I made an attempt

Infinite grunted with every step as he trudged away from the rubble. He needed to get back on his feet. He needed to get his power back. No matter what it took.

Infinite continued pushing through the pain as he kept making distance while trying to ignore the fact that he was quickly losing the ability to focus on his surroundings. His breathing became much heavier, but again, he ignored all the signs of his exhaustion. He refused to accept this defeat. But this stubbornness only guaranteed his downfall, or in this case, just his fall.

Infinite felt his legs give out on him as he crumbled onto the ground. “Urgh!” he grunted. “N-no! I… can’t stop now…” Infinite was clawing his way forward at this point. If his legs were going to give up on him, then he’d just have to rely on his arms.

“I… I have to keep going…” Infinite muttered to himself. Honestly, he didn’t even know where he was planning to go at this point. He just wanted to keep moving. But even he couldn’t fight this overwhelming exhaustion forever.

Infinite began to slow down significantly. He let out one last grunt as he tried to pull himself forward again. But then finally, his eyes closed and everything went black.

______________________________________________

“Reports are coming in that the war has finally come to an end. After months of fighting, Sonic, along with the Resistance, were able to put an end to the nefarious Dr. Eggman’s domination of the world. However, a few questions still remain. The whereabouts of Dr. Eggman is unknown, as well as his accomplice, Infinite. Infinite’s last known whereabouts point to him dying in a freak explosion, however no body was found at the scene. Meanwhile, Eggman’s whereabouts are completely unknown with no leads on where he could have gone after his defeat.”

The radio report seemed to have brought good news. Anyone would have been grateful for the end of the war, happy that Sonic had once again saved the day. That’s what the normal civilian would feel. However, Twist was not a normal civilian.

The orange furred kinkajou sat inside of his secret underground bunker, looking over all of his supplies he had built up over the years. He had been listening to the radio report as the news of the war ending spread around. While everyone else in the world had been celebrating, Twist was still lingering in fear.

“What do you mean they didn’t find Eggman?!” Twist screamed at the radio, acting as if the machine could hear him. “Eggman is still out there! This is just gonna happen again!” Twist then began to mutter anxiously to himself as he paced around the room. He glanced over towards his large stack of survival supplies.

“Hmm…” Twist thought for a second. “Well, if there is a brief moment of peace, I guess that gives me time to restock.”

With that, Twist decided to leave the bunker. As soon as he opened the hatch, his eyes were blinded by the sunlight outside. “Ack!” Twist yelped as he flinched away. Turns out spending months in an underground bunker made your eyes sensitive to bright lights. Who would have guessed?

Twist continued grumbling quietly to himself as he left the bunker and looked around. The surrounding area still looked rough, which made sense. It would take time to rebuild after a giant war, and it’s not like Twist was in a high populated area either. He was a loner and he liked it that way. If he had a bunch of people living near his secret bunker, then that would just make it easier for anyone to find said secret bunker.

As Twist walked around, he picked up a few sticks that he could use for emergency kindling. That, or he could throw them at a potential attacker to buy himself more time to escape. Either way, they could be useful.

Twist wasn’t planning on going very far. For all he knew, the news about the war being over could have been a bunch of lies to make everyone feel more secure before Eggman decided to blow up the entire world with a giant egg-shaped bomb. Or you know, something like that.

So yeah, Twist would wait a bit before going out into town for food restocks. He wanted to make absolutely sure that things were over before straying too far. Sticks, twigs, and anything else deemed useful would be enough to gather for now.

Twist stopped to grab a decently sized rock he had spotted. He tossed it around in his hand for a bit to test the heft of it. “Oh yeah,” he commented, “that could probably knock someone out if needed.”

Twist was about to move on when he heard a quiet groan. Twist immediately jumped, his fur standing on end. He glanced around, trying to figure out who or what had made that noise, but he didn’t see anything. Things remained quiet, giving Twist hope that he had just been hearing things. Going against his better judgment, he decided to press on.

Twist pushed his way past some bushes and was immediately met with a shocking scene.

“WHAH!” Twist screamed as he saw an unconscious body laying on the ground. He immediately chucked his rock at them, the stone bonking off the metallic mask covering the target’s face.

Twist remained completely frozen in fear as he stared at the unconscious body. However, it didn’t take long for Twist to recognize this mysterious person.

“Holy crap…” Twist muttered. This wasn’t just a random casualty. This was Infinite the Jackal, the very entity who had helped Eggman conquer the world. 

