Training

by JC303

3 days to train for the tournament King's setting up! These events follow Ch. 14 in 5 Years Later, and each chapter tells the story of certain characters over the course of their 3 days before the tourney!

1. Metal and Jill

If I recall, Future Generations was SO DAMN LONG because Ed and I had to split between, like, 4 different groups in a duration of the week Jill was training, and even before then it took about 2 and a half chapters to go through a single day. SO, to save such problems, I decided to divide everything in a more organized fashion ^_^

First Chapter dictates Metal and Jill's three days of training before the tournament. The next will be the "Clubhouse Pirates" chapter with the old gang, and then it'll be the "Alpha vs. Chaotix" chapter. You can imagine who would be in there :D

So, without further ado, Metal and Jill's chapter.

---

Day One

---

The sun was nice and warm in the late morning. A lot of those on the island were excitedly abuzz with numerous things; mainly this big tournament that King was building up. So many soldiers were picking out spots in town, showing off their moves and training. Crowds gathered around them, cheering them on. King's efforts to take everyone's minds off of what was going on were successful; not one person was considering the thought of serial killers on the loose.

Though a little uneasy about the idea of it, Jill had let Joy go with Whisker and the boys, or as they like to call themselves, the "Clubhouse Pirates." Ani promised that she would tag along and make sure to keep an eye on Joy. It wasn't just Jill worrying over Joy either. She wasn't used to spending so much time away from her daughter. Not to mention that she was spending more time with Metal now. It was an adjustment she had to get used to.

Jill sighed. It seemed no matter what, she was never completely relaxed. She always had to be worrying about something.

"...gosh, everyone's really eager for the tournament," she remarked, while she and Metal walked through town looking at everyone training.

"...it certainly seems that way." Metal noted, glancing around him. "Even before it's started, everyone seems at peace."

"Yeah, but that means that the town is a bit crowded," And even after all these years, Jill was still not so comfortable around large crowds.

"Hrm..." Metal hummed, as he glanced around. "...too bad that we're not remotely close to the spring and cave, huh?" he quipped.

"Yeah," Jill said, smiling while she thought about the good times. "...although," she rubbed her chin thoughtfully, her smile growing. "...I might actually know a place on the island that we could use."

"...is that right?" Metal hummed, as he glanced at Jill with a nod. "Well, let's go there, then."

"Okay. Follow me," Jill turned towards the woods, hurrying a bit. Nodding, Metal followed Jill without a word. The two of them sprinted through the woods for awhile, at least until Jill's legs couldn't handle it, and the two slowed to a walk.

Jill brought the two of them to a place in the forest where there were large, rusted, steel walls, connected to a big gate with gargantuan, split doors. Inside there was a pitch dark hallway. "Just in through here," Jill said, crawling through the space between the doors; which were also pretty rusted up. Metal followed suite, taking a small moment to observe the doors.

"Alright...first we have to start up the generators..." Jill murmured. Metal followed her down the hall of darkness to a door, and into a large room, where numerous generators were all lined up. Jill went to turn on the monitor screens at each one of them, briefly typing. Every time she was finished with that and moved to the next one, the generator hummed loudly to life, and Jill finally got all of the generators on, filling the room with a deafening, rumbling hum.

Then she pulled Metal out of that room and led him down the hall, which was now brightly lit with lights. They headed toward a pair of giantic double doors. On the door had large letters.

"AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY," in big, red, faded letters.

"Too bad we're not 'authorized personnel'," Jill joked.

"Well, I'm sure that no one will mind us." Metal chuckled, as he looked up at the door. "Now what's beyond there...?"

"You'll see," Jill giggled, walking up to it so that the doors would open automatically for them.

Inside, was a sight to behold. It looked like a LARGE safe house within a titanium fortress; literally large safes lined up on each floor that this place went up, and it went for quite a few floors. Everywhere, there were platforms rising and falling between the different levels. Safety precautions like lasers pointed everywhere and bustling robotic security units were positioned all around the place. There were also large fans in the room on the floor, rotating at full blast upwards; with no apparent rational function or reason for doing so whatsoever.

Metal blinked, as he looked around the room with widened eyes. "...well, now... I'd never have imagined that this would still be standing." he mused.

"Neither did I," Jill said, "but I found it a year or so ago."

"...how convenient." Metal noted, as he looked around him. "No one else knows about this place, right?"

"Nobody but me and Sage, and she could go without saying," Jill said.

"I see... how very convenient for us." Metal noted, rubbing his hands together. "So, how shall we be training?"

"I think we could make up a kind of game," Jill started. "Similar to what Rouge was sent here for...about 65 years ago I think it was, we could find something we could use to hide in the safes, and then one of us has to go find it while the other tries to keep them from finding it. It's simple, yet productive for building speed, agility, endurance, etc."

"That sounds like a plan." Metal nodded, as he folded his arms. "Perhaps I could be the one trying to keep you from getting the object... though, what should we use?"

"...good question," Jill murmured. "...maybe there could be something in the safes that we could use?"

"...true enough..." Metal nodded. "...and if there isn't anything in them, I suppose I could just form something from liquid metal... or..."

"Wait..." Jill looked at Metal. "...Metal, can you still make copies of yourself?"

Metal blinked, as he looked down at his hands. "...I... suppose... the only thing I'm unable to do with these powers now is changing my appearance."

"Well, what if your copies would be the ones that would stop me, and the real you was hiding in a safe?" Jill supposed. "...it'd be like some kind of game of hide and seek."

Metal hummed, before nodding. "...that works. But if that's the case, you'll need to close your eyes for a moment." Jill not only closed her eyes, but she turned her back to Metal. ...now... Metal thought, as he glanced at his hand, where a small tendril of liquid metal emerged from. ...how to do this...

A few minutes passed with Jill keeping her eyes closed, but after a while, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder, indicating that she could look again. So she looked.

Once she turned, she saw four different machines looking back at her; one of them seemed to be a robotic echidna, and the others were different versions of Metal Sonic; Silver Sonic, Mecha Sonic, and the original Metal Sonic model.

"I've hidden myself within one of the safes. Try and find me, if you can," Silver Sonic uttered with a nod, before the four machines took to the sky.

Jill watched them fly, and took a deep breath. "Ready or not, here I come."

When she spotted a bungee pulley nearby, she ran to grab it. The pulley yanked her up into the air, easily allowing her to jump onto the highest floor of the area, and she started off in a run towards some safes to start her search.

As she headed for the safes, Silver Sonic and Mecha Sonic suddenly flew towards her, intending to intercept her path. Jill flipped over with a hand that catapulted her right over the two, landing on the other side and easily continuing on a run. Quickly spinning around, Silver Sonic suddenly rocketed right after Jill, whilst Mecha Sonic took to the air, flying ahead of her. Jill screeched to a halt when Mecha Sonic stood in her way, and seeing Silver Sonic coming in from behind, she leaped over with a back flip, letting Silver Sonic shoot right under her and run into Mecha Sonic. At least, that was the idea; unfortunately, the moment Jill left Silver Sonic's gaze, the robot immediately spun around, rocketing after the ewe once more.

It was a narrow ledge to try and get away from them, so Jill decided to try and fight for once, raising her leg to try a kick at Silver Sonic once he came.

Silver Sonic, however, quickly raised his arm to block the kick, just as Mecha Sonic flew right behind Jill, essentially trapping her. Clenching their fists, both of the robots aimed a punch right at her. In desperation, Jill bent backward a little far, watching both fists soar over her nose. This time, neither of the robots didn't anticipate her ducking, as their fists slammed into each other, sending them skidding several feet away from Jill.

"Whew, that was close," Jill huffed, quickly approaching a safe.

Before she could open it, however, a fist hit the door off its hinges into the inner walls of the safe, barely missing her. Looking back, she saw that metallic echidna glare at her with its green eyes.

"...whoa..." Jill croaked, stepping away from this echidna cautiously.

That didn't seem to help, as the echidna stomped closer to Jill, cracking his fists menacingly.

Jill toughened to a stance, knowing she either had to fight or flee, and she figured she would try to fight, so she threw a kick at the robotic echidna, "YAH!" The kick, while it did connect, didn't exactly push the echidna away from her. With a small, mechanical growl, the echidna reeled his fist back, aiming a fierce punch at Jill.

Jill flew off the edge with a yelp, caught by the flow of the fans which magically bounced her up in the air. This allowed her to bob to safe ground, and once on her feet, she felt something drip from her nose. She touched it to find blood on her fingers. "Ouch," she uttered, wincing.

"...what? Don't tell me that's it?" she suddenly heard someone utter mockingly, as the echidna stood on the ledge above her, its arms folded whilst giving Jill a condescending look.

Jill wiped her nose on her sleeve, looking up at the robotic echidna. "Give me a break, I'm a little rusty," she grumbled. "You try going from being a heroine to a mom!" She spotted another bungee pulley and went for it, hoisting up to the level right below where the echidna stood, so she could try and search the safes there. Then she screeched to a halt.

"Sure; I'll get to that when I find a way to change genders." the echidna quipped, somehow standing right in Jill's way, simply leaning on the door of a safe whilst observing his knuckles.

Jill glared at him. Then she turned around to go the other way.

This time, however, the echidna suddenly appeared in her path yet again, now simply throwing jabs at the air.

Well, Jill was starting to get a little discouraged by this, gritting her teeth.

"Come on; weren't you supposed to be doing something?" the echidna quipped, glancing at Jill. "Like, finding Metal, for instance?"

"...alright," Jill growled, cracking her knuckles.

Suddenly, she flipped over and aimed a harsh kick right for the echidna's face. The kick sent him staggering a bit, but the echidna merely shook his head, before glaring at Jill. "There we go!" he chuckled, before throwing a flurry of jabs at Jill. Jill blocked the jabs this time, catching up to this echidna's processed speeds almost instantly. When there was an opening, Jill threw her fist into the echidna's stomach area.

Had it been an organic opponent, that would actually have stunned him for quite a while; however, being a machine, it only knocked the echidna back a bit. "...I'd say something, but I'm too nice for that sorta thing," he quipped, before aiming another punch at Jill.

Jill didn't get to block it and the punch hit her in the face again. She held her face in the recoil, wincing again while a little blood drizzled from her cut lip. However, she finally just looked back at the echidna, wiping her lip. She wasn't sure how much longer she was going to last; her body was aching again, and she was starting to loose some steam. It had been a long time since she worked her body so hard like this.

Then she spied a line of lasers behind her, and an idea came to mind, so she spun and started running for them. Slamming his knuckles together, the echidna ran right after Jill. Upon reaching the lasers, Jill flipped over again. With acrobatics, she weaved through the tightly positioned lasers, entering into a cage of nothing but lasers. Hopefully, this would keep that echidna from getting through.

The echidna stopped short of the cage, glaring at Jill for the moment.

Jill looked back at him, trying to hide the fact that she was catching her breath.

Looking around him, the echidna merely shrugged, before suddenly flying straight through the lasers. How he managed to lose only his left arm and part of his right leg was a mystery, though with his remaining arm, he aimed a powerful punch right at Jill's face.

