Preface:

In late 1998, I wrote a Sonic fanfic entitled "Absolute Power". Like all of my fanfics at the time, it was in "historical summary" form (much like the Silmarillion, but without the flowery language).

In early 1999 I revised Absolute Power, changing one section and adding in a new sub-plot. For many years I considered this the definitive version of Absolute Power.

In 2003 I began what I intended to be a detailed version of Absolute Power, however after a few chapters I grew dissatisfied with my work, and began to doubt the direction I was going in with the story, eventually leading to my abandoning it – but not before I posted what I'd written on Fanfiction dot net. (Currently the 2003 version is presented in two parts, "The Departure" and "The Visitor".)

For many years I wanted to share the full story of Absolute Power online, but as I fiddled with the plans the story kept getting more and more complex, and every attempt to fill in a plot hole created several more. I also began to worry that it had grown so long that it would take me years to write in detail even if I spent most of my free time on it.

Finally, I decided to go back to my 1999 version and do a new revision of that. I made a few plot changes, and added a few references to elements that had not been introduced to the mythos when I wrote the original version, but for the most part the focus of the revision was simply on updating the wording to something I felt good enough to share. This is that revision.

Because part of my goal was to get the story written as soon as I could, it's still in historical summary form; I haven't entirely given up on the idea of a detailed version, but that's a project for another day.

This story is set in the multiverse of the pre-reboot Archie Sonic comics, in a world similar to (but not the same as) Mobius Prime. I have tried to include enough information so that you don't have to be a die-hard fan to follow what's going on, but those who are familiar with early years of the comic, in particular issues 17 to 56 and the spin-off comics from that era, will get the most out of this story. (Those who do feel confident in their memory of early Archie Sonic may skip the section "The Story Thus Far" as there's nothing new there; simply scroll down to the start of Part I.)

Finally, a warning. This story gets pretty dark at times, and features a lot of character deaths.

Absolute Power

by Chronos Cat

Prelude: The Story Thus Far

The planet Mobius was once a peaceful and happy place, until the Great War between the Mobian Alliance (led by the Kingdom of Acorn) and the Overlander Territories. Warlord Julian led the Acorn Kingdom to victory, but shortly afterwards, in the summer of 3224, he staged a coup. Taking the new name Dr. Robotnik, he renamed the capitol city from Mobotropolis to Robotropolis, exiled King Maximillian Acorn to the alternate reality known as the Zone of Silence, and eventually rounded up the population for roboticization - a process whereby living beings were transformed into mindless mechanical slaves. Robotnik turned Robotropolis into an industrial center, churning out war robots and other military machinery, and set out on a war of conquest with total world domination as his goal.

However, many resistance groups sprung up to oppose him, first in the Kingdom of Acorn and then in other lands as his influence spread. Among them were the Freedom Fighters of Knothole Village, the Wolf Pack, the Rebel Underground, and the Downunda Freedom Fighters.

By the year 3234, the Knothole Freedom Fighters had become the greatest thorn in Robotnik's side. Led by King Acorn's daughter Princess Sally, their numbers included Olgilvie Maurice "Sonic" Hedgehog, Rotor Walrus, Antoine DeCoolete, and Miles "Tails" Prower. Later that year they were joined by the half-roboticized Bunnie Rabbot, and by Dulcy the Dragon.

Other allies to the Freedom Fighters included Larry Lynx ("Super Jinx"), Cyril the Eagle, Knuckles the Echidna (Guardian of the Floating Island) and his friends (collectively known as "the Chaotix"), Sir Charles "Chuck" Hedgehog (Sonic's uncle, who was roboticized by Robotnik but regained his free will in a freak accident), and Princess Sally's trainees Arlo, Penelope, and Hamlin. Their most unusual ally however was the seemingly sentient handheld computer Nicole, who the Freedom Fighters discovered in a crater one day following a mysterious explosion; Nicole would never reveal where she came from or who built her, but she soon earned the Freedom Fighters' trust and was taken on most of their missions from then on.

In early 3235, the mercenary Nack the Weasel captured Sonic and turned him over to Robotnik. Robotnik roboticized Sonic, transforming him into an unstoppable weapon of war: Mecha Sonic. Robotnik sent Mecha Sonic to destroy Knothole Village and to kill or capture all within it. Outclassed by this new enemy, the Freedom Fighters called in Knuckles to help. Knuckles voluntarily accepted temporary roboticization (using one of Rotor's "Neuro-Overriders" to retain his free will) in order to combat Mecha Sonic, and in the end defeated him. The Freedom Fighters were then able to restore both Sonic and Knuckles to their flesh-and-blood forms.

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Part I: Shadows of the Future

The Visitor

Early in 3235, the Freedom Fighters were gathered in their Headquarters to plan a new attempt to rescue King Acorn from the Zone of Silence when suddenly, blue light shone from a point in the center of the room, so bright as to be blinding. When the light faded, standing there was a second Sonic.

