47 - Starving Doormat


The Next Day

Chaos, how many hours has it been? They've been running all around this joint, looking through upside down doors and rooms that led to no where. This place was a lot more confusing than Shadow anticipated. The true anti-Sonic kept them on a steady path, but it felt like they weren't getting any closer to Sonic. Maria took the liberty of looking in other places as well along the way, just to make sure they didn't miss any trace of the hero. There were some instances where Maria and anti-Sonic could phase through a wall, but Shadow would have to take an alternative way to get to where they are. Usually through another odd room or twisted staircase, That took up more time, and made things a little more difficult.

Shadow was positive they went up a few floors through all their traveling. As of now, they were walking down a corridor of floating furniture. Shadow could see spirits and other ghostly apparitions float across the ceilings. The anti-Sonic wasn't kidding, this place really was haunted. There were dozens of them in here. Every single one of them were hedgehogs, too. They must have been related to Scourge in some way. Maria didn't like them, as she kept giving them dirty looks while hiding behind the biohog as they went along. Like she could sense something was up with them. They ignored them, though. The spirits didn't seem to care for anyone that was passing by them. Their eyes were empty, and they didn't make a peep. Anti-Sonic did warn them however, that it is best not to bother them. They're neutral, but will become hostile if they're disturbed. Don't bother them, and they won't become trouble.

As more transparent Moebian bodies drifted in the air, Shadow moved on and ignored them like instructed. He hated that he couldn't just run, walking slow and carefully like this was wasting time. Yes, he did need to be cautious in this castle, especially with all these ghosts around, but he almost didn't care. Sonic could be in danger, and he was taking his sweet ass time. He walked a little closer towards the blue see-through hedgehog in front of him, and put his hand through his body to get his attention. It's not like he could tap him on the shoulder. "Hey." He said with a quiet voice. He didn't want to alert the other spirits around them.

The anti-Sonic paused and turned around to face Shadow. He rose a brow and tilted his head in confusion. In other words, 'why did you stop us?'

"Are we getting any closer to Sonic? It feels like we're barely making any progress in this damn place." He shivered, hugging his hands to his arms as he felt chills up his spine. "Not to mention it's freezing in here." He realized why, though. So that myth about the temperature dropping whenever a spirit was nearby, wasn't a myth at all. It was pretty chilly in this corridor, even for someone covered head to toe in fur.

Scourge's other half grimaced. "We are getting closer," He said with slight anxiety in his words. "But we are still a great distance away from him." After listening, Shadow's face grew irritated. The blue one nervously gulped. "S-Sorry, but if we try rushing through here, we'll alert one of the others." He pointed upwards, gesturing to the other ghosts flying amongst them. "Sonic prime is in the king's personal chambers, but it's been twisted and altered just like the other rooms in this castle. Now it's where the basement's supposed to be. But the only way to get there, is to get to the highest floor where there's a single door that leads to the basement."

"Well, can't I at least get Maria to give me strength so I can try to pin point Sonic's wavelength?" He needed to know that he was okay, and he could know that through their wavelength. Right now, their wavelength was severed and discombobulated because of his low energy and this distorted mess they called a castle. If he had his energy back, he could at least try to purge through and pin point Sonic's location.

The anti-Sonic shook his head. "Sorry. I don't know if you two realized this, but you're both separated right now. If you wanted to turn super, you couldn't. Because your super form," He turned to Maria. "Which is this young lady here, is away from you. She is no longer in her host's body. Even if spirits are visible here, you still shouldn't be able to see her. If you can, that means you two were forcibly split up." He frowned to himself. "I don't know why that would be, though."

That's when it hit him.

Shadow cursed. "Shit." When he pushed the castle doors open and broke the barrier, that corrupted energy must have penetrated through his body and forced Maria out of him. That was probably why he was able to hear her towards the end, and why it was so damn painful. He accidentally ripped his own form out of himself from the reaction. The girl, despite not being inside of her host, could feel this realization and his eventual disappointment. It was his fault that he couldn't get his energy back quicker. She frowned and placed her hand onto his shoulder as they walked.

Both Shadow and Maria made a tired groan, face palming at the same time. Why did everything involving Scourge have to be so damn complicated? Thanks to that damn barrier and all this corrupted power, they were set back even more. Still, Shadow had to commend Scourge for his restructuring of the castle. Shadow would have never thought to look for such a place. Hell, he wouldn't have been able to get this far without the true anti-Sonic as his guide. Scourge made this place look like this because he knew Shadow would wind up coming back here. He wanted to make it harder for him to find Sonic, obviously. This twisted haunted castle was constructed and manipulated for intruders just like him.

But wasn't there a way for him to make this trip go just a little bit faster? He was worried, and he needed to get closer to Sonic. He needed to find him and fast. Shadow was more than positive a day had already passed since they traveled, he couldn't waste anymore time! All they had to do was go down this corridor next, right? Shadow turned to the anti-Sonic apparition. "I'm going to run from now on. You lead the way once we get out of this corridor." He instructed, before charging up his shoes and running full force down the hall. Maria followed behind him, but the anti-Sonic began to panic.

