The ruins of the Doomsday Project conglomerated together, deep down in a cavernous crater, isolated and desolate along the great plains of Mobius. The ridges surrounding the dank pit, which was emitting an acrid smoke, were slowly becoming unmasked as the smoulder began to diminish. Silhouetted along one of the ridges, lay a motionless body. It wore a long, blue coat and thick, black boots. Quite suddenly, it began to stir. It raised its head, ever so slightly, and opened its eyes. Taking in its surroundings, it slowly supported itself onto its feet and coughed violently. Bent double, it began muttering under its breath.
"Wish Naugus would've warned me about the new re-entry."
The figure stood properly erect and gazed down into the pit. It gasped.
"So this must be the Doomsday Project. What on Mobius happened here?" Then struck by an impulse, the figure roared, "NAUGUS! NAUGUS! WHERE ARE YOU? NAUGUS?"
The words echoed around the rocks and ridges, reverberating down into the vast hole. There was no response.
Unperturbed, the figure grabbed the rocky surface behind it, and began to climb. The smoke must have somehow weakened the structure, the figure thought, as he nearly fell repeatedly due to a weak footing or a feeble holding. Still, with all the poison Robotnik has repeatedly dumped into our atmosphere, it isn't surprising, the figure pondered again.
The figure's hand felt flat ground and hoisted itself up onto solid ground. Sitting with its legs akimbo, it breathed heavily again before standing up and scanning its new surroundings.
"NAUGUS! ARE YOU THERE? IT'S ACORN! I THINK…I THINK ITS WORKED NAUGUS! I CAN'T FEEL THE EFFECTS OF THE CRYSTALIZATION AT ALL! NAUGUS!"
There was still no response from anywhere. The barren, rocky landscape stretched out to the horizon; but there was no sign of life whatsoever. The figure sighed deeply.
"We must have been separated upon re-entry. I hope he pulled through all right."
"Don't stress yourself. Naugus made it through the Void, Acorn."
The figure named Acorn spun round. Confronting him was a wild and raucous looking creature: covered in red, dreadlock styled quills. Under a set of white boxing gloves protruded two sets of razor sharp knuckles. He was glaring slightly at Acorn.
"You…know of Ixis Naugus? Did you see him? What happened?" Acorn asked rapidly. The strange creature held up a hand to motion silence.
"One question at a time please. Before I go any further, I have something to ask you. Are you his majesty, King Acorn of Mobotropolis?"
"Why yes!" The King replied, taken aback, "who are you? You don't appear to be a citizen of Mobotropolis." The creature shook his head in response.
"No I am not. And my name is not important, regardless to say I am a descendent of the Great Echidna tribe."
"Ah, the sorcerers," the King gasped, "but according to our history, your tribe was made extinct years ago."
"They were indeed," the Echidna growled, "mind you, it was our fault to let a normal Mobian train under my elders to become a sorcerer. We paid the price in blood for our lack of judgement."
The King stood silent for a while. He had forgotten that it was not just Robotnik's coup that had caused chaos on Mobius.
"I apologize for my rudeness stranger, but you do seem to be well informed of me and my recent movements."
"I know," the Echidna responded, monotonously, "you have every right to be inquisitive of course. In answer to your questions, I visited Mobotropolis many a time before it was…what's the phrase…roboticized. I am well aware of the politics of my planet Acorn, even if I choose not to participate in them. As for Ixis Naugus, I saw both of you exiting the Void and land in two separate places. He was thrown unconscious into that precipice down there. Oh I wouldn't bother looking," the Echidna interjected as the King turned around suddenly, "he was carried away by a person. I couldn't see that well through the polluted smog, but he's gone. I don't know where he or that person disappeared too."
The King turned back around to face the stranger.
"I see. Well Echidna, I must leave at once for Mobotropolis. Thank you for your information."
"Not at all Acorn," the Echidna replied, "but I do have a request. May I accompany you back to Mobotropolis? I have been travelling for days and my supplies are nearly depleted."
"Why of course," the King smiled. He reached into his blue coat and pulled out a pocket-sized machine, with which he began to talk to.
"Computer, display grid of current location."
"Affirmative sire," the machine responded and it projected a hologram of the landscaped that the King and the Echidna stood upon.
"Hmm, very remote. Computer, pin-point exact location."
"Affirmative sire: precise location is exactly 2.5 miles east of the Great Unknown," the machine confirmed.
"Hmm," the King reiterated, "Echidna, do you have a mode of transport at all?"
"Of course," he retorted, "I stole a hovercraft from an aerial compound two years ago. I've been using it to travel around Mobius ever since."
"Very well. Computer, calculate time it would take to travel from current location to Mobotropolis by hovercraft-type transport," the King instructed.
"…approximately 1 day, but further technical properties of transport will help to produce a more accurate time scale," droned the computer.
"No no that's fine," the King said and he replaced the computer within his coat.
"Will your hovercraft survive a day's travel?"
"Well," the Echidna pondered, "just about, but no more than a day: the life cells in the flight circuitry are nearly extinguished."
"Very well," concluded the King, "then our first stop is Mobotropolis. I need to ensure my people are safe after the destruction of that," he scowled as he surveyed the remains of the Doomsday Project, "after that, plans need to be made…and I must find Naugus too."
"Ok then," smiled the Echidna, "my hovercraft is just over that fold to our left. There is just one thing Acorn: I do not wish to discuss this explicitly yet, but I too wish to meet Naugus. If you command a search party to locate him, I want to be in it. Is that agreeable with you?"
"Very well," the King replied, slightly perplexed, as he and the Echidna strode resiliently to the hovercraft, "I do not wish to pry of course but you must know Naugus from somewhere."
"I did know him yes, a long time ago before the coup d'état made against Mobotropolis. Oh, and I am known by the name of Knuckles for your information too."