A/N: Heya! This is my first story on this site, so I hope you enjoy this! I didn't use the whole song that I picked because it mainly repeats itself so, yeah. I don't own the song, nor do I own the characters in this, obviously. The site name confirms that. Read and review, please! Advice and constructive criticism would be appreciated! Also, this has been changed for various reasons, so might not make a whole lot of sense. Thank you and you may now read the story!
Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine, SEGA owns them.
The sun was on the set of a new dawn as Classic Sonic was running through zones at top speed. He was blowing through like it was nothing. It was strange for him for how far out he have ran from his normal boundaries. It was supposed to grow challenging as he went, but this time, it was like time or nature never touched the lands he ran upon. Vegetation became less evident and dead as he continued, the land becoming more flat, and strangely enough, dry like a desert.
Sonic kept running to clear this mystery. Green blurs quickly became red and orange, the sun now able to blind his sight as he pushed on. Sonic was holding his hand up to shade his eyes from the dangerous rays. All that was left now was just a dusty plain with few plateaus rising from the ground and cacti dotting the orange and red land with a bit of green. Sonic took note that he was now in the desert, but somehow he came straight from a luscious paradise to this. Was he coming from an oasis of some kind? He tried to think of an answer, but only could think of the impossibilities of it really happening.
But he's also the hero of Mobious, and going against a concept of impossible could also just be an adventure. The azure hedgehog took this strange transformation as a sign to keep going forward to discover what is hopefully something exciting is up ahead.
He sped up and squinted ahead. Some brown and black looking buildings were coming up ahead and he halted his feet to skid to a stop. Once he got his balance to begin walking, obsidian eyes took in an old ghost town. Most of the buildings were still standing in a weathered state while others were half destroyed for mysterious reasons. Sonic's eyes widened in wonder and walked forward. What could have happened here? How are these buildings still up? These curious thoughts were probably never going to be answered, but he didn't care. Some things aren't meant to be known, right?
He himself hasn't learned that lesson, but he has heard it a thousand times from Dr. Eggman. Sonic has wondered what he meant and came up to nothing. He just figured that the old guy has learned where his body odor came from. The idea made him silently chuckle sometimes.
Sonic switched from side to side on the dirt road as he kept observing. The old, wooden houses and stores were odd to him, but intriguing. Tails once gave a boring history lesson about the western days, and now he wished he listened better. He probably could have at least appreciated this place better. The way the sun was casting shadows onto them gave him that exciting but haunting feel inside. The way his fur was standing proved that. It's a bit difficult to give any sympathy for the people who used to live here, especially if it felt like they were standing right in front of him in the after life.
Well, this place is now starting to give me the creeps...I got to head back to Tails anyway, Sonic thought.
Sonic gave one last glance to the entrance and looked ahead to the exit...where a dark figure was standing right in the way. Immediately, his heart started to pound faster and his mind reeling in confusion.
What is that?!, Sonic thought to himself. Or more like who is that?
He shrugged it off as a figment of his imagination and just ran. A surprised voiceless gasp came from the short, azure hedgehog as he bounced off the solid person, landing on his back. A cringe expressed itself as he sat up and shook off the dirt from his pelt. He looked across from him to see a black and red hedgehog that had a somewhat similar quill style to him and much more taller from what he could see. The animal across from him was obviously a male from the deep groan he emitted and standing from the knock down.
Oh crud, Sonic thought in alarm. It's my modern self's ally, Shadow. If I pissed him off, I'm sure in for it. And for whatever the reason, my older self told me to avoid him today. What did he do to him?
Shadow was dusting himself off and looked over his shoulder to shoot a glare at his intruder of space. His frown deepened as he saw it was Sonic...well, his past version. The already built up anger was piling at the frustration of a bad day and now, a rekindle of the flame was now sparking up as the younger boy was staring up at him. He desperately needs a way to vent out his rage and to seek revenge on that pesky rival of his, and what more of a better way to get back at him than what's before him?
