A few days have passed since Antoine and Bunnie's wedding, and everyone in Knothole couldn't be happier. Well, almost everyone. Y/n hasn't been himself since the day of the wedding. Don't get him wrong, he was happy for Antoine and Bunnie, but it was something else that bothered him.
The same day of the wedding, Y/n asked Merlin to help him remember his past. However, Y/n now wishes he didn't know his past. He hasn't recalled everything yet, but he doesn't like what he does remember now. He found out that he lived upon Space Colony Ark with Maria Robotnik and her grandfather, Gerald, along with Shadow and others. He couldn't find a memory that had his parents yet, but he didn't care. That same scene he saw with Merlin played over and over in his head like a record player.
"MARIA!"
Y/n has barely slept since that day, either drawing things about his past or getting new memories that kept him up at night. Also, he figured out that he was twelve when the Ark was attacked by the Military and Maria was murdered. But that was fifty years ago, and Y/n was only fifteen. Well, sixteen, now. But when he met Digital Gerald, he was told that he should be sixty-two instead. So Y/n speculated that he was on the Ark all alone for about three years before something happened and sent him fifty, or more correctly forty-seven, years into the future.
Yeah. See what Y/n has to deal with? He has to figure all of this out basically by himself because no one really can relate to what's going on with him. Well, no one but Shadow. But Y/n has no idea where the Ultimate Lifeform is, so he's out of the question.
Right now, Y/n is seen sitting at his desk as usual with his tablet in front of him and a stylus pen in his hand. His hair was messy and his eyes looked tired and half-lidded, dark circles under his eyes which indicated a lack of sleep. His tablet had a drawing of Maria on the screen, but it wasn't a happy one.
"Stupid..." he muttered to himself as he spun his stylus in between his fingers. "Why didn't you move...?"
A knock on his room door catches his attention, making him glance over at it to see it open. Danny pokes his head through it, smiling softly at his human friend.
"So... you okay, pal?" he asks, concerned. "You haven't really left your room in, like, a week."
"I'm fine, Danny," Y/n lies through his teeth. "Just trying to figure things out."
"Your memories?" Danny questioned.
Yeah. Y/n told Danny all about what he saw that day. The lion wanted to help, but he doesn't know how. And Y/n refuses his help. It made him feel useless, just like when Jay...
Another story for another time.
"Yeah," Y/n responds to his friend. "My damned memories..."
Y/n rests his elbows on his desk as he rubs his head tiredly. He hated not getting any sleep, but his stupid memories won't let him sleep.
"Maybe... you should relax for a bit?" Danny suggests to his friend. "You've been up for days without rest. Sonic and the others are at HQ just hanging out. I was gonna go join 'em, so maybe you wanna come with?"
Y/n thought the offer over. He did need to relax, but he just couldn't. He still needs to figure everything out. Until then...
"Maybe later, Danny."
Danny looked at his friend in empathy. He knew exactly how Y/n feels now. Losing someone you care for and not being able to do anything about it made a terrible feeling grow in Danny's chest.
"Well, if you say so," Danny says as he begins to leave. "I'll be at HQ if you need me."
Y/n doesn't respond as Danny finally leaves. The lion looks at the human's room door for a few moments before walking away and leaving to Freedom HQ.
Freedom HQ...
At Freedom HQ, Sonic playing his guitar as Vector the Crocodile and Mighty the Armidillo are seen playing video games while Knuckles watches them with his arms crossed. Danny then walked in and greeted everybody.
"Hey, Fighters. How are you all holding up?"
"Yo! Danny!" Sonic smiles at the lion. How've you been? Where's Y/n?"
"He's in his room, still," Danny informs. "He's not doing so hot, either."
"That kid has become almost as reclusive and secretive as Espio!" Vector states as he mashes his controller's buttons. "We already have one ninja chameleon, we don't need another!"
Knuckles finally speaks up.
"Speaking of Espio, he's been gone for too long," the echidna states. "I say we go look for him."
Knuckles' girlfriend, Julie-Su, only smiles as she grabs her boyfriend's arm comfortingly.
