A/N- I feel I should clarify that Sorun isn't outright racist against the echidna. At the same time he really, really doesn't like them. From his perspective some of the worst things that have happened to him were in the form of omnipotent sky echidna messing with his life, and a malicious god-echidna, and the crazy cyborg echidna he has to worry about now, as well as him just hearing how bad off their species is. It's to a point where Sorun just thinking the word "echidna" automatically makes him mentally associate their species with bad emotions because of his limited experience with them. It's less racism and more like a really strong, negative unconscious bias towards them.
So I guess in a way it kinda is racism. He'll make exceptions for ones he actually likes like Knuckles and Tikal, and it's not as bad to the point that he'd go out of his way to attack or even antagonize random echidna if he saw any, but otherwise he'd rather just not think about and avoid echidna.
Another thing I wanna talk about, which I was asked on by a few people, is time dilation between zones. So we all know Sonic got blasted hundreds of billions of lightyears away or whatever the insane distance was that one time, and time on Mobius passed by a year while it took him a few weeks to get back because of the wonky relationship light and time has with each other. That's due to distance in the same zone. At the same time there's multiple points in the comic where characters go to whole other zones, and the time that goes for them is completely linear with how long they're gone from their home zone. So, say, going from Mobius to Moebius didn't mean a few seconds on Moebius was a few minutes on Mobius or what have you. It's a second-to-second ratio. It was a linear progression of time. So we can extrapolate from this that the same amount of time Sorun spent on Mobius passed on Earth regardless of distances between zones.
Recursion Error
Episode 64- Sorun steals Tails' plane
Virgil wasn't a normal Chao. Indeed, he was fairly certain there wasn't a single Chao in all of Mobius quite like him. No, he knew for certain he was alone in what he was. He was... different. Unique. And he liked that aspect about himself. With that uniqueness came strength, the kind of strength he'd never imagined himself having when he was in his previous state. That state that failed to set him apart from every other unevolved Chao in the world. That weak state.
All because of his owner that was different from every other thing in this world. Much like him.
Inherently Chao were able to form bonds and connections with those that took them in due to their links with the Chaos Force. It was these links that allowed them to form bonds with others, should a Chao decide to follow them and that person chooses to care for them. It was the strength of that bond and the relationship between the Chao and their owners, as well as the owner's personality, their inclination towards positive or negative emotions, that dictated a Chao's evolution if the Chao was capable and the bond was strong enough.
Sorun was curious in Virgil's eyes because he didn't have a Chaos Force link, which shouldn't have been possible. Everything in the world did. But he didn't. And yet he'd also had Chaos Force powers, which, he'd later heard from listening to others, was a result of him absorbing Chaos Emeralds. A trait of his species, apparently, which was unique in that they were void of a link. Well, Sorun had saved his life and fed him apples, and at the time his Chao Garden and colony was entirely gone. So of course he'd latched onto the human and allowed him to be his owner. He'd even given him a name. From "someone cool" he'd been told.
That kind of relationship necessitated a bond, which had been difficult, because Sorun didn't have a link. He did have a soul, though, curiously enough. A strange, tiny, weak little thing that was little more than a spark of life piloting an organic body as opposed to the spirits every other living being on Mobius possessed. So small it was practically nonexistent. But it was there. And it was good enough for Virgil.
Time passed, and their bond grew, and through that bond Virgil was able to get a better reading of Sorun through that thing he called a soul. He'd learned about Sorun's inclination towards positivity or negativity: it was a confusing mess. He'd gravitate back and forth between being extremely aligned with dark emotions and being extremely aligned with light emotions. Rapidly. Every second of the day. He'd oscillate all over the spectrum, sometimes leaning to one side or the other in an extreme, other times being various mixes of the two. It was wholly different from how natives of Mobius acted. Alignments were never supposed to move all that much except for special circumstances. The Mobians Sorun was always around, for example, were all extremely aligned towards lighthearted emotions and feelings. Virgil felt it just by being near them. That funny little Overlander man Sorun liked punching was aligned with dark desires and emotions as another example. But Sorun was different in that he kept flowing back and forth, over and over, like his very being couldn't make up its mind on what it wanted to be. Or, perhaps more accurately, it desired to be both. Another complexity to his owner. Nothing on Mobius was supposed to do that.
When their bond was at its strongest, and thus prompted Virgil to undergo his evolution into what he was now, he'd been able to peer into Sorun's soul, or at least as much as it allowed him. Normally not something possible, but due to having to have bonded with a soul instead of a Chaos Force link, such things had become an unintended side effect. Much of a Chao's evolution depended on the preferences and alignment of who they were bonded with, but since Sorun's alignment was all over the place in its constant flux, he'd decided to peer at the surface of Sorun's soul and, as Sorun would put it, "wing it".
He was compelled in knowing more about who he was named after. The person Sorun looked up to that Virgil was named after. Vergil. The cool guy.
To that end, Virgil learned much through his bond with Sorun's soul. He'd seen the man and felt that Sorun held a great, great amount of respect and admiration for him, his ability, his power. And also that... he was a fictional character, apparently, but it was a moot point for Virgil as far as he was concerned. He'd seen a man different than Sorun, with white, slicked-back hair and a blue coat, carrying the same sword Sorun had used to carry. And then there would be flashes of blue lightning and a wave of blue energy particles, and when the light died down, it would be something completely different standing there. Where there had been a human was a different creature entirely. Coat tails had turned to folded wings, pale skin to blue and black scales, hardened hide and carapace, finger nails to sharpened claws, and the sword itself had fused completely with the creature's left arm.
