Onward and Upward

Year 3236, Day 140:

Sunlight had gently kissed Knothole's trees and among all the ones who got up bright and early, Sonic was keeping himself busy by grabbing breakfast and then running around or a couple hours. He had a few hours to kill before he went out on another mission, and it sure beat standing still. He had opted to go to the obstacle course to try and set a new record, and on the way there, he noticed Bunnie loitering in the training field.

"Hey, Bunnie!" His voice contrasted against the quiet atmosphere, and she turned around, greeting him with a small smile. "What's up with you?"

"Nuthin' much, sugah-hog," she replied, "although Ah am a mite confused."

"What for?"

"Ah ain't seen hide 'r hare a'Trystan at all since yesterday," she mumbled, crossing her arms. "Us'lly, he's here t'start trainin' by now."

"Ahh, the guy just overslept, I bet. I'll get him for ya." Before she could even say thank you, or add on to the subject, he was gone and at the workshop in a half a second. He rapped on the door. "Hey, Trys! You up?" There was no response, so he knocked harder. "Yo! Trystan!"

After complete silence, Sonic groaned and slung the door open. Trystan must have been near dead tired, because he could see him still on his cot halfway under the table, breathing steadily. Sonic walked up to him and kicked him with his shoe. This, of course, did manage to wake him up abruptly, and Trystan sat up and bashed his head on the underside of the table.

He clutched his head, suppressing his early-morning rage after a minute. "I guess this is my life now."

"Mornin', sleeping beauty," Sonic snickered at him. Trystan's eyes had noticeable bags under them, though they weren't glaring, and he was still in his normal clothes. "Nice hairdo. The whole 'bed-head' look suits you really well."

Trystan glared at him and sighed in defeat. "It's too early to deal with your shit, Sonic. Leave your number and I'll get back to you at eleven."

Sonic only looked at his wrist, reading an imaginary watch. "Uh, dude? It's like, twelve in the afternoon."

Trystan's eyes went wide with disbelief for a second before he accepted complete nihilism and cursed, "Fuck it. It may as well be. The universe doesn't mind laughing at me anyway."

"...You okay, Trys?" Sonic was growling increasingly worried over the Overlander's mental health, but he just waved Sonic off. His only note on the subject was "I had a rough night."

He got up off the mat, stretched, heard his spine crack, muttered, "Jesus Christ," and trudged out of the workshop, rubbing his eyes. "Hey, when di'jya cut up your sweatshirt? I don't remember that being there," he asked pointing to the tear where Trystan had been shot the night before.

Trystan stopped for a second before grumbling, "Must'a nicked it on a bush last night out walking," pretending there was no scar visible under the tear. He ignored the rest of Sonic's prying for answers; he was too tired to explain the gifts he received last night, too. That was best saved for later.

Two hours down the drain after martial arts training and now he was busy busting heads in the VR room. He managed to fight three in a row before he forced himself to take a break. He walked out and sat down on a bench, and simply clasped his hands over his mouth, letting his tired mind wander. He almost fell asleep, until he heard a pair of shoes clicking against the floor. For some reason, when he opened his eyes, Sonic was walking up to him.

He stopped right next to Trystan, and they said nothing to each other through the awkward silence. "So, uh...Bunnie told me she thought somethin' was up when she was training you. I did too, wanted to find out."

Trystan's stare remained unbroken, but eventually, he chuckled. "No subtlety for you, eh?" Sonic rubbed his upper lip with his index finger and flashed his winning smile. "I told you," Trystan deadpanned again, "rough night. Couldn't sleep."

"This ain't about the whole...Robotnik fiasco yesterday, is it?"

"Take a wild fuckin' guess," Trystan shot back. There was silence again for a long time.

"Well, hey," Sonic began, "every champ started out as a chump, y'know."

Trystan snapped his head around fast enough that it could have broken his neck. He didn't know what to react to: the fact that Sonic had implied he was going to get better from this mistake, or the fact he explicitly stated he'd fucked up something hard. He eventually slumped forward, holding his chin in his hands, covering his mouth again. He let out a heavily muffled, "Gee, thanks. I feel worlds better now."

Sonic sighed. This guy was a volatile mix of passion for freedom and crippling depression. "That's not what I meant, dude." Trystan didn't move an inch, and made no motion to respond either. "I'm just sayin'..."

