A/N: This story takes place within my crossover universe. Events here are different than those in the comic, but through this young man's eyes, I hope that you can see just how both sides fit in for this strange new world. Enjoy the story, and don't forget to let me know what you think!


Welcome Home
a Story of Adventure and Beginning

By CRV

PROLOGUE

A Mobian leaving his home was rare enough. Usually people of this race were not known for leaving their hometowns. Sometimes though, a few brave individuals left to strike it out on their own. Perhaps they thought that they could make it in another land, so they left. Success and failure was something that was as varied for a Mobian as it was for any other person of any other race. Whether the individual in question chose to go home was a much more different matter.

A Mobian leaving his home was rare enough. A Mobian leaving his home to go to Earth was something different entirely. When a person expressed the desire to go to the Human homeworld that was recently linked through technology, friends and family narrowed their eyes and shook their head. Why would a Mobian ever want to leave Mobius to go to Earth? What did Earth have to offer them that their own world didn't?

Clearly for Christopher Ashton a young Mobian Labrador, this was a question that he was willing to answer. He grew up on the planet among people like him, but realized that his world was becoming too dangerous. He could see that the world would be plunged into fear ever since Robotnik decided to make himself known to this new universe at large. Ashton wanted a new beginning. He wanted adventure… and he wanted answers.

His parents and family had lived in Knothole, the 'Old City' for as long as they could remember. This was back way before it was turned into the capital that it was today. They thought that the Old City was the best place in the world for them. It was calm for centuries and had so much history in it. Ashton had a different visage in mind. He had read stories about a city on Earth that everyone always spoke about. It was everywhere, in books, movies, poems, and songs. A city called New York.

Ashton knew nothing of the city except for its name and a few old pictures. He knew very little of the planet of his ancestors. Earth was a world with so much history and promise, but his parents had been quick to point out the negative. His father in particular.

One night around the dinner table, he brought up the issue to his parents.

"Dad?"

"Son?" the tall, bulky and deep voiced man answered.

"I had a thought… I kind of want to take a break from Knothole."

His mother, who was a light furred Retriever, twitched her ear. "What's wrong with Knothole?"

Christopher shrugged. "I… I dunno. It's just, ever since last year, I just get the feeling that the world is so much bigger than it is. I… feel like there's a whole other world out there."

"You want to leave Knothole then, son?" his father determined. "Where would you go? What would you do?"

This was where Ashton was a bit nervous to tell his parents about his dream. But he decided to go ahead and tell them anyway. What did he have to lose?

Actually, everything.

"Actually…" He rolled his knuckles, "Actually, I was curious about Earth."

His mother's brow furrowed and her ears perked in curiosity. "Earth?"

"Why the hell would you want to go there?" his father said suddenly.

Christopher was shocked. "I…"

"No, don't say anything." His father placed his elbow on the table and made eye contact with his son. "You're young. I can understand that. You might not be aware of what this place is about."

"Then what is it about?"

"I'll tell you what. I've done my homework. I learned all about how dangerous this planet was. You know that wars have been happening for over ten thousand years for the Humans? They've killed millions of their own over things like which religion is better, who has more resources, and frequent misunderstandings!"

"Sure, but that was ten thousand years ago!"

"They still fight. In World War II, they killed over 25 million people in one of their countries simply because one man told them to do it."

"But Dad!"

"And then they invented nuclear weapons. Then that's when things really took off."

"You're only listing the bad!" Christopher shouted.

"Calm down!" his mother urged. "Both of you!"

"You hate them!" Ashton said, ignoring his mother.

"I don't hate them." His father growled. "I don't want them influencing you."

"You mentioned only the bad things! You haven't told me anything positive."

"That's because Humans don't choose to do positives. They do what comes natural to them – imperialism, might is right, and excessive force to get what they desire. What have they done right?"

This time, Ashton had an answer. "Us." He said evenly.

His father then huffed and reclined in his chair. "Well…"

Christopher's mother laughed. "That's not fair though. We did everything ourselves."

