I got so excited seeing that this had been updated (I thought I had it set so it would alert me but it didn't), but seeing your note I'm not going to lie I was crushed beyond all belief.

BUT in saying that, and being in a similar rl situation I know how tough it is to get to do fanworks when there's so much going on that needs your attention first. And I honestly appreciate you giving us a rundown of how the final chapter would have gone and still giving it your all despite it being a summary. I hope that someday you may be able to write the whole thing out, but this is still so much more than I or anyone else could ask for for something that is written for free.

All up, thank you once again for writing so many amazing stories. It's hard as hell finding fics that are so engaging and so in depth these days that are based off SatAM; it's my main Sonic fandom and it's always awesome to see fans still writing for it with so much love. Best of luck to you in your rl endeavors, and thank you once again for everything!

So I ended up binge reading both The Learning and this in about under a week. I happened across The Learning while going through god knows how many fanfics in this site but managed to spot it through my browsing.

And after reading both I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It has been years - and I mean this wholeheartedly - since I've been this immersed in a fanfic. I loved the way the original The Learning started as episode chapters, and did not expect it to turn into something so huge. And to have a sequel that's just as big, I honestly cannot express how much I enjoyed reading this. Even though you managed to tear my heart to pieces in some parts but that's all part of the experience. I'm actually really enjoying the longer chapters - the short chapters are great for a "breather" session, but the long chapters grip me so much more and I actually get startled when the chapter is over because I still want more.

On top of that, when I realised you've been updating this story for six years, my god, I genuinely cried with happiness. I've come by a few fics where they've been abandoned at the most critical part, and while I understand things happen, it still drives me mad to know what could have been. You're a MVP, seriously. And this being a SatAM fic on top of that still, this is my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I love Sonic in general but SatAM is my "home fandom", and it makes me ridiculously happy to see there are people that still enjoy working in that universe after all these years.

I'm usually terrible at reviews and I always hesitate to give them because of that, but I just had to say something! Once again, thank you so so much for writing this and for sharing it with us. I haven't enjoyed a fanfic like this in so long and I am so glad I came across your work. Looking forward to the next chapter whenever it comes!

I'm finding the initial immersion a bit light for my tastes. This is subjective, but I really like being dunked right into a new story. Your first chapter tells me a couple of facts about the time in which this story starts, but it doesn't create atmosphere. The first bit of atmosphere I encounter is in paragraph 2, where I see Nicole talking about the weather and get to imagine the refurbed palace. But there isn't very much description here either. Impress me, draw me in! Is the palace opulent and gorgeous, or is it a bit bare because the war's just ended and there isn't much money to go around, perhaps even for royalty? If so, what does such a palace look like?

I love good dialogue, and sharing in Nicole and Antoine's banter (or as much banter as you'll ever get from that one, very sincere coyote), is a delight to read! I hope to see more of it.

When you started describing Nicole in terms of her beauty, I actually found myself a little disappointed. Sorry about that, mate - it's just that it's been done to death, most certainly for the Sonic girls, and there seems so much more else about Nicole that is interesting. What sort of queen does a computer make? Does her AI ever come across as obviously synthetic, especially considering the very natural banter she just made with Ant? How does he feel about being the Captain of the Guard to such a being? That's what's really capturing me at this point. You hint at something interesting at the end of the paragraph: that she will not age. This also means that she potentially may never abdicate. I'd like to say that I think she eventually would, because most people would get bored of the same job for so long, but she's an AI so can't get bored. Heck - she's not a dangerous form of self-improver, ís she? She'd make Robotnik look like a basket of kittens by comparison.

On a technical level, I'd say that your writing is pretty nice - straightforward but natural. I think a good story should be unfussy and let the reader hear the story. I would, however, suggest reconsidering starting your sentences with a noun and then an -ing word: personally, I find it jarring, because it's technically incorrect. It always feels to me as if you should have used a comma rather than finishing the previous sentence.

Poor old Antoine, as superstitious as ever. But then, that adds a level of romance to a warrior's life.

I like this first scene: it has a nice, neat ending!

I don't know who this character is, running through the rain. At first I thought Sonic, then I thought Knuckles, but I'm not sure. I'm going to go with Knuckles, but I'll ultimately keep an open mind.

I like your showing of Nicole's POV in scene three: the way she identifies her three visitors. Not like a biologial being would. You're not anthropormorphisizing her when you do this, you're showing her to be a machine, which is what she is. Good work, and I'm crossing my fingers that you keep doing that, because again, having a character who *can* come across as warm and companionable like she did to Antoine while actually being a cold but very clever AI has great appeal to me. Mainly because I like seeing unique characters.

I'm also liking Christof. He calls Nicole 'my friend' apparently out of habit, but the exposition makes clear that there's been some bad water under the bridge. Since he's being chummy with somebody who may be an enemy (forgive me being so blunt about that while I don't know any better how the land lies between these characters), he brings Sans the Skeleton to mind. I find this an exciting prospect too, since if he's anything like Sans, he's friendly because he's wily. Wily characters surprise and delight you often!

Oh! So there's no question of Nicole abdicating, she's actually setting herself up to only be in charge for a limited space of time! Fair enough. I wonder what she'll do after that...