"Ah, Sonic," Shadow said, now turning to face the younger of the two. "What a pleasant surprise by meeting you here."
Pleasant surprise?, Sonic questioned. When is Shadow ever glad to see me? Especially in by ramming into the guy.
"Not only is it surprising, it is awfully convenient," He continued as he lifted Sonic off the ground by grasping a hold under his muzzle. "You see, Sonic, your older self played a prank by stealing something very precious of mine as a joke, and as you can see, I'm not laughing."
Sonic realized the direction of this conversation very quickly, now kicking to get out of his grip. He mentally slapped himself for not running at the first chance he got. He knows he doesn't stand a chance against his older rival! He doesn't have all the skills to even have a fair fight with the guy, especially with his height. He made another mental note to not allow people to man handle him...er, hedgehog handle him.
Shadow tightened his grip and Sonic made a sound that was meant to be a part of a voice, which he doesn't have. He grabbed Shadow's wrists at an attempt to push him off, but he was too strong. His grip was powerful as iron and tight like an air seal of some sort. Sonic knew with a drop of his heart, knew he was in some serious deep trouble. There was only a few ways he could possibly get out of this, and that was either someone coming by that could fend off Shadow to grant him access to freedom, or by running. Either way had a very slim chance of happening.
A cruel, evil smile crept on Shadow's tan muzzle and Sonic stilled. "Since your other self isn't around...you are just as good as he is to beat around."
A gloved fist pounded into Sonic's face and he went flying. Sonic flipped his body to an upright position and landed on his feet. He touched his lip and his gloved finger came out red. He clenched his hand into a fist and glared across at Shadow. Anger and shock was increasing in Sonic's posture and without notice, he ran at Shadow and gave him a well deserved kick to the torso. Shadow flew a few feet and landed on his back, landing with a grunt. Sonic narrowed his eyes when he stood back up without any trouble. He might not have seen it coming, but his body was more than used to these kind of attacks. It looks like wearing him down might be the only option for Sonic to get anywhere.
"So, you are going to fight back," Shadow mused. "I should have figured. You are still him in every personality trait...maybe except your child like naivety. No matter, this will be make things more interesting...and sweeter in revenge."
Sonic bared his canines and spin dashed at his older double. Shadow dodged quickly out of the way, releasing Chaos energy towards the blue ball. Sonic effortlessly dodged him and quickly got back on his feet and ran towards him for another attack. Shadow took out a green Chaos Emerald and shouted the words Sonic was dreading but expecting.
"Chaos-Control!" Shadow commanded and disappeared.
Sonic skidded to a stop and perked his ears to listen. The silence was almost unbearable to listen to, the wind howling was like a horn being yelled into his sensitive ears. He almost panicked when an evil laughter was softly grumbled from a random distance. A tap on his shoulder and a whisper made him stop immediately searching.
"You should know when someone is out looking for you Faker." Shadow whispered.
Sonic didn't even get a chance to think over what he meant before another blow was sent to the back of his head, making his face skid into the ground.
At this point, he was tired of being kicked around, no matter how strong or fast or even skilled Shadow was, he wants to prove that he's still the hero that the world knows he is.
Sonic got back up again, his forehead cut and dripping with blood, his nose scraped, and even his muzzle got a few red burn marks. He faced Shadow once again, except with the difference that he had a challenging smirk and got into a shaky defensive position.
"Ha, you are still trying...what a joke." Said Shadow, grasping the emerald to draw a little bit of power from it. Sonic slightly flinched at this, knowing it's going to hurt if he gets punched from those powered impacts, but he wouldn't be a hero if he said he was afraid of it; because he isn't...not anymore.
