Chapter Text
Sonic and Tails walked in the Emerald Town Public Library. “Thanks again for letting me lose your library card, Tails!” The hedgehog said as he dropped his borrowed books through the return slot.
“No problem,” Tails told him with a smile. He followed Sonic inside, and then asked, “So how did you lose your card, anyways?”
Sonic shrugged. “I dunno. I dropped my wallet when I was fighting Eggman the other day. I guess it slipped out?”
“You mean the time when he poisoned the water supply to sell his own branded water?” Tails asked for clarification.
“No, that was last week. I’m talking about the time he added those hacking devices into the casino chips that made them lose even more money than normal,” Sonic reminded him. “Don’t you remember? He had that big juggling mech that he used to try and beat me.”
“Oh, I remember now! Thankfully you had me to return all the money Eggman stole!” Tails said proudly. He even puffed out his chest.
“Yeah, definitely,” Sonic reached out and ruffled the fur on Tails’ head. “But something tells me it wouldn’t have mattered much,” he snickered a moment later.
“Sonic, that’s rude!” Tails chided him, and gently his back with his furry tails.
Sonic just laughed. “But am I wrong?” Tails rolled his eyes in annoyance and followed Sonic between one of the shelves.
Tails read the sign on the side of the bookshelf and whistled. “I didn’t know you read non-fiction.”
“Eh, I read a little bit of anything during my down time,” Sonic shrugged as he examined the spines of the books. “Horror, thrillers, fantasy; basically anything works. Y’know, s’long as it’s written well and entertaining.” Sonic walked down the aisle and into the crime section.
“Really? What about stuff on science, or romance?” Tails asked him curiously.
“Um, Tails? Remember, I specified entertaining,” Sonic told him with a smug tone while looking over his shoulder. He picked out a book that had a sword on the spine and skimmed through the pages.
“Science can be pretty entertaining!” Tails argued.
Sonic nodded. “Mm-hmm. Yeah, I’m sure. My favorite parts are when the pages are full of numbers and equations I can’t understand,” he said sarcastically.
Tails crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay, but don’t blame me for being unable to appreciate the mathematical perfection of the golden ratio!” Tails huffed.
Sonic and Tails snickered. “Alright, I’m going to go look for something I want to check out,” Tails pointed behind them. “Tell me when you’re ready to check out!”
“Okay!” Sonic waved at his little buddy and then wandered further into the library. He walked into the science fiction and fantasy section. Here, the book covers were a lot more decorative. Rather than being embroidered words on a cover with maybe a relevant picture, there were landscapes of stars, close ups of space stations and even models of exotic solar systems.
Sonic stood in front of one bookshelf and found a title he was intrigued by: Today is Yesterday’s Tomorrow - A Star Rail Story. With a hum, he plucked it out and skimmed through the pages.
“...boring!” Sonic slammed the book shut and put it back. “Boy, I nearly fell asleep just reading it! Learn to pace your story better,” He joked, and then turned around to read the titles on the other bookshelf.
The book he just put back shuddered in its spot. Slowly, it inched its way out and then fell over, bouncing off Sonic’s head and then landing on the floor with a thud. “Ow!” Sonic hissed in annoyance. He rubbed his forehead and looked down to see the book on the floor. “Huh? Didn’t I put it back? Unless…”
As he expected, the book started to twitch. It opened itself, pages rustling as they moved swiftly. Soon a cloud of smoke started to fly out of the paper, alongside a wide variety of many colorful comedy masks.
The masks formed into a snake-like entity with the gas in the center. The being loomed over Sonic, casting a shadow over him and making him lean back. Sonic’s eyes were half-lidded with mild annoyance.
“The Blue Blur! In the flesh, ha ha HAAA!” The being spoke in a voice that radiated immense, if slightly diluted power. “I must say; I’m a huuuuuge fan of your work! All those adventures you go on have given me so much inspiration!”
“Uh, thanks, I guess?” Sonic muttered in a bored voice. “Hey, do you mind explaining how all this… works?”
The snake made of masks tilted its head; the comedy masks clinked together audibly. “What do you mean?”
Sonic sighed. “Like this whole thing? Where books and stories and whatnot have entire worlds within them, but only certain people know about that and there’s one person in particular who knows about me, specifically?”
Sonic and the snake stared at each other silently for a few moments. They could hear someone cough in the distance. “So, how many times has this happened to you before?”
“You’d be the third,” Sonic answered.
The snake let out a disappointed sea. “Awww! I wanted to be your first time…” It bemoaned.
