Artificial Nine Final Phase:'Doesn't Matter How You're Made'
The Ring Pool was always a place of relaxation for Sally Acorn. A few days time and numerous showers had restored her fur to its proper color, and distanced her enough from the ordeal in Robotropolis to let her look back on it more clearly. This was a place where she spent most of her time among friends, so it came as a great surprise to her to find that she had, of late, preferred to be alone.
She was scrolling through a number of Nicole's digital photos of herself and her friends, thinking about their adventures together, both real and imagined; it was an activity she'd done a lot of since she'd gotten home. The morning was pleasant in Knothole Village, and other residents were out and about, but she still felt alone. Try as she might, she could not reconcile the fact that she had left someone in that terrible place to die, no matter the reasons or the ethics of it.
Nine had not been successful in killing Robotnik, that much she knew; although he had been remarkably quiet since then, with no new schemes that needed to be stopped as best as the spying missions had determined. The genetics facility was a ruin, with no chance of recovering anything of worth in it. Her friend's body was probably deep beneath it all, she knew, and she had considered raising a piece of the rubble as some sort of makeshift monument to his memory but it wouldn't have felt right. Nine had taken great pains to ensure that the world would forget him and his new species, and creating anything that would share his memory with the world would dishonor that. She had told no one about him, only that she had escaped. It was better that way.
Still, she wished she had something tangible to remember him by. Her eyes caught a strange date in the picture catalog on Nicole's screen; it was for a picture taken during her captivity. She had taken no pictures from then, at least, as far as she remembered. The stress and the sedatives had left her memories of those few days a bit hazy in places. Curious, she opened the picture file.
It was a picture, taken in the lab in Robotropolis while it had still stood. A closeup of Nine, smiling at the camera. He had taken a photograph of himself for her collection of pictures of her friends. The fact that he was smiling, and the date both meant that it must have been late in their time together. She wasn't sure when he'd done it without her seeing, but she was extremely glad to have it all the same; it brought a genuine smile to her face for the first time in days.
“Hey there.” A quiet voice to her side caught her attention, and Sally closed her computer quietly, turning to face the owner of the voice she knew so well.
“Hi, Sonic.” She smiled at him a little and offered him a spot on the log she sat on.
“How're you doin'?” He was far more quiet and peaceful than he normally would be, for her sake, she knew. He sat down beside her, smiling softly. He'd been amazingly sweet the past few days, keeping people away when she wanted to be alone, and not pressing her for anything about her time in Robotropolis.
“I'm okay.”
“Good.” Sonic hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder, relaxing only when he saw her lean into it and smile. “It's a nice day today. Everybody was hoping you'd come for a walk with us or something.”
Sally hesitated, then nodded. “Okay. There's something I need to do real quick though, will you give me a sec?”
“Sure thing, Sal.”
There was still one thing bothering her. She hadn't had the chance to say goodbye, when the time came. She didn't feel that she could put it all behind her until she did, and so she fished a small object out of her vest pocket. It was a piece of marble she'd recovered from the remains of the building when they had gone back to check on it a few days later. Rotor had smoothed it down for her, at her request. With the help of Nicole's very precise laser emitter, she spent the next few moments beside Sonic carefully engraving a name on the smoothed stone. Nine, the word, not the number.
Sally stood and looked down at the stone in her hand. “Goodbye.” She whispered to it, and then drew her arm back, hurling the bit of marble with all her might. It soared through the sky and then plunged beneath the still surface of the pond, disappearing from sight.
Sonic tilted his head, bemused. “Huh. What was that for?”
“For a friend.” Sally smiled at him. “Come on, let's go find the gang and take that walk.”
I hope that everyone enjoyed the story. It was the product of months of late nights, and I'm more proud of it than I am of anything else I've ever written. Please, if you enjoyed it, or didn't, do let me know in PMs or comments. Your feedback is always a huge encouragement for me to make more stories like this one. Thank you for sticking with me until the end.
(Sonic and co. are the property of SEGA. Thumbnail icon graciously made by
Seriously, though, this was a brilliant story. Even Sally's little tribute to Nine was wonderful. Hell, you made Robotnik seem human. Human enough to question what he was doing to his own machines. Fantastic work.
Chay, why you make me sad? Seriously, though, this was a brilliant story. Even Sally's little trib
Thank you very much for reading it through. I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and I'm also glad it made you sad, as strange and perverse as that might sound. I wanted to make it a story that existed entirely in its own confines, that could take place any time in the real continuity. I'm glad the emotions were all there for it, and I'm grateful for your comment.
Thank you very much for reading it through. I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and I'm also glad it ma
That story was beautiful. I am definitly glad to have found your work, as I have loved everything I have read thus far. I hope to see more of your works, as you have a way of weaving words that moves the heart in wonderful ways.
That story was beautiful. I am definitly glad to have found your work, as I have loved everything I
I am glad that you enjoyed this story, and doubly glad that you feel this way about my writing! I honestly had no idea that I had any such effect on people's feelings and I'm thrilled to hear it. I will do my best to keep you similarly entertained in the future. Thank you for being such a wonderful reader and for the heartwarming comment!
I am glad that you enjoyed this story, and doubly glad that you feel this way about my writing! I ho
It's you who deserve the thanks, loyal readers like you give me the drive to put that extra effort in to my stories. I actually had the story closing at the end of chapter 5 before, but my proofreader loved the story so much and I was done a few days early, so I put together an epilogue that same night. I'm very glad I did, as the ending, I think, would seem too jarring and abrupt without it.
It's you who deserve the thanks, loyal readers like you give me the drive to put that extra effort i
I want to let you know that I usually never read fanfiction... there's just so much bad stuff out there that I find it's not worth it to even get started 98% of the time.
This story is part of that rare 2%. It's not only worth it, it's top-tier. At first I was wary about the inclusion of an original character, but you managed him extraordinarily well. Job well done!
I want to let you know that I usually never read fanfiction... there's just so much bad stuff out th
Thank you for reading, and I'm really glad you enjoyed it! I'm with you on the quality of fanfiction at large. A lot of it ranges from middling to very bad, but it's important to keep in mind that it's not always poor for lack of effort on the writer's part. A lot of people simply lack the experience or knowledge to write well (lots of young people in fanfiction circles, more so than even when I was a young person getting started in it 15 years ago); it's one of the most complicated creative outlets to do correctly. If you take the time to sift through and find the people that genuinely want to do this and support them through their learning phase, they'll 'grow up' to be quality writers.
A big part of why there's so much bad fanfiction is probably due to the internet, both because of the sheer volume of content making it worse on aggregate, and because of the 'this sucks, quit', critical mentality it has fostered in most of us. I've worked for years to try and see that '98/2' percentage reversed; if I have my way, more people will finish a movie/comic/etc. and then hit the net in search of fan content.
From what you say, I'm evidently at least challenging the notion that it's all bizarre or bad. I'm glad this one won you over and you thought it the quality you did. Thank you.
Thank you for reading, and I'm really glad you enjoyed it! I'm with you on the quality of fanfiction
Very nicely done. I can imagine this sequence as being part of the comic. I really can't give much higher praise than that, because it was marvelous. You should be proud of yourself for this one, Chay. :3
Very nicely done. I can imagine this sequence as being part of the comic. I really can't give much