Changing Paths

Chapter 1:

"INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. ALL SYSTEMS REPORT TO BAY 23. BREAK-IN LOCKDOWN COMMENSING. INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT."

The alarm system was repeating the same line over and over again after a flawless break-in attempt from none other than Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic had heard from the Rouge that Eggman had been planning to once again try and take over Station Square. Sonic, never once thinking about what he was getting himself into raced ahead of his friends to see what Eggman had up his sleeve.

A very familiar voice came over the intercom, "Attention all Eggbots. I want this damn hedgehog caught and brought to me ALIVE. I repeat, do not hurt the poor thing, but make sure he is brought bounded to me. We have much to discuss- Sonic. I know you are listening, so if you please, make this easier on the both of us and come to the cockpit. I will be waiting." Eggman's voice faded from the intercom and Sonic looked around at the surrounding robots that came to capture him.

"Well, looks like this is going to be one fun challenge! Let's see if I can blow-up these bots before that Faker finally decides to show up!" Sonic gave his trademark grin and jumped up into a spin dash. He easily took down 20 robots as a swarm of 50 or more appeared from the shadows of the bay.

"They just won't give up. When will you learn Egghead!" Sonic laughs to himself as he sees a bright light appear and suddenly another 20 of the robots blow up in front of him.

"Look who finally decided to show up!" Sonic turned to face Shadow as he appeared from the shadows behind him. Following a little farther behind Shadow was his best buddy Tails, the Guardian of the Master Emerald Knuckles, and the time traveler (currently stuck in their dimension) Silver. Shadow gave a slight smirk and pointed at Sonic.

"Hmph. Idiot. Look what you already dragged me into. I thought for sure that you of all people would have had this place wiped out by now of these damned robots. I can see now that you're all talk and no show. Pitiful." Sonic smiles as he looks at Shadow and shakes his head.

"Shads, lighten up buddy!" Sonic wraps his arm around Shadow's shoulders. "I obviously wanted you to have a little fun and get some more practice in! You were looking a bit sloppy the other day in our race. I am just providing you with some more practice is all." Shadow shrugs off Sonic's arm and growls.

"Don't touch me. Don't you have somewhere to be right now?" Shadow pushes Sonic towards the cockpit entry level. "I can handle things here. You go and get Eggman." Sonic nods and races off towards the cockpit just as Tails, Knuckles and Silver catch up to Shadow.

"Where is Sonic off to now? We just caught up!" gasps Tails as he breathes in deeply to get more air into his lungs.

"Off to get Eggman. We have our hands full here anyway." Said Shadow as he turns towards the seamlessly never ending swarm of robots ahead of them. "Get ready to put up a tough fight."

Getting into his fighting stance, "Got it!" said Knuckles as he grins at Tails who got out his latest invention- the freeze ray.

"Ready!" grins Tails as he looks ahead towards the robots. "Remember, once I freeze things you'll be able to smash right through them Knuckles!"

"Got it buddy." Knuckles replies back and looks towards Silver. "You ready for that practice that you wanted?"

Silver grins as he focuses on the robots ahead, "More than ever."


Sonic had just reached the top level where the cockpit lies when suddenly a familiar robot steps out from the shadows and in his line of path. The robot looks up and locks eyes with Sonic. Emerald green meets with dark digital red as Metal Sonic seems to be glaring at Sonic. "You shall not go any farther." Metal Sonic says as Sonic takes in his opponent's newest look.

"What did Egghead do to you? You look to resemble Shadow more than me now Metal." Sonic states as he looks Metal up and down. He stands there and crosses his arms over his chest. "Seriously. What's up with the upwards hair do and darker look? Are you supposed to be a cross of me and Faker?" Sonic snorts as he thinks of what a combination of him and Shadow would look like.

"You will soon find out why I look the way that I do. I am surprised you do not recall this significant 'feature' of mine, as it comes very custom to you." Suddenly Metal charges at Sonic and knocks him back into the wall as Metal clutches Sonic's throat and holds him tightly against the wall. "This time, you won't win." Metal plunges a syringe into Sonic's arm just as he was about to fight back and slowly Sonic's vision starts to leave him.

"What… What did you… you do…" Sonic falls unconscious to the sleeping syrup that Metal had given him. Metal picks up Sonic's unconscious body and carries him into the cockpit. He straps him down onto a metal table and turns towards the large chair sitting in front of the very large windows looking out over the Emerald Ocean.

"I see you finally brought him to me Metal." Said Eggman as he turns around in his seat to face Metal. "You followed exactly according to plan. Good work!" Eggman stands and walks towards Sonic's body. "Seems to me it was much easier than expected to catch him this time. No matter, we shall begin with the experiment!" Eggman turns towards the tools laying before him as he picks up another syringe filled with a waking up solution. "You are dismissed for now, Metal."

"As you wish Master." Metal says as he backs away and into the shadows to shield himself. Eggman then plunges the needle into Sonic's arm, instantly waking him up.