He floated after them as fast as he could while holding up his hand to make them stop. "Stop!" He tried to yell, but to no avail. Instead, Shadow instantly caught the attention of the other spirits surrounding the corridor. They all instantly froze, before looking down at the ultimate life form speeding down the hall. They then started floating in his direction along with the anti-Sonic, tailing him from behind. Shadow could feel cold air hit the back of his quills, and he could tell that Maria suddenly felt uncomfortable as he skated. She floated a little farther ahead of him, and pointed behind him with a disgruntled expression on her face. Shadow mentally cursed himself and skidded his skates to a halt. He then turned around to see what was behind them. Maria instantly hid behind him again, her face making one of those dirty looks again.

Shadow's eyes widened.

Anti-Sonic's spirit was there, but behind him, were several dozen other apparitions staring right at him. They were no longer distracted, they were alerted just like he feared. Shadow took a step backwards slowly, surveying his surroundings with a scowl. Okay, this was bad, but it could be worse. They didn't seem hostile, just curious as to why a living Mobian and an Overlander spirit were amongst their walls. But then, Shadow realized they weren't just staring at him, they were kind of eyeballing the anti-Sonic, too. Though they didn't have pupils, Shadow could tell his appearance here was baffling them as well. The anti-Sonic, he looked absolutely terrified of a particular couple of ghosts before them. He was shaking, his teeth gnawing against each other.

When Shadow met his gaze with the apparitions he was trembling from, he noticed something. There was a female, here. A female hedgehog. She looked blue as well, and she also didn't have any eyes. Beside her was a taller hedgehog, an older male. They both seemed, lost. The female was drooling, and it looked as if she wasn't really looking at anything in particular. She was wearing a tattered and ripped up white dress that reached her ankles. Her dress was heavily bloodied, as were her face and her chest. As for the male, he looked tense and angry. He wore formal clothing, such as a vest, tie and slacks. However, his clothes were also tattered and torn up with blood stains. What happened to them?

Still, it didn't seem as if he was looking at anything specific either. Did neither of them notice Shadow? The red striped hedgehog turned to the true anti-Sonic, who was now looking back at him. He worded something drastic to him. "Don't. Move."

Shadow steadied his nerves and looked to the side to see Maria do the same, making herself completely frozen.

Through the crowd of ghosts, those two particular spirits made their way towards them. They floated to Shadow and began eyeing both him and Maria. Then, they turned and stared at the anti-Sonic. The female hedgehog's drool dripped right in front of him, her head slightly twitching here and there. The male hedgehog kept grunting and making erratic movements. Shadow really didn't like this, and these two were making things extremely cold for him. Being around the anti-Sonic didn't do anything because he wasn't actually a spirit since he wasn't actually dead. Being around Maria made him feel warm, perhaps because she was his super form. But these two? It felt like Shadow was standing in the middle of a tundra.

That being said, Shadow's body made a few reflexes that he couldn't control. Whenever the body was in low temperatures, it would attempt at heating itself back up by shivering. And that's exactly what Shadow did, he shivered from the chilliness of the room. That was enough to register as 'movement', disobeying exactly what the anti-Sonic told him not to do.

Both of those strange hedgehogs began to look directly at him, before screaming their literal bloody heads off.

Shadow's ears instantly flattened, and Maria shot her hands up to her own while cringing. The anti-Sonic clenched his teeth as the horrid sound screeched echoed off the walls. He then looked at Shadow again and mouthed, "RUN."

Run? No way, he could take these guys. He wouldn't let them stand in the way of reaching Sonic, and he didn't care if they were Scourge's dead relatives or not. He tightened his fists and got into a fighting stance, chaos energy focusing in his knuckles. However, before he could charge forward and throw a punch at the male hedgehog, he was the one who struck first. Shadow expected a straight up punch in the face, but instead, he watched as his arm went directly through his body. Huh. Right, ghosts. Okay, so why-"Ngh..!" Oh. Oh, so that's why he struck him. Okay, his God damn chaos energy was draining. Shadow instantly stepped back while wincing, feeling slightly weakened after that invisible hit. The biohog couldn't hit him since he was incorporeal, and he couldn't hit Shadow, but he could drain his energy.

Yeah, maybe he should run after all.

Shadow turned the other cheek and bolted down the corridor. He didn't want to run away, but he didn't have a choice. For one, he'd be wasting time dealing with an enemy he didn't understand. Two, there were way too many spirits surrounding them, who's to say the rest of them wouldn't turn hostile too? He'd get ambushed. Three, Shadow needed what little chaos energy he had left. He couldn't waste it trying to fight that guy, he needed to reserve his powers help Sonic. The quicker he found him, the less he'd have to worry about other adversaries that could fly through walls.

