PREQUEL; #1
DARK BEGINNINGS BOOK ONE: THE AGE OF CHAOS
A SONIC THE HEDGEHOG STORY
by J WEEKLEY
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LEGAL STUFF: This story is copyrighted 1998 by the Shrine of Chaota
Company. You are allowed to print it out and distribute it as you
like, so long as the original format is not changed by you in any way,
and you don't make a buck off of it. Gabe is copyrighted by the So'C
Co.. Sonic the Hedgehog, the Ancient Walkers, and all other
characters, places, ect. are trademarks and are copyrighted by one or
more of the following companies: SEGA (America/Japan), Arcie Comics,
and DIC.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay I lied. Season of the Storms was NOT my first
fanfic. It was my first COMPLETED fanfic. This one was actually my
first, so you may notice some dissimilarities with my work nowadays in
the beginning of the story. This is the first story of the Prequel
Series. This story is highly involved in Mobian religion, which I
have been informed is a touchy subject in Sonic fanfic. It's not my
intention to offend anyone's religious beliefs, and if I do so in this
story, I would like to take this time to apologize in advance. Other
than that, this story contains violence, profanity, you know, the usual
stuff. Also, from this point on, I will most likely release my stories
in chronological order. Plus, they will also be numbered. Just for
your information, `The Miles Project' was #7, `Season of the Storms'was
#'s 10, 11, and 12, `From This Side of the Nose' was #13, and
`Resistance to the Throne' was #42. *whew!* that was a long note....
Enjoy.
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PART ONE
Prehistoric Mobius was not one of the most inviting places in
the galaxy. It was humid, misty, and made up mostly of jungles and
rainforests. The atmosphere had much to be desired in breathable
gases. Yet, somehow, life managed to begin and create the first oxygen
in the single ancient sea. That oxygen would soon go up into the
atmosphere, making it breathable, but the creatures living in the
ancient sea did not feel the need to leave their familiar surroundings
just yet.
Then one day, a group of the creatures did leave the water.
They were considered rebels by the others, but when the life of the sea
saw that life on the land was flourishing, they too left the waters of
their ancestors for a new way of life. Many could not survive on the
land and barely made it back to the sea alive. Those which could stay
did, and began to evolve away from what they were. They called
themselves 'dinosaurs.'
The dinosaurs prospered on Mobius for millions of years.
Suddenly, at the one hundred and fifty millianth year of their reign, a
great asteroid nearly missed Mobius. If it had impacted, surely the
dinosaurs would have gone extinct, but it missed, and the
dinosaurs continued to evolve and prosper on the lands of Mobius
uninterrupted for another forty million years. It was during that time
that they began to notice that they were changing again.
The dinosaur's mental capacity had nearly increased fifty
times. They developed opposable thumbs. They even developed language.
They found that they were no longer dinosaurs, so they called
themselves the Dinotrons. Life on Mobius still continued to
prosper. Then the end almost came....
************************************************************
The Dinotrons quickly defined themselves as the dominant life
on Mobius. Of course there were other lower forms of life such as
mammals and the newly evolved birds, but they lived in fear of the
giant beasts which held control of the planet.
These other creatures began to wonder if their kind will ever have a
chance to evolve and become dominant. They did not have to wonder for
long.
Unknown to all Mobian life, a giant comet was hurling itself to
the planet at an incredible speed. Strangely, this comet was made of
seven different colors. Most of it was green, but there was also red,
orange, purple, white, yellow, and blue. For some unknown reason, the
comet missed the moons of Mobius which happened to be in its path. It
was as if the comet was being piloted towards the planet. When the
comet became noticeable that last night before it hit, the Dinotrons
knew that they were in BIG trouble. Yet one Dinotron had a plan.
His name was Pentuch, and he was the leader of the Mobian
Dinotron Council. He gathered a crowd together to announce his plan to
everyone. "Dinotrons of Mobius," Pentuch began, "we are in the test of
our strength and our minds. Nature has sent a comet to come and
destroy us, but we know that we cannot be destroyed. Are we going to
let Nature pick on us with a simple comet? No! At least I'm not. We
must fight back! What I propose is that we build a giant catapult to
launch a projectile at the comet and destroy it before it tries to
destroys us. Who is with me?"
The crowd seemed to like the plan (even if it was not a very
good one) because at the end of Pentuch's question everyone in the
crowd yelled "Me!"
"Good," he continued. "If we begin construction of the
catapult right now, we can be finished by dawn. We have all the
necessary materials in the Council warehouse. Follow me, and help save
our great society!"
Pentuch stepped through the crowd and began walking to the
warehouse. Every member of the crowd followed him, cheering him on and
yelling that Nature would not succeed in its attempt to destroy them.
They reached the warehouse and went inside. They got all of the
materials and took them to where the comet was supposed to hit. Sure
enough, they had finished constructing the catapult by dawn. They got
the largest stone that they could find and loaded it on. Now all they
had to do was wait.
It was eight o'clock. The comet was expected around noon.
Those designated to man the giant catapult just sat and waited. No one
talked. No one had anything to say. The hours passed by slowly. When
noon finally came, the air all around Mobius was tense. Dinotrons were
gathered around with their families. All was silent.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang as the comet entered Mobius'
atmosphere. It sped toward the surface faster and faster. At the
catapult, Pentuch had joined the other Dinotrons to give the order to
fire. He saw the comet approaching them. His eyes were locked onto
it. Next to him, a stegosaur was waiting with an ax. Pentuch broke
the silence. "Get ready."
The comet came closer. "Ready."
Still even closer. After three more seconds he yelled, "NOW!"
The stegosaur swung the ax down and cut the rope. The stone
was hurled into the air. For ten seconds it traveled uninterrupted.
Then the two projectiles met head on. There was a burst of light as
the comet was hit. The light turned the whole sky green. Then an
energy wave erupted from the comet which sped to the planet's surface.
It hit the catapult and destroyed it. The Dinotrons who were at it
were pulverized. Pentuch had started to run away. He did not get very
far when the wave hit him. It was carrying him off the ground. He was
taken to the ocean and would have been carried across if his feet did
not get caught in a large swell. That was just enough to hold
him down for the energy wave to push him face first into the water.
The wave continued on all around the planet, destroying buildings and
homes, killing those inside. It had spread itself to where it covered
the whole planet, and when the circle met on the other side of Mobius,
it exploded in a bust of energy.
By then, Pentuch had managed to swim his way back to shore.
When he got there, all he could think of was That was one heck of a
bellyflop! He rested for awhile and then started to head back. When
he got to where the catapult had been, the scene was pandemonium. The
crushed bodies of the other Dinotrons lay on the ground. There was
blood everywhere. There was also remnants of the comet. Most of the
green section had been broken into hundreds of little pieces, but there
was also a giant piece and another one about three-fourths the size of
that one. The other six colors had also been broken away from each
other in similar size pieces to the smaller of the two large
fragments. He approached the larger one and touched it. Energy surged
through him. He was incased in a green light. He screamed in agony.
The light grew brighter and brighter until he could no longer be seen
from the outside.
Some of the few Dinotron survivors saw the strange light and
began to walk towards it. When they reached it, they saw an
unbelievable sight. Pentuch was glowing and hovering over the ground.
All there stood in awe at what they were seeing. After many minutes,
Pentuch spoke, "I am Pentuch. Follow me in the worship of the gems.
Let us form G'Haniu."
Many of the Dinotrons followed Pentuch in this new religion he
called G'Haniu. They met and worshipped the gems many times a week.
Yet Pentuch was not the only one inspired to form a new religion.
Many miles away, several pieces of the comet had fallen into
the yard of another Dinotron named Merton. He picked up the fragments
and held them close together. They began to glow brightly, and then
they shot a beam of energy out at him. He was thrown back. When he
got up, he was surprised to see that he was glowing. The surprise did
not last long, though, as a sudden peacefulness came over him. He
turned around and saw a group of Dinotrons walking. He gestured for
them to follow him, and they did. Now there were two great religions
spreading across Mobius. Little did anyone suspect that there would be
a third, but there was.
It happened about the same time that Pentuch started G'Haniu.
More fragments of the comet had landed in the nest of a flying Dinotron
called Pteral. Like Merton, he was charged with an energy beam from
the fragments, but it was so powerful that it knocked him out of his
nest and into the ocean. The full charge of the fragments had not yet
taken effect, so Pteral could not levitate out of the water. He was
drowning. He started to go down. Surely this would be the end.
Suddenly, a large swimming Dinotron burst out of the water with Pteral
on his back. He carried the pteranodon to shore and dropped him off.
"Thank you, sir," Pteral said. "You have saved my life."
"It was the least I could do, oh powerful leader."
"Leader? Why am I a leader? What is so special about me?"
"You're glowing. I assumed that meant you were someone
special. I suppose that I was wrong. I'm sorry."
The swimming Dinotron started to go away. Pteral called out,
"Wait! I believe I am a leader. Will you follow me?"
"Of course."
"Good. I am glad."
Pteral called his new religion 'Mentya'. And so, the three
great religions of Mobius were formed. All of them worshipped the
fragments of the comet in some way. Each religion was favored by
different groups of Dinotrons as well. G'Haniu was favored by the
carnivores. Puno, Merton's religion, was favored by the herbivores and
omnivores. Mentya was favored by the flying and swimming Dinotrons.
But these new religions came with a price.
There were differences in the cultural beliefs of the three
religions. Differences that, if not handled with the utmost care,
could start a war. And that is what happened. It started when a group
of Punos had set up a camp near a river. Then a group of Mentya came
and demanded that the Punos leave. According to Puno belief, once
worship has started, it cannot stop. For any reason. They thought
that the Mentya knew this, but they did not. So the Punos continued
their worship. The Mentya were starting to get irritated. Finally,
one of the Mentya grabbed a child of the Punos and tossed him into the
river. The child could not swim, and drowned quickly. His parents
were so angered by this that they actually broke dogma by stopping
their worship and went to the Mentya who had sent their son to his
death. Since the family was of Pachycephalosauronoids, the father
rammed his head into the attacker's chest before he could fly away.
The father pushed the attacker to and through a tree. The impact and
thickness of the tree caused the attacker's neck to snap. When all
present saw this, all hell broke loose. The Mentya were the first to
attack, but all their blows were easily blocked by Punos. Then it was
the Punos' turn to attack. They drove the Mentya away from the forest
quickly, but they continued to chase after them.
