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Post by Jamie Lee on Nov 18, 2007 22:02:53 GMT -5
<That was my exact reaction,> the scientist looked up thoughtfully. <It doesn't make sense. All of the counterparts I've seen or heard of that I recognize have all at least been the right species, including yours, granted he's apparently younger than you... why is mine the exception?> He continued looking up toward the ceiling as he thought that over. He knew, of course, that echidnas were technically extinct in his home world. This begged him to wonder... If the race had been thriving, would this have meant he would have also been born as an echidna? The thought struck him as truly odd and rocked one of the most basic and fundamental certainties he knew. Pondering that, he pulled himself up from his reclining position, bringing his tail around in front of him to examine. His tail, covered in sharp plated scales that gave him an armored appearance often described as resembling a walking pinecone. It was one of the defining traits of his species, something he wouldn't have had if he were an echidna. He couldn't even begin to imagine life without his tail. As he continued to study, other details that were foreign began to tug at his focus. His brow caved downward with both a sense of intrigue and bitterness. He traced his fingers across the ridges of his scales carefully, taking in the soft tinny scraping of metal against metal this produced, and couldn't help but notice the unnatural reflective gleam on his hide from the room's light... He frowned. <It's fascinating, isn't it...> It wasn't entirely clear what he was referring to.
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Nov 19, 2007 14:18:54 GMT -5
Meanwhile, the implications of what Fini had said brought Tails' thinking to a complete stop. He could hear literal gears in his head whirring like crazy to process the information he had just obtained. <I... really don't know.> Tails began to study his mechanized body as well, particularly his hands. As he clenched and unclenched his hand, he took in the detail of how all the parts fit so well together, allowing any movement he normally could make. All the intricate little pieces were so precise... so realistic... even though it was torture beyond torture, whoever could possibly obtain this kind of mechanical workings in a robot was nothing short of a scientific progidy. Upset, Tails uncurled his hand more violently than before.... and suddenly tools began to pop out of his fingertips, turning his hand into some kind of swiss army knife. "GAH!" he shouted, "F-f-finitevus! Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff!" he yelled, shaking his arm wildly, as if that would fix whatever the heck had happened to his hand.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Nov 19, 2007 18:13:33 GMT -5
Once again Finitevus looked up at the boy, this time blinking in confusion until he realized just what Tails was shrieking over. He snerked slightly, remembering he'd noticed that very same feature on the squirrel who ended up in his lab. The features of the technology that resulted from a mechanized individual were remarkably similar to his own cybernetic technology. "Calm down," the doctor said as he walked over to Tails and snatched the arm he was shaking. He held the fox's hand up in front of his face so he could clearly see it. "Now concentrate on visualizing your hand switching back to normal. Think about it just as you'd will one of your arms to move."
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Nov 19, 2007 20:52:43 GMT -5
Tails watched fearfully as Fini grabbed his spazmordic arm, and forced his quivering limb in front of his face. That wasn't exactly something he wanted; he wanted it away from him, not so close that he could do nothing but stare at it, especially since he had no clue how to "shut his eyes" in this body. His ears folded back, disturbed by the freakish transformation. But, as per Fini's suggestion, he was calming down bit by bit. Experimentally, he twitched his fingers, and shuddered slightly as the tools that had once been his fingers moved, but did not retract. Gradually, he began to imagine his hand returning to a normal state, almost pretending that he was sheathing claws like a cat would. Miraculously, the tools receded, and were once again replaced by fingers. Tails was breathing heavily, and he could almost feel his diaphram moving within his chest. Wait.... Tails thought. I don't even HAVE a diaphram anymore! Why the heck does it feel like I'm breathing!? Tails suddenly stopped the breathing-like motions upon this realization, and decided that his face needed to meet the palm of his hand. "... I'll never get used to this..."
