A/N- Man, we're a million words in and the story still hasn't explained why it's called 'Recursion Error' yet.


Recursion Error

Episode 80- The future really sucks


Used to be easier. Get by one day, rest in preparation for the next. Some were easier than others, some weren't. Still, routine was an easy enough concept to find comfort in, and with that came complacency - and Sorun found he enjoyed a complacent life.

And then Mobius happened, threw everything off kilter. Fight in a war he didn't want to fight in, die when he didn't want to die. Old way of life destroyed, adapt to the new. Had its own challenges in of itself, ones he himself was surprised in overcoming. Not for virtue, but merely for managing to stick it out long enough to acclimate. Its own respect in some regards.

But then, once again, he started to grow into complacency once again. Began carving a new routine out, a new life. Grew comfortable and quiet, had finally once more found a home to set himself down in. He'd started to finally believe happiness was something he could truly have after all. It was supposed to be the end of it there.

And then Enerjak happened. And that Emerald. And Sonic, once more turning Sorun's world upside down. His home, gone again. Complacency, gone again. Once more - once more - there was nothing but emptiness that he tried to fill with anger and spite over this entire situation. Some was aimed at Sonic, whose fault this all lied upon. It was his fault this future had changed, it was his fault he was put in the crystal, everything was his fault.

Hearing he'd lost his children had stayed Sorun's hand from lashing out at him, and made him realize that he wasn't completely to blame for this. That his only fault was in attempting, and admittedly succeeding in some regard, to saving the world, just at a... steeper cost than anticipated. Sorun couldn't fault him for that, even if he wanted to. So all that was left was bitterness. At the situation as a whole, mostly.

That and the fact his arms were tired. Having them shackled above your head apparently did that.

Knuckles - ever faithful to his duty regardless of the timeline it seemed, Sorun had snidely thought - as the chief enforcer to... whatever King Shadow's regime could be described as, empire, dominion, had taken them all back to the castle. For what reason they could only stipulate. That they all had knowledge of the old world, and King Shadow saw that as a threat for some reason. Their working assumption, at least. The officers, Knuckles included, hadn't been very talkative of the matter.

So here they were now. Back in a dungeon Sorun had escaped from not too long ago in a panicked haze, manacled to walls by cuffs made from pure energy emitted from outlets in the wall their wrists were cuffed to. Tails, the lucky boy - man now, Sorun had to remind himself - got an extra set of energy shackles just for his tails. Sorun didn't know whether to scoff in begrudging respect at the precaution or curse King Shadow's paranoia.

"So what's the plan, Sorun?" He looked up at the wide cell they'd been locked in, at his mirror image squatting on the ground in front of him, eyes cast upwards to meet his own. "What are we doing? Actually wanna bring the old timeline back?"

Sorun made a grunting sound as an affirmation.

"How's that gonna work?"

"Dunno. Find a way."

Sorun tilted his head a bit. "'Find a way.' Tails doesn't seem very convinced a way exists. None of them do. Why so desperate to go back anyways? What's so wrong with this world?" He stood up to his full height. "Everyone's older, sure, but even though we lost twenty-five years doesn't mean our body did. We didn't move on, even if the world did. Could still make something of it."

"I don't want to, though," Sorun argued. "Had a life, people, community. Fought and bled for it. Don't want to restart, not again. I want to go back to that life. When everything was easy, when I didn't have to worry." His eyes trailed down. "I want to go back to my friends. People that are the closest I have to family anymore. I don't want to restart and lose them if there's a way I could just get them back."

He liked that life too much. More than he realized, now that it was gone. Earth may have been gone, it was a fact he'd long accepted, but he'd made something nearly equivalent in that old Mobius. He refused to cast all that work aside, to have his own sacrifices mean absolutely nothing. He didn't deserve that. Neither did Sonic, who'd lost his own children to this whole mess. He'd get it all back or die trying. Damn the consequences.

"Well, we're gonna have to find a way out of this bind first before you do anything." Sorun's eyes turned up to the shackles cuffing him to the wall. A resigned look overtook his features. "Without our abilities, or even the skills necessary to escape this, I really doubt we're gonna find a way, though."

Another grunt left Sorun, this one more agreeing. It certainly was worrying, being trapped down here in a dungeon.

"Hey, uh, Sorun? Could you... maybe not mutter to yourself like that? Really freaking us out here."

They could have at least locked them up separately.

Wordlessly, Sorun turned his head to the left. Sonic was locked up next to him in the same position he was, followed by Tails, followed by Lara-Su. They didn't seem nearly as worried about all this as he did, a fact that made Sorun confused. A bit angered, even, when he saw the small smirk on Sonic's lips.

It was the same smirk. Even after all these years, he still had that same confident, cocky smirk Sorun hated so much. Like it was ingrained in his very being.

"Seriously, are you okay?" the hedgehog asked, face growing concerned. "You're really scaring me with-"

"Fuck you, Sonic." He missed the shocked and hurt look Sonic gave him when Sorun hung his head forwards. "I have nothing to say to you."

A silent beat passed. "Sorun-" Tails began.

"Fuck you too, Tails."

"Okay, you know what!?" This aggravated response came from Lara-Su, who'd moved as far as the shackles allowed her so she could glare directly at Sorun. Despite this, the Earthling didn't so much as stir. "We've just met, and I'll admit I don't know a whole bunch about you, but for someone who Sonic claims to be a Freedom Fighter you sure don't act like one!"

"Was a Freedom Fighter. I left." Sorun's eyes glanced to the side, at Sonic. "Didn't stop me from fighting though, now, did it? Going from fighting god himself right into this mess, glad you're asking if I'm fine with all this. I'm not."

Whether out of shame or wanting to give him space, Sonic looked away. Lara-Su glared harder, only growing angrier at Sorun's words.

"I don't have a whole lotta memories from the old timeline like the rest of you do, but I know the Freedom Fighters were legends. Heroes that saved the world and put others before themselves! Nothing about you says you were ever a Freedom Fighter."

"And who are you to judge?" Now he was looking up to meet Lara-Su's gaze, even if he was rapidly becoming more and more irritated with her. "Random person like you who only ever heard stories. You weren't there. Your words are empty."

"Hey, my words have plenty meaning!" she heatedly argued. "I'm a Guardian!"

Sorun's expression grew flat. "That title means nothing to me. It means nothing to anybody not an echidna." He looked down a bit, seeing bits of a white crest pattern on her chest above the line of her shirt and jacket. He scoffed. "Knuckles filling your head with nonsense of a worthless title like that? Genes and powers - those are the only worthwhile things you got from him." He looked back up at the echidna's face, a sneer on his face. "That and bullheadedness."

Based on the look Lara-Su was giving him, she would have punched him if the shackles weren't restraining her. "You don't know what you're talking about. There's nobody among echidna more respected than the Guardians! They have the biggest responsibility of making sure our kind is safe from danger!"

Sorun laughed out loud at that. "Oh, that's rich. Things back in the OG timeline would have went real smooth if that were the case." He looked back forwards, spiteful grin still on his face as he continued speaking. "Noble Guardians? Really? Here's what they really were: a cabal of old fools that groomed their children into taking over the title." Once more, he scoffed. "Guardian. Right. They didn't even care about all echidna kind, just the ones on Angel Island. Knuckles? I think he was the only person in that whole messed up family that saw the world was bigger than this fucking island, and he was the strongest Guardian ever with his powers. But if the results he got was indicative of a Guardian's worth, then I really don't see why you aspire to be one."

"And just what's so bad about being a Guardian!?"

"Oh, nothing much. Knuckles did his best. It's not like his people were torn apart by civil war. It's not like he failed to save nine-tenths of his whole species from being wiped out. It's not like he became a mad god-tyrant that threatened the whole world. Twice." A beat passed. "Oh, wait...!"

A low, seething breath that did nothing to calm her down left Lara-Su's mouth. "And I suppose you're so great by comparison, huh? And what have you done that makes you think you're so better than him?"

"Saved some towns. Saved the world that one time. Surprisingly my record's pretty fuckin' stellar compared to Knuckles'."

"What, and that gives you the right to make fun of all the echidna lives lost!? What if they were your own people!?"

Sorun lethargically turned his head towards Sonic. "Should you tell her or should I?"

"Would you knock it off, Sorun? Seriously," Sonic muttered out, smirk dropping and tone turning irritated. "I get the Guardian's aren't your favorite people-"

"Literally the only ones that were still left alive when I came to Mobius was Knuckles and his dad, and the whole species still almost got wiped out. Guardians didn't protect shit."

"I get it, but this isn't helping! So quit it." An uncharacteristically deep frown settled on the hedgehog's face. "Besides, you were never there for any of that, either. You're only getting all this from everything Knuckles ever told you."

Sorun rolled his eyes. "I'd point out how reliable a source of information that is along with, you know, all the dead echidna and insane cyber-psycho ones that were around, but fine. Have it your way." He sagged back against the wall, noting how the soreness in his raised arms was making him more irritable than the nearby echidna chained to the wall with him. She seemed to settle down in a huff and settled down as well, though he tried not to think too hard about her.

Maybe Sonic was right and he was being too hard on her. He wasn't an echidna; he didn't understand the cultural importance of a Guardian, or everything the title entailed. Even if from his perspective it didn't amount to much. But either way Sonic was right: this wasn't a conversation that was helping them out of this mess.

The moan Sorun heard besides him served as a reminder for just what kind of position they were in to begin with. Sonic had been pointing out how odd it was that they hadn't met up with Rotor and that other scientist he mentioned, Co-something, since they were in close proximity of the time machine when... whatever Sonic did went off, which, according to all evidence, should have meant they were left with memories of the original timeline.

Well, it became pretty clear what happened when the four of them had been locked in this dungeon room.

The walrus was shackled to the wall besides Sorun on his right side, already having been there when they'd arrived. Significantly older-looking than what Sorun remembered him as. Unlike them he was unconscious, and Sorun only needed a cursory glance over his body to tell him why. The bruises discoloring parts of his purple body. The fact his left tusk was broken in half. The long lacerations all around his body that cut through the tattered robe he wore and skin, as if he'd been struck repeatedly struck by something.

