Sonic Runaways

"Breathe, keep your cool… come on," Sonic grunted as he rail-grinded down a wet pink rope. An icky magenta serum sprayed out from beneath the soles of his shoes. The sky above was slowly being consumed by strange dark orange goop from the abyss below. Sonic could hear an awful rumbling coming from behind him, the sound of a stomach eating itself. Sweat rolled down his smirking face. "Eggman! Come on out and fight me YOURSELF, coward!"

"Poor little Sonic… we'll see who's a coward when my pet gets her hand on you," Eggman's voice rang through the space around Sonic. "After all, I know what you're afraid of." Sonic's eyes widened, realizing the rail was descending into the goopy water.

"Now or never… time to do this!" Sonic leapt to a road above a deep drop into the swamp beneath. When he stepped foot on it, he put forward another. He kept going, kept sweating, kept crying, kept running.

In place.

"Don't you know? I hold all the power now! You can't stop me!" Eggman cackled. Sonic was about to pick up speed, when a three-fingered hand rose from the end of the fleshy grind rail. The giant slimy claw grabbed his ankle, and pulled him underneath. Sonic screamed as he disappeared underneath the goop… Eggman's laughter echoing off the walls inside his head.

…

Rouge the Bat reclined on the windowsill of Club Rouge, ready for another fabulous night of work. Even before her shift, she liked to come here for a little while to unwind from the stress built up over the daytime. She spun the keys on her pinky finger, staring out the window at the mall district Night Babylon. Families and kids slowly dispersed as the sun set and the lights began to tap out. Neon barely illuminated the club, the pachinko and slot machines began ringing loudly due to a dying power supply she had tried to fix many times… with the power of rare jewels, of course. "Ms. Rouge?" A young girl's voice suddenly asked, causing Rouge to fall onto the floor in surprise.

"Cream? Aren't you a bit young to be in a place like this?" Rouge asked, picking herself up and dusting herself off. Cream the Rabbit looked up at Rouge with a polite smile on her face. "I haven't seen you around since the games. Did you find my secret entrance?" Rouge put her fists on her hips and leaned forward a little.

"Ehehe! No, I just got… stuck in here," Cream giggled nervously. "I tried to look for an exit, but I couldn't find one." Rouge lifted a tired eyebrow.

"Stuck? What do you mean? The door's right there, it opens from the inside," Rouge mumbled, her eyelids opening all the way in an instant. Cream let out a squeaky laugh. "You are one weird kid. Why does your mother let you stay up so late, anyway?" Rouge squinted. Cream's eyes lit up as she began to hover above Rouge by flapping her ears.

"Oh! There's Mr. Sonic! He'll know what to do!" Cream beamed, pressing her hands up to the window. Sonic glanced to her with a slight smile, as he knocked on the door. Rouge spun around, confused.

"My god, Sonic. You're about half an hour too early. You know the rules," Rouge grumbled, opening the door. "What do you want?"

"Knuckles and I are going on a trip next week," Sonic stated, seeming uncharacteristically moody. "He wants you to keep your hands off the Master Emerald until he's back." Rouge stared at Sonic blankly, he crossed his arms.

"Staring at the one I love, without any touch? You know I can't hold myself back like that," Rouge giggled, concealing her fidgety hands with her wings.

"I suggested we go somewhere else for a while, I don't want to be the reason he loses that thing again," Sonic replied. Rouge grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him in until their chests were touching.

"Do you know why that gem is called the M.E?" Rouge asked, staring into Sonic's eyes. She leaned forward until she had to flap her wings to keep herself from falling, all the while pushing Sonic to lean back. He was a hedgehog, but even his spine could only handle it for so long. He fell onto his back. "Because that thing belongs to M-E. Got it? After all, I'm a descendant of the Ancients. Those echidnas stole the Master Emerald from US!"

"You ARE?" Sonic asked, wide-eyed. "... They did??"

"Researchers say most species are, in some way," Rouge said, shrugging. Sonic frowned so hard his face scrunched. While the two were distracted, Cream slipped through and began to book it down the road, turning slightly liquidy. Like she was made of bubbles. "My Chao LOVES the Master Emerald! And Knuckles should just give me half if he keeps breaking it anyways…" Rouge looked past Sonic. "CREAM! Where are you going, girl?!" Sonic turned around, watching as a pink and blue wormhole opened up and swallowed Cream.

