It happened fast, as everything should. He shot out of the rocket before it stopped moving, landing smoothly on the ship and letting his momentum carry him forward. Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack. Feet barely hit the metal surface before they were pushing off again. One-two-one-two-one-two. He barely noticed the blades of light just missing his fur, laser beams searing the metal as their target veered away at the last second.

All around was violent red and expansive black. Gleaming metal reared challengingly against impassive space, the cold light of the stars mingling with the harsh fluorescent lights. The worst of the lights were the eyes. Bright purple warning signals, glaring from the top of advancing steel bodies.

He chuckled. This would be fun.

Click-clack-click-clack—the sound cut off as he jumped and curled, flying into the metal bodies. CLANG. Slam into the head, metal crumpling. Feet push off again and again he curls, bouncing into the next and the next and the next. Long blue legs ate up the ground as he left his enemies headless, nothing slowing him…

A wall. He skidded, losing precious speed as the red rose above him. The lights all turned to focus on the giant, bouncing off the metal and into his eyes. Dakkadakkadakka! Gun fire peppered the red paint, following the blue blur as he ran forward again.

Dakkadakkada—the sound stopped. He turned his ear back, listening. Machinery clicked and whirred, smoothly shifting shape. Something changed. He risked looking back, eyes widening as something sleek and silver winked in the light. Missiles, coming in fast.

He held himself, kept his pace, watching out of the corner of his eye as the projectiles neared. At the last moment he leaned forward, almost horizontal, and surged forward, legs churning, faster and—not fast enough, he realized too late. The missiles exploded behind him, slamming him into the wall.

The mech's hand leapt forward. Fast enough, his mind echoed uselessly as ice cold metal closed around the hedgehog. The robot lifted him up, bringing him to face its pilot. A bald human sneered from behind dark blue glasses. His captive smirked back.

Now, he called. The lights leapt at the signal, the brilliant gems bursting into existence around him. They flooded him, warm and bright and brilliant. For just a moment the world faded into pure, tranquil white… and then it burst.

The machine's fingers were thrown open as a glowing golden figure flew out of them, bright energy crackling around it. The former captive smirked. Artificial gravity had no hold on him now, as he surged forward and sliced through the robot's core like the lasers previously aimed at him. For all his speed he took his time, swooping over the ship before turning to face his opponent.

To his credit, the human knew when to flee. The piloting capsule had already separated from the ruins of the mech and was flying as far and as fast as it could. But far and fast were no use anymore, as the golden figure shot after it like lightning to a rod.

Again, the hedgehog didn't rush. He didn't need to. For all the ingenuity of the machine and its pilot, it was not lightning, it was not a force of nature. It was just another toy to smash.

Their little chase came to a dead end in the main control ship. The capsule crashed to the floor, flinging its passenger across the room. The hedgehog hovered above him, grinning with triumph.

"S-sonic!" The human sat up, frantic. "I-I'm sorry! R-really! L-look, go easy on me!" He backed away, begging, as the golden hedgehog lowered to the floor. "I'll turn over a new leaf, I swear! Just give me a chance!"

"Well, this is new. Showing remorse, Eggman?" The hedgehog mocked, stepping forward. He didn't notice Eggman reaching for a remote, or didn't care. "If you played nice, I wouldn't have to break all your toys."

Eggman's frightened expression fell away as his thumb jabbed down on the button. "Gotcha!" He said, almost too quiet for the hedgehog to hear. A golden ear flicked and he turned around too late at the quiet whir of machinery, mechanical bars erupted out of the floor around him. He tried to fly, but some sort of ring, glowing and blue, grabbed him, pinning his arms to his sides.

Sonic could barely hear the doctor's cackling over the growing hum of the machine. The golden energy was ripped mercilessly from him, pulled away by the machine. He grasped for the lights, but fear and panic and old memories clouded his mind, and they slipped away. Screaming bounced off the metal chamber's walls, and belatedly he realized it was his own voice. The golden glow slipped away as quickly as it had come. The blue hedgehog bucked and writhed, pained and desperate, but the machine only bound him tighter. He struggled to breathe between the tight ring and his own screams. The sound was getting annoying, some conscious corner of his mind observed, but the rest was too fogged with pain to care.

He still felt the lights. They were still there, in his mind, distant beacons calling out. And then… they went out. He froze. That couldn't be right. They didn't go out. They were always there… He fought through the clouds of pain, reaching out for them. Images flashed in his mind: a bright green ray, shooting to the earth; a brilliant glow, growing; land cracking and rising and splitting apart as wild, primal energy surged outward. For a moment, he stared into eyes of fire.

Then he was rushing back into himself, but something was rushing back with him. Light, pure and white and wild, at once so similar to and so different to the beacons he knew. It flowed in, warm and bright, and the dark clouds of pain cleared in an instant.

The sound had stopped. It blinked, eyes clearing, and looked upwards curiously. The human was staring with fascination out the window, grinning maniacally. Disgust rolled through the hedgehog, and it growled. Eggman's gaze snapped downward, and his eyes widened behind the dark glasses.

The animal stepped forward, adjusting to its new form. It flexed its claws experimentally, looked at Eggman again. It grinned and leapt. Without a moment's hesitation to spare, Eggman slammed both hands down on the console, a glass shield springing up at the same instant as the window opened. There was no force field outside this part of the ship, no air and no artificial gravity. Just the dark vacuum, pulling the light-twisted creature away from its prey and tossing it down to Earth.