Chapter One: The Escape
"No you don't, Metal Shadow!" I say, somewhat cheerfully, slamming back the table tennis ball at my friend.
For the first time in what seemed like ages, Eggman has no chores/plans for us to work on, so Shadow Metal Shadow and I finally are able to get some free time. The two of us snuck down into the basement and to the old table tennis court that is there. Eggman considers the thing junk, but he has yet to throw it out, despite numerous times saying he was going to have us throw it in the dumpster, but never bothered to actually give the order. Metal Shadow and I actually enjoy a game of table tennis every now and again, and it helps improve our speed and reaction times, although Eggman finds the whole idea of us playing table tennis or anything but doing work for him to be "wasting time".
"Failed again, Metal Sonic." Metal Shadow says, slamming the ball back.
"No, you failed!" I say, slamming the ball back
"Failed again!"
"No, you failed!"
"Failed!"
"No, you!"
"You!"
"You!"
"You and I mean it!"
Metal Shadow slams the ball back in my direction, his stripes shining slightly in the light. It soars right past me, nearly hitting my face. Instead it hits the door, just as it opens to reveal Eggman. The ball bounces off of the door as it flings open, and hits Metal Shadow in the face.
"What is all the commotion in here?!" Eggman demands, standing in the doorway tapping his foot.
Guess we were too loud…Oh oh.
I immediately start to cower, hiding myself beneath the table tennis table, afraid that Eggman is going to yell at us for what we did. Metal Shadow also does the same. We both have dropped our rackets onto the floor. I look at Eggman, still keeping myself beneath the table. He continues to tap his foot, demanding response from us immediately. For a good five minutes, no one says anything.
"We were playing table tennis, sir." Metal Shadow speaks up, as I continue to cower.
"I told you both not to be down here playing table tennis!" Eggman shouts, nearly causing me to jump and send the entire table tennis table flying. "I said that that table tennis table was to go to the dumpster! I told you guys to throw it away last week!"
"No you didn't, sir." Metal Shadow says.
"I am fairly certain that I did!" Eggman nearly interrupts him. "Now get it out to the dumpster immediately!"
"Not like we weren't playing it." I mumble to myself, hoping that he doesn't hear what I said. "I for one was having a good time until your fat butt showed up and shot it straight down the toilet, thank you very much."
"Make it disappear now!" Eggman shouts. "If I hear anymore back talk out of you, you both are going to be caged up until further notice! I am not going to tolerate it!"
Blah blah blah… I think to myself, grabbing one end of the table tennis table. Metal Shadow grabs the other. We take it out to the dumpster, Eggman's fat mouth running the entire time we take to take it out. All I am hearing from him now is "blah blah blah". After he just shot my one time of fun that I may have for at least a few months directly down the toilet, I could care less what he has to say. Not like I was bothering his royal Egg-Bum anyway. Sure, we were a little loud, but otherwise we weren't doing anything wrong. I don't see why he should give a Chao's rump what we do…As I said before, he just makes us help on plans that just get ruined by Sonic anyway. It's truly just not worth my effort or time to care about these plans because they won't go through. I used to care, but how can one continue to care about something that will always be turned to garbage? If I had my way, I would be out of here and maybe try to make something useful of myself, being I am not serving much of a purpose here.
"Now, you get your rumps to bed!"Eggman booms, pointing towards our "bedrooms" (AKA the recharging closet)
"I don't even need recharged yet!" Metal Shadow argues.
"Neither do I." I chime in.
"I don't care!" Eggman yells. "Do as I asked!"
Metal Shadow and I stomp upstairs and into the closet and I slam the door. Being that I don't need recharging and I refuse to go into the recharging station until I am ready, I sit in a corner of the dimly lit recharging closet, looking at the ground. I see the all-too-familiar Eggman symbol stamped on my shoe. Nobody has ever noticed that, but I've had that stamp ever since I was first put together by that royal Egg-Bum. A sign to anybody who sees me that I am owned and am property of him. I'm not even a person. I am property. Yet I still have my own thoughts and feelings and can control myself on my own. I am property all because I am a robot, and not considered a person. I am always going to be considered somebody's pet. That's just how it is…That's how society works. Which I find to be complete crap. Had I not been a robot, they would consider the little respect Eggman gives me, and every one of his robots, along with this constant working to do pointless plans each and every day to be cruel. But all because I am a robot, it's all perfectly okay, and not a soul cares.
"Hello? Are you alright?"
I look to see Metal Shadow sitting there.
"I'm fine." I say after a minute. "I just can't take this anymore. Something has to give…I can't continue to live like this. I want to be more than this."
"I know you do." Metal Shadow says. "We all do. But you know what happened last time. And Eggman will destroy you if you escape."
"I almost don't care!" I respond, feeling a sadness and rage come about me. Eggman's new feeling things must be working extra well, or I just feel a lot of sadness and rage about everything. "I'd rather be destroyed than live like this for another day!"
