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skaryskylar · 4 years

Text

Cherry Wine

Pairing: ZoSan

Type: One-Shot

Summary: There is a song that pervades throughout the land of Wano. Zoro can't hear the words, but somehow he still understands the lyrics.

Also available on AO3

He first hears the song when he's drinking on Kin'emon's porch. The sake O-Tsuru brought is hot on his tongue as it eases its way down his throat, rim of the porcelain cup cool on his lips. The sharp tang of alcohol clashes with the sweetness of plum, just as the heat of the drink clashes against the cool gusts of wind fiddling with the branches of the trees, playing with sturdy sakura wood and pliant, lush leaves like strings of a shamisen.

Zoro grants an ear to its melody. The white katana at his hip hums along, vibrating in its sheath. This was something secret. Sacred. And though he caught the rhythm and flow, the lyrics weren't meant for human ears. It feels like a memory teetering on the brim of his consciousness, the triumph of knowing that it was there and reaching for it before the bitterness of watching it slip through your grasp.

There was a song he could understand though. He hears the familiar thwack-thwack-thwack of a strainer, the cacophony of knives against a cutting board. Light, rich laughter that hung in the air, rustling his hair and easing the tightness in his chest. The stretch of rubber. The twang a of violin being tuned. A resounding slap as a hand is pushed away. Feminine voice mingling with a deeper baritone (Together. Always together those two.) closely followed by a child's squeal. A boisterous voice rising above all the noise, weaving a tale of insects that were larger than men and the valiant hero that dared to tame them.

This was a song of nakama, and it spoke to something deep within his center, allowing a zen even meditation did not grant him. It was one of peace and trust and love that ran deeper than blood.

He knows all the words by heart, even those unspoken.

A whizz through the air is his only warning.

He catches the bowl that was thrown at him with ease. The udon swims precariously inside but does not slip over the rim. He looks down at the thick noodles swimming in the dark dashi. Fresh, green scallions scattered over the swirling narutomaki, a few pieces floating in the broth past thin slices of beef like leaves in a river. He breathes in, savors the rich scent, then raises his hand to catch the chopsticks shot his way.

(He got used to the pain of them smacking his palm a few islands ago. He had missed it during that long week at the beginning of all this, when he wandered the land of Wano with no one to spar with nor a Captain to follow.)

"Hurry up, before Luffy gets his hands on it."

Sanji settles next to him. He can tell by how the air shifts to accommodate his lithe form, plucking the acrid smoke from his pipe and casting it away. Though they did not touch, his entire left side suddenly feels warm. The cool night does nothing to beat the sensation back, encouraging it if anything else, forcing the blonde closer with a shiver.

His hair, golden and wavy without his tools to straighten it, is strung back into a low ponytail. The stubble given a chance to reign for the day took full advantage, casting his entire jaw in shadow, relenting only to the pale, plush lips that tugged on the vice between them.

His eyes were on the stars, but they shift their attention quickly when he notices Zoro staring.

(And he was closer to that memory. He could feel the softness of it in his hands. The song was getting clearer. Wado hums at his side, bidding him to keep reaching and maybe with a final stretch-.)

"It'll get cold dumbass. Hurry up, or I'll give it Luffy."

"Don't push your luck Curly. You won't get this bowl unless I give it to you."

He takes his first bite and tastes the sea. The crisp salt of the ocean and freshness of the unpolluted air. The grit in his teeth when Luffy launched him into the grass. The billow of a mast unfurling. The crash of the waves against the Sunny's strong, sturdy Adam's wood. Early mornings in the crow's nest, a fresh cup of jasmine tea in hand as he stares out to the edge of the blue expanse.

Yes, this tasted like home.

The song grows in its intensity as he eats. The last chord only ends when the final drop of dashi slips down his throat. Sanji takes the bowl from him, making a point to get close enough for Zoro to smell the ginger-spice of oil he used for his skin, before he scowled, ripping it and the chopsticks away from him to return to his kitchen.

As soon as his foot crosses the threshold, the song stops.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He hears the song again as he walks through the forest. The morning sun sits heavy on his skin, sweat forcing the tan to glisten in its wake. The light that shone through the trees started off the ballad, soon joined by birds that darted about overhead. They seem to follow him as he walks down a rough path, nearly overrun by nature. The soil sinks beneath his sandals without resistance, an easy tempo followed by lively chirps of the birds and the cry of cicadas.

It wasn't difficult to sink into the dreamlike haze. The familiar zen of meditation washes through him, easing his breath and loosening his grip on the hilt of his swords. Which was why he jumps when Wado rattles in her sheath.

He pauses, looks around, and is entirely unsure of where he's found himself. While the rest of Wano is well-loved and taken care of post-Kaido, this area seems to be untouched from Oden's time. The trees grew tall and unhindered by human folly, wildflowers sprouting at their roots in a myriad of colors. Tiny woodland animals dart about, sniffing at his feet, pouncing at his sword. They're curious. Unafraid of him because they have never seen one of his kind.

The most noticeable of them all was the golden fox. It was perched on a branch, lazily flicking its milky tail back and forth as it peers down at him with bemused black eyes. Zoro tightens his hand on Enma's hilt. It follows the movement, then gives a huff, as if laughing at the notion that the swordsman could harm it.

It stands, stretches into a long, arc, then opens its maw in a silent yawn.

Smacking it's lips, the fox gives Zoro one last look, smirks, then scampers down the tree and trots away.

A childish, petty anger surges in his chest at the disrespect. He doesn't hesitate before he goes to follow. The little woodland animals fall over themselves to track his footsteps as he goes deeper into the forest, following the sway of that golden tail. The song in his ears grows louder, sounds forming the beginning of words till he steps into a clearing, and everything falls to a low vibration.

Wado is warm in his hand. Every nerve fires off, putting him on guard. But the clearing is empty save for the overgrown grass and the wooden markers that stood high, covered in moss and rot.

He found his feet stepping towards them before he could resist. The wood is cool against his fingertips as he brushes away the dust, struggling to make out the faint characters etched into the surface.

'Noa'...'Ro'....

"They say that they're proud of you." Kuina's voice says in his ear. Wado's hilt has turned hot in hand as he crouches. He brushes against the wood again, wanting to hear that sweet sound once more, peeling lichen out of the way to make out the rest of the name. So fervent is he in his efforts, that he fails to notice the crunch of leaves underfoot until another, deeper voice rings out, fondness sewn into the tone beneath the harsh words.

"Honestly, marimo. Can't we go to one island without you getting lost? You missed lunch asshole."

Sanji stops a couple paces away. There is nothing remarkable about his appearance. He is dressed in his usual kimono, white and yellow with the sleeves rolled up. He had just come back from work. If the low ponytail didn't indicate as much, then the carefully wrapped bento in his hand would.

Zoro had seen this man in this same position-with a frown on his face and a hand on his hip so many times before. So there was no reason for his breath to freeze in his lungs despite the heat of the day. Clearing his throat, he shiftsdiscreetly, trying to force his heart to jumpstart in his chest and give his brain the blood it needed to think clearly.

A moment of silence grew too long.

Sanji looked beyond Zoro, over to what he was doing, then his face crinkled in disgust.

"Is...Is that a grave marker? You sick necrophilia-loving fuck. Stop touching that!"

Heat flooded his face. He heard a little girl's laughter on the wind as he scrambled backwards, rubbing his hands on his dark hakama.

"I just wanted to read them! Get your head out of the gutter you perv!"

"What'd you say matcha-brain?"

"Exactly what I said Curlicue!"

He felt the kick coming before Sanji even raised his leg. Their timing is perfect, as always. A splinter of wood flies off the man's sandal when the heel meets Enma in a sonic clash. Blue eyes meet his through the burst of flames, merriment dancing in their depths despite the scowl on their owner's face.

He smirks back.

They pull apart and come together time after time again. It is their own elaborate dance, and the steps are much too complicated to be taught to anyone else. Around them, the clearing begins to roar its approval.

Wano's song descends upon the scene seamlessly, ringing in Zoro's ears as if it was always there. The golden fox adds to the chorus, cheerfully yipping as it darts about, watching the fight with the same excited vigor as the rest of the creatures gathered to watch. With each kick he meets with his blade, the words become clearer. Verse after verse, lyric after lyric, kick after kick pushing him higher, sending him towards the finale.

He rushes towards it in a flying leap. Wado sings between his teeth as he bore down on the man, unafraid of the heat of the flames even as they licked his bare skin.

When a well-placed kick knocks his swords from his hands, the song did not falter. He moves with its cadence. Slipping Wado back into its hilt to go no-sword style, he braces himself for impact and grabs Sanji by the shoulders, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

Their breaths mingle, a cool gust on the crook of his neck as he presses his nose to blonde tufts, breathes, and listens.

He knows he's close. He can taste it on his lips, sweet as plum sake and just as pleasing to his tongue. The strands of blonde tickle his nose. Vanilla and ginger mingle, scent of his conditioner strong through the man's sweat. He wasn't aware the rumble in the air was coming from him till timid fingers flutter at his shoulders, resting there as if they belonged.

He looks down into deep azure eyes and he hears the song as if it were in another room. There are lyrics, words that slit his heart open and let it weep, an outpouring of emotion so thick he can't speak.

He licks his lips and tilts his head to see if he could get a better listen.

"OI! Zoro! Sanji!" The rustle of grass beneath hooves cut off the song abruptly. The men scramble apart just as Chopper appears from the trees. The deer pants, obviously having run all the way, but his expression is joyous when he clambers up to them.

(The golden fox takes one look at the reindeer and rolls it eyes. After a pointed, pained look at Zoro, it turns on its heel and scampers away.)

"Izo and Marco are setting up a sparring contest! O-Robi's going to use swords! One hundred sword style!"

Zoro is up and running before the kid can finish. The song is left forgotten.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiyori's fingers are a blur against the strings. Nimble, pale, and skilled, they dart across the instrument with a self-assuredness he recognizes quickly. Her shamisen is like his blades: an extension of the self so integral it was like another limb. Her chords blend easily with that song, and yet he can't help but think it is a pale mimicry of the original. He doesn't dislike it, no.

But it still feels like something is missing. The build-up is there. The rush that heats his blood and makes him want to fight is there. But it's surface level. There was a depth to the original that her song didn't achieve.

His time with the cook was the closest he got to hearing the end of it. Was anger the key? Did he need to get pissed off to understand?

(Wado laughs in her sheath, high and feminine. Free and true. It's a sound that never failed to make him feel like a fool, going back to when he was a child.)

He doesn't realize she stopped playing until she speaks.

"You seem distracted."

"Got a lot to think about," He grunts.

"Let me try to ease your mind."

The response annoys him. He wanted a push, a snarky rebuttal. There was no resistance. The pliancy-the way she bends to serve-it's unnerving.

She looks him over and he can't help the goosebumps on his skin. Her eyes are a stunning shade of blue, but they were wrong. This is the blue of the sky, of stability, the promise of 'forever' no matter how stagnant the days may become.

He craves the blue of the sea. He wants to look deep in the whorl of the waves and fall headfirst into the chaos of their storms. He seeks mystery and adventure because they can make him strong. He wants to discover the unknown, to let its tide roll through him. He wants triumph in the face of disaster. An unrelenting fire to forge his swords. The smell of ginger, spices, tobacco, steel, leather and sea salt.

Not this. Not sitting in a tiny room with an empty bottle of sake at his side, idly listening to rehearsed music as his blades waste away and grow dull.

Wado is silent. Even as Hiyori starts a new song, she is silent.

He's growing impatient. He knew it was showing on his face because her fingers began to still on the strings. She looks him over again, displeasure rolling off of her in waves. Sighing, she sets the instrument aside.

"My songs don't please you."

"They don't displease me." He offers, but he sees from the way her face shuttered that it wasn't the right thing to say. He isn't clever like the cook. He wasn't raised to be suave. His tongue is a thick, heavy clod in his mouth that resists even if his lips manage to move in the right way.

Hiyori ducks her head. One by one, she plucks the pins from her hair, setting each to side with careful clinks as waves of her silken, cerulean hair fall over her shoulders. Once they are all complete, she pushes it behind her back, revealing her face and the determination that settles in her gaze.

"Perhaps," Confusion makes his heart swing as she leans forward. Close. Much to close. "I can help with that."

He freezes back as she pulls herself onto his lap.

"Relax," She says softly. His heart batters against his ribcage, heat climbing up his skin as the slow, dreadful realization as to what was going on rattles his brain. Her hands are tiny but firm on his thighs, fingers reaching for the tie of his obi as he begs his frozen mouth to move and resist in a way that wouldn't physically harm her.

But shock isn't easily shook off. It forces a series of syllables that didn't belong to any language out before he finally, thankfully, spluttered a:

"Wait, no! Lady, stop I-!"

The shoji slides open and the voice of the last person Zoro wants to see at that moment rings out bold and true.

"Hiyori-chan!!!! I've got tea for you, then Izo and Okiku-chan helped me make cookies! Maybe you could show me how-! Eh, mosshead?"

This shade of blue is correct. He studies the myriad of navy and azure in the irises as the black pupils shrank. This is the one that reminded him of freedom and the sweet taste of victory. They promised greatness.

But there's something wrong.

Emotions flash across their surface, quick and intense as a thunderous storm. Wado rattles in her scabbard, but that sound is overshadowed by the tea set crashing to the ground, sending porcelain shards and matcha powder arcing through the air. The kettle tips over, hot water streaming quick to socked feet but it was like Sanji didn't notice. He only stares at the scene before him. His hands quiver, shaking as if he were cold, until he regains the sense of mind to clutch at the sleeves of his kimono, abruptly dipping into a low, stiff bow.

"Sorry for interrupting." He says coldly, then he turns and runs.

Zoro's heart hammers in his chest before it loses its place and falls to the depths of his gut. He scrambles to get up through the pain, chasing after the man through the hallway as Wado yells at him to 'run, run, run', bolting past rooms with booming laughter and delicious smells, ignoring Luffy's shouts of his name.

But by the time he comes to a stop at the front door, the yard is empty save for the swaying grass.

The angry chittering at his hip stops.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rain has a long, mournful solo. There is no chirping of cicadas, no rush of the wind through the trees, no sun to kiss his skin and bid him welcome to Wano's orchestra. There is only wetness and biting cold, barely fought back by the sake in his hand.

He sits alone. Usopp had stopped by earlier with dinner. The empty bowl is at his side, resting against a still white sword, silent as the day its original master died. He watches the world in all its grayness from Kin'emon's porch. How the rain sweeps in and cleanses them all, nature and man alike, dropping its sorrowful tune on the world, slipping its melancholy through his thick haori till it chills his very bones.

The sound of the door opening and gentle yet sure footsteps perk his ears. He doesn't need to look to know who it was. (Sanji's steps were just as graceful, but they were heavier. The only other Strawhat with this grace was-.)

"I'm reading a book about soulmates," Robin says, folding her legs beneath her as she sits down. The wisteria of her perfume tickles his nose, sweet and stark against the fresh scent of the rain. He doesn't look away from the downpour. She follows the line of his gaze and does the same.

"I'm not usually one for fiction, but Franky saw fit to buy me something he'd thought I'd like. The fact that he stepped foot in a bookstore at all speaks volumes."

A stabbing pain shoots through him. He loosely knows the crawling heat of envy, and is sure it wasn't for either half of the couple in particular but that thing that they shared.

Robin could be morbid and cruel but Franky makes her laugh. He loosened her grip on the grotesque, brought her down from the icy pedestal of perfection and lets her bare her weaknesses for the crew to see. Franky is a madman, loyal to his family to a fault, a perverted genius. She forces his kindness, literally gripped him by the balls till he dared to share his visions with the world, to use his smarts to help a boy become a king.

(They are two of the most amazing, worst people he has ever met. Separated, they're horrible. If Luffy asked him to cut them down back then, he wouldn't have hesitated. Together, he trusts them with his life. Would give up his own for theirs. They made each other 'good'. Stable enough to act as parents to a genius, teenage reindeer with a knack for sticking his hands in human bodies. Wasn't it funny how fate worked out sometimes?)

"It's an interesting concept isn't it? One soul ripped into two by the gods, doomed to roam this earth for years just searching for their second half..." A red-breasted thrush flutters into the grass before them. It cocked its head at the two, rustling its feathers even as the rain pelts down, unbowed and unbroken under the deluge. Zoro straightens as its beady eyes settle on him.

Wado gives a little shiver.

"It would be easier if we were birds," Robin continues. "How lovely it must be to find someone that's singing the same song as you."

"I don't believe in fairy tales."

She just smiles softly. The rain does not cease. The melody of Wano does not come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The days pass. The repairs on the Sunny are nearly complete. Marco the Phoenix flies back to Sphinx. Momonosuke studies hard to become a worthy leader of his beloved country. Hiyori finds him and apologizes. Outwardly, he accepts it with a grunt. Inwardly, he can't help but bluster. He resents her. Just a little bit. Only time and distance could let him overcome the instinctive surge of embarrassment every time he thinks of the incident.

(He wants to set sail. He wants to set sail. He wants to set sail.)

He trains.

He swings his swords and ignores how they no longer sing. Usopp gives him a wide berth after a particularly snappy remark. Nami forces him into bathhouses, thinking the water should 'cool him off'. Chopper fixes his practice-induced injuries but does not reprimand him. Franky keeps asking if he's okay. Robin sends him those knowing glances, saying whatever cryptic words come to her mind in that moment. Luffy says nothing, places the strawhat on his head, and encourages him to nap.

(His eyes stay wide open beneath the brim.)

He does not see Sanji outside of meal times.

He didn't realize he was looking till one day Luffy plucks the hat back, staring deep into his eyes with that rare, serious expression that made him seem years older than he was.

"Try again. Whenever you think you're going the right way, go the opposite."

The air shifts, and the boy grins once more.

"That's what I do whenever I need to find Law! Guys like us can't listen to our heads! What matters is our guts! The stomach is the answer to all our problems!"

As if summoned, the organ in question gives a loud, long rumble. Luffy groans. He flops over, letting his hat cover his face in the exact same position Zoro had been in.

"Please...hurry...Sanji doesn't make extra snacks when he's angry."

As First Mate it was his duty to follow his Captain's orders. He repeats this mantra in his mind, using this justification to steel himself as he plucks his swords from where they lean against the tree, saddles them at his hip, and begins his search.

Sanji was not at the udon shop. Nor was he at Kin'emon's place. He was not drinking tea at O-Tsuru's shop, nor was he aiding the rebuilding efforts at Oden Castle. He was not at the ship. Not flirting with girls at the geisha house.

Zoro keeps searching. He walks until his stomach begins to grumble and even sake can't silence it.

Mt. Atama was the last place he would've checked.

He finds him atop the hill, hidden in the shadow of a cherry blossom tree. He is not alone. Izo and Kiku are at his sides as they had been since the end of the battle.

(They took to each other quick. The gunslinger said the blonde reminded him of someone he used to know. That sitting in the kitchen as he worked calmed him. Sanji laid his hand on his in understanding and showed him how to make mochi.)

Tama and Toko are seated with them. All five wear flowers in their hair, carefully weaved by Tama if the stems scattered around her are any indication. They chatter and laugh, sharing tea and cookies. The cook's face is flushed red from his laughter. Toko is doing a funny dance that brings tears to his eyes. He only laughs harder when the girl drags Izo and his sister to join.

It's mid-spin that the gunslinger senses him approach. A dark, thin brow arches high, frown playing at painted red lips. Zoro waits as the man leans down to whisper to the girls, tugging his sister by her kimono sleeve to give the two some semblance of privacy.

Of course, the group has to pass Zoro on the way. Izo gives him a look that was less of glance and more of a silent threat, but he says nothing, nor does his swift pace falter.

The swordsman begins his silent rapture, ascending the curve of the hill to meet the golden man waiting for him above. The song starts again. He's in the room where its playing. He can hear every plucked string, the reverb and chorus's lively echo.

"What do you want?" Sanji asks. He's no longer laughing. The light in his eyes has gone cold. Zoro doesn't respond as he sits. The winds stirs, blowing through their hair. He smells matcha tea and flames.

They speak at the same time.

"What you saw that day-."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me-."

They stop, take a breath. Zoro tries again.

"She apologized. For, uh..." He coughs, chest suddenly feeling very tight. "She misread the 'signals' I was giving. She told me to apologize to you on her behalf."

He sucks on his lower lip, letting a short 'tch' rip past his teeth as his heart bounces in his throat. Sanji still wasn't looking at him.

"Well, I forgive her. So you can run and tell your little girlfriend that if she wants to keep you here in this tiny country all for herself, she can. You can stay here with her and make little sword-stabbing babies with weird hair and-."

"I don't want to stay here." The blond freezes. Zoro takes a breath. He reminds himself of his Captain's words and jumped to instinct.

"I want to go to sea." The 'with you' goes unsaid but, if they're listening to the same song, then it didn't go unheard.

The cook's hands are shaking. He pulls out his pipe, struggles to pack it tight and light it up. When he manages to take a long drag, the wind gives him the same affectionate consideration it did the first time, plucking the smoke and casting it towards the clouds.

Sanji watched it fly away. Zoro watched him watch it, tracing the firm collarbone and V-shaped sliver of skin with vicious longing tearing at his insides.

"She'll be disappointed."

"I don't care."

He hears a girl's gasped laughter. Wado rattles in her sheath. He unbuckles all three swords and sets them to the side. Then he takes two quick steps up to Sanji, reaches for the man's jaw and tilts it till they're making eye contact.

(His eyes are so, so blue.)

"Are you singing the same song as me?" He asks, because his mind is blank but his gut has a lot of strong opinions. Sanji pulls the pipe from his lips. Sets it aside. Then his expression crinkles into something exasperated and fond all at once.

"Have you been talking to Robin too?"

He was not stopped when he leaned in. There was no one to intervene when he pressed his lips to Sanji's own and relished the soft, little whine that rose to meet him. He's in the room where the song is playing. He can hear every beat of the drum. The chorus of Wano's ghosts sings about adventure, a great battle, victory, and love of their motherland.

The lyrics let him know he is home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zoro isn't a music kind of guy. He's not like Brook, playing ballads to the calm sea at night, hoping a friend living hundreds of nautical miles away was still listening close enough to sing along. He doesn't play jazz records in the middle of the night like Robin. He yells at Nami to shut up when she sings that old Navy song her mom taught her, and grits his teeth when Luffy hums that weird country song he's fond of. He has no interest in Franky and Usopp's loud, radical rock and roll nor Jimbei's strange underwater yodeling.

But he has a favorite song. He listens to it daily. It's in the smack of chopsticks against his palm when he catches them. And in the clatter of a plate of onigiri set on the ground while he's training. He hears it in a loud- nearly violent-argument over a game of jenga and the screams when the Sunny lurches and the entire tower falls over.

He hears it in soft, discreet touches (that never quite manage to miss Robin's hawk-like gaze if her little smirks mean anything) and in the affection hidden behind spat vitriol whenever a certain idiot lays it on too thick with all the compliments to the sea witch.

The lyrics are easy to remember. The trick is convincing the singer to say them.

You see, you can't just rush him into it.

No, you have to make sure his guard is down. Spar with him in the morning after breakfast to make sure he gets any aggressive energy out of his system. Don't interrupt to get sake while he's making dinner.

(If you can't resist your alcoholic tendecies, then at least stick around while you drink instead of walking away. Compliment how his hands move with a knife in them. Mention that the food smells good. Rest your hand against the curve of his ass and place your lips against that spot on his neck just the way he likes. If he laughs and nudges you away with his shoulder, you're in the clear. If he kicks you away, you will not get to hear him sing that night. Try again tomorrow.)

When dinner is done, the dishes are set to dry and the kitchen is clean, linger in the Crow's Nest. Resist the urge to work out. He'll complain if you're sweaty and that's all you'll hear about for the rest of the night. No, instead open up the overhead dome so that the light of the stars comes in through the glass, bathing the room in a pale, silver tinge.

(Allow yourself a swig of sake. Stare up at the thousands of brilliant blazes in the sky and try to remember where he showed you his favorite ones were. Andromeda. Pisces. Draco. Scorpio. Vulpecula. You couldn't find the Ursas. Make a mental note to ask him to point them out again.)

When he clambers over the ladder, pluck the bottle of wine from his hand before he accidentally breaks it.

Sit next to him as he pours himself a glass. You two will drink, whisper in the shadows, point up at the stars and listen to the stories his father told him of old, legendary sailors and the gods. Then, when the alcohol is done for the night and there's a twin flame in your hearts, he will settle his head on your chest.

(This is the most complicated part. Don't fuck it up.)

You can't rush it, but you can't go too slowly otherwise he'll fall asleep. Run your fingers through his hair. Tease him to rile him up (Never, ever mention the V*nsm*k*s). Let him torment you back and respond to his attempts with nothing more than a low grumble of a laugh. Then, when he shifts his weight to look at you, skinny arms like iron bars on either side of your head, let him lean down to kiss you.

Yeah. Let him lean down to kiss you.

It's a power thing. You don't care either way but he likes having that control of the situation. Let him pry your lips open with his tongue. Feel his fingers trace the ridges of the scar slashed across your chest. Groan as his thumb circles a nipple and hiss when he takes your arousal into his fist.

Listen carefully for the song to start. With patience, you'll find it.

The thump-thump-thump of two heartbeats sharing the same tempo. Scratches against the wood as limbs scramble to reposition themselves. Huffs, groans, whimpers, and moans all adding to create a wonderful melody as you thrust into a sweet, tight heat.

Then, if you've played all your cards right, you'll hear him sing.

They lyrics were simple. A hushed, rapid chant of:

'Iloveyou. iloveyou. Iloveyou.'

#ZoSan #ZoSan Fanfic #op fic #One Piece Fic #My Writing #ZoSan Fic #a03 link #zoro x sanji

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alison-anonymous · 4 years

Text

flawsome bandits pt. 8 ♡ sonic

Flawsome Revivals

Very important note that I would love for all of you to read at the end ♡

Warnings - much angst! Mention of death, FLUFF FLUFF FLUFF

♡♡♡

This couldn’t be happening. It was insane how Y/n’s worst fear was something tangible. Something that she could feel as she pressed her fingers against Sonic’s slowing pulse.

She was losing him… again.

Because she was a coward.

The tears refused to stop. Even when a crowd of concerned Green Hill citizens began to abandon their late night dinners and see why this glowing ice blue hedgehog was crying over another one that they could only identify as Crazy Carl’s Blue Devil. Even when Tom and Maddie finally made it back to the scene and felt their own hearts begin breaking as they watched their daughter begin to sob over Sonic’s body. Even when the Egghead responsible for all of this began to make his dramatic descent out of the portal and took a moment to bask in the glory of their defeat. Her tears dripped onto Sonic’s fur as he tried his best to work his way out of unconsciousness, to let his crush know that he was alright, but his limbs felt like jello.

“P-please, Sonic…” Y/n sniffled. “Ge-get up…”

“Well, looky here! Bonnie lost her Clyde, oh, the humanity!” He let out his signature evil chuckle, raising his goggles on to his forehead. “You are such astonishing creatures, aren’t you?” On the ground before him, Tom caught sight of the bag of golden rings. He slyly picked them up and kept a close eye on the scene taking place before him as Y/n slowly raised her head up from Sonic to stare at the evil man in the drone.

The tears continued to stream endlessly down her face as her gaze hardened.

“It’ll be amazing to take you back to the lab to perform some exploratory procedures. Any last words, Bonnie? Clyde?” He waited for a moment as the ice blue hedgehog’s grip on Sonic’s side tightened.

