Sonic Crisis

Episode 1: Fist Bump

I've had the same dream every night since the attack. Since the day Infinite spared my life just to satisfy his own ego. Every night I run from him. The ground beneath my feet pushes me forward with each step, but instead of getting further away he looms closer, larger. I feel his presence behind me, but I dare not look back. His laughter echoes through my ears and we both know I cannot escape him. It is only by his whim that I continue to exist.

I wake up in tears every time and bury my face in the pillow. I didn't want to disturb the other refugees with my sobbing. It's been rough on everyone, and the last thing those that could sleep needed was a coward like me crying all night.

As I regained my composure, I would take out the doll I had hidden under my pillow. I don't know anyone who didn't have some kind of Sonic the Hedgehog memorabilia at one point or another. Most of us abandoned them with the bulk of our belongings when we fled the city, taking only what we can carry, but some of us held on to some token of him to give us hope. At times like this, I found myself praying to him. I knew he couldn't save our bodies anymore, but I prayed that his spirit would save me from the Infinite terror that pursued my soul.

And in a way, I think he did.

This one night, I started to wonder if he was as afraid as I was at the end. Helpless before Infinite's onslaught and the villains he had summoned back to our world. He must have been. It was unreasonable to think he wouldn't. But this was Sonic the Hedgehog. If he wanted to run, no one could've stopped him. He could have run and kept running, hiding in fear and shame for his failures.

Eggman should've told us that if he wanted to break us. Instead, in spite of whatever fears he may or may not have had, Sonic kept on fighting to the bitter end. That's the Sonic the Hedgehog I believed in.

I had heard somewhere that bravery was being scared and doing the right thing anyway. That was the ideal I decided to live up to. I would look fear in the eye and spit in it. Sonic's heart may have stopped beating, but his spirit lived on inside of me. I would take the hope he instilled in me and spread it as far as I could with heroism equal to – no, surpassing! – his own. I would become a new beacon of hope the entire world would get behind. Infinite wouldn't stand a chance!

Easier said than done, of course. The training was hard, but worth it. I had always been a runner and hoped to be as fast as Sonic himself one day. I got my head-butting down pretty good, too. I could break steel now without so much as a bruise, but I could never figure out the homing attack. The bears tried to teach me, but I couldn't get the hang of it. I eventually figured a work around with a grappling hook I eventually modified into a wrist-mounted grapnel. Not exactly the same thing, but with proper timing I could chain attacks with the best of them.

My dreams changed, too, though I can't say they weren't exactly nightmares. Instead of being chased by Infinite, I was pursuing Sonic. I would run as fast I could, but he was always faster. I could only see his back.

"Try to keep up!" His words would echo in my ears. Even as he said these, he wouldn't look back. Sometimes he would add a teasing, "You're too slow!" They weren't words meant to hurt me, Sonic would never do that, but they stung nonetheless. I would reach out to him, beg him to slow down, and nearly touch the tips of his quills…

Then I would wake up. Crying again, but not out of fear. I'm not a sobbing mess anymore, so I don't mind letting the tears flow freely now. It was just so frustrating to believe I could never be as fast as him, as good as him, but that was no reason not to try.

Training alone would not make me a beacon of hope, I found. For one reason or another, all the other trainees gave up and left. I tried to convince them myself, but many of the people I talked to were too scared to go up against Eggman. With his Empire now spanning the globe, the situation had become far too hopeless for them to risk their lives over. In the end, I was the only one to join the resistance.

We were a small band by then, just a handful of Sonic's friends and allies. Most of the Chaotix were there, as well as Amy Rose and Silver. Word had it that Tails was driven mad with grief and no one had heard from him since the incident. And no one would even talk to me about Mighty the Armadillo. Some of them had their doubts about me, but Commander Knuckles seemed pretty confident I could be of use. I always thought he was an odd choice for leader of the resistance, but he seemed to keep things in order well enough.

It wasn't long after that before Knuckles' spies brought us the first/best good news we've had since the war began: Sonic was still alive! Eggman had imprisoned him on the Death Egg and tortured this whole time. Apparently, he wanted Sonic to see the full realization of the Eggman Empire before finally exiling him into space. It was thrilling news, but also a little heartbreaking. I did not want to see what six solid months of torture did to a hedgehog. I couldn't imagine he would be in the kind of state you'd want to meet your hero for the first time in.

