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-Fallout: Mobius Ascending-
Two-hundred years ago... to me, it felt like it was yesterday.
The great war with Robotnik had finally come to an end after twenty long years, thankfully I wasn't old enough to remember it. What started out as just a small resistance group based in Knothole, quickly grew into a large uprising against a tyrannical madman who was hell-bent on harvesting our world's natural resources and turning anyone, he found into robotic slaves. It wasn't just mobians he was enslaving either, humans were enslaved too. They were an ancient race that once was the dominant species of our planet thousands of years ago, but now exist in only small numbers because of their own hubris and warring with themselves over petty ideals and resources. But despite their small numbers, they've shown themselves to be a greater challenge for the tyrant, with technology and weaponry far more advanced than ours.
Despite the human weapons and technology; it took the combined effort of humans and mobians alike to finally bring an end to Robotnik's tyranny. It was strange however, after Old Mobotropolis was retaken, Robotnik was nowhere to be seen. Not that it mattered, really. He was gone and without his robots and technology, he was powerless. A few years after the war had ended, mobians scavenged what they could from Old Mobotropolis and rebuilt the city from the ground-up. Thanks to the tech left behind by Robotnik, our technological prowess and infrastructure was on par with the humans, who soon formed their own nation made from the remnants of their colonies. The mobians and humans began a lifelong partnership with one-another, pushing both races to an era of prosperity and unity...
But all good things... must come to an end.
As the race for technological supremacy kicked off, the peaceful relations between humans and mobians began to erode at an alarming rate. Soon us mobians were accused of encroaching on the human territories, robbing them of resources, stealing their technology, and even attacking their smaller colonies. How this accusation came about, we weren't sure. We weren't hurting them or stealing from them, at least that's what I thought. I didn't understand it, I was only a little kid when all this began. We began to try and explain to the humans that we weren't attacking or stealing from them, but it's hard to show that with no proof.
A few years have passed, and after many more accusations and failed negotiations... the humans struck with a tenacity never seen since the great war. This time, I was there to witness it firsthand.
New Mobotropolis was nearly destroyed as bombs fell out of the sky, hitting building after building sending many of which crumbling to the ground. I remember my aunt holding me in her arms as she ran away from the crumbling city. The loud boom of another building blasting into rubble could be heard from directly above us, my aunt lost her footing causing her to trip and throw me in the process. I skirted across the pavement, cutting my leg on some shrapnel.
We and many others managed to escape the now destroyed city, retreating back to the Great Forest to take shelter in Knothole once more. I had then spent the rest of my early childhood living in Knothole, away from the chaos that had taken root once again on Mobius, and away from the humans that would surely do us harm. But the grim reality would soon find itself on our doorstep again. With the discovery of what is known as the Chaos Energy, harnessed from stones called Chaos Emeralds, both mobians and humanity made efforts to harness the energy from these mysterious stones to create all manners of weapons of mass destruction that could lead to the total destruction of our world.
When I was about eight or nine, I learned of a company from a faraway mobian city with only one goal in mind, to preserve mobians and their history from the inevitable destruction of the topside world. The word "inevitable" was emphasized for a reason. The world was coming to a head and it was coming to a head sooner than I had imagined. Many people began a mass exodus of their cities in a futile effort to escape the oncoming apocalypse. But this company, Vault-Tec, was offering the security and safety from said apocalypse, albeit for a very high price. Fortunately, as Sally was once Princess of the Kingdom of Acorn, they offered her shelter in the vault near Knothole for her distinguished service in the war against Robotnik, which she had graciously accepted.
For a year after that, I lived in safety and security. Totally oblivious to the inevitable destruction of everything I knew. Times change, technology changes, people change… but war…
War never changes.
The sun broke over the horizon and found it's way in the window of a particular fox's hut in the green, forested hills of Knothole. The fox slept soundly in his bed for a moment before stirring as the light crept in before beaming him in his face to stir him from his rest. The fox let out a loud yawn before sitting up in his bed, stretching his arms and then his legs before throwing his feet over the side of his bed. He hopped down towards the floor to grab his socks and his sneakers before quickly making his bed. After he was sure every crease was smoothed out and his pillow was placed neatly on his mattress; he walked out of his bedroom and into the hall, where his nose was greeted with a very pleasant scent, the scent of breakfast. Bacon and eggs, he was sure of it from the smell alone.
As the fox made his way down the hall and into the living room, he saw, standing in the kitchen was a chipmunk with a blue vest and black shirt underneath and blue shorts, standing in the kitchen and slaving over food that was cooking on the stove. She turned around to see the fox, looking at her with his bright blue eyes before turning his attention to the food on the stove. She let out a laugh before grabbing the spatula and quickly plating the food. "Good morning, Miles." She said chipperly, handing the fox a plate of bacon and eggs.
