uh anyway in our au around the time tails becomes an adult eggman ends up getting like. too old to keep being evil and just gets arrested rlly anticlimactically after a half baked scheme. and tails and sonic still go on tons of adventures but sonics like clearly bored. but tails has been making all these weapons w no reason to test em (and they REALLY wanna play toys w sonic) so they just. decide to become a villain.
they dont actually do anything evil its mostly just like "oh nooo im goiung to blow up this EMPTY BANK with NO PEOPLE IN IT!!!! whoever could possibly stop me???" and its all just a huge excuse for sonic & tails to play together without getting weird looks but yeah. silly.
Characters: Sonic [ he / it ] ; Tails [ they / them ] ; Dr. Eggman [ he / him ] ; Infinite the Jackal [ ??? ]
Warnings: Vaguely described blood/injury ; Sonic Loses Lol
Notes: dividers by @rookthornesartistry !! ; this is the first in a series i'm making where i just. rewrite forces from the ground up. very excited about it
Word Count: 1.9k
As always, Sonic did what he did best - race through the track he was given.
Eggman had been leading frequent attacks against the more urban areas dotting the planet Earth, and now he had finally decided to reveal his master plan - a plan for war.
Apparently, he had built a new Death Egg, and was launching it near one of the most densely-populated cities on the planet. Though nobody was sure about the finer details of this new model, one thing was for certain...
Things were about to get messy.
So Sonic ran, past every second-rate badnik and "deadly" lazer, closer to the Death Egg Mark...
"Hey, Tails," Sonic called through his communicator - a handy-dandy wristwatch that Tails was still thinking of a more sci-fi name for, "Which version of the Death Egg are we on, now?"
"I think we should be on--well, technically we're on Mark III..." Tails's voice crackled due to nearby interference - weird, but not unheard of.
"Technically?" Sonic hummed.
"There was that first one you destroyed with Knuckles, then the second that we raced on," he started explaining, "Then the one we all fought to blow up, the... one with Emerl... and then the one he sent at us on the anniversary of you and Amy meeting!"
"But, two of those were considered the Death Egg Mk.II, and the other three just the Death Egg, so I have no idea what Eggman thinks of this one."
"Looks like Eggman's as good at naming things as he is planning ahead," Sonic remarked, audibly grinning.
Even though it was absolutely nothing as quick quips go, Tails bursted out laughing, which prompted a smile from their brother.
"I'll talk to you later, little bro, think I'm almost there," Sonic says, "You keep up the good work over there!"
"Oh, thanks, Sonic-" Tails flushes, "I mean! Good luck to you, too, big bro!"
With an encouraging smile, Sonic ends the call, picking up the pace as he nears the Death Egg launch site.
Now at the city's edge, Sonic noticed the sheer amount of Badniks in the area, and how weirdly placid they were.
Sure, they took a swipe at him if he got too close, but otherwise none of them even bothered turning his way.
Not to mention, they're at the edge of the city. Eggman's only been attacking the most populated areas for a while...
Just as he tries to figure out a reason for these oddities, though, he notices a massive blockade in front of him.
With his depth perception, he can't tell how big they are, but he figures he can just jump over them if there's a ramp nearby.
He notices, almost too late, that there isn't.
Skidding to a halt right before he crashes into them, he prepares to run the opposite direction to look for a building to run up instead, but...
He's surrounded.
It was a trap.
He tries to spindash underneath them, but their legs are too tight together. He can't burrow, since the ground under him is concrete...
Even bashing them seems to be out of the question - they're harder than bricks, and he can't even make the slightest of dents or scratches on them.
At least they aren't trying to attack him back...?
If he had more room, he could build up some speed and make shrapnel of this new plating. But this weird arena's barely big enough for him to jog in, and every time he starts gaining speed he ends up just smacking against one of the drones.
Just as he tries formulating a plan, he hears a familiar, annoying laugh behind him.
He turns, crossing his arms and tapping his foot at the new arrival.
"Sonic, you're just in time to meet my newest pet project," Eggman grins, "Meet Infinite Mechanism - the greatest weapon I've had the pleasure of working with."
This "Infinite" is tall, towering above Eggman. Long and lanky, and Sonic thinks he can see bones through the thin fur and skin.
Or... maybe not bones. They look sharp. He notices a metallic sheen coming from a particularly papery part of skin.
Creepy...
Oh well.
"Infinite Mechanism, huh?" Sonic grins, keeping his confidence close and arrogance closer, "Guess it's better than Monkey Dude..."
Despite how weak the 'insult' was, his enemy seems to immediately deflate upon hearing it. For a moment, his stance changes, and his height makes him look less terrifying and more like a stretched-out piece of plastic about to collapse in on itself.
