Wet fur slipped under gloved hands that desperately tried to find purchase on the arm of Mobius' hero, Sonic the Hedgehog. The blue speedster was sinking like a rock in the sludgy waters of Chemical Plant Zone, unconscious from an injury to his head that was still freely bleeding. The cobalt fur, normally so bright and well groomed was now dirty and caked over with thick oil.

The one trying to pull him out of the sucking hold of the polluted ocean was a dark hedgehog that went by the name of Shadow. He was dirty from his attempts to pull Sonic to safety and his arms strained from the resistance he met. The red streaks that decorated his quills had gotten to the point where they no longer stood out vibrantly against Shadow's black fur. To a normal onlooker he looked no different than a dirty hedgehog.

Shadow planted his feet on the creaking pier he was standing on and tugged with all his might in an attempt to dislodge the other hedgehog. For all his efforts, he was rewarded with slow progress. Very sluggishly, the ocean began to relinquish its hold on its captive.

It fought with Shadow every step of the way, but eventually the dark racer managed to wrestle Sonic from its depths. He gritted his fangs and dragged his unconscious rival onto the pier with him, panting from the effort it had taken to remove him from about six layers of various kinds of trash, oil slicks, robotic parts, and Chaos only knew what else.

Shadow felt like shaving off all of his fur and burning it after this was done.

Now where on Mobius had Nack run off to? Shadow grouchily wiped a smear of grease from his muzzle and cast ruby eyes around him for any sign of that blasted weasel. He better have run, because once Shadow got his hands on him that purple hind would be his.

Fighting to catch his breath, Shadow looked up across the way to see none other than the target they had chased down all over the zone standing not ten yards to Shadow's right. The ebony hedgehog however made no attempt to move as he spotted just what was dangling in Nack's hand. A lit match. Shadow held absolutely still.

If that fire so much as touched a grease stain, the whole zone would go up in flames.

Shadow's body tensed subtlety as his mind went over his options at lightning speed. He could run for it but would never escape the blast while carrying the dead weight of Sonic.

There was always the possibility that Shadow could rush Nack himself, but the weasel was a deadly sharp shooter. While Shadow could easily dodge his bullets... there was the matter of Sonic again. Unconscious and prone.

Shadow mentally spat a curse as he kept his rigid gaze locked on Nack. There was also always the chance that even if Shadow made it to Nack in time, the match could inadvertently be dropped into the oil.

The last option wasn't appealing by any measure. Shadow could chaos control them away, but without an emerald they could end up anywhere. Even underneath the ocean for all he knew.

"Not so fast Stripes," Nack jeered at the stone faced hedgehog, "You and blue-boy there are going to sit tight or this whole place is going up like the fourth of July."

Shadow slowly rose despite the weasel's warning. He moved cautiously and slung Sonic's arm over his shoulder to heft the oblivious hedgehog to his feet.

"You're planning on setting fire to this entire Zone?" Shadow asked with obvious disbelief, "I don't see how you could possibly escape the fires Nack. You love yourself far too much to risk it. You don't have the guts to set that match down."

"That's where you're wrong Black and Blue," Nack smirked wickedly and took his hat off from the top of his head. He dropped it into the sludgy waters without a care. Shadow's eyes followed the descent of the hat and watched with horrified disgust as the waters sucked it down below the surface without a trace.

Nack wouldn't be getting that hat back. Shadow made a mental note to steer clear of the water if they survived this ordeal.

"This is beyond you.  Beyond me.  Beyond all of us...!" He let out a bark of bitter laughter and the match slipped from his fingers. Shadow made an abortive attempt to jerk forward and catch the match, but with Sonic weighing him down there was no chance.  He frantically gathered his chaos energy just as the match touched the greasy floor.

In seconds all Shadow knew was heat, fire and darkness.

And then nothing at all.

Mary Sue typed up the finishing lines of her latest fanfic, a troubled sigh pulling from her lips. No. It wasn't good enough. The ending was choppy, the characters poorly written.  Hell, she even chosen Nack as the big villain to kill off both Sonic and Shadow?  Horrible!  And she called herself a writer?  She tapped her finger against the backspace and deleted the whole story from her hard drive with an expression of disgust painting her face.

