Project: New Moon is a Sonic fanfic and AU I (@wereh0gz) have been attempting to write for a few years now, originally under the name Sonic Eclipse! It mainly features Sonic, Tails, and a cast of OCs I've developed, as well as both old and new transformations. This blog compiles the main fic, art, asks, and other such things about the AU.
The main story takes place around two years after Sonic Frontiers. A chance encounter with a spider obsessed with Dark Gaia leads Sonic on a new adventure to save the world from destruction, making new friends, meeting old ones, and tackling a worsening "sickness" along the way.
I consider this fanfic 13+. As a whole, it features instances of violence, blood, body horror, unethical experimentation, and swearing, among other things some people may not be comfortable reading about.
Each chapter will feature more specific content warnings at the start, however if I miss something, please don't hesitate to let me know so that I may correct it to give proper warnings.
Also, there are no romantic ships featured in this fic! All interactions are explicitly platonic.
Suddenly feeling very dissatisfied with what project: new moon turned out like
Or. Well. I guess I shouldn't say "suddenly" bc I've been feeling a vague dissatisfaction with it for. A while. But only know am I starting to parse out the reasons why I feel that way
With it having been out for a while now, I think back on all the things I could've done or could've executed differently, but didn't think of at the time so I didn't do them
Nox, for example. As a character, he's just kind of a vehicle for the story to happen, a source of torment for Rue, and the reason Sonic's werehog form is brought back. He never got to be much else. He's not very present in the story anyway despite being the main villain, and besides his obsession with Dark Gaia and lack of ethics, he's not really... much of a person
I got really lazy with fleshing him out so his entire character ended up just being evil antagonist. And honestly now I feel his role in Rue's story could've easily been taken by someone like Eggman with only a few changes
Rue's parents could've been way more developed too. They really only exist to make Rue's tragic backstory More Tragic and that's pretty much it. They're even less developed than Nox. Like they're not even characters even by the end of the story
And there's also Specter and Phantom, whom I like and have developed more than those I talked abt above, but I feel like I didn't really show enough of them as individuals. They're just kinda there to be Rue's friends and fight ghosts and not much else
It's like. Idk. I feel like I only really wrote that fic to justify my ocs existing and interacting with Sonic, and justify Sonic's werehog form being brought back even through it wasn't really necessary in the end. It was fun at the time, sure, but that rose-tinted view I had of it has kinda faded. Sometimes I even feel like I kinda rushed it bc I was so desperate to get that story out, since I've been working on these characters and the fic for so long. I was satisfied not bc I felt I made something good, but bc I was finally *done* with it. Now that's biting me in the ass and making me feel like all the work put into it went to waste
Hell now I'm even considering retiring Nox's character entirely (he is like. The biggest part of why I've been feeling crappy abt the fic now that I think of it) and giving Rue another revamp. Tho it feels weird to do it now bc the fic they're part of is out and finished. They are my ocs and I'm allowed to do whatever I want with them, but still
Whatever it is I decide to do, the twins probably won't change much, if at all. Not sure abt Sonic's redesign, I don't really wanna change it but I might have to recontextualize why he looks the way he does in this au
Idk what to do with the story yet, if I wanna rewrite it or not and just have my ocs existing in an au where Sonic never lost his werehog form instead. Really undecided abt all of this stuff rn. I definitely won't be deleting the project: new moon blog or anything tho, just won't be posting there anymore probably
Idk if this post makes any sense of if anyone actually cares but whatever I just need to get this off my chest
Summary: Turns out, things aren't as great as Sonic thought they'd be.
Warnings: Blood and violence.
Word Count: 4,261 words.
Sonic felt sick.
It'd been about a month since Nox had attempted to free Dark Gaia and end Mobius as he knew it- and subsequently died from his own hubris. A month since he’d regained that monstrous form he took on during the Shattered World Crisis years ago, in which Eggman tried to do much the same, but in an attempt to take over Mobius instead of destroying it. Though things were peaceful once more, the recent near-apocalypse had left its mark both on him and the world, even if the only one who seemed to notice was himself.
The atmosphere around him had changed, saturated with both Light and Dark Gaia's energies. In the beginning, it was balanced and stable, a comforting embrace. But energy continued to seep out from the world's core, and it had become suffocating. A film coated the air and made it harder to breathe, making Sonic lightheaded during the day and snappy at night.
Worst of all, no one else seems to be affected. Not one other person he's talked to in the past few weeks has said anything that would even imply that they've noticed something was off.
Tails did say he'd seen some unusual energy readings on his Miles Electric some time after the incident, but he’d been feeling better than ever, even suggesting he wanted to go on a solo adventure now that things had settled down again. Sonic wasn't at all opposed, quite the opposite, actually. It wouldn't be the first time his little brother had gone off on his own.
But he couldn't help but worry. Worry about Eggman making a comeback, or some new threat rising up, or something bad happening to his friends, or his own condition getting worse, or all of the above happening at once.
He couldn’t take it anymore. So, instead of wallowing in nauseating anxiety, Sonic went out for a run, letting the winds guide him.
He ran for hours, past grasslands and valleys and cities, until he found himself in the familiar forests of Spirit's Grove, the sun slowly drifting west along the blue sky. Sonic’s stomach churned.
Should be used to it by now, he thought. The sunset was soon approaching, and he found himself dreading the painful transformation that came with it.
Well, “dreading” is a bit of a strong word for what he feels. He's anticipating it. Bracing himself for it. Not quite at the level of dread, but teetering on that edge, maybe.
Sonic shook the mounting restlessness off and continued through the forest, slowing to a walk as he took in the scenery, as he usually does when visiting places he hasn't been to in a while. It's quiet, a slight breeze just barely disturbing the trees around him.
The silence is discomforting, to say the least. The forest is quiet as it is, but never this quiet. The wind is usually stronger, and the skittering of tiny animals and birdsong was infrequent, but never outright absent. And, strangest of all…
It is incredibly cold. For a midsummer evening, at least.
Sonic shivered.
“Rue? Specter? Phantom? Anyone there?” he calls out while walking deeper into the forest. No one responds. “Guess no one’s around today. Weird.”
He wanders until he finds himself before Rue’s cave.
“Hello?” He hesitates, before parting the curtain of vines and leaves on the cave’s entrance. He looks inside, but doesn't dare enter.
It’s empty, yet there were deep claw marks on the stone walls and floor, probably fresh. Rue's sparse belongings were in disarray, the makeshift nest of blankets torn to shreds, the lantern cracked on the floor, and the journal gutted, its pages scattered about in a mess of papers covered in writings he couldn't make out.
“What the…?” he whispered to himself.
Suddenly, he hears a deep, guttural snarl behind him. He snaps in the direction of the sound, and his eyes are met by those of a Nightmare- Rue’s glowing magenta eyes, piercing through the shadows of the forest and staring right into his very soul.
“Rue! Hey, what’s up?” he asks as he takes a step towards them, feigning his usual nonchalant attitude, “You okay? You don’t look so–”
Before he can get any closer, however, Rue pounces, knocking him down and pinning him onto the ground. They bare their teeth at him as he tries to wriggle himself away.
“Hey! Wait a sec! What’s going on?!”
Rue roars in response.
He tries to kick them off, only managing to push them just enough to slip away. His quills bristle as a chill runs down his spine.
The sky grew darker. The sun was setting.
It’s coming.
Pain surged through his body like wildfire as he began to transform, fur turning pitch black, gloves being torn by glowing cyan claws. Green markings formed on his skin and fur and quills, false eyes glowing on his body. He couldn’t breathe, purple smoke filling his lungs, slipping out of his mouth.
This isn’t right… this isn’t… His mind began to fog. His body burned. His blood boiled. Something bubbled within him, desperate to escape.
Rue strikes, trying to slash at Sonic, but he barely, just barely, managed to move aside and dodge their attack. He growls at her and strikes back, fangs bared, grabbing their arm and pulling them off their feet, over him. There's a loud thump and a whine as he slams them onto the ground back-first. He releases their arm as they curl up, trembling, clutching at the bandages that cover their lower back as they begin to slip off.
He takes a step back, watching them. Something breaks through the fog for a moment, a split second of clarity.
Hurting her. You're hurting her–
Rue looks up at Sonic and snarls with the ferocity of a rabid beast. They move to strike again, claws ready to slash at him. On instinct, he strikes back.
He bites at her shoulder. Teeth pierce skin, and green blood spills. Rue jolts.
The taste of metal lingers on Sonic’s tongue as he releases Rue, forcefully pushing her onto the ground. His heart pounds in his chest, his head throbbing. Rue whines, but it's drowned out by the pounding and ringing in his ears.
She looks up at him, clutching her bleeding shoulder, heaving. They whimper, ears pinned to their head and tail between their legs.
Sonic and Rue stare at each other. Time seems to come to a halt. Sonic’s blood runs cold.
“Rue, I…” He feels a lump in his throat. His voice sounds wrong, beastly, almost otherworldly.
It didn’t sound like him.
“I didn’t mean to–”
Rue snarls, interrupting him. She takes a step back as he tries to approach her again. He feels his heart drop to the pit of his stomach.
“I’m so sorry.”
Sonic kneels down onto the grass. He keeps his head low, shifting his gaze from Rue down to his own paws.
He fought her like some kind of animal. Scared her. Hurt her.
He needed to show her he wasn’t a threat anymore.
Eventually, Rue stopped growling at him. He could hear her slowly make her way towards him, limping. It wasn't long before she was right above him, cautiously sniffing him. He trembled, heart still pounding, yet he didn’t move. He didn’t want to scare her more than he already has.
Rue let out a growl, almost like a question, vaguely sounding like his name. “So… nic…?”
He looks up at her. Sharp green eyes meet pink. “Yeah. Sorry for hurting you…” He can feel something in him shift, energy being released. His mind becomes clearer.
She pulls him in for a hug, startling him. She’s shaking, near hyperventilating. He hesitantly returned her embrace as his body changed once more, the false eyes fading and his quills and fur turning back to their usual navy.
Rue felt warm in his arms. Too warm, feverish, almost. He wasn't faring too well, either. The air felt colder than before. Frigid.
He began to rub Rue's back gently, above the now exposed scars. Their fur began to shift in color, just as Sonic’s had, back to dark teal.
Their shoulder continues to bleed. He tries to ignore the taste of blood in his mouth.
“Hey.” His voice sounded normal again. Or- as normal as it can sound in this form, at least. “Let's go to the twins’ place and get you patched up, alright?”
He can feel their claws digging into his skin as they tighten their grip on him, shaking their head.
“He’s following me,” Rue whispered, her voice quivering, on the verge of tears.
“... Who’s following you?” Sonic asked, keeping his voice as steady as he could for her. He looks around, wondering who could possibly be following someone like Rue.
… It can't be Nox, can it? He fell to his death! He couldn't have survived a fall into a pit of lava, right?
Unless…
Sonic feels a chill down his spine. His quills stand on end, bristling.
“Come on. Let's get outta here.” He moves to stand up, grabbing Rue's paw to pull her up with him.
But as he rises, he catches a glimpse of something watching from the corner of his vision. A figure standing in the shadows. Unreal. Its many-eyed gaze lingers on Sonic.
Observing. Studying. Scrutinizing.
Nope. No. Nuh-huh. Not dealing with that right now, he thinks as he quickly helps Rue up and drags them behind him, making his way towards the twin's home and not looking back.
-
It wasn't long before the two beasts were at Specter and Phantom's doorstep. The air around their home felt so much hotter than back where Rue's cave was, so much more like a summer evening. Warm yellow light streamed out of the windows- and if the lights are on, someone surely had to be home.
Sonic knocked on the wooden door. Bang bang bang. He probably knocked a lot harder than he intended, but he wasn't exactly concerned when Rue was possibly being haunted by the person that made their life a living hell. And bleeding. That too.
“Coming!” He heard Specter's voice behind the door.
The door swings open, and Specter greets them with a smile. “Hi, Sonic– oh.”
“You guys have a first aid kit?” Sonic asked as he hurriedly pulled Rue inside.
“Wait wait wait- what happened? Why are you guys covered in blood? Oh my goodness, what happened to Rue's shoulder?!” Specter began to panic at the sight of her injury.
Sonic grimaced. That’s your fault, Sonic, you jackass. “Yeah, uh, long story. First aid kit, you got one?” he repeated himself.
“Right! Yes! Um…” she began to look around frantically, only to almost bump into Phantom, who had already gotten the kit and was handing it to her.
“Here,” he said nervously, refusing to look anywhere near Rue's injury.
Specter took the kit and led Rue to sit at the table, setting the kit down and beginning to work on cleaning the wound. “Alright, now what happened?”
“I don't know…” Rue shook, staring off into nothing, “I don't know…”
“Something made her panic,” Sonic explained, “She’s bein’ haunted, I think.”
Phantom stared at him, at his mouth, still stained in blood. “And you bit her?”
I didn't mean to. Sonic bit his tongue.
Rue winced as gauze was placed over their wound. “I attacked him first. It's fine.”
“Okay, yeah, that’s not super important right now. Who's haunting you, Rue? Do you know?” Specter asked.
“Nox. It was him. It had to be.” They gripped their arm, digging their claws into their own skin. “He whispered to me. Taunting me.”
Specter and Phantom share an odd look. Did they not believe her?
“I saw it too, y'know,” Sonic interjected, “They're not making this up. He's back, and he was watching us.”
There was silence. The air felt tense. Cold.
Specter carefully wrapped Rue's wound in bandages. “There… let's change the ones over your scars, too–”
Something shifts, the air grew even colder. Frigid. The lights inside the cottage flicker.
Phantom's ear twitched, the bell on his earring jingling. He summons his scythe. “He's here.”
Everything went dark. In the middle of the room, there it stood, a hazy figure, a faded memory of Nox the Spider. Eight eyes shone against the darkness, red and yellow, like those of the ghosts from Sand Ocean, and his face contorted into a sinister smile.
“Hello, friends,” Nox’s voice reverberated in Sonic’s head, “Miss me?”
Rue hurried to stand, stepping away from the ghost in a panic, hackles raised and breathing heavily. Specter drew out her own scythe, and the twins, as well as Sonic, stood between her and Nox, protecting her.
“An unkind reception, as always. Not like I should expect any better from the likes of you.”
“What do you want from me?” Purple smoke slipped from Rue’s mouth as she spoke.
Sonic could see Nox’s expression shift slightly, almost as if he enjoyed tormenting them. As if that was any surprise. He scowled. “Why couldn’t you just stay dead, asshole?”
“I have unfinished business,” he stated “I thought it was common knowledge that ghosts are tied to this world by unfulfilled wishes.”
Specter’s tail flicked. “Well, it’s not like you can destroy the world or anything like this, so why not just give up already?”
Nox chuckled, driving Rue to panic further. Sonic could feel heat begin to emanate from her again as more smoke poured out of their mouth. “Oh, that’s not what I’m here for, silly. I’m well aware of my current limitations.”
All of a sudden, he sinks into the ground, reappearing right in front of Rue and Sonic, staring right into Rue’s eyes.
“I’m here to say my final goodbyes to you, Rubí. You didn’t let me have my final words the last time we met!”
“... What?” Sonic, Rue, and the twins said in unison.
“Oh, you all heard me.” Nox drifted towards her, moving past Sonic- no, through him- sending unpleasant chills down his entire body. Rue stepped back, trying to get away from Nox, until she was eventually backed against the wall.
Before Nox could get any closer to her and speak, however, Phantom leaps from behind Sonic, ready to slash at the ghost with his scythe. “Leave her alone!” he yells as he swings the blade…
… Only to be stopped by in his tracks by spectral webs shooting out of the ground at his feet, sticking to the weapon and pulling it out of his hands.
“Awful rude of you to interrupt me, child. This is between me and her.”
“Oh, you prick–” Specter’s own scythe was ripped out of her hands by webs, much in the same way Phantom’s was, just before she could attack.
“Now, where was I? Ah, yes… my final message to you, my dear.”
Rue trembled, claws digging into the wall they were backed against. “What more could you possibly want to say to me, Nox?”
“Just wanted to remind you of something you seemed to have forgotten in the month since my… untimely demise.”
The ghost leaned in closer.
“You won’t be rid of me. No matter how much time passes. Even after those two reaper ‘friends’ of yours inevitably exorcize me. I know I’ll always be inside that ugly little head of yours, in your worst memories. The one thing left of the past you buried under your thirst for revenge.”
Rue’s paws curled into shaking fists as they grit their teeth at him, growling. “You’re sick.”
“I’m well aware.”
Two glowing blades slice at Nox’s ghostly body, the twins having managed to break their weapons free, cutting him into pieces. Multicolor ectoplasm splatters, and yet, as his form begins to fizzle out, he smiles once more.
“I take comfort in knowing I’ve left my mark. You will never heal, Rubí. I’ll simply return in your nightmares to torment you again, and again… until the day you take your last breath.”
And with his final words spoken, Nox dissipated. The lights of the cottage flickered back on, and the air grew warm once more.
Rue fell to their knees, wrapping their arms around themself, scratching at their own skin and choking back tears. The twins hurried to their side, hugging them tight as they began to sob into their shoulders, all while Sonic stood there, hesitating to act.
Was it really his place to comfort her, after hurting her like he did? Would he be overstepping? He doesn’t want to make any of this worse, she already had to deal with Nox of all people today. He would want to bother her more than he already has.
Sonic and Rue’s eyes meet, and his thoughts all come to a halt. She stands, slowly walking up to him while wiping her tears. She was silent. Sonic bristled, unsure of how to react, before being swept off his feet and into her arms.
“I’m sorry,” they whispered into his ears. “You shouldn’t have been a part of this.”
“N-no, no, I’m the one who should be apologizing,” Sonic stammered, “I couldn’t help you. Actually, I think me bein’ here made things worse. I’m sorry.”
Rue shook their head slightly. He felt their embrace tighten around him.
“Don’t. Please.”
Sonic wasn’t too keen on turning this into a game of apology tennis, so he just stopped talking, returning Rue’s embrace, and he remained in their arms for as long as they needed. Minutes passed in silence as the twins came and joined the embrace, time melding into what felt like an eternity.
-
Some time later, Sonic and the twins had led Rue to the living room, where she sat down on a bean bag chair and sank into it, clearly exhausted. Specter and Phantom made him go wash the now dry blood off his snout in the sink before they sat on the other bean bag chair, leaving Sonic no choice but to sit on the floor next to Rue.
“Uh, Sonic? We have another chair right here,” Phantom said, pointing at the rolling chair at the desk under his loft bed.
“Nah, I’m fine here,” Sonic replied, content with sitting on the fuzzy blue rug on the floor. He then turns to look up at Rue. “You okay?”
There it was, Rue’s hollow, distant face, staring at nothing. They didn’t respond.
Specter stared at her, a strange glint in her cyan eye. “I think she needs some space. Maybe we should take her back home.”
Sonic held Rue’s hand. “I don't think that's a good idea. Besides, her cave is… a mess. She can’t go back to that.”
Suddenly, the TV hanging on the wall right in front of them started playing music. Upbeat tunes from some kind of game- one featuring a round pink thing running across platforms and sucking up enemies like a vacuum. Sonic quickly realized it was the same creature in one of the posters beside Phantom’s loft bed, right under a Chao in Space poster and another of some kind of white bug-like creature holding a sword.
