Arc 16: The Final Frontier
The Martian Invasion Prologue
Takes place during Stories 120-125 in Sonic the Hedgehog: Heroes of Mobius
Part 2
The moment of stalemate between the Martian and Seedrian races had been broken and now the two factions were battling each other once again. For once though, it was the Seedrians that had started it. They weren't too pleased with the death of their great comrade Red Pine so Dark Oak and three of his best men Yellow Zelkova, Black Narcissus and Pale Bay Leaf along with some soldiers and wheeled cannons had come over to destroy the Martians. They were taking no prisoners this time around, they were desperate to win the war and they were going to give it their all right now. And so were the Martians. The best Martians were all out on the battlefield right now. Grand Warlord Diablo and his wife Grand War Mistress Natasha along with their three children, Marik, Silas and Sierra, Dranzer & Obelisk the twin Martians, Myra the wife of Dranzer, Count Nyder the replacement for Count Drago and Mercury the Champion Archer were all out on the battlefield and fending off the Seedrians. This was going to be one of the Martian's easier battles given how the Seedrians barely had anything with them right now, just a small strike force and a couple of heavy weapons that could be dealt with easily. Really, the four leaders were the only ones they had to worry about and even then, they outnumbered them and Red Pine wasn't here to help so this was going to be easier than before. And for the moment, it was. The Martians were winning this one so far. The Seedrian Soldiers were falling to them very quickly but the leaders were putting up a great fight and Mercury had taken out the cannons with a simple little laser arrow from her hi-tech bow (her bow generates laser arrows for her to fire, meaning she has much better arrows then a normal archer AND a limitless supply of arrows. Cool eh?) The laser arrows were very powerful and they explode when they hit an inorganic substance such as the cannons so you can imagine the damage Mercury had caused to the cannons. Dark Oak was not pleased with Mercury destroying his cannons so he tried to slice her in two with his golden sword but a swift uppercut to the chin from Diablo took care of that. Dark Oak hurled into the air and he crashed into the remains of one of the two cannons.
"Thanks Diablo." said Mercury.
"Anytime Mercury." said Diablo "I hope your bow's still up for the task for the leaders are still proving difficult and some of the soldiers are still up and firing."
"Oh it is Diablo, it certainly is." said Mercury coyly, her bow generating another arrow for her to fire.
Diablo grinned at Mercury and he charged off towards Dark Oak to smash his face in with his mace. Dark Oak jumped back to his feet and the two clashed weapons with one another.
Meanwhile, Dranzer was picking off Seedrian soldiers one by one with his handheld laser cannon which was held underneath his arms (bit like a handheld rotary cannon like you see in Star Wars). He was standing up on a nearby lump of rock about twelve feet high above the ground and he just aimed and shot at the Seedrian soldiers, killing them all in an instant. There were many soldiers so he'd be up here for a while. That is until Yellow Zelkova stepped in to help his men. He stood in the way of the laser cannon, shielding the soldiers and he took the shots easily given his tough, bulky armour. Dranzer grumbled to himself as he fired at Yellow Zelkova only for his shot to ricochet of Zelkova's armour harmlessly. He couldn't stand Yellow Zelkova at all and his laser cannon was useless against him so he just simply put it away and bent down in a battle ready stance. Zelkova bashed his fists together.
"You like to do your dirty work from a distance." taunted Yellow Zelkova "Pity you don't have the ball bearings to get up close and personal!"
"In this particular case, I am all too happy to make an exception." snorted Dranzer.
Dranzer then leaped off the rock and hurled towards Yellow Zelkova with his fist stretched out. Yellow Zelkova threw a powerful punch at the oncoming Dranzer but Dranzer managed to brush his arm to the side and land down on the ground. He then wheeled around and roundhouse punched Yellow Zelkova in the back of his head. Yellow Zelkova was sent hurtling down onto his face but he wasn't down for long. He picked himself up and threw a punch at Dranzer but Dranzer jumped back to dodge it. The punch just narrowly swept by his stomach. Dranzer then clenched his fists and brought them slamming down onto Yellow Zelkova's head. But Yellow Zelkova wasn't fazed by the attack. He bent down and rammed into Dranzer like a charging rhino. He carried Dranzer over to the landing legs of the Martian ship and slammed him into it. Dranzer however managed to push Zelkova off of himself and knee him in the gut. Zelkova backed off and Dranzer then roundhouse kicked Yellow Zelkova in the face. Zelkova staggered backwards and clutched his face. If he wasn't wearing a helmet then this really would have been a more painful attack. Zelkova charged towards Dranzer and the two linked arms with one another. Dranzer won that struggle though by kneeing Zelkova in the gut and getting him to bend over. Dranzer then grabbed Zelkova by the shoulders and threw him across the battlefield. Yellow Zelkova hurled through the air and he came down with a heavy crash. Dranzer charged towards Yellow Zelkova and prepared to grab him again. But Yellow Zelkova picked himself up and uppercut Dranzer in the face with both hands. That attack sent Dranzer hurling up into the air and he crashed down a good few feet away from Zelkova. Yellow Zelkova ran up to Dranzer and the moment Dranzer stood back up, Yellow Zelkova began to whale on him as hard as he possibly could. Dranzer took some of the blows but he couldn't hold all of them off and Zelkova eventually managed to get a well aimed gut-punch that sent him flying backwards into the landing leg of the Martian ship. Had he hit it any harder, he might have broken the leg clean off. Yellow Zelkova advanced on Dranzer and he cracked his knuckles.
