Speedy's note: Welcome everybody to another random oneshot idea. Similar to some others of my weird buzzes, it decided to leap into my head without reason while I was on one of my runs… and yeah, you can kinda see it. The beginning is quite different from the end, but I like what became of it. For you guys there is just one way to find out if you can get anything out of it too. ;)

Relativity

"You see, Sonic? Every existing atom, even every big object theoretically, can be considered a quantum. Everything has an own wavelength! We can turn it into elemental waves! Even you and me!" Tails waved the book overly exited in front of Sonic's face.

"Ah yes," the hedgehog nodded, giving his best to look as if he'd been truly enlightened. He reached for the book in Tails' hands. He knew it, well, knew the way it looked from the outside. It had been a present for Tails. Sonic had bought it a few days ago. He had read just the title and decided that 'The Relativistic Effects of Quantum Objects in Accelerated Continuums' sounded like something Tails would enjoy.

He had been right. Tails loved it. Right now the fox was stuck with a chapter in the middle of the book that seemed to be something extremely impressive; he was trying to tell Sonic everything he knew or had newly learned about mysterious things as 'quantums', 'photo effects', 'electrical whatsoevers', 'thermic so-or-so's'…

Honestly, Sonic was happy that Tails liked his present and that it seemed to be teaching him something new; learning stuff would be good for the little fox… although Sonic somehow doubted there was much he could learn anymore… and he really liked the fact that Tails wanted to share his newly found knowledge with him, but it didn't solve the fact that he was entirely lost.

Trying to escape the 'quantums' for a moment, Sonic flicked through the book and stopped at a page that showed several graphics and a text; on top glittered the heading 'Relativity of Velocity of Quantum Objects'.

Sonic looked up at Tails. "Their speed is what?"

Tails grinned. "Oh, Sonic, that's easy! The duration of a certain state a quant is in is influenced by its condition of movement, and their interaction with all other objects is too."

"Ehhrrr… could you maybe – translate that to a language I know?" Sonic smiled sheepishly.

"Really, it's not that hard. That goes for every normal object too, it doesn't need to be a quantum or move at lightspeed," Tails started. "Every velocity is relative. Your running speed is relative to the air or the ground you run on. As for a quantum, velocity can be seen as an interaction between certain-"

And so on. Sonic's brain shut down shortly after that. Luckily for the hedgehog's sanity, Tails quickly stopped trying to fill him in on everything between the two covers of his new book when the two tailed fox got the idea that the golden rings he used as his main power source in the Tornado would maybe also have their own… 'wavelength' if Sonic remembered his words correctly. Tails had decided trying to prove one of the main theories. Sonic didn't doubt Tails' mechanical talent, he just thought that maybe (hopefully?) it wouldn't work making the workshop such a 'continuum'.

But either way, Tails would have some more fun for the next hours.

Knowing he would be of no help and that his head needed a serious rest from all that physics stuff, Sonic slipped out of the hangar and let himself fall into a jog through the forest of Mystic Ruins.

Relativity… the condition of whatever those objects were called again depends on their speed and all the objects around and… Sonic shook his head to himself as he ran along the small footpath. This was nonsense. At least to him. But whatever, he had made Tails happy with it. Although the 'making Tails happy' had resulted in him getting a lecture for about one hour solid, and he'd got nothing of the stuff the little fox had tried to explain to him…

Once again, the blue hedgehog shook his head. Trying to understand Tails' physical intercourse was futile, anyway.

Instead, Sonic did one of the things he was best at – he just gave himself to the feeling of running.

His sharp eyes followed the track he raced along; instinct scanning roots, loose branches, rocks and holes in the ground, classifying them as obstacles that needed reaction or didn't in a time his conscious mind had not even truly noticed their existence. Sonic did not question his reflexes. They had never given him any reason to, and so he could just –as always when he was running for nothing but his own entertainment – trust himself to them and use the aware part of his mind to take in whatever was to be seen, heard, smelled or felt along the path.

The trees of the forest blurred into shapeless green at the very edges of his peripheral vision, in front of him every sharp turn of the winding path opened up a new image. From the cerulean sky above lances of sunlight painted the shades of mist crawling between the trees and rocks, forming ghostly figures billowing lazily through the wind, glowing in a way that made it seem as if they were glowing out of themselves.

Not a second later, the shining fog was torn asunder and blown to tiny fragments as Sonic rushed through it into yet a new image of the world, whilst the old one had been lasting just long enough to be seen for one of his heartbeat's time.

It was funny how much your feeling, your impression of your own speed depended on the area you were running through, Sonic realized, reflexively somersaulting over the stem of a toppled tree in his way. He wasn't even close to the speed of sound. Not even to a third of it. And still, on this tiny path… it was giving him the very familiar frenzy of speed.

Had he been running on… a broader path, it would have needed two times his current speed to achieve the same feeling. And on a fully open field… much more again.

Sonic knew, your initial way to determine how fast you were moving were your eyes. Looking around, somehow you knew "I'm fast!" when the trees and the rocks and everything else disappeared out of your sight by a certain time. That was what you grew up with. What everybody grew up with.

But Sonic was far from being everybody. He had grown up with much more than that. He ran so often, so fast and in so many different places that he knew more things to indicate your real speed.

Wind. How strong it was, how much he could lean into it because it was strong enough to carry his weight without him being endangered of falling over, how it felt blowing through his fur and quills, how much it pressed ears and spikes down, how it sounded rushing around him, how it felt when he breathed it, the way it smelled.

The feeling of his very body, too. It was indeed a great difference to all of his systems if he ran half sonic speed or supersonic.

But still, his impressions could all be lured into believing he was faster. Or slower, for that matter. When you were running away from the center of a huge explosion, it sometimes really was too slow having broken the sound barrier. You would still feel like crawling across the floor without making progress forwards instead of racing over it so fast your feet didn't truly connect with the ground any more. In the other direction, when being on a high even a relaxed run like his at the moment would give you the feeling you could stretch out both arms and lift off and fly.

Sonic slalomed around a group of hills and his view opened to the green meadows outside the forest, the deeply green grass sparkling with the remaining drops of a rain shower from a few hours ago, the wetness reflecting the sunlight like thousands of mirror shards distributed across the grass. Without a second's thought Sonic blasted out onto the open plain.

For a moment he closed his eyes and pushed further into the building wind, daring it to give way and let him passed, and after a couple of seconds it did, the resistance falling behind. Sonic's eyes flew open again, calm and still thirsty for whatever was to be seen. Drawing deep breaths, filling his lungs with the fresh air up to every corner, Sonic smiled at the rushing world around.

Somehow, right now, he was running faster than he ever had. Somehow, he did everytime he ran again. It didn't need an absolute record; it was a thing he felt. Everytime. Although he knew that this was impossible, it was still true. To him. To his feelings.

A smile tugged on the hedgehog's lips. What was it Tails had said? Speed was relative? Maybe this was not so much crap after all. Maybe the fact that he ran now, here, and felt and enjoyed it the way he did, made him, made his speed – faster…?

Sonic grinned, to equal parts about his idea and the sight of the object that appeared in front of him. He would need to tell Tails about his great theory. But not now.

His face being crossed by the brightest of his grins, his feet pounding the ground so much faster than any other would ever do, Sonic took the loop at top speed.

See the blue streak rushing for the horizon?
That's me.
Hear the bang shattering the limits of sound?
That's me.
But blink once...
and you will have missed me.