With Maria and the true anti-Sonic following close behind him, Shadow rounded the corner and kept moving. Scourge's other half floated a little in front of him and began guiding him to Sonic's direction. Good, at least they were moving at a much faster pace now-What the hell was that!? Shadow's ears perked up as he skidded to a halt. Something was screaming it's head off again. It must have been those two hedgehog spirits from before. Damn it-"...!" A hand had stretched itself through the wall behind him. It was transparent, and the sleeve of that hand was bloody and feminine. It was the woman this time. Slowly, her face phased through the wall as she tried swinging at Shadow. He ducked and instantly ran off to join the anti-Sonic's side again.

This time despite all that hollering and ear curdling screaming, he didn't stop. As he ran, he looked to his right to see the anti-Sonic looking frightened and alarmed. Maria once again looked very uncomfortable, but not afraid. Still, she stuck by Shadow. The ultimate life form demanded that the blue transparent hedgehog explain what the hell was going on. "What the hell is going on!?"

Anti-Sonic glanced behind them worriedly before looking back in front of himself. "Those are my parents, you need to avoid them at all costs. They were the most hostile during life and death, and they'll continue following you until they sap you of your energy." Oh well that's lovely. "They're dead Chaos Born, the only thing they can feed off of is chaos energy. That's why they linger in places that's abundant in the stuff. But you, that's all you're made of. You're nothing but fodder to them, and you're an intruder in their castle. They want you dead!" So basically, Scourge's warped version of a security system. How beautiful.

But last time, Scourge had the anti-Amy and Miles guarding this place. When he and Sonic were previously here, they didn't see any ghosts. Why were they apparent now? "What about the anti-Amy and Miles? Why not use them to thwart me off at the castle doors like last time? And why am I just able to see any of you now? None of this happened the last time Sonic and I were here!"

The anti-Sonic shook his head. "When he returned to the castle after you two left, he kicked Rosy out of the entire kingdom. Miles ran off, we don't know where he is." That's right, Sonic let him go. The moment they left his side, the vulpine had disappeared. "We were always here the entire time, you just weren't in the right place. Scourge's throne has a hidden room underneath the chair that holds his sacred shrine. That's where everyone was hidden and where all that power was sealed up, while I just followed where ever Scourge went since he was my husk. But since he and Fleetway reconstructed the castle into a maze, everyone escaped to different parts of the building and everything's in literal chaos."

Shadow sucked his teeth. Of course that was the case. "I'm sick of this bullshit, just tell me when we get close to Sonic-" Another fucking scream. Good God, why did this have to be a freakin' haunted castle of all things? Shadow could feel that they were still hot on their trail, no matter how fast he moved his legs, and no matter how fast they could float. This would take forever, and the anti-Sonic said they wouldn't rest until they devoured Shadow of his energy. They had to hide somewhere for a while. Shadow jumped over flipped over tables and floating chairs, dodging spinning levitating paintings and drifting tablecloth.

As they neared another wall, that same woman from before phased through and tried grabbing at him again. He nearly lost one of his quills thanks to that broad. He wasn't surprised these people were Scourge's parents, it would explain some of his mental issues. Maria yelped as she even tried grabbing for her blonde hair. The anti-Sonic grabbed the human girl's wrist and dodged his mother's persistent swings and grabs. Why was she after them now? They were already dead! Shadow wanted to yell at the female hedgehog to make her stop, until the anti-Sonic's father abruptly joined them. Drifting and growling from behind the biohog, he tried swinging at the ultimate life form. Shadow thankfully dodged at the last second and ran on ahead while yelling for Maria and the anti-Sonic to catch up immediately.

Scourge's father yelled curses while his mother drooled and continuously screamed bloody murder. As the woman's screams echoed off the halls, Shadow winced in pain. Her screams were really starting to hurt his ears, that alone was causing damage. Any nearby mirrors that just so happened to fly through the halls shattered instantly thanks to her shrill voice. Maria could see the pain in Shadow's face, causing her to scowl angrily. She pulled her arm away from the anti-Sonic and stopped moving. Shadow had whirred right passed her, only to notice that she was staying behind. He instantly skidded to a stop once again and yelled for her to continue moving. "Maria! Get back here! They'll hurt you!"

The anti-Sonic also tried getting the girl back, and floated by her side to seize her wrist once more to pull her away before his parents arrived. However, the girl didn't move an inch. She rose a hand in front of herself, full open palm. Her hair began to raise in the air as her blue eyes shined a color Shadow recognized. Red. But not just any shade of red, it was the same amber red he and Sonic's eyes turned to whenever they went Super. A golden aura charged through her fingertips and focused into her palm. With furrowed brows and a determined expression, a bright yellow light singed throughout the environment. Just as Scourge's mother and father rushed towards the three, that light blinded them. They screeched and looked away, covering their eyes while wailing in agony.