Twist carefully approached the body. He pulled out one of the longer sticks he had grabbed and cautiously used it to poke the unconscious jackal. Infinite didn’t move at all, so Twist then used the stick to try and lift up the jackal’s head. Normally, only one of Infinite’s eyes was visible through his mask. But currently, neither eye was visible at all.

Twist fully believed that he had stumbled onto a dead body. That was, until Infinite groaned again.

“WHAH!” Twist screamed, immediately smacking the jackal with the stick.

“Urk!” Infinite grunted weakly, but it seemed this still wasn’t enough to actually wake him up.

“Oh my Gaia, he’s still alive,” Twist commented. “Crap, what do I do? What do I do?” Twist began pacing back and forth as he wondered how to go about this. He took a moment to look at Infinite again. He was in rough shape, that was for sure.

“How did he get like this?” Twist questioned. “A reality-bending deity reduced to this…” Twist continued staring at Infinite until a lightbulb seemed to go off in his head. He let out a quiet gasp. “Wait a minute, that’s it!” he said. “If I help nurse this guy back to health, then he’ll be eternally grateful and then I’ll have my very own deity as a bodyguard!”

Twist walked over to Infinite, laughing playfully to himself as he tried to pick up the jackal off of the ground. He struggled for a minute before he finally managed to get Infinite up. Twist wrapped his arms underneath Infinite’s arms and began dragging him away.

Twist was making pretty good distance when he suddenly stopped. “Wait…” he said to himself. “Where am I gonna take him? I don’t wanna take him to the bunker… What if he betrays me? I can’t have him knowing where the secret bunker is!” Twist thought for a moment before coming to a decision. “Welp, guess I just gotta take him back to my house.”

With that, Twist readied his strength again as he continued dragging Infinite away. It was definitely a longer distance to get to Twist’s house as opposed to the bunker, but this was all for his own security. He was fully aware that there was a good chance Infinite would stab him in the back. But the possibilities of things actually working out made the decision worth it for Twist. If he successfully got Infinite on his side, then he’d never have to be afraid again. Well, unless Sonic snapped one day and decided to turn evil, but if that was the case then Twist would be dead no matter what. Nobody could stop Sonic after all.

After quite the long walk, Twist finally made it back to his house. However, it was more of a hut than a house. Twist was honestly surprised to see that it was relatively undamaged from the war. Well, there was a giant hole in the wall and multiple scorch marks littered the lawn, but other than that it looked great.

Twist tried to open the front door but quickly realized it was locked. He tried to grab his keys, only to realize he had left them back in the bunker.

“Oh come on!” Twist complained. Luckily though, there was that giant hole in the wall. So, Twist simply dragged Infinite to the side of the house. He climbed in through the hole before pulling Infinite inside.

Twist was pretty exhausted after all of this, but he wasn’t quite done yet. He took in a deep breath before picking up Infinite again to carry him to the couch. He set the jackal down, trying his best to make him comfortable. And with that, Twist let out a sigh of relief.

“Kinda surprised he didn’t wake up this whole time…” Twist commented. He began to worry that maybe Infinite actually was dead, so he decided to check for a heartbeat. Twist placed his ear over Infinite’s chest, and luckily he did hear a distinct heartbeat. Twist then smiled as he realized he hadn’t wasted his time after all.

Twist’s smile faded as he soon realized something. The strange gemstone that Infinite had on his chest appeared to be missing. Twist thought that was weird, but he chose to disregard it for now. He could have easily been misremembering things and maybe Infinite never had a gem to begin with. At the very least, everything else about Infinite’s appearance matched up with what Twist had seen.

“Oh wait!” Twist said as his mind shifted elsewhere. “I should go make some soup or something for when he wakes up!” He immediately rushed towards the kitchen as he knew this soup would be crucial to his plan.

While Twist was busy in the kitchen, Infinite continued laying on the ragged couch. He had been knocked out for a concerningly long amount of time, but it seemed like he was finally starting to come to.

Infinite’s vision started off blurry. But even as his eyes adjusted, it’s not like it helped him all too much. He had absolutely no idea where he was. He tried to sit up, but struggled to do so. However, as usual, the pain wasn’t enough to stop him. He pushed himself further and he finally managed to sit up, grunting in pain as he did so.

Infinite began to breathe heavily, taking a moment to catch his breath. He looked around at his surroundings and noticed he seemed to be in a living room. However, the entire place was a mess. There was trash on the floor, scorch marks all over the walls, and the decor was… lacking to say the least. The next thing that caught Infinite’s attention was a strong scent wafting into the room. Infinite didn’t know what it was, but it did smell good.

Infinite tried to stand up, but quickly failed and fell back onto the couch. “Erk!” he grunted.

