Recursion Error
Episode 74- The world just got a lot emptier
The sky was wrong.
For two days it'd been like this: perpetual overcast. Heavy overcast. Dark storm clouds that completely blanketed the sky, like there was about to be some terrible, torrential downpour. But the rain never came. The sky just remained darkened by all the clouds.
It was eerie. Unnatural, even, and Sorun could tell most of the citizens in New Mobotropolis felt the same way. He oft heard whisperers about growing concerns regarding the storm clouds as he walked around the city, and in all honesty, he shared those concerns. It wasn't even snowing anymore because of the clouds, or raining for that matter, either.
Clearly something was wrong. Nobody knew what, though, but Sorun knew that the Freedom Fighters had endeavored to get down to the bottom of... whatever was happening. Whether it be some weird, new scheme from Dr. Robotnik or something else entirely.
But, that was their problem. Sorun wasn't involved in that life anymore and had his own to live, but even so, it didn't stop him from stressing about the clouds for no other reason than he kept getting eerie feelings whenever he looked up. It unnerved him, that dark sky. Like something horrible was set to happen but wasn't happening yet. A dread-filled anticipation that weighed heavy not just on him, but everybody else in town.
He almost wished something did happen just so that the feeling would go away.
Where he was now was, simply put, walking around the city to help clear his head and take his mind off of things. No work today; evidently Honey wasn't even immune to the dreary atmosphere that had befell the city, and for the time being the shop was closed. That left Sorun with more free time than he knew what to do with, so he'd taken to walking around to try and take his mind off things.
It wasn't working.
"If it was just some weird weather thing that happens sometimes that'd be one thing, but everyone else is freaked out, too," he muttered out to the Chao floating next to his head. "There's just... I dunno, something wrong. Can't put my finger on what, though. It's weird."
"Chao." Virgil nodded his horned head in agreement. Even Chao and some of the other animals were being affected by this strange storm that had overtaken the sky. Hell, Sorun was pretty sure he'd heard Sonic's pet dog barking and freaking out when he'd walked by his family's home at one point. He knew from Earth customs that animals reacting like that were a bad sign, which had him on edge. Even Virgil had been a bit stiff as well, looking just as guarded as Sorun felt. Eyes narrowed and shoulders hunched, so tense that he was liable to snap.
Sorun's lips thinned. He didn't like any of this. He didn't like this feeling, nor not knowing what any of this meant.
A heavy breeze blew past him, blowing back the three coattails on his blue coat as he let a low breath out. "I wonder how far it goes out," he said, looking up at the sky again. "This thing stretches out to the horizon in every direction. That must mean it's pretty big, right?"
Virgil nodded. "Chao."
"Yeah, but it can't be that big, though. Can it?" When he looked down at his pet Chao, he caught him shaking his head. "Yeah, I don't know, either," he admitted as the two continued moving forwards. "Guess we'll just have to wait for Sonic and the rest to sort it out. Whatever it is."
They were sure taking their time to fix the problem, though. They'd been gone for around ten hours.
Up ahead he saw a curious sight. A small rabbit child and her own, unevolved pet Chao staring up at the sky. Even from here he could see the looks of discontent on their faces, and honestly, he couldn't blame them. It also made Sorun feel a bit bad, knowing even the children were being off put by whatever this storm was. Part of him wanted to do something to help, but he didn't know what to do. He was fairly certain nobody did. He could still at least try talking with her.
"Hey, Cream," Sorun softly greeted, he and Virgil stopping right behind the child. She and Cheese turned around to look at them, and while it seemed the sight of the two of them improved their mood a bit, it was a marginal shift at best. "What are you two doing?"
"Oh, hello Mr. Sorun. Hello, Virgil." Despite the polite demeanor the young Mobian held Sorun still found himself sighing a bit and darting his eyes away from her. Made him feel old whenever she put the mister part in front of his name. "We were out playing, but... well, we don't... we don't really feel like playing at the moment..."
"'Cause of the sky, right?" he guessed. When she nodded, he made another sigh and looked at her. "Yeah, it's... strange, I know. I think everybody's kind of unnerved by it."
"Is Mr. Sonic and the rest of the Freedom Fighters doing something about it?"
Sorun scratched the back of his head. "Well, from what I overheard from Nicole they picked up some really weird energy readings of some kind from Angel Island, so they went to investi..." He trailed off when he saw Cream looking a little lost, so he reiterated with, "They... noticed something was weird so they all went to check it out. That was a while ago, though."
"Oh, I see..." Her ears lowered against her head a bit. "What does it mean that they're taking so long?"
"Probably nothing. The island moves around, well, the whole world, so they could be anywhere right now." Left unsaid was that Sorun knew how fast the Freedom Fighter Special went, and regardless of how far away the island was this wasn't something that should be taking ten hours. But then again, there was always something up with that island. It was debatable if this was even related to the darkened sky.
He ended up thinking back to Nicole. She hadn't told Sorun much about what was going on, and she seemed to be in the dark just as much as everyone else, but she'd noted that the weather phenomenon was extremely odd, and that her instruments weren't working properly in identifying it. That went a long way towards proving whatever this storm was wasn't natural, and he could tell it worried her somewhat. Worried him too, really, as it meant there was something potentially bad going on. And the fact she was worried wasn't helping his mood any.
