Recursion Error

Episode 53- Gamers never die


"Well, congratulations, you fucking dimwit. You got us killed."

Black. Black, endless void everywhere around. An entire universe full of nothing. Nothing but a single, lone teen in a tattered white coat sitting down on a nonexistent ground with his knees pulled up to his chest. Behind him was another, identical-looking teen down to the face and clothes that was angrily pacing back and forth behind the one sitting down.

"You know, you've done some stupid shit in our life, but this? Oh boy, I don't even- this is the peak. There's nothing above this. I can't even comprehend how you bungled it this badly and I was there every step of the way." Sorun loudly exhaled and threw his arms in front of him. "Just... fuck, man, how!?"

"What was I supposed to do?" the Sorun sitting down on the endless black void asked.

"Oh, oh I don't know, not gotten us killed!?" Sorun screamed out. "'Ah, no, hey, Sorun, buddy, pal. I know we just took you away from your home and loved ones and everything, but hey, listen, things here on Mobius are real bad, so do you mind lending us a hand?' 'Oh, Sorun, by the way, these powers are real neat and all but oh also they're gonna kill you down the line so if you could just get over that for us it'd be greeeat, okay?' No-none of this sounds bad to you?" Sorun stopped pacing and looked down on Sorun. "Christ on a crutch, man, why did you go along with it?"

Sorun shuffled in place. "I didn't want my friends to die."

"Your friends. Right," Sorun scoffed. "Let's-let's do a headcount. Tails? Dragged us through that portal and effectively ended our life right then and there. Sonic, that smug prick, always acting like he was better than us, not a single fucking humble bone in his body. Knuckles- fuck him, fuck him and his entire goddamned species, they can fucking burn for all the trouble they caused us. Elias?" Sorun let out a mocking laugh. "Fucking soy boy supreme, doesn't know what the hell he's doing and came to us of all people for advice, fucking amazed you didn't blow that whole history lesson you gave him. Took, what, a single day of rebellion for him to fold and change the whole government? An evening? Sally straight up lead us by the nose the entire time with that promise she made us just so she could have some sword-slinging weirdo in her motley crew of-"

"They were nice to us," Sorun argued. "They never treated us like-"

"Of course they were nice, it's practically all they know!" Sorun yelled out. "They're so nice they don't even realize how fucked in the head they all are! Or how bad they screwed us over at the very least," he bitterly added. "Shadow- look, I'll admit, he was cool, I know you liked them all but personally he was the only one I could stand to be around."

Sorun sighed and hugged his knees closer to his chest. "They didn't know. They were desperate," he weakly argued. "They never took advantage of us like that. They said we were one of them."

"Oh, grow up, Sorun," Sorun spat out. "They felt sorry for us and made us one of them because they hoped it'd be good enough to make up for everything they did to us. They did it to make themselves feel better."

The Sorun kneeling on the ground began to grow from looking despondent to as angry as the one pacing behind him. "That is simply not true," he denied. "Nicole-"

"And there it is, ladies and GENTLEMEN, the crux of it all!" Sorun shouted up to the nonexistent ceiling. "It wasn't enough to give it all up for a bunch of aliens that stole our life from us. Oh, no, you took it to the next level." He walked over the sitting Sorun and crouched down right next to him. "You went and simped over the holo-lynx," he lowly stated. "She just had to have all the right qualities, huh? Just had to be attractive to us in every single aspect we could possibly imagine. Fact she looked the way she did went right over our head."

Sorun's eyes fell to the endless black ground as Sorun made another scoff and shot up to his feet.

"But to throw away our life for her?" Sorun continued. "Seriously? For a girl you didn't even have the guts to admit you liked?"

"It wasn't just for her."

"..." Sorun looked off to the side. "Who was it in our final thoughts?" he wondered aloud. "Was it Antoine? 'Oh, Antoine, I'm so sorry we'll never have another sword match where you'll have to hold back against me and still win because even a wimpy fucking fink like you is stronger than me.' How 'bout Amy? 'Ah, Amy, you self-absorbed cunt, thank you so dearly for pulling your head out of the clouds to give me the time of day. You're such a nice person. A veritable pillar of magnanimity!' Nope. No, no, no. It was her. Nicole." Sorun grunted out angrily and began pacing again. "You know what it's like being you? 'Oh, I'm so depressed over dying,' 'this isn't fair, why me,' 'I'm so scared over everything,' 'I just want to play with Nicole for a bit to forget it all,' every single second of every single day we spent on Mobius. The anxiety, the self-doubt, the insecurity, day in, day out. MY LIFE IS FUCKING SUFFERING."

He ran out of steam. With a final breath, Sorun collapsed down onto his backside, breathing in and out heavily in great heaves. The Sorun sitting down didn't so much as look over at him, instead choosing to keeping looking down for a while. When Sorun's breathing returned to normal, Sorun finally spoke out.

"Are you done?" Sorun asked.

"I guess," Sorun breathed out. "I hate this place. There's nothing to do here but realize how miserable my life is. The life we no longer have. The life you threw away like yesterday's garbage. That life." His head rolled to the side to look at Sorun's back. "Why'd you do it?" he questioned. "Why did you throw away our life for them?"

"From the moment we stepped into that grocery store the deck was stacked against us," Sorun coolly answered. "We had no possible way of knowing we'd get pulled through an interdimensional portal to a new world. But that's what happened, so we made the best of what we could with the situation we were in. The Chaos Emeralds changed things."

"Boy, did it," Sorun agreed. "You killed us for a stupid cause."

"It's not as if the options were that glamorous," Sorun argued. "We were cornered the moment we laid our hands on that first Chaos Emerald. The blue one. And just like the grocery store, we had no possible way of knowing it'd be irremovable or that it would give us those poisonous powers. The Mobians were surprised by the development, so it's not as if we could have speculated that outcome. Even people in tune with the Chaos Force were surprised by what we could do. There was absolutely no way of us knowing." He dipped his head lower to the nonexistent floor. "There was simply no way for us to realistically avoid sealing off the way home forever."

"You didn't have to go after the rest of them."

"Those Mobians didn't deserve the fate Robotnik would have given them. It's likely we would have shared the same fate had he won. You know it. I know it. Giving our life up to try and save them was our best option." He made a sigh. "That's the logical explanation, at least. Truly, I... just didn't want to see them suffer. They're dear to me, each and every one. She's the dearest of them all to me." He glanced back at Sorun. "You'd let such a truly beautiful world full of wonderful people die just so we could live a few years longer? For what?"

