Sonic Runaways

Sonic's lungs felt like they were going to burst as he breathed the cold, damp air. He wasn't sure if he was crying his eyes out or if it was only the raindrops streaming down his face. Running was painful. Fear was a constant. The heavy downpour felt like the sky kicking him to the ground. Sonic was directionless, hopeless. The steep rolling hills now felt less like a playground and more like a test of his mental limit. He slipped, he tripped, he lost his footing and went sliding in the mud back to the murky ankle-deep puddle at the bottom of the hill. He pushed himself to get back up, and darted up the hill once more, huffing and puffing with every step.

He slipped back down.

Sonic pulled himself back up by the very strands of grass sticking out from the side of the hill. He stood there, looking all around at his surroundings. Every direction was blocked off by steep hills. Walls. Climbing them was the only way forward to his self-imposed destination. A far-off, hopefully abandoned coliseum on the eastern side of the island. A possible shelter. His finish line. "If only I could go as fast as I did in that Cyberspace forest…" Sonic grunted through heavy, strained breaths. The downpour made the gasps for air feel more like a chug of iced water. He faced the solid wall ahead of him, temporarily stamped with a dozen pairs of his own footprints. He visualized his finish line. He curled up into a ball, and began to spin in place, spraying water from the puddle everywhere. He then released.

Sonic blasted off, momentarily gliding across the surface of the puddle like Orion and Poseidon before him. He made it to the slope. He rolled right up the barrier between this hole in the ground and the rest of Kronos Island. Rocketing off into the air, he uncurled from his ball only to fly across the moon. He flailed his arms and legs, as gravity took hold and he went falling back down to the ground. He landed on his face. He looked back. Sonic had escaped the pit. After a moment, he continued his trek to the coliseum, running down a long steep hill as a blood-pumping reward for his efforts.

Sonic was cold. So cold. The heat from his sheer speed wouldn't stave off hypothermia forever. The hedgehog looked all around, playing I-spy with his tired eyes. Until he felt something scratching against his leg. He held in a scream, and looked down. Upon first seeing the thing, he couldn't NOT scream. It was a little round rock creature, some kind of living statue. Sonic quickly calmed down as he noticed how warm the odd little guy was. It didn't seem violent or hostile at all. Sonic picked him up, and the thing smiled at him warmly. "Aren't you cute?" Sonic chuckled. "A living statue… how about that?" Innocent, naive shadows danced around in Sonic's head. Sonic then snapped out of it as an idea came to the forefront of his mind. Sonic stuck his fingers into the three holes that suggested features on the boulder baby's face. Sonic held it like he was holding a bowling ball. He heard a little laughing sound come from the creature. "Aah, that's better…" Sonic sighed as a cozy feeling coursed through his body. He continued on through the fields, holding onto his new pet tightly.

Sonic eventually arrived at the coliseum's doors. He looked up to a sky full of stars. His tired eyes drifted back to his new rock companion. "Looks like we made it, little guy," Sonic yawned. "This is our new… pathetic… little… home…" Sonic stepped onto the metal flooring, found a nice spot far away from the dropoff into the ocean, and lied down. "And now… for a little shuteye." He placed his hand holding the rock creature on his chest, and let his eyelids close.

"What am I doing here?" Sonic thought to himself as he began to drift off. "What happened to my memories? I wonder if I had a life. I wonder if I had a family, or friends. Do they miss me?" Sonic's thoughts slowed down. "... Should I miss them? Should I trust what that cat said?" Sonic's thoughts stopped, as he began to dream of Amy based on her name alone. That was all he had.

"Wake up."

Sonic snapped awake with a gasp. He saw Sage floating above him. "You're not trying to sleep again, are you?" Sage asked, glaring at Sonic. "C'mon, pull yourself together. You're not done."

"What do you mean?" Sonic grunted, getting up and rubbing his eyes. "Can't you let a guy sleep? I've had a long day."