"Come on, Infinite! You're one of my greatest creations yet!" the doctor roars, apparently offended, "Defeat this blue brat! Put him in his place as punishment for insulting you!"
And there he goes, right back up to pompousness.
No big deal! Sonic's faced off with tons of uppity jerks before, and each time it's been their self-assured swinehood that was their biggest weakness.
There's no doubt that this Infinite guy was briefed for hours about each of Sonic's offensive moves, so he decides to make fun of 'em by keeping it simple.
A light kick there, a weak punch here... He doesn't even spindash, keeping his moves entirely to running around and occassionally taking potshots at his new rival.
When Infinite gets more aggressive, Sonic responds by zipping around the arena as well as he can - not a tactic that could help him get out, sadly, but more than good enough to tease.
He dodges a punch by speed-walking to the other side of the arena and avoids a spinning kick by just... leaning out of the way.
Absolutely enraged at this point, Infinite picks up the speed, trying to reach Sonic, and Sonic takes the opportunity to bait him, tripping him up in mid-air and sending him crashing into one of the badniks making up the arena.
"You're supposed to be Eggman's greatest weapon? Seriously?" he huffs, "This fight's so boring it's making me miss Metal."
"INFINITE!"
Both the combatants turn to Eggman, one absolutely less amused than the other.
"IGNORE THE RAT, FOCUS ON ME!"
"You're more powerful than he could ever dream of being!" the doctor barks, "You have him in the palm of your hand, now - CRUSH HIM!!"
"Talk about ignoring the truth, huh!" Sonic chuckles, crossing his arms.
Before he can finish the quip, though, Infinite barrels him over, grabbing his arms and forcing him to the ground.
He draws a massive, red sword from his belt, raising it above Sonic's neck -
"WHOA!"
Panicking, Sonic kicks him in the stomach and runs to the other side of the arena - wait, is it getting smaller?
No time for that - to take this bigshot down, Sonic needs an opening...
"So you've got a fancy weapon, big deal!" Sonic yells, "I don't need weapons to take anyone down, especially not a loser like you!"
It seems Eggman's 'speech' really got through to him, and Infinite is now completely ignoring Sonic. Drat.
"Keep going, Infinite!" Eggman cheers, "Put that rat in his place!"
With each word Eggman says, Infinite seems to only grow stronger. He fights quicker, harder, and smarter - still no match for Sonic, but... he's getting there.
To prove this point, he makes a sniper rifle appear out of thin air, and aims it at Sonic, pulling the trigger the second its sight meets his head.
Only having dodged because he was dashing when Infinite fired, Sonic's definitely getting a little shaken up now.
For his own sake, and to not power Infinite up even further, he keeps a cool head - and sticks his tongue out when Infinite turns to see if their shot hit.
Outraged, they throw away the now useless rifle and supplant a sword for it.
Infinite can't hear him, but he sure can see him...
Sonic looks, extremely disappointedly, at the sword. Shaking his head to truly convey how upset he feels at Infinite trying to use the same trick twice in one battle. He knows Infinite can do better!
This tomfoolery, albeit nonverbal, seems to get Infinite back to that deflated state. In fact, he seems positively depressed as he halfheartedly swings at Sonic, rendering the sword practically useless.
Well, it would be useless, if it wasn't still incredibly sharp!
Too worried about what'd happen if he tried jumping over a sword in such a tiny arena, Sonic gets backed into a corner, and the realization of this seems to reinvigorate his enemy.
He raises the sword, not too dissimilar from earlier,
Swings it down,
And Sonic kicks it away.
High on adrenaline, he rushes behind Infinite, kicking him down.
"One..." he breathes, "Two... three..."
"Four, five...!"
But before he can call it a knock-out, Infinite shakily pushes himself off the ground.
For a moment, he simply stands facing away from Sonic, and the air stills.
He starts shaking, but with his mouth hidden in a mask, Sonic can't tell if he's laughing or crying.
Thankfully, the awkwardness of the moment is shattered when Infinite swings a new weapon his way - a ridiculously oversized flail, with huge spikes to match.
Starting to get bored of how often he has to quickly dodge out of the way instead of just pummeling the dude, Sonic sighs as he runs away again, keeping his distance.
Deciding not to try his luck against something twice as big and three times as pointy as he is, Sonic uses his new 'running away' position to see if there are any other weaknesses he could make use of. Then notices-
Every time Infinite attempts to draw a new weapon, he has to take several seconds to fish something out of a satchel on his belt.
