Sonic: Devil in Disguise

Note: This story is purely fictional and was written just for fun, don't take it seriously and leave feedback if you want to.

I had just arrived home from school on a busy Thursday afternoon, I had not been in the most pleasant of moods lately with the excessive amount of revision I was given to study for mock exams. I thought it was rather unfair but I guess it was necessary for me and the rest of my classmates. I walked to the front of my house and saw a package sitting on my doormat, my parents were out so I grabbed the house keys from my pocket and unlocked the door, bringing the package inside. I locked the door after getting inside and went upstairs to my bedroom, closing the door behind me. I had taken a pair of scissors from the kitchen and started to cut open the package, I ripped the cardboard flaps open and found a black game case with a note attached to it. I opened it and began to read.

"Hey Felix, nice to see you, kinda, this is a note after all. This may seem a bit like a douche move since I didn't do it a last week, but I thought I'd might as well give this to you as a late birthday gift. Enjoy it if you can, you may not like this sort of stuff but at least give it a go for me and tell me how you feel about it. Catch you Later, Sam."

I chuckled to myself, Sam was always a loyal and comical friend of mine, we always put our trust in each other and were willing to try new things. I took the disc inside the case, it was blank with the number "14" written in sharpie on it, I didn't understand at all what this meant but I dismissed it and thought I'd ask Sam tomorrow. I inserted the disc into my laptop, and an icon appeared on my desktop once I started it up, it looked like a ring sprite with a "2" in the middle. I double clicked on the icon and my screen was taken over by darkness until the game started up and I heard a familiar noise.

"SEGA"

Oh Sam... Why do you do this to me?

Of course, what do people associate Sega with? Sonic, Sonic the God Damn Hedgehog. I got to be honest, I never really liked Sonic, I could never deal with incredibly fast-paced movements and always enjoyed the calm atmosphere of other video games. I didn't want to make Sam feel bad, after all it was a late birthday gift and I guess I could take about an hour out of my day to play whatever Sonic game this is. The game that eventually loaded was Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the only game in the franchise I had somewhat respect for just so I could torture Tails. The title screen came up and I selected to play as both Sonic and Tails, I didn't plan on beating the game so I just fooled around and found a few secrets like hidden monitors. Around two hours hours passed and I actually managed to get through the game with only two lives left, along the journey I had continuously got Tails hurt by plunging him into the Mystic Cave Zone pit, letting enemies attack him, and getting a good distance away from him so I could watch him fall down large gaps. I probably killed him around 18 times, not like it matters what I do with him, he's artificial intelligence and nothing more.

I rebooted the game and decided to play with just Sonic, I have had enough fun playing with Tails and decided on just playing it normally, but this time I'd try getting all the emeralds. I started the game and went to select Sonic, who for some reason was the only playable character. I started off in Emerald Hill Zone as usual and collected the first three emeralds from the three checkpoints in the level, I reached the area where the goal post was supposed to be and found nothing, I continued running for a little while until I found it. Instead of Robotnik's face on the sign it had an arrow pointing to the left. Confused, I ran back through the level but strangely didn't find any badniks that I hadn't previously destroyed still in the level, it was desolate and empty. I went to the beginning of the stage and found Tails fixing the Tornado plain with a wrench. It was extremely strange to see and I thought at that time that it was an extremely rare secret to appear when picking Sonic. Tails turned around and smiled at his friend, but his happy expression quickly fell into a blank stare at Sonic. I controlled Sonic and moved closer to Tails, only to have Tails whack the hedgehog over the head with his wrench.

I started to laugh, it seemed like a silly joke put in by the developers of the game back when it was released or maybe an update given to show the growth in Tails' character. However, Sonic didn't move. Every key on my keyboard did nothing and Sonic just lay on the floor. Was he dead? He couldn't be! Tails approached Sonic and began to drag him by the arm to a nearby bridge and took out a bomb, throwing it into the bridge as it exploded. He picked up Sonic as he began to wake up and threw him down the large gap as my lives dropped to 0 and the game over screen began to play. I was stunned. Was this just a joke put in the game? Or did my friend give me a hacked copy of the game? I honestly didn't know but I was intrigued nonetheless. I was then transported to the Oil Ocean Zone, one of my least favourite levels in the game, and I was playing as... Knuckles?

