Chapter 1: Creation
On an unknown island, far to the north of Mobius, things were stirring. The island itself was filled with towering mountains and dense forest. Within this forest was a cave, and inside this cave was the ringing sound of maniacal laughter. For deep inside this fissure was a well concealed laboratory. Dr. Robotnik was absorbed in his work, as was always the case with his greatest experiments, and this by far was his ultimate design...
The scientist was very large and round, with short stubby legs and arms. In ways, his body resembled an egg, with its proportions. He had little neck, and had a tall, cone shaped head, his facial features accentuated with a broad, ginger moustache and a red nose. His eyes were like black holes, swallowing all the dim light of the room, aside from the red pupils. These eyes were filled with signs of madness and trauma. Few would realise that this man had an IQ of three hundred, and was once one of Mobius' most renowned scientists. That was before the explosion in the lab...
Dr. Robotnik had also been Mobius' dictator, after the explosion changed everything about him. The years of his rule had been foul and unhappy for the residents of the planet, as he tried to fulfil his grand design; to turn all of the inhabitants into mindless robotic slaves... but he had not counted on Sonic the Hedgehog.
Having lost power of Mobius, he attempted many times to reclaim it, but again was foiled by Sonic, and finally gave up. From that moment on, he desired nothing more than the destruction of the entire planet, and tried a few seemingly unstoppable plots, one involving him receiving godlike powers, and another where the Chaos creature was unleashed by his assistant Grimer. Yet again, Sonic stopped Robotnik (or in the case of Chaos, by Super Sonic, Sonic's evil, yet incredibly powerful, alter ego). Following this, Robotnik was sealed away in a mental asylum, far from the grandeur he had experienced only years ago. But his old supporters freed him, in yet another bid to destroy Mobius, using the creature Shadow...
Robotnik once more found himself in failure and fled to this unknown island, where in secret he began his latest project. He was now little more than a drooling madman, yet he still had the skills and knowledge that had always come naturally to him. The latest creation was truly his most deadly yet, though it was smaller than many of his others. Robotnik knew that the design was a good one, but it was not a robot... This amazing mind knew how to create even artificial life. Had it not been turned to the ways of evil, then it could have been used to greatly benefit Mobius. Now, it was far too late... Robotnik was beyond aid.
The new incarnation's body was glowing white, with a red patch on its forehead. Its eyes were dark blue with red phosphorescence around them. Around its neck it bore a red collar. Also it wore red gloves tipped with two spikes. It had yellow socks and white sneakers with a red buckle. Its spikes were long dreadlocks. It was in the shape of an echidna, and bore a great resemblance to one of Robotnik's adversaries; Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles had once aided him while being duped. The gullible, yet strong willed echidna was under the impression that Sonic was the bad guy after his Chaos Emeralds, when in fact it was Robotnik who fitted the description. When Knuckles realised, he and the scientist became bitter foes instantly, and teamed up with Sonic to finish the Death Egg, one of Robotnik's greatest weapons.
This new creature had been dubbed Wechnia by its creator. After all, in appearance it was a white echidna. However, it was far more than that...
It was almost time to awaken Wechnia to the world. Robotnik had modified its prowess to the extreme. It had an incredible power that could mean the end of Mobius...
After the final tests showed as positive, the scientist forced a strange liquid into its mouth. After long months of preparation, Wechnia lived. It spat out the fluid, which promptly ate away a small patch of the steel floor.
"What's this?" gasped the doctor. "You're supposed to drink that! It was never a corrosive substance! How can..."
"Dr. Robotnik..." said Wechnia in a harsh, cold, echoing voice.
"How do you know my name already? What is this?"
"I am supreme... I am greater than anything that has ever existed upon this pathetic world... I thank you for giving me my powers..."
"Incredible... this thing... what have I created?"
"I was speaking... allow me to continue... I was about to say, you have outlived your use... I know what it is you desire, and I am only willing to comply, but I do not need you to complete this mission..."
"What?"
Wechnia jumped up, revealing that the part of the metal bench that it had been laid upon had turned into dust. A monitor in the room began to flash, showing a fault. Wechnia's powers had been fully awakened.
The echidna removed a glove and laid his hand on Robotnik, initiating a white flash. Once the glow died down, Robotnik was stood there no longer. In his place was a tall, thin man, with the same ginger moustache, and now a long tuft of hair. Dr. Ovi Kintobor was back.
