OKAY, WELL HERE IT GOES. THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MOBIUS WARS. HEH, AFTER A DOZEN OR SO ATTEMPTS, FINALLY I MANAGED TO TYPE A STORY I CAN POST WITHOUT FEELING THE URGE FOR HIDING UNDER MY DESK. PLEASE DON'T BE TOO HARSH, THIS IS MY FIRST FANFIC.


Prologue

It was a dark and rather cold night. One of those moonless nights, only the many silver sparks of the stars could broke the thick nocturnal darkness.

Standing on top of the cliff was a silhouette. Single sentinel facing the ocean. Far below him, waves of ink water relentlessly crashed at the foot of the chalky wall, hit and splashed large foam sprays against the tall face. There was a soft breeze, smelling of salt and iode.

But the lone silhouette seemed to pay no attention to it. Immobile as a statue, except for his light clothes waving gently against the breeze, making him look like some kind of floating shadow.

A soft buzzing was heard, echoing faintly in the night air. A strange little object had arisen from the ground, and started floating around toward the silhouette. It looked like a metal orb the size of a grapefruit, with red dots flickering on its surface. The little sphere hovered closer and stopped just behind the silhouette. Then, a grave, severe male voice came from it. "Still nothing on the screens. Are you sure the data you gave me are reliable ?"

The silhouette merely nodded his head. "Be patient, Doctor." He said, and his voice was clear and calm, confident. "It shouldn't be much longer, now. This operation was planned long ago. To delay it is just not an option."

Silence fell again, torn only by the sound of waves crashing against the cliff, the gentle wheezing breeze and soft buzzing from the orb. Minute after minute slowly passed by, endlessly. Far on the ocean, by the skyline, faint lights glistened. Probably just a tanker, sailing toward that port city, north from there. It didn't matter, anyway. On that night, way more important events were going to happen.

All of a sudden, the silhouettespun around, gracefully. Two large, almond-shaped eyes lit up in the middle of his face, glowing a golden yellow color with long pupils almost like a cat's. That shimmering, amber gaze of his turned away from the ocean to stare into the nightly darkness, toward the lands that spread beyond the large metallic dome that sprouted out of the ground.

"Doctor …" the silhouette started.

"Yes." The voice in the orb replied. "The censors caught the signal. Green Hills Zone, quadrant eight."

It was just the perfectly right, indeed. The golden-eyed silhouette had felt it as well. First, it was just a light thrill flowing down his spine. Then, his hairs straightened on the back of his neck, and that very particular sensation, just like electrical sparks running through his every cells. For a split second, the whole magnetic field of the planet had been troubled by a powerful wave, which had started around two hundred and forty miles northeast from there.

"Looks like they made it to here, after all." The silhouette said, turning around to the little floating sphere, a hint of amusement in his voice. "What about our plans, Doctor ?"

"Last settings have just been made. Assembly lines are ready and operational. We can initiate the construction of Barracuda right away."

"That's perfect. Let's start it, in that case."

The silhouette faced the large metal dome and headed to it. A faint clicking sound could be heard at each of his step, like little pieces of metal hit together. On the side of the half-shere, and opening appeared, cutting a square of yellowish light through the darkness and revealing the insides of the building.

"Will Mobius ever know a peaceful time ?" the voice in the little orb asked with a sigh. "I may not be the right person to say it, but I admit, I'm feeling tired with all those battles."

"Come on, Doctor. You're not going to give up now, are you ? Not when such a glorious time comes for us." The silhouette cheerfully replied as he paused by the entrance. "Besides, there won't be 'battles', this time. It's a true war that's about to begin."

The silhouette stepped in the dome, and the door slid shut behind him. Once again, nightly darkness spread all over the plains, on top of the cliff.

MOBIUS WARS, vol. 1 : Codename C.S/xxx

1.

Mobotropolis. Capital town of Mobius. Also known as Robotropolis, back in the times of Doctor Robotnik's evil reign over the world. Two years earlier, after an accident due to one of the tyranic scientist, he and a group of Mobians had been thrown to another world. The Humans Earth. Taking advantage of the evil ruler's disappearance, the Freedom Fighters, the Mobian rebellion strike force, managed to take control of the city and put an end to the Doctor's robotic legions. The righteous ruling family, the House of Acorn, were given their thorne back.

