The pain from yesterday kicking in harder than ever, Sonic got up and checked himself in his very distorted bathroom mirror. "I look like a rotten banana!" He claimed as he put all of his attention to the massive bruise on his face. "Ah, yikes." In regret, Sonic glanced down and saw the bandages wrapped around his chest, curiously tearing them off to see how bad it was. It definitely was, that's for sure.
His eyes widened. "Oh wow that doesn't look good." A massive bruise, bigger than the one on his face, covered the middle of where his rib cage was, and it had some bad scarring. The majority of the pain he felt seemed to be something on the inside. "Maybe a couple broken ribs, It'll be fine though, I have like what?-fourteen left?"
Thinking he could deal without the bandages, Sonic chucked them in the provided bin underneath the sink, fixed his quills, and just sat around waiting for his meal. Out of the blue, Infinite teleported into his cell, but it didn't startle the hedgehog.
"You must really like me in order to keep coming around! Is Egghead not good company?" He teased as the villian stayed on the other side of the room.
"I was ordered to give you your meal."
"Well, great! I could eat anything right now!"
Infinite laughed smoothly, before letting out a mocking chuckle and chucking a tray of suspiciously off-looking sludge to the floor, most of it splattering everywhere. "Eat up Rodent, this is your breakfast."
"Ew gross no, It's been on the floor. And what even is that!? It looks like your expired Halloween candy from last year!" Sonic stood proud and tall, crossing his arms in defiance.
The jackal shrugged "Too bad." He strolled calmly out of the cell.
Hopes seemed down for Sonic as he'd have to skip his first meal of the day. But his luck flipped and gave him the stupidest idea to exist.
"The door's open? He left the door open!" His thoughts screamed as he saw Infinite teleport away, sneaking quietly of his prison, eventually reaching the door to the long and complex hallways. "Oh great." He puffed dramatically.
Suddenly, a herd of badniks hummed from behind him.
"I gotta act fast! But as soon as he realises I'm not in my cell, he'll teleport to the exits.." A janitor's closet caught his eye as he quickly slammed himself in. Pressure was high while he could hear the rumbling get closer, and after thirty seconds of anxiety, everything calmed down: the noise swam right past his hiding place. The last thing he heard were the words 'check on Sonic and get him ready' from one of the robot's communicators.
Instead of instantly B-lining it to the exit of the Death Egg, he decided to play it smart. He knew that it would be a matter of seconds until the chase began, and he didn't want to waste his chance, so he waited. After a minute, you could hear Infinite's relaxing yet intimidating voice shout violently throughout the whole base.
"I know you're out there Hedgehog! The ankle bracelet has a tracker so you cannot hide for long!" His footsteps disappeared, and Sonic thought he could make it: the exit was two hundred metres away. Breaths turned heavy as stakes were higher than ever. If he had run right then, someone was bound to see him, whether it was a badnik or Infinite. If he stayed in the closet, it wouldn't be long until he's found like a hide and seek game.
"No time like the present." He puffed to himself, gripping the handle of the closet entrance. As swiftly as possible, Sonic busted the door wide open, sprinting harder than what he's ever done with his normal speed. His hopes skyrocketed as he drew closer, and at fifty metres he was sure that he could escape. "Forty..thirty..twenty...ten.." He counted to himself, the smile he sported growing bigger with each word. "I'm coming Tails."
He came to a halt.
Sonic's eyes were in a pure stake of shock, his pupils tiny, standing before his worst nightmare. No words were spoken: Infinite glared deeply into his terrified eyes. In a desperate attempt to get away, the hedgehog took a couple steps back from the villain before reaching a full adrenaline-powered dash down the hallway. Panicking, Sonic checked behind him to see if Infinite was there, and needless to say, his anxiety climbed fast. He picked up the pace with sweat starting to build. Each breath seemed as though he was gasping for air, getting even heavier with each step.
The janitor's closet caught his eye once more as he felt he'd be safer in there than out in the open. He tried to compose himself behind some old trash, fear taking over him as he tried to form some sort of plan. "Do I try again? No, too risky. Maybe I should just try to find Eggman? Yeah.. yeah... I'll do that." Getting on his shaking feet, the hedgehog went to open the door.
Dead silence fell upon him.
