Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sonic roamed the crowded riverside streets of Giganima, a grimy, poor, yet tight-knit historic town in the eastern country of the Iron Dominion. It was about 11 at night on a winter day, but every shop was still open. As Sonic walked past the windows, the foggy frigid midnight seemed to disappear for but a fleeting second. Sonic eventually stopped at one of these windows to warm up. He bathed himself in the tangerine-colored light and covered himself with his cloak. He unintentionally whiffed the salty smells of raw and cooked seafood alike. Sonic put his arms through the rings of the many heavy bags he held, breathing into his hands to remain warm. He was surrounded by many other citizens of Giganima stopping to do the same. He then continued on through the bronze-speckled streets without a word to any of them.

As Sonic crossed the red-plank bridge connecting two blocks of artificial land above the unbelievably deep and green rivers that ran across the entirety of the Iron Dominion, he waved at a man braver than himself, a man who could float atop the Kazukoro River in a tiny wasen and meet the water’s cold, unending depth with only the blankest of stares. A local fisherman cat who Sonic never really knew the name of. Though the cat didn’t notice Sonic, Sonic heard a ribbit from under the big purple cat’s rice hat. A little green frog peeked out from it, big yellow eyes looking up at Sonic as he stared back. But soon, it tucked itself away under the cat’s hat as the two continued their fishing adventure in the misty town’s dark rivers.

Sonic then ran, the wind whistling in his ears louder and higher-pitched than before. He ran down the barren streets of the Giganima outskirts with nobody to block his way home out in the desolate suburbs. He only went to this town to get food and supplies when necessary to survive. Perhaps he could buy a worn-down book in a language he could hardly read or old VHS he couldn’t understand if he was really lucky. Because he did not live there. He could not even afford to live in one of the poorest cities in all of the Iron Dominion. He was not a part of this warm, family-like community.

Sonic didn’t speak their language, he couldn’t enjoy their traditional foods, he did not know of their customs. He was reluctantly terrified of the lot of them, because his whole life, he had known nothing of these people except for the demonized caricatures shown in his homeland’s media. He had done nothing but hurt these people in the past, on the battlefield and unwittingly in the comfort of his old home. He could hardly face them for these reasons, and he felt he was undeserving of them, because they had only ever treated him with kindness. So Sonic merely turned away from it all, because it hurt so much to be cared for even just a little bit.

It had been a good few months since Sonic had left the Robotnik Empire for good. Never to turn back on that life that had left him battered and scarred. However, for all that he hated that life and the restrictions that came with it, he had to admit that he had it good. He had a palace, he had video games and servants and the most cutting edge technologies at arm’s length. He was wealthy back then. But he had screwed all that up. And there was no going back now.

No longer did he have any of those things. He lived a humble little life in a small run-down minka. It had taken him a while to learn these foreign words by heart, but minka was a kind of house. The ones with sliding doors and the such. Wasen was a type of traditional boat. And finally, he remembered that he did in fact know the cat’s name. It was… hmmm… Big. Big the Cat. How could he have forgotten that?

“Tails,” Sonic said, pounding at the door in the harsh nuclear winter-born tundra just outside the spot where the city lights grew distant on nights like these. A realm on the edge of society where houses gave way to trees and people gave way to… well, nothing. At least the stars were completely visible with little to no light pollution. “Tails, let me in!” Sonic cried desperately, feeling his feet go numb in the calf-height fallout snow. A thought crossed his mind to invest in pants. But he quickly shook the thought. The cold must have really been getting to him.

Tails often locked the doors at night, even while Sonic was still outside. Tails was always anxious that somehow, Swatbots would come pounding at their door. Even though he knew there was little to no chance of his old life catching up to him. He still worried. And he worried until he drove himself into physical illness. Or maybe it was just the toxins in the air, or the unbelievably cold weather as of late.

“Tails, I have your medicine,” Sonic said, nearly at his emotional stability’s end. Tails must have been asleep. Sonic pounded on the door again. Louder this time. And then heard Tails walk to the entrance all wobbly. Sonic heard him unlock and then open the door. Neither of them spoke, because they were both exhausted. Sonic just offered the medicine up to Tails, who took it and swallowed the disgusting liquid formula. Tails’ face scrunched up bitterly, but that soon subsided. He wobbled back over to his cot. Sonic walked inside and placed the bags on the ground. The two sat in silence for what felt like hours.

“Thanks for looking out for me, Sonic,” Tails yawned. “I know it’s only temporary, but each day I feel like I’m gonna die.” Tails coughed and hacked. Sonic patted him on the back. Tails wiped the saliva from his lip with his glove.

“It’s okay, Tails,” Sonic replied. He readjusted his showy golden mask. “Hey, I managed to get my hands on this old movie. Wanna give it a watch?” Tails had already fallen asleep while Sonic wasn’t looking. Sonic sighed, and looked at the floor. This was supposed to be good, this was supposed to be a happy ending. Why wasn’t it a happy ending?

He had given his all to get there, but in the end, this place was no different from the Robotnik Empire. No matter how fast and how far Sonic ran, he couldn’t outrun the crushing reality of strict laws, corrupt governments, and moreover, the pains of his past.

He inserted the VHS into the player, and watched as the black and white movie began to crackle to life. Words sizzled into existence up on the tiny little vintage TV. Sonic groaned. There was no sticker or any kind of label on the VHS, so he had no idea this could have been some kind of sing-a-long tape for little kids. What a waste of money.

Sonic listened to the drowned-out, fuzzy lyrics. As mentioned before, he couldn’t understand the Iron Dominion’s language, but sometimes they would switch to English. Even then, the lyrics were nonsensical. They said something like “Go-go Little Planet, o’er our Never Lake, February once a year, go-go for journey sake!” Everything except for that was in Japanese. Sonic didn’t know what a little planet was. Or a never lake. Maybe it was just an old myth.

But something about it intrigued Sonic. He instantly jumped off of his cot, and scrambled over to his map of the Iron Dominion. From what Sonic could gather, this tape told of another planet that appeared over a lake. Judging by the wording, the lake was in the Iron Dominion. He may have been going crazy, taking the words of ancient nursery rhymes as possible truth. But if his last adventure involved him getting tangled up in an ancient prophecy, going to space, and using seven gems of infinite power to become a super version of himself… anything was possible.

If there was indeed another planet, maybe he and Tails could leave Erius altogether and live there! There was no good to be found here, no place that was safe from totalitarian dictators further ruining life for those less fortunate than them. It wasn’t even a decision Sonic had to think twice about. It was like a dream come true. Maybe it was just a dream, in the sense of being an unachievable goal. But Sonic didn’t ever base his beliefs in reality or odds. Only his own gut feeling.

The Iron Dominion was a small country. So as Sonic made his third hasty scan of the entire map, he pinpointed it. Never Lake, just on the edge of the valley known as Palace Garden. Sonic smirked. Now he knew that even if there was no such thing as Little Planet, he had to at least take a shot. It was February, just when the planet was said to appear over Never Lake. But it wouldn’t be there for long, because the next day would be the last chance for Sonic to catch Little Planet before it disappeared until next year. March was approaching.

There was only one thing wrong with his plan, and he realized this quickly. Palace Garden was the fortress of the Iron Queen, the ruler of the Iron Dominion. Sonic and the Iron Queen weren’t exactly best friends. So if he got caught, he knew it wouldn’t end well.

Sonic knew it was way too late for him to function anymore, much less in such an escapade as breaking into the castle grounds. So he would have to do this in the morning. Until then, he would rest easy. Knowing it could very well be his last night on Erius.

The sun rose over the horizon. Bathing the frigid wastelands surrounding Palace Garden in a bright morning light. Then, a blue blur came blasting through the war-torn castle grounds from over the surrounding cascades. He burst through the storm of cherry blossoms, clearing a tunnel of sorts throughout the haze so Tails could follow.

Sonic scampered through the snowy glen, so fast that his footprints could hardly be seen in the snow. He spun around the sacred royal castle, with no regard for the cold mud he tracked onto the squeaky clean walls. “Sonic! Be careful!” Tails cried throughout coughs and sneezes. “If someone spots us, we’re as good as dead!”

Sonic paid no mind to this. Because he knew throughout all the trouble they were causing, he and Tails would be just fine. Sonic reached the peak of the castle, and looked forward. He could see it clear as day. All of his theories were confirmed right then. Little Planet existed, and it resided just over the Never Lake. But something was wrong. Attached to Little Planet was a large chain that shackled it to a nearby mountain.

“What is that thing?!” Tails asked, shocked by the sight of not only Little Planet, but the chain attaching it to Erius. He thought Little Planet was something Sonic made up. The only reason Tails had followed him was to make sure Sonic would be okay. He had been acting completely erratic as soon as he woke up. Rambling on about something he heard in a nursery rhyme, and a ticket off of Erius forever. It was as if Sonic had a wild dream, and then haphazardly explained it all to Tails in a frenzy. He then packed his bags, told Tails to follow him, and ran out the door. It had been twenty minutes since then, and they had run roughly 1,200 miles at a relatively steady pace.

Sonic looked at the planet intently, then grinned. He jumped off the castle, rolled down, and shot off into the distance with a sonic boom that shook the surrounding area. Tails covered his ears from the unbelievably loud sound. Sonic flew off into the sky, and landed on the chain. Only to run right up, and towards Little Planet. Tails sighed. He already heard guards shouting at him to get down, probably so that they could kill him. So he jumped, and flew off into the sky after Sonic.

Chapter Text

Sonic ran through the spectacular multi-colored Little Planet plains. It was almost like winter had gone away completely in this isolated place beyond the clouds. He breathed in the salty ocean air as he tread the green grass. It was a strange feeling, because it had been so long since he had the opportunity to experience such a lush and pure environment such as this. This place, it was almost exactly like the place he had been born. Before all the pollution killing the plant life… before the bombing. Sonic stopped in place, and watched the ocean waves splash up onto the nearby beach. He gazed into the distance, at the mountains and sparkly water.

This really was just like home.

“Sonic, you all good?” Tails asked. Sonic snapped out of his thought. “You just stopped out of nowhere.” 

“Oh yeah, I’m fine,” Sonic replied. “Just taking in the view.”

“Yeah,” Tails marveled at the scenery. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Tails had been born in Station Square only a few years after Sonic had in Green Hill. But by that time, most forests and plains in the Robotnik Empire had already been destroyed. Tails had never achieved the ranks necessary to go on overseas gigs like Sonic had every now and again. So this was understandable.

“Well, I hope you like it,” Sonic said, throwing his arms out to the side and closing his eyes, at complete and total peace. “This is our new home!” Tails smiled.

“You’re insane,” Tails half-joked. “It’s been all over the place with you, lately.” They only really went to the Iron Dominion at all because it was the closest neighboring country. But that had brought them nothing but hardship. Usually, Tails would be more apprehensive about these sorts of things… but along with being practically numb to moving around after the first time, this was such a wondrous experience that he set aside all forms of hesitation or reason. He was simply amazed that a place like this could even exist. Who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to live on their very own secluded planetoid? “The only problem is that giant chain. If we don’t get rid of it, Little Planet will never be able to leave Erius’ atmosphere. Also, don’t you think the Iron Dominion’s soldiers will be coming for us eventually?”

“Not quite the soldiers---” a loud and pompous female voice said from their left. Sonic looked to the voice, and dodged out of the way on instinct. He was fine, but someone had nailed his cloak to a palm tree with some kind of spear in one heart-stopping motion. Sonic looked up at the person holding the spear, and saw no eyes. Only black shades staring back at him. Connected to an iron helmet of some kind. “Try the queen herself!” Great. The Iron Queen.

