A/N: At this point I've been starting to deal with burnout after writing so many Whumptober prompts, so I for one am feeling really glad we're finally getting to the end of this challenge.
This prompt takes place as an alternate ending to the Operation Endgame Saga in Chaos on Earth. Shoutout to LivvyKitty1208 and elprovchico for helping out with this prompt!
Without further ado, let's move on to the reviews and what matters most: the prompt!
6 reviews
Guest
I'm sure that if there are any game modders reading this story, they might be getting ideas XD
Super duper waffles
1. I just recently found out myself that Florida has an Emerald Coast! When Sonic found out that it exists, he had to check it out for himself. While it was a bit different from Mobius' Emerald Coast, he would definitely go back there again.
2. Yes, many of the classic Christmas songs from Earth also exist on Mobius, as well as a few original ones that are not known to Earth.
3. The people of Earth know about Infinite, but not the other villains except for passing references that Sonic and his friends made during some of the interviews.
toantakeri
Sadly, Chris won't be seeing any of the Classic-era friends in this story.
CreativeKitty975
Eggman may be a genius, but even he can't afford to repair the fourth wall after breaking it! XD
I'll make a more detailed announcement when I post tomorrow's prompt, but I'll more than likely go on a short hiatus from writing to recover from Whumptober. It is definitely exhausting after writing so many prompts, and now I can say that I finally got whumping on Chris out of my system for a good long while.
thor94
Yeah, I can see Eggman being a drill sergeant XD
Jenaku
I just felt random and put butter on the monkey bars because why not XD
Fortunately, not all of Chris' pain is physical or mental, but he's definitely gonna sleep good tonight.
Day Thirty: Recovery
Prompts: All four prompts! (Recovery; Hospital bed; Holding back tears; "What have I done?")
Chris felt awful. His throat felt like it was closed up, and there were hives all over his body. It didn't help that he had a persistent feeling of nausea for over two hours.
He was suffering an allergic reaction, a side effect from the roboticizer that Eggman had forced him into. Furthermore, he felt like he was aching all over, like his body had been stiff. It felt strange and painful at the same time.
He wanted to roll over, but the IV needle in his arm didn't allow him too much freedom of movement, so he settled to just lie there on the hospital bed for a while longer. Fortunately, he was in stable condition, so he wasn't worried about dying or anything, as scary as the past few hours were.
As he lay there, he had time to reflect on everything that got him there.
Sonic had been kidnapped by Eggman and held as a hostage aboard the Death Egg, and Knuckles, Amy, and Tails all flew out to rescue him. However, Eggman seemed to want more hostages, so he sent Metal Sonic to capture him and Cream as well. He had been fortunate enough to be placed in a cell next to Sonic, so they escaped together, reunited with their friends, and got Cream out too.
The reunion was short-lived, because Big and the Chaotix, who had all been roboticized, ambushed them and tried to fight them. Chris tried to fight too, but he was immediately captured and taken to the roboticizer, where he was converted into a robot. However, with the help of Shadow and a Chaos Emerald, Chris was changed back, only to realize that he had shot Tails as a robot. His heart broke when he realized that; Tails was one of his closest friends.
The heroes didn't have any time to recover, because they had to thwart Eggman's plan to roboticize the entire country. Tails reverse-engineered the Chaos Roboticizer to de-roboticize Big and the Chaotix, as well as rigged it to explode, and the heroes barely had any time to escape in the X-Tornado. Half of them had to ride outside, which was incredibly dangerous but they didn't have a choice since the Death Egg was exploding.
It was Amy's idea to immediately drop off Tails and Chris at the hospital so they could recover. While it would take some time to get them both set up, Sonic promised they would come back to see them before the end of the day. That was a promise Sonic kept, because later on when the nurse told Chris that he had visitors, he saw Sonic, Knuckles, and Chuck entering the room. They all had varying looks of concern.
"Hey, Chris," Sonic said gently as he approached Chris' bed. "You hanging in there, buddy?"
"I feel awful…" Chris admitted, looking down. "I still shot Tails. Even though I don't remember it, it was still me…"
"Chris, we've been over this, it's not your fault-"
"But…" Chris said, cutting Knuckles off, before he let out a sigh. "I-It is my fault. Because…" There was a hesitant pause as Chris sat there, a swirling mass of abstract emotions in his mind struggling to break free. "I just wanna be a hero…"
The others watched him in concern as Chris grasped his bedsheets, trying his hardest to hold back tears. Sonic was about to speak when Chris continued.
"It's all my fault… If I didn't try to help you fight… then I wouldn't have been turned into a robot, and then I wouldn't have hurt Tails…" His voice was shaking. "And now we're both here in the hospital because of me…"
Chris looked down. He couldn't bring himself to meet the sympathetic gaze he was receiving from his friends. He felt like he was a bug under a microscope. Furthermore, the pains in his stomach were getting worse now that he was full of feelings of regret and uselessness.
"What have I done…" Chris whispered under his breath. His tears were unable to break free because he was still processing everything.
"Hey, Chris," Sonic told him gently but firmly. "You were acting by your instincts, right? You ran forward before your brain could catch up and tell you what you were doing was crazy."
Chris thought for a moment, before slowly nodding. However, he wasn't expecting the grin that Sonic had.
"That's a sign of a true hero right there," Sonic said with a thumbs-up. "Way past cool, Chris!"
"But at the same time, you can't completely ignore common sense," Chuck told him. "Vector is very strong, but I imagine he was even stronger as a robot. Remember what happened when you got the first Chaos Emerald? You almost fell to your death, and we had a long talk after that."
"I know, I know…" Chris said. "It's still my fault, you don't have to rub it in–"
"I didn't say it was your fault," Chuck said, trying to remain gentle. "I'm just asking you to be aware of your surroundings. You know I can't afford to lose you. But like Sonic said, you were acting on your instincts."
"I know, but…" Chris sat up a bit more. "It's still my fault because I should have just stayed back and let you guys fight. And now…" Chris shook his head before looking at Sonic.
"Chris, you have to stop blaming yourself," Sonic told him. "If you keep doing that, then you're gonna have too many regrets in your life. Take it from me, sometimes you can't control your instincts. Whatever happens next, happens next, and then it's all up to you to just roll with it."
Chris was quiet after that. Sonic had told him a lot in those few sentences, and they seemed to devour any self-doubt that was left in him. Sonic had offered a glimpse into how he ran through life, and Chris was sure it could help him too.
Even though he was still dealing with his severe allergic reaction, he found himself feeling better already. In fact, he was sure that Sonic helped him more than he knew. He was ready to forgive himself and apologize to Tails when he saw him next.
"Thank you, Sonic."
A/N: That concludes day 30! And yay, I managed to use all four prompts in a single story!
In hindsight, I probably should have had Knuckles appear more often in this prompt since he was there in the room too, but I couldn't really find the room to do so, so I guess he was just quiet for the most part. Also, Tails almost appeared a few times, but he was recovering in another hospital room. I couldn't find room in the story to explain this either, but Amy, Cream, Vanilla, Ella, and Chuck were visiting Tails in his hospital room at the same time as this prompt.
We're only one day away from finishing Whumptober 2024!
The final theme is "Asking For Help!"