But the most striking thing to Virgil had been the horns atop its head. Those shining, silver, cylindrical horns. Almost regal-looking in their design.
This was who Sorun had named him after. This being that radiated so much power just from memories inside of his owner's soul. So that was what he'd evolved into. Or some approximation of it, at the very least.
Sorun had approved when he saw his transformation, and Virgil himself had approved when he felt the power his evolution had granted him. That and the flood of memory and knowledge Virgil had gained when his connection to Sorun facilitated his evolution. Another side effect of the soul-bond. His personality had completely shifted that day. For the better, as far as Virgil was concerned. He was more alert like this. More attentive. More... relaxed. Powerful. But relaxed. Calm. He could actually think clearly with his newfound intelligence.
And power. So much power he could hardly believe it. Enough that Sorun no longer had to call him too weak to fight and could bring him along on the fights he went on. He even did, once, when Virgil had prodded enough. It'd been a good day.
And with that evolution came a strengthened bond, and Virgil realized just how much his owner was suffering. He'd often be in a haze of negative emotions. Some days had been easier than others, some worse, to the point Virgil had always intensely worried for him, for Sorun, for the person that saved his life and gifted him this form. But Sorun would always act fine around him and the other Mobians, which greatly confused Virgil. He couldn't understand why Sorun would hide how he felt until he'd told him directly he simply didn't want to concern them.
Personally Virgil hadn't agreed with the logic, but Sorun was his owner, so he hadn't complained and just went along with it, acting like all was normal alongside Sorun.
He'd felt he'd made a mistake when he felt the bond between him and Sorun sever when the human died. It'd been a shock to the Chao, feeling that bond intertwined with his own soul suddenly vanish like that. Virgil had known the implications immediately and had mourned in his own silent way. Some part of him knew that Sorun knew he was dying, which was probably why he'd left him to the rabbit Mobian and her Chao.
She was alright. Nice. Bit too nice for Virgil's taste, too caring and touchy-feely, but there were worse owners.
Cheese was a punk.
Sorun had come back, though, which Virgil had felt when the bond suddenly reappeared. And for the first time since Virgil met Sorun he felt... happy. Normal. How he should feel, and his alignment was more steady and slowly but surely drifting towards the light. He was sad to hear his owner, his true owner that saw Virgil as an equal and not a pet, was leaving once more, but as long as it meant Sorun's soul continued to remain at the peace it was in now, he'd understand. At least it meant he got to stay with the nice rabbit girl and continue to prove his superiority to that unevolved Chao weakling with the stupid bowtie.
He hated that bowtie. Virgil didn't know why. He suspected it was that color. Red. He didn't like red.
But then Sorun's home turned out to be lost, and his alignment was once more in flux, now more wild than ever. Beyond that he was feelings emotional depths Virgil himself didn't even know was possible. Levels of despair and hopelessness that, frankly, made the Chao uncomfortable. But he'd endure it, for his owner's sake. Because he knew he was only feeling a fraction of what Sorun was feeling, and he had to wonder how he could keep living feeling like that all the time.
This was probably why the matriarch of the rabbit child had talked with Virgil and pleaded with him to keep an eye on Sorun, as apparently his owner was starving himself and was unmotivated to support himself. His friends would find out eventually, and failing that, Virgil himself would just tell them. Or failing that bring them back to the house to show them his sorry state. But they'd wanted to give Sorun a chance in the hope that he'd be able to pull himself together to avoid worrying his friends, for Sorun's sake. Virgil felt it was the least Sorun was owed. A chance to pick himself up.
Well, he didn't. Days after that dinner and Virgil's relocation to his true owner lead to this. Sorun passed out on the couch. Empty bottles of that Chao-Cola soda he had a pension for strewn about on the floor, as he'd given up on acquiring food and spent the little money he had left on the sodas. He was completely out of food. And the nice disappearing lady Sorun really liked was nowhere in sight.
Floating right next to the sleeping human, Virgil sighed. Well, he'd given him a chance. It was time to fetch the others so they could get Sorun to his senses. Just because his owner was fine with starving didn't mean he was, and he wanted his apples.
Virgil liked the things Sorun likes and disliked things Sorun dislikes. A consequence of the bond they shared and Virgil being able to sense Sorun's emotions along with him having similar tastes to Sorun.
The disappearing computer lady, for example. Sometimes to Virgil it felt like Sorun was a completely different person when he was near her. The negative emotions would fade, and positives would swell, and his alignment would temporarily stabilize and hover towards the lighter side. And he felt... strange, too. Strange in a good way Virgil couldn't describe, or even understand. But it was a nice feeling that only ever came with the nice disappearing lady. And Sorun liked her very, very deeply. So Virgil liked her. Enough that she was the only one aside from Sorun allowed to pick him up and handle him.
The blue hedgehog, whose home Virgil was floating to now. He didn't like him. Sorun didn't, either. Interactions with him had often left Sorun with feelings of envy. Jealously. Loathing. Scorn. And alongside that was a driving need Sorun had that screamed at him, demanded him, to be better than the very fast hedgehog. Feelings he could never satiate because he'd never accomplished such a thing. These feelings had faded over time, of course, muted nowadays as Sorun was more friendly with the hedgehog and liked him. But those feelings remained under the surface.
