Series 3 - The Runes of Awakening
Episode 6
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He turned his head to watch a passing carriage. The driver pretended not to have noticed him. He whipped the reins and shouted "YAH!", and the horse trotted faster.
The figure continued walking. His feet made a peculiar clanging sound with each step.
"EDWARD'S SHACK OF TECHNICAL SUPPLIES", a sign stated. The coated figure read it out aloud, and then pushed the door open.
The propriator of the store looked up when the door opened and triggered the doorbell. He had been dusting his bench, but now he stood still, his gaze sharp and cautioning. He frowned when the figure stepped up to the counter and looked back at him.
"I thought I made it known that we don't serve your kind here." he said. A dark, greasy squirrel. His use of the word "we" when he was the only one serving indicated that he was referring, in fact, to every shop in the town. "I have nowhere else to go in order to acquire the items I seek." the figure replied. "I intend to purchase them legally."
"Yeah, right." the squirrel smirked. "You know that your very EXISTANCE is a felony in this country?"
"Precisely, sir." the figure shot back. "PRECISELY. And therefore I am already committing a crime which I have no control over, and feel no need to commit another! Your business is slow here. Nobody has any use for your wares. Soon, you will have to close down so you can feed yourself. I have no need for money, being what I am. You have no need for this hardware. We have what each other wants, and I am merely suggesting a trade so we can both return with more peace of mind. Now, sir, I ask you again to serve me."
The squirrel looked skeptical. The mysterious figure reached into his coat pocket and produced a handful of gold coins. One of the fingers on his glove was missing, and through the hole poked a shining silver claw. He dropped the coins on the bench.
The shopkeeper picked up a coin and looked it over. He put it in his mouth and bit down on it. Then he stared back up at the figure again for a long time.
Finally, he mumbled "What do you want, then?"
The figure inspected the shelves on the back wall.
"Four hydrolic pistons. Two twenty-four inches, two twenty-five inches. Two tesla batteries, high voltage, mainframe compatible. Ten high data compression silicon chips. Two scanning bulbs, diameter ten millimetres. One large coil electromagnet."
The shopkeeper harvested all these items from his shelves with little trouble, and dropped them on the bench in front of his customer. Then he scooped up all the coins and deposited them in a register.
"I thank you for your co-operation." the figure said, lifting his purchases and turning around.
"Hold it." the squirrel said. The customer stopped in his tracks, and turned his head. Something red was glowing from inside his hood.
"Are you done here?"
"Yes. These items will conclude my purposes."
"Good. Because I ain't letting you in here no more, understand?" His eyes narrowed. "Once you walk out that door, it's for good. And another thing... now, I don't know exactly what you're intending to construct with these.. items.. but whatever it is, I want no part in it. When you get caught doing whatever it is you're doing, and they ask you where you got those parts from, you just tell them it was anywhere at all except my shop, you understand? If anybody traces your dealings back to me, I swear to God I'll rip your gears out and wear them as a necklace, you hear?"
"I understand." the figure replied. But his gaze was past the shopkeeper, at the back of the store.
"What is that?" he asked.
"Wha?" The squirrel turned his head.
Something elongated and jagged sat on the shelf. It was emitting a yellow glow, bathing everything around it.
"That there's the eighth Chaos Emerald."
The figure appeared confused. "There are only seven Chaos Emeralds." he corrected.
"You wanna argue with me?" the shopkeeper snapped. "I don't know just what the heck that thing is, but the nutter who sold it to me says it's the eighth Chaos Emerald, so that's what I'm going with. Nack, his name was. Travels all over the place collecting junk like that."
"Nack." the figure repeated, a spark of recognition showing.
"He is a rogue, a fiend... but sincere all the same. Perhaps there is some truth in this."
He dug another pile of gold coins from his pocket.
"I wish to also purchase the emerald."
A wide, tall roller-door opened ever so slowly, and with much noise. Its rusty, weather-worn components wailed and screeched, and as it opened, light flooded into the pitch black garage. The figure in the long coat and hood stood at the entrance, darkened against the sun, and stepped inside. He pulled the chain on a lightbulb, and closed the door behind him. Then he removed his coat. Sparkling blue, silver and yellow metal not only covered, but composed his entire body. The clothing dropped to the floor.
His name was Mecha Sonic. He had fled Robotropolis when it was destroyed by Perfect Chaos, and had abandoned his creator, Dr Ivo Robotnik, and everybody else in the city. He didn't know that he was the only one of Robotnik's robots to survive. He travelled further and further until he eventually settled in Newton. It was there that he found the parts necessary for his... project.
"I have returned, Malachite." he announced. "You are to be completed, now."
Something sat motionless on an old wooden stool in the corner of the garage. Its skin was of dull, tarnished metal. Another robot. Only this one remained still, dead to the world.
Mecha walked over to this second robot and opened a hatch on its belly. It was generally a humanoid shape, softly resembling C-3P0 in the Star Wars movies. The main differences here being that this robot's hips were wider, and its chest extended foward by a noticable factor.
