How he Survived

by CrystalMaiden77

My personal best case scenario for Starline surviving that kind of fall that multiple main Sonic characters like Sonic and Knuckles survived with less justification, which also shows off how I would like the comic to end the best. Also has Surge and Kit reuniting with their mothers and briefly describes how it'd be like going back to school for them, and Kit apologizing to Belle.

2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Surge woke up in her bed in the damaged base as usual, and when Kit ran into her room, the next thing he said to her was, " I found an amnesia-curing machine in one of Eggman's abandoned bases. " She exclaimed, " Are you serious?! Take me there! " Kit said, " It'll be faster if I carry you. " She reluctantly nodded and put her hands out, and he carried her while flying down the hallways in the base, got out of there and spent a while flying all the way to a field where the other base was. He landed in front of it and opened its secret entrance so that he could rush in before she did.

The first thing she saw was the post-it note on the machine saying, " Amnesia-Curing Machine, " and was desperate enough to ignore her concern that it wouldn't work like it said. She sat in the chair near it, and put the visor and helmet on and told him, " Hurry up! " He pressed the button on it, and she said, " It doesn't seem like it did anything. " " It DID, you have to look at something familiar, like a photo album from your parents. I've got the instructions for it.

"

Then he pulled the note out of the drawer, which he had torn the bottom half off of when he revisited it in the morning so she'd never find out he survived. He said, " I'll use it on myself later, right now I only care about getting you to an address I saw in the city so we can find our parents again. It's the only way you'll find out your past, and for all you know they might move to another town first and take even longer to reunite with you. I checked every room in the base and Starline's not here. So there's no point in doing anything but leaving. " Surge gave him a confused look about how much of a frantic hurry he was in for no apparent reason.

She looked around and said, " I didn't think EGGMAN would put a couch in one of his random bases. I thought only Starline did that, but I guess not. Still it'd be cool to destroy everything. " " Do you care about your past or not?! " Kit asked. She looked shocked at him raising his voice to her, although it certainly helped his case that he looked scared.

She said, " Of course I do, but what are you so scared of? " Kit made an excuse, " I-I just don't want to live where we did any longer than I have to instead of a real house and it's too much pressure doing all of the cooking for you! You always complain that I can't measure up to Starline's cooking and I don't know a tenth of what he did about it, and our parents would do a better job. "

The excuse satisfied Surge, since they knew it was actually true, and Kit said, " So let's go. At least for now until we're done meeting our families and you visit me at home, " planning to try to talk her out of coming back the next time she'd try to take him here. He figured that it'd deflect suspicion to say the second sentence and make her think he wasn't opposed to her idea.

Then he handed her a box of chocolates from the table and said, " Here, it'll keep you entertained while you wait for your parents to show up. I figured you'd be impatient. I'll carry you there to get there faster, I've already figured out the shortest route to get there. " She held the box with an eager smile saying, " Thanks! But what's this place doing with a box of chocolates? "

He picked her up and left the base, and hoped she'd trust him enough to believe him when he said, " Eggman loves chocolates. Why wouldn't he? Maybe they're hidden in all of his bases. " " That'd explain how he looks, " she snarked. When she saw a police station in front of them, she remembered when she was terrorizing Central City and when she burned down a part of a forest and asked suspiciously, " Why are we going here? Isn't this a dumb place to go after what I've done, like burning a forest? "

Kit put her down and reasoned with her, " No one has any way of knowing it was you. Missing people can go here to get their families called and since we don't know our numbers or addresses, this is our only option. You'll be making a huge mistake if you don't do it, " and opened the door to rush inside and get her to follow him before she could protest any further.

She followed him to catch up with him and before she could speak, he told the white Bulldog Mobian at the desk with a computer, " I need you to call our parents to pick us up! We were reported missing a while ago, weren't we? " " I think I saw a picture of a blue fox like you in one of those ' have you seen this child ' ads, but let me check. The black and green colors in her hair seem a bit familiar too. Don't you know your phone numbers? " the slightly large man asked.

Surge answered while Kit was hesitating, " No, we've got amnesia! Because- " Kit warned her, " He might find what happened to us hard to believe and accuse us of making up a story, so we should just keep the information to a minimum for now, " not wanting her to get Starline in trouble. The man looked at them curiously, and Surge looked confused and said as he opened her box of chocolates, " But all you'd have to do is demonstrate what your pack does to prove what happened! It's RIGHT there on your back! And after ALL Eggman did who would think something's hard to believe?! "

" He could just assume I bought it somewhere or Tails made it, " Kit whispered to her as he handed her a chocolate and the man at the desk looked at them confused. Surge said, " I could show him my powers! " " If we do anything like that it'll just freak him out before he'd get a chance to call our parents. You don't want him to think you're trying to scare him in a police station, " Kit replied. He whispered, " A lot of people have special powers so that wouldn't prove anything, " and said, " Let's just sit down and wait, " Kit warned her and sat on one of the chairs.

Then he spoke again to make sure she wouldn't get the chance, saying, " He'd recognize you better if you let your hair down. " Surge protested, " I wouldn't look nearly as good like that! No way! " As for the man at the desk, the wheels in his head started turning when he heard Kit say that, causing him to say, " Yeah, come to think of it, you do look familiar if I picture you with your hair down. " Surge wondered, " I, how many people saw our photos anyways? " The man said, " There you are! "

He showed them the monitor of the computer, which had a photo of Kit in the missing kids database. Then he used a keyboard and mouse to get to a different part of the database and showed them Surge's photo. She noticed that it looked just like how her old self did in that video but with better clothes, and was relieved that her fashion sense hadn't changed very much as she stared in shock for a second.

He said happily as he got to finding Surge's phone number, " It's not very often that we see missing people again! And you do look better with your hair UP, kiddo. Lemme make a phone call, " and picked up a phone, with Kit silently urging her to be quiet and handing her another chocolate to eat. They both dreaded how boring the wait would be as he said over the phone, " Your daughter's here! And she said she has amnesia for some reason… She wants to talk to you. I've got to make another call right away, so you'll only have a few seconds! "

He handed her the telephone. She heard an overjoyed woman say with a familiar voice, " Sara?! I was so worried! I'll be right there! " Surge was stunned at hearing that name, and how it seemed unusually familiar, but all she could bring herself to say was, " Mom?! Uh, were you trying to find me? " remembering that she told Sonic no one had tried to do that. " I looked all over the city for you! Maybe I should've searched more but I'm so busy with work, and it's hard when you don't have a husband or relatives to help you look. Or friends, " the woman said. Surge exclaimed, " No husband or relatives?! " and wondered if she never had a father around.

The voice replied, " Well, no. I'm an orphan. The closest I have to parents are the various foster parents I had and they're all from out of town and busy, and your dad left when you were 3. You really do have amnesia! I'll be right there, honey! I love you! " She was completely stunned at hearing those words, and could only bring herself to say after a second, " Uh, thanks, " and hang up, too embarrassed to say it back in front of people. She handed the phone back to the man, who went back to Kit's file on the database to call his parents as she told Kit, " She said my name's Sara. And she, she said she cares about me, " before sitting down next to him.

