Mossmask: Sorry I've been gone so long. My summer, so far, has not even started... I spent the first two weeks at summer school, then I spent my first real 'free' weekend sick, babysitting, and at a dinner party, and then 9:00 Monday morning I went straight in to start my Bronze Cross (ugh. And so soon after my BronzeMed... remember that...? It's still hard not to cry every time I see the swimming pool now...). So... that means, swimming, all day, every day, for the rest of this week. 9AM to 5PM. Augh! So yeah, even now, I'm not free yet, in fact, I'm at my Bronze Cross as we speak... or as I type... whichever, wandering around on my lunchbreak huddled into the corner trying to keep my internet connection.
So yeah. I'm not free yet, but I figured I've made you guys wait long enough, and it's about time I set my priorities straight. So new chappie, up as promised, all credit to Silvershadow471 for getting my butt in gear on this one. Without their review, I wouldn't have gotten this chapter finished so soon. (...soon...? -.-" ...well... it would have been a lot later.)
~Cya on the other side!
Metal shook his head, staring at the monitors in font of him. He was both pleased, and displeased at what he saw. True, he could tell this hedgehog would be a challenge, just by watching how he moved. Yet, at the same time, he was almost offended at the thought that the Freedom Fighters really thought that they could consider sending him a single opponent and adequate rescue mission.
Well, he would soon have the chance to test their judgement, as he powered up his back jets once more, and hovering a few feet above the ground, silently made his way into the city, his red eyes being the only source of light in many parts of the dark city, where the lights had not yet come back on.
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Now that he knew which direction he was going in, Scorch was back on the city streets once more. He had run into hardly any opposition, and when he had, it had been laughably easy to deal with. Now, he was beginning to think he must have gone off course, when he finally glimpsed the curved walls off Robotropolis Command between building, in the distance.
He leaned forward, ready to run the rest of the distance, something he had been hesitant to do before, in case he lost track of where he was, when something slammed into his side, sending him crashing into the side of a building. He winced as the spines along his back rammed through the steel walls, inadvertently jamming them into his own back as well.
Tugging himself out, he stumbled onto his feet and quickly took a defensive stance, whipping around to try and see what hit him. He caught sight of movement out of the corner of his vision, and as he spun to look at it, he was slammed into again, this time head on.
Picking himself back up once more, this time he found himself face to face with what could only be Metal Sonic. It looked exactly like him, except for the fact that it was made of metal. Before he had time to think of anything else, he saw the robot lifting a foot to knock his legs out from under him.
Reacting instantaneously, he grabbed the foot before it got a chance to touch him, and ripped it out from under the robot violently, throwing him to the ground.
Without missing a beat, Metal ignited the thrusters in the bottom of his feet, burning Scorch's forearms and forcing him to let go, while at the same time pushing him further away from the red hedgehog. Getting back to his feet, he found Scorch was already standing behind him.
Scorch hesitated, wanting to repeat the spin dash from earlier, but not entirely sure if he knew how.
The split second hesitation all he needed, Metal sped forward once more, slamming into Scorch again.
Finding himself on the ground for the third time, Scorch felt Metals metallic foot pressing down on his back, once more feeling the pressure of his own spikes being forced into his back. "Augh." He muttered, before pushing himself up onto his knees.
The pain in his back intensified as he did so, Metal not taking his foot off, in fact, only adding more pressure, but Scorch did his best not to notice. Now that he had given himself enough room, he figured it would never be worth not trying, and spun into a spin dash again.
Surprised by the suddenness of the move, and not wanting to get caught in the mass of spinning quills, Metal pulled back, and watched Scorch curiously. Well... that's new...
Coming out of his spin a few feet further then he had been, he took only enough time to turn around before curling into it again and slamming into Metal's chest, forcing the robot back onto the ground. Using his momentum to fling himself back at the robot, he tried to repeat the move.
This time, though, Metal was more prepared, and raised both hands in front of himself, throwing Scorch back, and slamming him into the concrete ground.
Scorch felt himself slamming into the ground, and sliding for a couple of feet, before coming to a stop and uncurling dizzily at the bottom of the small ditch he had just created. Rubbing his head and wincing, he looked up through wavy vision to see Metal standing over him once more. "Geez, you really don't play around, huh?" He muttered.
Metal's only response was to raise his arm and fire a beam of energy at the ground where Scorch had been, seconds before, having just barely managed to roll out of the way of the attack.