The Mentya were yelling and screaming, almost begging the Punos
to cease their attack, but the Punos would not yield. The chase came
to a nearby town, and both groups went searching for other members of
their religion to help them. Unfortunately (or fortunately) this town
was highly Mentya. Soon all of the attacking Punos were killed. For
years after that incident, tensions remained high between the Puno and
Mentya. It seemed that only the G'Haniu could be able to keep the
peace. Still, everyone knew that the fighting would break out again
sooner or later. And the next time it would not be just between the
Puno and Mentya. The G'Haniu were sure to get involved in the
conflict. And that would be extremely fatal; the G'Haniu being made up
entirely of carnivores. Everyone spent year after year living in the
fear that they would be annihilated the next day. But as soon as they
lived through the day, they felt relief for two hours at the most.
Then came the question, "What about tomorrow?"
Soon their worst fears came true.
The morning started out just like any other. The Dinotrons in
Mobius' capital city had barely started their day, though, when a
rumbling was heard throughout the city. People looked out their
windows to see a mob of Punos running towards the Mentya temple. The
mob had torches, clubs, and an arsenal of other weapons. Pteral had
been sleeping in his chamber in the temple when he awoke to the sound
of the screaming crowd. He looked sleepily out his window and his eyes
went wide. He jumped out of bed and ran for the temple exit as fast as
he could. When he got there, however, a group Punos had already
blocked his path. He turned around quickly and ran for the back door.
Thank the Emeralds, the Punos had not blocked it yet. Sure that no one
had seen him leave, Pteral ran for a metal shack about two miles away
from the temple. He got inside, slammed the door behind him, leaned
against a wall and breathed a deep sigh of relief.
The mob had managed to set fire to the temple. Since they
could not find Pteral, they went out to capture and kill other Mentyas.
This was the Punos' mistake, because at the edge of the city were
hundreds of Mentya. Some of the Mentya mob stayed and fought the Punos
while a small group of eleven snuck out towards the Puno temple, where
Merton was staying. For his own sake, Merton was ready to leave the
temple before the mob arrived. When they were close enough that he
could hear their shouts of fury, he grabbed his supplies and left.
Running through the woods that bordered the city, Merton
recalled a small metal shack which he had played in as a hatchling. It
was only about two miles away from his current position. To the west,
he thought. His ears picked up the shouting of the mob and he started
running towards the shack. When he finally got there, however, the
front door was locked. From the inside. Merton, however was not
stopped by this minor setback, because he knew of a secret entrance
underneath one of the side panels. He went around to the entrance and
lifted a rock from one of the panels. Excellent! Nobody had closed up
the hole. It was a tight squeeze, but he eventually made it into the
shack. When he rounded the corner, he saw Pteral looking out through
a small hole in the door of the shack. "YOU!" he called out.
Pteral swung around from his position and, upon seeing Merton,
yelled out, "YOU!"
Each saw two poles that were on the ground and ran for them.
Just as they were about to swing down on each other's head, Merton
suddenly stopped and said, "Wait a minute!"
Pteral stopped in mid-swing and noticed the confused look on
Merton's face. "What is it?" he asked.
"Who is it that started this war, anyway? Us or a few
senseless followers?"
Both leaders put down their poles and just stared at each
other.
Two miles away, the fighting continued. The G'Haniu had met in
an alley, and had decided it was time to put a stop to the fighting.
Rawlinx, Pentuch's second-in-command, led the small peace party. His
leader had said he would be joining them shortly. When the group
emerged from the alley, Rawlinx came into view. He spread his arms out
and addressed the crowd. "Fellow Mobians, listen to me. Stop your
senseless fighting an join together once again in harmony. Make peace
with each other. Stop--"
A voice from the crowd interrupted him, "Shut up!"
The next thing Rawlinx saw, the last thing he ever saw, was an
ax spiraling towards him at an incredible rate. Meanwhile, Pentuch was
hurrying down the alley to meet up with the rest of the G'Haniu group
when he heard the crowd give a loud yell as he saw something bouncing
down the alley towards him. He paused slowly as Rawlinx's head came to
a stop at his feet. Oh damn! he thought as he turned around and ran
back the opposite way into the woods. He ran for about two miles when
he passed by an old metal shack. Suddenly, Pteral and Merton burst out
of its door and called out to Pentuch to get in. He jumped inside and
locked the door behind him. "What are you two doing here TOGETHER?"
"Let's talk about that later, okay?" said Merton. "Right now,
there are even more important matters for us to discuss."
For one more week, the fighting continued. All day and all
night, the three leaders heard the sounds of struggle outside the
shack. They could not worry about their people, though, for this was a
war they would have to end on their own. The leaders just continued
their talks and plans for the future. On the morning of the eighth
day, Mobius was silent. The leaders slowly walked out of the shack and
back toward the city. The sight made all of them lose every meal they
had eaten for the past week and then some. Bodies were lying
everywhere. Blood stained every building from top to bottom. The air
was dense with flies and the disgusting smell of decaying flesh filled
every corner of the city. Pentuch and the other two traveled around
the planet. Every inhabited area was the same. The Dinotrons had
managed to kill themselves off in a week. Sadly, they returned to the
capital and sat in town square. The air was beginning to be breathable
again, as they had cremated all the bodies littering the streets of
everywhere they went.
Pteral looked worriedly to Pentuch. "Now what do we do?"
Pentuch replied, "Well, with the Dinotrons all gone, mammals
will have a chance to evolve. We must lead them with our newly formed
religion of G'Punya, so that they might learn to work together without
religious conflicts, and not have the same fate of our species."
Merton was the next to speak. "And what of the emeralds?"
"They shall remain an important part of the lives of all
Mobians. Strange how we never named them. I believe that since they
have managed to bring chaos to our world ever since they arrived, we
should call them the 'Chaos Emeralds.'"
"Yes," the others said, "the Chaos Emeralds."
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PART TWO
For a thousand years, the Ancient Walkers watched the mammals
of Mobius evolve very quickly. This fast evolution was soon found to
be a result of billions and billions of tiny particles of the Chaos
Emeralds still floating around in Mobius' air from when the comet that
had first brought them there was destroyed. The Ancient Walkers, as
Pentuch, Merton, and Pteral were called, saw the need to educate the
Mobian mammals in the proper way of G'Punya. Such an undertaking, as
well as studies in other subjects such as mathematics and the sciences,
could only be done at an official academy.
The Ancient Walkers brought twenty thousand followers to the
ancient capital city of the Dinotrons. They ordered every building to
be torn down, except for the three old temples. Those were connected
to each other by a system of tunnels. Then, the whole works was
covered with soil, making a natural artificial hill. It was inside
the temples of this hill that was the academy of the Chaos Emeralds.
*************************************************************
There exists an ancient Mobian text which was written by a
student of this school. It reads:
We must attend the Academy for a total of seven years, until
our sixteenth birthday. When I arrived that first day when I was nine,
I had no idea what to expect. My life as I had known it had come to an
end, as well as a new beginning. I found myself standing among some of
the greatest young scholars of Mobius and G'Punya. I had to adapt to
this new way of life quickly if I was to be one of the few pupils who
made it past that first week.
The first change that I had to go through was a somewhat
permanent change of attire. Upon my arrival I was taken to the main
closet and handed my cloaks which I would wear from that point on. The
color of the cloak is a symbol of who's student you are. The "Direct
Pupils" of the Ancient Walkers, as they are called, wear gray cloaks.
They make up most of the teachers here. The other, ordinary students,
like myself, wear brown cloaks. Except for the teachers giving us
lessons, the Direct Pupils and other students never mixed.
Everything we did was different. We slept in different
facilities. We ate in different dining halls. We even attended the
Emeralds' Mass at different times. The only way to experience both was
to be one of the lucky few who allowed to become Direct Pupils. That
is much easier said than done.
In order to be a Direct Pupil, you must present yourself to the
Grand Council. You tell them about how you are doing in your grades,
how your knowledge of G'Punya has increased since you entered the
Academy, and how you would use your status of Direct Pupil in the
future. The Grand Council then adjourns to make a decision. The next
day if you are approved, you be formally handed your new gray cloak and
inducted as a Direct Pupil of the Ancient Walkers.
From that point on, you will serve as a teacher to the other
students, and lead the mysterious, secretive life that will encourage
others to become Direct Pupils themselves. Unless, of course, you take
the one course of action that is forbidden to even the highest of the
Direct Pupils and--" (Remaining text missing)
************************************************************
While the remaining text has been missing for many years, the
course of action mentioned near the end had been inferred from the
legend of Gabe. Like most Mobian legends, this one actually happened,
and it was for the sake of the entire planet that it did. Though most
of the legend has been obscured over time, it is now being presented in
its most complete format.
************************************************************
Gabe was a young [species unknown] who had just entered the
Academy as an ordinary student. He was nine at the time, like all the
other students. He went to the check-in room to get his robes and
other supplies that he would need for his stay there. He looked up to
the attendant who was handing him these supplies and noticed the gray
cloak that the old fox had on. "Why do you have on a gray cloak
instead of a brown one like you're handing me?" he asked.
"Because I am a Direct Pupil of the Ancient Walkers," the fox
replied.
"Oh. Okay."
"Now move along, young one. There are a lot of other children
who need their supplies that are behind you."
"Okay."
Unknown to the young Gabe, his exit was being watched from an
unseen window by three pairs of wooden eyes. "This young one shows
some promise, don't you agree?"
"Yes. He may prove to be most powerful."
"I find that he has much courage inside of him. He may be just
the person we are looking for."
Gabe went about his business in the Academy, performing well in
his studies and other activities, all the while being looked upon,
studied, by his most important teachers. Two years past uneventfully.
He grew more mature faster than some of the other pupils in level, both
mentally and physically. In his mind he was full of questions.
Questions that he wanted answers to. He was determined to get them no
matter what. One day in his History of G'Punya class, he asked the
first one. When his teacher called time for free discussion, Gabe was
the first with his hand raised. "Yes, Gabe?" the turtle asked.
"Sir, why was Chaota chosen as the god of G'Punya and not some
other creature?"
The teacher just stared at Gabe, then he said, "Next question,
please."
He could not believe it. His question just shot down in an
instant. He thought the teacher had said "free discussion." The
idiotic rabbit who sat behind him's question about the proper mating
age had confirmed Gabe's thought. So why was his question so
unimportant? He asked again after class, and, again, it was quickly
dismissed when the teacher left, almost locking Gabe in the room behind
him. This did not keep Gabe from asking the question again and again,
to every teacher in the Academy. All the time, it had the same result.