The man at the desk once again said over the phone, " Hello! Your son's here! He doesn't remember who he is, but he seems unharmed… She wants to talk to you, " and handed the phone to Kit, who heard a slightly familiar voice say, " I was so worried about you! I looked everywhere! I just didn't have much time to look because I have work. I even called my ex-boyfriends asking them to look for you! But I'm from a very small family and they're all old with health issues, so I couldn't ask them for help. Some of them can't even drive. But I'm on my way right now! "

Kit told her nervously, " Okay, just don't drive while talking on a cell phone. I don't want you to crash on the way here. We can talk some more later. And could you call me Kit now? " " Uh, okay. You were never this careful before. I love you, sweetie, " and he hesitated for a second, before deciding to avoid what Surge might have put her own mother through and reply, " I-I love you, too, " before hanging up.

He blushed in embarrassment at saying that in front of Surge, who smirked with her arms crossed, and he said to change the subject, " I didn't learn my name, I think, but, I don't seem to have a dad either. " Surge groaned, and complained, " Oh, great. Don't you dare say it, Kit! " and thought, " That Starline's the closest we've had to a father! I don't need him! "

Kit said, " I know, I won't! And uh, I don't think you need to talk about what happened to us here when they're n-not gonna believe us anyways. " He whispered, " Besides, if Starline's gone, there's no point in trying to get him charged with anything. " She looked at him in confusion and said, " Uh, alright, you're the smart one, but I don't get why you don't wanna get revenge. "

" We're two very different people, and there's no point in getting back at someone who's not even around to experience it, " Kit said as the man at the desk stared at them in confusion. She muttered, " If I wasn't still feeling bad about how mad at you I got, I wouldn't be humoring you this much, " referencing how she reacted when he told her he tried to bury Sonic, which she saw as stealing her victory over him.

He handed her some more chocolates and said, " Eat your chocolates. " Surge said, " I don't like being told to shut up, but sure. Can't you go get me breakfast and get back? You can fly really fast, remember? " Kit said, " I still don't want any risk that she'll show up without me there! " He didn't want to leave his mother alone with her when she wouldn't be willing to try to salvage Starline's reputation.

The man at the desk asked, " What happened to you two? Kidnapping victims don't tend to come back completely unharmed on their own, especially not with a fancy new hairstyle. " Kit quickly said, " We've got amnesia, we don't remember. Would you mind giving Surge some money for some breakfast at a fast food place? "

He looked stunned and suspicious, but let the blatant lie go because it wasn't his job to be a detective, and said, " I suppose that's the least I could do. There's a Tim Horton's Place down the street, " and handed him some money from his wallet, which gave Kit the excuse to get rid of Surge for a minute by telling her in a whisper, " I hope this is enough. And promise me you'll actually buy it with that money, not do anything else. " She looked at him annoyed and said, " Ugh, fine. You're lucky I feel bad for you, " and took off with the money, which stunned the man at the desk from how fast she was.

A second later, Kit changed the subject the best he could by asking, " Do you have a newspaper or something to keep us entertained? I know it's just a police station, but, Surge's really impatient. I mean, Sara. " He hesitated for a second, before showing him his cell phone, saying, " You could borrow this for a minute. You can go on the internet with this. I trust you to give it back. "

" Of course! But I don't blame you for being intimidated by her. " Kit reassured him. " There's ways to locate a cell phone that got stolen. It's got GPS in it and everything. So I'm not too worried. It's just that at a police station, the word ' revenge ' raises some alarms, no matter who it's aimed at. It's not like I ever had to bring her in before. I've never seen her here, or you for that matter, but if she came back with a different hairstyle and name, who knows what else changed. With a new name based on a surge of electricity, it looks like she just discovered she had powers like that and named herself after them, or got named after them… You're not ready to tell me? Alright, fine. I wonder if someone with a Chaos Emerald radar kidnapped her because it went off around her. "

Kit looked concerned, but ended up feeling relieved that someone came up with their own story for him to tell people about what happened, and said, " Yeah, that could've happened! And maybe that person used an amnesia ray of Dr. Eggman's on us to avoid us presssing charges. " The man commented, " An amnesia ray, huh? Sounds sci-fi and cartoony, but what couldn't he make? It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to take advantage of someone for having special abilties. They had to make a law restricting the use of those detectors for that very reason. It's mainly only Sonic's team and a part of the government that can use them. You couldn't even join the Restoration just to get access to one. "

Kit commented, " Really? " " There's a few people there that'd be allowed to use one to look for Emeralds, but that's ALL they'd get to do with one. The government doesn't want people using them to hunt down ' people with superpowers ' for the Restoration and hound them to join. There'd be tons of people doing that thinking they're doing the right thing. It's no wonder some people keep their powers a secret from most people. They had to make a sort of ' Special Powers Protection Act ' for a reason. Imagine if everyone with special chaos abilities got conscripted into the military or something because it wasn't made! Then Sonic would've been too busy to be a hero! Just because someone has powers doesn't mean it's fair to pressure them or force them into using them for someone else, " the man said.

Kit replied, " Thank you, " being reminded of what he said to Sonic and Tails about people who wanted to take advantage of him and Surge. He was finally being shown that not everyone was like that. The man said, " I'd like a girl as fast as that to fight Dr. Eggman! But some people would be too scared to use their powers for that when they could get hurt or worse, and it's not their faults they were born with powers. It'd be wrong for someone to force her to, even if I'd rather see her use that power for good. I don't want to see her arrested because she used it for anything else. " Kit reassured him, " That's a good point. I'll try to steer her in that direction. She's got every reason to want to spite Eggman. But I don't have as much control over her behavior as I'd like. "

Just then, Surge came back holding a brown plastic bag, and pulled some breakfast sandwiches out of it with a grin. She reassured him, " Don't worry, I kept my promise, " and handed him the receipt as proof. She took a bite of her egg and cheese McMuffin. Then she looked unhappy and admitted, " It's pretty good but I've had way better breakfasts. Stupid jerk had to get us ' addicted ' to his cooking. It's not bad enough he took advantage of us, he had to be a freaking gourmet. I hope you wrote down everything he taught you about cooking so you won't forget. "

The man at the desk looked a little surprised, having always wondered if they were both kidnapped by the same person because they showed up at the same time, and now she was giving him even more surprising news. He questioned, " He taught you how to cook? And why just you? " Kit said nervously to Surge's surprise, " I agreed to it. He said she'd be too impatient and find it boring. Honestly, it was just his excuse to try to bond with me. He liked getting to teach someone something he was great at, and he did all of the cooking, so it's not like he ever got to take advantage of it. "

The man said, " So from what I'm getting here he wanted to take advantage of you for your powers, but he still wanted to bond with you. I'm guessing he wanted to use your powers against Dr. Eggman? " Surge complimented, " Yeah! You're a smart guy, how'd you know? " He replied, " Because that's always what someone wants out of someone with powers, ever since he started stirring things up. You're far from the first people that someone tried to force into fighting his robots. On the bright side, it usually doesn't end poorly. It'd be nice if you fought his robots because based on THAT display you'd be amazing at it! " " I sure am! " Surge exclaimed. He said, " W-Well I won't tell you what to do. That's entirely up to you now. " She was positively beaming from that compliment and Kit ended up smiling too. He could never get enough of it when she was actually smiling, not just smirking.

