Right, before I begin this story I would like to make a few things absolutely clear. This IS NOT the same as the Metarex Arc shown in Sonic X. there will be key differences in the story and characters, I also recommend you read my previous story, "The Story of Miles Robotnik." First as this is in all intensive purposes a sequel to that story.
…
Dramatis Personnae
Mobian Expedition.
Miles Robotnik: Adoptive son of Ivo Robotnik-Inventor in training.
Cosmo Rosaceae: Sole survivor of the Bracken, daughter of Lucas Ironvine.
Sonic the Hedgehog: Hero of Mobius, speedster.
Shadow the Hedgehog: Ultimate Life form, G.U.N agent.
Amy Rose: Ally of Miles and Sonic, skilled combatant.
Cream The Rabbit: Ally of Miles and Sonic.
Vanilla The Rabbit: Ally of Miles and Sonic.
Ivo Robotnik: Adoptive father of Miles, inventor of the Blue Typhoon.
Knuckles the Echidna: Last of the Echidna warriors.
Metarex
Lucas Ironvine/Dark Oak: Tyrant of the Metarex,
Janus Whitethorn/ Pale Bayleaf: Commander of the 1st Warhost.
Cassius Dimstem/ Black Narcissus: Commander of the 2nd Warhost.
Romulus Bloodleaf/ Crimson Pine: Commander of the 3rd Warhost.
Decimus Rockfist/ Yellow Zelkova: Commander of the 4th Warhost.
Diomedes Nobleroot: Commander of the 5th Warhost/ Siege master
Seedrian Empire
Tyrion Ironvine: Former Emperor of the Seedrian Empire, Father of Lucas.
Earthia Rosaceae: Former wife of Lucas Ironvine, former Seedrian diplomat.
Galaxina Rosaceae: Daughter of Earthia, member of the failed diplomatic party.
…
The roaring thunder of plasma bombardment sounded out across the ruins of the once great city of Mordia, gargantuan explosions of plasma fire blooming across the savage battlefield like the buds of flowers opening in spring…Incinerating any caught in the blast and leaving the grievously wounded survivors; Seedrian and Federation alike to slowly die utterly agonising deaths in the churned up mud that used to make up the city streets.
The Corinthian campaign had hit a stalemate here, it was meant to be Prince Lucas's bold and daring counter-attack against the "Uncivilised, barbaric and unworthy." Animal forces of the Rusani Federation, the Seedrian Empire's only real adversary in the galaxy who at the beginning of this savage 13 year long war had launched assault after assault into Seedrian territory with great success. Raising the worlds of Rountree and Vargos to the ground and leaving them uninhabitable while launching raids into the core systems of the Empire, even being able to reach the outskirts of the Gaia system, the very system where the capital planet of Greengate lay…
Thankfully it had been the bold and young prince Lucas as well as his generals in charge of the military who had ousted them and turned the war on it's head, launching counterattacks and being able to even claim a handful of worlds for the empire…Even at a great cost.
But that campaign had come to a screeching halt here, the resistance was stiff and orbital bombardment was not an option for Corinth…The natural resources the planet held would be vital for the war effort and Lucas refused to let that happen…So he and all five Warhosts of the Seedrian army had taken to the surface and engaged in the brutal war of attrition that had been going on for over 6 months…But that ended today…
One large plasma explosion detonated on the battlefield, a great plume of blue plasma erupting up from the churned up ground rising 20 metres into the sky…However…As the dust and smoke cleared away…It was revealed that one figure stood solitary, clad in dark purple armour…A torn fur cloak billowing in the hot, dry wind…His face hidden beneath the v-shape crested great helm he wore…His sword burning orange with heat…
"Forward brothers! Today we bring down the wrath of Greengate upon these mongrel beasts! FOR THE SEEDRIAN EMPIRE!" he valiantly bellowed, holding his glowing sabre high before charging at the enemy lines, flanked by many others of his kin…
Their armour was significantly less elaborate…being a dull grey colour, with a non crested-crimson visored full Sallet type helmet with different accent colours that signified the Warhost they originated from…This battle had dragged on for so long that unit cohesion had been thrown out of the window a long time ago…It was no a time for mindless slaughter and bloodshed of the barbaric animals who had been the cause of so much Seedrian misery and death.