The new Sonic appeared to be a young adult, though he claimed to be from several decades in the future. (When the Freedom Fighters protested that he didn't look all that much older than their Sonic, he replied, "I'm a lot older than I look.") He said that in the future Robotnik had acquired time travel, taken the name Chrono-nik, and crushed the resistance. Chrono-nik had then gone on to wipe out virtually all life on the planet. Sonic was not only the last surviving Freedom Fighter, he was the last intelligent being on the planet not enslaved to Chrono-nik.

Luckily, Sonic was able to steal a time machine from Chrono-nik's forces. He was now heading to 3224 to prevent Robotnik's coup, in the hopes of not only creating a better timeline, but erasing the time-traveling Chrono-nik from existence.

Even as dark as things had become, Sonic didn't want to assassinate "Warlord Julian"; instead he hoped to convince King Acorn to have Julian arrested before he could launch the coup. However, in order to convince the King that his top adviser was planning to usurp the throne, Sonic was going to need Sally's help.

The Freedom Fighters were a little skeptical of the Future Sonic at first, but once he had convinced them he really was Sonic (by listing off some things only Sonic would know), Sally was quite willing to go back in time with him. But then he revealed that he thought bringing Sally back with him would be too risky. For one thing he wasn't sure how time travel worked – for all he knew the timeline would split when they changed history, and the old history would continue on without either of them in it. For another, Chrono-nik always seemed to be one step ahead of him, so Sonic wouldn't be surprised if Chrono-nik already expected this move, and was ready for them. In either case, he didn't want to risk depriving this time period of Sally.

Instead, with her permission, Future Sonic intended to create a clone of Sally and copy Sally's memories into the clone. The clone could then come back to 3224 with him. When the bewildered Freedom Fighters asked how he planned to clone Sally and copy her memories, he was evasive, saying only that he had brought some "future tech" back with him that could do the job.

Deciding to continue to trust him, Sally agreed to Future Sonic's plan. Future Sonic took the Freedom Fighters out to a clearing in the woods, then told Sally to stand still. Future Sonic closed his eyes, then dirt and leaf litter rose up from the ground to take on a humanoid shape. Within a few seconds, the mass of dirt and leaves transformed into an exact duplicate of Sally. When Future Sonic told them all he was done, the copy Sally opened her eyes – and staring at the real Sally commented in surprise on how realistic her "duplicate" was.

The clone Sally was a bit dismayed when she was informed that she was in fact the duplicate, however she took heart in the fact that she would be the one to travel back in time with the Future Sonic and hopefully end Robotnik's reign before it began. Future Sonic and Clone Sally said goodbye to the Freedom Fighters, then Future Sonic took hold of Clone Sally, and they both vanished in a flash of blue light.

Unfortunately, the world remained as it had been – which Sally and Rotor informed the others meant that one way or another, Future Sonic's plans to change history via time travel had failed...

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The Mistress of Silence

A few days later, Sonic, Sally, and the Rebel Underground leader Geoffrey St. John ventured into the Zone of Silence to rescue the King. They also carried with them a "Neutralizer" built by Rotor which he said ought to counter the effects of the Energy Inhibitor Robotnik had tricked them into using the last time they entered the Zone (Rotor predicted that if they did not use the Neutralizer, the damage caused by the Inhibitor would soon destroy the Zone and everyone in it). Unfortunately the last time they were in the Zone the King had not seemed to remember his own daughter and had treated them as enemies, and they had no reason to expect him to treat them any differently this time.

As they approached the heart of the disturbance, they were intercepted by King Acorn and his troops. This time he was also accompanied by a mysterious woman in a black mask and cape, whom King Acorn treated as a superior. She introduced herself as Lady Alice, second-in-command to the ruler of the Zone, Ixus Naugus. Lady Alice ordered them to surrender, and when they refused ordered "Lord Max" (as she called King Acorn) to take them alive for questioning.

Despite the forces arrayed against them, the Freedom Fighters triumphed. They took King Acorn captive, and forced Lady Alice to retreat. They then activated the Neutralizer and returned to Knothole with "Lord Max", who fell into unconsciousness as they exited the portal.

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The Quest for a Cure

The Freedom Fighters took the King to Knothole's primary medical authority, Dr. Quack, in hopes he could help him recover. However it soon became apparent that the King was suffering from far worse than amnesia, as his body slowly began to turn to crystal. The only good news was that somehow the crystallized body parts remained fully mobile.

It was soon determined this was a magical malady, so Sally sent the Freedom Fighters out in search of Power Rings, as they were known to cure many mystical ailments. She sent Bunnie and Antoine to the Lake of Rings (a pool in the forest from which a Power Ring emerged once every day), while Sonic and Tails were to search the area around the "Power Ring Grotto" (a pond where a portal had once existed to a pocket zone filled with Power Rings and Chaos Emeralds).

