# SONIC THE HEDGEHOG RECHARGED

This is the tale of a kid called Thomas Miller, an ordinary 17 year old boy, and how everything he knew and loved changed.

Thomas (or “Tom”, as he mostly liked to be called), was resting on his bed, with nothing to do. His parents went to a party, so he was completely alone. He suddenly felt his stomach grumbling, and the sun was setting, meaning it was time for dinner. He had 25$ to order something. He decided to make an order to Domino’s, since it was his favorite. He opened his computer and went to the website, picking his common; a medium one with green peppers and bacon and a two-liter of coke, and then looked on his PC to watch a movie.

He chose The Dark Knight Rises, and when the delivery arrived, he went to his bedroom to enjoy his meal. While watching the part where Bane breaks Batman’s back, he felt chills down his spine. He always found that scene disturbing, but this time was different, it was like something bad was going to happen. He shrugged it off and continued eating.

Right after the movie ended, the doorbell rang. “Huh? They are already here?” Tom was confused, thinking his parents arrived sooner than he expected, and looked at the peephole, but no one was there. He opened the door, thinking someone was pranking him, but still nothing.

He looked down and noticed an envelope on his doormat, which he picked and took inside.

He opened it, revealing a letter with Sonic The Hedgehog’s face on it. As he readed, his smile widened in amazement. He couldn’t believe he got this chance, although he questioned why they had delivered the letter this late. He ignored it and sent an email to the address indicated. Since it was still not late enough, he played some games on his PC when he got a notification at 23:30.

The message said:

*“Dear Tom Miller:*

*Thank you for your answer, in a moment someone will arrive to pick you up. It’s a pleasure  to make business with you.*

*See you soon,*

*-”Sonic The Hedgehog Recharged Team"*

“Right now? This late?” Thought Tom, and before he could do anything else, someone knocked on the door. He went to see who it was this time, and to his surprise, it was a tall man, with a fedora and sunglasses. “You must be the one who was sent to pick me up, right?” Tom asked, but the man didn’t answer. 

The man stared at him for a couple of seconds before breaking the silence. “You seem trustworthy enough. Follow me, we are gonna have a short ride.” He explained, and so Tom left the house, leaving a note for his parents in case they came back sooner.

Outside, the man was waiting for him, on a black Chevrolet. Tom got inside and put on the seatbelt. “Is it really safe to drive this late?” Tom asked, worried. “Don’t worry, kid, I got this.” The mysterious man replied, and so he drove away. While he was driving, the man introduced himself as Diego, and he was the choffer in charge to take the ‘chosen ones’ to the place. Tom explained his hobbies, but Diego stopped him before he could go on for so long. “Better save it for the interview.”

Half an hour later, they arrived at their destination. It was a block in a suburban area. “It’s Door C on the 5th floor. Good luck, kiddo.” Diego gave him a thumbs up, as he sat on his seat to listen to the radio. Tom went inside the building, took the elevator, and waited for his destination. 

When he reached the floor, he looked around. There it was again. That feeling of uncertainty, just like when he was watching the movie. “It’s just the nerves, don’t worry about it.” He thought to himself, and rang the doorbell. He waited patiently for a response, when an eye peeked up from the peephole, and the door slightly opened. “Who are you?” Asked a lady from inside.

“Uh, Thomas Miller, madam.” He replied, and the door completely opened. He could now take a glance at the person who was behind. It was a middle-aged woman, with glasses and brown wavy hair. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary in her, although he could feel something was… odd.

“Follow me, sir.” Said the lady, and so he got inside. Looking around, he noticed that the place was quite peculiar. The walls were blue with red-white stripes, and there wasn’t any single window to the outside. They went past a room, and there he could see a bunch of people through a glass barrier. Most of them were on computers, and the rest were drawing stuff on papers. They seemed calm. Way too calm.

After a short tour, they got to the main office, and there she was.

Eriko Hironake, on a big desk, similar to the ones in presidential offices, with a wide smile.

“I’ve been expecting you, Thomas Miller.” Eriko said. “You may leave us now, Sophie.” She ordered the guide. “Of course, Ms. Eriko.” Sophie bowed, leaving the room and closing the door.

“So, you must be excited for this, right? Not many people are as lucky as you.” Eriko said. “Yeah, thanks for this. I can’t wait to tell this to my parents, that’s if they don’t kill me for getting back late, heh...” Tom gulped with a forced laugh. “Oh, don’t worry about it kid, by the time they arrive you’ll be sleeping peacefully.” She affirmed, trying to calm him down. 

“Alright then, tell me about yourself…” She demanded. “Well, I am a big fan of the Sonic series, and I have a passion for coding. I have worked in other small fan games before, but this is a whole new thing for me. I’m glad I was given this chance, and I will make sure not to disappoint.” The boy explained.

“Heh, not bad, kid. I think we can seal the deal now.” Eriko put a contract on the table, and handed Tom a pen. “You just need to fill in the boxes and sign down here. Then you’ll be part of us.” She said, with a big smile. Tom wrote down everything on the contract, and when he was about to sign it, he put the pen on the table with dubiety. “Is there something wrong?” Eriko asked, concerned. “Yes, in fact there’s a couple. Why are the walls like that? Where are the windows? Are those people alright? Is any of this even real?” Tom demanded to know the truth.

Eriko suddenly dropped her smile, and looked at Tom grimly. “Is it something I said?” Tom asked, confused. Without saying anything, she turned around, walking towards the wall behind the table. “Do you have any idea of how hard all of this is? Having this title means a lot to me, even if some people think it’s ridiculous. As the leader of this great project, I must provide the people with what they ask for.” She turned around, looking at Tom with a menacing face. 

“But at the same time, the thought of the human being making the same process constantly is interesting. In a way, it’s the key to perfectionism. However… it can have other benefits…” “What are you trying to say?” Tom asked, very suspicious. “Listen, Thomas… There’s no way any of this can see the light of day. No matter how hard I try, it will never satisfy them. That’s why it needs to be in a constant loop of changes, redesigning, recycling… *Redoing…”*

“Wait, so are you just going to waste so much valious time?” Tom was raising his voice at this point. “Oh, you think I’m not really getting anything out of this? Hahahah… How wrong you are, boy. All these people at one point will *break,* and that’s when *he* will be gathering their essence...” Eriko seemed to have lost her mind at this point. 

“You are a fucking crazy bitch! It was a mistake to come here… I’ll get the police and take down this insane operation!” he screamed at her, as he ran to the door. 

“Where do you think you are going?” Eriko clapped her hands, as Diego entered the room. “It’s a shame, you were really starting to grow on me.” He said, grabbing Tom by the arms. “Let off me!” Tom panicked, kicking Diego, but it didn’t make any effect. “Just according to plan.” Eriko snapped her fingers, revealing a couple of people in robes that were hiding in the walls. Some of them took out the rug, while a person put a laptop on the table.

There was a huge drawing of Sonic’s head below the rug, which made Tom more panicked. “Tell you what, you can sign the contract, and you won’t have to suffer anymore. You’ve got some good parents… *I’d be a shame to make them bury their child.”* Eriko handed the pen to Tom, but without thinking it twice, he spat her right in the face. “I’m never selling myself to this cult, all of you are fucking insane!” Tom raged. Eriko wiped the spit from her face and looked at Diego. “You know what to do.” “Of course, my mistress.” He then crushed Tom’s arms. The boy screamed in pain as he was dragged towards the table, where the contract still layed. “You better listen to her, boy.” Diego threatened him, and what Tom said surprised him and everyone in the room.

