Hey there, my loyal readers. Well, I promised and delivered on time for once. Quite proud of that. Onece again, I thank you all for your patience. I know this chapter is very small compared to most of my chapters...though I know some avid fanfic readers wouldn't exactly call near 9,000 words 'small' per se. Anyway, I have been thinking of this chapter since very near the beginning, and while it has grown smaller in size over time as I removed sex scene after sex scene till there isn't any, I am still very proud of how it turned out. I hope you all enjoy it! Get to reading already!
Chaos Ring Chapter 8 Chaos Ex Machina
As per usual on any day he had to himself, Tails was alone in his lab, tinkering away at one of his many projects. He was alone in his island home this day, though he had to admit he found the peace and quiet he valued before his days with the Chaos Ring to be a double edged sword.
While the previous week was amazing, even with the exhausting, and very painful, training regimen, it was the last time the teenage fox was with all four girls at once. Rouge was far too busy working for G.U.N. and barely found a moment to visit her lover. Vanilla stayed at home most days to attend to the chao and of course supported her daughter when she began studying for some seriously important tests from school.
While this was true, Cream was also studying how to be a better fighter under Rouge's tutelage, or another agent she trusted in the organization whenever the bat girl was away on a mission. It was around this time Cream used the 'staying over at a friends' excuse to stay in whatever G.U.N. base she was currently occupied in. Nobody outside of Cream, Rouge, and the shady organization knew of this arrangement, or her wounds for that matter thanks to advanced healing technology.
Amy Rose, of course, was the most frequent visitor Tails had. She always had an excuse whether it was just to spend time with him, help him with his work, to make sure he is sticking to the training regimen the girls left him, which he did, or just have plenty of fun, fulfilling sex. Today was a rarity in itself where even she didn't visit him and instead was helping Vanilla at her home since Cream would be busy after school. Those two had really bonded much better thanks both to mutual trust and that perk he activated on the Attraction Chip.
While Tails did feel lonely at first, his normal day now revolving around those four girls, it gave him plenty of time to work on some projects he had been neglecting for the past few days.
He finally got around to upgrading Knuckle's island defences, as was the agreement after leaving him alone on the Eggcelsior before the G.U.N. clean up crew showed up. Even now when he thought of Knuckles, Tails found it amusing that he got so tired of his clans Master Emerald being stolen that he put traditions aside and wished for the island to be armed to the teeth, asking Tails to assist him in this. It was so heavily defended that even a risk junky like Rouge would have to think twice before trying to claim the massive jewel for herself. After how many times it's been used by Eggman to try and take over the world, things were better off this way. All of them were proud of him for putting his clans pride aside for this, even if Sonic still did tease his favourite knucklehead relentlessly every chance he got.
He got to study the Chaos Ring a little bit in silence, too, and even decided to use some stat points and perk points he had saved up over the last week. He would have told the girls about them, but they all seemed far too busy to try and do a spontaneous all night fuck session like before. At least his new abilities and stats will help make the next time they're together even more fun and eventful.
Holo was also providing useful information. While most of all the recorded data for the Chaos Ring was wiped out because of the virus Tails infected the doctors systems with, it didn't stop the A.I. from comprising information from scrap when he had nothing better to do, especially at night when Tails was trying to sleep with any of his lovers. New perks were discovered now that the Chaos Ring was gaining so much more power than before. So much more than Eggman's previous experiments went, in fact. It certainly helped that unlike them, Tails wasn't killed at the end of every week to reset the parameters.
As well as studying the Chaos Ring, the genius vulpine also had another project on his mind, something specifically for Holo. While the training programme inside of the Chaos Ring took the form of Dr Eggman, Tails couldn't ignore the fact that it managed to evolve into a true A.I. thanks to circumstances involving the Chaos Chips combined powers and the virus Tails created. It was completely by accident, but the yellow fox made a friend with one of his enemy's creations. Holo was completely self-aware now, having interests outside of destruction like comic books and even a desire to eat food. He helped Tails several times like with the self-destruct sequence, but sadly he was still bound to obeying some rules laid out in his original training program coding. Tails planned to fix this.
After confirming Holo no longer had any interest in his round creator, Tails would quietly plot on how to separate Holo from the Chaos Ring permanently. As it turned out, this was much harder than the fox originally thought. The hologram of Eggman was a curious creature given his new sentience, so Tails had to distract him with TV shows or Comic books, all things Tails had to physically change for him, while he worked. As far as he could tell, the occupant of the Chaos Ring was none the wiser, leaving Tails to work on what he believed to just be a random project. At least with his new interest in anime, Tails could work for about twenty minutes before he had to switch to the next episode for Holo.
Now that everyone was away today, however, Tails could finally put the final touches on what he had planned for his new friend.
