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SatAm Fanfic Series: The Endless Struggle.

Ver: 1.0 1/20/2011

By: Hakuzo NightFox

Legal: This is a just for fun Fan-fic, I do not own any of the Characters belonging to Sega as they are copyrighted to Sega. I only own Hakuzo NightFox, and Bayne DayFox. Ivy MistFox belongs to herself.

Warning: Contains minor language.

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Chapter 3: Wayward Encounters

Lazar sips on some herbal tea as he watches Hakuzo's progress on a magical viewing portal. Lazar is amazed at how well these two foxes adapted to their new abilities in such a sort time.

"So my old enemy, I see you found a couple of new Pawns to do your work now?" A voice suddenly breaks the silence.

"Nagaus? How on Mobius did you get in here, past all my barriers?" Lazar asks the mutated spell weaver.

"Relax, I'm not here to cause harm, not today at least." Nagaus replies with a wheeze. "I simply come here for a treaty of sorts."

Lazar narrows his eyes as he evaluates the Sorcerer, not liking the sound of this 'agreement'. "What is it you propose?"

"Simple really, As you know, things are in motion. The world of Mobius is changing. Robotnik will no longer rule these lands anymore, and I will make sure that none stand in my way." Nagaus pauses for a moment, and strokes his beard with his crab like hand. "Side with me, and I will not cause you any harm. Ignore this, and you will have a war on your hands."

Lazar shakes his head. "I no longer follow the same path I used to. I will not side myself with someone that seeks the destruction of the planet."

"Consider this my final offer. Join me, and you will be spared. Stand against me, you will fall!" Nagaus states simply, unimpressed at Lazar's words.

"Our business is concluded here. Leave now and never return to this place!" Lazar replies rising from his chair.

"Fine, have it your way. You will not like the consequences." Nagaus turns around and promptly leaves the way he came. "Oh, and for you sake, you watch those foxes closely, or you may never see them alive again."

* * *

Near the outskirts of the Great Swamp, A black fox roams around looking for a object he was sent to find. The fox slowly picks his way through the overgrowth, with is favorite antique handguns used during the Great War.

He avoids gas pockets and quicksand in the boggy area. Each step has to be carefully tested, so that he isn't sucked into one of the random natural traps. The local wildlife continues making the usual chatter, as the fox approaches ever closer to his destination.

He stops for a moment with his target in sight. The fox catches sight of a rat entering into the ruins he was sent here to explore. "Oh Hell no! Why is Wranz here?" The fox takes off at full sprint wanting to confront his old associate.

"Wranz get your ass back here this instant!" The fox continues to curse and yell the whole way while chasing after the rat. The fox keeps this up the while time worried that Wranz is there to cut into his profits.

The rat stops suddenly in front of a stone door. The fox runs forward and slams the rat against the door. "Why in the hell are you here Wranz? This is my assignment."

"B--Bayne.... I didn't know you where sent here also... Robotnik sent me here to find an artifact here." Wranz says through Bayne's grip around his throat.

Bayne lets go of Wranz as he curses even more. "Robotnik told me that I was the only one sent here. That fat jelly roll is going to pay for this!"

"Seems Robotnik didn't think you could pull this off by yourself........" Wranz replied.

"Well, my fee just doubled!" Bayne continues to fume as he digs out a pocket communicator. Soon the face of Robotnik fills up the small screen. "What kind of joke are you playing here Robotnik? You told me that this was a solo job!"

Robotnik chuckles, "My dear DayFox, I received new data about the ruins and this job requires the skill sets of Wranz. "

"My fee for this job has doubled then Robotnik, I don't need him holding me back." Bayne replies to the Tyrant.

"Money is of no object AS long as I get that artifact!" Robotnik replies with an evil grin. "Get me what I want, and you will get your payment."

Bayne nods as he turns off the communicator. "So be it, but stay out of my way Rat!" Bayne takes a moment to inspect the door, trying to figure out how to open it.

"For a Fox you really don't know jack about getting in someplace. Step aside fluff tail" Wranz pushes Bayne aside and within a few moments, the door slowly opens. A musty smell assaults the two's senses.

Bayne grabs a pair of torches and lights them. He hands one of them to Wranz and they proceed down the entrance of the stone ruins. "So I heard some bitch vixen jacked your jaw hmm?" Bayne asks the Wranz as they proceed deeper into the ruins.

