A/N- Alright, I'm back from FFXVI
Recursion Error
Episode 104- Going off script
"So are you sure this butter doesn't have any corn syrup?" Sorun asked the Mobian manning the food station. "I just really think it would enhance the efficacy of this butter. Put some thought into it."
"... What is wrong with you?" the sheep asked, buckets of popcorn in hand as he gave Sorun a bewildered stare. "Why would... syrup? From corn? What planet are you from where that would be considered a good idea?"
"Uh... Earth," Sorun dumbly replied. A beat of silence passed between of them, Sorun spending the silence - for how much silence there was with a crowd of hundreds of people in the stadium behind them - looking between the cane in one hand and the bucket of popcorn in the other, and then looked back at the sheep. "That wasn't very tactful, I'm sorry for that," he apologized.
"No no, it's... it's all good," the sheep nervously chuckled, "Soru- er, sir. Sorun, sir."
Sorun cringed back. "Please don't call me sir," he said. "I feel old enough with the cane. It's bad enough I'm seventeen. I'm ancient."
"Seventeen really isn't-"
"Old. Falling apart at the seams." A dramatic sigh left Sorun as he stabbed his cane into the ground and used it as a pivot to spin around, turning his back to the food vendor. "Woe is me to have suffered under the hands of entropy, such is the fate of all who live in this cruel world."
"Whatever you say, man," the sheep sighed out as he waved a hand. "Enjoy the concert."
"Hm?" Sorun glanced back over his shoulder at the sheep. "Oh, thanks. You gonna see it, too?"
"Yeah, but I'm stuck in this popcorn booth 'til it starts."
"Hm. Cool, cool." By that point Sorun had grown bored, so, cane and popcorn in hand, he began making his way away from the food stand and towards the stadium.
As far as stadiums went this one was about as grand as they came. Large. Imposing. Circular. It was about equal in size to sports stadiums they had back on Earth, the really big and fancy ones they'd display during international events. Considering its size it seemed almost an egregious use of space, and when Sorun had asked Nicole why she'd put in a stadium of all things when she designed the city she'd simply said, "I thought the people might enjoy using it." So far it'd only been used to host soccer games and, as of this moment, host Mina's concert, which... fair, Sorun supposed, as there wasn't much else use one could get out of the stadium. Certainly not blood sports. Mobians would never go for that.
Neither would Sorun. He'd never even so much as seen a single game of American football back home. That said he wouldn't have minded terribly if there were ever sanctioned fights with practice weapons in that stadium, maybe even a tournament... Maybe he'd float the idea by Elias one of these days. There was a whole royal guard force. They might go for something like that.
"Even Antoine fights pretty good. I just wanna see something interesting." It took some crossing of corridors in the underside of the stadium, and some stair climbing, but he'd finally made it up to the stadium seats. But, glancing around... yeah. He couldn't find where his friends were. There were hundreds and hundreds of seats everywhere, and those were just the ones he could see. It didn't help that the denizens of this world were all so colorful that it was turning into a rainbow mesh of colors wherever he looked. How was he supposed to find-
The hairs on the back of Sorun's neck pricked up. He didn't even need to hear him. He could feel him standing right behind him.
Clamping down quick on the fury roiling in his heart, Sorun, as calm as he could, turned around. Sure as hell it was Sonic, leaning against one of the guardrails on one of the sets of stairs that ran up through all the seats at this section of the stadium. He immediately noticed how his smile was a bit more subdued than usual, not the - "Arrogant, self-righteous, how fucking dare you do what you did to me" - usual cocky smile he wore.
"Uh, hey, Sorun." He gave a small wave to the other teen. "Noticed you wandering around a bit. Lost?"
"... It would appear so," Sorun answered. His voice was calm and measured, slow in its response. "With all these people I seem to have lost track of the others."
"Heh, yeah. Can't blame ya, with all these seats filled." The hedgehog hopped over the railing and gestured at Sorun to follow. "Come on, I'll lead you b- uh?"
Sorun had cut Sonic off mid-sentence by slipping through one of the gaps in the guardrail to stand besides him. "Don't mind me. We can go," he said. As if there was any chance of him walking behind Sonic. Letting him lead him. They'd either walk side-by-side or he'd brush him off to find the others on his own.
Sonic didn't seem to care, though, as he just shrugged as the two began moving. "Nice that the war's finally over, huh?" he'd asked as they walked.
"You don't sound as happy as everyone else," Sorun pointed out.
"I am. I just..." Sonic hesitated, glancing upwards as he thought. "... I just really didn't wanna win the way I did."
"Driving Eggman insane by accident." He knew from conversations by the others that whatever had happened in New Megaopolis that he'd been off-put by what happened. Everyone had, really, but from how the others talked the experience had downright disturbed Sonic. Sorun didn't really understand how. "What even happened with him? What'd you do?"
"I didn't do anything. He was in this big dumb spider mech, I trashed it, and he just flipped out. I didn't even touch him."
"Were you running your mouth the whole time?"
"I- w-well yeah, but I always do... I always did that, Sorun, and it never caused him to have a mental breakdown before." He looked down from the sky to face Sorun. Forget having a slightly less-than-bright smile, he looked conflicted now. Which only served to annoy Sorun more. "What do you think?"
"I think you won and you should stop worrying about it. I guarantee you're the only one stressing about the fact you mentally destroyed the man, even if by accident." Sorun lifted his cane up and swept it over the stadium. "Everyone else is bursting with joy. They don't care and they shouldn't. He's taken enough time from people."
"... Yeah, but..." He sighed and looked back up at the sky. "Kinda crummy weather, huh?"
Sorun glanced upwards. It was heavy overcast - the entire sky was covered in dark gray clouds. Sonic was right. Unfortunately Sorun absolutely refused to agree with him even if he was factually correct, so instead he mumbled a simple "Mmf" as they continued walking.
They found them eventually. All their friends lined up in seats in one of the rows in the stadium. "They're here, too?" Sorun asked in some surprise. A majority of the Chaotix were sitting in the row below the others, chatting among themselves.
"Yeah, they're visiting to celebrate the big win. Dunno where Espio went. Guess he thought the concert'd be too loud." Sonic blinked and looked to his side. "Huh? Sorun? Where'd you- oh."
By the time Sonic had finished speaking halfway Sorun had already left. He'd already seen who he'd been looking for: Nicole and Silver were sitting in seats at the far end of the row the others were on. Virgil was there, too. Laying on Silver's head, who was pouting and looking upwards at the Chao. He jumped up a bit when Sorun held out the bucket of popcorn to him.