The door to the police station opened and a green-haired woman rushed in before they could say anything else, saying, " Sara! " Surge looked stunned at seeing her because she seemed familiar. She went up to her concerned and said, " Honey! " and hugged her before she knew it. Kit smiled nervously at the sight, her mother kissed her head making her even more embarrassed, but because she was her mother and she wasn't used to someone caring that much, she couldn't bring herself to be rude to her, when anyone else would've gotten such a reaction. So she awkwardly returned the hug, embarrassed that she was enjoying how warm and soft it was, and said, " Uh, thanks. But could you call me Surge? The name Sara sounds… lame by comparison. No offense. At least it still starts with an S. "

The hug ended and her mother looked concerned with her hands on her shoulders, saying, " Okay, then, " and wondered if the obvious conclusion someone would come to about what her new nickname meant was actually the case. She told Surge, " If you've got, surge-related powers, just promise me you won't use them in the house where you could start a fire, or around, well, the grass near the trailer. I still love you, of course, it's not going to change anything. "

" A-Alright. I'm not stupid, I'd know better than that. Trailer? Do I live in a trailer park?" she replied. " Yes, I'm sorry. I don't make very much money, " her mom said. Surge thought, " That's gonna make Starline's base look like a mansion by comparison, isn't it? Well, I hope she's a good cook at least. " Her mother said, " I love what you've done with your hair! It's so pretty! " Surge was stunned to hear that. A part of her was worried that she wouldn't approve of her looking different at all. " Well, uh, thanks! " she said. She would've enjoyed it more, but the word pretty implied that it was more of a feminine thing when she thought of herself as a proud tomboy. It also reminded her that Starline said the same thing about it, saying with a genuine smile that she looked better that way, and she had mixed feelings about any memories of him being nice by this point.

Her mother said, " At least you kept washing your hair and got given enough to eat. You seem to be doing well! " Surge said, " Can we stay here until Kit sees his mom again? I wanna find out where he used to live. " Surge replied. Her mother said, " Alright, why not? It's the least I could do for you, " feeling pressured to try harder to prove that she still loved her and wouldn't reject her for having powers, which people knew was a thing that happened occasionally. Surge replied, " Thanks. Saved me the trouble of running back here. " Her mother said to the man at the desk, " Thanks for buying that for her, " making him smile, and asked Surge, " You enjoying your breakfast sandwich? "

She answered, " Yeah I guess. I've had WAY better breakfasts. " Kit looked nervous, and her mom asked, " From who? " worrying her because she sounded jealous as well as concerned. Kit lied, " Me, " and Surge said, " Not just him! Oh, don't tell me you'd think my mom wouldn't believe me about what happened, too! You've got the thing on your back to prove it. It was Dr. Starline. "

" Who's that? " she asked, since she didn't watch the news, and found it too depressing to keep up with it with her phone. The man at the desk didn't recognize the name either, not only for the same reasons, but also because he worked at the police station in a different town from the ones that the warden and Belle's boss went to. Not everyone had heard about the Winter Park incident, and not everyone who did would've had his name memorized, just remembered that the heroes had fought with yet another enemy of theirs who did barely anything to stand out.

Kit told her, " He wanted us to fight past Eggman's robots to help him take over his bases. He trained us to get good at doing that the whole time we lived with him, but when he made it to Eggman's city he ended up falling to his death after he made it start crumbling. That's what one of Sonic's friends told me when she helped me escape the place. " Her mother thought, " Eggman's robots? At least he had good intentions. He wanted to put together a little resistance group against him! At least he got to meet one of Sonic's friends! " as Surge stared at Kit shocked that he insisted on explaining things for her.

Her mother commented, " Well, there's a lot worse things a kidnapper could put someone through. I could look it up for you if you don't believe me. I'm just glad you're okay, but I really wish he told me what he wanted to do with you first instead of making me think I'd never see you again. " Surge complained, " You probably wouldn't have, he never told me he was planning to give me my old life back. "

Kit put his note in front of her face and said, " Maybe he WAS. He wrote this, " impulsively wanting to prove Starline wasn't so bad, but he soon looked scared when he realized he might have given away that the base he brought her to was Starline's new home, because a note in it was by him, and hoped he could convince her it wasn't.

The note had at least been torn in half to hide the part that revealed he was still alive because he wrote it after that fateful day, but she still looked shocked at the idea that Starline wrote down instructions on how to use a machine that'd give his minions their memories back. She gave the note to her mom and stammered, " But, he said my past was irrelevant! Did he change his mind? Go there with the note and then come back where he kept us? If he could care about me so much, what took him so long? Or why did he lie about it? "

Kit said, " I think he always planned on returning your memories and stuff to get you to leave him alone when he didn't need your help anymore. " After a stunned silence from her, Surge remarked, " What, he thought I'd just forget about him or let bygones be bygones? He'd have to hide from me. But you made a good point, he couldn't exactly plan to destroy us in the end when we heal really fast and we'd break free of anything we were trapped in. " Kit pointed out because Surge's mom was listening, " It was pretty great of him to make us heal really fast. It saved your life at least twice, remember? He could've just stuck to throwing a healing gel on us every time instead, making us totally dependent on him when we got hurt, which is what I thought was the case. "

Surge said, " I thought there was no healing gel, and he said that to me to hide from me that I could heal so fast. " Her mom asked, " Why'd he hide that from you? " Kit explained, " So we wouldn't be really reckless in training and get hurt all the time instead of completing the courses, and improving. That's what he told me. It'd have been nice to know but he had a good reason for hiding that, just like always. Like how we only got given amnesia so we wouldn't miss our parents. "

" Why did you get more soft on him?! " Surge asked. Kit hesitated before saying, " He was a lot nicer to me, when you weren't around. " There was a stunned silence from her, before she muttered angrily, " I knew he liked you better. "

The door to the police station opened and Kit's mother rushed inside to hug him, calling him, " Honey! " Surge hesitated for a second before saying, " Hey, could you give me his address? I got used to having to live with this kid. " Kit's mother let go giving her a confused look, and pulled a pen and notepad out of her purse and wrote down her address to give her.

She asked Kit, " What happened? " and before Surge could start ranting he said, " Someone wanted us to form a resistance group against Dr. Eggman. That's what my pack is for, and I'll show you what it does in front of our house. " Surge exclaimed, " Dr. Starline did! " Kit's mother thought, " Resistance group? Is Dr. Starline a good guy now? Or at least trying to be? Did he want Tails to come with him at Winter Park to be a part of it? I guess he used to be more of a jerk if he didn't agree to go with him. Was that a wake-up call to him? "

Kit explained, " T-T-The last Surge saw of him was in Eggman's city. Come on, I wanna go home and see what it's like! We can talk to her more later. " He showed her the pack on his back as he ran out of the station, causing his mother to go after him, pitying him too much to scold him for it. As his mother was busy telling him outside that he still had to go to school, Surge complained bitterly, " Why was he in such a hurry? "

Since it happened to be a day-off for students at Surge's school, her mother commented, " Do you want me to buy you some ice cream? I've got money for Dairy Queen at least. " Surge was so distracted by the prospect of ice cream from a fancy new place that she agreed, " Sure! " She ran out of the station leaving her looking dumbfounded at her speed.

She ran out of the station, remembering how the note had instructions to show her a photo album later, and looked forward to reminiscing with her daughter who'd normally be too impatient for that, not knowing that when she'd see the right photo at an amusement park and remember who she was, she'd end up breaking down crying about her past behavior and thinking, " He turned me into a monster! "

So Kit had a boring day at school where the only thing really eventful was having to explain that Starline made them miss so much of it, something Surge would do the next day at her school, with Kit putting a positive spin on it, which caused the kids and their parents to tell their parents that when they got home. Surge was too embarrassed to tell people she was brainwashed to hate Sonic because even she had the common sense to know that it'd make her unpopular anywhere she said it and that wasn't worth putting up with the hassle of. She still resented Sonic, blaming him for Starline bothering her at all, but with her old memories snapping her back to her old self, she didn't want to hurt Sonic anymore, especially not because she knew she had only wanted that because she was brainwashed into it and didn't want to give Starline what he wanted.

