Arc 16: The Final Frontier
The Martian Invasion Prologue
Takes place during Stories 120-125 in Sonic the Hedgehog: Heroes of Mobius
Part 3
Diablo peeped into the medical room to check on his recovering wife. Natasha was still sleeping away on the bed, still unconscious but slowly recovering from that incident on the battlefield earlier. Diablo loved Natasha dearly and he always got worried whenever she was hurt or anything. Martians may love war and such, but their love for each other is stronger than any war they'd ever fought. It was settling for Diablo that Natasha wasn't even seriously hurt and that was the main thing to be happy about. Rockets have done much worse to them before so Natasha was lucky to have survived that rocket. But when the Martians next attacked the Seedrians, the Seedrians wouldn't GET to use a rocket on them ever again. For in ten minutes, they were going to storm the Seedrian palace and make sure that nobody left that palace alive. They were going to kill every last Seedrian and if it took them another year, they vowed that they would win this war.
"Don't worry Natasha, we'll kill the Seedrians and make them pay for what they've done to you." purred Diablo "Don't you worry my sweet…"
Diablo then closed the door and strode away from the medical room…and he bumped directly into Rozarr. Rozarr was thrown down onto the floor by that bump. Bumping into Diablo is like bumping into a large boulder, you end up thrown backwards after you hit it. Diablo gasped in surprise and he helped Rozarr back onto her feet.
"Rozarr! Sorry about that my messenger woman!" cried Diablo "I didn't see you there."
"It's alright Warlord." said Rozarr hastily "I should watch where I'm going."
"So what are you doing here?" asked Diablo suspiciously with a raised eyebrow.
"I was just looking for you." lied Rozarr "I was looking for you so I could deliver a message to you."
This wasn't entirely a lie since she did have a message for Diablo, she just wasn't actually looking for him. She was back to kill the bed bound Natasha and thus, had to hide her real intentions.
"Well that is your job after all Rozarr, deliver messages to me. So what have you got to report then?" asked Diablo.
Due to how much Rozarr loved Diablo, she enjoyed giving him messages. Heck, she enjoyed just talking to him in general, never mind delivering messages! Any moment with Diablo was wonderful for Rozarr. She really did love him as much as Natasha did. Eagerly, Rozarr gave off her report.
"I'm happy to announce that the soldiers are resting nicely and preparing for combat, the tanks are ready to go out into the battlefield and Count Nyder is marking good posts for us to strike from." she announced truthfully.
"Well I'm happy to hear that." said Diablo brightly "Those Seedrian scumbags will all perish today for trying to kill my wife!"
"My heart bleeds for poor Natasha right now sir." lied Rozarr "I do hope she makes a rapid recovery."
"Thank you." said Diablo "Even though you and Natasha have a…difficult relationship with each other, it's nice to know you wish her the best."
"Well I have to respect the Grand Warlord's beautiful wife don't I?" said Rozarr "There's no point to just being loyal to one Warlord right?"
"Indeed." said Diablo with a smile "Well thanks for the report and I hope you have some more good messages to tell me soon Rozarr."
"I'll make sure I get some good news just for you Diablo." beamed Rozarr happily.
"Good." said Diablo "Bye for now Rozarr, I'm off to see my kids right now."
"OK, goodbye for now Diablo." said Rozarr, resisting the urge to call him a pet name "And tell your kids I said "hi"."
"I will my dear." said Diablo, striding off down the corridor to meet Marik, Silas and Sierra.
The moment Diablo left though, Rozarr's face changed. She grinned wickedly to herself and she sneaked into the medical room. She was pretty pleased to hear that Diablo called her "my dear". That was a sign that he had some kind of respect for her. Maybe catching Diablo on the rebound would be easier then she imagined. She was also pleased that her lying had convinced Diablo that she was good and she had no ill will with Natasha. Now she was in the clear, she could kill that little wretch right now! Rozarr closed the door behind her and she sneaked over to Natasha's bed. Natasha was still breathing evenly and still sleeping away. She really was on the road to recovery, but not for long for Rozarr was about to finish her off. Rozarr knelt down by Natasha's side and she purred at her.
"Hello Natasha." she said in a sly voice "I'm here to finish what I've started. I was the one who fired that rocket at you and nearly hit you. But I failed so now I've come to give you something that'll ensure you STAY dead…"
She then reached onto her tunic around her waist and pulled out a huge syringe with a long wicked needle. The syringe had a purpley-blue liquid inside it. It was a deadly toxin created by the Martians to kill vegetation and plant life on peace loving worlds for they hated plants and vegetation. They were symbols of peace after all. They had used it to wipe out much of the plant life on Greengate which explains why it's a barren wasteland. The toxin was called "Toxic Marsroth" and was so-called in honour of the Martian who invented it, Dr. Marsroth. He was a late scientist who invented the toxin to do exactly what it does do and as well as plants, it could kill a Martian easily so Natasha was dead once Rozarr injected the killer toxin into her bloodstream. Rozarr aimed the needle above Natasha's chest, most noticeably the heart side of the chest.