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Post by Jamie Lee on Nov 19, 2007 22:45:02 GMT -5
"You'll be fine," Fini said to Tails reassuringly, giving him a firm pat on the back. "Using attachments like that is only awkward at first, but once you're used to it it becomes a second nature. I don't even have to think anymore to use the tools in my hands." He glanced off to the side and frowned as a new techbot had suddenly entered, along with several maintenance droids.
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Nov 20, 2007 15:08:14 GMT -5
Tails trembled. It was almost like before. Times he had thought he had forgotten, but were just buried deep in his subconcious. These robotic limbs... it was almost as if he was a monster. Again. It was with such speed that not even Sonic could have seen it, but now Fini was subject to being clinged on to by a little robot fox. Tails' frame shivered uncontrollably, and it was debatable whether or not he would be crying if he had tear ducts. All Tails knew was that he hadn't felt this amplitude of depression since he was very young.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Nov 20, 2007 15:59:03 GMT -5
There was a long silent pause from the roboticized pangolin, his brow having migrated upward as he stared down at the fox clinging to him. In some way he had expected something like this, yet... it had still caught him off guard. Finally his doctor's intuition kicked in, and he responded to the boy's anguish by wrapping his arms around him in an embrace, much like he would have done when reassuring one of his patients. "Hey... it's alright..." he said in an uncharacteristically gentle tone, patting the boy's back despite the fact he knew he wouldn't be able to feel it, "I'm going to do everything in my power to see things turns out alright. For both of us. Alright? Everything's going to be fine..."
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Nov 20, 2007 21:41:53 GMT -5
If there was one thing that was more cute than a crying chao, it was probably Tails at that moment. He continued to have a fast grip on Fini, LED eyes scrambled in a way that made them look like they were shut tight, his metal body scrunched up so tightly that he was now nearly the size of a beach ball. He was so tired, but that voice sounded comforting. It almost sounded like something Sonic would say. With that in mind, Tails began to relax, and consequentially began to snuggle against Fini, nuzzling the top of his head to the pangolin's neck. It was probably an instinctive reaction he did to Sonic or Uncle Chuck whenever he was this upset, which begged the question as to whether the fox had begun to hallucinate.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Nov 21, 2007 19:11:20 GMT -5
Well, this was awkward. It wasn't the first time the doctor had dealt with situations similar to this, sure, but the circumstances were definitely far from anything ordinary. Finitevus twisted his mouth to one side. "Tails, come on now," he urged. "It's not THAT bad."
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Nov 22, 2007 0:24:04 GMT -5
Tails 'blinked', having finally come back to his senses. It was then he realised what exactly he was doing. If the fox had any blood, it would have flushed his cheeks to a burning hot red. Immediately Tails hopped off the doctor and looked away, pretending that the scenario had never ever happened. What happened? EXACTLY.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Nov 22, 2007 6:11:21 GMT -5
Finitevus stared at the fox for a moment after he'd hopped off. He could clearly see the boy's embarrassment over his actions, as well as felt a bit of awkwardness himself. Despite this, unable to help himself he snerked softly and shook his head. "You know, sometimes you make it really easy to forget how young you still are."
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Nov 22, 2007 22:37:19 GMT -5
The fox stuck a robotic tooth out, still quite embarrassed by what he just did, "Sometimes I think I forget how young I am myself. I wonder if that happens to all smart kids." Tails said. "Even so, I guess the only thing we can do now is gather as much information about this place as possible." he pondered. "How much do you know already?" Ahh, changing the subject- the ultimate protection from embarrassment.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Nov 23, 2007 2:45:46 GMT -5
"Well, let's see," he went quiet for a moment as he pondered over what he'd learned, particularly what Sally had told him, "Apparently Robotnik was a military adviser to the king of this city before having betrayed him... That princess informed me that there's a resistance group, but unfortunately lack resources and are forced to steal what they need from Robotnik." He paused for the briefest of moments, mentally debating with himself whether or not to tell another detail that had been gnawing at the back of his mind for awhile. In the end, he decided it was better to hold off, at least for now. Tails was already stressed out and unstable enough. He didn't want him to become useless.
