#asdfjkl im actually highkey nervous to post this but … where else will i put it

[axemetaphor]

Some Writing

I have little idea if this readmore will work because i'm on mobile but!!! I'm trying.

I wrote a bit of a something for my new fan character Unknown the Raccoon/Hedgehog [usually just called Unknown]; it starts right after they lost their memories and ends with them meeting Sonic. Kinda based on Forces (since that's what motivated me to even make Unknown!) but since ive been avoiding all spoilers it's probably not accurate lolol

Anyways—

Rating E10+

Contains mild injury, violence, and light swearing.

A hazy greenish-blue sky slowly comes into focus, partially obscured by the walls of tall buildings that rise far above their head, stretching up into the sky to brush against the clouds; the sun shines down brightly, harshly, and their whole body feels hot. 'How long have I been out here?' They wonder. They try to lift their arm, but it feels heavy, their movements sluggish. Their head aches, a dull ringing echoing in their ears, and the moment they try to twist their neck agony spears through their skull.

"Ow!" They yelp involuntarily, wincing and squeezing their eyes shut. "Oh, jeez, that hurts..." Slowly, they try to sit up, using their arms to both lift and support them. They're lying on something soft, squishy in places, covered in plastic. It feels like a lot of stuff with varying degrees of softness all wrapped in one very sturdy plastic wrap. It crinkles a bit when they move, a gentler sound than cellophane, but unpleasant nonetheless. Their eyes ease open again, and the sunlight seems slightly less harsh now. For a moment, they sit, blinking and looking around with wide green eyes. They're sat in an alleyway, in an open Dumpster practically overflowing with black trash bags. The alley itself is devoid of life, and the streets beyond it seem similarly abandoned. 'What's going on? Why am I the only one here?' Turning this way and that, they search for a clue. Finding none, they sigh, hopping down from the Dumpster, and their boots thud loudly against the concrete upon contact. Straightening up, they brush themselves off, feeling a little grimy. The walls ahead of them look equally dingy, rather run-down. 'Which way do I go?' They frown, squinting first one way, then the other. "Six of one, half-dozen of the other," they mumble, but then something catches their eye. There's a couple flyers tacked onto the walls to their left; curious, they turn that way and cautiously approach them. The city has the air of a place that really should be more busy than this—the silence is so obviously unnatural. Their boots thump with each step, the only sound heard at all. No birds, no insects dare make any noise, but why? They pause, reading the flyers, which they now realize are tacked on to the windows of what was—is?—a store, presumably. Distracting themselves for a minute, they peer into the store. Racks of clothes sit in a relatively orderly arrangement, but the shop itself is devoid of life. Their eyes slowly focus on their reflection rather than the contents of the store, and their ears prick in surprise. Leaning forward, they gently place a hand on their cheek, as if to make certain that that's their reflection.

Fluffy blueish-grey fur covers their entire body, with paler whitish fur outlining their eyes and the inside of their ears—which bear three piercings: two rings towards the tip of their ears, and one gauge piercing at the base—and covering their muzzle. Deep blue—almost black!—fur rings their eyes, with one little patch on their forehead and two stripes down their cheeks. Just beneath their chin, a plume of thick, fluffy, bright pale green fur covers their chest and neck. There's a rather tattered black rain jacket hanging from their shoulders, one sleeve half-ripped-off and the other completely absent. Form-fitting black jeans cover their legs, and are in a similar level of dishevelment. The only thing that remained intact was the studded belt wrapped around their waist, which bears two chains dangling off of it. Their gaze drifts back up to their face again, and they notice dried blood practically caked to their upper lip and around their nose; there's a dried smear of blood on one of their ears, too, right beneath one of the ring piercings. The thought 'oh, that must be the newest one' drifts through their head unbidden as they stare in mild confusion at their face. Somehow, everything about this is so unfamiliar... but how? This is their face, isn't it? So why doesn't it feel right? And how come they don't remember their name?

