Once upon a time, in the ancient temple of Maysis Isle, a prediction was made by the echidna race that when three planets are in ecliptic formation, the Black Thanatos will return from its 5,000 year slumber to destroy all life on the world humanity has cherished for centuries. Little knowledge of this Thanatos has been known by anyone for several millenia. It is now in the year 2220, 300 years since anyone knew of the Thanatos's return. On a common spacecraft radar, the three planets predicted to form a triangular eclipse have moved in perfect formation. Men and women are hurrying to their positions to gather tangible evidence of a new threat to the planet Mobius.
"Deploy any ship. Stabilizing," an officer commands.
The commander of this ship is proud of hearing his fellow army men working their hardest to identify the interstellar life form approaching them. However, he is also worried that the life form is a war vessel since it came from literally nowhere but its signals can be read from anywhere. Something as common as a cellphone can pick up this life form's radio frequency.
He scowled at the intruder and asked his second-in-command, "Anything yet?"
"No sir."
"Not even a temperature?" the commander questioned, emotionlessly.
"The thermal analyzers have jammed. One of them shows a million degrees; the others minus 5000."
"Let's see it," the commander order, unconvinced that a life form wouldn't even have a temperature. Every physical object had some form of kinetic energy, especially mobile ones. He didn't study ten years' worth of Newton's theories for nothing! There was no possible reason for a moving object not to have a measurement of that energy.
The black screen in front of the ship initially opened mechanically as its hinges creaked then slid open much easier like a silent door. The commander and all the lower officers working saw nothing but pure space as they cruised the interstellar frontier. A planet passed them by as they went, but no one cared about another planet. Mobius was aware of other life on other planets. With mind-boggling technology and advancements in communications, the people of Mobius could learn Spanish and Nocturnus or French and Martian. Their concern was of far more importance: there was a dwarf-like blob taking some form of shape. The commander did not like uninvited blobs in his space frontier while he guarded Mobius. His lip curled in a snarl as he scowled at the fiery substance. The inner merchant in him thought of what Mobian scientists could do with the metals possibly trapped inside of the helium, hydrogen, or nitrogen gases engulfing the body. Then again, if it was a dangerous imploding star, those metals and gases could destroy the battleships in the frontier.
"It's taking shape," a navigator notioned.
He read the data forming on his screen as he calculated the diameter of the spherical body that was forming from void area. The men could see a suspicious body becoming enlarged like popcorn kernels changing form in a rolled-up, black aluminum ball. Light was revealing itself as the misshapen thing took a rough shape. Lightning passed then thunder sounded and abruptly an implosion caused a wave of fire to spew from the ball. The blob had reached its final form: a black ball of sinister flames. It glowed ominously as an interstellar timebomb just waiting for its chance to explode and kill all.
"Send out a probe," the commander ordered, not knowing what to make of the flame ball.
His body quaked from nervous energy as the doors to his oval office slid open from above. Third-year president and beloved leader, Mighty Tatou, took a deep breath and proceeded to enter the office to meet with other intelligent minds about the new threat one of the spatial frontier commanders has found. Being president was hardly an easy task. Everyone watched you, and if you make a mistake everyone pushes you to resign from your position. Whether you accidently send a hot message for your wife to your secretary or your vice-president, people will always watch you.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he heard the intercom say, "the president of the Federated territory."
Mighty bowed his head as he reached his desk and took a calm seat before the legion of men and women at the frontier's headquarters in Metal City. His charming assistant, Cream, waited for him to prepare himself and proceeded to inform him of whatever news she had. Mighty once had a crush on the young female rabbit, but she was far too young for him.
"General Speed will be on air in thirty seconds."
Mighty nodded then watched as the other busier folk hustled about. A latecomer entered the oval office in complete silence as he also watched the legion busying themselves from the entryway. He sighed as he thought of the long processing he had to endure just to get here, but he quickly erased it for the meeting that would ensue. Such life, such atmosphere being threatened by the ultimate evil. In some ways, he was rather disappointed that no one acknowledged him or his mission as a priest of the divine power that could save this world. However, modesty and a humble disposition were what he prayed for on this day. He approached a familiar, pink-skinned profile dressed in particularly unattractive robes - much like himself - as he directed his attention to the young man. He raised his hand and patted his shoulder, startling the young chap.
The man sighed in relief and said, "I saved a seat for you, father."
The newcomer nodded then shuffled to his seat as he hid the buckle of his belt. He wasn't sure why priests involved themselves in the government. He wasn't sure why his forefathers and predecessors kept the eighth element a secret until the very end, but he did understand the importance of his mission to protect all forms of life through his alien communications skills and negotiation procedures.