Realizing that this was taking him nowhere, he gave it up and continued
with his studies. But he never forgot the question. It always
lingered in his mind. Even to the day when he was called before the
Grand Council.
[Most of the legend that happened during that paragraph has
been lost to time. However, Mobian historians estimate that Gabe was
somewhere around fifteen years old when he went to the Grand Council to
request to be a Direct Pupil. The request took much longer than usual,
one week. This was because of his 'unusual activities over the
years.' Again, this is left only to theorize about, but historians
agree that those 'unusual activities' were, in fact, his questions that
he always asked. After this waiting period, Gabe was accepted as a
Direct Pupil, and went through all the formalities just like those
before him.]
As a Direct Pupil, Gabe had hoped to finally have his questions
answered. They were not. He still got the same reaction to every
question he had asked as a regular student. He decided that it was
time he took action. It was after he had his lesson from the Ancient
Walkers. He got up and left with the rest of the class, but snuck back
to the room when they all had gone to the dining hall. Though he had
been warned never to disturb the Ancient Walkers, he just knew that
they would be the only ones who could answer his questions.
He quietly entered the room. It had been all aglow during the
lesson, but now it was dark and eerily silent. He did the only thing
he could. He walked right in and said, "Hello?"
Suddenly, a bright flame exploded in front of him, knocking him
to the ground. When he looked back up, he saw the Ancient Walkers
standing above him, staring at him through their wooden masks. The one
formerly known as "Pentuch" stepped toward him. When the Dinotron
spoke, it seemed so loud that the whole building felt like it was in an
earthquake. "Gabe, son of Jonas, you have been chosen to the Post-
Prophet of Chaota. You shall be Teacher to all of Mobius. Travel the
planet, and spread your knowledge to all furkind."
"How can I spread my knowledge when I still have so many
questions that I don't know?" asked Gabe.
"The knowledge will be granted to you. Listen to our
teachings, young one. Listen and know that which you seek.
"You wish to know why we chose Chaota to be the god of G'Punya
in place of the Chaos Emeralds. Why Chaota was chosen, and not some
other creature. Chaota was the first being on Mobius after the
Dinotrons to truly be sentient. For this reason, we granted Chaota the
honor of worship by the other inhabitants of Mobius."
"And what of my other questions?" Gabe asked.
"They will all be answered in time, Young One."
************************************************************
And so Gabe left the Ancient Walkers and the academy to teach
around the Planet Mobius. His teachings brought him fame and respect
among the Mobians. After twenty years, he returned to the Academy, the
place he called his home. There he stayed, coming out when needed,
never for another reason. And his greatest need would come sooner than
anyone had ever suspected....
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PART THREE
The Mobus Star System is made up of two planets. The first is
Mobius. The second is called Monocumbiumbius. It was there that a
conquering race lived. Easily mistaken for humans, these people had
expanded their empire to include four whole star systems. Yet they did
not have complete control of their own. They tended to ignore Mobius,
as there was nothing of importance on the planet. Just some minor life
forms that they considered lower than themselves.
They were also very advanced. The most advanced people in the
galaxy at the time, in fact. Their satellite network stretched out for
eighteen sectors. A single space station orbiting the planet was
responsible for retrieving and processing the millions of gigabytes of
data. It was here that a single transmission almost caused the end of
Mobius.
************************************************************
General Metternich Ivo walked down the corridors of the Great
Hall where the Military Actions Council was meeting. He had been
waiting outside the doorway to the meeting chamber for over an hour.
He started to wonder if the Council had forgotten about him. Just
then, a messenger came out into the hall. "It's about time," Ivo said
as he started to walk through the entrance, but the messenger stopped
him at the door.
"You can't go in yet," he said. "The Council asked me to tell
you that you should be in a few hours."
Ivo sighed angrily, "Fine."
When the messenger left, the general spoke silently to himself,
"What could be so important? Why am I so involved in this? They call
me to be here at nine in the morning. That's just fine, except they
called at eight-thirty. Just my luck I get to spend my day off waiting
for the Council to see me about something that they haven't even hinted
at. The Council knows all, the Council is all, the Council is life.
BAH! Words as useless as the bones of the idiot man who first said
them. A moronic chant pounded into our heads in school. Completely
worthless; a waste of breath. They expect us to live by that little
slogan. Not when I make the Council. Things are going to change.
"If only Laura were not off-planet, I would be spending this
day with her. Instead I'm stuck amid the marble statues of the
Councilors who have gone before. Hopefully all gone to Hell, with
their delusions of prestige, wealth, popularity, HA! They made this
Council the greatest power in the Empire, and it's just a bunch of old
farts who have nothing better to do than sit on their asses all day and
discuss politics and women. Oh, yes, things WILL change when I get my
place among those old farts. I can run this empire the way it should
have been run in the first place. By myself, with some representatives
from each of the planets, we'll have ourselves a nice little democratic
dictatorship going. And going strong, far stronger than what those
bench warmers in there could ever hope for."
"Nice little speech, General."
Ivo turned around to see another general of the Interstellar
Army, Ahan'braq Kintobor. Ivo was surprised to see his rival in the
same room as him. "Abe," he asked, "what are you doing here?"
"The same as you, I'm waiting to see the Council. I got a call
from them at eight-thirty this morning, asking me to be here."
"By nine?"
"No, ten-thirty actually. I'm a little early, aren't I?"
"If the Council has planned like I think they did, then your
being early is to my advantage."
"Really? Do you think they wanted to see us both together?"
"Yes, I do, actually. For reasons that I couldn't BEGIN to
contemplate."
"Oh, yes, about those changes you were talking about. Not if I
do them first."
"Oh, please. You couldn't rule an ant farm."
The messenger, hearing the conversation going on outside,
opened the door again. "Ah, you're both here. Good. The Council, All
Knowing, All Powerful, will see you now."
"Finally," Ivo muttered under his breath.
************************************************************
Ivo and Kintobor stood in front of the Military Actions
Council, the greatest power in the Empire. The row of ten old men
stared at them. The Head Councilor sat in a raised area in the center.
"I don't want to waste you gentlemen's time, so I'll make this as brief
as possible. Our sensors have picked up unusual energy readings coming
from Mobius. Further scans reveal that sentient life has managed to
develop there. The planet is now ready for conquest and assimilation
into the Empire. General Ivo, as the most experienced officer, you
will be leading the conquering party. General Kintobor, you will be
Ivo's second-in-command. We've already assembled a team for you.
You should find our choices satisfactory. That is all, meeting
dismissed."
Even the other Council members were surprised to hear the
dismissal of the meeting. They got up and left. Ivo and Kintobor were
behind them when Metternich was stopped by the Head Councilor, calling
him into his office. He entered behind the old man.
Inside the office were hundreds of artifacts lining the walls.
All symbols of the cultures the Empire had taken over. The H.C. stood
facing away from Ivo. He listened as his elder began to speak. "Have
you ever wondered why people put other people in control of them? Why
people can't handle the work of government themselves? I can tell you
why. A single person can be intelligent and cunning; resourceful and
willing; respectful; able to handle any situation that comes up. The
qualities of a good leader. People, on the other hand are stupid,
quick to act, ready for rebellion in a single moment. It requires a
leader to keep them under control. The people realize this, so they
elect a leader for them."
"Why are you telling me this, sir?"
"Because, Metternich, I know of your plans for change. They
would be the downfall of the Empire. Heh, I suppose it really
shouldn't even be called an empire. We haven't had an emperor for two
millennia. We just kept the name because it sounds good."
"Every schoolchild knows that."
"Ivo, listen to me. As you know, this Council's members are
here for life, but they're elected into it by the people of
Monocumbiumbus. It is the role of the Council to make sure those
people keep under control. A dictatorship was tried once, but
because the people didn't want the man, the entire system almost
collapsed. The Council almost didn't make it. Same with the Empire.
The same thing would be bound to happen if you were to assume full
control. Even with a little department of advisors, you wouldn't do
much good. I just want you to consider what the repercussions may be
of another dictatorship."
"Sir, I just have this strange feeling inside of me that a
member of my House was destined to rule a whole empire. I'm the
closest to ever doing this, so I have my hopes up, you understand, of
achieving it."
"At least wait a while. A success on this mission will
guarantee you a victory over John Tevsh. Once you're on the Council,
then make your decision. And do make it carefully, please."
"I will."
Ivo left the H.C.'s office heading toward the liftoff pad. He
wished that he had been given more notice that he would be going off
into space, he would've brought his nausea pills with him. As a
result, he was destined to have the worst trip of his life going to
Mobius. At least it was not that far away. When he arrived, Kintobor
was already on board the spacecraft looking over their supplies. The
fighters were stationed below, in cryogenic suspension. Ivo walked
over to the controls. He ran his four-fingered hand across the panel.
It had been years since he had piloted a craft of this type, and he
hoped he could remember how. No time to cram, though, as the order
to take off was given. The vehicle lifted off the pad and flew into
space.
************************************************************
Ivo looked over to Kintobor, who had just returned from the
cryo chamber where the soldiers were in suspended animation for the
duration of the trip. "What's the crew look like?"
"A bunch of snowmen. Why were they put in suspended animation
anyway? It's just a one-hour trip."
"War tactics. The soldiers need to be fresh, well-rested,
ready to go. It also gives the Council an excuse to keep taxes high to
fund this program. Personally, I think it should be eliminated until
our own problems can be dealt with on Monocumbiumbus."
"And is this before or after you take on your namesake?"
"Shut up. The man might've been a genius, but he also a
complete idiot. Why did they stick us together, anyway? They know
we're rivals for power."
"Nice to hear you admit it."
"Oh, well I don't see you running for a Council position. I'm
surprised you're allowing Tevsh the honor of being my opponent."
"I'm more than allowing it, I'm supporting it."
"What?! Why?"
"Tevsh is a civilian. No military connections at all. That
means there's no way he can be sent on a mission in which he can easily
get killed during the campaign."
"Ah, I see. You don't care if you don't get on the Council, so
long as someone under your influence does."
"That is precisely my strategy."
"Then you shouldn't have given it away."
"Be quiet and fly the ship."
Slowly, at least in the sense of celestial travel, the ship
approached Mobius.
************************************************************
In the temple, Gabe opened his eyes from his meditation. He
was now certain. A force of incredible power and strength was on its
way. It was a sensation he had been receiving for a few days back, but
now it was confirmed. He stood up and left the temple. Making his way
to the city of Mobius, the planet's capital city, he reflected on what
his visions had revealed to him. An army from the stars. Equipped
with strong soldiers and incredible technology. A conquering party,
the first attack wave from another planet. But the outcome-- it was
something Gabe could not foresee, hard as he tried.
