Crystal (C) her player
T.R.I.A.D. (C) Pyro Dragoon
Other than that, all locations, persons, etc (C) Joseph Ritter
Timeline: About a month or so after DOOMSDAY
Suggested Mood Music: 'Acid Air Raid' by Solar Quest and 'Where Do I Begin' by the Chemical Brothers
A World Of Hurt and Healing
By Blood Fang
'Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do, There ain't no cure for the summertime blues.' -Eddie Cochran
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Western Raij Forest July 3, 3234 11:34 P.M. M.S.T.
A small squirrel rustled through the leaves. It could see well in the darkness of the forest at night, and it scurried around seeking food. As it hopped from leaf to stone to log, it's keen ears heard a fast- paced rustling sound. As it looked around, it's beady eyes saw in the darkness, a figure, a shape, approaching at a high speed. It jumped out of the way just in time to avoid being stepped on by this shape as it thundered past.
The shape was a hedgehog. As he ran through the forest, leaves flying every which way, as his red spines swayed back and forth with each pounding step, the hedgehog's mind raced. He saw in his mind's eye his wife and baby daughter, sitting in their home in the city. She was naked, and so was her offspring, and she held the baby with love beyond an outsider's imagination. It was so pure, so innocent... so endangered.
The hedgehog thought about what the fox had told him. As he considered the fox's words, something made his already overworked muscles work even harder, his blood and heart pump even faster. His green military pants bent and stretched with each stride. His shirt, with the number of his district printed in gold, flapped in the wind and rushing air. Both holsters held fast to his side, with the process black guns strapped in. His fingerless gloves, also process black, flexed with his hand muscles. His olive jacket flew.
His head pounded harder with each movement and step. Finally he reached the edge of the forest. He was almost there. He ran to the stone ledge at the top of a hill. He could see the city, lights bright in the night sky. He could see the highways leading to and from the pristine city. All of it, was doomed. But he hoped it wasn't too late to save that which he held most dear.
He was.
He saw it, as a small, yellowish light. It looked like a shooting star, one that decided to fall from the sparkling backdrop and onto his planet. Even before it hit his city, he realized what would happen. He covered his face with his arm in instinct.
The cloud, reddish and mushroom shaped, rose up, and poisoned the skies. It was brighter than the sun. And it was silent. The wind, even from miles away, was enough to make his jacket flap, and nearly succeed in blowing him over.
As the flash brightened, then dulled, three feelings filled his body, mind, and soul. Hatred. Anger. And sorrow. The hedgehog, given his upbringing in the military, was suprised by these feelings, as he had almost never felt them.
Growing up in a military dorm did that to you.
Whatever ties he had with the government, with his country, with the safety of the people, were torn. All that he cared for was vengeance for the terrible crime against him, and his life. The crime against the people didn't matter. All that mattered was the destruction of whoever had done this to him.
Minutes later, there was nothing left of the city but charred hunks of building. The idyllic lake nearby had bubbled with the heat. All that remained was smoke rising.
He stood there, only the heavens knew how long. His mind had fried. He had no comprehension of what had just happened. Only shock. He vaguely remembered something the fox had told him. He walked away from the ledge, away from the ruins. He staggered through the forest. Twice, he fell, and had no incentive to get up again. But he did. He had to. It was far from safe to be in the area. Finally, he reached a large clearing. In the center of the clearing, stood a fighter craft aboard a launch pad. He had just enough energy to get in and fall into a deep sleep.
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Western Raij Forest July 4 05:23 A.M.
He woke up screaming. It was just a short scream, but it was a scream, nevertheless. He remembered the night before. It had been real. Even though his brain would not accept it, it was real, not a dream. It was now the new way of life. Life. He began to think about his own.
He was born 19 years ago. He had barely been 8 when suddenly, the war began- a war of living things against robots. It had originated far to the east, across the ocean. Here, the West Continent was in relative safety from the war, ever since pushing it back to the Great Continent from whence it came five years ago.
He was a pilot, the best in the Air Force. For the past four years, he had slowly climbed the ladder, until he had reached the most elite of fighter pilots. The war of robots may have been pushed back, but a new war had begun soon after: the war against the terrorists. Terrorists have remained, and had caused many disasters and taken many lives. The terrorists had stolen top military equipment, and many more awful things. The hedgehog himself was credited for shooting down nine of them.
Just last year, he had married his long time girlfriend, and they had had a daughter, which he had not yet seen. And never will see.
He had tried to lead a normal life: shoot down some terrorists, go home to a loving family. He never expected to be called by a strange fox. The fox, who refused to tell his name, had told him about how the terrorists had gotten their hands on some highly destructive weaponry. Many cities had already been destroyed, and the the city of Motor Drive was next on the list. Then the fox had left to return to his base before he was missed. Not that the hedgehog cared. He had run through the forests at speeds he never knew he could reach. But he was too late.
