Angel's Library

There’s a calm quiet over the forest, the only sounds to be heard being the rustling of leaves in the trees and the faint chirping of bird pokemon. A lone zigzagoon is running around on the dim forest floor, weaving through the brush. Upon reaching a stream, it comes to a stop. It takes a moment to lap the cool water.

It yelps in surprise as the water suddenly splashes against it harshly, a loud whoosh and the feel of cold air rushing at it accompanying the action. Shaking itself, the zigzagoon makes a questioning noise as it looks up. It just barely misses the sight of a blue blur racing off.

This blue blur is Sonic, going for a run. He’s never been to these woods before. He arrived on this island very recently in search of a new adventure. Thus far, he hasn’t found much, but he won’t give up just yet. There’s still plenty of island to explore, after all!

The zigzagoon barks, hoping to catch Sonic’s attention despite how far away he is by now. When that inevitably fails, it hurries after him. It’s never seen anything go so fast before—it must know what he is.

 

The little zigzagoon finds catching up to Sonic to be very difficult. It persists despite that. It zig-zags through the trees, hopping over the roots and dodging any other pokemon it comes across, who swipe or snarl at it when it passes.

It’s unphased by their aggression, used to their malice. So it runs on, focused solely on pursuing the blue blur a few meters ahead of it.

Sonic leaps and bounds over any obstacles in his way. It’s difficult to see where he’s going due to the thick canopy overhead. He wishes he were running through a field, but he’s already explored the one nearby. Oh well. This island is fairly large—Sonic is sure he’ll find another one eventually.

As it gives chase, the zigzagoon wonders if Sonic lives in these woods, too. He must be one of the pokemon that lives up in the canopy if so. Though he doesn’t look much like them…but if he isn’t from here, how did he get here? Is he from the sea? He doesn’t look like much of a swimmer. But then again, neither does the zigzagoon, and it can swim just fine.

The idea that the creature it’s pursuing could be something other than a pokemon never crosses its mind.

 

The two keep moving for a long while. The gap between them has been steadily growing smaller and smaller.

He’s getting tired of this thick jungle—Sonic wants to feel the wind through his quills. But at this point he has no idea how to get out. Continuing on like this won’t do him any good.

As the space between them gets a fraction shorter, he comes to a (rather clumsy) stop. He kicks up grass and dirt as he screeches to a halt.

The zigzagoon attempts to stop when it sees him do the same, but it trips over a twig, its momentum causing it to fly into the side of a tree. It lets out a yelp of pain as stars fill its vision.

When Sonic comes to a stop, he doesn’t expect to hear a sudden, loud thump. Ears pricking up and quills standing on end, he whirls around just in time to see the little zigzagoon fall to the ground, landing between the roots of the tree it rammed into.

Where did it come from? Was it…following him this whole time? As Sonic wonders, it lets out a low whine. His eyes widen as he refocuses on the situation at hand.

After a moment of deliberation, he cautiously approaches it. Reaching a hand out towards it, he gently nudges the side of its face.

The zigzagoon stirs a bit, but in its delirious daze, it quickly grows panicked. For all it knows, a predator has found it and is going to toy with it before eating it up! Its fur stands on end as it lets out a low growl.

Sonic quickly pulls his hand away, taking a step back. He looks away from it, off into the forest, but hesitates to simply leave it. For all he knows, another pokemon could’ve thrown it into the tree—or Eggman is causing trouble again. He doesn’t want to leave it defenseless. Especially if Eggman is here. Sonic hasn’t seen any signs of his tech while exploring so far, but that doesn’t mean anything.

So, he stays put, ears twitching and eyes flicking about for any signs of danger.

The zigzagoon stays lying down for a bit, waiting for the pain to go away. It hopes that whatever found it will leave it alone. Through the pain, it listens intently.

The only sounds to be heard are the distant noises of other pokemon, oblivious to the (nonexistent) danger.

The longer the silence lasts, the more unnerved they both get, waiting for something to finally spring into action.

All this staying still is starting to drive Sonic a bit crazy, his body itching to move. His foot starts to tap on its own accord, his arms crossing against his chest.

The zigzagoon, hearing the sound of his tapping foot, startles, leaping to its paws. The world spins around it with the sudden movement. Despite that, it tries its best to make itself seem intimidating. It growls and bares its fangs, its bristly fur fluffing up.