Nobody else wanted to comment on it, the Mobians on his left side were actually taking great care to avoid Rotor altogether, but Sorun saw it for what it was. Felt the rage boil through him as his irises had constricted at the sight of it. The brutalized and tormented body next to him. But what really set him off was how Sonic and Tails didn't seem overly concerned about it.

"Damn them..."

The door to the cell opened, making Sorun's and everyone else's heads snap forwards. The person that entered had been that one echidna he'd seen before when he'd snuck out of the castle - the woman. She was flanked by two more echidna guards dressed in dark uniforms, carrying those strange rifles he didn't recognize. Energy rifles of some kind, probably. Despite the dangers they posed he couldn't help but keep his eyes focused on the woman.

"You know, it's not too often we get dissenters that stir up as much trouble as you lot," she said. The longer she stood near the more and more Sorun disliked her. The haughty, superior tone in her voice, that confident smirk she wore and that damn look she was giving them. Him in particular for some reason. That "I'm better than you in every way" look, the way they were slightly closed and so unconcerned with everything. "It's gotta be so sad for you, though, Sonic. To go from being on top of the world to this lowly state. Don't know about you, but I'd say it's pretty fitting."

The look that was on Sonic's face didn't paint him as being nearly as amused as the echidna woman looked. "Hey, Lien-Da," he dryly stated, form slumping against the wall. "So you retained your memories of the other time like us, huh? How'd you pull that off?"

Sorun cocked an eyebrow in Sonic's direction. He sounded familiar with her, though he himself didn't recognize her or the name. He did see her brush a hand over something on her right arm, a strange metal band, but he didn't see the significance behind it.

"Oh, I had something special made up. Nothing you need to worry about." Her blue eyes shifted towards the side, right at Sorun. "As much as I'd love to catch up with you, I have other business to attend to. But we can get back to that later." She motioned to one of the guards besides her, who slung his rifle as he approached Sorun. "You. Boy. You're coming with us."

Confusion and a tinge of fear grew in Sorun as the echidna guard began fiddling with the energy shackles chaining Sorun to the wall. The fact Sonic had suddenly grown a worried expression didn't do much to help his nerves. "What do you want with him?" Sonic asked her. The uneasiness in his voice wasn't helping much, either.

"Who knows?" The echidna, Lien-Da, gave a shrug. "The king wanted to see him for some reason. But considering what I saw him setting up, I wouldn't count on him making it back here."

His arms finally being freed from being raised over his head was little comfort to Sorun, not after what he'd just heard. Nor was being poked in the back by a rifle held by the echidna who just released him. He honestly would have preferred to remain chained to the wall, but the look Lien-Da was giving him didn't leave room for much argument.

"Hurry up, kid, I don't got all day. Unless you think you're fast enough to dodge a photon beam going over two-hundred and ninety million meters a second at point-blank range?" The defeated slump in the teen's shoulders did enough to answer that question. He looked down, hoping she wouldn't see the submissive look on his face, but it didn't seem to do enough from the laugh he heard from her. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Come on."

Sorun couldn't help from gritting his teeth. The humiliation almost burned enough to make him forget the fear and worry for what was about to happen to him. Almost. He looked to the left, seeing both Sonic and Tails giving him worried looks. Even Lara-Su looked just about as worried as they did. Probably even more so.

Were it not for how grim the situation was looking and felt, he would have scoffed at the looks. As it was all he could manage was to slowly walk away with the three echidna. He heard the three whispering to themselves behind him, but he'd already been lead out of the room with the door snapping shut behind him before he could make out anything meaningful.

The guard behind him poked Sorun's back with the rifle again. For fear of getting a hole burned through him, he resisted the urge to try and slap the gun out of his hands, and settled for following the other two echidna marching in front of him.


There was a primal kind of fear Sorun felt as he was lead further down the dungeon by the three echidna. With all the media he'd consumed in life with similar situations, it was hard not to think about what possibly awaited him. Here, down here in this dark dungeon. Especially after he saw the state Rotor had been in.

It was probably the growing adrenaline that made him feel so wired, what was causing his breathing to quicken. His immediate desire was to try and flee down one of the corridors in the dungeon they passed, but ration told him that he wouldn't make it five feet before he got shot with a laser. Or they decided to save whatever powered the weapons and just run him down to physically restrain him. Both options were equally as viable, really, and without any of his abilities there was nothing Sorun could do in the situation.

Helplessness, dread, fear and anxiety, it was all racing through him and he hated so much that there wasn't anything he could do to stop it. That he was in this situation to begin with. Because of how wrong this timeline had gone. All of it. He hated all of it.

He tried taking his mind off of it, mainly failing to do so, by trying to examine Lien-Da as she and the guards lead him down the dungeon. He still didn't recognize her, but he saw some of the dreadlocks on her head were metal, artificial replacements. He'd wondered why those seemed familiar until he remembered Julie-Su had similar cybernetics, and just thinking that word made him wonder if she had been a part of that Dark Legion. Probably why Sonic had recognized her; he'd never actually encountered them himself, unlike him and the other Freedom Fighters. He couldn't help but be unsettled further by those thoughts, seeing as how unhinged everyone had always made them sound.

But what really drew his attention was the weapon clipped to her belt. The black, leather whip. The same kind of weapon that would leave marks like the ones he'd seen on Rotor. Those long, straight gashes.

"I honestly don't know why King Shadow is so interested in you. Or anything relating to you for that matter," Lien-Da said as they continued making their way through the halls. "As far as I could see you were pretty unremarkable even in the other timeline."

"... So you know me?" Sorun quietly asked, his voice barely above a murmur.

"I knew of you. Not much. Eggman had some info about you in a database I read, back when I and the Legion worked with him during 'that' time. And I knew further down the line the Republic and a whole bunch of other parties spent a lot of resources trying to save you from something relating to the Master Emerald. Not much beyond that." She turned her head to look at him as they continued walking, an inquisitive look on her face. "I can't for the life of me figure out why so many people would go to so much trouble just for some nobody like you, though."

With how he felt, Sorun couldn't even muster up the will to sigh at the degrading remark. He did, for some reason, feel the need to probe further. "If I'm such a forgettable person, why tell your king about me?"

"Oh, King Shadow doesn't have any memories of the other timeline, like most other people. I had to fill him in on some things. He's real worried anybody with original memories are going to try to do something to disrupt his rule, so he wants you all taken off the board. That's usually the fate that awaits all his enemies." That cruel grin returned to her face as she turned back forwards while giving a shrug. "Really you seem like such a low-level threat I never would have bothered, but he wants every single person who even knows about that timeline not under him to be eliminated, so what can you do?" Her head picked up. "Oh! here we are."

They arrived to the door of a room, not unlike a door that lead to one of the cells in this place. Lien-Da had opened the door and guided them in, with one of the guards shoving Sorun inside with his rifle. The inside of the room, oddly, was cleaner than most of the other rooms he'd seen in this dungeon, and there were computers and bits of electronic equipment scattered all around. Even the lighting was brighter.

But what really drew his attention was the thing in the center of the room. A metal table, like the kind they would strap someone down in at the dentist's office. It was fitted with leather straps more than likely used to restrain someone and, even more worryingly, wires and electrodes, though Sorun couldn't tell their purpose.

At the behest of the guard behind him, who seemed to only be capable of communicating by jabbing Sorun with his gun, he'd climbed onto the table. Lien-Da was the one who began strapping him secure to the table in addition to attaching various electrodes on his body. She maintained that cruel smirk of hers the entire time.

"You know, publicly speaking our government's not supposed to do things like this, but the great thing about being part of King Shadow's illegitimate enforcers is that we don't have to worry about things like that. Not that he even needs to bother; not like there'd be any use in anyone protesting." She tightened a strap around his wrist particularly tightly and gave it a mocking pat. Sorun stared. "But I mean, hey, I'm not complaining about how much creative freedom we get over interrogating criminals."

"'Creative freedom,'" Sorun repeated under his breath. "Is that what you call what you did to Rotor? Torturing him like that?"

"Calling a few lashes torture. Pfft. I had way worse growing up and training in the Dark Legion, and you don't see me crying about it. Besides, King Shadow did way worse to him than I did," Lien-Da said with a dismissive roll of her eyes. "At any rate, you should be thankful. Death by electrocution is one of the more merciful deaths criminals get around here." She tightened the last strap around his leg and then fully faced Sorun. "Then again I hear the engineers crank down the voltage on these things so it takes a few minutes to fry completely to death, but I'm not gonna tell people how to do their jobs."

Unconsciously Sorun's limbs fought against the restraints. He managed to keep a straight face, but he wasn't able to stop himself from shaking. Or even to look up at Lien-Da's face, who seemed to grow an even bigger grin when she saw his quavering body.

"That's enough."

The voice. It was one Sorun recognized, enough that he'd stopped his shaking, though the sensation of dread he felt didn't dissipate when he knew who the voice belonged to. And even then there was something wrong with it. The tone it was spoken in, the way the words came out. Like recognizing the sound itself but not the speaker.

Immediately the three echidna had formed a line and turned towards the voice, standing at attention. Following this Sorun heard footsteps - heavy, like metal striking the floor with each step. Being strapped to a table left little room for Sorun to move his head to look, though this proved unnecessary as the owner of the voice had stepped into his view.

For all appearances, outside of the golden crown and the red cape, this Shadow looked the exact same as the one Sorun knew. Not a hint of aging to be found on him, unlike everyone else he'd met so far. But when his eyes had turned to Sorun, he'd frozen in his restraints completely. Multiple emotions, contempt and rage and hatred, all played over his face and eyes, only adding to Sorun's confusion. There was nothing but pure hostility in his eyes, all directed at Sorun. Why? Why all that hate, when he'd never met this version? Was it just because he had knowledge of the original timeline, and that alone was enough for King Shadow to feel threatened? That alone?

He was severely overestimating Sorun if that were really the case, but the human himself wasn't able to voice this out of fear for the gaze that was burning into him. It was an even more intense glare than the one the other Shadow had given him when they'd first met.

"... You haven't aged a day." Of all the words Sorun expected the black and red hedgehog to say, that hadn't been them. He made a puzzled expression as a result. "Do you remember me?" King Shadow asked. They were words less said and more growled out, and were it not for the restraints Sorun would have shrank back further against the table were it possible. "Well?"

