Arc 17: Divide and Conquer: The Home Front

The Martian Invasion Midquel

Takes place during Stories 127-133 in Sonic the Hedgehog: Heroes of Mobius

Part 1: Home Invasion

Megapolis: A Few Minutes Before The Royal Fighters Depart…

Mobius had been invaded for the third time in many days. First there was the Devatron Invasion*. That invasion had been heavy on everybody. Lives had been lost, brave heroes had been crippled and the home city had been taken but in the end the Royal Fighters had managed to crawl out on top of it all. Then came the Black Arms Invasion** where the Black Arms had attempted to settle old grudges with Mobius and take back what had been stolen from them, their relics of destruction. That invasion resulted in Shadow finding out his true origins and realizing who he truly was and the aftermath of the invasion was Shadow officially being declared an honorary citizenship on Mobius and the Mobians now having eight Chaos Emeralds instead of seven. And now, the Martians had invaded***. Unlike the Black Arms or the Devatrons though, they didn't have the Mobians on the run the moment they invaded. Instead, the Mobians had THEM on the run. They had launched a full scale attack outside of New Mobotropolis but the Royal Fighters managed to get the Martians to retreat thanks to Thomas Tiger's clever thinking. They had damaged the Martian ship by blasting it with cannons and in order to save their ship from being destroyed, they had to retreat otherwise they'd end up being stranded on Mobius. Thus they had retreated and taken refuge in the plains of Megapolis. While there, Marik came up with the rather clever idea of dividing their resources and attacking seven different places on Mobius simultaneously in an attempt to get the Royal Fighters to do the same thing and make them easier to pick off****. The Martians had all been departing one at a time to random places around the world. Marik had helped them in that regard by using the Chaos Cluster fragments he'd stolen from Dr. Eggman during the Devatron invasion. Using Chaos Control, Marik had opened gateways to seven random places all over Mobius and the Martians had departed to each of them. Right now, Marik and his sister Sierra were just about to depart to Soleanna. Marik had opened a portal to it and as Sierra, the Martian tank and their squadron departed to Soleanna, Marik handed Nyder the Chaos Cluster fragments. Count Nyder was the Martian tasked with staying behind, breaking into New Mobotropolis and then finding out where the Chaos Emeralds were. Nyder took the emerald fragments from Marik and Marik prepared to go.

"Good luck in your mission Marik." said Count Nyder "And let us hope we all return with good news to give."

"Oh we will Nyder, I know we will." crowed Marik confidently "I'm sure we'll all have very complacent victories we will. Now remember, those fragments are not to be lost to the Mobians, they're very important. When we complete our missions, you will use a Chaos Control to bring us back to the ship. All you have to do is yell "Chaos Control" and that'll warp you place to place or open portals to different places depending on which one you want to do. I recommend using the warping part of Chaos Control to get into New Mobotropolis secretly as a portal might attract some unneeded attention."

"I understand." said Nyder "And while you're picking off those accursed Royal Fighters, I will get into their city, lower the shields and then unleash a full-scale onslaught. We have at least six tanks left on the ship and I've still got plenty of soldiers so we will be able to launch one heck of an onslaught on that wretched city of theirs."

"I look forward to hearing how you do while we're gone Nyder." said Marik with a demon grin on his face "But you'd better make sure you succeed. Otherwise you may end up losing another part of your body."

Nyder fumed angrily at Marik and he put his hand over his eye patch. After disobeying Diablo's orders and destroying Greengate, he'd had his left eye ripped clean out of its socket by Sycranna as punishment. He hated how the other Martians wouldn't stop bringing it up. Well hopefully, he'd get a chance to redeem himself once he invaded New Mobotropolis and the Martians would stop bringing that up.

"I've got the message." said Nyder through gritted teeth "I will make sure I do not fail."

"Good." said Marik "I shall see you later. May our road to victory and conquest commence!"

With that said, Marik jumped eagerly through the Chaos Portal and into the City of Soleanna where he would eventually battle Silver the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat. The portal vanished the moment Marik jumped through it. Count Nyder was now alone on the Martian ship with a huge number of remaining Martians. Nyder looked at the Chaos Cluster fragments in his hand.

"Amazing these fragments have such power behind them." Nyder said to himself "I wonder how much power an actual Chaos Emerald has? Well, I'll kidnap a Royal Fighter or two should there be any left and see if the Visual-Mind Reader Link can give me any clues as to where those "Chaos Emeralds" are. Marik tells me there's seven but I have a feeling from these fragments I hold in my hand that there might be more. Well, there's only one way I'll find that out…"

He clutched the fragments tightly in his fist and thrust his arm into the air.

"Chaos…CONTROL!" he bellowed at the top of his voice.

The fragments glowed brightly in his fist as he yelled that and in the blink of an eye, Count Nyder vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of himself behind on the ship. He had warped himself out of the ship and if he was lucky…he would end up in New Mobotropolis…


…and that's exactly where he ended up! He appeared directly in the middle of New Mobotropolis just as he hoped he would. He materialized in the middle of New Mobotropolis in a bright flash from the Chaos Control he'd just performed. Luckily for him, there was nobody around since the citizens were all in hiding thanks to the Martian invasion. Nobody would know he was here. The one-eyed Martian looked around and took note of everything in New Mobotropolis. Observing the enemy's territory was always a good idea, especially when you take notes of what's around you. Stuff like that can be very handy in a battle after all. Count Nyder grinned to himself, delighted at the fact he was in the enemy's territory and they had no idea about it…yet.

"It seems I've made it inside, and undetected no less." purred Count Nyder "These Chaos Emerald fragments Marik gave me are certainly useful aren't they?"

He put the fragments into a pouch in his right shoulder cape for safe-keeping and he looked around to see if any buildings struck him as important. He then spotted Castle Acorn and Royal HQ standing proudly above the rest of the city on a hill-top not far away from him. He didn't know what they were of course but he had a feeling they were important, especially Castle Acorn as it looked like a castle to him and they were always important.