They all charged, following their valiant prince into combat with throaty patriotic bellows of rage and bloodlust, their Star-lances firing silver beams of energy into the Rusani lines, each individual beam of silvery light blowing off limbs and splitting torsos in half in showers of crimson ichor and blood. The poor victims dying before they even hit the ground…The pain of those who survived wishing that the beam had collided between their eyes.
It wasn't a flawless assault however, multiple of the Seedrian Warriors fell, riddled with luminous orange holes from the plasma shot of the Rusani Photo-carbines…However that wasn't enough to save them when the Prince got to them…
He leapt into their lines; a tornado of fury and destruction, heads and limbs flying in all directions as he systematically slaughtered each and every Rusani trooper he encountered, his magma hot blade a swift orange blur as he reduced each and every one of the soldiers into a fine red mist, their blood boiling and the water content of their bodies turning to steam from the sheer heat of his blade…Lucas Ironvine laughed…This was far too easy.
…
By nightfall the battle was finally over, great piles of the dead Rusani burning in mass graves while the Seedrian bodies were given a more decent funeral, more deserving of their honour and valour upon the battlefield…At least in the eyes of Prince Lucas…
While the Seedrians celebrated, drank and partied at their great victory…He pondered in his command bunker, a dim, dark hellhole with a barely functioning radio and a completely ruined set of furniture where he had been forced to make dozens of key decisions on the battlefield without any knowledge of enemy supply lines or reinforcements for 6 months…
He stood there in silence, quietly contemplating…His gore stained heat blade still in his hand…Blood sizzling on it's super heated fibro-crystal edge…It had been named Beast-Cleaver by his men, due to how it so easily brought the ends of countless Rusani soldiers and it was certainly no jest…Thousands of necks, limbs, torsos and other extremities had been severed by it's fine edge…And it had been the Prince's primary weapon all throughout the fifteen years this war had lasted…
The Prince had grown accustomed to war and had become a staunch friend of death…When he was a mere boy the sap in his veins would have run cold with horror at the thought of ending another life…Yet the past fifteen years had proven that it was a cruel galaxy outside of the Seedrian borders, Animals were barbaric and cruel and had not hesitated to use extreme force on the innocent worlds of Rountree and Vargos that had become irreparably damaged…Billions of innocent Seedrian men, women and children being cast into the afterlife before it was their rightful time…
Grim, icy rage filled his brain as he recounted all of the friends he had lost over the course of the war due to the savagery of the Rusani: Galen, Minerva, Brutus…All of them dead and gone…All at the hands of the Rusani…
Lucas cast off his helm, revealing his relatively youthful and handsome though battle scarred features…He had lilac coloured skin with long purple leaf like hair that flowed long and free, on his head rested branch like growths, resembling antlers…The air of the bunker was still and stale…Filled with dust, however despite that, it was a relief to remove his helm…Sometimes he felt as if he spent more time with it on than without it these days…like it was becoming his true face…
He deactivated Beast-Cleaver, releasing the small white trigger on the handle of the sabre, the red hot edge of the blade slowly fading to a crystal white with a matching appearance, he stared at his reflection in the sword…The one he had vowed to take the head of the Rusani leader with...It's blood soaked edge glinting slightly in what little light the Bunker had…
He had a wife at home…As well as a daughter and another child on the way…His thoughts lingering on the deceased men under his command, who'd never be able to return to their loved ones, he knew many of them were husbands and fathers…Just wanting to defend their homes from these savage invaders…Steadily his anger began to return, he hated these beasts….And he couldn't wait to turn this war around on them, let them know the pain they had inflicted on them…The true and unadulterated suffering they had brought on his kind he would bring upon theirs and then…Things would be equal.
