At first, there was nothing but darkness and a complete lack of sensation, but soon, she began to gain awareness of the soft surface she was lying on, and the fact that she was suddenly lying down on her back at all. The last thing she remembered was trying to dunk Tails' head under the water to drown him as Robotnik had ordered her to, and then freezing up unable to move and losing consciousness. But when she looked back on that memory, for a reason she didn't understand, she felt very uncomfortable and horrified, and was grateful that she had failed in her endeavor to drown the sweet kid who she was programmed to make fall in love with her, just to lure into a trap. A trap that she also wasn't comfortable with remembering. The Fiona duplicate was so confused because for her entire life as far as she could remember, she had been completely loyal to Robotnik, and unquestioning of him in every instance, considering being loyal to him as the ultimate good and noble way of life, but now she was actually looking at him as a person to be disapproved of, for ordering her to do what she did.
Wanting answers about why she changed and what had rescued her from her earlier predicament, she opened her eyes, seeing the ceiling of an unfamiliar and small blue lab, and the familiar sight of the same yellow and white fox from earlier. He looked a little different though, taller. " Rise and shine, Fi! I promised I'd get you all fixed up, and that I did! " As she heard his familiar endearing voice which was a little bit deeper than she remembered, she sat herself up to face him better, which was a lot easier than she expected, and noticed that she had been lying on some white soft things when she was deactivated.
" You did? Thanks, Tails! Um, what are these? " Those were the first words she said to him, and they were in the same friendly tone that was so familiar to him from his nostalgic memories of Fiona as a friend. It was such a relief to Tails that it was that easy, that he hugged her in his excitement. It was then that she noticed that she had a second tail, and gasped in sheer surprise at seeing it; she was embarrassed that she hadn't noticed it earlier in her groggy, just-woken-up state, and that added yet another question to her list.
" I'm so glad you're back! " he exclaimed, and she instinctively returned the hug, smiling in absolute contentment. " I know, Tails. But you didn't answer my question. What are these soft white things I'm sitting on? " she asked him. Tails let go, and answered, " Oh, they're pillows. I put them there because I didn't feel right about lying someone down on a hard cold workbench, even if that someone wasn't able to feel it at the moment. So I made it more like a bed. I-I guess with your old life, you never saw them before. Never really had a bed to sleep on, " feeling sorry for her as well as awkward. " And why do I feel so much lighter? It took me so off guard that I sat up so easily, " she asked.
Tails sat in front of her with his eyes all eager at the question, and explained happily, " That's the great news! I got your mind in a new body! While your old one that wasn't waterproof only had some artificial fur and skin on the outside, me, Rotor and Nicole gave you a brand new, fully organic body, just like mine! Only it's formed with nanite robots for cells. Like my friend Nicole has for HER body! " She was intrigued at the answer, as well as feeling stunned at the sheer idea that the body she had always been in was gone forever, and yet she was the same person as before.
Then she asked in confusion, " Rotor, Nicole? Who are they? Rotor sounds like a robot, 'cause that's not in my database of normal names. Or is it a nickname 'cause he's an engineer? And Nicole's a robot, like me? Oh, well, former robot… " feeling stunned and confused at the end not used to the idea that she was only a former robot.
Tails replied, " Oh right, Eggman didn't fill you in on who my friends are. Probably didn't think he needed to. I'll introduce you to them! Lucky for you, they're not too far away. Guys, she's awake! " as Fi looked all confused at the ' Eggman ' he mentioned. She asked, " Eggman? " as she started hearing some footsteps heading towards her hitting the metal floor getting closer and closer. Tails explained,
" That's Robotnik's nickname. Oh, right, well, not YOUR Robotnik. Actually, Robotnik got replaced by an alternate dimension version of him who had roboticized himself, and then he got turned organic by some ' Bem ' people and so here we are! You really have missed out on a lot of fun stuff. It's been years, " while smiling awkwardly with his ears drooping and scratching the back of his head towards the end. It was really starting to hit home just how long it had been since he'd seen her. He thought as the duplicate Fiona stared at him in confusion trying to let the information sink in, " I'm gonna have a lot of filling in to do. "
Fi couldn't believe it. She thought looking sad, " Robotnik's gone? My old master… OLD master? A-Again, where's this coming from? Regret? I never experienced regret before! Is this my new body making me think different? I'm not sure how to feel about this. Am I still really me? Me? Huh, I've never even thought about myself that deeply before. " She felt a bit of an identity crisis and was unhappy at learning that she had lost the closest she had to a father, despite her only knowing what a father was through a dictionary definition in her database.