Tails immediately readied himself for action. He jumped at the Iron Queen to counterattack, but she merely kicked him away. “Sorry, commoners, this is a restricted area!” She exclaimed boisterously as Tails went spinning in the other direction without even looking. He collided with a rock and was left both dizzied and whiplashed. “That means… uh… nobody allowed. Right. Heheh…”

She shoved the spear deeper into the palm tree. “And as for you!” The Iron Queen effused, as she stared down upon Sonic. Sonic stared back up in bewildered intimidation. The Iron Queen twisted the spear around. “Say your last prayers. For I, the Iron Queen, will slay you where you stand!” The spear crackled with electricity.

Sonic quickly departed with his cloak, revved up a Spin Dash, and blasted away right when the Iron Queen slashed at the air. There was a second where nothing happened, but then, the top half of the palm tree slowly slid off the bottom half. And Sonic’s cloak was slashed into a thousand little pieces.

Sonic circled around to stop the top half of the tree from falling on Tails. He jumped into the tree and diced it, all the segments falling around Tails. Tails snapped out of the dizzied state he was in, and looked all around. “Aah!” He screamed as the Iron Queen nearly impaled him. But Sonic swept by and grabbed him.

“She’s insane…” Sonic whispered, making his escape. He then smiled. “I kinda like it!”

“Sonic, now’s not the time for that!” Tails whined. “Why do you always get me into these situations?!” Sonic ran up a giant ramp that rocketed him up into the sky.

“Come baaaack!” The Iron Queen beckoned, running after them.

“What? No way! She’s keeping up with you?!” Tails asked. He looked back at the Iron Queen, who was running just a few feet away from Sonic.

“Her legs do look rather strong…” Sonic stated, stopping suddenly to let the Iron Queen catch up.

“Agh! No, stop it! You’re so weird!” Tails whined, shuddering as he switched to flight formation, and took off into the sky with the reluctant Sonic in tow. The Iron Queen merely looked towards them dumbfoundedly.

“The fox flies… of COURSE the fox flies,” she sighed, looking to the ground. She growled, and prepared a mighty throw of her spear. She then tossed it into the air with a ferocious scream and a glint at the tip of the spear. It narrowly missed Tails. And then it fell right into Little Planet’s ocean. “Wait, no! That’s not waterproof!” The Iron Queen screamed, running and then swimming after her spear. As soon as she touched it, she was zapped a little. “Grraahh… I’ll make you pay for this, you unlawful pigs… just you wait.” She grumbled, rubbing her frivolous but momentarily painful burn.

Chapter Text

Sonic and Tails continued on through the plains, thinking of a solution to the problem keeping them chained down while being on the run from the Iron Queen. Sonic stopped suddenly, observing a timeworn greenstone statue of some kind of female Erian hedgehog (in more familiar terms, a humanoid hedgehog from Erius. For example, one like Sonic). The statue had angel wings and was surrounded by flowers. “What are you looking at?” Tails asked, walking back. It wasn’t often he went ahead of Sonic, but it certainly felt wrong whenever he did. “We’ve seen statues just like that one at least 5 times now. They must have been put here by the Iron Dominion.”

“I know… but…” Sonic replied, eyes locked on the statue. “Such craftsmanship! Such beauty! The arts have truly blessed us with the power to create with our own two hands that which cannot be replicated in the biological form due to the cruel laws of reality. My patience has grown thin… and now I must bathe in this piece’s beauty!” He said this in such a deep and toned voice that Tails wouldn’t even guess it was Sonic talking if he wasn’t watching the words spill out from his mouth. It sounded more like a character from one of Sonic’s favorite video games than Sonic himself, but for the life of Tails, he couldn’t remember the character’s name.

“Are you just saying that because it’s practically a nude sculpture?” Tails asked bluntly. Tails was never against artistic nudity, but Sonic didn’t appear to get the… exact point of the sculpture…

“Uh, no!” Sonic exclaimed, voice returning back to normal gradually halfway through the sentence as he snapped out of it. He looked away from the statue. “I just think it’s neat.” Sonic adjusted his mask, coughing a little. “Anyways, let’s keep going. The Iron Queen could be here any second.”

Sonic and Tails turned around, and resumed their run. Just as they did, the hedgehog statue disappeared into a bright light. It soon reappeared just in front of Sonic, while he was busy taking in the sights around him. Sonic smacked right into the statue, tipping it over. “Ow!” He shouted, holding his nose, as it was the first thing to hit the greenstone. 

“What? That wasn’t there before,” Tails stated. “Could it have… moved?” Tails stepped forward to examine the fallen statue.

“Owwww…” a girl said. Her voice was sing-songy, and sounded almost synthetic. It echoed on for a while, almost like it was an angel speaking down to them from Heaven. Sonic and Tails could not pinpoint where the voice was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from all around. “Owwwieeee… it hurts. :((… Aaaaa… (×﹏×). ”

“Who’s there?” Tails asked. “And why are you sounding out emoticons? It’s not, how do I say this… correct...” The voice didn’t sound anything like the Iron Queen, but it could’ve been one of her robotic soldiers judging by the electronic voice.

“Mee??? (((＞＜))),” The voice asked. “You hit me… I am statueeee.”

“The statue?!” Sonic exclaimed, looking back at the tipped-over hedgehog sculpture. Tails looked completely weirded out. Sonic approached the statue, which was lying in the grass. The voice was now spitting out random characters and symbols, but the statue’s mouth wasn’t moving.

“Help me-e~!” The statue sang desperately.

“It’s okay! I’ll help you up, ma’am!” Sonic scrambled to lift the statue back onto its feet. It was heavy, but eventually Sonic lifted it upright. It wobbled for a second, but eventually found its footing. Talking to anyone but Tails was nerve-wracking and mentally exhausting to him, but Tails didn’t have the strength to lift the statue. So it had to be Sonic to save the situation.

“Thank youuuu~ ( ´ ▽ `)! ” The statue cried chipperly. “But… ＼(〇_ｏ)／ that is not what I meant!”

“What DID you mean then?” Tails asked, irked by the situation.

“You see… I am… guardian of Little Planet!” The statue cried. “I am Amy! Of the Roses 米＾－＾米! But you call me Amy! Despite being the last guardian, I will fail my duties in the near future, (￢_￢;). That is to say, there is a bad man who has snuck onto the planet. He is killing my pretty flowers and building factories where there once were forests and fields. I… haaaaa~! Hate him! (◣_◢). Please help me eradicate his entire life. UWO.”

“Come again?” Sonic asked.

“That sounds an awful lot like Robotnik,” Tails whispered, in sudden fear. He turned to this Amy of the Roses character, and cleared his throat. “Okay, Amy… Can you describe this ‘bad man’?”

“Oh my… he has a big ugly brownish orangish mustache, (─.─||)” Amy said. “He has a red suit, metallic arm, and no head hair. He is flying, in a strange eggshell-shaped device  (⊃◜⌓◝⊂).” Tails’ blood ran cold.

“Sonic, we need to get out of here…” Tails hissed, wide-eyed. “Quick, before Robotnik finds us!” Tails suddenly felt a cold feeling wash over him as soon as he began to run back towards the chain to Erius. It was like the sun had been blocked out. A dark shadow was then cast over them.

Sonic turned around, to see a large, dark metallic airship in the distance. Not quite like the Sky Base they had hijacked and come to the Iron Dominion on. Not even close to a Flying Battery. It was way too large. And it didn’t seem to be carpet bombing anything, as much as it was somehow coating it in a layer of metal and drab colors with some kind of widespread laser. Sonic could see as the flower field they were in began to turn to a browned, smoggy and polluted wasteland. The grass died, the flowers withered instantly when the faint green glow touched them. The only safe havens were the patches of grass under the now spider-like mechanical palmtrees.

“What is that?” Tails asked, stepping back from the decaying patch of ground he had been standing on just seconds prior. “Everything’s dying…”

“It is him! The bad man!” Amy cried fearfully.

"You gotta have some sort of power if you're the last remaining guardian, right? Do something!" Sonic exclaimed.

“Errmmm… ahhhhh… (*´ｪ｀*)...” Amy sighed. A sparkle came from her hand, and something dropped from it. A seed. It landed on the ground, and it turned into some kind of fully-grown pink flower instantaneously. “I did iiiiit! (*≧∀≦*)!” When the laser touched the flower, it withered just like the others. “Ohhhh… o(╥﹏╥)o...”

“Amy! Get out of there!” Sonic cried in concern. He ran forward, grabbed Amy, and ran forward with her just as the laser touched where she was before.

“Aaaa, Sonikkuuuu~! 0///0!” Amy screamed in a gushy way. Sonic realized where he was holding Amy. 

“Oh! Uh… is this a problem?” Sonic asked, suddenly embarrassed. He kept running despite this.

“No… thank you for saving me~! (＾ω＾)!” Amy exclaimed enthusiastically, almost like she was unaware of the danger they were probably in. “But you are touching my legs. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).”

“Sonic! In here! The laser won’t touch us if we’re under cover!” Tails cried. He had found some kind of cave entrance. Sonic hopped in, and set Amy down sideways as he ducked for cover. Sure enough, as the disgusting green hue flew overhead, they were fine. Only the plantlife above them was extinguished. Soon, the airship had passed. It then made a u-turn, presumably to metallify what remained of the once lush green zone. Sonic and Tails emerged from the cave, Sonic dragging Amy along by her base.

“That must have been the bad man…” Amy stated sadly as the three watched the airship metallify the distant mountains. Even the water was turning into oil as the airship hovered over the ocean’s surface.

“Well, we can take him. I have a good feeling about this after last time,” Sonic grumbled. “But it’s gonna be a hassle! Damn that Robotnik, always ruining everything!” Sonic felt he wasn’t truly grasping the weight of the situation. Like he was somehow detached from what was happening through some sort of defense mechanism. Robotnik was back, it would appear he was lying about reforming himself after all. According to Amy, he had a new robotic arm likely for the one Tails sliced off. Meaning he was going to be a threat to them once more without that glaring weak spot. “Amy--- walk and talk? Let Tails and I explain what we’re all about!”

“Yes!” Amy exclaimed. Sonic instantly took off into the wasteland, with Tails in tow and Amy in hand.

Chapter Text

"Is it just me, or does everything look a little…" Sonic stopped in place. "... Chaotic?" The last zone they were in, which Sonic had affectionately called Palmtree Panic, was fairly normal. It was essentially just a more colorful and flashy version of somewhere you would see on Erius before most governments became corrupt. But this place… it was a clashing bizarrerie of flashing lights, otherworldly plants, and surreal attributes. Like… a neon purple-orange ocean that looped around into the sky? "Who even built all these neon signs and pinball parts?" Sonic asked. "I know there's weird alien animals and stuff here, but none of them look like they coulda created this." Sonic looked to Amy.

"Nobody created this," Amy replied. "All structures on Little Planet are just here. Plant-grown. (=^=)."

"Could you find another way to… emote?" Tails asked. "The emoticons are getting stale," Tails hissed. "And no offense, but you sound like an 11 year old."

"I'm much older than you -_-," Amy replied. "And I do not have face muscles. I am a statue, remember? This is how I share my feelings." Unbeknownst to the half-arguing group, someone was sneaking up from behind them quickly.

A blue blur blasted forward and snatched Amy with a quick squeak of surprise from the hedgehog statue. Sonic and Tails jumped back. "What was that?!" Tails shouted. He looked to Sonic, but the blue hedgehog was just as confused as he was.

The following words flashed in front of Sonic's face. "Did you miss me?" When Sonic tried to blink, they were still there. Eventually, they vanished, and the blue blur in front of them dissipated. It was Metal Sonic. He was holding Amy, and it looked like he had gotten a new paint job as well. He now had roughly the exact same color scheme as Sonic, save for his piercing red eyes.