Breathing heavily, Scorch turned his head to look at the smoking pavement where he had just been laying, and whistled. "Sooo... I'll take that as a no." He called, jumping back to his feet, then swaying when the blood rushed back up to his head.
Trying to take advantage of this, Metal rushed forward again, this time with his metal claw-like fingers held forward, Scorch only looking up at the last second.
Trying to dodge the attack, Scorch missed out on the brunt of the impact, but Metals claws still managed to catch him on the arm, raking three long gashes through the muscle along his right shoulder and down his arm, sending Scorch spiralling away again.
"Aaarrgh!" Scorch wanted to grab his arm, but knew better then to risk getting distracted again. Focusing solely on Metal Sonic now, he leaned forward and rushed the robotic hedgehog, using his left shoulder to slam into his chest, knocking the robot down.
Without giving him a chance to recover, Scorch jumped into the air above the robot and spun down on him once more, bouncing off and landing a few feet away. Finishing it off by slamming both his feet into the back of his head, turning before he even landing and speeding towards the command centre.
He was well aware that that wouldn't be enough to finish the robot off, but he could tell it had been a loosing battle, and realized his best chances lay in getting to Tails before the robot. Not knowing just how fast he could go, Scorch, not taking any chances, had simply wanted to get Metal down long enough for him to get, hopefully, a good enough head start to beat him back.
So wasting no time looking back for his opponent, he ran straight towards the large curved walls of Robotropolis Command, growing ever larger before him, leaving a sonic boom in his wake.
_ _ 10:23 _ _
Sally sat facing the city, a slight breeze ruffling the tips of her bangs, when the sound finally reached her. It had rolled through the city, like a distant thunder, and dissipated into the air almost completely by the time it reached the princess' ears, but after so many years, certain things became instantly recognizable.
The squirrel sat up straighter, pricking her ears up, but no other sounds came, as the night once more fell silent, save the light ruffling of the wind through the leaves and the grass.
Sitting up, she unclipped Nicole from her boot, and began rooting through the files on her small handheld. Finally, she found the stats she had gotten on both Sonic and Scorch, and opened them each as holographic displays, side by side.
Silently, she read each display, eyes wide as she read further and further on. So engrossed was she, that she didn't notice Bunnie's approach until her friend was sitting beside her, and tapped her on the shoulder.
Sally jumped, and turned to face the cyborg, startled. "Bunnie? What? What are you doing out here?" She asked, quickly closing the displays and switching Nicole off. "How long have you been sitting there?" Sally's voice was strained, as she was still trying to calm herself down.
"Now now, Sally-girl, calm down. I didn't see anything I shouldn't have, if that's what y' mean. I wouldn't just sit here and watch you, y' know that." The rabbit sighed, watching Sally for a moment longer, before continuing, never breaking eye contact. "Y' know something more, I can see that much. Now if there's something y'all aren't tellin' us, then it's none ah my business to butt in, but I can tell somethin's been botherin' y'all lately, and... Sally-girl..." The rabbit trailed off, for a moment, wondering how to word herself. She never made demands (well, at least not from friends), and didn't want to come off rude. But this was important.
"Sally. I need t' know what's been goin' on lately. You may not trust yourself, but I do. Just tell me what y'all have been thinkin', girl! When's the last time you were wrong about somethin'?"
Sally opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by the rabbit. "Something important. And the answer is nevah. That's why we trust you! Everyone here!" She raised her metallic arm and gestured at the entire village. "That's why y'all are our leader, Sugar-Sal, it's 'cause we trust you, so please, just tell me!"
Sally hesitated for a moment, reluctant, before realizing something. Although the rabbits statement had been worded as a question, she knew it was a demand, which she made little of, and Sally knew she had a right to know. And not just that, but... everyone. Her friends words were true, and she knew she trusted every single person in the village with her life, and they her, so... why was she doing this? She was making such a huge fuss over something so unimportant.
Sally realized that she'd just been sitting there with her mouth hanging open, and quickly shut it, taking a breath before responding. "Oh Bunnie, you're right! I'm sorry! I... I have something I need to show you!"
Quickly repowering Nicole, who she just realized she'd been holding the entire time, Sally reran her previous commands, and the holographic displays started right back up again. And slowly, she began scrolling over each piece of displayed info, pointing it out to Bunnie.
The displays were identical. Or nearly. Scorch's screen showed disturbances throughout his makeup, on the molecular level. You'd need to know what to look for to be able to notice it.
