Wow…I honestly thought this story would be well received, but not THIS well received! Thank you, thank you very much to the people who have reviewed, faved, and story alerted this fic on . Thank you as well to the people who have commented and faved this on DeviantArt. It makes me motivated to continue when people review so nicely.

Anyway, as promised here's the second chapter, where a little more light is shed upon the situation.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic or any of the characters involved. I only own this theory and any misc. characters that may appear. Also, if I owned Sonic, then the franchise wouldn't be on a downhill slope right now.

Sonic groaned as he felt intense light. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter, trying to keep out the offending sun. Suddenly he sat up with his eyes opened. Where was he? What happened? He couldn't remember a whole lot.

He grasped his head slightly in one hand; he could feel a strong headache coming. Looking around he found himself in a forest with thick trees. He couldn't remember how he got here. Suddenly his head exploded in a wave of pain making him cry out slightly and move both hands to grip his aching temple in vain attempts to soothe it.

Images began to flash briefly behind his closed eyelids. He remembered space and Eggman. He recalled the giant robot that had been holding him captive. He remembered going super. His eyes opened suddenly as the headache only got worse. Images of his changed arm and recollection of not moving on his own filled his head. What happened to him?

He brought an arm down to examine it. Same arm he'd known all his life, thin with pale skin, not the bulky, hairy arm he remembered seeing previously. Maybe it was a dream or some horrible nightmare?

He laughed a bit at the thought. He hadn't had nightmares since he was just a hedgehoglet. His mirth was short lived though because his eyes drifted to his hands, which were normally gloved. His gloves were gone, exposing his pale hand. Where were his gloves? He only ever took them off to sleep so he knew he had them on when he left to fight Eggman.

Was it not a dream? He thought he felt something laughing and moving in his mind, but his thoughts were cut short by his stomach protesting the absence of food. How long had he been out?

As he stood up, he groaned a bit from the strain. His muscles and bones ached, possibly from the fall. The hedgehog was still unsure of how he'd survived without being super, but he counted his blessings anyway.

He stretched a bit, relieving some of the left over pain then sped off in whatever direction he felt best to find civilization.

"Grr, where is he?!" a frustrated Tails asked to no one in particular.

He'd been in this African village for three days now investigating a strange earthquake that had happened a few days ago. Normally, he would pass earthquakes as just what they were, but this one seemed different from the ones born of nature. The earthquake was rather large and he was getting strong Chaos signature readings from the area around the village. The fox suspected Eggman behind it, but he needed to discuss it with Sonic first. Currently, though, he was having difficulty finding or contacting his friend and mentor.

He knew that Sonic had gone to stop Eggman without any of them, and sometime after that was when the earthquake happened. Tails hadn't heard or seen Sonic since then, which made him slightly worried. Sonic usually established contact or a 'mission success' by this point, but it'd been three whole days already!

Tails sighed as he adjusted some things on his Chaos Energy Analyzer. It was a new invention by him. He made it so that he could find people like Shadow, Sonic, and Knuckles easily based on their Chaos Energy readings. He'd done some research that showed that anyone who can manipulate the Emeralds and their power without the need or help of machinery could do this with the help of special energy signatures. He'd found that the energy was called "Chaos Energy" by a few others who'd studied the same thing at some point. The energy acted as a part of the bloodstream and the aura around the specific persons with the gift. It was a gift, he believed, because you had to be born with the power to do so, which was why Eggman always used machines.

"This thing is broken…" he grumbled to himself. The readings around this area were going crazy and if Sonic was around here, he wouldn't be able to know it because of the wild readings.

Just as he was about to make another adjustment the wild readings calmed down.

"What?" he pressed a button and was delighted to find a special energy signature moving into a point just outside the village. He recognized the signature immediately.

"Sonic!"

He hurriedly pushed himself away from the wooden table he'd been sitting at in his rented hut. The fox wasted no time in speeding out using his tails as a propeller. It didn't take long to find the target, but when he did he stopped suddenly, slightly shocked at the state and condition his friend was in.