"I'll inject this into your heart just to make it more painful." she purred "You deserve a painful death for taking my Diablo from me."
She then aimed the needle and was about to prick it into Natasha's chest until suddenly, a huge hand grabbed her arm and yanked her away, throwing the syringe across the room where it shattered to pieces and spilled the toxin all over the floor. Rozarr screamed in terror and she was soon face-to-face with the grabber. It was a very suspicious and very angry looking Dranzer! He was just passing by the medical room and wasn't pleased to see Rozarr in there holding a syringe above Natasha's chest so he wondered what was going on. Therefore he'd seized Rozarr and was now glaring at her.
"Everything…OK here?" he said coldly, his voice low and rumbling like an earthquake.
Rozarr panted for breath, her heart thumping like a pneumatic drill against her chest, and gazed at Dranzer. Her brain whirled for a lie she could tell to save herself from being found out.
"Uh…just…checking on the patient…to make sure she's alright." lied Rozarr, stumbling over her words in fright.
Dranzer stood up very straight and lifted Rozarr off the floor by her arm. He glared into her eyes, the messenger woman shivering fearfully.
"Get. out. of. here." snarled Dranzer, spitting the words out one at a time.
"Y-y-y-yes s-s-sir, so s-s-sorry sir, I'm g-g-gone s-s-sir." stammered Rozarr.
Dranzer let Rozarr go and the caught messenger woman fled for it quickly. Dranzer watched her leave the room and he thought to himself.
"Why was she holding a syringe over Natasha's chest?" he mused to himself, his voice rumbling around the room.
He then spotted the syringe that Rozarr had had in her hand and he strode over to it to examine its spilt contents. He got down on his knees and looked at the purpley-blue liquid that had spilt from the broken syringe. He dipped his claw in it and he sniffed the liquid. His eyes widened at the familiar scent that drifted up his nostrils.
"Toxic Marsroth!" he gasped "Why would Rozarr be trying to inject this into Natasha? I have a feeling that she's trying to kill Natasha. Well she does resent her for marrying Diablo first. I have to warn somebody. But my cousin won't believe me." muttered Dranzer grimly "He won't believe his own messenger woman is trying to kill his wife. But I bet Zarondight will believe me. I'll go and tell him what Rozarr's been up to…"
With that said, he wiped the toxin off his claw and he left the medical room. As he left, Rozarr watched him go and she fumed to herself.
"Damn it! I got caught and I bet Dranzer suspects that I'm trying to murder Natasha!" she moaned "I'll have to retreat back into my quarters to make myself look innocent and make Dranzer look like a liar! As for my next strike, I'll wait until the Martians go to storm the Seedrian palace before I try to kill Natasha. Nobody will catch me then…"
Now she had a back-up plan, Rozarr sneaked off back to her quarters so that she could make it look like Dranzer's lying and that she's completely innocent. But such acts wouldn't convince Zarondight since Dranzer was going to him and Zarondight would likely be left onboard the ship to keep watch. Rozarr wouldn't be in the clear even with the Martians going off to storm the palace…
Meanwhile in the dungeons, Sycranna and Zarondight had fastened the terrified Galaxina to a bed with straps around her wrists and ankles. Galaxina struggled in her bonds. She was very frightened. What were they going to do to her now? They'd already tortured her brutally with the electro-clamp, what else could they do to her? They had mentioned a "Visual Mind-Reader Link" and that probably meant they were going to read her mind. Read her mind…and find out the whereabouts of Greengate's twin planet! Galaxina struggled desperately but it was no use. Her bonds were very secure, she was going nowhere and fast. Sycranna snickered at her pitiful struggling.
"I wouldn't advise on that my child." he taunted "You'll just tire yourself out."
"Ugh, nggh, let me go!" cried Galaxina "You're not reading my mind and finding out what you want!"
"And who may I ask will be saying that to us?" sneered Sycranna "There's nothing you can do to stop us. We're going to proceed with the mind-reading and we're going to find out what we want, aren't we Zarondight?"
Zarondight nodded and made a gleeful expression with his eyes, the expression that kind of suggested he was going to enjoy this dearly.
"Now the victim is secure, we may begin with the procedure." announced Sycranna "Zarondight, you may attach the helmet."
Zarondight nodded and he grabbed a funny looking helmet that had a long, stretching wire connected to a large computer screen in the wall. This was the Visual Mind-Reader Link. The helmet reads the person's thought process and projects the memories onto the screen, giving the user visual contact of the person's sub-conscious mind, thoughts and memories. This ingenious device was invented by a late professor named Professor Korark and it was often used during interrogations. If a Martian was accused of doing something bad, they would be fastened to the device and the truth would be seen on the visual screen. No lie would ever get past the Martians on THIS ship! And there was no way of tricking the device either for once the helmet was put on, the victim was knocked out, preventing them from thinking something else to trick the Martians and the device fed off of past memories and thoughts stored in the person's brain. As Zarondight neared Galaxina with the sinister helmet, Galaxina struggled ever so furiously. She struggled so much you'd swear she was turning into a jitterbug all of the sudden.
