I'd just like it to be made know that I do not own and I named a character whose name and image is mysteriously unknown to the internet despite being in some games. And most importantly I dont own any SEGA characters. If to be made clear, this mystery character is basically but his iris eyes are white and not bleeding. I've called him Inverted. Yes, I'm not making this up, play a crappy fan-made game if you don't believe me that he exists. And without further ado let's get into the story.
There is a prophecy...
That one day, a fool will destroy the chaos emeralds...
Unleashing the furious beings kept at bay...
These emeralds are what hold the balance of good and evil...
If this balance were to be destroyed...
Monsters of the dark would come and torment the souls of the living...
And no one would be safe...
While demon-like...
These monsters are cruel but vital to restoring balance...
After all, only they know how to restore light to living world...
And keep it out of there's...
Disharmony means that neither world can rest...
So let us hope this day never comes...
"Come on Tails! This is a race after all!" Sonic teased as he slowed slightly for Tails to cath up. Once again, Knuckles had let Eggman get away with the Master Emerald, not to mention the fat man had all seven chaos emeralds too. There's no telling what he'd do with that power. Of course Sonic would put a stop to that, like everything else the Egghead did.
"I'm trying Sonic, but you're literally the fastest thing alive! And it's exhausting just trying to catch up when you're not even playing fair!" Tails whined. Sonic's perky smirk turned into a small frown of guilt.
"Sorry, buddy. Guess I got a bit cocky there, hehe. I'll be nicer next time!" The frown hadn't lasted long as they raced their way to Eggman's fort like building. Knuckles was there waiting.
"What took you guys so long!?" Knuckles had been waiting for about an hour. He didn't have enough patience to be happy with that. Sonic piped at that remark.
"Well this is your Master Emerald, don't get angry at us trying to help Knucklehead!" Sonic pretended to be hurt, but he was really just trying to mess with Knuckles who couldn't give a proper comeback at that. Tails seemed unfazed by the squabble.
"Let's just go inside already before Eggman gets a heads up that we're here". The three walked in, not suprised to see a giant machine attached to all the emeralds, including the Master Emerald. Knuckles shouted at the Doctor.
"What's the meaning of this!?" Knuckles yelled angrily. Doctor Eggman seemed amused at the red echidna's frustration and headstrong attitude.
"Well as you can see, I've drained up all of the energy from your precious emeralds and now I'm going to be the ONLY ONE with chaos energy!" Tails was confused. The chaos emeralds had infinite power and the Master Emerald had to have enough power to limit that unlimited power. How could there ever be a shortage?
"What are you talking about?" Eggman seemed glad to hear that question.
"Well, my little fox friend, I'm going to destroy EVERY EMERALD HERE! HO HO HO!" Sonic, Tails and Knuckles shouted simultaneously. Knuckles seemed the most worried.
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" But yet it happened anyway. Blue, Red, Gray, Purple, Cyan, Yellow, and Green shards flew above the machine. Not one emerald was spared. Knuckles knew deep down that an ominous count down had begun. After this mess, he needed to warn someone. About...that awful prophecy...
After a series of fights, Eggman inevitably lost. Though it was a victory, it felt like a defeat as there was no way that they could piece the chaos emeralds back together. The Master Emerald sure, but it was powerless without the link of chaos energy provided by the chaos emeralds, who weren't as lucky as it's bigger counterpart. Tails was too busy trying to put information together to find someway to fix them. Sonic saw Knuckles looking very freaked out, mumbling to himself in some strange language.
"Heya, Knux...You ok?" Sonic looked at the echidna concerned. Knuckles looked pale. His purple eyes stared at the hedgehog for a moment before actually speaking english.
"That...prophecy...it's not true, is it?" Sonic was now officially freaked out.
"Knuckles, snap out of it!" Knuckles heard his voice and shook his head violently to straighten his thoughts.
"Sorry...um, Sonic? I think there's something I need to tell you." Sonic raised an eyebrow at his friend.
"You mean besides the fact that you're going crazy? Because I've already got that down." Knuckles looked angry but terrified all the same.
"No, you idiot! There's a prophecy that monsters are gonna wreck Mobius after the chaos emeralds are destroyed!" Sonic laughed nervously, not wanting to believe him.
