"I can't do it."
"Yes you can. Just try again."
"I'm telling you Knucklehead, this is impossible."
"No such thing. Now shut up and catch the ball."
"I can't."
"Catch the ball."
"I can't!"
"CATCH THE BALL, HEDGEHOG."
Knuckles arm retracted and he threw the baseball harder than he'd meant to. The ball sailed through the air, arcing across the lab toward its target.
It promptly impacted a blue metallic head, bouncing to the floor as Sonic's arms clattered against the chest plate of his frame.
"I told you!" Sonic said, arms stiffly returning to his sides as green optics dejectedly tracked the ball as it rolled away, "I can't do it."
Knuckles sighed as beside him, Tails tapped at a datapad. "We've been through this..." the echidna warrior grumbled, moving to pick up the ball. "You CAN do it. If you want to learn to move and fight again, you're going to have to."
"It's going to take your brain time to learn how to move your limbs," Tails piped up, tapping at the screen of his datapad, "but you're already operating at a greater capacity than just last week!"
"What he said," Knuckles grunted, readying himself to throw the ball at the former hedgehog once again. "Now. Concentrate. Quit complaining. And catch. The BALL."
Sonic's eyes tracked the ball as Knuckles tossed it through the air again, calmer this time. Once again, Sonic's hands awkwardly snatched at the thing. And once again, it simply bounced from his mechanical frame, falling to his feet.
"This is hopeless." the blue former hedgehog glared pitifully at the baseball, arms hanging useless at his sides. "What a joke, huh? Once I could run faster than the speed of sound, now I can't even catch a freaking ball without making an ass of myself." Sonic stiffly turned and crossed the room with robotic, deliberate strides, glowering into the wall. "Pathetic."
"Sonic..." Knuckles pinched the bridge of his nose and counted to ten. "I know this is tough, but-"
"You don't know anything Knucklehead," Sonic's frame hissed as he turned to glower at the echidna, green optics glaring from their visor, "nobody does. And I wish you would all stop pretending how hard this is."
"Yeah..." Knuckles didn't have it in him to be mad at his old friend. Not after seeing the... state that Sonic had been in after the accident, or the Hell he'd been through in being revived this way and fighting to control his own body. "You're right. None of us know how hard this is for you. But we're here to help, right? I just need you to keep going." The echidna retrieved the ball and tossed it in one hand. "Now come on. Let's try again."
Sonic didn't resist, marching stiffly back to his position before the red echidna. The servos in his arms whirred as the limbs raised, hands flexing, ready to attempt the simple act of catching the baseball. Knuckles took care this time, throwing the ball in a gentle arc. Sonic's arms clumsily swung to intercept... the ball rebounded from his forearm, like a missile, bouncing from the wall and flying right back into the echidna's nose as though it had been fired from a cannon.
"OW SWEET GAIA" Knuckles recoiled, mitts smacking over his face at the impact. The echidna swore and, finally, Sonic gave up.
"That's it!" the cyborg's arms hissed as he threw them up in defeat, swaying with the uneven motion, "I'm done. Tails, I don't want to do this any more."
Tails sighed, watching as Knuckles blinked away stars. "Okay, Sonic. We'll finish up soon. I just need to run some diagnostics and supply your nutritional supplement and we're done here."
"Oh whoopee. Feeding time." Sonic's already flat synthesized vocals could not have sounded less enthused. "Is it my birthday?"
"Just take your damn medicine, hedgehog..." Knuckles grunted, rubbing at his now sore face. "Crap, that's gonna leave a mark. Tails, feed your brother. I'm headin' back to the command centre."
Tails merely watched the Commander as Knuckles stalked out of the room, muttering beneath his breath. Sonic didn't pay attention, glaring through a spot on the floor. "Sonic?" Tails said quietly, "shall we finish up?"
Sonic tilted his head from side to side, his equivalent of a shrug. "Whatever. Let's just get it over with."
...
The old Sonic the Hedgehog had lived a pretty nomadic lifestyle. He liked to be on the move, living as free as the wind, and could find himself sleeping in some Casinopolis hotel, a Resistance HQ cot, or beneath the stars in the middle of nowhere. He was his own hedgehog, he did things his own way, and he would never have changed that for the world.
Not willingly, at least.
The new Sonic didn't have a choice.
Sonic merely remained still as he allowed Tails to perform his duties, running a systems diagnostic of Sonic's life-support suit. He had to think of it as 'the suit'. Sonic would not - could not - think of this thing as his body.
"Okay Sonic, everything checks out..." Tails said, checking the computer systems that his brother was presently plugged into. I'd like to insert your nutritional supplement now, if that's okay."
"Go ahead," Sonic said, in no way enthusiastic for the procedure. Tails nodded and crossed the small laboratory, heading for a refrigeration unit beside the workbenches. He opened the door and retrieved a clear plastic bottle of milky brown fluid, holding the thing in both hands as he moved back to Sonic. Tails freed one hand and tapped at the computer beside Sonic. With a click and a hiss, a circular section of Sonic's midsection unscrewed and extended away from his body, akin to a vehicle's fuel cap being opened.
