Chapter 2 - The Premonition

After getting his portion of food along with everyone else, they sat down and ate. With the meal being served and festivities going on at the same time, the atmosphere in the village was in good spirits. Telling his story of the race and things that he saw during it to his orphan siblings, the hedgehog noticed that all the chiefs dispersed from where they were together. Watching them, he saw Chief Oberi looking around a little till he spotted him. Looking directly at him, the wolf-humanoid motioned him to come to him. Complying and leaving the table, he walked over to where the man was.

"Yes sir?" Sonic asked with a slight cautious face.

"There is no need to be tense my boy. You executed your duties well in the race," Oberi stated in a pleased voice. "As promised from our...understandings. You will be allowed to venture outside of the village for a future day."

"Thank you sir," the child responded smiling and looking eager.

"Good to see you enthused boy. I am sure with your sense of adventure; you have questions about where you can and cannot go. Hmm?"

"...yes sir," he replied with his expression waning a little. A mixture of thinking that the leader knew he wanted to ask things and that he would tell him where he couldn't go went through his head. Mentally shaking his head, he focused back on the man.

"Very well. Ask away."

"When I was running, there was one checkpoint that had patrollers with big guns. They were looking north...east-ish I think," Sonic began and pointed in the general direction. "What's over there?"

"Ah...going that direction passed the dirt path is off limits," he said then moved his hands behind him. "There is an encampment of Robotnik's forces there. We have lost a good number of people who were sent there...they were captured by the robot patrollers. It is not safe to venture anywhere in that area unless with a group. Do you understand?"

'So that is where one of the evil scientist's liars is,' the blue boy commented mentally. Looking back on the chief, he gave a small confident nod.

"Yes sir."

"Good. Any other questions?"

"Yes...between villages of...Clamis and...Z...Zorn," he said rubbing his right temple to try and remember the names. "There was a cave that was near the obstacle course and in an opening of the trees. Can I explore the cave?"

"..." Oberi responded and looked deep in thought for a couple of seconds. Blinking, he moved his eyes to look at the youngster.

"You are allowed to go near that forest opening there...but do not pass it. As much as I know you have the spirit of an explorer, you are still a bit too young for self-adventuring. Do not go into the cave."

"..." Sonic reacted with a frown. He immediately reset his face and tried to get more information about it.

"Has anyone explored that cave?"

"Possibly. More so between Clamis and Zorn village, but not here."

"...I see," the hedgehog replied with a nod after a small pause of thought.

"Anymore?"

"No sir. I'm ready to go."

"Heh heh heh," Oberi chuckled a little to himself then crossed his arms over his chest. "You are very eager boy...it is good to see that in the youth. Might be a good quality that will help serve our race's cause. But alas, your pass to venture will be not today. Tomorrow it will be. Agreed?"

'...good quality that will help our race?' Sonic thought slightly confused from the statement. Blinking, he nodded his head.

"Yes sir."

"Good. Go enjoy the festivities with everyone," the humanoid wolf stated then turned around. Walking away, he didn't see the hedgehog narrow his eyes and frown. Turning around, the child walked back to where he sat on one of the tables.

When the late afternoon occurred, the sky started to slowly creep towards dusk. The visiting villagers from neighboring ones gathered what they brought and packed it for transportation. Saying their goodbyes, each group departed back to their homes. The people from Oberi cleaned up what remained of the get together event and put things away. As night came, the only illumination in the village was both candle fires and small lights. Almost all in Oberi village went into their huts for bed.

The ones remaining outside were the warriors doing patrols and lookouts. The orphans were back into their designated chamber and were put to bed. Though a majority of them went to sleep quickly, a couple still remained awake. Lying in his bunk, Sonic started at the ceiling. Thinking about all the new places he will explore, he started planning out where he would go first. Seconds and minutes passed by as he became engrossed in his own thoughts and planning.

"..." the hedgehog yawned. Rubbing his eyes after much brainstorming, he started to fall asleep. Getting comfortable in his bed, gravity seemed to pull his eyelids down to close. Seeing nothing but darkness initially, his mind began to drift off into his subconsciousness.

'...?' Sonic thought as if he heard something. Unable to open his eyes initially, he was slowly able to after a couple of moments.

Feeling like they were lethargic, his body seemed to be in slow motion. However when he fully opened his eyes, what he saw was vastly different from Oberi Village. As if somehow transported somewhere else, it appeared he was in a city of some sorts. Thinking at first it was like the coastal town next to the sea, it was greater than that place. Doing a 360-degree turn, there were numerous buildings were two to three stories high along with skyscraper ones near and afar.