However, Sonic and Tails arrived at the pond just in time to witness the leftover rings getting sucked up a giant tube into a giant egg-shaped object in the sky: the Death Egg, a giant floating fortress which when fully powered up with Rings and a Chaos Emerald would be able to roboticize the world. Sonic and Tails broke into the fortress and fought their way through it. After a brief tussle with the mechanical hedgehog Silver Sonic, Sonic confronted Robotnik, while Tails figured out how to set the Death Egg to blow up. Realizing he was defeated, Robotnik retreated. Sonic and Tails fled as well, grabbing some Power Rings on their way out. The Death Egg exploded shortly afterward.

The Rings the Freedom Fighters brought back to Knothole proved ineffective in helping the King, so they called Knuckles for help, hoping to borrow a Chaos Emerald. Knuckles reluctantly brought a spare Emerald with him to Knothole, but it's power also proved useless to cure the King. However, at this point Sir Charles and Sally, looking over old royal documents, determined that the mystical Crown and Sword of Acorns should be able to cure the King.

The Sword was the key to finding the Crown, but the Sword itself was missing. However, sympathetic to Sally's plight, Knuckles pledged to search out the Sword and return it to her.

Knuckles decided to start by searching out the god-like beings known as the Ancient Walkers; Tails offered to lead him to the crater in Downunda where Tails had last encountered both them and Knuckles' great-grandfather Athair. They traveled by sea in Tails' sub, the Sea Fox. At the crater they were granted a cryptic vision identifying various individuals who would be important to the quest for the Sword.

As the two walked back to the sub, they suddenly grew dizzy, and Tails fainted. A few minutes later, Tails woke up with a strange feeling that something which had always been there had been lost.

Meanwhile, in a hidden hut in the Great Forest, Tails' uncle Merlin Prower had a similar reaction. In a hidden fortress in the far north, the immortal Mammoth Mogul (who had been a powerful tyrant thousands of years ago) felt as if a great weight had been lifted from him. And elsewhere in Downunda, Athair was filled with not only a feeling of great loss but also dread, for if he understood the signs correctly, the beings he had devoted his life to serving, the world's greatest guardians, the Ancient Walkers, were gone...

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The Nightmare Zone

Tails returned to Knothole to find that while he was gone the crystallization had continued to spread across the King's body, and that the King remained unresponsive to the world around him. Dr. Quack speculated that they might be able to at least heal the King's mind by using an experimental device of his – the "Dream Watcher". With it, one could enter into another person's dreams and subconscious, in order to help deal with nightmares and mental trauma.

Sonic, Sally, and Geoffrey St. John all volunteered to use the device, but in the end Sonic won the coin toss.

Shortly after lying down and donning a special helmet Dr. Quack provided, Sonic found himself in what looked like the Zone of Silence. He quickly figured out that the King was reliving his memories of his early times in the Zone. Sonic watched as the King and a woman who looked an awful lot like Sally (as a teenager no less) did battle with Warlord Kodos (the Acorn Kingdom's Warlord prior to Robotnik) and a being known as Feist. Sonic tried to get the King's attention, to let him know it was all memories and dreams, but the King didn't seem able to see or hear Sonic.

Then, a spectral image of Robotnik appeared in front of Sonic – only this "Robotnik" was pale blue, and completely robotic. This specter introduced himself as Chrono-nik, and explained that he had come back in time to get revenge on all those who had hindered his ultimate conquest of the world – and in particular Sonic himself. As the first step to that revenge, Chrono-nik had instructed one of his agents to sabotage the Dream Watcher to prevent Sonic from affecting the King's dreamscape, play this message for him, and then "help" Sonic recover a few of his own lost memories...

The next thing Sonic knew he was waking up in the roboticizer, his body now that of a robot designed for combat. He found himself a passenger in his own body as he broke out of the roboticizer and pledged his allegiance to Robotnik. Robotnik ordered Sonic to destroy Knothole Village, and Sonic flew out the window to do just that. As Sonic flew over Robotropolis he glanced down at the city and saw that it was still being rebuilt after the recent earthquake; from the level of reconstruction he realized that just as Chrono-nik had suggested this was a memory: a memory of his time as Mecha Sonic. Since being restored to flesh and blood, Sonic hadn't been able to remember his experiences as Mecha Sonic – and he had a bad feeling he was going to wish it had stayed that way.

It wasn't long before his mechanical memory-self reached the edges of the Great Forest. There Bunnie used her new flight systems to intercept him and do battle with him in the air. Bunnie put up a good fight, but in the end Mecha Sonic left Bunnie lying on the forest floor unconscious, her mechanical parts badly damaged and her organic parts in only marginally better shape. Sonic could barely believe Bunnie had survived that without any lasting injuries, and couldn't help but feel guilty even though he hadn't been in control of himself.

Soon Mecha Sonic reached Knothole, but before he could cause much damage Knuckles showed up and confronted him. Sonic left him in nearly as bad shape as Bunnie, then began demolishing the village, firing upon the fleeing villagers. He even attempted to shoot Tails, but Sonic's true personality still had enough strength to make Mecha Sonic hesitate – and before Mecha Sonic could overcome that hesitation, Knuckles returned to fight him again, now as Mecha Knuckles.

