You open your eyes for the very first time and… whoa, you've got a lot of furries! Welcome to Mobius, home to a race of anthropomorphic animals called "Mobians". Pretty cool! You've just been born as a Mobian baby, or in this case… you're a Mobian wolf pup (for illustrative purposes only). Although you're not exactly like the other babies in the hospital. Nobody knows it yet (not even you), but you've also been born a MetaMobian, which means you're about to get superpowers! Sounds exciting, right? Well, here's the thing: Being a MetaMobian alone is going to make your life a living hell… and you have no idea. At first, your childhood seems normal; you grow up in a small town in Japan with 2 loving parents, living a regular life… You would watch cartoons and play with toys, blah blah blah. Sure, outside Japan, there's Dr. Eggman constantly trying to take over the world, but thankfully, Sonic the Hedgehog (and sometimes, his friends) is always there to stop him. Anyway, once you hit puberty, you're about to experience some changes… and not the ones you're thinking of; one day, you woke up with a fever and your parents initially brushed it off as a cold and decided to let you stay home from school for a bit, but over the course of a few days, it was getting hotter and hotter and hotter… until one night, you woke up at 3:00 AM with your bed sheets on fire. You jump out of bed quickly and stomp on your sheets to put out the flames. Phew! That was a close call. You look down at your hands (or "paws") and see what looks like tiny flames shrinking and disappearing. Hmm… that was weird. And then… ACHOO!!! Uh-oh, you sneezed out fire; the walls blackened, the smoke detector beeped, and your parents rushed to find you standing there in the middle of it all. Congratulations! You are a Fire-type MetaMobian (again, for illustrative purposes only). At first, your parents try to convince themselves that it was all just some freak accident; maybe the wiring in your room was faulty, or perhaps they left a candle burning somewhere… but this incident happens again and again, and again until finally, they have to face the facts: Their child isn't normal. Unfortunately, with great power comes great consequences… not from the government, but from a megacorporation (which we'll get to in a bit). So from that point on, your parents start treating you differently; their hugs become a little more hesitant, and they start to sit further away from you at the breakfast table. Sometimes, you'll overhear quiet (and depressing) conversations at night with your mother crying and your father talking about what to do, like you're some sort of problem to be solved. Sadly, it's only a matter of time before the neighbors find out… and they do. Your family wouldn't get invited to hanami, the neighborhood kids don't come over to play anymore, and your father gets fired from his job because somehow the whole town found out that he was harboring a quote-on-quote "demon" in his house… which is just an exaggeration. In case you don't know what a MetaMobian is, they're a subspecies of Mobians who are born with what's known as the "Meta Gene", the same way certain genes will determine your height, fur color, and which species of Mobian you are. The only difference is that you get superpowers when the Meta Gene is activated. Heck, there are even rumors that heroes like Sonic the Hedgehog (who can run really fast) and Miles "Tails" Prower (who can fly with his 2 tails) could be MetaMobians too! However, these rumors have never been confirmed. As for you, though, it's 100% confirmed; you're just born with these powers. Don't ask me why it's different, but outside Japan, Sonic is loved and idolized. Inside Japan, MetaMobians are hated and feared… and it's all thanks to a megacorporation known as "Hexcorp Industries" (or "Hexcorp" for short); 10 years ago, Hexcorp was founded to hunt down and capture all the MetaMobians, while also spreading propaganda labeling them as "demons". The result: a 10-year-long conflict between MetaMobians and the Hexcorp Police… which the ordinary citizens are completely unaware of because they were never told why there's a secret war within Japan. As for everyone else who remained, many went into hiding while others continued to fight back until they were either dead or apprehended. Now, the type of power you develop is different from-person-to-person and depends on the rest of your genetics; you could be a Fire-type, an Electric-type, a Psychic, literally anything. The Meta Gene is typically activated through puberty or immense stress/trauma. Centuries ago, in Feudal Japan, a meteorite called the "Genesis" crashed near a village in the Kantō region; the meteorite contained 18 crystals known as the "Genesis Shards," which gave life to Meta Gene, thus giving life to MetaMobians for the first time. Fast forward to the present day, and you are now part of the most feared and hated Mobian subspecies in Japan. Your parents, however, still love you, but they're scared, both for you and of you. One day, the wrong person finds out about you, and it could end in 2 different ways: A, he/she would go on the phone and report to Hexcorp about a demon next door… or B, an angry mob shows up in the middle of the night right in front of your house. In Japan, even standing outside someone’s home yelling is already crossing a serious line; homes are treated as very private spaces, and disturbing neighbors is taken seriously… unless, of course, you have a so-called "demon" in your house. Either way, the Hexcorp Police will show up at your house through the front door, and when they do, they take you away and punish your parents (labeling them as "traitors")… and just like that, you leave everything you know behind and that alone symbolizes a goodbye waving to your old life that's now replaced by a brand new one: Behind Bars…

To be continued…