"What the…?!" Sonic shouted, running after her. Rouge stuck behind, in awe, but only for a second. She felt a slipping sensation as she was sucked in, too. As the faintly purple and black buildings mixed together into a monochrome blur, Sonic jumped through the wormhole… bursting right into a realm full of color.

Rouge entered soon after, to see that gravity had flipped entirely. They were in a headfirst freefall, surrounded by faintly pink clouds and flying liquid manta rays adrift in the bright blue sky. They took in the sights, confused, yet in awe.

"Sonic?! What's going on?!" Rouge asked, grabbing his hands and trying to slow their fall-out by flapping her wings. Sonic smiled wide, looking all around at the wonderland they were diving into.

"I don't know!" Sonic laughed over the rushing wind in their ears. "Hey, this is just like a dream I had onc—!" SPLAT! Sonic landed on something he couldn't see, tumbling down a transparent staircase. He caught himself on one of the steps, and slowly got to his feet. "Aw, c'mon! Who put THAT there?" Sonic looked to the top of the staircase, and saw a bright light. He looked down, and saw… purple ooze.

"Come forth, dreamer. It's time for our meeting to begin," a voice called out from above. Sonic looked up at the sky, and then ran up the staircase.

"Rouge, where are you?!" He called out, trying not to trip as he reached the top of the staircase. The light flooded his vision only for a nanosecond. When he emerged into the upper atmosphere, he found himself in a small room. It looked like the inside of a lava lamp, bright blue and pink blobs swimming around the walls. Brilliant lights beaming out between the nebulous shapes. "Sorry about the wet floor, this Dreamscape is still forming. The paint won't dry for a good while," the same voice said. Sonic watched as a figure took form above the floor. A sheep of some kind. She was… ethereal. Beautiful, like a goddess. Her dress was shaped like a pillow, her pastel blue wool a soothing respite from the endless showy garishness of what Sonic could only describe as the real world he once came from. Her horns were like crescent moons. Sonic sighed in wonder, before slapping himself with both hands. "Right, I'm looking for someone. Have you… seen Rouge the Bat?"

"Do not worry about your friend, I assure you, she is well. I'm a little surprised she came here at all, actually," the sheep said. Her voice was so relaxing and kind. "I am Ariem the Dreamweaver. This is the Reverie, a world that exists within the collective subconscious. Now then, Sonic… what should I call you?" Ariem's eyelids fell over her eyes halfway. "What… are you?"

"I'm a hedgehog, I feel like that's obvious," Sonic mumbled. Ariem giggled.

"Ah, yes. 'Sonic the Hedgehog'. That naming scheme is common in your world's animal population. Here, we tend to use more personal, individual labels," Ariem set foot on the ground. She still towered above Sonic. "This dimension is where dreams take place. It transcends physicality, you can be anything you want to be."

Sonic looked to his shoes. "I'll get back to you on that. I'm still not sure what's going on."

"Very well, come sit down. We've made Blue Tea… perhaps to celebrate your arrival, teehee~!" Ariem floated through a curtain, Sonic ran after her… only to see people he recognized sat in a circle on a purple yoga mat. Rouge, Cream, and…

"NACK?!" Sonic shouted, the purple jerboa smiling and revealing his giant fang. Rouge and Cream waved. "What's he doing here?! He's a bad guy!" Nack raised an eyebrow.

"Uhm… rude," Nack said.

"Do not say that. We're all friends here," Ariem stated firmly yet kindly. "Even you and Fang the Sniper are on the same side, he spends most of his time here anyways."

"Don't be scared, they didn't even let me bring my gun with me!" Nack… or Fang… said.

"If this is some kind of intervention, you picked the wrong crowd," Sonic groaned, hands on his hips.

"This is not an intervention, it's merely…" Ariem tilted her head to the side and smiled. "Group therapy. Dreams are a chance to process our troubles in the waking world."

"I've already been seeing a therapist, though," Sonic replied. Ariem raised an eyebrow. "Sometimes. It's hard to stick to appointments, but I've been starting to realize I don't need one anyways. So…" Sonic walked to the curtains. "I'm out. Have fun talking about your feelings, guys. You too, 'Fang'."

