Archive of Our Own ^beta

 ( DISCLAIMER: For full context, please watch Sonic Prime )

- The Timeline-
💥By RyanTheThing and RedinaHedge💥

(Rated PG-13)

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Warnings: Suicide, Self-Harm, Guns, Blades/Swords, Disturbing Descriptions, Blood, Corpses, Violence, Fear, Language, Existentialism, Cockroaches, & Mental Illness

Summary: A post-apocalyptic, Sonic-Prime AU where Sonic’s whole world is destroyed.

Plot (No Spoilers): Sonic puts the shards back together and his friends come back, while other dimensions still remain. They all team up to revolt against the Chaos Council in New Yolk City, and start a war. It gets out of hand and the Chaos Council starts to win. Eventually, Sonic escapes to the bunker and is locked there to be kept safe as the war finishes without him. Once he is broken out by a blast through the door, he runs up to see everything and everyone he ever loved is gone again. For years, Sonic survives on his own, fighting off robots that are left, and finding scraps under rubble. Through his journey, he experiences things he never has before. A long while passes, and Chaos Sonic awakens, realizing he's the only one left in an unrecognizable earth that healed itself. It's up to him and his pet rock to go on an adventure to find out what happened in the past, and if he can fix it.

Inspiration: Absolute inspirations came from Spore, The Raft, and Wall-E, but I might have unintentionally and subconsciously based this on Dune, Beetlejuice, Nimona, Salad Fingers, and Raya and The Last Dragon. Then again, where else do you get a wasteland from? Nah, not Fallout. Other Sonic media also caught my interest in all this. This AU actually originated from the animatic in my head of the song, "Pet Cheetah," by Twenty One Pilots. Inspiration from the song being ─ Sonic wants to take a break from the distress and wishes to go back to living a normal life again, maybe ending himself to try and make that happen, but he knows he has to keep moving for his friends. This song might be included in the trailer for a possible comic dub?

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CHAPTER INDEX:
* (1) Reunion - Sonic brings his friends back, and revolts against the Chaos Council.
* (2) Praelium - War prolongs; Sonic makes a bunker with his friends to hide from the bomb.
* (3) Desolate - It’s all over, and Sonic is the last one alive. Or is he…?
* (4) Resurrection - Chaos Sonic wakes up, questioning everything.
* (5) Answers - Chaos Sonic finally gets answers to what happens as a whole.

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(For full immersion of the story, please use this tracklist at the designated times!)

SOUNDTRACK:

* Boss 3 from Terraria

* Ranch Late Night from Slime Rancher

* The Chosen One (Instrumental) from Shadow The Hedgehog (05)

* Hazardous Environments from Half Life 2

* Cutscene - Null Space from Sonic Forces

* The Show from Spore

* Peaceful Universe from Spore

* Everybody Loves Somebody by Dean Martin

* Creepy Action 2 from Spore

* War is Over by John Lennon

* I Don’t Want to Set The World On Fire by The Ink Spots

* Else II from Rainworld

* Poison by Sofia Mills

* Crossing The Desert Ambience and Music by Martia’s Muses

* Ace of Hearts (Instrumental) by Deadbeat Boulevard

* Miss you from Sonic and The Secret Rings

* Everybody Loves Somebody by Dean Martin (Again)

* Its Okay by Cavetown

* Someday I’ll Get It by Alek Olson

* Mice On Venus by C418

* Winged Beast from 9

* Travel Soundtrack of a Lonely Sailor (Reprise) by Martin Abugarade

* Everybody Loves Somebody (Piano Cover) by RiivoJMusic

* Introduction to the Snow by Miracle Musical

* Forgotten Shores by Stafford Bawler

* Shoop by Salt N Pepa

* A Home For Flowers (Sunflower) from Omori

* The Stanley Parable 2 by Tom Schley

* Coffee On Jupiter by Aphrow

* Rises The Moon by Liana Flores

* She Likes Another Boy by Oscar Lang

* Ambush from Spore

* Bubble Wrap from WALL-E

* Neon Glow by Glass Beach

* Lifelines by Nordicwaves

* Urban Jungle from Rainworld

* I’m So Sorry by Sign Crushes Motorist

* In My Way from Undertale

* Orchids by Glass Beach

* The End of The World by Skeeter Davis

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CHARACTER & THINGS INDEX:
* Sonic (But yeah, the design for this cinematic story is in the picture below)
* Chaos Sonic (Also down below)
* Tails , Nine
* Amy
* Knuckles , Dread
* Shadow
* Rouge , Rebel Rouge
* Big (& Froggy )
* Dr. Robotnik (Eggman)
* The Chaos Council ( Mr. Dr. Eggman , Dr. Deep , Dr. Done-It , Dr. Don’t , Dr. Babble
* Eggforcers , Badniks
* Orbot & Cubot
* The Paradox Prism
* Other background characters (The alternate versions of Sonic’s friends)
* Stone-Cold (Imagine a little smiley face scratched into a smooth, ovalline gray rock)
* Sandworms (Little reference from the image below)
* Green Hill Zone
* ( Shatterverse ) The Void , The Grim , No Place , Boscage Maze , Ghost Hill , New Yolk City
* Mega New Yolk (All of the shatterverses collided into one; it’s just Green Hill again)
* The Wasteland (See below)
* Chaos Sonic’s Kingdom (See below)

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BEFORE YOU READ:

* If you use the tracklist, (optional and encouraged,) you do not have to listen to the whole song before moving on to the next one, just go to the other when you’re done reading a section and it says ‘track end.’ (It’s meant to just be themes for the background of certain parts!)

* TAKE YOUR TIME TO READ! It’s a lot to process, and it lets the music settle in! If the music stops before you finish reading, then just — replay it I guess? Loop it?? I don’t know.

* If you can’t watch Sonic Prime, there’s the index above to get an idea. HAVE FUN & ENJOY!

Estimated Reading Time: around 2 hours

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Prologue: ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
- Everything looks fine. A normal Sonic story, it seems.<3

- Green Hill, palm trees, colorfulness, bright themes of adventure, all of that is still here. Sonic himself, however, appears to be a lot different. Older, even. A scarf-like blanket lays around his neck, a few quills dangle over his head, his face is unwashed, and his eyes are heavy and tired. It’s as if he hasn’t slept correctly in years. His height was strangely tall, compared to his friends, but they made the most of it anyway. It’s as if nothing changed at all. As of right now, they were all defeating some badniks together, like they always do. As the others struggle and fight back to their best advantage, the hedgehog ends up finishing off the robots by finding a hole through the shield barriers, spindashing right through them. Afterwards, they all cheer and are pumped up from the bot-brawl. Sonic smiles and lets out a chuckle as they banter back and forth, but everything disappears for a second when dust gets in his eyes. He then sees the world as a dirty wasteland. He realizes why, and it takes a second for things to revert back to normal, his smile dropping slowly.

- He follows behind them as they walk off and laugh together, as if nothing happened. Sonic trails slower than the rest in deep thought. Tails notices something is up and comes back to talk to him, wondering if he’s okay. Sonic stops in his tracks and snaps, gritting his teeth. He had been dealing with this emotional torture for so long … 

- “Sonic, are you okay? We won , why are you still upset? Did we do something wrong?”
“Ngh… it’s because… you’re n-not… REAL !!”

Everything fades again, and Sonic starts sobbing on the ground, sitting there in the desert.
“Wait… no… Come back. Please .”
He took a moment to breathe, comprehending the actual environment around him. Particles blew over his hands. Once he regains himself, he gets up, running across the sand. 

- A little while later, a sudden robotic sandworm crosses his path. He watches as it chases behind him, avoiding the attacks once it gets closer. As he’s dodging and fighting it off, he immediately pulls out a gun from his belt pocket. It roars and speeds up after him. Getting out of its grasping range to get in front of it, he found its weak spot. He shot it straight in the mouth, killing it like a badass.✨

- The sandworm slid across the barrenness towards him, stopping right in front of his shoes. He put his foot on its large head in dominance, giving a nod. He goes back to his bunker, opening it with a remote control hidden on the side. His new garage-like door opens, and he goes inside, shutting it behind him. Sonic sits at his desk sleepily, and begins to write in his book.

“Why… Why did this have to happen?”

…

I’m so sick of being alone.

- Bonus Scene: Sonic with a happy thumbs up, looking at the camera with his friends in the background. “Psychotic depression!” :D

Part One: Reunion ──────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────

- This takes place at the last episode of season 2, (before season 3.) The only thing different being: Nine traveled to The Grim with Sonic to get the last shard, then built it back together with him at Ghost-Hill. He was just combining the shards, fitting them in place with perfection, according to the blueprint, when Sonic interrupted him from putting the last piece together.

[Soundtrack: Boss 3 from Terraria]

- They got into an argument. Sonic wanted to bring back his old world and friends, and Nine wanted to rebuild a better dimension just for the two of them. He hadn’t even put the last shard on yet, but now he didn’t plan to. Before he could take the others, Shadow rushes in and intervenes, tackling the fox. He knew he couldn’t trust him, and he was not going to let him get away with this; he needed Sonic to fix their world, if it was the last thing he would do.

- Sonic sides with Shadow to fight against Nine, despite not wanting to. He wanted everyone to get along and come to a compromise, but Nine made it clear that would not happen. The fox uses his advanced-tech to get back at them. And In a bit, the opposing team gets the last shard. Nine realizes he has no other option but to run away, scowling and feeling betrayed, deceived, and used by the one person he considered his friend.
“YOU’RE GOING TO REGRET THIS, SONIC. JUSt you wait …”
With that — he backed away and turned to escape.

- Sonic felt guilty about this, reaching out for him, but Shadow convinced him that they were in the right. They took the crystals carefully, and placed them in the grid with completion hesitantly. Hopefully this was the right thing to do. Sonic recalled that if a crystal was even slightly out of place, it could have big problems for the realm. With Shadow(the faker)’s reassurance, they somehow got it in correctly together.

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: Ranch Late Night from Slime Rancher]

- They put the shards together, but instead, everything gets brung back and still keeps the other worlds as well. (Yes, in this universe, the other dimensions get to stay!)

- This surprises the hedgehogs, and all of their friends emerge from the prism with a grand, static explosion. Eggman and his robots were there too. Everyone gets up and yells at Sonic, but then are confused about what just happened, so he explains everything , including the stuff he, Shadow, and Nine all went through. They also escort Robotnik and his sons out as he flies off, planning to come back later. 

(Not like he’d tell them, though.)

- Once Sonic gathers everyone, they introduce themselves and their stories, going on for quite some time. It worked out well, and everyone pretty much got along! In fact, they had something in common, too: all of them had to face the same antagonist in one way or another. So, in order to help each other out, they figured out a plan to gather everyone in the city to defeat the ultimate evil: The Chaos Council.

- On top of this, Sonic decides they should never mess with the prism ever again, and should hide it away for good. The main friends move the prism carefully to another cave, and cover its opening to where it’s hidden, before joining back with their counterparts. Also, no more portals! All the worlds collide into a singular beautiful island, surrounded by the ocean from No-Place.

- So basically it’s the same as before, but taking parts from each dimension while still retaining the main shape of everything. It’s all in havoc, however. This mass of land became known as Mega New Yolk , by the Chaos Council, and still Green Hill to the Sonic team.

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: The Chosen One (Instrumental) from Shadow The Hedgehog (05)]

- Nine, who ran away, thought out a plan to get his vengeance against Sonic, wiping pathetic tears from his face. He sees the worlds overlap, and goes back for the prism. He returns, but the prism is gone. He’s shocked with disappointment and anxiety, looking all over for it. At the same time, Eggman had come to get it too, and they both couldn't find it. He then captures Nine and decides to take him instead. 

- He met up with the Chaos Council, who praised him and wanted him as their new leader. Accepting the collaboration, they worked together with Nine as their slave, just like before. Now that he’s forced to operate with him, maybe he could use this to his advantage…

- After word got around by Sonic’s team, citizens and rebels teamed up and marched to the council to take it down. The eggmen were already dealing with themselves, discussing that ‘robots with personality will always betray you in the end’, when they got a threat saying: "It’s over eggheads, we're taking you down right now!"
In which they basically responded from within by the speaker, "THE HELL YOU AIN'T!" 

(It was obviously more professional than that, it’s just funny to imagine in summary.)

- Giving a threat back, they readied their defenses, and Sonic’s group falled back with the other people who followed. It seemed like this wasn’t going to be very easy… 

- There’s only one way to take down these fascist leaders, and Sonic knew he wouldn’t like it, but it was for his friends’ freedoms. Gathering them all back, he declared a war with Eggman.
“Very well, Sonic the Hedgehog…” The announcement boomed, “but this isn’t a wise decision of yours. You should all just surrender now!”
“NEVER!” Dread shouted from the crowd, “Not until yer out o’ our hair!”
The rest of the public roared with anger alongside him, demanding their freedom, asking for Nine back, and being sick of the council’s abuse against them. Sonic stood with dominance towards the megaphone that his enemy hid behind.
“You heard them, eggface. We’re not letting this go on any longer!”
Eggman laughed from the speaker, “Then so be it…”

- After several weeks, they officially caused a war to break out between organic soldiers and AI-Powered machines. One that they’d all regret beyond their buried souls.

[Track End]

- Bonus Scene: Sonic (distraught) reaching towards Nine before he leaves.
“NINE, WAIT!”
The fox turns around with a slight-interest in his glare.
Sonic stands awkwardly, “...I’M SORRY, BUT YOU JUST REALLY LOOK LIKE DOC-OCK─”
“sCREW YOu.”

Part Two: Praelium ──────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────

[Soundtrack: Hazardous Environments from Half Life 2]

- 1 1  m o n t h s  L a t e r . . .

- During the war, so many had broken/died. A protest, united from the few citizens and veterans left, tried to end this as a whole. Or, at least, bring it to a peaceful surrender. This was going too far. 

“STOP-THE-WAR! STOP-THE-WAR!” They chanted, holding up signs by the battlefield. A poor decision, really. Lasers and bullets fired at them, and they fled, dropping their posters and screaming. Though, this didn’t stop them from coming back angrier.
“WE’RE NOT GIVING UP UNTIL THE WAR HAS ENDED!” One of them shouted.

- Sonic, watching from the cameras at his base, stood there in suspense.
“What have I done… This wasn’t supposed to happen… Not like this…” He’s lost so many allies and soldiers, and he’s quarreled about it with his teammates. Rebel Rouge was especially furious with him, but there was not much he could do but direct alongside his friends.

- Some recruits came back to the base with Nine. They brought him to Sonic, but the fox was NOT happy to see him, despite being rescued by his army. They had an emotional argument about what they'd said at their last interaction next to the prism. Interrupted by another attack in the field, Sonic’s forces call him in for backup, in which he states to Nine that they’ll talk about their personal issue later. The least he could do was thank Sonic for saving him, but instead, he glared and said nothing.