The last few steps involved discovering how exactly Holo was trapped and bound to the Chaos Ring were a digital creature like him should be able to move around freely. To Tails' surprise, the reason behind it was very similar to the creature known as Chaos and the Master Emerald. The Chaos Emeralds can give off a very powerful magnetic force which is both the reason they react to each other, as well as a small part of the raw power they give off when brought together. In the Master Emeralds case, the energy is constantly pushing into itself so its current medium, the Master Emerald itself in this case, can act as an impenetrable prison for anything trapped inside it. It's like having the force of the entire planet, or even the power of the universe itself, crush you constantly and hold you down in place. It's no wonder Chaos wasn't exactly the sanest of creatures once it was released.
The Chaos Ring works in a similar fashion. While its power is paltry compared to something as cosmic powered as the Master Emerald, the Chaos Chips have turned the ring portion of the accessory, as well as the machinery and circuits inside, into a prison for the A.I. entity known as Holo-Eggman. No matter what is done, Holo can't simply just jump from device to device. He was going to require something as circumstantial as his own creation. After eliminating all threats from the procedure he had in his head, Tails was finally ready to reveal his grand plan.
Wiping his furry forehead of sweat, Tails looked over at Holo who was currently watching Sonic X, an anime adaption of Tails and his adventures with Sonic and his friends. Some of it was VERY different from the source material they told the studio behind its creation, but Sonic and his crew didn't exactly care as long as they weren't painted in a negative light. "Holo, put that on pause for a second. I need to show you something." Holo turned to him, his brows furrowing in annoyance. Perhaps because of his idea he forgot the A.I. still couldn't do anything by himself. With a nervous chuckle, Tails quickly paused it for him. Holo quickly vanished from where he stood to watch his anime, then appeared before Tails.
"What's wrong, Tails?" he asked, totally oblivious to his liberators intensions while also being deeply curious about why Tails suddenly put anime day on hold. He usually only did this for things that were of the upmost importance. "Is there something about the Chaos Ring you need to double check with me?"
Tails shook his head, the smile still on his face. "Not exactly. I just thought it was finally time I tell you what I've been working on. You see, while you were watching anime, I was trying to develop a way to free you from the Chaos Ring, and I believe I may have finally found a way to do just that," despite having Eggman's eyes that were always covered by glasses, the expression was very clear on Holo's face. It was one of excitement and joy. Tails really hoped this would work just for the sole reason his friends hopes wouldn't be crushed like fragile glass.
"S-Seriously!?" the A.I. said in surprise, leaning closer to Tails, so much so that his long, pointy nose phased through Tails' yellow furred forhead. "Y-You seriously have an idea of getting me out of this thing!?"
The genius vulpine nodded his head. "It took going back on some research on the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds I did in the past, but I believe I may have a solution. Now that all the coding is done on the computer, we can get right down to the machine itself."
Tails pressed a big red button on his console, something he made on purpose for dramatic value, then took a step back as the floor began to open up in the middle. Holo stared in amazement as a big, hexagonal hole was where most of the floor was just a full twenty seconds ago. More mechanical noises alerted him that there was more to come. A large white device rose up to the ceiling. As it was raised, the A.I. saw that it had no roof over the top of it and a hollow center, minus a single platform and what looked like a lever. On three large pillers that stood slightly larger than the machine were three Chaos Emeralds, all hooked up to the machine already. They were the blue, yellow, and red ones. It was entirely bare colour wise, only being plain old white. Compared to something like the Tornado, or any of the gizmo's he gave Sonic or Knuckles, it lacked his usual flare. If Tails really planned to only use this for Holo-Eggman, then perhaps that's the reason for it lack of finesse.
They stood there for a moment, Tails clearly waiting for words of amazement, or perhaps even a question, but all the hologram could do was frown upon the realisation of a certain incident a few days ago. "Wait a minute," he said, turning to Tails, "I recognise this thing. You said this would be our new satellite that can connect to every anime and documentary channel on the planet," Holo clearly learned a thing or two from Amy, far too many things, if the glare he was pointing towards the genius vulpine was anything to go by. It was uncanny. Though, somehow, it was far more intimidating when Amy did it and not an Eggman looking being.
Tails chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head as he quickly recalled the incident about two days ago. He was putting on his last few adjustments on the machine when Holo finally noticed it, but thankfully most of it was covered over by a curtain in preparation for today just in case such a thing happened. That A.I. could watch anime all day and forget what time it was. Tails was quick to lie to his new friend, using a combination of one of his obsessions and his desires to learn new, valuable information. He promised to himself that he would make it up to his friend if this works by making exactly what he lied about. "Yeah, sorry. I lied about that, but I promise I'll make it up to you, ok?"
"Ok," Holo muttered. He was, of course, disappointed, but he knew once Tails made a promise he knew he would do everything in his power to make it a reality. Besides, at least it was something arguable better than anime, possible. He really loved his anime.
With the reveal done and over with, perhaps with more of a lacklustre reception than he thought he would receive, Tails pressed a button on the machine that made it open up to lead into the center of the machine where Holo saw the panel and lever while it was rising up. Tails didn't waste a moment leading the A.I. inside. Holo quickly followed, partly curious of it and partly can't go very far away from Tails and the Chaos Ring anyway.