Phantom held the controller, making the pink thing move along the stage and past obstacles. He was focused, eyes fixed on the screen.
Now everyone’s eyes were on Phantom. Even Rue seemed to have been drawn out from their stupor.
… He wasn’t trying to be insensitive, was he?
Specter watched him with an incredulous expression. “Dude, what the hell?”
“Hey, Rue needs a distraction,” Phantom answered bluntly, “... And I was kinda already playing this before you guys came in and all of that happened, so…”
“DUDE.”
“It’s what I would want if I just went through something horribly traumatic!”
Sonic thought for a moment. “Hey, y’know what? That’s not a terrible idea.”
Sonic watched as Rue’s eyes drifted from Phantom to the television screen. Phantom had just completed a level, it seemed, and the pink thing was doing a cute little dance with celebratory music in the background.
“What is that? It looks weird,” Rue deadpanned while pointing at the screen.
Phantom's tail flicked in frustration. “His name is Kirby and you will not disrespect him in this household!”
Sonic couldn’t help but snicker at his reaction. Though, to be fair to Rue, Sonic thought practically the same way about this “Kirby” character. It looked very silly, but oddly adorable. It reminded him of a Chao, almost. A very pink and round Chao.
“Yo, Phantom, can I try?” Sonic asked. His interest was piqued, to say the least.
“Ah, hold on, I’ve got more Wiimotes somewhere around here…” Phantom said as he got up to search through his drawers for them. He then pulled out three more controllers, all the same kind, but of different colors.
“Are we seriously doing this?” Specter asked as she was being handed a purple controller.
Phantom gave a blue one to Sonic. “Yes, yes we are,” he said, before offering a green one to Rue, “You wanna play too?”
Rue eyed the controller with uncertainty. “I haven’t touched a videogame in… years. I wouldn’t be any good.”
“That’s okay. I’ll teach you.” Phantom simply placed the controller in their paw.
That’s when Phantom sat back down, and the game continued. He quickly explained the controls and how to select a character to Sonic and Rue.
Specter, having seemingly played this game before, didn’t need any explanation and just got to playing the game with the others. By now, she’d already accepted that everyone was moving on from what had happened not even an hour prior, and that this is what they were going to do.
Sonic had selected a funny-looking orange creature with a blue bandana and a spear, which he was promptly informed was named Bandana Waddle Dee.
Rue had chosen a bat-like character with a cool metal mask and spiked sword named Meta Knight.
Specter was quick to point out that it was “no fair” that Rue took “her” character, but settled down once she realized she could instead play as the blue penguin with a hammer, who, according to Phantom, had “the best ability in the game by default.” Sonic wasn’t sure what that meant or why it mattered, he was just there for the ride.
And a fun ride it was. They played late into the night, laughing and yelling, having fun yet getting frustrated with the game all at once. But exhaustion eventually caught up with them, and the game was eventually shut off after Specter had fallen asleep on the bean bag chair with the controller in her hands. Phantom had set his own controller down and promptly fell asleep with her, leaving Sonic and Rue effectively alone.
The cottage was once again dark and quiet, but the darkness was no longer discomforting. In fact, it was quite peaceful, Sonic thought.
Rue didn’t seem all that comforted by the silence and the dark, though, having grabbed onto Sonic’s paw and squeezing it tight. He squeezed theirs back.
“I’m right here, if you need to talk about anything,” Sonic assured, keeping his voice down so as to not wake the sleeping twins.
“I don’t… I don’t want to talk.” Rue’s voice wavered a bit. “I just want to forget.”
“... Yeah, I get it.”
There was a moment of quiet between them.
“You should try to get some sleep, Rue.”
“I can’t.”
“I know you’re still scared,” Sonic stood back up, still holding onto Rue’s paw, “But staying up all night isn’t gonna make anything better. It’s just gonna make you sick.”
Still, Rue shook their head. “I can’t, I… I don’t want to. He’ll come back, I know it.”
Nox had already been exorcized, there was no way he could return. But Rue didn’t mean that literally, did she?
Sonic let out a sigh. “Is there anything I can do to help you sleep?”
Rue looked at him, deep in thought, before suddenly pulling him down onto the bean bag they rested on, then wrapping their arms around him. Sonic could hear their heart beating in their chest.
“Stay here… Please…” Rue whispered, “Don't leave me…”
Sonic carefully wrapped his own arms around her. “Wasn’t planning on it,” he assured, gently rubbing their back, careful not to touch their scars, “I’ll be right here. If you have a nightmare, if Nox comes back to hurt you, I’ll be here, okay?”
Rue seemed to relax in his arms, closing their eyes and letting out a small huff. They finally felt safe. “Thank you.”
And so, Rue eventually fell asleep, soon followed by Sonic.
But before he drifted off, Sonic’s mind wandered.
It was over, for real this time. Nox was gone for good, but Rue would still need a lot of time to heal, and he wasn’t sure he could help her adequately. He could bring her some comfort, sure, but she needed more than that, and, if he was being completely honest with himself, sometimes his presence hurt her more than it helped. He can’t leave now, though, no matter how much he thinks he shouldn’t be here with her. He already promised he’d stay for her, and that wasn't a promise he was about to break.
However, Sonic knew if he wanted to help her, he needed to keep himself in check. He needed to get better, too.
Eventually, Sonic feels his consciousness slip, and he elects to cast those thoughts away for his future self to deal with, falling into deep sleep in Rue’s arms.
Summary: Sonic wakes up once more, in a place that's no longer unfamiliar. The world is saved, now it's time to move on.
Warnings: None.
Word Count: 2,237 words.
-
“Sonic’s been out for a while.”
“Poor guy. Y’think he’ll wake up soon?”
“It’s been over a day now, and he still… hold on…”
Sonic hears voices. They sound distant, yet close. He groans. His body feels like it's weighed down with lead. He’s getting very used to feeling that way now…
“Ah, wait, I think he’s waking up!” someone exclaimed. It was a very familiar voice.
He slowly opens his eyes to the sight of fairy lights and sun rays overhead. He feels something soft and warm over him. A blanket. And fluffy pillows under his head. He was in a bed. An unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar one. He hears something sizzling down below as well. He’d been in this exact scenario before, hasn’t he?
A yellow-orange fox jumps onto the bed and looks down at him, twin-tails wagging. “Sonic! Oh, thank goodness you’re awake!”
“Mngh… G’morning, Tails…” Sonic groaned. He felt Tails hug him tight, lifting his head slightly off the bed.
Tails pulled back slightly to look him in the eyes. “You were out for a whole day, even slept through transforming last night. We were worried sick!”
“A whole day, huh?” Sonic mumbled tiredly, “... Could go for a couple more…”
“Please don’t.”
“M’just kidding, bud.” Sonic finally rose from the bed on his own, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes before playfully ruffling Tails’ bangs with a smile. Tails giggles in response.
Sonic sniffs the air, catching the distinct scent of bacon and eggs. Toasted bread, too. He gets out of bed and drags his feet towards the loft’s railing to look down into the kitchen. Specter and Phantom look up at him as they work away, preparing what looks like sandwiches.
“Oh! Good morning, Sonic!” Specter beamed. She easily flipped the eggs and bacon with a swift motion as she spoke. “Good to see you’re okay!”
“Come down and get breakfast. You must be hungry.” Phantom said as he gestured for Sonic and Tails to come down.
“Boy, am I…” Sonic responded as his stomach growled. With a smile, Sonic carefully, yet hurriedly, climbed down the loft. He wasn’t about to fall again, the first time was embarrassing enough. Tails followed by jumping and gently descending with his spinning tails.
On the table were multiple sandwiches, composed of thick, toasty bread, ham, generous amounts of bacon, over-easy egg, and cheese, with a bit of mayonnaise too. There were four, to be exact, with one currently being prepared by the twins at the kitchen counter, Specter frying the eggs and bacon over the stove while Phantom prepares the toast and puts it all together.
Phantom even rolled up his sleeves to work on breakfast, which is probably the first time Sonic had seen his hands uncovered. They moved with extreme precision, like the sandwich had to be perfect.
Sonic didn’t care if his sandwich was perfect or not, as long as it was tasty. He and Tails thanked them for the meal and began to eat.
The sandwich was pretty damn good! Can’t go wrong with bacon and eggs. It was a balanced combination of flavors, and the egg was seasoned with a good amount of salt and pepper. But something was missing…
“Hey, uh… Where’s Rue?” he asked between bites.
“Out in the woods,” Phantom replied as he wrapped the now completed fifth sandwich in tinfoil, “They live in a cave near here. Probably still sleeping.”
Specter placed some dirtied pans in the sink. “We were gonna go out and give it to them after we’d eaten. They usually hunt for their own food, but… we wanna make sure they’re alright.”
“Oh! I can take it to her!” Sonic offered, “It’ll probably be a lot faster if I do. We could even eat together!”
“You’d do that? Aw, thanks, Sonic!”
Phantom hands him the packaged sandwich. “Tell us if she’s alright when you come back.”
“Will do!” Sonic takes it, holding his sandwich in one hand and Rue’s in the other. “Be back in a bit!”
“Ah- Sonic, wait a sec–” Tails reached out to Sonic, but he rushed out the door before he could hear anything, speeding past trees and foliage and away from the twins’ cottage.
-
Sonic ran through the forests of Spirit’s Grove, sunlight trickling down, filtered through the leaves of the trees above. The glowing mushrooms lead him to a small clearing, where he slows down and sniffs the air. He catches the smell of charred wood from a burnt-out campfire in the center of the clearing, and the scent of a person. Rue, he thinks.
He follows her scent. It leads him past the clearing, through a few more trees, until he reaches the rock face of a cliff. A small cave rests just in front of him, shielded by vines.
“Rue? You in here?” he calls as he pushes the vines aside and enters the tiny opening in the wall.
There was no one there, but the space had clearly been lived in. It was small and bare, save for a few things scattered on the floor. To his right was a makeshift bed made out of old blankets, and next to it, a lantern, pencil, and a book of some kind. A journal, maybe. To the right was a collection of rocks, crystals, animal bones, and other such trinkets organized in an odd manner on top of some stones. A small stuffed toy Chao rested on the pile of blankets, worn with age. It looks up at him from the ground with its button eyes, unmoving.
For some reason, there was an air of sorrow to this place. This wasn’t a home, Sonic thought, though Rue clearly tried to make it one.
“What are you doing here?”
“AH–” Sonic nearly leaps out of his skin upon hearing Rue’s voice behind him. He turns to see them glaring at him right outside the cave.
“Um… I, uh, I was looking for you. The twins made you breakfast,” Sonic explained as he handed the wrapped up sandwich to them.
Rue huffed, their gaze softening as they took the meal. “... Thanks.”
“... I can talk to you out there if you want–”
“Yes. Please.”
Sonic exited the cave without objection. Rue clearly didn’t want him in there, so he wasn’t going to intrude any more than he already has.
“Uh, so, do you… wanna eat together?” he asked, looking for a good spot to eat at and landing at the top of the cliff above, “We could go up there. Looks like there’d be a nice view over all the trees and stuff.”
“Mm… Sure.”
Sonic smiled, before running off, around the cliff, then up it, stopping at its edge. Rue climbs up the wall with the sandwich in her mouth, and soon after catches up with Sonic. He sat with his legs hanging on the edge, patting the spot next to him, inviting Rue to sit with him. She does so, and the two look over the landscape above the sea of blue-green trees of the Zone.
The two sat in silence, eating away at their breakfast as they watched the world awaken. Clouds float by lazily across the blue sky, pushed along by a gentle breeze. Birds fly about from tree to tree and sing their songs. A city skyline glimmers in the horizon as the sun shines brightly above.
And the two continued to eat, the silence, once awkward, becoming comforting. Neither needed to speak. They just enjoyed the calm morning air, and the delicious sandwiches, prepared with care. But sandwiches don’t last forever, and eventually both had eaten all of theirs. Rue finished first, putting Sonic to shame.
They continue to sit in silence for another brief moment, before Rue speaks.
“There’s been a change in the air. You feel it too, don’t you? It feels… heavy.”
Now that he thought of it, something had changed. There was energy everywhere, more than the natural Chaos he’d learned to tune out. A new darkness, and a new light, had befallen Mobius. Both familiar, both warm. It felt as if they embraced him.
He nods. “Yeah. It’s… kinda weird. But it doesn’t feel like anything bad. Just… different.”
Rue hummed.
“Oh, by the way, the twins asked about you,” he said, “They wanted to know if you’re alright.”
She hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“Something wrong?”
“No, it’s just…” She fiddled with the leftover wrapping from her breakfast. “All of this feels… surreal. I never thought I’d get here. I don’t know what’s left for me.”
“You feel lost, don’t you?”
They nod.
Sonic looks up at them, into their tired eyes. “Well, I’d say now’s your chance to finally live,” he said, “Maybe, I dunno, get out there and meet people, make some friends, or just relax. I can tell you haven’t let yourself do that last one in a while. You’ve got a long life ahead of you. Would be a waste to live it miserable and alone.”
They stared at him, stunned. “... Do you really think I can live a happy life as I am?”
“You gotta try,” Sonic answered, “It’ll be hard, sure, but I know you can do it.”
And there it was. Sonic could barely believe it, but Rue smiled at him with a relief he knew he’d never be able to comprehend.
Suddenly, Rue hugged him tightly, pulling him close to their chest.
“Woah-!”
“Thank you…” they whispered in his ear, “Thank you, truly.”
Sonic hugged them back as best he could, patting them on the back and closing his eyes. It felt as if Rue didn’t want to let go. He didn't want to either.
So the two sat together, once again in silence, but now embracing each other for as long as they could. And when they let go, Sonic lies down on the grass and relaxes, enjoying the quiet of the woods.
He really needed this. A calm after all the stresses of these past few days. A bit of peace and quiet to clear the mind, think and process everything that had happened…
… Or he could not do that and just take a nap. If he’s being completely honest, he doesn’t want to think about any of that anymore. The impact of that adventure is future Sonic’s problem. Now, he just wanted to rest. He needed it. Rue needed it, too.
So, Sonic closes his eyes and–
“Sonic!” Tails called out to him from behind.
He blinks, getting up and turning around to face Tails. “Oh. Hey again, Tails.”
“I wanted to talk to you about your, uh… condition, but you ran off before I could say anything.” Tails explained.
“Ah.” So that’s why Tails tried to stop him earlier… “Sorry about that.”
“You two need to talk?” Rue asked, “I’ll leave you to it, then.”
“No, wait! I wanna talk to you too.”
Sonic quirked an eyebrow. “What’s up?”
“Alright, so first thing’s first…” Tails took out his Miles Electric and fiddled with it as he began to speak. “I ran some scans on you while you were sleeping, Sonic. It looks like going Super burned away a lot of excess Dark Gaia Energy, but it didn’t get rid of all of it. In fact, my suspicions were proven true. The energy’s bonded with your very cells now.
“And because Dark Gaia didn’t take back its energy this time, I’m stuck with it.” Sonic sighed. “Well, it is what it is, I guess.”
“You’re taking this a lot better than most people would,” Rue commented.
Tails chuckled. “Sonic isn’t most people.”
“Heh, yeah,” Sonic smirked, “And I said it before, didn’t I? If I didn’t get better, then I’d find a way to live with it. And I will. I’m not gonna let some weird werewolf sickness slow me down!”
“I envy your optimism.”
“Okay, um, second thing…” Tails continued, turning to look at Rue, “I want to run some tests on you to see how the Dark Gaia Energy is affecting your body. See if I can find any way to help you. I-if that’s alright, of course.”
Rue stares at him silently. She hesitates to answer.
“I-it doesn’t have to be today,” Tails stammered, “And the tests would be as non-invasive as possible, whenever it’s okay with you. I know you’ve been through a lot, especially recently. I wouldn’t wanna, y’know…”
“I’ll think about it,” Rue finally replies, “Though I doubt you’d be able to tell me anything I don’t already know.”
“Alright. I understand. Oh, and third, the twins have been waiting for you for a while, Sonic.”
“Oh, right!” He’d gotten so caught up in the moment that he completely forgot he promised to check back in with them.
Well, why not have her talk to them herself? They’re friends, after all. I’d be good for her to talk to them some more, hang out for a bit
Sonic turns to Rue. “How about you come back with us? Bet hanging out with them for a bit would be nice after everything.”
“I did see them briefly when I brought you back to them…” They take a sharp breath. “You know what? Sure. Let’s go.”
Sonic and Tails smile, then Sonic takes Rue’s paw and the three make their way to the cottage together, moving on from the events of their adventure and looking forward to what the future holds.
Warnings: Blood and violence, minor body horror, minor character death.
Word Count: 2,163 words.
-
Dark Gaia has risen once more. It slowly approaches, treading through a pit of thick magma that painted the scales of its lower half in shifting orange hues. From its back, pure dark energy spewed out in the form of purple smoke. Its giant maw opens and it lets out a roar that shakes the entire planet and the heavens beyond.
Sonic had no time to waste. He turned to his brother. “Tails! Give me the Emeralds and get out of here!” he yells.
“Wait! But Rue is–”
Rue had walked back towards Nox, who pathetically dragged himself out of the now destroyed Egg Dragoon. They approached him with purpose, and with a swift kick to the gut, they knocked him towards the edge of the cliff overlooking the fiery abyss below.
“Rue! We need to leave!” Specter cried, but they ignored her.
The spider coughed, spitting out thick, red blood, staining his once immaculate suit. “Ah… is this it? Are you finally getting the so-called ‘righteous vengeance’ you've been seeking for so long? Are you finally going to kill me with your own two hands and satiate that monstrous desire–”
Rue interrupted him with a scoff. “After all you’ve done, a swift death at my hands would be mercy. You doomed yourself when you decided to play with the powers of gods. You've dug your own grave, now lie in it and rot,” she spat, venom dripping from her voice.
Nox's eyes widened, staring up at Rue. He was left speechless.
With those words, she turns her back on him as the ground starts to shake more and more. The edge of the cliff begins to crumble, and before anyone knew it, the man was falling down with the rocks and debris into a slow, fiery death.
“Sonic! Here!” Tails hurriedly handed the five Chaos Emeralds they’d collected on their journey to Sonic, which began to float and spin around Sonic along with the two he was holding, reacting to his subconscious calls for their aid.
The earthquakes grow stronger. Dark Gaia roars once more. It is getting closer now, green, reptilian eyes fixed not on the group, but on Sonic.
“Rue,” Sonic growled, struggling to speak through the pain, the burning of Chaos and Dark Gaia Energies swirling and buzzing within him, “Get them out of here… please…”
Rue nods, and the group hurries out of the collapsing cavern
Sonic turns to look at Dark Gaia. The dark god stands tall before Sonic. It stares him down, eyes filled with an ancient rage. Yet Sonic felt something else in its gaze. Fear, perhaps. Recognition.
He continues to call on the Emeralds' power, asking, begging, pleading for them to answer. To become a shooting star of hope. To turn into Super Sonic, like he’d done so many times before at the climax of his past adventures. Though, this time, it was as if they rejected his call, refusing to give him power.
Not in this state.
The Emeralds finally do something. They answer, shining brightly, light and energy stabbing into him over and over as his body, his entire being, is…
Unwound.