"Okay, give me a sec..." Tails removed the nozzle lid of his bottle and inserted it into the input. Sonic watched miserably as the fluid, his replacement for food, steadily entered the simple artificial digestive system that sustained his remaining vital organs.
"All done!" Tails chirruped, closing the food intake with the tap of his datapad and setting the bottle aside to the cleaned and reused later.
"Great. Thanks."
Tails watched his brother leave the maintenance station with slow, mechanical steps. His movement had indeed improved over the weeks, but he was clearly put out by his earlier struggle with fine motor skills. "Sonic?" The fox's ears flattened to his head, "are you mad again?"
Sonic paused, his back turned to his adopted brother. Status lights blinked across the rear of his frame. "No." Sonic turned, stiff and mechanical, like some kind of animatronic to face his brother. "Well yeah. But not with you, Tails. Trying to drive this thing around..." both hands spread as Sonic displayed his frame, "it's like trying to ride a damn unicycle just by thinking about it. Or something. It's hard to explain, I guess."
"But you'll get it, Sonic!" Tails perked up, grinning supportively at his brother, "I promise you! The data I've been collecting, I'm putting together plans for an intense systems upgrade. It'll be a big operation, but it should increase your self-control significantly!"
Sonic remained silent for some moments, before offering a clumsy thumbs-up at the fox. "Sure thing Tails. You always got my back."
Tails beamed and went back to his work, leaving Sonic merely staring as he allowed his arm to fall. He certainly didn't feel the enthusiasm he tried to portray to his little brother. He wondered if he ever would again.
...
Sonic made himself excused from Tails' lab and returned to his usual antics these days - wandering around the HQ, unable to do much of anything. He ignored the Resistance personnel in the corridors who swerved around him, and the curious eyes that scanned his way when they thought he didn't notice.
Of course people stared. How could they not? He - that is, his frame - appeared no different than the Metal Units that had been the backbone of Robotnik's armies for years. Unlike those mindless bots however, Sonic did not have an innate programmed ability to control his own body. He was slow. He lumbered, top speed roughly that of a brisk walk. This is what had become of the Hero of Mobius.
Sonic made his slow progress through Resistance HQ, deciding he would return to his quarters. He'd had enough of being gawked at, and there wasn't really anything he could do anyway. He certainly couldn't pop to the cafeteria for a soda and a snack.
Sonic returned to his quarters, happy to find no med-techs hanging around. He was receiving less in the way of personal care these days, at his request. He stood before the door, optics glowering at the controls. He concentrated, carefully raising his arm. His hand wavered. He took a moment, before reaching forward.
He half-hit the opening panel, but the door opened just the same.
Well done, Sonic. You opened a door.
"Are you okay sir?"
Sonic's head jerked at the voice, finding a pair of concerned-looking troopers eyeing him, just a pinch suspiciously. Sonic Realised he must have zoned out in front of the open door to his quarters. "No. Thank you."
With that Sonic drove his frame into the room, pausing to once again awkwardly shut the door. His arms hung stiffly by his sides as he turned, looking into the sparse quarters. The room was barely decorated, kept as a functional space in case Sonic's frame required any maintenance. Just a few framed photographs sat upon the wall-mounted shelves. Sonic's optics locked on one nearby, the cyborg slowly - and carefully - reaching one hand out to hold it. Within the frame, a photo of several young multi-coloured friends smiled back. Amy was there. And Knuckles. Vector, Espio, and Charmy of the Chaotix too. Shadow could just be made out at the edge being dragged into frame by Rouge. Tails was in the middle, a tan arm belonging to a grinning blue individual wrapped around his shoulder. Sonic looked at his sixteen-year old self, clutching a chilidog wrapped in a bow.
It was like looking into another dimension. This snapshot from nearly ten years ago would have made Sonic feel sick now, but he didn't even have that capability. All he could do was miserably compare the colourful scene before him, to the dull blue metal arm that held it.
So this is my life. Being fiddled with, taken apart, being hooked up to every computer in Tails' lab like a damn cell phone, just to come here and wait around for it all to start over again... some life. Thanks, Robotnik.
The thought of the mad doctor send a stab of anger through Sonic's chest. The grinning lunatic who continued to terrorize the planet, whose destructive creations had destroyed so many lives, and taken Sonic's body from him.
There was a crack, as Sonic's hand gripped too tight and shattered the photograph. He glared at the hand, locked tight around the picture, and willed it to open. The fingers unclenched, and the remains of the precious memory clattered to the floor.
Sonic glowered at the shattered photo, laying at the feet of his frame.
Sonic had had it. He didn't know how, but he was going to make Robotnik pay.
"Now hear this - this is the Commander." Knuckles' voice could just be heard from outside the door, over the HQ-wide intercom. "All command personnel report to the briefing room. At the double, folks. Knuckles out."
Sonic remained still. Whatever was happening, it was his ticket to getting back into action. His ticket to getting revenge on the egg-head who'd effectively killed him. It was that, or sit around feeling useless.
Rigidly, Sonic turned and marched for the exit. He wasn't sitting this one out.