All characters are copywrite Sega, and other media companies responsible for the
international Sonic franchises (including DiC and Archie). This applies to all 'Glint' stories.

Story is by: M.C. Griffin (unless otherwise stated... I guess.)
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Conveyer belts.

Assembly lines.

Computer screens.

Sewing machines.

What was this? You walked this infernal world looking about for the source of all this
industry.

Electronic engineers.

Focus groups

Advertising agents.

Corporate leaders.

They were all focusing on one thing. You couldn't tell what it was.

Programmers.

Animators.

Writers.

Fans.

You finally realized. Blue plush dolls. Blue video games. Blue T.V. shows. Blue comic
books. Blue hedgehog.

It was Sonic. This world seemed to live and breathe him. Eat and shit him. Fuck and birth
him. Die for his sins, and be reborn for his glory.

Children loved him, adults created him. He was digital, plastic, soft, and flat all at once.

Sometimes he spoke in words, but always in different voices. Sometimes he was black and
sometimes he was white. Sometimes his voice was high and shrill and sometimes his voice
could be read on paper. Sometimes he was written of by men in suits with business cards
and shiny shoes. Sometimes he was written of by teenagers after school when there was
nothing else to do.

This new world was a look into other worlds. You looked into every one of them with the
most intrigue. You were disappointed to find that you weren't in as many of them as you
could hope.

Sometimes Sonic had siblings. His mother was a queen, and he played in a band.

Sometimes Sonic was raised in nature, chasing me through world after world. He would
be with Miles who could fly a plane. You saw him chase me to a floating island where he
would encounter a red animal with a furious intent of stopping him.

Sometimes his enemies were weak. A robotic chicken, and a drill themed robot would try
with futile attempts to catch him. Miles was there but much younger. In this world, I was a
fool. You only showed up at Christmas.

Sometimes he would live in a city, protecting it from me. A smaller pink hedgehog pined
for him. He fought with the red creature he fought against in the other world. He fought
towering creatures made of water and powered by chaos; he fought a voluptuous bat
powered by greed; he fought his own dark side powered by science.

Sometimes his world would try to be all of these. Lives would twist in and out of one
another. There were more freedom fighters. You had died once. Sonic had died twice.
Everything was always still, and stories were monthly.

Sometimes the Freedom Fighters were completely different, with names like Johnny
Lightfoot and Porker Lewis. You were much smaller and weaker there and you wore a
bow in your hair.

You wanted this. You wanted this fame. You wanted stories to be told of your pretend
life. You wanted legends to be scribed of your make believe existence. You wanted toys
to be sold in your likeness. You wanted children to put themselves in your shoes in video
games. You wanted "Princess Sally Fruit Rollups"

You finally found your own world. It was Saturday and you watched yourself with a bowl
of Sonic themed cereal on your lap.

You shoveled a spoon full of Sonic heads into your mouth as you saw yourself throw a
ring to the hedgehog and swing down on a cable. You remembered that somehow. This
tale was called "The Doomsday Project."

It was very entertaining but it hadn't happened yet. This was your future, not your past
or present. Was anything really going in this direction? Would it really work out this way?
Would I really die? Would you really become as good as him? If this was your future you
would. You and the hedgehog would find these magical stone things called power stones.
With those you could be equals. The more you watched the more you couldn't wait for
this to happen, but the more you watched the more you realized it wasn't going to.

This wasn't your world.

It was another alternate.

You kissed Sonic.

Without guilt you kissed Sonic.

You smiled.

Impossible.

You watched the kiss with the deepest stare as you spooned some more soggy Sonic
heads into your mouth. What would Bunny think? This couldn't have been the real world.
You couldn't betray her trust with a smile on your face.

You looked down at the bowl to see a single Sonic head. Broken apart. Dissolving in the
milk.

The credits rolled.

Jaleel White? Sonic's real name or what?

Sonic Jaleel White
Tails Bradly Pierce
Rotor Cam Brainard
Snively Charlie Alder
Antoine Rob Paulson
Dulcy Cree Summer
Uncle Chuck William Windom
Me Jim Cummings

What was going on? Bunny her name came up.

Christine Cavanaugh?

Who the fuck ?

Who the fuck is Cathie Soucie?

It sure as shit wasn't you. Just someone posing as you. Your blood boiled. Your ears
rang. Your head hurt. You rose from the ground as this plastic world shook with your
fury. It was all fake. Everyone was an imposter. Everything was synthetic.

"NONE OF THIS IS REAL!!!"

You threw the bowel into the TV screen, breaking the glass, as this world rippled with the
impact.

You were surprised to find, instead of wires and plugs, milk pour out of the screen. It
began to fill the room with the intensity of a fire hose. You screamed in anger as you were
swept up as the room turned into a lake of milk.

