Sonic: Earthbound

Chapter 12

Patrick couldn't keep up.

He tried taking off after the two strange men who were chasing Alex, but between them knocking people over in the cafe and causing a general ruckus, Patrick was held up. By the time he escaped the cafe, they were all already so far ahead. Patrick was alarmed to discover that Alex was running into the woods.

The Woods? Why would she run somewhere less populated? What the hell is going on here?

They were so far ahead that Patrick never saw Alex's little disappearing act. Not with the hulking goon blocking his view of her. By the time he got to the edge of the woods, he was breathing so heavily that his lungs were burning. Perhaps even on the brink of triggering an old attack.

You can't stop! Alex is in danger! You gotta go help her!

Leaning against a tree and panting hard, Patrick spoke out loud to his own conscience.

"I... I should... be... calling the police!"

But then he heard a voice screaming for help. "FIRE! RAPE! MURD—" only to be quickly smothered.

Patrick's eyes widened. "Alex..."

He took as deep a breath as he could muster and shot off through the woods once more.

"ALEX!"

As he got deeper and deeper into the woods, he saw a bright yellow flash, which made him skid to a stop.

"W-What the hell? ALEX!!!"

After a brief hesitation, he ran in the direction he'd seen the flash, but there was no one in sight.

"AL-ALEX! WH-WHERE... WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Something lunged down at him from the trees and knocked him onto his back. His glasses toppled off of his face, blurring his vision.

"NGH! Wha...? Wh-Who's there?"

When Patrick turned his head to see who hit him, all he could see was a red figure tromping towards him. Patrick's eyes went wide.

"Oh my God... Oh shit! THE RED DEVIL! It's real! It's fucking real!!"

The red figure stopped. "Devil? Who are you calling a devil?"

He hadn't been expecting to encounter the Red Devil. And he certainly hadn't been expecting it to... talk?! Patrick scrambled around the ground until his hand closed around his glasses. Clumsily, shakily, he placed them back on his face and let out a scream that, very unfortunately, sounded much higher pitched than he would have liked.

"N-No," he said, slowly scooting backwards on his bottom, clutching at Alex's duffle bag and shaking his head. "No way... You're... You're not... You can't be real!"

The Red Devil, Patrick had been willing to believe. But this? Not so much.

"You're just a ch-character from a v-video game! No... No, you can't be here!"

Was he dreaming? What was in that coffee?

Standing before him with prickly red fur, long flowing dreadlocks, and two sharp spiky protrusions on the back of a pair of large, boxing-glove like hands and glaring at him with a pair of purple eyes was none other than Knuckles the Echidna, the guardian of the Master Emerald from the very series that Patrick had long since abandoned for being 'lame.' The creature was standing before him, looking rather stern and more than a tad disgruntled.

"I don't know what that means, nor do I care. What I do care about is what's in that bag. I wasn't fast enough to get the others... but I can at least get the one you have."