However his train of thought was interrupted when another of his kin entered the bunker, he wore a very pale green set of armour and was a foot taller than Lucas was, his leaf like hair was shorter and the antler like branches on the side of his head curled upwards forming bull like horns, in one hand he clasped his helmet, who's crest mimicked his own horn like antlers, and in the other he held a shorter, deactivated heatblade.
"Prince Lucas, I have dire news from your father." He said, his turquoise eyes having little to no emotion behind them, his voice cold and dull, more akin to a machine then that of an organic creature.
Lucas turned to face the Seedrian who had entered the bunker, his lips pursed at the words "Dire news." What manner of atrocity had the Rusani committed now?
"Tell me what it is Janus, we have a war to wage and I do not wish have my private thoughts be intruded upon." He scornfully said.
"That's the thing my lord. Your Father has capitulated and signed an armistice with the Rusani Federation. The war is over…We lost." Janus spoke, his tone surprisingly calm for someone who had just received news that his empire had lost an interstellar war.
The same however could not be said for Prince Lucas…His skin going pale with shock…
"W-w-what?" he choked out, too stunned to speak in the conventional manner. They had…Lost?...His father had…Capitulated…Why?! His counterattack had been going well until the battle for Mordia! And yet…He would sell out the honour of the Seedrian empire for peace with these…Animals that had annihilated so many innocent Seedrian lives? That…That…That honourless, cowardly wretch!
"Get me a shuttle back to Greengate…NOW!" He yelled, his hands trembling with a mixture of emotions so intense and conflicting he couldn't even begin to describe them…
…
Greengate was always a beautiful planet, despite the war that was ravaging the empire at large, it's sea blue skies and lush forests made it a world of nigh impossible beauty very few planets in the galaxy could hope to match.
It was the jewel and capital of the Seedrian Empire, a monument to their culture that stretched back well over twenty millennia…In the great cities that dotted the surface of the planet, nature and technology existed hand in hand…Each individual building big and small being home to lush gardens and well tended for plant growth that grew all over the buildings in neatly arranged patterns, great works of art being wrought out of entire cities as the greenery of the buildings aligned to create gigantic art pieces depicting Seedrian Culture, from their ancient myths to mere works of art.
Great trees multiple kilometres high stood at the heart of these great cities, no Seedrian knew of their origin, however amongst the more superstitious lot in the Empire, they speculated them to be divine beings, vessels for the old gods of Greengate that had been worshipped all throughout the Empire's history, from when the Seedrian's first started exploring their home system twenty thousand years before up to now…
However, Lucas did not have the time or energy to take in his birth world for the first time in years, he had someone he needed to talk to…Badly…
From the windows of the arrowhead shaped shuttle Lucas travelled in, he could see the grandiose architecture of the Imperial Palace, stretched out before him…It was a beautiful monolith of Seedrian architecture…It was a glistening tower of pearly white marble and warm gold stretching high into the sky, with grandiose walls surrounding it in a circular shape, great gates standing at the north and west…Their entrances decorated with rows upon rows of great trees and flowerbeds…And lining the roads into the palace were giant golden statues of the great emperors of the Seedrian Empire, noble, ruthless, cruel, competent and incompetent, all of them having dedicated statues honouring their memories and their rule…They were all his ancestors…His noble lineage.