“Alright, I give up.” “What? Are you serious?” Diego was surprised. “Don’t lower your guard, he might try to escape!” Eriko exclaimed. “Heh, like that’s gonna work. I think you may have a point, after all, what other choice do I have?” Tom looked at Eriko with a smug face, and the room got silent, until Eriko spoke. “Well then, I guess we can proceed. Diego, let him go.” 

And with that, Tom was free from the man’s grasp. He grabbed the pen and signed the document. “Alright, now what?” Tom asked, trying to hold his anger. 

“Right… There…” Eriko whispered, seeing that Tom was exactly on top of the Sonic head. All this time, he didn’t realize the laptop was on, and for some reason there was a huge cross that covered the entire screen. Tom felt that this was trouble, but it was too late. He couldn’t move any inch of his body, except his mouth. Before he could curse everyone there, a cultist ran to him and stabbed him in the back with a dagger.

“AGGGGHHHHHH” Tom screamed in pain. Blood was dripping from the wound, and he could feel how it was getting worse. “Please… Make this stop… I will do anything…” Tom begged for mercy, but no one went to his aid. “Oh, you are already doing it, have you not realized yet? You are exactly the one we were looking for. There’s a reason we chose you. There’s a reason we sent that letter. There’s a reason for you to be here. All because of yourself, THOMAS MILLER!” proclaimed Eriko. “And now, the true FUN can begin! Don’t get upset, you’ll make your *best friend* happy this way.” Eriko said. 

“Go to hell.” 

That was the last thing that came from Tom’s mouth, before a dark-blue beam came out of the laptop, striking right at Tom’s eyes, which slowly melted them away, until he dropped on the floor.

His heart had stopped beating.

…

Hours passed since that happened. Tom felt how something was poking him, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a pigeon in front of him, which flew away. Tom was very confused. He swore he was in that room, and his life faded away right there. He got up and looked at his surroundings. It was sunny, and in a different city. For some reason it seemed familiar to him. He felt that his body weighed less… He looked at his hands. There were gloves. He looked down. Boots. Clothes that he had never worn before. He noticed his arms were thinner and gray. He saw a mirror laying in a wall close to him, where he looked at himself. He was in horror when he realized it.

He had turned into Silver the Hedgehog, his favorite character.

“How could this happen? There’s no way all of this is real…” He was trying not to lose his mind. “It’s just a dream, I just need to close my eyes…” And he did so, but no matter how much he kept them close, he still was there. “Welp, guess this is it. I might as well look around, perhaps there’s an exit close here.” Tom walked away, without any clue of what to do. 

Surprisingly, it wasn’t very hard for him to get used to this body, even though he didn’t have much speed. He was thinking about what Eriko mentioned back then. “Best friend? What could she mean by tha- Oh god...” 

He then remembered. His best friend Kyle Scott had told him long ago he was chosen for a “special thing” and he would reveal it when it became official. Unfortunately, that was the last time he heard of him, as he was reported missing ever since. He feared those people had something to do with him. “Maybe… Did he have the same fate as me?” Tom was worried, but he couldn’t stop there, he had to get out somehow.

After some time, he recognized the place. It was Soleanna Castle Town, from Sonic 06. It was full of life, even though Tom knew all of this was a living nightmare. He asked the people around if they had seen someone with the name of “Kyle”, but he didn’t get anything. He then thought of trying to use his psychic abilities, since he got on Silver’s body, he assumed he also inherited his abilities. 

He looked around and found a barrel, which he tried to levitate with his mind, but it wasn’t of any use. He also tried using his hands, and again, it was useless. He wondered what he could do when he saw something running on the rooftops. 

He followed it as fast as he could, until it reached the plaza and lost sight of it. “What the hell was that?” he asked himself, when he noticed someone on top of the fountain. It looked like… Sonic?

Without any doubt, he ran into him, thinking he could help him, but just as he was about to reach him, he spindashed away. 

“Did you see that?” Tom asked a man that was looking at the fountain, but he didn’t answer. “Hey, can you hear me?” Tom was getting stressed, and screamed at him. He didn’t care if he looked crazy. He wanted answers from anyone.

Suddenly, the man turned around, and looked at him. They both stared at each other, when he let out a loud screech. His head was getting wider, until he exploded, blinding Tom with his blood. Tom couldn’t see anything, the blood hit him right in the eyes. He could only hear the screams of panicked people. As he wiped it off, the fountain exploded, sending him flying away and losing his consciousness.

After some time, he woke up again, but now he was in a different city. It was more modern, but everything was in ruins; the buildings were damaged, there were burnt cars around, and the sky was completely gray. He was absolutely terrified. He ran in multiple directions, trying to find an exit, but it seemed that he was walking in circles. Every time he thought he reached the goal, he ended up in the starting point. Going into the buildings wasn't even safe, he feared that something worse would happen. Suddenly, he saw him again. 

Sonic. He went into him, but as he got closer, he realized that wasn’t Sonic, or at least the one he knew. Just as he got close, his body paralyzed itself, just like in the room where he met his demise. He could only see that thing. He resembled the blue hedgehog, but he had much darker and shinier fur, his arms were colored and lacked shoes and gloves. He couldn’t see his face, since he had his back turned. Out of nowhere, a strange melody played as that creature began to sing.

“Cold, so cold
Truth be told
I shake, might break, without a fold
This cold
I patrol
For one, little friend, I’d like to hold
That zone
All alone
Yet here, they don’t mind, they take it slow
That zone
I’ve outgrown
Brave worlds, braver souls let me be known”

Suddenly, the beat got faster, as he slowly turned around while he kept singing, and then he could see it.

That creature had pale skin, with yellow teeth, and with his right hand he covered part of his face. As he sang more, everything around set into flames, but he couldn’t feel any heat no matter how much it intensified. After a minute, he said something that would never leave his mind.

“You’re not very good at this, aren’t you?”

He suddenly increased his height, deforming his body, until he completely transformed. His ears were pointed like demon horns, his body was wider, and had sharp teeth. Everything was getting hotter, and when he ended singing, he grabbed Tom’s throat, and began strangling him, as he laughed more and more. Tom felt how he was losing air and blood, and just when he was about to pass away, someone kicked that creature, releasing him from his grasp. He couldn’t tell who did that, and before passing out, he could only hear two words…

“Chaos… CONTROL!”

Tom regained his conscience again, waking up on a medical bed, in a strange room. He had bandages around his throat, and they slightly hurted. He got up and opened the door. He walked around until he reached the main room.

There were a lot of people there, some of them being Sonic’s friends. “Glad to see you are alright.” Said the one known as “Shadow the Hedgehog.” “Let me introduce myself. My name is Nick, and like you, I’m a human too.” Tom was shocked to hear this. He didn’t expect to actually find someone else like him there. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Thomas Miller.” he answered, nervous. That surprised many people there; one of them, Fiona Fox, walked into him, trying to hold her tears. “Heh, can’t believe you are back again, it’s been a while…” Tom looked at her confused, not knowing what to say. “Oh sorry, you might not recognize me. It’s me, Vicky, from college!” she exclaimed, trying to hold her excitement. 

“Sorry, but who are you? I never met someone called Vicky.” Tom asked with confusion. Vicky’s smile dropped, as she got nervous. “Come on… Have you really forgotten about me? That monster took our lives and dragged us to his world… Don’t tell me… he brainwashed you…” Vicky was desperate, and Tom wasn’t helping. “I’m sorry, but you might have mistook me by someone els-” 

“Thommy, is that really you?” Said a voice he recognized very well. Unlike the others, Tom kept his original voice, and only one person called him by that nickname. That voice came from Knuckles the Echidna, but Tom knew who he really was.

