Recursion Error
Episode 72- It combines
Rubrum hated lots of things. A given with everything he'd been through, and still had to go through on a daily basis. Sources of catharsis were few and far between since he was entirely focused on the task at hand. The slaughter of a race of brain-tentacled, genocidal aliens and insane god tyrants from other dimensions helped ease the edge off a bit. Not entirely, but on the occasions he had to kill something he genuinely disliked it was a welcome distraction. Not overly so, since nothing really posed a challenge to him anymore, but he'd take what he could get.
But he couldn't fight a dusty, empty canyon. Well, he could, but it wasn't worth the hassle. And yet, it was so tempting because he was finding that he hated being in this place more and more.
"Never did like deserts," he muttered to himself as he walked along. The place was a canyon so wide it may as well have been a crater, but that didn't make it any less dusty. A small whirlwind had unfortunately crossed Rubrum's path as he continued walking, causing him to sputter out and cough as it passed him. "Pth! Fuckin' fuck, sand in my mouth. Ugh."
To come so far only to be inconvenienced by things as banal as sand. Some things really did never change.
He'd come to this canyon for one reason and one reason solely, and he strongly suspected he was in the right place due to what he'd stumbled across when he made it to the canyon walls: ruins. Clay and stone huts along cave entrances in the canyon wall, crumbling and ancient-looking. Areas that once upon a time may have been paved streets or roads people walked down. Shapes and symbols carved into the canyon wall eroded by time and were little more than unintelligible shapes at this point.
All of it was meaningless to Rubrum, but it at least showed him that he was in the right place. Now all he had to do was find the guy he was looking for and it should be simple from there.
"Certainly isn't the classiest of places," he remarked, stepping around some of the ruined structures while approaching one of the cave mouths. "Why do these wackos always gotta find the weirdest places to make their labs? Havin' me search around like some kinda archeologist just to find one guy, I swear..."
The conditions inside the cave were extremely low light. Winding, too, as there were so many alternating pathways that he would assume it'd be easy to get lost in the cave system, though fortunately he'd managed to find a recent-looking set of footprints and decided to just follow those. Cave writings and drawings were drawn onto the cave walls that largely went ignored by Rubrum as he continued following the path of footprints deeper into the cave. A journey that took him deeper and deeper into the cave, causing light to slowly recede more and more the further he went.
Just when he was almost completely encapsulated by darkness there was a change in the form of metal sconces bolted to the cave walls. Lit sconces as well, alight with, much to his amusement given Rubrum's snort at the sight, green fire. And rather conveniently the footprints he'd been following lead down the same way as the green-lit torches lining the wall.
"He's got the green shit, huh?" He made a small bit of laughter as he tucked his hands into his pockets and began following the torches. "Man, he's really trying to sell this evil scientist thing."
More walking down the lit cave path made Rubrum accidentally stumble onto something interesting: a square piece of stone that had been jutting out of the ground. He'd accidentally stepped on it, causing the stone to sink into the ground. He heard quiet clicking and clunking sounds following this, causing Rubrum to make a light humming sound and look ahead. He'd done so just in time to see the large scythe rushing towards him.
"Awoop." Lazily, he'd sidestepped the scythe as it swung past him, its point swinging up high enough to embed itself halfway in the cave's ceiling. Hands still casually tucked in his pockets, Rubrum's hidden gaze followed the shaft of the scythe to its end, which he saw connected to some sort of spring-like contraption bolted to the cave ceiling. "Guy's got traps, too? What a nerd."
The scythe hadn't been the only trap Rubrum had run into while traveling further down the cave. From pitfalls to darts that fired from the walls, all of which were easily avoided by him. Some of the traps looked so old he had to wonder if the guy he was looking for was the one to place them all, or if they'd always been in these ruins and he'd just refurbished them to keep out outsiders. Then again, he knew enough about him. A trap door that lead to a floor full of spikes wasn't exactly out of the mad scientist's purview. Bit crude for him, maybe, but it got the job done in most cases. Not in Rubrum's, fortunately enough.
