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.
[He still doesn't look at Turo as he continues, tapping his claws against his mask.]
Initially there were only three of us. The Doctor, his assistant, and me. The others were all robots; all without any sort of sentience. The Doctor seemed pleased to have someone else to talk to, if only because he liked telling me everything about his plans and ambitions.
[And his science. Dear god. Infinite's true suffering was sitting to Eggman rant about god-knows-what and no-one-else-on-earth-could-understand.]
But he's grown cold and distant over time, to the point of almost seeming like a different person entirely. I haven't seen Stone around recently either. He didn't give his orders to me in person, and while he did keep a close eye on me while I was at the base... everything about him seems... off.
He had a human assistant? Was he like the others there?
[Human assistants can leave or betray you. That’s why Turo wanted a machine. The humans of Chicago seem incapable of such decisions, granted, but they also weren't capable of responding appropriately to being trapped in a burning building. That little independent thought makes for a poor assistant in an entirely different way. That’s why Turo wanted a learning machine.
That, and for someone to tell about his plans and ambitions.]
[Why didn't he just rant at that guy, then...maybe it’s just the novelty of a new target.]
I'm surprised he trusted someone that much. You don’t have any ties to this world, but surely a local would have something.
[Something to care about somewhere in the world's destruction. He couldn't possibly only have the doctor, could he? He’s a human. They have entire lives.]
My creator went to all the trouble of making me because he felt he could not trust any person with the truth of his work. And he was not even deliberately attempting to destroy the world. Certainly not to erase anyone's free will.
[Whereas the Doctor seems a bit fixated on the concept. But it's offered more like an explanation than evidence; Turo's aware that he may just be projecting. After all, he doesn't really know Dr. Robotnik, and he certainly does not know Stone.]
I've wondered that as well. The version of the Doctor in the world I come from usually only trusted robots. I was one of the few he agreed to work with who did not betray him.
[Normal Sonic things!]
That fixation on erasing free will seems to have grown in time. It was a means to an end - conquest - at first, but he seems particularly dedicated to it now.
One wonders if that and the assistant's absence are connected.
[Maybe he tried to defy Robotnik somehow? Or just ran off? The Professor certainly got much, much worse after Sada left - really, observing his memories through an objective lens, that was when the downward spiral began.]
...is he very like the version from your world in other ways? Now, or when you first met him? [This, admittedly, is more of a general curiosity about alternate dimensions. The rest of them are all from different enough ones that there's no single point of comparison like that.]
[He nods at the first part, but he doesn't have an answer to that. As for the second...]
There are quite a few differences. This one is far more effective, for one.
[All shade on you, gameverse Eggman. You keep Cubot and Orbot around and Infinite had to deal with them, he will ALWAYS throw shade.]
The Doctor I'm familiar with is generally not as much of a threat. He is still a genius, but he was only truly successful in conquest once, and only for six months at that. Much of that power was mine, incidentally.
[sonic forces could not have happened without infinite, for better or for worse.]
This one has more of an ego - somehow - and is more strategically-minded; generally more effective at what he sets out to do, even if he may not be quite as creative as the Doctor I'm familiar with.
Interesting. Differences, but there is certainly still a common core...
[A mad genius attempting to take over the world with his machines. Curious that the more successful one is the one who also has (or at least had) a dependable human ally. Did a parallel Stone not exist in the other universe? Or maybe one did and something happened in the past, something similar to what may have happened in this world now, and that is why the other Robotnik typically only trusts machines. Perhaps this timeline is only now reaching that event, and that conclusion?
Are the two universes even similar enough to make such hypotheses reasonable? Is the multiverse truly infinite, leading to all possibilities existing simultaneously, or is there some basic template that leads certain things to always be more or less the same? The latter makes it far more statistically probable for Infinite's world to be so similar, but that's not evidence; it's likely that the Doctor sought that out deliberately. Could you find a version of Dr. Ivo Robotnik who was - he doesn't know, a kindly toymaker or something?]
Are Sonic and the others his enemies there as well?
[Huh. That actually also sounds a little like this world might be farther back in some sort of parallel timeline than the other. Maybe Sonic and his friends just haven't met those allies yet?]
I wonder if knowledge from one could be used to draw broad conclusions about the other...?
[It's all different enough that he wouldn't feel certain about any idea reached that way, but a lack of perfect certainty is no reason to fully discount it.]
I suppose none of us know that, then. But it seems as if we at least have some time to decide. I am sure that they could send you to wherever you cared to go.
[Obviously they can't just leave an entire person stranded in the void, so!]
