Contest BroTP entry:

Dimensional

The sparkling lights around them seemed to form a long, motionless blur that went on in an endless stream of color. The sounds that usually filled the city had grown strangely dull, almost non-existent as their ears got accustomed to it. Many would say that the city was full, bustling with life, but they were beginning to feel otherwise.

There was something beyond the wall. There had to be. Something besides the same scenery in the same long row. But they had never felt it, never seen it, never heard it, so how could they know?

There was no way they could.

Mighty came to a screeching stop beside another of the ring boxes, and as routine he looked above to make sure Ray was still there.

Ray descended down to his level, and with a slight worried look he glanced at his companion. "What's the matter? Why did you stop?"

Mighty looked around in search, but as he expected he found nothing. Looking back to Ray, he smiled in unsettled reassurance. "Oh, it's nothing. I just needed a quick break is all."

"Oh, gotcha." Ray smiled back at him, his usual self returning.

Mighty frowned at the lie he had so easily told, but he hid it from his partner and nodded eagerly. "Let's get going."

Charmy flipped through the thick pages of the "keepsake book" that the Chaotix Detective Agency seemed to always have lying around. It was there to collect dust for the most part, but they liked to think it was for memory's sake.

At least it was when they had time to look.

Most of the pages were filled with pictures of the mysterious island that had risen up from the sea those many years ago (and had since gone missing), but a few of the pictures were actually of them- and not just the three that remained.

Charmy tried his best to remember those times, but things had been so different that to him it was all a blur. A blur of city lights and strangely dizzying nostalgia.

Something had changed since then, and by the look of the thin images, the atmosphere had too. But what was it?

What had torn the others away from them?

Charmy rose so suddenly he nearly smacked into Vector in the process.

"Be careful," the crocodile muttered, walking by to his desk without really noticing the confused curiosity on the other's face.

"Vector."

By the way he barely responded, Vector was not in a good mood to speak, shuffling blindly through the stack of papers gathered on his desk.

"Who are they?"

He didn't look up this time, continuing to search through with impatience. "Who are who?"

Charmy flew over to the desk and dropped the book over the pages, scattering a few in the process. "Look!"

Before Vector could say anything, he saw the images on the page and froze, silent for a few long moments. "Oh."

"Wellll?"

"That's Mighty and Ray." His voice was hollow as he replied.

"But where did they go?" He was unaware that the answer was so much more complicated than either of them thought.

Vector went back to his pages, collecting the ones that fell off onto the floor. "I don't know, Charmy." The melancholy that gathered in his eyes kept Charmy from asking any further, and the bee walked off more confused than before.

The two travelers put up a tent outside of the city, never ones for hotel-staying. The quiet stars were more real to them than the bustling city lights, and the trees in the wind were more freeing than speeding cars.

Even if it was emptiness that Mighty felt that night.

As they settled down for the night, each in their own sleeping bags, Ray knew something was wrong. There was no disguising or hiding it from him anymore.

"Mighty, you didn't say goodnight…"

Mighty, back turned towards his companion, suddenly flipped to his other side and sighed. "I'm sorry, Ray. Goodnight."

Except Ray wasn't falling asleep, he sat bolt upright and crossed his arms. "I'm not going to sleep."

"Why not? What's wrong?" Mighty sat up as well, concern showing in his eyes despite the dim lighting in their tent.

Ray unfolded his arms and gazed at Mighty with the same kind of worry. "It's you. You're hiding something."

Mighty's ears drooped at the mention of it, but he chuckled anyway. "I can't hide anything from you, can I?"

Ray shook his head, stubborn but truly loyal. More loyal than the lie Mighty had retreated to tell him.

"Something is wrong." He confessed, the slow words seemed trapped in his throat until that moment.

"But…what is it?"

"That's the problem. I don't know."

Espio was the next to be asked about the disappearance, as Charmy was determined now not to let it by.

Yet he got no further.

"I don't know."

"But how can you not know?"

"It's just…complicated." He shut the book firmly, as if to never open it again.

