Sonic the Hedgehog:
"Far Future"
A Fan Fic by Chronos
Part One: Robotropolis
(3224-4257)
Mobotropolis was once a peaceful and happy place, until the day Warlord Kodos started the Great War with the Overlanders.
To win the war, King Maximillion accepted the aid of the Overlander scientist Julian Kintobor. With his help, the war was won and peace restored.
But Kintobor was an untrustworthy ally. Taking the name Robotnik, he usurped the throne and banished the King to the Zone of Silence, where dwelt the Sorcerer Ixis Naugus. Robotnik then had many inefficient, polluting factories built throughout the city, to build a robotic army. To run the factories, he transformed ordinary Mobians into mindless robots using a device called the roboticizer.
For a time he ruled unopposed, but then the King's daughter, Princess Sally, formed a group of Freedom Fighters to combat the techno-tyrant, championed by the super-speedy Sonic the Hedgehog.
...A decade after the King's imprisonment, the Freedom Fighters rescued him. A year or two later, Sonic and Robotnik had a final confrontation. To win, Robotnik roboticized himself. It wasn't enough. Sonic beat him and freed the city. Once more, peace was restored.
Several years later, Sonic and Sally were married, and had two children, Prince Galahad and Princess Gwenovere.
When the King grew old, he passed on the throne to his daughter. Her reign was peaceful and she was greatly beloved by her people.
But her reign was cut short, when in the year 3255, Robotnik returned.
Before he had died, Robotnik had downloaded his core memory into the computers of an orbiting space station he had been having constructed.
While the Freedom Fighters had been dismantling his empire and restoring the land to it's natural state, Robotnik's computer mind had been planning and building, and, when he was ready, he attacked.
The Mobians tried to fight back, but failed. Mobotropolis was once again conquered and renamed Robotropolis. Sonic sacrificed his life to buy Sally and their children the time to escape.
In the hidden valley of Knothole, Sally established a new rebellion.
Robotnik constructed many robots to battle the rebellion, including a robotic body for himself. Though the body's computer brain had all the limits of a living brain, he was able to bypass some of these by linking up with his master computer when he needed.
Sally trained new recruits and led the new Freedom Fighters for several years.
But then, on one mission, Sally was captured and roboticized.
Tails took over the leadership of the Freedom Fighters, since Prince Galahad was still so young.
Eventually, the Freedom Fighters destroyed Robotnik's body, but he simply transferred his programming into a new body.
In 3268, Tails prepared to pass on the leadership of the Freedom Fighters to Prince Galahad. But Galahad had different ideas. He felt that the people had been with out a ruler for too long. He decided that until his mother could be freed from Robotnik's clutches, he should assume the throne. Tails agreed, and Galahad was crowned King of Knothole.
Galahad was also satisfied with Tails work as Freedom Fighter leader, and unlike Sally felt no desire to be on the front lines. He decided that Tails should remain leader of the Freedom Fighters.
...As the years passed, the Freedom Fighter roster changed constantly, as new members joined and other members left or were lost through roboticization or death. Meanwhile, Robotnik went through several more bodies.
Robotnik upgraded his master computer many times, and then, in an attempt to outthink his opponents, found a way to keep a constant link between his Master computer and body.
In 3279, Galahad passed on the throne of Knothole to his son, Malicore. Malicore decided to keep Tails in charge of the Freedom Fighters, even though many thought Tails was getting rather old for the job. Those who saw him in battle however, were astonished by the fact that he was just as strong and agile as ever.
As the years continued to pass, it became obvious to all that Tails was not aging as other Mobians did. Even in his sixties and seventies, one could easily mistake him for a fox in his twenties. Tails only revealed to his closest friends why this was. It was a gift from the Ancient Walkers, to help him in his quest as Chosen One.
As Robotnik's body changed time after time, each one linked to the Master Computer of Robotropolis, Robotnik began to think of the Master Computer as his true "body", and his humanoid bodies as just extensions of his body.
Meanwhile, Robotnik's pollution had drastic effects on the weather and ecosystems. Most species were reduced dangerously in number or even died out, while others expanded into regions they had not previously been in or to extreme numbers. Many surviving species were also changed in form dramatically through mutation.
Rule of Knothole was passed on yet again.
And then, in one battle with Robotnik, the unthinkable happened: Tails was killed.
The Freedom Fighters carried on as best they could, and the King chose a new leader for the Freedom Fighters.
And time continued to roll on. In the 3310's, sixty years after Robotnik's return, the expansion of Robotropolis reached its practical limits. Although the city continued to expand slowly, it was blocked on most sides by natural barriers. Only on one side was there land that could easily be urbanized, and that was the Great Forest, which was fiercely protected by the Freedom Fighters. From then on, the city's expansion changed direction from outwards to upwards and downwards. Tunnels were dug under the city, and the city buildings were built higher and higher.
