Your fight against Infinite didn't go as expected. You've now seen what the false Chaos Emeralds are capable of and how their powers can be used by someone accustomed to that power. Though Infinite is no longer a threat, Eggman certainly is - and you're in no position to return to Chicago to try to take him down right now.
Focus on recovering and regrouping; you're going to need a plan to oppose Eggman from here on out.
THE VOID
Maybe you've grown complacent over your time in Chicago. You won't be seeing the city this week. Tails is adamant that it isn't safe to go back and insists that you remain here, within the Void between worlds. It is a still, silent abyss of nothingness, broken up only by gemstone-like shards that serve as platforms or obstacles, with very little else to see.
Gravity doesn't work properly within the Void, meaning you can float and even zip around at high speeds once you've figured out how it works. You can also stick yourself to shards no matter what angle you're at, resulting in walking upside down or otherwise getting stuck to one without being able to escape. Thankfully, this wonky gravity only applies to the Void itself, and you'll naturally come to master it as you spend more time here.
There are some shards that are shaped differently from the ones you can use as platforms, however. These are almost hexagonal, with a dark center that may flicker whenever you approach one. If you're lucky, the surface will flicker like water and show you images of another world - usually you will see Chicago and the robots rampaging through the city streets - but occasionally you may see glimpses of your home world or of other worlds. No matter what you do, you cannot interact with these visions. Since they do seem to be water, punching them will do no good; your hand won't even get wet, as it will go through and dispel the image entirely.
Settle in, it seems like you'll be here for awhile. Oh, and try to ignore that unnerving feeling of being watched - there's no escaping it when you're in the Void, after all.
RINGS
There is one bright spot in being stuck within the Void, and that's that your colorful little pals have rings. If you've been diligent about collecting them from whatever ridiculous places they've ended up in, you may even have a good amount! Though it will take a day or so for the rings to actually work, as the week goes on, you'll be able to world hop to your heart's content.
Which yes, means you could absolutely go home. Be mindful of your mission and just how long you spend there, because you will need to return eventually, right? Though time may work differently in the Void, it mostly works the same between worlds. Try not to spend more than a week back home.
But there is something a bit strange about world hopping; you can't really control where or when you'll end up.
You may arrive back in your home world at the wrong point in time entirely, either in the past or the future. You may end up in an alternate reality of your world (canon AU or fanmade AU) or you may even end up in someone else's world entirely! You all aren't used to using rings just yet, so it makes sense that there's some confusion.
Two of you attempting to use a ring together will have more success... but even then, failures can still happen and you can still be sent to the wrong places.
You may visit any world to exist except any Sonic worlds. Worlds where Sonic shows up as a cameo (Super Smash Bros, for example) are fine. Which yes, means I am barring you from visiting Sonic Underground, you'll have to forgive me.
SHARDS
Though you're stronger now than ever before, your power pales in comparison to Infinite's, let alone Eggman's. You're going to need to be much, much stronger if you want to stand a chance of fighting back. Maybe it would be worth it to visit a world full of monsters to practice using your shards.
As you fight with your allies - particularly those you have a close bond with, positive or negative - you may feel the tug of something in the back of your head; it tells you that you can do more. Together, you can become more powerful. You can use your shards together. Doing so will grant you a new power, or strengthen the one you already have. The more you trust one another, the easier this power will be to use.
It might be good to experiment with these new powers; after all, you never know when you may need them.
TAILS' TASKS
Rings can only be found in certain worlds, which means your worlds are safe from them. This does mean there are only a limited number of rings, however... so please keep this in mind when world hopping! This week, Tails does not have any tasks for you aside from continuing to train and develop your shard powers. Oh, and to stay safe, of course. Please don't get yourselves killed in some other world.
ENEMIES
Surprisingly, you will encounter none of Eggman's robots this week. The Void remains still and silent for the whole week and your worlds are free from Eggman's influence. You're welcome to beat up any enemies native to your own worlds, of course.
That would be nice. I cannot imagine that being born for a task always means one really wants to do it.
[He was created for something very specific, after all, and look at him! Turo goes quiet for a moment, navigating down a particularly steep and rocky bit. He'll turn to offer More a hand if he needs it!]
Most of the regions here were monarchies at one point in their history, but there are few left now. Many of the stories are similar - some sort of unfortunate dealings with an extremely powerful Pokemon. It still happens with powerful people today. Pokemon do not care for human ideas of rank or status...it doesn't pay to be arrogant with them.
[ More will gladly take that offered hand - even if he's fairly confident he wouldn't lose balance, he's glad to not risk falling on his face in front of Turo. ]
It really sounds as though Pokémon are nature's way of maintaining balance and equality in your lands.