Virgil... tolerated him, since Sorun liked him now.
"Alright, guys, I'm off- AH!" The door to the house opened just as Sonic opened it. He'd only taken a step out before he saw Virgil and then leapt back in fright, his arms held defensively in front of him. "Oh, uh... Virgy. Hey there."
"Chao..." The hedgehog was fortunate Virgil wasn't strong enough to wound him.
"I heard you were livin' back with Sorun? Good for him, he, uh... kinda needs the company right now, I think," Sonic said. "Hoo, man, I'm still really worried about him. Glad you're here, though. Sheesh, if I'da known a pet was all it'd take to mellow him out I would have got him a Chao his first week here. You really did help calming him down those days, y'know?"
Virgil was aware. He wasn't here to reminisce. He needed Sonic's help. "Chao. Chao-chao."
"Huh? Hey, no." He had the audacity to try and swat Virgil away when he floated near. "I ain't got time to play, Virgil."
"Chao-chao." As loath as he was to admit it, Virgil needed the hedgehog. Unfortunately he didn't seem to understand the severity of the situation.
Curse his inability to form the words they used to communicate.
"Virgil, seriously, let go!" Sonic cried out as Virgil began pulling on his ears. He tried reaching up to grab at the Chao, to no avail. "I'm warnin' ya!"
"Chao!"
"Alright, you asked for it!"
The hedgehog was fast. Too fast for Virgil to hold onto. And after he'd transitioned to a speed that forced Virgil to let go, he disappeared from his sight.
Well, good riddance. He had other friends of Sorun's he could try. Friends Virgil could certainly tolerate much better than the hedgehog. Like the chipmunk. Or that coyote with the stupid hair that talked funny. And as it happened Virgil encountered that coyote while wandering around looking for Sorun's friends.
"Non, non, release me at once, you fiend!"
He wasn't very cooperative, though. Not for a lack of Virgil trying. Words didn't work because he didn't possess words. Gestures didn't work because the coyote, and Sonic apparently, confused it for him vying for attention, as if he needed such a thing. So action was the only solution Virgil sought.
Except pulling on the coyote's hair wasn't working, either.
"Alright, now. Calm down little feller." Cold, metal fingers grasped around Virgil's torso and lifted him off the Mobian's head. He turned his head to see a metal arm attached to the rabbit - the one that spoke weird - extending her arm out towards him. "Yer gonna pull his hair out if ya keep doin' that, Virgil."
Good. He should be thankful to Virgil for removing it. That thing was atrocious. It had to be if Sorun didn't like it.
"Now, if ah let ya go, ya promise not to attack mah husband again?"
She'd retracted her mechanical arm back to its normal length midway through her sentence. Virgil, of course, nodded at her. She sent him a cautious look as a result, but still believed him and opened her hand to free the Chao.
And then he flew up and began tugging at her ears.
"Gosh darnit, Virgil!"
"Chao! Chao!"
He'd been pulled away by her hand again. Roughly. Green eyes bore into his own blue, and the rabbit didn't look too pleased with the Chao's actions. He didn't care. He did care that she didn't seem too cooperative despite his best efforts. He couldn't understand why they didn't see how urgent he was.
"Jus'... go home, wouldja?" The rabbit asked as she released Virgil, though she seemed much more guarded now in case Virgil tried attacking her again. "We got important things tah be doin' today. We ain't got time fer your tomfoolery."
"Oui, and tell Sorun to be keeping a better eye on you," the coyote added, still rubbing at the top of his head Virgil had been pulling at.
"Chao!" Sorun was the whole reason he was here in the first place!
"Do not be taking zat tone with moi! Eet was my zinking zat Sorun taught you bettair manners zan zis."
...
Virgil rushed the coyote and began pulling his hair again.
"Bunnie, help! Help!"
"That tears it!" Once again Virgil felt metal fingers grasp around him. The rabbit looked much more upset now. "One more little outburst like that and we're headin' straight to Sorun. Now leave us alone."
Maybe he should keep attacking them. Them going to Sorun was what he wanted. He didn't care what happened afterwards, and Sorun would understand. Probably.
Well, he wouldn't, but it was still for his own good.
Except Virgil never got that chance. Because the rabbit had extended her arm far away from the couple's home, a whole ten meters, and deposited Virgil right in the air. Any thoughts of returning to gain their ire and lure them to Sorun's home was stunted when he caught the glare the half-robot rabbit was sending him.
Perhaps he'd have an easier time trying somewhere else. Sorun had other friends. Friends that weren't as fast and couldn't handle Virgil with a robot arm. He would have sliced that arm to pieces if he didn't know that Sorun wouldn't have been so forgiving to that kind of retaliation. But there were other friends he had a better chance with.
Where was the annoying pink one?
Pink one hadn't worked. All Virgil got for his efforts, in which he'd been slicing cuts into her dress, was the pink hedgehog screeching and swinging her hammer at him. He'd gotten her attention, yes. But she wouldn't follow him. She'd just kept trying to hit him with the hammer whenever he got close. A no-go.