Sonic jolts at the sudden movement, eyes wide as his gaze snaps toward it and quills sticking out every which way.

Their eyes meet. They stare at one another. The sound of a bird pokemon singing up in the trees fills the air.

The zigzagoon is absolutely bewildered by him. It’s never seen anything like him before. In its disoriented state, however, it can’t come to any coherent conclusions. It’s afraid to move. Afraid to look away.

This staring contest goes on for a surprisingly long time—or, at least, that’s how it feels to them. Realistically, it only lasts for about a minute, maybe less.

Everything after that is a blur.

 

The zigzagoon manages to push down its curiosity enough to turn tail and flee, despite its pain.

Sonic leaps back, expecting it to attack, only to watch as it scurries off, disappearing into the shadows of the undergrowth. He stares after it for a few moments.

So…no badniks, then.

He shrugs to himself, then hurries off, eager to continue exploring and completely forgetting why he stopped at all.

 

The zigzagoon has run a decent way away when it finally stops, panting heavily. It flops down onto the ground. Its sore muscles and throbbing head don’t like any of the quick movements it's been making. It won’t get up for a while yet.

As it lies there, it realizes that Sonic never attacked it—in fact, he didn’t seem aggressive at all. Well, aside from all of those sharp needles sticking out of him. Although, the zigzagoon has similar prickles…maybe—searing pain clouds its mind, keeping it from assuming anything else.

Hopefully it’ll run into him again soon. It’ll be better prepared. And it’ll figure out what he is. And, hopefully, it won’t ram into anything.

 

— — —

 

Sonic is taking a leisurely run through a thicker part of the woods he hasn’t been to yet. He’s going a tad bit slower than usual due to the dense undergrowth, the fact that he has no idea where he’s going, and the semi-surprisingly large amount of fallen trees. There was a storm recently—it must’ve taken them down. It’s been raining more and more lately. He idly wonders if the zigzagoon he encountered a while ago is alright.

It’s been a week—or maybe two? Three? He isn’t sure—since he ran into it. Most pokemon he comes across avoid him, attack him, or want to play. The zigzagoon is a bit of an outlier. He supposes he can’t blame it for how it reacted, though. Pain makes you stupid—well, sometimes. He hopes the little guy recovered alright.

He finds the answer to that question in the span of a few mildly chaotic moments.

 

The zigzagoon had wandered into this part of the forest while foraging, and now it’s lost. It’s sniffing at some mushrooms when it hears Sonic rapidly approaching. Fur standing on end, it whirls around, teeth bared and a growl rising in its throat. However, when it recognizes the blue blur coming towards it, it perks up.

It may not be prepared like it wanted, but this time, it’ll catch him for sure!

Before it can get a chance to start pursuing, however, Sonic quickly leaps over it.

He puts all his weight down and positions his feet just-so when he lands in an attempt to slow down. Grass and dirt go flying as he slowly comes to a stop, finally halting a little ways away from the zigzagoon.

His sloppy stop left behind shallow tracks in the ground, disturbing some bug pokemon. Sonic glances down at them, and thinks about what to have for lunch.

He shakes himself. Not the time for that.

Sonic turns towards the zigzagoon, offering a smile and a wave.

Assuming that the hand motion is a greeting of some sort, it barks its own hello and races towards him.

It’s a little sad that it didn’t get to chase him again, but this way it’ll get to inspect him properly.

When it reaches him, it circles around him, sniffing. Sonic, for his part, simply stands still, watching it.

It has no idea what he could be. He looks sort of like a pokemon, and he acts like some it’s seen around, but something about him seems…off. The zigzagoon can’t quite place what it is, though.

Surely he must be a pokemon. That’s the only thing that makes sense, right? The logic is sound enough for the zigzagoon, even if it isn’t quite satisfied with this conclusion. There’s got to be more to it—but it has no other reference aside from itself and the other mons on the island. In fact, as far as the zigzagoon is concerned, this island is the whole world.

But now all of that is starting to crumble due to Sonic’s presence.

There must be more creatures like him. It wonders if he can take it to them. Maybe…maybe they would want to be friends with it. After all, he seems to like it. Maybe they would too.

It’d be nice to be someplace where every creature around doesn’t hate it.