Jill was so shocked at him flying through the lasers that there was no way to avoid that punch. It sent Jill soaring off the platform, falling from the second floor to landing it hard on the first floor's...uh, floor. It hurt badly, and she was too stunned to get up.

At that point, the echidna flew down towards her body, placing a foot on her back to keep her down. "Man, and here I thought this would be a challenge. Seems I was mistaken!" he laughed.

That laughter...it shouldn't mean anything to her, but for some reason it did...

Jill was so weak, she couldn't do anything but lie there and listen to that laughter. She had been through this before... what she went through; it made her feel so helpless. Chained up...beaten... she didn't know why this was coming to her mind, but it was coming to her very slowly. Because of that, she started to feel the heat of anger boil up insider her rapidly.

To a point where she snapped.

Jill let out a roaring cry, snatching the echina by its neck joint by some amazing ability from where the echidna had her pinned and hurling him right into the ground, creating a dent. This floor was made of mental, mind you, so it took some serious brute force to accomplish that feat. After that, Jill was on him, throwing punches at his face with such blinding rage that there was no hope of stopping her; even when she punched him with so much force that her knuckles actually started bleeding.

But she just wouldn't stop.

"...that's enough!" Suddenly, someone quickly grabbed Jill from behind, trying to pull her away from the echidna.

"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!" were the only words Jill got out before she struggled out of their grasp, spun around, and punched whoever it was that touched her; a move of desperation.

The punch sent this indivudual straight to the floor, as he could only hold his bloodied nose in bewilderment. "...what's gotten into you, all of a sudden...?" Metal uttered, looking up at Jill with a confused expression.

"...oh my god...Metal!" Jill ran to him, but she was almost too afraid to help him after what she did. "I-I'm so sorry! I..." she just couldn't answer Metal's question; she wasn't sure at all how to explain it, and even then she had no idea what just happened.

It just happened.

Metal merely blinked, as his gaze moved over to the metallic echidna's dormant body. "...you... certainly made a number on Metal Knuckles," he noted, before he tried getting back on his feet.

Jill finally had the nerve to help him up, looking over afterward at the echidna called Metal Knuckles. Needless to say, he was a wreck. His face was practically caved in as a result of Jill's onslaught, and pieces of bloodied metal (the blood lingering from Jill's hands) were scattered around him. Had this not been a creation from liquid metal, one could easily label him as beyond repair. She looked at her own blood-stained hands, stunned. "...I...did that?"

"...y-yeah..." Metal uttered, looking away from the mangled wreck of a machine. "...maybe we should take a break." he suggested.

"...Metal, I'm so sorry," Jill repeated out of fear. When she went to walk to him, though, she stopped. Her legs gave out and on her knees, she held her hands in pain. Now she was paying for it.

"Jill..." Seeing this, Metal quickly knelt by her, gently taking her hands. "...we need to get these treated..." he muttered.

"...yeah..." she mumbled. She was pretty shaky right now too, not just out of weakness but she was pretty frightened at what just happened.

"...though, should we go back into town with your hands like that?" Metal muttered; concerned that too many people would start worrying themselves sick over this. "...we'll need to find a First Aid kit, or something..." he hummed.

"...I think I might know where one is," Jill said.

"...well, let's go and find it." Metal nodded, as he slowly stood up, trying to help Jill up as well. "Can you walk?"

"...maybe," Jill answered. Taking her first step was hard for her; it was almost as if she was weakened to the point where Metal first found her on that beach again. "...or maybe I shouldn't have pushed myself too hard," she murmured under her breath.

"...just take it easy, now..." Metal uttered, placing a hand on Jill's shoulder, so he could be ready to pick her up in case she lost her footing. "Let's go."

Jill limped away with Metal out of the safe-house and back through that hallway, returning to that generator room they had previously gone to. Conveniently on the wall beside the doorway was a First Aid kit. Jill, not really thinking about it, reached to pick it up, realizing that she had no strength to grip in her hands, and when she tried to, she only felt more pain.

This caused the First Aid kit to slip from her hands and drop to the ground. "Oops."

Metal let out a small sigh at this, crouching to pick up the First Aid kit, and then looking at Jill. "Do you think you could take a seat? I'll take care of your hands."

Jill rubbed her hands. "Sure," and she sat down with her legs crossed on the ground.

Opening the first aid kit, Metal took out the various items contained within it. "Alright, let's see here..." he muttered.

Jill let out a weary, uneasy sigh. "...I don't think we should use Metal Knuckles..." somehow, she felt that the kind of personality the metallix had given off was the trigger of her abnormal behavior. It just reminded her of something...unpleasant. Something that she couldn't even put her finger on.

"...right..." Metal nodded, as he got out some bandages and disinfectant, before glancing at Jill. "I'll clean your wounds first, so keep in mind; this will most likely sting."

"Alright," Jill murmured.

Nodding, Metal poured a bit of disinfectant on a swab of cotton, before he carefully began cleaning Jill's wounds, making sure not to be too forceful. Jill winced but she was calm about it. A little sting was nothing to her, really. After a short while, Metal was finished, as he reached for the bandages. "...perhaps it would be smarter to have you hide this time?" he mused, carefully wrapping up Jill's wounds.

"Probably," Jill said. "But do your copies really have the free will to try and stop you?"

"...if I could give them differing personalities..." Metal hummed, before looking at Jill with a slight smile. "...then I should have no problem getting past that loophole."

"Okay," Jill said, trying to get up. Amazingly enough, she actually got to her feet by herself this time.

Metal looked up at Jill with a smile, before he got on his feet as well. "...you'll be alright, now?" he inquired.

"I think so," Jill said, smiling back. She still felt a little guilty for punching him, but she wasn't going to let that get her down.

With a slight nod, Metal folded his arms. "...so, shall we give it another try, Jill?"

"Yeah," She said, turning and walking out of the room into the hall...

...strangely enough without any struggle in doing so.

Metal blinked upon seeing that. ...she... recovered from that pretty quickly... he thought, before following her. ...and she doesn't seem bothered by the injuries sustained from Diablo's and Raider's torture, either... just what's going on?

They reached the safe house again, and Jill looked around to see which place she would hide.

"...you just pick a place; I won't look." Metal noted, closing his eyes.

"...alright..." and Jill started running off somewhere.

With a silent nod, four tendrils shot out from Metal's back, each of them quickly attaching themselves to one of the copies he had previously created. Absorbing them back into his body, Metal slowly opened his eyes just a bit. ...let's see... Sonic and Knuckles are done... who will be next? he thought, before three new tendrils shot from his back, slowly forming into three other mechanical shapes.

One of the blobs of liquid metal formed a certain sleek black hedgehog with red stripes; but it was more of a robotic, metallix version of this character, with glowing red eyes shooting a glare at Metal. Another glob of liquid metal shaped into another metallix of sorts, being a version of a familiar white bat whose glowing dark blue eyes glanced at Metal with interest.

The last glob seemed to hesitate in its transformation.

Metal blinked, as he looked at this last blob. ...what on earth... he thought.

Finally it started to change, growing steel horns and its metallic surface picking a dark brownish-red color. By the time it spouted a golden ring in its nose, Metal realized to his utter shock at what the glob was transforming into. When it was finished, a metallix version of a particular bull glared at Metal with glowing red eyes. Metal could only look at this creation with absolute shock, actually stepping a bit back from seeing it. He had intended to create the master of espionage from Team Chaotix' glory days, but before him stood a character who he hadn't considered whatsoever.

"...Brick?" he uttered meekly.

The bull metallix did not respond.

"Try and find her if you can," chuckled the white bat metallix, just as the three of them scattered away to their places to begin.

Metal blinked, as he shook his head. Sure, dealing with Shadow and Rouge wouldn't be that much of a challenge... but why did his technology glitch out in trying to create Espio? And... why Brick, of all people?

...is it Novagod playing a trick on me? he thought, before shaking his head. No... he shouldn't be able to control my liquid metal... but then... why? Rubbing his temples, he began walking towards the safes located on the lowest floor; there was a chance that Jill could be hiding in one of them, after all.

Metal was first confronted by the metallix version of Shadow, who ran at him to trip him. Metal, however, simply caught the leg before it could reach him, hurling Metal Shadow to the side so he wouldn't get in his way. "...like that would slow me down." he muttered, before singling out one safe, which he ran for.

That's when a blur with a pointed heel drilled right through the door of the safe, and before Metal knew it, the door was flung off its hinges, aiming to hit him. The door didn't get far, though, as Metal quickly formed blades out from his palms, slicing the incoming door in half so it couldn't strike him. "...too slow, Rouge." he quipped, before running for another safe.

Metal Shadow appeared out of thin air right in front of Metal's path, quickly throwing a kick at Metal's face. The kick caught Metal by surprise, sending him skidding back quite a bit. "...not bad..." he muttered, glaring at Metal Shadow, before running right at him, throwing a punch at the black Metallix. Metal Shadow only caught Metal's fist, and while the black metallix kept him there, Metal Rouge started flying up from behind to stab Metal with her heel drills.

"...gotcha." Metal chuckled, as the moment it seemed like he would be pierced by Metal Rouge's drill, he simply warped right behind her, watching as she rocketed towards Metal Shadow. Metal Rouge impaled Metal Shadow with her heels, basically rendering it immobile.

Once she pried herself free from the wreckage of Metal Shadow, she flew right at Metal again to throw a series of kicks, hoping to maybe even cut him with those sharp heels. However, quickly whipping forth a pair of blades, Metal quickly parried the kicks, before aiming a slash at the metallic bat, hoping to render her immobile as well. Metal managed to cut off one of Metal Rouge's legs, but even then she kept trying to kick at him. With one leg, however, Metal easily managed to step away from her, before aiming to slice off her other leg. Still, Metal Rouge was persistent. With wings she could still move, flying at Metal to punch him now.

"...you just don't give up..." Metal muttered, as he stepped away from the punch, before warping behind Rouge, now aiming a slash at her wings.

With her wings clipped, Metal Rouge rolled over on the ground, finally giving up.

"...I won't give up as easily as she did." Something grabbed Metal and hurled him with brute force against one of the walls then.

Being thrown against the wall like that, Metal felt the air get knocked out of him, sliding to the floor. "...kkh... brutal..." he coughed, before looking up at his attacker, and he had just enough time to see Metal Brick charging at him with his horns. Thankfully, he managed to roll away in the nick of time, simply looking at the metallic bull. "...I know I made you three specifically to attack me... but you're more vicious than the others..." he mused, getting to his feet.

"...that's because I'm not letting you find her," Metal Brick growled, cracking his robotic joints in his knuckles. Then he ran at Metal to throw a punch.

Metal responded to this by moving away from the punch before it could connect. "Even so, you display far more brute force than either of the other two, and they both shared the same objective." he noted, trying to keep his cool, before hurling Metal Brick against a different wall. Once he did that, he quickly rushed towards a different safe.

