Fang and the Special Zone

[Ivogoji]

More crackpot theories to unravel the mysteries of the Sonic verse. Today I'm looking at Fang.

Fang the Sniper (also known as Nack the Weasel) played a curious role in his introductory appearance, Sonic Triple Trouble/Sonic & Tails 2. After Knuckles, in a fit of paranoia, gathered together five of the Chaos Emeralds and hid them away in the Special Zone, Sonic and Tails were forced to hunt them down while halting Eggman's latest scheme. Whenever the adventurous duo located a Chaos Emerald however, a treasure hunter-mercenary was already there, armed to the teeth with advanced weaponry to defend his prize. That is, with the exception of their first encounter, where Fang showed up without any sort of gadgets, apparently intending to take Sonic on mono-a-mono. We do not see how such a fight would play out, as Fang trips some kind of booby trap (most likely set there by Knuckles, who has a penchant for placing pitfalls for potential pickpockets), blowing himself sky high. In subsequent encounters Fang came considerably better prepared, utilizing deadly machines similar in nature to Dr. Eggman's modifications to his Eggmobile. Fang indeed possess an airbike, the Marvelous Queen, which could perhaps be modified in much the same way to make it combat worthy. However, it is never explained just where does he get all those wonderful toys; he doesn't seem very skilled with controlling them, implying a lack of experience.

Another curiosity about Fang is that he can only be found in the Special Stages. The Japanese manual indicates he was eavesdropping on Sonic and Tails when they set out on their quest, but it doesn't say from where he listend or how he knew to find them. Fang's motivations for finding the Emeralds are clear- he's a treasure hunter, he likes money, the Emeralds are valuable- but how he comes to know where to find them or manages to get there before Sonic, the fastest thing alive, are not addressed.

There is much mystery regarding Fang, and the fact that he knows how to access the Special Zone is suspicious. The only reason Dr. Eggman had not collected the Chaos Emeralds in the first game are because he did not know they resided in another dimension, so he searched South Island in futile while Sonic gathered them himself. Even later the Doctor showed little understanding of how to reach the Special Zone, and in Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island he captured Flickies in the hope that they could lead him to dimension where the Emeralds resided. In Sonic Heroes Eggman is baffled that the good guys found all seven Chaos Emeralds- which were once again in the Special Stages. Despite his vast scientific knowledge, Dr. Eggman apparently did not discover how to reach this other dimension until Sonic Advance 2, where he has a robot patrolling the Stages.

Only Sonic and Knuckles seem to have originally understood the secret of entering the Special Zone, namely by touching Giant Rings, usually with some sort of key or 50 normal Rings in hand (though in Sonic Triple Trouble 'warp gates' are used, the 50 Ring entrance fee is still present). The other protagonists of Sonic Heroes most likely discovered how to do this by accident, as many stages end with Giant Rings for them to grab, excepting the missions of Team Chaotix- but Vector and crew would have learned the trick from Knuckles in Knuckles' Chaotix, so they already knew how. How Knuckles himself learned to access the Special Stage is unknown, but he used this knowledge to his advantage repeatedly, hiding the Chaos Emeralds there in Sonic Triple Trouble and Sonic 3. Sonic may have also stumbled upon the secret by accident in the first game, or possibly through his friendship with the Flickies, a species that travels between dimensions frequently.

How did Fang come to discover the Special Zone? His profile from the Japanese manual offers an interesting clue. Apparently Fang the Sniper hails from another dimension (shades of Blaze!). This dimension is most likely none other than the Special Zone itself, as save for those that have learned to use the Ring Power- which Fang gives every indication he's unfamiliar with- only natives of the Zone can enter it. Outsiders cannot stay in the Special Zone for very long, forcing them to accumulate more tme by gathering rings or spheres within the Zone, or they are returned to their own dimension. Fang and the Flickies do not appear to have this problem, implying an unique relationship to the strange world. Perhaps because they are natives of the Special Zone they are acclimated to its unusual properties? It would explain why Fang can beat Sonic and Tails to every Emerald one after another- while they are racing around in their own dimension looking for 50 Rings and a warp gate, Fang can head straight through the Special Stage to the next Emerald's location.

This does not explain how Fang knew exactly where the Emeralds were, or how he found Sonic and Tails to take the opportunity to gloat under their noses. It is possible however that he followed Knuckles around when the Echidna set out to hide the Chaos Emeralds, and was right behind him to eavesdrop on the conversation when Knuckles confronted Sonic and Tails at the onset of their adventure.

Another mystery about Fang is the technology he uses to fight Sonic throughout the game. In other games his arsenal is comparatively mundane- a pop gun, some oil slicks, maybe a real firearm off screen, nothing like the equipment his airbike has in Triple Trouble. Fang most likely isn't a mechanical genius like Tails or Eggman, since he doesn't seem to know how to use his devices very effectively. These advanced weapons must be unusual for him, but Fang is not the only one employing uncharacteristic artillery in Sonic Triple Trouble. Knuckles stars as one of the bosses of the game, where he attacks with, of all things, a submarine. This is deffinitely outside the norm for Knuckles, but it makes somewhat more sense for him to have access to advanced technology. His ancestors built extraordinary machines during the wars of the great Echidna Empires, such as the Gizoid and the giant snake statues which inhabit Sand Hill. He likely borrowed the submersible craft from some Knuckles Tribe or Nocturnus Clan munitions cache. Perhaps, in a similar vein, Fang was using ancient technology he scarcely understood in order to combat Sonic. He might have taken it from the same cache as Knuckles, having followed him to the spot after watching him hide the Chaos Emeralds, which would most likely indicate the weapons of Echidna design.