She then realized she had a dictionary definition of pillows ready as well, and felt ashamed that she hadn't immediately instinctively recognized the pillows on sight. She thought still staring in the direction of the footsteps, " Is my processor working slower now? I should've recognized the pillows immediately by accessing their definition, even if I'd never actually seen them before. Am I not as smart? Was I smart before? What kind of, personality could I define myself as having anyways? Nice? Because what I did to Tails doesn't qualify. "
It had only been seconds since she had started her train of thought, but to her, it had felt like an eternity. Finally, a walrus with spectacles and a brown open coat and tool belt along with a lynx girl with a purple toga dress walked up to her, with expressions on their faces that she registered as having smiles that were strained, with the stress lines and eyes registering discomfort, fear and sadness. She could see the shrunken pupils and knew what they meant; Robotnik had been sure to put that sort of social interaction information in her database so she'd know how to be a good girlfriend to manipulate Tails, rather than scaring him away with a complete lack of social skills. Everything she knew at the moment was because of Robotnik. Now she had to rely on other people, most of whom were complete strangers. Tails snapped her out of her train of thought explaining, " It's okay, they're our friends! This is Rotor, and Nicole! " She looked at him after he started talking and registered a sad forced smile on his face with fear just like last time, although it seemed to ease up when he started gesturing to the friends he was introducing her to.
" What's wrong? " she asked nervously, to a quick awkward silence. " What do you mean? " Rotor asked, and she explained, " You all look nervous. Even Tails. " There was a brief silence as they all glanced at each other quickly before Tails said, " They're meeting you for the first time, but they already have some, history with the person you were based on. So it's kind of awkward right now. They'll get used to you, I promise. And I was nervous because I was worried about how you'd react. I know this is all really new to you. Especially the, second tail… " He looked depressed gesturing down at it, and Fi looked down at it herself.
She said awkwardly, " I was waiting for a good time to ask about that. " Tails admitted, " It was a glitch in the process. I needed a Chaos Emerald to provide the energy, and it provided more of it than I expected! " Then he smiled nervously and said, " Don't worry! Look on the bright side! It makes you unique, and gives us something else in common! " Rotor added, " Speaking of unique, maybe you should try out wearing some new hair accessories aside from the yellow bow. Not that it's bad, I like it, but you know, she wore it too. "
Feeling awkward, she replied, " Oh, " looking down at her second tail again. She thought, " I wonder how they know my organic template? Was there something to the word ' history ' having such a negative emoting earlier? " Tails then said, " In fact, I'd advise avoiding the color yellow entirely. And white, and black. Any other color is great, though, so we'll take you clothes shopping and you can pick out whatever you'd like! You'd look amazing in anything, Fi! " Fi started to blush and smile irresistibly at the sudden compliment. He had been treating her like just a friend up to that point, so when he went back to acting like her affectionate boyfriend, it caught her by surprise.
" Or rather, Phoebe, " he said, causing her to look at him wide-eyed in complete surprise and confusion at the unrecognized name. He quickly explained, " You know, Fi, bee! Fi's short for Fiona, but it can also be short for Phoebe. I love your actual name, i-it's the most beautiful name I've ever heard for a girl, but I think Phoebe would be a nice nickname for you, that's unique to you, " whispering the second to last sentence clause in a bashful compliment. Already his love for his first crush was coming back to him and overwhelming him as he was finally talking to her again, and he had missed that feeling so much.
She was speechless at first, and then said, " Oh! A brand new designation… I like it, I guess, but I, I'll definitely have to get used to it. I much prefer ' Fiona. ' It's the name I was associated with my whole life. " She was going through quite the identity crisis, of course, from immediately being different from how she remembered and being given a brand new identity against her will. She liked her old look and name, and didn't like that they were being stolen from her because they met someone else with them.