His vision goes white. He is in agony, an unimaginable pain spreading throughout his body, his skin, muscles, bones, every nerve and cell, down to his very soul. He feels himself scream, his heart pounding and his head throbbing, yet he can hear nothing but a droning noise in his ears. A moment stretches into eternity of nothing but the burning.
Then, suddenly, there is a voice.
“Sonic?! Sonic, listen to me! Focus!”
Chip…? Is that you? he thinks. Where…?
“I need you to focus, Sonic! Focus your energy! You can’t let it all end now, not like this! You have to put Dark Gaia to rest!”
There’s a familiar emerald green light glowing in the edge of his vision. The burning slowly fades, replaced with a gentle warmth, an embrace. He focused on that warmth, letting his thoughts slow and the static clear. He took a deep breath.
Sonic opens his eyes. He feels smaller, lighter. His mind is clear, now, thoughts no longer clouded with pain.
He looked down at himself. His body was back to his regular hedgehog self, though now shrouded in bright light. Golden quills sway with the waves of energy radiating from his heart. An aura surrounds him, the specter of his beastly form, still with him, giving him strength. He’d found balance, both energies coexisting and granting him a new power.
Right next to him floated a translucent figure- a small canine, with maroon and off-white fur, pure, golden eyes, and green, fluttering wings. The gem on his bracelet glows along with the gem on the figure’s chest.
Sonic smiles at Chip. Chip smiles back.
Together, the two fly off towards Dark Gaia, shining bright like a comet. Dark Gaia roars as it tries to swat them out of the air with its claws.
Tendrils of pure dark energy shoot out of its back, maws forming at the ends and biting down as they try and fail to reach Sonic. But Dark Gaia is too slow, as Sonic flies circles around the god. It hisses in frustration, rocks and debris crumbling and falling into the abyss below as the cavern caves in further.
Sonic dodges out of the way of its claws, using his own to bat away one of the tendrils. “Dark Gaia’s not at a hundred percent, is it? Seems like it’s not putting up as much of a fight as last time.”
“Neither of us are,” Chip explained, “But we weren’t back then, either. We haven’t had any time to recover from our premature awakening. But Dark Gaia could still cause a lot of damage in this state. And…”
“And?” Sonic flew out of the way of a tendril shooting for him.
“... It's in pain. I can feel it. It wants this to end.”
Sonic gave Chip a determined look, brows furrowed. “Then let's end it right now.”
Sonic slapped a tendril way with ease, then flew around it, tearing down the other tendrils as it growled and tried to claw at him. He spin-dashed its claw away, and he flew closer to its face, looking it in the eye. A green, slit eye reflecting the glow of the planet’s core stared right at him. Dark Gaia roars and attempts to slash at him again, trying to keep him away.
But while he was distracted, one of the dreadful dragon phantoms bites him, pulls him down. He exclaims in surprise and struggles against it.
Energy bubbles inside, and it bursts, an explosion of light burning the tendril away. Dark Gaia lets out a pained screech, and Sonic flies off to take down the other appendages, on spin-dash at a time.
Sonic then flies up, and his eyes once again meet those of the god. He reaches out a hand, placing it on its scaly head. The dark god’s giant body quivered at the touch, frozen, and he could suddenly feel the great weight of emotions that swirled within it.
An ancient weight Sonic couldn’t even begin to imagine carrying for even a minute, let alone the billions of years it’s existed.
Sonic took a deep breath, steeling himself against the immense weight that now rested on his heart. “Hey. That’s enough of that.”
Sonic slowly descended onto the god’s scales, resting on its snout. “It’s alright. You must be real tired of this now, aren’t you?”
There was a rumble from the god. An agreement, perhaps.
“The seal that kept us trapped in the core was weak, but now it’s been completely broken.” Chip descended with Sonic, placing his little paws on Dark Gaia’s scales. “I don’t have the means to fix it. Not right now, at least. Our cycle can’t continue without destroying ourselves along with everything else.”
“Do you even remember why this cycle even started? Why you fight as hard as you do?” Sonic asked the god, “I know what I fight for. What all my friends fight for. Do you remember why you fight at all?”
Dark Gaia was completely silent for the first time since its release. It was listening.
Chip leaned in closer. “We fought over the balance of this world. To maintain it. But things are changing now. Too many people have interfered with the cycle, and we’re both exhausted from countless millennia of fighting. I can’t even remember when this all began, or why things had to be this way.”
Sonic gently rubbed its scales. It closed its eyes at the gesture, the emotions that once weighed on it slowly beginning to fade away.
“Looks like this cycle needs to be broken, then,” Sonic said with a slight, lopsided smile, “Let all that anger, and fear, and sorrow, and all those other horrible feelings go. Find a new balance. I know you two can do it.”
Dark Gaia huffs. It is calm, for the first time in who knows how long. Yet… its body begins to fall apart into purple smoke. Pure energy seeps out into the planet’s surface.
Sonic looks at Chip. His tiny body begins to deteriorate into a light, white mist.
“Chip…?”
“I think… it’s time for both of us to go.” Chip embraces Sonic in a hug. He’s warm, yet it feels like there’s nothing in Sonic’s arms at all. The mist mixes with the purple smoke, escaping out into the world along with it. “I’m sorry. I truly wish we could’ve met again without all of this happening.”
“It’s okay, bud. Not like you had much control over the situation,” Sonic reassured with a smile, “And who knows? Maybe we’ll get to meet again some day. Without the world being under threat of destruction next time, hopefully.”
That’s a nice thought, isn’t it?
Chip smiled back. A bittersweet smile. “Goodbye, Sonic… Thank you for everything,” he said, his voice fading as his body fizzled out into mist. Dark Gaia’s body dissipated as well, the gigantic beast reduced to smoke.
Sonic was left floating within the crumbling cave, the ground still rumbling as the landmass, and the abandoned amusement park above it, continued to fall apart.
“Sonic!” Someone yells his name from below. He quickly turns to look at where the voice came from. Panic settles in.
Rue stood at the cliff, looking up at him.
What are they still doing here?!
Sonic rushes down, reaching both arms out to them as the entire ceiling begins to fully collapse. He needed to get both of them out, now.
“Chaos… CONTROL!”
And in a flash of light, the two were gone, and the pit, along with what remained of Eggmanland, was buried under rubble, never to see the light of day again.
-
A flash of light disturbs the quiet darkness of Spirit’s Grove. Sonic and Rue crash onto the forest floor, skidding to a stop right under a tree and leaving a trail of upturned soil in their wake.
Sonic immediately shoots up, standing above Rue, who still lay on the ground. His golden glow shines on their fur. “ARE YOU OKAY?! WHY’D YOU GO BACK FOR ME?! YOU COULD’VE DIED!”
“I… felt something change… I thought you were in danger…” she explained between labored breaths.
“I told you all to leave! It was way too dangerous for you all to stay there while the whole place was caving in! If I didn’t get you outta there with Chaos Control, you… you would’ve…”
The golden light from his body completely faded, and his quills returned to their usual cobalt hue. He fell, his body giving away completely, energy drained as the Emeralds rip themselves out of him and scatter out into the world. Rue catches him and gently pulls him close.
“You said it yourself… Us beasts should stick together, right?” she said as she adjusted herself to rest against the tree, having caught her breath.
“I… did say that…” He couldn’t argue with that. Not like he had the energy to argue. He could barely speak. Or move. Or think, even. “Is… everyone else…?”
“They all got out. Should be here in a few hours, I think. The flight from there to here is a long one.” She rested a paw on his head. It was warm, and soft. Comforting. “They’re safe. I made sure of that before I went back for you.”
“Ah…” He can barely keep his eyes open anymore.
“... Should get you somewhere so you can rest. You look like you need it…” Rue’s voice grows into a distant whisper as unconsciousness calls. Sonic can barely hear her anymore, can barely feel her pick him up and start walking off into the forest. His body is numb, heavy, cold.
All he could think about at that moment was how glad he felt to know his friends were alright.
His vision blurs, and everything fades to silent, comfortable nothingness.
Summary: The world's end rears its head. Sonic and friends race to stop it before it's too late.
Warnings: Mentions of blood, violence.
Word Count: 2,502 words
-
It was late into the night in Permafrost Plains. The group was back inside the base, hiding from the cold of the tundra outside. Sonic held his still bleeding arm as Tails gathered bandages out of the first aid kit he’d gotten from the Tornado. He was starting to feel lightheaded, having lost a substantial amount of blood in the time it took to get everyone back inside.
Good Gaia, he was exhausted. His eyelids were heavy. He could barely keep himself from drifting off.
Maybe… Just a few minutes…
“Sonic, no!” Tails snapped, “Stay with us here!”
“Huh…? Oh, right, sorry…” he mumbled as Tails wrapped the wound in bandages as best he could.
Sonic looked towards Rue and the twins who were all sitting a few ways away, hoping the distraction would be enough to keep him awake. Specter rubbed her back while Phantom hugged her arm and purred. Maybe that was his way of comforting her?
Rue’s face was almost completely hidden by the hood of their cloak. All he could really see was their red eyes glowing in the shadows, staring at nothing. It was that same look he saw after the ordeal back at Sand Ocean Zone.
He doesn’t feel like talking. Nobody feels like talking, he thinks. But someone has to. The silence is heavy, and the droning sound of electricity running through the walls is driving him insane. So, once Tails was done patching up his wound, he got up and staggered to Rue’s side. She doesn’t even spare a glance at him, too focused on… the floor, he guessed.
“Hey–”
“I’m sorry,” they blurt out, yet their voice was barely above a whisper.
“... About my arm? Eh, it’s fine. It doesn’t even hurt that much anymore.”
“I’m a monster…”
“No, no you aren’t. You’re just angry. And hurt. You need help.” He shot that down immediately. He wasn’t going to let her talk about herself like that and cement that thought in her head even more than it clearly already is. “And there’s people right here who’ve been willing to help you out for a while,” he says as he looks at Specter and Phantom.
“If you’d only let us.” Specter looks up at Rue, looking into her eyes with a slight, gentle smile.
“Why would I burden you all with my problems…?”
Phantom stopped purring, looking straight into Rue’s eyes with a serious expression. “Because you’re just hurting yourself trying to handle things on your own.”
“And besides, it’s not just your problem. I got dragged into this mess by Nox, too, and so did everyone else here,” Sonic said, “So let’s help each other deal with it. Us beasts should stick together, don’t’cha think?”
For the first time in a while, Rue looked at Sonic directly. Ruby red eyes gaze into emerald green, and Sonic realizes just how tired she looks. Under the shadows of her cloak were tired eyes surrounded by deep, dark circles. Was that from all the stress from these past few days? Or were they there before, from who knows how many sleepless nights plagued by visions of what they had to endure years ago?
“... You’re right,” she admitted with a sigh, “I should’ve listened. I shouldn’t have pushed you away. I’m sorry.”
“Aww, Rue…” Specter hugged her tight. “It’s okay! We’re here for ya, ya big furball!”
“F-furball…?”
Phantom hugged her too. “What’re friends for, right?”
“Friends?!”
Sonic couldn’t help but chuckle. Rue’s demeanor changed, just like that, from depressed and distant to all flustered. He couldn’t help but notice their tail wagging ever so slightly, betraying their incredulous face. Maybe they’d been waiting for the chance to call the twins friends for a while now.
Sonic smiled. “Well, now that we’ve got that covered… Do you, uh, wanna talk about your whole deal with Nox? Just… how long has this been going on for?”
Rue stares at him for a moment with a blank face. And there goes their happier demeanor. Way to go, Sonic.
“I mean, y-you don’t have to talk about that right now if you don’t–”
“No. It’s fine.” Rue took a sharp breath. “I’ve been hunting him down for… about nine or ten years now, I think. Since he turned me into… this.”
Ten years… They were just a kid when it happened. Sonic can’t imagine how that must feel, to lose it all, to be lost in the world, othered, irreversibly changed. And at such a young age, too.
“Um… We saw the record he kept of you,” Specter explained.
“We saw records of your parents, too,” Phantom continued.
Rue visibly bristled. “Of course he kept records…” they muttered under their breath.
“So… this is about revenge, isn’t it?” Sonic asked, “For what he did to you and your parents?”
Rue nods solemnly. “It’s… all I could think about. Making him pay. Hurting him… Killing him. I… hunger to feel his blood on my hands. To… tear him apart…” She growls almost in a trance, purple smoke slipping through her lips with each word.
That can’t be good.
“... But… that just makes me a monster, doesn’t it?” they continued, the smoke dissipating, “To… crave violence like this… It just proves he’s right about me.”
“Nah, I don’t think that’s true.” He placed a hand on their shoulder. “It just means you're angry and hurt, like I said. And he’s using that pain to get under your skin, make you really believe you’re a monster.”
Specter stared at Rue for a moment. Or perhaps she was staring at their soul. She could do that, right? “You don’t have the soul of a monster, Rue. Not like someone truly evil, like Nox.”
Phantom nodded. “His soul is rotten by his evil deeds. Yours is still bright. You’d never get to be even close to as bad as him, no matter what you did.”
Rue seems to relax upon hearing that. In fact, was that… a smile?
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“Um…” Tails suddenly speaks up, having somehow walked up to Sonic from behind without being noticed by the others. He held his Miles Electric tightly. “I don’t mean to interrupt anything, but I’m getting some very strange energy readings all of a sudden. They seem to be coming from Eggmanland, and–”
Out of the blue, the earth begins to shake, and the whole building trembles, threatening collapse.
“Take cover!” Sonic yelled out, quickly pulling Tails down and shielding him with his own body. Rue does much the same, pulling the twins under her arms and holding them tight until the earthquake subsides.
Sonic feels a shift in the atmosphere. A sweet smell fills the air.
Once it’s safe, the group heads outside to see a still dark sky over a now cracked and broken landscape. From the new crevasses, purple smoke rises. In the far, far distance, beyond the horizon, was a large, floating landmass. The ruins of Eggmanland, lifted into the sky by some unknown force, thick clouds of purple smoke coming out from under it.
Tails bristled. “We need to go, now.”
Sonic nodded and led the rest of the group back to the plane, helping them board before taking off towards Eggmanland.
-
Tensions were high as the Tornado made a landing on the abandoned death trap of a theme park that was Eggmanland. The group made their way into the ruined, rusting park, past attractions that have gone unused since the world split apart and metal maze-like pathways and facilities leading down into the very planet’s core.
The halls of the ruins were overrun with Badniks, but they were just another obstacle in the way of them getting to Nox. Sonic beat them into scrap with his paws, Rue ripped them apart with sharp teeth and claws, the twins fought in sync and sliced them to pieces with their scythes, and Tails spin-dashed into them to take them down with ease. With all of them working together, the group made quick work of any enemies that came their way.
The real problem was the terrain. The ground still shook, and walkways and bridges crumbled under their step, rusted pieces of their path falling apart into the abyss below them.
Adrenaline rose as they narrowly avoided rollercoaster rails collapsing in their way and fought through the Badniks trying to stop them, but, eventually, they reached the lower floors of the facility.
The air is thick with Dark Gaia Energy, heat from the core of the planet rising from the depths. Sonic felt as if he’d be broiled alive, but he had to keep going, they all had too. They were so close to finding Nox, now.
He felt his lungs fill with smoke. His legs give out, and he falls onto the floor in a coughing fit, purple smoke pouring out of his mouth. He couldn’t breathe.
“Sonic?!” he heard the others cry before Tails, Specter, and Phantom hurried to his side.
He gasped, letting out another cough before he could speak. “I’m… I’m fine,” he said between labored breaths. His voice sounded off, rougher than it had been before, but he couldn’t tell if that had just been from the coughing fit he just had.
Tails watched him with a horrified expression. “Sonic, you’re changing!”
He looked down at his own arms. The long navy fur that covered his entire body was slowly turning darker, nearly pitch black. The blue fur on his hands was beginning to darken, too.
“There’s… too much Dark Gaia Energy,” Rue spoke breathlessly, purple smoke coming out of their mouth as well, “It’s not good for you all… You should turn back.”
“We already went over this, Rue!” Specter said, “We’re not letting you deal with this on your own!”
“But it’s not safe–” Rue began to cough, even more smoke pouring out of them.
The two hurried to her side, held her paws as she caught her breath.
“We’re not going,” Phantom said sternly.
Sonic took deep breaths, collected himself and stood back up. “We need to keep moving. We’re almost there, I know it.”
Sonic took the lead once more, and the group continued further. The Badniks thin out, until the path forward is empty. Quiet, save for the group's footsteps and the now near constant rumbling of the earth.
The hallway opens up into a giant pit, waves of magma glowing and swirling in the chasm. Within the giant pool, a towering being takes form, thick clouds of purple smoke creating the shape of the old god- Dark Gaia.
It is nothing more than a ghost at the moment, wispy, faltering, wrong. Its claws reach for the opening in the earth, supporting itself, trying to reach out in a desperate attempt to escape to the surface.
Right in front of the pit, there floated a giant mech, a serpent of metal, glimmering bronze. Sonic recognized the design almost immediately. It was that of the Egg Dragoon.
In its cockpit, sat Nox with a mad grin, looking down at the group from his spot high above. The last two Emeralds were slotted neatly on the mech’s chest, shining brightly.
“Ah, you’ve finally made it!” Nox greeted them cheerfully, “Welcome to the beginning of the end!”
“What have you done?!” Sonic growled.
“Bring about the end of Mobius, of course! The project I've worked towards for years, Project: New Moon, is finally coming to fruition in spite of all of its setbacks!” His voice boomed, amplified by the mech’s speakers. The tail and arms of the mech rise, aiming laser cannons at the group. “And now… I ask that you sit back and watch the show, because if you interfere, I will make sure to end you all right here and now. You wouldn’t want to miss the end of the world, would you?”
“Like we’d just sit back and let you destroy everything!” Sonic snarled before charging at the mech, Rue following after, teeth bared, quills spiked up, and hackles raised.
So a fierce battle begins. The mech shoots lasers at the group, keeping Tails and the twins at a distance as they dodge out of the way. Sonic grabs onto the machine’s tail and climbs, while Rue grabs onto its arm, inadvertently redirecting lasers away from the others. The two tear into its metal shell with their claws as it attempts to shake them off, but they hold on tight.
Sonic reaches for the Emeralds. He needs to get them out. He feels the energy on his paw, and it burns.
The mech snatches him away from the gems with an iron grip and pulls him off, lifting him close to the cockpit.
“Ah-ah-ah! What do you think you’re doing, beast?” Nox says as he pilots the Egg Dragoon to slam Rue down on the ground, getting them off.
“Rrgh…” Sonic struggled against the metal hand’s grip.
“Goodness, this form is hardly the appearance of a hero. You look horrendous.”
“And whose fault is that, huh?”
“Yours. None but yours,” Nox sneered, “This is what is within your heart, Sonic. A snarling monster with a thirst for violence. Just like that dog.”
“Liar!” Sonic hears Phantom scream as he and Specter run towards the mech. They leap towards it, scythes drawn, and with a swift slash cut through the arm’s joint. The arm comes off, dropping Sonic back onto the rocky ground. It falls next to him with a loud clang.
“You know nothing about people’s hearts, Nox,” Specter said, holding her scythe in front of her defensively, “And you have no right to speak on the hearts of others when your soul is as rotten as they get!”
