Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, or any of its associated characters and lore.
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The Handheld Assistant
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Chapter One
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Rotor's Lab, Knothole Village, The Great Forest, Northamer, Planet Mobius, 3235 P.X.E.
With their guerrilla activities against the tyrannical Doctor Ivo Robotnik at a stalemate, the Knothole Freedom Fighters had been taking a break until, in the middle of the night, an orb fell in the surrounding area which immediately got the attention of Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends. The curious object appeared to have been through atmospheric entry, but as Princess Sally Acorn had proven, it was literally cool to the touch.
While Antoine D'Coolette and Bunnie Rabbot kept an eye on Knothole's perimeter to ensure they would not get any unwelcome visitors of the Robotnik kind, Sonic, Sally, and their more technical-minded friends, Rotor Walrus and Miles "Tails" Prower, studied the orb. So far, it did not seem to be a trap made by the bad doctor, but it was too early to conclude that judgement as not even a blowtorch could get past the orb's surface, which led Rotor to theorize that the four were actually looking at a force field that concealed the real mystery item.
At the same time Rotor made his hypothesis, Rosie Woodchuck, the respected nanny of Knothole's children, former and present alike, came in to inform Sally that her childhood teacher, Julayla Chipmunk, was passing away and wanted to say farewell to the latter in person. Sonic and Tails both felt their hearts go out for Sally and the wizened Julayla, but ultimately respected Rosie's advice for Sally to go through the situation on her own then, even though the two and Rotor were quick to give comfort to the grateful Rosie herself over the approaching death of her cousin.
Once Rosie made her way out of Rotor's subterranean lab, the three Freedom Fighters returned to observing their latest discovery, wondering how to get the force field down, until Tails, a brown and cream furred Mobian fox wearing only gloves and shoes that had his lifelong nickname due to being born with two tails, suddenly had an idea.
"Open sesame," he exclaimed straight at the orb on the wooden table, which had no effect on the orb itself and initially surprised his two older friends before they tried suppressing their chuckles and ultimately failed. In response to their laughter, the youthful fox showed a bashful smile as he explained, "Well, it looked in a book Aunt Sally read to me once."
The first to calm down, Sonic, a blue hedgehog with the same style of attire, or lack thereof, that Tails had commented with, "It's probably not that easy, little bro, but man that was funny!"
Rotor, violet-furred and wearing a yellow baseball cap as well as a green bandolier that was used to carry tools while also matching his eye color, then said with a thoughtful look in his eyes, "Tails might actually be on to something, Sonic." Clearing his throat, he leaned to the orb and said, as if giving an order, "Force field off." Seeing that there was still no change, the walrus made a shrug with an equally nonchalant grin, saying, "Then again, that's assuming there's anything intelligent in that dang thing."
Tails giggled to himself while Sonic shook his head in amusement, then the hedgehog replied to Rotor's sentence, "Or you need to be charming in your words and mood." Gesturing for the walrus to scoot back as he himself made his way to face the orb, Sonic then put on his most smooth facial expression with the tone of voice to match as he began to say, "Hello there. My name is Sonic the Hedgehog. Can you please show me and my friends what you look like without the force field?"
As with the other cases, Sonic's attempt did not result in any immediate changes, spurring him to joke aloud, "Never let it be said that we can't still grin in even our most grim times!"
The trio's moment of merriment was quickly interrupted, however, when the "orb" shined bright enough to the point Sonic, Tails, and Rotor thought they were being blinded until the force field finally subsided to reveal a small handheld-like device that beeped with an automized, feminine voice, saying, "Hello, Sonic. My name is Nicole. I would be your friend, but that is a choice only you can make."
A brief silence occurred before Sonic let out an awed whistle. "I totally wasn't expecting this," he admitted to his just as surprised friends.
Rotor took a hard look at the handheld for a long moment until saying with curiosity in his tone, "You're not somewhere else talking to us through this computer, right?"
"Negative, Rotor," Nicole answered and added, "For lack of a better term, I am the computer you see before you."
"An artificial intelligence would make sense," Tails commented with a shrug before his eyes widened. "Wait, do your know our names because you listened to us from within the force field, or is all that knowledge preprogrammed into you?"
