Arc 16: The Final Frontier
The Martian Invasion Prologue
Takes place during Stories 120-125 in Sonic the Hedgehog: Heroes of Mobius
Ever since the Seedrians had fallen back to the Seedrian palace after their failed attempt to destroy the Martian ship, things had been pretty quiet for them. They'd been recuperating from the battle and now they'd all rested, they'd started preparing for the storming of the Martian ship while the Martians had been preparing to storm their palace. Yeah, imagine that, they were attempting to storm each other. But the Martians had beaten them to it. Diablo had arrived at the Seedrian palace with a captive Galaxina in his hands. The Seedrian soldiers standing on guard in the palace turrets saw Diablo coming towards the palace, seemingly unarmed and unaided. They began wondering why would Diablo dare come to them unarmed and unaided but they didn't care; this was their golden moment to kill or capture the Martian leader. They all 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. Inside the palace, the Seedrian soldiers were stacking up crates of bombs and placing them inside a convoy truck that would be used to take the bombs to the Martians. The convoy truck was boxed shaped and curved around the top areas. Only two people could sit in it, the driver and a passenger. The truck hovered above the ground too and could store a lot of weapons in the back. Many of these trucks had been used by the Seedrians and they were very useful. And now it was going to continue to be useful for it was going to transport the bombs to the Martian ship. Dark Oak watched gleefully as the truck was loaded.
"Excellent work men." said Dark Oak "This whole supply of bombs we have will easily destroy the Martian ship and bring this war to an end. Be ready to roll out in five minutes."
The soldiers all nodded and they finished loading the last of the supplies. As they prepared for action, Earthia put her arm around Dark Oak.
"Lucas, do you really think that this is necessary?" asked Earthia "Taking every bomb we have in the armoury and going over to the Martian ship to destroy it with all those bombs? If we kill them all like this…that makes us no better than those disgusting Martians."
"Earthia my dear, I am fully aware of that." said Dark Oak, taking off his helmet so Earthia could see his handsome face again "But in warfare, you have to do what it takes to ensure your survival. This is the best opportunity we have of bringing peace back to Greengate and putting an end to all this pointless bloodshed we've had over the years. And I'm willing to take it. Once all the Martians are dead…we can finally return to our normal ways."
"I'm all in for bringing an end to the war Lucas dear but…I don't think I could live…live with the thought that we've gone against our way of life…" stammered Earthia, looking at her trembling hands "And we'll have to live with this forever…live with blood…upon our hands…I don't think I could live with that!"
She came close to breaking down. Dark Oak put his hands on his wife's shoulders and looked her in the eyes.
"Earthia, we have no other choice. If we're to win the war, we HAVE to do this." said Dark Oak sternly "The Martians won't surrender and they won't give up. We have to commence with our plan or face extinction at their hands. They started all this so we're going to end it."
"I know Lucas…" said Earthia, putting her hands on Dark Oak's shoulders "It's just going to be hard to get over the fact we've abandoned our peaceful ways…and committed genocide."
"I don't think every Martian in existence is here on Greengate Earthia so we're not committing Genocide." noted Dark Oak "We're just stopping one whole ship full of Martians. There's probably more out there and they'll hopefully not come across us. So don't worry about genocide Earthia, we're far from that in this war."
"You're right Lucas…" said Earthia "It'll still be hard to except that we've had to do such a method to win this war…"
Then suddenly the soldiers that were up in the palace turrets burst into the room frantically.
"Your eminence!" shrieked one soldier "We've got trouble!"
"Diablo's outside the palace! And he's got Galaxina hostage!" exclaimed another.
The look on Earthia's face was legendary. She was so shocked at this that she felt like she was going to just drop dead for no reason whatsoever. Dark Oak however was furious and he clenched his fists in rage.
"Diablo's got…WHO?!" he screamed.
"Galaxina!" repeated the soldier "We don't know how he's got her since she SHOULD be on Bluegate, our twin planet, but somehow, he's got her and demands that you and your best men fight him or he'll kill her!"
"No!" wailed Earthia "Oh god, please no! Not my precious Galaxina! If we ever retrieve Cosmo from the home planet of that future couple who visited us that time Drago was killed, she'll die of a broken heart when she comes home to find out her eldest sister is dead!"
"She will not die Earthia." assured Dark Oak "For me, Zelkova, Narcissus and Bay Leaf will save her. Galaxina will be back safe in our palace."
"I hope so." said Earthia shakily "Good luck Lucas."
She and Dark Oak then shared a parting kiss before Dark Oak put his helmet back on.
"Yellow Zelkova, Black Narcissus, Pale Bay Leaf, with me now!" he ordered "My eldest daughter is in need of aid!"
The three Seedrian leaders obeyed and they followed Dark Oak, who unsheathed his sword, out through the palace doors. They all ran outside and surely enough, they saw Diablo standing there with a bound and gagged Galaxina in his hands. Dark Oak and his men strode up to Diablo and he pointed his sword at Diablo's face. Galaxina tried to warn them of the trap that had been set up for them but given her gag, she couldn't.
"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. Dark Oak picked himself up and he gave out the command.
"Zelkova, Narcissus, Bay Leaf, fight as hard as you can!" he bellowed "Soldiers, you're needed out here to even our numbers!"
The Seedrian soldiers got the command and they ran out to the even the scores. But they wouldn't be of much help given how easy they were to kill but Dark Oak was outnumbered so he needed every resource he had right now. Yellow Zelkova ran up to Dranzer and Obelisk, his armour taking their shots as they fired their cannons at him and he gave them both an uppercut to the face each. That uppercut sent them flying into the air and back over the rock they had been hiding behind. Dranzer and Obelisk picked themselves up and they ran back out from behind the rock without their weapons in hand. Their weapons were futile against such a powerfully built and armoured Seedrian. Dranzer and Obelisk both punched Yellow Zelkova in the sides of his head and then they both gut punched him together. Dranzer then grabbed Yellow Zelkova's left arm and Obelisk grabbed his right arm. They both tossed him into the air and sent him crashing down on top of a couple of Seedrian soldiers. His heavy weight courtesy of his bulky armour squashed them both flat. Zelkova picked himself up and grumbled as he wiped the corpses off of himself.