"I... only knew the other you. F-from before," Sorun answered in a small voice, blue eyes darting away from the crimson eyes staring at him.

"No. We've met."

More confusion. Uncertainty. That statement didn't make sense to Sorun. "Wha-" he began, though only got that far before one of Shadow's gloved hands grabbed at Sorun's face and forcefully positioned it so that he was staring at King Shadow's face. He'd gasped out in panic and squirmed harder in the restraints, but had to stop when King Shadow painfully squeezed down on Sorun's face as a result of his struggling. Mercifully, he'd relaxed his grip when Sorun stopped struggling, though he still kept a firm grip on him and forced the two to maintain eye contact.

"You remember me," King Shadow claimed. "Decades ago. Above the sky at Space Colony ARK. You disrupted the plans I had for this world."

"What? I 'ever-" Sorun's face was released mid-sentence by King Shadow. He'd winced in response at the sudden release, and then managed to speak out normally without the hand disrupting his speech. "I don't know what you're talking about."

For whatever reason, King Shadow's glower only increased. "You stole two of the Chaos Emeralds from the main weapon. You attempted to cripple me. You twisted my limbs and ground all of my bones to dust. It took me hours to regenerate from the wounds I sustained because of you!"

Maybe it was the confusion masking the terror Sorun felt. Or, strangely enough, seeing a familiar face despite the fact it wasn't friendly. Acceptance for his situation slowly setting in. Whatever it was, somehow Sorun found enough will to tell King Shadow plainly, "I honestly have no clue what you're talking about. We've never met before this point." He'd even managed to do it without stuttering.

"..." Miraculously, the intense glare King Shadow held settled into a heavy scowl. He regarded Sorun for what seemed like whole minutes, silent and unmoving while the three echidna on the side continued to stand at attention. He found something in Sorun's face, though he personally wasn't sure of what, and then he finally turned to the three echidna. "I'm overseeing to this execution personally," he told them. "Leave. Now."

Sorun heard a series of "Yes, your grace" from the three echidna, followed by their footsteps departing the room. King Shadow only shifted his gaze back to Sorun once the door had closed, leaving the two of them alone in the room. The half-Mobian's expression, oddly enough, had changed. Still angered, but it was much more subdued compared to what it had been a minute prior. More... confused. Or solemn. Sorun wasn't completely sure. He wasn't sure of much except for how peculiar the situation had become.

"I was never much one for public executions. Necessary at times, in matters for 'moralizing' the masses, but I always found the simpler and expedient solution was more often than not the best one." King Shadow turned around and began slowly walking towards a nearby computer console. Sorun saw there were wires connecting it to the table he was strapped to. "One memory that sticks out to me is during the time I was wrestling control of the world away from that infuriating Robotnik. I'd planned on beheading him in front of as many broadcast cameras as I could fit in a room, but he'd escaped my grasp a day before his execution. When I caught him the second time I decided to just plunge a Chaos Spear through his heart and save myself the trouble. As it turned out people were just as satisfied to see a corpse anyways."

He began typing away at the console. Sorun began fidgeting in the restraints again when he heard electrical sparking sounds.

"I suppose at this points it's just habit for me," King Shadow continued. "It's simpler just to remove things that don't belong. Easier. And the world was always better for it. I don't see why this should be any different."

There was a quiet, yet audible whirring sound that reached Sorun's ears. Like the sound of some electrical device beginning to charge up. Sorun began struggling harder in his restraints, a small, uncontrollable whimper leaving him when he saw blue spark jumping out from the cables. "No, no no no please don't please I don't want it stop it stop it pleae-!"

In an instant, King Shadow was at Sorun's side. And then, bizarrely, he'd reached out and grabbed at the electrodes that were strapped to Sorun's body. The diodes that had been taped to his arms, the coat's sleeves having been rolled up, the ones on his chest underneath his clothes and the ones clamped to his head. Even more bizarrely was that King Shadow removed them all, and quickly at that. Thankfully quickly enough, as it was when he set down the last electrode on the table and removed his hand they all began sparking.

Sorun's body automatically flinched when it happen. Small streams of blue electricity were being spit out of the electrodes, and the voltage was enough that they were jumping around on the metal table. Thankfully, he himself was untouched from it due to their removal. It wasn't what he'd expected to happen. Not the electrical torture he hadn't been prepared for followed by death. Just... him sitting there on the table, completely confused as he shifted between looking at the dancing electrodes and King Shadow, who was staring down at him with an unreadable expression.

Without making a sound, King Shadow turned around and walked back to the console. After a few keystrokes the electricity was cut off: the whirring sound disappeared and the electrodes stopping jumping around and spitting electricity. Not missing a beat, he'd turned towards the door to the room, walked to it, and exited the room while swiftly closing the door behind him. As Sorun laid there, catching his breath in heavy heaves, he managed to make out muffled voices beyond the walls, though he wasn't able to make much out. There was then the sound of departing footsteps, and he'd thought that'd been the end to whatever was happening until the door opened again. King Shadow stepped back in, once more closing the door behind him, and Sorun found himself growing still.

"It's a shame the person that set this device up miscalculated how much electricity a member of your species can withstand compared to a Mobian," King Shadow said, his voice breaking the tense silence. "I was so looking forwards to seeing you suffer a painful death for the humiliation you handed me, but much to my consternation you died instantly once the power kicked on. Lien-Da seemed equally as disappointed and went to go confront the engineer at my order. I imagine he won't live to see tomorrow morning as a result of his blunder."

"... You're... not killing me after all...?" a quiet Sorun asked, the faintest bit of hope in his voice. Those hopes were dashed when King Shadow shook his head.

"That's not what's happening." Slowly, he began walking towards Sorun's table. "The memory of what you did to me aboard the ARK haunted me for years, you know. Those Chaos Arms bending and twisting me in impossible positions. I'd never felt such excruciating physical pain, and never have since." He stopped besides Sorun, eyes boring down into his own. "When I was informed of your capture, I wanted to do the same to you. To break your body like you did mine. To beat your head until it was nothing but mush like I did that meddlesome scientist when he refused to answer my questions. Cobor, I believe his name was."

The name rang familiar to Sorun's ears. The other scientist that had been working with Rotor on the time machine, that had been his name. He remembered Sonic wondering why he hadn't been down there with them and Rotor. He supposed he knew now, and the knowledge made Sorun loudly gulp as a result. "So, uh... s-so what's happening now?" he stuttered out in question.

"What's happening now is I have an image to maintain as king. Showing mercy is a sign of weakness. But you dying to the incompetence of a single engineer is a completely different matter entirely." King Shadow glanced to the side. "I'd call it a shame if the man weren't so replaceable, but still, he did... somewhat admirable work. I'll have to remember to have someone draft a letter to his wife and child commemorating his service to me." He looked back down at Sorun. "But don't get any ideas. You're not leaving this room alive."

A bit of disbelief mixed into Sorun's expression. "You're killing someone off just because you don't want to torture me to death? Even though you actually do?" It sounded like sheer lunacy to him, causing Sorun to shake his head. "What the hell kind of illogic even is that?"

There wasn't a single facet of any of this that made sense to Sorun. He couldn't figure out King Shadow's actions, nor even the words he spoke. Why he was speaking as if they knew each other when the two of them had never spoken before today. The mention of "Chaos Arms", something that sounded vaguely like his Bringer Claws, made some uneasiness stir in Sorun, but that was still impossible. There was no way he could know about that power.

None of this made sense.

"I have my reasons," King Shadow stated in response to Sorun's question.

"Your reasons," the teen repeated. "Okay, then do you maybe mind divulging these so-called 'reasons' to me? I'm dying anyways, thanks to you no less. It's the least you owe me."

Indignation crossed over King Shadow's face, causing Sorun to clamp his mouth shut and question why he'd suddenly grown so lippy to the man holding his life in his hands. Thankfully, the king had let out a small, almost imperceivable sigh before addressing Sorun.

"... You could say it's out of thanks."

"Are you being for real right now?" That's what Sorun wanted to say. He didn't out of fear of retribution, so instead he said, "I don't understand."

"I made a promise to somebody once, long ago. To protect this world. Back then, twenty-five years ago, when I'd just been awoken from cryostasis I'd been... admittedly volatile. Angry. Something very dear to me had been taken away and I wanted nothing more than watch the entire world burn for what it had done. So I set out to do exactly that."

"The orbital cannon," Sorun suddenly realized. "The one on the ARK. You told me about it once."

"Is that so?" King Shadow's eyes narrowed at Sorun. There was confusion and some other emotion in his look that Sorun couldn't identify. "But yes, the cannon. My plan was to use it to destroy the entire planet. But then you stopped me and absconded with two of the Chaos Emeralds needed to power the cannon, permanently thwarting my efforts." He turned around, leaning against the table while crossing his arms. Sorun just stared on. "I never heard of you again until today."

None of this rang a bell in Sorun's memories. "And... you're sure this was me, 'cause-"

"I remember perfectly well your face and voice. Even the coat. You wore this exact coat that day." He glanced down to eye the blue coat Sorun wore, the helix designs on the coat's breasts and sleeves. "I would never forget something so distinctive."

Well, that clinched it even further. King Shadow was right: the coat was too distinctive. And Sorun had it on good authority he should be the only person around with it. It still didn't satisfy any of the questions that were zipping through his head, such as what King Shadow was even talking about and why Sorun had no recollection of a single word he was saying. And though he tried, he couldn't come up with any reasonable explanation for what he was hearing.

"It was because you rendered the orbital cannon inoperable by stealing two of the seven Chaos Emeralds needed to power it that I'm thanking you," King Shadow continued. "I had some time to think following that... encounter of ours, up there and aboard the space station. I came back down to Mobius afterwards, to truly look around and see just what was so special about this planet." From how much of King Shadow's face Sorun could see from this angle, he saw it wrinkle in frustration, like he'd been exposed to something sickening. "It was utter madness - an entire world at war with itself. A madman vying for world domination and destroying everything in his way, a deranged empress in the eastern lands attacking the villages and settlements and empowering the clans of bandits, a kingdom of Mobians in disarray, an oppressive Overlander government, the echidna of this island tearing themselves apart in civil war, villains and miscreants left and right plotting and planning inane schemes, it was, it was..."

