Trial

Description
 'Trial' is the nickname taken by the Sonic of the Project Chaos universe. Said to once act very similar to Modern Sonic, his demeanor has since changed after his capture by G.U.N. prior to being summoned to the House. This capture lasted six months and had a great effect on his personality and outlook. Despite his traumas, he works to improve himself and lessen the effects of what happened to him.

Childhood
Trial was born on Mobius on June 23, 3980 A.G. in the Kingdom of Christmas Island. The Island was and still is unmarked by any maps, only accessible through Chaos Energy. It lays nearly abandoned now after...certain circumstances.

Of course, Trial doesn't know any of this.

As far as his memory serves, he spent the first seven years of his life with his mom in a domestic town where bad things Didn't Happen. Until, of course, he watched his mother "drown" during a flood. This event, coupled with the fact that he can't swim, fueled his hydrophobia, even though it was later revealed that his mother lived.

Not long after, Trial was taken in by Mighty and Ray, who treated him like a younger brother. They helped to build his confidence and find his love for running. However, four years later, during a brutal attack by Team Hooligan, he ran off in the chaos and was unable to find anyone in the aftermath.

It was soon after that he met a certain two-tailed fox. Seeing himself in Tails, Trial took him in as family, just as Mighty had done for him years ago.

Adventures
After befriending his Tails, Shortcake, Trial found himself in many wild adventures.

This included, but is not limited to:

--Knuckles tackling him and claiming he stole an important artifact, which later turned out to be Team Hooligan's work

--Amy Rose showing up one day saying she knew the future and Sonic had to "watch out for the shadow bullets before they pierce the soul"

--Tikal popping into Trial's dreams vaguing about his legacy and how he angered a lot of people. They're friends now.

--A confusing series of events involving Mephiles the Dark taking Sonic's shadow and Amy learning how fire functions

--Fighting off G.U.N. soldiers in order to save a young rabbit who had just had her mother taken away

Hunted
When Amy first met Trial, it came with a warning that alluded to the intentions of G.U.N: the intention to hunt down Chaos Users in order to abuse their powers for their own cause. Finding Cream only solidified this.

It wasn't long before G.U.N. soldiers became a regular sight for Trial. Trial leaned he could use Chaos after Knuckles insisted it as the case. What he didn't know was that he was the most powerful User since Shadow. This painted a target on his back.

They evaded G.U.N. for a while, but despite their efforts, one particular day killed it all. What started out as a calm day watching the sunrise at a lake turned into a bloodbath as G.U.N. at last combatted Sonic's speed with their smarts. Amy died from a series of bullets in the attack, setting Trial into a Dark form for the first time. He killed several soldiers before passing out and being taken away by a second wave.

Captured
While in G.U.N. captivity, Trial suffered several forms of abuse. It all started with a tag in the ear.

He found a friend in a nearby cell before much time passed: Gadget the Wolf. He also managed to befriend one of the guards...Merlina. Despite this, the relationships proved unfavorable when the two of them betrayed Trial during an "escape plan". Gadget went as far as to burn Trial. Unknown to Trial, there was much behind the scenes work in convincing Gadget and Merlina that this course of action was ultimately the right thing for the world. This hurt Trial's ability to trust others.

Every attempt at escape resulted in physical punishment and verbal abuse. Various methods, including knives, electricity, and hammers, were used. This broke Trial's mindset and gave him a permanent stutter. His self-esteem also suffered. Luckily, his arrival at The House of Needlemouse took him from the facility, allowing him to start anew.

Personality.
Trial used to act almost exactly like Modern Sonic prior to his capture by G.U.N. After this event, however, much of his act has altered.

Upon arriving at the House, Trial had little trust for anything or anyone, and would freak out if anyone laid a hand on him. He had minimal control over his Chaos Powers and lacked even the ability to walk. Speedway and Ess broke him out of his shell and revealed more of his core personality.

Despite being a Sonic, Trial is far from what most may envision. Trial expresses discomfort when anyone not immediately close to him touches him in any manner. Sights of fire, knives, or other items that remind him of his time with G.U.N. are unlikely to end well, either. Trusting others is not something he does easily. He speaks in a soft voice with a stutter, as if constantly afraid of saying the wrong thing. Another differing factor from Modern, Trial has been shown not to be afraid of killing when the situation calls for it. Still, he finds great joy in freedom and helping others, and wishes only to be like he was before.

Speed
Like most (if not all) Sonics, Trial can run at unimaginable speeds. However, he recently falls short on this as he is still recovering from previous injury to his legs.

Chaos Powers
Trial is a powerful Chaos User, able to manipulate many elements by using the Chaos Energy within and around him.

Chaos Control
Like most Chaos Users from the Project Chaos universe, Trial is able to use forms of Chaos Control that require the use of a Chaos Emerald in other universes. He is known to teleport away from situations that unnerve him, though he is trying to better himself from this.

Aerokinesis
Trial is most skilled at Aerokinesis. A more notable use of this is his ability to sense what's around him, even when blinded, by "feeling" the air. He can also use variations of Sonic Wind, and he also uses this ability to Boost.

Hydrokinesis
While he doesn't realize it, Trial's Secondary Power is Hydrokinesis. He unknowingly used this once when saving Ess from drowning the pool.

Other Powers
Trial cannot manipulate other elements to the same extent as Aerokinesis or Hydrokinesis. However, due to him being so powerful with Chaos Energy, he is able to touch upon other subjects to an extent. He once burned Ess while in an unstable state of mind, and he has been shown to set a piece of paper on fire once.

