Authors Note: Hello, it's been over a month for the last chapter.
Let me explain the delay. Aside from the usual college work that I had to endure, I was also writing the first couple of chapters for a story I'll be releasing sometime in the next few weeks. It's one that I have been planning for quite awhile. That doesn't mean The Metallic Replacement will go on hiatus as soon as that story begins, chapters will still be for this story. To put it simply, I'll be posting chapters for two stories.
Another reason for the delay is that I had seen Avengers Endgame between the last chapter and the next and I needed a few days to recover from it.
Anyway enjoy this chapter.
Over the next few days, Tails and Metal helped each other in preparation for their journey. Tails had made further repairs to Metal, allowing him to regain the use some of his more advanced functions like his thruster. Metal had also helped Tails clean up Eggman's robot attack by helping gather the remains of the robots, which allowed Tails to salvage them for parts for Metal's repairs.
Of course, that was just at Tails' home. They still had to get supplies for the trip. So today, they were heading into town to purchase some necessary one.
Metal was checking the list as he walked beside Tails. "I understand why there is a list of food as you need it for sustenance." He said. "But I do not understand why you require things like bolts and screws for this journey."
"Well I'm going to need to perform maintenance on you every now and then." Tails explained. "And since this whole Chaos Emerald thing might take a week or two, I might have to do it away from my workshop."
Tails then shrugged. "That and I'm running low on those things at home." he added.
"I see." Metal said.
They both arrived at the edge of the town, where they both stopped. Tails had no idea how others were going to react to Metal. From their perspective, Metal was still working for Eggman and were unaware his turn.
For a moment, Tails wondered if he should have left Metal at home. Then he remembered his encounter with the gang that Metal saved him from a few days ago and figured that it was probably for the best that he have someone to protect him for now.
"Well." Tails quietly said to himself. "Here goes nothing."
Tails then walked into the town with Metal following not long after. As they walked through the town, Metal looked around at the sights of the town. He had flown over numerous towns when he was doing the doctors work, and he had visited the town when he followed Tails. But this was his first time seeing a town from the perspective of a normal person. The variety of the stores in the area simply amazed Metal.
However, people who passed by them also glanced at Metal with both surprise and suspicion. Metal had expected this, but it made him slightly uncomfortable nonetheless. The way they were staring at him made him look like he was here to terrorize the town. Something Metal had no intention of doing now that he was no longer allied with Eggman.
Tails looked back at Metal as he stared at a citizen who was glaring at him. "You alright?" He asked.
Metal looked at him. "Affirmative." He responded. "I am just uncertain over how others are reacting at me at the moment."
"Well, they don't really know you're no longer working with Eggmna" Tails said. "I'm sure once they begin to see you've changed, they won't be as suspicious at you."
"Do you really think so?" Metal asked.
"Yeah." Tails said, giving a small smile. "It's gonna take some time though."
They eventually reached the convenience store that Metal had seen Tails go to a few days ago and they stopped just outside.
"You know what." Tails said to Metal. "Maybe you should stay outside for now."
Metal looked at Tails in surprise. "You bring me into town for company, yet you will not allow me to enter a building here?"
"I just don't know how others will react to you just yet." Tails replied. "I think it would be a bit easier for now if you stayed outside."
Metal tilted his head sideways. "And what would happen when someone in the interior of the store spots me?"
"I'll try to explain the situation." Tails answered. "But please, stay outside for now."
Metal processed the info for a few seconds before he replied. "Affirmative, I will stay outside while you do your business inside."
Tails then nodded his head and entered the shop. "It shouldn't take long." he said just before he entered.
With that, the door closed behind Tails.
Metal looked around. All around him, people were going about their business, going from place to place, their jobs, or simply to visit someone.
Metal noticed a couple of people were leaning against lamp posts or walls, like they were waiting for someone to come along, or something to get done. Metal decided to do his best to copy the position while he was waiting.
As he waited, he wondered if Sonic had times like this. Where he had to wait for his friends to arrive or finish doing an errand. It seemed pretty boring to Metal, but he supposed that's how it was with Sonic sometimes.
