Sonic Runaways

Sonic, Tails, Zomom, Zik and Zoga all trekked through the freezing wasteland. Filthy oil factories littered the landscape, turning the snow multicolored in some spots with chemicals and potentially hazardous mechanical waste. Frosty weeds were fighting to take back the land, growing up the sides of the factories. But unlike the plants in Echidnaopolis, they were more of a nuisance than a sight to behold. And thankfully, unlike the plants on Little Planet, they weren't sentient.

"Whoa… WHOA!" Sonic cried, as he awkwardly slipped through a frozen tunnel of ice aloft above the clouds. He had rushed ahead, only to end up in a perilous predicament. "A little help here, anyone?" He asked as he slid helplessly towards a hole in the tunnel.

"It's okay, Sonic! I'm comin'!" Tails exclaimed, reaching for Sonic as he too struggled to keep his footing. Zik groaned at this poor display of skill from behind.

"It's clear you both need more training," Zik sighed, gliding forward effortlessly and grabbing both delinquents as they were about to fall. They linked hands in a group of three, and Zik micromanaged their movements through the winding antigravity tunnel. "Right, left, right, left…?! C'mon, faster! Isn't that your whole thing?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Sonic exclaimed. "I'm fast."

"Then act like it!" Zik scolded. Zomom watched from only a few feet away as Sonic tightly gripped Zik's hand.

"Why the sour face, sugar?" Zoga asked, pirouetting past and then back around to Zomom.

"It's just… nothing," Zomom sighed.

"Bzzt! Wrong!" Zoga exclaimed. Sonic looked over, alerted by the sudden noise. "Sonic! Zomom wants you to skate with her instead!" Zoga called, waving her arms everywhere. Sonic stared at the panicking, hot-red Zomom, wide-eyed. The ice was melting a little under her feet. In Sonic's distraction, he accidentally tripped Zik. Sonic, Tails and Zik all toppled and slid across the ground. Zomom could only stand and watch in horror as she and Zoga passed, unable to turn around on the now narrow platform. "Well… that didn't exactly go according to plan." Zoga mumbled, looking at the ground blankly.

"Thanks for trying, I guess," Zomom replied. "I could never EVER ask for that. But then I become jealous that he goes with Master Zik instead. Something's wrong with me."

"Believe me, Zomom. I know the feeling," Zeena's voice said. Zomom's heart skipped a beat. Then, something jumped up through the icy trail ahead, shattering the ice completely. Zomom and Zoga skidded to a stop before they went over the edge. They looked up at the thing that had jumped in front of them. It was a monstrous, hulking Yeti! Atop it, stood Zeena. "Huh. Didn't expect you two to be siding with the enemy. But everyone knew something was up when the tower in Desert Ruins went down.

"Zeena!" Zomom cried, backing away with Zoga following. "Hey. Listen to me. We don't have to fight! Tails came up with a way for us Hexis to resist the Mystic Melody."

"I know WE don't have to fight. And I don't plan to," Zeena stated. "I'm here for Sonic and Tails. Lord Robotnik doesn't have to know you ever went along with their crusade in the first place." Zeena examined her nail art. "So let me through, and stay outta my way. Robotnik is less likely to kill you as well if I tell him you two were prisoners. Besides, I don't want any part of Tails' invention unless it also immunizes me to more Badniks than I can control gunning me down!"

"Zeena, are you sick?" Zoga asked. "You look a little… green."

"Wait… what?" Zeena asked. She looked to her arm, and saw that it was completely lime green. She looked ahead, and saw a faint reflection of herself in the ice. It was grinning back at her. "Urgh! Whatever!" Zeena exclaimed. "Get out of here! Run!" Suddenly, a large melon flew into Zeena's face. "Hey, who—?!" Looking all around, her eyes landed on Zik, who had caught up along with Sonic and Tails. "Master Zik?" Zeena asked, frozen in fear.

"Zeena! As your master, I command you to surrender this instant!" Zik shouted, tossing a watermelon into the air and then catching it again with one hand, the other hand pointing straight at Zeena. Zeena was now faced with a difficult choice. Either listen to Zik and face Robotnik's rage, or the other way around.

Luckily, she didn't have to think about it for too long.

"Tsk tsk, honestly," that voice inside told Zeena. "You can't even choose? Being afraid of pissing off somebody or the other won't get you anywhere." Zeena felt a force overtake her. Zeena's eyes widened as her body turned extremely frigid. Everybody else stepped back as she screamed, every inch of her body otherwise frozen in place. There was a large blast of snow from her exact location. Nobody could see in the harsh momentary blizzard. When it cleared up, Zeena was covered in some kind of green, frosty apparition that vaguely resembled her in shape. "Aaahaha, it feels so good to finally be in control… mostly, at least." The warped Zeena voice said out loud.

"Zeena?" Zomom asked. The apparition stared at her, eyeing her up and down. It then laughed.

"Zeena's not here right now. My name is Envy. With that said, if there's one thing I'm not jealous of, it's you," the apparition cackled. "C'mon out, Gluttony. You may be gross and stupid, but you can help me to finally get Robotnik's head on a platter." Zomom looked up at Envy, visibly hurt. "Then, you can eat it, I guess. Whatever."

"Leave her alone!" Zik shouted, stepping into the front of the group. "And Give Zeena back! NOW!"

