Metal corridors made out of the luxurious ancient metals banged in pain against the shoes scraping upon them. The legs they walked in synch with had never worked so hard in their life. The torso towering above them heaved with the lungs underneath. Pants. Pleas of a sort…. Left the hedgehog's lips. Heave after heave after pant after pant. He had been working himself to the bone. He had NEVER gone this fast, he swore. He was going to run himself ragged but he didn't care – he didn't even THINK about it as the blazed through the underwater tunnels that should be coded with the metal slime the person who recently just took the Worst Person Ever award from Eggman straight out of his hands trailed behind him in his mind. Because of what a sick person he was.

Lyric.

Lyric's scales were bland as all get out. A boring green versus an electric blue. There should be no contest, but the anger causing his scowl and his eyeridges to be so clenched onto his face that it was a surprise that he could still see said otherwise.

He was furious. Absolutely furious and he finally saw the finish line. A barricaded metal door with an enerbeam lock. Like a whip his arm cracked as he threw the lightning bolt key straight into it's home made of tumblers. Like a kitten it purred, and one lock was open, but as he approached he didn't have time for another.

So he did what he always did. BUSTED IT DOWN.

Just like his arm he waited until the perfect step…. snapping his upper body to match the momentum of his lower body like a wave, becoming a roll, and with a fierce, mighty growl that could scare Eggman so bad he'd wet himself, the metal door was broken through – smoke revealing a dent, and a bandana wearing hero.

A sickening sound like a teddy bear being dragged on the ground with a sizzling sound against concrete slithered around with some sense of satisfaction as an army of protruding sharp sparks against the poorly lit metallic ruins swerved and danced as a laughter filled the room. The protruding sparks of green were poked out in self-indulgent victory.

Sharp sparks of blue, however, bristled as laughter filled the room, and slit eyes and a goldfish bowl helmet gleamed against a smile of fangs. And yet…

As the laughter got louder, and the gigantic form towered closer to the hedgehog, he found his stance… faltering. He was beginning to shake. And he didn't question why, he knew why.

He didn't hold it back. Anger. Rage. The other emotions were showing now, as the snake spoke.

"Well, well. Looks like our business trip was cut a little short, hm…?" He said, chuckling afterwards as he watched as the tape-lathen hedgehog quivered. But as he lowered his head, it was very obvious it wasn't in fear.

Unike his ex-partner Eggman, he wasn't to adept to reading the blue blur, and quickly found himself at a loss at what to say.

"Don't you have a… punch, or a kick, or an enerbeam to throw at me?"

The only response the ancient serpent had was small. Hard to hear. A whimper of sort, but with more of a kick to it. It was a grunt. Lost between his gritted teeth. Gritted so hard his lips quivered in the effort of force driving them together every second. Even as he shook.

"Come now, this is just ridiculous! Don't you have ANYTHING?! Where's the twin tailed canine?" The snake looked around as he called out for the loner's friends, expecting a surprise attack. Another grunt was heard from his enemy. His shaking continued out of the corner of his eye.

"The other annoying hedgehog?" The hedgehog's stance changed as the snake gave him his full attention. "… The barbarian echidna…?"

More grunts and sounds of the start of a sentence escaped his wrestling teeth. But nothing came out. Nothing listenable anyway. As his metal arms whirred and crossed, Lyric stood up even taller above the hedgehog. He gave up the intimidating towering routine; changing that up for a more… casual pose since… well… it was confusing what was going on. Or so it seemed.

A smirk came into his lips.

"Aaahhh, I remember. I threw them into my death trap mere hours ago! Murdering them in cold blood, just like I'm about to finally do to you." He snarled, towering over once agin, making his way above the minuscule hedgehog; slowly. To enjoy every second. The only reaction he seemed to get was more shaking. More stuttering. It seemed like he was a time bomb. Ready to go off. And go off because of what? The serpent didn't understand. He probably never would.

"… Why are you shivering, like you wish to avenge them?" He said. And like that, the hedgehog's clock hit zero.

"Shut up." His teeth separated to say. Shaking. Quills still stretched out and extended like knives ready to pierce through that stretchy scaly skin of his. That he shed every so often. He'd never understand why he was shaking. Why he was angry. Why he was full of rage. Why he was–….

