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borrelia · 1 year

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had some thoughts in my head abt post-canon stc sonic and abt exit sonic and about sonic and kintobor so i tried to write something down about it

After the dust settled, after Grimer’s body had been unceremoniously tossed off the side of Angel island, after Sonic demonstrated he could once again race around without feeling the slightest bit winded, after Kintobor had belted up his oversized clothes onto his once-again human frame, they had dinner. The group of mobians and the human twice their height (but no more!) sat down at a roughly-built wood table and enjoyed something like a normal reunion dinner. They passed around bowls of some potato-based recipe Knuckles had crafted from the island’s produce, a plate of flatbread, a couple cans of cola. It was a normal Kintobor had never properly experienced, but a welcome one all the same.

As a reunion, though, it was far from normal. Kintobor’s memories of them all were strange and distorted—he knew their names as he made polite conversation, but he had to consciously think around an immediate and reactive disdain for the individuals. His former enemies no longer needed to fight a chaos-mutated giant in his skin and he had no reason to return animosity. It was an odd sensation, once again looking down to see Sonic glued to his side after years of enacting misery upon him from afar. Once again able to think of him as his ally—his friend—instead of an obnoxious pest. What a curious and bittersweet feeling it was.

As Robotnik, he’d been lost for years in a strange inter-dimensional space of chaos—something to investigate further now that his scientific faculties had returned. He lost years there in seconds—minutes, it felt like. In the blink of an eye, not only was Sonic no longer snarling at him from below his knees, but the excitable little beast had grown considerably. Well, not so much in height perhaps—Kintobor glanced down at his elbow where Sonic sat, oddly quiet as he watched the other conversations. Despite the new nicks in his ears and the sleek, dark quality to his quills that signaled a maturity significantly past his teen self, he still barely came past Ovi’s ribcage. Had the table been sized for humans rather than Sonic’s peers, he would have needed to sit up on his knees to reach anything past his plate.

Ovi remembered when Sonic had been so much smaller, something like the size of a large cat, running around his lab and climbing up his labcoat for attention. He’d never been a cuddly child—not least of all because of his propensity to leave his quills flexed and sharp. Not out of malice or aggression, it seemed, only out of a childish and inquietable excitement. No, he’d never been particularly touchy at all, but back then he’d been so eager to please; he just loved the attention he could get for doing something right. Sometimes it was words, sometimes it was a scratch on the forehead or a pinch on his ear. Kintobor never got to fully understand what the mobians found acceptable contact between strangers, friends, family members—and even knowing Sonic’s boundaries, he was willing to bet he still didn’t know what was “normal” for the rest of them.

And now sitting here, with a fully grown Sonic much similar but much, much different from the excitable child he once was, sitting here with his friends, sitting here after years of tormenting this planet’s many people and personally attacking everyone in this group… Sitting here next to his old friend, who had nearly given his life to bring Kintobor back…

He wondered if it would be too inappropriate to give the kid a pat on the head for a job well done.

“So, mister—doctor Kintobor.”

The tentative twitching in Ovi’s hand was interrupted by Porker Lewis at the end of the table. He turned to him and rested his hand beside his plate, humming an acknowledgement. He could revisit this idea later, perhaps, with a bit more privacy.

“Now that you’re not—well, I suppose we should keep an eye on you, run some tests for a while before setting you loose—but now that you’re not ev—now that you’re not Eggman anymore, what are you planning on doing with yourself?” Porker looked a little red at his stumbling and quickly shoved some flatbread in his mouth to look busy.

Kintobor sat up straight with a wide smile. “Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?” Sonic grew still next to him and Amy and Tails’ conversation paused as they listened in. “I must admit, I’ll need some time to readjust—catch up on what is going on in the world nowadays. But once I’ve got my footing, and you’ve given me the all clear—oh are you not in charge of this, Lewis?”

Porker nodded to Knuckles, who raised his hand with a hard look to Kintobor. “I’d like to have a say in this,” Knuckles said. “Porker manages the high-tech side of things, but I’m the Guardian of the emeralds; I will judge if anything’s gone wrong with the energy transfer.” He narrowed his eyes and pointed at Sonic. “That means for you, too. No running off until I know you’re really okay.”

Sonic scoffed and folded his arms. Ah, it seemed there were some things he hadn’t outgrown. “You just can’t help yourself, huh? Even when I’m perfectly fine, you still need to find an excuse to nanny me.”

