I would like to thank
Ryuus2, Lord Kelvin,Echo Uchiha, and B as in Boy for reviewing this story
Ryuus2 for adding this story to their Story Alert List
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The robotic Cream stood in front of her former home, what was now a power plant. She had run into a problem that Robotnik had not really planned for in all of his complex schemes; strategies that he had come up with to make sure that Cream would be relatively capable of being left alone to carry out her research on Chao and Chaos Energy. That being said, she had no idea what exactly animals were. He had been so thorough in wiping and uploading her memory banks with things related only to Cheese, Chao, and Chaos Energy that he had deleted everything else. Other than knowing that she was a Robian, and her core duties as a minion of Robotnik she knew nothing else.
Normally, when roboticized- a process that was originally meant to save lives and not to become the means for mass enslavement that Robotnik had transformed the roboticizer into- those that were subjected to roboticization did not really lose their memories. Such thoughts were only suppressed and buried under the programming that made them loyal to him. Despite being a guy with three hundred IQ, what Robotnik did not know was that, while any personal memories of the Robians were suppressed, their general memories about the world remained intact. They could still identify things that were outside the realm of their duty as Robians, like animals. Yet Cream was different, as she had absolutely no knowledge of anything unrelated to her purpose as a researching Robian. Though she lacked nearly all of her personal and general memories, there was something else that she had.
To perform proper research, it was required for a Robian to have a strong sense of curiosity, and a desire to know how things work. In this aspect, Cream had part of her Mobian self restored because she was curious about things once again. However, to keep that curiosity from leaking out, and possibly causing Robians to become self-aware over time, their focus was completely directed toward one thing that was the focal point of their existence as research Robians. For Cream, this was, of course, Chao and Chaos Energy. Because she was not being kept in the lab back at Robotropolis, and her work was not being brought to her, the flaws in this design were starting to show. Having a laser-like focus on one thing alone normally left Robians unable to do anything other than one simple task.
Cream, however, was not a normal Robian. When she came across this complication, her CPU actually managed to solve the problem that would have caused any other researcher Robian's CPU to crash. Unit 3185113 concluded that these 'animals' she was suppose to find must be a different type of Robian; perhaps they were faulty ones that needed to be repaired. Robotnik would normally have been alerted to the fact that Cream had managed to do something slightly outside the box; however, he had programmed her so that she would only give her reports at predetermined times regarding only the most important subjects. Thus, this was an anomaly that he remained unaware of because it was not within the range of things that she was supposed to tell him.
Ordering Cheese to look after the place while she was gone, Cream then walked off into the forest, her audio sensors detecting various sounds that she decided must belong to the 'animals' that she was suppose to make her workers.
Mecha Cream did not have to wander far before the unique aura that her mechanical body gave off caused some of her former woodland friends to come out of hiding. They moved closer to her, feeling unafraid just like the Chao for that feeling of danger that almost everyone associates with Robians was not around her. Of course, no Mobians, Overlanders, or even the more intelligent animals would have fallen for this. Despite the peaceful and harmless feeling that her robotic body gave off, anyone capable of conscious thought would not be so easily fooled and would see her for what she really was before it was too late. However, her former woodland friends did not realize that she was no longer the cheerful Mobian rabbit that had often played with them before, but a curious Robian that had no idea what they were beyond the possible designation of "faulty Robians."
The first creature to approach her was, strangely enough, a wild rabbit that wondered why Cream was acting so strange. Upon getting close enough, it was picked up and examined thoroughly by the Robian, whose touch was not gentle. The rabbit naturally started struggling in an attempt to escape the crushing pressure. Unfortunately, the more it struggled, the tighter Cream's grip became. Finally, there was a quiet snap, the sound of bones breaking, and the hapless animal's body went limp. Cream had, unknowingly, killed one of her former friends by crushing its rib cage. Of course, she was completely unaware of this, thinking only that she had somehow deactivated the rabbit and that there might be a switch to reactivate it.
Then Cream's ears picked up a sound coming from overhead, an unknown noise that grew louder by the second. Her defensive programming took effect immediately. Seeing that she could not find the on-switch to this strange Robian, she instead chucked it in the direction of the noise. There was a startled squawk just moments before the projectile hit. Striking the hawk dead in the face, the heavy collision caused it to crash to the ground nearby, slain on impact, where she then poked at it with one metallic finger, wondering where this creature's on-switch was because she had somehow managed to deactivate it as well.
