THE NEED FOR SPEED
The Chaotic Sign
A/N: WOW! People actually like my writing! I know, and I apologize for the fact that, thus far, my chapters have been kinda short. I'll try very hard to write longer, fuller chapters. Thank you all for your kind reviews, I'll try my best to return the favor and review YOUR stories once I'm done. On with the next (and longer) chapter!
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I awake with a start. Even before I open my eyes, I know something's wrong. The air's too dry, the ground too cold. I jump to my feet and look around. I'm in a long hallway that stretches ahead of me. The walls and floors are all made of metal, with the ceiling too high to see. The hall's lit up, but I can't tell where the light source is.
"What in the world?" I ask myself. "How the heck did I get here?"
But there's no time for pondering such things, as behind me I hear a rapid clanging. I look over my shoulder, and in the distance, I see wall after wall after wall slam down, quickly eating away at the space behind me. With the security doors getting closer and closer, I realize I only have one option.
I run.
My legs are rested and loose, and I run with all my might away from the impending doom. I look behind me and swear. I'm still nowhere near my regular speed, and because of this, the gates are gaining on me. I keep running, burning every ounce of adrenaline that my body can produce, but the clanging keeps getting louder and closer.
Suddenly, I feel something. An icy sensation slowly growing from my back through my whole body. The chill grows larger, bringing a cold sweat to my limbs as it spreads. The biting cold makes it harder to run, and I slow down even more, but still I press on. It's no cold wind, not some sort of ice beam. No, it's much worse.
It is fear.
I push onward, not because there seems to be any escape, but to keep myself alive.
Not in the literal sense you understand. Most of my dearest friends would all state two major traits I have. My speed, and my will to never give up. With my strength and speed taken from me, my determination is all I have left. Though I know it's futile, though I know I am as good as dead, I run to be true to myself.
Finally, a gate slams down in front of me. I just lower my shoulder and allow myself to slam into the new wall, but I only succeed in making a thunderous noise, as if it were mocking me. I back up to try again, but before I can take off, the floor drops out below me.
I fall down what seems like an endless tube of blackness, winding and bending about but ever downward.
Finally I fall out into a large lighted room.
"Well Sonic," a voice says behind me. "Nice of you to 'drop in'!"
The following chuckle tells me who it is without having to turn around. "Cram your corny jokes Eggman, what do you want?"
His tone seemed to show the evil grin that must've been on his face in my mind. "Want?" he began innocently. "Oh no my dear nemesis, for once it is not your demise that I desire," he chuckled, "well, maybe if we have time afterwards!"
I turned around and faced his sneering face. Cocky, yet cowering behind an electrical field. The only other features of the room were a single, heavily-secured door behind him, and a large cylinder about three meters in diameter that reached straight up to the ceiling. Only a few feet from the chute I had just fallen though.
He raised some sort of remote control and pressed a button. Obediently, a doorway opened from nowhere in the side of the cylinder, allowing a dim light and some fog to spill out. "What I really want," he continued, "Is to observe you."
I cocked an eyebrow at him, "Really? Eggy, all these years and I never knew you felt that way about me!"
He snorted. "Don't be dense." He spoke, and the lack of anger in his speech despite my wisecrack worried me. "Do you really think you can fool me? ME?! I've known and watched you, through all our battles, longer than anyone! Every second of every day, even if you don't realize it, I am observing you!" He leered through his shades with amazing intensity I've never seen on him before. There was a long silence as he simply watched me. When he finally spoke, I wish he didn't.
"You're slowing down."
Despite my best attempts, I must've flinched, because he began cackling madly. "Yes," he began again once he had caught his breath, "you should have easily escaped my fist trap. Even with only half your speed, you really should have lasted much longer. You've grown weak, and I know why!" Before I could recover from the shock he continued, "And believe it or not, I want to help."
It took me a few minutes to regain my composure. "What's the catch?" I muttered, "Or are you doing this out of the goodness of your heart?"
The 'Doctor' grinned at me, "Oh don't strain you feeble little mind about how this would help me. If the cause is what I think it is, and also if I can cure it, then it could teach all of mankind so much."