"What in the-!" Sonic grips his hands tightly as he fights against his restraints. "What's going on here Egghead?!" Sonic growls at Eggman who stands just smiling down at him.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to join me. Welcome Sonic! This is where a new era will begin! One where I will finally rule this damn city- and soon the world! And I will have you to thank my dearest hero." Eggman laughs as he picks up another syringe and flicks the top of it with his finger. "The courageous hero, suddenly gone bad. No one to stop him- oh what will they think! What will your friends think!" Eggman turns towards Sonic. "I am sure you know where this is heading."

Sonic growls at Eggman and pulls at his restraints. "No! I don't! And I would never in a million years ever let you take control of me! You must be sick in the head to think that I would ever let that happen!" He tries once again but the restraints seem to tighten each time he tries to break free.

"Oh, ho ho ho! Sonic! I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about." He turns towards his monitor and shows a picture a vaguely familiar hedgehog. Sonic gasps and his eyes widen as he realize what he is looking at. He turns his head towards Eggman and shakes his head back and forth widely.

High above in the rafters a certain white bat was watching from the shadows, waiting for her turn to sneak down and help Sonic. Right before her chance to move in, she is struck with fear as she looks into the lifeless eyes of the hedgehog in the picture. She remembers this hedgehog, and how he terrorized her nightmares a few years ago- when she first joined G.U.N. She sits back against the rafters and takes in shallow breaths to try and regain her strength. "It can't be…"

Back down low Sonic thrashes as Eggman holds his arms steady for the needle. "You can't do that! It's not safe! Not even for you!"

"Oh I am very willing to take this risk Sonic. Especially if you are the reason why." His grin widens as he inserts the needle into Sonic's arm. "Prepare for some unimaginable pain hedgehog. I made sure to make this especially painful- just for you!" He takes out the needle and prepares the second one and Sonic's body starts to involuntarily shake.

Sonic clenches his teeth together to try and stop himself from screaming out as the painful burning of the dark solution starts to flow through his veins. "Eggman! Stop now!" He grunts out in pain and opens one eye to look at Eggman. "Please… I'm begging you!" Eggman looks at Sonic shockingly.

"My, my! Is the great Sonic the Hedgehog BEGGING for mercy? What a turnaround of events we have! Too bad it isn't a time or place for me to take full advantage of this situation." He sticks the next needle into Sonic's arm and begins to pump the black liquid into him as Rouge jumps from the rafters and knocks Eggman back into the wall. She rips the needle from Sonic's arm just as he screams out in pain from the black solution taking over. She notices how only half of the solution got into his system, but she still knew it was enough to take over. She quickly unstraps Sonic from the table as he sits up and grips his head- screaming out in unimaginable pain. Rouge was about to pull him towards the door when Metal Sonic came charging towards her and knocks her back into the windows.

"Oof!" She grunts as her back hits the windows and a large crack appears. She sits up and rubs her lower back as she sees Sonic trying his best to stay conscious through this all. She flies up just as Metal attacks her once again and flies towards Sonic, grabbing his arms and flying out the door.

"Get that hedgehog!" Shouted Eggman as both he and Metal followed closely behind Rouge.

"Why do you have to be so damn heavy, Big Blue?" Rouge asks as she looks down to a now unconscious Sonic. "Well shit. This stuff takes faster effect than I thought it would." She just reached the lowest level when she noticed Shadow and Knuckles heading up towards her. "Turn back! Blue's unconscious and we've got company! We've got to get out of here now!" She turns around to see that Metal had just got up when Shadow knocks him back into Eggman.

"What happened to Sonic?!" Knuckles asked as he takes Sonic's unconscious body from Rouge's arms. "And why the hell is he so cold?!"

"We don't have time for questions right now, Red. Let's get out of here!" Rouge yells as she flies towards the exit and onto Tails' plane.

"Sonic!" screamed Tails as he takes in his body being carried by Knuckles.

"Not now kid, fly us out of here!" Shadow yells as he turns Tails towards command window and they take off.


"So what exactly happened to him?" asks Silver as he sits down in the living room of Tails' workshop with Tails, Shadow, Knuckles, and Rouge. "I mean, I have never felt a colder body that wasn't… dead…" He looks up and sees Knuckles glare at him as Tails takes in a petrified face. "I mean… uh, of course he's not dead! He's just uh…" Silver rubs the back of his head and sweatdrops as he receives more glares.

"Eggman was plotting something that had to deal strickly with Sonic. Sonic was the main focus of his plans all along. I don't know what exactly it was he injected into him- all I know is that it's not good." Rouge states as she stands near Sonic's bedroom room, periodically looking in to check on the now sleeping hedgehog. "All I hope is that it's not something that will kill him…"

Shadow looks up at Rouge and says, "I feel more chaos energy being emitted from him. It's enough to compete with my own." He turns towards Tails and looks him dead in the eyes. "I need you to make Sonic some Inhibitor Rings." Shadow takes off one of his rings and hands it to Tails. "If I am correct, he is going to need them if he survives this." Just as Tails takes the ring and heads into his workshop area, Amy busts through the front door with tears streaming down her face.