"It would have been on our terms. And they didn't deserve our help," Sorun answered. "And what good we managed to do." He thrust his arms up. "There he was, all lined up. The biggest and fattest target in history, all dressed in red for us. The phrase 'side of a barn' had never been more applicable, because he practically was the side of a barn! At point-blank range at that! We could have spit on him if you wanted we were so close! And all you had to do was get one eensy-weensy little hit in on the guy. Geez, you didn't even have to aim for his head. Any slash in his general direction would have gone through his body and done fatal damage. That was it. That was all you had to do. We could have done it in our sleep it was so easy. And what did you do?" The arms fell back down. "You dropped the ball. You missed. And because of that, Robotnik's still alive, so all we did was for what? Huh?"

Sorun didn't answer Sorun. Instead, he stood up from his sitting position and began to walk away.

"I don't have to hear this from you," he said. "I'm leaving."

Sorun waved after him, still lying on his back. "Oh yeah, sure, good luck navigating a literal abyss, you moron!"


He hated this place.

Ever since he died he'd been here. He didn't know for how long. He tried counting once but kept losing track of the number, if he was counting in seconds or minutes. All he knew was that it was nothing but an endless, black void and he hated it.

How long had he been here? Minutes? Hours? Days? He didn't know. He didn't even know how long he'd been walking. Could have been seconds, could have been years. He didn't know. All he knew was that he despised every aspect about this place.

The loneliness.

The isolation.

He didn't want to be dead anymore.

He wanted to see his friends again.

How long had he been here?

"Fun fact, this place isn't infinite. It runs in a loop." Sorun only continued to stare ahead as Sorun began walking besides him. "Well, either that or you got turned around and began walking in circles since, you know... there's not really any landmarks."

"Where even is here?" Sorun asked. "The afterlife?"

A shrug. "What'd you expect? A desaturated beach?" Sorun asked with a scoff. "How can you adore people that ruined our lives?"

"Will you drop it already?"

"And do what instead? Stare at the vast nothing?" Sorun sarcastically remarked. "It really just took them being nice to win you over? For real?"

"What else was needed?" Sorun asked Sorun. "They realized the grave mistake they made and tried to make up for it. Beyond that, they treated us as an equal when we obviously weren't one. They valued our life just as much as their neighbors and brothers despite the fact we were complete strangers, a different species even. Altruism for the sake of altruism. A genuine love of life." He grew quiet as he looked down. "How could I not grow enamored with them after the way they treated us? With her?"

"Yeah, how could we not love people that kidnapped us and forced us into a guerilla war against our will. Whoo-hoo."

It began to show that Sorun's patience was wearing thin when he stopped and turned towards Sorun with his calm expression slowly turning angered again. "They had. No way. Of knowing."

"And they had no right to ask us to do shit after what they did. Sonic didn't have any right to make that stupid bet with the foot race and trick us," Sorun snapped back with an equally angry expression. "We're dead because of them."

"We're dead because we chose to die."

"Chose? Chose!?" Sorun spread his arms wide and gestured to the emptiness all around him. "We chose this!?" he yelled out. "Ah, yeah, such a super choice! We get damned to an eternity of this insanity while everyone else gets to go on their own merry way-"

Slck!

It'd been an automatic movement on Sorun's part. He'd grown so sick of it. Of this place, of hearing Sorun's mocking of Sorun's choices for every second Sorun was here. Couldn't take it anymore, didn't want to take it, he just wanted it to end.

He didn't even know when Yamato flashed into his hands or when he moved forwards to stab Sorun in the midsection. All he knew was that, at some point, he'd done just that. And now Sorun was standing here in front of Sorun, stabbing Sorun through the chest with the katana held in his hands.

Sorun looked down at the blade piercing his chest, more or less nonplussed at the act. "This all you know how to do?" Sorun asked as he looked back up at Sorun. "Kill yourself? I'm not surprised. It's the one thing you haven't fucked up."

Sorun pulled the sword out. There was nobody in front of him anymore. Just empty space. He was there alone. Just him. Sorun. Nobody else.

He suddenly felt something on his right arm. A strange sensation, like something slowly curling around the limb. With his breathing beginning to become more erratic, he looked down at his hand. He immediately saw what he was feeling.

It was the Yamato. There were... vines, bluish-black vines like tentacles spreading out from beneath the white wrapping of the blue hilt and wrapping all around his right arm. There was an eye, too. An eye with a blue iris and slit pupil, right there in the center of the blade, the metal cracking around it. Just a normal eye rapidly looking everywhere, with a small stream of blood dripping out of it like a bloodied tear. The eye finally stopped when it snapped to a position so that it was looking right into Sorun's eye, and he could have sword he heard the high-pitched screaming of his own voice.

With a panicked scream, Sorun threw the sword away. It clattered against the ground that wasn't there, and with heavy breathing, Sorun continued to look at it even as it skidded away. There were no tentacles. No blood, no eye, nothing. It was just a normal katana.

Panting with heavy breath, Sorun collapsed onto his hands and knees. He looked down, but all he saw was blackness. There was nothing but an endless void when he looked up and around. No matter where he looked, there was absolutely nothing in any direction. Nothing but an infinite emptiness.

"I hate it here," Sorun tonelessly droned out. Yamato flashed back into his hands. He held it up and stabbed it down into whatever invisible ground he was leaning on.

Reality itself began to crack all around Sorun. White, glowing cracks that spiderwebbed around from where the sword was stabbing into. Sorun continued to blankly stare at the spot, pouring more power into the blade as he pushed it in further. Blue energy was roaring down the length of the blade as the white cracks intensified.

"I don't want to be here anymore." Segments of reality began to fall around Sorun, like black shards of glass, revealing bright, white light behind it all. "Take me out of here. I want to go back to them."

The entire world around Sorun shattered completely.


Sorun's eyes snapped open.

"... What just happened?" That was the first and foremost thought that came to his head. What came after was the memory of dying, and all the mental baggage that carried. Everything past that just gave him a headache to think about. The details were there, but fuzzy, disjointed. Hard to remember. So he ceased those thoughts and looked up. "Uh..."

