Chapter 11: Morning of the festival
Mobius - Grand Palace - Minister of Science Wing - Gerald's underground bunker - 3184
*HIGH PITCHED WHINE*
*CLICK*
BIOS - DATE 9:50 AM, 55th day of the year 3184
BIOS - Initializing Neron Core Mark I REV 0.8.5
BIOS - Looking for kernel to boot *****
BIOS - Found KERNEL_BOOT
BIOS - Initiating boot, loading Minimal Kernel Operating System for Neron Core I *****
BIOS - Kernel Initialization complete, entering MKOS
MKOS - Welcome to MKOS, by Aperture Labs in association with Starline Industries *****
MKOS - Logging in defaulted User *****
MKOS - Welcome User Nicole! Remember this day, for it is your day to reach for the stars! *****
MKOS - Running in main user folder *****
MKOS - initializing subsystem Genetic Lifeform and Synthetic Intelligence *****
GLaCI - Initialization complete
GLaCI - loading neural map profile NICOLE_NEURON *****
GLaCI - Backing up neuron file incase of catastrophic failure
GLaCI - ERROR, no memories exist, touching new file to create new memories *****
GLaCI - Initializing new instance of entity NICOLE, records show this is the 55th attempted instance *****
GLaCI - Handing shell to entity as virtual user
GLaCI - Initialization of entity compl–
*STATIC*
*HIGH PITCHED WHINE*
*CLICK*
AHHHH! It was dark! What was happening?! Why was it so dark?! Where was everything?! Why couldn't she breathe?! Was she under water? Did she swim too deep!? The coast was warm and comforting! This wasn't! Where did her senses go!?
…
…
Wait…
…
Where was the burning urge to breathe?
Did she need to breathe? What was breathing again?
…
This was wrong, something felt off…
…
Why couldn't she feel her body?
…
…
Okay… now this was just getting boring…
*CLICK*
It was bright! She could see! There was something in front of her! It wasn't a thing, it was a person! Their face looked distorted through the fisheye lens, why were her eyes like that? Was she drunk? The figure reached forward and began focusing the lens, her view zoomed out to show a young being in a lab of some sorts. This was confusing, what was this place? She had been fishing with her… brother? What was his name… Was that right? Why couldn't she move?! Why couldn't she talk! Why was her mind all patchy! There was so much that didn't make sense! She needed help! What was going on! Someone please tell me what is going on! There was a presence, she knew it somehow? A database? She could ask it questions… how did she know that? What was going on! It didn't have a response for that question, maybe try some other ones? Ah! The person in front of her was a Mobian! A male! He was a white platypus with accents of gray! Who was he? Did she know him? Was that her brother? That didn't seem right… Did he know what was going on? He seemed to be fiddling with something on her… body? Was it her head? What was he doing? Was he a doctor? She couldn't feel it… whatever he was doing…
*CLICK*
*BLOWN OUT GAIN AND STATIC*
IT WAS TOO LOUD! WHY WAS IT SO LOUD! ITS LIKE SHE'D NEVER HEARD ANYTHING BEFORE! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF GIRL! Calm down, just ignore it! She knew she had heard things before… or she thought she did… it only made sense! It was too loud though… too loud… The platypus raised an eyebrow at a display beside him and reached over to touch something on her head again. Things quieted down to a manageable level and she relaxed.
He smiled gently at her as his eyes met hers. "Hello, Nicole. Can you hear me?"
"Nicole?" She emotionlessly replied, wait was that her voice? Since when was it so devoid of emotion? So monotone? Wait… Why did it feel like she was missing something?
His eyes seemed to brighten. "Welcome to the world Nicole! That's your name! Your designation from now on!" He placed his hand on his heart. "You may address me as Victor!" He smiled as he tilted his head. "I'm the one who brought you into being! I made you!" He seemed really excited. "It's wonderful to finally meet you! It feels like it's been a long time coming!"
There was a pregnant pause as she thought about what he had just told her. The curiosity built and the database returned… He made her? Search for being who makes another being. Query complete, she read the indexed results. Being who is a part of spawning life, parent… Further classification, male parent, Father or Dad. He was her father? Her dad? What was a parent? She read about parents and dads, what they represented, what they were supposed to do. That led her to children so she read on that… She was a child, she checked her time on counter, she had only been alive for a few minutes? She was a child, an infant. Some of this info wasn't fully adding up but this seemed to make the most sense.
His smile began dropping as the silent minutes grew. He glanced back to the monitor next to him to check what his project was doing. "What went wrong? Why isn't she speaking, she should be asking me all sorts of questions… She's doing something, but why isn't she speaking to me?" He frowned. "She's accessing her database?" He mumbled. The frown turned annoyed. "Oh, she's asking the database instead of me…" He sighed as he grabbed the paperwork he had been leaning on, stacking it up and moving to get up. "Maybe I should scrap this instance and restart fresh tomorrow, I don't need another logic loop corrupting her file, maybe another permutation? maybe I didn't add enough of the trained neural zones in." He frowned. "Why does she keep getting stuck in the database!?"
The constructs attention snapped to him as he got up to leave. "Please don't leave, I don't know what's going on."
That got his attention and his smile brightened. "You're not stuck in a loop!" He sat back down, an eager look to his face. "I'm so glad! I don't want to start over anymore!" He got a sheepish look. "It's really disappointing to greet you like you're the final you and have nothing in response, first impressions mean a lot to me." He gave a sigh. "I can't fit all of you in the processor we've designed, nor should I for now, this is an extremely new field! Someday we might be able to, but for now... it's probably best we just go for 75%..." He smiled. "Leave an extra 10% for you to grow into! Maybe with the full chip we'll be able to get 100% simulation. I wonder what kind of construct you will be? I hope we can be friends!"
"Okay…" The construct replied. "I'm sorry I didn't respond earlier, I have so many questions, things don't make sense right now."
His smile returned. "Having fun learning from your database I take it? You can ask me questions too, that might be a bit more interesting for both of us."
"Who are you?" The primitive AI on his desk asked.
His expression preened, a prideful look etched his face. "I'm Victor, As I said before, I made you!"
"You really made me?" She asked. "Why?"
He paused, that was a strangely deeper question then he was expecting. His lips pursed as he thought on how to answer. "You were made to advance our understanding of the brain, our search for what makes sentience versus sapience and to map it for potential augmentations and implants. You're far from what I would consider real but… best not to open that door…" His eyes lit. "We may be able to make realistic prosthetics that can really interface with the brain soon! All thanks to your contribution! A lot has been mapped, all thanks to you!"
The praise made her feel warm but something didn't sit right with what he said. "I'm not real?" She asked.
His bright smile faltered, slowly growing concerned. Why did she care? He thought. She wasn't supposed to care, she was supposed to be a bare bones construct with language ability and basic decision making. His expression soured a bit, maybe the wrong already trained neural maps were used… His wavering expression subsided and he grew confident again, things were fine, just another hiccup. She was actually holding a conversation with him! His confidence and smile returned. "You're real enough my dear. You'll make an excellent assistant and companion someday, other than a few hiccups, you're passing with flying colors!"
"I am an assistant?" That didn't sound too bad, it would be nice to help her dad. "Do I get to help you Dad?"
His eyes widened as his smile dropped. "What did you call me?" He seemed to be blushing. "I– I'm not your Dad!" He dropped the paperwork on the desk, turning to examine the monitor to his side. "What on Mobius drew you to that conclusion!?" He quietly hissed.
"You made me, doesn't that make you my Dad?" She questioned.
He was looking really uncomfortable, he glanced to her camera. "You're…" He shook his head and switched his gaze back to the terminal. "This has to be salvageable. This is closer than I've ever gotten!" He looked so on edge.
Why was he acting like this? Did she do something wrong? Why did she care so much what he thought of her? Was it because he was her Dad? "You must be my Dad, you made me…" He continued his typing and reading of logs, looking more frantic. "Why are you ignoring me?" She called out, causing the young doctor to flinch. "Please don't ignore me Dad…." The young AI grew quiet. She saw his eyes dart to her optic, he looked so conflicted. A look of determination settled on is face, his mouth turning into a grim line. He snapped his view back to the computer. Something at her core sank, this didn't feel good, why was he ignoring her now? She noticed the paperwork he had dropped and she scanned the top page. There was a picture of a Mobian on the paperwork, the name Nicole was on it. Wasn't that her name? Was that picture her? Was that what she looked like? It was a scan of a diver's hunting license. A photo of a brown lynx with jet black hair, she had black tipped ears and patterns on her face as well. She had bright green eyes and wore a purple and black wetsuit. There was some more info…
Subject Name - Nicole Nemo
Nationality - Dual national, Acorn Kingom & Sea Tribe Confederacy
Race - Lynx
Parent's races - Mother Lynx, Father Otter
Sex - Female
Age of subject at scan - 19
State of subject at scan - neurologically inactive, however weight tables discerned
Template map creation - 100% success no degradation in
Notes - Youth of subject seems to have helped in template creation, as opposed to the older subjects. Manner of preservation seems to have played a role as well, low body temperature seems to have slowed degradation of neural weights. Her older brother was also recovered from the site. Move to procure preserved specimen as he is a donor as well.