Regardless, I accepted the mission to steal a shuttle from the Chemical Plant and rescue Sonic. Needless to say, it was a harrowing experience. It was a little like having your first recital at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. I felt underqualified to have the entire world depend on my performance, but I wasn't about to let anyone think I was intimidated by a mere trial by fire. They could probably tell regardless, but that didn't matter. I had a job to do.

I nearly fell to my death several times, nearly got run over by a train, and I'm pretty sure I hit something trying to dock at the Death Egg, but all in all it went surprisingly well. However, we searched the entire facility and found no trace of him. It appeared its interment facilities were used up until recently, holding many of our kind captive, but if he was here he wasn't anymore. Still, Espio swore he could feel his presence somewhere nearby.

As we were heading back to the shuttle we were suddenly swarmed with enemies. I managed to hold them off so everyone could escape, but I was quickly overwhelmed. My Wispon was knocked out of my hands and I was thrown to the floor. As the robots closed in all around, I found myself trembling. Months of training and I was no different from who I was on that day. A frightened child, unable to fight back. Except this time, I didn't have the benefit of arrogant mercy on my side. Just cold, unfeeling machines. I was convinced my luck had run out, and I would die in space, just inches from the finish line, not having made any difference at all.

And just like that, the robots were gone. In their place was the Blue Blur himself. I didn't know whether to be glad to be alive, stoked to finally meet Sonic the Hedgehog, or annoyed at the irony of needing rescue from the man I was rescuing.

"Easy there!" he said as he effortlessly made a three-point landing after taking out the last robot. "Everything's cool." I took his hand as he helped me up. "Are you here to rescue me?"

I was overwhelmed and reassured at the same time. It was a good thing I was wearing gloves, because I'm pretty sure I'd never wash my hands again otherwise. (I almost had them bronzed!) I maintained my outward composure, but with my jumbled mess of thoughts at the moment all I could muster was an affirmative grunt.

"Can't tell you how much I appreciate it," he said. "It's been a while since I've seen a friendly face."

Before I could reply, Knuckles called me on my cell. "Hey, rookie, you still in one piece?"

"Oh, sure," Sonic said indignantly. "Don't even bother to ask how I am."

"Sonic!" Amy said over the phone, startling Sonic. "I'm so glad."

"Hold up, Amy," Knuckles said as I showed Sonic to the shuttle. "We're all happy Sonic is alive! But he won't be for long if he doesn't get off that egg in a hurry."

"Your concern is touching, Knuckles," Sonic said.

No sooner had we shoved off when Knuckles gave us our next mission. Eggman had a weapons factory in Green Hill, Arsenal Pyramid, and we needed to take it out before moving on to his home base in Metropolis. No rest for the wicked, I guess. Even though none of us have had a chance to recover from our respective experiences, Knuckles wanted Sonic and I to tackle the mission. I didn't think it was fair for either of us, but Sonic was raring to go. I suppose we're all in the same boat anyway, so it wasn't as if anyone else was going to do much better.

"So, you gotta name, kid?" Sonic asked me once we had a moment.

"I-it's Chryseis, sir," I said. "But everyone calls me Crisis. Well, I-I mean, everyone calls me 'Rookie' lately, but…"

"Crisis," Sonic repeated. "That's a pretty cool name." I think my heart skipped a beat. "Crisis the Wolf."

"Uh, thanks," I said. "But I'm actually a coyote."

"Crisis the Coyote," he said. "Even better."

I blushed and turned away a little. "Thanks."

"And just call me Sonic," he said. "No need for any of that 'Sir' crap."

"O-oh, right," I said. "Sorry."

He chuckled. "I can see why they call you 'Crisis.' You nervous?"

"Y-yeah, a little," I said. "It's only my first… second… third mission? Kinda seems a lot for one day. Plus it's my first mission with you! It's all I've ever dreamed about and… Am I being creepy right now? I-I'm being creepy aren't I?"

"Have you met Amy?" he asked. "Trust me, you're doing fine."

I laughed. "Good point. If you don't mind me saying so, you're looking pretty good for someone who's been tortured for half a year."