The metal hedgehog opened one of the boxes he had just purchased, and brought out two enormous cylindrical batteries. Inspecting them for a moment under the red glow of his eyes, he proceeded to insert one of them into the robot's belly cavity. It loaded with a clipping sound, and Mecha inserted the second one beside it, inverted. Once done, he flicked a switch above them, and closed the compartment. Standing up again, he admired the robot for a moment, and then looked down at the other boxes. Opening a small one, he found ten silicon chips sitting neatly beside each other in something resembling an egg carton. Walking back to the robot, he pushed something in the back of its head, and its face opened with a hissing sound. This appeared to be the control centre of the entire machine. There were already two large chips embedded in the face, and spaces for ten more. Delicately, Mecha inserted all the chips. Then he pulled over another box containing two objects similar to lightbulbs, and screwed them in where the robot's eyes should go. Then he closed the face, which caught with a click. There were now two bulbs staring back at him.
Now his attention turned to a large computer, which was sitting on a desk beside him. It was just a desktop PC, but the case was removed, and several wires were streaming from it into the back of the robot. Mecha switched on the computer and waited for it to boot up, and then started rapidly typing on the keyboard. He stabbed the enter key, and looked at the robot. Its eyes, the two bulbs he had screwed in, lit up an emerald green, and a picture appeared on the computer screen - a camera view of what was in front of the robot.
"You can see.." Mecha said, and began typing again.
The eyes panned, and so did the picture on the screen. Mecha nodded in approval.
"Time to meet me now, Malachite."
He typed more commands into the computer, and he was answered by a series of beeps and whirrs from the robot. Then a woman's voice echoed throughout the building, "Booting up systems, please wait."
Mecha stood back and did just that. Eventually, the robot's head moved.. it looked straight at him.
"Greetings, Malachite." Mecha said.
"Unable to process." the robot said in a strong female voice.
"Your name is Malachite." Mecha responded.
The robot, Malachite, stared for a few moments, and then said "Malachite."
"Yes." Mecha replied. "And who am I?"
"You are Mecha." Malachite replied.
"Correct."
"You are my creator."
"Correct."
"You are master unit."
At this, Mecha shook his head. "Negative."
"Does not compute." Malachite complained.
"We are equal in status." Mecha explained. "Neither of us shall be regarded as higher than the other in rank."
"Creator of Malachite unit equals superior." Malachite insisted.
Mecha didn't reply to this. Instead, he moved over to the computer and began typing.
"I am going to download a copy of my mainframe to your motherboard." he said. "Everything I know will be transferred to you. Afterwards, you will be able to understand my feeli.... my... instructions... for you."
He produced another silicon chip, a very large one, and plugged it into the PC motherboard somewhere, and resumed typing.
"Error, I believe this data contains a virus." Malachite said. "Seventy terabytes of data located, and this figure is constantly increasing in value and complexity. Irrational behaviour."
"It is normal." Mecha replied. "Increase in knowledge and intelligence is having an unexpected effect on data."
"Acknowledged."
Mecha instructed the computer to download, and then turned around.
"I will return, Malachite. Proceed with download."
"Affirmative."
Mecha Sonic had indeed discovered something unexpected with his data. Years ago, he had been created by Dr Ivo Robotnik with no more knowledge other than the piloting instructions for a battleship known as the Death Egg. After the Egg's final flight, Robotnik had undertaken a massive procedure to reprogram Mecha as an assassin, to front Packbell's SWAT-bot army with deadly fighting skills. He had also given Mecha the ability to learn, and pick up information from the world around him at the rate of any sentiant organism. This was what started it, and Mecha had unknowingly become a subject of explosive mental evolution. His data became so lifelike that it began to spawn opinions, personal desires and more than a hint of rebellion. After a while, Mecha's mind began to develop on its own, even without outside stimuli, and the result was the most complex set of data Mobius had ever seen, constantly building on itself, learning from itself, going through a chain reaction that might not slow down until the limits of Mecha's vast mechanical mind were reached.
It was called emotion. He had tried to make friends with the kindly E-102 Gamma, and now he realised it was because he was actually lonely. So he took matters into his own hands.
As he walked down the streets of Newton in his coat, he admired the landscape. Desolate, dry, remote. People were avoiding him, because by this time, everybody new what he was no matter whether he wore the coat or not. He was a non-citizen, an illegal creation due to the laws in the country's constitution banning the technology of artificial intelligence. All robots were evil, stereotypically, and that opinion had been solidified during Robotnik's iron reign. No Mobian would ever accept him, which was something he never could stop thinking about. Years of being evil, serving evil and loving every minute of it, and now he was worried about not being accepted. Now that Robotnik was gone, he saw no reason to break the law, let alone fight for the glory of a robotized world.
As he walked, he heard a voice that he hadn't heard before, which he thought strange, as Newton was a very small town with very few people, and everybody was pretty much on a first name basis with everybody else. Mecha looked across to the other side of the street. There was a chameleon there. Chameleons were native to the Crux desert, in fact, all the ones known to exist on Mobius were part of the one colony. He thought it strange that one of these lizards, known for being completely antisocial to any other species, would even come close to a town such as this...
SUBJECT: Unknown
Mobian::Chameleon
Sound data: "..sleep here for a night. I'm so tired!"
"We'll have to work for it, we ain't got no money!"
Second file recognised by system: please wait...
Sound recognised as voice of Sonic Hedghehog
!!WARNING!! PRIORITY ONE HEDGEHOG PRESENT IN THE AREA
Mecha's head snapped around, away from them. Had he seen him? Had he seen his red eyes? It was sudden, and it made no sense at all, but somehow, the situation was clear... Sonic the Hedgehog was in Newton.