She sighed and stumbled back onto her Sonic the Hedgehog comforter, grabbing a Tails plushie from a mound of others and curling around it. The Tails plushie was firmly squeezed as she wallowed in her self-pity.

"Why can't I get past this writers block?" Mary howled to the ceiling of her room. It was plastered with Sonic posters, as was every square inch of the room. Every corner of the room was decorated with some sort of Sonic paraphernalia. "How will SEGA ever listen to my ideas for games if I can't finish my manuscript?"

Sonic X cards were scattered across her desk and littering the floor. Games and their manuals laid open and used on the floor while the tangled heaps of cords and game systems took up the majority of her table space.  A TV that was covered in Sonic stickers was situated in a corner and brightly lit, a game having been paused while Mary took a break to write her ‘manuscript.’

But of course it wasn't her fault that the characters were so shallow, the story so bad, and the plot exhausted. No. It was SEGA's fault.

It was Sonic's fault

Mary whined and took up the controller so she could un-pause the game and beat up Chaos. She watched as Super Sonic blasted his way through the flooded city and raced his way up the destructive beasts' head. Chaos let out a shriek of pain and disappeared into a puddle of water.

She could beat this game backwards and forwards while she was blindfolded and upside down, Mary had played it that often. In her opinion, the last worthwhile Sonic game that had been created was Sonic Adventure 2, and even that game had been riddled with awful glitches.

The Sonic series was dying and anyone with two brain cells could see that. They had awful characters crammed into nearly every game, shallow plots, and awful scriptwriting. Mobius was practically a diseased wasteland now thanks to SEGA.

And only Mary Sue could fix it.

The blue hedgehog had overstayed his welcome. It was time for a change.  For Mobius to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Mary snarled furiously at the screen as Chaos whipped Sonic back to the beginning of the level, breaking her concentration and making her start from scratch.

"Over and over again," She gritted out through clenched teeth.  Tears of frustration pricked at her eyes and she threw the controller to the side.  Mary lunged for her bed and clawed at her comforter set that had Sonic's face emblazoned on the blankets.  Mary ripped them clean off the bed before scrambling towards her mounds of Sonic plushies.

She grabbed the closest, which just so happened to be Sonic.  She gave the poor doll a brutal shake, a mad glint creeping into her eyes.

"You made me waste the last eighteen years of my life!" She screamed into the plushie's lifeless face, "With your lies of freedom! I've never been so chained down before in my life!"

She howled and threw Knuckles stuffed body into the mirror where he bounced off harmlessly and landed on the floor.

Mary shot to her desk with the hapless doll and snagged her pair of scissors out of her pencil boxes.

Her eyes gleamed madly, "You like your freedom so much?" She cackled with delight.  Mary cut away at the plushies legs until she managed to saw them off. The blue legs fell in a tangled heap against the tabletop.

"Where will you run now Sonic?" She giggled.

Her gaze turned back to the rest of the plushies.  The scissors glinted ominously.

"They all deserve to die. Mobius needs to be rebuilt from the ground up," Mary hissed over at the legless Sonic, "All of your little friends will die because of you Sonic! They're your faithful little servants until the very end, aren't they?"

Mary descended on the pile like a mad woman.  Soon, the dolls were nothing more than tatters of fabric and bits of fluff.

Marry panted breathlessly as her carnage to the defenseless characters finally ceased.  The scissors slipped from loose fingers and she let out a small sob as she bent over her work.  Broken cries tore from her throat and tears dropped down onto the stuffing of the plushies.  One of Amy’s green, button eyes stared up at her.

“Alright! Piece of Cake!” A familiar voice laughed from behind her.

The sound of Sonic sent a shiver of unexplained fear through her, almost as if the hedgehog knew she had torn up his doll.  She whirled around in terror, almost as if she had been set on fire.  Mary’s heart jumped to her throat as she looked for the source of Sonic’s voice.

Her frantic gaze landed on the TV screen where she had left her game running. 

Super Sonic had defeated Chaos and was floating on the winning screen with his usual cheeky grin.  He floated there, for a moment before the ending cutscene began to roll.

“No!” Mary shrieked, unreasonably furious at the sight of Sonic’s victory.  How was this possible?  Chaos should have killed Sonic!  The hero should have gotten Game Over without her there to control him!