Fusion
Through an extention of Chaos Links, Trial can fuse with Ess to form Soter.

Transformations
Trial has taken multiple forms over the course of THoN, but there may be some that remain undiscovered.

Super Form
Upon his first contact with a Chaos Emerald, Trial entered his Super form for the first time. He was unaware that this form existed prior to this event. This form acts much like the Super form that Modern Sonic takes, and greatly enhances his Chaos Powers.

Dark Form
After a highly negative reaction to seeing a Gadget in the House, Trial's spiraling thought process led him to take a Dark form. Differing from Dark Sonic, this form has a red glow of negative Chaos Energy. While in this form, Trial was able to transfer Ess' wounds to himself.

Werehog
While in the Depths of the House with 2.0 Shard, Trial came in contact with Dark Gaia Energy and breathed it in, resulting in the occasional transformation to the werehog. Dark Gaia's influence has taken hold of Trial on multiple occasions, but he is learning methods to prevent this in the future. At first, he deeply hated this form and wished to avoid people while in it. Now, while he still dislikes the form, he is more open to continuing normal activity. Plus, he gets to be a fluffy cushion for Ess. Strangely, he has not entered this form in quite a while...

Human
At one point, Trial requested that Needlemouse transform him into a human as a direct way to get over his fear of humans. He gained this fear after months of captivity and torture from G.U.N. that was caused, mostly, by humans. He disliked this form, to put it lightly, but tolerated it knowing that it would help him in the long run. While he is still wary of humans, it is to a much lesser extent and he is thankful for the experience.

Ess
Ess is Trial's boyfriend. Their first real interaction happened at the pool, where the two of them shared their pasts with each other, and they have since grown very close to each other. Ess was the first person that gained Trial's full trust in the House.

Their confessions to each other might be described as wonky. For Trial, he had been injured in a forest with Ess and started spouting everything that entered his head, which came with an "I love you." As for Ess, he confessed after calling Trial out on insisting that he was perfectly okay when he wasn't.

While their relationship hasn't always been perfect, they both love each other deeply and have forgiven each other's flaws, even if they haven't forgiven themselves. They even went on a date once!

They became the first instance of fusion in the House with the formation of Soter. This has brought side effects such as hearing each other's thoughts while separate, sharing memories, and occasionally being able to sense where the other is at a given time.

Some would say that Trial and Ess spend a little too much time together. They're working on it.

Speedway
Speedway was the first to reach out to Trial in the House. He got Trial to open up and really talk to people rather than hide under a tree and brood all day. The two have now formed a brother-like bond, and Trial will occasionally go to Speedway for life advice. This doesn't necessarily mean Speedway is good with life advice.

Speedway got Trial to first realize he had a crush on Ess, by means of bathrooms and screaming.

Trial has cried in Speedway's lap multiple times.

Speedway Shadow
Trial's first interaction with Speedway Shadow involved kicking and screaming. Their relationship has improved since.

Shadow healed Trial's legs after Trial was an idiot who accidentally fucked up his legs again. After, he offered his help in teaching Trial to control his Chaos Powers, which thus far has only gone on for one session. This may or may not be because Trial is too impatient to sit in an empty room for hours doing weird Chaos bullshit.

Shadow has helped Trial in multiple fights, whether he was fighting himself or healing Trial. Trial envies Shadow's ability to heal.

2.0 Shard
Trial met 2.0 Shard around the time he got to know Speedway Shadow. Like Shadow, Shard offered to help Trial with his Powers. Unfortunately, his initial attempt to do this ended in Trial gaining his werehog form.

Because Shard has his own werehog form, he has been insistent on helping Trial with his. This developed a "mom friend" type friendship between them. While Shard does his best to help, he has issues with personal space, and often fails to understand when people want to be left alone.

Shikurai
Trial and Shikurai have a tense relationship. Trial's trust of Shikurai stems from Shikurai's friendship with Ess, and is strained. While Shik has expressed a wish to befriend Trial, there have been many setbacks in this happening, those setbacks often involving either Corah or Shikurai's ability to read thoughts, which Trial considers a disruption of privacy.

Trial very much wants to be friends with Shikurai, but he can't shake his unease. Not yet, at least.

Mr. Needlemouse
While at first wary of Needlemouse, Trial grew a deep respect for the host over time, even giving him the nickname "Needles". Trial is ever thankful for everything that Needlemouse has done to help him, and is always looking for a way to repay him.

Tiara
Tiara was the one who originally healed Trial after he arrived at the House. Trial wishes to talk to her and get to know her, but understands that she's probably very busy.

Me
Fuck. What the fuck.

Quotes
"'I'm not a prostitute!'" -Claiming he isn't a prostitute. "'I feel like death.'"-Being a big fucking mood. "'I'm just here to make things worse.'"-Being an idiot. "'I'll stop him. I'll die before I let him do any more to you.'"-Talking about Infinite. "'Fruit salad.'"-Insisting that fruit salad is good and Ess' fruit salad opinions are invalid.

Trivia

 * Trial wears a necklace at almost all times. This is a Chaos Catalyst, an item found in the Project Chaos universe that allows Chaos Users to use more energy without running out.
 * Trial's bandana, as well as the bands around his gloves, are a homage to Project Chaos Amy.
 * Ess picked out Trial's shoes.
 * Trial has a minor malfunctioning chip in his head which very occasionally causes him to act unlike himself.
 * Because his mother was a version of Queen Aleena, Trial is a prince, although he doesn't know it.
 * Trial is nonbinary. He just...doesn't know what nonbinary is. Someone tell the poor soul.