A/N: Similar to Fall of the Ultimate Lifeform, this story is a rewrite of one of the Sonic comics. This is a full rewrite of Archie Sonic Issue #175, with the exception of the first few pages, except this time, I wanted to explore what it would have been like if Dark Sonic had appeared in this issue. If you liked seeing Dark Sonic in my latest chapter of Chaos on Earth, have a little more!

I don't normally write using Drama and Angst tags, so this will be a first.

For those who have read this issue, I hope you like the changes. For those who have never read this issue before, you're in for a treat!

Disclaimer: Sonic is owned by SEGA; Archie Sonic is owned by SEGA and Archie Comics.

Without further ado, let us begin...

Wrath of a Hero

Carnage.

Carnage everywhere.

That was what met Sonic's eyes the moment he emerged from Freedom HQ – or rather, what was left of it.

Up until a few minutes ago, it couldn't have been more peaceful throughout Knothole Village and the Acorn Kingdom. Villain activity had reached an all-time low, King Elias was doing a great job as Maximilian's successor, and prosperity abounded. Just minutes before, Sonic had remarked that at this rate, they would topple the Eggman Empire in no time.

Unfortunately, that no longer seemed like a possibility now, and Sonic found himself taking those words back.

It all happened in a supersonic blink of an eye. Without warning, Snively had shown up and vaporized half of the Freedom Fighters in mere seconds. They were literally fried by the beams that Eggman's nephew projected from his mech's hands.

Sonic had never seen Mighty so angry in his life. He was quick to avenge his fallen friend Ray, doing considerable damage to Snively's mech in just a few blows. On the other hand, Tails was completely losing it. Two of his closest friends, Rotor and Sally, were gone, presumably dead. Sonic wished he could have been there to comfort him, but he was in the same position himself, and Snively was still at large.

The only Freedom Fighters who were still alive were Knuckles, Tails, and Amy, who were buried under tons of rocks that used to be the foundation of Freedom HQ. Tails had told him to go make sure Knothole was okay; they could get out on their own. As much as Sonic wanted to help them, he decided to listen to his brother and help the people.

And then Eggman's nephew dropped the bombshell: his attack, the one that had wiped out all of the Freedom Fighters…

…was just a diversion.

It was a diversion for Eggman and his forces to move in and utterly lay waste to everything Sonic had ever known. Dozens of Egg Fleet battle cruisers had arrived, blasting everything with turbolasers. The fire and smoke was already succeeding in turning the sky red, and the screams of those caught in the incursion rang through the air.

His mind was a blue as he found himself running through the ruins of Knothole Village. Almost every single structure was reduced to rubble and burning to the ground.

Panic welled up in him the more he ran. Nothing was left. The Lake of Rings, his uncle's diner, his neighborhood, even his own house – they were all gone, reduced to nothingness. He was now homeless; he had nowhere he could lay his head.

Sonic had to keep himself from crying. It wasn't like him to completely break down. Yes, there were times that he did feel down, but this was way more than that. Eggman had crossed the line. No, he had crossed numerous lines.

The one structure that was still standing, probably the only one left by this point, was the castle. By any luck, King Elias had seen this attack coming and taken in as many villagers as he could. And Sonic had to make sure they stayed safe.

Suddenly, a huge explosion erupted from the castle, engulfing it in flames.

"No!" Sonic shouted, before darting out of the way of the flying debris that narrowly missed him.

The last stronghold, the only surviving place of refuge near Knothole Village, was reduced to ruins in seconds flat. Everyone inside was most likely dead, or buried in the rubble.

There was no way any of them could have seen this attack coming. Nicole did give everyone a heads-up, but that was only seconds before Snively broke through the roof of Freedom HQ. There was literally no time to prepare or even react.

Sonic the Hedgehog, the blue blur, the fastest thing alive, wasn't fast enough to save everyone.

Most of his fellow Freedom Fighters, the king, even his own uncle and parents – they were all gone, presumably dead.

He would never forgive Eggman for this. Not this time.

He felt unbridled anger rising in his core, a forbidden form of negative Chaos energy threatening to boil to the surface. He clenched his fists tightly, attempting to hold it back.

"Welcome to the endgame, rodent."