"Mr. Sorun?" Cream's voice brought Sorun back to reality, causing him to look back down at the rabbit. "You stopped talking for a bit."
"Oh. Er, sorry. I was thinking about somebody." He began to rapidly scratch the back of his head while glancing away. "Hey, maybe you and Cheese should head on home back to your mother. Not that, uh, there's anything dangerous going on or anything," he added as to not make the child scared. "I just, uh... your mother might be worried about you two. You should go home."
Before anything else could be said, a peculiar sound interrupted the conversation: a strange, warbling sound. One that was somewhat familiar to Sorun's ears. Both he, the small Mobian, and the two Chao turned towards the source, the latter three opening their eyes wide at what looked like a large, golden ring facing the ground hovering in the air in front of them, while Sorun had narrowed his eyes at the familiar ring.
He had half a mind to walk right up to the thing before somebody fell through it and onto the ground. And unfortunately for Sorun, it was a form he recognized. A stark-white echidna wrapped in white bandages, a black cape, and that strange golden symbol on his forehead. He was covered in scrapes and cuts and a few other small wounds on his person, and seemed to be hissing out in pain while trying and failing to stand up.
"Oh, how awful!" Cream exclaimed, holding her hands to her mouth is shock. "That man looks hurt! We need to help him!"
Sorun had the opposite thought. He wanted to stomp the echidna's head in. Cream's presence made Sorun hesitate, but he still felt his boot anxiously twist on the artificial concrete he stood on.
While Sorun mentally debated with himself if he should murder in front of a child, something happened. A great wall of white-gold light appeared without warning on the horizon. A wall so tall it breached the clouds and so wide Sorun couldn't see where it began and ended. He'd had to squint it was so blinding, and because of that and its sheer size he wasn't able to see that the wall was coming closer and closer to the city.
The wall of light closing in on them had been what had caused Finitevus' dark eyes to snap wide open. His head snapped right up, after which his head spun towards the incoming wall of light so fast it nearly twisted off his shoulders. He gasped, loudly and fearfully, and then turned his head towards the group of four staring at the wall. Specifically at Sorun.
"Get down, you fool!" Before Sorun could react to the voice he was pushed down by the very speaker. Finitevus had practically tackled Sorun to the ground and, while straddling the fallen human's form, lifted his hand up. Bolts of black lightning poured out from the center of his palm and surrounded the two of them, trapping them in a dome made of the black energy. The two Chao and Cream looked at the two of them in shock, but before anybody could do anything the wall of light washed over the entire city.
Sorun was forced to close his eyes fully, groaning out a bit at the intensity of the light hitting him. Finitevus was in a similar state, making grunts of exertion while golden cracks appeared in the invisible spaces between the black lightning making up the dome surrounding them. In just a few seconds, however, the wall passed them through to the other side of the city, and then passed the city completely as it moved on to the rest of the land. The dome dissipated immediately after, with a seemingly exhausted Finitevus sliding right off of Sorun and falling back onto the ground. Sorun himself sat right up, panting heavily and looking around wildly until his eyes fell on the echidna's form. He almost sprung forwards right there in an attempt to try and choke the life out of him in fear of Cream's safety.
But then something halted him. A lot of somethings. There were... things, floating up and out of the city. Glowing spheres, about the size of sports balls. Glowing intensely, seemingly made of pure energy and ranging from a wide variety of colors of every shade and type. Hundreds of the things lifting up from all around the city and into the sky.
"W-what the... what is this...?" More light at the corner of his eyes drew Sorun's attention to the side. He felt his throat seize up when he saw Cream, lying face-down on the ground and completely motionless. Another glowing sphere, a tannish-brownish colored one, was floating above her body and rapidly ascending to the sky like the rest, though Sorun paid this no mind as he scrambled towards the child. "Hey, hey Cream!"
Fear and panic overtook him as he knelt by the rabbit's form. She hadn't moved a bit in response to his voice. She wasn't moving at all. His unthinking reaction had been to grab her by the shoulders to try and flip her onto her back to try and assess her better, but he hadn't been able to do it. He'd only gotten halfway before he saw her face.
In a word, she looked horrifying. Face frozen in a gaunt expression, with her mouth lolling open due to gravity in something that looked like a silent scream. And her eyes- they were purely white, no pupils or irises in sight. Completely hollow, like she was some kind of husk. Or dead.
"What the fuck!?" Sorun screamed, dropping the child's face back onto the ground and jumping back in shock. His breathing began to become heavier when he looked around and saw their Chao on the ground. Both Cheese and Virgil had the same hollow expressions and white eyes Cream had. All three were completely unmoving, not even breathing.
A cough by his side made Sorun's head whip right towards the source. He saw Finitevus, kneeling on all fours while clutching a hand to his forehead. Immediately the confused, frightened emotions he was feeling were converted into blind anger, and without even thinking he'd bolted back to his feet and ran right over to the echidna, only to then kick him in the stomach.
"What have you done!?" Sorun screamed out at him. Finitevus gasped out in pain and fell onto his side from the kick, but Sorun didn't relent and kicked him again. "What the FUCK DID YOU DO!?"
By around the third kick Sorun heard a new noise: the soft thumping of something dropping to the ground. After the fourth kick to the echidna, he turned around to see what the noise came from, and then immediately froze when he saw it. Something had dropped in from the ring-shaped portal Finitevus had come through. What it was, though, Sorun didn't have the faintest clue.