“Okay, let’s not use any more innuendos,” Sonic said while making a cutting motion with his left hand. “So, just tell me what you need and I’ll see if I can help you.”
“Really?” The snake leaned closer and tilted the center mask that acted as its face. “You mean that?”
“Sure,” Sonic said with a smile. “I didn’t say being whisked away into other words wasn’t fun.”
The masked-being let out another laugh, which sounded slightly manic but still filled with glee and joy that sounded innocent, like it was a baby who was playing peek-a-boo with their parents. “Oh, I knew you were the right choice! You’re the perfect mixture of Trailblaze and Elation, Sonic the Hedgehog! I know you’ll help me find THEM!”
Sonic nodded listlessly. “Cool, okay… so who’s THEM, exactly?” He asked.
“The Trailblaze itself: Akivili!” The snake-being told him. Gas started to seep out from the chinks between it’s mask. At first it formed into a person that looked like it had to do it to ‘em, but then he dropped to the floor and bowed, with the main mask touching the floor and gassy arms clasped above its head. “You gotta help me find Akivili! He’s been missing for a couple hundred centuries and I miss THEM so muuuuuuuch, bwaaah hah!”
“...Huh,” was all Sonic said to that. He walked closer and awkwardly stroked the back of the presumably-god-like entity while it cried its eyes out in the middle of the library. “There, there. I’ll help you find your friend.”
The snake sniffled audibly and looked up at Sonic. There were rainbow tears trickling down his plastic cheeks. “R-really? Do you really mean that, Sonic the Hedgehog? You’ll help me find Akivili?”
“I mean, yeah. I don’t really have anything better to do today, so might as well,” Sonic answered with a wink.
“Oh, yes!” The snake thing wrapped its masks around Sonic to pick him up in a tight hug and then started rubbing the main mask against his cheek. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sonic the Hedgehog! You truly are the greatest hero who’s ever lived!”
“Thanks…” Sonic grumbled, his voice muffled by the tight hug. Once the masks let him down, Sonic asked, “So what's your name, anyways?”
“Me? Why, I’m…!” The snake creature turned away and fedora appeared on its main mask. It turned around while dramatically throwing the hat away and shouting, “Presenting the most incrrrrrredible Aeon to ever exist! Aha the Elation, at your service! Please, hold the applause.”
“Aeon?” The Aeon wilted slightly at Sonic’s lack of reaction.
“I’m basically a god,” Aha simplified for the hedgehog. “It’s my (self-imposed) job to spread joy across the universe, while having a little fun myself!”
Sonic placed his hands on his hip and studied the collection of gas and masks that made up the Aeon. “Really? Well, glad to know you’re rather chill, I guess,” he muttered sarcastically.
“Why are you looking at me all suspicious-like?” Aha asked him.
“Well, maybe it’s because the other two people who brought me into the storybook worlds also betrayed me,” Sonic told THEM. “Once is a coincidence, twice is a pattern; it’s a common enough saying that even I know it.”
Aha sighed. “I promise I won’t do anything tooooo backstabby while you’re helping me. And if we do find Akivili, there’s a good chance he can talk me out of a final boss segment.”
“Welp! That’s good enough for me! So, we're going to your world now?”
Aha nodded excitedly. “Well, we’re going to have to sneak you in first; going there directly is a bad idea. Trust me, there will be so many people that will not like what I’m doing!” THEY laughed, which sounded slightly deranged.
Sonic frowned. “I’m guessing other Aeons will have a problem with me?”
“Oh, you bet!” Aha nodded. “Don’t worry though, I know a back entrance into my world. And I’ll be sure to shield your presence as best I can when we’re there.”
“Sound’s good enough for me. Let’s go!” Sonic raised his fist, eyes shining with excitement.
“Of course! So, what’s your opinion on vore?”
“What?”
Aha didn’t give a chance for Sonic to respond, as THEY instantly lurched forward and ate the hedgehog. Aha burped and then disappeared in a buff of smoke. The book THEY came from floated back onto the shelf.
The embroidered text on the cover changed, shifting from Today is Yesterday’s Tomorrow - A Star Rail Story, to Sonic and the Shattered Tracks.
IMAGINARY TREE
Act 0
Mission - With Aha’s “help”, sneak into THEIR storybook world.
Sonic landed on a cubic formation of rocks floating above a chaotic, dark purple sea lapping at the roots of an absolutely gargantuan, glowing tree. Even from his vantage point, he could tell the trunk was wider than multiple Earths arranged in a circle, and perhaps lightyears taller than that.