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Nov 23, 2007 22:54:01 GMT -5
"Yeah," Tails added, "I met some of their group earlier. I think they called themselves Freedom Fighters, and they live in a secret village called Knothole." Tails pondered something, remembering one of the villagers in particular. "There was this rabbit girl there who was part robot." Tails had to snort in response to the citique about their technology. "Oh, definately. When we were flying to Angel Island we had to take their plane, since too many people were coming for me to carry. It's practically the biggest paper plane I've ever seen!" the fox waved his arms in emphasis.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Nov 24, 2007 1:12:48 GMT -5
The robo-pangolin blinked. "Wait. Angel Island?"
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Nov 25, 2007 0:22:50 GMT -5
"... Uh yeah... About that. It kind of appeared here over that giant forest. I'm kind of worried, 'cause that's where this dimension's Metal Sonic attacked us. And you know what THAT means, probably." Tails explained, suprised that the pangolin did not yet know about the sudden appearance of Angel Island.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Nov 25, 2007 7:20:26 GMT -5
Finitevus gave the fox a sideways glance as he tried to process this information. "You're trying to tell me that an island, and not only that, an island of that size managed to be transported into this world?" he straightened slightly. "What's next, Westside Island?!"
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Nov 26, 2007 16:43:07 GMT -5
"Prooobably not, unless Westside Island has another blasted gem of incalculable energy that we haven't heard about yet." the kit further explained, "I think the only reason all of Angel Island appeared is because of that giant green rock Knuckles sits on all day. After all... those emeralds have been the source of portal-related events before when we started merging with the Sol Dimension." Blink. "Oh chaos I hope that's not what's happening now." Tails whined, covering his eyes with a hand.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Nov 27, 2007 23:32:17 GMT -5
"Hm." Finitevus frowned. "I haven't heard anything regarding any power sources here... the emeralds or otherwise." Continuing to frown, the pangolin tapped at the side of his arm in contemplation. He looked up after a moment, however, as something seem to cross his mind. He glanced over toward the worker bots before leaning in close to his companion. " Tails," he spoke in a barely audible tone, " You're absolutely sure you can't remember that emerald formula on your own?"
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Nov 28, 2007 17:45:11 GMT -5
"Without those notes, it'll be useless for me to start manufacturing one." Tails confirmed. "Why?"
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Post by Jamie Lee on Nov 28, 2007 22:07:47 GMT -5
" That princess had mentioned that a large amount of pure energy could be used to help a roboticized individual break control over their programming."
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Nov 30, 2007 15:47:46 GMT -5
Tails pondered what Fini had said. If what he said was true... then the emerald he would be making soon enough would probably fit the bill. And who knows? Maybe the both of them could invoke a mass revolt via the emerald and liberate the city! "Really?" Tails said, "That's quite- But then he was cut off, as a portal appeared right between the two of them, and a group of little sticky-notes whisked out to slap Tails in the face. The fox blinked at the agonising randomness of it, and focused his vision on the writing on the little pieces of paper. As soon as the words came into focus, the kit's twin appendages twitched wildly in suprise. His notes! "... Convienent." Tails finished his sentence, although now the word had another meaning to it. All of a sudden, his robotic eyes began to take snapshots of each of the notes obscuring his face without his command, and were compiling them into a file, along with a note of how those notes were obtained. Alarmed, the fox cried out, "Finitevus! I'm!-" But once again the fox was cut off, and not because he was suprised. As soon as his programming had sent the file, it froze the kit's body, for the poor robot fox was under direct orders to NOT. DO. ANYTHING. As such, Tails was stuck in a pose of shock, which would have been deemed hilarious in a more light-hearted situation, for he was now balanced on one foot, as if he were backing away, his arms out in front of him for balance... and the sticky notes still attatched to his face. Let me go! Tails yelled at the digital archive, but the commanding force of his body did not listen. After all, 'doing nothing' meant not moving an inch, for that was doing something. ... As soon as I am free of you, I'm going to blow up this freaking wasteland. Tails growled to himself. The sticky notes wavered slightly in the breese.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Nov 30, 2007 16:14:29 GMT -5
Finitevus quirked a brow at the random display, then snatched one of the notes away from the kit and quickly read it over. "... Convenient indeed..." he spoke flatly, poking Tails before leaning toward him and feigning a sound like clearing his throat. "You know, in doing nothing one is still doing something." He straightened, smirking a bit. "For example. You're balancing on one foot, holding your arm out, giving me a most amusing expression. You're also waiting for the list of materials to be delivered, and if I'm not mistaken your programming is dutifully at work keeping you frozen there as well. I would certainly call that doing something, wouldn't you?"
