A Robotic Heart

[AnimatedC9000]

Just in time for the holiday season, a new update is on its way!

Yes, folks, YOU could be one of the lucky few to witness such an event unfold! Watch as a writer summons up the urge to write again and post a new chapter to this almost forgotten story! A must-see event! Once-in-a-lifetime oppertunity! YOU CANNOT MISS OUT ON THIS! ! !

... *ahem* Anyway, expect an update of this soon. XPPP

 

[The Count]

Good,we await he update soonish. *Leaves macaroon 18 cookies.

 

[RedPiggy]

Bumpity, bump bump, bumpity bump bump, look at Caitlyn write ...
Bumpity, bump bump, bumpity bump bump, you're almost done, right?

 

[AnimatedC9000]

Chapter 24

"Movin’ right along, footloose and fancy-free! Getting there is half the fun, come share it with me! Movin’ right along-- Come on guys, sing along! We’ll learn to share the--"

"Shut up, Digit," Francine deadpanned, covering her ears. "You’ve been singing that song since forever ago…"

We (meaning the band, Leon, Lindbergh, and myself) were on our way to our first day of work. Clifford was driving the car, and Lindbergh was giving him directions. The rest of us were squished into the back few rows. I was trying to lighten the otherwise dreary mood of the morning, but there were just some people that wouldn’t hear it.

"Aww, cheer up, guys," the kiwi piped up, "we’re almost there. See?" He pointed to a building up ahead which I knew housed Muppet Central.

Eventually, we parked the car in the parking lot and filed into the building. As soon as we walked in, our curiosity consumed us and we explored a nearby room. Dozens of computers and monitors lined a wall and different programs were being played on them. We all looked on in awe at the new advancements.

And then I saw… her. The angel that I had been hoping to meet again. She was walking past the doorway to the room that we were in at the moment, but that was enough to set my heart aflame.

All of a sudden, I felt the urge to sing amongst everything that was happening. I just couldn’t control it. I took a deep breath in, and…

"Hello, ma baby! Hello, ma honey! Hello, my rag-time gal! Send me a kiss by wire, baby my heart’s on fire! If you refuse me, honey, you lose me, and you’ll be left alone. Oh baby, telephone, and tell me I’m your own!"

Looking back, I’ve realized that not only wasn’t that the right song for the tone of the atmosphere, but the rest of my friends were giving me weird looks afterwards.

After finishing the song, I somehow changed back to normal. It turned out that it was only a mild glitch, but it still made me flustered. "Oh, I hate it when these things happen," I told myself. "I shouldn’t even be here…"

Imagine my surprise when I heard someone applauding my singing. "Wow! What an incredible number!"

I was a little startled by the voice and the clapping. Nevertheless, I turned around to see a blue hooked-nose… something or other. "Why, thank you!" I replied, a smile forming on my face.

"It's amazing how you mesh a big band piece with some good old Eighties flair," he told me. "And I can't help but notice the amphibious reference! Are you a fan of Chuck Jones too?"

"Amphibious reference?" I repeated, slightly confused. Then I thought about what he meant for a brief moment and responded to him. "Well, yes, I am a fan of the Looney Tunes, if that's what you meant. ... Um…" Suddenly, I realized who I was speaking to. "Are you the Great Gonzo, by any chance?"

"The one and only!" Gonzo confirmed with a huge grin. "So to speak. Anyway, please tell me you're the new band!"

"Yes, we are the new band," I confirmed. "These are all the members of Solid Foam, including myself. My name's Digit."

"Are you number or anatomy?"

That caught me a little off guard, but after a moment, I was back to replying. "Semi-robotic, actually."

"That is soooo cool!" the blue creature exclaimed. "I've been asking Kermit for YEARS to make me semi-robotic!" There was a pause before he looked downwards, a frown on his face. "But, he always says we're over budget," he sighed.

"It's actually a long story that I'd be glad to tell you sometime." I cleared my throat and tried to change the subject a little. "So, I take it that we will be working together, correct?"

Gonzo shrugged. "If we're working under the same roof, we're working together," he answered. "That's how Kermit does things around here."