After what seemed like an eternity the cave tunnel finally reached an end. A small, spherical cavern that was well-lit with artificial lighting. Various pieces of scientific machinery and instruments littered the rock room all around, making the place look more like some scientist's den than a cave. Most of this went largely ignored by Rubrum, who'd only regarded the environment with a cursory glance before he focused in on the individual on the other side of the room, his back turned to Rubrum as he examined some kind of readout on one of the machines: a white-furred echidna wearing a black cape.
"Man, finally." He should have felt glad he finally got to stop searching around the world just to find this one echidna, but Rubrum was still so irritated with the journey getting here and all the traps he'd had to avoid on the way that he felt a bit cross. He did his best to stow these feelings away as he rose his right hand out from his pocket to make a wave. "Hey, doc-"
In a show of speed that was marginally impressive by Rubrum's standards, the echidna whirled around and extended his hand towards Rubrum. A bolt of black lightning shot out from his fingers, which was dodged by Rubrum when he'd tilted his head just far enough that the bolt missed him and harmlessly impacted the cave wall behind him. He turned his head around towards the now-smoking spot on the wall, and then back around to the echidna professor who was staring straight at him.
"You blast everyone that comes and visits you?" he asked, and then stuck his thumb out behind him towards the darkened entrance he'd just come in from. "I mean, jeez, you know how many traps I had to avoid just to get here? A guy'd think you don't even want any visitors. The fire jet was a nice touch, though, not gonna lie."
Amber irises settled in black eyes regarded Rubrum with caution and confusion. The curiosity on the echidna's face was plain to see, alongside the quickly-fading hostility. His mouth containing sharpened teeth pursed into a thin line as he slowly lowered his hand that ceased emitting black sparks of energy. "I'm afraid I can't take credit for their construction," he said in an even tone. "That honor belongs to the ones that came before me."
"Really? Huh."
"Yes. Really." The neutral expression the white echidna wore was rapidly transitioning into a frown the longer he stared at Rubrum. "Who are you? Why have you come here?"
"Came for you," Rubrum easily answered, turning around towards a nearby shelf built into the cave wall. "I need a favor."
"A favor...?" the echidna repeated, watching as Rubrum stepped over to the shelf to examine the myriad of objects and artifacts settled on the shelf. "Do you even know who I am?"
There was a hum from Rubrum. "Not a lot of albino echidna in the world that go by the name Dr. Finitevus who have a reputation of almost destroying the world. Not to mention Albion, though I heard the few survivors and the echidna Enerjak teleported there from Angel Island are making something decent of the place. Good for them, I guess." His red-hooded head turned backwards to look at Finitevus. "I had a time and a half trying to find you. What are you doing poking around dusty old ruins, anyways?"
"Is it so wrong to want to explore my kind's history and culture? This ancient place was once a home for echidna, long ago," he answered, voice still cautious but now somewhat relaxed. "People being people, things didn't work out. You'd be shocked by the amount of sordid history between the species' conception and them raising that blasted island into the sky."
"I don't think I'd be overly surprised." Rubrum turned back to the collection of artifacts and ran a hand over a dusty piece. "Garbage species like yours always seems to get tripped up by life."
There was a loud scoff from Finitevus, followed by him narrowing his eyes condescendingly at Rubrum's back. "To think I expected more from a human. I was lead to believe your kind was more benevolent towards Mobians than Overlanders."
"I meant the echidna specifically when I said that," Rubrum corrected. "I mean, shit, the territorial wars, experimenting on subspecies of Mobians and irrevocably damaging their gene pools enough to regress them into mindless beasts, the messed up Guardian grooming thing the Brotherhood did, leader of Albion trying to ice Knuckles outta paranoia that one time, Neo-Walkers, Dark Legion, Enerjak, you. Your kind's entire history is a literal cavalcade of fuckups, and more often than not you end up dragging the others species into your problems because you can't get your own shit together. I'm not sayin' every Mobian in history's been squeaky clean, but goddamn, no other Mobian species has nearly the amount of issues echidna do."
