Endless Possibility

Eggman flew up to Dark Gaia in his jetpack. "Graah… you think you've won, hedgehog?!" He shouted, floating alongside the god of darkness. "Dark Gaia, crush this insolent little hedgehog! Send him to the outer reaches of space!" Eggman pointed Sonic's way. Dark Gaia then used one of its many tentacles to smack Eggman into orbit. "Whyy meeeeeeeee?!" Eggman cried, becoming a glimmer in the distance.

"Sonic?" Tails asked, huddling up to Sonic as Dark Gaia craned its neck in and stared them down. "We were too late…" Dark Gaia's back spikes began to glow purple and blue. It then shot dozens of huge laser beams their way. Tails grabbed Sonic and flew him to another platform as the one they were standing on turned to dust. "We need to find the others… Eggmanland is destroyed, do you think they—?!" Sonic's eyes widened as Dark Gaia stared him in the eyes. Its stare cut deep into his soul. Made an incision in his chest, and tore out his Chaos Emerald in a mess of veins and viscera. "SONIC!" Tails screamed, reaching for Sonic as he fell to the ground. Sonic transformed back to normal. Green blood pooled out of his chest as his Midnight form was torn from him. His arms stopped trembling, stopped holding him up. He collapsed. "Sonic? You have to get up…" Tails bared his fangs and glared at Sonic in rage. "Sonic!" He shouted at him.

"Tails… run, Tails…" Sonic grunted weakly, eyes darting everywhere as the life slowly left his body. Tails turned to Dark Gaia's lasers as they closed in. He then put up a green shield around himself and Sonic. Sonic's eyes opened, bringing him back from the brink of death. Tails couldn't look at him. He had to focus 100% on keeping the shield up.

"Five lights of Erius… REKINDLED!" Tails shouted. "Awaken, and gather here to me!"

The World Instruments burst out of their fused state in the Temple of Gaia, and as it was about to fall into the core, everybody inside felt the temple's descent cease. It started to rise, as the World Instruments shot down through the floor. "The World Instruments!" Knuckles shouted.

"They're… gathering somewhere…" Amy gasped, as the temple was set firmly on the ground in a remote savannah.

The World Instruments entered Tails' forcefield. They spun around Sonic, closing in and eventually phasing into him. Sonic's eyes snapped open, charged with their power. The power of the planet itself. "Sonic… now, Sonic!" Tails sighed, then roared. Sonic looked to his best friend, blinked, and then saw someone completely new. A nine-tailed, majestic kitsune. The true form of Light Gaia. It looked straight ahead as Dark Gaia grew closer, sifting through the core of the planet to meet with them.

"Roger that, buddy!" Sonic exclaimed, as he powered up and let out a blast of power. Now shining with the power of the instruments. He had become…

HARMONIC SONIC…!

Flashing each color of the rainbow, he carried with him all the experiences he had across the globe. Harmonic Sonic stared down Dark Gaia, and then shot right towards it alongside Light Gaia.

Dodging volcanic rocks and Dark Gaia's lasers, it didn't take him long to reach the behemoth. He and Light Gaia took turns beating up Dark Gaia from every side. "Tails! I… you… wow!" Sonic exclaimed, witnessing just how much damage Tails was doing with every blow. But something was wrong. Tails didn't even seem to notice him. 

Harmonic Sonic was distracted long enough for Dark Gaia to whack him. Sonic was sent hurdling back. He watched from afar as Tails summoned clones of himself to gang up on Dark Gaia. Sonic appeared back over by Dark Gaia, slicing away at its eye. Dark Gaia then grabbed him and began to squeeze the breath from his body. 

"Tails! Can you hear me?!" Sonic shouted. "Could use some help here!" Light Gaia barely glanced over, seeming deadset on defeating Dark Gaia. Light Gaia shot through Dark Gaia's outstretched arm, severing it and allowing Sonic to escape. He tried to attack Dark Gaia, only for a green forcefield to appear around the two Gaias, blocking him out. He pounded away at the forcefield. "HEY!" He couldn't tell what was happening inside. Was Tails hurt? Absorbing some kind of blast to keep Sonic safe? Or…?

The Dark Gaia Force began to seep out into the surface, through the cracks in the planet. Consuming the world in darkness, people all around the world were hit by a wave of fear and confusion. The sun was blocked out by an enormous purple cloud stretching across the skies over each continent. "It's hopeless! The planet is lost, we're doomed!" Knuckles fell to the ground, and punched it. Shadow simply looked away, all their efforts to save the world now seemed to be for nothing.

"That isn't true! Sonic won't let it end like this," Amy shouted, trying to hold everyone together.

"If I was down there, things would be different," Shadow grumbled.

"Have some hope!" Amy cried. Shadow glanced to her, and crossed his arms. "Dark Gaia only grows from despair and sorrow. If we can join together and hope to win, it must turn the tides. Sonic and Tails will surely save the day!" Amy smiled. She pulled out her Tails Electric as it beeped in her pocket. Her eyes lit up.

All over the news, all over the world, were stories of people banding together. Partying. Standing up against their corrupt governments. Spreading hope, and enjoying their last few minutes with their friends and loved ones. The apocalypse was in motion, and the only thing left to do was fight against it. If they couldn't fight physically, they would laugh in the face of impending death and destruction. Why wallow in misery when the world's falling apart? The people with the most potential to overcome it all… are the same people with nothing left to lose.

The forcefield lowered. To Sonic's surprise, it seemed like Dark Gaia had undergone a transformation. The now Perfect Dark Gaia was utterly trouncing Light Gaia. Sonic felt new power surge through him, the power of everyone's hearts joining together in harmony. He knew he had to save Tails. It was the only way to save the world. He closed in on Perfect Dark Gaia, dodging swipes from the gargantuan beast's claws and tearing right through its other hand like a bullet. He then circled back around for the body, circling up its torso and shredding its skin. Light Gaia took notice of this. This pure show of rebellion from someone so small… It sparked a memory so familiar, and so warm.