"I've accidentally flattened enough soldiers in this war." he grumbled "This is the last time this'll happen again!"
Dranzer suddenly got the drop on him and he roundhouse punched him directly into the wall. Yellow Zelkova pulled himself out of the wall and he charged towards Dranzer but Obelisk charged into him from the side and rammed him down onto his side.
"Alone we're a threat, together we're unstoppable!" crowed Obelisk "You'll never beat both of us at once Yellow Zelkova!"
"Keep your arrogance in check brother!" snapped Dranzer "We cannot afford to lose focus in this battle!"
"Yes brother." said Obelisk.
True Dranzer was as arrogant as he was but Dranzer was trying to work on his arrogance whereas Obelisk wasn't so Dranzer had to push him back in line now and again. Yellow Zelkova picked himself up and he charged towards the deadly twins again. Dranzer and Obelisk just prepared to deck him one as he charged towards them.
As for Black Narcissus, he was fighting Mercury since he wanted to pay her back for breaking his mirror earlier (which had long since been fixed). This was a nuisance to Mercury since he was now capable of deflecting her arrows again. But Myra was on hand to fix that for her friend. She activated her magnetism hammer and used it to snatch the mirror staff out of Narcissus' hands and bring it straight to her. Narcissus gasped as his mirror staff was snatched straight out of his hands and brought straight to Myra's hammer. Myra then switched the hammer off so the staff was no longer magnetised to her hammer and she picked it up. She smashed the mirror again and broke the staff over her knee. Black Narcissus fumed angrily at Myra.
"Let's see you deflect Mercury's arrows now Black Narcissus!" sneered Myra.
"You'll be eviscerated for that!" growled Black Narcissus.
Mercury just fired an arrow at him but Narcissus dodged the arrow just in time. It hit the ground and exploded, throwing him across the battlefield. Black Narcissus picked himself up and ran over to Myra. Myra raised her hammer and walloped Black Narcissus with it. Black Narcissus was thrown backwards by the hammer but before he could land onto the ground, Myra used the hammer's magnetic abilities to attract Narcissus to it. Narcissus was soon magnetised to the hammer and Myra threw him across the battlefield. Narcissus landed with a heavy thunk on the ground but before Myra could do anything, a Seedrian soldier shot her and she was brought down onto the ground. Mercury shot the soldier with an arrow and helped Myra stand back up.
"You OK?" asked Mercury.
"Fine, it wasn't even painful." said Myra casually, picking her hammer back up "Let's smash those Seedrians!"
"You've got it." said Mercury slyly.
Mercury and Myra charged back into battle as some Seedrian soldiers ran out to fight them off.
Marik, Silas & Sierra were all fighting Pale Bay Leaf at once. Pale Bay Leaf was a powerful warrior but the combined efforts of the three children were enough to have him on the ropes. Marik slashed at him with his metal claws but Pale Bay Leaf took the attack and then slashed at Marik with his swords. Marik leaped back to dodge the attack.
"That metallic hand of yours is impressive Marik, but it will not help you in this match for I am too powerful for you and your disgusting siblings." gloated Pale Bay Leaf.
"Oh yeah?" sneered Marik "Maybe you'll change your tune when I do this to you!"
He then let fly a powerful electrical jolt at Pale Bay Leaf. Pale Bay Leaf was electrocuted by the attack and his armour only made it worse for him since metal conducts electricity. Pale Bay Leaf's armour was a bit like a lightning rod for him. Marik kept up the electrocution until Pale Bay Leaf eventually passed out and collapsed onto the ground. Sierra was well impressed whereas Silas just scoffed and had a face that clearly said "Show off!" without him having to say the words himself.
"That was amazing Marik!" cried Sierra.
"Thank you Sierra." crowed Marik "And now Bay Leaf's down, let's kill him before he can get back up."
But before Marik and his siblings could do anything of the sort, all three of them were blasted by a trio of Seedrian soldiers. Sierra retaliated by shooting all three of them with her arm-mounted crossbow. Two Seedrian soldiers charged up to Silas but Silas simply cleaved them in two with a simple swipe of the sword. Marik ran over to deal with some more Seedrian soldiers coming in to stop them. While this was happening though, a couple of soldiers dragged Pale Bay Leaf's unconscious body away and back into the palace. The Martian kids were so occupied with fighting the soldiers that they didn't even notice Bay Leaf being taken away.
Dark Oak and Diablo were fighting each other as usual and Sycranna was showing off his lesser seen sword-skills by sword-fighting some sword-wielding Seedrians and fending them off with ease. He plunged his rapier into the heart of one soldier and he cackled gleefully.
"This is why I should have been promoted in the first place!" crowed Sycranna as he killed another soldier.
Two more soldiers charged at Sycranna but Sycranna was ready for them. He sheathed his rapier and he lashed out at the Seedrian soldiers. He grabbed two of them by the heads and slammed them together. Then he drew his rapier out and killed them both. Then he raised his rapier and blocked the blow of an oncoming sword attack from another soldier.
Diablo and Dark Oak clashed weapons with each other and then they crossed weapons at face level.
"You are outnumbered Diablo!" crowed Dark Oak "We will overpower you eventually and then we will destroy you all!"
"Fat chance of that Oakey Cokey!" sneered Diablo "Especially since I have back-up coming…"
The moment he said that, the sound of oncoming Martian tanks came into view, surprising the Seedrians. Now the fight had started, the Martian's back up could commence and it had finally arrived. There were four Martian tanks all together and a horde of Martian soldiers all marched beside the tanks. The Martian and Seedrian numbers had just become even now. Dark Oak was horrified to see this and he quickly called out into his communicator.
