Rouge.exe

Let me just say this first: I love Nintendo, so why is it that I am talking about Sonic? It's not that I hate SEGA, quite the opposite actually. I like some of their games, just not Sonic as much. It's just Sonic's not quite the cute hedgehog you know. Before I begin, the name's John.

It all started when I was playing old games on my emulator. Just as I was going about a level in Super Mario Bros. 3, the doorbell rang and my controls slipped. Mario died by falling into a pit. Slightly frustrated, I went to the door to see who was there.

Upon opening the door, I saw that there was no one. I figured someone just wanted to fuck with me, so I closed the door. I suddenly felt myself trip over something, and found that what I tripped over was a package box! Needless to say, I was confused. That package wasn't there before! Either way, I opened it up and found a CD disc, labeled with text in marker, "Round 3." The disc came with a note, which read:

"John,

You gotta help me, please! This disc contains a nightmare game, a sick twisted game! Quick, destroy the disc! I have suffered from a horrible nightmare for days because of it!

I beg of you, John! Don't play the disc! If you do, I send my prayers to you, you can't beat him! He's too fast, he's too powerful and most of all he's too demonic! I want to die, but he's already gonna kill me! It's too late for me now! He's already caught me right about now… please, John… destroy the disc…

Just do it…

Harley"

Weird. I never saw my girlfriend throughout this last week. Either way, it was nice to have a new game. When I put the disc in my computer, a file came up. It was labeled "Rouge.exe."

Rouge, as in Rouge the Bat? Funny. I remember my two friends Tom and Kyle, two big Sonic fans, drooling all over that bitch. I played the application, out of curiosity, thinking it was all just a prank by my GF to scare me.

That's where things started to go wrong.

The first screen appeared. It was the "SEGA." screen from Sally.exe A chorus sang the text in a deep tone. After it was done it faded out, and some text appeared:

"Up for Round 2?"

Suddenly, three scratch marks suddenly appeared over the number 2 as a pixelated crunch sounded, making the text read "Up for Round III?" I was perplexed by this, was this what the disc title meant by "Round 3?"

The title screen from Sally.exe appeared:

The sky was dark grey with dull black clouds. The mountains were decayed and so was the logo. "SEGA 1991" was now replaced with "SEGA 666" and the water was a bloody red. The title music didn't play either. It was just a mess of sounds, the demonic "SEGA!" occasionally mixed in.

And of course, Rouge was in the emblem, with a curious look on her face. I pressed enter, and the screen froze and then cut to black.

An opening text appeared.

"The girls are now all dead, because they couldn't escape from Sonic.exe"

"But Rouge was going to live."

It cut to what looked like a demonic Sonic, but I could barely see it. It was only there for a split second before the slow SEGA jingle played again.

I was so confused about that opening cutscene. Ah well.

"Not Perfect Act 1" it said. Rouge was now in the same level from Sally.exe, which had a Black background. After a few minutes of running I noticed the Silver Ring which was flashing and blood at the bottom of it, and when I touched it, Amy appeared behind me and the game "froze". Then the message appeared again:

">Error: failed to respawn character 'AMY'"

">RESTART_"

SEGA screen again. Then the title screen again. Amy was in the title screen, and she had a grotesque look on her. Her eyes were melting and her fur was darker. I hit enter again, and another new level appeared:

called "Kind and Fair."

Rouge was now in a carnival-style level. I moved her along lots of loops quickly, until I came to a spike pit. That spike pit had an adorable little bunny torn to shreds. The moment I touched her, a purple version of her appeared at the left as the game froze again.

">Error: failed to respawn character 'CREAM'"

">RESTART_"

The SEGA logo appeared once again… damn this was getting repetitive. The logo was now more cut up than before. The title screen appeared. Cream was where Knuckles was. She had a dead eye, which was covered by her purple ear. I pressed enter and got another new level:

"________ Act 9" was the level. This had all the characters in their title screen forms, as well as Sonic in a twisted way. He was darker, and had bleeding eyes. Those eyes were pitch black with glowing red dots. I moved Rouge to the center, but then she got no further. A glitchy chipmunk appeared and the game froze once again.

">Error: failed to respawn character 'SALLY'"

">RESTART_"

To my surprise, it cut back to gameplay, instead of going to the SEGA screen. The level was the same as before, but Sonic was missing. The distorted laugh played (at normal volume, thank god), and a drowned-out version of the original "Act 9" music was playing as the top slowly began to come down.

I began to panic. I pushed Rouge against the walls and tried to get her out of there, to no avail. I tried spin dashing, but that did no good either. I crouched Rouge down, waiting for the end…

But it never came.

I got Rouge up as the top stopped moving. I thought I was safe…

But I was wrong.

A few messages appeared on the top:

"Having fun, Rouge?"

"I hope so, because now…"

"You're forever trapped in this one room…"

"And you will have to watch as time slowly runs out…"

A slow, suspenseful music began playing. It made me panic again as a final message appeared at the top in red:

"ANY LAST WORDS?"