He sent a message to the military telling them to be ready at a
moment's notice once the invaders land. Instead of being at the front
of the battle lines making preparations with the military, Gabe went to
a nearby park to wait for the inevitable. He did not have to wait
long....
The sound was unlike anything anybody on Mobius had ever heard.
Though not a cloud in the sky, there was one loud crash of thunder.
Only this crash of thunder was heard over a very large distance of the
planet. It was the sound of death entering the atmosphere in the form
of a large, asymmetrical spaceship. The Mobian soldiers who survived
that first day later told of what the ship looked like before it
landed. It was essentially a gray cylinder with hundreds of tubes
protruding from the sides. The tubes were laser cannons, a technology
far too advanced for the Mobians to comprehend. After it landed,
however, it flattened out, and the tubes began to glow. What happened
next was considered the single largest massacre in the history of
Mobius.
The ship had landed facing the Mobian forces, which happened to
be in front of the city. So as the lasers emitted their beams of
destruction, not only did they vaporize almost all of the Mobian
troops, but half the city as well. At the end of the ten minute
attack, over a million Mobians had been killed. From his vantage point
in the park, Gabe watched solemnly as death poured out from those
cannons. If that was merely the first wave attack, then the aliens
would be even more powerful when they *really* started fighting.
Knowing what he must do, Gabe turned around and returned to the temple.
Not long after Gabe's departure, the hatch to the ship began to
open, and out came hundreds of the aliens, all hyped and ready for a
fight. Needless to say, they were very surprised to see no one waiting
for them. General Ivo, who was the last to leave the ship, felt
suspicious of the whole situation. The laser bombardment had been
intended to merely weaken the enemy forces, not annihilate them in one
blow. He walked out further into the open amongst his men. Kintobor
was waiting for him. "It could be a trap," he said.
Ivo did not have any time to agree. Just as he recognized the
creak of a tree branch, the remaining Mobian forces began their turn.
Ivo was surprised that they were using bows and arrows. Primitive, but
judging that a third of his army was already dead, he knew the
effectiveness. Not one arrow seemed to be aimed toward him. An
advantage Ivo and Kintobor decided to use. Unstrapping their laser
guns, they quickly took out every last one of the Mobians in the trees.
With a large smirk on his face, Ivo decided that it was time he took
the capital city itself. If the war kept going like this, he would be
home in time for dinner.
************************************************************
The city of Mobius had been completely evacuated by the time
Ivo and his forces arrived. Evacuated, but full of booby traps. When
two officers tried to enter a building, as soon as they opened the
door, the whole building collapsed on top of them. Still in shock from
it, Kintobor ordered, "Keep your guard up. And if you see any of their
furry butts, remember we take no prisoners!"
A voice shouted out from somewhere behind another building,
"Neither do we!"
From behind that building, seventy Mobians stepped out, all of
them lions. The head lion spoke up, "We will not allow you to take our
planet, alien. Pull out your forces now, or die!"
Ivo stood his ground. "I'll give you fools one last chance,"
the lion growled.
Ivo narrowed his eyes, anticipating the inevitable attack, and
began formulating his counter. Speed and cunning were the order of the
day, the perfect match to the lion's strength. With a final rumbling
in the back of his throat, the lion leaped forward, signaling the
attack. Despite his size, he was much faster than Ivo had anticipated,
not to mention extremely articulate with the apparent weapon of choice
among the lions, a sword. Within a second, he was halfway to Ivo with
his blade already unsheathed and pointed straight at the man's heart.
Resisting the urge to take out his own ceremonial blade, which would be
of no use to his defense as it was made of a much lighter and breakable
material, he ducked and rolled out of the blade's way as
it suddenly swung towards him. Around them, the battle waged on. The
lion had managed to spin around, and Ivo jumped out of the way just as
the sword came down, and the tip of the blade became stuck in the
ground. Taking the lion's brief struggle to free the sword to his
advantage, Ivo kicked him hard in the wrist. Powerless to do
otherwise, the lion's reflexes kicked in and he grabbed the injured
wrist with his other hand. Seizing the opportunity, Ivo grabbed the
sword, pulled it out of the ground, and swung for the lion.
A cry of immeasurable pain rang onto the battlefield of the
city as the lion's left forearm, severed at the elbow, fell lazily on
the ground. Ivo took a quick three-sixty and brought the sword up to
the lion's face, slashing across the left side of his face, taking with
it the eye. He collapsed to his knees, and Ivo took the moment for all
it was worth to finish the job. He took a few steps back, lifted the
sword in front of him, and ran as fast as he could. The tip of the
sword made contact with the lion's chest, and then pushed its way
inside. He fell back, his legs slipping forward from under him, lying
him flat on his back. Ivo moved over him, and with all his might
pushed the sword further into the lion. With a strained growl, he
swung up his arm and managed to grab Ivo's uniform jacket, and pull the
man down beside him. Ivo tried to lift himself up, but the dying
lion's grip held fast. He pulled Ivo to his face and said weakly, "Why
do you do this?"
Ivo was dumbfounded. "Because I'm told to," he responded.
Ivo was dragged further down, and the lion's voice was almost
to the point of a whisper, merely a small fraction louder and a bit
more strained, "But... is it...what you *want*...to do?"
Ivo hesitated for a moment. In all his years of military
service, never once did he question whether or not he wanted to carry
out his orders. Until now. But in that moment of hesitation, just
before Ivo could try to give an answer, the lion's grip slowly
loosened, his eyes rolled back, and the last, long exhale of breath
left his body. Ivo stayed there for minutes, simply staring at the
lion, and thinking of his last words. Had it been possible, he may
have remained at the spot for hours, but because of the fact that he
was still in a war zone, the few minutes was the only time allotted to
him. Ten feet away, he heard a deafening scream, and the sound of a
laser gun firing, followed by a loud, dull thud and then a more silent
one. Ivo stood up and turned around to see the legacy of all war.
There on the ground was a young lieutenant, his left arm and
both his legs ripped off. The blood had already saturated his uniform
and was still flowing. In his right hand was the laser gun. It had
found its target. Two yards away was the corpse of another lion, all
the flesh and muscle burned off its skull, which was still smoking
from the blast. The lieutenant looked over to Ivo, and dropping the
laser gun, reached out for him with his only remaining hand. "General,
please... help me. Please..."
The plea in his eyes outweighed the one from his mouth, and Ivo
did all he could to restrain his tears as he did the only thing
available to him. He took out his own gun and fired at the young man,
hitting him squarely in the chest. He shuddered for just a moment
before falling quickly and quietly to the ground. Ivo looked over to
the rest of the battle. Kintobor was doing a fine job of commanding
the remainder of the troops. A victory was surely guaranteed. Ivo
moved over to the tent which had been set up as the mobile command
center. After telling the guard outside that he was not to be
disturbed for any reason, he went inside and to a small room in the
back which served as his office. There, he did not even bother to
restrain his tears.
************************************************************
Two more days of fighting passed, and the Monocumbiumbians
gained victory after victory. On the night of that second day,
Kintobor was on watch duty. Normally, it was something he would give
to someone else, but the number of troops had been seriously depleted
over the past two days, and Monocumbiumbius refused to send in more
troops. So there was "Abe" Kintobor, General of the Monocumbiumbian
Space Military, keeping a watch over the area of the camp, while other
junior troops went about their other tasks. Suddenly, there was the
snap of a twig, and Kintobor instinctively reached for his sword,
which, unlike Ivo's, was anything but ceremonial. "Who's there?" he
bellowed.
A creature wearing a gray cloak stepped out into the open. "No
one whom you need to concern yourself with. I have come to negotiate a
peace treaty between us."
"You want a treaty? HERE'S YOUR TREATY!" Kintobor yelled out
as he swung his sword with incredible speed up and through the Mobian's
left arm, cutting it off at the shoulder. The Mobian moaned in agony
as he dropped to the ground holding his shoulder.
Kintobor was swinging his sword up, ready to bring down the final blow
when the beam of a laser gun flashed in front of him, just inches from
his face. "Kintobor, put down your blade," Ivo said as he walked
slowly toward them.
"B--but, sir..." Kintobor began to protest.
"NOW!"
As Kintobor resheathed his sword, Ivo explained, "Look at the
numbers, Abe. In just three days, we've lost three-fourths of our
troops. And I personally have had to euphanize eight. I've had time
to think, and I've come to some conclusions. Even if we are the
victors of this war, we will never win it. In order to avoid any more
loss of life, we must seek a peaceful alternative. A treaty would be
the proper first step to take." He walked over and helped the furry to
his feet. "And the first clause," he continued, "is getting you some
medical attention immediately."
He helped the Mobian into the camp toward the medical tent.
The whole time, Kintobor watched from the gate, with arms akimbo and
mouth gaped open. What could Ivo be smoking? he thought to himself.
************************************************************
An hour later in the Monocumbiumbian medical tent, the doctors
finished up with the Mobian. They had replaced the lost arm with a
three-fingered robotic replacement with some kind of neural interface
system which the Mobian did not care to learn about. He was simply
satisfied with the fact that it was fully articulate and did its job.
Thus thanking the doctors, he rejoined Ivo in his office. "Now before
we begin, I suppose we should be properly introduced. My name is
Metternich, latest descendant of the House of Ivo, and General in the
Monocumbiumbian Space Military."
"Monocumbiumbian. That name's going to start to get tedious
after a while, don't you think?"
"Well, since we do come down from the sky, some species have
begun to know us as `Overlanders.'"
"Very well, then. Overlanders you shall be here, as well. And
my name is Gabe."
"Well, Gabe, what's say we make some peace?"
"Sounds good to me, General."
************************************************************
Thus was the first Mobian-Overlander Treaty drafted. Made
under accordance of the Military Actions Council on Monocumbiumbius, it
stated that anyone who wished to settle on Mobius was welcome to do so
(though the Councilors were, at first, reluctant to agree on that). It
also stated that after a period of five centuries, the Overlanders
would be welcome to join in G'Punya, and during the waiting period,
they would be free from religious-based persecution. So thousands
flocked to Mobius, including Ivo's wife, Laura. Many of them helped to
rebuild the city of Mobius. They were free to settle anywhere,
although most of them chose a peninsula which resembled the terrain of
their home planet. And peace was achieved during what was, in essence,
the very start of those dark beginnings of Mobius.