The chipmunk Sorun liked wasn't an option. Virgil didn't want to gain her ire, both out of respect for her and fear. She was... built different from the others, he felt. More commanding, authoritative. And the wisdom gained from the bond Virgil had with Sorun told him not to mess with that. Besides. She was kind and nice, and Sorun had a lot of respect for her. Virgil let her touch him on occasion as a result. Not hold. But touch was okay.
He was aware that the fat, purple walrus had a back injury. Virgil didn't find use in attacking a defenseless, weakened Mobian. And Sorun wouldn't think attacking the crippled was cool.
The yellow fox? Certainly an option. Sorun's feelings with the two-tailed Mobian were mixed. Sorun had dark feelings around him the same he had with Sonic, though the feelings he had towards the fox were more malicious. Subdued and dulled these days, hidden by happy emotions associated with the friendship the fox shared with Sorun. The same case with the negative emotions he felt towards Sonic, and like those emotions, that animosity Sorun had for the fox remained in Virgil's owner. Muted, but still there. So he didn't like him very much. So he seemed perfect to annoy and lure to Sorun's home so he could finally find some help for his owner.
Too bad he couldn't find him.
The rabbits that had cared for him? He didn't want the mother to know Virgil was failing in his task of looking after Sorun. In front of their Chao. That unevolved one, Cheese. That was a weakness he refused to show in front of him. He had to remain superior to his fellow Chao at all times he felt. To prove he was better. And he and his owner, the rabbit girl, were inseparable. Any news he gave the mother would certainly reach the child, and thus, the Chao.
No. He couldn't go to them.
What to do? Nobody would follow him back to Sorun. The computer lady, Nicole, would eventually learn of Sorun's state when she visited again, so Virgil wasn't wholly worried. It was a matter that would resolve itself if he didn't. At the same time he wanted this solved sooner rather than later, for worry of Sorun. Who was probably still passed out on that couch.
If only that black and red hedgehog was still around. Shadow. They were similar in a lot of ways, him and Sorun. Virgil felt it, saw it. He would have understood Sorun's plight, and probably would have followed Virgil without him even having to lift a hand to gain his attention. But he'd left for somewhere. The only other person Virgil was aware of who had a ever-shifting alignment. Not nearly as wild, varied, or extreme as Sorun's. But still shifting nonetheless. The two understood each other, even if they didn't know it. They were both oddities.
During Virgil's silent contemplations, where he'd been aimlessly floating down the street, he'd seen a pair of people walking down the street. A yellow-furred pair of Mobians, a male and a female. He didn't know the male, but the female one with the purple hair spilling over her shoulders was recognized by him. She was... that one singer Sorun and Nicole took Virgil out to see that one time. They'd never got to hear her sing, though, because of the incident caused by that fat Overlander Virgil felt that Sorun hated. Virgil had been disappointed the concert had been cancelled, and Virgil felt that Sorun had been disappointed as well that they'd missed out on her music. And then Virgil had felt Sorun became doubly disappointed when he realized Nicole hadn't been able to hear her sing, either. Triply so, even.
Well... Sorun was on friendly terms with the singer. They weren't friends by any margin, at least from Sorun's perspective, but they were still friendly. Virgil knew that much. On the other hand, she was hardly somebody Virgil thought appropriate to show Sorun to. And yet... his options were limited. There was nobody better the Chao could think of.
Far from perfect, but it would have to do.
"How long are you going to fiddle around with that thing, Ash?" he heard the female yellow Mobian ask as Virgil floated towards them. The male yellow one had and object in his hands. A cube made of smaller, colored cubes, Virgil observed. One constructed in a way that sides of the cube could be turned and shifted around. The male seem intensely focused on it.
"I'm gonna figure it out," the male mumbled, "just gimme a sec."
The female shook her head. "I don't understand why you bought that. You've been at it for hours- oh!"
Both she and the male had stopped when they saw Virgil floating directly in their path. He regarded the surprised Mobians with a neutral face, his mind wondering what he was to do to gain their attention. Hair pulling and cutting hadn't been working out so well so far, and he couldn't afford to mess this one up like the others. He needed to bring them back to Sorun.
"Um... what's that?" the yellow male asked.
"That's... oh, I know you!" the purple-haired Mobian exclaimed. "That's Sorun's pet Chao! I forget his name, though," she said. "I think it started with a V, but... hm, I'm not too sure..."
While they were conversing among themselves, Virgil looked down at the odd cube in the male's hands. He seemed attached to it, somewhat at least.
... An idea formed.
"- Orun? Err... Sorun? Sorun...?"
With a groggy groan, Sorun opened his eyes. He'd been having a relatively peaceful sleep for once until he heard someone call his voice out while also poking him awake. No dreams, but no nightmares, either. Which as far as he was concerned was the best sleep he got in a long while until somebody chose to wake him up.
His ceiling greeted him. His living room ceiling, and not his bedroom ceiling. Why was- right, the couch. He'd fallen asleep on it while lamenting he'd drank the last of his soda and ran out of food finally, and that he had no way of fixing it. He assumed it was Nicole waking him up, finally realizing something was wrong, and Sorun was left wondering how he was gonna survive facing the music.
... Sorun didn't recall Nicole having yellow fur and purple hair.
