"No!" Sonic lunged, but the XCI was faster. It grabbed him, not with crushing force, but with a probing, invasive pressure. It felt like a game update that was failing.
Sonic the Hedgehog was used to cyberspace glitches, the weird in-between of Starfall Islands. But this was different. The usual grid of light splintered into jagged, physical shards, and the air smelled less of ozone and more of… copper and old plastic.
He picked it up. It was cold. Dead.
Or he tried to. His signature spin dash felt sluggish, the air resistance too thick. He was moving, but not at the speed of sound. More like the speed of… a slow internet connection.
It was the sound of a console's home menu. Someone had just inserted a game. sonic frontiers xci
"XCI," it boomed, the word echoing like a corrupted audio file. "The Unclaimed. The Form That Was Never Released."
"Hey, circuit-breath!" Sonic shouted, skidding to a halt. "I've fought reality-warping gods before. You're just a glitch." Sonic the Hedgehog was used to cyberspace glitches,
"Your speed," the XCI whispered, "is just data. Your friends are just assets. And you … are a launch title that forgot it needed a physical body."