Sonic looked up at the tree. The same mighty tree he had taken his first fishing rod from. "Heyyyyy, tree," Sonic sighed with a smile, arms wrapped tightly around his body as he crept across the frozen grass. "Look, I came here to ask you something." Sonic bowed to the tree, and blurted it out.
"I need to cut you down!" Sonic shouted, the smile breaking as he shivered all over. It was strange, winter was upon him, and yet there was no snow. No cheer. No memories of the merry variety. It was only colder. "I mean— it's not like I want to! You provided me with shade, fruit, fishing poles that… didn't work…" Sonic said the last part through his grinding teeth. "But, I'd say, let's just put our heads together and figure out what you'd like me to turn you into. I can do firewood, I can do supplies, elaborate wood carvings of all my friends…" Sonic frowned as a strong gust of wind sent the decaying leaves that fell in the autumn flying into his face. He realized he couldn't even begin to picture what Amy really looked like. Then, a wooden creaking sound entered his ears. Sonic jumped out of the way, as the tree fell down and crashed onto Kronos Field. Sonic looked over at the tree as the wave of leaves, frost and dirt disappeared into the distance, eventually becoming scattered in the wind.
"You… sacrificed yourself for me," Sonic mumbled, beginning to tear up. He put his hand on the fallen timber and stared at a very far-off hill. "Don't worry, tree. You'll be my home. Someday." Sonic smiled a little.
Sonic cut the tree into logs with a series of Spin Dashes, and began rolling each and every one of them down the hill. He followed the last one down, and when he tried to push it uphill… he couldn't quite make it. "Darn… c'mon, I need SOMEWHERE to sleep tonight!" Sonic grunted, until the log began to roll back down, catching him under itself and spitting him out into the dirt. "There has to be an easier way to do this." Sonic's hand suddenly started flashing red. He looked to it, and smirked.
"Yeeehaw!" Sonic hollered as he lassoed the wood with RED-CODE and spinned it all around, eventually building up the force and confidence to chuck it to the top of his desired hill. Each log that was once heavy now felt light as a feather. For once, Sonic felt in control of his own situation.
Sonic and Pebble approached the Kronos Coliseum, Sage following far behind to try and go unnoticed. "I can see you, Sage," Sonic sighed, Sage peeking out from behind a rock. "Come on out, maybe you can help me carry supplies back to my cabin-to-be."
"I have a question," Sage said. Sonic turned to her.
"I'm all ears."
Sage cleared her throat. "Why are you building a cabin?" Sage asked. "It will become a target. You know Giganto will wake up again someday soon to tear it down like he did with Big's Cabin AND Big himself. If you know a home will be destroyed, why put all this effort into creating one…? Nurturing one…" Sage laced her fingers together and took a deep breath. Sonic looked to the ground.
"That's later. This is now. It might not last forever. It might not even last the season," Sonic sighed. "But now more than ever, I need a place to protect me from the cold. With any luck, Giganto's hibernating and won't be a problem for a while."
"That is a possibility," Sage sighed, putting her sleeve on her mouth. She followed Sonic to the coliseum, and arrived at the remains of the Ninja. "What are we doing here?"
"I was just gonna use your robot's limbs as a kind of frame for the house," Sonic explained. "I'm gonna need more materials to hold it all together, but this could be how the construction starts out."
"You can't do that," Sage replied.
"Excuse me?"
"I will not allow you to use my creation to build yourself a house that will either be abandoned or destroyed in a matter of days," Sage said sternly. "Floating pod. Bobsled. Stick. Fishing pole. A splint of golden rings. It's a complete waste of value and misuse of a good resource. You could turn these remains into some kind of weapon, or chisel holes big enough to fit in and wear the Ninja as armor. Final offer."
"When the house is done, I'll let you stay there," Sonic offered.
"Eh…?!" Sage pouted. "Look, you're not building a house with it. I will not help you with this meaningless endeavor!" Pebble approached an out-of-place patch of tall grass, and began sifting through it.
"It's just a bunch of scrap metal! You made it out of your hand, make another Ninja if you care so much," Sonic retorted, crossing his arms.