“Kyle… I- This is… I don’t know what to-” Kyle hugged him tightly, tears running down his face. “Heh… You were always such a crybaby…” Kyle laughed… “Seems that they got you too as well.” “Wait, don’t you mean…” Tom was surprised by this. “Yes, indeed, that was the “special thing” I told you about last time we talked. They didn’t even give me a chance, I was stabbed in the back and thrown into this world, with this body.” “Well, I had a similar fate as yours, except I kinda gave up and signed their contract” Tom explained. “Anyways, it’s good to see you are somehow fine, but…

“Who are these people?” Tom asked, looking at the anthropomorphic animals. “They actually were victims of “X”, although they come from different universes.” Kyle explained. “As for the humans… Well, they are unfortunately part of this “game”. 

“Yeah, now I see you're not the Tom I knew.” Vicky pointed out, upset. “You see, in our universe there was also a Kyle, he went to college with us, but tragically, he was found dead in his room. Tom was investigating the reason of his death, and found out the one responsible was none other than a cursed Sonic game. It was created by a creature called X, which was the one that took Kyle’s and other’s souls. He appeared in the school, and killed everyone that stood on his path, including me, Tom and my friends, sending us into his own world.” Vicky explained. She told Tom that E-123 Omega was actually Roger, but there was someone in a corner, which was Blaze the Cat.

“Hey there, are you ok?” Tom asked, but Blaze was embarrassed for some reason. 

“That’s Mike, my… boyfriend.” There was an awkward silence. Tom never expected to see something like this. “Why do you have to embarrass me in front of the newbie?! I could’ve introduced myself!” Mike blushed. “But whatever, yes, I’m a man, so what?”

“Hey, calm down idiots!” Said Sally Acorn. “My name is Crystal, and yes, I was also a victim of that creature, in my universe Kyle and Tom were my friends. You can guess who killed them. I played one of his games, which led me to HIS world.”

“Since everyone introduced themselves, we might as well do it.” Said a crocodile called Vector. “My name is Derek Green, and I, along with my sister Chelsea, were also a victim of “X”.” He said, presenting Rouge the Bat. “In our universe, we were in charge of the investigation of the “Sonic.exe Murders”. Tom and Kyle were part of these victims, and their corpses were found at their houses. One time, Chelsea found the game, which led to her death. The Cult of X was responsible for this, and weeks later they caught me. That bitch Shannon used the disk to summon him, taking my soul to his world. Nick was also one of his victims as well.”

“Wow… I don’t know what to say… I didn’t know there was more than one monster. But, if you guys are from other worlds… Then how did you get here?” Tom asked. 

“Well, we all have different stories.” Vicky walked to him. “One time X was playing with us, Tom got mad, and went against him. He managed to master his powers, but they were useless against the puppeteer. Out of nowhere, a portal emerged, which sucked me, Mike and Roger into a different world. We ended up here, along with other people. We managed to find a glitch, leading us to this exact hideout. We’ve been hiding from that monster for months. Sometimes, some of us went outside in hopes of finding an exit or food, but that monster always managed to catch unfortunate souls...” 

“We are the only ones left that haven’t fallen into his hands. And with you, we might be able to have a chance. We only need to unleash your potential.” Nick said.

Tom was perplexed. All of this was way too much for him. “Well, it seems that it's time for dinner. Hope you like the food here” Kyle said. And so, they all sat on a huge table, eating what they could have gathered that day. 

After that, they all went to their beds. Tom layed there, having issues sleeping. He still couldn’t process everything that had happened, he wondered how worried his parents were, now that his son was gone, and after some time, he fell asleep.

He woke up, in the same city as before. “What does this mean…? Did that monster capture me already?” Tom wondered, when a huge fire tornado appeared, and from it came… *Him.*

He was humming something, Tom couldn't tell what it was, when he asked “Would you like… TO PLAY?!”, as he chased him around. Tom’s movements felt slippery, and the fire tornado was moving towards his direction. He had to avoid getting hit by “Sonic” as long as he could. 

After so much avoiding, “Sonic” went through a door, disappearing from Tom's sight.

Tom woke up, sweating from that weird dream. “Thank god it was just a nightmare, although I'm already living another one…” He thought to himself, as he drifted to sleep again.

The next morning, he had breakfast with the rest, and after that, Nick asked him to come over.

“Now, Tom, since you clearly fucked up, you need to learn how to use your powers. We will start with that plastic cup. Try to levitate it as hard as you can.” Nick demanded.

Tom focused on the cup, as he tried to push it upwards with his mind, but it wasn’t working. “Take it easy…” Nick guided him, but Tom wasn’t having it. He was frowning, as he tried to use his head harder, but  it was useless.

“God dammit, I can’t do this!” Tom complained. “Now, now… No one said this would be easy. It took me weeks for me to master this body, you just need more time so you can unleash it. I think we might need to strengthen your body. Follow me please.” Nick guided Tom to another room.

This room had a lot of gym equipment: dumbbells, weight plates, treadmills, and many others.

“You need to get used to the sweat if you want to use your strength. Let’s try with some dumbbells. I think 3KG will be enough” Nick said, handing them to Tom. He then began lifting them, without any issue. “Ok, let’s change it to 6KG.” “Heh, it sure is heavy…” Tom was having issues with them. “Hmm… We should change to something else.” Tom and Nick went to the treadmill.

Tom got on it and walked, trying to keep up the pace. As the speed increased, he felt how hard it was to keep going, so he stopped the machine. “Not bad for the first time, now let’s have some food.” Nick said.

Tom was very upset. He didn’t think this would get anywhere, and he could only think of his family, his home.

The next few days were intense training. Tom was slowly getting into it, getting help from Nick and the others. He also got to know more about them and his other counterparts. As much as he wanted, he couldn’t see the exterior; it was very dangerous for him.

One day, he saw the cup of water in the same place again. So he cleared his mind, as he tried to levitate it. He felt how his body was being pressed by the force, and he opened an eye, seeing the cup was slightly levitating. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long, and fell exhausted.

“That wasn't quite bad, buddy.” Vicky looked down at him and helped him get up. “Don't worry, I'm sure when the right time comes, you'll have your chance to shine.” “For everyone's sake, I hope you are right…” Tom whispered, slightly worried.

Two weeks later, they had run out of supplies, so they had to go to the ruined city and grab some stuff. The party would consist of Nick, Derek and Vicky. “I think it would be better if you came with us, we might need a plan B if things go rogue.” Nick told Tom. “What could I even do? I haven’t reached my powers yet, I would just be deadweight…” complained Tom. “He’s right, we can’t allow any more casualties.” Vicky pointed out. “Everything will be alright, as long as we stick together. Now, just hold on to me, and DON’T slip up.” Nick demanded, as he holded the white emerald up in the air, teleporting.

As soon as they arrived at the city, Nick told them to follow him. They walked towards a building, leading them to an abandoned mall. There wasn’t a single soul there. They walked on the broken mechanical stair until they reached the third floor. 

“Let’s not waste too much time, we’ll grab everything that we can and then leave. For that, we’ll divide in two pairs; I’ll go with Derek and you, Tom, will go with Vicky. We’ll reunite at the entrance in 15 minutes. And most important…

*Don’t make any sound.”* Nick whispered.

So they separated. Tom went with Vicky, and she asked him to pick a trolley. “Just make sure to not lay it on the floor, the sound of the wheels might alert him.” Vicky whispered quietly. They went through several shelves, picking stuff like pasta, canned food, water… Vicky was also carrying a trolley, to make the job easier.

“What do we do if someone dangerous appears?” Asked Tom. “Just run. And stay quiet, jeez…” Vicky groaned. Tom thought all of this was dangerous, and preferred to die of starvation than having his body charred, but as his friends told him, he was very vital for their salvation, so he and Vicky went on with their “shopping”.