"I have enjoyed this confrontation with you Dranzer and I appreciate your effort." crowed Zelkvoa "But yet again, you have fallen to the mighty of the all powerful, all mighty, all invincible Yellow Zelkova! Not surprising considering I am the strongest, most powerful Seedrian warrior ever! Nobody can match my strength, nobody…"
"Oh do silence that accursed mouth of yours!" snarled Dranzer, getting back up to his feet and shoulder-ramming Zelkova in the chest.
You see, Zelkova was a bit of an egotist, taking far too much pride in his strength and as a result, tends to lose focus in battle and then get clobbered as a result. Zelkova growled at Dranzer and the two ended up linking arms with one another again. But Dranzer had a shiny trump card in this game that was going to give Yellow Zelkova more than he bargained for. Obelisk had decided to run in and help his twin brother. While Zelkova and Dranzer grappled with one another, Obelisk ran in and walloped Yellow Zelkova in the face with a powerful punch. Alone, the two twins were deadly but together, they were a force to be reckoned with. Dranzer smirked at Zelkova as he was brought down by the punch and Obelisk then added insult to injury by kicking Zelkova up into the air. Zelkova hurled through the air in a rainbow arch and he crashed down onto the ground. Dranzer and Obelisk gave each other a bro-fist.
"Thank you kindly brother." said Dranzer.
"It was my pleasure brother." boomed Obelisk brightly "After all, Zelkova cannot match the two of us in battle."
Yellow Zelkova picked himself up and he flexed his muscles.
"You'll pay for that you insolent Martians!" growled Zelkova.
"No we won't Zelkova." boomed Obelisk "You will pay for all you've done throughout this war."
He then drew out his handheld rotary cannon and opened fire on Zelkova. His gun was considerably stronger than Dranzer's so his gun had some kind of effect on the tough Seedrian's armour. The laser bullets ricocheted off Zelkova's armour but they hit him at such a powerful force that they sent him staggering backwards. The were beginning to scratch and dent his armour the more Obelisk fired at him and to add insult to injury, Dranzer drew out his laser cannon and began shooting at Yellow Zelkova too. The Seedrian strongman was quickly beginning to get overwhelmed by the bombardment of firepower. The twins then put their guns away and they drew out a sword each. They ran up to Yellow Zelkova but Zelkova lunged up and blocked the blows with his arms before they could sever anything with their swords. The two Martians and one Seedrian began pushing on one another, trying to gain an advantage over one another.
Meanwhile, while this big epic fight was going on between the Seedrians and Martians, Sycranna had boarded a hover-saucer and was following the mysterious ship that had appeared in the sky but had generally gone unnoticed because everybody was in battle right now. It was a Seedrian evacuation ship, the very ships used to evacuate the Seedrian children and Sycranna had a sneaky feeling that a Seedrian child was in the ship. If so then he was going to kidnap that child and force it to tell him where the Seedrian children had been evacuated to so the Martians could kill them all. Killing all the children was bound to wound the Seedrian army badly enough for them to lessen their battle prowess. Not to mention it would stop the Seedrians from having any hope of survival. Sycranna kept his beady eyes on the ship and watched as it was nearing the ground and preparing to land. The moment it landed, he would seize the pilot and take the pilot back to the ship secretly and then he would make the pilot tell him what he wanted and once he got the information he required, he'd then kill the pilot and tell Diablo everything. How pleased Diablo would be when he told him where the Seedrian children had been evacuated! He'd get a promotion easily for sure! Killing Red Pine AND discovering the Seedrian children's whereabouts was bound to be good enough for a promotion after all. Sycranna smiled slimily as the ship finally begun to land.
"The ship begins to land. I've got you now whoever resides in that ship." he purred wickedly to himself "And you will be my key to a better rank in the army…"
His hover saucer continued to near the ship as it was beginning to land. The ship's landing legs had extended out and it descended down and down until it's "feet" touched down onto the war-torn land of Greengate. The ship hissed loudly as its descent finally finished and Sycranna parked his hover saucer just behind the ship. The ship's boarding ramp lowered down onto the ground and out walked the ship's pilot. The pilot was a female Seedrian that looked to be about 12 years old. She looked like Cosmo only her leafy hair was teal instead of green, the tips of her skirt were teal, her top was teal and the gem on her chest was green. On the top of her head seemed to be a blooming flower with white petals and she had the most gorgeous purple eyes. Sycranna grinned like a gremlin at the mere sight of this Seedrian for he knew exactly who it was.