“Go. To. Hell.” Y/n snarled, somehow managing not to choke on her tears. Her e/c irises began to glow a mystical blue as her emotions began to take a toll on her. Eggman’s eyes raised a little in surprise. Funny, he thought Sonic was the only one whose powers were affected by emotion. He shrugged and plopped his goggles back on.

“I can’t tell you how many procedures have been made possible by animal testing. And how am I supposed to one-up others in my scientific discoveries if I’m in hell, hmm?” The whole time he was bragging, he didn’t notice Tom appear behind him and jump onto his drone. Y/n watched from her spot next to Sonic, putting her acting skills to the test. Tom was quick to punch Eggman in the face mid-sentence, initiating a very brave mini-battle between the two until Tom got thrown out onto the ground, groaning in pain. Watching Tom get shoved onto the pavement like that only made Y/n’s emotions grow more fierce as her body began to hum without any use of her vocal chords, an electric light blue pigment beginning to radiate off of her.

“Why would you throw your life away for such useless things? You know, that’s why I don’t have friends.” Eggman rolled his eyes. Y/n’s eyes arched into slits, but for once she actually didn’t have to say anything as the townspeople began to gather around in an attempt to fight off the man. Apparently Tom had somehow gotten the word out already that the second hedgehog was his daughter, as even Crazy Carl was pulling out a chainsaw in order to defend the two.

“You leave those kids alone!” He revved it up.

During all of the ruckus, Y/n had been keeping one of her hands on Sonic’s neck in order to track his pulse, and her heart stopped dead once she realized… it wasn’t there anymore. Panic began to set in as she quickly turned him onto his back, shaking him roughly by the shoulders.

“Sonic? Sonic! No, no, no, no, no, no…” The tears began to spill down even faster as she shook him, every second with no response causing her heart to shatter a little more. “Please! I can’t lose you again…”

Tom, Maddie, and the Green Hills citizens felt their own hearts break as they watched the scene unfold. Y/n’s body practically toppled on top of him as she pressed her forehead against his, her back racking with the sobs.

Sonic… was gone.

“I don’t mean to be indelicate here, but someone should gather up a tub of ice. Keep the body fresh.” Eggman just had to chime in. His words only made Y/n cry worse, in her fit not noticing how her body began to hum the tune she usually sang. Her tears got soaked up into Sonic’s fur, in turn beginning to make his fur hum in return. Were her abilities… healing him? But how could that be possible? Could her powers be deterred due to the emotions she was going through?

“I’m so sorry, Sonic…” She whispered, just quietly enough that he would have been able to hear. “I’m such an idiot…”

“Oh please, he was just a silly little alien! And so is she, regardless of pre-biology! They don’t belong here!” Robotnik cried out in frustration, angered that a death was getting involved in his plans to take the two and go. His insensitivity struck a flame in Tom as he turned towards the man, jaw clenched.

“Those little aliens know more about being human than you ever will. And they aren’t Bonnie and Clyde, their names are Sonic and Y/n. This is their home.” All the while he was talking, Y/n was finally finding a way to say what she had always wanted to say to him, her words coming out as soon as Tom had finished his.

“...I love you, too.”

Sonic’s eyes burst open, supercharged with energy. Electric blue bolts of lightning shot furiously out of his body, enveloping him in the light as he slowly began to rise to his feet. Y/n broke out into a tearful grin as she quickly scrambled to her feet, watching in amazement as the lightning cast brilliant blue shadows across her face, her own body becoming luminescent with her own light, the hum growing louder by the second. Through the midst of the dramatic moment, Sonic’s electrified gaze met Y/n’s luminous one, and he winked.

Shit was about to go down.

“He’s all yours,” Tom spoke to the two, smiling thankfully as he pulled Maddie along with him to the sidelines, getting everyone to back up. Y/n turned back to her rightful side next to Sonic and they exchanged a small smile before turning back to the doctor, gazes hardening and powers maxing to the top. They saw a look cross over Eggman’s face that they hadn’t seen before as he calculated the effects of the two. They were both much more powerful than he had ever anticipated, super fueled by their emotions for one another and for the situation. One on one, he could have taken them. But combined?

Was he… intimidated?

“I think you have something that belongs to me,” Sonic spoke, forming a fist before him as it became supercharged with a clash of lightning. Y/n couldn’t help but swoon next to him, trying her best to recover from it before he noticed. Their combined electricity made Eggman’s drone begin to malfunction as he swerved in an attempt to regain control, Sonic’s bolts eating away at the control panel.

“These are our powers, and we’re not going to use them to run away anymore,” He glanced over at Y/n for approval, who responded by grabbing onto his hand. Another clash of electricity gobbled up their physical touch as Y/n’s abilities began to merge with his, making the adrenaline go through the roof for the two. “And we’re using it to protect our friends!”

Choosing to take the silent route, Eggman slowly began to ascend, pulling on out the lasers as the tension began to increase like crazy. The lasers slowly found their way to Y/n and Sonic’s body, beginning to line up on every single spot of their electrical fur, especially near the heart. Any normal person would have ducked and ran for cover. But instead?

They stood their ground, a slow smirk beginning to make its way across Y/n’s lips.

Sonic gently let go of her hand as he began to get down into a runner’s formation, the lasers following his every move. Y/n squared her feet, placing her fists out before her and channeling all of her power (supercharged with Sonic’s) into her body, beginning to hum her signature tune slowly and methodically. The second that he launched his missiles, the two took off, racing and flying through the air. They had been practicing communicating without words for years and learning body cues, so the second that Y/n saw Sonic jump from the wall of a building to Eggman’s ship, she knew exactly what to do. With their combined forces, they began to pummel the ship by jumping from the walls and onto the ship and back again so quickly that they became nothing but electrical blurs in a moment, setting the whole city up with light. Robotnik did his best to take cover as the windows began to break from their impact, trying not to admit that fear was rising in his chest.

Finally, the two skidded to a stop a couple meters away from him, making quick look-overs to assure that they were alright.

“Oh, now you’ve done it!” Robotnik scoffed angrily.

“News flash, Egghead! We’re not leaving earth. You are. Star Chaser?” He looked over at his partner in crime, who flashed him a knowing smile.

“But of course! Donut Lord?” She turned to her father just as he pulled out one of the rings. He sent them a wink and threw the ring straight behind Robotnik’s ship. Robotnik fueled up his ship and launched it forward with just as much flame as his fury at the same time that Y/n and Sonic began racing towards it. In slow motion, the two began to form the position that Longclaw had taught them a very long time ago in order to use both of their powers to the fullest extent. While Sonic curled up into a ball, Y/n used her powers to float behind him, and used all of her might to give him a super charged push, sending him flying into Robotnik’s ship. As time fell back into place, Sonic burst into the nose of the ship, their combined power causing the entire drone to crumble into pieces, sending Robotnik’s screaming figure straight into the portal to Mushroom Land. The portal closed with a blinding bright light and Sonic and Y/n gradually powered down as the city erupted into applause.

Sonic turned to his partner and gave her the cutest heartfelt smile she had ever seen, holding his arms out wide. She let out a tearful chuckle, e/c eyes returning to normal as she crashed into him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and burying her face into his shoulder.

He was alive. And he was okay.

Tom and Maddie jogged their way over to the two just as they reluctantly pulled away, cheeks beginning to turn a bright red as they realized they were going to have to talk soon.

“You did it!” Tom cheered ecstatically.

“No, WE did it,” Sonic corrected, smiling at the two. Tom held up his hand proudly, and Y/n and Sonic jumped up and had a classic Three-Musketeers-inspired high five. A huge smile spread across his lips, and in his ecstatic happy fit, he did the only thing he could think of.

He picked Y/n up by the waist and spun her around.

Y/n was shocked at first, but gradually began to relax into it, letting out a gleeful giggle until Tom cleared his throat and they both froze, Sonic holding Y/n up and her hands resting on the top of his head. Tom raised an eyebrow and Sonic quickly set her down, sheepishly putting his hands behind his back and smiling innocently.

“Ugh, Dad,” Y/n rolled her eyes, but smirked at her father. He simply shrugged.

“Just doing what dads do, kiddo.”

♡♡♡

A few days after the showdown, Tom and Maddie were enjoying a nice, quiet Monday when a loud knock came at their front door. The couple approached the door with caution, glancing at each other skeptically. Who would be coming to their door this late in the afternoon? They swung the door open to reveal a man in a very official looking uniform holding an envelope with two men in military uniforms standing guard by his vehicle. The man gave them a warm smile, causing the skin around his eyes to wrinkle.

“Good day. Are you Mr. and Mrs. Wachowski?” He asked in a deep voice.

“Uh, yep, that’s us,” Tom replied. The man held out the white envelope to the two.

“A token of appreciation on behalf of your keeping quiet about recent incidents that never occurred.” A bit condescending, but who were they to decline a free compensation from the government, am I right? The two chuckled in surprise, Tom taking the envelope from the man and smiling at his wife.

“Wow, wonder what it is?”

“Money to fix the house?” Maddie suggested, her mind instantly going to the wreck that had been left in their place after their first run in with the crazy doctor. Tom nodded.

“Or a letter from the president?” He asked. The man simply smiled.

“You’ll see.” Tom finally ripped the envelope open and pulled out a slim piece of folded parchment. He smiled excitedly at his wife and flipped it open to reveal…

“A… fifty dollar gift card to Olive Garden?”

“Have you tried the Never Ending Pasta Bowl?” The man asked, paying no mind to their obvious dejected expressions. “It never ends!” The two nodded awkwardly until Maddie finally broke the silence.

“Yep, well, thank you! We really appreciate the gesture.” The man nodded and turned to leave right before a question popped into Tom’s head.

“Oh, hey, I guess we can close the file on that Robotnik guy, right?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but no such person exists or ever has existed.” He said blatantly, adding an emphasis to the final part.Tom nodded, clicking his tongue.

“Wish that were true.”

“You haven’t by any chance been in recent contact with two, oh, I don’t know, exotically colored alien creatures, have you?” The man asked, using small hand gestures as he spoke. It was quite obvious who he was talking about. “We would love to have a chat with them sometime, very casual. Maybe a brunch, perhaps.”

Yes. Yes. They would take two very powerful alien hedgehogs who sent an evil doctor to another dimension to brunch. Totes casual.

Yep.

“Oh, you mean the Bonnie and Clyde hedgehogs?” Tom finally asked, allowing the images of his foster daughter and Sonic to pop up in his brain. The man excitedly nodded. “Oh, no, no. Haven’t spoken to the two of them since the incident and probably won’t ever hear from them again.” The man stayed silent for a moment, not doing a very good job at hiding his skepticism as even when they bid their farewells and closed the door, he remained staring through the cracks until the door was shut in his face.

“To be honest, I’m pretty pumped about that Pasta Bowl,” Tom chuckled as the two began to walk back into their living room where their dog rested on the couch next to a certain ice blue hedgehog.

“Not if I eat it first,” she teased, e/c eyes glittering at the mention of food. Sonic’s head popped up from behind the couch and he folded his arms across the top of Y/n’s head, making her ears go to the sides.

“So, you guys wanna watch a movie, or what?” He asked.

“Sorry, bud,” Maddie sighed, leaning into her husband’s side. “But it’s a school night. Time for you to go back to your cave.” Both Y/n and Sonic’s jaws dropped open, the defenses piling onto their tongues.

“What? Mom, come on!” Y/n protested.

“Yeah, it’s only three in the afternoon!”

“You know how you get when you’re tired. And besides, Y/n has some homework she needs to get done without any distractions.” The icy hedgehog’s cheeks burned a deep crimson as her mouth clamped shut. Maddie giggled at her daughter’s reaction, watching as Sonic sighed in defeat, and slid over the couch to begin walking towards the door. Y/n was quick to follow after him.

“I’m not like anything! You guys are so uncool! And I’m not distracting! Right, N/n?” He looked towards his partner in crime only to find her staring dreamily at him with her hand supporting her chin. She quickly snapped out of it once she realized he was staring at her.

“What? Oh, no, of course not! I concentrate just fine around you!” She lied like a sinner in church. A smirk formed on Sonic’s lips as he turned to grab on to the door handle.

“Hey, buddy, where are you going?” Tom asked, a knowing smile on his face. Sonic turned around and looked at the family in confusion.

“You said I have to go back to my cave.”

“We did,” Tom looked over to his daughter and gave her a warm grin. “Y/n?” She took her que with great excitement as she rushed over to her crush and grabbed his hand in hers, practically dragging him all the way up to the attic. As they entered the room, Maddie switched on the lights to reveal an (almost) exact replica of Sonic’s cave back in the woods with some personal touches like a racecar bed, some holiday lights, and some pictures that someone had taken on the great escapades of the Blue Blur, Star Chaser, and Donut Lord. Sonic’s jaw dropped open as he raced across the room, taking in the grand gesture with a pure heart.

“Oh my god… you guys did this?”

“Yep,” Tom and Maddie grinned next to their daughter. “You’re part of our family now, bud.” Sonic felt his heart melt at his words, it was all that he ever wanted. He jumped up onto his bed as the other joined in, Y/n and Sonic in between Tom and Maddie. They all exchanged a big group hug, savoring the sweetness of the moment.

“And Y/n’s room is right down the hall if you need anything,” Maddie chimed in.

“BUT don’t get any ideas,” Tom quickly burst in, making Y/n snort.

“Dad. Don’t make it weird.”

“It’s my job to make things weird.”

♡♡♡

What’s that? No? Flawsome Bandits ISN’T over yet? Even though Alison already reached the end of the movie plot line? That’s right, you incredible darlings, you! Flawsome Bandits is not ending at just 8 chapters! Now, I’m going to explain a little bit so please take the time to read this message. This next part of the story is going to revolve around what I am imagining a sequel to be like by analyzing the post-credit scenes of the movie and what I know about the very messy Sonic the Hedgehog plotline. That being said, it is NOT a sure thing that my ideas will become the very potential sequel. My main idea for the sequel is for Doctor Robotnik to be making his return to plot revenge against our favorite Bonnie and Clyde hedgehogs, but he can only make it back to the realm where Y/n and Sonic grew up and this will be how I introduce Knuckles into the story. I also plan to include Tails as well, and I’m still debating on whether or not to introduce Amy. Metal Sonic may or may not happen, but please let me know if you have any ideas of people or concepts you would like to see in these next chapters! I would love to have some suggestions as I’m looking for a love rival for Sonic (another character that falls for Y/n) and just to help bring more action to the plotline as a whole. There will also be TONS more fluff between Y/n and Sonic, so don’t worry, the gradual buildup was very necessary to prep you all for what’s coming ;) Needless to say, the next update might come a little later than how often I’ve been updating due to me still trying to figure out where I want to take this story. Like I said, suggestions are very welcome! I’ve been experiencing a little burnout, too, so perhaps taking a break to brainstorm with all of you is a good idea. Stay safe and bless all of you little darlings for sticking with me and supporting me through this flawsome journey. It is far from over yet! ;)

♡ a.a.

#sonic #sonic x reader #sonic imagine #sonic the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog x reader #sonic the hedgehog imagine #sonic the hedgehog movie #sonic the hedgehog movie x reader #sonic the hedgehog imagines #sonic the hedgehog 2020 x reader #sonic the hedgehog 2020 imagines #sonic the hedgehog movie 2020 #flawsome bandits

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vixxenfox · 5 years

Text

Things I’ve noticed after watching the pilot over and over again

And things I just find amusing

- is it just a coincidence that when Charlie says “I wonder if it could be me” the center angel’s face lights up?

- not important but the “F*ck you heaven!!!” Sign is hilarious

- I hate Valentino with a burning passion, look at him texting Angel

- people drop from the sky to get to hell, more importantly without clothes which means each flippin person has to get specially made clothes for their weird demon bodies like sir pentious needs clothes to fit his snake body and stuff... idk just interesting

- the place beside the “we couldn’t come up with a catchy slogan but we sell hardcore drugs” building is called “begg slut”

- imagine dying, going to hell, and realize that you’re an egg

- egg #23 is the best

-one of the eggs like does a weird walk thing with their hand on sir pentious’ tail

-Cherri Bomb’s clothing is so asymmetrical and I love it like she is literally wearing a high-heel boot on one leg and like a tiny shoe on the other

- really just poor Tom he’s great

- Vaggie says “it’s all highlighted” but none of what we are shown is highlighted

- Also read the parts of the list we can see, it’s adorable

- “I don’t touch the gays” I find Katie great

- Jeffrey Dahmer obviously (Also the sticky note saying “who approved this show?)

- When Charlie scans the crowd another tv head just says ‘words’

-The person Vaggie punches isn’t in the crowd

- I love Razzle and Dazzle TvT

- Those two owl demons in Inside Every Demon is a Rainbow are most definitely references to Timber

- CHARLIE YOU JUST KILLED A PUPPY

- I love that there is a boo section

- Tom watches Angel Dust’s stuff confirmed

- I love the sonic spring noise when Angel launches an egg into the air

- Sir Pentious probably has a son that might be in hell so look out for another snake

- Do you see how happy Cherri Bomb is near Angel Dust, best friends! :D

- Aawww Angel pushes Cherri out of the way

- Angel didn’t just sprout a third set of arms, he also pulled an entire gun out of his body sooo... what’s with that

- I think you would just stop existing if you died in hell Angel

- That creepy fan has a body pillow of Angel

- Charlie takes off her pink... jacket(?) in one scene and the next she has it on again (you see her wearing pink in the closeup)

- Lilith is an absent mother

- There goes everyone’s fanon about how Lucifer acts (why couldn’t we get a nice stupid one T~T)

- I think they changed Alastor’s knock but I’m too lazy to check

- They fixed Alastor’s disappearing monocle

- I like that the mic has an eye sometimes it’s cool (how many “sentient-ish” things does Alastor’s have, first the shadow and now this)

- Alastor can teleport at least short distances and he appears as the shadow for a second

- They really make Alastor a very animated character and I love it

- (we knew this already but) Alastor clearly puts himself on a different level than the other sinners, he thinks of himself as justified and better (he doesn’t say “us sinners” he says “loathsome sinners” w/o him in the picture)

- Valentino, Rosie, Lilith (obviously), the girl from the porn studio, and the tv head dude (Vox, thanks @lavipsi) are all some of hell’s “strongest demons”

- TV head (Vox) is in the middle and top so he must be very powerful and behind him there’s also a green and red demon that reminds me of the wolf/fox demon from the bar scene

- Husk is very blocked out by Vaggie’s face but he’s clearly in the picture with Alastor (it looks like a fight but I don’t want to assume) like we know they know each other and stuff but it’s just weird that Husk is in the art when Vaggie says he’s “a dangerous Blahblah” and has entire speech of how dangerous he is

- I love the symbols that float up when Charlie isn’t looking and then the squeak as he turns to a more “innocent-like” Alastor when Charlie looks back

- Alastor rolls his eyes at Charlie when she says “No trickster, voodoo strings attached.”

- Talked about this before but the way his smile gets wider when Charlie says “for as long as you like”

- Why does Charlie have at least 2 posters about alcohol up if she didn’t want it in her hotel?

- I love how Niffty comes in and her bug-like noise when she appears

- You can see their reflection in Niffty’s eye during the closeup and Charlie is too adorable in it, Angel and Vaggie look ready to kick her out XD

- Everybody’s reactions to Niffty rambling on is beautiful, just watch them go from defensive to confused

- Alastor just following Niffty’s every movement as she zooms around

- Please tell me I’m not the only one who didn’t immediately see Husk as a cat? I honestly thought he was a dog for a while because he looks sort of like a Husky and his name is Husk, which got me thinking about the contradictions with Alastor not liking dogs... then I realized Husk was a cat.

- “are you sh!tt!ng me” “no I don’t think so” and “you think I’m just some clown” “..maybe” are some of my favorite lines

- Was I just supposed to know that on the bottom of Alastor’s boots (shoes? Hooves?) there were deer prints?

- So did Alastor really just teleport two sinners and basically copy part of the bar Husk was at and it’s just going to be there forever? Like you can see where the bar’s like territory ends because it’s walls are green while the hotel’s is red

- No like seriously Alastor you can copy a part of a bar but you can’t make the walls match the rest of the hotel’s walls?

- Husk seems slightly taller than Alastor

- Also Husk also has yellow teeth and if we go by Alastor’s teeth are yellow because he’s a cannibal, Husk might have been a cannibal when he was alive

- Husk clearly knows Alastor, he’s not afraid of him (to an extent, he was still a little shaken by the... Sir Pentious thing). Husk obviously voices his complaints without restraint and isn’t afraid of Alastor hurting him (I guess), and even when he was shaken up he was still the second person to follow Alastor back to the hotel.

- The entire relationship between Husk and Alastor is very intriguing to me! Husk doesn’t fear Alastor, Alastor called him a friend (obviously another jab at Husk but still), and they were in the same picture when Vaggie talked about Alastor being dangerous. I’m guessing they were probably friends once, maybe the picture is them both fighting another demon or fighting each other in like a fall-out.

- Vaggie is very exaggerated when she’s complaining about the bar and it’s beautiful

- Husk in the background as a still image just chugging booze is beautiful

-Angel’s angry face as Vaggie complains about the bar just before he leaves to lunge at her is beautiful and my favorite face

- 27:46 Alastor flipping FLUTTERS HIS EYES AT VAGGIE and you can hear a small sound effect of it and I just thought that was beautiful

- At the same moment Charlie is just rubbing her cheeks and it’s cute

- Right before Alastor starts singing, he throws some red... fire in the air and Charlie follows it with her eyes and she just so awed by it

- The fireplace in the background has an eye and a top hat above it and it just reminds me of Sir Pentious

- Alastor’s song has so many Friends on the Other Side vibes and I love it

- There are so many Christian symbols (and Satanic symbols) in the background of this song and I just don’t want to spend that time looking at each one :l

- Alastor’s shadow is also here further nailing the Friend on the Other Side vibe (not to mention the other shadows and voodoo doll things)

- Poor Niffty, she should never get hurt

- When Sir Pentious is talking and it shows the chibi characters, Charlie, Angel, and Niffty are looking at Alastor and when it zooms in for a split second Angel’s face is the most innocent bab ever

- There’s a building in the background with (again) one eye and a top hat, there’s also a cat building right next to it

- You can see heaven as a planet with a halo...

- There’s also a sun(?) or moon(?) or planet(?) with a pentagram on it

- I know that Egg Boi #OUCH is just a joke, but what if after 666, Sir Pentious just started giving them stupid names like that?

- Again, religious symbols float around Alastor that I’m not going to look into because I’ve taken so much time T_T

- Niffty is actually unfazed by Alastor summoning tentacles and destroying Sir Pentious’ ship. Really she has a normal smile and face and she immediately follows Alastor when he walks back to the hotel

- Angel is still flirting with Husk

- Charlie reassuring Vaggie is adorable

- Are we not going to talk about the carousel and gigantic steam boat that’s just protruding from the hotel

- I also love how the windows at the top of skull designs <3

- There’s an eye on the top of the building and the sign of Happy/Hazbin Hotel could also look like a top hate (why are there so many one-eyed top hats like Sir Pentious’...?)

- Stay tuned TM

- Not from me but, Alastor changes the name to Hazbin Hotel and Hazbin means something that was great before but is terrible now or something that is meaningless

- So Alastor liking terrible jokes is now canon? The dad joke thing wasn’t just a stream thing, it’s actually canon?

- Alastor actually has a red ‘X’ on his forehead, you can see it right after he destroys Sir Pentious’ ship

- The art in the credits shows Cherri Bomb having a tattoo

- I would like to talk a little about the design that’s in the background during the credits. So in the middle is an apple that’s being held by two sharp hands, there are three snakes coming out of it with only one snake fully out but still seems to have originated from the apple. The snake that’s completely out is on the top and has some designs around it that emphasize it, making it look more like a king (the devil, duh). The other two snakes are going down (probably referencing Adam and Eve maybe? Even though they also seem evil I just think of Adam and Eve.) Under them is another snake head. There are two sets of eyes around the top snake, one set has a line going down the middle of each eye like a scar while the bottom set has eyelashes. Even though the bottom set looks more “girly”, it reminds me of Lucifer because of the dots under them. If you want to grasp at straws the complete bottom snake’s tongue sort of looks like the bottom part of the symbol of Lucifer. The three snakes that clearly originate from the apple in the middle can also look like “Three snakes and one charm” if you squint. The symbol above the top snake looks like the infinity symbol combined with the cross, but it’s not the leviathan cross, so maybe just eternal... crucifixion?

- The smoke coming from the pit that Alastor made has souls in it

- I think #23 is depressed because he really wants to be shot... and he was just sitting there next to a bunch of dead hims

- Vivziepop said on a stream something about Lucifer being “generally goofy, but it depends on his voice” or something like that, please correct me if I’m completely wrong. This makes me things that Lucifer is going to have multiple voice actors.

-The Loading Crew “Everything We Know About Hazbin Hotel” brings up a point that it seems like the only things that can kill demons and sinners are the Exterminators’ weapons which are sometimes left behind that demons scavenge, Vaggie also appears to have one. I recommend watching his video, it’s very quick but also brings up points I haven’t addressed.

And yeah, that’s all for now! ^_^ comment if you have something else to add or think I should change something

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loudlypanickinginvenezolano · 4 years

Text

Small peek at Animalistic, pt 3 + My own Headcanon

This one is already on AO3, since like, last week xd, I dont feel proud of this one, but, it has one scene I just LOVE. Big bold letters. LOVE. AO3

The dark wood and mate black accessories were the first thing he noticed, as well as the black and white tile floor. The windows were clear and big, and there was a proudly displayed bar, completely stacked even with things Shadow couldn’t name.

The lights were hanging in line, and as he looked back at his companion, he found the other already staring and smiling way too fucking brightly at him.

Oh. He was suddenly blind.

Shadow gulped as subtly as he could, playing it off as if he had been looking past Sonic since the start.

Was it suddenly hotter on here?

“So, Whatdya think, uh? You approve?” Smug bastard.

“I don’t approve your tail wagging that is for sure. Show some restrain” He shot coldly before walking to the line, not checking once to see Sonic expression, or if the other had decided to leave him. He didn’t worry, not at all.

Still. Shit his bag.

Sonic didn’t leave, but he wasn’t smiling anymore. It was like his lips were in a disagreement and didn’t knew whenever to snarl or pout. It was a funny expression, and Shadow did his best to suppress his snickers and just look around, checking escape routes and weakness, where to run and where to herd in case he needed to get a gun out.

Sonic started mumbling to himself, slowly becoming more and more excited by the second as he retold old adventures and the crazy things he had seen that week, and what crazy stunt he and Amy of all the people had done just the past week while battling Eggman. Shadow had a distracted expression, drumming his fingers against his biceps and humming in answer from time to time; to most people, Sonic was talking to himself, not realizing or maybe not caring that he was being ignored.

To be honest, keeping a straight face was proving more difficult as the story advances, and Shadow was sure Sonic knew exactly what he was doing, honeying the story and doing ridiculous sounds, faces and voices, leaning in to whisper and talking with his hands in the action moments. How he mimicked Knuckles was his favorite, so far.

It just made him more determined to remain still and seemingly uninterested. It was stupidly hard, though. What a shame.

The only reason Sonic was aware that Shadow was paying attention was how his ears shifted in his direction, and how from time to time amused or curious red eyes would take a glimpse of his face. He sooooo knew the black hedgie wanted to laugh.

Sonic didn’t mind in the least trailing off just to smile at Shadow every time they met eyes.