"Do you need to lie down? I know your hot-headed but a fever is a whole other-"
"LISTEN TO ME! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE IF WE DON'T FIND A WAY TO FIX THE CHAOS EMERALDS!" Knuckles was practically screaming at this point. And now he was hyperventilating. Not good. Sonic was worried because he'd never seen Knuckles act this way in his entire life and he's known Knuckles for quite sometime. If he's reacting like this, it's probably serious. Tails looked up and awkwardly attempted to calm down the usually stubborn and strong echidna. Eventually, they got Knuckles to elaborate better on what's been making him freak out so badly.
"When I was young, I was taught to never break a chaos emerald. Legend has it that the fool to break the chaos emeralds would cause imbalance to the universe and unleash dark beings that would destroy the land and enslave the tormented souls of the living until balance was restored. They would take the form of a well-known savior to use that trust against everyone. What Eggman just did, doomed us all..."
Tails and Sonic shivered at the cold sense of foreboding that those words held.
Three months later...
Sonic was relaxing at Green Hill. Nothing awful happened yet. Yes, the land was dying without chaos energy but Tails was already trying to work on a substitute. No sign of horrible monsters destroying things. Maybe Knuckles heard the prophecy wrong? After all, sometimes peices of a story gets lost as it passes each generation. How do we even know that we're fighting monsters? And if so, what kind? Zombies, vampires, skeletons, ghosts? It doesn't matter. When Tails finds that substitute we'll be A ok!
Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him.
"Hm? Tails? Is that y-Mmph!" Sonic was suddenly dropped into a black void. Somehow he recognized it. It was...his sub-conscience? How? And why was he here?
"Hello Sonic...It's a pleasure to meet the blue savior at last. I'm quite fond of you." A deep growling voice spoke to him. As he moved his head from the 'ground' he landed on he saw a near image of himself except with red bleeding eyes. It took everything in Sonic to keep himself from shrieking bloody murder at his dopple-ganger.
"Y-you...look..." The demon smirk at him.
"Like you? Thank you. I do my best at imitation." Sonic could have sworn that this demon was messing with him.
"You, what, how, when, why!?-" The monster laughed at Sonic's baffled expressions and confused dialogue. Ok, now Sonic knew the monster was messing with him. He pulled himself together and tried to make himself look more equal to his dopple-ganger.
"Well, since you already know who I am, it's only fair you tell me who you are." The demon began to play coy with the hedgehog.
"Oh, where are my manners? I'd sincerely love to tell you my name, but it seems that I've been called so many things that I've unfortunately forgotten my name. I guess you can just call me what my younger brother calls me." Sonic raised his eyebrow at him.
"Which is..?"
"Exetior, or Exe for short."
"Ok...Exe...just what are you? Are you a demon trying to posess my body!? Because if you are, just know I'm not going down without a fight." Exe looked amused and came closer to Sonic.
"A demon? I'm hurt. I'm so much more little hedgehog. A being of dark matter is what I am. I've taken your form and now your body. You at least got that right. But don't fret, I can be forgiving if I so choose to be."
Sonic took a minute to process on what the actual chaos was happening right now. Also, this guy was uncomfortably close right now.
"S-stay away from me! Get out of my body!"
Boy, Sonic sure sounded really intimidating, not. And now, this guy was touching his face. Sonic backed into a wall. Exe didn't approach. Hah, you loose! Wait...why was he smiling? Suddenly, he started sinking into the wall. It wrapped around his mouth, arms, and legs. Panic was flooding him as he tried to escape. It was pointless. He couldn't escape. And he soon found himself blacking out...
Tails flew his plane onto Green Hill Zone. He remembered hearing that Sonic was relaxing there from Knuckles. His substitute was almost finished, he just needed a bit more help and the supplies needed were a bit far away. He thought Sonic would be happy to help with that.
As he walked the land around him began to die. Obviously due to lack of chaos energy. All the more reason to ask Sonic for help. As the land greyed heavily he finally found Sonic, lying against the checkered wall of a loop hill.