"Oh, great, it's you again!" Sonic groaned. He tried to jump, but couldn't reach Metal no matter how many times he tried. "This isn't working. Tails, fly!" Sonic instructed. Tails flew by and caught Sonic. Metal Sonic took off into the distance. "What could Metal want Amy for?" Sonic whispered to Tails. Tails glanced down at him.

"Probably has something to do with her being the 'guardian of Little Planet'?" Tails replied. "You just know Robotnik wants to take her out of the picture."

"True! Or maybe that statue is worth a lot of money somewhere!" Sonic exclaimed, as Tails flew through oncoming obstacles to try and catch up with Metal. "Funding all those factories must be hard on the wallet."

Tails caught up to Metal. But at the same time, he began to unwillingly dip below Metal from exhaustion. "I'll take it from here, Tails!" Sonic exclaimed. He jumped from Tails, who floated down to the ground tiredly.

Sonic jumped over to Metal, who slowed suddenly. Sonic thought he had a chance to steal Amy back, but Metal suddenly charged something up. He opened an electric field around him, and Sonic was electrocuted. He fell to the ground, luckily not from a high enough distance to cause injury. Sonic landed on his face. And then looked up towards Metal, who was making his grand escape after getting what he went there for. Sonic could hardly even walk, let alone run after Metal.

Tails ran up to Sonic. "Are you okay?!" Tails asked. He helped Sonic up.

Sonic groaned painfully. "Yeah, I'll be okay. But what about Amy?"

"She can disappear from one place and reappear another," Tails replied. "She'll be fine."

"Then why isn't she coming back?" Sonic asked.

Tails paused. "That's a very good question," he sighed.

Chapter Text

Sonic and Tails trekked through the newly-named Collision Chaos, named for its colliding themes and chaotic nature. On their newfound quest to catch up to Metal and save Amy, they found many different robots patrolling the area. These robots had very strange designs, as well. They didn’t look exactly like anything Sonic had seen from the Robotnik Empire or Iron Dominion. They almost looked like mish-mashes of the two design types. The creativity and colors of Robotnik’s Badniks, mixed with the experimental daringness and practicality of the Iron Dominion’s mechs. This unusual concoction mixed together meant sleek paint and dangerous weapons on the oddly bug-themed “Badmechs”.

“Nice!” Sonic celebrated as he and Tails stood in a heap of busted Badmech parts. The pain from the electric shock had been gone for quite a while by then, but it had impeded their progress quite a bit. “Hey, Tails, why do these Badmechs all look like bugs? Seems kind of random.”

“I don’t know, maybe Robotnik just made a weird choice,” Tails replied, examining a busted butterfly Badmech. He suddenly saw a gentle light and felt a cozy warmth coming from above him. He and Sonic looked up to the upside-down ocean in the night sky. It was glowing.

Multi-colored flashing lights then descended from the water’s surface. They appeared like a swarm of fireflies.

“Whoa…” Sonic and Tails gasped in unison, in complete awe at this sight that was probably only possible on Little Planet.

“Where do you think they’re goin’?” Sonic asked, the light reflecting in his eyes.

“No idea, this place is so weird,” Tails replied. It was like a meteor shower. The alien fireflies made angelic wispy sounds as their light became nearly indistinguishable from the stars. The sounds must have been loud, because even from such a distance they could just about be heard in Sonic and Tails’ ears. “Either it’s some kind of alien ritual, or…” Tails’ voice trailed off. Sonic became concerned by the frightened look in Tails’ eyes.

“Or?” Sonic asked. Tails’ fear was concerning.

“They’re migrating…” Tails whispered, turning to Sonic. “There must be some threat in this area that they’re running away from.”

Many of the lights extinguished almost all at once. Sonic stared at the now pitch black patch of the sky, as two flying pods shot lasers out at the darkness. “Robotnik…” Sonic muttered.

The pods continued to shoot at the giant alien fireflies. “Eugh! Can we go home, already?” Iron Queen whined from within her pods. “There’s too many of these things, Ivo! And… they’re gross.” Iron Queen screamed as she zapped one and its bright green alien bug blood almost splashed on her. The firefly let out a dying screech that almost sounded like a singing choir as its blood ran down Iron Queen’s windshield. She stuck out her tongue in disgust.

“No, Regina, we can’t allow any of these THINGS to pollinate the flowers of Little Planet,” Robotnik grumbled. “I don’t enjoy tedious busywork like this either, but I’m always happy to crush a foe.” Robotnik zapped a firefly, and its blood splashed on his face. He let it do so with a scowl.

“What’s so bad about letting these things pollinate the flowers?” Iron Queen asked, taking a rag and wiping the green sludge off her windshield, to small success. “I love machines as much as you do, but nature is pretty!”

“What’s so ‘pretty’ about nature?” Robotnik asked, looking to Iron Queen in ire. “That’s how I know you’re new at this. You still find beauty in grimy animals, filthy plants, and anything Erius has to offer at its base. What about NATURAL DISASTERS? Those can wipe out an empire in a day. The need for natural sustenance... blood, germs, bodily functions… It’s all disgusting! I’ve even begun transforming myself into a clean and flawless robot, after that rebellious fox sliced off my arm alongside that ungrateful hedgehog.” Robotnik held up and gripped the fist attached to his mechanical arm.

“Sonic and Tails aren’t that bad,” Iron Queen replied. “They’re kinda fun to have around, even if they do track mud on the castle… don’t follow many federal laws… and break into government-owned planetoids. I tried to kill them, sure, but that was just to enforce the rules.”

“Shut your mouth!” Robotnik growled. “Do you hear… a helicopter?”

“Hey, be nice to me! Don’t forget, I’m still the legal owner of this planet. It’s not only hovering over my country, it’s directly over my royal turf!” Iron Queen whined loudly. Robotnik struggled to filter out her voice to listen to the peculiar helicopter sound, looking all around for the source of the noise. “You’re a guest here to help me coat this place in an iron shell. So stop bad-mouthing my citizens, and know your---!” 

Tails slowly flew up between the Rob-O-Matic and the Iron Queen’s pod, the Dominator. Sonic was dangling from Tails’ hands. “Tails, our entrance was supposed to be cool…” Sonic sighed. Robotnik was shocked, and the Iron Queen broke out laughing. “Didja miss me, Robotnik?” Sonic asked awkwardly. Robotnik remained quiet. “No? Okay. Feeling’s mutual.”

“What are you doing here?!” Robotnik suddenly roared furiously. “Are you here to ruin my plans again, Sonic?!” Sonic nodded with a mocking expression, laughing through his nose. Robotnik’s mustache ruffled itself. “Fine! If you want to come crawling back, I’ll finally have the chance to destroy you once and for all!”

Tails spun Sonic around and threw him in ball form directly at the Rob-O-Matic, as Tails curled into his own little ball and propelled himself into the Dominator. The two pods shook and sputtered. The Iron Queen nearly fell off the Dominator, but caught onto the leather seat cushion. The two dictators screamed, as they began to fly their pods away.

“Forget what I said about Sonic and Tails---!” The Iron Queen growled.

“Agh! I’m not putting up with them like this---!” Robotnik grumbled at the same time.

“I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!” They both shouted.

Sonic grabbed onto Tails’ hands as the two lowered to the ground, laughing. The fireflies surrounded and danced around them happily, their lights flashing blue and orange to match Sonic and Tails’ most prominent colors.

Sonic and Tails set foot on the ground, and high-fived. “These guys seem happy now that Robotnik and the Iron Queen are gone. Never would have expected them to be working together, so they must be working on something extra evil! Quick, let’s go after them, they’re likely going where Metal Sonic is. And that means Amy!” Tails exclaimed. The fireflies departed and began to pollinate the surrounding flora as Sonic and Tails sped off into the nearby volcanic region of Little Planet. A new flower sprouted as they left. However, a certain destructive airship was slowly yet surely making its way to their newly-found haven.

Chapter Text

Sonic and Tails slid down a steep depression in the ground, with aquamarine and roots sticking through the temple walls and floor. “Let’s not get caught up in any weird prophecies this time, alright?” Sonic groaned, thinking back to the Labyrinth zone back on South Island. “This place is giving me bad vibes, let’s get in, get out.”

“Agreed,” Tails replied, floating down into the broken down temple in the midst of a volcanic cascade. “I know Amy said all this stuff was made from plants, but… I refuse to believe this is naturally formed.” Tails passively studied the chiseled stone bricks. They depicted what vaguely looked like flowers, gobbling up some rounded object.

“Don’t you know what they can make from plants?” Sonic asked, shuddering from the thought as he skated around a jagged rock on his way down the slide. “Once I ate a chili dog, and didn’t even find out it was completely vegan until I had a quarter of it left. It killed my wallet AND my stomach.” Sonic replied. “Yet another one of the lies FED to us by the Robotnik Empire.”

“Pretty sure that’s everywhere, Sonic,” Tails replied.

“... Oh.”

Sonic began to run as soon as he reached the bottom of the slide. But just as soon as he started, he fell through a hole and plunged right into a deep dark hot spring. Now, there were two things wrong with this. Sonic was afraid of water, and because of this, Sonic couldn’t swim.

Sonic frantically paddled his arms and legs in a panicked hope to swim upwards, but nothing came of this. He looked down, and though he couldn’t see the bottom of the hot spring, he could see a translucent yellow pipe of some kind. He was instantly sucked into it and blasted through the watery interior.

As Sonic spun through the pipe, he marveled at an alien underwater forest of some kind. How any of it could thrive in that place was a mystery to the still panicked Sonic. The fruits on the titan-sized acacia-like trees glowed like lanterns, lighting up the area. Aside from all the beauty of the forest this revealed, all the colors and sights of otherworldly plants, this also showed something… not beautiful. 

There was a blue whale-sized alien creature resembling a sunfish swimming through the greenhouse abyss, making noises like a choir as it passed by the pipe. Even “blue whale-sized” might have been an understatement. The thing was huge. But pursuing the gentle giant was the littlest sunflower attached to an abnormally long vine. Sonic could only watch from a distance as the flower tangled itself all around the panicked sunfish, and then crushed it. The sunflower then turned to Sonic.

The sunflower shot forward to do the same to Sonic, but was blocked by the pipe as it slammed right into the nearly unseeable obstacle with a loud drowned-out THUMP. The sunflower shook its head, and then floated back to the sunfish, swimming like a live eel.

Sonic was so distracted by what he had just seen, that he was startled by the pipe suddenly curving upwards. He was spat out of the pipe, and tumbled onto the puddle-ridden stone floor. Sonic got up, and thought over what he witnessed in that hot spring. Sunflowers aren’t supposed to do that. PLANTS are not under any circumstances supposed to do that.

“Sonic! Are you okay?” Tails asked, flying over to Sonic from around the corner on the left. Sonic looked to Tails.

“I think so,” Sonic replied. “What about you?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Tails sighed. “C’mon, let’s keep following Robotnik and Iron Queen.” Tails walked forward, but then, something drilled out from the ground loudly. It looked like the tip of a beanstalk. “Eek!” Tails jumped back, and Sonic stood his ground, ready for whatever might happen next.

The beanstalk began to… unravel. Unwrapping like a bandage from a newly healed wound. This continued until a figure was revealed within the beanstalk. She had dark purple hair, almost black, appearing like a flower of some kind in shape. She almost looked human, like Robotnik or Iron Queen.

“Hello, animals,” the purple haired girl mumbled, a kind smile on her face as she opened her eyes and stared at Sonic warmly. Sonic and Tails looked to each other, then back at her uncomfortably. “I am Vista the Carnation. Thank you for coming to my planet.”

“Your planet?” Sonic asked. He had no idea carnations could be so… humanoid. “You live here?”