Somehow, Metal Brick had jet thrusters in his heels that allowed him to outrun Metal, and stop him in his tracks with a punch to the face that knocked him to the floor. "You think I'm going to let you take her away from me, like that?" he growled.

Wiping blood from his lips, Metal looked up at Brick with a baffled expression. "...I beg your pardon?" he uttered.

"You heard what I said, bastard!" Metal Brick snarled, with a sharp knife jutting out from his palm to try and stab Metal. Quickly, Metal rolled away from the Metallix's attack, looking at him in bewilderment.

"Of course I heard you, but... what are you talking about?" he uttered; too surprised by the machine's actions to even think of mounting an offensive against him.

"...the way she talked about you...it should have been obvious," the robotic bull kept growling aggressively, yanking the knife out of the ground. He rushed at Metal to push him off into the crack between the floor and the giant wind-tunnel fans.

Before he could fall, however, Metal quickly warped up to a higher floor, looking down at Metal Brick. "...you..." he uttered.

Metal Brick switched the direction of his jet thrusters in his heels, and flew right up to the level Metal stood on. "...it's not fair..." he snarled. "...no matter what I did for her, you were always the one she was thinking of!" and he charged to ram Metal with his horns.

This time, however, Metal simply grabbed hold of the metallic bull in mid-flight, keeping him in place, thought not saying a word.

"...what gives you the right to come back to her?" the bull questioned, trying to push against Metal with growing force. "What have you done for her, other than abandon her? You don't love her like I do!"

"...what have I done for her?" Metal uttered, glaring at Metal Brick with a small frown. "I saved her soul from years of torture! Or did you forget that little tidbit?" he yelled, before suddenly stepping to the side, causing Metal Brick to rocket right into the wall.

Metal Brick hit the wall, and had a time yanking his horns out from the wall he ran into. "Even then, you're just going to leave her again! You're not really going to stick around and help her through her struggles! You didn't do it last time, so what would convince me that you would stick with her this time?" and he charged for Metal again; not only with his horns but with his knife in his palm this time.

Thia time, however, Metal stopped Metal Brick not just by slamming his hand against his head, but using his other hand to halt the incoming knife, letting it stab through his palm. Gritting his teeth in pain, Metal glared at the robotic bull. "...back then... things were different." he growled. "I couldn't stay with her, because I needed to protect her... protect everyone... from Novagod... but now, she really needs someone to support her... and you're not around to do the job!"

"But you make it sound like some duty you owe to her!" Metal Brick growled, pushing against him still. "If that's all it is, then you can turn right around and leave her again!"

"...and let people like Diablo have his way with her and Joy?" Metal growled, as he began pushing against Brick as well. "I will not have them go through any more hardships; they don't deserve that fate!" Then, he closed his eyes. "...just like you did not deserve your ultimate fate."

"What happened to me, happened!" Metal Brick continued, trying to push Metal off the edge of the second floor. "But I'm not going to let her get hurt because the guy she loves doesn't see it the same way back. If all you see is that you owed her favors, rather than genuinely feeling for her, then you're no better than Diablo!"

Hearing him say that, however, Metal's eyes suddenly shot open, as he suddenly stopped getting pushed back. "...how dare you..." he uttered murderously, as his stabbed hand slowly clenched itself, actually crushing Metal Brick's hand. "...I genuinely love her... and I'd do anything to keep her and Joy safe..." he snarled, as he glared at Metal Brick... though something was happening to his organic eye; it seemed to flicker, for some reason. Metal Brick stopped advancing, while his glowing red eyes were drawn to this flicker in confusion. Not only that, but the fact that Metal crushed his hand really changed his attitude on things.

"...and I will not be compared to a murderer like Diablo..." Metal snarled, and for the briefest moment, Metal Brick didn't see the organic Metal Sonic glaring at him.

For that briefest of moments, he saw the metallic Neo Metal Sonic, glaring at him as if he were an angel of death.

"...not even by you." he uttered coldly, before spinning around, hurling the Metallix right down at the spinning fans below. Since the robotic bull was too stunned with what went on, his fate of becoming chopped apart and utterly destroyed within the blades of one of the fans was inevitably so.

Witnessing his destruction, Metal took several deep breaths, as he sank to his knees, desperately trying to calm down, but to no avail. ...it's over, now... just relax... he thought, closing his eyes, as his breath eventually began slowing down.

After a while, Metal got to his feet, albeit shakily, as he glanced at the injury he sustained from holding back Metal Brick. ...how did that happen...? he thought, before he began walking towards one of the safes. ...is that really how you feel about the situation, Brick? You'd rather I abandoned them? he thought, before opening a safe door.

Luckily enough, there was Jill, sitting patiently. "Hey, you found me," she muttered, standing up.

Then she saw Metal's hand in shock.

"...what happened?" she uttered.

"...oh, this?" Metal hummed, looking at his wounded hand. "...poor judgment call on my part." he lied. "In hindsight, avoiding an incoming blade is better than blocking it with your palm."

Jill came over and gently took Metal's injured hand, looking at it worriedly. "...we should fix this up," she said.

"...probably, yeah." Metal nodded, giving Jill a nod. "Let's go take care of this..."

The two dropped back to the first floor and left the safe house, returning to where they left the first aid kit. Then Jill remembered that her own hands weren't in the best condition... "...oh..." she murmured under her breath, realizing this.

Metal couldn't help but chuckle just a bit, as he began cleaning his own wound as best he could. "...I'll have to remind myself not to make them so aggressive next time." he noted.

"Yeah..." Jill murmured, watching him do this. "...in some ways they were pretty believable..."

"...yeah; almost like the real deal." Metal hummed, before he began wrapping his wound in bandages.

When bedtime rolled around that night, both of them were pretty exhausted. Joy was still not quite sleepy yet, sitting on the bed with her feet rocking back and forth happily, trying to tell them of her adventures today with Captain Whisker and the 'Clubhouse Pirates.'

"That's nice..." Jill murmured in remark to what Joy was saying; though she wasn't really paying attention. She was so tired that she was yawning. "C'mon Joy, it's bedtime," she urged her daughter under the covers.

"Aw," whined Joy, but she climbed in bed anyway and snuggled up to the pillow. Glancing at Joy, Metal couldn't help but chuckle a bit, as he got in his own bed. Once Joy was settled in, Jill started stroking her hair, as much as she could anyway with her bandaged hands, and gently hummed a little lullaby to her with the intention of calming her down to go to sleep.

Listening to this lullaby, Metal slowly closed his eyes, letting his thoughts drift away as he was overtaken by sleep. Jill was successful putting Joy to sleep as well, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Then she noticed to some surprise that Metal was already asleep too.

She smiled while she climbed in bed next to Joy, and closed her eyes to go to sleep herself.

---

Day Two

---

Jill jumped up from her bed in a cold sweat, taking a minute to calm down.

...it was just a dream.

She looked at her side, and Joy was still peacefully asleep; just the way she left her. Jill turned her head to the bed on the other side, and Metal was also there, fast asleep. They were both okay... it was still fairly dark, so it was possibly still early in the morning.

Jill wiped her brow to relax. The dream she just had was unnerving in the least... she heard Joy screaming bloody murder, and no matter how much Jill ran, she couldn't find her. Then when she saw Metal, he disappeared before her very eyes, and the next thing she knew she heard him screaming in pain too. Just what exactly would set off that kind of a nightmare anyway? It was out of place...

She rose from the bed and headed to the tiny bathroom they had, switching on the light. Then she turned the sink on and proceeded to wash her face. When she wiped her face with the towel, Jill finally noticed something that should have been obvious much earlier.

Her hands weren't hurting.

Quickly, Jill started unwrapping the bandages, and when they were fully off, she made a small gasp. Underneath the slightly bloody rags were delicate hands; smooth and untouched by any scars whatsoever.

"...no..." she uttered, shaking her head in denial.

"...mmrh..." Mumbling, Metal slowly woke up, sitting up in his bed whilst rubbing his eyes. "...Jill?" he uttered, once he noticed that she wasn't in bed.

Jill hurriedly hid her hands within the towel she used to dry her face. Even then, she knew there was no point in hiding this. "...uh..."

"...is something wrong, Jill?" Metal uttered, as he got up from the bed, looking towards the bathroom.

If she tried hiding it now, then he'd only find out later, and Jill didn't have the heart to lie to him. "...I think you need to come see this," she murmured.

"...alright..." Metal uttered with a nod, as he walked into the bathroom, looking at Jill. "...what is it?"

Jill heaved a sigh, and took the towel off her hands, showing him. "...look..."

Seeing Jill's hands, or more importantly, the fact that they were no longer injured from yesterday, surprised Metal considerably. "...but... how...?" he uttered.

"...I don't know," Jill uttered. All she knew was that this was a bad omen to her...

"...hm..." Metal hummed, as he looked up at Jill. If those wounds recovered so quickly... could it be that... he thought.

Jill started to think of some way to prove this. "...give me something sharp."

Metal shot Jill a look. Just from hearing that, he had a feeling on what she was going to do. "...don't overdo it." he said, holding out his hand for a small, sharp blade protude from his palm.

Jill took that blade, unhooking her arm from her jacket so she wouldn't rip it in the process of jabbing that blade in her upper arm and ripping a bloody slice across it, cringing through the whole thing while she bit her tongue.

Metal winced a bit as well. "...you didn't have to go overboard like that, Jill..." he muttered.

She shut her eyes tight, and clenched her teeth to keep from uttering a cry in the pain.

But she could feel the pain deteriorate away to her relief as she concentrated.

And Metal could see the cut slowly shrivel away from her arm. ...it's... healing itself so quickly... he thought. Jill used the towel to wipe the remaining blood away, and once she had done that, she opened her eyes to see that her arm was perfectly fine.

"...it's...coming back..." she uttered uneasily.

"...but... that can't be..." Metal uttered, as he held his head. "...your powers... they disappeared after I took Novagod's soul into my body... does that mean...?" He shuddered; he didn't even want to think about it...

...though, it did remind him of what Callous had told him some days ago...

"It's like he's blocking everybody off...which means he's definitely up to something. I don't think you're going to get him either, until he starts to execute whatever he's got planned."

...is he setting something in motion... and are her powers reacting to that? he thought. Jill shut her eyes again, and grit her teeth some more. All around her body the scars and bruises from what were done to her days ago were withering away, just like the cut she made on herself. Metal merely looked at this in silent awe. ...what could be causing this...? he thought.

Soon all of her physical scars were gone, which she could see in the mirror when she opened her eyes. This was amazing...but it was also scary. This was so unreal to her, after living 5 years without her powers. Not to mention that if the past was any indication, this meant that something was coming up ahead in the future.

Something bad...

"...I'm worried about Joy," Jill murmured, glancing into the room where her daughter was still asleep.

Looking back into that room, Metal nodded. "...me, too..." he hummed, before he closed his eyes. "...we'll protect her." he eventually said, looking back at Jill.

"...yeah..." that managed to bring a small smile to Jill's face. "...together."

Smiling back, Metal nodded. "...together." he agreed.

