It was early in the morning. The sunlight shone through the thick clouds from last night's rain, evaporating them. The day has begun, but for two friends, it should be time they went to bed.
"Tails," Sonic said, "got something? Anything?" His mouth opened to let out a large yawn. He had not rested for the night, maybe he should now.
"Nothing yet, Sonic." Tails answered, tinkering with his machines. He hasn't slept either, but he was quite used to late-night working.
"Well then," Sonic yawned again, "I'll be going to bed." And with that, he left his little buddy the pendant and went to the bedroom to get his long-needed sleep.

As his blue friend went to bed, Tails kept working on the pendant. Ever since Sonic claimed it, it wasn't bothering anyone, nor controlling their minds. Everything is back to normal, or so he thought. As he worked, a pair of green glowing eyes stared at him. He has been watching the heroes, or whoever had the pendant, ever since the battle for it. That pendant was his, it had come from his predecessor, he must have it.

Tail felt a sudden shiver down his spine. It felt as if, someone was watching him. In an instant, he grabbed a clamp and looked behind him, looked around and out his window.
No one was around.
"Strange..." He muttered, "I could've sworn someone was here." Putting it to the back of mind, Tails went back to work with a mental note to keep checking what's around.

~•~

It was now late afternoon. Sonic came walking down the stairs, still yawning from his morning sleep. As he came into the living room, he had realised it was quiet, too quiet for Tails' house for sure.
"Tails?" He called out, but nothing except the blowing wind answered. He looked around, retracing his steps. Where had he last left Tails, he thought. His eyes caught the agape door of his buddy's workshop and curiosity told him to look. So, he stepped closer and pushed it open to a horrifying sight.
"Tails!" Sonic shouted, seeing his best friend in the arms of a creature made from pure water. Its green eyes stared coldly into his soul as it tightened its grip on Tails' throat.
"S-S-Sonic...!" Tails was choking, his throat was squeezed so tightly that no air can reach his lungs. And this enraged Sonic. He let out a deafening bawl and charged headfirst into this creature. The creature showed no fear, it threw Tails aside and stopped the speeding hedgehog in his tracks with only a hand of water. It held him tight and threw him back and out the window, throwing Sonic onto the beach. This had given him a bolt out of the blue. No one had ever stopped him before, no one. Refusing to lose to a water creature, he dashed back into the workshop through the smashed window and kicked the creature aside.

This was the fight of the decade; between the creature, which Sonic had now identified as Chaos from his childhood stories, and the blue hero himself. Chaos threw an arm at Sonic, who zipped out of the way as fast as sound. To fight "Chaos", Sonic will need to think of a strategy. Memorise his attacks? Maybe. Just keep running until Chaos gets distracted and take a shot? Probably not. What about...
Before Sonic could even finish that thought, Chaos grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him out the window again, throwing him into a palm tree. Sonic was slowly blacking out, but before his vision faded out for good, he spotted the bright blue glow of the pendant and Chaos bursting into water droplets.

~•~

"Sonic! Sonic!"
"Wake up, man!"
"Sonic!"
Sonic bolted awake from the sounds of his friends, sitting upright immediately and was ready to fight whatever it was that was going to hurt his friends. To his surprise, Sonic was in his bedroom, on his bed. He looked around, seeing the relieved faces of Tails, Knuckles and Amy, but no sign of Chaos. Where did he go?
"Don't worry about that water monster, he exploded after you blacked out." Tails explained, placing a reassuring hand on the cobalt hedgehog's shoulder. "Thanks to that little pendant we have."
That struck a nerve in Sonic's mind.
"Where is it?" He asked, worried. Whoever had sent Chaos was obviously after that pendant and he will never allow them to have it. Tails pointed to the windowsill. Sitting there, as still as stone, was the blue, lightning-shaped pendant, glowing in the setting sun. Knowing that it was safe, Sonic let out a sigh and collapsed into his bed, drowning away into its softness.

"Wait!" Sonic bolted up again, the second before he fell asleep. He looked at the confused faces of his friends and he was pretty sure that they had expected him to go to bed. "I can't rest yet!" He added in, getting out of bed. He slipped on his signature red running shoes, grabbed the pendant and was bound to leave the house.
"Why? You had a rough day, y'know." Amy asked, following him to the door.
"I can't rest knowing that someone had sent that water monster, Chaos, as I like to call him." Sonic explained, walking out onto the beach, determined to reach his village before the sender of Chaos. "I need to go and if I don't come back...don't come looking for me. Get everyone to safety."
And just like that, Sonic rushed to the village at his top speed, even breaking the sound barrier. The village wasn't far at all, he just hoped that when he was out on his bed, Chaos' sender didn't do anything else.

