Nothing Pure 1: "Flashbacks: Where it all began By me: Isn't it annoying when someone types across the screen until the space runs out like they cant find the 'enter' key or something? Well guess what! That's exactially what I'll do with my disclamer. I promise I didn't do this with the rest of the story. (Evil laugh: Mwahahahaha*choke*haha)Here is the Stuff and junk I gotta get out of the way so I'll just write it across in one big line: Sonic, Knuckles and all related characters are owned by of Sega and/ or Archie comics and/ or dic. (I'm sure you all know that I didn't invent them).I am using them without permission. I added some new villians, Akuma, Ayashi, Celebra, Code, Seraphim, Spade, plus all the others mentioned briefly) they are not coppyrite of anyone. I hope I didn't rip anyone off with this story or it's new characters. If you had this idea or any characters resembeling these that you thought of first than pleeese, pleese tell me 'cause I didn't mean to rip you off. I can make some changes if you email and ask me. If you want to use any of the characters go ahead, but, ya know, tell me first. I'm pretty good about sharing. (but this story is still my work and is © 1998 by me. That means that if you distribute it than it must be in it's origional form and you can't use it to make a buck off of. )you can email me with feedback, DEATH THREATS, bunt cake recipies, Gratuitus praise, or DEATH THREATS at: kwaii_fish@yahoo.com or page me on ICQ: 8467959 I really want feedback. (And I wouldnt say that if I didn't mean it) This story is rated 'S'. (because it sucks)There is *some* violence :o there is self mutilation :O Death :,( {Don't wory no one you like dies.} :) ...there is also...some more violence :o mild (in my opinnion) swearing :o. there is no sex >:( {shut up. I hate those sex scenes that get stuck in for no reason} >:( {LEAVE ME ALONE!} Please stay. I have violence :) and a well thought out plot with genuine emotions that makes you think and reflect on life... >:( {LEAVE ME ALONE!} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok I'll shut up now (i BASED THIS ON A ScI-FI STORY I WROTE FOR SCHOOL!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- wait, not yet (my teacher hated it 'cause it was sci-fi) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ok I will now {{{{a-hem.}}}} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The story behind the story: In an alternate reality the counterparts of the Dark Legion had an entirely different purpose and experimented with DNA, not metal, altering themselves much like the Dark Legion does but in a totally different way. They soon go so far as to create living beings from scratch. In their reality the Fire ants are at war with a race called the Snow crabs over control of the Chaos emeralds which gave powers to both races. The titanic clash between the two powerful races threatens to destroy the planet completly. The over use of magic has made most of it's surface uninhabitable. Half is engulfed in perpetual heat and flame, the other frozen to the point where hardly anything can exist. A snow crab named Metellius and a Fire ant named Athlena want to stop the war before any more dammage is done and the three major cities are destroyed. They realize that the only way to do so is to enlist the help of The Black Squadron, a group dedicated to wiping their two races from the face of the earth! The Squadron is, of course not willing to help, with the exception of one person...With their help and DNA Garoc (Kragok's alter ego) creates a powerful race of creatures with adaptations to the severe climates. He does not tell Athlena and Metellius that the Fire ants and Snow crabs will be wiped out by this army. When their mission is successful and the two races have been nearily wiped from the face of Mobius, Garoc realizes that what he has created is even more of a threat than the war. New Mobius refuses to accept the new geneticly engineered race, they launche 'Project Armegeddon' to snuff out the flame of their existance. The Black Squadron, fearing for their own safety (they believe that after their creations are destroyed than they will be too becauseof their own genetic alterations)They start a massive hunt for the mutants and track them with a vengence, capturing and torturing every one they can (as well as many ordinary Mobians with simple birth defects such as miscoloured fur or birthmarks who are not a member of The Black Squadron.) Many Mobiuns die wrongly at the hands of this project as well as at the hands of the geneticly enhaced race trying to defend themselves. Garoc feels as though his creations are his children, in a moment of compasion he decides to alter the Black Squadron's fortress. Lock the creations where the Black Squadron couldn't get them, setting traps that target only them. So that anyone with the mark of the Squadron will be, but any other mobian can just walk right in...if they can FIND the underground lair. So now, the geniticaly engineered race will be frozen, for all eternity, or until Mobius opens it's eyes and accepts them. The last thing they remember the killing, the cruelty. Seared into their minds are the immages of a thousand battered corpses belonging to the imperfect Mobians, killed by other imperfect Mobians... Dead, because of their crime of not being pure, but what is pure? At least these ones who have escaped the genocide will be safe, in the arms of icy sleep they can dream forever, and thus, find peace there because all they ever wanted was peace... And maybe mobius will offer them a second chance? But if not, than they will sleep, forever. Perhaps in their dreams they will find the peace they want.