Maria turned to face Shadow and pointed ahead. "That way. Let's go, now!" She said. She then took anti-Sonic's hand and floated to Shadow's side as the ultimate life form started back up again to run along. The anti-Sonic instructed which way to go, telling them to go left or right, to ascend up some stairs, or descend down an unknown trapdoor. They ran as quick as they could, trying to get as far away from their assailants as possible, and closer to Sonic. After fifteen straight minutes of sprinting, they realized that they no longer heard anymore screams or angry yelling. Shadow slowed to a stop one last time, and hunched beside a wall to rest his hand on. He peaked his head around the corner of it to look and see if they were still after them.

...

...

...Okay, he didn't see anyone.

He sighed and turned to the human girl. Her golden blonde hair was still raised, and her eyes still twinkled that amber red color. He made a small smile at her, and she returned a warm one. That was amazing of her, he had no idea she could just do that on her own. "Maria, I didn't know you could do something like that." He said. "That was amazing."

She shrugged with a sheepish smile. "I-I honestly don't know how I did that. My emotions got the better of me, I suppose?"

The anti-Sonic saw the girl's bright expression, and his face began coloring pink from it for some reason. "...W-Well," He mumbled while poking his fingers together. "Spirits who roam in a place that's filled with chaos energy can get seriously powerful so, you could do a lot of things you couldn't do before here. That's why shrines are so useful. It's thanks to Scourge's shrine being out in the open that you can use your power as Shadow's Divine Spirit."

Shadow walked in front of the girl and stared at her hand, wishing he could hold it. "I don't care what the reason for it is, Maria's amazing." He spoke with pride. "End of story."

The dimples on the girl's face became evident as her smile widened. She instantly bent down and wrapped her longer arms around his frame, nuzzling her head against his. Shadow flinched, but instantly felt at ease. It was strange. He couldn't touch her, but it felt like she could most definitely touch him. He could feel her warmth and her smooth skin, her soft hair and delicate lashes batting against his fur. "I'm just doing my job," She whispered to him. "Protecting you, because I love you." Yes, she's the one who taught him that people did crazy things for the for the ones they loved.

The anti-Sonic found himself smiling at the scene as Shadow closed his eyes in tranquility. Having her arms around him and feeling her warmth all over again was all he ever wanted since her death.

And then, Shadow suddenly felt weak in the legs.

He coughed up blood, and fell to his knees. His ear flicked, he knew for sure Maria gasped with fright. She immediately knelt down to his side, and tried getting him to sit up correctly. However, he was having a hard time doing so, as he kept puking blood on the floor in front of himself. He felt so tired, he suddenly felt like he wanted to sleep forever. Tears ran down her face as she caressed his muzzle tried making him look at her in the eyes. He couldn't though, he couldn't focus his gaze on her. The anti-Sonic tried helping as well, by trying to pull the ultimate life form's arms.

But it was no use, Shadow couldn't move.

Shadow fell forward onto his face, his left eye twitching as he fought to stay awake. He heard that horrendous wailing again from behind, and it grew louder slowly. He could see Maria and the anti-Sonic back away in his peripheral vision. Maria looked both distraught and very exasperated, while the anti-Sonic looked terrified. It was his parents. They were backing themselves against a wall that they could easily phase through, but they didn't. Rather, Maria refused to run away. She planted her feet down and gripped her hands into tightened fists. Her hair rose even higher as her eyes turned completely amber. Shadow could feel all the rage and desperation in her power as she raised both hands into the air. The anti-Sonic looked her way with shock, as he didn't expect her to release even more power so soon.

Shadow could feel the temperature drop once more, and it felt like something cold was breathing frost into his ear. He felt something wet and warm drip through his muzzle, and he could tell it was see-through saliva. It was that woman again. In the background, he heard a man spouting curses and other nonsense from his mouth. That was the father. Suddenly, Shadow's eyes shrunk as he coughed out more blood. That's when he felt something shove itself directly into his back and through his stomach. That had to have been someone's arm. They were draining more energy out of him, and it was painful. More than anything, it was slow. Shadow's pain receptors were on absolute high, and he couldn't help but scream in immense pain as a sheer reflex.

Upon seeing this firsthand, Maria's amber eyes faded back into a devastated and submissive blue. "No! Shadow!" She yelled out.

"Mar..." He could barely say her name. "Ia..." He couldn't stay awake, he was going to black out. The human girl spirit rose her hands to her hair and gripped the sides of her head as her knees buckled. No, this couldn't be happening. She couldn't lose him, she couldn't let him join her and her grandfather. Not yet. She suddenly growled and let go of her hair to regain her composure. She grit her teeth with an enraged expression, her growls soon becoming snarls. Her eyes glowed a bright amber again with stronger vigor and greater strength.

Darkness overcame Shadow, just as Maria's screamed a deadly cry.


Knuckles had did what Tikal said, and went inside of the bunker to talk with the droid.

...

...At least, that's what he wanted to do.

He couldn't, because the robot was offline for some weird ass reason.

It would not respond to anything Knuckles would say or do. It's lights were off, and it's metal head hung low with it's arms slunk over as if someone threw it against a wall like a broken action figure.

The echidna just growled, before turning right around and marching back out of the bunker. He would be in front of the alter all night, until the very next day.

