Possibilities for Sonic Chronicles
Around the time Sonic Unleashed came out, Bioware developed the first RPG in Sonic the Hedgehog's history known as Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, which not only expanded on certain levels from previous games, but also incorporated certain concepts from the Archie adaptation of Sonic at the time. Such as an Echidna antagonist faction imprisoned in an alternate dimension, the concept of literally turning life forms into robots, and enemy characters referred to as Swat Bots. I personally thought the story was worth indulging the world in and that no copyrights were actually crossed because the things I mentioned above looked and acted differently from what was shown in the comics, however, the former writer, Ken Penders, filed a lawsuit on royalties which stalled a Sonic Chronicles sequel indefinitely and forced the comics themselves to reboot themselves. While I found some parts of the latter melodramatic at best, I would've preferred that it eventually concluded the way it was going at first instead of taking the rebooting way just as much as I'd like there to be a continuation of Sonic Chronicles where it left off at, which is why I almost always refer to Ken Penders as "Pigma Penders", if you know what I mean.
Anyway, I guess until that silly legal nonsense about money or whatever eventually dies down, as it should in my opinion, our curiosities over Sonic Chronicles' cliffhanger will have to solved through fanfiction. I've noticed some stories like Heroes Rising, but they're not usually updated frequently, and while I have some basic ideas of my own, I kind of have some difficulties in the real world with constant travel, family gatherings, and other young adult concerns which tend to hinder my fan writing. Nonetheless, taking some inspiration from the way Primordial Vortex and mellra make their challenge stories descriptively and such, I think that by sharing my basic concepts on what "Sonic Chronicles 2" might at least include, if not look like, I can reenergize interest in the old RPG and expand the senses of imagination of those who take up these challenges. Although, I have other ideas pertaining to outside Chronicles that I might want to share in the future.
Now here are some guidelines I'd appreciate if people followed while filling my challenges.
No unnecessary bashing: seeing characters grow up and show hidden strengths is all good until it looks the writer is purposefully making the character in question look like an unlikable nuisance at best and a complete villain at worst. Trust me, it's best to show both the positives and negatives of those in a story.
No slash: I try not to judge people who have different "bonding" preferences compared to mine, but I really don't think Sonic should be confused with Mass Effect or any other games where there are shown to be more than one "road to love" unless it's suited for the story's setting which of course should have appropriate warning labels, Rated M and all.
Keep the content at a controlled level: meaning that it's probably best to not go beyond the Rated E standards of canon Sonic. If you want to add some cursing and blood, then that's tolerable, but I definitely don't want any of my answered challenges being removed just because of something the admins don't approve of.
Be close to canon, yet ready to take risks, if you decide to direct the challenge in question in an original manner.
Don't shy away from asking me for advice or beta reading: however, I won't dictate your execution as it should ultimately be your decision. I'm doing fine with it so far with digemsmack over his Fairy Tail story which I gave my patronage for, Ascension of the Second Apocalypse.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, or any of its associated characters and lore.
Suppression (an Antiverse for the Sonic Games)
Across time and space, there existed two universes of similar, yet opposite, natures. Each universe was centered around a specific planet that had varied physical geographies and forms of life, and were, in fact, counterparts to one other in the vast multiverse they resided in at large. From a space vessel's point of view as it orbit's one of these two worlds, it may have looked as if there were no real differences at all. However, in terms of social and instinctual characteristics, each were as different as hopeful generosity and deceptive cruelty.
One world was called Earth, a planet that, in its history, had been home to and visited by numerous civilizations and godlike beings, non-Earthborn and otherwise, just as it had endured conflicts of great and terrible power between forces of both good and evil design. The most prominent representatives of both sides were well-known as Sonic the Hedgehog and Doctor Eggman.
The former was a freedom fighter in every sense of the term as well as an example of the anthropomorphic animals found on Earth that were known for their advanced abilities and diversity. Sonic, well-memorized as a blue-furred, green-eyed hedgehog in appearance and a hero who braved whatever life threw at him with his super speed by reputation, was personality-wise impulsive and egotistical, but not without a sense of genuine compassion, loyalty, and justice that guided him to put the innocent as well as his loved ones over himself when the time came to make such tough decisions.
The latter, on the other hand, was a Human scientist born under the name Ivo Robotnik, who's family was marked for tragedy long before his archenemy's very birth, and in some part because of that, grew to become a dangerous criminal mastermind driven mad by his not so easily satisfied thirst for power. Dr. Eggman, in the appearance of an obese, middle-aged man with a long mustache of the mahogany color who wore the attire of a fanciful, yet gentlemanly, pilot and scientist mixed into a vicious, brilliant, yet horribly immature personality.
The other world of Terra, in contrast, was a much bleaker place.