 

Once it’s done inspecting him, the zigzagoon stops in front of Sonic. It sits down and stares up at him, waiting to see what he’ll do.

After all, just because he didn’t strike last time doesn’t mean he won’t now. Surely he’ll shoo it away any moment.

(So why does it stay, despite that?)

Sonic stares back, uncertain what to do now. After a moment, he decides he’ll sit down, too. Hopefully he won’t have to sit still for too long. He isn’t sure he’ll be able to. He can already feel the itch to move brewing.

As they sit in silence, watching one another, it comes to the obvious and inevitable conclusion that he does not, in fact, hate it. Perhaps…they are friends, then? It’s not really sure how this is supposed to work.

 

Sonic is starting to get bored.

He doesn’t really understand what’s going on here. Is this some sort of test? He hopes not. As far as Sonic is concerned, pokemon don’t do tests. But then again, what does he really know about them? They’re total wild cards; sometimes they’re friendly, sometimes they’ll attack you if you so much as look at them.

They generally seem to like him, though—which is a nice change of pace. He likes them, too. They’re fun to play with when they let him.

 

After sitting for a decent while, the zigzagoon gets up and pads over to him. It lifts its front legs up, thrusting its paws forward to lean on him.

Sonic startles as its paws land on his crossed legs, its steady gaze boring into him.

Did he pass the test? Or is this part of it? He holds in a sigh.

When he doesn’t outwardly react, it starts to back off, worried that it’ll annoy him. As the zigzagoon moves away, it bumps into one of his hands.

He looks down at the hand it accidentally nudged. After a moment of contemplation, Sonic reaches out towards it and pats it on the head.

The zigzagoon freezes. Then, its tail starts to wag. It moves closer, looking up at him with wide eyes. When he starts to scratch behind one of its ears, it leans into the touch, its tail wagging at ferocious speeds.

Sonic chuckles, amazed.

Most pokemon don’t let him get close enough to pet them, especially the ones that travel in groups. Come to think of it, both times he’s run into the little guy, it’s been alone. At first he thought that it just preferred to be alone, like him. But now…

He’s starting to wonder if it’s a choice.

The zigzagoon’s stomach growls loudly, startling both of them.

It debates with itself whether or not food is more important than pets.

Sonic winds up deciding for it, as he gives it a few last pats before he moves to get up. It reminded him that he hasn’t eaten for a while. Now he’s thinking about those bugs he disturbed earlier. They’re long gone by now, though.

Oh well. This island is full of bug pokemon. He’ll be able to find some to snack on easily.

The zigzagoon hurries to step away as he rises to his feet. It looks up at him curiously. Is he going to help it hunt? Or is it time for him to go?

It is. 

He looks down at the zigzagoon and waves, offering it a smile. Then he speeds off to find some food, leaving a blue afterimage behind.

It barks in response to his wave, staring at his afterimage until it fades. Then, it races off to find its own food, clambering up the nearest tree as best it can.

It hopes that the next time they cross paths, they can do something exciting—it wouldn’t mind a race.

 

— — —

 

It’s a cloudy, windy day. The ocean is more aggressive than usual, the waves beating against the rocky cliffs and sandy shores. The pokemon are antsy, hiding away in the canopy, undergrowth, burrows; anywhere they can find, really. Save for a lone zigzagoon, who is still running about, seemingly none the wiser to what all the others are aware of. Every creature it passes stares at it with wide eyes, in awe of its bravery—or, perhaps, its stupidity.

In truth, it knows exactly what’s going on. It simply doesn’t care.

Sonic is much the same.

By now, he’s explored almost every crevice that this island has to offer. He was planning on leaving today, but he knows these winter storms well enough now. There’s no way he’d be able to get out of here without crashing into the ocean. He’d rather take his chances here, on dry land, thank you very much. So, here he still is.

He’s lying between the roots of a tree near his plane, the Tornado, just at the edge of the forest. The plane itself is parked in the large field beyond the woods.

 

He’s in the middle of a nap when the zigzagoon stumbles across him. It lets out a few cheerful barks in greeting, racing up to him.

Sonic jolts awake immediately, quills standing on end and ears flicking in the direction of the yapping. Once he recognizes it, however, he quickly calms, smiling at the zigzagoon when it reaches him.