"But- but we're detectives! We're supposed to know this stuff!" He stood up angrily, like anything he did could help it, like somehow that would make it change.

Espio dusted off the cover of the book longingly, but knew it would make the situation no clearer. "We investigated, but we found it was more than we thought. A matter of time, space, and dimension- not just lost contact. We can't bring them back. Only fate can do that."

"Fate?"

"Hopefully."

He set the book aside and the subject was dismissed.

"Ray, do you ever feel like we're missing…a part of the world?"

The air in their tent had grown thin, one-dimensional.

Ray's mind seemed to go spinning at the words, as it sunk in that he was not the only one feeling that way. There was no way he could dismiss it as 'silly' like he had done before. It was real. "Sometimes, I guess. Sometimes I just don't want to think about it." He put an arm across his chest and a hand on his own shoulder, comforting himself.

"I don't either…but something's missing. Someone's missing, too. I just don't know what or- or who they are." He glanced through the opening in the tent, still searching. Still searching for something he didn't even know, something he couldn't even find.

"I think…it's something about the atmosphere maybe?" The flying squirrel glanced nervously at his companion, wishing that he could just find whatever was missing, come to a conclusion. Solve it all.

"It is something. If only I could put my finger on it." Mighty saw the worry on Ray's face, and wished he would've never mentioned it. "Listen, you don't need to fret. We'll sleep on it and figure this all out in the morning, okay?"

Ray nodded and without a word he lied down and closed his eyes, hoping that the worry he felt would not manifest itself in the form of a nightmare.

Mighty lied down as well, his own mind scrolling faster than he could go. There were too many questions, and they were trapped in a world with no one to answer.

Yet he couldn't let Ray sense his insecurity, even if he was no good at hiding it. He couldn't let his companion have a sleepless night because of him.

He reached over and stroked the younger one's head, and this time he remembered to whisper goodnight.

"-and what did you tell him?"

"That I don't know."

"That's as much as I could really say as well." The moonlight stroked across his face, shining from the partially opened blinds.

"Except you added the whole 'space, time, dimension' thing?"

"How do you know?"

"Charmy came to me and asked what that meant." The sounds of frogs and crickets outside came continuously louder, the walls thin as they were.

"Oh."

The two of them sat in the living room, sharing a couch, which they rarely ever did except for in serious discussions. They supposed this was one of those.

"I know that we can't bring 'em back, find 'em even, but I can't help but wish we could," Vector mumbled, gazing disinterestedly at the fabric of the sofa. "I wonder where they'd be right now."

"I wonder how we would have room for them here," Espio replied. And that was perfectly true, as well.

"They're somewhere, though…so at least they're not dead."

"Yeah."

There was never anything else to say about the matter, so they always ended on that note. Same for that night.

"I guess we should get to bed," Espio suggested.

"Yep."

They parted, the same as usual.

"Rise and shine, Rays!"

Ray wiped the sleep from his eyes and did his best to see through the blinding sun rays, streaming in from the light fabric of the tent.

"Why so earlyyy?" He asked every morning, just as a routine. Just a silly habit that had somehow formed over the years.

"I don't know where we're going. We've gotta go find out." Mighty's line never failed to get Ray out of the tent, and it certainly didn't that day either.

As they began walking, Mighty did his best to forget the questions of last night. He desperately hoped that Ray had forgotten anyway. Except that Ray had already remembered, and already was pondering it all in his head, trying to find a solution on his own. At last, he gave up the search.

"Are we going to…find what's missing?" Ray asked, afraid of the words. He spoke it so quietly that Mighty wouldn't have heard it had he not been waiting. He wished he hadn't.

He laughed to himself to clear his mind. Of course Ray wouldn't forget.

"Sure, I think we can." What was he saying?

With the streaming scenery he wondered to himself how they could ever find anything apart from it. Where was the completion that he was looking for? And what if it wasn't out there?

It was like looking at a picture, but never going to the place where it was taken. It was like seeing the sunlight reflected in a puddle, but never the actual sun.