There were paved roads and sidewalks that were relatively clean. Every street block had a few towering lights that were attached to poles in the sidewalk. Each building was a different shade of cool colors to make it semi-industrial looking. Hearing air movement passing him by, Sonic turned to the street and saw vast amount of vehicles. All shape and sizes, they did not reflect the buggies, rovers, and trucks that he had seen before.

Blinking in surprise and intrigued, it seemed that this was a prosperous version of the world. Looking at the individuals around him, anthropomorphic beings and humans were amongst one another either going about their business or walking alongside each other. There was no fear, hate, or anger amongst any of them. In fact, there were a couple of humans that were openly hugging the humanoid animals in which they were hugging them back. Seeing a couple engage in kissing in public made the hedgehog make a gross face.

'...gah...barf...' he thought grimacing and turning away.

"Hey!" a person shouted from across the street. "Look everyone! It's Sonic the Hedgehog!"

'...' the blue boy reacted with a hard flinch.

Slowly looking around himself, everyone was staring at him with grinning faces. Feeling the spike fins on the back of his head straighten out from getting goosebumps, the people started to converge toward him. Feeling his flight senses kicking into high gear, Sonic decided to do his special spin maneuver to escape. Crouching to the ground, he curled himself up to get into a ball. Not caring if his stiff spikes scrapped the ground, he began to slowly rotate himself in place.

Noticing something was off quickly, apprehension grew from two aspects. One, he was not moving. All the times he did his special move, he would have generated enough rotation to do a quick dash. However, he just seemed to do revolutions in place. The other, he was seeing the light around him start to darken. From each spin, the hedgehog would see flashing images of multiple hands trying to reach and grab him.

Pushing himself to go faster and faster, he started to hear horrific sounds. Things being broken, cracked, sliced, and drops to splashes of heavy liquid to the ground as well as what seemed like body parts. Not wanting to think about what was happening and wanting to get out of his position, he pushed himself forward. As if launching like a rocket, he zipped through what was in front of him. Going straight for a couple of seconds, he got out of it and slid on the ground. Skidding to a stop and holding his hands and feet on the ground, he tried to not hyperventilate.

'...what...what the heck was that!?' the hedgehog thought breathing hard. Ignoring the sudden smell of something metallic all around him, his skin paled a little from feeling a thick red liquid that seemed to cling to his flesh. Thinking that people were following him and trying to grab him, he looked up.

'...!?' Sonic reacted and blinked more than once.

Slowly standing up and looking in front of him, it seemed like the city he was in before. However, it was notably different. There were no humanoid animals or creatures walking around. It was only humans. The infrastructure and technology that he could see did not seem to be as advance in the previous one. But, that was where the comparison ended. In this world, there seemed to be a larger variety of things. A vastness amount of robotics and mechanical machines.

'...this...is so weird...' he thought.

Walking a bit on the sidewalk and avoiding hitting people, there seemed to be domesticated animals. Examining them from afar, it seemed to be the same from his world. Ignoring the collar and leash they had on, he saw that the amount of foot traffic was increasing. Getting to the point of not being able to avoid getting kicked at, Sonic hurried to the curb. Watching for one of the moving cars to go by, he timed himself and jumped. Landing on the roof of the car, nobody stopped to look at him.

'...why...am I seeing this?' the blue boy pondered looking forward. Unable to figure out what this realistic dream was supposed to represent, he shook his head. Clearing his mind, he lifted his head to see where the car would lead. Feeling his eyes widen, the environment changed dramatically infront of him. The vehicle he was on vanished making him go down. Stumbling forward and loosing balance, he hit the ground.

[Arrrgggmmm]

"!?" the child reacted with apprehension.

Forgetting the pain of hitting the ground fast and skidding a little, he was staring at what was in front of his face. A floating picture frame that had what seemed to be what he just said. Not moving and waiting for something to happen, the message slowly faded away. Blinking a little, he slowly got to his feet. Curling his lips in and biting down a little, he slowly looked around himself.

The environment seemed to be a jungle yet oddly had runways of some sort. Looking further ahead of him, the pathway corkscrewed in one area and then there was a massive loop further down. Focusing back on the road, it was partially wide enough to put three of him side by side with arms out. Seeing that there was nothing preventing someone from falling over the edge, the child walked toward it. Getting to be on the edge, all the sudden, he was walking in place. It was as if an invisible wall was there, but not physically present to block him.

[...this has to be a nightmare...]

"...!?" Sonic reacted with a start.