[Track End]

- In the fight, more robots are attacking, filling the warzone with lasers and bullets. Chaos Sonic was rumored to be repaired, and lo and behold ─ there he was. stronger material, more endurance, waterproof to the core, laser-proof, a built-in rocket ability, extra speed, and a lot more mission-focused than he was before. Outside, he was sent to go against Sonic, who would soon request him to join his side and change, knowing they've been fighting for so long. Another note he took in, was that Eggman didn’t really like him that much, (according to one of his spies,) even though the Chaos Council found pride in their creation. 

- Augh, this guy again? Sonic found himself annoyed by this nuisance once again, but then he figured the robot could perhaps be his friend instead of enemy. All he had to do was get through to him. Worth a try, at least.

[Soundtrack: Cutscene - Null Space from Sonic Forces]

- Chaos spin-kicked him, laughing and taunting at him. He had a record for doing that. After all, it was in his programming to be annoying to Sonic in order to let his guard down.

“You don’t have to work for Eggman! He’s killed SO MANY PEOPLE, don’t you realize that?!” Sonic convinced, “He’s using you! If you were anything like me, then you’d understand…! There’s still time , Chaos-Me, you can help us fight against him!”
Chaos Sonic laughs at this attempt. Now why in the world would he change for that stupid reason? It’s not like he has any care for these people. He’s just fulfilling his objective.

"HA! NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!" He shouts in reply, running by a couple buildings. With a swing and a punch, the robo knock-off missed and bounced off a wall, touching the Chaos Council's logo on a poster that was hung up, and darting back towards his organic counterpart. He looked victoriously complacent, even though he hadn't done anything yet.

“You’re going to die cold and alone , Sonic… and I’ll make SURE of it!”
“Wrong! I’ll have my friends right there by my side! But you wouldn’t know that, would you… because you refuse to HAVE any!”
“Who needs FRIENDS when you have ENEMIES!”

- Chaos Sonic was continuing to fight and taunt through his echoey voice; this was ultimately leading to him being struck down so hard by Sonic’s sudden forceful attack, that he shuts off, essentially dying. So much for an upgrade. Sonic felt bad about it, but knew it was going to be impossible to get his copy on his side. It’s no use…
“Ugh! He’s so… Ignorant…” The hedgehog sighs, shaking his head while looking down at the bot’s body that lied beneath him, “I wish he wasn’t.”
“It’s just another robot, Sonic,” Knuckles hollers over to him, “Keep smashing and move on!”

After all, there can only be one Sonic in the end, right?

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: The Show from Spore]

- Eggman (the original) threatens a nuclear bomb to end the war, and has gone absolutely INSANE because his plans have failed for the last time; Sonic is starting to win against him in battle. In the making of this bomb, the nuclear-waste-eating-sandworm bots were also created; after the bomb was launched, they would eat the remains, with the use of extremely acidic material in their stomachs. Chaos Council stepped in with concern, not agreeing with his destructive plan. With a scowl, Eggman then proceeded to kill them off with their own machines. Alongside them went Orbot and Cubot, who failed to reason with him.

- The organic army was now horrified of the news and tried making one more peace treaty with him, knowing he'll end it all. When he harshly refused, he went on with the plan, dating his detonation on Christmas Day. Ohh no…

- Sonic wanted to save everyone, causing another argument among his friends. What kind of psychopath would cause a detonation on Christmas? That’s the holiday for cheers and victory, not for more people going out to battle, only to never see their families again. This is horrible…

- Truth is, they can’t save everyone, especially without the chaos emeralds, wherever they are. On top of that, the bunker wouldn’t be big enough or be finished in time, and they don’t even have the budget for a quarter of a football field; not even with Rouge’s stolen gems. The whole point was that it’s physically impossible, and they don’t want to risk dying themselves .

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: Peaceful Universe 2 from Spore]

- After discussing what they should do, they settled on making a secret bunker that could last just their small, original group a decade at least. It would take a while to make it, but if they can work together, they’ll get it done in no time. Silence was made after the decision, guilty that they wouldn’t have time to gather the rest of their army for safety. They would leave the others behind. They’d be betraying everyone just to keep themselves alive … but it would be better to save at least themselves than nobody, right?
…Shadow speaks up quietly and firmly, “We have until Christmas eve.”

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: Everybody Loves Somebody by Dean Martin]

- They would take turns, two at a time, to go to the base and help build it while the others were directing the war. Once the base was built, they celebrated with a recording, suggested by Amy.
“Sonic, we should get this on video!” She exclaimed with a proud smile.
It was just in time for their due-date, and they gave presents early as a break from the chaos outside, having fun as best as they could! They laughed and hugged each other sweetly after some thoughtful gifts. Afterwards they decorated a little tree, baked cookies, and had a hilarious night of karaoke. Dinner was finished, and they sat around the couch. Many pictures were taken, and a joke was said. Their long, howling laughter soon ceased into an uncomfortable silence. Clearly, there was still worry in the air. 

“...do you think we’ll really make it?” Tails asked aloud. More quietness.
“Or if… something will happen to one of us?”

Sonic read the room and stepped in, turning down the music (a record of old 60’s songs borrowed from Rouge) a bit so he could be heard.
“Hey, it’ll be alright… I’ll always be here.” He says, gathering them into a comforting group hug, “Even if something does happen, I’ll make sure we keep going on strong for each other, I promise! But don’t worry about it. We’ll win, I guarantee it!”
“As long as we have you we will.” Amy says. He smiled back at her.

- The bunker was complete with entertainment, shared bedrooms, Tails’s lab equipment, a fresh water system, needed supply, and a small gym containing a punching bag, which was made from cotton basket-weave and beanbag beans. Knuckles was especially excited for that one! But best of all… they had hope.

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: Creepy Action 2 from Spore]

- They were all caught in the middle of the battle again, the air striking a sharp, wintery cold, whilst blood and screams filled the air. They were not expecting the nuke to strike several hours earlier than it was said to. Perhaps it was to throw them off-guard. The group sends Shadow and Nine to stop Robotnik as they try fighting and stopping everything where they’re at.

- After grudgingly teaming up, the two get up to Eggman's control room as he presses the launch button, laughing maniacally while scrambling to his bunker. Nine stayed behind.
“You go ahead. I’ll stop it on the control panel.” He directed.
Shadow runs after Robotnik, fighting him even after the bomb is suddenly defused. Nice work, Nine. Maybe it is okay to have you on our side. But just then, as he thought everything was going swell, more bombs go off and it's revealed that Eggman was only supposed to have one. Where did the others come from…?

- Nine declared it's too late to stop them all, and ran down to join the others, but the bunker door was already locked and he couldn't get in. He tried to use his mechanical tails and hollar for them, but Shadow couldn't reach the door in time. Eggman was chokeholding him. The ground ruptured, and an explosion happened. Shadow’s eyes widened as he began to see an event from his past: a girl falling to the floor. He began to panic.

- Meanwhile, on the other side, Sonic’s army stopped and watched as the bomb defused, and they all felt relieved. Cheering that they did it, they all congratulated each other and gave hugs.
“Nine and Shadow did it! They saved us all!”

- However, more (slightly smaller) bombs emanated from the ground. It seemed like Eggman had a surprise plan-b… there’s no way they could diffuse the other bombs in time like that. Some retreated, and some tried everything they could to hurry and deactivate them ─ but it was just impossible.

- Sonic looks in the distance and sees the giant bombs. If he's fast enough, he can carry his friends to the bunker… But Egg-robos filled the area as his army fought them off. He heard a yell from one of his friends, causing him to whirr around. Tails was backing away on the ground from an Eggforcer.
“TAILS!” Sonic caught up to spin-dash into it, but was slashed across the eye in the process. “GAH!” He struggled to balance himself for a moment as blood dripped down his face. The bot, due to the inflicted damage, sizzled with electricity and fell to its side. Sonic sprinted to his brother, wincing and holding his face.

[Track End]

- “Tails, are you okay?!” He asked worryingly, helping him up. The fox nodded, but then gasped when he looked up.

“Sonic… your eye! You need a medic-”
“I'll be fine!” He breathed, holding his gash, “We need to gather the others and get out of here…” But he shortly realized everyone else was too far away on the battlefield. He started to go after them, then looked back at his friend, who’s expression was hopeless, but also in deep thought about something. 

- “Tails, let’s go, we need to save our friends!” Sonic shouts to him, stepping away for the lead.

"...Sonic-" Tails promptly says, looking at his wound dismally, “follow me.”

"Huh? But what abou-"

"COME ON."

One minute remains by the time they arrive at the bunker.

"Tails, what is going on…? Why are we here?!"

"...To keep you safe. I need to help those people."

"What do you mean 'I'? Aren't we a team...?"

"We don't have time. We need you."

"Yeah, so I should go with yo-"

"No, Sonic. We need you ALIVE."

"But..."

"I'm sorry… But this is goodbye."

He knew they wouldn't win or stop the bombs in time, but he could at least try to get others to safety in time. And his first priority was Sonic.

[Soundtrack: War is Over by John Lennon]

- Tails uses an energy cannon to knock Sonic into the bunker. He was being carried off as if he was in slow motion, like water-lilies floating down a rill. He barely had enough time to process what happened, but the last thing he saw Tails do was turn away from him. With a button press, the fox activates the lock, and slams the door closed with his machine before Sonic can get up.

"Tails?! TAILS! TAILS COME BACK, PLEASE , YOU’LL ALL DIE OUT THERE, PLEASE-!!"

- Sonic didn't expect the sudden betrayal, slamming into the door and screaming for him to come back so he can be safe too. What was he doing? He thought, Why is he just leaving me here?! What about our other friends?! This is NOT going according to plan...!

- Sonic tried everything he could to get the thick door open, but nothing worked and he was exhausted from hurting himself doing it too much. Eventually he was just sulking on the door, dreading anything more would be too late. And after a bit, an explosion from the outside traveled down and toppled down Sonic and the door; knocking him out.

[Track End]

- Sonic woke up the next morning, holding his head, before remembering and gasping, quickly dashing out to the open with anticipation. No! NO! Please, no!

- He slowed to a stop when he looked around... the sky was full of smog, and everything he knew was a barren, burnt wasteland. Ashes and ruins were scattered, fires were spread, and scorches of random body-parts littered the ground; the bombs had destroyed everything. 

[Soundtrack: I Don’t Want to Set The World On Fire by The Ink Spots]

- He had failed and blamed himself, dropping to his knees. He exhaled sharply, not being able to breathe as the shock took away the air in his lungs.

No…! None of this was supposed to happen…

[Track continues to play out]

- Bonus Scene: Mr. President dies cause his bunker door wouldn’t open LMFAO

Part Three: Desolate ──────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────

- Sonic was extremely shaken up, running around to find something, anything that could symbolize people were still alive, but there was nothing. Not a single sign of life. Not even the plants or animals existed anymore. Everything was dead, and he was all alone. Bodies and garbage were scattered everywhere, and it made his stomach twist in a way he had never felt before.

- Wait! Of course! The Paradox Prism can help! He pushed down the nauseous feeling and zoomed around to try and find it. Come on, where’s that good geography brain of yours, you know where it is…! But it was hard to find something that didn’t seem to be around in the same way as before. His surroundings looked so changed from the debris, and he couldn’t tell what anything was anymore. After a while of running aimlessly, he realized that he couldn’t fix this with the prism anyway. Because wherever it was, it was covered by the remains of the war.

- He returned to his bunker, in a stupor of disbelief, trying to convince himself that it's just a dream; that everything will be okay, and he’ll soon wake up from this horrible nightmare…

[Soundtrack: Else II from Rainworld]

- It has been years, and he still hasn’t healed all the way from the traumatic incident. The sucky stages of grief will never leave him, he feared. This isn’t happening… this can’t be real…

- The first couple weeks were the hardest. He didn’t even get out of bed until his body forced him to use the bathroom. And he refused to eat until his blood-sugar became extremely low.

- Is it over yet…? A while passed, and he started to get up and move again. He missed running around. Sonic would try to go beyond his broken door, but back up into his bunker again, physically revolted against the destruction outside. No… no… He turned to return to his bed.

- Some days would lead him to have panicky moments of distress.

“WHY DID HE HAVE TO DO THIS?!” Sonic lamented, kicking around things he had left on the floor, “HE MURDERED THEM! MURDERED EVERYONE , JUST In…” He growled to himself, Just in spite of me. He dropped to the ground, huffing in pent up rage, tensing up and trembling to scream out again ─ but instead, he let go, covering his face and falling into a more relaxed cry. “Please, there has to be a way to fix this…”

- Finding the courage to go back out into the open, he raced around to find his collective powered items, but there was nothingness upon nothingness out in this lonely desert.

- For the next few years, he gave up searching for the prism and chaos emeralds. They were nowhere to be found, no matter where he looked. After that, his next goal was to become more resourceful. As much as he wanted to hide away, he didn’t turn down the opportunity to explore. I need to get out of this crowded place…

- Physical scars remained as well as the mental ones, since he always had to fight off strong storms and bots that were still alive. A few of Eggman's builds happened to survive the blast, but they were just annoying destroyers or sandworms that got in Sonic's way; things trying to eat you are nowhere near friend material. 

- One time, he even had to face off two of them at the same time. It was terrifying. They were far too dangerous for him to handle, even with his incredible speed. Since then, he’s been borrowing weapons from the bunker lab, and keeping them on his side with a borrowed utility belt. It’s been helpful for the last few fights, and he got to see which weapons sort of worked against them, and what didn’t.

[Track End]

- Certain moments would make him realize that he’s been rushing his entire life, and now that everyone is gone, he doesn’t have to; it’s okay to go slow sometimes. He did like being fast, but occasionally he needed an hour to unhurry, and stare at all the details he missed when he became a blur. I really should do this more often… He’d think, stargazing while walking over the polluted ground. Times like these, he’d feel at ease, unless he’d cry at night from seeing his friends’ faces in the white-sprinkled sky.

- However, he often found himself sleeping. More than he ever did, anyway — for dreaming was much better than the situation he was in. He wished to be asleep forever, sometimes, but knew he had to always keep going for his friends. He promised to keep going, in fact, but dreaming was just so tantalizing… Though, 80% of the time, they would be nightmares instead. Some were so horrible that he’d be affected by it for an entire week after waking up. He still kept sleeping as much as he could, sometimes not even getting out of bed for a whole day, despite it being a restless experience. And regardless of getting a bad dream or not, he still did it, gambling the chances every night. He’d rather be anywhere but here, as long as he didn’t feel alone anymore…

[Soundtrack: Poison by Sofia Mills]

- Speaking of nightmare, Sonic was sleeping soundly one night, cuddling the hand-crafted punching bag saved from the gym. The wooly, woven thing added a lot of comfort in his sleep, besides the many pillows he surrounded himself with. It was nice…

- Except… the images in his head were playing out in a far worse scenario than he had experienced. He was running through the battlefield, bombs blowing up all around him all while a sandworm chased him. In his sleep, he started hyperventilating, curling up while tossing and turning. He was watching his friends die all around him, screaming out his name while reaching for his help. Robots and bombs blocked them from him. He moved slightly off the path he was on to reach towards them, but ended up being eaten by the sandworm following him. He gasped, being swallowed whole as the grief struck again from the screams outside of himself. He couldn’t help them in time.