"Good morning, Aunt Sally." He responded back, taking the plate of food and eating it greedily. "How'd you sleep?" he asked between mouthfuls of food.
"Miles, don't talk with your mouth full, please," Sally demanded politely. "I slept alright, I had to go somewhere early this morning before you got up."
"Where did you have to go?" Miles inquired.
"I had to go talk to one of the village elders about something."
"What did you guys talk about?"
"Sorry, Miles, it's a grown-up discussion."
The fox responded with a shrug and went back to eating his breakfast. After Miles was done eating his food, he put his plate in the sink and quickly made his way outside through the backdoor of the hut. There wasn't much to do during the day since all of the chores he needed to get done were done the day prior, so he had the whole day to go outside and enjoy the fresh air.
In the backyard there was a small swing-set and jungle-gym next to a treehouse that sat in the center of the yard. On the side of the house lay a rubber ball next to what looked like a concrete wall meant for bouncing the ball off of the wall and back to whoever threw it. Miles would often throw the ball at the wall and made a game out of how many times and different ways he could catch it, often using his tails to throw and catch the ball. That's right, Miles was born with a genetic deformity resulting in two tails at birth. His twin appendages were often the subject of ridicule the fox faced when he was much younger, be it from other children or adults. It didn't help much more that he was an adopted child, orphaned as a young kit and found his way into the Old Mobotropolis Orphanage before being adopted by Princess Sally herself. Sally, rather than trying to hide his twin tails opted to encourage Miles to use them. She had built the entire backyard for not only rest and recreation, but to cater to Miles' tails and to encourage the use of them for many different things. After a while, Miles was able to use his twin tails as extra limbs, as though they were hands, and as a result he was given the nickname "Tails" from the friends he was able to make.
Miles or Tails, after he was done throwing the ball back and forth at the wall, had quickly climbed the ladder into his treehouse in the back yard. The inside was decorated from floor to ceiling with all kinds of posters of games, movies, and even a few posters of one of his idols: Sonic the Hedgehog, the legendary Blue Blur, and hero of Mobius. Within the small treehouse also sat a workbench with all kinds of tools, wires, and circuit boards that sat next to what appeared to be a thruster engine. Cracking his knuckles, Miles quickly picked up his tools and put the wires and circuitry back together, melding them perfectly to the engine itself. After he was finished, the engine was test fired and functioned perfectly. Marveling in his own genius, the fox grabbed the engine and huffed it down the ladder, taking care not to drop it.
Miles made his way over to the garage door and opened it. Flicking on the light, revealed that the garage itself was almost completely empty save for a few tools, gardening equipment, and a workbench that had what appeared to be a spherical robot with multiple arms sitting on the bench. Miles quickly walked over and placed the engine on the workbench and quickly installed the engine into the robot. After a few button presses and entering a few commands on a small computer that sat on the bench as well, the machine whirred to life and hovered on the bench. Three ocular appendages popped out of the sphere and turned their attention to the fox, who stood quietly with a big grin on his face. The fox was then greeted with a simulated voice with a British accent.
"Ah, Master Miles." The robot said chipperly. "How are you doing on this fine day?"
"Hey Codsworth!" Miles responded cheerily. "I'm doin' okay. How about you? Is your systems functioning properly."
"They are functioning at one-hundred-percent efficiency my good friend. I assume you were the one to repair me?"
"That's right!"
"Brilliant! I do say your aunt made the right decision to homeschool you. Only ten, and you're already an engineer." Codsworth responded. "Where is she by the way?"
Miles turned his thumb out and pointed towards the hut. "She's in the kitchen if you want to talk to her."
"Why don't you and I go together? I'm sure she'd be very happy to see I am up and running again after such a long time."
Without any hesitation, the two made their way inside with their newfound joy and optimism, but are met with somewhat of a grim sight. In the living room, sat Sally staring blankly with a look of horror and shock on her face as she stared at the TV. Miles and Codsworth cautiously made their way over to her, tapping her on the arm to get her attention.
"Aunt Sally?" said Miles.
"Miss Acorn?" said Codsworth.
But she did not respond verbally, only taking Miles' hand in her own.
Miles looked over at the TV to see what was the commotion. It seemed he caught Sally in the middle of the news report and saw what had her so shocked.
"- yes, we're receiving confirmed reports… I repeat confirmed reports of nuclear devastation in Downunda and Soumerca… we appeared to have lost contact with all of our affiliate stations… and… my god."
As if on cue, sirens could be heard filling the air. The once peaceful village of Knothole was alight with doom and despair as people began to run out of their homes and quickly making their way south, towards the local vault.
Sally quickly grabbed Miles and turned him around to face her in her panic filled eyes. "Miles!" she said frantically. "Go get your bug-out pack right now!"
"Aunt Sall-"
"Do it right now!" The chipmunk ordered. "Remember we practiced for this! This is the real thing, now hurry!"