Nicole said, " Well, since we already know a Fiona, it'd be best if you had a nickname. And a new hairstyle, if you want, " and briefly put her hair up above her head more while Rotor pulled out a handheld mirror to show her. Phoebe stared into the image reflected back at her in the mirror. She looked just like she had remembered; the yellow bow, reddish brown short hair, red fur, long dark eyelashes, muzzle, and no clothes over her body fur. Even though she had changed bodies. She said quietly, " I wonder if the real Fiona looks the same way… "
Feeling sorry for her while Rotor and Nicole looked sympathetic to her as well, Tails replied, " Try not to think of it that way, the ' real ' Fiona. You're both real. I'm not hallucinating you, after all! You just happen to have different origins, different, pasts. Which makes you unique from each other. " Phoebe forced a smile and rubbed his shoulder a little wanting to reassure him right away from his worry, saying, " You're right. I'll try not to let it get to me, " and flashing a grin at him that the real Fiona would've given back when she was a Freedom Fighter.
She thought, " Note to self, don't be too willing to tell him what you're worried about. I don't like when he gets worried. All of a sudden. What's wrong with me? I never cared before! About anything other than my prime directive. Is this new body glitched in more ways than one? Do I still have the same mind? My memories are the same. "
While she was distracted, Nicole had walked away, and when she came back, she was holding a green dress, and explained, " We kept this stored away for when you'd wake up. We figured you'd feel better if we gave you the choice to put it on yourself. You're already overwhelmed by everything being new without waking up in a new outfit. " Phoebe decided to put the dress on, putting it over her head and getting her arms through it, as Nicole reassured her, " Believe me, I know what it's like, getting used to an organic body for the first time. There's a lot you haven't experienced yet. So if you ever want someone to relate to about it, you have my assistance. " She then smiled at her warmly, which warmed her heart and caused her to have the irresistible urge to smile back. She did so and replied, " I think I'm gonna like you. Thanks for the dress! I still wanna go pick some out for myself though. Come on, guys, let's go clothes shopping! I can't wait! "
Tails smiled, but it was forced once again, as he was just as worried as the rest of them about the idea of her being recognized as someone she's not. His eyes darted around the room and stayed on a pair of sunglasses that had been left on the workbench, and as Fi went back to wondering what happened to her old master, he said holding the pair of shades, " Do you wanna wear these sunglasses, too? " She noticed a pair of glasses with dark lens and pink frames, put them on really curious about getting to experience wearing glasses for the first time, and noticed that, of course, everything looked slightly darker through them.
She looked outside and commented, " That certainly helps with the bright sunlight. After all that time of having my eyes closed, they aren't fully adjusted to the light yet. Thanks! " and gave him a thumbs-up. If anything, that made her look kind of corny and dorky, a sort of charm that set her apart from Fiona right away, as her naivety from feeling like she was just introduced to the world outside Robotnik's lab made her act so young and innocent. Just like Tails. Rotor, Tails and Nicole smiled in relief. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all. With that, Nicole and Tails started walking out of the lab with her, with Tails saying, " Come on, I'll lead the way, since you don't know your way around yet. Maybe we can give you a whole tour of the place later! "
" Thanks! " Phoebe responded casually as they started to walk on the grass outside in the warm sunlight, which felt unusually nice on her skin. She thought, " I wonder if sunlight is healthy for the organic body? Why else would it be programmed to feel so good from it? " Tails then started to hold her hand, which she appreciated, and said cheerfully beside her, " You don't have to say thanks for literally everything. I mean, not that I don't appreciate you expressing gratitude. It's a wonderful thing of someone to do! It's just, well, " and Nicole continued more tactfully by advising her, " How about you change things up every once in a while thanking people in other ways? "
Curious about her advice, Fi asked, " How so? " as they walked past some trees and some random Mobians walking around. Nicole explained, " Like by saying, ' I appreciate that, ' or ' Thank you. ' If you simply say the same sentence every time, it'll feel repetitive to people and then insincere, like it's just being recited from a script. I had to learn that one the hard way. " Fi nodded, grateful for the advice, and said, " Thanks! I mean, I appreciate that, Nicole. You clearly have a lot more experience interacting with people than I do. Tails was the only person I ever had a conversation with. "
" Not even Robotnik? " Tails said feeling sorry for her. Fi explained, " Not even him! Once I was created, he showed me to my organic template when she was in some cell and then he shut me down for, I don't know how long, and then the next thing I knew, I was being reactivated and told I had a mission at an artificial island. That's when I met Tails. " Tails said resentfully, " It figures. He just wanted to use you for what he made you for. He didn't care about his creations outside of what they could do for him. "
Phoebe felt sad and a strange feeling in her chest at hearing that. " Really? " she asked. Tails, recognizing that she was disappointed, understood why and said, " I'm sorry, that's just how he was. Later, Eggman would make some robot ' son and daughter ' ADAM and M, and he must have talked to them a lot because he was using them as henchmen. But that didn't go over well. They're not exactly around anymore. From what I heard, he told his ' daughter ' Mecha to self-terminate because she betrayed him! And I bet your Robotnik would've been the same way. It's not an easy thing to hear, I know. I wish he was a nice person, too. " She continued to look sad reflecting on that and letting it all sink in. The closest person she had to a father never cared about her, and even if he did see her as a daughter, it wouldn't have stopped him from killing her for perceived disloyalty with no hesitation.
