#they took the stretch and bounce physics of sonic AND RAN WITH IT

[rougethebadbinch]

just finished sonic prime and it was. amazing. holy shit. wow. y’all were absolutely not lying when you said it’s peak fiction ahdhqjdhajsbwks incoming ramble in the tags

[spinblue]

On Sonic during forces into IDW Comics, and a tiny insight on after

this is barely even a headcanon? I just wanted to get out all my thoughts on Sonic’s thoughts from these events, since it impacts my Sonic a lot. 

Honestly, it’s like my usual rambles just like times ten so if you choose to read, I’m sorry in advance aowineaw But gosh, it’s dumb long and was more just to get it out of my system than anything and is completely good to ignore tbh. 

—

Also, keep in mind that everything I describe here is just my default view on what happened. If you rp any character core to this and want to talk about things going down differently — I’m all for that too! 

—

Sonic wasn’t excessively physically tortured during his captivity during Forces. His imprisonment wasn’t dramatic or really anything. For the most part, he just sat in a cell with his arms and legs shackled. 

However, it’s not like it didn’t negatively affect Sonic. If you had to describe Sonic in one word — after fast — you would say free. Sonic is the embodiment of free will, and that very core part of him was taken from him, and he couldn’t do anything about it.  

It’s not like Eggman would have allowed him to go out and stretch his legs, and after his entire life of being able to run whenever he wanted for as long as he wanted, this was a harsh change to adjust to. He was just so restless.

Because not only was he stuck against his will in one place ( and this was the fastest thing alive, living embodiment of freedom, unable to so much as walk ) — but everyone was out there fighting for their lives and he couldn’t help.

Eggman made sure he was kept up to date on the progression of his expanding empire. He showed video feed of destroyed villages, trampled forests, and of so many people scared, hurt, and losing all hope.

It made him angry. Angrier than he has gotten in a long time. Angry enough to turn into Dark Sonic on a normal day — however, Eggman was smart. The cuffs used to chain Sonic also drained his chaos energy, and Sonic was kept weak. Alive and well enough to not fall into sickness or anything, but weak. It didn’t help that Sonic didn’t get a single restful night during his captivity ( not due to anything Eggman did directly, but Sonic just couldn’t let down his guard for even a second ) and he would do whatever he could to escape, trying to gather enough momentum/strength to break the walls, break his cuffs, anything. It left him more battered and bruised than anything Eggman himself directly did.

—

Being imprisoned for so long took its toll on him — though he didn’t allow himself to feel it at the time. After all, once he was rescued he was immediately taken into the thick of things, and he had an entire war to help win. 

Plus, he was Sonic the Hedgehog. He wasn’t the resistance leader — Knuckles got that role covered and Amy took on whatever extra was needed ( and boy was he relieved for that. Because for once people weren’t turning to him for guidance and instructions. he wasn’t the one in charge of millions of people doing what they can do take their planet back ) But, he was still The Hero ( people still looked at him for hope. for inspiration. for the opportunity they waited so long for ) He felt the pressure to act like nothing was wrong, that six months — half a year — of imprisonment was not enough to bring him down. And that they were all going to be okay and that they’ll finally win and bring an end to this whole mess. ( and somehow push past even when people were dying all around him. when so many have already died while he was sitting in some cell. and what kind of hero? what kind of hope? was he when all he could do is watch as so many good soldiers civilians died to protect him )

And you know, the easiest way to convince others of something is to convince yourself, first. Sonic fell into his role so wholeheartedly that he repressed the past six months. Pretty much instantaneously, too. Not giving himself any time to really process anything even after the war.

—

Despite his best attempts at repressing things, it wasn’t like he was just magically unaffected by what happened to him. 

It was in the little ways he changed after the events of Forces. 

He, more than ever, just couldn’t sit still. Before his imprisonment he’d be up for relaxing and be perfectly fine doing things cloud watching, but it was bad for a while after they won the war. He immediately left afterwards during the end credits of the game, after all. He made his rounds to say catch ya later to his friends, and then took off. And just, kept running.

He would be running, taking care of stray badniks, and then go to the next town, and repeat. and repeat. and repeat.

It wasn’t a conscious decision, but this was his way of making up for his six months of doing nothing. Of being so useless while people out here suffered through six months of war.

Not only was he itching to run, but he was itching to help. So he just couldn’t get himself to rest properly when there is still so much to do. So many people to save.

He went on like this for a long while. 

—

Eventually he crashed. And he crashed hard. 

It was messy, and it felt like all the tiredness that he’s been ignoring all this time dumped onto him at once. He also slept for almost two days afterwards. He woke up plenty of times during those two days, but would sooner or later drift back to sleep because he was just so tired.

