The Phantom War

A Sonic Forces Rewrite

Prologue

"Our world is ruined. By fire, and smoke. By acid and sulfur. By a man and his machines. By the empire and its legacy. But it wasn't always like this. Something happened, long ago, to change our world from a lush paradise into a polluted wasteland. It happened so long ago, and the empire destroyed so many historical records, we were never able to piece together what led to this dark reality we face."

A gloved hand fiddled anxiously with a golden cuff as their owner listened to the words being spoken.

"But now... Now we do know. Chance, or perhaps fate, has delivered to us the knowledge and the opportunity to change our reality. That is why you have been brought before us."

The summoned individual straightened imperceptibly, golden eyes staring attentively at the speaker as they continued their oration.

"The document we retrieved from the island tells of many important things. Not least of which is this: that a hero once stood against the rising evil, and beat it back again and again. He prevented the rise of the empire for many years. But one day, nearly 400 years ago now, he was defeated. With his defeat, and the lack of any being to stand in his place, the world quickly succumbed to despair and was subjugated by the first emperor. How or why he was defeated is not recorded. But the rough date is."

The white-furred hedgehog breathed out as this new information sank in, his mental gears shifting as an idea presented itself, and suddenly he realized why they had called him here for this.

"Silver the Hedgehog. Out of all the beings we have in our ranks, you alone have demonstrated the ability to harness the powers of a chaos emerald. Now that we have two of them with us, you should be able to create a time rift with them, and step back in time to before the world fell. Before the hero was defeated. Take the document with you, for it speaks of many things that will be of use to you. Thus armed with the knowledge of both future and past, prevent the hero's fall, and the Empire's rise. You have this one chance to change fate, and fix the world for us all. Never give up, because if you fail here, we are all lost."

Two glowing gems were held in front of him, and he slowly reached out to take them, one in each hand. With a determined glint in his eyes, Silver nodded his head. "Then I will not fail." He vowed.

Tucking the emeralds into his quills for the moment, he turned his gaze to the document, quickly skimming over it. It painted a bleak picture of despair and guilt, and while a good portion of it was still a mystery, it revealed much that had been lost in the ages since it was written. The purpose of the island the document and emerald had been discovered on, the reason that island was trapped in a glacier, and the name of its sole former inhabitant. It also gave the name of the first emperor, the rough date of the hero's fall, and most importantly - the name of the hero himself.

Sonic the Hedgehog. Silver turned the name over in his mind. I will find you, and I will prevent this future from ever happening.

Author's Note: Hey there folks. This isn't the first story I've ever written, but it is the first that I've ever posted on this site. As such I'd appreciate any suggestions/reviews you have to offer. I don't know what my update schedule will look like for this, but I already have the first chapter pretty well flushed out, and it should be up within a few days.

As for why I'm doing this, well...

I like Sonic Forces. I think it's a fun game, despite being flawed in several ways. I honestly think the hate train has gone overboard. The game visually gorgeous, and it's not broken like 06 was. And the implementation of the custom character was done very well IMO.

But there's no arguing, the plot and story was a disaster - full of holes, inconsistencies, and pointlessness. Classic Sonic had no purpose whatsoever. And the avatar story was a little to much "friendship is the magic solution to every problem". I like the avatar in the game, but I don't think it fits well with the story. So I'm not going to include the avatar/custom hero/OC in this story. In addition, I love the fact that Silver is back, but I'm upset they never had any real story for him. Same with Shadow. We finally get another game with Sonic, Shadow, and Silver all on the same side, and yet there's absolutely no depth to the story. So I decided to fix it. This is my idea of a Sonic Forces story that is actually captivating and interesting, without pointless classic Sonic or magic "friendship solves every problem".

Questions, suggestions, and opinions are greatly welcomed and appreciated, so please don't hesitate to leave a review.