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- New zone in the Old Dark Legion Fortress. 11:00 AM ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So long since the last beginning.....so long since I've seen the light.....so long...how....How LONG has it really been?" he wondered as the the dim, familiar, green light hit his sleepy eyes. All was cloaked in deathly silence, gnawing, still, maddening quiet. The light had pierced the shell of darkness where he had existed for... so long... He felt disoriented as the thick fluid in his pod thawed and warmed. The scenes outside were distorted by a wall of water but as he lifted his head and for the first time he could see the outside, vaguely as the bottom of a merky pool yet still enough to remember. He remembered gleaming metal capsules; like the one he was in, a gleaming metal floor, a network of immaculately clean pipes running everywhere along the walls and ceiling all connect to the capsules or other machines, it seemed to be a large room with some normous, complicated, flashing machine in the center. A work of beauty and poetry and a credit to technology. There was a serene feeling that seemed to radiate here; a harmony and balance. Most of this was seen from his memory rather than his eyes. The memories that he could not conciously grasp yet seemed to come to him as tiny drops of life giving rain on a scorched desert. He became aware of the icy cold around him as it slowly faded sending chills straight down through his bones. He became aware that he was drawing stale air from a mask suspended by tubes and wires from the outside that covered his snout. He lifted a hand to touch the side of his metal shell and realized that his shoulders were being held by steel restraints as well as his hips. They were like warm, comforting hands, not meant to trap him but to protect him. He carefully moved his arm within the limitations of the restraints and scratched at the hard cold steel. He felt a great need to leave the pod, as a young one feels a need to leave it's egg or womb. This pod; This metal shell was his egg He felt a burning desire to break out, to be born. The fluid slowly started draining through a hole in the bottom of the pod and it was soon gone. The air mask and the restraints snapped open and he fell on the still damp floor of the pod. His first breaths in ages could be seen as icy clouds in the bitter cold air. As he got up and looked once again through the window. He was shocked to see a strange face, and the stranger seemed just as shocked to see him. Through the tiny window he could see that one eye of this echnida was glistening metal and he wore a gray hood. He looked vaguely like someone he once knew. "..was it? could it be? the master?...with a metal eye for some reason?...no it wasn't." He wore a tattered gray cloak sporting the familiar hood, a round, green pendant and where his left arm should have been there was a strange steel extremity with three grasping hooklike fingers. It was not the master.. "Who was it, then? who?..." Kragok drew back instantly upon seeing that face. It was like seeing the face of a ghost. a strange unnatural creature. He had not paused long enough for more than a quick glance. Those eyes staring back at him...were striking, dark red and terrifying, the first time he saw those those eyes would haunt his nightmares, yet the face seemed like the face of an innocent child. As the door of that first shiny pod began to open he wondered if there was any way to go back, to never have come here. If only he had never brought the troops back to the old base they never would have found...this...just waiting. The curiosity to explore had been just burning but now the fire was cold and dead and icy fear took over the place in his heart where the flame once burned. The pod door swung up and there was a cloud of steam, this room was colder than his pod had been; in the back of his mind he knew why, but he could grasp nothing now, all these sights and impulses, comming at him all at once like hail stones. The cool air hit his wet fur for the first time in....how long was it? He stepped out cautiously, nearly tripping as he took his first steps and surveyed the dark hall. Data on black screens in strange