Now that a couple of chapters are up (and a few reviews have made me understand that not everything is as clear as I thought), I've decided to add a small note on the scope of this thing:

This is a 'canon-like' alternate universe fic, and it starts a little before the events of the games. It is, however, not an 'origin story' (as I don't consider Sonic to be the kind of character that needs one), and it won't turn into a straight re-telling of the games either (Sonic already knows Tails, for example).

Sonic will be the only canon character for quite a while, but at some point most of the rest of the cast will appear in a way that fits this universe and (hopefully) still keeps them totally IC :).

A good chunk of this fic is already written, too (special thanks to Taranea for beta-reading so much of it), and I'm trying to make the best of the time I take to publish this for writing further chapters.

Chapter 1: Never Mind the Pants

Sonic was floating, surrounded by a world of yellow nothingness, and he was grinning like an idiot.

Just a moment ago he'd been listening to his teach ramble about the architecture of the old Echidna ruin they were in. Then the Star Post behind her had started humming—the cage at the bottom of the colored pole spinning all by itself. A twinkling portal split the air right above the pole's tip, and Sonic hadn't wasted a second leaping in. Now he levitated above the shimmering entrance, looking into the bewildered faces of his classmates gathered below.

"See ya next week, guys!" he called.

The portal closed, snatching his words away, and the muffled sounds from the outside world were replaced by the noise of blood rushing through his veins and the faint but steady thumping of his heart.

"Whoa!" The word sounded dull in his head, as if someone had plugged his ears. His arms and legs drifted weightlessly when he relaxed his muscles.

Sonic spun, his limbs following with unnatural ease. Everything around him was a void of yellow. Even the space where the portal had been—if he was still looking into the right direction anyway. For a moment he wasn't sure whether he was actually seeing into the distance (the stuff around him could as well've been some kind of super-dense fog), but his arms and legs were still there, short fur swaying with every motion and his pair of cargo shorts billowing around the knees. It was almost like being underwater, just, kind of, less alarming.

Wasn't something, anything supposed to happen in this place? There were plenty of stories, at least, but only minutes ago he'd been told that the Star Posts hadn't done stuff in centuries. So there apparently hadn't been anyone around with hands-on experience in a while…

Yellow faded into blue, and in the distance, strange structures began to flicker into existence, eventually revolving around him as if he was the center of their universe. The structures twisted and shifted, taking the shape of unfamiliar places—spheres, fragments of land, and impossible roads. They were almost like islands, floating in a—

The portal tore open right in front of him. Outside noises surged inside, grabbing him like an invisible hand, and pulling him headfirst back into reality. Sonic barely caught his fall in a roll, tumbling over his face and elbows like a moron. He slid to a crouch on dusty rock, facing the the still active pole.

The Star Post, almost twice his height, was painted as brightly in reds, yellows and blues as the one he'd come from. At the bottom, a pivoting cage whirred and crackled with energy, but the portal that revolved around the sphere at the post's top had almost closed. Moments later the ancient thing wound down and Sonic's ears became filled with the faint sound of the sea and the rustling of leaves. Only a slight, metallic taste lingered in the air.

He was on a plateau of some sort. In a half-circle around the Star Post, steep, grayish-brown rocks protruded towards an overcast sky like a protective hand, then extended left and right into a mountain-like formation. Opposite, a rocky descent lead into a forest, and across from that Sonic could easily spot the vastness of the sea. Wherever he was, it definitely weren't the old ruins he'd come from.

"Heh…" Sonic stood, rubbing his nose. "Guess the old stuff works after all!"

Then his vision blacked out.

He wasn't unconscious (he knew what that felt like. Falling out of a loop-de-loop kinda did that to you…), it was more like he'd blinked and forgotten to open his eyes afterwards.

Before Sonic could start to panic, an image of the inside of a cave began to fill his view. From a crack in the cave's high-up ceiling a ray of light seeped in, illuminating countless glimmering spots in the cave's walls, then honing in on yet another Star Post like a spotlight. Sonic looked at it from slightly above, as if a part of him was floating, but he could still feel solid ground beneath his feet.