"What happened to my Sonic?!" She cries as she runs towards his room but gets blocked off by Shadow and Rouge. "Move! I need to see him!" She cries, trying to get around Shadow.

"No Amy! He needs his rest right now." Shadow says as he lays his hands down on her shoulders to calm her down. Amy looks up into Shadow's eyes as her tears stream down her cheeks and she hugs him crying into his chest. Shadow's eyes widen as he looks down at her, not sure what to do, or how to comfort her. He slowly wraps his arms around her and pats her back awkwardly.

Rouge smiles softly at the two of them and slowly enters into Sonic's room and closes the door behind her. She goes over his bed and sits down besides his emotionless body and feels for his pulse. "You're hanging in there Big Blue… that's all we can ask for right now." She looks down at him as she thinks back to what she saw before he passed out- his lifeless eyes. A shiver is sent down her spine when she looks up into those same eyes as Sonic stares at her darkly. She gasps as he sits up and grabs her wrist and pulls her towards him. He growls darkly into her ear.

"You're the only one who previously knows about this. So this stays between the two of us- you hear?" growls Sonic as he glares into Rouge's terrified baby blue eyes.

"Y-yes I-I know." Stutters Rouge as she looks into Sonic's changing eye colors. Slowly the dark, lifeless eyes fade back into his normal emerald green and his frown is replaced with a simple, pained smile.

Sonic sighs as he lets go of Rouge's wrist sits with his hands in his lap. "Why me Rouge? You know what I have to do now… I can't stay here. I will endanger everyone." He looks up to meet Rouge's sad eyes with his own.

Rouge pulls Sonic into a tight hug and whispers into his ear, "I know. I know." She tries her best to soothe him as his grip around her waist tightens. "I know this is the exact reason why you ran before." She feels Sonic flinch as she recalls his horrific past. Sonic pulls back and nods, looking away from her. She slowly stands and walks towards the door. "I will let everyone know you're awake. She looks back at Sonic and he nods to confirm he heard her as he looks out his bedroom window.


"What do you mean you're leaving?!" Cried Tails as he looks at Sonic's packed bag hung around his shoulder. "Why are you leaving? You just got hurt! You need to rest! But why Sonic?! I don't understand!" Tails looks at his hero with sad eyes as Sonic breaks the news to him that he is going on a little "trip" to clear his head.

"Hey, listen buddy. It's no big deal! I'll be back before you know it!" says Sonic as he rustles Tails' hair on the top of his head. "Just tell the others I am going on a little vacation. I need a break from everything that's happened these past few days, and I know it will help to clear my head of this fog that keeps appearing." Sonic's face grows sour as he thinks of the real reason behind the fog. "But don't worry! I won't be gone long. Eggman will be out of commission for a while after our little feud with him. I'll be back before his next attack. Promise!" Sonic smiles at Tails and gives him a trademark grin.

Tails looks down and suddenly runs and hugs Sonic tightly. "Okay! But you promised!" Tails looks up at Sonic who gives him a small smile.

"I promise buddy."


Sonic stops as he reaches the long, dirt path surrounded by a row of trees. He turns back towards the city and sighs as he thinks about what he is leaving behind, but knows it's for the best. He starts walking down the pathway when he hears a rustle of leaves from above. He looks up and smirks as he keeps walking. "I see G.U.N. has sent you to watch me leave. Am I right, Rouge?"

"My, my Big Blue, whoever took you for the smart one?" Rouge laughs a bit as she lands and sits down on a higher branch. "Of course they sent me. Who else would they send to do their dirty work?" She leans forward as Sonic stops in his tracks and looks up towards her.

"Seems fitting to me." Sonic says as he grins towards her. "But don't worry. I'm leaving. I plan on getting as far away as possible so Eggman doesn't have the chance to try and control me." Sonic states, his expression turning serious. Rouge gives a small smile and nods.

"I know Blue. I'm sorry it has to be this way. But here." She tosses him four black Inhibitor Rings. "Tails made these but I took them to G.U.N. to have them perfected. Considering the fact that you need them to be if you want any chance to control yourself against Him." Sonic catches the rings and turns to look at her.

"Thanks Rouge." Sonic turns and starts to walk away again.

Rouge calls out to him one last time, "I'll see you soon Big Blue. Don't forget about us." Sonic stops, a small smile playing at his lips as he raises up a single hand and waves off Rouge. He doesn't turn back again.

Let me know what you guys think! Took awhile but I love it so far! If you want to see the cover photo for the story here is a link to it!
~ art/Changing-Paths-Story-Cover-colored-verion-3988 68303 ~