Starline hid the scanner, told Blaze who just finished a sub of her own, " Alright I'm home! I didn't think to mention this before with all of the distractions, but make sure to leave the base before taking him home with you! You make a fire pillar every time you do that and summoning fire in here would set off the sprinkler system and smoke alarm on me. " Blaze replied, " I already thought of that. I've had my powers for long enough to know about those things. "
Starline said, " Good. I just had to warn you because a place like this could've easily not been given the effort of a fire response system. It's possible that its creator wouldn't have ever imagined there could be a fire here. " He was going to point out that it was because badniks could produce fire and they tended to be the security system for the bases, but held his tongue because he didn't want to worry Mr. Tinker by admitting that it was one of Eggman's bases. The only reason he didn't already know was that he couldn't remember anything before Starline except for his interactions with Belle.
Starline nervously explained to Mr. Tinker, " This is Kitsunami, but everyone calls him Kit. He wants to ask me a few questions before I go with you two, so I'll stay behind for now. I wouldn't want a tour of the village either way. " Mr. Tinker wondered why his mother would name him Kitsunami but was too polite to comment on it, and asked, " How do you two know each other? Is he your son? " Kit answered, " Yep! " Starline blushed at that as Sonic smiled, but didn't complain because he knew it was the best way to explain how he knew him. Kit said cheerfully, " Sort of, he's like a father to me but I live with my mom. He's looked after me a lot, so I'm gonna visit him every day when he moves. "
Sonic went up to Blaze and whispered to her as Mr. Tinker stared, " Come back for him in twenty minutes, " which got her to tell Mr. Tinker, " It's time for me to take you to your new home! " She went ouside with Mr. Tinker and Belle and warped them away, and Sonic and Kit followed Starline as he walked out of the base.
Sonic said, " Congrats, Starline! While I wasn't okay with how I had to do it, it's great to have Mr. Tinker back, and we never could've done it without you. " Starline replied, " The technology for it was here without or without me. I didn't need to survive for this. " Sonic and Kit looked concerned about him after that, while knowing his first sentence was right.
They were hoping he'd stop being depressed after getting Eggman to like him again, and while they knew depression didn't go away that quickly and easily, it still disturbed them that he was still so depressed that he was dismissive of his own survival, when a normal person would've just been elated that he undid the worst mistake of his life.
He explained, " I had all of the information on how I made the safe cellular upgrades already typed up in that computer where I put all of my research on making the Metal Virus safe, and either way Surge would've told you it gave her amnesia, so it'd be inevitable that someone would put two and two together and realize that could be used on HIM. Kit could've retrieved the emergency vials with it from the Sigma base and I don't know why Blaze didn't give you the Warp Topaz sooner, but it should've been inevitable. Even if it wasn't on her world it could've been tracked down. "
He said, " Not that you actually needed the Warp Topaz, because being able to move at the speed of sound would've let you run to the two of them and shock Metal Sonic by surprise the same way. I'm sure even if you couldn't simply run past every badnik on the way to them to reach them really quickly you'd still make it to them and do that plan the same way. The only thing the topaz was needed for was bringing Mr. Tinker here instantly for his own sake, but if Gemerl could carry him while flying, he would've reassured him when he'd wake up on his way to Belle, so it wouldn't have been the end of the world. If he can't carry and fly with him for that long he could've still been escorted out of the city the long boring way. "
Sonic asked to reassure him, " Who would've told Kit to give Eggman amnesia? " " I don't know, Surge? She could've wanted to give Dr. Eggman amnesia to put him through the same thing she went through out of spite because she couldn't find me. Worst case scenario she would've taken advantage of the fact that he'd become able to heal really fast for the sake of revenge. Or, Tails could've gone back to the base to search through it for technology and information to salvage because he loves technology. Doesn't he do that with his bases all the time? "
