Cold.

So cold.

All he could feel was the cold.

It felt like he was incased in ice.

Like he was floating through the vacuum of space.

All he saw was darkness.

All he smelt was an unknown smell.

It was sharp and metallic.

Blood?

Most likely.

He felt nothing.

Then he felt something.

Liquid.

Water.

Reality came crashing down.

He was drowning.

He desperately flailed around, pushing through the water in a desperate attempt to reach the top. As he breached the surface he took in a gasp of cold air. He paddled to the side of the pool. He found himself grabbing the edge before pulling himself out of the water. He was coughing, staying on his knees as he hacked up the rest of the water from his lungs.

Finally, with a chance to breathe and his vison growing less blurry, he looked down at the bright green grass and his hands pressed between the blades. Slightly faded white gloves were covering his hands.

But that couldn't be right.

He didn't wear gloves.

His eyes trailed up. His arms were pink, covered in fur- no. Quills. He struggled to his feet, looking down at himself. He had big, pastel blue and white shoes. He had the same pink, quill covered legs, a green shirt and a yellowish skirt. His breath sped up, panic taking over.

He recognized these clothes.

He recognized this body.

And so her rushed back over to the body of water, the blue surface acting as a mirror for him.

He was no longer him.

He was Amy Rose.

Simon: W-WHAT!?!?!?!?!?

He fell back, heart pounding in his chest as his mind raced with possibilities. His breathing showed no signs of slowing down as his eyes darted around.

Checkered dirt and grass.

Flowers, bushes and trees.

Arches and loop de loops.

He was in Green Hill Zone.

After a few minuets of panicking, he began to tire himself out, managing to get his breathing under control as he took in his situation.

This wasn't a dream.

Dreams always had this feeling of fogginess where you either went along with whatever chaos was in front of you felt normal, or you had this feeling of weakness. The kind where you can only run at a snails pace or throw a punch that someone in their 90's could outdo.

This was real.

There was no use in sitting around here, so Simon got to his feet, dusted himself off, and nervously started walking through the foggy landscape. It felt unreal. He had played through this environment so many times now that seeing it with his own eyes felt unreal.

No.

Unnatural.

Like looking at a traced piece of art after seeing the original.

It was clearly Green Hill Zone.

It had to be Green Hill Zone.

But something was off.

Like if he drove a shovel into the dirt, it would all crumble away.

*Crunch*

Simon spun around, nothing was there. Not anymore at least.

Simon: H-Hello!?

A feminine voice exits his lips, making him cover them in shock. He got no response. So, Simon started to pick up the pace. He needed answers and whatever was following him didn't seem up for a conversation.

*Crack*

He spun around again.

Nothing.

And so he walked faster.

*Snap*

*Crackle*

*Pop*

No matter how fast he turned, nothing was there. But he knew better. This wasn't his imagination, something was following him.

Simon: W-Who's doing that!

The female voice from before spoke out.

No response still.

Simon: I-I don't know w-what's going on... O-O-Or where I a-am!

He was trembling, voice just as shaky.

Simon: J-Just leave me alone!

He cried out as tears started to swell up in his eyes, turning and running.

*Pat pat pat*

Those were footsteps now.

He was being chased.

He didn't look back, he couldn't right now. His eyes dart from structure to structure, spotting a large yellow spring that would lead up to a higher hill. He ran to it, jumping and landing on the object.

*BOING*

The sound of the spring rang out, boosting him up to the platform. He didn't land right however, rolling and faceplanting into the dirt. He recovered as fast as he could and started running again.

*BOING*

Whatever was behind him also took the spring to get up. Its landing was much more graceful however, instantly following Simon. Simon jumped to a floating platform, then to another before finally making it back onto solid ground, the thing followed him. Simon looks back and saw a shape quickly duck out of sight into some bushes.

It was toying with him.

Simon ran again, jumping up a few ledges on the hill before using another spring.

*BOING*

And landing on another platform, a little better than last time.

*BOING*

Simon jumps onto another ledge, then a platform. He crossed a log bridge and up a slope. He then came to something new. A loop de loop. There was a moment of hesitation before running for it. He saw the characters in his games do it hundreds of times, how hard could it be?

Well, it was harder than it looked.

Simon ran to the opening, making it half way before gravity took effect. He fell, hit the floor and slipped off the edge of the hill.

Simon: OH, GOD NO!!!!!

He fell off the side of the hill and started plummeting down to the earth bellow, screaming and flailing as he did.

Then from above dropped a figure.

His hands had holes in them.

His arms and legs were like thick cables held together by gold rings.