She said, " I hope you understand, Tails. I don't register him as my master anymore, for some reason. I just don't feel right that the one I owe my existence to wouldn't have really cared about me at all. Well, the one other than you. You saved me from that island, after all, after what that, water, did to me. " She shuddered at the end, vowing to stay away from water from that point on. That would become interesting when she would inevitably have to take a bath or drink some water later, not that she was consciously aware of that yet.
Feeling guilty, Tails apologized, " Yeah, I did save you. I'm sorry it took so long. Really, Fi, I am! I thought I could make Robotnik fix you, but obviously I was wrong. And I didn't find you again until a week ago. " Nicole sensed an awkward situation coming up as Fi asked, " How'd you come across me? " and Tails felt forced to explain what he did. He sighed and said awkwardly and sadly,
" There was this evil wizard out there named Ixis Naugus. Really evil, he can't be trusted, just like Eggman! And we were after him trying to get Chaos Emeralds to defeat him once and for all – which we eventually did thanks to Miles, a friend of mine, depowering him and sealing him away with a magical Scepter. But before that, well, he kind of, he wanted the Chaos Emeralds I had with me. And it turned out he had found you! He said that he was offering me a deal, the Emeralds in exchange for your life. Needless to say, I took it. "
" Then why do you look so sad?! " Fi asked looking really worried, scared that he was feeling regretful for saving her life. She wondered why he ever would. Tails explained looking pained at just talking about it, " Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad you're back. I just got to see you again back there and if I had lost you again, it would've broken my heart. But I still had to make a deal with one of the worst enemies of my friends to get you back. I betrayed them for you. And since they're my best friends, and the closest I ever had to a family until recently, it's only instinctive of me to feel guilty about it. Lucky for me, they forgave me for it, because they already had plenty of Chaos Emeralds and they trusted me a lot my whole life. "
Then Nicole added looking worried as they headed for the shopping mall, " It wouldn't have been the same if you did that. I'm sorry, but you're not trusted unconditionally by the Freedom Fighters just yet. You're new, after all. " She gently rubbed her shoulder and back for a second to make her feel better, feeling sorry for her as she looked sad and melancholic. She was starting to remind them of how Fiona looked sad when Sally first learned she had a checkered past.
