Mobius Exodus

[LightDusk16]

Originally cross-posted on FF and AO3, but moving over to here for better interaction now that I have time to actually work on it. Planning on doing a chapter a week, and very much would love to discuss with you all any ideas or thoughts you have about the story as it goes on. I only know so much Sonic lore after all, and it'll be nice to get get some feedback for once. That all said, enjoy the show!

}Line Break{​

There are a lot of things one could expect when attending a convention for the first time. Running into new friends who share your hobbies, getting an autograph from a celebrity you admire, having fun at a panel hosted by your favorite media personality are all very reasonable things that come to mind for such an experience .

Really, any expectations one has for a convention is bound to be set within the realms of possibility and reality if one were to think about it.

So when one Derrick Crane found the exit to his hotel room blocked by a mysterious, neon green portal one could forgive him for not being fully prepared to deal with such a surprise.

"HOLY SHIT!"

…One could also forgive him for his less then eloquent response to such a supernatural phenomenon.

After his outburst Derrick did the only sensible thing of moving as far away from the strange portal as possible. He may has also dived behind the bed while he did so, with all the gracefulness an unathletic seventeen-year-old could muster.

Which is to say, none at all as Derrick managed to expertly slam his face into the floor in his attempt to dive behind the bed of his hotel room.

Okay, that was a dumb idea, Derrick thought while gripping the front of his face in pain.

Once he was sure he didn't idiotically break his nose Derrick slowly peaked over the bed, and much to his dismay the green portal was still at the entrance of his room.

It was just floating there menacingly, seemingly content with defying the laws of physics by continuing to exist as a portal…if it even was that.

It is a portal right? Derrick thought to himself in a confused tone as he continued to eye the physics defying oval, I mean it looks like every stereotypical portal so it has to be one right?

There was no other possible explanation besides it being a portal, which by itself made no sense since portals do not exist. Yet right before his eyes there was what had to be a genuine portal, as any other explanation made no sense.

Despite the fact that there was no possible, logical explanation to be found, there was in reality a portal floating before poor Derrick.

Trying to make sense of the possible portal's existence only made Derrick's head hurt, that or staring at its neon green hue for so long was starting to affect him. Either way he quickly slinked back down behind the bed with his back facing the portal.

Okay…okay lets try to make sense of all this, he thought to himself, How exactly did this all even happen anyway!?

Closing his eyes in concentration, Derrick began to recall just what led up to his only exit being blocked by something that should not physically exist.

My folks had finally given me the okay to go to a convention by myself, and they dropped me off at the hotel they booked for me a day before the convention started.

Derrick's folks were one of the worst kind to have, in that they took the protection of their son to an extreme level. They would rarely let him leave their home in San Francisco without supervision of some kind, and even then it would only be for a quick errand and nothing else. It had taken a lot of convincing and begging on Derrick's part for them to even let him go to a convention by himself, and that had taken months of planning and slight manipulation to even succeed.

Needless to say, the irony of him running into a potentially dangerous supernatural situation after finally getting his parents off his back is not lost to him even in his current situation.

Mom and dad can never find out about this, they'll never let me leave the house again if they do! Derrick thought with mild panic before quickly shaking his head to get his thoughts back on track.

Never mind my parents reaction to this if they find out, how did this even happen in the first place!?

Derrick tries to recall anything strange or out of the ordinary the previous day when he has checked into the hotel, but his memory fails him as nothing comes to mind. Nothing about the previous twenty-four hours even remotely suggested that a possible portal would open up in his hotel room.

Really, the only thing that did stand out about yesterday was that cute receptionist that checked Derrick in. However, now was really not the time to reminisce about cute freckles and a pretty smile. Especially considering how he made a total fool of himself when he attempted to flirt with her and she just awkwardly shrugged him off.

I knew trusting Mason for dating advice was a bad idea! Derrick thought in annoyance, I mean when has a pick-up line ever-NOT THE TIME BRAIN!

Shaking his head, Derrick couldn't help but grumble in annoyance at his brain's inability to stay on track sometimes.

A mysterious portal thing appears in my hotel room and you'd think that would have my full attention, Derrick mentally grumbled, but instead I'm focusing on how I made a fool of myself to a pretty girl. Way to go brain!

Letting out one final groan of annoyance Derrick tried to recall the events leading up to the portals appearance once again.

I checked in, unpacked, went exploring around the area for a bit then turned in for the night, Derrick thought, then I woke up this morning, got my Rex cosplay on, and was getting ready to head to the convention when this thing should up in a flash of light.

Derrick nodded to himself in a confident manner once he recalled the events leading up to this situation, only to lose such confidence a few moments later when he grabbed in his and started to shake it in a panic.