~* * * *~
Meanwhile, on South Island, the residents of Emerald Hill Zone were blissfully unaware of the events far north. Sonic the Hedgehog was tearing through the land, moving at the speed of sound, and barely touching the grass. He was bored and out for a thrill. Without anything to fight for anymore, the days dragged on for him. In a way, he sort of wished he hadn't defeated Dr. Robotnik, though doing so had made life so much better for the people of Mobius. Still, he loved to race across the land.
Sonic was a blue hedgehog, obviously not something that is normal. He had shiny blue spikes that flowed in the wind. He always wore white gloves and red sneakers with a white stripe on them. He had a glint in his green eyes as was always the case as he ran. The "Blue Bomber's" legs were a blur due to the incredible pace.
His blue colouring was due to a lab accident years ago. He was working with Kintobor in the scientist's old lab, testing out new power sneakers. As Sonic accelerated so much, it caused the kinetic gyroscope to explode, forcing the change. Sonic was altered in no other way aside from the new colour and retained his cocky attitude.
Only a day later, Kintobor had the accident that changed him into Robotnik. In time, Sonic learned it was the fault of his future self, who made sure that Robotnik existed in order to destroy the Metallix, but that's a different story.
Sonic, despite his arrogant nature, was loyal to his friends and through all the dangers they had faced together, he did his best to make sure nobody was hurt. However, he never realised the full extent of those risks until Johnny Lightfoot, his rabbit friend, was killed by the Chaos creature, an event that nearly broke the Freedom Fighters apart for good.
Still, in the end, it brought them all closer together, and Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Porker Lewis and Tekno the Canary, sometimes aided by Shortfuse the Cybernik, the Chaotix Crew, Ebony the Cat and others, were still as unified as ever. Though their services were no longer required so much, the Freedom Fighters continued to watch the Zones of Mobius.
The planet was split into various continents, and these continents were split into Zones. Following one of Robotnik's schemes, Mobius became fused with Shanazar and various new Zones appeared. Sonic had mainly always patrolled South Island and Westside Island, the places where Robotnik's evil influences had affected most.
After an hour of solid running, Sonic returned to the base in the Emerald Hill Zone. Tails was waiting for him, with a nervous look on his face. Tails was a fox, with a strange feature; a second bushy tail which allowed him to fly. It was because of this that people called him Tails. His real name was Miles Prower.
"Sonic!" called Tails. "Something's wrong with the Kintobor computer!"
"What?" cried Sonic.
He rushed upstairs, where Tekno and Porker were trying their best to fix the problem. Tekno was a canary with green feathers, gold earrings. She always wore a red and black striped jumper and a blue skirt. Porker was a pig who was clothed in a t-shirt, a black leather jacket and blue jeans. The two of them were real technical whizzes, but this problem had eluded them. It was Porker who had made the Kintobor computer in the first place. After Kintobor's accident, his brain patterns had somehow become imprinted on a Mobius Ring. Porker found a way to put this on a system, and the computer had become one of Sonic's greatest aides in the fight against Robotnik.
Sonic looked at the screens around the room to see nothing but static. The central column where the hologram of Kintobor used to be located was empty.
"Welcome back Sonic..." sighed Tekno, as her fingers raced around the keyboard. "Sorry, but Kintobor's on the blink. It happened just half an hour ago..."
"We're trying our best to fix it," said Porker, "but everything else is malfunctioning too."
"I wonder what's going on..." said Sonic.
"Before everything crashed, I noticed an odd reading on the Mobius Map. Far north, in the Shallow Sea. Some sort of red disturbance appeared on the screen, and spread before the whole system went haywire," explained Porker.
"Any clue what it was?" asked Sonic.
"None at all."
"Robotnik must be behind this, no doubt about it."
"I don't know. After all, the effect spread from the middle of the ocean, and how would he be able to do anything there?"
"Robotnik can do a lot of things, Lewis. We've seen that much."
"What caused the error is irrelevant right now, Sonic," said Tekno. "What's important now is that we fix it."
"I say it does matter, Tekno," said Sonic. "If Robotnik's back again, Mobius could be in danger, and without our scanners, we don't know what could happen without us knowing." Sonic paused for a moment. "I wonder if the same thing's happened around the whole of the planet..."
With those words, he rushed out of the headquarters, and hit the road again. Sonic was heading in the direction of Metropolis City, the capital of South Island, once the home to Robotnik's citadel. The dust on the road kicked up and swirled behind him as he charged down the path. As he was leaving Emerald Hill Zone, he had no idea that someone perched atop one of the cliffs was watching him...
