Sonic Anarchy

Chapter 22

Maverick just laid there, unconscious in Tails' bed, Amy sat next to Maverick and held his hand, Sonic had messed up again, this time bigger than ever. Sonic thought that Maverick was one of Eggman's slaves and that Maverick was only acting like he wasn't one of them, but there was something unnerving about him, the things he said to Sonic and the way he dodged his attacks struck him as impossible, how could anyone avoid a homing shot? Sonic could feel a cold chill go up his spine and into his head, when they first met he wasn't intimidating at all, but what he said to him during the fight was unsettling, it was almost like there was a different mind at work. He removed this thought and looked at Amy, Sonic had to apologize to her, but he wasn't sure he could, not after that. Tails came back into the room holding some sort of remote, "How is he?" he asked, Amy turned her head to answer his question, "I don't know Tails..." She said, concerned for her brother's well-being.

Sonic broke free from his train of thought and stood up, Tails looked over to him and so did Amy, Sonic knew he couldn't be forgiven for this, but he had to try. "I'm sorry...I really messed up...I...I just thought that...that he was pretending to get along with me so...so he could strike me at my most vulnerable moment..." Tails and Amy could see the guilt in Sonic's eyes as he spoke, "...but...what he told me...lying on the ground...it...it got me thinking...what if I didn't have my speed?..would I have ever met you guys...would I have ever gotten where I am today...would Eggman win?" Sonic hung his head as he finished, Amy hated seeing Sonic like this so she got up and hugged him gently, Sonic hugged back, it felt nice holding her like that.

The moment was broken as Maverick woke up from his slumber, Amy rushed to his side, "You ok bro?" She asked the bruised hybrid, he sat up in confusion, "W-what happened?" He asked, not remembering the fight, the three looked at each other with puzzled expressions and then looked back at Maverick with equally confused faces. "You...don't remember Mav?" Tails asked hoping to light the fuse, Maverick shook his head and said, "All I remember is Sonic picking me up and then...nothing...why what happened?"

"Oh no...I didn't hit you too hard did I Mav?" Sonic said, Maverick looked at him and tilted his head. He looked over to see Tails tapping away at the remote like object, "Well his brain waves are normal so I..." Tails froze in horror, Sonic walked over to him, "So you what?" He glanced at the remote, on the screen were two moving lines, he assumed these to be Maverick's 'brain waves' but why was Tails so shocked? Sonic waved his hand in front of Tails' face and Tails came back and said, "Oh uh...nothing...I was just...thinking..."

"About what?" Sonic asked, knowing Tails was lying. Maverick didn't understand what was going on and asked Tails, he looked at Maverick and said, "Why do you have two brain waves?" Richard, that's why Maverick didn't remember, he wasn't fighting Sonic, Richard was, but how?

Amy saw the realization on Maverick's face and asked him what was wrong, Maverick didn't respond, rather, Richard responded. "Have you really not figured it out yet?" Everyone turned to the door to see who was speaking, and were greeted by an enormous black void, the void seemed to just blink out of existence as the figure became visible to Sonic, Tails, and Amy. This abomination of a mobain didn't look like any kind of mobian at all, it was a rag doll-ish figure with a capital R on his left eye, the left eye was poking out of the hole in the R. The rest of his body was just covered in scabs and long, unrealistic scars, but there was this logic to it that almost made sense. The figure smiled, revealing his blood stained teeth and said, "Guess none of you are as smart as I thought you were." Sonic was about to say something but Richard interrupted him, "You are about to ask me who I am and how I got here, my name is Ricker, and I'm the one in control." He made a T-pose and summoned a wormhole, everyone, including Maverick, was sucked in without hesitation.

