"Pitiful."
On a tall hill in the distance stood a tall, hulking, literal mammoth of a Mobian. Dressed in a fine white suit, his pearly tusks would have shined in the sunlight had it not been for the ongoing deluge. Not that it phased him in the least.
He looked down on Sonic and the others racing across the plains from on-high, a pair of binoculars practically glued to his eyes, shaking his head as he mused on their pathetic situation.
"In a way, it is quite lamentable. These poor souls are risking their lives in a battle they may not even win. All because some tin-pot dictator has delusions of grandeur. I suppose we shall see just who is truly delusional in time. Still, if he's going to carry things this far, then I suppose I had better take care of loose ends."
He turned, facing a gaping wide entrance to a long and deep cavern that lay before him. He stepped into the cavern and began his trek down a long, winding pair of old stone steps. There were no lights. He was in complete and utter darkness, like sailing into a black hole. One wrong move and he was sure to snap his neck. And yet, for reasons that only he knew, he didn't seem concerned in the least.
Reaching the end of the tunnel, he finally saw fit to pull a lighter out of his pocket. He opened it up, lighting the bottom of the cavern. There was a stone table sitting dead in the center, and a stone pillar standing right in front of it. It was carved and chiseled with characters from an old, ancient language, one that the mammoth couldn't have possibly understood. And yet, somehow, he did. "'Lo, we offer up this humble sacrifice to you, Dark Gaea, for you are the only truly Gaea there shall ever be.' If only those poor fools knew." He then looked at the table, almost remembering some distant memory from ages past. "Has it truly been so long?" He then shook his head, his long thick snout waving to and fro as he did his best to shove it all aside. "In any case, to business."
The mammoth then lifted his strong, mighty fist high; his eyes going wild with fury as he smashed straight through the stone table with one clean punch. He then tore the pillar out of the earth and slammed it into the wall, it's pieces scattering against the cavern floor. He stood, his nostrils flaring, like a savage beast ready to tear into anyone who so much as looked at him crosseyed. And then, like a summer breeze, it passed. His eyes became calm, his breathing steadied, and he adjusted his red tie as though he were getting ready for a business meeting.
"Well. Enough of that. At the very least, that should stop that charlatan from attempting to meddle with powers he can barely comprehend. Still, I suppose that I was once the same as him. Something to think about."
He then walked back up the steps, eventually making his way out of the cavern and back into the torrent of rain, though it was starting to let up. He stared at the dark skies looming above him, and yet, in spite of the booming thunder and crackling lightning, all he could do was smile, his face splitting with uproarious laughter. "So then! Gaea himself is laughing at me, is he?! Well, we shall see who will be laughing when all is said and done! Know this! Doctor Eggman or whatever that fool calls himself is not the only threat that hedgehog or whoever else shall have to deal with, far from it! When the dust is settled, and the blood of my enemies fills all of the rivers of Mobius, it is Mammoth Mogul who shall rule over all he surveys! Mark my words."
And as Mogul started to climb down the hill, all the heavens above could do was tremble with fury. And with one last flash, a bolt of lightning struck the hill with the force of Gaea. And his words were marked.