Sonic said, " Yeah, he wants to do that for all of them, " and he continued, " Even if anything happened to the vials or I didn't put any in them, Tails could've read about my research on it from one of the computers here or even failing that, he would've figured out how to make it eventually, with all the demand there'll be for cybernetics like Kit and Surge have. You never needed me to pacify him. "
Sonic said, " Of course we did! Tails never would've made a plan to give him permanent amnesia! I thought you knew that! Sure he supported carrying it out which completely shocked me, but he wouldn't have come up with it! I-I bet the only reason he admitted he wanted it done was that everyone at the table but me voted in favor of it! "
Kit said looking timid, " He supported it? Gee, I dunno, Sonic, if you were wrong about him being against it, doesn't that mean you could be wrong about this too? Maybe you thought he'd hate it because you hated it and assumed everyone would feel the same way. If he even could be so sick of Eggman that he'd support the plan, couldn't that mean that he'd have been destined to make that plan on his own? Maybe if enough people wished they had Mr. Tinker back around him, he would've taken matters into his own hands. It'd probably take until he grew up for him to get tired enough of Eggman to do it but still. "
Sonic looked annoyed but Starline said with a smile, " I'm proud of you, Kit, that must have taken a lot of courage. " Kit admitted bashfully, " Well after all the times I talked Surge into changing her mind about doing stuff, this was easy. " Starline said, " You have a good point that it'd take years for Tails to get the courage to make a plan like that, but if he supported it, he might have done it earlier than you think. Perhaps Wave could've made that plan as well if she cared enough to do so. All she does is waste her genius with thieves without doing a thing to him, but who knows, it could be possible that she'd end up quitting, and I don't know why she hasn't already with Jet and Storm there. She could've made the plan because she wouldn't want anything like the Metal Virus to happen again, and wouldn't put faith in the heroes to prevent it, because they didn't prevent the Metal Virus from getting released. "
Sonic looked annoyed with him and he noticed and said, " Of course that'd have been impossible, you didn't know about that and the Faceship and even if you did you didn't know where this base was to stop it from launching, but that kind of lack of information could be exactly why she could be inspired to do something to pacify him before it's too late. I doubt she would though. Up in that blimp of hers it usually doesn't matter what he does. But if she got fed up with the Rogues, what else would she do with time but start fighting against him? She'd be a lot less likely to succeed at stealing by herself after all and Rouge never gets arrested for that because she's a hero. "
Kit said, " I think she always thought the heroes had it handled. But if she didn't care enough to fight Eggman when he was ruling the world, it has to be because she didn't care that he was because his rule didn't affect her. She wouldn't bother making your plan because she probably thinks nothing like the Metal Virus will ever happen again so there's nothing in it for her. " Starline replied, " I know. Unless someone offered to pay her to figure out how to do that to him. Someone from Windmill Village could miss Mr. Tinker enough to do that eventually. There'd be plenty of people wanting him back in a permanent fashion. I just assumed they wouldn't ever trust him a second time because they were stupid enough to turn on Belle. "
Sonic wondered, " I wonder if Belle would've gone that far? Wait, she's a genius too so would she have come up with the plan? Don't tell anyone I said this about her, because I doubt she liked your method either. She'd hate giving someone amnesia, but she could've made an exception for him! She wanted Mr. Tinker back more than anybody and she knew where this base was! But, she wouldn't have had the guts to make that plan, right? She's too timid and considerate for that. Could she have changed after a couple of years though? After all, she's been through a lot, so we're lucky she hasn't. "
He remembered when he heard Belle tell Tails that Eggman offered her a job and said, " I mean she could've gotten it done easier than me if she just told Eggman she'd work for him just to use the syringe on him when he'd be sleeping. Best case scenario she wouldn't have even had to sneak into his room and hope he wouldn't wake up, because she could've told him she'd upgrade him to be like Surge but not let him know it'd involve amnesia! But I bet he would assume there's a catch and insist on researching it first because that'd be easy. She could've used an excuse that she doesn't want him hurt or killed and that's why she'd make him invincible. But would he really be that gullible?"