She was also too embarrassed to admit that Starline kept making her pass out and forget when she found out how she was made, because she'd rather reality be that she found out and won against him in a fight the first time, and not admit that he got so much as one lucky hit on her, when she'd rather say she completely trounced him. But she wasn't shy about complaining that Starline had concealed what her and her life used to be like and she wanted to get back at him for it. But of course, since not everyone thinks the same way, only some of the students saw things her way, while others were more optimistic and understanding, especially after she bragged that she wouldn't mind fighting Eggman again and wasn't shy about showing off the super speed she was given to prove it. That caused some people to feel like he made her to be a sort of superhero.

As she found out, she had always had a short temper, it had just been exaggerated when she wanted to destroy Sonic, so like her mother, the students didn't notice anything different about her personality, and usually knew better than to tell her if they thought Starline was justified in how he handled her. Even when someone didn't, she remembered her mom warning her not to use her powers at home, and was scared of scaring her away by using her powers to hurt someone at school, when she felt lucky that she ever got her back. It didn't stop her from ever getting confrontational, but as she found out, she had gotten into fights plenty of times before Starline, and at one point she wondered if he saw her in one and it was all her fault that he thought she'd make a great Sonic because of it. She hated feeling guilty.

The students at Kit's school thought his pack looked good on him. Some of them even asked him to show off with it at recess, showing what types of shapes and words he could form with his water tails, and he said, " Alright, but only ask me to if I feel like it, okay? " Seeing how capable he was with his pack made it clear to people that he wasn't someone they could pressure and bully into performing with it or anything. So they left it up to him to decide when to use it.

With Kit hoping that he did a good enough job damage-controlling that the resulting rumor that Starline was a good guy now would overpower anything Surge revealed, he returned to Starline's base, where he was just down the right hall. Kit put down a backpack containing his school books and pencil in the living room, walked all the way over to him, and said, " Hi. What are you working on? " with a nervous smile because he felt bad for him.

Kit thought, " I'm glad you're still here instead of leaving the base to avoid me. " Starline was stunned at seeing him again since he was hoping he'd be turned against him by his family and convinced not to visit him, instead of reminding him with his presence of what he did to him.

He explained looking depressed, " See the vial connected to that computer? I'm reprogramming it to make it make a cybernetic that'd make amnesia permanent for Dr. Eggman. This right here is the safe version of the Metal Virus, which I used a drone to bring here the night I got here. That cybernetic will be for monitoring if most of the memories can be accessed, and for reverting the brain back to the way it was a minute ago if it changes in a way that recovering from amnesia would cause. So even if he already had a cybernetic to automatically recover from amnesia, I'm one step ahead of him because this thing will be programmed to replace its programming with its own and make it harmless. It's a matter of actually getting it into him that's the problem. I can't put it in a drone and rely on that because with my luck, what if the drone fails to get it into him and he gets a hold of the syringe or it gets destroyed? Unless it's Valentine's Day, drones get destroyed trying to head for his city by anti-aerial weaponry. The only flying machines that don't get targeted are badniks. I might have to disguise the drone as a Buzzbomber, or have its programming replace that of one. "

Kit looked confused at the fact that he mentioned Valentine's Day and wondered how he knew that, and then decided to ignore it to Starline's relief and said, " Can you make the cybernetic able to fly so that it could fly into Eggman's ear? It'd be much smaller than a drone, so it'd avoid detection easier, and it could be sent to him when he's asleep. " Starline said, " It'd still be picked up on radar. Even ' radar cloaking ' technology for the military doesn't literally make things invisible to it. And I don't know if I could make it fly if it's that small without running out of energy. But, I'll look into it. I've got nothing else to do. "

Kit looked sad, thinking, " He really has had his confidence shaken. Of course he can do that! At least he's trying, so he hasn't completely lost his self-esteem and stopped doing anything at all, " and said, " You could make anything you want! Just keep at it and you'll figure it out. You might even save the world someday! "

Starline said, " Why are you being nice to me? I'm defenseless against you now. Sure, I could try to defend myself, I could even send out sparks from my heels, but I never want to hurt you again! You could do anything you wanted to me and no one would know, and you're trying to act cheerful and nice. Why do you still want to visit me, and not Surge instead? "

Kit said, " Because I care about you! I always want you to be a part of my life because I've spent so much time with you, and I'm always gonna have these upgrades because of you, so you'll always be one of the most important people in my life. I wanna make sure you're okay, and I'd rather spend time here if I can because I feel more comfortable with you than someone I don't remember, or someone who threatened me and electrocuted me. In fact I'm gonna spend as much time away from home as I can get away with without being yelled at, not that I have anything against my mom. She's just a stranger to me and it weirds me out that she's so nice to me and thinks she knows so much about me. I'd rather get affection from you, when you're not horribly sore anymore. "

" Didn't you use the amnesia curing machine? " Starline said, starting to doubt that it worked. Kit told him, " I didn't bother because I'm fine with the way I am. I used it on Surge as soon as I could though. It's probably gonna work. She insisted on getting my address from my mom, but she hasn't visited me there yet. "

Starline said, " So you saw your parents again? I thought their tearful reaction to seeing you again would drive it home how… selfish I really was and see that I'm not worth sympathizing with. " Kit said, " She was relieved and hugged me, but that's not gonna make me stop caring about you! I don't know if you're gonna be okay yet. At least I don't smell wine around you anymore, so I hope that's a sign that you're done drinking, but you might go back. " Starline said, " I'll try not to. That was horrible, I couldn't stand how it tasted. I was forcing myself to drink that much, and it was all for nothing. "

Kit said, " You could use some company every day. You gave me the impression that you're not planning to go out in public anymore. You didn't want to go to the hospital to check for internal injuries. And it'd be really cruel to make you put up with having no one talk to anymore. I spent so much time with you and Surge for weeks not remembering anyone else, so of course I grew attached to you. After everything we've been through, it was off-putting that you'd disappear from my life without saying goodbye. I needed closure at least, so that's why I wanted to look for you some more. It's just the natural result of being around someone for so much who isn't usually mean to you. I care about MOST people, now that I've been thinking about it. It's about empathy in general. You were polite to me most of the time. You treated me better than Surge! At least you never threatened me like she did. Remember, she threatened to drown me with my own tails. She's insulted me a lot too. She thinks I'm a crybaby. At least I could always trust you not to do that. "

He wondered if Kit liked Surge anymore, and Kit said, " Aside from forcing me to fight robots in training rooms, you treated me just fine. You comforted me a lot. Even when I was too scared to go with Surge to do some training right away, you didn't yell at me and insult me. You just asked why I wasn't with her and told me to help her. You made us meals every day instead of making us cook for you, and they were delicious! And the robots did all the chores for us. My mom expects me to do chores around the house. You could've been worse to us. "

Starline said, " That's mostly just ' a lack of abuse. ' That's interpreting a lack of abuse as kindness. I didn't need you to do chores when I had robots around and I didn't want to trust someone else with the cooking. What's next, ' at least I gave you beds? ' Surge would never let me get away with making her sleep on a couch and she'd be more comfortable with her own bed. I still kept you away from your family, that's worse than most people would be to you. "

