Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog.

A/N: I had to keep rewriting this chapter… I wanted this… and wanted that… but it kept getting too messy and I didn't want to push the limits of the Sonic Universe. Though clearly mixing all different realms of Sonic was going to complicate things.

I'm so unhappy with it. So many things are left unexplained.


Chapter 7

There had been a lot of debate over this but in the end… they let him do it.

Night fell and everyone scrambled into position. To any unaware onlooker it appeared that Sonic was completely alone with only the calls of crickets to keep him company. He stood tall on the hinged stump- a light wind ruffling his soft quills.

Moonlight sifted down from the canopy in thin streams, patches of dew sparkling upon fallen leafs and among damp dirt. All was calm until a crackle of branches was heard in the distance. Sonic didn't so much as shift though, even as the ground rumbled under his questionable footing. He simply gritted his teeth at the vibrations rattling his injured ankle.

His gaze remained fixed on the space ahead of him.

Soon enough a large machine rambled into view, its glossy hull glimmering with moisture. Two pointed spades cleared away low hanging branches with well rounded slashes. The ball joints they were mounted on assured there wasn't much power behind them but clearly they were sharp enough for that not to matter. "If it isn't my dear friend Sonic. What a surprise it is to see you here."

Sonic offered up no response to that, silently willing the man to draw his machine several steps closer. When it became obvious that his foe was waiting for some sort of retort in order to act, Sonic finally supplied it. If only throw some wood into the fire. "Well you know me Robotnik, I never miss a chance to kick your butt."

In his current shape- his words held little weight but Robotnik didn't know that.

"Well, hardee har har Sonic. You think you're so clever." Robotnik had never even saw the hedgehog move but he sure did feel the blow. The moment he had urged his machine a step forward something crashed into it from the left side. The force propelled the whole body of the heavy mech to the forest floor- the glass of the cockpit shattering.

It made no sense to the mad genius, that was lead to believe that Sonic couldn't possibly possess such strength. He would have had to be moving at the sped of a missile to even rattle his massive machine and there had been neither the time nor distance for the hedgehog to manage such feats.

By the time Robotnik managed to right his mech, Sonic was several yards ahead of him- looking rather smug. "Come on Robotnik, is that really the best you can do?" His scowl only deepened as he watched the hedgehog tapping his foot with impatience. "I'm n-not even breaking a sweat."

Hang on? Did the pesky rodent just stutter or was that simply his imagination? It had been so slight, so minimal that he had almost missed it. With out further consideration he flicked on the front bulb- a wide cape of light falling over the hedgehog.

He could see it now, the faint grimace at the corner of Sonic's lips as he was temporarily blinded. The hedgehog was riddled with tiny scratches, blue spines and cream colored fur- darkened by bruises underneath. His shadow cut a crooked line, angled more on one foot then the other as he favored his injury.

He'd caught Sonic of guard and for just a moment he saw that his enemy was not in top shape. How foolish of the rodent to challenge him like this. In that instant- Robotnik forgot he'd already been downed as a wide grin spread across his face.

Like a flick of a switch, Sonic regained his composure as if it had never faltered at all. "What's up Robuttnik? You just realize how awesome I am?" Robotnik paid no mind to the gleam of metal in the grass ahead of him, despite the light catching upon it. He could crush the hedgehog now and that was all he could focus on.

Sonic knew he had to keep the man's attention. If Robotnik decided to take notice of his surroundings they'd all be screwed. Fortunately Robotnik seemed to have discovered newfound encouragement to attempt to crush him.

The mech surged forward at the same moment the thick metal cord sprung up from the ground. Two large groups pulled from opposite sides- hidden deep in the shadows of the trees and to put it simply… the machine tripped.

All at once the area darkened once more as the mech crashed to the forest floor, rattling the surrounding trees. The jolt knocked Robotnik out of the cockpit and spilled him to the ground in front of Sonic's feet. To the man he must have looked a bit like a spiky demon, his feral smile bright in the moonlight as he peered down at him. That was good- it was what he was aiming for.