A short time later, he heard Tails converse with the clerk.
"You seem to be doing much better then the last time I saw you." He heard the clerk say.
"Uh, yeah." Tails replied. "I've kind of had some help."
"Oh, I assume some of your friends visited to help comfort you."
"Well, some have visited and called. It helped me a bit."
There was a pause before the clerk spoke again. "I am curious about one thing though, why is that robot waiting outside? Isn't he one of Eggman's robots?"
Metal froze and slowly turned his head towards the window. He saw that while the clerk appeared to be looking at Tails, he could see his eyes directed towards where Metal was.
Tails looked at him briefly. Metal could tell from his face that he was trying to come up with an explanation for why he was here.
"Well, it's a bit hard to explain." Tails said shifting his eyes between Metal and the clerk. "But sometime after Sonic' funeral, he kind of appeared and said that he had split from Eggman."
The clerk tilted his head. "So you bought what he said just like that. Did you forget that he had acted on his own before?"
Metal looked away from the scene. Right now he was feeling nervous. He needed something to happen so it could get him out of the situation. Maybe Tails would pay the clerk so he could leave the store and he and Metal would be on their way.
Suddenly, Metal heard a cry from nearby.
"Hey, let go of my purse."
Metal turned his head in the exact direction of the voice and saw that a woman was trying to pull her purse away from a man who was trying to wrestle it from her grip.
The mugger then elbowed the woman in the stomach, momentarily stunning her and allowing him to take the purse and he began to run off with it.
Once the woman had recovered, she pointed in the direction that the mugger was running off to.
"Someone stop him!" She cried out. "He took my purse!"
Metal immediately turned towards the direction the mugger went, activated his thruster and began to charge towards him.
The mugger looked back to see if anyone his chasing him, and his eyes widened in terror as he saw Metal rapidly coming towards him. He tried to run faster in response, but Metal was still closing in.
Just as Metal was a few feet away from the mugger, his thruster suddenly died, causing him to suddenly hit the ground and roll for a bit before getting back on his feet. Where he began to pursue the mugger on foot.
While Metal's thruster was able to keep up with Sonic. Metal was still fast on his legs, able to sprint long distances without running out of power.
He soon closed the distance between him and the mugger, and he grabbed the mugger by the leg. This caused the mugger to trip and land face first on the sidewalk.
Rolling face up, he saw Metal looming over him. Glaring down at him with his red optics.
"Hand over the purse." Metal demanded. "I will not ask again."
"No." The mugger said in a defensive, but scared tone. "I'm not giving it to you."
"That was not a correct response." Metal said as he grabbed the purse with one hand, and the muggers arm with the other. He then began to tighten his grip on the arm.
The mugger screamed in pain as the bones in his arm broke, causing him to let go of the purse. Metal let go of the arm after that and pulled the arm holding the purse away from the mugger. He then walked away, leaving the mugger to grip his broken arm and whimper in pain.
As he walked back to the store, he saw that Tails was now outside with grocery bag in one arm. Having witnessed Metal run off and quickly paying the clerk to see what was going on.
Metal approached the woman and presented her purse to her. "Here is your purse." he said.
For a few seconds, the woman was hesitant to take it from Metal. But eventually, she grabbed it and ran away without a thank you.
Metal turned to Tails, who had a look of both annoyance, and slight anger.
Metal tilted his head. "Was that not a thing Sonic did?" He asked.
Tails opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it as he thought about what Metal did.
It was true that in between stopping Eggman, Sonic did stop the occasional petty crime. Whether it was a simple mugging or a store robbery, Sonic always took the chance at stopping small crime wherever he and Tails went.
"Your right, that is something Sonic did." Tails said sighing. "But I'm more bothered with how you did it."
Metal looked at him. "Explain." He said.
"Did you really need to break that persons arm?" Tails asked. "I thought you were going to kill him when I first saw it."
"Negative, I had decided I will not kill a human when I split off from Eggman." Metal stated. "And force was necessary as he would not relinquish the purse for return."
