Chapter 142: After That...?
"Home."
"Is this what 'home' is to you?" Sage asked Sonic, standing outside a cavern surrounded by the merciless badlands.
"Not necessarily," Sonic replied. "But it'll do for now." He took her hand and stepped inside. It felt oddly cozy in its own confined way. Sage looked around.
"I'm still unsure if these islands are designed to be homes," Sage replied. She sat down and stared at the wall. "The Ancients attempted to colonize them at first, but even these efforts were null and void in..." Sage lost her train of thought as her ears rang.
"I dunno if I'd ever want to settle down in one place. Not for too long, anyways," Sonic replied, glancing at the ceiling. "What matters is that I have the ones I care about. Then it'll all be okay..."
"That would sound so asinine if I wasn't already used to your way of thinking," Sage droned. "To someone like you, a warm embrace from someone you love is more of a home than any collection of walls and a ceiling could ever be." Sage sifted her hand through the sand. "After all, you were a nomad. Never content with one place of refuge."
"You seem to know things about me that I didn't even know about myself," Sonic said, chuckling.
"Indeed," Sage giggled, clacking her shoes together. The two sat in silence, Sonic lost in his head as his thoughts turned into dreams. Sage stuck in her CPU, as her dilemma turned into simulations.
"Is this selfish?" Sage thought to herself. A road stretched out in front of Sage, a transparent highway of blue luster in the dark world around her. "I only wish to remain by his side. Am I so wrong for that?" She began to walk down the road, the one-way dream. "My original directive was to report my findings back to Eggman. After that…" Sage trailed off. "After that, I get to go home with Sonic, right?" Sage looked back at the winding road behind her. "It's much too late to go back now." She closed her eyes, and ran the simulations. "Then it's settled. I know what I must do."
Sonic woke up to a cramped hand. He looked to his side, and saw the tips of his fingers were bubbling with RED-CODE. "Come on out! You're not done yet!" Knuckles shouted. Sonic looked all around, and didn't see anyone. He got up, and exited the hole in the wall he fell asleep in. He got blindsided, faceplanting into the sand. "Where have you been all this time? Everyone's looking for you, nobody can find you." Sonic held his face, it was cold. RED-CODE greeted itself on his hand and cheek. Sonic was then punched again. Visions of cities burning, people dying. The sight of the ocean drying up and leaving the world 71% desert. 10 years' worth of memories from a world he couldn't see were pounded into his brain by spiked fists. And he was powerless to stop it.
"Sage… where are you…?" Sonic asked, coughing and hacking as his body flashed black and red. "Wake… me… up…"
Sage snuck through Strider Stronghold. "My simulations… they dictate that the Sumo Army have removed the gear that gives power to the Cyber-Portal in the mountains," she mumbled, phasing into a wall. "I'm sure Sonic would've loved to attend under different circumstances. But I mustn't wake him."
Sage closed her eyes, routing a path in her mind to the room the Portal Gear had been detected in. "Multiple Sumos detected near the gear. They know I'm here and they are planning an ambush." Sage slipped through the bar, walking along right past the Sumos as they drank their Cyber Cider. They were too lost in the sauce to know who she was. "Hello, sir. May I take your order?"
"Just… water… at this… point." His gelatinous metal body rumbled.
Sage nodded, writing a server command on her holo-notepad with her finger. She stuck it to the Sumo, who was probably illiterate when sober anyways. "So you don't forget." She went behind the counter, ducking as she rolled out a whole barrel of wine. She held out her fingers and sprinkled in RED-CODE. She then started to rub her hands together, as if trying to keep them warm. Excess amounts of RED-CODE shaved off into the barrel, like sugar into coffee.
"Here you go, sir. It's a lot, so…" Sage poured the barrel onto the Sumo's face, a glimmer in her eye. "Share." Sage heard metal hitting the ground all across the stronghold. With the Sumo hivemind out of the way, the coast was clear.
Sage approached the Portal Gear. It was surrounded by the bodies of the Sumos, spoils of war, and treasure from the depths of Ares. She picked it up, felt the edges. A little chipped, but that was to be expected from the Sumos. She began her slow and careful trek out of Strider Stronghold. As she left for the mountains, an eye opened on the Strider. Following her as she departed for the mountains.