green letters on the giant computer controll center in the middle of the room seemed foreign yet familiar. The green glow from spherical lights hanging from the roof was practically the only light. He glanced at the line of more than a hundred large metal pods along the wall with pipes and wires filtering into them, there was also a whole wall of stacked baby sized pods beyond number and seemed to somehow know that each contained a living form like him. Then there was a sudden flash of memory......... The gray robed echidna stood in front of him, there were also a number of black robed ones hovering around the computers and a clustered semi circle seemed to be forming around him at a safe distance from him. He couldn't tell if they were all echidna, their faces were hidden for the most part but from what he could see they wore expressions of disgust and fear. The gray robbed one smiled an uneasy greeting to him (trying to mask his fear and disgust, it seemed.) As the creature stood there, soaking wet and cold in front of the strangers who had invaded his home, awakened him from blissful slumber and were now scrutinizing him, he felt simmilar pangs of fear and disgust. Their black cloaks looked familiar it seemed and he could recall wearing a similar one himself...This was the Black Squadron... the ones who had used his people for their own gains, promising them acceptance and a home when they ruled Mobius and then cast them aside like trash... Now they were back? "What do you want?" He thought, too scared to say it out loud, to angry to let it go, "What more can you possibly steel from us?" Then an eerie thought hit him... "How did they get in here if the master had set traps to keep them out? Did they harm the master? Did they... kill him? Kill him for changing his ways and protecting us? " Kragok's first instinct was to have one of his men blast it, send it back to the underworld where it belongs... but it seemed too scared to prove a threat. The shocking outward appearance seemed to foster no danger within. His troops were growing anxious waiting for something to happen, several reached nervously under their robes for their blasters. If for nothing else, only to feel the security of holding them. Listening to the uneasy silence and shuffling Kragok again regretted coming back to the old base. He had been so suprised to see it rebuilt and so different in such a short time that he wanted to waste no time in starting to explore to see what changes were made and possibly find out by whom. He should have thought why who ever had fixed all this dammage had abandoned their work once it was done... It was too late to go back, the decisions had been made. Their own curiosity had started this, there was no turning back now. It looked around at the crowd of about eight or so dark legion members. Each of them diverted their eyes as he tried to meet the stare of each one. He was an albino echidna it would have seemed from a distance, white fur and red eyes a rare occurrence in itself but his abnormalities extended beyond his pigment deficiency. Though few of the members of the dark legion had ever seen a fire ant (even from a long distance) they recognized the fur covered antenae that grew from his head could only be from the fire ant species. His two front dreadlocks looked brown but upon close inspection it could be seen that they were actually large, working jaws; fire ant jaws. On his neck, chest, and shoulders he appeared to be wearing white pearly armor but he was otherwise naked. The Armor was actually crabshell from a third species that contributed to his genetic hibreeding. His antenae tingled as he sensed the hate being thrown at him from all sides. It would not subside and the top of his skull began to throb. He was wet and cold and in miserable pain, these people would not even show him hospitiality in his own home. Who were they? Their thoughts echoed in his head like dull screams. It got to a level he could not bear. "STOP IT!" he screamed throwing up his hands. Then the fire came welling up within him. He could not control.... The dark legion started to back away... "They look nervous now... They regret messing with my people! So stupid of them to come back after what they did to us, and after what we did to them!" "Well, here's another taste of it, Black Squadron!" He screamed. Then he remembered how this spite had ..... ".......................no.................I can't do it...... I CAN'T KILL...again" he thought "I can't ...keep itin... gottakeepitin.....don't let it hit.....channel it to ....something" There was only one thing that he could think to channel it to that nothing alive would be hurt. His own pod. .He snapped his head around to face the pod, his pod, his egg. He tried desperately to keep the fire inside him but knew he would fail. With a shout he let it burst fourth from him. An explosion of flame from the pit of his stomach. He felt himself being enveloped in the fire. The pod