Miles did only as he was told. He quickly ran to his room and tore open his closet to grab a backpack that sat on the ground. Before he ran out of the room, he looked at it once more, taking in one last look of everything he was leaving behind before making his way out to the living room.
Sally frantically grabbed her backpack, along with a large binder that was labeled "Photo Album" before grabbing Miles by his hand. She looked over at the robot and gave him a look of both sorrow and fear.
"Aunt Sally? What about Codsworth?!"
Codsworth's ocular sensors looked down at Miles. "Don't worry about me, Master Miles. The vault doesn't allow robots such as me. I am more concerned about you."
Sally's expression softened to a sad smile. Briefly, she let go of Miles' hand and quickly hugged the robot. "Codsworth… stay safe. Okay?"
"Madam… I hope for your safety as well."
"Codsworth…. I." Miles said with tears welling up in his eyes. "I…. I…."
"It's alright Master Miles." The robot responded reassuringly. "I may have been brought back at a rather… inconvenient time… but regardless, I am happy that I get to see you two once again."
Both Sally and Miles gave Codsworth one last look before quickly bolting out the door, leaving everything they own along with Codsworth behind to perish in the incoming devastation that was heading their way at breakneck speed.
Sally and Miles did not stop for anything and quickly made their way through the crowds of panicked people. On the outside of the village, Sally was able to make out a few armored vehicles in the distance with soldiers setting up checkpoints on the road. She wasn't sure what they were doing exactly, but at the same time she didn't care. The only thing that mattered right now was that she and Miles made it to the vault before the bombs could drop. She grabbed his wrist tightly, pulling the fox with her as her legs carried the chipmunk as fast as she could. Sally couldn't remember the last time she had moved this fast. Despite all the drills she did with Miles, she failed to anticipate the crowd of panicked villagers also making their way towards the vault in a desperate attempt to make it to safety, making the trek much more difficult than it should be.
As the two made it to the top of the hill where the entrance to the vault was supposed to be, they were stopped by a group of soldiers, two of which were head-to-toe in very imposing Power Armor, each with guns drawn and pointed towards the crowd in an effort to maintain what little order they could. Sally and Miles made their way towards the gate, stopped by a guard with a clipboard in his hand.
"If your name is in the program then step forward! Otherwise return home!" Ordered the soldier before snapping his attention to Sally. "I need your n-" he didn't even get to finish.
"Princess Sally Acorn! Me and Miles Prower are on that list!" She said frantically. "Now let us in!"
As the officer ran his finger down the list to check, he looked at the two and nodded. "You're on the list. Go ahead."
"Thank you." Said Sally as she ran with Miles in tow, running with two Vault-Tec operatives towards the entrance to the vault.
Miles looked back with a sense of worry and dread written all over his face before asking: "What about everyone else?"
"We're doing everything we can! Now keep moving and don't stop!" said the operative as they ran together. As they reached the top of the hill, one that overlooked all of Knothole, with the city New Mobotropolis far in the distance. "Get on the platform!"
Miles and Sally did exactly as they were told without any hesitation. The two looked out towards the city to give it one last look before they descended into the vault.
"W-we're gonna be okay. Right?" Miles asked shakily as he looked out towards the city.
Sally reached down and pulled the fox into a tight hug. "We'll be fine."
The ground shook beneath the two and a bright flash enveloped the sky with a giant cloud standing over where the city of Mobotropolis used to be. The faint sound of screams and shouting could be heard through Miles' ringing ears as the platform began to slowly move downwards.
"SEND IT DOWN! SEND IT DOWN NOW!"
Sally looked onward towards the devastation and then quickly back to Miles before she instinctively shielded him with her body. Hoping in vain that she would be enough to protect Miles from the blast. The chipmunk closed her eyes tightly and awaited her doom as the gush of wind blew over them… she then opened her eyes to see Miles staring upwards towards the sky as dark clouds rushed over the hatch before it slowly sealed shut above them as the platform began to lower them and everyone else on it down into the depths below.
Well, I'm gonna end the prologue here. I had this story sitting on the backburner for a long time and never got around to finishing the prologue until now. Unfortunately I may end up canceling Tales of Oneira as it had sit on hiatus for over two years due to me having burnout from writing, work, school, and family obligations. Along with other projects I want to work on after finding some free time to do it. But I'll leave that decision towards a poll and let you guys decide weather or not I should continue to write it or to scrap it and re-write it. I don't want to give up on it but it's been a while since I worked on it.
As for this story, I've had a huge interest in making a Fallout story for Sonic. I am not sure if I should include this in the Fallout crossover tab because the whole story is going to take place in the world of Archie Sonic. I've borrowed a bit from Fallout like Vault Tec as well as the intro was set to be similar to Fallout 4. Either way, give this a review and tell me what you think and I'll see you guys next time. Peace out!