"Attention, attention! The Martians have back up!" he cried "Send in the wheel cannons and more soldiers now! Also raise the barrier to protect the palace!"
That distraction was enough for Diablo to wallop Dark Oak into the air with his mace. After doing that, he then wondered to himself.
"Barrier?" he mused "The Seedrian palace doesn't have a barrier…does it?"
To Diablo's disappointment, it did indeed have a barrier. Black Narcissus had installed some new defences into the Seedrian palace after Count Drago's attack on it that time and the Seedrians had yet to put it into action. Now was the first time the barrier would ever be used in battle for it had only been tested before. From the top of the palace emitted a blue dome shape that surrounded the entire palace, preventing anyone from getting in or out of the palace. All the Seedrian's back-up had exited the palace before the barrier was raised so they had all the men and weapons needed for this battle. Diablo was furious to see that the Seedrian palace had finally decided to get some defences and he roared at his men.
"Bring that barrier down! NO MATTER THE COST!" he thundered.
The Martian soldiers obeyed and they all ran in to fight the Seedrian soldiers while the tanks began firing at the palace barrier. This battle was beginning to get more and more hectic by the second and chances are, a lot of damage was going to be done to ethier side…
Meanwhile, back on the Martian ship, Natasha was just starting to wake up at last from her injuries received on the battlefield in the earlier onslaught. She'd been out for quite a while now but she was finally beginning to wake up. She moaned sleepily as she began to come around. She stretched a good morning stretch and she sat up on the bed, her eyes opening slowly.
"Mmm…oh my…that rocket came…from nowhere…" muttered Natasha "Where…"
Her eyes fully opened and she blinked the sleep out of them. Her vision cleared up and she looked around to see where she was. She quickly realized she was in the medical room and to her amazement, she felt fine. She didn't really feel any injuries on her at all. She felt her body all over and sighed a relieved sigh.
"Phew…I survived." Natasha sighed to herself "That rocket didn't even hit me. Whoever fired it at me must have a VERY clumsy aim, there was no way it should have missed me. I do hope Diablo's not too worried about me. And the children too."
She threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood up from it.
"I'll go and find them and let them know I'm awake now, I bet they're worried sick about my well-being." said Natasha concernedly.
But before she could go anywhere, the door flung open and in walked Rozarr, the Martian messenger woman. She had a sword in her hand and a twisted look on her face. Natasha was quite surprised to see Rozarr here so suddenly but she didn't show it. She began wondering what she had a sword in her hands for.
"Oh…hello Rozarr." said Natasha slowly.
"Hello there Natasha." said Rozarr coldly "Good to see you're awake. So now you get to bear witness as I carve out your heart with this sword."
She then raised the sword and attempted to slice Natasha in two with it. Natasha squealed in fright and she jumped back to dodge the sword. Rozarr tried to slash Natasha again but Natasha dodged and backed against the bed that she had been lying on. Rozarr advanced on Natasha and she scowled at her.
"R-R-Rozarr! Wh-what has gotten into you?" stammered Natasha.
Rozarr didn't answer her. She just slashed at Natasha but the Grand War Mistress lay down on the bed and crawled backwards onto it. Rozarr swung the sword down at Natasha only for Natasha to back away and fall off the bed onto the floor. Rozarr climbed onto the bed and stood over Natasha, the terrified Martian backing away fearfully from the messenger woman.
"W-w-wait! Th-this is about Diablo isn't it?" stammered Natasha "I-I-I thought we put that behind us!"
"I never put it behind me!" screeched Rozarr "I loved Diablo! You KNEW I loved him but then you went and married him! You never even told me you were engaged before you got married! I thought you were my best friend Natasha! You treated me like a sister when we were growing up and you marry the man I love without even telling me! You betrayed me Natasha and you must pay for it!"
She swung the sword at Natasha again but she missed as Natasha crawled out of the way fast enough. She kept crawling backwards until her back ended up against the wall. Natasha was trapped now and she couldn't get away. If she had her spiked nunchakus on her right now, she'd probably be able to fight past Rozarr and defend herself. As is, she was helpless and at the mercy of her former friend.
"Look Rozarr, I wasn't even interested in Diablo at first!" cried Natasha "I only fell in love with him because he saved my life once! I can't be ungrateful to him for saving my life can I?"
"You didn't have to steal him from me!" shouted Rozarr, her eyes filling with angry tears.
"I didn't even know you DID love Diablo!" cried Natasha feebly.
"Yes you did you liar!" snarled Rozarr "You KNEW I loved him but you went and married him regardless of my feelings for him! Had you been upfront about it, I might have handled this a lot better!"
"I'm sorry about all that OK?!" screamed Natasha "I should have told you I was getting married! I shouldn't have kept it secret! I realize that mistake and I'm willing to make up for it now!"
"Too late you wretch!" snarled Rozarr "You betrayed our friendship and married the man I love! Now you will pay for it and I will be his rightful wife!"
"Diablo will only execute you for killing me!" retorted Natasha "He'll never love you! In fact, he NEVER even loved you to begin with! He loved me and that's why he married me! He told me himself that he never loved you! If you kill me now, he'll love you even less than he already does!"
"I don't want to hear anymore of your lies!" cried Rozarr, even though Natasha was actually telling the truth "You took my Diablo from me and now I'll take your life!"
She raised the sword high above her head and prepared to plunge it into Natasha's chest. Natasha screamed in horror and she put her arm across her face.
"Somebody please help me!" Natasha screamed at the top of her voice.