The seats were creamy, and the walls and roof were a mix of green and pink. Red stools were close to the counter, and all kind of pastries were displayed, a guy in apron attending the cashier as two girls zoomed everywhere, taking the orders, tidying up plates or decorating boxes. There were also 4 waitress around, wearing black and white, smiling as they made chitchat with each other or scribbled down the requests.

Shadow decided that the place should be… nice, to say something, once the sun set down. There was a little stage in the far corner, maybe for live music, or hell, maybe karaoke... wait. Was karaoke even a thing people still did? He wondered if asking Sonic that would be too weird until he noticed that is was almost their turn.

<<Oh. >>

He looked back at Sonic, and this time when the blue one smiled, Shadow beamed back, snorting at seeing the other splutter in surprise, taking advantage to step forward and greet the attendant and leave a surprise-stuck hedgehog behind him.

Headcanon:

while I don't feel so strongly about reading to my little sister, My mom, however... Even though I am no little kid anymore, I actually go and sit with them for a while, just to hear her. My sister loves it. And, Sonic did somewhat raise Tails. And he does interact with little kids, and there is even Cream to think about! I feel like he would be a good storyteller. And he would do all kind of voices, and faces to make his friends happy or laugh. I dont care if they arent partners on it, but I think about this a lot, Of Shadow and Sonic just laying there after a long day, on the bed, on the floor, under a tree, I dont know, as Sonic tries his best in making Shadow laugh as he tells him about the myths of the zone or just his adventures, doing faces and voices and all kind of silly things. I love this so much ;;

#Just give me all the Shadow comfort already #he deserves all the love #Sonadow #Animalistic #writing #My writing #quarantine is driving me insane #for real #shadow the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #headcanon

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megabadbunny · 4 years

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Cosmic Love and Monsters (4/?)

"Now don’t you do that,” he says, suddenly stern and very south-London, pouting at Rose in mock admonishment. “Don’t you do that Very Bad Thing. You’ve got to listen to me, I’m the Doctor! I’m a poncy self-righteous twat with my head buried so far up my cobweb-filled arse it’s been centuries since it last saw the light of day!" (sfw version on ff.net; full tags and info on ao3) Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

***

Chapter Four: Fear Him

Cold pain awake hurt

Why

Doctor—

Rose wakes with a gasp, flinching at the ache that flares dully through her head. Icy water drips down her face in rivulets, and she wipes the great fat droplets out of her eyes, gingerly pushing herself up to a sitting position on the couch—

Wait. The couch…?

Confusion mounting with every passing moment, Rose scans the room around her, discerning what little she can in the darkness; it’s that castle-place, still, from the looks of it. Stone meets her eyes at every turn, drapes stretching gently from column-to-column, swaying lazily in the night air, and it’s quiet in here, oh-so-quiet. The softness beneath her legs must surely be plush cushions and yes, the thing behind her is definitely the back of a couch.

She’s in a fancy dress. In a castle. Recovering from a fainting-spell on a fainting-couch. The only way it would be cheesier, she thinks, is if she were chained to a set of train tracks instead.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” drawls a voice somewhere out of the darkness, and Rose jumps. “Sleep well?”

Rose glares at the Doctor—no, not the Doctor, the man from before, that terrible man, pretending to be the Doctor, but how did he have all of the Doctor’s memories, how did he know so much?—and he steps out of the shadows, holding a crystal goblet in one gloved hand. Water drips down the goblet’s sides, splatting loudly onto the floor and the man’s shoes, but he doesn’t seem to notice. His attention is focused solely on Rose. He watches her, his face blank, impassive, eyes blinking just a little too slowly in the dim light, like a lizard. Like a snake.

The Master, Rose remembers, and she shivers.

“Hullo? Master to Rose,” the Master says, waving a hand. “I asked you a question. Do you care to answer?”

“Not really,” Rose replies.

The Master chuckles. “Rude, but then you never were a morning person, were you?”

“How do you know that?”

“Oh, I’ve got my ways.” Dipping his gloved fingers into the goblet, the Master draws out a palmful of water and flicks it into Rose’s face. She forces herself not to flinch at the icy-cold deluge. “You’ll find that out soon enough.”

For a half-second, Rose considers making a run for it (or better yet, making a run at him), but she can just see the top of the sonic screwdriver sticking out of his jacket-pocket, and the memory of the pain it caused is still fresh, still raw. Unthinking, she almost raises her hand to the collar sitting heavy on her neck, until she catches the Master’s eyes, watching her patiently, almost gleefully.

Do it, he seems to be saying. Do something stupid. I dare you.

Rose’s hand falls to her side and clenches stubbornly in her skirts instead.

“Who are you?” she asks sharply, shaking water out of her eyes. “Not your name,” she snaps before he has a chance to reply. “I already know that. I want to know who you really are, and why you’re really imprisoned here, and why you pretended to be the Doctor.”

The Master cocks his head to one side, inquisitive. “Well, aren’t you a curious little kitten?” he laughs.

“You’ve got two hearts, so you must be a Time Lord too, right?” asks Rose, almost speaking to herself, more than him. “But the Doctor said he was the only one left, after the War. How’d you survive?”

“Careful now, darling,” he replies. “You know what they say about cats and curiosity.”

“Enough bullshit. Cut to the chase.”

Tutting in disapproval, the Master shakes his head. “My my my,” he sighs. “What a nasty little mouth you’ve got on you. Surely you’d never say such a thing in front of your precious Doctor. You must know he doesn’t approve of such crude language.”

“We could always call him up and find out for sure.”

The Master barks out a laugh. “That isn’t possible for a variety of reasons, I’m afraid—numero uno being that your Doctor’s more than a little bit dead.”

Suddenly all the hurt in Rose’s body feels very far away. A vision of a gurney and a still hand floods her memory; she fights to keep her face calm and composed as panic surges in her chest, strangling her. A strange buzzing sound fills her ears like a nest of angry-buzzing wasps.

She is very, very cold.

Rose forces herself not to shiver. “I don’t believe you,” she says calmly.

The Master grins a Jack-o-Lantern’s smile. “You should.”

“No,” Rose replies with a sharp shake of her head. “If he was dead, you would said he didn’t approve. You said he doesn’t.”

“Well, I never!” says the Master gleefully. “Turns out you’ve got some cognitive capacity, after all! What a delightful surprise. Though to be fair, the truth was going to come up sooner or later, anyway. Only a matter of time.”

“So he is alive,” Rose says, relief washing over her.

The Master nods. “For the moment.”

Allowing her eyes to shutter closed, Rose takes just the briefest of moments to thank her lucky stars back home, all the ones that haven’t disappeared yet. “How do you know so much about him, anyway?” she asks. “How did you know who I was, back at the tournament? Just how much do you know?”

Humming thoughtfully, the Master considers for a moment, fingers tapping idly against the cup in his hands. “Nah,” he says, “I’m much more interested in talking about you, pet. Now tell me—” and here he plonks down on the couch next to Rose, ignoring how she shifts as far away from him as she can, “—just what will it take to get you to cooperate?”

“With what?”

“Well, with me, naturally.”

Rose eyes him warily. “Why? What do you want?”

“Just a smidge of your help.” The Master tilts his goblet this way and that, watching the motion of the water inside, as if it’s all terribly fascinating. “Well, that, and a decent cappuccino, but first things first.”

“I’m not helping you off this planet.”

“Nor could you,” the Master replies. “If I haven’t figured out a way off, then you certainly can’t, though it’s cute you thought that was a possibility. No; your assistance will be of a different nature,” he continues thoughtfully. “Something more along the lines of bait and switch, lure and hook, catch and release. Without the release.”

He shoots a sly smile her way. “Something to do with our mutual friend. Something a lot more personal, if you know what I mean.”

Rose shakes her head in confusion, running over his words in her mind. Then it dawns on her.

“You want to use me,” she realizes aloud, “to get the Doctor here. To steal the TARDIS.”

“Bingo!” shouts the Master in delight, clapping his hands together heedless of the water that sloshes from his cup. “Right in one.”

Rose stares at him. “You’ve got to be joking.”

“Oh, I very much am not,” the Master says pleasantly. “I can’t get off this planet, but you know what can? A TARDIS. And guess who’s got one of those, along with buckets and buckets of horrendously boring and otherwise useless sentimentalism for a certain blonde and insignificant squalling little beastie?”

“No. No way.”

“Yes. Yes way,” says the Master. “And in another way, really, I suppose I should be thanking you right now. My other plan was to modify your little hopper, use that to get off this rock and track the Doctor down. But thanks to your Stone Age technology and your oh-so-elegant solution of stamping the thing to smithereens, now, we can jump straight to the end goal. No more wasting time looking for him—we’ll bring him straight to us!”

“I’m not gonna help you trap the Doctor,” Rose says loudly.

“Oh, come on. You barely know me—certainly not well enough to know all the reasons why you shouldn’t help me.” The Master pauses, thinking, as he wipes one damp glove on Rose’s skirt. “Granted, there are many, but there’s no reason for you to be so stubborn about it. So why don’t you just cooperate, like a good little girl?”

A harsh laugh. “How about you take this collar off me first?”

“How about you stop wasting my time?”

“Remove the collar or you get nothing.”

“Comply or I’ll kill you.”

“Good luck getting help from my corpse.”

The Master’s eyes flash and for a second Rose is so, so certain he’ll shift, fast as a blink, turning his sonic on her collar again or maybe even ripping it off so he can wrap his hands round her throat, fingers squeeze-squeeze-squeezing the life out of her, but instead he just grins.

That’s…unsettling.

“How about,” the Master muses, pretending to consider, “you give me what I want, or I kill all of your little friends? Hm? The ones you were helping out in the tournament. How about that?”

Rose doesn’t flinch. “They’re all gonna die in the tournament anyway.”

“Ooh, that’s cold!” laughs the Master. “I mean, you’re not wrong, but still. Cold.”

He taps his chin thoughtfully with the goblet. “I could still kill you, you know. That option is very much still on the table. And what would your Doctor say about that?”

“He’d understand,” Rose replies firmly.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” says the Master, and if Rose didn’t know any better, she’d be tempted to label his tone soft. “But then again, maybe you’re right. So damned noble, the both of you. It’s such a nuisance, really.”

With a sigh, the Master sidles up next to Rose, as if they’re just two friends having a casual chat, mates gossiping about the latest celebrity news or office scandal. It’s a very strange contrast to the collar sitting heavy and cold on Rose’s skin.

“Don’t suppose there’s still any hope of convincing you I’m the Doctor?” the Master asks cheerfully.

“Don’t suppose there is. Didn’t work out the first time you tried.”

“And I tell you, it’s a damn shame, Rose. Just a real damn shame,” says the Master, shaking his head. “What a waste of a performance! I had so much more material. Here, look: Now don’t you do that,” he says, suddenly stern and very south-London, pouting at Rose in mock admonishment. “Don’t you do that Very Bad Thing. You’ve got to listen to me, I’m the Doctor! I’m a poncy self-righteous twat with my head buried so far up my cobweb-filled arse it’s been centuries since it last saw the light of day!”

He bumps Rose’s shoulder with his and the gesture is so reminiscent of the Doctor that Rose has to fight not to dry-heave. “Not too shabby, eh?”

“Positively Oscar-worthy,” Rose replies through gritted teeth.

“Thanks, I thought as much,” says the Master, beaming. “Now, back to my earlier question—because I won’t let up until I get the answer I want, see, so you might as well comply now, before I get bored with you. And as the people on this fair planet can attest, you won’t like me when I’m bored. So what’ll it be, love? Your life, or your Doctor?”

Rose doesn’t reply, just stares stonily ahead.

“Oh, Rose Tyler,” the Master says, heaving a disappointed sigh after several long moments tick by in silence. “Rose, Rose, Rose. A rose by any other name—”

“God, can we get on with the killing already?” Rose groans. “Cos honestly, I’d rather die than have yet another idiot feeding me that stupid—”

He aims the sonic at her collar and pain surges through her body with a nasty shock. Spasming backward, Rose’s head cracks against the wall behind her with a sickening thwack that echoes through the room while stars explode behind her eyelids. Copper-taste floods her mouth as blood wells up from where she bit the inside of her cheek. Her eyes start to water as the shock fades, before the pain sets back in, but it’s a short head start; the pain at the back of her head blossoms through quickly, and hard.

A sound of glass shattering on the tiles and suddenly a set of leatherclad fingers clenches her chin in a steely grip, wrenching her face sideways and forcing her to look the Master in the eyes. Despite herself, Rose gasps at the sudden closeness, the way the Master’s pupils dilate until his irises are nothing but a pool of lightless black.

“Surely by now, you’ve realized that behind this pretty face, I’m a monster,” the Master says, his voice chillingly pleasant for all that his smile is a thin-stretched grimace. “And monsters do bad, bad things to little girls.”

A chill runs down Rose’s spine and brings a violent shudder with it but Rose doesn’t reply and she doesn’t look away, just glares at him with all the hate she can muster, her mouth clenched tight against the swelling blood. You’re not the only monster in this room, she wants to say, but judging by the way he’s clenching the sonic, tightening until the leather squeaks against the casing, more and more as her silence stretches on—oh, leaving him hanging in the quiet is so much better.

“I can break you,” the Master breathes, chest heaving beneath the confines of his tailored suit. “I can break you, and I will, and it will be so, so very easy. And how do you think your beloved Doctor will react to that, hm? What do you think it will do to him, just how much will it tear him up inside, to see the bloody, mangled, twisted husk of a broken and empty thing that used to be the woman he loves?”

Rose spits in his face.

With a dark chuckle, the Master thumbs at the blood and spittle where it landed on the corner of his mouth, his tongue darting out to taste the traces left behind. “Iron-deficient,” he says. “You really should consider a daily supplement, sweetheart.”

He pushes off the couch and strides away into the shadows, crystal shards from his dropped goblet crunching beneath his heel. The click of a handle and splinter of light in the semi-darkness let Rose know that he has reached the door.

“Oh, don’t worry, darling; I shan’t be gone too long,” the Master says, pausing long enough to flash Rose a winning smile. “Wouldn’t want you to get lonely. Only be warned: the rest of our conversations might not be so pleasant. Next time you don’t give me what I want? Somebody dies, and they die nasty.”

“My condolences to your widow,” Rose shoots back.

Laughing gaily, as if Rose just told the most charming after-dinner joke, the Master leaves, the door clicking quietly shut behind him, locking afterward. Darkness and blessed silence filter back in, and Rose relaxes just the littlest bit, slumping back against the couch, wincing when her head touches the wall behind her. She doesn’t feel the telltale warmth of blood matting her hair, but she’s definitely bruised back there, probably going to swell, certainly going to hurt for the next few days.

Doesn’t matter. She’ll be fine; she’s had far worse. It won’t stop her from trying to escape. And it certainly won’t change her mind about protecting the Doctor. It doesn’t matter how badly she wants to see him, doesn’t matter how much the longing hurts even worse than the pain splitting the back of her skull. She will not do anything to compromise him. She’ll die first.

It’s what he’d do for her. He’d understand.

He will understand.

Willing her muscles to unwind, Rose lets out a long-trapped sigh, surrendering to the exhaustion that washes over her.

She sleeps.

***

Previous | Next (forthcoming)

#rose tyler #dimension hopping rose #the master #dhawan!master #ficandchips #eventual ficandchips #action/adventure #eventual romance #(between rose and the doctor not rose and the master)#eventual lemons #(once again between rose and the doctor)

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kensboytoy · 4 years

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The Elimination Game

Title: The Elimination Game Fandom: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020) Pairings: Doctor Robotnik/Agent Stone Ratings: Explicit

When Agent Stone was first assigned to his new mission, he never imagined it would be with the Doctor Robotnik. He had only heard murmurings of the man in the darker parts of his training when shadows spoke about destruction and chaos. Being that he was new, Stone didn’t think he’d ever be working under someone with so much power. His drone tech was the reason why America didn’t bat an eye at frequent political attacks from other countries. Why worry when you had single-handedly had the best defense in your back pocket?

Stone had heard that the Doctor didn’t keep anyone with him for longer than a week. He spouted about their incompetence like clockwork and broke the lesser men and women down until they were forced to resign. This didn’t deter the agent in the slightest. He wasn’t wet behind the ears and fresh out of training. He had taken years to rise up the ranks. While on the outside he seemed dopey and the friendliest man on the street, there was a steel core protecting him from the hardships he had faced.

Killing people was never fun, but an agent did as they were told by their government without question. So becoming a personal assistant to a man who had aided war? Well, Stone had no qualms about it. It was just another Tuesday afternoon to him.

The mobile laboratory unit rolled up to the base and he, along with several other agents, stood at the ready. Quickly, the large door shot open to reveal the man of the hour, stairs popping out so he could stride down them to meet the new recruits.

Stone’s heart nearly jumped right into his throat at the sight.

[Read More or Read on AO3!]

Doctor Robotnik was an older gentleman - 50’s but with a rubbery and spry face that made him look younger than that. Dressed in all black with red trim, he looked like a gangly supervillain if Stone had ever seen one. The small black shades on the man’s face covered his observant eyes scanning the fresh meat on his doorstep. Robotnik’s finely groomed moustache ticked upwards as he smirked at the sight.

He would have these idiots screaming and out of his hair in a week.

“Well. You all must be the glorified babysitters that the government has decided qualify to assist me on my mission.” Robotnik plucked off his shades and tucked the tiny pair of glasses away in his coat’s inside pocket. “I’ve read every single one of your files and I know that you-”

The Doctor pointed a gloved finger to the agent standing beside Stone.

“You-”

Another agent, this time three bodies away.

“And you.” He pointed to the last agent that Stone couldn’t quite make out. “Are all dismissed effectively immediately.”

All three stared incredulously at the doctor and began to protest. Stone’s eyes fell to the Doctor’s hands and watched curiously as the madman ran his fingers along a hidden control panel in sequence. There was a soft mechanical whirr from the lab behind him and three egg-shaped robots ascended from the top of the trailer. The red lights of their sensors honed in on their threats and targeted the foreheads of the singled out agents.

“I suggest turning tail now before I make sure to wipe you from all databases, Agents,” Robotnik sneered.

Frustrated, each took their turn filing into line and heading back to headquarters. Stone felt relief at the fact that he hadn’t been so easily eliminated. It would have hurt his ego more than he would have liked to admit.

Doctor Robotnik laughed at the sight of the remaining agents, now a number he could count on one hand. He was amused that a few of them were quaking already. Fear was so delicious when it was palpable like this. His attention was promptly turned to the only man standing with a firm look on his face that hadn’t faltered as he singled-out his comrades. Impressive.

“You,” he cooed dangerously, stepping closer to Stone to circle him like a vulture to its prey. Robotnik scanned the agent’s vitals and noticed that he was an even harder nut to crack with his usual initiation tactics. “You seem to have the most brains in your ragtag group to not so much as flinch as your fellow flunkies are picked off.”

Stone simply nodded, eyes locked onto the Doctor’s to establish his rank to the peculiar man he’d be serving. After all, he was chosen by the government to aid him, but would the Doctor accept that decision?

“Are you in charge of these imbeciles?” Robotnik inquired, determined to get a right answer from Stone or send him packing.

“No, Doctor. You’re in charge.”

That made the Doctor pause, an inhuman smirk crossing his face and making it look almost cartoonish. Even with the mustache and the stubble, his face seemed to be made out of rubber with how it contorted and twisted.

“Seems at least one of you college drop-outs knows his place. Very good, Agent…?”

“Stone.”

Robotnik nodded to himself and stood back to his full height in front of Agent Stone. He pulled up his records on his control pad to skim through as he showed the rookies their new assignment. Of course he hadn’t read up on any of those weirdos before they came - why waste the time or brain cells on it? This man deserved at least the small fraction of a second it would take to consume everything about him - from search history to his track record working for the government. Robotnik bet he could break the man in a week.

Training for Agent Stone came almost second nature. He was quick to make detailed notes about how the lab operated on a daily basis. Robotnik didn’t leave much room for things he deemed to ‘slow him down’. This meant eating and drinking was solely through nutrient pouches he had on hand, Robotnik easily reaching for one to suckle on when his hands were busy. It appeared that maybe he had some childhood issues that Stone wouldn’t dare pry into.

However, Stone came to the realization that Robotnik’s lack of empathy for others may be playing into the fact that he treated himself like a machine. If you oiled it and charged it to the bare minimum, it would run. That was precisely how Robotnik operated. Stone couldn’t even think of a time where he caught the Doctor winding down for the evening or just relax.

It wasn’t until the week was over and Stone remained the only one standing did the Doctor even acknowledge him again.

“Agent Stone?” the crazed doctor spoked up, sitting in front of his flashing monitors scanning for the strange readings that had popped up during their small mission.

“Yes, Doctor?” the man piped up, perhaps a bit too eagerly. To be quite honest, he was pleased as punch that he was the last man remaining.

Robotnik swiveled around the man, circling him just as he had their first meeting. His clever eyes took in every detail of the seemingly average agent. It was getting to Robotnik that he hadn’t made this one break. He had ten more hours until his own mental deadline to send the man screaming and running back to his mommy. This was Robotnik’s true test.

“I want you to do me a favor, Stone. Go into that hallway over there and polish my Badniks.”

The command seemed unusual to Stone. Robotnik loathed when people touched his ‘babies’. This was a trap. He hid his smirk as he spoke up again.

“Would you like them shined enough to see your reflection in?”

Robotnik’s face soured.

“Yes, Stone. Hop to it!” He loudly clapped his hands in front of the agent’s face, who immediately turned on his heel to do just as he was told.

It was degrading work. Stone wasn’t about to sit there and complain about unjust labor practices. He was going to prove to the Doctor why he needed to keep him. It was more than just a pride thing. Agent Stone was beginning to grow fond of the asinine ramblings of this madman - no, of this genius - and he wasn’t ready to be dismissed yet.

There had always been a deep-seeded need for approval in Stone’s mind. Childhood trauma made it easier to break a young boy’s spirit faster than usual. Being around Robotnik was like walking on eggshells. No doubt in his mind that being Robotnik’s right hand man could cause Stone to lose a grasp on sanity or even a blow to his self-worth. However, what he was faced with now was a task. A task that would make any other simple-minded agent of his caliber to only do what they were told.

Agent Stone was determined to make Robotnik praise him just once. Once and he would know that he was capable of anything.

The cleaning didn’t take very long. He had made every note he possibly could previously about how Robotnik tended to the only things he’d let close to him. Stone knew that fucking this up would squander every chance he had in cementing his place here. This were like children to Robotnik. Cared for endlessly by fidgeting hands. Firmware upgrades were nearly daily with the doctor trying to outdo himself each time.

But Stone did not forget that these were highly dangerous weapons. If Robotnik so much as tapped the button on his controls, Stone would be wiped from history without a single thought. The scientist often reminded him of that fact. It wasn’t as if Stone was willing to test that theory. Doctor Robotnik had destroyed cities with these robots. Murdered people in cold-blood. While there was no records of him doing so, Stone could see the unhinged look in the dark corners of his eyes. Those beautiful orbs of creamy brown…

Snap out of it! he chided to himself.

These daydreams were starting to get out of hand and making Stone believe that perhaps he wanted more than just praise from Doctor Robotnik. Those chapped lips often looked inviting, especially as they twisted into a snarl as Robotnik barked out orders. The thrill of winding the esteemed scientist up was just so tempting. Stone knew when to reel back - the Doctor was easy to manipulate when trying to show off. Lines had never been crossed to the point where Robotnik would even notice that Stone was goading him to get so worked up.

What could the agent say? He liked a little bit of crazy with his coffee in the morning.

Talented hands waxed the sterile white shells of each Badnik nestled in the racks of the lab. These were the secondary machines that Robotnik continued to perfect his new technology on. Not just scouts but turrets. With a simple flick of a switch, they would circle around their prey and eviscerate them. He had seen the demonstration. It wasn’t pretty. So Agent Stone was very delicate while handling them.

It only took half an hour for them to look like tiny mirrors with how reflective they were. He smiled at his handiwork and tucked his handkerchief carefully into his pocket.

The Doctor was looming over him, body shaking as he too stared at the quality of the man’s performance. To chastise him for an impeccable job would be foolish. Anyone could call his bluff. But Robotnik was just a mere few hours away from losing his own bet. If he couldn’t humiliate the man here, this was game over. He’d be stuck with a government lackey for the foreseeable future. Robotnik loathed to be stuck with a babysitter from Uncle Sam. They questioned the legality of his actions too much for their own good. This black-suited brat would be no exception if Robotnik kept him around.

Doctor Robotnik’s hands clenched into fists as he leaned in, a hair’s breadth away from touching the edge of Stone’s earlobe. The sudden heat of the older man’s breath caused Stone to pause.

“You think you’re done, Agent?” the venomous whisper trickled into his ear.

Stone nearly lost composure. This was close even for Robotnik. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he stared straight ahead into the reflection of the pearly white shell to see the Doctor’s face close to his own. He could smell the aftershave and machine oil this close to his boss. It was heavenly.

“I’ve polished them to the best of my abilities, Doctor.” He swallowed dryly.

“With your fancy cleaners, hm? You know, they say a little spitshine makes these things more personal, Stone.” There was a wild look in his eyes as his grin began to tug at the corners of his lips. “My babies deserve a special touch, Agent. And you’ll provide them with that, won’t you?”

The realization began to dawn on Stone as he processed the words. Robotnik wanted him to polish these things with his mouth. A ping of arousal shot through Stone like white hot lightning zapping every nerve in his body. He fixed his posture and adjusted the cuffs of his jacket nervously. There were two choices: accept that this man was a nutcase who pushed things too far and leave right there or stay, clean these things with his own mouth, and call out Robotnik’s bluff. Stone knew that by accepting Robotnik’s orders, the labrat would have no choice but to concede and make Agent Stone his assistant.

Stone’s breath hitched for a moment as his body took the step forward on its own. His eyes fluttered closed as he got on his knees to stare at the Badniks eye-to-eye. They were more intimidating even with their sensors a low red glow. It felt like all eyes were on him as he began.

To be quite fair, there wasn’t an easy way to handle this. It would look silly either way but he would do it with finesse. His tongue darted from his mouth, wetting his lips just before he swiped up around the ocular unit of the robot. It swirled talentedly around, careful not to disturb the hibernating unit, almost as if he had a lot of practice doing things like this. Stone would admit to being trained for anything.

It was Robotnik’s turn to be caught by surprise. This… this wasn’t what he thought would happen. Most people would hightail it out of there at the absurd request, citing that Robotnik simply went too far in his power over them. He thought Stone to do the same. But he was a fighter wasn’t he? Despite the obvious heed into submission, Stone was gaining the upper-hand by baffling the scientist in his display.

He watched in sheer bewilderment as Stone continued to freely humiliate himself by cleaning each Badnik with his tongue. The agent didn’t falter for a second. He used that mouth like his life depended on him and stayed on each unit until every inch of surface had been met with his mouth. Stone could feel Robotnik’s stare burn into the back of his head, almost like he was pushing him to keep moving. Fueled by his determination and, well, his own arousal, Agent Stone diligently moved until each Badnik was cleaned with his tongue.

When he was finished, his mouth popped off the cold metal with an audible sound before he wet his lips again. There was a flush on his face as the reality of his actions sank in. Perhaps it felt lewd even to him.

A shaky, gloved hand reached out to catch his jaw. Stone stared up at Robotnik, puzzled by the sight. He was trembling, chest heaving now as his eyes visibly twitched. Stone was about to ask the Doctor if he needed him to fetch some water but then his eyes caught the very visible object pressed tightly against Robotnik’s slacks. His cock was hard. Painfully so, it looked like from just how much it was straining against the fabric. Stone’s eyes fluttered at the sight before his head sharply turned back up to Robotnik’s glowering face.