"What serendipity indeed…" he purred "It's Galaxina, the eldest daughter of Earthia and Dark Oak. Looks like she's here because she's missing her feeble minded parents. Well she won't get the chance to meet them again…"
He waited until Galaxina had stepped down from the ship and she looked around to survey her scenery. Her heart almost burst at the sight of Greengate around her. Plant life had been completely destroyed, the land had been war-torn and everything had been desecrated. This was NOT what Greengate looked like when she left to the Seedrian's twin planet. How it pained her to see her beautiful home world in this kind of ruination. The war had clearly gotten worse in her absence.
"Oh my god…" she said to herself "The world's in ruin…no wonder I was so worried about my mother and father, the war's just getting worse. I have to find them and see if they're alright. With any luck, they'll let me help them in this war. I don't want to spend my time as an evacuee, I really want to help them…"
Then suddenly, Sycranna pounced on Galaxina and clasped his hand around her mouth, preventing her from screaming. Galaxina gasped a muffled gasp and she struggled to get free. But Sycranna was too strong for a mere child like herself. She was not getting away from him at all.
"Ha, got you child!" sneered Sycranna "Now I you can tell me where you and the other children have been evacuated to!"
Galaxina let out a muffled "Huh?!" from behind Sycranna's hand. Sycranna then hoisted Galaxina off the ground and stuffed her in the hover-saucer. Sycranna climbed in and started it up again. The saucer raised off the ground and Sycranna prepared to drive away. Sycranna then got out a pair of laser-cuffs that he'd brought with him and put them on Galaxina's wrists. In order to prevent her from getting away, he linked the laser cuffs to his belt so she couldn't jump out of the saucer or something, making her escape impossible.
"Let me go!" cried Galaxina "You can't do this to me! Let me go right now!"
"Oh I don't think so Galaxina." purred Sycranna in a very creepy fashion "You are coming with me. And we're going to have a little chat…"
Sycranna then drove off in the hover-saucer with Galaxina as his prisoner passenger. In order to prevent Galaxina from crying for help, Sycranna got out a metal clamp and he clamped it around Galaxina's head just over the mouth and under the eyes. Galaxina could not scream for help at all. The clamp was such a good gag that you couldn't even hear her mumbling behind it. Galaxina was not getting away from Sycranna at all. She was his prisoner and Sycranna was bound to do terrible things to her the moment he arrived back home…
As for the battle, Dranzer and Obelisk seemed to have their battle with Yellow Zelkova under control so let's focus on somebody else now.
Mercury and Myra were teaming up against Black Narcissus and a bunch of Seedrian soldiers. The soldiers were no contest for the girls of course. Mercury took them down with one simple arrow and Myra used her hammer to smash them into the ground. But on a couple of soldiers, she decided to use her hammer's secret power. She aimed the hammer at two soldiers and from the sides fired a pair of collars. The collars whizzed towards the soldiers and then clamped around their necks. And now comes the reason why Myra's hammer is called a "magnetism hammer". Myra activated the hammers power and the two Seedrian soldiers instantly became attracted to her. You see, the hammer had magnetic powers and the collars made anyone who wasn't made of metal able to be attracted by the magnet. The soldiers ended up being attracted to the magnet because of the collars around their necks so Myra now had two Seedrian soldiers stuck to her hammer. She swung the hammer and sent the two soldiers hurling away. They both crashed down a couple of yards away from the battle and the collars around their necks detached themselves and were called back to the hammer for next time Myra needed them. Myra smiled happily at her hammer.
"Oh baby I love you as much as I love Dranzer." she purred to herself "You're so helpful to me in this battle."
As for Mercury, she had taken down the rest of the soldiers and now she was against Black Narcissus. She fired an arrow at Black Narcissus but the Seedrian soldier held his staff mirror in front of himself and the mirror deflected the arrow (mirrors deflect laser blasts remember?). Mercury grumbled to herself for she REALLY hated it when Black Narcissus used his mirror to deflect her shots. Mercury aimed at Black Narcissus' foot but Narcissus was still able to block the blow with his mirror. He then swung the staff at Mercury and tripped her up by taking her legs out from underneath her. Mercury landed on her back and she grimaced in pain. Black Narcissus then took a moment from the battle to admire himself in his mirror (he's very vain hence the name "Narcissus").
"My moves are almost as dashing as my looks." he crowed "Well a good looking fellow like me will always have dashing moves to match."
"Do you ever stop admiring yourself?" snorted Mercury, leaping up onto her feet and charging at Black Narcissus.
Black Narcissus tried to whack Mercury with his mirror staff but Mercury jumped over the staff and then dropkicked Black Narcissus in the face. The vain Seedrian leader was brought down onto the ground and he dropped his staff. Mercury quickly grabbed it and she smashed the mirror on top of Black Narcissus's head. Narcissus was furious to see his precious mirror broken and shattered to pieces.
