MagiTek Paradise
By Jesse Shearer
Final Fantasy Three characters, items, weapons, and other related material copyright Squaresoft.
Sonic the Hedgehog characters, objects, and other related material copyright SEGA and Archie Comics.
Gateway idea copyright Paramount Pictures(Stargate).
Opening Note
Hi there! It's once again time for one of my well unknown and much disliked short stories. This one is a cross between the U.S. version of Squaresoft's Final Fantasy Three and SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog. One thing to be noted is that the world of FF3 has been given a name: Armazed. The time frame is a few years after the defeat of archvillian and near-ruler of the world Keefka. The few surviving units of the Imperial Army have joined forces with The Returners, the former resistance. Armazed is still in ruins. In hopes that they could repair their world, the Armazoid used the old empire's MagiTek tools to build a magical gateway. Will it help, or only make matters work? Will there even be an effect?
The Story Begins
"All's ready up here. Just give the go-ahead when you're ready out there," said Commander Stratte, one of only a few Armazed Imperial Army commanders left alive after the world's unbalancing and Keefka's fall. As he waited for the reply from the head of his troops, Locke, he was thinking about how things must have come out just how the emperor and Keefka wanted. "Two of my best soldiers are under the command of a Returner thief," Stratte thought. There were four in the team, two former Imperial troopers and two Returners, all piloting MagiTek units.
"Ready!" Locke called in, using his communications device. Stratte entered the last few codes to open the gateway, and the exploration team was on it's way to explore the first of the half-worlds.
Half-worlds, as the Armazoid culture had come to call them, were worlds that were halfway between balance and ruin. Armazed, of course, would be thriving again if it could manage to become a half-world itself.
As the exploration team was being hurled to it's yet unknown destination, Locke was hoping that their communications equipment would hold out until after he had informed Stratte that the team was safe.
"Though, what's safety to that MagiTek freak back there?" Locke wondered. Seconds later, the gateway's tunnel effect opened to a beautiful green pasture filled with plant life. Locke began signaling back while Gogo, a mimic sympathizer to the Returners, and the two MagiTek troopers began collecting data.
"Stratte, we're through! Do you read?" Locke asked.
"I read you, Locke," responded Stratte. "What do your surroundings look like?"
"Well," Locke began, "we're in a meadow, and the grass is actually green. The sky's blue. And there are millions of flowers here. I haven't seen any animal life, though."
"You haven't?" asked Stratte.
"No," responded Locke. "Correction, yes I have. It appears to be an insect of some kind, or possibly a bird, but whatever it is, it flies."
"What can you tell me about it?" asked Stratte. "I need more details."
"It's approaching at a moderate speed. I can get a clearer view now. It appears to be....." Locke reported before he was interrupted by one of the troopers.
"Look, sir! Behind it!" said the interrupting trooper.
"Robots! And I think they've seen us!" exclaimed Locke. "I just hope the life form hasn't."
"Quick! Hide yourselves!" ordered Stratte.
"Too late! They're leaving the creatures alone and coming to engage us!" shouted Locke.
"Return fire!" ordered Stratte. "Report to me after the battle's over! Stratte out."
"You heard him! Open fire, all weapons!" shouted Locke.
As the battle raged, the robots, with their arm-mounted weapons, seemed no match for the MagiTek units, with their multityped weapons. Even so, the two troopers were killed and their units destroyed by the robotic forces, and a stray shot knocked the flying creature out of the air.
At the end of the battle, after Locke and Gogo had healed themselves with the power of their units, Locke contacted Stratte and gave him details, and Gogo found the creature, which turned out to be a small fox, and healed it's wounds as well. Immediately afterwards, it ran off without a word.
"Well then, both of you get back here and file reports!" Stratte commanded.
"All right," replied Locke.
"Get Gogo," Stratte said. "I'm opening the gate now."
"Gogo! Time to leave! Stratte wants our reports!" called Locke, while he was waiting for the gate back to Armazed to open.
"We must report," responded Gogo.
When the gate opened, Gogo and Locke stepped in and returned to their homeworld. The small fox had also returned to it's home. This particular fox went by the name of Tails, and those robots were Swatbots. That, in combination with the sheer beauty of the land, is every indication that the Armazoid explorers had come across Mobius.
Naturally, when Tails returned to Knothole and tried to explain what had happened, none believed him. Sonic the Hedgehog was extremely skeptical.
"Yeah, sure, Tails," he said. "You were getting chased by ten 'Bots when you came across four malfunctioning prototypes that fought off the ones that were chasing you. I'd like to see that."
"C'mon, Sonic, I can even show you where it happened!" exclaimed Tails.
"Sure you can," responded Sonic.
"We should have a look, Sonic," Sally told him.
"Well, if you insist," said Sonic.
With the help of Sonic's speed, the three had made it, in record time, to the site of the battle Tails had claimed to witness. Their search was in vain, however, due to the fact that MagiTek weapons vaporized their targets with one hit, and simply ceased to exist when destroyed.
"See, Tails, you were just imagining things," said Sonic.
"Maybe he wasn't, Sonic. Look at the burn marks on this tree," requested Sally.
"You're right, Sal. It's too big to be from the blaster on a 'Bot," remarked Sonic.
"Right, and I've never seen lightning or fire do anything like it. Whatever did this is new and dangerous," explained Sally.
"I was right, I was right," giggled Tails.
Momentarily, Stratte, Locke, and Gogo came back through the gate's opening on Mobius, all three in MagiTek units.
"This old man, he played four, he played knick-knack on my door with a knick-knack, patty-whack, give a dog a bone, this old man came rolling home," all three sang in unison.
"It sounds like a song," Sonic commented to his friends as they waited in the hiding place they had chosen when the gate appeared. At the same time, Locke signaled his companions that he had detected three life forms. Stratte then signaled for them to move into a standard surrounding pattern. When they finished their song, "A Children's March", Locke and Gogo moved to sneak up on Sonic, Tails, and Sally from behind, and Stratte turned to face the location his comrades were sneaking in on. As he approached, Stratte noticed that his "capture target" was preparing to escape.
"Running is futile," he warned Sonic.
"And why's that, metalhead?" Sonic asked.
"Look behind you, Sonic," requested Sally.
Sonic turned and started with surprise as he saw Gogo and Locke stare back, almost relentlessly.
"Good job, Stratte. Just what we were hoping not to do," remarked Locke.
"Is he Stratte?" Tails asked, as he pointed to Gogo.
"Identification is necessary," responded Gogo.
"He's right," said Stratte. "I'm...Commander...Stratte Rialdi."
"You fakin' somethin', mister?" asked Sonic.
"No," answered Stratte. "It's just that I'm ashamed to say it. I was dishonorably demoted from general for something I couldn't bring myself to do. I'll explain later."
"Since he won't say it, I will," said Locke. "I'm Locke, and this is Gogo. We represent the Returners, a resistance group on our homeworld, Armazed. Stratte is from the Imperial Army of Southern Armazed."
"Welcome to Mobius, sirs. My name is Princess Sally Acorn, and these are my friends, Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails," explained Sally. "Won't you come to our village of Knothole with us?"
"Most certainly, Your Majesty," Stratte answered.
"You can just call me Sally or Sal, commander," Sally told him, as the group departed.
"Sorry. Habit," said Stratte. "Emperor Geshtal was always extremely formal."
"WAS?" asked Sonic.
"I'll explain everything when we get to Knothole," answered Stratte.
When the group arrived at Knothole, a large group of Freedom Fighters was there to welcome them and see what was going on. Stratte, Gogo, and Locke dismounted their MagiTek and began explaining the situation on Armazed. Stratte and Locke told of the events leading up to "The Fall of the World", as they called it, from Emperor Geshtal's ascent to the throne to the recreation of MagiTek power, and on to the incident on the Flying Island. Since Locke had participated in the Flying Island incident, he was telling the story when Sally asked a question.
"So, how did Keefka and Geshtal fit into all this, anyway?" she asked.
"Well, as I said," Locke told her, "those statues were balancing our world, controlling nature itself, including magic. Keefka stepped into their core of influence, and Geshtal tried to use magic to stop him. Unfortunately, the statues absorbed the magic. Then, Keefka used the statues to hit Geshtal with raw magical energy. Needless to say, no more Geshtal."
"And things went down hill from there," said Stratte.
"So, why are you here?" asked Sally.
"Study," answered Gogo.
"What's with him?" asked Sonic.
"Even we're still trying to understand, Stratte told him. "But that still doesn't answer her question. Locke had better tell the story."
"Here's part two of the story," said Locke, beginning an explanation that took the better part of two hours. "After the Flying Island disaster..."
After all three had finished their respective parts of the story, there was a question and answer session in which the outsiders explained whatever they could to the Knothole dwellers. Afterwards, Locke and Stratte had some questions of their own.
"How did this village come to be?" asked Stratte.
"It's a long, complex story, not unlike your own," answered Sally. "I'll begin with the Great War of..."
When she got to the part about Robotnik's takeover, the whole population gasped with horror as they remembered what their adversary's primary goal was and how he usually went about achieving it: by any means possible.
"What?" asked Locke.
"Your weapons are unlike anything seen before on Mobius. That means...," said Sally, her voice trailing off at the end.
"That means the doctor will be after these walkers soon, and he's going to want as many as he can get," said Stratte. "We've got to get out of here as soon as we can." Almost as soon as he finished, a guard came running towards the group.
"Sally!" shouted the guard. "Swatbots approach from the south!"
"How many?" she asked.
"Twenty-five, at least," the guard responded.
"We're in big trouble," Sonic commented.
"Perhaps not," Stratte told them. "How far away are they?"
"About half a mile. Why?" asked the guard.
"I know several defensive tactics that could be implemented in this situation," Stratte explained. "Sally, what are your defenses in the south?"
"A log wall and five heavy catapults," she answered.
"Get them manned! And the three of us will need some help outside the wall," Stratte explained.
"What's your plan?" asked Bunnie, who had shown up when she heard the guard's call.
"Gogo, Locke, and I will each have six people aiding us. We'll be outside the wall, trying to repel the attack. Hopefully, we can do that before it gets within catapult range," Stratte told her. "Now, let's go! Those robots aren't getting any farther away."
Before they left, Stratte gave each catapult commander a communications receiver. All was ready just as the Swatbot force arrived at Stratte's perimeter. Stratte threw up his arms and screamed for a charge, which he got. That defense managed to do in most of the invaders, but only after heavy casualties, which allowed the remaining robots to get closer to the village. After the casualties were stabilized, the Armazoid-commanded ground fleet headed in to help the catapults.
"What about them?" one of the Mobian troops asked of his fallen comrades.
"We'll be back to get them," Stratte assured him. "Our first priority is to defend the village."
The battle continued for another half an hour, until the last 'Bot was destroyed. Though the battle had been much shortened and turned in favor of Knothole, it was still quite a fight, especially for the Mobians.
"Healers!" shouted Stratte, after the battle had ended.
"Half of you go with them, the other half, stay here," ordered Sally.
Within three minutes, the healing of the perimeter troops had begun, and about thirty minutes later, Stratte's group was back restoring helping restore health to the catapult teams. Shortly thereafter, Stratte was giving his report concerning his perimeter team and the status of those who had been wounded.
"The wounded will only need three days to heal completely?" asked Sally.
"Yes," responded Stratte. "Unfortunately, I must also report five dead."
"Only five? Are you sure about that?" Sonic asked
"Unfortunately, yes. They got separated from their group, and there was no way to stabilize them," explained Stratte. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I take full responsibility."
"Don't blame yourself, Stratte. There was nothing you could have done under those circumstances," Sally said.
"As you wish...," Stratte began.
"And don't be so formal!", exclaimed Sally, waiving an arm at him. "Things aren't like that around here!"
Locke almost burst into laughter because of Sally's actions. Everyone but Stratte, who almost laughed himself, and Gogo wondered why.
"What are you two laughing for?" asked Tails.
"Just noticing that her actions are sometimes like those of a friend of mine. He always does that thing with his hand when he's agitated," Locke answered, causing an angry look to come across Sally's face.
"I'm sorry if we've upset you. Is there anything we can do to make it up to you?" asked Stratte.