“How primitive, Stone,” the Doctor’s voice was barely more than a snide whisper. “Channeling your more carnal desires onto my machines like that. Are you perhaps… fantasizing it was something else?”

Stone knew the Doctor was projecting his feelings. It was an obvious tactic that the genius had used plenty of times. However, Stone enjoyed the filth pouring from his lips in such a precise manner that only Robotnik could successfully pull off and make it sound attractive. The agent stared at Robotnik carefully while still resting on his knees, practically just a few inches away from his cock.

“Yes, Doctor.”

That gloved hand moved to thread carefully in Stone’s well maintained hair and tangled harshly in it. Stone gasped softly as he was urged against Robotnik’s thighs. The older man was trembling with his own arousal overtaking him. Stone surmised that the Doctor had never done this before and was quite nervous. He’d have to celebrate the power trip in his mind later.

“Well then. Shouldn’t you do something about it, then, hm?”

Stone’s eyes flickered to Robotnik’s face.

“I only answer to your commands, Doctor. Acting on my own urges isn’t what I’m here for.”

The response made Robotnik shiver. Of course that stupid, pretty mouth would say precisely what he wanted to hear. It was almost unfair how well Stone knew him in just this short time alone. If he kept him around, Robotnik wondered what potential the agent could have. Maybe he was more than just some stiff in a black suit. Not like he could talk - his cock was obviously the main attraction at this current moment. He needed to let off all this steam that Stone had riled him up with.

“Then be useful and take care of my problem, Agent,” Robotnik hissed, shoving Stone’s face directly against his prick.

Agent Stone made quick work of unzipping the Doctor with just his teeth, eager hands slipping into the scientist’s boxers to fish out his prize for doing so well. He was surprised at just how well equipped the older man was. The length alone was nothing to sneeze at, but the girth was enough to make Stone’s heart flutter in his chest. Something like that would be tougher to handle than a Badnik. This would take some getting used to.

Stone was nothing but eager as he kissed the head of the uncut prick, lapping up a bead of precum at the tip before he wet the rest of his length for an easier time. The hand in his hair pulled him back up before he could reach the doctor’s sack, Robotnik needing him to get to the root of the matter. Eagerly, Agent Stone welcomed in his warm, waiting mouth with no protest. The taste of the older man was delightful. It was the only thing about him that seemed to be at all human.

Indeed, even a cold-hearted man like Robotnik adored the attention being paid to him. While it was for purely selfish reasons, he had never thought to do this with another person. That’s what robots were for! They could handle him with just enough durability to last a lifetime.

What the Doctor was quickly realizing was that flesh felt more fun. Being inside of that sweet mouth of Stone’s that always peppered him with eager responses was almost too much to handle. It was as if the Doctor’s circuits were shorting out. He’d be loath to admit in enjoying such animalistic behaviors with someone so beneath him, but in this instance, Stone was simply proving his worth to him.

At least that’s what the logical part was trying to convince himself.

Unable to hear the inner dialogue of the scientist’s mind, Agent Stone was simply focused on the task at hand. The Doctor was hard and he needed to resolve the issue. He tried not to get distracted by the cute way Robotnik’s face was contorting on its own as the older man began to buck needily into Stone’s waiting mouth. He merely took it as a sign to speed up the process. With his hands planted on Robotnik’s thighs, his hungry mouth fell lower and lower down Robotnik’s prick. It was easy enough to take at a pace like this, but Stone knew that he would have to make it all the way down to the base to drive his boss to the point of no return.

The way Robotnik’s hands curled in his hair felt so wonderful. He was trying his best to remain dominant, but his own arousal would be his undoing. Stone kept the smartass remarks to himself as he watched the Doctor slip fully into a more carnal state of need.

“I don’t have all day,” came the guttural growl. Stone’s head was unceremoniously shoved straight down to the hilt with some resistance from the agent. “That’s it, Stone! Now we’re making progress!”

Tufts of brown hair swung to the side of Robotnik’s face as he rhythmically started to fuck his new toy’s face. He was determined to achieve orgasm his way and caed very little about the comfort of Stone. The agent wanted to start this? Robotnik would finish it.

Which he was already so close to doing. This was an entirely new experiment that Robotnik didn’t even have a hypothesis for. All of this was purely acted on in the heat of the moment. The nature of its humanity would have normally disgusted the calculated man, but Robotnik was desperate. He needed Stone to prove himself to be a valuable asset.

The man was doing just that. His eyes were half-lidded as he took the Doctor’s cock in stride. He hummed happily, vibrations from the sound rattling his boss into further animalistic need. It wasn’t fair how well-equipped Stone was to handle all of these things tossed at him. Robotnik hated that handsome face looking so sweet as he took cock beautifully. It wasn’t fair how he had managed to get him so worked up in the first place!

“I would advise you to finish quickly, Agent Stone. I don’t have time to dilly-dally,” Robotnik mocked in his bratty tone.

Stone smiled to himself. He wouldn’t have the Doctor be any other way for him. It was pleasure enough to watch the great and powerful man come undone with a government lackey like him just sucking his cock. He pushed harder and persevered. Sweat dripped down his brow as he took the man’s dick like a champ. Those skillful hands slipped straight to Robotnik’s ball and gave him a reassuring squeeze that he would make him cum in no time.

Frantic, twitching hands pushed Stone further along. Robotnik could no longer sit idly by and let his orgasm be controlled by someone lower in the food chain. Roughly shoving the back of Stone’s head against the nearby wall, he had him pinned helplessly as he fucked into the younger agent’s mouth. He could feel a garbled sound being choked by his cock, Robotnik’s lust fueled at the sight of the squirming man. This was power. This was absolute control over another living being. Having machines was all fine and dandy, but having a human rely on you for common as air? The thrill of it delighted Robotnik.

Stone clawed at the man who had quite literally knocked the wind out of him. His eyes watered as he was deprived of a basic necessity. Robotnik eventually let him breathe, Stone greedily inhaling before his mouth continued to be used as nothing more than a glorified fleshlight. Losing control to the Doctor felt nice. For once in Stone’s life, he was letting someone take his life into their own hands to mold him into something better. This was his place. He wanted to be the assistant to arguably the most powerful man. Stone had won! No one had taken this indulgence with the Doctor before and now he could claim victory. All he needed was Robotnik to say that he was his and the deal with the devil would be sealed.

Robotnik, oblivious to such a simple request, only focused on his desire to achieve orgasmic bliss with this organic matter. This feeling was foreign to him that it was sending his nerves to do unspeakably odd things that he’d have to document later. The rational thoughts in his mind slipped away the closer to climax. His thrusts became more sporadic as he pushed harder and harder into the agent’s throat.

All at once, his body stopped. It felt like his legs had locked up, fingers as tight as they could be in Stone’s hair as Robotnik truly lost himself. Fire burned in the pit of his stomach as all the determination of ruining this man’s life slipped away.

His orgasm was unlike any he had ever experienced in his lifetime. It was powerful. So powerful that he nearly wept as rope after rope of hot spunk left him. Robotnik trembled at his release, finally letting go so Stone could gain some semblance of control back, which he used to hold steady and take every last drop. After all, he was determined to prove useful to the Doctor.

Once his load had been deposited into that waiting mouth, Robotnik stumbled backwards and frantically tucked himself in. He smoothed back his hair and straightened up to look presentable again. Loudly, he cleared his throat and looked to the agent still on his knees.

“Agent Stone?”

“Yes, Doctor?” Stone murmured, still in heavenly bliss from the sight of his flustered boss who had finally yielded to someone ‘lower’ than him.

“Tidy yourself up. You have paperwork to sign in my office.”

Agent Stone’s heart skipped a beat, a smile breaking out across his face. He had won the Doctor’s favor.

“I expect you there in no less than five minutes - Hop to it!”

Flustered, Robotnik turned on his heel to finish the government’s transfer request to him that had been sitting on his desk since the recruits’ arrival. Perhaps it was best to keep one of them around after all.

#Doctor Robotnik #Agent Stone #Stobotnik #Works of Oz #Robotnik

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another-sonic-blog · 4 years

Text

Stages: Shadow’s Day

Stages: Intimate Friends Pt.3: Shadow’s Day (Chapter 16)

3K2

Previous: https://another-sonic-blog.tumblr.com/post/190748251455/stages-secret-dance

"Your report on Amy Rose?"

"I'll have it done by this week."

The Commander nodded in approval as he pulled out a black file from his desk's cabinet.

"There have been some last minutes changes to the Star Festival mission."

Shadow sighed, annoyed but still rolled with it. "Now what is it?"

And that's how Shadow ended up with Omega and a new agent called Mia. Rouge, being the smartass that she is, decided to ask for a week off just before the Star Festival.

The Star Festival was an annual festival to celebrate the union between the United Republic and the Acorn Kingdom. The mission was simple, keep an eye on the president and the royals.

He was fine with the president, but taking care of the royal family could be a real hassle.

"If you don't pick up the pace, we will leave you." Shadow looked back at the girl who was walking behind him.

"Yes, Mr. Shadow!" The girl ran in order to keep up. Shadow noticed that she was still keeping her distance, acting shyly.

"Don't call me 'Mr. Shadow." He asked.

"Yes, Mr. Shadow!"

Shadow growled lowly, a bit annoyed. Since Rouge wasn't with them, someone needed to fill in her spot. Therefore, the Commander assigned a temporary member, Mia. She had just graduated from G.U.N's academy at the top of her class. Shadow remembered her name from the lover letter he received a few days ago. Hence her shyness towards him.

"Shadow, I have spotted Princess Sally."

Shadow looked towards the Mobian Omega was pointing with his metallic hand. Indeed, Princess Sally was already on top of her parade cart. An enormous parade cart just like her kingdom. It was beautifully decorated with tulip flowers, which was the kingdom's official flower.

"Good, the parade is about to start. Omega, you lookout for the right. I'll keep a look on the left." Shadow directed his attention to Mia and it took only one look to make her skin shiver. "You look out for the back."

Shadow was actually starting to worry about her. She was becoming too red. The brown-furred female hedgehog nodded, almost making her round glasses fall from her round nose. She pushed them back and bowed quickly at Omega and Shadow, making her two braided tails move back and forth by the moment.

Mia walked all the way back to the parade cart. Omega and Shadow shared a look.

"She likes you," Omega said.

Shadow simply responded, "I know."

With that, they parted ways. The parade cart was so big that Shadow wasn't able to look at his teammates.

He heard the trumps play and the parade began.

It was the usual thing, they were going to walk slowly for a kilometer. Princess Sally, on top of her cart waving to the people of the United Republic. The President was on his black limousine and followed at the very end of the parade line.

Shadow kept looking to his left, giving looks to the girls who waved at him and were screaming for him.

He kept looking at them but in the hopes that Amy was there as well.

Suddenly, he felt the need to look good. He straightened his back and walked with a strong posture, gaining the many sighs of girls in love. However, he wasn't thinking about them. He wanted to look good just in case Amy was looking at him.

He had moved out of the Resistance simply because he didn't want to bother Amy any longer. Shadow would see her less and less now. He missed her but if he was honest ...

He was avoiding her.

Shadow knew he was getting too close to her and although he didn't mind at the beginning ... He was starting to get scared.

The night he danced with Amy was everything to him and he wished he could do it more often but ... what if one day ... she leaves him too?

He knew it was selfish of him but the thought still haunted his mind.

It wasn't only that, but G.U.N. also had its eyes on Amy. It was better to keep his distance for now until that issue is done.

Ever since the Commander told him the news about what happened in Twinkle Star Village in regards to Amy Rose, he just plainly avoided her.

He believed in her, but he just needed more proof.

However, he still felt bad. He came up with the stupidest excuse not to see her. That he wasn't available, too busy, ignore her texts and even ignore her in public.

She did it for two weeks. For the third week, she stopped trying.

A small pain in his chest became apparent the moment he remembered her face.

The people passing by in the streets. A disappointed face as she slowly stopped waving at him.

He turned around and walked away.

He really wished he could see her. Even if it was just for a few minutes.

It was a beautiful day, a blue sky. Children were laughing and waved at people participating in the parade. Shadow wasn't too fond of loud music but seeing most people enjoyed it. Vibrant colors and Shadow looked over at the Princess's parade cart. The tulips were different colors, soft pinks, yellows, and blues. The smell coming off them unique, Shadow had never smelled something like that before. Maybe a smell compared to it could be Amy's natural scent.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

People began to scream and run around. Chaos overtook the parade. Shadow looked around, trying to spot where the shots were coming from.

Then he remembered the mission at hand.

He went to the back of Princess Sally's parade cart. He found Mia, looking lost. Nothing new.

"Agent Mia! Look over the Princess! I will check on the President and Omega will keep an eye on the other royals!" Shadow said as he prepared to run to get to the President.

"But-" she tried to say something but Shadow with his powerful eyes, made her stay quiet.

"No, buts! Do your job!"

Shadow arrived at the President's limousine were more than 20 G.U.N. agents were already protecting it.

"Agent Shadow, asking for a report."

The leader agent of the group broke his position in the circle and walked towards Shadow.

"Intelligence Department hasn't been able to locate the Mobian who started the shooting."

"The President?"

"He is alright."

"Agent Shadow, here agent Mia. There's an issue."

Shadow walked away as he paid attention to his wrist communicator.

"Whatever it is, fix it yourself," said Shadow. "I am going to go help civilians now."

Shadow turned off his communicator. He began to run again. This time, he kept looking left and right, trying to get any clues he could.

But nothing.

He helped civilians evacuate and children find their mothers.

Three bombs detonated and buildings were falling apart. Shadow was quick to run to the falling buildings and helped whoever needed it.

He picked up a large number of boulders, helping the people who were under them. A cafe, an apartment, and a clothing shop.

"Agent Shadow, this is Agent Omega reporting."

Shadow kept running through the streets just to see if there was anyone else who needed help.

"Shadow here." He responded.

"Mia Reported: Princess Sally was kidnapped."

"I hope we don't make it," said Shadow.

"Don't say that, please."

"Believe me, being dead will be better than the punishment we are going to get once we get back to headquarters."

Shadow and Mia were currently in the underground drainage tunnel of the city. They were following Princess Sally's GPS locator which was hidden in her wrist rings.

This could be two things. A trap for them or the one behind all of this was stupid.

Shadow perfectly knew that this was more likely a trap. This person was smart if they were able to trick G.U.N.'s Intelligence department.

"I think anything is better than this place," said Mia.

Shadow came to a sudden stop and he gave the girl an annoying look. "Rookies."

They kept walking. Oh, how he wished he could be with Amy right now. Talking about anything or just hanging out.

His mind wanders off again. He remembers the dance with Amy. Her tiny body in his arms, her intoxicating smell, and her green emerald eyes on him.

And all of a sudden, all of that was gone.

Shadow looked over to the girl. Mia was falling behind again. She walked slowly as she played with her fingers in a front and back motion. She had freckles in her face and even with them, Shadow could tell that she was blushing. Her pale complexion made the pink tint on her cheeks stand out and if Shadow didn't know better, she looked extremely anxious.

"Look, if we want this mission to be successful, I need you at your best," Shadow said he took a moment to fully turn to look at the girl. He knew that right now it wasn't the best moment to talk about the love letter but the girl was acting like a high school girl with a crush. He just couldn't have that in such an important mission. "I read your letter and I accept your feelings."

Shadow saw Mia's eyes light up and he decided to make it clear.

"But that doesn't mean I return them."

Shadow wasn't good at these kinds of things. He wasn't even one to read the letters but at the moment his curiosity had gotten the best of him. Especially because it was the first one he had seen with a name on it.

Now here he was, in a dark drainage tunnel with a brown hedgehog girl, saving a princess and denying the feelings of love.

The girl didn't look anxious anymore, she had stopped playing with her fingers and she looked relaxed even but her face became sadder as she finally dared to look at his face.

"I apologize," Shadow said, hoping that the girl didn't start to cry. "I am just not into dating right now."

Mia took a few moments to respond. "Is it because of the pink girl?"

"Pink ... girl?"

"Yes," Mia doubted for a bit but seeing that Shadow looked calm, she continued. "Everyone at G.U.N says you like her."

Shadow knew only one pink girl and that was Amy, he sighed. Could G.U.N's agents damn their own business?

"We are friends. That's it."

"I don't blame you if you do. I mean she is so pretty. A pink hedgehog! So unique! Not to mention that she was Captain of the Resistance." Mia took a pause.

She thought she was nothing compared to Amy. Mia didn't even know where she got the courage to write her name on that love letter for Shadow. She was just accepted as a G.U.N. agent a few weeks ago and had no ranking. She was very average and compare to the pink one or to anyone she was no one.

Or so she thought.

"You must think ... why is even someone like her confessing to me? She is so ugly and useless and-"

"I didn't say that. I said I accept your feelings. Isn't that enough for you?"

The girl felt a bit intimidated by Shadow's confident response, but once again she admired that about him.

She felt Shadow getting closer and Mia asked, "What do you mean?"

"It means that you can keep showing me your feelings. I don't mind," said Shadow.

"Wait ..." Mia added, "That means I can send you love letters and keep trying to make you ... fall in love with me?"

"Yes. Honestly, I don't want anything right now but if doing that makes you happy, then feel free to do it."

Shadow focused on the girl once again. Her face lightens up and she gives him a warm smile. Mia was content and Shadow was relaxed because finally, they could continue with their mission with that thought interrupting them.

"Now, " Shadow added, "Let's do this mission-"

"Ok, but why? Asked Mia.

"What?"

"Why are you letting me do this? I thought you weren't the type to like those things."

Shadow gave it a thought. He knew the truth but he just didn't want to admit it nor say it. At the back of his mind, he could see it. Mia slightly reminds him of Amy. Well, the old Amy who would chase after Sonic every day.

Even when they weren't friends back then, he hated seeing Amy cry for the blue one when Sonic would run away or deny her love.

Shadow just didn't want to be anything that causes or caused Amy's pain.

He just didn't want to be like the blue faker. Shadow wanted to be clear but also gentle towards the brown-fur girl.

"Honestly," said Shadow, "I don't even know myself."

It was very dark now and the two could hear the drip-drop of water droplets dripping from above.

Shadow tried really hard not to breathe. Mostly because his nose was very sensitive but a mission was a mission.

Finally, they found the place. Shadow's wrist communicator had many functions and one of them was serving as a locator. He looked at the small screen of the communicator where it showed a green and red dot. The green one was the princess and he was the red one.

She was above them.

Too easy.

Shadow looked around and nearby was a metallic door.

Alright, this definitely was a trap. No guards? No percussion? No fight?

"Alright, change of plans," Shadow said as he turned to look at Mia. "I am going alone. You go back to the surface and be prepared to call for back up in case I need it."

"But, this was my fault. If I had taken better care of the Princess, this wouldn't have happened."

"No, look, this is different ... All of this is strange. It's better if I go by myself."

"But-"

"That's an order. Go back, now."

Shadow raised his voice and the girl was shaken a little by his change of attitude. She nodded, turned around and ran away.

Shadow made sure she was out of his sight to focus back on the metallic door.

He walked towards it, a green light above it. Shadow closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Inhale and exhale.

BOOM!

Shadow kicked open the door. The door flew across the room and landed next to Princess Sally's cell.

"About damn time." Princess Sally said.

It was a security room, TV's covered the room except for Sally's cell.

"You have such a nice vocabulary princess. I'll take you out in a moment," Shadow said as he approached her cell. It was made out of iron, easy to break for him.

"But first," Shadow placed his face in front of the bars, looking at the tired-looking princess. "Did you see anyone?"

"Everyone was wearing masks."

"Of course." Shadow was fast to bend the cell's bars, creating a big opening for Sally to come out. "How many of them?"

"I don't know, no one was here when I woke up." Sally came out of the cell and added, "But, it was around three when they kidnaped me at my parade cart."

"Three uh?"

"Voice fully recognized: Start-Process Now."

Shadow and Sally looked around the room as the TV screens began to show a particular image. Some TV's had a count down of 3:00 minutes.

And the others ...

Shadow knew perfectly what was going on.

"Princess, get out of here now! Exit the room and keep going straight, don't turn back!"

Sally doubted for a second but trusted Shadow's abilities and judgment. It was a bit hard to run with her dress but she managed.

Shadow, on the other hand, was looking like crazy for the bomb. He didn't know if it was a bomb or a detonator.

Or something else.

He looked everywhere. In Sally's cell, on the walls, and he even broke some TVs he thought had a bomb inside.

"Where can it be?"

His thoughts were interrupted as he paid attention to the images that were presented on the TV. Usually, Shadow will be really calm.

But the tape on the TV made him shiver on the inside.

"I'll do you a favor. Carry me back to Tails and after this mission is done, you will never have to see me again. I promise."

"Deal."

It was a videotape of him and Amy on the day that they were at the cliff in Twinkle Star village. Right after they got the flowers that saved Tails' life.

Someone was watching them, all along.

Without noticing, Shadow had one minute left.

He began to think of the worst. Was Amy ok? Where was she? What was she doing?

What was going on?

30 seconds left.

"Mr. Shadow! Are you here?"

It was Mia. Damn it, Shadow had no time now.

15 seconds left.

Shadow picked up Mia and carried her in his shoulder. He ran as fast as he could. The tunnel was dark but Shadow had a good vision. He exited the tunnel with Mia in his shoulders. Other G.U.N. agents were already on the outside. Trucks, guns, G.U.N agents from side to side. Shadow looked to his side and he found Princess Sally being protected by her royal guards.

Shadow was quick to throw Mia on the ground. An angry look on his face. Mia, as she stood up was quick to ask.

"Are you ... angry at me?"

Shadow didn't want to pay attention. If there was a bomb, it should have detonated by now.

But nothing happened.

"Please ... tell me! I know I went against your order but-"

"Who is this person? No, detonations ... nothing. That video of me and Amy ... is she in danger? Did something happen to her? I will never forgive myself if-"

"Please, Shadow talk to me!" Mia then was fast to grab Shadow by his arm.

Shadow turned around as her touch triggered something on him.

"Didn't I tell you to stay?" Shadow began to raise his voice, "Didn't I fucking tell you to stay?!"

All eyes were on them now. Shadow wasn't thinking clearly. He didn't understand anything. He didn't know what was going on and the things he thought he could control turns out he couldn't.

The air became heavy and a few seconds passed, the agents went back to their work.

Mia was still holding back the tears. She was afraid that the small chance she had with Shadow was gone. The last thing she wanted was to disappoint him, but it seemed like she had done so already.

Mia stood quiet and she whispered, "I am sorry ... I was just worried about you-"

"An 'I am sorry' won't cut it! What if there was a bomb? I could have made it but you?" Shadow added, "You could have died! Do you think I can live without you, Amy?!"

Shadow was still way more than worried. His mind could only envision Amy. He wanted to leave and check on her, just to make sure she was fine. Even so, he couldn't.

Because as far as he knew, Amy was G.U.N's number one suspect at the moment.

Shadow still blinded with his feelings, looked at Mia in the eyes and said,

"Because I can't"

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Soon we will be seeing Amy's day. Thank you again for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Also I recommend, reading me on wattpad. I publish there more often and there are stories there I don’t publish here: https://www.wattpad.com/user/H19990103

Next: Soon

#shadamy #shadamy au #shadamy fanfiction #shadow the hedgehog #shadow and amy #shadowxamy #shadow x amy #Amy Rose #amyrose #amy #sonic the hedgehog #sonic fanfiction #sonic fanfic

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prowerprojects · 11 months

Note

(Modern Tails anon) Considering there's apparently financial troubles going on with IDW, one has to wonder if the comic lives long enough to see that story one day.

Heh, the funny thing is, he could technically do those things too. Maybe not as well, but a kid fox genius running around with a flamethrower he built being alongside Blaze has to invoke some type of interesting imagery. Same with a stealth mission with Rouge.

I figured, especially with Sonic is one the earliest examples of seeing a video game character having a clear personality. (At least those Origins cutscenes added something more upfront; albeit very late for this decades-long series. But something to refer back to nonetheless.)

I think I've seen that somewhere. The most I know of Tails himself in that continuity is that he and other foxes are from some secret zone and he has grown the title of hero in that village through rather clumsy, but well-meaning antics. Albeit through lying at first.

(Yup, AOSTH Tails even turned an entire truck into a mechanical dragon and handled himself while Sonic was frozen in stone. The most SatAM did was that one episode near the end. I still wonder if the plans for season 3 had gone through, would Tails be looked at a bit differently depending on how it went since his role was supposed to expand greatly.)

Hmm, it's going to depend on how these next set of episodes go. Seeing the other Tailses will likely strike a chord in Nine; but that doesn't fully mean villain arc. Existential crisis, maybe. I expect him more to tap into something hidden within him he didn't notice before. (Probably doesn't help that outside of Sonic and Shadow, we don't know the Prime versions of the characters that well; not great if you don't have at least basic knowledge on Sonic. If Tails did show some "Nine" traits during his early days with Sonic; specifically the trusting and friends part, I think there'd be a fairer grasp of why Tails didn't end up like Nine and why Nine is slowly resembling the original Tails. This applies to the other counterparts too, not just his alone.) Heh, never doubt the power of a fandom has when they catch the slightest bit of angst fuel from any character. And missing the nuances that come with grey/neutral characters. (Trust me, I'd love to see Tails let loose some raw, unbridled emotion that could have you think about his morality or sense of justice, but in the right context. Something I don't see Prime fully committing to, whether they DO go through with it.)

Two intelligent scientific minds, separated by different upbringings and how they apply their emotions to their logic, but still learning about how the world works and defy said logic through personal experience. All while seeking approval and praise. Lots of potential there.

There was another Sonic Channel story last year that basically said the same thing about their bond. One being "they have something that goes beyond trust", that "they know what the other needs without having to speak". (Also, their dynamic breaks some the typical tropes you see with 'hero-sidekick'. Like, the latter has the base of operations, not the former. Also, it is not funny and wholesome that Sonic considers this baby fox that attached himself to a younger him the biggest source help he could have ever hope for?)

Honestly I'm not very knowledgeable on how this whole deal works, so I won't say anything on the matter. I wonder if we could get a Sonic webtoon? I know DC comics and Archie both have at least one. Of course, both of them are of questionable quality, but who knows, maybe we'll luck out!

Haha, that's true! Personally I don't really care for him being a kitsune spirit, but I've been thinking of an idea where he replicates their abilities with his tech to make someone else believe he is one.

Yep, Fleetway Tails is from the Nameless Zone which is kind of like old-timey alternative dimension with magic and goblins and stuff. He was kind of loser there, so he moved to Mobius hoping he'd make a name for himself, but he was still a loser there too. But he was too embarrassed and wrote to his family that he became a hero. In the early StC, the writers weren't kind to Tails. He usually just messed things up or got captured (you could kinda understand Sonic's frustration with him, though he could stand to be nicer), and if he did manage to save the day, it was due to sheer luck. He got better though, especially after Sonic got stuck in another dimension. (After he came back, the Freedom Fighters kind of went their separate ways, but S&T often had adventures together as a duo. They both kinda grew up, Tails became more competent and stopped caring as much about impressing people (including Sonic), and Sonic mellowed out and stopped being as harsh on him. They became a better team! I have a soft spot for the stc!Unbreakable Bond, you just kind of have to take into account the specifics of the writing of stc as a whole, I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea.)