Great! Now if Sonic could just catch him unawares when he-
Throws the flail, and grabs several daggers.
Sonic might be tired of dodging, but he's absolutely not tired of speed. Or showing off.
A dropdash into a kick off the ground into a frontflip and he sticks the landing!
He gives a joking bow to several of the eggpawns surrounding the arena, making sure to sprint to each one individually and in random order, throwing off Infinite's aim.
Or maybe not.
He realizes, a little too late, the flow of wind as another dagger is thrown at him - and it hits his waving arm.
Shocked by the pain, and the blood, Sonic staggers.
That's... bad.
He grips his arm, trying to slow the flow of blood, but it's hopeless - the blade hit at an odd angle, and the wound is too wide.
It hurts too much to do anything but grip it, however, and the sight of the blood pooling at his feet makes him feel dizzy.
While he's preoccupied with his injury, Eggman lets his egg carrier float into the arena, taking in the sight with glee.
"Each picture is worth a thousand words," he grins, "But I believe this scene only requires three..."
"Good boy, Infinite."
With the praise, Infinite practically glows.
He advances on Sonic, a dark gleam coming from his mask.
Gently, he puts his hands on the sides of Sonic's arms,
Sonic hears a sickening crunch,
And everything goes black.
"Sonic! You there?"
"I managed to drive off all the badniks! Something really strange happened, though... seems like they all turned heel and ran off."
"I guess Robotnik must have called them back..."
"Wait, that means they're headed for the Death Egg!"
"If I'm right, do you need any help over there? None of my 'drones are any worse for wear, so we're all here if you need us!"
"I bet you could handle anything Eggman threw at you, though, big bro!"
the fact that our sonic was so utterly convinced nobody in the entire world could understand the anguish he went through while his best friends were and are tails (rejected by parents, had to learn english to talk to his brother), knuckles (knuckles) and amy (celtic pagan whose only connection to her heritage is witch aesthetics & divination) is very funny to me. ok narc baby but have you considered relating to your friends and finding ways to heal from your traumatic pasts and reforge connections to your heritages together?
heres a "quick" list of some hcs regarding physical disabilities, mental illnesses & other stuff that can impair function or is "odd" physically but i dont know the proper term for
might update this every once in a while but for now thats it
spoiler alert: its all chronic pain!
Sonic
Fibromyalgia, big-time. Uses massively thick socks to stop his feet from hurting too much while running.
DID, which starting developing when he was like....4. now that he's (mostly) gotten over his "just push everything down" era, inter-system communications are pretty strong, and he's friends w/ a lot of his headmates
doesnt have the best eyesight (in fact its p awful) but hes convinced he can still see well enough so he refuses to wear his glasses. WILL NOT wear contacts
has NPD
autistic. contrary to popular believe, he doesnt have ADHD
schizophrenia. idk which type or whatever. hes got the hallucinations.
has auditory and visual (???) synthesia which caused him to. make the sonic CD us sountrack. yeah
Tails
HoH, but doesn't like using hearing aids. A bad habit inspired by Sonic's refusal to wear his own glasses
OCD, huge-time. his paranoia can get so bad sometimes that he doesn't even trust Sonic. doing much better in that regard nowadays, though.
tic disorder, hits themself or has their neck turn the other way violently (hurts!!!!!!)
so obviously autistic they get a little embarrassed abt it sometimes
c-ptsd haver
Knuckles
Undiagnosed chronic pain, has no idea what's causing it. Fully believed it was emerald stealing karma for YEARS.
gets weird pinched nerves alot because of some of his old scars being close to nerve endings. ow
has bad eyesight but genuinely didnt realize for years
has a sort of? processing disorder thing? i dont actually know what it is. when you try to talk but actual gibberish comes out n you cant think. someone else had the same hc but i forgot what they called it. but he has that
does actually have a lot of trauma due to being alone for most of his life and being raised by nothing but a rock and maaaaybe some birds. crazy ik
Amy
Horrible, awful eyesight. worst perscription out of ALL of her friends
Hypermobile joints, which is part of why she has such a horrible posture (along w her dysphoria).
abandonment issues due to. yk. being abandoned by her parents, which ends up leading into her getting unhealthily attached to anyone who gives her the time of day (and she arbitrarily decides is totally the one for her)
Shadow
PTSD (canon)
mobility issues (canon)
NPD + maybe borderline...?
Rouge
pretty much 100% deaf, uses hearing aids.
has some kinda smt going on because of the way she grew up but fuck if anyone knows what it actually is.
