It's been a while since my last entry here. Rather than waiting until the story is finished (which would be smart), I'm going to publish it here as it gets done...and probably fix the mistakes I make as I go along. This is a story about Metal Sonic. I intend to make it far more darker than my last entry (Old Wounds), so it's not for the faint of heart. Infact, I'm still playing around with a few ideas in my head

Okay, some background info: This story is set in the Sonic X universe, but I do refrence a lot of classical elements of Sonic, so if you don't understand what I mean, then please ask. It's four years after Cosmo died. Infact, it's been four years since Robotnik (Eggman) tried anything to capture Emerald Hill Zone. This is why it's quite the surprize when metal Sonic appears and attacks Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails.

Well, that's all I really have to say. Hope you enjoy the story.

___________________

ALONE

Part 1~Nostalgic

In the begining there was nothing. A black void where no memory or pain existed. Then there was red and black. Nothing else existed but the red and black that formed the figure of an obese doctor with a twisted dream. The second that the blue spine-covered machine saw these images, he knew what he had to do. Somehow, he knew that there was a hedgehog named Sonic before the doctor mentioned it. He also knew that there would be no peace for him as long as this hedgehog lived.

So the metallic replica of Sonic the hedgehog set off to find the original with only one thought in it's mind: homicide. What the metal hedgehog wasn't expecting was that the hedgehog had so many friends. Sonic seemed like a worthy opponent alone. With all his friends behind him, he was indestructable.

Metal Sonic's last few seconds of life was Sonic's shoe coming down fast on his face. Too fast to stop.

Then there was nothing again. The black void had swallowed him again, taking away the frustration of being unable to kill Sonic. The nothingness that was metal Sonic's new life didn't seem to last long. It was as if a few moments passed...

...when in reality, three months had passed.

* * * * *

Metal Sonic lay battered and broken on the ground, his skull crushed by Sonic's shoe. Knuckles, a red echidna with who had lost his temper just moments ago, stood over the metal corpse with a wrinkled nose. A two-tailed fox stood nearby, looking down at the metal hedgehog with a gleam in his eye.

Sonic the hedgehog, now twenty, looked his metal counterpart in disgust. Four years had passed since the last time Robonick had tried to kill Sonic. The years hadn't changed Sonic much at all. He still wore the same red shoes and white gloves, but now his quills were slightly longer and he had a single bang hanging down from his forehead. He also had a scar across his chest from an accident in Tails' lab, but he didn't mind it. He had saved the fox's life by moving him before the tornado's blades chopped the kitsune in half. He'd do it again if he needed to.

"Do you think it was Eggman?" Knuckles asked, using the doctor's long-used nickname. Other than increased muscle mass and braided hair, the echidna hadn't changed much either. He cracked his massive knuckles, looking as if he wised metal Sonic had put up a bit more of a fight.

"I doubt it," Tails said, looking at the metal replica with a spark of interest in his eye. The twelve year old fox who was wise beyond his years was slowly coming up with an idea of how he could use this pile of scrap. Tails was the one who had went through the most dramatic change. His voice was slightly darker and the white fluff was dissapearing from his belly. There were now only white spots to remind him of a time his whole stomach had been covered. The fluff was now only on his chest, standing out amongst the yellow fur. Tails had also smoothed out his bangs, flatening his hair and giving his head a rounder appearance. It made him look more intelligent.

"Tails is right," Sonic decided seconds later, "We havn't heard anything from the old man since he stopped hunting us down four years ago. There's no reason for him to want us dead again."

"He might be feeling nostalgic," Knuckles interjected, "Dreams don't just dissapear. Remember how obsessed he used to be? How crazy he drove all of us when he just...stopped?"

He didn't need to remind anyone of the time after Robotnik's dissapearance. Every mobian in the Emerald Hill Zone was so tense in the few months afterward that almost no one walked the streets. Soon afterward, the paranioa wore off and all the mobians slowly forgot that Robotnick had even existed...

...and because Robotnik was no longer a threat, Sonic and his friends were no longer needed. It didn't take long for the other mobians to start charging them for every luxery that had gotten out of curtiosy. Sonic no longer had a house and now lived with the sixteen year old Amy, who was barely able to avoid forclousre herself. Tails had to downgrade his lab and even sell off his Tornado a year ago to pay rent. The only one unaffected was Knuckles, but this was only because he lived in solitude on Angel Island.

"I don't know," Tails said, interupting the silence that had befallen them, "Robotnik is unprdictable...maby it is just a stray?"

Sonic rubbed his quills. He didn't want to think of the doctor returning to his old self and attacking the people of Emerald Hill again. No, he wouldn't think of Robotnik attacking the people of Emerald Hill. It was just too...hopeful. The idea of going back to his old life, where everyone wanted his autograph, was just too bright a prospect to the cold reality that the Sonic team lived now. This had to be a fluke.

