Ch. 9 Journey Journal
Monday:
CYBER: (See chapter 7)
Metal Sonic: (See chapter 8)
Sonic: Watches a lot of TV and does 935 laps around the outside of the house. Knuckles returns to Angel Island, wishing Sonic good luck.
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Tuesday:
CYBER: Patrol on deck 3, she does more study that night and learns the names of most of Sonic's friends. She also learns that Sonic lives just outside of a nearby city. This makes CYBER inexplicably happy.
Metal Sonic: Tries to overheat his engine to melt some of his internal machinery so that he has to be repaired immediately, much like a child putting their thermometer under a lightbulb to get out of school. Unfortunately for Metal Sonic, a forced shutdown and reboot are initiated before any damage is done.
Sonic: Goes to the city that day, stopping petty crimes. He only eats about half of his normal number of chili dogs for dinner. Tails is starting to worry about Sonic's health.
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Wednesday:
CYBER: Patrol on deck 5. Scuff admits to CYBER that she is his best friend, and this fills CYBER with pride. Scuff has training against Sinister. Sinister isn't as aggressive as Dextral was, but he still wrecks Scuff pretty badly. When Dextral insults Scuff, CYBER starts yelling at Dextral. They get into a yelling match as Scuff is in the repair machine. When Scuff pulls himself from the machine after repairs, he grabs CYBER's arm. "CYBER, please, let it go," Scuff says nervously, trying to de-escalate the situation. "But he's a jerk! He has no right to boss us around, he's never done anything for anyone but himself!" CYBER keeps yelling. Dextral is about to jump back in to yell some more, but Sinister puts his hand on Dextral's shoulder and mutters something about them "Not being worth it". The argument calms down shortly, and then it's time for recharge. CYBER finds Sonic's social media account and looks at his posts. She'd like to comment, but she doesn't have an account.
Metal Sonic: Metal Sonic gives everyone the silent treatment, even completely ignoring all of Mecha Sonic's words on their patrol. He spends most of his time sulking in the corner, the fact that Mecha Knuckles has a staring problem does nothing to help Metal Sonic's agitation. That night's training was Mecha Knuckles vs Silver Sonic. Silver Sonic wins the bout. Metal Sonic scowls at Mecha Knuckles as Mecha Knuckles gets repaired. Metal Sonic accesses the security recordings, and watches what the other security team did earlier that day. He wonders if the robot like him on the other security team feels as lonely as he does.
Sonic: Tails takes Sonic to the arcade, hoping to help him relax. But Sonic has already mastered all of the games, played every single one a million times, and he's so fast that no one could hope to compete with his reaction time. Tails offers to race him, but Sonic declines because he knows he will win. Sonic goes to bed early, without dinner.
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Thursday:
CYBER: Patrol on deck 2. CYBER and Dextral keep scowling at each other from across the security room. At one point, Sinister approaches Scuff and starts talking to him in an angry, hushed tone. "You two need to stop…" Sinister scolds Scuff. CYBER walks over, stepping between the two. "Don't talk to him, you don't get to talk to him" CYBER says in a hushed, threatening tone. Sinister narrows his eyes, and slowly turns to walk away "You two better watch yourselves". Scuff turns back toward CYBER. "Thank you for defending me…" Scuff says with a sigh. "You're welcome," CYBER says with a growing smile. "Hey Scuff, since I'm helping you... Can you do something for me?" CYBER says, looking at him with a sidelong, conspiratorial glance. "Um, sure," Scuff says, looking at her curiously. "Can you go to charge early tonight?" CYBER says quietly, putting her hand on Scuff's shoulder. "I-I guess". Later that day, Scuff settles into the charging station about thirty minutes before normal. Dextral and Sinister are suspicious, but they soon go to their charging ports too. Once everyone is down, CYBER sneaks over to Dextral and Sinister's charging ports, and she compromises some wires to make sure they charge slower. CYBER then accesses the computer, and watches random videos of Sonic, scanning and copying his tricks. After a while, she turns and wakes Scuff, pulling him from his charging port. Scuff powers on, and CYBER quickly explains herself. Scuff doesn't understand why she hides it at night instead of just taking her turn during the day. She just waves him off, explaining that she just wants to share her excitement with him. Scuff gets a bit nervous "I don't think we should access the computer after hours. I'm going back to charge". Scuff returns to his charging port, and CYBER repairs Dextral and Sinister's charging chords before she plugs herself in for the night.