Blaze
Had anorexia for years, which has caused a lot of muscle weakness. Now that she's in recovering, things are a lot better, but she still uses a cane most of the time.
has depression, anxiety and self-worth issues due to being bullied as a child. not just for her flame powers
double anxiety bc of people trying to take her shit
Silver
similar to Blaze, weak thanks to a really bad diet as a kid.
due to genetic mutations caused by radiation, contamination of drinking water & food, and extreme changes in the environment, silver has four arms
also a really weird immune system that flip-flops from being disturbingly strong to scarily weak (can eat actual trash somehow but a cold puts him out of the running for weeks)
anxiety + separation issues. tries to be stoic abt it tho
has dyscalculia And dyslexia, struggles with understanding english especially
Vanilla
chronic exhaustion + fibromyalgia from a young age. sort of worried cream will end up having it too
Cream
weak immune system due to lots of childhood illness. might not be able to be vaxxed bc of it
gets ear infections really easily, made significantly worse w all the dirt she kicks up from flying with her ears
unspecified panic disorder due to trauma. tries to stay brave
Charmy / charmie / charmee
constantly low blood sugar due to weird bee stuff + inconsistent diet as a kid
he thinks hes funny :/
might have autism and/or adhd
Espio
undiagnosed mobility issues. can climb fine, but has trouble walking and cant run. uses a cane
anxiety he refuses to talk abt to anyone except the other chaotix and, very rarely, silper
Vector
self-inflicted hearing loss. went to too many concerts
developed anxiety after taking care of charmy and espio for so long. thanks kids
Sticks
OCD. tends to unintentionally encourage tails's delusions. currently getting experimental therapy thats working rlly well
somehow has almost every possible vitamin deficiency
Eggman
tics similar to sonic and tails's
OSDD
NPD
Neo Metal Sonic
transfeminine metal sonic from the main au
chronic headaches after episode metal
joints tend to seize up when chilly for too long. although shes immune to water, its worse when shes cold
tics due to system errors / bugs she and tails cant fix. she doesnt actually mind them since it makes her feel more connected to her bros :]
memory problems also after episode metal
due to her memory problems she has to memorize stuff by repeatedly being given info and it takes way longer for her to learn things compared to other computers so i think she has a learning disability? bc of that?
has weird backwards sensory issues. lack of harsh lighting or metallic noises unsettles and can overwhelm her
might have NPD
has delusions. getting better at recognizing them, which helps her help tails more
Hyper Metal Sonic
second, transmasculine metal sonic from a spinoff au
self-induced chronic pain (wtf bro)
joints also seize up when cold
Sage
doesnt feel much physically, which leads to her getting bad injuries she barely recognizes for ages
autism beast
Scourge
popcorn lung due to smoking several packs of cigarettes daily so his voice sounds more gruff
gonna mention some of our sonics most important/active alters rq
sonic's polyfragmented & has well over a hundred alters so we're just mentioning the ones we have names / ideas for.
also scourge is in here. Is scourge also a guy seperate from sonic? we may never know... (the answer is literally just yes)
Pilot (he/him, neos?)
what they do: fuck all ; took away all of sonic's knowledge and muscle memory abt the tornado so he could fly it.
front tells: has a special salute he offers to everyone - two fingers on his temple, then finger-guns
relationship w/ others: when sonic realized hes the reason it suddenly started sucking at piloting the tornado, it fought him for DAYS. the two are on good terms now but sonic's still salty about the whole thing
description: dark brown fox. fur's only a little lighter than sonic's original quill/fur color
Survival (none)
what they do: keeps the body calm & focused when thrown into a survival/panic state ; fragment
front tells: acts prettymuch just like a hedgehog. snuffl snuffl
relationship w/ others: n/a
description: classic sonic but hes covered in mud
Protection (none)
what they do: split specifically to keep tails safe if sonic shut down during a battle, now helps everyone - including sonic ; fragment
front tells: completely nonverbal ; one-track mind worse than sonic's
relationship w/ others: n/a
description: classic sonic but hes covered in wounds :[
Scourge (it/he)
what they do: one-up sonic at every opportunity. obviously
front tells: usually him screaming "SCOURGE IS BACK, BABY!!!"
relationship w/ others: everyone either hates or loves him ; outside the body, amy thinks he sucks but is glad he's less sexist now, tails used to think he's scary but now just thinks he's kinda lame, and knux... has opinions.
description: YOU KNOW IT BABY!!!!
Cog (they/it)
what they do: exist. tries to keep the body away from drugs
front tells: higher-pitched voice, talks more like AoSTH / classic sonic; uses contact lenses that look like metal sonic's eyes
relationship w/ others: a lot of people jokingly hate em but most r kinda worried for em ; outside, theyre best friends with basically all badniks (though they have a somewhat rocky friendship with omega) and consider them to be its siblings
description: thinner sonic, wilting quills and its bones are painted chrome.
