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Sonic was questioning at which point his life had turned into a movie, or maybe a cartoon show? Comics and video games were cool too.
Sonic was questioning at which point his life had turned crazy. Maybe it had started with having his very own Obi-Wan Kenobi, or did it when he got his very first rival?
Looking at that rival right now, lounging in his old cave while drinking a cup of very suspicious coffee, Sonic wanted a new first rival.
"This is what you've been doing?" Sonic asked unimpressed and quip-less - someone should check his temperature.
" 'Oh wow! Eggman! You survived?! And you've turned my old hole into a technical marvel befitting one such as yourself! How dastardly of you!' "Eggman said in this shrilly little voice that should shatter glass, but was meant to be Sonic complimenting him.
"I think this is worse than last year." The doctor didn't deign that with a respond.
"Wait! How are you alive?!" Sonic yelled as the question hit him. Eggman just sighed agitatedly, as if Sonic breathing near his genius was an annoyance, which was probably true knowing him.
"Your simple, feeble, little brain couldn't comprehend how I escaped death. It would simply melt-"
"You don't know how, do you?" Sonic cut him off. Eggman sputtered.
"I do know!! I-"
"Yeah, I don't care anymore." Whether he told Sonic or not, it wouldn't change the fact that Eggman was alive and well and right here. In front of Sonic. Lounging in a lawn chair despite there really not being that much sunlight in his old cave for the man to really lounge in.
Sonic had come to visit for nostalgia's sake, he didn't miss the cave much but it's been a while and he was running around the area with-
"Sonic?" Tails yelled outside.
Right, he was running around with Tails and Knuckles.
"In here bud!" Sonic yelled back, quietly hoping that Knuckles wasn't with him and ignoring Eggman's protests as he watched Tails fly in through the top entrance.
The fastest thing alive could see the moment when Tails saw Eggman, he'd never watched someone's expression die faster than Tail's did right there. Landing on his feet next to Sonic, Tails just kind of stared at the sight of Eggman. The man somehow looking kempt and dingy at the same time, the cave around him set up with various screens that keep him updated on seemingly everything random and Sonic doesn't even want to touch upon the outfit.
The doctor, in turn, takes a sip of his coffee. Almost looking like he's preening under Sonic and Tails' eyes.
Tails turns to Sonic, expression painful.
"I'm not sure if this is worse than last year in the crab."
"HEY!"
"I'm not sure myself buddy," Sonic lamented, patting Tails on the back as he took the smaller fox into a side hug. Driving up the sympathy to poke at Eggman.
"But be nice to the old man ok? "
"I'm not old?" Eggman exclaimed while Sonic ignored him.
"I mean, he must have been through so many traumatic things at his old age." Laying on the dramatics, his little brother started biting his mouth shut in a failing attempt to not laugh.
Turning back to Eggman, Sonic could see the man turn red - looking more Easter egg than mad roboticist.
"And with him blowing up." Sonic's attention is pulled back to Tails when the smaller fox manages to wheeze out a response between laughs.
Sonic's smile strains, just the tiniest bit at the reminder, but for Tails he keeps a wide grin plastered to his face.
The doctor squinted at him, though the moment passed without him bringing anything up.
"Ah, I have been through so much haven't I?" Eggman piped up, his voice suddenly all sweet and laced with false innocence. Enough so that Sonic has to consciously keep his quills from rising.
"Truly terrible, and I've been holed up here all alone for ages so-"
"Just spit it out old man."
"-fuck you." Sonic gasps, hands shooting out to cover Tails' ears. Scandalised and not really so.
"Language!" Eggman levels him with an unimpressed stare.
"Really? The kid with the napalm isn't allowed to swear?"
"What's napalm?"
"Don't worry about it Sonic." Tails piped up, Sonic's hands still covering his ears.
"Right." Eggman said flat, looking ready to pass away.
Moving past the funeral, the doctor went right back to fake groveling.
"I've just been through so much and could really do-"
"Snore- and pass by the way!" Sonic interrupted his monologue again. Eggman looked red and ready to blow.
"Oh shut up you blue gumball! Do you seriously have nothing better to do than agitate my higher intellect?!" Sonic waited out Eggman's rant, checking his nails on his gloved hand. The rant went on for a while, but Eggman eventually realised that he'd been talking for 5 minutes straight without any interruptions.
"What, no interruptions now?" Egg-face sneered.
"Ok boomer." Eggman blew again.
"FUCK YOU!" Sonic snickered, he couldn't help it. He made it just so easy and after a year, Sonic easily slipped back into the habit of pissing the roboticist off. Maybe he was laying it on a bit thick, but sue him he had a year to catch up with!