THE END
Next story: DARK BEGINNINGS BOOK TWO: DARK CHAOS
DARK BEGINNINGS BOOK ONE: THE AGE OF CHAOS
A SONIC THE HEDGEHOG STORY
by J WEEKLEY
-------------------------------------------------------------
LEGAL STUFF: This story is copyrighted 1998 by the Shrine of Chaota
Company. You are allowed to print it out and distribute it as you
like, so long as the original format is not changed by you in any way,
and you don't make a buck off of it. Gabe is copyrighted by the So'C
Co.. Sonic the Hedgehog, the Ancient Walkers, and all other
characters, places, ect. are trademarks and are copyrighted by one or
more of the following companies: SEGA (America/Japan), Arcie Comics,
and DIC.
--------------------------------------------------------------
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay I lied. Season of the Storms was NOT my first
fanfic. It was my first COMPLETED fanfic. This one was actually my
first, so you may notice some dissimilarities with my work nowadays in
the beginning of the story. This is the first story of the Prequel
Series. This story is highly involved in Mobian religion, which I
have been informed is a touchy subject in Sonic fanfic. It's not my
intention to offend anyone's religious beliefs, and if I do so in this
story, I would like to take this time to apologize in advance. Other
than that, this story contains violence, profanity, you know, the usual
stuff. Also, from this point on, I will most likely release my stories
in chronological order. Plus, they will also be numbered. Just for
your information, `The Miles Project' was #7, `Season of the Storms'was
#'s 10, 11, and 12, `From This Side of the Nose' was #13, and
`Resistance to the Throne' was #42. *whew!* that was a long note....
Enjoy.
-------------------------------------------------------------
PART ONE
Prehistoric Mobius was not one of the most inviting places in
the galaxy. It was humid, misty, and made up mostly of jungles and
rainforests. The atmosphere had much to be desired in breathable
gases. Yet, somehow, life managed to begin and create the first oxygen
in the single ancient sea. That oxygen would soon go up into the
atmosphere, making it breathable, but the creatures living in the
ancient sea did not feel the need to leave their familiar surroundings
just yet.
Then one day, a group of the creatures did leave the water.
They were considered rebels by the others, but when the life of the sea
saw that life on the land was flourishing, they too left the waters of
their ancestors for a new way of life. Many could not survive on the
land and barely made it back to the sea alive. Those which could stay
did, and began to evolve away from what they were. They called
themselves 'dinosaurs.'
The dinosaurs prospered on Mobius for millions of years.
Suddenly, at the one hundred and fifty millianth year of their reign, a
great asteroid nearly missed Mobius. If it had impacted, surely the
dinosaurs would have gone extinct, but it missed, and the
dinosaurs continued to evolve and prosper on the lands of Mobius
uninterrupted for another forty million years. It was during that time
that they began to notice that they were changing again.
The dinosaur's mental capacity had nearly increased fifty
times. They developed opposable thumbs. They even developed language.
They found that they were no longer dinosaurs, so they called
themselves the Dinotrons. Life on Mobius still continued to
prosper. Then the end almost came....
************************************************************
The Dinotrons quickly defined themselves as the dominant life
on Mobius. Of course there were other lower forms of life such as
mammals and the newly evolved birds, but they lived in fear of the
giant beasts which held control of the planet.
These other creatures began to wonder if their kind will ever have a
chance to evolve and become dominant. They did not have to wonder for
long.
Unknown to all Mobian life, a giant comet was hurling itself to
the planet at an incredible speed. Strangely, this comet was made of
seven different colors. Most of it was green, but there was also red,
orange, purple, white, yellow, and blue. For some unknown reason, the
comet missed the moons of Mobius which happened to be in its path. It
was as if the comet was being piloted towards the planet. When the
comet became noticeable that last night before it hit, the Dinotrons
knew that they were in BIG trouble. Yet one Dinotron had a plan.
His name was Pentuch, and he was the leader of the Mobian
Dinotron Council. He gathered a crowd together to announce his plan to
everyone. "Dinotrons of Mobius," Pentuch began, "we are in the test of
our strength and our minds. Nature has sent a comet to come and
destroy us, but we know that we cannot be destroyed. Are we going to
let Nature pick on us with a simple comet? No! At least I'm not. We
must fight back! What I propose is that we build a giant catapult to
launch a projectile at the comet and destroy it before it tries to
destroys us. Who is with me?"
The crowd seemed to like the plan (even if it was not a very
good one) because at the end of Pentuch's question everyone in the
crowd yelled "Me!"
"Good," he continued. "If we begin construction of the
catapult right now, we can be finished by dawn. We have all the
necessary materials in the Council warehouse. Follow me, and help save
our great society!"
Pentuch stepped through the crowd and began walking to the
warehouse. Every member of the crowd followed him, cheering him on and
yelling that Nature would not succeed in its attempt to destroy them.
They reached the warehouse and went inside. They got all of the
materials and took them to where the comet was supposed to hit. Sure
enough, they had finished constructing the catapult by dawn. They got
the largest stone that they could find and loaded it on. Now all they
had to do was wait.
It was eight o'clock. The comet was expected around noon.
Those designated to man the giant catapult just sat and waited. No one
talked. No one had anything to say. The hours passed by slowly. When
noon finally came, the air all around Mobius was tense. Dinotrons were
gathered around with their families. All was silent.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang as the comet entered Mobius'
atmosphere. It sped toward the surface faster and faster. At the
catapult, Pentuch had joined the other Dinotrons to give the order to
fire. He saw the comet approaching them. His eyes were locked onto
it. Next to him, a stegosaur was waiting with an ax. Pentuch broke
the silence. "Get ready."
The comet came closer. "Ready."
Still even closer. After three more seconds he yelled, "NOW!"
The stegosaur swung the ax down and cut the rope. The stone
was hurled into the air. For ten seconds it traveled uninterrupted.
Then the two projectiles met head on. There was a burst of light as
the comet was hit. The light turned the whole sky green. Then an
energy wave erupted from the comet which sped to the planet's surface.
It hit the catapult and destroyed it. The Dinotrons who were at it
were pulverized. Pentuch had started to run away. He did not get very
far when the wave hit him. It was carrying him off the ground. He was
taken to the ocean and would have been carried across if his feet did
not get caught in a large swell. That was just enough to hold
him down for the energy wave to push him face first into the water.
The wave continued on all around the planet, destroying buildings and
homes, killing those inside. It had spread itself to where it covered
the whole planet, and when the circle met on the other side of Mobius,
it exploded in a bust of energy.
By then, Pentuch had managed to swim his way back to shore.
When he got there, all he could think of was That was one heck of a
bellyflop! He rested for awhile and then started to head back. When
he got to where the catapult had been, the scene was pandemonium. The
crushed bodies of the other Dinotrons lay on the ground. There was
blood everywhere. There was also remnants of the comet. Most of the
green section had been broken into hundreds of little pieces, but there
was also a giant piece and another one about three-fourths the size of
that one. The other six colors had also been broken away from each
other in similar size pieces to the smaller of the two large
fragments. He approached the larger one and touched it. Energy surged
through him. He was incased in a green light. He screamed in agony.
The light grew brighter and brighter until he could no longer be seen
from the outside.
Some of the few Dinotron survivors saw the strange light and
began to walk towards it. When they reached it, they saw an
unbelievable sight. Pentuch was glowing and hovering over the ground.
All there stood in awe at what they were seeing. After many minutes,
Pentuch spoke, "I am Pentuch. Follow me in the worship of the gems.
Let us form G'Haniu."
Many of the Dinotrons followed Pentuch in this new religion he
called G'Haniu. They met and worshipped the gems many times a week.
Yet Pentuch was not the only one inspired to form a new religion.
Many miles away, several pieces of the comet had fallen into
the yard of another Dinotron named Merton. He picked up the fragments
and held them close together. They began to glow brightly, and then
they shot a beam of energy out at him. He was thrown back. When he
got up, he was surprised to see that he was glowing. The surprise did
not last long, though, as a sudden peacefulness came over him. He
turned around and saw a group of Dinotrons walking. He gestured for
them to follow him, and they did. Now there were two great religions
spreading across Mobius. Little did anyone suspect that there would be
a third, but there was.
It happened about the same time that Pentuch started G'Haniu.
More fragments of the comet had landed in the nest of a flying Dinotron
called Pteral. Like Merton, he was charged with an energy beam from
the fragments, but it was so powerful that it knocked him out of his
nest and into the ocean. The full charge of the fragments had not yet
taken effect, so Pteral could not levitate out of the water. He was
drowning. He started to go down. Surely this would be the end.
Suddenly, a large swimming Dinotron burst out of the water with Pteral
on his back. He carried the pteranodon to shore and dropped him off.
"Thank you, sir," Pteral said. "You have saved my life."
"It was the least I could do, oh powerful leader."
"Leader? Why am I a leader? What is so special about me?"
"You're glowing. I assumed that meant you were someone
special. I suppose that I was wrong. I'm sorry."
The swimming Dinotron started to go away. Pteral called out,
"Wait! I believe I am a leader. Will you follow me?"
"Of course."
"Good. I am glad."
Pteral called his new religion 'Mentya'. And so, the three
great religions of Mobius were formed. All of them worshipped the
fragments of the comet in some way. Each religion was favored by
different groups of Dinotrons as well. G'Haniu was favored by the
carnivores. Puno, Merton's religion, was favored by the herbivores and
omnivores. Mentya was favored by the flying and swimming Dinotrons.
But these new religions came with a price.
There were differences in the cultural beliefs of the three
religions. Differences that, if not handled with the utmost care,
could start a war. And that is what happened. It started when a group
of Punos had set up a camp near a river. Then a group of Mentya came
and demanded that the Punos leave. According to Puno belief, once
worship has started, it cannot stop. For any reason. They thought
that the Mentya knew this, but they did not. So the Punos continued
their worship. The Mentya were starting to get irritated. Finally,
one of the Mentya grabbed a child of the Punos and tossed him into the
river. The child could not swim, and drowned quickly. His parents
were so angered by this that they actually broke dogma by stopping
their worship and went to the Mentya who had sent their son to his
death. Since the family was of Pachycephalosauronoids, the father
rammed his head into the attacker's chest before he could fly away.
The father pushed the attacker to and through a tree. The impact and
thickness of the tree caused the attacker's neck to snap. When all
present saw this, all hell broke loose. The Mentya were the first to
attack, but all their blows were easily blocked by Punos. Then it was
the Punos' turn to attack. They drove the Mentya away from the forest
quickly, but they continued to chase after them.