Yet he put on a brave face for his companion, forgetting that Ray could see through it to the fear underneath. He didn't notice, as in his mind he was lost elsewhere.

"Charmy, I told you that we're not bringing it up again."

It was a new day, so why was the same old memory coming back to them?

With the mess of cereal and milk spilt on the table, it was even harder to have patience with the boy. "But have we actually tried to find them?"

Vector sighed and scraped his plate with his fork, trying to ignore at this point. From his spot meditating on the floor, Espio briefly opened his eyes and said," We've tried, Charmy, and we can't."

"But- but how can we know?" He didn't mean to bother them, but the more he thought about that photograph, the more he couldn't stay quiet. The more the thought of loss consumed him.

Espio opened his eyes, looked at him clearly, and sighed in defeat.

"Charmy," he began. "Let me ask you this…"

How can we find something when we don't really know what we're looking for?

Mighty sank to his knees at the thought, the sun now setting in the sky.

Ray got to his knees, mimicking Mighty's motions and looking up sadly at the dull blue coming over the atmosphere.

"It's like…like we were memory wiped. How can we not remember what we're missing? Or, what we feel like we're missing…" Mighty spoke to the air now, no longer expecting answers. No longer expecting hope for their situation.

"Mighty, what're we supposed to do?" At the sight of Mighty giving up, Ray fell into despair and couldn't stop his voice from cracking. Mighty turned his head towards him the moment he heard it, and gave a halfhearted shrug, trying his best to be gentle about it. "Mighty, are we just going to be stuck like this?" And truly, Ray felt he knew the answer was yes.

"Don't worry, don't worry," Mighty came over to his side and put a hand on the other's shoulder, still kneeling down at Ray's level. "We'll find a way. Somehow."

"Do you really think so?"

He didn't.

"Yeah. Of course!" He put on a bright smile, hoping it gave the right impression.

Ray gave him a questioning glance, and Mighty knew he had made the same mistake again. He couldn't hide anything from his companion, and that was a fact.

He breathed deeply into the evening air, trying to clear his mind in that way alone. Honesty. He needed honesty. "Alright, Ray. If I'm honest…I'm not actually sure if we'll find a way."

The truth stung the already tense air, but at least now it was out. Now there was only aftermath.

Ray chocked on a sob, trying his best not to let it slide. But it did, and he couldn't hide it from Mighty.

Mighty looked down at the ground, ashamed of himself. If only he could've never felt that way- but then he would've been lying. It would have only hurt both of them eventually.

A tear rolled across his face, causing the skin there to shine in the fainting light. "Ray, I'm so sorry I can't help. I wish…I wish I could be more useful and-"

Ray wiped his eyes, no longer concealing. He tried to look at the best of things- at least he still had Mighty. At least they had lost the world together…and he couldn't be mad at Mighty for trying to hide that. "It's not your fault. I couldn't do any better. You're just doing your best sticking with me…I think only a detective could solve this mystery, anyway."

Mighty nodded slowly, still not able to face his companion's tears. "Yeah, I-I guess you're right."

And then it hit him like nothing had before.

"I guess we can't…"

"Right. So let's put it aside, okay?"

"Right."

They all wished it wasn't up to fate, they all wished they could do something to change it, but if they were very honest they also wished that they could just forget their helplessness.

And they cleared the table, forgetting already.

"We used to know a detective." The words burst out before he could really understand, or really comprehend what he was saying.

"We did?" Ray tilted his head, eyes still wet and glistening in the rising moonlight.

"Yeah…we did. But- but he's not here and that's because- because…"

"What?"

Mighty stood up and stared at the silver horizon, thinking deeply. "He's somewhere. He's somewhere far off, and where would that be?"

"Is that all you remember?"

"There were others, not just the detective. They're with him, I know they are! And-and it must be somewhere a lot different from here, because I get the feeling that's why this place feels so-so thin and empty."

Ray stood up, tears beginning to dry from his face. "Well what're we waiting for? We know what we're looking for now!"

"Yeah, we just don't know where, and I think it's…ah, not again." He closed his eyes and really focused on the words, on the situation, on what he was feeling. "They aren't here."

