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Ivo Robotnik had been the only human on a planet of mobians for quite some time when he decided it would be best if he took it over. After all, he had the genius to lead these people to a glorious future- and if that failed, he had the technical skills to turn them all into mindless robots. It made perfect sense to put him in charge.
The mobians didn’t really seem to see it that way, so he assumed he’d make some demonstrations of power, just so they knew how impressive he truly was. He was doing pretty well for himself, having taken over several villages in a couple of weeks, when the little blue blur showed up.
He’d decided to attempt a coup on another town, and so he sat seated thirty feet in the air in his mobile flier and watching as his drones flew in, shooting lasers through windows while the smaller SWATBOTs disarmed the mobians or took them hostage. Just casual, everyday political takeover stuff.
Then came the hedgehog.
Robotnik noticed one of his badniks went offline, and then shrugged and moved on, assuming it was some technical glitch or accident. But then another went offline, and another, and another. He grew confused, and then upset- was someone destroying his robots? How dare they, didn’t they know how hard it was to find decent materials in this wasteland of a planet? He flew his vehicle downwards a bit, swerving between buildings, to try and track whatever was killing his bots. The thing seemed to move fast though- maybe it was simply a technical malfunction, there’s no way any living thing could be slaying them that quickly.
He planted himself in the route the thing seemed to be taking, watching to see what would happen to the nearby SWATBOTs. Then, in a flash, the bots crumpled to the ground, huge holes in their chests, and a mobian was on the ground, unrolling himself from a little ball. Robotnik stared, assessing the creature. It was an unusual shade of blue for a mobian, and very small- now, as it stood up, he could see that it seemed to be a hedgehog.
“So!” he called out, as impressively as he could. “You dare to declare war on the great Doctor Ivo Robotnik!”
The hedgehog looked up and blinked at him.
“I must tell you, this was a foolish decision. I am much more intelligent than the rest of this planet combined! I could control every metallic substance within thirty feet if I wished! I...”
The hedgehog let out a loud, happy giggle, and then said, “Your butt looks like an egg.”
Oh. Oh no.
That voice was high-pitched– very high-pitched, but masculine. Meaning this was a child. Now the tiny stature made sense.
Robotnik flew down a bit closer, once again taking in the hedgehog with this new information. This little boy couldn’t be older than eight– maybe closer to six or seven. He had worn-out brown shoes over his feet, which he was tapping impatiently on the ground, and around his too-large gloves were clamped golden ring-bracelets, holding the fabric in place.
After this, Robotnik considered the hedgehog’s latest statement, and then said, “Young man, this is not my posterior. This is my vehicle.”
“Your what?”
“My mobile flying machine. I created it myself.”
“What does it do?”
Robotnik wasn’t entirely sure why he was stopping to answer these questions- this hedgehog was clearly a threat, he should neutralize it. But instead, he said, “It can levitate me into the air, as well as travel at superior speeds.”
The hedgehog perked up the second he heard the word speed. “I bet I’m faster.”
“Oh, really?”
“Race ya to that really really big clock and back!” the child said, bouncing. “OnetwothreeGO!”
He took off, becoming nothing but a blur in the wind. Then, after only a few seconds, he returned.
“I win!”
Robotnik peered at him. “Fascinating,” he said. This kind of speed was highly unusual for any living creature he’d ever seen or studied.
The hedgehog opened his mouth to say something, and then flinched, grabbing one of his bracelets. Then he said, “Oh, uh, you’re the dude I’m s’possed to beat up, right?”
Robotnik raised a brow. “‘Beat up’?”
“Yeah. You’re taking over towns, and that’s no-good.”
“I am simply spreading the glory of the future Robotnik empire-”
“More like eggman empire, Eggman.”
“I would prefer if you referred to me by my proper name.”
“And I would pre-furr if you went boom.” said the child, tapping his foot again. “But I guess I’ll just have to do the spin-dash thing again.”
“The...”
The child rolled up into a ball, and launched himself at the nearest wall. He bounced off, then crashed into an alley. After a moment, he emerged, brushing trash off his quills.
“Sorry, I’m no-good at aiming yet. Just... hold still a second, okay?”
He once again curled into a ball, bounced into a wall, and this time flew straight at the vehicle, hit it in the center, and sent it flying off into the air.
“Thank you!” the boy called as Robotnik started to scream.
Robotnik went several weeks before he saw the hedgehog again, but he was still absolutely fascinated.
