A princess who has lost her throne. A rabbit who has lost her limbs. A squirrel who has lost everything. And a hedgehog who has everything to gain. As Doctor Eggman hurls the Acorn Kingdom into the fires of war, one has to wonder: just what is war? And is it something anyone can truly answer?
Sonic and the Freedom Fighters -- Blue Horizon
is a fanfic by Kkhohoho that was originally written to combine the best elements of all incarnations of Sonic into one giant melting pot. It takes heavily from the games, SatAM, and Archie, but mixes in characters and elements from other parts of the franchise as well, and also isn't afraid to throw in its own twists and turns. The initial story concerns Sonic and the Freedom Fighters fighting off Doctor Eggman as he wages war against South Westside Island and the Acorn Kingdom in a loose retelling of the first two games that also blends in elements of SatAM, but it's planned to continue long after that initial war is over.
The best way to describe the tone of the series is a middle-ground between SatAM and the games with a dash of M*A*S*H. While the tone of the series is generally serious, it usually never goes too far and there's definitely some levity to be found. At the same time, it still acknowledges the realities of war, which can lead to some serious pathos.
There's also a reason it's called Sonic and the Freedom Fighters. Because while Sonic may be an important character, he's far from the only one the series is about. It's really about everyone, and the series takes the time to flesh out and develop most of it's rotating ensemble as much as it can. A couple characters may end up getting the shaft or Demoted to Extra, but with a cast this large, not everyone's going to get equal attention.
Currently at 68 chapters.
This fan fiction contains examples of:
- Alternate Universe: The Void, which according to Eggman, is a small part of a larger, infinite one he nicknames the Special Zone.
- Break the Cutie: Happens to Cream. Poor girl goes through the ringer.
- Character Development: A number of the characters get this in some form or another. Sonic in particular goes from being a Jerkass who isn't much better than his Fleetway version to a character more reminiscent of the games. But a good chunk of the cast gets some sort of growth.
- Cowardly Lion: Antoine in spades. He's still often very afraid especially at first, but he starts getting more and more courageous as time goes on. Or at least learns to act the part.
- Dead Fic: The fanfiction was originally cancelled after "A Scourge to his Enemies, Part 1" due to the writer becoming burned out.
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Un-Canceled: However, a few months later he reversed his decision, and returned with "A Scourge to his Enemies, Part 2."
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- Ensemble Cast: While Sonic may be the headliner, plenty of stories aren't really about him. Just about everyone gets their time in the sun, though Sonic is still one of the most powerful members of the Freedom Fighters. Each arc also tends to focus on a smaller chunk of Freedom Fighters rather than all of them at once, which helps keep a sense of focus and gives time to develop them without tossing everyone else aside.
- Heel–Face Turn: Thunderbolt appears to make one of these after it's made clear that Robotnik doesn't give a crap about her. Which also gets her to start waking up to just how horrible most of his actions have been.
- Heroic BSoD:
- Sonic has one when he fails to save Sally's father. It's also what prompts him to TakeALevelInKindness and stop being such a jackass. Because for all his power, he still couldn't save him. Needless to say, that humbled him a bit.
- Antoine gets one when he more or less has to order his father's death sentence to save everyone else. Bunnie helped him deal with the initial fallout and he's kept it from getting to him in public, but there have been hints that he's still dealing with it in his own way.
- Manic has one after Chuck gets roboticized. Right before it's revealed he's his biological daddy. Needless to say, Manic goes bye-bye for a bit.
- Bunnie faces an eerie one in chapter 67, when she was shot in the stomach by robots, but was perfectly fine thanks to her robotics. After struggling to ignore her cyborg nature, this reality check causes her to enter in this mode of uncaring.
- Jerkass: Sonic starts out as this, but quickly gets better. Shortfuse also starts out as this, but it takes him a lot longer before he even begins to get better.
- Original Character: Mostly defied. There are a few characters not from the source material, but these are either family of already established Sonic characters or relegated to flashbacks. The only real exception is Chirps, who was never truly a character prior (appearances in crowd shots in Fleetway aside).
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Sally Acorn, as per usual. While everyone else still winds up together of their own accord, Sally's the one who inspires everyone to stay together to take back the Acorn Kingdom and South Westside Island from Eggman. She isn't actually much of a fighter, but she more than makes up for that by being the engine that keeps things running.
- Ultimate Universe: Takes elements from nearly every version of the franchise and merges them into one whole. All while still adding its' own twists and turn.
- Unwilling Roboticisation: Grimer attempts to put Bunnie through this. It fails, but only in part. As per the usual, she's still stuck with two robot legs and a robot right arm. Later, Eggman attempts to do this to Chuck and the entire population of Mobotropolis. He does not fail. Unfortunately.)