"I see," I said with a nod Then, something occurred to me that hadn’t before. "You know, I've just met you, and yet… I feel some sort of a connection with you, Gonzo. Sounds strange, I know…"

"Yeah, I get that all the time," the hook-nosed wonder spoke up. "People always expect me to play the saxophone for some reason."

"Even though I'm a musician myself," I began to say, "I'm actually interested in the fields of science and technology."

"Hmmm, have you met Bunsen?" Gonzo asked. "I'm a friend of his."

"Actually, he's the man who designed my circuitry," I explained. "If it weren't for his invention, I wouldn't be here right now."

"Huh, you don't say?" The daredevil then patted me on the shoulder. "So, what are you doing besides music?" he wondered.

"I hope to work in the technical department as well," I told him. "I plan on introducing Kermit to a creation of mine." A smile came across my face, remembering Waldo.

"Really?" Gonzo was certainly interested now. "You'll have to let me have a peek."

"Sure, Gonzo. Is there a computer nearby where I can type his code in?"

"Oh, yeah, we got plenty of them in the control room," Gonzo responded to my question. "It houses the main mainframe."

"Do you think you can show me there once the band and I finish up rehearsal in a few minutes?" I questioned him, not knowing if the band wanted to rehearse or not.

"Sure," Gonzo replied with a shrug, "but to get past the doors, you'll need a feather, a top hat, a nickel, and a dust bunny."

My eyes widened. Was finding the control room really that difficult?

"Just kidding." Gonzo smirked, patting me on the back again. "You don't need the nickel."

Before I could ask what else that I needed, Maya walked by with a look of indifference on her face. "Down de hall, third door on de lef’," she scoffed.

After a quick blink, she vanished just as quickly as she had entered. "… right. Thanks, Maya!" I called after her before setting out to find the control room. "Let’s see, down the hall, third door on the left…"

The door was easy enough to find. I turned the knob and was greeted with a pleasing sight. Monitors lined every wall and continued onto the ceiling. It seemed that every program in the universe was playing simultaneously at that moment, and I had access to them all instantly.

It was like heaven to me, but there weren’t any angels to share it with.

Of course, my angel probably didn’t know that she was, in fact, my angel. I still hadn’t had the courage to tell her that I loved her back then. Still, I couldn’t help but imagine all the possibilities that we had for dating ideas (as many as I could think of back in the Eighties). Broadway, Hollywood, the Smithsonian, maybe dinner… who knows? Maybe we could even end up working in the same place together.

Where was I again? Oh yes! Muppet Central, of course!

Spying a computer nearby, I scurried over to it and began typing a series of letters and numbers that made up my creation’s code. Minutes passed before the typing ceased. I took a brief pause and then pressed the enter key, watching the screen for Waldo to materialize.

The little graphic soon appeared on screen, looking like he had just awoken from slumber. "Huh? Where am I…?" he asked drowsily, rubbing his eyes.

"Welcome to Muppet Central, Waldo," I greeted with a smile.

"Muppet what?" The rubber duck-like creature pressed his nose on the screen. "What is Muppet Central, Digit? I can’t see."

Then something happened purely by chance. Waldo fell out of the computer and onto the desk.

"Waldo, are you okay?" I questioned him with concern.

"I think I am." Blinking, he took a look around the central control room. "Woah… this is an AWESOME computer simulation, Digit!" he exclaimed. "Did you design all this?"

I shook my head. "No, Waldo," I began to tell him, "this is where Lindbergh and I work now. It’s a control room."

"You don’t say…" He then flew up to me. "Hey, how’d you get into the computer too?"

I realized something that I hadn’t before. "Waldo, I believe that with all the technology that this place has, you’ve been allowed to have access outside the computer, into our world."

A gasp escaped the red, white and blue creature’s throat. "No. Way. I’m in the human world?" Waldo did back flips in joy. "YAHOO! I’m in the real world! I’m in Muppet Central, I’m with Digit, and I--" He accidentally flew too high and bumped his "hat" on the ceiling. "… ow?"

A light chuckle escaped from my mouth. I could tell already that Waldo was going to like it here. I just hoped that Kermit would approve of my creation being here.