“Why yes, I do,” Vista replied, walking closer. Sonic felt dread crawling around in his chest area with every step she took. His mind told him to run, his heart told him to run, yet his legs stood still. “I live here amongst the flowers, the grass, the seeds. I am known to them as the Cultivator. I make them grow, and provide them nourishment.”

“So, what gives? Why are you even talking to us?” Tails asked. “We kind of have somewhere to go.”

“No you don’t,” Vista stated soothingly. “You are not to move.” Vista held up her hand, and buttercup flowers surrounded Sonic and Tails. The buttercups began to grow towards Sonic and Tails. “Animals are nothing more than food for my plants. I know that your kind also adores pretty flowers. You raise and love them just as I do. So you are powerless to do anything.” Sonic glanced at Tails, and then walked over the buttercups. Vista’s calm expression fell, and she watched as Sonic stepped through and trampled the flowers without a second thought. She looked disappointed now, but she kept smiling.

“Sonic, are you sure it’s safe?” Tails asked.

“Yeah, it’s completely fine,” Sonic replied. He walked right past Vista, glancing at her weirdly. “You’re crazy.” Tails flew above the plants, and continued into the temple. Vista watched in shock as they left. The flowers had been trampled, and left hungry. Instantly, Vista summoned a beanstalk, which enveloped her and burrowed underground.

Sonic and Tails were running along the temple, now with a great view of the outside volcanic scenery but also the temple’s majestic ancient structures. Suddenly, a beanstalk drilled out from the rock, Tails knocking right into it. Sonic took notice of this, and swerved around to get Tails. He caught Tails just as a particularly sharp vine shot up from the ground. Sonic felt it wrap around his ankle, and throw him overhead in an arch. He felt like he was on a spinning rollercoaster as the scenery was turned upside down and on its side. He was then slammed into the ground, with an impact so hard it must have shaken Little Planet.

“As I said, you are not to move,” Vista sighed as she emerged from the beanstalk that Tails slammed into. “If you do not obey, I will force you still. Do I make myself clear?” Her tone didn’t fit her words. It was as if she was trying to be comforting judging by the cadence of her voice. But what she was actually saying didn’t quite fit the bill.

Sonic cut through the vine with a spin, and shot forward towards Vista. “As if! I’m always moving!” Sonic exclaimed. Vista put her hand on the ground, and terraformed it using the vines already present underneath the rock to push the stone upwards. Sonic wall jumped off of the stone, and swung around a vine meant to pierce him into the newly formed pillar. Backflipping off of it, he kicked Vista in the air, knocking her off the pillar.

Vista slowly got up. “You animals deserve nothing more than to provide food to the flowers. You pretend to care about nature, but your whole existence had been spent moving as far away from it as possible,” Vista said as Sonic approached. Sonic began to run circles around her, closing in. She spawned vines in attempts to stab him, but he was too fast. “Your efforts to run away from your origins is bringing doom to plantlife everywhere through pollution and technology. If you would just submit your lives to reviving that which you have killed, all worlds would be better off. Need I explain further?”

Soon, Vista realized she had encased herself in a small cage of vines. She couldn’t see anything outside. As she struggled to dismiss the vines, Sonic sliced through them effortlessly from outside and released a Homing Attack into her back.

“No thanks,” Sonic said, cracking his knuckles. “I’ll never submit!”

Tails quickly realized there were tulips growing up from the ground, tangling themselves around his leg. He quickly spun his tails, using them as a weedwhacker. This killed all of the tulips, and Tails was able to break free of the dead flowers. He flew forward and knocked into Vista in ball form. Sonic then stomped her to the ground diagonally with his Shooting Star Kick.

“What’s your deal?” Sonic asked, staring down at the defeated Vista. “Where I come from, ‘animals’ eat plants. Not the other way around.”

“You two are so very far from where you came from,” Vista explained, catching both Sonic and Tails’ attention. “No animals are safe here, and they never will be...”

“What do you mean?” Tails asked, a creeping feeling in his spine.

“Plants are the dominant species on Little Planet,” Vista replied. “You animals have been trying to colonize it for years, to make it safe for your fragile meat bodies. But as long as there are plants to feed, there will be no hope for your kind here.” Sonic and Tails’ blood ran cold.

“So all those fireflies, pollinating the plants back in Collision Chaos…” Tails gasped, holding his hands to his mouth in horror of what they had done. “There were animals there!”

“Yes, and now they have fulfilled their purpose to the plants. With the plants fully powered by the fireflies, not even that airship can mechanize them now,” Vista chuckled happily. Sonic gasped. He had thought there was a kind of newfound silver lining to Robotnik’s airship mechanizing the landscape, but not even that would save them. No wonder Robotnik was trying to kill the fireflies. “You will be devoured. Your friend will be devoured. No animal will survive our will to stay alive.”

“Tails, we need to find Amy and get out of here,” Sonic ordered.

“But what about Vista?” Tails asked. Sonic grabbed him by the hand. “What about our happy ending?”

“None of that matters! We’re leaving!” Sonic shouted, as he ran forward. Vista watched as he ran past her, and into the mines.

“Run all you want, animals...” Vista sighed, as the fireflies made their way to her greenhouse in Tidal Tempest. Robotnik’s airship far too behind to be a threat to her or the plant empire. “This is our world, and you will be devoured sooner or later.”

Chapter Text

“Where are you taking me, Sonikkuuuu? ^W^!” Amy of the Roses sang to Metal Sonic lovingly. She simply could not differentiate him from the real thing. Metal looked at her, then looked away quickly. He continued on throughout the speedway made up of solidified stardust carried across Little Planet from distant galaxies, using his jet thrusters to fly above the hazardous plants’ feasting grounds. “Don’t be shy… UMU… You can tell me anything!” Metal Sonic had no mouth, so he did not respond. He could only send raw text to Sonic’s mind in this new body, but that was only because of his link with the hedgehog. Nobody else could hear him.

Metal’s old body may have been destroyed nearly a year ago, but his software still remained from back then. He was still set on becoming the one true Sonic. He had begun giving names to the places he saw on this planet. Just like Sonic was. He called this place “Stardust Speedway” for instance. He even uploaded the name info to Robotnik, so his lord could easily differentiate the zones upon Little Planet from each other, instead of using a system where he called them R1, R2, R3, and so on for each zone.

“Sonikku! Sonikku! >m<!” Amy whined incessantly, trying to get Metal’s attention. Metal did not respond. He would if he could. It was strange. Was this girl not working right? She really did think Metal Sonic was Sonic. Metal almost felt it, and he was so close to feeling how nice it was to be recognized as the real Sonic the Hedgehog. But he couldn’t feel. He was still just a robot.

Metal also detected high amounts of affection in Amy’s voice. She clearly had a “romantic” (if that was the right word) infatuation with Sonic. And right now, Metal registered that she thought him to be the one she was infatuated with. This gave him an idea. Although love is a state of mind, many people recognize it as “of the heart”. If he could grow “love” for Amy, maybe he would come that much closer to becoming Sonic. Sonic loved loving. Even if it was just in the form of short-lived “crushes”.

Metal could very well stay with Amy while she was held captive by Lord Robotnik, keep her company and listen to her overwhelming ramblings instead of just keeping watch over her. Maybe keep her all to himself, not letting Sonic OR Robotnik take her away. But this brought him to… a horrible decision. One he would have to make on his own. Abuse the power Lord Robotnik gave him for a petty attempt at becoming Sonic… or go against his little spark of free will and pass up this opportunity to achieve his own goal. The prospect of making this choice seemed daunting, but Metal knew there was no way out of this.

What would Sonic do?

As Metal set Amy down in her new living quarters, he slammed the metal door shut behind him with the press of a button. “Sonikku? What are you doing… \o_O/?” Amy knew through her walk and talk with Sonic that he hated sitting still. So to see him lock himself in there with her was definitely… odd. Metal stared at Amy, finally making his decision. With him being so close to the ground, one of the many nigh-sentient flowers of Little Planet saw its chance to strike Metal. It shot forward, but in an instant, Metal grabbed it by the elongated stem without even looking. Amy gasped.

Metal then tore the flower from its stem, killing it. The stem fell flat on the ground. Metal held the flower towards Amy, dropping it into her right hand. Metal knew that the act of giving flowers to the person who you sought to take the heart of was a common ritual amongst organics. He had seen so many memories of Sonic’s that had involved this, but none of them ever played out well for him. He could only set his sights towards the best possible outcome, even if the odds appeared slim.

“Sonikku… 0////0…!” Amy sputtered. “Are you… what… haaaah?!” Metal did not know if she was happy about this, or simply irritated. He detected something different in her tone. Something he couldn’t recognize. “I love you too! Sonikku, I am in love with you! Please, let’s get married right now and live eternal happy lives together >W<!”

Metal walked forward, and embraced Amy gently. “Sonikku…” Amy sighed, happily. “I’ve been waiting for this for so long ^^! The cards 0_0… they said I would see you here. So long ago… Please, be with me forever!” Metal nodded. Amy could not see Metal’s eyes. They were as cold, dead, and emotionless as ever. Everything was going according to plan. Metal had found… a heart. He had found love.

Correct?

Chapter Text

“Let me just say, Regina, your half of the robots’ programming is paying off splendidly!” Robotnik complimented the Iron Queen. She turned to him, looking away from the miner Badmechs swinging their pickaxes against the stone. “Maybe they’re TOO efficient. This Quartz Quadrant will be nothing more than a crater by the end of the day, and we will have reaped all the minerals to be found here. With all that quartz, our Cosmic Eternity airship will have more than enough energy to revolutionize Little Planet, and we can use the excess energy to revolutionize some of the world below as well!”

“Yeah! But if it weren’t for your idea to make the robots look like the bugs that pollinate the flowers, they would’ve been destroyed by those pesky weeds. We would have gotten nowhere!” Iron Queen replied. The vines were particularly active that morning, wriggling and stretching about. But they simply ignored the Badmechs. The plants only detected them as real bugs. Robotnik and Iron Queen were safe in the air. “I couldn’t have ever come up with that on my own. Also, their designs are pretty!!” The two sat in silence for a while, both smiling.

“You’re much nicer than your mother,” Robotnik replied, reclining in his Rob-O-Matic.

“Say wha now?” Iron Queen asked.

“I understand that might sound weird,” Robotnik sputtered, trying to save face while adjusting his glasses. He quickly reclined with his arms behind his back. “But she would have never worked together with me. I feel like this is the start of a beautiful friendship!” The Iron Queen smiled.

“Maybe if you weren’t always making threats of war, you two would’ve been better friends,” Iron Queen joked. “Then again… she was kind of a wicked old hag. She wouldn’t have cared, really.”

“Well then, I’m glad we can agree on that,” Robotnik replied. He suddenly heard the sound of metal busting open, as well as fast footsteps that could only belong to one person.

“Aah! It’s Sonic and Tails!” Iron Queen cried, standing up from her seat and looking down towards a blue hedgehog and a two-tailed fox taking out the miner Badmechs. “Is he still after that statue?”

“It’s okay, Metal Sonic has secured the statue at the end of Stardust Speedway,” Robotnik replied. “Her godlike powers are under our complete and total control. But nothing good will come of Sonic destroying those robots. Destroy him!”

“Gladly!” Iron Queen exclaimed. She shot forward and intercepted Sonic, who skidded to a stop. “It seems we meet again, commoner!”

“Hey, beautiful,” Sonic replied to the Iron Queen. Tails bashed into the Dominator in ball form while the Iron Queen was confused by Sonic.

“Good job on that distraction, Sonic!” Tails cried happily. Sonic looked over.