It leaps up and licks his cheek, before backing up a bit and woofing again, its tail wagging faster than he can run.

Sonic can’t help but laugh, wiping the slobber off with one hand and reaching out to pet it with the other.

It leans into the touch for a moment, before it turns to look at the Tornado.

It woofs again as it runs around the plane in circles, its tail wagging a mile a minute. The zigzagoon has never seen anything like it before! Its glossy, bright red paint makes it stick out like a sore thumb amidst the greenery around it. The zigzagoon must know what it is!

It continues to run in circles, thinking that this big, red pokemon will surely notice it eventually. If it's a friend of Sonic's, then maybe they can be friends, too!

Sonic merely watches, eyes wide at first before beginning to laugh. He shakes his head as he stands up, moving to stand in the zigzagoon’s path. It merely goes around him instead of stopping like he’d thought. The next time it comes around to him, he plucks it up. Then, he climbs up into the cockpit of the plane. Once he’s in the seat, he sets it down in his lap, then watches to see what it’ll do.

It sniffs around at first, trying to figure out what everything is. The zigzagoon’s not quite sure what to make of it. Then, it hops out from the cockpit, clambering atop the plane. It slips and slides on the metal, its paws unable to get a good grip. It lets out a yelp as it slides off the side.

Sonic quickly hops out, catching it before it can hit the ground.

The zigzagoon decides that it doesn’t like the Tornado very much.

It starts squirming in his grip, which has the intended effect of making him set it down.

He quirks a brow at it.

Moving away from the Tornado with a soft growl directed at it, it starts to head further into the field before stopping. It just remembered what it had wished for after their last meeting: a race!

It recalls how exhilarating it was to chase after him when they first met, and since then it’s tried to find that rush again. Playing and racing with the other pokemon has never been able to make it feel that way. Now, with them all out of the way thanks to the incoming storm, they can race around the whole island without any trouble!

Well, so long as they stay in the forests, anyways. The canopy should protect them from the brunt of the elements.

Taking the opportunity for what it is, it looks around for a good starting place. Once it finds one—a path of sorts, old and worn, but clear enough to run straight along—the zigzagoon hurries over to it. It turns to him and barks.

Sonic stares at the zigzagoon, baffled, but makes his way over regardless. Upon reaching it, it lowers the front half of its body, as though bowing. He blinks at it, tilting his head as he tries to wrap his head around what is going on, before it clicks.

With a grin, he gets into the starting position.

Three…

The zigzagoon watches him, waiting to see what he’ll do next.

Two…

Sonic takes a deep breath. He maps out the island in his mind, figuring out the best route.

One!

He shoots off with a blast of air, disturbing the plants around them.

The zigzagoon yelps in surprise as the wind batters it. Shaking itself, it launches forward, hurrying after him.

 

The downpour starts in the midst of their race. Sonic is miles ahead—literally—but the zigzagoon hasn’t given up yet. It’s still got plenty of energy to burn.

Its fur stands on end with each clap of thunder and flash of lightning. The rainforest protects them from the brunt of it, the rain not even touching them—but the mud is an entirely different beast. The zigzagoon’s fur is soaked through and caked with it.

Sonic isn’t faring any better: his socks are soaked through, and his shoes are wrecked. He’s had to slow down a substantial amount in order to keep from slipping. At this point, he’s beginning to consider abandoning the race entirely.

They really ought to find some shelter. They’re safer down here than if they were out in the open, but if the storm gets any worse, it could send trees crashing down. He’d rather not get trapped under any.

As much as Sonic loves a good race, this one doesn’t really seem worth it—especially considering he lost sight of his competitor ages ago.

He figures the zigzagoon must’ve given up by now.

After another moment of consideration, he doubles back. He’s fairly certain he remembers seeing a cave somewhere. He can hunker down there for the rest of the storm, then head for the Tornado and leave once it’s passed—or at least calm enough to fly through.

The zigzagoon is surprised when it sees him running toward it instead of away. It rushes forward, barking, but slips, landing face-first in the mud. It tries to push itself to its paws, but it can’t get a good grip. It whines, its ears folding back against its head. It’s beginning to regret this whole idea.

When Sonic picks it up, it cries out and starts squirming, unaware of what’s going on thanks to all of the muck it’s covered in.