"Hey, Sonic are you awake?" Tails asked meekly. Jeez, the land looked so creepy! It would be great if the place could just fix itself. The whole place gave him chills. Sonic's eyes carefully opened and greeted Tails, yet the green eyes felt detached from him in a way Tails couldn't understand.
"Hey Tails, nice to see you. Was there something you needed?" Tails poked his fingers together awkwardly.
"I kind of need your help with getting a few supplies. You don't mind, do you?" Sonic smiled but his eyes stared open expressionlessly. It was getting a little...weird...
"Not at all, but since I don't know what you want me to get, maybe we can go together. How does that sound?" Tails was getting weirded out, but this was Sonic. His best friend. He could trust him. And if something weird was going on, then he should stick by him to help him.
"Sounds great Sonic! My plane is that way!" Sonic's expression flattened, more than what was already thought possible.
"Actually Tails...I need to ask you something." Finally! So there was something wrong.
"Yeah Sonic?" The blue hedgehog looked left and right, as if afraid that he would be heard.
"It's actually very personally Tails. Let's go deeper into the woods so we both know that nobody is listening." Tails nodded, getting a bit more worried but he summoned up the courage. Sonic's odd behavior and the darkened forest didn't help the feeling of dread that was ever so slightly crawling up his spine.
"Hey...Tails..." Sonic had his back turned to him. Tails' ears perked at the sound of his name.
"You like games, don't you?" Tails gulped before nodding, preparing for the unknown. He could feel it in his two tails that something awful was going to happen.
"So do I... Can I ask you something, Tails?" Here it comes.
"Do you want to play a game with me?" And with that, the forest had caught on fire and Sonic was nowhere to be found. Oh chaos, nevermind! He was right behind him. Tails hovered in the air as he ran away while spinning his tails. Sonic was floating in the air! Nope nope nope! Tails ran for his life, but dared to look back. This was definitely not Sonic. Not with those eyes, teeth, nor claws. His quills were darker too! This non Sonic however did catch up to him.
"Found you~" Uh oh. Tails hadn't realized until now that he was crying. But now that he was paralyzed in fear he couldn't help but notice it now. Was this really how it's going to end? Before the monster could grab him he started shaking. Then he could see Sonic. The real Sonic.
"Tails! Run! He's going to kill you!" Tails wanted to run away but he couldn't just leave his older brother figure to suffer!
"But Sonic!-" Sonic didn't give him a chance to argue.
"NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!" Tails started to run again, and the creature corrupting his friend came back. As Tails came to a safer part of the woods, he knew he still wasn't safe. He needed to find a goal ring and escape from here. He needed to tell Knuckles what just happened.
As Tails looked for an exit, he just saw the monster casually lying there in front of him.
"I see you've won that first game. You've gotten me a bit sour but I'm no sore looser. I'll just beat you in this game. You have thirty seconds left before I come looking for you again." Tails got angry. Not only was this guy trying to kill him but he wasn't even taking his own actions seriously! Did he think that Tails would just let himself be killed by this psycho!?
"Are you kidding me!? Is my life just a game to you!?" The monster flicked an ear.
"Yes."
Tails was now less scared and more infuriated. He just stormed off and looked for a goal ring.
"25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. Ready or not, here I come~" Dang it! He had waisted precious time arguing! Luckily, he found a goal ring. Bad news, it's above him and the monster was up there too. Tails flew upwards, but he knew he'd get spotted sooner or later. And he was right. He was followed soon after.
"All...most...there!" Made it! Tails had escaped with his life. He needed to tell Knuckles and fast.
"How could you!? Tails is my best friend!" Sonic had woken up, and Exe was so bored that he removed the choker from him, courtesy of the wall he was still attached to.
"Yes, well I need his intelligence and him being my puppet will help me gather information. His life is a game just like everyone else's but that isn't to say that his life isn't valuable. Besides, it's not like he'll stay dead when kill him. I thought you were paying attention to me." The more Sonic listened to Exe talk, the more he felt like he was talking to a clown whose trying too hard to be scary. But he doubted Exe was trying at anything. Exe didn't seem like the terribly evil type but he wasn't a very good person either.
"Hey, Exe! Why do you need Tails so much? Just what are you planning to do?" This was something Sonic needed to know.