Although details of that planet's distant past were obscure at best in the time period Sonic and Eggman fought their battles, which was temporally analogous to Terra's, what few historical records that were open to the Terran population during the reign of the Terran Authoritarian Empire described that while the Echidna Knuckles and Nocturnus Clans of Earth waged a bloody war of expansion against each other four thousand years before the beginning of Eggman's quest for a self-made empire, the Echidna people of Terra, however, were united in their call for peace and prosperity on their home world, which the other anthropomorphic races as well as the Terran Humans were quick to join in. Described as the first Golden Age of Terran History, it was a time when conflicts among nations and races were resolved with diplomacy, frequent trade encouraging positive exchanges of goods and culture, and within two thousand years, technology advanced to a level that promised to turn Terra into a world of limitless possibilities as well as a beacon of hope in the greater universe.
But this era of great accomplishments, unfortunately, didn't last past the first two thousand years.
In comparison to the Black Arms' earliest known visit to Earth, Terra was brutally attacked by an alien force that devastated the planet in more ways than one. While the invasion was eventually repelled at the cost of much of the Terran peoples' advanced weaponry and population as well as the habitability of much of Terra's once pristine areas that remained scarred thousands of years later, the arguably greatest damage of that short, yet terrifying war, was the massive emergence of xenophobia and militancy among the Humans of Terra. Consumed by fear of threats to their race, the grief they felt for the losses they endured, and, eventually, the feelings of greed and arrogance they gave into in their attempts to justify their severe actions against non-Humans, the Human species that lived on Terra took advantage of the chaos that reigned in the "Great Calamity's" aftermath to shift the balance of power to the favor of their leaders. In time, Human supremacy took effect and thus, the Terran Authoritarian Empire came to be.
Under this fierce regime, the anthropomorphic races found themselves as second-class citizens in the best of times and outright slaves in the worst. Although there were some Humans in the T.A.E.'s history who didn't have as much fervor to the belief of their race's "superiority" and actually felt pity for the less fortunate anthropomorphs, few of them were able to rise to the highest-ranking position of Overlord, and none made any lasting changes. Aside from the discrimination, by the time technology on Terra took the form of spacecraft under the T.A.E.'s rule, the very concept of space exploration was tightly regulated to prevent another Great Calamity. While a reasonable security measure on the surface, it, however, eventually led to greater decay by the time of Sonic's first confrontation with Eggman as the global economy of Terra struggled to manage its dwindling resources in regards to the needs of its population.
Just like Earth, Terra was on the verge of ruin and in desperate need of someone who could change its fate. But as many tend to forget, heroes do not last forever, and are not the only ones born from such dark times.
As consciousness came to him, Scion the Hedgehog found himself in what appeared to be a prison cell, but not the kind the Human taskmasters tend to put their troublemakers in to "reeducate" good behavior. Unlike the usual cells, this one had more living accommodations, including a concealed bathroom area, a pair of mattresses and chairs to actually relax on, and even television. But what really caught Scion's eye was that this cell was guarded, not by Humans who as far as he could remember always had sadistic looks adorn their faces, but by uniformed Bat and Crocodile Anthropomorphs who upon noticing Scion's rouse from his slumber, took the liberty of relaying this to whatever superior they followed orders from on the other side of their personal wrist communicators. Scion tried to hear the voice of the person on the other end, but could only make out a masculine tone before the guards opened the holographic seal that kept Scion inside his cell and ushered him out.
"Relax, kid." Said the lead Bat guard ahead of Scion in a stern, yet easing voice. "The boss just wants to ask some questions about you. It'll all be over soon."
"What happens if I answer poorly?" Retorted the Hedgehog, who couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this situation.
The guard merely gave an amused grunt.
"You won't found any of those mad Hominids on this ship, boy, only us, and we try not to kill our own kind."
In spite of what seemed to be an attempt to show that Scion wasn't in any real trouble, the Hedgehog tried to remember what happened that could've led him into this predicament. After some struggle, he reminded himself that in his previous run in with the Disciplinary Authority that enacted law and order for the sake of Human satisfaction, he was come upon by a large group of Anthropomorphs attired in the same uniform as his captors that were, even when unarmed, showed some impressive fighting skills. At the time he couldn't tell if they were a criminal gang, or a cult, considering they had some fierce-looking weapons while at the same time used the word "Air" as a battle cry, until he started noticing that they were invested in fighting the D.A. troopers after Scion while avoiding collateral damage. Thinking it over, he realized in great shock that these people were none other than the Armed Irregular Revolutionary Fighting Force.
Only a few years old, the A.I.R. Fighting Force was described in the Imperial media as a motley faction of terrorists that emerged from a crew of vandals while the more downtrodden among his people viewed them as the Anthropomorphic races best, and possibly last, hope for lasting change since the Empire's foundation. Scion, personally, never thought much about them, any optimism on his part diminished with each passing year, but he didn't quite like the sign of them capturing him and was about to demand what was going on exactly before they stopped outside a certain a room.