Knuckles growled and struck his fist on the table at the same time Amy pinched the bridge of her nose with a sighed, “For Christ’s sake, Sonic…”

“Yes, that’s fine!” Kintobor cut in, leaning down to hopefully catch Knuckles’ eye more than the pouting hedgehog. It made his heart break just a little to think that it could be his fault—in absence or as Robotnik—that Sonic was still so bratty. Ah, but there was no good in dwelling on that, was there? Knuckles glanced up at him and nodded, relaxing back in his seat, so Ovi leaned out of Sonic’s space. Nobody could be held responsible for Sonic but Sonic himself; he didn’t need to be babied or—well, judging by Knuckles’ tone, maybe he did still need someone to keep him in check.

Ovi glanced down at Sonic’s flexed quills, still cross-armed and glaring across the table at his friend. “I’m sure there will be no problem for us both to stick around until you’ve been able to confirm these forms are stable. Wouldn’t want a surprise visit from Robotnik or Super Sonic while we’re out free in the world!”

Nods from around the table, and a quiet “yeah” from Sonic.

“But once that’s all taken care of, I’d like to get back to work,” Ovi continued. He thought for a moment, tapping his chin. “I suppose sequestering all of Mobius’s evil energy in one place was not my brightest idea. I wouldn’t want to do that again. But I’m certain, that—with your permission, of course—” he said, nodding to Knuckles “—I could find a way to use chaos energy to the world’s benefit, as I always intended.” He clapped his hands together, pleased with himself. “We’ve all seen the extents of their power; imagine if they could be used to supply a clean energy source to the world, or create long-lasting connections to other dimensions, or perhaps they could work as a miracle cure… Their capabilities are remarkable as they are mysterious. I think if I could make a breakthrough here, perhaps I could properly atone for all the things Robotnik has done.”

The response around the table was strongly positive. Chatter started back up—Knuckles voiced a tentative approval for Kintobor’s access to the emeralds for research; Tails and Amy began speculating ways he could assist in some of the most devastated environments affected by Robotnik’s rule. Porker was of course immediately on Ovi’s own wavelength discussing the physical theory of this research.

Once the technical talk started up, the other conversations splintered again into talks of family visits and childhood reminiscing. Tails’ voice rose and fell as he started bussing empty plates across the room to the small sink—strangely modern in between the ancient stone walls. Sonic joined him in cleaning up, then Knuckles got up as well (Knuckles’ involvement was immediately apparent by the bickering that started regarding wasting water and how to properly clean the kitchenware). From there, the conversation naturally died down as they parted—Tails announced he’d be flying Amy down to the surface before it got too dark, and Knuckles and Porker headed back to the emerald chamber for a while. That left Kintobor with Sonic, who offered to guide him through the labyrinthian halls of the palace to the guest rooms.

“You can use mine for now,” Sonic explained as they traveled the hall. “Knuckles fixed it up while I was doing my ‘treatments.’ It’s pretty cozy. And I figure, better let the old guy have it; I feel the best I’ve been in months.” He turned back and winked. “I’ll find somewhere else for the time being.”

“Thank you, Sonic, that’s very generous of you,” Ovi said with a smile.

Sonic scoffed and looked away, scratching his nose. The two stopped at the entrance to a small room furnished with a short wooden bed piled high with thick hand-made blankets. Ovi looked around as Sonic gave him a short tour: bed, upturned crate serving as an end table, worn stone floor covered by several narrow, mismatched rugs, a cut-out in the wall that looked like it might have been made for shelves. A pile of books rested in there now, next to a small lamp whose wires wound along the edge of the floor and out the room, following a trail of extensions out of sight.

“We think it used to be a store-room or something. Knuckles says most of the actual room-rooms are pretty far from the emerald chamber besides the head honcho’s.” Sonic shrugged and leaned against the doorway. “It’s pretty nice. Shouldn’t get too cold in the night, but Knux made sure there’s plenty of blankets if you do.”

Ovi nodded and took a seat on the bed. It was definitely too short for his human frame, but he wasn’t about to point that out. “This will work fine, I’m sure. Thank you.”

Sonic nodded again from where he stood, arms crossed. He stared forward, unfocused, for a moment before clearing his throat. “So doc, you think you’ll be staying up here on Angel island?”

“Hmm? Oh, for my research—yes! I imagine I will.”

“Oh,” Sonic said. His grip on his arms tightened. The walls soaked up sound in such a strange way, the silence between his words felt particularly heavy.

Ovi sat forward. Even folded down on this tiny bed, he was still just a touch taller than the hedgehog. And even after all these years, he still somehow looked like that stray child that had once burrowed into Kintobor’s lab. “Something wrong, my boy?”

“Nah, I just—” Sonic shifted, pressing his hands against his hips and looking away “—I just thought you’d be coming back down to the surface with me is all. But that makes sense. Can’t do research on the chaos emeralds without the emeralds themselves.”

