Sonic.EXE: The Rise of Darkness

Chapter 1 - Change Of Events

"Curse you, Sonic!" Eggman shouted, he had just been defeat by his arch nemesis, Sonic The Hedgehog, again.

"Yeah, Yeah, whatever, see you later, Eggy!" Sonic shouted back, smiling as Eggman struggled to flee. Tails landed next to Sonic, his two tails slowing down from the fast spinning. "Good job, Sonic, you did it!" Tails said with a cheery expression. "We, Tails. We did it." Sonic looked at his fox friend and smiled. Tails returned the smile, "Hm, I guess you're right. Anyway, I'm gonna go back to my lab. I've got something very Important to do!" Tails said, and as quickly as he can go, he dashed away.  

"Wait for me, buddy!" Sonic responded, quickly dashing too. He saw this as a race and he smirked, going really fast and easily outdashing Tails. With record time he arrived at Tails' lab and leaned against the Lab's outside wall, yawning as he waited for his friend. After some time, Tails arrived and crossed his arms upon seeing Sonic. "You took this as a race, didn't you?" his eyebrow raised, which made Sonic giggle, "Of course, you know me!" A slight smile spread across Tails' mouth, "Yeah, I do." Sonic dashed inside the lab as Tails followed. As they went inside, Sonic sat down on the couch. Tails saw this and rolled his eyes, "Let me guess, you're gonna watch me work while you sit and relax?" Tails asked Sonic as he went to his working desk, "Yes." Sonic responded with no hesitation, which made Tails chuckle, "Didn't expect anything else from you." 

As Tails started working on his so called 'Important' Project, the hours went by quickly with no one talking as Sonic didn't want to interrupt his friend. The silence was broken as Tails asked a question, "Hey, Sonic?" He said, a bit quiet as he was working intensely. "What's up?" Sonic said, ready for the question. "I haven't seen Amy in a while, do you know where she is?" Tails said in a curious tone. "Oh! She told me she was gonna go visit Cream since they haven't been talking lately." Sonic responded, his head turning towards a window where the beach could be seen. 

"Ah," Tails said after a pause, "Makes sense." Silence once again struck the lab, the only thing that was creating noise was Tails' tools he was currently using.

Several more hours have passed, with Sonic slowly getting bored and deciding to jump up from  the couch, yawning. "You have fun with your Project, I'm gonna go dash through Green Hill, maybe I'll even encounter Eggman again!" He said as he was ready to leave, but Tails' voice stopped him. "You do realize we've just beaten him today, right? It's unlikely that he'll return this fast." Tails said, in a louder voice this time. Sonic rolled his eyes and chuckled, "You never know!" He now dashed off with high speed, leaving whatever Tails said after that to not be heard. 

As Sonic dashed around Green Hill for a while, he stopped and kneeled down to birds who were currently doing their chirping noises. As Sonic extended his hand to them and they proceeded to fly around him for a while, this made Sonic smile, he had always enjoyed the nature and color Green Hill offered for him and his friends. A sudden noise from one of the palm trees made Sonic gaze towards that tree. He decided to approach it. In matter of seconds, a small cloud of smoke flew into Sonic, making him fall unconscious. 

Back at the lab, Tails was still working on his Project, as suddenly, his communication device made buzzing noises, he picked it up and saw that Sonic was calling him. "Yes, Sonic?" Tails said. After a unusual long pause, Sonic said, "Hey, Tails! You have to come here and check out what I found!" Sonic said through the speaker, Tails sighed and responded, "Is it urgent, I'm.. kinda busy, y'know." Sonic instantly responded, "Yes, it is, come on!" Before Tails could say anything, the call ended. "Welp, guess I'll continue this later." Tails then went outside his lab, dashing towards Green Hill.

...

As the fox arrived, he was greeted with the usual colorful and bright theme of Green Hill. Tails stopped his dashing and started walking, trying to find Sonic. After walking for a while, he saw Sonic, standing a few meters in front of him, his back turned. Tails smiled as he saw him, until he noticed that Sonic's usual brighter-blue was rather.. dark. This was odd, for Tails. He then slowly approached Sonic, keeping his guard up. "Hey, Sonic, I'm here, what did you want to show me?" Tails said, looking around cluelessly until deciding to get closer. "Sonic?.." he got even closer, almost touching his shoulder, until out of nowhere.. 