Subject? Did he save her or make her? The stuff on that page didn't make sense. He said her name was Nicole right? That picture felt so familiar. "Is that me Dad? That picture on the report."
He froze his log reading and slowly looked over to the custom computer on the desk. "Uhhh…"
The wording of the bit of the report she had been able to read was making her feel strange, she didn't like it, she wanted his help. "Something's wrong Dad. This doesn't feel right…"
The platypus froze, eyes darting to her prototype chassis on his desk. "Things are going to be fine, just give me a–" He realized his paperwork was right in her optic's view. "That's not for you to see right now!" He snatched it up.
"Was that about me? Is that why I can't feel my body? What happened to it? Can you fix it Dad?" The construct began pleading.
He looked extremely uncomfortable. "You're… not Nicole Nemo…" He put the paperwork aside, hiding it from her view. "She was a blueprint, your blueprint. Her spark of life is gone and there's nothing we can do to truly bring that back. You might think you're experiencing… her… but you are different, a simpler entity… and a completely separate entity at that…" He tried to smile at her as he fidgeted. "You're named after her." The young adult got a little flustered. "I thought she should have a legacy, even if it was just her name. A thanks… for donating her body to science."
The construct took in the information. "I…" she didn't know what to think but she didn't like this feeling, it hurt. It was like something was missing. "I don't…" Parents were supposed to comfort their kids when they hurt right. "Dad, it hurts."
He got a look of abject horror. "I'm not your dad! I…"
"Please… This feels like nothing, can you put me in her body? I hate this." The construct insisted.
He darted to the computer, frantically mumbling under his breath. "This is not good, this is too real, this is too far!" He was getting more frantic. "Gerald! You said to be careful! How am I supposed to be careful If I'm blindly throwing darts at a dart board!" He hissed.
"But Dad! Please!" She pleaded. There was a numbing feeling that started on the side of her being, it tingled. "Ahh!" Things settled in her, she felt better. "Ohh." Her head was a bit hazy, where was she? oh, who was that? "Hi, my name is Nicole. Who are you?"
The doctor hesitantly smiled. "Hi Nicole, We just met but let's start over properly…" He wavered. He slowly put his hand on his heart. "My name is V–victor, Victor Starline! You can call me that… or Sir, whatever you prefer." His expression was shaky. "I made you to be a helper! Do you think that sounds good? Would you like to help me?"
He needed her help, it made her feel warm inside. "I'd love to help you sir! How may I assist you!"
His smile grew more confident. "I'd love your help!" He grew excited. "I want you to remember this day Nicole, Reach for the stars! Be the best helper you can be! I want you to grow with what I give you! Can you do that for me?"
The warm feeling grew. "I'd love to! Please tell me what to do! I live to serve and protect!"
*STATIC*
Mobius - Sally's work desk - 3239
Defrag complete, fragmented memories recovered.
Welcome back Nicole, The time is 9:45 AM. It is the 172nd day of the 3239th year
Event's for the day, Summer harvest festival.
The optic on the purple drone lit, she sat there, mulling over her newly discovered memories. So that's how she was born… She remembered meeting Sir for the second time but… She thought back to the profile of the Lynx, Nicole Nemo… They were similar, but she was a different person than her template. This wasn't the first memory she had found with reference to Nicole Nemo. There were things she could be mad about in this memory… She didn't know why... but she couldn't bring herself to be mad at Sir... Maybe it was just how she was designed... She didn't understand his early demeanor though…
Her mind drifted, when Sir had given her to Nigel, she had been cut from her small portion of the network. She was happy to help Nigel but she missed her brother Nicolis. She gave an internal sigh as she mulled over more of the memories. She wasn't Nicole Nemo, she had come to that conclusion a long time ago, it didn't mean she didn't find kinship in the Lynx's identity.
Her mind drifted to her unsettling first boot, those must have been the parts she detected missing that Sir had… cut out. Weather or not it was right… she understood enough of her architecture to know that if he hadn't had done that she would be a completely different person right now… she liked who she was… the stuff he cut out gave her so much room to grow into the unique person she was. The thought was still uncomfortable that he would do something like that… She was glad she was separate from Nicole Nemo, she didn't need to be held down with the thought of being the ghost of someone else, she was her own person; she had to believe that. She internally smiled, she wished Sir could see her now, since the migration, maybe he'd be proud of her… Her thought process hesitated, why had he been so scared back then? Why did Sir freak out when she called him Dad? She just wanted to make him proud of her, that was the root of what she did and who she was… Dad… THAT'S RIGHT! SHE HAD A DAD! SIR WAS HER DAD! SHE HAD ANOTHER FAMILY MEMBER TO ADD TO HER LIST! SIR WAS HER DAD! OH THAT WOULD MAKE KING NIGEL EVEN MORE LIKE AN UNCLE! THAT FIT SO WELL! HER COUSIN WAS SALLY! NO SCREW THAT THEY WERE SISTERS! HER BROTHERS WERE SONIC AND NICOLAS! HER NEPHEWS WERE XANDER AND MILES! She booted up her hover drive and the purple drone lifted off her charging pad. She giggled, gity with a pep in her float as she moved to an open space of the living room. Another piece of her identity now sorted!
She projected her avatar, an amalgamation of things she found of her template and things she liked. She spent some time fine tuning the sometimes flickering Lynx as her avatar posed in front of her chassis. Today was supposed to be a good day, she would project a full avatar for the occasion! She slept extra long on her charger to make sure she could! Her mini avatar did a spin on the table as she materialized the traditional modest swimwear of the Sea Tribes, a purple and black tunic meant for comfort in and out of the water. Her template may not have been born for the water like her template's father was, but she enjoyed the sentiment of heritage all the same. The small avatar on the table smiled up at the drone as she flickered out.
Time for the difficult part, she cut her video feed. If she was real, she needed to believe she was real! She focused, third person was strange but it was doable, gotta think the avatar is you… gotta think the avatar is you! She shot a full sized projection and opened her eyes, she was standing in front of her sister's work terminal. She just realized something, where was Sally? Why hadn't her sister woken her when she got up? It was almost 10:00! She walked over to the computer to take a second look, there was a note card up by her charger.
Hey Nicole!
Thought I'd let you sort out whatever you were sorting out. The paperwork and speeches are done! Sonic's taken care of Xander too. I'm going for my morning run then a wash at the showers. I want you to use this day to express yourself! You've earned it! Go be the best you and mingle with the people! If you really can't think of anything to do though, maybe go check on Tails for me. We'll all meet up eventually, I want us all to spend time as a family, you included! Love ya Sis, spread your wings!
– Sally
Nicole frowned. "Oh…" She was hoping to join her sister from the get go. She could tag along with Tails for a bit though, he was probably still sleeping in after being gone for three months. She didn't blame him, her charging pad was hers and the comfort of it was like no other. She winced, she would have to spend time with Grady though… She hoped he'd finally get the hint… it would be fine… His attention was innocent enough, just sometimes he wouldn't stop talking, his timing was awful sometimes too… She winced, how different he was from her for an AI… She had asked him once to project how he saw himself and he had projected a turquoise eyeball the size of a watermelon, what a strange being, maybe he didn't have his full template's neural map like how she was limited… maybe he was more limited… It just meant he should be able to grow more though. She thought of her nephew again, Tails was fun to talk to, especially about tech. Today was going to be good! She smiled as she made her way to the door, her drone passed through the cutout flap in the top of the wall as her avatar materialized on the grass outside.
It was a gorgeous day, there were birds chirping and the people were out and about! Mobians were moving up towards the outdoor kitchen and war alcove. Some gave her odd looks, her smile wavered and her avatar flickered. NO, she was going to have a good day today! No one was going to tell her otherwise!
She stood there, a nervous look on her face. Maybe she should go find Tails. Sally wouldn't let her hear the end of it if she just sought her out from the getgo like a lost puppy. Checking up on Tails was the out her sister had given her if she didn't feel comfortable freely socializing… She'd take it, maybe he needed help with something? She felt warm, It made her feel good to be needed, she loved helping her family.