"So... they're related then...?" Bunnie asked, not too far from the mark. After all, of the evidence that she had thus far seen, that was the most obvious conclusion to make.
Sally shook her head. "No. Their genetic makeup is identical. They're the same person."
Bunnie gasped to herself quickly. "My stars... how...?" She quickly shook her head and continued on, apparently taking everything in stride. "Alright, but if they all are the same, what's... all this...?" She asked, waving her hands at the various breaks and apparent static in Scorch's own makeup.
Sally hesitated, coming to the point in question, the one thing she was absolutely sure of. Finally, she sighed in admittance and bowed her head. "It's called 'Chaos Energy'. It's what was stopping me from getting proper reading before. It seems to destroy, or at least inhibit, anything that isn't organic. Even most living things die pretty quickly if they try to harness it."
Bunnie nodded, watching the squirrel intently as she explained, so many questions racing through her head, but asking none. Questions could wait, this was Sally's time for explanations.
Sally continued on, suddenly finding herself very relieved that she had found someone else to share this with, finally. "Every single person, plant, feral, everything alive has it's own Chaos patterns. A small bit of Chaos Energy within themselves. Usually, it's too miniscule to show up on any type of test, no matter how indepth, nearly nonexistent. In fact, I've only ever known two people with a drastic Chaos reading."
Suddenly, Sally turned to face the holograms, and pointed to a spot on Sonic's own chart. "See this? This is Sonic's own Chaos reading."
Bunnie looked, and although there was indeed a specific Chaos reading printed directly in front of her, she could now begin to see the Chaos pattern itself, now that she knew what to look for, weaving itself through every aspect of Sonic's entire makeup.
"It's... it's..." Bunnie trailed off, slowly grinning as she watched the displays, lost for words.
"Magnificent? Beautiful? Terrifying? Dangerous."
Bunnie seemed to snap out of her trance at this, and turned to look at Sally once more. "...Dangerous...? How...?" How could something so amazing be dangerous...? And... I have some of that inside me, too...?
"Yes, it's dangerous. Anything that's powerful can also be dangerous. And Scorch is absolutely saturated in this stuff."
Bunnie nodded. "Alright Sally-girl, what y'all have said so far makes sense, though it does seem a little far-fetched," Bunnie cut her friend off by holding up a finger to her mouth, noticing her about to interject. "Hey now, I never said I didn't believe you. Every day of our lil' lives is far-fetched. It comes with bein' a Freedom Fighter! Now, if this Chaos Energy as destructive as y' say with 'lectronics an' all, then how'd y' get all these readin's on Scorch in the first place?"
Sally sighed. "I... it's something I learned how to do years ago... before the coup."
Bunnie raised an eyebrow, wondering if that was all the answer she was going to get. Apparently, it was. Nodding in acceptance, she nodded. "Fine then. Now... can y'all tell me how y' know so much about all this 'Chaos Energy' stuff? You seem to be quite th' master on the subject."
Sally bit her lip and looked down at the ground, and Bunnie put a hand, her organic hand, on her shoulder. "Now dun make such a fuss over it. If y'don't wanna tell me, y'all don't hafta say nothing. You've already told me enough t' help."
Suddenly, Sally looked up, determination shining in her eyes. "No, I will tell you! But not now, I've wasted too much time already. We have to go!"
"Go? Go where?" Bunnie asked as she was pulled back to her feet, Sally standing beside her, holding her up by her cybernetic hand. "Stars alive Sally-girl, what's the big rush all of a sudden?"
Instead of answering, the squirrel-princess ran back to Knothole, Bunnie running behind her, one hand gripping Nicole, the other holding onto Bunnie's own hand. She began to slow a bit as they came to the sliding tree, and let go of Bunnie's hand, jumping down the tree, trusting her friend to follow.
_ _ 10:58 _ _
Mossmask: So. Can anyone find the sudden change in writing? Scorch's part was finished ages ago, and then I stopped writing for ...ehh... a really long time. I just started Sally's part this morning, and finished it a couple hours ago. -.-"
So... my writing style undergoes a very distinct, sudden change mid-chapter, rather than slow and subtle as the story progresses, which I would really have preferred. In any case, I hope this can measure up/compensate for my lack of updates, though it probably can't.
So anyways, I can't make any guarantees on how often I'll be able to update with all the random crap going on right now, but writing has definitely gotten bumped up on my priority list again. Hope to see you soon with another chapter, and props to all who haven't abandoned me now!
~Dash Out!