Kit said, " Yeah, but that was in the past, you're making up for it now. You've done a lot of good for me, too. Sure, fighting robots was scary at first, but you taught me to be brave and face my fears, not be the type of person who'd abandon my friend because I was so scared. That made me a better person. I needed that training to learn how to fly and use my water tails and I love those upgrades! I love getting to do that stuff and I'll have that for the rest of my life! I'd say that made it all worth it! And if I hadn't met you, I wouldn't have been made able to heal really fast, and that's gonna save my life a lot or at least spare me some hospital bills. "

" For now, that doesn't seem good enough. You're not going out of your way to be a hero for people with those powers. So far you just tried to kill Tails with them. I assume you failed, though, because all of my plans failed. " Starline said. Kit admitted, " Yeah, I don't think he even got hurt. " Starline said in relief, " Good. "

Kit looked surprised, and Starline said, " But I still made your parents worry about you for weeks for nothing, " Starline pointed out, trying to get him to get sick of him because all him caring about him did was made him feel guilty for once. Kit said with a smile, " You can make up for that! " Starline said sadly, " How? I don't want to face them to try to make up for it. "

Kit said, " I see why but I explained it to my mom, and she's not that mad at you anymore, or she SAID she wasn't at least. She said there's a lot worse people that could've kidnapped me, most people who go missing for that long did so because they were killed, and she knows that all you wanted to do was make sure Eggman would stop being a huge threat to the world. You made me and Surge into heroes who could fight against Eggman! I want to do that some more. Imagine how helpful that could be in the long run. From most people's perspectives that'd be a good guy thing to do. And while you could've told her that's what you were going to need my help for ahead of time, you had no reason to believe she'd agree to it and not try to hide me. So, I convinced her not to press charges. She wants to meet you, but it's just out of curiosity. That'll put her mind at ease. If you're too shy, you could use a drone with a one-way camera and microphone, but she wouldn't like that as much. "

Starline said, " You couldn't have possibly told her everything. Wouldn't she be mad at me for giving you amnesia? " Kit said, " I told her it was to make it easier on me that I wasn't with her. Isn't that why you did that anyways? " Starline admitted, " Yes, it was so you and Surge wouldn't be complaining and missing your old lives and families, but that was for my sake, not yours. Surge would've killed me otherwise. It just happens that it made life easier for you, but now it's past its usefulness. "

Kit said, " No, it's not. I'm happy with having amnesia. It means I don't have to remember any of the bad things that happened to me before I met you, or Surge getting really hurt in training! A lot of people would love that. I looked through the photo album with her, and she reminded me of some of the good experiences I had that weren't in the album. So I got a refresher on anything that'd matter anyways. You just did me a favor. If I remembered every great experience I had like going to an amusement park or Disneyland, I'd just be sad that I'm not experiencing it again. If there's anything I need to remember or would love to, my mom can tell me about it, or one of my other relatives. Who needs to remember most of their life at that point? "

Starline said, " I can't believe you put a positive spin on that. " Kit said, " I'm even fine with the fact that I don't remember everything that happened in your base. If Surge ever got really hurt in training and you made me forget seeing her like that, then I'd hate being able to remember it again, so you did me a huge favor. I might not be able to handle remembering the times she failed in her training courses. Maybe that's why I became overprotective of her, because I learned that could happen to her and it changed how optimistic I was that she'd be fine for good, because nothing could make me forget that was a possibility. "

He said, " I'm so sorry you ever saw that happen to her. What about all the times I fought with you and Surge after she got mad about how I made you two how you are? " Kit admitted, " I didn't tell her about that. But that wouldn't be fair to you. You're never gonna do that again, she doesn't need to know about it. "

Starline said uncomfortably, " I could've deleted the video diaries that had that information after the first time. I even considered that. But I didn't want to delete any of them back then. The truth is, I couldn't stand how Surge kept yelling at me and threatening me, saying she was sick of training so much. She treated me worse than Dr. Eggman! She was scaring the living daylights out of me, so I just wanted an excuse to get back at her. There was no other context where I'd have the nerve to punish her than when I'd have to fight for my life. I was too scared of her to punish her for anything, and I kept thinking she was about to kill me, like every time I couldn't put her to sleep right away. I've had so many close calls. She was intimidating and annoying so I was working something out. You've got every reason to hate me for it. Go ahead and get back at me. "

Kit was irritated with him and Starline explained, " But you shouldn't have had to deal with any of that! You never did anything to me. I never felt comfortable having to face you in a fight so I always tried to stick with trying to hypnotize you to sleep. I barely ever landed a hit on you. I know that doesn't make it right, and it never should've happened at all. Any time Surge resisted the hypnosis and tried to fight back, you were always in the room, trying to kill me. Both of you were trying to kill me. It's not easy to talk about this anymore, but if I never defended myself, I wouldn't have lived to this day. A person has a right to protect himself. "

Kit looked sad at the end, and admitted, " Yeah, that's true. What were you supposed to do, let us kill you? But you shouldn't have even made those video diaries in the first place. You could've deleted them at any time. But I'm not gonna talk about those fights anymore. That was all in the past too. It's never gonna happen again, and at least you made us forget about most of them anyways. But still, you should know that she had every right to get mad at you for having to do all that training and being cooped up in the base all that time. There's no way she couldn't ever have lost her temper about it. "

Starline admitted, " I know. I don't really think she needed most of that training. She's fast and hits like a truck and can heal from anything, so even if she only fought robots once, she probably would've done just as well in taking over Eggman's bases. It's you who needed all of the training with the pack to master. But still, it was really stressful being yelled at and threatened by her. She reminds me of some of my old bullies. I used to get treated worse than that all the time. At least SHE didn't try to hurt me most of the time. "

Kit admitted, " Yeah. Who could blame you for being scared of her? This wasn't easy for you, either. Most of the time you just used that glove to protect yourself, you couldn't exactly not use it… But I can protect you, and she'll never find out you're here anyways. " There was an uncomfortable silence before Kit asked with a nervous smile, " So, what did you have for dinner? " He didn't get an answer.

Kit said, " I've already had mine, so I thought you did. " Starline's stomach growled, and he eventually decided not to lie to him, because he felt better being too honest with him and getting away with it because he was actually trustworthy. He admitted, " Nothing. " Kit looked confused and asked, " What'd you have for lunch, and breakfast? "

Starline said, " I haven't eaten in, a while. I didn't feel like it. I wouldn't be able to hold anything down after having so much wine. " Kit looked worried and said, " Well you've gotta eat! And I don't want you to keep up that level of drinking! " and was told, " I'll cut down on it, I promise. I probably can't quit cold turkey at this point. I cleaned out the fridge the last time I was here, and there's food getting produced in a greenhouse by machines a lot, just like in the base you're used to. " Kit said, " Wait, doesn't that mean the crops in this base went bad in all the time you weren't there? "

Starline explained, " There's two chao in there to eat any food that gets ignored for long enough. When the crops get harvested and some of them are done being made into the specific food products I'd want, like soy milk, I always got informed of it and put what I actually needed for the week in the fridge. And when it goes a certain amount of time without me opening the door to the harvest room, it opens on its own and any food that wasn't wanted gets pushed out of the room to be eaten. When the greenhouse detects any spoiled food, some machines get sent after it to dispose of it for me. I'd rather have as little food go to waste as possible. I had to have some chao in it so ALL of the food wouldn't spoil after I'd stop living in a base. If that happened, it'd take forever to get rid of the smell. "

Kit said, " I didn't know you put chao in your greenhouses. Why didn't I get to see them? " Starline said, " I didn't trust Surge. I don't want to constantly have to get new ones when I was lucky I even met the ones I found. It's not a big deal, it's not like I, I mean, I barely interacted with them. " Kit said, " I want to meet the ones here. " They stood up and he replied, " Alright, fine, " and led him to the greenhouse.