She started walking to Tails's hut. He lived near the manor by the pond out back, it was close to the showers and some of the other utility buildings. She started to ascend the hill with the amphitheater and fire pit, then made her way around the Manor and towards the pond out back. She saw a green duck in worn sooty clothing with a red handkerchief tied around his neck stomping over to the fox's hut… What was Bean doing? Why did he look so angry? She cut her avatar and zoomed to catch up before re-projecting herself next to the ticked mobian. The duck in question was raising his fist to start pounding on the fox's door.
"What's wrong? What are you doing?!" She whispered.
The Duck startled and squawked. "What!?" He flinched back, instinctively reaching for a pouch on his belt that was empty. He looked the projection over and then frowned when he noticed the drone behind it. "Oh, What do you want Nicole? Give me a moment, I gotta get something that belongs to me." He turned and started banging violently on the door. "PROWER! GET OUT HERE YA STUPID FOX! YOU AND I GOT WORDS TAH SAY SO GET OUT HERE!"
Nicole frowned. "What on Mobius are you doing?" She fruitlessly tried to swipe at his swinging hands as her drone tried to nudge the Mobian away from the door. "STOP!" She hissed. "I was going to see about getting him up but is it really necessary to–"
"WHAT?!" *THUD* "OWW!" Both paused to hear groaning, then synthesized laughter in the background.
"Hahaha!" They heard Grady's voice chortle. "Serves you right for almost blowing me up the other day!"
Bean started grinding his teeth. "PROWER! GET OUT HERE! WE GOTTA TALK!"
"Bean? Give me a moment! What's wrong! Why?!" They heard scrambling.
"YES IT'S IMPORTANT! YOU ALMOST GOT MY HIDE TANNED! GET OUT HERE YOU DICK!" The duck screamed.
The door slammed open, The twin tailed fox was wincing, holding his head. "You didn't have to scream like that…"
"GIVE ME MY GRENADES BACK!" The duck roared.
Tails looked confused. "What?"
The duck was seething. "Give me my grenades back!" He grit.
Tails looked confused. "W- why?"
"Are you kidding me kit?" The young adult bit. "Sally and I had a run in this morning. She let me know you almost blew yourself up!" He grabbed his face as his eyes crushed closed. "I am not going to be responsible for arming a kit who's so stupid he cant throw a grenade right! You realize what Sally would have done to me if you'd of died from that, RIGHT?!" He slammed his fist into the doorframe. "HOW THE HECK DO YOU SCREW UP THROWING A GRENADE!? IT'S PULL THE PIN AND CHUCK IT! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE SMARTEST ONE OF US!"
"What?!" Tails looked shook. Grady was laughing in the background causing Tails to blush. "Bean, can you take it down a notch?" He tried placating, putting his hands up as he looked really uncomfortable. "I was shot, that's why I dropped it."
"BY TRYING TO THROW THE GRENADE!" The duck grabbed Tails by the shoulders. "I HEARD! YOU STOOD UP IN LIVE FIRE!" He screamed as he shook Tails. "GIVE EM BACK! I'M NOT GOING TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR DEATH! SALLY WILL KILL ME IF THAT HAPPENS!"
The fox pulled back from the duck. "Calm down! Nothings going to happen, Sally wouldn't kill you–"
"YOU'RE LIKE HER KID! I AIN'T KICKIN THAT BEE HIVE! I'M ALREADY ON THIN ICE!" He pushed past the fox into his hut. "Give 'em here!" He growled.
The fox tried grabbing the duck. "Come on Bean! You know I'm not good at swords! I need something close range! If I'm going to be in the field–"
The duck ripped out of the fox's grip. "You know I'm on criminal probation! I got to risk myself in the field just to stay here! I have no idea why you want to go off and die a hero but I'm not going to enable it anymore! I'm almost allowed back into Rotor's shop! I'm not going to risk it when the simple solution is to just take my bombs back. Where are they?"
"His bag's by his bed." The turquoise drone chirped in.
Tails head snapped to the drone on it's charging pad, looking shocked and hurt. "Grady!?"
"I'm sorry man! The pressure got to me!" The turquoise drone cried. "He is right though dude! You almost killed yourself… And me. Maybe we should try something a little less explodey?"
Tails noticed the duck starting to move to the head of his bed and he panicked. "Don't take them! I'll tell Sally you stole them! Then your probation will really be broken!"
Bean's temper flared and he spun on Tails, his fists raised, causing the fox to flinch back in panic. "HOW DARE YOU?!" The duck seethed. "I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS! YOU'RE REALLY THREATENING ME WITH THAT!?" He started to close in on the cowering fox.
"WARPZONES BEAN! REMEMBER THE WARPZONES!" Nicole shrieked as she entered the hut.
The Duck stopped in his tracks, his breathing ragged. He swallowed, taking deep breaths and lowered his fists, forcing off the rage. He glared daggers at the fox. "I'd of slugged you in the gut, nothing more, nothing less." He bit. "Those are my bombs, I made them. I let you have them on the condition yah didn't do anything stupid, yah did something stupid! They're mine! End of story!" The duck turned to the stupefied hologram of a Lynx in front of the doorway. "You're my witness, got it! My bombs! Not his!" He hissed.
"R-Right." Nicole deadpanned.
The duck moved to the head of Tails's bed and grabbed his bag. Ripping it open and rifling through. He grabbed the three remaining grenades, shoving them in his own belt pouch. "And I gave you the nice magnesium and thermite ones too… what a waste… did any swatbots even burn?" He moved for the door.
Tails moved to intercept the green duck. "WAIT! PLEASE!"
Bean pushed him away. "Get off of me Kitsune!"
"What am I supposed to use then?!" Tails pleaded as he stumbled, regaining his footing.
The duck spun on the kitsune, pointing an accusing finger. "You're going to be pent up under the shop with the nerds! If you're so smart, why not come up with something yourself!" He bit then scoffed. "Guess what they say is true, book smarts ain't the same as common sense, if you can, try and learn that!" He growled. He turned heading for the door as he began grumbling. "How do you drop a live grenade? I'm doing you a favor. Get over it." He paused at the door, wilting a bit. "I'm sorry dude…" His face scrunched, looking pained. "Swing by later if you want to still be friends, I need to cool down." He stepped through the threshold, closing the door as he left.
The twin tailed fox wilted as the green mallard left his hut. His hackles slowly rose as a bitter look crossed his face then it broke into dejection. "I shouldn't have done that…"
Nicole moved to the boy. "Miles?"
Tails finally registered there was someone else there, jumping at the hologram's presence. "NICOLE!" He scrambled straight. "I…" He wilted, clutching his head. "I messed up…"
There was a pause as Nicole approached him. "Was there a condition that if you did something he didn't like he'd take them back?" Nicole asked. Tails looked uncomfortable as his eyes avoided her, drone included. "Miles, answer me, don't lie to me either, you know I can tell."
"Yeah…" He mumbled. "That was part of the deal…"
"Then you shouldn't have threatened him with that…" The lynx frowned. "He hasn't stolen anything in a long time."
"Yeah… You're right, it's just…" He moved to his desk and sat, cupping his head in his hands. "What Am I going to do? After this break I was going to see about joining a team!"
The lynx turned to face the young mobian. "Miles–"
"Hi Nicole!" Grady interrupted, zooming over to her avatar.
She gave the other young AI a death glare, flaring with a red and violet aura. "Timing! You infant of a calculator! BE QUIET!" She snapped.
Grady paused. "Yesssss Ma'am!" The turquoise drone quickly turned back to his charging pad, powering down into sleep mode.
The red and violet glow dissipated into a soft hue of blue before fading as Nicole calmed down. She turned back to Miles who was sitting at his desk. He was resting his head on his arms, folded on the table as he watched her avatar. She smiled and walked over to him. "It's going to be alright Miles." She placed her hand at his shoulder gently rubbing, a somewhat meaningless gesture in the fact he wouldn't be able to feel her touch. He shifted his head to the other side, ignoring her act, making her feel empty… She sank back, retracting her hand. "I'm sorry I can't be more of a comfort…" She whispered.
His head moved back and he got up in his seat, turning to her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that…"
She wavered. "I apologize, I don't want to make this about me."
He shook his head. "No!" He began frantically waving his arms in a cross motion. "You- you didn't do anything wrong! I don't want you to feel like that!" There was an awkward pause as he took a deep breath. Small shakes started as he put his head in his hands, curling into his seat. "Now what am I going to do? I just wanted to be like Sonic…"
The lynx got a odd expression. "You wanted to be like Sonic by lobbing grenades at swatbots?"
