Chapter 1:
The rebelling Mobians
Knuckles watched the young Mobians training in combat with their nano swords. The swords were made especially for training, so that the maximum injury one would receive would be no more than a ache or minor burn.
"Perfect sword strokes." He complimented the soldiers. "But watch your footwork. You do not want the enemy to be able to trip you easily." The young soldiers bowed, before refocusing themselves, and acting on his advice.
The two soldiers finished their training, and Knuckles brought them out of the training grounds, were many others were practicing fighting. Knuckles knew they had plenty of good fighters, but Balthazar simply had the numbers. Guerrilla Warfare was not an easy practice, but it was effective. Balthazar hated it when they ambushed them with small, effective forces. But whenever Balthazar sieged a nearby town, there was nothing for them to do but retreat.
'
There were several others here besides himself. All of his old Chaotix buddies were here, some of them good advisers for him. Cream's mother, Vanilla, was here as well, but Cream was not here herself. She was a Prower, at least when she married Zoran and it was Knuckles that had persuaded the rebel council to tell Cream that she must leave. For Cream, this was like being in exile. But where they not all exiles now?
Cosmo was the only Prower here, but Knuckles did not want to tell them both to leave. Balthazar was careful not to tell her forces to complete annihilate them, because even if they were able, they may accidentally kill her, and that is not what she wanted. But if Cosmo wound up in the enemy's hands, that was very bad, and they would be forced to rescue her, and go into hiding.
For now, they could secretly attack and hide, but hiding had been useless. Somehow, they always knew where they were. Perhaps someone was betraying them, but Knuckles doubted it.
He had wondered where Tails, Violet and Zoran were. He wondered if Sonic watching over Cream, or if the two were in a spot of trouble right now. They have had no communication with one another since this all began about a year ago, or rather two, as for it was two years ago that they first observed Balthazar trying to get power. But they had done nothing, because it was only rumors. They should have acted sooner, but Knuckles figured it would have made little difference.
He felt sorry for Cosmo, being away from her firstborn for an entire year. He knew this was hard on mothers, but he never knew it how hard it really was until now, watching her constantly get depressed.
He decided to see her in her house. The door was always locked, Knuckles trusted no one but the Chaotix to see her and not do anything suspicious. Cosmo was probably growing weary of being visited in her house, but Knuckles did not want her to be seen by anybody, and whenever he did permit her to leave, to go to one of their councils, he made sure she was protected, and wearing armor to protect from laser penetration. Though Balthazar wanted her alive, if she was dead, then the rebel forces would lose their spirit.
He took a key out of his pocket, and unlocked the door. Cosmo was looking out the window, which allowed her to look outside, but for no one else to look in. It was one of Tails' useful inventions for the war, and Knuckles wished that he was here. He could be such an aid in the war effort.
Cosmo smiled when he entered. "Knuckles!" She greeted him. "How are things going?"
Knuckles smiled grimly. "Not well." He answered truthfully. "One of our forces is stuck in a standstill with the enemy. You know what happens when this occurs. A lot of death."
Cosmo looked saddened by this. "How does Balthazar have so much more warriors than we do? From what I've learned, she has at least four times the amount of warriors we do."
The answer was not hard to find. "Fear," Knuckles stated simply. "She employs all the tools of a cold, apathetic leader. And she uses them without regret." He turned away, looking out of the technological window.
"And then there's the fact that her scientists have taken over Tails' lab. That's how they're getting all those nano swords. An army with such technology would easily make a small town surrender. And the ones that resist get crushed." Knuckles sighed. "This a downscale war, Cosmo. It could be several years before we are defeated, perhaps decades, but I don't think we can win in the long run."
"Is there any good news?" Cosmo said, a faint smile forming on her innocent face.
Knuckles smiled back. "The good news is that the scientists have yet to uncover all of Tails inventions and designs. His security system is top of the notch, that's for the sure. You should hear some of the stories of what happened to them when they tried to get access to the Tsunami X-1000, his greatest plane yet (Environment friendly, I might add). The scientist got jolted by electricity!" Cosmo forced a laugh, but then she looked depressed once more.
"Knuckles, this is good and all, but what use is hiding and fighting if we are slowly going to lose?" She asked him.
Knuckles sighed. "I would rather die in battle than any other. I think I'd prefer that to even dieing a natural death." Knuckles gave her a pat on the back. "And trust me, for as long as they don't get the key to get clearance through the security, then we're good."
"The key?" Cosmo asked.
"Yes, the key." Knuckles answered her. "Tails is the key to his own security system. They could take his DNA or blood, but it won't work. They need him or his cousin to get to his greatest inventions, and they have to be alive, but I'm quite sure Zoran will avoid capture. Heck, we don't even know where he is! We at least have an idea where Tails is."
"You know where Tails is?" Cosmo shouted excitedly. "Tell me!"
Such was her excitement that Knuckles had to smile. "Our scouts say that he is nearing a lake that is close the Hebrides sea."
Cosmo gasped. "Knuckles, if he's that close, then if he decided to cross the sea, he'd be close to us, wouldn't he?"
"Golly, you're right, Cosmo." He shouted. "Why didn't I think of that? But how in the world did Tails get all the way on the other side of the continent? He must have traveled far! No wonder why Balthazar is having such a hard time catching him."
"But if he crosses the sea, Knuckles, he'll be in danger!" Cosmo said worriedly. "They'll capture him and my daughter as soon as they see him!"
"Don't worry Cosmo, if he does, we'll find him first." Knuckles reassured her. "After that, he can just stay here. I'm beginning to think that it was a bad idea to separate all of the Prowers. Zoran and Cream were fine; Zoran can turn invisible, and I don't think Balthazar knows that Zoran married Cream yet. With any luck, she'll never will, and if we're even luckier, she'll hardly remember her. That would make her really safe!"
Cosmo smiled. Then she turned to Knuckles. "I have a question, Knuckles." She said, slowly.
"Go ahead and ask." He stated.
"If we do really lose this war, as you say, how do you intend to fight your last battle?" She asked him. Knuckles laughed.
"I intend to fight it here, dieing bravely and honorably, as all my ancestors would have." Knuckles responded.
Cosmo nodded. "I do not think I could look at my death so easily like that." Knuckles laughed.
"Do not worry, Mrs. Prower. If it comes to this, I will make sure you are on a ship that will lead far, far away from here, whether it's across the sea, or across the galaxy."
A/N: This chapter is not as suspenseful, but I got to get my building blocks to build the suspense on first, you know. And do you remember my statement about the Nature conflict in the first Balthazar's storm. It will reappear here, I shall foreshadow it to you now.
The Chaotix is, in this story, portrayed with four members other than Knuckles, and these four shall be introduced later in the story.
Next chapter begins to build more tension, and the building blocks for the later, exciting scenes will be laid.