"Take this," Sorun said. Silver did so, hesitantly, and looked to Sorun for clarification. "I'm not allowing you to experience this without a snack. It wouldn't be right."
"Um... I think it's fine?" Silver looked at the popcorn and back at Sorun. "What even is this?"
"The fact you even have to ask saddens me," Sorun said to him. "You lived in absolute squalor in the future if you have to question this. No more. You're gonna enjoy this like a normal person and not some post-apocalyptic survivalist."
"Chao." Virgil raised one of his bladed arms and shuffled around some of the hair on Silver's head, making his ears flick.
Sorun hummed in contemplation. "You can have some of the popcorn if you manage to steal it without Silver catching you," he decided, and then turned around and began moving away. Silver'd made a noise of protest as Sorun left, and then yelped out in indignation when Virgil jabbed forwards and impaled some of the pieces of popcorn on his bladed arm.
A breathy chuckle left Sorun from the noises he heard behind him. He saw the empty seat next to Nicole and sat down in it, though he noticed she was staring off at Silver and Virgil, who were still fighting over the popcorn. Sorun placed both hands on the top of his cane and leaned forwards in his seat as he watched alongside her.
"You might have avoided an altercation between them altogether if you'd just bought them both popcorn," Nicole pointed out. The popcorn bucket was enveloped in a teal energy as it was floated away from the pair, with Silver smiling triumphantly. And them Virgil had flew forwards in a blackish-blue blur, impaling more popcorn on his arms as Silver yelled and out waved his arms in the Chao's direction.
"We would've missed a show," Sorun told her.
The lynx looked back at him with a flat expression. "You needed more entertainment than the concert?"
"It's a pre-show for the main show," Sorun argued. Now Silver was holding the bucket tight against his chest as Virgil sat on his head, nibbling on the popcorn pieces impaled on his arms. The white hedgehog had a guarded expression as he grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it his mouth, though then he'd blinked in surprise and perked up after eating it. "And besides, there wasn't a better opportunity to introduce him to popcorn. It's a special food for special events."
"So special you didn't buy any?"
"I don't like popcorn." He glanced down at his hands, still resting atop the cane. "... And I've only so many hands."
"..." Nicole didn't respond. She did, however, reach over and grasp at one of his hands, which made Sorun visually relax in his seat. "It's nice to see you care so much about him."
He felt himself grow a bit flustered, making him unconsciously shake his head a bit. "I-I'm not, I just feel he needs- I-" He cut himself off with a sigh, slumping back slightly as he stared down towards the center of the stadium. "There's a concert, Nicole, the whole reason we're all here. Pay attention to that."
Yeah, he could see her now. The yellow-furred mongoose was stepping out onto a stage that was set up in the middle of the stadium grounds, with her band members situated around her as they fiddled with their various instruments. She was speaking something into a microphone, but the crowds roaring all around them was drowning out most of what she was saying.
Thunder rumbled in the dark skies above.
Nicole made an amused chuckle. "Yes, of course. How silly of me to try and ignore it."
"Yes. Very. Completely. Let's focus on that and nothing else," Sorun quickly said. "Between missing the concert the first time and hearing about Mina's ability to sing the whole time I've been here I'll be disappointed if she doesn't sound like a miracle."
He wouldn't really. Mina could end up sounding absolutely terrible and Sorun wouldn't mind too terribly. This was... enough. Just being here with everyone and enjoying something together. Everything being peaceful. Not having to worry about everything. She could make his ears bleed with her singing and Sorun wouldn't care because he was content with just this alone.
Lightning crackled overhead through the clouds.
Nicole's fingers stroked over the top of Sorun's hand. "I'm sure you won't be disappointed!" Nicole laughed out. "She's-"
A bolt of lightning struck down from the sky and behind Mina on the stage. The resulting silence was deafening - everyone in the stadium had grown silent. Thankfully nobody on stage seemed to be harmed by the lightning strike, not even Mina, who'd been closest to where the lightning hit. She was just standing back in shock because there was... someone standing there. Standing there and appeared to be, from what Sorun saw, raving. Screaming and raving at the top of his lungs. Some monkey Mobian he had never seen before.
"..." Sorun's hand tightened on the head of his cane. Blue, electrical sparks traveled up the length of the cane. As he stared down at the stage he saw a blue blur slam into the monkey who'd just appeared - "Was it the lightning? He... came through that...?" - out of nowhere and slammed into him. It was Sonic. He was fighting the strange monkey Mobian now.
Sorun breathed out. More electrical sparks traveled up the cane, and its tip began glowing an intense blue.
"Sorun?"
He snapped his head to the side. Nicole had flinched back in surprise from the movement and the intense expression he held. Silver and Virgil were looking towards him, too, each looking as concerned as Nicole did at the moment. He tried breathing out again, the intense expression fading as he calmed down. Energy stopped collecting around the cane.
The face was a lie. Sorun certainly didn't feel calm. He hadn't felt this furious in a good bit.
"I want to go get something to drink. I'll return shortly," Sorun said to them in a clipped tone. He rose up out of his seat, face completely impassive and expressionless as he slammed the tip of his cane down. It made a loud CLACK! as he did so, and he couldn't bear to look at the others as he crossed their seats.
He couldn't bear to look at anyone right now.
"It's always fucking something. Never fails."
Earlier before Sorun had entered the stadium he'd noticed there were barrels of water set up on a table near the entrance with cups stacked next to them. Nobody was here, of course. They were all in the stadium, watching Sonic fight a monkey person who'd rode in on a goddamn lightning bolt. It was just him standing out here alone, filling a cup with water as he frowned down at it.
Of course something would happen that would ruin the concert. Of course Sorun couldn't just enjoy some time with his friends. Of course the war ending didn't mean they all got to live a peaceful life where nothing extraordinary happened anymore. He almost laughed at such an idiotic thought. Why would they? This was Mobius. That concept didn't fucking exist on this planet. Normal life? On Mobius? Laughable.
"Hey, Sorun?"
The Voidborn made a sigh. He turned around, leaning his back against the water barrel. His cane was in his left hand while the right held the cup of water, which he brought to his lips as he looked towards the speaker. It was Silver. He didn't see either Virgil or the popcorn with him. He was just standing there with a concerned look in his yellow eyes.