"No, no, no, NO! Please, oh please, don't put that thing on me! DON'T PUT THAT THING ON ME!" screamed Galaxina "HELP, HELP, HELP!"
Zarondight ignored her and put the helmet on Galaxina's head. Galaxina screamed as she was zapped in the cranium by the helmet and she was knocked out cold by it. Galaxina now lay on the bed, completely unconscious and with the mind-reader helmet perched firmly on her head. Sycranna cackled sadistically at her and Zarondight switched on the Visual Mind-Reader Link screen. The screen fuzzed a little as it was booting up. Sycranna looked away from the unconscious Galaxina and he wandered over to the screen.
"Now then, let's see what secrets are locked away in that treasure chest of hers…" purred Sycranna.
He watched the screen as it lit up and showed them a vision of something. To Sycranna's disappointment though, it was a vision of what had just happened only from Galaxina's point of view. This was not what they were searching for at all.
"This isn't what we want, this is just recapping what just happened!" growled Sycranna "Zarondight, rewind this and see if you can find anything in her mind remotely resembling the day of evacuation!"
Zarondight nodded and he pressed a few buttons on the control pad to the Visual Mind-Reader Link screen. He rewound back a few memories of Galaxina's and paid close attention to the rewinding footage on screen. He was looking for anything that resembled the day the Seedrian children evacuated Greengate and moved onto wherever they'd evacuated to. Zarondight was rewinding quite a lot of footage considering the evacuation had been last year so Sycranna had to put up with the agony of waiting until Zarondight found the footage. After a couple of minutes, Zarondight finally found something. He'd gone back to the day Galaxina had been placed in a Seedrian Evacuation Ship. He stopped rewinding it and he played the footage. Sycranna bent over Zarondight's shoulder and he watched the footage with him. They were seeing that fateful day through the eyes of Galaxina and she was looking up at Earthia's tearful face. Her words emitted through the speakers on the screen.
"It's time for you and your friends to go…my daughter…sob…" sobbed Earthia "You take good care of…sniff…your sisters when you get to the evacuation area. I promise you Galaxina, I promise all your sisters…that we'll beat those Martians and you can come back home."
"I know you will mother." came Galaxina's voice "I love you. And tell daddy I love him too."
"I love you too Galaxina." sobbed Earthia, hugging her daughter "And I hope that you and your sisters will be safe and happy once you get to the evacuation area."
"Why can't you tell me where we're going?" asked Galaxina in wonder "Why do you keep saying "evacuation area"?
"In case anyone's listening to us or spying on us." whispered Earthia "Well then…goodbye Galaxina and…may you come back to us soon…"
Her voice trailed off as the cockpit window to the ship closed around Galaxina. Sycranna screwed his face up in disgust.
"Ugh…that was as revolting as I imagined the whole farewell scenario being!" gagged Sycranna "I never want to watch that again!"
Zarondight rewound it a bit and played the part where Earthia told Galaxina why she kept saying "evacuation area" instead of where they were going again. He put it on repeat for a while and then stopped. Sycranna was not pleased to hear Earthia say that at all. He was secretly impressed by how clever she'd been that day though.
"Earthia is clearly more intelligent then we give her credit for." muttered Sycranna "She kept their intended destination a secret, even from her own children before they evacuated just because she feared anyone spying on her. Clever witch I must say. No matter, we'll find out anyway for we're about to watch the arrival. Zarondight, try and find the day Galaxina arrives at the evacuation point!"
Zarondight nodded and he fast-forward the footage until they reached the day Galaxina and the children arrived at the Seedrian twin-planet, the very place they had all been evacuated to. All their ships had been set to auto-pilot so the ships took them there all by themselves, preventing anyone from changing course and flying back home. Zarondight played the footage and watched intently as Galaxina's ship neared the twin-planet. But before the planet could come into a fully clear view, something went wrong and the Visual Mind-Reader screen switched off. Sycranna's eyes widened in horror. His chance at finding out what he wanted was being foiled! Why had the screen turned off and what was going on?! Sycranna grabbed Zarondight furiously.
"Zarondight! Why has the screen shut off?!" demanded Sycranna.
Zarondight shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea what was going on. Sycranna's face contorted with rage.
"Well don't just stand there and look stupid! Fix it!" he snarled.
Zarondight obeyed and he bent down to see to the Visual-Mind Reader Link screen. Zarondight opened the casing and he looked inside. To his disappointment, there was a fried wire sparking away like mad. It seemed as if they had fried a circuit and blown a fuse. Strange though considering they rarely used it so it shouldn't have this kind of problem. Zarondight reached in and grabbed the wire but he got zapped by it and the wire suddenly sparked and set fire to the inner circuitry of the Visual Mind-Reader Link screen. Zarondight quickly patted on the fire to put it out. Sycranna could tell that something was wrong from the way Zarondight was acting.