"Don't let it bother you, Stratte. I don't really know how I feel right now. Upset is probably part of it, but there are also many others," explained Sally. "If we'd tried to fight that last battle without you, we'd have lost for sure."
"I hate to admit it, but she's right," Sonic remarked.
"If you'd like to make it up, tell us about this friend of yours," Sally told Stratte, as Tails came in from seeing if Rotor and Bunnie needed help with repairs.
"His name's Strago. All I really know about him is that he's an elderly storyteller that can use special magic," explained Stratte. "Locke will have to tell you more."
"Strago can learn special attacks off our monsters," Locke began. "Most of them classify as magic. Slowing things down with slime, stones that cause confusion, amnesia, that sort of thing."
"One of you will have to tell us about your monsters," Sally told him.
"It may not be wise to let the child hear about them," Stratte cautioned, referring to Tails, who was listening from the doorway to the next room in the hut.
"I can take it!" Tails exclaimed.
"As you wish. Not all of our plants are rooted into the soil in the same fashion as are yours. Bloompire, for instance," began Stratte, "is our one native breed of rose. Though it usually appears to be just a plant, it occasionally pulls itself up and moves to where it can tempt weary or unwise travelers into striking range, where it poisons it's prey, and devours it. Further?"
"Eesh," commented Sonic.
"Yes, continue," requested Sally.
"Sometimes the reverse is true of the animal life. A beast we call Hoover, for example," continued Stratte, "often times will almost appear to be planted in the soil. From it's position, it can inhale it's food through it's single opening. Again, shall I tell more?"
"No, you'd better not," Sally told him.
"What was the point of all that, anyway?" asked Sonic.
"The point, Sonic, was not only to tell you something about my home, but also to talk myself out of asking you an unwise question," explained Stratte.
"There's no such thing," Sally said.
"Ask us, ask us," squealed Tails.
"All right. You're all invited to Armazed, if you'd like to come," Stratte told them.
"What's wrong with that?" asked Sonic.
"Sonic!" Sally exclaimed. "What do you think Robotnik will do if he hears that we're both gone?"
"Think? Why would I think?" Sonic asked
"Ok, little man, let me explain this to you," answered Stratte. "Remember that little fight we were just discussing? If your villain hears that the two head people here are gone, the same thing's gonna happen, only then, this little berg will be toast!"
"Oh," quipped Sonic.
"Sonic, you stay here and guard Knothole," Sally ordered. "I'll get Bunnie and we'll go with them. Understood?"
"But Sal...." Sonic began.
"No buts," Sally told him.
At that moment, Bunnie came into the hut with a worried expression on her face.
"What's the matter, Bunnie?" Sally asked.
"Ah can't find a way to make the repairs to the fence and catapults without cutting the last of the tall trees," she answered.
"I believe I have a solution," Stratte told them. "Cactrot."
"An' what's that little word supposed to mean, sugar?" Bunnie asked.
"Allow me to explain," said Stratte. "Sally, were you not about to ask your lovely friend here to accompany us to Armazed to aid in your survey of our land?"
"Yes, but...." Sally began.
"Forgive me for interrupting, but I must say that our world offers many choices of materials for rebuilding your defenses," explained Stratte. "Our Cactrot variety of cactus would appear to be the best overall choice. It is thinner, lighter, and may be stronger than the species of trees used in the walls and catapults it will be replacing. Leave the plant whole and remove the spines for catapult throwing arms, remove the hide and spines for a one inch thick wall that can keep laser blasts out and pierce even the toughest metal, destroying the robot's circuitry. The downside of it is that Cactrot is tough to defeat. Since you're both coming anyway, why not survey and have some help collecting building materials?"
"Ma stars! Defeat?" asked Bunnie.
"Let's just say that the majority of the plant life on Armazed can willingly move like an animal, hence it's ability to fight," explained Stratte.
"There's still one question, Stratte. How do we get to your world?" asked Sally.
"Remember that distortion you saw us come out of earlier?" asked Stratte. "That's our gateway to Armazed."
"How will this gateway thing of yours affect those of us without those mechs you came here with?" Sally wanted to know.
"It shouldn't affect you at all," Stratte told her. "We sent some Buffalax through. They wound up in a city of some sort. Within two hours, we had an unexplained loss of contact, not related to death. If that city was on your world, perhaps you could explain."
"Well, Robotnik might have gotten ahold of them and used them as test subjects for his roboticizer," suggested Sonic. "That would sure explain the strange 'bots I've seen lately."
"You'll have to explain that to us later. I'll get Locke and Gogo. You two," said Stratte, referring to Sally and Bunnie, "get weapons and meet us at the eastern edge of the village, where we came in, in half an hour."
Thirty minutes later, all were ready, or so Stratte thought. As he explained what to expect, he noticed that neither Sally nor Bunnie were carrying weapons.
"Where are your weapons?" Stratte asked of them.
"We have no usable weapons, unfortunately," Sally told him.
"Not even a sharp carving knife or a long length of hard wood?" Stratte asked.
"Not even that," Sally answered.
"This poses a problem. There's no time to spare to find something. We have to get to the pasture where we first encountered each other, and on the double," said Stratte.
"Am ah right in thinkin' that you've got a solution for our little problem?" Bunnie asked as they departed.
"I'll just have to get weapons out of the stockpile as well as armor and shields for you when we get to the research facility," Stratte answered. "Am I really that easy to read?"
"It's a ladies' thing," Sally explained.
"So's thinkin' that it's good of you to loan us the weapons and armor," Bunnie remarked.
"We'd better get going," Locke told the group. "We only have five minutes until the gate opens."
The five adventurers made it to the pasture with barely a minute to spare. The gate's opening wowed the Mobians, as did the trip through. The biggest surprise all, of course, was the research facility at the home end of the gate. Because the gate was outside, the all-metal exterior of the research center against the dusklike, faded maroon-colored sky was the first erie, if not shocking, sight for the newcomers to Armazed.
"What the hoo-haw happened here?" Bunnie asked as she looked around at the Armazoid landscape.
"As I explained to your friends, our world was knocked out of normal balance. That's why, for instance, our sky is maroon instead of blue," Stratte answered.
"What time is it, then?" asked Sally.
"Exactly midday," answered Locke, as he punched in the time code on his mech's computer console.
"We must enter and prepare for our journey," Gogo said.
"Oh, yes," Stratte said, remembering that he was on his homeworld now. Just then, someone contacted him through the communications system on his mech.
"How was the trip?" the person asked.
"Just fine, Celles," Stratte answered. "Could you let us in?"
"Sure thing," she answered. Within seconds, a hatch on the side of the building opened for the travelers to enter through. As they entered, the newcomers were awed by the advanced appearance of the gate complex. Shortly, the group entered a large room that appeared to be a waiting area.
"If you wouldn't mind waiting, the three of us have to put our mechs in storage," explained Stratte.
"Sure," answered Sally, trying to hide her nervousness.
Though the Arnazed natives were gone but five minutes, the Mobians had grown more and more nervous and tense by the minute because the waiting area outside the mech storage area bore and uncanny resemblance to quite a few of the chambers in Robotnik's main lab complex. Needless to say, both Sally and Bunnie were greatly relieved to see Stratte and his colleagues when they returned.
"What took y'all so long?" Bunnie demanded.
"You had us worried," Sally told them.
"I'm sorry if we worried you," Stratte said. "It's just that I hadn't expected calling Sabin and Edgar to take so long. We'll have you out shortly, but first, we'll have to get you some weapons and armor from the armory."
"You'd better tell them who Sabin and Edgar are, Stratte," Locke reminded his friend.
"Right. Edgar and Sabin are twin brothers, though not identical. They're also royalty from one of the old nation-states that used to exist here on Armazed," Stratte explained.
As the group headed for the armory, a level up and at the opposite end of the building, Sally and Bunnie were inquiring about the change of garb in their Armazoid friends.
"Actually, it's sort of like our casual wear, like what you'd wear at home every day," explained Locke.
"So, what about armor, then?" asked Bunnie.
"We put it on under our clothing," said Gogo.
"That's interesting," commented Sally as Stratte went to check something on a computer panel nearby.
"What were you looking at?" Bunnie asked when he returned.
"I was checking to see if Gogo had been recorded. He doesn't normally speak in coherent sentences like that," Stratte explained. "Last time was this morning."
Momentarily, the group arrived at the armory and was greeted by Edgar. After the Mobians had been introduced and all had been informed about why Sabin was late, Edgar was up to his usual tricks with Sally.
"Our dear commander didn't, by any chance, mention that I was the king of Figaro, did he?" asked Edgar.
"Ah, no, but...," Sally began,
"Perhaps we could drop by the castle on our trip," Edgar suggested.
"Edgar, I'm...," Sally started.
"Has anyone ever told you about how lovely your eyes are?" Edgar asked.
"Knock that off, Edgar. I think she already has a mate," said a new voice, belonging to Edgar's twin brother Sabin. "Forgive him, miss. He's not married."
"I wonder why," commented Sally.
"I've got some weapons and armor laid out in the next room, if you'd like to try them. First, though, let me explain a few things," said Sabin. "The first thing that needs to be done is giving both of you strengths ratings. These'll be in the areas of physical and mental strength, will, wisdom, defensive ability, evasive ability, magic block, and success percentages for all three. Now, who'll go first?"
"I'll go first," said Bunnie.
"If you'll please step onto the stage over there, I'll begin the test," said Sabin, as he pointed towards an eriely familiar looking device.
"Huh?" asked Bunnie.
"That's the status reader. It's nothing to worry about," Stratte explained.
"Ah can't go up there," sobbed Bunnie. "Ah'm scared of it."
"We all use it regularly, and we're all all right," Locke assured her.
"Ah can't," moaned Bunnie.
"She had a bad experience with something like that on Mobius," explained Sally. "That's how she got her robotic limbs."
"I'm sorry. None of us knew," apologized Stratte. "Until now, I thought that she was wearing some sort of ceremonial outfit."
"Why you!" exclaimed Bunnie, before she punched Stratte with her robotic arm, knocking him unconscious. Sabin was there almost immediately, putting cure potion on the gash and bruise that the metal fist had caused on Stratte's forehead, which regenerated almost instantly. Then, he poured some heal potion down Stratte's throat to bring him around.
"I had that coming," Stratte said, after he shook off the dizziness.
"I didn't mean to hit you so hard, Stratte," Bunnie apologized.
"No, it was my fault. I should have thought about what I said before I said it, and that's final," said Stratte.
"Well, ok," said Bunnie. "Ah'm still not sure that thing is safe, though."
"I'll do it myself and show you that it's safe," Edgar said, and jumped up on the platform.
"That's my brother for you," remarked Sabin after his brother had done the scan. "At level ninety-nine and two fifty five across the board. What a showoff."
"You know how I get around beautiful women, Sabin," said Edgar after his test. "I can't help it."
"What were those numbers you read off mean?" asked Sally.
"Those were his statistics," explained Sabin. "His level of battle experience is ninety-nine, and all his statistics are at two hundred and fifty five."
"Even the percents?" asked Bunnie.
"It shouldn't be possible, but Armazed is a strange world," Stratte told them.
"What world isn't strange?" asked Sally.
"Good point," Stratte responded.
"Well then," said Bunnie as she went towards the reader stage, "since you seem all right, Ah'll do it."
"This is really great," said Sabin, when he saw the display. "Nothing except magic defence below fifty. Not bad for a level six fighter."
"Come on down," Sally called as a printout of her friend's statistics came out of the device.
"Keep an eye on him while I help this young lady pick out her equipment," Sabin told Locke as he pointed toward Edgar and led Bunnie over to the equipment display.
"Right, answered Locke, who then started a conversation among the remainder of those present.
"You seem proficient with your hands. Claws would be the right choice for you," said Sabin, as he read the printout. "Try these old fire claws of mine. By the way, are you right or left handed?"
"Both, if Ah have to fight," she answered.
"I'd suggest that you practice with your left," said Sabin, referring to Bunnie's robotic arm. "That way, you'll have a stronger hit and be able to hold a shield with your right."