"Why are you so lost without them… when you wanted to be alone in the first place?" Lyric said, coiling around the hedgehog, trying to put him into a death grip.

"I SAID." The self-dependent hero bellowed, he raised his head. Drops. Like a rainstorm had just begun to drizzle down into the little burrow they were in. "SHUT UP!"

His muzzle was coded in tears on both sides. Teeth bared, fangs visible. He shook. Taking a ready stance. Fists clenched. He shook with rage. Anger. HEARTBREAK. And like clockwork, slit eyes widened in surprise. Not fear; surprise. Like this was unexpected, but fun nonetheless.

"Oh? You want ME to shut up about how your comrades were lost to my machines without you? Without your direction? Or help?" Lyric said, uncoiling and recoiling around the spiny blue hedgehog. He did it slowly, closing in with every breath. To way it wasn't enough was an understatement as he wrapped around just in time to see the explosion itself. The hedgehog's fists erupted, his quills flying before flexing back into a more instinct-proper position to kill the predator towering right in front of him.

"NO! I finally had FRIENDS! People I cared about! People who CARED about me! Who'd stand by me no matter what and you took them away before I even HAD A CHANCE! You're… You're a…." As he finally began tripping over his words and sniffling as his tears fell, the last hedgehog standing crouched down, finally getting out what he intended. Anger still corrupting his eyes. "You… MONSTEEEEERRR!"

He lunged into the air, sending the ancient serpent flying backwards in surprise. The hedgehog missed, charging up a spin dash and smacking straight into him after, using the momentum to get right in his face and punch the glass keeping him from smacking some massive hurt into his ugly mug. Cracking it. As momentum threw him higher and left him there for just a second, he flailed. Arms, legs, the works. Screaming in agony and sorrow as tears kept flying with him.

"RRRRAAAAUUUAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!"His knuckles smacked against Lyric's metal chest, the pain burned and made him want to scream more but he didn't care. As he fell, and the dastardly, pathetic and cowardly snake was intimidated beyond belief and slithered away, slowly as the blue short-lived leader kept flailing without him there. Once he was safely away, his tail followed him faster, and he met his get away.

… Just in time. Knocking like a grandfather clock's heartbeat came from another metal door. The tearful hedgehog looked towards it, fangs bared once more. Was it Eggman?! Was he going to take a slice of the Sonic's worst day pie?! The banging became less synchronized. As if two people were beating against it. One thunk was enough to dislodge the door for an opening.

"… I think I heard Sonic on…–" A sweet voice said on the other side. Said hedgehog was too dazed in his own anger to pay attention to who it was. But teamwork prevailed as one last timed hit from both hammer and spiked fist sent the door flying into Lyric's wake, revealing..

None other than Knuckles, Amy, and Tails.

"–… the other side! SONIC!" Amy called out, the team of three smiling as they looked upon their leader, until… well. They noticed his bruises from smacking into metal as his eyes widened as big as they could ever get. They noticed his disheveled look and his ears as they drooped. His eyes and mouth formed into a relieved face.

"… Tails…!" He said, as he began a very, very sloppy run. The team's eyes were just as wide as his were earlier. "Amy…! Knuckles…!"

His voice cracked on each word. Tears slowing down, but still dripping. Blurring his vision as he tripped on some debris from his team's rescue into sanity assault on the door. But luckily, he was close enough, to where the trio he had missed so much, saw his fate and all three of them caught him.

"Whoa! Heheh! You almost fell there, Sonic!" Knuckles smiled, jokingly as Sonic looked up at him with a smile.

"What was with that run earlier…?" His two tailed brother spoke to him, looking his brother over as he sniffed again before looking at Amy Rose.

A final sniff escaped him as he hung onto his friends tighter than they did, after they offered their weight to him. He closed his eyes and tears still fell. As the loner said one thing, loud and clear. For them all to hear, and for them to never forget.

"I-…. I'm sorry…! F-for everything…! I'll never take you guys for granted again! I-I'm happy you're my friends, a-and–….!"

At this point, they understood. Tails got it first, Amy second, and Knuckles right after. They returned the hug; though not as tight as Sonic had them. But, they figured that was a given.

"I don't ever wanna be alone again….!"