He looked so angry and upset Sorun wouldn't have been surprised if King Shadow began shouting right there. He managed to calm himself down, though, taking in a deep breath and taking a second to compose himself. It was after he shook his head that the king continued speaking.

"Insanity. This entire world was besieged by insanity," he told Sorun. "So I decided to do what I promised to do. I was going to save this world." He rose his right hand up, greenish energy swirling between his fingers briefly. "And as it happened I had the power to make this desire a reality. I made this world my own, battle after battle and conquest after conquest. There wasn't really anybody alive who could match me, though some certainly tried. They died. I subjugated and destroyed everything in my way until this entire world was mine."

"I can understand the intention behind wanting to take over the world for good intentions, but this is coming from the same guy who openly admitted to me that he just offed some innocent engineer. Along with all the other shady stuff I've seen around..." Sorun pointed out.

"Yes, you wouldn't be the first one to criticize some of my policies. And it seems no matter how many times I stomp these protestors out more always rise up out of the woodwork," King Shadow grumbled out. "People always seem so quick to judge how I rule but forget all the good that I've done for the planet as a result. The world is unified under my rule. The death tolls of the past ten years are a fraction of what they were during those days of madness. Nobody dies of hunger and medical technology was distributed to every corner of the globe. Pollution caused by Robotnik's ambitions was eliminated and measures were taken to ensure similar damage was never done to the environment ever again. Crime is nearly nonexistent. People are free to live their lives as they see fit as long as they follow my laws. What exactly is so wrong with this world that you don't agree with what I've done to save it?"

"Yeah, sure, all that stuff sounds fine. Except for the people you're torturing and killing in a castle dungeon to maintain that status quo," Sorun rebuked. "What about their lives? Are they just not good enough to live in your world?"

At hearing that, King Shadow turned around so they the two could face each other once again. "I do what is necessary so that the good I've done for this world is not undone. If people take umbrage to that, then that is their problem. They're free to disagree in the privacy of their own homes. But actions against the status quo will not be tolerated. I will not allow even the smallest risk of disrupting my world order to persist," he said to Sorun. "If a single person must die so that a hundred others can live in peace, then it is a worthwhile sacrifice." His eyes narrowed at Sorun. "Do you believe differently? Would you truly kill a hundred people just so that one would live?"

"Yes. I would."

It hadn't been the answer King Shadow was expecting. That much was obvious from the way the anger on his features melted into confusion, uncertainty. Like he couldn't comprehend the answer he'd been given. He'd looked down a bit, as if he were attempting to think over the answer and puzzle it out, but in the end he'd just lifted his eyes back up to Sorun's with that same confused look that betrayed how he couldn't understand.

"How can you even justify such an answer?" King Shadow demanded, halfway between confused and angered.

"How are the lives of a hundred people more valuable than a single person's life?" Sorun asked back, voice completely even and serious. "Because there's more of them? Is that it? Is the fact every life is unique and unquantifiable not taken into consideration?"

King Shadow shook his head. "What does that even matter? Of course lives are precious, but so are the ones connected to those lives. Killing one person as opposed to a hundred causes less pain overall for every person connected to those one-hundred and one lives. It's the lesser of evils. It's just."

"It's just because you say it's just. King." A scoff came from Sorun, and his head rolled to the side. "There's an adage where I'm from, about six people tied to train tracks with a train bearing down on them. Five tied to one track the train's heading for, one tied to another track. You have the option of pulling a lever to divert the train to the other track." Sorun rolled his head back so his eyes met with King Shadow's. "You're the kind of person that would pull the lever and kill one person. I'm the kind of person that would let the train kill five people. I'm afraid it really is just that simple."

They stared at each other for a long while. Blue and red eyes staring at each other, unblinking. Sorun tried thinking over King Shadow's words, but no matter how many times he replayed the voice he just couldn't see the sense in it. How killing ordinary civilians was a "necessary act" even if it meant others got to live in peace. The reasoning behind it just wouldn't click for him, and he found himself hating even the very idea. And it seemed, from the expressions flashing over King Shadow's face, he was reaching the same conclusion as Sorun. They broke eye contact, King Shadow stepping away while Sorun remained in place, strapped to the table.

"It seems we can't come to an agreement on this," King Shadow admitted after a long moment of silence. "But nevertheless, you're wrong. I only need to look out a window and see the world I've created to know it. Your way is nothing but insanity."

"I'm the sanest person on this whole island. You're the crazy person killing random people in a torture dungeon." Sorun's own glare intensified. "Killing that scientist, Cobor. Torturing Rotor, executing me, probably planning to execute Sonic, Tails, and Lara-Su, too. Just because we all know about the original timeline. Where the fuck is the sense in any of that?"

King Shadow's face wrinkled in displeasure. "Come, now, you're better than using crass language like that," he chided. Were it not for the anger Sorun felt he actually would have felt amused at that tone he'd taken with him. "Sorun... was the name Lien-Da gave to me," he continued, tone turning back to his serious, grave way of speaking. "I told you that not even the smallest threat to my world order cannot be allowed to persist. I can't have people with knowledge of another time, with another way of living that ignorant people would perceive as a better way of life than this one, running around. And I can't have people like that blue hedgehog try and stage some kind of coup to usurp me as king just for him to undo all my work and the good I've done in an attempt to change things back to the way they were in his time. And I certainly can't have scientists with working knowledge of time travel exist." He shook his head. "The old echidna scientist died because he wouldn't talk no matter how many times I beat my questions into his skull, and serves as an example to the walrus. He's been... stubbornly resistant to my attempt at extracting information, but I've cracked worse. The others will tell me all they know, whether they want to or not, and then they'll be summarily executed. Lien-Da can fill in the rest with her knowledge, and once she's outlived her usefulness in this matter I'll dispose of her, too."

"So that's it? You'll even kill people loyal to you because you're that paranoid over your rule being disrupted?" Sorun asked in disbelief. "Even Knuckles? Your big chief enforcer? The guy whose face is plastered everywhere?"

King Shadow waved a hand. "It's a regrettable loss, but a necessary one. It would have been quiet, but his daughter just had to get wrapped up in this, too. I'll need to dispose of his wife as well for her connection; that entire family is just too much of a risk. But everyone else will get to live on happily in honor of their sacrifices. That is all the justification I need, Sorun."

Sorun's eyes narrowed, and then closed. Something that sounded like disappointment left him. "It's not sacrifice if you don't give them the choice."

The look King Shadow gave him was the equivalent of an invisible shrug. "It's as you said. I'm king. My word is law, and the power to dictate what is right and wrong lies with me."

"So that's how it is..." With a resigned sigh, Sorun allowed his head to thunk back against the table as he opened his eyes up at the ceiling. "So what about me? Why all this? Why bother with the words when I'm dead anyways?" He couldn't figure out why King Shadow would have any reason to bother with any of this, unless he really was just that bereft of entertainment. And even then it didn't explain why he wasn't being slowly shocked to death.

"Right. You." Sorun found himself blinking in surprise. King Shadow's voice had gone quieter. "Certain details were shared to me by Lien-Da. What the previous world was like, what that version of me did." There was a small clacking sound, like teeth gnashing together. "Why that version of me chose to throw his lot in with those insolent soldiers at G.U.N..." he growled out, sounding more angered than Sorun had heard him since entering this room. It was surprising enough that Sorun had lifted his head back up to see King Shadow, but by then he'd already taken a calming breath. He looked back at Sorun, saying, "According to her you, for whatever reason, were trapped inside of the Master Emerald and that various governments and organizations tried to find a solution for removing you. Is this correct?"

"It was a bit more complicated than that, but yeah," Sorun answered.

"Including G.U.N.?" he pressed, to which Sorun nodded. "Why?"

"Well... you asked them, from what I was told. The other you," Sorun clarified. "You had a lot of pull with them, being their top agent and all."

King Shadow closed his eyes, and then let out a small breath. "I see." He opened his eyes back up to look at Sorun. "And what were we? In that time? What significance did you and I hold towards each other?"

For some reason he didn't sound nearly as demanding as he was with the rest of his questions. It almost sounded to Sorun like King Shadow was simply just asking him. He couldn't fathom why this was, but lacking a reason to refuse him, even out of spite, he decided to answer.

"We were friends," Sorun honestly answered. "That's the only reason."

"..." The mouth on King Shadow's tan muzzle thinned. He looked down again, silently contemplating something as he thought Sorun's words over. Sorun saw his shoulders fall slightly. "I think I can see why, hearing you speak," he said, looking back up at Sorun. "You. Those words, some of them at least. Your species, your... your eyes."

Sorun made an odd expression. "I... don't understand."

"You just remind me of someone. Maybe that's why." Without elaborating any further he stepped back to Sorun's table. Sorun felt his heartrate pick back up when King Shadow began to reattach the electrodes. "It's because of that and out of thanks for preventing me from destroying the planet in my blind rage that I'm offering you mercy. As well as... recognition, for the relationship we shared." The final electrodes were clamped back onto his head, prompting the half-Mobian to turn around and make his way back to the console connected to the table. "I'm modifying the amperage on the device," he explained, his fingers running against the console. "You'll be struck with a high enough voltage that you won't even realize what's happened. Death will be instantaneous. Painless."

"I'm not feeling very gracious." Sorun's eyes glanced down at the wires connected to the table when he heard a small, whirring sound.

"I suppose you'll have to live with that with what little time you have left." King Shadow stepped away from the console and began making his way to the doorway. He stopped right next to Sorun's table, his eyes glancing down at the human one last time. "I don't expect you to understand, but everything I do is for the sake of the entire world. I've done too much good for it all to be undone." He turned his head back forwards. "Goodbye, Sorun."

Without any further words passing between them, King Shadow walked out of Sorun's field of view. He heard the door to the room open, and then close, followed by the muffled sound of a single pair of heavy footsteps disappearing down the hallway.

Sighing, Sorun laid his head back on the table. Slowly but steadily the whirring sound from the wires and nearby capacitors was growing louder. He didn't know precisely how much time he had until they were fully charged, but he didn't imagine it would be long until all that electricity got discharged into him. Escape would have been ideal, but he didn't have a way of accomplishing that.

