Episode 44: Shell Upgrade

One day, in Rotor's lab, he along with Sonic, Tails, Fiona, Eve, Nic,Uncle Chuck, and Tommy are at work. They are wearing special goggles that will protect them. Rotor has placed one of the green liquid nanites in a small container and puts it on the table. Rotor then presses the button allowing four blasters to hit the container with the nanites.

Rotor says, "Hmm, if this doesn't stimulate some response from the nanites… I'm not sure what will."

"It's weird that the Nanites are having trouble responding lately. You sure it's not just a malfunction," Eve says.

"We're still not sure what it was," Uncle Chuck replies.

"Let's see how you'd reach with 50,000 volts running through the system," Tommy says.

"Electricity is to them as chili dogs are to Sonic and Eve," Uncle Chuck says.

Rotor turns off the machine to see that the nanites aren't responding.

"No reaction," Rotor says, scratching his head.

"Do you think the Nanites are… dead?" Tommy asks.

"Hardly, Tommy," Uncle Chuck answers, taking off the goggles.

Then says, "You can't kill something that wasn't even alive to begin with."

"How can you be sure?" Tommy asks.

"Well, the nanites were constructed of synthetic alloys wires, circuits and transistors," Rotor says.

Eve sighs, "Maybe we should take a break. We'll find out more about the problem tomorrow. We should be glad that some of the nanites were having trouble and not all of them."

"In a bit," Tommy answers.

Everyone then leaves the room to take a break and a rest for the day. Tommy then looks at the liquid nanites. Tommy soon begins to shed tears and they fall into the liquid nanites.

Tommy sighs, "I used to be put down for being small and slow. After seeing what a lot of you can do. I'm sure you guys are capable of something! So why not prove it to…"

Tommy comes to a stop to notice the liquid begins to move and rises from the container.

"Wha…" Tommy replies, surprised.

The Nanites continue to rise like they're alive.

Tommy smiles, "They're growing! They must have heard me! Alright right!"

Tommy hurries to the entry and calls out, "Hey guys! You gotta come see this!"

"The nanites are coming alri-" Tommy says, turning his head.

However, he becomes shocked when the liquid nanites are going on his shell. Tommy falls and hits the ground.

Tommy says to himself, "Maybe if I don't show any resistance, they'll know I mean no harm."

"Hey! What are you doing?! This isn't fair! You're smaller than me!" Tommy panics.

Tommy does the only thing he can do and ducks into his shell. Suddenly, Tommy feels a funny sensation.

"Hey guys…. Tha-that tickles…." Tommy says, and begins laughing.

Hurring into the room, Uncle Chuck and Eve are the first to arrive.

"Tommy? Tommy, are you alright?" Eve asks.

Tommy comes out of his shell, "I'm sorry. I was just startled for a moment by the nanites."

"The nanites? Tommy, what happened?" Eve asks, confused.

Uncle Chuck kneels to Tommy's shell, "Odd. Your shell seems… alive."

Suddenly, Tommy sprouts wings on his back. The wings are large metal like feathers and have green shines on them.

"Well, I'll be…" Uncle Chuck says, surprised.

"Tommy! Since when could you sprout wings?" Eve asks, surprised.

"It wasn't me, it must be the nanites," Tommy answers, looking at his wings.

"The nanites, you say? That's impossible," Uncle Chuck says, taking out his magnifying glass.

"But how do you explain Tommy's wings?" Eve asks as Tommy makes his wings disappear.

Uncle Chuck looks at Tommy's shell with the magnifying glass and is surprised to see circuits and other robotic stuff on Tommy's back.

"By jove, your shell is now composed entirely of nanites! How parasitic," Uncle Chuck says.

"Symbiotic is more like it," Tommy says.

"What do you mean?" Eve asks.

"Apparently the electrical charge plus my tears enable them to make contact. Once they made a connection with my nervous system, it provided the critical mass they needed to grow and learn and thrive," Tommy says.