Both Sonic and Rotor shared Tails's uncertainty at the spoken question, but Nicole suddenly fuzzed in response. "I," the handheld computer began, but stopped short before ultimately saying, "I am not sure, Tails. I just know regardless."
Sonic looked even more unsure at the answer as his words indicated. "You mean you don't know your own origin?"
Prompted by the lack of assurances then, Rotor took out an analyzing gadget of his and scanned Nicole for a brief moment. Humming in thought, he then said, "Your technological makeup seems to be of standard Mobius design, so you're not either an alien or Robotnik creation as far as I can tell."
"I had to deal with an evil version of myself from another universe," Sonic commented to himself with a memorable look on his face before adding to Nicole, "but I don't see why anyone from a different dimension would send literal tech support to us."
"Maybe Nicole's from the future," Tails suggested with a raised hand.
Sonic and Rotor considered it for a moment until the former shrugged uncertainly and the latter remarked, "Maybe, Tails, but that almost sounds too good to be true."
"Yeah," Sonic agreed with the walrus, then half-humorously added, "the future is always in motion, buddy!"
The three boys shared a good laugh until they heard Nicole fuzzing again, spurring Sonic to gesture reassuringly and say, "Still, my main computer, you'll welcome to stay with us." Turning to his friends, he then said, "No need to give her the cold shoulder, right, guys?"
Tails nodded excitably. "I like making new friends, Sonic."
"Me, too," said Rotor before he showed a sly, yet good-natured, glance at Sonic. "Still, it's kinda nice and interesting to see you be welcoming to Nicole already, Sonic."
Sonic merely shrugged in a good way as he said back, "What can I say? She sounds hot. Though that's not saying much, since the only robots Robuttnik makes are dudes!"
Sonic chuckled to himself while his friends groaned in a dry manner.
"Just couldn't resist," Rotor commented with a shaking head.
Tails himself was just as unamused. "Somehow, Sonic, I doubt Robotnik doesn't know how to make girl robots, if he hasn't already." He then adopted a thoughtful expression as he said, "Huh, why do I get the feeling I'll deal with a girl robot myself in the future?"
Sonic was about to say something when Nicole interjected with apparent confusion. "What do you mean I sound 'hot' to you, Sonic? I am not overheating."
Sonic and his two friends shared a laugh at that, and then the former explained, "What I meant, babe, is that I like the way you sound."
"Isn't odd to you that you're fascinated with a noncorporal voice," Nicole asked questionably, eliciting an awkward silence. Eventually, the computer emitted a beam of light that revealed the hologram of a female Mobian lynx around Sonic's height with brown and black fur, green eyes, black hair adorned with purple and orange beads, and wearing a purple toga over her body. With a solemn expression, the holographic lynx stated in Nicole's voice, "Would this appearance not be more to your liking?"
While Tails and Rotor looked on in interest, Sonic let out another whistle and showed a well-meaning smile to the holo-lynx as he replied, "Well, one way or another, Nicole, I think you are great inside and out."
In response to Sonic's complimentary words, Nicole initially showed a look of confusion before a small smile of her own was formed on her virtual face.
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Sally's Sanctum, Some Nights Later
Having left the boys to look over the mystery orb on their own, Sally Acorn, a Mobian chipmunk with light brown fur, blue eyes, and auburn hair, who was also the castaway princess of her father's kingdom, immediately paid her final respects to her childhood mentor, Julayla, just as she breathed her last breath. Following the elderly chipmunk's death, Sally took some time off for her to grieve until she finally met the supercomputer that the "orb" concealed named Nicole, or Nicole the Holo-Lynx as Sonic and Tails had come to refer to the A.I.'s hologram avatar.
While Sally felt a sense of uncertainty about Nicole's mysterious origins and "coincidental" insertion in their lives, the humble princess nonetheless welcomed the latter's understanding personality, intelligence, and encouragement for her to make her own decisions just as Julayla did. And it was good that her other friends were quick to accept the holo-lynx as well.
The next morning, the Freedom Fighters, accompanied by Nicole for the first time, then braved the Forbidden Zone per Julayla's last request. With a good degree of wisdom and clever thinking, the team of seven were able to return to Knothole with an aged scroll in Julayla's handwriting that admittedly, left more questions than answers for Sally.