"No.. n-no, NO. It doesn't work like that! I'm not made of metal," Sage hissed. "And are you testing me?!" Pebble approached Sonic, hopping over with some kind of iridescent pink gemstone on its head. Sage looked over with a gasp, her heart stopping for a second. Sonic knelt down by Pebble.
"Whoa… what is this?" Sonic asked, smiling as he took in the beauty of the gem. It was shaped like a heart.
"It's one of the three Memory Tokens, the Passion Spinel!" Sage exclaimed, amazed by the rock's majesty. "Records say that each Memory Token holds the essence of a single memory." Sage looked to Sonic. "When you can't recall anything, a fleeting glimpse of just one memory can be worth the world. I wonder… whose memory could it be?"
"Could it be mine?" Sonic asked. He reached for the Passion Spinel, and grabbed it from Pebble's head.
"Doubtful," Sage answered. "You only spawned into existence recently, I cannot find any evidence that you ever existed before in this world. All we have to go off of are table scraps from Cyberspace, and as you know, the visions you've gotten from that dimension are to be treated with a high amount of skepticism." Sage paused. "Even the memories contained within the Passion Spinel might not be real." Sonic held the token in his hands, and felt a sense of warmth and belonging. Longing. Love, even?
"Well, I suppose it's kinda pretty," Sonic sighed. "I'm gonna keep it. Who knows? It could spruce up my house." Sonic approached the Ninja.
"Sonic!" Sage pouted, floating over. Sonic stood over the Ninja, and found some kind of slot on its chest. He looked to the Passion Spinel.
"Does this fit in here?" Sonic gasped, kneeling down cautiously. Pebble watched as Sonic held the spinel over the slot. "It does…!" Sonic looked to Sage.
"Mysterious…!" Sage murmured. "I suppose you can try it. Be warned, the Ninja cannot yet end your life by itself, but anything could happen when an external force is plugged in. And the warranty does not cover modifications. Refrain for now. Let me run a simulation." Sonic watched as Sage closed her eyes. He tapped his foot, whistling a tune as he made it up. Sage's eyes opened. "Do it." She hissed, gritting her teeth. Sonic looked to her strangely, before placing the Passion Spinel into the slot on the Ninja. A brilliant shine. The Ninja remains began to float into the air.
They began to piece themselves back together.
"Sage, it's… coming back to life!" Sonic shouted.
"Be extremely cautious, we do not yet know how the Passion Spinel will tamper with my Ninja," Sage muttered, wiping tears away with her sleeve. The Ninja pulled all of its body parts together, and the glow expanded until it enveloped Sonic and Sage's vision.
The glow faded back into the Ninja, and it fell to the ground. It was a different color now, the blacks and reds had changed to dull blues and yellows. Sonic approached slowly as the Ninja tried to get up. Sonic shakily reached out his hand and poked it on the head. A thin string began to grow out of the peak of the Ninja's pyramid head. "Huh?" Sonic asked, stepping back. From the stem attached to the Ninja, a heart shape blossomed. Sonic wasn't sure how to react. Sage clutched the ends of her dress.
"Help her up," Sage muttered.
"Her…?" Sonic asked. "'It', it's a—"
"DO IT," Sage ordered. Sonic nodded, and reached out for the Ninja's arm extremely carefully.
"Hey, you all good?" Sonic asked. He wasn't even sure if the Ninja could hear or comprehend him. He helped the Ninja up despite how sharp its arm was, and it clutched its head. Sonic saw big, deep green eyes. "Whoa…"
"Hello? Who are you?" The Ninja asked, gazing up at Sonic.
"I'm… Sonic?" Sonic answered. "Who are you?" The Ninja looked down with a frown.
"I can't remember," the Ninja said. Sonic looked to Sage, only to see nobody there. "How did I get here? What is this place?!" The Ninja shouted, looking all around at the island. "Where is he?!" She cried.
"You're looking for someone?" Sonic asked, kneeling down to eye level with the Ninja.
"I'm looking for the one I love," the Ninja replied. "But… I don't remember anything about him, or where he may be."
"I'm looking for a loved one too," Sonic said, standing up. "I'm willing to bet the people we're looking for aren't on this island, though." The Ninja's expression soured.
"Then what will I do? What will you do?" The Ninja asked. Sonic glanced down at the Ninja, unsure.