"Well, this fucking sucks," Sorun morosely thought. He felt grief and sadness eat away at him as, once again, it seemed like he was going to die. "I got this far just to go out like this. 'Least I won't feel anything, but... yeah, that's not really that big a comfort. Goddam-"

A new sound tore Sorun from his thoughts and caused him to look towards it. There'd been a small, rattling sound that came from a nearby ventilation grate on the ceiling. It rattled a few more times, and then a sound like something striking the gate was heard. It fell away from the ceiling, clattering on the ground below, and from the resulting hole in the ceiling a head popped out upside-down, looking down towards Sorun.

Sorun was pretty certain he'd never been so relieved to see Tails' face ever before. With all the emotions he'd been subjected to today he wasn't so sure what to feel about that.

"Sorun! Hey!" A smile spread over the upside-down fox's face, and a hand extended from the vent hole and waved at him. Sorun stared at him dumbfounded, losing the capacity to speak momentarily as the Mobian dropped out of the vent. "Hold on just a second, alright? I'll get you out of there as quick as I can!"

"Uh... sure, yeah..." Sorun mumbled out, not managing to say much else as he saw the fox dart towards the console connected to the table. He still heard the nearby capacitors whirring louder and louder - much louder than they had been the first time around when they'd went off while detached from Sorun - and the copious amount of blue sparks flying out from the cables and wires wasn't doing anything to calm his nerves. He actually began to feel his hair stand up on end and was beginning to fear that Tails was being too slow and that'd he'd end up dying. Again.

But, in the end, it seemed those fears were unfounded. There was a loud clunk! sound, followed by the whirring sound abruptly quieting down to nothing while at the same time the blue sparks died off. A massive sigh of relief came from Sorun, who quickly was growing sick and tired from brushing so close to death so repeatedly.

And then the anger began setting in. Anger at Lien-Da for everything she did and that haughty expression she wore and that sadistic smile. Anger at King Shadow and every single thing about him. Anger at Sonic, anger at himself for being too weak to do anything and having to be saved again, anger at this whole situation.

"Hey, Sorun, it's alright. You're safe now." The words barely reached Sorun's ears as Tails stepped besides him and began undoing his restraints, though he did feel another spike of intense anger at that patronizing voice he had used on him. He couldn't manage to focus on Tails, though, more focused on the mirror image of himself sitting on top of a nearby metal box bolted to the wall, legs swinging freely as the two Soruns looked at one another.

"Okay, great, se we live to see another day," the Sorun across the room demurred, resting his head against a closed fist with the elbow leaning on his leg. "Do we actually have a plan, though, or are we just winging it again?"

There was a question he wished he had an answer to. "I don't know. Let's just see what happens and we'll go from there," Sorun muttered in response. He felt Tails stop undoing the restraints momentarily, and he glanced at the fox to see him giving Sorun an odd look. Whatever had given him pause seemed to wear off, though, as he then resumed freeing Sorun while also removing the electrodes. A few seconds later, and he was completely free of the table.

"Alright, there we are." After freeing him, Tails had reached forwards and gently gripped one of Sorun's arms to help him sit up. His voice had taken on a soothing tone. Sorun wanted to punch him for it. "It's alri-"

"Don't fucking touch me." Barely suppressing a snarl, Sorun tore his arm out of the shocked fox's grasp, barely avoiding lashing out at him. He turned his back towards him, head bowed towards the ground with teeth clenched out of indignation. Humiliation for having to be saved, for everything that had gone on so far today. Those sounds, those damn pitiful sounds he'd made in front of King Shadow when he thought he was going to be shocked. The squirming.

Goddammit, he hated all of it.

Tails, who'd recoiled his arm in shock, slowly lowered it. His expression turned into a scowl. "Sorun, do you really have to use those kinds of words?" he asked, sounding partly uncomfortable and partly irritated.

"Fuck you, you're an adult now, I can say whatever the fuck I want." A beat passed as Sorun stared down at the floor. "How'd you get out?"

"Knuckles came and freed us," Tails explained, causing Sorun to feel some surprise. "When we got out I got into the castle's systems, managed to reroute most of the guards. I found out from there where they took you so I came to get you out." There was a shuffling sound as Tails crossed his arms. "You're welcome, by the way."

Even after hearing that Sorun didn't thank him. "So Knuckles just changed his mind or what? Thought you said he wasn't helping out," he muttered out.

"He had his own plan."

"And that plan involved us getting arrested and me almost dying, huh?"

"He didn't want to arouse suspicion, and seeing as we're all free and you're fine I don't see why you're complaining."

Sorun made a scoff. "Yeah, well... I'm still punching him when I see him."

He heard a small, disappointed sigh from behind him. "Sorun," Tails began, admonishing, "I know you're stressed out over everything, but attacking our friends isn't gonna solve anything."

"I'm still a bit salty over the whole Enerjak thing. I'm owed one solid hit." His hands gripped the edge of the table, and Sorun pushed off it so that he was finally standing up. He rotated his arms a bit, and then made a small sigh as he turned to meet Tails' face. He saw him staring intently at him. "Still, uh... yeah, sorry. Thanks," he mumbled, glancing away so he didn't have to meet Tails' eyes. He felt that just maybe he should have been a bit more concerned over himself that he only recognized the gratitude he felt for being saved far after that fact, but he managed to shake it off quickly enough. There were more important things he wanted to focus on. "I found out what happened to that Cobor guy Sonic was talking about. Sha... the king beat him to death."

Tails flinched, heavily. He glanced down, ears flattened halfway and a weary breath leaving him. "Yeah. Knuckles told us," he said in a somber tone. "His daughter went to go take Rotor to the nearest hospital for his... you know, the injuries. She said she'd come and help right after."

Sorun made a small nod. "Alright, so what are we doing? What's the plan?" he asked him.

"Well... I think it goes without saying that we need to get King Shadow off the throne," Tails said to him. "I know you weren't, well... there during that time, but Sonic and I have the memories to compare how things are here compared to how they are then, and we're in agreement that what Shadow's doing is wrong."

A troubled hum left Sorun. They decided to throw a coup, right in the middle of this? Sorun didn't want a coup or a change in government; he wanted things to go back to normal. He almost said as much to Tails until he remembered King Shadow's words, and how desperate he was to make sure he remained in power and would retaliate against all threats against the world order he created.

In the end, Sorun held his tongue. If he, or any of them, wanted to have any chance at doing anything at all, he needed to be dealt with first and foremost. They wouldn't get anything done with King Shadow hounding their every footstep, and Sorun didn't like his odds of outlasting the immortal, super-powered Mobian.

"Okay..." he agreed in a careful tone, "so how are we going to go about doing that?"

"Well, Sonic already went to go confront King Shadow. They're probably fighting right now as we're speaking," Tails informed him. "I'd like to say Sonic's got this in the bag, but, well..." He frowned a bit. "Shadow's Shadow, and Sonic, he's... he isn't really in his prime anymore. I can't help him fight, but you..."

"Yeah, sure, if I had my powers, but I don't," Sorun expressed with a shake of his head. "So unless you're carrying around a Chaos Emerald or two we're sunk."

For some reason, Tails smirked. "Funny you should say that," he said, and then reached down towards the toolbelt strapped to his waist. Sorun watched the movements with a curious eye, blinking in confusion when he saw Tails open a small, square pouch on the belt. He was about to ask what Tails was doing until he pulled it out.

Sorun stared, wide-eyed, at the blue, glowing gem that was held in Tails' hand. The blue Chaos Emerald. So similar to the one he was accustomed to in the other timeline it may as well have been the same one. He couldn't help but adopt a dumbfounded expression, while Tails held a cheeky smile at seeing Sorun's reaction. "..." Blinking a couple more times, Sorun looked down from the Emerald and at the pouch on Tails' belt. "Dude, how the hell did you even fit that in there?" he asked, noting how the pouch itself was smaller than the large gem Tails was holding. It hadn't even looked deformed in the slightest from holding such a large item.

"Oh, uh... it's bigger on the inside." At Sorun's blank stare, Tails was forced to elaborate. "I invented it a few years ago." Suddenly looking abashed, he turned his head away from Sorun. "Mostly 'cause Mina kept telling me the garage was too cluttered. I kept trying to tell her it was fine, but the kids kept getting into things, so... yeah."

"Of course you managed to figure out hammerspace and- wait, Mina?" Sorun did a double-take on Tails. "Li-like the singer? Her? You ended up marrying her?"

"U-um, yeah. She's my wife," Tails confirmed. He made a sheepish laugh, a small blush creeping across his face. "It's actually a long story since-"

"But-but what about her and Ash!? Last time I saw them they looked like they were in a really steady relationsh... you know what, I don't really care." He shook his head to take his attention off of the topic and then began reaching towards the Chaos Emerald Tails held. "Whatever, good for you, gimme that."

Sorun's intention had been to take the Chaos Emerald and use it to manifest one of his powers. Which one he hadn't decided on, maybe Yamato, but the allure of the Emerald and its power had been so tempting that he hadn't even thought that far ahead before reaching forwards to take it from Tails.

But then Tails pulled the Emerald away before Sorun's fingers could brush up against it.

"..." After a long, slow blink, Sorun's eyes slowly traveled back to the Emerald, which was being held away from Sorun by Tails. He almost thought the fox was playing a joke on him first until he saw the serious look in his eyes. "Tails, give it."

"I can't yet," Tails said to him. "We have to irradiate you first."

"..." Sorun's arm fell slack at his side as he regarded Tails with a dumbfounded expression. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I know what happened to you while inside the Master Emerald. At least I managed to piece the important bits together," Tails murmured, looking down and cupping his chin with one hand while the other one ran its fingers over the blue gem. "When it comes to Chaos energy it's an entirely unique cosmic force separate from time. Er, well, technically speaking entropy, but same thing regardless. Chaos Emeralds are completely immune to the effects of time, and the Master Emerald is pretty much just a giant, more powerful Chaos Emerald, which is why you were essentially 'frozen' in time when you got put in there. It's probably why you weren't affected by the chronal shift when the timeline was altered - it managed to protect you since you were inside the thing - but the shock must have caused some reaction that affected your own chronological clock as well as ejecting you from-"

Sighing out loudly, Sorun held a hand up to stop Tails mid-sentence. "For god's sake stop the technobabble and give me the barebones answer."

Both of Tails' arms dropped and he gave Sorun a flat look. "The Master Emerald de-aged you. From the looks of it not much, probably just a few months, six at most, which is how your injuries disappeared."