The battle with Mecha Knuckles was brutal; they were both in terrible shape by the time they wound up back in Robotropolis and crashed into a missile silo. Then the world went white for Sonic...

...And he woke up back in the hospital, to Dr. Quack disconnecting him from the Dream Watcher. Dr. Quack informed him he had noticed the readings from the device weren't right, and had shut it down as quickly as was safe.

Sonic told Sally and Dr. Quack about Chrono-nik's sabotage, and Quack said he'd see what he could do to repair the device – but it might take a day or two. Sally was concerned about the fact that Chrono-nik was in the present, but she was more concerned with her father and told Sonic they'd discuss the matter later.

Leaving the Hospital, the first thing Sonic did was find Bunnie and apologize for how he had hurt her as Mecha Sonic; she told him not to worry about it, as she'd already forgiven him.

Sonic then went for a run to clear his head. Many questions filled his head, among them who that girl that had been with the King in the bit of the King's memory he had seen had been; given the similarity in appearance the thought occurred to him it might be Sally's clone, but if so how did she wind up in the Zone of Silence? However, the issue he was most concerned about was the fact that Chrono-nik, his future self's enemy, who would be responsible for the end of the world, was now messing around in the present day. He couldn't help but wonder – did this mean things were going to get even worse than they had in his future self's history? And if a version of himself who could travel through time and do things like create a second Sally from some dirt and leaves couldn't stop Chrono-nik, what hope did the present day Sonic and Freedom Fighters have?

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Dreams and Reality

That night, Sally woke Sonic up to tell him she had an urgent mission for him; she'd explain along the way. She led him into the Great Forest – and right into an ambush by Com-bots. Even as Sonic fought the robots, Sally transformed before his eyes into a robot, and revealed that she had intentionally led Sonic into this trap – and that she was and had been for some time a willing servant of Robotnik.

Too distraught to fight Sally, Sonic retreated. Before long he encountered Tails, who offered to fly him back to Knothole - but before they had gotten far at all, Tails dropped him towards a waiting Crabmeat robot. Sonic escaped, and continued towards Knothole on foot.

Next Sonic ran across Bunnie, who was sitting by a tree, one of her legs too damaged for her to walk; she said she'd been attacked by Sally and Tails. Sonic helped her to her feet – but then her leg repaired itself and her organic parts changed to mechanical. Sonic managed to slip out of her grasp just in time, then used the environment to his advantage to subdue her long enough to escape.

As Sonic neared Knothole, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on. How could his friends be flesh and blood one minute, then robots the next? Were they really already robots, and just disguised as flesh and blood Mobians? And if so, were they robot duplicates, or had Robotnik somehow gotten his hands on Sonic's friends without Sonic ever suspecting it?

Things took an even more bizarre turn when Sonic made it into Knothole only to discover that the robotic versions of his friends had made it there first, along with several Com-bots and Robotnik himself.

Robotnik now offered Sonic a choice: surrender and allow himself to be roboticized, and he could spend all of eternity with his similarly roboticized friends. Or, continue to defy him and watch as Robotnik killed them all one by one and brought the world to ruin around Sonic.

Sonic hesitated a moment, thrown off his game by all the unpleasant surprises he'd been through over the past day, and not wanting to see his friends die. However he soon realized that like him they would all sooner die free than live as slaves, and so defiantly told Robotnik to do his worst; Sonic would never surrender.

Robotnik's body then transformed into a completely mechanical form just as the Freedom Fighters had, and began to glow blue. Robotnik, or rather Chrono-nik, smiled, and said, "As you wish." Then Sonic's world went white again, and Sonic again found himself waking up in the hospital, connected to the Dream Watcher. Apparently, everything Sonic had experienced since his first encounter with Chrono-nik in the King's mind had been an illusion...

Dr. Quack was confused by the fact that the Dream Watcher had shut down on it's own, until Sonic told him and Sally about Chrono-nik's sabotage. Quack said he'd see what he could do to repair the device – but it might take a few days. Sally was dismayed to learn that Chrono-nik was in the present, but told Sonic that until they knew more there was nothing they could do about it, and at the moment her primary concern was her father.

As he left the Hospital, Sonic couldn't help but find it creepy how similar Sally and Dr. Quack's reactions had been to the way they had acted in the illusion.

It occurred to Sonic that his apology to Bunnie had been in the illusion as well, so he found her and once more apologized for how he had hurt her as Mecha Sonic. She told him he didn't need to apologize, as he hadn't been himself at the time.

The rest of the day continued to be eerily similar to what he'd experienced in the illusion, and Sonic was very relieved when he woke up the next morning to find he had slept through the night without being interrupted for an urgent mission.