- The hedgehog woke up feverishly, having a panic attack ─ he ran and stumbled into the bathroom, hands turning on the sink while trying to calm down. Splashing water on his face and taking a minute to process the horrid dream he just experienced, his brain replayed the false, sickening memory. Sonic was shaking and crying when his mind recalled the sound of explosions and people frying brutally in them as shrapnel and shockwaves filled the air. He froze as it replayed over and over, slowly dissociating. However, a bodily reaction brought him back.

He threw up.

- The next time he passed out, he dreamt that a helicopter landed outside of his bunker, where he stood. People rushed out in military form, waiting for him; they were glad to find a fellow survivor. 

And he was finally being saved.

[Track Ends]

- When he’s generally awake, he’d like going up and collecting random trash left behind. There were so many things he could make with random materials. I do need a new door.

- He found things both inside and out to replace it, making a sort of garage-like entrance hooked up to a remote-control. That’s better… He then relaxed on the couch within the living room. It’s kinda cold. Hmm. He zoomed to his own room and reached for his blanket, before hesitating. Gaining an alternative idea, he looked over to the wall on the other side, where Tails’s bed was. He had always stared over to his little brother’s side of the room. Sometimes his heart ached when he did look, but he refused to get rid of anything that reminded him of the young fox.

- He walked over and picked up the brown cloth draped over it. With a sigh in reminiscence, he wrapped the comforting blanket around himself to use as warmth. You know what, this could be helpful to wear outside when there’s a lot of sand blowing around.

[Soundtrack: Crossing The Desert Ambience and Music by Martia’s Muses]

- The mass-produced sandworm bots were made to eat the waste during the war, but only a hundred were still left doing their job. Sometimes they'd get to a piece Sonic wanted before he could, or interrupt him doing laundry outside.

- Here he was, hanging his shoes out to dry on a clothesline, since the odor was becoming more apparent. He made sure to wash them thoroughly, but since his dryer was broken, he had to air-dry these outside. Luckily, it was a nice afternoon. Well — not that it was ever nice , but it was as sunny and windless as it could be. Of course, a light breeze of sand blew by, but it wasn’t nearly as blustery as it usually is. He dusts off himself, rising up and whipping his head around as he hears an unexpected noise.

- Looking around and cautiously stepping forward, he swore he saw something shine in the distance, followed by a loud, robotic roar. A long silence followed. Squinting, he gazed over the horizon. Just then, a sandworm shot up from the ground, breaking the cracks about half a mile in front of him. He gasped and scrambled around, grabbing his shoes before looking back. No… if I run away now, I’ll never even be able to face the sandworms. I have to fight back! Or at least try… The beast itself got strikingly closer, and with a powerful stance, he took a weapon from his utility belt into his grasp, holding it up with aim after quickly loading it. He knew he’d need a little more extra help than just his hands for this bot.

- The sandworm roared, storming his way. Sonic waited just for the right moment to fire his rifle, and of course, it just bounced off the metallic creature as soon as he shot at it. The thing was unaffected, and Sonic threw aside his useless weapon. 

“Welp, that could have gone better.” He ran out of the way as the sandworm crashed over his bunker door. Of course, it’s happened many times before and it was always untouched due to the stability, but it would always cause tremors and mild earthquakes when Sonic was under.

- Now dual-wielding two smaller guns, the hedgehog chased after the enormous robot with high speed, keeping up and attacking it from the side. Once again, It did nothing. Sonic gritted his teeth and put his guns away, spin-dashing as hard as he could into the sandworm. He slowed to a stop as it kept going forward. Frustrated, he kicked a rock in its direction, only for it to turn back. Sonic got in a fighting stance while holding a machete he had also brought. Great, now I look like how Dread was. To his surprise, the sandworm hadn’t sensed the small sword’s reflection it usually would, and stood still, scanning in his direction.

- “Come on big guy, you like running after shiny things, don’t you?” He waved the machete, looking at it and noticing how unclean it was. Oh… maybe I should have washed and sharpened it. This thing doesn’t seem to be in good shape. Guess I’ll have to use something better. He reached around his side pockets and the sandworm was now fully facing directly at him. He froze, glancing back and forth between his belt and the large beast. Isn’t there any way to kill these things?! I’ve used plenty of weapons, but jeez, they’re not even affected by them! He rubbed off some dirt from the blade, and ran to throw it away from himself, going back to his position. The giant robot followed the shininess and kept looking in that direction.

- He’s been chased multiple times by sandworms, but has always gotten away or driven them aside by distraction. The sandworm he had just fended off screeched with its mouth wide open. Sonic stared into the empty abyss that was its throat, before it scurried off underground and away from him, right into where he placed the machete.
“Agh, finally, it’s gone… hmmf.” He sighed of relief, sprinting back around to his base. I’ll find some way to get rid of these things for good. Now, I gotta go dry out those shoes! This other pair is getting destroyed. Why can’t the sandworms be like that? All of Eggman’s other bots were easy to knock down! 

- What also couldn’t be destroyed, however, were the cockroaches that always scatter out from under the junk Sonic collected. Besides him, it seemed, they were the only organic thing left alive. Sadly, they’re no different than the robots he communicated with. Only, they don’t have any way to kill him other than disease. He’s gotten used to the little critters now, since they’re always running away instead of creating new interactions. He caught one once, trying to keep some form of company, but it somehow escaped the jar he kept it in. Cockroach collections probably aren’t best to keep in a bunker with food and supplies anyway…

- As he moodily scavenged throughout the land again, sorting junk, or finding scraps he could make something with when he's bored, (like a smoke/SOS signal,) he discovered an intriguing sound. It was nothing at first, just random clutter, but Sonic moved a metal strip with his foot, not paying attention until that friction had made a music note. He stopped in his tracks, at a loss for words with his now dovelike eyes.

- ...He looked down to his side, and stepped back to do it again. The metal piece slid against another, rubbery texture, and made a sound similar to a violin or harmonica. He felt tears swell up in his eyes. It had been so long since he's listened to music , he realized, so he took the pieces back to his bunker.

- He now had a makeshift guitar he invented himself, with rummage he collected over the years. He had a few guitars back then, and now made a new one, since he forgot to put a real one in the bunker before. He named his metallic trash-guitar, “STARKS;” an abbreviation for he and his friends to share in spirit. Sometimes he’d perform songs for them in their honor. Other nights, he would strum lightly just to hear the vibrations of the strings, soon stopping and dissociating, then snapping back to reality and closing out the thoughts with more sounds of his instrument.

- Another time he went out, it was a burning hot day. The scorchingness made him want to take off his scarf-like clothing, but he also needed something to block the light dust moving through. I hate wearing this bulky thing! And the utility belt, too. It slowed him down ─ especially when it got heavy with other materials he carried. But alas, it was needed.

- I wonder if all the water got vaporized… I haven’t seen any outside in a while. I’m so thankful there’s some in the bunker. He used to go to the lakes and see where Big the Cat was fishing, along with his little pal: Froggy. Sonic would join them sometimes for relaxation.
Those were the days. The last time he even ever saw Big was near the end of the war. One moment they shook hands, the next… they walked away from each other. Sonic remembered looking back over his shoulder to see his feline friend join a group of other soldiers. He didn’t know that would be the last time seeing any of those people.

- He looked around, hoping to find other survivors, but it was no use in this barring heat. He noticed he was panting, and took out his canteen of water, popping open the cap and emptying the rest of the few droplets he had left into his mouth. So hot… I gotta go back to the bunker... He walked back, putting the canteen away before he suddenly whipped around in vigilance. He swore he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Turning his body fully and squinting into the distance, he saw the shadow of another person.
They waved.

- Sonic sprinted towards the unrecognizable figure anxiously with a lit-up expression. Another survivor?! Who are you? Where have you been?! He smiled and waved back at whoever they were, even calling out to them, “HEY!” The figure stood still, but Sonic didn’t care. He called out again, louder this time, “HEYYY!” Waving both of his arms like a lunatic, he kept pacing forward.

- But once he got close enough, the mirage disappeared, making him slow down again. He frowned, sighing plaintively as he stopped. Oh… Looks like I just… really need more water. He gave one last look to make sure there really wasn’t someone there, but there was nothing more than the bizarre desert. And so he left for his empty home, his ears folded down as his mildly surprised expression changed to defeat.

- Back at it again the next day, he scavenged the ground. This time, finding a heavily buried camera in the waste-matter. It was broken, old, and dusty, of course, so he knew he had to give it a repair. A sandstorm was coming in, just in time, and he escaped to his bunker before it had hit. He’s lucky he wasn’t caught in one again… 

- He remembered last time: the moment an eggforcer grabbed him before he ran off, and they were both plummeted by the strong winds. Sonic almost died, being blinded, deafened, and having lost his sense of direction as a whole. He was lightly buried by sand and debris for a while. Fortunately, it had passed over after a couple hours, and he got as much dustiness out of his orifices as he could, despite not feeling like he got all of it. The robot was gone, and he wobbled home to shower, shaking.

[Track End]

- In the bunker, he looked at his new-found camera with a somber look. He managed to fix it, and there were recordings of him and his friends hanging out, laughing, building the bunker and completing it. There were even moments when they comforted each other. He looked so young and happy back then. Sonic, feeling sentimental, watched sadly and missed those times. He looked at the edge, wiping off some dirt to reveal a name, though he already knew; What made him feel more at loss, was the tragedy that he was holding Amy’s old camera.

- The other tapes on it were past broadcasts of Shadow counting how many days he was spending alive post-nuke, and dealing with the bug infestation in his home. Wait- what?! Sonic wasn't alone?! He needed to see him ASAP. Shadow, where have you been?! How are you alive?! How did I never run into you? So many questions, so he sat down at his desk, camera in hand. Please, where do I find you?

- He stood in through all the tapes of Shadow getting more depressed while trying to survive on his own, telling his story. He talked about how hard it was just to find food and water, or even sleep, but the worst part was being alone. He stated that he had searched months on end for other survivors, but there was nothing. If only Knuckles was here to help us…

- Shadow had said that he and Nine were the last ones trying to stop Robotnik, and brought up Nine being suspicious. The doctor himself had made only one bomb, and Nine was the last one at the controls when the others went off. Was it him? Would Nine do that?

…Was he really that mad at me…?

- Sonic’s rival remembered Nine giving his last breath in his arms. He carried his body out as Eggman gave chase. Making it back to bottom ground, he tried to jump out at the two, but was run over by a sandworm that had been released. It also crushed the entrance for the bunker. Now Shadow had no way to get food, unless he could find where Sonic and his friends were.

- He set down Nine in a safer spot, and went on to make his own place to stay, far from the city, since he couldn’t find the one Sonic had made either. Sonic dolefully bowed his head, stuck on the thought about Nine, I never got to apologize to him… 

- The 244 short recordings of more Shadow angst were making Sonic tear up. Only this time, this was hitting home hard. The last video revealed the last piece to his location, Shadow declaring he gave up making tapes, since he knows he's alone. Fina- wait, No! I'm still here! 

I have to find him! Sonic thought, feeling awful that he somehow never ran into his old friend in the first place. It's been years with no sign of him, how did he just now find out?! If only he searched more around the outskirts. 

If only I found the camera sooner. 

[Soundtrack: Ace of Hearts (Instrumental) by Deadbeat Boulevard]

- Sonic knew exactly where his coordinates were; he had studied the map around him, and figured Shadow was not too far out in the suburb. Don’t you worry Shadow, I’ll be there before you know it! And we’ll handle this together. He rushed across the sand, trying to meet up at last. He knew he'd be mad, but hopefully it would just be a happy reunion again, and they'd never separate again. After all, he was desperate for any sort of companionship.
“I’M COMING, SHADOW!” He yelled out into the disfigured city, leaving a dust trail behind him.

- He was finally here at the camp that Shadow made for himself. Besides the tent was a small building, and he did not hesitate to go inside. He called out his name, anxiously needing to see him again. Why isn't he answering? Is he on another hunt? Surely he'll be back soon, right? He smelled something rotten from the other room. Ugh, did he forget to eat his chilidogs? ...Jeez, I haven't had one of those in a while. There was also a faint scent of lavender, meaning the other hedgehog had to have been here.

[Track End]

- Sonic entered the studio room he had last been seen in. Light only emitted from the doorway, casting more darkness onto the floor. A couple cockroaches scattered. He looked up slowly to see Shadow. However, his eyes widened with horror as he dropped back and scooted away slightly, covering his mouth as he sobbed in shock. O-Oh my gOd… No…! NO!

[Soundtrack: Miss you from Sonic and The Secret Rings]

- ...Shadow was hanging with the noose tight around his snapped neck. It looked as if it had just happened a moment ago, but due to the stench and bugs crawling around, Sonic knew he had to have been there for at least a month. His dreaded stomach turned as he stared, quivering.

- This reminded him of when he first discovered others’ corpses, too. But this time, it was different. This could have been prevented. He could have looked further and sooner.

But now, he was too slow late.

- NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

- Sonic was waiting the entire time for someone to show up, to FIND someone, but once he saw Shadow, something in him changed. Shadow was his only sign, his only hope, and now he’s gone. Is he seriously all alone? Will he ever find anybody?

- ALONE. FOREVER. ALL HIS FAULT. EVERYONE IS DEAD. EVERY THING IS DEAD. HE’S TRAPPED. HE’S STUCK. WHY DIDN’T HE FIND HIM SOONER? NO, NO! HE’S GONE, HE’S GONE HE’S GONE HE’S GONE.

“SHADOW… I’M SORRY…” he choked out, “I’M SO, SO SORRY…!”

[Track End]

- But he was not about to give up that easily. At this point, he’s gotten used to being alone. Sudden-made noises made him jump in fright. Descending into madness, as it felt, Sonic ironically coped by imagining his friends by his side so much that it became real to him; pretending that his friends were ghosts was actually starting to become comforting.

- It was his 25th birthday, and he'd been keeping track of it on his calendar. His friends celebrated with him, until he blew out the candle. Frowning as he looked around the empty room, and sighing at the 'cake' he had made out of canned spaghettios. He made a lonely wish in the silence, where the only thing he could hear was his own breathing, along with the flickering candle.

"...I wish my real friends were still here..."

- Having imaginary friends was great, though! At times, he'd gain confidence from fighting off a sandworm and return to his bunker, being comforted by his friends and throwing a party with them for a victory. Even though they couldn't eat with him, he still loved their company.

- Other times, they'd just be gone... or he'd realize the truth. He'd sit there for hours, staring at the floor and dissociating, trying to make them come back, whether they were real or not. Come back... please come back... 

- Uncomfortable moments would be the ones that were in-between; everything would be cheerful until someone says something disturbing. At a bunker gathering, Knuckles had wondered where Shadow was, and why he and Rouge’s shared room was blocked off. They all stared at Sonic. With a dark expression and his ears down, he looked away.

- “...Let’s change the subject.” He had said. And they never brought it up again. These friends were easy to have here, because they were comforting, but to see Shadow once more would cause Sonic to go into a panic. He did not want to be reminded of his last interaction with him. Even something remotely close to it could send him into alarm. A small thing such as a cockroach crawling on the floor would make him hyperventilate briefly and kill it before he started blaming himself again.