Really? That thing needed to fall asleep now of all times? Why? Did Omega do that? Did the prime version of Omega just go into sleep mode here and there randomly? That thing held Fiona captive. Would it's body keep her locked in there tight while it was asleep, or could she bust out anytime she wanted now that it was offline? Not to mention, that was their only source of internet, right now. Would the wi-fi still work even with it being shut off?

These were all questions Knuckles desperately wanted to ask Tails, but the child was still asleep. The last thing he wanted to do is disturb him since the kid literally had no wink of shut-eye in days.

Sigh.

...

...Wait, did the laptop just get a notification?


A lie.

His life, was a lie.

His entire life, was a lie.

His friends, his life as a hero, him being some fucking 'Champion of All Realities', all a damn set up. None of it was real, none of it was earned. He was just a puppet, a doll on strings. His power wasn't even his own, it was all blessings from the Divine Spirits. Nothing was his own. Not his powers, not his personality, not his sense of justice, not even his own speed. He couldn't take this, he couldn't take this anymore. He wanted to get out of here, but he didn't want to go home anymore. He just wanted to go to an isolated white space, and sit there alone while staring at nothing. He just wanted isolation, he just wanted to be alone.

Forever.

The bedroom doors creaked open and he heard footsteps walk in. Sonic felt himself scowl. Of fucking course he'd come in now. God damn it, why him? Sonic covered his face with his hands and laid back on the bed while rolling on his side. He took the covers and yanked them onto his form, covering himself up to his chin. He then pulled them up more to cover his face, he really didn't feel like talking to his kidnapper right now. As he heard his footsteps get louder and closer across the floor, Sonic felt his stomach growl. Damn it, he was hungry again. He didn't even notice until now. But that was just too bad, he'd rather starve than eat any food right now.

"Oh Blue~," That annoying voice said. "I heard your stomach growl, and it's been several hours since the last time you ate. You need to eat."

Sonic stiffened and growled. "Fuck you."

Scourge sighed and pulled the curtains of the canopy aside to move over and sit onto the bed. "No need to be difficult Blue, I don't want you getting weak again. Trust me, starving fuckin' hurts. Take it from a guy who used to purge like Zonic. Unwillingly."

Wait, what?

Sonic blinked. "What?"

The green hedgehog shook his head. "Never mind. Just sit up and look at me. You wanna eat, doncha?"

"No, I don't." And after Sonic retorted that, his stomach growled again much to his dismay.

Scourge scoffed. "Yeah, sure. Look, I'll get ya some food. It don't have to be chili dogs either, it can be whatever you want. Ya just gotta do one thing for me," The former prince crawled over closer onto the bed and sat directly behind Sonic's figure.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Like what? Another kiss again? No way."

"It's simple, really." A bright smile decorated itself onto the green one's face. "All ya gotta do is suck me off."

The hero's eyes widened significantly, and he couldn't contain the snarl forming in his throat. He kicked the blankets off and swung an elbow into Scourge's chest. "Fuck off!" He yelled while backing away until he reached the headboard. "I told you from day one, I would never do anything to you, and you're not gonna do anything to me!" He yelled. "Besides, this isn't even you talking, is it? This is just the freak side of you. Go away!" He demanded angrily. "Thanks to you, my life has been nothing but shit since the minute you showed your face in Mobius. I don't even care about this whole conspiracy bullshit, I just want this to end." He turned away from Scourge and gripped the sides of his head while lowering it between his legs. "I hate you, I hate this. I want nothing to do with you anymore! Just leave me alone and never come back!" He hollered.

Scourge listened and watched carefully, his face void of any expression. Wow, Sonic sounded pretty distraught.

It was a shame he didn't buy that shit.

His anti-self chuckled while shaking his head. "Oh Blue, you're not gonna trick me like that. I'm too smart, ya know?" He casually said while sitting next to Sonic back against the headboard. Upon hearing this, Sonic just scowled and continued looking away from him. That whole act was a ruse. He wanted Scourge to think he was emotionally distressed so he could just give up and leave him alone. "Sorry, I'm not gonna let you off that easily." The grin on his face widened. "So now, I'm not gonna ask nicely. You don't really have a choice in the matter since I need ya at full strength for our big fight."

Oh God, this again-Wait, what? Why? If Scourge really did plan on them having a big fight, why would he want Sonic to be at full strength? Wouldn't you want every advantage you could get? Unless he really believed in his own hype that much, that plan didn't make any sense. "Wait, why?" Sonic asked with narrowing eyes. "Don't you want to beat me and just get everything over with? Actually, why am I even alive right now?" He said as a matter of factly. "Your goal is to kill all Chaos Born by starting with the most powerful, me. Right? So why not just kill me now? Hell, why didn't you kill me the first time you captured me?"