"Yeah... Nagaus had to use his Voodoo magic to fix my jaw. That bitch really knows how to fight." Wranz replies as he rubs his jaw remembering what happened.

The corridor opens into a lager room filled with sand. The light of the torches barely light up a fraction of the room. The sound of gears interlocking fills the chamber as the two Mobians enter the room. Sand falls from the ceiling like an hourglass, and the filters down into a hidden storage area. The Sand is ever flowing like a fountain and never completely fills the room.

"A sand fountain? Who in their right mind would do such a thing?" Bayne says out loud as he walks across a stone catwalk leading across the sands.

"Maybe you rival Hakuzo? I heard he likes earthy things." Wranz replies as he walks as close to the center of the stone catwalk as he can.

Bayne chuckles, "Yeah that sounds like something he would do." The two continue their useless banter as they proceed. One of them stepped on a hidden pressure plate that started to cause the room to completely fill up with sand. Within moments the path they came through was completely blocked up with sand.

Wranz holds his torch close to the sand, "Looks like we can't go back that way." Wranz was afraid of touching the sand in-case it would start flooding into this new corridor. Bayne didn't like the idea of being trapped inside of this place.

The short corridor opens up into a large cylinder shaped room. The walls where smooth and the middle of the room was circle made out of black stone. No visible openings or anything else was noticeable.

The two enter the room and look around lost. "Well this is just dandy. What on Mobius are we supposed to do now?" Bayne asks looking around the room.

Wranz sighs, "I see Robotnik didn't tell you any sort of information. You see the black stone here? It is connected to a mechanism that will spin the room around and take us to another part." Wranz pauses a moment, "But, there is also a trap here too. We have to stop the room at the exact right moment."

Bayne crosses his arms. "Fine, you take care of that then." Bayne was becoming highly annoyed that he wasn't told any of this information. Bayne continues to fume over this as the room suddenly starts to spin rapidly. "What the!" Was all Bayne could hell out as he was flung to the outer wall of the room.

* * *

Hakuzo knees on the ground, his palm out flat. He feels a pulse like energy in the earth. It feels very familiar, somehow like it's a part of him. The energy feels so familiar but he can't quite place it yet.

Hakuzo continues to concentrate, trying to figure out where the pulse is coming from. The energy has a feminine feel to it. Hakuzo's eyes snap open once he is sure he is facing the direction the impulses is coming from.

Hakuzo sprints at full speed heading toward the source of the energy. He only pauses once in a while to make sure that he is still going in the right direction. The impulses start to get stronger and stronger as he runs on.

Hakuzo stops suddenly as he sees a sight he thought he would never see again. His own sister was passed out on the ground in front of him. She is breathing, but remains unresponsive. So many emotions start to flood into Hakuzo sending him staggering to his knees. He has longed for so long to see his sister once again, and alive.

Hakuzo knows he has to get her to safety. He gently picks up his sister, noticing how light she is. He takes note that it appears she hasn't eaten well in days. Hakuzo heads back to Knothole at a slow pace wondering how he can revive his sister.

* * *

Bayne wakes up after the room stops spinning. The impact to the wall caused the dark colored fox to pass out. Wranz stands over him with a smirk on his face. "Rise and shine sleepy head. We got a lot more ground to cover."

Bayne snorts in reply and dusts himself off. Bayne grumbles to himself as he follows Wranz further into the ruins. After a long trek the two finally arrive at the room that houses the artifact.

Bayne starts to walk forward but Wranz arm blocks his progress. "What's the idea here?"

Bayne asks angerly.

"Stop you fool! This area is booby trapped just the same as the rest of the ruins." Wranz says as he carefully looks around the area. "There is a guardian here also. We have to defeat it to obtain the artifact."

"Just something else to annoy me, Oh well, at least I won't be bored." Bayne replies as he cocks back the hammer of his hand guns. He's been itching to shoot something all day long and is excited to finally get to do it.

Wranz ignores the trigger happy fox as he slowly walks around the perimeter of the room. The shape of the room is mostly circular except for a small indent in the rock surface. He looks carefully at the pedestal the artifact is housed on. Then he takes a closer look at the artifact.

The artifact looks like a coppery sphere ball. Upon further inspection the ball has lines and symbols cut into it. It is not quite a perfect sphere, as the very bottom of it is flat. The surface of the sphere is perfectly smooth.