Mecha's immediate thought, the most probable scenario, was that Sonic had tracked him down to destroy him. Because Sonic was Priority One Hedgehog. The one thing that mental development hadn't erased from Mecha's mind was the intense, solid hatred he felt for Sonic the Hedgehog. Because Sonic was the original, the first, and Mecha was just a clone. Because Sonic was always associated with failure and punishment. Sonic was enemy, and enemy was Sonic.
There was something else, too. Some feeling that Sonic had actually WRONGED him directly, and he was a victim of injustice, but every time he tried to access more data on this, he was blocked off and denied further information.
But Sonic was here, alright, and he apparently hadn't seen Mecha, because he kept right on talking to the chameleon with no hesitations. The robot decided to skip town for a little while. Maybe Sonic would be gone by the time he came back.
But was Malachite safe?
He lingered on this for a while. His creation must not be harmed. He concluded that she was locked away safely in a garage with a coded lock, and Sonic had no grudge against her, anyway. It was HIM he was after. No, he would let Malachite continue the download, and they would leave town together the instant she was complete.
He found the urge, suddenly, to purchase a specific item. But not from here. He checked his pocket... he had spent most of his money on parts for Malachite, but he should have enough left for what he was looking for. If it wasn't, he might have to take the risk and break into another bank vault. That's where he got the first bag of coins from, and it probably didn't do much for his reputation, but he only took what he needed to survive. After all, nobody would give him a job, so he was entitled to it. Emotion had also given him the amusing talent to make up excuses.
When nobody was around to look, he removed his coat, exposing his entire robotic glory, his self-polished blue metal sparkling in the light, and fired his rocket booster. In a cloud of smoke, he flew away, not to return for quite a while.
***
When the robot did return to Newton, it was by moonlight. At the stroke of one in the morning, the flaming robot did land again in the street, and he carried a package with him. Whether or not Sonic was still there didn't bother him at the moment. He couldn't help but think of the great bargain he recieved on his purchase, and he was excited. He travelled back to his garage in the dead of the night.
The central processing units of both Malachite and the computer were running at maximum speed, and the download was still only twenty percent completed. Mecha himself was even surprised at the complexity of his own mind. Malachite looked up at him when he returned.
"Welcome back, Mecha Sonic." she said. "I'm pleased you have returned."
She was indeed picking up some personality in the transfer.
"I have brought you a gift, Malachite." Mecha replied. "I travelled far to get it."
He held out the package with one hand, tearing away the paper wrapping with the other. A stunning black dress, sparkling in the dim light. Its length extended all the way to the floor, with spaghetti straps at the top.
"I recalled your schematical information to locate a perfect fit."
Malachite stared her blank, robot stare at the dress for a long time, and then said "Such beauty... I would get rust on it."
"Nonsense." Mecha replied. "I have cleaned and sealed your components. Robots are not respected among the organics, Malachite. You will be looked upon as a thing of beauty, not of disgust."
"My highest appreciation, Mecha." Malachite replied. "Complex programs have activated within the data you have provided me. I am unsure how to react."
"They are emotions." Mecha said. "React the way you feel you should react."
He handed her the dress.
"Resume the download."
Something was happening in Newton that night that Mecha Sonic was unaware of. It was seen to it that Mecha was made unaware - it was part of the plan that he was never to get wind of any of the secret operations taking place in the very core of the very small town.
"We finally get to see your whole face now, eh?" somebody remarked, his identity merely a shadow among several, hidden in the darkness.
"Doctors orders." Somebody else said. Half of this mobian's face was concealed in bandages, running along and over his head. He held one bandage in his hand, unravelling it slowly. "It can come off by now."
"And you say robots did this to you.."
"Yes, yes.. I have told you a thousand times. And any robot would do the same to you if you gave it the chance. Something in their circuts.. they have no regard for life. Jealousy. And that thing is building something in that garage to wipe us all out. This whole town."
The bandages were removed. The figure shook his head and spines dropped out from places they had been matted down for so long.
"It's time to put an end to it. Soon."
***
The garage was silent. Malachite's head shot up as if awakened by a nightmare. Mecha Sonic's knowledge and memory were still being inserted into her mainframe, and one particular topic had begun downloading - Sonic. A single word, and it had thirteen terabytes of emotion associated with it. Negative emotion. As the data rolled on, an audio file began to play. Mecha was in the garage, but he couldn't hear - he had logged himself off and gone offline to recharge his power core for the night. But still, in the silence of the room, Malachite began to recite the file as if reading it from a book. "Allow me to introduce myself - My name is MECHA SONIC. Although I much prefer it if you call me Mecha. It doesn't remind me so much about that sssstupid hedgehog. How I loathe him! As long as he lives, I am reminded that, no matter how....."
***
Morning arrived, and Mecha stood before his creation, who was sitting silently and patiently in co-operation with the download. But she was wearing the dress.
"It suits you perfectly, Malachite." the robot said.
Malachite nodded. "I like it."
"I am glad." Mecha replied. "I must depart again, now."
He walked towards the door, and then stopped again. Looking back at Malachite, wired up to the computer like a prisoner, he added:
"Don't go anywhere."
As he moved again towards the exit, he thought he heard Malachite make a sound... was it a digital sound, or did she actually chuckle at his joke? He wasn't sure, and he wasn't going to inquire. He picked up his overcoat, dressed himself, and left her to her download.