"I told you I would return at day's end. Have you already forgotten this morning too?" Sage asked. "I approach you with a trial, Sonic the Hedgehog. To test your power against a mighty opponent. Your encounter with Big earlier today left much to be desired." Sonic's heart sunk. Fighting in a state like this? He could hardly keep his eyes open. Sage lifted an arm, and that cyber effect covering her body shot out of her hand in a ball. It floated over to the center of the coliseum, and took shape as a tall, sharp figure with a pyramid for a head. The figure solidified into cold hard metal. Sonic's eyes widened, he stepped back under the red light emanating from the robot's head. He placed his pet rock onto the ground. It ran away and cowered in the bleachers. "Fight this robot. It's a Ninja. Good luck."

Sonic jumped out of the way as the Ninja took one long step towards him and bent forward, slashing at the ground Sonic once stood on. There was now a perfect slice in the floor. The Ninja's arm blades were detached from its body physically, but they were still fully articulated. Sonic ran to the opposite side of the room, as the Ninja walked towards him elegantly and slowly. Every footfall from the Ninja left a small hole in the metal floor.

"Well how the hell am I supposed to beat THIS thing?" Sonic shouted at Sage. "Are you trying to get me killed or something?!" Sage remained silent for a second.

"So what if I am? Are you going to fight or are you going to die?" Sage asked. Sonic charged up a Spin Dash and shot towards the Ninja like a bullet. He bounced right off, and it looked like he had chipped off a considerable piece of the Ninja. "Interesting. So interesting…" Sage clawed her own face gently as Sonic and the Ninja clashed. Sonic was fighting too cautiously to chip off more than a piece at a time. The Ninja was too slow to land any attacks on Sonic. "I never knew any creature could do that. Not a living creature, anyways. You bend in ways I never thought possible. But I assure you… this Ninja can bend too." The Ninja lurched forward and shot its right arm blade at Sonic. Sonic leapt out of the way and rolled around the Ninja with a trail of lightning crackling behind him. The Ninja stood still and held out its other arm blade in front of Sonic. He slid under the blade, then controlled the lightning to focus on the Ninja. The electric ring closed around the robot, and charred its entire body. "Whoaaaa…" Sage gasped, clapping her hands so fast they became blurs.

Sonic grabbed the blade the Ninja had thrown as it tried to boomerang back to its owner. He turned it around in his hands, then looked up at the Ninja with a piercing glare. He revved up a Figure Eight Peel Out, and burst towards the Ninja. Strange… it felt like he had done all these tricks before. Just as the Ninja was able to get up from being electrocuted, Sonic jabbed the blade through its stomach. A sharp ringing sound.

Sonic tried to catch his breath, as the Ninja looked up at him. Looked like it was defeated. Just as Sonic let his guard down, the Ninja slashed at him with its one remaining arm, creating a long horizontal split across his stomach. Sonic staggered back with a yelp. He clutched his abdomen as blood began to seep out. Though it was painful, Sonic quickly realized the wound wasn't too deep. Sage floated down between Sonic and the fallen Ninja.

"What was that for?!" Sonic shouted at Sage, showing her the blood on his hand. The red… cold… pixelated blood. Sage remained silent, her intimidating expression unwavering. Sonic looked from his glove to the cybernetic slash across his stomach. "What did you do to me?" He grunted exhaustedly. Sage held her hand forward. Sonic lifted his hand to take it, thinking Sage was helping him up.

"Don't touch me," Sage muttered. "Just look." Sonic stared at her hand. The effect… was the same as the one his blood was festering with. "That Ninja injected you with RED-CODE. Think of it like a computer program, if you know what a computer is at all. This was all a test."

"A test?" Sonic grunted. He felt his wound close. "Huh…" Sonic looked all over his body. He felt… different.

"I wasn't actually gonna kill you, you know," Sage said. "If you died, I would have nothing left to exist for. The Ninja cannot destroy you. Any real physical damage it could have done would be quickly UNdone. If it sliced off your head (for example), it would be reattached through the same means your little cut was healed."

"Well it still hurt," Sonic grumbled.