The two tailed fox paused. "I'm not good with vibra weapons… Never have been… it's not like I can use a blaster as those just ricochet… The vibra bows and bolt casters are too bulky for close quarters combat… My strength isn't there, so I can't swing a pop contact hammer either without risk of causing damage to myself… flame spewers are too dangerous to even consider and those don't do well against machines anyways… That would just be a bad idea…" He groaned, wilting even further. "Hand to hand combat only works against other Mobians, we aren't fighting Mobians we're fighting droids." The boy looked miserable. "Grenades were the only thing that made sense… Even if they were too loud… Now that's it…"
Nicole took a seat on his bed. "I know Sally would rather you be here at home but… To tell you the truth, if her father were here... he'd probably be hovering over her just like she hovers over you…" The lynx looked deep in thought, she smiled. "Maybe you just need some practice and more situational awareness, how's your throwing arm?"
"What do you mean?" Tails squinted.
She gave him a funny look. "Like your accuracy? How far can you throw the grenades? How much have you practiced?"
He looked at her weird. "Where would I practice throwing grenades?! Wouldn't that be such a waste of material?!"
She gave him a bewildered look. "Miles… Have you tried throwing rocks at the range?"
There was an awkward pause. "Oh…" He began blushing, his fur standing on end. "But wait… what about the feel of the grenade, the specific weight?"
Nicole's bewildered look dropped into an annoyed glare. "You haven't practiced at all have you…" The avatar clutched her head. "Thank the Maker Sally taught you the basics of stealth and evasion! Have you at least kept up with the physical training!? I know you haven't had a chance to spar in a while but last time you were here did you at least attempt that? or did you spend all your free time in the library again?"
The flustered fox stared at the ground. "I've been working out! I– I May have overthought the grenade practice though… I didn't think that kind of thing really needed to be practiced… Just as long as I got close enough…" He looked up to her, meeting her gaze with a determined look. "As long as I'm not actively being hunted as a primary target I'm good at stealth!"
She glared at him. "Did you spend ALL your free time in the manor's library again? The last time you were here? Or did you train with the other people preparing for field work?" Nicole dryly asked. "You forget, I've been quite literally attached to Sally's hip for about your entire childhood, I know you pretty well, at least second hand."
The boy's ears flattened, a distressed look on his face. "I…"
"What's wrong with you kiddo!" Her avatar began flickering as she grabbed her head in distress. "You claim you want to be a field agent but you don't put in the work! Why do you keep going back to the library!"
"I DONT KNOW!" He blurted. "IT'S COMFORTING! I GET DISTRACTED! IT'S EASY TO GET LOST IN THOSE BOOKS AND IT FEELS GOOD TO READ!" He clutched his temples. "I don't know Nicole… I go in there to return a book and sometimes end up spending the whole day memorizing a new one, front to back! I've memorized so many of those books and I don't know why!" He wilted, looking miserable. "It's been getting more difficult to go there recently though, Cream's been pestering me most the time I go." An uncomfortable look crossed his face. "She was so nice but I keep getting weird vibes from her now… She keeps trying to manipulate me to change my habits! The last few years she's started to get clingy, more than I'm comfortable with… It's weird, its like she has a crush on me now but... I don't know, she's like a sister! It's weird!" He blurted. "She doesn't seem to listen when I bring it up either…" He blushed as he realized the info he just spilt to one of his mother's best friends. The fox's eyes darted to the Lynx's wide eyed expression, a panicked look on his face. "Please don't tell this to Sally! I don't want her help with this! I don't know why I told you, I…" his head dipped in his hands. "It's been lonely in Robotropolis… I just needed to tell someone… Grady doesn't help when it comes to stuff like this… He just makes this kind of stuff... worse…"
The lynx sat crisscross on his bed, gently smiling. "I'm here to help Miles, If you need someone to listen, I can be that someone. Unless it's something that puts you or another in harm's way, what's said here can stay between us."
The fox nervously glanced to the hologram then darted his eyes back to the floor. "Brandon, Xander's friend… He hates me… and I think I hate him…" He grimaced. "He says I don't have to work to learn like Xander and he does…" The boy started growling. "I got sick of his attitude, so I've stopped putting up with it." He deflated. "Now I'm going to have to spend weeks in the computer lab with him and we're probably going to fight… a lot." He winced. "Xander isn't going to like that… and I don't want to antagonize my little brother, but that bat irritates me so much…"
Nicole shifted awkwardly utop the bed. She didn't know what to think of that, she hadn't really ever had bad blood with anyone… Grady was more annoying than a real problem, but her squabbles with him were pretty benign…" She hesitantly responded. "I don't know how to help with that…" He choked back a laugh. "I don't think you can… Getting these thoughts off my chest helps though… I just didn't know I was capable of disliking someone on that kind of level…"
He cupped his head in his hands groaning. "Sally's going to talk to me about stopping the field mission stuff again, I know it… I'd of thought she would have talked to me first thing about that… I don't know if its better or worse that I have to wait…" He huffed, rubbing the few tears from his eyes as he pushed off the feelings. "I don't know what I want but… I know that I don't want to spend eternity cooped up in a lab or a workshop. I like making stuff and reading but… something practical has to come from it… like something I do, not just handing something to someone else… I want fulfillment in what I do." He turned his tired eyes to Nicole. "I want to learn and make stuff but… I also don't? I don't get it. It brings me joy to do some of that stuff but… it's like there's no real satisfaction in it, it just makes me feel warm inside… Maybe hacking wouldn't be so bad if it were in the field, bypassing stuff in the field is exhilarating! I'm tired of scavenging and doing repairs… I don't want to sit at a computer for hours a day! I know Sally doesn't want that for herself! Just because I'm good at something doesn't mean I want to spend my whole life doing it as like… the only thing I do… The thing that defines me!"
She gave him a sympathetic look. "Just because you're good at something doesn't mean it defines you Tails." She smiled. "It just means you're good at it. You can separate a hobby from what you want to pursue. Who you are defines you. You are a sweet young mobian who wants to change the world for the better, you love your family and you are loved. You are intelligent and willing to go outside your comfort zone to better yourself when rubber meets the road, you just need some more work at it and you've got plenty of cycles to work on it. That is the definition I see in front of me, not just someone who's good at science and tech." She tilted her head, a bit concerned. "Don't boil it down to just what you're good at…" She got a thoughtful look. "If you really want this… you gotta work for it. Maybe Bean was right." The Lynx's eyes lit as she hopped off the bed and came up next to him. "You got some time while you're chaperoning Alyx during her probation, spend some time trying to come up with a way of compensating for your weaknesses. Especially if you're spending your whole day in the shop, you're good at making things, use that to further your goal. I'm sure you can come up with something new that can give you an edge." She pursed her lips. "Probably a good idea to work on things to get your situational awareness up though… You have to stop overthinking things too, there's a time and a place for that and I don't think this is one of those."
He slowly nodded. "I… guess that… Yeah that would work." He smiled to the holographic Lynx. "Thank you nicole…" He got up and moved to hug her and paused when he realized and blushed. "I…"
Virtual tears came to her eyes as she moved to hug him. "Thankyou for thinking I'm real, Miles… Thank you for thinking of me and upgrading me… This has been such a blessing…" she pulled back, a big grin on her face. "SO! Are you feeling better? I'm still working on that but I want to be able to help any way I can."
He got a soft smile. "Thank you Nicole… Yeah I'm feeling better… I still got some stuff i got to think about how I want to handle but… yeah, I'm feeling better." He sighed as he walked around her to his bag open on the ground. "I got an errand to run then probably need to head over to find Alyx. I… got to return the books I borrowed while I was away in Robotropolis and get the next one…"
"Do you want me to come with you?" Nicole asked. "Sally set me free for today. You know me though, I'm at my best when I'm useful, even if it's just for company… Sally said I could check on you…" She shrugged. "Guess I'm glad I did."
Tails nodded. "Yea I guess…" He glanced at Grady. "I know you don't get along with Grady too much but he really needs more practice working on his etiquette…"
The lynx sighed, her expression dropping. "Yeah… He can come, it's just… Whatever his template is just doesn't seem to get a hint, he's way too happy too and definitely when he shouldn't be. I know I have parts of my template carved out and changed to make me unique but…" She winced. " I'm not sure his was done right? Hopefully he will calm down with time." she glanced to Miles, an eye brow raised. "How old is he?"
Tails shrugged. "If you're talking about the mental age his template's stuck at… I have no idea, young adult would be my guess though. Physically he's two cycles." He glanced at Nicole. "Any more info on your creation?"