"And I suppose your kind has a sterling record in comparison to ours?"
"Hm. Not nearly." Rubrum didn't turn around to meet the echidna's unflinching look. "You called me a human. Not Overlander?"
"Overlanders typically possess four fingers. You've five on your hands," he observed.
"The four-finger thing doesn't apply to all Overlanders. Mutant freaks that they are," Rubrum countered. "But," he continued, finally turned his concealed form around to Finitevus, "you're not wrong. I'm Rubrum."
"... Curious name." A small hum left the white echidna's throat as he thought the name over. His dark eyes glanced down at the floor, though they seemed puzzled even after they looked back up at his hood. "I'm unfamiliar with it."
"It's from a deader-than-dead language. Don't worry so much about it."
The half-explanation didn't do much to assuage the obvious curiosity Finitevus held. "Truly, now..." he mumbled out. "You're a long way from Station Square."
The echidna's darkened eyes widened a bit when a small laugh left the human's hooded head. "Don't think about it too much," he recommended as he approached a nearby wooden box sitting on the ground. "We've other things to discuss first."
"Oh, but you likely already know so much about me seeing as I'm evidently 'famous' due to my exploits." Grinning a bit, a sly, twisted grin that even put Rubrum off a bit, Finitevus decided to sit down on the ledge of a raised section of cave flooring so he was eye-level with a sitting Rubrum. The curiosity was on full-blown display at this point, the scientist almost looking entertained with what was happening as he continued speaking. "We've just met, and you have me at the disadvantage of only giving me a name to work with. Take some pity on me."
"You're givin' me too much credit here." Rubrum's red-covered body hunched forwards a bit on the crate he sat on as he clasped his hands together. "I don't exactly have your whole bibliography on hand." He unclasped his hands and pointed his fingers at Finitevus. "The most I know is you're an evil scientist dude that wants to destroy the world for incredibly ambiguous evil-man reasons."
"That's what those short-sighted fools in the Chaotix and all those associated with them would claim. I wouldn't expect that pack of juveniles to understand my motivations," Finitevus stated with an eye roll. "It's not complete destruction I seek. It's a reset. You said it yourself how... unfortunate echidna history has been. The miserable state of this world is a result of a history so complex and intertwined with money-grubbing fools, power-hungry imbeciles, or simple idiots of significant importance that turned the tide of history down unfortunate avenues at the expense of everyone to follow." He held a finger up to Rubrum. "One. One single individual. Dr. Robotnik, if you need an example. It only takes one person to make a mess of things for everyone else, and history is littered with hundreds more examples. Starting needless conflict and inciting endless cycles of hatred and retaliation that spirals so far out of control over such a long stretch of history that nobody can make sense of it all. My kind has suffered this. Every Mobian species. The humans, the Overlanders, all indigenous life on this planet." He deeply sighed. "The world's only in the state that it's in because the original humans decided to dissect a visiting alien diplomat, and they rained gene bombs on the planet in retaliation."
"With the benefit of hindsight, it was... admittedly a pretty lousy move on the humans' part," Rubrum conceded. "But I know what it's like to see loved ones die because of an honest mistake somebody made."
Finitevus scoffed. "There was nothing honest about any of these mistakes. Ignorant fools with too much influence. All of them. Everyone." He shook his head. "The current state of affairs is unsalvageable. I merely wish to start back from zero and usher the people of this world into a new age. One free of the poisonous mistakes of those past."
Crossing his arms, Rubrum kicked his legs forwards and leaned back on the crate. "So you think there's no hope for saving this world, so you'd rather just wipe the slate clean and try to start over?" He nodded his head at Finitevus. "'Cause you're so qualified to create a utopia on the ashes of what you would call a failed world."
One of Finitevus' eyes twitched. "This world is failed. An experiment gone terribly awry. I'm the only qualified one since I'm the only one that sees sense."