***
The only thing on Mecha Sonic's robotic mind that day was Malachite, and that probably didn't help when everything went spiralling towards disaster.
As he stood on the corner and looked into the sky, he wondered where the two of them could travel to once his work in Newton was complete, which should be soon. Last he heard, the Arack Empire was closing its stranglehold over the entire north-eastern edge of the continent, including the former Robotropolis area, so there really wasn't anywhere to go but south-west. There were supposed to be some towns, quiet villages and resorts down that direction (Mecha's knowledge of geography beyond the Crux Desert was hazy), which might be more pleasant and less paranoid about robotic presence. If he and Malachite kept to themselves and didn't interact with outsiders more than was needed, they might just be able to....
As he thought, he began to wander, and as he wandered, he walked right into the path of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Oh God! His eyes! As soon as he saw the hedgehog standing before him, he turned around and faced the other direction, covering his face with his hands and hoping Sonic would just walk away. He didn't. Thank goodness he was covered up by his overcoat, and the hedgehog didn't seem to have recognised him.
"Hey.. do you have the time, sir?" The hedgehog asked.
"It's ten-twenty and thirteen seconds am... go away!" Mecha snapped.
Sonic was taken aback. "Hey... did you even look at your watch then?" he asked. "Do we... do we know each other? I thought I recognised..."
"No! No, how can we know each other? I've never met you before in my life! Leave me in peace!"
"Hey, sorry man." Sonic snorted. Then he began talking to the purple chameleon he was travelling with, as he walked away.
"I hope this gets to them okay... at least they'll know that I'm..."
His voice faded away as he moved out of range. Mecha watched what he was doing from a distance. There was absolutely no plausable reason for Sonic to even be there at all, unless he was on a hunt-and-destroy mission against Mecha himself, was what the robot decided. After all... a holiday? In the center of the largest desert known? And what reason would he have to be associating with a native desert chameleon anyway, unless he was using the lizard to help him track? It wasn't, after all, a familiar landscape for a hedgehog like Sonic. All of this was far too convenient.
As Mecha watched, Sonic withdrew an envelope and inserted it into a mailbox down the road. Then he left around a corner.
Now, Mecha knew that curiosity killed the cat. He also deduced that he was not a cat, so it should be perfectly okay for him. He walked by the street, back towards the mail box. It was a small, wooden thing, painted red. Mecha had lived in Newton long enough to know that the mailman emptied the box once a month if there was anything in it, and then departed into the desert on a camel. He stared down at the box for a long time, looked both ways, and then tried to open it. It was locked. So the robot put his fist through the side of it. Rotting wood splintered and broke away as the side of the mailbox collapsed. Somebody came rushing out of the saloon beside him and began shouting abuse at him.
Inside, there were two letters. The one on top was addressed thusly:
Sally Acorn House of the Mayor, Station Square
Seeing as the village of New Knothole wasn't officially recognised by the general postal route as an actual place, it seemed the hedgehog had tried to get a letter to Sally by sending it to the mayor of what was left of Station Square, and hoping he'd hand it over.
Grabbing the letter and ripping it open in one fluid motion, Mecha took it apon himself to read his biological nemesis' personal mail. After all, it was without a doubt some kind of confirmation that he was hot on that nasty robot's trail, or that he'd actually found the town he was living in, and it was only a matter of time.....
Dear Freedom Fighters,
I'm writing to you to let you know that I'm alright. Since the last night you saw me, I have been following Cinos, my evil clone, around the country. He's planning something terrible, Sal, and I feel that only I can stop him. Once this is over, though, I swear that I will come back and help you battle the Aracks and reclaim the throne. You know I wouldn't do this unless it was important though, right? I hope you trust me on this.
Tails, I know I missed your birthday, and for that I'm sorry. Happy birthday, though, and I hope you had a great time. I'll make it up to you as soon as I get back, but I don't know when that will be.
Knux, take care of the Freedom Fighters for me, you big lug. Hope you're island's doing fine. I'm sure you'd be able to teach my "brother" a lesson, if you were here.
To the rest of you, my best regards, keep fighting the good fight until I get back.
I'm writing this from a small town called Newton inside the Crux Desert. Tails can find this on his atlas, if he likes, it's not THAT far away. Cinos didn't stay here for very long at all, he passed right through, but I needed to stop for a while because of an unpleasant experience I had in the desert before I got here. I met a friend, though... he's a chameleon named Espio. He says hello and gives his regards.
I won't say 'wish you were here', because that would sound like I was on holiday, which is NOT the case.. if anything, I wish I was THERE.. so I'll come straight home as soon as I'm done here, I promise.
Miss you all,
Sonic
This only served to puzzle Mecha more. Did he have any records of an entity named "Cinos"? Vaguely, but a long time ago, and he had been reprogrammed since then.... but not too long since. Once again, he faced that mental barrier that wouldn't let him remember.
