The new Sonic rpg

"Judging you?" Mly asked. "It's perfectly understandable that if one of your friends has passed you want to see them again enough to actually see them again, regardless of whether or not they're real." He paused for but a moment. "But as for my name, it's Mly. Yours...?"

"I'm Ashley," she said, reaching out to shake Mly's hand.

Mly did not understand Ashley's gesture, and merely copied her motion, extending his own hand and waiting for her to react. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Why are we doing this?"

"...We shake hands here," she explained. "It's a kind and welcoming gesture...of friendship, and peace and stuff."

Mly still didn't comprehend. He had figured out the shaking part, and did it, but not the part about putting his hand in the opposing person's hand.

"Good improvement. So...why are you here?"

Mly was good at making up falsehoods. He was much better at it than figuring out things about his environment, which he had just demonstrated his horrible skills in. But without knowledge of what would normally happen around him and how to flawlessly weave his lie into the threads that made up the local reality, he was unable to come up with a good one. "I...I don't...really...know," he said, quickly collecting his knowledge on amnesia.

"OOOKKKK," Ash said, giving Mly a sideways glance.

Suddenly, Mly figured out a way to back his lie. He'd watched some human television once when he hacked a spy satellite, and he remembered amnesia as being portrayed very differently from what it's actually like, or at least what it's usually like on his world. He further realized that, if he made himself sound intelligent enough, she would believe him regardless if she didn't know better. "Apparently you've never had amnesia," he rebutted. "Your knowledge of it probably comes exclusively from movies and television. Granted, we ourselves are characters in a role-playing game created by users of an internet forum," he said as the fourth wall got a small crack in it, "but we can still follow reality even though this is fiction, and real amnesia is almost always forgetfulness for a short amount of time on both sides of the event, rather than all knowledge obtained prior to it." There was a long pause before Mly said, "Oh, sorry for that crack in the fourth wall, by the way."

"Uh..." Ash said, staring at Mly. "I have had amnesia before...and since when are we characters in a role play?"

"I--Um...Nevermind," Mly stuttered out. "It's all entirely irrelevant anyway. Now, what can you tell me about this place? I'm sort of lost, and I need to know how to get back home."

"Great. Where are you from?" Ash asked, staring at Mly while trying to read his face.

"Don't worry about it," said Mly. "Just tell me where the nearest crop circle is."

"Crop circle? Sorry, I can't tell you. But what kind of stuff do you need....why am I in...human form?"

"Fascinating," snarked Mly, "but I must be on my way." Mly began to walk off. He was no longer hobbling. He didn't even have a limp.

Ash felt something materialize next to her, and she reached down to hold Jared's transparent but warm hand.
"Maybe...if you have enough energy...you could come back."
Mly turned back to look at the psychotic girl who was hallucinating again, but this time he could almost make out the shape of a boy.
"I would love that," Jared whispered. "I really would."

Mly briefly rubbed his eyes to see if what he saw was real, as he wondered if he should stay with Ashley, even if only until she snapped out of her delusional state and could defend herself. He quickly decided that he would, and so he sat down on the beach, his legs crossed, staring intently at her.

"Jared...I missed you," she said to her transparent friend, completely ignoring Mly.
"I can't believe I didn't come earlier," he apologized. "I just needed a really good moment...I'm just sorry that moment took so long. You were just so busy, and I didn't want to come too early."
"Oh, it's fine," she responded to the invisible being. "I'm just glad that you're finally here. And I need some help...my friends and I are under attack."

Mly heard the slightest mumblings from Ashley and someone else he could not see:
"Jar...ou."
"...n't...rlier."
He quickly turned up the sensitivity on is mechanical ear so as to better decipher the words.
He heard Ashley ask the other voice for help, as she and her friends were being attacked. "Hmmm," he muttered. "They've got some pretty advanced language and customs, so it's probably safe to assume that the tech level is one I can live with, even if they haven't fully automated all jobs yet and I have to take one up. Intel reports from just a few years ago said that there was no civ-bearing life on the planet I thought I was stranded on, so this must be its alternate -- Earth. I suppose I'll go through with the mission, and helping her and her friends could be an excellent opportunity to infiltrate a social circle and learn about the local society, if nothing else....Yes, that sounds like a good idea."

Ash looked back at Mly.
"I'm sorry," she said. "You probably think I'm crazy. So, um...are you hungry or something?"

Mly thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it," he said, grabbing some of the fine sand and letting it run through his fingers, "yes." What Mly knew that Ash did not, was that the nanobots in his body could make anything work as food, even radiation to a limited extent, both for him and for themselves. He grabbed a fist full of sand and let it pour down his throat, then repeated the same process twice more. "That should be enough food for now," he said.

Ash stared at Mly. "Do you live in an asylum?" she asked, reaching out for Jared's hand and walking to the end of the beach. "I guess we should find Bloodshot and give him a hand."
"Who's that?" Jared asked.
"Just a friend," Ash replied.
"Ash, there's going to be a problem...if I come back," he said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Ash asked.
"Well...I'm sure you've found someone else," he explained.
"Oh..." Ash said. "Well....We'll think of what to do when we get there, okay? Who says we'll be able to get you back? I'm just happy to have you like this."

"What will I do he..." Bloodshot said to him self "Hmph... Only one thing to do I guess..." Bloodshot walked away from Ash and Mly and said to himself "I cant risk them getting killed."

"Wait, who was that?" Ash asked. She turned around, and scanned the trees. "Was that Bloodshot?"

Bloodshot was running passed the trees thinking to himself "Hmm... What is Darkrah on about now...?"