Backing up frightened, the caption window appeared in front of him again. It popping up out of nowhere was not the immediate scare, it was the aspect that his mouth did not move at all when he thought he spoke. He also wasn't breathing which started to make him panic a bit more. Stopping and closing his eyes, he slapped his cheeks hard. Telling himself to wake up multiple times, his mouth never moved.

Feeling his nerves were being more than rattled, he slowly moved his hands to his face. Touching around, his mouth and nose were present. Trying to open his mouth, it seemed that his entire jaw was locked for nothing moved. About to contemplate and figure out what was going on, there seemed to be air friction sounding close by. Opening his eyes and looking ahead of him, nothing was seen out of the ordinary.

Hearing something metallic and heavy land behind him some meters away, he jumped and turned around. Seeing a small dust cloud rise and slowly fall, there was a silhouette that came into view. The appearance of it took shape and immediately thought it was another hedgehog. However when the dust settled and cleared, it wasn't. The figure was a machine version of a blue hedgehog.

'...' Sonic reacted with remaining still. Blinking and thinking about what he should be doing, a nerve racking thought passed through him. Taking a small step back, the robot appeared to look like him with obvious mechanical components and no organic ones. Despite that, its face made Sonic stare at it with danger in his mind. The robot's eyes were all black as it stood there motionless.

As if sensing his thoughts, the mechanical being's eyes glitched like a monitor turning on. Seeing a flash of massive red text, it went away going back to being all black. A couple of moments later, two crimson rings for eyes appeared and stared him down. As time seemed to creep slowly forward, the organic and inorganic never took their sights off each other. Hearing the sound of air whirling up, the lower torso of the robot had movement. It looked like a small jet engine was its stomach and began turning.

'...' Sonic reacted not blinking and continued boring the mech creature down. Slowly, it began to levitate above the ground. Moving toward him at a calm walk pace speed, the boy took several steps back.

[...race...me...you...] a window appeared above the robot's head.

[...] he replied. Tensing up, the things red eyes started glowing uncannily.

[...R...U...N...O...R...P...E...R...I...S...H...F...A...K...E...R...]

Without second thought, Sonic turned around and started running at his full speed. Feeling the adrenaline from fear course through him like a high-pressure water hose turn on, something odd was happening. He was going faster and faster. His peripheral vision began to blur a little as things were going by too quickly to see. It was as if all objects he was rushing past just became streaks of lights. Coming up quickly to the two obstacles he saw from the starting pointl, the speed he was going made doing both a piece of cake.

Feeling a thrill generate and add to the adrenaline from fear, he took a quick glance behind him. His eyes widen from seeing the robot keep up with him. Its mechanical glare and cold persona gave the sense of a terminator bot that he heard about. Instead of running, it was hovering above the air with its jet stomach propelling it forward. From seeing him looking back, its left arm snapped forward and its metal hand tried reaching out to him.

[Give...up...you...can't...resist]

[NO!]

Moving his head back forward and murderously staring forward, Sonic pumped his legs harder and harder. Seeing everything beginning to fly by him without recalling what the objects were, he kept going faster. No matter what turns, vertical or horizontal, or obstacle he went through, he did not slow down. Getting on a main speedway and mentally screaming at himself to run faster, something began to appear in front of him.

It started with a small flash that came and went. After a couple of seconds, it happened more frequently until it began to become more solidified. Reaching a certain point, a semi-opague ring that was about the height and size of him formed. Going through him, everything went silent. Too scared to contemplate of what just happened, Sonic kept running and never looked back.

Continuing throughout the land and barely avoiding slamming himself against things he could only see glimpses ahead of him, there was something of an end point. At his pace, he would reach it in a few seconds. As he got close quickly, it appeared to look like a sign of some sorts. Past the sign was a dead end. Shoving both feet forward on the ground and braking to slow down, he still could not hear anything.

Miss judging that he needed to slow down way back, he was going to body slam right into the dead end passed the sign. Skidding past it like a missile, he suddenly stopped moving forward. Hearing a bell like jingle in the background, Sonic blinked and felt his heart beating like a jackhammer. The fear and thrill of what he was running away from and what he was able to do was still flowing through him hard. Suddenly without him moving his body, he turned around 180 degrees.

A sudden rush of wind blast past him with the sound of a high pitch snap of air. Not feeling anything from it, he saw the sign spin quickly in place. For being just placed on the ground, it did not lift up or dig into the ground. Looking beyond it, the robotic chaser was on the other side of the rotating object. Levitating back to stand on the ground, it kept the same stoic glare at him.