Scourge continued shaking his head with a 'tsk tsk tsk'. "Silly Blue, you weren't ready. Well, rather, I wasn't ready. I wanted to destroy your help first, so that could destroy any chances of the Divine Spirits screwing anything up on some deus ex machina bullshit." Help? Maybe he meant the Master Emerald and Christmas Island. If Sonic was able to warp from here to Mobius prime constantly, he would have had Hyper activated a long time ago. That was a smart move. And thanks to Zonic having his hands tied because of the spirits, he would have refused to help him do that anyway back in No Zone. Scourge wanted to destroy any possible way of Sonic cheating his way out of this encounter before their battle, which is why he let him go the first time. He needed to prepare by destroying Mobius and waging war on No Zone first.

Okay, but why not now? "Still, why won't you kill me now? You missed your chance at killing Zonic, so why not just get rid of me while I'm down?"

Scourge sighed at the numerous amount of questions. He leaned back and began to dig in his ear with his pinky finger. "Because Blue, I'm infatuated with you. I wanna fuck your brains out, of course I'm bein' a little reluctant. 'Sides," He added. "Your power's been truly awakened thanks to Stripes, and I need you at one hundred percent so you can't hold back on me. Frankly, I thought after going to your shrine that you would have already had your power ready, but I guess not."

Yeah, that's not how things worked. When Sonic went to his shrine back on Christmas Island on his birthday, he was granted the ability to use Hyper without using Super Emeralds. That he'd be able to use his power whenever he wished if he had gained something severely important first. Thanks to Shadow, Sonic got it, and he was able to truly awaken Hyper to his full potential, which was why he was able to transform back in No Zone.

"See," Scourge continued. "I want us to fight for a certain reason. I can't spoil it just in case your forms get any ideas, but I will say this," He trailed off with a darkening expression. "We're gonna fight to the motherfuckin' death. And I mean that."

Sonic's eyes widened. To the death? He wasn't serious, right? What would he gain from that? "But...But what if you lose, and I beat you?"

The green hedgehogs shrugged. "First of all, I'll be stronger than you. You won't kill me. Plus, you gotta understand somethin'." He turned to Sonic. "My deal with Fleetway was validated only because he believed I would cause permanent misery and disarray. Blue, even if you do restore your world and No Zone and fix everything I did, it don't matter. What I plan on doing, will effect you even after everything fails for me in the end. Soon, you'll see things exactly the way I do. Shit," He chuckled. "You might even thank me afterwards."

Thank him?

"Blue, I have the distinct feeling that you still don't get me." Scourge suddenly said. "I really don't want you to think that I'm doing all of this horrible shit, just because I'm some whiny, angsty, wannabe-edgy asshole with daddy and mommy issues who went through a whole decade of torture porn." He took a minute to think after he realized how much one would have to unpack in that sentence. Oh well, Sonic got his point. "I'm not doing this because of what I went through. I'm doing this because of what you and a lot of other innocent people in other worlds could go through. I'm doing this, because I want to end a cancer, and that cancer is us. I don't dress like an edgelord because it's who I am at heart or some other bullshit excuse brooding teens make. I look and act like this because, well, I like black. And acting this way makes me feel...Free."

Sonic paused at that. He felt, liberated like this? "Free?"

"Yup." Scourge nodded with a nicer tone. "I used to wear noble clothing all the time. I mean looking all fancy and junk was nice, at first. It was nice until I realized I had to look like some imperious prick every single day, even when I went to bed. I had to act a certain way, speak a certain way. And thanks to my terrible family, I was extremely obedient and meek just like Zonic. The very opposite of you, and that's just boring and redundant. I mean, wearing formal clothes are only worn for special occasions for a reason, right? Geez. But after running away from No Zone the first time, I got to do whatever the fuck I wanted. And it felt, I dunno...Great!" He said with a bright smile. "I got to wear whatever I wanted, talk however I wanted, act however I wanted. I had already decided by then that I would rebel against the spirits, so I didn't even have to listen to them either. Well, rather, they gave up on forcing themselves into my life and my brain. I felt free! I was free!" He said. "And that same freedom, is what I'm trying to give the rest of the universe."

That may be true, and it was almost nice to hear that Scourge truly felt happy for a short amount of time in the past. But wasn't the spirits super important to the universe? They made Chaos Born, they created chaotic power, they practically created Mobius and every other reality there is. Why destroy something not only so powerful, but lethally important? "But the spirits created us and a lot of other things. Like, planets and realities. Wouldn't destroying them and Chaos Born cause some kind of imbalance or something?" Sonic asked.

Scourge shook his head. "'Course not, dummy. Don't you think I would've thought of that? Nah, the multiverse don't need the spirits. After all, there was a world before Mobius. A world where humans lived without that chaotic nonsense. A world before us. A world before that weird ass invasion that created the spirits, and in turn, Mobians. Living organisms are spontaneous, stubborn and powerful beings themselves, Gods or not. Mobians and other people of other realities will live on, and will find a way to continue existing even without our kind poisoning every planet we come across. And that's not me being an endearing hopeful cinnamon bun, it's me being realistic. Life is a strange but immortal concept, that will eventually persevere." He looked to the side. "Sure, after our deaths, chaos energy will cease to exist. And the worlds may suffer a great loss without chaos power, No Zone being a huge factor. But, they'll be able to live with that. If the shitty ass humans could do it, they can do it too. I got faith in them."