"Was that so hard?" Well, at least that question was answered. Explained the hair at least - he'd have to grow it out again, he'd liked having it reach past his chin - but it was still nice knowing that- "Wait, hold on." Sorun's eyes suddenly widened in realization. "Oh, fuck, it didn't rewind me so far back I lost my ability to touch Chaos Emeralds without absorbing them, did it? I need that!"

Based on the look Tails was giving him, that was most likely the case. The shortened hair lead credence to that fact, and when he thought back to that day that they opened the portal and saw Earth, he recalled his hair having a longer length than this. Probably. The more he thought on it the less certain he actually was with that particular detail.

"I'm... actually not so sure," Tails admitted to him. "We could have you test it out by touching this one, but-"

"But if I did lose it I'll be stuck with it and out twelve years," Sorun finished with a resigned sigh. That was a serious problem. A permanent power would be nice, but he couldn't swap them out as opposed to just using an Emerald. And he wasn't too keen on shaving years off again, either. Suddenly his eyes held a lot more trepidation as he eyed the Emerald in the Mobian's hand. "So what was that you were saying about irradiating me?" he asked.

"Well, if you need to get that ability back if you did lose it, then we just need to repeat the circumstances that gave you those powers to begin with, don't we?" Tails asked him. "So we just need to give you a heavy dose of radiation. Aaaand, as it happens King Shadow hoards a lot of weapons and artifacts and keeps them in vaults inside the castle dungeon. And as it just so happens I found out where he's keeping a cache of old Overlander nuclear warheads down here," he finished, a small, proud smirk spreading over his face. "I just gotta disassemble one to get to the plutonium core."

Sorun, by contrast, didn't have so much as a hint of a smirk on his face. "Do you even know how to do that?"

Tails actually managed to look insulted by the question. "Sorun, I could build a nuke if I wanted to. Not that I ever would," he hastily added, "but I could." He gestured to his belt full of pouches. "Plus I got a whole workshop's worth of tools with me, so it shouldn't be any trouble."

"Well, when you put it like that..."


It was only after spending an extended period of time alone with this older Tails did Sorun realize how different he was. Watching him skulk down hallways with Sorun close behind in tow, the way he exuded sheer confidence when he tore apart a bunch of wall consoles to hack through any doors in their way, the lack of pause. The determination in his steps.

Hell, even his voice kept catching Sorun off guard. The way it sounded so similar to what he was accustomed to, but more mature now. The boy was a man now. A family man at that, which made Sorun feel twice as awkward since he hadn't grown up along with everyone else. If anything he'd actually gone backwards, physically at least. And now he felt like the kid. It was almost insulting, like the universe was playing yet another cruel joke on him amid all the others.

Then again, twenty-five years was twenty-five years. It was practically a lifetime. To that end Sorun made the decision that the Tails he was with now, the one working on disassembling a nuclear missile they'd found locked in a storage room while Sorun himself sat on top silently watching, may as well have been a completely different person from the Tails of the past that he knew. Practically strangers. And really, what could Sorun have possibly been to Tails? A friend that hadn't even been there for a full year of his life when by now he was in his mid-thirties? Even less than that considering he was working with two sets of memories, one of which Sorun was completely absent from?

No. There was little substance there. In a weird way he was and wasn't his Tails. It made Sorun muse if he should even care about the fox past his utility and usefulness, which made him consider how cold that reasoning sounded. Regardless of what they meant to each other back then, he'd had time to reflect on the fact people had tried to save Sorun while he was inside the Master Emerald. They'd all failed, evidently, but he couldn't fault their efforts. And he didn't want to think of someone like a tool and nothing more when they were a person. That was going too close to King Shadow's philosophy, which he absolutely refused to entertain.

But it was still hard to see the person below him and picture the timid nerdy kid who liked building things that he knew in the past. Twenty-five years did a lot to change someone, apparently. Well, either that or marriage.

"I can't believe he fucks an idol. My man." Sorun palmed the surface of the missile and slid off it, feet touching the ground and then spinning around so he could admire the missile. On the outside it didn't look that special. It looked like an ordinary missile, smaller than the ICBMs of his own world by a large margin. Small enough to fit in this room, at least, which was about the same size as the one that held the Master Emerald was. There were others, all shelved on a giant rack of all things, though Tails assured him he only needed the one to fulfill his plan of irradiating Sorun.

It was a plan Sorun himself had many reservations over.

"So how exactly is this gonna work without me dying of radiation poisoning?" Sorun asked Tails, crossing his arms and arching his eyebrow in the fox's direction. He didn't even turn to acknowledge him, his arms elbow-deep in the electronic innards of the missile's warhead, various tools scattered around his feet. "I needed a hospital the last time around to avoid that, so unless you got a bottle of iodine for me to chug or something in your magic inventory pockets I don't see this turning out well for me."

"Surprised you even know what iodine is," Tails commented, his eyes still locked onto the warhead.

"I know things," Sorun said defensively. His grip on his arms tightened. "Answer the damn question."

"Your white-haired form regenerates you and cures diseases, doesn't it? You should be fine after going into that state for a couple of seconds."

"... I suppose so..." Sorun admitted after a long pause, grip on his arms loosening. That form was limited to his knowledge of the 'DMC' games and the benefits of being a fictional devil-human hybrid. He knew the regeneration was top-tier, at least in terms of pure speed compared to every other regeneration system he'd seen in fiction. He didn't exactly know it inside and out since the lore of the games never went that deep on the subject. But there had to be something going on there since one of the characters lived exclusively off deserts and pizza and managed to stay in top physical condition without even trying, not to mention none of the characters had ever grown sick. At the end of the day it was up to the interpretation of the Chaos Emerald and his own heart how the power manifested.

Still though...

"I'm not a hundred percent on the diseases part, so I don't know where you're pulling that from. More like ninety, but if it was a cure-all wouldn't it have cured the mutation that gave me the ability to freely control Emeralds in the first place?" Sorun asked. "Or does that just not count since it wouldn't be classified as an 'ailment' due to being exclusively beneficial for me?" Could it even differentiate the difference? Was the power just that good? Or was he actually missing something? He knew for a fact that demons' evolution in the lore of the games was partly dependent on will and desire, not just environmental factors and genes. That was hard canon, and would have been factored in when his heart made the ability. So did him subconsciously considering that mutation as something "good" exclude it from Devil's Body curing it?

Tails shrugged. "You'd know more than me."

"This doesn't exactly come with an instruction manual, Tails."

A short sigh left the fox. "Alright, listen," he began, turning his head over his shoulder to look at Sorun. "There was a lot of people that went through the effort of examining your blood while trying to figure out how to save y-"

"People did what?"

"They stuck really big needles in the Master Emerald, would you just- look, let it go." He made a huff at Sorun's bewildered look and turned back to the opened warhead. "Your biology is really weird. By that I mean everyone I talked to said your blood samples reacted really, really weirdly to Chaos energy. And Chaos energy has always had a similarly weird relationship with radiation - the radioactive isotopes mixed in with the Chaos energies used in the gene bombs the Xorda set loose on Mobius is the only reason Mobians even exist. Chaos energy wasn't even proactive on the planet until those bombs," he said. "So your alien biology mixed with Chaos energy mixed with radiation does really, really weird things."

"Like let me use Chaos Emeralds?" Sorun asked.

"Like use Chaos Emeralds," Tails confirmed. "I don't know. Maybe it's the same reason why some Mobians are so much more, you know, Chaotically inclined than others. Evolution, biology... not really my field." He reached further into the warhead and pulled at something. Sorun heard a few snapping sounds. "Then again Mobians aren't exactly immune to radiation, so take it for what it's worth. I've personally seen that. Do you really need to take it any further than 'Chaos energy plus radiation equals control of powers?'"

"I mean not really, no," Sorun conceded, arms falling to his side. "I just don't want my hair falling out or something like that."

Tails laughed at that. "Sorun, you'll be fine."

Well, he sounded confident enough. That combined with Sorun's own reasoning of the situation and Devil's Body was enough to convince him. At that point he practically had more evidence for than against this being a good idea. And besides, reservations aside he trusted Tails.

"Well, here we are." Tails seemed to finally be finished with his work. He stood up from the warhead, turning around and presenting to Sorun an item held in his hands. "Here it is. One plutonium core, fresh out of the weapon of mass destruction."

It was such an innocuous little thing. The item in Tails' hands resembled little more than a chrome sphere about the same size as a shot put ball, the things athletes would throw in sports. If he didn't know it was a plutonium core for a nuclear weapon Sorun could have easily mistaken it for an oversized ball bearing. Somehow that made Sorun even more afraid of the thing.

"You're... sure that's safe, right?" he hesitantly asked.

After a moment's consideration, Tails crouched down and gently set the ball on the ground. "Relatively."

"Tails..."

"Sorun, it's fine. Trust me." He stood back up to his full height, and then held a second item out to Sorun: a hollow, metal hemisphere. "This is a beryllium cap," Tails explained after handing the thing to Sorun. "The basic gist is that, by covering the plutonium core with this, you're going to cause the neutrons emitted by the plutonium to bounce around against each other. This will create a nuclear reaction and release enough radiation to irradiate you." When Sorun grabbed the cap, Tails grabbed at his wrist and gave him a very serious look. "Now listen to me very closely. Don't let that cap cover the core for even more than a second. If you leave it on too long you'll cause the core to meltdown, and the explosion will not only kill us but destroy the whole island and everything on it. No more than a second. Take it off right after putting it on."

Somehow Sorun didn't feel like the grave tone Tails had taken didn't belay just how deadly the situation was. He felt a cold sweat begin to form on his face as he shakily took the metal cap from Tails. "You know this is how the guy that was messing around with the Demon Core died, right?" he shakily asked, having to force himself to grip the cap tightly enough not to drop it.

"Is that something from your world?" Tails asked, stepping back from Sorun. "The Demon Core?"

"It was just a silly nickname some scientists gave a plutonium core they were experimenting on back when nukes first became a thing," Sorun explained. "One slip of a screwdriver and the guy dies a week later from radiation poisoning." He blinked. "Now that I think about it you're having me do pretty much the same thing that got him killed."