"You could have done it differently." Tails said. "Is breaking limbs always your first option when someone refuses to do what they want you to do?"
"Negative, I used to eliminate any threats that stood in the way of the objective." Metal replied. "Since my desertion from Eggman, I have been trying to look for other ways of dealing with a situation."
Tails sighed. "Well it looks like you still need work on that a bit." He replied.
They continued to make their way towards the town, making their way to the tools shop that Tails usually went to. Along the way, with Metal stopping the mugging being recent. They could hear the occasional mummer as they passed by.
"Isn't that Sonic's robotic copy?"
"Why did he even stop that mugger? Isn't he supposed to be evil?"
"Why is Tails with him?"
They did their best to ignore them. They had expected things like this.
Eventually, they reached the tools shop and Tails handed Metal the grocery bag.
"Hold this." He said to Metal as he went inside. "And don't go anywhere. Not even if you see another person getting mugged."
Metal waited outside with the grocery bag in hand. Since Tails appeared to be taking longer inside the tool store compared to the general store, it left him enough time to contemplate.
In the years he had served Eggman, he was no stranger to being told off. Eggman had done it multiple times whenever he had failed to do something. Although it was more over how he was stopped as Metal did his best to do the objective even if it ended with him being defeated.
However, this was the first time someone lectured him for his methods. For Metal, it did not matter how he did it, in the end all that mattered was doing the job. The fact that someone lectured him over how he did the job was something that was new to him.
Metal stared at the hand that broke the muggers arm. He knew that trying to convince others that he was a hero was not going to be easy, but he never thought he might have to change his methods along the way.
His thought process was interrupted by someone nudging him on his side.
"Metal, are you there?"
Looking down, he saw that Tails had exited the store and was trying to get his attention.
"Yes." he replied. "I was simply thinking about three things that related to my current situation."
"Oh." Tails said before he looked at the list. "Well, we got everything we need here. Let's head home."
The two then walked back to Tails' house with Metal carrying the groceries, and Tails carrying the bag of bolts and screws.
The next day, the two were in the hanger that the Tornado was in. Tails was performing maintenance on it while Metal was assisting him.
"Okay, now hand me the wrench." Tails said as he looked at an open panel on the side of the propeller.
Metal grabbed the wrench from the toolbox and handed it to Tails. "Here it is."
Tails then used the wrench to remove a component on the propeller.
As he did so, Metal decided to speak. "There is something I forgot to mention one the previous day." He said.
"What is it?" Tails asked as he worked on the plane.
"When I was chasing the mugger, I attempted to use my thruster to pursue him. However, it died out after exactly 6 seconds. Do you have an explanation for that?" Metal said.
Tails thought about it for a moment. "That does sound a bit concerning." Tails replied. "I'll check on you once I'm done with the Tornado."
Tails finally managed to remove the component and observed it. The component looked a bit rusted and worn from use. He turned to Metal, presenting the component to him.
"What do you think Metal?" He asked. "Does it need to be replaced?"
Metal analyzed the component for a few seconds before he gave his answer. "Judging from the wear and the visible rust on the component. I conclude that continued use of this component will result in complications when flying the plane in the future." He stated.
Tails stared at him for a few seconds before replying. "So, yes then."
Metal nodded his head. "Correct."
Tails stared at the component. "I have a spare of this in my workshop. I'll be right back."
Tails walked back to the house and entered his workshop. He then began to search the workshop for the component he needed. Eventually, he found the spare in one of the drawers.
Just as he was about to pick it up however, he heard a knock at the door, followed by a familiar voice.
"Tails? Tails, are you there?" Amy's voice asked.
Tails was confused at first over why Amy was here, then he remembered why.
'Oh right, Amy's visiting me today.' He thought.
Putting the component on a table, he ran out of the workshop and to the front door as Amy continued to knock. He opened the door, coming face to face with the pink hedgehog.
"Hi Amy." Tails said.
"Hi Tails." Amy replied. "May I come in?"
Tails briefly looked back before he replied. "Uh, sure." he said.
Amy entered the house and looked around for awhile while Tails went to get some water.