"President on the line, sir," the second-in-command informed.
"We're in position, Mr. President," the commander said.
'I'll have to address the Supreme Council in ten minutes. Just the facts will do.'
"There are no results from the thermal or molecular analyses as yet. All our calibers are overshot. We're initiating a thermal nucleatic imaging."
'So...what you're saying is you don't know what this is.'
"Not yet, sir. All we know is that it keeps getting bigger."
'Recommendation?'
"My philosophy, Mr. President, is to shoot first and ask questions later. I don't like uninvited guests."
'Alright then, Speed - '
"Mr. President," he called, raising his hand in protest of any dangerous bombing or shooting.
"Yes?" Mighty looked to the Council members and spotted one rather tall, attractive male hedgehog standing before him. His fur was a beautiful white color with a tint of shine in it, but the red robes he donned did him no justice. If he wore normal clothes, he would have been the finest man to walk in the Council room. As Mighty watched the hedgehog with curiosity, the overhead identity intercom sounded to introduce the man.
"Priest Silver Couverture, expert on astrological phenomenon."
"I have a different theory to offer you, sir."
"You have twenty seconds."
Another attractive priest in red robes stood alongside Silver, and even though his skin color was a dark fuschia he was still another fine specimen in ugly priest-wear. Silver raised a finger to signal for the younger boy to sit back down and thought about his words. It was a rather cold fact of politics that President Mighty could be very ignorant at times when he was needed to be the most mature and calculative, but you could never try to tame Mr. Mighty unless you had a plasma gun at hand. Silver looked into Mighty's eyes and proceeded to walk towards him while explaining the occurrence of the threat.
He said, "Imagine for a moment that this...thing is not anything that can be identified because it prefers not to be. Wherever there is life, it brings death because...because it is evil - absolute evil."
"One more reason to shoot first."
"Evil begets evil, Mr. President. Shooting will only make it stronger."
On the space frontier, a probe specialist released an analytical mechanism to observe the ball of fire closer. The commander nodded at the specialist, hoping that the probe may tell them more about the ball.
"Sending out probe 1. The probe will obtain its objective in five seconds," the specialist informed, reading the information off his screen.
The probe shot out of it cannon and was pulled directly into the body. The commander concluded that the flaming ball had some gravitational pull like a distant planet. At headquarters, another general was reading information about the planet after the probe had been released. This general, in particular, was a green-feathered hawk and impressive leader during a war on Mars. His name was Jet Halcon, known for his attention to detail and ability to choose some of the best operatives. While the president and Silver were speaking, he was keeping in contact with the second-in-command on General Speed's battleship to get more information on the new enemy. Keeping his eye on the virtual holograms, he noticed that the planet, or ball of fire, had grown considerably but he didn't understand exactly how. Does metal make it grow larger or what?
"Mr. President, growth has increased by seventeen percent," the general noted.
Mighty turned to the general and nodded before turning back to Father Silver and sighing a bit. He didn't know who to trust at this point. The data told him one thing, but the priest told him something more. Here is where the line is drawn but who will he choose to cross it? Mighty looked into Silver's eyes and said in honesty, "Your theory does interest me, father, but we don't have time to go into that right now."
"Time is of no importantance, Mr. President. Only life is important," Silver reminded, walking closer to the president's desk. If the president was going to draw the line by the level of importance between a theory and data, then he was going to cross that line or convince him to draw another one before the data.
"You're right," Mighty said, growing impatient. "That's exactly what we're gonna do. We're gonna protect the lives' of some 200 billion of my fellow citizens!" Mighty turned to General Halcon and said, "General, you may fire when ready."
General Speed nodded his head and began dishing out orders immediately following the president's approval. He could care less about a priest's theory so long as the threat to Earth was destroyed.
'Prepare to fire a Locke Zeon missile 1-20. Offensive engaging to target the threat,' Speed said.
The second-in-command and navigators watched the ball, wondering what it might do, and were shocked to see the visible pits of fire somehow disappear and the surface shift to void state. The scientists at Metal City headquarters were also watching the planet and were drawing different conclusions from the shift on the surface. One of the younger scientists realized that there was virtually no surface activity.
"It's structure has just solidified on the surface."
"I think it is anticipating the attack," one of the older scientists said. "Anticipation denotes intelligence."
"The most terrible intelligence imaginable, Mr. President," Silver interjected, now in front of Mighty's desk with little room between him and the cherrywood edge.
Mighty waivered under Silver's gaze and sat in silence at the man before him. He certainly was a lot taller up close and his shirt beneath the red robe was gripping his muscular form. When were priests attractive like this?
