Breaking Point: A Sonic Forces Rewrite

2: Claw Your Way Out

*BANG BANG BANG*

An exhausted hedgehog wearily opened his eyelids to the sound of clanging metal against the cell. He could already hear the doctor's arrogant smile, despite not facing in his direction.

"Rise and shine, rodent!" Eggman gleefully chirped, like a mother waking up her kid to go to school. "You have a very long day ahead of you, so wake up!"

Sonic groaned, turning to his side and bringing himself upright. In all honesty, last night wasn't really good for him at all. Every hour, every minute, all he could hear was the sound of Eggman's machines roaming about, working tirelessly around the facility.

Sonic turned his attention to the doctor himself, who was smiling at his current state. "So... Egghead. What's the occasion this time?" Sonic asked groggily, head still fuzzy from the bad night of sleep. "Cause I ain't doing jack for ya."

The man scoffed out a small chuckle. "Oh, you will. Don't say you already forgot about that collar around your neck, cause I will make sure you remember it."

Of course Sonic didn't forget this chunky piece of metal around his neck. It might be snug on his neck and warmer to fit his body temperature, but it is still slightly heavy around him.

"Just like how I'm gonna make sure you remember the day I break out of here." Sonic talked back snidely.

"Big talk for someone chained up on the ground." Eggman replied back to the weak comeback. Another Motobug drove up to Eggman carrying the same silver dish like yesterday.

"Oh goodie, my butler is back. Have you prepared a delicious breakfast for me?" Sonic jokes, smirking at his captor. Eggman growled and kicked the bowl of pet food to him just like last time. Sonic lightly sighed at the disgusting sight. "Dog food. It just had to be dog food." Sonic groaned.

Back in the "Electric Speed Room", Eggman cleverly named, Sonic was continually running in the makeshift forcefield. He was running better than yesterday. Actually feeling more real rather than just there.

'Every machine can only hold so much,' Sonic thought to himself. 'If Eggman is making me be a power source for this place, there must be a limit to how much he can hold. I can easily break that limit.' He started picking up the pace getting faster and faster.

The forcefield is still rotating with how fast Sonic is going, keeping himself up right. Faster and faster his legs start to move, turning into a blurry figure 8 to the naked eye.

"I see what you're trying to do but it won't work, Sonic." Eggman commented, noticing how fast Sonic is kicking his legs.

"What? You said my running will power up your energy supply." Sonic replied back, "And maybe even break your supply." He snickered under his breath.

"Yes, but I can clearly see you're trying to exceed a threshold on this machine. But, that won't be possible." Eggman responded.

"You know I can do the impossible, right?" Sonic smirked, still getting faster.

"I have an infinite energy supply. Your sonic speed isn't a match to make this thing crack."

"We'll just have to find out." Kicking it into high gear as Sonic manages to start running around in the middle of the forcefield.

Up and down and side to side. Changing the light green orb to Sonic's light blue streaks as he spun around inside. After a couple minutes of no change to the cage, Sonic kicked it further and soon ended up curling into his spindash form to keep the momentum going.

A full three hours went by with hard strenuous running from Sonic and nothing has happened. No sign of failure from anything except from his attempt. Sonic is laying on the ground of the perfectly fine forcefield exhausted. Heavy breaths come from him as he just stares at the ceiling. Wondering how and why that didn't work.

'Was I fast enough? Was I close to breaking it? Did I need to go longer?'

"Satisfied, hedgehog?" Eggman said after Sonic burned himself out. Sonic didn't say anything, just kept huffing. "No damage done to anything. You've actually supplied a full year of energy for me. How generous of you." Eggman laughed while Sonic laid there.

It feels better laying in the floating forcefield rather than the hard cell with your hands and feet locked together. "I suppose you rewarded yourself with a break." Eggman concluded by stepping out of his control room, leaving Sonic alone with his machinery.

* * *

As a full week has gone by, Eggman has started not keeping his full attention to what Sonic is doing. The hedgehog can't do much at the moment, he's either sitting in his cell or casually jogging in the energy forcefield. Soon it was all of his badniks keeping an eye on Sonic and seeing how he was doing. Of course the doctor will check on his 10 cameras to see what his prisoner was doing and if any of the cameras were hacked with the same visual recording. Eggman's badniks shall do all the work around the base while he's off trying to capture the world for his own benefit. That doesn't mean Sonic can simply slack off of course, if the hedgehog isn't keeping up the pace, the collar will provide a suitable jumpstart.

On one of the mornings when the motobug will vigorously bang on the cell bars to wake Sonic up with his nutritious morning meal, Sonic knew this was one of the days this could work. Since it's been a couple days since any tantalizing words have come from Eggman; that must mean he's not anywhere near where he can see Sonic. Like clockwork, the Eggpawns that guard his cell entered to take him to the electric speed room.

One took one arm while the other took the other, raising Sonic off the ledge he was sitting on. As the moment came where all three of them were out of the cell, between the cell and the floating platform, Sonic violently headbutted the robot on his right square in the head. With the one Eggpawn slowly losing grip on their prisoner, Sonic lifted both hands up and swung them down hard on the other holding him. Bashing the robot's head inside of itself with his handcuffs. The two badniks fell to the floor releasing their master's prize possession.

'That was easy. Now that those guys are dealt with. I need to get this collar off me.' Sonic thought to himself as he fell to the ground and quickly charged a spindash to flee the scene.

But right as he was about to move forward, Sonic felt that dreaded tingling sensation on his neck, sparking through his body faster than he ever could run. He tried holding back the pain and focusing on moving but his body fell out of form and laid on the ground. Pinned down to the cold metal once again. He doesn't know how much his heart can take, being shocked so strongly. If he's stuck on the floor trying to breathe, that isn't a good thing.

"'Tsk tsk tsk'" Sonic heard the speaker from his cell make noise and sighed on the ground, realizing he failed this trick. "Just because I'm not around doesn't mean you have to destroy my Eggpawns. What did they even do to you?" Eggman asked from the intercom. Sonic just sighed louder as a response, trying to catch his breath on the ground. He has to get out of here or else it'll kill him.