When the missing Mobians managed to return to their homeland, unfortunately with Doctor Robotnik, they discovered a world freed from the scientist reign. With no ressources nor troops for another overthrow, the doctor exiled himself somewhere on Mobius, and none had ever heard of him since then.

That, was six months ago.

The sun was just appearing in the distance, bathing the skies with crimson and golden tints. Slowly, just like every day, the large city slowly came back to life as the warm rays of light spread over. Mobotropolis still displayed deep scars from Doctor Robotnik's reign, and from the battles lead against him by the Freedom Fighters. In some places, entire blocks, entire districts were nothing more than ruin fields. Despite the works to rebuild the city, a lot of time would be needed before the last marks of those dark ages disappear.

The King's palace looked just the same than the rest of the capital city. The West Wing had been completely devastated during the final assault of the Freedom Fighters, and the main tower ressembled too much the doctor's metallic stronghold. And just the same than the city around, there would be time passed by before the last remants of the past disappeared for good.

In spite of the early time, the palace already was filled with familiar sounds. Servants at work, guards patrolling in the halls, a door slamming a bit too loud, mutters and fragmented conversations. And, in the North Wing where the royal rooms were, someone was running along the corridors, his footsteps echoing lightly on the marbled floors. He skidded to a stop in front of a closed door and knocked at it, calling. "Sally ? Sally ?"

Princess Sally Acorn woke up suddenly and siwftly sat up in her bed. A quick glance over to the little clock on her bedside table taught her it was unusually early. This, and the lack of protocol used to call for her, were enough to convince her that something odd was happening.

Even though peace had been restored on Mobius two years ago, she could never get rid of an anxious and worried feeling every time an unexpected –and potentially threatening– event occurred. But then again, the young princess had spent most of her life as leader of the Freedom Fighters. Some people even thought an adventurous and dangerous life was what fit her best. And actually, she admitted that it was right, in a way. Life in the palace was sometimes very boring, and occasionally, she found herserlf wishing to live again in hidden village Knothole.

"Sally ? You in here ?" The voice outside the door asked again.

The princess immediately recognized it. It was Miles Prower's, also known as 'Tails'. The young fox boy whom she had been looking afterduring the first years of their guerilla against Robotnik. Tails had grown up, since then, and his scientific skills had greatly helped the rebels. But first and foremost, he was a great friend of Sonic the hedgehog, Sally's fiance.

"Come in, Tails. It's open." She replied as she jumped out of bed.

The fox visiting her made her happy, even though part of her objected that such an early-morning visit had to mean something more important than just saying hello. She quickly stepped trhought the room to a little partition spread in front of her wardrobe.

"Sally ?" Tails called as he pushed the door open carefully.

"Over here, just a minute." She replied behind the screen.

The fox nodded slowly and walked toward the high widows. While waiting for his friend to dress up, he pulled the heavy purple curtains, allowing soft morning light in the room. He was wearing a red T-shirt and creamy brown Bermudas.

"How're you doing, Tails ?" Sally asked, still behind the paper panel.

"Uh, quite fine, I guess. You know, just the same routine." The fox boy replied, shrugging. "Still working in my workshop, in the mountains above Knothole."

"Really ? What are you working on, these days ?"

"I try to find a way to install new vertical propulsion engines to the Tornado. But, what about you, Sally ? How are you ?"

The princess appeared from behind the partition. She was dressed in a simple white blouse and blue jeans. She brushed her hand through her long, wavy auburn hair, and gave a warm smile to the fox boy.

"Well, I suppose it could be worse. Repairings are in good shape to rebuild the wast wing. There's so much work, still to be done, though." She shrugged and opened her arms helplessly. "Ever since the war has been finished and things got almost right again. Father has been having a lot to do for the kingdom. And still he won't rely on us for anything. And now, I don't have much to do, except spending whole days wandering along the palace. Sometimes, I go out to inspect Mobotropolis and see how things are going there, But I admit that some days, I get really bored, here." She tilted her head to the side a little, smiling. "I guess I miss living in Knothole."