"So I haven't seen you in awhile." Amy said. "How are you?"
"Fine." Tails replied.
Amy looked at him in surprise. "Really? Because from what Silver told me from his visit, you were having a hard time dealing with what happened."
There was a pause before she said the last two words, as if she was trying to find the best way to word it so she wouldn't hurt Tails' feelings.
"You don't have to avoid saying it you know." Tails said as he poured another glass of water. "I know you're talking about Sonic' death."
Amy looked at him sadly. "Sorry, I just wasn't sure how you would react given that it sounded like it was a touchy subject for you."
Tails brought the two glasses of water to the living room and both he and Amy sat down on the couch. For awhile, none of them spoke, drinking their water in silence.
Finally Amy spoke. "So what have you been up to since Silver's visit?" She asked.
Tails thought about it, he knew he couldn't tell Amy about Metal Sonic since she wouldn't believe him. So he decided to go with a question that would at least be relevant for what he was about to do with Metal
"Well..." He began. "I've been trying to figure out where the Chaos Emeralds are, but it hasn't been easy, since I'm having a hard time figuring out where they are."
He turned to Amy. "You've had a bit more contact others then me right now. Do you know where the others are at the moment."
Amy thought about it for a moment. "Well, Knuckles is guarding 4 of the Chaos Emeralds on Angel Island. We're still trying to look for the other 3."
She then turned to Tails. "Why do you ask?"
"I've been thinking of going to find them." Tails answered. "Maybe help make sure they're safe in case Eggman tries to steal them again."
"I guess that makes sense." Amy replied. "Someone needs to make sure the emeralds are protected right now. Especially since Eggman hasn't been sighed recently."
Tails was silent for a moment. For a moment he wondered if he should tell Amy about how Eggman attacked him a few days ago. But that would mean that he would possibly need to tell her about Metal.
Amy then continued. "You seem to be doing better now then when Silver visited you a few days ago. How are you handling Sonic' death right now?"
Tails was quiet for another moment as he tried to figure out what he could tell Amy. Deciding to lie a bit he began to answer.
"About a day after Silver's visit, I called Shadow to visit me to help console me. I thought it made sense to call him as he lost someone as well."
"What did he say?" Amy asked.
Tails thought about what to say for a moment before he answered. "He told me that when Maria died, he missed her just like I did with Sonic. He also told me that sometimes, it's always best to keep moving on. Even if you want someone to come back."
Tails then looked at Amy. "You have that same feeling too don't you?" He asked.
There was a pause as Amy took her eyes off Tails and looked towards a picture on the wall. In the picture was a group picture with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy on it. They all looked so happy in the photo, completely unaware of the fate that would befall one of them.
"Yeah." Amy said lowering her head. "I still miss him too."
For a minute, neither of them spoke. Right now, they were having similar thoughts. The fact that the friend that they all knew and loved was gone, and was never coming back. They both knew they had to move on, but it wasn't easy when they've known him for most of their life.
"I've been trying to listen to what people say and move on." Tails said, breaking the silence. "But it's not easy for me."
Amy looked at Tails and put her hand on his shoulder. "You did know him the best. I understand why you're having a harder time moving on" She said.
Tails lowered his head though. "It's not just that though. There's something else that's been keeping me from moving on."
"What is it then?" Amy asked.
Before Tails could answer, they both heard the front door open.
Looking up, both of their faces took surprised expressions. Amy's being more so.
Metal Sonic was standing at the door, frozen where he was when he saw the scene.
"Did I interrupt something?" He asked.
For a long time, neither party moved. With neither of them not knowing what to do in this situation at first.
Amy reacted first however. Before Tails could even say something, she had her hammer out and was charging towards Metal. When she was close enough, she swung the hammer at Metal, hitting him in the face and knocking him to the floor.
Metal quickly dodged the second hammer strike by rolling away just before it hit him. Amy however, didn't let up and continued to try and hit him with the hammer.
Eventually, through all the evading, Metal ended up being cornered against a wall, and Amy was raising her hammer to hit him again.
Just before that happened however, Tails ran in between Metal and Amy.