Wranz places his hand on the sphere, but as soon as his hand comes in contact the pedestal. Wranz dangles in the air, while holding onto the lip of the pedestal. He loses his grip and falls to the ground squarely on his butt.

The pedestal rises up into the ceiling out of reach of the two Mobians. The wall that has an indent slides open revealing the guardian of the ruins. The creature lets out a roar and charges straight at Wranz and Bayne.

* * *

A groan is escapes Ivy as she starts to stir. Ivy stretches as she thinks she hears her brothers voice. That can't be right...last I remember... I was in the forest. Memories flood Ivy's mind as she feels she is about to pass out again. "Kuzo....." Ivy whispers as she passes back out.

A turtle wearing a white coat enters back into the room as soon he heard Ivy stirring. Hakuzo follows after at the mention of his name. "I..Ivy?" Hakuzo asks.

"Sorry Hakuzo, she already passed back out." The Turtle replies as he checks Ivy over. "She is still a bit dehydrated, and it looks like she hasn't ate much for a long time."

Hakuzo's face drops at the fact that his sister sill unconscious. The turtle frowns at Hakuzo, "I'm sorry about what happened to your sister. She still needs time to rest."

Hakuzo let's out a sigh and continues to frown. He has so many thoughts of everything that has transpired so far, so many things to catch up on and so many things to share. Hakuzo has been waiting for many years to see his sister is safe, and now that he found her again, he has to wait even longer.

He resigns and returns back to his home to rest and collect his thoughts. Hakuzo sits down on his sofa and closes his eyes for a moment. He was only intending to rest for a moment but he falls sleep.

* * *

Mist swirls around the twilight of the forest. The trees are illuminated with an eerie glow as the full moon casts a sickly green light over everything. Ivy is standing in the middle of it all. Lost and confused as to where she is.

Ivy can sense two different people. One that is very familiar to her and the other dark and much more sinister. Her fear starts to increase as the forest seems to grow darker. Ivy bolts into a dead run, fear completely encompassing her being.

"Calm down, and relax. This isn't real." A voice calls into her mind, also familiar but somehow forgotten. Ivy stops her run, and looks around. She walks up to the bank of a small lake, as a power ring floats up through the water and hovers in the air.

The ring flies off toward Ivy's outstretched hand, and floats a few inches above her paw. A new energy fills Ivy and she feels a new strength. The mist starts to clear some revealing a Fox wearing blue trimmed armor, wielding a sword. In front of the Fox is a misshapen creature with a lobster claw on one hand and a horn on his head.

Ivy recognizes the stance the Fox is standing in. "Ha...Hakuzo is that you?" Ivy asks the other Fox slowly approaching. The Fox holds out his arm signaling Ivy to stop. Ivy stops suddenly realizing the danger of the creature her brother is fighting.

"Ivy, stay back... Nagaus wants to steal away your power." Hakuzo relays to his sister as he holds the sword in front of him in a mid-guard.

Nagaus laughs maniacally, "Now I can take care of both of you at once!" Nagaus' clawed hand shots out towards Hakuzo, but lands only where the Fox was standing. Hakuzo counter attacks with a ball of FoxFire thrown at Nagaus' face.

Nagaus feels the impact of the FoxFire, feeling like hot lava was just chucked at his face. He claws at his face, trying to get the burning sensation to stop. Nagaus roars out and launches a wave of solidified darkness at Hakuzo but it stops in the middle of the air.

Ivy steps forward glowing with a golden energy. The attack reverses its self and slams into Nagaus' chest. He roars out in pain then suddenly disappears. Lazar arrives at the next moment, causing Ivy to recoil backwards. "w-who are you?" Ivy asks.

"I am Lazar, Technomage of Mobius. Nagaus is after you and your bother. Contained within both of you is a power far grater than Nagaus can dream of. He wishes to take away that power and use it against Mobius." Lazar states as he approaches Ivy. "You, Ivy MistFox, have a vast amount of untapped magic within your blood. Learn from your brother and use it well. It may save both of your lives one day."

Lazar fades away into the mist, leaving Ivy and Hakuzo to the darkness of the forest. Ivy looks down at the power ring in her hand, and closes her eyes.

* * *

Ivy's eyes snap open. She groggily looks around, taking note of her being in a new location. The last thing she remembers was running through the forest. She looks around with her eyes still blurry. As they start to focus she can tell she is in some sort of hospital.