Suddenly, a flash of orange and teal appeared out of the corner of my eye. Turning towards the door, I saw a beautiful woman walking into the control room. She had yet to take notice of me, so I was in the clear to admire her from afar.

"Who’s that girl, Digit?" I heard someone whisper to me.

I gave a lovesick sigh before I responded to the voice. "Oh, she’s the only one for me…"

"Oh, that must be Vicki, then!" the unmistakable voice of my creation realized. "I’m gonna go talk to her now!" Before I knew it, he had started to fly over to her.

"Waldo, wait!" I softly called after him.

Too late, he had already flown near her. "Hi!"

Vicki was obviously slightly startled at Waldo’s sudden appearance. "Oh, hello! You surprised me."

"I can surprise just about anyone with this!" Waldo joyfully stated before he morphed into a cute little kitten and mewed.

"Aww, how cute!" The bespectacled female reached out a hand and petted my creation’s head. Soft purring could be heard from Waldo before Vicki asked, "Do you have a name?"

"Sure do!" He morphed back into his default form. "Waldo C. Graphic at your service. You’re Vicki, right?"

"Why yes," the pretty redhead responded, "yes I am. I’m Vicki Gale, nice to meet you Waldo."

"Well, I hear talk that you know my good friend Digit."

Right then and there, I knew that I had to do something, and fast. What if Waldo revealed that I had a crush on Vicki before I could tell her that I loved her? I started to walk fast over to the two as the girl answered, "Well, we’re acquainted, yes."

"Acquainted, eh?" Waldo echoed. "What if I told you that--"

"Okay, that’s enough sugar for you!" I interrupted him, patting him on the head and motioning him onwards. "Why don’t you run along, Waldo, and meet all of your new friends?"

"That’s right!" Waldo realized. "They don’t know about me being in this world yet! I’ll catch you guys later!" he called over his shoulder as he flew out of the room.

I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief as soon as the graphic left. I was almost certain that he would give my secret away to her. Oh well, at least it was safe for a little while longer…

"Did you design that creature?" Vicki asked me, referring to Waldo.

"Waldo? Oh, he and I are pretty much inseparable," I explained to her. "I created his code from scratch, and now he’s here in Muppet Central. I had no idea that the technology of this place could improve his functioning so much," I added.

Vicki nodded and commented, "He’s very charming."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Keep in mind that it’s only his first outing into the real world."

The bespectacled girl smiled at me. "I’m sure that everyone will love y--him, I mean," she said before clearing her throat. "Well, now that you’ve found the control room, I take it that you can find your way around Muppet Central?"

"Sure," I replied to her, "it seems easy enough." A brief pause hung in the air. "I can’t wait to work with you, Vicki," I confessed, a warm smile on my face.

"The feeling’s mutual," she responded before turning around to leave. "I’ll see you at work on the first show, right?"

I blinked. First show? What did that mean? Nevertheless, I nodded in response.

"Okay, then. I’ll see you later then, Digit." Then she walked out of the room.

"See you later…" I sighed. How long was this being in love thing going to stay with me before I told her?

 

[The Count]

Yaey! *Huge huggles to der Caitlynator. Thank you for updating. It's all wery amusing and sweet how Waldo almost exposed Digit's crush on Vicki. Great interaction between the cyborg and Gonzo. In fact, that roomie of yours practically stole the chapter to himself. This is vonderful, please keep it coming and post more!

 

[RedPiggy]

I still get a chuckle out of Gonzo and Digit. I think you handled Waldo's MC introduction very well. I like how he just spills out of the monitor.

 

[AnimatedC9000]

Ugh, I know. It's been like, forever and six months. X_X

I'm sorry for not updating this sooner, but the truth is that I've been struggling with the next chapter for all. Those. Months. My muse went in a weird hypersleep and only now am I starting to really kick it in gear and I'm trying to finish it now. But no worries, I promise you all that this next chapter will be great, fresh with your daily--erm, a large amount of conedy. ^^

 

[Rose]

I'm just now clueing into the fic, and I really like what I have read so far in the first chapter. I hope to read more of it really soon. I like your idea of making Digit the mane charecter. I really liked the JHH and all the charecters that were in it. It's nice to see somekind of a biginning to the charecters that were in the show. Nice work!

