Chapter 10

Me: I think the last chapter was a bit rushed.

Janus: Yeah. But at least the plot is rolling.

Me: I think it's time I introduced some of the new heroes!

Icarus: Aw, I have to wait!

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

"P-pardon me, Lord Ahriman," a silvery chipmunk garbed in black and grey armor stammered as he approached the massive winged fiend who had just touched down on the tall tower of its castle. The monster opened its green eye and stared at the soldier.

"What is it?" Ahriman growled with a raspy voice. "I'm a bit tired from ruining that city before…this had better be important."

"I can assure you, oh Winged Warlock, it is," the soldier replied nervously, bowing repeatedly, "the fire-wielder Lord Iblis said he would send you arrived not long after you left. Shall we bring her into your majestic presence, Great Ahriman?" The fiend grinned evilly.

"Yes…bring her in," the winged fiend replied with a demonic twinkle in his eye. "I want to examine her…personally." The soldier bowed and went back to the door.

A procession of five other Mobian soldiers of varying races marched in. Each was holding a chain, and on the end of the chains was a single purple hedgehog girl, probably about fifteen years old. Her body was well-toned, hardened from frequent exercise and life on the streets. She wore brown pants that went down just past her knees; a black top with brown straps that held up a fairly substantial bosom; worn, red shoes; and black work-out gloves that extended almost all the way to her shoulders, the upper-half sporting a fishnet weave. This image of grunge and punk was broken only a single pink hair-tie, which kept her long hair, naturally tipped with fiery orange, in a ponytail. The girl was chained by her arms and legs, and also on her neck, and she wasn't happy.

"My, my, aren't you lovely?" Ahriman said with some satisfaction. "I was half-expecting something a bit more ferocious, but we can't judge a book by its cover, now can we?"

"Get these damn chains off me, and I can give you a better demonstration," the girl spat, trying to lunge forward. The five men had to hold on with all their might to keep her from lashing out. Ahriman cackled with glee.

"And such spunk too!" the fiend laughed, flapping his wings a bit in glee. "I like this girl already."

"I have a name, you know!" the girl cried angrily. "It's Violet!"

"Violet…well, it's not exactly the most evil thing around. But I'd like to see your abilities…see if you are all that Iblis said you're cracked up to be. Guards…release her."

"But Great One, she'll tear us limb from limb!" one of the guards protested. Ahriman grinned.

"A minor oversight…" the fiend replied. His eye flashed evilly, and the guards, compelled by some psychic force, dropped the chains. Immediately, Violet tore off her restraints and blasted the soldier that had first brought the news to Ahriman with a burst of flame from her hand. As the other guards attacked her again, Violet shot a thin wave of red-hot flames their way, burning them all instantly. Violet then turned her attention to the gigantic monster who had ordered this carnage and pounced at him, her left hand wreathed in flames. But Ahriman wasn't worried. He simply closed his eye, causing Violet's fist to collide with armor as strong as iron. She felt her fingers crack, and she fell back, cringing with pain, and cradling the broken hand with her other one.

"Thought you could beat me, eh, child?" the fiend chuckled, his eye still closed. "I am Ahriman, Abomination of the Air! A mere child like you is powerless to challenge me, especially without any sort of weapon. But you still performed very well. You will make a fine tool in my glorious campaign against the Acorn Kingdom."

"I'm nobody's tool!" Violet growled through clenched teeth.

"You are now…" Ahriman replied. He opened his eye up wide. The monster's iris flashed, and Violet was warped away, into a jail cell in the tower's basement. He looked over at the corpses of his guards, and thought for a moment.

"I am quite famished from my slew of Meteor Strike spells…I think I'll have a light snack…"

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Yeesh…I feel sorry for those guys…" one of Ahriman's soldiers said with disgust in his voice when he heard the news about Violet's arrival and her quick slaughtering of six of their fellow soldiers. "I'm surprised he didn't send that klutz over there to do it," another answered, his eyes on a grey and white cat Mobian that was sluggishly polishing the head of his spear. "It would make this company a lot better, eh boys?" Two other soldiers nodded in agreement. The cat just looked at them for a moment, and continued to polish his spear. It wasn't long, though, before a more ornately dressed soldier, probably an officer, walked into the room. All of the soldiers stood to attention.

"Men, the great and powerful Ahriman is searching for five soldiers to be sent on a scouting mission, to infiltrate the Acorn Kingdom and obtain information on possible points of attack during the siege of Acorn Castle and the surrounding area, including the town of Knothole." There was silence, but eventually the cat stood up and stepped forward.

"I'll gladly take the mission from the master, sir." he said. The officer nodded.

"It seems this fine soldier is willing to put his life on the line for the great Ahriman. Are any of you others brave enough?" The rest of the room was silent. After the echo died down, it was quiet enough that one could hear a pin drop. Finally, the officer roared at the others in annoyance.

"You spineless worms…you obviously lack the fervor for the cause like this fellow…" he turned to the cat. "What's your code number, boy?"

"JJ-345, sir," the cat replied.

"…Like JJ-345 over here! Since none of you are WILLING to do this important mission save this one, I'll randomly select among you." The officer scanned the room, and soon his eyes fell on the ones who were mocking JJ-345.

"You four…you'll do." The four soldiers grumbled as they joined the soldier. "The rest of you, keep training. The assault on the Acorn Kingdom is less than 48 hours away!" The other soldiers kept looking at the officer blankly.