"By now Virgil will have eaten your popcorn," Sorun warned him after drinking the water. He glanced towards the empty food vendor nearby. "Though there's nobody looking if you wanna go raid some more. I won't tell."
"What? I don't care abou- forget the popcorn!" Silver blinked at his own outburst and muttered a quick apology before asking, "What happened? You just walked out."
"I said where I was going, didn't I?" Sorun shook the small cup of water. "I just wanted to go cool my frustrations off." He paused, eyes glancing towards the stadium. He could see the occasional bolt of lightning arc up over the top. "Is Nicole worried?"
"Yeah, but... I think she had to go deal with that, so she asked me to check on you," Silver explained. "Who was that guy?"
"I don't know and I don't care," Sorun truthfully replied. He took another drink of water. "He's ruined everyone's day so he's not my most favorite person at the moment, but otherwise I can't be bothered to care to know. Let Sonic and the rest deal with him." He lowered his eyes to the ground, shuffling a bit in place. "But... thank you for coming to check on me." If nothing else, he could be a bit grateful for having people that cared enough to check on him. It didn't fix any of this, but it was comforting solace nonetheless.
Silver sounded much less worried when he next spoke. "It's fine, but... you just looked so angry," he said, causing Sorun to look back up at him. "I don't know, you just had this look on your face."
"I was upset. I think that's understandable given what just happened."
"Yeah, but..." Silver cut himself off with a sigh. His shoulder slumped forwards as he said, "I guess the concert's off, huh?" He sounded disappointed. Sorun knew the feeling.
"Likely." Sorun's eyes wandered away, towards the opposite end of where the stadium was. He saw a purple form sprinting between the houses towards the exit to the city. Him and someone else. "Huh. That's where Espio went off to. He's in a hurry, looks like. Who's he with?" Sorun didn't recognize the other Mobian running with him. A male lynx one dressed... weirdly. Sandals, pants, and a vest that had an almost... eastern aesthetic to it, but it was hard to see from this distance. "Ah, whatever, none of my business," Sorun thought with a shrug as the two disappeared beyond some trees.
"So what happens now?" Silver asked, causing Sorun's eyes to flick back to him. "Does everyone just go home now?"
Sorun shrugged. "Wait for an official announcement, I suppose, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's the final outcome." Which was... extremely vexing. Sorun'd been genuinely excited over all this and had been looking forwards to having a normal day. "They'll hopefully reschedule the event," Sorun added, though it was said in a mumble as he swirled his cup around.
"Maybe. Hey, all the fighting sounds died down a bit ago, did you notice?"
"Don't care enough to."
"Ah. Alright." Silver turned around towards the stadium entrance. He blinked, and leaned forwards while flattening his hand and holding it over his eyes. "Hey, is... that Sonic over there? That guy's with him."
The wooden cup cracked in Sorun's grasp, much to his chagrin. He looked up - they were indeed there. In fact Sonic was waving over at Sorun to come over there. He refused to move from this spot, taking another drink out of the cup while folding his other arm across his chest, cane still in hand.
"I think he wants you to go over there," Silver pointed out.
"So it would seem," Sorun replied.
"... Are you gonna go?" Silver looked back at Sorun.
"No."
One of Silver's ears flicked and he gave Sorun and odd look. "Why not?"
"I haven't finished my drink. He has legs. If he wants something he can come over here."
A few seconds passed with Sonic still waving over at Sorun. He got the hint eventually, because he slumped his shoulders and began walking over to their direction. The other - the lightning monkey Mobian that interrupted everything and Sorun was struggling not to attack - was in tow with Sonic. They both stopped in front of the other pair, with Silver stepping off to the side.
"Hey, Sorun, your ears busted or somethin'?" The question was asked with a light tone by Sonic, and with a small grin. "Mina didn't even get to start the concert."
Sorun didn't respond. Instead he tipped his head as far back as possible while drinking from the cup, keeping his eyes on Sonic. Looking down at him.
"Uh... okay." Sonic blinked and shook his head. "Could I ask a favor and have you open up a portal for us real quick? We have somewhere to be."
Sorun lowered the cup from his lips. He glanced behind Sonic and at the monkey Mobian. He found it interesting this one had eastern-looking clothing, too: vestments that had yin-yang symbols on them. He was also looking at Sorun questioningly, looking back and forth between him and Sonic. Otherwise he seemed calm. Almost anxious.
"I see." Sorun lost all interest in the monkey and looked back at Sonic. "If I recall you're the fasted thing on the planet. And it appears your legs still work."
"Okay, sure, but he isn't as fast," Sonic said, pointing his thumb over at the monkey who frowned in response. "We just need a quick ride to New Megaopolis."
"Subtext is evidently lost on you, so allow me to clarify." Sorun's eyes narrowed at Sonic. "Buzz off and walk yourself. I'm not opening you a portal."
Now Sonic looked confused. More than that he stepped back and gave Sorun a look as if he'd just been struck. The monkey was passively looking on, though Silver over on the side had blinked at Sorun in surprise. "Huh?" Sonic squinted and tilted his head back in confusion. "Wha- huh?" He looked back at the monkey and then back at Sorun. "If it's 'cause you're mad at that guy then-"
"I couldn't care less about whoever that is and what he just did," Sorun interrupted, not being entirely truthful. "I'm not opening you a portal."
Sonic's mouth dropped open in surprise. There was confusion clearly written on his face. "Okay, um... Sorun, it's really important," he tried, pressing his palms together and pointing the fingers at Sorun. "There's something serious going on in New Megaopolis and we need to go check, so can you please help us out here?"
Anger began broiling inside of Sorun. No, more than that. Sheer disbelief at the audacity of this hedgehog and sheer rage at what was being asked of him. "As you seem to have forgotten, I am no longer a Freedom Fighter," Sorun seethed out, "so you have no right to ask such a thing from me."
"What's going on with you?" Sonic asked, his confusion only growing. "Sorun, I-I'm not asking you to fight or anything, I- it's a single portal, what's the big deal?"
"The big deal is I carry packages now, not living people," Sorun tersely replied through barely-repressed anger. "Go yourself."
Sonic's arms limply fell to his sides. Confusion was giving away to annoyance on the blue Mobian's face. "Okay, Sorun, I know you've been to New Megaopolis once before. I know for a fact you can open a portal there," he said, words growing more clipped as he talked. "It doesn't even take you ten seconds, man, come on."
"Pay me."
"You gotta be- for real?" Sonic palmed his own forehead and turned around, walking back a few steps. "You're actually being serious right now?" he asked, turning back around to face Sorun.
