Sonic rushed headfirst into the Black Fog. He hadn't expected it to be that dark. He could hardly see a thing. He immediately slowed down and snuck around, trying to avoid Badniks, or worse, Tails. He was more afraid of facing his old best friend than actually being killed by him.
As Sonic wandered through the thick mist, he felt the urge to run far away grow more and more. But no. No amount of anxiety would be able to make him turn back. Sonic was deadset on finding his friends and finishing this. "Why don't you just turn back?" A voice asked from behind him. Sonic turned around to see a broken piece of metal from what could very well be either a Hexed or empire Badnik. In the reflection, he saw something different from himself. It looked like a humanoid man with a black greasy mohawk and a plastered-on grin.
"Who are you?" Sonic asked. "What are you doing in my reflection…?" Sonic's heart skipped a beat, and he felt as if he had been gored through the stomach. Zomom's sin of Gluttony and Zeena's sin of Envy had taken her place in their own reflections, so could it be that—? "No, that can't be it. I haven't done anything wrong. I don't have a Deadly Sin, I'm a decent person. So what are you?" The reflection laughed a strange laugh. It had dimples like no other.
"I've been given many names by my many loyal patrons," the man said. "Mania, Devil, Majin. My true name is Escapism, but that's a mouthful. So call me whatever you please. After all, I am the spirit born of your worst flaw. Your deep desire to turn your back on and run away from all of your frights without a second thought. Never turning back, throwing it all away." The spirit chuckled. "I am no sin, because how in either of our worlds could a sin be so grand?!"
"Majin it is," Sonic replied. It was a lot to take in. "So… are you gonna kill me or try to take over my body or something? Because if that's your deal, you have another thing coming!"
"Mmm… no. When you're a spirit, fun is infinite. Meaning I can do whatever I want for as long as I want. On the other hand, YOU are quickly running out of time for games, dear my friend," Majin replied. "I wouldn't want to take your dying life and waste so many potential years of my own existence."
"What makes you say that?" Sonic asked. "I'm not going to die."
"Maybe you will, in this cold blinding fog," Majin answered. "This place is not safe for the living. The darkness will devour you in all your warmth, just as it has devoured your friends."
"The Deadly Seven?!" Sonic asked, a jolt of fear coursing through his body. "What happened to them?!"
"Just like with what Robo Tails said before, you may be happier not knowing," Majin giggled. "If you really must know… turn around." Sonic heard a far-off heavy stomping sound. It must have come from some kind of huge beast. The entire Lost Hex shook with every slow and uneven stomp that came from this beast. Sonic couldn't help but turn around. His blood ran cold.
All he saw at first was the beast's foot. But it was enough to tell him that this thing was indeed only describable as titanic. Sonic in his entirety was barely larger than just one of its yellow and sharp toenails. He looked up, and took in the sheer girth of this monster. Its huge belly had an oozing slice in it, which Sonic only realized was a mouth when it opened to reveal rows of fangs and a spiky tongue. In fact, the thing was covered in mouths. A deep rumbling sound came out of the cavity leading directly to the beast's stomach. The sound soon became a bizarre clicking as the beast stopped in place and turned to him.
"You should run, old chum," Majin offered as the large beast started wobbling towards the fear-frozen Sonic. "It won't be able to follow you out of the fog, but when you're in here, nothing will be able to save you from… Gluttony." Sonic looked all the way up at the beast's face. It had one eye splitting down the middle of its forehead and teeth on its chin. Gluttony opened its stomach-mouth and, after a belch that nearly burst Sonic's eardrums, screeched with a voice that was not humanoid at all. It then charged right at Sonic.
"Tryna catch me, huh? This thing is as dumb as a brick," Sonic cried, running away from Gluttony. He picked up a shard of metal, and looked to his reflection. "You're not going anywhere, Majin. You seem to know a lot about Gluttony, mind giving me some tips on how to get rid of it?"
"You don't want to hurt Gluttony," Majin replied. "Zomom is in there somewhere. She has been consumed by her insecurities. Her 'sin' of Gluttony has taken over and transformed her physical form. It's best to just run before it kills you! There's no bringing her back!"
"You… really think so?" Sonic asked, distraught. He grumbled something under his breath. "No! If Zomom's in there, I'll do what I did to Chaos and set her free!" Sonic ran headfirst towards Gluttony and ran all the way up to the top of its bald head. "Hey, gruesome, you better stop this right now. Let my friend go!" Gluttony swung its head forward, flinging Sonic off despite his attempts to hold onto the beast's horns. Sonic went falling, not to the ground, but right towards Gluttony's stomach tongue! Sonic screamed as he neared the awful slimy abomination. It tried to pull him in, but Sonic activated his ball form and sliced right through. "Phew… not today. Not ever, hopefully." Gluttony roared out of all of its mouths, coughing up a stomach-wrenching acid that nearly hit Sonic. Sonic watched as it burned through multiple layers of volcanic rock.
"The more you hit Gluttony, the more you hurt Zomom," Majin stated. "We should really leave before something bad happens to either of you!"
"Fine," Sonic growled. "I'll come back for her after I'm done with Robotnik."
"How will you save her? What will defeating Robotnik do about this?" Majin asked as Sonic took off towards Robotnik Castle.
"Simple. With Robotnik out of the picture, nothing stands between me and the Dark Battery. I'll use it to sweep away all the darkness. If this Black Fog brought out the worst in all of them, getting rid of it could probably return them to normal."
"Splendid! Let us be on our way then," Majin replied. "We haven't much time before the Dark Battery is shrouded in the Dark Fog too." Sonic kept running, Gluttony spinning around in a large tornado behind him.
"How can something so big move so fast?!" Sonic asked, as Gluttony began to throw rocks into the air. He jumped and dodged out of the way of the falling rocks. Sonic looked ahead, only to see an entire wall of rocks falling from the sky in front of him. "Whoa, roadblock!" Sonic exclaimed, skidding to a stop. He wouldn't have had enough momentum to run straight up the wall anyways. Gluttony approached behind him. It wriggled its fingers and drooled acid as if it had seen something extra tasty. There was that god-awful clicking sound again.
"We'll need to go around. There has to be another way to Robotnik's castle," Majin sighed.
"Problem… the big ol' Zeti-thing in our way?" Sonic reminded him. Gluttony was blocking the path. Everything around them was covered in lava. Sonic was out of options. "Oh, boy. Majin, you're gonna hate me for this."
"Hate's a four-letter word, chum," Majin stated as Sonic prepared a throw. "I wouldn't put it that—" Sonic then tossed the jagged piece of metal straight at Gluttony's foot. The metal pierced the strange blubbery coating, and Gluttony screeched in pain. It fell to the ground on its back. Sonic rushed forward, as Gluttony lay there dazed.
"I hate you sometimes," Majin growled, still inside the piece of metal stuck in Gluttony's foot.