Chapter 84

Buck smiled. His expression softened, as he wiped his eyes free of tears. "No, nothing..." Buck sighed.

"Great!" Sonic exclaimed. "You're part of the team, and we're always stronger with you at your best!"

Part of... a team?

Buck watched as the others walked forward and into an elevator, waiting for him, but Sonic stayed. Sonic reached his hand out for a handshake... Buck had never felt respected or even liked by anyone like this hedgehog did. He felt... like he had a friend now. A real one.

The friends Buck used to have would tear him down, knock him down further when he thought he was at his lowest. Turns out, nothing's ever as bad as it can get. There's always a worse place. But that also means there's someone, or something inside you that can pick you up further than you can imagine. For Buck, this was Sonic.

Buck reached his hoof into Sonic's hand. As he did, their whole adventure flashed in front of his eyes. Meeting Sonic. Running away... it was mostly running away. But he wasn't afraid anymore. He put his hoof in Sonic's hand. Then, they made a motion slightly upwards, then slightly downwards. It was alien and strange to Buck. He had only ever seen humans make this motion. But he felt a sense of trust in this strange ritual. Respect felt like it was exchanged between one another.

Buck looked away from Sonic's hand, and then to Sonic's face. He was smiling. Buck then realized. Friendship wasn't competition, friendship isn't about tearing the other down. Friendship is about building each other up. Being there for each other. It's about love. This wasn't just talk coming from Sonic and his friends. This was real emotion. And it was more real to Buck than anything before.

Their hands departed from one another, as Sonic gave Buck a thumbs-up. Then, Sonic ran towards the elevator and squished between Sonja, Pico, Tails and Knuckles. Buck smiled again, and ran off towards the elevator.

Buck kept the nail. Not just to defend himself. But to defend Sonic and the others. Buck didn't see it before, but they all really cared for him. It didn't matter that Sonja was a human or that Tails was a fox. It mattered that they were all a team. They had each other's backs.

Always.

"Not so fast!" A voice cried. Everyone watched as a figure made itself apparent in the distance, seeming like it had teleported into view. It was... a man. Tall, lanky, skinny. Old, gray hair. Silver, glistening eyes.

"Who are you?!" Sonic asked, as everyone took a fighting stance.

"In short, my name is Dr. Scroobly..." The man, Scroobly, introduced.

"Am I supposed to know who that is, or...?" Sonic asked. As if in response to this, Scroobly then began to change, morph through the crackling of bones and stretching and squashing of skin.

"Oh no..." Tails gasped. In front of him, stood... him! Tails. The copy blinked. Skin. Colored. Eyelids. Tails backed away, until he was right up against the elevator wall.

"Hey, Sonic..." The other Tails greeted in a slightly off voice, a confident smile on his face. The voice sounded like if you took Tails' voice and made it deeper. "I had faith in you that you would pick me over that fake, but I guess you Mobians never change."

"Step off!" Buck shouted. He clenched the nail. But he then heard Sonic's voice.

"Hey, Buck! I'm here!" Scroobly, taking on the form of normal Sonic exclaimed, one eye, gloves and all. "Hey... who's that guy in the elevator? Get away from them!" Scroobly Sonic shouted, but he could now tell he wasn't fooling anyone. "Hmm... so that's how it has to be... a shame... I did enjoy this little adventure of ours, Sonic the Hedgehog. But I'm afraid it's about to come to an end!" He said in his own voice.

Scroobly rushed forward at Sonic's speed, still wearing his skin and fur. He grabbed onto Sonic and suplexed him, sending Sonic flying. Sonic spat out some blood from his mouth. "So you're the creep who impersonated my friend, huh? The one who pretended to be one of us, only to stab us in the back later?!"

The real Sonic dashed forward, and kicked Scroobly in the stomach. Scroobly was knocked back as Sonic delivered punch after punch after kick. He grabbed onto Scroobly's neck and bashed his forehead into Scroobly's. Scroobly then began to morph again. This time, he took on the form of Cheese the Chao. This made him small enough to fly out from in between Sonic's headlock.

Scroobly, now able to fly due to Cheese's wings, zipped all across the room and bashed into others. When he found this wasn't as effective, he transformed into Sonja. Scroobly dodged two of Sonic's attacks, and then bashed his head down into Sonic's from above. Sonic Homing Attacked Scroobly as Scroobly flew off towards Sonja and Pico. Scroobly returned to the ground, and changed into E-123 Omega. He shot out lasers from his arms. Everybody had to jump over the lasers as he turned clockwise and shot them all around the room.

Then, he started bursting forward while clawing at air. Everybody tried their best to get out of the way, but it was by the skin of their teeth that they could avoid it. Sonja was then backed into a corner, and Scroobly Omega was closing in, running at her while shaking the room with every step he took.

CLANG CLANG CLANG went the monstrous machine. Sonja turned away, protecting Pico from that horrible Scroobly. Sonic took note of this, and ran in and kicked Scroobly Omega out of the way. He crashed against the wall and fell to the ground. It started with bashing a Motobug. It would end with destroying a juggernaut machine. Sonic was always stronger.

Sonic walked up to Scroobly, who now was back to normal. A strange stone fell from his pocket. It was some sort of zultanite. "No! The Alter Zultanite!" Scroobly cried, reaching out for the zultanite. But Sonic stomped his foot down on Scroobly's hand, nearly smashing the bones within.

Sonic looked down to Scroobly. Scroobly had fear in his silver eyes. "Wh-what are you?" Scroobly asked, his voice in a frenzy.

"I'm a hedgehog!" Sonic replied. He heard the crunch of bone as he pushed his foot down further. Scroobly cried in pain.

"You'll never save your world!" Scroobly shouted. Instantly, he grabbed the wrench from his back pocket and jabbed it into his neck, and let the blood ooze down.

Everyone screamed. Scroobly included. Sonic stepped back, realizing the blood was slowly leaking on the floor towards his shoe. "Whoa!" He gasped.

"Did he just...?" Knuckles sputtered. "Why?!" Knuckles couldn't comprehend why anyone would ever take their own life.

Sonic looked away. He had seen a lot of lives end today. He was just glad it wasn't someone he loved. This man more than deserved it. He was a lie, and there was nothing Sonic could have done to save him.

Then, the hourglass began to shake again.

And everything went white.

Continue to Chapter 85