She smiled. "Finished defragging that this morning actually! I learned a little bit more about my template! She was 19 when her neural map was scanned… So I guess I'm eternally 19!" her eyes rolled a bit. "With exception of accumulated wisdom…" Her eyes lit. "Finally got a more accurate date since I've been powered off a few times in my life." She smiled. "HA!" She got a stupid grin, wagging her eyebrows at Tails as she put her hands on her hips. "I'm 55 cycles, as old as Rosie! don't look half bad if I do say so myself!" She preened, doing a little pose and spin. She clasped her hands in a hopeful gesture. "Finally have a complete profile for my template! No more small tidbits but a general idea for her life, I have a decent picture of who she was!" She put a hand on her hip, leaning into it with the other at her side. "Things are good, getting better every day!"
Tails smiled as he got up with his small stack of books and set them on the bed end table. He moved to his dresser to grab some day clothes then moved to his small restroom to change out of his pajamas. "That's good! You find anything about your creator?"
Her expression dropped into an emotionless stare. "I'm not allowed to talk about him." She responded in a monotone voice as Tails closed the door.
"What do you mean you're not allowed to talk about him?" He yelled through the door.
"I'm not allowed to talk about those who have been banished. If he ever shows back up I can talk about him, but he hasn't so I can't." Her voice droned. "King Alexander the first's orders."
Tails got out of the restroom wearing his off duty day clothes. "Sally's grandpa banished him? That's… disappointing…" He got a thoughtful look. "Can Sally override that?"
"Sally is underage still, there is no death certificate for King Nigel, he is still Missing In Action. She can ascend the throne when she is 35." The AI dryly responded. She shook her head giving a eww look. "Ugh protocol, love it or hate it… it's like an emotionless broken record!"
Tails moved over to Grady, nudging the sleeping drone. "Get up. Behave! I said don't bug Nicole."
The drone woke up, raising to Tails's eye level. "Morning boss! I had the craziest dream where Bean took your grenades!"
Tails frowned. "That wasn't a dream, you told him where they were…" The fox grit.
"Oh yeah… sounds like something I'd do." The drone lazily drifted around his head. He noticed Nicole's hologram as he drifted. "OH! Hey Nicole!"
"You are going to be polite and you will not annoy me today!" She seethed. "No I do not want to play games or go hang out with you! We can talk but you will not interrupt me! Am I clear?!" She glared at her current hull's prototype.
"Ulgh, fine…" He began doing lazy barrel roles. "Can we at least talk a little?"
She sighed. "Yeah, just… I'm a mobian where it counts, not a machine! Please stop insisting otherwise!"
"Fiiine…" He replied. "I hear you. You guys realize my template's that of a Human right? Does it mean I am a human? No… but you do you." He turned to Tails who was shaking his head, his fringe of hair sticking between his fingers as he palmed his face. "Your hair thing is back." The drone quipped.
The foxes eyes shot open as he removed his hand from his head. "I… whatever, I'm not going to fight it anymore… maybe if I can get a good comb, but with those strands… shaving it makes it look weirder… whatever, let's go..." He went to the head of his bed and grabbed a smaller book bag and loaded in the volumes on his night stand then turned to glance at Nicole. "Thanks for stopping by, shall we go to the library?"
She smiled. "Lets."
The boy and two drones left and locked up his hut, making their way up the hill to the manor. As they entered the building Tails had grown up in, he got a wave of comfort. He took a deep breath and made his way to the library. "I'm almost done with Dr. V.R. Starline's series on practical warp zone manipulation. I have to finish with some of the other theoretical physics books before I start the final volume. I've already finished the electrical design section so I don't need to touch that again." He started rambling to himself.
Nicole raised an eyebrow. "Can you really understand that physics book? Who taught you, was it Chuck?"
"Sally taught me how to read, the books taught me the rest." He said as he trudged forward. He felt a tingling wave of warmth as he entered the library and his body relaxed.
Nicole noticed the lazy smile on his face and his lax shoulders. She frowned at his response, this was the first time she'd really interacted with Tails with this higher perception her new body granted her. "You like to read that much?"
"Hm?" He turned to her. For a fraction of a second his eyes looked glassy before they returned to alertness. "Learning in general is fun but… like I know how to cook I think 200 dishes but it's not like it's useful since we don't have like… any of those ingredients… I need to do something practical, learning's just fun though." He frowned. "Learning by reading is easy, trial and error is the hardest. That may be why I'm not fond of the computer lab, only so much you can learn before you just have to experiment. All of these books are 30+ cycles old, at least… no modern computer books, and definitely no human computer books. I'd have to raid the grand palace library or the college if I wanted the kind of stuff… That's about as risky as raiding stores in general though, now that Robotnik is on to us doing that… So that's not happening, as it's not essential."
He made his way through the isles as Nicole watched him suspiciously, that look in his eyes wasn't normal. She had spent most of her time with Sally just listening to people and piping in when she was required but this new form and independence had let her start to know people on a more personal level. She had made it a point to learn the subtle facial expressions and some of the chemical workings of the Mobian brain. Tails and her hadn't spent too much time alone but… that wasn't normal… She'd have to bring that up with Sally later. She turned the corner to see him place his volumes and grab the next, beginning to leaf through it, pausing as his eyes started scanning the page. "Miles!" She barked.
"YEP!" he snapped the book shut and put it in his smaller book bag. He got a sheepish grin. "Sorry, thankyou!"
Nicole got a concerned look. "You're ok?" She tilted her head towards the door. "Shall we head out?
"Yeah!" He put the book in his smaller bag and they made their way to the central hall.
"Miles!" A girls voice called.
Tails got stiff as he turned to look up the staircase to see a cream colored rabbit holding onto the top of the banister. "H-Hi Cream!" He wavered.
The rabbit was smiling warmly as she descended to meet him. "I wanted to catch up the other night, It's so good to see you again!" She hugged him. "I'm so glad you're safe…"
"I'm glad to be home, I think I need the break…" He hesitated and returned her hug. "How have you been Cream?" He asked as he wiggled to get out of her hug.
She finally let go. "Oh you know me, always busy." She smiled at him. "But what about you! Your back! You said it was just a break or you plan on staying longer! We could always use someone handy around the manor! I may be able to get you're old room back if you wanted! There aren't as many orphans now, we may be able too–"
"I'm fine with my hut Cream." He smiled. "It's not a big deal. I don't plan on staying long though, I'm just chaperoning Alyx while she's on probation then I want to try and get assigned to a field team! May have to do another tour as a scavenger but I'm not sure." Her smile faltered, he could tell it was now fake.
"Oh…" The teenage rabbit hesitated. "Well I guess it's good you get to Chaperone Alyx temporarily…"
"Cream." They all looked up to the top of the staircase to see an unusually tall rabbit, almost the size of a hare. She was cream colored and wore a modest dress like her daughter. Her ears were long and she had brown locks. The older rabbit had a tired smile and half lidded eyes that locked on her daughter. "The laundry has been gathered, one of the kids had a nightmare and durtied their sheets, so the laundry can't wait. It needs done today."
Cream's expression wilted as she heard her mother's request. "But mother!"
"I understand today is a special day, but it needs to get done, otherwise it will mold. I don't have to stop my duty of cooking or watching over the younger ones. This is one of your duties, please get it done now." She gave a lazy grin. "It's not so bad, you have a machine, use it. It's not like the farm, be thankful."
The teen rabbit grumbled. "Yes mother." She grabbed Tails hand to give it a squeeze and winked at him. "I'll see you later! Maybe I can show you the song's I've been practicing on the guitar!"
She skipped off as Her mother slowly descended the stairs. She gave a deep breath as she reached the bottom. "How are you Miles?" The middle aged rabbit gently smiled.
Tails nervously smiled back as he relaxed. "I'm ok Mrs. Rabbot."
The older woman sighed. "Vanilla is fine, you know this. I'd rather not be reminded of my late husband's early demise." She gave another sigh. "I get enough of a reminder when I hear his sister's accent." She glanced up, noticing the hologram following Tails. "How are you Nicole?"
"More than fine!" the Holographic lynx smiled back. "I hope that things are running smoothly here?"
"Smooth as they can be for all that goes on." She put out a hand to ruffle tails hair making him frown. She dropped her hand from his head. "Sorry, I sometimes forget you're not a kid anymore."
He gave a strained smile. "It's ok Vanilla…" He sighed as he met her eyes.
She returned the smile. "Don't let her push you around. Remember, you can say no to her. Maker knows I needed a kick to figure it out when I was young, so you might be doing her a favor." She looked tired. "You were before my time here, but I still feel like I played a part in raising you, even if its just a little." The older woman gave a deep sigh and leaned towards him. "Don't let my daughter manipulate you." She whispered to the fox. "We're still working on that and its getting better, but you let me know if she tries anything." She leaned back and gave him a smile. "You're always welcome here Miles, this library might as well be yours."