“Tch- as if children like you would understand. Dark Gaia's judgment has already been cast, and this world is set to burn and crumble into nothing but ash.” Nox raises the mech’s remaining arm, charging another attack. “Or do you dare go against a god?”
Tails swoops in and knocks the arm downward with his namesakes, directing the shot away from the others and onto the edge of the cliff overlooking the magma-filled chasm. Rue takes the opportunity to grab the arm and swing the Egg Dragoon over themself with as much strength as they could muster, slamming it down. The ground shakes upon impact.
Now's his chance. Sonic rushes towards the fallen mech. He leaps, fist raised, before slamming down at its chest, leaving a large crater on the metal. He hears Nox curse as alarms start blaring inside the cockpit, the glass cracking and breaking.
He ignores the Chaos Energy burning his paws, grabs the gems, and forcefully rips them out.
As he hurries back towards the rest of the group, the earth begins to tremble once more, and the dark god in the distance lets out a deafening roar. The area begins to cave in.
Dark Gaia took shape. Though unstable, its form was now clear, and it was slowly coming closer.
Summary: Exploring a base in Permafrost Plains, Sonic learns more about his new beastly acquaintance.
Warnings: Minor body horror, mentions of death, blood and violence.
Word Count: 3,041 words
-
The Tornado flew high in the cold night sky above Permafrost Plains, a Zone near Holoska. Snow fell upon the land and frigid wind chilled everyone in the group to the bone. Everyone shivered, save for Sonic, who was very used to traversing places like this. Not only that, but the fur of his beastly form had proven to be very warm.
Sonic would have been able to enjoy the ride more if it weren't for Specter and Phantom clinging so close to him to keep warm. Though, he couldn't exactly blame them. They came ill prepared for the weather, and though they're quite fuzzy themselves, it's likely they've never been to someplace as cold as this.
Surprisingly, out of all the others, Rue seemed to be suffering from the cold the most, despite them not only having a dense fur coat but a long cloak that covered most of their body. They were the most prepared out of all of them, and yet they were shaking like a leaf.
Sonic looks down at Rue from his spot on the Tornado's wings. “You good? You're, uh… You're shaking a lot.”
Rue huffed and grumbled, their breath turning to mist in the cold air.
“... I'll take that as a no.”
Tails points at something down below, what looks like a lone building in the endless expanse of snow and ice. A bunker, perhaps. “T-there it is!” he cried, shivering, “That’s the base! The Emeralds should be in there!”
“Alright! Let’s hurry up and find a place to land.”
Soon, the plane descended. The landing was rough and bumpy due to the snow and ice, nearly knocking Sonic and the twins off of the wings, but Sonic held onto them, and eventually the plane stopped relatively safely.
The group unboarded, and the twins left Sonic’s side to huddle close to Rue, seeking shelter under her cloak. Tails did much the same with Sonic, keeping close as the group moved on and entered the base.
Though it was much warmer inside, it was dark and dusty, hard to make out what was up ahead. The atmosphere was heavy, a weight in the air that presses down on them all, especially Sonic. Energy stirred throughout, buzzing in Sonic’s ears and making his fur stand up. It felt hard to breathe, but he continued onward.
The group takes a lift down and slowly descends into the main base. The descent is quiet.
Once off the lift, Rue sniffs the air, before walking on ahead and leaving the others behind.
“Hey, I don’t think we should split up,” Tails said as he saw Rue walk off.
Rue glared at him and Sonic. “None of you should even be here. This was never your fight. It’s mine.”
“You wouldn’t be here at all without our help,” Sonic retorted, “Why are you still–”
She growled back at him. There was something odd about her gaze, a strange magenta glow deep within her pupils shining brighter than it’s ever been. Sonic went quiet. She continues walking.
“We’re not leaving you alone,” Specter speaks up, leading them to stop once more, “You shouldn’t have to face this by yourself.”
Phantom nods in agreement. “You’re not well, Rue. You need help.”
Rue huffs. “I don’t need help. I don’t need you getting in the way…” they grumbled, then, in a softer tone, “... Don’t need you getting hurt…”
They shake their head, before continuing onward, walking off and leaving the view of the others.
The twins try to follow after them, but Sonic stops the two. “Let ‘em go,” he says, “We’ll catch up eventually, but we gotta worry about finding the Chaos Emeralds first.”
He then turns to Tails, who was holding his Miles Electric and looking at the map on its screen. “You’ve got our map, so lead the way.”
Tails nods. “Right! Follow me!” He hurries on ahead, tails wagging as he leads the others down the dark halls of the base.
-
The group walked on for what felt like hours, passing by rooms upon rooms filled with machines glowing in eerie purple hues. The energy extractors Sonic had seen the day this adventure started, back in that not-so-abandoned base. They whirred and buzzed, the noise sending a shiver down his spine.
“Are you guys sure this is the right way?” Phantom questioned.
“Yeah, we’ve been walking for, like, forever now, and still haven’t found anything,” Specter said.
“I can’t see an exact location with this, just the general area where Chaos Energy spikes,” Tails replied, “But we’re getting close, I know it.”
Sonic stretched. He was getting sick of walking. If only he could just run ahead… but this place was cramped, unlike the base he’d run through before, and he didn’t want to leave the others behind like Rue did. What if they got ambushed by Badniks and got hurt? What if Nox did what he’d done to him? Injected them with Dark Gaia Energy and turned them into beasts? What if they didn’t survive? Tails did say the amount of energy inside him right now would be lethal to the average person when he ran those tests…
Sonic shook his head. He didn’t want to think about that. Not now. It didn’t do him any good to worry about what ifs. Besides, that just wasn't like him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spots an open room. Unlike the others, which were lit up by the energy extractors within, this one was completely dark. He goes inside, leading the others to follow.
He searches the walls with his paw. “There’s gotta be a light switch or somethin’ around here…” he mumbled.
“You can’t see in the dark?” Specter asked, tilting her head slightly. Was she genuinely confused by that?
“I mean, yeah? Kind of? Not that well, to be honest.” He continued searching, until… “Aha! There–!”
The lights come on like a flashbang, leaving Sonic instantly blinded. Though it didn’t seem like the others were at all bothered, he stood there like a deer in headlights while his eyes adjusted.
He shook it off, rubbed his eyes and looked around the room, ignoring the others’ slightly worried, mostly confused and maybe a bit amused looks. There was a computer with multiple large monitors against the back wall, a rolling chair in front of it, papers and books of all kinds strewn about. Many storage cabinets lined the walls, with even more books and files stored inside, as well as vials and jars and other such containers with Dark Gaia Energy inside.
Tails picked up a book off the ground, along with some papers. “This is… This is Professor Pickle’s research. And a bunch of notes on the properties of Dark and Light Gaia energy.”
While Tails looked at the other books and notes scattered around the room, Specter, Phantom, and Sonic looked over the computer.
Specter looks at Tails as he continues to sift through the collection of books around the room. “Hey, um, Tails? Think you can turn this on? We… wanna see something.”
Sonic quirked an eyebrow.
“On it!” Tails left the books behind and hurried over to the computer, plugging in his Miles Electric into it before pressing a button on its giant keyboard. As it boots up, Tails types something into his handheld, and gets past the lock screen without having to input a password. Sonic wasn’t exactly sure what he did, but it was impressive nonetheless.
“What’re you guys looking for?” Sonic asked the twins as the group looked over the computer’s home screen. A blank wallpaper, multiple programs he couldn't recognize, and a series of folders. “Modified Badnik Plans,” “Gaia Manuscripts,” “Gaia Manuscripts Translation,” “Dark Gaia Energy Properties,” “Light Gaia Energy Properties,” and…
One of them caught Sonic’s eye. “Subject Profiles.”
Phantom stared that folder down. “I think that’s it.”
“Rue’s told us about what Nox did to them, about how he turned them into… that,” Specter explained, “But they never gave us all the details.”
“We’ve known them for a while, but they never opened up about it,” Phantom continued, “We could tell there was more to it, and it weighed heavily on their soul. So… we wanna know everything. So we can help her.”
“Right…” That made sense to Sonic. Rue never gave him any details when they first met either. Not like he expected her to- they were totally strangers at that time. They still kind of are, if he’s honest. They haven’t had much time to really talk, and Rue was… reserved, to put it lightly.
It felt weird, finding this while she’s not in the room. Invasive, even. But this could give some more insight into Nox’s plans, and tell them a bit more as to why Rue is like this, even give them some idea on how they could all help, so he took the mouse and guided the cursor to that folder.
A double-click, and the folder opens up, revealing a list of names extending past the end of the screen. He scrolled down. Sonic didn’t count exactly how many, but there had to be at least 30 or so names in that list.
A name calls to him. “Rubí Rosario.” He opens the file.
There is an image of a young canine mobian. They have long light blue and white fur, and wear a pink dress, with a red flower hairpin.
They look just like the child in that nightmare.
They are smiling.
He reads further.
“Subject name: Rubí Rosario
Age: 10
Sex: Female
Species: Mobian (Wolf/Husky Hybrid)
Subject was administered 10 mL of liquid concentrated Dark Gaia Energy through injection. Subject suffered physical mutations far beyond anything recorded thus far, gained exponential muscle mass and experienced rapid fur and nail growth, as well as sudden growth of teeth, particularly canines. Subject showed signs of severe confusion, heightened aggression, and an inability to speak. Subject attacked, and I was forced to defend myself.
Subject escaped before further examination could be performed, with severe injuries to lower back. Whereabouts currently unknown. Presumed dead.
Addendum: Subject has been found. Or, rather, she has found me. This makes her the only one to survive thus far. Unable to recapture for further examination.”
Below are images from what looks to be security footage. Snippets of the young pup transforming, turning into a large beast with dark fur and claws. Blue and fur became midnight, markings glowing on their body. Like that of a Dark Gaia Beast.
“That’s… that’s her,” Specter muttered, a hand over her mouth.
Everyone stared at the file. The air grew cold and heavy around them.
Sonic closed the file, leaving the screen back on the list of names. He realized the two files before it shared the same last name as Rubí's. “Esmeralda Rosario” and “Alejandro Rosario.”
He clicked on Esmeralda’s file. There was a picture of a tall canine mobian with curled minty green and gray fur, wearing a white and red dress. She was accompanied by the pup from earlier, as well as a husky with dark blue and white fur.
“Subject name: Esmeralda Rosario
Age: 36
Sex: Female
Species: Mobian (Wolf)
Subject was administered 10 mL of liquid concentrated Dark Gaia Energy through injection. Subject became confused and experienced minor mutations, including slight fur growth, a minor increase in muscle mass, and minor bone fractures throughout her body.
Dose proved lethal. Subject died of cardiac arrest minutes after administration of Dark Gaia Energy.”
Sonic felt anger bubbling inside of him. He closed that file without looking at the images below, and moved on to Alejandro’s. The same picture from before appeared on the screen again.
“Name: Alejandro Rosario
Age: 34
Sex: Male
Species: Mobian (Husky)
Subject was administered 5 mL of liquid concentrated Dark Gaia Energy through injection. Subject suffered no visible mutations, but became violent, showed signs of confusion, and had difficulty speaking. Subject attempted to attack me before I left the room, then began to harm himself via scratching and biting.
Dose proved lethal. Subject died of cardiac arrest hours after administration of Dark Gaia Energy.”
Sonic closed that file, then closed the whole list. He didn’t want to read any more. He couldn’t. His blood boiled.
“Those… were Rue’s parents, weren’t they?” Tails uttered.
Phantom continued to stare at the screen. “So they weren’t the only one. He used their family, too. And many others.”
Specter gripped her own arm tightly, gritting her teeth. “He killed them… and he wrote about it like it was nothing. Sick bastard.”
Sonic took a deep breath and walked away from the monitors. He wanted to find out more about Nox’s plans specifically, but, frankly, he didn’t care how or why he was going to destroy the world. He’s hurt enough people as it is, and he’s going to stop him before he can hurt any more. He promised Rue, and he’s going to keep that promise.
He takes another deep breath to collect himself, then sighs. Purple smoke slips through his teeth. “Come on. The Chaos Emeralds aren’t here, so let’s keep–”
A loud roar shakes the base’s walls, reverberating from deeper down the hallway. There’s a bang, then a thud, then the sound of rapid footsteps hurrying down the hall.
Sonic and the others exit the room to see Nox running as fast as he could, past the group and towards the lift. He carried the white Chaos Emerald in one of his many hands, but no others.
There’s another bang as something big crashes into the wall. A dark figure charges after Nox on all fours, snarling wildly. The magenta eyes of a Nightmare pierce the darkness, wide and unfocused and filled with nothing but rage. Specter and Phantom stare at the beast in horror as it runs past them, purple smoke spewing out of its mouth.
It’s Rue. The beast rampaging down the hall was Rue.
Sonic immediately gives chase. He sees Nox hold onto a small Spinner as it carries him up the shaft faster than the lift could have. Rue viciously climbs the wall of the shaft with their bare claws, keeping pace with him as they chase him down.
Sonic climbs after them as best he could as the others follow below on the lift. He reaches the top of the shaft soon after Nox and Rue, and sees them run out the door, into the snow outside. He hurries after them.
“Stay away from me, you foul beast!” Nox yells.
Rue roars, slashing at him as he’s carried off into the air by the small Badnik. She barely manages to scratch his arm, making him drop the white, glimmering gem in the snow. He winces in pain, red blood dripping from his wound.
“You really are nothing but a monster, Rubí, and no amount of playing hero will make that untrue. Your heart is blackened by a thirst for violence, I can see it in your eyes.”
Rue roars at him once more as he begins to fly off.
“You cannot stop me, not even with the help of your friends,” he taunted, “You all, along with this dirty world will come to an end, just as it should have years ago.”
Rue tried to give chase once more, but Sonic tackled them to the ground. Their tail, now much longer with a blade-like tip, thrashed about as they pushed him off and pinned him down on the cold snow. They snarled, baring their teeth. Strange markings glow across their midnight fur, on their arms and paws and around their face, false eyes staring at him from nearly every angle. They held him down, their paws pinning his arms and keeping him from fighting back.
“Rue! What are you doing! Snap out of it!” Sonic cried.
Rue could only growl in response.
She raised a paw, brandishing claws glowing cyan as she prepared to strike. There, Sonic took the opening to push her off of him, getting back onto his feet and building distance between them.
But it’s not enough to keep her away. She charges, biting down on his arm with a force he’d never imagined possible from a living being. Her teeth pierce his skin, tear his flesh. There’s a sickening crunch, and green blood spills, staining the snow under them.
Sonic’s mind starts to fog.
NO! Focus! She needs help! You can’t lose it now! You can’t!
He punches them straight in the gut with as much strength as he could muster in that moment, causing them to release his arm and stumble back. Green blood dripped from their mouth as they continued to snarl at him.
Now’s his chance to stop this.
“Rubí! Listen to me!”
They froze as their real name left Sonic’s mouth.
He charged towards them, and wrapped his arms around their shoulders, knocking them back onto the snow. He hugged them tight as they both lay on the ground. Time seems to stop moving at that moment.
“Easy. It’s over. You’ve already chased him off. We’ll catch up to him when we can,” he spoke into their ear in as soft and gentle of a tone as he could, “I promised you, didn’t I? I promised that we’d stop him before he could hurt anyone else. And we will. But we can’t do that if you’re like this.”
He heard footsteps in the snow. Tails, Specter, and Phantom calling their names. But they seemed distant, muffled by the pounding of his own heart, and Rue’s.
“I know you don’t really want to hurt me. You’re just angry. You’re lashing out because you couldn’t catch him.” He looked up at their face, and they stared back with an unreadable expression. “You let him get to your head. That’s okay. But let’s take a breather and figure out where to go from here, ‘kay?”
They whimper and whine, returning his embrace as their fur slowly turns back to its usual dark teal. He feels their tears, warm and wet, falling onto his skin, and they begin to sob into his shoulder.
He closed his eyes, ignoring the searing pain of his wounded arm, and just let them cry for as long as they needed.
Summary: The group sets off to get the fourth Chaos Emerald. Meanwhile, Sonic's condition begins to worsen.
Warnings: None.
Word Count: 2,925 words
-
The sun had set and the moon had risen, the sky now clear and dark, dotted with twinkling stars. A crescent moon, thin and almost new, shone above the desert as a cold wind blew through the sandy dunes. After a snack and a discussion of plans for tomorrow, the group prepared to set off to Empire City first thing in the morning.
Now, everyone was asleep under the Tornado. Everyone except Rue, who sat right by the plane, looking up at the starry sky, and Sonic, who kept still and quiet while lying next to Tails and the twins so as to not wake them up.
Sonic was exhausted, yet he couldn't get himself to fall asleep, his mind still riddled with thoughts, images of what he'd seen, of Rue's nightmare.
What could they have possibly been afraid of that the ghosts exploited? Nox? It's fair to be scared of someone like him, he supposed. But what of those children? Who were they? And why would Rue kill them like that over and over? It all confused and unsettled him, the image of those faceless corpses in a pool of green blood burned into his mind.
And why did he transform when he did? When they came out of the Spirit Realm, the sun was just beginning to set, but he’d transformed much earlier than that. Was it the stress? It couldn’t have been that, could it? That’s not how that works! … Right?
He huffed and closed his eyes, trying to cast those thoughts away and finally get the sleep he needs.
Sonic feels himself begin to drift off, the exhaustion finally dragging him down to the darkness of unconsciousness. Sand Ocean Zone was quiet…
… Until it stopped being quiet, and some unbearable whirring and buzzing appeared out of nowhere.
Sonic sat up, carefully, so as to not wake up any of the others, and looked around for the source of that infernal noise. Turns out, he wasn't the only one who heard it, because Rue was searching for it, too.
He got up and walked up to them. “You hear that too, right?” he whispered.
“Of course I do,” they whispered back, “It's one of his robots. I know it is.”
“And you'd be right, old friend,” an all too familiar voice speaks from behind the two. They snap around to see Nox himself, albeit in the form of a hologram projected by a small bronze Spinner, an eerie smile on his face and his hands held behind his back.
Rue snarls at him, hackles raised and teeth bared.
“What do you want, you creep?” Sonic growls, glaring at him.
“My, what an unfriendly reception. I'm hurt!” he said in a mocking tone, “I just came to have a little chat, is all”
Sonic quickly glances at Rue, who growled and snarled at the man like a wild animal. There was nothing in her glowing red eyes but burning rage as she stared Nox down. She trembled, claws digging into the ground. She was holding back from attacking, he could tell.
“Yeah, no, my friend here is just about to blow a gasket just from looking at you. And, frankly, I’m not in the mood to talk, either. So leave us alone.”
“Tch. Someone ought to teach you freaks some manners…” Nox grumbled, “Very well, then. But I will leave you all with a warning.”
The spider brandishes three Chaos Emeralds, one cyan, one purple, and one white, leaving the yellow still out there somewhere. “You may have acquired three out of seven Emeralds, but that will not be enough to stop my plans. I have just enough power to set things in motion, and once the new moon comes, the end of this world will be just within my reach. You won’t be able to stop it, not like you did last time, hedgehog.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Sonic reaches out with a large paw, grabs the Spinner mid-air and crushes it. The hologram fizzles out. Dark Gaia Energy oozes out of the mangled robot, dripping from his paw onto the white sand of the desert.
