Sonic just stood there in shock. Never did he even think that he would hear his rival's voice again after all these years. Not that he liked it, his rival, and his stupid group, were in his forest. Did they not know that he would be hiding here after their stupid government decided to banish him from every civilisation all around the world. Sonic growled deeply, now revealing his presence there.

His rival was the first to look behind him, but it was already far too late. Sonic leapt out from the tall grass, pouncing on his rival, a black and red hedgehog that goes by the name of Shadow. Of course, Shadow's first instinct was to fight back, but when he looked into the eyes of the beast on top of him, he couldn't move. Those bright emerald eyes were something he thought he'd never see again after their owner was thrown out of civilisation. Shadow could only stare, his mind trying to process everything that had happened in the last three seconds.

Sonic's eyes were narrowed, burning with rage. He just glared at his rival. Oh, he wanted to kill him right there and then, but something in his mind was telling him not to and just let him go. But his thoughts were cut short when a speeding bullet was shot straight into his shoulder. Sonic howled in pain; his shoulder dislocated, unable to move. He looked up, locking eyes with his attacker, a GUN soldier. All of his rage instantly turned to fear, and he took off, running as fast as he could for the safety of the forest. The GUN troop followed closely behind. Although they were slower than Sonic, they still managed to stay in range to shoot at the fleeing beast.

Sonic rushed through the trees, hoping to reach the heart of the forest before the troop caught up. But, instead, he quickly took a peek behind him, seeing the small brigade hot on his tail. Sonic got onto all fours, running faster than he usually would if he continued on two legs. But even on all fours, he still wasn't able to outrun the speeding bullets.

Bullets shot through his skin and fur, leaving tiny holes that bled all over his body. Yet, Sonic was still determined to escape, looking for anywhere he can run to lose the troop behind him. But the slight distraction left him unaware of what was ahead, waiting for his arrival. Unfortunately, by the time he focused his attention forward, it was too late, as another troop was already lined up, blocking his only way of escape. He was surrounded in every direction, trapped in a circle of guns.

Sonic looked around, looking for a gap to escape. He wasn't about to die today, not here and not like this. Desperate, Sonic ran full force at the troop ahead of him. They parted, in what Sonic assumed to be, of fear. When he looked forward again, he saw two soldiers holding up a net explicitly made for him. With no time to stop himself, Sonic dove headfirst into the net. The two soldiers let go, the net automatically tying up, tangling itself around Sonic's body, trapping his entire body.

Sonic rolled down the hill with no way to move, his body battered and bruised by the time he stopped at the bottom. He laid his head down, tired, trying to catch his breath. How did it end up like this, he wondered. What was supposed to be a typical night turned into this nightmare, his deepest fear of being caught. It wasn't supposed to end like this for him; it just didn't seem like the right way to end the story.

Sonic just laid there, too tired to even try to escape the net. He was hoping maybe when he transformed, he can crawl out quickly, but the sunrise was still hours away, and he was unsure whether if his transformation would be successful with his injuries. So finally, Sonic decided that it was best just to give up. There was no way he can get out of this net. And just when he was ready to give up on his life, he heard footsteps, the familiar sound of metal soles from his old rival.

Shadow walked down the hill silently, constantly checking behind him to see whether his troops had followed him. A mere lie saying that he's gone to finish off the beast was easy enough to convince them to let him go. Coming down to Sonic's body and looking at him closely, Shadow couldn't help but feel a shred of guilt. Sonic did nothing wrong, yet he ended up here, injured and possibly on the verge of death. Shadow wasn't going to let Sonic die so easily, and so very slowly, he reached out to the metal rod that secured the net in place. Slowly and gently, he tugged it loose from its place.

Sonic felt the net on him loosen up, hearing sliding metal. Shadow threw the rod aside and grabbed a small pocketknife, and started to cut the net apart, seeing that it was too tangled for him to untangle them in time to release Sonic, or his troop, getting suspicious.

As soon as all the net was off him, Sonic pounced onto Shadow and held him to the ground. Shadow looked up, terrified of the massive beast above him. Sonic held his hand to Shadow neck, securing him in place, but just like last time, he couldn't kill his rival. Sonic ran off with an angered roar, only to fall over as soon as he took a step. He looked back at his left leg, seeing that it was cramped up. He tried to move it, only to find it frozen in place. No doubt, it was broken.

Sonic limped his way through the forest, tripping over just about anything he came across. Then, suddenly, he stepped into open space and fell in, landing hard, belly-flopping onto the surface of a large pool of water. Slowly dragging himself back onto shore, Sonic found himself trapped in a ravine of some sort, and the only way out was to climb up. But, not even analysing his situation, he just knew he wouldn't be able to climb out of this place, not with his broken leg at least. He needs to wait for it to heal. And so, for now, Sonic is trapped. A sitting duck that anything can kill with no trouble.