Sonic.exe Darkest Struggles - Tails' Story

Before selecting Tails, I took a moment to switch to the Options menu that I noticed tucked below the character boxes. The label of the menu was marked with blue triangles pointing down on either side. Mapping the controls to my liking, I switched to full screen, and then went back to the characters. Properly prepared to play, I selected Tails and an echoing jingle played, like the one that you would hear when you were warping to a classic Special Stage. The screen faded out, and the Sonic 1 style title card showed up with "GREEN HILL ZONE Act 1". For some reason, the letters in "GREEN" and "ZONE" were flickering in and out randomly, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

The screen faded in and the level title vanished, revealing that Tails was indeed in Green Hill Zone. The music was that same memorable beat it had always been, and the stage looked mostly unchanged. The only difference was it had the strange balloon-like flowers that appeared in the good ending of Sonic 1. This was rather nice since we never got to play this version. The physics were up to snuff, too. Curious, I pressed the "A" key twice and Tails flew. "Tails flying in Sonic 1!" That made me chuckle a little since it was Sonic 3 that first allowed the player to fly as Tails on the Genesis. Also, he had his Spin Dash. I pressed the "S" key (which I mapped to the curiously named "Action" command in the options) and Tails did a new move while he was on the ground, which was a tail swipe. Well, it was a new move for classic Tails anyway, seeing as how Sonic Adventure had him do something similar to that. Pretty nifty.

I left Tails idle for a bit just to see what animation he would do, and Tails looked around with a worried expression on his face. "He's looking for Sonic, perhaps?" I took time to explore the zone from top to bottom to see if anything else changed from the original level, having fun swiping Badniks I came across with Tails' new attack along the way. I also took the opportunity to fly to the tops of plateaus and floating platforms to get item monitors and rings that would have been harder to get otherwise. Everything seemed to be well and good, until I noticed there were Buzz Bomber parts lying on the ground. Its eye was the first thing that I came across, then its head with an empty socket along with one of its wings, then its mangled and torn open body. Tails stopped on his own, and about ten small animals scurried in from the right. The little fox tried to get their attention but they just passed by him, frightened. I figured it was from being cooped up in those robots before someone freed them. Tails sighed, looked at the camera with a shrug, and I regained control. "Cutscenes, huh? Interesting."

I continued through the rest of the level, occasionally stopping to see parts from more dismantled Badniks. I had two thoughts going through my head at that point: one, when an enemy is defeated, there aren't supposed to be parts left behind, so this was unusual... and two, how eerie it was to find these as if they were dead husks. However, I was relieved that there seemed to be a Badnik for every small animal I saw scurrying earlier. I went ahead and passed the signpost to finish the level. The Special Ring wasn't there even though I had more than 50 rings, meaning I couldn't earn the Chaos Emerald, so the stage ended normally. Come to think of it, there seemed to be a ring drought after I passed that first broken Buzz Bomber, and I couldn't remember passing any checkpoints. I glanced at my lives counter before the tally finished counting off, and there was only one there. That was disconcerting; it made me realize I could have easily gotten a game over, but I figured I was playing a challenge hack of some kind.

The screen faded out and the next title showed up. However, the letters in "GREEN" and "ZONE" in "GREEN HILL ZONE Act 2" flickered randomly and disappeared, leaving only "HILL Act 2" as the title of the stage. Instead of Act 2 of Green Hill, it appeared to be Act 3 for some reason. The invincibility monitor that would have been in the tree above the start was already smashed, and the spring and moving platform just ahead were missing, so I almost fell in the first spike trap. Luckily, I jumped and flew before hitting it. When I looked at the spike trap however, I saw parts from a Moto Bug and another Buzz Bomber impaled on the spikes. That sight made me feel a tad nervous. I had the feeling that I would need to make extra sure to not touch those spikes or the little fox might end up like them, no matter how many rings I had. I wouldn't put it past this hacker. Tails' flight made up for the lack of springs around, but rings and item monitors were growing increasingly sparse as I passed more robot parts, as if I was not the first one to go through the level. Only having to avoid  the spikes made it easier for me, but it was still quite unnerving.