"Hmm…those two buildings up there look important." Nyder said to himself "I think I'll check them out. Maybe that building next to the castle is the Royal Fighter's base of operations or something. After all, why else would it stand so near a castle like that one next to it?"

With that said, Nyder ran off towards Castle Acorn and Royal HQ to see what they were. He climbed up the hill and ran towards Royal HQ as he wanted to check out that building first. He sneaked into the headquarters by slowly opening the door and creeping inside like a little spider slipping through a crack in a wall. Nyder did this ever-so-quietly so as to make sure nobody could hear him and that he'd be able to sneak up on anyone in the building and see what's going on. He began wondering if the Royal Fighters had found out about the Martians spreading out across the globe and attacking seven different places all over Mobius yet. After all, the whole lot of Martians that departed before Marik did had left minutes ago. The Martians were bound to have started attacking by now. Nyder crept through the corridors of Royal HQ and he listened out for any sounds to see if anybody was indeed in this building. As Nyder crept through the corridors, he spotted the door to the lab and he crept over to it to see what it was. He peeked through the door and he could see Tails, Bunnie and Ruben inside it and chatting away to one another. Their conversation was interrupted though for Tails had spotted something on the computers. They were receiving messages on the computer monitors. He went over to the computers and went to see what was going on and what kind of messages they were receiving. Nyder watched Tails do this and began to wonder if the messages were cries for help from the places the Martians had been sent to. If so then that meant the scheme was in action and he could begin his part of the plan. Nyder waited and waited until Tails finally leapt up from his seat and headed off out of the lab to tell his friends what he'd just found out. Nyder leaped to the side of the door…the wrong side that is. For when Tails burst out of the lab and ran off to the Royal HQ rest room where all the others were gathered, the door opened up and smacked him. Nyder resisted the urge to groan in pain as he was smacked by the door as it flung open into him. He watched as Tails, Bunnie and Ruben ran off to the rest room and he closed the lab door.

"I have a feeling my comrades have started their dirty work already." he crooned to himself "That twin-tailed thing looked pretty alarmed by what he saw on the computer monitors. I think I'll see what's startled him."

With that said, he sneaked off down the corridor as quiet as a mouse and followed Tails, Bunnie and Ruben to the rest room. They all ran inside the room and the door to the room slammed shut behind them. Nyder was pleased with this. That meant the Mobians wouldn't see him lurking outside the rest room and spying on them…until they opened the door that is. Nyder crouched down to the door and listened in as Tails frantically told everybody what he had just found out.

"Tails, buddy, what the heck's the matter?!" blurted Sonic "You look like someone just set fire to your tails!"

"You're not gonna believe this everybody!" shrieked Tails "The Martians have split-up and are attacking seven different places all over Mobius!"

That earned a chorus of gasps from all the Royal Fighters in the room. Sally in particular was shocked to hear all this. Outside the rest room, Count Nyder beamed like a happy little toddler.

Looks like I was right. he thought to himself The others have started their massacres, now my part of the plan can commence!

He listened on as the discussions continued from inside the rest room.

"Are…are you quite sure Tails?" said Sally hoarsely.

"Positive!" blurted Tails "The computers in the lab received seven messages coming from seven different locations all over the world! They came from Holoska, Grand Metropolis, Black Acropolis, Rail Canyon, Soleanna, Kingdom Valley and Megapolis! They're all under attack from the Martians! We've gotta stop them and fast!"

The Royal Fighters all mused to one another in wonder.

"This doesn't make a lick of sense at all." said the Royal Fighter tomboy Mandy Mouse "Why would those freaks invade Mobius, give us a big battle, flee because their ship's under siege and then suddenly divide their forces and attack random areas all over the world?"

"It's all part of their conquest I bet." said her husband, Wilson the Dog "After all, that's what conquest is isn't it? Take over the world? That means attack everywhere to ensure you conquer the world?"

"Wilson has a point mates." said Geoffrey St. John "But we ain't gonna let them blighters attack innocents and destroy valuable locations! We've got to stop them all!"

"But we can't stop seven different attacks all happening simultaneously!" shrieked Nicole in alarm "Not even Sonic can be in two places at once!"

"Indeed Nicole, which is why we're going to do what they're doing." said Sally "We're going to divide our sources and stop them. We maybe weakened for we won't be all together but we will do what it takes to save those places under siege."

"They do say "united we stand, divided we fall" but we're not gonna fall to the Martians, no siree!" declared Sonic "United or divided, we will stop them!"

"But we can't all go, who's going to defend New Mobotropolis?" noted Miranda Mongoose "I mean, what if the Martians haven't all gone to those locations and there's some left behind waiting to ambush us? I have a feeling the Martians have made sure there's some men left behind to attack New Mobotropolis as it's an important city for them to attack."

"I thought of that too Miranda." said Sally "Which is why I've decided to divide the Royal Fighters as follows: Sonic & Tails will go to Holoska, Wilson and Mandy will handle the Martians in Grand Metropolis, Knuckles and Shade will go to Black Acropolis, Bunnie, Geoffrey & Ruben will go to Rail Canyon, Silver & Blaze will deal with the Martians in Soleanna ,Amy, Cream & Cosmo will be sent to Kingdom Valley and Shadow and Rouge will be the ones to go to Megapolis. The rest of us will stay here and defend New Mobotropolis."

"Sounds good Sally-girl but do ya'll think we'll handle the Martians like that with us so divided and spread out?" asked Bunnie "Ah mean, we could be fightin' hundreds of Martians and in each place there's only two or three of us to do the fightin' due to the way you split us up."

"Come on Bunnie, we beat the Devatrons, our strongest enemies yet, the Martians will be nothing compared to them." put in Geoffrey, putting a hand on Bunnie's shoulder "We can handle those blokes."

"Ah'm sure we can sugah but it's just…" began Bunnie.

"Bunnie, there maybe a lot of Martians out there but I'm putting my faith in the heroes that I KNOW will stop a threat like this." said Sally reassuringly "I wouldn't spread you so thin if I didn't have any faith in any of you. When you encounter the Martians in your designated area, just focus on nothing but taking them down and should you need back-up, give us a call and we'll send reinforcements."