(I... have mixed feelings on satam, but mostly I just can't finish watching it. It feels like a drag. Not something I would be watching if it wasn't Sonic-related. Not gonna comment on the quality of it, because there are some other shows I felt similarly about and they're super critically acclaimed, like atla. (If Tails was more prominent I mind have at least been watching for his sake) I promised a friend I would read Archie and I wanted to watch satam first, but it looks like at this point I'll just have to skip to the comics.)

I really want to see different counterparts interacting. I'm kind of with Shadow on this situation, try as I may I don't really see them as separate people, I'm more interested in what they could say about the Prime versions of the characters. But it would be more effective if we spent more time with the Prime versions in the first place. I'm hoping for more flashbacks tbh. (Plus I just love how the og models for the characters look without the Shatterverse clothes)

Oh yeah I remember that one! Man I love how Sonic Channel hypes up their bond. I hope we'll get to see more of this in the next games. Sonic really lucked out (and so did Tails of course!)

#i also feel like (though I have a bit of a trouble articulating it) that tails is more of a traditional hero-type than sonic #but I always feel goofy trying to explain this #(this is on your comment about subverting hero/sidekick stereotypes)#tails #blue blur #sonic & tails #sonic #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #tails the fox #project.txt

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mobius-prime · 4 years

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228. Sonic the Hedgehog #160

Birthday Bash! (Part One): Giving and Receiving

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

Welcome to the beginning of Ian Flynn's reign, everyone! As many of you will know, Ian is a fan favorite amongst readers of the comics, and for good reason. Objectively, I'd say he has a much better sense than any previous writer of how to construct dynamic and interesting stories, as well as a great head for writing dialogue. Every character has their own unique voice when speaking, and as someone who takes a particular interest in dialogue in her own writing, it's something I admire a lot, especially given how stilted and unnaturally formal a lot of dialogue by Karl and especially Kenders often sounded, regardless of who was speaking. That said, I think that it took a good year or so for him to fully come into his own as head writer for the series, so some earlier issues are a bit strange and not up to par with a lot of his later work. Some of this, to be fair, is due to him essentially playing clean-up for this first year, untangling a lot of the bizarre leftover plot threads that Karl and Kenders left behind, and generally trying to make the world of the comics conform a little better to that of the games. All that aside, anyone reading the comics will likely notice an immediate and apparent improvement in the overall quality of the work starting with this issue. This is helped along, in addition, by none other than the very talented artist Tracy Yardley! who always (well, almost always) introduces himself in the story credits with an exclamation mark. It's kind of his calling card. Tracy took a while to really improve his art as well, so while his earliest issues sometimes have some strange proportions and poses, later on his style became easily one of the most visually attractive and recognizable ones in the series, simplifying a lot of the inconsistencies that many character designs had as well as doing away with the strange pseudo-human proportions that some artists tended to favor, particularly with the female characters. All this said, I will say that Ian isn't going to be immune to my criticism, as while I do recognize his skill as a writer and the good things he brought to the table, there are definitely some problems I have with the way he handled certain things. We'll cross those bridges when we come to them, however, so for now, let's dive into the new world he's creating and see how he does!

Elias and Sonic are walking on the outskirts of Knothole as Elias explains why his father approved the Metal Sonic troopers from last issue. We don't even really get to hear the explanation, but to be fair, we hardly need one, as the idea was so insane to begin with that the only true explanation is that Kenders needed a plot device. Sonic tries to make Elias promise that "you royals" won't hit him with any more weird surprises, and Elias says they only have one more, leading him to a building next to where the Great Oak Slide into the village ends.

I mean, canonically he's supposed to be turning seventeen here, even though realistically he should be turning eighteen, because remember, for him to have turned sixteen in StH#68, had the Robians be deroboticized in early June in StH#123, and still have managed to spend close to a year in space before turning seventeen, literally everything in between the two aforementioned issues would have had to take place in the span of a few weeks - yes, that's counting the month-and-a-half time span that Sonic was confined to Knothole, as well as major events like Eggman's return and the entire Green Knuckles saga. You can see why this huge discrepancy still bothers me, right? Hmph. Anyway, no sooner has the party begun than an explosion destroys the door, and two new players enter the scene - Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear from Sonic the Fighters! Nack's been part of the comic for long enough now, so it's cool to see these two make their first appearance. Bark is totally silent - as far as I remember, he never says a single word during the entirety of the comic - but Bean, in the absence of an obvious personality to draw from in the game, has subsequently been given the personality trait of "criminally insane" in the comics.. He's erratic, he talks to himself, he cracks jokes where jokes really shouldn't be cracked, and most importantly of all, he loves his goddamn bombs. Bean starts chucking said bombs left and right at the various Freedom Fighters in the base, while Sonic tangles with Bark. He seems to think these guys are only after him due to something Evil Sonic did in his place, something which he has by now apparently finally explained to all the women of Knothole, and manages to break away from Bark to stop Bean's bombing spree by pinning him to a wall and asking about Evil Sonic. However, Bean happily insists there's been no mistake and he wasn't even aware of Sonic having an evil twin, nor does he particularly care. Oh, speaking of Evil Sonic…

Huh, it seems that Evil Sonic has actually explained his true identity to Rouge in between their previous failed attempt and now. I'm surprised she hasn't outright abandoned him by now due to Rouge not exactly being evil-aligned to begin with, but I guess the pull of the shiny is just too strong for her to resist. And as it turns out, Bean suffers from a similar insatiable need! Fiona pulls out a ring of keys and shakes them around, completely distracting Bean from his current activity of bashing Sonic's head in, and throws them out the hole he made in the wall, prompting him to immediately abandon everything to chase after them. Fiona then advances on Bark, who by now has gotten himself cornered by every Freedom Fighter in the room, and convinces him to stand down as he's outnumbered. Outside, Bean plays with the keys and talks to them, seemingly convinced that they're a beautiful woman with an "adorable accent" who wants his number, when a suspiciously-Shadow-shaped shadow converges on him, prompting him to try to invite him into smashing Sonic as well. Good luck there, buddy, I don't think Shadow usually runs with crazy…

Geez, Sally, cut Fiona some slack. Not everyone had a squeaky-clean record - hell, just look at Shadow! Back in the Chaos Chamber, Rouge and Evil Sonic begin to battle Locke, who tosses Evil Sonic to the side as he perceives Rouge to be the bigger threat. However, that turns out to be a bit of a bad idea, as with Rouge tied up in the fight, Evil Sonic takes his chance to go after the Master Emerald without her, obviously recognizing it as more than just a shiny trinket.

Back in Knothole, Shadow explains that he's only here to thank Sonic for saving Hope, as he knows he wouldn't have been able to do it on his own, and reminds him that as soon as he leaves this building they're back to being enemies, as Shadow's still aligned with Eggman for now. Sonic, to his credit, seems to recognize that Shadow is only allied with Eggman because he doesn't yet know better, and cheerfully invites him to come back here whenever he cuts out on that deal in the future. It's at this point that everyone realizes Bean has quietly snuck into the brain trust's comms room to casually let Eggman know that he and Bark failed to take Sonic down, and when Fiona ushers him back out of the room, Eggman is only too happy to let Sonic know personally that he wishes him a happy birthday and he's sending him a new, more metallic present. Within seconds a thud outside alerts them to the arrival of this present, and everyone rushes out to see a strange figure emerging from an egg pod - a figure which resolves itself into the combined forms of Crocbot and Octobot, now merged into the singular entity of… Croctobot! (Don't worry, Ian knows just how silly this is and even acknowledges it next issue.) But what of Evil Sonic and Rouge? How is their fight faring against Locke after the former got knocked aside? Well, Evil Sonic takes his chance to dramatically emerge from behind the emerald as the other two get ready to continue their fight…

Plot twist! How many people actually didn't know by now that Evil Sonic and Scourge were the same person? I'm guessing there had to be at least a few of you. You can actually already see Ian's new plans being put into action - it's very telling of his intentions when the very first issue he ever pens immediately makes a point of distinguishing a rather tired and boring character into a new and improved version of himself, with a unique name and new, visually distinct look. Apparently Kenders, who if you recall is the original creator of Evil Sonic, never liked this and continued to insist on referring to him as Evil Sonic, but screw that, Scourge is a much more interesting character and this was a change that sorely needed to be made.

Sonic Rush (Part One of Two)

Writer/Pencils: Tania Del Rio Colors: Ben Hunzeker

So unfortunately, Sonic Adventure 2 isn't the only case in the preboot of a partial adaption of a game being included without any actual ending. Sonic Rush, the game, introduces Blaze, a cat from an alternate dimension that is controlled by the Sol Emeralds rather than the Chaos Emeralds, and most of the plot revolves around the Sol Emeralds ending up in Sonic's dimension and her trying to recollect them to bring back to her own world. However, things are a bit different in the comics universe. In this story, Blaze comes to Sonic's dimension because, apparently, she's been having nonstop dreams about him, dreams which show her visions of Eggman threatening the Sol Emeralds and Sonic helping her protect them. She's frustrated that she would have to rely on anyone else to help her protect the emeralds at all, believing them to be her sole responsibility, but nonetheless she's tracked Sonic to Knothole. However, while deliberating her next move, a squad of swatbots - yes, ordinary ones, it's been a while since we've seen them rather than shadow-bots - happen upon her and decide that they should take her in for interrogation.

Yeah, I guess Blaze doesn't understand the dangers present in this universe yet, does she? An hour or so later, Rotor sends for Sonic, informing him that they caught the aftermath of Blaze's capture on their video surveillance. Neither of them know who she is, but they decide she can't be from their village, since she left several disabled swatbots behind, while most people in Knothole are noncombatants and those that aren't are accounted for elsewhere. Sonic rushes out to find their trail and tracks them to a nearby facility set up amidst the trees, and while he begins fighting his way in, the scientific robots in the building go about studying their new specimen.

Sorry, but why the hell would Eggman be looking to add some random Mobian to his team? He only likes robots anyway, and tends to either betray or enslave every living being that comes to him. Blaze suddenly awakens and becomes furious - not that she's been captured, mind you, but that they took off her coat while studying her. She must be really goddamn attached to her coat, because she starts absolutely trashing the place, exploding into flames and screaming so loudly that Sonic becomes genuinely worried about her wellbeing, rushing to where he last heard her. The door of the lab she's in is completely blasted off its hinges by the force of Blaze's explosions, but thankfully after this she seems to have found her coat, because the blasts subside and she appears in the doorway wearing it once again, staring down at an utterly shocked Sonic with a look of fiery fury (the literal flames coating her entire body probably help with the "fiery" bit). Uh… good luck dealing with that, buddy boy!

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #writer: ian flynn #writer: tania del rio #pencils: tracy yardley #pencils: tania del rio #colors: jason jensen #colors: ben hunzeker

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cutegirlmayra · 4 years

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Commission Receipt: Soler’s Story Ch. 2

@solerwolf21 once again returned to have a part 1′er of the next chapter, it was very fun to work on and I’m glad I got the opportunity to have his Sonic OC Soler shine again!

Time: After a brief discussion about what story elements he wanted and what plot points were to be addressed in this chapter, I began work and development on the story. It took only a day to write out a basic plot which he requested to see and approved. Then it took a few months for the completion and editing.

Review: @solerwolf21 - First, yes I have read it and not gonna lie there were at least two to three times I was scared for (how) things were going (to) go lol. I was too scared for Soler and Sally’s relationship and Shay was terrifying and his mom was wonderous and pops is cold. I also enjoyed the hints of depth behind certain actions or things said like Sally stopping Soler from making a promise, or Shadow’s lack of insight on familial ties, really good touches. Overall great work! Also I love love love the characterization! The contrast of thought of how Soler handles situations compared to Sally, Shadow, and his retrospective on Soler. Heck their whole relationship as a whole and its evolution. I just loved Shadow in this so so much.

Paid amount: After deciding on a price, I was surprised to find that he actually paid for more in the end! I was really touched, and at first, worried he may have overspent and contacted him to alert him of the situation. He told me he put in more and so I gave him more, it was around 50$, and I’m very grateful that he enjoyed the story! It was fun to write for him again!

With permission from the customer, here is the rough draft of the finished product for your viewing pleasures:

Soler's Sequel: Chaos Panic.

Ch. 2

A story for Solerwolf21!

By: Cutegirlmayra

New Mobotroplis was centered with a bright, yellowish castle for the Acorn's to rule in peace, but nowadays, it is a military fortress for the headquarters of the Freedom Fighters.

It's princess, Sally Acorn, continued to lead the Freedom Fighters time and again against the Eggman Empire, who threatened to destroy all organic things into robotic slaves for his mad ambitions of power and control.

However, Eggman's forces began to grow and increase in unspeakable ways... a new ally had aligned themselves to Eggman, choosing to be on the power-hungry side that seemed to be winning, instead of freedom-bound heroes. These heroes wouldn't cease in doing good, fighting for those who couldn't, and protecting all Mobians from certain peril and robotization.

Sally carefully counted inside the freedom force's food storage warehouse facility, tapping her pen in the air as she went through each box and marked to check off each category on her clipboard. "There!" she giddily swiped the last check mark onto it's corresponding box. "After this hostage rescue, we should have enough supplies to keep them well fed for a few months or so. At least until our next harvest and supply run." She nodded to herself until she heard an alarm go off. "Huh?"

Turning to see Rotor waving for her outside, she felt her anxiety spike and quickly ran back out as the large, almost barn-like doors began to automatically close behind her.

"What's going on?" She inquired, her voice sounding serious and her eyes showing the leadership fixed in them like a fire lit on the spot.

"Nothing." Rotor calmed her, letting her know it wasn't that serious. Still, it put Sally on edge, and she had to calm herself into a gentler state of mind again.

"Go on." After a short breath, she straightened out and loosened up a bit. Though, the tension in her muscles seemed to be unending... such was the life of a benevolent ruler in times of war.

"Soler set off another security alarm again," Rotor chuckled, noticing her demeanor had returned to being somewhat normal, for now. "He's training with his power again... he used to go so far out of our radar that he'd be gone for a few days or so, training remotely. Now? He doesn't mind just blasting his power all over the place without a single thought!" Rotor lifted up his arms and shook them about, but the action only made Sally smile.

It was true that Soler had a hard time training within New Mobotroplis. He was constantly in panic that he'd do something wrong, or hurt someone... It took a lot of time for him to trust himself, but Sally was glad to hold his hand through it all.

She was happy he was comfortable around everyone now, but still worried about their alarms...

"He's just so used to controlling them now, he's not as afraid to use them as he was before." Sally was still mostly glad, he was showing some confidence, and that meant that everyone's efforts for him to feel included within the Freedom Fighters had not failed in fail. He was slowly coming out more, being more lively and talkative. He was still somewhat lazy, but at least he was lazy with others now... Though, she was upset that he was triggering off their alarms so frequently. Poor Nicole...

"I'll go talk to him."

"You know, he hangs around a lot more because of you." Rotor gave her a sly look and put his hands on his hips, "I'll get back to my equipment inspections but,... Something tells me there's more going on between you two then just causal dating..."

Her face turned a little brighter, but she batted his prying away, "Dating is dating, don't make unnecessary assumptions!" she didn't like her values being questioned, but it was true that Soler had been hanging around a lot closer to base lately...

She had just never supposed it could have been because... because of how close they had gotten to one another.

"I wasn't saying that, but it's interesting that that's what you thought. I wouldn't dream of it!" Rotor shook his hands out with a goofy grin on his face, teasing her. "I just meant... maybe you two are more committed than you think?"

"Alright, enough teasing." Sally pushed her finger against his nose to move his face out from trying to read her own. "I'll go check on him. Which way?"

"The little chaos engine is southward." he pointed behind him. "Turn just a little west, and good luck!" He laughed, clutching his belly and swinging his leg up a moment to really give his teasing a good kick into Sally's pride. "He's letting all the new recruit's legends and stories about him get to his head!"

"L-legends?" A bead of sweat trailed down from her forehead, but she wiped it off, trying not to worry. "I'll see what the fuss is all about."

"Just his popularity, that's all." Rotor waved her off, moving on and placing a leisurely hand by his tool belt. "Try and stay calm, Sal. It's better for your health!"

"Not in these times..."

As she made her way towards where Soler usually trained nowadays, she stopped in a jolt. "Oh, wait!"

She remembered something and quickly turned to Rotor, seeing he had already moved quite a bit aways from her. "Really, quick!" she ran back and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, grabbing his attention again as he turned to look at her curiously. "For the night operation... the village is covered in dense fog, correct?"

"Very much so." Rotor confirmed. "Make sure your operation is covert. We can't have anyone disappearing on us. If the village is being rounded up for roboticization, then we don't have a huge window for error. We can't lose anyone again, Sally..." He looked distraught, and Sally comforted him with a few pats on his back. "Shard and Sonic are off on reconnaissance. Espio, Rouge, and Shadow are spying on different Eggman fleets. Bunny is still with Anton... I'm afraid all we have is a handful of us left." She shrugged, showing that they were worn pretty thin at the moment when it came to available, capable hands. "Soler and Nicole are all we got so far. Maybe Tails will be willing to come. His twin tails could push some of the fog away?" she seemed to be stretching it, squinting her eyes and shrinking down a bit, as though embarrassed to have to question her own tactics.

"Eh, it's a team. I'll see what I can do on my end, too." Rotor nodded, patting her shoulder, "Hey, Sal. You're doing good." He encouraged her, giving her some much needed confidence in her abilities too. "Go and get'em back safe."

"Will do." Sally nodded, taking his advice in. She felt a sense of pride then, telling her that she could do this, but hoping to not have a cost. One life meant so much to Sally, saving so many would be wonderful, but... losing even one Freedom Fighter... Sally didn't want to think about it anymore, or have to live through the consequences of one wrong move. She placed her hand to her chest and took three breaths, telling herself it was in the past and she could do this. "I'll talk to Soler, see if he has any ideas..." She began to head off again, pushing back the sorrow she had learned some hard lessons from.

Soler was powering up as much chaos energy as he could, having it jet through his power and manifest as white aura all around him. He let it course through his veins and rise in large quantities throughout his whole body, spiking his power range up and trying for a Chaos Break, hoping to hold it for a longer period of time than he was used too.

If he could somewhat master retaining chaos energy in his body, instead of always having to expel it because of the limits on his physical form... he could do a lot of good for a set of minutes.

And more good, meant more people saved.

A few recruits were watching, interested in what he was doing as he tried to concentrate. He moved his hands, almost as though practicing martial arts, but kept his eyes closed. The aura moved like misty clouds around his hands and body, seeming to spin like steam as he rotated it around him. A small dust devil formed at his center as he took deep, calming, focused breaths to try and lessen the pain of holding onto to chaos energy and trying to store it in and not let it out all at once either. Making chaos energy out of nothing would have a severe toll on his body, but with little measurements of success like this, he could maybe one day hold a massive amount, and finally give Eggman's army what's coming to them.

One of the on-lookers was a young girl, she swung her legs as she sat on some wooden crates, watching the strange sight in excitement and curiosity. "Is that him? The guy who rose in rank in just one month?"

"Yeah! They say that Shadow trained him!" Another dude piped up, moving up on the crates to answer her and share in the amazement. He gripped the edge of her crate and wagged his tail, seeming to be a fan of the stories about Soler's missions and adventures.

"Shadow?" Someone else turned to the boy, a young boy having a ponytail for his long, extensive hair. It seemed they were all fairly new recruits, still in intensive training. "But I thought he's scary!"

"He's just anti-social. That must speak volumes for this guy! If he had to have Shadow train him, he must be powerful!" A girl threw her arms up, as though showing her support for Soler as she watched to see what he'd do next for his training. She wore pigtails that spun as she admired the powerful energy surge around Soler's dust-devil effect.

"Wow..." the original recruit that spoke up stopped dangling her legs and watched him more closely, amazed by what she was hearing. "So what will he do now?"

Soler took a controlled section of chaos and forwarded it to his hand,... gliding his hand down, he felt the physical pressure of the moment, and grunted slightly as he felt more and more exhausted from just trying to force the chaos energy to one part of his body. He took a deep breath, and began hitting the air with rapid fast reflexes, jumping into a back-flip and spinning into a kick. The misty clouds shot forward, as though wind being propelled. He was training his memory, making sure his body knew what to do, and all the while channeling chaos energy throughout his movements. It was much more fluid and easier to move than before, and chaos energy wasn't so frightening to him, mostly because he knew he wouldn't hurt any curious gawkers like the kids on the crates. He could feel their energy, but it wasn't anything like chaos.

After a few more acrobatic fleets of strength, precision, and mastery over his chaos energy in Chaos Break, the effects wore off and he fell to a knee, panting strongly from it's toll on his body.

Sweat dripped from his forehead, his muscles ached and waned to keep him up on one knee. He even felt his body tremor a few times, unused to having to hold that much chaos before.

Still, training was training, he'd have to build the stamina for it, one day at a time...

"You keep that up, and you won't have any chaos energy stored up for the mission tonight." Sally stepped up and placed her hands on her hips, proud to see him showing off for the younger recruits.

He smiled, eyes still closed and hunched over, gripping his knee before pulling himself back up like he had a pair of wings, beating fiercely to look impressive. Though it was all in his head, he felt like a hero rising from the ground, and acted as much. "I'll be ready." he turned to look over his shoulder at her, another smoldering look of affection that let her know—without words—what she meant to him. "You doing alright?"

She couldn't help it, moving quickly over to him, she gave him a warm, tight hug as he returned the gesture with as much gratitude as she had. "Look at you, you've grown so much since then..." she remembered with a slight hint of teasing, tightening the hug a moment in gratitude. "You haven't had a bad dream in a while, or a walking one... for that matter." her arms wrapped around his neck before slowly loosening to let him go.

But as if not wanting her to release him, he held her at the same intensity, before pulling his head back and staring into her deep blue eyes...

"I recall a sweet moment where you used to say you'd never let me slip out of your embrace... what happened to those days?" He was amusing himself with these games, and she pushed him away from her, unable to hide her blushing grin.

"Maybe someone should move forward at a pace I can keep up with." She was acting a little shy, but he found that adorable. She folded her arms, then fiddled a moment with her muddy, scarlet hair. "Your powers... they're easier for you now?"

"Much easier to handle." Soler confirmed, dusting off his chest a moment from all the dirt he had kicked up onto himself during his workout. "Though I'm trying to figure out how to grow them stronger." he gripped his fists together, looking each over with every turn of his head, examining them. "I feel I've got the hang of it,... but I also feel there's so much more there that I haven't quite tapped into... I'm not sure how to go into the next level, as Sonic calls it, you know?"

She turned around and pointed straight at him, "Ha! You're nervous!" she laughed, "You know?" She teased, and walked back over to take his balled up hands and delicately place her own over them. "Listen, Soler... Things take time. Even using your power more strains you, right? I know you probably feel nervous about what's buried deeper inside you... but we'll worry about that together." she saw him move his hands and rub his wrists, not hiding the fact that it was a lot on him, but he was just glad he had gotten the hang of it this far.

"Thanks, Sally... but strength is strength. I'm making progress!" he flexed his arms up, "Aren't ya proud of me?" He joked. "I bet Shadow won't even recognize me when he gets back!" Striking a Hercules pose, it was clear he was only trying to impress her and the watching recruits. They all gave him an awestruck reaction, and Sally just rolled her eyes to it.

She giggled, "Immensely," and wrapped her arm around his own, "But let's not praise that 'can-do' spirit too much... might go to your stubborn head." she laughed at her own joke, but that wrinkle in her nose always made him fall deeper in love with her. She wanted to get him away from influencing the younger recruits too much... wouldn't want them setting off alarms, either...

"I love the way you laugh..." he sighed, catching her off-guard as she let his arm go and scooted back slightly. Her original plan seemed to falter as now, he was the one holding the reins.

"You're just saying that." she smiled to the ground, but he came a little closer, not wanting the distance between them to break so much.

"No, I mean it. I may be headstrong, but I'm also headfirst in love with you, Sally." His words were tender, but they were overwhelming her as she touched her redden cheeks.

"I-... I-I told you Sonic wasn't much for showing his emotions, and Monkey Khan, well... I-I'm just not used to your forwardness, sometimes." she fidgeted with her feet and then stroked her hair down over one eye, "B-b-but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate it." she humbly looked back up into his eyes...

"Well, it's hard for me not to compliment... something that strikes me as beautiful." He took on the heroic persona once more, leaning back and mimicking Sonic as he put his hand to his hip, trying to look down into her gaze to hopefully have her swoon again.

Then a recruit whistled.

Soler pulled Sally to him, instinctively, seeing their encouragements. He knew Sally would get more embarrassed though, so he held up a hand to the recruit, "Chaooosss-!" he threatened a blast.

The recruits all ran in terror but Sally just covered her face. It was a humorous scene, as they all toppled over one another and flipped over the crates to escape.

Soler put down his hand and turned back to Sally, "Sorry, I'll try and save those moments and comments for when we're alone." He lightly kissed her forehead.

"I highly doubt that." She peeked up through her fingers at him, and all at once, his heart melted again.

"Aww... you're right, you're just too cute not to say anything... I can't wait till we're alone, it's too long a time!" he hoisted her up into the air and held her swinging with his arms, around and around she went in glee.

"Ahh-! Soler-! Wooah, haha!" she clung to him, a kind gesture that put her at ease. With the audience gone, she relaxed a little bit more too. Slowly, he slipped her back down into his embrace, "I can't seem to get enough of you. There's too much to take in." She looked just as lovesick as he was, and his muzzle showed his joy at accomplishing his mission.

"There it is." He chuckled lightly, "I'll not not to say how... how that smile makes me feel... all the time." He nuzzled her nose very lightly.

"Heh," She tried to remain still, but he knew he shouldn't push his luck just yet. She needed time to adjust to... well, to how out of control he was when it came to how madly in love he was with her.

He ducked his head down, "Y-you're right. I should take it easy..." He gently, though retreating his arms to do so, let her go unwillingly. "I'm just... really happy we're together more, Sally." He scratched behind his head, mentally scolding himself and saying he should cool the engines a bit.

Sally also ducked her head, then took some courage, and lightly placed her nose to his again. "Me too..." She liked the compliments and affection, but just wasn't used to it. To not set him off, she dashed away, hoping that the subtle return of affection would be enough to show her reciprocated love. Still, she was too shy to do anything more, "I'll-! I'll see you as we head out! Please remember to be stealthy!" she called back behind her. "The mission is launching out tonight!"

"Will do." he lightly touched his nose with two fingers, then grinned from ear to ear, feeling the slight hurt on his cheeks from how happy he was. "Smiling never hurt this much... not like before." He looked out towards the sun. "...I hope this never changes..." and with that sad reminder of the doubts that filled his fate, he continued onward, preparing for the stakes that tonight would bring.

Taking on a serious demeanor, he decided to meditate, giving his body a chance to renew his chaos energy supply.

Later that night...

Eggman robots were stationed right outside the perimeter of the village's main townhouse. Their lights remained dormant of life, but vibrant in the quiet of the night. They held their forms like soldiers, grasping their metallic, flat fingers on their other arm's machine gun. Sinister sentinels, protecting nothing but serving all evils...

Shadows moved swiftly around the stagnant metal husks as the Freedom Fighters made their way to the roof of the where they guarded. Moving like silent ninjas in the night, they got to a secure wall and using ropes and jumping from a partner's hands laid together and palm facing up, they were able to make it well onto the top without being detected. However, before they did so, a figure flew up and dropped a small device that sparked as it fell to the roof. The sparks fizzled out any detection system, and finally... the shadows landed one at a time upon the roof.

A few cameras also were sparked... but they remained unaffected, slowly turning to hide their glares but watch the crew closely...