"You already said that."

"I know, but how else do I put this? They aren't in this world. It's like a whole other- other…"

The word came to Ray's mind so suddenly that he had to say it aloud, in case he were to forget it. "Dimension."

They both jumped up excitedly, high-fiving both of their hands, smiling widely.

"I don't know what that is , but that's the word, Ray!" Mighty exclaimed. The weight of that one missing word lifted off of his shoulders, and it made all the difference.

Ray nodded, barely believing that he had thought of it. "I know!"

"Now, how do we find this 'dimension'?"

Ray looked around, hoping that somehow it would jump out at him. What, in his mind, did a dimension look like?

Realizing that it wasn't happening, he shrugged. With this newfound hope, though, it didn't seem half as impossible and he eagerly exclaimed, "Let's find it!"

The room was silent, and save for Charmy all of the room's occupants were still.

Espio was back into his corner, meditating the thoughts away as best he could. Vector was lying over the sofa, not exactly asleep but wishing he was. Charmy was sitting on the floor, coloring a page as his routine was in the afternoons.

Abruptly, Vector sat upwards and gasped, startling the others to attention.

"Wait! I think I just figured somethin' out!"

"What? What in the world is it? I thought you were asleep," Espio replied, his yellow eyes opening and readjusting to the sudden light.

"I could've said the same for you, Es. But, no, listen. You know Mighty and Ray, right?"

"Vector, I thought we weren't talking about it," Espio sighed.

"Yeah, but I had to fer a minute. What if Mighty and Ray are still in that other place?"

"What other place?" His voice peaked with curiosity- unusual for him at all.

"That- that place in the other…dimension." Even as he said it he climbed off of the sofa, already ready to leave.

"Oh?"

"I mean, we haven't seen them since that place, right?"

It clicked into their minds, suddenly seeming rather obvious.

"You make a point."

"Then we oughta go find a certain fox."

"Do you- do you think it's like that blue thing that Sonic jumped through?" Ray asked tentatively, as the two began to walk through the thick of the forests again.

Mighty breathed into the foresty airs, trying to feel a stronger sense of real. "It- wait." He turned his head so quickly that it made him dizzy. "What blue thing?"

"Remember? We heard that he'd been gone for some months, and no one knew where he went, but they knew he went into this blue swirly thing." Ray pushed a few branches to the side, following Mighty on the nonexistent trail. Not really believing that he would be close in his guess.

Mighty leaped into the air, more of Ray's character than his own. "Yes! I'm sure that's it! Do you know where that is?"

To Ray's surprise, he had been a lot more than close.

They zoomed through that one-dimensional world one last time, side-by-side. Together in that place they felt the thrill of being so close, closer than they'd ever been, to what they were missing.

They stopped as they approached a sudden appearance of color, swirling and dilating with energy. They both panted to catch their breath, never having run so frantic before.

They almost couldn't believe it themselves. They were there. They were finally almost there.

Mighty glanced at Ray in question. "Are you ready?"

Ray quivered a bit, realizing a fear he didn't know he had. Still, he took a deep breath. The unknown was all a part of exploring, and he had to remember that. For Mighty, for the both of them. "Well, being afraid hasn't ever stopped me before, so I know it won't today."

"That's the spirit! Besides, I'll be right there the whole time," Mighty looked at the portal, the blue coating his face in memory. "And we'll finally see the other side together."

Ray nodded, excitement slowly replacing the nerves. "Are-are you ready?"

Mighty nodded, this time with no fear to hide. "Yes."

They both stepped closer together, but Ray stopped in the path abruptly and looked to Mighty once more. "Wait. One thing, though."

"Yeah?"

Ray reached over and took Mighty's hand, and only then smiled bravely. "I'm ready."

Mighty smiled back at him, and with no further worry, they walked forward together.

They disappeared into the blue, soaking color, and with it they faded into another place. With it they left the thin walls behind, and found the full dimension of the next world. With it they lost what they had known and found what they were missing.

The mystery was solved.