“No, no NO!” Mary screamed in rage, “I’m sick of this!”

The angry fan scooped up the controller and hurled it at the screen where it scuffed up the surface and clattered away.  She snatched up a nearby lamp, overcome by her resentment.  She reared back and threw the lamp as hard as she could at the screen.  Immediately the TV shattered, smoked, and sparked.  It set fire to the nearby game systems and Mary scrambled to get away.

Mary never saw how her feet had gotten tangled in the messy cords of her controllers was shocked when electricity raced up through her body.

She collapsed in a spasms, her limbs twitching of their own accord.  The game system nearby sparked and a fire roared to life near her.

Mary was oblivious to all this as her body twitched one last time before laying still.

--::--

When Mary came around, she became vaguely aware of something burning.  There were screams all around her and with some pain she managed to sit up, her body aching from the treatment she had put it through.  Her eyes widened in shock as she didn’t immediately recognize her surroundings.

Mary wasn’t in her room. 

She scrambled to her feet and stumbled towards the closest window where a crowd of people were looking out similarly.

“What’s going on?” She slurred to the closest person.

He was an older man who was slightly balding.  He looked over at Mary with wide eyes and pointed out the window with a shaking hand. 

“It’s the end of the world,” His voice hitched with despair.  His face was pale with terror and he turned his desolate gaze back towards the window.

Mary’s eyes widened in shock as she looked out the window to see what had caused this man to fall into such a fit.  Waters, rushing and wild were flooding the city below.  Angry storm clouds, heavy with their loads loomed overhead and lightening struck from the sky.

Buildings were annihilated and people were screaming, running away in a desperate search to get to dry or higher land.  Many were too slow and were caught by the currents.  Mary could only watch with a sort of morbid fascination as they were mercilessly dragged under, never to be seen alive again.

Amongst all the turmoil stood the titanic figure of chaos itself.  The god of Destruction, a figure Mary very well recognized from the video game she had been playing not five minutes ago.  Chaos screeched His fury to the Heavens and Mary shrank back from the window in terror.

Chaos looked a ton less imposing when he was rendered with crappy graphics from the beginning of the decade.

The overwhelming fear was almost tangible and for a moment Marry was certain they were all going to die.

However, the cloud of fear was punctured when a woman cried out.  She didn’t scream in terror, but in hope.

“It’s Sonic!  He’s come to save us!”

Almost instantaneously, the morale of the people shot through the roof and Mary had to do a double take.  The fear was still there and strong, but it was overwhelmed by hope.  Their faith in Sonic was infallible, and Mary thought for a moment that these people weren’t the same fools who had been expecting their deaths a few seconds ago.

Mary rushed back to the window, her body going numb as she picked out the blue hedgehog standing confidently against Chaos.

The people began to cheer their hero on, but Mary made no move to join them.  Her thoughts were too busy trying to wrap themselves around what was happening.

First Chaos, then Sonic?  Mary could only watch numbly as Sonic transformed into his Golden form before her eyes.

Either she was having a really trippy dream, or all of this was real.

She was inclined to believe the latter.

This was real.

It was all real.

Mary smirked wickedly as the wheels in her head began to move.  She was on Mobius.  That meant she could start over new.

Or better yet...  She could get even with the blue bastard that had stolen her life with his empty promises.  Her eyes narrowed hatefully on the golden form of Sonic.

“Live today and fight tomorrow,” Mary pressed her palm against the window, “Because one of these days, I’ll be the one to kill Sonic the Hedgehog.”

She pulled away and walked away from the crowd of people who were watching their savior fight with naïve eagerness.

She didn’t need to watch.  After all, Mary was Sonic’s biggest fan.  She knew what the outcome was.

--::--

Seven years Later

Sonic jumped off the tracks of the train leading to the Mystic Ruins and scratched his hand against his ear with a lazy yawn.

Tails’ workshop was near the train so Sonic didn’t have far to run.  Unfortunately.  He was in the mood for a long trek.  Not that that was a break from the norm, but maybe he could pester Shadow for a race later.  If that didn’t work than maybe Knuckles would be up for getting his butt handed to him in a good ol’ fashioned brawl.  Sonic sniggered at the thought of the cranky Guardian.