[...you...] the robot began then lifted its hand to point at the child.

[...] Sonic replied with just standing like a statue.

[...win...this...round...but...I...will...prove...I...am...the...fastest...hedgehog...next...time] the machine declared. Not moving for a couple of seconds, its image glitched hard then vanished in thin air.

'...' Sonic reacted from feeling ambivalent.

Trying to move, he suddenly couldn't. Feeling some unknown force move his head, he was staring back at the spinning sign. Watching it start to slow down a bit, there was something that was forming on the front of it. Making out what the picture was, it caused him to blink a couple of times. The image was something of an older version of himself.

'...!?' the child flinched from hearing another jingle.

The sound of drums and trumpets went off playing something of triumph. When it finished several seconds later, there was another short sound phrase of a register opening and coins knocking around. So lost and confused, all that he wanted to do was just wake up. Closing his eyes and trying to force himself snap out of it, the environment started to feel different. Feeling light and as if he was floating, the child thought it meant he was in the process of getting out of the dream. Opening up his eyes in hope, he was still in his subconsciousness.

Appearing in a forest, he was moving around in it as a ghost. Not familiar to where he was, there was no sense of a threat anywhere. Seeing a tree coming towards him, he tried moving out of the way. Unable to, he was heading directly to it. Closing his eyes and waiting for slamming into it, nothing happened. Peering one eye open, he had gone through it but was now somewhere else again.

'...' Sonic reacted feeling very disoriented.

Transported instantly into a black and white colored factory, it seemed to be a production line of some sorts. About to move forward to explore, the hedgehog stopped. There was a large shadow seen on the back wall to his left. Making out the outline of the figure, he appeared to be a big boned human. Hearing it cackle loudly, the evil laughter echoed and bounced off all the walls in the massive space. Finding cover and peering around a corner, the man began to talk with an overtone of authority and cruelty.

"Exxcccellent. Things are going smoothly as I planned," he stated then out reached both arms toward the center of the factor. "With my greatest creation completed, I can now begin to test and experiment with the Robotisizer. I will show those foolish leaders of this world the grave mistake they did towards humanity and correct their evolutionary enormity."

'Who is that guy?' the blue boy thought. Tensing up from seeing darkness occupy his view, it went away after a couple of seconds.

In front of him, a sea of confined and restrained animals were on incline tables. Each one of them were in a different state of being a wildlife animal to having humanistic characteristics and/or features. Hearing a whirl of machinery sound loudly around him, all the animals began screeching. Alarmed and watching with fear, the victims' bodies slowly became rigid and stiff. Listening to more equipment turn on and sound to life, the sounds of agony increased.

'...no...no...NO...STOP IT!' the hedgehog child shouted in trepidation. Slowly, body parts of the captured people began meta-morphing into metallic versions until all of them became robots. One by one, the screams of terror and agony were replaced with silence. Once completed, they stopped moving. As if in unison, all their heads turned and started at him. Crimson robotic ring-shaped eyes bored at him with an uncanny glow.

"...!?" Sonic woke up with a start. Sitting up straight, he was breathing hard and feeling sweat roll down his face. Recalling all the dreams rapidly in his mind, he started to feel the shakes. Moving his head side to side quickly and wiping of the perspiration with his hands, he tried to calm himself down.

'The adults said that if you suddenly have bad dreams, there is something on you or around you that caused it,' he thought.

Thinking there was a nightmare creature nearby and under the bed, he got off the bunk and backed away. From the small night lights that were on, the dull illumination showed there was nothing underneath where he slept. Not feeling relief, he looked around the room. All the other children were still asleep. The doors to the caretakers' quarters were still closed.

Looking everywhere in the chamber, there was no lurking creature or nightmare. Validating that there was no monster inside the building, goosebumps riled his skin from the other possibility. Curling his lips into his mouth and biting down, Sonic slowly looked down at himself. Seeing nothing on himself that was abnormal, he went to the bathroom. Being as quiet as possible, he moved the stool to the sink with a mirror.

Standing on it and turning around, he moved his head back and looked at his image. There was nothing weird on his back or his head. Sighing in relief that there was no evil being on him, he got down and put the step ladder away. Exiting the restroom and heading back to where he was sleeping, his left hand grazed the bed frame. Feeling something that wrapped around his left wrist, it rotated freely then stopped when he stopped.

"..." Sonic responded with freezing himself in place.