"No." Ashton said. "It was because of their compassion that we are here at all. They could have chosen to have us exterminated or destroyed. They didn't though. They chose to help us. They gave us knowledge. They gave us civilization. What we did after that was our own decision."

His father remained silent.

"Our Humans were punished for something that they never did. They died because of something they couldn't control, had no knowledge of, and they didn't deserve it. They loved us, and don't you dare tell me otherwise."

Still, his father said nothing. His mother eyed her husband curiously, waiting for his response.

"I got an 'A' in Mobian History. I know my stuff. I remember back during the war, the Cobar Concentration Camp."

Suddenly, his mother snapped, "Don't mention that place at this table!"

"Oh, why not?"

"Because it's a horrible subject!"

"Because it makes us look bad."

"What happened in that camp is none of your business." His father said. "It was war. We had to do things we weren't proud of."

"And that makes us immune to criticism? We are no different than the Humans were. We have just as much potential for evil as they do. We are all regular people." Christopher took a breath. "I want to go. I have to know what this planet is like. I have to know about where our ancestors came from."

His father's voice was calm. He folded his arms. "No."

"I'm 23 years old; I should be able to go if I want to."

"Argue all you like with me. You aren't leaving this town, and you're not going to live with those Humans."

"Whether you like it or not, I will go." Christopher said standing up to leave.

Then he heard what his father said: "If you leave this house… If you go to Earth, you've left this place for good."

Maybe it was in haste, maybe he was coasting off his anger, but the young Mobian looked at his father and said, "Maybe that's for the best".


He thought the anger would have subsided. He thought that his father's reaction over this wouldn't have made such an impression on him, but for three weeks, he could barely stand to look at him. Even when he tried to talk to his son, Christopher stayed silent.

Unfortunately, his father stood by his words. He still refused to yield and allow the young man to leave. Every night, he sat in his room and looked at the moon. Every night he watched the broken chunks of the ancient rock slowly form a ring and wondered about the machine that existed in orbit around it. Ashton had only heard rumors about it and didn't know much about it. He heard it was something called the Jumpgate. Some of them called the Warpgate as well. Whatever this thing was, it was the way that he would be able to get to Earth, somehow flung across the universes.

That gate was his portal to freedom and the knowledge he sought.


So he worked. He worked every single day to get as much money as he could to try and afford a one way ticket through. The weeks passed quickly for him as he tried to find jobs from people who would pay him for just about anything. As he counted his money every night, he wondered just how he would make it. He didn't know much about the money that Humans used, or what they bought or used in their lives. He wasn't even sure of what they ate. For all intents and purposes, they were aliens to him.

He had seen a few of them around Knothole though. Usually though they weren't regular people like him. They wore uniforms. They were probably military, or scientists, or perhaps they worked for another larger group. Either way, they didn't seem like the ordinary folk. A couple of times Ashton had tried to work up the courage to speak to one of them, but they always seemed to be going somewhere.

Going somewhere. He thought. That seems to sum up Humans pretty well.

They always had somewhere to be, someone to report to, some place they needed to be by a certain time. Ashton wished that they just slowed down to enjoy the beautiful things in life like the world around them. Then a horrifying thought hit him. Perhaps they didn't stop to admire the beauty because there was no beauty on Earth?

This was the first time that he began to second-guess his desire to go to Earth. He had been so sure at this point. Maybe he had been wrong. Ashton had refused to hear very much about their home planet simply because he wanted it to be a surprise for him to see. He only had old pictures in his room. Three of his favorites were photos of buildings that apparently existed a long time ago. There was one picture of a group of Human construction workers sitting down on a metal beam to have lunch, but they were dangling high above the ground without fear! That one was dated 1932 – over 1300 years ago. The second was a photo of a beautiful tower he didn't know the name of. It curved from a square base to a point at the top where a flag furled in the sky. The only thing on the photo that gave reference was 'Paris, 1951'. The second one was probably the most beautiful. The last one was his personal favorite. It was a picture of a seaside city that shot buildings into the air. Traffic on both the ground and the air glowed with lights. The caption read 'Chicago, 2111'.