And again, Eggman just made it so easy.
At some point the genius caught on that Sonic was just lighting his tail for fun. Grumbling he just took a sip from his suspicious coffee as he glared at the blue hedgehog; Sonic not shying away even a bit from the glare.
"I need you to grab something from one of my labs for me." He relented eventually, staying clear off the coy voice he'd used before. Both Sonic and Tails looked surprised by the request.
"Wait, why do you need one of us to get it for you if it's in one of your labs?" Tails asked.
"Why, well I'll tell you why." Eggman said. "None of your business."
Sonic should have seen that one coming.
"It's just a little something called a 'quantifiable-micron-neuro-egg-chip'. It's in my Rushmore lab."
"You have a Rushmore lab?" Sonic and Tails asked in unison.
"Yes. Now, just pop down there, grab it, and bring it back."
"We can't, we ran out of rings when you and the Ark blew up." Tails countered.
Sighing agitatedly, Eggman finally pushed himself up from his lawn chair. Scratching his back he walked past the screens up to the duo. Depositing his thermos into Sonic's hands, he used his free hands to gesture. Miming while he was talking as if the two of them were toddlers who needed visuals to understand.
"I. need. egg-chip. You, go get egg-chip. I then have egg-chip." Sonic does not want to be holding the hell coffee and Sonic also doesn't want to be in this hell. So relenting to get out of there is just the logical thing to do, you can't blame him.
"Ok, fine." Tails shoots him a dumbfound look.
"I'll just run down there, grab it and then get back. Shouldn't take more than ten minutes." Tails shoots him a look of betrayal.
"It'll be fine buddy, you just keep an eye on him, make sure Knuckles doesn't find him and I'll be back before you know it." Sonic assures him, already grinning to lift the mood. Tails just looks at him desperately for a moment before relenting, if Knuckles found Eggman then things would probably not end well. Things would probably end with the echidna attacking Eggman first and thinking about the explosions in Sonic's old cave second. Still, that didn't keep the younger fox from sagging a little in disappointment. Sonic felt a bit bad now, he just probably wanted to see the tech that Eggman had left behind. Resolving to take Tails down to the mean bean to scour the place for anything Eggman might have left behind after he got back, Sonic saluted Tails with a smile and zipped out the door over to Mount Rushmore without a second thought. Eggman and Tails watching him go.
"…He took my fucking coffee."
"Language Eggman." Tails replied.
Stone was at lab Rushmore for about a week.
Stone and Shadow have been trekking from lab to lab for about a year now, the ultimate life form is more than recovered enough for him to go out on his own - has been for months really - but when Shadow hadn't left, like Stone thought he would, the two had come to an unspoken agreement.
Shadow would follow Stone and Stone just didn't question it.
Easy enough.
They've been making their way through the country, generally just going through the labs and tidying up what there was. It was a routine that Stone had kept to when the doctor had disappeared the first time and it was a cold comfort to keep to it. But what else was Stone to do?
Rejoin society? No, ew.
Sometimes the two went into cities but those trips were rather few and far between, Stone wanted to avoid ending up on GUN's radar for two simple reasons: Shadow doesn't trust GUN and Stone is wanted for several felonies; so avoiding the Guardians of United Nations is a no-brainer. So wondering from lab to lab was the only thing Stone felt like doing.
At least his parents weren't right about him ending up in jail if he followed the mad scientist.
Out of all the bases where Sonic could have showed up, Rushmore really should not have been one of them.
Like really, the lab was barely used by Dr. Robotnik, mainly used as a storage place for some of his more fantastical projects. Stone's been there plenty of times himself even when the doctor was still around, he likes to store his coffee here.
So Sonic should not have been here. Even better, he should not have known about the Rushmore lab at all. What's worse, Shadow was in too.
Stone was… look. Stone is an adult and he can to use his late boss' technology if he wanted to and it wasn't like he had planned to use the vr-glasses today. He'd been vacuuming and they were just sitting there, in a display case, behind fortified glass. Really if they shouldn't be used then they shouldn't look cool.
It's perfectly normal, being distracted from chores, happens to anyone.
Picking up one pair from the display case, Stone briefly considered disconnecting it from the other pair. The two were automatically linked so whatever he saw would also show up in the other pair if he didn't, but throwing a glance back at Shadow who was lounging on a bean back chair he decided to forgo the precaution.
He was reading a book that he'd borrowed for the ultimate life form from a library, he was fully absorbed in the story, but Shadow also had very little interest in technology in general. So the chance that he'd get curious enough to grab the second pair were closer to zero than one. Plus Stone wouldn't be in the simulation for long, he'd just go in and out, just a peak.