"My entire profession is making portals, Sonic. The days of lending my power to your cause are far behind me," Sorun said to him in a flat tone. He took another drink from his cup. "More than that it's my power and I'll do whatever I want with it, and what I don't want to do is open you a portal. So if you want a ride that badly then you'll have to pay for the service."
"... Okay just to be clear you're not joking? You're actually doing this right now?" The disbelief on Sonic's face was slowly giving way to frustration. Seeing the expression begin to form served to somewhat elevate Sorun's mood. "Sorun. It's just a small favor."
The Voidborn didn't respond. He just tilted his head back and drank from his cup again while never taking his eyes off Sonic.
"You actually are doing this, I can't believe it." Sonic made an angry-sounding sigh and pinched at his nose. "I can't... fine, whatever, how much you want?"
"Hm..." Sorun tapped his cane in thought. He almost considered actually humoring Sonic... but the idea of enraging him even more was a prospect Sorun couldn't resist. "You're asking me to assist in matters I've long since done away with while also violating my personal ethics as a package courier. I couldn't ask for any less than a million mobiums." He glanced at the monkey. "A head."
Sonic froze. He blinked once, and then his eyes narrowed over at Sorun. "Okay, Sorun, the joke's starting to get a bit old now," he said, tone growing lower.
"There is no joke," Sorun responded. "I'm quite serious. Two million or you can get out of my face and stop wasting my time."
"You can't just make up some bogus price on-"
"I can monetize my power however I wish, Sonic." Sorun hissed the name out. "You of all people have no right to ask anything of me. You will NEVER have the right to ask me for anything." He pointed his cane at the stands. "Go beg Sally or Elias for the money or go along your own way to New Megaopolis."
"What is wrong with you!?" The dam finally broke, and Sonic yelled out in anger at Sorun. "This is an actual, serious emergency! Ten seconds! I'm asking for ten seconds of your time here to help everyone out! It's not even that hard for you to do! You do it all the time!"
"U-um... Sorun?" Both Sorun and Sonic snapped their heads over at Silver. He flinched at the looks, taking a step back with his hands nervously curled towards his center. "This, um, this sounds kind of serious. Are you sure you can't help out a bit? Just this once?" He looked away at the piercing glare Sorun was giving him. "I-I don't know wh-what the problem is," he stuttered out, "but wouldn't... wouldn't it be nice to help?"
"Silver..." All the anger he felt, and all the joy he felt at making Sonic feel even the least bit frustrated, all completely flooded out of Sorun when he saw the nervous demeanor Silver was currently holding. He didn't want him to see this. He didn't want Silver to be anywhere near this. "It would... mean a lot to me if you left right now," Sorun told him. "Please. Just go back and wait for me."
"Soru-?"
"Please."
"You... alright." Silver cast one more look at Sonic, who seemed to be a mixture of confusion and anger currently, and then back at Sorun, who was staring at him. "I-I'll go wait at our seats. Just, er, no fighting? Please?"
"... It won't got that far. I promise." Sorun felt a small bit of relief when that was enough to convince Silver, as he turned around and began walking away. As soon as he was out of earshot Sorun turned back to Sonic. The seething fury and glee returned. "So, what else can I deny for you today?"
He didn't even make it to the entrance of the stadium before he heard the two yelling behind him.
Silver had flinched when he heard it. Sonic's growingly frustrated voice and the cold, callous tone that Sorun was speaking in. It made his footsteps speed up as he made it to the entrance of the stadium, just wanting to be away from all the negativity those two were generating just by yelling at each other. His heart went out to the poor monkey person that had to stand there and just watch all that.
"I wonder what's gotten into Sorun...?" Silver wondered as he walked down the corridor under the stadium. It was a long, dark hallway. The only source of light was the large, open entrance at the far end of the corridor. "He seemed so calm and happy after the whole surgery thing and I thought everything was fine. What happened?"
Admittedly Sorun had always been kind of tense, for as long as Silver knew him. Maybe a bit irritable, but knowing everything Silver did about him he couldn't be all that surprised. But in his experience even on his worst days he tried to be polite and was never that... well, mean with anyone! But back there when he was talking with Sonic it was like all of that vanished. That searing look he kept giving Sonic, that tone so full of derision, the way he seemed to get more animated the angrier Sonic got, as if he was liking the conflict he was creating. Or maybe just liking Sonic getting mad. Silver didn't get it either way. It didn't make sense for someone to get happier because they were making things worse.
"It just... doesn't make sense. Sorun doesn't act that way-"
There was a sound of static and a small whooshing sound from besides Silver. Somebody dressed completely in red stepped next to him and placed a black-gloved hand on his shoulder before he could react.
"Hey," Rubrum greeted. "Let's go for a walk."
"Who-!?" Silver yelped out in surprise and reflexively swung his arm to try and dislodge the foreign hand from his shoulder. And then he made a startled gasp and stepped back in shock; he wasn't in the stadium corridor anymore. He was... he wasn't even in the city anymore! This was a forest! Short, panicked breaths left Silver as he spun around, but everywhere he looked there were just more trees. It was even a bright afternoon sky - it'd been overcast a second ago!
Silver's mind began spinning as fast as he was as he looked around. He was just in the city. Just there, and now he was here out in the middle of the forest! "Where is- how- what just happened!?" his mind screamed out as he looked around. And then he froze, because there he was. Someone dressed completely in red, and their face obscured with a red hood, leaning against a nearby tree as they looked towards Silver. They waved at him.
"Wh-what the... who are you, what did you just do!?" Silver yelled out. He was too confused to articulate his feelings. The confusion from what was happening and the wariness he felt from the person in front of him were all too conflicting, too much happening for him to make sense of it. It was making him feel terribly confused.
"I took us... about a hundred miles from New Mobotroplis," the red-dressed person - male from the voice - said. "And a week into the future."
"What!?" Oh no, that was just more confusing. It made Silver's face squint harder from the narrowed look he was already giving the man. "Why would- who even are you!?"
"I'm... some guy," he introduced, pointing his thumb at himself.
"I-I-I meant a name!" Silver stuttered out.
"In this rotten world names are an immaterial thing that don't matter all that much," the red guy said as he pushed himself off the tree. "You'll just have to work with that."
That didn't help him at all. "Alright..." Silver muttered out, even though this wasn't alright at all. "You... said you took me into the future? You're a time-traveler like me?"