"Have you learned nothing about this place? Pain is the only way to grow. What doesn't kill you makes you ever so slightly stronger," Sage explained. "RED-CODE will help you scrape by in this environment. The Starfall Islands may be pretty, but the trials and tribulations you will experience in your life here won't be. You need to be strong. You need to make hard decisions, suffer through agony and loss to survive." Sonic's rock friend spun towards him without a care in the world. Sonic picked it up the same way he had before. He and Sage stood there in silence. "You plan on eating that?"

"What?!" Sonic exclaimed, holding the rock away from Sage.

…

Big the Cat wandered along the coast of Kronos Island, his fishing rod drawing a line in the sand behind him. He finally found a good spot to sit down, and so he did. He cast his line, and waited.

"A nice day for fishing," Big said to himself. "Actually, every day is a nice day for fishing."

Sonic watched from behind a large rock as Big caught a decently-sized salmon. While Big gazed at the salmon as it stopped struggling and died, Sonic looked to and gripped a stick he had found. "You don't actually think you can do anything with that, do you?" Sage whispered from his side.

"I think I can try," Sonic replied with a confident smirk.

"Oh my God, you're gonna try to fish with RED-CODE," Sage squeaked and giggled with her hands over her mouth. "What a waste. Like using a flying pod as a bobsled. Searching through my databases, absolutely nobody in their right mind has ever even tried what you hope to do."

"That just means I'll be the first to pull it off," Sonic muttered, with a giddy grin. Channeling the new power coursing through his veins, Sonic wove a red, pixelated, metaphysical string around his trusty handmade fishing rod. A wooden gift from the atwix of a herculean tree standing mighty and tall above the grasslands of Kronos Island. This was it. This stick would allow him to pick the lock of the door to survival.

Sonic cast his line. It landed in the water and splashed loudly. Big looked over.

"He's looking. Abort, abort!" Sage shook Sonic's arm. "He said he'd kill us both, remember?"

"You afraid?" Sonic asked, his heart pounding as Big got to his feet.

"No! I just think it would be sad if you didn't even live to see your first sunrise here," Sage hissed even sharper this time. Sonic rolled his eyes mockingly. "Shut up! This is a bad idea, we can still run."

"Nah, I haven't eaten all day," Sonic replied, as he felt something pull on the end of the line. "If I keep going like this, I won't even live to see the next few hours."

Sage blew an irritated raspberry. "Now you're just exaggerating," she crossed her arms.

"Okay, how did Big do it?" Sonic hummed, pulling the stick in every direction. "I have an idea! Sage, dive in there and grab the fish while I hold it in place!" Sonic looked to Sage, gritting his teeth as he put all his strength into keeping the pole from being pulled away from him.

"Hmm… no," Sage refused. The dinky little twig snapped in half and Sonic fell onto his back on a collection of small pointy rocks.

"Aw, c'mon. Teamwork makes the dream work, right?" Sonic groaned, getting up from the rocks.

"We're not a team," Sage replied. "You're just some stray hedgehog I've been tasked with looking after every night."

"Voices…?" Big grunted. Sonic and Sage peeked over the large rock, and saw he was looking the other way. Towards nothing.

Big's eyes opened wide and their misty pupils began to clear for a second. They grew like those of a house cat who just saw their owner come home after a day of absence. "Amy? Cream?" He asked, standing up and looking to the other side of the beach. He gasped. "FROGGY!" Big cried, running through the sand with tears spilling from his dilated eyes. "I finally found you guys. It's been so long!" He kept running until he was a speck in the distance to Sonic and Sage.

"What's he doing?" Sonic asked, glancing to Sage. "Nobody's—"

"Poor guy. It's his loneliness playing tricks on him," Sage sighed, closing her eyes and turning away. "Moreover, the island is playing tricks on him."

"Oh… oh okay," Sonic mumbled, looking to the ground. Suddenly, a loud siren sounded from the other side of the mountains Big was heading towards. It sounded like the screams Sonic heard in Cyberspace after he broke out of that huge mecha. That cold wet feeling also returned. "Sage… what is that?"

