With your battle complete, and your injuries sort of patched up, you're finally free to catch your breath... at least until the terminal flares to life again. Your brief conversation with the person on the other end may have left you with more questions than answers, but they are true to their world. Next to the terminal, a glowing golden portal suddenly appears - blinding in its light and large enough for only a couple of you to enter at a time. Regardless, it remains open, showcasing a strange, warehouse-looking building on the other side, with a long hallway and several closed doors. It's not entirely clear where this new location will be, but at least it doesn't seem to have spider robots or be out in space.
/// L O A D I N G . . .
I've got everything ready on my end.
I'll explain everything to you once you're here.
No more secrets, I promise.
Please watch your step, and make sure everyone comes along!
Staying behind is not an option. Whether you trust the person on the other end of the terminal or not, it seems this is your only path forward. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and step through the portal.
THE BASE
The light begins to clear as the last of you enter the portal and come out unharmed on the other side. You'll notice immediately that the portal displayed the exact place you've ended up - a fairly run-down warehouse, with you all standing in a hallway that extends in front of you, lined with doors that are shut. Before you go wandering off, you might want to turn around - after all, you can hear the whirring of machinery behind you.
You'll find that there's another set of doors there - one that is closed and another that leads into a larger room that seems to be a makeshift lab and control room all rolled into one. There are monitors carefully (but a bit haphazardly) strewn across the room, the wiring capably done but rather unprofessional. One of the screens shows a diagram of a gemstone, another shows a list of coordinates that don't make any sense, a third seems to be showing security cameras... basically exactly what you'd expect for someone's base of operations.
And that base of operations is staffed by... well, you'll have to look down, as he's not exactly human height.
Standing before you is someone unfamiliar to all of you. He's not very tall, but he stands out from the crowd with his yellow fur, bright blue eyes, and twin tails. He's an anthropomorphic fox and he's looking at you all a bit nervously, waving a hand in greeting.
"Um, hi." He says. "I'm really sorry about the confusion. And the robots. And your missing memories. And your injuries. I really didn't expect things to turn out like this..." He trails off nervously, scratching his cheek before forcing a smile again. "But thank you so much for agreeing to help us. My name is Tails. I'm one of the members of the resistance.
"There are medical supplies here, for you guys to use. I'm sorry, I'm not a medic..." Sure enough, you have access to quite a few medical supplies present in this room! Go right ahead and patch up your friends with the good stuff. You've even got painkillers here!
He clears his throat and continues. "Like I said, no more secrets. I couldn't tell you everything while you were in that other world, because I was afraid of my transmissions being picked up by the Doctor. You guys are the only hope for this world, because the three of us can't beat him alone. So we had to turn to help elsewhere.
"Doctor Robotnik - or Eggman, as we call him - is a genius scientist. He's made a lot of robots and gadgets, but that's not the reason why we need your help. He's got an item of immense power - the Master Emerald. With it, anything he thinks and desires can become reality. He made a giant robot from pieces of cars, trucks, trains, you name it! And that giant robot alone is enough to pose a huge threat to the city, but he didn't stop there.
"The entire world is controlled by him. He even controls the minds of all the people native to this world. They can't fight against him. They act like mindless drones, going about their daily tasks with no way to fight back. And he's created a lot of robots - they might even outnumber the people, at this point! Everything and everyone is under his control."
A brief pause as Tails breathes and steadies himself. "But my friends and I are able to fight back. We have to fight back. And you guys agreed to help us. I'm sorry that you don't remember it, but my friend Sonic spoke with each one of you. He told you about what's going on here and he asked for your help. And all of you said you'd come help us.
"I'll do my best to answer any questions you have. But right now, I'm the only one here. I lost contact with Knuckles at the start of this week, and I've been trying to figure out what happened. Sonic's been trying to find help in other worlds, so communication with him has been spotty. But I'll let him know that you guys are here now, so he should return soon!"
Tails exhales and forces a smile. "Together, we can defeat Eggman."
THE AFTERMATH
Though it's a lot of information to take in, Tails will happily answer any questions you all may have. He tells you that this warehouse is their base of operations, hidden right under the nose of Eggman's forces. Unfortunately, they need to be very careful because robots are always on patrol - and are specifically looking for the three of them. For now, it's best for you all to remain near the warehouse and travel in pairs, if you do go out into the city for any reason.
You'll find that those closed doors lead to rooms that have been set up for all of you. They're a little lacking, with only two beds, two desks and chairs, and two trunks for you to store your belongings in. Though you do have some changes of clothes in the closets, the designs may not be to your liking. They were picked out for you by three animals who only wear shoes and gloves, so...
Get ready, because it looks like you've a lot of work ahead of you.
[Being as tall as he is, Vakama stays with his back to the wall to try and not get in anyone else's way as Tails tries to fill in the gaps. His head still aches horribly, battered and pained from the fight. But it can wait.]
Could you explain a little more about what happened the first time? How did he get this sort of control in the first place?
Well, that came with the Master Emerarld's power. Or rather, he was able to do a lot more with it once he figured out how to fully control it.
The first time we fought him, he wasn't at full strength. We managed to give him the run-around for awhile, but... Ultimately, we couldn't find a way to separate him from the Master Emerald.
Did you just run out of time before things had gotten too far out of control? Or did something else happen to turn things in his favor, rather than your own?
We were the only ones fighting him. The humans here really aren't cut out for that sort of thing.
[regular ass humans vs giant egg robo..........]