Sonic whistled at the sight. “Nice view. Don’t appreciate the vore, though.” One of Aha’s masks appeared next to him with a chuckle.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself! Now follow me!” Aha floated in front of Sonic and THEIR mouth widened. THEY left behind a lane made of rainbow light as THEY floated backwards towards the tree. Sonic tapped his foot on the floor and then chased after Aha, quickly accelerating from zero to just under the speed of light. Despite that, it only looked like the massive tree was only getting slightly larger.
Aha giggled as he watched Sonic run. “You’re not even breaking a sweat!” Spotlights shone from the back of Aha’s mask, which bent backwards as Sonic ran across the bridge. “How do you do that?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Sonic asked with a smirk, not even winded as he travelled thousands of miles in mere moments.
“Oh, but I would!” A glowing eye appeared behind Aha’s eye hole. “You wouldn’t mind if I… tested your capabilities?”
“Yes, but something tells me you’re not really asking for permission,” Sonic narrowed his eyes at the mask.
“Look at that! We’re getting to know each other better.” Aha closed its mouth, causing the rainbow bridge to shatter. Sonic at first fell, but then dashed from shard to shard to gain height to reach another cubic island floating listlessly in the sky.
He landed on it and then charged a powerful spindash; the friction against the ground caused the rock to catch on fire and melt slightly until Sonic rocketed away. The sound barrier broke nearly twelve times over, causing the rock to shatter to miniscule fragments.
A few dozen million miles later, Sonic uncurled and turned around. Aha was floating a few paces behind him, so Sonic gave THEM a cocky smirk. “Does that answer your question?”
“Not yet! I know how much you hold back to keep your precious world intact! I want to see you let loose!” Aha laughed loudly, and the sound reached black sea a millions of miles below them.
Sonic raised an eyebrow at first, until he saw portals form in front of him. “The Sea of Quanta does not take kindly to… living things. Tah taaaaah!” Aha disappeared with a ‘fwoomp’ and left Sonic to handle.
The first monster lunged out of the portals; fish and beetle-like entities made out of some cosmic energy. When he saw them coming, Sonic crossed his arms over his chest and spun. The first beetle he came into contact shattered instantly and bounced him up high in the air. The fish chased after him and were wholly unprepared for him to drop like a rock to smash right through them.
As Sonic descended, he lifted his foot to remove the cosmic dust on his heel as a mechanical monster appeared behind him. Its two arms tried to grab him, but Sonic quickly kicked them away and homing attacked the head. The guns above the robot aimed at the hedgehog, but Sonic grabbed them and forced them to shoot at its own neck. Instantly, the monster head was blown off, launching Sonic closer and closer to the tree.
“Hah!” Sonic taunted as he spun Tonatiuh’s head on his finger like a basketball. He placed it against his feet and used it to push himself even further towards. “So, did I ace my test, mister–!” He was cut off when something slammed into him from behind and slammed him into the tree; thankfully it seemed to have its own gravity so they didn’t tumble down.
“Ugh…!” Sonic groaned, pulling himself out of the bark. Above him was a bull-like creature that was more of a giant head than a full body, but two horns and large, sharp tusks. To move, it had two stumpy legs sprouting from its midsection. “You know, from this angle you’re kinda cute!”
Valrahal snarled and raised its foot, but Sonic quickly slipped out from beneath its and kicked its center horn upwards. Valhrahal was knocked upwards and had its underbelly exposed, letting Sonic stand up and deliver a flurry of strong kicks into it. Valhrahal screeched as it was knocked onto its back and flailed its limbs helplessly.
“Aww! Back problems?” Sonic taunted as he walked next to one of Valhrahal’s eyes. The creatures snorted and snarled as it tried to reach out to him. “Don’t worry! I’ve got the perfect massage!”
The hedgehog walked back behind the oversized monster, reared back his leg, and kicked it as hard as he could. Valrahal let out a panicked screech as it was launched off the tree and disappeared as a twinkle in the sky.
Sonic kept waving until one of Aha’s masks appeared next to him. “That was nearly effortless! How do you do that?”
“Being so fast means I’ve got a lot of muscle!” Sonic said while proudly patting his stick-thin legs. “So… which world is yours in?” Sonic pointed up the multiple branches above them, each one with millions upon billions of glowing spheres.
“My Bubble Universe? Hmmm… should be that one over there!” THEY formed a gaseous cloud that pointed to a collection of glowing spheres to a low branch a few hundred light-years away from them.
“Hmm. Should be a nice jog over there,” Sonic said, kneeling on the ground to get into a sprint starting position.