"Maybe you should follow Big and find out for yourself," Sage said.

"Hell if I'm doing that!" Sonic shouted, running the other way. "I'm outta here!"

"You're going to leave Big to die?" Sage asked. "You're the reason he's experiencing this, you know." Sonic skidded to a stop and looked to Sage.

"So now it's my fault?" Sonic asked.

"Yes. He hasn't fallen for these tricks for a long time. Only after he saw you in the flesh and in broad daylight does he relapse into such a swayable state of mind. I think deep down, he remembers these false memories," Sage muttered. "You should help him." Sonic watched as something rose from beneath the mountains, carrying them on its back like Sonic with his spines. A titanic terrifying robot with a hallway-like mouth full of shifting teeth. It had no eyes. Its shoulders were the size of large meteors and its arms the size of skyscrapers. "Sonic… you must FIGHT THE TITAN; GIGANTO!"

"I… I should. You're completely right, Sage," Sonic sighed. He mustered up the courage to call out to Big. But he was then struck with two bolts of fear. Big would hear him. Giganto could hear him. Sonic started to shut his mouth. "BIIIG! Over here!" Sonic shouted, harnessing these bolts of fear and turning them into his own power like they were bolts of lightning. He dashed forward, kicking up rocks and following Big down the coastline as Giganto looked down at the two of them. Giganto roared loud enough for the waves to grow bigger and splash onto Sonic, before walking towards him and Big. Sonic grabbed onto Big's hand as Giganto blocked out the moonlight. "C'mon! We need to run!"

"But Sonic. Froggy's right there," Big whined, pointing at nothing. "I've been looking for him all morning."

"No he isn't! Let's get out of here!" Sonic barked, tugging at Big's arm.

"He is! Amy and Cream are there too," Big said. "They want to have a picnic. Aren't you coming with me, Sonic? Didn't you miss them too?" Sonic's eyes widened, as Giganto leapt into the air and stomped down mere inches away from them. The entire island quaked as Giganto clacked his teeth together. "They're on that hill over there…" Big looked up at Giganto as it lifted its foot to stomp down on them. Sonic grabbed Big's fishing pole, spun it around the cat, and ran off, dragging Big away from the Titan. "Ow! Owww! Sonic, you're hurting me!" Sonic felt the sweat on his face roll sideways and fleck into the distance. He ran right past Sage, who swooped towards him soon after. Giganto followed, taking a light midnight stroll over to Sonic.

"Sage! Can't we save him?!" Sonic asked.

"Froggyyyyyyyy!" Big sobbed, waving his arms around.

"We can mitigate the issue. This guy's beyond saving in the long term, though," Sage groaned. She cleared her throat.

"Wake up."

Fog rolled in from Big's brain over to his eyes, and they constricted until his irises were nearly invisible. Sonic ran to the base of Big's Tower and began to untangle him from his own fishing line. "Hey, big guy. You back? How do I—?! Oh my god this was a mistake," Sonic sputtered, pulling at the line.

"You shouldn't wrangle someone up with a fishing pole unless you can UNTIE A BASIC KNOT," Big growled, freeing himself in a matter of seconds. Looked like he was in his right mind again, for better or for worse. Sonic smiled. Until Big turned to him and Sage. "I knew it. Illusions, all of you! I shouldn't have let my guard down." Big breathed heavily, gripping his fishing spear. "Let's see if you Cyberspace bastards bleed." The ground shook again, causing Big to flop over. Sonic went off-balance, and Sage was floating so she didn't care. Giganto was now charging right at them, screeching. Sonic tried to move, but he couldn't even stand. Sage watched as the sun came up over the horizon.

"Well, I'm out," Sage said under the rumbling. Sonic watched as she disappeared into a puff of red smoke. Giganto drew close. Sonic tried to run, but with a single stomp, Giganto launched him and Big miles into the air. Giganto grabbed them… and hurled them into Big's Tower. Everything went black.