Starline admitted, " I'd say no but that's probably me projecting. I always got surprised by how reckless he was because of that, and yet every time my plan involved taking advantage of his recklessness that didn't work out either, so he's unpredictable. He'd only show foresight if it was necessary for him to keep being in charge, changing the password code on me, or making himself immune to hypnosis. But in your case he wouldn't have even known getting himself upgraded could threaten his position of power and it only seems like it'd strengthen it. Besides even if Dr. Eggman told her to delete the amnesia part of the coding in front of him she could've typed it back up right after he'd walk away from her, for example, when he'd be in the tube waiting to get upgraded. So I wouldn't tell Belle she could've done that if I were you. No need to rub it in that she didn't have to wait so long, for someone doing nothing but hiding because he was too afraid to face anyone, because he thought he'd get brought to jail on sight for one. "
He sighed, and Sonic admitted, " Okay you're not the only person who could've ever tried to get Mr. Tinker back, but you should still be happy because you made it happen a lot earlier than it would've, and that's awesome! A lot of good is gonna come out of this, so it's for the best that it was done earlier because it means even more good things got to happen. I wish I could've known for sure that he never would've chosen to go back to being like him, not that I want Eggman back of course. I mean, I got used to fighting him, so it'll, it's always hard to adjust to him not being around, but I'll manage, especially since he's not the only enemy the heroes have. But it will be weird for me. "
Starline replied, " If it makes you feel any better Eggman Nega still exists, I assume at least, and since he exists and there's other dimensions, then it could be possible that plenty of other versions of Dr. Eggman would exist for you to move onto. I don't want to know about any of them! The point is when you're done with all of the remaining robots threatening the world, if you can't stand the boredom anymore and need to fight someone like him to have a thrilling and satisfying life, just tell Tails to start researching other dimensions and make a portal to one. He got you out of the Sol Dimension so why not? "
Sonic said, " I'll still be lucky if Tails can make a portal to other universes. When did he do that? " Starline replied, " I hope he can because we've been hoping he'll be able to make a portal to the Sol Dimension. It'll save Blaze the trouble of humoring Kit every day. " Sonic said, " He'll do his best. I doubt Blaze would be so heartless as to not let Kit visit you anymore just because she's bored of it. "
Starline said, " I hope so. I know this is a stretch, but you could go to the Special Zone and see if exploring it for long enough causes you to run into a version of him. If other dimensions' versions of the Chaos Emeralds go there, including the Sol Emeralds, it could be a place where a lot of different versions of him could be flying to with the Eggmobile or at least sending robots to it, and you could get those robots examined by Tails to find out how to track them down to the source. Then you could visit his dimension to fight him every day and go home to visit your friends and go to bed. "
" Thanks! I'll do that! " Sonic replied with a smile, hoping his advice would work out. He was ashamed of looking forward to finding a replacement Eggman because he knew it'd be selfish when it'd be a terrible thing for people if there was another Eggman out there. But he still couldn't wait to find another Eggman to fight. With his advice it was clear that Eggman not living on his planet wouldn't be an earth-shattering shake-up for his life if he could just go through a few portals daily to nearly go back to the status quo.