"Amy wait." He said shielding Metal. "I can explain."
"Oh yes Tails." Amy cried out. "Please explain why Metal Sonic is here."
Tails looked back at Metal, who's back was still against the wall. He had hoped he would keep Metal a secret for awhile longer, hopefully until after they went on their journey for the emeralds and Metal had shown he could do good.
But now, Amy knew about Metal, and Tails' best option was to explain it as best as possible.
Tails sighed. "About a week after the funeral, Metal Sonic visited me and told me that he quit working for Eggman."
"And you believed him?" Amy asked incredulous.
"No, I didn't at first." Tails replied. "But after a few days, I saw that he really had changed and he's been helping me try to get through Sonic's death."
Amy didn't speak for a moment. She still kept her hammer ready, and was glaring at Metal. She wasn't sure whether or not to believe Tails, and the fact that Metal was there wasn't helping.
She finally spoke. "You are aware he's tried to kill us multiple times right?"
"I don't think he's gonna hurt any of us anymore." Tails quickly said. "Look, I'll show you."
He turned to Metal. "Metal, you're not going to attack Amy anymore right?"
Metal was silent for a moment, processing the question before he answered.
"The possibility of attacking Amy out of hate towards her is no longer an option for me." He stated.
Tails turned back to Amy, as if to say 'See, he's on our side now.'
Amy still didn't seem to buy it. "Okay, but you are aware he has worked on his own before?"
She then realized something. "Was this the reason why you asked me the current status of the emeralds? So Metal Sonic could get them for himself?"
"No!" Tails exclaimed. "He wants to look for them so they can be protected."
"Are you sure that's not a lie so he can take them by himself?" Amy said.
"He doesn't seem interested in doing that." Tails said.
Tails looked at Amy in desperation. "Please, you just haven't seen what's he's done recently. Just believe me."
Amy was silent at that. Her eyes switched between Metal Sonic and Tails, not knowing whether or not to believe what Tails was saying.
Finally, she lowered her hammer. "Look, maybe you're right and Metal Sonic has changed and I haven't seen it yet."
She then glared at Metal. "That doesn't mean I forgive him for what he's done before."
She then turned back to Tails. "You can keep him, but if he starts acting strangely, I want you to contact me immediately. Understand?"
Tails paused or a moment before he answered with a nod. "I understand."
Amy put her hammer away and began to walk towards the door. Just before she left, she turned her head towards Tails.
"It was nice to talk to you again Tails." She said.
Tails looked away from her slightly. "It was nice seeing you again too."
Amy then left, closing the door behind her.
Metal and Tails were quiet for about a minute before Tails turned to Metal.
"Why did you go into the house?" Tails asked Metal. "I thought I told you to stay in the hanger."
"You were taking a long time to get the necessary component." Metal responded. "I went to investigate why you were taking you so long. I did not expect that Amy Rose would be there."
"Yeah well, you were lucky that that she didn't destroy you." Tails replied.
"I expected her not to react well to my presence given my previous actions. Yet I did not expect her to react violently to me."
Tails sighed. "I guess you should be lucky I can repair you if you get damaged." He said.
"That is correct." Metal replied.
"I'm gonna go get that component for the plane." Tails said walking back to the entrance to the workshop. "You go back to the hanger and see if there's anything else I might need to replace."
"Affirmative." Metal responded.
Tails entered the workshop and walked back to the table where he put the plane component. Before he picked it up though, he stared at it in silence.
Just like Metal, he knew that no one was going to believe him over Metal turning good at first. He was their enemy for years, of course they wouldn't buy him suddenly turning good.
Yet, despite Amy showing the expected reaction to Metal, he felt hurt by it. While he felt comfortable with talking to Amy about Sonic. He felt that Metal was more helpful in getting through his grief.
He knew that the people who saw Metal had good reasons to be suspicious of him, but they seemed to be unable to see that he had changed.
He sighed and picked up the component and began to walk out of the workshop.
'It's still pretty early for them to see that he's changed.' Tails thought as he walked. 'Hopefully they'll eventually see he's really changed and wants to help others.'