After some time, they had gathered enough stuff, so they decided to go back when they heard a heavy breathing. “I told you to stay quiet!” “But it's not me!” They turned around, facing…

Princess Elise, holding a dagger, with bruises through her body, and Mephiles next to him.

“What the? Where did these come from?” the fox questioned. Elise was looking at Tom with a deadly stare. “Wait, we are the good guys!” Tom tried to calm her down, but Elise didn't lower her guard, her face showed fear and anger.

“What are you guys still doing he- Who the hell are you two?!” Nick and Derek had encountered them. “Hey, glad to see you are alive, just take us back to the base, and these two as well. I think they could help!” Vicky pointed at Elise and Mephiles. “You guys seem to have gone through alot. Don't worry, you are safe with us.”

Elise took a glance at them, and after thinking about it, she sighed, putting the dagger down. “Just go with us before he-” Derek was interrupted by a loud laugh.

Elise shook in fear, and got in a fetal position. “It's our end…” she cried, as they heard the shelfs falling down. “Alright, I had enough. Shadow guy, keep her tightly. And you, Vicky, hold her arm. We are leaving this pla-”

The shelf in front of them was sent flying away, and they could see “Sonic” looking at them with a vicious smile.

Elise didn't think twice and ran away with Mephiles. “YOU FOOLS!” Nick shouted, as he was kicked by Sonic, leaving him unconscious. The group was terrified, just looking at him was enough to be paralyzed in fear. They grabbed Nick and ran away, trying to find the other two, but Sonic teleported in front of them. They ran in another direction, but he kept teleporting.

They were getting exhausted, when Derek had an idea. “I’ll keep him distracted, you two will carry Nick and find the others!” “Are you crazy? We won’t let you die!” Vicky shouted, but Tom wasn’t having it, so he dragged her by force, trying to find the exit.

They casually came across Mephiles and Elise, who were still confused. “What the hell is this place? Who are you?” Elise asked. “We don’t have much time, we need to-” 

They heard something being dragged through the floor. It was Sonic, dragging Derek’s unconscious and beaten up body, which he threw at the group. 

“Stay behind, I’ll help you!” Tom turned around, facing the monster. He tried using telekinesis against him, but it didn’t come out at all. In response, Sonic blasted flaming waves at them, which pushed everyone except Elise at the border, falling to their demise.

The hedgehog laughed, as he slowly walked into Elise. She closed his eyes, bracing herself to the inevitable, when she heard some strange sounds.

She opened her eyes, seeing that Sonic was surrounded by some cyan energy-waves. He looked around, looking for the one responsible, when he saw none other than Tom, floating up to them, while he levitated the others.

“These are my friends, and I won’t let you harm them!” Tom shouted, as he levitated Elise and crushed Sonic with his newfound telekinesis. He was screaming in pain, which woke up Nick and Derek. “Glad to see you are well!” Vicky said, relieved. Tom turned back when he heard that, but he accidentally pushed Sonic through a wall, which caused a strange glitch that teleported everyone to another place.

“Ugh… What happened?” Derek asked himself, seeing that it was daytime. He turned around and realized they were now in Soleanna New City. He noticed the others waking up. “D-did we win?” Vicky asked. “I think the nightmare is far from over…” Tom fell to his knees, disappointed. “Derek, I-”

“Don’t sweat it kid, you did everything that you could. And it seems that you finally found the key to your awakening.” the crocodile pointed out. “Yeah, I was impressed as well the first time…”

“Well, now that we all have woken up…” Elise said. “Can someone tell me who the hell are you?” “Well, my name is Thomas Miller, and these are my friends Nick, Derek Green and Vicky. And who might you two be?” asked Tom.

“Wait, those names… I see what’s happening now. I must admit, I’m not actually Princess Elise. My real name is Cherry, and Mephiles… is Luis, my boyfriend. I assume you also got thrown into this world by her, am I right?” she asked. “Well, it’s a long story. I was also-”

Tom was interrupted by a loud noise. They went looking for the source when they arrived at the main plaza. They found out that Big The Cat was the one responsible, but something was wrong with him. He had bloodshot eyes with a wide, creepy smile. He screamed while wrecking everything around.

“How do we stop him?” asked Cherry. “Leave this to me! You guys must help the others!” exclaimed Nick, charging into Big.

The gang helped the civilians get into safety, while Nick fought with the possessed cat. However, he didn't expect him to be so resistant, and he couldn't find any way to break him out of his curse. Eventually, he was losing the fight, so Derek went to his aid.

Tom didn't know what to do. He feared that he could put the others in danger the second he ran into him, when he stepped on something. It was a Chaos Emerald, a green one precisely.

He didn't think it twice and went into the fight, using his telekinesis to paralyze Big and aiming the emerald at him. Out of nowhere, the emerald emitted a strange beam, striking right at Big, which in response let a bloodcurdling scream. To everyone’s shock, his face returned to normal, while light came from his eyes. This took a few seconds until he fell onto the ground, unconscious.

When everything calmed down, they looked at Big, still unconscious. “Now, how do we wake him up?” asked Cherry. “I know exactly what to do…” Tom brought a bucket full of water. “Where did you get that?” “No time for questions. Everyone, step aside, this might get a bit frisky…” He splashed the cat with the entire bucket.

“PLEASE DON’T TAKE MY ARMS!” Big screamed, getting up panicked. “Wait… This isn’t the place…” “Hey, are you ok? Sorry, but we needed you awake!” asked Tom. “Who are you? What am I doing here? The last thing I remember was that monster-”

“I’m sure you might be as confused as we are, but it’s ok, we broke the curse on you.” “What curse? What are you talking abou- Oh no… Now I remember…” Big shook his head nervously. “Who are you guys?”

Tom sighed, knowing that it wouldn’t be the last time he did this. “Alright, let us introduce ourselves…” Tom told what he went through. “Wait.. Thomas Miller… Is that really you?” asked Big, surprised. “Uh, yeah, why do you ask? Do you know me?”

“I should’ve started from the beginning… My name is Leo, and I used to work for… her…” “Wait.. You’re kidding, right?” This made Tom stressed. “I wish I was. Long ago, I was hired by Eriko to work on her “project”. At first, everything went fine. I was in charge of the designs and artwork, and everyone was nice to me. However, as the time passed, I started to realize things were… not quite right. After investigating, I was horrified to realize what they had been hiding from me. So I decided to confront her. However, I wasn’t strong enough to take them down, and she threatened my family if I let this out to the public. So I had no choice but to stay on her mad project.”

“But how did you get here?” Cherry asked. “That’s what I was getting into right now…” Leo groaned. “After some time, I heard about a new recruit. That one was you, Thomas Miller. I knew about your death, and I kept my mouth shut when I had enough. I brought a gun from my father, and went into her office, aiming at her. Despite my efforts, I was quickly stabbed and thrown into this world. I got into this body, and unfortunately came across “Sonic”. He “killed me”, and after that I lost all sense of my mind. And now, here we are.”

Tom was perplexed by this revelation. He didn’t know what to say. “So that’s why my father was worried…” Cherry broke the silence. “What do you mean?” Asked Vicky.

“Well, me and my boyfriend were asked by my dad to investigate the “Sonic Recharged” team. He was suspicious about some shady stuff going on, so he asked one of his infiltrators to get us a role. We went there and everything was fine, but soon we discovered some recent murders within those walls. Hearing enough, we tried to warn my dad, but all connections to the exterior were cut. Luis tried to challenge her, but it resulted in our deaths. After waking up in these bodies, we had to hide from that monster for countless days, until you finally found us.” she explained.