Sonic placed his hand on Trystan's shoulder. "Ya got some things to learn. You'll get the hang of it, pal."

Trystan, although he did feel slightly better now, only nodded his head. Sonic stood up and started to walk away, but stopped short and turned around. "Oh, one more thing...your new pad is up in the trees. Number...two forty-three, I think, if no one told ya already." He winked and then ran out of the training center.

Trystan watched him go, and reflected for a minute before changing to his normal clothes and opting to walk out and explore.

Sonic wasted no time in rushing over to the central hub of Knothole after he left Trystan alone, especially after sensing his stomach was now less full than it had been a moment ago. He ducked between residents and arrived at his favorite chili dog stand (and the only chili dog stand in Knothole) in seconds. He ordered two, and the chef, knowing his customers, brought them out in record time. Sonic scarfed one down, but before he could bite into the second, he heard Sally's voice call, "Sonic, you got a minute before you go running off again?"

He looked over at Sally walking toward him, paused for a second with the chili dog inches away from his face, but quickly stuffed it into his mouth and put his arm on the counter. "Yeth…?" came his muffled reply.

Sally only groaned and asked, "Well, first, do you enjoy grossing me out on purpose?"

Sonic swallowed and flashed another cheeky grin. "Maybe a li'l bit."

She sighed. "And second, have you talked to Trystan recently, by chance?"

"Yup," he affirmed. "Just got done with it."

"Oh, great. Is he doing okay, or did you make it worse?"

Sonic leaned back and stared up. "He already looked hella depressed anyway, Sal." He snapped back to sitting straight up and added, "But I betcha he's doin' better."

"Considering you don't have a black eye, I'd agree," she snickered as she lightly punched his arm.

Sonic scoffed. "He wouldn't be able to catch me." He took a quick breath and continued, "So were we gonna talk about something else, or can I go now?"

Sally rolled her eyes. "I've been considering making a run into Switch Nightmare City in a few days' time. Aside from trying to find information on other Freedom Fighter cells we haven't contacted, I thought I would let you know."

"And how were you plannin' on doing that?"

Sally brushed some loose hair out of her face. "That part's still a work in progress."

The cabin that stood before Trystan had been constructed in the branches of a kind of sequoia tree, at least fifty feet off the ground, and interconnected to other walkways. The house itself was squat, but it at least looked homey. Trystan walked up to the front "Two forty-three," he repeated to himself as he read the embossment on the door aloud. He paused, then reached for the doorknob and carefully opened it up. The lights were off, but he could see that it actually looked bigger on the inside. Must've built it straight into the tree, he reflected.

There was a dresser, a bathroom, a single bed to the left complete with lamp and nightstand, and a couple small tables stacked in the corner. Trystan walked in and threw his duffel bag on the bed, and opened it up after turning on the light. He had still had everything he needed, and didn't really know where to store it, so he simply took out his gun, knife, launcher and medical supplies, and laid them out on one of the tables for easy access. He had no other clothes besides what he already wore on his back, so no sense in putting them into the wardrobe. But lastly was the old family heirloom, which he removed from his bag with caution almost befitting reverence and slowly unwrapped it from the cloth. The gem was just as lustrous as it had always been, and there weren't any cracks that he could see, thank God.

He placed it on top of his dresser, adjusting its wrappings in such a way that it could support standing the jewel straight up. He stepped back to admire his handiwork, and nodded in satisfaction. The gem glowed faintly in response.

Year 3236, Day 141:

Sidestep. Left hook. Turn 180°. Backpedal while punching. Roundhouse kick.

The training session today had actually managed to push Bunnie further than she expected. She quickly rolled to the side after Trystan came running up with another jab and quickly spun around with a kick to try and take her by surprise. She snatched his leg with her robotic arm, and made sure to suppress her reflexes to crush it immediately (Trystan was no SWATbot, after all).

She could not, however, suppress her reflex to chuck what was held in her grip as hard as possible.

Trystan was sent flying across the field with an accompanying "Jesus tapdancing Christ…!" before he landed roughly, rolled a few times after hitting the dirt, and skidded to a halt.

"...Piss…" was the only thing he muttered after wiping some mud off his forehead.

Bunnie ran over and helped him to his feet. "Sweet honey-mixed marmalade, sugah, y'all okay?"

"I can't feel anything below my knees, but other than that, I feel better than I was the day I was born."