You're right, it's taken a tremendous amount of work. Initially, we tried to bring people in from other worlds to help without giving them shards... but they fell ill and grew weaker the longer they were here. So we sent them home and went back to the drawing board. It was only after Sonic visited some worlds very similar to this one that we gained enough information to make fake Chaos Emeralds. With those, you all gain quite the boost in power - letting even noncombatants rival us in power. It also keeps you safe from illness or weakness in this world.
[it was so much trial and error, vakama. we are So Tired.]
Yep! It's not so much of an ability of ours as it is an item.
[Give him a moment to find one, ah, here we go! It's a small golden ring!]
Rings will allow you to go wherever you want. You think of where you want to go, and it takes you there. Traveling to other worlds is a little more complicated, but Sonic's really good at it. That's why he was the one to go out to find you guys!
[There we go! something something a smile better suits a hero something]
No need to thank me. Honestly, the amount of work you must have been doing on your own looks impressive. [He'll gesture off to the technological setup.]
Would you be willing to show it off sometime? What you're working on, that is.
Yeah, of course! These are surveillance cameras around the base, so I can see everything at a glance and keep an eye out for trouble.
[He indicates the ones in the back, which are exactly as described. He's got a pretty good view of all angles of the outside of the base.]
This one [the one with the gemstone] is my research into the Chaos Emeralds and your shards. I've been trying to work out what's going on with one of yours here, but it's pretty slow-going...
Anyway, this one [the one with the strings of numbers] is all the data on your home worlds. I need to have their precise coordinates so I can send you back home.
Sure can! It's a system I devised myself based on just how far away your worlds are - both from one another, and from this world. Sonic's "jumps" through the rings were recorded, so I had all the data I needed, I just had to determine how exactly to make a path to get back, so to speak.
So the numbers are basically like a code that I can use to retrace those steps!
It's been absolutely fascinating learning about other worlds. I could probably study it for years and never get bored! I thought we had a decent understanding of things going into this, but there's still so much I have left to learn!
Oh man, where to begin? I'd really like to study the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds - the knowledge we gained on them was through other worlds, and ours doesn't work exactly the same way, so I'd like to see all the differences first-hand. I'd want to come up with a way to depower it, should it ever fall into the wrong hands again.
[...He's got the spirit but he's a little focused on the current problems...]
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Could you explain a little more about what happened the first time? How did he get this sort of control in the first place?
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The first time we fought him, he wasn't at full strength. We managed to give him the run-around for awhile, but... Ultimately, we couldn't find a way to separate him from the Master Emerald.
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[He's already caught onto the "why", from where Tails has spoken to others, at least.]
How did you come around to this plan, then? If it's been as long as you say, I imagine it's taken a large amount of work on your part.
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[regular ass humans vs giant egg robo..........]
You're right, it's taken a tremendous amount of work. Initially, we tried to bring people in from other worlds to help without giving them shards... but they fell ill and grew weaker the longer they were here. So we sent them home and went back to the drawing board. It was only after Sonic visited some worlds very similar to this one that we gained enough information to make fake Chaos Emeralds. With those, you all gain quite the boost in power - letting even noncombatants rival us in power. It also keeps you safe from illness or weakness in this world.
[it was so much trial and error, vakama. we are So Tired.]
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Have you always had the ability to travel worlds like this? You mentioned to others that you're also not originally from this world yourselves, right?
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[Give him a moment to find one, ah, here we go! It's a small golden ring!]
Rings will allow you to go wherever you want. You think of where you want to go, and it takes you there. Traveling to other worlds is a little more complicated, but Sonic's really good at it. That's why he was the one to go out to find you guys!
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Such a small thing makes a portal that can travel that much distance...
This scientist, Robotnik... is this something he has access to as well?
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Nope. We've been lucky enough to get our hands on some, but they're not super common. We're trying to make sure he never finds out about them.
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[It sounds like any advantage in this situation is going to have to be clung to with all their might.
Serious talk aside, he does give pause, growing a little quieter.]
I'm glad to see you're in higher spirits than the last time we talked.
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I'm glad to meet you all in person. I was really worried about you guys. And it's... really nice to have people here again.
[...it's been a week, he's been SO LONELY.]
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You weren't feeling like much of a hero last time.
[If that at least can put a face to a previous conversation for Tails.]
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[Some of you all were also very concerning on the terminal, but he doesn't say that.]
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He sighs as he lowers to one knee.]
Then I'm glad the timing worked out for us all.
Unity brings us strength. So... I hope you can trust that we'll find a way through this with you.
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[Tails brightens at that, nodding.]
I really do appreciate it. It's... been awhile since we've really had a solid hope of defeating him. So thank you.
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No need to thank me. Honestly, the amount of work you must have been doing on your own looks impressive. [He'll gesture off to the technological setup.]
Would you be willing to show it off sometime? What you're working on, that is.
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Yeah, of course! These are surveillance cameras around the base, so I can see everything at a glance and keep an eye out for trouble.
[He indicates the ones in the back, which are exactly as described. He's got a pretty good view of all angles of the outside of the base.]
This one [the one with the gemstone] is my research into the Chaos Emeralds and your shards. I've been trying to work out what's going on with one of yours here, but it's pretty slow-going...
Anyway, this one [the one with the strings of numbers] is all the data on your home worlds. I need to have their precise coordinates so I can send you back home.
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But the numbers--]
Coordinates? You can really tell where we're from just by using numbers??
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So the numbers are basically like a code that I can use to retrace those steps!
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[HE'S SO EXCITED HE LOVES LEARNING]
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You'd fit right in with plenty of the students and scholars I know with that sort of passion.
Is there anything specific you'd like to focus on most with your studies, if the world's safety were restored?
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[...He's got the spirit but he's a little focused on the current problems...]
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There's differences?
How do they normally work in your own world?