Tails grimaced, turning his head slightly to avoid Sorun's gaze. "Well... I won't lie to you. This is a lethal dose of radiation we're hitting you with." Sorun had opened his mouth to argue, forcing Tails to quickly add, "But we're curing you right after so it doesn't even matter!"

Sorun closed his mouth. He had a pretty good point. "... Alright, fine," he sighed out. "So where are you going to be?"

"In the hallway, behind the lead-lined walls and far away from this. Just come out when you're done and I'll give you the Emerald."

"Yeah, sure, that's a... pretty solid plan, yeah." Sorun's voice trailed off as he watched the fox quickly - a bit too quickly for his liking - retreat out of the room while closing the door behind him. "All I gotta do is not screw up and cause nuclear armageddon, easy, no pressure, my species has a real great track record with that," he continued under his breath, turning back around to look down at the metal sphere at his feet.

The beryllium cap he was holding was beginning to feel like it was made of lead. He didn't even know if that expression was apropos; how the fuck was he supposed to know the density of some obscure metal he'd never heard of before now? And he didn't know why he had to be the one trusted with not causing a nuclear explosion when he had a bad history of screwing things up.

"Alright, just gotta... just cover it for a second. Single second, probably even less than that. I'll drop it on and slap it right off. That should work, right?" He let out a shaky breath and reached up to wipe the cold sweat off his forehead. "I mean I need these powers, but... well, Tails is usually right about these things, so can I really say there's that big a risk...?"

The Earthling got down on his knees, breathing heavily as he held the cap over the core. The knowledge that this was may very well be his last thirty-odd seconds of existence was pounding in his head about as hard as his heart was pounding in his chest. He could probably kill everyone on the island accidentally just by dropping this thing over the core and being too slow to remove it.

"Eeeeasy..." The cap was lowered over the core. Only a single millimeter of space was left between it and the ground. One single millimeter away from sealing the core completely and potentially causing a nuclear eruption. "Oh shit here we go!"

The very instant he'd dropped the cap over the sphere, Sorun experienced heat and light. Blue light that engulfed him and the entire room, seemingly shining from the reacting core next to him somehow, like the light was so intense it was shining through the metal cap. Or maybe the cap itself was the one bathing Sorun in that blue light. And the heat was... odd. Not the kind of heat one would experience when being shined on by the sun, or if they were close to a roaring fire. This heat felt more internal. Similar to the momentary adrenaline shock one would feel after a massive surprise, but hotter. More intense.

Whatever the case was, Sorun hadn't even experienced it for a full half-second before shrieking in fright and slapping the metal cap off the core. The blue light and heat completely disappeared the moment the cap was removed with such force it rolled away to the other end of the room, leaving a completely normal-looking metal ball sitting in front of Sorun.

"OH...! Oh, man..." Gasping out a heaving breath, Sorun bent forwards and had to place his hands on his knees for support. "Oh god, I feel... I feel... I feel pretty normal actually, huh..."

He straightened up and began patting down his body in surprise. He didn't feel any differences or abnormalities. No fever, no sickness or aches, no anything. Not even the smallest bit of nausea. Maybe it was too soon to be feeling the effects of radiation poisoning a few seconds in. Well, whatever the case, he was actually feeling pretty good all things considered.

"Hey, Tails, I'm done with the blueberry-whatever-it's-called cap," Sorun announced, opening the door and walking out into the hallway. He quickly found the fox leaning on a nearby wall, blue Emerald in hand and a relieved look growing on his face. "Hurry up and give me the Emerald before my skin starts sloughing off and I begin sounding like I've been smoking for a consecutive hundred and twenty years."

Tails gave Sorun an odd look that belayed no understanding whatever of what he just said. He hadn't even said a word in response. All he'd done was flatten one of his ears and tilt his head in confusion at Sorun.

"It's... it's a 'Fallout' reference, there- it was supposed- gimme the damn rock," Sorun snapped, snatching the glowing gem right out of the Mobian's hand. To his own satisfaction, he didn't find that the Emerald instantly glued itself to his hand. He even began tossing the gem back and forth from one hand to the other, but it seemed nothing was happening. "Well, either it worked or I never lost the ability to begin with and this was a waste of time. Win either way."

Gripping the Emerald with both hands, Sorun let out a small breath as he began focusing. He saw Tails blink in surprise when his dark hair began to turn a striking white, and with it came the energized, healthier-than-life-itself feeling Sorun got whenever he transitioned into this form. "Man, could spend a lifetime staying like this," he muttered, letting the transformation fade a few seconds later. His hair darkened back to completely black, and right after the blue Emerald instantly transmuted from a blue gem into a sheathed katana. "Hello, old friend..."

A strong sense of solace flooded Sorun when the familiar weight of the katana settled in his hands. Fortunately, the Yamato seemed to be unchanged along with what he felt while briefly using Devil's Body. Seemed nothing with the abilities themselves changed, which was further relief for Sorun. He idly began twirling a finger around the blue ribbon tied to the sword's black scabbard while turning to Tails.

"Everything okay?" Tails asked him, only briefly regarding Yamato before turning his eyes upwards at Sorun's face.

"Hm? Oh, yeah," he confirmed with a nod. "Just, uh... thinking about how the sword alone isn't gonna be enough for the king upstairs. I mean even with Sonic I'm not so sure, and if it gets knocked out of my hands-"

"Well, fortunately for you I got the solution to your problem right here." Sorun watched, wide-eyed, as Tails reached into the pouch he'd pulled the blue Emerald from earlier and pulled out, to his shock, a second Chaos Emerald. The red one. "I had two," Tails explained.

"... Wow, geez, that's perfect." A short laugh left Sorun as he reached forwards and took the red gem from Tails. "Where'd you even get two Chaos Emeralds to begin with? I would figured Shadow'd hoard 'em all or something like he did with the Master Emerald."

"Well... you gave them to me."

Sorun paused. He took his eyes off the Emerald to look at Tails, and to his confusion he was giving Sorun a completely straight expression. Like he wasn't kidding around. "Pretty sure I didn't," Sorun said, slowly and unsurely. "I... would remember pretty clearly me doing that. And I haven't even been in this timeline for a day."

A drawn-out sigh left Tails. He reached up to run a hand through his hair, and then shook his head while muttering to himself, "Right, you wouldn't know." Sorun was about to ask what that even meant, but before he could he said, "I'll explain when this is all over, alright? But right now we really need to focus on King Shadow."

"... Okay, I guess I'll hold you to that." The words spoken by Tails left a lot of questions burning in Sorun's mind, more than he was comfortable with, but he agreed in that King Shadow was the more pressing issue at the moment. The numerous questions could wait for after. "Anyways, I know exactly what to do with these two. Hold this."

Sorun tossed the red Emerald back to Tails. The Mobian caught it, and was about to ask what Sorun was doing before he unsheathed the katana and began dragging its edge along his fingers. "Er... Sorun, what are you doing?" Tails asked, looking squeamish at the sight.

"Gotta separate out my sense of pain for this next part."

"Why do you- SORUN, WHY!?"

Apparently Tails hadn't been that prepared to see Sorun lift his vest and shirt up and then stab his stomach with the katana. He would silently admit he probably should have warned him in advance, but then decided by the time he began dragging the blade across his torso it was probably too late. "Relax, it's a tried and true method," he grunted out, though it did nothing to wipe away the horrified expression Tails held. Sorun shook his head and rolled his eyes as a result, and then reached forwards to take the Emerald from the frozen fox's hands.

Once again he found the sensation of inserting a large, foreign object in his guts to be an unpleasant one. Like being unnaturally full and carrying around a weight that wasn't supposed to be there. His hair turned white once more, and he felt a momentary twinge of pain from the gaping slit he'd carved into his stomach before the wound healed completely, trapping the Emerald inside him. He made a discontent sound, shaking his head and inserting Yamato back into its scabbard.

"Alright, we're good to go," Sorun said, turning to a staring Tails. "What?"

"Why... would you do that...?"

"In case I lose this-" he shook Yamato, "- I'm not left completely defenseless and, you know, die in a single punch or something. No way I'm losing the one inside me unless it gets torn out."

"I-I... I mean, sure," Tails mumbled out, shaking his head, "but couldn't you have just held it?"

"What about this aren't you getting? If I lose both it's game over for me. No way do I rely on items." He turned his back to Tails. "And if I use the one in me to make Yamato it transfers to my hand, so it's not like I gotta cut myself open again to get it out." He began walking forwards, sighing a bit while holding his free hand up to his head. "I'm not so sure this'll still be enough to take on Shadow, though. Just two? Yeah, but we got Sonic, too, so it's not completely hopeless."

"Sorun?" Tails began walking after Sorun. When he didn't respond to him calling out, his walking increased so he could catch up to Sorun faster. "Hey, Sorun!"

Seemingly ignoring Tails, the human kept moving forwards. "I'm still worried about what we're supposed to do after. I dunno, we'll figure it out, that's pretty much how we solve all my problems at this point. Yeah, I get it, but this isn't-"

"Sorun!" After finally catching up with him, Tails shot his arm out to grab at Sorun's. He stopped in his tracks, turning his head to meet Tails' eyes. "Why do you keep talking to yourself like that?" the Mobian asked, worry creeping into his tone. "It's... you're really making me concerned."

There was no response from Sorun. He simply kept staring at Tails, a vacant, empty look on his face, like he hadn't even heard or registered the question that had been asked to him. Tails was ready to try again when Sorun suddenly looked down at the hand grabbing him, looking confused.

"Tails, what are you doing standing around for?" Sorun asked, shaking the grip off and nodding his head. "We got a king to overthrow, come on, get the lead out."

"Uh..." Speechless, Tails could only watch was Sorun turned back around and continued down the dark hallway. Eventually he shook his head, made a resigned sigh, and began to follow closely behind. "Yeah, sure, let's go."


In fairness to himself, Sorun didn't have a plan moving forwards.

What was he supposed to do? Getting rid of King Shadow was a given - wouldn't get a moment's peace to do anything otherwise. After that? Sorun just didn't know. Ideally he'd fix this timeline so it'd just go back to the way it was, but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to go about doing that. Nobody else seemed to think it was possible, and the way Tails was talking about how Sonic wanted to stage this coup and become king again to fix the world made it sound like they all already decided they were just sticking with this timeline.