A set of foreign symbols appeared in the corner of his eyes, then a wall of gray noise washed into his vision, making the cave disappear.

The colorless particles engulfed him, swirling and spinning and revealing more and more of the place he now seemed to stand in. After a moment, he finally saw a gray, fizzy 3D image of what could've only been the same cave. He watched from where he'd seen the Star Post stand just a moment ago, almost as if he was seeing things from inside the thing itself.

The grainy gray shape of a person stepped into view right beside him, and Sonic suppressed a flinch. The person was tall and round, towering over him on unnaturally long legs. It seemed to ignore him, stepping further into the cave, and surveying its surroundings from a tiny head that sprouted two bushels of fur where the cheeks should've been. It was like watching a gigantic, misshapen walrus.

Where the heck had he ended up now? The gray noise made everything look too weird to be real, but it didn't exactly look like a movie either. Maybe he could talk to the guy or something.

As if in response, the person spun, the pointy ends of what looked like a coat flapping behind it. But then it only strode back in the direction it had come from, apparently not even realizing Sonic was there. The moment the person passed him again, a flash of light brought Sonic back into the outdoors.

He blinked, suddenly feeling nauseous. His body doubled over on its own, recalling his breakfast with unnecessary detail.

"What the heck…?" he wheezed.

Sonic spit out one last bitter piece, then straightened, casting a suspicious glance at the now perfectly quiet pole. It stood there as if nothing had happened. If he hadn't just changed places—and there was no doubt about that—he probably wouldn't believe that those things could do anything at all.

But he was here now, and he wasn't going to waste time worrying about how something worked if it'd clearly just done so. He'd rather start exploring.

Sonic got off the rocky edge of the plateau and descended lazily into the forest, hopping from boulder to boulder and across dry scrubs, until a patch of overgrown earth lead into a forest of low, winding trees. For a moment, he thought he might've ended up near Splash Canyon, but the whole place seemed much drier overall. The trees had knotted barks and dull green leaves, with the occasional patch of dry ground and wiry vines in-between. Maybe he'd ended up further south? Not that it particularly mattered—being far out was usually the least of his problems. Besides, getting far out had been exactly the plan he'd made a split-second before jumping into that portal.

Sonic took on a leisurely jog through the woods, nimbly dodging stones and branches protruding from the ground. He found a trail of water and followed it for a bit, until the earthy ground became more and more mixed with sand and he emerged on a wide beach stretching far along the coast. If he'd had a thing for the sea, this would've been the perfect spot for a relaxed swim in complete solitude. There was probably some kind of resort around, though he hadn't heard anything other than the general buzz of nature so far.

He took off along the beach, leaping over rocks and washed up wood. The shore made a wide bend then ended at a steep and rugged cliff that looked like it had grown out of the rock range he'd come from, right into the water.

Sonic squinted up the cliff with growing unease. It had only taken him a brief jog through the woods and then even less time to reach one edge of the beach. Even from the Star Post's location all he'd seen was forest, rocks, and water. If there wasn't anything else hidden behind that rock range, then…

Sonic licked his lips, absently checking the fit of his shoes. He went for the nearest chink and pulled himself up the rock-face, nails digging into dry earth.

By the time he'd reached the top, he felt more nauseous than when he'd come out of the Star Post.

He was on an island.

And he couldn't even spot a hint of civilization.

A salty gust of wind blew across the dull green trees below, eventually catching in his quills and sending a shiver down his spine. The island could've been large enough for a holiday resort and maybe a small settlement, but there was nothing but forest and greenery stretching from the narrow rock range to the beach he'd come from.

A frickin' island!

Sonic sat down heavily.

There was another island right behind the one he was on, with a shallow stretch of sea between them. It looked pretty much identical—even smaller, if anything. Other than that there was nothing in sight. No mainland, no ship, no larger island.

