Electricity and metal sparked as it clashed, the smell of burnt fur quickly filled the air of the immediate area, columns collapsed to dust under their weight, but nothing seemed to stop the two battling robots. A sparking blue fist connected with a black shirt, sending the red mock-echidna barreling several feet, kicking up enough dust to cause screens to blackout. There was only a moment of respite, however, as, with a heavy, crushing thud, the echidna was back on top of the robotic hedgehog. The weight of the former was enough to nearly crush the arm of the latter, but neither that nor the now exposed, crackling wires were enough to put a stop to the brutal back-and-forth.

Metal Sonic had tried to leave RK behind at first, still having his goal set on Shadow and the scepter, but once it became clear that the previously missing robot had no intent to let him pass and once Robotnik flew by overhead to chase after Shadow, himself, Metal quickly focused his attention on the other. There were few words exchanged between them, enough information was gained from the ones they chose that more was unnecessary, and the rest was left to the battle, itself. Both danced around each other cautiously at first, neither quite sure of the potential changes since RK's disappearance and Metal's upgrades, but once they had enough of a handle on the other's abilities, the fighting turned rapid and heavy. It became clear to Metal, after a few pulled punches from his opponent, that RK wasn't looking to end the fight as quickly as he was, though. This made him curious as to the true objective behind RK's attack and the blue robotic took to analyzing the potential answers.

After a particularly nasty-sounding crack, caused by RK landing directly on him again, Metal took the moment he was pinned to question the other about it. "You're working for someone new, aren't you?" he snapped, almost sounding insulted by the idea.

RK didn't answer, but instead focused on keeping Metal's sparking hand away from him as much as possible. He had been caught by that only a couple times during the fight, but he learned quickly why Itara had warned him so dramatically about it. Metal didn't seem to take the silence well, however, as the angry hedgehog shot him off and jumped, spinning after him with enough speed and momentum to get above him and plant a well-aimed, rocket-boosted foot on the robotic echidna's middle, sending him crashing back down to the ground. The thud echoed as Metal then landed on him, instead, kneeling, with a pointed, sparking hand aimed at his opponent's chest. The force of the impact was enough to send RK's already fritzing systems into a brief emergency cooldown mode, giving him no other option but to yield to Metal's threats until his systems could come back online enough for him to continue the fight.

"Answer me! Are you working with Shadow?! Convenient how, just as I'm getting what I need out of that scepter, he and Rouge manage to break in and steal it, and just as I'm about to catch them, YOU show up for the first time in YEARS and refuse to let me go after them! Is that where you've been this entire time?!"

RK studied the absolutely enraged robot gripping at his now very torn black shirt before finally answering, "I'm not."

"Then why?! What is your objective?!"

Metal's red eyes were glowing furiously as he spoke, his grip tightening until his nails ripped right through the shirt in his grip, creating small holes in the collar, his right sparking violently with a bright, neon blue that threatened to shut down what remained of RK's systems. RK had never known Metal to be so furious, but then again, when he was still actually active, neither of them had gained emotion-chips yet, so they weren't capable of that. After the emotion chips were installed, RK still spent most of his time offline, only meeting with Metal once in a while to test the other's upgrades. He had, of course, learned of Metal's attempt to break free of Robotnik on his own, and it made sense that the robot would grow angry being dragged back into the Doctor's grasp after that. But it still took him slightly off-guard, seeing just how furious the other robot had grown over the years apart.

"I can't tell you… but I'm not working for Shadow," RK finally explained, almost catching a sign of relief from the other robot. Why did this matter so much to him?

"Then let me ask you this," Metal continues, his voice calming ever-so-slightly as his grip loses, as well, "why didn't you free me… like I freed you?"

RK was taken slightly aback by this, taking a moment to process this question. The day the base was destroyed and he was both awoken and nearly destroyed in the burning base, he had been unaware of who it actually was that had turned him back online. He had his assumptions that it might have been Metal, but he could never be sure. There was no point looking into it and there was no way to ask, either. He had always had bigger things to focus on, anyway. But with this brought up now, studying Metal's question and his voice, RK wasn't sure how to respond. He hadn't considered the idea that he could have helped Metal break free from Robotnik, he only knew he had to fight him eventually.

"Metal, I-"

Before RK could find a way to respond, an explosion goes off in the distance where Shadow, Rouge, and the Doctor had headed off in, catching the attention of the battling robots for a brief moment. RK knew that was his sign that he needed to leave before Robotnik came back through, and, after a moment's hesitation, took Metal's distraction to throw him off and away, having finally gained control over his own systems finally, and stood. "I'm sorry, Metal, but I-"

"RK, your job is done, we need to leave now."

The robots turned towards the young girl's voice, RK nodding to Itara and Metal glaring at the strange-looking child, taking a moment to recognize the girl from the lab, the one he had been trying to put the scepter's powers into. He was growing tired of constant interruptions when he wanted answers.

"You?"

Itara turned to attention to Metal as RK made his way over to her. She didn't answer him, but gave him a slight grin before teleporting her and RK both out of the area as not long after doing so Robotnik made his way up and stopped to meet with Metal.