where he ad aimed his fury was completely demolished. A smile crept onto Kragok's lips. For a moment he no longer regretted setting this creature free. It had chosen not to harm them and that meant something. If controlled he would make a valuable ally. He saw that this was only an innocent child; but one with extraordinary capabilities, if pointed in the right direction he could be the perfect weapon. But what if it was not content to only be a 'weapon' ? Who cares? Only one question remained "Who was the Black Squadron and why had the monster called them that?" (this was the second time they had herd the Black Squadron mentioned in this place. The first time had been that message that led them to this...) ...nomatter, it wasn't important now. Kragok looked around the strange room up and down the walls trying to estimate the number of capsules like this there were. Such power! He couldn't wait to see what was in them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 hours earlier: (WARNING: Flashback within a flashback comming on... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Julie-Su had been practically shoed away from the scene earlier that morning. It was a cool, cloudy day with a curtain of wet fog settling near the ground, yet unusually warm for the time of year. The floating island was at the northern peak of it's flight and well into it's two month snowy season. Only the west of the island ever froze. The Sandopolis, Lava Reef zones as well as the zones close to them were ice free. In the Fortress Zone a cool, depressing shade of blue-gray seemed to envelop everything and coat it all with gloom as sad lonely flakes of white peppered the ground. A dreery sight, although the Fortress Zone was never all that cheery anyway. The island, usually beautifully lush and green was cloaked in gray, misty darkness as if it were dressed for a funeral. Julie-Su didn't mind this kind of weather but didn't care much for it either. She knew there would be more snow later and everything would be glistening, crystal and pure white. There was a certain calmness in the air that hung in the wet mist and a certian feeling of rejuvination in the tiny droplets of frost. Everything was still and quiet like a refreshing dreamfilled sleep, but it also made her very tired. "*Yawn*" She sighed heavily. She was drowsey that day and didn't feel like doing much of anything, it didn't help that the Dark legion had been up and about in the wee morning hours back at the old base. A few hours before in the Sandopolis Zone Dark Legion camp she had awakened to the farmilliar call of a loud buzzing allarm. It had startled her at first, like waking up to a fire allarm. After a split second of groggy confusion she recognized it as the the call to assemble and it would ring on and off for a full ten minuits. Deep in the pit of her stomach there was an uneasy, sick, forboding feeling. Like something bad was going to happen to her that day... Ignoring the spin-cycle washing machine that someone had turned on inside her she tossed the covers from her cot in a disheveled pile in the ground. "What a mess!" she thought looking at the tent in disgust. Julie-Su didn't own much but what she did have was scattered on the ground in her tent. She had no place to put anything, much like the rest of the Dark legion. Since they had been forced to move into camps (after the base was demolished) everyone complained that the living conditoins had been severily downgraded. She stood weerily and put on one of her sniper's mittens that was next to her. She steped into her large, dark green boots that sat by the edge of her cot and walked over to the corner where she had thrown her black robe. As she picked it up a tear almost came to her eye. Every time she saw that robe she saw the life she had wasted... The bell rang again and she put it on in a mad rush. Only two more rings and she would have to be in the meeting circle. She tossed items about angerily looking for her other mitten. The bell rang once more and she found it next to a tool box with a shiny lid. She paused and checked her reflection in the lid. She Yawned and wearily noticed that the pink face staring back at her seemed tired, nausious and somewhat older. Bionic braids flailing behind her she rushed out to the meeting place as the last warning bell rang, just in time to be the last one there. She hastily pulled up her black hood to cover her head. Everyone shot 'late' glances at her under their ounhoods. She roled her violet eyes at them as if to say "I WAS on time. I got here before the bell stoped ringing." Up on the podium Kragok cleared his throat, and everyone looked up attentivly. Julie-Su couldn't see him very well through the croud but she didn't care (he was ugly anyway, she thought to herself) his loud, clear voice could be herd well from where she was. " I asume that we are ALL getting tired of using these primative tents as a base of opperation and shelter?" The croud