Later on when the sun rose and the daytime came, Whisker and the boys whisked away Joy again for the day, allowing Metal and Jill to return to that abandoned GUN facility; to the safe house again.

Since Jill's healing returned, she actually felt a little more confident about this; even though she was still unsteady about the whole thing. She started to wonder if her other powers were coming back too, and she knew she would find out if she experimented during the training exercises.

"...why don't you hide first again?" she suggested to Metal.

"Sure; I can do that." Metal nodded. "Just make sure not to watch where I hide, now."

Jill turned away and closed her eyes obediently. A few moments of silence passed, before someone tapped Jill's shoulder. Jill opened her eyes and turned.

What she saw were three robots; one of them a metallix version of a pink hedgehog wielding a massive hammer, a robotic armadillo with a red shell, and a red robot wielding a machine-gun arm. Giving her a nod, the three robots hurried off; the hedgehog up to the second floor, the armadillo onto the third floor, and the robot onto the first floor.

Jill decided she would start at the highest floor and work her way down. She didn't see the bungee pulley nearby, so she ended up running off elsewhere. She did, however, spot a familiar looking spring with a large yellow star on it.

"...look at that," she murmured.

When she jumped onto it, it sent her soaring pretty far into the air, landing onto a high ledge that overlooked the entire safe house. She was impressed with the view when she observed from up here. Then she saw that a ventilation shaft went across from her ledge to the third floor, so she used it as a bridge and ran through the third floor to their safes.

When she got closer to one of the safes, the armadillo Metallix landed in front of her, casually waving at her. "Yo."

"...Hi?" Jill responded, looking at this armadillo with a raised eyebrow. It seemed that Metal was actually trying to capture Mighty's character in him.

"Sooo... I bet you're looking for Metal." Metal Mighty hummed, as he glanced around him. "But he's not up here, if you're wondering about that."

"...okay..." Jill still looked at him weird, but decided to turn and climb right down to the second floor to start looking there.

Once she got to the second floor, she noticed the pink hedgehog simply standing around, keeping a watchful eye out on her surroundings... though, at the same time, failing to spot Jill just yet.

This was getting weirder for Jill, but instead of standing there, she actually tried to see if she could sneak past the pink hedgehog metallix so she could start her search. Even stranger, this actually seemed to work, as the hedgehog's attention was fully focused on looking down at the first floor. Jill got a chance to look in a good many of the safes without that metallix noticing, finding nothing in any of them. Finally, it was bugging Jill.

"...what're you looking for?" she suddenly asked.

"I'm trying to see if I can't find my target." the metallix responded bluntly, though still, she did not take notice of her target literally having asked her that question.

...wow... Jill thought, trying to hold in chuckles. "Alright then. See ya," Jill said, walking right past her across the second floor, looking for a way to climb down to the first floor to look there.

Before Jill could get too far, all of a sudden, she was grabbed by the hedgehog's cold, metal hand, as she looked at her. "...by the way, have you seen my target anywhere?" she inquired curiously.

"Oh, I have," Jill answered with a chuckle, wondering how far she could take this. "They're about...ye high," she raised her hand to her own height.

"Uh-huh?" the metallix nodded, urging Jill to go on.

"They wear a green coat like mine," Jill pinched her coat for the metallix to see.

"Really?" the metallix nodded. "I gotta keep this in mind... go on, go on!"

"And they-" Jill tried to suppress more giggles, "-they would be looking for Metal."

"Ooh, would they?" the metallix nodded. "Alright, keeping that in mind... but keep going!"

"Now the last thing you want to know about them," Jill giggled. "Is that they are sly, and a master of disguise. They could be anyone...anywhere..." then another idea formed in her head. "...it could very well be one of the other robots on the other floors. They're that sneaky."

"Really?" the metallix uttered in surprise. "Man, I didn't even think of that! Can you take me to one of them?"

"Yeah," Jill said, turning to walk away, assuming the robot would follow her.

The moment she turned around, all of a sudden, a massive object slammed into the ground right next to her, denting the floor considerably. Jill jumped, shooting a glance right back at the metallix. As it turned out, she had whipped out her hammer, slamming it next to Jill as a warning, shooting her a deadly glare with her red eyes. "...next time, I won't miss." she hissed, before weighing the hammer on her shoulders.

"...so much for messing around," Jill croaked with wide eyes.

"What, did you think that I wouldn't see through your lies?" Metal Amy scoffed, as she raised the hammer over her head, ready to slam it right down on Jill. "None of the robots even wear green jackets!" she yelled, before bringing the hammer down.

Jill leaped away, just in time for the hammer to pound another dent into the floor. I need to get rid of her, she thought. If I don't, she'll cause more problems. So Jill raised her leg and aimed a kick at her.

The kick sent Metal Amy staggering back a bit, as she shook her head. Growling, she suddenly hurled the hammer right at Jill. Jill rolled away from it again, avoiding its deadly blow. Then she started a barrage of kicks at Metal Amy. Surprisingly, Metal Amy blocked them all from hitting anything but her arms, before grabbing hold of Jill's arms. "...behind you." she taunted, as all of a sudden, the hammer spun around in mid-air, flying right back towards Jill and Metal Amy, poised to strike the ewe from behind.

Jill had to think quick, and since Metal Amy had her by the arms, she swiftly flipped right over her, ending up on the other side so that the hammer was aimed for her instead of Jill.

However, Jill had severely underestimated the strength of the hammer, as when it slammed into Metal Amy, it propelled her right into Jill, sending both of them plummeting towards the first floor.

It took a minute after Jill hit the ground for her to be able to get back up again; that kind of fall hurt. Then she looked at Metal Amy to see if she was still active.

Sadly, she was; slamming a hand into the ground, Metal Amy slowly tried pushing herself off the ground, shooting Jill a vicious glare. "...you'd better run...!" she snarled.

"...oh dear..." Jill murmured, actually running away from her.

As she ran however, something else stepped in her path; the last robot, which quickly aimed its machine-gun arm at Jill. "Freeze." the machine said in a somewhat familiar tone.

Jill stopped obediently, spinning around to look at this robot.

Walking towards Jill, the robot kept its gun trained on Jill, glaring at her. "...surrender peacefully." it said.

"Good going, Gamma!" At that point, Metal Amy slowly stumbled towards the two of them, glaring at Jill. "Just leave her... to me!"

"Hm..." Jill knew that there was nothing to lose against these two; now that her healing was back anyway. Then that's when more ideas came into her head. She looked down at her hand, hoping that this would work...

"...negative." Gamma uttered, as he turned his head to look at Metal Amy. "You failed to take her out. You've had your chance."

"Hey, I can still fight her!" Metal Amy growled, whipping out her hammer. "I won't have trash compactor like you tell me otherwise!"

Jill suddenly whistled at them to get their attention.

Blinking, both of the robots glanced at Jill.

The next thing the two robots knew, Jill rushed at them in a flash. Then they next saw her on the other side of them, with something in her hands.

It was a golden blade with a strange looking hilt; the arms of an angelic wing, and a demonic wing wrapped around a black and white rose; a green jewel planted inside it. Both of the robots couldn't even comment on this, as both of them slowly fell to pieces as a result of being cut up by that sword.

Jill smiled, raising her sword to a perch on her shoulders. "...I still got it," she chuckled.

"...not bad!" she heard someone congratulate her, as the robotic armadillo way up on the third floor was clapping his hands over her success. "But do you think you can not point that thing at me next?" he inquired jokingly.

"I don't know," Jill answered, looking up at him. "It depends if you don't end up being in the way of-AGH!"

Just then, Jill felt a sharp pain strike her back. Some kind of object was stuck in her, and glancing over her shoulder, she saw that it was a knife impaled in her back.

Weakening intensely, she fell onto the ground. She desperately reached for it, but it was hard with her strength diminishing away. Not only that, but it managed to stab close to her lungs, filling them with blood. She wheezed and coughed, still trying to reach for that knife. It was hard for her arms to bend back that far...

She collapsed, coughing out blood. For a moment, it really looked like she was done...

"WHOA!" Quickly, the armadillo leaped down from the third floor, slamming down on the first floor, before rushing over to Jill. "How the hell-" he uttered, before he quickly yanked out the knife from Jill's back. "...kkh..." Quickly looking around the area, Metal Mighty growled. "Where the hell are you?"

Jill shut her eyes, biting down her tongue in her pain. Yanking that knife out of her hurt.

Someone stepped out from behind a giant metal crate, looking at Metal Mighty with dark crimson eyes. "You both intrigue me...," it was a certain leopard that everyone was hunting down; Diablo.

Metal Mighty blinked, as he looked straight at the leopard. "...when did you get in here?" he uttered, standing protectively by Jill's side.

"...I followed you two here this morning," Diablo said. "Well, at least her and Metal Sonic anyway..."

"...crafty..." Metal Mighty hummed, tapping his foot against the floor. "...why do you wanna kill her?" he said after a while.

"Not kill her, just wound her," Diablo corrected. Then his eye turned to Jill. "And I did it to test something..."

The stab wound on Jill's back shrank and disappeared then, allowing Jill to breathe more easily. She didn't want to do it in front of Diablo, but she knew that if she didn't then the injury would grow fatal.

"...I knew it," Diablo murmured. "Your powers seem to be coming back, Jillian."

Jill's eye shot up at Diablo with a gasp. So many questions filled her head; mainly one. ...how does he know about that?

"...so you like sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong..." Metal Mighty mused, cracking his neck. "...don't take this personally- oh, wait, DO take this personally." In the blink of an eye, Metal Mighty was suddenly right in Diablo's face, aiming an absolutely devastating kick right at the leopard.

Diablo was sent through the air, but he made a nice recovery with a flip back onto his feet. From out of his shirt, he somehow managed to pull out another knife identical to the one he had thrown at Jill. "It aught to be interesting fighting a creation of Metal Sonic's," and he rushed forward with a swipe.

Metal Mighty was quick to raise his leg to block the knife, bringing the two to a standstill. "...you're kinda stupid, you know that?" Metal Mighty noted, before he dropped down to his hands, though still keeping the knife at bay. "Don't bring a knife to a fistfight." Just then, a pair of rocket thrusters emerged from the sole of his other foot, igniting so that the leg arced at Diablo with an even stronger kick than before.

Diablo was launched right into the current of the fans, and ended up landing on the second floor on his head. "Ow..."

Leaping up into the air after Diablo, Metal Mighty began spinning rapidly around in a circle, rocketing down towards the leopard, intending to slam his heel down on the serial killer; with the speed he rotated at, the ensuing impact would be deadly. Diablo somehow managed to vanish the moment Metal Mighty would strike him down with that heel.

Jill pushed herself up onto her feet, watching this.

Looking down at where Diablo had been, Metal Mighty blinked. "...how the hell did he vanish like that?" he wondered, before quickly looking down at Jill, in case Diablo was planning to attack her again.

Instead, Diablo reappeared from the ceiling of the second floor, falling on top of Metal Mighty with a kick.

Somehow, Metal Mighty noticed this, and quickly leaped backwards before Diablo could strike him. "...how did you do that?"

