Chapter 9: Hardlight Rope
"...Okay, now adjust the magnetic field."
Careful hands began work on the device, as they readjusted the focusing of the beam.
Sapphire wanted to do some more work on her hardlight prototype, to see if she could improve it, and try to find other ways it can be used. She wanted to start advancing with her own technology skills.
Tails has been helping her improve, showing her how to build her tech with properly machined parts instead of scraps, improving the power stability and battery life of the device.
After the adjustments, the pair of mobians stepped back, and raised their welding masks.
"Okay, ready for the next test?" Tails asked.
"What test was this, again?" Sapphire responded. "Test number 87, right?"
"Well, if you want things work the way you intend them to, it usually takes several attempts. The more complicated the concept, the more tests needed."
"Yeah, I know..." Sapphire said. She's been through this before. She had to go through when she initially tested her hardlight tech. It wasn't unique, but it was she had started with, all on her own. And now she was going through it again. She didn't mind, she enjoyed it, but it was exhausting at times, and at other times, frustrating.
Tails tapped few things on his computing device, the Miles Electronic, a large yellow tablet device, and used its remote controls to darken the room so they could better see the focused light. Sapphire picked up a separate remote control, and began fiddling with the controls.
As the device powered up, they watched closely as the ends of the beam began to close into each other, separating from the machines channeling the beam.
"Yes..." Sapphire said softly, before getting excited. "Yes, I did it! I was able to do something new with my hardlight tech!"
"Cool," Tails replied, "so, do you know what you're going to use it for?"
"Oh... I-I don't- um..."
"Don't worry about it, Saph. I'm just asking. Often times, you create something just for the sake of it, and figure out what you can use it for later. I'm sure you'll find some use for this."
"Th-thanks..."
"And think about exactly what you accomplished here. You were able to create a means to not just to create focused beams of light into a safe, solid-state, but you've begun the process of shaping it into what you want."
"...Yeah. I should keep going!" Sapphire exclaimed. She recorded the settings for the successful test, and began messing with the devices again. "If I can find the focused adjustment, I might be able to change what shapes I could make."
"Woah, now, don't get too excited. You might... oh boy..." Tails tried to stop Sapphire, but she was already working on her tech, too focused to pay attention to Tails.
Maybe try turning off the machine before messing with it, he thought.
Sapphire began changing the magnetic field's focusing prisms, trying to find the primary variable, so she could effectively manipulate the field. The beam ended up stretching back to the focusing devices, and then began to grow brighter. Dangerously bright.
Sapphire stopped as she began to see the beam growing brighter. "Uh oh. Uh..."
"Sapphire, slow down! It's going to go critical if you keep going!" Tails warned.
"Yeah, it might be doing that already be doing that... Can you help me?"
"Don't worry," Tails grabbed his Miles Electronic, and checked the levels. "Okay, it isn't critical yet. Just start lowering the levels, slowly, don't overpower it."
"R-right," Sapphire began to do so, starting with the first variable. Soon, the beam began to dim, and she began to lower the second variable to make sure she was still lowering it to safe levels. But then something interesting happened... the beam began to extend and lax.
"Huh?" Sapphire left her position and approached the beam, now fallen to the floor. She knelt down to check it.
"Sapphire, be careful," Tails told her.
Sapphire slowly tried to pick up the lax beam, careful not to burn herself, in case the field weakened enough to make the beam dangerous. But that wasn't the case, as she was able to lift it up without any harm to herself.
"It's... it's like a rope," she said.
"Huh... Interesting," Tails replied. "I don't like how we got here, but this is a pretty awesome result."
"...Sorry, Tails. I'll be more careful next time! I didn't want to cause-"
"It's okay," Tails interrupted, "just be more careful next. I know your adopted brother is very fast, but this is complicated and sometimes dangerous work. You need to take it slow and think these things through."
"Yeah..." Sapphire took a closer look at her light rope, and then at the channeling devices making it. "You know, this looks kind of like... hm..."
"You come up with something, Saph?" Tails asked.
"Yeah, a bit of an... entertaining idea. But I need to make some changes. Change the shape of the machine to be more compact, and cap the interiors."
"So add the shell, and make it portable. That will take some work. Not mention testing to make sure the beam is strong, if that's how you want it to be."
"How long do you think it would take?"