She thought sadly staring ahead away from the staring Mobians near her, " It's not fair! I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not their former enemy. Well, actually, come to think of it, I am. I got Tails thrown in a roboticizer, and then tried to terminate him! Of course I'm their former enemy, of course I have to make up for that, even if I did change. Did I change just because I have an organic CPU now? If so, should I really get the credit? Did I really earn this? Or am I just feeling bad for nothing since that was the old me doing those horrible things? Wait, why do I think they're horrible, exactly? What's this feeling?... I guess it is rational, Tails was always really nice to me. And considerate, even! No one had been nice to me before. He shouldn't have been repaid for it like that. That's why I should make it up to him… How'd I know what ' make it up to ' means? Did his friends and him add that phrase to my database? "
Feeling even more worried as they got increasingly close to the tall building in front of them with the transparent doors, Fi asked, " Tails, how different is my CPU now that I have an organic body? Do I even have the same one? Or did it rust away and need to be replicated?! " Another awkward situation resulted and Tails and Nicole's expressions reflected it. Tails, hoping that he wouldn't be in big trouble, simply explained nervously,
" All I did was remove Robotnik's evil programming forcing you to have no free will and try to KILL me. Now you can make your own decisions if you want and be your own person and have a happy fulfilling life without being a robot slave. Just like the rest of us! The deroboticizer didn't change your CPU much. It's the only part of you that's not organic, aside from what's normally the bone surrounding and protecting the heart. I decided to keep it that way so that you couldn't get brain damage as easily as everyone else can since the normal brain is soft and vulnerable. If it gets shaken, it can hit the skull and that can really hurt. Your brain is metal, so it's much harder to damage. Everything else, though, was unnecessary to change. "
She nodded along, understanding, and questioned with her hand on her hip, " Then if everything's the same, why'd I recognize the phrase ' make it up to you ' in my thoughts? And suddenly feel the need to do that? " Tails explained nervously, " The first thing, it only makes sense that I thought you should know that, especially since a lot of people are gonna be saying that around you. The only other new information I gave to you was the months' worth of knowledge about wiring and programming and stuff that Fiona had, from Rotor's training her as a Freedom Fighter. That way, you can help me and Rotor out as my lovely lab assistant! And the reason you wanna make it up to me is because you came to the conclusion that you should on your own. Now you have the free will to do that, instead of considering following Robotnik's orders universally good just because. That's something robots never get to enjoy. Don't worry about it, alright, sweetie? Relax. "
The once robot duplicate of Fiona sighed in relief relaxing her shoulders as she realized his reasoning was reassuring. He was right, she had come to the conclusion for rational reasons. " You're right, honey. I should be making it up to you. You've always been nothing but nice and compassionate to me, and you're the first one to ever do that. After the way I ' rewarded ' you for it, it's only logical that I should want to make things right, " she replied calmly. Suddenly, she gasped at some doors opening up in front of her, Tails and Nicole, sliding to the right on their own.
" Tails! The doors opened by themselves! That's so cool! " she exclaimed, getting all excited from seeing that for the first time. Nicole saw her as acting like an adorable excited little kid at that, just like Tails is, and it was very strange to her seeing someone who looked so much like Fiona that way when she primarily knew her as a snarky teenager. But her more naïve robot duplicate hadn't shown a snarky bone in her body, if only because she hadn't been given a reason to yet. She thought, " I'll really have to get used to that, " as Tails giggled, and explained, " They do that for everyone. They're automatic, " causing Phoebe to blush in embarrassment at her naïve reaction saying, " Oh. "
Tails giggled, and Fi put her hands on her hips asking, " Hey, what's so funny about that? " Nicole thought, " THERE'S the snarky teenager I know, " reassured from the familiarity, and Tails stopped looking nervous, and explained, " It's just endearing, that's all. You're so new to the world! Come on, I'll take you to the clothes store. Nicole has the money in her dress pocket. "
Fi relaxed a little, forgiving him, and the three of them all walked into the shopping mall and started heading towards the shop all the way at the end of a long wide hallway of stores in a room with a tall skylight ceiling. The whole time, the three of them awkwardly tried to ignore how so many of the civilians walking by them were staring at Phoebe recognizing her as Fiona. Feeling increasingly nervous, Phoebe couldn't help but focus on all the uncomfortable attention and listen acutely to the murmuring of the crowd, with some of them saying, " Fiona? " " She's back? " " Why's she shorter? " " Why's she holding his hand? " And then, the worst comment of all hit her like a ton of bricks. " The traitor? Why are they letting her be around? "
Her pupils were already shrunken from anxiety, but that comment made her hang her head in shame, with her ears slightly drooping, having the horrible realization that the person she was based on was a traitor. And even though she wasn't her, the insult still rang true. After she let go of Tails' hand feeling like she didn't deserve him, he immediately put his arm around her in a sideways hug to reassure her, and said gently, " They don't know it's you. They think you're Fiona. " Nicole tried to look on the bright side looking awkward as she thought, " At least it's not me who's getting all the negative attention, " being reminded of when so many people in the nanite city had turned against her.