The red guy froze for a second. And then he laughed. "Ahahaha! N-no, not at all," he chuckled out, shaking his hooded head. "Time travel implies I can go backwards and forwards in time. I can't go backwards. Forwards I can do - forwards is easy. Backwards is... a whole 'nother ballgame." He tilted his head at Silver. "Then again you don't have your precious Time Stone so I guess that doesn't apply to you, either."
Silver's fists clenched at his side. "How do you know about that?"
The red guy sighed and slumped his torso forwards, arms hanging limp. "I just abducted you and stole you into the future without your consent, these really the questions you wanna ask?"
"Yes! I mean no! I mean- agh!" Silver shook his head and ran his hands through his quills. Now he was just trying to confuse him. "Why did you take me here!?" he yelled out, pointing a finger at him.
"Ah, that..." A remorseful sigh left the red guy. He crouched down onto the ground, arms extended outwards and resting on his knees. "You're just a bit too strong to have been there when the Iron Dominion invaded New Mobotropolis. Had to balance the board a bit."
Silver's eyes widened as panic lanced through him. "What!?"
"Well yeah, I mean, you coulda soloed that whole invasion. Normally you wouldn't even be here yet but-"
"N-no, what invasion!?" he screamed out. "Somebody invaded the city!? What are you talking about!?"
"Oh, the Iron Dominion," whoever this guy is said, as if that explained it all. "They're this army from Yurashia lead by a madwoman that invaded New Mobotropolis with the intention of subjugating the land, lobotomizing all the citizens and turning them all into cyborg slaves. Real bad bunch."
Every single word Silver heard made his heart race more and more. "Wh... no, slow down, what...?" He stumbled back, breath catching as he held his head in shock. "B-but everyone and Sorun is- but- no that-" he looked up at the man in shock. "You teleported me a week after all that!?" he screamed out. "What did you do!? What happened to my friends, wha- WHY!?"
The red-dressed man held his arms up. "Relax. Everyone's fine," he said, setting his arms back on top of his knees as he continued to crouch.
"Huh...?" Silver's breath hitched. Everything going on, everything he was saying, it was all causing too many thoughts to race through his head, but that one sentence was dangling out the barest shred of hope he couldn't help but latch on to. "They're... everyone's okay...?" he whispered out.
"Yeah. The Iron Dominion got completely crushed," he confirmed.
"Th-then... you didn't help?" Silver breathed out. He should feel relieved, maybe a small part of him did feel relieved, but this was all just so bizarre and he didn't know what to think. "Didn't you take me away from that just to help them? You're not with them...?"
"No. I did it because... eh, don't worry about it." The red-dressed guy stood up and pointed to the side. "The only thing I wanted to do was stagger your presence in time with the invasion, and stagger it I did. So you can leave." He made a shooing motion with his black-gloved hand. "Go on, fly free! I won't stop you. Head on back to New Mobotropolis and pretend none of this happened."
"B-but..." Silver trailed off, eyes going wide. Something in his mind clicked when he realized the man dressed in red was wearing red clothes. "It's... it's you!"
"Meh?"
"Y-you, you're that... you're that guy Sorun was talking about, aren't you!" Silver accused. "He said there was some weird guy dressed in red with impossible information running around! Th-that you did weird stuff like set Sorun up to get that last Chaos Emerald that killed him way back! He said that was you!"
"Ah... yeah, that's me." The red-dressed guy started to rub the back of his head with his hand, as if he were embarrassed. "Yeah, I did that. And a bunch of other stuff. The guy at the beginning of this mess that killed all those royal guardsmen back at Castle Acorn and stole the Chaos Emerald that was there? A hundred percent that was me. You did it. You solved the mystery. Congrats."
"You... I heard about that! That was you!?" The confusion was beginning to lessen now as more coherent feelings began to settle in Silver. Namely anger and horror. Mostly anger. "You killed people! For what!? Why!?"
"Reasons." He didn't sound wholly concerned with the whole affair. "Did they give you the whole story? Tell you how that Hershey girl was so mutilated they could barely tell it was her?"
Silver gasped and grit his teeth. "You-!"
"She didn't deserve it, didn't even plan on killing her, she just happened to be there, but her husband Geoffrey is the absolute worst," he continued. "So after I killed her I thought, 'eh, might as well go the extra mild,' so I just kept going to town on the corpse. Just over and over, for like, ten minutes straight. Didn't even let it touch the ground I was attacking so much. I was styling on that corpse, Silver."
Silver gagged out, repressing the urge to vomit from the description he heard. It put a pained sensation in his chest and made tears prick at the edge of his eyes. "How... how could you...!?"
"Are you serious? Imagine the look on that Geoffrey guy's face when they told him some maniac cut his wife up into sashimi," the red-dressed guy laughed out. "I bet it was hilarious. Probably still depressed about it actually-"
"ENOUGH!"
No more. He couldn't hear any more - he didn't want to hear anymore! Teal-colored energies began to roil around Silver's hands as he flexed his powers outwards. In the next instant the red-dressed man completely froze as his body was enveloped in his psychokinetic energies.
"... Huh." The red-dressed guy sounded surprised, frozen in place like that. "Well this is-"
"Stop talking. Just stop talking," Silver bit out. All those words he'd said, laughing about killing and brutalizing someone's wife, it... it set his blood boiling with rage. Anger Silver had never felt before, so much he felt himself shaking as he glared at the man. "I don't know who you are or what you want, why you did these things and what else you've been doing, but it stops now!" he yelled out. "I'm taking you back to the Republic of Acorn so you can answer for everything you've done! And then you're gonna tell me who you are and why you've been messing around with Sorun!"
It wouldn't fix anything he'd done, but... Silver didn't know why, but he wanted something done about all this. Justice for people that'd been harmed or killed because of this man, or even answers for Sorun! Something! Just anything he could do to make it at least a little better!
"Ah, that's a no-go," the man flippantly responded. "Hey, listen, just let me go and we can both go our separate ways."
"I'm not letting you go!" Silver screamed out. "You just admitted to murder! And you've probably done a bunch of other bad stuff! YOU KIDNAPPED ME!"
"And now I'm letting you go," he replied, as if that fixed it all. "What does taking me back to get locked up solve?"
"It means a murderer isn't running around free!" The teal power around Silver's hands flared brighter. "It means a horrible person like you can't hurt anyone else! A-and if I can bring you back, then... then I will!" He shook his head. "I'd never forgive myself if I let such an awful person like you go free!"