"Remember, Sonic! You HAVE TO remember!" Knuckles shouted, driving his fist into Sonic's head and sending him flying back into the wall. "We lost everything because of your failure! You were our last chance!" Knuckles beat reality into Sonic as he kicked and struggled. Until the red echidna was gone. Sonic was then met with a familiar face… or rather, a familiar mask. Standing in the center of an unraveling city.
"Urgh… who are you?" Sonic asked, getting to his feet. "What… did you do… to my friends?! All those people!" The figure chuckled. Sonic noticed a rather peculiar symbol etched into the figure's mask of bone and metal.
"You may call me… Infinite. In the brief moments that remain to you." Sonic stared into the symbol. He then looked to the palm of his shredded glove. His hand… the same hot iron branded symbol…
It was in the shape of an egg.
…
Sage held the gear up to the Cyber Portal. As expected, it began to glow. The gear begged to become one with the portal. However, before she could place it in, she sensed a dangerous presence behind her. She shot a laser out of her hand, only for it to be blocked by… Crunk the Sumo.
"I will admit, you are craftier than you look," Crunk bellowed. "You attacked us with a Shark, and when that didn't finish the job, you tried to corrupt us. Clever girl."
"How—? You were supposed to go down with the others," Sage mumbled. Crunk's medal glistened. Sage backed away until she hit the rope of the Cyloop ring she was now trapped in. "Leave me alone, barbarian! I have important matters to tend to!" Crunk stared her down.
"Give me the Portal Gear," Crunk ordered. "We need it for something much bigger than you." Sage tried to slip between the ropes, only to be zapped! "For years, my kind has been looking for the ultimate weapon to destroy Wyvern. We believe we've found it. All we need is your companion. I apologize for trying to beat you both into granting us what we desire. It was short-sighted. I see now that we need him to truly want what we want." Sage was dropped to the ground, charred and burnt. "After all, Cyberspace does seem to cater to Sonic's own interest."
"Sonic would never help you…!" She hissed. Crunk picked up the Portal Gear and inserted it into its slot. A soft, warm light erupted from the Cyber Portal.
"I know. Which is why you will," Crunk chuckled. Sage's eyes snapped open, her mouth agape as she saw something truly enchanting inside the confines of Cyberspace.
…
Sonic wobbled through the desert, the sun rising and interrupting his stupor for a few seconds. "C'mon, guys. We gotta… stop… Eggman!" Sonic chuckled, holding his cold arm as he continued along on his imaginary adventure. He then tripped over something. Faceplanting in the sand, he looked back to see… "Sage?" He asked. He smacked his head, knocking himself back to reality. "Sage! What happened to you?" Sonic rushed back over and held her up. She was bruised, burnt, and battered. She groaned, as her eyes fluttered open. "Who did this?"
"N-nobody. I just ran into a Guardian," Sage mumbled. Sonic looked all around. "Listen. This is important. We need to—" STOMP! A huge crab robot descended from the stormclouds above… Tank. Sonic's eyes rolled over to it. He placed Sage on the sand, before launching towards Tank and bashing into its eye. Sonic beat it relentlessly. As it tried to escape into the sky by summoning a whirlwind, Sonic Cylooped and formed a tornado of his own. It shredded Tank apart in a matter of milliseconds.
Sonic took a second to breathe. "Was that the one?" Sonic chuckled, turning to Sage with a reassuring smile. Sage averted her eyes.
"Uhm… I think so," Sage replied. "Anyways, some new information has come to light. I believe it presents us with the greatest likelihood of survival here in Ares." Sage fumbled her hands. "I believe that we should attempt to rekindle our alliance with the Sumo Army."
"WHAT? Are you crazy?" Sonic asked.
"Hear me out. Crunk speaks of a weapon that is sure to destroy Wyvern. If we want to make it through this ordeal, we'll side with them," Sage explained. Sonic lowered his head, the intense glare of the desert sun obscuring his scowl.
"He did this to you, didn't he?" Sonic grumbled.
"Wha—?"
"The Sumos… Crunk… they're going to pay. They… I…" Sonic zoomed over and embraced Sage. "They won't hurt you ever again. I won't let them." Sage slowly hugged him back, shoving her face into his shoulder. Savoring this moment while she could.
"Now I know what happens… after that," Sage thought. She took a long, shaky breath. "I'm sorry, father."
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