NONE OF THAT SCREAMS 'PORTAL SUMMONING' DANG IT! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?

Sure, Derrick may have spent a bit too long admiring his cosplay in the bathroom mirror but that was no excuse for the universe to drop a portal-like thing into his room! If that was the reason, then it would be even more ridiculous then the fact that such a portal-looking thing appeared in the first place.

With his recollection of events providing no constructive input to his current situation, Derrick could only groan in annoyance as he tried to wrap his head around the strangeness occurring within his room.

This has to be a prank or something, Derrick thought to himself in exasperation, because any other explanation defies literally every law of reality there is.

Glancing back over the bed at the portal-thing and confirming that, yes, it was still there Derrick decided to slowly stand up from his hiding spot behind the bed. Taking a few cautious steps towards the possible portal without getting too close to it, he decided to do what man does best when facing the unknown!

And that was to poke it with a stick…or in this case chucking a nearby coffee cup at it.

The cup soared briefly through the air before it made contact with the portal thing. It made a strange sound as it hit the possible portal, almost like when a stone is dropped into a body of water, and at first Derrick thought the cup had successfully traveled through the portal.

*Shatter*

Of course, that was before the distinct sound of a fragile cup shattering as it hit a wall came from the other side of the portal. Obviously, Derrick had thrown the cup with a bit too much force in his attempts to test the portal. The possible bill the hotel would give him for breaking their property, however, was far from Derrick's mind as he stared at the possible portal strangely.

The cup didn't go through huh? Does that mean that…this portal isn't really a portal? Is…is this all just in my head or something?

While the idea of him hallucinating a portal was most definitely a concerning one, it was far more preferable then their being an actual portal in his hotel room.

Deciding it was time to put this whole thing to rest, Derrick got as close as possible to the portal without actually touching. Once he was close enough he slowly, ever so hesitantly, gently tapped the strange possible portal with his finger. He quickly pulled his hand back just as fast as he had tapped the strange portal, and aside from another sound of rippling water nothing happened.

After a few more moments of waiting for something to happen, and when nothing did, Derrick ever so slightly slipped his hand into to the portal.

Once again the sound of rippling water began to sound throughout the hotel room, although this time it continued to happen with no sign of stopping. The portal itself began to ripple uncontrollably, as if Derrick's hand was constantly disrupting it while it was inside.

Derrick probably would have paid more attention to the portal's state, if he wasn't so focused on how weird his hand felt at the moment.

It felt like his hand was being smothered under a bunch of Jello, yet at the same time not. It reminded him of when he played with Gak or slime, yet somehow that felt like the wrong term to use for…whatever it was he was feeling.

There was also this strange, stinging sensation that while not enough to hurt him was definitely noticeable. It felt like he was being stung by a bee, or being shocked by an electrical circuit, but muffled to an extent. The feeling wasn't too bad if he was being completely honest, but at the same time it was worrying that he was feeling anything in what was hopefully a hallucination of some kind.

Alright, that's enough of that. Time to take my hand out and question my sanity….huh? Derrick thought as he pulled his hand back…only to be unable to do so.

A cold feeling of dread began to form in his stomach as Derrick desperately tried to pull his hand out of the swirling vortex. Yet no matter how hard he pulled or what he did, his arm would not budge. In fact, it looked like he harder he struggled the more his hand began to sink into the portal. By the time he realized what was happening, almost his entire right arm had fallen victim to the portal.

Oh shit!

And it was with that ever elegant thought that Derrick truly realized how bad his situation was. It was also at that point…that he felt something latch onto his arm from the other side of the portal.

Derrick only had enough time to yell out a startled "CRAP!" before he was pulled completely into the portal, it soon disappearing behind him as he did.

When housekeeping eventually entered his hotel room, the only thing they would find left of Derrick was his luggage and a broken coffee mug in front of the door.

…And strange burn marks where the portal once was.

}Within the Portal{​

Green

Bright, neon green as far as the eye could see.

Derrick had no idea how long he had been falling through this green hell, and honestly, he couldn't really tell even if he wanted to. His entire body felt like it was melting from the inside, and everything felt like it was breaking and fixing at the same time. He could barely stay conscious; much less determine how long he's been in freefall.

Strange, green arcs of energy were constantly traveling across his body as he fell. The stinging sensation he felt earlier now magnified a thousandfold every time the energy raced across his body.

Everything hurt, and there was nothing he could do about.

At one point he could have sworn he heard voices chanting something, but the pain was too much for him to handle. He couldn't focus on anything besides the burning and the shocking and the feeling of being made inside out and inside again.