"That makes me feel a lot better." said Bunnie with her organic hand over her chest "Thanks sugah."

"Anytime." said Sally happily "Silver, you still got your Super Warp Ring?" she then asked the silver furred hedgehog "We'll need it to transport the designated Royal Fighters to their respective locations."

"Sure thing your majesty." said Silver, fishing the warp ring out and twirling it around his finger.

"We'll use that to transport everybody to their respective destinations." explained Sally "And when they want to come back, I'll open up the warp ring and welcome our fighters back into Royal HQ. I'll keep the warp ring safe for Silver and Blaze as they go to their destination and I'll be the one to bring them back into Royal HQ when their mission's complete. Sonic and Tails will deploy first so open up the warp ring to Holoska Silver." she ordered.

"Just a secy Silver." said Sonic quickly before Silver could move a muscle "Me and Tails will need to warp up warmly, it's cold over in Holoska."

With that said, Sonic zipped off and in two seconds flat, came back with a pair of coats and a scarf each for himself and Tails (he IS fast after all). Sonic and Tails put on their coats and scarves and they buttoned the coats up to their chins. They'd be toasty warm over in Holoska with those big, thick coats. Sally walked up to the two and she put a hand each on Sonic and Tails' shoulders.

"You two be careful out there." she said, giving Sonic and Tails a big hug "We do not want to lose our best members."

"We'll be careful Queenie." said Sonic casually, hugging Sally back along with Tails "We'll be back before dinner, don't you worry. I know I'm gonna be fine since I've got Tails to back me up in this mission."

"Same to you Sonic." said Tails with a thumbs up to his best friend.

Then suddenly, somebody threw her arms around Tails and grasped him into a surprised hug. It was Cosmo. Cosmo was giving Tails a big farewell hug.

"Please come back safely Tails." begged Cosmo "I've lost my family, my friends, everybody on my planet. I don't want to lose my best friend on Mobius too."

"Oh Cosmo, I'll come back, you know I will." said Tails, stroking the Seedrian's face affectionately "And I promise you with all my heart that I'll make the Martians pay for wiping out your kind and making you the last. I promise."

"I don't want you to get revenge on them Tails, revenge is wrong and it's unhealthy." said Cosmo "I just want you to stop those monsters from bringing the same ruination to your world as they did mine."

"OK then, I promise you that." said Tails, giving Cosmo a peck on the cheek without her realizing it "Those Martians will be outta here before you know it."

Cosmo beamed happily at Tails' words. Sonic smiled at Tails too. He was impressed with how heart-felt the fox could be.

"That was beautiful Tails." said Sonic "Well Sally, we'll be off now. Goodbye for the moment."

"Goodbye for now." said Sally with an expression fit for a farewell scenario "And please, save Holoska from the Martians there."

"You got it." said Sonic "Sayonara guys and gals! We'll be back soon!"

"Goodbye Sonic." said everybody in the room.

With that said, Silver opened up the warp ring to Holoska and Sonic and Tails gracefully charged through the warp ring like a trained tiger leaping through a blazing ring of fire. Nyder was quite intrigued with what he had heard.

A warp ring? I guess it's a device shaped like a ring and it can warp you from place to place. thought Count Nyder That kind of technology would be useful in our hands, I'll have to see if I can steal that "Super Warp Ring" off of the one called "Sally Acorn" as I bring in the others and tear this city apart.

Those very thoughts made Count Nyder smiled to himself. Boy he had a lot of possibilities to redeem himself for disobeying Diablo back on Greengate! First he was going to lower the shields of New Mobotropolis, then he was going to level the city and kidnap some Royal Fighters now he knows there's some staying behind to protect the city, then he was going to use the Visual-Mind Reader Link on any of them to see if he can find the location of the Chaos Emeralds and then he was going to steal Silver's Super Warp Ring from Sally and see if he can use it against the Royal Fighters in any way as he tried to steal the Chaos Emeralds. Ah yes, he was certainly going to redeem himself once he did his part for the whole Martian stratagem that was being executed right now. He began to feel glad that he had been ordered to stay behind after all, it seemed he would be getting the most fun out of all the Martians...

Count Nyder stayed put for quite a while (he is patient believe it or not) and remained listening on and on until all the designated Royal Fighters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shade, Amy, Cream, Cosmo, Geoffrey, Bunnie, Wilson, Mandy, Shadow, Rouge, Silver and Blaze) had gone through Silver's Super Warp Ring and left to deal with all the Martians that were attacking seven different places on Mobius. After Silver and Blaze left for Soleanna, Count Nyder got up to his feet and he crept away from the rest room and out of Royal HQ before someone could spot him. Nyder had been surprised on who had been sent to fight who and he had a feeling the Martians were going to win every single fight. He liked how he was left with Sally and all the others, he had the idea he was going to have an easier time than the other Martians since he had a feeling all the good Royal Fighters had been sent out to stop the Martians. The remaining ones didn't seem like much of a challenge to him but he remembered that Marik had cryptically warned him and the others not to underestimate the Mobians as it was going to be a costly mistake for them. Still, Nyder remained optimistic about this invasion and certain he was going to succeed in his goals. The first step in his plan though was to find the shield generator to New Mobotropolis and bring the shields down so the city would be prone to an attack. He didn't know if the force-field was up already or not but it didn't matter. He'd bring it down anyway once he found the shield generator and destroyed it. As Nyder stepped out of Royal HQ and looked around, he wondered to himself.

"Now…if I were a Mobian, where would I keep a shield generator?" he asked aloud to himself.

Nyder had no idea where the shield generator could be but he decided to have a good look around. He looked at Castle Acorn and Royal HQ again and had an idea.