He wore a large belt with a gold buckle and a brown bandana.

His quills were a faded blue.

His fur was dirty.

His teeth were sharp and a sickly yellow.

And his eyes were black like tar, two glowing red "X"'s as pupils.

It was Sonic.

Simon felt like time stopped for a moment.

This was it.

It caught up.

This weird Sonic creature was going to kill him.

Game over.

Gathering all of the strength he could muster, with one less action, he pulled his hands over his eyes in hopes of making his final moments alive less frightful.

Simon(mumbling):... P-Please... God... Have mercy...

He felt it grab him by the arms and pull him closer to the entity.

He felt his mass shift around a bit, landing on something and jumping off of it. This repeats a few times before everything stopped.

Simon was still trembling.

There was a long silence as Simon felt his body being placed down.

He slowly lowered his hands, seeing he was sitting on safe grounds. Lookin to his side, that strange Sonic look-a-like creepily staring down at him. Simon felt frozen in fear, still not too sure what was going on, or if he was in the clear yet.

Sonic?: It'll be okay Miss!

He said in a dry voice.

Sonic?: You'll figure out how this all works soon enough.

He leans down, smile widening.

Sonic?: Games aren't fun with unfair advantages!

And with that, the Sonic entity took off, running in the other direction and abandoning Simon there.

Scared.

Confused.

And now alone again.

He didn't know what he meant by "Unfair advantage" but he got a bad feeling from it and knew it wasn't anything good. So, despite still in shock from everything, he got up and started walking in the opposite direction.

So he walked.

And walked.

And walked.

He had been walking for a while now. An hour at least. And there was nothing but the same checkered grass, dirt and plants he had seen across this place.

It was a bit of an eyesore.

He used to enjoy the countless hours allowed on his game console, where he would control Sonic the Hedgehog collecting rings and break Badniks.

But now?

There was only the dread of whatever this place was.

He still wanted answers.

How was he here?

Why him?

Why Amy of all characters?

He did like to play as the pink hedgehog when he was younger, but that was only because his brother would get Sonic before him, and he didn't like the crutch given by playing as Tails or Knuckles.

*Pat pat pat*

Simon's head shot up, bringing his hands to his chest as he stepped back, beginning to tremble again.

What was it this time?

Out stepped a group of three people.

Simon recognized them.

But he knew this place couldn't be trusted.

It was Sonic.

And Sonic.

And Sonic.

Red: look, we can try again with the special stage now, it's been long enough to-

The hedgehog froze upon spotting Simon. The other two follow his gaze.

Blue: An... Amy?

Yellow: Haven't seen one of her before, must be new.

Simon- remembering his earlier encounter- didn't want to take any chances.

Red: H-Hang on!

But Simon didn't listen and just turned on his heels, running.

Red: Gh- why do they always run!?

Yellow: At least it wasn't a punch.

The three decided it would be best to follow, at a distance of course.

Red: Hey! Kid! We're not here to hurt you!

Simon wasn't listening, running to a spring and using it to get over a hill.

Yellow: Ah, yes. I'm sure just SAYING that we don't want to hurt her will make her trust us!

The hedgehog said sarcastically.

They follow Simon up the spring and over the hill.

Yellow: You want answers, right!? We can help! We're humans like you, trapped in here! Please stop running before you run into something actually dangerous!

Simon heard what he was saying but couldn't bring himself to stop.

So he sped up.

Red: huh, weird! That didn't work either!

The hedgehog said mockingly.

Yellow: Zip it.

Blue: I've got it.

That was strange. The other two sounded like sonic- only slight differences from reach other- but the blue one sounded feminine.

This distraction made it so Simon didn't notice the blue hedgehog run up to him.

The Blue Blur swept Simon's legs out from under him, scooping him up into a Princess Carry.

Blue: Hey. Calm down, okay?

The woman says in a calm but stern tone.

Simon froze. With his legs hung like this exhaustion finally had a chance to catch up to him. His legs had gotten tired from all the running. Snapping back to reality, he wiggled from her grasp and fell onto his butt, quickly getting up and backing further away. The other two caught up, keeping their distance to not freak Simon out any more than he already was.

Red: Hey, you gonna listen now?

Simon:...

He opened his mouth and nothing came out for a second.

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second before looking back at the three.

Simon:... W-W-What... I-Is this...?

He managed to get out in that strange feminine voice he wasn't used to.

Red: Oookay, where do we begin-

Yellow: We aren't 100% sure. I believe this is some strange, parallel world to our old one.

He began.