"Where did Robot-Knuckles go?! Did you let him escape again?!" Dr. Robotnik scolded, clearly fuming over the past couple hours' events.

"I did not let him escape, but yes, he is gone now. What happened over there?" Metal Sonic growled out in response, also irritated with the recent events.

"Mephiles was released… let's go back to the base for now, there's nothing more we can do here."

Metal nods and both he and Robotnik head back to their base to rethink their plans of attack. There was still more they needed to get done in the next couple days if the larger plan was to still be a success, but the loss of the scepter was going to weigh heavily on both of their moods. As well as the sudden reappearance of RK and the strange girl who was now commanding him. Was that truly the girl from the lab? What happened in that explosion that started this entire ordeal? Is it possible the experiment was a success and Shadow and Rouge managed to break in at just the right time? Was RK going to make himself and enemy now that he reappeared? The potential only angered Metal further the more he thought about it.


RK had to let his systems readjust themselves once he and Itara reached wherever she had teleported them to, looking around to let them calibrate and scan the area, finding them in a field outside the main city of Soleanna. They remained silent for a moment, but she was the first to speak up. "How have you held up since I left? Have you been able to keep up on your repairs?"

"Yes, I've managed to repair a lot more than I expected to, though I still have a lot of systems offline," RK answered, looking over to her now, studying her form and noting that she was a couple inches taller than she had been. It made sense, he supposed. "Shouldn't you be with Mephiles at the moment?"

"I am."

"Listen, I need to know something, did you know that Metal was the one to turn me online before that base burnt down?"

"I did not. You've asked me this before, it's never concerned me so it's never been something I've looked into, I left that for you to find out. I suppose you have your answer now, then," Itara explained, looking over to him now, taking note of his battle damage and what would need repairing once they returned to their own base.

"Is there a way we can free Metal from Robotnik? Like I was?"

"I'm afraid not, trust me, that I have looked into. Our jobs would be much easier if we could have Metal Sonic on our side, but his loyalty-chip is far too advanced for either of us to reprogram. The only reason I was able to reprogram yours is because you were unused and broken, nearly beyond repair, it was outdated and damaged. Metal Sonic is used far more often and thus his programs are far more advanced, even before the recent case of going rogue. After his episode of trying to free himself, Robotnik installed an even more powerful program. There's nothing we can do for him, I'm afraid, without breaking him down completely."

"I see."

They remained silent for several minutes again, Itara in deep thought to stay connected with the happenings of her other selves, RK processing and sorting through as much as the new data as he could. He wanted to free Metal… but Itara was right, it would be nearly impossible at this point.

"Anyway, we need to repair your damage from today," Itara piped up suddenly, "I've used too much energy today as is, travelling back to this timeline and such, you're going to need to get us home." RK nodded and reached over to pick the still small child up to run them back home, having gotten a lock on their location and pulled up the directions home. It was a long distance, but he was still in decent enough condition that he could get them there no problems… as long as they didn't run into any problems along the way.


"What is this?" Itara questioned, turning the strange looking doll over in her hands, staring it down and studying its strange energy. She had seen several dolls in her time amongst the mortals now, but she had never seen one with such a low, malevolent energy… or any energy, really.

"It's... a doll," RK explained, only able to follow her movements with his eye again as he was hooked up to the laptop and several other machines that would repair him. "I just noticed that other children often carried such things around and realized you had nothing of the sort. That I'm aware of, of course."

"You realize I'm… not exactly a… normal child, right?" The question came off strangely awkwardly from the young time traveler, she seemed unsure of her own status.

"I'm aware… but you are still a child, from what I can tell, it makes sense for you to have something like this. Besides, I don't believe that is a normal doll, either. It seemed fitting for you."

There was silence in the room, besides the beeping of the computers, as RK studied Itara and Itara studied the strange doll. She wasn't sure how to take this and she hadn't realized it would confound her as much as it did. He was right, however, this was no normal doll. There was a soul of some kind in this doll, though it seemed to be lying dormant for the time being. It had energy, but apparently not enough to sustain itself. She wondered where this sort of thing came from.

"I guess I'll… call you Kipper, then," she stated aloud, still staring at the dead black eyes of the little two-tailed fox doll, "as I'm unaware of your true name and I feel as though you cannot tell me just yet." She moved to set the doll next to the laptop, propping it up against the wall and studying it still, wondering about it, but then turning towards RK, "um… thank you… I think. Perhaps it will… be of use."

"Perhaps," RK agreed, though had to resist the slight smirk at watching her talk with the doll. She may not be a normal child, but there was still a child in there somewhere, and he felt it important to make note of that. But now it was time to get serious about the upcoming events. They had a lot of work to do and it needed to be done correctly. Though he felt slightly at ease with a time-traveller at the reigns of the plans, it meant she knew what would come and how to prepare for it. Even now, sitting at her computer and occasionally glancing at 'Kipper', she was preparing information for Mephiles and typing out his own new directives.

At least he no longer needed to stay in hiding.