"Sonic, wait!" Ariem exclaimed. She phased through him, and stood between him and the exit. "You were called here for a reason…"

"I mean… I've been having some odd nightmares lately. Let me guess. Eggman's doing something? If so, I'll make it quick and stop whatever scheme they're cooking up for you," Sonic smirked, and gave Ariem a thumbs-up.

"We'll deal with that later, Cream wanted you to come here. She is very worried about you," Ariem replied. Sonic fell to the ground. "Have you been feeling okay, lately?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just in a funk. Sure, lots of crazy awful stuff happened recently, but it's behind me now. I'll just keep on running," Sonic grumbled. Ariem looked sad.

"Ever since you got back, everybody's been worried sick. You weren't acting like yourself during the Dodon Games. Everybody, I mean EVERYBODY noticed," Rouge butted in. Ariem looked surprised. "Even Knuckles is worried about taking you on this trip, your last 'excursion' didn't go so well. Correct me if I'm wrong, but… that's when you ended up getting lost in the Starfall Islands, right?" Sonic felt his heart stop for a second. His eyes widened, and he clutched his head. Only to scratch at his sharp quills.

"Give it a rest, alright?! I'm trying to move on! You don't know half of what happened then, so stop reopening old wounds!" Sonic shouted, his gloves now tattered. "This place is just like Cyberspace! I can't WAIT to wake up." Sonic sat on the ground, angrily.

"Cyberspace is much different. It brought up old memories to keep you stuck. This place is all about moving on. Healing. But you can't do that by running from your problems," Ariem sighed. "We want to help you, Sonic." Sonic held his arm. "We only… want… to help…" The Reverie flickered as Sonic pinched himself tightly.

Sonic snapped awake on the floor, one leg on the couch and one hand on his thumping chest. The afternoon sunlight invaded his dark room, showing just how disorganized everything was. Sonic shut his eyes tight, trying to block it out for a few seconds. He took a deep breath, hardly audible under the buzzing air conditioner.

"Now or never, let's go…" Sonic sighed, as he got to his feet. He walked right by his TV, showing a blurry rerun of the Dodon Games. He shielded his eyes like a child watching a scary movie.

Delicately lowering a plate of chili dogs to the table, Sonic plucked out a stray quill that was in his face. It was pale blue, no hint of energy. No semblance of the vibrancy it once had. He snarfed down the chili dogs. The reheated chili tasted so stale.

As soon as he got outside, Sonic jogged through Emerald Town. It was a particularly pretty day, but Sonic couldn't care less if the sun was shining or if there wasn't a cloud in the sky. To his eyes, it all looked so drab. After running down the block, he let his forward momentum die out. He checked his Tails Electric, only to see a bunch of worried messages from Trip the Sungazer. Instead of replying, he phoned Knuckles. He stood in place for a while, waiting for his buddy to pick up.

"Sonic?" Knuckles asked. "What's the matter? Did Eggman do something?!"

"I wish. Nothing's wrong, Knux," Sonic groaned, letting his head fall back onto the neighbor's chain link fence. "I guess I just needed someone to speak to. Tails has been off the grid for a while, Amy's doing whatever she's doing. I haven't had much to do lately."

"Never thought you'd say something like that," Knuckles said. "You're always running around, always doing something brand-spanking new. I'm just about starting to catch up. Speaking of which, aren't you looking forward to our Little Planet quest?"

"I guess that's something. It isn't really a quest, though. Just a vacation," Sonic stared off into the Emerald Sea. "Maybe all I need is a change of scenery…"

Sonic hung up, and kept running around the block. With every lap he made, he felt himself growing increasingly angry. Angry at the Dodon Games for fracturing his friendships, angry at his friends for letting it all fall apart. Angry at himself for ever trusting this world to let him be happy. He felt like he should've stayed in Better Place. Stayed with Sage. Stayed dead.

"Sonic?" Rouge asked, standing in his way. He stopped in place. "There you are, I thought I just saw you zip by the supermarket a few billion times."

"Yeah? What do you want, my wallet?" Sonic grumbled, putting his hands in the air. Rouge squeezed them and put them down to his sides.

"Do you even REMEMBER what happened last night?" Rouge hissed, looking all around to see if the coast as clear. "I mean, at all?! We chased Cream into that weird portal, and there was the staircase, and…" Sonic's eyes widened, Rouge's rambling muffled under the sound of ringing in his ears. That dream… had actually happened?