"I take it that the circuitry isn't in good shape Zarondight?" asked Sycranna.
Zarondight took his head out of the inner workings and he nodded grimly. Sycranna instantly flipped and started raging at the top of his voice.
"I COME CLOSE TO FINDING OUT WHERE THE SEEDRIAN CHILDREN ARE LOCATED AND THE VISUAL MIND-READER LINK MALFUNCTIONS ON ME?!" he thundered "OH TYRAHKO, WHY DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME?! I'M NEVER GETTING THAT PROMOTION NOW!"
"What is going on in here?!" bellowed a deep voice.
Sycranna yelped in surprise and he turned around to see none other than Diablo standing there in the dungeon doorway. He was just passing by and he had heard Sycranna ranting his head off so he let himself into the dungeon to see what was wrong. TO his surprise, he saw Sycranna and Zarondight with Galaxina strapped to the visual mind-reader link in the dungeon.
"Oh Diablo, eh heh, heh!" gasped Sycranna "You're just in time to see something!"
"I hope there's a good explanation for this." muttered Diablo "How is Galaxina right here on that bed over there and what are you doing to her?"
"Galaxina took the liberty of returning to her home soil because she was worried about her "pwecious wittle pawents"." explained Sycranna "So I took the liberty of kidnapping her and torturing her for information on the whereabouts of the Seedrian children. She refused to talk though so I came up with the brilliant idea of using the Visual Mind-Reader Link on her to find out where the Seedrian children have been evacuated to. How brilliant is that Diablo? I would have found out though if this stupid machine didn't malfunction on me!" he grumbled, kicking the broken Visual Mind-Reader Link furiously.
Diablo took in all of this and he was amazed that of all people to come up with a plan so brilliant, Sycranna, his Grand Pilot, had come up with it. Guess he should have taken Sycranna's intelligence for granted. Maybe he DID deserve a higher rank after all. Such intelligence deserves a promotion. Diablo smiled at Sycranna and he put a hand on his Grand Pilot's shoulder.
"Sycranna…that was one of the best things I've ever seen a Martian attempt." congratulated Diablo "Pity it failed thanks to faulty machinery but still, intelligence like that deserves a reward."
Sycranna's stomach tingled with excitement.
"So…does this mean…?" he said, getting ready to cheer.
"Yes Sycranna, I am giving you your much desired promotion at long last." said Diablo happily "You are now promoted from Grand Pilot to Squadron Leader but you still maintain your pilot status. Is that what you wanted?"
"It's EVERYTHING I wanted Lord Diablo!" shrieked Sycranna excitedly "Oh thank Tyrahko! Diablo, I cannot thank you enough for your generosity!"
"OK, OK, calm down Sycranna." laughed Diablo "And besides, you're about to get your first time in your new rank for we're storming the Seedrian Palace in a couple of minutes. And seeing Galaxina here has given me a change of plans…"
He then reached over and un-strapped Galaxina from the Visual Mind-Reader Link. The moment Galaxina was removed from the machine, she woke up and gasped for breath.
"Huh…where am I? What in the…?" she cried out in surprise.
"Uh…Diablo?" asked a puzzled Sycranna.
"Instead of storming the palace, we'll set an ambush." explained Diablo "And this filthy Seedrian will make the perfect bait to bring Dark Oak out into the open to save his precious daughter. The moment he steps out though, we'll all strike and bring the palace down!"
Galaxina gasped in horror at the sound of that.
"A meritorious idea sir but…will Dark Oak fall for it?" asked Sycranna "I mean, won't it look like an obvious trap to him?"
"Seedrians care too much about their repulsive half forms." sneered Diablo "Dark Oak won't be able to resist the urge to save his stupid daughter."
"I'm not stupid!" snapped Galaxina "I'm one of the most highly educated Seedrians ever born for your information…"
"SHUT UP!" bellowed Diablo, his voice so powerful that Galaxina's eardrums almost burst (wait a minute…she doesn't HAVE ears!).
"Anyway, Dark Oak will buy it." crooned Diablo "His heart will take over his head when he sees Galaxina in my hands."
"Let's hope that works sir." said Sycranna doubtfully "But if we lose her…we can't use her to find out where the children have been evacuated once the Visual Mind-Reader Link is finished."
"We won't lose her." assured Diablo "The ambush will be a success and we'll defeat the Seedrians. Then we'll take Galaxina back and use the Visual Mind-Reader Link on her once it's fixed. And then we can found out where the Seedrian offspring are hiding. Get yourself ready Sycranna for we're about to depart for battle. Oh and by the way, since you probably don't know what's happened, I'm sorry to say that Natasha won't be joining us. She's bed bound at the moment."
Zarondight looked like he was going to faint at the sound of that. He was VERY loyal to his sister Natasha and just the fact she was bed bound shocked him almost to death. Sycranna looked like he couldn't believe his ears.