Later that day, Sally called a Freedom Fighter meeting to discuss the previous day's events. Everyone was quite disturbed to learn that they were now dealing not only with Robotnik, but his robotic future self. Unfortunately, not only did they know very little about Chrono-nik, they currently had no good means of learning more about him. Which meant that for now all they could do was wait for Chrono-nik to make his next move and hope this time it was something they could fight back against.

In other news, the damage to the Dream Watcher was worse than Dr. Quack had expected, and it could be months before he got it working again. It seemed that now Knuckles and the Sword of Acorns were the King's only hope.

Within a day the King's body had completely turned to crystal. Fortunately, despite the physical transformation his vital signs remained stable.

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A World Without Heroes

A few days after the Dream Watcher incident, Rotor's early warning systems detected some Swat-bots wandering too close to Knothole. The Freedom Fighters (minus Sonic and Dulcy) went to destroy the Swat-bots – but were captured instead.

Robotnik had Sally separated from the others so he could use her as bait for Sonic, and sent the other four down to one of the detention blocks. However, as the Swat-bots transported the prisoners to their cells, a blue humanoid robot resembling a Com-bot intercepted the group. Claiming to have new orders from Robotnik, it took Bunnie out of the Swat-bots' hands.

Bunnie was taken to an interrogation room, where the robot restrained her to a chair. It then removed a syringe filled with a silver liquid from its arm, and (ignoring Bunnie's demands to know what it was) injected it into her flesh-and-blood arm. To Bunnie's surprise, the robot then removed her restraints and escorted her to a cell near the others, locking her in and leaving without a word.

Meanwhile, Sonic learned the Freedom Fighters were missing, and raced to Robotropolis, where he found Robotnik waiting for him on top of a building with Sally and a number of Swat-bots. Robotnik was gloating about how Sonic wouldn't be able to get out of this one, when a dimensional distortion occurred, drawing everyone on the rooftop into another Zone.

Not long after this, Larry Lynx learned of what had happened to the Freedom Fighters, and gathered together Cyril the Eagle and Sally's Trainees for a rescue mission. They broke into Robotropolis and rescued Rotor, Tails, Bunnie, and Antoine, and with their help began searching for Sonic and Sally.

Elsewhere, Sonic, Sally, Robotnik, and his Swat-bots found themselves in a city much like Robotropolis but far cleaner and more high tech. They were soon surrounded by bronze-colored humanoid robots vaguely resembling Swat-bots but far more powerful (a fact proven when they easily defeated Robotnik's Swat-bots). Sonic, Sally, and Robotnik were taken prisoner.

Finding themselves locked up in a high-tech dungeon, Sonic and Sally agreed to a temporary truce with Robotnik in order to escape. They broke out of their cells, then Robotnik and Sally (with the help of Nicole) hacked into the city's computer network.

They learned that they were in Robotropolis, but the year was 3355, and the city was ruled by a robotic version of Robotnik who called himself Chrono-nik. Chrono-nik had conquered the planet over a century ago, roboticizing the entire population and those animals and plants he found useful, and killing off everything else. He had then started sending ships into space to colonize and conquer other planets; he now ruled a vast interstellar Empire. Not satisfied with that, he had also been sending his troops into other Zones so as to expand his empire across the multiverse. It had been an experiment with a Zone Portal Generator which had brought them all here.

Sonic and Sally were relieved to learn that this wasn't the future of their world; Robotnik was concerned as it meant he had a rival. Sonic and Sally couldn't help but wonder if this Chrono-nik had anything to do with the Chrono-nik Sonic's future self had talked about and/or the one who had sabotaged the Dream Watcher.

Knowing they likely stood little chance against this Chrono-nik, Robotnik and the Freedom Fighters decided to focus on getting home for now.

The unlikely team broke into the Zone Portal Laboratory easily enough, facing only a few relatively weak guards and little other security. Sally and Robotnik thought it was too easy, but put aside their worries to find the Portal Generator. Neither of them were able to decipher the coordinate system the device used, but luckily it kept a record of previously opened portals, and Robotnik was able to figure out which record corresponded to their arrival. He set the device to send them home, and not wanting anybody to follow them also set the device to close the portal after they went through, and then charge up the Generator until it overloaded, causing an explosion that ought to destroy the entire facility.

Robotnik, Sally, and Sonic stepped through the portal and found themselves back on the rooftop they'd been pulled from hours before; the portal closed behind them moments later. Robotnik immediately called for back-up; Sonic had barely had time to ask Sally what the plan was when Swat-bots began emerging onto the roof. Sally told Sonic to run, so he grabbed her and made his escape. Robotnik sent his troops after them, but Sonic and Sally met up with Larry Lynx's group and the other Freedom Fighters first, and together they fled the city.

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Bunnie's Nightmare

When the Freedom Fighters got back to Knothole, Bunnie told the others about her strange encounter with the blue robot. Concerned about what the silver substance could have been, Sally had Rotor and Dr. Quack both examine her. The initial examination showed nothing wrong with her, but to be safe they took a blood sample, and told her to report back to them if she felt strange or noticed anything wrong.

