You know the drill, yadda yadda chars, blah blah Archie,
yak yak Sega. But guess what? The Tarlens, Gomans, and Harmen are
MINE, and you can't have 'em without my sayso!! HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!
~Rebecky-mo~
Thicker than Blood, Chapter Three: Common Goals
It was about 10 am when Eboni and I left the Goman camp to
scout out the temple grounds where the 'outsiders' were mining
Fate-knows-what; after Mandarin explained how far the spot was, Eboni
volunteered to escort me there. "I now not only owe you debt for Ying's
life, but also for my own. It is only right I assist you, since you are
doing so much for my people."
I couldn't help but admire Eboni in a way; honour like hers
was something rarely seen in the Dark Legion. Despite the fact they
were one army, it was still very much everyone for themselves,
unless there were very strong trust and friendship among them.
It wasn't until after the pather fell asleep next to her
brother that Mandarin explained that Eboni and Ying were both
originally members of the Tarlen tribe, until thier father was
killed by Ralphus five years ago for what they thought was treason.
He had found them outside the grounds, cold and traumatized, and
accepted them into the tribe without a second thought. They had
been great members of their people ever since.
Anyway, that morning, after yet another rotten night of dreams,
Eboni and myself began the long trek towards the temple grounds; it
would take a good 12 hours to get there, scope the place out, and get
back, if nothing went wrong. I was almost tempted to use my Sky Board,
but it would have been hard for the panther to keep up, plus it would
have been way too noticable in the 'technologically-deficient' part
of Mobius; it would have amount to having a banner dragging behind me,
'Free shots!! Hit the pretty disk!'
Sheesh...
At first, the walk wasn't too bad, but by about one, I was a
little bored; everything surrounding us were trees, and normally by
now, I was arguing with Vector about something or other! So, I decided to
ask Eboni something "Say, what is that temple Mandarin talked about
for?"
The Goman warrior seemed a little surprised when I spoke; then
again, I suppose panthers travel silently most of the time. Finally,
she broke her silence, "The temple is one of the Goman tribes oldest
and most religious sites; it is dedicated to the defenders of Mobius."
"Defenders of Mobius? Who're they?"
"Thousands of centuries ago, a great evil had begun to spread
it's influence across the planet, turning the people against each
other in mistrust; making them think the other species' were the ones
responsible for the damage."
"The Ancient Walkers decided to take action, but knowing their
time in the mortal plain was over, they chose three great warriors as
thier champions to take on the fight; a fight they, eventually, won."
"And this temple is...?"
"The final resting place of thier mortal bodies, as well as
the spot thier quest ended."
"Wow." Somehow, this story seemed important to me, almost
familiar; Knuckles had told me something Mammoth Mogul said about
Sonic, Tails, and himself, concerning them being 'champions' of
something. Maybe this temple was connected to them...
I asked Eboni more on the story, but it seemed she knew
little details; "This story is over 50,000 years old, Julie-su,
the truth of the defenders travels have been lost or replaced over
time. No one knows the truth of why they were chosen, not even
Mandarin." I decided to give up on the myth, but still, it seemed to
nag on my mind the rest of the way.
"Tell me Julie, why is it you chose to stay and help? You still
have your own mission to fulfill, do you not?" She had a point, the
same one I'd thought of the night before. "Mandarin did not push you
with his vision, did he?"
I sighed, "Honestly, I dunno why I'm helping really. I guess
it's because I know how it is to lose loved ones to something stronger
than yourself."
"What did you lose them to?"
"Death." My voice is a little colder than it should've been,
and I can tell from the look on Eboni's face I'd spoken pretty grimly.
"I apologize, it was not my place to.."
"No, really..it's okay. I guess that's why I took on my
mission in the first place. To figure out alot about how strong
I was..what my fate is to be."
Eboni nodded, "I had the same problem once; surely you
know of my..past. I had always been trained to become a warrior,
to hate the Goman tribe with a vengence. When Mandarin found Ying
and myself, I had a very hard time adjusting to the more peaceful
life; I was constantly picking fights, and even tried to run back
to the Tarlens, although I knew they'd never let me live."