'If? What he thinks it is?' I thought to myself. 'Damn, does he know?!' I glanced at the cylinder chamber interior. It was huge, but the interior was only a few feet wide. "Let me guess," I said, hoping my sarcasm would drown out the worry in my voice, "you want me to trust the person who has tried to kill me countless times over the years enough to lock me inside a pretty solid-looking chamber?" I jerked my thumb at the device. He scowled. "Sorry Eggman, no dice. Now are you going to let me out, or do I have to tear up ANOTHER fortress of yours?" I had never made a larger bluff in my whole life.
"Oh dear, my simple hedgehog," he said with a condescending tone. "I so hoped that we could do this like civilized gentlemen." I tensed up, this sounded WAY to familiar. My fears were confirmed as he pressed another button. A wall panel behind him slid open. There, behind another shield was.
"Amy?!" I called to her.
She turned to face me. "Sonic!"
"Do I have to spell it all out for you," Eggman sighed, "I mean, even YOU can't be that stupid."
I glared at him as countless plans and scenarios flashed though my mind, until I found the one most likely to let Amy live. "How do I know you'll let her go?"
"No Sonic, don't!" She begged. Eggman just pressed another button and the fall wall of her cell lowered, revealing the jungle I was just training in. "Sonic, please don't do what he wants! I won't just run and leave you here!"
"SHUT UP!" I yelled at her. Her face reflected that horrible look she gave me back on the A.R.K. "Look," I said trying my best to stay calm. "I can't explain right now, go and get Tails and Knuckles." I shifted my stern gaze to the scientist. "Hopefully we won't need them."
Amy, still consumed by shock and fear from my outburst, nodded wordlessly and ran off into the woods. I was shocked at how quickly she could run. 'She's faster than me now.'
I walked up to the chamber. "You really have nothing to worry about," Eggman said as I entered with a chuckle. "You're probably the safest one here."
The door shut behind me.
The interior was smooth white, about 2 yards high and 3 feet wide. "Are you ready to start?" He asked through some sort of intercom system.
"Let's just get this done with!" I replied.
In response a door opened behind me with a 'woosh'. But it wasn't the sound which told me so.
I felt it.
That all-too-familiar tingle, like static electricity, but not just all over your body, inside your mind as well.
"No," I muttered. It was just like I feared. He knew, he knew EVERYTHING! I turned, and sure enough, a panel had slid open.
"Not the Chaos Emeralds."
Six more 'wooshes' and I was surrounded by the seven gems of power.
"No, stop. STOP!" My need to stay cool had vanished and all that was left was a mass of panic. The wall began to spin around me, faster and faster. "NO GOD! PLEASE STOP IT!"
Multicolored beams of Chaos energy flowed from the gems and into my body. My flesh burned, my heart raced and my vision blurred. Deep inside I felt it, the power growing inside my body, radiating outward. "NO! STOP! STOP IT!!!"
A blast of energy exploded inside me. My quills stood on end and became golden. I was once again Super Sonic.
My head and vision cleared almost instantly, the pain already a forgotten memory. To me, the walls were suddenly spinning at a snail's pace. A drop of sweat had flown off my nose when I transformed. It now hung in the air, rotating as it slowly drifted towards the wall.
Fascinated, I cupped my hands around it, and watched as it vaporized in slow-motion on contact with my skin.
It was incredible. No pain, no fear, no hunger, no fatigue, no thoughts, no feelings.
Only power.
I gave a hollow laugh. How I missed this! It was amazing, it was blissful, it was perfect!
No, it wasn't enough!
I raised my arms and yelled, "MORE!" My voice shook the chamber like booming thunder, how weak it had been!
My body stopped passively receiving the power, but began actively absorbing it, draining the gems.
As their glow faded, their energies almost completely drained, my consciousness seemed to expand.
I could see myself, the mechanics and electronics of the cylinder, Eggman, the whole fortress!
My sphere of knowledge continued to expand. I saw the jungle, Amy, EVERYTHING!
I was all-knowing, I was all-powerful, I WAS A GOD!
I sat upright, the cool night air like ice water on my sweaty brow. "You gotta be kidding me!" I gasped. "That, that was just TOO real to just be a dream!"
I looked up at the sky, the stars were gone, purple and gold were beginning to grow in the East. "Sunrise has got to be in just a few minutes." I took a charred stick from my fire pit and drew another line on my day counter. "Eighteen days," I sighed, "I hope I can get up to speed soon. This jungle life must be getting to me."