The Mentya were yelling and screaming, almost begging the Punos
to cease their attack, but the Punos would not yield. The chase came
to a nearby town, and both groups went searching for other members of
their religion to help them. Unfortunately (or fortunately) this town
was highly Mentya. Soon all of the attacking Punos were killed. For
years after that incident, tensions remained high between the Puno and
Mentya. It seemed that only the G'Haniu could be able to keep the
peace. Still, everyone knew that the fighting would break out again
sooner or later. And the next time it would not be just between the
Puno and Mentya. The G'Haniu were sure to get involved in the
conflict. And that would be extremely fatal; the G'Haniu being made up
entirely of carnivores. Everyone spent year after year living in the
fear that they would be annihilated the next day. But as soon as they
lived through the day, they felt relief for two hours at the most.
Then came the question, "What about tomorrow?"
Soon their worst fears came true.
The morning started out just like any other. The Dinotrons in
Mobius' capital city had barely started their day, though, when a
rumbling was heard throughout the city. People looked out their
windows to see a mob of Punos running towards the Mentya temple. The
mob had torches, clubs, and an arsenal of other weapons. Pteral had
been sleeping in his chamber in the temple when he awoke to the sound
of the screaming crowd. He looked sleepily out his window and his eyes
went wide. He jumped out of bed and ran for the temple exit as fast as
he could. When he got there, however, a group Punos had already
blocked his path. He turned around quickly and ran for the back door.
Thank the Emeralds, the Punos had not blocked it yet. Sure that no one
had seen him leave, Pteral ran for a metal shack about two miles away
from the temple. He got inside, slammed the door behind him, leaned
against a wall and breathed a deep sigh of relief.
The mob had managed to set fire to the temple. Since they
could not find Pteral, they went out to capture and kill other Mentyas.
This was the Punos' mistake, because at the edge of the city were
hundreds of Mentya. Some of the Mentya mob stayed and fought the Punos
while a small group of eleven snuck out towards the Puno temple, where
Merton was staying. For his own sake, Merton was ready to leave the
temple before the mob arrived. When they were close enough that he
could hear their shouts of fury, he grabbed his supplies and left.
Running through the woods that bordered the city, Merton
recalled a small metal shack which he had played in as a hatchling. It
was only about two miles away from his current position. To the west,
he thought. His ears picked up the shouting of the mob and he started
running towards the shack. When he finally got there, however, the
front door was locked. From the inside. Merton, however was not
stopped by this minor setback, because he knew of a secret entrance
underneath one of the side panels. He went around to the entrance and
lifted a rock from one of the panels. Excellent! Nobody had closed up
the hole. It was a tight squeeze, but he eventually made it into the
shack. When he rounded the corner, he saw Pteral looking out through
a small hole in the door of the shack. "YOU!" he called out.
Pteral swung around from his position and, upon seeing Merton,
yelled out, "YOU!"
Each saw two poles that were on the ground and ran for them.
Just as they were about to swing down on each other's head, Merton
suddenly stopped and said, "Wait a minute!"
Pteral stopped in mid-swing and noticed the confused look on
Merton's face. "What is it?" he asked.
"Who is it that started this war, anyway? Us or a few
senseless followers?"
Both leaders put down their poles and just stared at each
other.
Two miles away, the fighting continued. The G'Haniu had met in
an alley, and had decided it was time to put a stop to the fighting.
Rawlinx, Pentuch's second-in-command, led the small peace party. His
leader had said he would be joining them shortly. When the group
emerged from the alley, Rawlinx came into view. He spread his arms out
and addressed the crowd. "Fellow Mobians, listen to me. Stop your
senseless fighting an join together once again in harmony. Make peace
with each other. Stop--"
A voice from the crowd interrupted him, "Shut up!"
The next thing Rawlinx saw, the last thing he ever saw, was an
ax spiraling towards him at an incredible rate. Meanwhile, Pentuch was
hurrying down the alley to meet up with the rest of the G'Haniu group
when he heard the crowd give a loud yell as he saw something bouncing
down the alley towards him. He paused slowly as Rawlinx's head came to
a stop at his feet. Oh damn! he thought as he turned around and ran
back the opposite way into the woods. He ran for about two miles when
he passed by an old metal shack. Suddenly, Pteral and Merton burst out
of its door and called out to Pentuch to get in. He jumped inside and
locked the door behind him. "What are you two doing here TOGETHER?"
"Let's talk about that later, okay?" said Merton. "Right now,
there are even more important matters for us to discuss."
For one more week, the fighting continued. All day and all
night, the three leaders heard the sounds of struggle outside the
shack. They could not worry about their people, though, for this was a
war they would have to end on their own. The leaders just continued
their talks and plans for the future. On the morning of the eighth
day, Mobius was silent. The leaders slowly walked out of the shack and
back toward the city. The sight made all of them lose every meal they
had eaten for the past week and then some. Bodies were lying
everywhere. Blood stained every building from top to bottom. The air
was dense with flies and the disgusting smell of decaying flesh filled
every corner of the city. Pentuch and the other two traveled around
the planet. Every inhabited area was the same. The Dinotrons had
managed to kill themselves off in a week. Sadly, they returned to the
capital and sat in town square. The air was beginning to be breathable
again, as they had cremated all the bodies littering the streets of
everywhere they went.
Pteral looked worriedly to Pentuch. "Now what do we do?"
Pentuch replied, "Well, with the Dinotrons all gone, mammals
will have a chance to evolve. We must lead them with our newly formed
religion of G'Punya, so that they might learn to work together without
religious conflicts, and not have the same fate of our species."
Merton was the next to speak. "And what of the emeralds?"
"They shall remain an important part of the lives of all
Mobians. Strange how we never named them. I believe that since they
have managed to bring chaos to our world ever since they arrived, we
should call them the 'Chaos Emeralds.'"
"Yes," the others said, "the Chaos Emeralds."
------------------------------------------------------------
PART TWO
For a thousand years, the Ancient Walkers watched the mammals
of Mobius evolve very quickly. This fast evolution was soon found to
be a result of billions and billions of tiny particles of the Chaos
Emeralds still floating around in Mobius' air from when the comet that
had first brought them there was destroyed. The Ancient Walkers, as
Pentuch, Merton, and Pteral were called, saw the need to educate the
Mobian mammals in the proper way of G'Punya. Such an undertaking, as
well as studies in other subjects such as mathematics and the sciences,
could only be done at an official academy.
The Ancient Walkers brought twenty thousand followers to the
ancient capital city of the Dinotrons. They ordered every building to
be torn down, except for the three old temples. Those were connected
to each other by a system of tunnels. Then, the whole works was
covered with soil, making a natural artificial hill. It was inside
the temples of this hill that was the academy of the Chaos Emeralds.
*************************************************************
There exists an ancient Mobian text which was written by a
student of this school. It reads:
We must attend the Academy for a total of seven years, until
our sixteenth birthday. When I arrived that first day when I was nine,
I had no idea what to expect. My life as I had known it had come to an
end, as well as a new beginning. I found myself standing among some of
the greatest young scholars of Mobius and G'Punya. I had to adapt to
this new way of life quickly if I was to be one of the few pupils who
made it past that first week.
The first change that I had to go through was a somewhat
permanent change of attire. Upon my arrival I was taken to the main
closet and handed my cloaks which I would wear from that point on. The
color of the cloak is a symbol of who's student you are. The "Direct
Pupils" of the Ancient Walkers, as they are called, wear gray cloaks.
They make up most of the teachers here. The other, ordinary students,
like myself, wear brown cloaks. Except for the teachers giving us
lessons, the Direct Pupils and other students never mixed.
Everything we did was different. We slept in different
facilities. We ate in different dining halls. We even attended the
Emeralds' Mass at different times. The only way to experience both was
to be one of the lucky few who allowed to become Direct Pupils. That
is much easier said than done.
In order to be a Direct Pupil, you must present yourself to the
Grand Council. You tell them about how you are doing in your grades,
how your knowledge of G'Punya has increased since you entered the
Academy, and how you would use your status of Direct Pupil in the
future. The Grand Council then adjourns to make a decision. The next
day if you are approved, you be formally handed your new gray cloak and
inducted as a Direct Pupil of the Ancient Walkers.
From that point on, you will serve as a teacher to the other
students, and lead the mysterious, secretive life that will encourage
others to become Direct Pupils themselves. Unless, of course, you take
the one course of action that is forbidden to even the highest of the
Direct Pupils and--" (Remaining text missing)
************************************************************
While the remaining text has been missing for many years, the
course of action mentioned near the end had been inferred from the
legend of Gabe. Like most Mobian legends, this one actually happened,
and it was for the sake of the entire planet that it did. Though most
of the legend has been obscured over time, it is now being presented in
its most complete format.
************************************************************
Gabe was a young [species unknown] who had just entered the
Academy as an ordinary student. He was nine at the time, like all the
other students. He went to the check-in room to get his robes and
other supplies that he would need for his stay there. He looked up to
the attendant who was handing him these supplies and noticed the gray
cloak that the old fox had on. "Why do you have on a gray cloak
instead of a brown one like you're handing me?" he asked.
"Because I am a Direct Pupil of the Ancient Walkers," the fox
replied.
"Oh. Okay."
"Now move along, young one. There are a lot of other children
who need their supplies that are behind you."
"Okay."
Unknown to the young Gabe, his exit was being watched from an
unseen window by three pairs of wooden eyes. "This young one shows
some promise, don't you agree?"
"Yes. He may prove to be most powerful."
"I find that he has much courage inside of him. He may be just
the person we are looking for."
Gabe went about his business in the Academy, performing well in
his studies and other activities, all the while being looked upon,
studied, by his most important teachers. Two years past uneventfully.
He grew more mature faster than some of the other pupils in level, both
mentally and physically. In his mind he was full of questions.
Questions that he wanted answers to. He was determined to get them no
matter what. One day in his History of G'Punya class, he asked the
first one. When his teacher called time for free discussion, Gabe was
the first with his hand raised. "Yes, Gabe?" the turtle asked.
"Sir, why was Chaota chosen as the god of G'Punya and not some
other creature?"
The teacher just stared at Gabe, then he said, "Next question,
please."
He could not believe it. His question just shot down in an
instant. He thought the teacher had said "free discussion." The
idiotic rabbit who sat behind him's question about the proper mating
age had confirmed Gabe's thought. So why was his question so
unimportant? He asked again after class, and, again, it was quickly
dismissed when the teacher left, almost locking Gabe in the room behind
him. This did not keep Gabe from asking the question again and again,
to every teacher in the Academy. All the time, it had the same result.