~•~

The village was still safe when Sonic arrived, thank goodness. But that doesn't mean that he's just paying a visit. He knows something will happen and he will make sure that no a single soul will get hurt. And just when he thought everything would be okay, he saw some very unnatural changes in the water around them. The villagers were already ahead of time. They had noticed it earlier, way earlier and, by now, they were all panicking; running out of the village, frolicking their arms as they did so. But Sonic stood firm to his ground, ready for the fight that will surely come. A storm came overhead in an instant, fuelling the bodies that are now forming from the water. Realisation hit Sonic like an avalanche; There wasn't only one Chaos, it was a whole army of Chaos Clones. He realised too late that he can't take on this whole army, and despite his efforts to run away, he would always be thrown back to the ground. The cobalt hero held onto the pendant tight, never willing to let go. If he did, and the Chaos Clones get their hands on it, the world would be destroyed and Sonic knows that. He just has to hold on. But how could he? How could he when the Chaos Clones were bound to rip his soul out of existence?

After getting thrown headfirst into a wall, Sonic felt more broken than he had ever felt in his entire life. He swore he heard a crack, signalling that he had either broken his back or another bone elsewhere in his body. But whatever it was, it's not good for him. It was horribly painful for Sonic to turn to look at the Chaos Clones closing in on him. He couldn't hold on anymore, this was going to be his end. But thinking about his friends; Tails, Amy, Knuckles. All the villagers that depended on him, and the world that depended on him. He has to hold on. He has to get back up and fight. And that's exactly what he did; pushed himself up, not caring about how much pain he felt. All eyes were on him as Sonic got up and off the ground, but he didn't care. He needed to make a straight point to these Chaos Clones.
"Listen here," he said, rasping, "this pendant that you want...is mine..." Sonic felt blood ushering up his throat, but he pushed it back down. Taking another painful breath, he continued. "This village that you're trying destroy, is my home..."
The thunderstorm high above had gotten worse as Sonic's speech began to echo into the foggy night. More and more lightning formed, getting way too close to the hedgehog's feet. But this gave no problem to him, as Sonic continued with even knowing.
"And the people...the people that you're trying to kill..." He looked up and stared coldly into the eyes of the Chaos Clones, knowing that whatever he was going to say has to, and will, get through. "They are my family!"

Thunder clapped through the sky as a bolt of blue lightning shot out and into the pendant that Sonic held tightly, lighting it up. The blue hedgehog's emerald eyes faded into a bright blue as the power from the pendant flowed through his body, through his blood, filling him beyond enough. Blue lightning from the sky zapped all around him as his body glowed an unnatural blue, the same shade as the lightning around him. With one swift move, as quick as light, Sonic sliced through an approaching Chaos Clone, cutting it in half and destroying it. The others were now aware of what he could do, but they were not giving up. Sonic, on the other hand, was prepared. Holding the pendant tight, he slammed it into the ground and waves of lightning shot through the ground, blowing up any Chaos Clones within a one-mile radius. Many have retreated by the time Sonic raised the pendant from the ground once more. He looked around at the few who remained behind and with a snap of his fingers, lightning shot out of the sky and into the remaining Chaos Clones, incinerating them.

As the last Chaos Clone dropped and disappeared, the flow of energy that Sonic had received gradually returned into the lightning-shaped piece of jewellery. The bright blue in his eyes faded away with these supernatural powers, returning his regular emerald green eyes. The storm passed, the lightning disappearing with it also. Looking around, Sonic saw the shocked faces of his friends, of the villagers. Soon, those faces turned into grateful smiles as everyone cheered for their blue hero. Sonic smiled also, relieved that this battle is over for now. It wouldn't be long until those clones returned, but until then, peace can last for as long as it can in this small village that he calls home.

~•~

Sighing in defeat, the leader of the Chaos Clones was rather disappointed with his stupid others. Sure, he sent them to retrieve the pendant from that blue hedgehog's grasp, but they were all useless, as usual. It seems that he may have to do things himself...

To be continued...