A light blue Neutral chao ran up to him with a smile and a heart over its head and hugged Starline's leg, and he couldn't help but smile because of it, even if nervously, before petting it. He could never get used to the idea that anything would want affection from him, and it was embarrassing that Kit was there to see it. He slightly blushed and admitted, " So I pet it whenever I see it. I have to! It INSISTS on coming up to me every time and won't let me walk anywhere until I do. So what? "

Kit pet the chao while Starline said, " It's not like I give any of them names. I still ignore them whenever I can. I'm still a mons-" Kit said, " Where's the other one? I want to see what it looks like, " interrupting him on purpose. Starline sighed and said, " We'd have to walk all over the place to find it. We were lucky this one was right here. " Kit said, " I don't mind getting a tour of the greenhouse. This place looks great! "

There were orchard trees of all different kinds all over the place growing out of the grass and a shallow river heading through the whole greenhouse in a circle with a small waterfall near the entrance. The place was separated into aisles by rows of trees and shrubs which had long domes behind them protecting the crops that were growing, with each dome having a different type of crop with the perfect conditions for it.

Kit said with the chao following behind them as they walked, " Does anyone but you raise crops with machines like this? I guess not? You could really increase food production if you told people how to make greenhouses like that, anonymously of course. Imagine if every farm got replaced with these. " Starline said, " It'd put every farmer on the planet out of a job. And it'd produce more food than anyone could eat. Most of it would go to waste. That happens too much already. "

Kit said, " Okay, so most farms can't be like this, but it'd be good if there were a few more like that. That's something you could do to make up for things, just make more of them and make the blueprints for this available to anybody. " Soon they found the other chao, and ended up leaving the greenhouse and going to the kitchen so that Starline could start cooking pasta for dinner.

After being done in the kitchen, Kit asked, " Could we sit on the couch for a minute? " and he nodded and humored him. He knew there was no point in trying to focus on doing anything if he insisted on talking to him. As soon as he'd be done talking to him, he was going to be completely silent for as long as he could get away with.

Starline said, " It must be hard to adjust to going back to school when you don't remember any of it. Do you have to read everything in the books again? " Kit said, " No, just a few weeks' worth. It's okay. Once I catch up with all of that, I'd be just like the other students. I'll only have to study a little bit for every test, it's not like I'd be tested on EVERYTHING in the subject at once any time soon. It could be worse, it's not like I've got final exams to deal with. And even then, apparently everyone has to study everything again for final exams anyways, so it wouldn't make me any different from the rest if I had to. I've got a lot of homework and reading to do, but I like reading. Apparently I've always done well in school. I had even skipped ahead a grade. So big deal! Besides, people just think it's cool that I can fly with this water pack. My only problem was having to explain it away. "

Starline thought, " I bet Surge can't afford to miss out on any school though. It still seems like I did something unforgivable. " Kit said, " I just hope Surge won't get mad that I'm not there for her 24/7 anymore. Hopefully she's gonna be too busy most of the time to interrupt me, especially with a whole photo album to be told about. I didn't get the impression that she even missed me when I thought she was gone. " Starline warned him, " I doubt she'd appreciate being expected to go to school and what that involves. She'll probably refuse to go, thanks to me, and try to hunt you down, and wonder why you're ' at a friend's house ' so much, probably every time she's tried to visit you. "

After an uncomfortable silence, Kit sighed, unzipped his backpack and got a piece of paper and pencil from it and put it on the living room table. The piece of paper had a " Cons " in a pros and cons list. While he wasn't comfortable with it, he knew he had to start saying what he was about to say. He said, " Okay, uh, look, I want to see if there's any bright side and positives out of any of the things you did that you regret recently. It sounds crazy and pointless, I know, but it's the only thing I can think of that could get you to feel a little better. Could you humor me on this? Let's go down the list, " and he pointed to an incomplete sentence on the piece of paper. " Returned Eggman to normal. "

Starline asked unhappily, " How could there be any positives to that? " " Well, what if something good's gonna result from it at some point? What if the world's gonna need his help dealing with a much bigger threat later on that only he'd have the ability to fight off, like aliens like the Black Arms again? He's got access to mechas and airships. We don't know what's coming next, but if he ends up saving the world being in the position he's in, that'll mean you helped saved the world too. So it'll all be worth it! Even if he's at least able to prevent the deaths of a lot of people from some new enemies of his, that'd be great too, " Kit tried his best to argue.

Starline said sadly, " Well, if that ever happens, let me know, but I doubt it. " Kit wrote down on the piece of paper, and Starline said, " Usually if there's ever a bigger threat than him it's because of him that it even endangered the world in the first place. The closest he ever got to protecting the world from a bigger threat was the Black Arms invasion, and when Dark Gaia creatures were attacking and roaming the planet, entirely his fault. His robots and Egg Carriers were focused on fighting them. But right now, he's just wasting his time, trying to destroy Sonic. And he released the Metal Virus on the world because of me, which could've permanently ruined it. There's nothing good that resulted from that, so the world would've been better off if I never existed. "

Kit felt bad for him and said, " Hey, don't say that! I mean, uh, I wouldn't be able to fly if you hadn't existed. And what if I'll need to fly later on to save my own life? " He wrote down, " Metal Virus, " and Starline said, " That probably won't be necessary. I'll admit that I was trying to look on the bright side when he released the Metal Virus so I wouldn't be as unnerved by it. It solved world hunger and thirst and ended disease and crime and bullying because those aren't a thing zombots have to worry about or do, but it wasn't permanent, so it only delayed those problems, and all it did was stress people out for a while before they got turned into those things. "

Kit admitted, " Alright, so there's no bright side to that, but Eggman released it, not you and you didn't even know about it until he told you. It was already made. And what if Eggman eventually would have gotten his memories back anyways, without you? What did he look at that caused him to turn back to normal? " Starline said, " He saw a damaged Metal Sonic, which wouldn't have found him if I hadn't brought him here. " Kit said, " Or he could've found him in Windmill Village later. Did he ever see any damaged robots of his before him when he had amnesia? Maybe that would've brought him back to normal anyways if it happened enough. "

Starline said, " I used a memory enhancing machine on him, to make familiar things fire neurons better. That's probably why him seeing him had that effect. But I've been wrong out of nowhere before. I thought he'd get back to normal instantly, after all. At that point in time there were still entire armies of robots roaming the planet and attacking towns, so he would've seen a damaged robot eventually. But I can't just assume my machine didn't work when there's no proof one way or the other. I still don't know if Surge remembers everything now and that'd prove my machine worked if she does, but you still have amnesia. "

Kit told him, " Well, I looked up amnesia and a lot of people with it recover from it on their own, so maybe Eggman would've gone back to normal without you. " He wrote down, " Amnesiacs usually recover on their own, maybe it would've happened regardless, " and Starline said, " I always assumed that the effects of the memory machine meant he was fully absorbed in the memory he was forced to remember knowing exactly how he felt back then, and that brought back his old self. I assumed that if he recovered naturally, he'd just be horrified at his old memories instead of being able to sympathize with himself back then, and just seeing a damaged robot wouldn't guarantee that he'd have the composure to start thinking about the other times he saw that a lot. But you could be right because people get over amnesia on their own, like Shadow did. "

Even Kit wasn't sure whether or not it was true that Eggman would've gotten back to his old self without him, since he always assumed that if Starline could make a machine like that, he must have known a lot about the brain and engineering and that would have anyone expect that the machine would've done something to his brain.