"What the- wha- Mina?" He just barely managed to recognize her, but he remembered her as being a Mobian he was vaguely acquainted with. The singer. He remembered her having been rather pleasant, sent him a card once if he recalled, but they never spoke that much outside of that and the whole concert fiasco. He didn't know why she was standing next to his couch right now. Or even how she knew he lived here. Or why she was intruding in his home for that matter and waking him up. "What are you- huh?"
As he sat up in a sitting position on the couch, he recognized another Mobian standing to the side of the couch and looking at Sorun. Another yellow mongoose like Mina, but male and black-haired. What drew Sorun's attention though was that this Mobian was dressed. Jacket, jeans and all. The most dressed Sorun had even seen a Mobian. He even had a pair of dopey, red hippie shades.
"Wow, that's... you have pants," Sorun commented, making both mongooses give him odd looks. "You're the only Mobian I've ever seen wear jeans. I didn't even know jeans existed here. Who are you?"
"Um, this is Ash. He's my manager. And boyfriend," Mina introduced, her voice going a bit shy at the last part. Ash, in response, waved at Sorun in uncertainty.
"... Hey." Sorun nodded at Ash and turned back to Mina. "What are you two doing in my house?"
He felt he should have been slightly more alarmed at the two intruders inside his home, but at the moment Sorun couldn't really find it in himself to care all that much. Besides, he knew Mina... meh, reasonably well. And the boyfriend guy seemed alright. Had to be if he had pants on. He'd still like to know why a person he barely ever interacted with and her boyfriend broke into his home, though.
"Really should start locking that door..."
"Well, it's your pet Chao," Mina informed him, making Sorun tilt his head questioningly at her. "He stole something of Ash's and flew all the way here. We chased him here, and after we saw you sleeping here we got worried." She looked up a bit, over Sorun's shoulder. He followed her gaze and saw Virgil floating right behind him with an object clutched in his arms. "I'm surprised he was even able to outrun me."
"Eh, Virgil's special," Sorun said, though he kept his eyes on the Chao with a small frown on his face. Virgil met his glare with a scowl, causing both of them to scoff. "Bastard finally tried ratting me out," he thought as he looked at the object in- wait. "Is... is that a Rubik's Cube?" he asked, seeing the colorful, mismatched puzzle cube held in the Chao's hands. "You guys have Rubik's Cubes here?" Sorun asked as he turned back to Mina.
"Um... it's just a puzzle cube Ash bought from the market," Mina explained as Sorun took the cube from his pet Chao.
"Yeah," Ash continued, "you're supposed to turn all the sides 'til the colors on the sides are all the same. Pretty sure it's impossible. I bought it with all the colors mixed up and I haven't been able to figure it out."
"Mmh." Sorun's fingers began to rapidly spin the sides of the cube around. While he did this, he looked back up at Mina. "I'm sorry about Virgil's behavior, Mina. He's usually more well-behaved than that."
"It's fine, Sorun. No harm done." The female mongoose began to glance around the house they were in as Sorun continued turning the cube's sides. A concerned expression began to slowly etch over her features. "So... this is your house, Sorun?" She looked back at him. "It's... a bit dreary..."
"Haven't bothered decorating."
"I see..." She glanced towards the kitchen. Empty glass soda bottles and other pieces of trash littered the floor. "Um, Sorun?" Mina asked. "Are you doing okay?"
"Yeah, fine. Solved it." Sorun announced, reaching over to place the puzzle cube in Ash's hands. All the sides were solved, the sight stunning both Mina and Ash, with the latter proceeding to turn the cube's sides and mix the colors up again.
Mina got over her own surprise at seeing the puzzle solved as quickly as Ash had, and then focused back on Sorun. "Are you sure you're alright?" she asked the human. "I heard through Sonic what happened with your home zone. It sounds awful, what happened..."
"Yeah. Hey, can you do that again?" Ash asked, offering Sorun back the puzzle cube with the sides all mixed up again.
"Ash!" Mina shouted, admonishing the other mongoose's behavior and causing him to flinch back as Sorun took the cube.
"Ash is fine," Sorun assured Mina as he began turning the cube's sides again, causing her to calm down. "I wouldn't say I'm... I... I don't really know, Mina," he admitted to her. "It just really blindsided me. How was I supposed to know I was coming back to that? There weren't any warning signs of something like that happening before I left. None. And I don't- oh, here." With the cube once again solved, Sorun deposited it back into Ash's hands. The male mongoose's shock only lasted a few seconds before he furiously began mixing the colors up again.
"I just... I kind of want to go back," Sorun continued after handing the cube off. "I really find it hard to believe somebody finally went far enough to fire off the nuclear missiles. In fact, I don't believe it. I want to go back and figure out what really happened. Try and piece together if it was some giant accident or mistake, or if it really was a meteor or something, anything. Anything other than that." Sorun sighed. "But the only way for me to go back is using all the Emeralds, and I can only go to that one specific spot. And the others would never let me go back since the radiation levels there are deadly and they wouldn't have a reliable way of organizing me a way back here. They won't even collect the Emeralds for me again."
Skeptical. He was so skeptical humanity on Earth killed itself with nuclear war, because Sorun just couldn't believe anything would cause things to come to that. It wasn't impossible; he wasn't that naïve. He did recognize it was a possibility. At the same time he had a hard time believing it would happen with things having been so well at the time he left. And it was bugging him to no end that he knew so little of what happened. If only there was some way he could pop over there for a bit and then come back...