Bunnie chuckled and wiped her forehead. "Y'all put up a real fight today. All that trainin's been payin' off for yah."

Trystan chuckled. "I can hope, Bunnie." He cracked his back and knuckles before he grabbed his sweatshirt off the nearby benches. It was still torn, but he figured if he asked to get it tailored, someone would ask how it got that way, and he wasn't going to risk getting caught. He dabbed his forehead and hair to get all the sweat and grass stains off as best he could before slinging it over his shoulder. "Damn, I'm starving."

Bunnie, of course, picked up his grumbling immediately, although before she knew what she was doing, she offered, "Well, then, sugah, ya wanna grab some lunch with me?"

Trystan nearly did a spit take. "Wha-! Are you...are you sure about that…?"

...Well, shoot. No goin' back now, she mused. "Ah'course! Figure it might be worth celebratin' yer progress today. Y'all get'cher self changed an' come back t'town square."

"Uh...okay then. Thanks. For the offer, I mean." He left before his mouth could stumble and screw him up even more, which left Bunnie to stretch her back and walk back over to the village pavilion, and she found a table that was in a less-crowded section. The civilians of Knothole had gotten used to Trystan by now, but it was still mostly a "begrudging tolerance" that was fragile at best.

She waited for about fifteen minutes before she saw Trystan slink into the pavilion, his hood up and not wanting to draw attention to himself as he scanned the crowd for Bunnie. She stood up, against the table she was at, and waved to get his attention. He noticed her, she could tell, but he sauntered around randomly before finally sitting down opposite her.

"Trystan, Ah'd ask if somethin's wrong with ya, but y'all seem t'be good at makin' it clear as day," she told him.

"Am I really that obvious?" He chuckled a little bit, but quickly reverted to paranoia, swiveling his head around before whispering back, "Well, can you blame me? The civvies here haven't taken kindly to me at all since I got here. If they saw me with you doing something that didn't involve work, they'd probably slit my throat."

Bunnie just scoffed. "They'd have'ta get through me first, sugah."

Trystan was about to argue the point that it wouldn't reflect well on her friends for attacking people, even in defense of someone else, but he was hungry and still tired, so he just dropped the subject and went to grab some food. The judgemental stares had lessened in the past week, but they were still there.

He brought back some soup, since that was about the only thing he had the stomach for at the moment, while Bunnie brought back a salad, beef tenderloin, and brownies, of all things. Trystan stared at the chops she had taken, thought it was kind of weird, but said nothing and gulped down another spoonful of broth.

Bunnie, of course, was the first to actually talk again. "So...how're ya likin' yer home here so far?"

Trystan glanced up, blew gently on his spoon, and shoved it into his mouth before he answered, "Honestly, I can't complain." He smiled weakly. "Could use some pretty little tulips in a vase, but it sure beats rotting away in my old apartment."

"Y'all lived in some busted-up apartment complex in Switch Nightmare…?"

Trystan shrugged. "The roving SWATbots never checked inside buildings on the city limits. It was the safest place I could get into." He stared back down, and started unconsciously stirring up the soup. "Hell, it was the only safe place I knew."

Bunnie knew that pain. She and hundreds of others stranded here knew how it felt to lose their homes. "Ah'm sorry, sugah."

Trystan chuckled. "Ah, don't be. I was too young and dumb to leave, even after a month."

Bunnie paused. She knew this territory was probably best left unexplored, but she couldn't help asking. "How...how old are ya?"

"Nineteen."

"Oh, mah stars. Y'all were only twelve?"

"When Robotnik decided to just shit all over everything? Yep," he answered coldly. There was only silence between them after that, and Trystan went back to eating. It remained that way, and Trystan was about to leave when he heard Antoine walk up to the table.

"Sacre bleu cheese! Of all zee people I should see togethair in public, Bunnie and zee Overlander are zee last ones on zat list," Antoine stated.

"Okay, first," began Trystan indignantly, "she trains me out in the open. Two, I have a fucking name, y'know."

"What'ch ya'll doin' 'Twan?" Bunnie asked, ignoring both the boys' egos.

"Ah, oui, I was making my weekly trip to zee market to stockpile my groceries for cooking," Antoine explained. "But I thought zat, perhaps, I should at least say 'bonjour' to zee both of you at zee time I caught sightline of you…" Antoine cocked an eyebrow and glared at Trystan. "Even eef I do not personally agree with some people."