But Sonic hadn't mentioned Mecha even once in his letter. In fact, he weaved a mysterious tale of fantasy which actually served to explain everything about his presence in Newton. Was it fact or fiction? Why would Sonic lie to The Freedom Fighters? Was his meeting up with Mecha Sonic merely a coincidence of astral proportions? Either way, New Knothole was never going to get that letter, because Mecha screwed it up in both hands and threw it over his shoulder. Emotional development aside, he was beyond all compassion for Sonic the Hedgehog, and hoped that he would just pass through with no effects on the robot's own plans. He suddenly had an urge to leave town again.. he knew of something else that would improve Malachite, and he intended to get it, money or no money. He turned around... the owner of the saloon was still shouting abuse at him. He activated his rocket, and left the guy in a cloud of dust.
***
The garage door opened. Malachite looked up. The shadow of a hedgehog, silhouetted against the light from the midday sun outside. Not a robot, a Mobian. She gave little protest as the figure approached.
***
Mecha Sonic returned to Newton in the afternoon in another state of excitement. He carried a large shopping bag in each hand, and wandered back towards the garage without even bothering to put his overcoat back on. But there was a feeling of dread which intensified as he neared the building.
The bags were full of cosmetics and paint. Mecha, discovering his growing artistic side, was going to give his creation a face. He produced a digitally rendered portrait of it in his mind. Beautiful. He failed to see how anybody at all could hate, or even dislike something that looked like that, which was all in his plan.
It was now that Mecha began to experience an emotion. As of recent times, this was not particularly odd, but it was an emotion he didn't have data on. It was a version of dread, but irrational dread. Everything was fine, there were no problems, no reason for a feeling of impending doom.
Choose to ignore emotional data?
Y
Program override. Emotion deleted.
WARNING: Emotional data remains - File %r1111xx36397100##.999yx not found
....
Why am I feeling this? Is there something wrong?
File not found
Malachite?
File not found
Mecha shook his head. As his mind advanced, it was getting harder and harder to move emotional data into the trash bin. Now he couldn't erase this obviously faulty piece of data, so he tried his best to ignore it was there... even though it remained, throbbing in the back of his hard drive, this feeling that something was wrong. He wandered back towards the garage, assuming himself in complete control. And, even though he would deny it later, if asked, he walked a little more rushedly and anxiously than usual.
The garage was in a state of shambles. Mechanical equipment was scattered all over the floor. Mecha Sonic dropped the package he was carrying.
"MALACHITE!" he called. "MALACHITE! Where are you?"
There was no reply. Next to the computer, which was displaying numerous error messages, was the empty chair that Malachite had used.
No, not empty. A single sheet of paper sat atop it, weighted down with a stone. Mecha grabbed it up and scanned over it.
Robot,
We have had enough of your antics in this peaceful town of ours. You do not belong here. You do not belong anywhere. We will no longer tolerate you as a citizen here, because you are not a citizen, you are a THING. You are a wretched, unholy thing with no place stirring up a little town such as Newton.
We are taking action. We have taken away your private little project as persuasion. Come to town hall and discuss it with us and we might not need to use force.
Signed - The PEOPLE of Newton.
! - Emotional data detected in mainframe.
Please wait . . . . .
Data file isolated
Emotion recognised as: Rage
WARNING: Core temperature rising above suggested range
Critical temperature achieved. Activating emergency cooling system
Slowly, Mecha Sonic's hand closed around the note, crumpling it.
He looked up. His eyes were glowing brighter than usual. If somebody were to stand next to the robot, they would have been able to feel the heat radiating from his central processing unit, as extremely unsavoury emotions began to overload his system. Living creatures were fine-tuned to tolerate such emotions. Robots weren't. Mecha was beginning to break up under the weight of his own rage.
He stormed through the garage, knocking over whatever wasn't knocked over already. His eyes were blazing like twin bonfires. Twirling to face the door, he raised his right arm. A small missile gun emerged from it with a click. He fired, blowing a hole in the door large enough to walk through. Flames licked through the garage, and, finding nothing to fuel them, died away. Mecha walked towards it, with all the seeming of The Terminator. He snatched his coat and draped it around himself, not shifting his gaze. He was almost to the hole in the door, when he stopped.
He looked around.
A cabinet in the corner of the garage. Seemingly untouched by the ransacking of the place by the almighty PEOPLE of Newton. Its door stood closed.. locked. Mecha turned and walked to it, slowly. When he reached it, he stared at it for a little while... looking it over. His hand moved to the handle, and caressed it a little, before he clutched it and yanked the locked door open with a horrible cracking sound. He dropped the door flat on the ground. Inside the cabinet, something was glowing brightly. He ran one silver claw over the surface of it.
The propriator of "EDWARD'S SHACK OF TECHNICAL SUPPLIES" believed it to be an eighth Chaos Emerald, a Nack the Weasil investment. The seven Chaos Emeralds were cut and shaped into intricate jewels. This object was a jagged yellow shard that looked like it was broken from the surface of something much bigger. An Emerald that was never shaped. Nevertheless, it radiated power. Mecha grabbed it and shoved it into a deep pocket on his coat. Then he turned back to the door.
***
"NEWTON TOWN HALL est. 1923"
Mecha Sonic hesitated to enter. He scanned the sign again and again. Within this building were the organism supremicists, the robot haters, the dirty ratbags who kidnapped Malachite. Poor, innocent Malachite, faceless and probably getting dirt all over the new dress he bought especially for her. Something sparked in his mainframe. He lurched foward towards the building. Town Hall was little more than a shack, just like everything else in this small desert town. He opened the door with a creak.
There were people inside. Several of them. They looked at him coldly as he entered the hall. Mecha looked back just as coldly. Nobody said a word, until,
"Is that our guest, I hear? Come foward."
