You hop through the ring portals, barely escaping Eggman's forces and making it through (mostly) unscathed. On the plus side, you're all here - in fact, you'll find Tails and Vakama nearby, with the fox having brought your pal here too.
But unfortunately, "here" is not exactly the best place to be.
"Back here again...? Sheesh, I really can't catch a break.
"What is this place, Sonic?"
"This is the space between worlds. The void, I guess you could call it."
Everywhere you look there's a whole lot of nothing. Gemstone-like shards litter this reality in all sorts of shapes and sizes, serving as obstacles or platforms; they're sturdy enough to walk and stand on, but this world's rules are a little different from what you're used to. For one, gravity doesn't really work properly - you may find yourself floating or walking upside-down on a shard you didn't mean to end up on, and it's going to take some getting used to.
There's not really much to do or see here either - at least, not for now. You're welcome to explore this strange place, but you won't find anything particularly interesting... with one notable exception as seen in the comment below.
No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you'll feel like you're being watched.
[Hey, Vakama. Dorothy fixes him with a small, very relieved smile; she's much better than what she was at least, though she is still running extremely low on energy so moving? Not happening anytime soon.]
[Which one was it, he can't help but wonder. Does it really matter in the end? Any of those kids would be difficult for Raven to fight, he'd imagine.]
Ja, it was... one of the twins for me.
[Just one of them. Does that make it better or worse? Honestly, he's still not sure.
But Yeager shakes his head and returns his attention to Dorothy.]
It does say something about how far you've come that it wasn't something from home though, doesn't it?
[Though he is not going to think about what it says about her that she manifested a Yeager to kill. Maybe she just really wants to kill him? Very valid of her, really.]
[Today has really left Oscar feeling like a certain someone has been looking out for him. The number of hits that he'd taken that should by all rights have been fatal... he has the devil's own luck, that's for sure, but isn't that what he's always said about himself?
He isn't sure whether it's a blessing or a curse, though he doesn't have the time to think on it. Not right now. Right now what's important is making sure that Mafuyu is going to be all right for the time being and that Lark is also similarly in decent shape. It's easy to shrug off the pain when he's focusing on something else, blink away the darkness that threatens to close in on the edges of his vision. But for all that it's a wonderful and useful thing in the moment, adrenaline can only hold out for so long, and this time there's no warning as the darkness suddenly crashes over him like a tide; he wobbles for a moment, then drops like a puppet whose strings have been cut.
Well. At least it wasn't in the middle of the fight itself?
Later on, once he's conscious and at least somewhat patched up, he can be found sitting (or more specifically reclining, as sitting up all the way takes energy that he doesn't have at the moment) on one of the shards, a cigarette in one hand as he just takes slow drags on it. He's surprisingly somber compared to his usual demeanor, but maybe that's simply the result of being exhausted.
Either way, he won't say no to company if you'd like to join him.]
Magic isn't real in my world! I think it's just a matter of what part of my brain the hole goes through. The wind moving through the hole makes it work properly.
Of course it is! It's because you're smart and not disheveled – and I see you going out of your way to help people here. I think that's all really cool of you.
[ He knows nothing of Viktor's past so this is just purely based on Chicago observations. ]
Something about that doesn't seem to sit right with him, and he's silent for a very long time, reaching up to rest a hand against his mask in thought.]
There's something different about him now. I don't know how to explain it, but he wasn't like this when I arrived.
[It's halting, a bit hesitant, like he's not even really sure of what he's saying. It's the first time he's ever been so careful with his words.]
Okay, he can't help it, he starts laughing a little. ]
O-okay, yeah, that, but also...seems like you need a bit of a break, dude. I mean, what you did to us was really awful, but Robotnik was also a prick!
[ Like, yeah, Percy wanted Revenge moments before Robotnik showed up, but seeing Infinite here now is just like...you're dealing with a fussy child throwing a temper tantrum or something. ]
Here, you can just sit on it if your leg's busted.
Yeager knows about 'em, but there's a group of kids I've been workin' with back home. They made their own guild called Brave Vesperia. [He sighs before continuing.] The illusion had me think I was back with 'em.
[He does miss them a lot, so it's not at all surprising that Infinite would use that against him.
Dorothy, though...]
What Yeager said. I'd say that's a pretty big step forward from the other day.
[ It's an uncertain answer, because well. It's complicated. ]
I'm alive and in one piece. Heart hurts like hell, though. [ A pause, as he first tries to find the words, then to decide whether to say them at all: ] Never would've faced these things on my own.
Something about that actually sees him relax a bit? Just a bit.]
...Fine.
[And he actually agrees, just like that! In fact, he'll pick up the hoverboard and study it a bit... He's by no means a tech expert, or even on half the level Tails is, but he's able to figure out how to get it to do the aforementioned hovering and then he sits on it.
...I'm sorry. Both of you. You both shouldn't have been made to deal with that at all.
[Dorothy starts, briefly, and...god, she doesn't want to acknowledge this. Really, she doesn't. But she looks between both of them briefly before just staring up into the void, her gaze slightly distant, and she...]
I suppose it does. It was... [...] The three of us had finally found a bar. The battle was over, and we had been...celebrating, apparently.
[Dorothy's eyes close.]
...If it weren't for how long Raven took to get all of us drinks, I could have stayed in that moment.
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