The Chaotic Sign
A/N: WOW! People actually like my writing! I know, and I apologize for the fact that, thus far, my chapters have been kinda short. I'll try very hard to write longer, fuller chapters. Thank you all for your kind reviews, I'll try my best to return the favor and review YOUR stories once I'm done. On with the next (and longer) chapter!
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I awake with a start. Even before I open my eyes, I know something's wrong. The air's too dry, the ground too cold. I jump to my feet and look around. I'm in a long hallway that stretches ahead of me. The walls and floors are all made of metal, with the ceiling too high to see. The hall's lit up, but I can't tell where the light source is.
"What in the world?" I ask myself. "How the heck did I get here?"
But there's no time for pondering such things, as behind me I hear a rapid clanging. I look over my shoulder, and in the distance, I see wall after wall after wall slam down, quickly eating away at the space behind me. With the security doors getting closer and closer, I realize I only have one option.
I run.
My legs are rested and loose, and I run with all my might away from the impending doom. I look behind me and swear. I'm still nowhere near my regular speed, and because of this, the gates are gaining on me. I keep running, burning every ounce of adrenaline that my body can produce, but the clanging keeps getting louder and closer.
Suddenly, I feel something. An icy sensation slowly growing from my back through my whole body. The chill grows larger, bringing a cold sweat to my limbs as it spreads. The biting cold makes it harder to run, and I slow down even more, but still I press on. It's no cold wind, not some sort of ice beam. No, it's much worse.
It is fear.
I push onward, not because there seems to be any escape, but to keep myself alive.
Not in the literal sense you understand. Most of my dearest friends would all state two major traits I have. My speed, and my will to never give up. With my strength and speed taken from me, my determination is all I have left. Though I know it's futile, though I know I am as good as dead, I run to be true to myself.
Finally, a gate slams down in front of me. I just lower my shoulder and allow myself to slam into the new wall, but I only succeed in making a thunderous noise, as if it were mocking me. I back up to try again, but before I can take off, the floor drops out below me.
I fall down what seems like an endless tube of blackness, winding and bending about but ever downward.
Finally I fall out into a large lighted room.
"Well Sonic," a voice says behind me. "Nice of you to 'drop in'!"
The following chuckle tells me who it is without having to turn around. "Cram your corny jokes Eggman, what do you want?"
His tone seemed to show the evil grin that must've been on his face in my mind. "Want?" he began innocently. "Oh no my dear nemesis, for once it is not your demise that I desire," he chuckled, "well, maybe if we have time afterwards!"
I turned around and faced his sneering face. Cocky, yet cowering behind an electrical field. The only other features of the room were a single, heavily-secured door behind him, and a large cylinder about three meters in diameter that reached straight up to the ceiling. Only a few feet from the chute I had just fallen though.
He raised some sort of remote control and pressed a button. Obediently, a doorway opened from nowhere in the side of the cylinder, allowing a dim light and some fog to spill out. "What I really want," he continued, "Is to observe you."
I cocked an eyebrow at him, "Really? Eggy, all these years and I never knew you felt that way about me!"
He snorted. "Don't be dense." He spoke, and the lack of anger in his speech despite my wisecrack worried me. "Do you really think you can fool me? ME?! I've known and watched you, through all our battles, longer than anyone! Every second of every day, even if you don't realize it, I am observing you!" He leered through his shades with amazing intensity I've never seen on him before. There was a long silence as he simply watched me. When he finally spoke, I wish he didn't.
"You're slowing down."
Despite my best attempts, I must've flinched, because he began cackling madly. "Yes," he began again once he had caught his breath, "you should have easily escaped my fist trap. Even with only half your speed, you really should have lasted much longer. You've grown weak, and I know why!" Before I could recover from the shock he continued, "And believe it or not, I want to help."
It took me a few minutes to regain my composure. "What's the catch?" I muttered, "Or are you doing this out of the goodness of your heart?"
The 'Doctor' grinned at me, "Oh don't strain you feeble little mind about how this would help me. If the cause is what I think it is, and also if I can cure it, then it could teach all of mankind so much."