"That's when Mandarin began to let me train myself to be
the defender of the tribe, as battle was a large part of my life;
however, he also taught me the ways of meditation and controlling
my anger. I've always had a grude against Ralphus, as you probably
noticed the night before..."
"Grudge? Nope, never noticed." The two of us began to laugh
at the display of impressive moves she'd made the night before,
even though they never worked that well on the huge tiger. "But
I do know how it feels to be alone, even in a crowd."
"Care to explain?"
Before I knew it, I was telling Eboni the whole story;
my mom's death, the amnesia, the Chaotix, my relatives, the talk
with Kommisar, the breakout, who I was, and who I wasn't. "....So I
followed the Dark Legion off the island, and still haven't caught
up to them."
The panther was pretty silent through the story, and
finally "My, and I thought Ying's and my life had been difficult."
She placed a paw on my shoulder, "Remind me to send you to Manadarin
when we return; I'm certain he can help you as he helped me, if you
want the assistance."
Mandarin could do that? The old man certainly did seem to have
alot of knowledge, "Maybe..."
*********
It was hours later when we finally came within distance of our
destination; frankly, I wasn't impressed at first. The terrain was like
a desert, barely anything but a few scraggly trees scattered around, a
monsterous gorge stretching miles to the east of us, and another
dropoff just a few kilometres away.
That was as far as we could go at the moment, since there was
no cover; we stayed in the shadows of the trees, which grew with each
passing minute as the sun began to set. Eboni stayed pretty quiet for
the last little while; I suppose it's the predator in her, silent
until she's ready to strike.
Finally, it was so dark I couldn't even make the panther out
in the darkness. Thinking quickly, I grabbed my visor out of my boot
pocket, switching it to night-vision, and placed it over my eye.
She held two long curved blades in her grip, handles inbetween her
fingers; ever seen a pair of brass knuckles before? They were like
that, only there were blades instead of a solid metal bar. Ouch.
"Are you ready, my friend?" Eboni's voice was barely audible,
quieter than the night breeze. She handed me a pair of the
'Fist Blades' as she called them, and I put 'em on, as well as pulled
out my blaster, doing my best to match her volume.
"Yeah. Let's get a look at these guys. One, two, three!"
The two of us sprinted across the plains, Eboni easily passing
me as she ran on all fours. We hid behind anything we thought could
cover us--rocks, dry bushes, name it-- until we stood at the mouth of
the dropoff...or what I thought had been a dropoff.
*Wow.*
I turned off the night vision on my visor; I wasn't gonna be needing
it at the moment, so I touched the magnifier. The ugly dropoff turned
out to be a lush, green valley, teeming with trees and plants of every
shape and size imaginable; in the far corner of the valley, a river ran
in through a hole in the rock wall, fed by the raging waters within the
gorge.
Right below us was a dirt patch with lower elevation than the
rest of the valley, that seemed to once have a building there. Brick
walls were scattered and broken, and it was obvious that they'd been
around for a long time, *Maybe that's the temple..* If they'd destroyed
it, they'd have alot to deal with, whether it be me or the tribe.
Then I saw the rock wall directly beneath light up with
artificial light. A huge grey complex stood about 500 feet away from
it, while huge equipment stood nearby, as well as a gaping hole in the
base of the valley. "They're sure mining something... but what, and
why?"
"I'm not sure" Eboni whispered, "the outsiders never
specified what they were looking for, but they mentioned..."
WHOOP!WHOOP!WHOOP!WHOOP!
The Goman warrior and I froze, in fear we had been discovered,
but nothing happened around us; it happened below. The complex doors
opened, and I saw Eboni cringe at the sight. Her people, her friends,
were being sheperded out of the doors, chains on thier hands and feet;
they seemed extremely malnourished, and definitly looked like many of
them had been beaten. *Probably for trying to escape...*
The panthers eyes closed tight, the bright yellow gone from
them; she was trying not to cry...I turned back to the sight below me,
giving her some time to compose herse...*WHAT?!?!? IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!*
I crouched there, my mouth hanging open at the sight before me.