The speed alone was enough to pique his interest. In all his studies and encounters, he’d never known of anything that could travel at those speeds- not humans, not mobians, not even machines. Add to that the fact he seemed able to use his own body as a weapon, launching a complicated vehicle into the air with merely a simple impact, and this was indeed a powerful child.
And he was a child.
Robotnik considered himself many things- a genius for starters, a born leader, a mechanic, the only remaining human on this planet, etc. But he knew he was not someone who would harm a child. Sure, he’d scare them a little until their parents agreed to hand over the city, maybe grab one or two to use as a hostage. But he wouldn’t hurt them, he wasn’t a monster. And this child was young, younger than Robotnik himself had been when he’d first started creating artificial intelligence.
He puzzled over the encounter for quite some time, sometimes forgetting to terrorize the mobians as he instead weighed the possibilities for what was going on with this child. Perhaps he had one of the mythical chaos emeralds- no, if one of those were here, he’d have seen it. Besides, he didn’t know if those were supposed to grant speed. Perhaps he was a robot, built by a rival of his- no, he definitely seemed organic, from the way he moved and bounced and talked. But this child most certainly was not alone- he’d said, “You’re the dude I’m s’possed to beat up,” implying that someone had set him on Robotnik, instead of the child making the choice himself. Maybe the boy’s parents were very powerful and considered the genius human a threat- but he didn’t know of any powerful hedgehogs. In fact, he didn’t know of any hedgehogs nearby, let alone any that would be in charge of something important.
Eventually, he went out again, and he decided to chop down the trees in a small valley to make room for his robot army. However, as the machines got to work cutting the trunks, the boy showed up again. Robotnik spotted the blur from high above the forest, zooming out from the trees and running inbetween them. He figured he should stop him, but instead he lowered himself, trying to get a better view of the child. He hid himself behind a bundle of branches, just in time for the boy to pass- he was whooping, hollering, and deliberately scattering leaves underfoot. And, yes, he started destroying the robots, that was quite annoying, but he would also pause every now and again to cartwheel, or to look in awe at some tree or rock. That seemed to indicate he, to say it in a very casual way, “did not get out much.”
After a while, Robotnik flew out from behind the tree, calling out, “So! The blue blur appears again!”
“Blue blur?” the boy turned, confused. “Where?”
“I... was referring to you.”
“Oh.”
The boy then stopped, brushing his hands on his legs, and looking up at the human expectantly, with a small smile on his face. He clearly thought this was some kind of game.
“Young man, I am simply trying to bring a brighter future to all of Mobius.”
“Really?” the boy considered, then jumped and grabbed his bracelet again- he had done that once before, perhaps it was a nervous gesture? “No, no. You’re bad. Good people don’t hurt people with robots. And good people don’t chop down trees! Do you know how cool trees are? I, like, just found out that they produce oxygen for us to breathe. We wouldn’t be able to breathe without ‘em. And they’re fun to run your paws over, I like the text-ure. One day I wanna be able to climb one, but I’m not very good at that yet.”
Whenever the boy talked, he seemed somewhat normal for his age. Meaning his power was even more perplexing.
Halfway through the boy’s rambles, Robotnik raised a hand. “Young man, what is your name?”
“My wha?”
“Your name.”
The boy blinked, as if he’d never considered having a name before. Then, he said, “Um, most people just call me ‘you’ or ‘kid’ or ‘idiot.’ I’m not fancy enough to have a name ye-- OW!”
The child once again slapped a hand over a bracelet, and Robotnik reconsidered this action. Perhaps those bracelets were on too tight, and were pinching his arms... whatever, what did he care?
“You must have a name.”
“Nu-uh.”
“Then what are you called when they tell stories of your power?”
“Usually I’m ‘the experimen-’ OW! OW! OW!” the child then hugged himself, using both hands to grasp onto the opposite bracelet, shivering.
Experiment. So he was genetically enhanced, that made more sense. But still... what kind of genetic enhancements could cause a child to do this? And more importantly, who was sending a child into a battle?
He paused, and then said, “Well, apologies, dear child, but progress must continue! Behold, my drone-bots will be your undoing!”
He backed up into the air, and hit a switch to deploy his drone-bots into the air. The boy had to dodge their lasers- which he did with his speed, giving Robotnik plenty of time to study his movements. It was so hard to see, but he indeed seemed to be running, not teleporting. He would launch himself into the air by bouncing off a tree trunk or rock, rolling into a ball to shatter the drone; being able to do that alone was a sign of incredible strength. In fact, the running must show incredible strength, too, with the fact he could go at those speeds without his heart exploding in on itself. And this was only at the boy’s young age; if he continued to grow, who knew what he could do?