It was a conversation they could get to later, where Sorun would tell them he completely disagreed, but as he was stalking through the castle halls, freshly out of the dungeons below and into the brightly-lit, opulent hallways, he couldn't help but continually remind himself that he didn't know how he was supposed to fix an altered timeline. Or even if it could be fixed to begin with.

Maybe Tails was right. In fact, he most probably was, and he'd know more about it than Sorun. About how the change was irreversible and nothing could be done about it, that they'd just have to buckle down and make the best with what they had now.

A dark look overtook Sorun's features. Easy for Tails to say that. He got to keep his family.

But, at the end of the day, he didn't know what to do other than begrudgingly admit that Tails, despite in Sorun's personal opinion being very heavily biased towards the decision of not messing with time further, had a real good point he himself couldn't counter at all. And either way they'd have to talk once this was over anyways, about the Chaos Emeralds and what Tails said about them and Sorun and how he'd "given them to him." Whatever that meant. But later. Once King Shadow was dealt with.

And Sorun was still struggling figuring out just what he was supposed to do about that guy...

He was so caught up in his silent musings, in fact, that when he rounded a corner into a long stretch of bright hallway, he hadn't noticed the trio of individuals in front of him until he just happened to look up, and then froze mid-step in surprise. The three echidna he'd run into, a few meters ahead, seemed to be frozen in a similar state of shock. Tails, following behind Sorun, had been more responsive and have made a startled noise before diving behind the cover of the nearby corner.

Sorun didn't do the same thing. He just stood there, staring at the three when he realized they were the same three echidna that had taken him out of the cell. The two nameless guards and that female one, Lien-Da. The one that had tortured Rotor. Who probably would have tortured Sorun, too, if King Shadow hadn't called dibs. And Sorun was very cognizant of the white locks of hair on the edges of his field of vision.

...

...

...

... Well he wasn't going to go out of his way specifically for her, but if they just happened to run into each other, then it was a different story.

"You're supposed to be dead." To her credit, Lien-Da had snapped out of her shock rather quickly, narrowing her eyes in Sorun's direction. The two male echidna had, too, getting into more balanced stances while aiming their rifles at Sorun.

"I know, right?" Sorun replied in a nonchalant tone. He was aware that the slightest grin might have appeared on his face with the knowledge that, yes, it was very likely these three would never eat solid food ever again after the next minute or so. And the knowledge there was nothing they could do to stop Sorun helped enforce that idea. The physical abilities of Devil's Body were so far above the norm of a normal Mobian that it wasn't even funny. Except maybe for this instance.

Lien-Da's eyes shot up to the top of Sorun's head. She made a scoff. "I heard stories about people being so frightened or stressed that their hair turned white, but I didn't know it was actually real." A frown grew on her features when she looked down into his eyes. "I don't know how you're here, but I'm going to make you regret every single second you dared to think you deserved to live past dying at the king's hand."

Sorun idly tapped his left fingers on the scabbard of the sword his left hand held. His grin grew fractionally wider. "Ya think?"

"Men." There was a whirring sound. Sorun saw yellow light gather in the barrels of the rifles the two guards besides Lien-Da carried. "One chance. You go with me in one piece or lots of pieces. Your call."

"What if-"

For what was a fraction of a fraction of a second, Sorun felt a searing pain in his left shoulder. It'd made him cut off what he was trying to say, with his face going flat when he perceived the trail of yellow light in the air fading. He looked at his left shoulder, seeing a hole in his coat and a patch of skin, completely unmarred and healed.

"Guess I can't dodge lasers," he bitterly thought. That'd originally been his intent, but it seemed that he wasn't on a sufficient enough level to dodge an attack going at the speed of light. He wasn't even able to perceive its flight path before the laser hit him. It'd just appeared, instantly, and left almost as quickly. "Well, whatever," he thought, gripping Yamato's handle with his right hand, "those guns can't do anything to me anyways."

In the time it took to blink, Sorun had pulled the sword out, slashed it in the air twice, and then re-sheathed it. Blue lines appeared on the photon rifles held by the echidna guards, though they quickly faded away to reveal impossibly clean cuts bisecting their weapons. The guns fell apart in pieces in the Mobians' hands, and before they could even act out in shock Sorun was right in front of them, moving past the threshold using supernatural speed they had no hope of keeping up with.

The end of Yamato's scabbard flew forwards and impacted the leftmost echidna in the chest. He doubled over, completely winded, with the sound of crunching ribs accompanying the sound of him hitting the ground. Before the rightmost echidna had any time to react Sorun's right hand had reached out, grabbed his face, and then slammed his head right into the wall. The head had gone right through, cracks spiderwebbing around the entrance and the echidna going limp after Sorun let go.

When he turned forwards to Lien-Da, he noted, with some amusement, she was clutching to that whip of hers. The way she was holding it implied she actually intended on using it against Sorun, and while she was doing a good job of not shaking in her boots right there, her eyes were beyond uncertain. Frightened, even.

"So. Magic katana that can cut through time and space versus a leather whip. Which one you think comes out on top?" Sorun asked.

She actually tried using it on him. He didn't know if it was sheer audacity that guided her hand or blind, animalistic panic, but she'd attempted to strike him with the whip. With his reflexes, though, it would have been impossible not to catch the whip before it cracked against him. As such, he actually had caught the whip and sharply tugged it, making Lien-Da stumble right into the backfist he'd swung right on her jaw.

It was less he felt and more heard bone completely shattering under his fist. The handful of teeth he saw fly out of her mouth as her body hit the ground was also a good indicator of what he'd done. He'd done so much damage with that one hit alone that Sorun had leaned forwards a bit to examine her after Lien-Da fell, worried he'd accidentally hit her too hard and snapped her neck. But he'd heard a small, pitiful moan leave her, and saw the body twitch, and was satisfied enough to leave it be.

"That was... more annoying than anything else," Sorun thought, feeling odd at the sensation. He thought he'd feel something more than that. Satisfaction, vindication, something along those lines. He didn't, and more than that he didn't feel the need to dwell on it. So he turned around and began walking away. He'd glanced a bit to the left while walking, making a satisfied sound when he saw the hole in the coat's shoulder shrink down as it repaired itself. "Well, if my life were simple Shadow would go down that easy. I feel like he's not gonna go down that easy."

"Wha-what the... Sorun!"

The teen stopped in his tracks. That was Tails' voice, sounding distraught and horrified. Based on that tone, when Sorun turned around, he'd half-expected to find King Shadow right behind them, carrying Sonic's mangled corpse with him. He'd even began reaching for Yamato while mentally preparing himself to see the sight of a Chaos Spear running through and killing Tails.

What he did see was something he couldn't have prepared himself for. He saw Tails, almost looking like he was stricken with grief, kneeling over Lien-Da. That echidna he'd just taken out. That enemy. Eyes wide and horrified, mouth agape. It was a sight odd enough Sorun almost dropped the Yamato.

"You... you completely destroyed her jaw..." Tails mumbled out in shock, not able to take his eyes off Lien-Da.

"Er... yeah." Something about his even, neutral tone caused Tails to stiffen and snap his gaze up to Sorun. "That's what I was going for," he said.

"Why!?"

"... 'Cause it was easy?" Sorun gestured to Tails while shaking his head. "What do you- what do you want from me? I saw some enemies, I disabled them."

He actually had the nerve to look angry at the explanation. "You could have done it without crippling them for life!" Tails shouted at him. He swept his arms to the side to gesture at the three bodies. "Look at them!"

"I don't care." Ignoring the shocked look on Tails' face, Sorun turned around. "Come on. We still have to deal with Shadow."

Sorun began walking forwards, but then quickly noticed he didn't hear a set of footsteps behind him. He stopped after a few steps, sighed, and then turned around. Tails hadn't moved from his spot near the echidna, and his glare towards Sorun was still heated.

"King Shadow can wait," Tails said. "We need to get these three to a hospital."

It was a struggle for Sorun not to rush forwards and slap the fox right across the face. He settled for keeping on an impassive face and said, "No thanks. I don't want to."

"Sorun-!"

"Leave it, Tails. They don't matter." With a disgusted sigh barely disguised as indifference Sorun turned back around. "She's honestly lucky I don't tear her in half for what she did to Rotor. If you wanna waste time with them than feel free. I really doubt Shadow's gonna wait around for you, though."

How this was even an argument was beyond Sorun. He went out of his way to make sure he didn't use enough force to kill them, but even that wasn't enough. He honestly didn't see the problem, and decided Tails would just have to deal with it. It wasn't any inconvenience to Sorun what he decided to do anyways.

Eventually, he heard a sigh behind him. "I'm going back to the security center to double-check and make sure you don't get bogged down by guards fighting King Shadow." The whirling sound of Tails' tails spinning up reached Sorun's ears. "Once he's dealt with I'm arranging for these three to get medical attention."

"Fine. Whatever. Do what you want." The retreating sound of the whirling let Sorun know Tails had flown away without saying any parting words. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and pressed forwards. Towards the direction Tails had previously told him was the throne room.

He could already hear the sounds of fighting from here. Of high-speed objects colliding, the vibrations in the air. He could have sworn even the walls were shaking. With all that it didn't seem likely neither Sonic nor King Shadow were holding back against one another. It did little to assuage Sorun's anxiety, maybe even enough he considered turning back. He probably would have followed that instinct, too, were it not for the knowledge he was through on options.

"With how blatantly the king's playing for keeps, I really don't think Shadow's gonna go easy. Hard to see him even staying down." He felt his right fingers lightly ghost along the Yamato's handle. "I really do hope Sonic had a plan for keeping him down and didn't charge in without a real plan." A sad frown grew on his face. "Sonic, you... you know what you're doing, right?"

Sorun hoped he did, because he couldn't even say he knew what he was doing anymore.


A/N- I know it feels really weird and out of place that Sorun hasn't even once thought of Nicole's name and hasn't mentioned her in any capacity. The reason behind that is because this whole arc was planned out long before that was even a concept, so I chose to stick with what I had planned out. If you want kind of a gimped explanation you can imagine in the back of Sorun's mind he realized there's a minute chance he might see her again and have to deal with that super stupid mistake he did before leaving, so he's subconsciously trying not to think about her at all to avoid thinking about any possible consequences.