"You broke my mirror!" snarled Narcissus.
"Good, means you don't have to look at yourself anymore." retorted Mercury, picking up her bow and preparing to fire at him.
Black Narcissus knew that if one of Mercury's arrows touched him, the result would be catastrophic for Mercury's arrows explode when they hit non-organic material and that includes body armour so he jumped up and dodged the arrow before it could hit him. Narcissus then ran over to Mercury and walloped her with the staff. Mercury shook off the attack and she put her bow away. She ran over to Black Narcissus and punched him in the visor. She then kneed Narcissus in the gut (thank goodness she's wearing knee pads or that would have hurt) and made him double over and she slammed him down onto the ground. Narcissus picked himself up and then roundhouse punched Mercury in the face. But before he could do anything else, Myra used her magnetism hammer on him and because his armour was metal, the hammer attracted him and pulled him away from Mercury. Myra then set the hammer to repel so just as Narcissus was about to stick to her hammer, he was sent flying forwards as the hammer repelled him and he crashed down onto the ground a good few yards away from the girls. Mercury patted Myra on the shoulder.
"Now that's what I call "girl power" Myra!" she said happily.
"Thanks Mercury." said Myra "You'd think the Seedrians would have learned not to wear metal since my hammer can just attract and repel them."
"And it's thanks to your hammer that we're even still alive in this war." said Mercury "Now let's smash Narcissus's face in and show him how ugly he really is!"
Myra nodded and the girls charged off to deal with Narcissus.
As for Pale Bay Leaf, he and a bunch of soldiers were fighting Nyder, Marik, Silas and Sierra. Pale Bay Leaf was fighting off Nyder with his twin swords and Nyder was armed with a rifle and he was shooting at Pale Bay Leaf while keeping his distance from the dangerous Seedrian soldier. Bay Leaf took the shots for his armour was tough enough to resist the blasts but Nyder was getting a bit bothersome, constantly jumping back to avoid his blades as he tried to slice him in two. Marik and his siblings were having an easy time with the soldiers of course. Silas sliced the Seedrians in two with his sword, Sierra shot them with her arm mounted crossbow and Marik electrocuted them with a jolt of electricity from his metal claws. The Seedrian soldiers were electrocuted and he threw them back with a lunge of his arm. Sierra looked over to Marik.
"Wow. Impressive brother. Your metal hand is very good isn't it?" she cooed to him.
"Thank you Sierra and yes, the electrical abilities this metal hand possess truly is magnificent isn't it?" crowed Marik "I ought to thank the Mobians for giving me a reason to give myself this metal hand for I feel it's going to be my shiny trump card in this war."
"Quit fawning over yourself Marik and get back in the battle!" shouted Silas "We've still got Seedrians to kill yet!"
"You mind your own business Silas and concentrate on your end!" snarled Marik.
Marik and Silas really do not get along at all, not even in battle. Silas sighed at Marik but he continued fighting off the Seedrians with his sword. Marik and Sierra scoffed at Silas and they diverted their attention back over to the Seedrians. Some Seedrian soldiers came at them with guns in their hands but Marik swept them off their feet with a simple energy wave. And before they could get back up, Sierra shot them dead with a laser arrow from her arm-mounted crossbow. The Martian children had this battle in the bag. Nyder however was still having trouble with Pale Bay Leaf. Given how he had a projectile weapon and pale Pay Leaf had swords and armour that could resist his shots, it was hard for Nyder to fight back. He kept having to keep his distance and keep shooting until his rifle actually makes an impact on Pale Bay Leaf. But it didn't seem that that was going to be happening anytime soon. Nyder just ditched his weapon and run up to Pale Bay Leaf. Pale Bay Leaf tried to slice Nyder in two with his blade weapons but Nyder grabbed his wrists and made him drop them. Nyder shoved Pale Bay Leaf back and he picked up Bay Leaf's swords. But Pale Bay Leaf simply conjured up another pair of swords from airspace (he can do that, I'm not making this up Sonic X fans!) and twirled them around.
"You forget that I never run out of swords." gloated Pale Bay Leaf.
"So what?" snorted Nyder "Just means that I'll keep having swords to steal from you."
The two then began clashing swords with one another.
As for Dark Oak, he was against Diablo and Natasha was keeping his back up at bay. Diablo and Dark Oak's fight was even sided but Natasha's fight was completely in her favour. She just walloped the Seedrians with her spiked nunchakus and knocked them down or killed them depending on how she hit them. Diablo and Dark Oak's battle was far more eventful though. They clashed weapons and threw punches at each other while taking each other's blows. Diablo walloped Dark Oak with his mace but the attack only left a dent on Dark Oak's helmet. Dark Oak swiped his sword at Diablo and the tip of the sword just managed to catch Diablo across the mouth. It didn't leave a serious cut or anything and Diablo shrugged it off as merely a scratch. Diablo put his mace away and uppercut Dark Oak into the air. Dark Oak dropped his sword and landed down onto the ground a few feet away from Diablo. Diablo lumbered towards Dark Oak but Dark Oak picked himself up and roundhouse punched Diablo in the face. He then gut-punched Diablo and jumped up into the air. He kicked Diablo with both legs and sent him hurling backwards. The muscular Martian came down with a crash that could shake an entire room. Diablo picked himself up and Dark Oak ran towards him at top speed. Diablo drew his arm back and punched Dark Oak back across the battlefield. Dark Oak crashed into some debris from the destroyed cannons and Diablo lumbered towards him. Dark Oak leaped back onto his feet and the two linked hands with one another.