The two supersonic hedgehogs clashed again, throwing fists and tossing feet. The sun continued to fall at the horizon, turning the sky black and red and orange. Sonic, regardless of this downfall and his condition, kept putting up a fight. He met the hands and feet of Shadow numerous times throughout their whole fight, barely lucky to even set him off with a few punches and kicks at his black and red copy. Sonic was about to rush out at him again with a new maneuver, but Shadow beat him. He elbowed him in the chest, causing him to fly clear back to the entrance of the town. Sonic's eyes got black dots in his vision and found it difficult to breathe. He waited for his vision to clear up a bit better until he decided to wearily sit up again. An ache shot throughout his body and shouted at him to stop. He did it anyway, knowledgeable of Shadow's presence still around and didn't want to give the impression he was beaten. His legs were covered in scratches from Shadow's sharp quills and they stung with a constant pulsing throb. His peach arms were ruffled and dirtied, also bruised and cut. The peach and blue torso was marked with anything you could think of, plus the blood; but, his head was entirely a whole new segment of it's own. The blood from his face was drying and caking everywhere and there was still fresh, bright blood seeping from his new wounds he just received. He was pretty sure he was going to have a concussion if he doesn't stop now. Even his short, spunky quills were beginning to droop some from his exhaustion.
The blue speedster was nearly beaten to a whole new level. A numbing realization that he almost got beaten to death-or still is about to be-just now came to the hero. It was all of this...over a treasured item being stolen?
What in Chaos' name could possibly be that important to Shadow for him to beat someone bloody over?, Sonic wondered.
A shadow passed over and in front of him. Sonic knew who it was without even looking up, and it was too much of a painful effort to do so anyway. A dark chuckle sounded from the night black hedgehog before him. It took a lot of restraint to not throw any kind of rock at him to quiet him.
"Look at you," Shadow said. "I thought you would put up more of a fight than this!"
Sonic faced Shadow's expression then. A sense of dread filled the bottom of his stomach when he saw the icy smirk planted on his face. It shot a cold current through his veins and froze him. He was wide open as a target and injured...he was done for. He actually considered that being in a coma was a better comparison than this...being downgraded for going through the worst fight he put up, being weak in front of his future rival of all things! A coma does actually sound better to the cobalt hero. This was an embarrassment for his career.
"Of all the things I didn't expect, this was certainly was not on my list-What?!" Shadow abruptly stopped in mid-sentence and took a step back. Sonic's expression grew puzzled at this odd new event and took it as good luck.
A rush of wind blew and someone skid in front of him, someone that he was well known with like he was familiar with his own body. A taller, slim, darker blue form stood in between him and Shadow, and the voice that was actually there-unlike him-filled the uncomfortable air with a strong, tenor tone. What really shocked the younger Sonic was that his friend seemed bruised up as well. It was like an exact replica of his wounds, placement and shape and all.
"Stop Shadow," The voice that belonged to Modern Sonic commanded. "Whatever you do to him also happens to me!"
That explains a lot, Classic Sonic thought.
"Like I care what happens to you, you deserved it!" Shadow harshly hissed.
"Well, if you didn't assume so quickly and let me explain, we wouldn't be here now would we?" Sonic tried reasoning.
"You have no room to talk Faker," Shadow pointed out. "But since you are here, go on with your pity talk."
Sonic growled at that comment. "Just listen, alright?! I was in your room because I thought you picked up my communicator watch that I talked to with Tails, and you weren't home when I came by and I couldn't wait until tomorrow, so I sneaked in myself to get it. I was right, you had it, but I also found that picture while I was searching. I picked it up, and that was the time you walked in. I panicked, temporarily forgetting I had the photo and ran out. By the time I stopped, then I remembered about it. I knew you were going to be searching for me to be the crap out of me...and that was confirmed. I was running to stay away from you, but I felt like someone punched me in the face...I still ran through it all, eventually finding you here. So, here..." A weak, shaky arm pulled out a photo of a pretty, young girl and gave it to Shadow.
Shadow took it from Sonic, putting it carefully in the back of his quills. They sat in silence for a couple of seconds, and Shadow took off, leaving them there alone. With that cue, both Sonic's got themselves fixed up to where they both could run and finally left the ghost town, leaving the event in the past where it belongs.