C'mon, Mighty, there's a giant ball of fire in space possibly attacking Mobius and all you can think about is a hot priest? Are you kidding me? He thought.
Mighty was beginning to misunderstand his own line drawing and leaned toward the priest's theory much more than the data. If even the military can't identify what the fireball actually is, but Silver presented reasonable evidence that this... thing was a killing machine that doesn't want to be identified until death was breathing down their necks, then what was the point of relying on the data? Silver must know what this thing is more than the military.
'1-20s loaded.'
'The ship is in combat formation. Missiles have been loaded, Mr. President,' General Speed informed.
Mighty began to rub his hands nervously. What if Silver was right and Speed was at the mercy of this...thing? What if firepower made this thing stronger? How strong was it to begin with? He shifted his eyes left and right then said, "Speed?"
'Yes, sir?'
"I have a doubt," Mighty tried, wanting to abort fire but not wanting to let the thing continue to be a threat.
'I don't Mr. President,' Speed responded.
Stupid president always changing his mind. He wasn't about to let some giant ball hit Mobius and destroy life as he knew it. The missiles were launched at the body with great precision. The minute the missiles imploded, the fire pits on the body were visible again and body grew larger. Neither Speed nor anyone else understood the phenomena.
'Speed...what happened? Speed, can you hear me? Speed... what happened, Speed? Did you destroy it?'
"I'm about to, sir," Speed said, now waivering on his own decision.
More missiles were launched with the same precision as before, but the fire pits became even more visible and the ball grew larger. The missiles were like water to an empty balloon.
'The planet is increasing diameter by 200 percent,' General Halcon informed, now really concerned for Speed's safety and the ship.
'Any bigger and it could swallow the ship,' another general said.
The second-in-command watched the ball grow larger and walked toward a navigator to estimate the amount of time the ship had before the planet could kill them all.
"W-what do we have that's bigger than a 2-40?" Speed asked, fearing the worst.
"Nothing sir," the second-in-command answered, gazing into death's flaming features. Hell was on its way.
'Speed...do you hear me? Get out of there!' Mighty commanded. 'I don't want an incident. Do you hear me, Speed? Get out of there. Speed, can you hear me, Speed? Listen! This is the president. That's an order! Speed, answer me!'
There was nothing the president could do for the red-headed general at that point. The ball was already too close. He could feel his own body being drawn to death as he quaked with fear. Gravity pressure was opening pores in his brain as blood cascaded down his forehead. His eyes were shifting at death's light. Then, without warning, his life and the many others ended. He didn't have time to think about his family or his life at home or his childhood or anything. His lasting memory was fear before he saw nothing else...
"AH!"
Was heard through the quiet apartments before someone from downstairs hit the ceiling with something heavy so it could be heard through his floor. Apparently, his neighbor downstairs had just fallen asleep before he started fucking someone. At least that's what he managed to hear. His heart was pounding through his chest, making heavier sounds than the bat on the ceiling, and it actually hurt him. His fingers were trembling as he raked them through his black hair and groped the items on his shelf. He looked around, thinking he saw death before his own eyes, but chuckled to himself a bit before realizing he wasn't on the space frontier anymore. He was at his cramped, sloppy, cheap-rent apartment and sitting up in his bed in the dark. He leaned his head on the wall next to his bed to calm his nerves and the excitement of his nightmare. Light ringing further woke him up to bring him back to reality. He rubbed his eye, breathed deep, and then squinted his eyes to turn off his alarm clock. Somehow forgetting that the alarm clock also activated the electricity in the apartment, he jumped very slightly as he heard his cigarette machine say something along the lines of...
"...your limit is four a day."
He slumped over at the edge of the bed, trying to stretch his neck and adjust to the lighting in his apartment. His beautiful white cat was outside mewing to be let in. Thank god he didn't have a dog; those bastards were noisy as hell. Everyone should have a cat at least once in his or her life. They're cute, soft to the touch, seek very little attention, and most importantly don't make a lot of noise. His darling kitty was his favorite pet. As he looked up from his disheveled black hair, he read the words "Keep Clear" on his wall.
"Trying..." he mumbled.
"To quit is my goal," the cigarette machine motivated.
Moments later, the phone rang obnoxiously. He groaned at this and the cat instantly knew it had to get in the apartment or else he'd throw the phone out of the window if she wasn't there. Yes, he had a female cat, but she was properly spayed, had no fleas or ticks, and had a collar on her neck that proved he owned her. He'd had her since she was a cute kitten. The phone persistently rang to annoy him.
"Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye!" he groaned. "Mom. God, alright, I'm up." He said, rising to his feet. His cat was mewing even more to be let in, which was a good sign for him, so he told himself not to pitch the phone anywhere. He hissed out, "Yes, yes...! Yes?"