"And instead of plotting world destruction, you're here." Rubrum spread his arm around at the cave around them. "Living in a cave and playing historian."
"Perhaps I'm a fool for trying to piece together a puzzle that can't be solved because the pieces were lost to time. Who can say?" Resting his head against his fist, Finitevus sighed and glanced off to the side. "My schemes were thrown eschew due to meddling echidna and a human who I'd love to get under an operating table, but... alas. I hear he perished in a battle against Dr. Robotnik."
"He resurrected." Finitevus' head snapped to Rubrum's in surprise. "Neo-Walkers gave him the revive treatment. More out of pity than anything else, I think."
Understanding crossed the echidna's features, and his mouth thinned out a bit. "They would do that," he muttered out. "Well, perhaps that's an avenue to pursue at a later date."
"For your own health I wouldn't recommend that course of action."
The tone that sentence had been said in was icier than the otherwise nonchalant tone Rubrum had been adopting thus far. Finitevus had looked surprised at the sudden tone shift in the human he'd been talking to, and, instinctually, he felt some of his fur stand up when he saw power so condensed it was like red steam wafting off Rubrum's body with arcs of red electricity periodically arcing in the red clouds. Like a small, raging storm he'd conjured through sheer will alone.
But it wasn't his appearance, or the tone shift that caused Finitevus to go quiet. It was the power he felt flowing through the air. Raw Chaos energy so condensed it felt suffocating to the echidna, as if the pressure in the room was squeezing down on and compressing his body. He'd tried pushing out his own Chaos energy to counteract it, but the black arcs of lightning that sparked around his form did nothing to mitigate Rubrum's presence over his.
Despite all that, Finitevus managed a smirk. "Touched a nerve, have I?" he taunted out.
For a few moments Rubrum remained silent, completely motionless as his hooded face stared at Finitevus. And then he made a loud sigh, causing the red energy around him to instantly dissipate. With it left the overbearing pressure Finitevus had been subject to, causing him to inhale a breath much louder than he would have preferred. He grit his sharpened teeth as a result, though he still let the black energy retreat back into his own body.
"Sorry about that. Slips sometimes," Rubrum apologized. "Ehhh, I don't know why I'm getting so bent outta shape. Not like you'll ever make good on that threat." The passing remark caused Finitevus to visibly grow a bit irritated. "Maybe we should get to the reason I came here to begin with," Rubrum suggested.
"Yes. Perhaps we should," Finitevus agreed. "For what reason do you have for intruding into my laboratory?"
"Well, simply put, I came to tell you that you're in luck!" The sudden light tone the human adopted caused Finitevus to rear his head back in surprise. "As it happens, our goals at the moment align. I need to cause a worldwide apocalypse."
Before Finitevus could respond, Rubrum turned his right palm up towards the ceiling. A cloud of red cubes materialized and freely floated around his hand for a moment, making Finitevus squint over the strange curiosity and foreign energy he felt from the cubes, but his interest turned to complete shock when, after a red flash of light, appeared a sealed jar in Rubrum's hand. A jar containing a floating mass of black and purple shapes that he instantly recognized, even felt, at a momentary glance.
"That's...!" Finitevus cut himself off, perturbed at the wonder he heard in his own voice. Rubrum set the jar down next to him as he cleared his throat to regain his composure. "Where did you acquire the hex I used on the Master Emerald?" He demanded, blackened eyes boring straight into Rubrum's hood shadow.
"When Sorun used the Yamato to separate the hex from the Master Emerald, the hex had to go somewhere," Rubrum answered. The echidna's gaze sharpened at the use of the other human's name. "I simply collected it."
"You just... happened to be around to collect it. And happen to know precisely what occurred that day." At Rubrum's nod, Finitevus made an uneasy hum. "And what exactly do you intend to do with it?"
"Aw, that's simple. I need you to reactivate it so we can get Enerjak back."