Meanwhile, Sally began making plans to hold a ceremony the next day to thank Larry's group and officially designate them the Substitute Freedom Fighters.

That night just before bed Bunnie noticed that her right wrist was a bit itchy, but didn't think it important enough to disturb Rotor or Doctor Quack about after dark.

The next morning she discovered to her horror that her right arm had became partially mechanical. She immediately rushed to Rotor for help. Rotor informed her that the mechanical parts of her arm were of the same design as that produced by the roboticizer. Further tests, and the results from the previous day's blood test, revealed that she had been infected with a strain of microscopic robots (nanites) equipped with roboticization capability; they were slowly roboticizing her from the inside out. Rotor called in Sir Charles, and the two began searching for a cure.

Sally postponed the ceremony to honor Larry and his group in order to lead a mission into Robotropolis to try to learn more about Bunnie's condition from the source. However, there were no clues in the detention facility Bunnie had been infected in, and hacking Robotropolis' computer systems provided no hints either – Nicole couldn't even find any data about the robot that had done it. When Robotnik got wise to their snooping around, they were forced to leave empty handed.

Sally was so preoccupied with Bunnie's condition that it took Bunnie insisting on it to get her to go through with the ceremony for Larry and the others.

Over the next few days the Freedom Fighters stopped Robotnik from stealing the Flickie Zone's Chaos Emerald and stopped Robotnik's Eco Destroyer from cutting down the Great Jungle. On both these missions Rotor stayed behind to continue working on Bunnie's cure; as Rotor had much of the information he needed already and Bunnie wasn't in immediate danger of loosing control of her mind (and she had a Neuro-Overrider just in case), Bunnie went on those missions instead. As the days passed the rest of her arm became mechanical and metal plating began to spread over her torso, but as much as these changes disturbed her, physically speaking they only made her stronger.

When Antoine uncovered a map left by his father, the Freedom Fighters followed it to a dump in Robotropolis that had once been Budding Circle; they stopped Robotnik' assistant Snivley from excavating whatever was buried there, but due to Swat-bot patrols were unable to dig it up themselves either.

Shortly after this Rotor made a breakthrough. Using focused EMPs (ElectroMagnetic Pulses) he was able to temporarily halt the progress of the Nanites. However this was not a cure – the nanites remained in Bunnie's system and if she wasn't treated daily the nanites would reactivate and continue from where they left off. Rotor and Sir Charles continued their search for a cure.

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Quests Derailed

Meanwhile on the Floating Island, Knuckles' quest for the Sword of Acorns led him to a region known as the Land of Dark. There he was ambushed by a feline Sorcerer and a rabbit Enchantress. The Sorcerer controlled powerful lightning bolts, but the real threat came from the Enchantress: as soon as Knuckles made the mistake of looking her in the eyes she was able to ensnare his will and magically enslave him.

The duo took Knuckles back to their lair, where the Enchantress made him work as her personal servant. While the work was rarely grueling, it was often demeaning, and worse, he had no control over his body at all. After several days he was beginning to despair of ever getting free.

Then the paladin Sir Connery broke into the lair to challenge the pair of evil magicians. However, before the confrontation could begin blue electricity coursed through the room, and Chrono-nik appeared in an explosion of blue smoke and fire. He introduced himself and said that he had come to this time period for two reasons – the first being to inform Knuckles and Sir Connery that he had slain the Ancient Walkers.

Sir Connery did not believe Chrono-nik's claims, but could see well enough that he was a villain. The paladin attacked Chrono-nik, but his sword had no affect on Chrono-nik. Chrono-nik retaliated with a blast of energy from his hand which completely disintegrated Sir Connery.

Chrono-nik now revealed the second reason he had come: to make sure Knuckles knew that all the suffering Knuckles would go through in the coming weeks was Chrono-nik's doing, as revenge for the trouble Knuckles had caused Robotnik. He then told the Sorcerer and Enchantress to exploit Knuckles however they saw fit, but to make sure he did not escape; if they still had Knuckles in their power when he came to claim the Island for himself he would allow them a place in his empire, but if Knuckles got free he would make their deaths far more unpleasant than Sir Connery's had been. And with that, he disappeared as he had came, in blue smoke, flame, and lightning.

The Sorcerer and Enchantress were confused and a bit frightened by this turn of events, but after some deliberation decided it would be in their best interests to keep Knuckles as their slave.

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Countdown to Armageddon

With the Freedom Fighters stressed out by recent events, Princess Sally decided to have a "Campfire Pow-wow" to help everyone relax. That evening Sally, Sonic, Bunnie, Antoine, Tails, Dulcy and Sir Charles all headed out into the woods, where they built a bonfire and roasted hot-dogs. However, they hadn't been at it long when the Wolf Pack showed up, having just recently escaped from a fierce battle with Robotnik's forces.