He didn't know why, but for some reason he was on his back, with his head resting in something oddly soft. He'd wondered what that was until he'd looked up and seen the sky. The sky that wasn't blue, but a giant, glowing canvas of various shades of white and purple. No sun, no moon, not even any stars. Just a lot of white and purple. He also noted there were some green leaves in his peripheral, and when he looked down he saw he was surrounded by trees.

"Well this is just all kinds of weird," he muttered to himself. He finally took note of the soft thing his head was laying on, and felt around with his hand to try and feel it. Oddly enough, his hand rubbed against something damp, and when he held it above his face, much to his confusion, it was wet. "... Why am I wet?"

Sorun looked further up. He was greeted to a pair of solid green eyes looking down at him that were attached to a head completely made of water.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa!" Startled by the sight, Sorun rolled right off whatever wet thing he'd been lying on. He felt soft grass brush against his exposed hands and face as he rolled away, ending when he rolled into a low crouch to look at the thing he'd saw look at him.

He had absolutely no idea what he was looking at. It was some bipedal... thing. A thing made completely from water. In fact, the only things he saw in it that wasn't water were the two solid, oblong objects acting as its eyes and a brain floating in what Sorun assumed to be its head.

For some reason its shape reminded him of an alien of some kind. The two-toed, three-fingered, three tentacled-headed... thing in front of him just didn't resemble anything else for comparison. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why it was completely made of water.

"Um... what's up...?" Sorun awkwardly greeted. The watery thing in front of him, sitting down with its legs crossed, merely had made a gurgling sound while tilting its head at him. "... Yeah, alright." Sorun looked away from it. "Where am I?"

Looking around didn't give him much in the way of answers. It looked like a circular clearing inside of a grove of trees. There was a pond in the middle filled with clear water, a few large rocks surrounding its edge, and... Chao, for whatever reason. Seven in total from what he counted, all just meandering about and minding their own business. A few had cast curious looks over in Sorun's direction, but that had been about it.

"It's a... Chao Garden?" Sorun mumbled to himself. "What the...?"


Something Sorun had never done in his life was skip stones across the water, like they did in the movies. Not surprisingly he was pretty terrible at it when he tried. Like the world hadn't brought him down enough.

"I mean, I try to look at the positives in life," Sorun said as he threw another small stone at the pond, only for it to sink right to the bottom along with his mood. Maybe the shape of the stones was the problem. He was pretty sure only flat ones sufficed, but there were only round ones here. "You know, like when all the downs in life gets me, well, down, I try to remember all the ups." He looked to the side. "Know what I mean?"

The blue water monster thing was sitting right besides Sorun in front of the pond. Some of the Chao he saw were sleeping on it or playing by hanging off its limbs, not that it seemed to mind. Sorun was fairly sure it was keeping up with the conversation, but, well... it was a water monster. So he wasn't really sure.

The fact it gurgled at him in response to his previous question didn't help him much in discerning a clear answer. Its appearance still made Sorun ambivalent towards whether it was dangerous or not, but at east it seemed friendly. So he decided to voice some of his thoughts at it at some point.

"So, uh... you got a name?" Sorun asked.

It gurgled at him again.

"... Nice to meet you. I'm Sorun."

The water monster tilted its head, and the green objects Sorun assumed were its eyes thinned a great amount for a brief moment. And then it went back to normal.

"Was that, like, a smile? I don't even know." With a sigh, Sorun turned back to the pond. "What am I even doing?" he wondered as he tossed another stone in the water. "I screwed up, got killed without taking Eggman with me. Now I'm here, wherever here is, and he's out there doing his usual thing."

It still sat with him poorly, utter failure. It was a level of disappointment he'd never had the misfortune to feel before, and as such it was a completely foreign experience. And past all that was the anxiety. How were the others back in New Mobotropolis doing? Were they okay? How were they handling his death? Had he absolutely messed up by not killing Eggman, thereby dooming the world, or had his actions been significant enough to avoid that fate?

With questions like these sitting in him, it was hard to not worry. But he didn't really know how to proceed from here, or even what his current state of being was. Was he a ghost? A spirit? Was this some kind of great beyond? It couldn't have been Mobius from how the sky looked. So where was he?

"Hm?" He felt something that drew his eyes downwards. To his delight, he'd finally managed to find a relatively flat stone. He held it up, and after squinting his eye to aim at the pond, he let the stone loose.

It sunk just as quickly as the rest of the stones.

"I give up," Sorun groaned out as he rose up into a standing position. He brushed his hands over the sides of his tattered white coat, and then turned around.

He'd cried out in surprise and fallen back-first into the pond when he turned to see a pair of bright blue eyes fill his vision.

A splash was heard as Sorun's backside fell into the shallow end of the pond. At the very least the water was lukewarm, but it did little to assuage the annoyance Sorun felt when he heard a gurgle from the water monster that sounded suspiciously like a deep-sounding chortle. Sitting down in the pond with the water up to his waist, Sorun gave the water thing a glare before looking to the left at whoever- oh god it was an echidna.

"No, not another one, please..." Sorun moaned out in a defeated tone. His body had gone completely limp and he'd almost fallen completely into the pool before he'd extended a hand to catch himself.

"Um... sir...?" A soft, feminine voice drew Sorun's attention forwards, at the echidna standing at the edge of the pond in front of Sorun. "Are you okay?"

She certainly looked like a strange echidna, at least compared to the ones Sorun had seen. Her dress was strange. Old and tribal-like, almost. She was a light orange, too, as opposed to the normal red he saw in echidna. Her head flesh-extensions things were adorned with all sorts of makeshift accessories, and her bright eyes looked down at Sorun with a worried expression across her face. Her whole body was hunched forwards in a way that suggested concern over him.

He would have considered the gesture sweet if it was anybody else, but seeing as she was an echidna, he couldn't help but be a bit wary.

"Considering I'm pretty sure I'm dead, not really," Sorun had sighed out as he stood up. On second glance, he wasn't so sure if he needed to be worried about her. Echidna or not, she did seem genuinely worried over him. So he'd give her a chance. "Thanks for the concern," he added as he stepped out of the pond and sat back down next to the water monster.