'Hey, dog-brain, Omega here.'
He scoffed at this and pushed a button to open the cat's door to get in the apartment. A white cat darted in the apartment and ran over to his leg to nuzzle against it. She was such a sweet cat. He said to it, "Hey, sweetie."
'I love you, too, major, but you haven't called me that since basic training.'
"I was talkin' to the cat," he grumbled sarcastically, retrieving a cigaretted from the machine. He groped around searching for a lighter and managed to find a red one, but the red lighter wouldn't light. His cat mewed as it climbed on his leather sofa and clawed at something between the cushions. She dug out a blue lighter, grabbed it with her mouth, and strutted towards him. He smirked, clapped lightly, and kneeled to retrieve the item. "Good job, girl," he said, patting the cat's head then lighting his cigarette.
'Oh yeah, I forgot. You still prefer your cat over the real thing.'
"Well, at least the cat comes back."
'You still pinin' over that two-timin' slut? Forget about her, man. There's a million other women out there.'
"I don't want a million women," he remarked, seeing a turned-over frame and looking at it. It was a picture of his ex-wife and him on their honeymoon. Back then, she was a curved beauty with long white hair and gorgeous turquoise eyes who loved pink and black. He, of course, was a finer stud in his day with long black hair and stunning red eyes who still loves red and black. Everyone thought they'd stay together 'til death and so did he, but she had other ambitions and other men who were interested in her. He tossed the frame to the side, ignoring his memories trying to remind of the suckish fall from grace, and said to Omega, "I just want one. The perfect one."
'Don't exist, major.'
"Yeah, I know," he said, finding another picture. This one was a picture of the man on the phone after he saved him from Crisis City. He was in bad shape then. He groaned out, "Ew!"
'What?'
"Just found a picture of you."
'Oh, how do I look?'
"Like shit," he commented, slamming the picture down. No memories today please. He raided his fridge, or what should have been a full fridge, and saw nothing but space, an empty salad container, and a cereal box that was empty anyway. What was four Frosted Flakes and a pile of sugar gonna do? Some groceries would be nice, but he doesn't get paid until Friday.
'Well, must have been an old picture. Listen, I'm bringin' you in for a six month overhaul.'
"Negative."
'ASAP.'
"I don't need one," he argued.
'Hey, you gettin' set up for a thousand missions. I know how you drive.'
"Omega, I drive a cab now. I'm not a space fighter.'
'Okay, so tell me, how many points left you got on your license? Major, how many points?'
He tried to think of a number - any number - that would be far from the truth. Even though he could ride a cruiser or hover fighter, the cab industry and its customers were some picky riders. He said, "At least fifty."
Omega laughed then said, 'You know what? You need to learn how to lie better. See you tonight.'
He pivoted slowly to press his back against the refrigerator door and began to think. The diaphragm inhaled his nicotine deeply then blew it all out in thick clouds before they became thin tendrils out of his nose. The cat mewed before playing with the TV remote and pushed the power button to turn it on. That was a smart cat. He turned his head to the TV and heard the most annoying radio show to be invented...
'Welcome to Sand Oasis,' a woman's voice purred.
'Welcome to Sand Oasis! This is Sonic the Hedgehog, your main man, and I will tell live at five the winner of the Supergreen Gemini Croquet contest. The winner will go with me for two days to Sand Oasis so stay tuned to Radio Cosmo!'
"Don't watch too much of that, sweetie," he said, getting dressed for work. The cat mewed then looked at him bending over. He turned around to pull his shirt down and noticed that the cat was no longer watching the TV but him. He raised a dark eyebrow as the cat stood on her hind legs and waved her small paw at him. He huffed at her then said, "Sorry, honey, no stripteases. It's early in the morning. When I come home tonight, I'll let you sleep with me naked, okay?" The cat mewed in disappointment then continued to watch the TV on his sofa. He sighed then said, "Alright, you, be careful. It'll rot your pretty little brain."
With that said, he left his white cat on the sofa with the TV on. Luckily, he trained her to turn it off when she was done watching it. He grabbed his keys and license then left the apartment to load his hover cab in the garage. Once he entered the cab, he was annoyed by yet another machine.
'Please insert your license.'
"Alright, alright, gimme a second. Geez!" he complained silently enough to where he couldn't hear himself talk.
The cab light sounded and the computer greeted him robotically, 'Welcome on board, Mr. Shadow Letzte. You have five points left on your license before renewal on July ninth of 2221. Please be sure to level the vehicle and take safety precautions when leaving the dock.'
"Yes, thank you," Shadow said, rolling his eyes as the doors opened.
'Have a nice day.'