Eventually the pain finally, mercifully became too much for him to handle and Derrick felt himself losing consciousness. The last thing he saw before darkness greeted him was the neon green of the portal around him as more and more bolts of energy shocked and traveled across his body…

}One Painful Portal Trip Later{

Location: ????

When Derrick eventually regained consciousness, it was to a very sore body and the urge to go back into unconsciousness to avoid such soreness

Feels like my entire body just got put through a Ninja Warrior workout course, Derrick thought groggily, his mind still numb from the portal.

Eyes still closed despite regaining consciousness, Derrick tried to stay as still as possible to give his body time to recover from its impromptu shock session. To his annoyance, however, it seemed such a simple task would be more difficult to achieve than he thought it would.

For some reason his limbs refused to stay still, as if something was forcing them to move about without his control.

The heck is going on…and why do I feel so much air pushing against my face?

With that question in mind Derrick slowly started to open his eyes, which was more difficult than it should have been given the soreness of his body.

Eventually he was able to open them completely, although not without his vision being obscured by a layer of blurriness likely another side effect from the portal. That said, even with the blurrier view hampering his vision, Derrick was still able to get a good grasp of his surroundings.

…or rather the lack of them, as well as the quickly approaching splotch of green below him.

It appears the portal that had whisked Derrick away had decided to drop him off rather high into the air. Naturally, Derrick did the only reasonable thing a human could do when they suddenly found themselves falling from a great height.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

And that is to scream bloody murder even if his bruised body protested such an action.

He looked around desperately, his limbs flubbing in the air uselessly, trying to find some way to stop his descent before he became a human pancake. Much to his despair, there was nothing really nearby to slow his descent or soften his blow such as a tree branch or cliffside. A part of him knew that, given how high he was, neither of those options would have helped much in the grand scheme of things.

It seemed the old adage of 'curiosity killed the cat' would prove itself true for poor Derrick. Who, as one might expect, was seriously regretting his life decisions that led to this point.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit! Derrick thought in panic as the ground grew closer and closer to himself.

With no options and little doubt that he would survive, Derrick did the only thing he could reasonably do. Bracing himself, Derrick closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable rush of pain that would no doubt await him once his sudden trip was done.

And he waited…and waited…and waited…and wai-

*BOOM*

Until he had to wait no more.

Dust and debris from his impact went flying through the air, the ground beneath his body cracking from the force it endured. The once quiet atmosphere suddenly erupts in activity as the sound of Derrick's body reverberates around the area. As the dust sets, one would be surprised to see that Derrick was still in one piece, and from a glance he would look seemingly completely okay.

Of course, one would likely be wrong if the groaning coming from Derrick was anything to go by.

"My…everything...hurts…" Derrick grumbles out, his voice muffled slightly due to the fact he was still lying face first on the ground.

How…am I…alive? Derrick couldn't help but think in pained confusion as he slowly turned over.

His body ached all over, even more so than it had after he had been spat out of the portal. His entire body felt like it had been through a boxing match without the gloves, and a few kicks were thrown in as extra. It literally felt as if he had somehow been crushed yet stretched at the same time, and everything felt like a muscle had been pulled twice over.

As much as Derrick was grateful to still be, you know, alive he would very much prefer if he didn't feel like it at that moment.

With that in mind, Derrick simply stayed down for a few moments until his body felt less like a punching bag. After a few minutes go by Derrick lets out an irritated groan as he thinks,

Right, enough of that. Time to figure out just where the hell I am.

With another groan Derrick tried to get up now that his body felt slightly less like crap.

Keyword here being 'tried.'

Try as he might, and despite his rather short rest, Derrick could not muster the strength to stand much less sit up. After a few more failed attempts at getting up he simply resigned himself to laying down until he could regain his strength. His vision still blurry from the fall, all he could do was stare upwards at what was presumably a fog filled sky….

…with no neon green portal in sight.

Figures… Derrick thought to himself as he let out a disgruntled sigh of annoyance before closing his eyes in an attempt to rest.

}Some Time Later{​

After what felt like a few hours, but was probably only a few minutes, Derrick was finally able to regain enough strength to stand up from his crash site. While he still felt pretty awful, he was at least able to stand and move on his own which was better than nothing.

The blurriness from his sight had also cleared up and he was now able to see the area he had unceremoniously crashed into. Which was, if Derrick was being completely honest, not the best looking location.

The first thing that really stood out to him was the crater he found himself in, which he had a pretty good feeling wasn't there prior to his fall. It wasn't too deep into the ground, but it was certainly noticeable enough that anyone walking by could tell something fell from a decent height to make it. While the creation of such a crater would call to question, again, just how the hell Derrick was alive in the first place he decided to put such a thought on the backburner.