Kit asked Starline, " Anyways, there's a few things I've been wondering about lately with you. First of all, how could you upgrade him without putting him in one of those big tubes? That's what you did with me and Surge, so I thought that was for a reason. " He said nervously as Sonic looked annoyed, " They weren't necessary for the upgrade, they were just a precautionary measure to make sure you'd survive the upgrading process not being instant, in case there ever was a risk of it being lethal, because I didn't know if the upgrade would make you heal really fast right away. It turns out it does, the second any one of the nanobot goes into a person. They're tubes full of healing liquid. With Dr. Eggman I knew for a fact that he'd survive injecting it into him because I already made Surge and you and you were a success. "
Then he explained, " Besides everyone hates needles, so it was easier to get you upgraded the other way. Also the syringe can fit a lot less in it than the tubes, and it's already bigger than regular needles. I needed a lot more nanites for you two to upgrade all of your vital organs and eyes. Aside from the heart I didn't do that for him. The one I used on myself was packed as tightly as possible as it was with the bare minimum amount of nanobots that could fix what I needed, so it was the world's biggest needle to fit all of them. " He used the scanner on himself, and said, " I couldn't even fully upgrade ALL of them. I'm just lucky I programmed it to try to upgrade the ones that actually needed fixing first. "
Kit asked nervously, " And there's another thing. At first I didn't think about this because I was so shocked at seeing how hurt you were, so I assumed they were from the fall earlier because I didn't hear about you getting hurt again, but I've had some time to think since then. Why did the scratches and bruises from your fall in that city last until I saw you again? It's been a long time! " That was the question he was dreading the most. He replied without looking, " I got hurt again after that. "
Kit asked, " What happened?! Were you hurting yourself?! " Starline explained, " N-No, no! I just, tumbled down a rocky hill, after I had too much to drink. " Sonic asked, " Why did you pause before explaining that? Is that really it? You told us a lot already with nothing backfiring, so why hesitate now? So that's not why. " Starline explained, " I paused because I had to assume that was what happened when I woke up outside the next morning, but I don't actually remember it happening because of the state I was in. You can't remember what you did after that much wine. It keeps the brain from forming long-term memories in the first place. "
Kit said unhappily, " I hope you stop drinking someday. If you keep doing it that much, your new boss is gonna find out. " Sonic said, " I don't remember seeing any rocky hill around this place. " Remember all of those giant orange boulders towering over the woods on the way here? One of them has this sloped hill leading up to the top on the other side. Eventually I checked the top of it and found proof that I had a sandwich and left some bottles there. I don't remember getting rid of them, so they're still there if you want proof. " Kit said nervously, " That doesn't explain why you went all the way to that place! " while having an idea about why and not wanting to say it.
As Sonic was suspicious too, Starline replied, " I was inebriated. You know being intoxicated gets people to do stupid things they wouldn't normally do. So, sure, I had my lunch on the edge of a cliff. I did something risky just to tempt fate. It's better than calling Dr. Eggman or Surge, so I still thought I was exercising caution. Things got too hard for me to deal with sometimes. I must have gotten too impatient to keep waiting to see Surge or Ivo again. I didn't think I could work up the nerve to ever face them again and Surge wasn't finding me. I didn't know where she was because every time I used a drone to look for her near the Sigma base there were no signs of you. I never wanted you to know about this. I can't believe I told Sonic as much as I did as it is. The point is I'm never going to do that or anything like that again, so it doesn't matter. "
Tails came there through the portal with Orbot and Cubot, and he said, " Thanks for the plan! I brought these two with me so I could find them something to do. Do you think they should go with you? " Just from looking at Orbot, he was reminded of when he confided in Orbot without it backfiring on him and felt like he was his only real friend there. He said, " I'm sure they'd like it but they'll have to try their best to avoid being seen. If the people of Windmill Village were already nervous just at seeing Belle, there's no reason people would be at ease around these two, at least at first. But they do deserve to get to work for Mr. Tinker. They were always nice to me. I'd say you should stay in his house. " Orbot and Cubot replied, " Aw! "
He said to Tails, " Now that I've gotten him to the Sol Dimension, I'm not going to keep living here for very long so it's about time I tell you that you have my permission to take anything in this base that you want. Inventions, blueprints, and everything on that computer, it doesn't matter to me anymore. " Tails looked excited and he continued, " Patent them for all it matters, I'll never be allowed to over here. I'm sure you were always going to find everything here, but it actually feels better to give you permission first. I'd prefer if you'd leave alone the automatic farming machines in the greenhouse and the things growing there, because it's convenient to have access to such a huge variety of cooking ingredients and it saves me a lot of money. " Tails looked intrigued and impressed at what he just mentioned, and agreed, " Okay, I'll keep them there. I can't wait to take a look at all of that! "
Cubot said, " Starline, I'd like to thank you for making my boss nice instead of doing something a lot worse to him. You could've easily made a Metal Sonic of your own and sent it after him with a gun. You didn't need to ally yourself with Sonic at all, but we're glad you did! " Orbot said, " Thank you for the incredible amount mercy you showed our boss. We thought the needle had a sort of Metal Virus or poison, and he's lucky it didn't. I'm very confused that you want to work for him when he's like this. I get making him Mr. Tinker to get back at him because he wouldn't want that, but I'm surprised that you're going the extra mile. You made me think you only started admiring him after he started trying to take over the world, so why do you want to be with him after this? "
Starline said, " He's still the best engineer and programmer I've ever heard of, and now I can actually trust him. He's been my inspiration for 14 years, I can't just turn that off. That's why I still wanted to work for him after he fired me and still cared enough to get him back. " " 14 years? You told me you only started being fascinated by Eggman after his world conquest began. " Orbot said.