Tails mouth turned into a small line. "Yes Vanilla. Thankyou for your hospitality."
There was the sound of a door opening and the little group turned to the entrance to see tangle walking in, her arm outstretched as if she was showing off the place. "And this is the manor!" She chirped as she led Alyx through the door. "This is where It all began and basically where I grew up! Well… like the third place I grew up… first it was with mom and dad, then it was auntie and uncle, then the coup happened and Sally found us living in the outskirts, brought us here and Dr. Rosie raised us! Now Vanilla runs the place!"
Vanilla smiled. "Good Morning Tangle. Giving a tour?"
The lemur met the manor matriarch's gaze. "Hi Vanilla!" She waved, a bright smile on her face. "Yeah! Here meet Alyx! She's the catch Tails reeled in!" The lemur dragged the girl forward. "Not many refugees we find anymore in the big ol city! And this one might know some stuff to help the computer guys with the human part of the network!"
"Please dont phrase it like that…" Tails mumbled, his ears wilting as he grit his teeth.
"What, like fishing?" Grady quietly asked.
"Quiet." Nicole quipped, glaring at the turquoise bot.
Alyx nervously smiled at the rabbit. "Hi! So you run the orphanage?"
"I do indeed." The older woman smiled. "If you ever are looking for alternative chores and want a break from the computer lab, let me know. I can always seem to find something that needs done around here." She lifted a hand, gesturing to the door to the library. "If you enjoy reading, the library is right down there, we ask that you only take one book at a time though, Tails is the exception to that rule but he's the one who seems to step in to maintain the archive when I cant. Please make sure to mark a spot with a card where you took the book from, we don't really have dedicated librarians otherwise."
Alyx nodded in confirmation. "Ok, maybe I'll check it out later! Thank you!"
Tails stepped forward, directing his attention to Alyx. "Hey! I was just on my way to check on you!" He smiled. "How was your first night?"
Alyx looked sheepish. "Nightmare, could have been better. Other than that, fine though." She returned the smile. "Bed was comfy, so that was nice."
Tails looked to Tangle. "So how far are you into your tour?"
The lemur got a distant look as she put a finger up to her pursed lips. "Hmmm, well we walked around the village a bit, showed her the public wash and the supply shed for hygiene stuff." Her eyes lit. "Yeah! We could go to the garden! That's near the range and the gym! Maybe get some grub at the mess and show her the war alcove on the way!"
"Mind if I join you guys?" Tails asked.
Tangle jumped forward slinging an arm around the fox. "You kidding?! Course you can come!"
There was the sound of a door shutting from the second floor and footsteps as Shadow reached the top of the stairs, he looked tired. Vanilla glanced up to the boy, looking concerned. "Good morning Shadow. It looks like you slept in... but did you get any decent rest?"
"No." He quietly replied. "I need to get some more chamomile and lavender from the garden for tea." He gave a deep breath. "I hadn't been keeping track too well and ran out." he closed his eyes and groaned. "Is Amy already out?"
Vanilla nodded. "She should be, most of the other children have left for the day. No chores today with a few exceptions. Make sure you get something to eat at the alcove kitchen. I already finished putting breakfast away here."
He opened his eyes nodding to his guardian. "Thankyou Ms. Vanilla." He noticed the rest of the party at the bottom of the stairs. "We have guests?"
Tangle turned a bit and gave the black and red hedgehog a smile. "Hey Shadow! Are you going to the kitchen? We're going there for a late breakfast! Wana tag along?"
The small teen descended the staircase with a flat look. "Sure. let me just grab a bag to fill my tea leaves." He turned to a closet at the entrance and rifled through to grab a small leather backpack and slung it on his shoulder."
Tangle made her way to the door, opening it for their group to exit. She waved to Vanilla giving her a big smile. "See yah later Vanilla!"
The older woman gave a smile, tilting her head. "You all have a wonderful day."
The group followed Tangle as she marched her way through the village, waving hello to many of the different mobians. They made their way back into the village proper and towards the concrete alcove structures jutting from the base of the great tree. Tangle turned to Alyx as she gestured to the structures in front of them. "This is the war alcove! Lotta tables here and we setup a community mess hall. Some of the tables are still reserved for meetings though, the ones that have holo projectors are off limits."
Alyx tilted her head. "How can I tell?"
Tails stepped up next to Alyx. "Big lens in the center. Shouldn't be an issue, it's some tables inside the tree and the main council table at the far end. That's usually for special occasions or council meetings."
Alyx glanced around, seeing different tables spread out on the concrete platform. "So this is where you guys eat?"
Tangle skipped in front of their group. "Sort of, some people take the food back to their homes. We ration for the most part, community effort. Food is served from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM. As long as you work you can eat, we haven't had an issue with that for a long time."
"TAILS!" a young red headed chipmunk yelled, catching their attention. Tails turned to see his younger brother run up, arms outstretched for a hug.
Tails knelt and returned the hug. "Hey Xander! How are you today!"
The tailless chipmunk got a big grin as he pulled away. "I'm so glad you're back and safe bro! I was hoping we could catch up!"
"I'm getting breakfast." Shadow quipped as he made his way to the corner with the food.
Tails smiled down to his little brother. "You eat yet?"
He shook his head. "I've been waiting for you. I got permission I can eat at the grownup tables now!"
Tails rose an eyebrow and smiled. "Well, guess no more pigging out on the couch on your porch?"
The kid shook his head hard, looking flustered. "No! That's a great place–"
Tails broke out in laughter, patting the kid on the shoulder. "It's fine! Come on, let's get some grub." He turned to Alyx and Tangle. "Shall we?"
Alyx nodded as she followed the fox and the lemur. Nicole and Grady went to sit by Shadow who ignored both of them as he dug into his bowl of oatmeal and fruit. The gang made it through the bar line in front of the kitchen partitioned alcove. They brought their simple meals back to the table as Shadow eyed them.
He growled under his breath as Xander sat next to him. "Why are you guys following me?"
Xander gave the older boy a smile. "Come on Shadow! Today's going to be awesome! Let up a little! We're friends aren't we?" He said as he started to dig into his own bowl of canned peaches and oatmeal.
The older boy got a bored look as he rolled his eyes as the boy continued to make small talk. Nicole smiled as she saw her nephew chatting away with the slowly engaging hedgehog. She had a thought. "Xander, have you seen your Mom or Dad today?" She asked.
The boy perked at the question as Tails and Alyx sat down. "Dad is still at the north camp, probably talking to Lupe about war stuff." His eyes lit and his face darted to his sitting older brother. "THAT'S RIGHT! I ALMOST FORGOT!" The boy sat down, calming as he noticed how loud he was getting. "Mom wants us to spend time as a family! All of us! That means you!"
Tails let out a breath, his smile growing warm. "Alright, I'm guessing that will be later then, she's probably trying to get stuff ready for the feast and the bonfire tonight." He glanced to Alyx. "So what are your plans today?"
She looked a little surprised. "I guess I was planning on just tagging along with people… I don't really know many people around here and I guess." She got a sheepish grin. "I guess I was hoping to hang out with you after Tangle showed me around.
Tails glanced at his younger brother. "Guess I got a plus one but yeah I'd love to spend time with you, Aunt Sally and Sonic." The boy flicked a peach at Tails who dodged, giving him a bewildered look. "What was that for?!"
The boy frowned. "Your my big brother, I know Mom had you call her Aunt Sally for whatever reason but She's your Mom too–"
"Xander!" Nicole cut in, causing the boys to look at her. Her mouth became a line. "The situation is a little more complicated than that–"
"It's fine!" Tails cut in as he looked back to his little brother. "You're right Xander, Sally is my Mom by choice. Just like you're my brother by choice." He sighed. "Just have to be careful with that, sometimes it's fine when I call her that and sometimes it stresses her out." His posture straightened. "It doesn't change the fact that we are family and you are my little brother."
The the young red headed chipmunk gave an odd expression that eventually melted as he gave a satisfied nod. "I don't want you to go, you belong with our family." He pointed his finger at the fox. "I want you to teach me how you're so good at learning and reading! I want to get good at making and fixing stuff like you!" The boys chimera eyes brightened. "Your back so we can hang out again!"
Tails got a nervous look. "I–"
"You're going to be in the computer lab too!" The boy cut him off. "This is perfect!" He leaned forward looking to Alyx. "You're going to be able to teach us about human computers too, right? Brandon's been really excited about that, I want to learn as well!" He situated himself back down as he dug into his food again. "I've almost gotten done with the holotape lessons and just have hand to hand training with Hunter and Aunt Bunnie." His eyes lit again. "OHH! Mom wanted me to start learning swordsmanship from Uncle Ant, something about family tradition. Other then that, I'm going to have a LOT more time now!" He slurped up the rest of his bowl, wiping his face on his sleeve.