Yellow: There's this... Entity... "Current"... He's the one who dragged us- including you- in here. He takes the form of Sonic the Hedgehog, except with cables for limbs being held together by golden straps.

Simon's eyes widden a little.

That strange guy from earlier was the one who did this?

Yellow: He places our minds into different Sonic characters. Unfortunately, we are yet to find a way out-

Red: Yet!

Yellow: Yes, yes. "Yet".

He says, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Yellow: We can't die here, or more accurately, we respawn when we do die from either the pool of water I'm sure you found yourself in earlier or the last reached checkpoint.

He sighs.

Yellow: Look, Mrs...?

Simon: O-Oh, umm...

He paused. This was gonna be weird to explain.

Simon: A-Actually... I'm a g-guy. My name's S-Simon...?

Yellow:... Huh...

Red: That's never happened before, right?

Simon: W-What's never happened before?

Red: Well, look at Bea for example!

He said, motioning towards the blue, female version of Sonic.

Red: Sonic's a dude, but when she popped up here, she was still a girl like in her life before.

Yellow: Curious...

He places a hand on his chin for a few seconds before shaking his head.

Yellow: No matter, we should move before something finds us.

Red: Yeah, we've gone too long without seeing anything.

Simon: W-What do you m-mean. Like C-Current!?

Red: The dude has some lacky's that patrol around doing as they please. C'mon, we'll take you to a shop so you can get a proper introduction!

He says, placing both of his closed fists on either of his hips.

Simon was still very confused and scared.

But these three seemed to be his best bet at getting answers.

Simon: O-... Okay...

He mumbles.

Red: Alright, good! Now let' make haste! C'mon!

He says as he started walking, the yellow one soon following after.

Simon started to run but paused when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Bea: Hey, you okay? I don't know how long you've been wandering around so-

Simon: N-No thank you, I can walk.

He says, a little embarrassed at the idea of being carried.

The now quartet were running through Green Hill Zone together, passing all the different structures, plants and objects as they went.

That is until they came to something new. Something Simon recognized.

A Checkpoint.

It was a metal post int the ground with a yellow base and blue orb on the top of it.

Red: Oh! Here, we should get that!

Yellow: Yeah, good idea. Best to respawn here instead of back in IceCap Zone.

The two run past it, the orb spinning and flashing red as they do.

Simon followed their lead, passing the checkpoint followed by Bea.

Simon: So... W-We like... D-Die here?

Red: Yeah, except you don't stay dead. You feel the pain and stuff but it mostly goes away when you respawn- Ow!

Bea elbowed the red hedgehog in the ribs, glaring at him.

Bea: It's not that bad once you get used to it, though it can be rather... traumatic...

She sighs.

Bea: You'll be fine kid.

Simon was clearly more scared than before at the red one's comment, but tried holding it together.

Yellow: Ace, do you ever think before you speak, or do you just spout out whatever pops into your head? Genuine question here.

The red one, Ace, scoffs.

Ace: Cool it. I'm sorry Cecil- Run.

He says, eyes glued to something.

The two other hedgehogs spin to look at what he was looking for, Simon doing the same. They saw several figures in the distance, obscured by shadows but still partially visible.

Simon froze, eyes meeting a familiar pair of glowing red X's.

He started to feel his heart start to pound again as his chest tightened around all of his internal organs.

But before anything could happen, Bea quickly grabbed Simon's arm and pulled him with her.

Bea: C'mon! Let's go!

The four ran as the red X's stepped from the shadows, now running to keep up with the other hedgehogs.

Ace: That looked like all of them!

Cecil: They were likely here to see the newcomer!

Bea:...

The blue hedgehog looks back at Simon.

Bea: Simon, listen! They won't attack you until you get a proper introduction to this place!

Simon: W-W-What!?

""Sonic?: Games aren't fun with unfair advantages!""

The words suddenly replayed in his mind.

"Unfair Advantage"

...

This was a game to them.

Bea: Get to the shop, we'll meet you again soon!

Bea suddenly sped up, using both hands to grab Simon's arm.

Simon: W-Wait!-

But she already knew what she was doing. She spun Simon around before throwing him in the other direction, causing him to roll into a wall of dirt.

Ace: We'll come find you when we lose them! Just keep heading that way!!!

He yells as they ran away, the entity known as "Current" giving chase to them.

And there he was.

Alone again.

Knowing he wasn't in any immediate danger felt nice.

But knowing it was a willing choice on the monsters behalf didn't feel nice.

It felt eerie.

Like if he took too long, they might just snap and grab him.

So, he ran.

He occasionally would check over his shoulder and catch a glimpse of something moving, or a shape that didn't seem natural.