“Ok, I think I had enough, what the hell is going on? There’s not any normal reason for a laptop to drag people inside it.” asked Tom to Big. “Sigh… I guess you should know the truth… You see, every-” “Wait, we forgot about the others!” exclaimed Vicky.

“Shit, how could i forget?! Don’t worry, I’ll go che-” “Wait, I think I have a better idea…” Tom interrupted Nick. “What do you have in mind?” asked Derek. “Don’t worry, it’ll only take a few minutes.”

Tom then used the emerald to teleport out of there, arriving at the hideout. He saw Kyle and Chelsea piling up some cards to make a tower. “Easy, easy…” Chelsea guided him, as the echidna slowly tried to put the final card. “Hey guys, what’s up?” Tom appeared out of nowhere, which distracted Kyle and made all the cards fall over.

“Dammit Tom, don’t you have ma- Wait, Tom, are you OK?!” Kyle rushed into him. “Wait… you feel… Different…” “Well, guess I finally managed to find the key to my powers…” Tom said, flustered.

“Wait… Where’s my brother and the others?” asked Chelsea. “Oh right, I was gonna tell you guys, we found a safe place, we don’t have to hide anymore.” Tom explained. They looked at him confused. “Alright then, I’ll call the others to leave this dump. I hope you know what you are doing, bro.” Kyle said a bit worried.

After half an hour and some convincing, everyone gathered around. “Ok everyone, just hold onto me, it’s going to be a heavy trip.” Tom said, as he teleported all of them into the city. “Sorry for the wait, I had to do some convincing…”

Chelsea ran into his brother, hugging him tightly, as he leapt her through the air. “I knew I should’ve never doubted you, big bro!” she broke into tears. “Come on, there’s no need to get so emotional. You can thank Tom for all of this.” “Thank you Tom, you really are a hero.” Everyone was cheering for him, some of them not even knowing the context at all.

“Alright, now that everyone is here, I can explain what has been going on in the curtains…” Leo took a deep breath. “You see, “Sonic Recharged” IS indeed a real thing, but everything is just a setup. In reality, they go as the “XTream”, where they praise “Sonic”, and we are right now in his game. Eriko overworks her slaves out of malice, and the ones who die from exhaustion or go against her ways get their essence sucked here, which goes to Sonic, making him stronger. The reason why you and Kyle were chosen was simply part of the prophecy. In every universe, there’s a Kyle and a Tom, and the same events happen. They play the game. They are surrounded by nightmares. They get their soul sucked into a nightmare wonderland, where a demon uses them like toys for all eternity. This world isn’t an exception, but there might be hope. There might be a way to break the cycle. Even if we never get back to our world, we have to prevent other poor souls from being part of this madness. We only need to find it.”

“Well, that was surely a revelation.” Tom sighed. “Alright, listen everyone, you heard him right, this won’t be easy for us. That’s why we must prepare for the moment he arrives. Just to know, you aren’t forced to join in battle, but your effort would be appreciated, and I’m sure a few of you here are eager to give that creature who pretends to be Sonic the beating of his life, so I want a big shout from all of you!”

Everyone raised his fists in the air, cheering Tom. “Alright then, it’s decided, we will be very busy these days!” proclaimed Kyle.

In the next days, the group went into training. Tom spent several hours testing his psychic abilities. Since he had just obtained them, it costed him a lot of stamina, being his biggest weakness. Luis, Cherry and Leo even went under training, despite the last two thinking they wouldn’t make a difference. Thanks to Tom’s heroic action, the group had everything for free.

But not everything was constant training. There were moments of fun, like Tom challenging Nick to a race, Chelsea, Crystal and Derek going fishing, Mike, Vicky, Cherry and Luis going on a double date…

One night, Tom was laying on the plains of Soleanna Forest, observing the stars, when Kyle walked by.

“Hey man, how’s it going?” Kyle asked. “Nothing much, just observing this beautiful scenery…” Tom kept staring at the stars, without taking his eyes away from them. 

“Mind if I join you?” “Sure, suit yourself.” Tom said, and Kyle laid on the grass. They were now both staring at the stars, without saying a single word. Kyle felt a little bored, and tried very hard not to fall asleep.

“You know… This reminds me of the times we went camping with our families… Putting up the tents, roasting some marshmallows on the bonfire, getting scratches in our legs from the plants… I kinda miss those times sometimes…” Tom let out a wide smile. “Yeah, sometimes I think of that too.” Kyle sighed. “As strange as this might sound, I’m glad you came here. At first, everything was horrible. Feeling my mind in a flesh that didn’t belong, having to run from someone that claimed to be Sonic… Fortunately, they found me, and I discovered what you’ve been told. After that, I only had two things in my mind: getting stronger to survive, and you, Tom. We were very lucky to have you, you helped a lot of people, you gave hope to those that were filled with grim… If only I had something to make my parents proud… But I don’t think they would believe I fought alongside you against a demonic ent-”

“Kyle, you never know when to stop talking, do you?” Tom smirked. “Hey man, I am just emotional!” Kyle said, embarrassed.

“Listen, do you hear it?” Tom asked. Kyle couldn’t hear anything, other than the sound of crickets. 

“I think I found it.” “Found what?” Kyle asked, confused. “The key to my powers. A calm mind is a strong one. You must let every thought out of your mind, and keep it empty. No emotions, nothing at all.” Tom closed his eyes, as he started levitating, while having his body laid down.

Kyle watched him, amazed. “You know, maybe you can unlock a secret power as well, you just need to look deep into your hear-”

“Hey guys, what’s u- HOLY SHIT TOM IS THAT YOU?!” Vicky appeared with Mike, which made Tom lose focus and fall down. 

“Oops… Sorry…” “Don’t worry, it was my fault…” Tom said, slightly embarrassed. “So, what are you guys doing here? Watching over those bright dots in the sky?” “Pretty much, you two should join us too. What do you think, Mike?” Kyle offered them.

Mike felt very uncomfortable. “Hey hun, if you don’t want to talk it’s fi-” “Please, just. Don’t.” The cat didn’t want to be there, but he wasn’t willing to stay mute for so long.

“Mike, you shouldn’t feel bad for having that body. It’s ok, you are one of us. Our defects make us unique.” “He’s right, you know…” Vicky pointed out. “Who cares if you are in the body of a lady cat? You are still my boyfriend, and nothing will ever change that!”

There was absolute silence... “You know what? You are right, why should I be ashamed of who I am? Despite everything, I’m still myself!” Mike shouted proudly.

“I’m glad you finally accepted yourself. Now…” Kyle got up, touching his shoulder. “TAG, YOU'RE IN!” “Hey, come back here!” Mike chased after him, followed by Vicky and Tom. 

“This isn’t funny! Just wait until I catch you!” “Heh, I doubt that! There’s no way you ca-AAAH!”

Kyle suddenly tripped over, falling face down the grass.
“Hey buddy, are you OK?” Tom ran into him, worried. “Yea, I’m fine, I just stepped on something…”

They looked down, surprised to see a turquoise Emerald. “What the hell? What is this doing here?” “Could it be… The others are also around as well?” Vicky suggested. “Well, I guess we could try searching for them, but I’m feeling hungry…” Tom’s stomach grumbled.

They all went back to the city, while finishing their little game of tag. That night was the best that they had in their new lives, but their happiness wouldn’t last for so long…

One fateful evening, Tom was helping the owner of a cyber cafe with some boxes, when he spotted a huge block of stone blocking a door. “Yeah, I’ve tried everything with it, but it won’t budge.” The owner scratched his head. “Don’t worry, I got this!” Tom tried to push the stone, but it didn’t work at all.