Probably not the healthiest of choices he knew, but Derrick was just thankful that the crater wasn't shaped like him as well. He had enough events to question the rules of reality at the moment, and he did not need to add cartoon logic being real to the list of things going wrong with physics for today.

The second thing that caught his attention, and really had his focus, was the previously mentioned dreadful environment he found himself in.

What he thought was fog earlier in the sky was actually smog, as if he were standing right next to a factory that was going into overtime. The field he had landed in wasn't so much as a field but rather a forest that had been severely damaged at some point. What wasn't already dead or just a stump was close to being so, with what few trees that were still standing looking like they would tip over and die at any point.

There were burn marks spread throughout the former forest, as if random fires were started and stopped randomly throughout the area. Even stranger, bits of what seem like metal was also strewn around the place near those burn marks. Despite the abundance of smog in the air none of the burn marks were producing any smoke, so it looked like they had been here for quite some time.

If Derrick didn't know any better, which at this point he probably didn't, he would think he had landed in the middle of some battlefield.

Oh who am I kidding, I probably did land in a battlefield of some kind. Knowing my luck its of the post-apocalyptic kind too. Derrick thought to himself in annoyance, his face matching his internal thoughts as he frowned at the scene before him.

Derrick had no doubts that, wherever he was, it was most certainly not Earth. He had read enough stories to know that anything involving mysterious portal travel rarely had the poor saps involved land near their local grocery store. If anything, landing in the middle of a battlefield was par for the course in these kinds of scenarios.

"Guess I should be thankful I didn't end up here during the fight." Derrick grumbled to himself as he made his way to a nearby stump, wincing and limping as he did so.

Once he made it to the stump, he slowly sat down on it, trying not to put too much pressure on his legs as he did so. Once he was as comfortable as he could be on the stump, which is to say not at all, he took in a deep breath to try and calm his nerves.

Unfortunately breathing deeply appeared to be a terrible idea, as upon doing so he immediately began to cough uncontrollably as his chest tightened in pain. Whether it was from the smog dense air or his injuries he couldn't tell, either way it hurt like hell to breathe too deeply at the moment.

Once his coughing calmed down Derrick let out a sigh of both frustration and resignation before he grumbled to himself,

"Okay *cough cough* not doing that again anytime soon."

With his usual method of calming down no longer an option Derrick simply tried to gather his thoughts to make sense of everything that had happened.

Right, so somehow I managed to survive dropping however many feet with barely a scratch, he thought to himself, and now I'm in some dying forest surrounded by burn marks and metal bits.

Leaning back slightly Derrick looked at the sky where the poral had once been as he continued to think,

That portal that spat me out here is gone, and the chances of it popping up again are likely slim to none. Not that it would matter if it did show up again, considering I have no way to get that high in the first place.

"So in summary, I am completely and utterly screwed." Derrick said to himself as he nodded confidently at the conclusion he came to.

A few moments pass after this before Derrick lets out a loud groan of frustration while pulling at his hair.

"WHAT THE HECK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW!?"

With no idea where or possible when he was, nor any indication that he was even still on Earth in the first place, Derrick felt truly and hopelessly lost. He had no idea why such a portal appeared in the first place, nor what he was supposed to do now.

All he did know was that he was lost, alone, and most assuredly screwed in all manner of ways.

After a few more minutes of groaning and ranting angrily about his situation Derrick abruptly stood up from the stump, wincing slightly as he did so.

"Right!" he exclaimed loudly before slapping his face a few times, "This is no time to start freaking out!"

With a more genuine look of confidence Derrick began to look around his crash sight once more as he thought,

The best thing I can do now is find some civilization. With any luck the people there can give an idea of where I am, or even better let me know if I'm still on Earth or not!

Here's hoping anyone I find is friendly…or speaks English…or knows what a human is…
Caught up in his thoughts and focusing on his destination ahead, Derrick failed to take notice of a peculiar sight that would eventually lead to untold amounts of trouble for the young man.

For high above him, hidden behind the seemingly never ending smog, was a strange machine of some kind. One would not be mistaken to assume it was some sort of egg of some kind, as the machine was stark white with a very obvious egg shape. A bright red logo of some kind was on the side of the machine, its shape of a mustached face with a somehow menacing smile. The 'face' of the machine, if one could call it that, was a single 'eye' that glowed with an ominous red.

And said eye…was completely focused on the retreating form of one Derrick Crane.