Eventually, Sabin and Bunnie found the rabbit's proper equipment, and Sabin couldn't help but go red when he saw her.
"What's the matter, sugar?" Bunnie asked when she saw her new friend's face.
"Look," he said as he rolled a mirror over so Bunnie could see herself. "Edgar's gonna go wild when he sees you now."
"Why, Ah never knew I'd look so good in armor. Thanks for showing me," Bunnie said as she approached Sabin and kissed him on the cheek, making him go redder. When he cooled down, they returned to the group, and true to his twin brother's prediction, Edgar went head over heels for Bunnie.
"Now it's your turn, Sally," Sabin told her. Shortly, they returned. Again, all noticed their new friend in her armor and shield. Stratte also noticed that Sally didn't have a weapon. Sabin quickly explained why that was.
"What makes the fact that you can't use a dirk or dagger surprising is your ability in hand-to-hand combat," commented Stratte. "Sorry about that, Sally. I didn't mean that the way it sounded."
"Forgiven, and I'm sure you have a solution," Sally told him. "You always seem to."
"Actually," said Edgar, being serious for once, "I might. I've been working on a hand-held MagiTek weapon for quite some time."
"Hand-held?" asked Stratte. "How come you never told us?"
"Because I didn't want to get everyone excited too soon," explained Edgar. "The current prototype is the only one so far that hasn't burned out after only a few shots. The firing mechanism is quite similar to the device you carry with you, Sally."
"Actually, Edgar," said Sally, "Nicole is an Artificial Intelligence unit. Your invention may not be compatible with her."
"I'll go and get it," said Edgar. "Please, have your friend do whatever it is she does to learn about our world."
"Edgar, wait..." called Sabin, as his brother left the room. At the same time, Terra came to meet the guests.
"Where's he going?" she asked.
"He's got some kind of invention to show us," Stratte answered.
"You seem different from the others we've met so far, miss. Why is that?" asked Sally.
"In a way, I am. I was born half Esper, or beast of magic," explained Terra. "Oh, I'm Terra. And you are?"
"I'm Princess Sally Acorn of Mobius, and this is Bunnie Rabot, one of the freedom fighters I work with," Sally told her. "But, please, just call me Sally."
"You look nervous, Terra. What's wrong?" asked Bunnie.
"I had a bad experience with the royalty here," Terra answered. "To be more exact, the Imperial Army."
"What? What kind of bad experience?" asked Sally.
"I...was...their...their...slave..." Terra told her, on the edge of tears.
"Stratte?" growled Sally.
"I didn't know until after the Returners rescued her," said Stratte. "I guess this leads up to what I said earlier about my demotion."
"Tell us," ordered Sally.
"You see," began Stratte, "when I found out, I was doing a personal troop review of the Imperial guard on the village of Tarnak. I dug into the subject, and found that we were guarding secret plans and records pertaining to Terra, to keep them from falling into the hands of the resistance. Somehow, word got to the capitol city of Vector, and Geshtal. Within days, Keefka, also a general at the time, showed up with orders from the emperor himself to destroy the village and everything in it. Naturally, I put up a fight. Keefka did in the village, and then had my own troops tie me up and drag me into the throne room, where I was demoted to commander and stuck in a corner where I could be watched, yet unable to act on anything."
"That doesn't make any of what happened to Terra right," said Bunnie.
"Don't you think I know that?" asked Stratte before he angrily stormed out of the room.
A few minutes later, Celles and Mog came in, looking for Terra and their guests from beyond the gate. Both immediately noticed the looks of mixed anger and sorrow on the faces of their friends and guests.
"What happened here?" asked Celles.
"Stratte told them about Tarnak," Sabin told her.
"If we upset him, we didn't mean to," said Sally.
"There's no way to ask him about Tarnak and not upset him, I'm afraid. Not only did Stratte want people to know what the Empire had done to Terra," explained Celles, "but when Tarnak was destroyed, he lost all that he loved. In essence, his life ended there and then. The demotion took away the one thing he had left to live for."
"So that's what he was so uptight about. He doesn't like to remember how far he'd fallen," noted Sally.
"He'll cool down in time, with the key being time," said Locke.
"I hope he calms down soon," said Sally. "By the way, we haven't heard your names yet."
"I'm Celles, and this is Mog," said Celles. "You must be Sally and Bunnie."
"Yes, but how did you know our names?" asked Sally.
"We met Edgar on the way in. He's too accurate sometimes," said Celles.
"I'm sure you meant that in a good way," said Sally.
"You're right, that wasn't the best way to put it," remarked Celles.
"This cute little thing must be Mog," said Bunnie. "He looks so familiar, but I just can't place him. What kind of creature are you, Mog?"
"Moogle, kupo," responded Mog.
Within seconds of Mog's answer, Edgar came in with his invention.
"Have Nicole scan this and see if it's compatible with her systems," he said.
"You heard him," said Sally, as she opened Nicole for scanning.
"One hundred percent compatibility with Edgar's HandiTek 5000," reported Nicole. "Please attach accessory and test all functions."
Edgar handed Sally his invention, and she clipped it onto Nicole, at her input port.
"Now displaying menu," Nicole reported, almost instantly.
"I'll set up some targets. You've just got to try it," said Edgar, who went to get some old drinking cups out of the trash.
"Celles, what do these options mean?" asked Sally.
"Let's see which ones you have," said Celles, as she took a look at Nicole's screen. "Fire beam sends a high intensity burst of heat at your target. Ice and bolt beams are the same, only with extreme cold and electromagnetic energy, respectively. Heal beam is the MagiTek version of cure spells or various healing potions. Teklazer is self-explanatory."
"I didn't know that the dish on MagiTek units could be miniaturized," said Sabin.
"The Empire was trying to do it even before the collapse. I was the general in charge of the project before I was put out as a traitor," Celles told him.
"How many of you Imperial generals are there, anyway?" asked Bunnie.
"There were only four of us to begin with. Stratte and I are the only ones left. Ninety-five percent of the troops are also dead," explained Celles.
"The targets are ready," said Edgar. "Try the fire beam first."
Sally activated the fire beam, Nicole fired the dish, and to everyone's surprise except Edgar's, the first target was vaporized. Next came the ice beam, followed by bolt and laser. All had their own unique effects, such as the instant freezing of the ice beam and the fine cut of the laser.
After a short group discussion of how far the new weapon that Sally was carrying would shoot, and who and what to and not to shoot at, the large group devided into tow groups of four each, with one left over to guard the research facility. Mog volunteered to stay behind, so Bunnie went with Celles, Locke, and Gogo while Sally went with Edgar, Sabin, and Terra. At that point, each team leader, in this case Celles and Edgar, brought out four traveling packs, which each of the Armazoid put on easily, though the Mobians did have some trouble due to the weight. The weight, of course was caused by the dozen each of the battle items, such as tonic, potion, and fenix down; and the basic food needs: flour, sugar, lard, water, and matches to start a cooking fire with.
"What do the packs have in them?" asked Sally.
"Basic food and recovery items," answered Terra. "Water, antidote for poison, things like that. We'd better get you equipped with a pack and your two relics."
"Relics?" asked Sally. "What are relics?"
"Special tools, each with different effects," explained Terra. "The best ones for you would be the Tintinabar and the Czarina Ring. The Tintinabar will restore your lost hit points as we walk, and the Czarina Ring will cast safe and shell on you when your HP gets low."
"Ok, but what about Bunnie?" asked Sally.
"I'm sure Celles already has a plan," Terra reassured her. Terra then went to get the relics for her new friend. Shortly, she returned and helped her friend into the equipment. Then, they found Edgar and Sabin, and departed. Sally noticed that Bunnie's group was slightly behind hers.
"Where are we headed?" asked Terra, as they were leaving.
"For Figaro Castle," answered Edgar. "I was serious about giving you that tour, Sally."
Ten minutes later, Bunnie's group, equipped with virtually all the same stuff, was ready to go. Naturally, Bunnie was curious about the colosseum that they were headed for.
"It's basically a very physical casino. What a person bets determines what he or she fights, and therefore, the likelihood of a win," explained Locke. "I wouldn't be surprised to find Shadow or Setzer trying to scam a free win off Ultros."
"What?" asked Bunnie.
"We'll explain more when we get there," Celles told her.
The groups headed in roughly opposite directions, Edgar's to the north and northwest and Locke's to the south and southeast. Mealtime came a few hours into the journey for Edgar's party.
"It's unusual for a party to go this long without getting in a fight," Sabin said.
"Yeah," responded Edgar. "How are you holding out, Sally? Terra?"
"I'm fine," said Terra.
"I'm getting kinda hungry, and for some reason, I want meat," Sally responded.
"Well then, brace up. Here comes lunch!" Sabin said as he alerted the group to a Buffalax that was charging in for attack. After a battle that lasted less than five minutes, Sally and Terra built a fire while Edgar and Sabin prepared the kill for cooking and built a rack to cook it on. After the fire had been set up, Sally began to feel funny, and she let Terra know.
"You'd better sit down on that rock over there, then," Terra told her. "We'll have a meal ready for you soon." Within half an hour, the meat was ready. During the meal, Sally told her friends about life on Mobius, which kept them captivated for well over an hour. After she had finished her story about why it was unusual for her to want to eat meat, Sally asked what the plans were from there.
"I saw a town while we were building the fire. It looked to be about five kilometers from here. If we want to get there before nightfall, we'd better get going," said Terra.
After about three hours and several battles with the plant and animal life of Armazed, the group reached the town, which was called, according to the first person the group talked to, New Tarnak. The group split up to explore the town, and each found an important landmark or two. An hour later, they all regrouped at the chocobo stable in town to see who had found the inn and the cafe. Sally had found one and Sabin had found the other. A decision to eat first and then check into the inn was reached. The group entered the cafe and found a free table. Sally noticed the business right away.
"Are all the cafes here this busy?" asked Sally.
"It depends on the town and the cook. Tonight must be a good night," Terra told her.
"Service!" Sabin called to a free waiter that came running by.
"Warriors!" the waiter responded. "You have to help us! Something terrible's happened in the kitchen!"
"If you need extra help, we'll do it if you'll feed us," Sabin told him.
"Oh, please help us," the waiter begged. "The stove's gone mad and has trapped the Chef."
"We've got to stop it before it burns this place down," Edgar told his group.
"How long do we have?" asked Terra.
"The stove wants it's demands of fifty thousand gold peices and half a ton of fuel met by six thirty or this building goes up in smoke," the waiter told her.
"That's barely five minutes from now!" Sabin exclaimed. "We'd better get in there!"
The group got up and headed for the kitchen, just making it through the crowd in time. The stove saw them and gave them an evil look. Then it turned it gaze on Edgar, as if to ask him something.
"Where's my money?" the stove asked.
"Your money?" Edgar shot back. This enraged the stove, causing it to spit fire around the room. The group fought back, and a battle that lasted for nearly an hour began. After all the stove's flames had been doused, it began glowing bright red. As the stove dissolved, Sally asked what had happened.
"It must have been possessed by a demon before we beat Keefka," Terra explained. "I wonder why it waited until now to show itself?"
"I don't know," said Sabin. "I do know, though, that I'd like my food now."
"Food is the least of your problems," the chef told him.
"Why's that?" asked Sabin.
"I think our answer's over there," Terra answered, referring to the large, pasty looking creature that was blocking the door.
"It's...it's..." stammered the chef.
"Yuck!" exclaimed Terra.
"What is THAT?" asked Edgar.
"Oh my," remarked Sally.
"A spaghetti monster?" wondered Sabin. As soon as he had spoken, the monster hurled a disgusting substance that may have been meatsauce with baked potatoes on the fighting members of the kitchen population. Being spat upon by a giant plate of pasta made Sabin mad, and he started a fight that lasted for more than an hour and a half. Afterwards, the group was forced into making a deal with the overjoyed chef, who promised to bring them his finest meal and a change of clothing once they got a room at the inn.
Once the group made it to the inn and explained what had just happened, the innkeeper gladly gave them a free room. Shortly thereafter, the chef showed up with the food and clothing. As they ate, the group discussed their plans for the next day. This would be mostly travel, because Figaro Castle was still several kilometers away. Afterwards, the group tried on their new clothing and went to bed.