"And how do you benefit?" Uncle Chuck asks.

"That remains to be seen, sir. The question then becomes… do I have control, or do they?" Tommy replies.

"If you do have control, it's best for you to be careful, Tommy. You might have trouble controlling them at first," Eve says.

"I'll keep that in mind," Tommy says.

Sometime later, Uncle Chuck sends messages to the Freedom Fighters and they all meet in Rotor's lab. Of course, they are surprised to see Tommy's shell has been modified. As of now, Tommy is showing them what he is able to do with the nanites.

"And all I had to do was think to go somewhere… and look…" Tommy says.

Then a pair of rockets appear on Tommy's shell, making it like a jet pack.

"My shell becomes a jet pack!" Tommy presents.

The group is amazed to see Tommy's shell becoming a jetpack.

"That's amazing, Tommy," Tommy says.

"Yeah. You can control the remaining nanites with your shell," sonic says.

Nicole nods her head, "I must agree. I'm very impressed."

"You're forgetting something? If you can come up with the original thought, what did the nanites do?" Rotor asks.

"Good point. Except I only thought about going somewhere…" Tommy says as the jetpack activates.

Then Tommy flies through the room and into the air as Tommy screams, "Not where and how!"

Sonic and the others hurry outside to see Tommy flying in the air.

"Well, everyone… I think the question has been settled," Uncle Chuck says.

"I have to agree, but I'm worried about Tommy. He might get hurt if we don't keep an eye on him," Eve says.

"I think he's fine. Look," Sonic says.

They look up at the sky and Tommy sky writes, 'We're just going for a test drive.'

Tails calls out, "Hey Tommy, you think you can land."

"Um… I don't know. I'm not even sure if we can stop," Tommy says.

Sonic, Eve, and Tails reply, "Uh oh!"

Tommy continues to fly in the air as he heads farther away from New Mobotropolis and the others from Freedom HQ. Sometime later, it doesn't take long for Sally and the others to learn what happened to Tommy and the jet pack he has created is taking him away.

"This is not good. This is not good at all," Sally worriedly says.

"You can say that again. Tommy is flying to who knows where and we have no idea where," Fiona says.

"Well we can't just stand here, we need to go after Tommy before he gets hurt," Sonic says.

Tails says, "We can use the X Tornado to catch up with him."

"Sonic and I will do our best to follow him, but we gotta move fast," Eve says.

"Then let's go," Sonic says.

"Cosmo, Tails, and Rotor will go after Tommy from the air. The rest of us need to stay here in case Tommy comes back," Sally says.

Flying over the sky, Tommy continues to fly as the jet pack continues to power. Tommy looks from above to see the view from below.

"Whoa! This is amazing! I never knew Mobius can be so pretty from up here, but I sure like to get down now." Tommy says.

Suddenly, someone shouts, "Tommy!"

Tommy looks down to see Sonic and Eve running with their super speed on the ground.

"Sonic! Eve! Hello down there!" Tommy calls out.

"Hey Tommy, you think you can land your jet packs and make them disappear from your shell!" Sonic calls out.

"I… I don't know… but I'll try!" Tommy calls out.

Tommy then concentrated on controlling the Nanites in his shells. The tuttle then turns down and begins to fly lower.

"I… I think I'm getting it," Tommy says to himself.

Suddenly, Tommy notices, "Uh, maybe I'm going down a little too fast."

Tommy sees that he is starting to fly farther than he intends to. Tommy then concentrates to control the Nanites and is flying close to grown level. After that, he makes the jet pack disappear and he falls to the ground as he ducks in his shell. Tommy then spins on the ground and flops around his shell. Sonic and Eve soon reach Tommy's shell and stop him from spinning.

"Are you alright, Tommy?" Eve asks.

Tommy sticks his head out of his shell, "I think so. My head feels dizzy though."

"We're glad you're okay, but you're going to be careful with using those Nanites," Sonic says.

