YOU'RE TOO SLOW!
By
The Conflicted Writer
… That phrase. It gripped him. It ran around and around and around in his mind, never wearing out, never tiring, never resting. In turn and yet in contrast, he was worn out, he was tired… but he could not rest as well.
His claws scratched at the dirt that had newly been placed, resorting to such primitive methods as to actually stain his hands to dig. But he did not care. He had never cared. There was only one thing he cared about. But, it might be too late. He might have been…
Too slow.
It was a lie. It had to have been. It was merely a taunt his rival threw at him in order to 'tweak' him, as his rival would put it.
You're too slow!
And it had worked.
Time and time again…
He was perfect.
So why did he always loose? All those years ago, all the speeches he received from his creator about being better, stronger… faster…
Faster…
He was faster.
But he still lost.
You're too slow!
His fancy cloak which he had actually woven himself was loosing the shine he had worked so hard to fabricate from the shine of the Master Emerald shards as he flung the dirt every which way, occasionally hitting the large marble stone in front of him.
He had worked painstakingly at being the best. He remembered that whenever his rival wanted a rematch that he should simply give him a call, as he put it.
His rival lied.
He remembered when it had started. The hate. The actual need to be faster. All the planning. All the work. All the trickery. All the resources.
Wasted.
But not completely. He remembered asking why he always lost, why he could not defeat his rival. His rival was fool enough to answer.
Because, we're Sonic Heroes!
Yes… they were Sonic heroes… they were. His rival always had a goal, someone to run after. Someone to run to.
Someone to make him go faster.
In a casual battle, his rival would have nothing to loose… except his life. He would be to busy having fun to pay attention… it would have been the most ironic victory…
But his rival found an even more ironic way to win…
Slowly the dirt began to pile around the hole. The seven sparkling gems that he had brought with him were under that dirt. He did not care. He had to hurry. There could be no wasted time. If any time was wasted, it that would mean he had slowed down…
Slow…
He was not too slow… he was not slow at all… was he?
You're too slow!
He froze for just a moment.
Was all this in vain? Was he wasting time right now to even bother? Was he…
No. It was not a waste, no matter what. He had to know…
He had spent years… too many of them to count… making himself even better… even stronger…
Even faster…
He had upgraded himself with every piece of advanced technology he could
find… he even went to other planets…
He had looked up every legend… gathered powers from all of this planet's 'gods':
Chaos, God of Destruction…
Solaris, God of Flames…
Dark Gaia, God of Despair…
Light Gaia, God of Joy…
Even Argus, the Jail Lord, the hardest of all powers to obtain…
He was all powerful. He was better than the best. But he had to be better…
He went to the floating island and defeated-no, massacred-the Guardian.
This should have been his clue to hurry and move faster… there was a new guardian. It was not the red brute. He did not bother with the face, though… he was too excited…
But it made him…
Too slow…
At last, he came to the big wooden box he was terrified he would find… it was six feet under the ground exactly, he noted with the littlest of humor possible. The box was a deep navy blue, carved to look as if the wind was forever blowing around the box…
You're too slow!
He had went on a world wide hunt for the Chaos Emeralds, the very second bane of his existence… it had taken him a greater amount of time than he had imagined…
His rival... he did that on purpose… he must have… he must have known… he must have planned this perfect irony…
It was all too convenient… it had happened not more than a week ago… just as he had found the last emerald in the grasp of the Ultimate Life Form.
The Ultimate Life Form… he mislead him. The Ultimate looked the same as ever… he wasted time by toying with him before ripping his head and pouring his black blood over his own emerald…
Just as he touched it… the emerald… the wave was sent through the air.
It was a whisper…
Such a loud whisper…
'Sonic the Hedgehog is dead…' the whisper said.
He did not believe it at first…
But now, looking back, he could see it…
He gripped the lid of the great box, digging his claws deep into it, and paused. He braced himself…
He knew what was in the box…
He just didn't want to admit it…
He didn't want to admit that his rival was right…
You're too slow!
He had simply laughed when he heard the whisper. It was too fantastic concept to be true… but, he was not like most that could live in a fantasy land for long periods of time…
No… he saw the logic of the statement…
He could not believe that he had been…
Too slow…
With a mighty heave, he tore the lid away as if it were soggy paper.
And he saw it…
The proof…
The facts…
The reality…
…The truth…
Sonic the Hedgehog was dead…
He had died…
…of old age…
He picked up the still fresh body, it limping in his unfeeling hands…
That face… it had a wrinkled smile on it…
Sonic mocked him… even now…
He was so close… but he had been beaten to the punch by the slowest of all things…
Time…
Time had taken Sonic's life before he could…
He had let the seconds creep by him, completely ignoring this snail paced
idea…
He dropped the body suddenly. He could not strike… There was no point…
He screamed.
In his scream, he let the world know what was going through his mind.
His rage…
His despair…
His pain…
His void…
He realized with a horrible pang that his rival was right… he stopped screaming and fell on the dead body of his rival…
He was…
Too slow.
"I'm too slow…" he said in his numb electric voice.
"I'm too slow…"
End