His strike didn't go as planned, he was now submerged in the fear generating water monster.
And while he had been taking his swimming lesson, he was still afraid of water.
He began to Super Spin Attack like crazy inside his opponent, nervousness taking over him as he desperately hoped to break free. He unconsciously began calling for a power that had been severed for him what seemed like a long time ago.
He did, however, begin to absorb energy from the monster. If he wasn't panicking he would notice the familiar feeling of said energy...the power of chaos itself, something that was deeply intertwined with him and his life since he was a kid.
Feeling a surge of power rising, he gave one final attack that bursted him out of the liquid monstrosity. Landing on the asphalt to finally regain his breath.
"Sonic! Are you ok?!" Asked the Pink Hedgehog.
"I'm fine Amy...in fact" He opened his eyes, formerly a cyan color to reveal a shining emerald green color.
"I never felt better!"
Mobius was a planet occupied by anthropomorphic animals and other creatures. It was a bizarre planet located in an area of dark matter, considered a center point for many alternate dimensions, recently having been fused with another world and created portals to various other time periods and zones.
It had been governed by the evil Dr. Robotnik for years, it has been relatively recently been freed after a grueling war that spanned across several years, now the habitants were trying to get used to it's new found freedom, but it's also now dealing with world ending disasters by the deranged Robotnik.
And now, one of their longtime group of protectors had lost one of their founding members...Johnny Lightfoot had perished in battle.
They took the loss hard, it was not easy losing someone you cherished a lot...it was also their first loss of life. Even if they all knew they might lose their life in their crusade...the fact it happened at all wasn't easy to grasp.
And their leader and Hero Of Mobius:Sonic The Hedgehog, took it the hardest.
He already had self-loathing issues for many things that happened in his life. The worst day of his life had been when he learned that he had to turn his own adoptive father into the dictator he's been fighting all along to prevent a worse future...and while he still hated himself for it, at least the Kintobor Computer allowed his friend to live on and Robotnik could be cured and returned to Kintobor...but Johnny, he was gone, gone and never ever coming back.
Because you couldn't bring back the dead...well, there was actually a way...but he sadly had no access to that power…
Self-hatred and grief plagued him until he quitted the Freedom Fighters, no words about how this wasn't his fault would change his mind.
Right now he was running through the fields, no goal or destination in mind...he didn't know what to even do at this point…
He could take solace in the fact the monster had been defeated...he still wished he could have destroyed him himself.
'You useless worthless jackass, if he could go through his Fear Aura then so could you! Johnny didn't need to lose his life for this. You could survive the blow, you could activate the machine, you're supposed to be the fastest, strongest and the most determined of all Mobius! The others shouldn't risk their lives when you're around…' His dark thoughts plagued his mind as he ran through some green wasteland zone in Mobius.
'...Should I not have a team? Should I just do everything myself? People shouldn't risk their lives like that while I'm around. I should be the one that does all the dangerous crap so no one else gets hurt...when I don't either people get traumatized like Porker or die like Johnny…'
As he was so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't notice the weird things happening through his body, more specifically it glowing and crackling with energy.
'...Was I not strong enough? Not fast enough? I managed to pierce through the Fear Aura to get inside that creature, it's not impenetrable as Johnny and I demonstrated...so why couldn't I do that again? Why couldn't I do better? Why am I not powerful enough?'
The energy was now glowing intensely.
"...GODDAMMIT! WHY COULDN'T I DO ANYTHING!"
And with that primal scream the energy erupted as if it was needed, things awakened for the Hedgehog, as in some way his desire and need to be better was answered.
"HUH?!" The Blue Blur, now aware of the energy around him, was shocked.
Then panic started setting in...this was familiar…
"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE, I GOT RID OF SUPER SONIC! DON'T TELL I...NO! NO! NO!!! STOP!"
And so it stopped...more accurately, everything around him stopped.
Sonic looked around trying to calm himself down and rationalize what the bloody hell had happened. The energy still shined brightly around his body and especially his hands, it was so familiar but strangely not the usual thing happened.
His surroundings had also changed...as if the world itself had been put through a Photo Negative filter...everything was stopped.
Seeing he wasn't becoming his demon, Sonic allowed himself to calm down...he needed to stay calm and figure out what had happened.
