~Chapter Four: The Plot Thickens~
It took a bit for Mario and Sonic to head out again in the morning. As Mario quickly found out, this Sonic was a bit on the lazy side as well and groaned when Mario finally managed to wake him. Though in all honesty Mario thought Sonic would be happy that he'd woken him up, since it seemed like he was having a nightmare as he'd been mumbling something about people complaining about how he looked or something like that.
It didn't take long for the two of them to reach the desert, a sandstorm almost immediately kicking up and forcing Mario to cover his nose and mouth with his hat, while Sonic did the same with his neckerchief.
"I wish I had Blue Force 1 with me." Sonic piped up a few minutes later. "It would make traversin' this wasteland a snap!"
"What's Blue Force 1?" Mario asked.
"My car motorbike thingy." Sonic explained. "It's come in handy on multiple occasions, like that time me an' my friends had to go get a new Meroke Crystal 'cause it's the source of power of the village an' the first one kinda died. But then there was that time that Mark the Tapir used it an'..."
Mario glanced at Sonic curiously when he went silent. "And what?"
"He kidnapped me an' made me eat pie an' act out his fanfiction he'd written about me! An' I took a peek at some of it when he was out of the room, and some of it was... uh, how do I put this... very... adult oriented."
"Um, people... write... stories about you?" Mario asked, disturbed.
"Sure do!" Sonic confirmed. "In fact, we may be part of one right now." He made a point of looking directly at the screen, as if to say, 'Yeah, that's right, I can break the fourth wall too'.
"What are you looking at?" Mario questioned, to which Sonic shook his head and turned towards his companion.
"Nothin' to concern yourself with." he said cryptically, before he turned to Mario in curiosity. "So how much longer do we gotta tread through this?"
"It'll be awhile," Mario sighed. He frowned as he squinted through the dust clouding his vision. "It's strange though. There aren't usually many sandstorms around here. I wonder if there's some sort of disturbance."
"Like that up there?" Sonic pointed out, shielding his face and looking up at the sky. Mario turned his eyes upwards and didn't see anything at first, until a familiar high-pitched laugh echoed in the air and a magic blast hit the ground in front of him.
"Kamek." Mario growled, getting into a fighting stance. Sonic looked between Mario and Kamek before getting into a fighting stance of his own, eyeing Mario in curiosity.
"Who is this guy? Since it's a common rule that no one can attack us an' time seemingly stands still while deliverin' exposition, make sure to not leave out a single detail."
"Remember when I mentioned Bowser?" Mario began. "This is a Magikoopa who has been with him since the day he was born, almost like a father figure. When Luigi and I were being delivered to our parents by the stork, he managed to separate us and relentlessly chased down the Yoshi's who were helping me get back to Luigi. He also nearly killed me one time-"
He was cut off by another beam of magic, catching both him and Sonic off-guard and causing Sonic to frown up at the Magikoopa. "Hey! Stop breakin' standard cliche's! Mario's deliverin' some important exposition here!"
Kamek remained silent as he studied Sonic, before his eyes grew wide and he gasped. "It can't be..." he mumbled, causing Mario to break out into a cold sweat. "Lord Bowser said that you had been disposed of. I must inform him at once that that's not the case!"
Kamek cackled and vanished, taking the sandstorm with him and bringing a welcoming silence after the wind had been screaming for so long. Sonic blinked, before turning to Mario with a cocked head. "So what was that all about? He was actin' like he knew me or somethin'. I mean, it would be flatterin' if my heroics had made it to another dimension, but that doesn't seem to be the case."
"I don't know," Mario lied. "Maybe he mistook you for someone else?"
Sonic eyed Mario suspiciously, but didn't pressure him about the issue further. "Well, whatever. C'mon, the sooner we get outta this desert, the happier I'll be."
/~/
"What do you mean Sonic is in this dimension?!"
Kamek shrank back at Bowser's outburst, but continued on with what he had to say. "Yes, sire. Though I thought Sonic had been killed and that's why Mario had fallen into depression?"
Bowser shot a glare at Kamek. "Of course Sonic's not dead, not yet at least." he growled. "Eggman has him locked up on the Death Egg while he takes over the world. He spread the rumor that Sonic was dead so that those idiots would lose all hope and surrender themselves over to him. As far as I know Eggman still has him held prisoner, so how could he have escaped and made it here to this dimension without helping his own?" He pondered on the question for a moment before jabbing a claw at Kamek. "Tell me, what did this so-called 'Sonic' look like?"