"An admirable effort as always Dark Oak but you forget how these encounters with me always end!" crowed Diablo "Me damaging your armour heavily and forcing you to retreat!"
"I am aware of that." said Dark Oak "But this encounter will end with me victorious for once since I am not holding back this time!"
Dark Oak then clawed Diablo across the face and made him scream in pain. Dark Oak then rammed Diablo down and kicked him across the ground. Diablo picked himself up and threw a massive punch at Dark Oak. Dark Oak dodged and punched Diablo in the face. Diablo shook off the punch and he and Dark Oak punched at each other again.
While all this was happening, the messenger woman Rozarr had stolen a bazooka from the weaponry and she had sneaked onto the battlefield. She was not allowed to be on the battlefield since messenger women aren't allowed to fight (but messenger men are. Pretty sexist eh?) but she didn't care. She was here to kill Natasha and take Diablo for herself and that's all there was to it. Rozarr made sure she was far away from the battle so nobody would notice her and she aimed the bazooka at Natasha. She smiled to herself as she prepared to commit the terrible deed.
"Ha, ha, ha. You're dead now Natasha." she purred to herself "And that serves you right from taking my Diablo from me. With you dead, I will become his new wife and you will be pushing up Martian rocks."
She then made sure her aim was perfect and she pulled the trigger. The bazooka fired an enormous rocket and it hurled towards Natasha. Natasha heard the rocket coming unfortunately and she ran for it before the rocket could hit her. To her bad luck though, a Seedrian soldier was in the way and the rocket hit HIM instead, causing it to explode before she was out of range and the force of the explosion killed all the Seedrians around him and sent Natasha hurling forwards and into the landing leg of the Martian ship. The blast knocked her out and her headwear fell off, revealing her bald head laden with bony lumps on the cranium (you can imagine why she wears the headwear then). Rozarr, pleased to see the deed seemingly done, ran back into the ship with the empty bazooka. Nobody noticed her for they were too busy fighting, allowing her to make a clean getaway. Diablo heard what had happened and he ran over to Natasha, unable to believe what had just happened to her. He'd even seen the rocket too so he was worried sick on what had just happened. Dark Oak tried to stop Diablo he saw that Black Narcissus was in need of assistance so instead, he abandoned his battle with Diablo and ran off to help his friend. Diablo kneeled down by Natasha's side and he picked her up bridal style in his arms.
"Natasha? Natasha?! Are you alright?!" cried Diablo "Natasha?! Natasha!"
Natasha didn't answer him for she was knocked out. Marik, Silas and Sierra could hear Diablo screaming Natasha's name over and over in anguish and the three kids ran over to see what was wrong. Their battle was pretty much over anyway so they were free to see how anyone else was doing. They ran over to Diablo and stood by his side.
"Dad, dad! What's wrong?" asked Marik.
"Oh my gosh! Mother!" shrieked Silas "She's been hurt!"
Marik, Silas and Sierra stared at Natasha's unconscious body in horror and they began to feel worried for their mother. Was she dead? They hoped not, they'd already lost an uncle, they couldn't bear to lose their mother as well.
"Mommy?" asked Sierra worriedly "Is…is she…?"
"Dad, what happened to her?!" cried Marik.
"I think someone tried to shot a rocket at her." said Diablo "I saw a rocket whizz past and then there was an explosion and then…I just saw her lying next to the landing leg. I think the rocket might have hit her."
"It can't have daddy, she doesn't look like she's been hit by it." noted Sierra, pointing out that Natasha looked pretty much OK aside from a few scorch marks and the fact she was knocked out "She looks mostly OK for someone who's been hit by a rocket."
"I think the rocket missed by the force of the explosion blew her into the landing leg." guessed Marik "Lucky for mother. We have to get her out of here now dad!"
"I agree son." said Diablo "I will not let any other rockets hit her or anyone else. We must fall back before more of those rockets come flying our way."
"But we're winning dad!" protested Silas.
"Do you want to risk anyone else getting hit by a rocket?!" snarled Diablo.
"No!" squeaked Silas.
"Then we have to flee for it!" snapped Diablo "Marik, tell everybody we're retreating while I get your mother to safety!"
"Yes dad." said Marik, running off as fast as he could on his jet shoes.
Diablo picked up Natasha and ran onboard the ship with her in his arms. Sierra ran after him. Marik ran out into the battlefield and he put his hands to his mouth. He shouted out towards the other Martians.