It seemed that somebody heard her for somebody ran into the medical room and rammed Rozarr aside. It was none other than Natasha's brother Zarondight! He'd been following Rozarr to the medical room and had been recording the whole ordeal to use as evidence against Rozarr should it come to an interrogation from Diablo later. Now Rozarr was attempting to kill Natasha, he'd decided now was a good time to burst in and ruin everything and he'd just rammed her aside. Natasha uncovered her eyes and she beamed happily at the sight of Zarondight standing defensively in front of her.
"Zarondight!" she cried "Oh thank Tyrahko it's you!"
Zarondight looked over at his sister and he smiled at her from behind his mouth plate. Rozarr picked herself up and she growled at the silent messenger and spy.
"You!" she snarled "How DARE you get in my way you mute moron! Get out of my way and allow me to take your stupid sister's life or I will kill you as well!"
"Zarondight, don't fight her, call someone for help!" ordered Natasha.
Zarondight refused to move and stood his ground. There was nobody to call on this ship since they'd all gone away to the battle at the Seedrian palace. Only Zarondight was here to sort Rozarr out now. Rozarr wielded her sword and she prepared to strike at Zarondight.
"I am going to kill Natasha and you will stand aside and be spared or you will die with her!" growled Rozarr "Now stand aside!"
Zarondight did not move. He just kept his steely gaze fixed on Rozarr, livid at the fact that she was trying to kill his own sister. Rozarr finally had enough and she lunged at Zarondight with the sword. Natasha screamed in fright for her brother as Rozarr swung the sword at him. Then Zarondight did the most incredible thing. He blocked her attacks with his arm blades! He blocked every single swing of the sword with his arms with no effort whatsoever. Then he lashed out and grabbed Rozarr by the neck. He hoisted Rozarr up off the floor and Rozarr gagged loudly as she was being throttled. Natasha gazed at Zarondight in amazement. She'd NEVER seen her brother fight before. Zarondight was clearly more amazing then she thought. Zarondight then tossed Rozarr over into a wall. Rozarr hit the wall and she slid down onto the floor. Rozarr picked herself up and she glared at Zarondight.
"I'll break your bones for that!" she screeched.
She ran over to Zarondight but the silent Martian merely picked up the sword and pointed it directly at her, forcing her to stop and stand down. Rozarr raised her hands and she knelt down onto the floor, knowing that she couldn't possibly stop Zarondight now he had a sword in his hands. She had no battle prowess whatsoever so she couldn't possibly fend off somebody with a weapon. Rozarr fumed angrily as she admitted defeat.
"I…yield." she said with great reluctance.
Zarondight smirked at Rozarr and then he tossed the sword away. He grabbed Rozarr's head and then pounded on it hard enough to knock her out. Rozarr collapsed onto the floor, completely unconscious. Natasha was safe at last. She got up from the floor and threw her arms around Zarondight delightedly.
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Zarondight!" she squealed delightedly "Oh thank Tyrahko you saved me! I was nearly a goner until you came in! Oh thank you so much! You're the best brother a girl could ever ask for!"
Zarondight smiled from behind his mouth plate and he returned the hug. He loved his sister more than anything in the universe and would go to great lengths to protect her. If anybody dared try to hurt her, he snapped and would go to town on that person. After a long, grateful hug, Natasha broke up the hug and decided to ask something.
"So, now we've got the traitor knocked out, shall we take her to Diablo so he can decide what happens to her?" asked Natasha.
Zarondight just shook his head and played something on his recorder that he often played for Martians asking Diablo's whereabouts and he wasn't here. The message played out:
"If anyone's looking for me, I am on the battlefield right now. Please wait for my return, yours sincerely, Grand Warlord Diablo."
Natasha looked a little disappointed.
"Oh, he's out fighting Seedrians again." she muttered "Oh well, may as well keep Rozarr comfy until Diablo returns. Let's take that witch to the dungeon before she wakes up. And to satisfy you Zarondight, you may torture her when she wakes up."
Zarondight grinned at the very thought of torturing his sister's would-be-murderer. Zarondight and Natasha grabbed Rozarr by the arms and legs respectively and they carried her out of the medical room.
"So, is everybody with Diablo right now?" asked Natasha "Or is he alone?"
Zarondight let go of Rozarr's legs and signed out "Everybody's with him" with his hands. Sign language was his best method of communication since he didn't have vocal chords to speak with.
"So it must be a full scale battle then." said Natasha "Wow, my hunky boy's taking no prisoners this time I bet. I can't wait to hear from him when he returns. Until then, let's just keep this ship in tip-top shape and prepare for his return."
Zarondight nodded and he picked Rozarr's legs back up. The two Martians headed off to the dungeon with Rozarr in hand. Boy were they looking forward to her punishment when Diablo heard about all this! It was going to be worth watching indeed…
Back over at the Seedrian palace, the battle between the Martians and the Seedrians was only continuing to get more hectic. The Seedrian's wheeled cannons fired at the Martians, the Martian's tanks fired back at the Seedrians and attempted to bring down the barrier and Martians and Seedrians everywhere began falling at each other's hands. The Martian tanks blasted the Seedrian palace's barrier but no matter what they fired at the barrier, they just couldn't lay a scratch on it. The barrier seemed to be impenetrable for it took every shot fired at it. The Martians seemed to be having an easier time fighting off the Seedrians then destroying the barrier for they had more leaders than the Seedrians and that gave them a bit of an edge. Martian soldiers were fighting Seedrian soldiers here and there and the leaders from both sides were fighting each other. With the exception of Diablo and Dark Oak though, the leaders had changed opponents. Black Narcissus was now fighting the twins, Marik and his siblings were fighting Yellow Zelkova (bit foolish of them) and Pale Bay Leaf, who had just been awakened after being knocked unconscious earlier, was fighting Mercury and Myra. Sycranna was still fighting off Seedrian soldiers and he was fending them off very easily. He was much too skilled for a mere bunch of soldiers.