He felt himself growing a bit paranoid now, sprinting through the green hills as fast as his legs would carry him, which was faster than he used to be able to.

He passed checkered grass, checkered dirt, bushes, palm trees, tiki statues, small pools of water.

He passed checkered grass, checkered dirt, bushes, palm trees, tiki statues, small pools of water.

He passed checkered grass, checkered dirt, bushes, palm trees, tiki statues, small pools of water.

The repeating imagery started to wear out his eyes. He found himself hoping to see something different.

Anything different.

And then he saw it.

As its sign read; it was a shop.

A small building that seemed to have been dropped right into the open field he found himself in.

This must be what he was supposed to find.

He scampered over to the front of it, falling through the doors and inside of it. The first thing he noticed was that it was bigger on the inside. There were shelves lined evenly in rows, all with various items on them. Weapons, food, clothes, etc.

But his attention was caught by the register.

More accurately, the man behind it.

Salesman: Howdy there newbie!

Simon:... I-I... Uhh...

Salesman: Speechless? I get it!

He gestures to himself.

Salesman: It's hard for your mortal mind to comprehend this magnificent form of pure perfection!

He boasted, Simon awkwardly looking around.

Simon:... I-

Salesman: So! You want your introduction, am I right?

Simon:...

He slowly nodded.

Salesman: Fantastic!!!

He clears his throat.

Salesman: Welcome to the game! A fantastical place where you can never truly die and get to play forever and ever!

He says, posing with his hands above his head.

Salesman: Upon entering, you'll be assigned a character! Each character has their own special skills and abilities! Amy has the special ability of "Recall"! You can recall items that you drop or throw! Good for you!

Simon: Oh, umm. Actually, can I chang-

Salesman: So let's talk about the other stuff!

He cut the pink hedgehog off, continuing his explanation.

Salesman: Do yourself a favor and hold up your arm for me like this!

He says, holding it as if he was looking at a watch.

Salesman: Either arm works Rosey, pick your favorite!

Simon slowly did as told, looking at his arm. Suddenly, out of thin air, an interface appeared.

First was a Timer, but it was stuck at zero right now.

There was something labeled as "Blood" set to 100%. He had no idea what that meant.

Then came something titled "Rings". As a fan of sonic games, Simon knew what this meant.

Then came "Status" which was blank.

Lastly, there was something titled "Lives". The counter next to it was set to three.

Salesman: The timer is something that you can activate whenever you want! It can be used if you wanna race someone or whatever.

He says casually.

Salesman: Anyway, next comes your rings! Rings are shiny gold things you can find floating around! They're your currency here that can be used to buy anything I have in here!

He gestures to his store.

Simon:... And... G-Give me an extra hit... r-right?

The fat man chuckles.

Salesman: A fan I see... Well, partially! The more you have the less you bleed! But if you find yourself decapitated, rings won't save you!

He says, chuckling a little.

Salesman: Next let's bring up your lives! You can find boxes around with 1-ups inside of them! If you have even 1 live, you can respawn from checkpoints you can find around the place! Loose them all and you'll respawn back where you woke up!

He then sighs.

Salesman: Okay, last but not least we have your status. You'll face several negative side effects depending on what you're hit with, you'll get a different effect.

He leans on the counter.

Salesman: I can't tell you all of them, but when you get one you can read about it from that little display.

He stood up straight.

Salesman: Anyway, that's the basics for ya kid! You can figure out the rest. Any questions?

Simon: U-Um, yes actually! Can I change my character please?

Salesman: Hah! No! Why would you want to do that!?

Simon: Because I-I'm a boy! A-And that Bea girl got a female S-Sonic body, so can I p-p-please get a male one!?

Salesman: That's out of my jurisdiction kid! I'll mention at the next meeting, but you're gonna have to put up with it kiddo!

Simon:... Oh...

Salesman: Anything else? Or will you be on your way?

Simon: Umm, y-yes. I heard about IceCap Zone being a place... Is there a way to get out of Green Hill o-or do I just need to keep walking?

Salesman:... Hmmm...

He thinks for a second.

Salesman: I'm not sure if I can tell you that... So I'll just say you'll know what your looking for when you see it!

Simon: O-Okay... Ummm... T-Thank you mister!

Salesman: The name's Salesman! Good luck out there kid!

Simon was hesitant, but left the shop and stepped back out into Green Hill Zone.

The foggy landscape wasn't something Simon missed even remotely.

But it didn't matter what he liked right now, he just had to make sure he wasn't caught by... well... anything.

So he walked, preying nothing saw him.

But of course...

Something did.