Maverick opened his eyes slowly, afraid of what he was about to see, he looked around the empty black space in an attempt to find the others. He stood up and began to wonder, it seemed as though he wasn't making any progress because of how dark it was, oddly enough though, Maverick was lit up like a spotlight. For what felt like forever Maverick walked alone in the supposed endless void until finally, he found a pine tree, not having any idea what to do he walked up to the tree and tapped it. When he did the tree flew open, revealing a path, this was the most confusing thing Maverick had seen, the tree was a real tree but when he tapped it, it turned into a flat tree-shaped door? Moving on, he walked through the door, still wondering where everyone was. "Sonic? Tails? Amy?" He called, out wishing someone would answer, but no one did. The path he walked down was dimly lit with candles, the ground the candle's light revealed was cracked and demolished and had an orange substance flowing through it. He finally reached the end of the trail and opened another door, this one being as green as Maverick's fur, when he opened it he couldn't believe what he saw, it was an orphanage, not just any orphanage, but the one Maverick lived in a long time ago. The orphanage looked as if it had been abandoned for years now, which it probably has given he was around 5 to 6 years old during his time here. He walked up to the moss covered building and opened the front doors, afraid he'd live through his childhood when he walked in, to his surprise the inside was just as demolished as the outside, dust covered the floorboards and walls, it was clear no one had inhabited this place in a long time, he was about to walk up the stairs but something stopped him, he could see something at the top of the stairs, it was Richard. "Remember this place?" Richard said with a depressed tone, "This is the one place that you could call home, even though practically everyone bullied you, you still called it home, but why?" He disappeared from Maverick's line of sight. Maverick walked cautiously up the stairs, fear controlling his every move, he didn't know what to expect when he reached the top, but he had to know why he was back here after so long. He reached the top of the stairs, the second floor looked just like the first floor, dust everywhere, the hallway consisted of several closed doors with one door cracked open. While opening this door was the obvious choice Maverick felt he shouldn't open it, he walked by it and bumped into an invisible wall, "Wow" Richard said, "You really are different from the rest aren't you?" Maverick couldn't see him but he knew he was there, Maverick turned around and walked up to the ajar door and put his hand on the knob, once he did the knob set itself on fire, causing Maverick to jump back, he looked at the knob and watched as it went from a door knob, to a flaming house. As Maverick watched the house burn he realized that this house wasn't just any house, it was his house, the house he lived in when he was just a baby hybrid. He got on his feet and slowly backed away from the steadily growing fire, noticing the fire was spreading across the ground. The fire stopped growing just inches away from where Maverick was standing, he was lucky he backed away from it otherwise he would've...his train of thought left him as the fire died and there was nothing but the empty blackness that consumed him from before. Suddenly, he heard what sounded like a machine starting up, a light turned on from above him and revealed the floor around him, now he was in a chamber of some kind, Maverick remembered this chamber all too well, the machine started up and Maverick could feel the same pain he felt all those years ago, the pain that felt like getting shot in the leg with a shotgun, being injected with poisoness venom, and than not being able to move as you slowly die, that feeling...that's not a pleasant feeling.

Maverick was finally done being tortured and was in a room that had the atmosphere of a volcano, it looked like it to, the walls and floor were those of a vocanic interior, up ahead Maverick could see 3 figures, hoping these figures would be Sonic Tails and Amy he ran towards them. "Guys?" He said with a glimmer of hope, the three turned around and greeted him, no they weren't Sonic Tails and Amy but rather, misshapen, altered versions of them. Maverick gasped in horror and jumped back, "W-what are you even supposed to be?" He said, hope replaced with fear, the figures moved toward eachother and merged, their bodies being sucked together to form, him. "Why are you doing this Richard? Why are you doing this to me?" Maverick said, his tone filled with anger. Richard cackled like a witch and stared at him, "Don't you get it? I'm just having fun that's all." All sense of reason left Maverick, "Making me traverse my past isn't fun Richard! It's sick, it's twisted, it's..."

"It's something to do..."

"...what do you mean?" Maverick asked quizzically, for once Richard looked at him with emotion on his face, it was visible emotion that portrayed boredom, Richard stared at Maverick and began to tell his story.