Dark Oak swung his sword at Diablo but Diablo blocked the blow with his mace. He clubbed Dark Oak directly on top of his head and left Dark Oak dazed for a minute. Taking advantage of this, Diablo walloped Dark Oak onto his side. Dark Oak picked himself up and he swung his sword at Diablo again. Diablo blocked the blow but then Dark Oak slashed him directly across the upper arm with the sword. Diablo screamed in pain and he clutched his throbbing arm. Diablo swung his mace at Dark Oak but Dark Oak sliced the mace's head off its stick. The mace head came down onto the ground with a heavy clunk. Dark Oak sheathed his sword and then suddenly began whaling on Diablo as much as he possibly could. He punched Diablo in the face a total of ten times, punching him rapidly and heavily so Diablo couldn't fight back for Dark Oak was moving too fast for him to catch up. Dark Oak didn't stop there though. He uppercut Diablo in the chin, salvia spraying out of his mouth as he was hit, and then he punched him in the gut. Dark Oak then raised his leg up high and kicked Diablo across the battlefield. Diablo hurled through the air like a tossed stone and he crashed into a tank. The tank withstood the impact of course for it'd take more then a Martian crashing into it to damage it. These tanks could withstand a rocket launcher. Diablo picked himself up and wiped some blood off his mouth.
"Urgh!" he spluttered "I admire your efforts Dark Oak. And I also admire your cunningness in how you've built a barrier for your palace so we can't touch it or invade it. But I'm also disgusted by it too. A warrior as valiant as you shouldn't have to succumb to cowardice just to win this battle."
"It is not cowardice Diablo; it's defending your home base." retorted Dark Oak "One of the best things to do in warfare is maintain your position. Something you war-lovers obviously know nothing about."
"We know EVERYTHING about warfare, including how to come over surprises like this!" snarled Diablo.
He charged over to Dark Oak and the two punched each other in the face. They both staggered backwards and then they charged at each other again. Dark Oak and Diablo punched each other all over their bodies while also blocking each other's blows. Dark Oak swung his leg at Diablo but Diablo bent over backwards to dodge the kick and then Diablo tripped Dark Oak up by taking his other leg out from underneath him. Dark Oak landed with a heavy thunk on the ground. Diablo then grabbed Dark Oak by his ankles and threw him over into a Seedrian wheel-cannon. Dark Oak crashed into the barrel and knocked it slightly to the left so it ended up blasting a bit of ground instead of the Martian tank it had been aiming at. Dark Oak picked himself up and he unsheathed his sword. He charged at Diablo but Diablo blocked the sword strike with his arm gauntlet. He then grabbed Dark Oak's wrist and wrestled the sword out of his hand. The sword dropped onto the ground. Dark Oak grabbed Diablo's wrist and threw him over his shoulder and onto his back. Diablo picked himself up and socked Dark Oak in the face. Dark Oak retaliated by upper-cutting Diablo in the face with both fists. Then the two ended up grappling hands with each other and having an intense sumo match that would likely see no winner for a while. But Diablo suddenly lifted Dark Oak off of his feet and swung him over onto his back. Dark Oak quickly picked himself up and took Diablo's legs out from underneath him with a sweep of the leg. Diablo came down with a heavy thunk and Dark Oak then began throttling Diablo. Diablo effortlessly wrenched Dark Oak off of himself and got back to his feet. The two ended up grappling with each other again. They had linked arms and were pushing on each other as hard as they possibly could.
Black Narcissus vs. the twins was not going well at all. If Yellow Zelkova, the second strongest Seedrian in the army, was having trouble taking them on then what chance did he have? Dranzer uppercut Black Narcissus in the face and cracked his visor. Black Narcissus glared at Dranzer angrily.
"How dare you mar my beautiful armour!" he complained "I'll make you pay for that!"
"Your admiration for yourself is a grievous annoyance Narcissus." hissed Dranzer "You'd be wise to drop it before you end up worse then you already are."
Narcissus' response was to claw Dranzer across the chest. But his attack just merely left scratches across his armour. Hardly damage worth complaining about. Dranzer sneered at the pathetic, vain Seedrian and he uppercut him into the air. Black Narcissus hurled through the air but before he could land down onto the ground, Obelisk ran in the way of the position he was going to land and he kicked him away. Black Narcissus spiralled through the air and came down with a terrible crash that cracked his visor even more and left dents in his armour. Dranzer and Obelisk drew out their cannons and they began shooting at Black Narcissus. His armour wasn't as resilient as Yellow Zelkova's so their shots began to do some damage on him. He was thrown backwards by the shots and his armour began to dent and crack under the heavy fire. Obelisk cackled delightedly at Narcissus.
"You're definitely no Red Pine or Yellow Zelkova Narcissus!" he crowed "Your armour will be cracked open like an egg when we've finished with you!"
Black Narcissus was too vain to admit this though so he ran over to Obelisk and punched him in the face. But compared to the girls, punching Obelisk was like punching a brick wall. Obelisk took the punch relatively easily as if it didn't really hurt him that much and he roundhouse punched Narcissus down onto the ground. He then aimed his cannon at Narcissus's cracked visor and prepared to blast him in the head but a group of Seedrian soldiers jumped on top of Obelisk and they wrestled him down onto the ground. Dranzer shot at them and knocked off a few soldiers, allowing Obelisk to stand back up. Narcissus however jumped in-between the twins and kicked them down onto the ground. Acting fast, Narcissus grabbed Dranzer's cannon and as the twins picked themselves up, he shot at them both. Dranzer's cannon was deadly enough against the Seedrians but against a Martian, it was just as effective. His cannon scorched bits of each twin's armour and then started leaving dents in it. Obelisk picked up his cannon and aimed at Black Narcissus. He shot Black Narcissus with his rotary cannon and Black Narcissus dropped the cannon after taking a round of heavy cannon fire. Dranzer retrieved his cannon but before he and Obelisk could shoot Black Narcissus, some Seedrian soldiers charged in and began shooting at them, aiding Black Narcissus in fending off the twins.