Afterwards, that weariness was still heavy in his bones ( and at this point he half believed it would never leave him ) but he felt more relaxed, at least. Less like he was in a fast fall down with only seconds away from impact, and more like a slow ( a bit harsh ) trek up. Honestly, it didn’t feel like much of an improvement to Sonic at the time, but it was still better. And he desperately needed better at the time.

—

And that brings us to the start of IDW. 

Sonic running around and saving towns from badniks ( though nowhere near as frantic as he was at the start ) 

Sonic, again not consciously, but still he pulled away from his friends for a bit after the events of Forces. He was just so focused on doing what he could do help, of feeling the oppressing need to do more, that he forgot to check in with people like he usually would have. 

But after his crash one of his first realizations was that he misses his friends. He made the decision to try and track them down, but he ran into Tails before that. And then it lead him to bouncing back around his friends so it worked out in the end. 

Seeing his friends again cheered him up, far more than he would have expected it to. It also reminded him that he wasn’t in this alone — something he would have normally never forgotten, but things just got so cloudy for a while there. 

Hearing about Tails’s worry of Sonic being defeated again struck something in him, and it made him feel guilty for being the cause of his little brother’s distress like that, but it also made him strengthen his resolve to do better. To do better for Tails, the world, and himself. To be the Hero that everyone always proclaims him to be.

Too bad instead he causes an apocalypse. 

—

Before I let this dumb long post r e s t, I just want to say one more thing about why Sonic just was so adamant on Eggman being Mr. Tinker for good, and why Sonic thought letting Metal Sonic go was a good idea. 

Because it’s more than just the fact that Sonic believes in second chances ( though that also is a large and important factor ) Sonic truly believe that there is good in everyone, after all. And he will always want to bet on that bit of good in even the most evil villain. 

But, it was also just because Sonic was tired. That deep seated exhaustion that hasn’t left him since his imprisonment just flared and all of a sudden Sonic just wanted everything to end. 

He wanted to stop this constant back and forth. He didn’t want to fight Eggman anymore, he doesn’t want the world to be in constant peril every few months. 

He was so, so tired, and finally — finally a chance for things to change for the better was in grasp. For the first time in a long, long time, Sonic could see a future where there wasn’t constant danger looming over their heads. 

Because if Eggman truly was reformed, then there was no threat of an Eggman empire. ( once they stopped Metal Sonic, anyways ) 

And, with Eggman gone, it was the best chance for Metal to change, too. Because with Metal stripped of everything that made him dangerous, what threat was he? The only ones who could have fixed him was Tails or Eggman himself ( who at the time Sonic still believed to be Mr. Tinker ) Metal could go out and really experience the world himself, and again, because Sonic believes there is some good in everyone, he just figured that bit of good in Metal would finally be able to surface. 

Too bad Metal tracked down Eggman instead.

It was dumb, and way too idealistic of Sonic, but gosh did he want peace so bad. And when that small chance of obtaining it appeared, Sonic just latched onto it with all he could. He wasn’t thinking about it being too good to be true. He wasn’t thinking about all the things that could go wrong. He just wanted that peace. 

—

But as we all know it didn’t end up the way Sonic hoped, and it’s safe to say Sonic majorly screwed up. 

He’s going to be dealing with that guilt for a long time, and that faith that he so willingly gave will be withheld just a tad bit more. 

It’s been one misstep after another for Sonic, and he’s struggling to find his footing again. Because he’s trying. He really is. It’s just, not going the way he wants it to and he doesn’t know what else he can do???? 

He wants to stop letting people down.

[disrepairhouse]

::Return - Chapter 7

Light bounced around and off the purple fog covering the area creating a sickening wave of unnatural shadows as Itara stared up in horror at the two Gods.  Dark Gaia roared furiously and Solaris responded with an ear-shattering shriek. The long purple tendrils that surrounded them moved up suddenly and struck at the other God but were severed with a high-powered beam for their efforts, crashing, dead and limp, all around the area.

Itara’s breath caught in her throat as she pressed her back further against the dead tree she’d taken up residence behind, the lights of the fires burning in her wide, terrified eyes.  She could vaguely hear shouting nearby but couldn’t make out a single word.  She couldn’t even recognize the voices, let alone the words.  As Solaris and Dark Gaia battled above and around her, the power source they’d been tracking reacted violently to the overwhelming presence.  There was another pulse that echoed through her head, nearly sending her to her knees again, she only managed to stay upright by gripping the rough bark of the tree. The light from earlier dimmed and when Itara opened her eyes again to look frantically around, there was a distinct, swirling mass in the center of the area, just a few feet to her left. She could only feel its presence before but, possibly because of the Gods, she could now see the source of the anomaly… and she recognized it right away.