"I don't need to listen to you, 'master'," Envy stated, commanding the Yeti she stood atop of to charge the others. It ran forward, attempting to trample them. Everybody jumped out of the way. Sonic and Tails slid out of control as soon as they hit the ground. They fell off of the floating trail, but Zik quickly reeled them both back in with the string at the end of her spear. She then spun them both around over her head and threw them at the Yeti. Sonic and Tails crashed into the Yeti in ball form, knocking it forward. Envy fell right off, as the Yeti got up and fled.

"Come back here!" Envy shouted on the ground as the Yeti made its escape. As she cried out a mix of insults and pleas, Sonic and Tails landed on the ground and uncurled. They both took notice of Envy's reflection in the ice. Instead of an exact mirrored image, it was Zeena! She was pounding on the ice from the other side, and though muffled, her cries for help could just barely be heard.

"Zik! Zoga! Zomom! HELP!!!" Zeena cried from the other side. She was out of earshot of the exact people she was calling for. But that didn't mean nobody could hear her.

"How do we get you out of there?!" Sonic asked. Zeena made a face of disgust, but then realized this was her only way out of this predicament.

"The tower! If the tower plays the Mystic Melody, it'll probably beat Envy back into dormancy and bring me back!" Zeena exclaimed. Sonic and Tails looked at the tower. It was decently close, as they had been following the Cacophonic Compass for some time by that point. But it was a long jump down. "Hurry! I don't know how long I can keep her at bay until she takes over my mind completely."

"You sure sound like you know your stuff!" Sonic exclaimed. He rolled over to Zomom, Zik and Zoga. "Zeena's not gone yet, but she will be if we don't make that tower go off! So… don't take off your headphones!"

"Okay, Sonic, ready for takeoff…?" Tails asked, before realizing Zomom had already begun to fly towards the Cacophonic Tower with Sonic. Tails watched from afar as they flew into the distance, but quickly looked back to Envy, who was in the midst of getting up.

"You think just because you scared off that stupid beast it means I'm gonna give up, huh?" Envy asked, as she and Tails got into a fistfight. "Well then, you've got another thing coming!" Envy kicked Tails away and held out her misty hands to the sides, shooting two energy beams out of them. The energy beams broke right into the walls of the tunnel and then pulled out with large chunks of sharp ice. One for each beam. One chunk of ice was larger than Envy's entire body. Envy swung at Tails, who ducked. However, she thought fast and then threw the beams overhead. The ice chunks were now about to tenderize Tails. At the last second, Zoga flew in with her showy float and swept Tails up. Envy saw her opportunity and struck, throwing a chunk of ice at the float. It made impact, knocking the float onto the ground. Tails and Zoga went tumbling forward as the float crashed and burned.

"I'll take it from here!" Zik shouted, dashing towards Envy with a spear in her hand and a shield of fruit surrounding her. She and Envy then clashed, Zik slicing away at the physical energy beams with her spear. Eventually, she cut one of the ice chunks loose. Envy jumped back to try and recharge her energy beams, but before she could, Zik hit the ice towards Envy with her spear like a hockey player would a puck. It slid towards Envy with incredible speed, before slamming right into her. Envy was knocked onto the icy floor, dazed. Zeena remained in the reflection, with great anticipation.

"We're coming over the Cacophonic Tower," Zomom stated, Sonic clinging onto her hands. "What's the plan now?"

"Smile for the camera," Sonic answered. He flashed a large grin at the tower's cameras as they flew by, and Zomom smiled shyly as well. As the camera locked onto the two, detecting Sonic, it began to flash red in fury. Alarms went off everywhere, followed by the Mystic Melody. Zomom was unaffected due to her headphones, as were Zik and Zoga. However, Envy wasn't so lucky. Just as she had gotten up to fight back against Zik, who was beating her down with the blunt end of her spear, Envy's eyes widened as the sound of the Mystic Melody entered her ears.

"Gah!" Envy gasped, clutching her ears at the grating sound. "No! I was so close!"

"Heh… at least you won't have to worry about the cold anymore," Tails replied, stepping forward shakily while holding his arm. "Not where you'll end up. Face it, you lost." Envy, growling with each breath, turned her scowl into a fangy grin.

"Wouldn't be so sure about that, fox boy," Envy replied, the frost around Zeena's body starting to dissipate from the waist up. Tails looked confused. "After all, if you lose against yourself, is it really that much of a loss in the end? I don't think so."

"What do you mean?" Tails asked, Zomom and Sonic landing back on the ice path.

"Let's just say I see a little bit of myself in you," Envy snickered, as the frost disappeared. Zeena was left lying on the ground. The echo of Envy's laughter was the only sign she was ever there.

"Zeena?" Zomom asked, walking over to her friend and pulling Sonic along with her. Zik approached too. "Are you okay?" Zomom knelt down to Zeena, rolling her over and placing a hand on her shoulder. Even then, Zeena didn't open her eyes. "She's… freezing cold."

"I'd imagine," Zik replied. "And being out here probably won't do her much good." Zik looked all around for anywhere they could go to help Zeena (and themselves) warm up. "Well… It probably isn't a good idea to go to one of Robotnik's factories. Any ideas?"

"I have a studio nearby. Haven't used it in ages though," Zoga stated. "Little animals always get in. Is anyone here afraid of hedgehogs?"

"Me," Sonic stated. Everyone looked towards him, even more confused than before. "What? Don't stand there and pretend you wouldn't be afraid of a Zeti if you saw one! It's like looking into an undeveloped mirror of all you could have been!" Sonic pointed to all the Hexis present. Zomom and Zoga shrugged, accepting his argument. Zik remained motionless. So did Zeena.

Zoga wiped a sweat from her straw-like horn. "Well then thank GOODNESS there's no hedgehogs there," she sighed.