The wall separating him and the main room now had a fist through it, inches to the left of his face. Suspiciously, the hand stretched out wide, and then..red. Sonic tried to stay on his feet, but his mind felt like it had been bombarded with one million nukes at once. "Ack!" He yelled, frustrated, confused, and in agony. After two, exaggeratingly long minutes, the hedgehog was bent over, gasping for air.
All he could hear was a maniacal laugh alongside the ringing in his ear, as it drew closer, the glare in the speakers eyes no longer cold, but deathly.
"You will never escape." The voices in Sonic's head whispered as the red surrounding him grew brighter. He tried to shut them out; to not listen, but it was impossible. They grew louder and louder, becoming more intrusive with each sentence.
"Agh! Y'know what?" He shouted, fighting back. "There's nothing more that I hate than oppression. Sure, you can try and ruin my life, but I will never stop fighting for freedom!" Sonic shut his eyes, and took a deep, calming breath, snapping out of his terrified state, thought be it, still terrified. Infinite's dull eyes lit up with darkness, but the hedgehog blocked it out, standing up to get ready for a brawl. "I've been through worse villains than you, and I won't ever let you change me. If I die trying to escape, then so be it!"
"Haha...HAHA!"
"What's so funny maniac?" The hedgehog quipped, finally getting his confidence back. "Did you get some candy?"
Everything went back to normal colour as Infinite took slow strides towards Sonic, clapping at the same tedious pace."That speech was really touching, but unfortunately, you do not stand a chance against someone with my level of power."
"Well then hit me with your best shot!"
"I am very much going to. You're little guardian angel isn't coming back for a whole week."
He gulped, but held his ground. A smirk of determination gleamed on his bruised face. There was no backing down now. The first hit jabbed Sonic's chest: it was so hard that he got launched into the wall behind him, creating a dent. Falling back down to his feet, the hedgehog recovered his smile, and ran towards the villain. He slid underneath Infinite's legs, and noticed a controller on the back of his mask, so in a quick second he yanked it out and clicked the smaller blue button.
"You sly rat!" Infinite scolded angrily, teleporting away.
"Why'd he leave? Oh well, no time to think, I need to get out fast!"
Zooming to the entrance once more, Sonic was certain, for real this time, that he'd be free: his bracelet was deactivated, and the jackal was out of sight. Fifty metres away from the main exit, and the building's lockdown was initiated. An extremely thick metal door came over it, attempting to lock him in, but his smile never faded. Afterall, he has nearly out-run a black hole. He was so close.
"Peekaboo." A voice whispered.
He looked up; nobody was there. Creeped out, Sonic pushed it out of his mind and kept running. One metre from the door and suddenly, his bracelet reactivated, sending an enormous shock throughout his whole body. The loud ringing in his ears came back, and the metal door that he was so desperately trying to reach, shut. Everything around him went red.
In one final attempt, ignoring the warped atmosphere and his aching body, he charged his spin dash. With no idea where he was aiming, Sonic launched himself towards the door, only making a medium sized dent. His head pounded as he tried again, holding the spin for longer to get a bigger result: it barely did anything. "Third time's the charm!" He exclaimed optimistically as he got into a ball, ready to break down the exit. "three..two...one- agh!"
Five people toppled on top of him like a football game. One of them forcefully grabbed Sonic's head and made him stare Infinite dead in the eyes once more. "Did you really need all of these guys to stop me?" The hedgehog quipped, the positivity not quite leaving him yet.
"No, I could've squished you like a bug exactly one minute ago, but I constantly choose to let you build hope. It's more entertaining to watch you crush yourself."
"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I haven't given up yet!"
"Aw... how heroic." Infinite signalled the army of villains to stand down, and they disappeared mysteriously from sight. "What about that fair fight you were whining about earlier Rodent? If you win, I'll let you have that final attempt to knock down the metal barrier."
"And If I lose?"
"You will certainly find out when you do."
"Oh great." He sighed, knowing the outcome will be bad. "Fine, let's do this."
Infinite turned off the speed limiter once more.
He spindashed to the wall, and started bouncing all across the room at the speed of sound. Infinite's eyes glowed as the room went red for the 100th time. Spikes grew everywhere in an instant, with Sonic having to drop to the floor, tip toeing around them, and after about ten seconds they disappeared. The hedgehog rushed up to Infinite, preparing for an uppercut, but it ended with him in a neck lift as he waved his feet about.
