War for Mobius Side Stories
Dark Rain

The air is cold and carries a foul taste.  There are no sounds except the ghastly echo of the muddy footprints he leaves behind.  While it’s the middle of the day, the clouds are so thick it seems more like the middle of the night.  Rain will come soon, but he plans to be back home before then.  
His name is Doctor Ivo Robotnik, genius extraordinaire and disputed rule over the former Mobian Kingdom of Acorn as well as many others.  However today he’s just a man.  
He had given the orders that he was to be alone today, not disturbed by any news save for the capture or destruction of a special group of Freedom Fighters whom were led by a certain Princess who was inspiring Mobians to rebel against him.  And while he enjoyed the game of war, he had a bigger one to play against The United Overlander Nations, and he could not afford petty distractions from his Mobian subjects.  
But today had to do with neither side of the war.  Today had to deal with a personal issue.  
Robotnik continues to stomp his way through The Dark Swamp for what seems like hours.  As if they can sense the evil radiating from the Overlander, all the native life avoids being in his way.  Bugs that normally swarmed a newcomer in the area, buzz away as he nears, and the natural predators flee as if they fear becoming the doctor’s prey.  Perhaps the weather had made them act this way, but Robotnik always feels a ping of pride on how nothing opposes him here.  
Finally he reaches his destination, a very large and very old building.  The only structure that stands in the swamp, Iron Lock Prison.  To say the building looks haunted would be an understatement.  The walls were old and rusted, large cracks crawled and snaked their way across the surface of the building, but never deep enough to penetrate all the way through the cold, dark walls.  Even before Robotnik had taken over the prison had been deemed a dark and foreboding place.  One of the main reasons the doctor had snatched the place up as quickly as it would have been ideal for his enemies to have made it a base of their own.  
Robotnik kept few Robot guards here, but they were his best.  Only the state of the art and newest models of his finest creations were permitted to keep both his enemies out, and the lone prisoner inside.  
However that was all to end today.  No more would resources be wasted on guarding this dump.  No more would he fear the being that he held prisoner here, the only one who really stood a chance of taking him down.  This day would mark the end of any true danger to his empire.
Recognizing Robotnik as he approached, the security drone lowers the drawbridge into the facility.  The wood creaks under the big Overlander’s steps.  The Combots step aside after verifying the identity of their creator as he marches past, giving them no orders but rather a stare that to anything would mean “get out of my way or else.”
Robotnik travels the long eerie corridor to the elevator in the back.  The doctor then takes it down.  Four floors later he steps out and approaches a large cell.  The guards step aside letting their mater through.  
A hooded figure sits in the middle of the cell, arms bound by explosive and electrically restraints behind its back.  Its feet chained to the floor as well as to two large iron balls just for an extra touch.  Around the neck of the figure was a stasis collar, designed to drain the prisoner of any strength, and explode if tampered with.  The prisoner was never going to harm anyone let alone escape, so why does he bring fear to Robotnik as he approaches?  Why is a cold sweat forming on the tyrant’s brow?  
Robotnik does his best to hide the fear.  He twirls a finger through his large orange mustache to emulate an appearance of control of the situation.  Control he worries he may not have.  The figure ignores the Overlander’s approach, nothing till after the big man.
“I believe you know why I am here?” Robotnik smiles at the figure.  A nod is all he gets back as a response.  Robotnik growls at this, “You knew this was coming sooner or later.”
“I did,” the hooded figure cackles, almost cheerfully, “I predicted as much before.”
“Your prediction is wrong and you know it,” Robotnik laughs, “Your cling to the magic of the past has weakened you.  Soon I will rule all of Mobius and you and your ‘magic’ will be no more.”
The hooded being only returns the laughter, “Indeed.  However it’s your cling to science that makes you weak not my cling to magic.”
“Yet in my so called weakness,” the Overlander growls back, “I soon will have control over this world.  You’re magic couldn’t even slow me down.”