In the 3370's, Robotnik abandoned the concept of separate buildings and began connecting the city buildings into one huge skyscraping complex. Only at the top levels, where towers and smokestacks rose, was the illusion of separate buildings kept.
Also, by now Robotnik ran the entire city from the Master Computer. His robotic bodies no longer entered the control room, and in fact there no longer was a true control room. By now he used his bodies mainly for leading his troops in the field and for battling the Freedom Fighters. For other tasks that required a body, he could take control of any of his robots.
In the 3440's, the computer program that was the consciousness of Robotnik stopped thinking of itself as an extension of the life of the man Julian Kintobor.
Meanwhile, it had begun to learn to conserve power and resources, to recycle, and to use (non-polluting) renewable resources. This was not because he suddenly cared about the environment-- this was simply because he was running out of fuel and building material.
By now the "Days of Fury" had ended, and by the 3460's, the planet's ecosystems had begun to noticeably recover.
...But the war continued.
In 3761, the Robotropolis Master Computer stopped calling itself "Robotnik". It continued building Robotnik robots to serve as generals, but the computer now accepted the fact that it was not and technically never had been a living thing. Although it did share some goals with the original Robotnik, it had changed greatly over the intervening 500 years, and did not believe it truly was "Robotnik" anymore.
It had modified its circuitry and expanded, becoming more powerful than a hundred super-computers. It had added to and altered it's initial programming to allow itself to better run the city and fight the Freedom Fighters. And, in search of knowledge it could use to its advantage, it had examined the memories of all it's roboticized subjects, and actually downloaded several of them. (Including, incidentally, Queen Sally.)
It believed itself more than just the sum of its parts, and Robotnik's memories were only one of those parts.
The Freedom Fighters did not notice this change at first, but when they did, they were shocked. They had always assumed that the Robotnik Robots controlled the Master Computer. To find out it was the other way around really shook them up. They now relaxed they were no longer dealing with a man obsessed with machines-- they were fighting against a machine intent on conquest.
For hundreds of years more, the war continued. The Descendants of Sonic and Sally continued to pass the Crown of Acorns from generation to generation. Robotropolis continued to grow taller and more massive, to roboticize anyone it could, and to build Robotnik-bots to battle the Freedom Fighters.
Meanwhile, Mobius completely healed, and Robotropolis sent robots to colonize planets.
In the 43rd century, after a thousand years, the war reached its climax.
In the year 4216, Prince Adias Echidna of the House of Acorn was born. Tests revealed that he had inherited Knuckles chaos powers.
In 4223, Robotropolis activated Robotropolis activated Robotnik Robot # 136, the most powerful yet. It contained, in addition to the Robotnik program and the latest weapons, advanced military tactical programming, a high-speed nanite-based repair/reconstruction system, and a Chaos Emerald engine.
In 4233, King Echidna appointed Prince Adias leader of the Freedom Fighters.
IN 4239, Prince Adias and Robotnik 136 held a final battle within Robotropolis. Adias won, but he knew that the Master Computer was the real threat. He fought his way to the Main Computer Core and destroyed it.
With the computer core destroyed, Robotropolis "died". All it's functions shut down, and the King's Forces were able to take control of it.
All Robians who could be were deroboticized, and all who couldn't be had their free wills restored.
After a thousand years, the war was over.
Sally now had her free will back, and some thought she should now rule the Kingdom. She publicly declined, however. King Echidna was ruler now, and Sally was almost a millennium behind the times.
By now, the monarchs had long since abandoned the idea of returning to Mobotropolis after the war. It had been altered too much, and most people had come to think of the city of Knothole as their home.
However, some people thought of Mobotropolis as a sort of "Promised Land", and most of the remaining Robians had been roboticized within the first few hundred years of Robotnik's rule, when hop had still been held of restoring the city. Some, such as Sally herself, could actually still remember the city when it was still free. And so, the Megalopolis formerly known as Robotropolis did not become abandoned.
It was renamed Mobotropolis, and with King Echidna's permission, Sally was crowned Queen of the city, the newly recreated Kingdom of Acorn.
Though it would be futile to attempt to return Mobotropolis to its pre-Robotnik state, it was modified to be more individual and living-thing friendly, and its upper levels were rebuilt to imitate the original city.
The original Acorn Palace, or what was left of it, was excavated, and a passage opened up to the pool of Silver and Gold. Queen Sally showed this to King Echidna and Prince Adias and explained the ancient tradition of bonding with the Source of All.
She told them they could bond with the Source if they wished, and thus revive the tradition.
They thanked her for this offer, and replied that they would think about it.
The King eventually decided that hey had survived a thousand years without the Source, they didn't need it now. He respectfully declined Sally's offer.
It seemed a Golden Age was at hand.
But...
The Kingdom of Knothole had been in a constant state of war for a thousand years, and the people had forgotten how to live peacefully. The army grew restless and the economy went haywire.