It was an outline. An outline of something. A mass of golden threads of energy arranged into the vague shape of some androgynous, bipedal figure. Completely featureless and half-made of gaps due to being made of the aforementioned golden energy threads, like he was watching a walking nervous system and nothing else. The one exception he saw was something in what Sorun saw as its chest: one of those energy spheres he'd seen fly into the sky before, a purple one.
"What the hell is actually going on...?" Sorun thought to himself, too stunned by the sight to form words. He wasn't able to think any further before the golden thing began shambling towards him, like some thoughtless drunk. It'd only gotten a few steps in before a bolt of black lightning shot past Sorun and impacted it. A distorted screeching sound came from its head that looked little more than a tangle of gold yarn, after which it was thrown back.
Rapidly blinking, Sorun turned his head to the side. He caught Finitevus standing next to him, hand outstretched towards the golden thing. Panting heavily, his eyes turned towards Sorun. "If you'd stop attacking me for a moment, I'd say I've come to help," he managed to mutter out.
"I severely fucking doubt it." Distorted, warbling sounds came from the golden tangle thing as it began to stand up. Finitevus blasted it with black lightning again, and though it went down again it didn't seem to become any less active. "Hell is that thing?"
"Talk later," Finitevus replied. "Your sword. Use it. My own powers can't affect it."
"Don't have it."
Eyes widening, Finitevus snapped his head to Sorun. "What do you mean you don't have it!?" he nearly screamed out.
"Jesus, how out of the loop are you?" As Sorun stood there watching the golden thing amble back up, a split-second decision ran through his mind. One that, had he more time to consider it, he would never have made with a rational mind. But the sight of a lifeless child near him and whatever this dangerous-looking thing was overwrote these thoughts, causing him to speak without thinking. "There's a vault somewhere in the castle at the center of the city. There's a Chaos Emerald inside of it. I need that."
"Are you quite serious!?" Finitevus snapped. "You want me to rummage around a castle while-?"
"You have any better options!?" Sorun snapped back, clear anger and panic in his tone.
"Gch..." Gritting his teeth, Finitevus outstretched his hand. The portal-shaped ring he'd dropped in from shrunk closed, and then disappeared entirely. With that done, he'd reached into his cape and pulled out another golden ring. "I'll return with the Emerald, then. Stall it until then."
"Stall it? What do you mean stall it? I can't stall-" Sorun's words were cut off when Finitevus threw the ring in front of him. It hovered in the air and expanded into a larger portal, from which a swirling mass of green energy took up residence inside the ring's hollow. Without another word Finitevus dived right into the ring, after which it closed and disappeared behind him.
That was all the time Sorun had to take it all in before the golden thing began ambling towards him once more. The human remained rooted to the spot, conflicting thoughts and instincts flying through his system as he tried to make sense of just what was happening while perceiving the threat in front of him. His legs twitched with the desire to run away while the rest of him twitched as he tried to figure out what to do.
Alas, he'd been too slow, as before Sorun could come to a final decision the monster was upon him. So, right before it rose up a vaguely hand-looking shape to swipe at him, he did what his body naturally told him to do: he shoved it.
It... was surprisingly effective.
The golden thread monster fell down. Simple as that. Sorun had blinked down at it in bewilderment, slightly in awe that it even worked, but then it had risen up to its feet and charged at the human again. Sorun, feeling a bit more confident, reached up and grabbed the back of its head right before its outstretched arms managed to grab him. He stepped to the side while shoving it away at the same time by pushing its head away, causing it to stumble past him before falling down due to the added forwards momentum.
Unabated, the glowing monster rose up and charged Sorun again. And like before, he'd sidestepped it and shoved it away using the exact same move. It worked just the same as before.
"Christ, it's like shoving zombies away in 'Dying Light'. It just doesn't learn and you can do it forever." Indeed, that's exactly what Sorun was doing. And now that he'd calmed down somewhat due to not feeling so threatened by the thing, he realized that the threatening energy zombie was, by some margin, a bit slow. Slow and dumb enough that Sorun was able to keep it at bay by simply shoving it over and over.
He'd be laughing if it weren't for the seemingly lifeless child and Chao nearby.
After what was probably minutes of what basically amounted to Sorun bullying a magic-looking zombie, another ring-based portal opened up. Sorun turned to look at it, spotting Finitevus walking out just as the portal disappeared behind it. He saw in his right hand was sitting the blue Chaos Emerald that'd been kept away from Sorun for so long. He'd slumped his shoulders at the sight, fully expecting the echidna to proceed to do something nefarious with the object while Sorun stood by and watched.
This was mainly why Sorun was so astonished when Finitevus tossed the Emerald towards him. He was so shocked he nearly dropped the gem when his hands shot up to reflexively catch it. Barely even a second after he made contact the gem shifted into the Yamato, with Sorun becoming instantly relaxed at feeling the familiar weight settle in his hands.
"Kill it, but do not harm the sphere in its center," Finitevus warned as Sorun stared down at the sheathed katana in his hands. "You'll regret it if you do."
"Um... sure..." He looked up from the sword and at the golden thread monster. It was just now stumbling back to its feet, turning to Sorun and getting ready to charge again. Blinking once, he pulled Yamato from its sheath, blue energy roiling over its edge. A blue line appeared on the monster's waist after he swung, fading away after a moment to reveal a clean cut rending the monster completely in half.