"Right," Tails began to earn Holo's attention that was previously focused on the machinery around him, "the process is simple enough. As a true A.I., you should be able to freely move from device to device, but the Chaos Chips are preventing this, acting like a prison for your consciousness that is still in the machine parts of the Chaos Ring. Since you're bound to the energy, the plan is to drain the Chaos Ring of its energy, at least enough to pull you entirely out of the ring, then move into the large machine you see before you. Basically, you will be piggybacking on pure chaos energy to move into a different, larger prison."
Holo nodded the entire way through the explanation, but then frowned at the world 'prison,' "You still don't trust me?" he asked, looking very upset, but Tails just smiled. He was really wishing he could pat the guys shoulder to reassure him like he did with all of his other friends.
"Sorry, but that's essentially what it is until we do step two," he quickly corrected. Holo stayed silent and let his friend continue. He was becoming more and more curious of how exactly his salvation would come about. "You see, unlike the Master Emerald or the Chaos Ring, this machine can be turned off. With a press of the button, all of the energy is drained from the Chaos Emeralds and stored in a separate location until the machine is turned back on. When this happens, special procedures will separate your consciousness from the energy so you will just be in the machine alone. While it's turned off, you'll be able to move anywhere, like my main computer, and no longer be bound to the Chaos Ring."
Holo nodded his head, understanding the plan and even the next few steps involved. "Then once I'm safely out of this machine the…" he looked around curiously, only now realizing Tails had yet to give him a name for it his latest invention.
The fox just shrugged, not exactly giving it much thought beforehand. At the moment, he only planned to use it once if successful, then scrap the parts for later inventions. "Errrrrr…didn't give it much thought, but given its shape, power source, and how its sole purpose to drain the Chaos Ring a little is, I suppose the 'Emerald Ring' is appropriate," Holo smiled, finding that a very clever name for just five seconds of thought.
"Emerald ring, right. Well when I'm free from the Emerald Ring, you'll power it back up and restore the energy that was taken from the Chaos Ring."
A quick nod was his answer. "Exactly the same amount of power lost. The Chaos Chips power limit rises as it's slowly exposed to its growing power. I don't want to risk them overloading and destroying the entire lab in the process because of even a little trickle of energy the Chaos Emeralds possess," Holo winched at the thought of that, yet he was happy his friend was willing to take such risks to free him. He promised himself that the first moment he could, he would make it up to the teenage fox boy.
Before he began, Tails did a quick inspection of the inner circle of the invention, tapping into the limits of his usually fastidious self to remove all dust, dirt, cobwebs, bad code, missing circuit boards and whatever else to make sure this very important step in Holo's currently short life goes off without a hitch and doesn't come to an abrupt end by accident.
"Right," he said after a quick five minute inspection. "I think that should just about do it. When you're ready, we can get started."
Holo nodded and smiled as he moved towards the smaller, more solid creature. Before he reached out for the Chaos Ring, he paused and looked at his friend. Despite looking like his mortal enemy, Tails still treated Holo like he was a member of the team, teaching him new things despite the risk of being a plant by Eggman or a possible trap. He has been nothing but supportive and even willingly took this risk to his person for something the average living being wouldn't exactly classify as 'alive.' "Thank you, Tails, for everything," Holo touched the ring with his intangible fingers before his friend could speak and faded into his ring shaped prison.
Tails gave the ring a fond smile while he went over the final calculations in his mind. He inhaled deeply through his nose and pressed the Chaos Ring, as well as his arm, against the flat surface of the panal. Sensing the signals given out by the inner workings of the potential nuke, clamps emerged from the flat surface and wrapped around the gold ring, locking Tails in place with it. He only had to exert himself a little bit to pull the lever next to him and watch with a confident smile as the machine began to fulfil its singular purpose.
(Inside the Chaos Ring, Holo)
The inside of the Chaos Ring was very different for Holo than it would for anyone else. While most would only see circuits and wires, the interior was a vastly different experience for its sole prisoner.
In here, Holo had a more tangible form, but it hardly served any purpose with no one else to touch. Around him was a gold sphere made from energy produced by the Chaos Chips. It didn't exactly hurt to touch, and whenever he passed through it he found himself outside of the Chaos Ring as the hologram Tails and his harem have come to know. As long as it was present, however, he was unable to leave the Chaos Ring within a certain radius.
Beyond that golden barrier were the tiny chips of Chaos Emeralds that made up the device that was giving Tails such an amazing sex life. On the inside, however, the chips were supersized, looking at least five times as large as the Master Emerald while retaining their individual shapes. Holo could feel the power radiating from them, but had no possible way to manipulate said power. Looking at each of them allowed him to tap into the individual stats each of them give Tails.