"... Well, good for you for having such strong moral fiber," the red-dressed guy sighed out. "You seem pretty dead-set on this. Have it your way."
"I said stop talking you-"
"You know, I hold your psychokinetic abilities rather highly," the red-dressed guy interrupted. "Really, I mean that. Your powers are good. They're so simple that there isn't really a good hard-counter for them, and for most people that's troublesome. It's too bad-"
Something impossible happened. Red energy began crackling along the man's body, and then he... flexed his arm and broke out of Silver's hold. Completely.
"-that if you're stupid strong like me you can just muscle your way through it."
/ / WARNING ! ! ! / /
Rubrum
?-?-? ?-?-?-?-?-?-? ?-? ?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?
"Ah!" Silver cried out as he stepped back, the power flowing around his hands fluctuating. He'd felt it, how that man had just... shrugged his power right off. Like it was a piece of clothing he'd casually tossed off. "That's... never happened to me before..."
"Silver, buddy, I ain't gonna lie." He wasn't in front of him anymore. Silver whirled to the side, yelling in surprise and jumping back. Rubrum was right next to him now, leaning towards him almost mockingly. "This is a real bad match-up for you."
"Shut up!" Silver waved his hand, once again enveloping Rubrum in teal energy as he telekinetically flung him backwards. But he only traveled a few meters. That red energy crackled over his body again and he broke out of Silver's hold, stopping a short distance away. "Agh...!"
He felt feedback in his body every time he extended his powers to something. It's how Silver maintained such a fine control over what his powers were holding. Having it... forced off like how Rubrum was doing was causing a kind of feedback that physically hurt him every time it happened. "I can't grab him with my power, so...!" He looked to the side. There was a fallen log sitting there. Thinking quick he grabbed onto it with his powers. The log was enveloped in a teal energy and rose up into the air. With a single gesture he flung the log towards Rubrum.
"Huh?" Rubrum almost sounded... confused. He casually leaned to the side to avoid the log. "No, no, that's..." he mumbled to himself, almost sounding troubled as he dodged a second log, and then a third. Silver began pulling a fourth log up-
Rubrum was standing in front of him now. Silver frightfully yelped, almost dropping the log floating up in the air from the sudden closeness. Rubrum leaned forwards, close enough that his obscured face was nearly touching the hedgehog's nose. "Put more power behind the throws. I shouldn't have time to see them coming and dodge," he whispered out to Silver. "Crush them up, too. Splinter them. It's too easy dodging one object."
"How did he- huh!?" Silver blinked and shook his head. He picked himself up with his own power and flew back, putting more distance between him and Rubrum, who just calmly stood there and waited for him. He picked up another log with his powers, though... hesitated a moment. His words echoed in Silver's mind, making him blanch. "I can't believe... well, you wanted it!" His powers crushed the tree, splintering in half and then fragmenting those halves into further splinters. It seemed... cruel in Silver's eyes, to do something like this, but... he was getting genuinely worried for how this fight way going, for how this man was just shrugging Silver's power off him. He needed to do something more here.
He flung the wooden splinters. Rubrum made a frustrated noise, and... moved. He still had his hands in his pockets, though he was making quick, minute movements, seemingly flowing around all the wooden shards tossed at him. "No, no, no!" he yelled out. "Not dozens, hundreds! Thousands! Don't give me room to dodge!"
"Stop giving me advice, you murderer!" Silver yelled out, though he tripped over his own words because of the content of what he'd just said. Was he being this confusing on purpose just to throw him off? "You-!"
He was in front of Silver again, making his voice die in his throat. "Is it teleporting!?" Silver though as he attempted to fly back again. "It has to be if he brought me here, but when does he-!?"
Rubrum's hand snapped out and grabbed Silver's wrist. "You're really not getting it," he said, pulling a startled Silver close enough that their bodies became flush. "You have all this open space, all this ammunition lying around. USE IT!" He reared back and kicked Silver straight in the chest, letting go of his at the same time.
He'd managed to protect himself. Just barely. In the instant before that kick connected with Silver's chest he managed to form a thin barrier of psychokinetic energy around his form. Even then the kick still knocked the wind out of him. After that he couldn't see much, because there'd been so much energy behind the kick Silver was sent flying back. Further and further, body crashing through dozens of trees and making him elicit a high-pitched grunt every time. The barrier was mitigating most of the damage but even then he was feeling every tree he crashed through.
There was red in the corner of his vision. Silver managed to crack his eye open as he flew back, and in that singular moment he saw sparks of red electricity to his immediate left. The eye widened he saw it was all around Rubrum - "How!? When!?" - who was sitting down on one of the fallen logs Silver was flying past. He hand snapped out and he grabbed at Silver's wrist, stopping all his momentum. The sudden stop rattled Silver and made him let out a cry of pain from the sudden whiplash he felt his body endure from it. Then Rubrum threw him, making Silver crash through two more trees before he finally stopped on the third one.
"I need you to put more effort into this," Rubrum called out as a groaning Silver slid down the tree he'd been thrown into. "You're getting nowhere at this rate."
Silver coughed out as he slid down to the ground, sitting against the tree as the barrier around him flickered out. His yellow eyes cracked open. The anger and frustration he felt for the person in front of him was increasing more and more as he felt himself become more heated. "What do you even want!?"
"Me? I wanna leave. You're the one trying to capture me here," Rubrum said. He made an exaggerated groan and stood up to his feet. "You could turn around and fly off right now and I wouldn't do a thing."
"Then leave," Silver huffed out as he shakily stood to his feet. "I can see you teleporting. Noth... nothing's stopping you," he said with a wince.
"Teleporting? Oh, sweet baby Silver..." Rubrum almost sounded amused with his response, chuckling a bit. "That isn't teleporting. That's just me moving really fast."
"Same difference," Silver coughed out. "Why are you doing this? Why are you doing any of this!?"
"Would you believe me if I said I have no clue?" Rubrum shrugged his shoulders, hands still pocketed.
"No! I wouldn't!"
"Ah, well..." Rubrum's hooded head glanced to the side. "All I really needed to do was get you to miss the invasion from the Iron Dominion. This fight... isn't at all necessary." His obscured face looked at Silver. "I guess I wanted a break."
"A break!?" Silver felt outraged just hearing that. What did that even mean, a break!?
Rubrum took a few moments to respond. "... It's just really heavy, all this stuff I've been doing the last week." he said. "I just wanted to do something else. Just for a few minutes." He made an unsatisfied noise. "But... you're really bad at fighting, you know? This isn't very fun."
