Way Down We Go by KALEO.
~~~

His body trembles as he rocks mindlessly back and forth. His fur is grimy, clumped together and splattered in blood. His ears refuse to rise, attempting to block out the quieting screams and deafening booms of machines. There's a chilling breeze that causes his already sharp quills to lift, plus his breathing becomes continuously more laboured. His bruised muzzle is stained in tears that no longer fall whilst his dull green eyes watch over the still body awkwardly resting over his legs. In the distance he hears a call that sounds like it's within the deepest of oceans, so he doesn't bother turning towards the cry.

Instead, with a gasping inhale he frees one of his bloodied arms from under the cold form and gently closes lifeless brown eyes. Immediately, he buckles and lowers his head to the unmoving bodies chest- giving a weak whimper. The unfathomable rage that had once stirred within him was no longer present- replaced with a sorrowful numbness. His mind didn't feel like it was cracking, but he could detect that something alien had settled into the furthest corners of his brain. However, his heart was perceived to be drowning in a dejected, melancholy sea and only seemed to be sinking deeper.

"Olgilvie!"

His eyes opened upon the more audible call but still he made no movement, only curling more tightly around the frozen body beneath him. He listened to staggering steps stumble to a stop and mustered the energy to lift his head- only to feel himself being swept up into someone's arms.

"NO-!" He shrieked with what he had and reached for his father, small hands pulling on his tattered puffer vest.

The coat slipped off the unmoving hedgehog, letting him fall back to the ground on his side. Limp, his back faced his wide eyed son who reached for him once more. Tears began streaming down his cheeks as he kicked and yelled, only able to watch as his father's body disappeared into the fog.

"Olgilvie!" That same voice called, sounding relieved as he felt a hand rest upon his quills.

"Take me back." He croaked, looking to see who had him in their arms.

It was Abraham Towers that met his gaze solemnly. The voice belonged to Vanilla, who ran at the humans side with a glassy eyed Sally in her arms. The young chipmunk's clothes were torn, hair was trimmed and frazzled and her form was decorated in scars. Still, her haunted eyes continued looking onward. Then, Olgilvie remembered something and began squirming.

"W-wait! W-where's Ma? Where's Sonia? M-Manic?"

"I'm not sure, son." Towers replied hoarsely.

"B-but they were...they were right by me!" Olgilvie sniffed to stall the tears.

"I only left for a minute. I-...I-I didn't mean to-."

Vanilla briefly closed her eyes as the small hoglet began weeping again, kicking his little legs into Towers' shoulder. Still, they pushed forward through seas of blood, forests of bodies and piles upon piles of Badnik remains. Sally closed her sore eyes and buried her face into the crook of Vanilla's neck to avoid the scene, letting another replay in her mind. Soon, Olgilvie had used all he had in him and simply laid on Abraham Towers' shoulder, holding his father's puffer vest tightly in his small hands.

"How're we getting out of here?" Vanilla asked once out of the core of the battlefield.

"Should have a helicopter not too far. You know, so I can travel here and to the city. It's a little thing but...well, it should be enough. It's in the forest, hopefully, nicely hidden too."

"Well, Robotnik didn't come this way so...s-so there's hopefully a chance."

They entered an unsettling silence, but both were too distracted to keep any conversation going. So, Vanilla let Towers guide them into what once was a luscious, blossoming green forest. Now, thick scorched trees stood naked with the majority being burnt all the way to their stumps. However, the sight of Badniks was far rarer than in Mobotropilis- Vanilla chose to hold onto that. Shortly after, Towers slowed to a walk as he scanned their desolate landscape.

"This way." He jerked his head to the left and brought them to a mossy overhang with large holes seeping through. It was lifted by charred wooden pillars disguised with patches of what had once been greenery.

Beneath the overhang sat a dark grey Robinson R22 Beta helicopter with GUN symbols on it's side. However, the paint was faded and scratched and the windows had large cracks stretching across them. On the burnt ground lay a few dismantled badniks and mobian soldiers that had literally been torn apart mercilessly by the former. Vanilla almost gagged at the sight and shifted her hold on Sally so she could place a hand on the back of the chipmunks head- Towers did the same (gently moving Olgilvie's head so he couldn't see the scene).