Fi felt terrible as she said sadly in a voice full of shame, " But I am a traitor. Remember what I did? " not feeling like she deserved the affection and comfort. Tails then reassured her, " That wasn't your fault. You weren't thinking straight back then, and you'll never do anything like that again. " She tried to keep those words in her mind, remembering them over and over again to reassure herself, as the three of them all walked into the clothes shop at least, relieved because there were barely any people there at the moment. It was a welcome break from the crowd, even if a small portion of it could still stare at them from outside the store.
Tails told her, " All you have to do is figure out what your size is and you can have any of the dresses that fit you! Well, as long as it fits our budget, " and Nicole showed her briefly the amount of money they had with them. Phoebe's eyes figuratively lit up as she started smiling in excitement, incredibly overjoyed at the idea that so many different pretty dresses could all belong to her. " Wow! There's so many of them! How will I ever choose? " she exclaimed happily.
Nicole suggested, " I'll try to help, I have more experience with wearing dresses, " secretly looking forward to doing this as if it was a rite of passage for an organic teenaged girl, making it official that she was one of them. Fi thanked her saying, " Awesome! " and Tails, as Nicole hoped she wouldn't go overboard, said, " We just need to do some math with the price tags to make sure we don't go over budget. So you can't have everything here, unfortunately. Believe me, if I could, I'd buy out the whole store's worth for you! " Appreciating it, Fi giggled a little, and said cheerfully, " Thank you, Tails. I'm feeling better already! "
And as she started shopping in childish excitement, Tails hoped that level of joy would hold out after she left the store, and would have to go back to being stared at by a crowd of gossipy villagers. He knew the cat was out of the bag now. News would spread of " Fiona's " return and there was no way Sally wouldn't hear about it. He thought beside Phoebe, " I should've known the sunglasses and dress wouldn't work. She needed a better disguise. Who could forget that face? " finding himself staring at her lovestruck for a second by the end.
After Nicole taught her how to tell if a dress fits by putting it right up to her skin, they did their shopping, with the former Fiona android picking out 7 different dresses of every color except yellow and black, one for each day of the week. When they finished shopping, they purchased the dresses, with the clerk saying to her after she put them on the counter, " Y-You're, Fiona Fox! " Still fortunately in a good mood from clothes shopping for the first time, she replied to the scared and uncomfortable lady, " Phoebe Fox. You got the wrong girl. "
Confused and suspicious, the clerk, a racoon lady who was dressed in expensive clothes, asked while putting the dresses in a bag, " Phoebe? Wait, she had a little sister? " deducing that from her being Tails' height. Tails quickly said, " Yes, apparently! " took the dress bag in a hurry and rushed the confused Fi out of the store, telling her in a whisper as Nicole followed, " Just go with it. It'll be a lot easier for people to trust a long-lost little sister than a former robot. Considering all the trouble robots cause to people trying to roboticize them. "
After a brief silence where Fi looked depressed again since she had tried to do that to him, she finally asked as they started walking through the mall, " Tails, who is Fiona? Why was she a traitor to the Freedom Fighters? " There was a brief awkward silence as Tails tried not to tear up at the thought and the two of them felt incredibly sorry for him. Fi continued remorsefully, " I mean, I'd like to KNOW the person I keep getting compared to, after all. I'm sorry if it's hard for you. "
Tails sighed, and said sadly, " I-I, I'll tell you when we're some place private. I don't want people to see me, upset. " Nicole was about to explain it for him, but stopped herself when she realized it would only make Tails cry from being reminded of it either way and defeat the purpose. As a result, the three of them walked out of the mall uncomfortably quiet as they tried to ignore the customers who stared at Fi.
When they finally left the mall and got a good distance from it, they found themselves walking through a grassy field alone on the way back to the lab, and it was then that Nicole decided to tell her the whole painful story; about how Tails had fallen for Fiona because she reminded him of her, only to get his heart broken by her when they used to be fairly good friends, with only a vague excuse about wanting to teach him that he can't trust anyone. Of course, Tails started crying just hearing about it again, causing Phoebe to put her arm around him holding him close to her side and dry the first of his tears with her other hand.