Rue jolts, coming out of that feral daze. She is now silent, staring at where the image of Nox used to be. Purple smoke slips out from between her lips.
“Hey,” Sonic speaks to Rue in an even, calm tone, “Don't listen to him. He just wants to get under our skin. We'll get the one Emerald he hasn't found yet, then we take back all the others. I won't let him destroy the world, and I sure as hell won't let him hurt you or anyone else. I promise.”
Rue didn't seem too moved by his words, barely even reacting with the twitch of an ear. It was hard to tell if they were even listening.
“Look, I know today's been… a lot, but try to get some sleep, yeah? You look like you need it. Like, really, really need it.”
Rue huffs, lying down on their belly and pulling their cloak over themself like a blanket. Maybe they were listening after all.
“I, uh, I can also stay n’ keep you company, if you want–”
“Go away.”
“Alright, cool. Goodnight.”
And with that, he hurried back to his spot right next to Tails, settled back down, and attempted to fall asleep once again, eventually managing to drift off.
-
Morning soon came, driving away the cold of the desert night, changing Sonic back to normal. And with the sunrise, the group got ready to set off to Empire City–
“I'm not flying on that thing.”
– Except Rue was staunchly refusing to get on the Tornado.
“Rue, please, we cannot do this right now,” Specter grumbled.
“You could sit in the passenger seat,” Tails offered, “It might be a bit of a tight squeeze, but at least you won't have to fly on the wing.”
“And let the twins put themselves in danger?” Rue retorted.
“Look, I've been flying on the Tornado's wings for years, and I can assure you it is perfectly safe,” Sonic replied.
Rue crossed their arms. “Your idea of ‘safe’ is incredibly skewed.”
“I'm with Rue on this.” Phantom also crossed his arms, mimicking Rue. “You're probably the only person on Mobius who'd think that's safe.”
He wasn't exactly wrong, but how else was everyone supposed to get to Empire City before Nox got there?
“Oh, so the big bad wolfdog is scared of heights now?” Specter smirked.
Sonic quirked an eyebrow. Now, where could this be heading?
Rue glared at her. “Pardon?”
“I know what this is really about, Rue. You're scaaaared. Ya big scaredy-cat.”
“I-I'm not!” they stammered, flustered, “I'm worried about you, idiot!”
“Yeah, sure, maybe you are, but you're mostly just scared ‘cuz you've never been on a plane before, right?”
Rue growls.
Phantom looks at his sister. “I don't think now’s the time for teasing, Specter–”
“Shush. We're getting somewhere here,” Specter interrupted, “I can see it written aaaaall over you, Rue, down to your very soul. You can't hide that from me.”
Rue takes a sharp breath, rubbing the bridge of their nose. Sonic can hear them mumble something under their breath. “Tragame tierra, Dios mío…” he thinks he hears them say.
Huh, didn’t think they could speak Spanish. Neat, Sonic thought.
“Rrgh… Fine! I'll do it,” Rue finally conceded, “Just… stop pestering me already.”
“Yay!” Specter exclaimed, “C'mon, let's hurry up and go, then! Ohh, this is gonna be so fun!”
Specter hurried off to get on the plane, with Rue reluctantly trailing behind. Phantom sighs and follows them as well.
Sonic couldn't help but chuckle at that whole interaction. “Can't believe that actually worked,” he said.
After helping Specter and Phantom up to the wings, and giving a few extra words of encouragement to Rue who still hesitated to get on the plane, Sonic and Tails boarded the Tornado and set off into the skies towards Empire City.
By noon, Sonic and the other's had landed in the outskirts of the sprawling metropolis. According to Tails’ readings, the Emerald should be in a plaza near the center.
“Weird place for a Special Zone to open up,” Sonic commented, looking down at the map on the Miles Electric as he and Tails waited for the others to unboard the plane.
“I believe the city closed that area off to avoid any civilians falling in,” Tails explained, “Would be pretty bad if anyone who didn't know what it was got stuck in there.”
Sonic smirked. “Good thing the pros are here to take care of it!”
Specter and Phantom hop off from the planes’ wings. Meanwhile, Rue nearly falls on her face trying to get out of the passenger seat, but she shakes it off as if nothing happened.
Specter bounces with every step as everyone starts walking into the city. “That was fun!”
Phantom patted the fur of his frazzled tail down. “And scary.”
“Fun AND scary!”
Sonic chuckled. “Glad you guys enjoyed it!” Even if it was mostly just Specter… “You guys'll get another ride once we can get you back home, hope you're excited for that one, too!”
“Yay!”
“Hooray…”
As they got closer to the towering buildings, Sonic noticed Rue pull the hood of their cloak over their head, partially obscuring their face in shadow. They held the cloak close with their paws, covering most of their body as well.
“You. Hedgehog.” Rue approached him. He noticed their paws trembling slightly.
“It's Sonic.”
“Right, Sonic. There's… going to be a lot of people there, yes?”
“I mean, probably, yeah. It's a city. Kinda par for the course in places like these.”
“Mm.” He could see their expression drop under the shadows of their cloak.
He patted them on the shoulder- or, well, as close to the shoulder as he could get, which was only a little over their elbow. “If you’re worried about people looking at you funny, then don’t. The people of this city have seen their fair share of weird things. I know nobody will bat an eye at you, so just relax, okay?”
Rue stared at him for a moment. Her gaze drifts to his hand on their arm.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Ack-! Sorry!” He quickly retracted his hand.
So they continued, crossing the city streets and rushing past people, cars, and skyscrapers of all shapes and sizes. The sun shone high as they all eventually reached an empty plaza, the area surrounded by yellow tape and barricades. The Warp Ring floated in the middle, glimmering in the sun.
“Oh, good! Looks like Nox hasn’t gotten this one yet,” Sonic said, relieved.
“He is… secretive. Keeps his operations as hidden as possible,” Rue explained, “Sending his robots to a populated area like this would cause too much chaos.”
Makes sense why he's never heard of the guy before, then.
They all jump over the barricades and carefully approach the ring.
“Alright, I'll jump in and grab it real quick so when can get outta here–”
A laser bullet shoots right past Sonic, missing him by a quill. He takes a step back, looking at the charred and smoldering spot on the ground before turning in the direction of the laser's source.
A Buzz Bomber flew out of a tree, charging another shot. More flew out of the bushes and trees that lined the plaza, and soon they had the group surrounded. Rue's eyes widened in shock.
“So much for being secretive, huh?” Sonic revved up a spin-dash, launching himself at the Badniks at full force, breaking his target on impact and speeding towards another, then another, then another.
“He’s never done something like this! Why now?!” Rue stretched out an arm, grabbed a Badnik that was just about to shoot at her, and slammed it right into another, crushing both.
Tails slammed one down into the brick floor below him, breaking it. “That doesn’t matter right now! Sonic! Go grab that Emerald before any of the Badniks can get in!”
“On it!”
The twins slashed away at some Buzz Bombers that had gotten close to the Warp Ring, cutting them into pieces and giving Sonic an opening to jump in.
He falls into a void of light, and the portal closes behind him.
-
Sonic finds himself in a dreamlike cityscape. Strange buildings reach into the skies beyond what is possible to build. Roads twist and turn into loop de loops and corkscrews and highways that lead to nowhere.
As soon as Sonic’s feet landed on the ground, he sped off, collecting rings as he usually does. But something felt off.
That feeling of claws beneath his skin tearing at his insides had returned at full force. He felt sick, his stomach churned, but he couldn't let it stop him. He needed to get that Emerald, and quick. He didn't want to leave his friends fighting off those Badniks on their own for too long.
It's not like he doesn't think they're capable, Tails has been his right-hand fox for years, and the twins and Rue have proven themselves more than able to put up a good fight. No, he just doesn't want to miss too much of the fun!
If only he wasn't in pain right now.
In the distance, he sees it- the light of the yellow Chaos Emerald. Like a star, it shines brightly. Just within reach now.
Sonic reaches out. He feels his claws start to rip through his gloves.
He looks at his reflection.
The eyes of a Nightmare stare back.
He grabs ahold of the Emerald. It burns the skin under his glove.
And in the blink of an eye, he was back at the plaza. He fell onto the floor with a heavy thud. The Emerald fell out of his hands and clinked all the way to Tails’ feet.
Tails picked the Emerald up before looking at Sonic with a worried expression. “Are you alright? You don't look too good…”
Sonic tries to push himself up, but his body shakes uncontrollably. “D-don't… Don't worry about me, I'm fi–”
He breaks out into a coughing fit, thick purple smoke coming out with each cough. His body begins to change, transforming him into the beast again.
Why now? Why now? Why now?!
When he came back to his senses, Sonic realized Specter, Phantom, and Tails were kneeling down around him. Tails reaches out a hand to help him back up. He takes it, and Tails pulls him up with the twins holding him by the sides and keeping him steady. Everything hurts, and his friends’ touch burned against his skin, but he appreciated their help nonetheless.
Rue huffed. “Let’s leave before too many people notice…”
He couldn’t argue with that. So the group made their way to the outskirts of the city and back to the Tornado as fast as possible. Thankfully, there wasn’t as much of a crowd in the way now.
Once he got there, Sonic’s legs gave out,and he fell onto the grass right next to the plane. His legs hurt, as if something stabbed into his joints.
Tails squeezed his paw tight. “You’re getting worse…” he said, ears drooping.
“I know…” He wanted so badly to assure him that he was fine, but he couldn’t bring himself to. He just squeezes Tails’ hand back. “I know.”
Rue glanced at him from the corner of their eye. They stood further away, as if to keep their distance. As if they didn’t want to look at him head on.
“He’s sick. Just as I am,” they said in a strangely somber tone, “And he’ll only continue to get worse until he’s no longer himself. Until all that’s left is the monster.”
Tails looked up at Rue, brows furrowed. “But there’s gotta be a way to fix this! I don’t know, some way to get the energy out, or–”
“There isn’t,” Rue growled bitterly.
“But… there’s gotta…”
Sonic sighed, pulling Tails closer and looking him in the eye. “I get you’re worried about me, but we’ve got more important things to focus on right now.” He placed a paw on Tails’ little shoulder. “Besides, we talked about this before, didn’t we? We’ll figure it out eventually. I’ll get better.”
“And what if you don’t?” Tails’ eyes began to water at the thought.
“I’ll just have to learn how to live with it, then. No biggie.” He patted Tails’ shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.
Sonic noticed Rue’s eyes widen slightly at his response.
Meanwhile, Tails smiled back, but Sonic knew that unsure smile all too well. Sonic’s condition is uncertain now, and they both knew that. All they could do was hope for the best.
“Um, so…” Specter spoke up, “What’s the plan now?”
“Nox has the last three Chaos Emeralds. We figure out where he is, which should be easy enough if we just track the Emeralds like we’ve been doing so far, and we take them back before he can do anything drastic. Tails?”
“Already on it,” Tails said as he typed away at his Miles Electric, “Looks like there’s some really high Chaos Energy signatures near Holoska. There should be an old Eggman base around there. That’s probably where he’s hiding.”
“We leave tonight then,” Rue states decisively, “We cannot waste any more time. Nox needs to be stopped now.”
Sonic couldn’t agree more. So, as the sun began to set, they all boarded the Tornado and set off towards the snowy tundras of the far north.
Summary: Trapped in a ghostly realm, Sonic and the others must find a way out while facing the spirits that dragged them in.
Warnings: Drowning, swearing, violence, blood, unsettling imagery, body horror, vomiting.
Word Count: 2,966 words
-
Sonic feels himself fall into a dark, freezing void. Everyone’s voices cry out for him, but they grow more and more distant as he falls further and further down. Slowly, his ears are filled with the sound of eerie, childlike laughter. It’s impossibly dark, he can barely see his own hands in front of him.
Then there was a loud splash, and the laughter became garbled and muffled.
Water. He’s in water.
His heart starts to race. He can’t breathe.
He tries to swim, kicking and flailing his arms and legs uselessly, but he just continues to sink further. The weight of the ocean above him slowly crushes him. He can’t breathe.
No, no, no, no, no… Panic sets in, his thoughts becoming static as he sinks ever further, down into an endless abyss. Water forces itself into his lungs, claws wrapping around his insides. He can’t move. He can’t breathe.
No, this can’t be it, this can’t be how it ends, he can’t die here, he can’t drown, not now, not now, not now.
He has to get out, he has to, he has to–
“Sonic!” Two voices, distorted by the water surrounding him, call out his name. He looks around, but there is nothing. Nothing but the void.
A warm hand grabs ahold of his own, pulls him down further.
“This isn’t real!” one of them cries.
“Breathe, Sonic! Or you’ll suffocate yourself!” the other urges him.
He shakes his head. He can’t. He can’t breathe. His lungs are full of freezing water, he can feel it. The cold is stabbing at his skin and his insides like thousands of needles. He can’t breathe. Everything hurts.
“Sonic, you need to trust us! Breathe!”
The hand pulls him into the warm embrace of two people. They hold him tight. He could feel the warmth in his very soul, like something reaching out to it, calming him.
“Breathe…” he hears one whisper in his ear, her voice loud and clear.
He gasped. Air finally reaches his lungs. The weight of the water around him completely vanishes. It’s no longer cold- or, well, no longer as cold.
Sonic opens his eyes. He hadn’t realized he’d closed them.
“There we go,” Specter spoke with a slight smile, gently patting his shoulder.
Sonic looked around, first at the strange and distorted landscape, then at the twins sitting right across him, holding what looked like scythes made out of pure energy, and then down at his… paws.
Large, furry blue paws.
Had he transformed just now without realizing? Did the sun set while he was in there- wherever there was? No, that couldn’t be, it hasn’t been that long, has it?
“How do you feel?” Phantom asked.
He opened his mouth to respond, but instead, he began to cough, puffs of purple smoke coming out of his snout. The twins watched with worry, patting and rubbing his back.
And as quickly as it came, his coughing fit subsided.
“I… I’m alright, I think…” he answered once he could breathe again, though his entire body felt like it wanted to tear itself apart. He looks over his beastly form, then at his surroundings. “... Where the hell are we?”
“Spirit realm,” Phantom replied, “Evil spirits dragged all of us in with you after you went into the ring.”
“Wait, everyone? Where’s Tails and Rue, then?” Sonic pushed himself back onto his feet, looking around for them.
“I’m… not sure,” Specter gripped her scythe tighter, “I can sense their souls, so they should be somewhere around here, but- ah! Sonic, wait!”
Sonic walked forwards, looking back at Specter as she called out to him. “We’ve gotta go find ‘em. Come on.”
The two couldn’t help but follow after him, and they all walked deeper into the Spirit Realm.
-
The ground constantly shifts in odd, almost pearlescent hues, swirling like liquid under the trio’s feet, yet it was completely solid. There were no walls to be seen, but Sonic could feel them around them, invisible, yet confining them to a twisting and seemingly never ending path. It was hard to tell whether they had made any progress traversing the Spirit Realm or not.
Sonic wondered, was this a Special Zone? It felt just like one, the way it seemed to almost reject his very presence in this form and made him feel ill. Maybe this “spirit realm” is just a Special Zone the ghosts had hijacked somehow, he thought. The Emeralds give their power to anyone as long as they can handle it, after all.
His musings are interrupted by a strange sound. Is that… buzzing? And that crazed laughter again?
He looks back at the twins behind him, and is met with them fighting off a swarm of large insects. Specter is practically in tears, whimpering as she slashes away with reckless abandon, and from the edges of his vision, he can see pale white figures with unhinged smiles, laughing at her misery.
“Don’t look at them don’t look at them don’t look at them don’t– eeeAAAH!” A bug nearly flies in her face, but Phantom manages to cut it down just in time. The swarm is quickly dispatched, both the bugs and ghosts disappearing into nothing, but Specter is still left a trembling, crying mess.
“We need to keep moving,” Phantom says as he grabs his twin’s hand and pulls her along, walking past Sonic.
“What even was that?” Sonic asked, before looking down and realizing the floor was suddenly flooded with freezing cold water that was slowly but surely rising. His quills spike up and he hurries after the twins.
His footsteps feel sluggish, like he’s wading through a swamp. His chest tightened. The water is at his legs now, he could feel it.
“It’s not real,” Phantom looks back at Sonic with a stern look on his face, “It’s all an illusion. The ghosts are using your fear to slow you down and make you vulnerable so that they can steal your soul. Don’t let them.”
Easier said than done, he thought, but he shook his head, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. Balling up his paws into fists, he continued to walk forward.
The cold weight of the water disappeared just as quickly as it appeared, and he caught up to the twins without issue.
Sonic opened his eyes once more and looked around, avoiding looking at the ground at all costs. “This is bad. How are we gonna find the others with all these ghosts hauntin’ us?”
“I can sense Tails’ soul. He’s nearby. Can’t pinpoint where exactly, though.” Phantom thumped his tail on the ground, frustrated.
“M-maybe you can, I dunno, sniff him out?” Specter suggested.
What was he, a dog?
“I mean, you’re kinda like Rue, right?” she elaborated, “You should have a better sense of smell than us. Maybe you could, like, smell him or something.”
Well, he didn’t have any better ideas…
Sonic began to sniff the air, focusing on whatever scent his nose could pick up. There wasn’t much, at least, not much he could identify, but eventually, he caught something familiar.
The smell of mint.
He rushed forward, following the minty smell as best he could, the twins running close behind. And, eventually–
“Oof-!” Sonic runs straight into an invisible wall.
He places a paw on the wall, and reality itself seems to ripple under it. Though, strangely, it felt completely solid, like glass. He sniffs the wall a bit, catching even more of that familiar scent.
“I think he’s through here!” he says confidently, “How’re we gonna get past this, though?”
“Hm… Stand back, I think I know what to do,” Specter, now having wiped her tears away and finally collected herself, gestured for Sonic to move. He takes a few steps back.
She pulls back her scythe, and with one mighty swing, leaves a large gash into the fabric of reality itself. Dark clouds spill out of the new opening, sparking with electricity.
“There he is! Tails!” Sonic called out before pushing his way through the opening. He can see his little brother just up ahead, on the floor, trembling like a leaf as rain falls and thunder crashes in the distance. Ghosts surround him, whispering things he can’t quite make out despite his more sensitive hearing.
Thunder crashes once more. A ghost’s claw reaches for Tails’ back.
“DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!”
Sonic quickly grabbed Tails, held him close in his arms and shielded him from the storm and the ghosts. Like a wild beast, he snarled at them, violet mist slowly slipping through his bared teeth. His mind began to fog.
No, he can’t lose it now, not like he did last night. He needed to focus. Focus. Focus.
Lightning flashes. Tails covers his ears and closes his eyes shut, shaking in Sonic’s arms.
Specter and Phantom swoop in, slashing away at the ghosts, cutting them into pieces as Sonic protected Tails. The ghosts shriek and scream as they are cut down two by two, until there are none visible and the storm begins to clear.
Sonic looks down at Tails, who looks back up at him with sad, tired eyes.
“You okay, buddy?”
Tails nods, sniffling. “Y-yeah… yeah, I’m okay.”
“Poor kid looks drained,” Specter commented.
Phantom scowled. “They almost took his soul. If we were even another second late, he might’ve been a goner.”
