It was another long afternoon of fighting Eggman's robots, nothing new for the blue hero - even though most days he didn't feel like one anymore. Day after day, night after night, for the past 7 years it was the same scenario which felt like an undesirable chore to him now. For as long as he can remember, all the way from his childhood up to his teens, he's been fighting Eggman or some other villain one way or the other. Initially, Sonic loved fighting his many enemies looking to seek his power or those who wanted to conquer the world, especially during his teens, but after doing it for so long he found himself no longer pulling his punches or kicks when fighting and the light in his eyes gone with each of his attacks holding an emotionless anger, more frustration powered than anything.

Now, Sonic being almost 21 years old, he found himself relying on his friends more than ever. At this point, he considered them his family - those who were there to comfort him whenever he started to doubt his abilities to save others, helping him find his resolve in difficult situations, to confide in when he found his heart drifting away from wanting to fight his enemies, and most importantly those who he found the deepest comfort in, especially when he would get a panic attack which would occur more frequently these days. It was difficult for him to fully open up to all of his friends and allies at first, especially towards Shadow - his biggest rival. For some reason, even though he was so close to his brother Tails and his best friends Amy and Knuckles, he found more comfort being around Shadow even if he would just brood around with a stoic face or tell him to shut up half the time. He was unsure if it was because Shadow was so different from all his other friends in every aspect and would usually remain quiet that he found something comforting about him.

Sonic, oblivious and quick frankly, simpleminded sometimes, doesn't notice this new comfort he found in his rival. He found himself frustrated whenever Shadow wasn't around which made fighting off enemies nothing but an aggravating chore - but of course, him being dull, he doesn't fully realize this. However, he has noticed that he found it very difficult to focus lately - even though he struggled with this already, but it was more difficult now, like if he had 5 seconds of silence he was damn sure his head would explode or he would punch the crap out of something from sheer pent up frustration out of nowhere.

This scared him, usually he could control his uneasiness from silence but now it feels like he can't be left alone with his thoughts for even a second. If he is, he knows his mind will eventually wander off thinking about the past, how happy he used to be without a care in the world, always looking forward to the next fight with his friends by his side. Now, he dreads each fight and finds himself constantly frustrated with having to put up a facade and maintain his hero image for everyone - especially to his closest friends and brother.

Ironic, isn't it. I find the utmost comfort in my closest friends and brother, but I can't bear to bring myself to tell them the truth, how I really feel or how frustrated and angry I am all the time. But how could I, when I don't even fully know why I feel like this…so what's the point of trying? Sonic found himself thinking a similar thought to this more often than not, usually pulling his focus away when he needed it most, especially at times like this when he was in the middle of dealing with another one of Eggman's stupid raids. Oh, how he hated his guts more than ever now.

"-nic…onic…Sonic!"

Sonic could hear someone screaming his name in the back of his mind, his eyes were open, but he felt like his eyes weren't processing his environment, forgetting the situation he was just in. What was he just doing, where was he, who's yelling his name? Too lost in thought, his mind and body felt numb and lifeless, until he was quickly snapped back to reality at a metal fist connecting to the right side of his cheek making him fall backwards on his back. Darn, that is going to hurt in the morning.

With his pain receptors now seeming like they rebooted and are back online, his body quickly snapped out of his numb trance, almost like his consciousness was out of his body the whole time unable to make any movement, as his eyes started to now take in his surroundings again. He had to remind himself where he was, what was happening right before he fazed out…

"Sonic, to your left!" The same familiar voice yelled at him again from a distance.

Oh right, Sonic looked up to find the source of who was yelling his name just before he took an uninviting metal fist to the cheek. He looked up to see his brother, Tails flying in the air dodging lasers being shot at him as he was shooting down electric blasts from an electromagnetic gun of his invention.

Sonic rubbed his cheek that started to swell a bit and was throbbing from the cold metal fist that just so happened to find its way to his face since he fazed out of reality again, lost in his own thoughts. Dammit, this shit needs to stop happening. As he tried to ease the pain from his cheek, he looked to his left, finding a new wave of robots coming at him at an alarming speed. Ignoring the pain, he quickly got back up into his fighting stance ready to deal with these stupid junks of metal controlled by Eggman.

"How many more of these robots are there?!" He yelled back to Tails as he took his first few punches at a couple bots swiftly dodging each of their attacks before quickly spin dashing in a straight line to take multiple down at once.

"I'm not sure - " Tails dove down at a steep angle before quickly coming up just before he hit the ground swerving left and right avoiding attacks from multiple charging robots while shooting at them "probably another couple hundred comparing the results of our last battle with him!" He yelled back to Sonic before shooting the 3 bots approaching him from behind since Sonic was busy with the 10 bots coming at full speed from in front of him.

Ugh, what another "glorious" day of being Sonic the hedgehog. I hope Shadow shows up…so then I can get the hell out of this piss-stain excuse of a raid and run far away from here.