Epilogue: Cool Edge Day

Sonic groaned as daylight filtered in through the ice. He quickly sat Chip down as the change washed over him, his body shrinking, limbs stiffening. Teeth receded back into his jaw, and fur shrunk back into his spines. With a brief howl, he collapsed back into the shape of a hedgehog, pain in his green eyes.

Chip fluttered before him, flying close to his chest. "Wow… so why did it still hurt after they stopped the microwhatsit?"

"Oh, I got better when the swelling went down. The microchip was hurting my brain when it was turned on." Sonic rubbed his temple. "Eggman and Tails found a way to turn it off for good with programming, they call that bricking it. But the actual microchip is still there. It takes up space. So if something causes pressure to build up inside my head, it makes me feel bad long before anybody else would, and takes longer for me to feel better. I think that might be part of why it hurts me to change so much. About the only real drawback of the werehog, I guess."

"Really?" Chip blinked at him, cocking his whole body to the side in the air.

"Well, I guess I get kinda moody, but I'm not too bad, am I?"

"Nah. And…" Chip put his finger to his lips, thinking, eyes rolling up. "And you talked about regenerating? How does that work?"

"I'll have to introduce you to my chao, so you understand. When I get old, which happens to me faster than it does to normal people, I go into this coccoon thing. I come out young again, and different. I've been getting lighter every time. I'll probably be a real light blue or silver color next time. Last time I got about 30 years between, and I took good care of myself, but I don't know if I can last longer. The key's having good friends helping me out." He grinned. "I'm not worried about that one."

"Wow… so you're like, immortal! How long can you keep doing that?"

"I don't know, buddy. I don't know. Only one way to find out." Sonic climbed to his feet. "But we have Emeralds to fix and people to save if I wanna make another 15. You ready?"

"Sure!" Chip flew a little bit ahead. "Oh, but Sonic, will you tell me about your other adventures some other night? Oh, and can I meet Shadow after we fix all the continents? And your chao? Please?"

Sonic grinned. "Sure buddy. But you gotta try and catch me, first."

He laughed and dashed ahead, chuckling as Chip shouted after him.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for sticking this out with me! I am so flattered that some of you chose to finish the story, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Now that everything out published, I am happy to answer questions, discuss changes, and accept more comprehensive feedback.

Now, some of you may want more. Some of you may be wondering, but what about Shadow? I can answer both questions with the same tidbit.

Next Sunday, June 16th, I'll be posting an alternate epilogue to this, a story called "Shadow Surpassing Shadow." Like this story, SSS takes its name from a Shadow story path. It details what happened after Shadow left Sonic in the infirmary. It was also designed to be more or less accessible to people who haven't read my story, but have played Shadow... and assume the Lava Shelter endings are true. If you aren't happy with this ending, that one may make you happy. That'll go up next week.

The following Friday, June 21st, I'll be posting the first chapter of my longer comedy piece, "Leave it to Me." Leave it to Me is a simple story about a grocery shopping trip gone horribly, horribly wrong. It's not exactly a sequel to this, but it does deal with some of the same themes, as its title suggests. I can't even do comedy without throwing some depth in, alas.

Leave it to Me has twelve chapters, and should be on Fridays through September. Then I have a brief sidestory to that, which I'll post the week following. Hopefully, by mid September, I'll have finished the project I'm currently drafting, a sequel to my crossover "Blue Tint" whose working title is Sonic and the Fallen King.

Thank you all, again!