“Good thing we got here just in time, then.” Sonic walked out from the rift Specter had opened, still carrying Tails, running a paw through his fur to calm him. “Better find Rue quick before they get to her too.”
The twins nodded in unison, following after Sonic and continuing the search for their last missing companion.
-
Phantom swung his scythe at the invisible wall, its blade tearing through it like paper, and the group walked into the newly formed rift.
They’d repeated the same process as earlier to find Tails. Using Sonic’s nose and the twins’ ability to sense people’s souls, they eventually found themselves here, in what looks like the ruins of an old town. A nightmarish red sky hangs above the group as they make their way past decayed buildings, the sound of the ghosts’ mocking laughter ringing throughout. The air smelled of humidity.
And yet, unlike when they’d found Tails, Rue was nowhere in sight.
“Rue? Rue, where are you?” Specter called out, but received no response.
“This is weird,” Sonic said as he looked about the hellish landscape, “Feels like this place could go on forever. Where could she–”
Crunch.
Sonic’s head snaps towards the sound.
“What was that?” Tails asked, his tails puffing up at the sound of another crunch, then a snap.
Sonic hurries ahead, turning the corner and stopping when he steps on something… wet.
The pungent stench of rot fills his nose, and he looks down to see a pool of a green substance rippling at his feet. He looks towards its source.
A pile of bodies, bloody, broken, and torn apart. Faceless illusions, all of the same child, a wolf pup with blue and white fur wearing a pink dress, all stained with green blood.
Rue stands in the middle of the carnage, paws and mouth stained and fur covered in viscera. Their whole body shook, their eyes unfocused. A figure of Nox stands right in front of her, faceless, just like the children. The only discernible feature on his face was a grin twisting around his mandibles.
The twins tried to call out to them, but their cries fell on deaf ears. Rue snarled at the illusion of Nox, forcefully grabbing him by the neck and choking him. With a sickening crunch, the figure fell limp.
But the figure was no longer Nox. In the blink of an eye, it had become the child in Rue’s paws. The lifeless body slipped from their grip and onto the pile, and they quietly stared at it, an unreadable expression on their face.
“Rue!” Specter yelled as she and Phantom threw their scythes towards an unseen enemy. The weapons spin and cut through a horde of ghosts behind Rue, destroying them all in one fell swoop.
Sonic hurries over to Rue’s side, grabbing them by the cloak and pulling them down into the pool of green blood. As they pick themself up, something begins to rise from the pile of bodies. Something big.
And whatever it is, Sonic could feel a lot of Chaos Energy radiating from it.
The twins summon their scythes, and everyone watches as the bodies meld and change into a large, white form. A giant ghost rose from them, with crazed multi-colored eyes and blue, frostbitten lips twisted into a permanent smile. It opened its maw, revealing teeth as black as obsidian and insides of bright, swirling colors.
“That’s… That’s the King of Spirits…” Phantom muttered, clutching his scythe tightly.
Specter’s fur rose. “No way…”
The King of Spirits dove into the ground, becoming a shadow and rushing after the group.
“Look out!” Sonic yelled out as its maw rises from the shadow, attempting to eat him and Rue, but he drags her out of the way just in time to avoid it.
Specter gasps. “It wants to eat you guys’ souls! Keep it distracted and give us an opening to strike!”
Sonic nods and runs, Rue following closely, and the malevolent spirit gives chase.
Scythes drawn, the twins run after it.
It dives down again, trying to bite down on Rue. She manages to push herself and Sonic out of the way, but she falls, coughing and heaving. Purple smoke comes out of her mouth.
“Ah, shit-! C’mon, you gotta get back up!” Sonic grabs her paws, pulling her up just as the King’s shadow approaches. It pops out once more, its maw snapping shut as it eats nothing but air.
But now they were cornered. Neither of them had realized they’d run into a dead end, and there was no way Rue would be able to get away, out of breath as they were. Unable to find an exit, Sonic braced for impact as the King opened its giant maw, its smile unfurling as its mouth grew wider, its entire body slowly splitting in half and revealing more and more knife-like teeth.
But just before it can eat them, Sonic sees Tails struggling to carry the twins just above the King. He lets them go, and in a matter of a second, the blades of two scythes stab right into its head.
The King lets out a deafening screech as it is slowly, painfully cut down by the twins. Its insides splatter out from the gash, raining technicolor ectoplasm on the now fading illusion of the town. It falls and begins to fade, leaving nothing but a red Chaos Emerald in its place.
Tails flies down, and grabs the Chaos Emerald, and before anyone knew it, the realm was swallowed in blinding white light.
-
Sonic opened his eyes once more and found himself lying on his back, staring up at the desert sky, now painted in beautiful yellows, oranges, pinks, and blues right at the edge of the horizon.
“GOOD GAIA BELOW, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK WAS THAT?”
Tails lies next to him, clutching the red Chaos Emerald close to his chest. “We finally got our third Emerald… Ugh, my head’s spinning so much, I feel like I’m gonna throw up.”
Somewhere behind him, Sonic can hear Rue actually throw up. Which surely does not help Tails feel any better.
“That was… wow, holy shit, we just killed the King of Spirits.” Specter stared off into the distance in disbelief of what had just happened.
“I wanna go home,” Phantom stated plainly as he stared off into the distance with his sister, a troubled expression on his face.
“Oh, man,” Sonic pushed himself to sit up, looking at the twins, “I’m so sorry for dragging you all into that. That was a nightmare.”
“Are you kidding?! That was sick!” Specter exclaimed.
“That was probably the worst day of my life,” Phantom said as he stared right into his very soul.
“We got to fight the King of Spirits! And WON!”
“I never want to think of this ever again.”
“AND you guys got the thing you needed! SO I’d say today was a pretty good day!”
“I wanna go home.”
… Well, at least one of them had fun?
Sonic turns around to look at Rue, who was still on their paws and knees, trembling. He gets up, walks up to them, then kneels down beside them.
There is now a puddle of bile on the sand in front of them. It stinks. He elects to ignore it and focus on Rue.
“Hey, uh, you okay?” he asks.
They don’t respond. Their eyes are unfocused, staring at nothing in particular.
“I know we don't really know each other that well, but… Do you… wanna talk about it?”
They shake their head slightly, still silent.
“Yeah, I wouldn't want to either, to be honest.”
He sat down next to them, watching the sunset.
“It's getting pretty late. Y'think you and the twins can get back home safe?”
No response.
“Hm… Hey, y'know what? I think all of us need a bit of a break. How about we camp out for the night?”
“That's fine,” they finally reply, mumbling.
“Awesome. I'll go let the others know. If you need anything, just say so, okay?”
“Mm.”
And with that, he got back up and walked back to the rest of the group, announcing their impromptu camping trip and hurrying over to the Tornado to begin setting everything up to spend the night.
Summary: Sonic and Tails set off to find the next Chaos Emerald, and are joined by unlikely allies along the way.
Warnings: none.
Word Count: 2,116 words
-
“... Sonic…”
“... Sonic, can you hear me…?”
A voice, familiar, resonated in Sonic’s mind. It was close, warm, yet riddled with worry.
A small figure floats before him, blurred, yet there was a distinct green orb in its chest, glowing gently.
What was this? A dream? A vision? Sonic couldn’t tell. Whatever it was, it didn’t feel real.
“Chip?” The name leaves Sonic’s mouth before he can really think about it.
“Oh, thank goodness!” The figure becomes clearer, the form of a small canine with fluttering green wings revealing itself to him. “You can finally hear me!”
“Chip! It’s really you!” Sonic cried, reaching out to embrace his friend, “Oh, it’s been so long! I missed you!”
Chip hugged him back with a smile, his embrace feeling warm like the rays of the sun on a summer’s day. His little fluffy tail wagged excitedly.
“I missed you too, Sonic. I wish we could’ve met again under better circumstances, but…” Chip looked up to Sonic, a grim expression on his face, “I don’t have much time. Talking to you like this is taking a lot of energy, and I don’t have much to spare…”
“What’s going on?”
“Someone is tampering with Dark Gaia’s Energy, disrupting the balance… Using its energy to hurt people and power an army of robots.”
“That someone wouldn’t happen to be a spider, would it?”
“Yes, that’s right! Sonic, you need to stop him, no matter what. If you don’t, he could–”
A deafening roar breaks out in the dream, filled with primordial rage and madness. Somehow, it feels as if the earth shakes, despite the fact he was floating in a void of light.
Sonic can feel the dream begin to slip away, like sand slipping through his fingers.
“Sonic? Sonic! Wait…! He’s going to destroy everything… You have to…”
Chip's voice grows distant, and he drifts away from the dream…
Sunlight streams into the living room from the window as dawn breaks. Sonic slowly opens his eyes, sun rays hitting his face and dragging him away from his slumber. His limbs are heavy and sore, protesting even the slightest movement.
He didn’t want to get up, but he had to. He didn’t have any time to sleep in, not today, so he rose from the couch, hurried to raid Tails’ fridge for any leftover chili dogs, and made his way to the garage to meet up with his little brother.
“Good morning, Sonic!” Tails greeted him cheerfully. “How do you feel?”
“Ehh, kinda sore, but alright. Could be worse,” Sonic replied, taking a bite of his breakfast chili dog.
Was it just him, or did Tails somehow look… shorter than usual? Or was he taller?
“Good to hear. I was worried your condition would be getting worse considering just how much Dark Gaia Energy is in your system, but you seem stable now, at least.”
It doesn’t look like he’s noticed anything different yet, so maybe he was just imagining things.
“Still, the amount of energy I saw in those scans is dangerously high, to the point of being lethal to the average person,” Tails continued, “You’re not the average person, but it could still be pretty bad for you to have so much inside of you for prolonged periods of time. I still don’t quite know how your body is reacting to it exactly, and if your already unusual Chaos Energy signature is affecting anything…”
“Isn’t there a way to, I dunno, get it out?”
“Not that I know of, no. Usually, when someone is exposed to Dark Gaia Energy, it’s in a gaseous form that’s easily expelled naturally after some time. But in this case, it was directly injected into your bloodstream as a concentrated liquid. With it being administered like this, the energy could bond to your cells much more easily, which is most likely causing your sudden fur growth and who knows what other mutations we haven’t noticed yet.”
Sonic pondered Tails’ words for a moment. “So… you’re saying it could be permanent this time?”
“If we don’t find a way for you to get that energy out of your system, then… yeah,” Tails said grimly, “But we’ll figure out how to fix this, I know it.”
“Yeah. I’m sure we will,” Sonic assured, though he didn’t feel so sure himself, “Anyhow, where’s our next stop?”
Tails takes a look at the map on his Miles Electric. “Looks like there’s an Emerald located in the middle of Sand Ocean Zone. That’s a few ways away, but we should be able to get there in no time with the Tornado.”
“Well, then, what are we waiting for?” Sonic takes the last few bites of his breakfast before jumping up onto the Tornado’s wing with a sharp-toothed smile. “Let’s go!”
“Yeah!” Tails’ tails spin excitedly as he jumps into the pilot’s seat of the plane. The engine roars to life, the propeller begins to spin, the garage door slides open, and before they knew it, they were rushing down the runway and the Tornado took off towards the clear blue skies above.
-
Desert wind blows gusts of sand as the Tornado flies overhead. Sonic looks down at the sprawling dunes of Sand Ocean Zone below from his spot on the Tornado’s wing, observing the remains of an old Eggman base built into ancient sandstone ruins. He can’t help but wonder what the old man’s thought process was, building into what once was some kind of tomb that was steadily sinking into the surrounding desert, but the guy was never known to have that much foresight, despite his grandiose ambitions of world domination. He always seemed to value spectacle over practicality, at least back then when this base was constructed.
“Look there!” Tails called out to Sonic, pointing at a large structure down below, “According to my readings, the next Emerald should be inside that old building! I’ll find us a safe place to land nearby!”
“Sure thing, bud! At this rate, we’ll get that Emerald before the sun… sets…”
Sonic finds himself trailing off, losing his previous train of thought when he notices people treading the desert in the distance. Three figures, one much larger than the other two, steadily approach the same structure Tails and him were heading towards. He squints in an attempt to see them through the sun’s harsh glare.
“Hey, wait a sec, that’s…” He couldn’t believe his eyes. Specter and Phantom, the twins that had rescued him that fateful night, and that wolf-beast again. What could they possibly be doing in a place like this?
He calls out to them, waving hello and hoping they would notice. Thankfully, it seems like he caught their attention as the twins waved back and the beast glared at him from the ground below.
After landing, Sonic hurries over to the odd group with Tails following close behind.
“Woah, hey! It’s you guys again!”
“Oh my gosh! Hi, Sonic! Good to see you!” Specter greets him with a smile.
Meanwhile, Phantom’s attention is completely taken by Tails, whom he stares at as he walks up to them.
“Are you the people who helped Sonic out back in Spirit’s Grove?” Tails asked the two cats, namesakes wagging slightly. “Sonic told me all about it. I can’t thank you guys enough for taking care of him!”
“Aw, it’s no problem at all, kid,” Specter replied, before asking, “What’s your name?”
Tails stood tall and confident. “I’m Miles Prower! But everyone just calls me Tails,” he proclaimed with a smile.
“Miles Prower… Miles… per hour…?” Phantom mumbled to himself.
“What are you guys doing here, anyway? This is pretty far off from Spirit’s Grove.” Sonic walked on, leading the others to do the same.
“Ghost hunt,” Phantom replied bluntly.
“Yeah, it’s kinda, like, our thing,” Specter then elaborated, “We can see ghosts and stuff, so we hunt evil spirits in places like these to stop them from causing trouble. In fact, we heard some whispers in the woods saying the King of Spirits got its claws on a Chaos Emerald, and we can’t have that.”
“Woah, cool! That means you can help us with our Emerald hunt!” Sonic smiled.
“Awesome!”
He would’ve never guessed that the twins had such a connection to the supernatural, but now that he thought of it, the strange markings over the two cats left and right eyes respectively should’ve been an indication that there was more to them than he initially thought.
There was something else off about them, though, and he knew he'd thought about it before, but it seems to have slipped his mind…
Until he notices the beast that was with them earlier, the one he’d met when he found the first Emerald, walking a few meters ahead of the rest of the group.
“Wha- hey, wait a minute!” Sonic rushed to the giant wolf’s side, leaving the others behind in a cloud of sand, “What’s up with you?”
“I thought I told you to stay out of this,” they grumbled, their gaze still fixed on their destination.
“Not gonna happen.” Sonic grabbed onto their cloak and pulled on it to stop them.
They quickly snap at him, growling. But he was unfazed.
“What’s your name? And are you friends with Specter and Phantom?” Sonic asked, looking into their eyes.
The beast didn’t answer, instead ignoring him and continuing to walk off towards the old ruins, dragging Sonic along as he refused to let go of their cloak.
“Hey! Come on! Just tell me already–”
“It’s Rue,” they growled, before grabbing his hand and forcing him to let go, “And we are just acquaintances. Nothing more. Now leave me be.”
Rue walked through the dark entrance, leaving Sonic and the others right outside the old abandoned base. Sonic scowled as everyone entered after them.
Old sandstone walls now surround the group, reinforced by now slightly rusted metal beams of Eggman’s design. carvings and pictures were etched into the walls, lit up by the warm orange light of torches still aflame even after all this time. Hieroglyphs that once told a tale that is now lost to time.
Not like the group had much of a chance to admire the ancient history that was all around them, because Sonic and Rue were rushing ahead, leaving the others to play catch up. Their footsteps echoed down the hall as they walked.
“Um, do you guys know this Rue person?” Sonic heard Tails ask behind him.
“Ee-yup, sure do,” Specter answered, grumbling.
“She lives in Spirit’s Grove,” Phantom continued, “She’s a loner. Patrols the place like she owns it. Scares people away.”
Specter nodded. “She’s, um… She’s something, that’s for sure.”
“Are you guys friends?”
“I like to think we are, but,” Specter shrugs, “It’s kinda hard to tell with her, to be honest.”
“Ah…”
Eventually, after walking down the seemingly never ending hallway, the group reach a large chamber, lit up in golden light. A large Warp Ring sat in the very center, floating. But something wasn’t quite right- the light looked off, and Sonic didn’t feel that hair-raising tingle of Chaos Energy in the air. No, this one felt… cold.
The lack of Nox's Badniks nor any resistance from the resident evil spirits struck him as odd, too. And it seemed he wasn’t the only one who was suspicious of the scene, as Specter and Phantom were looking around the chamber with scrutiny.
“Yo, Tails? Is this it?” Sonic turned to ask his brother.
Tails looks down at the Miles Electric. “Yep, looks like it,” he said, nodding.
“Hm. Ghosts are hiding,” Phantom says.
“Yeah, there’s no way this isn’t some kind of trap.” Specter’s tail thumped on the floor as she looked around, no doubt at some entity, or entities, he couldn’t see. “I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.”
“We can’t leave that Emerald in that monster’s hands,” Rue growled, “We can’t let Nox get ahold of it, either.”
“Eh, I’ve jumped face-first into traps plenty of times before, and I’ve come out fine,” he said with a shrug, “Whatever’s on the other side of that ring, I can take it.”
Tails gripped his Miles Electric tightly. “Sonic, please be careful. We don’t really know what we’re dealing with here.”
“I’ll be fine, Tails,” he assured as he took a step through the ring, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be back with that Emerald before you–”
Suddenly, he felt something pull him down into the ring. Tails cries out his name.
The last thing everyone hears is the sound of maniacal laughter, before the entire chamber was consumed by a pitch black darkness, and everyone was dragged down into frigid nothingness.
Summary: The search for the Chaos Emeralds begins! Though Sonic doesn't seem quite alright...
Warnings: Minor violence and swearing.
Word Count: 2,441 words
-
“Yo, Tails! Hello? You in here?”
Sonic walked into Tails’ workshop, a quaint little building near Mystic Ruins where the young fox lived. Sonic often crashed here whenever he needed someplace to sleep. Tails has always said that this is Sonic's home just as much as it was his, but that has never felt quite right. He never liked staying in one place for too long, let alone call one single place his “home”. The world was his home, and he liked it that way.
He peeks into the garage, listening to the cute little tune being hummed from within. Tails' namesakes stuck out from under the Tornado, wagging as he worked away at the red plane. Probably doing a regular check-up and repairs, he assumed.
“Hey, Tails! How's it going?”
“Eep!” Tails jolted, nearly hitting his head on the plane's hull.
Sonic peeked under the plane. “Sorry, buddy. Didn't mean to scare ya.”
“Ah! Sonic! Good to see you! I was wondering where you’d been…” Tails looked at him up and down, brows suddenly furrowing. “... Since when did you have so much fluff on your chest? And why is your fur so dull? Are you sick?”
My fur is…? Sonic looked over himself, realizing that his fur did, in fact, look a lot duller than usual, but shook his head, electing to move past that and simply explain what had happened. “Oh, buddy, you will not believe what happened to me yesterday. So, basically…” Sonic said as he began to recount the events of that night, meeting Nox, transforming, waking up in the twin cats’ home, then meeting the giant dog monster and finding the Emerald, all as if it were everyday gossip. Tails listened, concern turning into horror as he went on, having gotten out from under the Tornado.