"Hmm…" he mused to himself "Maybe the Mobians put it in a place that is so obvious it's overlooked. I've encountered many fools who do this. Mind you, it's not a daft idea as people often don't expect to find something in a place that's so obvious there's no point hiding it there. And we Martians are just the same, we often expect to find something in a subtle place. Experience as taught me sometimes you'll find something in a place you NEVER expect to find it…"

With that beady little idea in his head, Nyder ran around the back of Castle Acorn and looked to see what he could find back there. To his surprise, he saw a silver cube with flickering red lights sitting there behind Castle Acorn, covered by the looming shadow of the castle that stretched far out behind it. The cube was humming quietly. It was the shield generator but Count Nyder wasn't fully sure what it was. He had some idea that it was probably what he was looking for but he couldn't pinpoint for definite that it was the shield generator. For all he knew, it could be a generator for something else like a heating system in the castle itself. But Nyder was willing to take his chances and see if it was the shield generator. Nyder reached into a pouch in his left cloak pocked and he pulled out what looked like a handle to a sword but it had no blade. Nyder pressed a button on the handle and a long, sharp blade extended out of the handle like an extendable telescope (What? Were you expecting a lightsaber? Get real folks!). It was a sword with an extendable blade. Martians often carried swords like this in order to hide them easier from the enemy and launch a surprise attack. This sword was Count Nyder's most favourite weapon he ever wielded in his time on the battlefield. Nyder has wielded many weapons in his time but the extendable sword was his favourite. Nyder held the sword with the blade pointing down and he plunged it directly into the top of the generator. The generator sparked a little as it was penetrated by the sword. Nyder didn't stop there though, he yanked the sword out of the generator and plunged it into the generator again, stabbing it in a different place this time. He then proceeded to stab the generator in twelve different places and then slash it, cutting out a nice, giant chunk of the generator. The generator sparked wildly as it was wrecked and then it started smoking. Nyder was full convinced that the generator was no longer functional. He retracted the sword's blade into the handle and he put it away into his cloak. He smiled at his handiwork as the generator made a groaning noise that made it sound like someone waking up rather groggily with a headache early in the morning. The generator was full of punctures and slots from all the stabbing done to it and a huge chunk of the generator had been sliced off. There was no way it was going to work now.

"I think that about does it." crooned Nyder happily "That thing won't be working anymore. I hope that that's the shield generator. If not, I'll have to sneak in this city again and see where I can find it. I will find out if that is the shield generator as I bring in my attack force to level this abysmal excuse for a city."

He then took the Chaos Cluster fragments out of his cloak pocket and he quietly said to himself "Chaos…Control" for shouting it aloud might attract attention and get him found out, not a good idea at all if you're trying to be stealthy. After he said "Chaos Control", he warped out of New Mobotropolis, leaving no evidence of his presence here at all. He had sneaked in undetected and now had sneaked out undetected. He really was getting good with using Chaos Control, considering he'd never used it before. And that wasn't good for the Mobians at all. He'd used Chaos Control to infiltrate them from the inside and chances are he was going to use Chaos Control to do even more deadly things to the Mobians…


Meanwhile, back in Royal HQ, the remaining Royal Fighters were still standing around and talking to one another. The Royal Fighters that were left were Team Chaotix (Espio the Chameleon, Vector the Crocodile and Charmy Bee), Team Adabat (Scott the Lynx, Jessica the Cougar, Taran the Lynx and Felix the Peacock), Team Nekronopolis, also known as the Northern Royal Fighters (Miranda the Mongoose, Kari the Rat and the chipmunk twins Thunder & Bolt) and Team Megapolis (Thomas Tiger and Kiara the Cheetah) as well as a bunch of Royal Fighter soldiers from each region the respective teams came from (except Team Chaotix for they're not really Royal Fighters, just a team of three heroes). Queen Sally Acorn and Nicole the Lynx were going to aid the Royal Fighters in defending New Mobotropolis from the inevitable Martian attack since there was a sneaky suspicion amongst the R.F.S. that the Martians might not all have gone out into Mobius and there might still be some left to attack the city. Right now, Sally had gone into a changing room to change her clothes. She felt like she needed an outfit change again and was changing her outfit right now. Nicole was left to watch over the Royal Fighters in the room and was joining in their discussions.

"So guys and gals, do you think Sonic and friends can handle those Martians now they've split up all over Mobius to fight them?" asked a very concerned Vector "I don't mean to worry over them but I really care about my buddies and I don't want the Martians to kill them you know."

"I admire the fact you have such a big heart Vector." said Miranda kindly "I share your concerns for the Martians are just as unpredictable as the Devatrons are. I mean, who honestly can say they saw this stratagem of theirs coming? Spreading their forces across the globe and in turn, force us to do the same just to stop them?"

"Not even the cleverest of us could have calculated such a well thought-out stratagem." said Felix "Those Martians may not be as powerful to defeat as the Devatrons but they're equally as conniving and intelligent I can easily say."

"I'm just glad that silver dude warned us in advanced about this whole invasion otherwise we wouldn't have been be prepared for this." put in Kiara "Pity he can't tell us everything that happens since his resources are missing some details according to him but at least he helped us prepare for this. I do wonder if the Martian invasion leads to his future being the way it is…" she added solemnly, remembering what Silver had shown her. She didn't half feel sorry for the future-dwelling hedgehog that he was living in such a ruined world, and the fact it was Mobius' future made it even worse for him and made Kiara feel uneasy that Mobius becomes a wreck in the future.

"They're not fully sure but they're giving it a try." noted Nicole "They're dedicating their lives to make sure our future does not end badly for us and that Mobius lives on and doesn't come to an end. God bless them for their selflessness." she added with her hands clasped together and held over her heart.

"I agree with that." said Espio "As for the Martians and their strange tactics, I have a feeling I know what their game is."

"Don't be silly Espio, they're not playing games at this moment." said Charmy with his arms folded.

"I don't mean that kind of game Charmy." said Espio in a patient but somewhat irritated manner both at the same time "I mean, I think I know what they're up to. They think that dividing their resources across the globe and in turn, making us do the same, is going to make picking us off easier I bet."

