what goes up must come down

[shardmods]

The ring deposits you all safely outside the base and seals up afterwards. Neo Metal Sonic doesn't chase after you, which is something of a mercy.

What's significantly less of a mercy is the sky - it's gone dark and ominously stormy, though the clouds spark not with lightning, but with that same green Chaos Energy you've been facing this entire fight. Worse still, there are now far, far too many robotic planes filling the sky - the Egg Fleet seems to go on endlessly, as far as you can see. Though perhaps it would be more accurate to call it the Neo Metal Sonic Fleet.

Sonic and friends arrive shortly, looking pretty banged up but otherwise still healthy enough to make it here, though they stare up at the sky with obvious concern.

"O...kay, this is definitely not what any of us were expecting."

"We will have to take the fight to them, it seems."

"Easier said than done, I'm afraid... I'm not sure how to pinpoint their leader's exact location to send you all with a ring..."

A jolt of green lightning flashes across the sky and Neo Metal Sonic's voice rings out.

"I expect to see you onboard my fleet in one week's time. That includes you, my loathsome copy."

It seems you don't really have much of a choice. For now, tend to your wounds and try to regroup; you've earned a break after today.

NAVIGATION

Comments

[hexalding]

...You may be right. Maybe he is unreachable. Even so, it...would feel wrong, not to try again. Just once more--I am not so optimistic as to assume negotiation will be met with patience.

I do not know if it is a 'perfect' world he desires at the end of all this, or simply one under his absolute control. Either way, the result will be the same; the solitude of eternity. Regardless of what started all of this or whether or not he is following his programming...no one deserves such a fate.

[tworo]

No. I would want to be destroyed, if it were me.

[He had, though there was no chance of the children achieving it back then. Something similar could still happen again, he knows, and the thought terrifies him.]

I know it's different. There's no reason to think he's being made to do it against his will. That's not quite the same as just following his programming.

[He might just be a machine who has never questioned his directives to begin with.]

[hexalding]

As would I. [He almost had been, but that just made everything much more complicated.] But that outcome is not yet definite here--what is likely to happen is not necessarily what will. We do not know enough to determine if this is a matter of programming or desire, and I feel tht distinction will be a critical one.

...What do you think?

[tworo]

...the way he called Sonic a copy feels personal. I am not sure how that relates to doing any of the rest of it, but the fact that he can express such feeling does make me think he has at least some will of his own.

[He just doesn't really love the copy topic either, for...again, obvious reasons.]

[hexalding]

You make a good point. No doubt he was created in Sonic's image, in whatever universe he originates from. To be able to express discontent with such a thing is already beyond what I would assume his programming would dictate, as I understand the concept.

Do you...think it could be possible? Even if the chance is a mere fraction of a percent, wht if he is reachable?

[tworo]

I imagine there is a possibility. But I have never understood people as well as machines. I think I never would have rebelled like that.

[Is that something Neo Metal Sonic has over him...? Well. Maybe not, considering.]

[hexalding]

Hm...the rigidity of a set function is simple to comprehend. A heart, much less so. I can certainly agree with you on the difficulty in understanding the matter.

Who knows? I would not immediately hope for the best outcome by any means, but...it is a hypothesis worth testing, should the situation allow.

[tworo]

It is. We will not be too much worse off if it fails.

[There's usually a chance to yell a little before the fighting starts.]

...I...feel as though by rights, I ought to be the one to try. Considering. [He gestures at his own face.] But I am not sure I know what to say. How can I not know what to say?

[The particulars of their situations certainly differ, but Turo's a robot copy. He's thought about that every time they fought one. But the android versions of Shadow and their friends were clearly not intelligent, really. Neo Metal Sonic is the first one who clearly also has some feelings about it.]

[hexalding]

To make such an appeal is more than within your rights as well, I should think. But you certainly need not know what to say right this instant. By the sound of it, we have time to prepare ourselves--perhaps you should dedicate some time to thinking the matter over.

[tworo]

Oh, do you think so?

[Viktor's right, of course, but Turo was really looking forward to not thinking too much about this...]

[hexalding]

Well...do you want to try, or do you think it a necessary obligation?

[tworo]

[An interesting question. Turo slowly raises one hand to his chin.]

It seems...unfair of me, not to. Considering our similarities, I feel that all that separates us is circumstance.

[hexalding]

...I understand. [Not for the same reason, but the desire to reach out was present regardless.] If you wish my opinion, I think you should try--but at the same time, I do not think it unreasonable if you simply could not find the words.

[tworo]

[Turo nods.]

I will think about it. I suppose success is so unlikely to begin with - I am not likely to make anything worse.

[hexalding]

Eh, we would definitely have to try in order to make anything worse than it is.

[shit is, how you say, fucked]

[tworo]

[Turo smiles wryly.]

I'll try not to do that much, then.