The layout seemed pretty normal until I reached one of the higher bridges a bit into the act. The bridge dangled off the edge of the plateau, and when I flew to collect the single ring left behind above where the bridge was, I noticed that the plateau that it was supposed to connect to, the highest point of the level was completely gone. I flew back to where I took off from and decided to backtrack instead of chancing the blind leap. While checking on the lower path, I found the tunnel only went half way and the path was cut incredibly short by a wall and a few floating platforms that lead just below the wrecked bridge. It all fused into one path long before it was supposed to. With nothing left to do in the familiar part of the act, I ventured onto the new stretch of land, and as soon as I did so, the music slowed down and gradually became silent. Without any more broken Badniks, monitors, or rings around, I took a moment to have Tails crouch and relax amidst all the plants while I paused to think. If I was previously shown the small animals that had escaped from Act 1’s Badniks, why didn’t anything like that happen in this act? I mean, I only ask because it now seemed pretty obvious that they were running from something specific, and I’ve certainly come across plenty more wrecked bots, so why did there seem to be a drought of animal activity? Then again, I could be reading far too much into this; it was a minor cutscene in the last act, and perhaps it’s unfair of me to demand a constant stream of special events like that. I released the Down key and took a few steps forward, spotting a flower that was unlike the others. It was droopy, darkened, and missing some petals. "Is it... dying?" Another music track started to play, one that I didn't recognize. The track's notes seemed to be reversed, and it had a lonely feeling to it. The notes danced ear to ear through my headphones, making my head subtly sway as I continued walking along the path.

I came across some more flowers, each wilted in a different way, and before long, I reached an upwards slope. The bottom of it was marked by one of Green Hill’s totem poles, but the top face wasn’t one that appeared in the final game of Sonic 1 but its beta. It looked pretty sad, almost mournful for the dying flowers. I had Tails move up the slope, and it leveled out after passing another totem pole with the same gloomy face. Up there the trees and ferns started to fare no better than the flowers. A few of their leaves were brown, thinner, and drooped, and some of the worst ones were missing leaves. After a while, I found totem poles topped with faces that were modified into ones that seemed to be screaming. The grass passed them was a dull yellow instead of its usual green. "Not so Green Hill," I chuckled nervously, trying to shake off the creeped out feeling. I decided to turn back to the more lush area, but it was showing the same decay as the area I just left behind. It seemed that whatever caused these plants to wither was spreading. I figured it was fruitless to backtrack, so I turned around and headed down the lifeless stretch of land. Hills and plateaus broke up the flat ground, but there were no signs of loops or spikes. Eventually, the trees in the background were the same brown as their counterparts in the foreground, and the plants aside from the grass and trees were replaced with totem poles, now topped with freaky grins that stretched too far for their faces. I’d hate to see that face in higher definition. Whoever made these was trying to establish one heck of an atmosphere.

The trail ended at a tall wall, the tallest I'd seen yet. I tried performing a Spin Dash to see if the wall was breakable, but it was solid. Holding the Up key, I could see the checkered brown and tan stone started losing its color further up, but I couldn’t see the top. I made Tails jump and fly as high as he could in order to see what was at the top. As he flew up, the checkered rock gradually turned more to gray and black. Tails fatigued as he reached the top and landed on a patch of orange grass, and the time on the HUD stopped. The music once again slowed down and faded into silence. As I was trying to make sense of all this, Tails stopped again and the camera started to pan to the center of the plateau. On the other side of the screen... was Sonic.