- At least he didn’t have to see everyone else’s bodies. Husks, maybe, but he didn’t want to think about those either. His mind already made him shape out who some of them could have been, and it would send shivers down his spine every time he was reminded of it. He swore he once saw a small body with two tails.

- He only went into the blocked-off room once, and it was to borrow Rouge’s record player and vinyls. He went in and out quickly, trying not to glance at Shadow’s items that he never got a chance to settle in. Sonic tried not to think about it as he walked out. Taking a deep breath, he knew he needed to listen to something besides his own songs. He set up the player, nestling the records in while figuring out how to work it. An old classic started to play, and he listened through it with thankful tears in his eyes. Not the type of music he would go for, but It was just nice to hear another voice again.

[Soundtrack: Everybody Loves Somebody by Dean Martin]

- Sonic sat there alone quietly, as multiple songs played, but once a certain one came on, he realized it was the last song he heard before everything turned to ash. The memory was painfully sweet, and he debated whether he should turn off the music or not. However… he still found himself listening to it, remembering the Christmas Eve party in full detail when closing his eyes. The room felt warmer with the crackling record playing in the background. He heard his friends laugh next to him, as if he were reliving the moment. A christmas tree was bright in front of him, and the sound of others opening gifts started to become overwhelming. The music seemed to get louder.

[Track End]

…

He stopped it, and went on to do something else.

[Soundtrack: Its Okay by Cavetown]

- There were times when he'd fight with his flashbacks and hallucinations, his friends spitting harmful things back and forth. Sometimes it would lead to Sonic breaking down on the floor (not a dance you bingus) and causing a bigger argument among them, which eventually led to them comforting him and making sure everything was going to be okay at the end of it.

- The next day, he woke up and jumped out of bed. This time, his friends were just there. He didn’t even have to work up his imagination this time, they just became straight up hallucinations. Nonetheless, he wouldn’t admit to himself that it was either one, even if it was risking his own health.

- Sonic was building a blanket fort with them, maybe having a mini pillow-fight sequence before planning to watch a movie. They giggled together, squeezed up all in one small space and facing the TV screen.
“So, what do you guys wanna watch?” He asked, using the remote.
“Whatever you want, Sonic!” Amy said by his side, giving a cheeky smile, “But if you really want suggestions, then how about um… oh! We could watch the Barbie movie again!”
“Oh, please. The Barbie movie was heavily disappointing.” Rouge stated, “Personally, I think we should try a romance or murder-mystery movie.”
“Yeah, I’m saying no to all of those.” Sonic tittered.
“What about something with action and fighting?” Knuckles threw in to the mix.
“Ooh, great idea!”

[Track End]

- John Slick, featuring Keanu Reefs, was an action film about a shark who hunts down the people who killed his dog. It was good at first, but it started to become too violent for Sonic to watch. The others convinced him to turn it off. He wasn’t the only one scared.

- To get it off his mind, Sonic went to see what Tails was up to. He was in the lab.
“Hey buddy, what’s going on?” He peeked around the corner to see the fox looking wondrously among his inventions and supplies.
“Hmm… just thinking about what we’ll need next time we go outside.” He replied to him.
“Made anything to take down sandworms yet?” Sonic asked curiously, even though his friend can’t exactly touch anything in the real world. He looked through the many tools and weapons he had not used so far on the monstrous things.

- “Well, not really anything specific , but there is this gun I have from a while back.” He pointed up at an ordinary looking pistol. Sonic wasn’t sure that would be strong enough to work, but he trusted him. He took it up and examined it.
“Remember when I told you something about a laser blast?” Tails questioned.
“Uhuh?”
“This is the one! It might work if you shoot the sandworm in its weak spot.”
“Weak Spot?”
“Yeah. Its mouth. The only vulnerable place it could be, according to my observations.”
“Oh yeah… You’re a genius, Tails! Thank you.”
“Of course!” He smiled. The hedgehog himself went back to his living space, acquiring the gun to his belt of other useful items.

- There was so much food, water and pillows left, and Sonic still felt guilty that it would last his entire lifetime. It was supposed to be meant for him and his friends… but there was no control over that now. He looked into the bathroom mirror that he remembered Amy & Tails installed, and felt his shoulders shrink as he stared at his reflection. He’d always glance at it, but he hadn’t taken a good look in a while. 

- He sleeps so much , why are there bags under his eyes? Stress? And he looks so much older … He felt sorry for himself, and everything he has been through, lightly feeling his face. His fur was so dull and dirty; he looks no different than the trash he finds outside now. He was just a kid when this all happened to him. He stood there for a while, looking at himself, distraught. I was just a kid… I WAS JUST A KID …! This wasn’t fair. Nobody should be experiencing this. Especially not at 15. It made him want to cry again. He noticed he does that a lot nowadays; it was very exhausting to do all the time. Maybe that’s why there’s bags under his eyes.

[Soundtrack: Someday I’ll Get It by Alek Olson]

- Eventually, he saw the illusion of Rouge in the mirror, standing in the open doorway. He acknowledged her existence but didn’t look at her.
“Hey, slowpoke,” she said, smirking, “It’s been a long day, get some sleep. Like the rest of us.”
“...ok.” He muttered.

- When she left, he hesitantly took out the gun from his belt with a breathy sigh, studying its structure with a slow blink. He took a deep breath, loading it, and pulling it up before stopping. He paused, looked in the mirror while holding himself at gunpoint. He was unsure. Sonic closed his eyes and imagined his friends again. Their delighted smiles, their overjoyed laughter, the presents they gave each other during Christmas, their warm hearts when bonding even during the roughest times… His hand shook. He wanted to join them again so bad ; to be there in those moments, but then remembered to hold on. For them. 

What am I doing… I can’t go through with this…

…
With an exhale, he put the gun down, and stared into the mirror one last time before he decided to go to bed.

- The following morning, he went out to go search for things instead. Before, he hoped he would find other survivors, and told himself he’d wait ─ no matter how long it takes. But now, he’s only looking for scraps he can use to his advantage. Unfortunately, the bad thing about coming out to the surface is that he has a large chance of fighting off machines. Luckily, his ‘friends’ were there to help him take them down.

[Track Ends]

- Like the prologue, everything looks fine. In fact, it seems like a normal Sonic story. Well, only in his head it does. On the outside, there’s nothing but a dusty wasteland that was once his home, shared by his beloved pals. Sonic himself appears to be a lot different than he used to be. He looks older; he never expected to be growing up in this condition. Nobody did. A scarf-like blanket lays around his neck, a few quills dangle over his head, his face is unwashed, and his eyes are heavy and tired. It’s as if he hasn’t slept correctly in years. His height was strangely tall now, compared to his mirage of friends, but they made the most of it anyway. It’s as if nothing changed at all.

- In his mind, Sonic and his friends were all defeating some badniks together, like they used to. He starts to attack a solid rock in the middle of nowhere. After kicking it enough, breaking it in half, even, he simply smiles. His friends were proud of him, and his skills were becoming stronger. Just like how it’s supposed to be. His hallucination disappears for a second when dust gets in his eyes. He then sees the world as it truly is. No, that’s not real. That’s not real. I want to go back. Once again, he convinced his mind to return to his blissful paradise.

- But it wasn’t enough. Now that the real world was revealed, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. His reality started switching back and forth, almost like a glitch. Sonic trails slowly back to his bunker in deep thought. His smile had dropped slowly as he stepped forward in frustration. With an abrupt stop, he clenched his teeth and started shaking slightly. His mind tried to have a conversation with him, but being asked if he was okay didn’t help the situation he’d be forever stuck in. It was at that moment he snapped.

- “Ngh… it’s because… you’re n-not… REAL!!” He shouted out to nobody. …Nobody.

Nobody was there. And nobody was going to comfort or save him.

Sonic started to sob on the ground, sitting there in the deserted, empty nothingness.

“Wait… no… Come back. Please.”
He took a moment to breathe as a gust of particles blew over his hands. Okay… this is getting to be too much. He looks around for a moment, inhaling and exhaling heavily. With a quick recovery, he gets up, running across the sand. 

- A little while later, a sudden robotic sandworm crosses his path. He watches as it chases behind him, avoiding the attacks once it gets closer. As he’s dodging and fighting it off, he immediately pulls out a gun from his belt pocket. It roars and speeds up after him. Getting out of its grasping range to get in front of it, he found its weak spot. He shot it straight in the mouth, killing it like a badass. Like the person he always has been.

- The sandworm slid across the barrenness towards him, stopping right in front of his shoes. He put his foot on its large head in dominance, giving a nod. Well I finally found something that works. Thanks, Tails. He goes back to his bunker, opening it with a remote control hidden on the side. His new garage-like door opens, and he goes inside, shutting it behind him. Sonic sits at his desk sleepily, and begins to write in his book. The one he’d been journaling his every day adventures since even before the war was ever announced.

“Why… Why did this have to happen?”

I’m so … sick … of being alone …

[Soundtrack: Mice On Venus by C418]

- It was half a year after he had turned 26, and Sonic had written another entry in his journal after decorating for the holidays. Christmas Eve. The anniversary of the bunker itself being built. He closed his eyes to remember the day he and his friends celebrated. They looked at each other, so happy, exchanging meaningful presents and promises. A dream for one day where they survive in this screwed up world together.

- To gather another day’s experience to write down later, Sonic ran across the deserted area outside. Sand brushed up into a cloud trail as his feet kicked across to a nearby dune. He observed his surroundings as he climbed up. The orange-tinted atmosphere, the bright sun, occasional trash, and the endless amount of sand. Hearing the sound of his friends’ laughter, he glanced over to the bottom left of the dune. They were playing volleyball.

- “Hey, Sonic, come hang out with us!” They shouted for him. They had just finished the game and were conversating. Barely paying attention, he decided to stare into the cloudless sky. 

I keep on running away… I know I won’t be able to do it forever… 

- Since the incident, that was the first note he had written for his book.

‘If you are reading this, and you happen to be alone... keep running. Don't ever stop, no matter what you do. Find something, and make it your purpose. Run until you can't anymore.’

It was put at the end, and he wondered if he should change it to something more meaningful.

- In the first place, he made sure his purpose was to keep going for his friends. But they’re gone. He only has himself to live for, now. Sonic closed his eyes for a bit, not wanting to hide from this anymore. It’s settled. I’m done running, He believed. But actions are louder than words, and this was going to be a lot more difficult than he thought. He glanced at the blank picture-frame he was holding, when Tails approached him, sitting by his side. There was a moment of silence as they stared ahead.

- “I’m sorry nobody was there for you when it all happened.” The two-tailed fox said, referencing the day of detonation. Sonic said nothing, setting the image aside, and not even looking at him. The truth is, Tails wasn’t even here right now. Yet, he continued to speak to him.

“But, you never gave up on us. You took us on so many adventures, gave so many people the reason to keep going, even when they fought until they couldn’t anymore… Plus, you're practically everyone's best friend, just by being here, and I’d like to thank you for that.”

Sonic sighed, “But did it mean anything in the end?”

“Maybe not,” Tails took a bit to respond, “But that’s not your fault.”
“What does it matter, anyway? You’re not real, none of you are. We’ve been over this.” He looked down at his shoes, “Aaand now you’re going to disappear again.”
Tails smiled softly and shook his head, “You still have one more thing to acknowledge.”
“Please don’t go…”
“Sonic… we’ve been gone.” He gave a sweet, yet serious look, “ That is the problem here.”

- Sonic’s ears fold down at the painful realization. He was still; his hands interlocked in his lap as he stared at the floor with a sullen expression. There was nothing to say.
“Look around you,” The fox continued, “Everyone is happy. You don’t need us anymore. It’s time to finally let go. I know it’s hard, but I think you’re strong enough to pull through.”

- Sonic looked around again, his gaze landing on his friends. For the first time in a while, he realized that they're all safe. They’re thriving, laughing, sitting together in harmony as if the war never happened. He hoped that, wherever they actually are now in the afterlife, they’d be doing exactly that. He missed those times. But now, it was time to face reality.

- “But what will I do without you guys…?” He asked his friend, shedding a tear, “I…”
Tails gave him one last grin, embracing him tightly, “It’s time to go.”
Sonic hesitates before he starts sobbing tears of bittersweet contrition, hugging Tails with all he's got as he fades away with the rest of the breeze, noticing he was really just holding on tightly to the brown cloth around his neck. "I'll miss ya, buddy."

- Wiping a tear away, he looked at his picture in his hands, showing his friends playing the same sport he had hallucinated them in; they were never there with him after the war ended, and with a smile, he had finally accepted that. 

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: Winged Beast from 9]

- He started to walk back to his bunker. I should change the ending note for my book. He nodded confidently when his nose suddenly itched a bit. Putting his finger under it, he gasped and turned around quickly, ears perked in alarm. But before Sonic could react fast enough, the sandworm bot had already captured him in its metal jaws. 

- YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME! He grumbled in his mind, CAN’T I JUST GET A BREAK FROM THESE THINGS?! He fought against it as it made a rumbling noise, raging across the desert floor. Having Sonic pinned in by its tusks, the sandworm tried its best to swallow him whole. It already had a tight grip around his leg with its metallic teeth. OW! The blue blur himself held onto his chances, how he always won in the end, and he was counting on it. I’m not being put away THAT easily! He wouldn’t give up. Especially not now, when he had to hang on… No longer for his lost friends, but for himself. 

- Harrowingly, Sonic reached in his pocket, straining against the worm with his free leg. His other was getting bitten and pulled in further to its mouth. UGH! STUPID- SANDWORM─!

- Obtaining the gun and aiming it towards its one weak-spot, he debated on what he should do so that he wouldn’t blow his own foot off. The worm, unexpectedly, went through a rocky speedbump, making him ungrasp it. The weapon fell to the ground, and it was crushed instantly as the bot slid straight through it. NO!!

- “SHIT!!” Sonic shrieked, for that was the only effective weapon he could currently use against it. He tried to hit it, headbutt it, spike it, push it away, but the struggle was no use. The difficult thing would not let go. He tried finding a back-up weapon he kept on him, since his appendages wouldn’t do much, but there was only his journal pen. He tried stabbing the worm with it. Damage done to the mouth was the only way to hurt it or get himself free, but it would risk getting his arm eaten too. 

- He did this regardless, and ended up getting into that exact situation. The sandworm bit onto his hand as he impaled it with the pen. Unlike he thought, it had no effect. AH! DOESN’T THIS THING─ FEEL PAIN-?! I KNOW IT’S A ROBOT BUT I THOUGHT MAYBE IT…

- Sonic yelled out in frustration and agony, still putting up a fight. The sandworm chewed on him slowly, dragging him inwards and cutting against him with its incisors. AGH! He tried everything he could to free his limbs but couldn’t with the enclosed space he was in. He refused to give up. He had hope. And yet, just like every situation he’s dealt with before this…

[Track End]

there was nothing he could do.

[Soundtrack: Travel Soundtrack of a Lonely Sailor (Reprise) by Martin Abugarade]

- The wind blew on his face as he was being pulled in by the sandworm. The sun was glowing a bright amber in the time right before sunset. And besides the loud crashing of the sandworm trucking through the desert, and its teeth clawing at his body, it was all very calming. 