I tried to get Rouge out of there as much as I could, but nothing worked. Suddenly, Sonic appeared on the left side of the screen, with his scary eyes, crouching down. A faint overlay of red static covered the screen when he appeared. As the music abruptly ended, Sonic lunged forward and attacked Rouge. A loud scream was heard as another message appeared.

">Error: failed to respawn character 'ROUGE'"

">RESTART_"

I couldn't believe it. Rouge was gone. I buried my face in my hands as the distorted SEGA played again, only it was more echoed and broken than ever.

The title screen appeared again, only now MANY things were changed. The sky and water were now black, the logo had been recolored to dark purple, gold and black, and the music changed into a slow, wavy tune.

What disturbed me the most was Rouge. She now had dark purple on her clothing and makeup, her eyes became similar to the creepy Sonic's, and she now had sharp fangs. I just pressed enter again, hoping for something more to happen, so i pressed enter…

The level title this time was "Hill Act 1." Everything was now in a red filter, the water wasn't moving in the background, there were no enemies, and Shadow now looked concerned. Not afraid, just a concerned look on his face. I reached the end, which was just a long piece of ground, like Hill Act 2. Up ahead, I was surprised to see… Rouge! But she was facing away and her eyes were closed, and she had dark purple on her makeup and clothes. Then it hit me… it was her corrupted form.

Shadow seemed to be confused as to why Rouge wasn't responding and he slowly walked up to her. Static flashed as he stopped, and the gameplay now seemed to be focused on Rouge, or rather "Rouge.exe," as said by her life icon. Her lives said to have an "Error." Rouge opened her eyes, they were the creepy form from the title screen. Shadow gasped and tried to skate away, but Rouge lifted him up telepathically and ripped his head off. Then you-know-what appeared.

Shadow seemed to be confused as to why Rouge wasn't responding and he slowly walked up to her. Static flashed as he stopped, and the gameplay now seemed to be focused on Rouge as said by her life icon, which was using Rouge.exe's Pallette. Her lives said "E	RROR" Rouge opened her eyes, they were the creepy form from the title screen. then, Rouge pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest. Then you-know-what appeared.

">Error: failed to respawn character 'SHADOW'"

">RESTART

The Same SEGA screen appeared from last time, and then back to the Title Screen which was the same, but then when i pressed enter, Rouge looked at me and Jumpscared me, after that I was left with a message that said

"Do you really think, you can control me?"

"You're wrong… but you DO want to play again, right?"

"Almost everyone's dead now…"

"There is almost no more…"

And then I was taken to the Game Over screen from Sally.exe, but Sally, wasn't there at all instead Rouge and Shadow were there.

I pressed any keys on the keyboard and the Game Over text changed into "Game On?" and the screen turned to black with the Kefka Laugh.

The SEGA screen appeared, only now it was red and dripping blood. It faded back to the same Rouge title screen but was in red and Rouge, wasn't there at all instead the logo was red and glitched.

The final level loaded, it was named "Hill Act 1" and the red oval. The level opened up and I was playing as… nothing? My character was just a pink block. I noticed in the lower right-hand corner of the screen that this was labeled as "USER." The level was the green island stage, but it was all red now, like the title screen.

The music started off slowly, but eventually, it was revealed to be the music track from Hill Act 1. The red island was nothing but a long piece of ground extending in two ways: left and right. One way was endless, so was the other way. No obstacles, enemies, nothing but an endless flat ground with flowers and trees.

The music suddenly started to speed up! I could only watch as User ran faster and faster down the island. Text appeared at the bottom:

">Sonic.exe: Do ya wanna be fast, do ya wanna be like ME?"

I noticed the time start to speed up, a "minute" turned into seconds flying by. When the timer reached 35 minutes it suddenly began to slow down. By 40 minutes, the game stopped completely. I thought it had crashed… but something was wrong. I heard the "Hope, Despair and Nightmares" theme start up slowly as the game began to… how do I put it? The game began to "rewind" User's movements and the timer started counting down. I then noticed the bottom text had changed into this:

">Rouge.exe: You should care more about your time, you know."

Just as the timer hit zero minutes and seconds, all the exe's, said in text:

"YOUR TIME IS OVER."

And for the final time, this appeared:

">Error: failed to respawn character 'USER'"

">READY FOR ROUND 4, SILVER?_"

Then my computer blue-screened. The disc ejected from the tray, all melted and hot. I got gloves on and threw it away. But when I got back inside, a dark surprise was waiting for me…

"Now I can watch you for my master, darling…"

I gasped when I saw a Rouge plush on my bed. She had purple makeup and clothing, and her eyes were black sockets with glowing red eyes. The sockets were bleeding, and the plush also had vampire-like fangs. I threw the plush out the window instantly, where it vanished. Guess Harley was right all along. God rest her soul.

To avenge all who have died at the hands of the monster, I send my greatest thanks to whoever destroys Exetior's discs. Whatever you do, if you play the game by mistake, shut that shit off, and DESTROY IT IMMEDIATELY.

Here's to stopping Exetior.