He then called over all his friends to help, but even with them, the rock wouldn’t move any single inch. “Can’t you just use your telekinesis?” asked Roger. “I was worried I could break something, but it seems that I don’t have another choice…”

And so, Tom surrounded the block with energy waves, pushing it all he could, until it was apart from the door. Now, they could see what laid behind there.

They opened the door, which led to a long hallway. At the end of it, there was a wooden table with a chair, and a laptop rested on it. “I don’t have a good feeling about this… What if it’s a trap?” Mike shivered in fear. “In that case, I’ll get you all out of there the second everything gets bad.” Tom assured him. “However… This computer… I can’t look at it without feeling… fear…”

“I get what you mean…” Kyle said. “It looks like the one that took my soul away, and I think the ex-worker and the lovebirds can relate…” “Yeah, I still remember it… It’s something that can't leave my head…” Leo said.

“Well, that doesn’t matter now, we must discover what’s on this damned laptop!” Tom opened the device and turned it off. Surprisingly, it was fully charged, and it didn’t need a user nor a password.

The desktop was a black screen, with the default icons. Tom explored the folders, trying to find anything, but they were empty. He was about to give up when he thought of exploring the folders in the hard drive. Digging through it, he came across a singular MP4, titled “AN”.

“This better not be a scary video…” Crystal shivered. “Don’t worry, I will act fast if some spooky monster comes out of the computer.” Tom joked, clicking on the video.

It turned out to be an episode of the Steven Universe show. However, the intro was missing, and the quality was questionable. “Wait… I don’t remember an episode titled like that… Actually, none of these ever worked on the show…” Derek pointed out. “Let’s just get this over with, after all, what could possibly go wrong?”

…

After the video ended, everyone was horrified. “What the hell was that? How could that gem do all those things?!” Cherry was about to puke. “This has to be the work of a demented psycho…” Roger suggested. “Well, I think I had enough…” Tom levitated the computer. “I’ll just crush this into pieces before it gets-”

“What a shame… Seems that you didn’t enjoy my masterpiece…”

The group jumped in fear upon hearing that disturbing voice. Tom was more affected by this. He knew who that was. “You think talking through our heads is going to scare us? Well, you are wrong, monster!” Cherry shouted.

“Oh my oh my… Looks like the little girl has finally conquered her fears…”

“Just come out from your hideout, we know you are right here! Or maybe you are the one scared of us?” Nick loaded his guns, aiming at the walls. “So you better come out at the count of 10, if you appreciate this place!”

“How adorable… These little animals think they can make a huge difference…”

“We are NOT animals! We are not from this world! And we are definitely not your playthings! You are just a sadistic beast that thrives on the suffering of others!” Mike shouted around.

“Well then, in that case, I might have to take a step in.”

The room was getting filled with black smoke, which made everyone cough frenetically. Tom didn’t want to waste more time, so he grabbed the team with his psychokinesis and teleported out of that place, right before it exploded.

However, they didn’t get back outside. Instead, they ended up arriving at the ruined city. “Tom, what did you do?!” Nick scolded him. “I don’t know, my plan was to get us to safety, I didn’t have this place in mind!” “Guys, we can’t fight now, we have to leave this hellhole. Tom, just teleport us back to the city.” Vicky was desperate to leave. “Alright then. You know how this works, so just hold onto me!” Tom tried to teleport, but nothing happened.

“Hey, what’s going on now?” Crystal asked, confused. “I don’t know, I can’t teleport us out!”

“Perhaps you should check your surroundings before acting so naive…”

“You again, seriously? How long will you keep hiding?!” At this point Tom was desperate, and wanted to destroy everything around, in hopes of finding him, when they heard something. 

A strange object came rolling to them, which they didn't recognize at first, but after Nick analyzed it, he told everyone to run, but it was too late. The flash grenade struck everyone, making them blind and deaf.

After some seconds, they got their senses back, and gasped in horror.

Sonic had shown up, with Tails, Amy, Cream, Dr. Eggman, and a bunch of humans, but they were all infected by him, with wide, evil grins. 

On the other hand, the rest of the survivors appeared on the heroes’ side, scared and confused.

“Wait a minute… Are those your friends?” Tom pointed out at Tails and the others…
 
“Unfortunately… They were with us for a few days, before that monster snatched and tore them apart…” Vicky explained.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything. These are just my friends! Why are you angry at me?”

“Stop with the lies! These are my co-workers!” screamed Leo.” “Tails is Jeremy, Amy is Carol, Cream is Suzy, and Eggman is Kevin!”

“You are truly disgusting. Taking dozens of innocent lives, just for your own amusement? Why are you doing all of this? There has to be a reason for your actions…” Tears went down Tom’s cheeks.

“My dear Silver, don’t you see? You all are very interesting. You have something I lack. Real emotions. When I first woke up, I was amazed by your kind, your evolution, your ability to create things. That’s when I decided that I was the REAL and ONLY Sonic. Thanks to my friends, I managed to get stronger, in order to protect the people I love. Isn’t it fantastic?”

“I had enough of you!” In a fit of rage, Tom lifted a big iron, throwing it at Sonic, but he simply titled his head, without getting a single scratch.

“Tsk tsk tsk… You don’t seem to get it, do you? Haven’t you already been living peacefully with your new family? Why would you want to ruin it for everyone? In this world, you don’t have to worry about anything! You can keep cheating all the way you want, after all, I will always manage to find you. But it’s very boring if you make it easier for me, so how about you stay in your little lane, without a care for the world? After all…

*It will still be the same, with or without me…”*

“We won’t let you get away with this! We have been training hard for this day, and now, the fate of not only this world, but the entire planet Earth, resides in our hands!” the heroes said all together, charging into battle.

The place became an absolute warzone. They couldn’t kill the possessed ones, so they had to knock them out. Tom immediately went into Sonic, and they clashed. Sonic kept teleporting by every attack Tom threw, and Tom did as well. It was hard to see them due to their incredible speed. However, Sonic had the advantage, and kept mocking Tom…

“Let me handle him, I got an idea!” Nick ran into them, pushing Tom away. Tom was confused about this, but didn’t think much of it and ran into the zombies.
No matter how hard they were knocked, they always got up, and the group couldn’t keep up with this. It was at that moment when Tom remembered how he cured Leo. He pulled it up. The green emerald. Carol tried to surprise-attack him from behind, but Tom turned around and blasted her with the emerald, turning her into normal.

“There’s no time for explanations, just help me with these people!” Tom and Carol then brawled into the rest. The silver boy slowly turned the zombies back to normal, and sent them to a safer place. Upon this, Sonic ordered them to stay away from him, but the gang stepped on the way.

“Go on! Show these fools what you can do!”

Following their orders, Kevin, Suzy and Jeremy jumped into the battlefield, and to their surprise, they each had an emerald, which they used to shield against Tom’s curing waves.

They all separated, with Jeremy going into Chelsea. However, she proved to be stronger than him, and without any other options, took flight. Chelsea tried to reach him with her wings, but the fox counterattacked with an energy blaster that was attached to his hand. Chelsea just kept dodging his attacks, not knowing what else she could do, when she heard a loud scream.

It was Kyle, who came running from one of the buildings, gliding at Jeremy and striking a powerful punch at him, with the emerald in his fist, breaking the shield and turning him back to normal.

“Hey, I could’ve handled it myself easily!” “Sorry, it seemed that you needed some help…” Kyle snickered. “How’s it going, Leo?”

Leo didn’t answer. He stared at Suzy. He wasn’t capable of harming her. 

The awkward silence was broken by Tom, who came down out of nowhere and smashed her shield with his emerald, saving her.

“You know, maybe we should’ve looked for an emerald that you could use…” he commented, and Leo just rolled his eyes, before they heard something falling.