~* * * *~
"Wha... what's going on? Wh... where am I?"
Back on the unknown island, Kintobor was dazed and confused. After all, he hadn't existed in this form for the last few years. His mind was a mess.
"You are Kintobor I presume..." droned Wechnia. "You have no memory of your life as Robotnik, do you...?"
Wechnia knew everything. It truly was an incredible creature.
"Yes, that's me. Who are you? H... how do you know me? Who's Robotnik?"
"I know everything... Very well, I had better explain things to you, not that there's much point... Mobius is going to die..."
"WHAT?"
"May I explain what has happened first...?" said the creature coldly.
"Y... yes, of course..."
"The last thing you remember is the accident... the explosion of the machine containing the Chaos Emeralds somehow caused you to become your opposite, your negative... Robotnik... You became evil and took control of the world, until Sonic the Hedgehog defeated you... and time and time again, Sonic has foiled your plans..." said Wechnia, without knowing how he knew, having not been around then. Kintobor was rapt, and the mysterious creature continued. "You became a madman, and after more failures, you created me... You had no idea what I would be capable of... I used my powers to reverse the effect of the explosion and return you to your normal form... That is what I do... Whoever I touch becomes their opposite..."
"So now what happens? Where am I?"
"You are on an island without a name... It has never been found and bestowed with a title... As for your other question... I am about to destroy the world..."
"You can't! How can you?"
"I can't help it... Even if I wanted to stop it, the death of Mobius is at hand... if you were to leave this cave, you will find that the plant life around the area is dying... My mere presence is destroying the ecosystem... However, I don't want to stop it, and I am keen to spread the effect... Goodbye, my creator..."
Wechnia began to float in the air, and then if flew out of the lab. Kintobor followed him. When he reached the cave mouth, he let out a gasp.
As the creature had said, all of the plants and trees were wilting, dying... Ovi Kintobor knew that Wechnia had to be stopped, somehow... someway... but he didn't even know how he would be able to leave the island.
Dr. Robotnik knew what he was doing, he thought to himself, this must be the end of Mobius.
On an unknown island, far to the north of Mobius, things were stirring. The island itself was filled with towering mountains and dense forest. Within this forest was a cave, and inside this cave was the ringing sound of maniacal laughter. For deep inside this fissure was a well concealed laboratory. Dr. Robotnik was absorbed in his work, as was always the case with his greatest experiments, and this by far was his ultimate design...
The scientist was very large and round, with short stubby legs and arms. In ways, his body resembled an egg, with its proportions. He had little neck, and had a tall, cone shaped head, his facial features accentuated with a broad, ginger moustache and a red nose. His eyes were like black holes, swallowing all the dim light of the room, aside from the red pupils. These eyes were filled with signs of madness and trauma. Few would realise that this man had an IQ of three hundred, and was once one of Mobius' most renowned scientists. That was before the explosion in the lab...
Dr. Robotnik had also been Mobius' dictator, after the explosion changed everything about him. The years of his rule had been foul and unhappy for the residents of the planet, as he tried to fulfil his grand design; to turn all of the inhabitants into mindless robotic slaves... but he had not counted on Sonic the Hedgehog.
Having lost power of Mobius, he attempted many times to reclaim it, but again was foiled by Sonic, and finally gave up. From that moment on, he desired nothing more than the destruction of the entire planet, and tried a few seemingly unstoppable plots, one involving him receiving godlike powers, and another where the Chaos creature was unleashed by his assistant Grimer. Yet again, Sonic stopped Robotnik (or in the case of Chaos, by Super Sonic, Sonic's evil, yet incredibly powerful, alter ego). Following this, Robotnik was sealed away in a mental asylum, far from the grandeur he had experienced only years ago. But his old supporters freed him, in yet another bid to destroy Mobius, using the creature Shadow...
Robotnik once more found himself in failure and fled to this unknown island, where in secret he began his latest project. He was now little more than a drooling madman, yet he still had the skills and knowledge that had always come naturally to him. The latest creation was truly his most deadly yet, though it was smaller than many of his others. Robotnik knew that the design was a good one, but it was not a robot... This amazing mind knew how to create even artificial life. Had it not been turned to the ways of evil, then it could have been used to greatly benefit Mobius. Now, it was far too late... Robotnik was beyond aid.