As you looked at your hand, you saw it's cheap, crunchy, carbohydrate form begin to
become brittle and disintegrate in the milk.

You woke up with the sound of your own screaming.

You sat up in bed, sweat pouring down your body, dampening the sheets you sat on. All
was dark. All was silent. It must have been very early because you could barely make out
your hut's interior. You put your hand to your head.

"You have a nightmare?"

You felt Bunny's cold metal arm embrace your stomach. You looked down to see the
peaceful smile on her face. Her eyes were closed, so serene.

You slid all the way back into bed and returned her embrace. You were so close. This was
heaven.

Heaven after Hell.

Her eyes slid open slowly. Her lips parted, accenting her quaint smile. You felt your own
eyelids becoming heavy. It was as you started to descend back into sleep when you saw
her say something. No sound, just the mouth moving.

"I love you too." You replied.

Sleep. Dreamless sleep. Thank God.

Morning. Morning. Morning.

How you hated Mornings.

You found yourself lying face down in your pillow. Your sheets were half way off the bed
and your arm was hanging off the naked, makeshift mattress. You looked up at the wall. It
was definitely morning. A warm, skin irritating, nappy, war torn lock of hair fell into your
face. You frustratingly batted it away from your eyes. You turned over and stared at the
ceiling. Straw. Wood. Mud. So hot.

"Maybe blowing up their air conditioning isn't such a horrible idea."

You chuckled at yourself.

You turned over to face your lover.

Vacant. Damn.

Where could she have been? She had spent the whole night with you. You got up to look
out the window. There it was. The village hustled and bustled as usual. Some kids played
soccer in front of your hut. Where was she? You looked around your hut. Everything was
damp from the morning dew. Insolation wasn't too good and the forest climate didn't help
one bit. You found a note.

'Out getting mission essentials with Rotor. Tried to wake you. No dice. Hope you slept
well.

Love:
-Bunny'

You looked up at the ceiling again and a clump of hair fell into your face again. Your skin
was less irritated so it didn't seem so warm but it still annoyed you. Your hair was always
in your face.

When you brushed it away you saw the hedgehog standing half way in the door. He gave
you a smile. His brow lowered into a demented grin. The one he gave when up against a
robot. The one he gave when ready for battle.

He pulled a staff with cylindrical pads on both ends from behind his back.

"'S'been a while since we last sparred. You up to it?"

You stretched, raising your arms above your head. You gave a big yawn and let your arms
rest atop your head.

Sonic leaned smugly against your doorway, looking you up and down. Not checking you
out. Sizing you up.

"Sure." You said, returning his smug grin. "That is, if your up to it... or should I say,
'me'."

He gave that demented grin again. The one he gave when up against an obstacle. The one
he gave before a fight he knew he could win.

He tossed you a staff.

"Well, c'mon then."

"What? In the middle of the village?"

"Ya. What? Since when are you worried about public opinion? Especially lately."

You stared into his narrowed eyes. His tensed brow. His little smirk.

You felt the same look creep upon your own face.

"Come." You spun the staff from one hand to the next and held it beneath your armpit.
You motioned for the hedgehog to advance with your other arm.

Sonic sprinted toward you, into your hut, as you began your strike. In one fluid motion
Sonic came a few feet from the path of your staff, and whirled around behind you in a
corkscrew maneuver. You felt the impact from his padded staff careening into your back.
You were sent off of your feet, your toes gliding a foot above the ground, and out your
huts door. You landed, face down, in the middle of the children's soccer game.

The ball rolled, stopping at your limp body.

You turned onto your back in time to see Sonic diving down onto you, blocking the
sunlight, staff first. You rolled back onto your shoulders, pulled your arms back and hand
sprung your way to safety. Sonic landed in front of you, his staff making a large sound
when it hit the ground. A cloud of dust rose from the impact.

You quickly danced backward, you eyes fixed on the cloud of dust, awaiting the next
approach. The dust parted as you heard the familiar sound of Sonic dashing. He sped
toward you at great speeds, striking with ferocious intent. You blocked strike after strike
until you were overcome by his speed and met with a lighter blow to the jaw. He hit you a
second time across the cheek.

A third strike came in low, but with a grunt you knocked it away. In a blur you sent your
staff swinging in a semicircle up into Sonic's chin sending him souring into the air. He
landed with a thud on the roof of a hut. You leaped into the air, drifting over Sonic's
body. Before you could score a hit Sonic pushed off of the hut and spun backwards to the
next hut's roof.


Two villagers having a conversation below the two huts looked up just in time to see
Sonic's figure darkened by the sun zoom from one's roof to the other's.

Sonic held his staff in the defensive position on his roof. His smile was gone. His breathing
was heavy. His chest heaved up and down in apparent exhaustion. The grin was still on
your face.