Robotnik probably should have cared more that this hedgehog was going to be a problem. But instead, when the boy finished crashing through the drones, he called out, “You know what, hedgehog? Your supersonic speed is quite astonishing. Perhaps you would like to join my team?”
The boy eventually declined and sent him once again flying into the air, but for a moment, he paused, his eyes lighting up, a word sticking with him.
“Superwhat?”
“Sonic.”
The hedgehog appeared more and more frequently with each passing week.
Robotnik was never sure when he’d arrive to defend a village, or to free one that had already been controlled, or to ambush his machines in the woods with a gleeful laugh and barrage of questions. Robotnik kept a close eye on him, trying to figure out what exactly made this child work.
His mood changed by the day. Sometimes he was furious at the destruction the boy caused, vowing that he would make him pay for impeding his plans. And yet, some days he was more... concerned. He wouldn’t admit it, it wouldn’t really improve his reputation as a stern leader, but... something seemed wrong about this child, something very wrong. Maybe it was the lack of authority, the flinches every now and again, the fact he’d almost admitted to being an experiment. The fact he had no name.
Or maybe the fact he didn’t legally exist.
Robotnik poured through everything he could, but there were no records of blue hedgehogs being born anywhere nearby, and his drones sent farther away turned up nothing either. In fact, the only hedgehog child they had spotted was a young pink girl playing on a farm, one who looked nothing like the blue blur that was so troubling the doctor.
Something was wrong with this hedgehog- and Robotnik knew that if harm was coming to this child, someone or something was going too far.
One day, Robotnik decided to sit by the edge of a lake while he repaired a drone, watching the sun set overhead. He worked in silence for a long while, just how he liked it, and then he heard that little zoom, the pounding of quick footsteps, and then the curious, “What’cha doin?”
He turned, seeing the little boy behind the log he sat on, peering over at the machine.
“I’m repairing one of my drones, which you destroyed.”
The boy considered. “I should probably stop you from doing that.”
“You probably should.”
The boy didn’t do anything. Then, carefully, he said, “You know, I think I’m actually alone in the woods.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Usually they can follow me but I don’t think they go out here.”
“Who is they?”
The boy didn’t respond, instead crawling up onto the log and looking at the drone. “All those wires and things make it work?”
“Yes.”
“Do I have wires and things?”
Robotnik paused, and then said, “Well, let’s see.” He reached out towards the boy, and then felt his heart skip a beat when the child instantly recoiled, reaching up his hands as if he expected to be struck. Robotnik paused a moment, before saying, “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Huh?”
“Well, you’re not destroying my robots right now, are you?” Robotnik said, slowly setting the drone aside. “And I’m not rightfully overtaking a village. So we’re not enemies right now.”
“I... guess?”
“Then let me see if you’re truly organic.”
Hesitantly, the boy lowered his arms, and Robotnik reached out, running a hand over the quills.
“What’s or-gan-ic?”
“Living. Not a machine.”
“Are you organic?”
“Unfortunately.”
“What’s un-fortune-at-ely?”
Robotnik finished brushing through the quills, and then said, “You seem to be alive.”
“So?”
“No wires.”
“Oh. They looked cool. Trees look cool, too. Do I have sap?”
“What?”
“I kept poking a tree until it made sap once.”
“No, you have blood.”
“Ugh, that’s way less cool. Trees are so cool. And plants! I never thought they’d feel so rough, I always thought they’d feel like glass. I thought a lot of things would feel like glass but I guess it’s just glass that feels like glass.”
Always thought... “Have you only just now been able to... touch plants?”
“Yeah. Being outside is so weird. But so fun!” The boy then turned to the lake, and shivered slightly. “Why do you sit by that much water?”
“It’s peaceful.”
“You’re not scared you’re gonna fall in and die?”
“Are you?”
The boy hesitated once more. “Are you trying to... ‘get information so you can defeat me’?”
“Are you?”
“I dunno.” the boy began to kick his legs, cocking his head to the side. They sat in silence for a little bit longer, and then the boy said, “I should go before they get worried. But, uh... don’t get too comfy! Cause I’m gonna beat you up next time I see you!”
“Or maybe I’ll defeat you.”
“I’d like to see you try, Eggman!”
“My name is Robotnik.”