Putting on the glasses and starting up a simulation, Stone just watched with a sad smile around the lab. The simulation he ran wasn't new, but it was one he held extremely dear.
He'd done this a few times, when he was feeling really bad - and also maybe a few times when he just wanted to - but the simulations never made things easier.
And that's when Sonic ran in.
Stone jumped a mile into the air, Shadow froze, Sonic miraculously didn't spot him.
"Sonic!" Stone yelled out, eyes wide behind the headpiece. The blue speedster turned to Stone, his back now turned to Shadow who with wide eyes that shot between him and Stone carefully got up.
"Well, that's certainly a surprise." Stone said trying not to make it obvious that he was looking back at Shadow. "What are you doing here?" Shadow put the book down without a sound and while Stone was talking tried to get up from the beanbag as quietly as he could. Noticing what he was doing, Stone talked louder to try and cover the sound.
It worked apparently, Sonic didn't seem to hear the beanbag being evacuated behind him, although the hero did send a weird look at him.
"Uhm, nothing much man. Just looking for something." Stone's heart rate skyrocketed. The last time that he'd seen Sonic was when he'd dropped in on the mean bean. He gave him a heart attack too, but that time Shadow had managed to chaos control away before the blue blur burst in through the door. Right now he looked like a cat that was about to get hit by a car, inching through the room to try and hide behind the counter when he'd heard what Sonic said and freezing like Stone.
"You're… looking for something?" Stone asked, trying to sound normal and failing miserably. Thankfully a lot of things seemed to be flying over Sonic's head.
"Yeah, hope you don't mind." He said casually, walking up to the henchman in normal speed. "By the way, what's with the glasses?" He asked as he just handed a thermos can to Stone, he took it dumbly.
Zipping past him, Stone whipped around to find Sonic already starting his search for whatever it was he was here for. Riffling through some drawers underneath the ocular display. Turning to look at Shadow, the hedgehog jumped behind the counter.
With Shadow now somewhat hidden out of sight, Stone's hit by a small wave of relief. Finally looking at the thermos in his hand proper. Sonic had walked in with it but didn't really seem to like it, it also had a logo on the side that felt familiar. It looked like the doctors.
Why would Sonic have this?
"Eh, you can have it, too hydro flask coded for me." Stone looked up from the thermos. Sonic was half turned towards him from the last cupboard in the room - all the others left open and obviously rummaged through. Sonic was talking about how someone who goes through the trouble of actually having a thermos can at all should at least have some turtle stickers on them. Stone was half listening, the other half was annoyed as he realised that he'd have to go clean that all up again after Sonic was gone.
"Like really, if you want to go VSCO, commit to the bit. This just feels insulting to VSCO girls if you ask me."
The speedster in question didn't even look guilty, or aware.
Instead, Sonic turned to the rest of the room. Stone's heart shot up in his throat again when the blue hedgehog suddenly shot forwards to the counter where Shadow was hidden. The blue hedgehog jumped up last minute, slid over the counter and landing on the other side to inspect an array of shelves.
Stone watched on with horror filled eyes as Sonic didn't continue to look behind him as Shadow all but army crawled away from him, desperately. Managing to reach the other side of the counter without being spotted. Their eyes crossed for a moment with Shadow's urging him to do something.
"Check- check the other room." Stone blurts, waving his arms high and slightly to the side so Sonic wouldn't look down, instead turning around and noticing an open door. "It's more for, uh, storage and stuff." He explained. Sonic shot him a confused look before nodded appreciatively. Zipping past Stone, Shadow and the counter through to the other room.
A sigh of relief went through both Shadow and Stone as the dark hedgehog got up and immediately looked around for somewhere better to hide. Stone quickly stepping next to him while keeping an eye out on the door Sonic had just ran into. Placing the vr-headpiece and thermos he was still holding on the counter so he could have his hands free.
"Haha, very funny henchguy." Sonic said, walking back in. Without a thought, Shadow jumped up. Grappling at the back of Stone's clothes so the hedgehog could hang and hide behind his back fully - like a cartoon character hiding behind a tree. Stone tried to stand as still as possible, failing, jostling for a second, wrapping his arms around his back to keep Shadow in place, regaining his balance and then sending Sonic the most desperate smile he might have ever smiled at someone.
"You alright there man?" Sonic asked eyeing him suspiciously. Nothing has ever sent as much sweat dripping from his forehead as a single hedgehog just asking if he's ok.
Stone desperately nodded his head, heart beating in his throat.