The orange echidna gave him a short nod, and then got down on her knees at Sorun's right side, her eyes still trained on his face. Sorun was about to ask why she was staring at him before he felt a strange, crawling sensation. He looked to his left, and then saw something that had made Sorun do a double-take. The three watery tentacles on the monster's head were extending over to Sorun and running themselves over the wet areas on Sorun's body. He watched, and even felt, as the moisture was absorbed from the wet spots, and then put together that the thing was helping to dry him off.

"Oh." Sorun blinked as the tentacles receded back behind the creature's head, and then gave it an appreciative nod. "Thanks... Ccccarrllll...?"

"Chaos."

"Hm?" Sorun made a small hum as he turned back to the echidna. "What about it?"

She gently shook his head. "No, I mean him." Her eyes briefly flicked to the water thing, and then looked back at Sorun. "His name is Chaos."

"Ahh." Weirdly coincidental name given everything, but whatever, he supposed. He almost went as far as to comment on it before he noticed the orange echidna girl was still staring at him. "Hi...?"

It was hard to place the look on her face. She seemed incredibly inquisitive but confused at the same time. Maybe even a bit fearful from how soft and gentle her face looked. It was enough that Sorun felt oddly calm just looking at her as she looked him up and down, her confusion only increasing the more she looked at him. Finally, she looked right back into his eyes and asked a single question. "What are you?"

"Confused."

She'd blinked at the answer. "N-no, I mean what are you?" she repeated. "You... remind me of the residents of that city. Station Square, I believe it was called?" She reached forwards and gently took some of Sorun's hair into her hands to examine it. The unexpected contact had made Sorun flinch a little. "But you look different, and this color is... strange, for one who seems so young."

"... Wait, why is it still white?" Sorun suddenly thought as he looked at his own hair. Indeed, it was still a pure white color. "I would have thought it'd revert back to black. What's goin' on?"

The white hair was a sign he still had his powers, if not just Devil's Body. But... that'd couldn't be, could it? He was dead, wasn't he? Was he? He didn't know, not in this state he was in. He didn't know if he was some ghost, or if he'd been transported somewhere, or some third thing he was unaware of. He didn't know anything about what was going on.

He figured he may as well ask.

"I'll tell you if you answer me first," Sorun offered. He paused when he noticed the echidna girl was still examining his hair, and with a small sigh he reached forwards and gently grabbed her wrists. "Hey, come on."

"Oh! My apologies." The girl grew a sheepish look as she pulled her hands back and looked to Sorun's eyes. "I just have never encountered one of your kind that is so strange. Even your height being similar to that of a Mobian's is unusual."

"Of all the things you had to point out, it had to be that...?" Sorun muttered out as he looked to the side, feeling his shattered pride take yet another hit. "Listen," he said as he looked back to the echidna, "I'm, like... super lost. In all aspects of everything. I'll tell you all about me, but first I gotta know what's going on."

She gave him a nod. "Of course. You must be dreadfully confused about your current circumstances. I would be happy to explain everything to you."

"Great, cool." With a sigh, Sorun tiredly rubbed a hand across his face as he looked around. "For starters, uh... where is here, exactly?" he asked. "It looks like a Chao Garden, but, like... spiritual? I don't know how to describe it."

A small, soft giggle left the girl. "You're much closer to the truth than you think." One of the Chao had wandered near the echidna girl. She'd picked it up with a smile and then placed it in her lap, and then began to slowly stroke its head as she continued to address Sorun. "This place is a sanctuary whose sole purpose is to contain the god of destruction, Chaos, as well as the seven Servers. You have met them already."

"..." With a face as calm as stone, Sorun turned back to his left, towards Chaos. The supposed god of destruction gave him a small wave. "'Sup, man," he quietly said before turning back to the echidna. "The Servers?" He glanced down at one of the Chao that was in her lap. "The... seven Chao here?"

She gave him a nod. "Yes, that's correct. For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, these seven Chao are strongly linked to the Chaos Force, so much so that their capacity for power is greater than that of the fabled Chaos Emeralds."

Again donning his stony, neutral expression, Sorun continued to stare down at the Chao, and then glanced around at all the other Chao scattered around. As far as he could tell they all just looked like everyday, ordinary Chao, like the ones he'd seen on Mobius. Nothing special at all was jumping out at him, asides from the fact they were all in this weird place.

"I know Chao are kinda close with the Chaos Force, so... I guess that's believable," he muttered out as he turned back to the orange Mobian. "Wouldn't be the weirdest thing ever."

Her blue eyes brightened up a bit, as if in interest. "Oh! You know some about Chao, then?"

Sorun shrugged. "A little. I took one as a pet, tried to do some research on them so I knew how to take care of him." He blinked in realization. "Oh, man, I hope Cream's feeding Virgil." He'd almost forgotten he'd left him with her. He severely doubted she'd neglect him, though. He already known she was responsible when he met the rabbit girl.

But him suddenly remembering Virgil right then and there made Sorun sag a bit when he realized that his former pet Chao was just one more person he'd never get to see again. His first pet ever. It brought him some comfort knowing he'd left him with somebody actually capable of looking out for him, probably more capable than he himself had been, but he couldn't help but wonder how he'd take his death. Probably as bad as everybody else.

"Virgil?" the echidna girl echoed, followed by her making a small laugh. "That's a rather funny name to give a Chao."

"Yeah, well, he was a rather funny Chao," Sorun said. "He evolved into a... pretty startling form for me." He turned his head to the side. "I don't really know how to describe it. He... evolved to look like something only I should know about. I know for a fact he could only turn into what he did because of me, but I still can't really grasp why he ended up looking like that."

"Chao are very mysterious creatures." Another one of the Server Chao flew up onto the echidna's shoulder. She began to lightly scratch under its chin, giving the small creature a loving smile, while the Chao itself nuzzled against one of her dreadlocks. "To form a bond with somebody is to imply that somebody is a person that Chao truly loves and cherishes. The forms they take can often be influenced somewhat by those they form bonds with, as well as serve to strengthen their bond to the Chaos Force. It can be seen as a source of strength for the Chao in that regard."

"Loves and cherishes? You haven't met Virgil," Sorun said with a small scoff and shake of his head. The Mobian girl gave him a curious look as a result, though this was ignored by Sorun as he glanced around the Chao Garden. "You said this place is a sanctuary?"

"Yes. Specifically, this is a separate zone entirely than the one inhabited by Mobius. It resides within the Ancient Onyx. A... special artifact," she added when she saw confusion cross Sorun's features. "I remember it resembling a Chaos Emerald."