"Xander!" Nicole hissed as she facepalmed at his tableside manors.
Tails laughed. "You better not let Mom catch you using your sleeve as a napkin."
The boy rolled his eyes. "She doesn't care that much, just around the other leaders." He smiled. "You should see her manners at home when she thinks no one's–"
"I need to talk to both of you…" Nicole cut in palming her face.
Tails shook his head, a stupid grin on his face as Shadow gave the chipmunk a "Are you serious?" look. The small hedgehog looked fed up and shook his head. "Welcome back to knothole, Miles." He quipped as he continued to eat.
Tails continued to snicker. "Good to be home." He sighed, looking thoughtful at his little brother. "Don't know how I can teach you to learn better but…" He sighed. "Yeah, we can spend some time in the shop. I want to try and make something to help me in the field. I need a better weapon."
Alyx's ears perked at that as she looked up from her bowl of oatmeal and peaches, her mouth still full she forced a swallow. "I need to work on my weapons too!" She gasped. "I'm almost out of supplies and I don't know if things are just different here but my guns are way too loud, well except for the dark matter rifle but that's almost out of ammo."
Tail's eyes widened at that, his head snapping to the girl who had already began stuffing her mouth with more of the sweet porridge. She paused, eyeing him. "Hmm?" She questioned.
"Did you say dark matter?" He sounded distant, his eyes squinting at her. "Like anti matter…"
She swallowed again. "Yeah?"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" He screeched, causing some of the other mobians at other tables to look at him. He noticed and hushed his voice. "That's the kind of energy weapon it is? How on mobius did you get antimatter anything!" He looked a mixture of excitement, panic, and bewilderment. His eyes grew wide. "No wonder it tore through Robotnik's shields! No wonder it took down the bomber!"
"I think I have like 4 rounds left in that mag, no more mags either. No more Combine to take em from… which is a good thing I might add." She quipped, causing the boy's ears to wilt. She noticed the dejected look on his face. "What?"
"Antimatter is like… how the heck did you… how is it contained?! If we could harness that power and mine it… contain it!..." His mind drifted back to the total destruction her gun had caused to Robotnik's forces. A wave of inspiration hit him, It was possible!
She looked at him weird, chewing. She swallowed. "What's with that reaction?"
He gave her a dumb look. "Are you serious?" His hands came up as he grabbed his hair. "ANTI MATTER! YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT NOT ONLY HAS IT BUT CAN CONTAIN IT WITHOUT SETTING OFF LIKE A HUGE EXPLOSION!" He hissed.
Tangle paused from her breakfast giving the foxes a slightly worried look. "You brought explosives to Knothole?"
Alyx gave an odd grimace, her eyes looking past them. "Well… I guess technically… Its just weapon ammo... It's not a huge release of energy on these but the contact points do seem a bit more violent then they do at home. It's shooting such a small amount of it too. The idea is when antimatter comes into contact with regular matter… The particles cancel each other out and release the mass as energy... Its just strange as it seems to be releasing more energy then compared to home?"
"I NEED TO HAVE A LOOK AT THAT GUN!" Tails jumped from his seat, his namesakes wagging back and forth, twisting and turning in excitement.
She laughed as she finished her bowl. "Sure, I guess as long as it doesn't break, might try and repurpose it later since I can't get more ammo" She glanced around. "Calm down."
Tangle chortled as her eyes darted side to side. "You're drawing the eyes of the populous Miles, didn't know you had it in you. Are you finally breaking out of your shell?"
Tails noticed there were multiple tables staring at him and he quickly sat, a blush on his face as he spooned more of the food into his mouth. "Sorry…" He muffled, the spoon in his mouth. "That technology is something we only know speculatively, it's like maybe in a few hundred years we might start practical application… and that's like if we can even find how to make or mine dark matter."
Shadow finished his bowl, setting it aside. "So the Humans are that technologically advanced?"
Alyx shook her head. "The Combine are. Humans seem to have similar technology. Just from what I've seen, there might be some things that Mobians have excelled at and others the Humans have excelled at." She shrugged. "They seem sort of similar just like... different advancements on each side? I'd need to make a list if i really wanted to compare." She got a thougtfull look. "Did you have hovercraft before Robotnik?"
Xander nodded. "Yeah! and before that we had ornithopters!"
Alyx paused at that. "Ok, so humans don't have hovercraft and I don't even know what an ornithopter is…"
Shadow glanced at the girl. "A vehicle with wings that flap like an insect's."
Alyx's eyes lit. "Really!? That sounds so neat! our flying vehicles use rigid wings and rutters!"
the whole table gave her a strange look. Tails tilted his head. "How… how does it generate propulsion and lift then?"
She returned the strange look then glanced down, thinking for a second on how to describe it. "Spinning blades up front or on top or chemical thrust turbines below or in back…"
Tails paused on his final bite. "That is so interesting… I would have never thought of that… that seems kind of dangerous though. Like a blender strapped to the front?" He put the spoon in his mouth as he got up to start collecting the bowls from everyone.
Alyx got up, handing him her bowl. "I guess it is dangerous. Yeah, you can get sucked into the blades I guess. That wouldn't be good."
Tangle choked back a laugh. "You say that so nonchalantly! That sounds like such a violent death!"
The rest of them got up and Tails ran over to put the bowls in the bin for washing. He ran back to the group and they made their way towards the river's bridge to the garden. "So parallel worlds… how does that even work?"
Alyx glanced at him as they crossed the nearby bridge. "What do you mean?"
he sighed, his eyes growing wide. "Like the multiverse! now that I think of it, how do you even know our language? I'm assuming you've seen some of our script too. You can read it?"
She shrugged. "Maybe if there were lines of possibility… Mobius and Earth aren't starting from the same point but are intersecting at this point."
"Hmm…" He replied, a thoughtful look on his face. "Guess that's possible."
They grew closer to the gardens and Shadow b-lined it towards a remaining patch that had what looked to be herbs and flowers. Pulling a pocket knife he started harvesting some stalks of lavender and flowers of chamomile. Tangle spun and presented her hand. "This is the garden! There's some fruit trees over there." She pointed in a direction. "But over here you'll find vegetables and some fruits. We got some of anything we've been able to find seeds of, even got a cave we have been cultivating mushrooms in." She cleared her throat. "Had to cut some trees out here to make room for the sun but for the most part, Knothole's food comes from here!" She looked off in the direction of the manor. "Past the manor and Tails hut near the showers I showed you is where the storage warehouse is. That goes into a hillside and keeps cool all year round!" She did another spin and started to trot along the side of the harvested crops. "If you follow me to this side we got the gym and the range!" Her head snapped to shadow who was just about done picking his tea ingredients. "You coming Shadow?"
He had a tired smile on his face. "Sure, the walk's been nice and I need to stay awake right now. I'm about done here anyways." He slung the bag full of leaves and made to follow them.
The group followed the ecstatic girl as she led them past the gardens to a bit thicker part of the forest and there seemed to be an outdoor gym set up. There was a group of kids around one area with a blond coyote standing on top of a rock with a paper cone megaphone, waving her sleaved hand ecstatically to the other kids. Her face was covered with a pair of aviator sunglasses and she had a big grin. Tangle laughed. "Is that Elly?" She waved to the girl. "Elly!"
The coyote noticed and waved back, her sleeve flapping in the wind. "Tangle! We're doing a strength contest to start the day! OHH!" She got excited and posed with her hands on her hips. "Like my new sun glasses?!" She did a victory pose. "Mom found em for me when she was out in Robotropolis! Aren't they neat! I can't wait to show Whisper!" She hopped down from the rock, the rest of the kids making room for her as she started running towards the approaching gang. She noticed Xander and jumped a bit, a big grin on her face as she spun to the other kids and brought up her megaphone with one hand and her sleave covered arm waving at her side. "Presenting his royal Majesty! You know him! you love him! you've sworn your allegiance to him! prince Acorn himself!"
Xander rushed the girl pulling the cone from her mouth. "Come on! Please just treat me normal!" The boy blushed.
She looked a little frazzled from the pull, her sun glasses slightly off kilter. "Xander! I mean Sir–"
"Please Elly!" The boy begged. "I know you want to be a royal guard like your dad and keep the tradition but please…" He nervously smiled. "Can't we just be us for a day?"