"Illusionist artist," Diablo chuckled.

...that looked a lot like what Corruption could do, Jill thought nervously. But without any help from darkness.

Diablo continued chuckling, while he pressed his foot against the wall. Then somehow, he proceeded to walk up the wall casually; a wall that was at a perfect 90 degree angle no less.

Jill's eyes widened.

Watching this, however, Metal Mighty was not too impressed. "...so you know a few tricks; big deal." he muttered, before rocket jets flared from both his feet. "I bet those tricks don't help you with defending yourself!" Then, in yet another blink of the eye, Metal Mighty appeared right above Diablo, both of his legs intending to slam against the leopard with tremendous force.

Diablo fell onto the ground in more pain, shakily trying to get back up. However, he pulled another trick out of his sleeve, somehow.

Metal Mighty found that a chain was wrapped around each of his ankles. Before he could do anything about it, Diablo quickly attached the chain to a security robot unit that rolled by, yanking the metallix away through the air.

"Wait, what the hell?" Metal Mighty yelped, looking at this. "How the hell did this happen? I didn't even see these chains before!" Growling, Metal Mighty bent himself forward so he could try and grab the chains; being a machine, he likely wouldn't have any problem of just ripping the chains apart via brute force.

"Like I said: illusionist artist," Diablo reminded, watching Metal Mighty land on the first floor again. Then he looked at Jill. "Aren't you going to try and fight me?"

Jill frowned with her arms folding. "...I shouldn't have to waste my talent on you, Diablo. Is that what you really came here for?"

"Not essentially," Diablo murmured vaguely.

"Don't get caught up talking!" Before Diablo would know it, Metal Mighty was right in his face once more, now delivering a rapid flurry of rocket-powered kicks at the leopard. Jill winced at how beaten up Diablo was getting from these kicks. Diablo finally got away from him, but only to fall to the first floor. It was the only way he would've gotten away from him.

Before Diablo could get far, however, Metal Mighty suddenly leaped down to the first floor, quickly stomping his foot down on the leopard to keep him from moving. "...those illusion tricks of yours don't help you with your weak body." he uttered.

"Think again." Diablo pulled something else out from within his shirt, and it turned out to be some sort of tazer, which he jabbed into Metal Mighty's leg that pinned him down.

While he didn't cry out in pain, the electricity circling through his body was causing Metal Mighty to jerk about quite erratically, indicating that it was affecting him quite adversely. However, even while being electrocuted like this, Metal Mighty raised his other leg, and mercilessly stomped it down on Diablo's other arm, with enough force to crack the very bone.

Diablo let out a cry, indeed feeling the bones in his arm breaking underneath that foot.

Glaring down at Diablo, even with electricity coursing through his circuitry, Metal Mighty slowly lifted his foot off Diablo's arm, before slowly moving it above the leopard's head, ready to crush it beneath his metal sole.

Diablo was actually afraid that the metallic armadillo would do it, and he shut his eyes.

...do it... Jill was so startled at herself when the thought came, but she suddenly felt such an intense hate toward Diablo; so much that she really wanted Metal Mighty to actually kill him right there; make him die a slow and painful death...

...but why?

Silently, Metal Mighty glared down at Diablo, before suddenly sending his foot right down onto Diablo...

...but the moment it would have connected with the leopard's skull, it stopped. Was this a sudden act of mercy? Or merely a decision not to kill him right there?

It was neither of those things. Slowly, Metal Mighty collapsed onto the floor, his circuits fried beyond recognition thanks to the taser electrocuting him.

"...huh...dumb luck," Diablo murmured, looking at the fried robot. His arm hurt like hell, and he probably couldn't even move it any more, but it was a small price to pay for a miracle like that. He withdrew the tazer into hiding within his shirt, and then looked over at Jill; still lying on the ground.

Jill glared back at him...hiding the uneasiness underneath of wondering why she wanted him dead.

"...well, aren't you going to finish me?"

Jill jumped when Diablo asked that of her. "...what?"

"Aren't you going to finish me?" Diablo repeated. "Don't you want to kill me?"

Jill grew very nervous. It was almost as if Diablo had read her mind about how she spontaneously felt when Metal Mighty was about to kill him.

"...or don't you remember?"

When Diablo said that, Jill shuddered, and still she had no idea why. What Diablo was talking about confused her... and then she got to thinking. The three days everyone said she was supposedly missing for...was that what Diablo was talking about?

"You don't remember, do you?" Diablo deduced by her clueless and shaken expression. "It would explain a lot. Right now, you would have that blade of yours up to my throat if you remembered what I did to you."

"...what you...did to me?" Jill uttered.

"...funny that you should mention that..."

Just then, Diablo was grabbed by the back of his head, yanked up to his feet, to feel cold metal pressed against his throat. "...about half of the island's denizens would want a blade close to your throat... myself included." Metal uttered coldly, inching a blade protruding from his palm closer to the leopard's throat.

"...Metal...don't be so hasty," Jill muttered uneasily.

"Actually, he has perfect reason to be hasty, Jillian," Diablo continued, almost undaunted by the blade Metal pressed against his throat. "But I suppose that's one of the things that are admirable about you. No matter who someone is, you don't think they deserve to be killed in cold blood."

What he was saying was really starting to creep Jill out.

"You are so thoughtful of others; you even go to such lengths of sacrifice for them...even killing yourself to save Metal Sonic here."

Jill covered her mouth in horror. He knew that too?

Growling, Metal pressed the blade closer to Diablo's throat, drawing blood. "...give me one good reason why I shouldn't just kill you here and now." he snarled.

"I probably don't even have a good reason to argue with," Diablo admitted. "But Jillian may not be able to handle seeing a such cold kill in front of her delicate eyes. After all she's been through, I would think that she probably couldn't take much more killing."

Jill remained silent. This guy had a way of crawling into your skin and persuading you.

"...tell me Jillian...what would you do if little Joy found out her new daddy was a killing machine, once?"

Jill quivered.

"Do you think you could handle that thought, while watching him kill me?"

"...Jill... do not listen to him." Metal uttered, as he looked at Jill with sincere eyes. "...don't take his words to heart. I know his type; he must revel in sowing doubt."

Jill was growing scared. She had no idea what to do, because while she knew Metal was right, the sniveling freakshow was actually getting to her. She had been through enough emotional trauma for Diablo's words to pierce her.

Since both their guards were down, Diablo punched Metal away with his free hand, and threw something down on the ground, which erupted into a cloud of black smoke. Metal was pretty much fully blinded by this black smoke, which forced him to cover his eyes. Soon the black smoke withered away, and for obvious reasons, Diablo was gone.

"...kkh..." Seeing him gone, Metal shook his head, eventually glancing at the deactivated Metal Mighty. "...Jill..." he said after a while, looking back at her. "...are you alright?"

"...I'm not sure if he was just trying to confuse me by playing mind games..." Jill spoke. "...but it was working." And she rubbed her brow while her nerves were trying to calm down.

Metal looked at Jill with a concerned expression, slowly approaching her. "...don't let it get to you." he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Jill took a deep breath. "...maybe we should take a break from training."

Metal nodded in response. "I was thinking the exact same thing, Jill." he said.

Jill momentarily looked at Metal. Then she put her arms around him and set her head on his chest, needing a hug. Nodding, Metal placed his arms around Jill, giving her that hug she needed.

"...those three days I was missing..." Jill held Metal tighter in insecurity. "...he's the reason I had those scars, and bruises...isn't it?"

Metal was silent for a few moments, as he closed his eyes. ...should I tell her? he thought, a bit unsure if saying it could have some adverse effect on her...

...then again, he probably shouldn't lie about this. "...yes..." he eventually murmured, holding Jill tighter.

Jill trembled a little. "...when you and Sage dove into my mind...you saw what he did to me?"

Metal gritted his teeth; he did not want to remember what he and Sage saw in Jill's mind. "...yes..." he muttered.

"...how come I can't remember any of it?" Jill asked him.

Metal was silent for a little while. "...someone... took your memories of it." he muttered. "...she didn't want you to remember those horrible misdeeds..."

"...was it...really that bad?" Jill uttered.

"...yes... that was the case." Metal nodded.

Jill thought back to yesterday, when Metal Knuckles laughed at her, and how she reacted to that. Could that have been a memory of that experience she had? Her eyes widened, realizing how horrible those things might have been. If it drove her over the edge to behave like that...

She held Metal tighter in slight fear, while thinking this.

Feeling her hug grow tighter, Metal remained silent, simply holding onto her.

"...why?" she uttered. "...why would he do those things to me?"

Metal let out a small sigh. Should he really tell her? That the only reason they did all that to Jill was because they wanted Callous to emerge?

"...Metal?" Jill murmured in uneasiness again.

"...they..." Metal began, closing his eyes. ...sorry, Jill... he thought, before taking a deep breath. "...they did all that... so they could bring out Callous."

"...what...?" Jill couldn't believe it. Diablo knew about Callous too?

"...it's hard to believe; I know..." Metal muttered, slowly opening his eyes.

It WAS hard for Jill to believe. It was just hard to believe that Diablo somehow gained so much information on her that no one else could possibly have known about. He knew what Metal was before...he knew what she did for him...and he manipulated her emotions...

...like a certain vampire.

Her heart was beating faster in fright, and for some reason she didn't feel so good.

"...Jill?" Blinking, Metal quickly looked at Jill with a concerned expression. "Jill, what's wrong?"

Jill felt like she was losing strength, while at the same time her senses started tuning out of reality; her vision darkening. With one last breath, her eyes closed and she fell limp in Metal's arms.

"Jill?" Quickly, Metal pulled away so he could see Jill hanging limply from his arms. "...she fainted..." he uttered, before closing his eyes. ...damn it... did the news hit her that hard? Forgive me, Jill... he thought. "...I need to get you back." he eventually said, before picking up Jill, carrying her out of the safe room.

---

"...ow...ow...ow..."

Limping through the jungle was not Diablo's idea of spending the afternoon, but at least he was alive. Lucky him; with the broken arm, and the aching muscles that were torn with being thrashed about.

"...what did you do now, Diablo?" a cold, small voice uttered, coming from up in a nearby tree.

"...I got in a fight," Diablo murmured, looking up at the tree.

"...did you go after Jill again?" As it turned out, the one in the tree was Kiri, holding a jar filled with different worms that wriggled about within it.

"...yes," Diablo groaned. Next Kiri was probably going to nag him about how that wasn't necessary and how stupid that was, and blah, blah, blah.

"...I bet you're thinking about how I'm going to scold you for being so stupid and doing something unnecessary and blah blah blah?" Kiri presumed, as she took one of the worms out of the jar, quickly closing it before any of them could emerge from it.

"...there are times, when you creep even me out, Kiri," Diablo murmured.

"I just know you that well, Big Brother." Kiri giggled, as she looked at the worm that tried getting out of her grasp. "...but that aside, you should be more careful." she said more seriously, slowly twisting the poor worm in her grasp. "If you were to die, I would be all alone... and I wouldn't be able to get Callous and Johnny to play with me."