"What uh, what are you looking for exactly?" He asked hoping that that would be enough of a topic change. Sonic took another moment to eye him either confused or suspicious before answering. Shadow's hands were digging into his back and that particular discomfort was not helping Stone right now. Eventually Sonic just shook his head, deciding that whatever was going on with him probably wasn't something he wanted to know.
His eyes wandered around the room again briefly, before falling back to the counter next to Stone.
"Oooh," before Stone could even ask what he was looking at, Sonic zipped past him to grab the vr-glasses off the counter. Stumbling back, Stone turned so his front was facing Sonic before realising what the blue blur was doing. "You know, you never said what these were." Sonic said, turning the glasses over in his hands.
Stone suddenly remembered that the simulation he was looking at was still running, also what exactly he'd been looking at.
"Hey wait-" Freeing one hand from holding Shadow, Stone reached out to snatch the glasses from Sonic but seeing him move, Sonic grinned. The speedster stepped back and stuck the glasses to his face.
Immediately wincing, Stone just looked on as Sonic looked around, grin slowly faltering as his eyes landed on something that Stone couldn't see without those glasses. Realisation hit him, slowly lowering the glasses from his face he turned to Stone sympathetically.
"Oh henchguy…"
"My name isn't henchguy." Stone responded, rather done with the random nickname and certainly not feeling like having Sonic know that he'd been simulating the late doctor. It wasn't anything grand like Dr. Robotnik defeating Sonic with when they had the master emerald or him just plotting something evil back in the van while Stone held out a latte. It was a replay of the doctor milling around in this very same lab. Something that had been so normal and something he'd somehow taken for granted every day that the doctor was here.
Sue him for wanting a piece of that back, even if it wasn't real.
"I'm not entirely sure whether this is a healthy or unhealthy coping mechanism." Sonic started up again. Stone just scowled at him a little, returning his outstretched hand back to hold onto Shadow; it felt like the dark hedgehog almost started slipping from his hold but with the way Shadow was gripping at the back of his clothes, Stone thought that that might not actually be possible.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" The offer was unexpected, but still Stone shook his head. It might have been a year but it still hurt as if everything had happened yesterday. Why poke around a wound that still hurt?
Sonic looked slightly awkward but still asked him, the younger hedgehog might not be the most emotionally bright but he still had his heart in the right place. Shaking the thought from his mind, Stone changed subjects.
"Do you seriously not know my name?" Sonic froze up, all over again. "After all this time Sonic." Stone chided.
"…I rain check this and you rain check that." Sonic pleaded.
"That's not how rain checks work."
"I'm rain checking it anyway."
Stone chuckled to himself. Letting Sonic change the subject in his own way, he was a little hurt that the blue guy didn't actually know his name - even Shadow knew it before they started hanging out - or maybe he'd just forgotten it at some point. Anyway, the two moved on.
"What are you looking for anyway?" he asked again.
Sonic looked a little relieved that Stone didn't look mad about him not remembering his name. Stone let him hold on to that belief, he'd get his revenge in some way, sometime.
"quanti-nerd-egg-chip or something." Sonic replied, putting the glasses back on the counter and turning back to Stone. The words stumbling out of Sonic's mouth still managed to catch him by surprise, out of everything that he could have been looking for.
"The quantifiable-micron-neuro-egg-chips?" Sonic nodded. Stone looked at him with a raised eyebrow, yeah there was no way that Sonic was looking for something like that on his own. "Why would Tails want the quantifiable-micron-neuro-egg-chips?" Stone questioned.
Again, Sonic looked uncharacteristically awkward. Like he'd walked in on his parents kissing in the kitchen, looking like he wanted to whither away where he stood right at that moment.
"Right… Tails." Sonic said, confirming?
"Tails just wants to uh- make sure they don't get into the wrong hands."
"Well, I'm cleaning up the lab here and making sure the security is airtight so there's not exactly any chance of someone unauthorised getting their hands on any of the doctors technology." Stone assured him.
"Well, I don't want to burst your bubble, but how do you know for sure? I mean, Tails could have broken into one of the labs and grabbed a handful of tech himself and trust me, he could and also, he would be terrifying with it." Sonic shuddered before continuing. "That and surely GUN's pretty interested in the doctors old tech right? How are you sure that you're keeping them out?"
Stone smiled at that, couldn't help but grin a little honestly. Sonic leaned back from the smiling henchman, only slightly unnerved.
"Oh trust me Sonic, I keep them out. I'm certain."
"…Well that's not scary." Sonic replied.
