The Age of Emeralds

Prologue

Author Notes: Sonic and co. are © of SEGA™, while Sally, Antoine, Bunnie, Mina etc are © of Archie Comic Publications™. Crystal-Ka and Dirk are fan characters; property of moi™.

Robotropolis - a foreboding city ruled by a tyrannical dictator. It's tall ebony spires and charcoal streets are a dim reflection of what it once was. The Dark walls were once pristine white overlooking well-kept dirt paths and flower beds. Its streets, once a focal point of commerce with the animals of Mobius, are now the domain of zombie-like roboticized citizens some have dubbed 'robians'. It all rests under the power of one twisted cybernetic Madman known As Robotnik, or simply known as "The EggMan"

His dark domain, known as Robotropolis, is but a fraction of the beautiful planet. It is a sore spot, however, from which it may never recover. If left unchecked, Dr. Eggman intends to rule it all, and bring his metal order to everything. No life, no resistance, only obedient drones.

While groups of Mobians all over the world have formed pockets of resistance, it is in Knothole village, where the most prominent Freedom Fighter lives. It is not only the closest freedom fighter faction to Robotropolis - it is also home to the greatest of all their heroes - Sonic the Hedgehog. The Blue blur resides there in the Great Forest with his fellow freedom Fighters, and while he tends to be a loner, the others are vital support for him.

Rotor - While a nerdy handyman at times, has a laid back personality quite contrairy to Sonic's Own.

Bunny Rabbot - While she escaped the roboticizer, she was left with an arm and both her legs made metal. While this gives her physical superiority, her sweet as candy southern charms make her a calming influence when things get rough.

Antoine - We're not sure what good he is. Quite frankly he's a bumbling idiot I'd rather leave to the roboticizer. He's a coward, and he's clumsy... and those are his good parts. Well, he does occasionally prove useful. We'll call him comic relief.

Princess Sally - Cool, levelheaded thinker. She has a computer sidekick named Nichole, always packed with sage advice. She's the brains of the outfit, though her personal life suffers from Leadership's harder choices.

Miles Prower - Known as Tails, this two tailed fox is Sonic's best friend and sidekick. He hangs around Sonic more than most of the population ever will, and is as a little brother to Sonic. Tails has proven to be a great inventor and mechanic, much like Rotor, but his ability to enjoy life remains that of a child. His belief that anything is possible keeps him from seeing sonic as anything but a Hero. As an aside note, he is afraid of lightning.

There are others worth mentioning, such as Sally's family which has been reunited, King Maxamillion Acorn, Queen Alicia, and Prince Elias. Friends of the Royal family like Nate Morgan have also surfaced, as well as new allies such as Mina the Mongoose and Amy Rose, Sonic's number one fan. On the Floating Island, Knuckles the Echidna has also found his family, his father, mother, and a whole city of his kind that til now he'd no idea existed. Along with that came enemies, and more allies starting with the "Chaotix", starring the hot-headed Vector the Crocodile, Mighty the Armadillo, Espio the Chameleon, retired Charmy Bee, and more recently, a girl echidna named Julie-Su. Rouge the Bat has added a new dimension to the Floating Island as Mina to the Knothole order. No matter who they are or where they come from, they are all vital to the cause of overthrowing Robotnik and restoring order.

Today Sonic runs through the city known as Station Square. Not too long ago, he'd become a hero to them. The humans of Mobius weren't so bad it seemed, as long as you didn't consider Dr. Eggman human, quite easy for Sonic's mind.

"Hey Sonic!" came the voice of young Miles Prower. He was bright eyed and cheery as ever, flying in the Turbo Tails 2. His biplane had been overhauled yet again, sporting a chaos emerald on its nose.

"Tails!" Sonic called back, jumping rooftop to rooftop with ease. Nothing ever seemed to slow him down and finally he was standing on his usual spot on the tail of the biplane. Why Tails never bothered to engineer a second seat was beyond anyone's guess, except that Sonic didn't care much for safety belts. "Revamping the Turbo Tails again?"

"Yep!"

"Tails, Tails, Tails... You don't need to do anything to it! It's already charged by Chaos Emerald."

"I know! But now I have these really cool rocket boosters!"

"Huh?" Sonic didn't expect an answer, and instead, held on as Tails hit a sequence of buttons changing the biplane into a V winged jet plane. "A lil warning next time buddy.."

"I'm all right Sonic!" It was to be expected anyway. Sonic saw the ground leaving them and altitude gaining steadily. Where were they headed anyway?

"Just where are we headed Tails?" Is there an echo in here?

"The floating Island!"

"The floating island? What for?" Sonic blinked and gazed at the floating hunk of dirt in the distance. "Angel Island isn't falling again... Tails... you know Knux hates visitors."

"Yeah I know Sonic, but Sonic... Dulcy told me that something strange was going on here. She said she saw all kinds of Eggman shaped robots fly to the island... you know what that means.."

"Yeah, we better be prepared for whatever lies Eggman feeds Knuckles. Poor sap buys 'em every time too. And the worst part is, there's no in-flight movie!"

Sonic's eyes fixed on the diamond shape approaching rapidly. It was all too familiar to him, the lush greenery cascading over the island, the lakes, pools, and falls from endless sources... the mountains... And the fire.