A ginormous thank you to everyone who is still reading this story (reviewers and non-reviewers)! This is quite a dialogue-filled chapter and won't be as short as I planned 'cause this crazy idea leapt into my head at the last minute XD
By the way…there isn't a name for this couple is there (i.e. Shadamy, Silvaze, Sonsal, etc)? Maybe somebody could come up with one…'cause I can't think of anything right now! Maybe Meticole? :/ If there IS one, could someone please tell me please?
Reviews would be appreciated.
Set into Motion
He was running, faster than usual. Although he loved it, Sonic the Hedgehog preferred to run in more linear direction than the predicament he was in now.
The blue hedgehog had been turning corners, running into dead ends, and going around in circles for what seemed forever. He never liked mazes; they forced him to think too hard. Especially this one. But the worse thing about this maze was a maniacal laughter echoing throughout the entire labyrinth. It wasn't the unmistakable egotistical type of Eggman, nor was it the sheer madness of Ixis Naugus. But it was definitely evil; Sonic could tell that much. The laughter emitted a sense of power and control of what was going on, as if Sonic was part of his little game that was the maze. It was mocking him to say the least, and the blue hero became more irritated after each passing moment. The laughter never stopped, but Sonic never remembered it beginning.
Turn after turn, corner after corner, Sonic found something of an opening. Increasing his speed, he was eager to finally be out. The farther he went down the path, the more the brick wall looked like it was weathering. Hope at last. But as the earth and brick chipped away, the labyrinth walls were being replaced by glass. The hedgehog looked to his side and skidded to halt. He stared wide eyed at what he ran into. The brick walls had turned into mirrors and reflected his shocked expression. The laughter continued.
Unsure of what was going on, the blue blur continued running down the path until it opened up. He stepped out of the maze into a circular room, the walls all mirrors. It was as if he was in some sick, twisted funhouse. He went to push against each mirror to try and see if there was an opening. But when Sonic got a closer look at his "reflections", he was speechless. Instead of his bewildered stance and confused face, they reflected him standing there straight, with a dark, wide open smile on his face. Laughing.
His green eyes were replaced by piercing red ones with a feral look and the Mobian couldn't tear his eyes away from the abomination before him. The laughter got louder. Sonic covered his ears. But his eyes remained open as he gazed in horror of the nearest reflection. Suddenly, a hand burst from behind the mirror—no, not a hand, a claw. A metallic claw. The rest of the glass cracked and shattered, but the laughter did not stop. As the glass fell, the blue hedgehog felt his heart stop as a pair a familiar, blood red eyes met his.
Metal Sonic retracted his hand, his laughter continuing. His metallic shoulders shook with intensity from the madness. He picked up a broken piece of the mirror which still held the Mobian's doppelganger laughing face. He brought it up to eye level and crushed it in his hand.
Sonic gasped as he woke up from the nightmare. He turned his head back and forth to remember where he was. The hedgehog sighed in relief after confirming he was still at the palace. He yawned and stretched before getting up off the couch in the den. Watching the fireplace must have made him sleepy. He looked at the clock, Great. I get to see that wonderful face in less than an hour…
"Sonic?" Sally called out as she entered the den, "Where are y—oh there you are!"
The hero rubbed his back and returned a lazy smiled, "Just getting some rest before we take off…Is everyone ready to go?"
Sally nervously laughed, "Yea, about that. There's been a slight hiccup…"
Before Sonic could ask, they heard a voice call out.
"Princess Sally, Mr. Sonic! Cheese and I are ready!" A young rabbit dressed in orange excitedly entered the room with her Chao. The blue Mobian raised an eyebrow at the chipmunk.
"It's just that I was the only one available to babysit Cream, and Vanilla assured that as long as she was under our care, visiting Pendragon would be sort of like a vacation for her," Sally quickly defended herself.
Cream piped in, "I promise I will behave! Cheese will too-"
"Chao, Chao!"
"-and we would love to see Ms. Nicole again, if that's okay…"
Sonic felt his knees buckle a bit as Cream stared up at him with a pleading face, hugging Cheese like a puppy. He looked back over to Sally, who scratched the back of her head in a half-hearted smile. She shrugged. Sonic looked back to Cream, "I guess its fine with-"
He was cut off by the rabbit and chao's squeals of delight, "Thank you Mr. Sonic!"
"Chao!" Cheese cried happily as he dove in for a hug with Cream following in suit.
The hedgehog chuckled and returned the gesture, "All right, let's get going. We don't want to be late!"
In an instant, Cream and Cheese rushed off to get their things. Sally walked over to her boyfriend and grabbed his hand in hers, "You handled that pretty well…"
"Yea…I guess I did," he smirked.
"Guess that goes to show you'll make a great dad someday…"
"Yea…Wait, what?"
Metal Sonic sat down in front of his chess table. Though unlike most boards which had two sides going against each other, this one was customized to have three different "armies" on at once: white pieces, black pieces, and brown pieces. The android stared at the white pieces, more specifically a knight; the only blue piece on the entire board.