There was a scream from it. A loud, modulating scream that sounded less like a person and more like a computer dying. Sorun winced at the sound, watching as the entire thing exploded in a small shower of gold light. What was left in the aftermath was the purple, spherical object which proceeded to float up into the air, just like all the other ones had done.
"..." Sorun watched the sphere travel up into the sky, and looked down at Finitevus, who'd watched along with Sorun. "You wanna tell me what that was?" he asked.
"Namely put, a soul," Finitevus lamely provided. "Specifically I believe that one belonged to the chameleon companion Knuckles carried around with him."
"You mean Espio? What? What?" Shocked, Sorun looked back up at the sphere. It'd traveled so far up that it was already almost out of sight. "That was his soul!?"
"I'm not entirely certain, but given the evidence it's a reasonable enough presump-" The echidna was cut off when the tip of the Yamato was pointed at his throat. "Perhaps now would not be the best time for scientific conjuncture," he said, raising his hands up.
"You don't say." The reply from Sorun was dry and hollow. The raw panic he'd felt from earlier was beginning to settle and be replaced by cold anger on top of all the confusion he felt, and it was only his desire for answers that stopped him from impaling the echidna right there. "If you don't start talking right now you're going up there with him."
"I really don't think threats are the way to go about th-"
"There is a dead child five fucking feet away from us." The sword was pressed deep enough to Finitevus' throat that a drop of blood began to roll down his throat. Sorun's own facial features became extremely strained as the hand gripping his sword began to shake. "If you make one more goddamn joke or scientific observation in the face of that then I don't care what you have to say, you die regardless."
Finitevus' features flattened, but even so his eyes became wary. "She isn't dead. At least not all the way."
Sorun exhaled loudly through his nose. He examined the echidna's face for a few moment and, not detecting any hint of a lie, lowered the sword by a centimeter. "Speak."
"I would if you would quit threatening me and demanding I explain everything."
"Sorun!"
Had that panicked voice come a second later, Sorun didn't know if he would have actually plunged his sword into Finitevus' throat right there or not. He certainly felt like he would have, but hearing Nicole's voice made him drop the sword away from and nearly forget about the echidna as he turned to the side. She'd appeared right besides them, looking more distressed than Sorun had ever seen her before. Even seeing her in the aftermath of the Knothole bombing paled in comparison to the frightened, mortified look on her face.
"Uh..." Sorun's arms dropped limply at his sides, with the Yamato's tip scraping against the ground. He didn't know what he was supposed to say to her here, with a... he didn't even know what to call it, a huskified child and a pair of Chao near him with Sorun himself having pointing a sword at an evil echidna. "Nicole, I don't know- I-" He looked at Cream's body. "I don't know, she-"
"Sorun, it's everyone."
He felt his mouth go dry, and then turned to face Nicole again. She looked so distressed she couldn't even meet his gaze, though what he could see looked almost grief-stricken. Particularly her eyes, wide and horrified. "W-what?" Sorun stammered out, hardly believing what he just heard.
"The entire city," she quietly clarified. "Everyone- everybody just became lifeless like that in an instant, and I can't figure out... Sorun, what is happening?"
She looked at him with a sad expression he'd seldom ever seen on Nicole's face, one that was silently pleading for help, but Sorun didn't have the words. He hadn't even known the entire city was in the same state Cream and the two Chao were seemingly in, and now he was reeling from the information. Too much at once and too many implications behind it that made Sorun sick and stumble on his feet. He almost collapsed right there and then from the news.
Everybody in the whole city was like the other three? Every single person except for Sorun himself, Nicole, and Finitevus? Everyone?
"I, I don't, what, I-I..."
"Perhaps," came the smooth, masculine voice from behind Sorun, causing him to whirl back around at Finitevus as he began speaking, "we should consider getting the young one somewhere to examine her proper. And then we can talk about the current situation and what to do about it."
While Sorun was stuck staring dumbly at the echidna, hand tightly gripping the handle of his sword, Nicole, after some visible hesitation, made a small nod. "I'll... I'll take Cream to the hospital," she offered, stepping over to the rabbit's body and bending down to pick her up. "I'm familiar with all the equipment there, so I'll examine her."
Sorun shot her a surprised look. "You're familiar with hospital equipment?"
Having scooped up the child's body in her arms, Nicole stood back up only to give Sorun a flat expression. "Sorun, I made all the hospital equipment."
"Oh, right..." Despite everything, Sorun managed a small, embarrassed grin that was microscopic in size. So small it was imperceptible. But it was a tiny moment of levity in a quickly-worsening situation that he was extremely grateful for. "Yeah, go. We'll catch up."
Nicole nodded, and without another word she and the rabbit she was carrying disappeared via teleport. Sorun stared after the spot they'd left in, and then immediately faced back towards Finitevus, who seemed neutral towards the whole exchange. The invisible grin was replaced by an intense frown as Sorun stared at the echidna, who met his gaze with an unflinching look. After a few seconds, Sorun nodded his head in the direction of the hospital.
"Alright, come on. Let's go," he said, turning around to leave.
"Glady." Finitevus fell in behind Sorun and began walking in the same direction as him. "You know, it was hard to notice past all your stuttering, but I can't help but point out that you weren't nearly as vulgar with the construct as you are with me."
