webnovel

Sonic's Hourglass

(SONIC RUNAWAYS, my dystopian Sonic AU that aims to retell as many Sonic the Hedgehog stories as possible (including new ones), is available here on Webnovel: https://www.webnovel.com/book/sonic-runaways_20196626506046205 ) TIME IS RUNNING OUT. WILL SONIC BE FAST ENOUGH TO STOP IT? Sonic the Hedgehog is starving for adventure. And Miles "Tails" Prower might have the key to his greatest journey yet. A storm has appeared on the coast of South Island, and with it a mysterious mansion looms over the once peaceful, serene green hills. Guide Sonic through this new frontier, meet up with friends both new and old as you uncover the mystery of the mansion, unravel the secrets that Sonic himself holds, and fight back against the enigmatic entity doing this to Sonic's world, Mobius. It's a story of love. It's a story of unimaginable horrors. It's a story of family. It's a story of a little blue hedgehog. And his name is Sonic.

NatQuin · วิดีโอเกม
Not enough ratings
100 Chs

Chapter 36

Sonic and Sonja reappeared soon after in a barren, dirty wasteland. Their vision was foggy as they wobbled around in vertigo. Sonic, being the first to snap out of it, shook his head and looked around at his surroundings.

In the distance, there were mountains. The air itself was dry, thick, and a little hard to breathe, but Sonic and Sonja managed. Sonja snapped out of her daze and looked around as well. "Where are we?" Sonja asked.

"No idea..." Sonic answered as best he could. The sky was devoid of clouds, instead having black smog. The sky itself was a dark brown hue, with no storm. The mountains off in the distance had a familiar structure to them, a structure that Sonic had seen before. "Wait... could this be some sort of... bad future Green Hill Zone?"

"Green Hill Zone?" Sonja asked. Sonic remembered then that she hadn't been outside the house for a while. She probably hadn't seen Green Hill Zone, at least not for a while.

"It's complicated," Sonic stated. "I'll show you later, though."

"So you said that hourglass travels through time, right?" Sonja asked. She looked worried of her surroundings. Sonic nodded. "So, take us back, to when the monsters leave. Or better yet, before the mansion appeared."

"You think I can control it?" Sonic asked, bewildered. "This thing is unpredictable." He looked at the hourglass as the sand went through to the other side. "If I could do that I would have already. And we certainly wouldn't be here. Everything happens for a reason. The hourglass wants us here. To do... something..."

Sonja gasped. "What? What is it?" Sonic asked. His heart stung as he took his eyes off the hourglass and looked all around. Sonja pointed towards the ground. There stood a brown woolly mammoth with very large ears and big, round black eyes. It wasn't Mobian, but it also didn't quite look like a Mobini. It looked more like something you'd see on Earth with its strange, alien structure. Sonic had to admit, it was kind of cute. Like a puppy.

"Issa baby...!" Sonja squealed. Her hands were over her mouth. But then, the woolly mammoth ran away at a lukewarm speed for Sonic, its little tail trailing behind it. "Ah... did I scare it?"

Sonic saw a large shadow looming over him, spreading onto the grass in front. Some sort of drool fell onto his shoulder. Sonic sneezed. Sonic and Sonja turned around. Standing over them, was an about 450 foot, towering, drooling, horrible beast. A Mobosaur with wings, a beak, and three awful, huge eyes! It looked down at Sonic and Sonja with its huge, pitch black eyes. Sonja was terrified! Sonic looked more irritated if anything. The Mobosaur was green on the skin and light brown in the parts where skin shone through.

Meanwhile, the woolly mammoth continued to run. "Sonic, we need to get the baby and run, right?" Sonja asked. "This thing might eat that poor baby mammoth!"

Sonic groaned. "Yep," He said, shrugging. Sonic could tell that this was the best course of action instead of fighting. Sonic ran towards the mammoth baby, much to its startle. It quickened its pace and tried running from Sonic, funny enough, but Sonic swept it up and held it close to him. "Here we go!" Sonic exclaimed. He dashed forward.

Sonja followed behind him, periodically looking back at the Mobosaur. She was trailing behind, and they were all out of Double Boost energy. Even if Sonic were to hold onto her hand and run with her, the slight extra weight would slow him down, allowing the Mobosaur to catch up. Sonic slowed down, and handed the baby mammoth to Sonja. He then Homing Attacked into the Mobosaur's legs. "Run, Sonja!" Sonic cried as he threw a barrage of Homing Attacks at the Mobosaur's feet.