"Everybody! Fall back! We're retreating! Repeat, we are retreating! Fall back, fall back, FALL BACK!" he bellowed.
Everybody heard Marik's call and they abandoned their battles. They ran off towards the ship and as they were doing so, Sycranna had just arrived back to the ship and he sneaked back onboard it by going around the back and flying through a boarding window in his hover-saucer. He couldn't understand why everybody was retreating. Were they losing or had something happened that forced them to retreat? No matter, Sycranna would find out in a minute for he was likely to be briefed on everything. Oh well, Galaxina as his prisoner would make the Martians happy but only when he wanted them to know and that's why he was being so secretive right now. As Sycranna made it back onboard, all the Martians had boarded the ship and the boarding ramp raised up, preventing anybody from getting inside it. The Seedrians couldn't understand why the Martians had decided to fall back. They were winning for crying out loud! What had just made them retreat?!
"Why have the Martians fallen back into their ship?" asked Pale Bay Leaf.
"Did we managed to scare them off?" asked Yellow Zelkova.
"Hardly, they were winning." noted Black Narcissus who was fuming at his broken mirror "Something else must have happened."
"Whatever the reason it does not matter." said Dark Oak in his robotically enhanced voice "The Martians have retreated so now we may destroy their ship with them on it."
"Negative sir, we do not have the right resources to destroy the ship now our cannons are down and we cannot get onboard." noted Black Narcissus "We cannot destroy the ship."
"Then we will fall back ourselves and come back with explosive weaponry!" snapped Dark Oak "Seedrians, we are retreating back to the palace! We will recuperate for a few minutes and then come back with more cannons, more soldiers and some bombs."
"Yes sir." said the surviving Seedrians.
There were only ten soldiers and the four leaders left alive. They all left the battlefield and retreated back to the Seedrian palace. As a result of both sides falling back, this battle had technically come to a draw. Neither side had won. A rare occurrence in this war. But despite the outcome, chances are the war would resume again and then more bloodshed was going to happen…
Meanwhile, Sycranna had taken Galaxina down to the dungeons for interrogation. He had decided to bring Zarondight with him since he felt the need for Zarondight to record what Galaxina was telling him in case he forgot what she told him or if he needed evidence of what he'd found out for Diablo. Not to mention, Zarondight often had the best torture weapons. Galaxina soon found herself chained up in the dark dungeon and at the mercy of Sycranna. Chains were wrapped around her wrists and she was dangling off the floor by her wrists at about Sycranna's eye line so she could look him directly in the eye. The chains dung into Galaxina's wrists and made them throb ever so badly. Her hands were likely to be disabled after this once she eventually got down. Galaxina wept to herself, fearing on what was going to happen to her. Sycranna cackled smoothly to himself as he sadistically watched the chained up Seedrian cry to herself. How he loved to hear his victims cry. He then turned to the looming Zarondight.
"As you can see, I have apprehended the eldest child of Earthia and Dark Oak Zarondight." crowed Sycranna "And I barely had to do anything too, just grab the child and run with her. It was as simple as that."
Zarondight nodded. He already gathered this from the obvious fact there was a chained up Seedrian dangling by her wrists before them but he knew Sycranna liked to boast and he liked to egg him on shamelessly since he quite liked his boasting for some odd reason. Sycranna continued to gloat (expect him to do much of this).
"How clever of me it was to think of such a brilliant idea." boasted Sycranna "March over to a Seedrian evacuation ship, kidnap it's pilot and then interrogate it on the location of the evacuees! Who would have thought of something so brilliant?"
Zarondight frowned at him and Sycranna could tell what he meant by his expression. He folded his arms and scowled at Zarondight.
"OK fine, if you hadn't have spotted the sodding ship then I wouldn't have come up with the plan so yes, you're to thank for all of this, thank you very much!" snapped Sycranna quickly "Grrr…picky one aren't you?"
Zarondight just put his hands on his hips and fumed at him. Sycranna just scoffed off his frowning and turned to Galaxina.
"Whatever Zarondight." sighed Sycranna "Now on to the interrogation…"
He strode up to the snivelling Galaxina and lifted her face up to his face with a long, thin claw. Galaxina, still weeping, stared into his eyes and gulped. Her heart began racing. What was he going to do to her?
"All I ask is one simple request that will save your family the pain of grieving…" purred Sycranna "Tell me the location of the evacuated Seedrian children and I will allow your heart to remain in your chest where it belongs."
Galaxina just spat into his eye. Sycranna growled loudly and he rubbed the spit out of his eye.
"How dare you show such insolence in my presence?!" he growled, punching Galaxina and sending her writhing around like a punching bag that's just been punched.
Galaxina spun around for a bit until she stopped and was now back to dangling above the floor as before. She was still crying to herself. Sycranna grabbed her face again.
"Again…tell me the location of the evacuees!" snarled Sycranna "If not then I will have to torture you mercilessly!"