Metal Sonic: Metal Sonic Is finally allowed to use the repair machine. He finally stops sulking in the corner. On patrol, Mecha Sonic speaks to Metal Sonic. "You have been angry lately" Mecha Sonic states flatly. Metal Sonic ignores him and starts walking faster to get ahead of Mecha Sonic. Mecha Sonic speeds up to keep pace "I thought that you would calm down after your mission". "Well, I didn't!" Metal Sonic growls, not making eye contact. "You seem distressed," Mecha Sonic reaches for Metal Sonic's shoulder. "Of course I am distressed!" Metal Sonic whips around, slapping Mecha Sonic's hand away. "I have to spend time with you low CPU pieces of scrap!" Metal Sonic's voice rings with metallic malice. Metal Sonic turns away, and the two don't speak for the rest of the trip. Mecha Knuckles trains against Silver Sonic, Silver Sonic wins. Metal Sonic wishes that it was him in there, tearing something apart. But instead, he just has to remain silent and stare at the combat.
Sonic: When Sonic's alarm goes off, he can hardly roll out of bed. He only gets up because of the incessant banging coming from Tail's workshop. Just as Sonic manages to shuffle out of his room, Tails bursts out of his workshop, holding a chunky metal box. "What's that?" Sonic inquires, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "This is Broast," Tails says, setting the box down. "Broast?" Sonic asks, his voice tinged with interest. "It's a battle robot, I made it for you!" Tails beamed, setting the heavy metal box down and pulling off his goggles. Sonic and Tails work together to carry the metal box out to the yard. Tails presses a button on top of the box, and the lid of the box pops open, revealing two large, round, camera-like eyes. "Creator identified, greeting Tails" A voice rings from the box and two arms and two legs pop out of the box, made of various cuboid shapes connected by round joints. "This is Broast" Tails gestures up at the robot, which stands about a head taller than Sonic. "What's it for?" Sonic looks up, putting his hand up to shield his eyes from the sun that's backlighting the robot. "To help you train" Tails smiles, proud of his invention. "I've been itching for a fight!" Sonic smiles, starting to stretch his arms. "Oh…" Broast lowers its top over its eyes slightly, giving it a look of apprehension "I don't like violence". Sonic looks over at Tails "I thought you said it was a training robot" Sonic looks over at Tails. "Well…" Tails rubs the back of his head "I made the robot docile so that it wouldn't go rogue and just want to fight for fighting's sake". "I want to be a pacifist," Broast says, hunching its shoulders timidly. Sonic closes his eyes and rubs his nose. "I didn't program it that way, it just came to its own conclusion," Tails says, rubbing his head, embarrassed. "I'm going back to bed," Sonic says, leaving Tails and Broast in the yard.
