An average person would say that Metal was following a simple order when told to defeat Sonic. However, this was an incorrect statement, and defeating Sonic was not a simple order. Such an order had multiple other orders that went unsaid, as defeating Sonic was not possible without following them.
To defeat Sonic, Metal would first have to track Sonic, which was no easy task. Sonic moved constantly, and while the current season of winter made it easier for Sonic to stand out, that would require Sonic to already be in Metal's vision. This made the snowy weather only mildly helpful, undercut by the annoyance of trudging through it.
Metal looked around, checking his energy signatures for the fifth time. The good thing about Sonic was that he gave off a heavy amount of Chaos Energy; an amount that irritated Metal, as it seemed scientifically impossible.
Snowflakes fell slowly from the sky above, landing on Metal's head but going ignored. Metal didn't have time for them.
Suddenly, Metal stopped, his energy readings blinking at him. Sonic rushed past, so quickly that he was a blur of blue.
Metal turned, insulted at being passed by without so much as a "hello." He revved his engine, ready to give chase, only for Sonic to return, stopping in front of him.
"Hey, Metalhead," he greeted nonchalantly. "Lemme guess: you're looking for me?"
"I—" Metal stopped himself. Of course he was looking for Sonic, but he wouldn't give Sonic the satisfaction of having guessed correctly. "I was gazing upon my surroundings."
It wasn't technically a lie.
"Oh, so you're enjoying the snow too?" Sonic asked, squatting down to gather snow in his gloved hands.
Observing Sonic was another crucial step that needed to be taken for Metal to defeat him. For example, since it was still snowing, snowflakes collected on the top of Sonic's head. Some also caught on his jacket—something Sonic often didn't wear—as Sonic moved. Sonic wore a scarf around his neck as well; a dangerous hazard that Metal could use if he so desired.
But, Metal had standards. Defeating Sonic was simply not enough. It needed to be the right method, the right time, and the right place. That was the only reason Metal could not act on his desire in this moment.
Metal watched the curves of Sonic's smile as Sonic packed the snow into his hands. Metal beeped, realizing that he hadn't responded to Sonic's questions. "I do not enjoy the snow. I merely tolerate it due to an inability to change the weather."
Sonic chuckled. "Sounds to me like you just haven't had a good old snowball fight yet."
Metal searched his database for the basic definition of the term, his optics flickering. "That is a game for children."
"And? That makes it not fun?"
Metal pursued the topic despite its ridiculousness. He just had to correct Sonic. "You are no longer a child, and I have never been a child. The concept that I have never had a snowball fight with anyone should come as no surprise."
Sonic hummed. Metal noticed that the snow packed in Sonic's hand was a perfectly formed snowball.
Metal's optics squinted. Having just looked it up, he knew where this was going.
"Don't you dare throw that snowba—" Metal staggered back as his optical screen was covered in white. "—ACK."
Metal shook his head, wiping the snow away from his face. He glared at Sonic, who only laughed in response.
"You take things way too literally, Metal. What, you're going to let some definition get in the way of having a good time?"
"I merely stated a fact," Metal retorted.
"Yeah? Facts used to say that hedgehogs could only run so fast." Sonic leaned forward and tilted his head just slightly, hands on his hips. "But look at me."
Metal rolled his eyes. "You are an anomaly; an exception."
"Isn't that what you wanna be?" Sonic straightened, crossing his arms. "The best way to learn about yourself is doing stuff you wouldn't usually do."
Metal went to respond, but no response came. Metal's reaction wasn't even immediate. It was like his system had tried to restart on him.
Yes, that had to be it. An unusual system restart due to the cold. After all, Metal knew it couldn't be that Sonic had stumped him. Sonic wasn't the least bit intelligent.
Metal beeped, lowering his gaze to the snow. "Regardless, my hands are not sufficient for gathering snow. I am a fighting machine."
"Fighting machine," Sonic echoed mockingly, kneeling down to make another snowball. "A normal fighting machine wouldn't talk about something so smart."
"Something so—" Metal cut himself off. Was that—did Sonic just—
A compliment? No, never. Sonic would never say anything nice about Metal. Metal was Sonic's enemy. Sonic didn't even remotely like Metal.
Sonic reached over, grabbing Metal's hand. Metal recoiled, but Sonic's grip was firm. Firm, yet not aggressive. Metal would almost call it gentle.
"Here," Sonic said softly, placing a snowball in Metal's hand. "It's only fair since I threw one at you."
"Fair?" Metal tilted his head. "I do not believe standard enemies care about fairness."
"Then this is an anomaly," Sonic replied, imitating Metal's voice. "An exception."
Metal twitched, reeling away from Sonic but keeping the snowball. He averted his gaze to it, observing how round and white it was.
An anomaly. An exception. Metal supposed that many things fell into those categories. Even Metal himself fell into those categories, being a robot with free will; not many of those existed.
By that logic, Sonic complimenting him sincerely could've fallen into that category too. After all, they weren't actually standard enemies, were they? It went much deeper than that. Sonic and a typical Motobug were standard enemies. Sonic and Metal, however, were passionate enemies, clashing in ways that standard enemies never could.
Metal's readings rose somewhat, Metal snapping out of his thought processes and looking over to the source.
Sonic had gotten close. Very close. As part of observing Sonic strictly in order to defeat Sonic, Metal took note of Sonic's eyes; wide, green, and with no sense of dullness. His ears were flopped just slightly to one side, his smile tilting to the other side in order to perfectly balance out the—
Metal flinched, instinctively smashing the snowball against Sonic's face. Sonic recoiled, yelping at the cold. Then, Sonic laughed, shaking his head clear of the snow.
"See? You must've had a little fun there."
"F-fun?" Metal wiped his hand of excess snow. "Ah..."
Sonic frowned. "...Something wrong?"
Now, Sonic's frown framed Sonic's face very differently. While his smile remained parallel to the bottom curves of his muzzle, his frown was the opposite, too jarring for Metal to look at.
But, wait. Why should that matter? Sonic's facial expression did not hamper nor improve Metal's ability to defeat him. Therefore—
Metal beeped. "I-I must go."
"Huh—?" Sonic stepped aside as Metal walked past him.
Too much interaction with Sonic, Metal noted, was clearly dangerous. It gave him too much data to process. As for Sonic's smile, Metal concluded that it obviously didn't matter how Sonic's felt.
Metal didn't care how Sonic felt. He never did. Never could. Never would.
Sonic's smile was just objectively more pleasing to look at than his frown. It wasn't that Metal liked seeing Sonic smile. The data harnessed from such a thought didn't even do anything for defeating Sonic.
Metal didn't delete it. Not because he cared about it or wanted to keep Sonic's smile in his memory.
It was just an anomaly. An exception.