The outsiders behind the Gomans had just come into view; Hundreds of
them were holding high-powered blasters identical to the ones the
Tarlens had used. But the 'outsiders' were all to familiar; long, dark
robes, dragging under their bound feet, all of thier hands gloved...
save the ones that were cybernetic...
*THE DARK LEGION!!* It took all of my power not to scream it
out loud. *The legion...HERE?!?!? But why didn't I notice the singal
before?* Then it hit me; the higher the range is on my visor, the less
power it has to actually sense the signal. My range was so far out, the
sensors were too weak to pick up the diluted energy from their ships.
*I could have gone right past this land looking, and never
noticed they were here!*
"Julie-su? Are you alright?" Eboni had regained her own
composure, and had noticed the look I had on my face.
"The outsiders...they're the ones I was searching for." *And
where there's the Dark Legion prisoners, Kommisar can't be far behind.*
She must've been chosen to lead the operation, so Dimitri risked the
jailbreak to get her and the other
The legionaires were using the big equipment themselves,
digging the caves in the side of the cliff; then the Gomans had all
of the hard work, using picks and hammers to remove the contents of
the rocks, but I still couldn't tell what they were. They were just too
small to see as they placed them into huge boxes...
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!!!" I heard the clicking sound of a
blaster being cocked, followed by four more echoing behind us. Sneaking
a peek, I could just make out five legionaires behind us, thier
blasters aiming for the back of our heads. "Okay, you two, stand up and
turn around..slowly."
*They must not recognize me yet; too dark up here.* The thought
ran through my mind quickly, and a plan formed; a desperate one, but no
real choice in the matter. I waited for Eboni to stand first, her fist
blades hidden in her black fur, and turn around.
"You too, girl!" The leader of the scouts barked; I stood,
and turned slowly, my hands raised. *Not yet Julie, wait for it.*
"Your tribe is so idiotic, sending two of you against one
hundred of--HUH?! YOU!!!!" The entire groups eyes widened, stunned.
"The trait-UNGH!!"
Eboni slammed her foot into the man's gut; he'd obvoiusly
caught up to my plan. As the first fell, the others took us on,
blasting us from left and right, and I could hear more fighters coming
up as the sounds caught their attention. I slashed at the guards, but
as each one fell, three more took his place!!
It wasn't long until we were surrounded by at least twenty of
them, advancing in on us just close enough to make me nervous, but
not too close so we could use the blades. Ten had blasters aimed for
us, until..."HOLD YOUR FIRE!!"
The soldiers reholstered the guns, and a space in the circle
around us opened; a new face entered the crowd--a black echinda, with
all of his dredlocks cybernetic, and a dark green vest on his body. I
knew the guy, too.
"Harmen..."
Harmen was one of the best fighters in the legion, but also
one of the suck-ups. Just before I'd left the Dark Legion, he had made
it all the way to lieutentant status kissing up to Kommisar, Kragok,
even Rykor, and became Mortonos' right hand man.
"Julie-su..this IS a surprise!! Have you been tailgateing me
all this time?" He gave a wicked grin, and I felt my blood boil; not
only did kiss the higher officials tails, but he was a pain in the
tail to anyone below him.
"Yeah, but the view wasn't pretty, so I took a better way."
He scowled at me, then looked to Eboni "Ah, you are a Goman,
right? Tell me, were you here to save your comrades?" She never
answered, just gave him an evil eye that probably could kill. "Well,
you won't get to see them; you'll die right here, listening to them
suffer."
"As for you 'Rose', I think Kommisar would like to do as she
pleases with you, so we'll take you alive after you watch your friend
die. Wouldn't be the first time now, would it?" He cackled at me, then
ordered the gunmen to take the target; Eboni.
They couldn't do this!! She had a brother, she'd escaped her
darkness. She deserved to live..
Before I knew it, I was knocking Eboni to the ground, just as
fingers tounched the triggers. Most were able to stop in time, but
three had the hair triggers on; I felt the beams pierce my sides and
waist, pain shooting through me, and I fell. I heard Eboni scream my
name...
and everything began to get foggy.