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Friday:
CYBER: The energy in the room that morning was awkward. It was almost entirely silent, no yelling from Dextral, no snide remarks from Sinister, no quiet mumblings from CYBER, just silence. It mostly involved Dextral and CYBER glaring at each other across the room, Sinister watching the security footage on the computer for anything more interesting, and Scuff standing near CYBER, hiding slightly behind her and folding his hands nervously. Things finally relax a bit when they split up to patrol on deck 4. "How have you dealt with Dextral for all this time?" CYBER asks loudly, gesturing wildly as she walks down a blank corridor with Scuff. "I just don't let it bother me," Scuff says, craning his neck to look at CYBER with his good eye. "It clearly does," CYBER says, concerned for him. "Well…" Scuff pauses, returning his gaze to ahead of him "We're all in the same situation, and if he weren't after me, he'd be after Sinister". "I'd rather it be me," Scuff says, looking off toward the ceiling. "So you say, CYBER says, shaking her head. "It seems a bit idealistic and naive to me" CYBER says, swinging her arms out to the side absentmindedly. "Naive? I'm pretty sure you were built a few days ago" Scuff almost laughs, but he stops himself when he sees CYBER looking at him with a severe look. "I'm protecting you from Dextral, the least you could do is not insult me" CYBER crosses her arms. "Sorry," Scuff says, fixing his gaze to the floor. The two walk for a while with no sound but their feet against the metal floor. Scuff finally breaks the silence "So, about last night…". "I tried to share something special with you!" CYBER yells very suddenly. "You're researching Shadow all the time? Why is it so bad for me to research Sonic?" She stops walking and crosses her arms. "Well, CYBER, I do my research at my allotted time, why do you do yours at night?" Scuff says quietly, trying to understand where CYBER is coming from. "I don't want Dextral and Sinister looking over my shoulder, you know?" CYBER looks at him, standing defiantly "I don't want to give them any ammunition". That causes Scuff to realize something "You're not just researching Sonic, you're trying to understand him". CYBER's mouth hangs open slightly in embarrassment. "W-Well…" CYBER stammers out "It's not any weirder than your obsession with Shadow!". Scuff immediately turns away, facing the wall and covering his broken eye "It's not an obsession, he's a good role model!". "No, he's not, I'm pretty sure everything you like about him isn't actually what he's like," CYBER says, putting her hands on her hips. "CYBER…" Scuff says, turning back to her "Can we please just let it go?". A silence falls between them, and they don't speak for the rest of the day.
Metal Sonic: He went to charge last night just fine, but this morning, something about powering on to the sight of the drab metal office almost crushes him. As Metal Sonic pops himself out of the charging port, Mecha Sonic looks over at him. Metal Sonic meets Mecha Sonic's gaze, who turns without a word. Metal Sonic marches over to the computer, he doesn't actually use the computer, it's just an excuse to be alone. But unlike his previous isolation because of his damaged chassis, this isolation was because he felt truly alone. Suddenly, in the quiet and the dull blue glow of the computer screen, Metal Sonic remembered that the second security team would work on the Command deck tomorrow. He remembers what Dr. Eggman said, that the other robot is programmed to like Sonic. He decided that he would remedy that, he had to.
Sonic: "Did I do something wrong?" Broast asks nervously, standing next to Tails. "No, it's not your fault" Tails sighs. Tails looks down the hallway at Sonic's bedroom door, Sonic hasn't come out all day. Tails walks over and knocks on the door "Sonic?". "I'm here Tails, come on in," Sonic says from behind the door. Tails walks in to see Sonic lounging on the bed, one leg hanging off the side. Sonic is staring at the ceiling and doesn't even look over when Tails enters. "Are you ok Sonic?" Tails asks, quite bluntly. "Yeah Tails, I'm fine," Sonic says, turning his head slowly to face Tails. "I don't think you are" Tails sighs, and walks over to Sonic's bed. "Listen Tails, it's just been a slow… month" Sonic swings his legs over the bed, sitting with a slouch. "We need to get out and do something today," Tails says with vigor, sitting down next to Sonic. "There is nothing to do!" Sonic crosses his arms. Tails thinks for a long moment, measuring any possible activity they could do. "Well, you remember Knuckles recommending asking Amy on a date?" Tails asks, it's the only thing he can remember. "I don't want to lead her on or anything," Sonic says, leaning back on the bed. "It can just be a dinner between friends!" Tails says enthusiastically "I can come too". Tails is really just desperate to get Sonic back on his feet again. "Yeah…" Sonic considers this "I guess". Sonic agrees, but mostly just so he can get back to sleep. "Ok!" Tails says enthusiastically "I'll go tell Amy right now". Before Sonic can object, Tails is already out of the room, going to contact Amy. Broast steps to the side as Tails flies by. Then Broast looks back down the hallway and sees Sonic shut his door.
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Tomorrow, it all begins.