Yes, it's quite the same for me. I find it disturbingly open-ended.
[Really, it's for the best. He knows that. But to be so entirely free, after a life with no choices at all...he feels frozen, mostly. It's fortune that they don't seem to be near any decision points anyway.]
[Infinite is quiet for a moment, simply studying Turo.]
Tell me about what you went through.
[It's more of a demand than a proper question, and he doesn't really need to ask it at all given the fact that he's been messing with your dreams for the past two weeks. But he asks anyway, because it's not like he knows the full story. It certainly isn't an apology, but he can recognize that dragging that out further is both pointless and needlessly rude to someone who has done nothing to him.]
[Judging from the look Turo flashes him, the fact that all of those dreams and illusions came directly from Infinite to begin with is also not lost on him! But he's not one to point things like that out; after a moment, he shrugs.]
As I said - I believe I was dying when they found me. Before that... [Ugh. How much of it does he really want?] My world does not actually possess the technology levels to create a sapient AI such as myself. I am only able to function due to the Tera energy found in the Zero Crater in Paldea - as such, I was unable to ever leave it. I always thought that any future I might have was naturally contained within those walls.
[So maybe it's natural, in a way, that he has no idea what to do with himself. Right now, he has the structure and direction of the group's mission. After...?]
[Turo gives this some actual consideration, finally folding up to sit on the ground himself.]
It's hardly the circumstances under which I always dreamed of going out into the world. But those were never going to happen in any case. [That's what makes them dreams, and not goals or plans.] The others have been very kind, even if I have not been of much use. And there's a lot to see in that world, even if it isn't the one I wanted. I'm glad I came here, I think.
[It's a bit of a realization. Turo has felt conflicted over his choice practically since he made it. He's not against helping other people to save their world, but - well, he hasn't been very useful on that front. In all likelihood, what he's been so far has mostly been "awkward" and "weird", possibly "emotionally needy". That makes it feel so much more selfish; he really did just have his life saved and give nothing back.
He gets to spend his days doing whatever he wants, though. If he wants to go outside, he goes outside. If he doesn't, he doesn't, and nobody comes along to force him. It's sort of like being a real person.]
...well, to Chicago. Although this place does have some fascinating implications.
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[He still doesn't look at Turo as he continues, tapping his claws against his mask.]
Initially there were only three of us. The Doctor, his assistant, and me. The others were all robots; all without any sort of sentience. The Doctor seemed pleased to have someone else to talk to, if only because he liked telling me everything about his plans and ambitions.
[And his science. Dear god. Infinite's true suffering was sitting to Eggman rant about god-knows-what and no-one-else-on-earth-could-understand.]
But he's grown cold and distant over time, to the point of almost seeming like a different person entirely. I haven't seen Stone around recently either. He didn't give his orders to me in person, and while he did keep a close eye on me while I was at the base... everything about him seems... off.
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[Human assistants can leave or betray you. That’s why Turo wanted a machine. The humans of Chicago seem incapable of such decisions, granted, but they also weren't capable of responding appropriately to being trapped in a burning building. That little independent thought makes for a poor assistant in an entirely different way. That’s why Turo wanted a learning machine.
That, and for someone to tell about his plans and ambitions.]
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[infinite took one look at stone and went "ah, a sycophant" and never talked to him again. rip.]
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I'm surprised he trusted someone that much. You don’t have any ties to this world, but surely a local would have something.
[Something to care about somewhere in the world's destruction. He couldn't possibly only have the doctor, could he? He’s a human. They have entire lives.]
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[.....]
My creator went to all the trouble of making me because he felt he could not trust any person with the truth of his work. And he was not even deliberately attempting to destroy the world. Certainly not to erase anyone's free will.
[Whereas the Doctor seems a bit fixated on the concept. But it's offered more like an explanation than evidence; Turo's aware that he may just be projecting. After all, he doesn't really know Dr. Robotnik, and he certainly does not know Stone.]
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[Normal Sonic things!]
That fixation on erasing free will seems to have grown in time. It was a means to an end - conquest - at first, but he seems particularly dedicated to it now.
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[Maybe he tried to defy Robotnik somehow? Or just ran off? The Professor certainly got much, much worse after Sada left - really, observing his memories through an objective lens, that was when the downward spiral began.]
...is he very like the version from your world in other ways? Now, or when you first met him? [This, admittedly, is more of a general curiosity about alternate dimensions. The rest of them are all from different enough ones that there's no single point of comparison like that.]
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There are quite a few differences. This one is far more effective, for one.