Sonic turned around, but his head, not his body. His eyes were completely dark as if it was an abyss into nothing. Tails got frightened by this and instanly jumped back, looking at Sonic in concern and fear. "S-Sonic?.." Sonic's body now also turned around, so fast that it looked like it teleported. Small red dots appeared in Sonic's eyes. They looked down at the fox. Tails' eyes widen in shock and horror. "You aren't Sonic.. w-who are you?!" Tails said, demanding an explanation. A devilish laugh escaped from 'Sonic'. As he revealed his sharp teeth. This made Tails only more nervous, "W-WHO ARE YOU?!" 'Sonic' smiled as he continued to stare at the little fox. "A-ANSWER MY QUESTION!" Tails demanded, shouting as fear was still in control over his body. His mind told him to get out of there and call for help. But.. his stomach told him to stay and find out what happened to Sonic. 

After another moment of silence, 'Sonic' finally spoke, his voice deep and demonic, "Oh, little fox. I am not Sonic." The response made Tails shiver in fear, "W-Who are you.. and what did you do to Sonic!" 'Sonic' smirked, responding in a devilish tone, "You may call me, Sonic.exe." Tails raised his eyebrow slightly, as that response confused him, "S-Sonic.exe? B-But, what happend to Soni-" Suddenly, Sonic.exe dashed towards Tails, gripping him by the neck and holding him up, "You're asking too many questions, don't you think? A smart fox like you should've seen this coming. I am disappointed." Sonic.exe said, laughing like a devil. 

"A-AGH! L-Let me go!" Tails struggled to get out of his grip, breathing became more difficult. However, as sudden as Sonic.exe's gripped him, he let him go and smiled. "Let's play a game, shall we? If you win, I'll let you live. If you lose.. you will become my slave." Sonic.exe said with a grin, as Tails was on the ground, breathing heavily. He quickly stood up and had no choice but to accept. "W-What is the game?" Tails then noticed how Green Hill started becoming more grey and lifeless. He took a few steps back and gulped, waiting for the hedgehog to respond.

"Hide and Seek." Sonic.exe said in a menacing tone, his pupils disappearing. Tails was still controlled by fear as his breath was still heavy. Sonic.exe suddenly started counting, "10.. 9.. 8..", Tails didn't waste any time and proceeded to dash away into the distance as Sonic.exe continued counting down from ten. Tails dashed faster than he had every dashed, tears forming on his eyes as he went faster. After what seemed like an eternity of dashing for Tails, he stopped, catching a break. He thought there was no way he could catch up that easily. He suddenly felt a grip on his neck, his eyes were still widen, seeing Sonic.exe in front of him. Tails couldn't believe he was this fast. 

"Oh, seems like you're simply Too Slow. Maybe next time you'll have more luck~" Sonic.exe said in a sadistic tone. Tails continued to struggle as breathing became harder once again. But, this time, he managed to kick Sonic.exe in his face, which made him lose his grip. Tails instantly jumped, landing on the ground and seeing the Demon wiping blood off his mouth. "You'll pay for that." He said, obviously angered. Tails tried to run away but as he soon as he took one step in the other direction, the ground in front of him suddenly started to fall and crumble into a dark void. Tails was completely shocked and turned around, to see Sonic.exe approaching and once again - grabbing him by his neck, holding him above the black void. "Such a shame that your time had to end this soon.. oh well." He smiled, his devilish smile not changing as he laughed again.

Sonic.exe raised his other hand, ready to punch the two tailed fox, but suddenly got punched by someone, making him fall into the void himself. Tails managed to grip onto the grass, but was slipping. He was about to fall but luckily - someone helped him and grabbed his hand, quickly dragging him away from the hole. The touch was familiar to Tails, but he couldn't look or open his eyes. Everything that had happened was too much for him. 

"Tails, are you okay?!" Now Tails knew who it was, it was Knuckles The Echidna. Tails' eyes slowly opened, looking up to him, his eyes full with tears. "W-What happened to Sonic?" Knuckles asked, his expression nervous. "I..I don't k-know." Tails managed to say. Knuckles looked over to the hole, sighing. "Okay, we'll find out what happened.. but first, we need to get out of here before that freak comes back." Knuckles said, quickly getting ready to dash. Tails nodded slowly as he got up, looking back at the hole for a moment, before quickly dashing away with Knuckles.

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