Slowly, Sorun nodded in half-understanding. "Dimension in a rock, sure," he muttered under his breath. "Why is this place here? Why are the Chao and Chaos here?"

A sad look crossed over the girl's features. She reached up to pick the Chao off her shoulder and set it down on the ground, and then turned back to Sorun before answering. "In the past, many had tried to take advantage of the Servers in order to abuse their power," she explained to him. Her voice had grown somewhat gloomy halfway through the explanation. "Chaos is a being charged with protecting the seven Servers, though the power he wields can prove to be... catastrophic. It was just recently a valiant group of Mobians had assisted me in securing Chaos and the Servers away from the world when the Servers were threatened and Chaos had run amok."

"It wasn't with the help of somebody named Sonic, was it?" At the girl's eyes widened and an instant nod, Sorun made a hum. "Yeah, I know him. I think he made an offhand comment about this once, but I don't really remember that well." He pointed at her. "And who are you?"

"My name is Tikal." She introduced herself by slightly bowing her head in Sorun's direction. "I am simply an echidna who chose to look after Chaos and the Servers." She looked past Sorun's shoulder, over at Chaos who had been silently observing the pair throughout the entire conversation. "Chaos is truly a peaceful creature, but he can be overprotective of the Servers and loses control far too easily. I reside here with him and the Servers to keep them company and ensure Chaos remains at peace."

"Really, now?" Sorun glanced to the side at the rest of the Chao Garden. "Don't it get lonely here? Or at least boring?" he asked as he turned back to Tikal. "I mean, are you even alive?"

She shook her head. "Strictly speaking, no. My physical form was sacrificed hundreds of years ago so I could remain with them. But I don't mind," she said, making Sorun's face bloom in surprise. "I'm content with spending time here with them. I've always loved Chao, you see," she added with a small smile as she looked off to the side at some of the Chao. "Life here is peaceful and quiet. That's all any of us that reside here truly desire."

"If you're happy with it, I suppose," Sorun mumbled with a shrug. It was beyond his comprehension how somebody could spend centuries in a place like this and be happily content with it, but everybody had their own tastes, he guessed. There was some allure to it, he would admit. Living in utter peace, even if it was a quiet place like this, and with the company of a weird water monster and some Chao. He didn't completely get it, but he could somewhat see what she was getting at.

Wasn't anything he could ever commit to, but more power to her.

Still, it answered some of his questions, like where he was and who they all were, but not how he got here in the first place. Or even what his current status could be labeled as. He figured he should ask that next, and maybe introduce himself in the process.

"Well, thanks for telling me all that," Sorun thanked, causing Tikal to give him a smile and a nod. "My name is Sorun. I... guess I died."

Tikal's smile lowered drastically at that. "Yes, I was afraid this was so," she admitted. "You did not have a physical form when I found you. You were a spirit, much like I am."

"And where did you find me?" Sorun pressed.

"Simply put, you were just... floating." Tikal's face furrowed a bit in concentration as she attempted to explain. "I'm unsure how to be completely clear about this. You... did not travel to the great beyond, to the Chaos Force that links every and all living beings in the cosmos. When one linked with the Chaos Force dies, that is the destination their soul is bound for. I myself am an exception due to my relationship with the Servers, but this is a uniform rule that every being should follow." She gave Sorun a curious look. "But yet you... you did not go to the Chaos Force. I found your soul wandering, seemingly lost. You radiated so much energy that it would have been hard to miss you, really, despite the vast distances between us. So I'd... sung a prayer, to try and draw you towards me. Your soul followed my song and you ended up here."

"I don't remember any of this," Sorun muttered out with a shake of his head. "I remember dying, then..."

Blackness. Infinite, vast void. Nothingness, endless expanse, isolation, loneliness, insanity-

Sorun roughly shook his head, startling both Tikal and Chaos. "I... remember dying," Sorun finished with a small, shuddering breath. "And then I woke up here."

"Are you alright?" Tikal seemed to take note of the way Sorun's breathing had increased by a bit, and the way his eyes had grown a bit vacant. She'd reached across between them to grasp at one of Sorun's hands with both of hers, which snapped Sorun out of his funk and caused him to look the echidna in the eyes. "You seem unwell. Is there something I can do to help?"

"N-no, I'm fine. Thank you." Somewhat awkwardly, Sorun untangled his hand from Tikal's and, somewhat abashed, turned away. "I'm fine," he whispered out under his breath.

The look on Tikal's face suggested she didn't believe him all completely. Nevertheless, she still pulled back away from him. "If you're sure. Please tell me if anything comes to mind for me to help."

"Mm." It was kind of her to offer, and Sorun deeply appreciated it, even if he wouldn't say so. Tikal was already quickly approaching his list of echidna he actually liked, which, even with her, was a small list compared to all the ones he detested. She must have been one of the good ones. She had to at least have the patience of a saint if she chose to reside in this place of all places forever, peaceful as it was.

"But still," Tikal continued, breaking Sorun's thoughts, "I can't figure out why it was your soul was lost like that."

"I don't know. Me not having a natural link to the Chaos Force might have something to do with it," Sorun suggested.

"Huh?" Tikal blinked once, then twice, and then gave Sorun an odd look. "No, that's... quite impossible, Sorun," she denied with a shake of her head. "Even though most beings have such a weak link they gain no abilities from it, every single lifeform in the cosmos is intrinsically linked to the Chaos Force. Nothing alive can exist without a link."

"I mean, that's not necessarily true. I know an AI that's quite alive, and I doubt she was made with a link to the Chaos Force, even if she's able to draw and use Chaos energy. Kinda... like me, huh." Sorun blinked his eyes in mild realization. "Anyway," he continued, shaking his head for getting off-topic, "it's completely possible. I'm not even from this zone- er, Mobius' zone. I'm from a different one entirely where nothing has a link to the Chaos Force since none of that stuff exists there." He made a sigh and looked off to the side. "We just evolved differently, I guess. Different environmental factors creating a species independent of Chaos energy due to a lack of it in our universe or something along those lines, I don't know, I'm not a biologist, but it's the best explanation I can think of. Maybe my home universe was a freak accident when it was created. All I know is that it's unique in that it's not touched by Chaos energy."