I should have stayed inside today… I should have finished my book in the bunker…

- The last thing he had done before this was preserve the camera and a book he wrote, just in case a future intelligent being could decipher it. He wrote an entire rough journal about what happened. The war, all his friends and adventures, his regrets, his wins, secrets he kept, and everything that’s happened so far. But his demise was not one of them. How were you supposed to write an ending for your own life?

- "No, no! Not... yeT! NoT ...!" he gasped, now halfway into its pharynx. His mighty strength had done nothing against this creature. His body stopped being tense, and he held on loosely, his eyes stopped darting back and forth. He was giving up. He never used to do this. All these battles I've had in the past, and I lost to a sandworm… well that’s pathetic. 

- A sudden realization had hit him: He already left his legacy. Everything else had been taken from him, so why is he still holding on? He already accepted that his friends are gone… and now the universe has decided it’s his time as well. They’ll be patiently waiting for him on the other side. 

Maybe that’s okay… It hurts, but I think it’ll be over soon.
…and then I can finally really see them again. 

- Longing since before the war, and suffering so for long, he was finally going to be at peace. With fatigued eyes, he reached outwards one last time… and shortly, his body became nothing more than the rest of the debris that was consumed.

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: Everybody Loves Somebody (Piano Cover) by RiivoJMusic]

- Bonus Scene: Empty wasteland as dust rolls by… Sonic isn’t there, and it feels cold and alone. A pistol lays on the ground as a sandworm roars in the distance. Colorful lights and a red ribbon are hanging from the bunker door, which blow in the wind with a fuzzy point of view. The banner reads, “Merry Christmas.”

[Track End]

Part Four: Resurrection ──────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────

- With another short life unlived, awakening from somewhere else, Chaos Sonic’s system restarted. Where… huh?! He thought, and all he was seeing was dirt in his face. HEY! WHO BURIED ME?! I’M NOT DEAD YET! Getting a sense of gravity, he dug his way out of the Earth.

- He crawled out of the ground like a zombie, his vision flashing and glitching a few pixels at a time. His body was so hard to move, and he had a difficult time processing what happened. He recalled his memory, the last thing being him shutting down to Sonic. Sonic… right! Defeating him is my mission! He looked around. Was he still in the same place he was before? Did he die temporarily and they just buried him here? How long has it been? Did they... win the war?

[Soundtrack: Introduction to the Snow by Miracle Musical]

- He looked up into the sky, taken aback that there were three moons/planets, with more stars than he could count. The planet’s rings formed a band across the horizon, and shooting stars poked around here and there. The ground was grassy and covered well with plant life, besides the big rocks and crystals poking out of the ground. The ocean’s shore was decorated with random particles that would soon one day just become more sand.

- WHAT THE HELL ─ Am I on a different planet?! What yeAR is it?! He checks his system, finding the date and location. And then, all at once, he was now feeling disoriented, nonplussed and aghast to find out he was still pretty much around the same area he died in, only...

He was 1.4 million years into the future. 

- Chaos Sonic's head hurt. Everything hurt, actually. Well, the robotic equivalent to it at least... Their body was heavily rusted, due to being buried for so long. He was surprised he wasn't demolished or fossilized, but then again, he'd made of a very strong and unnatural material. It took a moment for him to just get up and try to shake it off. Exercising and stretching out helped a bit, but he still felt crusty…

- Chaos Sonic slowly scans the area to take in his surroundings, confused and slightly frightened, even. "This can't be true... I…" He turns to face the horizon over the ocean. The sky seems endless with possibility.

"What happened here...?"

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: Forgotten Shores by Stafford Bawler]

- Maybe their system was just messed up. Where is Sonic? He must be around here somewhere! Chaos ran around the entire piece of land, leaving a prismy trail behind and trying to find anything. There were no animals, robots, nor people. Only plants remained. Was there no civilization? Where... Where is everyone? He had travelled miles on end, finding nothing, nothing... and yet again, nothing. “There is no way I’m alone. NO way it’s been that long, did everyone just move, maybe? Or move me somewhere? I don’t… is this a prank?! Or a prison?”

- In the middle of his search, his left leg gave out on him, locking all of a sudden. He had fallen and yelped out, stumbling at high speed before landing on his face. I was thinking ‘you’re PULLING my leg,’ not… this. They got up, shaking their appendage rapidly until it snapped to a bend. Ow. He couldn't imagine having a broken leg, but this is the closest thing he had to one. (Not that he could, anyway.)

- He carried on, shrugging it off and giving up on finding people. “Okay, so big deal, I’m all by myself right now. Nothing I can’t handle!” He took a look at his surroundings again, wondering what happened to make it all like this. Did that one jungle-maze dimension take over? No, these weren't jungle plants, these were just bushes, occasional trees, and grass. Well thiS is new… better turn on my playlist so I don’t freak out! Stay cool Chaos, you gotta chill a bit! And with a flick on his screen, music played from his speakers.

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: Shoop by Salt N Pepa]

- His new mission was to find a way to remove the rustiness that covered him. He calculated multiple ways he could get rid of the corrosion on him, but since it was all mostly man-made material, he was out of luck. There is oNe all-natural option. With a paste consisting of lemon juice and common salt, I can scrub this stuff right off. But where in the heck would I find those? After walking around aimlessly, he found a cave with salt deposits. “Ha! Now that’s more like it!”

- Convenient! And right across from it was a fruit tree, which happened to be full of yellowed citrus. Also convenient! Man, this song rules, it just gets me through anything. And so, he found the strongest leaf he could, and used it to scrub away the oxidized areas with the newly formed paste he made. Showering outside feels weird… But hey, I’ve actually never taken one before. Was too busy trying to kill Sonic.

- He found a reflection in a puddle and looked a lot better than before, he figured. However, there were still many parts of him that had scratched-off paint, and there was a crack on his screen. Rustiness was still lightly shown on his joints. He tried his best to get rid of it all, even though there were still some untouched parts he couldn't get to. Aaand now he smells like those lemon-like fruit… Good enough. No matter what, I look stunning~✨

- Luckily, It felt so much better to move, and he ran excitedly all over the place. But eventually, he was bored. He craved competition and attention. But without anyone around him, who is he to go against? He sighed.

- Then again... he's by himself right now. He could be king! He can make orders for himself. He can brag about himself to the plants nearby, and he's superior over the moons above him. In fact, he could even re-name everything, since he might be the last guy on Earth. Though, he was sure that they were just in another location. He looked at the grass around him, nodding to himself. “I now pronounce you… Chaos Sonic’s kingdom!”

- Bored of sitting on a makeshift throne for a while and talking out loud to the air, he settled on racing himself, skipping stones along the calm ocean next to him, wall-climbing on huge rocks along the shore, and simply observing his surroundings. When he was understimulated, he would go feel different plant textures and see what sounds they made when he brushed his metallic fingers against them.

- Hmm, since I’m the last one alive, presumably, then that means I can name these new planets too, right? Let’s see… He stargazed, looking at the three planets that brightened the night sky. He pointed to the white moon. That one will be named, “Egg,” for the Chaos Council. Oh, and the big orange one can be, “Chaos,” after me of course! He looked to the small, blue planet in the distance. He blinked, before pointing it out to himself smugly. That one is definitely being called, “Sonic sucks.”

- He ran around the area he was in for a while, getting bored after he's done so many things.
“HELLOOo?” He called out into the open. His only response was the cold wind.

- He didn't want to be alone anymore, he wanted to race others, fight somebody, or just... at least hear another voice. He didn't know why he wanted these things, but it started to make him question himself again. What did he do to get to this point? What revived him? Where were any other forms of life out here? He searched many places, and heard a noise, which made him shut his playlist off immediately. What was that?

[Track End]

The sound was heard once again. It sounded like a stick breaking? Is someone there? He quickly went up to where the snap was made. ANOTHER LIVING ENTITY?! No, it was just a tree pulling apart from the branch’s weight; it was split in half, previously being struck by lightning. Damn it! No sentient life here, just a trick of his mind. He kept going, striding towards the sand. 

- It was… kind of lonely…
…
No, who am I kidding? I’m not lonely! He thought, I don’t ‘get’ lonely, companionship makes me weak! But then again, who knows when he would see another person again, if everyone is away. He looked at the ground, his eyes landing on a peculiar, smooth, oval-shaped stone on the beach. He sat next to it, picking it up as the low tides tapped against the tips of his ‘shoes’.

- Hmm… Maybe it won’t hurt to just have one for a biT. He used one of the orange hooks on his knuckles to scratch a smiley-face into the rock. This’ll do. He thought, deciding this will be his companion for now. But the moment I find someone livin’, I’ll ditch this thing and fight them! Hmm, but I need a name for it. He thought for a moment. How about, “Stone-Cold,” haha!

…perhaps “Sonic” could be a better name… nO! What?! Why would I name this little guy after my nemesis, that’s gross! I’m staying with “Stone-Cold,” it’s a good pun.

- He got up and kept walking around. Soon, he found an ancient structure buried in a place underground. He opened the halfway-open, vertically rising door, which was very difficult and stuck-in. It was dark, but their bright screen-face illuminated in the shadows. 

[Soundtrack: A Home For Flowers (Sunflower) from Omori]

- They walked around, finding old food cans and a desk among other things that would be someone's base. It was so dusty inside, making him dramatically appalled by it. Chaos Sonic almost fell into a foot-wide trench that had shaped the concrete in half, elevating one side. Everything was tilted, and a corner of the ceiling was crumbled. He almost left, not wanting to come back to this abandoned area, but something momentarily shiny caught his eye.

- There was an untouched glass casing with the outline of a book inside, along with a note and camera. With curiosity, he stepped over to it and tilted his head to the side, brushing away the heavily collected dust at the top of the case. He carefully took off the preservation, and stared at the note.

"These items will tell you everything you need to know; it contains the answers to the downfall of Earth." FINALLY, ANSWERS! He almost dropped his rock from how anxious he was to solve this mystery, and he put it down on the desk.

- This better prove me wrong that it hasn’t actually been that long. Chaos Sonic took up the camera. It was so aged and torn up, but it stayed mostly intact. On the contrary, it wouldn’t turn on. Running out of patience from holding/pressing the on-button many times, he put it back down. Well thaT’s useless. He looked around for batteries, but with none in sight, he snapped back to the novel.

- He then opened the book in a hurry, and part of the cover crumbled to pieces. He gasped, noting he must be more careful ─ for this relic was over a million years old. Although this was all the proof he needed, he was still in denial. He flipped over the first page as gently as he could... still managing to cause the corner to disintegrate. The good thing was, the written words were readable: ‘My Story, by Sonic The Hedgehog.’

- Now this was intriguing. Normally, he'd steal this anyway just because he wanted to know what Sonic would put in his diary, but this was a different case... he wanted to know what happened , and this might be his only way to know how. Sonic, when I find you after this, I’m going to kick your blue-blur butt! He thought, expecting to get the coordinates of his enemy within the book.

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: The Stanley Parable 2 by Tom Schley]

- He read all of the notes very carefully, and tried his best not to break the papers. The novel stated that it was all about the war, and how Sonic was the only survivor in the end. No, I am! I'm the last survivor, not you! I think? Unless we’re both here. But– what about me? Why did I have to come back? Chaos Sonic thought, demanding answers in his mind.

- Reading further into the book, he learned about the bombs that destroyed everything. He remembered something significant about that… what was it… didn’t Eggman do that? Whatever. But how did it ‘destroy’ everything if it’s full of vegetation outside? He processed this for a moment, Okay if it really has been a million years, then… hey, no, stop it brain! I’m not believing this bullcrap that easily.

- The next page talked about the Chaos Council, and how Eggman killed them all. THAT is NOT true, he wouldn’t do that, right? This was the guy they praised; they did EVERYTHING for. And he murdered them in cold, insane blood? He shook his head, his eyes shifting around with disbelief. He read the next couple lines about how sickly Robotnik’s actions were at that time. Oh he’s serious. He paused for a moment in thought. This didn’t actually happen, there’s no possible way. His ears folded down briefly, Ah jeez… even Dr. Babble…? That’s really messed up, there has to be a mistake here. 

- But he knows Sonic wouldn’t lie about this. In fact, he seemed desperate in their last interaction together. He knew what was occuring, and tried to warn him during battle. But Chaos wouldn't listen. He questioned his morals and what side of the war he was on. If they looked up to ‘the original,’ then… who am I supposed to be loyal to?

- One paragraph told about Shadow’s suspicions of Nine being the one to set off the other bombs. He was the one who stopped the first one, and he could have made more in secret for his revenge against Sonic. But the hedgehog disagreed in a commentary sentence written in ink. ‘He wouldn’t do that! But Eggman definitely did, just look at him! He was lying!’ There was a drawing next to the note. Sonic wasn’t the best artist, but Chaos could still tell it was a portrait of Dr. Robotnik.

- Finally, there were entries on Shadow’s recordings, and Sonic slowly losing himself. He read the last page Sonic had written, where he fought off robots with his friends, who were never really there in the first place. Wait, what happened the next day?! Chaos Sonic asked himself when carefully turning through the next few blank papers, There’s still more empty pages left, where did… He paused, looking at the dates. They were far from the ones that matched up with today’s, according to his internal data. Something must have happened to him.
…he’s gone.

- His ears slowly drifted down again. If he can no longer defeat Sonic, then... What was he good for? Defeating him was his only priority; his purpose before, so what does he do now? He can’t rebrand his overthrowing merchandise with nobody to sell it to; he was supposed to destroy Sonic and become the better one. That was his plan. But now he can’t… Nobody is here.

- And he can’t take orders from the Chaos Council anymore, since they’re all supposedly dead. In fact, he tried to defeat Sonic and his army for them . But they’re gone too… Ignoring this for now, he backed more intently on the other pages he sort of skimmed through. No, no it– No! This isn’t a history book, he has to be makin’ this up! He may be a hero, but…

- Plus, wouldn’t he have died from radiation poisoning if anything? He flipped back a page. Huh. Doesn’t look like he said anything about that. So probably not. In the next sheet of paper, he learned more about the hidden paradox prism. This is the object that started it all. Maybe the prism could help. I know it does powerful things… hecK, it killed me one time! I’ll go look for it later.

- But in his mind crept back the fact that he was absolutely alone , which took a bit to sink in.

1.4 million years, if that’s even true. It’s definitely been a while, but that long? Then again, his programming seemed to be a little defective, and this room was undoubtedly more destroyed than it should have been. 

- The bombs had destroyed everything, and the evidence from the book was a bit overwhelming. He's been gone for so long, and now he's back. He needed to know how this happened. How did his system reboot? Wasn't that impossible? Why reactivate this long after? And how is he going to find answers on how he was revived IF EVERYONE IS GONE?!

- What the hell is going on? Why does he feel this way? He's not scared is he? It was some sort of emotion he hadn't felt before. He felt nervous of the future, and longed for the past. For some reason, he craved companionship and told himself he’d rather be back in the war than lonely in his ‘kingdom.’ This was all so confusing… He picked up and held his rock, Stone-Cold, closely.

