#and thsts not common in the area they lived in until liek half a year before this writing

[axemetaphor]

I wanted to do Something in this Fine Hour of midnight now 2am but my hands hurt from drawing so I wrote instead and also, didn’t proofread this so pardon any mistakes

in order words i tried to figure out how it’d be to see somebody with dormant Chaos Powers during the event that triggers their powers so, i wrote how i kinda sorta think that could play out with Toxic. This isn’t canon to their story but if I like it in the morning maybe it will be?

‘cause they’re the only one of my OCs for whom that wouldn’t be a gruesome experience

The sky is grey with smoke, courtesy of both the exhaust from Robotnik’s massive robo-suit and the various fires started up by his latest sidekick. Sonic skids to a stop, sliding backwards with one palm grazing the ground, covered in dirt and bruises; the metal arm that just cleaned his clock is spinning in midair, settling back into place, and he grinds his teeth together as he realizes this situation is more than a little difficult to deal with. Reaching into hammerspace, he slides the red Chaos Emerald into this world, gripping it tightly.

“What, you’re gonna do that?” Toxic yells, taunting him. Sonic shoots the red porcupine an irritated glare, hefting the red Emerald in his hand. This guy’s starting to get on my nerves, he thinks, standing up tall. It’s been a rough fight already--Eggman’s Chaos Emeralds outnumber his two to one--and to make matters worse, this obnoxious newcomer’s back, getting all up in his face again. He shouldn’t’ve been surprised to see them on Eggman’s side, but he was; they seemed like way too much of a loose cannon for Eggman’s taste. But maybe he was mistaken. After all, Shadow had been a bit of a loose cannon, too, at the beginning.

“Just go home,” Sonic snaps. He’s not too keen on fighting someone without Chaos Powers. The last thing he wants to do is hurt a civilian, regardless of how annoying they are, but this is the final warning for him.

For some reason, that seems to get under their skin, and the cruel sneer twists instantly into a snarl of anger. They spring from the rubble they were perched on, dashing at him almost comically slowly. Maybe if they took off those ridiculous boots, they’d be faster, he thinks as he prepares to sidestep another barrage of fire. Sure enough, they lift that bizarre Great-Value-esque Wispon and pull the trigger, fire spewing forward as they strafe sideways to avoid blowback. He zips out of the way, looping around them to head for Robotnik himself, leaping into the sky and spin-dashing right at the giant machine, but he wasn’t paying attention during his little exchange with the porcupine, failing to realize Robotnik was definitely ready to counter that sort of attack. A massive arm swings out and smacks him away.

“Oh-ho-ho! You’ll have to try harder than that, Sonic!” Eggman cackles. With a crash Sonic hits the ground, tumbling a bit before getting to his feet again, just in time to spring away from another blast of fire.

His patience wears thin and he twists to face Toxic. “Why won’t you just get out of here?!” He yells, glaring. They grin, panting. “Just. Go. Home.”

“I am home,” they wheeze, lifting the Wispon again. With a groan, Sonic leaps out of the way as fire erupts again. Fine, then, he thinks, swiftly dodging behind them and lashing out with a light kick to the center of their back. They yelp, staggering before half-falling, using the Wispon to catch themself; Sonic doesn’t bother to even glance back as he goes back to addressing the Eggman Problem. Zipping up the robot-suit’s leg, he zigzags across the torso; a flailing metal arm strikes the robot body and it tilts, abruptly off-balance, giving him an opening. He spin-dashes again, this time hitting his mark and tearing right through the outer hull, quickly ping-ponging inside the robot’s bodice and completely scrambling its insides. Just as it starts to heat up, he crashes back out, tumbling to the ground as Robotnik utters a long series of curses, readying his escape. The thing detonates, first just one explosion in the chest cavity, then more along its form like a ripple effect, culminating in a huge cloud of smoke and rubble hailing down. Somewhere in the mess he knows Robotnik’s making his getaway, but Sonic finds himself too busy dodging falling debris to be too terribly worried until the dust settles and he stands in the middle of a mixture of broken rocks, burning plant life and robot chunks. Problem solved.

Wiping a hand across his face, Sonic sighs, then looks around--somewhere in the rubble are two Chaos Emeralds, blue and yellow. His eyes fall on Toxic, lying face-down with a rock across them, and a jolt of panic runs through him. Before he can even move, they rise, rock breaking in pieces across a fissure he hadn’t seen, and they cough harshly, lifting their head to look at him. Their eyes then flick down to a spot near them, and his eyes follow theirs--

That pile of rocks is glowing yellow, and it’s in their arm’s reach. Instantly the dots are connected but before he can react their hand descends, fingers wrapping around it, and an immense blast of light erupts forth. With a surprised yelp, Sonic flings his arms over his face, stumbling back and blinking to clear his eyes. “Wha…” He shakes his head, blinking streaks of light from his vision and he hears the scrape of boots on rocks; turning his focus back to the porcupine. They’re standing on shaking legs, staring down at the Emerald in their hands with an unusual look on their face. Unnerved, Sonic takes a hesitant step forward. “You--You should put that down,” he starts, and they drag their eyes from it to look at him. Their green irises are ringed with red, and abruptly he realizes their red fur seems almost like it’s...bleeding out into the world around them, and his blood runs a bit colder. A red aura, he realizes, this could go south, fast.

“I’on’t think so,” they say with unusual softness. A slow smile spreads across their face. “I feel great.” Their body flickers, edges distorting, and abruptly they’re gone, a sudden breeze pulling Sonic towards where they were, briefly. He blinks in shock at the empty space for a moment, and his stomach drops into his shoes.

“Oh,” he breathes, “shit.”