And just like that, Sonic could no longer quench his wrath. He turned toward the source of his arch-nemesis' voice, and saw one of Eggman's personal robots emerging from the flames consuming what used to be the castle. Resembling a SWATbot to some degree, it looked every inch the combat robot, It sported spiked shoulder plates, a shield attached to the left arm, and a Checker-Wrecker Ball held by a chain in the right arm.

"Y-you…" Sonic growled with clenched teeth, his fur darkening to a deep shade of blue. "You took everything from me… my family… my friends… you… you… killed them…"

"Captured, Sonic," corrected Eggman. "What, you thought I would stoop that low, hedgehog? All Snively and I did was use an enhanced teleportation beam, not unlike the one I used on Mammoth Mogul. They have been taken to my Egg Grapes; there it'll be all over for them."

Sonic clenched his fists tighter. "But you didn't zap me. That means I still get to kick your butt, Egghead."

"Oh, but you don't understand," Eggman said. "I told Snively to leave you for me!"

With that, there came a wooshing sound from the back of Eggman's robot as several small heat-seeking missiles propelled themselves toward Sonic, who ran from them, only to skid to a halt and leap clear over them. Without any immediate targets for the missiles to track, they continued to fly in a straight line.

"Failure after failure, and yet even now you remain confident," mused Eggman as he launched more missiles at Sonic. "Need I remind you what happened to Tommy Turtle and Sir Connery?"

Eggman meant business this time. As Sonic vaulted himself from missile to missile to gain on Eggman's new mech, he felt the darkness getting stronger.

"Your friends and family were never deroboticized by your hand," continued Eggman. "And in the end, it didn't matter for your father!"

Now it got personal. It was true; even though the others were changed back into Mobians, his father Jules could not be changed back because the war injuries he had sustained in his Mobian form were too great.

"You are the fastest living being on the face of Mobius," Eggman sneered. "How come you're all alone?"

Immediately a black mist began to emit from Sonic's fur as it changed to a deathly black hue. His eyes glowed white in hatred.

"SHUT UP!" Sonic screamed in desperation, actually taking Eggman aback. But the mad doctor quickly regained his composure. He stifled a laugh.

"Losing your wit already?" he taunted. "Please, I want this last game of ours to have at least a little merit. And do stop mutating before my eyes; it's quite unsettli–

"A game?!" Sonic shouted uncharacteristically. "You destroy an entire village, annihilate the whole kingdom, and wipe out everything I've ever known, and you have the guts to call it a game?!"

He unleashed a furious flurry of attacks on Eggman's mech in the blink of an eye.

Wham!

"That was for Knothole!"

Clang!

"And for my friends!"

Smash!

"And my family!"

Pow!

"And Sally!"

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't land a single hit on the metal. Eggman was deflecting all of his attacks.

"Your efforts are cute, to say the least," the doctor grinned evilly. "But even if you are bolstered by your negative Chaos energy – yes, I know about that – none of your attacks will work on me! You see, I programmed the Egg Beater with you in mind; that is, it is designed to anticipate your moveset. Try what you will, but I guarantee you this mech is indestructible!"

"Yeah? Well, doesn't stop me from trying," Sonic fired back.

"If you think you had even so much as a toehold against my empire, hedgehog… you are gravely mistaken."

He swung his mech's right hand down, and with it came the Checker-Wrecker ball. Sonic easily avoided it before it slammed into the ground with enough force to form a crater.

"I allowed you to exist because the rest of Mobius fell to me so quickly that I was getting bored," crowed Eggman. "And believe me, you and your kind have been quite the entertaining adversaries."

"I lost count of how many times I humiliated you in the past," retorted Sonic.

"Touche," Eggman conceded as he swung his giant wrecking ball at Sonic once more, to no avail because of the hedgehog's enhanced super speed. "But is Mobius any more free than it was since the coup?

"That's why King Maximilian failed to rally support. They know deep down that I am in control. That you are powerless to defeat me once and for all." He ducked, cringing from one of Sonic's rapid assaults that was quickly blocked by the Egg Beater's shield. "That's why they didn't call you for help… and why they didn't warn you about this!"

Activating a button, the combat robot fired a practical hailstorm of lasers at the emotionally-driven hedgehog, who dodged them with ease. But Sonic didn't see the Checker-Wrecker ball that slammed into him from in front. All things considered, that was a lucky hit – Sonic never moved that fast in his normal form.