It seemed as if Infinite’s struggles had caught the attention of Twist as the kinkajou quickly rushed back into the living room.

“Ack!” Twist yelped. “Y-you’re awake!”

Infinite just stared silently at Twist. He didn’t recognize him, but it’s not like he cared to remember that many faces to begin with. Infinite’s silence began to fill the room with an eerie uneasiness.

“Uh… m-my name is Twist. Twist the Kinkajou.”

Infinite narrowed his eyes slightly, although it was hard to notice.

“You’re Infinite, right?” Twist asked.

“Hmph. So you recognize me?” Infinite finally responded. “Although I suppose that makes sense. I’d be quite offended if you didn’t recognize my face.”

Oh yeah, he’s definitely a deity, Twist thought to himself. Normal people don’t talk like that.

Twist glanced over towards the kitchen for a moment before leaving the room. He quickly came back with a bowl of soup.

“I made something for you!” Twist revealed.

Infinite raised an eyebrow as Twist walked over and set the bowl on the coffee table. Although again, it was impossible for Twist to notice the confused look on Infinite’s face. Infinite stared at the bowl of warm soup. He couldn’t tell what kind of soup it was, but it smelled really good.

“I added some extra honey,” Twist explained as he sat down next to Infinite. “I always add extra honey because it helps soothe the soul. Or something like that.”

“What are you going on about?” Infinite asked.

“Oh! Right,” Twist replied. “I sort of… found you knocked out in the woods, so I brought you to my place to help you feel better.”

“Why?” Infinite questioned.

Twist stared at Infinite like a deer in headlights. He didn’t want to reveal the real reason why he was helping Infinite, that would just make him sound like a jerk. “Uh… I thought if I helped you then you’d protect me and stuff.” Crap! Twist thought, mentally beating himself up for being unable to think of a lie on the spot.

“Hmph. You want to use me for protection?” Infinite scoffed. He then let out a slightly sinister chuckle. “I suppose I respect your blunt honesty.”

Twist felt a wave of relief hit him. He then looked over at the bowl of soup again. “I guess I didn’t think about whether or not you even liked soup,” he began to ramble. “I mean, most people like soup so I figured it was a good guess. But you’re also not like most people so…” Twist looked over at Infinite again and his face suddenly filled with dread. “Wait, I’m an idiot!” Twist said. “You probably don’t eat at all! You don’t even have a mouth!”

“What?” Infinite questioned.

“I mean, looking at your face, you don’t seem to have a mouth,” Twist pointed out. “Crap! Do you want another offering or something? Uh… I’ll give you some of my blood if you want!”

“No!” Infinite denied, quickly snatching the bowl of soup before Twist could grab it. Infinite hadn’t even realized how hungry he was until the possibility of this soup being taken away reminded him.

Twist had a shocked look on his face as he stared at Infinite. The jackal was beginning to come off as less dignified and more… animalistic for lack of a better term.

Infinite seemed to realize how his lack of composure looked as he turned away. “Do you… have a bathroom?” he asked.

“Oh uh, yeah,” Twist replied. “It’s right over there.”

Infinite nodded and stood up. He struggled for a moment before finding his footing. After that, he walked over towards the room Twist had pointed at, taking the bowl of soup with him. He walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Now that he had some privacy, Infinite took his mask off. He caught a glance of himself in the cracked mirror and froze up. It had been so long since he had seen himself without the mask. He quickly grimaced as the sight of his face disgusted him.

Infinite turned his attention back towards the bowl of soup. He quickly lifted the bowl to his mouth and began to drink the entire broth, not even bothering to use the spoon Twist had brought for him. Once he had finished about half of the bowl, he took a moment to catch his breath.

“Wow…” Infinite muttered. “That is good soup…”

Infinite then finished the rest of the soup before putting his mask back on. He left the bathroom and saw Twist still sitting on the couch, twiddling his thumbs nervously. He seemed to jump as he noticed Infinite approaching.

Infinite tossed the empty bowl at Twist who luckily managed to catch it.

“That soup was adequate,” Infinite said. “If you promise to make it for me again, then I suppose I could stick around here for a little while longer.”

“Wow you… you actually liked my soup?” Twist asked.

“It was adequate!” Infinite repeated, much more aggressively this time.

“Right! Right,” Twist replied. “Anything to please you, Infinite.”

Infinite smirked underneath his mask. He couldn’t quite tell what the deal with this strange kinkajou was, but he seemed loyal enough. Infinite had been forced to play lap dog to Eggman for months, so having his own lap dog this time around seemed enticing.