"The chameleon's got a point." agreed Kari "Since our resources are spread out to tackle the Martians, they think that because less of us are fighting them, they think they'll beat us easier. If that is the case, it's a good plan by any means. I mean they've been described to us, by Cosmo, as being war-loving monsters right? So every one of them will be battle capable whereas us Mobians, we only have everybody in the R.F.S. and Team Chaotix. There's bound to be more Martians than R.F.S. members."

"The same could be said with the dumb Devatrons and we still beat them." crowed Charmy, a big childish smirk on his always smiling face "We'll beat the Martians no matter how many there are."

"Say what you will about Charmy but we can all agree he's optimistic." chuckled Vector brightly "And that's why me and Espio love him on our team."

"Optimism's a good trait to have." said Nicole, nodding agreeably "Optimism can help when you're in a tough situation after all. It's always good to have a little optimism in you I say."

"That's probably why we Royal Fighters always win in our battles!" cried Scott, punching the air happily "Because we remain optimistic no matter what the situation is! We may have our setbacks but we pull through in the end. Something those Martian freaks probably aren't counting on right now."

"Probably but given Marik's had experience with us, he'll have likely told all the Martians about us and what our strengths and weaknesses are." noted Thomas grimly "That's one advantage the Martians have over us, one of their own has encountered us and thus, knows all the tricks of the trade on Mobius."

"Maybe not all the tricks of the trade but yes, he'll have told the Martians plenty about us." said Nicole, curling her index finger around her upper lip in a thoughtful manner "Whereas we already knew we were coming thanks to Silver, they already know who they're up against thanks to Marik. This battle could easily be a no-win situation. But should things go wrong, we always have our ever wonderful Chaos Emeralds. Marik knows about them already but I don't think he knows where they are so we have the element of surprise on our side and a hidden trump card that will guarantee the Martians don't win."

The Royal Fighters all gave of a chorus of happy "Ooohs" around the room. That little statement made everybody feel happy and hopeful about their battle with the Martians. Nicole grinned with them. She liked it when she made people smile, especially when it meant they were smiling about something really good like beating the Martians. Before anybody could say anything else though, Sally Acorn came back into the rest room. She had finally finished getting changed and everybody stared at her in amazement. Sally was now wearing a dark blue crop-top with a white stripe in the middle of it, a belt with a silver buckle that was as shiny as actual silver, dark blue shorts with a white trim at the bottom of the legs, black fingerless gloves with light blue wrist sections and dark blue knee high boots with white stripes around them. She still had her light blue vest on but it was unbuttoned and opened up, revealing her crop-top and belly and she had her blue bo-staff in hand beside her too. Everybody gave off a chorus of "Wow!"s at the sight of Sally.

"Wow Queenie, you look great!" blustered Vector in surprise.

"Is it just me, or did you just somehow get even hotter now you're wearing that?" said Scott slyly, a grin of approval spreading out on his face.

"She looks wonderful!" cried Thunder happily "She proper looks like she's ready to fight now!"

"She looks like she's ready to fight no matter what she wears!" laughed Bolt.

Sally giggled at everybody's reactions to her new outfit. She wasn't expecting an applause like this from everybody.

"Hee, hee, hee! Thank you everybody!" chuckled Sally "I will admit, this outfit looks a lot better than the other one I wore a moment ago. I look proper adventurous dressed like this. I think I'll wear this outfit more often, it looks really good on me and makes me look more like a fighter than before."

"It certainly does." said Nicole "I'm happy you've decided to contribute more to the R.F.S. despite the fact you have to rule over New Mobotropolis."

"Well Nicole, ever since the Devatrons and Black Arms, I decided I needed to become a more active fighter in our struggles against Eggman and all other villains we face so I've upped my training and chosen an outfit that makes me look less like a queen and more like a fighter." explained Sally "I know I said I couldn't be part of it before because of my responsibilities as queen but I then realized "Who says a queen can't fight for the very city she rules over?" and decided to be a more active fighter. That and fighting for the world isn't going to be much of a hindrance to my royal duties in all honesty. I wish I'd joined the R.F.S. earlier."

"Well now you've got your chance to join us in beating the Martians your majesty." said Jessica brightly "I bet the citizens of New Mobotropolis will be thrilled to see that their queen is fighting for the very city she rules over. You'll be setting yourself a great image among the people."

"Aw, thank you Jessica." said Sally graciously "I wonder what mom and dad would have thought to me wanting to be a fighter though, I don't think they would approve of it as they often worried about my safety and what kind of danger I could get into. But I'm willing to face the challenges I may face in order to defend my people, my kingdom and most importantly, the whole world. I bet dad in particular would admire such bravery from me as he often admired those with a courageous heart." She finished, putting a hand over her chest as she thought about what her father, Maximilian Acorn often said to her when she was growing up.

"They'd be very proud of you Sally." said Nicole, putting her hands on Sally's shoulders comfortingly "I'm certainly proud of you Sally. I'm honoured to be the lady-in-waiting to such a brave queen like you."

Sally looked at Nicole and smiled with pleasure.

"That's awful nice of you to say Nicole, thank you." said Sally, touched by Nicole's words "I'm glad to have such a wonderful lady-in-waiting."

With that, Sally and Nicole gave each other a friendly hug, earning a chorus of "awws" from the Royal Fighters. They thought that was real cute to see two great friends being so wonderful to each other. It made many of them think of their friendships with each other like the Chaotix and their friendships with each other, Team Adabat and their friendships with each other, Team Nekronopolis and their friendships with each other and many more. But this lovely moment was rudely interrupted by a loud bang from outside that made the ground beneath their feet shake. Everybody looked around wildly, wondering what it was.

"What was that?!" shrieked Taran worriedly.

"We must be under attack!" yelled Scott "Those damn Martians DID live some goons behind to attack us!"

"They must be attempting to level the city!" shrieked Sally "Nicole, raise the shields now! We'll go out and take care of this attack!"