"Natasha's…" he stammered "What happened to her?!"
"A Seedrian almost hit her with a rocket. It missed but the force of the explosion knocked her out." said Diablo grimly "But she's fine, don't worry. With any luck, she'll wake up by the time we come back."
"I hope she recovers swiftly." said Sycranna "Especially for Zarondight's sake…" he looked over at the shaken and visibly horrified Zarondight.
"Zarondight, Natasha will be fine, don't you worry." assured Diablo "When she wakes up, you may see her and you can express your concerns for her. Understood?"
Zarondight nodded and he relaxed his expressions.
"Good." said Diablo "We'll see you later Zarondight. You can take charge of the ship while we're away. And fix the Visual Mind-Reader Link while you're at it please."
Zarondight nodded and waved goodbye to Diablo. Diablo and Sycranna walked out of the dungeon with Galaxina tucked firmly under Diablo's arm. As the two walked away from the dungeon, Dranzer arrived and watched as Diablo and Sycranna walked away. Dranzer then slipped into the dungeon and spotted Zarondight fixing up the Visual Mind-Reader Link. Zarondight looked up and his eyes widened at the sight of Dranzer. Dranzer wandered up to Zarondight and put his arm around his shoulder.
"Zarondight, there's something you must hear…" he said to the silent Martian quietly.
Zarondight listened closely as Dranzer prepared to tell him his suspicions about Rozarr…
Meanwhile, all the Martians had gathered into the war room and were lining up ready for a role call. Marik, Silas, Sierra, Obelisk, Myra and Mercury were all here and ready to go. Dranzer and Count Nyder were missing though. We already know where Dranzer is but Count Nyder's whereabouts were unknown to anyone. Rozarr was here and counting heads for Diablo so she could report to him. She was a bit worried about he fact Dranzer wasn't here but she couldn't for the life of her think why Count Nyder wasn't here. Where was that Count Drago replacement? Was Dranzer talking to him about her? Or was he doing something? Nevertheless, her beloved Diablo would sort that out easily. She was hopefully going to still be in the clear yet.
"So Martians, are you all armed and ready for the storming of the Seedrian Palace then?" asked Rozarr.
"Yes." said the Martians.
"Good, you'd better be since this attack on the palace is likely going to be very big." sniffed Rozarr, flicking her headwear around in an uppity manner.
"As if you know anything misery-guts." muttered Mercury, folding her arms "You've only JUST heard about our next step in this war so you can't say much about it."
"I'll thank you for keeping your ignorance to yourself Mercury." sniffed Rozarr "I didn't ask for your opinion."
"Shut up you pompous old hag!" snapped Mercury "You maybe the messenger woman but that doesn't give you the right to talk down to us like that! Our ranks are higher then yours so you have no right to act so high and mighty to us!"
"I'm a messenger FOR Diablo." retorted Rozarr "Therefore, I'm technically high and mighty so I can act like that if I like."
"Well let's see how "high and mighty" you act when I drive an arrow through your heart!" snarled Mercury.
"I'd like to see you try you ugly old asteroid!" dared Rozarr
"Stop arguing both of you!" bellowed Obelisk "Diablo will not tolerate behaviour like this from you two!"
"Yeah Mercury!" snickered Rozarr, sticking out her tongue.
"He meant both of us you twit!" snapped Mercury.
"If you don't stop right now I'll hammer you both into the floor!" shouted Myra, raising her magnetism hammer menacingly.
Mercury and Rozarr stopped arguing and Mercury stood back to attention whereas Rozarr just folded her arms and scowled at Mercury. Myra lowered her hammer and stood to attention.
"Thank you Myra." said Obelisk "Now stand to attention, I think Diablo is coming."
The sound of heavy footsteps clunking rang from up the corridor leading to the war room. The Martians all recognized those footsteps. They were undeniably the footsteps of Diablo since his footsteps were always rather heavy sounding. But it wasn't just Diablo coming as we all know, Diablo was coming to the war room with Sycranna behind him. Diablo strode in a prideful manner into the war room with Sycranna behind, looking very pleased with himself (he's just been promoted, what do you expect?). Rozarr bowed down to Diablo.
"Lord Diablo, I'm ready to report to you." said Rozarr.
"Go on then, let's hear it." said Diablo casually.
"All the Martians are armed and ready." said Rozarr "But Dranzer and Nyder are missing."
"Nyder said he wanted to opt out of this battle." explained Marik "He's making some new weapons for us or so he says."
"Very well, I'll respect his wishes and allow him to miss this battle." said Diablo "But what about Dranzer? Where is…"
"I'm right here cousin." came a voice that he was hoping to hear.
It was Dranzer. He'd finished talking to Zarondight and he quickly found out that he was late for the meeting so he'd run off to the war room quickly to make sure nobody started looking for him. Dranzer strode into the war room and took his place beside Obelisk in the line. Obelisk looked at his twin brother.