However, the Seedrian that currently sat upon the throne of the empire…He was not worthy of the honours that his predecessors had, he was not worthy of the title of Emperor, he had sold out their honour…And surrendered to the barbarian, primitive animals that hadn't even crawled out from caves on their own hostile home worlds while they had been carving out a glorious empire across the stars…Lucas wanted to know why…
…
While the throne room of the Imperial palace was the typical dwelling of the Seedrian Emperor…It was vacant of all life as Lucas walked through it's sunlit halls, only the echoing sounds of his footsteps could be heard in the empty palace…It was deeply depressing seeing the throne of the Seedrian emperor not being mounted by it's rightful ruler…However it was understandable as to why…
Lucas's father Tyrion Ironvine, son of the great Myrmidon Ironvine and grandson of the tyrant Trajan Ironvine…was dying. In the past few decades, he had contracted Stemblight…A horrible, damaging disease that slowly caused the chlorophyll in their skin to stop absorbing sunlight…Something vital for Seedrian bodies to function…Meaning that the unfortunate host would be doomed to a slow and painful death by wilting…Their immune systems would also be weakened…Allowing for fungal infections, bacterial infections and viruses to have a greater effect and chance at surviving…It was not an end befitting for any Seedrian , not even a cowardly, honourless worm such as him…
His eyes lingered on the throne, a gorgeous, lavish blend of nature and artwork, it was a ornately carved chair that had been carved into the roots of one of the most sacred trees on Greengate, the tyrant's birch. A tree that had been planted in the very heart of the Seedrian palace thousands of years ago…Legend says that during the Unifying War of Greengate, Lucas's ancestor Octavian Ironvine fought his final battle upon the grounds of what would become the palace…A bloody battle where thousands of noble and long dead Seedrian warriors had been taken through hell and hadn't been found wanting…
And by the time the sky turned a tangerine orange as the sun set over the blood strewn battlefield, Octavian had found a single sprout, untouched by the bloodshed that had ravaged the land around it…And thus he declared that his new home would be constructed here, the tree remaining in place as a permanent reminder of how nature can survive even the darkness of war, Octavian was the first of the line of Ironvine, a family that had stretched on for well over twenty thousand years and sent the Seedrians catapulting into the stars and carving out their great empire…Lucas always wanted to be like him, a great warrior and ruler without equal…He had spent his youth constantly training to be the very best warrior he could from any teacher his father could afford, while his mother had taught him the art of statesmanship…he had been groomed for the role ever since he had been born…And now that his father was clearly losing his grip on reality as well as his life…It was time to take that role.
He stepped into the elevator that stood behind the throne, a blank, glassy eyed stare on his face as he slowly rose up higher and higher to the bedroom chambers of the Emperor himself…And while his demeanour on the exterior was calm and collected, on the inside he was horrified at what he was planning on doing…It was wrong…So unbelievably wrong…But he couldn't just let his father sell out the Seedrian Empire's honour and integrity like that…He just wished he knew how he could handle this…
He rose higher and higher, growing ever closer to his father…And he was struggling to stay composed, he could feel the sap in his veins growing colder and colder as the elevator finally reached it's intended destination…The doors sliding open to reveal the richly decorated main hallway of the living quarters of the Emperor, a gorgeous passage decorated with head busts of previous Seedrian emperors lining the walls, large paintings of key moments of Seedrian history also being displayed alongside them…Their first steps on Greengate's moon, the construction of the Emperor's palace and the great fire of Goldenglade and whatnot.
Lucas admired them as he walked down the halls, it was a good way to take the edge off of the absolutely abominable stress he felt, like relaxing outside in the eye of a hurricane…However even that came to an end as he was met with the doorway to the Emperor's bedchambers…He sucked in a breath before rapping his armoured fist against the doorway…
"Let him in, and leave us…This is important." A withered, raspy voice from within croaked out…Sending an arrow of guilt shooting into Lucas's heart.
The door opened and two ornately decorated Seedrian royal guards exited, their heat halberds and ornately decorated, jewel encrusted battle armour glinting as they passed…Not even so much as acknowledging The Prince at all…
In he strode, looking upon the bedroom…A large grandiose bed chamber that was home to a multitude of luxuries, from a large flower bed that surrounded the room and filled it with the aroma of roses at all times, large holo-vid player so the Emperor could keep up to date with current political affairs and recreational entertainment and a variety of cabinets and cupboards…
However largest of all was the kind sized bed that rested to the right of the room, it's sheets were thick and made from the finest cotton in the empire, rose patterns embroidered onto the sheets, however the man who sat in the bed…He was anything but majestic.
Tyrion Ironvine sat in the bed, barely even breathing, his features haggard and pale, his once brilliant green hair browning and wilted…His right arm was ridden with soft rot, leaving it withered and covered in malignant brown patches of decay and on the left side of his face, there was a fungal infection spreading, small white veins reaching across his cheek…
"My son…" he croaked out.