Perfect Dark Gaia opened its mouth as Sonic was about to attack its eye, and shot a laser out at the harmonic hedgehog. Light Gaia then caught Sonic and held him in its soft tails. "Tails?" Sonic asked. The kitsune couldn't respond. Its voice had been taken away in this new form. Its personality had been erased. But it still remembered Sonic. As they joined hands and shot towards the beast's eye, they felt each other's tight embrace one last time. They crashed through Perfect Dark Gaia's eye, then its brain, then out the other side.

Dark Gaia screamed, falling back into the core. It swiped, and clawed, and grabbed in its last moments of consciousness, to no avail. It had been defeated.

The Dark Gaia Force cleared from the skies, letting the sun shine down onto Erius once again. The continents… the shattered pieces of the planet, now could join together one by one in acceptance of one another.

The people didn't stop celebrating. Not for a second. But now not only were they celebrating each other, they were celebrating their shared survival. Professor Pickle looked out his window in his Shamar study, as something miraculous happened. The air grew clearer.

It could be seen from space as the sickly hues surrounding the planet dissipated. In many polluted and dead patches of land, the clean rain splattered to the ground. Flowers bloomed. The soil softened. The planet wasn't just fixed. It had been given new life through the struggle of Light Gaia… and Dark Gaia.

Sonic sat on one of the pieces of land floating along the core of the world. The World Instruments had long since retreated back to their respective nations. To him, it felt like he was drifting off on a rock floating through a void. "Without my Chaos Emerald… I'll…" Sonic rasped, clutching his chest. He couldn't finish that thought, as he choked up. He began to cry. "Tails, are you there?" His tears sizzled on the volcanic rock. It hurt so much… He couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. He slowly fell… asleep…

Light Gaia then landed in front of him. Walking towards Sonic, she heard the far-off screech of Dark Gaia as it tried to rise from the lava once more. To break the planet into pieces once again. She knew that couldn't be allowed to happen. So what was it about this one, tiny mortal that kept her from joining with Dark Gaia in a long, long slumber? How did she get here?

Was it that drive again? The same drive that made her escape her own duties and live amongst the humans? She felt like she was missing something. Something that happened long after the previous cycle. Where she had absolved herself of her duties to protect the planet, and allowed Dark Gaia to plunge the universe into a deep darkness.

Oh yeah, that's how she got here. This hedgehog was the one to set her back on track. However unknowingly so, with his sheer bravery and irreverence. She had her time on the surface, she had enjoyed every second of it. Because of him. And now… it was time to return to slumber. "Tails?" Sonic mumbled. Light Gaia's eyes snapped open. Her name… her name was Tails…? No… it wasn't. It couldn't have been.

"Sonic…" Light Gaia whispered. She knelt down, and linked hands with Sonic. "You must live, Sonic."

"Don't go…" Sonic crackled, not opening his eyes. Was he dreaming?

"I must…" she argued, holding Sonic closely.

"Wouldn't be fair… for you to leave me behind, right? Don't you want to… run away with me…" Sonic mumbled those words over and over again, each time more incoherently. Light Gaia had gotten used to these ramblings from him. She smiled a little bit, and began to cry. A whole lot. "... One last time?" Tails placed Sonic's Chaos Emerald back in his chest, and watched as it closed up.

"I would love to, Sonic, but…" she waved her hand in front of him. She could hardly believe she was saying goodbye so soon. "I have a job to do." Sonic began to float up to the surface. He barely slipped through the cracks as the continent Mazuri was on returned to its rightful place, sealing the two Gaias in together. As they slowly drifted off to sleep, as they were set ablaze in the core of Erius.

…

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Sonic cried, meteoring down towards the ground. Where was he? Was he going to die? SMASH! Sonic collided with the ground, and everything went black.

He slowly pulled his head out from the dirt, and looked all around. By some miracle, he had landed in Windy Hill Zone. The air smelled… clean. He looked up, and saw that the planet… as far as he could see, was back together. Then, he saw something in the grass. Tails! He reached out for his comatose friend, only to see him disappear into a little bracelet with a green gem on it. Sonic fell to his knees. "No, nononononononono…!" Sonic exclaimed, picking up the bracelet.

"I'll never forget you," Tails' voice said, calling to him from the ground below. "I'll be here by you, always. A part of the earth you tread." Sonic looked to the sun, slowly putting on the bracelet. He took a deep breath, looking at the sunrise. The planet. He then took off through the fields.

"SONIC!" Amy's voice cried. Sonic looked over, to see his friends crowded together in the Tornado. Amy stood up and waved at him with both arms. Sonic hopped onto the wing, and held on as they did an aileron roll, eventually lowering back into Erius' atmosphere. He was simply at peace. Simply happy to be back with his all his friends. He simply wished it would never end.

…

Professor Pickle sat down inside his study, and began to write something. Alone. 

"Dearest Ata…"

He put his pen to his chin, thinking of what to say next.

"I understand we're very far apart now. But I believe I have finally come to understand the nature of Gaia!" He took a pause, as he took a big bite of a cucumber sandwich. "Crazy, I know. But when the sun rose this morning, I looked out my window and thought about it very long and very hard. The sun rises and is put to rest at night. The moon rises and is put to sleep by the sunlight. Perhaps… that is the true relationship between Light and Dark Gaia. Perhaps, that is the very will of the planet itself…"

END OF SONIC RUNAWAYS' "WORLD ADVENTURE" SAGA. UP NEXT, SONIC TAKES ON ARES ISLAND IN SONIC RUNAWAYS: LOST!