"I guess you're right. I'm going to need some more practice before I go flying off into the world," Tommy says.

"Sonic! Eve!" Someone calls out.

The three look up to see the X Tornado descending from the air and landing on the ground. Not long, the three are joined by Tails, Cosmo, and Rotor. Rotor examines Tommy's shell to see there aren't any damages to him or the shell.

"Everything seems to be in order. Luckily, there's no damage to you or your shell," Rotor says.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay, Tommy?" Cosmo asks.

"I'm okay. I just need to have more practice with the Nanites before I go into a spin," Tommy says.

Sonic looks around to see a large clearing where they're at. There aren't any trees, flowers, or water, but it shows a wide open space.

Sonic soon has an idea, "Hey, maybe Tommy can practice here."

"What do you mean?" Cosmo asks.

"Well, we can have Tommy practice using his Nanites here. It's wide enough for him to practice and so he won't crash through another roof," Sonic says.

Eve says, "This might actually work, if we can help Tommy practice using his nanites, then he can use them when he wishes."

"That's not a bad idea," Rotor says.

"Yeah. Rotor and I can help out," Tails replies.

"Me too," Cosmo says.

Eve turns to Tommy, "So Tommy, think you can use your nanites to change to something. Just as long as you don't take off again."

"Sure," Tommy says.

He then begins to think of an idea. Tommy soon comes up with an idea and thinks really hard on what to do. The next moment. Tommy then has wheels on the back of his shell.

"Wheels? I guess that's better than any, but what do you plan to do with it?" Sonic asks, confused.

"Well…" Tommy replies.

He then lays back on the wheels of his shell and uses his arms to push them. Tommy soon begins to move on his own like the wheels have a mind of their own.

"Well, I can use them to give you guys rides and uh, I can help roll a few boxes and items to you guys," Tommy says, rolling around.

He then tops in front of Tails and Cosmo, "You guys wanna ride."

"Are you sure? I… I want to make you feel uncomfortable," Cosmo asks.

"I don't mind at all," Tommy says with a smile.

"If you say so," Tails replies.

Tails and Cosmo sit on the stomach of Tommy's body and Tommy begins to roll around with the two on it. Sonic, Eve, and Rotor watch the ride.

"It does seem helpful, but we can't treat Tommy like he's some kind of shopping cart," Eve says.

"Yeah. On the plus side, he can fly in the air and have an awesome ride on his wheels. It's like he has a portal skateboard on it," Sonic says.

"Thanks," Tommy says.

Tommy then comes to a stop and Tails along with Cosmo hop off.

"So Tommy, maybe you can try making something that well, might not move. You know, how about some kind of protective shield or sword, and kind of weaponry," Eve suggests.

"I guess I could give it a try," Tommy says.

Tommy then concentrated on the Nanites to think on what to transform next. The next moment, Tommy creates silver tentacles on his back. Luckily there's only two of them. The left one creates a sword while the other creates a shield.

"Wow Tommy! I'm impressed," Eve says.

"Tommy, you might be able to actually fight against Dr. Eggman with that kind of ability," Sonic says.

"Uh, I don't know. I'm not really a fighter," Tommy says.

"Don't worry, you can use your Nanites to help with your science projects or experiments.," Eve says.

"I agree. You can really help us with it. However, we need to figure out how they're able to make contact with you," Rotor says.

"We better head back to the city, I'm sure everyone is worried about you," Tails says.

Sometime later, everyone returns to New Mobotropolis in Freedom HQ. Sally and the others are glad to see Tommy is okay and is safe.

"Are you sure you're okay Tommy?" Galaxina asks.

"Yeah. You took a bit of a spin there," Fiona says.

"I'm fine, but I think I manage to gain better control of the Nanites," Tommy says.

"That's good to hear. I thought you've taken off like you were some kind of rocket," Nic says.

"We were worried about you," Amy says.