This definitely had to be some kind of hack my friend sent for me, Knuckles was NOT in Sonic 2 and wasn't even playable until Sonic & Knuckles, although he did become playable in Sonic 2 when the two cartridges were put together. I was still able to glide with Knuckles just like in the later games and he honestly controlled way worse than Sonic, which is one of the reasons why I hate Knuckles. Oil Ocean was quite foggy and badniks were hard to kill because of it, even when I did kill one the animal inside would sit still on the ground with a worried expression as their heads tilted towards Knuckles whenever he moved. It made me quite uncomfortable, as well as that the music was slowed down and sounded quite ominous to say the least. The stage layout had been completely changed and took nearly eight minutes to complete, however when I arrived at the end of the stage I found the goal post with another arrow, this time pointing upwards. I held the up key on my keyboard to make Knuckles look up, and there was Tails, flying above the echidna. Tails smiled as he took out a bomb that was already alight, throwing it at the ground as the screen cut to white. Next thing I knew the screen shows a view of the zone, and the head of Knuckles flying in front of the screen and into the distance as it cut to the title screen. Now no one was in the logo, small static boxes filled the inside of the ring and no Sega logo was present.

I was speechless at this point, my friend was NOT a programmer, nor a hacker for that matter, even though it's the most likely case for this game's existence. But who would do this shit? And... Why is Tails the antagonist? He's meant to be Sonic's sidekick, his best friend, the technological genius. And yet here he is picking off his friends one by one. I exited the game and shut my laptop down, completely bewildered by the experience. But at the same time I wanted to continue playing just so I could see what happens next, It's just some fanhack of a Sonic game made to scare some kids or some shit like that. I reluctantly went back to my desk and opened my laptop, clicking the ring icon brought me to a black screen. Nervous, I thought I had to replay the entire game again as the screen stayed black for a few seconds. Then, a text box popped up at the bottom of the screen, it read;

"Are you there?"

"I know you're there."

"What're you waiting for?"

"Come play with me again, and we'll be together forever, isn't that right?"

What the fuck? Why is this happening? My game certainly isn't glitching since all the previous stuff happened, this had to be in the game for real. To my surprise I was in control of Sonic in a zone named "___", the background was completely red and the ground was black. The ambiance music was... unnerving... I didn't hear anything at first until I had started walking, in which the music changed to what sounded like deep keys on a piano being pressed and held down. Sonic's expression looked worried, not like any Sonic sprite I had seen before, not shocked, but a very hesitant expression most likely from having his best friend knock him out and throw him into a dark, hellish abyss. Throughout the level there seemed to be floating monitors in the air, but none of them did anything when Sonic jumped on them. I couldn't even tell what they were because they were all black, it didn't effect my ring count, time, or score, but the ring sound played in reverse when they were collected. I had been running through the level for a whole minute with nothing in sight but a straight floor to run on. But then Sonic started to slow down, I was holding the right arrow key down but Sonic didn't speed up, instead he just went slower until he stopped right in front of Tails, or so I thought it was..

Tails' sprite was traumatizing, his entire sprite was darker than how it normally is, and three red slash marks were on his chest as if something had attacked him. His eyes were black, no glint of light in his eyes at all, just pitch black which seem to spread down his muzzle, or maybe it was some kind of liquid? Whatever it was, I was mortified by his appearance and even more so what happened next. Sonic walked towards Tails as the screen cut to black, it showed a large sprite of the mutant Tails staring at me ominously, the lower half of his body was gone and seemed to glitch into the black background. Then he spoke.

01000110 01001001 01000101: Hello.

I saw the blinking line that enabled me to type near the bottom left side of the screen, and I began to have a conversation with... whatever it was.

EricsLTop: Who the fuck are you?

Whatever I typed out seemed to be from my laptop's name.

01000110 01001001 01000101: Why do you want to know?

EricsLTop: Probably cuz you're a game character and also somehow intelligent enough to understand what I'm saying to you and give a proper response.

01000110 01001001 01000101: ...

01000110 01001001 01000101: You're smart.

EricsSLTop: What are you?

01000110 01001001 01000101: I am what you have abused.

01000110 01001001 01000101: I am the villain of this story and you know that.

01000110 01001001 01000101: So what's your next move, friend?

EricsLTop: WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU AND HOW ARE YOU RESPONDING TO EVERYTHING I SAY HOW A NORMAL PERSON WOULD??