Mary-Ann (they/them)
what they do: split to give tails familial affection when sonic got burnt out, & later got the Secondary Task of avoiding like. CPS and stuff. ; now that they dont have to do that they get to just chill
front tells: softer tone of voice, body language is completely different and a lot slower
relationship w/ others: sonic feels bad abt pushing so much onto her even though it wasnt his fault or choice. theyre chill tho ; outside, they have a kinda-friendship with shadow since theyre the one who introduced him to the fact sonic's a system. tails loves them, and even outside of their purpose they care abt him too
description: porcupine mobian. looks a little more like an irl animal
Fleet (he/it/xe)
what they do: anger/rage/fear holder, used to be a fragment ; fronts whenever sonic goes super out of stress, or if he gets too upset when using the chaos emeralds to go super
front tells: extremely obvious. totally different way of speaking, maine/british accent (maine accent it picked up somewhere, british accent is the body's default); when fronting while super bc of the chaos emeralds, they morph him into what he looks like in headspace, but if he's just fronting due to stress all that changes is his quills are Wayyyyy messier. hard to miss him!
relationship w/ others: sonic tried to force him into permanent dormancy for years, which didnt work and caused him to take over the body for a few weeks ; he probably did meet ebony and pyjamas, both of whom unfortunately misunderstood his entire Him and hurt him a lot, but they managed to make up after xe worked thinks out with sonic and theyre rlly close friends now :]
description: it is fleetway :]
Prime (he/it)
what they do: secondary host
front tells: way, WAY more physically and verbally affectionate towards his friends; more open (obvious) about his emotions, doesnt bother hiding them as much (especially when he thinks it might be funny); a little more over the top with everything, especially his mannerisms - many of which he picked up directly from eggman
relationship with others: GREAT friends with pilot, who sorta acts like his tails when his tails isnt. yk. available (busy boy!!!). NOT FRIENDS WITH SONIC they do NOT get along :[ ; loves tails, LOVES amy, LOVES!!! KNUCKLES!!! LOVES SHADOW!!!! he loves ALL of his friends and he's gonna make it THEIR PROBLEM!!!<333
description: prime sonic! so just sort of different-looking regular sonic. he calls himself prime bc hes convinced hes the first sonic, and is totally smug abt maybe having a single memory earlier than sonic the other one.
Sonic (he/it)
what they do: primary host
front tells: it's sonic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ; rlly easy to tell when hes fronting again after a while bc he immediately picks up from the last convo you had w him (if he remembers) or challenges you to a race (if he doesnt)
relationships w/ others: VERY rocky. didnt accept he was a system for a while - he knew he was one since before the concept was given the name it has now but he was iffy on the whole "other people in his brain" thing and dealt with it HORRIBLY. this is a horrible combination of STC and IDW sonic so you know he was just being a huge inconsiderate jerk to everyone for YEARS. his reaction to the chaos emeralds giving a bunch of his alters their own bodies was fear and disgust instead of joy or even vague curiosity; even though he's repairing his relationships with everyone and going to therapy and getting support from his friends and allat, he still doesnt really like just... not having access to his body all the time. he doesnt like not being at front, it feels Bad, esp. when he misses big important dates. sorry man you got hit with the reverse curse idk what to tell you
description: ITS SONIC!!!
YUP THATS LITERALLY ALL I HAVE FOR NOW!!!
maybe ill make some more stuff with these guys and more specific alters but ive had this sitting in my drafts for like a month now so . it needs to be posted 👍
sonic smiling placidly totally disosociated and/or not listening 2 anyone as his 500 alters (25% of those being alternate versions of himself) scream at him bc he just did smt stupid
oh yeah pretransition baby sonic was a fucking nightmare btw. he was mostly fine w wearing dresses until he realized it was bc everyone saw him as a girl. prolly had a habit of tearing up ALL his clothes and insisting hes a GUY mobian and 'in this stupid country guy mobians dont WEAR clothes until theyre adults and IM five so im NOT an adult so i dont NEED clothes'. kinda kid to roll around in the mud right before social functions hes forced into a dress for.
i think itd be fun if his favorite outfit was made after one of the only times he was allowed to buy boy's clothes, convincing his parents it was fine to get em cause looook its pink isnt it!! wearing it proudly every day he can cause it fit him so well 'even though' it was supposed to just be for boys. very cisheteronormative but it gave him joy so hes forgiven. prolly the only outfit he had that he didnt end up tearing to shreds by intentionally rolling around in brambles