To keep his people happy, the King was forced to return the Kingdom to its' state of war. Since some of the Robotropolis Master Computer's underbosses were still in control of their territory, the King had several obvious targets. He sent the army against those foes, and tried to drag out the war as long as possible, but once the tide had been turned, the people of the countries would usually rise up to help free their land, and that war would soon be over.
Within a decade, the last of the Robot dictators had been eliminated, and the Knothole army was left without anyone to fight.
However, some people, including a top General, Tarlax Ursus, had an idea for a new target. Though the Robotropolis Master Computer had been destroyed and all war-bots dismantled, the people of Knothole still had a deep-seated robo-phobia.
They didn't trust the Robians, even Queen Sally. While some saw her as the legendary monarch who had founded Knothole, all others saw was a robot in a position of power.
Many people with extreme cases of Robo-paranoia, including General Tarlax, formed an organization known as the "True Mobians". The True Mobians petitioned the King to declare war Mobotropolis, and all robots in general. The King wouldn't hear of it.
And so, several months later, General Tarlax led the True Mobians against the King in an attempted revolution.
The Freedom Fighters and loyal army countered it, and a civil war began.
In 4256, King Echidna was killed in battle, and Adias assumed the throne. Realizing that the Kingdom was loosing the war, King Adias went to Queen Sally and asked for help in the war, and permission to bond with the Source of All. He got both.
And so, within a year the war was ended in the Kingdom's favor. With the co-operation of Sally, and the wisdom of the Source of All, Adias brought the kingdom to a stable state of peace, and Mobius at last entered it's Golden Age.
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Character Profiles:
King Edward Elias Echidna of the House of Acorn:
Ruler of the Kingdom of Knothole and descendant of Miles Prower, chosen one of the Ancient Walkers, and Knuckles the Echidna, 16th Guardian of the Floating Island.
Has the body and quills of an Echidna, and the twin tails of a Kitsune.
Prince Adias Miles Echidna of the House of Acorn:
Heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Knothole, and descendant of Miles Prower, chosen one of the Ancient Walkers and Knuckles the Echidna, 16th Guardian of the Floating Island. (Or is it 17th?). Has the quills of a hedgehog, the twin tails of a Kitsune, and the knuckles and neck ring of Knuckles.
Queen "Mecha" Sally Alicia of the house of Acorn:
Ruler of Mobotropolis, the "New" Acorn Kingdom.
Born 3219. Roboticized 3235. Founded interstellar Freedom Fighters 4572.
General Tarlax Ursus:
Founder and leader of the "True Mobians". Hates robots.
Robotnik robots:
1 to 10 were based on Robotnik's original form, to a greater or lesser extent. 11, activated in 3340, had a simpler form, and the next few robots took the form of some of his soldiers: 12 (activated 3347) was "SWAT-Botnik", 13 (a.3355) was "Com-Botnik", and 14 (a.3361) was "Shadow-Botnik". 16-18 (a.3370, 3372, & 3375) had bird themes, and were refereed to as "Birdnik". 32 and 33 (a.3428 & 3430) had bat wings, and were refereed to as "Batnik". The wings of these units would be copied in many later Robotnik-bots. 35 (a.3446) was based on the design of Mecha Sonic, 36 (a.3452) had Knuckles' form, 37 (a.3457) had Tails', and 38 (a.3465) King Maxamilion Acorn. All of these impersonations were given orange mustaches. 44 (a.3479) was based on Crocbot, and many later units also adopted Crocbot's tail. 46 (a.3483) to 49 (a.3501, destroyed 3503) possessed both bat wings and Crocbot's tail, and 47 to 49 possessed variations on the original Robotnik's body. 48 and 49 possessed horns. These four units were known as "Demon-Nik". 60 (a.3530) adopted a simplified head (like a swat-bot's but more angular), variations of which were used for some time. 61 (a.3533) sported a simplified but still imposing body as well, and variations of this form (often with a cape or bat wings) would be used almost exclusively over the next 200 years. Units 79-98 (a.3647-3808) were mass-produced. Over the decades the design was gradually simplified to the point of being ridiculous. Most of the 90's were even simpler than Swat-bots.
99 (a.3816) returned to a more individualized, imposing look, and most later units were each designed to be more impressive than the last.
Robotnik Robot 136 was activated in 4224. Second in command to the Robotropolis Master Computer. Possessed three horns, a spiked tail, bat wings, and clawed fingers and toes.
Robotnik Robot 1: 3254-3260
RR2: 3260-3266
RR3: 3266-3271
RR4: 3271-3279
RR5: 3279-3285
RR6: 3285-3294
RR7: 3294-3306
RR8: 3306-3319
RR9: 3319-3328
RR10: 3328-3340
RR11: 3340-3347
…Complete list forthcoming.