Coming back to the present day, his face took on a look of pain and anger. He fired up the engines, and flew off.
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South Base, off the coast of Southern Continent 6:25 A.M.
His first target was the island's location that the fox had given him, on the Great Continent's southern portion. He had named the fox The Informant, and with good reason. The Informant had told him that when he had rescued his family, to come to the base. At first, he would not be associated with them, because he didn't want to get into trouble. But he would have conferred with them in secret, however, as they must keep contact.
Reaching the islands, some two thousand miles away, half an hour's worth of flying the plane, he did a quick survey of the base there. Then he landed.
There was no sign of anyone here. All that he could see was burn marks on the two buildings, and blood on the ground. It was silent, except for a snake rustling through a bush. He could smell the scent of burning building materials, and the stench of burnt flesh. He walked into one of the buildings.
Here, he saw three bodies, one of them a fox, one of them a raccoon, one of them a badger.
He ran up to the bodies, and saw that one of them, the fox, was still alive, gaping holes in his chest. He recognized the face as belonging to the Informant who had given him such important, but late, information. He started to speak, but then stopped, as the Informant was trying to speak himself.
"Islands... to the north..." The hedgehog pondered this. Islands to the north? He didn't know of any such place. The only thing to the north was the Great Continent itself. Between that, two hundred miles of ocean...
"In... other hangar..." the Informant said. "Planes... weapons..." He laid back and sighed. He closed his eyes. The hedgehog checked his pulse. The fox was dead.
In the other hangar, the hedgehog found that there were indeed planes, and some of the most wonderful weapons around. Some were fitted onto a plane, some were for fighting on the ground. He looked over a desk in the far end. On the desk, was a map. Here, it clearly showed where these islands were. It also showed some of the other enemey bases around the continent. He knew what he had to do. Looking over his available weapons, he picked from them, to supplement his pistols, two knifes, two automatic pistols, and a shotgun, which he strapped over his back. Then he turned, and looked at his choice of ships. The one that caught his eye was small black anti-grav ship, shaped like an arrowhead. On it's side was painted in blue and red letters, 'SLED FANG'.
Immediately the hedgehog stopped mulling over the ships and got into the 'Sled Fang'. Then, he piloted it out of the hangar, and flew to the north.
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Blood Islands (A.K.A. Zone Triple Six) 6:45 A.M.
Sure enough, the islands were there, covered with palm trees, rivers, streams, bridges, installations. But something was wrong; missiles were screaming toward him. Dodging them barely, he looked at his scanner, which showed that there were three boomerang shaped craft screaming toward him. He turned his craft toward them, and unleashed a barrage of pulse cannon fire. The ships were torn apart quickly. But more missiles were coming. He dodged them, and began to search for the source. Apparently there were missile silos all over the islands. So he flew low over each one, dodging enemy fire and missiles.
After an hour of fighting, he had destroyed all of the installations on the islands- silos, factories, hangars. Landing on the one pad that he had not destroyed, he got out.
Never before had he seen so much devastation at his own hand. As he began to survey the damage, he found no trace of life, no bodies. Was this whole thing automated? If so, what kept things running? The terrorists, no matter how cunning and intelligent, couldn't even get close to getting their hands on this equipment. And surely the government wouldn't destroy one of their own cities. So it must be a third factor. But who? What organization? For that matter, why? But he had no time to ponder this, as he heard the streak of A.G. fighter craft flying north. He looked to the skies, so clear and blue over the jungle. He knew that if he followed the craft, he would most likely find an answer. He would solve this mystery.
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Northern Continental Forest, Tamarack 3:34 P.M.
The hedgehog flew north, over the great continent, until he had reached the Forest of Snow. Here, he saw nothing but beautiful mountains, trees, glistening snow. Here, it was at last peaceful. He decided to take a break, and rest. He landed his craft in the middle of the Forest. He looked around.
Nothing but pine trees and snow. He knew he was in the country of Tamarack. He turned on his scanner, set to detect sound. Nothing... except for the sound of snow crackling... peace... then he heard it. A guitar. He barely heard it, but it was there. Carefully, he got out of the ship. He went towards the sound. He stepped through a bush, and there was a small girl, a fox, playing a guitar. She was a dark blue color, and her tail kept perfectly still. She sat there, playing, her eyes closed. Her smallish lock of hair rustled in a cool breeze. She was like an angel. She wore nothing but pants and a shirt. The hedgehog wondered how anyone could stay out in the cold for so long. He stood there, perfectly motionless. She sat there, also motionless, except for her hands moving on the guitar. For the longest while, they sat there, she unaware of him. Finally, she opened her eyes. She saw the hedgehog, and was startled.
