A/N: Hey there, everyone! I know, "Where have you been, man?" The answer is everywhere, nowhere, and anywhere. Trust me, I don't even know.
But as promised, here is the first chapter to Chaos Resistance. I'll leave the cast list up for a bit until I get the second chapter ready. (Whenever that is. Maybe 2014? lol!)
Anyway, enjoy.
In the past, the Sinclair Forest was one of the most beautiful places on Mobius. Trees were lively, rivers were pristine, and wildlife thrived. But that was years ago. Now, since Ragnarok, the forest was near death, the rivers were now poisonous, that is if there were any river beds with water in them, and the wildlife either fled the area or were killed by the robots. Now the Sinclair Forest is called the Forest of Remembrance.
On a hill overlooking the forest, a hot pink hedgehog scanned the area, a focused and serious look on her face. Outfitted with a simple tank top and denim shorts, she seemed rather comfortable as an empty wind came by, playing with her loose quills. This place obviously meant something to her.
"Gail! Come in, Gail!" The hedgehog sighed when she was pulled from her thoughts. "Are you reminiscing again?"
Gail pressed a button near her ear, making the circle form a headset microphone near her mouth. Next, she pressed and held another button as she spoke. "What makes that your concern, Strike?"
A laugh came on the other end. "Ouch! You really know how to hurt a guy, don't you?"
Gail sighed once again. Strike Grayde seemed to be in a joking mood, but even he wouldn't contact someone unless he had some report behind it. "What do you have?"
"Straight to business, huh? There's some activity going on about 15 miles northwest of your position."
Gail tensed, wondering if it was what she thought it was. "Ragnarok?"
"Not sure. Want me to fly in?"
Gail thought for a moment. If it was Ragnarok activity, she may need some back up. However, if it was a runaway, the extra force may scare them off and lead them into further harm. Then again, if it was both... "Pick up Van from HQ. If I'm not back there in ten minutes, pull out the Storm."
"Got it. But watch it, girl."
The hedgehog rolled her eyes, but she appreciated the concern. "Just watch the clock." Without another word, Gail dashed off at amazing speeds. She constantly scanned the area, watching for any change in the scenery, which came quickly. A scouting group of robots was noticed chasing something in the thicker part of the woodwork. "Let's see what we got."
Back at Chaos Resistance HQ, Strike entered the hanger bay, the area where all of the planes were kept. The dark red hawk scanned over his creations, a smile forming at the thought of his genius. Well, maybe they weren't all his creations, but either way, he loved the sight of planes. Whenever he could rebuild his family's estate, he would make sure the family business would be in plane engineering.
"Storm, you're looking as good as ever!" he said to one plane in the front as his patted the metal frame. In the reflection, he noticed some of his feathers were out of place and started fixing the problem.
"Hey, Bird Brains!" The loud voice stunned Strike for a moment, but he calmed down once he saw a familiar echidna.
"I swear, do you always have to make an entrance?" The faint sounds of robotic parts moving was heard as the dark gray echidna came next to Strike.
"What? You'd rather me sneak up on you?"
Strike scoffed. "With that body, Vanessa?"
Vanessa's eyes narrowed at the comment. "Are you trying to call me fat?" Strike suddenly went defensive, stuttering several apologies and trying to rephrase his statement. Vanessa, however, just laughed. "Relax! I know what you meant."
Strike gave a sigh of relief. He already made Van mad once and he paid for it with one of his blueprints for a fighter jet. Even today, he still has yet to make it again. Once he fixed his green aviator jacket, he decided to give Vanessa the run down. "Right. But did you get the message?"
"We're supposed to give Gail some backup, right?"
"Well, if she wasn't here in ten minutes, she told me to pick you up and meet her in an area that we found some activity in." Almost absentmindedly, Strike hopped into Storm's pilot seat. "I think that was seven minutes ago, but you know what?"
"What?" Almost as an answer, Strike started the engines of the plane and the propeller up front started its circular motion. Van laughed, knowing the translation. "You never were good with time, were ya?"
"Not at all!" As Strike flipped a few switches and double checked everything, Vanessa jumped into the passenger seat, ready for a small trip. "All right... Time to make the grade!"
Gail caught up with the robots, noticing they were chasing two residents of a nearby village. Looking at the force she was up against, around 10 robots total, she may have some difficulty taking care of them all, and she still had five minutes until Strike and Van arrived. If she wanted to save the citizens, she need to distract the hunks of metal somehow.