Ivy tries to sit up too quickly and gets dizzy nearly passing out again. "Mergh.... Where am I?" She gently lies back down, resting. She hasn't ate much in the past few days and is still in a weaken state.

The Turtle enters back into the room after hearing Ivy's question. "You are in Knothole my dear, your brother found you in the woods and carried you all the way back here." The doctor starts checking Ivy's vitals and making sure everything is ok. "You appear to be rather anorexic at the moment, you'll be fine after you get some something to eat and time to rest." The doctor has one of the nurses bring Ivy some nourishment and goes about checking on the rest of his patents.

Ivy is helped up into a sitting position and slowly starts to eat. Her mind is still clouded after all the events that have transpired and she still feels confused. She relaxes a bit as her surrounding start to feel safe, unlike when she was on the run for most of her life.

* * *

Hakuzo falls out of his sofa, hitting his muzzle on the ground and waking up with a start. The cause was a knocking on his door woke him suddenly. ".......ow.....", is all the Kitsune could say as he picks himself up off of the ground.

Hakuzo shakes his head and answers the door. Sally was waiting on the other side of the door. "Your sister is a wake now. I'd figure you wanted to visit with her. I'll be going with you, as there are some matters we must discuss about her staying in knothole or not."

"Hmm... I'm not sure if Ivy would agree to stay here. She has been running most of her life, and she may not want to stay here." Hakuzo replies unsure how his sister would react.

The two walk in silence to the knothole's hospital hut. Hakuzo continues to think over the dream he had. The armor and sword felt so familiar. He has never seen either one of these before, but they felt so real. He also thinks about the power ring that Ivy used. Only Sonic is supposed to be able to use the power of the ring. Sonic's uncle Chuck, created them to be specifically tied into his DNA. So how could his sister harness the power, maybe Hakuzo could do it the same.

Sally and Hakuzo are taken back to where Ivy is recovering at and doctor explains a few things to them before they enter. Both enter into the room, and Ivy immediately looks up to here Brother. "Hakuzo..... Thanks, for saving me... I don't know what would have happened to me if you didn't find me."

Hakuzo sits down in a chair near his sister, "I had some help. I could feel your energy through the earth its self. I followed that energy and found you passed out. So I carried you here straight away."

Sally nods in confirmation. "Hakuzo brought you here right away and the doctor took care of you straight away. Once you recover, what are your plans? You are more than welcome to stay here in Knothole." Sally tells Ivy about how Knothole can sustain any number of refugees and the plenty of room they have. Sally hopes that the vixen will stay in Knothole and become a Freedom Fighter.

Ivy considers this offer, for so long she has been alone, roaming the forests unsure where her next meal will come from. Here, had everything she could ever need, a warm place to stay, and plenty of food to eat. She knows she is welcomed here, but she also doesn't want to feel like she is freeloading either. "I don't know.... I don't want to be a burden to you guys..."

"You are no burden Ivy. You are fully welcome here; we can always use another hand to help deal with Robotnik." Sally gently places a hand on Ivy's shoulder, "Your bother has been worried about you ever since he brought you here, and I know it would make Hakuzo happy if you stay here in our village."

Ivy thinks over everything thoroughly, she really doesn't want to live out in the wild for the rest of her life. At least here, she can make it without having to steal just to survive. "I... need time to think about it. Given my current condition though, I'm not going anywhere." Ivy replies, hoping that her words will suffice for now.

Hakuzo just sits there silently lost in his own thought. There's so much that he wants to catch up with, but he knows that his sister still needs rest. The silence is awkward, but Hakuzo continues to remain silent unsure how to respond to this situation.

Sally seems to sense this uneasiness, and decides it best to politely excuse herself from the picture. "I have some matters to attend to, Hakuzo, you can fill in your sister about life in Knothole." Sally promptly walks away and Hakuzo only nods in response.

After a few more minutes, Ivy breaks the silence. "Kuzo, I what to thank you for saving me. I don't know what would have happened if you didn't find me when you did......."

"It's ok Ivy. You are my sister after all, I'm glad I was able to help you." Hakuzo replies his feeling mixed between sadness for not being around to help his sister, and happiness for finally seeing his sister alive still.

Hakuzo explains a bit of Knothole's layout to Ivy, telling her where to find anything she may need. He tells her about the water mill used to produce electricity for the village and some of the other various aspects of living in Knothole. Once Hakuzo explained these things he left to allow his sister some more time to rest.