Everything was stopped, nothing was moving...a phenomenon he actually experienced once when he ran really fast to stop a missile...but this was different.
'What the?...did I do this?...It happened when I screamed stop...so it stopped time?' He wondered to none in particular in his lonely world of frozen time.
He looked around trying to wrap his head around it when suddenly he felt some tiredness and the world suddenly returned to normal…
'Ugh..ok, at least...it's back to normal now...what was that?'
He looked at his hands, the energy disappeared from them...was he back to-
Oh no it flared back up again, false alarm.
"What the hell? Fantastic now another problem to the many I already have…I wish I could go to a place I could solve this one at least"
A flash of energy happened and he was suddenly in the Emerald Chamber...in Angel Island...which he couldn't have been farther away from.
"What?!"
"Sonic?!" Shouted a confused and scared voice.
"What?! How did you make it here?!" Was another voice.
Those were Porker Lewis and Knuckles The Echidna Respectively.
Probably because he was panicking, Sonic got freaked out at seeing them.
"No wait, I want to go back to where I came from!"
And in another flash of energy he was back to where he was, another wave of tiredness washed over him.
"...What the bloody hell was that?!"
He looked at his hands and body once again crackling with energy. He knew the energy by instinct now...it had been a part of him for so long, it's practically inseparable from him…
Chaos Energy.
A powerful type of energy, one that could alter someone's mind and body, as well as grant unimaginable power to someone…In large quantities it could warp reality and do practically anything...even resurrect the dead.
He shook his head, that last part was only wishful thinking...for now at least.
But this perplexed the Hedgehog. He had been removed from his excess of Chaos Energy when he got separated from Super Sonic, he had felt the energy no longer there...as well as feeling weaker and...incomplete, but it was a price to pay to get rid of that demon.
So how did he get it back? And why could he do these things now? He hadn't been able to perform these feats when Super Sonic was around, why could he do them now?
And then his fight with that monster was brought back into mind...Amy had mentioned something about his eyes being green now.
And now that he recalled it, he had felt himself absorbing the power of said monster when he was inside of it...he was indeed made of Chaos Energy according to Porker…
'Let's Hope I don't get part of his personality now...or a new Super Sonic, I haven't found the original one yet' He thought in annoyance.
He kept walking around with no aim.
'I guess the bright side of this...I'm not thinking about Johnny anymore…'
He looked at the sky. People go to the sky when they die...if you believed in that anyways...maybe he was wondering if Johnny was looking at him from up there…
'...Would he want me to feel bad?...Would I accomplish anything like this?...'
It wasn't a simple matter. Even if wallowing in guilt and grief wasn't productive at all, he couldn't just shrug it off and keep going like always because those feelings were that strong...it's not easy to move on…
But maybe he shouldn't...maybe he should keep Johnny with him in memory and use those memories and feelings to keep going and never allow something like this to ever happen again…
He shook his head, this was a pain. He didn't like thinking about these things in the first place.
He looked at his hands.
Focused…
And once again they were bursting with Chaos Power.
"I better get used to this. Wouldn't want to accidentally hurt anyone with this because for all I know I could shot something out of my hands and hit them by accident"
His hands then proceeded to shoot two chaos energy lances that exploded when they hit something which luckily was just the ground in front of him.
"...Ok, I better be careful or anything could happen, like resurrecting Johnny by accident"
The energy in his hands fizzled out.
'...I want to think that I got my wish, but it's likely nothing happened...It probably takes a lot to bring someone back from death…' He thought in sadness.
He brought his Chaos Power once again, this time as an aura across his whole body...it reminded him of Super Sonic which didn't bring him any comfort.
'Seems I can make things happen if I think about them, but it obviously has a limit, it's no Supercharged Reality Warper Robotnik level of Chaos Power'
Still, this was a huge development. If he started to practice it much like he did with his speed...there's no telling what he could do…
'...I could protect everyone...Nobody would die again on my watch' He smiled at the idea.
"I'm so excited I could explode!"
A bright flash of Chaos Energy was visible from space, anyone who saw it was freaked out or perplexed by it...
"...Ok thankfully I did not actually die and the Zone was completely deserted...Need to get the hang of this or next I could say...I better not say anything" Spoke the Hedgehog from the smoldering crater that was once that Green Wasteland.