"Where were you Dranzer?" asked Obelisk.
"I…had to take care of something privately." lied Dranzer "It's OK now though, don't fuss."
"OK then." said Obelisk, not entirely sure he believed Dranzer, he suspected something was going down and he had something to do with it.
Now the Martians were all here, Diablo stood before them and he put his hands behind his back.
"I have a couple of announcements to make before we begin our assault." boomed Diablo "First of, there's been a change of plan. Sycranna, show them the prisoner."
Sycranna obeyed and he emerged from behind Diablo, holding a bound and gagged Galaxina in his hands. Galaxina mumbled furiously behind the clamp that was wrapped around her mouth, preventing her from speaking. The Martians all gasped in surprise at the mere sight of Galaxina. They all began conversing to one another immediately.
"Sweet merciful moon rocks! It's Galaxina!" cried Myra
"How in the name of the solar system did SHE get here?!" exclaimed Mercury "She was evacuated along with the other children!"
"What is that filth doing here anyway?!" demanded Obelisk.
"She must be terminated!" growled Dranzer, whipping out his hand held laser cannon and pointing it at Galaxina "Allow me the honours cousin!"
"At ease everyone!" thundered Diablo "I can explain everything!"
The Martians all calmed down and Dranzer put away his cannon. He hated it when he whipped it out only to put it away again. Now the tension had simmered, Diablo spoke and announced what was going on.
"Sycranna here tells me that Galaxina came back because she was worried about her parents." explained Diablo "I guess she flew back here in one of those Seedrian Evacuation Ships the children were evacuated in."
"She did indeed master." confirmed Sycranna "Her ship is parked out there in the plains somewhere."
"Thank you Sycranna." said Diablo "So anyway, we're going to use Galaxina as bait to draw out Dark Oak and his men. I will be there alone with Galaxina while the rest of you wait out of sight. When Dark Oak and his men come out to rescue Galaxina…we'll have them!"
"That sounds like it's going to be a good idea dad." said Marik "After all, Seedrians are automatically programmed to help anyone in danger without a second thought. And that is how we managed to kill so many of them before…" he added, smilingly deviously at the memories he had of killing off Seedrians who couldn't resist the urge to save their loved ones despite it being an obvious trap.
"Precisely." said Diablo "The plan will be our ticket to victory. And now the second announcement:"
He urged Sycranna to stand forward to which the newly promoted Martian did without hesitation. He had a very smug expression on his face.
"Sycranna, as you all know has done the amazing task of killing Red Pine, one of the most powerful soldiers in the Seedrian ranks." announced Diablo "But today, he's done something even more amazing."
"What's that then sir?" asked Obelisk.
Sycranna took over.
"I spotted Galaxina's ship so I came up with the brilliant idea of kidnapping her and using the Visual Mind-Reader Link on her to find out where the children have been evacuated to." explained Sycranna "The machine unfortunately malfunctioned so I was unable to find out what I wanted but Zarondight's fixing it and once we return back here with Galaxina, we'll use it on her again and find out what we want to find out."
The Martians murmured among each other.
"So because of the fact he's done two amazing acts in one day, I have given him a promotion." continued Diablo "He is now a Squadron Leader along with Dranzer, Obelisk and Mercury. So he'll be joining us in our attack on the Seedrian palace. May he have a round of applause soldiers?"
The Martians all started clapping for Sycranna. The newly promoted Martian just bowed and smiled happily and smugly as they cheered him.
"Well done Sycranna!" cheered Mercury.
"You've honoured us all today." congratulated Dranzer.
"You've earned your place at a new table Sycranna." said Obelisk.
"You'll make a fine addition to the Squadron Leaders!" cheered Myra.
"Our battle's about to become easier for us!" cried Marik happily.
"Our army's gonna be better now you're a Squadron leader!" cheered Silas.
"Hooray for Sycranna!" hollered Sierra.
Even Rozarr clapped…sarcastically of course for she didn't really care about all that. Big deal is what she thought it was. She was pretty hard to impress what with being a misery-guts unless around Diablo. Sycranna just bowed and smiled as if he was being presented with an award.
"Thank you, thank you. You're too kind all of you." crowed Sycranna "I look forward to my first battle under my new rank."
"You'll need a weapon though Sycranna, you can't go out into battle without a weapon." noted Diablo.
"Don't worry, I already made myself one." said Sycranna.
He then reached behind his back and unsheathed a long, sharp rapier with a thicker blade then a human rapier. The hilt was very fancy looking and the steel used to make the blade looked very tough. Diablo looked at it in amazement. Where did Sycranna get that rapier? He didn't remember having it in the armoury before. Sycranna gave the rapier a few twirls.
"I built this thing myself." explained Sycranna "Built it behind your backs while you all fought away. I'm a swords person after all so I felt it would be fitting that I built my own sword. Nice isn't it?"
"It's very nice Sycranna." said Marik with a smile on his face "And you built it yourself no less, that makes it more special."