When the explanations were finished, she looked stunned and upset, saying, " I can't believe I'm based on someone like that. I'm nothing like her! A-Am I? " thinking of Fiona as some sort of monster. She stammered, " N-No, of course not. She says you can't trust anyone, and I'm not like that. What kind of life did she have to make her that way? " There was a brief, depressing silence, before she added, " I barely ever interacted with anybody. The amount of people I've talked to can be counted on one hand. Maybe that's why. She has more experience with people than I do. Maybe she saw the worst in them. "
Worried and scared of her turning out that way, Nicole explained, " Her parents abandoned her, and so did a lot of other people. She had to do anything she could to survive all alone, even taking what's not rightfully hers. She even worked with a bounty hunter at one point. That's why she became so untrusting. " Fi became quiet after that, reflecting on how the closest person she had to a parent, Robotnik, did abandon her, by not fixing her and instead leaving her on the artificial island rusted. She became frustrated with him and bitter as she asked herself, " Why didn't he fix me? Why didn't he think to fix me up and use me again? Maybe if he had, I could've gotten the way I am a lot sooner, so why did he have to go and forget me? I-I don't understand. "
Tails put his hand on her shoulder trying to calm her down and told her nervously, " He had a LOT of robots at his disposal. And I mean a lot. I know it doesn't seem fair, but you were just one robot to him, out of millions! And he probably figured I wouldn't fall for the same plot twice, so he didn't bother to try again with you. The point is, no one else is gonna forget about you like that. Especially not me! I never forgot about you, Fi. I just couldn't do anything to help you until now. By the time I got back to where I last remembered you were, you were gone. "
Phoebe sighed heavily, and unclenched her fists. She said unhappily, " Sorry I worried you. It was just frustrating to me. How long was I rusted like that? How many years has it been? " Tails told her, " I'm 11 now. Don't worry, it's fine. Me and my friends will fill you in on everything you missed. Look on the bright side, Fi, it's the perfect excuse to have all sorts of talks with us about it! I'm happy to reminisce with you, for the most part. " Fi asked looking serious, " What happened to Robotnik? "
Tails explained, " Makes sense you'd wanna know that first. Your old master got kind of vanished away when his Ultimate Annihilator got reprogrammed by Snively. It was supposed to be this evil weapon to destroy every living being except him, why he'd want that I'll never know, but Snively made it so that it did the exact opposite. Then Robo-Robotnik replaced him months later, because he won back home and, uh, I couldn't really follow the logic behind coming here after that, but he did. He did briefly bring Robotnik back, but his molecules were unstable, so he disappeared real quick. "
Phoebe asked him, " But why'd Snively do that? " feeling ashamed afterwards that she was acting like he did something wrong when she shouldn't be feeling any attachment left to her master. " Because he's evil. He wanted to take his place and he wasn't a good boss, " Tails simply told her, and they all walked into the lab, having reached it before they knew it.
Before Fi could say anything in response, her stomach made a strange noise and felt an unfamiliar way, and she asked, " What was that?! " looking worried. As Tails took the yellow bow out of her hair just in case and Phoebe put on a red and purple dress with a sun design, he explained to her, " You're hungry. I'll get us some dinner, and introduce you to my parents. We're having steak, corn and mashed potatoes! Maybe you'll like it! " Phoebe looked stunned and confused, once again reminded that she was in an organic body now and had to get used to it.
" I haven't ingested any subsistence since that coconut milk drink we shared, " she said looking worried. Tails reassured her, " It's okay, you just put it in your mouth and chew it with your teeth, and then swallow it. It's easy, instinctive even. Unless it's a drink, then you just swallow it. There's so much stuff you have to learn, and I'll be happy to tell you everything you wanna know. Makes me feel smart! I-I mean, smarter. I did turn out to be a genius after all. " He smiled nervously, still too humble to really believe it, and Fi said looking all wide-eyed and impressed, " You did? " " How else could I have helped fix you up? Most of it was my project. My secret project for a week. I'll be introducing you to most of my friends for the first time. " he replied cheerfully.