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Dec 1, 2007 0:38:31 GMT -5
As the words filtered into the fox's brain, the machinery inside his head burst into the frenzied sounds of fans whirring, as his processor struggled with the information that was brought forward. All of it was true. Everything was doing something, and that went against direct orders. Heck, processing this information is doing something Tails added. As he felt the programming weaken, Tails exerted his willpower, forcing his limbs to move. Slowly, ever so slowly, Tails began to fall back into a normal standing position. Give up already! It's an error, and it will be addressed once he gets back.As for the programming... it gave up, suddenly relinquishing the order that had been given. The immediate release caused Tails to go off-balance, and the kit fell to the ground, hitting his face comcially. As Tails got up, grumbling to himself, he noticed an error message that had suddenly appeared. It told him that his cranium was getting dangerously hot, and advised him to cancel any unnecessary tasks. Great, I have a robot version of a headache."How do you do that?" Tails asked, meaning how Finitevus could just overrun such powerful programming like that.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Dec 1, 2007 1:04:41 GMT -5
"It's not that hard, for the most part anyway," Finitevus grinned, "You've just got to be clever."
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Dec 1, 2007 23:43:16 GMT -5
Tails attempted to brush the dirt and grime he had accumulated off of his arms, but stopped when he realized that not only did it not work, it also made a particularly painful screeching noise. Hmm... he'd need a cleaning rag then... if there was something NOT made of metal in this place. "Well anyways," Tails said, "I was going to say that what the other Sally said is convienent. If you think about it, as soon as I'm finished with that emerald, we'll both be scot-free. Maybe we could start some kind of mass revolt or something."
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Post by Jamie Lee on Dec 2, 2007 6:28:01 GMT -5
Finitevus rubbed at his chin as he contemplated. " And as soon as we finish the gate we'll have a secure way back home. Hmm. If they're still okay at least two of my Legionnaires are in this city as well. I haven't tried yet but I should be able to contact them," He paused for a moment in thought. " We have another potential ally as well... a hedgehog named Chuck I met earlier. He was already willing to assist in helping me, so, if we could contact him..."
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Dec 2, 2007 16:40:43 GMT -5
Tails' ears pricked straight up at the mentioning of the hedgehog, and his eyes widened. It COULD just be a coincidence, but if it wasn't... "... Are you sure? I mean, I didn't think anyone but us two had some kind of free will. And... is he blue? With a gray mustache and eyebrows?" Tails asked.
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Post by Jamie Lee on Dec 2, 2007 18:02:30 GMT -5
Fini shrugged. " Well, considering the conversation I had with him compared to most others having no control whatsoever. Besides, there are others who apparently have complete free will." he paused in response to the kit's latter question, " And yes... he was as you described."
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Post by Topaz Mutiny on Dec 2, 2007 18:27:09 GMT -5
Tails' ears drooped at the confirmation. It definately was NOT a coincidence. That hedgehog was most likely this world's version of Uncle Chuck. And he had been turned into a robot as well. That was... horrible! He couldn't even fathom his own Uncle Chuck enduring something like that. Probably the only silver lining was the fact that Fini said that he had free will. Still, Tails looked as if his little heart had broken.
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