"Given how smart you are, as long you do anything reckless again, and with me helping a bit... a few days, maybe. But you're in charge of the project. You've got to learn how to do these things by yourself at some point, right?"
Sapphire nodded in agreement, understanding what he said. But she was more excited to make something fun for her friends to do.
Amy, Cream, and Cheese were heading over to Tails' workshop, after Sapphire had called them, saying they should come over. She wanted to show them something.
As they approached the workshop, they Sapphire waiting for them, hiding something behind her back.
"Sapphire!" Cream called out as she began running up to her, Cheese quickly following behind.
"Cream! Amy! You came!" Sapphire responded.
"You wanted to show us something?" Asked Amy, catching up to Cream.
"Look!" Sapphire pulled the item behind into view. It was a cylindrical device, which seemed to be designed to split into two, with rubber grips, and dim blue rings around the edges of the cap-ends.
Amy, unimpressed, said, "so, you made a metal rod? Is it for you're shower curtain?"
"Amy, be nice," Cream told her. "That's a very nice thing you've made, Saph. What does it do?"
"Well, I when running an experiment of sorts with Tails, and we ran into this interesting development," Sapphire explained, "I thought it would make for a good time, so..."
Sapphire grabbed both ends, and twisted the device. It began to softly hum, and the rings on the ends lit up. She then separated the two parts, and beam of light connecting the separated parts.
Sapphire then hit a button, and the beam extended, and it fell to the ground like a rope.
"Woah, what!? That beam-" Amy started.
"That's really cool!" Cream cut in.
"This is the latest development in my hardlight tech," Sapphire explained, "I was able to create beam-rope, so I thought I'd turn it into a jump rope!
"That- that can't be safe," Amy replied. "I mean, touching that beam-"
"Oh, it's completely safe," Sapphire said. "I TRIPLE-checked the magnetic field that holds the beam together. Touching it can't hurt you. Go on, pick it up!"
Amy and Cream approached Sapphire and her laser jump rope, nervously staring at it. But it was Cheese who bravely flew down, and picked up the hardlight rope. He used his little nub arms, grasped the beam, lifted it into the air...
...And he was completely fine.
"Cheese, does it hurt?" Cream asked.
"Chao, chao," he replied, holding the beam above him.
"Wow, that actually is really cool," Amy said, as she held her hand out, and Cheese dropped the beam into her hand. It didn't even light her glove on fire. "Sorry for doubting you before. Still, did you really just make an overly advanced device for something as simple as jump roping?"
Sapphire, running on a rush of her own success, felt her confidence break a little. "Well, you see, I- I thought it would be fun... And I wanted to- um."
"Sapphire, please don't be upset," Cream said, trying to ease Sapphire's feelings, "we'd love to play jump rope with you and your new toy!"
"...It's not really a toy..." Sapphire said quietly.
"We'll play with her, won't we Amy?"
"Well, yeah, of course," Amy replied. "I didn't mean to say that your invention was bad. I'm just wondering why. But I'll play. Let me see one of those ends."
"O-oh, okay," Sapphire handed Amy one end, and then they were led into the nearby field.
"Okay, Cream, do you want to start first?" Amy asked.
"Of course, come on Cheese!" Cream responded.
Amy and Sapphire began swinging the rope, and Cream jumped in, jumping in time with the laser rope. As Amy and Saph began counting her jumps, and soon sped up, Cream began to flap her ears, seeming to hover a bit. And Cheese just flew by her, trying to mock jumping
She hit the rope at a score of 37 jumps. Cream stepped out of the way, panting. "That was fun... hah... This is the best thing... you've done so far..."
"Yeah... thanks," Sapphire replied. "Um, can I ask... you were flapping your ears, and doing that, you seemed to hover in the air... How?"
"Oh..." Cream caught her breath. "I can use them to fly, kind of like Mr. Tails does with his tails." She demonstrated by flapping her ears again, and taking to the skies.
"So, that means you cheated, then," Amy joked.
"Hey! I only used them to stay in the air for a little bit!"
"Oh, i-it's fine, Cream," Sapphire replied. "Cheese was flying to, and we let him keep going. Right, Amy..."
"Oh, of course," Amy responded. "So, Cream, want to take the rope. I want a go next."