"Get up, rodent," Eggman demanded as he swung his wrecking ball in the air above him. "I'm not finished with you yet."

"I thought as much," groaned Sonic as he stood up. "You know what, Doc?" He grinned in an uncharacteristically malicious way. "The feeling's mutual."

He bolted toward the Egg Beater, sidestepping the wrecking ball that narrowly missed him, only to be struck squarely in the abdomen by a laser bolt, sending him flying back. Due to his enhanced state, it didn't hurt as much as it would have in his normal state.

"Did you forget, hedgehog?" Eggman cackled. "The Egg Beater out-classes your speed and strength in every way, even with your… er, whatever it is you are right now!"

"We'll see, Eggman," Sonic seethed. Despite his enhanced negative Chaos energy, he was starting to pant.

"I've been studying you your entire life, Sonic the Hedgehog," stated Eggman. "I think we can all agree that we have officially reached your limit!"

That did it.

"Limit?!" Sonic bellowed, his deathly white eyes burning deep into Eggman's own eyes. "LIMIT?!"

Clenching his teeth, he dashed away at a speed that made even the doctor blink in surprise.

Wasting no time, Eggman activated his communicator. "Snively, patch into the satellites and get me his location!" he ordered.

"Downlink in progress, sir," came Snively's nasally voice from the other end. "Though it seems he's moving a lot faster than you originally–"

"That's irrelevant!" barked Eggman. "Just the location! He can't have gone far."

"U-Uncle!" Snively exclaimed. "H-He's–"

"Where, Snively?" demanded Eggman. "Where?!"

"Th-the east coast, sir!" his nephew squeaked. "He reached the Northamer east coast in roughly 2.87 seconds!"

"I don't care about numbers now, Snively!" a desperate Eggman said. "Though, I suspect his dramatically increased speed is influenced by his negative Chaos energy. I'll have to look into that later."

"Uncle Julian, he's coming back!" Snively panicked.

Eggman had barely raised his mech's shield before the entire thing jolted with a sickening crunch. With Sonic's impact, the Egg Beater slid backward for hundreds of feet before stopping. Eggman had to have it take a few steps back to avoid falling.

"You wanna talk about my limit, Eggman?!" exclaimed Sonic once Eggman's mech stopped moving. "Well, how's that for my limit, huh?!"

"Quite impressive, Sonic," Eggman said as he examined the damage done. "Although, I'm a little upset that you dented the shield."

Sure enough, even after that massive assault, a sizable dent on the Egg Beater's shield was the only sign of damage.

More mist began to emanate from Sonic as his fur slowly brightened to a navy blue. His negative Chaos energy and his dark form were already wearing off. He was starting to feel tired from the exertion.

"You put on a good show, hedgehog," Eggman said as his mech took a few steps toward Sonic. Before the hedgehog knew it, the Egg Beater was launching an assault of its own.

Crunch!

"But in the end, you failed. You weren't fast enough to save your friends."

Whud!

"You weren't smart enough to anticipate this incursion."

Smash!

"And you certainly aren't strong enough to defeat me!"

With Sonic temporarily down for the count, Eggman picked up the battered hedgehog with his mech's right hand.

"All of your friends are my prisoners, waiting to be converted into fuel for New Megaopolis by my Egg Grapes. You, on the other hand… You're free to run. Run anywhere you want, try to find anyone who is willing to join you as a new group of Freedom Fighters, anyone at all… but you will find no one. Absolutely no one will want to join ranks with you, a pitiful Mobian hedgehog who has finally been humiliated by the great Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik!"

At the press of a button, Eggman's mech activated its rocket thrusters and lifted into the air.

"Withdraw the fleet," he ordered. "We have no more business here."

He dropped Sonic, who didn't even catch himself as he landed. He was too battered and bruised from the fight.

Lying on his back, Sonic looked up at Eggman, who flew up to the command ship of the Egg Fleet. The ships slowly positioned themselves to leave, and Sonic could only stare at the orange flame-lit sky. There was not a sound, except for the crackling flames and the engines of the departing Egg Fleet.

It was true. He should have seen this coming. But there was no way he could have. He should have been fast enough to save everyone. Now they were going to be turned into fuel, killed at the hands of his longtime adversary. He didn't know what the Egg Grapes were in further detail, but the mere thought of it made his fur darken again to almost full blackness.