Realizing that this was taking him nowhere, he gave it up and continued
with his studies. But he never forgot the question. It always
lingered in his mind. Even to the day when he was called before the
Grand Council.
[Most of the legend that happened during that paragraph has
been lost to time. However, Mobian historians estimate that Gabe was
somewhere around fifteen years old when he went to the Grand Council to
request to be a Direct Pupil. The request took much longer than usual,
one week. This was because of his 'unusual activities over the
years.' Again, this is left only to theorize about, but historians
agree that those 'unusual activities' were, in fact, his questions that
he always asked. After this waiting period, Gabe was accepted as a
Direct Pupil, and went through all the formalities just like those
before him.]
As a Direct Pupil, Gabe had hoped to finally have his questions
answered. They were not. He still got the same reaction to every
question he had asked as a regular student. He decided that it was
time he took action. It was after he had his lesson from the Ancient
Walkers. He got up and left with the rest of the class, but snuck back
to the room when they all had gone to the dining hall. Though he had
been warned never to disturb the Ancient Walkers, he just knew that
they would be the only ones who could answer his questions.
He quietly entered the room. It had been all aglow during the
lesson, but now it was dark and eerily silent. He did the only thing
he could. He walked right in and said, "Hello?"
Suddenly, a bright flame exploded in front of him, knocking him
to the ground. When he looked back up, he saw the Ancient Walkers
standing above him, staring at him through their wooden masks. The one
formerly known as "Pentuch" stepped toward him. When the Dinotron
spoke, it seemed so loud that the whole building felt like it was in an
earthquake. "Gabe, son of Jonas, you have been chosen to the Post-
Prophet of Chaota. You shall be Teacher to all of Mobius. Travel the
planet, and spread your knowledge to all furkind."
"How can I spread my knowledge when I still have so many
questions that I don't know?" asked Gabe.
"The knowledge will be granted to you. Listen to our
teachings, young one. Listen and know that which you seek.
"You wish to know why we chose Chaota to be the god of G'Punya
in place of the Chaos Emeralds. Why Chaota was chosen, and not some
other creature. Chaota was the first being on Mobius after the
Dinotrons to truly be sentient. For this reason, we granted Chaota the
honor of worship by the other inhabitants of Mobius."
"And what of my other questions?" Gabe asked.
"They will all be answered in time, Young One."
************************************************************
And so Gabe left the Ancient Walkers and the academy to teach
around the Planet Mobius. His teachings brought him fame and respect
among the Mobians. After twenty years, he returned to the Academy, the
place he called his home. There he stayed, coming out when needed,
never for another reason. And his greatest need would come sooner than
anyone had ever suspected....
------------------------------------------------------------
PART THREE
The Mobus Star System is made up of two planets. The first is
Mobius. The second is called Monocumbiumbius. It was there that a
conquering race lived. Easily mistaken for humans, these people had
expanded their empire to include four whole star systems. Yet they did
not have complete control of their own. They tended to ignore Mobius,
as there was nothing of importance on the planet. Just some minor life
forms that they considered lower than themselves.
They were also very advanced. The most advanced people in the
galaxy at the time, in fact. Their satellite network stretched out for
eighteen sectors. A single space station orbiting the planet was
responsible for retrieving and processing the millions of gigabytes of
data. It was here that a single transmission almost caused the end of
Mobius.
************************************************************
General Metternich Ivo walked down the corridors of the Great
Hall where the Military Actions Council was meeting. He had been
waiting outside the doorway to the meeting chamber for over an hour.
He started to wonder if the Council had forgotten about him. Just
then, a messenger came out into the hall. "It's about time," Ivo said
as he started to walk through the entrance, but the messenger stopped
him at the door.
"You can't go in yet," he said. "The Council asked me to tell
you that you should be in a few hours."
Ivo sighed angrily, "Fine."
When the messenger left, the general spoke silently to himself,
"What could be so important? Why am I so involved in this? They call
me to be here at nine in the morning. That's just fine, except they
called at eight-thirty. Just my luck I get to spend my day off waiting
for the Council to see me about something that they haven't even hinted
at. The Council knows all, the Council is all, the Council is life.
BAH! Words as useless as the bones of the idiot man who first said
them. A moronic chant pounded into our heads in school. Completely
worthless; a waste of breath. They expect us to live by that little
slogan. Not when I make the Council. Things are going to change.
"If only Laura were not off-planet, I would be spending this
day with her. Instead I'm stuck amid the marble statues of the
Councilors who have gone before. Hopefully all gone to Hell, with
their delusions of prestige, wealth, popularity, HA! They made this
Council the greatest power in the Empire, and it's just a bunch of old
farts who have nothing better to do than sit on their asses all day and
discuss politics and women. Oh, yes, things WILL change when I get my
place among those old farts. I can run this empire the way it should
have been run in the first place. By myself, with some representatives
from each of the planets, we'll have ourselves a nice little democratic
dictatorship going. And going strong, far stronger than what those
bench warmers in there could ever hope for."
"Nice little speech, General."
Ivo turned around to see another general of the Interstellar
Army, Ahan'braq Kintobor. Ivo was surprised to see his rival in the
same room as him. "Abe," he asked, "what are you doing here?"
"The same as you, I'm waiting to see the Council. I got a call
from them at eight-thirty this morning, asking me to be here."
"By nine?"
"No, ten-thirty actually. I'm a little early, aren't I?"
"If the Council has planned like I think they did, then your
being early is to my advantage."
"Really? Do you think they wanted to see us both together?"
"Yes, I do, actually. For reasons that I couldn't BEGIN to
contemplate."
"Oh, yes, about those changes you were talking about. Not if I
do them first."
"Oh, please. You couldn't rule an ant farm."
The messenger, hearing the conversation going on outside,
opened the door again. "Ah, you're both here. Good. The Council, All
Knowing, All Powerful, will see you now."
"Finally," Ivo muttered under his breath.
************************************************************
Ivo and Kintobor stood in front of the Military Actions
Council, the greatest power in the Empire. The row of ten old men
stared at them. The Head Councilor sat in a raised area in the center.
"I don't want to waste you gentlemen's time, so I'll make this as brief
as possible. Our sensors have picked up unusual energy readings coming
from Mobius. Further scans reveal that sentient life has managed to
develop there. The planet is now ready for conquest and assimilation
into the Empire. General Ivo, as the most experienced officer, you
will be leading the conquering party. General Kintobor, you will be
Ivo's second-in-command. We've already assembled a team for you.
You should find our choices satisfactory. That is all, meeting
dismissed."
Even the other Council members were surprised to hear the
dismissal of the meeting. They got up and left. Ivo and Kintobor were
behind them when Metternich was stopped by the Head Councilor, calling
him into his office. He entered behind the old man.
Inside the office were hundreds of artifacts lining the walls.
All symbols of the cultures the Empire had taken over. The H.C. stood
facing away from Ivo. He listened as his elder began to speak. "Have
you ever wondered why people put other people in control of them? Why
people can't handle the work of government themselves? I can tell you
why. A single person can be intelligent and cunning; resourceful and
willing; respectful; able to handle any situation that comes up. The
qualities of a good leader. People, on the other hand are stupid,
quick to act, ready for rebellion in a single moment. It requires a
leader to keep them under control. The people realize this, so they
elect a leader for them."
"Why are you telling me this, sir?"
"Because, Metternich, I know of your plans for change. They
would be the downfall of the Empire. Heh, I suppose it really
shouldn't even be called an empire. We haven't had an emperor for two
millennia. We just kept the name because it sounds good."
"Every schoolchild knows that."
"Ivo, listen to me. As you know, this Council's members are
here for life, but they're elected into it by the people of
Monocumbiumbus. It is the role of the Council to make sure those
people keep under control. A dictatorship was tried once, but
because the people didn't want the man, the entire system almost
collapsed. The Council almost didn't make it. Same with the Empire.
The same thing would be bound to happen if you were to assume full
control. Even with a little department of advisors, you wouldn't do
much good. I just want you to consider what the repercussions may be
of another dictatorship."
"Sir, I just have this strange feeling inside of me that a
member of my House was destined to rule a whole empire. I'm the
closest to ever doing this, so I have my hopes up, you understand, of
achieving it."
"At least wait a while. A success on this mission will
guarantee you a victory over John Tevsh. Once you're on the Council,
then make your decision. And do make it carefully, please."
"I will."
Ivo left the H.C.'s office heading toward the liftoff pad. He
wished that he had been given more notice that he would be going off
into space, he would've brought his nausea pills with him. As a
result, he was destined to have the worst trip of his life going to
Mobius. At least it was not that far away. When he arrived, Kintobor
was already on board the spacecraft looking over their supplies. The
fighters were stationed below, in cryogenic suspension. Ivo walked
over to the controls. He ran his four-fingered hand across the panel.
It had been years since he had piloted a craft of this type, and he
hoped he could remember how. No time to cram, though, as the order
to take off was given. The vehicle lifted off the pad and flew into
space.
************************************************************
Ivo looked over to Kintobor, who had just returned from the
cryo chamber where the soldiers were in suspended animation for the
duration of the trip. "What's the crew look like?"
"A bunch of snowmen. Why were they put in suspended animation
anyway? It's just a one-hour trip."
"War tactics. The soldiers need to be fresh, well-rested,
ready to go. It also gives the Council an excuse to keep taxes high to
fund this program. Personally, I think it should be eliminated until
our own problems can be dealt with on Monocumbiumbus."
"And is this before or after you take on your namesake?"
"Shut up. The man might've been a genius, but he also a
complete idiot. Why did they stick us together, anyway? They know
we're rivals for power."
"Nice to hear you admit it."
"Oh, well I don't see you running for a Council position. I'm
surprised you're allowing Tevsh the honor of being my opponent."
"I'm more than allowing it, I'm supporting it."
"What?! Why?"
"Tevsh is a civilian. No military connections at all. That
means there's no way he can be sent on a mission in which he can easily
get killed during the campaign."
"Ah, I see. You don't care if you don't get on the Council, so
long as someone under your influence does."
"That is precisely my strategy."
"Then you shouldn't have given it away."
"Be quiet and fly the ship."
Slowly, at least in the sense of celestial travel, the ship
approached Mobius.
************************************************************
In the temple, Gabe opened his eyes from his meditation. He
was now certain. A force of incredible power and strength was on its
way. It was a sensation he had been receiving for a few days back, but
now it was confirmed. He stood up and left the temple. Making his way
to the city of Mobius, the planet's capital city, he reflected on what
his visions had revealed to him. An army from the stars. Equipped
with strong soldiers and incredible technology. A conquering party,
the first attack wave from another planet. But the outcome-- it was
something Gabe could not foresee, hard as he tried.