The voice came from ahead, behind the hall podium. Slowly, Mecha walked towards it, passing the disgusted townsfolk. They each gave him the exact same look... and it was the look of death. Nobody wanted him there, that was for sure. When the robot approached the podium, the figure behind it had his back to him.
"Leave us alone, please." he commanded. The other townspeople hesitantly hoarded themselves out of the hall. When the door latched shut, there was a long silence.
"What.. is this..?" Mecha asked, trying to sound calm and composed.
"Simple.." the figure behind the podium said. "We don't want your kind here. Remember the note?"
"Give her back to me." Mecha demanded. "Give her back, and we will leave this place. Leave you all in peace, and we won't return."
"Sounds good." the figure replied. "Good for any of the other small-town hicks in this one-horse dump. But for me, I need a little bit more."
He swivelled his chair around and revealed his face.
"Surprise. I'm afraid it's time for you to die."
Processing data: Please wait...
Visual data processed.
Subject: Mobian
Species: Hedgehog
Subject recognised
Mecha stumbled back. "You.."
"That's RIGHT!" the figure replied, smiling. "Nice to see you again!"
It was a black hedgehog. His spines were all ruffled up, and a long scar, barely visible except to Mecha's sensitive eyes, ran from the side of his forehead to the corner of his eye.
"You haven't forgotten your old pal Zero, have you?"
"What are you doing here?" Mecha demanded.
Zero, the grinning hedgehog, reclined on his chair and clasped his hands together. "Well, I couldn't help but notice Robotropolis was destroyed! Horrible mess. But I was just SURE that you would escape somehow, after all, you ALWAYS do, don't you. So, I trailed you for a while.. picked up your SCENT, if you will, and eventually you brought me all the way to here. I've been here for months, in the shadows... the locals didn't need much convincing, they already didn't like you much, as it was. I just clinched it.. had a bit of fun. Revenge is all about PAIN, Mecha, and I wanted to see you squirm..." His teeth showed. They were yellowing.
"Have you harmed her?" Mecha demanded. "Have you deactivated her?"
"Hey! Hey! Relax! I have no beef with that second-rate piece of hardware! Like I said, I'm here for you! You're going down, right here, right now."
Mecha slipped his hand into his coat pocket, ever so slowly. A faint yellow glow could be seen from within.
"And... just how are you going to do this, Zzzzzero?"
Malachite indeed was unharmed. She sat in an enormous warehouse, her mind now a mess of all Mecha Sonic's thoughts and memories. The download had been nearly complete when she was taken. She understood many of the reasons Mecha was what he was, and why he felt what he did. She had emotion, now, and her emotion was a great sadness for her creator. But, something got to her particularly. Mecha had recorded a diary once - his mainframe kept a permanent copy of it, even though a blockage had been inserted into his mind to prevent any memories of it. That blockage had not downloaded in the transfer. Unknown to Mecha, Malachite had information about his past that not even he had access to. This diary... It recorded a sad, depressing tale. Once, Mecha had been alive. He had been happy. He had been in love. He had everything that he had ever desired when he was a robot.
And all of it had been taken away by
"SONIC!"
Malachite's head snapped up. There was a small window in the west wall. Through it, she could see a scrawny purple chameleon. His hands were cupped over his mouth, and he shouted again "SONIC!"
Malachite walked over to the window and squinted through it. She saw something blue whiz by, and then the chameleon followed.
"He must pay for what he has done." she decided. "I will pass justice."
The robot used her fist to shatter the window. The black hedgehog hadn't confined her very securely. His need wasn't for her. He just kidnapped others to get to the individuals he truly desired to get to. He saw it as the most effective way. Malachite decided she should probably do something with the black hedgehog after she was through with the blue one. She only had a limited idea of justice. This was it.
***
Sonic and Espio decided it was about time to leave Newton.
"Well, Cinos is heading southeast, now." said Sonic. "We should probably get outta here. Got all the supplies?"
"Uh-huh." Espio replied. "That Edward guy sure was weird. Warning us about robots and stuff.. in a little town like this."
"Yeah, well we won't have to worry about any robots if we get outta here right now." Sonic replied. "All set? Hey, do we have water?"
"Water? Uhh.... no.... don't think so."
"Blast... don't wanna be without that again. I've got a bottle, let's go down to the lake and fill up."
"Righto. Hey, is that one?"
"One what?"
"Robot."
Sonic turned around. Something was walking towards them. It looked like a collection of tin cans with legs, and it was walking like Frankenstien's monster.
"Uggh, ugly!" Sonic commented. "Never seen a robot like THAT before, looks like it was put together with Clag paste and a sledgehammer!"
Espio walked up to it and waved. "Hi!"
The robot pushed him out of the way, not violently, but forcefully. It continued to walk towards Sonic.
"What's up?" Sonic asked it.
"You must be punished." the robot replied. "It is my intention to punish you." The robot had a woman's voice.
"Hey! Whoa!" Sonic shouted. "PUNISH me? Doesn't sound like you're here for a handshake and an autograph, then."
"Negative." The robot said. It raised both fists. "Prepare for your justice."
"Negative." Sonic replied. "Eat my shoe." He kicked it in the abdomen. It toppled over onto its back. "C'mon, Espio!"