[All shade on you, gameverse Eggman. You keep Cubot and Orbot around and Infinite had to deal with them, he will ALWAYS throw shade.]
The Doctor I'm familiar with is generally not as much of a threat. He is still a genius, but he was only truly successful in conquest once, and only for six months at that. Much of that power was mine, incidentally.
[sonic forces could not have happened without infinite, for better or for worse.]
This one has more of an ego - somehow - and is more strategically-minded; generally more effective at what he sets out to do, even if he may not be quite as creative as the Doctor I'm familiar with.
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[A mad genius attempting to take over the world with his machines. Curious that the more successful one is the one who also has (or at least had) a dependable human ally. Did a parallel Stone not exist in the other universe? Or maybe one did and something happened in the past, something similar to what may have happened in this world now, and that is why the other Robotnik typically only trusts machines. Perhaps this timeline is only now reaching that event, and that conclusion?
Are the two universes even similar enough to make such hypotheses reasonable? Is the multiverse truly infinite, leading to all possibilities existing simultaneously, or is there some basic template that leads certain things to always be more or less the same? The latter makes it far more statistically probable for Infinite's world to be so similar, but that's not evidence; it's likely that the Doctor sought that out deliberately. Could you find a version of Dr. Ivo Robotnik who was - he doesn't know, a kindly toymaker or something?]
Are Sonic and the others his enemies there as well?
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That's correct, although Sonic has far more allies in the world I come from. I was confused to learn there were only three of them in this world.
[Well. And all of you guys now.]
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I wonder if knowledge from one could be used to draw broad conclusions about the other...?
[It's all different enough that he wouldn't feel certain about any idea reached that way, but a lack of perfect certainty is no reason to fully discount it.]
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[if we get infinite in the movies, i'm fucking rioting.]
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[But yes, questioning Infinite further is probably not going to be productive.]
What will you do now?
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...I haven't decided yet.
[Spoken as though there's any decision to make.]
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[Obviously they can't just leave an entire person stranded in the void, so!]
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Returning home is... not an option, so I suppose I'll have little choice but to start over no matter where I end up.
[It's annoying and he doesn't like it, but if it's annoying then it isn't terrifying, and so that's what it's going to remain.]
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[Really, it's for the best. He knows that. But to be so entirely free, after a life with no choices at all...he feels frozen, mostly. It's fortune that they don't seem to be near any decision points anyway.]
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Tell me about what you went through.
[It's more of a demand than a proper question, and he doesn't really need to ask it at all given the fact that he's been messing with your dreams for the past two weeks. But he asks anyway, because it's not like he knows the full story. It certainly isn't an apology, but he can recognize that dragging that out further is both pointless and needlessly rude to someone who has done nothing to him.]
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As I said - I believe I was dying when they found me. Before that... [Ugh. How much of it does he really want?] My world does not actually possess the technology levels to create a sapient AI such as myself. I am only able to function due to the Tera energy found in the Zero Crater in Paldea - as such, I was unable to ever leave it. I always thought that any future I might have was naturally contained within those walls.
[So maybe it's natural, in a way, that he has no idea what to do with himself. Right now, he has the structure and direction of the group's mission. After...?]
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So it was a greater shock to you than any of the others, simply because it shouldn't be possible.
[It's already a shock to learn that other worlds exist, but to have been confined to one place all your life and thinking that life was over... Hmm.]
What are your thoughts on being here? [...Well.] In the other world, rather.
[Chicago, not the Void. This time, it's an actual question instead of a demand.]
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It's hardly the circumstances under which I always dreamed of going out into the world. But those were never going to happen in any case. [That's what makes them dreams, and not goals or plans.] The others have been very kind, even if I have not been of much use. And there's a lot to see in that world, even if it isn't the one I wanted. I'm glad I came here, I think.
[It's a bit of a realization. Turo has felt conflicted over his choice practically since he made it. He's not against helping other people to save their world, but - well, he hasn't been very useful on that front. In all likelihood, what he's been so far has mostly been "awkward" and "weird", possibly "emotionally needy". That makes it feel so much more selfish; he really did just have his life saved and give nothing back.
He gets to spend his days doing whatever he wants, though. If he wants to go outside, he goes outside. If he doesn't, he doesn't, and nobody comes along to force him. It's sort of like being a real person.]
...well, to Chicago. Although this place does have some fascinating implications.
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Does it? I'll admit I haven't given it as much thought as it likely deserves.
[Though he hasn't given "traveling between worlds" much thought in general, he was a bit too busy going mad with power, as one does.]
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[..........]
Oh, Infinite like you!