* * *

A living statue charges forward at Bayne and Wranz, it has a razor sharp beak and skin made out of stone. It's large wings expand outwards as enters into the room, giving it the form of a Griffon. The door it came out of slides shut with a loud bang, sending dust flying into the air.

"How the heck am I supposed to defeat a living statue with no weapon?" Wranz says suddenly becoming very scared for his life.

"Hrmph!" Bayne unholsters his semi-automatic pistols and starts unloading shots into the gargoyle. Each impact into the stone skin of the creature causing chips of stone to fly about. The gargoyle doesn't even seem to notice the numerous holes. It continues to charge forward, heading straight for Wranz.

Wranz attempts to retreat but he trips backwards and falls to the ground. The Griffon heads straight to the downed Rat and attempts to peck him. As the gargoyle starts to strike, part of its beak flies off due to Bayne hitting a weak-spot in the stone.

"Hah, not so tough now without a beak eh bird brain?" Bayne insults as he becomes too confident. The Griffon smacks one of its wings into Bayne sending him flying. Wranz took this distraction to scurry out of the way of the stone bird and looks around for something he can use as a weapon.

Wranz looks around the room desperately but it appears to be completely clear of any sort of weapons or anything of use. He carefully presses himself against the wall, while trying to find some sort of hidden panel. His searching was cut short as the Griffon charges at him again, with part of its beak missing; it easier to dodge the creature's pecks.

Bayne jumps back up after being knocked down and starts unloading more rounds into the creature. He changes out to his last clips and continues to fire at the creature. The Gargoyle starts chasing after Bayne again giving Wranz a chance to start looking around for anything that could be hidden in the room, anything from a weapon to a possible trap.

The Griffon slashes its wing at Bayne but he barely dodges it in time. He unloads the rest of his bullets into the creature but the creature continues it attack. Bayne holsters his empty weapons and starts running away like a scared rabbit.

The Gargoyle chases after Bayne as he runs laps around the room. Wranz went back to looking for some hidden nook while Bayne was the distraction. Wranz's hand runs over apart of the wall that had a slightly different texture than the surrounding wall. With a quick press part of the floor opens up revealing stone spikes. Only small catwalks remain.

Bayne almost falls into one of the pits but was able to keep his balance. "Well I guess I was able to learn something from that slacker Hakuzo." The Griffon nimbly flies into the air, and avoids falling into the spikes.

"Shoot!, This is no good. Bayne!, We have to lure him from the sky." Wranz shouts at Bayne.

"Damnit Wranz, you are an ass! All you did was increase our chances to die, you so are a retard too!" Bayne continues to curse while ducking attacks from the air-born Griffon. The Gargoyle strikes again and Bayne throws himself to the narrow catwalk.

Wranz thinks over a plan carefully. He has to bind the wings of the statue and cause it to plummet to the ground. "Bayne continue to distract the Griffon, I have a plan!"

Bayne grumbles before replying. "You owe me big time Rat tail!" Bayne holds a low stance and starts yelling at the Griffon on the top of his lungs. "Hey stone ass, Bet you can't hit me!" Bayne ducks another attack and continues to shout at the gargoyle.

Wranz slowly makes his way towards the column that houses the artifact. He scales the side of the rough surface and yells another command at Bayne, "Draw the Griffon this way, and be quick about it!"

Bayne continues to grumble and draws the Griffon closer to Wranz Bayne ducks yet another attack from the Griffon and Wranz takes his chance. He kick pushes off of the pillar and lands in the back of the Gargoyle.

The added weight forces the Griffon to nose-dive into the spikes. Wranz jumps off before the heavy statue impacts the spikes. He lands on the narrow catwalk as the gargoyle shatters into small chunks.

All at once the floors close up and the column lowers. Wranz grabs the artifact and the door the Griffon came through opened up. Revealing an exit to the ruins. Both Mobians promptly leave and Bayne radios for Robotnik. A few minutes later Robotnik arrives in person.

"Excellent, You two have done very well. Both of you will get a very special bonus." Robotnik gives them both double pay for the job. Bayne promptly takes half of Wranz's earnings.

"Now we are even Rat Ass! Don't you dare ever do something like that ever again!" Bayne states as he counts out his money. Robotnik only gloats at the greed Bayne is showing and earns him even more respect from the over-shape dictator.

End of Chapter 3