The new incarnation's body was glowing white, with a red patch on its forehead. Its eyes were dark blue with red phosphorescence around them. Around its neck it bore a red collar. Also it wore red gloves tipped with two spikes. It had yellow socks and white sneakers with a red buckle. Its spikes were long dreadlocks. It was in the shape of an echidna, and bore a great resemblance to one of Robotnik's adversaries; Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles had once aided him while being duped. The gullible, yet strong willed echidna was under the impression that Sonic was the bad guy after his Chaos Emeralds, when in fact it was Robotnik who fitted the description. When Knuckles realised, he and the scientist became bitter foes instantly, and teamed up with Sonic to finish the Death Egg, one of Robotnik's greatest weapons.
This new creature had been dubbed Wechnia by its creator. After all, in appearance it was a white echidna. However, it was far more than that...
It was almost time to awaken Wechnia to the world. Robotnik had modified its prowess to the extreme. It had an incredible power that could mean the end of Mobius...
After the final tests showed as positive, the scientist forced a strange liquid into its mouth. After long months of preparation, Wechnia lived. It spat out the fluid, which promptly ate away a small patch of the steel floor.
"What's this?" gasped the doctor. "You're supposed to drink that! It was never a corrosive substance! How can..."
"Dr. Robotnik..." said Wechnia in a harsh, cold, echoing voice.
"How do you know my name already? What is this?"
"I am supreme... I am greater than anything that has ever existed upon this pathetic world... I thank you for giving me my powers..."
"Incredible... this thing... what have I created?"
"I was speaking... allow me to continue... I was about to say, you have outlived your use... I know what it is you desire, and I am only willing to comply, but I do not need you to complete this mission..."
"What?"
Wechnia jumped up, revealing that the part of the metal bench that it had been laid upon had turned into dust. A monitor in the room began to flash, showing a fault. Wechnia's powers had been fully awakened.
The echidna removed a glove and laid his hand on Robotnik, initiating a white flash. Once the glow died down, Robotnik was stood there no longer. In his place was a tall, thin man, with the same ginger moustache, and now a long tuft of hair. Dr. Ovi Kintobor was back.
~* * * *~
Meanwhile, on South Island, the residents of Emerald Hill Zone were blissfully unaware of the events far north. Sonic the Hedgehog was tearing through the land, moving at the speed of sound, and barely touching the grass. He was bored and out for a thrill. Without anything to fight for anymore, the days dragged on for him. In a way, he sort of wished he hadn't defeated Dr. Robotnik, though doing so had made life so much better for the people of Mobius. Still, he loved to race across the land.
Sonic was a blue hedgehog, obviously not something that is normal. He had shiny blue spikes that flowed in the wind. He always wore white gloves and red sneakers with a white stripe on them. He had a glint in his green eyes as was always the case as he ran. The "Blue Bomber's" legs were a blur due to the incredible pace.
His blue colouring was due to a lab accident years ago. He was working with Kintobor in the scientist's old lab, testing out new power sneakers. As Sonic accelerated so much, it caused the kinetic gyroscope to explode, forcing the change. Sonic was altered in no other way aside from the new colour and retained his cocky attitude.
Only a day later, Kintobor had the accident that changed him into Robotnik. In time, Sonic learned it was the fault of his future self, who made sure that Robotnik existed in order to destroy the Metallix, but that's a different story.
Sonic, despite his arrogant nature, was loyal to his friends and through all the dangers they had faced together, he did his best to make sure nobody was hurt. However, he never realised the full extent of those risks until Johnny Lightfoot, his rabbit friend, was killed by the Chaos creature, an event that nearly broke the Freedom Fighters apart for good.
Still, in the end, it brought them all closer together, and Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Porker Lewis and Tekno the Canary, sometimes aided by Shortfuse the Cybernik, the Chaotix Crew, Ebony the Cat and others, were still as unified as ever. Though their services were no longer required so much, the Freedom Fighters continued to watch the Zones of Mobius.
The planet was split into various continents, and these continents were split into Zones. Following one of Robotnik's schemes, Mobius became fused with Shanazar and various new Zones appeared. Sonic had mainly always patrolled South Island and Westside Island, the places where Robotnik's evil influences had affected most.
After an hour of solid running, Sonic returned to the base in the Emerald Hill Zone. Tails was waiting for him, with a nervous look on his face. Tails was a fox, with a strange feature; a second bushy tail which allowed him to fly. It was because of this that people called him Tails. His real name was Miles Prower.