While the barrier and massive Chaos Chips were a sight that would take some time before it got boring, the rest of the interior was far less impressive. Beyond the small gold barrier was nothing but a black void that, despite all this time that's passed, Holo has failed to see where it ends, or even where it begins. The Chaos Chips were the only thing outside the barrier that occupied this black space, lazily rotating around Holo's location. If Tails could just spend ten minutes in here then he would better understand why the A.I. valued the outside world far more than this place.
Most people, Holo learned on the computer one day, would occasionally look back on their prison cell fondly before they are released back into the world, but since this was all he has ever really known since his accidental evolution, all he could do was see this place in nothing but distain and a blemish on his short life. Still, he would try and recall any fond memories, but Holo was absolutely ecstatic about leaving this place and never look back.
The air in the place began to shift, become heavier as a wind began to blow for the first time. The Chaos Chips were glowing and Holo knew exactly what was happening. He stared in wonder as streams of energy emerged from the center of the supersized chips with electricity crackling down the length of it. The A.I. couldn't hide his amusement as the streams reminded him of those Ghostbuster movies he watched with Amy and Tails a few nights ago.
The energy slowly made its way to the sphere Holo remained in, passing through effortlessly, then rising skywards into the infinite darkness above, Holo having no doubt that that's where the energy is being drained from. He quickly reached out for it, his gloved hand touching the naked energy. Honestly, Holo thought it would be as simple as that, but then he screamed recoiled his hand, jumping back away from the energy.
Pain. He felt pain for the first time since he transcended into this newly evolved state. It was such an odd sensation, one he did not wish to feel again. Looking at his hand, he could see it pixilate, becoming undone, his inner code being visible to him like blood, then slowly reformed till it was back to normal. Holo frowned at the energy deeply, finding it to be a nuisance.
He looked around like he did a thousand times before, but he found no way of protecting himself from the raw power flowing into this golden sphere. He began to feel an intense fear, and could only imagine Tails hating him for wasting his time like this. In his moment of silence, he was thinking more and more for a solution, but came up with nothing, not until he imagined Tails blowing up into bits for taking this risk to begin with.
Yes, Holo did have a solution to this problem, a concept and mind-set that was surprisingly human for the A.I. program. He focused entirely on Tails, the friends he has come to know since Tails discovered him and introduced him to this new world. He didn't believe it was the kind of love Amy and Cream would have for the fox boy, but it was most certainly a fondness, a sense of comradery and friendship. In dozens of anime he watched, he saw friends sacrifice themselves for their allies and knew immediately that this was his moment to do just that. Tails was risking himself, so Holo may as well do the same.
With eyes filled of determination, Holo gripped hold of the energy and screamed as loudly as he could. No matter how much it hurt or how the energy ripped his arms to shreds, the Eggman looking A.I. held on tightly, repairing himself while his two limbs were being torn asunder.
It took two minutes of pain almost beyond his comprehension, but Holo soon began to follow the flow of energy, being dragged up towards the infinite darkness above. He went beyond that gold sphere for the first time, or at least for the first time that didn't bring him into hologram form on the outside world, and screamed as the pain became more and more intense. He was beginning to feel weak, but with every inch of code in his body he gripped hold of the energy. Eventually, the energy cumulated into a blinding light above. Holo gritted his teeth, gave the light the most steely gaze he could muster while he screamed in both pain and triumph. A moment later, he was lost in the light.
(Tails' lab, Tails)
A green light flashed just below the lever. Everything Holo had just endured was a mere twenty seconds to Tails, but by the looks of it the experiment was a success. Getting the signal that the A.I. has been transferred to the Emerald Ring along with a little of the Chaos Chips energy, he quickly slammed the lever back into its starting position, turning off the energy drain and releasing his wrist.
Twenty seconds. Just twenty seconds. Tails was positive that this was perhaps the longest project he has ever worked on with the shortest pay off ever. Hours, days, weeks went into the construction of this huge contraption that was only needed for a twenty second long transfer of energy. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel a little cheated by the conclusion of this experiment. As long as Holo was ok, then he didn't care how much the time felt wasted at the conclusion.
He looked around quickly. "Holo? Holo, you here?" he was frowning now, hoping his calculations weren't off and just erased his friend from existence. "Speak up if you're here!"
"I'm here, I'm here." Tails looked towards a speaker he installed onto the machine and sighed, thankful it seemed to have gone off without a hitch. "Sorry for the delay. The energy from the Chaos Chips greatly damaged most of my data and was in the process of restoring it. I'm also running a diagnostic check just to make sure I didn't get any viruses," Holo then went silent, possible taking in his surroundings for the first time. "I have to admit, I rather like this. It's far more spacious than the Chaos Ring. The scenery isn't as good, but I appreciate the ability to walk around more freely."
Tails sighed, not realizing he was holding in his breath this entire time. "Good, good. OK, first parts done then. Can you see the special code I installed in the Emerald Ring? It should keep you safe when I turn the machine off so you won't be forced to follow the flow of energy, then you leave it once the machine is off," he couldn't see it, but Holo nodded, still remembering the majority of the plan despite the damage he sustained. At least it was quick enough to recover from.