It would have to wait though, Sonic had plans for everyone today.  He had been painstakingly plotting and planning for a week now.  It had taken many bribes and a date with Amy to get everything organized, but he had finally done it. 

Sonic jogged up to Tails’ workshop and rapped on the door sharply.

“Hey bud!  You in?” He called, “I brought those whachamacallits you wanted!”

Tails opened the door to Sonic and quirked an eye ridge with amusement at the other’s loud greeting.  He laughed at his brother’s pronunciation and rolled his eyes, "You mean the heat resistant drill bits?" He asked.

"Yeah, whatever.  Those things," Sonic grinned at the younger fox and zipped inside the workshop, settling the small box down on his brother's desk, "Did I get the right kind?"

Tails flipped the hatch on the box and opened it, his namesakes twitching with excitement as he looked over the bits, "They're perfect, thanks Sonic!"

The blue hedgehog ruffled his quills and rubbed his nose, pleased that he had gotten the right equipment for Tails, "No sweat bud, Happy Birthday!"

Some kids wanted a game station for their birthdays, others wanted puppies.

Tails wanted a jet propulsion water-resistant battle suit.

And he could build one if he wanted to.

Go figure.

Sonic ruffled the fur on top of Tails' head as he saw a telling glint enter the fox's eyes, clearly showing that the fox was more than ready to run around and start tinkering with his new 'toy.'  Sonic quickly snagged the vulpine by the scarf that was tied around his throat, stopping Tails' in mid-step as he made to run off with the bits.

"Uh, uh.  Where do you think you're running off to?" Sonic rolled his eyes, "You can play with your new gear later. I'm taking you out so we can celebrate your birthday in style."

Tails turned big blue eyes on Sonic, giving the hedgehog his best kicked-puppy look, "Awww, c'mon Sonic. I've been dying to try readjusting the alignment on the Tornados propulsion and--"

 Whatever else it was that Tails wanted to say to make his point was immediately destroyed by Sonic's short attention span and his inability to understand any of the techno-jargon the fox spouted off.  Instead Sonic simply nodded and watched Tails intently, green eyes glazing over slightly from Tails' explanation. Once the fox finished, Sonic shook his head and blinked in an attempt to dispel some of his confusion.

"Since I have no idea what you just said, I'm going to pretend that I care while I happily drag you off to make you enjoy your birthday," Sonic replied as Tails groaned his defeat.

The fox had to admit that there was no stopping Sonic once he set his mind on one thing.  There was no chance he could be persuaded to slow down or listen to reason.  Tails smiled fondly as his older brother dragged him hurriedly out of the workshop, making the fox stow the drill bits in a bag by his side.

He should make an attempt to appreciate the effort Sonic took to set up his birthday. 

After all, it wasn't every day he turned 15.

Fire, explosions, and gunfire.  The bitter scent of gunpowder mixed with heavy smoke filled the air, choking those who were trapped in its embrace.

The remnants of party favors and streamers were lying tattered on the ground. A birthday cake was smashed on the ground, utterly ruined from the destruction.

Screams echoed throughout the zone as Mobius' heroes shifted through the wreckage to look for survivors. Knuckles the echidna was pulling heavier beams of housing off of those trapped underneath, his red fur and quills almost completely masked in a layer of dark grimy soot.

Violet eyes widened in shock as a snatch of cobalt fur trapped underneath the debris caught the Guardian's attention.

"Tails!" He shouted overhead at the fox flying overhead, "Come give me a hand with this, I think Sonic is stuck under here!"

The fox quickly landed beside Knuckles and looked worriedly at the pile of debris, "Sonic! Can you hear me?" He called out desperately.

There was a muffled noise down below, signaling that Sonic was indeed conscious. They couldn't understand him, but Tails imagined his brother had said something along the lines of, "Get this thing off of me already!"

"When I lift this up, you drag his spiny blue butt out of there," Knuckles barked out instructions to Tails who nodded alertly. The echidna wrapped large hands around the metal beam on top of the pile of debris and lifted it up with a small grunt. Tails quickly dug around the fallen pieces of wood and mortar until he unearthed Sonic.