"Go ahead…do it…sniff…I don't care!" dared Galaxina "I'm not telling to a damn thing!"
"Well you're asking for it my child so I'll give it to you!" barked Sycranna "Zarondight, torture her!"
Zarondight obeyed and he stepped forward. In his hand was a staff with a clamp on it. He pressed it against Galaxina's belly and the clamp fastened around her waist. Galaxina snorted.
"A clamp? That's it? Is that how you're going to torture me?" she sniffed.
"You'll change your tone once Zarondight activates it." sneered Sycranna "Start at medium voltage Zarondight."
Zarondight obeyed and he twisted a knob on the clamp. Then he pressed a button on the staff and Galaxina was suddenly electrocuted quite brutally by the clamp at the end of the staff. This was an electro clamp and it was one of the Martian's best torture weapons. It was also used to capture livestock back on Mars when they went hunting. Galaxina screamed loud enough to make any windows shatter as she was electrocuted brutally by the clamp. And this was only at medium voltage too, imagine what full voltage might to do her! Galaxina's pained screams echoed around the dungeon and Sycranna was laughing maniacally at her.
"Is there anything more fun than torturing a pathetic child like her?!" cackled Sycranna "Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"
Zarondight eventually stopped electrocuting Galaxina and gave her a moment to rest. Galaxina gasped for breath, electricity crackling around her as it died away. She looked down at the floor and waited for Sycranna to come to her. Sycranna strode up to her again and he lifted Galaxina's head up to his face. He flashed a hideous smile that even his mother would have been repulsed by.
"Now then Galaxina, if you don't want that to happen again, tell me where the evacuees are being housed." purred Sycranna menacingly "Just give me what I want and you shall be set free. A Martian's Promise."
Galaxina sniffed at Sycranna.
"I didn't…come all this way…just to…tell you…where me and the other children…have been evacuated to!" she snapped "I'd rather you just kill me now…then me tell you anything!"
"Grrr…that's what they always say." muttered Sycranna "But they never really mean it for they end up cracking in the end…now tell me what I want to know for the last time!"
"No!" snapped Galaxina "I will not tell you anything! And that…is final!"
"We'll see if you change your disgusting attitude after full voltage!" snarled Sycranna "Zarondight, give it to her at maximum voltage!"
Zarondight nodded and he switched the voltage up to maximum. The clamp was still on Galaxina so all he had to do was just switch it on. Galaxina was then brutally electrocuted again only this time, the voltage was even worse. Galaxina was electrocuted even more badly now the voltage was up to maximum. Sycranna laughed again as his prisoner was electrocuted. She'd crack eventually or his name wasn't Scyranna…
Meanwhile, Natasha had been hurried to the medical bay by Diablo and a Martian doctor was seeing to her immediately. As he examined the unconscious Natasha, the other Martians were conversing to each other.
"So we retreated because Natasha was almost hit by a stray rocket?" asked Dranzer.
"I don't see why we've had to. It's not the first time we've seen those Seedrian vermin use rocket launchers or bazookas or such before." boomed Obelisk.
"I believe the reasoning behind all of this is that Natasha was almost hit by one and we weren't prepared for rocket launchers for we did not anticipate one." suggested Nyder "The Seedrians could have had a secret back-up and the backup was armed with the one weapon we weren't ready for."
"That's a good theory." said Mercury "And it makes sense too. I mean who else would be using a rocket launcher on us? I do hope Natasha's OK. We've lost Count Drago, we don't need to lose our Grand War Mistress too."
"She seemed OK." said Myra "She doesn't seem too badly hurt. She had a close call from what Diablo's described to us."
"She did and all." muttered Diablo "I SAW the rocket that almost hit her. It hit another Seedrian instead and the force of the explosion must have sent her flying and knocked her out. I do hope she hasn't been killed by the impact."
"I will tear out every heart of those Seedrians if mother's dead because of them!" growled Marik fiercely, his metal hand crackling with electricity.
"I'm with you on that Marik!" agreed Silas "Nobody tries to kill our mother and gets away with it!"
"Yeah!" cried Sierra, joining in with her brothers.
"Sssshhh, quiet children." said Diablo softly "The doctor's trying to work."
"Actually sire, I'm finished now." said the doctor.
Diablo turned around to face the doctor.
"Well doctor? Will she live? Will she be alright?" asked Diablo anxiously.
"The poor dear…will pull through." said the doctor brightly "She's just knocked out. She has no broken bones or anything. Just a few scorch marks that's all. She just needs plenty of rest right now."
"Good." said Diablo "Thank you doctor."
"You're welcome sire." said the doctor brightly.
"Whew…thank Tyrahko for that!" sighed Marik "Mum's going to live!"
"Your mother's really lucky Marik." said Diablo "If that rocket had managed to hit her then she would be dead. We're lucky she managed to get away before the rocket itself could get her. The force of the explosion hitting her is better than the rocket hitting her."
