shatterdriven | Seasons Inbox

Surprisingly, yeah.

[The quip lacks any bite, not drained or tired. The harsh edge is just gone.]

I got blindsided by a full-force punch from an echidna wearing brass knuckles. Pretty sure you know a version of him.

[And you KNOW how hard he punches bare-fisted.]

[Sonic winces. Ooooff yeah that's rough]

Back home his name's Knuckles. Fitting, I know. You're lucky you still have a jaw.

[Speaking from experience, of course. Sonic takes a moment to go put the new ice pack he'd brought into the freezer to start getting cold, and then joins Nine again.]

I know. Sonic called him Knuckles the first time we met him. And I know, so I definitely wasn't letting him get in a second punch. Not for lack of effort on his part.

[He drops onto the couch.]

You probably have other questions. You're being very unlike Sonic right now.

[Why yes, that is concern.]

[in the interest of not standing around in the doorway, Sonic makes his way over to the couch and takes a seat as well. He's leaned forward, elbows on his knees with his fingers laced in front of his chin as he stares contemplatively off into space for a moment.]

...I have loads of questions, I guess, but it sounds like you're still forming theories so I don't know how much good it would do to start asking. Mostly I'm just worried about you guys. Shadow's taking it real hard, he thinks it's his fault.

Questions can possibly help with theorizing.

[Nine watches him, raising an eyebrow.]

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised he is. But if there's fault for what happened, it's with everyone. No exceptions. We all did things wrong, some of us more than others. But no one was blameless and it almost cost us everything.

[He half shrugs, needing time to get his questions in order before he just starts running his mouth about something he wasn't even there for. He absolutely plans to revisit this.]

That's almost word for word what I said to him. I just don't think he's in a place where he can make himself listen to reason yet. Like, wasn't the Sonic from his world that broke that rock to begin with?

[That's something the Sonic he knows doesn't do. Stop and think first. He can get clarity moments during, but not first.]

Yeah, because he wasn't listening. By his own admission.

[There's no malice when he says that either, just a tone of "yeah, that's our Sonic".]

[It's a new thing he's been trying out lately. So far it's working for him pretty well!]

Yeah, exactly. Shadow didn't even mention that once, he's just caught up in his own head. I kind of get why, but... Has he told you much about himself?

He probably got that out of his system when we first got here, and is focused on the fact he thought everything was fixed now.

[The attmpt is Nine approved.]

He told me why it was so important to him. I didn't understand and the time, because I never had anything to protect like that until recently. But I get it more now.

[hmm, sounds like SOMEONE'S experienced a little CHARACTER GROWTH recently.

Sonic leans back and crosses his arms, turning to face Nine properly rather than just stare off into space while they talk]

Why did not-Knuckles punch you in the head, anyway?

[Funny what an apology and the world nearly ending can do for healing pain. That isn't caused by fists that can punch metal.]

Something about me being a traitor, and him having waited a long time for it. So I don't actually know, since that means it wasn't because of me taking things too far.

He only got me because I was fighting Sonic and didn't see him coming.

Blindsided ya, huh? That's no fair. Sounds like things got pretty ugly for a bit, Shadow mentioned getting stuck in a hole with a bunch of metal me's?

That's one way to put it.

And yeah. Shadow made his intentions toward me pretty clear after I took the Paradox Prism back to the Grim after my argument with Sonic. It was the best way to keep him from getting his hands on me.

[Translation: Nine knew he was dead if Shadow got the drop on him and kept the Ultimate Lifeform far away.]

Strategically, that was a good call. I've seen Shadow on the warpath before, definitely lives up to whole Ultimate Lifeform thing.

Sounds like you guys came to an understanding in the end, though?

Yeah, and considering the rest of the Shatterverse was also on the warpath, I didn't need that.

[Nine deflates a little, some fatigue catching up to him.]

An agreement? Not really. It was more that Sonic finally acknowledged he hurt me, I acknowledged I took things too far, and if I couldn't fix everything we were all going to be deleted on the spot.

[That last part is moot now, but it was still a good motivator at the time.]

It's crazy the kinds of things that can be resolved when people just talk like adults.

[it's more a jab at his other self than anything. The somewhat sarcastic tone vanished quickly though. Speaking of talking like adults, this was a pretty serious conversation and Sonic should maybe act like one.]

How are you guys so sure that the shatterverse was destroyed, anyway?is it possible possible that everything just got, I dunno, sent somewhere else?

Oh he was talking a lot before that. He just wasn't listening. But...he was hurt too, he just chose to not hear instead of not wanting to.

[He considers the question for a long moment, sipping his water.]

There's no way to know for sure yet, but my surveillance showed the gates exploding the same way the had when the shatterverse was decaying because... [He trails off, clearly turning a few things over in his head.] ...the Chaos Council opened unnatural portals between New Yoke and both the No Place and Boscage Maze, then never closed them.

Anyway, there's no way to know unless one or both of us gets sent back again.

Oof, yeah. Listening is kind of the most important part.

[Something he's trying to get better about himself. It doesn't sound like he's as bad about it as this other Sonic? Or maybe he's just learning from that Sonic's mistakes.]

I don't like that you guys don't get to have any real answers for all this. It just... It isn't fair. It feels so immature to boil it down to that, but what else would you call it?

[Whatever the case, even if Nine isn't angry at his Sonic anymore...he still does appreciate it. Or maybe it just the soreness talking. Probably a bit of both.]

I think the word you're looking for is understatement. Not fair is an understatement...but none of it was fair. That any of it happened. Even if somehow everything isn't gone, Sonic went home to his other friends, I can't really finish the Grim anymore, and everyone else will have to say good-bye to the friends they made because without the power of the Paradox Prism interspace travel isn't possible for anyone.

There are bright sides for almost everyone if Shadow and I are wrong though. [Not that it matters much to him at the moment.] Except the council since they have no power and I blew up their mothership. [Bright sides.]

[ugh everything is a huge bummer, Sonic's not likely to ever meet any of these people that Nine and Shadow know, but even if everything wasn't just POOF unmade, its still kind of depressing to think about.

Nine's comment about blowing up the council's ship does give Sonic something to grin about, though.]

Heh. Sometimes breaking the bad guy's toys can be pretty cathartic. Sounds like it would have been a pretty big ship, how'd you blow it up?

I used my tails to channel prism energy into my body, then created a powerful laser through my hands. [He gestures with his hands, indicating that he did indeed fire a death laser from them.]

It's probably the only thing I don't regret since they were only playing along with the others so they could steal the completed Prism from me in the first place.

That is so metal. Nice goin', bro!

[They could use a little levity right now, Sonic holds a fist up for some fist bump action.]

[Nine looks at his fist, then to Sonic in confusion. This is the fox who only recently learned what a high five is, remember? Maybe you should teach him, Sonic.]

[It takes Sonic just a second to realize that Nine has no goddamn idea what he's doing. Sonic chuckles a bit, giving him a warm smile.]

Put your fist up, like this.

[he demonstrates!]

[Nine complies, a little uncertain, but he does as instructed. He thinks maybe he can guess where this is going, but decides not to ask since Sonic's demonstrating.]

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