yelled in agreement. One good quality Kragok posessed, she grudgingly admitted, was that he was an excelent public speaker. He was manipulitave and could make you change your mind without your even knowing it....That was how Julie-Su and so many others had been led into this army. She had lately become disalusioned and wanted out. After meeting a guardien (who was SUPPOSED to be their worst enemy) and finding out just how 'unevil' they really were she bagan to question everything that she had once been made to believe. The others in the Dark Legion were still influenced by Kragok, they would follow him anywhere it seemed. "I have worked out a plan for salvaging the old headquarters. The base that was destroyed ..." Julie-Su tuned out of this speech and looked at the sky. The sun could be seen as a dim circle covered by a sheet of grey mist. Kragok babbled on about the "accursed guardiens" and "Our rightful place on Mobius" but she couldn't listen, she felt much too sick. The sinking feeling that came to her when she had thought of Knuckles and the freedom fighters. Everything turned black for a few seconds and she felt dizzy and faint. The next few seconds she spent in a state of limbo between pain and sleep. She shook it off in time to hear the last of Kragok's adress, "...It ought to be safe by now." Kragok finished. "He seemes to be implying that any danger would just go away if we left it alone long enough...Safe from what? "Juli-Su wondered. She couldn't think of any danger that would just go away. She had thought that the main safety concern was debris or exposed electrical wires. The way Kragok made it sound it was as if Knux was still waiting back there to get him if he tried to come back. Everything was packed quickly and stuffed into knapsacks. The tents were torn down quickly and loaded into the vehicals. And so with the sun s till low in the sky and bearily visible behind the clouds they set off in double file lines precieded by a wall of tanks as if this were a march into war and not simpily a hike back to their old stomping grounds. The army's black flying machines hovered over them like prowling ravens. With each step closer they came to their destination the sinking feeling in Julie-Su's stomach got a little worse. By the end of it Julie-Su's miserableness gave way to near terror. All she wanted to do was get out of this line and run away. They soon reached the location of one of the base's old secret enterences, a fake tree. Kragok pulled one of the branches and opened the farmilliar passage way. The enterance was an elevator that would only carry one person at a time. Since there was supposed to be no power in the old base Julie-Su wondered if they really expected an elevator to work. It did work however, the false tree's trunk slid open and Kragok sent a scout down first to test for safety (naturally). The scout emerged safely but...shaken, what Julie-su could see of his face showed terror and suprize. She knew that there was something wrong. He whispered something to Kragok. She watched his face grow angry in disbelief and strained to overhear their conversation, "If you're lying....." Kragok threatened. "I assure you, sir. I am not! I ........saw it myself!....restored..." "Completly restored?" he straightened his tattered grey cloak and looked around at the croud to scan for observers. His piercing metal eye met Julie-Su's and she looked away yet still continued to listen. "Yes.!" said the scout. There was more said but it was too low to make out, Julie-Su couldn't afford to be caught listening so she didn't try, she only watched what was going on. Kragok motioned for a few soldures to come over. they talked privatly for a moment as a tired Julie-Su tried unsuccesfully to hear. Then he told them to go down the elivator and one by one they went with Kragok last. He remained to give some brief orders. "Now hear this! I want you all to remain here and are not, under any circumstances to follow us. If you are needed I will send for you. That is all." The trunk door slid closed and she watched him disapear through the grey mist. Julie-Su hated secrets like this. Now it would drive her crazy wondering what was going on. They had siad something about the base being...restored? That would explain the elivator working. Who would restore the Dark Legion's fortress? How could they fix something so big in a matter of months when it had been sabataged so that it would be impossible to bring online? The remaining legioneers and her began to play a sort of gambeling game with hola cubes. It was a verriation of an old tribal native game where stones with one white side and one black side were tossed. This was diffeent because there were more colours and it required skill to get the right combinations. Julie-Su used to love playing this game. She was quite good at it, but she didn't feel like it now. She hardly ever felt like being with her follow legion members anymore. They asked her to play a