It was a portal after all.

And it was already breaking down.

Another shriek escaped when Dark Gaia jolted sideways and tossed several uprooted trees around, causing her to instinctively grab her ears again.  He got up easily enough and a wide barrier stretched out around him to block Solaris’ incoming attack, which Itara realized had inadvertently covered both her and the portal.  As the air around them went stale and static, the portal fluctuated and sputtered, weakening with another pulse, and Itara realized if they didn’t do something quickly it would vanish.

Their answer would vanish and she didn’t know if there’d be another opportunity.  They had to act now.  She had to act now.  With a deep breath, she looked around for the others.  The ground was still tilted and half the forest was on fire, trees were uprooted and tossed about and several large tendrils were lying limply around, blocking any possible paths between her and the others.  Shadow was moving an unconscious Tails further away from the battle but glanced her way long enough for their eyes to lock.  She didn’t know if he could hear her from that far away, over the battling Gods and the fires, so she mouthed ‘portal’ and gestured towards the swirling mass between them.

Shadow’s brows furrowed as he studied it, but nodded. Itara turned her attention back to the comm unit, wondering if anyone heard anything or if anyone was headed for the area.  She didn’t have time to think about it.  She knew it was a portal.  She didn’t know where it led, but she knew it was closing.  And she knew this was the power source she was tracking.  There was only one answer, so far as she could see. With a deep breath in, she pushed herself back to her feet, keeping a tight grip on the tree, and looked up at Solaris again before manipulating the strange shadows to create a ridge to the portal.  It was sideways from her and she knew she couldn’t run fast enough to reach it without tumbling down the incline, but if she could keep the shadows solidified enough to reach it, she should be able to jump through.  What happened after that, she would just have to figure out on the way.

With a slow, steady breath and another glance around, catching sight of both Shadow and Zero watching her, she gestured again to the swirling mass.  She didn’t wait for a response this time before bracing herself, letting her hands crystallize in case she needed to grab onto anything, and darted for the portal. Dark Gaia’s barrier was deteriorating and the portal reacted by pulsing yet again.  The wave nearly knocked Itara off her barely physical steps, but she dove for the portal and vanished.

 RK could almost feel the sheer glee radiating off Metal as his claws tore through several wildly braying monsters.  Almost immediately upon reaching their designated post a horde of Nightmares rushed in, though their actions were more confused and panicked than outright attack.  They hardly registered another presence before Metal was on them and no sooner had they reached the area than they were left, bubbling in goopy pools, halved by the grinning robot.  In all honesty, RK was just as eager to get back on the battlefield after so long, to sink his claws into something again, but he was equally concerned and distracted by Itara’s safety, as well as the erratic behavior of the monsters.

Some formed directly on top of them, some came rushing in, others were wandering, confused, with no direction.  Then there was the crevice in the distance that served as one of Dark Gaia’s retreats.  They’d long since lost track of the Gods and Gaia was the most difficult to track of them all when he disappeared into the earth for long periods.  Chaos disappeared similarly into the sea, but there was always a storm following above so it was easier to locate him. Solaris was a constant shining beacon, but with the sky in the shape it was, even Solaris’ shine could be difficult to pinpoint if he was purposely hiding.

But Solaris and Chaos weren’t his concern at the moment. The erratic Nightmares, Metal Sonic’s apparent bubbling bloodlust, and the possibility of Gaia’s appearance were his concerns at the moment.  Luckily, the first of those concerns kept him focused enough that the other two weren’t a constant distraction.  Or at least, they wouldn’t have been, if the ground hadn’t opened up so suddenly.

He’d been watching a Nightmare fly off after a hardy punch to the face with no uncertain amusement when a thick fog slowly crept up out of the far crevice and tendrils snatched the Nightmare out of the air, dragging it down under.  Itara was right.  Dark Gaia was nearby.  He alerted Metal, who ran several miles east to cover more ground, and commanded him to keep an eye on the tendrils.  No sooner had he sent the message than the ground shook and shuddered beneath him, nearly toppling even his heavy weight.  The opening cracked and tilted, inwards at first, but exploded outwards as Dark Gaia’s long, snakelike body rolled up from beneath with a great, bellowing roar.  An almost challenging roar, if RK had to guess.

He sent Metal another message then switched over to the other connection to warn the others but winced when his entire head filled with screaming static.  He quickly switched back over and let his systems calm again before shaking his head and notifying Metal and Zero.  He got a response back from Metal informing him he had sights on Dark Gaia and would follow from a distance, but got nothing from Zero.