He clenched his fists. Yes, he was humiliated. Eggman had built the perfect weapon. He had finally been bested by his enemy.

He heard the distant sound of footsteps behind him, but he didn't want to turn around. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now. He was still mad. He now had to avenge everyone's lives.

Though, he knew he had to let go of his negative Chaos energy. He was scared of what he would become if he were to hold on to that energy for a long time. He did not want to become anything like Shadow or the evil alternate-universe version of himself.

"Sonic!" came a panicked youthful voice, followed by a gasp. "Sonic?! What happened to you?! Why are you… dark?"

Sonic tried to will the darkness away as fast as he could, but apparently it wasn't fast enough. Tails had already taken notice.

"Hey, Tails," Sonic groaned. A pair of yellow-orange arms helped him into a sitting position, and Sonic used his hands to steady himself.

"Are you okay?" Tails asked urgently. "We dug out as fast as we could and–"

Sonic turned to look at him, and something in the hedgehog's eyes made Tails yelp and take a few steps back.

"It's… it's okay," Sonic tried to tell both Tails and himself.

"N-no it's not!" Tails exclaimed, already beginning to cry again, not that he ever stopped since the attack began. "Everything's gone, Sonic! Eggman won!"

"So you can't win 'em all," Sonic tried to remain positive despite all the anger inside him.

Tails seemed to be apprehensive to even look at Sonic now, because he was still semi-dark.

"But Sonic, we don't have anything left! We lost the castle, we lost Knothole City, and… and everyone else is… is…"

"Hey, c'mere, buddy," Sonic coaxed before Tails could completely lose it. The fox looked hesitant, before he made his way over to Sonic's side and sat down next to him. As Sonic put an arm around Tails' shoulder, his fur was slowly reverting back to its vibrant cobalt blue color.

"We still have each other, Tails. And Amy. And Knuckles. We're still breathing. That means we still got a fighting chance, right?"

"I… Yeah, I guess so…" Tails looked down. "How did you… how did your fur get dark? I've never seen you do that before."

Sonic didn't want to think back on it, but to satisfy Tails' curiosity, he decided to just get it over with and answer.

"Negative Chaos energy, I think," he explained to the best of his ability. "Eggman really pushed me over the edge this time, and… it kinda happened."

"So, like an anti-Super Sonic?" Tails guessed.

"Kinda?" Sonic said with a shrug. "I mean, I felt really powerful and fast, but like, really angry at the same time. Looking back… I don't want it to happen to me again."

He rose to his feet, albeit a little unsteady, and helped Tails up as well.

"No one died, Tails," Sonic stated.

"Wha… what do you mean? You saw them; they–"

"They were warped to Eggman's city," explained Sonic. "Something about Egg Grapes and turning them into fuel, if I remember correctly. Now let's get Knuckles and Amy. We got a party to crash."

Sonic and Tails walked back toward what remained of Freedom HQ. But Sonic threw a glance at Acorn Castle as it continued to burn to the ground with no one around to quench the flames.

You will be avenged. That's a promise.

A/N: That concludes this oneshot! I think it came out quite well. Just like Fall of the Ultimate Lifeform, I didn't want to use the verbatim dialogue, so that I could mix things up a bit and make it more interesting. It paid off in the long run.

I know that the anti-Sonic from an alternate universe is Scourge, but I put it that way because Sonic didn't know his name was Scourge at that point in the comics.

I am also aware that Ian Flynn does not consider Dark Sonic to be canon. To this day, the only place you can officially see Dark Sonic, besides fanart and fanfiction is episode 67 of Sonic X, "Teasing Time". SEGA really should bring this forgotten form back, just as they canonized chili dogs.

Plot twist: I haven't read the majority of the Archie Sonic Comics - only the first thirty issues, the last twenty or so issues, and a few issues in between, including this one, FCBD 2010, The Tails Adventure arc, and Issue 150.

If anyone who hasn't read this issue has any questions, I'll try my best to answer them. Eventually, I'll add a space after this author's notes section to reply to reviews. While I'm at it, I should do it for my other oneshots as well.

If you liked this oneshot, you may also want to check out Chaos on Earth: A Sonic X Rewrite, as well as Fall of the Ultimate Lifeform. Stay safe during the pandemic, and I'll see you next time!