"Yeah, well, not all pain is physical." I seem to remember an awkward silence here, but I'm not entirely certain that actually happened. "It's been months since I've I had a chili dog. I think I'm going through withdrawal." I'm pretty sure there was an actual awkward silence there. "That was a joke. I was trying to lighten the mood."

"Oh," I said, and proceeded to chuckle nervously. Sonic snickered, then laughed. Then I laughed. We both laughing and it felt good. I'd forgotten how long it had been since I had a good laugh. It was just an absurd situation and I could feel the tension falling away.

"Seriously, though, I'd rather not talk about it," Sonic said.

"Okay," I said.

He glanced out the window. "Looks like we're almost there. You're fast, right?"

"Oh, yeah," I said. "I've been training to catch up to you, so to speak. Although…"

"Hey, don't worry about it," he said. "Just stick close and everything will be alright."

As soon as the shuttle landed, we barreled down the road towards the pyramid that housed the weapon factory. Knuckles offered to send in reinforcements, but Sonic was confident we could tackle the pyramid by ourselves.

Running alongside Sonic was exhilarating, but I didn't think it could last. I was keeping up well enough, but I knew Sonic wasn't anywhere near his top speed. I don't know if it was that he'd been locked up for so long or I was slowing him down. I wasn't sure which scenario scared me more. Then he started boosting.

I had to pour on the speed, and to my surprise I was running faster than I ever had been before. I couldn't believe I was keeping pace with him. As we blew past hordes of robots, knocking them every which way, I realized I couldn't feel the wind on my face anymore. I was in his slipstream! He was in front of me, the air parting before him and closing behind me. I was in the pocket of air created by his wake, reducing the air resistance that would otherwise be slowing me down. I could now run faster without using up as much energy! It was amazing!

But…

I was still behind him…

Like in my dreams, I couldn't go past him. I was stuck, here, staring at his back. Only by his grace could I even attain this speed. If I moved too far to the side, I would hit a wall of air and never be able to keep up. I could feel my heart breaking. My feet becoming heavier. I was so close, I could touch him…

His words from my dream echoed in my head. "You're too slow!" My vision blurred as tears gathered in my eyes. In my desperation, I reached out to him…

"Time for the two of us to team up!"

…And he turned to me. My vision suddenly cleared. I could swear that, for one shining moment, I saw the world more brilliantly and vividly than ever before or since.

"It doesn't matter what obstacles they put in our way," he said as his hand met mine for the second time that day. "We'll blow past everything they throw at us! Double BOOST!"

For a moment, the world spun around us. Suddenly, I was running faster than I even dreamed possible. My heart was beating so fast, I almost thought it stopped completely! The feeling of the wind against my fur was incredible. The world was a blur except for what was right in front of me. And Sonic could feel like this at any time!?

"Yeah! That's how it's done!" he said. He sounded so proud of me. "We've got unstoppable speed and timing! We just have to keep this up!"

I suddenly realized the path ahead of me was clear! I could see everything! I was no longer behind Sonic. I was beside him! The tears flowed freely. Not in fear, or frustration, but joy! I was so happy. I embraced the wind, allowed it to wipe my tears away and take my burdens with them. I felt light, my feet barely touching the ground at all. It was like I was flying. I felt like everything I ever wanted was granted to me in this moment. I wanted it to last forever.

Before I knew it, we had run up the side of the pyramid and overshot it. We sailed through the air and plummeted down through the shaft that was open at the top. The laser grid was barely a problem. I stopped to catch my breath once we reached the bottom. I may have been screaming the whole time. I'm not sure.

Sonic felt water droplets hit his arm and he looked up at the clear, blue sky. "Rain?" He saw me doubled over and put a hand on my shoulder as he stooped down next to me. "Hey, are you okay?"

I burst out laughing. "That was amazing! And you can do that at any time!?"

"Well, maybe not any time," he said modestly as robots approached from further in the facility. "C'mon, we can discuss it later. Right now, we've got a job to do."

"Okay," I said. "Just… Just give a second. I think I'm having a heart attack. Wait, no, no, I'm good. I'm good. Let's go."

In my dreams, I no longer run from Infinite or after Sonic. Instead, I'm right beside him, running wherever the road takes us. They are the best dreams I ever had.