Stiffening up, his curved spike fins became erect as he swallowed down a lump in his throat. Taking a risk, he slowly moved his right hand to his left side. Cautiously reaching for what was on his left wrist, he felt as a hard object. Continuing to feel it, it seemed to be a band of some sorts. Finding a buckle, the child unfastened it and removed it. Bringing it in front of him, he tried looking at the thing in his hand.

'...looks like a wristband...but of what though,' the hedgehog thought narrowing his eyes. Remembering the race, he felt much relief wash over him.

"Whew," he muttered quietly feeling himself calm down a lot.

Thinking about the small beacons that the racers used, the boy vaguely remembered what was explained about them. One of the village chiefs mentioned about them and that it had a small crystal imbedded in it. The recollection seemed to trigger another vague memory. It was something one of the caretakers told the kids that was a story. It was about how there were natural resources on Mobius that had mysterious properties which one was give people visions. Blinking then looking back at the outline of the accessory in his hand, it was the only thing he had on him when he went to bed.

Thinking that the beacon was the source of the weird and bad series of dreams, he went to his storage chest. Opening it quietly and placing the object inside, he locked it once it was closed. Climbing back into bed and laying down, he thought about going back to sleep. Remembering the vivid imagery he had while he was asleep, trepidation slowly grew inside of him. Shaking his head hard, he started at the dark ceiling above him. Forcing himself to think about where he wanted to travel when the sun came up, the scare inside of him tapered off a little.

"Morning Children. Time to get up," one of the caretakers called. Slowly, a couple of the children began to stir.

"..." Sonic spoke still lying in bed.

Unable to fall back asleep, he slowly sat up. Not feeling rested nor tired, he got out of his bunk. Following the others that awoke and headed toward the washroom, they began cleaning themselves. Once finished and getting their attire on, the children headed towards supper. The hedgehog was a little spacey when he was eating.

Looking at the surrounding forestry, the sense of an adventure slowly crept into him. The ambivalence he felt earlier this morning was slowly going away and more towards an eagerness. After finishing the meal, one of the orphanage staffers came to gather the kids. Escorting them back to their hut, they went into the learning room. Spending half the day of doing academics, Sonic kept getting distracted from wanting to go explore all around him.

"Alright children, I think that is enough tutoring for today," the caretaker commented closing her thin textbook. "You all can go play. If you have been given assignments, make sure to go assist the ones you have been assigned to."

"Yes ma'am," the youngsters replied and started leaving.

"Sonic?"

"Y-yes?" the blue boy responded getting out of his daydreaming.

"I need to talk to you before you leave," she stated. Seeing him get up and walk over to her, she got a small bag that she had on a shelf near her. Kneeling down a little, she saw him looking at her intently. Opening the small knapsack, she pulled out each item and placed them on the floor to show.

"Chief Oberi informed me about your special pass for winning the race yesterday," the caretaker began and looked at the hedgehog with a small smile. "You must be excited today to go and do all the exploring you want for a day."

"Yeah!" Sonic answered brightly and raised both his arms up quickly.

"Hee hee. I can see. Well, let's go over a few things that are in the bag and what instructions I was to pass on to you. Okay?"

"Okay!"

"Here is a map of the area," she informed pointing to the small spread paper that was on the floor. "The outer perimeter for all the villages is outlined in red. Anything inside you can go explore and not outside. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am."

"From now till sunset, you can go wonder to where your feet will take you. Once sunset is seen, you must come back home. That is the curfew that the Chief conditioned as well."

"Okay."

"I put in a few snacks for you as well. In case you are still out there exploring the forest," she stated as she started putting the items back in the backpack. Noticing movement, she looked up at him. Smiling a little, the blue boy's face was eager and excited. So much so that he had little fidget movements with his hands and feet. About to let him go, the caretaker thought of another aspect to put on him.

"Sonic. Do you still have the wristband that was given out to the racers yesterday?"

"Yeah. I have it in my storage chest in the other room. Why?"

"Make sure to go retrieve it and put it on. That way in case you get lost or hurt, we can come find you. You'll do that for me, won't you?"

"..." Sonic responded with a small frown. It was short lived seeing how piercing the woman's stare was.

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. Alright, here you are," she said handing him the bag.

Watching him put it on, he turned around and went to his storage room chest. Opening it and seeing the same color band given to the competitors the day before, she witnessed him putting it around his wrist. Watching him come back to her and showing her, she nodded and smiled. Seeing him exit the building, the worker went to the door frame to watch him. In a matter of a minute of him heading north, she could barely see him.

'Kids these days...growing up so fast,' the caretaker thought with a sigh. Heading back inside, she conducted her next task for the remaining of the children.