Thrown to the Wolves

"Eat."

"Eat."

"EAT, DAMN YOU!"

Shadow's flimsy metal hand shakily lifted a spoon to the open side of his face. He was in the middle of a hospital room, wearing a green-stained pullover gown. Before he knew it, his unruly hand opened and dropped the spoon onto the floor. In a fit of rage, he swung his arm and knocked the bowl of stew across the room. His field of vision trailed off into a blinding bright abyss before he could see it shatter.

"Why do I even try?"

Shadow stood in place, facing the ground. His rocket skates had been put out of commission when Penumbra shot him, so the hospital workers had let him keep them on. While he'd usually prefer to not have them stashed away somewhere out of his reach, their functionless shells just made every step heavier. Every footfall more excruciating.

By sheer willpower, Shadow had clung on just long enough for the doctors to apply metal limbs and artificial body parts to replace the ones torn to particles in the blast. It was the most humiliating experience he had ever been put through. The Ultimate Lifeform; blown to bits by a single rocket. Then modified like a sports car into a confusing state of limbo. Between this, the war, everything… He just had to wonder if life would ever get less difficult.

…

"Hey. Easy there," Sonic huffed, holding the Avatar Dolls tighter and zipping to the other side of the floating car as the masked wolf seemed to change her gun. "Everything's… COOL." Sonic could feel the exhaust on his face from the gun changing form to a red flamethrower. Sonic could feel the turbulence pushing him closer to the wolf.

"Give me the dolls," the mercenary whispered. Sonic looked up at the bridge. The other people chasing him were beginning to close in. Leaping to a car on another lane, the wolf clicked a circular, black button on her gun. 

"BOMB!" The bridge exploded, leaving the masses stuck on the other side. Sonic got blasted to the car ahead of his enemy, nearly slipping off.

"Whoa! What gives? You're gonna kill somebody!" Sonic shouted, Spin-Drifting in circles to not fall off. The wolf slammed her blue hammer into her car's trunk and made it rear-end the car Sonic stood on. The wolf ran forward, and swung a magenta scythe at Sonic. Sonic ran circles around her, grabbed the handle, bent it in with his knee, then kicked her knuckles.

The wolf looked down at her damaged weapon. A cold feeling washed over Sonic as she stood there, doing nothing. A soft, shaky breath was barely audible under her mask. She then hit Sonic relentlessly with all kinds of strange weapons, colors flashing across Sonic's eyes.

"BURST!" Sonic caught fire. "SPIKES!" Sonic was slashed by spinning blades. "CUBE!" A giant blue cube meteored down from the sky, reaching Sonic's nose… where time seemed to stop. Running around the car, Sonic became a ring of blue energy. Crackling and shimmering, he launched off the side of the car and Homing Attacked the cube away. It landed somewhere far in the distance, nearly throwing Donpa Kingdom out of orbit. The planet eventually settled back into stability. Sonic caught his breath, shook off some of the embers, and looked to the mercenary.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that!" Sonic hacked. The wolf mumbled something, looking down at her Wispon. It was out of juice. Sonic smiled, and hopped onto her car. "You're also gonna have to speak up a little. Can hardly hear you." The wolf stared at Sonic, then pulled off her metal mask.

"Look out." The floating car swerved, sending Sonic and the wolf hurdling through a stained glass window. They flew through dull rainbow curtains which fluttered and danced behind them. The two bounced along on an inflated carpet, a weightless feeling in Sonic's stomach.

"Ugh… what is this place? An antigrav zone?" Sonic asked, opening his eyes to a golden shimmer, fading to reveal a garrish playhouse. "This is Dodon Pa's Castle? You'd think a king would keep his room clean, at least." The wolf grabbed him by the neck as they floated along. "Grrk—!"

"What do you think you're doing with those dolls?" The wolf hissed. Sonic held on tightly to his friends' Avatar Dolls, not willing to let go.

"I'm… saving them…" Sonic grunted as he gasped for air. He looked down at the Penumbra Doll. There was a large split in her side. Sonic's heart nearly stopped.

"You're just putting them in MORE danger," the wolf replied.

"Wouldn't be a problem if YOU didn't attack me!" Sonic shouted, holding his hand over the gash to keep the doll's stuffing in.