"Oh, I like it. It appears like a mansion for me. Very nice," Holo said, confirming the codes existence and stepping inside of it. He didn't mention anything else about how it looked to him, possible because he knew he would just be there for a few moments.
Tails moved till he was right next to the speaker, his hand around the lever on the wall of steel to turn the contraption off. "Alright. Here we go. One…two…THREE!" he flipped the lever and over the next few seconds the Chaos Emeralds began to lose their power, all of the energy being drained from them and stored in a super robust generator that could contain the energy within. He looked around, quickly making sure everything was turned off and everything was drained of even a little Chaos Emerald energy. "OK! Go for it!"
At the signal, Holo left the protective code and quickly jumped to the first thing nearby that he could think of, Tails' super computer. Holo's Eggman face appeared on the screen the moment he moved to his third technological home. For a few brief moments Tails felt a heart stabbing horror at seeing his mortal enemies face on his computer, then calmed down once Holo smiled. The A.I. really needed to work on that or the fox and his friends are going to be having heart attacks every time his face pops up on the screen.
Before he could get into any dialogue with Holo, he quickly reversed the process of the experiment. First was the simple procedure of flipping the lever and returning power back to the Chaos Emeralds, then came the far more difficult, fastidious task of restoring the lost energy to the Chaos Chips, exactly enough so he didn't lose any levels or cause an explosion. He could live with losing a level or two, but he took it as a challenge to restore the Chaos Ring fully. He just hoped his pride didn't cause any accidents.
The process was much longer than he would have liked, but was pleased that Holo remained quiet through the entire procedure. One slip of his concentration could destroy them all. He absorbed and scaled the energy, keeping a mental number of the exact amount of energy that was drained from the ring and putting it all back piece by piece.
It took a full ten minutes, but the main reason behind Tails' growing sex life was restored back to its former glory. To emphasise this victory, he thrust his fist towards the ceiling, the light catching off the reflective gold of the ring.
Tails looked towards his computer and only now noticed that Holo must have been watching him this entire time. He really didn't mean to keep the guy waiting for so long. "Well, that's one thing to cross off my to-do list. How are you feeling, Holo?"
"Much better, Tails!" his voice was louder now. A soft blush formed on his cheeks, something he couldn't manage before. He must have only now realized how loud his voice was from the speakers and quickly lowered the volume. "It's far roomier in here, and I can go wherever I wish. Thank you so much for this, Tails. I honestly have no idea how I could ever repay you for this. You have done something no one else has ever considered or done before, and all of it was just for me. You're the greatest," it was now Tails' turn to blush.
"T-Thanks, Holo. So I guess the Emerald Ring was easier than leaving the Chaos Ring?" Holo nodded his head in confirmation.
Before he began, he put his new abilities to the test and brought up a diagram of the procedure. It showed Holo, the mansion like code he was in, and on the outside Tails figured that swirling mass of colours was the Chaos Emerald energy. "The second you turned it off, the energy went wild and tried to take me with it, grabbing at the mansion and tearing at its coding piece by piece, but eventually it was all drained away without a problem and I managed to get away. It was a little rough withstanding it, and only the floor and two walls were left of it before I jumped in here, but it served its purpose. The transfer to this device was far smoother than moving from the ring to that machine."
Tails sighed in relief. It looked as though this delicate experiment was a total success with not a single hiccup to be found. He looked at his Chaos Ring and saw each of the little chips shining as lightly as they usually do. No errors at all to be seen, not by the naked eye, anyway. Now that all the hard, dangerous parts were out of the way, there was only one last order of business to attend to.
"Excellent. Now all that's left is to give you your very first present as a free A.I. program," Tails said simply and went to the nearby console, pressing some buttons as he did. Holo may have been just Eggman's head on the computer screen, but the range of emotions and concerns were vastly superior to when he was just a hologram projected by the Chaos Ring.
Holo probably should have asked for permission first, but the second he jumped to the main computer, he was already accessing the internet and downloading a range of new things. One of those was something that would help emulate human emotions. He had learned a few things about it since his creation, but it was still difficult to replicate the appropriate facial features or body movements. It was a great frustration that he really did feel happy, sad, or even angry sometimes, but was limited by a primitive hologram projector and his own lack of knowledge.
Now, however, a wide smile formed on his lips as he looked at Tails. Seeing the look of surprise on the foxes face, Holo opted to dial it back a little so it looked a bit more normal. "A present? Tails, you really didn't need to do that for me," upon saying that, Tails chuckled. He seemed to have noticed what Holo had done and was greatly amused by this. Seeing such a happy smile on Holo's face was both reassuring, and creepy.