"I think it's a glitched robot, guys," Sonic said, kicking his metal counterpart in the rib one last time.

"Can we bury him, then," Knuckles asked with a grin, "I want to practice on a dumby before I put the real thing eight feet under."

"Don't you mean six feet?" Tails asked, fighting the impulse to roll his eyes.

"No," Knuckles replied.

"Do what you want with him," Sonic replied, crossing his arms in annoyance, "Just stay away from the fridge if you come by later. Amy is already tight on money, and I don't know if I can hold down my current job long enough to replace everything you eat."

Knuckles hopped once, preparing himself to lift Sonic's heavy metal counterpart. Tails scratched his chin, his grin spreading. Perhaps...

"Knuckles, can I please have him?" Tails asked, a creative glint in his eye.

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged questioning looks before Knuckles replied, "Wanna trade?"

Tails grimmanced. He had a bad feeling that he'd be parting with more than just a few trinkets...

* * * * *

After three long hours of negotiation, Tails managed to get metal Sonic's corpse at the cost of a generator, a TV, a DVD player, and his entire DVD collection. That was quite the sacrifice considering that Tails had sixtey-three different DVDs.

He stared at the crushed skull of metal Sonic, deciding that it would be best to just scrap the old design all together and replace the crushed piece. He sighed, wondering again why exactly he thought it was such a great idea to take the blue robot from Knuckles. He saw so much potential in this blue-blur doppleganger...

...but it was wasted. Robotnik was no longer a threat. All the gizmos and gadgets Tails could install to the new metal Sonic would be of no use. Missle detectors wouldn't be needed if there were no missles. Super-speed was pointless if there was nothing to outrun. A clever mind was no better than a stupid one if there were no rival to compare it with.

The twelve year old fox rubbed his hand down his face, resting it on his snout as he thought of those times long ago, when his genius was actually needed. Now it was being wasted. The mobian government wouldn't sponser someone his age, despite the degree he had received when he was ten.

There was another reason that Tails couldn't get work inventing. Ever since Cosmo's death, Tails had to take medication to fight off his depression. Even though they never said anything to his face, Tails knew that they were afraid that he'd need medical support. They didn't want to have to pay for his problem.

So, now the twelve year old fox sat in a battered wooden chair in a small room crammed with inventions that no one would ever use. It was almost impossible to walk and if it weren't for a small wooden table that held the tools, Tails would be totally lost in the room full of bitter memories.

Before Tails had any idea what he was doing, he had taken metal Sonic's head off of it's battered body and set it on his small desk. He examined it, taking it apart piece by piece. There wasn't much new in this machine. Tails was rather dissapointed in Robotnik. He expected an evil genius to learn from his mistakes and try to improve rather than try the same trick over and over again...

That was when he found the memory chip. It was small, stuck inbetween two pieces of machinery that didn't belong together. This greatly confused Tails for quite a few minutes. Why would Robotnik place such a valuable piece of equipment in a place that it didn't belong?

Tails walked out of the small lab, going into the even smaller toolshed that he conisidered his house. It wasn't as messy as the lab but it was twice as claustrophobic, everything being inches apart from one another. His kitchen was a micro-wave and a minifridge that sat next to a computer that was placed next to the bed which was right next to the door. Above the door was a shelf full of blue-prints, which would have been in his lab if he had room for it...

Trying not to imagine his "house" shrinking anymore, Tails sat at the small chair by his computer. He examined the chip a little more, being cautious. It could be a hacking tool of some sort. What would Robotnik do with the information stored on his computer.

Then again, what would Robotnik do with a hundred and thirty straight pages of fanfiction? Tails grinned.

He put the chip in his computer and waited to see if anything would pop up. A movie program opened. The chip had recorded video feed of everything that metal Sonic had seen. Well, it was called a memory chip...

Suddenly, Tails was staring at a very familiar face. He jumped, almost falling into his bed when he realized that he was staring at Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Tails felt his fur stand on end. He hated this man so much...

The fat man with the orange mustace laughed at the screen. The sound quality was horrible. Tails might as well have been listening to nails on a chalkboard for all this was worth. He rambled on for about twenty minutes.

"Once you deal with Sonic," the red and black Robotnik said to the screen, "then I can unleash my real plan. That hedghog and his friends will never see it coming!"

Tails felt his pulse quicken. He leaned foward in the chair, waiting for Robotnik to spill his guts. That's when the picture jumped to metal Sonic fighting Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails.

Tails didn't know how he should have felt at that very moment. Scared that Robotnik was back? Stressed that there was something else up Eggman's sleeve? If anything, Tails felt happy. No, that wasn't the word. He felt...

Nostalgic.

Tails ripped the chip out of his computer and ran to Sonic's house. Even though it began to rain, the twelve year old fox didn't care. He couldn't wait to tell Sonic!

The old Sonic team was back!