Sorun was dragged from his thoughts when the Rubik's Cube was practically shoved into his face again by Ash, once again scrambled. He didn't know why he kept making him solve it, but he still shrugged and began rotating the sides as he watched Mina open her mouth to speak again.
"It just must be so awful for you. Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Hmm." Sorun hummed out in thought as he continued rotating the cube's sides. "I don't really wanna impose, but if you happen to have any spare sodas lying around I'll take those."
"... Sodas?" Mina repeated, sounding more confused than anything at the request.
"I like them. They remind me of home. Here, Ash." Sorun tossed the solved cube back to Ash. He caught in out of the air, looking one part disbelieving and one part frustrated.
"How do you keep doing that!?" Ash angrily hissed as he glared at the puzzle cube. "I was trying to solve this thing for hours and you're doing it in seconds!"
Sorun shrugged. "We had them back in my zone. I looked up the formula on how to solve one, and then I did it 'cause I was bored one day."
"There's a formula for solving this thing?" Ash asked as he looked back at Sorun. "That's the trick?"
"Yeah, it's, like... super long and complicated, but once I did it I was able to memorize it."
"Huh? Really? You a brainiac or something?"
Sorun shook his head. "Nah, I... I've always just perfectly remembered how to do things with my hands." He rose his two hands up in front of his face. "Like, if I do things with my hands it... I dunno how to describe it, it's just easy to remember the movements and patterns and stuff. How do you think I'm able to pull off consistent frame-perfects in games?"
Ash gave him an odd look. "I didn't understand a single word in that question you asked me."
The look Sorun gave back to the mongoose was one full of disappointment and disgust. "... Why am I even talking to you, then?"
While the two conversed, Mina had tiltered her head down as she thought on Sorun's request. And then, in a outburst so sudden she's startled Sorun, Ash, and Virgil, she'd shouted, "Oh, wait!"
Mina's head had lifted up as if she just realized something. She turned around and bolted out of the house right after, at a speed that was too fast for Sorun to keep up with. He blinked in surprise as the mongoose departed, and then looked to the side at the other mongoose, who was staring at Sorun awkwardly with the cube still held in his hands.
"..."
"..."
"... So what's it like dating an idol?" Sorun asked in an effort to relieve the settling tension.
"It's, uh... great, I guess." Ash began to nervously turn the cube around in his hands as the two continued to uncomfortably look at each other. "She's nice, you know?"
"Mm." Didn't really tell Sorun much since most Mobians were generally nice, but alright. "Out of curiosity how'd you two start dating?"
Ash grew a bit more uncomfortable. "Whhhhy are you asking?"
"Come on, man, I helped solve your cube. You can't humor a guy after he does a solid for you?" Ash seemed to accept the logic with a reluctant nod, prompting Sorun to continue. "I'm just a bit curious is all. Like, did you just ask? Is that how it works?"
The Mobian honestly looked like he didn't want to answer, and Sorun saw he kept glancing at the empty doorway Mina had sprinted out of, looking like he was cursing her for leaving him alone with Sorun in this situation. Sorun couldn't tell was was making the poor mongoose more uncomfortable: being left with a complete stranger and a cube thief or the dating question. "I don't know, man, we worked together for a long time and got along great so I just worked up the nerves one day-"
"So it was you?" Sorun pressed. "You initiated it? It's totally okay if the guy asks? That's how dating works?"
"I don't- it worked for- we just met, why are you asking-!?"
"I'm back!" At hearing Mina's voice accompanying the rapid sound of footfalls suddenly ceasing, Sorun turned back forwards. She was indeed there again, and holding something out to Sorun. He blinked at it in confusion, and then gently took it from her so he could examine it.
... It was a small, cardboard case that had three glass bottles of grape soda in it. And a spot for a fourth bottle was missing.
"It was a gift I got from a fan during a world tour me and the band were doing," Mina elaborated when Sorun looked up at her with a questioning look. "I just realized I never really got to thank you for the whole concert thing anyways, so since you like these kinds of things I figured you could have it! You know, as a get-well present."
"Uh... thanks...?" Seemed like the most random thing to Sorun. When he glanced to the side at Ash, though, he didn't even look the least bit surprised at the sudden, spontaneous gift. He looked tired, actually. Must have been a weird quirk of hers or something. "Grape soda?" Sorun asked when he looked back at the bottles.
Mina nodded. "Mhm. I tried one and didn't really like it. And that tour was... gosh, almost a year ago now, I think. It's just kinda been sitting in a cabinet back at our studio."
"Ah. Year-old grape soda," Sorun deadpanned. "Thanks, Mina. It's just what I needed to overcome starvation." He'd still drink it, of course. If only because he didn't want to waste soda. Was probably gonna be the flattest soda in existence, too, but he'd still go for it.
"... Starvation?" Sorun felt his stomach drop when he heard Mina repeat that word, after which he mentally cursed himself for the verbal slip. "I, um... was actually looking in your kitchen and noticed it looked a bit... well, sparse."
"How the hell could she- oh, goddammit, I left the fridge open."
"Sorun?" Mina looked back at him, looking significantly more concerned than previously. "Why don't you have any food?"