few hands but as she took the cubes to throw the bad feeling became stronger and she could hardly even hold the cubes without her hands shaking. " I don't feel so hot," She said passing them along to the one beside her. She wasn't lying at all when she said that she wanted to get away from that place, there was something bad about to happen, She had never been so sure of anything, " I think I'll go lie by that tree or something." One echidna gave a soft chuckle; more of a snort really, but Julie-Su let it go. She made her way over to a big tree and sat on the cool, wet ground leaning against it's thick, mossy trunk and tried to shake the sickness from her. She knew that she wouldn't feel better until she had left that place. She looked at the Dark legion. They were wrapped up in their game right now or in some other activity and nobody would probably notice if she snuck off. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- To say that Kragok was merely surprised to find the base restored would be the king of all understatements. It would be like saying that that space was just 'big' or the sun is just 'hot'. He had thought that rebuilding would be a long, drawn-out process and that even then it would never be one third as good as it used to be. Yet here he stood, with everything clean and new and,(hard to believe, ) better than before. There seemed to be a lot of effort gone into making the place look attractive, more homelike yet still technical looking enough for Kragok's taste. The walls were paneled with shining silver steel with mate black metal in a diamond shapes overlaying. In the center of each large diamond was a light fixture that looked like a mirrored triangle facing down with another triangle over it. Each one emitted a strange green light. The members of the Dark legion wandered around down dark halls bathed in the eerie green light feeling somewhat mystified. The air was damp yet as fresh as outside and everything seemed more alive in here. Fear may have held them back but curiosity and wonder beckoned them on. No one said a word and the silence was violated only by the humming of machines...only it didn't sound like any machine he had ever herd; not a whir or hum but more....of a breathing sound... The dim green glow was soothing yet it made them anxious, there was almost something...'alive' about the light. This place was cold and metallic but it had a certain softness to it that they would have found comforting had they not been so on edge. The whole place had a living harmonious flow, as of it were not a machine they were in, but the body of an animal. This idea made them more nervous. Kragok began to wonder again who could have done this. This was a mechanical masterpiece. What put him on edge was not so much the question of who had done this, but 'where were they?'. Why would they build this work of art and then leave it? The only solution that he could think of seemed too obvious (and to frightening) to mention, he didn't want to believe it but he realized that he must consider the possibility (and it seemed to be the same possibility that the others had come upon) that the builders were still here. But where? Their question would soon be answered. The layout of the base was much the same as before yet a bit smaller. The band reached one of the doors to the Great Hall and cautiously opened it. The walls, floor and ceiling were all bare. The hall itself was much larger than before, but it was totaly vacent. There was nothing there, it simply seemed to be a big, empty room with no purpose....or a hidden purpose that he was not meant to know... Upon entering the first thing everyone noticed was how bitterly cold it was. They could see their breath as white clouds escaping their lips. "It's like a morgue in here." someone remarked while rubbing his arms for warmth. Kragok shot a glance at him icier than any weather, His observation had made everyone a little morenervous. Nervous because they had all been thinking the same thing but to hear it mentioned made it seem more real... The same green lights as were in the rest of the building hung from the ceiling with a large, white one in the center of the room. There was one fixture with a green light on each side of the door low enough for an echidna to reach, unlike the ones in the halls. Kragok became quite curious all of a sudden about the lights now and crept over to the fixture as the rest stood paralyzed in the doorway. With his right arm he reached in the top of the fixture and fished around for the light source. Grasping a round bulb about the size of a grapefruit he prepared to unscrew it and discovered that it was not anchored in at all. He pulled out the spherical bulb and discovered that it was still glowing brightly, independant from any power source. As he tried to pull his left hand away from the fixture he realized that it had become magnetized, he struggled to yank his arm away. The glowing sphere fell to the floor