The shadows all landed one after another, before one removed his black scarf around his mouth, revealing white tuff protruding by his cheeks.

Tails's beaming face looked pretty pumped his device had worked, "Looks like there were trip wires and security detection measures on." He whispered to Sally, who also removed her black scarf from around her mouth.

"Good work, Tails. I'm glad we have you this time around." She lovingly ruffled his hair, still unable to help the feeling like he was a cute kid. "Okay, let's go with Plan B now."

But as Sally turned around to instruct the rest of the crew, Soler was out of sight. Panicky, she looked around and then peeked down the roof, seeing him moving behind one of the Eggman robots.

She let out a quiet groan of disapproval, this wasn't the first time this had happened. But still, he knew the costs, why would he act so recklessly!? In the past, he would follow orders simply because he was worried his power could act up if he didn't watch himself. But now... he was more cocky than ever! Even Sonic would sneer with pride. She turned to the others, knowing she needed to be a leader, and not risking the rest of them. She gestured the plan, using code signs to let them know what was going on, and started quietly taking the roof apart to make a small opening... hoping with all her heart that Soler wasn't going to be rash and do something to jeopardize the whole of the mission.

'He wouldn't risk innocent lives like that.' she told herself, 'I have to start trusting his instincts. I have to.' she repeated to herself as she carried on and dared not to look back. 'Be careful, Soler... Please.' her silent prayer was mingled with her frustrated clamp of her teeth, gritting through the stress of trying to keep the tools from making noises as they performed their incision on the roof.

Soler sneaked up behind one of the guarding robots, his red shoes with black X's lightly whipped up the loose dust upon the ground with each careful footstep. Using his expert knock-out techniques he had learned form Shadow, he dug the side of his hand into their little slit around the round, bulbous head's gap that made their neck. He was careful to observe some broken Eggman robots on his last missions, and studying their mechanize, it seemed that some essential wires were just under the head. Protected by both the chrome dome of their head and the heavy plating around their body. 'Too bad Eggman never gave them any bulky shoulders, this will be easy to penetrate!' Soler had already won in his mink, smirking in the dark. Summoning the chaos energy to his hand, he caught a quickly formed, sharp Chaos Spear and struck it precisely into the gap he had found in his studying. Rotor and Tails were helpful in teaching him about robotics, but it was all worth it when he could single-handedly take one out. It short-circuited and collapsed on itself, looking like an egg that fell in on it's pegged stand. Wires flickered a moment like a sparkler, but with no power left, the eyes blipped and then were out like a car's blinker.

Feeling pretty good about his technique, he continued to do the same with the others, but none were reacting to him. He'd jump, stab, and roll back into the shadows, and like dominoes, they all soon collapsed on themselves. It was like something straight out of Alice in Wonderland, but instead of folding cards, its crushed Eggbots. "Huh?" he noticed they were all strangely still... no alarms, nothing.

It was too quiet...

The night had no sound, so with all the robots downed, he walked just a little bit out of the shadows, holding his Chaos Spear in hand, having to surround it in chaos energy so it didn't burn his hand.

'A trap?' he quickly looked back up at the roof. 'Could it be..? Why else were they all... Oh no...'

His eyes widened in fear, "Sally..." he uttered, and took off to climb back up the townhouse.

Soler was used to thinking fast, over-complicating things was sadly a knack of his. His mind raced with rescue strategies in case this really was a bait, but people needed him... and he hadn't forgotten his main objective: Protect those who can't.

He raced up the wall, clawing it just enough to not make too much sound but still scale it efficiently. His reflexes helped him leap over some cameras and then kick them out. 'Cameras..? There's only two of them...' he shot the chaos spear still in his hand at the second one, watching it fizzle out and shoot out like a blown firecracker. "Not my friends you don't." he bit on his teeth, glaring, and moved towards the hole in the roof.

He stuck his head down into the gap his team had made, and looked frantically around to make sure they weren't in danger. So far, so good. He saw them rounding up the villagers, before a hand grabbed the tuff of his chest and spooked him out of his cautious observations.

Sally pulled him to her, making him wobble a second like a swung clock part.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sally had his face right up in front of her own, clearly showing him she was in warrior princess mode, and he wasn't doing as he was told...

He weakly smiled, knowing he was going to get pretty harshly scolded, "M-making sure you're all alright?" his voice shook in his delivery.

Conflicted, Sally let him go, swinging him back as his legs wiggled a moment and then he flipped them down to land.

"I'm glad you want to help at all costs, but going AWOL on a covert mission is highly hazardous!" she looked about ready to whack him, but held it back. Her whispering reprimand made it sound like she was hissing at him, and he rubbed his head apologetically, ducking his head down as she kept coming at him. "I'm worried you don't take orders well. We've done countless missions! You always aren't cautious enough!"

Ironic, he was coming back because he was being cautious...

Still, he knew she was right. He just wanted to make sure their exit plan went out without a hitch.

Unknown to them... cameras moved from the rafters to look at where Soler and Sally were talking to one another from... They bent like mechanical arms, hiding themselves, and not stationary like the well-hidden roof ones that Soler had taken out previously... The cameras on the outside, also undetected by the others, carefully watched through the windows. They rotated themselves and zoomed in on Sally and Soler... then turned to the sparking robots and the jammed chaos spears wedged into their openings by their non-existent necks. The spears flashed and the robots further exploded as Soler clutched his fist to release his control over them while Sally scolded him, distracting him from keeping the chaos hidden and silent. The robots loose wires flailed around before all light disappeared from the area.

The cameras turned back to the inside of the house... all but one... who mechanically moved to zoom in on the evidence of Soler's power...

"It'll be alright, it always is, in the end." He winked to her, trying to calm her racing nerves. "I prom-" his words were cut off as Sally clasped her hand over his mouth, pulling herself over to him and getting up on her toes to look him dead in the eye.

"Don't ever say that to me." She stated, fiercely. "Don't ever make a promise you aren't sure you can keep."

His eyes bent, seeing the pain in her eyes at saying those words. The moonlight extenuated the gloss in her eyes... Something painful had happened with a promise left unkempt, and he wouldn't pry further into it tonight.

Everyone worked well and efficiently, those tension was still lingering in Soler at the solitary guardbots all remaining motionless in the far too quiet dark, he decided to let it go since the villagers were eager to get away anyway. Gathering each mobian and placing them in a pulley system, they hoisted them up through the hole and then raced them off into the forest. Once again, Soler reflected on the easy rescue... it didn't sit right with him, and he knew from Sally's expression that she was on-guard about it too.

Why was the night so still..?

However, there was still some celebration to be had. Everyone was rescue without a single scratch or skirmish.

But then again...

The camera's feedback blitzed in a frizzy light upon a screen in an extremely dark room... scratchy static finally visualized the figure of Soler, moving in blocky images upon the frame. Many eyes reflected the light of this secluded viewing... The camera showed Soler summoning a Chaos Spear, grabbing it before it shot out of his hand, and stabbing the Robot from behind.

"It doesn't seem possible, boss." One spoke, much older in years it seemed. "But it's definitely a chaos energy attack." The man had his arms folded, a deep husky voice. He then turned to bow down to the leader. "We hoped to stage this hostage situation to learn more about the FF's tactics of rescue... but I find this a lot more alarming..."

Two figures suddenly approached the light of the screen, and one seemed to smile in wicked fascination of the image. "So, it's not just me out there, is it, Dad?"

"Quiet." The father spoke, glaring at the image. "This is an anomaly. Eggman won't be pleased if we don't perfectly execute this attack. We need to know what they have..."

"Ah, come on! We can go in, guns-a-blazin', and handle whatever their little acorn-hole can throw at us!" the son seemed pumped but the father punched his side.

"When I say quiet... I mean it." He removed his fist, "I thought I had taught you that by now." He moved his cloak to the side, covering his arm that he used to thrust his fist into his son earlier. "Assemble some more intelligence. I want to look over this footage carefully... I don't like... the blue in his quills..." The father glared heavily at the frozen image of Soler, still blurred out on the screen. "...It looks too familiar..." he almost growled in a lowered tone, and then proceeded to storm away.

The son, barely hunched over, straightened up and still held a frightening smile, "Ow... Daddy seems amiss." He turned in a joking manner to a woman who had just entered with a pitcher of water, pouring it in a cup and the leftovers onto a plant. She turned to address the boy calling her, her face hidden in her raggedy brown cloak before spilling the pitcher at the image she glanced at on the screen. Her eyes shook, as if she'd seen a ghost, recognizing the blue in his quills...

The past... had finally returned. But should it be a return?

"Oh? Still so concerned for me after all these years, dear mother?" The son moved over to her, holding some of her quills in his hand. He must have thought her reaction was from the previous punch, since he was still holding his side... "Such useless compassion..." He let it go and walked on.

She held her panting to a minimum, not wanting to raise any alarms as she pulled her ragged cloak around her more. 'Better now than never... I have to do this... for the sake of so many, and for once... myself.' she whispered, her eyes narrowing in resolve but watery with fear. It was her compassion that would never leave her, even after all these years of servitude and self-pity. Her voice came out almost like opening a creaky, dusty wardrobe. It was as though she hadn't spoken in years, "It was compassion... that poured the tea, my son." her voice seemed dry and starved for life. She took the cup she had just poured, drank as much as she could, and began to cover herself as she made her way through another corridor...

He watched her exit, but said nothing. Simply moved on, as though he was simply speaking to a memory.

Watching some guards patrol by, she then took her chance and grabbed a decorated, golden, steel conduct opening and began to tug it out. It creaked loudly at her attempts, and she looked around frantically to make sure no one was watching or coming to investigate.

She was lucky, she had studied there ways for so long, hoping for a moment to escape.

Finally, after years of tugging on it behind her husband's back, it rusted enough to come out.

She had poured water and other corroding materials onto it in hopes of breaking free and now was her chance, so she crawled through the square pipe and shut the steel behind her.

Men turned the corner, as was their routine, but paid no mind to the steel lid. She peeked through its gaped design, and then slowly... backed into the drain...

-Back at New Mobotropolis-

"Nicole," Soler typed in some things, "What would make an Eggman fleet malfunction?" He was still concerned about the stillness of the robots he had encountered...

Nicole materialized and gave a kind bow to him, "If there function was disrupted, but... why do you ask?" she seemed curious, "There are many ways to malfunction a robot."

"No, I mean... without-" He held his tongue, "Nevermind." he shook the feeling off, "We made it all back safe and that's what matters." He loosened up and smiled to Nicole. "Did you scan the villagers?"

"All are healthy and well. A few sick here and there, but nothing more than a common cold." She happily relayed. "It seems the townhouse was a great shelter for them in the end, they were there for a couple of hours..." She informed, and then hovered over by him, her pixels lighting up his fur. "Soler... everyone is waiting for you in the celebration hall... are you not dining this evening?"

"O-oh, I forgot! Y-yeah, I'll be there. Can't miss my own celebratory party, now can I, ya know?" he seemed nervous... but quickly straightened himself up and went out, trying to look more cheery. He was jittery, mostly because he now had a reputation to maintain, but that didn't make his uneasiness any less apparent...

Nicole watched him intently, before shrugging it off as a human strangeness and continuing on her way back into her computer.

"There's the man!" a few fighters hoisted Soler up the second he walked in, letting him be thrown up on their arms as they cheered, "Oh, he's a jolly good fellow!"

He felt awkward at the praise, but did like the confidence boost. "W-what's this all about? Why just me?"

Tails covered his mouth a moment, chuckling. "We saw the Eggman robots you single-handedly took out! It was so impressive, we decided to toast to you!" Tails picked up a drink and handed it to Soler.

Soler tried to lean over and reach for it, but with all the commotion,... someone threw him up again and Tails toppled over, having the drink slip through his gloved fingers and begin to fly through the air. As though making it look easy, Sally miraculously caught it, her hand moving in a precise and skilled fashion to do so. To add to the sensational catch, she swirled the water with her pinkie out, and then walked over to Tails.

"Be more careful with the cups, Tails." She lovingly instructed, helping him up. "What were you doing?"

"Trying to hand it to Soler, but..." He smiled to her and then awkwardly looked back to Soler, who was being hoisted away.

"H-hey!" he tried to protest a bit, seeing Sally and wanting to join her.

Her face fell a little flat as though not in the spirit of things, thinking it ridiculous to give Soler so much credit when it was clearly a 'team' effort. "They're lifting him up into the air for being reckless?"

"That's a bit cruel, Sally." Tails's ears lowered, "He made sure we'd all get through successfully. Nothing was left to stop us!" Tails cheered, "Why don't you praise him too? He's being kinda humble about it all, isn't that worth praising? Just a tiny... bit..?" He withdrew from her after seeing her harsh features on her face, and pulled back from continuing the peer pressure.

"...I don't think it's something that should be praised." she sighed, moving away from the scene. "It's good that nothing bad happened, but with how we set things up, he shouldn't have acted on his own like that. It wasn't necessary and could have jeopardized the mission, the villagers, and us all. What if it didn't work out, Tails? Then what?" She sat down and lowered the glass down gently. "I can't help but feel like this is all going to go to his head more..." He had only just began mastering what he could of his powers, and Sally didn't feel it right to give him such an ego boost when she knew he needed more time to adjust.

Tails sat down by her, worried, before he saw Soler speed his way over to her quickly, panting. "Whoo! What a rush!" he laughed, sitting down beside her. He had gripped the table, feeling the slippery floor and trying to not let his lightheaded feeling get the better of his balance. "I finally convinced them to put me down!" he reached over for the drink in her hand and took it after a moment of skimming her hand. Knowing she wasn't used to him yet, he tried to be gentle and subtle about it, before chugging the water down and laughing that it was milk. "Now that's something." he chuckled to himself, banging the glass down. "Still, I'll take another!"

Sally rolled her eyes, "Half the recruits here are underage, you really think we'd serve anything more than this?" She raised her hand and a man rolled down the glass of milk to her. "Besides, it'd get unruly. I'd rather have my friends with sharp minds than a bunch of half-there, half-not hooligans."

It did sound a bit harsh, and Tails just gave Soler a look like she wasn't in a good mood.

Sally did see the gesture of his hand though, and not watching their subtle, muted conversation... she moved her hands around her own glass and rubbed her fingers lightly, biting her tongue. She was about to scold him, but stopped herself, deciding there would be a better time soon, anyway...

"You haven't slept yet." Sally decided to go with concern, watching as the waiter brought a few more drinks over, and passed one to Tails.

"Nah, been too much fun." Soler calmly responded, taking the drink and giving it a light twist with his fingers in a corkscrew way on the ground, not drinking it yet as he noticed Sally's hesitancy about something. "Something troubling you?" he finally did a sip, and she tried to compose herself.

"You know how I felt about you disobeying orders." She took a small sip as well, mostly to calm herself down. She didn't like the situation, but she wanted to be a good role model to Tails too... she couldn't favor anyone over the other, and she needed to be strict about Soler coming on missions. It was almost like a role reversal, now that Shadow wasn't acting as his mentor much anymore, Sally seemed to inherit disciplining Soler in a new skill he was unfamiliar with. Controlling himself in high risk situations... he had power over his chaos energy, but what about his headstrong behavior? "Jeopardizing the mission shouldn't be praised for the results turning out alright, it should be from the execution of the assignment."

"You sound like my teacher." he smirked, winking to her as he referenced Shadow. Seemed he was catching on to her inner-monologue...

She touched her face, was it that obvious?

She grew shy and embarrassed, losing her leader-like apparence as Tails also chuckled into his hand, looking to Soler. He had flipped the scene in a matter of moments, just being his charming self again.

"All about the process, he says." Speaking of Shadow, he took another sip of the non-alcoholic beverage, having gestured for the drink to the man passing them around.

"...I'm not happy about this, Soler." she finally stated, and then looked to Tails. "Tails..."

He got the message, nodding and bouncing up from his seat. He could tell Sally was holding herself to a standard, and appeased her by flying off, "See you Sally, Soler!" he waved. Sally was someone everyone looked up too, so he respected that she didn't want to appear too kind to Soler... though it was obvious she and him weren't so formal.

She nodded to Tails's sympathetic kindness and turned back to Soler, a serious expression of weariness on her face, "I understand how you must feel. You were a hero today, but a true hero thinks of everyone, even the rescuers' safety."

"Do we have to confront this now?" Soler knew what she was saying, but wasn't in the mood to be reprimanded. "Can't we just enjoy the morning..? Maybe we do need sleep." he pulled her stool closer to his, making her wobble and grip her hands to the table. He put a loving arm around her and then his head to her shoulder, "Suddenly... I'm so sleepy..." he cooed, teasing playfully as he went limp.

"Oh, you." she did find that cute, but tried to get him off. "This isn't the time for that... and besides, we're in public..." Her eyes shifted around nervously. Was she like Sonic? Worried about images all of a sudden..?

"Emm... So comfy..." he continued the act and she finally giggled as he rubbed his nose under her cheek.

She'd have to get used to it. He loved her too much to not tease, and with all the tension she was carrying, he had to do something to put her at ease.

"That's not fair! You know I'm ticklish! This isn't going to get you out of- ah-! Ahahaa!" she laughed when he tickled her stomach and she tried to weakly push him away.

"You advise me all the time, it's about time I advise you to relax." he teased, but then a harsh wind opened the doors of the hall as a woman in muddy rags coughed and stumbled against the side of it, looking around frantically to get her bearings straight.

A few people were rushing after her, but stopped when they saw she had opened many different buildings, seeming to be searching for something...

Everyone remained still a moment, not sure where this had come from.

A rescued person suddenly got up, "Weren't you... the one that was with those abductors?"

The Freedom Fighter's all turned around, surprised to hear this, to say the least.

"Abductors?" Rotor immediately stomped forward, "Okay, lady. Who are you and what are you doing here?" he took out his taser wrench, but watched as she fell to her knees and just didn't have the heart to look intimidating. "Woah! Lady!" he threw the weapon back and used his free hand to reach out to her.

She continued to breathe hard, "I'm... not with them... I was forced to be with them... but I'm not." she explained through heavy, soggy breaths.

"She's lying!" another rescued member stood up, slamming his hands to the table, "I personally saw them from my village!"

"Your village?" Another Freedom Fighter turned to the individual, "You mean... You're not from the village we just saved?"

"N-no..." A village boy seemed timid, but wanted to help out with the misunderstanding. "Not all of us. My Ma and Pa were taken from the city..."

Another rescuer got stepped forward, one of the pursuers, "We chased her from the walls, she used her bare hands to climb it, this is no ordinary woman!"

An elder rose then, ignoring the woman and commotion to speak truth as well. He stomped his walking stick to the ground, making himself known, "I was taken from several miles away from their village. I haven't stepped foot in that village before then! the abductions are happening more and more frequently, but I never thought they'd come to the monastery's shelter!"

"They're taking everyone!"

"They're ruining our lives!"

"She's with those monsters!"

"I-I... had to reach him..." The woman in rags coughed, trying to spit out the dirt from her mouth. "I had to... I must..." her arms trembled as she tried to upright herself. Her old knees wobbled, malnourished and like old sticks, but somehow, they kept her going.

"It's not just here?" Sally's eyes shrank and shook with the horror of what she was hearing. "Why hasn't anyone spoken up about this before? And this woman... she's apart of it? But how is that possible, she's not a robot..." she slowly got up to examine the woman, but stopped a few steps away as someone else spoke up. Soler remained by Sally's side, standing behind her and keeping a hand in her own.

"It's not just where you're Freedom Fighters' are stationed! There are hostages all over the different bases!" another woman, holding a child stated in a cry that could only mean she was desperate to have them understand their plight.

"We..." Sally found herself compromised, unable to hold back the terror in her tears, realizing she hadn't truly saved anyone. "We have to alert the other zones! Contact them through Nicole, she can travel faster. If hostages are being moved around then that has to be a trap!" she quickly took charge, turning off her emotions as quickly as they had come and harshly ripping her hand out of Soler's.

This left him worried about her, the vacancy in his hand making him feel like he was being left behind. 'No... Sally.' he wanted to be by her side, wanted to fight with her. Did she not trust him? Was his actions today too reckless for her to include him now? 'Don't do this alone, let me help you.' he kept trying to keep up with her, but the woman had crawled her way over to Soler and grabbed his now freed hand.

"H-huh?" He looked down, shocked she would take it as she pulled her hoodie back, and stared at him in wonder.

The first thing he noticed... was the blue streaks in her quills... and the gentle fall back they had. Then the pristine, porcelain white that was dirtied and matted with clots of earth... leaves... icky green grass stains...

What had happened to this poor woman?

His heart was immediately softened, but caution and the unknown swarmed quickly into his judgement like a pipe being turned on and filling up his thoughts.

"They must know where we are." Sally started up, pulling Soler's mind away from the desperate woman, but she began to speak just after her, guiding Soler back to her longing, anxious gaze.

"Your defenses are too much for them to take on, without the proper information, they won't know how to storm New Mobotroplis... you're all in grave danger... but safe, for a very small window of time." she had caught herself, brought some form of power into her voice that gave envy to Sally and admiration in Soler. She slowly moved up from her knees, looking Soler over and then deeply into his eyes, as though moved by a painting. Her hands wavered slightly by his face, but dared not touch.

"What did you say..?" Sally spun around, before seeing the strangeness of her behavior towards Soler.

Not wanting to be rude, Soler allowed her to cling to him, remaining still. However, it was extremely awkward... before he noticed the similar colors and style of her quills compared to his own again, and marveled at the oddity of it all. 'Do all hedgehogs have some common genes?' he wondered, knowing Sonic was blue and Shadow had red streaks in his quills, but shook off the thought since Shadow was bio-engineered, and Sonic... was just blue.

His eyes made a squint of confusion, and he suddenly realized this woman was examining the same things as he was in his appearance. '"A-ah..." he moved his other hand up, trying to stop her from looking at his features so much...

It was a very peculiar, having someone judge your appearance this obviously...

"I'm glad you kept this blue..." she smiled as though relieved, looking to the stripes of blue in his quills and gesturing up towards the ceiling, but the movement was unknown to Soler and so he got a little creeped out. "...Ha... I hope there's more of me in you, that it's a sign of good things." Her eyes sparkled with hope and pride as she looked down and gripped her raggedy brown tarp over her more, "Finally... the Mercenaries will at last meet their match... and Conor will realize he's created his own doom... in me." she glared suddenly in great hurt.

She turned to Sally, "They're setting up for intelligence scans, trying to read your strategies. They'll ambush you after their tactical assessment is complete. But with my escape, it may be now or never." she turned back to Soler, "Only you can defeat a Stratus," she cupped her hands gently by his face, "My... Son."

His whole body felt a surge of electrical, chaos-like lightning at her touch, freezing him before he felt a shard of static explode at his chest, making it hard to breathe.

There was a quiet as Sally's face configured into a deeper seeded confusion, but her protectiveness kicked in and she moved over to Soler, pulling him lightly away from the woman. "I'm sorry... but until we get this situation figured out-"

"She has no shame!" A rescued woman called out, pointing accusingly to her from the door. "She's part of them! A spy! Come to infiltrate the only safe place we have now!"

"Hear, hear!" another man stepped forward, this time from within the once giddy hall, shaking his fist.

While the argument commenced intensely throughout the room, Soler felt an abrupt presence wash over him like a mountainous wave, sucking him under as thoughts of the orphanage and the caretakers returned to him... He was abandoned, unwanted, and left on the steps of their humble institution. Before, he had always thought of Luna's village but now... Memories just gushed over his senses, leaving him in a darkened place with his mind. He felt strangely null here, and that was comforting for the time being.

The caretakers always assured him he was meant for big things, wonderful and amazing things that were left to be uncovered when he was older. The younger kids hid behind him from the older, more ruthless children and he would take beatings on their behalf, then get scolded for the fighting by the caretakers. Still... he never once questioned it. While the other children sobbed over the loss of parents, or the missing of family, he never had such emotions... but he was always curious. 'Maybe someday, I'll find them.' he thought to himself, countless times before his powers started to turn dangerous, and he left the orphanage with one goal in mind: To master them.

He explored and helped people when he could as a nomad until Luna's village... a real home. The only thing that consumed his thoughts beforehand,... before Sally saved him from himself.

But with this woman's appearance, nothing but the orphanage's memories came to mind. All those young souls praying for their mothers and fathers to return... while Soler feared the powers he was beginning to manifest.

"Well, this party was a bust." A sarcastic voice rang through the hall as everyone turned to the familiar silhouette of three, spiked quills off to the side... "Come on! Where's the merriment?"

Sonic The Hedgehog had finally returned, and with him, many of the Freedom Fighters. Shard looked cautiously around him, then dashed over to stop people who had started brawling in their wild emotions.

"We come back to celebrate and tell of our spoils, and look! Others are spoiling it for us!" Shard kid, separating the fighting individuals by flying halfway across the room with his jetpack-like engine.

Sally was still unsure of where to even begin to describe to Sonic and Shard what had occurred, and looking at Soler's expression... she definitely knew he was in no state to respond.

"We'll continue this later." She instructed, looking to others behind her. "Get everyone to bed. Nicole will run a scan on the woman. We'll investigate her later, as well. Make sure everyone has what they need today."

"Woah, so serious." Sonic raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side. "You getting enough R&R lately, Sal?" He looked to Soler, as if accusing him of something.

"Sonic," Sally scolded, placing a foot forward as he smiled and held up his hands in a fake surrender.

"Right, right. Take care of things." He winked in a friendly manner, but nothing that would be seen as romantic. That ship had long left the harbor and sank, "Knuckles?"

Knuckles nodded, pointing swiftly to Rotor and Tails. To Rotor, he gestured to Shard trying to calm down the brawling, and to Tails, the woman clinging as though in a dream to Soler.

They nodded, then split up into teams as Tails calmly gestured for the woman in rags to come with him.

"N-no, I must speak with you more." She resisted, struggling a bit and moving back towards Sally and Soler. Sally flinched back, but noticed as she tried to move Soler, that he was like frozen stone... His feet planted firmly to the ground.

"This isn't the time." Sally stood in front of him, hoping this wasn't another trigger moment like with Luna... "You stated a warning to us, for that, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt." She looked to Tails, "For now." she nodded to him.

There was something awful about how this made her feel. When, at last, she thought Soler's only troubles were his natural tendency to go solo when he needed to stay with the team, but now...

Tails heard the urgency and command in her tone, so he nodded back and continued to help the woman begin to move away and out the doors. Slightly dragging her, she wouldn't remove her eyes from Soler... so much emotion in those eyes... like marbles with galaxies of knowledge hidden inside of them... they held Soler suspended.

"You don't understand!" She once again fought, but Tails was soon helped by more of her pursuers, wanting justice for not catching her in the first place. She had many arms grabbing and looping around her, and in a mournful cry, she reached for Soler. "They could track you through your transmissions!"

Soler immediately reached out, so quickly in fact, that only Sonic could see his reflex was powered by chaos energy. He sparked the ground just lightly and Sonic watched with a little bit of surprise.

"...Well, that's interesting." Sonic narrowed his eyes on it as it was all done in a blink of an eye. He wondered how Soler was able to do such a fleet so fast, "Almost looked involuntary for the guy..." he pondered out loud, "Friction? Perhaps?" but followed up by walking over to Sally. "Lots of things I should know about?" He actually was resisting the urge to try and make static with his own feet moving that fast, but held it in. Time for fun later, right now, the Freedom Fighters needed him.

"Most definitely." she sighed, "Soler-" trying to get him back on their side, she began to move towards him like the leader of the Freedom Fighters, not a girlfriend.