"But... you yourself possess Chaos energy," Tikal argued as she looked towards Sorun's chest. "To be quite honest with you, the amount I feel radiating from you is... it's quite staggering, Sorun. Forgive me if this sounds impudent, but I can hardly imagine how somebody who feels as powerful as you could die so young."

"It's not my Chaos energy," Sorun corrected her. "It's from Chaos Emeralds I absorbed. Don't have my own link, so my body made an artificial one by absorbing more and more energy. Each Emerald I absorbed strengthened that artificial link and gave me more powers, but... well, like I said. My species didn't evolve to handle this stuff, Tikal, so it got to a point where I just burned out and died." Tikal's eyes had softened in sorrow while Sorun rose a hand to his face. "I'm not sure why I still seem to have those powers, though," he confessed. "I'm a spirit now, aren't I? This isn't the physical body that absorbed all the Emeralds. So why do I still appear to have the powers...?"

Was it a fluke of some kind? Had the power of the Emeralds transferred with him in this spirit form? Was he still linked to his physical body that still contained the seven Emeralds? What was even the state of his corporeal body? How long had he been away from it?

Too many questions, and he didn't have a single answer to any of them.

"I still find it difficult to believe," Tikal said with a small shake of her head. "To think a whole species could survive without a link to the Chaos Force... how could life not supported by the Chaos Force ever exist?"

"Couldn't tell ya. At this point I'm pretty sure I'm just running on pure spite and vitriol," Sorun said. "Humans are cool like that."

Tikal made a small frown, evidently not approving of Sorun's words. "Don't say such harsh things about yourself. You seem like a truly wonderful person, Sorun."

"Yeah, you haven't known me for long," he breathed out as he looked away from her. He made one final glance around the Chao Garden, sighed, and then turned back to the echidna. "Alright, here's what I'll do. We got a lot of time and nothing better to do with it, so... I'll just go ahead and tell you how I wound up here."


So he ended up telling Tikal and Chaos everything.

No detail had been spared. Every event that had transpired from the moment he was pulled to Mobius to his death, his feelings, his thoughts on it all, everything down to every minutia of detail to the best of his describing ability. It felt like he'd been there for hours explaining it all to them. For all he knew it probably was hours. Might have been a whole day, even.

It felt strange, reliving it all again, going through all those memories. The good times, the bad times, the happiness, the sadness. All of it. All the nostalgia that had hit him, him feeling good when they'd reached points in the story he'd been happy, or him being angry and sad... well, during a majority of the story. From him and the Freedom Fighters to Aurora and Athair and the Emeralds to Eggman and all those fights to everything in between. The bonds he made with everybody, his regrets, lingering desires. He couldn't help but feel a sense of longing throughout the entire thing on top of it all. Almost like he actually missed those times and wanted to return to them.

Well, of course he wanted to return to being alive, but going back to all that? The fighting and the stress that came with him risking his life all time? He'd hated all that, but everybody around him, his friends... he didn't know. Somehow they all made it worth it, if just to be near them all. To be near people he could just relax and be at ease around, be himself without having to worry or think too hard all the time, to just... go with the flow and live. People he'd laughed with, fought with, bled with, liked... really liked in one case.

He realized pretty early on in the story that he wanted to return to them. If only returning to life were so easy...

"And then I screwed it all up and missed," Sorun finished off as he stared towards the pond in the middle of the Chao Garden, knees pulled up to his chest. "He got away, and I was left there to die. Alone. Just me propping my own dying body up on a wall so I could see the sky and sun one last time. I don't know why I did that, I... I guess I just wanted to look at something pretty before I died instead of a metal floor. And the only thing I can remember that kept looping over and over in my head is just... failure, y'know?" He sighed, shook his head, and ran his hand through his white hair. "Had one goal, gave everything up for that goal, but in the end I couldn't accomplish it. I mean, I knew it was a long shot going in, because come on, some random guy like me taking out somebody like Eggman probably wasn't gonna happen even with all my powers, but I still hoped, Tikal." He threw his hand up and let it fall to his side. "But I guess hope and powers wasn't enough to cut it, 'cause I messed up, and now I'm dead and left wondering if everything I did was enough to save the future or if I failed so bad everybody's gonna suffer because of it." He looked to the side at Tikal. "What am I supposed to do with that? Tikal?"

When he looked over at the orange echidna sitting next to him, Sorun was greeted to a sight that completely shocked him. She was crying. Not loudly; she was just sitting there, shoulders shaking as she quietly sobbed. Tears kept flowing out of her eyes only to stain the orange fur beneath them.

"H-hey, Tikal, come on..." This was too awkward to watch. He grew uncomfortable enough at seeing someone sad, but seeing somebody cry their eyes out in front of him was proving to be too much. He was already struggling with dealing with his own emotions. He couldn't handle feeling bad for her on top of feeling bad for himself. "Tikal, please don't cry."

"I-I'm sorry, Sorun, I'm just... I'm so..." She sniffed, wiped away some of her tears only for more to flow out, and then she looked up at him with glossy eyes. "I just don't know what to say. To have been taken from your home against your will just to fight in a war-"

"I mean you're making it sound worse than it... well I guess that's kinda what happened, yeah, but-"

"And the nerve of those two echidna!" She exclaimed loudly, making Sorun jump slightly. He thought that she tried to look angry, but she seemed so mild-mannered that, if anything, Tikal just looked even more sad. "To have done such a vile thing and use you like... like an item! For you to have lost your life in that way... you never had a say..." She had to tilt her head down when the tears became too much. "I'm so sorry, Sorun... I'm so, so sorry this happened to you..."

"Why is she taking this worse than I am?" It was a strange sensation, seeing somebody bawling their eyes out over sympathy for him of all people. There'd been some tears on his part on his journey, sure, not many, a few at most, practically a negligible amount, but they'd been made in silence alone where nobody could see him and only half the time he'd been cutting himself with a magic sword because of it. And then here Tikal was, crying her entire heart out. On his behalf. "For crying out loud, I'm the one that died..."

It was so bizarre that all Sorun could do was stare in silence. So strange and peculiar. He felt annoyed at her saying sorry over and over. He wanted to correct her and say none of this was her fault, maybe try and comfort her in some way, but the sight before him was so strange he couldn't even think to move.