"I don't swear around people I like," Sorun said.
"Oh? And after all I've done to help, I don't warrant even an inkling of trust? Is that what you mean to say?"
Sorun inhaled deeply, hands shaking as he resisted the urge to stab Finitevus with his katana. It was an urge he just barely managed to reign in. "Talking like a shifty motherfucker the way you do ain't really helpin' your case," he said, willing himself to place the sword in the scabbard he carried in his left hand. "And trust and liking are two entirely separate things. Figured someone with your supposed oh-mighty intellect would know that already."
"I never boast of my intelligence over oth-" When Sorun's head turned around to look at Finitevus, he cut himself off with a small chuckle at the incredulous stare Sorun shot him. "Fair enough, guilty as charged," he admitted. "Considering you tried to kill me in the past I would say I'm extending a generous amount of trust to you."
"That'd be way more noble of you if you didn't try killing me, too. And talked about dissecting me. And used a crazy god to possess my friend in a poor attempt at taking over the world."
"You shot swords at me mid-sentence."
An action Sorun still didn't regret trying. "... Mf, touché." He turned back forwards. "How about we go to the hospital to discuss what's going on and go from there. That work for you, Fin?"
There was a disgruntled sigh from behind him. "I'd be more satisfied if you used my name correctly."
"Maybe I will if I start actually respecting you." And if Sorun remembered how to actually say his name properly, which he didn't, but seeing as he doubted they'd ever come to any kind of amicable relationship he doubted there was a need to stress about that.
Frankly speaking, Sorun didn't trust him at all, period. But he seemed to be the only person that knew what was happening, and, asides from Nicole, was the only person around at all. So he'd keep him at sword's length for now, hear his words, decide how much of them to believe and go from there. Worst case Nicole would be nearby in case something happened, and between her near-omniscience and near-omnipotence while in the city and his Yamato he doubted Finitevus posed too much of a threat.
Problems for later, though. Right now he had to figure out what seemed to suck the life out of the whole city.
They'd situated themselves in one of the upper levels of the hospital. At the end of a narrow hallway, sitting in chairs facing each other with a windowed wall at Sorun's left side. He'd looked through it periodically to look out into the town, wincing at all the bodies he saw in the streets. Bodies that, if he didn't know any better, were all dead. Hell, maybe they were dead. He didn't know precisely what the deal was yet with any of this.
And then he'd look away from the window and ahead at Finitevus. He'd availed himself to some of the medical supplies the hospital had to patch up the wounds he'd suffered, but beyond that Sorun had an opportunity to get a good look at the guy's face. He looked... tired wasn't the right word. Defeated, maybe. He tried acting it off but there was a noticeable lack of energy in some of his movements that Sorun caught. Not hard to recognize when he'd been the same way himself more times than he cared to mention.
Through it all, though, Finitevus had given Sorun the rundown on what was happening. And with every sentence that passed he found it harder and harder keeping the sword he carried sheathed.
"Hahhh... Alright. Lemme get this straight." Sorun had began rubbing at his forehead in an unsuccessful attempt at relieving his stress while the white echidna watched on. "Your dumb ass tried bringing back Enerjak. Again. But you screwed up and now he's loose without your control."
"It was hardly my fault," the scientist denied, crossing his arms and turning his nose up. "I'd... enlisted the help of someone. A... a man. A man that dressed in red. He helped me usher Enerjak back into the world through the Guardian." An intense scowl marred his face as his head lowered. "But he betrayed me. Tampered with the hex I used, made it so I couldn't exert control over Enerjak. Now he's free to run wild and do as he pleases using his omnipotent abilities and I'm powerless to stop it."
"A man in red..." Sorun mumbled out. "Just like the one Shadow talked about. The one that hurt Rouge and somehow knew about my condition. The same one?" It had to be. There couldn't be that many mysterious, enigmatic people that dressed up in red. Even on Mobius. "What was his name?" Sorun asked. "What did he look like? Did you at least catch his species?"
"I... don't remember."
Disbelief immediately flashed over Sorun's face. "You don't remember?" he echoed. "What kind of shit scientist are you that you don't remember important details like that?"
Finitevus grit his teeth at that remark, seemingly incensed by the human's words. "He took my memories," he hissed out. "Of him. Specifically of him. I don't know why, but there were... there were certain details he didn't want... why didn't he want...?" He sighed out and rose a hand up to his forehead, while Sorun had calmed down at the sight. "I only remember he helped me with the hex and then tampered with it behind my back. He took enough memories so that I remember he was there and what he did, but a majority of the words we shared and the details escape me. I can't even recall how he tampered with my hex. It shouldn't have been possible."
"Why would he do that...?" Sorun wondered, mostly to himself. If he had that ability, why not use it on Rouge? Why go through so much effort to keep his existence hidden if he allowed the knowledge he existed to be out? Were there limits to the ability? Or was it intentional? Who even was he?
"Someone who wants to wreck the world, probably. Except... according to Rouge, he gave us that last Emerald. Did he just want to kill me? But if he had it why wait so late to give it to me? Is there some other angle here? Something I'm not seeing? How'd he even know about me to begin with...?" Sorun sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "I don't know. Does it even matter? We have more important things to worry about."
Mysterious man in red could wait. Mad golden god was the current problem. One Sorun had severe fears and doubts over given their last encounter.
