In this episode: more mental torture for Eggman :)
Only once during the return trip did Cream say something.
"Can you do a barrel roll?" Tails told me to say yes. After I answered Cream, he instructed me on how to do a barrel roll. Upon doing what he said, the plane began to rotate sideways. I would've lost my lunch in my own body, but Tails's body was very used to these maneuvers. Cream, of course, was laughing by the time I finished spinning. Soon enough, we arrived at Cream's house. Once more, with a painful reminder from Tails, I helped Cream out of the plane.
"Thank you for the ride," Cream said as she hugged me.
"Well, hug her back and say 'no problem'!" I once again did as Tails instructed.
"Bye, Tails!"
"Bye, Cream!"
It was over. Cream was safe in her house and I could finally take a break!
"Gee, did your mother teach you nothing about tactfulness?"
"My mother taught me how to conquer a fortified city. What else are mothers supposed to teach their children?"
"I'm not sure - I don't know my mother."
x-x-x
I wouldn't have to guide Eggman for another few hours. He returned to my home and began to relieve his stress in my workshop. I told him when the party was to start before he switched off the earpiece. In the meantime, I searched his database to figure out how he had switched bodies with me. I used keywords like 'swap', 'body', and 'mind'. None brought any useful results. On my fourth attempt, I used 'switch'.
"Bingo! There's something worth investigating!" In this search result was a file named 'SWITCH (9).EGG'. I right clicked the file and clicked 'open with'. A list of compatible softwares appeared. To my delight, there was only one software on the list: Blueprint EggWare. I opened it, and the schematics of a complicated machine appeared on the screen. It was exactly like the broken machine that I found in Eggman's bed the first day. Eggman had the device destroy itself so that it couldn't be used to prematurely end whatever he was planning to do in Knuckles's body. "Too bad for him it was me he put in his body… This is just too easy…"
I edited the file a bit. I first got rid of the self destructive mechanism. I then added two pods for reasons of my own.
There was a row of tabs at the top of the screen: 'file', 'edit', 'view', and 'tools'. If I wanted to construct the machine, my best guess was to click 'file'. I immediately spotted an option labelled 'construct'. I clicked it.
Where would you like to export to?
Construction Crew 1 - stand by
Construction Crew 2 - ready
Construction Crew 3 - ready
I selected the second option. When the file was finished exporting, I heard a loud rumbling noise from somewhere in the base. I followed the sound, knowing that it was the construction of the machine. When I found the construction room, the machine was almost finished! I had to admit - Eggman was efficient.
When the device was finished being built, it was transferred to another room, so I followed it. The room was labeled 'product room'.
"Such a creative name," I muttered. There were several transfer robots in the room. "Take this to the workshop, please."
"Location not recognized."
"Take this to the spare room, please."
"Location not recognized."
"Uh… Take this and follow me, please."
"Yes, sir," the robots chanted in unison. I led the robots to the workshop. Once we were there, I decided on a spot to set the machine.
"Right here."
"What's the magic word?"
"I thought I programmed you not to say that for subsequent commands…"
x-x-x
Tails, of course, had a gift for Cream. It was a small box wrapped in cream colored paper. I retrieved it before leaving for the party. The ride to Cream's house was fifteen minutes. Tails spent the entire time lecturing me on how birthday parties worked. All I really payed attention to was the fact that there'd be food.
"What kind of food?" I was getting pretty hungry.
"Cake. Now listen - wait until everyone's gotten a slice before getting any. If you want seconds, wait until everyone's finished before you get more."
"If everyone did that, no one would get any cake…"
"Well, I just wanna make sure everyone gets cake."
"What if I don't get any cake?"
"Deal with it. It's just cake… It's happened plenty of times."
There were several minutes of silence. There was still one question on my mind, though.
"Why are you the most mature out of all your friends? You're eight - they're double your age!"
"… I just have immature friends…"
x
I arrived at Cream's house. Sonic was the only one there at the moment. Soon enough, though, familiar faces began to show up. There must have been about twenty by the time the party began. The party was pretty simple: a nice, little gathering of everyone I hate. There were two hours of excruciating socializing, a song that Tails had to teach me in ten seconds, cake - which I got some of, thankfully - and presents. I didn't see - nor care - what everyone else got Cream, but I saw what Tails had gotten for her. She tore the cream colored wrapping off to reveal a small, orange box with the letters PT and a twin-tail logo on it. Inside the box, there was a cream colored communicator that looked just like the one Sonic and I wore.
I quoted Tails as he spoke into my ear: "You said that you wanted to come on more adventures with us, so I made you this communicator. Now you can contact any of us anytime you want, and… we'll tell you whenever we're about to do something fun!"
"Thank you, Tails - this is great!"
x
The party ended soon after presents, thankfully. I started up the Tornado 3 and left.
"Now, was that so hard?" Tails was teasing me again, so it was only fair that I traded back.
"Yes… So, you can call your girlfriend now, huh?" Tails only sighed. He ended the communication and I was silent the rest of the way home.
I thought it'd be fitting to have a rabbit tell a fox to do a barrel roll… Also, PT stands for Prower Technologies. Yes, Tails owns a business here.
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