She touched his arm, "Whatever this woman is or isn't... we need to discuss the matter more fully later." she squeezed lightly on his arm.

She lightly moved her hand down to then grasp his trembling hand, feeling a little electrical zap from it, but figured it was from her fingers gliding over his fur.

However, Soler's hand felt the woman's, her fingers curling around his own and then clinging as though for life to his own, outstretched mercy. In that moment, he knew... he knew with certainty that she was someone in need. Someone he needed to help.

"Set off the alarms." he finally spoke, but it was more like a breathy whisper.

"What?" Sally gently moved closer, leaning her ear towards him, but keeping her eyes on his ghostly white countenance.

Two different forces of pressure. One gentle, in one hand... the other in great need, unable to loosen their powerful grip, not even by one bit. Was all hope truly lost for this woman? Was she that desperate for him..?

"...We've been breached." he finally admitted to himself, not just about New Mobotroplis, but within his own being as well.

Suddenly, Sally's eyes widened, realizing that if this older woman could get in so easily then...

Why hadn't the alarms gone off?

She looked to the woman, "How did you get in here without setting off the defenses?"

The woman's eyes began to tear up, blinking fast as she gritted her teeth and kept her hold on Soler, not responding to anything. Her mouth trembled in her quiet crying...

Sally immediately held herself up, a princess with a job to do, and headed straight out the door. Picking up Nicole's computer, she flipped it open, just like the old days. It was an ancient device at this point, but a good communicator, nonetheless. "Nicole, this is Sally. We've been breached!"

It wasn't long until Sally was able to set up an interview with the woman, claiming to be Sophia Stratus. The interrogation room was mostly a one-way mirror like in any police station, but this time, the room was more like a small living space than just a empty feel with one table and two chairs.

"So let me get this straight..." Sally rubbed her hands through her silk-thin hair, having it flow by her shoulders in her exhaustion from pulling an all-nighter and now working into the afternoon. She was mostly slouched on the table, trying to get answers but too exhausted to record them. Instead, Soler was in charge of writing what she said down, and it was some pretty disturbing stuff about the mercenaries. Still,... why wasn't Sally asking the real question that she knew he wanted to know?

Sally had some paper with notes scribbled onto it, seeing that indeed, Nicole had run a few blood sample tests and the woman did appear to be Soler's mother. She purposefully didn't question that, and continued to avoid the topic. "You're an arranged marriage that went horribly wrong, and now you're trying to make things right?" she seemed incredulous at that statement. "Why now? Why not run away beforehand if this is all really true?"

She hadn't told Soler... that this was, in fact, his mother.

How could she? This woman may use that as leverage for something.

How would the mercenaries know about Soler and even accurately identify his mother? Besides the looks and blood tests, it's unlikely they'd go to that extreme.

But she was keeping it an option, nonetheless, for Soler's sake. She'd seen crazier anomalies in the past...

But this one was highly unexpected.

"You seem more than a friend." Sophia pointed out, "But I'm glad he has someone to guide him..."

She saw the look of tenderness in the mother's eyes, but also of hurt, and shook off the spooky feeling. She knew Soler was listening, and didn't want to give him any more reason to freeze up. He didn't deserve this, who did? Finding out your family is some-kind of sick breeding nest for evil? She kept her thoughts to herself, maybe she was losing grip of her true nature due to her fatigue?

She couldn't be affected by this woman, no matter what she said or did, for Soler's sake... Everything she was doing was for Soler and for New Mobotroplis.

"You warned us before that it isn't safe here? Could you elaborate on that." She knew they were being recorded too, and adjusted the mic towards her. Soler wrote some more notes down but soon tossed the paper to the side and intently listened in, growing more and more frustrated that Sally wasn't asking her directly about her statement claiming to be his mother. His hands spread out on the table as his nose was inches away from the viewing, one-way mirror.

'Sal...' he bit on his teeth, grinding them slightly. 'Why are you avoiding it..?'

"We're just trying to learn the truth." Sally put her hands together, seeing the woman look off from her and stare at a painting of the sky, brimming with green rolling hills littered with feathered, hair-like grass and ferns beneath it.

"I'd only risk death by fleeing if it meant keeping my hidden son safe." Her voice seemed older now, as though aging rapidly now that she was finally out of that abusive situation. She finally looked to Sally, acknowledging her hesitancy in not asking about it beforehand. "If you don't mind, I'd like to tell my child personally... why his life has been the way it has."

Sally looked down at the paper, flipping it over to cover it's specific details of truth and shook her head. "I don't think that's best." There was already enough on their plates as was. It may seem crucial now, but everyone's safety was greater than that.

She blew out from her mouth after stating that, leaning up a bit to carry on with her conversation, trying to fight the her weariness.

She hoped Soler felt the same... And that he'd do the right thing.

But then, a large bashing crashed through the room as the door was swung open, and Soler stepped inside the interrogation room.

"Soler-!" Sally's chair scooted back, seeing him barge in and not even look at her, but fold his arms. He held himself higher, as though trying to desperately seem alright, and moved by her to the woman. "You can't just-!" Sally continued to protest but he simply didn't listen.

"I'm here. So, go on." Soler stated quite forwardly, as though not leaving room for Sally to object any further.

Heartbroken by him once again disobeying direct orders, she sighed and sat down. He was already here, but his emotions were rampant. She didn't know if she could trust him to think of everyone's safety over his own curiosity, but she also knew it must be challenging. She did know it was his mother... so maybe that instinctual knowledge was driving him to behave this way... even though she knew that he was aware of how much she wanted him to remain in control over himself.

It just wasn't possible for a situation like this...

There was a moment of thought between everyone, as though silence in the world was like a cacophony of words left in the mind.

After a moment, Sophia finally had the strength to speak up, and took each word carefully, speaking slowly.

"What is the earliest memory you can recall?" Sophia Stratus stated, "I would like a decent starting point."

"Nothing you would know." He coldly stated, and Sally placed a gentle hand on his arm. He took a deep breath, "First, let's see if you know where you left me."

"The Sun-Side Orphanage. Though it's name changed after the war." She explained without hesitation. "You left, like I hoped you would. But I had prayed you'd see better days... away from this mess." She looked solemnly down to the ground, "I had to leave you... Could you imagine what would have happened if he made you like-" she cut herself off, as though being cut physically with a knife, and turned away. "I'm sorry..."

As she collected herself, she closed her eyes, "My first son... Shay Stratus... was such a sweet boy." she began, "But when his chaos abilities began to formulate into wonderful displays of art and beauty,... my husband tortured him, beat him down until Shay turned his gift into a monstrous weapon..." she could see the shadow of her son rise in her eyes, and burning flames conquering up the rest of the spaces in her mind... "He can no longer go back... to gentle tea time moments with his mother..."

She took a deep breath, opening her eyes to see Sally and Soler looking entranced at her words, "...I couldn't let that same fate... no matter how hard I tried to preserve my first son... befall my secret blessing." she once again covered her eyes in the darkness behind her eyelids, as though transporting to another place in reality.

"I ran in the night..." A young woman's eyes opened, a seamless transition that burst through the curtains of her eyes, as though a memory lost long ago. A hidden tragedy... but that lead to such hope.

"I held you tightly in my arms... and hoped the ever-free skies would connect us again, linking us through the never-ending circle that created the orb upon which we reside..." The younger Sophia, showing now that she was once beautiful, and her colors radiant... placed the baby in a hurried haste down on the porch, before about to take off. "But then I noticed... how similarly our quills were." The wind blew harshly, and as she covered her face, the bundle of cloth that swaddled the baby suddenly blew off, revealing his crying face. "I had been so distressed... since last feeding you, I had barely checked to truly see what you looked like... worried I would find his face in yours... I was brought to my knees at the sight... of those ever-free blue streaks of sky still reigning in your appearance... and that your blood may one day defeat the sinister, underling devil of the blood you were mixed with." Seeing the boy's face, the mother fell to her knees and wept silently, about to grab the boy. "But it was not meant to be..." She paused and flinched at the click of a door, staring wide-eyed as someone was coming out. "Fate would not let me turn back on my decision... and for that, I am grateful. For my temptation, at first seeing you, my son... was too great a trial to have gone uninterrupted."

The woman fled into the snow, hiding as best she could as she dug herself into the cold. Soler was picked up by some nurses and monks, who looked around to see who had left the baby there.

"We've got another one, Misses!" A man cried out, smiling gleefully at the little boy. "A munchkin, indeed, he is! He's as white as the winter that brought him, and as blue streaked like the tears that forged him!" He billowed a laugh, as though so used to this scenario that it wasn't sad anymore. "Oh? Lookie 'ere. Soler... What a name! A fine name! Think we'll keep this one?" He turned back to enter the door, "Soler... yeah, let's keep it. It's got a destiny to it, me finks." the man disappeared through the door as the women all crowded to see the new arrival, and as the child's cries shredded through the blistering cold, the door was finally shut to everything now...

But awakened one last hope in the young woman's bawling, brokenhearted eyes.

Sophia opened her now stained, red eyes as though feeling that cold alive again. Those harsh, but true words resounded in every bone, forcing those fading cries through the night into a great sense of empathy.

And thusly, Soler and Sally too had glossy eyes, feeling each hit that her words gave them, and remaining in reverent, sorrowful silence.

"Shay is stronger, due to his years of experience over you, my son." It was the sentence that broke the tension, but there was still a thick mist of deception around Sally. Could she really believe this story? It struck her heart, but what if it was fabricated by the mercenaries? Blood doesn't lie... but still. She wouldn't falter her resolve to learn everything first, then provide the trust later. However,... her true nature wanted to comfort the woman... "But if even a little of that power resides in you, you must use it to defend mobian lives... that shade of blue you wear." Sophia gestured to her own, looking finally into Soler's eyes, but weakly so, as if the emotions were too great to bear again. "Is what will stop the Stratus's from their murders and secret combinations of the infernal pit!" she pat out the words, as though hatred had singed her motherly love into burnt coal. "Stratus... that accursed word... meaning to send a continuous streak of horizontal grey against the ever-free skies... blocking out freedom. The blue color that symbolizes the blood of a free man, and the value upon which good, harmony, and peace live upon... the air is free, the clouds steal from the seas... the skies are open, but the clouds are clever blankets of pure white that shield such a view... making it seem an illusion that there is something greater beyond them... that it's somehow out of reach." She opened her hands up, "When really... we are all apart of the sky... it only ends at the ground." she took a deep breath, as if sucking in more freedom to remain courageous and steadfast in telling them the information. To her, it was vital to keep going, though it was like watching a woman tear herself apart trying to speak such hidden truths she had kept silent for so many years...

Sally finally turned to Soler, and noticed the ghostly expression, as though his soul was hovering on every word, and his mind carried in her visions she described.

"That freedom has always been a value of mine... and I'm glad to see it carried in you." She nodded to him, but he was already so deep in her world, he felt like he was transported and hovering upon the skies she described... "Until it was compromised... when I learned that Conor Stratus was no man of value or worth, but one of deception and ruthlessness... Now my skies have been grey, with never-ending... torturous memories of snow... and the rainstorms your father has kept me trapped in... for so... so long."

She looked truly weighed down by her life's sorrows, but a strong, subtle strength remained present in her nobility too. "It broke me to leave you there... but I vowed to never let my values be compromised again. Nor will I allow him to find you. That was the strength that drove me to finally take my leave, and risk everything, Miss Acorn. The strength that pulled me out of my wet self-pity, and into the sun of a brighter morning to come." She wiped her tears and stood up, which in return, made Sally stand up with her... almost as if a reflex of her princess-training years... this woman... was acting like a dethroned queen.

"You are not Conor's son." she boldly stated, as though giving Soler a knightly honor to uphold. She ignored Sally a moment, who refused to leave the situation, and kept watching Soler as he seemed strangely influenced immensely by her words. Sally had already come to her senses, her suspicions reactivated again as she saw the hypnotizing trance this woman had on Soler, and looked to her with narrowed eyes now... "You are mine,... and as such, I beg of you to uphold your truth! Save them all, please... and blow harshly against the grey lining of the clouds that dare to blur the skyward eyes... that search for a world without tyranny... or malice!" she hissed the last words out, and then felt herself overwhelmed as she sat back down, clutching her heart.

Nicole's voice immediately set in as the woman gripped the desk and fell over, "Sally! Her heart-! She's-! It's a heart attack!"

Almost stuck in spot, Sally's sudden feeling of being tricked dissipated in disbelief of what Nicole had stated. Was it jealousy? But rapidly now, Sally's compassion flooded her senses and she wanted to believe what was really happening, but did that mean those emotions from before that she bore were that great? How could that be? Could her want to protect Soler cloud her tenderness for poor, elderly woman?

Soler fell to his knees, grabbing the woman and pulling her to him. That value had been instilled in him at such a young age... he never thought he could actually be born with that. That he could have inherited it... from his... "Mother..?" he breathed out, unable to form the words due to their unnatural tendency to be spoken.

His mother was breathing with great gasps, her face looking pulled back as though being tugged by an invisible force as she shook slightly and struggled to remain in the moment, "I.. thought I'd... never see you again... I didn't know.. I still had... tears... left to sh-e-e-e-ed." The attack began to make her shake more violently than before, her eyes rolling.

Soler looked to Sally with tears, and she knew he believed her... but she still hesitated.

"Nicole, send in medical aid!" she called out, before turning to him. Bending down to his level, she went to reach a hand to his shoulder. "Soler..." but he scooped Sophia up in his arms and moved passed her, seeing her not move in time to help her and instead, reach for him. It was impulsive anger that spiked in him. He'd have to ask her later, why she was being so distant from a woman who clearly was in need.

"Help! I need a medic!" he cried out, as Sally reached and stroked a bit of his back and quills as he bulldozed out of the room. Longing to explain herself... knowing... he saw her lose this battle...

She looked at the paper on the table.

"But maybe not the war." she knew there was only one other person that could confirm such a tale and prove that Sally's suspicions were justified to some degree, and one who knew Soler's silent tears beyond her own knowledge. "I need a Shadow in the snow..."

Thinking it a possible ruse, though knowing the blood-test was still accurate, Sally still couldn't throw off the feeling of a planted spy or disrupter. "Am I being silly? Overthinking it all?" She bit her nails, speaking to Shadow through Nicole's signals. She was worried about what Sophia said before, in fact, everything she had said. But the part about the mercenaries possibly tracking their calls? She couldn't take the risk...

Still, a part of her wanted to believe her. However, she had to be absolutely certain that Soler's mother was on their side, like her words and story suggested...

"...You're doing this behind Soler's back?" Shadow seemed to be amused at that. "Then yes, you're too dead set on this being his evil mother who's come to finish the job and thereby somehow disrupting his purpose in life. You need to stop his possible father and brother from needlessly destroying freedom for gain, that's the ultimate takeaway from all this. It doesn't matter whether he believes it's his missing link to his family or not... all that should matter to you, right now, is the safety of your people and stopping Eggman's forces from staging another attack on New Mobotroplis."

His words made sense, but she didn't think it right to just abandon the dilemma now.

"It... It is his family." she finally admitted, both to Shadow and to herself, "But he's already so far gone... he doesn't follow orders and I'm worried that if his mother asks him to do something, he would..." Would his loyalty so quickly change?

"Then this is about control?" Shadow's voice seemed to rise in accusation against Sally. "They're apart of the abductions. I've found out where they are... and they're moving quickly like a swarm of ants... I think this activity could be directly from this Sophia's escape... If that helps you to trust her, maybe it's enough to take her at face-value... for now." Shadow warned.

Sally felt the sting of his words but nodded, "Maybe it is my pride." she tried to confess, "But I'm also just so worried about him being manipulated..."

"Soler has always felt two values in his life... protecting those who can't, and mastering his abilities to defeat those that have wronged him. He has already completed the latter... but he'll never fully be satisfied with the first. If this mother-figure is triggering his first and foremost value, then it's possible she could control him over you."

"So then I'm not crazy and an overly protective girlfriend?" Sally seemed to be showing her feminine anxiety, and Shadow sighed loudly into the mic at it. It was like a funny reminder for her to stay—professionally—the Princess. "Right, sorry. I'll try and... not power-struggle too much with her. I just want Soler to be alright." she turned tender towards the end, and Shadow conceded that that was enough.

"You have every right to be worried about him... after all, you were the one that helped his fears in resolving his second value... you helping him through this... this behavior of yours is very much what I'd expect of you. If you love him as much as you seem too." He gave her a slight pick-me-up and she smiled fondly in recognition of it.

"Thank you, Shadow..." she lightly stated.

"It's not wrong of you to concern yourself in his life, but perhaps making him apart of his own life's concerns with you wouldn't be a bad idea, either... this isn't just your battle to fight. Soler is emotionally reckless..." he seemed to say that last line with the same disappointment a loving mentor would, "But that is exactly why he needs you to stabilize him. Don't call again." With that usual 'anti-social' and 'anti-hero' persona that Sally has come to love in Shadow, he hung up on her and she knew he was done talking about emotions for one day.

"Guess I'm not on my own after all." She held the phone, knowing she needed to tell Soler the truth. With a heavy heart, she texted him the truth, and said she needed to attend defenses since the mercenaries were moving and they needed to save the other hostages...

When Soler received the text, he was laying in his room, having been told to take a day off; which he found hard to enjoy. After reading it, he felt his soul quake with a slight bit of anger that Sally didn't speak with him personally.

'Why didn't she tell me herself!? I know she's busy, but...' he got up and rubbed his eyes from having stared at the ceiling in thought for so many hours... Now, the woman he had met really was his mother, and Sally had texted the document of their DNA test to prove it. Nicole had even stated some interesting facts about his mother's blood, but he wasn't going to pour through it yet. He wasn't ready, though acceptance was coming...

"Sally..." He smushed his fingers around his face, just disgruntled. "Saallllyyy..!" he fell back onto his firm bed, tossing a bit as he just wanted to see her, talk to her about all this.

It was hard... but he knew what everyone was trying to do, and it was less about him than those suffering people who desperately needed help.

The Freedom Fighters weren't going to stand for Eggman and his mercenary recruits, no one was going to be robotized today.

However...

Why did she hesitate to help Sophia? She would only call her Mrs. Stratus too... Why did she want to be so unemotional towards her?

That part did bother him... how overly cautious Sally seemed to be around her.

He sighed, turning over in his bed to slightly curl up, putting his hands behind his head as he did so, "Whatever..." he was too tired to do anything about it now. He was also emotionally drained, though it seemed Sophia would make it, she was also in recovery.

He would have to wait till later to resolve this matter... and get more intel on what his mother wanted him to do about his... father and misguided brother.

Unknown Territory: Eggman Empire's Robotization Camps

Like a line in a slave-train, the prisoners marched. Mercenaries were covered in shadows from the clouds that blocked out the sun and the lightning that slashed the sky in a sound like the whips on the prisoners backs. They drove them on, before each one was thrown or forced with a heavy push into Eggman's machines that robotized them and put them headfirst into the army.

The landscape was barren and like the dunes of nothingness. Lead into steel domes and then hauled through contraption that would close rapidly and zap a few times, then rise up to reveal the new Eggman Empire robot solider.

"Quite a loyal regiment." Shay smirked, seeing the process unfold. "You'd never need to recruit again, father." He looked beside him, a very broad shouldered man who glared with little emotion down at the screaming and terrified hostages.

"Is this all of them?" Conor stated, bluntly.

"Ouch, you make it sound like it's easy to pluck ants from the ground." Shay pinched his fingers together to demonstrate. "We're getting there."

"We should have been there." Conor began to walk on, and blowing a raspberry behind him was a frustrated Shay.

"I do this for no pay, and now, no respect too?" he complained.

His father growled over his shoulder, "Watch your tongue."

"And bite it till it bleeds?" Shay grinned, teasingly. "Honestly, you make it sound like I'm not even trying to please you."

"Because you're not. You're sadistic. You purposefully take no pay because you know you'll inherit the clan the moment you turn the appropriate age." Conor looked on, "If I had a few more sons like you, I wouldn't even need to take jobs like this..." he put his hands in his large cloak's pockets. "But for some reason... your mother..." he then stopped a moment and looked around.

"...Where is your mother?"

"Already hungry for something you've been dry of for years?" Shay mocked.

"...No, she turned dry." Without so much as remorse, he said that as though she was useless to him now. "But where is she?" he tried to mentally remember the last time he saw her. "Something's not right..." he walked bristly towards the camera room, looking at the plant. He touched the leafs... no one had watered it for a while...

"Dry..." he hissed out, "Your mother has finally signed her death wish." he took a bit of a breath, as though knowing this would happen, but not thinking she'd have the guts to actually go through with it. "You have a new job now,... Son."

"Pfft, so depressing." Shay stretched out, "I'll bring her back."

"No..." Conor closed his eyes, before walking back over to the cameras, "This seems to be more than that..."

Shay looked confused for a moment, before his eyes widened and he looked surprised towards his father. "Really? You think the wells done for?"

"I don't need a well." He typed in the last thing she must have saw before deciding to flee, and then... saw Soler. "Ah... I knew that blue looked familiar..." He zoomed in, "It looks just like her..."

"How... can that be?" Shay pulled on his own quills, "He looks different than me..."

"Not by much. He's the splitting image of your mother." Conor smiled, "She's led us straight to him..."

"Straight to..?" Shay still seemed on a different page, but Conor just turned his massive form towards him.

"A heed of warning... I believe your mother hasn't always been dry... perhaps I had mistakenly taken my eye off of her for too long..." He fiddled with a knife by his side. "Take care of it. Retrieve your... 'beloved' mother." Conor took the knife out and stabbed the screen where the son he never knew he had resided... Then tossed it to Shay, who let it drop on the ground, staring at it with a bit of a narrowed look. "That chaos energy should have been mine..." he hit the control panel with all his brute strength, his fangs crunching against his other teeth in his anger.

"...I have a little brother?" Shay began to connect the dots, looking at the Chaos Spears and then Soler's white and blue quills... He then looked to the knife, in curiosity... putting new points together... "All... apart of the dirty work... I suppose." He looked down, as though feeling betrayed as well, and turned towards the door. "But what if she's told the Freedom Fighters? She's already 'increased' their odds..." he gripped his hand before having a flourishing flick of it, acting more sinister in what he was about to do.

The father said nothing, and Shay just pulled on his gloves, making sure they were tight in their resolve. An order is an order... after all. He tsk'ed, "Just another day then, eh, dad?"

Conor slammed his fists to the control panel again, denting it , clearly wanting to have another unit with chaos energy with him.

Shay rolled his eyes, "Never enough for you, is it?" and began to walk on out... laughing as his evil grew...

Rouge watched from above, then signaled to Espio, who quickly moved to alert Shadow... moving invisibly, he only appeared to whisper into Shadow's ear, who was wearing a garb to keep the dusty dirt that flew in the barren wind out of his face.

They were a while away from the camp, but Shadow's eyes widened in distress, and quickly pulled out Nicole. "Alert them. There going to move, and fast."

Back in New Mobotroplis

Shadow had finally returned to the Freedom Fighter's Headquarters, upset by the distressful scene he, Espio, and Rouge had all witnessed. They didn't wait for backup, and did save a few hundred people or so before arriving back in New Mobotroplis... but to reverse the effects of robotization was still a feat that everyone was working on.

Sally, exhausted from not getting any sleep, moved over to Shadow like a zombie as she placed her hand on his shoulder, her eyes barely open. "Good work out there, Shadow... I should check on Soler... could you lead the research community for now?"

"Have you not slept since-!?" He was bewildered by her state, and with everything happening, he wasn't in the mood to loosen-up on her. He took a breath and lowered his angled arms which had been raised in his aggressive state, "No excuses. You should rest. Let him stay close to the action." he folded his arms, as though not willing to hear her fight back on this one.

"B-but-" she began, looking like she could collapse forward any minute as he helped her steady herself.

"What did I just-?" he sighed, "Trust that Soler is smarter than that." Whatever her concern was, he already knew.

She nodded, chuckling lightly, "You really believe that he won't... be manipulated? She's his mother, Shadow... I'm just constantly worried. We don't know her. I've only seen two sides of her, scared and... strangely regal." she stood straight again as Shadow seemed to ignore the fluff of the information and turn her towards the living spaces where the rooms were located.

"I hope I do." he stated, "And no matter who she is... he's known us the longest. You have to trust your heart over your blood, sometimes." Shadow seemed to be speaking from his own experiences, and watched her begin to move towards the living quarters. He wouldn't take his sights off of her until he knew she was safely inside, in case she got any ideas. She did turn around to look over her shoulder at him, but he just folded his arms and glared heavily towards her in a deep, authoritative frown. She now knew what Soler must have felt...

Squinting at the light, Sally finally gave in and opened the door to the building.

"...Honestly, you worry me more." Shadow watched her a second longer before turning to the rescued hostages and helping pass out water and collect further information. It was difficult, they all asked about family and friends, describing them as Shadow fought hard to not remember any particular faces or features. He simply passed out the water, and didn't say any comforting words. Rouge and Espio were slightly different in their approach though, but looked to Shadow in understanding.

Everyone knew he felt the most about it, but would be the last to say anything. To Shadow, actions spoke louder than words... and they only were able to save the few lucky ones they smuggled out or rescued along the way.

Sally was comforted... having someone admit she needed to rest made it more easier for her to accept having to go to sleep, so it wasn't surprising when she dropped on the couch by the entrance and fell into a light sleep. As she did so, Soler was dreaming himself, recalling a moment in the orphanage where the children were bullying one another.

In his sleep, he tossed, "No... leave them alone..." He turned again, "Stop it... You..." as he flinched, he suddenly rose up from the bed in a shaken state, "I won't see them fall!" he breathed heavily, unsure why he was sweating so much, but moved the bed-sheets and rubbed his face again.

"Ugh... a night terror? Haven't had those in a while..." He wasn't used to such vivid dreaming for quite some time, remembering getting beaten-down and standing right back up again, so the older kids didn't bully the younger, more weaker ones. "Bad dream..." he shook his head,... having seen the younger children all fall to the ground by the cruel, unfeeling punches of those who had no other means to vent their uncontrolled and uncomforted emotions. But then... he remembered the last thing he was thinking about before falling asleep.

"Sally... Soph-" he stopped himself, "My... mother?" He looked back at the communication device, feeling strange again, and looking downhearted.

"No, I have to see her." He made his decision, and got up. Fixing his shoes on tightly, he adjusted his quills into place from the bed-hair with all the tossing and turning he had done and headed out the door.

Walking to the living space, he immediately saw Sally's red hair and froze, amazed to see her so quickly. "Sal?" He walked quietly over and noticed her sound asleep.

Her eyes blinked a moment, and he remained still.

She slowly... fell back asleep, and he gently stroked her cheek and lowered himself down to her. "How long... have you been here?"

She blinked her eyes lazily open, weak with fatigue, and he narrowed his eyes.

He picked her up without another word, taking her back to an opened room and set her down, tucking her in, and kissing her forehead. Closing the door, he knew he must have missed a lot that was going on. He had so many questions for her... so much he wasn't aware of. But that would have to wait.

Still, he knew there was one woman who would have some answers...

More than he bargained for...

Heading to Sophia Stratus's interrogation room with purpose, he didn't even noticed Shadow hide himself and begin to watch him... closely...

For Sally's concerns and Soler's well-being, he just wanted to observe how their relationship really was developing. Was Sally's concerns justified? He had no reason to believe they weren't, but wondered if Soler was truly being aware of the influence this woman was supposedly having on him.

'I taught him better than that,' Shadow gritted his teeth, 'He better not disappoint me... or the princess.'