When they awoke the next morning, it was before dawn. They all agreed that the best plan was to depart directly, because the restaurant was closed, pending not only renovations to the kitchen and a new stove, but a temporary replacement for the chef, who had gone on vacation immediately after delivering the food to his new friends at the inn. After about six hours, the group arrived at Figaro Castle. After a few hours of rest, Edgar and Sabin gave Sally a tour of the castle, and Terra went shopping at the castle's shops. The tour had reached the castle's engine room, where the chief engineer was explaining how the castle could dive in sand and move to new locations, when one of the guards came and pulled Edgar aside.
"What is it?" asked Edgar.
"Something's disturbing the chocobos, sire. We can't calm them," the guard explained.
"Do you know what's causing such a stir?" asked the king.
"Yes, sire, but you'll have to come and see for yourself," the guard told his leader.
"Ok," said Edgar, who then went and told Sabin what was going on, and left the building. Edgar looked around, out to the horizon, and then up in the air. In the air was Dulcy, who was preparing to land in the sand near the castle. Edgar, thinking that it was more of an emergency than it really was, ordered the guards to take the chocobos inside and dive the castle, for fear that it would be hit and damaged and injure the incoming dragon. Edgar's not-so-major disaster was averted when the castle dived and Dulcy stopped just inches from where it would have been standing. It was then that Edgar noticed the passengers: Rotor and Antione.
"All ok up there?" Edgar asked.
"Fine," responded Rotor.
"I am a bit stirred, I am thinking," Antione told them.
"That's 'shaken', not 'stirred'," Rotor said, correcting his friend.
"And you?" Edgar asked Dulcy.
"I'm fine. That's just a normal landing," she answered. Immediately afterward, the wind kicked up a big cloud of sand that made Dulcy sneeze and knock Edgar down.
"But, down to business," Rotor said as he crawled off his big friend's back to help Edgar up. "We have important news from Mobius."
"Thanks for the hand," Edgar told Rotor after he was on his feet again. "Come on in. Everyone will have to hear it."
"I'll never fit! The door's too small," Dulcy complained. "Besides, I hate small places."
"Don't let that bother you," Edgar said. "Figaro was designed to help combat that particular problem. Let me signal the engine room and have them re-surface the castle."
Meanwhile, at the Colosseum, Bunnie, Locke, Gogo, and Celles were seeing the sites. Shortly, they met Ultros, who was working the ticket booth. As they approached, the octopus flashed a nervous grin.
"How's it going, Fountain Pen Breath?" Locke asked.
"I won't cause any more problems! I promise!" whined Ultros. "Tickets are fifty gold peices each."
"We'll take four," Celles said as she handed him a pouch with two hundred gold peices in it.
"Here you go," Ultros responded as he gave Celles the four tickets.
"By the way, Ultros, do you know where we could get some Cactrot bark?" Locke asked.
"Yes, but I promised someone I wouldn't tell!" Ultros exclaimed.
"Oh, come on, Ultros. You can tell us," begged Locke. "Remember all those times we let you get away from us?"
"I won't tell you anything beyond that it has something to do with Setzer," Ultros told them.
"Is he here?" asked Locke.
"Can't remember," shrugged Ultros. Suddenly, Bunnie remembered what Sabin had told her back in the armor room at he gate complex, and proceeded to put it to use.
"You know, Ultros, you're kinda cute for an octopus," Bunnie said, as she found some tentacles to sit on. "Ah'm sure you can tell us where to find Mr. Setzer." Ultros got one of the strangest looks on his face that anyone had ever seen.
"You do know, don't you?" asked Bunnie.
"Setzer's in at the poker games," Ultros told her before passing out. Bunnie managed to get up before the tentacles she was sitting on went limp.
As the four people entered, they were looking for the poker games. Celles found them firs and pointed them out to the rest of the people she was with. As Celles and friends approached, Setzer didn't know weather to stay and see what happened or run for it right then and there when he saw his old allies. So, he stayed at his poker game and got to see what was wanted of him.
"Setzer! We have a question for you!" Locke called out to the gambler as he and his party drew near enough to speak to him.
"Ask away," Setzer said.
"We need a few chords of Cactrot bark," Celles told him. "You know where we could get them?"
"I sure do," Setzer told her. "If you have a Joker Trix or two, just bet them at the prize booth. Someone will have to fight the Taterkorn, but that should be no trouble for a hearty bunch like you."
"Thanks," said Locke, as he turned to leave.
"Before you all go and risk your lives," Setzer said, "would you let me in on why you need the Cactrot bark so badly?"
"Our friend here needs it to rebuild the defenses around her village," Terra told him.
"There aren't many places left in the world that would need a defensive wall,"said Setzer. "Unless, that is, the place you are referring to is beyond the gate..."
"As a matter of fact, it is," Bunnie told him.
"Interesting," said Setzer. "I hope nothing bad happens. I'd hate to hear about a tragedy on your world because of the gate project."
"Tragedy? What are you talking about?" asked Bunnie.
"It's just that I heard that Stratte was in charge of the project, and he as a reputation for being unstable at times," explained Setzer.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Terra said.
"We'd better get to work on that Cactrot bark," said Locke. "We're due back at the compound at the end of the week."
Locke, Terra, and Gogo each tried to beat the Taterkorn, a beast of similar composition to the spaghetti monster that Celles and her friends had fought, each with more success that the one previous, but none quite finishing the job with the various forms of standard Armazoid tactics that they knew. Bunnie, however, managed to finish the battle, and win the supplies she so desperately needed, with the Freedom Fighter tactics she commonly used against the robotic foes on Mobius. After the prizemaster gave Bunnie her claim certificate, Locke went to talk to Setzer and see if he would help. Everyone was pleased to heat that he would lend his services and airship to get the logs and visitors back to Mobius. While Locke and the others were waiting in the arena's large claims yard for Setzer to show up, Dulcy came in with Edgar and Antione to deliver the same bad news that been given at Figaro.
"What's wrong?" Bunnie asked, after Dulcy had landed.
"Trouble in Knothole," Dulcy told her.
"What kind of trouble?" asked Locke.
"It is the general!" Antione said, with the proper amount of worry in his voice.
"The general?" asked Locke.
"You wouldn't, by any chance, mean Stratte, would you?" asked Terra.
"Exactly," said Edgar. "It seems he's planning an attack on Knothole. About two hours ago, Mobius time, he issued an ultimatum. He's given us about twenty four hours to either surrender the planet or start fighting."
"We can't surrender the planet to him. Not after all these years of fighting to get rid of Robotnik," said Bunnie.
"It's their home," said Terra.
"There's more," said Edgar. "Rotor told me that Stratte's working with this Robotnik fellow. Who knows what kind of destructive terror they've come up with."
"That means that both sides will surely be wiped out if a fight begins," said Locke.
"Choose and be destroyed," said Gogo. About that time, Setzer showed up with his airship. After he disembarked, he came and asked what was going on. After a quick explanation, everyone agreed to keep the bark, because it could still be useful. When Locke's group showed up with the Cactrot bark and other goods, Sabin's group, including Rotor, was already there.
Shortly after her arrival, Celles called for a briefing of the former imperial guard. She explained that their mission would be a defensive mission, to help the Mobians, and that the mission might become one to destroy Stratte. Within two hours, everyone was moving through the gate to Mobius.
Once there, Celles and Edgar gathered the resistance cell leaders and explained everything, from Stratte's condition to the original plans for the gate. The Mobians listened in awe as they explained.
"Originally, the plan for the gate was to do a full survey of several worlds, lie yours," Celles explained. "If a civilization was found, peaceable relations would be sought, but the survey was to be stopped immediately and the world dropped from consideration for rehabitation by Armazed."
"Stratte's gone and changed all that now," Edgar continued. "By completely destroying the natural inhabitants of this world, he thinks it would be perfect for our relocation project. Unfortunately, it would only put us all in the same situation."
"It happened once before on Armazed," Celles told them. "It took us over a thousand years to get to the point where the empire almost took over. Battling Stratte now would put you in that position and is likely to wipe us out."
"Our first option is to delegate with Stratte, and Robotnik, too, if he's in on this, as our information tells us," said Edgar. "But be prepared to fight, and expect to find yourselves in a very different, harsher world."
"But what if they give in or we fight and win?" asked one of the Mobians.
"If there's a fight, there would be no winners; and what you do after this is all over is entirely up to you," Edgar told them. "The best ending scenario, however, is the one where we talk Stratte out of doing whatever he's planning to do, and everyone walks away alive."
"What are the chances of that happening?" asked another.
"I wouldn't count on it," Celles responded.
Within six hours, all the Freedom Fighter cells and all the remaining Armazoid troopers had massed one kilometer north of Knothole, as Stratte, who was calling himself general again, had requested. Two hours later, Stratte, Robotnik, and several thousand robotic troops showed up. Stratte's army stopped and waited about a hundred yards from the joint Mobian and Armazoid force, so that each group could send out representatives. Sally and Edgar went out to meet Stratte and Robotnik. When they met halfway, Stratte requested that Celles be present and said that one of the soldiers from his army would be there to even the odds. When Celles and the robot showed up, the talking began.
"I hope you've thought this over well, Stratte," said Edgar.
"I have," he responded, "and I know that it's the right thing to do for Armazed."
"You'd better be completely sure," said Celles. "Geshtal and Keefka had us convinced of the same thing. That's what got us into this mess in the first place."
"Life would be better for all involved, the Mobains included," said Stratte.
"I'm not so sure of that," said Sally. "Will our lives really be better when the fighting's finally stopped? It's all my generation's ever done."
"Think of it, Sally. Your people won't have to worry about having their loved ones taken away to face a fate worse than death ever again!" exclaimed Stratte. "Robotnik wins because he gets Armazed. Conditions are perfect for him there. We, the Armazoid, would never have to worry about what just moved or lunch attacking us because we'd be at peace with the Mobians. Isn't that a wonderful plan?"
"I wish it were," said Celles. "How long do you think the peace between our two peoples can last? After all, Robotnik could be one of us and nobody would be any the wiser. Or haven't you noticed that?"
"Explain yourself," said Robotnik. "How am I like you?"
"You want a world to rule. Once you had Armazed, you'd get bored," explained Celles. "Eventually, an Armazoid would want to have some power here. Things won't have changed too much."
These words rang through Stratte's head just as they had when Geshtal told him how his demotion wouldn't affect the war. This sent him into a confused frenzy of words and motion. At the same time, some troops from both armies had left the main groups and were advancing on the leaders undetected. As Stratte paced away from the group, ranting on about how things would be different and better, a crazed wolf jumped out from a bush that Stratte was passing and plunged a knife into his back. At the same time, several robotic troops shot at and hit both Stratte and his attacker, vaporizing both.
"You know something, Robotnik?" Sally asked him. "That's what a great many of us would like to see happen to you. Even if there had been peaceful relations and you had left, they wouldn't have lasted, and you would have found a way to come back."
"It's over, for now," said Robotnik. "It is too bad that he had to die."
"What does Stratte's death mean to you?" asked Edgar.
"It means I'll have to find another way of using your technology," Robotnik told him. With that, he turned and left. The three resistance leaders did the same. The order to return to Knothole and hear about what had happen was given. The vast majority were happy to hear that things would be pretty much the same after it all was over. Shortly afterwards, some of the Freedom Fighters left for home while others began resting before the trip, as did the Armazoid visitors. It wasn't long before there was a large explosion, which was discovered to be the robotic army that Robotnik had left self destructing.
The Armazoid rested for two more days, during which time a monument to Stratte and his killer was built on the place where they had died. The Armazoid decided that it would be best if they just went and lived on their own world and didn't disturb Mobius or any other world again, if possible.
Shortly after the gate had closed for the last time and the Armazoid were thought to be gone fore sure, people who went near Stratte's grave began reporting a voice near the area. No one could find who was doing it, so a rumor started that it was Stratte's ghost that was singing the song. The verse was from the same children's song he had sung as he came through the gate the first time: "This old man, he played eight, he played knick-knack on my gate with a knick-knack, patty whack, give a dog a bone, this old man came rolling home..."