"Sonic! Sonic what happened to you?!"

He saw the blue hedgehog lift his head up slightly to look at him. He saw the trademark grin then a thumbs up before his friend collapsed forward.

"Sonic!" Tails ran towards him again and knelt down to see if he was okay. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt a pulse, but it was a faint one.

Carefully he picked the hedgehog up and flew back towards his temporary home in the village.

He felt cold. Really cold. Colder than he'd ever felt before, even when he was on top of Ice Cap Mountain he wasn't THIS cold. He opened his eyes a bit and found himself in darkness. Complete and utter darkness.

"Where am I?" he asked aloud, trying not to show fear but he knew his voice faltered slightly.

He thought he heard something laugh, but it didn't sound human. It sounded like some kind of animal or monster was laughing.

"Who's there? Show yourself, you coward!"

"Coward?" came the very unexpected response. Sonic didn't recognize the voice. It sounded slightly like his own, but this one sounded different. Like the deep, guttural growl of an untamed animal. "I think you're the one who's the coward, but that should be expected of the weakest one."

Sonic felt his temper rise. How dare this unseen stranger call him a coward. He wasn't the one hiding!

"I dare you to come out and say that to my face!"

He got no verbal response but he could hear the creature laughing more.

"Soon, weakling, soon."

Sonic's eyes shot open and he found himself staring up at a ceiling made of twigs and animal skin. His ear twitched at the sound of shuffling feet to his right. Moving his head slightly he saw Tails moving around and messing with some machines as he usually did. He smiled a bit at seeing a familiar face, but then he felt his stomach complain again.

"Tails." He called out, a bit surprised at how dehydrated his voice sounded. His two-tailed friend heard him though and rushed over with a glass of water.

"Sonic! Are you okay?" he handed the glass of water to him, which Sonic gratefully accepted and gulped down within a few seconds.

"Yeah…just really hungry. How long have I been out?"

Tails moved again to bring some food, apples and other assortments of fruit, to the blue hedgehog.

"Thanks, buddy." He picked up an apple and started eating it, resorting to just shuffling all the food down when he realized how famished he really was.

"You've been out for about three hours. I found you near the outskirts of the village, you collapsed just as I reached you. I think it may've been your hunger, dehydration, over exertion on your body or possibly all three."

Sonic paused his engorging for a brief moment.

"Three hours, you say…what time is it now?"

"About two hours before sunset."

Sonic nodded in understanding then continued eating the food that was left for him.

"Sonic, what happened to you?"

"Whatdya mean?"

"You're bruised and cut up almost everywhere and you were missing for three days!"

Sonic paused again. He'd been sleeping in the forest for three days? He knew his body ached but he didn't recall seeing bruises or cuts when he examined himself earlier.

"Which reminds me…" Tails continued. "How did the fight with Eggman go?"

Sonic chewed his food carefully, thinking of the best way to respond. Should he tell his best friend about that strange event? No, he didn't want to worry his friend with his mental health.

"It went fine. Eggman's plans always have a weak spot so he's taken care of for now."

"Good!" Tails grinned, seeming satisfied with the answer. Suddenly his expression turned serious again making the hedgehog cock an eyebrow at his friend's sudden change of mood.

"All well and good, but there's another issue we have."

"There's always another issue when Egghead's involved. What is it?"

"Some time after you'd left for space, there was a huge earthquake that, according to the news, was all over the world. There's never been an earthquake that big before. Not only that, but my Chaos Energy Analyzer was going crazy with readings. I could barely find you earlier because of the other readings. I feel something's wrong and that Eggman's behind it."

Sonic stayed quiet as he chewed the remainder of the last fruit, contemplating what he'd been told. Could that strange machine he'd been trapped in have something to do with it?

"Maybe, Tails." He responded finally. "If he is, I'll find out for sure. I'll go investigate tomorrow."

"In your condition? I think you should consider staying put for a bit. At least until your cuts and bruises heal up."

