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Prototype T's digital eyes snapped open as she came back online. She let out a shocked gasp, or at least the sound of one, as she threw herself up onto two feet. She frantically looked around, trying to get her bearings, but there were none to get. Just an endless white void, cold and almost endless around her. She tried to think about how she got here. The last thing she remembered was Clutch ordering her destruction.
She instinctively grabbed at her head where the Eggpawn had directed one of his punches but found, to her surprise, that there wasn't a scratch on her.
In fact, now that she had the chance to look at herself, she was in pristine condition! Not a body panel was out of place. She examined the sports tape she usually had wrapped around her hand; now it was no longer frayed around the edges.
"Uuuuuuuugh," groaned a voice, and she turned to see someone picking themselves up off the ground. She didn't recognize them, nor did she recognize the design. And yet somehow it seemed oddly familiar. "My head hurts," they moaned. "Tough? Grumble?" they called out, quickly realizing they were in a bright white void, before turning and their eyes landing on Prototype T. "Who are you?" They asked.
Prototype T swung her leg back, trying to steady her stance as she bared her claws.
"I'll be asking the questions here!" She snapped. "Did you trap me here!?"
"Woah, woah! Easy!" The figure replied, who turned out to be some sort of hedgehog. Though he looked a bit different, almost metallic like her. With red highlights along his quills, which were jagged and went every which way. "I'm just as confused as you are," they continued. "So how about we calm down and try and be reasonable here?"
Prototype T blinked for a moment, then let out a mechanical sigh, and relaxed her stance. Crossing her arms as her tail flicked with irritation.
"Fine, but answer my questions." She snapped. "Who are you?"
"Rude, but regardless, the name's Quill," the hedgehog replied. "The hedgehog of many names." He finished as he did a little bow. "Do you have a name?" he asked.
"Prototype T," the robotic lemur replied, stepping forward and circling Quill with curiosity as she examined him. "You seem to have many similarities to Eggtech. Perhaps an inferior model?"
"What, have you never heard of a Shadow Android before?" Quill asked. Prototype T just glared at him, and he frowned. "To clarify, I'm technically an Alpha Shadow Android. I guess you must be a metal version of Tangle." He began, only to cut off as Prototype T shot her tail towards him, barely missing as he leaped back.
"Don't mention that infuriating lemur to me again!" Prototype T yelled as she drew her tail back.
"What the [$5.99] was that for?!" Quill growled, wheeling around to face her. "What is your deal anyway?"
"I'll tell you just what it is," Prototype T began. "I am the latest and greatest in Eggtech! The pinnacle of all Doctor Eggman has ever created!"
"Is that so?" Quill asked. "I know a guy that would love that blind loyalty you have there. It's the type of loyalty that one should never have towards the Eggman empire."
"Enough of this," Prototype T spat. "I won't have this slander against the Doctor's name, and I still have questions. For one, where are we?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, pal." Quil said, still tense but not as much as he was a moment ago. "Do you remember anything about how you got here?" he asked.
"No," Prototype T growled. It was true to a degree anyway. He didn't need to know anymore. " You?"
"The last thing I remember was powering down to sleep for the night," Quill replied. "So my first thought is maybe this is a dream." He thought for a moment. "Can robots even have dreams?"
"This is pointless," Prototype T grumbled, turning to walk away. But she heard footsteps behind her, and she stopped, turning her head to look back and see Quill following her. "What are you doing?"
"Two things," Quill replied. "One, keeping an eye on you, and two, trying to stick together so we can find a way out of here."
"You can do that on your own," Prototype T snapped back. "From the sound of it, you turned your back on the doctor, and I don't associate with traitors."
"I've only met the man as Mr. Tinker, and from the stories I've been told and the things I've seen he's better off that way." Quill declared. Suddenly, the void around them shifted. The two gasped as their surroundings changed, the white changing hues to greens below and blues above. Trees sprouted and houses took shape. When the shift was finally over, Quill gasped.
