Metal vs. Shadow: Metal's Ethno Circus

Metal stared at his new right arm in disbelief. It was impossible. There was no way this could actually be happening. Metal might have thrown logic away a long time ago, but this was just insanity.

But it was there. Silver Sonic's arm had become Metal's. It fit just like a glove.

How could it be possible? Silver Sonic was near indestructible. The only way Silver Sonic could have been broken apart was extreme temperatures, yet there were no burn marks on the arm or the joints. It looked like it was simply pulled off very neatly. And now, the arm was very neatly being welded into place by Tails.

Vector was talking to some car dealers about the latest models. Metal felt extremely out of place in this environment. He was surrounded by normal looking people… as normal as muscular men covered in oil looked… and none of them gave him strange looks. When they started prodding him and Tails to know what he was made of, Tails had told them that he was a sensitive being and they backed off. No one had done that before. Metal was used to people looking at him in fear, and even though that is not what he wanted anymore, he was still uncomfortable with people saying 'hi' to him.

"There" said Tails as he lifted his welding mask. "That should do it. Try it out and see if it works."

Metal stood up from the table he was laying on. He moved his new arm as perfectly as his old one. The fingers flexed, the elbow bent, the shoulder joint moved fine. It was impossible, and Metal couldn't get over it.

"It works like a new computer. So, you couldn't see any features… at all?"

Tails shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing except his glowing red eyes. But they weren't evil. They were just… wise."

Metal started pacing in a circle. "How could he have known that I needed a new arm? And how did he get this one! I've run it through my mind a thousand times, yet there is no logical answer. I thought of Shadow, but his eyes don't glow, and last I checked he didn't have the ability to make walls."

"Speaking of strange abilities" chimed in Tails, "how did you do that whip thing?"

Metal put his hand to his chin. "I… don't really remember. It just sort of…" a very loud saw kicked in, "happened."

Tails closed his eyes and sighed. "I suppose that's usually how great things tend to happen. I figured out my ability to fly because I had to get away from people who tried to beat me up for being a freak. They threw me off a building, and I expected to fall. The next thing I knew, I was hovering in mid air"

That somewhat angered Metal. Tails did not deserve that. Very few creatures did. A sudden brain storm hit Metal. "When those savages threw you of that building, what were you feeling?"

Tails looked at Metal with a gaze that said 'uh, what did you just ask me?' "I was feeling scared out of my mind" Tails said dumbly.

"Yes, yes, of course, but were you feeling anything else? Regret for not doing anything productive in life, sadness at… never knowing your family?"

Tails turned away. "Where are you going with this?" he said somewhat annoyed.

Metal held up his new hand and pointed it, open palmed, at a nearby tool shelf. "Perhaps that is what caused our abilities to show themselves. The intense fleeting of emotions. Perhaps if I duplicate the same emotions I felt when I first performed the Whips of Chaos-"

Tails snickered quite loudly.

"Okay, so it's not that creative, but let's face it, that's what it pretty much is. At any rate, if I try to be angry, sad, and happy all at the same time, maybe I can get it to work again." Metal thought about Sonic. Then, he thought about his creation. Then he thought about Tails. Slowly, his hands started to light up with the same golden glow as before. The tentacles slowly poured out of his hand and hung limply.

For a few moments, Metal and Tails were still. "Uh… if I could sweat drop right now, I would very well be doing that."

Tails fell on the floor and started laughing his tails off. Metal grunted and shook his hand, thus shaking the tentacles. He tried another approach. He imagined his thoughts and feelings constricting the Philips head that was closest to him. He imagined that his thoughts were as solid as his arm. Yes, be specific. If the emerald turned thoughts into power, than think powerful thoughts.

As sudden as a cobra, the tentacles came to life and snatched the screw driver and brought it to Metal while the tentacles receded. It all happened in .27 seconds. Tails had stopped laughing.

Vector slapped Metal's back. "Are we done here? We've been at this city for hours and haven't seen hide nor hair of the guy we're lookin for. The only thing I've seen is smog, dead trees, and some none too nice lookin kids. If we want to find Shadow, I say we cause a problem and draw him out."

Metal stood from where he had fallen. His mismatched hand had crushed the tool he was holding. "Uh… I hope I don't have to pay for that."

Tails started poking Vector in the stomach and talking to him like he was his mother. "We will do no such thing! You don't know who might get hurt, or what you'll break! And besides that, what do you think will happen to us? 'Oh, we didn't mean to cause that guy internal bleeding, but we needed to find a psycho hog, that's okay right?' Yeah. I see that working."

Metal felt a strange urge. It was much like the urge that had him walk to that park where he met Chaos. And Metal could not resist this simple, yet powerful urge.