Before she could leave the lab, Nicole said, " Wanna try a ponytail? " holding her red hair with a bit of an excited but timid smile. Finding her endearing, she nodded, and was given a ponytail to the best of her ability, although it was loose because of a lack of hair accessories available to them. Tails and Nicole smiled in relief; with the pink framed-sunglasses, ponytail and dress, they hoped that she would look different enough from Fiona that just looking at her wouldn't give people like Sally painful memories and a difficult time trusting her. While a mere difference in physical appearance seemed minor, first impressions were everything, and it'd be easier to accept her as a different, more trustworthy person if she looked different.
Unfortunately, it wasn't different enough for Sally not to recognize her, as they happened to encounter her on the way. " Fiona?! W-What, what are you, you're younger! What, did you find a reverse Ring of Acorns? " Sally said in bewilderment, taken aback. Tails quickly explained, " It's not her! Relax! Remember that robot duplicate of Fiona? I, happened to stumble on her last week, and so I removed Robotnik's nasty programming to hurt me. Now she's got free will and she's good! She's got an organic body that's my age, and she's even got a new name. Meet Phoebe, my new lab assistant! "
Registering suspicion and apprehension in Sally's expression, Phoebe was looking nervous and uncomfortable the whole time, and forced a smile at the end, waving to her girlishingly a little bit trying to diffuse the tension, while holding onto Tails' hand for dear life. Sally took a few seconds, glaring at her skeptically with her arms crossed, before telling her sternly, " Alright, I'll tolerate it. But don't you ever break his heart! He already had trouble with the last Fiona. I expect full loyalty from you to the Freedom Fighters, or else. "
With that, she coldly walked away, clearly steaming at just seeing her, and Tails could only sigh in relief that she cared about him enough to humor him. He was expecting her to yell at her and tell her off and make a whole big drama out of it, but instead she kept her cool and kept to a tranquil fury. Her ability to handle her emotions like a calm and collected leader-type was one of the things he admired the most about her.
With her safely out of earshot, Fi thought, " I've never been so scared in all my life! " and then she told Tails nervously, "My pumping organ's faster than normal! Should I be concerned?! " and he quickly reassured her, " No, it just does that when you're scared. She won't bite. She's just intimidating when she doesn't trust someone. My friend Miles would know, he's been through almost the same thing with her. He even used to be my enemy until I saved his life! I think he could relate to you a little. "
With that, they went to Tails' house to have dinner with his parents. " Hi, Tails' mom and dad! It's nice to finally meet you! " Phoebe greeted them before Tails could say anything, and they both looked nervous and confused at seeing her. They were apprehensive at first, but when Tails explained who she really was saying, " It's okay, she's the robot Fiona from earlier, but made organic and good! " and she showed over dinner how much she loved their son, they seemed to relax. She hoped that this meant things wouldn't be so bad after all.
The worst she had to deal with was avoiding crowds of people, who would stare at her and talk about her. So she resolved to stay in the lab most of the time, fully dedicating herself to being his lab assistant, even if it meant isolating herself from most of the world. Miles would proceed to teach her that she had fire powers as her second tail represented, Tails would proceed to give her some rose-tinted glasses, and she'd get Bunnie to style her hair into a loose bun, trying to give herself her own look and reassure people that she wasn't the same person she was based on, and Tails couldn't be happier to have her back.
Meanwhile, Scourge and Fiona had checked into another hotel after getting rid of their 62nd Robotnik, and mugging enough criminals on the street over the course of a week to amass a fortune. They had enough money to easily pay for their food, water and hotel needs for the next month. " Hey, new shampoo? " Scourge asked Fiona with a smile after she finished having a bath at their hotel. " Yeah, Dove! " she replied, and he kissed her, clearly finding it appealing. The two of them both said at the same time, " I love you! " and then after a brief silence, started laughing for a little while before saying, " Jinx! " to each other.
Scourge said with a cheerful shrug, " Great minds think alike, I suppose. Come on, babe, let's start the movie, " and put in the action movie the two had picked out recently, sat on the couch together, and Fiona sighed happily at him holding her close with his arm around her casually. She thought, " This is the life… Would Sonic have been this affectionate and happy with me? Would, Tails? If he was my age? Well either way, I'm happy. No sense letting nostalgia distract me now. "