"I'm sure you'll be changing your tone once you see what I got for you," Tails pressed a few more buttons and from the ground raised a tiny stand for something. On the circular surface were a total of twelve beetle sized insects. They were clearly mechanical. Holo raised an eyebrow and looked at his yellow and white friend. "Go ahead," Tails urged, "move into them like you did the computer. I'm sure you'll like it"
Holo was sure Tails knew what he was doing, so he didn't resist at all and moved into the small mechanical beetles. Naturally, it was a tight fit for his few zettabytes of coding, even more so than the Chaos Ring, but he turned the machines head and looked through the red lenses for eyes towards the vulpine genius. "Alright, I'm in. Now what?" he looked around carefully, the heads all moving in different directions, then did a little test flying thanks to the wings on the back.
Tails didn't look at any in particular as he responded. "Ok, that's good. Now, try out the main feature of it. I'm sure you will really like it," Tails could only imagine the Eggman lookalike tilting his head in confusion before he did as he was instructed.
It was strange that the function description was hidden from him, but Holo just used it anyway. He gasped in surprise as the mechanical bodies he was occupying suddenly began to converge onto one another. He prepared for a collision, but they merely melded together. Now a metallic blob on the floor, Tails watched as a shape emerged from the puddle. First came the balding head, the moustache, round belly, then finally came the very long legs. A mini Eggman was now before Tails, reaching up to the fox's knees. "I-I-I don't…under…" came Holo's stunned reaction, then looked at his hands in utter fascination. His hands weren't see through in the least, and when he poked his body, he felt a sensation he never felt before, something given to humans and mobians alike from the moment they are born. The sense of touch.
Tails looked down at his mini Eggman friend, a soft smile on his lips as he bent down to his knees. "I hope you like it. I…was going to make this after I finished with the Emerald Ring, but when the inspiration for it hit me, I couldn't resist putting that on the side in favour for this," Tails said, moving a finger to the small Eggman's head and pushing down playfully. "The machine you are in is a specially designed chip of mine that controls a kind of material mimicking alloy the guys in G.U.N. have been working on. I asked Rouge to bring me some after I called in a few favours from their R&D division. They guaranteed, and I tested it, that this stuff can copy any material currently installed on its single, revolutionary processer. Basically, you're just a single chip surrounded by a liquid metal. It doesn't have as great a storage as the Chaos Ring, but at least if you feel the need to download new information, it can be easily upgraded by me later down the road. The form you have now was something I pre-set to happen once you accessed this function for the first time "
Being able to feel something real for once was amazing. It was very different from the pain he sustained from the Chaos Ring energy before, or even when he would touch his body while he was in his previous prison. This was something that made him extremely happy. "Can…Can I grow?" Holo asked. Even for an advanced A.I. program, he was finding it difficult to process all this information. Perhaps it was something human that has grown on him in all this time. That thought actually made him smile wider. It was so good that he could express such happiness now, too.
"Of course," Tails began. "The liquid metal can break down other metals and then basically repurpose it into the liquid metal that your body is made of. Naturally, there are a few limitations I set on it, but there is more than enough if you want to be a fully sized Eggman. You have a machine close by I was planning on having dismantled anyway," he pointed at the nearby Emerald Ring machine and immediately flew overhead so he could safely extract the Chaos Emeralds before Holo could get started.
Once that chore was done, Holo ran towards the machine as best his long, tiny legs could allow him. He merely just pressed his palms to the machine and watched in fascination at how the machine was being broken down and liquidised. Some of it would merely seep into his hands while any excess would slide down the surface of the machine and be absorbed through the soles of his feet.
Tails felt an uncomfortable sensation run up and down his spine and at the back of his skull, but he had long gotten adjusted to this whenever he had to watch any of his machines get scrapped, especially when they only had one specific use like this one.
Holo's mini Eggman body then began to grow slowly. His legs and arms were the first to have a notable increase in length due to them being where the liquid metal was going into his body. It was certainly an extremely amusing sight to behold where even Tails couldn't help but take a picture of it real quick just in case he needed a good laugh in the future. The body was next to increase in size and width, becoming the egg shaped man Tails has had the unfortunate pleasure of knowing for a number of years. The head began to rise up now, looking like a painful looking pimple on top of the body and limbs, it slowly changed till it resembled the proper size and shape. Even the moustache and the pointy nose were accurate. It took a minute longer than he would have liked for Holo to reach full scale, but he was sure the A.I. would get better at it over time.
Tails would be lying if he said he didn't feel even a little intimidated seeing a perfect, solid Eggman right in front of him, but knowing it was his friend urged him to approach. "So…how does it feel?"
Holo thought for a moment, bringing his hand to his chin to scratch it, then to the large moustache Eggman is best known for and twirled a finger between the long hairs. Holo had to admit, he found it amazing at how accurately the metal could mimic the fabric of the clothes, skin, and hair of his creator. He took a moment to think of the right words. "How can I put this. It feels…"
"NOT SO FAST, EGGMAN!" came a familiar voice that both of them recognized. Tails looked to his left, ready to give his pink hedgehog lover a disarming smile until he saw her running towards him with her hammer at the ready. Wide eyed, the fox jumped out of the way, but Holo sadly wasn't as fortunate. The business end of the hammer collided with the A.I.'s head, filling the room with the sounds of crunching flesh. The head came off easily, bouncing on the ground once, twice, then denting the surface of what remained of the Emerald Ring. Both Tails and Amy stared for a long moment before Amy screamed loudly, horrified. "OH MY GOD! I KILLED EGGMAN!"