Metal's jet ignited and he zoomed out the workshops garage door. He hated leaving Tails and Vector behind like that, but he had to do this, he knew. Metal zipped along the roads and tall buildings, not really sure where he was going. A right past the hospital, left at that fast food place, another left at the park, down the business district…

Smoke and fire trucks were everywhere. A bright light was blaring with the sun and blinding Metal. He quickly switched to a non glare vision and got close.

A five story hotel was currently burning to a crisp. The fire had obviously become too large to put out, and the human fire fighters had given up by this point.

"No!" a raccoon man called while fire fighters were pulling him back. "My wife and son are still in there! Let me die with them if you can't save them!"

"Sir, we need you to calm down." The fighter that said that looked at the other one. "Get the knockout gas, Randy."

"No!" Metal called as he walked up to the three of them.

"Great, a nut job in a tin can Sonic costume. Listen bud, this ain't no time to pretend to be a super hero. Get out of here and-" Two golden whips grabbed the fighters around their necks and conked their heads together. Cliché, but effective.

"Sir" said Metal calmly to the raccoon, "On what floor did you see your family last?"

The raccoon stared at Metal for a moment, and then stuttered, "Th-th- third floor, room t-tw-two twenty-eight."

"Stay here." Metal ran past all the fighters and ran threw the front door. Metal started running through the fire, untouched and unfazed by the flames that licked his entire being. What was a thing made of metal supposed to fear in this kind of environment? The only thing that scared Metal was the foundation. Charging straight through the walls might cause the whole building to fall down faster than it would already.

As Metal started running up the stairs, he switched to x-ray vision. Above him, he could see two beings hiding in one corner of a room. Across from them stood another being that stood tall and powerful despite the situation. For some reason, the powerful looking one was standing in place and looking around as if trying to find something. Metal ran up the next flight up stairs and turned off his x-ray vision. Down the hall where Metal saw the three beings, a hole had been blown in where a door stood. Metal ran in front of the hole and saw Shadow the Hedgehog staring around a wall of fire, frantically trying to find a way to the other side without breaking anything that would cause the room to fall in.

Then Shadow noticed Metal. Their eyes met. They didn't move.

A beam above them broke and the mother raccoon screamed. Metal ran past Shadow and jumped through the fire.

"You'll never be able to get them through the fire! They can't handle the heat!" Shadow called from the other side.

Metal looked at the mother and child raccoons. They sat in the corner covered in ash. It was amazing that they hadn't caught on fire. Metal walked up to them and they panicked slightly. "Please, don't hurt us!" the mother raccoon begged.

"You're husband sent for me. He said he would hurt himself if he didn't have you. Does that sound like him?" Metal held out his hand.

"… Thank you" was all she could say. Metal picked them up and held them in his arms.

"Shadow, is there anyone else in the building?"

"No… everyone is out" called Shadow calmly.

"Shadow, I'm going to do something drastic. I can't get these people out of here without them catching on fire or bringing the building down. You'd better get out of here, because I'm going to do the later." Metal surrounded himself in his yellow shield and lifted himself a few inches of the floor.

"I know who you are and I know what you want! Meet me at the Nature's Eye Park later if you want get it." Metal heard a few foot steps and then mini jets. Metal flared his own jet at full force.

"Hold on" he said the people in his arms. Metal bolted through the roof, his shield deflecting everything that tried to do them harm. As Metal blasted through the roof, the rest of the building came toppling down.

Metal hovered over the wreckage and surveyed all that he had done. Did he really just save someone's life? Was he really the person all those people down there were cheering for?

"Thanks" the little raccoon boy said meekly. "You're a good a hero as Sonic the hedgehog…"

As good a hero. Yes, Metal liked hearing that.

Metal hovered over the crowd, scanning for the raccoon father. When at last Metal spotted him, Metal saw that he was crying tears of joy and reaching for his family"

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" he said over and over again as he cradled and held his family. "How can we ever repay you sir? You have a heart that must be in overdrive to be so kind mister… uh… what is your name?"

Metal hadn't thought that far ahead. He stood still for a moment as he thought. "Uh… Metal… uh… Metal… Overdrive! Yes, Metal Overdrive!" he announced heroically as he placed his arms on his hips like a super hero.

"Oh thank you Metal Overdrive!" Suddenly Metal was attacked by news reporters and camera flashes.

"Sorry I have to go" Metal said to the family he had saved. "It would have been nice to get to know you personally, you seem like such a nice family, but I can't seem to go anywhere without attracting a crowd." Metal and the raccoon father shook hands just before Metal took off in to the sky.

-break-

It was sunset when Metal, Tails, and Vector walked into the park in The Dark Metrople city limits. They were surprised, to say the least, to see how clean it was compared to the rest of the city. The various ponds were clean, the ground not covered with any trash, the amount of trees that looked alive and well.