"U-uh... Tikal, really, it's fine-"

She'd suddenly moved towards him in a burst of speed that... okay, admittedly he could have dodged with ease, but he was so bewildered by what was happening the thought to move hadn't even crossed his mind. But then the orange echidna had wrapped her arms around him in a hug. His thoughts couldn't even form coherent words as he looked down and saw Tikal crying into his chest. She'd probably been in that state for a good thirty seconds before he managed to get words out.

"Oi, oi, oi, c-c'mon, Tikal, this is a bit unnecessary...!" He saw some shadows on the ground shift as something behind him moved, as well as the sound of water quietly sloshing. He looked behind him and saw that Chaos was leaning in closer and closer to Sorun's back with his arms outstretched. He knew immediately what he was going for. "No, wait, man, come on you're wet-"

It was too late. Chaos hadn't listened to Sorun at all. He'd latched onto his back and wrapped his liquid arms around Sorun, trapping him in the middle of two beings hugging him. He could have escaped, he realized, but not without hurting either of them. So with a large sigh he resigned to his fate and just sat there with an uncomfortable look on his face.

"... It's all wet." The moisture from Chaos was beginning to seep into his clothes. Spirit clothes? He didn't even know anymore. The Server Chao that usually meandered about saw what was happening and joined in for the hug, the little creatures either latching onto Tikal, Chaos, or Sorun himself.

They wouldn't stop, either. Tikal kept holding onto him and crying on him. Chaos and the Chao kept hugging him. Sorun just continued to sit there wishing he was anywhere but there at the moment.

...

...

...

The hug actually did feel quite nice. There was something about it... he wasn't quite sure. The feeling of safety and warmness of it, despite all the dampness. Knowing these beings were sympathetic of him to the point of tears. Seeing them like this, knowing he himself could get overwhelmed by his own emotions and to have nothing bad happen as a result, it... made it so tempting to cry right there along with Tikal. To finally let it all out.

He didn't, because he absolutely refused to cry in front of her. But he came a bit too close to crying for comfort. To the point that most of his time was spent sitting there keeping up that awkward face while fighting back the urge to cry, which in itself made time pass even slower for Sorun as he waited for this strange torment to end.

Finally, Tikal's crying seemed to calm down. Full-on crying had devolved to small hiccups and sniffles, and thankfully the tears had ended. He was still wet everywhere from Tikal's tears to Chaos' moistness, but at least he wasn't getting any wetter on his front side. So when Tikal finally seemed to calm down, Sorun placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he softly asked her. "You... you can let go now if you want." He managed to make it sound like he didn't want her to let go, but on the inside half of him was begging for her to release him while the other half was hoping she'd keep clinging on for a little bit longer. That part of him didn't want the comfort her hug brought to go away yet.

Conflicting internal emotions aside, she had released him and moved back a bit. The Chao had jumped down from all of them and began to surround the group of three in a circle. Chaos, too, let go of Sorun, and much to the Earthling's thanks the moisture that had leaked from him to Sorun had left along with Chaos. The water monster went to sit down next to Tikal, who herself was drying off the remainder of her tears.

"I-I'm... I'm sorry for that, Sorun," Tikal apologized as she looked back up at him. Her eyes were still wet and a bit red in the corners. "I just feel so terrible for you... nothing like that should ever happen to any person. Is there anything we can do to help you?"

"Can you bring me back to life?" When both she and Chaos had stilled, Sorun made an incredibly small, wry grin. "Just joking," he said. "... Seriously though, can you?"

He couldn't say he was too surprised to see Tikal shake her head, but it didn't make him any less disappointed. "I'm afraid not. I've some moderate abilities, but nothing that could do something like that."

"Eh, don't worry about it, then. You've done plenty," Sorun assured her.

Tikal didn't seem very satisfied by that answer, but she seemed to understand regardless. So, still giving Sorun a sad look, she asked, "What are you going to do now?" She looked down at the grass, and then began to absentmindedly tap at one of her knees. "You could... stay with us here, if you so desired, Sorun. I would never cast a poor soul like you out, and, well... you seem a pleasant fellow." She glanced up at Chaos. "I know that Chaos has already taken a liking to you."

Another gurgle left the water monster as he looked at Sorun. He'd tilted his head and narrowed his solid, green eyes again for a second before righting himself. Another smile, Sorun supposed.

"That's generous of you, Tikal, but... there's something I want to do." With a small sigh, Sorun held his left hand out. "If my hair is still white, if I do in fact still have my powers, then... I should still have this, shouldn't I...?"

He'd barely even had to think of it before it happened. In a small shower of blue particles Yamato appeared in his hand. Same black scabbard with a dark blue ribbon tied around it. Same blue, scaly handle with white wrapping. Same strange dark blue and gold guard.

The Yamato. As far as he was concerned, aside from when it competed with a large amount of Chaos energy that cancelled its abilities out, its power to separate anything truly was absolute. Anything from physical items to space and time to concepts. The one power out of all the others that had so much potential. Potential that was only possible because his heart specifically shaped a Chaos Emerald, an item with an unlimited capacity for power, into this blade.

Did that still hold true even while he was dead...?

When he looked back up, he saw both Tikal and Chaos were looking down at the blade. Tikal had a cautious look as she warily eyed the blade, and Chaos... Chaos was actually bristling at the sight of it. Sorun could tell from the way his posture was just slightly hunched, like he was getting ready to attack the sword itself.

"Is... that the sword you mentioned, Sorun...?" Tikal nervously asked. "The one from the... what was the term... that game?"

"Y-yeah, the Yamato." Sorun nodded at the pair and lowered the sword onto the ground. "Them too, huh? Why does the sword always freak people out?" Sorun wondered. "It's demonic in nature, but it's also just a facsimile. A perfect replica made from a Chaos Emerald. Not the real sword from the games. But it's so close that I have to wonder if it even matters... or just how much of that demonic nature got translated when my heart made this."

It's not as if the sword had ever done anything diabolic in the games' stories. It'd been used to sow incredible amounts of chaos, perhaps, but only when it had been wielded by those with that intent. At the end of the day, it was just that. A tool. A weapon. A horrifyingly powerful one, maybe, but still a weapon.

Tentacles escaping from beneath the white wrapping, eye in the blade, blood and screaming-

It was just a sword.