He sent a message to the military telling them to be ready at a
moment's notice once the invaders land. Instead of being at the front
of the battle lines making preparations with the military, Gabe went to
a nearby park to wait for the inevitable. He did not have to wait
long....
The sound was unlike anything anybody on Mobius had ever heard.
Though not a cloud in the sky, there was one loud crash of thunder.
Only this crash of thunder was heard over a very large distance of the
planet. It was the sound of death entering the atmosphere in the form
of a large, asymmetrical spaceship. The Mobian soldiers who survived
that first day later told of what the ship looked like before it
landed. It was essentially a gray cylinder with hundreds of tubes
protruding from the sides. The tubes were laser cannons, a technology
far too advanced for the Mobians to comprehend. After it landed,
however, it flattened out, and the tubes began to glow. What happened
next was considered the single largest massacre in the history of
Mobius.
The ship had landed facing the Mobian forces, which happened to
be in front of the city. So as the lasers emitted their beams of
destruction, not only did they vaporize almost all of the Mobian
troops, but half the city as well. At the end of the ten minute
attack, over a million Mobians had been killed. From his vantage point
in the park, Gabe watched solemnly as death poured out from those
cannons. If that was merely the first wave attack, then the aliens
would be even more powerful when they *really* started fighting.
Knowing what he must do, Gabe turned around and returned to the temple.
Not long after Gabe's departure, the hatch to the ship began to
open, and out came hundreds of the aliens, all hyped and ready for a
fight. Needless to say, they were very surprised to see no one waiting
for them. General Ivo, who was the last to leave the ship, felt
suspicious of the whole situation. The laser bombardment had been
intended to merely weaken the enemy forces, not annihilate them in one
blow. He walked out further into the open amongst his men. Kintobor
was waiting for him. "It could be a trap," he said.
Ivo did not have any time to agree. Just as he recognized the
creak of a tree branch, the remaining Mobian forces began their turn.
Ivo was surprised that they were using bows and arrows. Primitive, but
judging that a third of his army was already dead, he knew the
effectiveness. Not one arrow seemed to be aimed toward him. An
advantage Ivo and Kintobor decided to use. Unstrapping their laser
guns, they quickly took out every last one of the Mobians in the trees.
With a large smirk on his face, Ivo decided that it was time he took
the capital city itself. If the war kept going like this, he would be
home in time for dinner.
************************************************************
The city of Mobius had been completely evacuated by the time
Ivo and his forces arrived. Evacuated, but full of booby traps. When
two officers tried to enter a building, as soon as they opened the
door, the whole building collapsed on top of them. Still in shock from
it, Kintobor ordered, "Keep your guard up. And if you see any of their
furry butts, remember we take no prisoners!"
A voice shouted out from somewhere behind another building,
"Neither do we!"
From behind that building, seventy Mobians stepped out, all of
them lions. The head lion spoke up, "We will not allow you to take our
planet, alien. Pull out your forces now, or die!"
Ivo stood his ground. "I'll give you fools one last chance,"
the lion growled.
Ivo narrowed his eyes, anticipating the inevitable attack, and
began formulating his counter. Speed and cunning were the order of the
day, the perfect match to the lion's strength. With a final rumbling
in the back of his throat, the lion leaped forward, signaling the
attack. Despite his size, he was much faster than Ivo had anticipated,
not to mention extremely articulate with the apparent weapon of choice
among the lions, a sword. Within a second, he was halfway to Ivo with
his blade already unsheathed and pointed straight at the man's heart.
Resisting the urge to take out his own ceremonial blade, which would be
of no use to his defense as it was made of a much lighter and breakable
material, he ducked and rolled out of the blade's way as
it suddenly swung towards him. Around them, the battle waged on. The
lion had managed to spin around, and Ivo jumped out of the way just as
the sword came down, and the tip of the blade became stuck in the
ground. Taking the lion's brief struggle to free the sword to his
advantage, Ivo kicked him hard in the wrist. Powerless to do
otherwise, the lion's reflexes kicked in and he grabbed the injured
wrist with his other hand. Seizing the opportunity, Ivo grabbed the
sword, pulled it out of the ground, and swung for the lion.
A cry of immeasurable pain rang onto the battlefield of the
city as the lion's left forearm, severed at the elbow, fell lazily on
the ground. Ivo took a quick three-sixty and brought the sword up to
the lion's face, slashing across the left side of his face, taking with
it the eye. He collapsed to his knees, and Ivo took the moment for all
it was worth to finish the job. He took a few steps back, lifted the
sword in front of him, and ran as fast as he could. The tip of the
sword made contact with the lion's chest, and then pushed its way
inside. He fell back, his legs slipping forward from under him, lying
him flat on his back. Ivo moved over him, and with all his might
pushed the sword further into the lion. With a strained growl, he
swung up his arm and managed to grab Ivo's uniform jacket, and pull the
man down beside him. Ivo tried to lift himself up, but the dying
lion's grip held fast. He pulled Ivo to his face and said weakly, "Why
do you do this?"
Ivo was dumbfounded. "Because I'm told to," he responded.
Ivo was dragged further down, and the lion's voice was almost
to the point of a whisper, merely a small fraction louder and a bit
more strained, "But... is it...what you *want*...to do?"
Ivo hesitated for a moment. In all his years of military
service, never once did he question whether or not he wanted to carry
out his orders. Until now. But in that moment of hesitation, just
before Ivo could try to give an answer, the lion's grip slowly
loosened, his eyes rolled back, and the last, long exhale of breath
left his body. Ivo stayed there for minutes, simply staring at the
lion, and thinking of his last words. Had it been possible, he may
have remained at the spot for hours, but because of the fact that he
was still in a war zone, the few minutes was the only time allotted to
him. Ten feet away, he heard a deafening scream, and the sound of a
laser gun firing, followed by a loud, dull thud and then a more silent
one. Ivo stood up and turned around to see the legacy of all war.
There on the ground was a young lieutenant, his left arm and
both his legs ripped off. The blood had already saturated his uniform
and was still flowing. In his right hand was the laser gun. It had
found its target. Two yards away was the corpse of another lion, all
the flesh and muscle burned off its skull, which was still smoking
from the blast. The lieutenant looked over to Ivo, and dropping the
laser gun, reached out for him with his only remaining hand. "General,
please... help me. Please..."
The plea in his eyes outweighed the one from his mouth, and Ivo
did all he could to restrain his tears as he did the only thing
available to him. He took out his own gun and fired at the young man,
hitting him squarely in the chest. He shuddered for just a moment
before falling quickly and quietly to the ground. Ivo looked over to
the rest of the battle. Kintobor was doing a fine job of commanding
the remainder of the troops. A victory was surely guaranteed. Ivo
moved over to the tent which had been set up as the mobile command
center. After telling the guard outside that he was not to be
disturbed for any reason, he went inside and to a small room in the
back which served as his office. There, he did not even bother to
restrain his tears.
************************************************************
Two more days of fighting passed, and the Monocumbiumbians
gained victory after victory. On the night of that second day,
Kintobor was on watch duty. Normally, it was something he would give
to someone else, but the number of troops had been seriously depleted
over the past two days, and Monocumbiumbius refused to send in more
troops. So there was "Abe" Kintobor, General of the Monocumbiumbian
Space Military, keeping a watch over the area of the camp, while other
junior troops went about their other tasks. Suddenly, there was the
snap of a twig, and Kintobor instinctively reached for his sword,
which, unlike Ivo's, was anything but ceremonial. "Who's there?" he
bellowed.
A creature wearing a gray cloak stepped out into the open. "No
one whom you need to concern yourself with. I have come to negotiate a
peace treaty between us."
"You want a treaty? HERE'S YOUR TREATY!" Kintobor yelled out
as he swung his sword with incredible speed up and through the Mobian's
left arm, cutting it off at the shoulder. The Mobian moaned in agony
as he dropped to the ground holding his shoulder.
Kintobor was swinging his sword up, ready to bring down the final blow
when the beam of a laser gun flashed in front of him, just inches from
his face. "Kintobor, put down your blade," Ivo said as he walked
slowly toward them.
"B--but, sir..." Kintobor began to protest.
"NOW!"
As Kintobor resheathed his sword, Ivo explained, "Look at the
numbers, Abe. In just three days, we've lost three-fourths of our
troops. And I personally have had to euphanize eight. I've had time
to think, and I've come to some conclusions. Even if we are the
victors of this war, we will never win it. In order to avoid any more
loss of life, we must seek a peaceful alternative. A treaty would be
the proper first step to take." He walked over and helped the furry to
his feet. "And the first clause," he continued, "is getting you some
medical attention immediately."
He helped the Mobian into the camp toward the medical tent.
The whole time, Kintobor watched from the gate, with arms akimbo and
mouth gaped open. What could Ivo be smoking? he thought to himself.
************************************************************
An hour later in the Monocumbiumbian medical tent, the doctors
finished up with the Mobian. They had replaced the lost arm with a
three-fingered robotic replacement with some kind of neural interface
system which the Mobian did not care to learn about. He was simply
satisfied with the fact that it was fully articulate and did its job.
Thus thanking the doctors, he rejoined Ivo in his office. "Now before
we begin, I suppose we should be properly introduced. My name is
Metternich, latest descendant of the House of Ivo, and General in the
Monocumbiumbian Space Military."
"Monocumbiumbian. That name's going to start to get tedious
after a while, don't you think?"
"Well, since we do come down from the sky, some species have
begun to know us as `Overlanders.'"
"Very well, then. Overlanders you shall be here, as well. And
my name is Gabe."
"Well, Gabe, what's say we make some peace?"
"Sounds good to me, General."
************************************************************
Thus was the first Mobian-Overlander Treaty drafted. Made
under accordance of the Military Actions Council on Monocumbiumbius, it
stated that anyone who wished to settle on Mobius was welcome to do so
(though the Councilors were, at first, reluctant to agree on that). It
also stated that after a period of five centuries, the Overlanders
would be welcome to join in G'Punya, and during the waiting period,
they would be free from religious-based persecution. So thousands
flocked to Mobius, including Ivo's wife, Laura. Many of them helped to
rebuild the city of Mobius. They were free to settle anywhere,
although most of them chose a peninsula which resembled the terrain of
their home planet. And peace was achieved during what was, in essence,
the very start of those dark beginnings of Mobius.
THE END
Next story: DARK BEGINNINGS BOOK TWO: DARK CHAOS