"Wrong. I would've made Iron Queen's death swift and painless. You were headed straight here. You were on your way to—" as the two drifted further into the long, long hallway, they heard a series of Spring sounds. Sonic looked all around the place. Highly detailed murals of tanukis underneath crayon drawings of race cars. Trophy cases overflowing with gold trinkets, board games, and toys. Finally, his eyes landed on Dodon Pa jumping up and down in his bouncy cathedral. Sonic squinted.

"Is that really Dodon Pa? What's he doing?" Sonic asked, kicking off of the mercenary wolf and diving down to Dodon Pa's level. "Yo, Donpops, what's all— this?" Dodon Pa stared blankly at Sonic like a gnat overhead. He didn't say a word. Sonic hovered just above the Springs so that he wouldn't go bouncing all over the place. The wolf took aim at the back of Sonic's head, eyeing his skull through her scope, but then Dodon Pa's eyes rolled up towards her.

"There will be no guns in my bouncy castle," Dodon Pa ordered. The wolf slowly put the Wispon away. "What brings you two to my… personal palace…?"

"Dodon Pa, the others are…" Sonic muttered, before clearing his throat. He realized he didn't have evidence or a case. The dolls couldn't prove a thing to any sane person. Sonic looked all around the room, the den of a game junkie. He was then hit with an idea. With a smirk, Sonic dropped the Knuckles Doll in front of Dodon Pa's face, holding it by the string jutting out from its forehead. "The others are playing without you."

Dodon Pa stared at the Knuckles Doll, then the other dolls Sonic held. "Where is this happening? I could've sworn the next game was in an hour," Dodon Pa said.

"That's just it, Stake the Mosquito made up a new game. He's trying to kill your contestants," Sonic sighed.

"Stake… yes, yes, I should have known. He never plays fair," Dodon Pa groaned. "You're pretty quick, so just keep your distance from him."

"That's the thing. He almost used these dolls to kill my friends remotely, they're… linked somehow?" Sonic said. He handed Dodon Pa the Penumbra Doll. "Think you know where to fix this one? I don't want my friends to end up getting hurt. Not again." Sonic extended his hand, expecting the doll back. Dodon Pa turned around, holding the doll away from Sonic.

"Follow me, Sonic," Dodon Pa muttered, hopping away on the Springs. Sonic looked to the mercenary who had been right behind him last he checked. She was gone, the wind that was just roaring in his ears on the way there was now reduced to a soft, quiet whisper. He bounced after Dodon Pa. "You may be delighted to hear that I know just how to fix your friend. It's with a little thing I call: FUN." Sonic raised an eyebrow, and tried to keep his eyes on Dodon Pa throughout the winding, dark tunnel they were now diving into. "We have different cultures, you and I. The people of your world were so… structured, responsible. Until I brought the joys of competition and play to your world. Still, it's easy to lose sight of what makes life good at the end of the day, or rather, at the beginning of all days."

"What are you talking about?" Sonic asked, entering a vast and chilly throne room, with clear walls. There was a breathtaking view of the whole star system. The stars and planets here were much closer together than the ones visible in Erius' night sky. Dodon Pa put his hands against the floor, and stared at a very colorful planet underneath them. Planet Wisp. There was a large split across the planet.

"Sonic, have you ever heard of the Fallen Stars?" Dodon Pa asked, Sonic kneeling down to his level and gazing below at the scarred celestial body. "They were an advanced civilization. Their planet… a utopia. Do you know what they did to achieve that?"

"What did they do?" Sonic asked, humbled by the endless expanse all around them.

"They played. All day and night. They worked together without spite, disease, or fear," Dodon Pa sighed, rubbing his face against the clear floor. "They created culture around sport, great technologies powered by Fun." Dodon Pa was slobbering on the glass. "Until one day… one day… something horrible happened." Dodon Pa was sobbing on the pane.

"Are you—?" Sonic mumbled. Dodon Pa stood up, and wiped the tears from his swollen plasticky eyes.

"THE END, Sonic. THE END killed the majority of the Fallen Stars. The rest were forced into hiding on your planet, where they no longer had enough playtime or joy," Dodon Pa spat. "They all died out soon after, which is why I've come to the conclusion that neverending Fun is the key…!" Sonic stepped back. "... To eternal life…" Sonic bumped into the wall. "Tell me, what happens to a Chao when it is ignored?" Sonic opened his mouth to speak.