The leviathan creature roared at the skies again and took off from his retreat, paying no mind to the robots tailing him, as he headed north.  Towards the center of the forest.  RK wasted no time following after.

‘Metal, get to the center, STAT.’

‘On it.’

Gaia left a hoard of monsters in his wake, which RK made quick work of, but finally seemed to end up ahead.  His sudden halt hardly gave RK any reprieve as he realized Gaia wasn’t the only one headed for what he assumed was the power source Itara was tracking.  Whatever they were after, the Gods had taken notice.  The golden beam left a trail of fire behind as he moved towards the other God and RK pushed his system to their limit to catch up.

By the time he reached the confusion that had become the forest, Dark Gaia and Solaris were in the middle of an all-out battle; the area around them was almost entirely decimated, the forest was on fire, his circuitry was buzzing, and Metal Sonic was staring in distress at a mass of swirling, pulsing energy at the center of it all.  Shadow was yelling into his comm unit from a distance, standing over a barely conscious Tails, getting no more response than RK had earlier, and Zero was making his way towards the obvious portal.

“What happened?!”

Metal and Zero both turned to him as he ran over, clearly struggling due to his frying circuitry and the wobbling ground.  Metal frowned and motioned towards the portal, “She ran through.”

“What?!”

“It’s on the verge of closing, I assume due to the presence of the Gods,” Zero explained, his brows furrowed in frustration.  “But there’s no telling where the portal goes.” There was no time to consider it further, and Zero imagined the time traveler came to the same conclusion, as the battle raged and the portal continued to weaken and destabilize.

“Follow her.”  The firm command caught the two off-guard as Metal looked back at RK in confusion, though followed his line of sight when he realized RK wasn’t talking to him.  Zero only stared in quiet consideration but nodded.

“I suppose that is the obvious answer.”

“Wait,” Metal interrupted, more concerned with the decision than either of them were expecting, “Shouldn’t one of us go after her?”

“I don’t know if we’d even be able to,” RK explained, “And quite frankly we don’t have the time to argue.  It’s not going to hold out much longer by the looks of it and we can’t stay in this area much longer.  There’s a strong possibility that portal leads back to Zero’s world so it makes more sense for him to go.”

“But-!”  Metal dropped his argument as his concern turned to frustration, then fury as he turned to Zero.  “Fine,” his arm sparked up as he stepped closer to the taller robot, venom dripping from every word as he threatened, “But know this, if you end up back in your world and abandon the tiny child, I swear, I will follow you and annihilate everyone you care about.  She’d better make it home.  Safe. In one piece.  Do I make myself clear?”

Zero studied him with no passing concern but RK watched with a hint of both amusement and reassurance.  He said nothing but Zero sighed and put his hands up, “Fine, fine. I will do what I can to assure the return of your child, but we have no further time to argue over this. Goodbye.”  With that, Zero refocused on the portal and Metal took a step back and lowered his arm.  With a quick scan over the area, Zero followed after the hedgehog and disappeared through the portal.  The addition caused the portal to pulse once more, convulsing violently and forcing the remaining robots to put a great deal of distance between them and it as quickly as possible to avoid further damage.  Within no time, the area, the portal, and all the energy pulsed and crackled with one final, devastating wave, enough to force even the Gods’ further away.  The others in the area had little time to react as the swirling energy dispersed with a powerful explosion that flattened everything around it.  Solaris took to the skies once more as Dark Gaia retreated back towards his crevice.

RK and Metal were well out of range in no time and stood out of the blast radius to watch the shock-wave crush the forest around it, taking the fires out with it.  They gave their computers several minutes to reboot from the interference caused by the portal and the silence finally broke when RK let out a long, tired sigh. Metal glanced over at him, then back to the forest.

“So what do we do now?”

“I don’t know…”

Metal’s brows furrowed as he watched every bit of movement after the initial blast.  Gaia was retreating south again and Solaris had vanished.  He caught sight of Sonic running in with Knuckles a good bit behind. With the leveled forest it wasn’t hard to spot Shadow emerging from the downed trees with Tails in-tow.  The four met up and the robots watched from afar, listening in on the conversation below them.

“Tails!  Shadow! What happened?!”

“I… can’t be sure, myself,” Shadow explained with a quick glance around for the missing members of the temporary group.

“Tails, you okay buddy?”

“Yeah, Sonic, I’m alright.  Shaken, but alright.  We should get in touch with the others, though, tell everyone to return to the base.”