They close their eyes and shake their head, letting their hand drop back down to their side. "What the hell happened to me?" They think aloud, looking back at their reflection. Taking a step back, they tilt their head from side to side, checking out their spines. All are brushed to curve towards one side—their left—and the two on their right have a bit more curl in them than the ones on the left. Their gaze drifts down again, admiring their black combat boots. Flexing their foot, they realize the shoe has a steel toe, stained with blood. "Whatever it was, I guess I went down fighting." They laugh shortly, smirking, and look back up. Something else catches their attention now, a paper flapping in the wind, trying vainly to escape and flutter down the street. They reach up, gently smoothing it down with a hand, and examine it more closely. The top of the paper has the word "wanted" printed in all-caps, boldface, large font. Their eyes skim the page, automatically focusing on the chunk of text nearer to the bottom—several bullet points read "Name: Unknown. Age: Estimated 18 or 19. Height: 3'6" Reward: 100,000,000 rings," then several phone numbers. Their gaze drifts back up, and their eyes widen when they see the image accompanying this Wanted poster. Their eyes snap from the image, to their reflection, back to the image, back to the reflection. There's no mistaking it. The face in the photo, grinning smugly at the viewer, is none other than their own!

Instinctively they tear the paper down and rush to shove it in their pocket, frantically glancing about even though the street is deserted. Turning all about, they look for copies of the poster; finding none, they relax slightly, and run a hand through their hair, jamming the other in their pocket. "'Unknown,' huh..." they mumble. "Doesn't clear much up, but I guess it works...for now." Looking up, they frown. "Bigger problem—where are all the people? ...And why do I keep talking to myself?"

--•~

After an awful lot of hard work, Unknown finally made it to the top of the tallest building they could find, and they sat on the edge of its roof, wheezing slightly as they looked out at the city sprawling beneath them. The sky is still a cheery light blue above them, but they can see that, far ahead of them, a dark reddish-black cloud hangs over part of the city. A large part, too, and it's spreading. Some parts of the city are on fire, the smoke already darkening the sky, and something in Unknown's gut twists. No wonder the city is silent—it must have been evacuated. 'Guess nobody was checking the Dumpsters, though… or they thought I was dead.' Swinging their legs slightly, Unknown looks up, thinking carefully. The sky above is deceptively calm, unnervingly so—not even a bird dares disturb it. Looking back down at the dark part of the city, Unknown narrows their eyes, focusing intently. They can see, amongst the smog, some weird, slow-moving shapes that tower over the buildings. 'What on earth is going on over there?' Standing up, they swish their tail back and forth, mulling over their options. Either they run away from all the dark fiery stuff, and hope they can find where the city evacuated to, or they take their chances and head for all the chaos, because, well, why not? What even are the chances that they'd find the evacuees?

A strange curiosity consumes them, and they find their eyes drifting back to the hulking shapes almost crawling through the buildings. "I have to know what's going on over there," they think aloud, standing up. Turning around, they head for the opposite edge of the roof, then turn back around. Their eyes catch sight of a power line running from a building to the left of the one they're currently down into the sea of rooftops beneath them. Crouching down a bit, they brace themselves, take a deep breath, then sprint for the corner of the roof. Springing off it, they spin their arms a bit like a windmill, slowing them down slightly; reaching out, they grab hold of the power line, feeling it bend beneath their weight. Wrapping both hands around it, they twist their body to face the same direction as the wire leads, putting their feet in front of them. The wind roars through their ears as they slide down, squinting against the force of the air. After a short bit, they feel their grips start to weaken, arms shaking from the force of holding them still, and they crane their neck, looking for a good place to land. Right as the wire passes over a rooftop below, they let go, flailing a little; right before they hit the ground, they tuck into a roll, and somersault right up to the edge of the roof.

Without missing a beat, they spring to their feet, launching themselves off the roof to collide with the wall of a building adjacent to it. Scrabbling for a handhold, they fall a few inches before their fingers wrap around a windowsill. Hauling themselves up halfway, Unknown looks around for another place to go; spotting a decorative grate on a skyscraper across the street, they grin, then fling themselves from the windowsill. The wind screams in their ears again as they sail through the air, plummeting at an alarming rate until they collide with the grate several meters below where they were on the windowsill. The raccoon-hedgehog takes a moment to steady themselves, panting slightly, before beginning to claw their way up the grating towards the top of the building. After maybe five minutes, they can feel their arms start to burn and ache; pausing, they twist and turn, looking for a new place to go. To their left, a bit below them, is a balcony jutting out from a floor of the building. It has some potted trees and bushes almost directly beneath them, and after a moment's consideration, they casually let go of the grate, falling right into a bush. Rolling straight out of it, they brush themselves off, then dash for the opposite edge, hopping up onto the banister then springing off again; their feet collide with a roof below, and they fall into the landing, crouching down with their palms flat on the floor.