"Antoine…"

Trystan just smirked and put his hand up. "Relax, Bunnie. Unlike Ant here, I can at least take insults in stride."

Antoine huffed and Bunnie quickly changed the subject. "Well, 'Twan, color me curious now, what were y'all gonna cook up?"

"Ah-hah...! Foie de canard et viande rôtie lente! Eet eez an old family recipe, and one I am 'ead over wheels in love with, tu pourrais dire."

Bunnie giggled and corrected him, "Ah think ya'll mean 'head-over-heels', sugah-'Twan."

Antoine waved his hand around. "Oui, oui, oui, zat eez what I meant."

Trystan crossed his arms and scoffed. "No offense, Ant, but the only way you can impress me with your cooking is if you can make a full seven-course meal out of nothing but canned peas, grits, water with seven percent lead by volume, and moldy newspaper."

His comment made Antoine's face go from subdued shock to abject terror, to deathly sick in a matter of seconds. Trystan was fairly sure he was going to throw up before forcing himself to keep his lunch down. "...Di'j ya'll act'lly make yer food like that...?" The concern in Bunnie's voice was more than apparent, as was her disbelief that Trystan was still functioning like a normal person after having admitted that.

Trystan paused for a moment, but then threw his head back and laughed. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding." Antoine and Bunnie, however, didn't have the time to chuckle at his joke before he added, "Nah, I kept the lead-riddled water out of my diet. Otherwise, I would never have lasted seven years in New Pacific."

That almost did Antoine in, as he clutched his throat and made a deep retching sound accompanied by a pained "Mon dieu…", which Trystan tried very hard not to laugh openly at. Bunnie was more reserved about trying to keep her appetite, although she did nudge her brownies away. Trystan, being a stone-cold trooper, just came off his high of watching some comedy gold reactions, by chuckling a bit and drinking more of his soup.

"On the bright side, ever since I got here and got used to normal, unspoiled and non-canned food, I've regained my will to live, which I didn't even realize I lost until about several months ago," he added.

"Think Ah'm gonna skip havin' seconds," Bunnie muttered.

Trystan looked up from his near-empty soup bowl. "Sorry if I killed your hunger." He was still smiling like an idiot, but his tone was as sincere as he could get it.

Bunnie smiled at him, albeit weakly, and assured him it was okay. Antoine was less sincere. "I suppose I should be expecting nothing less from vous."

Trystan was silent as he stared at his soup, but slowly shifted to his left, hunching over and gave Antoine a death glare from under the hood of his sweatshirt. "I might be able to take a joke, but my patience with you has limits, baguette bread."

This, despite Trystan sitting down, made Antoine's pupils shrink, and he reflexively backed away and started whimpering a bit. A smile slowly crept across Trystan's face and he chuckled. "Relax, Ant, I'm playin' with ya."

Antoine, after realizing he'd been made a fool of yet again, became indignant. "Why you…!" He puffed out his chest, preparing another batch of hot air, at least Trystan assumed that's what it was. He took a step forward and declared, "I am more zan certain zat un grossier, sans honneur, sauvage payson such as you can truly be just as intimidiating as zey pretend!"

Trystan had no idea what Antoine just called him, but it sounded nasty. He crossed his arms and smirked. "Is that a challenge, crouton?"

Antoine paused for a second. He hadn't expected Trystan to act so casual about his sudden outburst. "...Oui, eet eez now!" And with that, Antoine began to walk away, only turning around once to shout a command to Trystan. "You will be meeting me in zee training field in an hour's time, Overlander!"

Bunnie tilted her hat up, eyes wide as telescope lenses. She whistled. "Shoot...Ah don't think Ah ever seen 'Twan get so riled up b'fore."

Trystan shrugged and went back to finishing off the last couple vegetables in the soup. "He thinks he can pick on me because I'm the new blood. Whatever he's plannin', I ain't worried."

Antoine brushed his hair with the comb he always kept on his person a dozen times over as he looked down into the small pond close by the training grounds. Still not close to his standards, he quickly shifted part of the left side over to the right. Too uneven. He just went back to going down the middle, and brushed off the epaulettes on his shoulders. He smiled at his reflection. "Pairfect as always, you handsome devil."