"It does indeed doesn't it Marik?" purred Sycranna, sheathing his sword.
"So then, now all that's out the way, who's ready to storm the Seedrian palace?" boomed Diablo enthusiastically.
"We are!" cheered the Martians.
"Well then, let us go out into battle and put our little ambush plan into action…" said Diablo, flashing a twisted smile at Galaxina, the Seedrian shuddering at him.
With that said, the Martians all wandered off to prepare for the big battle with the Seedrians. As the Martians all left to gear up for this crusade, Marik couldn't help but start asking questions to his siblings.
"It's a real pity that Count Nyder's going to miss all of this." said Marik "But why would he miss out on the opportunity to destroy the Seedrians just so he can make more weapons?"
"I dunno, maybe Nyder thinks he can build something that can help us win at last." suggested Silas "Bet he'll feel stupid when we all return and the Seedrians are defeated and thus, his new weapons will be obsolete."
"Not necessarily Silas, they could be put to use in our battle with those Mobian thingies that we're targeting next." noted Sierra "How I wanna rip their guts out for killing Uncle Drago and crippling our brother's hand!"
"Oh don't worry about Marik's sodding hand, he's fine." scoffed Silas "It's Uncle Drago we should be more concerned about, he's dead for Tyrahko's sake!"
"I know but I wanna avenge Marik as well as Uncle Drago." said Sierra.
"And I appreciate that my lovely sister." said Marik appreciatively (hey, Marik maybe a sadistic little tyrant but he's not ungrateful to his family!) "But we'll worry about those blasted Mobians later, we've got this war to finish first."
"And with Galaxina as bait to drive out Dark Oak and his men, this war will be as good as finished." bragged Silas "And I'll make sure that I'm the one that kills Dark Oak too since I deserve such an honour…"
Marik and Sierra ignored him and instead, talked to each other.
"It is a pity Nyder will miss this, he would love to see all the carnage we're going to bring to the Seedrians." said Marik.
"He's with us in spirit big bro." said Sierra "And I'm sure he'll love to hear the good news when we come back."
Marik nodded and the children continued down the corridor after the others. This battle was going to be one of the biggest battles in the entire war once the plan was put into action. And almost every Martian would be taking part. As the Martians prepared for battle though, Rozarr sneaked off to finish off Natasha once and for all. She sneaked off to the armoury and grabbed a large sword that was in there. The sword had a big bulky blade and three prongs around the hand guard.
"I'm taking no chances now, I've got the best opportunity ever to kill that wretch Natasha." said Rozarr "I'll chop her to pieces with this and in order to hide myself, I think I'll frame Zarondight for the crime. I'll make it look like he did it. I'll hide the sword in his room and make sure there's plenty of Natasha's blood on the blade. And to make it more convincing, I'll hide the corpse in his room too…"
As she started talking to herself, she wandered off down to the medical room with the sword in hand. To her misfortune though, Zarondight was watching her from the shadows and listening intently to her. He had been shocked to hear what Dranzer had told him and he decided to spy on her just to make sure Dranzer's suspicions were correct. Now they had been confirmed to be correct, Zarondight was going to stop Rozarr dead in her tracks. And he had been recording what she'd said to herself so Rozarr wouldn't be able to lie her way out of this one to Diablo. Rozarr was dead meat once Zarondight caught her…
As for Count Nyder, he was not building new weapons like he had said to Marik. He was instead outside of the ship, about one-hundred yards away and in the middle of a great, stretching wasteland, piloting a drilling vehicle. The vehicle was large with a large drill sticking out the front of it and it had tank treads for motion. Nyder was using the machine to drill down to the planet's core and the machine had his bomb strapped to it. Nyder had a device that showed him where the planet's core was so he'd know when to stop the drill. As the drill began to dig away into the earth, Nyder muttered to himself.
"We're fighting a losing battle." he muttered "And there is no way in hell that I am going to be content with being defeated by a bunch of plant creatures! I don't care what Diablo says, I want the Martians to win this godforsaken war and I am going to go ahead with my plan in order to help us win it! Blowing up the planet isn't cowardice at all, it is a brilliant plan and the best chance at winning! Diablo will appreciate me once I set this thing to blow and end this war forever…"
He smiled deviously to himself as the machine dug down into the earth and disappeared from sight. The end of the world was coming for Greengate and it seemed that nobody would be able to stop it. The Martians would flee the planet and make the Seedrians think they were surrendering and then…KA-BOOM! It'll be lights out for Greengate…
As for the Martians, they had just arrived at the Seedrian palace. The majestic palace that is the residence of Earthia and Dark Oak still stood proudly above the great wastes that stretched out all around the planet. The Martians had all hidden behind some large rocks that were about fifty feet away from the palace. The rocks were big enough to hide all the Martians and when the time was right, they'd leap out and start attacking. And once the attack started their back up, which was a load of soldiers and a bunch of tanks, would start coming in and the slaughter would begin. The Martians all waited patiently as Diablo strode towards the palace with the bound and gagged Galaxina in his hands. Galaxina was happy to see her old home again but she wasn't happy at the fact she was arriving back at her old home as a hostage. She hoped that her dad would save her but chances are, he wouldn't since this whole thing was a trap and he was going to fall for it. As Diablo strode towards the palace, some Seedrian soldiers watching from the palace turrets spotted him and they pointed their guns at Diablo.