The End.
By Jesse Shearer
Final Fantasy Three characters, items, weapons, and other related material copyright Squaresoft.
Sonic the Hedgehog characters, objects, and other related material copyright SEGA and Archie Comics.
Gateway idea copyright Paramount Pictures(Stargate).
Opening Note
Hi there! It's once again time for one of my well unknown and much disliked short stories. This one is a cross between the U.S. version of Squaresoft's Final Fantasy Three and SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog. One thing to be noted is that the world of FF3 has been given a name: Armazed. The time frame is a few years after the defeat of archvillian and near-ruler of the world Keefka. The few surviving units of the Imperial Army have joined forces with The Returners, the former resistance. Armazed is still in ruins. In hopes that they could repair their world, the Armazoid used the old empire's MagiTek tools to build a magical gateway. Will it help, or only make matters work? Will there even be an effect?
The Story Begins
"All's ready up here. Just give the go-ahead when you're ready out there," said Commander Stratte, one of only a few Armazed Imperial Army commanders left alive after the world's unbalancing and Keefka's fall. As he waited for the reply from the head of his troops, Locke, he was thinking about how things must have come out just how the emperor and Keefka wanted. "Two of my best soldiers are under the command of a Returner thief," Stratte thought. There were four in the team, two former Imperial troopers and two Returners, all piloting MagiTek units.
"Ready!" Locke called in, using his communications device. Stratte entered the last few codes to open the gateway, and the exploration team was on it's way to explore the first of the half-worlds.
Half-worlds, as the Armazoid culture had come to call them, were worlds that were halfway between balance and ruin. Armazed, of course, would be thriving again if it could manage to become a half-world itself.
As the exploration team was being hurled to it's yet unknown destination, Locke was hoping that their communications equipment would hold out until after he had informed Stratte that the team was safe.
"Though, what's safety to that MagiTek freak back there?" Locke wondered. Seconds later, the gateway's tunnel effect opened to a beautiful green pasture filled with plant life. Locke began signaling back while Gogo, a mimic sympathizer to the Returners, and the two MagiTek troopers began collecting data.
"Stratte, we're through! Do you read?" Locke asked.
"I read you, Locke," responded Stratte. "What do your surroundings look like?"
"Well," Locke began, "we're in a meadow, and the grass is actually green. The sky's blue. And there are millions of flowers here. I haven't seen any animal life, though."
"You haven't?" asked Stratte.
"No," responded Locke. "Correction, yes I have. It appears to be an insect of some kind, or possibly a bird, but whatever it is, it flies."
"What can you tell me about it?" asked Stratte. "I need more details."
"It's approaching at a moderate speed. I can get a clearer view now. It appears to be....." Locke reported before he was interrupted by one of the troopers.
"Look, sir! Behind it!" said the interrupting trooper.
"Robots! And I think they've seen us!" exclaimed Locke. "I just hope the life form hasn't."
"Quick! Hide yourselves!" ordered Stratte.
"Too late! They're leaving the creatures alone and coming to engage us!" shouted Locke.
"Return fire!" ordered Stratte. "Report to me after the battle's over! Stratte out."
"You heard him! Open fire, all weapons!" shouted Locke.
As the battle raged, the robots, with their arm-mounted weapons, seemed no match for the MagiTek units, with their multityped weapons. Even so, the two troopers were killed and their units destroyed by the robotic forces, and a stray shot knocked the flying creature out of the air.
At the end of the battle, after Locke and Gogo had healed themselves with the power of their units, Locke contacted Stratte and gave him details, and Gogo found the creature, which turned out to be a small fox, and healed it's wounds as well. Immediately afterwards, it ran off without a word.
"Well then, both of you get back here and file reports!" Stratte commanded.
"All right," replied Locke.
"Get Gogo," Stratte said. "I'm opening the gate now."
"Gogo! Time to leave! Stratte wants our reports!" called Locke, while he was waiting for the gate back to Armazed to open.
"We must report," responded Gogo.
When the gate opened, Gogo and Locke stepped in and returned to their homeworld. The small fox had also returned to it's home. This particular fox went by the name of Tails, and those robots were Swatbots. That, in combination with the sheer beauty of the land, is every indication that the Armazoid explorers had come across Mobius.
Naturally, when Tails returned to Knothole and tried to explain what had happened, none believed him. Sonic the Hedgehog was extremely skeptical.
"Yeah, sure, Tails," he said. "You were getting chased by ten 'Bots when you came across four malfunctioning prototypes that fought off the ones that were chasing you. I'd like to see that."
"C'mon, Sonic, I can even show you where it happened!" exclaimed Tails.
"Sure you can," responded Sonic.
"We should have a look, Sonic," Sally told him.
"Well, if you insist," said Sonic.
With the help of Sonic's speed, the three had made it, in record time, to the site of the battle Tails had claimed to witness. Their search was in vain, however, due to the fact that MagiTek weapons vaporized their targets with one hit, and simply ceased to exist when destroyed.
"See, Tails, you were just imagining things," said Sonic.
"Maybe he wasn't, Sonic. Look at the burn marks on this tree," requested Sally.
"You're right, Sal. It's too big to be from the blaster on a 'Bot," remarked Sonic.
"Right, and I've never seen lightning or fire do anything like it. Whatever did this is new and dangerous," explained Sally.
"I was right, I was right," giggled Tails.
Momentarily, Stratte, Locke, and Gogo came back through the gate's opening on Mobius, all three in MagiTek units.
"This old man, he played four, he played knick-knack on my door with a knick-knack, patty-whack, give a dog a bone, this old man came rolling home," all three sang in unison.
"It sounds like a song," Sonic commented to his friends as they waited in the hiding place they had chosen when the gate appeared. At the same time, Locke signaled his companions that he had detected three life forms. Stratte then signaled for them to move into a standard surrounding pattern. When they finished their song, "A Children's March", Locke and Gogo moved to sneak up on Sonic, Tails, and Sally from behind, and Stratte turned to face the location his comrades were sneaking in on. As he approached, Stratte noticed that his "capture target" was preparing to escape.
"Running is futile," he warned Sonic.
"And why's that, metalhead?" Sonic asked.
"Look behind you, Sonic," requested Sally.
Sonic turned and started with surprise as he saw Gogo and Locke stare back, almost relentlessly.
"Good job, Stratte. Just what we were hoping not to do," remarked Locke.
"Is he Stratte?" Tails asked, as he pointed to Gogo.
"Identification is necessary," responded Gogo.
"He's right," said Stratte. "I'm...Commander...Stratte Rialdi."
"You fakin' somethin', mister?" asked Sonic.
"No," answered Stratte. "It's just that I'm ashamed to say it. I was dishonorably demoted from general for something I couldn't bring myself to do. I'll explain later."
"Since he won't say it, I will," said Locke. "I'm Locke, and this is Gogo. We represent the Returners, a resistance group on our homeworld, Armazed. Stratte is from the Imperial Army of Southern Armazed."
"Welcome to Mobius, sirs. My name is Princess Sally Acorn, and these are my friends, Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails," explained Sally. "Won't you come to our village of Knothole with us?"
"Most certainly, Your Majesty," Stratte answered.
"You can just call me Sally or Sal, commander," Sally told him, as the group departed.
"Sorry. Habit," said Stratte. "Emperor Geshtal was always extremely formal."
"WAS?" asked Sonic.
"I'll explain everything when we get to Knothole," answered Stratte.
When the group arrived at Knothole, a large group of Freedom Fighters was there to welcome them and see what was going on. Stratte, Gogo, and Locke dismounted their MagiTek and began explaining the situation on Armazed. Stratte and Locke told of the events leading up to "The Fall of the World", as they called it, from Emperor Geshtal's ascent to the throne to the recreation of MagiTek power, and on to the incident on the Flying Island. Since Locke had participated in the Flying Island incident, he was telling the story when Sally asked a question.
"So, how did Keefka and Geshtal fit into all this, anyway?" she asked.
"Well, as I said," Locke told her, "those statues were balancing our world, controlling nature itself, including magic. Keefka stepped into their core of influence, and Geshtal tried to use magic to stop him. Unfortunately, the statues absorbed the magic. Then, Keefka used the statues to hit Geshtal with raw magical energy. Needless to say, no more Geshtal."
"And things went down hill from there," said Stratte.
"So, why are you here?" asked Sally.
"Study," answered Gogo.
"What's with him?" asked Sonic.
"Even we're still trying to understand, Stratte told him. "But that still doesn't answer her question. Locke had better tell the story."
"Here's part two of the story," said Locke, beginning an explanation that took the better part of two hours. "After the Flying Island disaster..."
After all three had finished their respective parts of the story, there was a question and answer session in which the outsiders explained whatever they could to the Knothole dwellers. Afterwards, Locke and Stratte had some questions of their own.
"How did this village come to be?" asked Stratte.
"It's a long, complex story, not unlike your own," answered Sally. "I'll begin with the Great War of..."
When she got to the part about Robotnik's takeover, the whole population gasped with horror as they remembered what their adversary's primary goal was and how he usually went about achieving it: by any means possible.
"What?" asked Locke.
"Your weapons are unlike anything seen before on Mobius. That means...," said Sally, her voice trailing off at the end.
"That means the doctor will be after these walkers soon, and he's going to want as many as he can get," said Stratte. "We've got to get out of here as soon as we can." Almost as soon as he finished, a guard came running towards the group.
"Sally!" shouted the guard. "Swatbots approach from the south!"
"How many?" she asked.
"Twenty-five, at least," the guard responded.
"We're in big trouble," Sonic commented.
"Perhaps not," Stratte told them. "How far away are they?"
"About half a mile. Why?" asked the guard.
"I know several defensive tactics that could be implemented in this situation," Stratte explained. "Sally, what are your defenses in the south?"
"A log wall and five heavy catapults," she answered.
"Get them manned! And the three of us will need some help outside the wall," Stratte explained.
"What's your plan?" asked Bunnie, who had shown up when she heard the guard's call.
"Gogo, Locke, and I will each have six people aiding us. We'll be outside the wall, trying to repel the attack. Hopefully, we can do that before it gets within catapult range," Stratte told her. "Now, let's go! Those robots aren't getting any farther away."
Before they left, Stratte gave each catapult commander a communications receiver. All was ready just as the Swatbot force arrived at Stratte's perimeter. Stratte threw up his arms and screamed for a charge, which he got. That defense managed to do in most of the invaders, but only after heavy casualties, which allowed the remaining robots to get closer to the village. After the casualties were stabilized, the Armazoid-commanded ground fleet headed in to help the catapults.
"What about them?" one of the Mobian troops asked of his fallen comrades.
"We'll be back to get them," Stratte assured him. "Our first priority is to defend the village."
The battle continued for another half an hour, until the last 'Bot was destroyed. Though the battle had been much shortened and turned in favor of Knothole, it was still quite a fight, especially for the Mobians.
"Healers!" shouted Stratte, after the battle had ended.
"Half of you go with them, the other half, stay here," ordered Sally.
Within three minutes, the healing of the perimeter troops had begun, and about thirty minutes later, Stratte's group was back restoring helping restore health to the catapult teams. Shortly thereafter, Stratte was giving his report concerning his perimeter team and the status of those who had been wounded.
"The wounded will only need three days to heal completely?" asked Sally.
"Yes," responded Stratte. "Unfortunately, I must also report five dead."
"Only five? Are you sure about that?" Sonic asked
"Unfortunately, yes. They got separated from their group, and there was no way to stabilize them," explained Stratte. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I take full responsibility."
"Don't blame yourself, Stratte. There was nothing you could have done under those circumstances," Sally said.
"As you wish...," Stratte began.
"And don't be so formal!", exclaimed Sally, waiving an arm at him. "Things aren't like that around here!"
Locke almost burst into laughter because of Sally's actions. Everyone but Stratte, who almost laughed himself, and Gogo wondered why.
"What are you two laughing for?" asked Tails.
"Just noticing that her actions are sometimes like those of a friend of mine. He always does that thing with his hand when he's agitated," Locke answered, causing an angry look to come across Sally's face.
"I'm sorry if we've upset you. Is there anything we can do to make it up to you?" asked Stratte.