"Destroy your world, lead an army, steal energy from the stars, make new chaos emeralds and balance dark matter and normal matter. It's because of those instruments of light that dark matter stays out of your world and normal matter stays out of mine! Do you know what it's like to suffer from your gross light!? It's awful, I don't know how you can stand it!"
"Ooh! Yeah, still can't let you destroy the planet." Sonic would be ok with restoring balance to the universe if not at the cost of so many lives.
"I don't remember you having a say in this. Besides, I think it would be good if you just rest now."
Sonic sunk deeper into the wall and he felt himself blacking out again.
Knuckles got Tails' call. He seemed absolutely freaked out over the phone, but who could blame him? Knuckles was terrified too! That thing's probably after him next! He better get that part Tails' needs and then get as far away from this place as possible.
Knuckles grabbed the mechanical piece and then moved as fast as he could go. But then he felt someone behind him.
"Hello-ACK!" Knuckles punched the corrupted version of his friend into a wall, hearing the snapping of several bones. But that didn't stop the thing from trying to get back up. Knuckles ran away, knowing that his friend was now capable of more than just running. And with that punch the creature was probably very angry with him.
He was getting close to the exit. He leapt over a huge gap in the floor and glided to the goal ring. The monster screeched as he fixed his dislocated arm and charged after Knuckles. He managed to kick Knuckles' upper back just before he escaped.
Once Knuckles came out on the otherside, he started coughing. His mouth was bleeding. That was some kick. At least he made it out in one piece.
"Ow ow ow..." Sonic woke up, only to feel like a mexican wrestler had just body slammed him while he was asleep. Exe seemed to be feeling it too.
"I hate your friend Knuckles right about now. At least Tails played my game and won. But Knuckles? Noooo... he's too good to play fair and decides to punch us into a wall! I HATE HIM!" Then he shoved his limp arm into place and screeched like a banshee. It was obviously dislocated. Sonic watched quietly for a bit until Exe was just sitting there, waiting for the pain to subside.
"Just how old are you Exe?" Exe was acting like a pretty self-centered kid but there was no way that Exe was a kid.
Exe just shrugged. Sonic looked at Exe like it was very disappointing news.
"Well that tells me nothing..."
Exe blatantly ignored him and then grinned maliciously.
"You're staying awake for this one Sonic. I think you'll enjoy watching this next game~"
Eggman was minding his own buisness in his Egg fortress that had already begun to becoming bleak like the rest of the world. It was a shame that such a lack of chaos energy could turn the planet into a shell of itself. All of a sudden the power went out. Robots were swarming to a different location. He then caught sight of Metal Sonic.
"Metal Sonic! What is the meaning of this?!"
"Intruder alert. Primary target, Sonic the Hedgehog."
"WHAAAT!? HE'S HERE!? Metal Sonic, show me the security camera footage!"
Metal Sonic projected a hologram from his eyes of Sonic maliciously tearing at the robots as well as the flickies inside them. Eggman's initial thought that there was no way his arch-nemesis would be so cruel as to hurt the innocent flickies, but upon closer inspection he could tell that Sonic was different in not only behavior but as well as appearance. Nonetheless, this monster must be stopped.
"Metal Sonic, initiate defense tactic 43"
"Initiating..."
Metal Sonic beeped and then zoomed off. Now Eggman had some time. He ran off immediately in the opposite direction. Meanwhile the creature had already tore past many of the wimpy robots. He was gaining on Eggman, leaving him to go to the bottom floor.
Eventually, he came to a dead-end. The creature was behind him. Turning around, he saw the horrid thing up close. It's eyes were red and bleeding, and it grinned at him.
"You loose!" It reached out to grab him, but then it got shot. Then they saw Tails and Knuckles standing there. Knuckles clenched his fist as he yelled.
"When I'm done with you demon, you're going to wish you never messed with our friend."
"Yeah!" Tails held his weapon, using the substitute chaos energy.
"DIRTY CHEATERS!" It screeched angrily and lunged for Knuckles, who couldn't blast his weapon in time. Tails however was ready and had an opening.
"I'm sorry Sonic, but this is for your own good!" He shot Sonic with full power.