Tom quickly stopped it with telekinesis and threw it upwards, clenching his fist and exploding it. It was a bomb from Kevin.

He was riding his Egg Mobile, throwing rockets and explosives at them. Tom simply stopped them, throwing them away, but as he threw more and more, he wasn’t able to keep up with it, when he accidentally threw one at Kevin.

Luckily for them, someone grabbed him before the vehicle exploded, which turned out to be Luis. Tom didn’t hesitate and broke the shield, Kevin didn’t even oppose any resistance.
“Hah, take that, dumbface!” Vicky mocked him by pulling her tongue. Sonic was getting irritated, as he saw all the people he used as puppets go back to normal and reunite with the others.

“That was awesome, Luis!” Tom patted him on the back, to which he replied with an awkward smile, when suddenly…

A beam of energy pierced straight into his heart…

Everyone looked in terror, and turned to Sonic, who was the one that shot him.

He was fuming with rage, with foam leaking from his mouth, like a dog with rabies.

“I AM DONE PLAYING YOUR STUPID GAMES!”

With a powerful blast, Sonic threw Luis’ corpse away. It was so fast the group wasn’t even able to see it.

His body then slowly changed. Tom was beyond horrified. He remembered the last time this happened, and tried to stop it, but it was too late…

He reached his beast form.

Everyone looked at him. They knew they wouldn’t stand a chance, but they didn’t want to throw the towel yet, so they all barged into him. However, Sonic proved to be stronger than he looked, bashing all of them away with his single arm.

“You fools really think you can rebel against ME!? In no time, I will fix everything, after all, I’m Sonic the Hedgehog, and HEROES ALWAYS WIN!”

He then went to each one, breaking many of their bones while trying not to put them near death. They were losing strength to fight, throwing weak punches at him, which just made him smirk.

“Y-you wo-ont get a-away w-with thi-is…” Tom got up, with his bloodied legs and beaten up. He was the only one who could barely stand up at that point, but he couldn’t feel his psychic powers at all…

“How funny… You are one of a special kind, Silver… All of you always made an effort at your last moments. All of you standed for your friends, your family, your loved ones… But that never mattered, cause in the end, your soul always ended up failing. What makes you think YOU can make a difference? This is what happens when you don’t accept your fate, and cheat like a dirty villain…”

Tom wasn’t able to respond, his vocal chords were damaged. Not like he wanted to say anything… He walked into him, clenching his fist as hard as he could, punching the demon, and as he feared, it was for nothing, as Sonic gently flicked his head, dropping on the floor. Tom tried to crawl his way out, but was grabbed from the throat by the hedgehog.

“Silly, silly Tom… When will you learn that you can never beat me? It doesn’t matter anyways, because now we can play together, just like we were meant to be… Although, I must admit, I had lots of fun with all of you and your friend’s performance… It’s a shame we’ll never be able to recreate it…”

He raised his hand in the air, and lunged into his face, about to rip it off, when something unexpected happened.

Seconds before his claws could tear apart his face, his own hand was cut off, which made him release Tom from his grasp, as he screamed in pain.

“How funny, the real Sonic would never act like a crybaby…” A voice that seemed familiar to Tom echoed, and from a puff of purple smoke, appeared none other than Luis, who was not only alive and well, but had managed to reach his third form.

Tom tried to talk, but he had completely lost his voice. He stared at him, and was shocked to see that the purple Emerald was attached to his chest. “Yeah, about that… Sorry, I thought that if I had told it sooner, the plan would go to waste…” He scratched his head awkwardly, and helped Tom get up, mysteriously healing him with the emerald.

“How? HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?! I MADE SURE TO STRIKE IN THE HEART!”

“You know, it’s not good to judge a book by its cover, you’ll never know what’s inside…” 

Sonic’s hand regenerated, like nothing happened.

“You are gonna pay dearly for your incursion, little rat!”

“Just come at us!” They said, when something strange happened…

Luis’ body began to glow, due to the emerald’s effect, and the other emeralds came floating to them, surrounding Tom. He felt how his body was being filled with energy, until his body reached the Super state.

Tom admired his new transformation. “Wow, that was surely weird, but now we for sure can beat this disgusting Sonic-wannabe!” They looked at him, with a mocking grin on their faces.

Sonic roared in fury, as multiple shadows came out of his quills. “I’ll handle them myself, go take the big guy!” commanded Luis.

It didn’t took long. Tom kicked Sonic in the face, which did slight damage to him. In response, Sonic spindashed his huge body, which Tom blocked with a huge boulder. He then started climbing through the buildings, while Tom threw multiple pieces of rubble at him. It seemed to have an effect, as he was slowly getting weaker.

In an act of desperation, X got on top of a skyscraper, and pulled it off the ground, pushing it into the air. He flew up and punched it hard, aiming at Tom.

“It’s a shame, I’ll have to re-arrange what’s left of you!”

Tom didn’t flinch at all. He simply closed his eyes and without moving any finger, he pushed it back at Sonic. 

“Hahaha, you think that will wo- wait IT’S NOT POSSIBLE!”

Sonic wasn’t able to stop it, and exploded in the air. Tom destroyed any remains of it to avoid any casualties, when he saw him falling down.

He had turned to his regular form, landing on his feet, but they broke into pieces, like porcelain. He dropped on the floor, screaming like a baby. “Heh, guess that you were too slow after all…” Tom and Luis walked into him, ready to deliver the final blow.

“Any last words?” Tom asked, when Sonic laughed like a psychopath. “What’s so funny, fool?”

“Oh my dear Silver… Did you really forget what fueled that form of yours?”

Tom gasped in terror, as he felt how his state was slowly fading away. “But that’s not possible, we didn’t see any of them!” 

“You should have played your part at its fullest then, boy…”

Sonic quickly hopped, regenerating his feet, and punched both of them into a wall.

Tom and Luis tried to get up, but they had their bones fractured, they could only move their arms, when Tom had an idea.

He had to push Sonic into the sun, it was the only way to defeat him. So with the little energy of the Super state there was left, and Luis holding his hand to give him energy, Tom paralyzed him, trying to throw him upwards, but it just made him walk slower towards him.

“Silver, how could you betray me? We were such good friends, and now you work with that… Thing? How pathetic, it seems that I'll have to teach you an unforgettable lesson the moment I release myself of this barrier!”

Tom didn’t know what else to do, he was getting his energy slowly drained, when someone else holded his leg.

It was Kevin, who had lost one of his eyes before. “You thought I would’ve let you do it alone? Not a fat chance!”

Tom smiled, and pushed Sonic forward, which seemed to have some effect. Unfortunately, Kyle realized that Tom was losing his form, which made Sonic get quicker towards them.

Hope was lost. There was nothing they could do, Sonic was a few meters close to them, when something came towards Tom, fully impacting him.

It was a Ring Box, with 20 rings inside it.

Sonic looked around in fury, and saw that Cherry was the one who helped them.

“It’s up to you now, Tom…” She said, fainting into the floor.

“NO! IT’S NOT POSSIBLE! THIS ISN’T HOW IT MEANT TO END!”

“It’s a shame, you could’ve had the chance to do great things, but you wasted them for a selfish dream… 

Adieu, Sonic the Hedgehog.

With that, Tom pushed him upwards, as he soared the sky. He didn’t stop holding him with telekinesis; he couldn’t afford any failure.

Sonic just kept screaming, cursing him as he tried to turn in his monstrous form, but Tom just crushed him in his fist. 

It wasn’t long before he reached the stratosphere, and to Tom’s surprise, he coughed blood and lost oxygen. His corpse was floating in space, and Tom simply pushed him into the sun, which consumed him like a simple asteroid.