It was the same as it was every night. There I was in the same dark room, and there were my friends, Lindbergh, Vicki, Waldo and all the others, gathered around the same confounded table they were in every dream, performing the same doomed experiment. As I watched them, I noticed, as I always did, that something didn't look right. The chemicals they were mixing were too volatile, and anyone with any training in chemistry could tell that there was a great risk of a dangerous reaction. The people gathered around the table however, had no training. As I looked on with apprehension, I saw Waldo pick up a beaker of what I could tell to be myamila gerisolite, a highly explosive agent even under the best of circumstances, and move to pour it into the compound. Knowing that I couldn't let this happen, I tried frantically to get the attention of one of them. Finally, my calling and arm-waving got the attention of Vicki, who smiled and waved me over. I ran over, in the hopes that I could stop this experiment before it went too far. It was too late. The chemical had been poured; the damage had been done. I heard a ground-shaking explosion, and saw a large cloud of smoke. I felt myself being thrown backwards by the blast, but I knew I was the only one. I couldn't see them, but I knew the others had been caught up in the explosion. Suddenly, I felt myself falling rapidly...

~~~

... and immediately found myself screaming as I fell out of bed.

As soon as my body hit the floor, I sat up and breathed heavily, trying to calm myself down.

I’d experienced that dream--no, nightmare--for weeks upon end now and didn’t know how to prevent it. At first I thought it would pass, but now...

“Digit?u201D

Looking up, I saw my friend and roommate standing at the doorway of my room in his pajamas, tiredly rubbing his eyes. “What’re you doing screaming in the middle of the night?u201D he drowsily asked me.

Apparently, my scream of fright had awoken him from his slumber. Not knowing how to answer him, I simply remained silent.

“Did you have a bad dream or something?u201D

I could not believe how correct Lindbergh was... “... well, yes,u201D I replied, “but… you see… I’ve been having this.. dream for...”

“I know, nights now,u201D my kiwi friend finished, moving to kneel beside me on the floor. “I’ve been hearing that same scream for lots of nights in lots of weeks now. What’s going on with you?u201D

I’ve been asking myself the same question ever since I first had that nightmare. The friends, the dark room, the chemicals, the explosion... it could possibly mean only one thing... “Lindbergh, I think my past is coming back to haunt me...”

Lindbergh looked me over. “... your past? ... like, when you became--”

“Yes, that.” Lindbergh was the only one other than myself that knew about what happened to me… how I became the way I am today...

But he, ever the optimist, tried his best to reassure me that things were okay. “Aw, don’t get yourself worried about this stuff, Digit. Maybe you did something all those nights to make you have that dream... like some of your wires got crossed again.” He paused. "... do you want me to look?u201D

“... no,u201D I said after a period of silence, crawling back up to my bed. “I think I can make it...”

He looked sort of sad after I said that. “Well, okay,u201D he said, then he returned to a semi-chipper voice. “I hope you get to feeling better... Good night, Digit.”

“Good night, Lindbergh.” Then he closed the door and went back to his room to sleep again.

Lindbergh has been one of my oldest and dearest friends. He’s been with me ever since the accident and has never left me since. We were so close that we even moved in together after I was released from the hospital.

Of course, that’s not to say that I don’t have other friends. There’re the members of Solid Foam, a band that I was in back in the Eighties. I played keyboard, Clifford played bass, Beard was our guitarist, Flash on saxophone (although he could also play the fiddle), and his girlfriend Francine was our drummer. We were close as well, and it seemed as if we knew what was going on with each other, especially during that one period of time...

Then there was Waldo C. Graphic, the self-proclaimed “spirit of 3-D”. He was a playful computer graphic who always had fun on the job. I activated him for use on the show and the two of us immediately became fast friends. Of course, he thought I was his mother at first, but that’s a different story.

So many other names came to my mind. There was Kermit the Frog, my boss and friend. Gonzo was also there, that delightful little alien who loved dangerous stunts and poultry. So was Leon, Kermit’s chameleon cousin and con artist.

And then there was that one name that was so dear to my heart. The very mention of it sent a vision of happiness and loveliness to my mind. She was so beautiful and magnificent...