…
Sonic kept staring at the Ninja, she checked herself out too while walking alongside Sonic through Aphrodite Woods. "This body… it doesn't feel like the one I had before," the Ninja stated, swinging her arm around. Sonic ducked under her arm, but she didn't notice. "Then again, I can't say for certain. You say I came about when you placed some kind of rock in a broken robot?" She finally looked over. Sonic nodded slightly.
"I wonder… am I the reason you're here at all?" Sonic asked. "On these islands, I mean. Did I take you from your home? Did I take away your memories when I fused the Passion Spinel with the Ninja?"
"Even if that's the case, I wouldn't be mad at you!" the Ninja assured him. "Before I woke up here, it was like I was in some kind of nightmare. I can't say how long I was asleep." Sonic and the Ninja walked in silence for a moment.
"You know, I can't really remember much either," Sonic told the Ninja. "I at least knew my name from the start, though."
"Huh. I'm kinda jealous," the Ninja said, with a smirk. "I mean, that's good! That's really good. I'm happy for you. Names are important, you know." They arrived at the stack of logs at the top of Sonic's hill. "What is this? Is it natural?" Sonic looked to her.
"Kinda? It IS from a tree. But I'm the one who cut it down and brought it here," Sonic groaned, stretching. "It's going to be my house. Hopefully it'll help me last through the winter."
"How creative!" The Ninja clapped her hands.
"And I was gonna use your body parts to piece it all together," Sonic said. The Ninja swinged her head over to look at him, mortified.
"Eck–?!" The Ninja vocalized. Sonic rolled his eyes.
"When your body was still just a broken robot," Sonic elaborated, crossing his arms.
"Oh… I see," the Ninja mumbled. "I can still help if you want! I dunno about donating an arm or a leg, but I could certainly lend a hand." She smiled warmly, before bending over and sketching something in the coarse dirt with her arm.
"Whatcha drawing?" Sonic asked, walking around her. Both of them stared intently at the lines in the ground.
"Blueprints," the Ninja answered, writing the names of very complex-sounding tools and parts they would need. "We won't get far without a plan."
"Do you think we can even get all these materials?" Sonic asked, cocking his head. "This island is pretty barren."
"Of course we can, they're all around us," the Ninja told him. "We can pick off pieces of these ancient structures to use in our house." Sonic squinted, looking at all the ruins off in the distance.
"Huh… I suppose you're right, Yari," Sonic mumbled. The Ninja blushed.
"'Y-Yari'?" She stammered.
"What? I think it's a pretty name," Sonic replied. He looked into her eyes, then blasted into the distance.
"Hey, wait up, Sonic!" Yari exclaimed, sprinting after him and leaving holes in the ground behind her. Sonic came to a stop at an outlying ancient ruin that was covered in grass, flowers and moss. Half-consumed into the island itself.
"Does this have what we need?" Sonic asked, examining the structure. "Still looks pretty sturdy."
"Definitely," Yari murmured. She stepped forth and sliced at the structure, immediately hopping back. A second passed before a decent chunk of ancient stone slid off of the rest of the building and crashed onto the ground. Sonic looked on in amazement. "T-there we go! Let's bring this on back, then come back for more later." Yari grabbed one side of the piece she had sliced off. Sonic tried to Spin Dash into the structure to cut more stone away, but bounced right off. He tried again and again to make even the slightest slash as Yari struggled to lift up her slab. "A little help, Sonic?"
"Of course!" Sonic stammered, rushing over and grabbing the other side. They both tried to lift it, before getting it an inch off the ground. They then dropped it. They panted for a second, as the pressure in their arms disappeared a little bit. "Wow… how are we supposed to carry this back to the hill?"
"No idea…" Yari sighed. Sonic stood there, tapping his foot as he thought.
"I know!" Sonic exclaimed. Yari perked up instantly. "Why don't we make a visit to the Hermit? He said he'd make me stronger if I got some seeds for him."
"Seeds?" Yari asked.
"Yeah," Sonic replied. He looked into the distance. "Only problem is, I have no idea where these seeds could be. I don't think I've seen any yet." Sonic heard something not too far off. A buzzing sound. He looked to Yari, it seemed she noticed it too.
Sonic and Yari approached a fenced-off patch of land. Surprisingly, the fence was made of wood and not stone like the other structures around the island were. "I wonder… did Big build this?" Sonic asked himself. Yari glanced to him.