}Meanwhile, Elsewhere{​

Location: Unknown

The retreating form of Derrick was now seen in a red hue as bits of data and statistics flash across a screen of some kind. The image of Derrick is occasionally zoomed in on as more data spreads across the screen, before eventually multiple exclamation marks flash half-hazardly across the screen. A large flash of text soon took up the entire screen that simply said,

[Chaos Energy Identified]​

This notification seemed to catch the attention of the two beings monitoring the screen. These two beings appeared to be robots of some kind, one spherical in design while the other was more cubed. The spherical droid seemed alarmed at what the screen was showing, while the cubed one seemed more confused then anything else.

The two droids shared a look before…performing a quick round of rock-doughnut-Thursday?

Whatever…strange version of rock-paper-scissors they were playing went on for quite some time, as both droids seemed incapable of deciding what beat what. Eventually the spherical droid slumped in defeated while the cubed one celebrated, and afterwords both droids left the room containing the screen monitoring Derrick.

Both droids floated through several different hallways and rooms, each one lacking any light aside from the flashing bits of technology within them, before eventually entering a room much larger then the one they previously occupied.

The room itself was rather dark, with barely any light within it except for the various flashing lights of the technology that covered every aspect of it. Across the room was a wall full of monitors, each one displaying different areas of what seemed to be a highly technologically advanced city. Many of the screens depicted anthropomorphic-like animal robots of some kind, although many of them were merely standing still. Those that were moving simply…shamble about…as if they had no direction or thought in where they were going…

At the center of the room sat a mechanical throne, its size easily towering over the two small droids that had just entered. The back of the throne was facing them, and while it appeared as if someone was sitting in it their entire form was covered by the shadows in the room. The individual sitting in the throne appeared to be petting…something but once again the shadows masked what was happening.

"Uh…Master?" The spherical droid eventually spoke up, its tone strangely full of hesitance for a robot.

The figure on the throne seemingly refused to acknowledge the smaller droid, the silence almost suffocating for the droid. Eventually the droid decides enough time had passed for his Master to acknowledge his presence as he spoke once more.

"It-it appears that one of your Egg Drones has been able to identify the source of that surge of Chaos Energy! It appears to have found within the former Green Hills Zone, just before the borders of the Great Forest. The scans sho-"

The droids report is suddenly interrupted by a dismissive grunt from the one upon the throne, as if what was being reported was not worth the individual's time.

If a robot could sweat, there is no doubt in the spherical droid's processor that he would be doing so extremely rapidly. A bored Master was just as bad, as dangerous, as an interested one. Quickly trying to regain his composure, the spherical droid began to stutter out,

"O-of course such information is useless to you oh great leader! After all, such insignificant thing as Chaos Energy is barely worth your attention! Its just that…well…the source of the energy came from…well a hu-"

"A Human boss! An actual living, breathing one and not one of those not-breathing, not-living ones you made!"

The sudden interruption by his cubed cohort startled the spherical droid, although such surprise quickly changed to horrified scandalization. The spherical droid was quick to glare at his cubed counterpart, who had raised his arms up in his excitement to tell his boss the news.

At his compatriot's glare the cubed droid only gave him a confused look and shrugged as if he did nothing wrong.

Before the spherical droid could get a chance to help his cohort simulate what it was like to he choked out by an angry robot, a voice sounded throughout the room.

"A human you say?"

The voice was deep and gravely with a heavy undertone of malice to accompany it. It spoke with authority and a measure of control that would take one years to master and perfect. It was not a voice deserving respect or loyalty however, no, it was a voice demanding something far more sinister.

It was a voice demanding fear…and blind obedience.

The throne began to slowly turn towards the two robots, until its occupant was fully facing them. While their form was still hidden within the shadows of the room, one can still tell that a rather large individual had taken residence on the mechanical throne. The creature that they had been petting was revealed to be a rooster of some kind, although most of its body had been replaced with metal and circuits with few bits of flesh peaking out.

But even the strange robo-rooster wasn't what was most eye-catching of the individual on the throne. No, that honor belonged to the eyes of the ruler of the throne, as they glowed an ominous red. Their red eyes glowed with malice and hate, and seemed to bore into the two small droids with clear contempt seemingly for their very existence.

They were eyes that promised pain for non-believers, death for their enemies, and worse for those who fall in line. Something the spherical droid knew all too well…

"Give me a full report…now."

And so SA-55 Orbot did as was commended of him, informing his Master of the data the Egg Drone was able to gather. As to do otherwise would mean a fate worse then the scrapheap for him, and one he desperately wanted to avoid at all cost. With this report, Orbot would unknowingly spark the beginning of change throughout his world.

The first move had been made…and now only time could tell what would come next for the inhabitants of this world…

}Episode End{​