As Tom turned back to normal, the cloudy environment changed to a sunny one, and everyone regained their health and strength. They got up, observing their surroundings, seeing that the monster and everything that he caused was gone now, however, the buildings remained as ruins.

Applauses were heard. They weren’t only for Tom. They were for everyone. Everyone had made an effort to vanquish the evil that had tormented them for countless months, and now they were -some what- free.

“You are so incredible, Tom! My Thomas would be SO jealous to see you do all those things!” Vicky patted him in the back. “Thanks, but I couldn’t have done it without all of you.

“So… What now? We got rid of Sonic, but we are still here!” Kevin pointed out. “Yeah, like…I could go on more as a rabbit, but I miss my family…” Suzy said. “Worry not, guys, I’m sure that we can look around for the exit…” Jeremy was a bit nervous.

“Will we even be able to reach our homes? We lost our bodies long ago, what guarantees that we can see our families back? Maybe Heaven is our next destination…” Luis pondered to everyone.

They all looked serious at him, when Kyle suddenly irradiated a strange glow.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Chelsea asked, concerned. “I don’t know! But this doesn’t feel strange!” Kyle said.

The others glew as well, worried that it was Sonic’s doing, when 4 portals of different colors appeared in front of them. 

The heroes noticed that their glows matched the color of the portals, deducing that it was their way home.

“Well, I guess this is our only way out. It has been an honor to meet all of you, especially you, Vicky.” Tom and her gave their final handshake. “I will never forget about everything that happened to us.”

They all said goodbye, as they went through their respective portals, leaving Tom and the people from his world there.

“Now it’s our turn…” Tom was very unsure, when something shaked him to the core.

They turned around, only to find Sonic in his beast form, with his body almost burnt.

“YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD GET RID OF ME EASILY? I AM SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, THE FASTEST THING ON THE UNIVERSE!”

Tom told everyone to run, but Sonic quickly snatched and threw them through another portal.

With no other choice, Tom was forced to enter his portal, at least that demon wouldn’t chase them anymore.

As he crossed the other end, he was laying in an alleyway. He got up, and looked at himself.

He was a human again.

It was a rainy night, and luckily he recognized the street; his house was only 5 minutes away, so he ran as fast as he could, with tears in his eyes.
_________________________________________________________________________
Vicky, Roger and Mike got out of the portal, ending up in someone’s room. They were surprised to see that their human bodies still remained.

“Dear god, I haven’t felt like myself in ages!” Vicky exclaimed. “Yeah, now I can kiss you without making it weird…” Mike blushed. “Wouldn’t it be funny if we accidentally swapped our bodies?” Roger joked.

Mike and Vicky stared at him with a serious look. “So… Where are we now? This doesn’t look like our college at all.” Vicky looked around, trying to find clues, when Roger spotted a note in the bed, which was signed by…

Thomas Miller.

“Hey guys, you might want to check this… Guys?” Roger saw them staring at the wall. “Hey, what’s wro- Oh no.”

They saw a calendar of the year 2024.

“Almost a decade… ALMOST A DECADE OF SUFFERING, WE HAVE MISSED A LOT OF THINGS! WILL OUR FAMILIES EVEN RECOGNIZE US?” Mike started to hyperventilate.

“Calm down hun, I’m sure that if we explain them properly, they will understand… But now we must leave this place before someone fin-”

The door opened. It was Tom’s parents. 
_________________________________________________________________________
Tom entered his house, completely wet to his socks, and he found his mom doing the laundry.

“Mother, listen, I’m-” “Hey, what were you doing this late in such weather? And what did you do to your hair?” Tom hugged her tightly, crying uncontrollably.

“I promise I will never put my life at risk, what I did was irresponsible…” “Now now… You seem to have a lot of stuff to say, how about you tell us at dinner?” Eva looked concerned at him, but proceeded to finish with the laundry.

“But mom, you ne-AHHH!” Tom’s brain had a sudden short fuse, like his body didn't belong…

There…

He looked at a table, and his eyes couldn’t believe it.

His father’s picture was in front of a jar with ashes.

“Oh no… Where am I?” Tom stressed out, when the entrance door opened.

It was his uncle Axel, who had passed away a year ago.

“Hey.” Uncle Axel said. 

Tom didn’t know what to do, he just stared at him. He knew that wasn’t his uncle, or maybe he was in hell. “Are you ok, buddy? You seem like you’ve seen a ghost. And what’s up with that hair? New style?”
_________________________________________________________________________
“So that’s what happened…” Vicky explained the whole story.

Eva and George looked at eachother, and sighed. “Look kids, I know that it’s a scary place, but you can’t just escape from there. I’m sorry, but you must go back there…” George said, pulling up the phone. 

“For the love of God, you must listen to us! We didn’t escape from a madhouse! Everything that happened is tru-”

Out of thin air, Kyle and the others appeared, falling to the floor.

“Ough… I can’t believe we easily fell for tha- Oh shoot I have my body back!”

Everyone stared at each other, but one voice in particular stood. “Wait… Kyle, is that you?”

“...Miss Miller?” Kyle asked, recognizing that woman.
_________________________________________________________________________
“You got it clear, right?” “Axel” asked Tom. “Y-yeah, but it would be better if we double check-”

Tom was interrupted by the whole scenery. Multiple sirens and helicopters could be heard.
He realized this world was grimmer than the one he lived on, and something happened to his counterpart, when he sensed something coming towards him. Before he could react, it knocked him out cold.
_________________________________________________________________________
“So it was true all along… Dear god, how will your parents react to this?” George was in awe. “I should just present myself there, but I don’t think they will have enough strength, and I still haven’t found Tom…”

“Wait, if that portal led to your world, does that mean the other one was… the wrong one?” Roger questioned. “It seems so. He might have ended up in a worse universe, and there’s no way we can bring him back…”

A sudden notification was heard. It came from George’s phone.
_________________________________________________________________________
Tom woke up, tied to a boxing bag. “Why does this seem so familiar…” he wondered, when he saw Axel walking around.

“Listen, Uncle Axel, I know this might sound strange, but you have to untie me… I do not belong here!” Tom tried to explain, but he completely ignored it. “I’m not the one who needs an explanation.”

He then spotted a pair of eyes in the ceiling, looking at him menacingly. The person crawled a bit, and dropped on the floor. He was wearing a strange suit, like the ones from the comics Tom liked to read.

“Is he still alive?” The mysterious figure asked Tom. “Who?” That made him confused.

“Your father. He’s still alive, right?” The masked boy asked again. “Yes, of course…” Tom wondered why he wanted to know about his dad.

“How peculiar…” “W-who are you?” Tom had a gut feeling about all of this.

He pulled off his mask, and Tom’s body got completely frozen.

“I’m Thomas Miller. But you can call me “Silver”.

“Listen, our family is worried sick about me...” “Your family.” Silver retorted.

“You don’t understand, I have been missing for weeks, and I just got my body back… Sorry about your father, but I really need to go…” Tom begged. “And what makes you think you should be free?”
_________________________________________________________________________
“Greetings, Mr. Miller.

If you are reading this message, your son is very far away from his world. 

I am sorry that you had to suffer through this, it isn’t how it should end. I am going to make things right. For everyone. I hope that you are able to forgive me.

With no regrets,

-Diego”

The rest of the message was some coordinates, to a place apart from the city.

“We must do this, no matter the risk.” Kyle affirmed.

When they reached the place, they were surprised to see their other friends in front of a portal, alongside Diego.

Meanwhile, with Tom, he was struggling to find a way out there, when he felt a weird feeling on his fingers. 

A small energy wave was forming, as he smirked at Silver.

“You want to make a difference? In that case…”

*“Just take the step.”*