The cobalt hedgehog, now largely a light shade of gray, was curled up in a ball, his body shielding two cubs that had gotten trapped alongside with him. He uncurled slightly and looked over his shoulder with an easy smile at Tails, "What took you guys so long?" He grinned and easily hopped out of the ditch with the two kids perched in his arms.

Knuckles let out an irritated growl as he let the beam fall back down onto the pile, relieved despite his obvious annoyance that his blue friend was alright. "Sorry that we weren't running by your speed." Knuckles rolled his eyes, "But how'd you get trapped underneath there in the first place?"

"I got a bit sidetracked with the kids," Sonic shrugged. "Where are the others?"

Tails checked on the cubs Sonic had rescued and looked up at his brother, "They managed to get out of the way right before the gunfire started." He said quietly, "I think I saw Amy taking Cream and Cheese back into Station Square. They're going to alert GUN."

What had first started off as a fun birthday party off of Emerald Coast had quickly turned into a nightmare. Tails couldn't begin to understand what had gone wrong.  They were all having a great time pranking each other, swapping stories and just having fun.  Sonic had even managed to drag Knuckles off of Angel Island to wish Tails' a Happy Birthday and give him a present.

 How Sonic had managed it, Tails would never know, but he was willing to bet it had involved bribing the Guardian with something shiny and very valuable.

 But then some old time SWATbots had showed up, followed by Badniks and a small army of Eggman's ridiculous looking clown robots.  They had open fired on the party, setting off charges of explosions around the area and blowing up nearby buildings and houses that had been unfortunate enough to be built on the beach. 

 The party had gone to hell as soon as they appeared. 

The attack had been completely out of nowhere.

The group had torn through the robots quickly, but the damage had been done.  They could only hope that the rest of Station Square had fared better than their side.

Knuckles growled and his violet gaze darted about warily, "It seems like Eggman's up to trouble as usual."

"Yeah," Sonic tapped his foot as they looked around the burning wreckage.  Everyone looked as if they had come out mostly unscathed, if not a bit shaken.  It seemed as if they were lucky enough to scrape through the ordeal without any casualties.  Sonic breathed out in relief, "He must be going through some budget cuts if he's using old school SWATbots and Badniks."

The blue hedgehog halted his train of thought as he spotted his quiet brother looking around the carnage with clear dismay.  A sad smile twitched at Sonic's lips and he thumped his hand against Tails' shoulder, "I'm sorry the birthday was a bust bro, I'll make it up to you though."

Tails waved off Sonic's apology and looked at his brother fiercely, "I don't mind the birthday Sonic, I'm just upset that Eggman nearly killed everyone here!"

Sonic looked at his brother and patted his head gently, "The doc has been pretty quiet as of late, but don't worry bro. We're going to track him down and trash whatever scheme he's cooking up now, same as always."

He winked at his brother and crouched down to look the frightened cubs in the eye, "Knux and I are going to go look for more people, so my bud Tails' here is going to help you find your parents, okay?" Sonic smiled winningly at them. They nodded shyly, hero-worship clear on their faces.

Tails only rolled his eyes, remembering a time when he had been exactly the same way.  Sonic had always been, and probably always would be his hero.  But the time where Tails always followed Sonic was long gone, as of late Tails had been beginning to fight his own battles and grow up in his own way. 

He smothered a laugh as he took the cubs' hands and smiled at them as he began to lead them down the beach and away from Sonic, "Can you guys tell me where your parents are?"

The kids nodded happily before they dragged Tails with a surprising amount of strength for a couple of five year olds further down the beach.  They dragged him quite the distance, so far in fact that Tails was certain he really couldn't see the plumes of smoke from the explosion down by the pier any longer.  Sonic was far out of sight.

However soon enough, they dragged Tails towards a frantic human woman at the northern most tip of the beach.  She was looking desperately under tables and screaming out two names, presumably those of her children. The kids broke away from the fox and rushed over to their mother, hugging her legs tightly.

 Smiling at her, Tails wandered up to the woman who had immediately fallen to her knees to embrace her kids. "Hey, are you their mom?" He asked with a smile.

"Oh yes!" The woman sobbed, kissing her kids heads and patting through their hair to check if they were hurt, "Thank you so much for bringing them back to me! I was out of my mind with worry!"

Tails waved off the thanks and smiled, "It was no big deal. Your kids seemed to know where you were anyway.  I was just the delivery boy."