"Ah, yeah. That." He cleared his throat to try and put her at ease. It didn't work. "I can't get a job. So I'm broke and starving."
Concern was mounting at an alarming rate. "And... what's your plan for that...?"
"I mean, nothing, really. I kinda just gave up."
Probably wasn't the best idea to be flat-out telling Mina all this, but from how Sorun was seeing it, she pretty much had him cornered thanks to Virgil bringing her here. She saw all the lack of food in the kitchen. And if she noticed, then it was basically a guarantee Nicole was gonna notice when she came to visit him again.
He was hosed. Utterly and completely. He might as well give it one last hail mary, though, just in case.
"Hey, Mina? I'm grateful for the soda and all, but can you do me a favor and not tell anybody I'm kind of starving?"
"N-no! Of course not!" she exclaimed, making Sorun sigh loudly. "Sorun, you can't just sit here wasting away like this! Why can't you get a job?"
"I'm a flimsy human in a city full of people so superior to me in physical ability that the children can bench press me. And also there aren't that many jobs. And I'm uneducated," Sorun said. "My opportunities ain't even slim. They're nonexistent."
Both Mina and Ash cringed a bit in understanding. "Couldn't you ask somebody for help?" Mina asked in a softer tone. "You're friends with Sally, and she's connected with everybody in the city. I'm sure she could find you something. I mean, her brother's the king!"
"Yeah, Mina, I could, but then it's not just my problem anymore. It's other people's problems, and I don't wanna drag people into my problems," Sorun told her. "All my friends are busy balancing their lives and the whole Freedom Fighter thing. I don't wanna bother 'em because Sorun, that one inconvenience in their lives they have to deal with, has another problem they gotta bail him out of."
"I think you're selling yourself too short, dude," Ash commented from the side. "Just talk to them about this. Sometimes in life asking for help is more humble than trying to do things on your own."
"Man, what do you know? You can't even solve a Rubik's Cube," Sorun scoffed. "No. I ain't doin' it. I'd rather starve than bug someone with this. Which is exactly what I'm doing."
Mina made an uncomfortable sound and kicked at her feet. She didn't look agreeing with Sorun at all. More worryingly, she looked like she wanted to help with that sympathetic look she had on. "What if we just told someone for you?"
"I'd rather you didn't."
"But it solves everything, doesn't it?" Mina asked him. And to Sorun's horror, a smile began to break out on her face. "If I go tell Sally she can find a way to help you and then you don't have to worry about stressing her out since I'm the one that told her!"
Ah, his one fear of something happening. Exactly this. "That's the most backwards logic- Mina, wait-"
But it was too late. She looked like her mind was made up. "Don't worry, Sorun. I'll go talk to her and we'll get this all sorted out." She started to make towards the exit of the house, her torso still turned to Sorun as she waved at him. "I'll go find her right now, even! You don't have to worry about a thing!"
It was with a blank, deadpan stare that Sorun watched Mina leave. Ash was right behind her, casting Sorun one last glance as he nervously turned one of the sides of the cube back and forth. "Yeah, that's Mina for you," he mumbled. "Uh, look, sorry about the soda thing, Sorun, she's... kinda random like that sometimes."
"Hah, I'm not really complaining," Sorun said as he lifted the case. "Don't suppose I can convince you to convince Mina to keep my poverty a secret?"
He wasn't surprised when Ash shook his head. "Yeah, I don't really wanna do that. Mina'd be mad at me. Plus you really look like you need help, man."
Sorun gave Ash a firm nod. "You're a good man, Ash. Now get out of my house."
He did so, snorting lightly in the process. It was when the door closed behind him that Sorun slumped in the couch as Virgil floated closer to him, with one hand rubbing across his face as the other continued to hold the grape sodas.
In a turn of events that didn't even go to surprise Sorun, he'd been made. And now his friends were gonna know what was going on with him. He predicted he wouldn't even make it to the morning before he started getting concerned knocks at his door. And now he had to live with inconveniencing everybody once again. And he'd knew they'd try and help him, too. They were too nice not to.
"I hope you're happy with yourself," Sorun snapped as he turned to Virgil. "Now everybody's gonna know I'm a loser than can't take care of himself."
Virgil made an uncaring shrug. "Chao."
"You're just happy 'cause now you don't have to starve along with me!" Sorun exclaimed.
The blank look Virgil sent him said it all.
"Ugh." Sighing, Sorun pulled out one of the bottles from the cardboard case. "Guess there's nothing left to do but wait for the end credits on this horrible chapter of my life. One among many." He pulled the cap off the top of the bottle, and then leaned back a bit in surprise when he heard a small hiss! escape the bottle. He brought it to his nose and sniffed it, acknowledging that, yes, it was grape. Grape and a hint of something else he couldn't make out. Blinking down at it, Sorun made a shrug and decided to go for it.
It was actually surprisingly good.
"Wow, that tastes purple," Sorun commented as he pulled the bottle away from his lips. "Mina's crazy. This stuff is great." He smacked his lips. "It's got a really weird aftertaste, though. Eh."
A small hiccup escaped from Sorun. He ignored it and went on to continue drinking from the bottle as Virgil watched on.
Virgil was fairly certain this wasn't normal behavior.