"Stay away from the others Robotnik."

"Or what hedgehog?" Would the man not back down so easy? Usually Sonic could send him running easily by destroying his machines. The only time that didn't work was when Robotnik still had a ace up his sleeve.

"You saw what I did here tonight, do you really want to find out?" Sonic had a confident air about him despite a fair amount of confusion gnawing at his mind. He was bluffing but he didn't think Robotnik could see through his act. "I'm serious…" His darkened his gaze, "If you ever-"

He didn't get to finish that statement as something barreled him to the ground right then- dazing him. Even before he could recover completely he knew he had to act. His fingers grappling with slender mental digits that had made a beeline for his throat.

With his back to the ground it was difficult for him to put up much resistance against a stronger and larger foe. So busy with his struggle that he didn't notice much about his attacker beyond the fact that they were made entirely of metal.

"Now Sonic." He caught sight of Robotnik rising to his feet out of the corner of his eye. "What do you think of Mr. Tal?" While the mad genius had began brushing himself off without a care in the world Sonic struggled to make sense of the comment that may have very well been developed just to throw him off.

"What are you… talking… about?" Sonic managed to grunt out before finally giving up on saving his injured foot the pain. He rammed his soles up against the robot, rolling as he flipped it over himself- so it was him that had it on the ground this time around.

Then he saw. This robot looked just like Mr. Tal, as much as something metal could resemble a creature of flesh anyhow. No expression though and no emotion to its eyes- Sonic didn't think 'anyone was home' in this cold shell .

He dawdled for too long. The robot reached up and grabbed him with both hands, pinning his arms to his sides as it rose to its feet. His sharp spikes did nothing to deter it and neither did any of the kicks he rained upon it. "Let me go! ROBOTNIK!" Sonic howled with frustration, confusion, anger… so many emotions that he couldn't even grasp were slamming up against his mental walls.

It didn't make any sense. Is that what Robotnik had been up to, turning living organisms into machines? Was trapping their feral cousins within badniks no longer enough for him… The man had gone mad.

Mr. Tal had been on his side, why would Robotnik do something like this to his ally? To turn a person to an emotionless machine would mean stealing everything away from them. There was hardly anything worse than that.

"What did you do?" He was losing it.

Robotnik rose a eyebrow at him, "calm down hedgehog. I honestly thought you had a little more restraint than this…" Easy for him to say, he wasn't a kid trying to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. Sonic would like to see how sane he'd be living even a single day in his shoes.

"I did this bird a favor. He would have died if not for undergoing this procedure. You did quite a number on him earlier Sonic… but I think it might have just been by chance that sharp stone was there when he landed. Or did you purposely wedge it into his skull?"

The man was trying to get under his skin and it was working, he needed to get a hold of himself. His teeth gritted together and he bit back his words before they could reach the surface. Robotnik kept on, regardless of his silence though. "Now the others… they may have not been 'necessary' in your eyes Sonic but I always have the means for mindless drones."

He couldn't help it, his voice crackled: "Ot-others?…"

There seemed to be no end to amusement on Robotnik's face. "Yes, surely you noticed the empty towns. I wonder Sonic…" He turned his back to him. "Where were you when those other woodland creatures were in trouble? You're usually pretty good at getting in my way but then… I guess you were busy babysitting that little fox." The man shrugged his shoulders. "It's a pity, you probably could have saved them…If only you had your priorities straight."

No. He couldn't do everything, he needed to rest sometimes and that wasn't Tails' fault.

He couldn't have been there… this couldn't have been his fault…

Expect, he was faster and he should have been there to stop Robotnik.

"Now I'm going to gather these people up and do the same." Robotnik was pushing his luck but he didn't realize it, couldn't see the faint shimmer of energy crackling across Sonic's spikes. He had no reason to believe the hedgehog had anything up his sleeve.

Instead he simply turned back to his downed mech only to find two tails peeping up from the cockpit. The fox probably hadn't even noticed him before Robotnik had him by his namesakes. Tails howled, kicking and punching as he was yanked away from the controls. "You big jerk! It's no wonder Sonic attacks you, you deserve to have the snot beat out of you!"

