EDIT: This first post can now be mostly ignored, unless you're just extremely curious. An entire story arc has come and gone since this one, so its events aren't really relevant anymore. Skip to the next post for information as it pertains to more current stuff.
Alright, bear with me in this, and understand that I'm going to totally skip over anything remotely specific. I'm barely going to be even mentioning character names. Instead, consider this the kind of broad, sweeping overview that a random individual in the RP world might have if he or she was following the news and current events.
Because I'm lazy, and because I want this to be as simple and digestible as possible, I'm going to deliver it in tried-and-true bullet points.
- The Beginning
The story began an unspecified period of time after the story of the official games. Things were peaceful for a while, no one had heard so much as a peep out of Eggman for months (some going so far as to presume him dead, even), and Sonic sightings were scarce.
- Two months ago
Strange phenomena was sighted around along the coastline near Central City. Earthquakes out at sea were followed by the appearance of a thick, impenetrable mist outside the harbor. Ships began to disappear, and people claimed sightings of a so-called sea monster.
- One and a half months ago
Angel Island falls into the sea. Again. The Master Emerald is missing; Knuckles the Echidna is unhappy. In other news, the sky is still blue, the Earth is still round, and golf is still boring.
- One month ago
A full scale assault was launched on Central City. An army of decrepit-looking, rusted old robots of Eggman's design crawled out of the ocean and began wreaking havoc in the city nightly, leaving at the first sign of light. They were virtually indestructible, somehow able to reassemble themselves and continue shambling through almost any damage dealt. People claimed to see the "ghost" of Eggman in the harbor, and the ridiculous rumor began that he had returned from the grave to terrorize the populace.
Naturally, this was just a part of another kooky Eggman plot. There were "ghosts" involved—Odd, ectoplasmic specters not unlike those seen around Pumpkin Hill and other various ruins—but they were being utilized deliberately by Eggman to power and control his army of machines. The "sea monster" witnessed by many proved to be a large warship, which Miles "Tails" Prower had the misfortune of encountering.
The source of the mist and earthquakes proved to be a volcanic island that had formed offshore. Containing a fully-realized industrial city of robotics factories, chemical plants, and other such typical Eggman fare, it was a full-fledged fortress, and (a very alive) Eggman's new base of operations.
A fairly sizable number of people, ranging from military personnel to would-be do-gooders (both original characters and official) ended up on the island, and much sooner than Eggman would have preferred. Not yet fully prepared to deal with guests, he issued a threat: The complete destruction of the United Federation, if its government did not comply with his demands for surrender. He claimed to have topped all of his prior schemes by somehow managing to amass a combined source of energy the likes of which the world had never seen before: The Master Emerald, all seven Chaos Emeralds, and all seven Sol Emeralds.
He then retreated to the heart of the island, a geode-like chamber beneath the magma-filled depths. The geode was made of an unusual crystal, no doubt linked in some way to the Chaos Emeralds' power. Its bizarre energies were usable to create dimensional instability, not unlike "hyperspace" or Chaos Control. It was through this portal technology that Eggman had succeded in locating and successfully obtaining both sets of Emeralds, as well as the Master Emerald, with incredible suddenness and no opposition. For once, he didn't seem to be bluffing, or making any major mistakes; he had everything. And, perhaps just to raise the bar that much higher, he used the Master Emerald and the geode chamber's energies together to combine the emeralds into one deadly, unstable set, which he then (perhaps thoughtlessly) dubbed the "Chaosol Emeralds."
Fortunately, his ego got the better of him, as it always does. Rather than remaining safe in his virtually impenetrable fortress, he practically invited his invading enemies in, with the intent to test one of the new emerald's powers in combat. It ultimately turned out that the whole scheme was a pretty dumb idea, to put it lightly, and that the combined Chaos and Sol emerald was so unstable that it was all but entirely unusable. The weapons that it was supposed to power outright exploded, and Eggman narrowly avoided losing his mustache in the ensuing fire.
The crystal cavern, which had already suffered tremendous damage from Eggman's own mining operations, soon began to show signs of collapsing. Faced with a multitude of enemies right in his own (proverbial) living room, and not much in the way of a backup plan, he sent the remaining emeralds through the portal to scattered, undisclosed locations, then escaped, himself.
The group of would-be heroes escaped through the portal, as well, and landed in Yellow Desert on South Island, with the spoils of the battle: A single "Chaosol" emerald.
Local authorities, led by Yellow Desert's Sheriff Jack, immediately attempted to apprehend the group. (Their portal had unfortunately brought along with it a large amount of lava and debris, which took out town square's quaint little park. Oops.) The misunderstanding was smoothed over to some degree, though, and some members of the group agreed to spend the night at the station, and explain the events that had occurred.
The next morning, Eggman showed up to recover his emerald. To make a long story short, the battle that followed virtually leveled half the town, and ended with the accidental destruction of the Chaosol Emerald. (The resulting nuclear blast of radiation and chaos energy destroyed the rest of the town.)
-Now, in Spring City
Weeks later, after finding that there seemed to be no harmful residual effects from the radiation, the last patients are deemed safe, and released from quarantine and hospitalization. Among victims of the blast were:
• UF Secretary of Defense, Rekk Rogerz, who has been the talk of the nation after his hands-on involvement in the Yellow Desert battle
• Miles "Tails" Prower, famed sidekick of Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sheffer Hawkins, the individual who was allegedly in possession of the emerald at the time of the attack
• Jacqueline Clarke, the young, but well-liked sheriff of Yellow Desert, better known as Sheriff Jack
• Wild Badge, a beloved and popular South Island vigilante regarded as a superhero by many
• "Rock" Lochert, the famous (or some would say infamous) former SIAF astronaut
• Toby Cotton, up-and-coming star of the XG racing circuit
Numerous others were involved in the conflict (And I don't mean to snub anyone by not listing your character here—I'm just listing the folks who might have ended up in the news!), but thankfully, most non-combatants managed to evacuate the area in the course of the battle, well before the explosion.
WHAT NOW?
Once more, no one is certain of Eggman's whereabouts, but very few are foolhardy enough to assume he's anything but alive and plotting like always. Many of the survivors of the conflict have decided to get personally involved; one band led by Sheriff Jack plans to seek out and find the emeralds, and hopefully Eggman in the process. They aren't the only ones, though—Countless people are involved this time, and not all of them with the best of intentions for the super-powerful gems.
And thus, our story, presented in the driest and must utterly un-entertaining way. Wish I could do a little better than this, but you have no idea what a horribadawful chore it is to write story summaries. Forgive me.