But in order to humor him, he said, " Well, let's go with the idea that Eggman would've gone evil again on his own, the next time robots or even Metal Sonic attacked, so the Metal Virus was inevitable. Is there anything objectively positive about you being with Eggman during that? What'd you do? "

Starline remembered when he met Sonic and Silver, not mentioning it because he knew that there was nothing good about that waste of time, and looked sad at briefly remembering how angry and scary Eggman got just because he thought he defeated Sonic " wrong. " He said, " Not much. " It took a few seconds for him to come up with an answer, because it was Eggman who did all the work, and he had never changed his mind or plan in response to what he said to him. For the most part he might as well have not been there, making him wonder why he hired him just to waste him expecting him to only do something that even Orbot could do.

Then he said, " Well, when he and Sonic were fighting near that town with a wall around it, they ended up falling in and getting surrounded by zombots with no way to escape, and I used the right frequency to control them and make them stop. " Kit exclaimed, " So you saved Sonic and Eggman's lives! They'd have become zombots if it weren't for you! And you said last night that Sonic was needed to get rid of the Metal Virus. That saved the world! "

Starline said, " Orbot would've done it instead. Let's not get too excited there. He's Eggman's assistant most of the time. Sure, Orbot's not known for being in an Eggmobile of his own, because he's so small. But there's no chance he would've been there alone, because trying to find out what frequency still controlled the zombots was too slow and tedious for his liking, so he wanted someone else to change the frequencies. "

Kit said, " Okay, fine, but what'd you do after that? I remember you mentioned that you tried to do something to fix the whole situation and it backfired. " Starline explained reluctantly, " I got the Zeti to go to the Faceship with my Warp Topaz, because I had the conch that made the Zeti work for him before, and they can control robots, so it seemed like the ONLY option for getting all of the zombots under control. And I just assumed that he'd get mad at me if I told him my plan because he got so mad at me just for, um, having my own idea of how he should always do things earlier. I thought the conch would keep them from betraying us because it worked before! "

Kit said, " Why wouldn't it? " Starline complained, " How was I supposed to know that using the conch only worked if you could blow into it long enough? Apparently you need good lung capacity. Who would expect someone who looks like him to be in such good shape that he wouldn't have that problem, when I did? So the Zeti behind me hit me and they all turned on us, and I had to make a portal to get Eggman and I to Angel Island. And that's how he got to Sonic and started making that plan that ended up getting rid of the Metal Virus with Chaos Control and the Warp Topaz, which I thought would just destroy everything! We're lucky they didn't listen to me. I almost rui-"

Kit said seriously, " So if it weren't for you, Eggman wouldn't have gotten to Sonic while powerless enough to want to get rid of the Metal Virus. He never would've made a plan that saved the world! He would've stayed on the Faceship with the Emeralds. " " I gave him all of those Emeralds to put on the Faceship in the first place. I heard the Zeti each took one afterwards and went to other cities, " he replied full of shame.

Kit said, " So thanks to you, Sonic was able to find out where the Emeralds all were right away. Without you nobody would've known where they were, and Sonic would've had to run laps around the planet looking for them over and over. It'd be impossible for him to find them all without him becoming a zombot eventually. You definitely saved the world. What are the chances Eggman would've found them without you? Does he end up with every Emerald a lot? "

As Kit wrote down what he figured out, Starline said, " No, it's always Sonic who finds them all. But for some reason he didn't find them before I found them with a radar. So nobody seemed to be looking for them. " Kit said, " And even if someone else could've made his plan and Sonic could find every Emerald just by running around, without your Warp Topaz, they wouldn't have been able to warp away the Metal Virus anyways, just move it somewhere else for it to spread all over again. Right?... What's Chaos Control? " Thinking that he might have been right, Starline said looking unhappy, " It can freeze time for 30 seconds or warp someone away, and something or someone that's right next to its user. It might need to be right next to the user as far as I've heard, I've never heard otherwise. "

Kit said, " So is the range on Chaos Control's teleportation made large enough to extend to the whole world if someone wants that if they power up enough with the Emeralds? Or is it always short-range? If that's the case then it alone couldn't have warped away the Metal Virus. " Starline told him, " Well, Silver was there too. I assumed that his telekinesis, powered up with the Emeralds, also helped get rid of it, that it extended to the whole planet because he went Super. I never knew it could but that has to be it. He probably could've done that without the Warp Topaz, and someone other than Eggman should've been able to come up with a plan close enough to that one. It'd just be a repeat of what they did to get rid of the ARK when it was heading for the planet, so someone would've easily thought of that. They could've used Chaos Control to warp the Metal Virus somewhere else without the Warp Topaz. "

Then Starline said, " But they would've had to dump it somewhere else in their dimension and hope for the best, assuming they couldn't create a portal to another world with just Chaos Control. Perhaps even if they could, they only had so much energy to expend. There's nowhere on the planet they'd want to risk putting it all because all it'd take is one mosquito landing on it to spread it everywhere, but they could've put it on the moon, perhaps. It's further away than you'd think. "

Kit said, " So, assuming that they only had so much energy, maybe it'd have been impossible for them to use Chaos Control again to warp it that far away, and they'd warp it too short a distance away and it'd land in the ocean, or trying to use Chaos Control to that extent would be lethal for them at that point. " Starline admitted, " It might have been. I heard that Shadow exhausted too much of his energy in his Super form trying to save the world from a satellite heading for it, so by the time he used Chaos Control on it, he ended up falling out of the sky, and he was very lucky he survived. "

Starline explained, " Sonic had been infected with the Metal Virus as soon as possible and was sending it off by running but he could only get rid of most of it. So he must have had to go without sleep for days until he could get rid of it entirely, so with sleep deprivation weakening him he'd have a harder time surviving exhausting all of his energy with the Super form. But what if Dr. Eggman did find all of the Emeralds on his own? If it weren't for me getting the Zeti to the Faceship, the Emeralds would've all stayed in there with him. Sonic could've just taken the Emeralds and flown with them to the surface, so he wouldn't have had a huge fall to take if he passed out. So assuming that all he'd deal with is passing out, he'd have been fine, but otherwise… "

Starline said, " I don't know, quantifiably, how much energy it'd take from the body to use Chaos Control to warp a huge amount of something to the moon, let alone another universe, while sleep-deprived, so we can't know for sure if it would've been lethal. It probably would've been because Sonic and Shadow only warped the ARK far enough away from the Earth to send it back into the part of orbit it was supposed to be at, and that still sent Shadow falling to Earth, AND he had Sonic's help and wasn't sleep-deprived, so perhaps sending something huge thousands of miles away would've completely exhausted both of them. There's enough space between the Earth and the moon to fit every planet in the solar system in a row. "