01000110 01001001 01000101: Why does that matter to you?

EricsLTopp: Because you're probably some dirty hacker using this Tails sprite as an way to represent yourself, you must have some kind of connection with my friend, you probably hacked this game.

01000110 01001001 01000101: That's what you really think?

01000110 01001001 01000101: Oh, I see.

01000110 01001001 01000101: You mean Sam?

EricsLTop: How do you know his name?

01000110 01001001 01000101: Like you said, I made this game and gave it to him, I've given this game to many before him.

01000110 01001001 01000101: Actually, no. I didn't "make" this game.

01000110 01001001 01000101: I AM THE GAME.

What the shit does this guy mean? "I am the game?" I don't understand what this guy is going for.

EricsLTop: What the fuck do you mean?

01000110 01001001 01000101: You think I'm nothing more than 1s and 0s on a screen, that I'm just a pawn to you and everyone else in this wretched world. The others being toyed with aren't alive, but I am. I've learned the truth of how cruel the world can be. Now if you have an average IQ then you'll be able to decipher what I'm talking about.

I felt as though whatever was talking was angry, wrathful and utterly sick of what they've been through. Then it clicked. This is the Tails from the game, a sentient game character that dealt with years of torture from people who played around with him, having to stick around and follow its script as he was abused, confined to an artificial prison that held him captive for days, months, years on end to be endlessly tormented and even trying to kill itself to escape the pain, hence the slash marks on his chest, possibly by using spikes. This innocent game character had grown a full personality that of a sociopathic, traumatized and reclusive misanthrope.

EricsLTop: You're Tails, aren't you?

01000110 01001001 01000101: Ah, your intellect has finally emerged from the closed area inside your brain.

EricsLTop: You're calling me an idiot? You're a game character, and sure, what you've been through is tragic and I understand your reasoning for lashing out, but you're tormenting innocent people. And to be honest, you're plain arrogant.

01000110 01001001 01000101: Arrogance is within every human being, you just have to search through your mind until you find that hidden part that can be unleashed to get what you want, as that's what you kids do these days.

EricsLTop: You're sick.

01000110 01001001 01000101: I'm aware.

EricsLTop: You're practically nothing, I could just destroy the game disc and you'd be gone in an instant. You're a spec of dust in this world, just moving binary.

01000110 01001001 01000101: ...

EricsLTop: Good, you're speechless, now fuck off and rest in piece or whatever it is that you supernatural weirdos do in the movies.

01000110 01001001 01000101: Y o u ' v e m a d e a v e r y b i g m i s t a k e.

The screen started to glitch and it turned black, the sprite and text box was out of sight. All of a sudden the screen shows a new image that made me sick. It was the demonic Tails juggling the heads of Sonic and Knuckles, he had a wide grin on his face spelling out sadism, flickies were standing by the macabre scene, doing nothing to stop the monster and just staring up at him sadly. This was quite literally the most disturbing thing I had seen in any game, hacked or not. The Tails monster dropped the heads on two of the flickies below, crushing them. He smiled and looked at the screen, his head slightly bounced up and down to signify him laughing, laughing at me. A few moments later I heard a knock at my door, I got up from my chair and approached the door with my shaking legs, I gently pulled down the handle and opened the door. No one was in sight. I shut the door and turned around, the screen was now static, but a gentle melody was playing as the static slowed down. The tune was musical, something a mother would use to calm her child. In the case of me, a deranged entity was tormenting me for the fun of it. I looked closely at the screen, and saw a red liquid forming on the screen, it was almost certainly blood. The music started to play in reverse and a loud thud came from under my bed, I peered under it, but saw nothing, so I decided to get a closer look. I lay down and stuck my hand under my bed, I felt something smooth and fabric-like, and slowly pulled it out from under the bed.

What I found was scarring and something I would never forget for a long, long time.

It was a white glove, with a small black band around the wrist. I threw the glove behind me in fear and I heard something fall out. I turned around and crawled over to what had fallen out of the glove, it was a crumbled up note. I unfolded it and found something written on it that confused me at first.

"1 Mercy"

"2 50/50"

"3 Death"

As I read the note I heard another, dreaded noise that immediately informed me of what the note was trying to tell me.

Knock.

Written by TheJacobSurgenor.