"He's waiting for you inside." Said the Bat.
Seeing no other choice, Scion entered inside to find himself in a fanciful office with the only occupant being a heavily masked and armored Bat taller than him.
"Greetings." The A.I.R. leader said in a voice that was so heavily modified by technology Scion couldn't tell if the person in front of him was actually male or not. "I am Echo, and you'll find that in A.I.R., discretion is key."
Scion released a small chuckle.
"Right." He said in an intentionally unconvinced manner before taking a more serious face. "Any particular reason why I was abducted?"
Echo shrugged.
"It wasn't anything personal. I was just told by my unit leader, the one you came across on Children's Isle, about how you fought the D.A. troopers with your super speed, apparently to settle some personal score you have with them, or because you were in the middle of a crime and wanted to protect yourself."
"What you people do isn't criminal behavior?" Interjected Scion, once more unamused.
Echo tightened his hands, but only momentary before composing his voice in a controlled manner.
"I admit that what we do can inspire people to make ugly choices just as much as the opposite can be a possibility, but ever since we started, I believed in at least one truth: that every sentient being deserves a shot at freedom and to prove themselves more than what they already are. And in my mind, our people's chance for freedom has been long overdue. But in order to succeed, A.I.R. not only needs exceptional resources, but extraordinary people who can make clear decisions in difficult situations of life and death. A Hedgehog with super speed and a sense of loyalty to his people, no matter how small it is, would be something good to have on our side."
Scion was shocked upon Echo's statement of his loyalty to his people, but quickly composed himself and adopted a confident grin.
"What makes you think I'm a sucker for just causes?"
Echo couldn't refrain a chuckle.
"You saved a young Lion girl who got caught up in that mess on the Isle." Clearly delighting in Scion's returned surprise look, Echo went on. "My men know better than to lie to me on such topics, and, of course, I saw the whole thing through a camera they had with them."
He released a tired sigh.
"My young friend, I won't force you to join us, but let me ask you something. If you had a chance to prove the Humans wrong, that you're more than some simple lower life form meant only for enslavement and eventual extinction, that you can always do great things if you chose to take that course and muster all your available strength to do it, would you take that chance?"
A long silence took place as Scion pondered over what his host told him, the negatives and positives of what being with A.I.R. could bring to him, and if he really did have an opportunity to do the impossible that no one else had done in two thousand years of Terran history, to end the Humans' dictatorship once and for all. Eventually, he spoke to Echo.
"My name is Scion the Hedgehog." He then grew a somewhat cocky smirk. "But as you said, discretion key in this line of work, so you can call me 'King' because "Blue-eyed Sin" and the "Green Blur" are not tasteful enough in my opinion."
Echo appeared to be stunned for a moment before releasing another chuckle as he came close to the young Hedgehog.
"Well, "King Scion", welcome to your new life." He said surprisingly happily as they shook hands. "You're an A.I.R. warrior now."
Upon those last words, Scion could feel his own face making the effort of showing a small, yet present, smile.
There you have it. Naturally, I kept some things a bit vague, it is a challenge after all, but I think those among you who can take this up can figure out how it all goes as you write. And before anyone asks how can this be an Antiverse for the Sonic games if Sonic's counterpart isn't acting like a villain, allow me to explain. I'm looking for a Game Antiverse that deconstructs the one in Archie, meaning I'd like Scion to be something of an "Evil Sonic", but absolutely different from Scourge the Hedgehog. A good backstory goes a long way as well, especially if it starts with the lead turning bad one way or another, but I'm most definitely not expecting him to go all Darkseid in just a few chapters, or even start out with facial hair as some fans of the Star Trek episode Mirror, Mirror might call for.
Given that Scion is more of an OC, you're more than welcome to put OC in the character slot instead of Scourge, that's what I'd do anyway. For the next concept, I was thinking of leaving that to depend on the outcome of a poll I'll put on my FF profile, I think you'll understand when you see it. Either way, I'd recommend not putting it in the same boat as Sonic Chronicles' cliffhanger yet until I'm ready to discuss that. Which revolves around both the poll and how this challenge proceeds.
I named Children's Isle after Children's Day which takes place the same day as Christmas. I figured it was appropriate since a source said that Sonic the Hedgehog of the games was born on Christmas Island. I struggled with Scion's name for a bit, but I think it's acceptable. I have other name ideas for certain characters but you can decide what to do with them, if at all.
Meters Daunting: Anti-Tails
Brass the Echidna: Anti-Knuckles
Rosaline Ames: Anti-Amy
Julius Ovison: Anti-Eggman
Lucia Ovison: Anti-Maria Robotnik
Of course, those are just suggestions, and I'm more than willing to talk them over with whoever feels the need to write and challenge themselves.