"Don't let it bother you, Stratte. I don't really know how I feel right now. Upset is probably part of it, but there are also many others," explained Sally. "If we'd tried to fight that last battle without you, we'd have lost for sure."
"I hate to admit it, but she's right," Sonic remarked.
"If you'd like to make it up, tell us about this friend of yours," Sally told Stratte, as Tails came in from seeing if Rotor and Bunnie needed help with repairs.
"His name's Strago. All I really know about him is that he's an elderly storyteller that can use special magic," explained Stratte. "Locke will have to tell you more."
"Strago can learn special attacks off our monsters," Locke began. "Most of them classify as magic. Slowing things down with slime, stones that cause confusion, amnesia, that sort of thing."
"One of you will have to tell us about your monsters," Sally told him.
"It may not be wise to let the child hear about them," Stratte cautioned, referring to Tails, who was listening from the doorway to the next room in the hut.
"I can take it!" Tails exclaimed.
"As you wish. Not all of our plants are rooted into the soil in the same fashion as are yours. Bloompire, for instance," began Stratte, "is our one native breed of rose. Though it usually appears to be just a plant, it occasionally pulls itself up and moves to where it can tempt weary or unwise travelers into striking range, where it poisons it's prey, and devours it. Further?"
"Eesh," commented Sonic.
"Yes, continue," requested Sally.
"Sometimes the reverse is true of the animal life. A beast we call Hoover, for example," continued Stratte, "often times will almost appear to be planted in the soil. From it's position, it can inhale it's food through it's single opening. Again, shall I tell more?"
"No, you'd better not," Sally told him.
"What was the point of all that, anyway?" asked Sonic.
"The point, Sonic, was not only to tell you something about my home, but also to talk myself out of asking you an unwise question," explained Stratte.
"There's no such thing," Sally said.
"Ask us, ask us," squealed Tails.
"All right. You're all invited to Armazed, if you'd like to come," Stratte told them.
"What's wrong with that?" asked Sonic.
"Sonic!" Sally exclaimed. "What do you think Robotnik will do if he hears that we're both gone?"
"Think? Why would I think?" Sonic asked
"Ok, little man, let me explain this to you," answered Stratte. "Remember that little fight we were just discussing? If your villain hears that the two head people here are gone, the same thing's gonna happen, only then, this little berg will be toast!"
"Oh," quipped Sonic.
"Sonic, you stay here and guard Knothole," Sally ordered. "I'll get Bunnie and we'll go with them. Understood?"
"But Sal...." Sonic began.
"No buts," Sally told him.
At that moment, Bunnie came into the hut with a worried expression on her face.
"What's the matter, Bunnie?" Sally asked.
"Ah can't find a way to make the repairs to the fence and catapults without cutting the last of the tall trees," she answered.
"I believe I have a solution," Stratte told them. "Cactrot."
"An' what's that little word supposed to mean, sugar?" Bunnie asked.
"Allow me to explain," said Stratte. "Sally, were you not about to ask your lovely friend here to accompany us to Armazed to aid in your survey of our land?"
"Yes, but...." Sally began.
"Forgive me for interrupting, but I must say that our world offers many choices of materials for rebuilding your defenses," explained Stratte. "Our Cactrot variety of cactus would appear to be the best overall choice. It is thinner, lighter, and may be stronger than the species of trees used in the walls and catapults it will be replacing. Leave the plant whole and remove the spines for catapult throwing arms, remove the hide and spines for a one inch thick wall that can keep laser blasts out and pierce even the toughest metal, destroying the robot's circuitry. The downside of it is that Cactrot is tough to defeat. Since you're both coming anyway, why not survey and have some help collecting building materials?"
"Ma stars! Defeat?" asked Bunnie.
"Let's just say that the majority of the plant life on Armazed can willingly move like an animal, hence it's ability to fight," explained Stratte.
"There's still one question, Stratte. How do we get to your world?" asked Sally.
"Remember that distortion you saw us come out of earlier?" asked Stratte. "That's our gateway to Armazed."
"How will this gateway thing of yours affect those of us without those mechs you came here with?" Sally wanted to know.
"It shouldn't affect you at all," Stratte told her. "We sent some Buffalax through. They wound up in a city of some sort. Within two hours, we had an unexplained loss of contact, not related to death. If that city was on your world, perhaps you could explain."
"Well, Robotnik might have gotten ahold of them and used them as test subjects for his roboticizer," suggested Sonic. "That would sure explain the strange 'bots I've seen lately."
"You'll have to explain that to us later. I'll get Locke and Gogo. You two," said Stratte, referring to Sally and Bunnie, "get weapons and meet us at the eastern edge of the village, where we came in, in half an hour."
Thirty minutes later, all were ready, or so Stratte thought. As he explained what to expect, he noticed that neither Sally nor Bunnie were carrying weapons.
"Where are your weapons?" Stratte asked of them.
"We have no usable weapons, unfortunately," Sally told him.
"Not even a sharp carving knife or a long length of hard wood?" Stratte asked.
"Not even that," Sally answered.
"This poses a problem. There's no time to spare to find something. We have to get to the pasture where we first encountered each other, and on the double," said Stratte.
"Am ah right in thinkin' that you've got a solution for our little problem?" Bunnie asked as they departed.
"I'll just have to get weapons out of the stockpile as well as armor and shields for you when we get to the research facility," Stratte answered. "Am I really that easy to read?"
"It's a ladies' thing," Sally explained.
"So's thinkin' that it's good of you to loan us the weapons and armor," Bunnie remarked.
"We'd better get going," Locke told the group. "We only have five minutes until the gate opens."
The five adventurers made it to the pasture with barely a minute to spare. The gate's opening wowed the Mobians, as did the trip through. The biggest surprise all, of course, was the research facility at the home end of the gate. Because the gate was outside, the all-metal exterior of the research center against the dusklike, faded maroon-colored sky was the first erie, if not shocking, sight for the newcomers to Armazed.
"What the hoo-haw happened here?" Bunnie asked as she looked around at the Armazoid landscape.
"As I explained to your friends, our world was knocked out of normal balance. That's why, for instance, our sky is maroon instead of blue," Stratte answered.
"What time is it, then?" asked Sally.
"Exactly midday," answered Locke, as he punched in the time code on his mech's computer console.
"We must enter and prepare for our journey," Gogo said.
"Oh, yes," Stratte said, remembering that he was on his homeworld now. Just then, someone contacted him through the communications system on his mech.
"How was the trip?" the person asked.
"Just fine, Celles," Stratte answered. "Could you let us in?"
"Sure thing," she answered. Within seconds, a hatch on the side of the building opened for the travelers to enter through. As they entered, the newcomers were awed by the advanced appearance of the gate complex. Shortly, the group entered a large room that appeared to be a waiting area.
"If you wouldn't mind waiting, the three of us have to put our mechs in storage," explained Stratte.
"Sure," answered Sally, trying to hide her nervousness.
Though the Arnazed natives were gone but five minutes, the Mobians had grown more and more nervous and tense by the minute because the waiting area outside the mech storage area bore and uncanny resemblance to quite a few of the chambers in Robotnik's main lab complex. Needless to say, both Sally and Bunnie were greatly relieved to see Stratte and his colleagues when they returned.
"What took y'all so long?" Bunnie demanded.
"You had us worried," Sally told them.
"I'm sorry if we worried you," Stratte said. "It's just that I hadn't expected calling Sabin and Edgar to take so long. We'll have you out shortly, but first, we'll have to get you some weapons and armor from the armory."
"You'd better tell them who Sabin and Edgar are, Stratte," Locke reminded his friend.
"Right. Edgar and Sabin are twin brothers, though not identical. They're also royalty from one of the old nation-states that used to exist here on Armazed," Stratte explained.
As the group headed for the armory, a level up and at the opposite end of the building, Sally and Bunnie were inquiring about the change of garb in their Armazoid friends.
"Actually, it's sort of like our casual wear, like what you'd wear at home every day," explained Locke.
"So, what about armor, then?" asked Bunnie.
"We put it on under our clothing," said Gogo.
"That's interesting," commented Sally as Stratte went to check something on a computer panel nearby.
"What were you looking at?" Bunnie asked when he returned.
"I was checking to see if Gogo had been recorded. He doesn't normally speak in coherent sentences like that," Stratte explained. "Last time was this morning."
Momentarily, the group arrived at the armory and was greeted by Edgar. After the Mobians had been introduced and all had been informed about why Sabin was late, Edgar was up to his usual tricks with Sally.
"Our dear commander didn't, by any chance, mention that I was the king of Figaro, did he?" asked Edgar.
"Ah, no, but...," Sally began,
"Perhaps we could drop by the castle on our trip," Edgar suggested.
"Edgar, I'm...," Sally started.
"Has anyone ever told you about how lovely your eyes are?" Edgar asked.
"Knock that off, Edgar. I think she already has a mate," said a new voice, belonging to Edgar's twin brother Sabin. "Forgive him, miss. He's not married."
"I wonder why," commented Sally.
"I've got some weapons and armor laid out in the next room, if you'd like to try them. First, though, let me explain a few things," said Sabin. "The first thing that needs to be done is giving both of you strengths ratings. These'll be in the areas of physical and mental strength, will, wisdom, defensive ability, evasive ability, magic block, and success percentages for all three. Now, who'll go first?"
"I'll go first," said Bunnie.
"If you'll please step onto the stage over there, I'll begin the test," said Sabin, as he pointed towards an eriely familiar looking device.
"Huh?" asked Bunnie.
"That's the status reader. It's nothing to worry about," Stratte explained.
"Ah can't go up there," sobbed Bunnie. "Ah'm scared of it."
"We all use it regularly, and we're all all right," Locke assured her.
"Ah can't," moaned Bunnie.
"She had a bad experience with something like that on Mobius," explained Sally. "That's how she got her robotic limbs."
"I'm sorry. None of us knew," apologized Stratte. "Until now, I thought that she was wearing some sort of ceremonial outfit."
"Why you!" exclaimed Bunnie, before she punched Stratte with her robotic arm, knocking him unconscious. Sabin was there almost immediately, putting cure potion on the gash and bruise that the metal fist had caused on Stratte's forehead, which regenerated almost instantly. Then, he poured some heal potion down Stratte's throat to bring him around.
"I had that coming," Stratte said, after he shook off the dizziness.
"I didn't mean to hit you so hard, Stratte," Bunnie apologized.
"No, it was my fault. I should have thought about what I said before I said it, and that's final," said Stratte.
"Well, ok," said Bunnie. "Ah'm still not sure that thing is safe, though."
"I'll do it myself and show you that it's safe," Edgar said, and jumped up on the platform.
"That's my brother for you," remarked Sabin after his brother had done the scan. "At level ninety-nine and two fifty five across the board. What a showoff."
"You know how I get around beautiful women, Sabin," said Edgar after his test. "I can't help it."
"What were those numbers you read off mean?" asked Sally.
"Those were his statistics," explained Sabin. "His level of battle experience is ninety-nine, and all his statistics are at two hundred and fifty five."
"Even the percents?" asked Bunnie.
"It shouldn't be possible, but Armazed is a strange world," Stratte told them.
"What world isn't strange?" asked Sally.
"Good point," Stratte responded.
"Well then," said Bunnie as she went towards the reader stage, "since you seem all right, Ah'll do it."
"This is really great," said Sabin, when he saw the display. "Nothing except magic defence below fifty. Not bad for a level six fighter."
"Come on down," Sally called as a printout of her friend's statistics came out of the device.
"Keep an eye on him while I help this young lady pick out her equipment," Sabin told Locke as he pointed toward Edgar and led Bunnie over to the equipment display.
"Right, answered Locke, who then started a conversation among the remainder of those present.
"You seem proficient with your hands. Claws would be the right choice for you," said Sabin, as he read the printout. "Try these old fire claws of mine. By the way, are you right or left handed?"
"Both, if Ah have to fight," she answered.
"I'd suggest that you practice with your left," said Sabin, referring to Bunnie's robotic arm. "That way, you'll have a stronger hit and be able to hold a shield with your right."