"I know why you are here…I'm sorry but I had to sign the treaty…Too much life has already been lost…"
Lucas's face that was once filled with sympathy and care for his father hardened as he spoke,
"Too much life…Yet you surrender our lands to the barbarian animals who would desecrate and destroy all that grows on them? What were you thinking father?! Has the Stemblight finally started effecting your brai-"
"There you go again about the animals…Lucas…We are more akin to them then you think…We both share this galaxy with one another, so why must we kill each other?"
"But it is dishonourable to surrender to such…To such…primitives, we surpass them in every way! In culture, technology, influence, music and as warriors…In what way could we possibly be like them?" Lucas exclaimed with irritation…His eyes bearing into his father's own.
"Pride my son…Something you have too much off…We have grown arrogant…decadent and foolish…We were too obsessed with being honourable and warlike…We forgot what really matters…Nature and progress, both of which are destroyed and degraded in war to nothing but tools to kill each other with…I'm sorry Lucas, but the treaty I signed and Earthia with me with the Rusani Federation is final, nothing can change it now…Listen…I know you want to be like your ancestors…But please…it is a path of darkness and bloodshed…While you may fight and command troops like them when your time comes…You lack the heart and the willpower that being an Emperor takes…It is a strain on the mind to be Emperor Lucas…And I truly do not think that you are ready ye-"
The old Seedrian was silenced as he felt a sudden stabbing pain in his torso…He coughed, violently…The malignant, baleful Stemblight was ravaging his lungs now and it was making basic living impossible…Flecks of white sap splattered against the bed sheets...However it was his words that upset the prince more than the illness, he appeared insulted and upset.
"My entire life…I spent preparing to become Emperor father…I grew up listening to you recount stories of my grandfather and ancestors…I am ready…I have to be, if I'm not then what am I?!" Lucas exclaimed, feeling tears welling up within his eyes…He had been preparing his entire life to become emperor…How could he be unworthy, he was his father's only child! He had to be the next emperor…
However…Tyrion's next words only drove another knife into the Seedrian's heart.
"You are my son Lucas…I was foolish to think that filling your head with these dreams of leadership were a good idea…I should have been more careful raising you, both me and your mother shared that problem…We were too blinded by our pride for you too see what we were turning you into…We made you arrogant and ambitious…Too arrogant and ambitious…And that is our fault…My fault above all, I'm sorry Lucas…But I cannot allow you to become Emperor…"
Lucas squeezed his eyes shut, fighting back tears...How could he say that? He was speaking about him like he was some defective machine when he wasn't! He was…Prince Lucas, the commander of the Seedrian armies, the breaker of the Rusani and next in line for the throne…He wasn't a failure…He couldn't be a failure…He couldn't accept this.
"I'm sorry…Father…But I cannot allow you to do this…I'm everything you wanted me to be…I did all you asked, I served this empire the best I could…And I will not allow you…To rob me of my birth right…"
The Prince wrapped one of his armoured fists around the neck of his father, Emperor Tyrion Ironvine…And began to slowly tighten his grip, choking his weak, defenceless father out…The emperor's eyes looking into his sons, not filled with anger, fear or hatred…But sadness and sympathy…Lucas mouthing the words, "I'm sorry father…" before tightening his grip at last, causing a small crunching sound to be heard…
Lucas released his grip of his father's neck, watching as the old Seedrian's withered and plague ravaged body fell back onto the bed…His look of depressed sympathy forever frozen on his face…Emperor Tyrion Ironvine…Was dead.
…
"You should really rest my dear, you've just lost your father a matter of days ago and now you suffer from the burden of ruling…Please, come to bed…" Earthia whispered to her restless husband, the cool night air billowing into the bed chamber where the murder of Tyrion had occurred mere days before.