He was facing away from Tails, his eyes closed, leaning on a dead palm tree. One of his hands was on his hip while the other was on his chin, his head tilting from side to side. I figured he was deep in thought about the situation, as he occasionally nodded and shook his head. Overjoyed to find Sonic, Tails looked like he will run to give him a hug while calling out to him in complete silence, but when the blue hedgehog didn't respond, the little orange fox put his arms down confused. Tails started walking towards Sonic. As he did, a strange, faint sound of static broke the silence, growing louder and louder as the fox approached his friend.

I began to feel a growing sense of dread, like something was terribly wrong. Sonic's head movements sped up, as if he was having a series of spasms, while Tails was mere pixels away. Looking concerned, he reached his hand out to Sonic. Suddenly, the hedgehog stopped his erratic movement, turned his head, dropped his arm that was at his chin, and opened his eyes, revealing they were black with red glowing dots for pupils. Tails jumped back in shock, and I couldn't help but mutter, "Well, that ain't right." When that happened, the screen turned black and the static sound stopped. Then, a message looking like a ransom note appeared, the words using a mix of fonts from the Genesis-era Sonic games. It read, "Hello. Do you want to play with me?" To break some of the tension I was feeling, I responded out loud with, "No! Er, maybe... What do you want to play?"

The message disappeared and the next level title card appeared. It read, "HIDE AND SEEK" with no Act number. I thought, "Did... did it answer my question? No, that's not possible. The one who made this must have chosen that title from the start. Yeah, that's it." The title card disappeared to reveal a level that looked like...Angel Island Zone from Sonic 3? I was expecting to see Marble Zone or any other Zone from the original Sonic game, but to see the first level of the third installment threw me off.  The level titles looked as they did after it had been burned by the mini-boss. However, the fire in the background looked taller and more detailed, the sky was darker as though the sun had just set, and pieces of the brown stones in the foreground had broken off, revealing the dark Green Hill Zone checker pattern underneath. Trees in the far foreground obscured my view in front of and behind Tails. The music was faint, deep, and included a drumming similar to a heartbeat.

The fox looked frightened. When he idled, he turned to the camera, hysterically waved his arms, and pointed forward. I looked ahead and saw nothing that would impede him, so I had him walk forward cautiously. Nothing was behind that tree in front of him, so I had Tails run faster until he was propelled forward by his whirling twin tails. As soon as I passed another tree, Tails was suddenly being chased by Sonic as the music's drumming hastened. When I passed another tree, Sonic disappeared and the beat reset to its normal pace. After another tree, it happened again.

How the hell did he get there!? He didn't travel between those trees, yet there he was. He disappeared again and then reappeared from behind the tree ahead of Tails, charging towards him full tilt. It was just then that I noticed Sonic's running animation had changed. Before it was his classic wheel-of-feet run, but now his animation replicated how a human might run. A fierce human, seeking to tackle somebody else. I turned back and started flying as he got closer. I came across a set of floating platforms that led up to another path, which I didn't hesitate to take. I was safe for the moment; Sonic didn't have the jump height needed to follow Tails, and the path was above the obscuring trees so I could see Tails the whole time. The beating stopped while the rest of the music track continued.

Then, I heard a laugh that cut off the music. It sounded like Sonic's voice actor, or a really good impersonator, but it was distorted and echoed. Suddenly, I started seeing flashes of Sonic popping everywhere on the screen. The music changed to a deeper, heavier version of the series' suspenseful drowning music as I saw the hedgehog approaching from behind Tails, slowly gaining. I suppose he decided to cut right to his trump card, because now he wasn't even bothering with running; he was flying! My jaw hit the floor when I saw that. Just when I thought I was safe, there he was with a deranged grin on his face. Sonic's feet scraped across the ground as he flew, his right arm against his chest while the other reached for Tails. I flew to try to get away from him, but Sonic held up his scrunched arm; red static covered the screen for a split second and disappeared, revealing flames on the ceiling of the stage. With no time to react, Tails flew straight into them.

