Chapter Text
By about the fifth branch Sonic nearly stumbled over in the dark woodland, he decided that being the one volunteering to go look for his lost friend solo, was probably a large mistake on his part.
“Shit.” He hissed, only just managing to catch himself before falling face first into the dirt.
He was too drunk for this..
“Knuckles!!” He called out, cupping his hands around his mouth to lengthen the distance his voice reached. “Knuckles! Come on, it doesn't take this long to go whizz, hurry it up man!” Sonic grumbled to himself after a few seconds of waiting garnered no signal of his long-time friend. “Knuckles!!”
He was beginning to grow impatient, their whole group was pretty sloshed at this point (Sonic included) but Sonic was the closest to the large man who had wandered off, so he had decided he should be the one to go and find him. Drunkeness be damned.
If this were a horror movie, Sonic was certain his drunken idiocy would make him the first to be killed off. Running fast could only get him so far in the dark, surrounded by many large trees, and dirt floor riddled with branches.
A shiver ran down his spine, and he tried desperately to banish the blood chilling thought.
Sonic anxiously scratched the slightly grown out shaved sides of his mohawk, mentally noting that he should re-shave them soon.
He twirled around, eyes shifting at every sudden noise, looking in between dark trees and trying not to picture slenderman standing between them. Sonic knew his love for monster media and ghost stories would be his undoing someday, his shirt was sticking to him with the amount of nervous sweat trailing down his back and neck.
“Knuckles!” He called again, his dark green eyes catching on a mountain-side cave just a few meters ahead.
Huh…
Had that cave always been around this area? There is no way Knuckles was stupid enough to enter it for privacy.. was he?
I mean.. he was pretty drunk…
Sonic looked behind him to weigh his options, trying to steel himself so he didn't turn around and book it back to the camp site. Before shaking his head, and marching forward towards the dred inducing rocky cave entrance, newfound (and probably foolish) determination causing him to puff out his chest.
Oh yeah.. he would be the one to die first in a cheesy horror movie. Gods help him..
“Knuckles?” Sonic whisper-shouted into the cave entrance, trying his best to be quiet in case bears were in the area. (He didn't think there were, but you can never be to careful.) Stepping inside cautiously on the tips of his sneakers, Sonic slowly made his way past the cave entrance. Making sure to be weary of any possible cobwebs. “Knuckles? You in here?”
Man.. he couldn't see jack shit, Sonic squinted in order to try and see a little further ahead, failing to look down and notice a rather sizable hole in the dirty cave floor.
“Knu- SHIT!!”
With a loud skidding of dirt and rock, Sonic's ankle rolled, and he plunged butt-first into the dark hole beneath him.
He landed with a dull thud, pain shooting up his backside and his hands where they had landed at his sides in a failed attempt to cushion his rather sudden fall.
“Fuck.” Sonic hissed, rubbing his lower back to sooth the shooting ache to no avail, before looking up at the hole far above his head. “Damn it, are you kidding me!”
What a lame way to go… he was so royally fucked.
A sudden shuffle of movement in the dark made Sonic's ears twitch and his stomach drop, and he prayed no bears could live in such an area.
“Hello?”
Maybe addressing an unknown entity in some random dark cave was a bad idea. But Sonic was too drunk, and his brain was too fuzzy to come up with a better one to deal with the fear trailing up his spine, turning the blood his veins below freezing.
His voice shook, wavering despite trying to keep it steady. “I-is anyone there? Knuckles?”
Another shuffle.
“Fuck.” Sonic swore under his breath, shuffling backwards till his back met the cave wall, digging sharp stones into his already sore spine. “K-knuckles, please tell me that's you.”
Escalating fear caused a similar feeling to hundreds of tiny spiders crawling up Sonic's body, he knew it was irrational, but the false sensation had him rubbing at his arms and stomach anyways.
Sonic couldn't see anything, the cave was humid and pitch black, he had never felt more fearful in his life.
The two glowing red eyes suddenly turning to face him certainly didn't help.