and shattered. The fluid inside seeped out and remained to glow brightly but unnoticed. As Kragok struggled with his arm a rectangular section of the wall attached to the light fixture became loose and Kragok pulled it off. Becoming free of the wall the light fixture demagnetized and fell to the floor with a loud clang that echoed through the hall. "A fake panel?" he laughed at the simplicity of it. The others laughed nervously. Under the piece of fake wall was a complicated set of controls. A folded slip of paper fell out and fluttered to the floor at his feet. It was yellowed with age; the first sign they had seen that anything here showed age, it all appeared so shiny and new so far. He picked it up carefully as if it would crumble to dust if not handled gently, and unfolded it to read. The Dark legion members crept over to read it as well they crowded around. "What does it say, master?" "It appears to be a code, no, a sequence. I think that this is telling us to type this sequence into the wall computer." He wasn't sure exactly what would happen when this code was entered. "Type this sequence." He commanded the nearest officer handing him the paper. The timid furre obeyed and typed in the code, slowly while reading. When he was done he stepped back. The screen activated and displayed a message, the words were accompanied by a sweet female voice,sincere and pleading: To whoever finds us here I bid that you may set us free. My master does not know that I write this so I do so in haste. Though I have never questioned him or his will, or the will of Metellius before, I must question it now. They have sealed us away here to await the end of Armageddon and hidden our chamber from those who would seek to do us harm. But I have disabled all the traps and set my own so you would be sure to find this pannell. I have set up a program to guide you through the activation of "The First". Once this is task is complete you will know what to do. In return for our freedom we offer you true loyalty, all we have to give. Kind mobians we beg you, for the sake of justice... let us be free. For those of you who would know me: My name is Code. I am "The Third" End message" "Third and First what?" one of the officers wondered aloud. The screen went on to display a screen with another message unaccompanied by the voice, "Program: Hit the the white button, the red button, the purple, the green, the gold, the red again, the blue, the green again and the white again in sequence and pull the second lever. Follow this by hitting 'energize'...." "Would it be wise to do this?" "Silence. I'll decide what's wise and what's not." "This would defiantly NOT be the smart thing to do," He thought. The builders seemed to be leading them along...but to what? What was that message? There was no 'Armageddon' that had herd of taking place on Mobius.... Where did this place come from. It was too weird a mystery to leavealone and too late to go back. The message seemed to say that this woman and many others were trapped somewhere in here. This raised the question of why were they trapped? What caused this Armageddon? Something about that voice made him trust and the sincerity of her plea almost hit a soft spot, but even the thought of someone crying out for justice was dwarfed by the thought that the mysterious builders had now communicated with them. The builders now had a name (and a number). They had also promised eternal loyalty to those who would set them free, "To think, All the skill and intelligence of those who had built this at our disposal," He crooned to himself, "....And even if it is a trick or a lie, they can be dealt with (i hope). This big a risk must have some real reward. I don't care about the consequences anymore!" Kragok himself punched in the sequence of colored buttons the message had instructed. Upon hitting the white button everything, except the screen he was working on seemed to go dead. There was a brief pause in the background noise as the whole compound seemed to simply quit on him. He felt as though he had stopped time. He hit the red button and a different voice said *All energy diverted to main computer initiation sequence*. This voice was more like the voice one would expect from a computer, impersonal and dead. By the time he finished typing the sequence the whole place was humming like crazy. He pulled the lever and everything started to rumble. The Legion felt as if the floor was trying to pull itself out from under their feet. Unable to keep their balance they tumbled to the violently trembling earth. "RUN AWAY!!!" one yelled. "HOW?!!!" The walls began to slide into the floor, reviling hidden chambers full of wires and pipes, other computers, and some sort of strange pods... The terrified Legion gaped at this in awe, but the best was yet to come... Those further towards the middle of the room could now feel the floor sliding away as a huge, round section of the floor in the middle of the room began to part