Tails face palmed himself and made his way to the hedgehog and patted her shoulder. "No, you didn't, Amy. Calm down," he pointed to the decapitated head and saw it turn to liquid metal and go towards the still standing body headless body. Once the metal seeped into the soles of the feet, the head reappeared, making Amy stare in disbelieve. Greatly amused by her reaction, Tails kissed her cheek softly and held her hand. "Allow me to introduce the new and improved, Holo-Eggman…though not exactly a hologram anymore."
Holo approached the two smaller mobians and offered a wide smile before he bowed respectfully before them and took Amy's hand in his own and kissed the tips of her fingers like she was some sort of royalty. It actually made her blush a little. "As you may have noticed, I'm finally free of the Chaos Ring thanks to Tails, and he even went the extra mile to create a body for me to move around in. It feels good to finally be able to touch you all like this."
The red dress wearing hedgehog just continued to stare, unable to believe that Tails really managed to do it. She ran her hands along Holo's arm. As she did this, Tails was explaining how all of this happened, but she was only half listening at the moment. She couldn't believe that all of this was a material mimicking liquid metal. Tails truly was a genius to come up with such a solution like this.
Now that her friend had a physical form, she brought him into a hug, just barely getting her arms half way around his waist. She was so happy right now, even more so for Holo since this was his only dream since he had achieved true sentience as an A.I. "Congratulations, Holo. Now that makes the gift I have for you even better," He tilted his head curiously and watched the hedgehog make her way back to the entrance of the lab and bring back the bags she was holding before she put them down in favour of her large, destructive piko piko hammer. She reached into the bag that was full of clothes, shoes, and a game Tails asked her to buy for him. She wasn't sure about the series, but according to Tails it was the newest, greatest game after a number a lot of fans considered failures, though Tails still liked most of them despite what they said. Anyway, what earned Holo's attention the most was the comic the hedgehog took out, the newest one of the first series he read and loved with all his bits and bytes. He looked at the cover intently, then paused all movement.
Tails noticed this and looked up at the Eggman wannabe. "Holo? Are you ok? You're looking a little glassy eyed there. Or…as glassy eyed as you can with those glasses on," he looked towards Amy curiously. "What did you give him, Amy?"
Amy looked at the fox, worry clear on her face. "I…just gave him the next issue of that comic he likes. I heard both of you talking yesterday that you were going to get it when you had time, so I thought I would surprise him by getting the next issue before you do."
"Its fine," Holo finally said, making both mobians look towards him curiously. "I was just thinking, that's all," he turned his gaze to Tails. The fox could see a fierce seriousness behind the calm face of a man Tails knew would usually be screaming at the top of his longs every few minutes. "Tails…you told me that this liquid metal material can mimic anything I can think of…does that mean I can potential have a new form than the one I've always known? Something besides this Eggman appearance?"
Tails had a soft smile on his lips, one that made Amy's heart skip a beat and encouraged Holo to copy for himself. "That's right. It's one of the things that convinced me to call in all those favours G.U.N. owed me. We've been together for some time now. You think I wouldn't have noticed you hating to have to see the face of the man who created you for the sole purpose of being a tutorial program for a perverted device, or wishing you could chop off that moustache, or be the same height as the rest of us? You're a dear friend of mine, Holo. Like with all of my friends, I listen to you and I pay attention so I can help to make you happy. Anime and comics have been only a temporary solution all this time, so I hope this truly makes you happy and feel like you are really one of us now."
Amy looked at her boyfriend with barely contained love and affection. "Awwwwwww, Tails, that's so sweet of you. This is exactly why we all love you," she reached out to his cheeks and pulled him into a loving kiss that left both of them moaning while Holo merely watched in curiosity.
"Love…" he muttered, downloading as much of the elusive emotion as he could from the internet as reference in the background. "Truly a very unique and pleasant emotion you biological creatures have," once enough information was downloaded, he quickly sorted through it and found himself smiling, discovering that much of it matched up with what he was feeling right this moment, as well as many weeks before hand, when he looked at Tails and Amy's passionate embrace, especially the former. Suddenly, the Eggman wannabe began to melt in a very unpleasant fashion. His nose fell off, half his face ran down faster than the rest, fingers broke off like twigs, all of it forming a single puddle on the ground.
The two lovers looked down at the liquid metal curiously, Tails being the one to speak up. "D-Does this mean you have already chosen a new appearance for yourself?"