Almost immediately, a gunshot rang out that broke the silence and nearly did the same with Antoine's resolve. He screamed and dove for the cover of a nearby bush. When he finally worked up the nerve to peek out, he saw Trystan, pointing his smoking revolver at a small bullseye used for target practice. He stood up straight, emptied the gun's chamber of viscous silver liquid, and turned to face Antoine with a smirk on his face. "You done gussying up now, Ant?"

Antoine quickly pretended he didn't even come close to freaking out and he straightened up. "But of course," he answered coolly.

"Good. Now tell me what you're so intent on challenging me on. I gotta get back to my pad and spruce things up while I'm not gettin' shot at."

"Sacre bleu, you are even more insufferable zan Sonic," Antoine muttered. He walked over to a weapon rack and pulled a wooden sword off it, swinging it around twice before pointing the tip at Trystan. "I would be wishing to see you beat me at zis," he challenged, even though he gulped as quietly as he could after saying it. "En garde, l'étranger."

Trystan, although still remaining calm, couldn't help but be surprised and a bit unnerved. Standard hand-to-hand combat was something he could manage, but he'd never touched a sword, let alone seen one, in his life. However, he remained undaunted and let his Overlander pride walk him over to the weapon rack, take a sword, and go a few paces away from Antoine. He held the weapon in the same way Antoine did, although his grip on it was shaky.

Antoine cocked an eyebrow and took a quick step forward; Trystan retreated mostly out of reflex. Mostly.

He could see a smug grin creeping its way across Antoine's face. "Oh, I ain't giving you all the satisfaction of spooking me," he mumbled. In response, Trystan shot forward and took a wild, wide swing, which Antoine did not expect. He yelped and reflexively swung up to block it. It managed to connect, and the force of his arm shot the wooden sword out of Trystan's hand; it landed on the grass a dozen feet away or so with a dull clunk.

Antoine was momentarily dumbfounded that he had actually managed to show off his superiority. "I...I am victorious…?" but he quickly spluttered, recomposed himself and pointed the tip of his sword at Trystan, who was now leaning back with his hands up in surrender, although he kept a blank stare on his face. "A-ha! Of course I am victorious! As you can s-see, Overlander," Antoine goaded, "I have shown you who eez zee boss!"

Trystan was disappointed he didn't even get the chance to smack Antoine once, but he let Antoine have his fun. "Not bad, crouton, not bad at all."

"Hmph. Considering I beat you, I think I did much bettair zan 'not bad.' Speaking of, I wish to ask a cater of you," Antoine rebuked, putting his sword down.

"'Cater?' What the hell…?"

"Oui, a cater. Somezing you would do for goodwill between friends."

It took Trystan a second to register what he missed before. "That's 'favor,' Ant. Why should I grant you a favor?"

Antoine was silent, but Trystan saw him breathe in sharply with a look of what he associated with mild regret on his face and whispered, "Well, zat eez because I am not zee man I wish I was…"

Trystan paused, but he eventually gained an idea of where Antoine might have been going. "And…?"

"Although it pains me inside to say it, I am...not…" He struggled with his choice of words. "Not...zee most... 'ow shall I say, gallant Freedom Fighter."

"Uh-huh. Well, you could'a fooled me." Trystan crossed his arms and shifted his body weight to the right.

"And zat eez my favor. Since I cannot face such 'umongous villains, I will settle with fighting you." A sneer worked its way across Trystan's face and he took a couple steps forward, which made Antoine tremble a bit. "C-c-chaque fois que vous êt-t-t-tes d-disponible, bien sûr..."

"I don't speak baguette bread, dammit."

"W-whenevair you are available, of course," Antoine stammered.

Trystan racked his brains for a second before answering with, "Fine. You wanna use me as a punching bag? Go ahead. I need experience. But you're doing it during my training period, with Bunnie and me." He grinned bitterly. "I need a witness if you 'accidentally' stab me one too many times, and I have'ta complain to Sally about it."

Antoine wasn't stupid enough to challenge that claim. He only nodded and took a couple steps backward. "V-very well, Overlander."

Trystan's disposition changed almost immediately. "Alright. Glad we understand each other." Trystan was about to break off the conversation, but stopped short and added, "Oh, and you'll need to be here by eleven a.m., if you didn't know already."

Antoine said nothing as he left for Knothole proper, leaving Trystan to fire at some targets with his revolver.