Finitevus blinked. He blinked again, and looked down at the jar. After a third blink he looked back to Rubrum. "That's an impossible task, Rubrum," he said. "The only capable candidate for accepting Enerjak's power is Knuckles, who, as I'm sure you're well aware of, is the current Guardian to the Master Emerald. It took me months to affix that hex to the Master Emerald due to their indirect connection, and I no longer have free access to it due to recent events."
"Which is why we're gonna circumvent all that bullshit using this."
Once again Rubrum moved his right hand, this time moving it up. Chaos energy, pure and undiluted, gathered around his hand and formed a shape. In a fiery burst of Chaos energy, an object was formed in his grip. A metal claymore sword with a blade nearly as long as Rubrum himself. Finitevus found himself looking up and down the blade in wonder, pausing at the unnerving sight of the hilt stylized as a screaming skull with curved horns poking out from the eyeholes. The crossguard shaped like ribs and the metal ribcage that ran a bit down from the screaming skull and into the blade.
"That sword..." Face completely set in fascination, Finitevus watched as Rubrum spun the sword around and stabbed its notched tip into the ground, his hand still holding the metal hilt tipped with a pommel resembling a spiky crown. He noted there was another skull on the opposite side of the first, this one without horns and with its mouth closed. "It feels very much like the one Sorun wielded. Yamato, I believe you called it."
"I'm not too surprised seeing as it's its twin brother," Rubrum explained. "This is the Rebellion, the polar opposite of the Yamato. It has the ability to combine things. Though this function is... rather limited in its capacity compared to Yamato's, seeing as I have to stab whatever I want to combine." He lifted the sword up and tossed it on the ground in front of Finitevus. The echidna watched, perplexed, as the completely metal sword clattered on the tone ground in front of him. "I need you to activate and attach the hex to the sword. Do that, and I can use its power to combine Knuckles and the hex," Rubrum said. "It'll also involve me brutally stabbing a giant sword through Knuckles' chest, but he should regenerate once he becomes Enerjak again, so eh."
"Hmmm..." Humming in intrigue, Finitevus bent down to pick up the blade. He faltered a bit at feeling its weight, but managed to heft it up. He'd only been able to examine it for a few moments before a bolt of red electricity shot out from the blade and shocked the hand holding it. The echidna shouted out in pain and reflexively dropped the sword back onto the ground, making Rubrum chuckle, garnering more ire from Finitevus.
"Careful. He bites people he doesn't like," he warned.
"Tch. It appears so." The echidna's dark eyes traveled back up to Rubrum. "I would like to know where exactly you and Sorun acquired blades that radiate enough Chaos energy to rival Chaos Emeralds. I would know if such things existed."
So many questions buzzed through his mind. What the blades were, where they came from, what civilization had the technological finesse to manipulate such a vast amount of Chaos energy. What the extent of the blades' powers was, the forging process, was a Chaos Emerald involved in their construction? There must have been; the amount of energy he felt merely being near the blade said enough.
Even the human sitting across from him elicited so many question in the echidna's scientific mind. He was powerful, that much was certain. More than Finitevus would like to admit. Sorun had possessed power, too, not nearly as much as Rubrum had, but it'd still been a... worryingly surprising amount.
Alas, Rubrum wasn't intent on answering any of these. "Trade secret," he said, causing Finitevus' mood to dim even further. "Well, how about it? Can you do it?"
"..." Another look down at the blade. "Directly fusing the hex into Knuckles would undoubtedly do the trick. There's still the power concern, though. Another reason I needed to utilize the Master Emerald was so Knuckles could have access to an inexhaustible supply of Chaos energy to maintain his Enerjak form."
Rubrum waved the concern off with a literal handwave. "So I'll pin him to the Master Emerald while I'm at it and combine a big dose of Chaos energy into him. Simple."
"But why go through all this?" Finitevus questioned him, wanting to get to the heart of the matter. "I understand my own reasons. He's the means from which I must destroy the world to remake it. But what's your stake in this? Why is some stranger, a human at that, who is overflowing with so much Chaos energy desire to beckon Enerjak back into the world?"