"...there were some interesting things I discovered," Diablo said. "For instance...Jill can speak now. The rumors we heard were true after all." Then he rubbed his chin. "Seems a lot of rumors turn out to be true..."

"Mhm." Kiri nodded with an unenthusiastic hum, as she only kept twisting the little worm. "...I really wish I could understand these critters..." she muttered, before giggling. "...so I could hear their cries of anguish..."

"...don't those regenerate if you split them in half?" Diablo said, looking at the worm she twisted up.

"...whoever said that I would let them do that?" Kiri giggled, momentarily stopping her torture show, as she looked down at Diablo with a cold smile.

"Eh...just wondering if you knew that," Diablo said, shrugging. Then he winced, since the shrug hurt his arm. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go fix myself up..." he muttered, limping onward.

"...you're losing your edge, Diablo." Kiri called in a sing-song tone, before she slowly took a bite out of the worm, watching it squirm in its death throes with a look of pure delight on her face.

"...shut up," Diablo grumbled, hiding the fact that Kiri saying that bothered him.

Kiri merely giggled, before she slowly squished what was left of the bug between her fingers. ...he needs to set his priorities straight... she thought, before smirking devilishly. ...I think I need to act on my own, soon.

---

Day Three

---

"Callous!"

I ran.

I was running through this dark void. It seemed useless to keep running through this place, because I didn't see what, or who I was looking for. Even then, I was running to desperately find her. "Callous!" I cried. Surely she would know the answers I was looking for. After all...she had the memories that were erased from my mind. Maybe she would know how Diablo got all that information on me, and why he was trying to pull her out of me.

But if only I could find her.

"Callous!" I stopped and spun in circles. It was no use to look around in a dark void like this when I saw NOTHING but darkness, yet I still did it. I really needed to find her...

"...get out of here..."

I gasped, and spun around. There on the floor of the void was someone tied-up. She looked as beaten up as I did a few days ago before my healing returned; maybe worse. When I ran to her, I recognized her. "Callous?" I gasped again.

Callous barely lifted up her head, and her bangs shifted away from her face to show her black eye, and swollen up face. "...get out of here...now..." she hissed.

"Callous, who did this to you?" I questioned.

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME?" Callous snapped, startling me. "I SAID GET THE F*** OUT OF HERE!"

I stepped away from her, afraid. "...Callous?"

"You're the only one who can protect Joy," Callous growled. "If he takes you too, then we're in deep shit. You hear me?"

"...who?"

"JUST GO GODDAMNIT!"

Jill's eyes shot open, shaking where she was laying down at the thought of Callous' loud voice scaring her like that. Why did she yell so harshly at her?

She was injured...That shouldn't even be right. Callous only existed within Jill's mind, and she wasn't really something that would be inflicted with a physical injury of any sort...so why did she look like that? And who was this 'he' that she said would take her if she didn't go?

So many things scared Jill right now; it scared her thinking of what Diablo could have done to her to make her act like an animal focused on nothing but survival, the fact that her powers were coming back and may foreshadow things to come...

...and now this.

She was back their room in the facility, in her bed. Checking the clock in the room, it read 8:20am. Jill wondered if the clock was wrong, or if she really had been knocked out until the next morning. Then she noticed with a gasp that Joy wasn't sleeping at her side. "Joy!" she uttered, sitting up in a fluster.

"Don't worry, Jill." someone said behind her; Metal was leaning against the wall, looking at her. "Whisker and the boys picked Joy up before you woke up, so she's with them right now."

Jill let out a sigh of relief, and rubbed her arms to get rid of her shivers. "...thank goodness..." With what Callous told Jill about protecting Joy, she was really frazzled up when she saw Joy was gone; that, and the fact that Jill was her mother could go without saying.

"...you had a nightmare?" Metal presumed, as he sat down on the bed, looking at Jill. "What happened?"

"Well, it's just that I was looking for Callous," Jill said, without really thinking about what she was saying. "I wanted to know if she knew why Diablo was after her, and I find her on the ground, gravely injured..."

"...injured?" Metal uttered, tilting his head. ...how could that be?

"She yelled at me to leave her there and get out, and every time I questioned why she just snapped at me," Jill continued. "She said something like 'I'm the only one that can protect Joy' and 'if he got me too then we were in trouble..." Then she looked at Metal. "She yelled at me so much that I finally left...it just sort of scared me."

"...I see..." Metal nodded, as he scratched his head. ...he...? he thought, before blinking. ...n-no way... she couldn't be talking about... but he's locked inside me! ...isn't he?

"...I don't know what's going on, but it's really freaking me out," Jill uttered.

"...mmh..." Metal nodded, trying to shake that thought from his mind. There was no way that he could have escaped this prison; absolutely no way. "...whatever's going on..." he eventually said, before he looked at Jill. "...we'll get through it."

Jill looked back into his eyes, and grew to believe that, nodding back. Seeing that, Metal couldn't help but crack a slight smile, placing a hand on Jill's shoulder.

"...if Diablo followed us, then would it be safe to go back to the safe house?" Jill asked.

"...I'm not sure." Metal admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "...but if you do not wish to go to the safe-house now, then I completely understand."

Jill didn't want to totally bail on training. "The tournament is tomorrow," she said. "So we should go there, and get as much training as we can get before then."

"...alright." Metal nodded, before he stood up, still looking at Jill. "Shall we?"

Jill pushed the covers off her and she brought her feet around to stand up with Metal. She didn't walk away, however, without giving Metal a kiss on the cheek. "Lets go," she said, leaving out the door.

Placing a hand on his cheek, Metal smiled just a bit, before following Jill out the door.

"Well, since yesterday we sort of cut off when I was looking for you," Jill started, "I don't know if we should finish that, or let you have a turn to look for me." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "To be honest, I don't really want to start over, myself..."

"I understand." Metal chuckled, as he nodded. "You go and hide, and I'll search for you."

"Close your eyes, then," Jill said. Once Metal did, she looked around and ran off quickly. Metal proceeded to form three more blobs of liquid metal, to form them into opponents he would have to face; taking care to make sure that they wouldn't be as brutal as their predecessors.

One glob turned from silver to golden, creating two shift-turn tails before the rest of the body followed, resembling a fox that was once so young. Next glob turned copper, and spouted long ears, becoming a metallix version of a rabbit. The last one grew stripes of black and yellow, growing a black helmet with long antennae that were also striped with black and yellow. This one was of a very young bee.

Looking at all of them, Metal sighed. ...how the days have passed... he thought, before nodding. "...you know what to do." he said to the three robots.

Each of them nodded back and scattered away immediately.

Metal began walking towards some of the safes, letting out a small sigh of relief. ...at least he didn't show up this time... he thought, recalling that incident two days ago. Thank goodness that Jill didn't see that...

The first metallix Metal encountered was the rabbit, who looked very intent on keeping alert. Though at the moment, she hadn't noticed Metal yet...

Seeing the rabbit, Metal decided to keep a low profile by silently sneaking past the rabbit whilst checking the safes.

Metal only got through a few of them before the rabbit finally noticed him there. "Hey! You're not supposed to be there, Mr!" and the rabbit used its gigantic ears to take flight and kick Metal.

Having been alerted to this, however, Metal ducked underneath the incoming kick, before leaping back from her. "...my apologies; I didn't realize that I stepped out of line." he said, before briefly bowing. "I'll be going, now." he said, before rushing to the fans, letting them carry him up to the third floor.

"Okay. Have fun with Metal Charmy!" the rabbit waved.

"...Metal Charmy..." Metal blinked once he heard that. ...how to keep him distracted...?

"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Something came at Metal, swinging someting sharp at him.

Hn? Quickly, Metal ducked underneath that object, quickly looking towards his attacker.

It was the bee; Metal Charmy as the rabbit called him, and the metallix had a shap stinger out of his back end. "You're not gonna find her! You're not gonna find her!" Metal Charmy teased in a sing-song voice, as he came for Metal with his stinger again.

Before he could reach Metal, however, he simply grabbed hold of Metal Charmy's stinger, holding the bee in place. ...let's try distracting him. "Hey; do you want something shiny?" he eventually said, forming a shiny marble from his free hand, waving it around so the metallix would notice, and hopefully be enticed by it.

"Ooooooh..." Metal Charmy was definitely hypnotized by the shininess of this object, his red glowing eyes following its movements.

Whilst he kept moving the marble about, a tendril stuck out of Metal's shoulder, which sprouted more of those shiny marbles, waving about too, to further allure Metal Charmy. "You want these, don't you?"

"Yeah!" Metal Charmy cooed. "YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!"

"Is that right? You really want them?" Metal chuckled, as more tendrils sprouted from his body, each and every one of them sprouting even more of those shiny marbles; almost too many to count. "Very well... go get them!" With that, he hurled all of the marbles up in the air, in order to give Metal Charmy something to be occupied with for quite a while.

"WOOHOO!" cheered Metal Charmy, rushing after all of these shiny objects.

With a small grin, Metal quickly began searching the safes, seeing as Metal Charmy was fiercely occupied with the marbles.

What Metal didn't know was that Metal Charmy was actually collecting up all of the marbles for some purpose...

Not that it really mattered to him, as he simply kept searching for Jill.

"Oh Meeeeeeetaaaaaaaaal!"

Blinking, Metal glanced behind him to see what it was.

Metal Charmy had what Metal could only assume looked like a toy machine gun. One click, and he started shooting at Metal.

And hilariously enough, the ammunition were the marbles that Metal gave him.

...when did I design him with a machine gun? Metal thought, as he watched the marbles sail towards him. With a sigh, Metal formed a wall of liquid metal in front of him, acting as a shield.

However, what was noteworthy about this wall was two holes in it, which Metal formed specifically so that the marbles would fly into one of them... before they rocketed right back at the sender through the other hole.

"AHHH!" Metal Charmy flew around the marbles that were shot back at him, while stupidly trying to continue shooting at Metal. "That's not fair!"

"Well, that's what happens when you take other's generosity for granted!" Metal called, as the hole where the marbles were shot out of was actually moving in accordance with Metal Charmy, actively trying to shoot him down.

"AHHH! STOP IT!" Metal Charmy cried, even though he was STILL shooting while Metal bounced the marbles back.

Well, not for long anyway. Metal Charmy found that the gun finally just clicked rather than shot. "...uh oh. Out of ammo..."

"Seems that way." Metal chuckled once the hail of marbles stopped, before he suddenly warped himself, along with the wall, behind Metal Charmy. "Later." he said, before smacking the small bee with full force, using the wall as a club.

"WAAAAAH!" Metal Charmy flew across the safe house. What was also funny was that later, Metal could actually see the rabbit metallix fly after him.

Metal blinked, before chuckling a bit. "I suppose that takes care of that…" he mused, before searching for a path that went to the second floor. Upon reaching the second floor, Metal encountered the fox metallix, staring right back at him with those glowing red eyes. Metal hummed. ...this is going to be the tough part... he thought, remaining stationary.

"...sorry. I can't let you find her," and the fox's arm changed into a cannon.