It is interesting to consider how much Fang's airbike, the Marvelous Queen, resembles bike type Extreme Gear. Maybe the weapons, which were compatible with his airbike, were Babylonian in origin rather than Echidnian?

Fang has many things in common with the Babylon Rogues. He is a treasure hunter that takes pride in his hovering device, is perfectly willing to cheat and even kill to get what he wants, is known to take part in competitions involving Chaos Emeralds (as seen in Sonic Drift 2 and Sonic the Fighters), and has access to advanced technology. What's more, Fang lives in the Special Zone, a place inhabited by birds. Of course Fang is not a bird himself, and Jet the Hawk would scoff at a wingless creature trying to imitate his noble society. However, the modern Babylonians are not a single species, but a variety of different birds with one culture. Perhaps at some point, when the Rogues were more numerous and more advanced, they included none avains into their ranks. Or perhaps Jet's tiny band is just one branch of the organization, and other Rogues with different standards carry out their thieving ways independently. Note that Fang is not just a weasel, but a hybrid of wolf and weasel, meaning there was interspecies romance among his ancestors. This is almost certainly true of the modern Babylon Rogues' ancestors as well, since they are apparently all descended from ancient aliens in addition to terrestrial bird species, and likely continue to practice it now considering the only three members of Jet's gang are each from different orders.

Why do I try to make a case for Fang the Sniper being related to the Babylonians? Well, besides explaining surface similarities between him and the Rogues, it may also explain why he lives in the Special Zone in the first place.

Recall that Knuckles knows the secret of using Giant Rings to enter the Special Zone, and other characters either learned this from him or figured it out by luck. Knuckles has a good reason to know this thing since its his job to protect the Chaos Emeralds, which have a nasty habit to vanishing into the Special Zone when you leave them alone too long. The information would be crucial to finding them in times of need, or keeping them hidden when they are in danger. Crucial not only to Knuckles, but also past guardians. There can be little doubt that Knuckles' ancestors were well aware of how to enter the Special Zone, and might even have pioneered the means of doing so. They deliberately used Special Rings to move to and from the Hidden Palace, as Knuckles demonstrates in the Mushroom Hill Zone during Sonic 3 & Knuckles. In Knuckles' Chaotix Dr. Eggman finds another Special Ring on Isolated Island, and plots to use it to access the Master Emerald once again. In the Flickies' Island scheme he created a Giant Ring Generator to produce more portals to the Special Zone for his robots to explore.

In short, Giant Rings are definitely a form of technology, most likely created by the Echidnas to make collecting the Chaos Emeralds easier. By doing so, they also made the Special Zone open to colonization by those with the knowhow to make the journey.

The Babylonians possessed the Chaos Emeralds at some point prior to the fall of Babylon Garden and were likely around at the same time as the Echidna Empires. Their society had already become one made up of highly advanced thieves when they aquired the Emeralds, which would rather strongly imply they stole them, perhaps from Knuckles' ancestors on Angel Island or the Nocturnus. Indeed, retaliation for the theft of the gems is most likely what led to their down fall that legend attributed to an act of God. The Babylonians were at least as advanced as the Echidnas, if not more so, considering their extraterrestrial origins. They too could have developed Giant Ring technology, or exchanged knowledge with the Echidnas for it, or stole it from the Echidnas. The Giant Rings can be found all over the Pacific, its no stretch to assume the Babylonians had access to them. Indeed, the avain overtones of Flickies' Island seem to point to that location being a Babylonian outpost, in contrast to the Echidna figures found on other islands in Sonic Adventure 2. Perhaps the ancient society experimented with Flickies as a step towards exploring the Special Zone themselves- not unlike early experiments in space travel conducted by the U.S.A. and Soviet Union using chimps and dogs! The success of the Flickies would have given the Babylonians the reassurance they needed to make a permanent settlement within the Special Zone.

If this convoluted line of logic is true, it is possible then that an integrated group of Babylon Rogues consisting of several species colonized the Special Zone in the ancient past, bringing with them advanced technologies including the at the time infant Extreme Gear, and adapted to the bizarre conditions of the new dimension. Without interference, these Babylonians continued their tradition of thievery within their new home. They were uneffected by the cataclysm that reduced the once mighty Babylon civilization to a small band made up exclusively of birds, but gradually lost touch with their roots, forgetting how to apply some of their more advanced technologies while still using Extreme Gear-like devices. From this group descended Fang the Sniper, proud racer, treasure hunter, back-stabber, and marksman.

That makes sense, right? I think it makes sense.

[PinkIceFox]

Nack Nack Nack Nack Nack Nack

I'm sorry did someone summon me?

It seems interesting but I think it fits more in creative fanfiction than anything.

Nack's a thief. He eavesdrops on everything. It's more likely than not he simply learned to access the zones by overhearing things and spying on others. Any of the technology he has is likely stolen from somewhere.

That's just my opinion on my fuzzy wuzzy weasel though. :3

[Ivogoji]

It's canon at least that he's from another dimension.

[Lamby]

You're a great theory writer. The way you incorporate connections from game material is pretty seamless. Was an interesting read, as always.

[Ivogoji]

^It's one of my great passions. I'm a huge fan of Den Valdron, who writes similar essays about the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and daikaiju films. This is just so much fun!