“What distraction?” Sonic asked. Suddenly, Robotnik blasted through on his Rob-O-Matic and ran into Sonic, who was knocked forward with a grunt. He skidded across the floor, then nimbly dodged out of the way as a miner Badmech tried to drive its pickaxe into the stone under him, completely oblivious to the fact Sonic was even there. Robotnik inadvertently rammed his Rob-O-Matic into the Badmech, completely obliterating it.

“Gah! Irritating rodent!” Robotnik shouted, blasting towards Sonic. “This mine will be your tomb!” Sonic reached a conveyor belt that amplified his speed. With lightning-fast reflexes, he ran around and slid under many slamming pistons made to crush and compress as Robotnik followed behind him. Robotnik wondered why Sonic was going slow enough for him to keep up, when suddenly, Sonic made a u-turn, switching lanes onto the conveyor going backwards. He backflipped off of it and shot into Robotnik’s Rob-O-Matic like a missile. Hitting it like a volleyball all the way into the Dominator. The two machines collided, and the two dictators landed on the ground a few feet away from the pods.

Sonic arrived at the wreckage, and helped Tails up, who had been dealing with the Iron Queen alone. “You alright?” Sonic asked, as Tails popped his shoulder back into place. 

“Yeah, I’m fine…” Tails squeaked. He coughed. Sonic realized he should have brought Tails’ meds.

But that would quickly turn out to be the least of their concerns.

“As for you,” Sonic muttered, turning to Robotnik. He finally had a chance to interrogate him. “Turns out you really did lie about changing your ways. Can’t say I didn’t see it coming.” Sonic pointed a finger to Robotnik’s pink, slightly pointy nose. Robotnik stared cross-eyed at it in rage. “Where do you have Amy?!” Unbeknownst to everyone, one of the flowers growing and wriggling about the Quartz Quadrant sensed fresh meat. It slithered soundlessly behind a rock and used its underground root system to further scope out its prey through several senses.

“Why would I tell you, you dishonorable little gerbil?!” Robotnik shouted. Sonic zapped Robotnik’s nose as a warning. “Ow! Okay, I’ll tell you… she’s at the end of the Stardust Speedway. But you’ll never be fast enough to save her!”

“What do you mean, fast eno---?” Sonic asked, insulted. He then heard Tails cry out in pain. He looked to his left, and saw a flower trying to drag Tails away into a small crevasse of other plants. They all writhed and nipped in his direction like hellish starving baby birds. “Tails!” Sonic shouted. He ran towards the flower and Spin Dashed right through it, cutting it in half. The flower was cut off its stem, and landed dead on the floor. Sonic caught Tails and began to evade the other plants as they lunged for him.

“Quickly, Regina! Climb aboard the Rob-O-Matic!” Robotnik shouted.

“But the Dominator---!” Iron Queen whined.

“There’s no time! Come along now!” Robotnik instructed. Iron Queen stamped her foot and screamed angrily. She dashed over to the Rob-O-Matic, looking at the Dominator sadly. She breathed in painfully.

“Shoulder transportation formation! Activate!” Robotnik and Iron Queen shouted, as Iron Queen jumped onto Robotnik’s shoulders while he piloted the Rob-O-Matic. The engine huffed and puffed and choked to life, and the two got off the ground, flying away. This prompted the plants chasing them to focus their attention back to Sonic and Tails, believing Robotnik and the Iron Queen to be pointless to pursue.

Sonic set Tails on the ground. “Are you okay, Tails?” Sonic asked. Tails had a nasty dark red mark around his ankle from where the flower grabbed him. Tails inhaled sharply.

“I’m fine!” Tails muttered, though he could hardly stand due to the throbbing pain. “But this won’t end well for either of us if we don’t do something, and fast!” The flowers were closing in. But so was something else. Something much larger, much more metallic. Something much more airborne.

The Cosmic Eternity.

“Hey, isn’t that--- Robotnik’s airship?!” Tails shouted, nearly jumping out of his skin.

“That’s good, right?” Sonic asked, stomping a flower to the ground quickly. “It’ll mechanize all the flowers.”

“Yeah! AND US!” Tails shouted.

“Well then… I may just have an idea!” Sonic exclaimed, snapping his fingers. He broke into a Spin Dash, and cut down through the stone floor like a buzz saw. He then dug forward in ball form until the laser couldn’t touch him. Tails climbed through the hole, to see Sonic had made a small burrow with more than enough space to fit both of them. “Welcome to paradise, Tails.”

“Heh, good thinking…” Tails chuckled, still shaken up. He sat down. They could both hear the awful metallic crackling from the surface as everything above them was being mechanized. Tails saw the tangled roots in the dirt turn to wire. “I’m surprised you’re so adamant on saving Amy. We could’ve been out of here just like that. But… you decided to stick around to try and save her from being mechanized or metallified or whatever.”

“What can I say? I can’t just leave her here,” Sonic replied, staring off at the wall. Tails looked down to the floor.

“What are we going to do after this is all over?” Tails asked. “Even if we do save Amy and survive, we have nowhere left to go. I doubt many places are safe from the Iron Dominion on its own. Not to mention Robotnik’s working with the Iron Queen now.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Sonic replied. It was a simple answer, but also one that Tails never thought of.

“Yeah, I guess we’ll worry about it later,” Tails sighed, sliding down the wall and onto his back in exhaustion. He coughed.

“No, we won’t even worry about it. We’ll just run with whatever happens,” Sonic replied. “I know there’s a way out of this. If we made it out of the Robotnik Empire, we can do anything.”

“I guess… we should get to this ‘Stardust Speedway’ and find Amy. It’s quite literally a small world, I’m sure we’ll find it sooner or later,” Tails replied. “But that also means the airship will mechanize everything on Little Planet soon. So we better get moving if we wanna survive.”

“Yeah! That I can do,” Sonic replied, as he grabbed Tails’ arm and ran out of the burrow.

Chapter Text

Sonic walked along the checkerboard flooring of a strange factory they found as Tails flew close behind. Bright blues and pinks everywhere, on geometric shapes that looked fit for a children’s indoor play area. It even smelled like a mall, and the ground was that strange rubbery plastic material found forming slides and whatnot at mall play places. “Huh… Tails, doesn’t this place look like some kind of toy sto-OOOAAAAAHHHHH!” Sonic yelled as the ground lit up beneath him, some kind of force bouncing him into the air. He hit his head on the ceiling and was knocked out.

Sonic awoke to someone shouting for him. Shouting for him to wake up. But it wasn’t Tails. Tails was there, but even closer was someone who Sonic didn’t recognize. “Sonic the Hedgehog!” She shouted, as Sonic drowsily opened his eyes fully. “Oh, thank the heavens you are alive!”

“I keep telling you this, Sonic’s been through worse head injuries,” Tails replied. “You all good, Sonic?” He asked, standing a few inches away.

“Who’s this, my girlfriend?” Sonic chuckled, tired and stupid. The top of his head felt warm, and he couldn’t think straight. “Hey, thanks for looking out for me babe. Also Tails…” Sonic nearly conked out, but the woman slapped him hard. That snapped him awake and back to his senses. “Whuh…?! Where am I?” Sonic asked, looking around. He was still in the factory. He didn’t notice before, but his head felt like someone took a hammer to it. “Ow!” He cried, holding the spot where it hurt.

“Are you alright, Sonic?” The woman asked, running to his aid and holding him as he stumbled to the floor.

“Yeah… why do you care, though?” Sonic asked. “That… sounded nicer in my head. But I mean, I don’t even know who you are. How do you know who I am?”

“Your friend Tails told me all about you. My name is Aurora. Aurora the Guardian,” the woman replied, smiling warmly. Sonic didn’t notice until now, but Aurora had clipped wings like an angel, and a broken gem on her head. “I apologize, but it would appear the security system went off when it detected you two lost men entering. I meant you and your friend in particular no harm… The trap was not meant for you.”

“Was it meant for Robotnik or the Iron Queen?” Sonic asked, as he managed to stand on his own. Aurora stepped back.

“No! Well… not originally, at least,” Tails replied. “It was meant for the plants, and Vista.”

“Yes, I am the overseer of a group of animals that have all survived their own generation of Forestation and have made their home in this… Wacky Workbench, let’s call it. We must protect these few survivors from the dangers of Little Planet,” Aurora replied, tilting her head to the side as several alien animals rushed to her, danced in circles and played. They all felt safe in her presence.

Aurora giggled, then looked up from them and back to Sonic. “It is impressive that you two managed to get here. Most Erians don’t even know of Little Planet’s existence. Very few who come here make it back to their planet alive. Those who survive the plants get turned into Angel Statues by Vista the Carnation, who I am sure you have met by now. They all serve the rest of their days shackled to this deceptive planet, providing life to new flowers and plants. They are hardly even aware that they once had free will.”

“No way… is Amy of the Roses one of those people?!” Sonic asked, shocked. Amy certainly fit the bill, being a statue with angel wings and whatnot. He looked to Aurora’s amulet and then to her clipped angel wings. “Were you?”

“Yes, I was,” Aurora sighed. “But I was saved long ago by an animal, who destroyed the amulet inhibiting my thoughts and awareness of the situation I was in, as well as my statue form. I suppose you could say I’m returning the favor by protecting them all.” She paused. “This… ‘Amy of the Roses’... is likely under the same spell I was.”

“Then were’s her amulet?” Sonic asked.

“More recently-turned Angel Statues do not have the amulet,” Aurora stated. “The sedatives… of sorts… and stone that newer Angel Statues are made of is sustained by the statues processing air from the atmosphere of Little Planet.”

“So if we took Amy back to Erius where she belongs, would she by any chance turn back to normal?” Tails asked.

“Yes, the air there would not keep her statue form sustained, nor her sedated state of mind. She would become flesh and blood once more as a result, but… I do not advise that you worry too much about her,” Aurora answered, looking to the ground in sadness. “Tonight is the last night that you will be able to leave this cursed place and go home until next year. Once the clock ticks midnight, you will both be trapped here as Little Planet ascends back into the vast reaches of space until next February.”

“What about the chain holding it down?” Sonic asked.

“There’s… a chain? Holding Little Planet down to ERIUS?” Aurora asked. She reached forward and placed her hands on Sonic’s shoulders. He blushed a tiny bit. She fearfully shook him hard enough for his mask to nearly fall off, instead having it bounce all around his face. “Do you realize what this entails?”

“We get to go home, right?” Sonic asked. “It won’t fly away with that thing holding it down. Cold, hard iron. Right down to a mountain by Never Lake.”

“Yes, but… should that chain remain…” Aurora gasped, looking terrified. “The flowers, and Vista… They could both spread to Erius itself! I am afraid that planet and its denizens will not survive long should Little Planet’s flora reach its soil.”

“Well then, good thing Robotnik and Iron Queen have everything in Palmtree Panic under control,” Sonic replied. “Maybe that airship turning everything all dark and gloomy will be good for something after all.”

Aurora smiled. “The proper term for the grasslands would be ‘Salad Plains’, but alliteration is fun.” Aurora cleared her throat, and put back on a serious face. “Yet I digress. We should not attempt to undo the effects of this ‘airship’,” Aurora replied. She chuckled. “I’m sorry, but it’s so funny. Back in my youth, ships only traveled across water. I truly have been gone longer than I thought. Do they still have plants on Erius?” She looked to Sonic attentively.

“Err… very few,” Sonic replied.

“Good, good! When I was still there, they said such chemical and power plants would destroy the world someday,” Aurora laughed. Sonic smirked awkwardly. “It scared me so much as a little one that I ran for refuge here as a result. I didn’t want to breathe only polluted air and live in such a bad future as an adult. What I wouldn’t give to have those days back…” She looked down sadly. “I’m glad you’re doing better, Sonic and Tails.”