He’s surprised to find it still pushing on, despite everything. But as much as he admires its persistence, it’s time to get out of the storm.

Sonic looks for that cave he’s sure he saw somewhere around here. At least, he thinks so. He turns this way and that, before finally, there!

Sonic dives into the dark of the cave, tugging the zigzagoon close to his chest. The feel of wet, muddled fur against him is unpleasant, but he elects to ignore it as best he can for now. It’s not like he’s any better.

It doesn’t take long before Sonic is unable to stand the sensation anymore, and pushes the zigzagoon away from him. Sitting upright, he looks out of the cave entrance right as lightning strikes, illuminating the surrounding area for a split second. He turns away, looking towards the zigzagoon.

As soon as he does, he finds himself with a face full of mud, as it had elected to shake itself off at that moment. Because of course it did.

With a sigh, he reaches up and wipes the filth off.

The zigzagoon pants heavily as it makes its way over to him, flopping down with its head resting on one of his legs. He cringes at the contact, but doesn’t make any move to push it away again. Instead, he takes off his gloves, socks, and shoes, setting them aside to dry. He’ll have to stop by a stream and wash up before leaving.

Sonic leans back against the cave wall, setting one hand on the zigzagoon’s back, mindlessly petting the dryer parts of its fur. Shutting his eyes, he tries to will himself to sleep, despite the discomfort and mud.

It isn’t working. He sighs loudly. It hasn’t even been a minute. It feels like hours.

The zigzagoon is content where it is, happy to be petted. It nuzzles closer to Sonic as it drifts off to sleep, its tail curling close to its body.

He glances down at it, smiling at the sight. It’s a drastic change of pace from when they first met, when it was all growls and silent, uneasy staring. Now that Sonic’s thinking about it, they haven’t known each other for very long. Despite that, the zigzagoon seems to have warmed up to him rather quickly. He stares at it. No other pokemon has ever been so interested in him. So what’s the deal?

With a sigh, Sonic decides to think about it some other time. He shuts his eyes again, waiting for sleep to take him.

Eventually, he drifts off into an uneasy slumber.

 

— — —

 

It’s a cloudy, windy day. The ocean is more aggressive than usual, though the waves aren’t pounding against the island as harshly as before. The pokemon are going about their usual routines, hunting and playing and whatnot. Save for a zigzagoon, who is sound asleep in a cave with Sonic.

It’s none the wiser to how the storm has long since passed.

Sonic has been awake for quite some time now.

For some reason, he can’t get himself to leave. He should be far from the island by now, soaring through the skies in the Tornado. But here he still is, in this dark, damp cave on the rainforest floor.

Sonic had been in-and-out of slumber for a while, before eventually he gave up on sleeping at all. When the rain had finally stopped, he’d tried to get up, but found he couldn’t.

He should just move the zigzagoon off of him, stand up, and go. But he just…can’t.

The only thing he can do is look around and pet the zigzagoon. So that’s what he’s been doing. Not that there’s anything particularly interesting to look at around here; the cave is too dark to see much of anything, and the entrance is too narrow to see a lot outside. At least petting the zigzagoon is…something to do.

Sonic isn’t sure what the deal is. Normally he can get up and go just fine. Sure, sometimes it’s a bit of a struggle, his body unwilling to do what he wants—but he’s always pushed through it. What’s different now?

The zigzagoon shifts against him. It yawns, making a sleepy little noise. Its ears twitch as it opens its eyes and looks around. When it sees Sonic, its tail wags a little.

It slips away from him, shaking itself. When that doesn’t work to get the dried mud off its fur, the zigzagoon tries to lick it off, which is…mildly effective, but slow-going.

For some reason, this is what enables Sonic to get up. He rises to his feet and scoops the zigzagoon up, then leaves the cave, grabbing his dirty clothes and shoes on the way out.

The little zigzagoon squeaks at suddenly being plucked up, but doesn’t struggle against him. Instead, it simply watches him, curious.

 

It takes a little while to find any streams, especially since he didn’t run, but eventually, he hears the bubbling of one nearby.

Hurrying over to it, Sonic kneels down, setting the zigzagoon down near the edge of the water.

He immediately begins cleaning his things, scrubbing at them until the pads of his paws are sore. He watches as the dirt slowly gets washed away, the specks floating downstream.