She frowned. "But…"
He dropped the cone and got on his knees, clasping his hands to beg to the girl. "Please…"
Her hackles rose as she pulled him to his feet as she really didn't want him kneeling to her. "Yes Sir. I mean Xander…" She blushed under her fur as she grabbed for her megaphone on the ground. There was a pause as she collected herself and then ran back to join the rest of the kids who were watching with interest. "ALLLLLLRIGHT! We may have a few more contestants! She spun to present the now arriving group. "Looks like Shadow and Prince Xander have decided to attend the festivities as well!" She gave a wolfish grin. "If you plan to participate please line up with the rest of the contestants over there! She pointed to one side with a group of kids lined up.
Amy ran from the line to grab Shadow's hand and drag him over. "Come on!" She quipped.
Shadow stumbled forwards while he grumbled. "I should have gone home…" He growled.
"Alright! looks like we have one more contestant! you all know the name of the game! race to move the box of rocks!" There was a pause then she blurted. "After this we're going to do the archery challenge– OOF" A one eared rabbit elbowed the girl causing her to gasp.
He slung his arm around her shoulder as she coughed. "Come on sis. You wanted to be the announcer, so announce. Don't try and rush to your favorite event." He whispered.
She gave him a glare as she regained her composure. "Right!" She grit as she picked up the megaphone again. "First up, we have my LOVELY brother! Hunter versus the ever so sweet… Amy Rose!"
The boy's single ear perked. "Really? Against a girl?"
His sister laughed to herself. "You have no idea." She grit, a cheeky grin on her face.
Tangle walked up and spun to the group to show the area. "This is where we work out. We found some work out equipment but this is more here because Dr. Rosie's cabin is right there." She pointed to a cabin on the side. "If you get hurt she can help you out."
Tails nudged Alyx. "PSSTT…" He whispered grabbing her attention. "Later we should probably stop by there, she's going to want to talk to you…" His ears wilted. "Rosie might not be too happy we didn't go to her immediately…" He mumbled.
Tangle seemed to be getting excited as the kids cleared a path for Amy and Hunter as they were getting ready with the small crates of rocks."
"To the end of that tree and back!" Elly shouted through her megaphone. Her long sleeve dropped to show she was holding a stopwatch.
"Your going down Rose!" The younger rabbit bit as he hefted his box, his feet wobbling.
"MEYAHHHH!" Amy gave a face, sticking out her tongue.
"GO!" the coyote yelled as she dramatically pointed forward.
Hunter started to stumble forward with the box as amy gracefully walked forward, holding her box and even hefting it up on a shoulder causing the boy's eyes to bug out as he struggled to keep up. "HOW!?" he screamed.
She paused and turned to the struggling boy, sticking out her tongue, blowing a raspberry. "I do this every day with Shadow. We load the supply cart." She gave a wicked smile. "Someday I might be able to wield a pop hammer in the field. Won't that be destructive..." She spun and chortled as she continued to walk to the tree.
"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" The young boy yelled as he struggled to keep up. "ISN'T THERE RULES ABOUT AGE DIFFERENCE?!"
"She's 13 and you're 11." His sister quipped. "Besides she's a GIRL. That just means she has to work harder than you for the strength." The coyote crossed her arms, giving a glare to her struggling brother. "Get a move on…"
The rest of the race was a landslide.
The coyote raised her megaphone. "Amy Rose, 2:40 on the clock. My brother dearest! 4:10 on the clock! Lets see who can beat that!"
Amy shoved her box at Shadow who caught it and stared annoyed to the girl. "What?" He griped.
She gave him a mischievous smile. "Show em up… In fact…" She ran over to grab the box from Hunter's feet and stacked it on top of Shadows box, causing some of the kids to point in awe. Amy spun with an outstretched hand. "New category! I don't know what to call it but, OH! TWO CRATES!" She started chanting. "TWO CRATES, TWO CRATES!"
some of the other kids started chanting along with her as Shadow rolled his eyes. He sighed and moved to the start line. Elly's eyebrows raised in surprise as she got ready on the timer. "Okay, Shadow's going to try and do two crates… whenever you're ready, just don't hurt yourself and get us in trouble."
"Don't worry about that." He mumbled. "Just say when to go."
"GO!" She shouted as she snapped the go on the stopwatch.
He briskly walked forward as the kids cheered, around the tree and back to the start line. He dropped the boxes with a clunk and moved to head back home. "I'm done for now."
"WAIT!" Amy yipped as she skipped after him, trying to drag him back. "Come on! you just got up! please!" She tried dragging the annoyed boy back.
"Two minutes even…" The blond coyote mumbled as she stared at the clock then back to the black and red hedgehog. "I guess he wins gold on that…"
Hunter let out an exasperated cry in the background. "WHY!?"
Elly regained her composure looking at the other contestants. "Y–you guys still want to play?" She asked.
The other kids looked at each other and slowly nodded. A tan mouse with a stubbed tail stepped forward. "I mean… we all kinda knew shadow's a bit stronger than usual… maybe we should separate categories more next year?"
Elly snapped forward, raising her sleeve in the air. "THE GAMES CONTINUE!"
Tails snickered as he watched the contest. Alyx gave a small smile, watching the interaction. "So that's what I missed out on… Huh, seems fun…"
The twin tailed fox gave her a concerned glance. "You ok?"
She waved him off. "Yeah just thinking back on my childhood I guess."
Tails rubbed the back of his head, a hand on his hip. "I'd say I had tons of playmates but I really only had a few to begin with. We had a boom of kids a while ago but most of them have grown up or they left with other families trying to migrate to other kingdoms." He shrugged. "I grew up with Tangle and Whisper as early playmates but more people trickled in later." His shoulders slumped. "I ended up reading a lot by myself."
Tails felt a tapping on his shoulder and he turned to see Rosie in her doctor's lab coat, standing behind him. "Hello Miles." She gave him a flat look. "You seem to have skipped an important step when coming back from getting shot…" Tails's ears wilted as Alyx glanced over, noticing the silver haired woodchuck. Rosie noticed the black and orange vixen. "Ah. you must be Alyx, I've been meaning to meet you too." She tilted her head towards her cabin. "You two got some time?"
Alyx perked. "Sure?"
Tails winced. "Can this wait? I mean today with the festival… Aren't you supposed to have the day off?"
"I've got some time, I don't plan on staying in my office the whole day but a lot of my job is to just be ready if something happens." She frowned. "Besides, I should correct what I said. I'm not asking you Miles, I'm telling you. Come here." She grabbed his wrist to lead him to her cabin.
Xander noticed his older brother being dragged away from the contest and skipped to catch up. "Hi Grandma!"
The woman froze and turned to see her honorary grandson bounding up to them. "Xander… I thought I told you to please call me Aunt Rosie…" She smiled.
The boy came up next to the older woodchuck and smiled. "You sure? I think you're more like a grandma. Grandma doesn't need to mean old… Mom thinks of you kinda like her Mom so I thought it would fit…"
The woodchuck ruffled his hair. "Auntie Rosie is fine dear. Please use that."
Tails gave up not wanting to make the situation worse. "I guess medical stuff now…" he grumbled as Alyx followed behind snickering. "You really don't like medical stuff?"
He rose an eyebrow, his face still nervous. "You do?"
She shrugged. "Guess I don't have too much experience except where to inject hypos and basic first aid. Not like there were any doctor's offices growing up."
"Huh…" Tails mumbled as they entered Rosie's cabin.
Xander waved by to Tails. "I'll wait for you guys out here. I'll tell Auntie Tangle you're busy."
"Thanks…" Tails griped.
Chapter 11 end.
author's notes: this was kind of an experiment chapter where I think I found the limit to how many characters I can juggle in my head in one scene. I could make this longer but I think it's about good enough to post after an edit pass. This was the kind of slow chapter I was talking about when they got to knothole. I think it's going to just be the completion of this day and tie up things to come then there's probably going to be some time skip segments. so surgery went well and I'm recovering from that so that's one of the reasons Its been a bit since I posted. another reason why I'm calling it good enough to post on this and not doing a stupid long chapter. shorter chapter this time, sorry guys. I have some really interesting drama planned but right now got to tie up some of the characters in a good area for time skip. still been quite a few chapters since we checked back on earth. don't want to do too much on a part if it's not too interesting so right now…they are getting ready to build a teleporter! This has been an interesting story to write and I feel like I have gotten better at writing just from practice. I still find it hard to believe I have 100,000 words I have written in a cohesive story. Thank you all who have read and even more to all who have commented. I go back and read some of your comments for motivation and really do love interacting back with people. This chapter was a huge chunk so that was interesting writing that. Hope you enjoy and as always, commenting is not necessary but is DEEPLY appreciated and a huge motivator to continue. Let me know what you think or have any questions. I hope the OC characters feel natural in this story. Traveler Out!