Most of the wolves enjoyed relaxing by the fire as much as the Freedom Fighters, but one of them, Drago, couldn't get over the fact that they were eating with the "enemy" (in the form of the robotic Sir Charles). The mood was further soured when Geoffrey St. John showed up uninvited and started throwing accusations around as well. Sonic and Geoffrey got into an argument which degraded into an all out brawl; Antoine of all people joined in to help Sonic.

Sally had just managed to break up the fight when Rotor showed up to tell them he had just gotten a message from the Chaotix: a blue robot matching the description of the one that had infected Bunnie was causing havoc on the Floating Island. They had tried to stop it but it was far more powerful than anything they'd faced before. To make matters worse, Knuckles was missing; the fire-Ant Archimedes had gone looking for him some time ago but they had yet to hear back from him.

Concerned for Knuckles and the inhabitants of the Island, and also hoping the robot might provide some clues on how to cure Bunnie, Sally ordered her Freedom Fighters to prepare to head to the Floating Island immediately.

Due to travel time and the Floating Island being over another part of the world, it was light out when Sonic, Sally, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Tails, and Dulcy arrived. They met up with Charmy the Bee, who led them to the latest settlement the blue robot had attacked, where the rest of the Chaotix were doing their best to keep the robot from harming civilians. The Freedom Fighters quickly joined the fight, allowing the badly injured and exhausted Chaotix to retreat and tend to their wounds.

Even as it fought with the Freedom Fighters the robot introduced itself as Chrono-bot 7, one of an elite group of robots serving "Lord Chrono-nik". Not only had it infected Bunnie with the roboticization nanites, but it had also been responsible for sabotaging the Dream Watcher. Both of these events, and more besides, were part of Chrono-nik's master plan to punish all those who had or one day would defy him – and nothing the Freedom Fighters did would help them, as history was Chrono-nik's to reshape as he saw fit.

The Freedom Fighters tried not to think too much about the Chrono-bot's claims and instead focus on the fight. However it soon became apparent why the Chaotix had been unable to beat it, as it was far faster, stronger, and smarter than an elite Com-bot, and had an equally impressive arsenal up it's sleeve (including darts filled with roboticizer nanites; luckily no one was hit by them). It was also shielded against EMPs (one of the Freedom Fighters' few trump cards against Robotnik's more powerful robots).

The battle lasted over an hour, and all of the Freedom Fighters suffered injuries. The Chaotix returned to the fight despite their injured state but even this wasn't quite enough to turn the tide. Sally was trying to convince Sonic they would need to retreat and come up with a new plan when Archimedes showed up, having learned of the battle through sources he refused to disclose. Archimedes took Sally aside and together with Nicole they worked out a plan to stop the robot.

After dropping a few buildings on the Chrono-bot to slow it down, Bunnie and Mighty the Armadillo worked together to tear a hole in its chest armor. While the rest of the team kept it too distracted to properly retaliate, Bunnie, Rotor, and Archimedes fired into the hole as often as possible for as long as possible (Bunnie with her arm-cannon, Rotor with a plasma bazooka of his own design, and Archimedes with his fire-breath). It still took several minutes before the robot fell – and even then it had one last parting gift.

Rather than powering down, blue light began to pour from the hole in the Chrono-bot's chest and blue sparks coursed over it's body. Nicole warned that the robot's power output was rising exponentially and a temporal distortion was starting to form around it. Everyone fled the scene, those less injured helping the remaining villagers to evacuate; they had just made it to a safe distance when the Chrono-bot exploded with a flash of light, flames, and smoke, all colored blue. When the light faded and the smoke cleared, a crater several dozen yards across was left behind – along with a lingering temporal distortion (or so Nicole informed them).

After the Freedom Fighters had tended their wounds, and Rotor had retrieved one of the nanite darts for further study, Sally offered to help the Chaotix look for Knuckles.

Luckily, Archimedes already had determined Knuckles' location. The two groups headed there, and with a bit of searching located the Sorcerer and Enchantress. Working together, the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix beat the two mages and rescued Knuckles. Even after the spell on him ended, Knuckles was a bit out of it at first. Once he recovered, Knuckles thanked them, and promised Sally he'd continue his search for the Sword of Acorns.

After the Freedom Fighters had left, and the Sorcerer and Enchantress had been imprisoned, Knuckles began searching through the Sorcerer and Enchantress' belongings in search of clues that might lead him to the next part of his quest.

Back in the Great Forest, the Freedom Fighters returned home. After a long night and an intense battle, most of the Freedom Fighters headed to bed. Before Sally could get ready for bed however, Rosie burst into her hut and told her to follow her quickly. Sally followed Rosie to another hut, where waiting for her was a completely flesh-and-blood and apparently fully healthy King Acorn!

