Everything Changes (A Sonic Boom Fanfic)

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

After exiting the library, Kay held the two books she'd taken from it close to her and stood in the small courtyard for a few moments. Directly in front of her was the fountain, surrounded by grass of the most vibrant green she'd ever seen – even more colorful than she remembered the old Mobius being. The world around her was so bright and cheerful, which really should have made her feel the same. Instead, it only worried her more.

Had she done this? Had her final battle against Dark Gaia caused Mobius to reset this dramatically? Nothing was the way she remembered it whatsoever. Places with new names, familiar faces with entirely different personalities...an Eggman that was barely a villain, let alone an evil emperor. No legitimate threat, as far as Kay could tell so far. This world was Mobius, but it was Mobius at peace. And that felt...weird.

Even during Mobius' peaceful times there were problems to be solved. Even if the world wasn't war-torn and desolate, there was always some struggle for power of a kingdom, some internal politics that needed tending to. Even when there was peace, there wasn't really peace. There was just no global threat like Eggman or even the Iron Kingdom, from way back when. This Mobius didn't even seem to have trouble with politics. Residents of Bygone didn't even know their neighboring continent's name!

Kay sighed and spun in a slow circle, taking note of the details around her. The courtyard in front, a wall that presumably marked the border of the village to her left, the library behind her, and an open road to her right that led to who knew where. She took a brief glance at the main road she'd traveled with Amy to get here, then began walking the road she'd not traveled yet.

Whatever had happened – whether she'd caused this reset or not – Kay was here now, and it looked like this is where she was going to be for a while. She may as well try to re-learn everything she thought she knew about the world.

The road was mostly unoccupied, but then, that's how the main road was, too. Folks seemed to keep to themselves for the most part, either staying inside their shops or going about their business in a straightforward manner. There was very little chatting with friends, but that didn't mean they weren't friendly – many people waved to one another across the road or nodded politely to those they weren't overly familiar with. All of the shops sat on the right-hand side of the path; to the left was the foot of Mount Safety.

Kay looked at everyone she saw a fraction of a second longer than she probably normally would have. She was noting everything she possibly could. Whereas many of the Mobians she'd known before were colorful and stood out in their own unique way, these Mobians seemed to be rather...well, plain, for lack of a better word. Their fur colors were basic and seemed to match those of their counterpart species on Earth. They all dressed similarly as well. Females wore dresses in bright colors, males wore practical clothing. It seemed that Sonic and his friends were the only exception to this rule, sporting fur colors and clothing choices that stood out among the crowd. Tails was the only one she thought seemed to be a hearty blend of both normal villager and extraordinary villager.

In New Mobotropolis, or the Casino Zone, or even Station Square with other humans around, Kay could have picked out at least one or two faces from the crowd and known who they were and a bit of their backstories.

Here, she didn't recognize anyone save for Sonic and his friends.

The road eventually opened up into another courtyard of sorts, which really was more like a park. Here was Meh Burger, where she'd re-met Amy and Knuckles for the first time. Before that was an obvious observation area, with benches and a small garden. In front of it was a large, open grass area and the sea beyond. Had Kay continued traveling past Meh Burger she would have wound up in the residential area, where many of the villagers kept their homes.

It seemed Amy stood out in that she had a beach house rather than living further inland like her fellow villagers.

Kay came to a stop at the entrance to the burger joint, noting that there were few tables, which indicated either the place wasn't very popular or the village didn't have a large population. She guessed it was a bit of both. Every other table did have a TV mounted on a pillar nearest to it, many of which were showing the same program. It looked like a talk show of some kind, with a chimp as the host.

The restaurant was sparsely populated at the moment, but Kay did see a small family of three at one of the tables nearest her. A walrus family – mother, young child, and infant. For a split second the child looked right at her, and Kay almost thought she was looking at a young Rotor. And perhaps she was, for all she knew.

The kid quickly lost interest and returned to his meal.

Kay remembered from Amy's walking her home that the pink hedgehog's residence was beyond the park in front of her, which meant she'd already seen most of this area. She could try to continue forward, but didn't know if she felt comfortable traversing around people's homes without a clear destination. She didn't want the villagers to become suspicious of her. She glanced around, trying to get an idea of where to go next, when she noticed that she'd passed a smaller, easily-climbable hill that would probably offer a decent view of the village. She began backtracking, determined to get to the top and see what she could see.

It took her longer than anticipated, and when she finally got to the top she tripped over a particularly large rock and dropped the books as she fell, but Kay did eventually finish her climb, dust herself off, and look around her. From what she could tell the village didn't go much further beyond the residential area past Meh Burger, and the only area she hadn't yet explored was a road off of the main one that led to some larger, more political-looking buildings. Further to her right and beyond the village entirely were a handful of other homes – one of which looked like it might be Tails' workshop. Kay figured she'd be finding that out soon enough if Amy had her way.

The reality of everything had slowly begun to sink in with her over the course of her half-day here on this new version of Mobius, but Kay suddenly got the feeling that she'd been reading an entirely new Mobius Encyclopedia bit by bit, and now she'd gotten as far as she could on her own, but nothing she'd learned so far made any sense so the whole journey seemed pointless. She sighed heavily and sat on the grassy hilltop beside the fallen books, looking out over the unfamiliar town with its unfamiliar people on an unfamiliar island. She could almost feel the hole inside her where Chaos had once rested, now gone forever. One look at this new world and she could discern that much.

This village was not New Mobotropolis. These people were not the friends she'd made during her travels on Mobius Prime. The world map she'd seen in the library was not the one she had permanently etched in her memory. Everything was different. Everything was foreign to her. She felt like she was just a random human from Earth who didn't know the first thing about Sonic and was now suddenly thrust into his world and expected to function like a full-blood Mobian.

She felt like an outsider.

"All right," she said out loud to herself. "All right. This isn't the Mobius I remember. Sonic and his friends are barely the people I remember. But this is Mobius, and Sonic is here. It didn't take me very long to learn about him the first time; all I need to do is start from scratch and I'll learn again just as quickly. At least Chun-Nan is still around, and still mostly makes sense. Surely there are other things that are at least familiar, as well."

Kay held out her hands in front of her as she'd done so many times on Earth. Only this time, the view was much, much better. More natural to her. She quirked her lips in a small smile. "And I am full-blood Mobian now, presumably. I've always wanted this. Now it's time to live the dream. Learn to fit in without Chaos power. I'll find where I belong on this planet in no time."

Just then a scream came from the village center – the last side street she had yet to walk – and Kay's head snapped up. The few Mobians she could see scattered around below her rushed into their homes or their shops and stayed there. A sharp glint caught her eye, drawing her attention to a small, silver hovercraft that was currently just a speck in the air above where the scream had come from.

She didn't need to be any closer to know who it was or what was going on. Kay felt the familiar rush of adrenaline rise back up, and she grabbed her books before hurrying back down the hill.