The music was cut off when that happened. Instead of a normal hit animation, Tails' appendages were singed by the fire, and he fell out of the sky. The music restarted at a more frantic part when Tails landed. Despite what happened, I still tried to get the little fox to run. Tails couldn’t run at full speed since he could no longer propel himself, allowing Sonic to quickly catch up to him. Right as Sonic was close enough, a cut scene ensued, showing him bowling Tails over and disappearing as the music stopped. Lying terrified on the ground, the fox looked around, pulled his tails around him, and started to silently cry. A part of me wished that I could be there to comfort Tails, but it was only a game, right? Then, Sonic appeared right in front of Tails, who looked up in horror.

Tails covered his eyes as the twisted hedgehog prepared to lunge at him, but Sonic froze in place. He twitched, and then suddenly spun  away from Tails. I was thoroughly confused before Sonic stood back up facing his buddy and his eyes turned back to normal. Sonic’s eyes widened as if he looked mortified that Tails cowered in fear with his twin tails burnt… because of him. Sonic tried to run away from Tails, but then he reacted as if something invisible was grabbing at his feet. Upon the realization that he cannot run, Sonic started pounding the sides of his own head with his fists. Tails took his hands off of his face and looked at Sonic with concern. As he continued pounding, Sonic screamed, this time without the distortion. I almost knocked off my headphones and Tails jolted up when he did that. A dialogue box appeared at the bottom of the screen saying, "I won’t hurt him! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT! Get out! Get out... Tails! Run!" Tails tried to get up, but he could only drag himself along the ground due to his injuries. Sonic's pounding slowed, then stopped as his arms went limp. His head lowered and his eyes closed. Another dialog box appeared, "Tails... I'm... sorry..."

As soon as Sonic said that, he raised his head and opened his eyes, revealing black with red
pupils just like before. As he lurched towards Tails like a puppet on strings, he slowly struggled to smile as a red liquid leaked from his eyes. Tails tried getting up more frantically, crying loud enough to hear, on the verge of screaming. The voice sounded like Tails from the official games, but the crying and screaming seemed a bit too well-done to be just acting. Furthermore, I was taken aback by the crisp quality of the voice clips, quality not found in the 16-bit games. At that moment, Sonic lunged at the distressed fox and picked him up by his head. The pup convulsed violently as his orange fur turned to a desaturated greatly to the point it was almost grey and his eyes turned completely black, leaking tears of crimson much like Sonic. After that, the fox turned into glitched graphics and disappeared. Sonic's head started to turn towards the camera right before the screen went black. Another mixed-font message appeared stating, "You're too slow. Want to try again?"

I was so shocked by what happened, I didn't respond. What had I just witnessed? Judging by the changes to Sonic’s appearance and behavior, he was possessed. But by what? How? Did this game's creator take to the modern trend of having Dr. Robotnik unleash some kind of abomination? If so, why was the Doc playable?  I had seen Sonic resist mind control and possession throughout whole games without breaking a sweat, but whatever was inside him now was far too powerful. Even worse was this thing's corruption seemed to be able to spread to the levels he came in contact with and he had no problem corrupting poor Tails. I shook the shock off when I was brought back to the Data Select. To my surprise, the menu had changed.

The background had turned into the very glitched graphics from the removed Hidden Palace Zone from Sonic 2, a random mess of colored boxes and streaks that jittered erratically. The "Options" text disappeared, and the once upbeat music was replaced with a somber remix of Tails' theme "Believe in Myself". The first file had the poor little fox in the upper screen instead of in his box like the others, his screen flickering with faint red static. Instead of pixel art, it looked like a 3D model of modern Tails modified to look like the corrupted form, and his face expressed great forlorn. I realized too late that the screens above the characters weren't for unlockable levels as I thought before. They were prisons if they were caught by the sick being. Thinking back, I should have closed the game, deleted it, and shut off my PC right then and there, but I wanted to continue to see what this game maker had in store. Regardless of its twisted nature, it was still a compelling game. Just a game...