- Chaos Sonic noticed there was a note at the end of the book, and took a look at it. "If you are reading this, and you happen to be alone... keep running. Don't ever stop, no matter what you do. Find something, and make it your purpose. Run until you can't anymore."

- Strange advice, but then again, this came from his anguished past-rival. “Ugh, why would I listen to you, Sonic? You’re…” He paused, letting out a digital sigh. It’s not like he had anyone better to listen to right now. It was the only order he could follow right now, but he realized he'd already been running for a while. It's all he could do, really. However, he hasn't tried travelling over the ocean… maybe there was more, undiscovered land beyond it. He wanted to take this book with him so bad, but he was afraid of damaging it further. Surely not everyone was wiped out, right? There’s gotta be somebody… at least a future civilization!

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: Coffee On Jupiter by Aphrow]

- “Stay here, Stone-Cold.” Chaos patted his rock and set it down on the ground outside, “I’ll come back soon.” Confidently, he started towards the shore, and got in his racing-start pose before taking off over the heavy waves. His intense speed kept him sprinting on water. 

“WOO! I could go SURFING here, haha!”  

- He had been going for a while before he spotted something in the corner of his vision. A meteor blazed across the sky. What the... it was so distracting that he slowed down, losing balance on the tides while watching it. He quickly tried to correct himself and keep running fast, but he sank before he knew it, screaming out and trying to grab onto something, even though he was the only solid thing around.

- He would have drowned or shut off if it weren’t for his waterproof enhancements. Annoyingly, he had to run back to shore underwater and cover his speakers so it didn’t damage his internal system to a greater extent. He tried again and again to go across the water, but it seemed like he kept slipping on the tides that crashed over him. Was the universe just against him? Was it just his body malfunctioning this bad? What was going wrong? And how does he unclog his speakers?!

- Looking across the rough sea, he thought about other skills he could try out, such as flying. I never really NEEDED to use my rocket booster, but I guess I could try. When he activated his ability, he flew for quite some time, gasping out of accomplishment — YES! I’M DOING IT! — before it decided to fail and drop him in the water face-first. “NO! AGH!”

- Frustrated, he tried one last time on the beach before failing again, losing himself in a large wave that he couldn’t get around. He stomped back to the shore to throw a fit. “NO FAIR, NO FAIR! WHY CAN'T I DO IT?!”

- He got up, slammed his foot down, and walked off as water dripped from him. He now probably smelled like the ocean and lemons. Or, whatever lemons evolved into after all this time. Maybe he should just dash around on land instead. He's better at it anyway. Time to go let off some steam. While doing exactly that, his left leg locked again, and he rolled across the grass. All the pent up negative emotions burst through and caused him to go into a tailspin. 

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: Rises The Moon by Liana Flores]

- He screamed out, hitting the ground and himself and cursing out the world around him. 

“I CAN’T BE THE ONLY ONE HERE, I CAN’T BE…!” Anger, frustration, guilt, anxiety, desperate loneliness, and other emotions he hadn't understood seeped up to make him wish he was still shut down. Why didn't he just stay dead? Why did he have to get revived? Why couldn’t he have stayed with The Council?

- He lied on the green floor with his rock in his hand for what seemed like days, watching the sky change multiple times as he thought and thought…

- How long have I been awake for again...? He wondered softly, watching day become night, and vice versa.

- His ears were folded back, his eyes were small horizontal lines, indicating a crestfallen look. He had a bad feeling inside his chest. It hurt, but- not exactly in a way he could explain. He imagined that if he was Sonic, he’d be crying right now. But as a bot, he was unable to do so. 

- He's alone... he's all alone... how is he supposed to be the better Sonic if he too is by himself… and without the Chaos Council to guide him?

- While Chaos was on the ground, he rethought his life choices as well. Was friendship so bad? It’s just a companionship… for when you’re lonely… He pet Stone-Cold while he stared into the sky. “But what would I know, I’ve never had friends.” He thought he wouldn’t need them, but looking back, maybe it would have been better. 

“I wasn’t — mAde for friends,” he grumbled to himself, “I was made to fight .” He would have just been grieving more anyway if he had anyone. Friends were still a weakness. Even Sonic? He stopped. Sonic had offered that to him once.

[Track End]
…
He’d do anything to go back to that moment.

[Soundtrack: She Likes Another Boy by Oscar Lang]

- Deciding what he should do next, Chaos Sonic got up slowly and came up to a large rock, emptiness in his expression. Screw this! If nobody else is here with me, then I don’t want to be here either. He dropped Stone-Cold onto the grass.

- He slammed himself into the bigger rock as hard as he could, knocking himself out for a good 10 seconds. Then he woke up again. Blinking in confusion, he got up and tried again. And again. And again. He kept running into the rock as hard/fast as he could. Different angles, headfirst, nothing was working and he was growling in frustration; he was only going to destroy his screen, which was hard to see completely out of anyway. Why couldn't he do it? He hoped to break himself, he hoped to…

- DIE WHY CAN'T I DIE WHY CAN'T I DIE WHY CA N'T I DIE W H Y C A N’T I DI E W HY C A-

- Of course he couldn't, he was nearly invincible. He couldn't break down naturally, what made him think he could do it himself? 

…Well that added on.

- To release as much emotion as he could, he ran to the shoreline and yelled out, throwing rocks into the water or straight up clashing them into other boulders, fatiguing himself. GAH! THIS IS SO STUPID! I DON’T WANT TO BE BY MYSELF! Without looking at what he was doing, he threw his favored stone hard against a sea-stack, breaking a chunk off. Gasping and retracting all of his anger, he froze in place. He stared at his broken companion, realizing the damage he caused. He calmed down a bit, walking over to Stone-Cold to pick it up. His hands shook as he held the fragmented chunk, trying to frantically assemble it back, as if it were a lego piece, but it wouldn’t stick. It was broken because of his actions. Something in him ached, and without tears, he finally sobbed.

[Track End]

- He was now walking along the shoreline, holding Stone-Cold closely. At least I have you with me. We can be broken together, how does that sound? He didn't know what he was doing, so he just kept moping around with it.

- When everything seemed to be at a melancholy peace, he heard a sizzling noise. And then another. Bright lights were forming across the ocean and he squinted, looking over. Ohh shit.

[Soundtrack: Ambush from Spore]

- The fiery rocks raged across the sky, and he knew he had to run. Chaos Sonic sped around the land that imprisoned him, dodging as meteors struck the ground. Everything shook, making him slightly lose balance and yelp out. He kept going, trying his best not to stumble over himself. COME ON AGILITY, WHERE ARE YOU WHEN I NEED YOU MOST?! He kicked up his speed.

- The meteors flew past him, causing eruptive mini-explosions in the grass flooring. He screamed, trying to avoid them, and bounding around frantically to find shelter. Sonic’s bunker was his only hope. He sprinted towards the location, before hearing a searing rock fly behind him. He must have dodged in the wrong direction, or had some glitch in his head, because next thing he knew: he was blacked out on the ground.

[Track End]

- Awaking in a sort of panic, he observed his surroundings, dazed. Sonic’s bunker had a meteor blocking it off, causing Chaos’s robotic ears to fold down. Despite that, everything was calm again. Smoke rose in the heated air from a meteor about five feet next to him, crushing his detached arm, which was holding his unchanged Stone-Cold. He felt his body, red sparks flying from his right shoulder. The severed appendage was motionless. He got up, fatigued, and staggered forward to step in front of the heavy space rock. 

- He put his hand on it, lightly pushing, before forcing himself to push harder with his torso. Though his energy was at a low point, he gathered everything he had in him, and he did a spin-kick to the meteor. It rolled over, revealing his barely dented limb. With a sigh, he picked it up by the hand/stone and sat back down, looking at it in wonder of how he’ll reattach it. Is it too broken to fix? Surely being a mechanic isn’t thAt hard, I’ve built and fixed up things before, but... “Guess you could say I’ll need a hand for this one, haha.”

[Soundtrack: Bubble Wrap from WALL-E]

- It was, in fact, that hard. He was now throwing tons of shale into the water again, all because of his impatience and uninformed skill of fixing his broken-off arm. “GAHHh, RO-BUTTNIK IS SUPPOSED TO FIX ME UP, WHY DO I HAVE TO DO IT?! Ugh, I don’t even get a choiCe here!” 

- Once done with his uncivil actions, and a sharp exhale, he came back with a burnt-out expression, looking down at the arm he left on the flat boulder he found. Ok. Let’s try again, and take this one step at a time…

- After (the montage and) finding a way to attach the wires and metallic structure, which was an extremely difficult process after days on end, he walked around aimlessly again, feeling out his arm and happy to have it back. YES! I can do anything! I knew I could do it… Of course, I’m the best~✨

[Track End]

- He glitched, spasming for a moment and dropping his rock. He lifted himself back up, his system rebooting. He blinked, recovering from the sudden glitch. “OW- Wh... what was thaT?!” He checked his system, and there seemed to be plenty of errors in place. “Ugh, now that is a lot I don’t want to read. You’ll get fixed later!” He picked up Stone-Cold.
“If only there was a way to fix YOU now.” He started walking again, “Any glue around here?”

- Light raindrops had then hit him, and he looked up to see a small, dark cloud passing over. Seriously? Out of all the places… Luckily, it didn't bother him too much, since it went away quickly. After all, it could have been much worse. But just then, the little rain-cloud gave him an idea. To prepare for the next storm, which he only just now thought of, he should build himself a shelter. He didn't need to before, but if it was a possible concern, then he's got to now. I definitely need a meteor-proof coating on the roof as well. Wonder what to use for that… Too bad Sonic’s hideout-entryway is gone. I bet he had a lot more beyond just that one room.

- Come on, break into this thing already! At the bunker, Chaos tried dashing multiple times into the cooled boulder blocking it, but alas, it was no use and he was wearing himself down by wasting energy. “Damn rock!” He looked at his stone companion, as if they were offended by him, “Oh no, not you, you’re cool. Just like me! And you know what cool guys do? Build their own freedom-dome! It’s going to be awesome, just watch!”

- Within a week, he was halfway done. 

“See Stone-Cold? This is how you set up the main- WHOA!” 

Chaos was in the middle of making his house when that very storm he predicted hit from behind, breaking it all. He couldn't move or do much except hold onto his rock and a tree, which was struck by lightning. That didn't mix well with his system. Ow. At least this isn’t as bad as the meteor shower… The harsh winds, rain, and thunder finally faded on, and a rainbow announced itself above. That's pretty! Chaos Sonic said in his mind, But it doesn't fix my house, oR my mental stability. He walked back to the scatters of material sassily, making a brief glitch. “Ow.”

- He almost gave up, but his willpower to prove himself kept him building. “Finally, I’m done! I’d say it’s pretty decent, if I do say so myself!” Chaos Sonic talked to himself, looking up at his now finished house. He glanced at Stone-Cold, who upside down, looked like it was frowning. 

“Well, okay, I have no foundation-building skills, and there’s no cool posters of me on the wall, but come on, it’s a good enough shelter for now!” He had worked hard from trial-and-error, just like he did with his arm.

- However, Stone-Cold still looked at him in disapproval. It never said anything, but Chaos made them reply in his head, as if it was an actual other person. You wasted time building this. You won’t even use it.
“Look, my friend,” Chaos whispered boldly, “you don’t even have the skills to do this. You can’t get your measly little body off the ground. Why’s that? Oh, right! Because I’M TALKING to a LITERAL… ROCK!” He glared at the stone, growling and about to kick it across the ground, but then stopped. He noticed the broken-off section that Stone-Cold was missing, and sighed heavily. “What am I going to do with you?” He shook his head before looking at the planets above him for a while.

 … Now what?

- What was I even doing again? Finding out why I’m here in the first place? Clutching his stone companion, he ran back to the place he crawled out of, and dug around. Nothing ... he sighed, sitting down next to his 'grave'. What possibly could have done it? A miracle? Those usually happen for a reason, don't they? There must be some way he sprung to life again. He recalled Sonic’s book and how there was something mentioned in it that he was going to look for later; something that could help him find his purpose in this place and time. 

What was it… what was it?!

…OH! WAIT, THE PRISM!

- What ever did happen to the prism anyway? He hasn't seen it... maybe it's hidden away under the Earth again? Where on this damn planet would he find the place it's at?! Perhaps it was somewhere he hasn't explored yet. After all, he hasn't gone everywhere , so who was he to just give up like that earlier?

- Where do I even start?! He thought, running around aimlessly. Putting his arms behind himself and looking over the hills, he remembered he had a rocket propeller on his back. OH! I CAN FLY! Always forget about that!

[Soundtrack: Neon Glow by Glass Beach]

- Taking a running start, he boosts to the sky with a ‘WHOOOO!’ Chaos gained balance over himself and went far up to look around. Everything looked… so beautiful. He took a moment to engage in the scenery. Whoa… Space had looked so much closer than it had before, and there was so much land to look at. And he was closer to the atmosphere than ever, so he reached up in an attempt to try and touch the ‘egg’ planet. Amazed, he knew that he still wasn’t even anywhere close to it… the planet was so far, yet so close.

- It was a bit distracting, and he thought to himself, Maybe I shouldn’t take this world for granted. This place is… So cool. And to think Eggman wanted to destroy it all. Chaos was so blinded with his own hatred and ego-coded program before, that he never took a moment to realize how much of a winsome sight this is to see. Then again, he needed to get back to his objective.

- He gazed around, his wide eyes landing on a small plateau with a multi-colored crystal. The Paradox Prism! I can finally find out how I got here. He nodded to himself, landing back down. And like a speeding bullet, he took off towards the direction of the prism.

[Track continues to play out]

- Bonus Scene: Chaos Sonic holding Sonic’s book and Stone-Cold; one in each of his hands. “This is the holy bible, and this is my lord and savior… u_u”
Then in the next moment, the book crumbles and his eyes shrink.

Part Five: Answers ──────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────

- Chaos Sonic arrived on a large hill; almost mountain-like in appearance. The crystals were half-poking out of the ground, and the 'mountain' it was on looked so eroded, with no cave covering the top of it like before. The prism was just right there, out in the open. 

- He felt more energized and stronger just being near it, as if it were a charger. It was what gave him life in the first place, and interestingly enough, he sensed he had a strong bond with it. Though, he’s never seen it put together like this, nor did he care before.

- He walked up, hoping it would give him answers. He didn’t know how it worked, but as he examined it, he was sure it shouldn’t have a large crack throughout the crystals. The gash reminded him of his own screen. Chaos hesitated to touch the paradox prism before he ran his metal fingers against the streak lightly.

- A thousand images must have flashed through his mind, because it overloaded his system. The shrieking sounds of space, time, and matter made him let go and fall to the floor in a panic, backing away. Chaos Sonic sat there, surprised. That was a lot of information to take in.

[Soundtrack: Lifelines by Nordicwaves]

- He gathered in his mind what the prism had shown him. It was a visionary time lapse of everything it's been through. Every storm, every shard's life, the universes and being put back together again, and then being hidden away in a dark cave. After the hardships of the war, it had been at peace. 

