Author's note: I just realized that the title for this story is a load of #$&#&$#&$. I really didn't have any better ideas, though. Oh, well.
Oh, one more thing. If this story begins to seem too video-game-ish, don't let that surprise you. I have a tendency to gravitate in that direction.
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Chapter 2: VR Training
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Tails led me to some kind of device in the corner of the lab. "You know," I mentioned, "I always thought virtual reality was a contradiction in terms." Tails didn't respond.
"All right," Tails advised me, "just climb into the device here. Your wrists and ankles go in the appropriate clamps, and your head should fit into the helmet there."
The thing looked like some kind of torture device, but I trusted Tails, so I obeyed. As soon as I was ready, Tails pushed a few buttons and secured me in, then activated the device, causing me to lose consciousness for a few seconds.
When I woke again, I was standing in some kind of neon-grid area. Ahead of me was a long path. "Zounds!" I finally said. "What is this place?"
I heard Tails' voice in response to my question. "This is just part of your VR training. I'm going to start you off on the simple stuff. Your new body enables you to run at amazing speeds. Just a moment."
All of a sudden, what looked like a hologram of me appeared next to me. "See that hologram? Just watch what it does and do the same thing."
"Gotcha," I replied.
The hologram started running down the path, and I followed. The two of us began to go faster and faster; I could not believe our speeds. As we were screaming along at 25 or so MPH, my hologram's wings started to move, and suddenly I realized that mine were moving as well.
"That's natural," Tails' voice explained, as if he had read my mind. "Just keep going."
I kept going. Soon, my hologram's feet weren't even touching the ground; his wings were keeping him coasting along, and he stopped moving his feet and put them back to reduce air resistance. Realizing that my feet weren't touching the ground either, I did the same thing.
Suddenly, everything went black. "Okay, you seem to have gotten the hang of speed," Tails interrupted. "That speed you were going at at the end is called 'coast speed', and it's the fastest you can go. Now let's work on some attack moves."
When things lit up again, I was standing on a small platform. A few yards away, another platform held my hologram. We both had large targets in front of us.
I looked over at my hologram for guidance, and he ran his hand over his other arm and picked up a loose feather. I found a loose feather on my arm, as well.
"You've gotten the hang of this VR training pretty quickly," Tails' voice told me. "I won't interrupt you again unless you need it."
As I watched, my hologram held his feather so the stem pointed at the target, and put it up to his wing. He pulled back against the wing like a bow and arrow, and released it. The feather hit the target's center perfectly.
"Now it's my turn," I said as I copied my hologram's feat with my own wing. The feather flew through the computer-generated air … and missed the center of the target by a few feet.
Tails laughed a little. "It's okay, Leo. Practice makes perfect. Just keep trying."
I tried a few more times. On my fifth or so try, I hit the center of the target head-on. Tails cheered, and everything went black again.
This time, I was at the beginning of another long path, but this one sloped down and ended at a wall. An identical path was next to me, and there was my hologram, at the beginning of it.
As usual, I kept an eye on my hologram's actions. He began running down the path, whose slope took him to coast speed quickly, and then fell forward and curled into a tight ball, crashing through the wall as he rolled into it.
After a moment, I remembered that it was my turn. I rushed down the slope, hit coast speed, and dropped into ball form myself. I couldn't see where I was going, but I knew from the satisfying SMASH! that I had broken the wall on my path.
Everything darkened once more, and this time I was standing on the first of a series of platforms. My hologram was standing next to me. Hovering above the last platform were two wire-frame spheres.
My hologram ran toward the next platform. Right before reaching the edge, he jumped, curling into a ball as soon as he left the ground. This apparently increased his distance, and it worked. He landed on the next platform perfectly.
As my hologram jumped from platform to platform, I followed, remembering to curl into a ball each time I jumped. We both reached the last platform, and my hologram broke one wire-frame sphere by jumping into it. I did the same thing with the other one.
"You've mastered attacking," Tails' voice chimed in. "Now for the last lesson: flying."
I was now comfortable with everything going dark and brightening again, which of course was what happened. This time, the only ground was one platform, which my hologram and I were standing on.
This time, my hologram jumped into the air, curling into a ball as usual, but this time suddenly uncurled and put his arms out, letting his wings keep him airborne. I followed suit.
The two of us hovered in the air for a few seconds, after which my holographic guide zoomed forward through the air like a hawk. I leaned forward and flew after.
Tails had set up several rings in the sky. I did not even have to look at my hologram to know what to do; I flew around, zooming through each ring in turn.
After I had flown through the final ring, everything went dark once more, but this time I was back in the VR device when I regained my sight. Tails walked up to me and asked me how I felt.
"Couldn't be better," I replied. "I think I've gotten the hang of this new body now. Thanks, Tails."
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Yeah, long chapter, eh?
Quote of the Chapter:
"The sight of all the birds following us and the view from up there was so amazing, I almost broke out into song… but I know I'm no good at singing, so I held back."
-Tails, Journal Job, Ch. 1