Eventually, Sabin and Bunnie found the rabbit's proper equipment, and Sabin couldn't help but go red when he saw her.
"What's the matter, sugar?" Bunnie asked when she saw her new friend's face.
"Look," he said as he rolled a mirror over so Bunnie could see herself. "Edgar's gonna go wild when he sees you now."
"Why, Ah never knew I'd look so good in armor. Thanks for showing me," Bunnie said as she approached Sabin and kissed him on the cheek, making him go redder. When he cooled down, they returned to the group, and true to his twin brother's prediction, Edgar went head over heels for Bunnie.
"Now it's your turn, Sally," Sabin told her. Shortly, they returned. Again, all noticed their new friend in her armor and shield. Stratte also noticed that Sally didn't have a weapon. Sabin quickly explained why that was.
"What makes the fact that you can't use a dirk or dagger surprising is your ability in hand-to-hand combat," commented Stratte. "Sorry about that, Sally. I didn't mean that the way it sounded."
"Forgiven, and I'm sure you have a solution," Sally told him. "You always seem to."
"Actually," said Edgar, being serious for once, "I might. I've been working on a hand-held MagiTek weapon for quite some time."
"Hand-held?" asked Stratte. "How come you never told us?"
"Because I didn't want to get everyone excited too soon," explained Edgar. "The current prototype is the only one so far that hasn't burned out after only a few shots. The firing mechanism is quite similar to the device you carry with you, Sally."
"Actually, Edgar," said Sally, "Nicole is an Artificial Intelligence unit. Your invention may not be compatible with her."
"I'll go and get it," said Edgar. "Please, have your friend do whatever it is she does to learn about our world."
"Edgar, wait..." called Sabin, as his brother left the room. At the same time, Terra came to meet the guests.
"Where's he going?" she asked.
"He's got some kind of invention to show us," Stratte answered.
"You seem different from the others we've met so far, miss. Why is that?" asked Sally.
"In a way, I am. I was born half Esper, or beast of magic," explained Terra. "Oh, I'm Terra. And you are?"
"I'm Princess Sally Acorn of Mobius, and this is Bunnie Rabot, one of the freedom fighters I work with," Sally told her. "But, please, just call me Sally."
"You look nervous, Terra. What's wrong?" asked Bunnie.
"I had a bad experience with the royalty here," Terra answered. "To be more exact, the Imperial Army."
"What? What kind of bad experience?" asked Sally.
"I...was...their...their...slave..." Terra told her, on the edge of tears.
"Stratte?" growled Sally.
"I didn't know until after the Returners rescued her," said Stratte. "I guess this leads up to what I said earlier about my demotion."
"Tell us," ordered Sally.
"You see," began Stratte, "when I found out, I was doing a personal troop review of the Imperial guard on the village of Tarnak. I dug into the subject, and found that we were guarding secret plans and records pertaining to Terra, to keep them from falling into the hands of the resistance. Somehow, word got to the capitol city of Vector, and Geshtal. Within days, Keefka, also a general at the time, showed up with orders from the emperor himself to destroy the village and everything in it. Naturally, I put up a fight. Keefka did in the village, and then had my own troops tie me up and drag me into the throne room, where I was demoted to commander and stuck in a corner where I could be watched, yet unable to act on anything."
"That doesn't make any of what happened to Terra right," said Bunnie.
"Don't you think I know that?" asked Stratte before he angrily stormed out of the room.
A few minutes later, Celles and Mog came in, looking for Terra and their guests from beyond the gate. Both immediately noticed the looks of mixed anger and sorrow on the faces of their friends and guests.
"What happened here?" asked Celles.
"Stratte told them about Tarnak," Sabin told her.
"If we upset him, we didn't mean to," said Sally.
"There's no way to ask him about Tarnak and not upset him, I'm afraid. Not only did Stratte want people to know what the Empire had done to Terra," explained Celles, "but when Tarnak was destroyed, he lost all that he loved. In essence, his life ended there and then. The demotion took away the one thing he had left to live for."
"So that's what he was so uptight about. He doesn't like to remember how far he'd fallen," noted Sally.
"He'll cool down in time, with the key being time," said Locke.
"I hope he calms down soon," said Sally. "By the way, we haven't heard your names yet."
"I'm Celles, and this is Mog," said Celles. "You must be Sally and Bunnie."
"Yes, but how did you know our names?" asked Sally.
"We met Edgar on the way in. He's too accurate sometimes," said Celles.
"I'm sure you meant that in a good way," said Sally.
"You're right, that wasn't the best way to put it," remarked Celles.
"This cute little thing must be Mog," said Bunnie. "He looks so familiar, but I just can't place him. What kind of creature are you, Mog?"
"Moogle, kupo," responded Mog.
Within seconds of Mog's answer, Edgar came in with his invention.
"Have Nicole scan this and see if it's compatible with her systems," he said.
"You heard him," said Sally, as she opened Nicole for scanning.
"One hundred percent compatibility with Edgar's HandiTek 5000," reported Nicole. "Please attach accessory and test all functions."
Edgar handed Sally his invention, and she clipped it onto Nicole, at her input port.
"Now displaying menu," Nicole reported, almost instantly.
"I'll set up some targets. You've just got to try it," said Edgar, who went to get some old drinking cups out of the trash.
"Celles, what do these options mean?" asked Sally.
"Let's see which ones you have," said Celles, as she took a look at Nicole's screen. "Fire beam sends a high intensity burst of heat at your target. Ice and bolt beams are the same, only with extreme cold and electromagnetic energy, respectively. Heal beam is the MagiTek version of cure spells or various healing potions. Teklazer is self-explanatory."
"I didn't know that the dish on MagiTek units could be miniaturized," said Sabin.
"The Empire was trying to do it even before the collapse. I was the general in charge of the project before I was put out as a traitor," Celles told him.
"How many of you Imperial generals are there, anyway?" asked Bunnie.
"There were only four of us to begin with. Stratte and I are the only ones left. Ninety-five percent of the troops are also dead," explained Celles.
"The targets are ready," said Edgar. "Try the fire beam first."
Sally activated the fire beam, Nicole fired the dish, and to everyone's surprise except Edgar's, the first target was vaporized. Next came the ice beam, followed by bolt and laser. All had their own unique effects, such as the instant freezing of the ice beam and the fine cut of the laser.
After a short group discussion of how far the new weapon that Sally was carrying would shoot, and who and what to and not to shoot at, the large group devided into tow groups of four each, with one left over to guard the research facility. Mog volunteered to stay behind, so Bunnie went with Celles, Locke, and Gogo while Sally went with Edgar, Sabin, and Terra. At that point, each team leader, in this case Celles and Edgar, brought out four traveling packs, which each of the Armazoid put on easily, though the Mobians did have some trouble due to the weight. The weight, of course was caused by the dozen each of the battle items, such as tonic, potion, and fenix down; and the basic food needs: flour, sugar, lard, water, and matches to start a cooking fire with.
"What do the packs have in them?" asked Sally.
"Basic food and recovery items," answered Terra. "Water, antidote for poison, things like that. We'd better get you equipped with a pack and your two relics."
"Relics?" asked Sally. "What are relics?"
"Special tools, each with different effects," explained Terra. "The best ones for you would be the Tintinabar and the Czarina Ring. The Tintinabar will restore your lost hit points as we walk, and the Czarina Ring will cast safe and shell on you when your HP gets low."
"Ok, but what about Bunnie?" asked Sally.
"I'm sure Celles already has a plan," Terra reassured her. Terra then went to get the relics for her new friend. Shortly, she returned and helped her friend into the equipment. Then, they found Edgar and Sabin, and departed. Sally noticed that Bunnie's group was slightly behind hers.
"Where are we headed?" asked Terra, as they were leaving.
"For Figaro Castle," answered Edgar. "I was serious about giving you that tour, Sally."
Ten minutes later, Bunnie's group, equipped with virtually all the same stuff, was ready to go. Naturally, Bunnie was curious about the colosseum that they were headed for.
"It's basically a very physical casino. What a person bets determines what he or she fights, and therefore, the likelihood of a win," explained Locke. "I wouldn't be surprised to find Shadow or Setzer trying to scam a free win off Ultros."
"What?" asked Bunnie.
"We'll explain more when we get there," Celles told her.
The groups headed in roughly opposite directions, Edgar's to the north and northwest and Locke's to the south and southeast. Mealtime came a few hours into the journey for Edgar's party.
"It's unusual for a party to go this long without getting in a fight," Sabin said.
"Yeah," responded Edgar. "How are you holding out, Sally? Terra?"
"I'm fine," said Terra.
"I'm getting kinda hungry, and for some reason, I want meat," Sally responded.
"Well then, brace up. Here comes lunch!" Sabin said as he alerted the group to a Buffalax that was charging in for attack. After a battle that lasted less than five minutes, Sally and Terra built a fire while Edgar and Sabin prepared the kill for cooking and built a rack to cook it on. After the fire had been set up, Sally began to feel funny, and she let Terra know.
"You'd better sit down on that rock over there, then," Terra told her. "We'll have a meal ready for you soon." Within half an hour, the meat was ready. During the meal, Sally told her friends about life on Mobius, which kept them captivated for well over an hour. After she had finished her story about why it was unusual for her to want to eat meat, Sally asked what the plans were from there.
"I saw a town while we were building the fire. It looked to be about five kilometers from here. If we want to get there before nightfall, we'd better get going," said Terra.
After about three hours and several battles with the plant and animal life of Armazed, the group reached the town, which was called, according to the first person the group talked to, New Tarnak. The group split up to explore the town, and each found an important landmark or two. An hour later, they all regrouped at the chocobo stable in town to see who had found the inn and the cafe. Sally had found one and Sabin had found the other. A decision to eat first and then check into the inn was reached. The group entered the cafe and found a free table. Sally noticed the business right away.
"Are all the cafes here this busy?" asked Sally.
"It depends on the town and the cook. Tonight must be a good night," Terra told her.
"Service!" Sabin called to a free waiter that came running by.
"Warriors!" the waiter responded. "You have to help us! Something terrible's happened in the kitchen!"
"If you need extra help, we'll do it if you'll feed us," Sabin told him.
"Oh, please help us," the waiter begged. "The stove's gone mad and has trapped the Chef."
"We've got to stop it before it burns this place down," Edgar told his group.
"How long do we have?" asked Terra.
"The stove wants it's demands of fifty thousand gold peices and half a ton of fuel met by six thirty or this building goes up in smoke," the waiter told her.
"That's barely five minutes from now!" Sabin exclaimed. "We'd better get in there!"
The group got up and headed for the kitchen, just making it through the crowd in time. The stove saw them and gave them an evil look. Then it turned it gaze on Edgar, as if to ask him something.
"Where's my money?" the stove asked.
"Your money?" Edgar shot back. This enraged the stove, causing it to spit fire around the room. The group fought back, and a battle that lasted for nearly an hour began. After all the stove's flames had been doused, it began glowing bright red. As the stove dissolved, Sally asked what had happened.
"It must have been possessed by a demon before we beat Keefka," Terra explained. "I wonder why it waited until now to show itself?"
"I don't know," said Sabin. "I do know, though, that I'd like my food now."
"Food is the least of your problems," the chef told him.
"Why's that?" asked Sabin.
"I think our answer's over there," Terra answered, referring to the large, pasty looking creature that was blocking the door.
"It's...it's..." stammered the chef.
"Yuck!" exclaimed Terra.
"What is THAT?" asked Edgar.
"Oh my," remarked Sally.
"A spaghetti monster?" wondered Sabin. As soon as he had spoken, the monster hurled a disgusting substance that may have been meatsauce with baked potatoes on the fighting members of the kitchen population. Being spat upon by a giant plate of pasta made Sabin mad, and he started a fight that lasted for more than an hour and a half. Afterwards, the group was forced into making a deal with the overjoyed chef, who promised to bring them his finest meal and a change of clothing once they got a room at the inn.
Once the group made it to the inn and explained what had just happened, the innkeeper gladly gave them a free room. Shortly thereafter, the chef showed up with the food and clothing. As they ate, the group discussed their plans for the next day. This would be mostly travel, because Figaro Castle was still several kilometers away. Afterwards, the group tried on their new clothing and went to bed.
