Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 14
8:49 am
Location Unknown….

Somewhere, far away from the destroyed, razed city of Newark, lay a calm, quiet plain. Tall, green grass swayed everywhere in the cool summer breeze. Birds were chirping happily, and bees flew around, buzzing noisily. In the middle of the field lay a certain dark red colored fox, sound asleep with a content smile on his face. Occasionally, a bee would circle around his head and land on his face, making him twitch in his sleep as he tried to get rid of the irritating itch. Finally, Raymond woke up, yawned lazily, and stretched his arms. He got up, and got ready to start a brand new day strong and fresh. Then, it hit him like a freight train.

The agony and depression of what had happened last night… Emily… she was really gone. Gone forever.

Raymond sighed sadly. "Stop it Raymond…" he scolded himself. "Emily's safe and happy now, don't be such a selfish wimp and cry because you want her back…." Raymond cursed himself as hard as he could as if that would really make him feel less bad.

"She's with her family now, and you're still alive. What reason do you have to feel sad?" Raymond smacked himself in the head. The coupling of the stinging pain and the sadness inside of him made a few tears leak out. Raymond sighed unhappily.

"But….. I still want her back…. I still want to spend more time with her…. I still want to do so many different things with her…. I still want to make her happy and laugh and have fun…" Raymond said depressed. "DANG IT! I WANT YOU BACK HERE WITH ME EMILY! I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS ALONE!" Raymond beat the ground with his fist so hard he heard a pop and felt indescribable pain racing up his arm.

"OWW!" Raymond howled and clutched his now broken finger. He rolled around in the grass, waiting for the pain to subside. After a few minutes, he sniffed and shook his head sadly.

"Well, I guess that was stupid. I'm such a failure and weak…" Raymond rolled on his back and lay there. Then, he stood back up, determined.

"But I bet Emily wouldn't want me to stop here, I can't accept defeat no matter what. Even if I don't want to, at the very least I'm doing it for her. That's the very least I could do for all she's done for me. Even giving up her life to save my own…." Raymond sighed again, and slowly trod onwards towards the direction of where he thought was the nearest city.

Newark Meterex Headquarters:

Dark Oak sat thoughtfully on a large chair in the middle of a room. In front of him was a table on which either side sat most of his generals as well as Malcolm's top leaders. On the opposite end sat Malcolm himself. He was leaning back in his chair, arms crossed, grinning hysterically.

"Well, I'll say my plan worked well," Malcolm boasted. "If I hadn't been able to trick the mayor into setting up a computer that connected the entire network of Newark's security operations, and then shutting it all down, you guys wouldn't have been able to breach the city at all!"

Yellow Zelkova pounded the table with his fist. "Well? I would have been able to punch straight through that wall any day, that's for sure!" The other Meterex generals put their foreheads in their hands, shook their heads, and sighed.

"Yes, it's true, Malcolm. That plan was most INNOVATIVE indeed," Pale Bay Leaf complemented. "But the credit goes to me for leading my army to rampage down the streets and slaughter mostly everyone.

"But if it wasn't for my quick thinking, strong army, and good looks, there would have been some escapers," Black Narcissus countered.

Dark Oak sat back and relaxed. Malcolm was a valuable asset, but even he had no idea for what the Meterex were really planning to do. All he had to do was find that planet egg, and he and his cohorts could be out of here as fast as he could.

While the group of Meterex generals were busy arguing amongst each other, one of Malcolm's leaders, a white fox with green stripes, stood up from his chair and walked over to Malcolm.

"Malcolm sir, we have two guests that you might want to speak with privately." Slash spoke in a low voice so no one else would hear.

Malcolm nodded. "Alright Slash, I'll be out with them in a minute. You on the other hand have a mission." Malcolm went on to explain. "You see, it seems like…. Claw and his friend have had a minor inconvenience in their attempt to kill Raymond."

Slash was taken aback. "You mean he escaped?"

"Yes, and the fact that they're dead." Malcolm agreed.

Slash looked confused. "Death really isn't a 'minor inconvenience'…."

"Well I want you to track that pesky fox down and hunt him and KILL HIM, am I clear?" Malcolm demanded.

Slashed nodded furiously. "YES SIR!" Slash abruptly left the room, his swords in hand. Malcolm followed behind, leaving the celebrating victors to continue talking. He walked down a hallway, and turned left into a small room. There, kneeled two foxes, both in chains. One of them, a light-brown one, looked up, and jumped to his feet.

"Malcolm! Help me get out of these!" Garry shook his chains.

Malcolm laughed. "And why on earth would I do something like that?"

"Because… I want to KILL RAYMOND for betraying us all!" Garry shouted, eyes bloodshot.

(Remember Garry thought he saw Raymond shut down the computer when it really was Slash who had shape-shifted)

Malcolm stopped, and nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm…. Well so do I. Good thing that our friends the Meterex came to our aid just in time to drive out Raymond's rebel army that massacred the entire city, huh?"

"Yeah….. I'm gonna make him PAY!" Garry growled.

Malcolm unlocked Garry's chains and Garry rubbed his sore forearms. "But I still don't get why you had to lock us up when you found us lying unconscious and injured…."

"I didn't want any of my siblings to get hurt, especially when they can join forces with me to hunt Raymond down." Malcolm explained. He turned over to Luke, who was beaten bloody. "And you?"

Luke sighed. "Well, I don't know. It just doesn't seem like Raymond would-…."

Malcolm cut him off. "Nonsense, do you think Garry would lie to you?"

Luke shook his head. "Noo.…"

"Good then, because that's the right answer. Raymond undoubtedly has run away like the coward he is, and we need someone with your mental capacity and powers to help us bring justice to him!"

"Well… I guess when you put it that way…" Malcolm unlocked Luke's chains as well.

Malcolm smirked "None of us could have ever imagined Raymond would possibly betray us like this, but now that he has, we need to put a stop to his evil before he causes more bloodshed and suffering!"

What Malcolm, Luke, Garry, and Raymond didn't know is that by this new agreement, not all of them would survive through the bitter end of this story to tell the tale.