[ What wonderful beings. The closest thing More could compare them to would maybe be dragons, but... mostly dragons are a terrifying power not to be messed with, and they bring ruin not just to those who mishandle them. ]
A world without a true permanent ruler... It goes to show how narrow-minded my conceptions of society were that I could not have imagined something like this. I envisioned elected officials for lower positions, and I... apparently also envisioned an election for the new king. But in all of that, I never thought to think to just do away with the role.
Oh, yes, that's what the most powerful and mysterious ones are concerned with.
[Maintaining balance. Turo's...well, he's not a regular guy at all, actually, but he isn't someone who comes into contact with legendary Pokemon. As far as he goes, it's mostly just one more reason not to run around doing whatever you want with no regard. If things had gone on, Turo - the human one - probably would have run afoul of some.]
Well, I'm not a political theorist. But I suppose the difference is that any president or prime minister's power has checks, and they also only stay in power for so long. Even if people like them and go on voting for them, they're not allowed to just keep running for office forever.
It's so beautifully simple... and I didn't even think of it.
[ There's a supernatural reason for that as well, but unfortunately More is not going to remember that until his mind palace is cleared next week... For now he's actually pretty happy to learn about democracy though. His self-deprecation remains more lightheartedly self-ironic rather than depressed. ]
All my life I'd been told that I had a grand destiny that was wholly necessary for the good of all, that I should feel proud to shoulder... and for all that I had attempted to rebel against it, I still let it fester in my heart. I suppose "purpose" has its way of taking root in people despite their best intentions.
...it does. It has always seemed to me as though humans - well, organic beings - must be free of such things, but I suppose that was idealistic.
[This is doubly complicated by More possibly not even technically being an organic being? But he still is the king, as far as Turo can tell, in a way that Turo is not...Turo.]
[ It's basically the world More dreams of, but at least in Euchronia it is quite far from reality. Maybe in the world of Pokémon it's a little better...? More would have to ask some humans, he guesses. ]
There are many aspects of one's birth that feel inescapable and try as one might to run from that, it's hard to shed it entirely. What you are, where you are born, what your parents want from you... In some ways, your creator is not all that different from a parent to you, isn't he?
It need not be either, if you ask me. It simply is, just like any child with their parent may be.
[ Despite his love for his own child (or maybe even partially because of it), More feels incredibly neutral on the concept of family. He can't bring himself to see it as a blessing, as a unilateral good all should wish for. ]
And at best, it can be an avenue for you to contextualize us 'organics' with, no?
[Ugh, he doesn't like the sound of that echoed back at him. Turo grimaces.]
Maybe I shouldn't have said it like that. It makes me sound like some evil robot from a movie. But - you know what I mean. [Anyway.] I suppose it is something of a commonality. Even if people aren't usually expected to take after their fathers quite so...literally.
I suppose you might clone yourself. There's ways to create a physical copy of an existing being...highly illegal, but this would be too, if people knew about it. [Gesturing at himself.] But even then, you could not implant your memories into them. They would just be an infant who looked very much like you once did, and perhaps had some innate similarities.
[The terrain on their side of the creek is becoming more rocky. Turo stops and considers, then hops over it to the opposite bank. Not very wide yet, thankfully.]
That's possible? Of course I knew that your world is far more technologically advanced than my own but... I can hardly fathom how something like that could function.
[ More follows Turo across the creek with a jump of his own, looking like an adventurous kid for just a moment. Through this whole conversation, he's been splitting his attention quite evenly between observing Turo's face and the nature around them.
As far as flora goes, it doesn't seem nearly as different from his word as it is with regards to Fauna. It's interesting in itself. ]
Not that I think this is an ability that is particularly needed in the world. It's just fascinating to see how much further our horizons can still expand.
It is! The technology at the root of it can be used for medical purposes - it has far more useful applications than cloning.
[Which doesn't seem that useful anyway, although he can see Turo having done that too in retrospect, if he'd been able to skip straight to them being adults.
Hopping along stones and navigating new trails is fun. It reminds Turo of...well, less Turo's own Pokemon journey and more the nebulous ideal of a Pokemon journey. The kind you find in movies and books, where perpetual children spend an endless time having adventures and learning life lessons with their friends. He glances back at More often as he walks, confident in his scanning of their surroundings. Now, though, he stops and peers down, off to the side of the current hill.]
Look, that's a right angle.
[There's no building visible now, but it looks like there might be a piece of a wall down there?]
[ More makes a note (physically, in his book) to ask more about cloning and medicine later. He can vaguely imagine how regrowing a copy of a body can be useful, but there are still a lot of details he'd like clarified.
But for now, the book vanishes back into his pocket, because there is a world to focus on before they lose themselves in theoretical nerdery. ]
In other words, an artificial structure. I had not counted on being successful right away, but how lovely it would be if we were.