To be Continued
yak yak Sega. But guess what? The Tarlens, Gomans, and Harmen are
MINE, and you can't have 'em without my sayso!! HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!
~Rebecky-mo~
Thicker than Blood, Chapter Three: Common Goals
It was about 10 am when Eboni and I left the Goman camp to
scout out the temple grounds where the 'outsiders' were mining
Fate-knows-what; after Mandarin explained how far the spot was, Eboni
volunteered to escort me there. "I now not only owe you debt for Ying's
life, but also for my own. It is only right I assist you, since you are
doing so much for my people."
I couldn't help but admire Eboni in a way; honour like hers
was something rarely seen in the Dark Legion. Despite the fact they
were one army, it was still very much everyone for themselves,
unless there were very strong trust and friendship among them.
It wasn't until after the pather fell asleep next to her
brother that Mandarin explained that Eboni and Ying were both
originally members of the Tarlen tribe, until thier father was
killed by Ralphus five years ago for what they thought was treason.
He had found them outside the grounds, cold and traumatized, and
accepted them into the tribe without a second thought. They had
been great members of their people ever since.
Anyway, that morning, after yet another rotten night of dreams,
Eboni and myself began the long trek towards the temple grounds; it
would take a good 12 hours to get there, scope the place out, and get
back, if nothing went wrong. I was almost tempted to use my Sky Board,
but it would have been hard for the panther to keep up, plus it would
have been way too noticable in the 'technologically-deficient' part
of Mobius; it would have amount to having a banner dragging behind me,
'Free shots!! Hit the pretty disk!'
Sheesh...
At first, the walk wasn't too bad, but by about one, I was a
little bored; everything surrounding us were trees, and normally by
now, I was arguing with Vector about something or other! So, I decided to
ask Eboni something "Say, what is that temple Mandarin talked about
for?"
The Goman warrior seemed a little surprised when I spoke; then
again, I suppose panthers travel silently most of the time. Finally,
she broke her silence, "The temple is one of the Goman tribes oldest
and most religious sites; it is dedicated to the defenders of Mobius."
"Defenders of Mobius? Who're they?"
"Thousands of centuries ago, a great evil had begun to spread
it's influence across the planet, turning the people against each
other in mistrust; making them think the other species' were the ones
responsible for the damage."
"The Ancient Walkers decided to take action, but knowing their
time in the mortal plain was over, they chose three great warriors as
thier champions to take on the fight; a fight they, eventually, won."
"And this temple is...?"
"The final resting place of thier mortal bodies, as well as
the spot thier quest ended."
"Wow." Somehow, this story seemed important to me, almost
familiar; Knuckles had told me something Mammoth Mogul said about
Sonic, Tails, and himself, concerning them being 'champions' of
something. Maybe this temple was connected to them...
I asked Eboni more on the story, but it seemed she knew
little details; "This story is over 50,000 years old, Julie-su,
the truth of the defenders travels have been lost or replaced over
time. No one knows the truth of why they were chosen, not even
Mandarin." I decided to give up on the myth, but still, it seemed to
nag on my mind the rest of the way.
"Tell me Julie, why is it you chose to stay and help? You still
have your own mission to fulfill, do you not?" She had a point, the
same one I'd thought of the night before. "Mandarin did not push you
with his vision, did he?"
I sighed, "Honestly, I dunno why I'm helping really. I guess
it's because I know how it is to lose loved ones to something stronger
than yourself."
"What did you lose them to?"
"Death." My voice is a little colder than it should've been,
and I can tell from the look on Eboni's face I'd spoken pretty grimly.
"I apologize, it was not my place to.."
"No, really..it's okay. I guess that's why I took on my
mission in the first place. To figure out alot about how strong
I was..what my fate is to be."
Eboni nodded, "I had the same problem once; surely you
know of my..past. I had always been trained to become a warrior,
to hate the Goman tribe with a vengence. When Mandarin found Ying
and myself, I had a very hard time adjusting to the more peaceful
life; I was constantly picking fights, and even tried to run back
to the Tarlens, although I knew they'd never let me live."
