Sonic Runaways

Elise felt nothing, curled up on a lone rock in the middle of a void. The ruins of Soleanna, torn asunder in an instant by the might of the holy flame meeting with the dark emerald, floated around in the time-space rift like aimless clouds in a sky that no longer seemed to exist. The broken remnants of the country she was supposed to rule were gross reminders of how badly she had failed to keep it all together. However, none of it would have mattered if she could find even the smallest remnant of Sonic the Hedgehog. But she couldn't. There was nothing left. The air was at a standstill. The roar of Solaris, the country's sun god, could be heard and felt emanating through the enclosed space.

"It almost feels like you're still here…" Elise whimpered.

"Princess!" Silver yelled from afar. He landed next to her on the small island. "There you are." Elise didn't respond. "I… can't find Sonic." Elise was motionless. "I know this looks bad, but I'm sure we can do something to tip the scales! If we don't give up, we might be able to do something… right?" Silver punched the wall. "RIGHT?!" He screamed. The dimension they were in shook, and many of the surrounding islands snapped out of existence. The void closed in ever so slightly. Gradually. Inevitably. Silver growled, yelled, and threw one of the barren islands around them into the darkness. The motion caused a wind current, the first one that Elise had felt during her stay in the void.

"Wait, do that again…" Elise murmured. She looked to Silver, who looked surprised. He then threw another island. The high-pitched wind sounded like… somebody whistling.

"Not bad!" A voice called out from each direction in rapid succession. Silver then took hold of the air itself. Elise smiled as a whirlwind began to form. The voice became clearer. "Never thought you had it in you, but I suppose us hedgehogs know how to make these kinds of miracles work." The wind grew faster, grew stronger, grew… bluer. Silver struggled to keep the tornado going, but despite the strain, a smile quickly grew on his face.

Sonic reformed out of the wind itself, landing on the ground with a powerful stance. He stood up, giving Elise and Silver a reassuring smile. "Sonic! You're alive!" Elise cried, wrapping Sonic up in her arms. He grinned, giving Silver a thumbs-up.

"Of course I am," Sonic said, as Elise hesitantly let go. "As long as the wind's still blowing, as long as you still need me, I'll be here."

"When you died, Mephiles was able to take over your body. He and the Flames of Disaster, Iblis, merged into your Chaos Emerald and destroyed the world…" Elise explained. Sonic lurched forward a little bit, and held his chest. It felt empty. "This was never supposed to happen, I was NEVER supposed to cry, I—!"

"It's gonna be all-right, Elise. Because we'll make it right," Sonic chuckled. Though he didn't feel any Chaos Energy in his own chest, he could feel it all around him. He spun around towards the blinding light of a god beyond comprehension. "If I could come back, that means part of me was still here. This place was made from the black Chaos Emerald, right? So that means we can use its power to defeat…" Sonic's eyes locked onto the light, staring up at the eternal flame despite it burning its image into his retinas. "SOLARIS!" Sonic clutched the Chaos Energy flowing through the air in his hands. He harnessed it, and then… put his hands up to Silver and Elise. "All three of us."

A dark Chaotic fog enveloped all of them. A loud, high-pitched ringing sound shot through the Time-Space Rift. Only then did Solaris see them. Shrouded in a mass of dark violet smoke. Solaris' light then cut through the cloud, only for three enshadowed beings to fly out like wasps from a disturbed nest.

DARK SILVER…

DARK ELISE…

DARK SONIC!

…

They shot through a solar system of shattered planets at millions of lightyears per millisecond. They aimed right at Solaris, the light keeping the ruined space in a warm stasis as it enacted its wicked plan. In truth, this space was but a loading screen of incomprehensible proportions.

"Hey, those words!" Dark Silver exclaims, passing through an apparition of the previous paragraph. "They're not in Latin anymore. I can… I can understand them now! They're trying to talk to us!"

"Could it be Solaris? Or… something else?" Dark Elise pondered. Sonic smiled, hearing the messages play over and over in his head.

"Hero, my strength grows weak," Dark Sonic repeated, in a mumble so quiet nobody could hear him. "Destroy Solaris; the false sun god. If you do not, your world will fall." Dark Sonic sped up, and crashed into Solaris. Up close, he saw its true form… The visage of somebody very dear to him. "Is it not obvious? Solaris is an owl. It glitters with a flame that could be considered either kind or fierce." Dark Sonic rapidly kicked the man-made god, trying to break through its arms as it protected its Core. "Sound familiar?"

Dark Silver pried away at Solaris' gigantic arms amidst a frenzy of fire and lasers. Dark Elise formed a bludgeon in her hands, and whacked Solaris with it. Silver was then able to pull the arms apart, their exoskeleton cracked and weakened. Sonic was now free to blast away at Solaris' core.

"Soleanna and Babylon are not far apart," Dark Sonic whispered, hitting Solaris with everything he had. "In search of the Chaos Emeralds, which recently landed on Erius around the time, the Babylonians made contact with the first duke of Soleanna. Believing them to be gods, the nation eventually began to worship the Babylonians." Sonic Cylooped Solaris, causing it to freeze for mere seconds. Enough time for Elise to break more of its exoskeleton with her new weapon.

"It wasn't until the Babylonians disappeared to a remote southern island that Soleanna began to panic. So they turned on their own royal family— using the princess as a vessel for an artificial recreation of Iblis, the mythical beast that they believed was half of the ultimate Babylonian."

Elise read the words as they revolved around her. She scowled bitterly.

"To an extent, Soleanna was aware of their place in the world. In Cyberspace. They created Mephiles to merge with Iblis and destroy this world that exists only as a faint digital memory in the mind of one supersonic hedgehog!" Sonic shouted the message for all to hear, forming blasts from his hands that created slices in Solaris' skin. "Future generations didn't understand Mephiles, causing fear and confusion. That's why the Book of Darkness was hidden away from the public!"

"To finally escape Cyberspace, they would need to unravel the very fabric of time and then travel through the openings, but this would be in vain. Cyberspace is artificial, but so is Solaris. The so-called 'real world' the Church of Soleanna was fighting to create would be nothing but an eternal flame spreading through an empty void."

Silver read the words as they spiraled around him. Everything he believed before was a lie… he now realized how foolish and naive he had been. He clenched his fists, holding onto his new purpose tightly. A new way to create a better tomorrow!

"The only way to destroy Solaris is if three heroes attack all at once. One hero holds scars from the past, one hero lives for the present. The final hero is aware of the future, willing to change himself and divert the very trajectory of time itself!" Dark Sonic and Elise joined hands, locked their fingers together. They then looked to Dark Silver. Sonic extended a hand to him.

"Waiting on you, buddy," Sonic said, with a smirk. Silver raised his hand to them, and encased them in a glowing purple aura.

"No, I have a better idea… THIS will end it!" Silver exclaimed, throwing Dark Sonic and Dark Elise right at Solaris' Core with his telekinesis. Solaris imploded, a blinding light consuming the Time-Space Rift.