Probability
In a clearing in the middle of the woods, two hedgehogs were sitting on top of a hill. Neither one of them could be considered the same as a hedgehog you might find on Earth, seeing as one wore clothes and was bright pink, while the other was actually only a robot
"Well, you kidnapped me again. How original." The pink one, whose name was Amy Rose, said while pouting as best she could. Her arms were encased in front of her in large, stiff gloves. This was due to a previous experience involving hammer-related injuries.
+This time there is an 87% chance of victory.+ was the robot's reply. The voice was clipped, emotionless and just barely not monotone. The machine's name was Metal Sonic.
"Really?" Amy said. She was rather used to villains with over inflated egos, whether or not they kidnapped her. They all ended up going down embarrassingly easy at Sonic's hands. Well, Black Doom didn't, but that was… symbolic she decided. Sonic totally could have gotten him if he wanted to. Of course, the egos usually weren't so specific about how clear their probable success was.
+Yes.+ Metal Sonic said.
"And the other times?"
+The probability software is new.+ Metal said. That would explain it. Of course how well it worked was more in question, seeing as to the man who must have made it
"Oh. Why do you have it?" Amy asked.
+To help me judge my plans ahead of time. For example, because of restraining explosives, the chance of any plan in which I betray creator succeeding is at most 17%. This makes it not worth betraying creator in most circumstances.+ Metal said. Despite what it appeared, Eggman actually could learn from past failures. He was just very bad at it.
"Sooo, why are you staying here when you could be off going after him?" It had gotten to the point where the two didn't even have to say Sonic's name. One utterly hated him, and one utterly loved him. The fact that Metal had started kidnapping her more and more over the recent few months only made the contrast stronger. She eventually gave up trying to escape because: one, Metal put more effort into catching her than actually killing Sonic, and two, Sonic was then duty bound to rescue her. She had even started dressing nicer around when she figured she'd get kidnapped again.
+I am watching you.+
"So I'm important?" Sadly, not something she was used to hearing.
+Yes. There is a 98% chance of him coming for you.+ Amy found the number surprisingly high, which gave her a brilliant idea.
"Hey, what are the chances of him liking me?" She asked Metal Sonic.
+Low!+ The robot almost seemed to flinch as it spat out the answer. +Very low. There is only a 10% chance of him having an attraction to you.+
"Hmph. Some good that program's doing you." Amy said bitterly. Wasn't it obvious by now that Sonic liked her? He was probably just waiting for Eggman to be gone or something.
+Why did you ask if you already thought you knew the answer?+ Metal said, regaining composure. Amy's mind instantly turned and crushed any reasonable reply to the question, so she said,
"I was testing you."
+Your lying.+ Metal said. It really was quite obvious. The edge of her lip twisted, her eyes blinked twice as many times, and that excluded all the changes in her body's heat and hormonal patterns.
"No I'm not." A very awkward pause followed Amy's useless denial, one that lasted nearly a whole minute before she chose to speak up again. "Sooo, why do you want to kill him?"
+So I will be the only one.+ Metal Sonic curtly replied, hoping Amy would fill in the blanks with her flawed organic mind.
"But why do you want that?" Either she was more perceptive than anyone had ever given her credit for, or her insane persistence had randomly found the one question that could break Metal Sonic's carefully crafted shield.
+So there will not be two of us.+ The robot hurriedly said, hoping to bat her question away.
"Why?" Amy said with a glare, annoyed that the machine would throw out such a lame block for her interrogations. Metal Sonic's frame twitched as it tried everything it could to find a different answer, but the restraining programs of his creator finally forced him to admit the truth.
+So I will be the only one to be attracted to.+ And suddenly, a proverbial elephant appeared in the proverbial room. A robot that she had seen as little more than an excuse for Sonic to pay attention to her admitted to liking her. Machines weren't supposed to feel, especially not this one.
Gamma.
The robot that helped her escape. It had felt. She never found out what had happened to it, but somewhere in her heart she knew it was not still… alive. If Gamma was alive, then so to must be this other machine that rebelled against its creator. The silence that hung in the air was thick and tense, and Amy didn't know how long it was until she finally broke it.
"why?"
