"Mr. Sonic, I knew you'd come!" Cream the Rabbit exclaimed as she darted towards the hero.
Sonic tried to smile at the odd reunion. That innocent girl was not what he had expected to see onboard the Death Egg. The hero parted his arms to embrace the giddy creature, but as soon as she was three metres away, Tails pushed his mood down a few levels.
"Run!" the fox shouted from Sonic's communicator.
Blue Blur perked a brow at the sudden outburst from his nervous friend. Normally, he'd just ignore the exclamation, as Tails was always prone to overreacting in the presence of danger. This time, a gut feeling told the hedgehog that he should listen. Stressed or not, very weird things did occur to Sonic.
Seeing her friend move away, she stopped. Cream tried her best to hide a lump forming in her throat. "You don't want a hug from me, Mr. Sonic?"
"No, it's just…"
The rest wasn't necessary. Cream had already slumped to the floor, battered by harsh words, fountaining tears in every possible direction. She couldn't believe it…she waited for him to come, hoping to give him a happy hug and that…bad hedgehog rejected her. Cream had never meant any harm to anyone, so why would he? It was just so difficult to understand it made her sadder.
"Tails?" Sonic whispered. The hedgehog got a mental sensation his gut feeling was mere hunger, and that the fox was suffering from paranoia.
"Give me a minute. The exit will open soon."
"But what about Cream?"
"Forget her."
Now that was worth a kick in the head. It sounded mean even for Sonic, whose emotional intelligence has never been regarded as high. He wished to the heavens below that Cream didn't hear the twin-tailed boy. Maybe Tails was the real problem here? His guide's attitude started getting on Sonic's nerves. The fact that he was also clueless on how to handle a crying girl didn't help. Yes, Amy cried often, but it was always something so complicated and subtle, Sonic couldn't point out what he had done wrong in the first place. In Cream's case, it had to be easier. She'd only want a hug, not make out.
While approaching the female, he had to ignore Tails' tone, quivering more with every next step. At times, it sounded as if the boy had been crying for hours, but he deserved that if the fox wanted to be heartless.
"Sonic! Stop!" the fox begged, sensing the hedgehog was too irrational to listen.
He wouldn't listen.
"Don't come any closer!"
"We'll all be sorry!"
Tails got the silent treatment, and decided to behave accordingly. Sonic could be stubborn all he wanted, but ignorance wouldn't pay off. There was a click. Exclamations ebbed: the juvenile genius turned off the communications uplink.
Sonic secretly thanked him for doing this. More words would have discredited his friend and interrupted the caring plastic smile on the hedgehog's face. He sat down near the weeping rabbit and patted her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Cream. It's okay now," he said soothingly.
The rabbit turned to face him, tears still streaming from her eyes. Every drop of courage was necessary for the azure hero to remain peaceful-looking. One more whimper would have made him crumble in an apologetic fit. Not this time around, as Cream leaped at him in a tight squeeze. Feeling silly, Sonic tried to hug back while she dried the tears off on his fur. They were connected this way for a few good moments until the rabbit felt more confident. The hedgehog sighed, hoping it was over now.
She looked up into his eyes, as staggering as the mournful glare was. "T-thank you, sir. Will you take me to mama now?"
Without any second thoughts, Sonic made off with a ready reply: "No, I must…" he began, but shut his mouth immediately: her fur shivered at rejection while the girl's head swooped back down to stare at the floor. Sonic had to fix this fast! "I… What the?!"
He had to dash away from a sudden heat wave. Something was not right with the situation. Looking down, the hedgehog became horrified: blood, everywhere that girl had touched! Fur was still in tact, but warm red seeped from it. Sonic's skin was covered in boils and ulcers where Cream's tears had flowed, making him gasp at every revelation. The hero looked at his hands in shock, red stains everywhere. How was it even possible?!
"Woo-hoo. Heh, heh…heh," the laughter rang in Sonic's eardrums.
"Eggman!"
A monitor slid down from the ceiling. The image of Robotnik's facial hair covered most of the screen. That maniac was grinning from ear to ear. He had been watching the entire time and, finally, decided to make a smashing entrance. The look on Sonic's face compensated suspense for the villain. Eggman could see emotions boiling in the hedgehog's viscera: anger blazed in his pupils, hatred squeezed palms into fists, and fear trembled on the hero's muscles. Nothing, however, could outperform the vision of his scarlet, oozing down while coagulating.