'That move is too dangerous and I could kill a lot of innocents with it...But If I found a way to use a weaker and controlled version of it...that would be useful to get shit off me and crowd control'
He noticed he was tired from that, which makes sense since he just performed a gigantic explosion of Chaos Energy, that's gotta use a lot of energy.
Jumping out of the crater, Sonic began walking away...he had something to pass the time now and distract him from the tragedy at least...
"Let's see what can I try to do, I gotta be careful even if I'm in a desolate place…" Sonic said while tapping his foot.
'Hn...I could try with my old moves and see if they can be modified with my Chaos Energy, it's not bad to add a little spark to an old classic, isn't it?'
His hands sparked with energy once more as he cracked his knuckles.
"Let's try with the Sonic Cyclone first…"
But instead of spinning in the air to perform it, Sonic did a swipe of his hand and…
A tornado shot forward for a bit before dissipating.
Sonic pumped his fist in the air in triumph.
'Yes! First try! Helps that I know it by heart now...if I get better at using it, I could manipulate it myself and expand my uses with it now that I don't have to spin to make it...and it was already quite versatile before…'
He raised his hand as it glowed with Chaos and then a cyclone formed itself much to his pleasure, he then let it dissipate.
"Enough for that move now, let's try my Super Spin Attack!"
Looking at some trees and rocks, a smirk adorned his face as he jumped in the air and spun into a ball like he had done countless times…
Except this time he glowed blue and slammed into his target while leaving a trail of blue energy.
The impact was that of a meteorite, leaving a small smoldering crater of which he climbed out of.
'I gotta chill it with the craters at one point...still, wow. That might as well be called a Hyper Spin Attack! I gotta be careful when using it on badniks to not hurt the innocent mobian trapped inside...but Troopers and Megatal Machines should be fine' He thought as he dusted himself off.
'There's still other moves I can try out. Can I enhance my Insta Shield to increase its protection and range? Can I create cocoons of speed from afar so I don't get caught up in the explosion too? Can I make my Escape from bind vibration trick practically instantaneous? There's a lot of possibilities here and that's with things I already have!'
Then a thought crossed his mind.
'Can I get even faster?'
It was a silly idea because how Overkill it was, he was the Fastest Thing Alive for crying out loud! The last thing he needed was more speed.
But then again. He also thought he had everything under control...and look what happened to Johnny…
He broke out into a run and was surprised and pleased to see he was even faster than before without even trying. It seems his Chaos Energy gave him a permanent boost to his physical capabilities, he would need to control himself and pull his punches like always for the sake of others though.
He stopped by a Rock...and did a casual swing at it, shattering it to pieces without effort.
''Heh, let's see Robotnik try to mess with me now...or Super Sonic...or anyone'
He looked to the sky.
"You see this Johnny? Now I can make sure that nobody else suffers what you did! I promise I will protect everyone and not let another soul die!" He shouted to the heavens despite expecting no answer.
He smiled...but then frowned as a thought came to his mind…
Wordlessly, he focused energy on his eyes and...Twin green eye beams shot out of them…
'Ugh, of course I can make that demon's move…' He thought in displeasure at seeing himself do the signature move of his Super Form self.
He shook his head. 'Whatever, I had other ways of ranged attacks...I'd rather never use something like that again…'
He generated the Red Chaos Lances again, several intertwined in his fingers.
'Not when I have this!'
And with a swipe of his hands he threw them forward to a tree. It pierced through it before all of them exploded, leaving nothing behind.
'This attack can be dangerous to use while bystanders and near and no bloody way I use it on Badniks with Mobians inside...but it should be useful against everything else, maybe I can control or at least hold of the detonations to use it as a piercing weapon' He mused.
'Now let's see...can I stop time like before?' He wondered and then started focusing.
A distorted bass was heard and suddenly the whole world grinded to a halt.
"Yes! It worked!" Sonic shouted in triumph.
He looked around, wondering for how long it would stay like this.
Eventually he couldn't hold it on anymore and the world resumed its course.
It had been 90 seconds...or well, 90 seconds from his perspective. Time Stop could mess with your notion of time.
