Light of Hope

X. Sonic the Hedgehog

The second Nicole had told me Eggman was nearby, I smiled, hopping out of bed and slipping my shoes on. The Chaos Emeralds were in the castle, which was the most secure place in the city. With a deep breath, I ran out of my house and raced there. Mom would scold me for running in the house later, but now, there was a world that was so ready to finally be at peace.

Nicole met me inside the castle, hands together and a hopeful smile on her face. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"You have no idea," I chuckled. "It's finally time."

I took a few more steps into the empty foyer, large and grand and empty except for me and Nicole. She nodded, saying, "Then good luck."

She disappeared, and I raised my arms out, closing my eyes to focus. I frowned in concentration as I called the Chaos Emeralds to me, feeling their power and warmth as they surrounded me. Then, their power flowed into me, and I felt my legs leave the ground as my body started to glow with fire. I smiled, flying out the way I had come. I flew high into the air, spinning and taking a minute to enjoy the feelings washing over me.

Then, I hovered over the city, surveying everything around me. Like Nicole had told me, there were Egg Carriers closing in on the city, slowly but surely. I looked at the ground, frowning as I spotted a small group of robots attacking my friends. They were very near the Death Egg, which was sitting just outside the ring of battleships.

I flew down to my friends, carefully ramming myself through the robots that were bugging my friends. After that, I finally did what Nicole had told me to do: I flew through the battleships, destroying their insides and watching them fall to the ground with a heavy thud.

Then I turned to the giant flying egg looking lonely in the sky. With a smirk, I dashed toward it, eager to get this over with and be praised for ending the reign of terror Eggman had made us live in.

I flew into the side of the Death Egg, looking at Eggman and oozing with confidence. He was sitting in a room on the other side of a window, looking at me with no emotion, surrounded by the electronics he always hid behind. The side of the window I was on was a big, circular room that looked like it would make an excellent battlefield. "Today's the day, Egghead!" I yelled. "You ready to spend the rest of your miserable life in a cell?"

"You have no idea what you're in for, Sonic," Eggman said with a grin.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Wow, I didn't think you'd sound so confident as I took you down. I expected something like, 'oh no, please, I'll turn over a new leaf, I swear!'"

"You think I'm bluffing?" he asked. It was hard to tell if there was really any expression in his face. "Go ahead, come and get me."

I shrugged. "If you insist."

I flew forward into the window, but I rebounded off of it. I frowned, touching the glass. I punched it, kicked it, but nothing even came close to cracking it.

"What?" I asked, touching it again. It felt like normal, smooth glass. I could see myself reflected in it.

"You don't think I didn't know about your little plan, do you?" he grinned. "You've played right into my hands, Sonic."

"Yeah, right," I snickered.

"You obviously don't realize just how badly you've lost," Eggman laughed.

"If I can't get you from here, I'll just Chaos Control and bring this thing down from the outside."

I used Chaos Control, but something was wrong. It didn't work. It was like some outside force wasn't letting me out of this room. I tried to fly through another wall that trapped me, but I couldn't. I was stuck inside.