In another time…
In another place…
Know that this is the Mobius you know, and yet, not. Similar enough to be familiar, yet, like all parallel dimensions, changed in tiny but significant ways.
Know that this is the story you remember, and yet, not. The stage is the same, but certain key events have been shifted.
Know that these are the characters you love, and yet not. The regulars are here to fill the roles you expect. But the players are different, and thus bring new interpretations.
Know all of this, as we begin…
The Kingdom of Acorn has seen better years. The once illustrious empire which spread over the Westside islands and into the nearby continent of Naka, was considered a force to be reckoned with on the global stage. Perhaps it still is, but for very different reasons.
His name was Robotnik. An ambitious human machinist from eastern Naka, who approached King Nicholas Acorn with very attractive ideas. At the time, the acorn kingdom was expanding further into Naka, much to the disapproval of the United Federation, and the fear of the humans of Naka, who knew that all the acorn kingdom's rule would promise them was slavery.
War seemed inevitable, but Robotnik provided King Acorn with the machines and strategies needed to push back against the United Federation, and claim all of eastern Naka for the kingdom.
While his people were thrown into bondage and servitude, Robotnik was hailed as a hero, the "good one" of the humans. Mostly due to his utter lack of sympathy toward the plight of his own race. Before long, his machines had replaced most of the Acorn military. Which was exactly what he wanted.
One dark day, the seemingly benign robotic peacekeepers of the Acorn capital of Mobotropolis turned on their masters without warning. Robotnik sauntered into the throne room of King Nicholas like the conqueror he was, an army of robots behind him, and a small band of humans and mobians at his side. Robotnik had been planning to seize the Acorn kingdom the entire time, and he offered the king no terms other than unconditional surrender. Nicholas of course resisted, and his shouts of betrayal were silenced by a hail of laser fire. The human slaves, now freed from their bondage, were more than willing to submit to their new leader, convinced he would lead them to a better life. While the mobians were subjected to a fate worse than death: robotization. Flesh and blood replaced by steel and wire, and free will collared by their new master. The humans were promised the same fate if unquestioning loyalty didn't pour from their every action.
It didn't take long for the rest of the kingdom to fall under Robotnik's will. His small band of organic minions, known now as his war band, led their robotic troops across Naka. Within a year, the entire continent was under the thumb of Robotnik. His reasons for all of this remained his own. He made no demands, negotiations or even threats. He simply conquered.
The only thing that spared the rest of the world from the same fate was one chink in Robotnik's otherwise flawless system: the wireless power grid for his robots. Even with all the generators of the kingdom, the power grid couldn't expand far enough out to sea to reach any other major continent. And any satellite he sent up was quickly shot out of the sky by the United Federation. Robotnik and the Federation were caught in a deadlock for the following years, neither ever really managing to gain any ground against the other. The limits of the power grid kept Robotnik from advancing against the Federation, while the Federation couldn't get anywhere near the country without being blown to bits by the fortifications stationed along the shoreline.
After almost 20 years of this, the United Federation could sit by no longer. Robotnik would eventually find a way to expand his power grid, and thus needed to be stopped while they had him in a corner. So, they called on their Special Forces unit; G.U.N. The Guardian Unit of Nations was a smaller, officially nonexistent force that handled the problems no one else could or would. They had been trying to find a way to eliminate Robotnik for the past 20 years, and now, they had the makings of a plan.
G.U.N was a mostly human organization, but around the same time the kingdom of Acorn fell, they launched a successful attack on a cult of echidnan scientists known as the Dark Legion. In their labs the soldiers found a single baby hedgehog. The poor thing had been heavily experimented on by the insane doctors, yet had somehow survived the process. Alive, but changed. His fur was blue like the sky on a clear summer day, and as later analysis showed, he had been gifted with increased speed and agility. The leader of the squad, Lieutenant Patrick Jones, couldn't bring himself to harm the child. So, he and the men and women of his team adopted the boy and raised him with values of honor, freedom, and a sense of right. Having a flair for the dramatic, Patrick knew immediately what to name the boy: Sonic.
Sonic was trained by his adopted family from the moment he could run faster than a car. From hand-to-hand combat, to marksmanship, to parkour, Sonic was taught how to best make use of his powers. While the reckless youth would always run off to see the world he was being taught to protect, he would always return home. And thankfully, he knew how to follow an order when push came to shove.
Which brings us to G.U.N's plan: send Sonic into Naka and, through whatever means he felt necessary, disable the shoreline defenses so the United Federation could then move in and provide support. Sonic would be sent alone and only with two weapons: a combat knife made of flexible steel, its edge filed to the width of an atom so it can cut through effectively anything, and a single large pistol known as the "chaos pistol", which he was only to use as an absolute last resort.
While Sonic was told to use whatever means he could to disable those defenses, he was given one piece of guiding advice: there was apparently a resistance movement of mobians hidden somewhere in the labyrinthine forest of knothole, which covered northern Naka like a blanket. While not especially large, they had recently managed to scrape together some considerable win against the tyrant. They were definitely allies Sonic would want to consider.
So, with his mission set before him, Sonic said his goodbyes to Patrick and the rest of his family and boarded the submarine that would take him to Naka.
And it is here, at long last, where the story begins…