He explained, " I wasn't fascinated before that but I still looked up to him. No other celebrity meant as much to me as him because by being so respected, he gave me hope that I'd be happy in the future, because despite looking like someone who would've been bullied growing up, he still ended up with everyone's respect! I was always made fun for my looks too, but I never heard of anyone insulting him for them to his face back then. His popularity was because of how potentially useful and revolutionary his technology was, but I always knew that if engineering was considered something ' effeminate ' for men to excel at, nobody would've liked him regardless of how amazing it was. " " So you looked up to him because he was popular despite being ugly? " Cubot asked.
He said, " I was inspired because an overweight human that people thought of as ugly got popular being good at something considered to be masculine, and unlike with sports it looked like I could actually learn to get good at that skill and enjoy it. It made it look like if I grew up to be an engineer like him I'd be respected too. I always wanted to be a cook but everyone just made thought I was a sissy for it and how I was one of the only guys in home economics class, so I didn't want that to be for the rest of my life. I even knew how to, make clothing, but every guy who ever found out about it laughed! " Starline explained. He looked at Sonic, only to be surprised that instead of finding it funny and teasing him for knowing how to knit, he looked like he felt sorry for him, and he wondered if he had been wrong to compare him to his bullies nearly every time he thought about him just because he insulted his enemies.
He explained, " With no one caring enough to encourage me, when I was feeling the worst, I would daydream about him giving a pep talk. I know how pathetic that sounds now, that the real him would've just thought I was being pathetic and walked away, not been a compassionate optimist. Kit told me I never actually liked the real him because of that. The person I was looking forward to working for had none of the negative traits of Dr. Eggman. The best I could do to get him to be who I hoped he was, was do this to him. "
Cubot said, " So it had nothing to do with his personality. Did you think he was a nice guy? You didn't need him as a role model anymore when you actually became an engineer! " Starline explained, " I wasn't employed for long. By that point I already learned that becoming an engineer didn't make me respected and popular. I was still getting mistreated because I stuck out like a sore thumb around my coworkers, and was harassed into quitting. I didn't want to think all that time I spent getting good at engineering and programming would be a waste of time and there was Eggman doing both of that without still having a job. So I had to believe it proved that I wasn't, uh, without any value because I was jobless. It meant something to me that it didn't to anyone else. "
He explained, " All of the bitterness around that made me need to support and rationalize away how Eggman acted by reminding myself that all the people he bothered would hate me if they knew me, but the same man who motivated me to keep living back in high school nearly got me killed for the same reason. I'm glad I got him to be how he is now because now my real original reason for looking up to is back. " Tails said sadly, " Hate you for WHAT? Does that include us? Sure we would've been confused that you respected Eggman but the stuff you were teased for as a kid wouldn't have bothered me and my friends. " Even Sonic reassured him with his hand on his shoulder, " It's awesome that you can cook and make clothes! They're useful skills to have. "
Starline had a nervous but genuine smile, and for once acted bashful as he looked away from him, saying, " I made Surge's outfit myself. I made every version of my own outfit as well, " and after pausing to see if he'd make an unnecessary mean remark about it being a fashion disaster and just seeing a guilty look from Sonic, he admitted nervously, " I even taught some Egg Pawns to knit by programming it to. " Tails said nervously with a smile, " That's, unique! Why? "
Tails felt bad about finding an Egg Pawn that could knit amusing and silly since it was because of the very gender roles that Starline was made miserable by when he didn't want to think like his bullies did. He was finding it weird and trying to be polite out of pity for someone who knew how it felt to be bullied, and went through it far longer than he did, making him feel survivor guilt for meeting Sonic as early as he did every time he brought it up. Starline said, " By having a few robots who did nothing but make clothes all day, I could get a lot more of it done than I would've on my own. It's how I got such a ridiculous amount of copies of her outfit made in such a short amount of time. I even taught, um… "