"Thank you, but I'm okay now. I just need to have more control. The more I learn about the Nanites and use then, the better control I have over them," Tommy says.

"If you need help, let us know and we'll be there to help you with anything you need," Sonia says.

"So dude, what else can you do with that shell of yours?" Manic asks.

"Well, I can do lots of stuff. I was able to make weapons, wings, rockets, wheels, and well, all kinds of things. However, I've noticed that it kind of drains my energy when I use them for so long and larger projects," Tommy says.

"Then it's best for you to be careful and only use the Nanites when they're necessary," Sally says.

"Yes Sally," Tommy says.

Uncle Chuck says, "Let's head to the corridor, I actually have something to show you and I like to test and see if it works."

"Sure Uncle Chuck," Sonic says.

In Dr. Eggman's lab, the mad scientist himself is walking down the hall and is pondering about something.

Just then, A.D.A.M appears, "Good evening, father."

"I don't see what's so good about it. Come to think of it, I can't recall a good evening or a good morning for some time," Eggman says.

"Your research continues and my infiltration has been completed," A.D.A.M says.

"Infiltration?" Eggman asks.

"Yes. I was able to secretly gain access to Freedom HQ without the Freedom Fighters and this Nicole from detecting me. I have created my own form of Nanites to sneak in and gain whatever data they have and to keep an eye on her enemies," A.D.A.M

The screen changes to show Sonic, Eve, and Rotor, who is experimenting with the Nanites. Another shows Tommy controlling his new Nanites on his shell and creates wings on them causing Tommy to fly into the air.

"Freeze frame. The aerial acrobatics, and the strange wings?" Eggman says. Confused.

"Since when could Nanites defy gravity?" Eggman asks.

"Jet engines are but one of an infinite number of configurations the Nanites are capable of. Of course, Tommy Turtle somehow got them on his shell and is able to control them," A.D.A.M says.

"So the Nanites of yours, that Rotor examined, is now linked to the turtle symbiotically?" Eggman asks.

"Affirmative. Now switching to real-time transmission," A.D.A.M says.

A.D.A.M switches the screen and Eggman notices, "A corridor? Why on Mobius would I be interested in that?!"

"It's where the corridor leads to that may interest you," A.D.A.M says.

On the screen shows Tommy Turtle, along with Cloud-Ra, Julies, and Uncle Chuck.

"Sir Charles and his brother Jules, and Cloud-Ra is with them? What could they be up to? Can we get sound?" Eggman asks.

"Audio on," A.D.A.M says.

In the Corridor, Tommy is typing and looking over the screen.

Uncle Chuck says, "Just press your palm down on the scanner here while looking straight ahead into the camera in front of you Tommy."

Tommy places his hand on the scanner and looks at the screen. Unknown to Tommy, something goes on Tommy's shell without him looking.

"What just happened, A.D.A.M?" Eggman asks.

"I transmitted a signal, father. Triggering a growth spurt in my Nanites. The computer console being a natural source of raw material enabling the Nanites to multiply and grow," A.D.A.M says.

"But for what purpose?" Eggman asks.

Suddenly Eggman realizes with excitement, "Aha! How brilliant! How utterly devious! You're able to communicate with the Nanites and thus manipulate them to do my bidding. With none of the King's dupes any the wiser! I love it!"

Eggman watches as Bunnie, Jules, Cloud-Ra and Sally get close to the screen. At the same time, A.D.A.M have his Nanites infiltrate their robotic body parts. In Sally's case, he sneaks them into Nicole's computer.

Eggman laughs, "The plan is perfect! I'm back in business! I'll now know everything they do and say, and when they least expect it, that's the time I'll strike!"

Then begins to maniacally laugh as the Freedom Fighters aren't aware that they haven't been aware that they've been invaded by Eggman and A.D.A.M. However, what Eggman doesn't know is that A.D.A.M has plans of his own and infiltrating them and putting Nanites in the robotic systems isn't his mail goal to his plan.