"I'm sure he's fine," she says. "You know he'd be mad at us if we did go looking for him."
"I don't want to insult him. I know he's talented," Knuckles says. "But I can't shake the feeling something bad has happened..."
Rouge walks into the room and immediately steals Knuckles away, making Julie-Su growl.
"Never doubt a Guardian's intuition," she says. "Maybe you and I can go looking for Espio, Knuckles."
"You'd do that, Rouge?"
"Shall do anything," the pink echidna growls.
"Watch it, Pinky," Rouge growls back.
Sally walks in, looking around as she hoped to see Y/n. Sadly, like the usual now, she sees no sign of the human. She sighs before she looks at the interaction between the two echidnas and the bat, making her grow a small smile as she walks up to Sonic.
"I guess it's a good sign that we can afford a little banter lately," she tells the Blue Blur.
"Yeah. Things have never been better, Sally," Sonic states as Julie-Su and Rouge continue to bicker back and forth. "Knothol is a booming little city. We've got a sweet little home-away-from-home here in Freedom HQ. Families are reuniting are so much time apart. The monarchy is young and strong while the Villains are on decline. We've already got some nasties locked away safely."
Sonic laughs as he sits up, smiling at Sally Acorn.
"At this rate, we'll topple Eggman's empire in no time."
"Heheh. Yeah," Sally smiles back at Sonic, but it falters. "And what about Y/n? Any word from him?"
"No, actually," Sonic's smile falters as well. "Ever since the wedding, he's been... different."
He looks over at Danny who was playing darts with Charmy Bee and some others.
"And Danny refuses to say anything. He says that he's not allowed to."
Sonic sighs as he leans back in his chair.
"It's like the kid is carrying some kind of burden. One that may be too heavy for him."
"And you would know all about that, wouldn't you?" Sally playfully asks Sonic who rolls his eyes.
"Haha. Very funny."
Sally giggles a bit before becoming serious.
"Maybe I should go see how he's doing," she thinks aloud.
"Tried it already," Sonic states as he plucks a few of his guitar strings. "Won't let anyone in except Danny."
"Well, maybe he'll let me in," Sally says, almost as if she was trying to convince herself rather than Sonic.
"If you say so."
Suddenly, the ground starts to rumble, gaining everyone's attention. They all look around to find the source of the rumbling, only to look up when the roof is taken right off above them.
"Knock-knock, my friends!"
Snively, in a green mech suit, says as he smiles evilly at the Freedom Fighters. Then, before anyone could react, Snively aimed the mech's palms forward and shot a beam of energy at everyone. Almost everyone completely vanished, leaving only Knuckles, Sonic, Tails, Danny, Sally, and Mighty, along with a few others remaining.
"Just like fish in a barrel!" Snively laughs evilly.
"Snively just vaporized...!" Sonic couldn't believe his eyes.
"Bunnie!" Sally calls to the cyborg rabbit. "Get him outside and give us some room!"
"Ah'm on it, Sally-Girl!" Bunnie says as she uses her rocket feet to fly at Snively.
She goes for a punch, only for her arm to be easily grabbed by Snively's mech.
"Oh, I think I can handle you!"
Antoine, who had watched the entire thing, runs out of the room he was in as he brandished his sword in anger.
"Laisse'-elle, monstre!" he shouts at Snively in French.
However, Eggman's nephew only chuckles as he aims his free hand back at the Mobians. Multiple beams of yellow energy shoot out and engulf Antoine, Charmy and Saffron Bee, and Sally, along with some others as everyone else watches in terror.
"Mighty! Help me!" Ray calls out to the armidillo, only to vanish.
"Sonic! Go find Y-" she disappears before she could finish.
"SALLY!"
Snively then aims his hand at Bunnie.
"I suppose I shouldn't separate the newlyweds," the diabolical midget smirks evilly. "Brace yourself, Bunnie. This burns a LOT?!"
Mighty punches Snively's mech, making it stumble back a bit. Amy enters the room, wondering what's going on as Sonic tries to hold Knuckles back.
"Bunnie... and Sally... everyone..." Danny stumbled on his words.
"He blasted them all!" Tails exclaims, tears in his eyes.