“I’m sure you have things under control here better than we do down on Erius,” Tails sighed, biting his tongue when it tried to tell her the true state of Erius. “How’d you make it safe for animals with all those invasive plants in this place?” Tails looked at a flower in the corner, which appeared almost sheepish in its posture.

“Plants aren’t all bad,” Aurora replied. “Even dating back to Vista’s invasion of Little Planet, plants don’t attack when given proper care. Vista wanted an army out of them, I wanted coexistence and friendship. It was easy to ‘tame’ the plants in this crazy toy box we call the Wacky Workbench once that was communicated. Whereas the plants out there feed off of animals, here we synthesize nutrition for them from the bits of star from the nearby speedway, and even just tap water. It goes a long way for them.”

A flower crept towards an animal playing near Aurora, and started gnawing at its tail using its soft petals as teeth. The animal whined. “Hey!” Aurora warned. The flower cowered away and slithered back into the ground. “Of course, they still have quite an appetite for meat. Which is part of the reason I’m here. To keep everything in check.”

“So the reason plants are eating animals is because they have been treated poorly?” Sonic asked, thinking about it all. “Maybe they feel threatened because Robotnik and Iron Queen are mechanizing the landscape.”

“Yes and no, respectively. The flowers feel threatened by them, but these tyrants are not mechanizing anything,” Aurora replied. “Not exactly. You see, the quartz here is made of a special property I call Time Stone. When I went to check for animals last, I witnessed ‘Robotnik’ and ‘Iron Queen’ mining in the nearby quartz quarry. Time Stone allows those who wield its power to time travel. It is used when creating Angel Statues, which explains how they appear to move around from place to place in what seems like an instant. They relocate themselves not only in space--- but also in time. I believe Robotnik and Iron Queen’s airship is using Time Stone to thrust everything its laser touches into the future, a future where they have conquered Little Planet after years of industrialization. It would appear they just don’t want to wait until they inevitably conquer the planet.”

Sonic tapped his foot instinctively.

“And it would appear you do not want to wait to have me ramble on any further,” Aurora sighed. “I understand. I am only boring you. But I do believe my information could help you across the last two regions of Little Planet. If you can, treat the plants kindly. It will go a long way in making a good future for everyone.”

“Thanks, lady,” Sonic replied, giving her a thumbs-up and a smile. “We’ll try our best!” He ran out of the room, with Tails following after waving goodbye to Aurora. Aurora smiled.

Chapter Text

Sonic zoomed through the Stardust Speedway. He could only have imagined what it used to look like, before Robotnik’s airship came through and devastated most of the area. He supposed it made things easier for him, because there were no plants left to try and eat him or Tails. However, not all was well. The air was heavy with chemicals, and it felt almost too hot to breathe. It almost looked like a dark amusement park ride imitating a speedway, as opposed to an actual speedway. Garish colors covered the road and surrounding empty city. The sky ran red with an unknown substance.

Around loop-de-loops, past dash pads, and out of makeshift cannons, Sonic did not slow down for a second. Tails was hardly keeping up. It was a mad dash to find Amy at the end of this winding and twisting road. Sonic still had to wonder why she wasn’t coming back on her own. It certainly would have saved him a lot of trouble. Sonic suddenly saw something as he rounded the corner. He screeched to a halt on his heels. It was… Robotnik, Iron Queen and Metal Sonic! Robotnik was staring at him, having been expecting him once again.

“Robotnik!” Sonic shouted, swiftly pointing at Robotnik. “I’m here to settle this. I won’t let you keep Amy prisoner!” Tails caught up, and skidded to a stop.

“Prisoner?” Robotnik asked. He then laughed. “Don’t be stupid! You know I take no prisoners, especially not horticulturists such as her. I’m going to use her in all her quartz form as a battery for my Cosmic Eternity airship, which will soon have futurized everything on Little Planet!” Sonic gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Metal Sonic snapped his gaze over at Robotnik, wide-eyed. Robotnik glared at him, and Metal Sonic quickly looked to the ground, reluctantly obedient.

“You mean OUR Cosmic Eternity airship,” Iron Queen reminded him. Robotnik swung his head around to look at her, and a smile crept onto his face.

“Yes… OUR Cosmic Eternity airship,” Robotnik replied sinisterly. 

“Because we’re---!” Robotnik and Iron Queen posed animatedly. “--- BEST FRIENDS!” They laughed evilly.

“But! I will give you a slim fighting chance to thwart my scheme, Sonic,” Robotnik declared. “You will race against Metal Sonic to the end of Stardust Speedway. There, you will find your precious Amy. Should you prove yourself faster (you won’t), you, Tails and Amy can be on your merry way. Should you lose (yes), you and Tails will be blasted to the distant past by the miniature futurization laser in my Rob-O-Matic. Then you will never be able to bother me again!” Robotnik zapped the ground as an example with the green laser. There was a spot of green grass in the spot the laser hit that quickly died. “Either way, I WILL conquer all of Little Planet. And you will have nowhere to go after this is done.”

Sonic sighed sadly, and for a second Robotnik relished the feeling of having beaten Sonic down if only a little bit. But Robotnik’s joy was short-lived. “Do you know who you’re talking to?” Sonic sneered, putting a thumb to his chest and smirking. “I’m the fastest thing alive! I have everywhere to go, and everything to do. I’m afraid I’ve grown out of restrictions. I’ll run circles around this cheap copper copy!”

Sonic stepped right up to Metal Sonic, scratching his own nose. “So now we can get down to the REAL race. The first Sonic to the finish line will be the winner,” Sonic declared. Metal Sonic glared at him silently, gripping his sharp iron claws. “What? Little Planet isn’t big enough for both of us, and one of us has to go?” Metal’s eyes sharpened in bloodthirst. He wanted to threaten Sonic, or at least taunt him back. But he couldn’t. Instead, he was limited to displaying only pure rage. He logged this under humiliating. “Well, I agree!”

“Ready…” Iron Queen said, pulling out a checkerboarded race flag.

“Set…” Robotnik replied, shaking around a miniature replica of the same flag.

“GO!” They both shouted. Sonic and Metal Sonic blasted off.

Sonic was already in the far lead, zipping around tight turns and grinding on pipes. This was hardly even a race. Sonic was crushing Metal. That was, until he heard a sharp sound behind him. Sonic instinctively jumped, and Metal Sonic blasted right under him in a blue blur. Sonic’s eyes widened.

“No way… how are you---?” Sonic asked. Even when Sonic wasn’t really trying, it was unusual for anything to pass him when he was running. Sonic did not like it one bit. He sped up until he was neck and neck with Metal. “Hahaha-HUE…!” Sonic choked on a bug mid-laughter. He fell behind, but quickly caught up once he coughed the bug out, a smug smile on his face. 

“Hey, nice cloak! Nice mask!” Sonic exclaimed, pointing at Metal. Metal slapped his hand away furiously whilst keeping his momentum. “Oh, don’t be shy. I really do think it’s cool-looking,” Sonic teased. Metal appeared to be confused. Sonic then grinned devilishly. “Wish I thought of it first.” Metal’s pupils sparked with a desire for vengeance disguised as electricity.

Sonic ran around a corkscrew as Metal simply flew in between the winding road with his jets. Despite all Sonic’s teasing, the hedgehog had to admit he was scared. He enjoyed tearing Metal down only because Metal was threatening one of the most important things to Sonic: the hedgehog’s ego. Because Metal had proven himself to probably be just as fast as Sonic, and if Metal was faster… Sonic didn’t know if he could stand it.

Metal blasted forward again, all fired up. Literally. His ventilation system wasn’t just smoking, it was blazing. His hardware couldn’t keep up with his software’s determination. Metal acknowledged one of Sonic’s core traits was his speed. If he could just keep this momentum going, maybe it would make him Sonic. Sonic would do everything in his power to keep his title of the fastest thing alive. Metal acknowledged that if he overthrew the hedgehog and claimed that throne, he would not only be the fastest… but he’d also be alive in a sense. That was his end goal. Be the fastest. Be alive. Be Sonic. He would seize that name by any means necessary, even if it meant killing himself in the process.

“You’re on fire, but because of that, you aren’t looking too hot,” Sonic chuckled at his own joke, catching up to Metal. “STRANGE, isn’t it?!” Metal swiped at him, but Sonic dodged with unhinged laughter. Even Sonic himself was overheating, even he was losing his composure a little. But the only thing that could stop this high for him was failure. Sonic rounded a corner, and quickly saw… the finish line in the form of the end of the road only a few yards away. It led into a kind of fortress. Amy of the Roses was right there at the wide-open entrance. Metal saw this too. “It all comes down to this!” Sonic shouted, strained and sweaty as he put all his strength into running as fast as he could. He was running so fast that everything seemed to be moving so slow. That was how he could register the sweat on his face, the pain in his legs, the wind screaming in his ears… and Metal suddenly rocketing forward in an explosion.

Sonic’s eyes widened as Metal burst into flames from his engine, propelling the robot forward in one last stand of pure raw dedication to winning the race. Metal was now completely engulfed in a blaze. He entered the fortress on his face, and the door automatically slammed shut behind him as he tumbled through. Sonic skidded to a stop, realizing nothing would come out of him continuing to run except for him bashing straight into a solid wall. He stared at the door, confused and bewildered.

“I… lost?” Sonic asked. He walked up to the door, and then looked to the floor. He suddenly felt a sharp pain running down both legs. “Guah!” He gasped, as he fell to the ground. He had put everything he had into that race, and in the end… he still failed. He felt his ego crumble. This hit him harder when he heard Robotnik and Iron Queen laughing. And Tails running up to him.

“Sonic! You won…! Wait, where’s Amy?” Tails asked, frantically. His heart sank. “Sonic… don’t tell me you---!” Tails shook Sonic on the shoulder desperately. Sonic grunted in response. He had completely overworked himself.

“Tails… run, Tails,” Sonic gasped for air, before falling to the ground. He was still awake, but he couldn’t move his legs as the Rob-O-Matic approached, time travel laser ready to fire.

Robotnik cackled. “I’ve done it! I’ve beaten Sonic the Hedgehog!” Robotnik celebrated. “How does it feel to have your proudest power beaten into the ground, hedgehog?” Sonic couldn’t respond as his vision became hazy.

“Look at him! He’s at a loss for words!” Iron Queen exclaimed through laughter. “Shall we give him a little blast to the past, Ivo?”

“We shall!” Robotnik replied. He hovered the Rob-O-Matic over Sonic and Tails.

“Tails, get out of here,” Sonic whispered hollowly as the laser that would throw them into the distant past powered up.

“No… I won’t…” Tails replied, teary-eyed but with a newfound smile. “It wouldn’t be fair for you to do something stupid, then leave me all alone, right?” Sonic had already passed out from exhaustion. Tails wiped the tears from his eyes. 

“So long, Sonic… enjoy your new home in prehistory!” Robotnik shouted. The laser fired, and instantly all of Sonic and Tails’ senses cut out.

Chapter Text

“Sonikku!”

“Sonikku!” Amy’s voice cried. Sonic opened his eyes, to see pretty much nothing at all. It felt like he just woke up from a horrible nightmare. His eyes were covered in a layer of dark red. “I made you a present. >W<!” Sonic pulled away whatever was concealing his vision. As he lifted his hand, it came into view. A red cloak with gold lining.

“Hey, my cloak!” Sonic exclaimed, smiling wide as he sat up. “Thanks, Amy---!” Sonic’s voice trailed off as he put the cloak on.

“Do you like it, Sonikku?” Amy asked. “Lovingly remade from 100% natural plant fibers.”

Sonic gazed around at the huge, sprawling field by a large swamp. It was daytime. “Oh, wow…” he sighed, not even processing what Amy had said. “Where am I?”