Unknown looks up, eyes searching the horizon as they get to their feet, blinking a few times. The red darkness is still pretty far away, but they can faintly smell its smoke now. Flicking an ear, they stretch briefly, trotting forward. 'Now what?' They ask themselves, looking around. To their left is a taller building with many, many windows and a rail branching off its roof, arcing down further into the city, maybe even directly to where they want to go; directly ahead, there's a shorter donut shop with a massive sculpted donut on top of it; on the right sits an apartment complex with a lot of balconies. The weirdly placed rail draws Unknown's attention, and they casually look down at their boots. "They're no SOAP shoes, but maybe they'll work..." The raccoon-hog muses aloud, heading towards their left. After a step or two, they break into a jog, then a sprint, dashing as fast as they can before vaulting up onto the lip of the roof and springing right off it. As they sail towards the building, their blurry reflection comes into focus in the windows, a grinning face with feet outstretched to take the brunt of the impact. The glass shatters so easily, thin sheets not meant for the force of a body or bullets, and they drop into a shoulder roll across the razor-sharp shards. Luckily their fur is so thick; they spring up, shake their fur out, and dash forward, hardly paying attention to their surroundings. This is an office building, with tons of cubicles all in the way, so Unknown hops up onto one of the desks then up onto the thin dividers and starts lunging from one to the other, headed for a set of elevators. Leaping off the last divider, they slam the "Up" button, then take a step back, breathing hard. The elevator whirrs softly, slowly growing louder as it approaches, until it lets out a gentle "ding!" and the doors open.

"Roof access...?" Unknown asks hopefully, ears perked, as they lean in and peer first one way, then the other, looking for the panel of buttons. Finding it, they step further into the elevator, wiggling the fingers of their right hand as they visually scan the controls, a grin lighting up their face as they spot one marked "R." Strutting all the way into the elevator, they press and hold the button, then step back and lean against the wall. The doors creak closed, and after a brief moment of stillness the elevator starts to ascend. Unknown leans back, crossing first their legs then their arms, looking at the ceiling. Their breathing relaxes to a normal pace, the pounding of their heart easing into a calm rhythm, just in time for the elevator to stop and let out another cheery "ding!" with the doors grinding open mere moments later. Immediately Unknown bounds forward, streaking towards the rail; hopping over a ventilation duct, they skid a slight bit before vaulting up onto the rail. Their boots collide with the rail, screeching loudly as the steel scrapes up against whatever metal the rail is made of. Wind rushes through their hair and that familiar feeling of weightlessness, like their stomach is lifting up into their ribcage. They pick up speed, and soon the city skyscrapers are a blur rushing past them, quickly darkening the further along they go. Looking up, Unknown realizes they're most definitely not under blue skies anymore; glancing back down, they spring off the railing a mere few yards before it ends, falling into another shoulder roll. Getting to their feet, the raccoon-hog pauses, looking first left then right.

Many of the buildings nearby are broken, crumbling and some are on fire. The sounds of chaos and destruction are much louder now, along with some very weird mechanical sounds. 'Is that coming from the huge robots I saw earlier?' Unknown wonders, looking up. A couple roofs over, they notice some smaller robots wandering around, almost like they're patrolling the area. Squinting, they try to make out just what's going on, too distracted to notice the robot creeping up behind them until—

"Look out!" Someone shouts, and a weight slams into Unknown. They yelp, tumbling head-over-heels with a stranger's arms wrapped around their shoulders. A gunshot is heard, then the sound of smashing metal, and the arms are lifted from them; scrabbling along the rooftop, Unknown scrambles to their feet, ending up in a slightly unsteady crouch with one hand pressed to the ground. Looking up, they see a somewhat-bruised blue hedgehog getting up a bit ahead of them. Without even missing a beat, he leaps up into the air, curling into a ball to smash through an air born robot. Before they can properly react, Unknown's head instinctively snaps around to see a different machine charging right for them. Letting out another yelp, they run off to their right, trying to escape it, but the machine isn't going to give up anytime soon. More are descending from the sky like metallic locusts, one thudding to the ground right in front of the sprinting raccoon-hog, who immediately drops into a sliding kick.