"Fine, so... red guy double-crosses you, and Enerjak is back but not under your control," Sorun summarized. "What happened then?"
"I fled. Clearly," Finitevus scoffed out. "I highly doubted Enerjak would have taken kindly to my attempts to control him in the past. I wanted to take measures in eliminating him due to the threat he poses against the world," he explained. "I was aware his father had a weapon capable of defeating him at the cost of the host's life. I sought him out for aid, but... it seemed the weapon had been sabotaged. The red man's interference, perhaps. It was a moot point anyways, as Enerjak... caught up with his host's father and small companion, as it were, along with the Chaotix team." He made an unsettled hum. "It wasn't a long fight. I can't even say it was a fight. He'd... simply used his power to extract those glowing spheres from their bodies, and they lifelessly fell to the ground right after."
"You... said those were souls," Sorun slowly said, causing Finitevus to nod. "What the hell, he can just do that?"
"He's quite literally omnipotent. You've seen his feats in the past," the scientist reminded him, causing Sorun to nod. "The fact he has free access to the Master Emerald, thereby an unlimited source of energy, doesn't help matters. Chaos energy, after all, is-"
"Energy shaped by the heart, yadda yadda, heard the speech," Sorun muttered. "So the sky's all him?"
"Whether it's a natural effect of all the Chaos energy he's passively emitting into the atmosphere or his will is unclear to me, but yes," Finitevus confirmed. "Many interested parties came to Angel Island to intercept the energy his mere existence is exuding, all with predictable outcomes. That black-and-red hybrid hedgehog I've heard about and his Overlander military consorts, scouts from Dr. Robotnik in the form of the Dark Legion members that foolishly joined him, even your own Freedom Fighters... as you can imagine, they all swiftly met the same fate as the Chaotix. Not a one managed to evade him."
Sorun was silent at that. He'd figured that was the most likely outcome of what happened, but he didn't want to believe it. Didn't want to believe that all of his friends had their souls sucked out of them and they were all little more than lifeless husks now, and who knew what Enerjak did with the bodies, let alone what was going on with the souls. He felt like throwing up out of fear and worry alone for them. He ended up just slumping forwards while cradling his head in his hand.
"What the actual fuck..." he thought to himself. "Everybody's... everyone's gone? Just like that? What am I... what's gonna happen now? Guys..." He breathed out a shaky sigh and sat up in his seat, face gaunt and nearly as lifeless as the husks outside. Finitevus had the decency not to comment. "Fuck. Fuck, man, I... goddammit." He ran a hand over his haggard face. "Alright, so what happened with you?"
"I spent a long time using my Warp Rings just evading him as I searched for a solution. He... created those strange constructs you saw. Raw Chaos energy weaved into forms and guided by the souls he placed in them," he explained. "I gave up and came here. You saw an injured person in need of help and immediately began kicking him despite the fact he saved you from the fate that befell everyone else. The rest you know."
"Right, that..." Awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, Sorun turned his head to the side. "Thanks, by the way," he mumbled. "For warning me about the core. I would have went for it if you hadn't said anything, and... I figured if I used Yamato to destroy that it would have killed Espio if that soul ball really was his."
"Hh..." Finitevus dipped his eyes downwards. "I merely figured you'd be less inclined to help if I let you murder one of your friends. Don't go forgiving me yet."
"We're a long fucking way from forgiveness seeing as this is all mostly your fault," Sorun snapped, turning back to him. "Why are you even here? What do you want?"
"My control over Enerjak was what kept his... tendencies in check," Finitevus said, not flinching at the glare Sorun sent him. "You see the results of an unchained Enerjak. I can't say much towards his motives - I simply don't know - but I see the results. You may find this hard to believe, but a world of soulless husks is a far cry from the world I envisioned. The problem needs to be rectified." He pointed downwards, to Sorun's left side. "That is the only thing in the world that can rectify the situation."
Sorun glanced down at his left hand. He immediately understood what the echidna was referring to when he saw the Yamato, and then let out a dry chuckle. "You want my sword," he said. "You need the Yamato to deal with Enerjak."
"It has a proven history of being effective against him," Finitevus coolly replied. "Unless you know of some other artifact we can use to solve this problem?"
"... Not one as good as this, no," Sorun admitted. "So-"
He was interrupted when Nicole teleported into the space between the two of them. Finitevus had jumped up a bit, not expecting the sudden appearance of the lynx. Sorun hadn't outwardly reacted at all, though he did feel his heavily-beating heart become a bit more at ease at seeing her, letting him relax just the barest amount.
"I've... finished my examination of Cream, you two," she said. "Please follow me."
Wordlessly, they obeyed and stood up to follow her as she lead them down further into the hospital. They were lead into a room separated by a pane of glass. On the other side Sorun saw Cream lying on a medical bed. Still lifeless, still possessing those horrible white eyes. He felt sick just looking at her, and sicker knowing everybody else was the same way. Sally, Antoine and Bunnie, Shadow, the whole city, everyone. There was so much worry in him he could barely stand.