By now, all of the animals were well aware that something was seriously wrong with Cream, as she had just killed two creatures and was now looking at the rest of them like they were next. The peaceful aura no longer fooled her former friends, who had simply become targets of her examination of what she dubbed "faulty Robians." Scattering in a panic, every remaining wild creature fled, from the smallest wood mouse to the tall but shy deer, all of them sought to escape their friend who had somehow become a dangerous enemy.
Such actions were pointless. Though a simple Robian child, Unit 3185113 possessed far greater strength than she had as a Mobian, and she did all in her power to halt the faulty Robians that she sought to study further. Her powerful leaps brought her even with the fastest deer, and she tackled one, bringing it down hard. She failed to hear the crunch of broken ribs and a snapped spine, immediately jumping to her feet in order to overtake the rest of the animals. She performed similar feats on the other creatures, simple blows that would hardly have stopped a fellow Robian in its tracks, yet these were easily powerful enough to kill her old friends, whose bodies were unable to sustain such damage. Finally, Cream wound up surrounded by nothing but dead animals.
She then went about examining what she considered to be faulty Robians by dismantling several of them, trying to figure out what made them tick. These were supposed to be her workers, yet she soon discovered that they were way too weak and fragile for her needs. Still rather curious about these strange Robians, she continued her inspection, but she was not alone for long. The smell from her work had attracted the attention of some hunters.
Covered in the results of her dismantling of the faulty Robians, she unintentionally scared most of the silent observers away. They did not want to mess with the one that was able to take down that many creatures on its own. However, this did not keep one of the predators away, for he went unchallenged within this forest, as he had no natural enemy to fear or compete with.
A rather large, wild bear roamed the forest which was basically his own, for this was his domain, and here he was the king. This was his territory, and when he noticed some of the lesser creatures running away from a catch, he considered it a threat to his reign in this area. Other than him, there was not supposed to be anything that should cause the weaker animals to run like that. The forest king thought that a rival bear had possibly moved into the area, for nothing else would dare try to barge into his domain.
Fearlessly, the dominant bear traveled to the site in question, planning to teach this foolish intruder a lesson in fear and respect. Yet, rather than finding what he thought was a worthy foe, there was only the small Mobian rabbit that had often run away at the mere sound of his roar or even the slightest sign of him. He gnashed his teeth and snarled warningly, yet dismissively, still searching for his rival. Much to his surprise, the rabbit didn't so much as flinch. She just stood there looking up at him, unafraid even when he next reared up to his full height to try and scare her. When this met with no success, he even roared directly into Cream's face. So close was he that she looked dead into the bear's mouth, and she could see everything. That was when her curious nature caused her to actually stick her head inside his mouth, beginning to look around. The mighty monarch was at first dumbfounded and then, consumed with rage, he snapped his mouth shut on her head, trying to bite it off, yet his teeth were not strong enough to even leave a dent on her metal neck or head.
Grabbing the sides of the bear's muzzle, Unit 3185113 pried it open to allow her to remove her head from inside his mouth. The infuriated king struck at the rabbit Robian with an immense club-sized paw, only to have her stop it with her hand, then flip him over onto his back, knocking him out cold when his head struck the ground rather hard. Cream then began dragging him back to her power plant by a back leg. Unlike the other animals that she had examined before, it seemed that this bear was not as weak.
She stopped in the clearing with the rest of the deactivated Robians, then briefly compared her latest acquisition with the others. As she had determined before, these first Robians were far too small and flimsy to be of much use in the power plant. Some of them were so battered from her attempts to stop their escape that even Cream could see that several of their parts must be broken. However, this new Robian was strong and durable, and it would serve well in the power plant. Unlike the other 'animals,' it really had not been deactivated by her actions. She noticed the bear's chest was still movement up and down. Not realizing this what breathing was like she considered a problem that she fix now that got a 'faulty' Robians that was not in such state disrepair they break at the slight touch. Satisfied with this knowledge, she continued to drag the unconscious bear all the way back to her former home.
Upon her return, she relieved Cheese in his duty of watching over the place while she'd been gone. The bear was tossed into Cream's roboticizer, and soon she had her first worker for the power plant, as he was no longer in charge of the forest, but just the first of many that Cream would get to work for her.