"That's when Mandarin began to let me train myself to be
the defender of the tribe, as battle was a large part of my life;
however, he also taught me the ways of meditation and controlling
my anger. I've always had a grude against Ralphus, as you probably
noticed the night before..."
"Grudge? Nope, never noticed." The two of us began to laugh
at the display of impressive moves she'd made the night before,
even though they never worked that well on the huge tiger. "But
I do know how it feels to be alone, even in a crowd."
"Care to explain?"
Before I knew it, I was telling Eboni the whole story;
my mom's death, the amnesia, the Chaotix, my relatives, the talk
with Kommisar, the breakout, who I was, and who I wasn't. "....So I
followed the Dark Legion off the island, and still haven't caught
up to them."
The panther was pretty silent through the story, and
finally "My, and I thought Ying's and my life had been difficult."
She placed a paw on my shoulder, "Remind me to send you to Manadarin
when we return; I'm certain he can help you as he helped me, if you
want the assistance."
Mandarin could do that? The old man certainly did seem to have
alot of knowledge, "Maybe..."
*********
It was hours later when we finally came within distance of our
destination; frankly, I wasn't impressed at first. The terrain was like
a desert, barely anything but a few scraggly trees scattered around, a
monsterous gorge stretching miles to the east of us, and another
dropoff just a few kilometres away.
That was as far as we could go at the moment, since there was
no cover; we stayed in the shadows of the trees, which grew with each
passing minute as the sun began to set. Eboni stayed pretty quiet for
the last little while; I suppose it's the predator in her, silent
until she's ready to strike.
Finally, it was so dark I couldn't even make the panther out
in the darkness. Thinking quickly, I grabbed my visor out of my boot
pocket, switching it to night-vision, and placed it over my eye.
She held two long curved blades in her grip, handles inbetween her
fingers; ever seen a pair of brass knuckles before? They were like
that, only there were blades instead of a solid metal bar. Ouch.
"Are you ready, my friend?" Eboni's voice was barely audible,
quieter than the night breeze. She handed me a pair of the
'Fist Blades' as she called them, and I put 'em on, as well as pulled
out my blaster, doing my best to match her volume.
"Yeah. Let's get a look at these guys. One, two, three!"
The two of us sprinted across the plains, Eboni easily passing
me as she ran on all fours. We hid behind anything we thought could
cover us--rocks, dry bushes, name it-- until we stood at the mouth of
the dropoff...or what I thought had been a dropoff.
*Wow.*
I turned off the night vision on my visor; I wasn't gonna be needing
it at the moment, so I touched the magnifier. The ugly dropoff turned
out to be a lush, green valley, teeming with trees and plants of every
shape and size imaginable; in the far corner of the valley, a river ran
in through a hole in the rock wall, fed by the raging waters within the
gorge.
Right below us was a dirt patch with lower elevation than the
rest of the valley, that seemed to once have a building there. Brick
walls were scattered and broken, and it was obvious that they'd been
around for a long time, *Maybe that's the temple..* If they'd destroyed
it, they'd have alot to deal with, whether it be me or the tribe.
Then I saw the rock wall directly beneath light up with
artificial light. A huge grey complex stood about 500 feet away from
it, while huge equipment stood nearby, as well as a gaping hole in the
base of the valley. "They're sure mining something... but what, and
why?"
"I'm not sure" Eboni whispered, "the outsiders never
specified what they were looking for, but they mentioned..."
WHOOP!WHOOP!WHOOP!WHOOP!
The Goman warrior and I froze, in fear we had been discovered,
but nothing happened around us; it happened below. The complex doors
opened, and I saw Eboni cringe at the sight. Her people, her friends,
were being sheperded out of the doors, chains on thier hands and feet;
they seemed extremely malnourished, and definitly looked like many of
them had been beaten. *Probably for trying to escape...*
The panthers eyes closed tight, the bright yellow gone from
them; she was trying not to cry...I turned back to the sight below me,
giving her some time to compose herse...*WHAT?!?!? IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!*
I crouched there, my mouth hanging open at the sight before me.