In a quick swoop Sonic managed to not only free himself, but kick Infinite right in the face and do a backflip. The atmosphere around him went back to normal, but he was flipping though, he noticed something drop to the floor: it was silver and had one red zigzag eye.
"Argh you blue nuisance!" Infinite yelled furiously as he bent down to pick up his mask.
Getting a good look at the villain's face, he saw the massive scars on his usually covered up eye. "Wow, you really are a halloween costume! I guess you go around calling yourself 'the big bad' to scare everyone. Is that scar what gave you that ego? Or have you always been that self absorbed?"
Without saying a word, Infinite shoved the mask back over his face, the terrifying stare even more nightmarish than before. He teleported away and left Sonic confused for a moment.
"AHHH!" The hedgehog cried in agony as he dropped to his knees, not being able to fight it that time. The red came back, the voices whispering into his ear, almost teasing him. "Do you give up?" They asked. "Is the little boy done for?"
"How can you call yourself a hero?" The final one said as it faded away.
He knew Infinite was around. He knew that he had no choice but to fight. He knew that even standing up would be a challenge, especially while being electrocuted, but he just couldn't. Sonic felt as though he was tied to the floor: as if chains stopped him from achieving his freedom.
In extreme pain, the hedgehog glared down to his hands, and realised that it wasn't a metaphor: he was actually being tied to the floor. Each second he could feel himself being dragged harder and harder into the floor.
"Give up." The voices commanded, sounding more hostile. "You are done."
Sonic let out a small smile. "No."
"Give up or face the consequences."
"No!" He shouted.'
"It was your choice." Infinite stated as he threw a red and black cube at Sonic. With nothing he could do to defend himself, he just took it on.
Surprised he didn't get blown into a million pieces, the hedgehog saw the room around him warp rather quickly, forming a whole environment in less than five seconds.
"Where am I?" He asked himself as he got to his feet, confused by what was happening around him: laser ammo being shot at badniks, buildings on fire, and citizens cowering in fear. Sonic dashed around to ask any of the Mobians what happened, until he saw two tails and yellow fur.
"Tails!?" He exclaimed joyfully, running to tell him he's okay.
"Don't worry too much. You know Sonic! He can handle himself out there, and plus, it's nothing he hasn't done before."
His eyes widened even more "Amy!" the hedgehog called out.
"No he can't! You didn't see what I saw. Sonic was beaten to a pulp, and I did nothing to help him!"
"Tails it's okay, I'm here!" He reached out to pat his brother on the back, but went right through him. "What...?"
"I miss him everyday!" The fox continued. "He has always been there when we- when I needed him, and the one time he needed me, I just sat around!"
Hurt not only filled Tails, but also Sonic and Amy as the girl took him inside a brick building for shelter. Nothing could explain how Sonic felt in that moment. Not only did he feel bad for the war that was happening and that he, out of everyone, was useless against Eggman's forces, but his best friend, basically brother, was worried sick and he had no way of contacting him: no way of letting Tails know that it wasn't his fault. All he could do was sit there and watch painfully as the world he knew got shattered piece by piece, house by house, and village by village.
Once finally being snapped out of the illusion, the gleam in Sonic's eye grew brighter. "I'm not done fighting you yet."
"Well I am."
Out of the blue, the five villains who attacked him before suddenly pounded him into walls while comboing with jabs, uppercuts, and kicks. He desperately tried to dodge their attacks to prepare for his own, but he simply couldn't keep up, even with his super speed. Sonic knew Infinite had something to do with them, so he dashed over top of them, using their heads as steps, and tried to spin dash into his mask once more.
He teleported away, making Sonic slam hard into the floor as Infinite reappeared, pressing his foot down on the hero's chest. "Give up." All six villains demanded as the held him down forcefully.
"Infinite, is the blue rat in the test room yet?" A rather crackled voice asked loudly.
"No sir, we are having a battle-"
"Battle!? Oh don't tell me he can't try them out anymore!"
"He will and he must. I'll get him ready now doctor."
"Good."
Sonic's expression turned to relief as the battle ended, knowing that he didn't have his final breaths only two days into being a prisoner. The speed limiter was put back on as he could feel the energy leave him once more. What did Eggman mean by 'test room?' Those tedious questions would come with exhausting answers.