"Aaah!"
The hedgehog was equally startled, but he remained calm. "Hey, easy, I'm not gonna hurt you," he said. "Who are you? How can you stand this cold?" He shivered a bit with the thought. "I am Crystal... I'm an ice elemental," she replied. "Ice doesn't bother me. I control it. And who are you?" The hedgehog thought to himself. His name was Joey, but he thought it best not to use it. He decided to use his callsign- Blood Fang. He told this to Crystal. "How old are you?" She asked. "Do you really want to know?" he answered. "Yes, tell me." "Alright, I'm 19. But that's what military records say. I think I'm much older, but I have no way of proving this. Nor any way of finding out what my true age is."
"Oh," she said. "Perhaps I should tell you that I'm about 17, but that's only mentally. I have no idea how old I really am. I have vague memories of some other girl, a fox, but... Let's just leave it at that."
"Alright," he said. He shivered.
"Hey," she said. "Are you cold? Come on, I know a warm place we can go to." She stood, and offered her hand. He took it, with some trepidation. When his hand touched hers, some sort of energy flowed between them. They saw each other's eyes. They walked to the place Crystal had mentioned, hand in hand.
They reached the Warming Place, a shelter for freezing animals. It wasn't very large, just enough space for two people to sit near a roaring fire. They sat there, and warmed up their bodies.
Crystal spoke first. "So why are you up here, so far north?" "Because I'm looking for revenge." "Revenge? On who?" "Whoever destroyed my city, killed my family and friends..."
Crystal sat silently. Her guitar stood beside her, waiting to be played again. She let it stand. She was more interested in this dark, yet loving hedgehog. They shared a similar situation: neither of them knew what their true past was.
She looked at him, his jacket, his pants, his red spines, his grey eyes. There was something more about this hedgehog, something only he knew about. She could sense it.
Blood Fang abruptly broke the spell of the fire. "I want to find out who destroyed everything dear to me. I want to destroy THEM."
He stood, and got out. He began to walk. He stopped, and partially turned. He spoke to Crystal, who was getting out with her guitar. "If you want to come, fine. If you don't, I understand." "No, I'll go with you," she said. She really liked looking at Blood Fang smile just then. "Then, let's go," he said, taking her hand.
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Rimdinfrost Territory, Tamarack 5:35 P.M.
They flew farther north. The Forest of Snow still had not stopped, and it wouldn't for another 100 miles. Crystal sat in the back, where there was one seat, and a computer. Up front Blood Fang sat in the pilot's seat. They flew far, until Blood Fang spotted a large military base. He saw on his radar that 17 aircraft were headed his way. He was about to blast them to bits and the base as well, when Crystal saw something that made her shout, "No! Don't!" Blood Fang looked at her, and she showed him the monitor. He understood, and flew away from the base at Turbo speed. He understood why she didn't want him to attack: there were women and kids down there.
They flew to the east. Here, they found another base. This was much larger than the first, and as far as Crystal could tell, there were no innocent people. The ship was cloaked, and any radar was jammed, so they were not attacked. However, that would soon change the minute they started bombing. The first bomb struck, and immediately, Crystal saw the base going crazy. They had revealed themselves by releasing the bomb, and they were an open target. Only one thing they could do now: destroy all attackers, and wipe this base off the planet.
They flew and turned to make another run over the base. Three boomerang shaped craft came firing at them with four pulse cannons each. Blood easily avoided the oncoming fire, and returned with his own. Each shot found it's target. This continued for an hour, as research labs, hangars, silos, all were destroyed. Landing, they began to search the rubble for any clues.
There was a lab that was barely scratched, and it was there that they begun the search. They entered the building. If anyone was here, they had evacuated a long time ago. Searching room after room, they eventually found a scientist cowering under a table. They yanked the scientist out, and Blood yelled at the poor guy, who was a short little wolf. "What do you know about Motor Drive?!" He spat.
"P-p-please... I'll tell everything!" the scientist whimpered. "Then talk!" Blood shouted. "Okay... there's a group that controls everything. And I do mean everything. They even control most of the governments."
"What is this group?"
"Something called TRIAD, for Treidian Reptiles In Adverse Degrees."
"Where is it's headquarters?"
"That, I don't know. All I know is that they just want to destroy stuff!"
Blood stood there for a long time. Then, he threw the scientist across the room. "Get out."
The scientist whimpered, then said, "I know where there's another base..." Blood was immediately upon him.
"WHERE?!" He screamed.
"Blood, please," Crystal begged. Blood ignored her.
"To the south... in the fields..."
Five minutes later, Blood and Crystal were in the Sled Fang heading towards the Great Continent's vast midwest.
To Be Continued...