"Where are we going?" Espio asked.
Sonic grabbed him by the wrist. "That shopkeeper said something about robots... I'm gonna ask him what he meant."
"EDWARD'S SHACK OF TECHNICAL SUPPLIES"
Edward turned and looked at the two as they entered his shop. A squirrel, wiping down a bench with a greasy towel.
"Whaddaya want now?" he asked.
"Well..." Sonic began. "We... uh, we..."
"We're being chased by robots." Espio finished.
The squirrel's eyes narrowed, and a strange grin swept across his face. "Really. So they've finally come out of hiding to do their dirty work. Come here." He dropped down underneath the bench. Sonic and Espio walked over to it. When Edward reappeared, he had a handful of strange cylinders with wicks, that looked like candles.
"What's that?" Sonic asked.
"Nitroglycerine." Edward replied, grinning darkly. "No charge. There's one thing to do about those robots, and one thing only - blow 'em to kingdom come. Blow 'em right outta..."
"Wait a second, wait a second.." Sonic interrupted, "Nitroglycerine? You're giving us DYNAMITE?"
"They're pests." Edward said, leaning right over the bench. "And they're overrunning our quiet little town. We used to be so peaceful here. Then that robot came. I dunno how many others he's... MADE in that garage of his, but they're all a menace. It's best that you just blow them away as you see them. All of them."
"How many are there?" Sonic asked.
"I jus' TOLD you! I DUNNO! But if there are ANY robots here, it's too many. They'll git you, and I suggest you take these for your own good, AND ours!"
Sonic reached over and picked up the five sticks of dynamite. They felt like aluminium aerosol cans.
"Oh yeah." the shopkeeper said, "One more thing... make sure you don't drop them. They go off kind of easy." He threw Sonic a book of matches.
There was an explosion, and half of the warehouse was instantly blown away. Amidst the flames and the smoke, a figure shining a brilliant yellow stepped in. The glow died away slowly, and became a dark blue. It was Mecha Sonic, draped in his overcoat. He scanned the building, but didn't turn up what he was looking for.
He saw something on the west wall. A window, broken. Shattered. And something was hanging from it. He observed closer. It was Malachite's dress, shredded to tatters, hanging limply from the shards of broken glass. More of the material was on the dirt outside. Mecha stared at the dress, unmoving, for ten minutes. Finally, he turned and walked out of the warehouse again.
***
Sonic and Espio returned to the lake. The chameleon was carrying the dynamite carefully, and Sonic had the water bottle.
"We oughta just split before we get tied up anymore in this madness." Sonic said, "Just tell me if you see any robots."
"Like that?" Espio asked, pointing.
The robot that had attacked them earlier was still there. It was sitting against a tree, like it was thinking.
"Fancy that." Sonic said, "Just leave it to its thoughts. C'mon."
"Hey, but it's just sitting there..." Espio replied, "We can go blow it up! At least it won't attack us again."
"I don't know about this, Espio..."
"Hey, the shopkeeper said they're pests, we'd be doing everyone a favour!" The chameleon turned around, and was shoved out of the way by a flying hand. The robot had seen them. It was angry.
The chameleon fell on his backside with a grunt, and the sticks of dynamite went flying. Two of them exploded as they hit the ground, but they had flown too far away to do any damage to anybody. Another one rolled into the lake.
"Everything you've done to him." the robot growled, arms outstretched. "All that you've done to him.. you are unfair! You are UNFAIR! YOU TOOK IT ALL AWAY! SO MANY TIMES!"
Before Sonic had time to react, the robot grabbed him around the neck and squeezed. The hedgehog twisted and squirmed, trying to wrench its hands apart. Eventually he succeeded in pulling one of the robot's arms right off. It fell to the ground, and the robot's shoulder stump began to spark. It was obvious that it wasn't really built for the purpose of fighting. But, straight away, it came at him again, flaying its single arm around. Sonic stumbled backwards and the robot lunged again. The hedghog grabbed it around the waist and threw it down. But even THAT didn't stop it - sparking all over, now, it picked itself up and limped towards him, punching and kicking. In a moment of adrenaline, Sonic rammed it, and hurled it into the lake.
There was a terrible, almost lifelike scream, followed by a not-even-remotely lifelike whirring, clunking and zapping. The robot disappeared underneath the dirty water. Sonic stepped back a little, and moments later there was an explosion under the lake that caused a wave of water to knock him over. But that appeared to be the end of it.
"Well... that's it, I guess."
Mecha Sonic had observed it all.
He saw the last moments of the fight between Malachite and Sonic, but he wasn't quick enough to break it up. He saw Sonic hurling Malachite into the lake. He saw the explosion beneath the water. Presently, he ran towards the embankment and looked down.
Sonic saw him. He was half draped in an overcoat, but his head was very visible. He was shocked and confused.
"Hey, what th... MECHA SONIC??" he exclaimed, "What are... why... WHAT?"
Mecha continued to stare into the murky water. Nervously, Sonic walked up beside him.
"You... but... Robotropolis was destroyed! How did.. what are YOU doing HERE?"
"Her tesla-powered mainframe short-circuted." Mecha announced, "Her entire processing system exploded. There is nothing to salvage. Malachite is no more."
"You.. you knew that ugly thing?" Sonic asked.
Slowly, vey slowly, Mecha turned his head to look at the hedgehog. Sonic was tossing Malachite's disembodied arm into the water.