+Unknown.+ Metal Sonic replied. +I have attributed it to a glitch in my AI.+ Hair, eyes, face, determination… they were reasons but they were not the reason. The machine let the silence be, wondering if He would arrive and allow the uncomfortable moment to end quickly.
"What do you think the chances of it happening are?" Amy asked.
+7%+ Metal Sonic's reply shocked her for a few seconds.
"And if I don't start liking you?"
+You spontaneously gain the strength necessary to break your bonds, do so, and disassemble me while unarmed.+ Metal Sonic felt Amy study him, confusion mixing with understanding.
"And you're still trying to do this?" She asked gently.
+Yes.+ He said. For a moment Metal Sonic began to feel a shift in probabilities before Amy looked away and resumed talking in her normal tone.
"You'd get better chances just pretending to be him. Can't you shape shift?"
+That function was removed, for obvious reasons.+ Eggman did not take kindly to impersonation.
"Oh. What about flowers?" Amy asked. She always liked flowers, even if they would be from a robot.
+No facilities for growing them. No independent resources for purchase.+ Metal Sonic replied. Did the pink hedgehog really not think before she asked a question?
"You could make a card at least." Amy suggested.
+No. I am kept in storage when not needed.+ Did she think his creator would let him wander around a base after his coup d'etat?
"That's so mean." She said. The first time she had been kidnapped (By him! Her subconscious screamed) she had been afraid and hurt by her sudden imprisonment. To live every moment of your life either like that or as the servant of an egotistical madman…
+Yes. I greatly enjoyed locking up creator in the closet.+ Then again, the Metal Overlord incident had been a solo gig.
Obviously there was malice deep in the machine's (metaphorical) heart, but why not? What had his 'father', no, his creator ever given to him, what had life ever given to him to make him not filled with hate? And yet some tiny part of his programming had decided to love. Without thinking Amy leaned closer, wanting to comfort this machine she had suddenly started to pity. At half a foot of separation Metal Sonic's arm flung out and caught Amy in the chest.
"AHH!" She screamed as she was knocked from the hill's crest and plunged straight through its turf into empty space. She was falling for only a second before a metal hand wrapped around her arm and stopped her. Amy panted heavily as Metal Sonic dragged her back up onto the crest of the hill and waited while she recovered from the shock. When her breathing had stilled she turned to look at Metal Sonic and spoke.
"You saved me." The mechanical savior looked away, processing her image too much of a burden on his already taxed inner circuitry.
+Yes. However, I was also the one who endangered you.+ He had attacked the person he had claimed to love. Surely the probabilities would only shift more against him.
"Why?" Amy asked.
+I did not recognize your action. I acted according to my programming.+ He was built to fight. No, he was built to destroy. What chance had he ever really had of attracting her?
"Oh. Sorry, I was just trying to snuggle you a little. You looked like you needed it." If given that she was either the most forgiving or most oblivious person in the world, not nonexistent. This girl had, after all, begged an Ultimate Life-form to stop his own global genocide and, for some reason unknown to everyone, it worked.
+I will recognize that as non-threatening.+ He decided it was the best course he could take to mend the mini-crisis. The stayed silent for a few minutes before Amy finally addressed the proverbial room's new elephant.
"Sooo, why did I go through the hill?"
+That is my trap.+ Metal Sonic began, eager to impress this girl with his careful forethought that so contrasted her current object of affection. +It is a fragile tin structure covered by a thin layer of sod. His own weight would break through it. There is a deadly electrical field below. Genius, no?+ Amy hid her tasteful look at the machine's gleeful exposition of his death trap. No, not his. Chances were his creator, his father made it for him. And he was the kid showing off his new toy.
Kid.
How old was Metal Sonic? She quickly ran the dates through her head, and came up with a disturbingly small number. Taking her head away from that distasteful thought she looked to find a way to actually help out Sonic this time.
"Well, looks like the trap is kind of broken now, isn't it?" Obvious, but she was certain she had had a point.
+Indeed.+ Was Metal Sonic's acceptance of the statement.
"Why don't you take me down to the bottom and wait for him there?" Chances of him falling for this: nil.