with a dull grinding sound they quickly ran ,crawled or were dragged to the edge. There was only about twelve meters walking space between the wall and the edge of the open pit. Kragok and two of the others ventured to look inside and saw, slowly rising up through this gaping hole a miraculous wall of light and steel... and a machine; bathed by the blinding light. As it rose there was loud grinding sound the floor shook even more. Everyone drew back. It ascended steadily as Kragok gawked with a wide open jaw, unable to hide the mystified wonder on his face. No one could tell just how high it would go before it stopped but the ceiling in this room was higher than three stories... The machine rose as majestically as the sun over the ocean, but with an eerie, intriguing quality. When the sun was rising you would always know what it would look like, and what it would be when it was finished, but this was more unpredictable, almost surreal and seemingly with no end. ... A large cylinder appeared to be the base for the framework. It did not appear to be grafted together in any way; but rather it looked as if it were a solid, molded mass. On top of it were a number of cylinders and prism shapes with screens and controls and screens on them seeming free of any sign of bolting or welding of separate pieces. There was a network of pipes coming out of it everywhere in a tangled sort of order. The pipes all seemed to be coated in some fine mesh and were releasing some sort of steam or smoke. There were what seemed like stairways and platforms built into the structure and more of the strange, green light globes on the walls of it. There were glass tubes filled with a thick gel-like liquid and elaborate glass cylinders at the base there was perfect harmony in the construction It was beautiful. The wires pipes and tubes were all connected in someway to the capsules that lined the hidden walls, this whole machine was linked to everything, it must be the central control system. A wonder of technology, a miracle. Kragok licked his lips as he gazed at it and braced himself against the floor as he watched it come up. The ground was still shaking, more violently, Many had begun to wonder if they would survive. There was a jarring shock of impact that caused the Legion members to be tossed into the air for a brief second. The Awesome metal giant had settled. Kragok brought himself to his feet with a certain air of dignity, the others groaned as they pulled themselves to their feet, they appeared shaken by the experience and timid. Some did not rise at all but continued to brace themselves to the ground, they were shivering, not because of the cold but from fear. As Kragok looked up and caught his first real glimpses of the stunning.... whatever it was .... he stood breathless and marveled at it. For those who worshiped technology it was like seeing God. The Control system seemed to be activating something, They herd the sweet serene voice again, only it was more mechanical this time, less personal. "*Sequence has been engaged.* *Awakining sequence initiated for "The First"*" A red light on one of the capsules along the wall lit. Kragok walked over to it and eyed it suspiciously. On the metal capsule there was a small panel with a computer screen and and keyboard as well as some engraved writing and symbols. The computer screen gave a temperature reading of absolute zero inside the pod. "*Increcing core temperature..... -273.5 degrees celsius.....-200 degrees...-116...*" it continued the countdown with another reading at 3 second intervals. "How is it warming up so fast?!" Kragok wondered with calm amazement while the scattered legion desperately fumbled about not sure at all what they were doing, just panicking. "*....0 degrees ..................10 degrees celcius.....target reached..." The computer program connected with electrodes attached to the subject to awaken him, it began feeding air in through his mask, he should regain counciousness. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- alternate mobius 10 years ago:(fashback in a flashback within a flashback!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- When Code had programed this she had done it in secret, the master; the creator had meant for them to sleep until the world had come to accept them (forever maybe. how long until people will accept something so un natural as them; after they had proven that they were unworthy of trust. They were venerable then and were led astray by the evil Black Squadron but this would not happen again... if they only had a second chance). The first to be created would be the first to be awakened, then he would awaken her sister "The Second" then herself... She hoped that her brother would know what to do when he woke because the full extent of her program was to wake him. After that everything was in his hands, but he was reliable. He would know what to do. And this is where it all ended, and where it all began.....