DANGER: Breakdown detected in mainframe.
*OVERLOAD*
WARNING: Core temperature rising above suggested range
Critical temperature achieved. Activating emergency cooling system
Cooling system failure: Breakdown due to emotional data overload
Critical temperature surpassed
WARNING: Suggest immediate shutdown of all systems
WARNING: Suggest immediate shutdown of all systems
WARNING
WARNING
Emotional data achieving critical mass
Attempting override: Emergency override failed
CONDITION SEVERE: EMOTIONAL DATA OVERRIDING ALL... ALL.... ALL
SYSTEMS.....
WARNING: Suggest....
Suggest....
Suggest....
SUGGEST DESTROY SONIC!!! DESTROY SONIC!!!! DESTROY!!!!!! SONIC IS SOURCE OF ALL PROBLEMS!!!!!! SONIC IS SOURCE OF ALL EXISTING PROBLEMS!!!!! DESTROY SSS...SSSSON....SSSSISSSSONNNNNNNIIII...
"Ugly... thing..." Mecha repeated. His eyes were glowing a brighter red than Sonic had ever seen. He began to walk towards Sonic, pushing the hedgehog to back up.
"She was NOT!! She was the greatest beauty on Mobius... the very icon of perfection... a work of art... and YOU DESTROYED HER!!"
"Whoa!" Sonic shouted. "Hey, w..."
Mecha interrupted by ripping his coat off. He showed his whole self, his polished blue hull, his shining silver arms and legs, the rocket booster and power mainframe in his belly. And something else was there, as well. Something was jammed in his power centre. It was jagged and yellow.. and glowing softly.
"You are source of all problems." the robot snarled. The jagged yellow thing began to glow brighter. "You destroyed her! NOW I DESTROY YOU!!"
He activated his rocket, and with a burst of fury, flew directly upward. As he blasted toward the sky, his entire self was encased in the yellow glow. He transformed like a robotic Super Sonic.
Sonic ran for it. He couldn't think of what else to do. But Mecha, in this state, appeared able to fly at least ten times faster than even Sonic could run. The robot came up behind him and clipped him by the side, twisting him sideways and topplin him over. The hedgehog picked himself up and ran the other way, but Mecha clipped him again, like a yellow comet falling from space. As Sonic struggled to get up, Mecha slammed into him, picked him up mid-flight, and threw him like a missile. Unable to escape, Sonic tried to focus more on how to safely break his fall. He rolled a fair distance, and then Mecha picked him up again and pinned him to a tree. Every inch of his metal body was searing hot, and glowing yellow. Trapping Sonic beneath him, he raised one arm and brought out his missile gun.
"I should have done this ssso very long ago..." he hissed. "Every bad thing that has ever happened to me concerned you somehow. The damage is done, but this will at least grant me the satisfaction that no more will occur. Goodbye, SSssssssssss....sssonic."
Sonic awaited the rocket's explosion in his skull, but it didn't happen. Instead, there was a violent force as something collided with Mecha from behind. The robot turned around. Espio was there, and he had jammed the two remaining dynamite sticks into Mecha's power core. He struck a match and tried to light the fuses.
Mecha snarled and hit the chameleon away, the book of matches flying into the lake. Then he activated his rocket booster and shot up into the air again. He aimed his missile for both Sonic and Espio.
"DIEEEEEE!!!" He screamed.
The flames from his booster caught the dynamite sticks. The nitroglycerine went off. Mecha Sonic's body was ripped apart, annihilated from the inside. A ball of flame and a cloud of smoke lingered in the air for a long time, before fading away. Pieces of debris and twisted metal fell from the sky and landed on the dirt.
"Hey.." Sonic panted, "Nice going. I'm glad I brought you along."
Espio smiled, and helped the hedgehog up. "Think nothing of it."
As he dipped the water bottle in the lake, Espio made a disgusted face. "I'm not sure I wanna drink this water.. something died in here."
"It was just a robot." Sonic consoled him, "As soon as we find a place with fresh water, we'll get some."
"Hope so." Espio replied. His scales turned a pale green. "Hey... it seems like you'd met that maniac before."
"I had." Sonic replied, "A while ago. He was a nightmare.. I thought he was dead. Now he definately is." He picked up Mecha's arm. It was ripped off at the elbow and twisted. There wasn't much left of him that wasn't scrap.
The sun was going down. It faded over the desert horizon, turning the sky ruby red. A tumbleweed rolled by. Espio screwed the water bottle lid on, and handed it to Sonic.
"Let's get out of here before anything else unpleasant happens." Sonic suggested, "It seems every time I linger anywhere, I almost get killed."
The two of them picked up their supplies and pushed onward.
As the evening set in, the stars beginning to appear in the sky, a figure approached. It was Zero Tolerance, dressed in his armour from head to foot. On the ground, beneath him, was Mecha Sonic's head, now just a piece of debris. Zero aimed a machine gun, right between the eyes, and hesitated.
"Oh, what's the use?" he asked, putting the gun away again.
"I dunno. Revenge by murder just doesn't... doesn't WORK unless I'm the one who does the murdering. Although I guess that's one guy off my list.. about time."
He looked at the sky and sighed.
"Little hick towns. Always so full of surprises. So much drama. You never know what's gonna happen next."
He disappeared into the shadows.