"Who's Big?" Yari asked as Sonic spun a small flimsy wooden sign around. Sure enough, it had Big's name carved into it. Sonic watched it fall to the ground.
"He was… a friend of mine from a few weeks back," Sonic mumbled. "He left this all behind. Who knows what else he had to take care of?" Sonic stood up. He realized what this was now. It was a farm. It was entangled in weeds and fungus, it was clear that Big had abandoned this place well before he had died. "Well, whether or not he left it behind on purpose, we're gonna take care of it. We need to keep his legacy alive no matter what." Sonic walked past Yari, and hopped the fence. Yari stepped over it, and looked at the farmland. It stretched far into the horizon. "Yari, it's time for some yard work."
Sonic and Yari got to work cutting away the pesky weeds, and uprooting as many of the mushrooms as they could. Pebble and Sage watched from the sidelines. Sage groaned. "Why do they care so much about this one activity? You'd think there would be more important things to worry about. He gets sidetracked so easily," Sage told Pebble. It looked to her strangely. "You know as well as I do that this land cannot support many crops. Anything they try to harvest here will wither before it blooms."
Sonic pulled on a weed, tearing it out of the ground on a clump of dirt and stones. The buzzing sound grew louder, and Sonic's eyes widened as hornets flew out of the hole! "Yari, run!" Sonic shouted, dashing away from the hornets with his hands in the air. Yari screamed as they swarmed her, and she started to swing her arms around wildly. Sonic looked to a strange flower, and ran around it. Using RED-CODE, he created a circular trail behind him. Once he made a full loop, the flower bloomed. The hornets were drawn to it, finally leaving Yari alone.
"You okay?" Sonic asked, rushing over to Yari.
"I think so," Yari gasped. Sonic tried to help her up while also trying to avoid her sharp arms. Eventually, he put his hands on her underarms and lifted her to her feet. She looked away, bashfully. Just then, the ground began to glow a beautiful red. Sonic and Yari looked to the dirt, and saw all the weeds begin to turn into ashes. "Whoa… that flower must be doing all the work for us!" Yari exclaimed with a smile, looking over Sonic at the shining flower the hornets were all flying around. The ground stopped glowing, as all the light turned to an orb in the air. It then revealed its true form, a huge red spiky seed. It began to fall.
"That must be it… one of the Hermit's seeds!" Sonic exclaimed. He jumped up and caught it. As soon as he hit the ground, he danced a dance of pure joy, Yari following his movements as they celebrated their new find.
"That's incredible! Who would have thought there would be one right here?" Yari laughed, as they walked away from the restored farm and night fell.
"I'm surprised too," Sonic replied, juggling the seed with one hand. "I would bring it to the Hermit, but I'd imagine Rhea Range is unsafe to go to given the weather lately. It's already cold enough in this field." Just then, the ground began to rumble. Sonic's heart sunk as he fell to the ground.
"Sonic, what's going on?!" Yari cried, immobilized as Rhea Range began to lift off of the island. Sonic stumbled to his feet.
"Yari, we need to get out of here!" Sonic shouted. He and Yari stumbled through the field as Giganto woke up. With a yawn that nearly ruptured Sonic's eardrums, Giganto stomped across the island towards them. Yari screamed, diving out of the way as Giganto almost squashed her. Sonic caught her and lifted her up. The two continued to run.
Giganto kept charging towards Sonic and Yari, until Sage appeared out of a cybernetic cloud chased by a stampede of Koco. "Ew, ew, ew! Sonic! Get these things away from—!" Sage screamed, before her face grew somehow more pale. "Giganto…! Run along, Sonic. We'll distract him as long as we can."
"How?!" Sonic asked. A large amount of pungent liquid splashed onto him. He looked up to see Giganto towering over him, drooling. His heart would have stopped if not for the fact it was pounding out of his chest.
"Didn't you hear me? Run!" Sage shouted. Sonic Cylooped Yari and ran off, as she floated alongside him in a bubble made out of RED-CODE. Sage turned to Giganto. She lifted a hand.
"Sleep," Sage whispered. Giganto froze, before jittering uncontrollably. He bowed, slowly creeping back over to the pit in the island he came from and resting once more.