shardbond | what i have in my two hands is enough to set me free

After eight long, difficult weeks of fighting, you've finally done it. You've put an end to Neo Metal Sonic's dreams of conquest and with it, you've saved not only this world, but all worlds. Perhaps not everything is wrapped up as neatly as some of you would like, but you've done what you set out to do, and now you can breathe a sigh of relief.

In the hours that follow the immediate aftermath of Neo Metal Sonic's defeat, Tails sets about figuring out how to control the Egg Fleet and recall them to where Neo Metal Sonic had them stationed. Sonic heads out into the city - and then even further beyond - to ensure that the people are starting to regain their senses without anyone to suppress their free will anymore. Knuckles escorts you back to the base, then takes a ring to hop into the Void to let Shadow and Infinite know what's going on.

As for you all? You aren't expected to do any work, because you've done so much today. Take a load off and take the time to rest - you deserve it.

For those of you who can't wait to get home, you're welcome to grab a ring from one of your colorful friends and head straight back, but for those of you willing to take the night off and regroup in the morning, you'll find that said colorful friends have put together a party for you - or, well, they tried their best. The decorations are store-bought (or not) and simple, Sonic seems to have thought confetti is the best way to throw a party and there is so much of it getting showered on all of you the moment you walk into the room, and someone obtained a sheet cake that did not have any sort of message on it, so an awkwardly scrawled message of "THANKS FOR HELP" is written in bright green icing that clashes with the cake's soft pink and red color scheme. An attempt was made.

You're welcome to hang out here - both in the new base and in this world as a whole - for as long as you'd like. Permanently, even, if you don't have any intention of going home. After all, you've more than earned it. Sonic and friends will gladly help you figure out a way to get settled here.

If you do choose to stay for any length of time and head out into the city, you'll find that people are indeed starting to return to their daily lives. They don't really understand - or remember - what happened, but they do recognize you as someone they have some innate fondness for, regardless of how startling your appearance may be to them. The city itself has seen better days thanks to the spread of Eggman's chroma, but thankfully the natural elements are recovering from that just fine. The buildings, streets, and the like will not naturally recover, so it seems Chicago's going to require some pretty intensive rebuilding...

But for the time being, everything is going smoothly, and you've done everything that was asked of you. You're free to return home. If you do, your shard may eventually come loose and simply fall off, ridding you of both the shard and its powers. Or maybe it won't, and you'll have that memory of your time in this world forever, along with the power innate to you and the ones you can activate from your fellow shardbearers whenever you're near each other.

Congratulations, shardbearers. You've done the impossible, and maybe even formed some new bonds along the way.

( Welcome to the final log of Shardbond! With this, you have successfully navigated your way through the Sonic friendship game and no one died! Hooray!!! For this final log, you may do whatever you'd like - if you want to use this to do an immediate aftermath top level, go for it! Party top level? Sure? Post-game top level? Have fun! You want to bring a castmate in and NPC them or have someone else play them? Also cool! Generally speaking, you are now free to do what you will with the setting as a whole - your fuzzy little friends will be hard at work making sure that you all are able to get home and/or get settled just fine, and they'll also be keeping an eye out for one (1) Neo Metal Sonic. And also Infinite, I guess, unless someone wants to take that stray jackal with them but like, no one needs that. )

NAVIGATION

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[Fortunately, Oscar just laughs, seemingly not bothered at all.]

So we grab a map, blindfold someone, and have 'em point. Nearest restaurant is where we go.

Edited 2025-03-10 22:00 (UTC)

[ If Lark noticed the panic, he's decided now is not the time to call attention to it. ]

...Who are you volunteering for this?

[ Or voluntolding, possibly. ]

( she's so good at this. she's a genius actress and a brilliant liar. she is going to bullshit her way through dinner. )

... I wonder if my phone can connect to the internet here- to check reviews. I didn't bother trying since I didn't want to risk being detected by E... Nnnneo? I don't know.

... your phone?

[Man from JRPG fantasy world does not know what a hone is, news at 11--]

[ +1 boy from swords and sandal wuxia setting. ]

What's that?

( she'll just... take out her phone and show them! she has minimal apps, but multiple music players, notes... and an 'aquarium' to watch. yay! )

It can connect to... ... No, I'm not explaining the internet. If it's someplace where it can work properly, you can look up a lot of information quickly and for free. Like a portable library, but more.

... huh. Now that looks useful.

[Imagine being able to do that on the battlefield? Talk about a game changer.]

So you use that thing and you can find out more info about all of the restaurants around here?

A portable library...

[ To someone who's never been able to have a real library because books are expensive, it sounds like a dream. ]

Mm. Let me just...

( typetypetype... filter by review... ... and by price, they can't get away with freeloading anymore- )

... Huh. Lots of Asian places.

You keep sayin' all these words that mean nothin' to me.

[He's assuming that's a good thing, though?]

What sort of food does an "Asian place" have?

Ah, sorry... Asia is a continent thats home to multiple countries, and the cuisine has overlaps... My home country is under this umbrella too.

( she'll encourage them both to look over her shoulders while she pulls up several examples on her phone, explaining the differences as best she can.

...

she then decides to let them see the other nearby places. diners, steak houses, the cheesecake factory??, and more... )

[Oscar peers at the menus, scanning the list of options until his eyes fall upon a certain option...]

Oho, they have curry? I'll never say no to that! An' if this is the food from where you're from, then I'm sure Lark wants to try it too, right?

[STARING RIGHT AT LARK.]

[ Lark probably went "oh, we have that back home" at any examples of a Chinese food, let's be real.

...And seeing Oscar stare at him, Lark is looking back at him like "What, did you think I was going to be picky???" ]

I do, yeah.