"So, you met Shadow while you were saving a family from a burning building" said Tails for the twenty-sixth time. "That's such a strange picture to imagine. And he told you to meet him here?"

Metal released an annoyed sigh. "Yes, he'll be here. And we've already established how weird it looked. Can we please drop it?"

"Are you prepared?" asked Vector while messing with his headphones.

"For what?"

"For a fight! I'm willing to bet he doesn't want to give up the emerald without a fight."

Metal was about to respond to that when a sudden question started nagging at him. Metal turned around and asked, "How are you listening to music?"

Vector raised a brow. "Wha do ya mean?"

"Those headphones don't lead to a cd player, so how do you play music on that thing?"

Vector remained silent. "I'm… not really sure…"

"Are you done being the three stooges? I want to get this over with." Shadow, without any dramatic entrance what so ever, walked up to the three of them.

Tails stared at Shadow. Shadow gave him a stone cold stare and scowl. Tails eeped and he and Vector backed up a few steps. Metal put his hand up. "It's been a while, Shadow."

Shadow actually shook hands with Metal. "Yeah…" They put their hands down and Shadow pulled out the green emerald. "This is what you came for, right?"

Metal stared at the marvelous gem. If he had real eyes, they'd have been glazed over. "Yes. We require it for a special project of ours."

Shadow's face remained rather stiff. "I trust you are no longer the robot Sonic is always raving about… but how can I trust that you aren't up to anything that some people would consider wrong?"

Metal started doing hand motions. "Well, even if I were doing something unethical, it doesn't really matter. You owe me."

Shadow squinted his eyes. "That should be payback for things you've done wrong."

"But what have I done wrong to you?"

The question hung in the air for a moment. Shadow stared intently at Metal. Metal stood still.

"Very well" said Shadow as he backed up. "Fight me for it."

"Told ya."

"If I win, you give me what emeralds you have. You win you get my emerald and-"

"That's not fair! One emerald is not worth two emeralds!" yelled Tails defensively.

Metal put his hand to his face. "Tails, did it ever cross your mind that he was playing a trick on you to get you to say things that he wants to know?"

Shadow grunted in an annoyed way. "As I was saying, you win, you get the emerald and my help. Whatever you're doing, I'll help with it. I'll help you find the remaining emeralds and help with whatever."

"Alright, I'll accept after we set a few ground rules. One, no using pedestrians and such as shields."

"Agreed."

"Two, no speeding off. We stay in the general area."

"Very well. Rule three, you and me only, no help from your buds right there."

"Right then. How will the winner be decided?"

"The first one the fall on the ground and not get up will be the loser."

"Okay then." Metal pulled Vector and Tails to the side. "I just need to talk to these guys for a second."

Metal, Tails, and Vector huddled up. "What are you doing? He's going to destroy you!" Tails whispered insanely.

"Under normal circumstances he probably would. But I actually have a fool proof plan of action against Shadow. The only thing I'm not prepared for is his Chaos Spear, and those should be relatively easy to avoid. Vector, I need you to think of a song or tune that is extremely catchy, has obnoxious words, and loops. Know any?"

"Yeah… as a matter of fact I do."

Shadow stood where he was, surveying the three of them. He pondered the wonder that was the three of them working together. How had the fox kid and that oaf of a crocodile gotten involved in this? You couldn't tell by his facial expression, but he really wanted to ask what they were doing here. Now that he thought about it, he didn't even know any of their names. He only knew Sonic as a rival, and the person that got closest to him wasn't exactly a nice person. But that's what comes with pain and promises, a scarred past and the desire to not exist… or for the rest of the world to not exist.

"That's perfect. That will do the trick for sure." Metal said quite loudly. Shadow smiled to himself. Yes, they could do all they could, but no matter what Shadow would win. He was the ultimate life form. The ultimate, period.

"All right. This will work." The three broke from their circle. Metal walked over to Shadow. "Alright, are we ready?"

Shadow smirked rather evilly. "Yes. Let's get started."

From Metal, the strangest song Shadow had ever heard started to play. It was very loud, and sounded like a bizarre circus. If Shadow had to pick one word to describe the song, it would be obnoxious.

In time with the music, Metal made a 'come on' gesture with his hands. Shadow charged at him. Metal took two steps to the left in, in time with the music, then two steps to the right, in time with the music. Shadow braked and turned around. Metal was bobbing left and right to the beat of the song, simply waiting for Shadow to come at him again. Shadow grinded his teeth and ran up to Metal. He leaped in the air and performed a flying kick. Metal grabbed it like it was nothing. Shadow pulled away from his grip and tried to hit Metal multiple times. Metal, using only his right arm, blocked all of Shadow's attacks. In time with a rather shiny sounding part of the song, Metal landed many hits and two hard kicks on Shadow, sending him flying a few feet away. Shadow stood back up, with nothing injured except his pride.