Sonic was thrown out of the wall. He could see Tails shooting, but only Exe could feel the pain.
"Why!? Why are they so blind?! They're making a mistake. They can't save this balance on their own!"
Sonic couldn't help but feel bad. Sure, Exe was creepy but he wasn't as bad as he tries to make himself out to be.
"Hey, maybe there's away where we can make chaos energy without having anyone getting hurt?"
Exe stared at him, on his knees, shivering helplessly. He grew weaker with every blast Tails made.
"If only you said that before. There's no way for that now. They're going to kill me with their weapons, and then my younger brother will do the madness worse. If you thought I was awful, you haven't seen anything yet. My brother will do your end. I'm sorry. Goodbye Sonic..."
And with that, Exe sank into 'the ground'. Sonic opened his eyes in the waking world. Tears streamed down his eyes but they weren't bleeding now. He got injured so now he was at home, covered in bandages. Mobius was full of color now, thanks to Tails' substitute. Yet, Exe's words still left an impression.
They can't save this balance on their own...
Sonic wondered what he meant by it. He woke up from a coma, or so he was told, but he still so tired. Tails thinks all the energy probably went into healing. Maybe, but this was a different tired. Everything was full of color but it still felt bleak. Nobody understood when he tried to talk about it.
He didn't mention it again.
Night soon came. He was hungry and he couldn't sleep it off. As he tried to get up, he noticed his whole chest was covered in bandages. He gagged at the thought of Tails forcing him to take pills for the pain that morning. Why he have to sleep through three days and not three months? He wouldn't have these dumb bandages by then and his ribs wouldn't hurt next morning from the medicine finally sub siding.
Oh well, better get that snack before someone notices and forces him to stay in bed. As he walked down the hallway he picked up a flashlight, because he could barely see his way around and he didn't want to wake anyone up by flicking on the light switches.
He raided the fridge and ate some leftovers. He then drank something and quickly headed back to bed. But as he neared the hallway to his room, he was stopped by a mirroring image of himself except there were no eyes.
Sonic tried to move away, but he just couldn't. And then that tired feeling came back and it made him feel really weak. He could feel his eyes drooping. He dropped his flashlight and it thudded and rolled against the floor.
The creature's mouth opened to reveal a thin curve of emptiness. It was like staring into a black hole. It then darted white eyes to the sound of approaching footsteps.
Tails rubbed his eyes as he entered the hallway. The creature fled into the darkness of night, leaving Sonic to collapse from the odd drainage of energy. Tails suddenly took notice that Sonic had fallen in front of him and helped carry him back to bed.
Sonic woke up to see Amy and Tails hovering over him worriedly. Yet, he felt too tired to actually care. He wished he cared, but he just didn't have the energy for it. Amy looked at him with increasing concern.
"Sonic? Are you ok? You don't look so good."
Sonic chuckled a bit but it felt empty.
"Well it certaintly has nothing to do with me feeling absolutely terrible that's for sure." His voice sounded so dead. Instead of sounding light-hearted it just sounded bitter and sarcastic. Amy crossed her arms.
"Well I'm not going to try and make you feel better if you're just going to be mean about it!" Tails looked at her.
"I'm not sure if he can help it Amy. He just got free from being possesed four days ago and he just collapsed in front of his room last night. He might not be feeling up to it. I think there might be more wrong with him than what Knuckles and I first thought."
Sonic looked at them deadpanned.
"You do realize I'm sitting right in front of you guys, right?" Tails looked a bit awkward.
"Oops, sorry. Just pretend you didn't hear that."
"Yeah, just like how I'm pretending that I feel perfectly fine."
Eventually, Amy and Tails had to leave. Sonic was now alone with his thoughts. Just what happened last night? Was that Exe's younger brother? So far, he just seems quieter than Exe, which feels more like a benefit. But there was still a bit of guilt that came with his memory of Exe. Maybe could make it up with doing something for his brother?
Looking back at the memory, he could have sworn that he was talking to it. Of maybe it was talking to him? He might just never know.
It's night two.
Yay...
For some reason, he had the urge to get back up and walk around again. He resisted it for awhile, but he slowly found himself giving in. It was exhausting fighting his own head. If only his head had the unlimited energy that his legs did.
