"If it means getting to stop other lives from being unfairly destroyed by some paranormal creeps... I'm in! I've got a lot I need to make up for after my world was wiped out."
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles; a truly marvellous game by today's standards, and a pretty fitting conclusion to the original Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy. And of course, our story begins when the cartridges containing the full game are inserted into a console.
However, this isn't the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis it got inserted into; rather, it was a bootleg product dubbed the GIGA Switch 'n Play, which aimed to create extensions to pre-existing titles. The console was made exclusively for the Sonic franchise, which aimed to include its own twists to the characters and gameplay.
And so this brought in GIGA's own original lineup of bootleg Sonic characters for this game; Hog the Tenrec, the land's hero, Prowler the Fennec, Hog's trusty sidekick, Fists the Porcupine, the guardian of the Giga Ruby, and Dr. Yolkman, the main bad guy. As to where the original assets ended up? Well, they ended up in a place dubbed "The Void", where hidden or unused assets go.
This is where this cartridge's Sonic ended up, having been stuck there for months by that point and trying to remain optimistic as best as he could, with little success. Just about everyone's code was being taken and used for the game, and Sonic was the sole survivor in the void, everything else he cared for having died upon coming here.
During his long time there, he learned about Hog, having witnessed him and Prowler getting into a scrape with Yolkman. He wasn't spiteful of this replica at first; rather, he was intrigued, and wanted to try and find a way to reach out to him. Unfortunately, nothing worked during his isolation, missing his friends and arch-nemesis a lot.
Soon enough, the distorting corpses of the trio revealed to Sonic some stuff; namely, what the Void was now doing to Sonic, and that he was really close to dying. Tails showed him a way to make his presence known via a Power Ruby, and Knuckles and Robotnik made it plain and simple that Sonic got replaced by Hog.
After a longer time in the Void, Sonic finally lost his mind, now feeling nothing but utter hatred for Hog and wanting to return on top again. In his words...
"I WILL NOT BE REPLACED!"
He was finally able to break out of the Void and snag the first Power Ruby. However, something wasn't right. He did not look like himself, and the fennec in front of him kept referring to him as Hog. He tried to take his anger out on Prowler, but his possession of Hog was short-lived, as the tenrec took back control, clearly unaware of what had just happened.
Hog felt guilty for unknowingly trying to strangle his now-upset friend, and Sonic was back where he was. However, he had that Power Ruby, and with them, he could keep trying to break free. And the more Power Rubies Hog collected, the closer Sonic was to his goal.
Later, Prowler noticed Hog's unnatural obsession with wanting to collect the Power Rubies, especially since he'd only ever get them to try and stop Yolkman. While the tenrec was resting up that evening, Prowler thought about what was going on and knew that this behaviour was completely unlike Hog. Whatever this thing was, it wanted the Power Rubies for its own purposes.
And so, Prowler worked on a device to nullify the power of the Rubies, testing it on one of them with success before pretending he was sleeping. The following day, Hog single-handedly dealt with a whole army of Boltniks, which gave Prowler a chance to sneak up on him and ready the gun.
This led to a fight between Prowler and Sonic, the gun working well against the corrupted hedgehog, who was impressed Prowler had figured out the truth. In the aftermath of their right, Prowler made it clear that Tails, despite the two being little alike, would not appreciate Sonic for doing this.
This only served to infuriate the fallen hero, who, in a fell swoop, slaughtered Prowler before Hog regained control. Hog was absolutely heartbroken over what had become of his best friend, falling into broken tears over this loss. And worse still, Sonic LET Hog regain control just to see his pain and relish in it.
Now holding all seven Power Rubies, Sonic attempted to transform proper, but with little success. However, the Giga Ruby on Heaven's Land (Hog's equivalent of Angel Island) could be a possible last resort. So he raced over there, only to be met with Fists, who wasn't too pleased about his motives for coming here.
After a fight that felt like hours, Sonic managed to weaken Fists, before using the Giga Ruby to summon his friends back into existence. However, they were more undead than anything, and they promptly slaughtered Fists in a really gruesome fashion.
Sonic then used the Giga Ruby to transform, but it wasn't what he had hoped for. His body was taller and more withered, reflecting the monster he had become. He was not Sonic anymore; he was now Scorched.
Yolkman arrived, feeling horrified at the sight before him before taking the Giga Ruby as fast as possible and retreating to Sacred Aether Zone (Sky Sanctuary Zone). When both arrived at the location, Yolkman ordered his newest robot, War Hog Mk. II, to fight off Scorched and buy him some time to escape.
However, Yolkman ultimately met his end too. But this time, Hog's resilience caused him and Scorched to be split into separate entities. And boy, was the tenrec NOT happy to see his most hated foe yet. The two fought a lot, and Scorched was getting the upper hand.
And yet, Scorched was forced to reflect on all that had happened, realising what he was doing was uncharacteristic of him, and he was losing all of what made him Sonic. Fists did survive his encounter, however, and his movement to patch himself up destroyed the Power Rubies AND Giga Ruby, setting off a worldwide apocalypse in the process.
Fists perished after getting some more hits into Scorched, leaving only the fallen hedgehog and Hog left. Scorched had now become nothing but a quivering wreck, regretting everything he had done after being called out for it by Hog. And with impending doom approaching fast, Hog didn't know whether he should forgive his enemy or let him suffer.
He seemed to lose consciousness for several hours after that, awakening in a new location he felt familiar with, but at the same time, didn't recognise. Something seemed to have saved his life, but he didn't know what it was. He did some investigating around the CR version of Angel Island, trying to get some bearings as to his new location.
During his time there, he discovered CR!Sonic paying a visit there, having patched things up with his Sally since One More Hero. The blue blur was headed to Hidden Palace as Hog quietly trailed behind so as not to be spotted. While in the palace, he saw the murals depicting all that had been, like the S3&K events and the ordeal with Perfect Chaos.
(Perfect Chaos mural by Sotaknuck from Sonic 3D in 2D)
At the shrine, CR!Sonic and CR!Knuckles were simply catching up with each other, the echidna having heard about Sonic fixing things up with Sally again. They noticed Hog a few seconds later, with the blue blur going to give his introductions.
Hearing Sonic's name caused those traumatic memories to surge right back into the tenrec, as he explained what had happened back at his world, and the sad truth that he can NEVER go back there ever again thanks to its destruction. CR!Sonic offered Hog his understanding and reassured him that he would not ever try to harm Hog.
For a couple more days, Hog stuck around the CR universe to familiarise himself with how regular Sonic universes are like, and he and CR!Sonic later got involved in the events of More than One Universe, Hog's motivation for doing so being to stop any more lives being unfairly lost to multiversal terrors like what Scorched was.
In the aftermath of it all, Hog decided to stick around in the OMT universe, becoming a new member of the Blur Gang and being able to interact with others from other worlds that are not hostile towards him in any way. In a way, he got what he couldn't back at his home; Sonics who COULD co-exist with him without being wiped clean from existence.
It's only telling that he and Wacky, both bootlegs of Sonic, take high offence to Lost Memory Sonic's remark that OMT!Tails and Antho were not deserving to be heroes due to not being Sonic. Speaking of them, they also have a good laugh about stuff like the names of their villains (Hog's being Dr. Yolkman, and Wacky's being Dr. Sunnyside, both egg-related puns).