“I won’t remember that. See ya!” With that, he was gone.
Robotnik was sure that this child was abnormal in every way, shape and form.
He was also sure that this child was in a situation more dangerous that Robotnik would ever dream of putting him in.
The crash came just a few months after that.
Robotnik had gotten into a bit of a routine with that hedgehog- though he was certain it wouldn’t last long, he would surely triumph eventually. The boy would appear, and trash his robots, and Robotnik would reveal a different robot, more designed to trap him. The boy would trash that, too, and Robotnik would go back to the drawing board with new information on the boy and new ideas to make better machines. After all, he couldn’t overtake the world with machines that could be defeated, could he?
One day, he had his drillbots at the bottom of a canyon, while he supervised their activity. He’d detected energy sources beneath the rocks, and wanted to be the first to find and use it.
Sure enough, the boy appeared, looking down from a high wall. “So, Eggman!” he called. “You think you can escape me by going underground?”
Robotnik turned his vehicle around. “Ah, if it isn’t that meddling hedgehog! Badniks, attack!”
At first, it went the same as the other fights. Sonic began “spin-dashing” into the bots, or rushing around to try and get them to direct their laserfire at each other, or stopping on a rock to yawn and quip before getting right back into the action. Nothing real unusual.
Robotnik got a little concerned, though, when he glanced up, and saw people beginning to gather at the edges of the canyon, looking down onto the scene below. A quick glance told him these were just ordinary mobians, watching with curiosity to see who would win the fight. A few of them seemed to recognize him, or the hedgehog, or them both, and whispers began spreading. Robotnik turned his attention away from them after a while, in order to better send his drones after the boy. While the boy was distracted by those, the drilling machines could keep up their work.
The child shoved the last drone into the wall, letting it shatter, and then he wasted no time, bursting through one of the drill-bots, laughing as it began to collapse. He pushed through another, and another, and then, before Robotnik could blink, he’d launched himself at the doctor’s vehicle. He must have been off his aim, though, because instead of sending Robotnik away, the vehicle slammed into the canyon wall, and Robotnik was caught in the impact. Pain shot up his legs with the vehicle’s burst, and then hit him again as he fell down the wall, crashing onto the hard, rocky floor.
There was a zip, and the boy was in front of him. Robotnik looked up, struggling to move his aching limbs, as the child said, “Whoa! I think I won!”
Robotnik groaned, trying to sit up, and slipped, hissing as a burst of pain hit his arm.
“Whoa. Are you oka--” the boy paused, and then flinched and grabbed his arm. He spun on his heels, looking back towards the top of the canyon, and Robotnik followed his gaze. There were indeed a crowd of mobians, but now, when he squinted, he saw there were a few, just a little separated from the rest, who didn’t seem at all concerned or surprised by the happenings. One of them waved something- a colored flag?
It was clearly some kind of symbol, and one the child didn’t like. He gasped, and then glanced at Robotnik, and then back at the crowd. He turned to the doctor, hunching up his shoulders, tensing his muscles. For a moment, Robotnik thought he was preparing for a spin-dash. Perhaps he was. But then he uncurled himself, shaking his head. “No.” he said. Then, much louder, “No.”
A beat. Then the boy screamed.
He dropped to the ground, unable to hold himself up, and once again grabbed onto his bracelets, squeezing his hands around them as if he wanted to crush his own wrists.
Robotnik hoisted himself up, and then pushed himself closer to the child. He knelt down, examining the boy- he was definitely in physical pain, yes. The bracelets... Robotnik reached down, managing to lift the boy’s arms closer to him. Though he wasn’t touching the rings, he could feel a distinct vibration, and when he did reach forwards and poke one, he felt a jolt of pain spread up from his finger.
He reached into his jacket, rummaging through pockets to find the right tool. He finally found a screwdriver, which would have to do, he didn’t want this child in pain any longer than necessary. He managed to pry the metal under one of the bracelets, and he wiggled it around, trying to either rip it off or find some kind of clamp. The boy screamed, and Robotnik didn’t know if it was in protest to the doctor’s actions or from another jolt of pain, but he didn’t have much time to figure it out.
He pried against the metal, pushing the screwdriver to the center of the boy’s inner wrist. It felt a bit loose, so he pushed the metal up, trying to stretch the ring enough... shing! The ring opened up, dropping to the ground, and sparkled with electricity for only a second longer before dimming. The other ring, as if connected, instantly did the same, falling from the boy’s arm and crashing into the dust.