Fuck, this asshole truly did think of everything. Absolutely, everything. The after effects of the destruction of Chaos Born and chaotic abilities in general, how to weaken the Divine Spirits' thresholds, how to put the most powerful being in the world in the most humiliating and vulnerable jail cell within his own home. Scourge really did his research, and he really thought everything through. How the hell was Sonic supposed to beat someone this clever? And, if Scourge was right about the spirits being evil...

...Should Sonic even try to beat him in the first place?

"Blue, like I told ya before, you gotta stop fighting me. You gotta look at the bigger picture." His voice became firm. "Fuck the details, fuck all the convoluted crap and fuck my backstory. I'm not the one that matters here. I didn't make that big ass speech back in No Zone to make you feel pity, I told you and showed you all of that tragedy so you could understand why I'm doing this at all. Even Zonic was a target of the Divine Spirits' abuse and manipulation." Scourge reached down and grasped Sonic's hands within his own. "I am irrelevant compared to you. You, matter. Because only with your cooperation will this work a lot easier. I need you to listen to me, help me, and save the multiverse by sacrificing yourself along with me and every other Chaos Born."

Sonic stared into his eyes. They were perfectly blue, void of any red swirls.

"I want you at full power so we can end this. So just," He rose his hand and caressed Sonic's muzzle. "Let me help you, so you can help others." His eyes lowered with a hazy aura. "Now, open your mouth. Let's just get it over with, okay?" His other hand lowered towards the space between his green legs. "I'll make you feel so good, baby." He whispered. "That euphoria you feel when you cum, it'll sky rocket your chaos energy levels. And that high will make you feel like you're on cloud nine. Trust me."

That would, get his energy back...?

Really?

Sonic couldn't look away, he couldn't look away-


"You're everything to me, I swear it."

"I love you."


...

Shadow.

Shadow.

He was letting the very person who hurt him, humiliated him, deceived him, assaulted him, nearly killed him, took advantage of him, throw his entire personal philosophy and his reason to be a hero right in his face like a wet doormat. And he's just letting him do it. Letting him mind-fuck him even without Fleetway's powers, laying down and taking every skid mark of his boots on his face as much as Scourge wanted him to take. He was willingly, becoming someone's bottom bitch and he was actively being okay with that.

Zonic was right. Scourge never actually needed Fleetway's powers to mind-fuck people, that was just an extra boost. He truly did have the mouth of a cult leader. What kind of shit is this? This spat in the face of who he was as a person, as a person with basic rights.

That was a load of utter bullshit.

That's not who he was, and damn it that isn't who he should settle himself to be! If the fucking Divine Spirits were a problem with his very existence being the cause of it, oh-fucking-well. It isn't his fault that he's alive, it isn't his fault that the people who birthed him were God-like fascists that acted like Nazis whenever their rule was threatened. He's alive, and he planned on staying alive! If his own brethren were the problem, then damn it, he'd help fix it, but not at the expense of killing himself and other innocent people! He was tired of being submissive, he was tired of feeling like a burden on everything when he hadn't really done anything wrong in the grand scheme of things. He's not gonna be a doormat anymore!

"Blue?"

Damn it, no.

"Blue."

God fucking damn it, he said no!

"Blue-"

NO!

Sonic swung his fist directly into Scourge's cheek, ripping himself off of the bed instantly and standing up on his own.

"I am done with letting you manipulate me, fucking with my head to justify my own death, using my own way of life against me." Sonic gritted his teeth, his hands shaking violently as his body also trembled with his rage. "I let you kiss me, I let you touch me more than once, except I was conscious this time. I can believe you since you're a rotting piece of garbage fire, but I can't believe myself right now." He looked away, down at the floor as his face darkened. "Maybe I'm just angry at myself, but I know one thing for sure." He whipped his head at Scourge. "You will not march your ass in here, and demand me to touch you again! Stay the fuck away from me, keep your food and keep your chaos energy!" He hollered, making Scourge's eyes bulge. He even blinked nervously and moved backwards on the bed. "You're right, you are irrelevant. I don't need you. I don't need anything from you, and I'd rather die than betray Shadow again!"

Again, speechless, Scourge didn't speak nor make a move as Sonic continued.

"I'm better than that, I'm better than you. Point is, I'm not gonna help you. I'm not gonna be submissive to you. I'm not gonna lie down and let you willingly manipulate me into helping you kill millions of people." Sonic's words became vicious and heinous very quickly, his expression wrinkled with disgust and contempt. "You wanna toss our Chaotic Blood in our face so much, then fucking chew on this for a second. Why didn't you grab a whole bunch of Sonics from other realities who just might have the same ideas as you did, who'd be a lot more willing to fight them instead of me? You could have made a whole army of nothing but more rebels to fight them. That way the spirits couldn't ignore you, and I couldn't ignore you. We'd have to take what you wanted into consideration at the very least!"