'Still, with my speed, 90 seconds might as well be a century with how much I can do during it…'
For example, save people before they receive a fatal blow.
'Now, let's try that teleport move…'
Focusing once again, Sonic chooses a place to warp to.
In a flash of blue light he disappears and reappears in the Emerald Hill Zone.
He looks around amused at himself.
'Home sweet home and sweet new powers…'
He smelled himself.
'Damn, better take a shower, all that training got me dirty…'
He entered his base and surprisingly nobody was there.
'Weird, where did they go? I know Porker is in the Floating Island but Amy and Tails? Eh...maybe they needed some time to think too…'
As he walked in his home he started to come to a realization.
'Damn, I'm such a pixel brain. I got them all worried with me saying I quit and I was never coming back...I know Johnny died…I still feel it's my fault. But that's no reason to quit! It's like I'm spitting on Johnny's sacrifice, I gotta keep moving for him, for me and for everyone else!' He thought with determination.
Then he headed straight to the showers, first things first, not smelling like crap during that...
Showering was more uncomfortable than he would have liked. He wasn't fond of water before and now it's even worse.
He was thinking of what to do for the time being, probably just meet up with Amy and Tails when they returned and tell them he is back as well as show them what happened to him…
He spotted his old Mega Drive...well Videogames were good to pass the time.
''Didn't the dreamcast come out? I was planning on buying it and playing some games alongside everyone...including Johnny'
He sighed and shook his head, no use in thinking about things that will never happen now…
He set it up and started playing on it, a wave of good and bad memories rolled him over as he did.
"What a ride of a life we had...eh Johnny?" He muttered to no one in particular.
And for a while, the only sounds were the sounds of the video game and him pushing buttons…
'I wonder how Johnny's family is doing…couldn't face them during the funeral…'
He sighed, he felt bad for the Lightfoot Family. He had known them personally when he and Johnny were just kids, he sometimes babysat them and also was invited to a lot of events alongside Porker…he had gone to more birthdays, weddings and other things that other Mobians did in a lifetime.
He wondered if they hated him…probably…or that might be his self-loathing talking. Amy, Tails and Porker should hate him too and yet didn't.
He sighed and kept playing, maybe he could try to beat his highest time score from before…
When suddenly he sensed something…
'Huh? What was that…it felt like 7…no, 9…energies?'
He felt 7 signals spread through the planet, another one was moving by itself and another one really weak was also moving around.
A quick teleport put him outside his base as he observed in a certain direction.
'Those felt familiar somehow…7 of them…would those be the Chaos Emeralds? I mean the number and the familiar feeling points to that. I do know how Chaos Energy feels…but why would Knuckles shoot them away? The floating island would sink into the ocean…unless something bad happened that forced him to…'
He looked around in one direction and then the other as he spoke "There might be the possibility that one of those energies is…Chaos. But Porker destroyed him, right? Maybe he somehow returned from death…but that other energy, what is it?"
Then a memory of so long ago replayed in his head…
"Super Sonic's changed somehow, he can't store energy anymore and he will soon be powerless…"
Sonic's fist clenched hard, as his teeth clenched.
'So…I finally got a way to track you without a machine…'
Then his frown turned into a grin.
'That means I can finally stop you once and for all…but as of now there's other problems and you aren't a threat for the moment…once I'm done with Chaos though…'
He chuckled.
'I'm gonna prove that I don't need you anymore' Chaos Energy Crackled in his fists.
Then he spotted in the distance the familiar Bi-plane he and his team had used on numerous occasions.
He cracked his knuckles.
"Well, time to make my awesome comeback"
And with that he teleported.
In a green wasteland, the tornado had landed as well as the group of the three remaining Freedom Fighters Tails, Amy, Porker accompanied by Knuckles.
"So you scattered the emeralds to the four corners of Mobius?" Asked the two tailed fox known as Tails.
"Basically…but it's only a matter of time before that creature finds it. And who knows what will happen…" Said Knuckles.
"Oh, we figure something out…we always do"
All four of them turned around shocked.
"Sonic!?" Shouted Amy.
"You better believe it Amy!"
Sonic The Hedgehog appeared before them, his green eyes glowing with more intensity.
"The new and improved Blue Blur is back and this time for good!"