Kintobor took a moment to study the fidgety young man in front of him. So he wanted Kintobor back down on the surface, hmm? “Do you have big plans down there now that you’re feeling better?”

Sonic’s ear twitched. He glanced over, then away again. “Truthfully, Tails is much better at helping people out than I am these days. He’s got the right head for it. And even before the treatments I might��have begun losing my touch.” He tapped his fingers against his sides, still looking around and down, away from Kintobor.

Ovi had thought it strange earlier in the day that Sonic had hardly brought up an excitement for adventuring. When he’d demonstrated his renewed stamina, his only focus was that he could run again. And that a certain echidna would no longer be hanging over his head reminding him of his condition. From what Ovi understood, the chaos siphon had only been going on for a couple months at most—surely Sonic would be eager to return from this forced vacation back to action?

Kintobor lowered his voice. “Are you alright, Sonny?”

The old nickname seemed to startle Sonic, who looked up quickly. “Wh—yeah, I’m fine, doc. I just don’t have much to do these days. A lot of the problems people need help with are stupid, political things. Not much these days I can fix by smashing that can’t be handled by Tails or Amy instead. There’s not much I can do to be useful. And it’s… hard to feel wanted when no one really needs you around anymore.” He seemed to realize what he was saying as he finished his sentence and snapped his mouth shut, eyes wide.

There was a pause, then Kintobor slid over and patted the seat next to him. Sonic hesitated, straight as a board, eyeing the bed with apprehension. Stiffly, he walked over and sat.

Ovi wondered… He didn’t know much about Sonic’s friends or the bonds they’d forged—only vague, unimportant things he’d picked up on as Robotnik. He didn’t know much about how they got along beyond what he’d seen so far today, but he got the feeling this wasn’t a side of Sonic he was used to sharing. Had he never discussed this with his friends? Had he even admitted this to himself before now?

Ovi’s hand hovered over Sonic’s shoulder. He couldn’t be considered Sonic’s friend; not anymore. They’d spent years trying to kill each other, he’d spent years ruining Sonic’s world… And his last point of reference for anything Sonic wanted or needed had been something like twenty years ago, long before Sonic had grown into the battered hero he seemed today. And yet… and yet Sonic had nearly sacrificed his own life to bring Kintobor back. He’d been stuck to his hip like glue all evening and even now was showing a level of vulnerability (small though it may be) that Kintobor couldn’t recall ever seeing from the young hedgehog.

He set a heavy and weathered hand on Sonic’s shoulder and felt him relax beneath the touch. His hand easily covered the entire top of his arm; still so small… “Well you could be plenty useful helping me again. I would certainly miss your presence in my lab.”

Sonic scoffed, but didn’t pull away. “No need for flattery. That’s what you’ve got Knuckles and Porker up here for.”

“And you wouldn’t stay to help me?”

“Hey, let’s not leap to conclusions--!”

Kintobor chuckled, which seemed to catch Sonic off guard. He cut himself off and finally met his gaze, realization dawning on his face.

“I’m sure both of them will make fine collaborators, but I doubt they can speed read quite like you can. And there’s no replacing your delightful banter in my eyes. It just wouldn’t be the same!” He smiled warmly and gently shook Sonic’s shoulder. “So how about it? Would you like to take another run at helping an old man with his research?”

Sonic scoffed, trying to play cool, but couldn’t help but smile despite himself. “I suppose I could stand to stay on this island a little longer.”

“Excellent!” Kintobor laughed. And then—a flash of a reminder—a thought sprang into his mind of when they had first reunited in the emerald chamber. How happy Sonic had been to see him, beelining over to where Kintobor sat on the floor, a wide smile on his face and arms outstretched. How Sonic’s friends had rushed them both with questions, stopping Sonic short a few feet away. How fast things had moved after that, how fidgety Sonic had been beside him…

On impulse, Kintobor twisted in place and pulled the hedgehog into a tight embrace, ignoring the prick of quills against his bare skin. Maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised that Sonic would not hesitate even a second before wrapping his arms around Kintobor as well. Maybe he should have expected the speed and the strength with which he held on. But it surprised him all the same.

“Thank you for saving me, Sonic,” he whispered. “You’ve done a good thing.”

Kintobor heard Sonic choke out something like a laugh into the fabric of his coat, then a muffled “It’s good to have you back, doc.”

“It’s good to be back.”

Ovi felt the hands on his back grip with a strength that shouldn’t be possible from someone that small.

#couch art #myaa #might post this for real with cover art l8r..#idk wasnt ablt to touch on the #'sonic is worse' and 'sonic agreed to do the chaos siphon bc he didnt feel like he had much else going on anymore'#and 'sonic wanted to save kintobor for himself again rather than destroy robotnik for everyone else'#oh wellll

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