“We’ll yet see,” the hooded figure cackles again.  Suddenly a wave of energy blasts through the room, throwing Robotnik away from his prisoner.  As this happens the chains that bound the wizard are blasted to metallic dust, explosives and all.
Fearing for his life Robotnik makes a mad dash for the cell’s exit, hollering wildly for his guards to come to his rescue.  In a matter of seconds every robot in the facility floods into the room.  They fire on Robotnik’s prisoner only to be blasted back by wave after wave of energy.  They don’t stand a chance and Robotnik recognizes this.  
But he came to end this today, and he shall.  Using his beloved robots as cover, the Overlander hurries out of the cell and to the computer controls hooked up to it.  He had prepared for a scenario like this, however he had underestimated the wizard’s power, and doubts began creeping into his mind if he could pull this off.  
“I am soon to rule over this planet and I’ll not let you or anyone else stop me!” He shouts to the wizard, as he punches in the commands for this emergency.  The computer lets out a low blaring to inform him the shortage of power to pull of such a contingency.  
However Robotnik prepared for this.  From his pocket he pulls a small green gem that shines brightly.  As he can sense the rock’s presence the wizard turns to Robotnik.
“A chaos emerald!” the hooded figure is taken by surprise.  
“You’re magic is weak,” Robotnik excuses himself an evil chuckle, “And yet my technology and science has found a better use for it!”
Suddenly a light forms in the center of the large cell room.  It soon begins expanding rapidly.  Slowly at first the metallic dust and small pieces of scrap from the combat robots begins being drawn into the light.  Then larger pieces too begin to be pulled into the growing mass of energy.  Within no time at all, everything in the cell is being pulled towards the light.  
“The Void!” howls the wizard as he too begins to be pulled towards the light that has taken up the center of the cell.
“You claimed it took many magic wielders many of months to pull off such a feat,” Robotnik cackles, “However I’ve pulled of what they could barely do in a matter of minutes!”
Using all of his strength and magic, the wizard propels himself through the air towards the cell door.  He only manages to reach it before the vacuum is too powerful for even him to resist.  He grabs ahold the door way with his left arm and tries to pull himself through.  
“Robotnik,” he howls to the tyrant, “You’ve no idea the power you are meddling with!”
“Perhaps,” the Overlander agrees, he twirls his finger through his mustache to emulate the pride and power he currently wields at his fingertips, “However, it is still my power to wield.”
The Overlander jams the thumb on his robotic arm into the door controls on the computer.  The large emergency metal doors slam shut, crushing the left hand of the wizard, who howls in pain as he is ripped from it by the power of the vacuum.
As he’s pulled into the void, he hollers one last warning to Robotnik, however the tyrant can no longer hear him through the sealed prison cell’s walls.  Tempted to hear the wizard plea for his life, Robotnik considers turning on the speakers to hear what he screams, but considering his prisoner’s nature, threats of vengeance that no longer possible are not so appealing.  
“Good bye Naugus,” Robotnik instead replies to the wizard as he disappears into the light.  The Overlander then shuts down the computer closing the light-portal to the void.  He then checks the remaining power in the Chaos Emerald he used to fuel his trap.
“Amazing,” Robotnik gasps, “Not even a fraction of its power has been used up.  Could this gem really hold unlimited potential?”
Musings for another day.  He returns the gem to his pocket and makes his way out of the facility.  He no longer has any reason to keep it without a prisoner to guard within it, and yet a feeling of nostalgia rings from it.  Perhaps he’ll fix it up and store some new prisoners within?
When he steps outside he is greeted with by a pouring rain.  The air chills him instantly to his bones.  The rain is thick and heavy.  And in the dark sky it almost appears as if Mobius is crying.  He chuckles at this dark rain.  Mobius has much to cry about before he’s through.  Soon he’ll defeat those who resist his rule and not long after that the Overlander nations will fall into his reign of control as well.  
It was going to be one heck of a party…..