"I don't kn—"

"They die," Dodon Pa whispered. Sonic zipped to the opposite end of the room. "A Chao given constant joy and entertainment will live forever. So why shouldn't I spread that joy to other worlds? We'll all become just like the Fallen Stars in their golden age."

"Everybody kicks the bucket eventually, Donpops," Sonic chuckled nervously, shrugging. "That's what makes life worth it." Dodon Pa averted his eyes. "There was this place called Cyberspace the Fallen Stars made. It was supposed to be a constant stream of pure DOPAMINE. Lemme tell you— it was terrible! Everything was the same there, nothing ever ended, and nothing ever began."

"You really think so?" Dodon Pa asked, stepping closer. "I wouldn't expect that… coming from the one who killed THE END…" Sonic's smile fell. "Don't think I haven't seen. I have cameras and correspondents surrounding every star." A video was beamed into the glass panes, Sonic surrounded by a replay of his fight with Finale. He shielded his eyes from the flashing lights, covered his ears from the screams of his friends. "You did us all a great deed, finally ridding us of that fake moon. Now, there's nothing standing in the way of total solidarity across the universe under the Dodon Games." Sonic's ears began to ring.

"Then what about the people that died because of this tournament? What about Shadow?!" Sonic shouted. Dodon Pa sighed. Sonic gritted his teeth.

"Hrmm… Shadow was a bit of a basket case. Perhaps he was never meant for this new way of life," Dodon Pa murmured. Sonic delivered a punch right into Dodon Pa's nose. The old man slid across the floor and knocked into the wall.

"Shut your mouth!" Sonic shouted, his fist sparkling with electricity. "Shadow deserved to live. Don't you have any idea what he's been through?!" The screens showed The End explode into little stars with rays of Chaos Energy coming through the cracks. Sonic grunted. "And you don't know half of what happened that day, you regal bastard." The screens all around him switched to a harsh pounding static, before showing Sonic from each angle. "Huh? What… is this…?" Sonic looked at each and every screen, showing his outburst on loop. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me…"

Whisper the Wolf clung to the walls of a building with a pink glow surrounding her. She punched a window into little glass shards and crept in through the opening. Looking through a peephole, she saw her target. "Shadow Android… how unfortunate," Whisper opened the door and stepped in. She saw Shadow in some kind of stasis pod. She closed the door behind her, now free to speak as loud as she pleased in the soundproof room. "I will admit, I thought you were real for the longest time." Whisper put her hand on the glass, terrible visions flashing in front of her eyes. "If it were up to you, you wouldn't waste your time with the games. But it wasn't up to you, was it?" Whisper remembered Team Search & Smash, then all the Metal Fighters and Badniks flooding the leaderboards. "And then… there was him. Mimic. I wonder what the empire is planning."

The door opened. Whisper placed her mask back on and turned around, hiding her damaged Wispon. A nurse walked in, she didn't seem to be a tanuki like all the others. It looked like her surgical mask was hiding something. "Oh my, excuse me… am I interrupting?" The nurse asked, her voice going through some kind of filter. "Shadow the Hedgehog wasn't expecting any visitors today. But I suppose someone like you wouldn't exactly make your presence known."

"Ma'am, can you leave us be?" Whisper whispered, barely audible over the TV hanging behind her. "I just need… a few more minutes." Whisper sliced the mask off of the nurse's face, revealing an unmistakable grin underneath and leaving a scratch on her pink nose. Whisper threw a punch, but was quickly grabbed and swung overhead into the floor. "Gah—!" The nurse took her cap off her bald head.

"A Diamond Cutter! I thought I was finally rid of you mercs," Eggman cackled. She leaned against the stasis pod Shadow was inside of. "Lots has changed since we last met. For example, I finally grew into my true self. My empire's influence has spread thanks to Dodon Pa's support. And now you're all alone. A shame, I would've enjoyed breaking the others again. Still, what better time to catch up than during the Dodon Games?" Whisper shakily reached for her gun, and pulled only half of it back.

"You— what are you even doing here?" Whisper grunted. "Why now?!"

"Isn't it obvious? Free cable," Eggman snickered. Her glasses reflected the TV as the Donpa Channel played a very special clip of Sonic the Hedgehog brutally attacking King Dodon Pa. "Now pipe down, I'd like to see my old nemesis finally get what's coming to him."