"...I had a feeling that was the case." Metal hummed. "Unfortunately, I'm going to find her, whether you try to stop me or not."

"I'll have to try then." And the fox unleashed an EMP at Metal.

With a nod, Metal quickly avoided the incoming EMP, running around the floor so he could try and open the safes without Metal Tails pestering him too much. The two tails on him spun and Metal Tails took to the air, following after Metal to keep firing at him. Glancing up at the air, Metal frowned, as he quickly outmaneuvered the shots, before a couple of tendrils shot out from his body, rocketing right at Metal Tails. Metal Tails jumped away from the tendrils and tried to avoid them while he persistently fired at Metal.

Still, Metal kept on avoiding the shots, looking back at Metal Tails from time to time. …I need to find some way I can-

All of a sudden, one of the EMP blasts managed to strike Metal's left leg, and as electricity coursed through it, it was suddenly rendered immobile, causing Metal to collapse right onto the floor, unable to move his leg. "Kkh… damn it…"

Metal Tails confronted him, aiming the cannon right at him in order to fire once more. "I got you."

Gritting his teeth, Metal glanced up at Metal Tails without a word, unable to move out of the way now that he was being targeted like this.

The cannon lit up with electricity and pulsed, growing enough power to shoot at Metal.

Closing his eyes, Metal tried desperately to move out of the way. …can't let it end like this… he thought. …I need to prevail…!

Then, in an instant, Metal was surrounded by a dark-green glow, before he suddenly vanished from sight.

"...what?" Metal Tails certainly didn't expect that, and he looked around frantically for Metal.

"Behind you." Before Metal Tails would know it, all of a sudden, something slammed into the back of the metallix's head, sending him rocketing right into a wall. Metal Tails slowly peeled his face out of the wall weakly, turning around to look at what hit him. As it turned out, it was Metal, as one could see the faintest glimmer of a dark-green aura surrounding him, whilst he clenched his hands a few times.

"…shall we try that again?" he said; however, the most noticeable thing about him now was that his arms had become mechanized, and his left leg had become organic.

Metal Tails aimed and shot in alert.

However, the blast merely sailed past Metal, as he quickly dodged it, whilst running straight at Metal Tails, opening his hands so the metallix could see the sharpened fingers on his robotic hands.

Metal Tails panicked, shooting at Metal again to stop him and not really thinking about flying out of his way.

Still, his efforts were in vain, as Metal simply weaved his way past the incoming shots with ease, before ending up in front of Metal Tails. "…you're finished." he uttered, before suddenly jabbing his hands into both Metal Tails' gut, along with his arm cannon.

Metal Tails' glowing red eyes flickered, and sparks jutted out of where Metal stabbed him.

"…I should thank you." Metal uttered, watching those flickering eyes. "I didn't think I could change my appearance… but it seems that I can, after all." Then, he pulled his hands away from Metal Tails, stepping backwards. "You've served your purpose… and I am grateful for that."

Metal Tails immediately collapsed to the ground, and shut down for good; lying motionless on the ground.

Seeing him collapse, Metal let out a sigh, as he looked at his mechanic hands. …it seems that I can't willingly turn fully organic or fully metallic, yet… he thought, before closing his eyes.

As he did that, a brief burst of that dark-green aura shimmered around him, and liquid metal coated his hands, turning them organic once more; this, too, led to some liquid metal draining away from his left leg, rendering it mechanic once more. …I should look into it more after the tournament concludes… With that in mind, Metal began searching for Jill once more.

Finally, he found the safe she was in. Although, Jill didn't notice him somehow. When he looked upon her, Metal immediately noticed that Jill was in some sort of...trance. Metal blinked, as he looked at Jill curiously. "…Jill?" he uttered, hoping to catch her attention.

That didn't get her attention. She just sat there.

Blinking again, Metal cautiously approached Jill, carefully tapping her on the shoulder. "…Jill." he uttered. Jill suddenly grabbed him, clutching to him and shuddering. She looked very pale. Seeing this, Metal looked at Jill in worry. "…wha-what's wrong, Jill?" he uttered.

With a gasp, the color returned to Jill's face, and then she slowly blinked and looked at him. "...Metal?" she murmured. "Where am I?"

"…you're in the safe you chose to hide in." Metal uttered with a puzzled tone in his voice. "…but… what happened? You seemed so pale, and…"

"...I was?" Jill touched her face wonderingly, and rose to her feet, looking around.

"…you mean… you don't remember if anything happened to you?" Metal uttered, tilting his head.

"...I don't," Jill replied, looking back at him. "I almost didn't even remember hiding in here..."

Now, Metal was dumbfounded. …that's… strange… he thought, before shaking his head. "…perhaps we should consult Sage about this?"

"...I don't know," Jill murmured, walking out of the safe.

Metal looked after Jill as she left, walking out after her. "…do you think you can handle another round, or would you like to take a break?"

Jill turned around to Metal. "I think we could do some more rounds."

Metal blinked, before nodding. "…all right." he said.

---

The day started coming to an end when Jill and Metal finally returned to town, and once there, they were encountered by Whisker and the group. The group pestered Jill if Joy could sleep over on the ship with them, since she's been hanging around so much. Jill was reluctant about the idea, but when she was reassured that Joy would be watched carefully, she finally agreed to it. The group hurried away with a cheer.

So when the evening came, Jill and Metal headed toward the pub to relax a bit.

"Hi guys," Ani greeted when she saw the two enter through the door.

Metal regarded a simple nod to her, as he and Jill took a couple of vacant seats by the counter.

"Want anything?" Ani asked them.

"Just water," Jill answered. She remembered the last time she drank, and it wasn't such a good idea.

"…same to me." Metal nodded.

Ani just looked at Metal for a minute. "...hm..."

"What is it Ani?" Jill asked.

"...you know..." Ani leaned over the counter and smirked at Metal. "There's something I've been wondering since you got here."

Metal blinked, as he looked back at Ani. "…and what would that be?"

Ani's smirk grew. "I've always wondered if alcohol would have any effect on you."

"What?" Jill was shocked at a thought like that.

"Well, think about it," Ani said. Then she lowered her voice so she wouldn't be heard. "He used to be a robot, right?" she whispered. "Back then he didn't have any need to consume anything, let alone have any effect on him. Now that he's got skin and stuff, I want to know if he really could get drunk or even just buzzed. He was able to drink a strawberry shake, so the capablility of consuming drink isn't the issue."

Metal could only look at the two with a baffled look. Him, try alcohol? True, he wasn't sure if it would have an effect on him or not, but… it sounded strange, to say the least.

"...I'm not sure, Ani," Jill muttered.

"Hey, how bad could it be, right?" Ani said with a shrug. "Worst comes to worse, Jill will be sober enough to look after him!"

Metal hummed, as he tapped his chin in thought. "…hmm… I could give it a shot." he eventually nodded.

Jill sighed while Ani whipped out a shot glass and set it in front of Metal. Then she proceeded to pour a random alcoholic drink into it; all throughout this Ani was still grinning.

Metal blinked as the drink was poured in his glass, not fully knowing what would happen to him. Once Ani had finished pouring it, he gripped it carefully, and downed the glass in one gulp.

Big mistake.

The first thing he noticed was the taste. As he had only tasted a strawberry shake before this, he instantly concluded that the taste was… different, to say the least. He could feel a slight hint of bitterness on his tongue, and the mere taste made him wince a bit.

After the taste, he felt something else; namely, a tingling feeling in his fingertips, along with his mind becoming a lot clearer than before. It all rushed over him, likely due to him taking the entire glass in one shot. But was this feeling a good thing… or a bad thing? "…interesting…" he uttered, shaking his head and blinking a few times.

Jill only watched him. It looked like the alcohol already had some sort of impact on him... then she grew concerned when she saw Ani pour Metal another glass, "Ani, wait..."

"It'll be alright Jill," Ani said. "I know what I'm doing. Two shots won't hurt him."

"…you're sure about that?" Metal uttered, before looking down at the shot glass. "…well… I suppose…" With a nod, Metal gripped the glass, and downed its contents again.

Setting the glass down on the table, Metal cleared his throat a bit, keeping his eyes shut; for some reason, he was starting to feel slightly disoriented. After opening them, he felt that light-headed feeling flow over him again. "…hrm…" Still, aside from that, he seemed relatively fine.

"So, up for another one?" Ani asked curiously; also a little eager to see just how drunk she could get him.

Metal blinked, as he glanced at Ani. "…sure…" he nodded after a while.

Ani poured him one more, and Jill watched uneasily. With a nod, Metal downed this glass as well.

The moment he set the glass down, he could see that the alcohol was having an effect on him; his vision was starting to blur, and he felt more light-headed than before. "…strange..." he muttered, shaking his head.

"You feeling anything?" Ani asked.

"…yes…" Metal nodded, rubbing his head. "…I feel very light-headed… and sort of woozy… and I think I'm seeing double, now…" Then, he shook his head again. "…this is some strong stuff, isn't it?"

"...not the strongest..." Ani murmured suspiciously, averting her eyes.

"Ani..." Jill gave her a stern, and still worried look.

"Here, have another," Ani said, pouring in Metal's fourth shot quickly. Obviously she was not yet satisfied with the results of this little 'experiment.'

"…if you insist…" Metal muttered, giving Ani a small look, before downing that glass as well. After that, both of them could see that Metal had a hard time sitting straight, as he was slowly wavering whilst sitting on the stool. Still, he didn't seem to become too adversely affected yet.

"Okay, I swear that this one will be the last one," Ani said. Five shots aught to be good enough to see the drastic effects it would have on Metal, she thought, and so she poured his final shot while Jill watched Metal cautiously.

With a mild nod, Metal simply grabbed the glass, downed it, and set it on the counter. Though he was still wobbling a bit, he was silent.

"...well?" Ani grew impatient. "How do you feel now?"

"…I…" Metal uttered, before looking at Ani with a smirk. "…feel great! I dunno why, but I feel jusht like a new pershon!"

Jill's and Ani's jaws dropped.

While Jill continued to stare at Metal in disbelief, Ani grew a smirk.

"…what, did shomethin' happen to the mood, all of a shudden?" Metal chuckled. "No need to shtay shilent, you two!"

"...oh dear..." Jill murmured under her breath, while Ani just burst into laughter.

"Shee, now that'sh more like it!" Metal laughed along with Ani. "How'sh about another shot, Ani?"

Jill didn't like the sound of that, "Uh, I think-"

"Okay!" Ani didn't give Jill any chance to oppose, pouring Metal shot number six.

"Ah, much obliged!" Metal laughed, downing that shot fairly quickly as well. "Hoo… man, thish shtuff ish… it'sh great, I tellsh ya!"

"It sure is," Ani chuckled. She only wished that Snap was here so that she could get photos of these and hold this against Metal.

Laughing, Metal couldn't help but place a hand on Jill's shoulder. "You know, Jill… you shou… should defini…" Now it got to a point where he was almost unable to finish his own sentences. "…should try shome of thish!"