"Hold it right there Diablo!" they yelled "Put your hands up and surrender yourself!"
Diablo ignored them and instead, hoisted Galaxina up for them to see. The soldiers all thought they were going to have a unison of heart attacks at the mere sight of Galaxina in Diablo's hands. They all lowered their guns and began conversing frantically to themselves
"Holy rosebuds! It's Galaxina!" shrieked one soldier.
"He's got Galaxina!" shouted another.
"How the seeds did Diablo get her?!" cried another.
"The kids were all evacuated! Galaxina shouldn't even be here!" exclaimed another "And the Martians can't possibly know where the kids are!"
"Oy! You lot up there! I hope you're listening because this is VERY important!" boomed Diablo.
The soldiers stopped nattering to one another and they peered back down at Diablo, worried on what he had to say. Diablo smiled evilly at them and he gave his testimony.
"As you can see, I have Galaxina in my hands." announced Diablo "Tell Dark Oak that if he wants to see his precious daughter again…he must come out and claim her himself! I will fight no one but Dark Oak and his best men for Galaxina! You tell him that! And tell him that if he refuses…I'll snap her neck in two without hesitation!"
He grabbed Galaxina's head and made a threatening gesture as if he was going to snap Galaxina's neck like a twig. Galaxina screamed from behind her gag and began to cry tears of fright. The soldiers immediately obeyed Diablo's order and they ran off to fetch Dark Oak faster than you can say "Daffodil, Daisy, Whoop-dee-do-da." (not that you'd EVER want to say that!). Diablo smiled like a swamp troll to himself. The plan was working! In a moment, the ambush could begin! Oh happy day! Sycranna peeked over the rock he and the others were hiding behind and he reported to them.
"The plan is in motion and it seems to be working." said Sycranna "The soldiers have gone to do as Diablo's asked."
"Of course they have, Seedrians have no choice but to save a child in distress." snorted Marik "Once a child's in distress, all common sense drops and they just rush into save it without second thought. That is their ultimate weakness. I guess that's why they evacuated the children in the first place."
"So we couldn't endanger them and use their weakness against them." muttered Silas "Pity really, I'd love to have stomped on a kid or two."
"Well once we find out where the Seedrian children have been evacuated, you'll get to do that brother." said Sierra.
Silas smiled at the thought of killing a thousand Seedrian children. As for Diablo, he stood there waiting patiently for Dark Oak to arrive. After a couple of minutes, Dark Oak, Pale Bay Leaf, Black Narcissus and Yellow Zelkova all came out of the palace and strode up to Diablo, ready to smash him to pieces. Dark Oak already had his sword in his hand. Galaxina tried to warn Dark Oak of the trap but given her gag, she couldn't. Dark Oak pointed his sword at Diablo.
"You monster! Release my daughter immediately or I shall have to run you through Diablo!" snarled Dark Oak "And do not attempt to resist, you cannot stop all four of us at once. Even you're not that powerful."
"I said you had to fight me for her you numbskull so by all means, fight me for her!" snapped Diablo, throwing Galaxina aside and drawing out his mace.
"So be it. You've just arranged your own funeral Diablo." said Dark Oak coldly "Zelkova, Narcissus, you take the sides, me and Bay Leaf will take him head on."
Yellow Zelkova and Black Narcissus did as they were told and they surrounded Diablo from the sides. Narcissus had his mirror staff ready (the mirror's fixed by the way) and Zelkova clenched his fists. Bay Leaf had his swords in hand and Dark Oak was ready to strike. But before anybody could move, Diablo bellowed aloud.
"NOW MARTIANS!"
And with that said, all the Martians jumped out of their hiding place and they charged towards the Seedrians. Dark Oak almost dropped his sword in horror.
"It's an ambush!" he cried "We've been tricked…"
Diablo just promptly uppercut Dark Oak into the air with his mace. He hurtled into the air and came down with a heavy clunk at the foot of the palace doors. The Seedrians all braced themselves as the Martians charged towards them and drew out their weapons. The battle for the palace was on! And the winner was certain to be the Martians for they were well prepared and the Seedrians weren't! But Dark Oak wasn't going to let Diablo and his men win that easily. He was going to rescue Galaxina and stop the Martians from storming his palace…
This is it! The final battle is beginning! Who's gonna win this one? Who will emerge victorious? And who will bite the dust? Tune in next time as the final part of The Final Frontier begins...
So Arena Lumanati and Kratos Pwns how's this arc looking so far?
And fellow readers, can you please give more feedback on this story? I feel as if it's not being appreciated enough...