These cities were very beautiful, but his fear crept in. What if these beautiful places didn't exist anymore? There was no way to tell trapped here. It had been a very long time since the construction picture had been taken – it was completely in black and white! Where was this city? Was it still there?

He had to know these answers. He had to leave soon before he went crazy.


After a few more days, Christopher's father began to talk to him again in full sentences, and had noted that he had been working hard. He walked up the house's stairs to his room.

"Do you have a moment?" He asked knocking on his bedroom door.

"Sure." The young Mobian said, leaning up from his calculations.

"Look, I know you've been working hard. I thought that your whole dream was just a spur of the moment kind of thing." He walked inside and placed his hands in his pockets. "How are you doing? Cash wise, I mean?"

Ashton's ear twitched and he arced his eyebrows. "Oh!" He said, caught by surprise. He checked his figures. "With that last job that I finished up, after taxes of course, I should be up about 10,000 Mobiums! Think I may be able to afford that ticket after all!"

"Well, you see, Christopher, that's what I'm here to talk to you about." He had a seat on his son's bed. "I don't want to say it in front of your mother, but you got me good back there. You were right, about mentioning Cobar. The Great War was… well, it wasn't pretty. You with your 'A' in History would know that much. Maybe I'm a bit insecure that there's a new group of people we know nothing about that look just like our enemies. Can you understand that? Just look at it from where I'm sitting. The first day I saw those Humans, I thought the war was back on." He shrugged and made eye contact. "I was scared."

"You told me you never got scared." Christopher said.

"Yeah, well sometimes your old man can be wrong sometime." Mr. Ashton cleared his throat. "Hey, It's not that I'm worried about you going… I'm afraid you'll never come back."

Christopher turned around fully to meet his father. "Dad, why didn't you say so?"

"I was angry that you wanted to leave. It almost as if I thought you believed we weren't good enough for you."

"You know it's not like that. I love you and mom so much. But…" He pointed to the moon. "I have so many questions that need to be answered, and the answers…" He emphasized with his finger, "Are on the other side of that gate. I just have to go."

His father smiled. "You know, I was wrong for wanting to keep that explorer spirit down. You have time for a quick story?"

"Yeah, I suppose."

His father dug back into his mind and said, "Back when I was a kid, before the War, before the fleeing, and before the danger, we lived in peace more or less. Things… they got too crowded in Mobotropolis. They were too familiar for me. I wanted a breath of fresh air… see the world, you know? My father wasn't fond of the idea. He said, 'Why would you ever want to leave when we have everything we could possibly need right here?' So, funny enough, I told him that I wanted to go anyway, and you know what he said?"

"What?" The younger Ashton asked.

"He said, 'Murray, there are insane highwaymen that are out there! They'll take your money and leave you for dead without a second thought'. Naturally, I thought this was a stupid reason, and I told him that. He said that I was being ungrateful and that I wasn't appreciative for the roof over my head, and we stopped talking for two months."

"Two months?" The young Lab repeated in wonder.

His father moved his hand in a waving way. "Two months. Walked right by one another. Finally, one day, he came to me. You know what he said? He said the same thing I'm about to say to you." He put his hand in his pocket.

"That was dumb of me. I was trying to make excuses to get you to stay, but I know that there's no good in keeping a tried and true adventurer down. You're an Ashton, boy! Our Human Namesakes were among the first to map this great countryside! They taught your ancestors their ways! Your great grandfather led an expedition through the Great Desert! Your grandfather was one of the King's most respected scouts! I went and saw the world. And you…" He handed his son a slip of official looking paper. "You son, are going to keep that tradition up."

Christopher looked at the paper. It was a travel booking! It was a ticket! A ticket off Mobius and through the gate! To Earth! To New York City!"

"Dad… I…" He looked at his father and sprouted a smile from ear to ear. "…I guess I'm going on an adventure!"

His father smiled back and hugged him tight. "Just don't go away forever, kiddo."

"I promise pop."

"Oh, and one more thing?"

"Name it!"

"Just… erm… don't tell your mother I caved."

They both laughed merrily as the stars awaited above.