“We haven’t moved an inch, Sonikku o_0,” Amy replied. “This is the past.”

“Huh… so Robotnik wasn’t lying,” Sonic groaned, holding his head. His legs still ached just a tiny bit. There were flowers all around. But they were completely still, only flowing in the gentle breeze. “It’s good to see you again, Amy. But why didn’t you come back before?”

“I thought that robot was the real you, Sonikku 0~0…” Amy whined. “So I stayed with it until I saw the real you coming to save me. I’m so sorry for causing you all that trouble. I followed you here to make it up to you, but also because… that horrible airship was coming towards the fortress I was in.”

“That robot may as well be the real me,” Sonic sighed hollowly. “He beat me at my own game. He’s faster. He took away what makes me… me.”

“Not at all, Sonikku ~_~,” Amy argued. “Your speed doesn’t make you my Sonikku. It’s your heart that makes you who you are. Something that robot could never have.” Sonic looked to her and smiled.

“You like me, don’t you?” Sonic chuckled.

“Yes! More than anything! ^W^!” Amy cried. “I love you, Sonikku!” Sonic felt both joy and terror at the same time because of this.

“That’s… great,” Sonic replied. “I really appreciate it.” Sonic looked around. “So, this is our life now, right?”

“Is this unsatisfactory ||0^0?!” Amy shrieked in terror.

“I mean, I guess?” Sonic sighed. “I COULD live here, away from Robotnik, but… it would feel wrong. I don’t want to just live in the ‘distant past’ forever. It feels like the present has more left for me to do there. I know there’s no going back, anyways. So it doesn’t really matter.”

“That’s not true!” Amy exclaimed. “I can take you back!” Sonic perked up at this.

“Oh, yeah! You Angel Statues time travel, right?” Sonic asked.

“Yes, but…” Amy replied. “Not right away. You see… I feel ashamed, but I need to ask a favor of you. U_U.”

“Sure,” Sonic accepted.

“You see… in all foreseeable futures, that evil man has taken over Little Planet,” Amy muttered. “Although it is my duty to protect the flowers… I cannot do that while he and his robots are here. They are being created in mass by his Robot Generators that he placed in this time using his Cosmic Eternity’s time travel functions. Other Angel Statues have tried… and failed… to destroy the generators. There is nothing I can do as the last remaining Angel Statue. But you! You can destroy the generators with your speed and strength… If you do, I will love you even MORE. FOREVER!”

“Do you know where the Robot Generators are?” Sonic asked. “If it helps you out, I’m game.”

“Yes. There is one in every zone that you traversed upon Little Planet up until the workbench,” Amy answered. “They are very big, but also very defenseless. That is partially why they have been completely destroyed in the present. But by that time, they had already served their purpose. But I know that you can beat them, Sonic! >W<!”

“Alright, then here I go! I’ll be back before Tails wakes up,” Sonic replied. He blasted off into the distance.

His first stop would be the Quartz Quadrant. But Sonic didn’t stop. So it was merely a checkpoint in his run across Little Planet. In that time, Quartz Quadrant was hardly a mine as much as it was a swamp near a pine forest. He broke right through the giant Robot Generator, and watched as it crumbled and blew up. The quartz crystal it was in was caught in the explosion, and any Badmechs nearby were destroyed as it caved in. Sonic just ran through it all.

Next up was the Tidal Tempest. In that time, it was a large underwater cave system. Sonic plunged into the hot spring forest, and caught a ride on a giant sunfish swimming through the hot springs with ease. Sonic would usually be scared at the thought of being deep underwater, but he was so excited he hardly even noticed. He saw the Robot Generator in a clearing, pumping out all sorts of gross aquatic bug Badmechs. He jumped off the sunfish and dove further in. He saw all the Badmechs circling around. He didn’t want any of those things on him, so he dodged sluggishly but effectively. He couldn’t move too well underwater. Eventually, a Badmech hit the generator, causing a huge blast that shot Sonic upwards. Sonic took a big gasp of air as he emerged from the hot springs. He rolled as soon as he hit the ground, quickly approaching Collision Chaos. 

When he reached the bright savanna that was the past of Collision Chaos, Sonic jumped onto a platform. He immediately fell under fire from numerous mantis-like Badmechs throwing sickles at him. He caught two blades by pinching them with his fingers, and threw one around in a circle. It swung all around like a boomerang, and took out the Robot Mantises. He then looked down, and saw the Robot Generator below the platform he was on. He threw his last remaining sickle at the generator, and stood atop the platform as it was blown away by the explosion at high speeds. Sonic held on tight to the blades of grass as the platform spun and flipped freely in the air.

Sonic tumbled onto the ground and the platform shattered into little pebbles. He was now in the prehistoric Palmtree Panic zone. He saw the Robot Generator atop a nearby mountain, but in his way were needle nosed mosquito Badmechs. Sonic got up and ran through the plains, dodging the Badmechs as they tried to impale him on their sharp noses. He grabbed one midair. As it squirmed and tried to either attack or escape, he wound up a throw and tossed the flying Badmech into the Robot Generator. It was caught in the explosion and both machines were destroyed swiftly. Sonic turned around and raised his arms towards the other Needlenoses, as the large explosion shook them all to their very core. “Now, who’s next?” Sonic asked, with a big grin on his face and a glint in his eye as the embers danced around him.

Sonic quickly made his way back to Stardust Speedway, where Amy was waiting. Sure enough, Tails was still fast asleep. “Tails, wake up!” Sonic shouted. Tails groaned, and opened his eyes groggily.

“Wha…? Where are we?” Tails yawned. He coughed violently as Sonic looked to him in concern. “Sorry… excuse me…”

“Okay, Amy, you ready to take us all back?” Sonic asked, crossing his arms.

“Yes, I am ^_^! Thank you so much! You have saved Little Planet from the bad man,” Amy replied chipperly. Sonic smiled. “Now… prepare yourselves…” The space around the three began to unfold into a green spacescape. Sonic felt as if he was being lifted into the air at high speeds. And then… all faded to white.

Chapter Text

Sonic quickly opened his eyes. He felt the soft hug of a pleasant dream unwrap and fade away into his subconscious. The first thing he did was look around at Stardust Speedway. When he first arrived there, it had been a filthy road looping around a commercial hellhole amusement park. But looking at it now, it was a glamorous purple speedway right next to a large beautiful festival by the swamp. It was bright and flashy but not abrasive like it was before.

“Huh, looks like I really made a change here!” Sonic observed his handiwork proudly, with Tails running up to his side to enjoy the view.

“Yes, you have,” Amy replied from behind Sonic. Sonic turned around to face her. “You managed to create a future where plants, animals, and technology live in harmony upon Little Planet.”

“Robotnik and Iron Queen are still somewhere around here,” Sonic replied, annoyed. “But, eh, whatever. It’s not my problem. Let’s go, Tails, Amy.” Tails began to walk off with Sonic.

“Go? Go where?” Amy asked, not moving an inch. “Sonikku… this is where I live.”

Sonic turned to her. “Ah, right. Vista has you under some kind of mind control,” Sonic replied. Sonic ran over to Amy and picked her up horizontally in his arms. 

“>.< Sonikku?!” Amy gasped.

“Don’t worry, Ames! We’re getting you out of here,” Sonic promised, as he began to run off. However, before he could, a wall of metal covered in vines broke out from the road in front of him. He stopped instantly. The vines were wriggling, almost squirming. They looked like they were being forced to hold the wall up. Atop the wall, was Vista the Carnation.

“Now then, it won’t be that easy,” Vista stated warmly. Sonic stepped back. “Thank you, animal. For giving me another chance to feed my plants. They really appreciate it.” The vines tried to uncurl, but Vista snapped them all back into place simply by curling her fingers. “Now, close your eyes. This will only hurt a little.” She chuckled.

“Hey, don’t hurt my Sonikku! (|\_/|)!” Amy cried. 

“Who are you to oppose me, prisoner?” Vista asked. “You would do well to know your place.”

“She’s our friend!” Tails shouted, as he flew up to Vista and punched her across the face, knocking her off her high horse and high ground. “How many people just like her… just like US have you enslaved?”

Vista landed hard on the ground. “I apologize, animal. It would appear I have lost track. But rest assured, there will be much more.” Vista began to merge with the ground, eventually sinking into the road like it was quicksand. “Goodbye, my disgusting animalistic sentience. Now, I shall become one with the flowers.” She was absorbed into the plant matter within the road.

The ground rumbled, with bits of dust starting to raise from it. Sonic was about to say something, but then the rumbling stopped. Then, the road split apart! Sonic fell right down, crying out in surprise, but Tails caught himself by flying. He dove for Sonic, then caught him and by extension Amy.

“Geez… Sonic, I can carry you no problem, but Amy is pretty heavy,” Tails mumbled to himself.

“Hey! >.<!” Amy whined. “I’m not heavy!”

“I didn’t mean it like…” Tails sighed.

“Unless my Sonikku wants me to be (ovo),” Amy replied. Sonic didn’t respond.

“Ew! I mean… whatever floats your boat. There’s no time for catching our breath. We need to get to safety, now!” Tails groaned. Carrying the others, he flew away from the ruptured speedway and into Robotnik and Iron Queen’s fortress, hoping to find shelter there. The plants that Sonic had saved in the past were forced by Vista’s will to pursue.

Tails found a button, and pressed it hastily. The door slammed shut just as an entire bouquet was about to enter after them. It even squashed a few stray flowers. Tails stopped to catch his breath. “Is everyone okay?” Tails asked, struggling to breathe. Sonic set Amy on the ground.

“I’m okay! ^v^!” Amy exclaimed, especially sing-songy.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sonic agreed, looking over to Metal Sonic, who lay on the ground in a charred mess of metal. “Probably shouldn’t have destroyed the generators for the one who’s under partial mind control by the person who wants to make an army of plants.” Sonic glared at Amy disapprovingly. “That was probably a SEVERE lapse in judgement.”

“Sowwy… >M<...” Amy whined. “I was just doing my job.”

“That’s okay, it made for a good jog,” Sonic replied.

“Glad you enjoyed running around Little Planet destroying all of the generators keeping everything in check, Sonic. But what’s the plan now?” Tails asked. He could hear the plants pounding on the door from outside. “We’re trapped in one of Robotnik’s fortresses! How in the world are we going to get out of here?!”

Sonic thought on it. “You know, I’ve always wanted to pilot the Rob-O-Matic,” Sonic stated. Tails grinned.

And just like that, they were off. Sonic, Tails and Amy all traversed Robotnik and Iron Queen’s fortress, the Metallic Madness (new name, get used to it), in hopes to find the Rob-O-Matic so they could fly away from Little Planet with it. Be it on ground or by high-speed warp tube, the flora of Little Planet was a continuous threat. The plants had managed to extend into Metallic Madness through an underground network. They were just as potentially deadly as the many traps Robotnik had placed there artificially.

Eventually, the three reached a roadblock. There had been quite a bit of flat, straightforward ground. So with everyones’ speed, they had managed to get quite a good distance away from the plants. But their seedling stalkers would be there any second. “Shoot! A dead end!” Sonic exclaimed.

“No… something’s not right,” Tails sighed. He turned to the red wall at the other side of the room. It wasn’t made out of metal like the other walls. “Are these… curtains?” Tails stepped forward towards them.

“Ohohohoho!!” Robotnik’s laughter echoed through the room. Not over an intercom, but instead from directly behind the curtains. Sonic and Tails braced themselves for battle. The curtains parted, with Tails jumping back away from them. The shadow of a deadly weapon began to be bathed in the light, as well as the figures of two mad technomaniacs in the cockpit. Robotnik’s glasses and Iron Queen’s shades glimmered through the darkness. “Hello, Sonic. It was truly lovely to meet you again under such… peculiar conditions. But I’m afraid now is about time for us to say our final goodbyes. Thank you for your years of service to the Robotnik Empire. For what it’s worth, you were a useful pawn to many of my plans.”