Metal started walking up to Shadow, each step he took in time with the beat. Shadow put his hands up, ready for a barrage of attacks. Just as the weird singer stopped singing, Metal quickly glided behind Shadow, without Shadow noticing, and started attacking Shadow from the back in time with the quicker beat.

Off to the side, Vector was slightly dancing to The Ethno Circus while Tails stared stupidly at the fight.

"What exactly is going on?" asked Tails while pointing at who was know dodging Shadow's hits and kicks… he was even dodging the homing attack.

Vector chuckled. "He's using psychological warfare on Shadow. You noticed how Shadow has skates, right?"

"Right."

"Well, in order for Shadow to move in them, he has to keep a rhythm going on between his feet. I bet that's how he moves with everything. So, throw in a song and Shadow will probably fallow the beat without even realizing it. Metal's basically making Shadow move slower."

"That's… a little anticlimactic" Tails said as he turned back to the fight.

Shadow had by now figured out what Metal was doing. And boy, Shadow felt stupid. Slowed down by a stupid song. He would never hear the end of it from Rouge. Oh, and now Metal was using some kind of freaking whip thing to try and grab him. This just kept getting better and better.

"That's it!" Shadow screamed with his eyes bloodshot with rage. Shadow leaped back and got as much distance as he could from Metal. For no reason except to taunt Shadow, Metal had stuck the ends of his whips to the opposite side of his chest and started to strum them with his left hand like a guitar. It was cool looking, in Metal's opinion.

"I'll show you the true power of Chaos!" Shadow's left hand started to glow. A ball shape formed.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow yelled as he tossed the energy at Metal. Metal put up his yellow shield, but the Chaos Spear went right threw it. Instead of a large explosion, it was contained inside the yellow shield. It opened up, revealing a smoke covered Metal. The music had stopped.

"It's times like these where I'm glad I don't have nerves." Metal shook himself. Shadow charged another Chaos Spear and threw it. Metal put up his arms. The spear hit, but broke like glass when it hit Metal's right arm. Metal and Shadow were both stunned for a moment.

Shadow gritted his teeth and threw another Chaos Spear. Metal tried something really out there. He actually caught the spear. Everyone stood still, except for Metal, who bounced the spear in his hand.

"Wow… this is pretty interesting. I wonder if it stills packs all of it's potency after you've tossed it. Let's find out." Metal threw the spear at Shadow.

"Chaos Control!" called Shadow and he warped away. Metal, foreseeing this possible defense, had attached a tentacle to the spear and used it to pull the spear back.

Shadow appeared behind Metal and kicked him out of the way. Shadow smirked for a moment before falling victim to his own magnificent attack. The Chaos Spear made a large explosion and a lot of smoke.

As the smoke cleared, Shadow wobbled and swayed. He looked like he was going to fall. Shadow stood still for a moment, his eyes wide in astonishment.

"How… could I lose… to a machine?"

"I'm not a machine…" said Metal as he walked over to Shadow. "Machines don't do the things I've done. They can't change and learn from variables."

Shadow looked down, his eyes still wide. "… What is it… that you want from me?"

"We want our wishes granted. I want to be a living creature. Tails wants love. Vector wants treasure enough so that he may live in peace. But don't change the subject. You were going easy on me… why?"

Shadow smirked. "You're going to make me say it… aren't you?"

"Yes." Shadow could here the warm smugness in his voice.

"I… owe you, for lack of a better term."

"Are you sure it isn't for lack of a nicer term?"

"Shut up you damn robot. What was the name of that stupid song?"

"Ethno Circus"

"How fitting… we're a band of ethno freaks. A two tailed freak, an idiot freak, a mechanical freak, and an abomination of man kind… can't get more ethnic than that."

"Shadow… what do you wish for? I'm not going to let you help me without you getting something out of this."

Shadow huffed a few times. "There is nothing that I wish for… I have thought about it… but I don't want it… Just take it…" Shadow shakily held out the green emerald.

Metal touched it. Both Metal and Shadow were shocked by massive amounts of Chaos energy.

Again, Metal found himself in the presence of the scientist. "What do you think the world will be like, Henry, when the Chaos Emeralds have sucked all the negative energy away?"

The next voice came from Metal… or at least it seemed to. "It will be peaceful and all that stuff. No more wars or anything."

Shadow had also seen into this vision. And he recognized the scientist with the bushy mustache. But he did not recognize the brown hedgehog that looked ten years old.

Metal and Shadow were both visibly smoking. Rather slowly, they both fell forward, hitting each other in the process. They both dreamed peacefully that night.

-Author's note-

Lordy, the way the title is dropped in this chapter makes me cringe looking back. I also do not like the fight scene because of how short it is, and really only used 'Shadow holding back' as an excuse for my own shortcomings. It seems believable, but still… urk!

The Conflicted Writer