Sonic sat numbly for a moment, then abruptly reached for his pockets. He'd almost forgotten he actually wore pants today. He usually only picked them because they sucked less than a backpack when running and he could still bring a lot more stuff than just himself and a couple of rings. There was the slim chance he'd actually grabbed his phone today.

Sonic fished a lonely pen and a roll of mint candy from his pockets, blinking at both, then let his hands drop into his lap with a groan. "Great. I'm a model student."

Chaos, this wasn't how his trip was supposed to go! He'd wanted to get dropped off at a random location, alright, but he'd also thought it was only going to take him a day or two to find his way back. From an island, though, especially this far out, he had no frickin' idea how to go about it. That he was pretty much the opposite of a swimmer and could barely fold a paper boat didn't help matters either.

Sonic got back up on heavy feet and popped one of the mints into his mouth. There had to be at least something down there that could tell him where he'd ended up exactly—anything to figure out where a boat or flight route might go. Then he could find a way to get their attention.

#

The sun had already set when he finally lay down on the sandy beach, staring into a darkening sky.

The island had turned out to be empty, just as he'd thought. He'd uselessly called out a couple of times, but only startled a few feral birds out of their homes. No matter how often he'd climbed to higher ground, there hadn't been any signs of ships or planes passing by. There was no point in blindly trying to draw attention to himself, so he'd spent the rest of the day picking up anything that looked edible—with the vague hope that at least the plants would give him an idea where he'd ended up at.

It was weird, though. Aside from some round nuts, nothing looked remotely familiar. He'd found a bunch of fist-sized, firm orange fruits, a leathery root growing on trees, bushes full of somewhat dangerous looking pink things, and two kinds of small green oval fruit—one sweet and the other salty and bitter. He normally didn't care that much about what he ate, but not even recognizing any of the plants around him kind of rubbed him the wrong way. Just how far out was he, really?

The few animals he'd seen hadn't exactly clued him in either, and the one sign of civilization he'd eventually found—a red can washed up by the sea—had had a weird curly font on it that he'd never seen before. Not that it meant too much, though.

Behind the tree crowns above his head a shining white sphere crept quietly along the night sky. Sonic watched it for a while, then pushed himself to his feet and walked up to the shoreline to get a better look. There were barely any stars visible yet, but this single one was gigantic and easily outshone them all.

…Or was that supposed to be one of the moons? Sonic frowned.

It wasn't exactly unusual to see only one of the two moons during the year. But those nights were dim; either cast in a mystical green or a ghostly purple. This moon didn't just look larger than usual, it also shone like a frickin' lightbulb casting the beach into a cool, blueish light. Sonic was pretty sure he wouldn't have missed a freak phenomenon like this coming up—not even if it would've been something only visible on the other side of Mobius. And especially not with Miles in the house. But—

—On the other side of Mobius?

Sonic felt a chill.

There was one place he knew of that was supposed to have a glaring white moon like this. Unfortunately, it wasn't Mobius. It was Lum; the second blue planet of the solar system. But there was no way he could've have ended up there! Right…?

Sonic swallowed, feeling strangely numb all of a sudden. No wonder the place had felt eerie all day. He'd thought it was because he hadn't found even a lick of civilization, but now the strange plants and animals made a lot more sense than he would've liked.

The only thing that had become even more confusing now was the strange red can he'd found. For all he knew Lum was inhabited by feral species at best. So either, he wasn't where he thought he was (and had instead ended up on the single most remote place on Mobius), or there were actual people living here and he'd never learned about it. Both options weren't exactly reassuring. He'd probably have to wait forever until someone even so much as passed the place—and then he couldn't even be sure what kind of someone it would be…

There was only one thing he could do. He'd have to get the Star Post to take him back home somehow. And he was going to figure out how that was supposed to work first thing in the morning.

Thanks for reading :)

(Edit 2020-04-13, added A/N above)