"Clover!" One of the Mobians tripped, making the situation even worse. Gail needed to act fast if she wanted everyone to make it out alive.
"Jack, no! Keep going!" Jack didn't listen as he ran back to try and help Clover up, but the robots were upon them quicker than expected. They both looked into the glowing blue eyes of the killer robot, hoping that they can somehow make it out alive. As the servant of Ragnarok rose his gun to finish its job, Gail made her move.
Gail dashed to the side of the pack, getting in line of the lead bot, and lunged forward with incredible speed to send a kick straight into its head. The robot's gun veered off during the tilt, but it still shot and pierced through the older Mobian's arm. She screamed out in pain, making Gail furious.
"Intruder!" the robots yelled in unison as they pointed their attention to Gail.
"Still haven't upgraded your speech, have they?" She was answered with gunfire directed at her. The hedgehog jumped around to avoid the bullets while thinking of a better plan. Now one of the victims were wounded, which made them evacuating on their own out of the question. If only Strike and Van came in by now, she wouldn't be in this mess.
"Intruder! Intru-" One of the robots was cut off as a red triangular beam was sticking out of it's torso. A couple of the robots turned to acknowledge the loss of a scout, but soon that same beam turned around and cut off their own heads.
Gail saw the others drop dead. Once she saw that light flash, she knew that help had arrived, but not by those she expected. "Let's finish them off, Angela!"
"Way ahead of you!" Angela started ripping two to shreds. Each part fell like a tin can with each clean slice she gave like all they were were a metal training dummy. Gail on the other hand dented every bot she passed until they either malfunctioned or were too beat up to even move. By the time they were done, only one remained. It looked at both of the hedgehogs, unsure if he should shoot or retreat, but by the time he decided to run away, Gail dashed behind the scout and kicked it towards Angela, who took her weapon and let the robot fall into the beam.
"Pile of trash," Angela commented as she pulled her weapon out. Gail, however, went straight to the Mobians, assessing the damage. The one who was shot wasn't critically injured, but the faster they get treatment, the better.
"Angela, could you stay with the younger one until Strike and Van get here?" Angela looked at the child, the little rabbit scared out of his mind. It reminded her of herself so long ago.
Angela nodded. "Just be careful." Gail nodded in reply, picking up the older rabbit and started running as fast as she could.
The base was unusually quite today. No plans being made, no new victims of Ragnarok's terror, it was just a smooth day. Most members were either mingling in their rooms or the halls or messing with personal projects. Of course, for some people, that's not entirely a good idea, as they would soon find out.
A large bang could be heard in the lower quarters of the base, shaking most of the foundation. However, everyone was sure of what happened, and they knew who it was from. One fox, though, wanted to check up on that said person as the door to the source of the explosion opened, letting out a bunch of smoke. A light brown fox stuck her head in, coughing as she inhaled a bit of the air.
"Deci?" She called as she stepped in a bit more, covering her mouth with her pink tank top. "Deci, are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" A young voice replied followed by the sound of ventilators turning on, getting rid of the smoke. Once the lights could get through, one could see the room was actually a laboratory. Some glass was scattered across the floor, most likely due to the explosion, and a small brown fox was over at the far end, coughing a bit before looking his visitor in the eyes. "I just tried an experiment, that's all. Nothing to worry about, KT."
KT sighed in relief. Of course she expected him to be okay, but just the thought otherwise slightly worried her. She fixed her black hair a bit, making sure nothing got in it from the smoke, then entered fully, meeting Deci at the table in the middle of the room. "What were you trying to make?"
"Nothing much." Deci gathered up the broken glass on the table and pushed it into a hole meant for waste disposal. "I was trying to make a serum that would heal most minor injuries at first consumption. It's like a drinkable first aid."
KT thought for a moment, knowing the description sounded like something. "You mean like potions from those fantasy novels?"
"Well, yeah..." Deci blushed a bit. Actually, that was what gave him the idea in the first place. "I just thought it would give you and Mikaela a break from doing things the long way."
The female fox gave slight smile, appreciating the thought. True, treating the victims of this war could be a hassle, and maybe even tedious, but if everyone who worked in the infirmary didn't do so, there would be more casualties than ever. "That's very sweet of you, Deci, but we're fine."