"We're in Windmill Village," He realized, quickly running into the town. It was empty, not a townsfolk in sight. But the small village was almost perfectly recreated from the last time Quill had been there.
"I haven't heard of this place before," Prototype T said as she joined him. "How did you do this?"
"I'm not sure," Quill replied, thinking for a moment. "It just popped up when I thought about it."
Prototype T reacted almost immediately, swinging her arm out and focusing on a memory. Suddenly, the world around them shifted once more, and the two were standing in the Restoration's machine shop.
"Woah!" Quill gasped. "Where are we?"
"The Restoration Machine Shop." Prototype T replied, much to Quill's confusion.
"You mean the Resistance, right?" he asked.
"Did I stutter?" Prototype T replied, and Quill rolled his eyes.
"So we can shift this world around us, it seems." She said, turning back to Quill. "Perhaps it's drawing from our memories to build an environment."
"That's pretty cool!" Quill replied before thinking deeply. "I guess it doesn't quite solve the issue of being trapped here, but it's a starting point."
"Gaia above, do you ever shut up?" Prototype T asked, unaware her own form was shifting. "What does an inferior model like you have to keep being so chatty about anyway? The doctor probably threw you in this void because you were worthless to him.
Quill looked back at her, not with anger, but concern. Prototype T narrowed her digital eyes and awaited his answer, still unaware of the shifting happening to her own body.
"Listen," he began. "I get that he's parading himself as the pinnacle of Eggtech, but something tells me there's more to it. So would you be willing to explain what your deal is, or are we just going to be fighting back and forth for who knows how long?"
Prototype T snarled and promptly turned around and stomped off.
"Where do you think you're going?" Quill demanded, chasing after her.
"Go to hell!" Prototype T snapped, flipping the hedgehog the bird without even looking, still not realizing the change in herself. Quill promptly leaped forward and grabbed her arm, having had enough.
"Look at this!" He said, forcing Prototype T to see her own wrecked arm. She froze. Stared, then her gaze shifted to the rest of her body, and she began to panic.
She yanked her arm from Quill's grip and shrieked. She looked like a complete wreck, like she was fresh off of Scrapnik Island with those wretched repairs.
"You—YOU!" She snapped, glaring at Quill, who immediately backed off as he saw the look of rage glitching on her visor. "You made me look at this! Gaia, damn it, you're the damn cause of this all!"
The void around them began to shift once more as Prototype T bared her claws, the shape of the abandoned flying battery forming around them.
"I am going to clean my claws so the wound doesn't get infected when I STAB YOU." She declared, lunging forward. Quill immediately leaped back and turned on his heel, dashing down the halls to get the hell out of there. Prototype T gave chase but immediately lost him in the winding corridors.
Quill seemed impossibly fast, almost as fast as Sonic. Prototype T struggled to keep track of where he was, the metallic echo of footsteps ringing out through the empty halls as he broke the line of sight.
"You can run, but you can't hide!" She snapped, digging her claws into the floor and with all her effort, ripped a giant gaping hole in it.
Quill, having just been under the whole as form, immediately thought fast and leaped up, delivering a smooth kick to Prototype T's head. She spun, quickly recovering.
Quill continues his momentum and latches onto the ceiling. Just for a moment. As the debris cleared, he narrowed his eyes.
'That strength doesn't match up with her physical condition,' he thought to himself. 'So on top of the world around us, maybe our visual condition can be changed as well.'
He leaped back and rolled along the floor to dodge a strike from Prototype T's tail, still trying to think of a plan.
"Just stay down and DIE!" Prototype T yelled as she threw some of the debris at Quill, and he was forced to parry it, blowing it back her way.
"Alright, too emotionally unstable to try and bargain with right now," he said, igniting his hand with fire. "But if you're going to fight by this void's rules, then I'll do just the same!"