Lucas didn't acknowledge his wife as he stared out at the Imperial Palace and the city of Goldenglade below him…Lost in thought…
He was emperor now, but he didn't feel it at all…There had been no investigation into the death of his father Tyrion, putting it up to the Stemlight finally ending his life, unaware of the atrocity he had committed…He had also denied the crowning ceremony befitting that of a Seedrian emperor too…He wanted to appear humble for his subjects…Even if he was anything but…
And after that it had been work, work, work and work…he had been made to attend countless committee meetings notifying him of his new roles and responsibilities…he had been practically dragged into diplomatic talks with the Rusani ambassadors who had been more than uncomfortable at his presence and he had been stressed looking after his pregnant wife and daughter too, helping them move into their new home in the Imperial Palace…He had gained a lot more respect for his father now, being able to put up with this while suffering from a menagerie's worth of illnesses.
He stood out on the bedroom's balcony, the golden silk and floral patterned bed robe he wore billowing in the cold midnight wind…Wondering if he was truly worthy of the title of emperor after all…He had murdered his way into the position and everyone was expecting him to be some superhuman leader…Even the intense training in military logistics and statesmanship had only barely allowed him to cling on to his grasp of the throne…He had been a fool to think that this would be easy…
He felt two warm arms wrap around his midriff, and two lips press against his cheek…And a sudden warmth spread through the new emperor as he was reminded of what he still had, even if he disagreed with her decisions…
"Did you not listen to me Lucas? Come on back to bed and get some rest, you'll need plenty of it…You can sit brooding on that balcony tomorrow." Earthia said warmly, her voice dripping with sympathy for her husband.
He turned to face his wife, she stood a few inches shorter than her…Having pale peach coloured skin, powder blue eyes that glowed in the starlight and long and pale blue hair that billowed in the night wind and a large white flower on top of her head along with two long green sepals, dressed in a blue rose patterned night dress.
Lucas smiled softly at her, she always knew how to put a smile on his face…She was his beacon of light in a dark galaxy all the time…He nodded and allowed himself to be brought inside the bed chambers, closing the balcony door behind him…
The couple climbed into bed, gently embracing each other…Silence filling the void of the room for a whole minute before one of them spoke.
"They say that the Seedrian Archaeological society discovered something today, some strange artefact they're calling a Planet Egg…Apparently scientists are speculating them to be some kind of rare stone with physics defying properties, while the religious loons are declaring them to be some kind of divine artefact." Earthia whispered.
This caught the attention of Lucas who replied curiously,
"Really? What makes it physics defying?"
"They say it tampers with all plant life…Whenever somebody with conflicting emotions touched it…Something different would happen, either plants would grow around them and…empower the person holding it, or they would cause the plants to wither and die slowly…It's like the thing is tied into the ecosystem of Greengate itself, like some kind of power source for the plants around us, in fact…They say that it can potentially be used as some kind of weapon or scientific artefact…It really makes me wonder what the thing actually is." Earthia said, resting her head down on her pillow.
Lucas however was lost in thought once again, it could be used as a weapon? Something that could alter the people who it was in the proximity off? Why that sounded just perfect for what he needed…He could make the Seedrian's better…Stronger…Smarter…Fater…Everything they needed for round two with the Rusani government…Lucas grinned to himself quietly…However his scheming was interrupted once more by his wife, who snuggled up closer to him.
"Also my dear…I visited the physicians and they say that the little seed is going to be a girl…And I was wondering what we could call the little one when she arrives…Do you have any ideas?"
Lucas looked down at her and chuckled, shaking his head as he rested next to her…His eyes turning to the balcony door on the other side of the bedroom.
'I'll be sure to think of some the next time I'm thinking under the cosmos abo-"
"Oooooh! Wait, I think I have a good name for her…What if we called her…Cosmo?"
Cosmo…Lucas pondered the name, rolling it on his tongue like he was indulging in an exotic and new flavour…He already had one daughter…An adorable eight year old little goofball called Galaxina who had been put to bed hours ago…Something sounded right about the two names, a dynamic duo of sorts…Cosmo and Galaxina…It sounded perfect…He rested his head against his pillow once again, turning to the tired face of his wife and grinned softly to her.
"I love it."