The outsiders behind the Gomans had just come into view; Hundreds of
them were holding high-powered blasters identical to the ones the
Tarlens had used. But the 'outsiders' were all to familiar; long, dark
robes, dragging under their bound feet, all of thier hands gloved...
save the ones that were cybernetic...
*THE DARK LEGION!!* It took all of my power not to scream it
out loud. *The legion...HERE?!?!? But why didn't I notice the singal
before?* Then it hit me; the higher the range is on my visor, the less
power it has to actually sense the signal. My range was so far out, the
sensors were too weak to pick up the diluted energy from their ships.
*I could have gone right past this land looking, and never
noticed they were here!*
"Julie-su? Are you alright?" Eboni had regained her own
composure, and had noticed the look I had on my face.
"The outsiders...they're the ones I was searching for." *And
where there's the Dark Legion prisoners, Kommisar can't be far behind.*
She must've been chosen to lead the operation, so Dimitri risked the
jailbreak to get her and the other
The legionaires were using the big equipment themselves,
digging the caves in the side of the cliff; then the Gomans had all
of the hard work, using picks and hammers to remove the contents of
the rocks, but I still couldn't tell what they were. They were just too
small to see as they placed them into huge boxes...
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!!!" I heard the clicking sound of a
blaster being cocked, followed by four more echoing behind us. Sneaking
a peek, I could just make out five legionaires behind us, thier
blasters aiming for the back of our heads. "Okay, you two, stand up and
turn around..slowly."
*They must not recognize me yet; too dark up here.* The thought
ran through my mind quickly, and a plan formed; a desperate one, but no
real choice in the matter. I waited for Eboni to stand first, her fist
blades hidden in her black fur, and turn around.
"You too, girl!" The leader of the scouts barked; I stood,
and turned slowly, my hands raised. *Not yet Julie, wait for it.*
"Your tribe is so idiotic, sending two of you against one
hundred of--HUH?! YOU!!!!" The entire groups eyes widened, stunned.
"The trait-UNGH!!"
Eboni slammed her foot into the man's gut; he'd obvoiusly
caught up to my plan. As the first fell, the others took us on,
blasting us from left and right, and I could hear more fighters coming
up as the sounds caught their attention. I slashed at the guards, but
as each one fell, three more took his place!!
It wasn't long until we were surrounded by at least twenty of
them, advancing in on us just close enough to make me nervous, but
not too close so we could use the blades. Ten had blasters aimed for
us, until..."HOLD YOUR FIRE!!"
The soldiers reholstered the guns, and a space in the circle
around us opened; a new face entered the crowd--a black echinda, with
all of his dredlocks cybernetic, and a dark green vest on his body. I
knew the guy, too.
"Harmen..."
Harmen was one of the best fighters in the legion, but also
one of the suck-ups. Just before I'd left the Dark Legion, he had made
it all the way to lieutentant status kissing up to Kommisar, Kragok,
even Rykor, and became Mortonos' right hand man.
"Julie-su..this IS a surprise!! Have you been tailgateing me
all this time?" He gave a wicked grin, and I felt my blood boil; not
only did kiss the higher officials tails, but he was a pain in the
tail to anyone below him.
"Yeah, but the view wasn't pretty, so I took a better way."
He scowled at me, then looked to Eboni "Ah, you are a Goman,
right? Tell me, were you here to save your comrades?" She never
answered, just gave him an evil eye that probably could kill. "Well,
you won't get to see them; you'll die right here, listening to them
suffer."
"As for you 'Rose', I think Kommisar would like to do as she
pleases with you, so we'll take you alive after you watch your friend
die. Wouldn't be the first time now, would it?" He cackled at me, then
ordered the gunmen to take the target; Eboni.
They couldn't do this!! She had a brother, she'd escaped her
darkness. She deserved to live..
Before I knew it, I was knocking Eboni to the ground, just as
fingers tounched the triggers. Most were able to stop in time, but
three had the hair triggers on; I felt the beams pierce my sides and
waist, pain shooting through me, and I fell. I heard Eboni scream my
name...
and everything began to get foggy.
To be Continued