- That was until the sun shone upon it just right during a powerful eclipse. Once it was fully uncovered, a crack formed across it. This caused an overload in the crystal's energy, making the world distort; some new planets became Earth's moons, more crystals formed in the ground, and plants repopulated the earth. The surge of energy waved across the entire globe, causing a sort of shift for Chaos Sonic's body to react to. So, it decided to reboot. And here he was now, staring up at the crystal, which woke him up all from a natural accident. 

- He was heavily disappointed. No! NO! There MUST be a cooler reason he was revived! There had to have been a goD of some sort, or... but then he remembered the rest of the images that flashed. The war. How it wiped out everything around the prism, and it still stayed intact. He knew during that time that nothing survived; everyone. is gone. But every time Chaos Sonic’s head repeated that fact, they found it hard to believe, despite all the evidence. God, this sucks…

- For now, he wondered what his conclusion was. For what reason did he come back for, if this was all made by pure mistake? If there’s no Sonic? No Chaos Council to work for? Perhaps... he could make his own purpose, like stated before. “Stone-Cold,” He mumbled, petting the ovalline figure in his hand, “do you want to stay with me?” 

- He doesn’t have to be alone anymore. Maybe he can wreck the prism, like told in Sonic’s story, and see what happens next in new realities. Perhaps something new will come along and he won’t have to stay on this prison planet any longer. There’s even a possibility that he could finally see someone different. With that, he took a stance 30 feet in front of the paradox prism, and dashed with his mightiest speed towards the crystal…

- He felt time break. Everything split, and there was a shatter in space, which showed a purplish void of floating rocks, and particle-made holograms of the ones in the war. He watched in awe, looking around before finding himself going through a glowing portal-like gate.

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: Urban Jungle from Rainworld]

- The dimension he ended up in was dull, and full of grid-like patterns. He walked around, holding Stone-Cold with a tight grip. Holographic people swarmed him, dodging and racing away from digital lasers, shooting the attacker-robots. Chaos Sonic was startled by all the commotion at first, but quickly got into the memo. “HECK YEAH, A FIGHT! FINALLY!” Once a laser speared through him, however, he quickly noticed none of it was real. 

- This dimensional moment in time was only in one spot of the city's emptiness. In fact ─ the battle scene was playing in a loop. So I time traveled, but not really? And this all repeating over and over again… hmm. Well this is going to be annoying. He walked around, hearing the echoes of people who were once shouting, crying across the battlefield. People died here… they feel… broken. It was sort of spooky, but it also left him with a somber feeling of familiarity. That was, until he recalled his last memory here. “I know where to go.”

- He came across his past self, fighting his nemesis like he was before. If he had really time-traveled, then he could now have a purpose again. Aha! There’s that blue-hair! Thinking he was to fulfill his objective, he dashed at the grid of Sonic. But he went right through him, falling on his face harshly. “Oh. Right.” He got up in disappointment, glancing at a wall, which had the Chaos Council’s logo on a poster, watching his old self bounce off of it. He tilted his head.

- Although this was a megennium ago, he still remembered this moment, word for word.
"HA! NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!" He heard his hologram shout. Chaos Sonic sighed, You have to be kidding me… How. Ironic. Did I seriously have to jinx it?! He watched the holographic Sonic smack his ghostly figure to the ground. 

“Ooh, knockout!” Chaos winced at himself, “Wait- hey! That was so uncalled for!”

- The Sonic from the past shook his head, sighing while looking down at his annoying copy.
“Ugh! He’s so… ignorant…” He said. Chaos Sonic was checking out his own holographic body, but then turned around to glare at his former enemy. The moment in time repeated, and they were fighting once again, repeating the same lines.

[Track End]

[Soundtrack: I’m So Sorry by Sign Crushes Motorist]

- This wasn’t doing him any good, so he walked off, petting his little rock friend, and entering the last scene of the war. Bombs were raining down, slowly hurtling towards the ground. People were panicking, screaming, crying, hugging each other, fighting off bots that were left over, but there were also many who just gave up. Those people gazed into the sky, holding hands with friends and loved ones, giving up and watching as the Earth was now coming to an end. Some held each other close, others comforted their children, and some simply sat together and confessed things they’ve kept secret all this time. 

- This was all just making Chaos Sonic saddened, but he refused to feel that way. No! I don’t get sad, I’m the class clown! This is all just a bunch of mushy-feeling stuff! I’m a robot. I don’t feel anything but confidence, silliness, and pride! He tried convincing himself, despite having proof of having other feelings while he was in his ‘kingdom.’ Now that he’s back in (Mega)New Yolk, he thought he had to return his mental state to normal again. It didn’t feel right to him, but he did it anyway. I’m home now. I have to professionally complete my objective… somehow.
(Chaos, NOTHING YOU DO IS PROFESSIONAL, lmao…)

- He continued to run along, moving into another universal memory. There was now a wasteland all around him, and he glared around until his eyes landed on Sonic. Again? He’s here too? Grrr! He zoomed over, staring at the hologram as the digital wind blew. Oh, he looks… uh… changed. And not in a good way. Shaking his head, he stood in front of the older Sonic and looked up.
“You brought this onto yourself, you know.” Chaos scowled.

- He still wanted a satisfactory ending, maybe even wanting revenge. He wanted to blame Sonic for ALL of this, but at the same time… what about everything he read in the book?

- Chaos Sonic pondered about this for a moment, questioning his goal again. Sonic has been through so much, but… I was made to destroy him. He looked back into the hedgehog’s eyes. Grief, fear, anger, disgust, longing, and so many other things he could figure in just the anguished, dull look Sonic made while staring into the sky. And even then, there was still a small glimpse of hope.

- This was not a satisfying conclusion. All he truly wanted was to see Sonic suffer. That’s what he got, right? But… it didn’t make him happy. In fact, he felt sorry for his own adversary. No! This is going against my purpose! I’m supposed to be HAPPY that he fails, why do I feel bad for him?! And if his own objective wasn’t able to succeed properly, what was he supposed to do? Not thiS existential thought again…

- He looked at Stone-Cold, who was carried along in his hands. He’s all alone, he had it say, like you. Chaos Sonic glanced down, before looking back at his predecessor in dejection. Oh… 

He recalled a comment he denied while fighting before. ‘And you’re on your own.’ Said by Sonic’s red friend. I guess he really was right.

- He looked at the dented bomb that was planted in the ground next to Sonic. He squinted at it, and noticed the Chaos Council’s symbol printed on it. Eggman really did mess up everything… Like Sonic said, he’s damaged so many people. He looked at Stone-Cold, And he left them in the dust. Including me.

- Abruptly, he had a new idea. If Sonic wasn’t able to fulfill this need of revenge, then maybe ─ just maybe ─ the traitor of his authoritative circle could.

[Track End]

- Spasming with electric sparks, he glitched again and shook his head. “Okay — I seriously gotta work on my own repairs after this… hopefully things around here will help.”

[Soundtrack: In My Way from Undertale]

- Chaos Sonic made his way towards headquarters, a serious look crossing his screen face. Wherever that Eggman was, he was going to pay for what he did to the Chaos Council. To everyone. Or, at least, he hoped to see the traitor die over and over again in some sort of holographic memory, since he can’t physically do anything to attack. I don’t even know if he’s up here, but if he isn’t, then I’ll track him down. Once he made it to the main plan/meeting room, he found exactly what he was looking for.

- Shadow the hedgehog and Dr. Robotnik were straight up fighting each other, throwing punches, grabbing and slamming each other into the walls, and growling in frustration. Then, they both stopped, looking around as the ground shook. Shadow’s expression grew furious and terrified at the same time. “How many bombs did you make?!”
“Wha- I never made more than one!” Eggman replied, also confused, “That wasn’t me. But to whoever did that, I’m not complaining .” And just like that, they continued their fighting session, only to be repeated in the same moment again.

[Track End]

- So he really didn’t make the other ones… Chaos Sonic continued to hunt down the one responsible for this. Maybe it was Nine, like the book said. A feared thought crossed his mind. Or what if it was the Chaos Council…? And they weren’t good enough, so Eggman made a bigger and better one than all of theirs? He shook his head, dreading an upcoming possible betrayal. Only one way to find out. Checking several other rooms, he realized none of them were there. However, when he entered the control room, he saw a familiar fox standing there. 

- But unlike he expected, he wasn’t doing anything but sitting there and worrying.
“What have I done…?” Nine said to himself, “This was all my fault.”
YES! IT WAS HIM! I FINALLY FOUND WHO THE CULPRIT I-
“I should have apologized to him, then none of this would have happened…” He continued.

- Wait, what? Is he not talking about setting off the explosives?! Chaos Sonic walked up to peep at what he was doing. Nine’s hands were over the canceling-controls, and the screen showed him being stopped from deactivating the bombs. The others were already being launched, even though he had shut down the main one. 

- “I wanted to show him a new world we could make in The Grim. I wanted to prove to him that we can still live happily together as friends.” Nine sighed, “But now, he and his other friends are in danger, and I can’t stop these stupid bombs from going off! Sonic, I’m so sorry. I tried. I really did… I hope you can forgive me.” With that, he ran off on his metallic tails, only to be looped back in time in an attempt to stop the nuclear warfare once again. “What have I done…?”
Despite what everyone thought, he was just a misunderstood hero.

- Chaos Sonic was now conflicted. So… it wasn’t Nine oR Eggman? Although, he can’t just assume that right away. Then it has to be the Chaos Council… they’re hiding somewhere, I have to find them. He decided to go check the computer logs. They have files on everyone who was documented into the system. Including all of his suspects.

- He had to find out who did this. Who to blame for everything he’s been put through. Everything they’ve put SONIC through ─ He paused in his step. He reflected and noted he was growing fond of Sonic through sympathy. Something he thought he’d never have or need. I’ve never wanted hugs before, but I feel like if Sonic was back… I’d give him one. And maybe a punch afterwards.

[Soundtrack: Orchids by Glass Beach]

- He stepped into the control room, wondering if the computer would even let him access. He’s hacked into it to play games or see through cameras before, so there was no problem with getting in. The problem was that they technically weren’t real here.

- As he walked up, the screen conveniently showed the statuses of all registered members of the Chaos Council (and those under custody.) Huh. Thanks, dimensional universe. He set Stone-Cold down and scanned the logs of each member, skipping over the eggforcers, since they were awfully repetitive. He soon found some familiar names.

─

Name: Dr. Ivo Robotnik

Status: Alive
Objective: Leader of the Chaos Council

─

- These are outdated , Chaos thought to themself.

─

Name: Nine
Status: Alive

Objective: Prisoner/Assistant to the Chaos Council (currently escaped)

─

- These aren’t showing me anYthing… I WANT ANSWERS. He searched through each profile of the Chaos Council members. Dr. Deep, Mr. Dr. Eggman, Dr. Don’t, Dr. Done-It, Dr. Babble… but still, there were no leads, not even a mention of the war. WHICH ONE OF THEM DID IT?! I’LL FIND THEM AND THEY WILL PAY, NO MATTER WHAT I HAVE TO DO! He figured if he couldn’t find anything on the logs, he could search elsewhere. I’LL FIND A WAY TO AVENGE MYSELF, AND THE PEOPLE THEY HURT.

- But as he scrolled down further… he realized he shouldn’t have even looked in the first place. He froze, staring down at the screen with an indescribable, horrified expression on his face.

…

Name: Chaos Sonic

Status: Alive
Objective: Detonate explosions. Defeat Sonic. Ensure the Council’s victory.

[Track continues to play out]

- Bonus Scene: Sonic is now in the sky above with a dim expression, along with his angry friends who are all looking down at his horrified copycat. “I know, I know… You want to see him die,” Sonic says, “but I think this will be punishment enough.”

Epilogue: ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

- No … Involuntarily, he screamed. It’s all he could do.

“No… ! N O Ṅ̴̸̴̵̵͓͔̩͔̜̤̄̀̐͒̀̚͠ Ỏ̴̶̷̴̵̶̴̼͕̩̺̪̹̦̜̲̓̈́̅̽̽̿̌͋͗̔͗͝ ̴̷̴̴̴̷̵̢̢̖͈̘̻̳̮͙̱̂̿̊̄͆̿̈́͒̏̃̊̈́͝ Ň̶̴̵̶̷̸̷̵͈͙̱͚̜̳͙̦̬̣̟̥̱̦̣͂́̐̓̋̀͒͑̏͆̓͑Ö̴̷̵̶̴̴̢͖̦̭̘͎̯̱́͆̈́̊͌̋͛̚͠ͅ ̷̶̵̸̶̘̥̯̲͚͎͚͕̿̃͛̎͐̌͝ N̷̸̵̴̷̷̵͈͙͚̰̦̖̣̠̗̥̆̋́̈̄̏̔̉̇́̉̕ Ơ̵̸̵̵̶̶̢͕͚͉̫̲̖͈̮̓̈́͑̈̕͘͠͝ ̵̶̶̴̵̷̷̶̨̛͓̩̺̹̳̭̺̬̺͎͈̑̽̓̉̉̊͊̎̆̉͘ͅŅ̵̴̵̸̷̵̸̢̭̫̘̦͚̲̜̞̞͒͛͋͋͒̿͋̈́͊̕ ̶̴̵̸̵̵̵̡͙̣͈͉͚̠̹͎͑̄̎́́͗̽̾͂̽̈́͠ͅ Ơ̶̶̴̴̷̴̸̤̼̞̜̞̰͓̺̺̟͛̄̿̔̾̆͘͘̕ ̶̵̷̴̶̵̴̡̢̞͍͔̺̤̱͚̯̒͑͊̇͋́͆̔̕O̶̶̶̴̶̷̺̱͈̗͍̝͙̼͈̒̽͂̅͂͑̍̾͗͘͠ ̸̵̶̸̴̶̴̶̵̨̢͙͖̹̮̟̱̻̩͚͖̮͓͓͙͎̎̋̌͗̃͋̈́͗̀́̌̐͂̂͘͝!̷̷̵̷̷̸̸̷̵̨̧̩̙͔͓̙͔̣͓͖̭̯̤̮̉̏̇̀̅̆̏̓͊̊̆̽̀͐͆͑̚ͅ ̴̸̷̵̸̶̶͇̫͉͇̮͚̘͖͈͐̓̈́͐̃́̑͋́̚̚̚͠!̷̷̵̴̸̴̛͙̣̫̻͚̜̹̳͉͋̀̅̿́̑̇͋̚͜ ̸̵̷̴̴̶̵̡͓͖̣̻͔͚̺̤̖͈̂̾̈́͗͋̊͛̇́̎̿ͅ!̷̷̷̶̵̷̴͉͓̼̹̳̤̙̳̓̍̅͛̏̐͌̑͗̓̚͜ͅ
T HA T’ S NOT T R UE T HAT’ S NO T

