Sonic Faded Colors

I have always been meaning to get into the Sonic franchise, but have never found a real good game (other than Sonic Generations). One day, I was asking my friends at school (again!) if they had an extra copy of Sonic Colors or if I could borrow theirs for a while.

I almost gave up until a strange boy came up to me. I knew this boy, I was in a few of his classes. "Hello," he greeted me with an odd smile.

"Um, hey." I replied. "Do you need something?"

"Oh no," He said, "I just heard that you were looking for Sonic Colors, and I have a copy I don't need."

With that I got really excited, but I wanted to be cautious. "Do you have the disk with you?" I asked.

He pulled out a plastic baggie with the disk in all of it's glory inside. I grabbed it out of excitement and joy. Finally, I could play Sonic Colors!

I asked him if he wanted any money for the game, I had 5 dollars with me when I was talking to him.

"Oh, I don't need the money. Consider it a gift from a friend." he replied as he winked and smilied again.

After school I went home, did my homework and chores, and worked on a project. My parents weren't home, so I decided to pop in the game and play it. A feeling of joy came over me as the begining cutscene played and "Reach For The Stars" blasted out of the speakers. (I loved that song, I had it on my 3DS)

The first level was a pure joyrush, learning all of the basics was a breeze and high-speed Sonic action was all I desired. But then I noticed something odd.

There were no wisps to save. The containers were mostly missing, but the ones you had to break through were all empty. I just thought it was a bug, so I completed the level and made it to the first boss area.

There was no boss to fight. Sonic looked around, confused, then looked at the screen. For some reason, his color turned a little pale as he said:

"Was I too slow?"

Hearing the most famous Sonic taunt used against him was shocking to say the least. The game pretty much went on like that, completing enemyless levels and Sonic getting paler at the end of each with those haunting words.

By the time I reached the stage with the final boss, Sonic was basically a gray pale hedgehog, not the "Blue Blur" he once was. Once again, no boss appeared, just an endless strip of platform.

I tried to run, but Sonic would only walk. I found this very odd. Sonic, not wanting to run? What is this craziness?

So I walked along the endless strip, but I noticed that Sonic was getting paler and he wouldn't collect the rings.

I thought about the phrase he said. Maybe I really was too slow? So I replayed the first level a few times over trying to beat my top time.

Odd enough, the game would stick with the exact time I set for every level, no matter how many times I tried. I thought that the time meant something, so I put the numbers of the time into different letters, like what you would see on a phone.

It came out, for every time: "Ur 2 Sl0w"

Knowing that I could do nothing else, I went back to the final stage. I begun walking, and Sonic started getting not only paler, but slower. Near the end, he was on his hands and knees and just a pure white gray blob.

He looked at the screen, at me, with a very sad look and he spoke very haunting words. (for the sake of my privacy, I'm going to use my cover name)

"Oh Kailkity, it wasn't me after all. It was you who was too slow. You didn't get here in time, and now the wisps are dead. All of them. Eggman has won, because you were too slow."

He plopped onto the ground face-first as soon as he said it. I assumed he was dead.

Eggman came out of nowhere right then and thanked me for being too slow for Sonic to handle. He also said that he was draining Sonic's emotions during all of this to the point of depression. But he called it "fading his colors."

I remember that colors has two meanings- red, orange, etc, and emotions. Sonic Faded Colors....

The screen went dead for a while then came back on the wisp planet. A gray, slightly transparent Sonic was standing in front of the Mother Wisp place, whispering, "Kailkity, why were you too slow?"

Every important place he went to he said that. The place was just lifeless, except for all the plants. After his dead tour, he walked into the screen and it went black.

After a while, he appeared standing over void. He had a grayish blue coloring with a red tint. What he said next I almost dare myself to repeat.

"This is your fault, Kailkity. You didn't get here in time. Now every wisp is dead. You were too slow, and you always will be. No matter how fast you run, you will never escape me. I will find you. I will kill you. Because, like I said...." he got real close to the screen, and I could've sworn I saw Sonic.EXE for a split second.

"YOU'RE. TOO. SLOW."

The game shut off and reseted itself right after that.

I immediatley got a knock on my door, so I peered out a window to see who it was. It was the boy that gave me the disk! I opened the door and looked at him with a shocked face.

"Hey," he greeted, "I know some people in this neighborhood, so I thought I could come over and see how you liked Sonic Colors."

I grabbed the disk, put it in the baggie,and shoved it into his hands, saying "I never want to see that disk again."

He did a really creepy smile and asked, "You've met a terrible fate have you?"

Now I was REALLY freaked out. I wasn't expecting a Ben Drowned quote. He laughed and said it was a joke, so I laughed too.

Then he got real serious and said, "But in all honesty, you were too slow, weren't you?"

He just left right after that.

Three days later he vanished and nobody even remembered him. It got me thinking, maybe he played the game and was running from the Faded Sonic. I guess I'll never know, unless it really IS going after him, and he's trying to pass off the blame....

So I warn you, if a new kid comes to your school and offers you a Sonic Colors game in a baggie, reject the offer no matter what. And even if he sticks it into your backpack, don't play the game no matter how bad you want to. Give it back to him. It may be gathering a list of people who played the game. It may be going after him....

And it may target whoever has the disk last, next.

YOU'RE. TOO. SLOW.