STH * STH * STH

Endgame

The next day, on the orders of King Acorn, the Freedom Fighters went on a mission to Robotropolis. The Wolf Pack and most of the Freedom Fighters waited in hiding, while Sonic and Sally made their way to the top of Robotnik's Headquarters. They then split up, Sonic heading inside through a ventilation duct, while Sally began rappelling down the side of the building. But then Sonic (or someone or thing that looked just like him) came back out of the building and cut her rope.

Sally fell several stories and was knocked unconscious. The other Freedom Fighters rushed her to Knothole, but it was too late. Not long after she was taken to Knothole Hospital, Dr. Quack pronounced her dead.

When Sonic arrived back in Knothole, he was immediately arrested, and was shocked when he learned the charge was murder of Princess Sally. He was soon put on trial by King Acorn himself; Sonic maintained his innocence, but was swiftly convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in the Devil's Gulag.

On the way to the Gulag, the plane carrying Sonic was attacked by Swat-bots and crashed. Sonic survived the crash, beat the bots, and escaped. The King sent Geoffrey St. John to track him down.

Meanwhile, Bunnie and Antoine discovered Drago to be in league with Robotnik, but were captured by Com-bots under his command, and sent to Robotnik's Slave Labor Mines in Downunda.

Not long after this, Robotnik invaded Knothole. Most of the village's defenders had been on missions or attending a speech by the King, and the Com-bots were able to take control of the village with a minimum of violence. To those assembled for the King's speech, Robotnik revealed that the King they'd been following the past few days was actually one of his Auto-Automaton robot duplicates; the real King had never recovered from his crystallization and was now being held in Robotropolis.

Meanwhile in the wilderness, Sonic met up with Dulcy, who flew him to the Floating Island. However, Geoffrey and his men boarded an aerial transport and followed him.

In Downunda, Bunnie was fitted with explosives which were hooked up to her mechanical parts; the Com-bots threatened to blow her and anyone around her up if she attempted to use her mechanical strength. Antoine and Bunnie were then taken to their cell, where they met some fellow prisoners - the Downunda Freedom Fighters. Shortly after this they were also introduced to the head of the mining operation: Robotnik's regional Underboss, Crocbot (who had recently rebuilt himself to be half humanoid crocodile robot, and half tank).

On the Floating Island, Sonic and Dulcy arrived and tried to recruit Knuckles, but then Geoffrey showed up and told Knuckles that Sonic had killed Sally. Knuckles joined up with Geoffrey in fighting Sonic, but Dulcy interrupted the fight to explain that dragons had the ability to sense when someone was lying, and she believed Sonic when he said he was innocent.

Back in Robotropolis, Robotnik used a captive Overlander as the test subject in the final test of his new Ultimate Annihilator weapon; the Overlander was completely disintegrated.

In Downunda, the prisoners pooled their resources in an escape attempt. Unfortunately, when not being forced to work Bunnie was restrained in shackles too strong for her to break without triggering her bombs, so she was unable to help them. The break-out attempt was a failure, and the prisoners were re-captured.

Crocbot had an air-bus loaded with ore from the mines; hoping to take over from Robotnik, he gave one of his Com-bots a miniature nuclear bomb and orders to use it to destroy Robotnik and his headquarters.

After the ship had departed, a Chrono-bot appeared on the air-bus in a flash of blue light. The Chrono-bot overpowered the Com-bot and took custody of the bomb. Disposing of the Com-bot, the Chrono-bot double-checked that the auto-pilot was set for Robotropolis, then departed the same way it had came.

Meanwhile, Sonic, Geoffrey, and Knuckles arrived in Knothole, and took on the Swat-bots and Com-bots holding the villagers prisoner. Many of the villagers joined in the fight, and before long the robots had been destroyed and the village freed.

In Robotropolis, the ore shipment arrived; Robotnik had it loaded into the Ultimate Annihilator.

Back in Knothole, Sonic had had enough; he intended to bring an end to Robotnik's reign or die trying. He raced to the city, blowing through the defenses. As Sonic entered Robotnik's Headquarters, Snivley attempted to stand in his way; Sonic beat him, knocking him down an open shaft.

Meanwhile, Robotnik powered up the Ultimate Annihilator, targeting it on Knothole. Sonic arrived just in time to watch the Annihilator's beam hit Knothole on the view-screen; all that was left was a smoking crater. Enraged, Sonic attacked Robotnik. Robotnik retaliated, in a no-holds-barred battle that only ended when the UA backfired, sending a wave of destructive energy through the room.

As the wave of energy washed over Sonic and Robotnik, everything went white.

STH * STH * STH

Restart

Robotnik had expected the wave of energy to destroy him, so he was rather surprised when he found himself standing in what appeared to be the throne room of Castle Acorn as it had been prior to his coup. On the throne sat a fully flesh-and-blood (and very surprised and confused) King Acorn; nearby stood Warlord Kodos (who Robotnik had trapped in the Zone of Silence years before the coup).

Neither the King or Kodos seemed to recognize Robotnik, which led him to believe he was in another zone and/or the past. Either way, he was certain he could turn this situation to his advantage...