"Why indeed? It's a fairly convoluted answer," Rubrum said. "I think I managed to puzzle out the reason myself. This part of it at least."
There was a momentary pause where Finitevus gave Rubrum an odd glare. "I don't follow," he said. "You... don't know?"
"Sometimes I have no idea why I'm doing the things I do. In this case I sorta do, since I know all the steps ahead and have a ton of context behind it all. So it's reasonable enough to figure out." Rubrum hunched forwards and clasped his hands back together. "The only thing I'm a hundred percent certain on is I have to do it all. I know what happens if I don't. It's not a very pleasant alternative - for anybody. But that's not why I'm here." He leaned back and placed his steepled hands in his lap. "The truth is this world is slated to be destroyed by a time anomaly."
The statement hung in the air between the two of them for the larger part of a whole minute. Rubrum had remained completely still through the whole time, silently watching Finitevus to gauge his reaction. The echidna, by contrast, reared his head back and widened his eyes in shock at the proclamation, even scoffing a bit while shaking his head in disbelief. But there hadn't been so much as a hint of deceit behind Rubrum's words, making a deep frown appear over the scientist's face.
"You can't be serious," he stated. "A time anomaly? Of what variety?"
"That I couldn't tell you. Don't even know what it is. Time anomaly, time singularity, big-ass time storm, I don't... it's a bad thing, and it will destroy the world, i.e. the whole Prime Zone, not just Mobius. I know how it came to be, though," he added. "It's Sonic's fault this thing exists in the first place."
"That blue irregularity?" Finitevus asked. "How does he fit into this?"
"That guy's an anomaly in of himself. For good reason, but that's a whole 'nother topic," Rubrum began. "Back in his early days of Freedom Fighting Sonic got up to a lot of things. Did crazy stuff with Power Rings and Chaos Emeralds, back when they were numerous and uncombined. Broke down dimensional barriers with his sheer speed and natural Chaos abilities alone, traveled to and from the Cosmic Interstate like he was walking down the damn street, hell, I heard he and Knuckles destroyed a whole zone when they fought once." He sighed and rolled his head up to the ceiling. "That shit's got consequences. As it is now the time anomaly is harmless, but in twenty-five years' time it's gonna be a problem. A serious problem. Fortunately in the future they catch the problem and manage to do something about it. Unfortunately they decided to use a prototype time machine Doc Eggman never got around to finishing to do it, and when Sonic went in it the dumbass cut himself out of time. Good news is it fixed the time anomaly. Bad news is Sonic nullified his existence up to the point in time he used the machine, creating an alternate timeline that supplanted the original one we currently inhabit." Rubrum took in a deep breath, and then straightened his body to directly face Finitevus. "I need to stop that."
Finitevus, who'd grown cautiously still throughout the whole explanation, slowly asked, "The time anomaly, or Sonic's meddling with time?"
"Both," he answered. "The main issue is Sorun. The alternate timeline changed history itself, rewrote everybody, everything in this zone, to fit into the new timeline. The problem is Sorun isn't a natural denizen of Mobius Prime, so when this goes down and Sonic inadvertently creates a new timeline in twenty-five years, Sorun's existence is going to be erased. Completely. I can't let that happen. So I need to obliterate that alternate timeline and stop the time anomaly so this timeline can remain as it is indefinitely."
"He's not a natural denizen of this zone?" The tone Finitevus used to repeat this statement sounded intrigued. "I had suspicions. Nothing ever pointed the inhabitants of Station Square to be overly attuned with the forces of Chaos. I presume things are different in his zone?" he asked. "Just what was it?"
Oddly, a deep sigh left Rubrum at the question. "As near as I can tell, a cosmic mistake. I don't think that zone was ever supposed to exist. Through some cosmic fluke or fumble it does." He glanced off to the side. "Sorun's from there. He's a special breed of human. A species that naturally lack Chaos Force links, affording them the ability to manifest unique abilities with a given supply of Chaos energy at the cost of their health." Finitevus' eyes practically twinkled in interest, while Rubrum's voice grew quiet. "But something happened, and everything over there's dead now. Sorun's the last of his kind."