Sopia was sitting on the couch, having eaten only a little bit of the nicely made food provided for her. She wished there was a window... but instead, fixed her sights on the painting's lush colors and vivid depiction of a meadow and brilliant sky, feasting on the feeling it gave to her. It had been so long since she had seen the real sky, but even looking at it through a painting was somewhat comforting. Still, she knew she wasn't safe, and wouldn't be until Conor and her son's mercenaries were finally put to an end. Eggman already was a lot to take for the world, and now them?

When Soler opened the door after the green light turned red, showing that the door was unlocked, she took another cleansing breath and sat up straighter.

'No going back,' she told herself, 'You must address this. Head-on. He may dislike it, but he must know the significance of defeating his father... and possibly saving his brother...' she looked down, as though in her heart she worried her eldest son was now beyond saving...

Soler had always felt like his nature started in the orphanage... but seeing the look of fear and love in her eyes... he was conflicted now.

"I... wanted to talk to you." He slowly moved himself to the table, sitting down.

As he put his hands together, trying to do something hard, Sophia patted the couch a little ways away from her, as though encouraging him to come closer. She scooted over to make him more comfortable, giving him some space.

He looked at the space a moment, but conceded to the notion.

So many thoughts raced through his head, as though he was trying to form a script of all the questions he wanted to ask her, but they were coming off too direct in his mind, and he wanted to be gentler.

It was so hard. This was hard.

He felt like his whole body had bricks and weights on him. Every time he moved closer to her, every step was like a crumbling bit off the stone. Jagged in his movements, he was awkward as he tried to be formal and polite, but clearly was holding back every bit of him that wanted to know more, to be sure.

He cleared his throat and sat down, taking a glance at her and noticing once again the similar features, and then looked away again. "In the orphanage... I mean, I should start with, I had a dream about the orphanage." He seemed nervous, "You know," His famous tell came out, and she tilted her head to listen intently. "I was always sticking up for the weaker kids, I didn't care if I got beaten up for them. I grew tough, and I never regretted the orphanage, just how awful people can be to each other." He spoke a lot with his hands, maybe trying to lessen the nerves as his whole being tremored like earthquakes at random intervals.

She saw his shaky hands and looked away, trying to figure out how to break the awkward tension in the air.

He didn't need to ask her for proof, or tell her he knew she was telling the truth. It wasn't relevant. She already knew that and he didn't want to come off making her believe that he doubted her. Even if everyone seemed to... he just was incredulous at the shock of it all. He hadn't made a decision, per-say... but now it was official.

What would she do? What would she want of him? Of anybody?

Maybe this was the same feeling Sally had, and he had to accept that her caution was out of love, too.

Sophia listened gently, before looking off with another soft sigh. "As a young girl, far into my youth, I would stand up for my sisters constantly." she looked back at the painting. "Many offers for their hands came through the pipeline to my father, but he was a very political man... only certain suitors could qualify. Sadly, these suitors were not anything we could have desired." She removed some of her raggedy brown cloak, bunched at her neck, to reveal some awful scars. "I couldn't watch them suffer." she admitted, then covered herself up again. "I haven't had that strength to stand up to others in years... but when I saw you, I had life again, and..." She turned towards him, but worried she was coming off too strong, she adjusted herself away again. "Sorry..."

She had stood up for Shay countless times while he was still young, but after getting beaten down so many times, she couldn't fight anymore. The little boy willingly went after a time, and he never shed further tears for her. He had become harden and stiff, and she feared to ever admit that she had lost her darling eldest son. But she didn't want that for Soler, and knew in her heart that she could still prevent this tragedy.

It gave her strength to keep going, to keep having this conversation.

Soler immediately got up and embraced her. "I said the same thing." he admitted, and though it took all his emotional strength to do so, he also couldn't bare to hear that she suffered.

Although Soler was uncomfortable, giving her this bit of reassurance that she wouldn't be abused anymore was still apart of him. He could feel it... His origin's pieces, half of them lied with her, and he wanted more than anything to learn more and also accept the good that he gained from her.

But what of his other blood..? His powers... what did he truly inherit from his mother? And what... was the rest?

He had always wondered about his unknown abilities and powers, looking at his hands from behind her back, peering over her shoulder. Was he really... the horrible monster he always thought could possibly be there? Or was he the angel of the ever-free skies..? Was it possible that he could choose?

The closeness was soon interrupted, lightly returned by the mother, but didn't feel right when Sally suddenly burst through the door. Her hair a mess, her eyes blackened underneath, and clearly distressed.

She scanned a moment and slowly softened her accusing eyes, looking full of betrayal to now one of understanding. She sighed, trying to lighten her fears, "What did she tell you?" she asked, looking exhausted still.

It was clear she was upset that Soler had disregarded her fears, but as he moved away from his mother, looking towards her, he also wanted to comfort her. "S-Sal..."

He was finding himself torn between a mother figure and a companion...

He looked between the two girls, and Sally was hurt by the struggle it seemed to be. She felt she was his family,... maybe Shadow was right?

Shadow had seen Soler speak with his mother in secret, and went to find Sally. He felt the closeness wasn't a bad thing, but maybe not alone in case the woman really was affiliated still with the cold-hearted mercenaries. His prejudice did him in, and he ended up leaving halfway through observing them to retrieve Sally, siding slightly with her fears. He also didn't understand fully the dynamic of what it must feel like to have a parent, especially being on one's own for so long, so partially his was his ignorance to that emotional pull that also moved him to act as he did. He had only had Maria... and that was that.

Shadow wouldn't put it passed the mercenaries to scheme up something like this, even if it was Soler's biological mother. He had seen where half his blood came from and rejected it's evil, and now it seemed, Soler would have to do the same. Soler could have been a planted pawn this whole time... though it seemed unlikely, Shadow worried the mother could be conditioning him to be as such.

Soler looked beyond Sally, seeing some curious eyes peek in of other Freedom Fighters, having seen Sally and Shadow talking before her bolting towards the interrogation facility. Not liking how everyone was so against her, he narrowed his eyes in authority, "Hey!" they all jumped except Sally at the door. "Get my mother some food and water." he then got up briskly and took Sally's arm, tugging her out with him, "We need to talk." he gave her a serious expression, and humbly realizing her error, she nodded and submitted to his anger.

"You have every right to be upset." she began, "But I do too." she pulled the arm away from him as he remained facing away from her.

He bundled his fists, "She's my mother... why didn't you tell me in person?"

She opened her mouth to speak but withdrew instead, holding back what she really wanted to explain, but felt it was pitiful.

Sophia stayed in her new trap, a lot nicer than where she used to live. She placed her hands elegantly to her lap and sighed. She knew she wasn't trusted, and seeing a figure in the shadows with red eyes... she also knew she was being carefully watched.

She was in the right, so she had nothing to fear from these people... but it was those who did wrong that truly terrified her.

What if they come for them..? Hurry their preparations knowing she would tell their enemies everything?

She remained still and silent, her breath catching on the fear of that irreversible travesty.

Sally's hand clung to her arm in defeat, "Shadow agrees with me... that sometimes, you let your emotions cloud your judgement."

Soler turned around, "Does she seem like a ruthless killer to you!?"

The door was slightly shut, but not locked. Sophia looked to it, slightly listening in on the muffled conversation, but unable to make most of the words out.

"How do you know that she's not just pretending!? Using this to lure the Freedom Fighter's into an elaborate trap!?" She swung her once held back arm out towards where Sophia's interrogation room was. "Is her name even Sophia!? Was she bought out to lie about this?! We can always put it passed Eggman to come up with something like this, but mercenaries are an enigma. We know they'll take innocent lives to Eggman's robotization machines for power and greed, what makes you think they wouldn't devise something like this!?"

"It's too-" Soler began,

"Unethical?" She had a point, "Soler, it may be complexed, but so are our lives!"

"I just... I can't see that in her." He looked away, "I can't see her not being my mother, in both heart and blood."

Sally looked concerned.

Sensing that, he spoke up again to reassure her, "Look..." He put his hands on her arms, gently bringing her closer. "Nothing will replace what I have here, with you, in the Freedom Fighters. But I can see the missing puzzle pieces in her, Sally. I can see where I got some of me from."

"But you develop on your own course, Soler." She placed her hands up by his shoulders, wanting desperately to embrace him and not fight anymore, but as a leader... she needed to be fierce. "You can't grow too close to her... not until we gain more information and learn to trust that what she says and demonstrates to us is factual and true."

He sighed, disappointed, but knew in his mind that was the right thing to do. His heart ached, but he nodded to her logic. "Okay... I'll try and not see her without supervision."

She smiled, "Thank you. Just be-"

"More cautious?" He smirked, trying to lighten the mood.

"You really do have a wonderful smile." she giggled, and he took that as an invite to hug her.

They held one another for a good, long, solid minute. There was so much healing in that embrace as Sally whispered 'Sorry' a few more times, and Soler gently stroked her back and also admitted he was in the wrong too.

"I won't act on my own again... not without you." All his tender love poured out into that sweet sentence, taking her in and not wanting to let her go. He wanted her apart of this, not against it, but knew now that it was out of love. He had felt her doubt, even in himself, he just chose to accept it... which may take more convincing for Sally, but it was all with good intent.

"You can, but... maybe talk it over with me, once in a while." She was in a much better mood, hearing him say such kind things. Considering it wasn't just him going through this odd, new experience... She wanted to be there for him too. "I want to be apart of your troubles... Soler."

"But you're already apart of my happiness," Soler moved his head a little aways to look directly in her eyes, their foreheads touching in a longing moment. "Those two don't always collide..."

"You saying I take your troubles away?" She stated, amused, but he lightly touched his nose to hers and closed his eyes.

"That's exactly what I'm saying..." his voice turned into a breathy confession, and she moved slowly up to kiss him... but then a large alarm sounded out and Nicole's voice echoed in terror over the speakers.

"Fighters! Enemy has infiltrated the city walls! It's heading straight for us!"

Screams and cries from frightened civilians and rescued victims sounded out in an array of chaos.

Looking to each other and then racing out, the two forgot to lock Sophia's door...

It swung slightly, and Sophia watched it with real intent.

Now was her moment... to try one last time.

Chaos energy shot up the walls of a building like lighting embedded into it's structure before the entire thing burst once it reached the top. Shay walked through their defenses like a battering ram, though he seemed to have barely made a sweat.

"Oh, mother?" he spoke very casually, then flicked his hand towards another building. "Are you hiding in here..?" the lightning chaos effect traveled up the building, and as he crushed his fist, it exploded once again and he moved on. "Well, we were hoping to knock a little later... but seeing as things are, you playing hide and seek with my mother and all, now seems to be as good a time as any!" he called out with a cruel glee, creepy in how his satisfaction seemed to skyrocket once seeing Sally and Soler rush out into the open before him.

"Ah, my unknown brother... and the Princess? Isn't this charming... a real family and enemy reunion." he bowed slightly, in a showy fashion that would have mimicked Scourge in an awful sense. "Does dear mother love you more than me? Is that why she left me to come see you?"

"Brother?" Soler shook off the comment, "You're hurting people! That's enough for me to take you on!" He was about to step forward.

"No!" Sophia quickly dashed out, spreading her arms to stop him and hold him back. Her eyes were glossy with tears, she knew this would happen. She looked up at the sky, hoping to avoid this day as much as possible, and taking in the beautiful outdoors again.

Freedom... she had freedom for a split second, and she wanted to make the most of it... do the right thing with it... since a long, long time.

Soler and Sally were amazed to see her out of her room, but Shay only gleefully exclaimed a loud cry of surprise and relief, but it sounded completely faked.

Looking back down at the ground, Sophia had to tighten the resolve around her heart, and without looking to them, she spoke in a much more lowered and solemn tone. "I'm glad you've found someone to be there for you, son... He's lucky to have you, Princess." she blinked her eyes to push back the tears and turned in her noble way towards Shay.

"Shay..." she spoke as though pleading for his humanity.

"Dearest mother..." he spread his arms out, as if welcoming her back...

But his smirk showed his true motive, and Sophia had to be brave... "I won't stand to see you make them suffer."

Something once again triggered in Soler, he felt his whole being resound with that.

"I won't let them fall to your chaotic rampage. You find solace in other's suffering simply because there was no one to protect you from it... no matter how hard I tried." She looked truly pained to admit her weakness.

He rolled his eyes, "Still living in the past, mother?"

"The ever-free skies still cover the earth with a never-ending blue!" she pointed to the sky, "I wear that color in my blood and upon me! It will forever be woven in my DNA, and it is apart of you too, Shay..." she gestured to her blue streaks, then to him, "You can still change, Shay... you can choose to be something you truly are! Not what your father has made of you!"

He watched her a moment, a still look but his smirk dampened to a smile... and his arms lowered to his side.

He shook his head, "Shame," He seemed to have thought about it, but not very much. He flicked his head back to crack his neck, as though relaxing from that declaration... which he took as her breaking ties with their mercenaries pack. "Why would I disinherit all that father has left me? Such a pity... I did enjoy our little tea parties..." he then fired out a chaos attack that Soler had never seen before. The lightning that shot from his hands looked like randomly zig-zagging Chaos Spears but with trails of visible light and power shooting behind them.

Sophia stood her ground, for if she moved, Soler and Sally would be in the line of fire from the spider-webbing chaos attack.

The lightning chaos power suddenly pierced around her, upon the ground, flashing out of existence... Did he purposefully not hit her? Miss and just do it to threaten?

All at once, there was a momentary lull as he held his hand up, seeming to pause only for a second. Then, he closed his fist and the ground beneath her blasted and shot her up into the air.

Soler watched the particles of earth spray up around her as she was flung up, her back arching, her air coming out in a large exhale. "Haooh...!"

She fell hard back to the ground with the earth crumbling over her after her...

"Nooo..!" Soler dashed towards her, it was all so fast, he barely saw the attack.

Shay swayed his hand down, massaging it, "Ohh... I actually wanted to disintegrate the ground, but I figured... saving my power to destroy my secret brother... your precious son, would be more rewarding." he gripped his fists again, his smile like a devious demon as he waited to see if Soler would retaliate. "What's wrong, little brother? What did she call you anyway..?"

Soler held Sophia up to his shoulder, but it was clear she was knocked out pretty badly...

Besides maybe some broken bones, she did still appear to be breathing...

Sally turned to the others, "We can't fight a power like that without the Chaos Emeralds... Where's Sonic, Shadow, and Silver?" She saw Shadow appear, but couldn't find Sonic, no matter how many times she looked around. Seeing Shadow's face then, focusing on it, she knew what that meant... "Don't tell me..."

"He's gone off with Tails and Knuckles again... I hear they're going to rescue the others." He shook his head. "Sorry, while you were busy, a lot happened..." he glared at Shay Stratus, "I've seen him and his father, during the spy operations. He's a murderer as much as his father!" he took off one of his limiters, twisting it to click with light but Soler held up his hand behind him.

"No!" He got up, gently placing his mother down and looking slightly over his shoulder, "Shadow,... Sally... get my mother somewhere safe."

"Pfft! Arrogant child!" Shay bent down, as though readying to attack again, his hands crackling with lightning spears... "She's my mother!"

"Soler, don't! He's too powerful!" Sally had noticed the buildings, the unusual use of chaos power... "We don't know what we're up against! Especially you!"

"He's tiers above you, Soler! He's the mercenary leader's second in command and heir. Of course he'd want you dead!" Shadow made an outstanding point, but Soler was too far into his emotions to care.

With Soler out of the picture, it would be Shay that inherited the ruthless clan... perhaps that's why Shay didn't seem to be after killing his mother, but mostly, in getting rid of unnecessary competition...

"You hurt her... how does that make you more entitled to call her mother than me?" He lowered his head, his anger growing. "I just got her... and I don't know her very well,... but that doesn't mean I can't cherish her as a mother!" his whole being rose into the first level of Chaos Break. "She cared about freedom just as much as I do... maybe you never realized... but she was protecting you in her own way as well! When she failed... that's why she turned to extreme measures for me. She had already bonded and loved you... she couldn't bare to part with you, but she could with me!" Soler spiked his power, hunching down, concentrating his power to his hands and feeling the swarm of infinity fill his bones. Something new broke out just then, a secondary power he barely even recognized, something inbetween that was fueling him to the next level... Chaos Surge. "I don't know her like you do..! But I feel like I've been apart of her my whole life!" His eyes were white, as though becoming animalistic for a moment, his hands pierced like claws more than hands in gesture and movement within his speech. "I won't let you destroy the family I've found, either! And that now includes her, too!" he felt himself reach an ultimate, risky limit... Chaos Synergy... he hadn't felt this way in a long time...

"Heh, pathetic." Shay swished out his wrist again, and was suddenly already at Chaos Syngery levels, and Soler could feel it.

His eyes widened and shrank, shaking in disbelief. "Wha... T-that's not possible..." He was struggling so hard to keep this form, but this-... no, his older brother, was able to just flick his hand and reach it instantly without so much as a build up.

"How did you do that?"

Shay laughed, looking up to the skies his mother once pointed at and holding a finger up to it. "You weren't planning on trying to use something I haven't seen before, were you? There's really no way anyone on this planet can defeat me." a spike of lightning rained down upon his finger, and he slowly lifted his other hand towards Soler.

Everyone was in a panic, never having seen such powers before, and rushing to escape the battle.

The Lightning randomly would strike the ground, causing havoc as buildings burst into flames, people were thrown in the impacts, and many couldn't find a suitable shelter.

"Stop it!" Soler channeled everything he had... "I may not have your power... but mine is my own! It's the power... no, the judgement of the ever-free skies!" he held his palm up to the sky as Shay's cocky attitude suddenly turned serious.

His eyes showed the aura that was forming around Soler, "Is that... Dad's..?" he wondered, but then his eyes looked a little more surprised. "It can't be..."

"CHAOOOSSSS PUNISHMENT!" Soler threw his hand down, and from Shay's hand the lightning disappeared and shot like woven designs around the suddenly bright and white sky.

"AHHHH!" Soler's whole body seemed to spark with chaos power as Shadow pulled Sally back, his whole being losing some control over himself as he became pretty instinctual.

"Get down!" Shadow warned, guarding her as he had never seen Soler at this level before.

From the skies, bolts of Chaos Speared Lightning shot down, similar to Shay's attack but on a whole another level, overwhelming the area as Shay looked around at the randomly spiking spears of lightning.

He dodged pretty well, but was actually forced to pay attention now. 'He stole my own chaos force and sucked it into the sky... how was he able to control it?! Even Chaos Synergy can't handle that much chaos!' Shay looked a little unnerved, but not by much. 'I was born with a limit... but what if mother's ability..?' he looked back to see Soler had sped through the rain of lightning, and his whole body looked engulfed with an array of bolts sparking out of him.

"...You are my brother..." Shay admitted, as Soler slammed a fist into his chest.

Shay was shot back by thousands upon thousands of chaos lightning spikes, but what he wasn't expecting was that the sky took it's whole reservoir of chaos power and converged their many different lines of lightning all to slowly move and bundle together into one giant lightning bolt. He was flung outside the city walls... With a cascade of blazing white chaos energy.

It slowly dwindled and the clouds began to disperse, as though a lull after a storm...

Soler breathed heavily, skidding to stop his super speed, giving Sally and Shadow a thumbs up, before he suddenly collapsed.

Shay tossed ash and fallen trees off of himself, getting up and panting as his fur seemed a little singed, but he was fine. He dusted himself off, "That's... not very good." He brushed his quills back. "Ha... I can't let dad know his potential. I'll talk him off as a lesser chaos wielder. Wouldn't want him taking my reign from me." He beamed as though the war had just began. "Still, I can't come back empty-handed..." He looked to see people fleeing the city, and smirked. "How about a present for Eggman..? A bigger army..."

He walked, menacingly, towards the fleeing citizens...

He knew he dealt with his mother, she wouldn't recover from that for a while... so why not have some fun and let the little brother think he'd actually done something..? Then he'll be surprised when he comes back...

Not holding back...

Soler woke up with a blink that hurt his eyes. The lights were right upon him, and the hospital didn't seem to smell all that great either.

He slowly got up, feeling the wear and tear on his body before moving the covers and rubbing his face again, "I... Did I win?" He didn't think it would be over that quickly, but he also felt like he was about to throw up.

He fled to the bathroom and vomited, his body unable to handle so much pressure.

He knew he threw himself into the fray, even taking his brother's power at one point, but it was too much to handle and he couldn't concentrate it all into an epicenter at his opponent till much later.

He had shot chaos out of him to make room to harness so much, but it still pained him. He had thought he had learned everything about his powers and abilities,... but there was clearly steps only the adversary knew...

His family... his enemies...

he shook his head, "They're not..." He held in another ill feeling, "family..." he tried to get up, cleaning himself up before remembering his mother.

"Where..?" suddenly his mind raced to Luna... then to the village... "No..." He thought of the people screaming, the fires... then the lightning shooting up the buildings, blasting his mother, what had happened...

"Sally..!" he tried to get his feet under him and move as quickly as possible, dodging and forcing himself to ram against walls since he couldn't jump over the gurneys or other medical supplies the nurses and doctors were pulling down the halls.

Many cried out when they saw him, some mistaking his speed for Sonic's or Shadow's, before faltering as he came up to the desk, gripping it to stay upright.

On the way to it, he stumbled and saw Bunny for a quick moment beside Anton, but continued on.

He felt like a child, trying to keep himself balanced enough to remain straight, "So... Sophia... Sally... Where?"

"P-Princess Sally is unharmed, she isn't here." The poor secretary stood straight up upon seeing him, "S-sir, you need to go back to your room..."

"Not without... ugh... seeing my mother." Soler was struggling, sinking down and falling from the desk, gripping it with his last strength by his fingers.

He was about to lose hope, about to slip off the counter and probably be wheeled away again when a pair of familiar hands grabbed his.

"He's with me." Shadow hoisted his arm over his shoulder, helping him to stand.

"T-...Thank you, Shadow..." Soler weakly stated, as Shadow shook his head.

"By this time, you've thanked me more than I care to keep track of." He headed towards Sophia's room, "Sally's already here, she just came in."

"She is..?" It was surprising to hear, but walking into the room, he saw Sally holding Sophia's hand by the hospital bed, and then looking over to smile gently to Soler.

"She wanted to see her." Shadow whispered quietly as an aside, but didn't move his head to Soler, hoping he heard without Sally picking up on their conversation.

"She'll be in critical recovery for a while... she's malnourished and clearly weak, but she's got a high likelihood of making it." Sally gave him that hope, that was enough to sustain him for now. She probably didn't hear Shadow, but that was the least of his worries right now.

"And... umm..." He couldn't remember the other man's name, "What about my brother?"

"Shay Stratus," Shadow began, "Which... is your last name, apparently."

"I don't think I'll take it." Soler pushed off of Shadow's arm lightly, trying to get his barrings and reaching for Sally. She got up instinctively and helped him to sit next to her, gently placing him to rest and get on the bed to sit in front of her and beside his mother.

"You don't have to worry about your brother." Shadow showed his wrist, his limiters off. "I've dealt with him. He was still alive and well, kicking back by trying to capture some fleeing citizens. We've detained him... but..." Shadow revealed that his back had been scarred and torn up. "He's a lot to handle, I think you drained most of him..."

Soler gasped slightly, "But... your healing abilities..."

"Aren't kicking in like they should." Shadow admitted, then took a deep breath, "I was trying to get out when I saw you barely able to stand at the counter," He folded his arms, "Sally apparently had me stationed here." He glared at her, and she just shook her head, defiantly.

"You were injured. Both of you need to learn to rest more."

"...Conor... w-won't... rest."

The three all suddenly turned to Sophia, who was weakly coming too.

She reached her hand out, patting it gently by the bed as Soler took it.

"S-Shay..?" Her eyes looked hazy, as though she couldn't really see through them at the moment.

"...Still bad." Soler stated, "But at least we've... somewhat, got him." Soler looked to Shadow, but Shadow would be fine, showing that by rotating his shoulders back and standing up straighter. "Just worried about you, is all."

She smiled weakly, breathing irregularly as Sally got up and adjusted the medication. "She really needs rest..." Sally urged, trying to have Soler understand that he needed to coax her back into sleep.

"I knew... this day... would come." She weakly spoke, barely lifting her eyes as she tried to breathe better.

"This isn't the day you die." Sally comforted, then looked to Soler with narrowed eyes, as though encouraging him to give her some hope to keep fighting.

Soler nodded, bending down by his mother's side and placing both hands around her own, frail one. "I just met you... but I feel I've always known you... because a huge part of you... is also in me, too." Soler finally felt comfortable with this, and continued, "I vow, mother... On the ever-free skies... on your behalf... I'll make sure to never forget the fight for freedom. That it's within liberty of the all-encompassing, continuous stretch of blue that gives everyone that right. I will fight against the grey cloud of tyranny, whether that be by the Eggman Empire or through my father and brother..." He looked down, squinting his eyes as he wondered if his father was the one possessed with chaos energy, and if so, he was certainly going to be a hard fight... "I won't let you down."

Slowly blinking her eyes, it was clear the medicine was kicking in for Sophia Stratus. She nodded twice, and then her head fell back and she was out like a light.

"...Mom?" Soler leaned forward, but Sally placed a hand on his shoulder, comforting him that she was alright.

"See that?" She pointed to the heart monitor, "She's a strong woman, though she doesn't appear to be so now, she's a lot like you." Sally grinned at the thought, but Shadow only tsk'd.

"Stubborn and full of emotions." Shadow shook his head, but Soler only smiled to his mentor.

"I thought that stubbornness was from you, good to know it's more than that." he joked, "More so hereditary."

"It's still me." Shadow returned the humor, which surprised Sally and Soler, who suddenly lightly shared a moment of laughter.

Even Shadow... smiled.

Within prison though, Sonic seemed to badger and hound on Shay...

He walked with a playful bounce in his step, "Looks who's on the other end now, eh?" He had previously just freed many held hostages, and was in the mood to pick a fight. He lifted his leg and put his hands on his hips, swinging the leg to the side and bouncing again, "Sucks when your freedom is taking away, ain't it?"

Shay just sat in the back, his head down and covered in shadows, leisurely sitting with that creepy smile of his.

He began to slowly laugh, and wouldn't respond right away.

"Bring me my dear brother... and my mother, if she's still alive." He tilted his head up, showing his eyes full of chaos energy, blinding the room in light before it faded from his eyes... his aura spiked increasingly and Sonic stopped joking... watching in all seriousness. "I'll be happy to chat, but under those conditions... This cell is rather lonely, might as well have some entertainment to pass the time." He laughed manically and held up his hand, having stored chaos energy after Shadow's fight with him and lightning shot from his hands, forcing Sonic to back away as the bars got charged with it's powers.

The room exploded as Sonic took off to avoid the explosion, "He doesn't like playing nice or fairly, but that doesn't mean he needs to act all high and mighty about it." He sped back, mostly talking to himself, and noticed the cell still remained.

"Tsk," Shay grimaced, seeming disappointed. "You have the means to stop chaos?"

"We have this room super-juiced with Chaos Emeralds," He adjusted his gloves, and kicked away some rubble. "You're not leaving that cell..."

"Chaos... Emeralds?" Shay's eyes widened, as though knowing something...

Sonic didn't know...

"Interesting... hahaha!"

Sonic just watched... frowning and narrowing his eyes. His frown carried to the side of his muzzle, and he rolled his eyes, "Why do I always end up with the weirdos who are losing their minds?"

He walked out as Shay continued to laugh and store chaos within himself... now having an idea...

END of part 1?

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