"As far as I can tell she's alive," Nicole said, bringing a smidgeon of hope into Sorun, "but there's no brain activity whatsoever. Even her vitals are... odd," she informed them. "They're not reading her as dead, but... they're not active, either. Medically it doesn't make any sense at all. It's as if she's in some form of stasis, but the fact there's zero activity whatsoever-"
"Logic often flounders about a bit in the face of Chaos energy. It's a tricky science." Both Nicole and Sorun turned to the side, where they saw Finitevus with his arms crossed leaning back against a nearby medical cabinet. "I'm familiar with this affliction. It's ancient echidna magic. Forbidden arts, mainly due to how easy it is to fumble. As I said, tricky business, by evidently for Enerjak it's mere child's play." He faced towards Cream. "In order for him to keep the souls he extracts, the body needs to be kept alive- preserved by Chaos energy. If the body dies, then the soul is released into the beyond, and not even he can do anything to stop that. So the souls are tangentially linked to the vessels despite being partially separated."
"That would explain how the body continues to live despite cessation of all metabolic processes..." Nicole said. "If that's the case, then I doubt we need to worry about the bodies, erm... expiring, if they're being kept preserved."
Finitevus nodded. "Precisely my thoughts," he agreed. "Enerjak's energy is most likely even keeping them safe from exposure as well; even he would be hard-pressed to take care of billions of bodies. Simpler to have them remain where they are and ensure they remain intact."
"Wait, billions?" Sorun turned back to Finitevus. "You mean that wave-"
"Angel Island is nowhere even close to here. In fact, it's on the other side of the world currently," he informed them, making Sorun pale and Nicole blanch. "I have little doubt Enerjak has extracted the soul of every single living being on this entire planet. He certainly has the capability to do so. The only exceptions would be us three: Sorun and I due to me being in a position to take preventative measures to save us, and you, I imagine, due to being an artificial creation." He looked closer at Nicole, and then leaned forwards. "You truly are quite fascinating, by the way. No soul, but so lifelike. And despite being artificial, I... sense just the barest hint of Chaos energy from you. Whoever created you certainly took some creative liberties, hm...?"
"Hey, hey, how about we stay on topic?" Sorun had seen the way Nicole had reacted to the way Finitevus was almost leering at her, that slightly disturbed look that made her take a step back, and he reflexively felt his hand tighten around Yamato as a result. "So the whole world?" he asked when Finitevus looked back at him. "The whole world's like this? It's just us three?"
"Apparently," he confirmed.
"Well then..." Sorun sighed out and rubbed at his forehead again. In terms of bad news, he was barely even able to imagine the scope of what he just heard. It gave him a headache trying and he did his best to forget the information as he asked, "Are they aware? The souls, are they... do all the people even know what's going on?"
Finitevus hummed. Sorun and Nicole had both given him hopeful looks as he turned towards Cream to briefly glance over the body. "It's extremely doubtful," he said. "Considering that... 'drone' Enerjak created could do little more than stumble about like some inebriated fool and attack in a very instinctual matter despite being driven by stolen souls, I can't see it. And I would know since I had to dodge fifty of those things up on the island." He looked back at the pair. "It might have to do with the fact that the souls and the bodies are not entirely separated. Not alive, not dead, in this in-between state purely so Enerjak can do with the souls as he pleases. I imagine from their perspective it's much like being asleep. Personality quirks and habits of the such that have been imprinted in their very being over a lifetime, yes, but those are mere echoes in the souls. For all intents and purposes it appears the actual people are not with us."
"Alright, great, don't have to worry about a whole planet full of traumatized people that got their souls ripped out," Sorun thought. Small mercy, but it was something. "But we can save them, right?" he pressed. "If we got all the souls back from Enerjak and just put them back in the bodies? That fixes it, doesn't it?"
"In theory, I suppose."
Once he heard that, Sorun whirled right around and began to briskly walk out of the examination room. His right hand began reaching for the katana's handle as his eyes narrowed forwards, though he'd only made it a few steps into the hallway before a voice stopped him.
"And where do you think you're going, hmm?" Finitevus drawled out, sounding almost bored.
"To get everyone's souls back. Where else?" Sorun answered, refusing to turn around.
He heard a scoff behind him. "You'll lose," the echidna replied in a flat voice. "I don't care how strong that sword is. That alone is not enough."
"I only need one hit," Sorun argued, sounding frustrated. His left grip on the sword began to grow so tight his knuckles turned white and his teeth began to grind together. "I just need one hit with Yamato to separate Knuckles and Enerjak, and then-"
"And you really think you'll get that hit?" Finitevus countered. "You've fought him before. He knows exactly what you and that sword can do. He's a god with omnipotent abilities that can wipe you away with a mere glance, so if you truly think you're going to be able to march right on up to Angel Island and get a clean win with nothing but that gimmicky sword-"
"Well, what else am I supposed to do!?" Sorun shouted out, turning right back around towards the room. Nicole, who'd mainly been standing off to the side and kept quiet, flinched back at Sorun's raised voice and retreated to the nearby wall, while Finitevus remained undeterred even as Sorun stomped back into the room. "We're the only three people left in the world! You're not gonna do anything, she can't do anything-" he nodded to Nicole, "- since she's constrained to the city, I'm the one with the magic sword so I'm going!"
"... So your plan?" Finitevus asked. "I trust with such enthusiasm you do have one, yes?"
