Sonic X : Planet Zero

Lost Souls

Reclus and everyone else on the ship had made it back to Planet Zero without any interruptions. The supreme leader entered out of the ship first, followed by the rest of his soldiers. Caitlin was still distraught by Sonic's unfortunate demise. She could barely move at all from her fetal position.

"Come on Caitlin. It's time to head out" Mr. Thomas said while trying to drag her off her feet.

"I can't believe it. He's gone just like that..." she said with a tear streaming down her cheek.

"I'm sure he's fine dear, but right now we have to leave."

"Fine? How can he be fine after all that!?"

Her voice had raised loudly back at him, to which Mr. Thomas tried calming her down and asking her to shush as to avoid any distractions.

Reclus walked up to the podium in front of his palace and announced that they would all celebrate by preparing a feast.

Everyone gathered into the building and sat down at a large table where all the food was being gathered and plated.

Eggman and his henchmen made sure to find seats close to where Reclus was.

Mr. Thomas also made sure to find good seats for him and his daughter. He was enjoying the food but then immediately took notice of Caitlin playing with her food instead of eating.

"You sure you don't wanna eat anything sweetie?"

"I'm not really that hungry..." she muttered, "I think I'm gonna go and sit outside for a bit."

She got up from her chair and walked off from the table.

"Alright, just please don't wander off too far" he told her.

He began to struggle with his food as well, as it had pained him to see his daughter so upset. Everyone else around had seemed so happy. He wondered why it couldn't be the same for them.

Eggman and his robots were able to finish their dinner before most of the other people, to which he then wandered off throughout the palace, admiring all the high-tech gadgets and equipment.

"Look at all these high-tech equipment they have in here! Soon all them equipment will belong to ME, and no one is gonna stop us!"

After admiring the technology, it was only a matter of time until he noticed Caitlin outside, sitting by the ledge. Due to everything that had happened between them prior, he was hesitant to approach her at first. As his robot lackeys left him to their own demises, Eggman walked up to her and cleared his throat.

"Hey kid, sorry that your father isn't exactly the same person as you probably once knew him."

She didn't wanna talk to him after everything that had happened before. She stayed silent until she muttered this under her breath.

"My mom was right. It seems like he truly is gone."

"That's not true", he insisted, "Okay, maybe that might be half true, but look on the bright side, you can still try and spend some time with him. I mean you just need to try and form a relationship with this new version of him. And besides, we have this entire palace to endorse ourselves in. I don't see how anyone can complain about that!"

This still wasn't enough to put her in a positive mood. All she wanted was to have her family together and for life to be normal again.

"Trust me, you're not the only one who knows how it feels to lose someone. I mean I've spent most of my years living far away from the rest of humanity, with robots being my only form of companionship and well, I think I turned out just fine, if I do say so myself. "

Despite his statement sounding rather cocky, Eggman was also being sincere in his words.

"Look, all I'm trying to say is to not let this whole cyborg situation and maybe try forming a new bond with the type of people you have in your life now."

He didn't say anything else after this and decided to head back to do his own thing, hoping that his words might have encouraged her a bit.

She thought about his speech for a moment. While this still wasn't enough to cheer her up, he did seem to have a point as these were the only people she had in her life at this moment, until something happens and changes for the better.

After dinner was over, everyone was recruited to go back into their own separate headquarters. Mr. Thomas directed his daughter over to a small guest room that was located not too far from his own room. The room looked rather dull and empty. The only thing of comfort in there was a small bed with plain white sheets.

He wished his daughter a good night's rest before heading back into his own room. Caitlin then went ahead to lie on her bed, unable to sleep properly. She still couldn't stop thinking about everything that has happened throughout these past few days. She couldn't get Sonic's torture and his unfortunate demise out of her head. The one person who had lifted up her confidence and told her that she was great just the way she was, was now gone. She then started thinking about Tails, Amy, Cream and the rest of her friends. She couldn't imagine how they must feel to have their friend gone as well. Most importantly, she couldn't bear to imagine how her mother must be doing and how she would react to her husband being transformed into a cyborg now. She grew worried that they all wouldn't be able to see each other again, as she and her father are both trapped on this miserable planet. The chance of getting her family back together now seemed like a lost cause to her.

Everything seemed hopeless at this point, until she took a moment and realized how far she had actually made it on this journey. She has finally found her father and while he may be of a different person now, that doesn't mean she can't still try to form some new relationship with him and try to convince him that he has an actual family back on Earth.

Sonic may be gone too but that doesn't mean that she can't be her own hero and try to do her best to help others around her. She knew that she needed to help these individuals and to try and free them from Reclus' control. She went ahead and cooked up some ideas on how she can stop him but she knew it wasn't gonna be an easy task.