"Uh, I don't think it would be a good idea," Jill uttered, smiling nervously. "After all, someone needs to take you home after this...right?"

"Eh? Goin' home?" Metal uttered, before laughing. "We've got the whole night on our own, sho there'sh no rush there!"

Seeing BOTH Metal and Jill drunk? Ani just thought it was mind blowing. "C'mon Jill!" she pestered excitedly.

Jill looked between the two of them. "...I...don't know."

"Hey, I promise I won't let you get as drunk as he is," Ani laughed. "What d'ya say, Jill?"

Jill sighed. "...alright...but one or two okay?"

"Sure," Ani placed a poured shot in front of Jill and she took it, wincing at the bitterness afterwards.

"Shee, it'sh not that bad, onshe you get ushed to the…" Metal began, but again, found himself stumbling over his words. "…the… t-tashte! Onshe you get ushed to that, it'sh… kinda nishe!"

"Yeah, it's kinda nice," Ani repeated mockingly, teasing Jill.

Jill sighed again. She wasn't sure if this really was a good idea, but the alcohol she had already tempted her to take another shot. Then she let out a deep breath after she set the glass down. "Well, I guess I need to unwind anyway..." she muttered.

"Here Metal!" Ani exclaimed, giving him a shot as well.

"Thanksh!" Metal chuckled, taking that shot pretty quickly too. "Man… I jusht can't ghet enough o'thish shtuff…" he murmured, quickly shaking his head.

Ani snickered while watching Metal act so deliriously. Jill just shook her head, wondering what Ani found so funny about this.

Somebody suddenly leaned on the counter at Jill's side, and she turned quickly.

"Hey baby," chuckled a customer that was in the pub; he was a dark blue falcon with black shades over his eyes and a leather coat. He lowered his black shades to eye Jill with interest. "I'm a newcomer here, and I couldn't help but notice you."

Jill turned away from him uneasily.

"Hey now, don't be shy," he chuckled. "I won't bite'cha...unless you'd like me to."

Ani rolled her eyes. Yet again, some stupid idiot trying to hit on Jill.

"…hey, 'shcushe me…" Seeing that falcon trying to move in on Jill, Metal stood up from his seat, shakily, whilst looking back at the falcon. "…but I don't think she wantsh to talk to ya."

"Who're you supposed to be?" The falcon asked. "Her boyfriend?"

Jill blushed wildly when he said that, and Ani blinked while looking at Jill's reaction.

"Hey, ash a matter o'factsh…" Metal uttered, though before he could finish his sentence, he stumbled forward; the alcohol throwing his balance off considerably.

Ani's eyes widened at Metal.

"Look at you," the falcon chuckled. "I highly doubt you could take me if you wanted to stop me. Besides, I'm not doing any harm. I'm just talking to her." Then he glanced down and winked at Jill. "Isn't that right?"

Jill looked away. She wasn't sure if she was intoxicated enough to be drawn into what this guy was telling her, and the best thing she could do was try to ignore him. While trying to ignore him, she took another shot to occupy herself, which probably wasn't the smartest idea.

"…oh, you think I can't shtop you, ish that right?" Metal chuckled; though stumbling just a bit, he retained a cocky smirk. "…why don't you try and shee if that'sh the cashe?"

Jill shot Metal another nervous look. "Metal, don't..."

"Alright then," the falcon said, taking off his leather jacket and setting it on a nearby chair, showing that he had been wearing a white muscle shirt underneath, showing a very capable build.

Jill couldn't help but look. Alcohol had affected her common sense by now.

Metal simply smirked, motioning for the falcon to come at him. "…come and get it."

"Okay, but you asked for it," And the falcon threw his fist at Metal.

However, the fist didn't even connect, as Metal suddenly vanished from sight. "…you know, you sha-should work on your shwing, there." he chuckled, as he now suddenly stood behind the falcon. "I've sheen shlugsh who could attack fashter than you could."

"What?" The falcon spun around, taken aback by Metal's unreal speed. He wasn't the only one either; Ani, Jill, and just about most of the others in the bar were surprised at this. "...hmph," the falcon decided to punch him again; this time trying to be quicker about it.

Again, however, he ended up striking nothing, as Metal suddenly vanished and reappeared behind the falcon again. "Maybe it ishn't the shwing… maybe it'sh the aim." he said in a pretty confident tone, even though he was absolutely wasted. "How about you give it another shot?"

The falcon grit his teeth, irritated, and threw yet another punch at Metal.

And again, for the third time, he missed, as Metal reappeared behind him, now facing away from the falcon. "How'sh about I teach you how to throw a punsh, eh?" he chuckled, before quickly, and eerily precisely, backhanding the falcon on the back of his head.

The falcon tripped forward by that, whirling back around while getting pretty mad with Metal.

Jill finished with another shot. "If you want my advice..." she paused a minute to cope with dizziness. "...I'd walk away now while you still can."

"I'm not letting a drunk push me around, so shut up!" the falcon yelled at Jill.

"Maybe you should try shutting up…" Metal uttered, approaching the falcon. "…sho you could focush better!" Then, with another chuckle, Metal aimed a fierce punch right at the falcon's face. The falcon was sent upon a table, knocking it and whatever dishes were on top of it over, moaning. That hurt. Metal chuckled, as he stumbled a bit again. "…don't tell me you're done, already?"

When the falcon got up, he dusted himself off. "All I was doing was hitting on a girl, sheesh," he grumbled, taking his jacket back off of the chair. "I didn't know she was yours..."

"Hey, you thought I couldn't shtop you from doing that…" Metal chuckled, waggling a finger at the falcon. "…and I proved you wrong."

"Yeah, you did," the falcon grumbled after he put on his coat. "At least I'm mature enough to admit that. I'm outta here," and the falcon left out the door.

"…and that takesh care of that." Metal chuckled, before he sat down on his stool, taking a deep breath. "Hee… feelin' woozhy…"

Ani looked back and forth between Metal and Jill. "...alright, when did this happen?" she asked Jill, folding her arms.

"When did what happen?" Jill asked without a clue of what she was talking about.

Ani looked awkward. "...are you and Metal really...you know...together?"

"Yep."

That answer startled Ani, "Since when?"

"Since I got my voice back," Jill answered nonchalantly; she wasn't nervous or anything, which meant that the alcohol was succeeding in relaxing her a lot.

Ani stared at her. Not that it was unlikely; Metal and Jill were close, and if Jill had moved on from Brick, then maybe it was possible, but that still shocked her. How would that work anyway? Ani then cursed herself for thinking something like that, trying to remove disturbing images from her head.

Metal simply looked up at Ani with a slurry look. "…shomethin' on your mind?" he managed to utter.

"Nothing!" she answered back defensively.

"Chill Ani," Jill said after her fifth shot. Then she hiccuped.

"Yeah; you don't need to be sho tenshe…" Metal murmured. "…shay, can I get another round?"

"...I think you two had enough alcohol," Ani muttered nervously.

"Spoil...sport," Jill uttered.

"Aaw, don't be like that, Ani…" Metal managed to utter.

"What's the matter anyway?" Jill continued, swooning a bit.

"Nothing's wrong," Ani said. "It's just that...you and Metal?"

"What? You don't like us being together?" Jill supposed.

"No! No, it's not like that!" Ani tried to reassure, chuckling uneasily.

"Well, there'sh gotsh to be shomething, right?" Metal supposed, tilting his head a bit.

"It's just...weird," Ani said. "How would you guys...?" she didn't even want to ask.

"How would we...what?" Jill questioned.

"Never mind; just, never mind," Ani backed out as much as she could.

"…well, now you've made ush curioush, sho now we'll be wondering about what you meant for a while." Metal noted.

"...yeah...and I think I've been scarred..." Ani murmured under her breath so no one could hear her. "Besides, you two should at least go home now before Jill gets too drunk to take you both home."

"Already?" whined Jill, just so happening to throw her arms around Metal and slump a bit, hanging on him. "But we just got here..."

"Come on; be a pal, Ani…" Metal whined as well, tilting his head a bit.

Ani started to regret this, or at least letting Jill drink. She was the rational one out of this, but now she was nearly half as wasted as Metal was. Was it possible to be even more destroyed? While she was afraid, she was also quite curious to see if this was so. "...well...if we let you guys stay in one of the rooms here," she supposed, pouring the two of them shots.

"Yay," Jill cheered with a giggle, chugging down her shot.

---

After quite a while, the pub was finally starting to empty out, as the ones in the bar were preparing to head home… that is, except for Jill and Metal, both of them even more intoxicated than before.

"Alright, c'mon you two," Ani said, taking them by the shoulders. "You're WAY too drunk to even barely walk, let alone go home by yourselves. You're staying here tonight."

"Wooo..." Jill giggled uncontrollably, clumsily trying to regain her balance by the sudden tug from Ani. The same went to Metal, who could only chuckle whilst trying to regain his balance.

Ani took them through the door to the back rooms down the hall, and opened a door to a random bedroom, shoving them in. "Good night!" then she shut the door right behind them, too afraid to even stick around to find out what else was going to happen with them.

"…wonder what'sh got her shpooked…" Metal uttered, as he glanced back at the door for a little while.

Jill shrugged, and apparently the movement of her hands threw her off balance, falling onto the floor with her laughing at her clumsiness. Metal couldn't help but chuckle at this, as he tried getting Jill on her feet; however, with his own lack of balance, it eventually ended up with both of them falling right back down. Jill laughed so hard at this.

Then she stopped when she looked over at Metal and he grew to look right back at her to see her smiling at him. Seeing that, Metal couldn't help but smile back at her.

That's when Jill leaned in and kissed him on the lips. She just sort of went for it, due to what the alcohol had done to her thinking. Had he not been so wasted, Metal would have been surprised by this; instead, he graciously kissed her back. Jill put her arms around his neck while inserting her tongue into his mouth. Metal, too, wrapped his arms around Jill to pull her closer, letting their tongues clash against each other. Jill was burning, partly because of the effects of the alcohol and partly because of what was going on.

Somehow, she had enough balance to slowly pull them onto their feet, but when she took them toward the bed, she tripped backwards onto it, with Metal falling on top of her.

"Whoops," she giggled.

Metal chuckled as well, before he gave Jill a kiss.

---

*CENSORED CONTENT*

I think this is much easier than what I did before...I'll have to thank Callous for that idea.

Oh yeah...she's not available at the moment XD

---

The heat finally sizzled out, and Jill's legs slid back down to the bed while both her heart and her breathing calmed down. As he calmed himself as well, Metal eventually pulled away and laid down next to Jill, taking a few breaths to calm himself further. Jill turned her head to him, eyes closed, feeling so tired that she could barely remain conscious.

She managed to utter out a few words in her last conscious state of mind.

"...I...love you...Metal."

Metal, too, felt his mind slipping into unconsciousness, though he caught Jill's words. Before he slipped into slumber, he managed to utter words of his own.

"…I… love you too… Jill."

---

There you go. It's a long chapter, but hey, what else is new?

Next Chapter will be with the "Clubhouse Pirates!" :D