Outskirts

[Chadin]

"Glowing? What do you mean glowing?" I asked, genuinely confused. In fact, I was so confused that my temper faded almost immediately and as such, the glow on my body just as quickly disappeared. In fact, when I looked at my hands and arms, the glow was already completely gone, leaving me even more confused than before.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

Giichi's looked freaked out again when he saw the glow fade. "Your markings...they were glowing just now. When you got angry, they started turning white."

The cat tilted his head sideways in confusion for a moment. "Did you really not know? I'd think I'd know if I was glowing every time I got angry about something. Who are you, really? Do you have superpowers or something?"

[Chadin]

I examined the scars across my body a little more closely as the cat kept talking, but I couldn't see a darn thing. "I don't think I do... Last time I checked, I didn't..." I muttered in bewilderment. The idea that this cat might be playing me for a sap crossed my mind, but at the moment I was too freaked out to give it much thought.

"You said I started glowing when I was getting angry? I mused with my fingers cupped beneath my chin. If that's true, maybe there's a way to prove this cat isn't playing me for a sap. "Quick, get me angry again."

[Giichi Twinkieland]

"Get me angry again..."

Giichi couldn't help but think that sounded really funny. He brushed his hair out of his face. "Well...I don't want to make myself look even more dickish than I already have. But you really seem to hate Robotnik. Maybe you could spend some time thinking about what he's done to you?"

The cat beamed a smile. "Just try it...Robin Hood." He added the last bit with a wink.

[Chadin]

My ears involuntarily tweaked out to the sides. I don't know if I was angered by what he said so much as amused at this point. Thinking about Robotnik didn't help get me angry either. It's been years since the event that Robotnik himself touched my life. It still hurt to think about all the things I've endured... but it just wasn't enough to really get me angry. "Figures... as soon as I want to get angry, I can't." I groaned with defeat.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

"I'm not surprised. I'm not sure but I think it's called 'ironic thought process' or something like that. Like...if I told you not to think about elephants, what would you do? Think about nothing but elephants. Anyway..."

Giichi stepped closer to the deer. He figured that neither of them were enemies a little while back.

"Maybe we should get back to your original questions. Like I said, my name is Giichi and I'm here to steal something. I don't know what yet...but surely Robotnik must have something rare and valuable in there."

The cat turned around to look at Robotropolis for a moment, before turning back to face Chadin.

"So what about you? Why are you here?"

[Chadin]

I couldn't help folding my arms across my chest and look the cat over with suspicion. Old habits die hard I guess. "Thief huh? Awfully forward about something like that aren't you. How do you know someone wouldn't try to bust your skull in because of that?"

I shook my head and walked towards Giichi, but not in an aggressive manner, more like I had my mind on other things. I walked past Giichi and propped my arm up over my head and leaned against an overhanging branch. Looking through the foliage and Robotropolis, I watched the dreary city in dismay as I realized that this distraction with Giichi has thrown off my timing. I have no idea when the next patrol will pass by. Now I have to wait around again and bide my time.

Well, as long as I'm stuck waiting I might as well find out what this cat knows. "The name is Chadin. I'm with the MFF, and I WAS getting ready to do a little recon inside Robotropolis when you showed up and threw off my timing. Now I'm stuck waiting here until the next Swatbot patrol passes by."

[Giichi Twinkieland]

As Chadin walked past, Giichi turned to follow him. "Well, since you obviously hate Robotnik, I didn't think you'd care if I mentioned I was going to rob him."

You look like you don't have anything on you anyway.

He thought about saying that out loud too, but Chadin seemed annoyed by his presence enough already. Giichi joined him at the foliage, just in time to hear the deer complain again about wasting his time. That got a sigh from Giichi...but then he heard the bit about patrols.

"So there's a patrol that goes by this spot? Well then, I guess you saved my life. If you hadn't stopped me, I would have probably walked right into it."Giichi turned to smile at Chadin. "Thank you, Chadin. I mean that."

There was a short bit of silence, before the cat spoke up again. "There's another reason I'm so forthcoming with you. You look like you could be a valuable ally in getting into this place, since you seem to know a lot more about it than me. For that, you deserve my honesty. If I lied, and you discovered the truth in the middle of our mission, you wouldn't be able to trust me. And that could get us both captured. I don't want to get caught. Do you? I was only careless before because I was confused about where I was. But things will be different if I've got you helping me out. So how about it? Do you want my help?"

[Chadin]

In spite of myself I let out a faint chuckle at the irony of the cats faith in my knowledge of this place. "Heh, know more about this place? That's just it; this place may look like the Robotropolis I knew, but its... different somehow. I can't really explain. The sky line is different, the streets... even the air smells different from what I remember. It still reeks of pollution but.... its different somehow."

I sighed and paced back and forth a few times trying to think; trying to get my head wrapped around the possibility that the zones really did collapse onto one another. "When I woke up a few hours ago, I met a couple people who told me about this... collapse of the zones. I came here to see for myself. I don't know if the Freedom Fighters already know what's going on, the merge; if there's any of us left even... But I had to see for myself. Even if the Freedom Fighter do know what's going on; that they already have a plan, I want to make sure Robotnik knows that at least one Freedom Fighter is here to fight him. At the very least, I want to know if the fat man really is responsible for all this, and what he's up to know. If you want to rob something from Robotnik, that's fine by me. The less he has the better. This place may not look exactly like I remember, but I still know how to get around the city without drawing attention to myself.

"You're welcome to join me, Giichi, but don't think this means I trust you. Nothing personal, but I have trust issues and I have the scars to prove it; literally." As I finished I sat crouched down beside a bush. It was a good vantage point, and offered good concealment. Crouched down low, Giichi would have a good view of a small metallic square at the base of my neck; and with a careful observation he might also notice how all the lighting shaped markings all seem to branch off from that one place.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

As the deer launched into his spiel about Robotnik, the Freedom Fighters, and their valiant battle, Giichi allowed himself to zone out. He honestly didn't care. Robotnik was a bumbling idiot and Sonic always defeated him in the end. What was there to worry about?

The one bit of the conversation he was interested in replying to was the parts concerning the dimension merge.

"The people who told you about the zone collapse were right," Giichi said. "I've seen it myself. In fact, it nearly got me killed this morning." The cat turned around and leaned against a tree branch. "There's this country road near my house that I like to drive fast on. I went around a turn, and suddenly there was a straight drop down into the ocean. I almost went right off the cliff and into the water."

Giichi shivered a bit, picturing his Ferrari sinking to the ocean floor with him inside it. Drowning was quite possibly one of the worst ways Giichi figured anyone could die. "The dimension merge definitely did that. It wasn't there a few weeks ago. The road just went right over the edge. It was the same story while I was traveling here. My road maps were all useless, because almost every road I saw dead-ended with something like a wall of trees or the face of a cliff. Eventually I just wandered until I ended up here."

Giichi thought about mentioning that despite that he was actually happy this merge had happened, since it made it much easier for him to do his job. Big swaths of the old government were either gone or in total disarray. They had much bigger things to worry about than catching little ole thieves like him. However, Chadin definitely didn't like any of this, so he figured he'd remain silent on this point.

He sat down to join Chadin again by their vantage point. "I don't mind that much if you don't trust me very far. We'll probably never see each other again once this is over. I just want you to trust me enough so that we can cooperate."

He turned over to look at Chadin...and then spotted the square. "Uh...what's that metal thing on the back of your neck? It looks like its connected to all your markings...is that what makes you glow?"