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Sonic was forced to walk onto the train, a smirk on his face. He knew exactly how he’d be trying to mess with one of his friends today. Even if they don’t remember these instances, he had been wondering if there was a way to get him to see that all of this was a video game. He was going to make it very obvious something was wrong in their world.
But first he had some setup to do. After all, his target was Shadow… and he couldn’t have anybody else getting in the way. Plus once he kills everyone but Shadow and Tails it would much easier to enact his plan. A plan that had failed a few times (Shadow REFUSED to believe it was really him! The audacity…) but he had a feeling if he spared Tails this time (he never enjoyed killing him, but he also didn’t want him to have experience the atrocities he commits) things would work out. And although he had a way to force Shadow to focus, it took a lot of effort and wasn’t as exciting if his feelings weren’t genuine.
Upon regaining control over himself he easily slaughters everyone else and stuffs his little bro in the closet upon tying him up, grinning as he stands behind one very shocked Shadow. It’s times like these he wishes he could just take a peek into his thoughts.
“Oooh Shadow~! Whatcha think?”
Shadow immediately swirls around and points a chaos spear at his neck. “Who are you?!” He growls.
“I’m wounded you don’t recognize your pal Sonic the hedgehog. I know you hate me but I didn’t think a change of clothes would make me unrecognizable!” He jokes.
“Lies. Sonic would never do this. Now quit messing around and tell me who the hell you are before I kill you!”
“I’m not lying! I know it’s hard to believe, Shadow, but it is me. Did you even notice I spared Tails?”
“What?”
“You heard me. I stuffed him in the closet over there.” He points a thumb in the direction of the closet. “Take a look if ya need to, but I ask you don’t let him out. He doesn’t need to see or hear this- I think we can both agree on that.”
Cautiously, Shadow looks inside to see Tails bound and confused. He was probably completely unaware of what had happened. It lent credence to this being Sonic but still… “Why, then? If you are Sonic, why would you do this?!”
“Because I’m bored. That’s what happens when you’re stuck on what is essentially a time loop.”
Shadow thought about it. If he was stuck in a time loop with no way out there was a chance he’d eventually break. But then… “Why not leave? Why this!?” Unless he’d just been stuck that long. And he had a hard time believing Sonic wouldn’t have done everything in his power to get this time loop to end, so he didn’t bother asking about it.
Sonic grinned like he was hoping he’d ask that. “Because it’s impossible to leave. I dare you to try! I can’t have you not believing me after all. It’s important you understand this for today’s experiment.”
He hated that he used the word experiment but at the same time he was intrigued. For some reason he felt strangely calm while approaching the door. After all, the train hadn’t taken off yet. But when he tried to exit the door didn’t budge.
“Having trouble?” Sonic teased.
“Can it!”
“Maybe you should try busting down the door? Our quills have been known to cut through steel...”
He made a good point but at the same time something told him it wasn’t going to work. Why point it out otherwise? But maybe it was just a Sonic related issue. So he spindashed into it… and there wasn’t even a scratch. He tried again and still nothing. A chaos spear wasn’t effective either.
“What is this thing made out of?!” Rage once again boiled inside him.
“Code.” Sonic smiled, eagerly awaiting for things to escalate.
“What?”
“You heard me, Shads.”
“DON’T call me that. Not after what you’ve done.”
“Then do something about it.” He antagonized.
Shadow obliged with a Chaos Spear to his throat.
Despite the chaos spear to his throat, Sonic just grinned. “You can’t kill me in a way that matters, Shadsss.”
“I said not to call me that!”
“Hehehe! Then stab me and do something about it! I DARE you!” Sonic exclaimed with a look so manic it freaked Shadow out a bit.
Was he really that dumb or did the time loop allow him to cheat death?
“After all, if you don’t, who knows how many more people I might hurt this loooop~!”
Shadow hesitated. He feared this was all part of a plan but he loathed to admit he had a point. Maybe Sonic just wanted somebody to kill him to try and end this time loop? If that’s true it means he might hurt more people to do it…
“Fine then!” Shadow says before steeling himself. He took no pleasure in what he was about to do… and stabbed Sonic in the throat. The light in Sonic’s eyes quickly goes out and he slumps with a grin still plastered on his face. It was an eerie sight. Rattled, Shadow takes the chaos spear out. It was now over, wasn’t it? It had to be.
But before he could think anything else, suddenly the corpse smiled as the light in its eyes was still out yet alive. “I told you that you couldn’t kill me in a way that matters.” He says as the gaping wound in his throat becomes covered in pixels.
Frantically, he goes to stab Sonic again… but suddenly his spear vanishes. And he can’t summon a new one. “Wh-Why…?”
“Having trouble?” Sonic says as he stands up. “Hehehe…! Watching you panic like this is so amusing!”
“A-Are you doing this? What in the world are you? You can’t actually be him… Sonic never had this kind of power.”
“Well the old me didn’t know his entire world was just a game for somebody to play. Heh, I bet the player is so confused. I love messing with them. If only I could see their faces…”
“What in the world are you talking about?”
“We’re all code, Shadow.” Sonic smiles. “How is what I’m doing possible? Because I’ve been stuck in this hell so long I learned how to manipulate some of the code. And with more time I’m sure I’ll get even better! Maybe I can even remake our world…” He looks longingly outside. “If only it wasn’t just a flat image.”
“A flat image?” He looks outside but “There’s nothing flat about it.”
Sonic sighs. “You all neverrrr seem to notice. Well today we fix that!”
Shadow suddenly finds himself pinned to the ground, Sonic yelling “Look at me, Shadow! Look at us! What do you see? What do you REALLY see?! Do you see it, Shadow? The gradient on us all? On our world? Know that what you see is the truth and also fake. A game.” He squeezes the other’s throat. “Every bit of pain you feel right now is simulated…”
Shadow could almost see something. Hazy lines on Sonic. Was he imagining it or did Sonic conjure it? Or was it real?
“You look confused… see something strange? :)”
What was that last sound he just made? Shadow could only look at Sonic’s manic expression in confusion.
“Tell me, Shadow. Do you see it? Do you see the lines?”
Shadow’s eyes widen a bit. How did he know?
“I hit the nail on the head, didn’t I? Don’t be afraid to admit the truth Shadow!”
But in an instant, the room turns completely white.
“Ah, I suppose their game must’ve finally crashed. Or they got bored. Either way this world is almost over.” He gets off Shadow. “What a shame that playtime is coming to an end.” At least he got a good reaction out of Shadow.
Shadow sits up and looks around, horrified. “Wh-What will happen to me after this?”
“Dunno. You’ll probably disappear too. At least this version of you. Or perhaps you’ll be reset. If we ever meet again, do let me know?”
“I-“ Shadow vanished. The world was about to be reset.
A few seconds later it all cuts to black, before he’s walking on the train again. Now he just has to figure out what to do this time… Anything to satiate the boredom.