"You shouldn't have bothered, Eggbun. I'll tear that moustache off your head with the rest of your face for what you did to Cream!"
Robotnik stroked his cheeks cockily at those remarks, "For what I did to her? A nuisance like you should worry about other things…such as death that wouldn't soil my clean floor."
That fat moron would never shut up!
Sonic felt a lot better after spindashing through the screen. It worked better than an "off" button. And it was much more rewarding to watch the screen fly down and explode. However, Sonic's satisfaction was short-lived.
"The good doctor cured my fears, Mr. Sonic," said Cream, who has managed to creep up from behind. "I'm not afraid of losing you."
With that, the smiling rabbit reached out to poke his side. Sonic jumped away, still baffled about his new opponent. What, how? Couldn't it have been Shadow or some other guy? Maybe he's just delusional? No…Cream didn't really touch him that time, but it still felt as if a blade sliced through his skin. Seeing the wound only increased that uncomfortable sensation. He could have sworn that watching the fresh scar made liquids leak out faster.
He gripped a golden ring he had left, hoping to ease down the bleeding with its power. Unfortunately, its weak energy field could not be as helpful as wanted. The rabbit had managed to corner him by merely hopping on one foot in his direction. Sonic's disoriented backtracking was an obvious error.
She looked happy, like always, only in all the wrong ways now. Suddenly, the jumping bunny stopped and just stared at him attentively.
"Hey, Mr. Sonic, watch this!"
An instinct forced him to get down, covering his head with both hands. The male shuddered at the revelation. Electricity enveloped Cream for a moment, making her features fuzz up and glow. The unimaginable occurred afterwards: hairs grew longer on her torso, ripping through the fabric of her dress. Before the next blink, they became almost three metres in length, bunched together, piercing the spot behind Sonic. They retracted just as rapidly, leaving a replica of Sonic's face needled into the solid wall.
Merciful chilidogs! That kid wanted to turn his head into Swiss cheese! Sonic spun away as far as he could from the abnormal rabbit. His breath was heavy and uneven, but not from fatigue. Seeing such danger coming from a tiny female (that went to bed before seven) was simply too much to swallow.
"Awgh, don't run, Mr. Sonic, I want to draw you whole!"
She followed, albeit much slower than the hero could run. This gave him a window of opportunity. All Sonic had to do was stay on his feet and the rabbit would never get close enough for another injury. The thought has been consoled him for a good ten seconds until she sniffled. Oh, no!
"Mr. Sonic…don't you like my drawings?"
From her facial expression, the hero could tell she expected a real answer. He had learnt a good lesson by now: the "n" word was definitely a bad choice.
"I do like them!" he exclaimed in the most awkward tone possible, trying not to hiss from the pain she put him through.
Sonic wanted to burrow into the ground to escape her reaction. The female smiled joyously, but it wasn't the usual shy grin. It was a large toothy smirk that gleamed like a beacon. Electricity swirled around her, puffing up her fur so it needled its way completely out of the clothing. Now her fur was free to grow and move as it saw fit.
"Yay!"
The child's outburst sent an explosion of furry projectiles. Her hair swished through the air, slicing into every obstacle, including Sonic. One wouldn't have noticed Cream in the middle of the razor sharp spiky ball, the edges of which were attached to most of the room's surfaces. Had the hero not dived face-first to the area's farthest end, he'd have been culinary history.
Sonic gazed at the monster with fearful eyes, a few sturdy hairs stuck in his foot. He tried to remove them, but as much as touching the fuzz lines resulted in gashes. The hero couldn't move. A false tug could easily lose him a leg.
Fortunately, they moved back into Cream, and she was once more the happy little bunny. The creature looked around the room in astonishment, her mouth open wide. The entire space was tattooed in pin marks, and every surface had a different picture, stabbed into metal with her modified hair. Some had Sonic rolled into a ball, others – him doing a victory pose. The wall behind him, however, had an imprint of Eggman, strangling the blue hero.
Cream gasped, putting her palms over her mouth, as she noticed the violent graphic. The rabbit gave him an apologetic look and stepped closer. Sonic shook his head, getting up, and took a defensive stance in hope she'd stay away. This proved to be a useless action; Cream ignored everything, consumed by the picture.
"I'm so sorry, sir. I forgot your eyes…"