Vandalize

Sonic awoke with a grunt. He looked all around at the semi-completed cabin. The fire had been extinguished, the fishing pole had been hung up, and the door was deadbolted. But something was still missing. Yari wasn't next to him like she had been the night before.

"Yari?" Sonic asked. He walked outside and stepped foot on the grass. The landscape around him was so confusing. His head felt hot, even though the rest of his body was freezing cold. Sonic ran into the snow, dull colors raining down from above and burning themselves into his retinas.

Sonic kept running. He wasn't sure where he was going at all. Until he arrived at a hole in the snow. He saw… Amy. Holding her hand to the mound of snow. "Amy!" Amy gasped.

"Soni—!"

Amy disappeared into red fog. Sonic's ears produced a tearing sound. He opened his eyes, and saw Yari take her hand off of the structure. He looked around, seeing vibrant rainbow stars falling from the sky.

"Isn't it wonderful, Sonic?" Yari asked. But she wasn't looking at the stars. Her eyes were blank, reflecting lines of code. "On that day, your hands were interlocked. You were together. You were in love." Sonic stepped onto the strange structure and stood by Yari. "I'm surprised Sage never showed you. It's… it's so beautiful." Sonic gently held the blunt edge of her arm. But she didn't even look at him. Even though her eyes were clear once more. "I'm not sure what happened, but I know what I saw. A love that transcended time." Yari sniffled. "I believe in that power. I AM that power. I am just a memory of a love long forgotten."

"Yari…" Sonic mumbled.

"Don't say my name. Don't go after me. Don't think about me!" Yari shouted apprehensively. "Sonic, do you remember when I first came here? I was looking for the man I loved." Sonic nodded, frightened. "I think I came to the right place after all. Sonic. I was looking for YOU." Yari smiled, finally looking at the stars. "But I know that you couldn't have been looking for me. You weren't, because… I'm not Amy."

"Forget about all that!" Sonic shouted. "Amy's gone. I'll never see her again. She's out there in the world somewhere, but it's been a decade. She's probably moved on, meanwhile I'm stuck here on this dumb island." Sonic's eyes widened. "But it's not THAT dumb. Because you're here! This is our home. We lost Pebble, but we have Sage! And we have each other."

"Please don't…" Yari whimpered. "I can't. I can't get in the way of this. She isn't anywhere out in the world. Because… because…!"

"Cuz why?" Sonic asked.

"Because she's INSIDE of GIGANTO!" Yari wailed, reaching for the arm of the chair-like Cyberspace Portal. The ground began to rumble, as the land beneath them shook. Giganto woke up, and let out a horrific roar as he turned Rhea Range onto its side. A laser shot out from one of the mountains on his back, scorching Sonic and Yari. They were blasted off of Giganto's back, and fell.

"SONIC!" Yari yelled, reaching for his hand. Sonic reached for hers, but only got sliced. Another cut formed when he pulled away. They looked into each other's eyes in abject horror.

Giganto grabbed them midair, squeezing them tightly. He wound up a throw, and tossed them down through the roof of their own home. CRASH! Sonic and Yari landed on the floor. The fishing pole fell from its plaque.

"We need to run…" Yari muttered. She grabbed the fishing pole and tied it around Sonic.

"We need to STAY here! This is our home!" Sonic exclaimed. Giganto then picked up their house. He tore it from the very ground it stood upon. He raised it to his mouth as his jaw opened wide. Yari jumped out, taking Sonic with her. She tried to pierce Giganto's armor to slow their descent, but her blade couldn't even scratch him. It bounced right off. They both closed their eyes as they heard their home being digested inside of him. They fell. They slipped and tumbled down into the crater. Sonic tried to get up, but failed. He slumped down to the ground. Yari's leg went limp. The metal comprising it was bent unnaturally, releasing pink exhaust. She stumbled. "You were always the stronger one, anyways. Find Sage! Wherever she is, make sure she's safe."

"I CAN'T!" Yari screamed, gritting her teeth and looking up at Giganto. "I love you. I am the embodiment of all the love you've ever felt. I am the Passion Spinel. I cannot leave you here!" Yari turned to Sonic. She took a deep breath as Giganto crept towards them and raised his wriggling fingers next to his drooly chin. "Sonic, get up… Get up now! Don't you get it? IF YOU DON'T GET UP, you'll DIE!"

"Yari… I…" Sonic muttered. Yari's heart stopped for a brief moment. "Would gladly die… next to you…" Yari's eyes widened, and her leg snapped and twisted back into place painfully. Giganto lowered his mouth to them, sniffed his meal. Yari slashed his face away with a suitably giant blade. He screeched as a single glistening scratch appeared along his gumline. It wasn't too bright. It wasn't too deep. It wasn't too much. All that mattered is that it made him hurt.

Sonic turned to her, as she glowed a dazzling pink. "Sonic… It's time to kill GIGANTO," Yari muttered. She slashed at Giganto again, this time on his chest. "I just need to do one last thing." She slashed again. "To etch our love into the clock's face as it ticks on without me. To show… I'M HERE!" As she slashed wildly, a message became clear.

"Sonic + Yari".