[ Ghosties!! ]
Should we cease our conversation and approach quietly, as to not startle any new friends?
[ More immediately looks like he has more enthusiastic questions about that state of affairs, but he'll contain his excitement and actually shut up for a moment.
Time to go on a sneak mission! More stays a small bit behind Turo, who knows what he is doing in this world. ]
[Upon coming closer, the object they saw was certainly the corner of a wall. There's scattered stones nearby, and a few more low foundation-shapes in the ground. Not enough to constitute a full settlement, but perhaps there was a homestead here once, or at least a cabin. Turo doesn't speak right away, just circling the ruins before stepping over the remnants of the wall and into what was once an interior.
Nothing has jumped out, and there's no immediate signs that anything else is here. He feels safe enough to speak again, though he keeps it to a whisper.]
[ Though More is keeping word and not picking up any objects, or even rocks, he's still crouching down in the corner of the long-gone room to at least look at the remnants of the wall from up-close.
His voice is equally quiet ]
These have been eroded by nature quite a bit. You can barely tell some of them used to be bricks. It must have been a long time.
[To think about the people who must have lived here once. Why did they build all the way out here? What were they doing? Were there more buildings too, and they just can't see any signs anymore?
After a moment, he looks sidelong at More and smiles a little ruefully.]
I was only constructed a few years ago. I have all of Turo's memories, so I do not exactly feel young, but - I haven't been able to see much time pass for myself.
[ A few years ago... Though More as he is now is presumably only a few months old, he doesn't feel it. Even when his memory was lacking, he'd always had the sense that there was something there, a rich life that shaped him. Even being a remnant, there is still a clear continuity here. ]
I imagine memories must feel quite different when they contain your own feelings and decisions, rather than merely records you had no impact on...?
They do. I have records of his thoughts and feelings as well, but even so...they do not feel the same to think back on as my own memories. Deliberate, on his part. It was a bit of a dangerous game to play.
[Turo actually suspects that there was an early testing phase that went poorly, surrounding that whole thing. After all, if he really thought he were the Professor, he would not have just obediently followed orders that whole time.]
Yes, he certainly took an... interesting gamble, in making you.
[ More has no desire to meet the real Turo and taint his perception of his own Turo's face by association, but it does sound like it would be kind of intriguing to grill him about what the fuck he was trying to accomplish here. ]
Still... what an interesting place I am in, judging your creator for his intentions in having made you, while also owing him a debt of gratitude for continuing down his strange path anyway. It allowed us to meet, after all.
[There's a bit of a rustling, and he reaches out to lay a hand on More's arm to silence him, before...well, that thing sure looks like a ghost! It seems fairly timid right now, peering from behind one of the lower piles of stone.]
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[He was created for something very specific, after all, and look at him! Turo goes quiet for a moment, navigating down a particularly steep and rocky bit. He'll turn to offer More a hand if he needs it!]
Most of the regions here were monarchies at one point in their history, but there are few left now. Many of the stories are similar - some sort of unfortunate dealings with an extremely powerful Pokemon. It still happens with powerful people today. Pokemon do not care for human ideas of rank or status...it doesn't pay to be arrogant with them.
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It really sounds as though Pokémon are nature's way of maintaining balance and equality in your lands.
[ What wonderful beings. The closest thing More could compare them to would maybe be dragons, but... mostly dragons are a terrifying power not to be messed with, and they bring ruin not just to those who mishandle them. ]
A world without a true permanent ruler... It goes to show how narrow-minded my conceptions of society were that I could not have imagined something like this. I envisioned elected officials for lower positions, and I... apparently also envisioned an election for the new king. But in all of that, I never thought to think to just do away with the role.
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[Maintaining balance. Turo's...well, he's not a regular guy at all, actually, but he isn't someone who comes into contact with legendary Pokemon. As far as he goes, it's mostly just one more reason not to run around doing whatever you want with no regard. If things had gone on, Turo - the human one - probably would have run afoul of some.]
Well, I'm not a political theorist. But I suppose the difference is that any president or prime minister's power has checks, and they also only stay in power for so long. Even if people like them and go on voting for them, they're not allowed to just keep running for office forever.
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[ There's a supernatural reason for that as well, but unfortunately More is not going to remember that until his mind palace is cleared next week... For now he's actually pretty happy to learn about democracy though. His self-deprecation remains more lightheartedly self-ironic rather than depressed. ]
All my life I'd been told that I had a grand destiny that was wholly necessary for the good of all, that I should feel proud to shoulder... and for all that I had attempted to rebel against it, I still let it fester in my heart. I suppose "purpose" has its way of taking root in people despite their best intentions.
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[This is doubly complicated by More possibly not even technically being an organic being? But he still is the king, as far as Turo can tell, in a way that Turo is not...Turo.]