“Holy shit!” Sonic scrambled further, hands scuffing the ground beneath him and shoving himself back against the hard wall. (Not that it helped get him further from the creature on the other end of the cave anyway.) “Oh god..” he was so fucking dead, Sonic internally blamed his love for Guillermo Del Toro films. That had to be what was causing his brain to conjure the insane nightmare-fuel in front of him. (Sorry Del Toro)
The owner of the red eyes finally spoke, his voice a low gravelly timbre.
“Human.”
Fuck, why did it sound kinda hot actually?
Yep. Blaming my man Guillermo for that one to. And Mass effect, and Alien.. and literally every other piece of monster fucker media Sonic had ever consumed in his lifetime.
“What are you doing here.” It demanded, low voice dark and commanding.
“Uhh.” Sonic replied dumbly, unsure if talking to his hallucination was wise or not. “L-looking for Knuckles.”
“What the hell is Knuckles.”
“My friend..” Sonic's voice wavered as he spoke. “It's uh- technically a nickname, his um- birth name is a little hard to pronounce.”
Why was he talking to this thing again.. did he hit his head on the way down and forget about it? Did Jet put something in his drink? It seemed like something the green haired asshole might do.
“You uh-” Sonic muttered, anxiety still making his skin crawl as the creature watched him from across the couple meters of space between them. “You're not going to eat me are you?”
Sonic watched intense glowing eyes roll, “Now why in the world would I want to do that.” It asked, Sonic couldn't see him, but he could practically hear the deadpan expression on the entitys face.
“Uh- I don't know.. that's something you usually ask random creatures in caves you stumble upon..” or at least that's what people in corny horror movies asked, and Sonic felt as though he was in one now, might as well play the part.
The creature chuckled at him, the sound of it made Sonic's spine tingle.
“You're foolish.” It said, amused and unhelpful.
“Haha, yeah.” Sonic nervously giggled. “I get that alot.”
“Hmm.”
Sonic squinted as a ‘click’ echoed through the cave, and he was suddenly bathed in warm light. He gave his eyes a moment to adjust to the sudden assault of it on his irises, before opening them fully to take in the space around him.
The cluttered cave looked well lived in, turns out the light came from many star-shaped fairy lights strung across the rocky, stone walls. A bundle of blankets were neatly placed into a sort-of nest in the corner, stacks of books with colorful tabs sticking out of them off to the side of it. Random trinkets were piled into a tiny, beaten up bookshelf, along with a radio, and mini tv. The place even had a tiny fridge connected to a power generator.
The creature must have been here a really long time, speaking of the creature.
Sonic finally faced his mystery monster, and he was.. a furry? and actually kinda adorable looking. Big red eyes, striped limbs and head spines matching the color of them, with gloves and shoes a similar shade, and a soft looking tuft of longer white fluff on his chest. Shiny gold bands adorning his wrists and ankles.
“You-” Sonic started, unsure what to say to the grumpy looking, fluffy little guy in front of him.
“Me.” It growled, brows furrowing and snout wrinkling in a dangerous warning not to say something stupid. “How did you find my cave?”
Sonic's eyes widened at the question. “Um, just kinda stumbled across it, man.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Quite literally actually… w-what are you?”
“The ultimate lifeform.”
Uh huh.. Okay, sure. Cool. Helpful. That makes so much sense (not).
The black and red hedgehog-looking-thing appeared thoughtful for a moment before asking, “You were not out looking for me?”
Sonic was so confused.. “No, why? Should I have been?”
“Hmm. No.” The creature appeared hesitant, looking off to the side and flexing his hands in and out of fists at his sides. “You're not to tell anyone of my existence, do you understand?” he voiced like a threat, turning to face Sonic once more with a gloved finger pointed in the humans direction.
“Y-you're not going to kill me?”
Sonic knew realistically he shouldn't push his luck with this “ultimate lifeform” but he was kinda small and cute, and Sonic was also kinda, sorta (really) drunk. So common sense sort of alluded him at this moment in time.
“Despite what you humans may think, no. I'm not a killer.” The hedgehog groaned. “But I won't hesitate to go back on that promise, if I find out you told someone of my existence.” his glare deepened, “understood?”