Sonja, not looking back, sped up. The Mobosaur had fallen behind at this point, as it was distracted by Sonic. Sonic taunted it after Homing Attacking it to get its attention. He put his thumbs in his ears and all his fingers out. He jumped from foot to foot.

The Mobosaur tried to stomp its foot down onto Sonic, but Sonic quick stepped to the right. "I have some business to take care of, but we can finish this game when I get back!" Sonic yelled, flipping the bird. The Mobosaur took another large step forward, shaking the ground. Sonic lost his balance as he waved his arms and leg around.

The shaking stopped. The Mobosaur lowered its head and roared in Sonic's face. Sonic resumed running. The Mobosaur followed soon after. Its beak was open and out of it, it birthed what seemed to be a million Flickies not unlike the one in the stormroof room.

"Shoot!" Sonic exclaimed, as he caught up to Sonja. Amidst the Flickies, Sonic almost couldn't see the shadow of the Mobosaur right above him. It was planning to jump on him. Sonic, looking at a platoon of monster Flickies, performed a Light Speed Attack, plowing them down in the blink of an eye. He was in the air when the Mobosaur landed. It created a shockwave, which launched Sonja forward. She lost her hold on the baby mammoth. It went tumbling to the ground harshly, rolling in a somersault. It then got up and started running everywhere!

Sonic, meanwhile, was using Focused Homing Attacks to bounce from enemy to enemy in a trail. He had no chance but to stay in the air. He couldn't afford to fall from this height. But thankfully, there were plenty of enemies he could use as Homing Attack fodder without hurting them too badly.

"Sonic!" Sonja cried, as she flew up to Sonic. "I lost the baby mammoth!"

"Well that's not good!" Sonic replied. "We need to find it before it becomes this overgrown lizard's lunch!" With this, Sonja picked up Sonic by the arms much like Tails would and carried him to the ground. The baby mammoth was running in circles in a blind frenzy. "Here, little guy!" Sonic called in a soothing singsong voice as he ran forward towards the mammoth. He whistled like you would for a Chao to come to you in a Chao Garden.

Sonic could have just run up and caught the mammoth under other circumstances, but he also had to worry about the Mobosaur and Flickies. It was complete chaos as the two ran around in the swarm of Flickies while avoiding the Mobosaur smushing them or the poor baby animal. A loud roar blew them back into a large wall of rock, hurting their backs and leaving a ringing in their ears.

The Flickies flew to the mammoth to kill it and eat it slowly, little piece by little piece, but the Mobosaur growled at them as they got close. The Mobosaur wanted this mammoth to itself. "No!" Sonic yelled, as he ran up to save the baby mammoth. He spun through a gap between the Flickies, making them clear out of the way.

Sonic grabbed the baby and ran further off, as the Flickies swarmed him and tried to snatch the baby away. Sonja followed and swatted them away, but one scratched her. A white ectoplasmic scratch formed on her arm. "Sonja!" Sonic shouted.

"I'm fine..." Sonja gasped sharply. She held onto the scrape as she continued to fly forward. That's when Sonic heard something. Just as he felt he couldn't take on this army of Flickies along with the Mobosaur, he heard it in the distance. The sound of a gust of wind with a sound like helicopter rotors. He looked behind him and saw a silhouette of a fox flying in the sky towards them. He grinned, but also felt the need to sneeze. Something that usually came over him when something bad was going to happen. But he pushed the urge away and out of his mind. He told himself that this was, in fact, Tails.

"Hey, Tails!" Sonic called, confident that this was indeed Tails. He waved his arms in the air as Tails flew over them in circles like an Earth vulture. Sonic squinted. He could see little droplets of an unknown liquid falling from Tails' mouth. As they fell onto the ground, he saw what it was. Blood.

Sonic's mind immediately came to the conclusion that Tails was bleeding. "Sonja, that's my friend up there. He's in trouble, we need to help him," Sonic said, turning to Sonja. His voice was serious.

Sonja nodded, and, carrying Sonic up by the arm that wasn't holding the baby mammoth, got to eye level with Tails. Sonja thought this could be the blacksmith and Ali Baba in her books. But no... she could swear she recognized this fox from other places too. Tails' hair was matted with sweat as he flew around uncontrollably. The three little strands of hair that stuck out from his forehead were sticking up. Blood covered his mouth, but so did saliva. It mixed together in a sort of brew that was uncomfortable to look at. His claws stabbed through his gloves, and he had a permanent grin on his face that revealed fangs underneath.