He turned to leave, pleased that the kids had been reunited with his mother.  The woman was extraordinarily lucky to have been standing up in this section of the beach; it appeared to have remained largely untouched by the attack.  Tails frowned curiously as he looked back at them. 

The kids had probably dragged him a mile or more down the beach.  How come this woman had been so far away from her kids?  They had gotten caught up in a hailstorm of explosions and gunfire.  This woman was fairly neglectful. Something wasn't meshing right and he stopped, hesitating on leaving the kids with the woman.

“Is there something wrong Miles?" The woman asked softly, looking calmly at the fox. Her face was dry and there was no longer any sign of desperation relief on her face.  What was even stranger was how her two kids seemed to be remaining absolutely still. 

 In fact, since they hugged her, they hadn't moved at all.  They barely looked as if they were breathing.

Tails felt a bolt of alarm shoot through him and his eyes widened as he looked at the woman.  He took a hesitant step back and looked at her warily, "How'd you know my name?"

 The woman smiled coldly.  The curve of her lips barely moved at all and it sent a chill down Tails' spine. "Who in the whole wide world doesn't know the Great Miles?"

 "I prefer Tails," The fox narrowed his eyes.  He could feel his hackles beginning to rise, warning him that something foul was in the air.  His tails twitched and he considered taking to the skies to get the heck out of dodge while the going was good.

 Apparently, that wasn't the right thing to say.  The woman's face, so calm and serene had transformed into an ugly mask of rage. "Tails?" She hissed furiously.

 "Your name is Miles! Not Tails, like what that blue, mutant freak calls you!" She shrieked furiously, startling Tails with her outburst.  He looked at her in alarm and swallowed hard, wondering if this woman was just a bit unstable.

There was no stopping her once she started, "Miles Prower!  It was a clever name based off of speed -- Miles Per Hour! How could anyone want less, but they gave you the unoriginal name of 'Tails,' pathetic!"

Tails put his hands up calmingly and took a step back, "Alright then, just call me Miles." He said as soothingly as possible.  He continued to walk backwards, not wanting to enrage the woman anymore than he already had.

"Where do you think you're going Miles?" The woman hissed softly, abruptly regaining her composure all at once.  Her eyes were still dark with rage, but she made no move to stop him, "I haven't properly thanked you for returning my children yet."

"Yes you have," Tails insisted as he continued to back up.  This lady was beginning to unnerve him and he was just eager to get away from her.

The woman ignored him and settled her hands on the sides of one of her children's heads. Tails watched silently, confused by what she was doing. 

She jerked her hands and snapped the neck of the child. Tails shouted in horror and rushed forward to stop her from killing her other kid.  

The child fell over in a crumbled heap and Tails fell to his knees near her body. "Why did you kill her?" He demanded as he feverishly attempted to pick up a pulse from her broken neck. 

His fingers glide across the soft skin and tears stung as his eyes at the woman's brutality.  She killed her own child without as much as a thought.  He glared at her furiously as she drew her other unresisting child to the side, presumably to do the same.

Tails began to climb to his feet to stop her but abruptly fell over, stumbling over cumbersome feet that refused to cooperate.  He gurgled in confusion as suddenly heavy eyelids began to close. 

What...?

What was happening to him?

A soft hiss by his side caught his attention and Tails turned his sleepy gaze to see what had made the noise. 

He froze as his gaze landed on the child.  A tiny, barely noticeable hole had been drilled into the child's neck and was slowly leaking a colorless, odorless gas.

A robot.

Tails looked up at the smug looking woman in horror as the world began to fade to black around the edges of his vision. He collapsed in the sand and watched as the woman fit a gas mask over her face and strode over to him. Cold realization struck him as he stared into those cold, calculating eyes that were nearly covered.

She had planned this whole thing.

"Who... are you?" Tails slurred as he struggled to hold on to the last strands of consciousness.

The woman bent down and dug her fingers into the fur on the top of Tails' head. She yanked it back, forcing the fox to look up at her.  Glazed over blue eyes were narrowed with pain, but Tails did his best to remain silent.

The woman smirked at him wickedly, contempt drawn on every line in her face.

"My name is Mary-Sue," She purred softly, "And I'm your biggest fan."

--::--