Amy and Cream traded places, and they began swinging the rope for her. Amy proved to be quite agile, keeping them on their toes, or more accurately, Amy kept off of hers. By the time Amy got caught by the rope, she had managed 52 jumps with breaking a sweat.
"Woah, that was awesome," Sapphire said. "You so good."
"Well, I am a pretty athletic girl, just so you know," she replied.
"Because of chasing Sonic, I'm sure," Cream quietly mocked.
"What was that!?"
"Nothing! Hey, Sapphire, it's your turn!"
"O-oh, yeah, I'll try," Sapphire responded.
Sapphire handed Amy her end, and motioned to get in position and start swinging, keeping Amy from getting mad.
Sapphire began jumping... and lost after nine jumps, tripping on the beam-rope.
"Oh... I didn't even get into double digits..." she responded as she sat down on the ground.
"Yeah, after years of going on adventures, and fighting Eggman, you become pretty agile," Amy told her. "You're just not used to that much physical activity."
"Well, I guess. I used to run a lot when I was younger, but not so much now. I'm not very active."
"So, maybe you should get more active," a new voice spoke in.
Looking over, there was Sonic, walking up to the girls, while commenting on what they were talking about.
"Sonic, you're here!" Amy exclaimed. "I'm so happy you came to see me!"
"Nah, I just got back from a run," Sonic replied. Ignoring Amy's pouting, he took a look at Sapphire's new device. "So, is this the thing you and Tails have been working on?"
"Y-yes, this is a hardlight jump rope," Sapphire explained. "You see, it's light focused through prisms, with a magnetic field holding it together. It's quite an adva-"
"Calm down, Saph," Sonic stopped her. "No need to explain how it works. Now, if this is a jump rope... care if I have a try?
"Yes, of course! Amy, would you help me?" Sapphire asked her.
"Yes, anything for my darling Sonic!" she excitedly replied.
Sonic rolled his eyes as everyone got in position.
Once they began, it wasn't long before Sonic outshone them all. He quickly began performing flips and tricks, push of his hands as well as feet to jump off the ground, even occasionally spinning in the air to get two, one time three "jumps" without even touching the ground.
They began to lose count around 150, maybe 160 jumps. And they didn't even stop because Sonic got caught by the rope. Sapphire simply grew tired, and dropped her end of the rope. And even as the rope fell lax, Sonic simply backflipped out of the way, just barely, yet expertly, missing the falling beam, and making a perfect three-point landing a few feet away.
"Woah... I... I can't... wow..." Sapphire panted.
"That was quite the... workout," Amy said.
"I lost count," Cream replied.
"I think... it was... over two... two hundred jumps...?" Sapphire guessed.
"Nope," Sonic told them. "Good guess, but not even close."
"What!" all the girls said at once.
Sonic gave his signature finger wag. "317."
"Over 300 jumps!" Sapphire cried out. "That's incredible!"
"Well, I'm just that awesome."
"Yeah, you really are..."
Sonic picked up the dropped end of the hardlight jump rope, and handed it back to Sapphire. Amy also gave her the other end, and Saph put the two parts back together, shutting off the device.
"Sapphire, that was so fun!" Cream said. "We should do it again, sometime."
"Yeah, did you make any other fun things, we'd love to try them out!" Amy said.
Sapphire shook her head, as Tails come out and waved to them. "Sonic, welcome back! I got some snacks for you guys."
"All right! Come on, guys, let's go inside," Sonic said.
Everyone nodded, and followed him inside for some food.
Now, as far as Sapphire was concerned, in regards to her hardlight rope... The project was a success!
Author's Note: So, this is a little embarrassing... I was saying I was going to write a new chapter for both my stories once I finished the cover arts for them. But when I was checking my files, preparing to make a new document for Sapphire the Hedgehog... I found that I already had an unpublished chapter. I usually wait a week before reviewing a new chapter and then uploading it, so I could look at it with a clear mind, but it seems I forgot about this one. In fact, it was three months since the first draft was finished. I just simply decided to place this as the new chapter to go with cover art, but dang, deep down, I think I felt I already had uploaded this chapter. Good thing I found it.
Since it's been so long, I don't remember my thought process for this. But, I do know that this was a planned chapter, to start leading into the creation of Sapphire hardlight bow, the weapon she'll eventually build for herself. I also don't remember planning to add Sonic in this chapter, but it seems I did, so I must have thought it was a good idea, and well... It still was a good idea.