"Tails... you okay, buddy?" Sonic asked. Tails looked at him. There was hunger in his eyes. Tails opened his jaw.

"H-h-h-hey, Sonic..." Tails hissed, his breath smelling foul. He eyed the baby mammoth. "How's it going?"

Something was wrong. Sonic thought Tails was probably in some sort of manic shock from whatever made him bleed. "Dude, what about you?" Sonic asked. "You're bleeding!"

"Oh, this?" Tails asked rhetorically. He wiped some blood off of his mouth and examined it. "This wasn't mine..." Tails shuddered.

"What... are you talking about?" Sonic asked, shaking. Sonja began to back away, carrying Sonic with her. Tails seemed to follow them, his eyes on the baby Sonic held in his arm. Then, the Mobosaur saw what it thought was new prey above it. Sonic and Sonja were focused on Tails until they heard the roar. They immediately moved out of the way, but Tails stood in place. "Tails!" Sonic cried. Sonja gasped.

Tails did not move. Sonic reached out his hand, but Tails didn't take it. He didn't even look at the Mobosaur as it continued to fall. The dinosaur opened its mouth wide and tried to eat Tails, but Tails had other plans.

He flew out of the way just as the Mobosaur would have fell on him. Then, when the Mobosaur hit the ground, Tails flew down and Spindashed into it, breaking the skin. Then, he latched his fangs onto the Mobosaur's neck and sunk them in. He tore away at the Mobosaur as it roared and let out high-pitched screams. Tails wasn't its prey... it was Tails' prey!

"Sonja, we need to get out of here now," Sonic whispered, the puzzle pieces falling into place. His heart sank as he realized Tails wasn't the fox he used to know. "Now, now!" Sonja then flew forward, away from Tails' feasting grounds. The Flickies departed from the Mobosaur's fresh carcass in retreat as Tails continued his meal.

Sonja flew until she could fly no more. They were a safe distance from Tails, so she slowly carried Sonic, who was still holding the baby mammoth, to the ground. The baby mammoth squirmed around in Sonic's gentle hold. Sonja looked into its eyes, before it shut them and started making weak, whiny trumpet sounds from its trunk. Little tears fell from its wet eyes. It looked like it was scared of Sonic. Scared that Sonic might eat it!

Sonic smiled weakly at the mammoth as he held it in his arms. "Do you want to hold it?" Sonic asked, offering the mammoth to Sonja. Sonja slowly took it from him, as she looked at Sonic sadly. Sonic had said that was his friend over there, but he didn't even seem all that concerned about his friend and... whatever had happened to him, how he acted. Could this be normal?

Sonja looked back at the baby mammoth and smiled wide. "This guy's cute!" She exclaimed. She looked back at Sonic. "What are we gonna name him?" She asked.

Sonic looked surprised. "Uh... you want to keep it?" He asked. He wouldn't tell Sonja, but he was just thinking of releasing it back into the wild Green Hill after getting it out of danger's way. Sonja nodded quickly, a determined look on her face. "Well, okay... uhh... how about Pico?" Sonic thought of the name instantly.

"He looks like a Pico!" Sonja replied enthusiastically. She quickly soothed her voice, not wanting to startle the baby. "I can see it in his eyes," Sonja stated. She looked calm. Much like when they had time traveled to when she was growing up.

"Um... sure," Sonic guessed. He scratched his forehead. "So... Pico?"

Sonja thought about it. "Yes," She said. Her smile faltered. "So... what now?"

Sonic thought about it. Usually when he had completed a task or gotten to a certain point in another time using this hourglass, or any time traveling device, he would be thrown back to the present

"I think we'll get out of here," Sonic told her. The mammoth had calmed down at this point in Sonja's loving arms, it closed its eyes to rest on her, from its perspective, comfy chest. Slow, soft trumpeting sounds came through its trunk like snores as it dozed off peacefully. It was tired from all the running and commotion from before. Sonja tried to hold in a laugh from the innocence of this mammoth. "Riiiiight now." Sonic waited. Nothing. "Right now?"

Just as he said that, right on cue, the hourglass began to shake and turn itself right side up. Sonic and Sonja, with the mammoth along with them, floated up into the air. They were swept into a red and purple vortex.

And then, after the blinding light, all was silent and still.

Continue to Chapter 37