'If? What he thinks it is?' I thought to myself. 'Damn, does he know?!' I glanced at the cylinder chamber interior. It was huge, but the interior was only a few feet wide. "Let me guess," I said, hoping my sarcasm would drown out the worry in my voice, "you want me to trust the person who has tried to kill me countless times over the years enough to lock me inside a pretty solid-looking chamber?" I jerked my thumb at the device. He scowled. "Sorry Eggman, no dice. Now are you going to let me out, or do I have to tear up ANOTHER fortress of yours?" I had never made a larger bluff in my whole life.
"Oh dear, my simple hedgehog," he said with a condescending tone. "I so hoped that we could do this like civilized gentlemen." I tensed up, this sounded WAY to familiar. My fears were confirmed as he pressed another button. A wall panel behind him slid open. There, behind another shield was.
"Amy?!" I called to her.
She turned to face me. "Sonic!"
"Do I have to spell it all out for you," Eggman sighed, "I mean, even YOU can't be that stupid."
I glared at him as countless plans and scenarios flashed though my mind, until I found the one most likely to let Amy live. "How do I know you'll let her go?"
"No Sonic, don't!" She begged. Eggman just pressed another button and the fall wall of her cell lowered, revealing the jungle I was just training in. "Sonic, please don't do what he wants! I won't just run and leave you here!"
"SHUT UP!" I yelled at her. Her face reflected that horrible look she gave me back on the A.R.K. "Look," I said trying my best to stay calm. "I can't explain right now, go and get Tails and Knuckles." I shifted my stern gaze to the scientist. "Hopefully we won't need them."
Amy, still consumed by shock and fear from my outburst, nodded wordlessly and ran off into the woods. I was shocked at how quickly she could run. 'She's faster than me now.'
I walked up to the chamber. "You really have nothing to worry about," Eggman said as I entered with a chuckle. "You're probably the safest one here."
The door shut behind me.
The interior was smooth white, about 2 yards high and 3 feet wide. "Are you ready to start?" He asked through some sort of intercom system.
"Let's just get this done with!" I replied.
In response a door opened behind me with a 'woosh'. But it wasn't the sound which told me so.
I felt it.
That all-too-familiar tingle, like static electricity, but not just all over your body, inside your mind as well.
"No," I muttered. It was just like I feared. He knew, he knew EVERYTHING! I turned, and sure enough, a panel had slid open.
"Not the Chaos Emeralds."
Six more 'wooshes' and I was surrounded by the seven gems of power.
"No, stop. STOP!" My need to stay cool had vanished and all that was left was a mass of panic. The wall began to spin around me, faster and faster. "NO GOD! PLEASE STOP IT!"
Multicolored beams of Chaos energy flowed from the gems and into my body. My flesh burned, my heart raced and my vision blurred. Deep inside I felt it, the power growing inside my body, radiating outward. "NO! STOP! STOP IT!!!"
A blast of energy exploded inside me. My quills stood on end and became golden. I was once again Super Sonic.
My head and vision cleared almost instantly, the pain already a forgotten memory. To me, the walls were suddenly spinning at a snail's pace. A drop of sweat had flown off my nose when I transformed. It now hung in the air, rotating as it slowly drifted towards the wall.
Fascinated, I cupped my hands around it, and watched as it vaporized in slow-motion on contact with my skin.
It was incredible. No pain, no fear, no hunger, no fatigue, no thoughts, no feelings.
Only power.
I gave a hollow laugh. How I missed this! It was amazing, it was blissful, it was perfect!
No, it wasn't enough!
I raised my arms and yelled, "MORE!" My voice shook the chamber like booming thunder, how weak it had been!
My body stopped passively receiving the power, but began actively absorbing it, draining the gems.
As their glow faded, their energies almost completely drained, my consciousness seemed to expand.
I could see myself, the mechanics and electronics of the cylinder, Eggman, the whole fortress!
My sphere of knowledge continued to expand. I saw the jungle, Amy, EVERYTHING!
I was all-knowing, I was all-powerful, I WAS A GOD!
I sat upright, the cool night air like ice water on my sweaty brow. "You gotta be kidding me!" I gasped. "That, that was just TOO real to just be a dream!"
I looked up at the sky, the stars were gone, purple and gold were beginning to grow in the East. "Sunrise has got to be in just a few minutes." I took a charred stick from my fire pit and drew another line on my day counter. "Eighteen days," I sighed, "I hope I can get up to speed soon. This jungle life must be getting to me."