As Sonic prepared to take off Aha looked behind them. “Oh.”
“What?” Sonic turned his head and saw a large swarm of Quantal monsters flying at them..
“I don’t think the Sea of Quanta likes you,” THEY commented in a sing-songy voice. Sonic snorted.
“Good! It means I did my job correctly.” And with that Sonic blasted off in the general direction that Aha pointed to.
Blasting off at mind-numbing speeds, Sonic ran up the trunk of a tree. He was a mere speck on its surface, but even then, he crossed swaths of bark in mere moments. His footsteps were so powerful and so quick each time his heels hit the floor a wide crater would form completely once he was a couple miles away.
The Quantal monster kept pace with him. They shrieked and roared loudly as they dove into the tree, barreling through its bark and shooting up to try and catch him to no avail. “Oof! Can the tree survive that?”
“Yes, I’m pretty sure! But its odds might increase the sooner we reach our destination,” Aha answered him.
“In that case…!” Sonic grabbed the mask, making Aha squawk. “Let’s get moving!”
“Hey, let me–!” Aha tried to say, but THEIR breath was stolen once Sonic dashed forward. He moved so quickly Aha could see a light bend in harsh, jagged arcs. Turning back again, Aha watched as the unmoving Quantum monster disappeared beyond the horizon. “Woah! Woaaah-haaaaah hah hah hah!”
Sonic smirked as he heard the Elation Aeon cackle loudly in his arm. His heart was pounding; the exhilaration of traveling at light speed made his own heart beat with excitement. He rarely was given the ability to go as fast as possible, so for now he savored the heavy thudding of the tree beneath him.
Then Sonic slammed his heels into the ground. The effort it took to stop ripped apart the bark, creating a massive tear in the tree that stretched on for miles until he came to a halt. Despite all that, Sonic’s shoes were still intact. They didn’t even look like they’d been sanded down in the slightest.
“HAAAAAH!” Aha laughed loudly, sounding like THEY were on the verge of tears. “How far was that? That had to have been like, a-a-a bajillion light years a second!”
“Eh, probably,” Sonic said as he jogged onto a branch (even that was over 500 km/h). “So, which world is yours?”
“The one balancing precariously on the thin twig over there!” Aha said. Sonic nodded and ran over the hundred-thousand mile branch in a few minutes.
Sonic looked up as he approached the bubble universe. Like Aha had said, the sphere was balanced on a twig. The sphere wobbled on the thin tip; it looked like it would fall over to the Sea of Quanta if somebody so much as sneezed near it. “I wonder if that’s indicative of anything.”
“Eh, you’re reading too much into it!” Aha wormed its way out of Sonic’s arm and turned into a smaller mask snake.
Sonic placed a hand on his hip as he walked closer to the bubble. “So, what’ll happen when I walk in?”
“I’ll take you to the last place I know Akivili has been,” Aha explained to him.
“Alright,” Sonic stretched his arms over his head and smirked. “I’m ready to go!”
Aha let out a chuckle. “Then jump right in, Sonic the Hedgehog!”
Sonic bent his knees and leaped into the bubble world. “Heee hee hee!” Aha giggled excitedly and followed him inside.
SONIC got through
ACT 0!
Score: 4500
Time: 2:58:32
Rings: 80 / 235
Time Bonus: 7640
Total Score: 12,140
RANK
For a moment, all Sonic could see and feel was a flurry of colors and shapes rushing past him. It would’ve been a novel experience, had he not experienced something similar traveling to and from Cyber Space. Aha seemed to have sensed Sonic’s mild reaction. THEY appeared next to him and grumbled, “Does anything impress you?”
“Is it really my fault if my adventures already take me to plenty of weird places?” Sonic retorted.
Aha guffawed at Sonic’s words. “Oh, just you wait, hedgehog! Soon you’ll be seeing places that you can’t even fathom!”
“Like?” Sonic noticed a bright white shine in front of him, cutting through the multi-colored space they were in. “Looks like this is our stop! Will this place be one I can’t even fathom, like you said?”
“Not quite, but it doesn’t make it any less spectacular! Welcome, Hedgehog…!”
Sonic curled up into a ball and slipped through the opening. Soon, all the color faded, and he landed a metal lotus plant made of gold and jade. “Fancy…” Sonic commented. He looked up, and saw a massive palace, also made of gold and jade, surrounded by canyon of coral and sitting in the center of a multitude of massive, roaring waterfalls that all spilled behind the ornate building to fill an ocean-sized lake.
“...to Lóngshuǐ, the former homeworld of Dusty Long’s pet geckos!”