Well, here's another chapter!
The speed was nauseating. I was fighting to keep my breakfast down. The forest passed by as a green and brown blur. I couldn't take much more.
"Stop… Stop…" Sonic barely heard me and decelerated to a halt. I had thrown up a bit, but contained it. It tasted like… rabbit? I swallowed, wanting not to worry Sonic even more.
"What is it?"
"I don't need… I don't need a doctor… I just need to rest at home…" I once again began to recover from the nausea. It had only been a few minutes, but this body had become a harsh experience several times over.
"I just need to go home," I repeated.
"A-are you sure? You were sha-"
"I'm sure!" Sonic seemed surprised by the interruption.
"Alright, then," he answered. "If you can follow me home and keep up, I'll believe you. If you fall behind, I'm taking you to a doctor"
Sonic set off at a slow pace (for him, at least). I was surprised to find myself keeping up easily. He sped up, and I was even more surprised that I could still keep up! When he sped up again, however, I found myself struggling. It was then that I remembered something… Whenever I caught sight of Tails running with Sonic, he would spin his tails as if he were flying… The least I could do was try. I tried spinning my tails. To my delight, they began to twirl around and over each other rapidly!
Muscle memory! Yes!
It was as if a large weight was lifted from my legs - I inadvertently passed Sonic! I was doing something that I had never imagined possible: I was outrunning Sonic the hedgehog! It didn't last long, of course. He soon passed me, but I didn't want it to end. I spun my tails and pushed my legs even harder. I passed the hedgehog once more.
After a few moments, Sonic began to run directly in front of me.
"Wanna break the sound barrier?" His voice came out loud and high pitched. The Doppler Effect.
"Yeah!" Sonic would hear my answer quieter and lower pitched. Also the Doppler Effect.
"Alright, let's go!" I spun my tails even faster and pumped my legs even harder. For the first few seconds, Sonic was moving away from me - I wasn't fast enough! I almost wanted to stop, but something inside of me refused. Deep down, I wanted to break the sound barrier, even if it were only to match Sonic in his own namesake speed - even if only to spite him. I pushed myself harder. Harder. My legs began to hurt. Harder. My tails felt as if they'd been set on fire. I set my mind on autopilot and focused my entire being into going faster. At that point, I didn't imagine that pushing myself any harder was possible. I was in a trance. It blurred out all the pain and reality - all I knew to do was run. Nothing else existed - just run.
There was a sharp pain on my… my snout? I didn't use my snout for running! I broke from my speed-trance and opened my eyes (which probably shouldn't have been closed in the first place). A large, blue quill was pressing into my snout. Then came the sweet feeling of victory - I had broken the sound barrier. I could decelerate.
x-x-x
Hacking Eggman's lock system was no problem at all - it was over in ten minutes. I was free to leave. I didn't leave, however. Instead, I tried exercising.
I spent an hour in Eggman's 'gym.' There was a treadmill and… that was it. I exercised for an hour, but couldn't go any faster than ten kilometers... Prower... As I jogged, I let my mind wander. There were so many things I wanted to build using Eggman's resources; there were so many things that I could do to help people now… I saved these thoughts for later.
Immediately after finishing my exercising, I began reprogramming the service robots. I used one of Eggman's computers to open the service robot coding. There was a tab labeled "Commands," which I clicked. I was expecting hundreds of lines of code, but it was quite simple:
listvar input == getInput(input1);
listvar exe == getRecognizedExe(input);
if (ElementList(input) =/= 0){{
execute exe;
}
else
execute notRecognized(a).mp3;
}
I let out a snicker that would have sounded rather cute in my body. In Eggman's voice, however, all that was produced was a terrible, ungodly sound. I shivered and created a new sound file. I opened a music making/sound file editing software: EggWare Sound. I had never used it before, of course, but I caught on quickly. I turned on the recorder.
"What's the magic word," I asked teasingly.
In a matter of minutes, I had turned the recording into a robotic voice. I played it.
"What's the magic word," asked a robotic voice in a teasing tone.
"Perfect!" And perfect it was. I repeated the process with the word "please." I saved the files and returned to the code. I added "please" to the list of recognized words and inserted several lines below the first two. The new code brought a smile to my face:
listvar input == getInput(input1);
listvar exe == getRecognizedExe(input);
if (ElementList(input) =/= please){{
execute whatsthemagicword(0).mp3;
}
else
if (ElementList(input) =/= 0){{
execute exe;
}
else
execute notRecognized(a).mp3;
}
}
Oh, boy! I could only imagine what Eggman's reaction would be when we switched back! I had never heard Eggman sincerely say please before. I tried to snicker again, but got the same sickening result. I sighed and saved the code.
x-x-x
My aching muscles came to a halt at what I presumed to be Sonic's house. With both hands, I reached back to where my tails met my bottom. It was sore to the touch, but a bit of rubbing fixed that. Sonic entered the house, and I followed.
"You still got those left over chili dogs?" Sonic gave me a hungry look. "I'm starvin'!"
Do I? How am I supposed to know? Is this not Sonic's house? I dismissed the thought. Sonic knew what was going on, so I went with whatever he said.
"Let me check," I responded, checking the refrigerator. Sure enough, there were two chili dogs wrapped in clear wrap sitting in the fridge.
"I sure do," I called to Sonic. I microwaved them for a minute and delivered them to my enemy. I suppressed a groan of disgust - I never imagined that I'd be serving chili dogs to Sonic.
"Thanks, bro!" Sonic gestured for me to take the other one. "After you're done, you need to get some rest, like you said… Hmm… Your house has been pretty messy lately, huh?"
So this is Tails's house! But… how can a... How old is he? Whatever, I just know he's too young to be a homeowner...
"Eh, yeah… I've been really busy lately…"
"Yeah, I can tell…"
So! Comments, thoughts, criticisms? Please do say anything you need in a review - they're very appreciated!
On to chapter 4!