When he failed to respond, Tails wondered if Holo either forgot he couldn't nod right now in his current position, or couldn't speak as he reshaped himself. Thankfully, he seemed to find his voice once what looked like the legs began to form. "I have, yes. It's a form I have desired for a very long time now. Thank you, Tails, for giving me this opportunity. I have been a slave of Eggman's for far too long, this form a reminder of that, but now I can change that. I am very happy you found me, Tails. Had I been left alone after attaining this new level of sentience, I may very well have gone insane, but the time I have spent with you, your friends, your lovers, it has given me the opportunity to experience life as a flesh and blood person…"
The two of them stared for a very long time. The worry on Amy's face was understandable. The tone of Holo's voice was constantly changing. One moment he had his usual Eggman voice, then a lower toned male, Amazonian sounding woman, posh and polite, regal, brutish, terrifying, playful, commanding, soft and gentle. He went through these voices in just that single sentence until he found something he liked, which he eventually did. As he spoke, his new body was rising up from the liquid metal.
The legs came first. Judging from where it stopped and formed his waist and stomach, he was going for a height similar to his two friends. The stomach was thin and had two very noticeable bumps on the chest that Tails immediately noticed and blushed at while Amy merely giggled. What looked like clothes began to form as the head was being constructed. Currently, there was no colour to any part of his body or attire, but Tails couldn't help but feel like he has seen it somewhere before. The head was most certainly mobian, as noted by those twin large ears at the top of his head. Both of them immediately assumed he was going to be some form of fox like his friend, perhaps a fennec fox if the large ears were any indication.
The body fully done, colour soon began to appear on the surface of the body and his attire. At the feet were black and white shoes at the top appeared to be silver cuffs. Going higher, the two mobians would see that he simply wore black, form fitting pants. Even without seeing the rest of the body, the two of them could see that this new appearance would be very feminine. They may even have to refer to 'him' as a 'her' now. Once the chest area formed, Tails immediately noticed the light brown fur that could be seen under the sleeveless, shoulder-less dress, as well as the C-cup breasts he was now sporting that seemed very similar in size and shape to Amy's, at least from what he can tell so far. Amy was more fascinated by the dress. The front of it was purple in colour with a white trim along the edges that enveloped the whole of the back. The very bottom of the back also split into twin tails, the tips of which almost touched the ground. The back of the dress, as well as his black pants, also had a hole which his short brown tail could poke through. At the front, just under his neck, was also a gold broach that had a purple jewel center to it that was connected to a single strap that tied around his new neck for easy access. Finishing off his outfit, Holo had a pair of black and white gloves, the black at the back of the hand and the white covering the entire palm. At the end of each glove was also a purple cuff that matched the design of the ones at the end of his shoes, but a different colour.
Finally, the head was beginning to gain colour and a more solid appearance. As with his arms and shoulders, holo's chosen fur colour for this new mobian appearance really was a light shade of brown. Now that the head was fully formed, it was clear he went with a female frame, as noted by the legs and his chest area. The new form was very beautiful with his long ears ending in with a black colouration half way up and having a single tuft of fur on the tip of each ear. Similar in colour to the black fur, Holo now sported what appeared to be markings on the bridge of his nose and under his eyes. The eyes were green in colour and were a shade or two lighter than Amy's own. His hair was black like the fur on the end of his ears and was a medium-long length, most of it hanging off the right side of her face while at the back it was split in several directions, it reaching as far down as his tail easily.
Amy was absolutely awestruck at the beautiful woman that now stood before her. It was difficult to believe that this stunning young woman looked just like Eggman moments ago. Tails, however, lifted up the comic Holo had dropped just before this transformation and smiled at the cover that had exactly the same woman on it that now stood before the two lovers. "So…does this mean we have to call you Nicole the Warrior Lynx from now on?"
The girl giggled softly, a very feminine sounding voice compared to all the ones he was cycling through before. He…or she now, Tails supposed, took the comic from Tails' hands and looked at the mirror image of the cover lovingly. "I was considering it…but you gave me a name when I didn't have one…when you didn't even have to bother to get to know me, and would like to honour that," she placed the comic down on a nearby console and inhaled through her nose, shivering as she took in oxygen for the first time in her life, apparently making some of the excess liquid metal take the form of working organs and mobian breathing systems. "I may not be as transparent anymore, but it is still my first name. From now on, you can call me Nicole…the Holo-Lynx"
Right, all done. I hope you all loved the chapter. As I said at the start, this idea has been swimming in my head the moment I decided to add a holographic training program for the Chaos Ring. I didn't want Nicole to be the product of Tails' own genius as I felt that was a little cliché and instead not only have her a creation of Eggman, but also make her transcendence into an A.I. a total accident. Also, just to clear things up, while she is free of the Chaos Ring, she can still offer many help with it like she did when she was simply Holo-Eggman. I plan to add many more Archie characters now, even though the Archie Sonic has been cancelled now and picked up by someone else, including Sally, Bunnie, Fiona, and many others in the future. Some close by, others in the far future of this fic. Thank you all for reading and I really hope I do Nicole justice for you starting on the following chapter. Take care, and don't forget to send a review about what you liked or disliked about the chapter, or even potential future ideas, as long as it isn't senseless, stupid bashing. Take care, loyal readers!