"Sonic!" called Tails. "Something's wrong with the Kintobor computer!"
"What?" cried Sonic.
He rushed upstairs, where Tekno and Porker were trying their best to fix the problem. Tekno was a canary with green feathers, gold earrings. She always wore a red and black striped jumper and a blue skirt. Porker was a pig who was clothed in a t-shirt, a black leather jacket and blue jeans. The two of them were real technical whizzes, but this problem had eluded them. It was Porker who had made the Kintobor computer in the first place. After Kintobor's accident, his brain patterns had somehow become imprinted on a Mobius Ring. Porker found a way to put this on a system, and the computer had become one of Sonic's greatest aides in the fight against Robotnik.
Sonic looked at the screens around the room to see nothing but static. The central column where the hologram of Kintobor used to be located was empty.
"Welcome back Sonic..." sighed Tekno, as her fingers raced around the keyboard. "Sorry, but Kintobor's on the blink. It happened just half an hour ago..."
"We're trying our best to fix it," said Porker, "but everything else is malfunctioning too."
"I wonder what's going on..." said Sonic.
"Before everything crashed, I noticed an odd reading on the Mobius Map. Far north, in the Shallow Sea. Some sort of red disturbance appeared on the screen, and spread before the whole system went haywire," explained Porker.
"Any clue what it was?" asked Sonic.
"None at all."
"Robotnik must be behind this, no doubt about it."
"I don't know. After all, the effect spread from the middle of the ocean, and how would he be able to do anything there?"
"Robotnik can do a lot of things, Lewis. We've seen that much."
"What caused the error is irrelevant right now, Sonic," said Tekno. "What's important now is that we fix it."
"I say it does matter, Tekno," said Sonic. "If Robotnik's back again, Mobius could be in danger, and without our scanners, we don't know what could happen without us knowing." Sonic paused for a moment. "I wonder if the same thing's happened around the whole of the planet..."
With those words, he rushed out of the headquarters, and hit the road again. Sonic was heading in the direction of Metropolis City, the capital of South Island, once the home to Robotnik's citadel. The dust on the road kicked up and swirled behind him as he charged down the path. As he was leaving Emerald Hill Zone, he had no idea that someone perched atop one of the cliffs was watching him...
~* * * *~
"Wha... what's going on? Wh... where am I?"
Back on the unknown island, Kintobor was dazed and confused. After all, he hadn't existed in this form for the last few years. His mind was a mess.
"You are Kintobor I presume..." droned Wechnia. "You have no memory of your life as Robotnik, do you...?"
Wechnia knew everything. It truly was an incredible creature.
"Yes, that's me. Who are you? H... how do you know me? Who's Robotnik?"
"I know everything... Very well, I had better explain things to you, not that there's much point... Mobius is going to die..."
"WHAT?"
"May I explain what has happened first...?" said the creature coldly.
"Y... yes, of course..."
"The last thing you remember is the accident... the explosion of the machine containing the Chaos Emeralds somehow caused you to become your opposite, your negative... Robotnik... You became evil and took control of the world, until Sonic the Hedgehog defeated you... and time and time again, Sonic has foiled your plans..." said Wechnia, without knowing how he knew, having not been around then. Kintobor was rapt, and the mysterious creature continued. "You became a madman, and after more failures, you created me... You had no idea what I would be capable of... I used my powers to reverse the effect of the explosion and return you to your normal form... That is what I do... Whoever I touch becomes their opposite..."
"So now what happens? Where am I?"
"You are on an island without a name... It has never been found and bestowed with a title... As for your other question... I am about to destroy the world..."
"You can't! How can you?"
"I can't help it... Even if I wanted to stop it, the death of Mobius is at hand... if you were to leave this cave, you will find that the plant life around the area is dying... My mere presence is destroying the ecosystem... However, I don't want to stop it, and I am keen to spread the effect... Goodbye, my creator..."
Wechnia began to float in the air, and then if flew out of the lab. Kintobor followed him. When he reached the cave mouth, he let out a gasp.
As the creature had said, all of the plants and trees were wilting, dying... Ovi Kintobor knew that Wechnia had to be stopped, somehow... someway... but he didn't even know how he would be able to leave the island.
Dr. Robotnik knew what he was doing, he thought to himself, this must be the end of Mobius.