Kit asked them, " Can you keep a secret? " They nodded and he admitted for him with a smile, " He taught me how to knit too! I got good at it in my spare time. I can't make the hard clothing articles like sweaters yet but the simple stuff like scarves, sure. Please don't tell anybody. He told me to keep it a secret from everyone at school to make sure I wouldn't get bullied for it. " Tails asked Starline, " How many copies of Surge's outfit did you have made anyways? "
Starline said, " Too many for me to know the answer. I think, over 400, considering how many training courses she went through before I felt like it was safe to say they weren't necessary anymore, after she aced them ten times in a row a couple of times with some failures in between, b-because obviously her outfits got damaged by them a lot, so I needed a lot of them. " Sonic and Tails tried not to glare at him for mentioning the training courses even though just the thought of them irritated and disturbed them. Their irritation with him went down with how awkward and full of shame he started to be at the word failures, and they couldn't help but feel bad for him with how obvious it was that he was afraid of them going back to hating him and wanting to arrest him by the end of his explanation. Sonic said, " It's okay, relax. At least now that training's keeping her alive. She's been fighting badniks as a hobby lately. "
" I hope she's still catching up with her school work, not doing that instead, " Starline found himself saying. It came out easily because he was insulting her recklessness as usual, but Sonic's smile with his eyes half-closed made it embarrassingly clear to him that he sounded like a concerned father, and if it didn't, Cubot saying, " Aw! " would've. Kit said, " I wouldn't know if she is, we've been very busy because of school, " and Orbot commented to Cubot, " You shouldn't be surprised that he cares about Surge. Remember when he told us he was going to send them back to their families? "
Everyone looked at them alert and wide-eyed, with Starline only looking that way because he still instinctively was afraid of being seen as going soft and exposed for how attached he got to them. Cubot said as Starline felt embarrassed, " Yeah! When he took over that city I asked him what he was gonna do with Surge and Kit when they were done there and he said that since he didn't want them bored all day with nothing to do and he didn't want to waste their talents on stuff a robot could do, he'd send them home. He said, ' The second I don't need them anymore I'll tell them how to get their old lives back. Then they'll have school to keep them occupied. ' He was gonna tell them where his amnesia-curing machine was and that a missing persons database had their photos, and that they could look it up with just one search on someone's browser. "
Sonic asked, " Is that true? " with an impressed tone, knowing Cubot wouldn't have a reason to lie about that. They could tell by his blushing and refusal to look at them that there was truth to it, so he admitted with a sigh, " Yes. I didn't anticipate that they'd tell anyone. But I never did tell them to keep it a secret. " Kit asked while feeling bad for Surge, " Why didn't you tell us all of that right after you turned on the beacon? "
Starline admitted nervously, " I thought you'd never come back to me if I told you all of that. You'd leave the base to go see your parents again the second I'd tell you how easy it was. I didn't trust you to come back after that of your own free will, and I had no idea where you lived. " Kit said, " Surge was still brainwashed, so she wasn't going to choose getting her memories back over facing off with Sonic as soon as possible. Even if she did because she had hours after the beacon before he got there, it only would've taken her a couple of minutes to run to the amnesia-curing machine, run to a computer where she could look herself up and go back. We couldn't have seen our mothers again because it was the middle of the night. And I was so loyal to her that I would've stuck with her anyways. "
Starline admitted, " I knew that was probably true, but I couldn't believe it because it seemed too good to be true that you'd still help me. I don't trust easily. I have trust issues, alright? Between being bullied and having the opposite of supportive caring parents. But I've complained enough in front of you today. I can't believe I opened up to you as much as I did. I just thought I had to explain myself. " They heard a familiar noise outside, there was a knock on the door, and Blaze opened it.