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[ It's basically the world More dreams of, but at least in Euchronia it is quite far from reality. Maybe in the world of Pokémon it's a little better...? More would have to ask some humans, he guesses. ]
There are many aspects of one's birth that feel inescapable and try as one might to run from that, it's hard to shed it entirely. What you are, where you are born, what your parents want from you... In some ways, your creator is not all that different from a parent to you, isn't he?
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[What else could he really be to him? More or less, if we're to place it within normal family structures at all.]
I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse.
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[ Despite his love for his own child (or maybe even partially because of it), More feels incredibly neutral on the concept of family. He can't bring himself to see it as a blessing, as a unilateral good all should wish for. ]
And at best, it can be an avenue for you to contextualize us 'organics' with, no?
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Maybe I shouldn't have said it like that. It makes me sound like some evil robot from a movie. But - you know what I mean. [Anyway.] I suppose it is something of a commonality. Even if people aren't usually expected to take after their fathers quite so...literally.
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Yes, that is... certainly a rare extreme and not one most fathers would be able to execute quite so rigorously, no matter how much they may wish to.
[ That they would sometimes wish to seems like a given. ]
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[The terrain on their side of the creek is becoming more rocky. Turo stops and considers, then hops over it to the opposite bank. Not very wide yet, thankfully.]
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[ More follows Turo across the creek with a jump of his own, looking like an adventurous kid for just a moment. Through this whole conversation, he's been splitting his attention quite evenly between observing Turo's face and the nature around them.
As far as flora goes, it doesn't seem nearly as different from his word as it is with regards to Fauna. It's interesting in itself. ]
Not that I think this is an ability that is particularly needed in the world. It's just fascinating to see how much further our horizons can still expand.
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[Which doesn't seem that useful anyway, although he can see Turo having done that too in retrospect, if he'd been able to skip straight to them being adults.
Hopping along stones and navigating new trails is fun. It reminds Turo of...well, less Turo's own Pokemon journey and more the nebulous ideal of a Pokemon journey. The kind you find in movies and books, where perpetual children spend an endless time having adventures and learning life lessons with their friends. He glances back at More often as he walks, confident in his scanning of their surroundings. Now, though, he stops and peers down, off to the side of the current hill.]
Look, that's a right angle.
[There's no building visible now, but it looks like there might be a piece of a wall down there?]
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But for now, the book vanishes back into his pocket, because there is a world to focus on before they lose themselves in theoretical nerdery. ]
In other words, an artificial structure. I had not counted on being successful right away, but how lovely it would be if we were.
[ Ghosties!! ]
Should we cease our conversation and approach quietly, as to not startle any new friends?
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And don't pick up anything manmade you see. Some ghost Pokemon resemble or inhabit items.
[That said, he'll start to head for the apparent structure, moving more slowly and cautiously now.]
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Time to go on a sneak mission! More stays a small bit behind Turo, who knows what he is doing in this world. ]
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Nothing has jumped out, and there's no immediate signs that anything else is here. He feels safe enough to speak again, though he keeps it to a whisper.]
I wonder how long this has been here?
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His voice is equally quiet ]
These have been eroded by nature quite a bit. You can barely tell some of them used to be bricks. It must have been a long time.
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[It's a little fascinating, really. Turo squats, peers intently at some stones, and reaches out to carefully brush away some creeping plantlife.]
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It never ceases to fascinate me. While lives are contained in these traces, at our fingertips and still beyond our reach.
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[To think about the people who must have lived here once. Why did they build all the way out here? What were they doing? Were there more buildings too, and they just can't see any signs anymore?
After a moment, he looks sidelong at More and smiles a little ruefully.]
I was only constructed a few years ago. I have all of Turo's memories, so I do not exactly feel young, but - I haven't been able to see much time pass for myself.
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I imagine memories must feel quite different when they contain your own feelings and decisions, rather than merely records you had no impact on...?
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[Turo actually suspects that there was an early testing phase that went poorly, surrounding that whole thing. After all, if he really thought he were the Professor, he would not have just obediently followed orders that whole time.]
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[ More has no desire to meet the real Turo and taint his perception of his own Turo's face by association, but it does sound like it would be kind of intriguing to grill him about what the fuck he was trying to accomplish here. ]
Still... what an interesting place I am in, judging your creator for his intentions in having made you, while also owing him a debt of gratitude for continuing down his strange path anyway. It allowed us to meet, after all.
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Maybe it didn't all turn out so badly after all.
[There's a bit of a rustling, and he reaches out to lay a hand on More's arm to silence him, before...well, that thing sure looks like a ghost! It seems fairly timid right now, peering from behind one of the lower piles of stone.]
Oh - hello, there.
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