Sonic reached for her, tears falling from his eyes. "YES! The Passion Spinel, take ahold of it!" She cried, still trying to hold Giganto back. Sonic clutched the Memory Token, and hesitantly pulled it out. Yari's arms fell off her body. Her new form began to crumble. And just as Sonic pulled it out, she disappeared into RED-CODE. It went straight into his arm. His vision cut away to lines of code. To memories of love. To a numb black void.

"You are the key. Be empowered with this form."

"You have become…"

"HYPER SONIC ROSE"

Sonic opened his eyes. He was flying… He was at eye-level with Giganto. If Giganto even had any eyes. If Giganto had any, Sonic would tear them out. Deep inside his HEART, he had a burning desire to tear Giganto limb from limb.

Hyper Sonic Rose blasted towards Giganto, only to be smacked away. Pain rocketed through his whole body, but he was left without a scratch or a bruise. He flew forth once more, under Giganto's hand this time, and punched holes in Giganto's outer layer of teeth at five hundred fifty five times the fastest speed ever reached in the history of all realities. He sliced off one of Giganto's skyscraper teeth with his new scythe arm and tornado-kicked it down the Titan's throat, causing Giganto to choke.

"Step up to ME, you worthless lab-grown slag?!" Hyper Sonic Rose shouted, his roar overpowering Giganto's squealing and gagging. "Go ahead, take your last step! See how far you get before I take away your ability to walk!" Giganto reached deep into his own maw, grabbed his severed tooth and pulled it out. It was covered in saliva, robotic stomach acid, and shocking pink blood. He spun around, hoping to wallop Sonic with the tooth as scalding waterfalls of Giganto's bodily fluids flecked off the tooth and attempted to slow Sonic down. Sonic flew circles around him, a RED-CODE trail left in his wake. After two full loops, Giganto was swept up into the air by a raging tornado.

Sonic was relentless. He punched, and he kicked, and he cut away at Giganto. "You killed Big. You killed Yari! You killed YOURSELF in advance when you took the ones I love!" Sonic Cylooped him again, meteoring him down to the ground alongside the Star Pieces raining down from space. Sonic grabbed one from midair, and wound up a throw. Just as Giganto got up, Sonic tossed the star down at him, knocking him down once more. Sage watched from a distant tower as Sonic relentlessly humiliated Giganto by knocking him down over and over with the power of five hundred thousand suns. At this point, Giganto was just trying to protect his face. Giganto wasted no time after the 60th time he was toppled that second, and shot a giant burning laser out of his mouth. Sonic dodged it, and pried Giganto's jaw open as the Titan tried to chomp down onto him judging by the mindless gnashing of the other layers of teeth. Giganto's head cracked. And then, the top half was snapped right off. Pink blood gushed out of his lower jaw, and the Titan screeched. Sonic lassoed Giganto's head with RED-CODE midair and slammed it upside-down onto his lower jaw, the rest of his teeth splitting as his head shattered. Giganto screamed at the top of his lungs, leapt for his assaulter, flailed his limbs about to try and counterattack… and fell back down each time. Sonic scoffed, then meteored into Giganto's permanently open mouth once more.

"I'll TEAR YOUR HEART OUT!" Sonic evaded the crushing teeth that appeared like a small city up close. He shot down the beast robot's throat like a bullet, severing Giganto's lungs on his way down. Until he punctured the outer layer of the engine. He wound up a jab from his arm blade, and then pierced all the way through. His arm returned with Giganto's engine attached to it. Sonic caused the engine to implode in an instant.

Sonic compressed almost every single one of Giganto's insides effortlessly with a Sonic Boom, and then escaped through a new hole in Giganto's throat. The robot tried to charge him once more, until it began to feel something was very wrong. Almost everything below the surface of its armor was gone. Giganto fell to its knees, looking up at Sonic. It then fell onto its back, the message Yari had vandalized onto its chestplate still visible. Immovable, undeniable proof that she was once there.

Sonic landed on the chestplate, and the pink drained from his fur. He transformed back to normal, and fell to his knees. "Yari…" He sniffled. He clutched his chest, and cried under the faintest hints of sunrise.

A gloved hand reached out from the hole in Giganto's throat, and began to crawl out of the shell. Sonic looked up, wiping away his tears and breathing shakily. "It's you?" Sonic asked, as she stepped out into the night. Her pink hair shined under the starlight. Her green eyes glistened, staring into his. "You're Amy, aren't you?"

"Yeah… I think so!" Amy called from the distance. "What's your name?" Sonic's eyes widened. He smiled a little.

"My name's Sonic," Sonic smirked, a sense of catharsis washing over him after all this time. "Did you… dream about me too?"

…

Sonic found himself by a nice, calm lake. The only entities there to keep him company were the fish. And Big. "Oh, hey Sonic! You come here to fish too?"

"Big! Yeah, I do!" Sonic exclaimed, with a grin under a sunset in stasis. Big sat down next to him, Froggy on his hat. Sonic waved to Froggy.

"A lot was happening. I think we both need to rest for a long time," Big suggested, casting his line into the fishing spot. Sonic breathed in the lukewarm summer air, and then exhaled with a smile.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," Sonic felt a tug. He pulled it in, and whatever it was landed in his hands.

Dark Scepter.

A COUNTRY IN PERIL... A PRINCESS IN TROUBLE... HIS WORLD IN DANGER... SONIC WILL HAVE TO RISK EVERYTHING TO SAVE IT ALL IN "Sonic Runaways: ANCHORED"