He wandered the hallway, until he found the creature staring back at him. It's eyes and mouth were empty again. Though it's mouth didn't move, he could hear it's suttle whispers. It gradually grew louder, and the more he listened to the sound, the more he felt himself loose control over his mind. The whispers were mundane. Dead. There was no passion or change in pitch to voice emotions in the creature.
"Come closer to me..."
Sonic couldn't control himself. He moved towards it slowly.
"Let me be one with your mind. Karma will have it's sacrifice..."
Just before it could do anything to Sonic. Knuckles shined the flashlight from yesterday at it. The creature screeched and attacked Knuckles. It was a lot swifter than Exe, but a lot more vulnerable to light. After all, it had scorch marks just from a flashlight, while obscure torches at Eggman's base hadn't affected Exe at all.
Sonic managed to take control of himself just in time. The flashlight was broken and the creature was cornering Knuckles.
"Stop!" Sonic summoned the strength to yell, but his voice sounded dry and it was quiet for a yell. He barely had the energy to stand, let alone stop a fight between a monster and a hot headed echidna.
Knuckles held up Sonic to keep him from falling. The creature tilted it's head innocently like a confused puppy. Knuckles got very angry at another being trying to harm his friend.
"Get away from Sonic, or you'll be sorry." It then chuckled without moving it's mouth that continued to hang open. It's voice was mute but strong, and completely apathetic to all ears.
"Get away from Sonic, or you'll be sorry." Knuckles raised his fist at the odd being.
"Do you have a problem or something!?"
"Do you have a problem or something."
"Quit copying me!"
"Quit copying me."
Knuckles growled and charged at it, forgetting that he was holding up Sonic. The creature dodged Knuckles and came over to Sonic and held him up. Sonic looked up at the thing. His voice sounded so useless and weak.
"Whats...your...name...?"
"..."
Knuckles was getting pretty steamed.
"What do you want with Sonic!?"
"What do you want with Sonic."
Knuckles made a series of frustrated sounds. But it was Sonic who answered Knuckles' question.
"They...need help...to make chaos emeralds..."
Knuckles looked at the being holding Sonic up.
"I don't know if we can trust them. They almost killed us."
"We can trust them, almost."
The being mimicked Knuckles' words. For some reason it can only talk to Sonic. Knuckles sighed.
"Fine, but only, because I want answers."
When Sonic woke up, Knuckles had a lot of questions. Sonic did his best to answer them. He seemed more tired than he ever was, and his started drifting from the conversation sometimes. Knuckles got annoyed with that, but also concerned. Knuckles also had a bit of information of his own suprisingly. That strange being they saw last night, Knuckles sensed a depressing aura around it. Like the being was sad and it's presence was making Sonic slowly become depressed too. And Sonic could guess the reason why. Exe, that thing's brother, was dead. It was probably greiving.
But later that day, something peculiar happened.
Sonic was just taking a nap and all of a sudden, Exe popped up and dragged him back to the land of his sub-conscience. Together, they made a plan on how to get the new chaos emeralds.
Sonic talked to Tails'. Apparently, the substitute was wearing off and he was already running out of supplies. Once Sonic told him the plan, Tails looked amazed. He agreed to it. He would build a star stealer and force it into a vessel similar to the chaos emeralds.
The next night, Sonic was quiet as he let Exe's brother in on the plan. The depressing aura didn't leave, but at least it wasn't haunting him now. Exe assured Sonic that his brother was always like that. On top of beinng shy, quiet, "weak", smart, and quick. Sonic asked Exe what his brother's name was, but he just told him that neither had a real name but they just call each other Exetior and Inverted, or Exe and Invy.
Sonic was just done at this point. He told them both to stop looking like him, because he was getting pretty tired of it but once he saw what they really were, he told them that it's ok to look like him if they really wanted.
The next few days, the emerald were done and the Master Emerald was reconstrusted. Knuckles made them Super Emeralds and used it as a gateway to a parallel world.
Exe and Inverted had to leave now.
For most of them, it was a good riddance. For Sonic...
It was a goodbye for now.
The End?