“Right.  Well, the comm units have been nothing but static since we got here so we’ll have to find them to let them know,” Sonic shrugged with his own glance around. During his sweep of the area, he caught sight of the robots off in the distance and stared them down a moment before turning his attention back to Tails.

“I don’t imagine they’ll be far, considering the display.”

“Yeah, seems so.”

Metal shook his head and turned his attention back to RK, “Do the ‘play nice’ rules still stand with the tiny child off elsewhere?”

RK eyed him and heavily debated the question before sighing, “Let’s just tell them about the portal and then we’re going home.  They can figure the rest out on their own.” Metal scoffed when he didn’t get the answer he necessarily wanted but reluctantly nodded before running back in to talk with the others.  RK wasn’t sure how much contact he wanted to keep with them, but remembered Mira and Kelly would be at their base and realized they would at least need to keep up with some of them.  Though he had no intention of actively working with Sonic and friends from this point on.  He and Metal were going back to working by themselves until Itara returned.

 The world was spinning.

She couldn’t make heads or tails of any direction and her vision was all but useless against the endless swirling colors.  Her head felt as if it were about to burst and she couldn’t get a read on any outside energies to focus on.  The moment she entered the portal she was dragged in several directions, unable to get a grasp on any one possible exit.  Ultimately, one much stronger line dragged her in what she could only assume was towards an exit.  She’d never felt less in control of her travel and had no concept of where in time or the universe she was headed.  All she could do was let whatever power was strongest pull her in whatever direction it would and she would figure it out from there.  It felt like an eternity of struggling, yet at the same time, no time passed at all.

However, as soon as she thought she was at least orienting herself again to near an exit, it all jerked and swirled again.  Whatever had been leading her before split its path and threw her sideways.  She finally just closed her eyes and hoped for it to end soon.  She just wanted to be back on solid ground again.  She’d long since lost her connection to the entrance. Just as quickly as it sidelined her, she felt the weight of gravity again as she came crashing out of the surreal time-space onto hard solid concrete.

Well.

She asked for solid ground.

She took a moment to stabilize her head, blocking out the sounds around her until her eyeballs stopped spinning in her head. She could feel the concrete below her, as well as a coming nosebleed from greeting it with her face, but was relieved to feel that the concrete was cold, rather than the burning hot she’d been used to. In fact, the air around her felt completely different.  It was thick with a smoky scent, but it wasn’t as stifling and hot as before.  In fact, while she could feel the sun on her fur, there was a cool wind whipping around her.  Did she travel to the past again?  Before the Gods awoke?  The sounds of a busy city slowly trickled into her ears as she released them from her head again.  They shifted and twisted about, honing in on every sound.  It was a city, alright.  Noisy with chatter and mechanical whirs, but more importantly, concerned whispers.  Right, she was probably lying on a sidewalk having just appeared out of thin air.

With a heavy sigh she pushed herself up into a sitting position to at least run a hand under her nose to try and stop the bleeding.  The metallic taste was doing nothing for the growing headache.  She could also feel gravel stabbing into the wound on her leg.  The sooner she got that cleaned out and wrapped up, the better. But as she opened her eyes to get an idea of where she ended up, they only widened in shock and confusion.  She didn’t recognize this city.  At all.  This wasn’t Soleanna.  Or anywhere in her world she was familiar with.

Instead of mobians and humans, there were robots roaming everywhere.  The city, itself, looked considerably more industrial than any she knew, almost as if Robotnik created it, rather than humans.  A brief panic snapped through her as she considered the possibility that she had somehow landed in some horrifying future or alternate present where Robotnik finally won.  There were no signs of mobians anywhere, only robots and humans.  She pushed herself to her feet, despite her injuries and shaking legs, but stopped when the red gem slipped from her pocket and clattered to the sidewalk.  Kipper was still with her.  So was her backpack.  She tucked the gem back into her pocket and pulled her backpack off to pull the black notebook out.  Was this why her journal went black?  Because she ended up in an alternate reality altogether?

As she flipped through the pages to reach the blank ones, a heavy crackling and snapping erupted beside her, causing her to cringe and cover her ears again.  There was a round of confused gasps from those passing by but it was the thud of metal beside her that caught her attention.  Warily, she glanced up to see the displaced robot that had appeared in her world.  Unlike her, he landed on his feet as the portal closed once again and looked around the city with clear recognition.

“Finally.”

Finally?  So this was… she looked down at her journal again.  The entire first half of her book was jet black now.  But the pages that had been black before were finally clear and empty. Ready to be written in.  Even as she stared at it, words appeared, like they used to:

We’ve landed in Zero’s world….