It was difficult to say whether or not Robotnik regretted shaking Tails right then. But it might be said that he thought twice about messing with the fox after that night. "You disrespectful-" He never got to finish what he was going to say because right then there was a resounding thud.

Heads turned but in that instant, Sonic really was too fast. He closed in on his foe- spinning around Robotnik's outstretched arm to built momentum for the kick. The man was not in shape but he could survive explosions of his countless inventions while still in them, which was saying a lot. A normal kick wouldn't do much damage to him but this…

His head jerked back from the blow and he tripped over an arm of his mech- just missing a fatal landing on the blade of the spade. Robotnik's had dabbled in the workings of chaos emeralds, back when he was still a different man.

In that brief moment of his 'transformation', it was assumed he absorbed a large dosage of that negative energy. This appeared to be the same force that compelled Sonic now. That damn guardian must have had allowed him to hang onto an emerald.

Who left that much power to a mere child? Everyone knew that children were known to throw fits. Everything was too much for a kid. Robotnik scrambled backwards across the damp ground until his back was against the flat part of the spade. "Now… now… Sonic…"

It was any wonder if the hedgehog tried to resist. Robotnik's guess was that he couldn't bare all the feelings of anger, pain and helplessness so gave in. He probably wasn't even consciously aware that he had.

And now he'd kill him. Robotnik could see the small hedgehog arching his back in preparation to strike.

Robotnik had miscalculated. "Ol-"

"Stop!" There was that rabbit though and he couldn't help but think he'd seen her somewhere before. She stepped out of the bushes with a small bundle in her arms. "That's enough. You've made your point." Unfortunately Robotnik didn't think such meager words would save him.

It was only a flash of orange fur that showed any potential in doing that.

The moment arms closed around Sonic, the hedgehog visibly swelled up with panic and jerked against his friend's hold. His spines were too sharp, there was no way Tails could hold on once Sonic started thrashing. And at the moment of his release- Sonic bolted.

Everyone had there own way of dealing with things when it became too much and this was his. It was long overdue, everything had built up without release and he wanted to feel better. He couldn't though… sharp pain downed him and he collapsed.

He didn't care that he fell on his face or that the grass was cold with dew. His insides still felt hot. Every muscle tense and his breathing tight. Each footsteps that drew closer rattled his brain and he bit back a wince that he no longer had the strength to restrain. He was spent- the chaos emerald used all his energy and the mental aspect of the situation had stressed his mind to its limits.

Nothing was solved, he messed everything up. The rest of the villagers might have scattered the moment he was caught but Robotnik would still probably hunt them down, so it didn't matter. This had been their one real chance and he blew it…

"It's alright." So why was this voice telling him otherwise? Arms picking him up- He didn't understand, could hardly register that it was Vanilla that had him held against her. Reality was wavering, "You don't have to push yourself anymore. It will all be okay."

Tails looked up at the older rabbit uncertainly as she started off, then his gaze drifted back to Robotnik- shuddering at the man's calculating look. He tightened his arms around the baby in his grasp before hurrying after Vanilla.

The three only got a few steps before 'Mr. Tal' made a move towards them. No sooner than the robot had grabbed a hold of one of Tails' namesakes though, Robotnik called him off. "Let them go."

The robot withdrew without hesitation though Tails just stood there for a long moment, flicking his tails with confusion. Robotnik was the enemy, why was he letting them leave? It was only when he heard Sonic murmur something that Tails scrambled after. He wasn't sure just what had been said but it sounded a bit like: 'thanks'.


A/N: I blame Fleetaway's Super Sonic for this, Sonic X's Dark Sonic, along with Shadow's chaos abilities and vengeful personally. I assume there is a reason chaos emeralds are a last resort for Sonic… those things can really mess a person up with all that negative energy. Slip for a moment and it'll consume you. What sensible person would want to risk their sanity when they can handle things with their natural abilities?