Nicole obeyed instantly and took a bead off of her left ponytail. While everybody else belted out of Royal HQ like a herd of wildebeest, Nicole pressed on the bead and it transformed into the control stick for the city's shields. She pressed the button on it and ran outside with the others, assuming that the shields had been raised. But they weren't! Nyder had indeed destroyed the shield generator and because of this, New Mobotropolis was vulnerable to attack from the attacking Martians! As Nicole ran outside and joined the others, she realized that they had stopped dead in their tracks and were watching as six Martian tanks stood ominously outside the city gates and were attempting to blow them down, as well as firing the occasional shot into the city itself. One tank fired at a house and blew it to smithereens instantly. The other five blasted at the gates and were beginning to break through! The Royal Fighters were horrified to see this and Scott grabbed Nicole by the arms.

"What are you doing woman?! Raise the bloody shields!" Scott shouted directly into Nicole's face.

"I just did!" shrieked Nicole "But it's obviously not working!"

She pressed the button on the control stick again but the shields still didn't raise and they could tell this from the fact the Martian tanks were still managing to damage the gates and blow up the odd house or two in the city. Nicole pressed on the control stick and it transformed back into a bead and she put it back onto her hair.

"I don't understand though, it worked perfectly when they attacked before!" wailed Nicole "Why aren't they working now?"

"I think I can guess." said Sally through gritted teeth "A Martian must have sneaked into the city while we were sending Sonic and the others to deal with the Martians out there and destroyed the shield generator. Kari, get a toolbox and see if you can fix it." she ordered.

"Oh, OK your highness." said Kari nervously "I'm not that good at fixing generators though, I'm not a very skilled mechanic, I'm only a novice."

"I'm sure you can do it Kari." said Miranda supportively "Now go Kari, we need that shield generator fixing before the Martians break through the gates."

Kari obeyed and she ran back into Royal HQ to get a toolbox so she can try and fix the shield generator. As for the others, Sally pointed her bo-staff ahead of her and yelled out.

"Royal Fighters, ATTACK!"

With that order given, the Royal Fighters (sans Thomas Tiger for he's wheelchair bound of course) hurried into battle. They stampeded through New Mobotropolis and they burst through the city gates. They were now outside of New Mobotropolis and out into the open where six Martian tanks, Count Nyder and a bunch of Martian soldiers were waiting for them. The Royal Fighters all bent down into battle ready stances as the Martians glowered at them and prepared to open fire on them. Count Nyder grinned at the Royal Fighters and he drew out his extendable sword.

"Greetings Royal Fighters." he said smugly, pointing his sword at them "I am Count Nyder and I'm the Martian that's been tasked with destroying New Mobotropolis and finding the location of your "Chaos Emeralds". I request that you stand down and save yourselves from a good beating or face death. This will be your only warning."

"You can forget it Nyder!" snarled Sally "We don't cede to anybody who threatens our lives and well-being! Even the Devatrons couldn't make us give in and they're a hundred times the threat you war-loving monsters are! We will send you packing or die trying!" she twirled her staff around after saying that.

"I can certainly help with the last part." sneered Count Nyder "Martians, ATTACK!" he bellowed.

"Royal Fighters, attack and don't hold back!" shouted Sally.

The Martians and Mobians all charged towards each other, crying out loud battle cries as they did so. Count Nyder went for Sally and Nicole for he deduced that they were the most important ones out of the bunch, especially as Sally was referred to as a queen a few times while he spied on them. Sally and Nicole leaped towards Nyder and they both pile-dived the insidious count in the gut. They brought Nyder crashing down onto his back and Sally pressed her staff against Nyder's throat in an attempt to pin him down. But unfortunately, it didn't work. Nyder pushed Sally off of himself and got back to his feet. He swiped his sword at Nicole, narrowly missing her as she ducked, and Nicole retaliated with a well-thrown uppercut to the face. Nyder staggered to the side and he rubbed his face better.

"Huh, that was a good punch." he muttered "And yet you don't look the fighting type. Marik was right to warn me about under-estimating you heathens."

"He certainly was." said Nicole coldly, her teeth and fists clenched and her face narrowed into a very serious scowl, an expression not often used by her "There's more where that come from too!"

Nicole then jumped into the air and dropkicked Nyder in the head. Sally jumped in and pile-dived him directly in the back. Then to add insult to injury, Sally tripped him up by smacking him in the legs with her staff. Nyder landed painfully on his back and he groaned in pain. Sally tired to whack Nyder with her staff but Nyder held up his sword and blocked the blow. Nicole then lunged at Nyder but Nyder shifted Sally's staff into the position where Nicole was aiming it, causing her to punch the staff instead. Nyder then suddenly lowered his sword and rolled out from underneath the staff. He picked himself up and swiped his sword at Sally and Nicole. The two Mobians dodged the attack and Sally putted Nyder in the gut with her staff.

"You're a lousy fighter." taunted Sally "Me and Nicole are only novices, me more so than Nicole, and already we have you on the ropes. How did you get into the Martian army then?"

"My battle prowess maybe weak but my skills with weapons are all I need to finish my opponents off!" growled Nyder, punching Sally in the face.

Sally staggered backwards, rubbing her face affectionately and Nyder swiped at her with the sword. He nearly slashed her in the belly but he just missed her by centimetres. Sally whacked him in the head with her staff but Nyder retaliated by swinging his sword at Sally and slicing the staff in two in one fell swoop. Sally gasped in horror as her staff was now in half and she leaped back to avoid another slash from Nyder. She picked up the other half of her staff and whacked Nyder with both halves. Nyder kicked her and brought her down onto the ground, spluttering heavily. Nyder prepared to slash at Sally with his sword but Nicole jumped in and kicked him to the side. Nyder growled and slashed at Nicole but Nicole grabbed his wrists and twisted them to the side, making Nyder drop the sword. She then pushed Nyder away and grabbed the sword. She pointed it at Nyder but Nyder didn't stand down. He ran towards Nicole and grabbed her by the wrists, trying to wrestle his sword out of the lynx's grasp. Nicole held on tight and wrestled heavily with Nyder. The two grunted heavily as they fought for control over the sword. Nicole won the struggle though by kneeing Nyder directly in the groin. Nyder's eyes opened wide as he was hit in his sensitive area and Nicole elbowed him directly in the eye, knocking him down onto the ground. She then pointed the sword at Nyder and Sally stood beside her, glaring at him.