"But that's what everyone's been saying lately." The young fox took a seat, looking slightly depressed all of a sudden. "Things have been so quiet lately. Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing, but I haven't been given any assignments and I really want to do something."
It's true that Ragnarok hasn't made any moves in the past few weeks. Maybe some recon drones trying to find their base, but that had never been a problem. The defense systems and scheduled patrols always took care of them. Deci was sure other people felt the same way, and KT could understand that. Well, if she could anything for her friend...
KT suddenly took Deci's arm, pulling him out of the lab. "Whoa! Hey, hold on! Where are you taking me?"
KT looked back at him, smiling. "You said you wanted to do something, so let's take a walk together."
At first, Deci was surprised, but his face soon had an amused expression. "Okay then, but could I please walk by myself? I'm being dragged here!" As they left the room, the only thing heard down the hallway was the girl fox's laughter.
"We have someone injured!" Gail's words echoed throughout the infirmary, making the once quiet room suddenly buzz with activity. Several doctors and nurses jumped in and took the injured Mobian from Gail's arms, placing them in an open bed and went straight to work.
Gail was about to leave and let everyone else take care of the rabbit, but she was then ran into by a familiar cat. "Oh, I'm sorry, I-" The gray cat looked up to see Gail, making her stop in mid sentence. The cat relaxed, noticeable from her ears thanks to the black tips. She was wearing her nurse uniform, but still had on her blue sneakers, telling she just came into the room. "Gail!"
"Gunshot wound from some robots," Gail immediately explained, knowing it's best for victims to get all the help they can get. That, and knowing that the girl wanted to help. "Think you can help bandage her up, Mikaela?" Mikaela the Cat nodded and rounded Gail, heading straight for the patient. "Oh, and Mikaela!" She stopped for a second. "I have something to ask you later. Find me and I'll tell you." Mikaela nodded once more and went to work, making the hedgehog smile as she headed out.
It didn't take too long before Gail's moment of peace was broken by a familiar voice. "Hey, Hot Pink Wind!" Gail chuckled to herself for two reasons: One; she still wanted a shorter nickname, and two; she forgot about the order she gave Strike. "I was told there was action and you didn't save me any!"
The hedgehog turned to the hawk, Strike being accompanied by Vanessa and Angela, as expected. "Sorry, Fly Guy," Gail apologized with a fat smile on her face. "I just wanted it to end quickly, that's all."
"That's no excuse! I even used my catchphrase thinking I was going to make a heroic entrance!"
"That was your first mistake," Angela whispered, but loud enough for the group to hear, including Strike. Van and Gail started to laugh, but Strike gave a bland glare, clearly not amused.
Once the fit of laughter subsided, Gail continued. "It's not my fault. There were Mobians that were being chased by them, and you know the rules. 'Every-'"
"Yeah, yeah. 'Every Mobian must be protected,'" the hawk finished. "Fine, I'll let it slide this time." Nothing else was said by him as he walked down the hall alone, waving to the girls as he left.
"I'll never know what goes on in the bird's head." Angela's words got the other two laughing again.
"Tell me about it," Vanessa said, wiping a tear with her organic hand. "But I thought it was a good call, Gail. If anything happened, at least backup would be on the way."
"I may have needed it," Gail stated matter-of-factly. "If it wasn't for Angela coming up, things could've gone south."
"I thought that myself," Angela stated. "With civilians in the picture, anything could go wrong with only one person."
"Working as a vigilante makes one see that, huh?" Angela shrugged at Van's words, knowing it could be possible. It's hard to work as a lone wolf.
'A lone wolf...' The thought brought a question to Gail's mind. "Hey, have you heard from Shade or Dusk?"
"Last I heard," Vanessa spoke up, "The wolves and Layla went on a recon mission to gather intelligence."
"Are the heads planning something?"
"Possibly," Angela stated. "With Ragnarok being so quiet, it could be a great time to launch an offensive. Maybe even disrupt any plans that mechanical monstrosity may be putting into effect."
Gail nodded in agreement. Such a tactic would give the Chaos Resistance some ground in this war. With Mobious in the state it's in, the quicker they destroy Ragnarok, the better. 'Any plan he has, we'll be sure to put it stop to it.' Such were the thoughts of all in the CR.
Next time on Chaos Resistance:
We check in on Layla, Shade, and Dusk during their recon mission to witness the chaos that has dug into Mobious first hand and find some startling information.
