Some stuff to know before you start reading:
Games that are canon to this universe:
Main Classic sonic games in general +Sonic cd, Sonic adventure 1, sonic adventure 2, sonic heroes, sonic unleashed, and sonic colors
This story was written before Sonic Forces was even released. This is my own original story based on the general concepts of this game shown in teasers and gameplay footage.
Zipping around the newly damaged city, the true blue himself, Sonic the Hedgehog felt very overwhelmed. This was a feeling he didn't have that often. This was interesting and dreadful. Interestingly dreadful to say the least. Usually, he felt confident that he could take on and do anything mostly on his own. Sure, he had friends help him through his previous journeys, but he was the one out on the field in the midst of battle. However, this time was different from all those other times. As he looked around the city he became rather dismayed at what he saw. The sky was littered with bright fiery streaks that crashed onto the land like hellish hail. Anything that was struck immediately burst into a fiery blaze. The sudden heat waves caused him to sweat and the smoky fog stung his eyes.
The ground shook beneath his feet as giant robots crashed about here and there, mercilessly wreaking havoc upon anything in their path. In all honesty, all of this wouldn't be so bad if his ears and heart weren't assaulted by the screams of civilians. Civilians who were crying out from pain, fear, or both. Sonic wanted to stop and save them but he knew there was no time for it. Besides, there was no way he could save everyone no matter how much he wished there was. Instead he bit the metaphorical bullet and continued to run through these ruins of a city.
THIS NEXT PART IS HIGHLY UNEDITED AND MAY BE CHANGED!
Sonic tried to remember the last time he felt this helpless. The time when Chaos flooded the city? The time when Eggman almost blew up the earth? The time when Eggman actually managed to bring about the forces of Gaia himself and split the earth into many sections? No. Neither of those situations made him feel this way. Chaos turned out to be alright, Eggman never got to go through with his blowing the Earth to smithereens plan, and miraculously no one suffered great pain when the earth was split. Shaking his head, he desperately tried to clear his mind. No, there would be a way to fix this. There was always a way. He would make sure of it. As the old saying goes, where there's a will, there's a way, and Sonic was made of one hundred percent will. Or so he thought.
His attention was suddenly usurped by a voice coming from his wrist. "Hey Sonic.." it said. While dodging incoming lasers from the giants, Sonic brought his wrist towards his mouth and pressed a button, speaking through a communicator of sorts. "Yeah? I'm here. What's up Vector? Did you guys find any of the others yet?" As he waited for a response, he averted his eyes from some charred remains of something he didn't wish to know the identity of. "Well..most of the bridges are gone..and uh.. trying to get through these crowds is proving to be near impossible. But don't worry, Team Chaotix is still on the case! We'll bring everyone to safety!" Vector exclaimed.
"There's no doubt it my mind that you will. Keep up the good work guys."
"Sure thing buddy. We'll update ya if anything interesting happens."
"Great!"
As soon as the transmission ended, Sonic stopped running and frowned, looking at his surroundings. The highway he was running on had come to a dead end due to the fact that a giant robotic fist had smashed through it. For once, he felt an immense dread that almost suffocated him. He had lied earlier, he did have doubts. He doubted his success. He doubted everyone would turn up okay. Dark but possible scenarios flooded his mind and he shook his head. "No. We've beaten Eggman plenty of times before and we'll do it again." He tried to reassure himself and turned on his heel, dashing away to find another route. If tails were here, making his way about this damned town would be much easier. His feet only got him so far.