"That's... a pity. Truly." Finitevus cleared his throat when Rubrum's hooded head looked back at him. "But why does he matter so much?"
"He matters to me. He's my reason." Rubrum paused, and then let out a harsh sigh. "My world practically revolves around him at this point. It's my job to get him from point A, to point B, to point C, all the way to goddamn Z, and to make sure he doesn't die in the process. Well, too much, at least. Guy woulda died a hundred times over when he was a Freedom Fighter if I didn't intervene somewhere in the background. But that ain't important." He shook his hooded head. "My problem stems from the fact that getting Sorun to the next point is... kinda tricky. You see, Sorun possesses the means of fixing all this timey-wimey business."
Visible confusion on Finitevus' part. "I don't follow..."
"Look, I already laid out all the groundwork and everything, I just gotta get the dude there and it'll solve itself. I can't do it the natural way and just wait twenty-five years because he won't survive the transition into the new timeline, so I need to expedite the process. In the form of a time capsule. A time capsule inundated with infinite amounts of Chaos energy, energy that's naturally resistant to the effects of time. A capsule large enough that someone Sorun's size could be fit into it. The Master Emerald, I'm talking about the Master Emerald," Rubrum elaborated. "I get him in there, he stays frozen in there 'til twenty five-years later when Sonic fucks up and creates an alternate timeline. Shock of the transition should get the Master Emerald to spit Sorun out into the new timeline, bing-bang-boom, problem solved. Only way he's getting in there is if people connected to the Master Emerald who know how to use it, like the current Guardian and his father, put him in there. Only way they'll even consider doing that is if Sorun's on the verge of death from using the seven Chaos Emeralds again and they all happen to already be near the thing at the time. The only scenario Sorun would even consider killing himself using the Emeralds again is if a big enough threat comes along that forces his hand. Hence... I need to artificially create a doomsday scenario using Enerjak." After finishing the last word, Rubrum deeply inhaled and then slowly exhaled. "Anyway that's it in a nutshell."
"This is lunacy," Finitevus spat out. "Insanity. Complete and utter madness. How could such a plan ever be conceived!?"
"I don't know, man, it's on the list. I just follow the list." Rubrum's shoulders sagged, and then adopted a new tone Finitevus had heard for the first time since the two met: exhaustion, which gave the white echidna pause. "This is the shit I've been dealing with for so long, and I don't... I don't know how the fuck He came up with this all. How many times He must have... it doesn't matter." He breathed out a tired sigh. "Just help me with this."
"I don't-" Finitevus began, sounding hesitant, though Rubrum cut him off quickly with a raised hand.
"You have a vested interest in this too, Finitevus," Rubrum claimed, and then lowered his hand back down. "Who do you think took over saving the world in the new timeline if Sonic wasn't there? Without him around there was nobody to contend with Shadow for strongest being on the planet, and the lack of his sunny disposition made alternate-timeline Shadow a very unchill Shadow. Same kind of Shadow that tried blowing the world up in revenge for his dead friend, if I recall," he added. "But this one didn't do that. Oh no, he just took over the whole world to spread his own brand of 'peace' along the lands. And all the bad people making the world a bad place?" Rubrum laughed out. "Oh, he ain't no Freedom Fighter that takes half-measures. King Shadow wiped the board with all the world's creeps and any government that opposed him, permanently. I'm talking public executions or shoving a Chaos Spear through people's hearts. Eggman, G.U.N., that Iron Bitch and her dominion 'cross the ocean, Mogul, Naugus, and you, my friend-!" he pointed at Finitevus, "- get killed. All of you. All so he could run a unified world under his sole regime."
"Sounds rather peaceful to me."