PaleBay Leaf was having an even sided battle with the girls so far. Mercury kept trying to shoot at him with her bow and arrows but Bay Leaf was miles too fast for her to tag. PaleBay Leaf was the fastest Seedrian in the army. He'd gotten himself a reputation for being slick and fast. Mercury gave up trying to shoot him so she charged at Bay Leaf and roundhouse punched him in the face. Bay Leaf staggered backwards but he quickly retaliated with a slash across the belly on Mercury with his sword. Mercury grimaced in pain and she fell down onto her knees. Myra jumped in to help Mercury but before she could use her magnetism hammer, Pale Bay Leaf sliced the hammer's head off. Without the hammerhead, the hammer wouldn't work. It was useless to Myra now. Myra fumed angrily at the sword-wielding Seedrian warrior.
"You'll pay for that!" she snarled "That hammer's not easy to make you know!"
"So what if it is?" scoffed Pale Bay Leaf "That hammer's a nuisance to us so without it, you'll be easy to take down."
"We'll see about that leaf boy." muttered Myra.
She then gut kicked Pale Bay Leaf and made him double over. Bay Leaf dropped his swords and Mercury and Myra grabbed them. PaleBay Leaf simply summoned new swords from airspace to his hands and he and the girls ended up sword fighting each other. They clashed swords with each other. Mercury maybe an archer and Myra maybe a hammer-wielder but they could still wield swords. PaleBay Leaf was secretly impressed by their swordplay for he'd never seen them wield swords before.
"I must say, I've never seen you wield a bladed weapon before girls." said Bay Leaf "I'm impressed somewhat."
"Thank you." said Mercury sarcastically "Now we'll use your own swords to send you to your own grave!"
The girls slashed Pale Bay Leaf across the shoulder blades each and Bay Leaf grimaced in pain. He retaliated with a few sword clashes and the three ended up pushing on each other's swords.
Marik, Silas and Sierra were not doing well against Yellow Zelkova at all. Usually, the three would keep their distance from this muscular engine of power when he was on the battlefield but they decided to try and see if they could defeat him. And how foolish they were to even try since Zelkova was far too strong for the three of them. Marik zapped Zelkova with his metal hand but Zelkova took the shocks for his armour shielded him well and he punched Marik. His fist was the size of a basketball so punching a three-foot tall Martian with a fist that big was going to do some damage. Marik felt like he'd been hit by a charging elephant. He hurled through the air and came down onto the ground with a heavy crash. Marik grumbled in pain and he picked himself up.
"Ooooooh….." he slurred groggily "Now I remember why I never got into fights with this guy…"
Sierra tried feebly to bring down Yellow Zelkova with her arm-mounted crossbow but Yellow Zelkova took the shots without a scratch and he flicked Sierra away. He began cackling maniacally.
"You foolish children are no match for the mighty Yellow Zelkova!" he crowed "I am the mighty behemoth that towers over you all! I am invincible and I will smash you all into mush!"
"Eesh, and they say I brag too much!" snorted Marik.
He swiped the air with his arms and knocked Yellow Zelkova off his feet with an energy wave. Zelkova picked himself up and he was about to punch Marik again but Silas jumped in and slashed at him with his sword. Zelkova took the blow easily. Silas began slashing at Yellow Zelkova over and over with his sword but none of his shots affected Zelkova at all. Zelkova cackled at Silas and he broke the sword with a simple grasp of the hand. Silas gasped in horror as his sword blade crumbled in Zelkova's hand. Zelkova then uppercut Silas into the air with his other hand and cackled happily.
"You see? I am the cliffs and you are the waves! You strike and break against me!" he jeered "You cannot stand to the unstoppable Yellow Zelkova!"
"Does he ever shut up?" snorted Sierra.
"He will do when I do this to him!" growled Marik.
He aimed directly at Yellow Zelkova's visor and fired a jolt of electricity at it. The electric jolt cracked Zelkova's visor and Yellow Zelkova fumed angrily. He charged at Marik and tried to smash him into the ground but Marik dodged and he leaped onto Zelkova's back. He grabbed Zelkova's neck and gave him a painful electrical shock. His neck wasn't as protected as the rest of him so that shock began to hurt him. Zelkova grabbed Marik by the head and threw him across the battlefield. Marik landed on his head and he ended up lying on the ground and clutching his head in pain. Silas grew furious and he threw some punches at Zelkova.
"Nobody punches Marik except me yellow belly!" he shouted.
"Well I just punched Marik so there." snorted Yellow Zelkova, taking the punches as if they were nothing. He didn't even FEEL the punches. That's how strong his armour is.
Zelkova then grabbed Silas by the head and then…
CRACK!
He snapped his neck in two like a twig. Zelkova had just killed Silas. True Seedrians didn't really like killing but Zelkova was one of the more brutal ones and didn't really care about killing a Martian. Silas collapsed down onto the ground lifelessly, his eyes still open and staring out creepily as if he was a ghoul roaming around a murky graveyard. Sierra put her hands to her mouth in horror whereas Marik just scoffed. He hated Silas anyway because Silas was mostly a jerk to him so why would he care that his brother's dead?
"Puh, Silas was begging for that." he sniffed.
"Silas may have been a jerk but he's still our brother Marik!" shrieked Sierra "And Yellow Zelkova is going to pay for that!"
Marik and Sierra charged towards Yellow Zelkova but Zelkova simply uppercut them both into the air. Then suddenly, Dranzer and Obelisk grabbed Zelkova from behind and they both through him backwards into the barrier that shielded the Seedrian palace. They had finished with Black Narcissus and decided to help Marik and Sierra take down Yellow Zelkova since they couldn't fend him off whatsoever.