N̴͉̓́̈́̅̐͆͠Ǭ̷̢̳̬̫̮̻̩͈̞̰ ̴̪͖̩̯͎̭̮̮͆̒̊̒̚N̸̡̡̛͈̯̩͇͈̱̯̻̙̜̩͋̇̏̔̏̆̕̕͜͠Ô̶̧̨̡͓̤͎̰̦̯̱̪̬͋̽̑̊̃͜ ̸̨̙̲̔̀͌̅̑̌̐̑̀͐̕ ̸̨͓̦̰̞̻͍̘̗̿̊̈́̏͗̊͝͝N̷͊̌͌͗͆͊̈̍͘O̶̭̯̤̎̂̀́̕ ̵̢̪͉̙̫̜̋N̵̛̳̽̌̈́̓̈́̓̄͝Ö̸͓͎̳̫̮̯͙͈̪͊̒͐̈́͗ͅ ̸̖͉̺̝̾̈́͌͂́͂̈͐̾̐N̷̘͇̦͉̥͋̽̑̉͆͝O̸̱̘̮̞̅̍́̍́̐ ̵̗̩͕̼̳̜̮͋͋͂̎̿̈́͋̀̍̚͜N̵͈̔͑̊́Ỏ̴̖͚̳̋̏̇̄̽ ̸̱̳͚̯̩̝̖͈̦͍̈́̓́͂̋͘Ņ̶̖͉͑̉̋͌̚͘͠Ò̷̳̗̼͖͍̩̭̎͘͜͜͝ ̷̨̥̝͍͖̬̎̑̇̍̋̍N̸̢̨͕̱̯͔͌͆̍̕͜Ő̴̜͇͐ ̷̩͓͉̈́͊N̷̩̆̔͌̅͆͑̕̕Ǒ̴̠͓̙̻̲͊̔̈ͅ ̴̢̛̖̺͙͉͒̇̔̊Ǹ̵͕̭̖̠̇̐͘̚͠Ó̷̡̢̼͙̜̮̬͙̩͒ ̴̡̛̩͎̞̤̪̦̄̽ͅN̵̡̠̬̤̳̯͆ͅO̴̗̹̱͇͂̉̅͌͠

̷͖̲̹̫̖͒̅̌͐̐̕͝Ḁ̵̟̫̳̥̓̀̔̂̈́̚A̷̼̬̣̬̲͊̓̂̈́̔͜A̶̙̥̻̟͇̙̮͕̭̰̿͑̐͑̀́͋̍͝ Ȧ̸̢̙̽ Ả̸̢̛̺̲̦̻̹̹̬́͌̂̈̂̀͜Ą̸̪͙̰͕̝̙͋̆̈́ A̷̧͙͍̺͓̅ A̵̢̢̖̲͍̤̳̣̪̋̅̏̓̂̕͝ Ą̸̦̤͚̭͙̖̣̭̻̊̓̍̆À̵̧̜͑̾̈̅͝͝͝͠Ä̵̭͉̥̩̣́̌̽͌̅͗̀̂͘ A̸̡̡͙̰̩̣͈̯͒̅̓̃͐̾͛A̶̲͗̈́̈́͗̊̽̚̚ Ạ̷̜̅͊̀̎̋ À̶͇̺͈̙̀̿͆̄͛̇͘͘ A̸̘̦̤̰̟̞̥̍̑̀̅͝͝ Ạ̸̞̲̑͒̋͆͝À̸̢̡̢̛͙̗̠̰͎͛ A̴̧̧̛͎͉̲͙̯̝̼̗͒͂͆̕-”

- He backed away, his hands trembling as his faulty, damaged code finally fixed itself, giving back every repressed memory. He now knew why things from earlier gave him Déjà vu. The dented bomb in the ground, when he pressed the logo on the wall, the way he told Sonic that he’d make sure he’d die no matter what… 

- He remembered hearing about Eggman’s bomb idea in early development, before he knew he’d kill off the Council. Although the man was confident in his plans, (if he’d go through with it at all) Chaos Sonic had a feeling he would fail. Failure is not an option in his mind, so he had no choice but to make a decision. Error. Objective-Override. Error.

- New plan. He calculated in his mind the best time, place, and way to make the napalm capsules. They weren’t nearly as large as Eggman’s planned one, but they would definitely mess up the Earth if launched, killing off Sonic and his pals for good. He kept coming back, taking notes from Robotnik to engineer in secret. If they found out, a potential spy could leak this information, putting his path in danger of being shut down.

- “Hey, so is ‘keeping secrets’ considered lying?” He decided to covertly ask the council one day, “Because I wasn’t programmed to lie.”
Dr. Deep looked back at him in curiosity, “Depends on the secret?”
“No, it doesn’t.” Dr. Don’t sassed.
“Does too!”
“No. It. Doesn’t. ”
Chaos Sonic shrugged and paced back towards his work-space as the whole council started arguing among themselves, “Alright, thank you!” Good, so I’m not doing anything wrong, he believed. Little did he know, in a megaannum, he’d be thinking the morally opposite.

- Once his plan was finished and installed, he gazed proudly upon them. Ha, be prepared Sonic… You and your little friends won’t stand a chance. But the Council will, since they have an underground bunker. He thought about the rest of the bots, and what would be left of Earth, all while not knowing Sonic would have his own bunker built already.

- Oh this’ll sure wipe him clean off the face of the Earth! Hmm, but this might even damage uS in the long term. He went to the thousands of sandworms that Eggman saved for his own bomb plan, and set its release to be around the same time his own bombs would detonate. And then thoSe bombs will go off a little after the big one! Nobody will see it coming!

- Chaos Sonic knew he’d be drafted out soon, so he made a spot where he would be able to set off the bombs. And I’d also like to challenge myself. On an alley wall, he had placed a launching sequence hidden under the Council’s logo poster. He snuck back into their meeting room, and was spotted instantly. But instead of suspecting him of something, they all told him that he was needed in the battlefield. Everything is going according to plan…

- Now that he’s in the present, and alone in front of the computer, he felt his soul sink to the floor; he dropped to his knees. It all came together. It was all him. He was the cause of the end of the world. He destroyed everything and everyone, and now he will be alone forever, stuck in time to face his consequences. He couldn’t believe he was walking around all this time, clueless about this information, when it was right in front of him.

A line replayed in his head, a shared thought from a million years ago.

There can only be one Sonic in the end.

- Well, here he was. He got exactly what he wanted. Victory for killing off Sonic and replacing him, even from beyond the grave. All Sonic’s team had to do was destroy him before he could build the bombs, but no; he was the laughing stock nobody cared enough about. Now, he was no longer just an idiot machine fulfilling an order, but a being who can experience remorse and care. Even so, it was already too late to take anything back.

[Soundtrack: The End of The World by Skeeter Davis]

- He felt himself curl up a bit slowly, shakily holding his head. The camera zooms out as he then covers his face.

...wₕₐt ₕₐvₑ ᵢ dₒ n ₑ... ? !

[Track continues to play out]

- Bonus Scene: Chaos is on the ground, laughing insanely for a while before they sit up at last with a broken expression. He looks at his pet rock in his hands, before coming up with an idea. “We need to find the prism and fix this… fix– everything. Including us. Once we figure out how to do that… We’ll never make this big of an error again.”

──────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────

Author’s Note: Thank you so much for reading this, it means a lot! My friend Redina and I spent a lot of time working on this cinematic piece together, and we MIGHT make it a graphic novel or animatic, as you read at the beginning. I wanted to make a full on animation of it all, but that would take so much more work , but then again, so would this. We’re thinking about it–

Maybe by the end of each issue we can have a blurb of what he (Sonic) wrote in his book? basically a paragraph or so. Maybe we can even incorporate some of those ending stingers you were talking about. ─Redina

Trivia? (SPOILERS):  

- Originally, this timeline story wasn’t going to include Chaos Sonic at all; or any other character for that matter! It was just going to be Sonic and sandworms. It was only when I was hyperfixated on Sonic Prime that this AU focused on others as well, and became a much better story. This concept can be found in early drawings I have made of just calling this, “The Dust AU.”

- Yeah the entire reason this was even made was purely for the idea of: HEY LET’S FRIDGE EVERYBODY AND HAVE SONIC BE DEPRESSED IN A WASTELAND!! Thankfully, it became much more than that.

- There were several ideas I was given for an ending, (I asked around) and one of them was that Chaos Sonic was to time travel. In the future, he’d go to where the planet would explode, and he’d be left stranded on a rock & the prism. Also Stone-Cold would be the last and only friend he ever had as he travels across the solar system. Into the past, however, he’d sacrifice himself to save everyone. Thank goodness Redina gave a better ending ─ and with a twist! Exactly what I was looking for! Plus, it really ties up the loose ends we had.

- I’ve been working on this document since Oct. 18, 2023! The concept was made years before.

- Was the playlist necessary? No. Did I spend a lot more time on it than I should have? Yes. I mean it reALLY gives immersion, and goes to the animation in my head about it, so I mean-

- I made sure to include everyone’s pronouns in the story. Sonic’s being He/Him, Shadow’s were He/They, Chaos Sonic’s are He/They/It (like me,) and Stone-Cold’s are It/They. They’re all trans.
Sorry, we don’t like women here. (just kidding, just kidding-) See their ref sheets for more info!

- Sandworms are freakin’ MASSIVE, being 9x9 feet in length & width, and then 25 feet in length.

- The bunker rooms were all shared among the friends to have more space for other things: Amy and Knuckles were in one, Tails and Sonic were in the other, and the last one had Shadow and Rouge. To cope with his loss, Sonic blocked off Shadow’s room. Now Rouge just phaSeS THROUGH THE DOOR KJAWDLWKAL—

- Stone-Cold was supposed to be named Rocky , but this was a way funnier and more original decision.

- Think about how much lemons have evolved over a million years? Are they even lemons now?

- This story was going to have Silver and Chip in it (they were trying to stop the bombs), but then I decided I should keep it a purely Sonic Prime universe, instead of adding things in from other things within the franchise.

- No, Sonic’s bandana/cape thingy was not a Boom reference, and he did NOT just find a random brown rag off of a dead body, it was Tails’s old blanket, as shown in the story.

- The chapter Praelium was originally called Battle , but I changed it to latin because I wanted a cooler name for it. Took me a while to get used to it.

- Chapters Resurrection and Answers were supposed to be only one chapter, but due to the extension, I split them. There was going to be a middle chapter called Questions as well, but it was scrapped.

- There were a LOT of songs I wanted to include, but got scrapped because of them not fitting in with the right places. But I also discovered a lot of new ones by searching, so that’s neat!

- To have another way to say “wide-eyed,” I was going to use a metaphor like, “his eyes became as transparent as a cloudless sky,” but since that doesn’t really make sense, it was scrapped.

- Out of all the experiences Sonic went through, the scariest one to him was almost dying to a windy sandstorm.

- Cockroaches, decay, and corpses are extremely triggering for him, trauma-wise.

- Usually I split this story into two sections: Dust for Sonic, and then Rust for Chaos Sonic’s part.

- Sonic was the one that was originally going to drown temporarily in the ocean, but since there’s like… no water around- I made it Chaos Sonic. It does not have the same effect, since he can’t drown, but eh, still works.

- The track “Shoop” was supposed to be a Deadpool reference, since Chaos Sonic reminds me of him so much.

- Nine wasn’t even going to have a significant role at all in the first place─

- I was going to have Sonic tame/ride a sandworm, but like… that’s kinda overused, isn’t it? But it would still be pretty badass!

- I put so much foreshadowing and symbolism in all of this. Not really any allegories, though.

- A hidden detail you might have missed is when Rouge (hallucination) told Sonic to ‘rest’, it was a metaphor for him to off himself. That’s why he pulled his gun out right after.

- The reason Sonic had a couple hair spikes down is because his quills broke and bent forward when the first bunker door fell on him. And also he was just… unkempt.

- Chaos, how were you in denial about everyone being dead for so long, IT’S BEEN A MILLION YEARS, POOPYHEAD. Why a million years, you ask? Well tell me again how long it takes for the Earth to change drastically and then even more in a day by a crystal? Yeah, that’s what I thought. 

- He was guilty from the very beginning, wasn’t he? He’s always had a little pity upon Sonic… After all, he basically iS him, just not made of flesh.

- The very last line (what have I done) originally had an f-bomb, but I changed it cause– ngl it’s kind of unnecessary.

- I loved putting parallels between them, but I also didn’t want to make them too similar.

- Stone-Cold wasn’t supposed to break until the very end, but ayeee.

- I was gonna make a couple other AUs after this, but I decided not to. One was Chaos Sonic being Sonic’s roommate in college and dealing with drama there, and then the other was Sonic passing out randomly and his friends take him to the hospital to realize he is severely unhealthy.

- No, Sonic’s garage door was not a WALL-E reference, it’s not even the same kind of door. They are similar scenes though, I’ll give you that. Sandstorms were inspo tho!

- He has a race-car bed.

- The first draft of this story/timeline thing started off as 10 pages. Now it’s over 40–

- Chaos Sonic kept tripping on high tides. I mean, I wouldn’t even go neAr the ocean if there were three moons/planets affecting the place!

- CUT CONTENT: Shadow finding a place to live and gearing up to survive on his own with a cool metal montage, and we get a glimpse into his daily life. Would be a cool spin-off!

- Sonic was going to have a one-of-a-kind new instrument, being a hybrid between a flute and a xylophone. Though, that’s literally impossible to make, so I went with his guitar instead, since that’s an instrument he’d more likely play. It’s his favorite!

- A scrapped Bonus Scene: Chaos Sonic in a reddened void (where he belongs) with hands grabbing him from every direction. He’s reaching towards the (upwards) camera as one of the hands choke him. His face is desperate and fearful while his ears are down. It was all his fault.

- AnoTHEr scrapped Bonus Scene, maybe to go alongside that^: Sonic in a darkened void, falling eternally as his eyes are closed acceptingly. He opens them to see a bright light with his friends reaching down for him. His eyes swell with tired tears, and he wears a big smile as he grabs their hands.
“Welcome home, Sonic.”

- Anotharrr: A still-framed blurred picture of Eggman getting hit by the sandworm as Shadow comedically points and laughs at him.

- Instead of Sonic using a gun for an attempt, he was going to originally use a razor blade on his own neck… but yeah you’re right, a little too dark.

- My mom suggested an idea that Chaos Sonic would start to feel pain and gain a soul, but like- he already kinda do??

- NO, THERE ARE NOT ANY INTENTIONAL SONIC FORCES OR FALLOUT REFERENCES. I KNOW IT SEEMS LIKE IT, BUT I PROMISE THEY’RE JUST SIMILAR BY COINCIDENCE—

- Instead of Sonic getting a gash, it was supposed to be Tails getting injured. It made more sense for the story for Sonic to get hurt instead:

  A laser had blasted against Tails’s arm, and he was backing away from the Eggforcer that inflicted the damage. “TAILS!” Sonic caught up to spin-dash into it. It sizzled with electricity and fell to the side.

…
“Tails, are you okay?!” He helped his brother get up. The fox winced, nodding as Sonic took a look at the wound. It was a deep, blistering burn.

- This “timeline” was supposed to be an ACTUAL TIMELINE, but instead was kinda made into a whole ass story… I'm very proud of myself! Still a timeline though-

- I showed my Christian grandma this story… SHE LOVED IT! I showed my other friends and family as well, and they all pretty much say that it was really good! Yayyy!! Thanks guys for being my beta readers!
And thank YOU for reading this too! Take care<3

END