"The usual - blue fur, green eyes," Kamek began. "Though the fur on his arms had grown out, and he was wearing a brown neckerchief. He looked a bit taller too."
Bowser raised an eyebrow in interest. "Is that so?" he murmured. "In that case... he's most likely from a different dimension." a wicked grin played on his lips. "They're probably going to see that old fool, Professor E. Gadd, to return him to his world! Kamek, I need you to go pay the Professor a little 'visit' and 'borrow' something of his."
/~/
Night had fallen across the desert and the duo of traveling companions had found a hidden area beneath a cliff to rest for the night. As Mario prepared some food he noticed Sonic undoing his sports tape, and shaking another roll of it from his quills, reapplied it to his hands and feet.
"So what's the importance of the sports tape?" Mario questioned and Sonic snickered, lifting his eyes to meet Mario's.
"Well, the stuff on my hands adds an extra layer of protection when I'm fightin' hands on. The stuff on my feet helps with ankle support. Plus, it just looks cool. Kind of a team staple actually. Everyone wears it 'cept for Sticks, she puts in on her boomerang."
"Interesting..." Mario murmured. Sonic grinned, holding out the roll to Mario.
"You want some?"
"What?"
"Sports tape. You want some?" Sonic repeated. Mario pondered on the question for a moment before he smiled and shrugged.
"Okay, sure. I guess it wouldn't hurt."
"Great!" Sonic scooted closer to Mario, unraveling some tape from the roll. "Where do you want it? Your gloves? Or your shoes perhaps? Or maybe..." he sat up on his knees. "We could put some on your hat!"
"How about the hat and shoes?" Mario suggested.
"Excellent decision!" Sonic chirped, carefully wrapping the sports tape around the middle of Mario's shoes. Mario took off his hat and handed it off to Sonic who pondered on where to put the sports tape for a moment before he wrapped it around the brim, handing it back off to Mario with a smile.
"There! You're now officially an honorary member of Team Sonic, just like FriendBot. Now, to really make it official you'd need a communicator," he lifted his wrist to show off his blue one. "Buuut, we'd kinda need Tails for that, an' he's not here sooo... we'll just pretend that you do, 'kay?"
Mario gave a small, agreeing chuckle before noticing that Sonic's gaze had fixated on his communicator, a frown on his face. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Me? Yeah, of course I'm fine, I'm always fine." Sonic replied. "I'm just... a little worried about the team, that's all. I hope they're doin' alright without me."
"I'm sure they are," Mario assured. "If they're as strong as you make them out to be, then I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."
Sonic lightly smiled, gaze turning to Mario. "Thanks Mar."
Mar...
The familiar nickname hit Mario like a punch in the stomach, bringing with it the memories of his ex-boyfriend... dead ex-boyfriend that he was desperately trying to suppress. Every time Sonic had called him by that affectionate name seemed to play all at once in his mind, and it was too much for him to handle.
Ignoring the concerned look Sonic had, he crawled to the entrance of their rest area and threw up over the edge.
/~/
"Mar?" Sonic called, going to the entrance as well and gently rubbing his back. "You alright there?"
"Don't call me that." Mario pleaded in a hushed whisper. His face was pale, he almost looked like how Eggman had when he thought his lair was haunted. "Please don't call me that."
Sonic opened his mouth to ask why, but noticed tears forming in the corner of Mario's eyes. He bit his tongue after that, knowing full well that he couldn't offer the needed comfort to a person in distress. One of the things he lacked in. Instead, he backed off and sat against the back wall of their hideout.
"Okay. I'll just call you Mario then, man."
"Grazie." Mario thanked, before crawling back to where he was before he'd emptied his stomach.
It was a long, awkward night after that.
Replies
GirlOnDarkerSide: Thank you for the review!
TheGameNguyener: See, and Sonic's 'done with everything' face and attitude is why I like Boom!Sonic so much, because I look at him and all I can think is 'same' because I find myself pulling that same face literally every day. I understand how it's not appealing to some, but I relate with his attitude so much that I can't help but like him. Thank you for the review!
Pamitydesu01: Yeah... Boom!Sonic being there isn't helping as much as he thought it would. Thank you for the review!
Silver1612: It's true, Mario's emotions are getting in the way slightly. Thank you for the review!