Vanilla thickly swallowed, "I-is it safe?"

"Safer than staying here." Towers cautiously approached the helicopter. "Besides, we don't know how much longer we have until Robotnik finds us."

Vanilla looked back in the direction of Mobotropilis, grimacing as she tried to ignore the agonising ache in her belly. "All I see is smoke. Are we sure he's there still? I mean...he won. He...."

"We still don't want to risk it." The new commander spoke more softly.

"What if there's others?"

"Did you hear anyone? See anyone?"

At the rabbit's silence, Towers pulled the helicopters small door open with a creak and helped her inside upon her arrival. He followed after and let Vanilla hold Olgilvie close, allowing him to sit in the pilots seat. Vanilla equipped Olgilvie and Sally with headphones (far too large to fit properly) before she and the commander did the same.

"We'll go to Station Square. You'll be safe there."

"Sorry?"

"My GUN base. You'll stay there until I find a place for you in the city." Towers began testing out a few of the helicopters controls before bringing it to life (albeit it doing so with groaning struggle).

"Besides, Olgilvie here could get used to the place. With his...abilities we might have a way to bring a proper fight to Robotnik. With the proper training of course."

Vanilla glanced at the hoglet in discussion, who's ears had lifted to listen but gave no other movement. Then she double took as she repeated the commanders words internally, opting to schooch forward.

"Hold on, we've just faced the worst battle of our lives and you're talking about training? With a child no less!"

"I'm just trying to keep moving forward." Towers sighed as the helicopter began it's take off. "We don't want all those soldiers to die in vain. And that child, he's got powers unheard of. Under the correct direction and practise, he could be our key to-."

—————

Sonic gasped and shot up from the caves floor, hand over his heart as he hurriedly let his surroundings sink in. Then, he focused on bringing his stressed breathing down to a calmer pace. Taking another glance around him, Sonic pulled the sown puffer vest he wore by the collar up to his muzzle, shutting his eyes as he deeply inhaled. Only when he let it go did he notice the inside was dampened, thus bringing his hand to his cheek to feel the wetness of tears.

'Crying? Damn you, Towers.'

Rubbing roughly at his face, he climbed up and swung his backpack (previously utilised as a pillow) over his right shoulder. He glanced at the small fire beside him, one that had long been out before he exited the cave. Immediately, he brought a hand up to shield his eyes from the blinding sun prior to watching the trees standing before him. A flash of a desolate forest so similar crossed his mind, but it was swiftly ignored as he took off in a sprint.

It had been almost a year since he left Knothole, Sally and his friends behind. Since then he'd travelled Robotnik camp to Robotnik camp and torn them down once there. He shrugged off his backpack to dig around within it's yellow interior before yanking out a map, swinging the bag back in place. Then, he unravelled the yellowed paper to show little crosses that Sally had told him were camps (according to Bunnie's, Rotor's and Antoine's knowledge).

He made a sharp left turn to travel towards his next one prior to stumbling to a stop- catching the distressed noises of birds. Backtracking, he zoomed past the forests edge and small hills to come out at a wide clearing. It was a meadow like no other, where flowers of all colours imaginable greeted him. Beyond them stood glorious, towering loops crafted out of the planets ground itself. There were ponds with little wooden fishing signs, unbelievably tall mountains in the distance and palm trees scattered practically everywhere.

But Sonic was soon more mesmerised by strange twirling, floating golden rings (oddly enough he felt like his uncle had once mentioned those things). Not to mention peculiar grey boxes, tremendous tracks and paths, and weird red half circle...things with yellow stars shining on top. With a raised eye ridge he lightly jogged over to the alien device and gave it a kick. It bounced back and forth, causing Sonic to snort in amusement, before he dropped his bag to hop onto the unfamiliar object.

'What the-?'