"Oh are you worked up about that table tennis court?" Metal Shadow asks me. "Aw, it was no good anyway."
"I don't really care about the table tennis court!" I nearly interrupt him. "Well I do, but that isn't my point. I'm tired of being nothing. I'm tired of being nothing but an overall failure."
"We're not failures." Metal Shadow says.
"Oh? Really, we're not failures?" I ask, crossing my arms. "What's so successful about serving this royal Egg-Bum, trying to help his plans succeed, only for them to be smashed by Sonic and we constantly stuck cleaning the mess? And then when we try to step out of that we get yelled at? I for one view that as a failure."
"Well there's nothing we can do so you better just su—
"There's something I can do!" I interrupt. "It may just be the end of me, but I can march right out of here. I've done it before. And being destroyed doesn't scare me. It's better than being a failure here."
"Well…if that's what you are going to do, I will support you all the way, as your faithful friend." Metal Shadow says. "And I will go with you. If one of us is getting destroyed, then we can be destroyed together."
I nod to him, knowing that he is a true friend. Metal Shadow and I have gone through a lot in the many years we have been in this base. We were after all, two of Eggman's oldest creations, and we have been here through many ups and downs and twists and turns. Yet somehow, we are still here, and still friends. If I could smile, I would be right now.
"Then I guess there's nothing stopping us." I say after a few minutes. "C'mon, let's leave this dump."
"And go…?" Metal Shadow asks.
"Anywhere away from here is fine by me." I say. "I'm sure we'll find somewhere. Like I said, I can't stand to be here anymore. At least out there we have a chance of being something besides a failure."
"But you know, no one out there will trust us." Metal Shadow says. "And if Sonic comes—
"Then I will show him a fight like he's never seen before." I interrupt.
"Metal Sonic…Although I do agree that we need to leave, I don't think you're thinking some things through." Metal Shadow says. "I mean we need to at least have a destination, otherwise Sonic will find us and we will be back where we started."
"If Sonic comes then we just fight him like always—
"And lose." Metal Shadow interrupts.
"Maybe just one of us against him will lose, but we have yet to team up against him. The Egg-Bum hasn't used his dumb head and realized that he might succeed if he didn't have us separated for just about every task." I state.
"I guess you're right." Metal Shadow says. "But still, we have to be on guard…In case us teaming up doesn't do it."
I don't respond to him, and kick open the recharging closet. The door bangs against the metal wall. I poke my head out of the doorway, looking left…then right. No Egg-Bum. He must be on his computer or asleep. Judging by the time on my built in clock, it is about midnight, so he is probably in bed. That means the coast should be clear for our escape…Well, providing we don't set off the alarms. Even so, that won't be an issue, because Eggman was dumb enough to teach me how to disarm the alarm.
I motion for Metal Shadow to follow me, also signaling him to be quiet, in case the Egg-bum is not in bed and is lurking somewhere. I sneak around the base. My eyes light my way easily, so the completely dark base is no problem for me. Metal Shadow stays close behind me, not making a sound, aside from the scrape of his skates. Everything in the base is off, and all of Eggman's robot junk is turned off. Even Orbot and Cubot are off and recharging.
As I approach the exit, I see Metal Knuckles. I know Eggman has not bothered with him since he got a virus and went insane, but I still feel bad leaving him here. Afterall, he was my friend, and Metal Shadow, he, and I had some fun times at the base. I somehow wish that Eggman had gotten off his fanny and fixed him, like he kept going on and on (and on) that he would get to. But as I have learned, even though he goes on and on that he'll do something, it usually does not get done. I kneel down to Metal Knuckles, shaking my head.
"Hopefully one day he fixes you." I say to myself. "And maybe you'll escape and find us some day."
"Hello!" Metal Shadow interrupts my moment. "What happened to getting out of here?"
"Excuse me!" I shout, my temper flaring. It tends to annoy me when he does that. I am right in the middle of a personal moment and he has to yell 'hello?' Like I don't know he's there? Well, Metal Shadow is known for that. That and the fact he has totally dismissed Metal Knuckles from his memory. Well, it's not his fault. Eggman had to erase his memory awhile back anyway, because Sonic had somehow given him a virus made by his friend, Tails. The only way to get rid of the thing was to delete his entire memory. That was a year ago, and Metal Shadow still has not recovered everything he is supposed to know. Eggman said he'd fix that but…well you probably know where that went. I'm lucky that I have yet to catch a virus…And I hope I never do either. From what I hear the things are very nasty and you'll never forget you had one…unless your entire memory has to be deleted, like in Metal Shadow's case, or it causes you to be crazy and pretty much of no use, like Metal Knuckles.
"Hello!" Metal Shadow shouts again.
"Alright!" I shout. "For the second time! I know you are there!"
"Then let's get a move on."
If I could roll my eyes I would right now. Since I can't, I just continue on, looking back at Metal Knuckles once more as we head for the exit. Luckily we are out the door without any incident.