All of a sudden, she stopped and shook her head, frowning.

"Okay, tell me, Tails. You didn't come all the way from Knothole to Mobotropolis at dawn just to wave hi, did you ?" she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"No, I confess it's not the only reason." The fox replied while rummaging a hand into his Bermuda pocket. He picked out a small memory chip. "Actually, I caught something strange on radar, last night. I thought I should come and talk about it to King Acorn or you."

"Something strange ? What do you mean ?" she asked again, curious, as she tilted her head to the side a bit.

Tails didn't reply at once and extended his hand to her, the little chip in his palm.

"Here, take it." He told her, handing it over to her. "I think you should ask Nicole to analyse this."

Sally collected the little plastic cube in her hand and turned around, walked to her bedside table. On it, placed in between the little clock and a lamp, there was a device that looked like a box set to a wristband large enough to cover one's forearm. On its side, 'Nicole V.2.0' was carved. The princess took it and set it around her left arm, then pressed a little button on the front. Immediately, the device seemed to come to life. The top flipped open, revealing a screen and keyboard inside, while several beeps and other electronical sounds were heard. Eventually, a feminine voice, monotonous and mechanical, came from it.

"Programs loaded. System on-line. Good morning Sally."

"Hello, Nicole. What can you say about the data stored in there ?"

Sally pushed the chip in the terminal of the computer. More sounds and beeps echoed while the robotic voice of Nicole said "Accessing. Reading data."

On the screen, a chart appeared, displaying various files.

"Mmh, what is that ?" the princess asked, frowning.

"They are readings from Mobius global geomagnetism." Nicole replied.

"Exactly." Tails nodded." This chart shows the variations in the magnetic field that spreads all around the planet."

"I see that, but what's so special about it ? I don't see anything really unusual." Sally stated, as she turned her eyes away from the data on the screen and gave a questioning glance over to her friend.

"Just wait a minute." He answered. "Nicole, can you show the readings for twenty-six past midnight ?"

"Of course, Tails." The computer replied.

The screen went blurry while Nicole was looking for required data. Then, the chart appeared again, almost the same, displaying slight magnetic waves. But still, nothing really unusual.

"I don't see the point, Tails."

"Just a bit more. Hold on. It's just … now."

At that very moment, on Nicole's screen, the diagram had suddenly shifted, ondulating and wringing, as the readings were going completely crazy. And then, as suddenly as it had started, the phenomenon disappeared. Once again, the geomagnetical readings were as normal as they were only half a minute ago.

The young princess remained there, immobile as stunned as she looked to the screen, now completely normal again, as though nothing ever happened.

"What … What was that ?" she murmured.

"It appears that the global magnetic field of Mobius has been temporarily altered." The computer, Nicole, replied with its quiet voice.

Tails nodded. "It appears so, indeed."

"But, what could possibly have caused sugh a major phenomenon ?" Sally asked again. She still seemed to doubt what she just witnessed.

"I don't know." The fox boy admitted. "Technically speaking, such a magnetic shockwave would require a monumental amount of energy."

Sally turned her eyes toward her friend, frowning. As he spoke those last words, only one name had come to her mind, almost instantly. "Robotnik." She murmured.

"We can't know for sure he did it." Tails pointed out. "But I wouldn't be surprised that he is linked to it, somehow."

Both of them remained there, bent over Nicole watching at the strange phenomenon being displayed over and over again. On the screen, the deformed chart disturbingly reminded of the silhouette of an explosion. Eventually, Sally straightened and rested a hand on the shoulder of the fox.

"You did well, coming over here, Tail." She said, and though her voice was warm, it sounded a bit uneasy. "We should go and show it to Father. Maybe it's only a magnetic abnormality, but I'm afraid it's something more serious than that."

END OF CHAPTER ONE. WHO'S THE MYSTERIOUS SILHOUETTE ? WHAT CAUSED THAT STRANGE MAGNETIC WAVE THING ? MORE TO COME IN NEXT CHAPTER (Read and Review please, whether you liked it or didn't, want to suggest anything or just ask about something you didn't understand, I'm open to any comment.)

TILL NEXT TIME :) LonemanProds