“... and that’s what led me here. I could really use some help figuring out what that Nox guy is planning, so–”
“YOU WERE INJECTED WITH LIQUID DARK GAIA ENERGY AND YOU DIDN’T IMMEDIATELY CALL FOR HELP??”
“I mean, I kinda passed out, like, right after–”
“Y-YOU TRANSFORMED INTO THAT WEREHOG THING RIGHT LAST NIGHT! AND IT LOOKS LIKE EVEN YOUR NORMAL FORM IS BEING AFFECTED! HOW MUCH ENERGY WAS PUT IN YOU??”
“I'unno, probably a lot- also I thought we agreed that ‘werehog’ was a stupid name for what I turned into.”
Tails had begun pacing anxiously now, namesakes thrashing about. “WHATEVER! THAT DOESN’T MATTER RIGHT NOW! I-I NEED TO RUN SOME SCANS ON YOU AND MAKE SURE YOU’RE ACTUALLY OKAY BEFORE–”
“Hey.” Sonic grabbed his little brother by the shoulders and held him firmly, looking into his eyes with a determined look. “Look at me, Tails. I’m alright. Relax.”
“But… Sonic, you look sick. And-and the Dark Gaia Energy could be having serious negative effects on you. More than what we already know about. I mean, last time you came into contact with that stuff, it was in a gaseous form and not injected directly into your bloodstream… you’d also had most of your Chaos Energy drained then, so–”
Sonic interrupted Tails’ worried ramblings with a sigh. “Dude, I assure you, I feel just fine. In any case, we have a new mad scientist guy to worry about. Whatever happens to me, I can handle it. Can’t be too different from last time, can it?” He smirked, feigning confidence in an attempt to reassure Tails.
It didn’t work.
“I- look, if you’re really worried, you can run some scans or whatever after we get the next Emerald.” Sonic pulled the green gem out from his spines and handed it to Tails. “Nox seems to be using a bunch of modded Badniks to look for them, and I doubt he’s gonna use them for any good, so I’d rather get ahead and find ‘em all before he does.”
He took the gem and stashed it away in the hull of the Tornado. Now it was Tails’ turn to sigh. “Alright,” he conceded, grabbing his trusty yellow handheld device off from his workbench, “I can track any strange Chaos Energy signatures using my Miles Electric. That’ll tell us where we can start searching. But once we get the closest Emerald, we’re coming right back to run some tests, got it?”
Sonic gave him a thumbs up. “Got it, bud. Where to?”
Tails tapped away at the device’s screen, typing in something so fast even Sonic had a hard time keeping up. Soon, a map of the Zone they were in appeared, with a mark denoting the duo’s current location, as well as a few scattered about deep into the jungle.
“Looks like there should be one near here. Shouldn’t take too long to get to it,” Tails said as he looked over the map, “But there’s some other strange energy signatures approaching that area…”
“Better pick up the speed, then! C’mon!” Sonic hurried out the garage door, with Tails quickly following suit.
“Wha- hey! Wait up!”
-
Giant trees loom above Sonic and Tails as they hurry across the jungles of Mystic Ruins. Vines cover the behemoths of trees from head to toe, and overgrown fallen logs and stone relics litter the forest floor. The scenery slowly grows darker as the sun begins to set over the unseen horizon.
Sonic hadn’t realized how late it had gotten. It didn’t feel like he’d been out for very long at all today, though the run from Spirit’s Grove to Mystic Ruins was quite long, and when he tried to think back on it, it felt like a haze. Maybe he’d just lost track of time.
A strange feeling wells in his chest and a tingle runs down his spine. His lungs feel heavy. It’s hard to breathe.
Tails looks back at his older brother as he begins to slow down, breathing heavily and clutching his chest.
“Sonic? Are you alright?” Tails asks.
Sonic huffs, stopping to catch his breath. “Yeah, yeah… I’m fine… Just gimme a second…”
He continues to huff, before beginning to cough into his hand, a puff of purple smoke slipping out of his mouth and through his fingers.
Tails’ eyes widened. ‘What was that?”
Sonic quirked an eyebrow, tilting his head slightly. “What was what?”
“The- the purple smoke that you just coughed out.”
He stared at Tails for a moment, unsure of what he meant. “I didn’t see any smoke.”
Tails stared at him for a moment, before shaking his head. “Never mind. I’m probably just seeing things,” he said, looking down at the Miles Electric. “We’re almost there, not much farther now.”
So the two continued on their trek, hurrying down a giant fallen log and reaching a clearing where ruins of a time long gone rested. Vines and moss overtook the stone pillars, and Sonic’s fur rose as he felt the familiar energy of the Warp Ring that floated in the very center. Though that feeling from earlier returns, stronger, heavier. A sense of unease settles in his gut, one he can’t shake off.
Something was coming. He knew it.
The sun had set.
“T-Tails…?” His body trembled. Chip’s bracelet on his wrist began to glow, a warning.
He fell to his knees as his body began to change.
“SONIC?!” Tails hurried to his brother’s side. “Oh no, oh no, oh no…”
Out from the underbrush, a horde of robots surround the duo and the Warp Ring, and leading the horde was a large Super Badnik, a modified E-series robot, standing tall over them and pointing a laser gun arm straight at the back of Tails’ head.
Just as it shoots, Sonic pushes through the pain and shoves Tails aside, dodging the laser bullet by a hair.
Tails gets himself up, looking back at his brother as he begins to transform before rushing towards the Super Badnik. He flicks the gun arm away from Sonic with his tails before flying up to its head to distract it. The other Badniks begin to surround him and Sonic, readying their weapons to attack…
“Rrgh… RRAAAGH…!”
Sonic snarled, punching and clawing at the Badniks surrounding him with large, blue paws. His voice reverberates, loud and beastly, as he tears them to pieces with terrifying strength. Robots fall left and right as he crushes them in his paws, falling into heaps of scrap leaking liquid Dark Gaia Energy from the cracks like blood.
The sickeningly sweet scent of the dark god’s essence filled his nose, clouding his thoughts.
Tails tried to call for Sonic, but his voice was drowned out by the ringing in his ears and the shooting of lasers.
Everything becomes a blur. Thoughts replaced with static.
Instinct takes over.
Metal clangs and tears. Something falls. That something is under his paws. It squirms. Claws rip into it. Liquid energy spills.
It stops moving. Claws continue to rip and tear.
“Sonic! Sonic, can you hear me?!” Tails’ voice finally broke through the static in his mind. “It’s already down! You don’t have to keep…”
Sonic looks back at Tails. Sharp green eyes meet blue. He growls.
“... Sonic…?”
They stare at each other, silence hanging in the air, thick, almost palpable.
“... Whu– Huh?” Sonic awoke from his daze. “W-why are you looking at me like that?”
Sonic looks around at the destruction he caused, metal scraps barely recognizable as Badniks littering the ruins, violet glowing liquid pooling around them. Tails held a wrench, one he could only assume he was using to attack the Badniks.
He looked down at his own paws. They were stained purple.
Tails walked up to him, a worried look on his face. “Are you okay? You started acting… really weird.”
“I–” Purple smoke welled up in his lungs, sending him into a coughing fit. It pours out of his mouth with each cough, leaving a sour taste on his tongue that lingers long after the coughing ceases, and he is left gasping. Tails rushed to his side, patting his back, careful not to poke himself with his brother’s sharp spines.
Once he finally catches his breath, Sonic stands up, gently patting Tails’ head as a silent thank you for trying to help. “I was gonna say I’m fine, but that’s an obvious lie at this point,” he grumbled, “Lets just grab that Emerald and get outta here.”
“Right. And once we get it, we’re going straight back home to run those scans,” Tails said seriously.
“Yeah, yeah…” He still wasn’t too keen on the idea of being poked and prodded at over something he’s experienced before and recovered from just fine, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t at least a little concerned about coughing up a bunch of smoke, so… better be safe than sorry.
Sonic stepped off of the now destroyed E-series robot, before walking towards the golden light of the Warp Ring. The Chaos Energy surrounding it made his fur and quills stand on edge. It was overpowering, blindingly bright light stabbing into his eyes, his brain, but he shields his face with a paw and pushes through the forces trying to keep him back.
Strange, Special Zones don’t usually push him away like this. But he has to do this, he has to make his way through, or else who knows what will happen if Nox gets his hands on the Emerald…
He jumps into it, and he begins to fall into the void of light.
-
Sonic falls, and falls, and falls once more, but something feels different this time. He feels… sick.
Something claws at his insides, wanting to tear itself free from his flesh. He begins to feel nauseous.
The landscape twists and turns and shifts around him. Trees and vines grow and weave themselves into a tunnel, and through the gaps, Sonic can see the sky become a twinkling and ever shifting ocean. Light trickles down into the tunnel, breaking through the darkness. Rings appear, forming a path as they always do, and at the very end of the tunnel, the bright blue light of a Chaos Emerald shines, calling out to him.
But when gravity adjusts and Sonic’s feet finally touch the ground, his knees buckle under his own weight, and he falls down onto the coarse bark that made up the ground. His head spun, vision unfocused. But he pushed himself up and simply shook off the feeling, taking a deep breath and carefully making his way down.
“Y’don’t like me bein’ here much, do ya?” he spoke, looking up as if he could talk to the Special Zone itself, “Guess Chaos n’ Dark Gaia Energy don’t mix well.”
He follows the path of rings, hoping he doesn’t need his speed to pass the test of the Emerald this time. Every time he collects one, it fizzles out into golden dust and he feels a tingle down his spine. The feeling of something wanting to escape his body grows.
As he continues onward, the tunnel becomes darker. Something whispers in the darkness, calling out to Sonic. Speaking to him in a strange, old tongue. He stops, listening closely, trying to understand, but he can’t decipher the words.
His attention is brought back to the Emerald, its glow drawing him closer. He was almost there, now, just needed to reach out…
His paw lands on the blue gem. It burns his skin. He jolts, but refuses to let go.
The world fades, and in a blink of an eye, he finds himself standing in Mystic Ruins once more.
“Ahh– Ow, shit-” Sonic winced, fumbling with the Emerald in his hand before it slipped and flew off from his paws. Tails quickly catches the gem before it falls onto the grass.
Tails looks up at Sonic with a confused expression. “What was that?”
“Damn thing burnt my hand for no reason,” Sonic growled, glaring at the Emerald as he shook the pain away from his paw.
“That’s… odd,” Tails said as he looked down at the gem in his hands, “The Emeralds have never done anything like that before.”
Sonic shrugged. “Guess they just don’t like me in this form.”
“Pfft- now that’s just silly. Now c’mon, let’s head back so I can run those scans,” Tails says as he turns to walk back to his workshop. Begrudgingly, Sonic follows, and the two make their way back home.
Sonic couldn’t help but wonder why the Emerald had reacted that way to him. Why the Special Zone seemed to have wanted to keep him out. Why he felt so sick when he entered the Zone. But he wouldn’t get any answers right now. Now, he should focus on mentally preparing himself for whatever tests Tails had in store for him…
Summary: Sonic has a strange dream, and wakes up in an unfamiliar place.
Warnings: Minor violence.
Word count: 3,309 words
-
“…”
“…nic…”
“… Sonic…!”
A voice calls out from the void, familiar, but distant.
Mobius begins to crack. Impossibly large claws rise from the magma, tearing the planet open further.
The beast rises from the depths. Its deafening roar shakes the heavens themselves.
“Sonic, help us–!”
Sonic jolts awake.
He found himself lying on a comfortable round bed with soft, fluffy pillows under his head, and a warm blanket over him. Sunlight trickled down onto his face from the windows behind him and fairy lights hung from the ceiling above, turned off as it was early in the morning.
… Where was he?
Sonic slowly sat up, rubbing his head. The world spun as he rose, made his stomach churn, but he shook it off and looked forward.
His eyes are immediately met by those of a cat standing in front of the bed. He had long, dark fur, and wore a striped sweater with comically oversized sleeves, and a peculiar golden earring with a bell on his right ear. He watched Sonic, wide, mismatched eyes staring right into his soul- one bright cyan surrounded by a spot of the same color on his fur, and the other a deep, earthy brown. The cat was completely silent, tail twitching.
The two stared at each other for a moment.
“Um…” Sonic cleared his throat. It still felt rough and sore. “... Hi?”
The cat bristled, and without saying a word, he rushed down the ladder, practically jumping down the loft the two were in. It startled Sonic.
Confused, Sonic got out of bed. His body felt heavy, as if his limbs were made out of lead, but he managed to drag his feet towards the guardrail.
He looked down at the room below. The house had an open plan, and he could see what looked like a surprisingly tidy teenage boy's room right in front of him, and a kitchen to his right. Strange design, but he wasn't an architect or anything- he didn't even have a house of his own- so he was in no place to judge. If anything, it looked pretty cozy.
There was another cat sprawled out on a beanbag chair, deep in sleep. Her fur was the same color as the other cat, though a bit longer, and she wore a simple blue sleeveless shirt and baggy black pants. She also had a similar marking on one of her eyes, but on the opposite one, and the same golden earring with a bell on her left ear.
Sonic could hear the first cat whispering as he tried to shake the other awake.
“Specter he's awake what do I do what do I do what do I do what do I do–”
He spoke quickly, panicked. This Specter person couldn't wake up fast enough for the poor guy.
Specter grumbled as she got up, rubbing her eyes.
“Mmngh… Phantom… It’s still too early for–”
Specter looks up, her tired eyes landing Sonic up in the loft. She stretches and shakes off her drowsiness to greet him with cheer.
“Oh, hey! It's Mister Monster Guy!” She smiled at him, before giving him a slightly confused look. “You look a lot different from earlier.”
“Wait, Mister Monster Guy?” Sonic repeated, unsure if he heard her correctly.
Right, he transformed last night… it hurt. Bad. But he was back to normal now, right?
He looked down at himself, noticing the fur on his chest and arms had grown slightly longer. But, otherwise, he seemed like his usual self. Strange.
“You good? Need any help getting down?” she asked.
“Uh, no, no, I'm fine,” he assured as he started to climb down the ladder, “I got this- WAUGH–”
Just as he said that, his foot slipped and he lost his grip. He fell backwards, only to be caught by one of the cats- Phantom, he assumed was his name.
… Good Gaia, that was pathetic.
“You okay?” Phantom mumbled shyly.
Sonic nodded as he got up. “Yeah. I'm good. Thanks for the save.”
“You're welcome.”
Specter walked up to Sonic, stretching casually. The bell on her earring jingled with every step. “Well! ‘Bout time we had a proper introduction, stranger! I'm Specter, and that's my brother, Phantom,” she said, gesturing at herself and then at her brother.
“We're twins,” Phantom stated with a slight smile.
Sonic didn't need to be told that was the case. They'd look damn near indistinguishable if they didn't wear different clothes and styled their fur in different ways.
Well, their posture is quite different, too. Specter stood tall and straight, confident. Meanwhile, Phantom slouched and dragged his tail on the floor.
The same, yet complete opposites.
“Cool! Nice to meet you guys! Name's Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog,” he said with a smile, offering a hand for them to shake. Specter takes it and shakes his hand eagerly.
“Nice to meet you, too, Sonic,” she said with a warm smile.
“So, uh–”
“Oh! You’re probably really hungry right now, aren’t you?”
“... Uh, yeah, I am.” Specter had cut him off before he got the chance to ask where he was or what had happened after he passed out. He can’t tell if she was trying to be rude or not. Probably not.
“We’ll whip something up for you real quick. How about some pancakes?” she offered.
“Pancakes…” Phantom’s tail wagged.
Y'know, that didn't sound half bad. “Sure!”
He's already here, might as well take them up on their hospitality. He could ask questions over breakfast.
-
A buttery smell filled the air. Pans and dishes clattered and pancakes sizzled as the twins worked away in the kitchen. Sonic sat at the table, watching them as they worked in tandem, Phantom quickly whisking the batter and Specter frying the pancakes, flipping them with ease.
From the window in front of them, Sonic could see a lush forest outside. The trees sway gently with the wind.
That reminds him… “Hey, um, I've been meanin’ to ask, but… Where am I, exactly?”
“You're in Spirit’s Grove,” Specter said, “I'm sure you've heard of it before?”
“Think so. Heard a lot of rumors about this place being super haunted or something, but I don't think I've ever been here before.” With a name like Spirit's Grove, one would be surprised if it wasn't haunted.
“I see. Well, welcome to our home!” she said as she set multiple stacks of pancakes on the table, one for each of them, along with cups. Meanwhile, Phantom brought the syrup and butter to pour over the stacks, as well as a jug of juice to drink. Sonic noticed an extra stack on the counter near the stove, but chose not to comment on it. Maybe they accidentally made too much batter and didn't want it to go to waste, he thought.
“Oh, man…” Sonic murmured when he got a good look at the pancakes.
The stack of five pancakes was still steaming. They smelled deliciously sweet, and looked perfectly round and fluffy.
“These look great! Thanks!” he said as he dug in.
“It’s no problem at all, Sonic,” Specter said as she began to eat her own pancakes with a smile. Meanwhile, Phantom had already begun eating the moment he sat down, scarfing them down with reckless abandon.
Not only did they look and smell delicious, they tasted heavenly too. Fluffy and airy, with a perfect balance of sweet and buttery flavor, and… Oh! That wasn't syrup- it was honey! What a nice surprise!
Sonic gobbled them up with haste. He’s never been the biggest fan of pancakes, but he had to admit, these were just delightful. Probably the best he’s ever had. Though maybe that was his hunger talking. He was starved.
Soon enough, his plate was empty- damn near clean, in fact- and the twins had set the dishes in the sink to wash later. He felt great, much better than earlier, at least. Reinvigorated and with a full stomach, he felt like he could take on anything. But something bothered him…
… Sonic couldn’t help but notice Phantom’s constant staring.
“How’d you turn into a monster?” Phantom asked, tilting his head slightly.
Specter bristled. "Y-you don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to–”
“No, it’s okay,” Sonic replied, “I don't mind.”
He thought back on the previous day, then took a breath before beginning. “So, to cut a long story short, I was running through one of Eggman’s abandoned bases, y’know, as you do. And I…” and here comes the embarrassing part, “... I, uh, got ambushed by a bunch of freaky Badniks, and they took me to this spider guy named Nox, who injected me with some weird stuff. I got away before I turned, but then I passed out. You know the rest.”
He didn’t expect them to know what Dark Gaia Energy is, and he wasn’t about to explain that to them. “Weird stuff” sums it up well enough, doesn’t it?
Specter and Phantom lock eyes, a strange expression on their faces. Shock? Perhaps a hint of fear?
Phantom opens his mouth, about to say something, but is immediately cut off by Specter.
“Nope! No, never heard of him!” she blurted out with a nervous quiver in her voice.
Sonic quirked an eyebrow, but elected not to say anything about how strange her response was.
“Well, uh, anyway… I better get going. Gotta make sure that Nox guy's not causing any more trouble, y'know?” he said, getting up from his chair and walking to the door, “Thanks for breakfast!”
“Wait!” the two cats said in unison as they reached out and grabbed his hand, stopping him in his tracks.
Specter looks right into his eyes intensely, probably the first time she's done so since he woke up. “There’s a beast in these wood.”
“A… beast?”
“She lurks in the shadows. Stalks people,” Phantom stated.