The child froze, still shaking and holding himself. Tears continued to stream down his face, but his eyes were not longer fearful or pained, but more... completely bewildered.
Robotnik lifted a ring, examining it. “What is this?”
The child choked out. “I... I was born with them... how did you get them off? You can’t get them off...”
Robotnik shook his head. “You were most definitely not born with these.”
“N-no. I was. And they zap me when I’m being bad.”
He inspected them closer. “These appear to be inhibitor rings- or, at least, they were. Clearly someone tampered with them to turn them into electric shockers.”
“Tampered?”
“It means someone is using these to hurt you on purpose.”
The boy’s eyes widened again, and clearly a million thoughts were racing through his mind. None of them good.
Just then, something exploded- at the time, Robotnik assumed it was a delayed reaction of a destroyed robot, though later he realized it must have simply been a smokebomb, thrown to distract any potential witnesses. There was a loud noise, which caused the child to cover his ears, letting out a cry, and then there was smoke everywhere, pressing against Robotnik. He reacted on instinct, reaching out and grabbing the child and pulling him in the opposite direction of the blast, turning around to shield him from debris. But instead of being hit with metallic parts, he found something stabbed into his arm- a fast-acting tranquilizer.
Before he passed out, he heard the child scream again.
“No! No! I don’t want to- no! Stop it!”
As Robotnik drifted closer to consciousness, he heard several things that would take him quite a while to process.
First, the boy’s voice. “I don’t want to! No!”
“Quit being so obstinate.”
“You’re obsi-tant!”
“You have to complete your mission. Can’t you understand? You’ll be a hero.”
“No!”
“All you have to do is kill the villain. The world has already seen you as their champion, saving them from his evil clutches, now free them and let them see. Let the world see your true power.”
“Then the world is scared! I don’t want them to be scared, I don’t want anyone to be scared!” the boy was clearly sobbing, struggling to get the words out. “And I don’t wanna kill anyone! Never never never!”
“You’ve been absolutely awful recently. Perhaps allowing you outside this early was a bad idea.” A name was called, and then ordered, “We’ll have to take him farther inward.”
“No! No, no!”
“Look at you! We could have left you to die in that broken machine, but instead we took you in and kept you safe. And this is how you repay us!”
“You’re using me! You hurt me! YOU HURT ME!” a larger, more horrible sob. “You were hurting me the whole time...”
A tense pause. “We will give you one more chance. Kill your enemy.”
Another long silence, during which Robotnik’s mind began to work again. He slowed his breath, trying to appear unconscious, as he assumed he was supposed to be. He could feel his arms, pulled back into cuffs, and hear the shuffles of many people in an echoey room.
Then, an order to another. “The experiment needs punished.”
“No! No!”
More conversations, spoken as if a child was not screaming in terror behind them. “Are you sure we can’t fake the death?” “The spin-dash is quite unique, the people will notice.” “Perhaps we can work around it.” “We have a story, of course. The child was kidnapped by the human after that explosion, and in order to get out...”
They were speaking about the child as if he was merely a puppet. And as if he wasn’t, at the moment, screaming and sobbing.
Robotnik decided to take a risk, and squinted his eyes open. He was definitely attached to a chain in the wall, holding him in one area; ahead of him, many mobians. Then, on the far wall, the boy was being held down by two adults as he shouted, trying to kick them off, trying to break free.
The mobian who seemed to be in charge eventually knelt down, waiting until the child looked up at him. “You’re such a little beast. Clearly you need to re-learn how to behave.”
The boy let out a loud curse, his voice broken by tears of anger and fear. Then he spat, aiming for the mobian ahead of him. He missed, but the mobian reacted swiftly, striking the boy across the face. The child let out a scream, and then the mobian stood, as someone brought forward a metal box.
“No! No! Nononono!”
The boy was lifted into the air, still screaming, and then put in the box, the lid slamming over him, muffling his cries. It was small, too small. Robotnik would be surprised if the boy could even breathe in there.
“Put it in the water.” said the leader.
“Are you sure?” said another.
“Just a few minutes. Let him know who is in control, and what happens when he acts rebellious.”
A mobian lifted the box, attempting to carry it off.
And then the box exploded.
Everyone was thrown back with the force of the blast, all but Robotnik, who was already practically against the wall. He flinched at the pressing wind, but looked up, and thus was the first one to see the child, glowing with a black, shivering power, his eyes slanted and glowing a cold, dead white.
“What the hell?” “What is it doing?”