Surprisingly, they knock the robot right off its feet, and it detonates as the robot following Unknown mows right over it. Glancing over their shoulder, Unknown grins, an idea forming in their head; they begin to slow their pace, waiting for the robot to catch up a bit, before making a beeline right for a wall sticking up from the roof. Leaping up onto it, they take two steps upward before backflipping off of it to land behind their pursuer; their left leg lashes out, colliding with the robot and slamming it harshly into the wall. It collapses, and they land with a thump, turning immediately to see a different robot taking aim at them. 'Jesus, they never stop, do they?' Sprinting, they duck behind a ventilation duct, hearing bullets ping off of it, before they abruptly stop with a crash. Scrambling to stand, Unknown looks to see a bright pink hedgehog absolutely whaling on their former assailant. Paying little mind to that, they vault up over the ventilation duct, choosing to sprint towards their right. They see a red echidna punching straight through machine after machine, all surrounding him, and they tackle the nearest robot, surprising and distracting it. Unknown scrambles quickly to the top of its head, then springs off it just as two different machines shoot right at the raccoon-hog. They miss spectacularly; with an explosion the robot's head is gone, and Unknown lands neatly on top another robot to repeat the process. In no time, the robot's numbers dwindle drastically; Unknown leaps off the last robot's head just as the red echidna's fist collides with it, throwing it almost off the building. The raccoon-hog hits the ground a meter or so away from the red echidna, pulling themselves to their feet as the blue hedgehog and his friends all start to walk across the roof, headed for the center where Unknown and the echidna are.

Panting, Unknown pulls off their tattered jacket, slinging it over their shoulder. They've no clue why they didn't ditch it earlier, since it isn't useful at all, but at least they had a thin layer of protection, they suppose. Running a hand through their hair, they look over when the blue hedgehog calls out, "Not bad!" He grins broadly, stepping forward. The pink hedgehog and an orange fox follow him; the red echidna meanders off across the roof, looking like he's trying to find something.

"Who are you?" Intrigued, Unknown steps forward to meet the three halfway, and stares into the dark green eyes of their new friend. 'How is he not winded at all?' They wonder.

A mixture of surprise and confusion flashes across his face briefly before he smiles in a friendly manner and answers, "I'm Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog." He extends a hand, and Unknown cautiously shakes it, a bit puzzled. "These are all of my friends," Letting go of Unknown's hand, the hedgehog takes a step back and gestures towards his company, pointing first at an orange fox. "That's Tails," The fox smiles and waves cheerfully. "That's Amy," a pink hedgehog holding an absolutely massive hammer steps forward with a smile.

"Pleased to meet you!" She interrupts Sonic to extend a hand to Unknown as well. They take it with a polite smile, still a little uncertain.

"That's Knuckles," Sonic continues, gesturing towards the red echidna, who turns at the mention of his name to wave casually. "And who are you?" Turning his focus back to Unknown, Sonic raises an eyebrow.

"Oh, uh—" they frantically think back to the flyer they found, "U-Unknown."

"Unknown?" Amy echoes, tipping her head to one side and looking perplexed.

"Yep," the raccoon-hog straightens up, feigning confidence and quickly changing the subject. "Hey, what's going on? What's up with all the robots and fire?"

"Oh, y'know, same ol' Robotnik stuff." To Unknown's surprise, Sonic shrugs it off. "We're gonna take care of it, don't worry."

"Uh—I—Can I help?" For a moment, they're caught off-guard by the nonchalance this colorful crew is displaying, but they've recovered as quickly as they can.

Sonic seems surprised for a moment, then grins broadly, looking around his group of friends. They all nod, smiling themselves, and the blue hedgehog turns back to Unknown. "Sure! Why not?"