The world shifted once more, and the two found themselves in the middle of the Spiral Hill Mineral Museum. Quill slammed his hands down to hold himself in place as his legs began to rev up a super peel-out.
"Let's see if the pinnacle of Eggtech can handle this!" He yelled as he shot forward, arm back for a punch. Prototype T leaped upwards to avoid the blow, latching onto the railing above for the second floor as Quill screeched to a halt, quickly revving into a spin dash and ramping off an exhibit. He didn't have to worry about destroying anything due to it being a void.
"Take this!" Quill yelled as he shot through the air, only to be stopped by a powerful downward kick, sending him falling to the floor. He hit the ground with a CRASH, finding himself lying flat on the ground. Suddenly, Prototype T crashed down directly onto his back.
"Ow! [Half-price shitake mushrooms]!" He screamed as Prototype T kicked him into the wall.
Prototype T gripped him hard with her tail, dragging him back over to her, forcing him to face her.
"I'm going to enjoy dismantling an inferior model like you," she cackled. "Any last words?" She asked, eyeing the dents and scratches on his body.
"I'm right where I want to be," he replied with a smirk. Suddenly, his damage disappeared, and he completely ignited himself in flames, pushing Prototype T back in the explosion.
"AGH She screamed as she hit a wall, struggling to stand. "What the hell!?"
"From what I can tell," Qui began as he dusted himself off. "Not everything is as it seems here. This void can not only change its own appearance but also the appearance of those in it, even if it doesn't reflect their physical state."
"How in the hell did you come to that conclusion?" Prototype T growled, steadying herself against the wall. Quill just smirked.
"Guess I'm just really in touch with my emotions," he replied. "Helps I got that emotion drive."
The two lunged at each other once more, with Prototype T ducking under a flaming punch to deliver a smooth uppercut to his chin. Quill countered by rolling into a spin dash and charging at her, forcing her to tank the blow. She did her best to hold him back with her tail, but it was no use. She was thrown away, heading straight for the wall again. She quickly thought hard and shifted the scene around them to a pier in the ocean.
The same pier that had Clutch's base.
She froze, then looked at Quill. The hedgehog could see desperation in her eyes, as memories of that Eggpawn came flooding back. Every. Single. Punch.
"Now, do you want to end this and work together?" Quill asked. "Or are we going to continue fighting?"
Prototype T was silent, then shut her digital eyes tightly. Then, they shot back open, glowing an even brighter red as if there was sunlight for a lens flare.
"I'd rather DIE than lose to an inferior model like you!" She snapped before leaping forward. "I AM THE PINNACLE!"
Quill winded his fist back as far as it would go, and quickly timing his move, he thrust it forward with all his might. He hit her right in the metallic gut, and since metal can't absorb hits to soften the blow, she took the full brunt of it, and she shot backward, rolling along the pier until she shot off and into the water with a SPLASH!
Quill was surprised at this. He didn't expect the water to be real, he'd thought it had been a trick of the light. He stood on the end of the pier and let out a sigh. Or at least, the robotic equivalent.
"You know, something tells me you could've been saved." He said to himself. "Maybe you can." As he spoke, he noticed his hand looked... transparent? It was strange, like a tingling sensation. He could feel something in the back of his mind, like he was waking up. Warmth on his face like a sunrise. "Guess this is all a dream," he said to himself. "Even so, I'd love to one day meet you again. Maybe then you could have a chance at happiness."
And with that, Quill faded from the void. He woke up recharged and ready for the day. Meanwhile, the void itself still sits in wait. Resetting the visual changes the two had made that day.
---
Clutch smirked as the Eggpawn tossed Prototype T's lifeless robotic body into the sea, watching it sink down into the depths as he stood on the pier. He gazed back over to the Egg Carrier, which was still in the beginning phases of its makeover.
"Shame you weren't more useful," he chuckled. "You could've been very happy just staying in the dark about it all."