"I agree dad." said Silas "So what are we gonna do now we know mum's OK?"
"We are going to storm the Seedrian palace!" announced Diablo "We will all go over there and storm the palace! We'll bring all our best weapons and we'll make sure that nobody leaves that palace alive! That'll teach them to try and kill my wife!"
"I like that idea dad but do you think it'll be a wise move?" asked Marik "I mean, what if the palace is heavily guarded?"
"Let it be, we'll storm it regardless of how powerful it is!" snapped Diablo "For now though, we'll recuperate. Meet me in the war room in half an hour and then we'll prepare to storm the Seedrian palace. Got it?"
"Yes lord Diablo." said the Martians.
"Good." said Diablo "Now, you may feel free to leave the medical room. I'm gonna stay with Natasha for a while."
The Martians all obeyed and they left the room. Diablo and the doctor were the only ones in the room with Natasha now and Diablo knelt down by her side. He took her hand into his hand and he kissed it tenderly.
"You're going to be alright babe. And we're going to get revenge on the ones who did this to you." swore Diablo "I promise my angel. I love you and I hope you'll wake up soon. Until then, sleep easy my girl. Sleep easy…"
"Very touching sire." said the doctor "I'm sure your wife would love to hear that."
"Thank you doctor. I'm just thankful she'll live." said Diablo "I do wonder who's the sick jerk who dared to launch a rocket at her?"
"Some heartless Seedrian warrior I suppose." suggested the doctor "Clever of them to have such a sneak attack I definitely must say…"
Unbeknownst to the two of them, Rozarr was spying on them from outside the room and she was furious to see that Natasha had survived and was going to live. What did she have to do to get rid of the damn War Mistress?! Rozarr strode off down the corridor and she punched the wall angrily.
"Dammit to Tyrahko!" she screamed aloud "The witch survived my assassination attempt! Grrr! What does it take to kill that stupid, ugly War Mistress?! Oh well, if I can't kill her with a rocket launcher then perhaps I can kill her while she's still sleeping…"
She smiled to herself as she thought of another plan to get rid of Natasha. Ooooh that girl was going to be dead once she was finished with her! And this next plan of hers was sure to work since Natasha was bedbound…
Back in the dungeons, Zarondight had finished torturing Galaxina and was now giving her a moment to rest. He unclamped her and stood back with the electro-clamp in his hands. There was a HORRENDOUS scorch mark around Galaxina's waist. Galaxina was lucky to still be alive after all of that shocking. She was now gasping for breath and crying to herself again. Sycranna grinned like a vampire at her and he jammed his face into her face again.
"Did the poor little girl find that experience horrifying?" sneered Sycranna.
"Yes…" gasped Galaxina hoarsely. She then let out a throaty cough "Please…please…just…just let me down…please…"
"I will Galaxina but only if you tell me what I wish to know." purred Sycranna "Now…the location of the evacuees please."
Galaxina just glared at Sycranna and coughed in his face. Sycranna took that as "I'm not talking!" and he just growled at her.
"Do you want me to kill you Galaxina?!" snarled Sycranna.
"No…" said Galaxina "But…you won't…kill me…anyway…a dead…prisoner…can't talk…after all…"
"You are right on that admittedly." fumed Sycranna "Well if I can't make you talk then I'll just have to reach inside your head and pluck the information clean out of your brain."
Galaxina looked shocked. Was Sycranna going to rip her brain out and scan it for information or something? She began to tremble with fear.
"Oh no…please, not that…!" shrieked Galaxina.
"Clam down you simpering child, I'm not going to cut your head open or anything! I'm merely going to use a Visual Mind-Reader Link."
He then suddenly slashed Galaxina's chains to pieces, allowing her to drop down onto the floor. Galaxina landed on the floor with a thud and she rubbed her wrists tenderly. Her wrists had scars that would never go away thanks to the chains that had been wrapped around them. Sycranna picked Galaxina up and threw her into Zarondight's arms.
"Patch her up to the Visual Mind-Reader Link." ordered Sycranna "We're going to find out the information by reading her mind. And it'll be a visual experience…"
Zarondight nodded and he carried Galaxina off to a bed with straps on it. Galaxina's nightmare was just beginning. She'd been tortured mercilessly and now she was going to have her mind read like a book and Sycranna was going to get the information he so desired regardless of what happened next…
Oh uh! Galaxina's just about to give the information Sycranna needs! Will he succeed in reading her mind and getting the information he needs? Or will she be saved in time? And how about Natasha? Will Rozarr get rid of her? And how about the other Martians? Will their onslaught work or are they just going with a plan that's gaurenteed to fail? Find out in the next exciting part to this epic saga!
Hey, I don't mean to sound annoyed or anything but can more of you people read and review this story? You REALLY do need to read this if you're reading Heroes of Mobius as well since you'll be missing out on a lot of in-between stories. I didn't make this thing for nothing you know. And I'd really like more reviews on it too so I know what you all think to Tales from Mobius as well as Heroes of Mobius.