The boy blinked, only once, and then tore across the room.
The boy knew what he was doing. Anyone could easily believe he was possessed, that he was acting involuntarily, but that wasn’t true. He had his mind about him- maybe not completely, but he knew what was happening. He just didn’t care until later, didn’t think until later. He moved fast, and he moved with a deep fury. His pounding heart blocked the screams from his ears, the energy moving his claws distracted him from what they were slicing open, his glowing eyes skimming over the blood, on the lookout for anything that moved, for the next target.
He didn’t quite know how long this happened, only that his rampage ended when he reached the doctor. His heart stopped a moment when he saw him, when he saw he was awake and watching, and then the boy was right there, ripping through the chain, causing it to burst open and set the human free.
When the chain had broken, the boy stopped in front of the human, looking over at him, trying to figure out what this man was thinking. As he stopped, he felt the darkness fade from him, sapping away the longer he stood still, lifting into the air and dispersing. He blinked, and the room seemed darker, and his hands heavier, and the world quieter.
After a moment, he whispered, “Eggman?”
The doctor paused, and then said, “Are you alright?”
The boy opened his mouth, and then closed it. And then he caught a flash of red out of the corner of his eye, and he turned, and saw the rest of the room.
He let out a bloodcurdling scream, horrified at the sight, at what he had done. He began to run, racing to each unmoving body, trying to lift them, stepping back when he realized more blood was staining his gloves, trying to keep his eyes from the rest of the carnage. “West? West, it’s me, get up, I’m sorry! Get up! Rotwang? It’s me, it’s your kid, I didn’t mean to... Vic? Wily? Davro? Cali, come on, get up! You’re okay, you’re okay, we’re gonna laugh and play a game. You said you’d play with.... get up, you’re okay! I’m sorry, I... you’re OKAY, YOU HAVE TO BE OKAY!”
With that, the boy stopped in the middle of the room and collapsed, falling to his hands and knees, and he began to scream and sob again.
After a few moments, he felt someone grab him. The doctor, the man he’d been fighting... he seemed to be hugging him, holding him close.
The boy, too tired and distraught to care, simply cried into his coat.
It was daylight when they stepped onto the grass.
Robotnik had taken the child from the hidden laboratory, and into his own hidden laboratory, where he helped him clean up, and found him gloves and shoes without the stain of blood or the scent of destruction. The little boy was quiet, unnervingly quiet, the entire time, but finally as they stepped outside, he spoke.
“The sun is pretty.”
Robotnik hesitated, and then said, “Yes, it is.”
The boy stepped forward, onto the paved path. “It makes it look like the road is shining.”
They were quiet, and then the boy walked into the grass, and sat down, letting the wind blow through his quills, letting the grass press against his arms and legs and sinking against the dirt. He could hear flickies chirping in the distance, and the breeze flowing through leaves and creaking branches. Clouds passed overhead, but none of them quite strong enough to block the sun.
The boy said, “I’m never sleeping inside again.”
Robotnik didn’t say anything.
“I’m not going to be locked anywhere. No more small spaces. And I’m not letting anyone be in charge of me anymore.”
Slowly, Robotnik sat in the grass beside the child. They were quiet for another long time, and then he said, “You know, I will continue to take over this world.”
Quickly, the boy responded, “And I’ll continue to beat up your robots.”
“Really?”
“You’re scaring people. You could hurt people. I don’t know if I trust you to be in charge.”
Robotnik held back a laugh. “Is that so?”
“Yeah. No offense.”
Pause. “Well. I’ll need some time to recover from my injuries.” The boy looked to him. “Maybe a few months. Long enough for someone to run around and see the sights. Maybe he’d even be back in time to fight me.”
“I’ll be on time for anything.” the boy said, cracking a smile. “Now that I’m free, I’m never gonna stop running.”
“Hmmph. Well, technically, you have to stop running eventually. You’ll have to sleep, and eat--”
“Don’t be stupid, Eggman.”
The boy got to his feet, and the doctor did, too. The boy reached to his arms, feeling where the bracelets had been, still surprised at how light he felt without them. Then he turned, and stuck out a hand. He’d seen the scientists give each other handshakes when they met, so he hoped that was a customary greeting.
Eggman shook his hand. Then, the boy said, “I think I have a name.”
“Oh?”
“I picked it myself.”
“Then let’s hear it.”
And so, before he raced off to feel the sun and the wind, and to feel both completely distraught and absolutely alive, he said, “I’m Sonic.”