Sonic felt another headache coming on. Maybe he should take up that offer and sleep a bit more.

"Okay." Was the simple response he made. Another few moments of silence passed then another thought came to him. "Hey, isn't this your bed?"

"Yes, but don't worry about it, there's extra things the villagers gave me to make another bed and besides, I think you'll only need to be here a few more days before your wounds are gone."

"Oh, ok." He felt really tired for some reason so he tried not to make any long responses.

He heard Tails move away, probably to go make that other bed for himself. Sonic's eyes drooped close and he fell into sleep.

Sonic's eyes shot open again, but this time he was in a panic. It felt as if he couldn't breathe. He sat up quickly, lightly holding his throat in vain attempts to coax air into it. He felt himself breathing but he couldn't feel air going into his lungs. He looked out the nearest window and saw that it was very late into twilight. Within a few minutes the sun would be completely down.

He suddenly felt some pings of pain throughout his body similar to the ones he felt that day in space, but not as severe. What was going on? He looked around to try and find Tails but when he found his friend he was already peacefully asleep.

"Damn." He thought to himself. Suddenly a horrible feeling came over him. It felt similar to the feeling he felt that strange time in the machine, but this time it was different slightly. It felt like he needed to eat again, but it also felt like he needed to eat something alive and fresh.

His eyes widened at how strong the feeling to eat meat was. He never ate meat that often and when he did it wasn't a whole lot. Besides, the meat he ate at those times was dead and nicely cooked. This feeling made him crave for fresh meat.

He felt the headache from earlier coming back with full force and once again felt as if something was moving around in his mind.

He had to get out of there. He glanced over at Tails whom was still silently sleeping. He needed to get away. He felt that he needed to be as far away from here as you could get or he'd hurt his friend. It frustrated him, but he needed to.

His body screamed out in pain the moment he moved to get out of the bed, but he didn't care; his only concern was getting away.

Quickly but silently he limped towards the door and out into the night, shutting the door behind him as silently as he'd come out. Then he took off running. Running as fast as his legs would let him go in his condition. He needed to be away, as far away as he could get.

He looked up at the sky and could see telltale signs of night. All the while as he ran he felt more and more pain throughout his body and he kept feeling something moving inside of him, as if it was beginning to wake up.

He ran for what seemed like hours when it had only been several minutes. Was he far enough away? He looked behind him and just saw endless rows of trees, no visible sign of the village if there was any sight beyond the trees.

He collapsed to his knees in a small clearing. His hands were out in front of him on the ground, still ungloved. He tried to get back up, to keep on running but he couldn't move. He couldn't move. Just like in the base.

He felt himself start to panic but he caught himself and closed his eyes instead, trying to settle his heavy breathing. The pain had subsided it seemed and he didn't feel movement in his brain. Was this a good sign?

He was about to breathe a sigh of relief when it came back stronger and more ruthless than before. He cried out as the force of the pain cause him to fall forward more, but his arms still managed to hold him up. Again he tried to move but his muscles wouldn't listen to him.

The hedgehog felt himself starting to lose consciousness again.

"Not again…" he thought. The world was becoming blurry around him and he could slightly see his arms starting to change the way they had before.

"No…" he struggled to remain awake but the pain was becoming unbearable and it felt as if something strong and vicious was pounding on his mentality, forcing him into a comatose state of mind.

"D-Damnit…" was his last thought as the world around him became consumed to blackness and the sounds of that same guttural laugh echoed throughout his mind.

Few, well that was fun! I hope everyone who liked the first chapter enjoyed this one as well. I worked hard to keep Tails in character since I don't tend to write with him for prolonged periods. So how was it? What will Sonic do in his uncontrollable state now that he is no longer in space? I'm seriously questioning the rating right now. I honestly don't know just how mind scarring I could make this story based on this theory of mine and the next chapter may or may not test the mental strength of children who can read T stories. Can anyone tell me what they think in a review? I may or may not lift this story to M, it all depends on how the next chapter goes.

Kalana Fox