Legacy, Christof? What use does a machine have for legacies? The fact that Nicole states that she doesn't have one and wants there to be regular changes of leadership to keep things fresh is interesting (partly because I suspect she's actually planning to retain power somehow, if not by being in the position of Prime Minister. After all, if she's a good leader, why not keep continuity of leadership to make sure that more long-term projects remain intact?)

'She gave a wistful sigh.' Heh. Maybe I'm being too skeptical of Nicole, but I get the impression this is something the AI's doing for effect.

Oh! So Sonic's out of the picture for the foreseeable future? Interesting! That really gives the other characters a chance to shine, which sounds great to me.

So our mystery assassin breaks his hand. This is where I began to pine again for more description. I like the story, its pace, its characters, but to make it something truly special I'm hankering after a bit more description, just enough to make it immersive. There's no need to slow the story down by making it too description-heavy. But that moment of panic and then the broken hand are both fantastic opportunities to bring the reader into that world.

So when the murder happens, Nicole screams. But I don't believe this is the optimal thing for her to do, so since she is (probably, in your story) an AI, what else might she do? And if she is a hologram, presumably she has difficulty touching things, or can avoid being touched, or something like this. To help underline her non-biological origins (and to introduce some weaknesses in her that might be interesting to know about throughout the story), it may be worth using these first scenes with her in to show her physical limitations.

'In the space of ten seconds, the mood had gone from that of a cordial meeting to a slaughterhouse'. Aww, come on Neon, you can do better than that! It is indeed a swift transition from one to the other, and you might well want to keep that comment about it only taking ten seconds, but I think you can do this in a more atmospheric way than simply telling me.

...well, that was a dirty business. Certainly kept me reading! And I'm dying to know who that latecomer with the broken hand is!

Well, Nicole, old girl, this doesn't look good. I bet you're going to look like the most dangerous type of killer, especially considering you're a machine: a cold-blooded one.

So here, we reach the end of part 1. I'd say that you've got a good word-count here. It makes a short-ish first chapter up to this point, and I'd honestly suggest you move everything below to a new chapter so your reader can't read it immediately. Putting it, even vaguely, out of their reach, makes it more desirable. It makes them want to read it more.

Anyway, I'll read on here.

Aha - Tails! And also, you've included description, here. I think it's nice. It sounds like a fantastic view. I particularly like that you attach something human to it: a judgement: the patio seems to sit with impunity in this mostly natural scene. Your description gives me an image to look at in my mind, and the emotional appeal of the patio sitting there in the landscape all pleased with itself gives me an emotion to latch on to. I wonder why you chose that particular emotion? I'm now feeling that the patio shouldn't be so effing proud of itself (just a natural sense of outrage that it's there with impunity) but I'm not sure what to do with this feeling yet. So I'm going to read on and see how it fits in...

So, yes: Tails. We see Adult!Tails quite often, and I'm always interested to see how he's going to be betrayed. I'm not a big fan of Angry!Adult!Tails, simply because I find he tends to be angsty and not very relatable. I'm interested to see that he's struggling for money and drinking it away. I'd have thought that if he took anything from his years with Sonic, it was the lesson that if you act over-confident you can get a lot of what you need. Perhaps even what you want. Does your incarnation of Tails not have this, then?

I'm certainly getting a feeling that he wants a home. Not just a physical one, but an emotional one. And although he sounds sullenly angry about his lot in life, he doesn't have that bandana-grenades-'fuck you all, muthafukkaz!' anger that puts me off.

All of that difficulty in his life and he refuses to steal. I like this Tails!

At this point I find I'm getting reading fatigue. Generally, I find it best to break chapters into 3-4,000 word chunks to avoid this in my own readers. I'll be happy to review more of this, but for now, I'll have to leave it here.

Thanks for an entertaining read!

Well, this is an interesting story which I'm glad I've found. Characters are well written and the plot works relatively well, although I'll be honest and say you lost me at the start and it took me a while to realize the different sections of the chapters were happening in different time periods. I really like your version of Fiona, particularly with the Ferro Maljinn style hiss in the earlier chapters I pictured her hissing when angry in a draft that I wrote a couple of years ago andI've always felt it suited her. I look forward to reading the concluding chapters.

"Like I'm ready to kick ass and eat chilli-dogs. And I'm all outta chilli-dogs." Classic SatAM Sonic Moment. :)

A fantastic chapter that really gets the plot moving. Can't wait to see if Sonic and Tails can save their friends from this treachery. I do love how you tweaked the characters here.

Great Sequel so far! :)
You Version of Fiona Fox is really unique.

Dun.

Dun.

Ddduuuuunnnnnnnn!

Well Fiona turned good fast, didn't she?

On a distinctly perturbed trajectory, I see. Please, resolve Nicole in the end. She's my favorite character and she already been through so much pain from the citizens in the comics. It would be nice to see her with a happy ending.

Other than that, It's nice to know I'm not the only one who knows bash to any degree on this site. Great plot. It's a bit dark, but then, so was the first one too.

Please keep it up!

Very well written story and I hope to see more of this.
Stay Golden,
Swift

Aww that was nice in the beginning, but then it turned kinda sadistic... Aww...

Oh that's deep, the kitsunes are the BAD GUYS?!

Please update soon!

I do hope that you update this story soon, its really good!

Cool. Hmm how long will tails and Fiona spend time alone and get to know each other? (we all know in this story he could use someone in his life after marr.) and will nicoleever be proved innocent? I sure hope so... Good story!

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