“And Tails--- umm, I have nothing to say!” Iron Queen followed up. “I guess… it only seemed appropriate since Ivo was talking about Sonic for me to say something about you! But like, I hardly know you. So… now… behold our ultimate Badmech…!”

“THE FINAL FEVER!” Robotnik and Iron Queen shouted, as the pod came into full view. It had 4 large blocks attached to it, vaguely resembling the petals of a flower. However, just as the device was revealed in full, a sharp vine blasted through its engine, blowing it up from within. Three of the four blocks fell to the ground, while the last one darted towards the wall, breaking it wide open. Sonic and Tails stood there, dumbfounded.

“Oh… was it meant to catch fire?” Amy asked. “I can’t tell. Sorry, I don’t know much about machines! (V.V).” An explosion sent Robotnik and Iron Queen rocketing out of the Final Fever’s pod.

“Grah! What is the meaning of this?” Robotnik grumbled. He turned to Iron Queen. “Regina! Did you activate the self-destruct button?”

“There’s a self-destruct button?” Iron Queen asked.

“Uhh… Sonic?” Tails whispered. He pointed to the wall. “What’s going on over there?” Sonic looked at the wall, to see that there were dozens, no, hundreds of vines conjoining and morphing into a pattern of some kind. It looked like a writhing, monstrous reflection of Vista’s face. This Verdure Vista, if you will, had blackberry thorns for teeth, sunflowers for pupils. It grinned widely, and then shot towards Robotnik and Iron Queen, mouth gaping to the ground as it let out the most nails-on-chalkboard screech Sonic had ever heard.

“Look out!” Robotnik shouted, as he pushed Iron Queen away. He looked to make sure she had gotten out of harm’s way, before looking back at Verdure Vista. He screamed as Verdure Vista’s face reached him, and in a swift motion, opened its mouth and began to devour him. Gnashing at meat and discarding bones without a thought in its mind. Robotnik was long gone before it had even finished its feast. Verdure Vista then eyed Sonic and Tails hungrily. As it smiled, Sonic could see the flesh and blood of Robotnik fall from its thorn teeth. It then coughed up his cybernetic arm.

He couldn’t believe it. Robotnik was dead, gone. It had all happened so fast. That was far from the first and not quite the most gruesome death Sonic had witnessed, but… he was left in shock. So much paralyzing shock at the fact that the man who raised and betrayed and nearly killed him numerous times was all gone. Reduced to food for some collection of plants that didn’t even know what it was doing. Sonic hardly even noticed his mouth was completely agape until he grit his teeth. Now was no time to stand around and think aimlessly. He had people to protect.

Sonic grabbed Tails and lowered himself to the floor as Verdure Vista’s face stretched out further from the wall. It tried to do to him and his friend what it had just done to Robotnik. But he wouldn’t let it. It ignored Amy, thankfully. But Iron Queen was petrified, only able to formulate her fear and millions of racing thoughts with horrified screams. Sonic knew this would come back to bite him in the ass later, but… no person deserved to have what happened to Robotnik happen to them. He would have to save the Iron Queen.

“Tails! Get Amy!” Sonic ordered, so quickly Tails could hardly understand what he was saying. 

“Sonic, wait!” Tails cried. Sonic was already on the other side of the room, helping the Iron Queen up as she breathed in and out rapidly, tears falling down her face. Sonic didn’t know if it was at the sight alone, or if she really was just that close with Robotnik through the few days they got to actually know each other. She wordlessly took his hand. Because she was at a loss for words.

“Okay, Amy… you’re probably not in too much danger, but you’re coming with us anyways!” Tails stated. He too was trying to come to grips with what he just saw. He didn’t know how Sonic would take it in the long run, but he didn’t have time to think of it too much.

“Where are we going? 0_o?” Amy asked.

“You’ll see…” Tails replied. He flew Amy by her head, following Sonic and Iron Queen as the two ran out the hole that was created when the block from Final Fever collided with the wall. There was more fortress behind the wall, so now they all had to deal with the death traps of Metallic Madness along with the stray plants, and of course Verdure Vista. The wall of plants extended forward quickly, and the tight confines of Metallic Madness’ halls only slowed everyone down. “Sonic, what do we do? I’m not seeing any kind of exit!”

As Sonic thought of a response, the last three words his first caretaker, Longclaw, said to him repeated in his mind. “Never stop running.” These words were what he lived by. He had escaped the Robotnik Empire in the first place by running. He survived so many close encounters in battle by running away. If he kept running away, he could make it out of anything.

But then he remembered the whole reason he was here. Wherever he went, there would always be some sort of evil lurking in the darkest of corners. Before, it was totalitarianism. Complete order from crummy tyrants. If he ran away from this, eventually, it wouldn’t just be this secluded little planet suffering. If Vista controlled all the plants on Little Planet, and the plants were now restored near the chain holding Little Planet down to Erius, eventually it would spread, and his home planet would become plant-fueled anarchy. Everybody could die. He would be out of places to run away.

So he would run into his problems head-on.

Sonic changed direction and let out a barrage of Homing Attacks into Verdure Vista’s eyes, slicing one of them down the center. “Sonic, what are you doing?!” Tails cried. Verdure Vista was beaten back a little. Sonic bounced off just as a blackberry branch shot out from her sliced eye, trying to spike him.

“We need to stop this monster!” Sonic replied. “We can’t just run away from it.”

“You’re crazy! We are leaving!” Tails shouted, as he continued to run. “What chance do we have against THAT?! We barely got away from Robotnik back then by the skin of our teeth!”

“Maybe I am crazy, but I can’t stand around and let this freak take what it wants!” Sonic shouted back, crackling with electricity. He Homing Attacked into the botanic beast’s other eye, the zap leaving a sizzling roast mark where the eye once was. “Order... anarchy… it’s all the same at the end of the day. If we don’t do something about both of them, they’ll destroy the world! We need to change that!”

Tails coughed as he slapped a flower away from him. No matter how much he tried to fight it, he knew Sonic was right. Even though it seemed like a childish fantasy that things could be any other way than how they already were, Sonic always put complete faith in that fantasy. Tails had a harder time believing it, but wanted it just as much as his best friend did.

“This better work!” Tails shouted. “If it doesn’t, I’ll never let you hear the end of it wherever we end up!” Tails took out and threw one of his Dummy Ring Bombs at Verdure Vista, which exploded upon contact and left the collection of plants buzzing with electricity. Verdure Vista screamed bloody murder. Iron Queen wiped some tears from her face, and threw her spear into Verdure Vista’s agape mouth with a powerful scream of her own. Sonic raised his hands, and controlled the electricity from both weapons in order to focus it further.

Sonic’s eyes crystalized, as he grinned devilishly. “Prepare to be uprooted!” Sonic shouted. He moved his hands apart, making a lightshow of electricity that pierced through Verdure Vista’s entire mass. Verdure Vista screeched awfully, as the plants making her up began to fry. “Show’s over!”

The electricity coursed through the vines in Metallic Madness’ walls and ceiling, exploding in balls of lightning all over the fortress. A figure slowly descended from a wound in the fortress, like an angel from the heavens. Sonic squinted, trying to discern the figure from the intense electric light. The light became so bright that Sonic had to close his eyes so he wouldn’t go blind. He waited until the electric light faded, and then opened his eyes once more.

There stood Aurora the Guardian, in front of a mess of vines and petals. “Oh my… What a mess!” She sighed. She picked up a limp tulip and turned to Sonic.

“Uhh… sorry! So SO sorry… I wasn’t thinking about the flowers!” Sonic sputtered. “I just…”

“Oh, do not worry,” Aurora replied, smiling. “I understand. You just wanted to protect yourself and your world. It’s okay. Thanks to you, Vista is gone along with these poor misguided souls. Vista can no longer hurt any future flora of Little Planet.” Aurora sighed, turning to Amy. “Hello, Amy. It’s been so long.”

“Aurora?” Amy asked. “I thought you were dead. -.-? The others said you were destroyed, before the bad man took them.”

“No, I was not destroyed. I was freed,” Aurora replied. “Soon, you will be, too.”

“‘Freed’...” Amy gasped. “I don’t know what that means, but okay! >W<!” Aurora chuckled worriedly.

“Before you go… can you do me a favor, Amy?” Aurora asked. “The ecosystem was greatly harmed, and I fear should it not heal now, it never will. Please, plant one last flower. It shall be the starting point of a new age for Little Planet. Where plants, animals, and technology can work together and rebuild towards a good future. Without Vista or Robotnik here to hurt us anymore.” Iron Queen sniffled.

“Of course!” Amy sang. A sparkle formed in her hand, and it fell to the ground. It quickly grew into a new flower.

“Thank you,” Aurora chuckled. “Now, it is about time you all take your leave. You all have your home planet to go back to. Including you, Amy.”

“Aren’t you coming with us?” Sonic asked. “You want to go back to Erius, right?”

“No, I must continue to guard the flowers from anyone who may harm them,” Aurora answered. “I would love to go back to my old home, but… these flowers need me. I cannot leave them without their guardian.”

“Alright,” Sonic replied. “Look… I need to get something off my chest. Erius isn’t exactly perfect right now. It’s been overrun by horrible governments and injustice. We are very much choking on polluted air, we’re all kind of suffering. But, by next year when Little Planet comes around again, I promise I’ll do something to change that.” Sonic began to walk away, but then turned back to Aurora. “So why don’t you pay us a visit when that time arrives?” Sonic winked, smiled, and gave her a thumbs-up. 

“I might just do that,” Aurora sighed happily. “But for now, I must say goodbye. I wish you luck in saving your world as you have saved mine, Sonic.” Sonic nodded, before picking Amy up in his arms and speeding away. Tails and Iron Queen followed him, Tails waving goodbye as he flew off.

They found a shuttle at the end of Metallic Madness. Tails activated it, and they all blasted away into the skies of Little Planet aboard the shuttle. “We should be leaving the atmosphere soon,” Tails stated, turning to everyone and smiling. Iron Queen was still crying her eyes out.

“Hey, hey, it’ll be okay,” Sonic told her. She was trying to speak, but couldn’t.

“No, it won’t!” Iron Queen cried. “How can you say that? This didn’t end well for anyone!”

“How’s that?” Sonic asked. “You survived, Amy is gonna be free, and Tails and I can go home to Giganima now that we’re all cool with each other! Works out for everyone.”

“What do you mean? We’re not ‘cool with each other’!” Iron Queen whined, distraught. “You two are freaking banished from the Iron Dominion for tracking mud on the castle and ruining my plans. I don’t want you here anymore.” Iron Queen went back to crying.

“Well, Tails, looks like we have to find a new place to live before we start making any real changes around here,” Sonic groaned. He then smiled. “Let’s find somewhere real good this time!” Sonic turned around, to see the Amy statue replaced with a pink Erian hedgehog. Little bits of stone melted away into fur and skin. His eyes widened.

She had a big smile on her face and her eyes were full of life and energy. “Wow, now I can finally hug you after all this time, Sonikku!” She exclaimed with her sing-songy electronic voice, jumping forward and wrapping her arms around Sonic. Sonic rolled his eyes, and smiled.

END OF BOOK 2. BOOK 3: “RESTRAINED”, WILL BE COMING UP NEXT.

"To live a life of power, you must have faith that what you believe is right, even if others tell you you're wrong. The first thing you must do to live a life of power is to find courage. You must be ready to reach beyond the boundaries of Time itself. And to do that, all you need is the will to take that first step...." - Sonic CD