"You're beaten, now order your men to stand down and leave here at once Count Nyder or we will be forced to end you." warned Sally coldly.

Suddenly, the two were blasted in the back by a pair of Martians and sent hurling across the battlefield. Nyder smirked at the two girls and he picked himself up.

"Thank you soldiers." he said gratefully "Now, I think I'll kidnap those two and take them back to the ship. Maybe their minds contain the information I require, information the Visual-Mind Reader Link will display for us."

Nyder reached out to grab the stunned Sally and Nicole but before he could, Vector and Espio both jumped onto the scene and Vector sucker-punched Nyder in the back of his head. Nyder hurled forward and he crashed into the ring wall surrounding New Mobotropolis. Nyder lay at the foot of the wall, wondering which way was up. Vector and Espio helped Sally and Nicole back onto their feet and Charmy hovered around concernedly, hoping they were OK.

"You OK girls?" asked Vector.

"Uh…we're OK, thanks for the help Vector." said Sally, rubbing her head better.

"Anytime." said Vector "What do you think we should do now?"

"I think our next method should be to take out the tanks." said Sally "Stop them from breaking down the gates of the city and destroying homes."

"No need to worry." said Espio "Team Adabat are already onto that."

"And they're doing a great job!" cried Charmy happily.

Over to Team Adabat, they were indeed taking out the Martian tanks. The tanks had nearly broken the gates down after all their heavy firing. If they had anymore shots, they'd take the gates out instantly. But Scott and Jessica had put a stop to that by firing energy spears at the tank's barrels, destroying them and rendering them incapable of firing anymore. The furious tank drivers attempted to run over any Royal Fighters by steering the tanks towards them but Scott and Jessica threw energy spears at the tank treads and destroyed them in a matter of seconds. Then Scott pounced on one tank and gave it an energy-enhanced punch that left a giant dent in it. Taran, who was armed with a plasma cannon similar to what Miranda had, blasted what was left the tanks to pieces with one giant blast of the cannon. Felix just watched as his team mates took out the tanks. All six tanks had been taken out by Team Adabat and were now useless to the Martians. Scott and Jessica's hands stopped glowing and Scott admired their handiwork.

"Not bad eh babe?" he sneered "We took all the tanks out! That'll stop them from breaking into the city."

"Indeed it will Scott." said Jessica "But we've got the Martians themselves to take out still so don't celebrate yet."

"Ah they'll be easy as pie." said Scott, cracking his knuckles "Taran, Felix, let's take out the Martians!"

"Definitely Scott." said Felix, swooping off towards the Martians with his tail feather clubs in hand.

Team Adabat ran off to fight some of the Martian soldiers. Team Nekronopolis and Kiara the Cheetah were already fighting some of them. Kiara jumped onto one Martian's head and knocked him down onto the ground. She then jumped off of that Martian and dropkicked another on onto the ground. Despite her fear of aliens, she was doing rather well in this match. She was using her fear of aliens to her advantage in this battle for her fear of aliens was making her fight stronger and harder as she fought to send the Martians packing. Fear can be useful as well as a hindrance at times after all. One Martian butted Kiara in the back with his rifle but Kiara twirled around and roundhouse kicked the Martian in the head. She then grabbed his rifle and smacked another Martian with it as if it was a golf club and the Martian was the ball. Kiara smirked at the downed Martian soldiers she had been fighting.

"Ha! Not bad for a rookie I must say!" she crowed.

But her luck was about to run out for a Martian blasted the ground behind her heels and she was sent hurling forwards and came down onto the ground face-first. The Martian that had shot at her advanced on Kiara menacingly, his rifle primed and ready to kill her. Kiara backed away fearfully from the Martian, staring directly at the rifle. The Martian aimed at Kiara's chest and prepared to shoot her. Once he pulled the trigger, Kiara would be dead in one second flat. But a lightning bolt shot out from nowhere and struck the Martian's rifle, blowing it up in his hands and rendering him unarmed. It was Thunder and Bolt. They had decided to jump in and save Kiara. The Martian grumbled at Thunder and Bolt and he ran towards the two chipmunks. Thunder and Bolt just simply held hands and they electrocuted him both at once. The Martian yelped in pain as he was electrocuted and he passed out onto the ground. Thunder and Bolt high-fived each other.

"Now that's what I call a fried Martian!" joked Thunder.

"I agree and if we keep on going, we'll have a side order of MORE fried Martians to go with that one!" laughed Bolt.

Kiara smiled graciously at the two chipmunks and she got up onto her feet.

"Thank you for saving my life you two." she said thankfully.

"You're welcome Kiara." said Thunder brightly.

"We love saving lives me and Thunder do." said Bolt "Care to help us and Miranda take out some Martians?"

"Definitely." said Kiara "Let's go!"

With that said, they all ran off towards Miranda Mongoose where she and some other Martians were having a shooting contest. Miranda blasted at the Martians with her plasma cannon and made them back off while they began shooting at her. Miranda had her cannon set to stun mode for she didn't want to kill any of them. The Royal Fighters Service didn't believe in killing unless it was necessary after all. She shot two Martians and knocked them out but another Martian shot at her and skimmed her across the shoulder. Miranda squealed in pain and clutched her shoulder.

"Ouch!" she grunted "Ooooh, how I wish Kate was here! She'd be very useful to us right now!"

Unfortunately, she wasn't for Kate the Eagle had been tragically killed by Raicor during the Devatron invasion so Miranda was on her own for this one. Miranda regained herself and shot the Martian that shot her, knocking him out instantly. To her delight, her battle was about to become easier for Thunder, Bolt and Kiara ran in on the scene to give her a helping hand. Thunder and Bolt zapped a couple of Martians with a lightning bolt each and Kiara charged in and roundhouse kicked another Martian onto the ground. Miranda beamed happily at the Royal Fighters helping her and she continued knocking Martians out with her plasma cannon's stun blasts.