Unfortunately for the Martians, things were beginning to turn against them. The wheel cannons shot at the Martian tanks and finally managed to take them down! The Seedrian cannons were more powerful then the tanks so that's why they were taking them down easier then the tanks were taking them down. The Martian tanks had only managed to take one down whereas the cannons had managed to take down all four tanks. Now the tanks were taken down, the Seedrians had the advantage over them now. The cannons began blasting at the Martian soldiers and blowing them all away. Diablo watched helplessly as his men were swiftly being blown away by the cannons. The Seedrians had a barrier around their home and their tanks had been destroyed. The ambush was a failure and the Martians were losing this battle. There was only one logical thing left to do now. Diablo had no choice but to retreat, the one thing he hated doing.
"Martians, we've lost this battle! Fall back!" he cried.
With that said, all the surviving Martians abandoned the battle and began running back to their ship. They all charged away from the palace and left the Seedrians behind to gloat. They had forgotten to pick up Galaxina though so the bound and gagged Seedrian was left behind to lie there and wait for somebody to free her. Dark Oak saw Galaxina lying there as the Martians were fleeing and he quickly rand over to her and freed her from her binds and gag. He picked up Galaxina and hugged her happily. Galaxina threw her arms around Dark Oak happily.
"Thanks for saving me dad!" cried Galaxina.
"You're welcome dearest." said Dark Oak "But you've got a lot of questioning to do young lady."
"I know, I know. I'm so sorry." said Galaxina "I'll explain when we're back in the palace."
"OK then." said Dark Oak "Seedrians, we've won this battle. Let us go back into the palace to celebrate and then we shall take the convoy truck out to finish off those vile Martians!"
The Seedrians were all too happy to do so. The Seedrians all ran back into the palace, which had lowered its barrier since it didn't need to be up anymore. This battle was a glorious victory for the Seedrians but it wasn't going to last…
…for Count Nyder had just finished putting his bomb in the planet's core! While the big battle had been going on, he'd dug down to the planet's core and he place the bomb about fifty yards above it so it wouldn't melt and be useless. Feeling very pleased with himself, Nyder had returned back to the Martian ship and he had sneaked into the cockpit without Natasha or Zarondight seeing him. He was waiting patiently for the other Martians to return to the ship and once they did, he would pilot the ship and fly it away from Greengate. Once away from Greengate, he was going to set off the bomb. Nobody was going to stop him for nobody knew about this bomb. Greengate was doomed to be destroyed. Nyder waited and waited in the cockpit until he saw the Martians all running back towards the ship. He smiled to himself.
"Oh good, the troops have returned. Now we can leave this doomed world." he sneered to himself.
He waited until all the Martians had run back onto the ship. After a couple of minutes, the Martians had all boarded the ship again and Nyder instantly took off. He grabbed the levers and he started the engines. He pulled the levers back and the ship began to ascend into the sky. The Martians all staggered about in surprise as the ship began to take off. Diablo looked around wildly.
"Huh? Why is the ship taking off?" asked Diablo.
"Who's flying it?!" cried Marik "It can't be Sycranna, he's right here with us!"
"I'm the one who's supposed to be flying this ship!" exclaimed Sycranna "Who's taking over my duties?!"
The Martian ship rose up off the ground and then it flew off into the skies of Greengate, which were no longer blue and beautiful, instead they were brown and grainy. Diablo decided to find out who was flying the ship so he ran off to the cockpit. By the time he got there though, the ship had pulled into orbit and was quickly flying away from Greengate. Nyder smiled to himself and he got out the controls for the bomb.
"Now time for apocalypse." he said slyly to himself.
He pressed the button.
KA-BOOM!
A thunderous explosion erupted from inside Greengate and the planet was torn apart in seconds. Greengate was reduced to a pile of space rubble in little time and the explosion raged on for miles around. If sound could travel through space, the noise was likely going to be deafening. The Martians all stared out the window of the ship and they were gobsmacked at what they were seeing. Greengate was a pile of space rubble and no longer existed.
"Holy comets!" choked Marik "The planet…it's destroyed!"
"Greengate's no more!" gasped Sycranna "This means that we've won the war! We've defeated the Seedrians! Their planet's destroyed!"
"How is that possible?!" shrieked Sierra "We didn't do anything to do that did we?"
Marik then suddenly realized something.
"Nyder…" he snarled "He did this! Remember that he suggested we blow up the planet?"
"Yeah." said the Martians.
"Well he obviously decided to ignore my dad's orders and blow it up anyway!" cried Marik "He opted out of the battle so he could do his plan in secret! How did I not work that out earlier?"
"He told a convincing lie little Marik." said Mercury softly "He had us all fooled."
"Well I hope dad will punish Nyder for disobeying orders!" shouted Marik "As much as I'm glad we destroyed the Seedrians and we've won this war, we do not disobey orders to try and win a war! That's one of the golden Martian rules! That and win wars without cowardly tactics like blowing up a planet! Our former lord Tyrahko would not approve of this if he were still alive!"
"He would not indeed." muttered Dranzer "This cowardly victory of ours is a stain in our honour!"
"I will never live this down." sighed Obelisk "We'd better not resort to this tactic when we invade Mobius."
This whole victory had gained mixed receptions. The Martians were pleased that they'd defeated the Seedrians but they weren't pleased that one of their own had resorted to cowardly tactics and disobeying orders in order to win the war. Hopefully, they could make up for this by winning a fair war with the Mobians for they were going to target Mobius next…
Later in the cruise around space, Diablo was seeing to a couple of things. One was Count Nyder disobeying his orders and doing what he had given strict orders not to do. He had taken Nyder down to the dungeons and began beating him up seriously and horribly. After he'd finished with Nyder, he grabbed Nyder and slammed him against the wall. Nyder was bruised all over his face, some parts of him swelled up and his body felt limp and lame. It was as if he'd been walloped all over his body with a sack of rocks. If Diablo beat him any harder, his bones would surely break. Diablo stood over Nyder and he roared in his face.