"That means get out of here, you dirt-eaters!" the officer roared. The whole room was empty save for the five selected soldiers and the officer. The five groundling soldiers stared at their superior before marching hastily out of the room.

"Lousy good-for-nothings…" the officer mumbled.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

"I win again," a black hedgehog snidely spoke with downward-curving quills, long bangs and yellow streaks running along them. His ruby eyes twinkled with glee as he collected the large pile of gold coins on the table. He was playing a card game with an extremely gaunt echidna, bedecked with gold and jewels of all sorts. Of course, this echidna was neither alive nor dead. He was perpetually hanging on the border between life and death…he was undead. And he also sucked at playing cards.

"I don't get it, Geof!" the echidna snarled as he slammed his skeletal fist on the table. "How can you keep beating me? I am the…"

"…Greatest echidna wizard who ever lived, and beat Death himself at cards, yeah I heard it all before, Tostitos!" Geof replied.

"That's Tositox!" the echidna roared again. "I hate it when people don't get it right."

"Then I'll make sure to keep doing that," Geof replied even more snidely as he shoveled his loot into a large burlap sack. The undead echidna would have steam coming off his ears at this point, but the lack of water in his body prevented that.

"The only reason I put up with you is because Lord Mephiles tells me too. If he didn't favor you so much, I'd feed you to the hell hounds…"

"They'll probably think you're tastier. How about feeding them yourself?!" Geof shot back immediately without even looking at Tositox. He loved mocking the old coot, and even more when he took him to the cleaners every night at cards. The old echidna had indeed cheated Death at a game of cards, and thus had won eternal life. Of course, Tositox's body was now pretty rotten, though he did delay the process using magic and alchemical substances. But before he could get far, he heard the wizard call him again and he stopped.

"By the way, Lord Mephiles wishes to know when you will start your mission!"

"Tell him that I'll start it when I damn feel like it!" Geof yelled back before continuing on. He didn't like Mephiles at all. He hated him. But there was no one to turn to…he had to serve him. Still, he did enjoy his chance to go on assassination missions. It let him vent some of his rage. But the mission here was not an assassination mission. No, it was far different…

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Do I HAVE to, Dad?" a strong-looking earthy red echidna moaned as he was shown the Master Emerald by a slightly smaller, bright red one. The two were father and son, and the former was passing on his Master Emerald guarding duty to his son.

"Elias, you're already fifteen now. I began my duty when I was a year younger than you," his father, Knuckles, told him. "Besides, it's not so bad."

"What's so fun about guarding a giant shiny rock all day?" Elias replied back, still annoyed. "The defense systems Mister Prower set up for us could do it far better than I ever could! Besides, I doubt many people know we're up here."

Knuckles' tone, having been neutral before, turned to a more annoyed one. "Elias, the Master Emerald is the one of the greatest energy sources on this planet, and the one thing that keeps the Chaos Emeralds sealed." At that moment, an earthy brown female echidna wear a simply, motherly outfit rushed in, with the television remote in one hand and a look of concern on the other.

"Oh, dear…the disaster at New Sylvania just keeps up more casualties. It's so sad!"

"…How many people now?" Knuckles sighed.

"About are 50,000 dead, another 350,000 are injured, and two-and-a-half million are homeless..." Vahtri said, choking up a bit, "and all because of that meteor storm. I feel like it's happening all over again, Knux."

"I know," he said before turning back to Elias, "and that's why the Master Emerald needs to be guarded by our family. Is that clear, son?" Elias nodded. He never liked his father all that much, but he would do just about anything for his mother.

"Good. You may sit on top of it if you wish," his father replied with a small smile. He gave his son a pat on the back. "You're a good boy, Elias."

"Whatever, dad…" Elias sighed as he went to sit on the gigantic Emerald he would now spend the rest of his days guarding, or until he had a son, whichever came first. But thankfully, fate had other ideas for this echidna…

-- -- -- -- -- --

"There it is, you guys…Knothole!" Icarus said excitedly as the transport ship flew over the woody town. Knothole was a sizable town in a forest clearing, but often many of the houses were trees themselves…but it was still the closest town to the massive Acorn Castle, which that just flown over a few minutes before. As the transport ship hovered over the center of town, a group of Mobians of assorted races began to gather. Meanwhile, a few of the town's police began to make everyone move back as the ship slowly descended. Once the ship touched down, everyone got out of their seats.

"I was expecting this place to be…y'know, bigger." Locke said with a bit of disappointment. "But this place isn't much bigger than that mining town we were in before.

"That's because a lot of the city is in the treetops." Icarus replied. "Didn't you see all the wooden bridges and ladders and stuff? This place takes the name Knothole quite seriously." It was at this point that the cargo door opened, and Icarus stepped off. Immediately he was tackled by a girl, a chipmunk/squirrel cross in simple blue shorts and a blue vest, who had pushed her way the crowd.

"Icarus!" the girl squealed.

"Hey, Sally." Icarus coughed before she got off of him.

"Where's your airship?" she asked as everyone else got off. "I've never seen you come in one of these things."

"It's being repaired," the fox replied. "But I didn't come here for pleasure, Sally. We came to see your dad. Something big is going on, and I think he can help. But perhaps we can talk more away from this crowd…we'll let you know when we get to the castle…"