There was too much going on in Silver's heart to even be hurt by that comment. From all the anger he felt from standing in front of a murderer to the physical pain Silver felt across his body to the frustration he felt at not being able to do anything. It was almost too much. "Fun? That's what you're worried about?" he hissed out in an angered breath. "Those royal guardsmen you killed all had families! You think they're having fun over the fact you killed those people!?"
"I genuinely don't care," Rubrum informed him. He stuck his hand into the hood obscuring his face and was making a motion as if he were cleaning his ear out with his finger "All I'm hearing from you is 'wah wah wah, you murdered people.' It's like you care more about a bunch of faceless mooks you've never even met than me." He huffed out in frustration and threw his hands to the side. "Do I gotten threaten to murder people you actually know to motivate you? Is that it?"
Thump-thump. The moment he heard that Silver felt a ringing in his ears. He could barely pay attention to anything else other than the words being replayed in his head. He was... threatening people. People Silver knew, like everyone in New Mobotropolis. Like Sorun. The anger in his heart exploded outward; he felt his power surge as teal energy coalesced around the hedgehog's body. "That's IT...!"
Rubrum perked up. "Yes...?"
Silver snapped his hands out to his side. Logs - dozens of them - became enveloped in his power. They were crushed, over and over, splintered and shredded by the psychokinetic power running through them.
"Yes!"
The wooden shards soon numbered in the thousands. They gathered around, surrounded by a veritable cloud of teal energy as it all settled in front of Silver, who glared at Rubrum with hatred. Thousands upon thousands of wooden shards, all aimed at that single man.
"YES!"
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Silver screamed. He waved his hand. Every single wooden shard shot forwards with so much force they left behind visible, conical reverberations in the air. Some of the smallest shards even became alit in flame from the air friction as they all flew towards Rubrum. Despite even that, it was still a wall of sharpened debris. An absolute cluster of deadly wood spikes that was guaranteed to hit, regardless of one's size or speed. He would be completely skewered. That was an absolute fact.
Rubrum disappeared in a cloud of black and red vapors right before the shards hit. They all slammed into the ground with enough force to leave a field of small craters in the ground where he stood. He reappeared behind a shocked Silver in another cloud of black and red vaporous energy.
"That was me teleporting," Rubrum muttered out after leaning towards Silver's ear from behind.
Silver's reaction was near-instant. He spun around, swinging his teal-glowing fist out to no avail. Rubrum simply teleported away again right before he hit, making Silver breath out heavily as his eyes wildly darted around.
"What trash spatial awareness." He was behind Silver again. The white-furred Mobian turned, freezing when he saw Rubrum leering over him. "Poor reaction." The red-dressed man flicked his hand out; Silver just barely managed to erect a teal shield to protect his face. It didn't work. Rubrum's hand smashed right through and grabbed at Silver's face, whose scream became muffled by the palm grabbing at him. "Let's take this up."
They were up in the air now. High up in the sky, amidst the clouds. Silver looked around in a panic, hands gripping Rubrum's wrist as he attempted to free himself and figure out what happened at the same time. They hadn't moved - Silver hadn't felt wind rush past him. They'd just appeared here. Teleporting. "But I didn't see that effect that happened when I saw him teleporting! How does he keep moving us!?"
There wasn't enough time to think. Rubrum flung Silver away, the hedgehog making staggered grunts as he flew through the sky. His heart was threatening to pound through his chest, and most of Silver's effort was being put towards attempting to control his breathing as he tumbled end-over-end through the clouds. He couldn't even make anything out. He was spinning around so hard that it was just blurs of whites and blues.
Red. There was suddenly red - flickers of red energy licking the corners of his vision. Activating another psychokinetic protective barrier was instinctual at this point. Nothing more than an animalistic reflex to avoid getting hurt as his mind raced to catch up to what was happening. His body made the right choice; Rubrum, somehow, had appeared underneath Silver as he tumbled through the air and kicked him right in the stomach to send him shooting straight up. The Mobian gagged out, the wind being knocked out of him and his body going numb from the strike despite the barrier around him. He didn't even make it to the apex of his ascent before Rubrum appeared once again in midair, hands pocketed. All Silver could do was weakly look towards him as he kicked Silver in the face with the bottom of his boot, sending him flying backwards.
Thinking was... starting to get too hard to do. Too much pain wracking his body, too exhausted from his mind trying to cope with everything happening. He'd appear again, had to do something, what, do what, he couldn't grab him and there was nothing up here to grab, there was NOTHING TO DO-!
Rubrum appeared above Silver and kicked him in the back. He shot down - straight down, directly towards the ground. "Slow, need slow can't hit!" Teal energy flared out from Silver's body as he tried to slow himself down. It was working, if barely. The friction he felt burning away at his psychokinetic barrier was tapering off and he felt himself slowly more and more as he approached the ground. He'd sighed out when, finally, he did stop - just a few meters right above the ground.
The relief ended when Rubrum, who was now standing next to Silver, reached out and grabbed at his ankle. He'd made a startled scream that was instantly cut off when Rubrum slammed his body into the ground hard enough he'd bounced once before falling face-first into the dirt.
"It really ain't lookin' good." Rubrum's voice sounded amused as his hooded head looked down at Silver. "I mean, I'm holding back ninety percent of my kit here and you're still losing hard, Silver."
"..." Silver pushed himself up off the ground, teeth grit in pain and eyes half-lidded from exhaustion. Every part of his body was hurting and aching now, and darkness was starting to infringe at the edge of his vision. "Need to... get away..." He held a shaky hand up, coughing as teal energy coalesced between his fingers. "Just... need to... stall him..."
A sphere of teal energy instantly appeared around Rubrum, completely encapsulating him. A strong barrier. Strong enough to hold him back and give Silver time to run away, maybe hide somewhere to recuperate some of his strength and-
Red cracks appeared and spiderwebbed across the entire surface of the teal bubble holding Rubrum. Red, electrical energy crackled angrily from the cracks, which only damaged the barrier more and more. Silver grunted, eyes narrowing and hand shaking even harder as he attempted to hold the barrier together. It was no good. He screamed out from the feedback when the barrier completely shattered, revealing Rubrum standing there calmly with a hand rose up as he stared on. Silver's hand flopped uselessly to his side, teal energy racing along the numb appendage.