Stone felt a hand shake the back panel of his suit, Shadow signalling to him to hurry up and get Sonic out of here already. Sighing, Stone relented.
"Right, well. If you want the quantifiable-micron-neuro-egg-chips then you just need to look one level down in storage box 14-C, careful though they're pretty fragi-" Stone wasn't even done speaking before Sonic ran through the room and down the stairs, fast enough to send papers to scattering behind him and for Stone to fumble all over again. Without a second thought, Shadow scrambled to the floor and ran for one of the cupboards that Sonic had just riffled through. Closing it behind him just in time for the blue blur to blur back with a box in hand, smile on his face.
"Thankshenchguy!Youwerearealhelp." He thanked before running out the door and out the lab.
Stone let out a sigh of relief, feeling like his heart had just dropped from his throat back to his chest where it was supposed to be. Walking around the counter he grabbed a trashcan and shuffled it towards the papers on the ground, bending down to pick them up and drop them in the bin he called out to Shadow without looking up.
"He's gone now."
Stepping out of the cupboard, Shadow walked up to Stone. Seemingly as relieved as he felt.
"I never want to go through that again." He said, coming to stand next to Stone as the man dropped some more papers in the bin.
"Oh hey henchguy!" Suddenly Sonic's voice called out from the hallway. Heart dropping to the floor, Stone picked up Shadow without thinking, shoving him into the bin and shutting the lid over him. Pressing down with his upper body, Stone tried to keep the trashcan as still as possible when Shadow started kicking the lid trying to get out.
Sonic walked back in the entrance but didn't walk further into the lab. A kick reverberated through the lid, shaking the whole bin but Stone did his best to keep Shadow from shooting out now. Sonic just looked at him questioningly, pausing whatever he was going to say in lieu of whatever the heck Stone had going on.
"I caught a rat!" Stone quickly explained, new sweat falling from his brow as another kick threatened to send them flying sideways. "A big one."
Sonic's face scrunched up in disgust. "Oh, ew."
Stone just nodded desperately, luckily Shadow seemed to get the memo and didn't kick the can again When he was sure the dark hedgehog had cut it out, Stone just moved himself to stand in front of the bin all together, still keeping a hand on the top to make sure Shadow wouldn't try anything.
"Uh- I just wanted to say that I kind of get what you're going through. I mean, with the glasses- Grief can do some weird things to you man, and well you loosing Eggman, I think that's sort of the same for me when Shadow died." Except Shadow was the ultimate life from, and no matter how much of a genius Dr. Robotnik was, he was still human. One had survived, the other could not. "You're not alone you know." Sonic finished.
Stone did know, he was glad that Sonic felt comfortable enough to say it but at the same time, he felt horrible about keeping that - and him - from Sonic.
"You should drop by Green Hills sometimes if you're up for it, I'm sure Tom and Maddie wouldn't mind having you over for dinner, even if you did side with the guy that tried to kill us a few times." Sonic extended his final offer and instead of waiting for Stone to reply he just waved and left. The sound of a sonic boom echoing back into the lab from somewhere far outside and suddenly Stone was left alone with his thoughts.
Well, almost alone. Pulling his hands from the trash bin, he stepped to the side and saw the metal can fall over with a 'thunk'. The lid shooting off with a swift kick from the inside and out crawled Shadow.
"You, are never shoving me into the trash. Ever. Again." Shadow growled out, but after being witness to Shadow's intensive skin-care routine for a year, Stone wasn't even slightly intimidated by the threat.
"When are you going to tell him that you're alive?" Stone asked annoyed, putting his hands on his hips as emphasis as if he were Shadow's mother chastising him. "He's obviously missing you, you could just go over and say hi." Shadow just glared at him instead of answering. Probably hoping to manifest the ability of chaos laser eyes right at that moment and shooting Stone through his head. When nothing happened, Shadow just huffed and stalked off to brood somewhere by himself like a teen.
Stone sighed and rubbed his temples. He didn't bother to worry whether he was getting a headache or not, he was sure that the amount of heart attacks from today alone would be enough to kill him were he to experience even a sliver of anything right now and that was enough comfort for him at the moment.
Glaring around the roughed up lab, Stone lamented all the work wasted. With this much of a mess he could just practically start over. Looking up from the cupboard, his eyes landed on the thermos that Sonic had left behind. The design still stood out to him, the elements feeling familiar yet somehow different.
Picking up the can, Stone brought it to his lips and took a sip. It was coffee, lukewarm and with an odd flavour. He recognised it though, taking a second sip Stone realised why the odd flavour felt so familiar.
Was this mushroom?
Written by a human in Ellipsus.