Sonic's voice shook, “u-understood.” He nodded in agreement, his curly blue hair flopping with the movement.
“Good.” The creatures features softened slightly, tense hands relaxing out of tight fists. “Now get the hell out of my cave.”
Sonic lifted a brow in his most “dude, are you for real?” expression. Looking up at the hole far, far above his head, then back at the lifeform.
“Uh, in case you couldn't tell.” Sonic sassed. “There is no way I can get back through there from all the way down here.”
Shadow glanced a quick look upwards, face furrowing as if mad at himself for not realising the obvious. Before returning his gaze to the human still sitting on his cave-room floor.
“Right, it appears you can't.” He stated, taking a step towards Sonic, making the human flinch instinctively. “Relax.” The creature tutted, looking rather offended from Sonic's fearful knee-jerk reaction. “Do you want my help or not?”
Sonic chuckled nervously, confused. “And how exactly are you supposed to help me get outta here, pipsqueak?”
He probably should know better than to provoke a creature that called himself the “ultimate lifeform” but again, Sonic was drunk, and his mouth usually got him into trouble anyways. The creature had said he wouldn't kill him soooooo.
The black and red hedgehog didn't respond to Sonic's rather rude jab about his height. Instead his glare deepened and he marched towards Sonic like a man on a mission.
Sonic's eyes widened and he tried once more to scramble backwards away from the lifeform quickly approaching him.
“Woah, woah, woah wait!” Sonic begged, his voice pitching up an octave and making him sound rather pathetic. “I'm sorry, okay, just-”
The arms Sonic used to cover his face in preparation for a blow, dropped slightly as his stomach flipped with the sudden feeling of being picked up.
The human blinked twice, green eyes locked on the intense red ones of the furry (who was about half his size, jeez) picking him up with what looked like no effort at all.
“Woah.” Sonic gasped. “You're s-super strong dude, what the hell.”
The creature smirked at him, clearly proud of himself. (The little egotistical jerk.) And offered Sonic no other explanation besides, “brace yourself.” to what exactly he planned on doing to get him outta here.
Before Sonic could even utter “huh?” Both he and the lifeform currently holding him bridal-style, disappeared and reappeared outside the cave in the blink of an eye, and a flash of green.
“Hohh my gods!” Sonic yelled, gripping the hedgehog's strangely broad shoulders in an attempt to ground himself, his head swirling and feeling slightly nauseous. “Oh- I think I'm gonna throw up.”
“Please don't.”
“N-not helping, man.”
The creature set him down carefully, backing up a few steps to avoid a possible “splash zone” as Sonic doubled over, hands on knees, and heaved.
“What the hell was that!?”
“Chaos control.” He answered, as if it was the most simple thing in the world.
“Oh yeah, S’cool. Don't know what that means, but okay.”
The hedgehog observed Sonic with furrowed brows, looking him up and down with a twinge of what looked like worry. “Are you okay?” He asked.
“Oh, never better.” Sonic chuckled breathlessly, still trying to stop his dinner from coming back up and giving him a less enjoyable encore. “Could have used more warning before bein’ frickin’ teleported, it's whatever.”
“Sorry.” He muttered, actually appearing like he ment it.
“S'cool, dude. Don't even stress it.”
Sonic took in one final, long inhale as he stood to his full height, then released the breath rather dramatically in a drawn out sigh, slumping his shoulders.
“So.” He smiled, turning to the so called “ultimate lifeform”. “I'm Sonic by the way, wants your name?” He held out a hand for the creature to take, but he just glared at it like it offended his mother.
Looking back up at Sonic with something in his crimson eyes that promised danger, the hedgehog said, “You don't need to know my name.” and Sonic dropped his hand, deflating. “After tonight, I'm never going to see you again. So there is no point in divulging that information to you. Now go back to your friends, human.”
The creature spat out one final word, “Goodbye.” Before disappearing in a flash of green light, that lit the surrounding forrest briefly before fading back into darkness. Leaving the human all alone once more.
“Okay wow, nice to have met you too, Mr “ultimate lifeform”.” Sonic said aloud to himself, crossing his arms, and tapping his foot repetitively in frustration. “Jerk.”