"I never did figure out that 'true potential' bit," Sorun mused. "But maybe I'm wrong about that. It was more like... Nero fused it with his arm and used it as a focus for his powers, and Urizen seemed to be able to fuse it with himself and use it as a focus for his powers, so maybe that's it. It's a focus for amplifying demonic power as well as everything else it can do. But I don't have any demonic power. I'm human. But... it doesn't use demonic power. It uses Chaos energy, even if it emulates demonic energy.

"So why was Enerjak so scared when he saw this?"

"..."

"I'm overthinking this," Sorun decided. "It's just a sword. A sword with powers. That's all it is."

"Guys, it's fine. You don't have to freak out over this," Sorun called out in an attempt to put Tikal and Chaos at ease. "It's only a sword. I need to use it for something."

His words did manage to calm them both down. Chaos seemed to be more at ease from his body language, and Tikal had taken a calming breath before nodding at Sorun. "What are you going to do?" the echidna asked him.

Sorun stood up to his feet. "In the lore of the games, this thing could cut portals between dimensions," he explained to her. "I know I can use it to make portals and teleport around, but I gotta wonder..."

"You intend to try and use your sword to make a portal from here to Mobius?" Tikal guessed. When Sorun nodded in confirmation, she made a small hum. "Are you sure that is safe?"

Sorun shrugged.

"That gesture doesn't fill me with confidence, Sorun."

"Yeah, but what's the worst that can happen? I die?" With a scoff, Sorun grasped the handle of the katana with both hands. "Just focus in on your desire to go to a specific location. That's how I've always been getting around," he thought. "Shouldn't be too hard. It's not like this is a separate universe entirely; it's more like a pocket dimension inside of the dimension Mobius is in. At least that's how Tikal made it sound if this whole place really does exist inside of a physical object somewhere on Mobius. Just need to cut a way out to New Mobotropolis..."

Would it work? He didn't know. Did he have a plan on what he was going to do if it did work? None whatsoever. But he figured doing something was better than nothing, and while Tikal may have had the mental fortitude needed to spend an eternity here, he didn't.

And besides. He wanted to see the others again. He wanted to see Nicole.

To his surprise making the portal had come easy. He'd simply done the same thing he'd always done when he made a portal somewhere. The cuts quickly and cleanly made, and seconds later a portal was floating there right in front of Sorun.

"... Wow, that was shockingly easy," he mumbled to himself. He looked back at Tikal and Chaos, looked at the portal, and then looked back at the pair. "So, uh... I'm just gonna go ahead and head out," he told them. "Might, uh, might come back later. Might not. Guess we'll see."

"What is it you hope to find on Mobius?" Tikal asked him.

Sorun sighed. "Honestly? I just want to check on my friends and make sure they're okay," he said. "That said I don't even know what's gonna happen to me when I walk through that. But I need to go."

"I understand." Tikal offered him a small smile. "Should you desire to return, we will always be here. I wish you safe travels, Sorun, and hope for the best."

Her, Chaos, and the Chao surrounding them all gave Sorun a wave. He was a bit taken back by the gesture, but soon after he gave them all a small smile and a two-fingered salute.

"It's been an experience, guys. You're all real great. Seeya around." And with that, he turned back towards the portal. "Got no clue what's waiting for me on the other side of this, but I can't just stay here. Too many questions, too many worries. I gotta know for certain or I'll never sleep again. If I even need sleep in this state..."

And so, without any further hesitation, he stepped on through the portal.


"AAAHH- oh, hey, that wasn't so bad at all."

Walking through the Yamato-made portal was... the exact same as always, as it turned out. Little more than a brisk walk through a hole cut through space. As he shut the portal with the katana before dispelling it, Sorun couldn't help but marvel at how easy the experience as a whole had been. Or where he'd ended up.

New Mobotropolis, in the middle of one of the sidewalks. It looked the exact same as he remembered it. Same off-white houses and buildings, same trees and grass everywhere. Daytime, mid-afternoon it looked like if not late morning. Sky was clear and sunny, and Mobians were walking about freely chatting with each other.

"Alright, everything seems good so far," Sorun mumbled, a bit surprised at how peaceful everything looked. "Kinda weird nobody's paying any interest to me, though."

After looking around for a brief bit, Sorun came upon the sight of a Mobian sitting on a nearby bench. Old-looking fellow, an owl if Sorun had to guess. He was reading a newspaper, but otherwise didn't so much as look up when Sorun stepped in front of him.

"Hello, mister? Can we please talk for a second?" Sorun politely asked. The Mobian ignored him completely and turned a page in his newspaper. "Sir?" He began to frown a bit at being ignored. "Hey, man, come on, I'm trying to talk to you."

Still nothing. Making a dissatisfied hum, Sorun leaned closer to him.

"Dude. Homie. Come on." Even when he began snapping his fingers in the owl's face he didn't look up at him. Didn't even so much as blink in response. This caused Sorun to make a frustrated growl and swipe at him. "For fuck's sake, would you just-!?"

His hand passed right through the owl's face. It been startling enough that Sorun had jumped back in surprise, while the Mobian didn't even seem to notice the hand that had phased harmlessly through his face. After getting over his initial surprise, Sorun carefully stepped back in front of the owl and, slowly, reached his hand back out to poke him in the face.

Nothing. He felt nothing. His hand completely passed through the owl's face, like his own hand was some sort of projection. Sorun tried everything from swiping his hand through his face to poking his eyes, but no matter what he couldn't garner a reaction from the owl, who only continued to read his newspaper. Huffing out a breath, Sorun stepped back from the owl and continued glancing around. Everyone continued to ignore him just like the owl Mobian.

"Right. Still dead," Sorun muttered. "Man, it's the end of 'Dragon's Dogma' all over again. Nobody can see me, but I can still see and hear everything." He rose his hand up to look at it. "I guess spirits like me can't interact with... what would it even be, the physical realm or whatever? World of the living? Ah, I don't know."

Disappointing, but at least he could still walk around and witness things. Wasn't a total loss if that was the case. The fact he couldn't even interact with objects put a hamper on his mood, but there was nothing he could do to help it. Honestly, he was thankful enough he was even able to do this much. He'd all but figured he'd be gone for good after dying.

"Well, I guess I'll have to hold off on haunting Antoine," Sorun sighed as he lowered his hand back to his side. "What to do, what to do... oh, yeah, I guess I should go see how my body's doing. Wonder what they did with my corpse?"