At that moment, my hands felt over just a few of the items that I had taken out during my moments of solitude. A high school diploma... a photo album... a college degree... a paper heart... All of them brought back so many memories...

I knew that I couldn’t go back to sleep. My mind was wide awake and didn’t want to shut down for the rest of the night. Having nothing else to do, I sat down at my desk and booted up my laptop. Then, when everything was situated, I started to type out my life story.

 

[Lil0Vampy]

:0 I can't believe I didnt check this out before! It is fabulous, i say, fabulous! :3

 

[Rose]

Poor Digit! Sometimes when ' things go wrong ' it often turns out for the best allthough we may not think it at the time. But once we ajust to it we think ... well things arn't all that bad after all.

Chapter 3

The day started out like any other normal day. I went to school, took my classes, ate lunch, and studied. However, I had planned to stay after school for a major science experiment and to develop some photos in the lab.

It was quite normal for me to stay after school to work on some days. My mom always knew that I was either at the school when I wasn’t at home (or if I didn’t tell her that I was going to a different place beforehand, which was rare) and even the students expected it from me. To be honest, I didn’t know I was that predictable…

Anyway, on that particular day, I was walking the halls towards the science classroom with Mr. Hucklebee, the science teacher.

“Thank you so much for letting me use the lab for my experiment, Mr. Hucklebee,u201D I thanked him.

“It’s no trouble at all, Michael,u201D he replied, handing me the keys to the science lab. “Just make sure to lock up after you’re through.”

“Oh, I will, sir.” I didn’t know how to thank him enough. That science teacher was one of the nicest guys that I’ve ever known.

After he left, I immediately rushed to the photo lab to check up on the photos and to develop some negatives. Being the head photographer for the yearbook staff, I also had a key to the journalism room and the photography lab.

I took my time developing the negatives. After all, I had plenty of time later to do my experiment. Besides, it was the weekend anyway.

As I strolled back to the science lab, I thought about my life so far. I was going to be graduating from high school next month, the valedictorian of the class. As part of the tradition of the top-honor students, I had a speech written up for the graduation ceremony that I put much time and effort in.

I unlocked the door to the lab and set my things on top of and around a vacant desk. I unfolded the experiment plans and left then open on the table as I went over to the cabinet to fetch the beakers and the other supplies.

While all of this was going on, I was going over the speech in my head. “Fellow graduates, this is a day of rejoicing.”

After setting up the beakers, I carefully brought over the chemicals needed for the experiment. “Today is the day that we leave the life we once knew and go out into the realm of the unknown to polish out skills.”

I hadn’t realized it until later, but I accidentally brought over a very fatal chemical over to the experiment table instead of one of the ones that was needed... “Who knows the great dangers that we might face for the rest of our lives? Nobody knows for sure...”

With all the materials gathered, I officially began the experiment. “... but with our education, our generation will surely rise up to meet any challenge.”

Chemical after chemical, the reactions unfolded out before me. “We must learn to chart our own course in life. The road will be challenging, but for with hard work comes great results...”

After time had past, I had gathered most of the information that I needed and the experiment looked to be a success. “...whether they be small...”

I then reached for the beaker containing the fatal chemical, myamila gerisolite. “... or colossal in size.”

Carefully, I poured a small amount of it in a tube and watched, notebook in hand, ready to record the results. “Because we have the keys to our own futures...”

A single drop was about to enter the compound. "... it would be very frightening if that life was misused in the wrong way.”

It’s amazing how a simple mistake can change a person’s whole life.

An explosion rang out through the almost vacant halls of the high school. Inside the science lab, glass was shattering and the place was filling up with dangerous smoke. The force of the blast caused me to fly backwards into a cabinet.

My head crashed into a shelf and I immediately blacked out, not knowing that this fatal experiment was the ending of the life I once knew and the beginning of a very different one.