"HOW DARE YOU DISOBEY MY ORDERS!" he thundered, his voice so loud that Nyder nearly went death "I CLEARLY STATED YOU WERE NOT TO BLOW UP THE PLANET BUT YOU DID IT ANYWAY! YOU'VE RUINED OUR REPUTATION AS FEARLESS, COURAGEOUS WARRIRORS! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?!"
Count Nyder could not speak for his face had swollen so much that it was difficult to talk. Diablo just sighed at the Count and he turned his back on him.
"I should have known better then to have you replace Count Drago!" fumed Diablo "He never resorted to cowardice! Subtlety was always his way of fighting! He'd be ashamed to see that this is the Martian that has replaced him!"
He then walked away from the beaten Count Nyder and he turned to Sycranna, who was in this cell with him and had been watching Diablo beat up Nyder.
"You give him what you deem a fitting punishment." said Diablo "I'm dealing with another prisoner. Don't kill Nyder though. Just do something that'll scar him so badly, he'll think twice about disobeying my orders!"
"Yes sir." said Sycranna with a cruel, sadistic smile on his face.
He walked up to Nyder and raised a long clawed finger. Nyder could only lie there and wait as Sycranna advanced on him and had his claw aimed for his left eye…
As Sycranna dealt with Nyder, Diablo stormed out of the dungeon and he walked over into another cell. This cell contained the treacherous Rozarr. She was chained up in her cell. She was dangling off the floor by chains wrapped around her wrists and had been tortured mercilessly by Zarondight's electro-clamp while Natasha had been watching with sadistic satisfaction. The torture had been on for so long that Rozarr had a scorch mark around her bare belly and she was barely able to remain conscious. Diablo strode into the cell and Natasha hugged him happily. Diablo kissed her on the forehead as if to see "Good to see you again babe" and then he turned his attention to Rozarr. Zarondight had already removed the clamp so Diablo could deal with her. Rozarr looked feebly at Diablo, her eyes barely able to remain open.
"As for you, you wretched little traitor!" snarled Diablo "How DARE you try to kill my wife! I heard all about your evil attempts from Zarondight earlier so don't you dare deny anything! I thought you were my loyal messenger Rozarr! Why did you try to kill Natasha?"
Rozarr managed to rasp out her final words.
"Because…I…love…you…" she croaked weakly.
Diablo scoffed at her as if she'd said something horrible and disgusting to him.
"You love me?" he said "Well Rozarr, you were a valued messenger woman…but I NEVER loved you. Your heart ran away with your head dear. You were a good messenger woman and a good asset to my army. But I loved Natasha. She stole my heart from me and I wanted to have her as my Grand War Mistress. You were just fooling yourself if you ever thought I would fall for you Rozarr."
Those words were like a dagger through Rozarr's heart. She was horrified to hear all this. Diablo never loved her? He always loved Natasha? It was clear that Rozarr had completely wasted her time trying to kill Natasha and become Diablo's wife because it wouldn't have worked anyway! Rozarr could do nothing more then break down in tears. She sobbed for Mars but Diablo didn't show any signs of care or remorse for her. Nobody loves a traitor as they say. Diablo turned his back on the snivelling Rozarr and he turned to Zarondight.
"Finish her off." he ordered "The traitor doesn't deserve to live."
Zarondight nodded and he snapped the electro clamp around Rozarr's waist again. Rozarr didn't even attempt to resist her death sentence. After hearing that Diablo had to say to her, she no longer desired to live anymore. She actually wanted Zarondight to kill her now. Diablo took Natasha's hand and the happy couple strode out of the dungeon, leaving Zarondight to electrocute Rozarr to death. The dungeon door clanged shut behind them as Zarondight let Rozarr have it for the last time. Her screams could barely be heard inside the dungeon. Diablo and Natasha wondered off down the corridor hand in hand.
"This war has definitely been on of our most memorable wars out there." said Diablo "The Seedrians proved tougher then we've thought and we've lost many Martians. Including my brother and my eldest son."
"I'm sad about the loss of Silas and Count Drago but at least their deaths weren't in vain." said Natasha "We won the war at least. Although it would be nicer if Count Nyder didn't disobey orders just to help us win. I may have been onboard with the idea of destroying a planet just to win a war but one of our golden rules is we don't disobey orders, no matter what that order is."
"Obviously there are some orders that nobody will obey but orders like what I gave out should be followed." muttered Diablo "Oh well, we've defeated the Seedrians at last and there's one thing left to do now. Invade Mobius and avenge Marik and Drago."
"Pity we never got to find out where the Seedrian children are hiding." murmured Natasha "Because of this, the Seedrians aren't truly dead. The children will replace them all and then they'll reproduce and…"
"Let them." said Diablo "That way if we ever find them again, we can start the war all over again. And this time, we'll win it WITHOUT resorting to cowardly tactics."
"Fair enough." said Natasha "After all, we can't wipe out peace-loving beings everywhere if we don't kill every last one of them. For now though, there's only one target for us now…"
Diablo nodded as he thought on their next target: Mobius. Marik had typed in the planet's coordinates in the ship's navigation system so they'd find Mobius easily. Sonic and friends were about to get one heck of an invasion when they arrived…
And that's it for this saga! Well...the Martians have destroyed Greengate but the Seedrians still live for the evacuated children's whereabouts are unknown! In a way, both sides win this war. So what's next for the Martians as they invade Mobius? Tune back into the main story for the Martian Invasion Saga begins...
So everybody, how was this saga for you? Was it good? Was it bad? Did you enjoy it? Do tell in the reviews section please, I'd love to hear your feedback.