The amount of pressure being exerted from Sorun biting down on his own teeth was enough that they threatened to crack. His knuckles began popping from how hardly he was squeezing the sword. There was physical pain in both his mouth and hand from this, but despite that Sorun wasn't able to stop due to the sheer amount of rage and grief he felt over knowing the whole world was just like the seemingly lifeless rabbit child he was looking at. He couldn't bear it. It was too much, and he wanted to fix it. Fix everyone and make sure Enerjak could never do something like this again.
He wanted so badly just to get everyone back, but deep inside he knew Finitevus was right. He couldn't fight a god with just Yamato. The katana was needed, but on its own it wasn't enough. As much as he hated the thought, he knew the echidna was right. He'd die within a second if he tried fighting Enerjak as-is. But there was such an intense need Sorun felt to fix this and bring everybody back that he was so tempted to ignore the danger and go fight him regardless.
"I... I don't want to lose another world..."
"Sorun..." Nicole's voice managed to bring Sorun back down to earth. He'd automatically relaxed his grip on the sword upon hearing her and instantly turned towards the lynx, who was giving him a concerned look. "I... I think it would be best if we stepped back and took some time to examine the situation properly."
"N-Nicole, come on, you can't be serious..."
"I know it sounds cruel, but technically speaking there's no real danger of us taking our time with this," she explained in a calm voice. "I know you want to save everyone. I do, too. But running off without even so much as a plan isn't going to help anybody."
"Spoken like a true machine." This remark had earned Finitevus glares from both Sorun and Nicole. He ignored them both and idly glanced out the one window in the examination room. "In other news, we've other issues at the moment. Case in point..."
He nodded his head towards the window. Sorun, who by now had managed to almost fully relax his grip and jaw, stepped out towards the window to see what the echidna was referring to. He understood immediately when he looked outside: there were more of those golden, thread-like beings with the souls in their centers stalking around the city. Sorun managed to count dozens of the things from a cursory glance alone. They weren't going directly towards the hospital, fortunately enough. It looked more like they were just stumbling around randomly, as if they were looking for something.
"More of those drones. Sent here looking for me most likely," Finitevus said. "I'd advise against attacking them. It'll just draw more attention here and risk the souls inhabiting them, or worse, Enerjak himself. Better to evade them entirely and let them think the city's empty to buy us some breathing room."
The hand slowly moving towards Yamato's handle relaxed and fell back to Sorun's side. He'd been meaning to go out there and cut them all down, but Finitevus' logic managed to convince him and stay his hand. He still didn't like the idea of hiding out in a hospital, though. Too macabre, and the other huskified bodies lying around the building didn't make him feel easier. He'd had to step over Dr. Quack's body and a dozen patients just to get to this floor.
"I can take us somewhere safer." As if she were reading his mind, Nicole had spoken up and said something that gained the attention of the other two. "I had figured it wouldn't be safe for any of us to be out in the open, so I've been instructing the city's nanites to construct a new structure in the meantime. It just now finished construction," she informed them.
"Nan... what now?" Finitevus blinked and looked over to Sorun for help. "Do you know what she's talking about?"
"Yeah."
"... Are you going to illuminate to me what that is?"
"You're a smart guy. You can figure it out on your own."
"You two, please," Nicole sighed out in a pleading voice. "I made a shelter underground that should be safe for us to inhabit for the time being. I even went through the trouble of relocating myself to a backup server there, just in case. We should be fine to transport there now." She gave them both pointed looks. "So once again I would ask that you please stop bickering when we all need to cooperate with one another."
Sorun and Finitevus glanced at each other. Both scoffed and turned their eyes away from the other, with Finitevus muttering, "It truly is the end of days when a machine is the one speaking the most sense."
"We're gonna get along great, Finton, I can just tell."
"..." The echidna's dark eyes darted towards Sorun. He grit his teeth and growled a bit under his breath, and then looked back at Nicole. "Just take us to this bunker already."
Without another word, the three of them were engulfed in a flash of green light. The disorientation of the light combined with the momentary feeling of weightlessness had only affected Sorun for less than a second before he immediately felt he was in a different place once the light faded and his feet was back on the ground. Darker lighting, slightly colder, the lack of the clean disinfectant smell of the hospital.
When he looked around, he saw that Finitevus hadn't been too far off when he called this place a bunker. A rather spacious one with low lighting: a central room empty save for some chairs and a few pieces of furniture. A small kitchen off the ways. A room a bit further in that was empty except for a large, circular device in the ground that had a glowing green, grid-like pattern on top of it. A few more doors here and there that obviously went to various rooms.
As far as impromptu bunkers went it was an extremely impressive one, but by now Sorun stopped being fazed by the things Nicole could do with the nanites. What was a single bunker when she'd constructed the entire city in under a half an hour once she'd gotten the plans together, really?
"So this is to be our little base of operations, hm?" Finitevus mused. He hummed and took a quick glance around, and though he tried to hide it Sorun saw there was a small glint of surprise in his eyes. "It's... admittedly well above adequate. Yes, I think this will do us very nicely."
Any other time Sorun would have imagined Nicole would have put on a bashful smile mixed with a bit of pride. He was saddened to see there wasn't even a hint of joy on her face. A given, considering everything happening, but to see her look so dour only went to sour his own mood even further.
"It wasn't much effort on my part," she blankly replied. "We should be able to monitor the situation above from here. And, hopefully, figure out what to do."
Sorun breathed heavily through his nose. It was a start in a hopeless situation, he supposed. "So," he said, turning around to the two, "where do we start first?"
