Blurry... turn off the lights...
Sonic woke in a bright, tiled room. Not knowing where he ended up, he tries to speak. All that comes out is gibberish, nonsense, then, panicking, he starts thrashing about.
Until a large hand restrains him.
"Sonic, stop! You just broke your ribcage! STOP!"
Who's this red dude? Oh, right!
"Knuckles...?" Sonic struggles to breath, after causing such damage to himself. "I thought you were... fixing the master emerald...?"
Red echidna guy just laughs. "I put that thing back together over two years ago! You've been gone too long, Sonic."
The press is just outside the door, too afraid to enter after one stupid cameraman tried to push Knuckles out to get a scoop, and ended up in the intensive care unit.
And for the next hour, they don't dare enter.
Sonic and Knuckles share their stories over the time they were apart. They laughed, they yelled, they, by which I mean Sonic, cried, and they really just had a blast.
The best fun either had in a long time.
Sonic learned that Shadow is currently a wanted criminal, again. Knuckles married Amy, and they had two children. Speed, and Thumbs... the latter horrified Amy at first, but Knuckles had already made it official. Silver is in an Asylum, being treated for PTSD. He saw 'awful' things to come... ha. Tails is still gone. Even Knuckles, who searched all of the hour he left, found nothing.
But still, a friend still managed to find him...
Knuckles found Sonic in the middle of the road, bleeding out. On his hands and knees, laughing uncontrollably, Sonic was damaged both physically and mentally. The echidna used an ancient magic technique to put Sonic into an unconcious state, so he could be hospitalised.
"I guess retirement hasn't been kind to you."
Sonic shakes his head. "I just wish running was still as easy as one foot in front of the other... I felt young, for those few minutes of acceleration... I felt reborn." He looks down to his legs, both bandaged and bloodied.
"The doctors couldn't save much. Your kneecaps were... powderised. There's... no bone left now..."
Nothing...
He feels his legs, metal bracing holding the inside together. His eyes widen, and tears fall onto his lap.
"So I c-can't run...?"
Sonic has lost his speed, after reckless speed in an attempt to rush to his goals again.
Where his bones were, now consists of surgical steel and silicone. He can't move faster than a human can, and he can't jump.
"Hah..."
But then he stops.
"I refuse to let this stop me... I still have to fix my friendships..."
Sonic spends a month confined to his bed, and a further three in rehabilitation. He learns to move his legs easier, and soon he can walk like any person normally could.
And as soon as he leaves the hospital...
"SONIKKU!!!"
...shit.