N: comments/flames/constructive criticism appreciated, though I might bite back if I see any teeth. Basically this took me a while to get out of my head. I'm not very good at getting through a chapter or story, cause I always loose track of where I am or I simply get distracted… for a few months. This is basically just a chapter to set up one of the key characters, and to serve as an intro. Also, it is mostly just for practice, since I am a little rusty. Hoping that I can pull-through with this story this time, since I don't plan on it being long and I actually have an ending in mind. Also, due to a really stupidly programed word-proccessor interface, I cannot put down the breaks I usually use nor can I indent.