When they awoke the next morning, it was before dawn. They all agreed that the best plan was to depart directly, because the restaurant was closed, pending not only renovations to the kitchen and a new stove, but a temporary replacement for the chef, who had gone on vacation immediately after delivering the food to his new friends at the inn. After about six hours, the group arrived at Figaro Castle. After a few hours of rest, Edgar and Sabin gave Sally a tour of the castle, and Terra went shopping at the castle's shops. The tour had reached the castle's engine room, where the chief engineer was explaining how the castle could dive in sand and move to new locations, when one of the guards came and pulled Edgar aside.
"What is it?" asked Edgar.
"Something's disturbing the chocobos, sire. We can't calm them," the guard explained.
"Do you know what's causing such a stir?" asked the king.
"Yes, sire, but you'll have to come and see for yourself," the guard told his leader.
"Ok," said Edgar, who then went and told Sabin what was going on, and left the building. Edgar looked around, out to the horizon, and then up in the air. In the air was Dulcy, who was preparing to land in the sand near the castle. Edgar, thinking that it was more of an emergency than it really was, ordered the guards to take the chocobos inside and dive the castle, for fear that it would be hit and damaged and injure the incoming dragon. Edgar's not-so-major disaster was averted when the castle dived and Dulcy stopped just inches from where it would have been standing. It was then that Edgar noticed the passengers: Rotor and Antione.
"All ok up there?" Edgar asked.
"Fine," responded Rotor.
"I am a bit stirred, I am thinking," Antione told them.
"That's 'shaken', not 'stirred'," Rotor said, correcting his friend.
"And you?" Edgar asked Dulcy.
"I'm fine. That's just a normal landing," she answered. Immediately afterward, the wind kicked up a big cloud of sand that made Dulcy sneeze and knock Edgar down.
"But, down to business," Rotor said as he crawled off his big friend's back to help Edgar up. "We have important news from Mobius."
"Thanks for the hand," Edgar told Rotor after he was on his feet again. "Come on in. Everyone will have to hear it."
"I'll never fit! The door's too small," Dulcy complained. "Besides, I hate small places."
"Don't let that bother you," Edgar said. "Figaro was designed to help combat that particular problem. Let me signal the engine room and have them re-surface the castle."
Meanwhile, at the Colosseum, Bunnie, Locke, Gogo, and Celles were seeing the sites. Shortly, they met Ultros, who was working the ticket booth. As they approached, the octopus flashed a nervous grin.
"How's it going, Fountain Pen Breath?" Locke asked.
"I won't cause any more problems! I promise!" whined Ultros. "Tickets are fifty gold peices each."
"We'll take four," Celles said as she handed him a pouch with two hundred gold peices in it.
"Here you go," Ultros responded as he gave Celles the four tickets.
"By the way, Ultros, do you know where we could get some Cactrot bark?" Locke asked.
"Yes, but I promised someone I wouldn't tell!" Ultros exclaimed.
"Oh, come on, Ultros. You can tell us," begged Locke. "Remember all those times we let you get away from us?"
"I won't tell you anything beyond that it has something to do with Setzer," Ultros told them.
"Is he here?" asked Locke.
"Can't remember," shrugged Ultros. Suddenly, Bunnie remembered what Sabin had told her back in the armor room at he gate complex, and proceeded to put it to use.
"You know, Ultros, you're kinda cute for an octopus," Bunnie said, as she found some tentacles to sit on. "Ah'm sure you can tell us where to find Mr. Setzer." Ultros got one of the strangest looks on his face that anyone had ever seen.
"You do know, don't you?" asked Bunnie.
"Setzer's in at the poker games," Ultros told her before passing out. Bunnie managed to get up before the tentacles she was sitting on went limp.
As the four people entered, they were looking for the poker games. Celles found them firs and pointed them out to the rest of the people she was with. As Celles and friends approached, Setzer didn't know weather to stay and see what happened or run for it right then and there when he saw his old allies. So, he stayed at his poker game and got to see what was wanted of him.
"Setzer! We have a question for you!" Locke called out to the gambler as he and his party drew near enough to speak to him.
"Ask away," Setzer said.
"We need a few chords of Cactrot bark," Celles told him. "You know where we could get them?"
"I sure do," Setzer told her. "If you have a Joker Trix or two, just bet them at the prize booth. Someone will have to fight the Taterkorn, but that should be no trouble for a hearty bunch like you."
"Thanks," said Locke, as he turned to leave.
"Before you all go and risk your lives," Setzer said, "would you let me in on why you need the Cactrot bark so badly?"
"Our friend here needs it to rebuild the defenses around her village," Terra told him.
"There aren't many places left in the world that would need a defensive wall,"said Setzer. "Unless, that is, the place you are referring to is beyond the gate..."
"As a matter of fact, it is," Bunnie told him.
"Interesting," said Setzer. "I hope nothing bad happens. I'd hate to hear about a tragedy on your world because of the gate project."
"Tragedy? What are you talking about?" asked Bunnie.
"It's just that I heard that Stratte was in charge of the project, and he as a reputation for being unstable at times," explained Setzer.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Terra said.
"We'd better get to work on that Cactrot bark," said Locke. "We're due back at the compound at the end of the week."
Locke, Terra, and Gogo each tried to beat the Taterkorn, a beast of similar composition to the spaghetti monster that Celles and her friends had fought, each with more success that the one previous, but none quite finishing the job with the various forms of standard Armazoid tactics that they knew. Bunnie, however, managed to finish the battle, and win the supplies she so desperately needed, with the Freedom Fighter tactics she commonly used against the robotic foes on Mobius. After the prizemaster gave Bunnie her claim certificate, Locke went to talk to Setzer and see if he would help. Everyone was pleased to heat that he would lend his services and airship to get the logs and visitors back to Mobius. While Locke and the others were waiting in the arena's large claims yard for Setzer to show up, Dulcy came in with Edgar and Antione to deliver the same bad news that been given at Figaro.
"What's wrong?" Bunnie asked, after Dulcy had landed.
"Trouble in Knothole," Dulcy told her.
"What kind of trouble?" asked Locke.
"It is the general!" Antione said, with the proper amount of worry in his voice.
"The general?" asked Locke.
"You wouldn't, by any chance, mean Stratte, would you?" asked Terra.
"Exactly," said Edgar. "It seems he's planning an attack on Knothole. About two hours ago, Mobius time, he issued an ultimatum. He's given us about twenty four hours to either surrender the planet or start fighting."
"We can't surrender the planet to him. Not after all these years of fighting to get rid of Robotnik," said Bunnie.
"It's their home," said Terra.
"There's more," said Edgar. "Rotor told me that Stratte's working with this Robotnik fellow. Who knows what kind of destructive terror they've come up with."
"That means that both sides will surely be wiped out if a fight begins," said Locke.
"Choose and be destroyed," said Gogo. About that time, Setzer showed up with his airship. After he disembarked, he came and asked what was going on. After a quick explanation, everyone agreed to keep the bark, because it could still be useful. When Locke's group showed up with the Cactrot bark and other goods, Sabin's group, including Rotor, was already there.
Shortly after her arrival, Celles called for a briefing of the former imperial guard. She explained that their mission would be a defensive mission, to help the Mobians, and that the mission might become one to destroy Stratte. Within two hours, everyone was moving through the gate to Mobius.
Once there, Celles and Edgar gathered the resistance cell leaders and explained everything, from Stratte's condition to the original plans for the gate. The Mobians listened in awe as they explained.
"Originally, the plan for the gate was to do a full survey of several worlds, lie yours," Celles explained. "If a civilization was found, peaceable relations would be sought, but the survey was to be stopped immediately and the world dropped from consideration for rehabitation by Armazed."
"Stratte's gone and changed all that now," Edgar continued. "By completely destroying the natural inhabitants of this world, he thinks it would be perfect for our relocation project. Unfortunately, it would only put us all in the same situation."
"It happened once before on Armazed," Celles told them. "It took us over a thousand years to get to the point where the empire almost took over. Battling Stratte now would put you in that position and is likely to wipe us out."
"Our first option is to delegate with Stratte, and Robotnik, too, if he's in on this, as our information tells us," said Edgar. "But be prepared to fight, and expect to find yourselves in a very different, harsher world."
"But what if they give in or we fight and win?" asked one of the Mobians.
"If there's a fight, there would be no winners; and what you do after this is all over is entirely up to you," Edgar told them. "The best ending scenario, however, is the one where we talk Stratte out of doing whatever he's planning to do, and everyone walks away alive."
"What are the chances of that happening?" asked another.
"I wouldn't count on it," Celles responded.
Within six hours, all the Freedom Fighter cells and all the remaining Armazoid troopers had massed one kilometer north of Knothole, as Stratte, who was calling himself general again, had requested. Two hours later, Stratte, Robotnik, and several thousand robotic troops showed up. Stratte's army stopped and waited about a hundred yards from the joint Mobian and Armazoid force, so that each group could send out representatives. Sally and Edgar went out to meet Stratte and Robotnik. When they met halfway, Stratte requested that Celles be present and said that one of the soldiers from his army would be there to even the odds. When Celles and the robot showed up, the talking began.
"I hope you've thought this over well, Stratte," said Edgar.
"I have," he responded, "and I know that it's the right thing to do for Armazed."
"You'd better be completely sure," said Celles. "Geshtal and Keefka had us convinced of the same thing. That's what got us into this mess in the first place."
"Life would be better for all involved, the Mobains included," said Stratte.
"I'm not so sure of that," said Sally. "Will our lives really be better when the fighting's finally stopped? It's all my generation's ever done."
"Think of it, Sally. Your people won't have to worry about having their loved ones taken away to face a fate worse than death ever again!" exclaimed Stratte. "Robotnik wins because he gets Armazed. Conditions are perfect for him there. We, the Armazoid, would never have to worry about what just moved or lunch attacking us because we'd be at peace with the Mobians. Isn't that a wonderful plan?"
"I wish it were," said Celles. "How long do you think the peace between our two peoples can last? After all, Robotnik could be one of us and nobody would be any the wiser. Or haven't you noticed that?"
"Explain yourself," said Robotnik. "How am I like you?"
"You want a world to rule. Once you had Armazed, you'd get bored," explained Celles. "Eventually, an Armazoid would want to have some power here. Things won't have changed too much."
These words rang through Stratte's head just as they had when Geshtal told him how his demotion wouldn't affect the war. This sent him into a confused frenzy of words and motion. At the same time, some troops from both armies had left the main groups and were advancing on the leaders undetected. As Stratte paced away from the group, ranting on about how things would be different and better, a crazed wolf jumped out from a bush that Stratte was passing and plunged a knife into his back. At the same time, several robotic troops shot at and hit both Stratte and his attacker, vaporizing both.
"You know something, Robotnik?" Sally asked him. "That's what a great many of us would like to see happen to you. Even if there had been peaceful relations and you had left, they wouldn't have lasted, and you would have found a way to come back."
"It's over, for now," said Robotnik. "It is too bad that he had to die."
"What does Stratte's death mean to you?" asked Edgar.
"It means I'll have to find another way of using your technology," Robotnik told him. With that, he turned and left. The three resistance leaders did the same. The order to return to Knothole and hear about what had happen was given. The vast majority were happy to hear that things would be pretty much the same after it all was over. Shortly afterwards, some of the Freedom Fighters left for home while others began resting before the trip, as did the Armazoid visitors. It wasn't long before there was a large explosion, which was discovered to be the robotic army that Robotnik had left self destructing.
The Armazoid rested for two more days, during which time a monument to Stratte and his killer was built on the place where they had died. The Armazoid decided that it would be best if they just went and lived on their own world and didn't disturb Mobius or any other world again, if possible.
Shortly after the gate had closed for the last time and the Armazoid were thought to be gone fore sure, people who went near Stratte's grave began reporting a voice near the area. No one could find who was doing it, so a rumor started that it was Stratte's ghost that was singing the song. The verse was from the same children's song he had sung as he came through the gate the first time: "This old man, he played eight, he played knick-knack on my gate with a knick-knack, patty whack, give a dog a bone, this old man came rolling home..."
The End.