i'm here, reaching far across these new frontiers [pt5]

Cont from last post

It took longer than felt safe before he could gasp down some air. Immediately, Nine took a deep breath, ducked underwater and spun his tails, powering his way towards the bed of the lake as fast as he could.

The water was murky, and the further down he went the more his spinning tails kicked up mud and debris. Nine squinted, furiously scanning the area. Visibiity was low. Why did he have to lose his gadget in the stupid Void? If he could just have run a sonar scan… Darting movements up ahead lifted his hopes briefly, which came crashing back down when a few fish zipped past him. There were no landmarks underwater to help tell how far he'd travelled or where he'd looked. His lungs burned.

Just as he thought he was going to have no choice but to go up again for air, a glimpse of white broke through the murk. Nine darted towards it and reached down, his heart rate picking up as his hand enclosed something solid and narrow, the distinct shape of a white glove emerging through the burgundy-black gloom.

Nine pointed his tails down and rocketed up as fast as he could, dragging the dead weight with him. He broke the surface, keeping his tails spinning below him to tread water, and pulled Sonic up by the wrist. His friend was out cold, and weighed way more than he should have. There was no way Nine would be able to fly them both out of there. He rearranged his hands so they were under Sonic's arms, trying to keep his friend's head above the water. What now? Nine twitched his mechanical tails experimentally, and was relieved to find they were now responding to his will again. He reached over with a few of them, and secured Sonic as best as he could. He kicked his back legs upwards, spun his tails again and propelled them both across the surface of the water, heading towards an orange-yellow beach edged with more cedar trees.

Nine's breath was coming hard by the time they reached the shallows. He dragged Sonic part way up the beach, wanting nothing more than to collapse next to him. The sight of his unconscious friend lent energy to his aching limbs, and he stumbled forward determinedly. After a Heimlich manoeuvre, Sonic dropped to his knees and started coughing, spitting out water. Nine fell to his knees beside him, relief flooding his body.

It was only now that he noticed that Sonic looked… different.

The difference was weird, and hard to explain. It was like someone had upscaled his friend for 4k HD cinema. His fur was more… detailed? Nine examined his own gloved hands and wet body, realising the same thing had happened to him.

"Nine?" Sonic's voice was a little raspy from the coughing, and somehow his green eyes had separated in his face. But his expression was the same as ever - a bit dopey, like he had no idea what was going on, but also alight with warmth, like he was happy to see his fox friend.

No one else had ever looked at Nine like that before.

He wasn't sure who moved towards the other first. They hugged, and Nine felt the corners of his eyes burning.

"What's going on?" Sonic asked, his voice sounding almost normal again. "What happened with the Void? Where are we? Why - " He pulled back, studying Nine, his expression baffled. "Why do you look like… that?"

Nine sniffed. "Our exterior appearances have obviously recalibrated to this shatterspace."

Sonic frowned. "Like how my kicks changed to fit each shatterspace?"

"Exactly." In spite of himself, of everything, Nine smiled. "There's hope for you yet, hedgehog."

Sonic got to his feet and helped Nine up. They stared out across the unassuming red-brown lake, silent.

It wasn't what Nine had intended. But whatever it was, wherever he was, at least he was here with his friend.