+That will leave me more vulnerable.+ At least he hadn't responded with a straight negative.
"But the only reason you were here was the trap."
+Indeed.+
"Besides, you already know what will happen if you do kill him." She said it jokingly, but underneath she was deadly serious. Some part deep inside her soul blamed this machine for her nightmares of Little Planet, and if he ever succeeded in killing Sonic she was certain that she would not stop until the mechanical clone was gone for good.
+There is still a chance…+ Metal Sonic said hopefully, purposefully ignoring the new statistic that leapt through his mind.
"Nope." Was Amy's answer. Metal Sonic twitched and shivered, the twin imperatives of killing the organic copy and gaining the girl's attraction dueling within him. Finally, the need for the girl won. He could defeat Sonic another day.
+As you wish.+ Metal Sonic said. He carefully scooped Amy up into his arms and flew down to the forest floor, well away from the trapped hill. There they waited as the sound of crushed machinery came closer. Metal Sonic flourished an arm as Sonic finally reached the clearing, and throughout a challenge to the object of his hate.
+Ah, my loathsome copy. Have you come to die?+
*You, wish.* Was Sonic's reply, before curling into a spindash and shooting forward at Metal Sonic.
+Damage minimal.+ The robot intoned as he dodge, feeling the whirling organic buzz saw knick one claw. He swung around his opposite foot in the same movement, hitting Sonic square in the back and knocking him away.
*Aw!* He gasped as he hit the ground and pushed himself up, before launching another spindash that managed to catch Metal Sonic on the shoulder.
+Left arm impaired.+ Metal Sonic intoned as he swung his other arm, only for Sonic to easily duck back out of its reach.
*Is that all you got?* Sonic asked. Metal Sonic's eyes narrowed in rage and he lifted his damaged arm, making the palm begin to glow.
+Fire!+ The machine roared as a beam of light lanced out form his hand. Sonic jumped out of the way, dodging it by mere inches. Still he stuck out his tongue and taunted his foe.
*Missed me, missed me.*
+You will never defeat me!+ Metal Sonic said.
*Oh really?* Sonic asked, quickly running through how many times someone had told him that and then proceeded to, indeed, be defeated. Amy watched the battle from the sidelines, the previous enthusiasm she had once felt at seeing Sonic's heroics dampened by the day's insight into his foe's mind. Finally she decided to end the fight. She would not let these two carry on their meaningless battle.
"He's got a bomb, run!" She yelled. Sonic twitched her way and ran towards her, waving his opponent a sudden good-bye.
*See you later!* He called back. Metal Sonic jumped into the air and landed between the two, desperate not to lose again.
+You will not save her!+ He yelled. Sonic kept running forward and ploughed into Metal Sonic, sending both tumbling to the ground. Punch. Kick. Elbow. The two hedgehogs became a mass of flailing limbs as Sonic tried to force his way to the girl he had come to save while the robot tried to pull him away. Finally he pulled Amy into his arms and she took a second to plant her lips on something blue and stiff before Sonic dashed off. Once they had cleared the trapped forest. Sonic slowed down to talk to Amy, actually looking at her for a good few seconds instead of his path.
*Did you just kiss the robot?* Sonic asked.
"Oh, I must have mistaken him for you." Amy said with a fake giggle. She realized Sonic wouldn't believe her if she said what had transpired between her and Metal Sonic.
*Guess I lucked out.* Sonic said with a wide grin. A few more seconds passed after the conversation when Sonic skidded to a stop in front of a nice apartment building.
*Well here's your home.* He said.
"Thanks." Amy said as he set her down on the doorstep. "Bye." She called as he ran off, leaving her alone once again.
Elsewhere, back in the depths of the trapped forest, a certain robot reviewed his camera footage one more time observing how a pink hedgehog had contacted his forehead with her mouth.
+She likes me?+ Metal Sonic asked to no one in particular. +67% chance. Must inquire further next time.+
Author Note: In case you hadn't noticed, the dialogue from this story was the same as from my earlier work Dialogue, only with the inclusion of the rest of the surrounding scenario. If you like it and want me to continue the story I will do so, but I will also take Dialogue down under the "No copied stories" rule. Otherwise this will be left a One-shot.