“If you see red eyes staring at you from the darkness, you need to leave as fast as possible, got it?” Specter said.
Red eyes…? Why does he feel like he's seen that before already?
Sonic nodded along. “Um… sure. Okay. I'll keep an eye out. Thanks.” Anything to get these two to let him go. Which they do, thankfully.
“Good!” Specter said, relieved, “But seriously, be careful, alright?”
He bit his tongue fighting the urge to say something snarky like “Where’s the fun in that?” but the last time he said that, he almost died, so... “Will do!” he said with a reassuring thumbs up.
And with that, he parted ways with the twins, running off into the woods.
The wind blew through the trees, like the whispers of those long gone. Their blue-green canopies cast shadows over the whole forest floor, rays of sunlight trickling down through the leaves, constantly shifting. Mushrooms and moss covered the tree trunks in patches, almost glowing in the shadows.
This place had a strange air to it. Ethereal, almost. It was quiet, too. Safe to say Sonic could see why people thought these forests were haunted. Though, to him, it seemed oddly peaceful. He could stick around and simply enjoy the atmosphere, if he wanted.
But he needed to get going. Maybe he should go see Tails, brief him on the situation. He could use some extra support in case his next encounter with Nox goes awry.
Speaking of, he couldn't help but wonder… What exactly is Nox planning? He did mention something about not wanting to reveal all of his plans to Sonic, didn’t he? Then again, his memory of last night was kind of a blur.
Ah, whatever. He'll figure it out eventually, he's sure of it–
“Woah-!”
Sonic stumbled, nearly tripping over a piece of scrap metal, bronze and stained with a violet liquid. There were more scraps and Badnik parts scattered about, almost forming a trail. Some pieces had large claw marks etched into them. Larger than his own hands.
Curious, he followed the trail, slowly finding more and more scrap, until…
The sound of snarls and growls and the ripping and banging of metal stops Sonic in his tracks. In the distance, he could see a large, almost monstrous figure tearing what he assumed was a horde of Badniks apart.
He and the figure lock eyes through the branches. Ruby red eyes stare right at him, a piercing glare stabbing right into his soul.
A sense of déjà vu lingers in his mind.
Sonic slowly approaches the figure. Getting a closer look at them through the foliage, he sees some kind of canine mobian, though large and beast-like, tearing Badniks apart. They’re wearing a brown cloak over their dark teal fur, brown pants, and what appeared to be bandages around their stomach and lower back. Their large paws, darker than the rest of their fur, were stained with splatters of liquid Dark Gaia Energy.
There’s a golden light shining behind them, one he knows all too well to be that of a Warp Ring.
He also notices they are currently snarling and bearing their teeth at him.
Sonic raised his hands defensively. “Hey now, take it easy. No need for scary faces, alright?”
“You shouldn’t be here,” they growled, their voice deep and monotone, yet dripping with what he could only assume was rage. Sonic noted them having the slightest bit of an accent, though he can't tell exactly from where.
A Buzz Bomber flies up behind the beast, taking aim at their head as they're distracted.
“Look out!” Sonic quickly jumps straight into the Buzz Bomber at top speed, breaking it on impact. The robot falls into pieces around him.
He dusts himself off and realizes there are still more Badniks approaching, a line of Motobugs followed by Buzz Bombers and Bladed Spinners all charging up for an attack.
“Listen, I dunno who you are, but we’ve got other things to worry about right now,” he says before curling up into a ball and revving up a spin-dash. He hears the beast huff right as he launches himself towards the Motobugs. His spines shred through their bronze metal shells, liquid Dark Gaia Energy spilling onto the grass and staining his fur.
The beast runs towards the flying Badniks, dodging laser bullets and blades and ripping them apart with their claws in one swift movement. They fall into a useless heap, unmoving and spilling their purple fuel from deep gashes.
“You need to leave, now,” the beast growled once more.
Sonic looked at the piles of Badnik husks. “Hey, you’re pretty good at thi–”
Wow. Rude.
“Dude, what’s your deal?”
“I won’t say it again. Leave.”
“Not until you tell me what’s going on!”
Suddenly, the beast grabs him by the scruff and pulls him close, staring right into his eyes. Within their pupils is a magenta glow, strange yet familiar.
“Listen to me carefully,” they said, “He’s after you and the Chaos Emeralds. You’re just putting yourself in danger by staying here and fighting. He won’t stop looking for you until you're dead and the world is–”
“Now, hold on…” now it was his turn to interrupt, “You don’t mean Nox, do you?”
Their brow twitched. “Who else would I be talking about?! Who else could've done this to you?!”
His eyes widened. The realization hits Sonic like a point blank shot to the head. “Wait, you… he turned you into a beast too, didn’t he?”
“That doesn't matter right now.” The beast dropped him. “Now leave. Stay out of this. This is not your battle to fight.”
“Uh, hello? Do you even know who you're talking to?” Sonic retorts, “Saving the world from evil maniacs is kinda my thing. There's no way I'm ‘staying out of this’ knowing Nox is a threat, especially not after what he did to me, and what he clearly did to you.”
The beast was stunned, speechless. Their paw curled into a fist, claws digging into their own palm.
“Why are you trying to stop me? We could help each other! I mean, it's kinda obvious you've got business to settle with the guy, so why–”
“I don't need your help!” they blurt out, growing more frustrated. “WHY WON'T YOU JUST–”
Suddenly, the beast stopped, ears perking up. Sonic noticed one ear had a sizable chunk cut out of it- more than half, he guessed- and twitched at whatever sound caught their attention.
“... There's more coming,” they said, “I can't let him get his hands on–”
“Oh, right! The Chaos Emerald!” Sonic had almost entirely forgotten about the Warp Ring right next to them. Sonic hurries towards it before the beast can say another word. “You hold them off while I get the Emerald!”
The beast doesn't respond, simply watching him enter the ring with an incredulous expression before turning around to face their robotic assailants.
As he steps through the portal, he feels himself fall down into a world of light, and the portal closes behind him.
-
Sonic fell, and fell, and fell, down the seemingly endless void of light of the Special Zone.
… Or was he really falling? Could he actually be floating in the void? The more time went on, the harder it was to tell.
Suddenly, a landscape begins to form itself within the void, strange and dreamlike. The void becomes a night sky filled to the brim with twinkling little lights of all colors of the spectrum. Giant, twisting trees and mushrooms rise from floating islands, their roots weaving themselves into bridges connecting each one and forming a path towards a green light in the distance. Rings glitter along the path, floating just above the ground, waiting to be collected. They called out to him.
Sonic knew what he had to do. As gravity adjusted itself, he let himself float down onto the first island. The moment his feet touch the ground, he runs off, collecting rings as he hurries down the path, same as he'd done many times before.
Though, now that he thought about it, it'd been a couple years since the last time he had to go through a Special Zone. The last time he did was during his little adventure in the Lost Hex, not long after his fifteenth birthday. He's eighteen now, most would consider him an adult, but he knows he's still got quite a bit of growing and changing to do. Just like how the Zones had grown and changed since the last time he'd visited them. He remembered them being a lot more… abstract and disconnected from the outside world. This feels like a dream of Spirit's Grove.
Sonic's musings soon faded from his mind as made his way closer to the Chaos Emerald. It was in his sights now, surrounded by a wreath made out of roots and glowing mushrooms.
The Emerald glistened in response to the rings Sonic had collected. It called out to him. Deemed him worthy of wielding it once more.
Sonic's hand reached out to it on instinct. He catches a glimpse of his reflection on the gem's surface.
The eyes of a beast look back at him.
He grabs the Emerald. The world fades into nothing but white light…
… And in the blink of an eye, Sonic found himself standing in Spirit’s Grove once more. The scraps of many Badniks littered the woods, and the beast he'd met earlier was nowhere to be seen.
“Huh. Never got to ask for their name,” he muttered to himself. “Hope they're okay.”
He tossed the Emerald in the air, then between his hands absentmindedly.
“Ah, right! I was gonna head to Tails’! Should hurry over there before the sun sets.”
Stashing the Emerald between his quills, he sets off, running at top speed towards his little brother's workshop. The sooner he got there, the better.
Summary: Bored on a cloudy day, Sonic decides to explore an abandoned Eggman base and finds something... unexpected.
Warnings: Unethical experimentation, injections, body horror.
Word count: 2,375 words
-
The world sleeps, puffy gray clouds shrouding the sky as rain begins to fall upon the grasslands.
A light drizzle on a quiet, cloudy afternoon was always a treat, especially during the hot summer months. At least, Sonic thought so as he faced the sky, eyes closed as he sat on now wet grass. The tiny water droplets felt cold against his skin and fur.
He'd been running since the crack of dawn, looking for something to do. His thirst for adventure had driven him to run laps around the world for the past few days, but he found himself simply revisiting old places and friends and… not actually doing much of anything.
To say he's bored out of his mind would be an understatement.
Sonic decided to get up and start walking again. He couldn't stay put for too long, he needed to find something to kill time.
Everything was just too peaceful for his comfort. Eggman had been laying low for the past, what, year or so now? After the Starfall Isles incident, he hasn't tried any big schemes, at least compared to the stuff he's pulled off before that. He almost managed to take over the entire world just a few months prior- no, he almost caused an apocalypse, for Gaia's sake- and now, radio silence.
Maybe Eggman's lost his edge, Sonic thought as he picked up the pace, running down the grassy hills. Maybe he’s finally retiring or something. That’s a nice thought.
Maybe Sonic was just overthinking things. Maybe he'd just grown so used to the near constant turmoil that he could no longer rest easy in peacetime. Maybe he just needed to relax.
Yeah. That's probably it.
Without realizing it, Sonic found himself miles away from where he'd started running again, stepping onto a more barren area of the grasslands. The ground here had been polluted and paved over by Eggman many years ago, but was now starting to recover and regrow. Wildflowers had begun to sprout among the sparse patches of grass, swaying in the wind and rain.
In front of him were the remains of an abandoned factory, old, rusted, and overgrown. A broken sign on the front read “Eggbase A”, the “A” standing for “Alpha”, he assumed.
Sonic thought most of these would have been completely torn down by now, but he figured the Restoration or the local government just hadn't gotten to this one yet.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed the green gem on his bracelet had begun to glow slightly. The bracelet Chip had given to him as a parting gift after saving the world from Dark Gaia and being sealed away in the planet's core. He stared at it for a moment, a strange feeling of unease stirring in his chest.
He'd been wearing it for some time now, but never noticed it doing something like this. It's almost as if it's… telling him something.
Sonic walked into the decaying facility, footsteps echoing against the dusty metal floor, leaving muddy prints in his wake. The gem's glow grew stronger in the darkness.
“S'been a while since I've been in one of these,” he said to himself as he walked down a chamber filled with Badnik scraps and cobwebs. The amount of webs is almost comical, like someone had gone ham with Halloween decor. It brought a chuckle out of him.
The base was familiar, yet not. Sonic had been here before, shut it down together with Tails when they were very young. Of course, it wasn't in such a state of disrepair back then, but he didn't remember it being this… cluttered. Not even when he was done with it and had destroyed every robot he could.
There's a strange smell in the air, too. Musty, and irritating to his nose.
“Ah… Ah-choo!”
The sneeze sends a chill down Sonic's spine. His hedgehog senses are tingling. Something’s wrong here. Someone was watching him and he knew it…
… Or maybe his hay fever was just acting up again. He can't tell.
He shakes the feeling off and continues onward.
-
Sonic walked for what felt like an eternity, stuck in time in the eerily quiet facility. The winding, maze-like halls led to room after room filled with unused assembly lines and conveyor belts, all filled to the brim with discarded Badniks and other machinery parts that will never see the light of day again.
Some of the parts he saw were odd, though. Shells for Badnik models he recognized, but colored in bronze instead of the signature technicolor hues Eggman was known for. They seemed strangely new and out of place amongst the rusted robot scraps with chipped, faded paint that filled the facility. He stops to look at some of them for a moment, before continuing on. They were probably prototypes or something, he thought.
Sonic descends down a flight of stairs, entering an isolated hallway underground. It led to what looked like a series of control rooms, based on the large monitors inside that now lay dormant.
The glow of Chip's bracelet grew even brighter than before. It urged him to go deeper still, so he did, ignoring his heart pounding in his chest and his fur standing up.
He soon noticed a faint purple light coming from an open door. He followed it, entering the room.
His eyes land on a strange, bulky machine right in the middle of the room, tubes connecting it to the ground and ceiling pumping some kind of gas into it. The light it emanated painted the room in an unnerving purple hue, one Sonic was sure he'd seen before, but couldn't quite place where.
While his mind didn’t know, his body knew very well what it was. As he approached the machine, his heart began to beat louder and faster, cold sweat dripping down his face. Or was he just still wet from the rain?
That didn’t matter.
Sonic stared at the window at the center of the machine, watching as the gas was quickly condensed into a swirling, bubbling liquid within its chamber, confused and almost entranced by it. He was so caught up in examining the strange contraption that he failed to hear the heavy footsteps of multiple Egg Pawns and an Egg Knight entering the room.
His ears twitched, and he quickly turned around, quills spiking up as he realized he was completely surrounded. The Badniks loomed over him, staring at him with permanent smiles engraved on their faces and eyes shining in the same color as the substance within the machine.
He didn't remember Pawns or Knights being this big… but he could take these buckets of bolts on any day.
Sonic curls up into a ball, charging up a spin-dash and launching himself full speed at the Knight-
-But it bats him away in mid-air with its lance, sending him crashing into a nearby wall of solid steel. He falls to the floor.
Before he can recover, a Pawn grabs ahold of his arm, its hand clamping down on it with an iron grip.
“What the-! Lemme go!” Sonic exclaimed as he struggled against the robot, but another grabbed his other arm and lifted him off his feet. He tries to kick at them, but ends up kicking the air instead.
Another Pawn grabbed his legs, keeping them still. Sonic squirmed, but the robots were strong, much stronger that he expected them to be. Much stronger than they should be.
They carried him out of the room and down even deeper into the facility, completely ignoring his struggling.
-
Sonic was taken to a dimly lit room and slammed onto a large chair. Metal clamps bound his arms, legs, and torso to it, holding him down. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull himself free.
Once he was trapped, the robots stepped away and stood on stand-by in front of the steel door, which closed itself shut behind them.
“Now, what do we have here? A visitor!”
A voice spoke up from behind Sonic, low yet brimming with glee. A distinct smell of cologne filled his nose.
“What's going on? Who are you?”
A spider walked into view, wearing a red suit and tie with a yellow undershirt, a twisted smile on his face. Eight purple eyes studied Sonic carefully.
“You may call me Nox,” he introduced himself with a bit of a flourish. “I am but a humble researcher. And you are… Sonic the Hedgehog, I presume? It is an honor to finally make your acquaintance.”
Sonic's quills bristled. “I don't feel very honored right now. Is this how you treat all your guests?”
“Only those who earn the privilege of becoming my test subjects. And you, my cobalt friend, have certainly earned it with your various feats of heroism,” he said as he walked off to the side, grabbing what looked like a syringe and a vial from a large metal cabinet. The vial was filled with the same fluid he'd seen earlier in the machine. “I've been wanting to study you in particular for years, ever since the world was torn to pieces…”
Sonic stared at Nox, confused. What was this guy on about?
“... Your reaction to being exposed to Dark Gaia's essence has intrigued me ever since then. It is unlike anything I've ever seen,” Nox continued as he walked closer, filling the syringe with the contents of the vial, “I wanted to see how your body would react if it absorbed this energy in a different form.”
Sonic's eyes widened. “Wait, that's… How’d you even get that stuff?!”
“You've already seen one of my energy extractors, haven't you? That little room where my assistants found you to escort you here? That is the culmination of many, many years of research studying Dark Gaia. Now, I'd love to ramble on some more about my research to you, but I wouldn't want to keep delaying my tests any longer. Can’t just spell my plans out to you right at the beginning, can I? That would ruin the surprise!”
Nox grabbed Sonic’s arm, gripping it tight.
Sonic tried to pull away. “Don't touch me, you creep!”
“Don't make this harder than it needs to be, hedgehog. The more you struggle, the more it hurts,” Nox sneered.
The needle pierces his skin. It stings, a burning sensation spreading from the injection site as the fluid inside flows into his bloodstream. His body began to shiver, chest tightening, making it hard to breathe.
“It's already taking effect, I see… Interesting.”
“Rrgh…” Sonic growled, feeling his blood boil and his heart pound in his chest, “W-whatever it is you're… p-planning… I won't… nngh…”
His words got stuck in his throat. Pain spread throughout his body like wildfire, a thousand needles and knives stabbing into his skin, muscles, down to his very bones, tearing him apart. A thick fog settled in his mind, clouding his thoughts.
He needed to find a way out of here, quick.
Sonic pulled against the clamps holding him down with all his might, gritting his teeth and pushing through the pain. His restraints creak under the pressure and eventually…
They snap.
“Why, you pesky little… Grab him! Do not let him get away!” Nox commands the idle Badniks, his call drawing them out of stand-by mode. They rushed towards Sonic, hurrying to grab him and pin him down.
Sonic snarled, spines spiking up, sharp as knives. His claws ripped through his gloves as he slashed at the Badniks, knocking them back and leaving sizable gashes on their bronze hulls.
He forced himself off the chair, breaking the clamps on his legs and torso and rushing towards the locked door.
He needed to get out.
Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out.
He curls up into a ball, charging a spin-dash with as much power as he could muster. Launching himself at the door, he hits it once, twice, three times-
“NO!”
Nox's voice was drowned out by a loud crash as Sonic burst through the door, careening into the wall of the hallway before him. Though his whole body shook uncontrollably, he pushed himself back onto his feet and began running as fast as he could. Running down the twisting halls of the factory until it all became a blur of gray and rust.
No time to think. No mind to think.
Just run.
Run.
Run.
Suddenly, Sonic felt cold rain pouring over him. He was back outside in the grasslands. Darkness surrounded him.
He wasn't far enough. He needed to keep running. He couldn't stop. Not now. Not while he was still in danger.
So he kept on running. And running. And running…
Until he tripped over his own feet, falling face first onto the muddy forest floor.
Sonic couldn't get back up. He tried to reach the communicator hidden in his right cuff, but couldn’t get a grip. He couldn't breathe. His whole body trembled as it began to…
Change.
Bones cracked and snapped in a painful cacophony ringing in his ears, morphing into a new, beastly frame. Muscles ripped themselves apart, his body growing into a painful hulking mass of an animal. His skin became an icy pale blue and his fur and spines grew longer, turning dark as night. His gloves were torn apart by his hands swelling and morphing into large, blue paws with sharp claws. His muzzle lengthened into a snout, teeth growing pointed and jagged like those of a wild beast. His pained cries turned into rough growls, his voice corrupted and transformed. Everything was too loud, too bright, too much.
It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. IT HURTS.
Sonic screamed, his broken voice reverberating through the woods.
He felt his body lose its strength, pain fading into a distant sting, and he fell back onto the grass, unable to move. The world blurred into a haze, sounds drowned out by the ringing in his ears and the rain pouring down onto the forest.
In a daze, he looks up to see a large shadow looming over him. Red eyes pierce the darkness, staring right at him.
But unconsciousness calls, its claws gripping at his mind and dragging him into the abyss.