"To thine own self be true," Sally repeated the scroll's words for the umpteenth time as she laid on the lone bed in her personal home in the village, which Sonic jokingly termed as Sally's sanctum once and ultimately stuck since then. Having posthumously been given an azure vest from Julaya, which matched with the pair of boots that she had used as her only form of attire for a long time, Sally had been kept from going to sleep for a long while due to the sentence's meaning eluding her.
The princess kept thinking the sentence over until a somewhat amused voice advised, "If I may, Sally, obsessive-compulsive behavior is not exactly a healthy mentality." Turning to the source of the voice, Sally saw the holographic lynx that Nicole used to represent herself staring at her with a small smile that showed some concern for Sally's sudden fixation. Due to Nicole's "body" being immobile, it was decided that every now and then, she would be handed over to each of the Freedom Fighters to assist them with whatever tasks whether in Knothole or on missions, and it was Sally's turn then to keep her company.
With a defeated groan, Sally replied, "I know, Nicole, but the medieval way it was written has thrown me in a loop! Do you know what it means?"
Nicole's small smile widened in response. "For the truth to be told, I was waiting for you to ask me about that from the start."
"Seriously," Sally questioned in disbelief and even facepalmed in exasperation at the news. Finally, she then sat upright and asked, "All right, Nicole, what do you know about it?"
Placing her avatar on the bed to sit right next to Sally, Nicole then answered with a sincere smile, "The direct translation of that sentence is 'be true to yourself,' Sally. Please don't forget that anytime soon."
Absorbing the answer and the news that the formal holo-lynx used a contraction in full, Sally returned the smile and placed a comforting hand on Nicole's, even if it passed through them both. "I won't. Thank you very much, Nicole. I'm sure wherever Julayla is, she's smiling down at our growing friendship."
The holo-lynx in question accepted the gratitude with a nod. Following that, though, Nicole showed a thoughtful expression as made her own question to the princess. "Sally, do I look and sound," Nicole looked unsure of her own words before adding, " 'hot' to you?"
"What," Sally exclaimed from sheer shock at the query, having not expected that curious thought at all. Having no desire to turn her friend away, though, she tried to say, "Uh, well, I honestly think your voice and hologram are elegant, but, Nicole," her words then fell through when a sudden suspicion came into her mind. "Wait, did you get this topic from Sonic?"
"Yes," the holo-lynx replied truthfully, even though her expression looked curious still, but for a different reason at that moment.
Exhaling with a palm over face, the princess commented to herself, "Of course. I should've seen that coming."
In hindsight, the youngest of the House of Acorn could not bring herself to blame Sonic for admiring Nicole in that regard, but it would certainly take some time to get used to, especially when Nicole's true origins were something that they all had to discover for themselves in the days to come.
'On the bright side,' Sally internally said to herself, 'Nicole will be of great help.'
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If it was not already clear, this Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction story takes place in the Archie Comic Pre-Super Genesis Wave continuity and is meant to place emphasis on the artificially intelligent character, Nicole the Holo-Lynx, and how she interacts with the other characters in the setting, especially Sonic himself, with the impactful changes to match. I have similar stories in The Acceptance of Being a Rabbot, An Atomizing Appearance, and Fresh Bounty Hunters at present, and I plan to make more for other Sonic comic characters made/depicted by Archie, Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, and IDW in due time.
I got Sonic's comment about Nicole's voice and how it impacted a later question of hers to Sally Acorn from Ud the Imp on SpaceBattles. They had insightful advice I very much appreciated. The first chapter of this story is more humor-based without any action, but I will get to the action in the next chapter when it comes out hopefully.
To be fair, Nicole's introduction in the Archie Sonic comics was not exactly memorable for lack of a better word, and her origin as shown in the Sonic In Your Face special is something I definitely want to change by the time any of my long-term Archie Sonic stories reach the hypothetical "Super Genesis Wave is prevented" portion. And that is without acknowledging that the "holo-lynx" part was made a decade after In Your Face was published.
I have some ideas all the same for to continue this and keep it interesting, though.
