Chapter 31

I AM GUILTY!

Sonic stood in the middle of the crowd of Mobians that surrounded him. He gulped as he looked at all the surrounding Mobians that were staring at him. Antoine looked at King Max and he nodded. Antoine took out a pair of energy cuffs from his shirt pocket. Antoine walked over to Sonic and put the cuffs over his un-gloved hands. Sonic stared at cuffs then at Antoine.

"W … What are you doing?" Sonic asked.

"I am sorry, Sonic, but you are being tried for murder," Antoine told him.

Sonic's eyes widened and he sighed.

"Fine, I would rather be in a cell tonight than out on the street destroying half of my home," Sonic explained.

Antoine stared at Sonic in shock, then, turned to King Max. He nodded and Antoine led Sonic away from the crowd of Mobians and away from his friends and family. King Max stopped Sonic halfway.

"Your trial will begin this afternoon at 4," King Max told Sonic.

Sonic nodded and continued following Antoine.

Sonic sat at a desk in a large room that was the New Mobotropolis Courtroom. Sonic sighed. His hands and feet were in chains so he couldn't run away, which in his current state of mind; he would not do. Mostly all the Mobians from this mornings' rather frightening truth were there. Sonic's head moved to look through the window and saw the sun was reaching the horizon and it worried him, greatly. Sonic looked back at the court in front of him. Everyone in the courtroom was chatting about Sonic being tried and that he was the werewolf that attacked Angel Island. This saddened Sonic's spirit even more than it already was.

Sonic's family, friends and fellow freedom fighters were in the court as well and were sitting behind him. King Max sat at the front of the room along with Sally as she wanted to be there for Sonic. Hip and Hop were sitting at their judging desks. The Mobians behind a stand to the right were all the victims from Angel Island that had lost a family member, were the jury, even Knuckles and Julie-Su were there for witnesses. Sonic had no lawyer as he wanted to get locked up before night fell. Antoine stood up and gulped. He walked over to Sonic and stood in front of him. Sonic knew Antoine didn't want to send him to jail, but if Sonic wanted to he had to. Hip and Hop banged their gravels on their desk.

"Order! Order!" they shouted.

Everyone stopped chatting and looked over at them. The two judges looked at Antoine and he nodded.

"Now, how does the defendant plea?" Hip asked.

Sonic stood up from his chair and looked at everyone around the room.

"Guilty," Sonic said.

Everyone gasped at Sonic's answer. Sonic sat back down and looked at Antoine.

"Why does the defendant say this?" Hop asked.

"Because I am guilty. I did do what I did to Echidnaopolis and should be locked up," Sonic said.

Antoine walked over to Sonic and stood in front of him.

"Sonic; you say you are the werewolf creature the attacked Echidnaopolis?" Antoine asked, with a hint of guilt in his voice.

"Yes," Sonic said.

"And you want to be put in a cell even if you are not guilty?" Antoine asked.

"Yes, but … I AM GUILTY!" Sonic shouted. "I COULD HAVE TAKEN CONTROL! BUT I DIDN'T! I AM GUILTY AND I MUST BE LOCKED UP!"

Antoine flinched at Sonic's sudden outburst. Sonic's ears drooped and he slouched in his seat.

"Sorry, I've had a hard month," Sonic said.

Antoine straightened himself and paced in front of Sonic.

"Um … call witness to the stand," Antoine suggested.

King Max and Hip and Hop nodded and Knuckles got up out of his seat and walked over to the seat next the judges. He sat down and looked over at Sonic. Sonic gave him an apologetic look back.

"I'm sorry, Knuckles," Sonic whispered.

Antoine walked over to Knuckles and paced in front of him.

"Knuckles; you were one of the victims of the Angel Island attack that was committed by Sonic? Were you not?" Antoine asked, but was starting to sound more confident.

"Yes. Yes, I was," Knuckles answered.

"As you pointed out on the news report, you were not infected by Sonic's bite," Antoine said.

"Yes, but if his werewolf form was more matured it could have been passed onto me," Knuckles told them.

Everyone gasped, even Sonic. His head fell onto the desk and started banging it against the desk. Everyone started chatting again. The judges banged their gravels once more.

"Order! Order! And Sonic stop doing that!" they shouted.

Sonic stopped and looked back up. Antoine cleared his throat. Now, came the part of the trial where he had to ask the hard questions to both the witness and the defendant.

"Knuckles; how did it happen? How did Sonic start destroying Echidnaopolis and … killing the civilians?" Antoine asked, nearly not being able to get the final part of the question out.

Sonic felt that same guilt feeling weigh him down again. It was the same feeling he felt a month ago when he had that nightmare and yesterday when he saw the news report. It made his stomach churn and made him also feel the grief that the family's were experiencing. He was meant to be the HERO of Mobius not the MONSTER of Mobius. Sonic looked over at Knuckles and saw that his expression was of guilt as well. Even though he wasn't one of the family's effected he was still feeling guilty that he hadn't done anything to help that much.

"Well, he didn't start attacking Echidnaopolis directly after the sun set. Julie-Su and I heard him screaming and we went to check it out. When we knocked the door down we saw Sonic as the … werehog. He attacked at us and we defended ourselves. Julie-Su shot him twice. A bullet in each arm and then he ran off into Echidnaopolis," Knuckles explained.

"What was Sonic doing at your house, anyway?" Antoine asked.

"He was staying there for the night and I didn't really know why he had run away from here, but I'm guessing it had something to do with the werehog," Knuckles explained.

"So, once Sonic ran out of the house, that's when he started the rampage?" Antoine asked.

Knuckles nodded.