"Sure, if you're alright with turbo-fascism under a literally immortal being that killed his way to world power." The red-clothed human leaned back on the crate he sat on. "Listen, you're missin' the point. It's lose-lose for you. Either the time anomaly destroys you along with the rest of the world in twenty-five years or King Shadow kills alternate you in the alternate timeline. Help me with Enerjak and I can prevent all that."
Throughout their entire exchange Finitevus had grown increasingly skeptical to Rubrum's words. Passing scoffs and eyerolls, an increasingly lax form, more disinterest in his eyes. Mainly, though, disbelief. Sheer disbelief bordering on actual outrage that was slowly appearing on the echidna's face. By the time Rubrum finished speaking, he looked ready to blow up.
"I don't believe a word of this," he claimed. "It's insanity, all of it. Talks of future perils, decades into the future at that, alternate timelines, there's no scientific or even historical precedent to any of this. Do you even have any proof to these wild claims?"
Rubrum shrugged. "Other than my word? Nah."
"Then you'll have to forgive me for not trusting the word of a stranger I just met," Finitevus snidely remarked. "How could you possibly, possibly know any of this? Not even the Neo-Walkers have the kind of foresight required to predict these ridiculous claims. I'll admit you're powerful, that's plain enough to feel, but I just don't see how you could know this. So answer me: how? Do? You? Know?"
There was a sound of Rubrum heavily inhaling through his nose, followed by a deep, heavy sigh. He placed his right hand on his knee and hunched forwards, glancing down at the ground a bit before making a small, mirthless laugh, shaking his head, and looking back up. "That answer's heavy, doc," he said. "Let's just say I have a crazy amount of insight and leave it at that. The truth itself ain't pretty; it's the kind of thing that drives people insane. Already told it to one guy and robbed his will to live." Both of Rubrum's hands placed themselves on the crate, after which he pushed himself up into a standing position. "But it's whatever. Believe the crazy guy that says he knows the future, don't believe him, doesn't really matter. At the end of the day you want to bring back Enerjak just as much as I do regardless, so it's all the same to you." He nodded to the sword lying between them. "I'm leaving Rebellion with you for a bit so you can implant the hex on it. Don't make it too complicated, stick it on with celestial duct tape or whatever, I just need it to physically be on the sword when I stab Knuckles with it." A pause. "Sooo... yeah. That's it. Bye."
After saying his parting, Rubrum stood still and silently watched Finitevus in case he had any final words for Rubrum. But the echidna said nothing, instead intent on looking back and forth between the sword lying at his feet and the nearby jar with the hex floating in it. His eye ridges were creased in concentration, his face set in deep contemplation, and Rubrum shrugged figuring the conversation was over with right there. He turned to leave, but only made it a couple steps before Finitevus' voice called out to him.
"Why would you tell me such a convoluted lie like the one you just said if you knew I just wanted Enerjak?"
"I wonder...?" Rubrum mused, refraining from pointing out that Finitevus had been the one to ask his reasons to begin with. "I dunno. It's nice to vent. I don't really have many people to talk to, and out of everybody I've met since taking on this fucked up gig, you're... really the only tolerable one." His hooded head turned back to Finitevus. "Oh, 'fore I forget, how much time you need with the hex?"
"... I would think a day should suffice, perhaps less. Come back tomorrow at the same time and we'll have it sorted out." With that, Finitevus looked back down at the jar containing the hex. A wicked grin spread over his face, showing off his sharpened teeth. "We'll begin the real work right after."
"'Kay, then. Seeya." Shrugging, Rubrum shoved his hands into his pockets and turned right around to exit through the cave entrance. He couldn't hold in the sputter of amused laughter that escaped past his lips when he heard the dark chuckling of the white echidna that he was walking away from.
"I saw that evil li'l grin he had on. What a cliché guy. He must think he's still gonna have control of Enerjak with his hex. Man, he's really gonna hate what happens next." A grin of his own grew on Rubrum's face as his form disappeared into the darkness of the caves. "These suckers just never learn."