Words escaped harshly from Sonic's mouth. "How... did you... get... like this?"

You cleared your throat and wiped the sweat from your damp brow. Your words too
were rough on your throat in your panting. "Like... what?"

Sonic closed his eyes and put his hand to his chest. "Your fighting like... almost like...
almost like me."

"I'm fighting like... you?"

"Ya."

"Or, am I... fighting better than you?"

He roared a monster worthy cry and bounded toward you from his roof. Your eyes
widened and your staff came back to your front as you bounded off of your roof. The two
of you grazed each other half way between the two roofs. Splinters from the two staffs
drifted to the ground.

The two of you were once again on opposite roof tops. You could hear the two villagers
frantically asking what was going on and that they were going to get the Freedom Fighters
if it didn't cease.

You leaped again. He leaped again. You met one another mid air this time. Staff to staff.
As the two of you fell, Sonic drifted slightly away and above you. He brought his staff
down onto your head as you touched the ground, sending your face into the muddy grass.

You heard Sonic's feet hit the ground the instant after your face did. You waved your
entire body and did a hand stand with the resulting momentum. You pushed off with one
hand, kicking Sonic several times in the head by spinning your legs like a helicopter.

You stopped your spin to look up at Sonic from your one handed stand. He was collapsed
against the opposing hut, the wall was sinking from the impact and Sonic's weight. Sonic
leaned forward, taking his balance off of the hut, as it sunk even more from the lack of
support that he served.

You sprung off of your hand and landed with your arms up in a defensive position,
forgetting about the staff.

Sonic threw his staff to the ground.

A moment of silence.

There was blood at your feet.

There was blood on Sonic's lips.

The silence was broken as he once again bellowed in rage. He sped towards you, stopping
with a single punch to your chest. As you flew threw the other hut, seamlessly crashing
through both walls and everything in between them, all you could hope was that your
chest wouldn't cave in.

Your chest hurt. Your breasts hurt. Your shoulders hurt. Your neck hurt.

You coughed. A little bit of blood came up.

You looked up to see the hole you made through the hut. The hut shook as if it was hit by
a quake. It suddenly collapsed. Through the dust and splinters clouding around the
wreckage you could see Sonic's figure standing with hands to sides. The hut behind him
began to crumble.

"OH MY GOD!!! MY HOUSE!!!" The two villagers seemed to say in unison.

From the rubble, Sonic sprang into the air in a path towards you. You sprang backwards,
attempting to at least score an escaping kick as you avoided his diving punch. The two of
you hit air.

When he landed he dashed at you, punching as you slid from your decent. You blocked his
strike, then returned two more to his face, followed by a crescent kick sending him
spiraling through the air and landing a few feet away from you.

He hopped up with a high kick to your face, which you blocked with your own leg. You
twisted your leg around Sonic's, trapping it. Sonic hopped on one foot, with his other
trapped trying to gain his balance as he frantically beat at the side of your head, making
your ears ring. You caught his hand on the fourth strike.

There was a moment of uncertainty as you held Sonic's leg with your leg and his arm with
your arm. You finally threw a jab which he caught. The only thing keeping your balance
was your and the hedgehog's legs. Like some kind of odd creature with two heads and no
arms trying to stay on his two feet.

The two of you butt heads like goats while still trapped in each other's grasps. You pulled
back and connected again.

The pain was too unbearable and the two of you untangled and collapsed to the ground.

You let your head rest on the ground as Sonic stared at the dirt. The two of you were
panting hard. You lifted your head and sat on your knees.

Sonic's wheezing grew louder and louder. "No."

The two of you rose to your feet in a turn to face one another as your fists flew through
the air. Your fists came together with a crack.

Your hand was broken. Sonic's was too. He had severe bruises on his face along with a
bust open lip. You had some bruises of your own, and you were bleeding internally. Your
hut was in shambles. Two villager's huts were utterly destroyed along with some other
property damage. Blood was sprinkled all over the battleground.

As you and Sonic lay collapsed over each other the villagers began to crowd around the
two of you. A few were crying. A few were laughing. A few were silent. A few were
handing cash to one another to finish bets.

You felt Sonic's bloody white glove embrace your stomach. You looked down to see the
busted lip on his face. His eyes were closed, so serene.

You were so close. This was heaven.

Heaven after Hell.

His eyes slid open slowly. His lips parted, accenting his broken mouth. You felt your own
eyelids becoming heavy. It was as you started to descend into unconsciousness when you
said something. No sound, just the mouth moving.

"You'll never be my equal." He replied.

Your heart fell as you passed out.

Sleep. Dreamless sleep. Thank God.
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This is still not the end
Reviews are appreciated