He gave a small jump only to be rapidly flung into the air and sent screaming. His limbs flailed as he neared the ground, eyes widening, and last minute twisted to land on his legs- instantly going off in a run. It was a rather clumsy move, one that didn't save him for long as his eyes soon found another pad sat against one of the loops sides. He tried to slow himself but only ended up hitting the object anyways, thus zooming back the way he came. He reached for a palm only to trip and land face first in the ground, skidding across the grass for a short distance prior to thankfully coming to a stop.

He groaned, his mind going probably faster than his legs, and pushed himself up onto his elbows. There he was met with two wide eyed birds and a squirrel that took cover behind it's tail. The birds lowered their wings slowly and the blue one pecked at Sonic's nose, causing him to yelp and sit upright.

For a moment they all watched each other before Sonic took a deep breath, holding out his hand. "S...s-sorry. I-I'm not used to those bounce pad thi-."

The squirrel leapt onto his hand and began flailing their tiny arms as the birds started tweeting and flying around his head. Perplexed, Sonic stood to be level with the birds.

"Sorry? I don't get what you're saying little dudes-." The blue bird pecked at his nose again before the pair flew a short distance away, guiding Sonic to the source of their distress.

In a small, spherical device sat a large man with arms spread wide- no doubt cackling. Below, swinging back and forth by some metal rope hung some sort of capsule. A small sheet of glass revealed a gathering of small animals inside. Sonic's gaze returned to the laughing man and felt his knees go weak. The same blue glasses, same moustache, same howl and the same way he'd always carried himself.

Fear was soon replaced with rage and Sonic set the squirrel down- a burning (rather terrifying) glint in his eyes. Years, he'd been itching to see that oath of a man again. Years, he'd been yearning for a chance to repay the emperor tenfold. Years, he'd been dreaming of-

The birds began their tweeting again and Sonic swiped under his nose, giving a confident grin. "Don't worry buddies, I'll get your friends back."

He was off before the animals could make another sound.

Up in the sky, a voice was currently praising the victorious, large man through some sort of technological device allowing communication. Two little robots sat beneath the thin desk of the flying vehicle and watched the absolutely euphoric man almost bite off his tongue when the entire thing was sent shaking. The man stumbled and dropped into his seat before quickly looking over his vehicle to lay eyes on a lonesome blue hedgehog skidding to a stop below.

For a moment he was stunned, but when flaming, furious green eyes met his a gleeful smile stretched across his face. However, he still hesitated for a moment upon noticing black smoke pool around the hedgehogs shoes. Although he had kicked up a lot of wind from his manoeuvre- so the man chalked it up to being leftover smoke from the move.

"Robotnik!" The hedgehog roared.

"Sir!" Came that praising voice through the device. "Is that-?"

Robotnik's smile stretched even wider, a hungry shine dancing across his glasses. "Oh yes, my dear nephew, it is." He turned the device off, cutting the other mid sentence.

He blinked and the hedgehog was no longer there, instead a hard crash came at the left side of the vehicle- sending it spinning. Sonic landed on a palm tree and held onto one of it's leaves as he watched with a grin (somehow collecting those odd golden rings). Blasting off and taking the palm trees leaves with him, he curled into a ball again and shot straight for the vehicle. He smashed into it's back before bouncing onto the machines front, unraveling to be at a crouch. He held onto the low piece of glass and stiffened upon meeting that nightmarish grin and haunting moustache.

Robotnik removed his glasses and began cleaning them in the tail part of his black coat. He had black trousers, boots and red patches on his coat. Silver metal, black goggles and golden buckles and cuffs were the final details to his appearance. Red and black eyes lifted from his glasses to greet wide green ones.

"It's been some time, Olgilvie. You've been quite the pest. Although, you hardly look like you amount to anything without her."

"One, it's Sonic." He snarled. "Second, let's see how talkative you are once your throat is in my hands."

"Sonic? Mmm, fitting." Robotnik watched the others eyes narrow. "Why, Sonic, it seems you're not in a very good mood. Something wrong?"

Sonic mimicked a terrifyingly close reflection of the emperor's grin and in a flash pulled the other nearer by the collar. "Not at all, Robuttnik. Everything's perfect."