"But it wasn't his fault. Whatever was controlling him must have been passed onto him by a bite from another werewolf," Knuckles told them.

"And we don't have werewolves in our zone until now," King Max spoke up.

Antoine walked back over to Sonic and paced in front of him. Knuckles got out of the seat he was in and walked back over to his seat with Julie-Su.

"Sonic; during the rampage, did you know what you were doing? If not, when did you stop seeing what you were doing and controlling yourself?" Antoine asked.

Sonic's eyes opened wide. He hadn't expected a question like that. Sonic thought for a minute. Then looked back at Antoine.

"All I can remember was the transformation into the werehog on that night. I was hoping that I didn't transform but then I felt the pain and I did. Except, on that night, the pain was worse, it was more painful. I don't quite understand why but after the transformation I didn't remember a thing I did," Sonic explained.

"When did you get attacked by whatever attacked you?" Antoine asked, getting away from the real case.

"It was two nights before the attack on Angel Island. I was running through the Great Forest and heard this sound and decided to follow it. I followed the noise and came to a clearing. I shouted for whatever it was to come out, but it didn't and I decided to leave. But once I turned my back. It jumped on me, bit me and then ran off. I fainted after that," Sonic explained.

"Did you see the creature that bit you?" Antoine asked.

"No, It pinned me to the ground by jumping on my back which means I was on my stomach. Whenever I tried to turn over it just growled. And then I decided in my mind that it was some sort of wild animal and I was right because once it bit me, I turned into one," Sonic explained.

Antoine stared at Sonic and looked over at King Max, then, to Hip and Hop.

"The jury will now decide the fate of you, Sonic, whether you are innocent or guilty," they said.

Sonic nodded and looked over at the jury. They were chatting and having quite a big discussion. Sonic put his cuffed hands under the desk and crossed his fingers for luck. Sonic closed his eyes and waited.

Please say guilty, please, Sonic thought.

The jury stopped talking and turned back to the court.

"We find the defendant …" a female echidna began.

Everyone leaned forward in their seats and Sonic kept his fingers crossed.

"… Guilty," she finished.

Sonic did a quiet "yes" while everyone else gasped. Hip and Hop were about to bang their gravels when King Max waved his hand at them.

"As King, I give the deciding vote for Sonic," King Max said.

Sonic looked over at the King and uncrossed his fingers. Sonic started to sweat as he knew what King Max would say.

Don't say it, don't say it, Sonic thought.

"I say that Sonic isn't guilty because the werewolf was in control, not Sonic. So, Sonic was not the one who attacked Echidnaopolis. It was the other side of him, his werewolf side which has a lust for blood and craves meat," King Max explained.

The jury knew that Sonic WAS guilty but they knew better than to argue with the King. Sonic's ears drooped when he heard that.

"NO! I AM GUILTY! YOU HAVE TO LOCK ME UP! YOU HAVE TO! I'M A DANGER TO YOU ALL!" Sonic shouted.

"Is it decided then?" Hop asked.

King Max nodded.

"NO! IT ISN'T!" Sonic shouted, infuriated.

Hip and Hop banged their gravels on the desk.

"It is then decided. Sonic The Hedgehog is not guilty," Hip said.

Everyone cheered and Sonic screamed in horror. Why did they do this? They all knew how dangerous he was as a werehog. Why were they letting him go? Sonic soon felt that familiar pain in his head and stomach and screamed. Once everyone heard Sonic scream, they stopped cheering. They all turned to the hedgehog that was in pain.

"PLEASE! GET ME OUT OF HERE! I DON'T WANT TO KILL OR HURT ANYONE ELSE!" Sonic screamed.

Sonic looked to the window and saw the sun setting. Everyone else followed Sonic's gaze and gasped.

Why now? Why not when I'm not chained up so I can run to the dungeons from here, Sonic thought.

Sonic screamed in pain again and stood up from the seat. As soon as he stood up, his knees buckled in underneath all his weight and fell onto his knees. He looked at all the people behind the stands with fear in his eyes, then, looked to the ones in front of him. Sally was worried about Sonic and she wanted to help him. But at the same time, she was too scared to. King Max stared down at Sonic with a concerned expression.

Sonic screamed again and his eyes were changing from red to green, repeatedly. Sally looked at her Father in fear.

"What's happening to him?" Sally asked.

"He is trying to stop the change so he doesn't hurt anyone, but I know that there is no stopping it, only delaying it. But still only then he will still change, but more slowly and more painfully," King Max explained.

Sonic's form grew larger and bigger. His fingernails were growing sharp protrusions, very slowly. It caused him more pain as he watched in horror his own transformation.

"GET EVERYONE OUT OF HERE!" Sonic shouted, this time it wasn't out of fear. It was anger.

"What are we going to do? He told us to go. He doesn't want to hurt any of us, but he will once he's transformed," Sally told her Father.

"He won't hurt anyone in this room," King Max said.

"How do you know?" Sally asked, frowning.

"Because he won't to harm you. You are more precious to him than his own life. And his family and friends are in here as well," King Max told Sally.

"So, he couldn't stop himself from hurting Knuckles, how do you know he won't hurt me or anyone else?" Sally asked.

"Because you know how much he loves you," King Max said softly to her.

Sally looked over to Sonic and saw him now on his hands and knees. His eyes were still flickering, but his claws had formed and his fur was growing and so were his muscles and fangs. Sally looked back at her Father.

He's using me to see if Sonic can control it, Sally gasped in her thoughts.

Reminder; I'm not very good at court scenes. And another cliffhanger ooohhh. I love putting these in. So I can read your reactions in the reviews. Next chapters' halfway done. And I'll put up another oneshot soon.

VFMH OUT!