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.
[That's exactly how Turo has always thought of it. If he can be forced to do whatever the Professor wanted, even after the man is dead and gone, how can he really claim to be anything more than the man's tool? But as strongly as he's believed it's true for himself, he doesn't like to hear it from Void Archives. They aren't supposed to question themself like this.
It occurs to him for the first time that maybe he's not as well-suited to approach them after such an incident as he thought. Aren't these the exact questions he has never quite overcome? He's never been able to mount much of a defense before. But, Void Archives has done so for him, so he'll try his best to do so in turn.]
Maybe...maybe that's not quite true. It happened to the others just the same, after all. Maybe we are...a little bit easier to override... [It's true, and hard to ignore.] ...but that does not mean we are not people at all.
[They're just...people with extremely large buttons that stop them from being people sometimes? No, he's losing the plot a little.]
[ There's a long moment of silence on Void Archives' part. Then, a crooked, sharp smile makes its way across their face as they chuckle darkly. ]
A little easier to override, hm?
[ Void Archives' little, considering but uneven smile remains. Yes, that is certainly true, isn't it? It hurts their pride to admit to that; to concede to such a thing, but what happened makes it all the more apparent. They seem to consider the other words Turo has said, though, even after the small question leaves them so. ]
Interesting to consider. You are correct that it did happen to the others, and they weren't like us. Not really.
Perhaps, in that sense, it doesn't exactly mean we are so far removed from the others that we are nowhere near being considered something close to a "person". I have no idea what that means for us. After all, I had struggled with such a concept even now...there is no reason to act like I suddenly attained such thoughts with ease.
Yet...it is a step somewhere, hm?
[ They are grasping a hold of it tentatively. Is it because there is logic in this? Or because they are desperate to hold onto something when everything feels like it unraveled? Or because Turo himself can even argue such words...? ]
[ Honestly, they didn't immediately start to even make strides towards it until literally the week before this very battle. If it took them this long...a being who has existed for 50,000 years...
Sill, they don't respond to that at first, letting a silence come over them as they battle their own thoughts. Maybe, it isn't quite as simple as numbers because they lived so long in isolation and spent only a couple free of that so far. In essence...the gap continues to be quite small as a whole - or maybe, they are simply being delusional in imagining it. ]
Do I? You may not know entirely what it means, in one sense. What form those steps are taking. But, I can tell you have started to grasp it. I have watched you well, and it feels you have made strides towards it.
And...I don't believe it is quite fair to yourself to deny that. Not completely.
[ They look at him a bit more, at Turo. They're still picking up the pieces, but in this conversation they realize that the man looked up to them so much. Somehow, it makes them feel less on shaky ground, even if the pain of that indignity remains. Even if it has shaken something so profoundly from their mind. ]
Just as you believe in myself right now, do know that I do believe in you.
[ Void Archives lets out a chuckle, saying this... ]
Hm, that said...I suppose that you are correct that I am lively. To the point where I'd even seem or appear more alive than most individuals. It is one of my best qualities. [ An echo of their usual confidence trickling in. ] Perhaps I should try to grasp the notion of those affirmations of yours quite a bit harder - the last that you are trying to convey to me. After all, you haven't lost the faith despite this display you saw before you.
Do take to heart that your words are appreciated quite a bit, Turo.
[That's all he wanted, really. That's what he was made to do. Turo isn't so sure that he's made any particular strides in any direction, but it is at least nice of them to say so.]
[ Void Archives does notice he has said nothing on their other words, but the man does seem pleased that he has lent a hand. ]
Not many will necessarily manage as much, so do continue to at least be proud of that.
Among other things, of course.
[ They flash a little knowing smirk, to indicate that their own words were true, though also as further hint that more of that usual part of them has seemingly returned to the surface, but will seem to leave it at that. This is ultimately a moment for them to have obtained some sense of recovery in the midst of what happened - one of which Turo has leant an undeniably pivotal hand in that, which he has taken to heart.
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no subject
It occurs to him for the first time that maybe he's not as well-suited to approach them after such an incident as he thought. Aren't these the exact questions he has never quite overcome? He's never been able to mount much of a defense before. But, Void Archives has done so for him, so he'll try his best to do so in turn.]
Maybe...maybe that's not quite true. It happened to the others just the same, after all. Maybe we are...a little bit easier to override... [It's true, and hard to ignore.] ...but that does not mean we are not people at all.
[They're just...people with extremely large buttons that stop them from being people sometimes? No, he's losing the plot a little.]
no subject
A little easier to override, hm?
[ Void Archives' little, considering but uneven smile remains. Yes, that is certainly true, isn't it? It hurts their pride to admit to that; to concede to such a thing, but what happened makes it all the more apparent. They seem to consider the other words Turo has said, though, even after the small question leaves them so. ]
Interesting to consider. You are correct that it did happen to the others, and they weren't like us. Not really.
Perhaps, in that sense, it doesn't exactly mean we are so far removed from the others that we are nowhere near being considered something close to a "person". I have no idea what that means for us. After all, I had struggled with such a concept even now...there is no reason to act like I suddenly attained such thoughts with ease.
Yet...it is a step somewhere, hm?
[ They are grasping a hold of it tentatively. Is it because there is logic in this? Or because they are desperate to hold onto something when everything feels like it unraveled? Or because Turo himself can even argue such words...? ]
no subject
I...well, I don't know what it means either. You know that.
[More is the only person who might know his struggles better than them.]
But you have always seemed so much more alive than I am. I cannot imagine that you are not a person, whatever it means.
no subject
Sill, they don't respond to that at first, letting a silence come over them as they battle their own thoughts. Maybe, it isn't quite as simple as numbers because they lived so long in isolation and spent only a couple free of that so far. In essence...the gap continues to be quite small as a whole - or maybe, they are simply being delusional in imagining it. ]
Do I? You may not know entirely what it means, in one sense. What form those steps are taking. But, I can tell you have started to grasp it. I have watched you well, and it feels you have made strides towards it.
And...I don't believe it is quite fair to yourself to deny that. Not completely.
[ They look at him a bit more, at Turo. They're still picking up the pieces, but in this conversation they realize that the man looked up to them so much. Somehow, it makes them feel less on shaky ground, even if the pain of that indignity remains. Even if it has shaken something so profoundly from their mind. ]
Just as you believe in myself right now, do know that I do believe in you.
[ Void Archives lets out a chuckle, saying this... ]
Hm, that said...I suppose that you are correct that I am lively. To the point where I'd even seem or appear more alive than most individuals. It is one of my best qualities. [ An echo of their usual confidence trickling in. ] Perhaps I should try to grasp the notion of those affirmations of yours quite a bit harder - the last that you are trying to convey to me. After all, you haven't lost the faith despite this display you saw before you.
Do take to heart that your words are appreciated quite a bit, Turo.
no subject
[That's all he wanted, really. That's what he was made to do. Turo isn't so sure that he's made any particular strides in any direction, but it is at least nice of them to say so.]
no subject
Not many will necessarily manage as much, so do continue to at least be proud of that.
Among other things, of course.
[ They flash a little knowing smirk, to indicate that their own words were true, though also as further hint that more of that usual part of them has seemingly returned to the surface, but will seem to leave it at that. This is ultimately a moment for them to have obtained some sense of recovery in the midst of what happened - one of which Turo has leant an undeniably pivotal hand in that, which he has taken to heart.
So, naturally, they'll take that as a victory. ]
no subject
[Turo smiles. He...actually is proud of that much!]