Kit said, " So you're saying even in a best case scenario, Sonic and Silver would've used up too much of their energy if they just used Chaos Control without the Warp Topaz. Let's go with that. Most people would think that you saving Sonic and Silver's lives by getting that Warp Topaz was a great thing to accomplish, and again, because you got all of those Emeralds to Eggman, Sonic knew where they were later on and that probably saved his life too. So chances are, they could've never saved the world from the Metal Virus without you. Also, maybe some jerk would've released it anyways eventually out of spite for everyone, maybe someone far into the future, even without Eggman doing it, so it was better for it to be released and gotten rid of now when Sonic could do it. " Starline thought, " Some jerk like Eggman Nega? "

Kit wrote down, " Sonic needed his Warp Topaz to save the world. " Starline admitted reluctantly, " Based on past experience, since Sonic's been needed to save the world before, he'd be needed again as long as Eggman's memories are still intact. So, he's NECESSARY, okay? Silver might be needed for that again too, and the rest of Sonic's friends. I didn't tell you and Surge this earlier because I was planning on hypnotizing Dr. Eggman so that nobody would need to save the world anymore. So I didn't think Sonic and his friends were always going to be needed. As long as Dr. Eggman keeps living like this, they're always going to be needed to clean up his messes for him. " That was certainly something for Kit to hear, knowing that Surge wanted to destroy Sonic and the world, and Starline was talking as if neither of that should happen.

Kit said, " So you regret making Surge want to destroy Sonic, because Sonic's necessary? " Starline admitted unhappily, " I wish I could press a button to undo all of that brainwashing, but I can't. I never thought I'd want to. Just like Dr. Eggman, I didn't plan for everything. If the world gets destroyed or at least put in danger of being permanently ruined again, obviously you'll be destroyed or something with everyone else because you live there. I don't want that. You've been so nice to me. "

Kit reminded him seriously, " Surge said she wants to end everything. She was really mad that she couldn't find out who she used to be, and she said she'd make it so that there were no more heroes OR villains and just burn it all to the ground. I told her to just lie that she was fine with it to humor you and go with your plan, and that was after I convinced her not to kill you! "

Starline said, " I always wondered how she could be okay with everything. I just needed to trust her at the time. I was suspicious, but I didn't want to risk calling her out on it. And again, you'd be destroyed if the world was and she'd get herself killed that way as well. " Kit looked scared, but he couldn't think of an argument against that. Surge never said she'd take him with her to another planet after everything was said and done and she had no way to do so.

Kit said, " If I really care about her, could I ever do something that'd result in her death, just because she told me to, or would I say no for once? What kind of a friend would I be if I got her destroyed with everyone else? That'd be worse to her than anybody was to her. But if I said no, she'd be furious with me, and I don't want to be electrocuted again! But why should I take care of myself instead of support someone else? That's selfish. But so is helping her get herself killed doing anything for her just because I'm scared of her hurting me. I'd be a complete failure if I did anything that made it so that I couldn't help her anymore."

Starline explained, " Perhaps if she gets all of her memories back, she'll go back to how she used to be before me and the old her wouldn't want to do those things, because Dr. Eggman didn't even remember why he had his new outfit when he got all of his memories back. So, assuming she wasn't just as spiteful and hot-tempered before me, it's possible that she doesn't want to destroy the world or Sonic anymore. She could end up just wanting to use her powers to spite Dr. Eggman. "

Kit reassured him, " Hopefully, and then you going through all the trouble of upgrading me and her will be worth it because none of the cons will be permanent. Everything you had to do to get us upgraded would be worth it if it just made some more heroes. Who knows how useful we're gonna be? Even if it was just me, I want to be helpful. Even when I'm away from Surge I still feel the urge to help. I'm still able to want to help someone besides her, so I still could find the time for it. So try to cheer up. " He wrote down, " Made Surge and me heroes with powers. "

Starline said, " I had to cause a prison break of Sonic's worst enemies just to have some help getting the Cores to make my Tricore work. I needed that so I could get the information I needed to upgrade you, and then protect myself from you two. " While Kit couldn't find a positive for that, he reassured him, " I'm sure Sonic and his friends can handle those guys. All of those criminals will end up thrown back in prison anyways. They probably won't be out for long or do anything too bad. It's not a big deal in the long run. " Starline thought, " That depends on what they do. "

After a brief depressing silence, Kit asked, " I've been wondering since I walked in here, what's that long metal thing? What's it doing here? I wondered if it was just there as a weapon but it wouldn't make sense to use it because you'd get the police sicced on you for sure, " and pointed to what he was referring to.

Starline sighed and said, " I was hoping you wouldn't ask that. It hurt to walk after I fell down that hill of scrap. In fact it hurt just to stand, so I used that thing near it to walk here. It's a walking stick, okay? I didn't want you to see me use it, so I was forcing myself to walk without it. It was so humiliating, especially when people saw me with it. " " People saw you going here? But… " Kit exclaimed.

Starline explained, " It'll be fine. I assumed no one recognized me looking like that. My clothes were ripped to shreds and I lost my old glasses. No one called out my name or went up to me. The closest it came to that happening was that some man with a hat stopped his car out of pity and offered me a ride most of the way here. And they let me walk the rest of the way here without following me. "

He said nervously, " At least I think I wasn't followed. I looked behind me at the entrance and didn't see them, and it's just a big open field with nothing to hide behind. And even if they waited a long time to follow me here, they haven't talked to me since, so it seems like I have nothing to worry about. Even if they knew I came here, they would have assumed I was just like one of the many homeless people using a base of Eggman's for shelter and decided to leave me alone, " and thought, " because I was such depressing company. "

After a brief silence, Kit finally said, " Are you gonna keep forcing yourself to walk without that thing just because I'm around? What if you hurt yourself even more? I really want you to use that walking stick if you're that hurt. I know you'd find it embarrassing to be seen like that, but I'm already seeing you covered in bruises and cuts as it is, anyways. And you know I'd never make fun of you for using it… You do know that, right? No one would. "

Starline replied very reluctantly, " Okay, fine. You're right, no one mocked me for it, and the bruises and cuts are already humiliating and attracted too much attention, so what difference does using it make? Being seen like this hasn't backfired at all with or without that, thing. I can't wait for when I won't have to use it. I keep hoping today would be the day after I wake up. But no matter, it won't be the end of the world. It's not like I'll ever use it in public again. "

He said, " Would it be more or less embarrassing than being carried instead? " Starline said, " Anything but that. But it's not like I have a sprained ankle. I've had that before, so I should know. It hurts to walk, but it's not to the point of it being impossible. I'm sure I could walk for a couple of steps without hurting myself even more. " With that, Kit let him get back to his work.

Being told that he needed a walking stick made Kit twice as nervous about him not going to the hospital, to the point where he wasn't sure if he'd be able to stand it anymore. The only thing keeping him from insisting that he go right away was that he was the only person there to pressure him, and then he remembered that Belle and Tails seemed to actually care about him, and wondered if they'd care about Starline too, or if that care wouldn't keep them from imprisoning him anyways if he told them where he was. He wondered if their pity for him would be able to override their fear of Starline and cause them to humor him.

Even if all they'd do is get apprehensive and mad at him if they saw him again, he felt like he would deserve it regardless. Starline had done enough reasoning with him to make it clear that they were the good guys by now, and that combined with all of that time away from Surge made him want to try to reconcile with them. He eventually convinced himself that it'd be worth it just to finally tell them that he was sorry, because he wanted to get it off his chest instead of just keeping it inside and continuing to worry about their reaction to it.