As for Team Chaotix, they and Team Adabat were busting up a few Martians between them. Vector snapped his jaws at one Martian and made him back off. Two Martians tried to shoot at him but Vector dodged their attacks and he socked them both one at a time. That punch knocked them out instantly. Another Martian ran towards Vector and he punched him in the gut. Vector took the blow and he uppercut the Martian in the face.

"Why are we even worried about these bozos? They're pips!" crowed Vector "I've taken on Eggman robots that were tougher then these losers!"

"Looks like dividing their resources wasn't a good idea after all." mused Espio, punching one Martian in the gut and throwing a kunai at another "They were much stronger when they attacked shortly after they arrived here. Their plan's been costly on their part."

"You said it Espio!" giggled Charmy as he stung one Martian in the backside and made him yelp in pain.

Vector laughed with Charmy and he sucker-punched another Martian in the face. Espio took a couple of Martians out with his ninjitsu skills and sent them sprawling on the ground and Charmy flew around kicking and stinging any Martians he could while dodging the gun fire. As for Team Adabat, they had this in the bag. Scott and Jessica let some Martians have it with their energy powers, Taran blasted at them and Felix batted them with his tail feather clubs. The peacock observed as his team mates were beating up the Martians one at a time.

"The Martians are putting up a most abysmal performance." he said "We are single-handedly taking them down as if they are nothing. That is most fortunate for us."

"I agree with you there Felix!" laughed Scott as he uppercut another Martian in the face and sent him flying into the air "These guys are push-overs!"

"I bet if they didn't divide their resources, they'd be putting up a much better fight!" cried Jessica as she punched another Martian and sent him hurling into the wall "I'm glad we're having an easy time right now!"

The others nodded agreeably as they fought more Martians. This fight was going well so far but it was soon going to turn against them for Count Nyder had a sneaky trick up his sleeve. A trick that was going to get him some Royal Fighters to kidnap and take back to the ship…


Meanwhile, in the Northern Border of Megapolis, the nefarious Dr. Eggman was assigning missions for his robots. He had heard all about the Martian invasion thanks to Katherine hacking into Mobius' satellites and radio stations and he was sending his robots over to help any of the Royal Fighters take down the Martians. He'd sent out Metal Sonic and Silver Sonic as well as some new robots such as Metal Tails, Metal Amy and Metal Knuckles and they had all taken some Egg-Pawns with them. The Metal Series had already gone to fight the Martians. Only Eggman's loyal servant Katherine and his the notorious Devion the Devatron Leader were left and Eggman was about to assign them a job or two.

"Now there's only two jobs left to assign some robots to…" purred Dr. Eggman in a smooth, crooning voice as he stared at Devion and Katherine "And I know just the bots for those two jobs. Devion!" he shouted, pointing at the Devatron-turned-Eggman ally "You will go up to the surface and deal with the Martians outside of this border! The satellite feed Katherine has given me states there's a Martian in the region of Megapolis itself."

"I shall comply to my given task immediately Dr. Eggman." said Devion with a loyal bow to the fat scientist with the big bushy moustache "No Martian shall remain alive when I am through with them."

"Good." said Eggman coldly "Because I do not want any Martians wondering into the Northern Border of Megapolis and finding us! The fact there's Martians so close to us at this very moment worries me dearly!"

"Do not fear on this imperative situation doctor, I shall make sure the Martians do not get anywhere near your grand base." said Devion in a loyal tone of voice (he wouldn't be like this if he was his normal self!)

Devion then stood up straight and marched out of the room to get to his task. He did not want to stand around for a minute longer, he wanted to get out there and please his master by stopping the Martians from taking over the planet he so wished to conquer. The moment Devion left, Dr. Eggman smiled to himself brightly.

"I'm so glad I took his body and refurbished him as a minion of mine." said Dr. Eggman in a prideful manner "Having a Devatron on my side certainly makes me feel like the most powerful man in all the universe."

Katherine nodded agreeably. Having a Devatron on their side truly was one of the greatest fortunes that Eggman had ever gotten in his on-going battle with the Mobians. Pity he hadn't really had the chance to be put to good use yet but fate had been throwing things in the way so it couldn't be helped really. Devion had performed quite admirably when fending off the Black Arms and he was bound to impress again when he fought the Martian that was in Megapolis. Dr. Eggman turned around and put an arm around Katherine in the manner of a gentleman putting his arm around a lovely lady.

"As for me and you my sweet little Katherine, we're going for a little ride." purred Dr. Eggman "A ride to New Mobotropolis. We're going to team up with the Royal Fighters and give them valuable information. And that information is the whereabouts of the Martian's ship. Thanks to your hacking skills getting us into Mobius' satellites, we've pin-pointed that the Martian ship itself is here in Megapolis about a hundred miles from where Devion will be going. This'll be an offer the Mobians can't refuse and I'll get the pleasure of destroying their very ship!"

He then started cackling like a madman and Katherine played a clip of someone cackling as if she was laughing with him. The two then walked off to board a hover-saucer and fly off to New Mobotropolis where they would meet with Queen Sally Acorn and make a temporary alliance with her and the remaining Royal Fighters in order to ensure that the Martian ship gets destroyed…


Footnotes:

* We all know THAT gem of a story arc from Sonic the Hedgehog: Heroes of Mobius Stories 100-115 don't we?

** See Sonic the Hedgehog: Heroes of Mobius Stories 120-125

*** It's all started in Sonic the Hedgehog: Heroes of Mobius Story 126 and is not over yet…

**** You've just seen all that in Sonic the Hedgehog: Heroes of Mobius Stories 127-133


Well this is exciting! Count Nyder's making his move and the Martians are attacking! Who will win this epic battle between Mobians and Martians? And what will happen when Dr. Eggman arrives on the scene? Will he be of much help? Find out next time in Part 2 of this brand new Tales from Mobius arc next time...