The madman was frozen for a moment, looking back and forth between, well, thirsty green eyes. Then he smiled and spread his arms wide. "Go until your hearts content then. But just know, these flickies' and animals' lives rest on your shoulders."

The hedgehog stiffened and peered down at the capsule, ears twitching as he focused on the ('what was it, flickies'?) animals' cries. He grumbled and looked back and forth between the two goals, tightening his grip on Robotnik's collar upon the other's smile widening. After a contemplative moment he spat at the human and leaped off the machine, rolling into a ball in the air and zooming for the capsule.

He delivered two hits, one on the side and then another on the yellow button at the top. Shooting back, he unraveled to see the capsule burst as the flickies and animals erupted out- singing in joy. Sonic smiled before yelping as he crashed into a palm tree, dropping down from branch to branch prior to hitting the ground face first (the golden rings promptly becoming scattered around him). He groaned and sprung up to see Robotnik fly overhead, laughing as he did.

Sonic prepared himself to go after the emperor but was stopped by many flickies and animals dancing around him. Even the three from before had arrived, bringing his backpack with them. The two birds dropped it before joining the euphoric crowd. The scene was enough for Sonic to forget his anger and give a thumbs up, cracking a small laugh.

'Guess it's rarer than me and Sal' thought for folks to fend for themselves out here.'

"Thanks for bringin' me this." He slung his bag over his shoulder and saluted. "Take good care of yourselves for me alright?"

With a final bow he was off in a blue blur, soon digging into his bag to bring out a camera. He slowed and took a picture of his surroundings (becoming one with his large collection to show Sally) and examined the photo. He cocked his head to the side upon seeing a sign behind him, so turned around to see the real thing. Carved into the wooden rectangle was a name, and one Sonic had heard before.

'Welcome to...Green Hills.'

—————

At thirteen Sonic had become more known around parts of Mobius- his identity growing more separate from Sally's. He'd taken out more camps than he could count, so he wasn't tremendously surprised to see news channels discuss this new "unbelievably fast and possible sign of hope" or "the mysterious blue blur." He'd briefly encountered Robotnik a few times too, but always ended up letting the man go to save the flickies.

He was more than content with that decision though, for he knew there would be a time where he could finally face Robotnik to the end. In the meanwhile, he could happily continue traveling from place to place- freeing flickies and enlisting more hope in people. But today he chose to rest, for a short while of course. Earlier that morning, he had parked his plane (named the Tornado) on a small beach before traversing through a large forest. Then he found himself where he lay now, on the outskirts of a small town resting against a tree. The people here grew their own crops, had their own defences and little community that reminded him of a place he held very dear. But, he supposed, there tended to be people who weren't always as kind as others.

Sonic cracked his eyes open upon hearing a whimper and climbed up when it turned into sobbing. His ears were twitching as he jogged towards the noise, quietly skidding to a stop upon seeing a small fox cowering. He was surrounded by three other slightly older kids, one who pulled on the poor foxes tail, another yanking his ears and the last laughing as he yelled. Sonic frowned at the tormenting kids and kicked off in a run.

The fox dropped to his knees, breathing extremely laboured as tears streamed down his cheeks. He continued to whimper as the three jeered and pulled, but did notice the tremendously strong gust of wind zoom by him. He froze in fear, but heard his bullies yelling so mustered the courage to lift his head. The three that picked on him were swimming in a blue tornado before being dumped onto the ground, collapsing into each other.

The fox sat on his legs, eyes shining in awe, when they saw who had set him free. A blue hedgehog stood beside the three, head shaking with his foot drumming the ground and hands resting on hips. Then, brilliant, bright green eyes met his own light blue. The cold edge that the former held almost immediately became much warmer and inviting as the hedgehog opened his mouth to speak. But no sound came out and it seemed to unsettle the hedgehog for he gave a quick salute prior to taking off.

"W-wait!" The fox scrambled up, glanced at the village he stayed in (one that never felt like home to him) before hurrying after his saviour.

His bullies watched as the nine year old Miles Prower vanished behind thick trees, carrying nothing but a deep desire to know his saviours name.