Mobius: 25 Years Later is a dual fictional storyline from the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics. It takes place 25 years ahead of the current continuity of the comics, and the events detailed take place in two possible futures.
Events Between Present and Futures Various events are known to have taken place somewhere along the timeline between the present and the possible futures. Knuckles the Echidna temporarily regained the powers of his Chaos Knuckles form, enabling him to defeat once and for all, though in the story "My Dinner with Sonic" after King Sonic dunks his son underwater Knuckles claims that it was Sonic who overthrew Eggman. However, he lost these powers again when Sonic, attempting to stop Knuckles from using his vast energy to recreate Mobius as he saw fit, accidentally used an alien device upon him. As a result, Knuckles' right eye was ruined and had to be replaced by a biomechanical implant. In addition, Dimitri was badly damaged after refusing to give Eggman aid in the moment of his imminent defeat. Because of this, he was reduced to a cyborg head contained within a floating glass ball.
Unaltered Future In the original, unaltered future, much has changed. Mobius enjoys a state of peace and prosperity, with most if not all past antagonists destroyed or permanently defeated. The Kingdom of Acorn is currently under the rule of King Sonic the Hedgehog and Queen Sally Acorn, who are married and have two children named Princess Sonia and Prince Manic. However, due to past events, Sonic appears to have grown distant towards his old friend and openly hostile towards Knuckles. Sally puts up with this, believing that her husband is going through a midlife crisis and the pressures of ruling without being raised to do so.
Angel Island has become a tranquil metropolis, no longer the battleground for conflict between the Dark Legion and the rest of the Echidna people. Knuckles and his girlfriend Julie-Su are paired up, though not civilly married as they think that commitment is more important than ceremony. The two of them also have a daughter named Lara-Su, who is constantly dismayed at her father's refusal to let her become a member of the Brotherhood of Guardians. The Brotherhood continues its vigil over Mobius from hiding, though the group's numbers are somewhat diminished with the death of Knuckles' father Locke and the reduction of Knuckles' grandfather Sabre to a vegetative state. Lien-Da controls the Dark Legion, and has a son by the name of Rutan. Dimitri the Echidna, as a changed man, also lives with the two of them, and believes that Lien-Da should mend her relationship with Julie-Su. The two apparently disagree over a number of subjects, but remain civil. Later that year an atomic bomb was dropped on Angel Island. The city was destroyed but the Echidnas are all alive except for Julie-Su.
As for the other Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix, a number of things for them have changed as well. Tails has married Mina Mongoose and has two children who are friends to Manic, while Rotor Walrus has become a lord of the Kingdom of Acorn. That too blows up and Rotor Walrus dies. No other members of the Freedom Fighters appear, though it can be presumed that they have settled down with families of their own. Espio is currently married and serving as Knuckles' secretary, and has two daughters by the names of Salma and Juanita, though it is known that Salma is involved having a relationship with Rutan. Vector the Crocodile is also married (but his spouse hasn't been mentioned or revealed), and has a son named Argyle. Tails later divorced Mina Mongoose and has sworn to kill Fiona Fox. He hasn't been seen since.
Unfortunately, this future has a major crisis facing it. Following the celebration of Lara-Su's sixteenth birthday, Sonic's family pays a visit to Angel Island. When Sonic meets with Knuckles, he learns that Mobius faces imminent destruction. Numerous occasions of immense stress on the space time continuim-including Sonic's access of the Cosmic Interstate, his final battle with Robotnik Prime, and his detonation of the Xorda Quantum Dial-the fabric of space and time is in danger of collapsing, which will cause Mobius to explode.
In an attempt to fix the problem, Sonic and Knuckles agree to a truce. Sonic agrees to use the Tachyon Displacement Chamber, a time machine built by Robotnik and kept in storage for years, to travel to the past and collect information so that the problem can be rectified. Before departing, Knuckles tells Lara-Su that she can become a Guardian, and she stows away aboard the transport. Sonic enters the chamber, but something goes wrong and he disappears. Lara-Su vanishes at the same time, and the time line is irrevocably altered...
Altered Future
Possibly as a result of Sonic's journey to the past, Mobius has been changed almost beyond recognition. The planet is now under the control of Shadow the Hedgehog, who has become Sally's husband through some alteration to the past. With the Dark Legion working together with him and Knuckles apparently serving as his enforcer, he has subjugated the planet. The only piece of good news is that the damage to the time space continuum has apparently been repaired, ending any danger of Mobius being destroyed. However, the handful of Mobians who have escaped losing their memories of the original timeline thanks to being near the Tachyon Displacement chamber when it went off or some other means-sans Knuckles and Lien-Da-have been imprisoned by Shadow's orders though Cobar, Lien-Da's chief scientist, has been possibly killed by Shadow since he is the only person besides Amy Rose, who is imprisoned, trying to save the space time continium.
Returning, Lara-Su finds a world far different from what she left behind. As a result of the alteration, several of her friends don't exist, while her father appears to be a brutal enforcer of Shadow's will and only she and a handful of others remember the original future. Teaming up with Tails, she accompanies him in a search for Sonic, eventually finding him living on the streets of the city of Portal. However, they are then arrested by Knuckles, who then reveals that he was only serving Shadow's will so he could undermine the power-mad Hedgehog from within.
Working together, Lara-Su and the others free Shadow's prisoners and lead a rebellion, with Sonic going to face his old rival. Shadow barely defeats him, but Lara-Su takes his place and is able to defeat him using Chaos Control. As a result, her father, who didn't know about Sonic's fight, is convinced of her worthiness to be a Guardian. Tails seems to have successfully killed Fiona Fox and lives the rest of his days fighting crime with Espio who quit his job with Knuckles and divorced his wife. Upon speaking with Sally later, who considers her relationship with Shadow annulled, she and Sonic agree to get married, their old love rekindled.
Major Characters Not Featured Several important comic characters did not appear in Mobius: 25 Years Later, although a number of them were mentioned.
*Bunnie Rabbot *Antoine D'Coolette *NICOLE *Fiona Fox *King Acorn *Elias Acorn *Charmy Bee *Mighty the Armadillo *Dr. Finitevus *Rouge the Bat *Amy Rose *Mina Mongoose
Mobius: 20 Years Later Prior to the release of Mobius: 25 Years Later, another possible future storyline was planned out for the comics. Known as Mobius: 20 Years Later, it would have featured Mobius coming under attack from some unknown threat 20 years into the future of the comic. This is the same threat that Locke was shown a vision of by the Ancient Walkers, prompting him to the experimentations that made Knuckles into a mutant Echidna, and which Princess Sally saw during her first contact with the Source of All. However, the storyline was cancelled before ever being published.
Trivia
*The characters of Sonic and Sally's children Sonia and Manik were named for the Sonic Underground characters of the same names, possibly as a tribute since nothing of the series had any major role in the comics. *Because the "finale" of the feature has been already printed, it is unknown if this feature will continue to be printed in a future issue. As of now, it has not appeared in any issues since the finale.
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