"LET ME AT HIM!"
"Everyone, stay back!" Sonic orders his friends. "Mighty's lost it! And you do not want to be in the middle of that!"
Mighty yells in anger as he tears off the right arm of Snively's mech.
"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO RAY?!" Mighty asks in anger as he swings and slams the arm into Snively. "HE COULD NEVER HURT YOU! I TOLD HIM I'D KEEP HIM SAFE! AND YOU GO AND VAPORIZE HIM!"
Snively's mech, or what remains of it, falls on to the ground with a "thump!". He then growls and aims his hand at Migty.
"Fine! Go join him!"
And with that, Mighty is vaporized into nothing. Sonic and Knuckles finally crawl out of HQ, the Blue Blur running at Snively.
"Now we go!"
"So will I, since my work here is done!" Snively presses a button, ejecting himself from his mech as he flies away. "After all... I WAS ONLY THE DISTRACTION!"
The ruined mech explodes, sending Sonic flying back as he rolls across the ground. Meanwhile, the explosion made by the mech has trapped Knuckles, Amy, and Tails trapped under some rubble as Danny runs over to help Sonic up.
"Just... the... distraction...?" Sonic questions as he's held up to his feet by Danny.
"You okay, Sonic?" the lion asks the hedgehog who slowly nods.
"Where's Tails?" he asks. "And the others?"
"SONIC! WE'RE DOWN HERE!" Tails exclaims from under the rubble. "Dr. Robotnik must be attacking Knothole! And don't worry about us! We're okay! Save our families!"
Danny and Sonic look at each other and nod in unison before they run off.
"I'll go find Y/n!" Danny exclaims as he runs towards his home. "I'll kill Eggman if he even laid a hand on him!"
"Don't worry, guys!" Sonic says as he speeds forward. "I'm fast enough to there in time go save... everyone..."
Knothole was in ruins. Fire was burning everywhere as explosions rocked the small city. Sonic ran through his destroyed home, sorrow in his eyes.
"The Lake of Rings..."
"... Uncle Chuck's Diner..."
"... my neighborhood... my house... It's all gone!"
Sonic makes his way towards Acorn Castle at great speed.
"I bet Elias got everyone into the castle! They'll be safe there!" he exclaims. "I can get there and held hold off the invasion!"
However, before Sonic could get any closer, the castle blows up in a massive explosion.
"NO!"
Sonic looks on in horror as a familiar laugh is heard.
"It's about time you showed up...
... rodent."
"Eggman..." Sonic was nearly tearing up. "Everyone I ever cared for... my family... friends... you... they're..."
"They're captured, Sonic," Eggman assures the hedgehog. "Snively and I used an enhanced teleporting beam, much like what I used on Mammoth Mogul and his crowd."
Sonic's eyes widen in shock. He was relieved his friends were alive, but it still made him feel terrible to know that all of his friends and family are captured.
"Theyll been transported to my Egg Grapes," Eggman tells Sonic. "There it will all end."
"Nice try, Doc. Snively didn't zap me," Sonic states. "I get to save the day as always!"
"Silly boy," Eggman smiles wickedly as he fires off dozens of rockets. "I told Snively to leave you for me!"
Meanwhile...
Y/n is now seen sleeping, his head resting on his desk before he feels his Chaos Gem vibrating. He slowly wakes up and yawns before holding his gem in his hand.
"What's up with you?" he asks, not expecting what happened next.
"Run, Y/n! There is danger!"
Suddenly, the hair on Y/n's neck stands on end as his eyes widen in shock. Then an explosion engulfs everything around him, destroying his room and all of Danny's house in one go.
However, Y/n leaps out of the flames with nothing but some scratches against his skin and lands on the ground nearby.
"What the...?"
He stands up and looks around, seeing the rest of Knothole in flames as his face fell into an expression of horror.
"No..."
Then only one person came to his mind as he dashed away in a blur of green.
"SALLY!"
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Eggman has attacked Knothole and captured almost all of its residents, including most of the Freedom Fighters! Can Sonic stop Eggman this time? And will Y/n be able to help in time? Find out next time, on Only Human!