"...I-"

He pointed a finger directly at his evil twin. "You put the burden all on yourself, and for what? For you to turn into some fucked up version of yourself? And let's not forget, there are millions of us running around in the multiverse. I'm more than positive there's another version of you willing to grip the Divine Spirits' by the fucking balls and show them what-for." Sonic shook his head at him, his teeth clenching angrily. "But no, instead you picked the worst target you could possibly get, me. The Divine Spirits' number one puppet. If what everything you said was true about me and them, then I should have been the very last person on your list for help!"

"I picked you because you're the strongest to stand up against them. And they probably wouldn't have let me-"

"So what!?" Sonic screamed back. "That doesn't excuse anything! You could have done so many other things to stop this, you didn't have to resort to mass genocide. You went right to eleven from the word go. I'd rather you go back to being stupid when you were stealing my identity and taking my girlfriends! That was hurtful, sure, but it wasn't evil in the grand scheme of things. I could have forgiven you for that." He admitted. "My question's still the same, Scourge. If you wanted me to fucking help you so bad, why didn't you just talk to me!?" He screamed again while taking a step closer. "You could have talked to me when you first captured me, when I poured my heart out to you crying. But no, you just had to torture me, and rip Fleetway out of my brain instead, because you needed your power trip to help destroy my home. And why? Not just to help out your plans, but it was because you wanted revenge against Zonic and me, too."

"But-"

Sonic continued. "You're selfish. You've destroyed every chance you could have had for me to wise up to your ideals and maybe willingly work with you. I could have changed you for the better and you really could have been my friend. But you've gone beyond a place, crossing a line where no normal person would look good defending." He shook his head again, he refused. "I can't do this anymore, I can't let myself think that you're right in any aspect! I don't care what your reasons are, because as complicated and stupid as this whole thing has gotten, the point is simple. The Divine Spirits may be evil, but you're evil, and I don't do evil. I'm against it, and I'm going to fight both you and the spirits until the very bitter fucking end. So you can beat me, you can torture me, you can even mind control me and make me hallucinate just like last time. 'Cause I'll die spitting you in the eye instead of living as your slave."

...

...With understandable hesitation, Scourge quietly replied with a single question. "Why the sudden rant?"

"Because," Sonic lowered his eyes a bit in shame. "You nearly made me forget who I was without even using Fleetway to mind control me. I almost forgot the reason why I keep fighting you, why I'm so stubborn in the first place." He glowered back at Scourge. "It's because I have people that I love, that I want to protect and go back to. If I help you or just let you do what you want, I'd be hurting all the other Sonics out there who are actually good-natured and kind. Who like me, might not have known about the Divine Spirits and are just trying to live their lives. I'd be hurting the people who love them, and I'd be hurting the people who love me. I don't care what they had planned for me, because I know I'm a good person. And I'm not gonna let you or the Divine Spirits change that."

"..."

"You wanted to save me and others from becoming evil dictators, and yet you're doing the exact same thing they enforced onto you and Zonic. Hey, I get it, okay?" Sonic said roughly. "Pacifism is a stupid concept to you, and now I finally see why. It's sad that it took all of this for me to get it through my head but, I do. Showing mercy to people who did things that can't be forgiven, shouldn't be lent a hand in compassion. I shouldn't let Eggman go all the time, I had the power and strength to throw his dumb ass in No Zone jail a long time ago, thousands of times over."

Sonic took a second to think before speaking again.

"Looking back on it now, maybe I shouldn't have forgiven Shadow when he turned to Black Doom since he actually killed people that time. But I forgave him anyway, and I'm glad I did, because now he's a hero just like me. Shadow was willing to change despite that huge mistake, and now he's actually doing some good by helping me save the world again. But you?" His green irises narrowed. "Shadow killed a few people out of self defense, sure, but you...You...You're just..." He turned away from him with a cringe. "I can't even look at you, you're so despicable and beyond help. I get that sometimes I have to kill people to stop them from doing more harm, which might even mean killing you, too. And you know something?" He added. "I can finally say, that I'm okay with doing that now."

Silence.

...

Scourge stood up from the bed as well.

He nodded his head with a small smile. "I see. That's, good for you, Blue. I'm happy for ya." He said gently.

And then, his eyes twinkled scarlet red, and created hypnotic swirls.


END - 47

(Sorry for the late update, college life is coming.)

Evil is evil.

There is right, and there is flat out wrong.

You can't just be a doormat and choose not to decide on which is better or worse in fear of coming to a conclusion that you might not like.

Life doesn't give a shit about what you want, or what you can't handle. Sometimes you have to make a harsh decision, whether you like it or not. And you better be okay with the consequences that come with your actions. If you can't do that, then don't be surprised when that philosophy bites you in the ass. Hard.

That is a lesson Sonic unfortunately had to learn the hard way: The more you continue to hesitate, the worse your consequences will be.

Either kill Scourge, or suffer a slow and miserable death.