The zigzagoon observes him, baffled, before it turns away to lap at the cool water. Once it’s had its fill, it wades into the brook, rolling around in the water and licking at the filth on its fur to help get it off. It’s (relatively) clean in no time at all.

With a cheerful little woof, it gets to its paws and shakes itself off, sending water flying everywhere. Sonic cringes away. Not understanding what the matter is, the zigzagoon tilts its head at him. He just offers it a lopsided smile.

Sonic pulls his socks and gloves out of the water and wrings them out, before setting them on a nearby rock to dry. They’re about as clean as they can get. His shoes, on the other hand…

He dunks them deep into the water, trying to get the muck out from the insides. When he pulls them back out, he watches as dirty water leaks out from the holes in the soles. Then he repeats the process.

While he’s doing that, the zigzagoon is sniffing around for food. The wind knocked some fruits down from the canopy. There’s some berry bushes nearby, too.

Its stomach growls at the thought. Though it wouldn’t also mind some meat, maybe a wimpod or a dwebble…it looks back towards Sonic, quickly deciding that straying too far to find any prey isn’t worth it. Besides, berries and fruits are just as yummy!

When he finally feels that his shoes are clean enough, Sonic sets them aside to dry before he splashes some water on himself. He figures he’ll wash the worst of it off, then get something to eat and leave while he still can.

While he doubts another storm will strike so soon, he knows just how quick the weather can take a turn for the worst—he’d rather not test his luck. And the sooner he gets into the air, the sooner he can get back to exploring new places and discovering new things. Not that he doesn’t like this island. It’s a nice little place. But he’s seen all it has to offer.

 

By the time Sonic is (relatively) clean and dried off, the zigzagoon has found several fruits and berries. It brings them over to him, dropping them in front of him before it digs in.

He’s a bit surprised. Well, he doesn’t have to go looking for anything to eat now. That makes things a bit easier.

He scoops up a handful of berries and tosses them into his mouth.

Its tail wags as it watches, pleased that it did something right.

In the span of a few moments, all of the food is gone.

Rising to his feet, Sonic stretches his arms and legs, then he goes to check on his things. They’re still dripping, but he puts them on anyway, opting to ignore the icky sensation of the wet fabric against his fur.

The zigzagoon follows him, tail still wagging happily and gaining speed when he looks over at it. He offers a smile and a pat to the head, then with a quick wave, he’s off, disappearing into the forest.

It stands there staring after him for a moment, its tail drooping.

And then it chases after him.

 

By the time Sonic gets back to the Tornado, his clothes and shoes are about as dry as they’ll get for now. It’s still uncomfortable, but he’s dealt with far worse.

As he climbs into the cockpit, he looks back to where he came. For a moment, he regrets leaving the zigzagoon so abruptly.

He shakes his head.

He was never going to stay here. It’s good to get all the goodbyes over with quickly—lingering leaves room for hesitation. He can’t afford to hesitate.

It’s better this way.

Sonic starts the Tornado up.

As the plane rolls across the ground, steadily picking up speed, the zigzagoon emerges from the forest. It hurries to catch up when it sees him.

Its fur bristles the closer it gets, but it shoves down its fear and presses on.

Its muscles tense up as the Tornado starts to lift off.  

And then, it leaps .

Sonic stares in awe at the brown-and-tan blur that’s flying through the air towards the plane. He almost feels bad, figuring it’ll get hurt—but there’s a part of him that’s saying you can make it .

Paws meet metal, slipping and sliding, until jaws clamp down around one of the supports for the wings. The tangy taste reminds the zigzagoon of a successful hunt. The pain radiating through its jaw sort of ruins that feeling of victory, but it’ll take what it can get.

Sonic can’t help but laugh. The sounds of the plane and the rushing of the wind are almost loud enough to drown out his guffaws.

Eventually, the zigzagoon lets go of the beam and shakily stands up. It gazes out at the endless blues of the sky and sea all around it, eyes wide. Slowly, it turns to look behind it, its tail wagging when it sees Sonic’s cheerful face. He almost blends in with the world around him, only the red of the plane separating him from it all.

As they soar through the skies, Sonic’s laughter still filling the air, the zigzagoon decides that the Tornado isn’t so bad after all.