"How sad. This really is all you got." Rubrum's hand lowered to his side. He didn't sound so amused anymore. More disappointed than anything else. "Better'n most, but that in of itself ain't that high a bar." He walked right in front of Silver, crouching down in front of him. "You're supposed to save the future? You can't even save yourself."
"Stop... talking..." It was taking Silver all the strength he had to lift his left arm up. The only arm that was still listening to him.
"Aw, that's the spirit, Silver, keep trying," Rubrum said. His voice sounded mocking. Patronizing with the slightest bit of pity. "That's it, pal, keep going. Get that arm up."
"Eh... ergh..." He felt sweat dampening his fur as he lifted the arm up halfway, with half his face still lying in the dirt. He could only lift his head up partway to have at least one eye balefully glare at Rubrum.
"Great job. Almost there!" Rubrum laughed. The hand was almost fully pointed at him. "You can do it. You have to do it. Think about it: said so yourself I'm a dangerous murder that needs to be locked up." His tone was suddenly filled with mock worry. "What if I go to New Mobotropolis and just start tearing all the Freedom Fighters apart with my bare hands? Who'd gonna stop me from killing all the kids then?" The mocking tone left as the crouched Rubrum leaned down lower to Silver. "Who'd stop me from wiping the entire Republic off the map? Who'd stop me from grinding all of Nicole's servers to dust and wiping her from existence?"
Suddenly Silver didn't feel so tired. All the pain and exhaustion was rapidly fading as renewed anger began filling his very being. Wisps of teal energy began flowing off his body like steam, and teal arcs of electricity raced over his form as his breathing became louder, more frantic. Particles of light began gathering in the center of Silver's palm.
Rubrum leaned down even lower. His voice became a quiet, neutral drone. "Who would stop me from tearing Sorun's heart out right in front of you?"
That did it. Something in Silver snapped - his ears were filled with the roaring sound of energy as it crackled along his entire form. That and the sound of his own roaring as his hand went from glowing teal to practically glowing white. "RRRRAAAGH!"
Rubrum disappeared. So did a large swath of forest behind him.
So... Silver had screamed. Rubrum had expected that, it was the reaction he was going for. Then he unleashed that attack. Understandable. He'd been ready for it.
... Well, he thought he'd been ready for it.
What actually happened was that Silver screamed. And then Rubrum blinked. Then he saw he was over the ocean. He blinked again - now he was over land rushing by so fast he was having a hard time visualizing it. There'd... been a mountain at some point. The momentum he was carrying smashed him right through that. Honestly there may have been more than one mountain - Rubrum wasn't entirely sure.
He'd hit ground. It didn't stop Rubrum's momentum at all. His body carved a trench all the way from one end of Yurashia to another, right through the whole continent. That took about two seconds. He hit the ocean again, water tearing at his body and even steaming from the friction he was putting out. He only finally ran out of momentum when he reached Downunda, coming to a stop about halfway through.
Overall Silver's attack had flung Rubrum across most of the planet in the span of about six seconds.
He was flat on his back, staring straight up at the sky. Rubrum's left arm was missing - somewhere on another continent, probably, or in the ocean somewhere waiting to be eaten by a sea creature. His bones were literal dust, it felt like. Organs were pulverized into jelly. About half his blood got spread all over the planet during that.
"Okay. I might have overdone it."
Aside from the arm all of the damage was regenerated as Rubrum slowly sat up. "Sheesh... I just wanted to rile him up a bit. He didn't have to take it so seriously..." He looked towards his missing arm. Red energy spread out from the stump and formed into the shape of his arm. The red energy then receded, leaving behind a regenerated left arm. "Still, good on him for getting one hit in," he continued in earnest as red cubes of energy swarmed around his left arm. The sleeve and glove he'd lost reappeared to conceal the pale skin underneath.
"Alright, let's... get back at it..." Rubrum slowly stood to his feet... and then promptly sat back down. "Nope, not happening. Ugh... fuck, Silver..." Rubrum mumbled, holding a hand to his hooded head. He had to sit down for a few more moments to catch his breath, and then tried standing again. This time Rubrum managed to successfully stay on his feet. "Th-there we go, that's it..."
Silver panted, staring forwards at the missing patch of forest he'd... he'd done that? He blew all of that away? It was at least a good mile or two of forest just gone. Completely erased when he'd blown it all away.
"I-I... I didn't... mean to d-destroy all that..." He barely even had the energy to think. To breath, even. Forget about his psychokinetic power. It was spent in its entirety. Even moving was completely out as an option. He was done. Set to pass out at any moment here.
But... but it was worth it. He was gone. The person dressed in red. Silver didn't have a clue where he blew him away to but he was gone. He couldn't hurt anyone. At least he could pass out feeling content, knowing everyone else was safe.
Those thoughts were dashed when he saw tongues of red electricity out in the corner of his vision. With all his remaining strength he moved his head just a few inches. He felt his heart sink and all hope drain out of him when he saw Rubrum sitting down on a nearby rock, red electricity crackling around him. He didn't have even a single scratch on him. "N...no..."
"More of that," Rubrum said, voice unusually calm.
"..." Silver didn't have the energy to retort. He tried raising his arm, but it was no good. No part of his body was listening to him. He couldn't even feel it at this point.
"Nah, you're done," Rubrum said with a shake of his head. "It's a shame, too. The sad fact is that you could be one of the strongest guys in this whole universe... but you'll never be more than mid at best. Wanna know why?" Rubrum tapped at his own chest, near his heart. "A killer instinct. You don't got it. I teased it out of you back there, sure, but it's not a thing you could consistently use. You're too nice."
Silver coughed. His vision was rapidly darkening as his eyes began to close on their own.
"Ah, but... what do I know? I'm just the strongest guy in the whole multiverse." Still sitting down, Rubrum placed his palms flat on the rock and leaned back, hooded head looking up at the sky. "... It's not so bad though, Silver. Not having a killer instinct. Don't beat yourself up over it." He pushed himself off the rock. "Truth is I'd love nothing more than to live in a world where nobody had a killer instinct. I lost my taste for blood a while ago."
It was no good. Silver wasn't listening to him. He couldn't - right as Rubrum said the last word there he passed out right on the spot. Rubrum didn't show any outwards reaction. He just stood completely still as he stared down at the hedgehog's body.
"... I guess I had a bit of fun after all. Thanks for that," Rubrum finally said after ten minutes of staring. "I need to go stop Eggman from hitting the button now. Bye."
He turned around and left Silver to his rest.