It started happening after Sorun finished drinking a single bottle of that purple stuff Mina had gifted him. Or maybe even a bit before that. He'd gone... weird, simply put. Virgil could feel through their mind Sorun's mind go fuzzy and blurred, like he was... well, Virgil wasn't rightly sure how to describe it. He just felt wrong.
And then he stumbled out of the house, and Virgil was forced to follow him. Night had just fallen over the city a few minutes prior, so nobody was out to see Sorun walk all funny-like through the streets, much to the Chao's chagrin. Something had to be wrong with him; he'd seen Sorun walk, and he most certainly didn't walk around like that. Like he was fit to fall over on the ground at any second.
"It'sh all... it'sh alwaysh the same thing," Sorun slurred out, the case with two remaining bottles still clutched in his left hand as he continued walking along the streets. "Erryone's gotta be so amazin' an' great at everythin', an' I get left in the dusht like... like the loser I am. Can't do anything on my own 'thout needin' help from someone, like a parasite." He wobbled on his feet a bit. "Man choose, obey slave, golf... where- House, where are ya, I got the club an' I need the xp!"
He was fairly certain Sorun didn't talk like that, either.
On the one hand, Virgil was extremely concerned about this strange state Sorun was in and wanted to go find someone to help. On the other hand, it was freshly nighttime, nobody was around, and Virgil really didn't want to leave Sorun unattended while he was like this. So he was stuck with following him, hoping nothing bad would happen.
Like Sorun wandering towards the airfield.
That probably constituted as something bad happening.
On its own, probably not a good sign. But then he started to move towards the hangar, and Virgil was aware that the hangar was where the flying machines were kept. Like that blue biplane the flying fox used. And the really big ship the others would pile in sometimes. And Sorun was stumbling right inside there. Maybe he was just wandering around aimlessly, maybe he just happened to walk in here by mere chance, he didn't feel like he had all his faculties in check so perhaps-
Oh, he was beginning to climb up on the biplane.
"Chao-chao." Making very annoyed and worried sounds, Virgil flew up behind Sorun and tried tugging him back by pulling on the collar of his shirt. But, alas, while he was quicker than most, or more likely all Chao, and the blades on his arms were sharp enough to cut through the toughest of metal... Virgil's strength didn't seem to be enough to pull the human off from the plane. In fact, he'd ignored Virgil entirely and sat right down in the pilot's seat.
"Call me a bad pilot..." Sorun set down the case of bottles at his side and began reaching for the controls. "Gonna show you all I ain't worthless..."
It appeared Sorun was trying to start the plane. And succeeding, it seemed, because he was pressing buttons and dials and switches and lights were beginning to turn on. And to Virgil's mounting worry the plane was shaking to life.
"'Member how to do this," Sorun mumbled as he gripped the throttle. "Pitch and... pitch'n law, yeah."
"C-chao-chao..." When the plane began moving forwards on its wheels after the propeller began spinning, Virgil meekly sat down in the seat right next to Sorun. It didn't look like there was getting out of it now. Sorun was steering the plane and Virgil didn't know how to stop it outside of cutting the plane itself apart. He even considered it, but refrained from doing so in fear of that propeller and how fast it was spinning.
The plane made it out onto the runway. When it began to drive down that runway, Virgil began to fidget in his seat right next to Sorun while trying to avoid panicking. And Sorun, meanwhile, didn't even look like he was focusing on anything as he continued steering the plane. He looked half-asleep if anything.
And then they took off to the sky, resulting in Virgil deeply regretting not having cut the plane apart before Sorun even stepped foot in it.
There were only two notable things Sorun could pay attention to upon waking up. One was the splitting headache he felt. His eyes weren't even open and he could feel he was sprawled out on something... something soft and course at the same time, but he didn't need to see to feel that sensation in his head. Like somebody was trying to drive an icepick through his forehead. He didn't know why he felt like this, because when he reached up and felt at his forehead it felt fine, but the throbbing pain in his head was almost unbearable. Ebbing away slowly, thankfully, but still too intense for his comfort.
The second thing he noticed was the gentle sound of softly-crashing waves.
By now, he'd chosen to open his eyes. He outwardly groaned and covered his face from the harsh sunlight beaming down on him, which only intensified his headache, and had to stay there for whole minutes before he could finally sit up. Sorun then heavily began blinking his eyes a few times to try and clear the blurriness from his vision, and after a bit he began to get his perception back and see what was in front of him.
Ah, that's why he heard the sound of waves. He was on a beach.
"..." Sorun looked down. He was indeed sitting on sand. When he looked up, ocean. Nothing but endless blue ocean in front of him. He blinked a couple more times, and then looked behind him. Just behind where he was sitting was some foliage and a few palm trees, but past all that he saw another beach and the continuation of the ocean behind him.
So not a beach, then. An island. A really small island. An island in the middle of the ocean he appeared to be stranded on.
Something off to the side drew Sorun's attention. A few meters away from him was the wreckage of what was once a blue biplane. Tails' plane, which he only recognized due to the tail of the plane sticking up from the wreckage with one of the fins snapped off, with Tails' logo just barely visible on the side. There were some bits and pieces in the pile of rubble that once upon a time could have been a plane, but now it was less a vehicle and more a pile of scrap. Virgil was sitting on top of the pile, arms crossed as he glared at Sorun with narrowed eyes.
Sorun, ever unflappable in the face of such adversity, looked back forwards at the ocean.
"Huh."