Day Twelve, Prompt: Insomnia/I'm Up

Over the many sleepless nights Sonic's had at the Starfall Island, he just found in him to sleep. He was running out of time to gather the emeralds and free his friends from cyberspace so he needed to use any time available to do so. The Koco become concerned.

It had been a long week, to say the least, and a week spent at the Starfall Islands hadn't been too bad aside from the occasional Titan surprise attacking him and the average enemy lurking around the corner waiting for Sonic to come by to attack. Other than that, if he laid low and stayed away from the areas where the enemies tended to spawn out of nowhere, he should be on track to find the remaining Chaos Emeralds. It annoyed him that every time he fought a Titan the emeralds instantly spread apart like magnets that were not meant to be placed together.

At the moment he had four in hand, he just needed the remaining three. It was easy to guess that the last emerald would most likely be atop the Titan's head just like the other three times when the final emerald was on Giganto, Wyvern, and Knight's heads. It was frustrating enough he hadn't slept since they had first arrived on the island. He was so tired yet at the same time wide awake. This feeling greatly annoyed him.

Sonic walked atop a hill that was high enough that he could see all of Ouranos island. It was a beautiful sight. Flower beds stretched across a few acres of land. A waterfall that streamed down towards a small pond. Some ancient structures despite their decay still looked as impressive as ever and fun to explore around their surroundings. The lush amount of green that the island still had helped Sonic breathe easily. It was a shame he was here for an entirely different reason than for nature itself. He noted to himself to return here sometime in the near future because it would be hard to forget this lovely island. It was peaceful and Sonic greatly enjoyed it.

The few moments of sentiments towards the island ceased when a wave of exhaustion washed over him. He fell to one knee attempting to blink away the sleep he knew his body was screaming for. He wouldn't give in, not until his friends were finally freed from cyberspace. His friends gave their forms up for the blue hero to overcome his own cyber corruption. He owed it to them to free them from their place of containment.

Sonic needed to make his way across the island near the edge of the land. It was where he knew the next emerald was being kept in its designated shrine. He found it odd that each emerald had a containment system to protect it from the elements. He would've never guessed the ancients just as valued the emeralds as he does. They were a great source of power. It's no wonder they tried to protect them as much as possible. It was annoying and tedious coming in and out of cyberspace to find the necessary items to retrieve the gems from its enclosure but it would be worth it in the end when he can finally come home with his friends when they are no longer in their cyberspace forms.

Sonic stood up, rest assured his fatigue had been pushed aside, and sped through the grassland, hopping over and swerving around enemies attempting to prevent encountering them. Every time he did he was just wasting time. When he finally got to the emerald he grabbed the keys he had kept hidden in between his quills and used them to unlock the vault. Sensing a chaos-sensitive entity nearby the emerald instantly came to Sonic with no trouble at all setting itself on the palm of the blue hedgehog's hand. With that Sonic was able to tuck away the fifth emerald with one more to go. He was so close there's no need to slow down now.

Sonic turned around and began running towards the ancient's large pyramid structure at full speed before tripping over an object that caused him to somersault over it and he hit the ground hard on his back. The wind was knocked out of him but he sat up quick and coughed it out before he deemed himself to be okay. He turned around and found a series of Koco dancing around facing him as they smiled and giggled.

Sonic stood up as he brushed himself off, "Oh, I'm sorry little guys. I didn't see you there. I didn't mean to run you over. You're okay though right?"

The Koco looked at each other and just began flipping and moving their little arm-like pieces to signify they were okay. The blue hero had nothing to worry about. Another wave of fatigue brought Sonic to his knees once again, eyes hazed over. The Koco stopped dancing and worry and concern were expressed in their little faces. Sonic waved them off.

"It's okay, nothing to worry about. I'll be alright."

The Koco didn't seem convinced however they trusted the hero enough to leave him off the hook. They returned to their prouncing. Satisfied, Sonic lifted himself again and trailed ahead leaving the Koco behind. The sixth emerald wasn't too far off the island this time just off the side of a cliff however he wouldn't be able to access it until he went into cyberspace again. Something he was not excited about.

Upon arrival his eyes did not waver from the sight of the light bluish color of the emerald, a clear dome protecting it. His legs felt shaky so he opted to sit on the grass just for the time being. The grass was oddly soft, maybe lying down wouldn't hurt…

He doesn't remember sleeping but at some point, he does but not for too long before he wakes up with a gasp.

"I'm up! I'm up…" Sonic says to himself.

Ugh, the last thing he needs to be doing is sleeping! How can he sleep at peace knowing his friends are still in trouble? What kind of hero and friend would he be? He hates to admit that he wants to lie back down and get another few minutes of rest but his mind is telling him otherwise.

Sonic's insomnia just wouldn't let the poor guy rest. His head was plagued with thoughts, mostly filled with "what ifs" about his friends. It frustrated him.

Sonic, accepting that he will not rest until he saves his friends and the island from the final Titan, decides to navigate the island in search of cyberspace ruins. When he comes across one, he's surprised to see a series of Koco blocking his path.

"Hey little guys, I need to get past you so if you wouldn't mind moving it would be greatly appreciated!"

Surely they understood him, however, they did not move in front of his place.

Sonic decided to just grab a handful and move them aside but every time he did, other Koco would repopulate the empty spaces making it hard for him to enter the cyber realm.

"Uh, okay look guys I need to get in there to save my friends so if you could please move aside." Sonic tried to move some off but they simply climbed back on.

Suddenly, they were climbing all over him. It caused the blue one to be knocked on his back while more Koco climbed on his body. Sonic tried to get rid of them but it seemed like more Koco kept piling back on out of nowhere. It was freaking him out.

"What- what are you guys doing?"

Then the Koco abruptly disappeared. The sky and the world around him turned brown. He had a similar experience back in Kronos and Ares islands when the ancients were showing him a memory. Is this something similar?

An ancient approached him from behind and began to speak its foreign language. Sonic recoiled in surprise. He usually was able to understand the ancients but this time he was having a hard time making out anything they were saying. The tall water-like creature then touched his forehead with a single finger with a delicate touch and the memory ceased.

Sonic awoke and found himself in the field of flowers. He wasn't here earlier so how'd he get here? It didn't matter to him though, the smell of the aroma of flowers filled his nose with delight and the bed beneath it was so comfortable.

He wasn't sure what exactly the ancient was trying to tell him in the memory but he noticed that the voices in his head stopped. The worry and anxiety he had no longer lingered and pounded at his head. It was quiet. It was… odd to say the least.

Although his own voice stopped, other voices filled in the quiet. It was the voices of his friends.

"It's okay. You can sleep now Sonic. We won't be mad."

"You need rest. We'll be alright."

"I would like to get out of here but you can't do that when you're wobbling around like a broken doll so sleep, blue."

He chuckled at that last thought and Sonic turned to his side with an arm extended acting as his pillow and let the smell of flowers overwhelm his senses enough to where he finally found himself restless enough to fall into a peaceful slumber.

I had to write a review essay for my English class and I decided to write about FFN because you know what, I have some serious issues with the site and I just needed to address them so that was my review topic. I wonder what my professor will think mmmhhh…