Might as well make him the king…he is part of my primary objective…no, that would mean I'd have to keep him in check…
BEEP
"Metal, could you come to the main hall? It broke again," Nicole's voice was heard over the intercom speakers.
Damn thing just won't stay fixed, Metal Sonic sighed as he got up and left.
He sped towards the main hall to see the damage. When he got there he saw Nicole crossing her arms and tapping her foot, glaring at a large and old grandfather clock. Metal Sonic hated that clock; it reminded him of the one at Elias's palace. He only put it in there to add some panache in the overly-roboticized ex-Eggdome. But as he knew nothing of…"clockery"…the hedgehog could never completely fix it. Until today!
Metal Sonic stood next to Nicole as they both glared at the troublesome clock. The android stepped forward, turned the clock around, and opened a compartment, "All right, let's get this over with…dammit…Nicole could you get me a wrench real quick?"
"Yup," the lynx smiled and lingered her gaze on her hedgehog for a little bit longer before turning away. Metal Sonic continued to find out just what was wrong with the infernal antique. A few minutes passed by before he figured it out, Aha! So that's what was wrong…
He heard Nicole coming up from behind him, "Metal I've got the wrench, for some reason it was in a microwave…"
Still focused on the clock, the blue android reached his arm back to grab the wrench, but instead…
Hmmm? What's this? This doesn't feel like a wrench at all, it's round and soft…
He heard what he assumed was the wrench falling to the floor with a CLANG. Nicole said nothing. Turning his head around, Metal noticed Nicole's eyes were as wide as dinner plates as she looked down to where his hand was. He followed her gaze and instantly stiffened when he saw what he had grabbed by mistake. Nicole's face turned a red comparable to Knuckles's shade and she felt as warm as a volcano. After embarrassment and shock left, she started to feel a stronger emotion; one she hadn't felt since after Metal's fight with Shadow…when they were just standing on the hill and the robot admitted what he did at Chez Vetements. What did Sally call this again?
A few moments of complete silence and lack of movement went by as both AI stared in astonishment at Metal Sonic's hand and where it was placed. Still not saying a word, the robot slowly removed his hand from its previous placement and took the wrench on the floor. Nicole didn't move and inch. When he turned back around to work on the clock, he finally spoke, "Ummm…I-I'll get this done…in, uh…no time…thank you…UH, for the wrench I mean!" Why do I feel…what is this feeling?
"Uh huh," the lynx weakly replied, still stunned, "I'll just…be in my room…if you need me…"
Nicole walked off with still the same expression as Metal continued to work on the clock. An idea that she had always tried to bury away was coming back to haunt her…oh no…make that an idea and a memory.
By the time the clock had been fixed permanently, Metal Sonic judged that Elias would be coming any moment. The smallest bit frantic, he sent a quick message to Nicole in order to inform her. Beforehand, he had talked to the lynx about Sally and managed to convince Nicole to give her a second chance. He wanted the other AI to be happy, and if that meant to bandage together her broken friendship with Sonic's closest ally, then so be it.
The metallic hedgehog dashed into his private study (the decided meeting room) to make preparations. He had told one of his embassy officers, Honey- a Mobian cat-, to give the visitors a quick tour of Pendragon before directing them back to the main hall where Metal Sonic would be waiting. The yellow cat knew how to influence a good mood and would relieve some tension his guests had before actually meeting with him. Judging it was almost time, the robot left to the main hall. Along the way he couldn't help but look outside. Everything looked so calm and peaceful when snow covered the world…it's a shame it couldn't stay that way.
He turned back to his previous path, only to stop short when his eyes rested on a small rabbit holding a chao in the middle of the hallway. This caught him by surprise and he almost flinched when he saw her. The young rabbit was simply smiling back with big brown eyes; as with her chao. Metal Sonic looked behind him real quick, then scoped past the girl, "Um, hello. Are you lost?"
The rabbit nodded her head, "Yes, Cheese wanted to explore and went out without me. He normally doesn't act this way, but I managed to catch up with him. And…I lost sight of Miss Honey and the others…"
I see, the robot concluded, Elias must have brought her along…but why? Wait…she followed cheese here? What cheese?
"Cheese is an inanimate object, how on Mobius could you have followed it here?" he asked. The rabbit and chao looked confused.
"No no no, this is Cheese," the girl held up her chao.
"Chao! Chao!" the bowtie wearing chao confirmed.
"Oh, but where are my manners," the rabbit put her hand over her mouth, "My name is Cream, and you've already met Cheese!"
Cream giggled while Metal Sonic processed what was going on. Am I on camera?
"Pleasure to meet you Cream," the android extended his hand, "I am Metal Sonic."
The girl's eyes lit up, "OH so you're the one that Miss Nicole likes so much! It is very nice to meet you!"
She returned the handshake after putting Cheese down and giggled in her innocence, "I do not want to sound rude, but could you help us find our way back please?"
"Of course, I was on the way to meet your friends myself," Metal Sonic agreed. For some reason, this girl's presence calmed him. Not like Nicole's presence, but something in him felt…relaxed.
Cream held on to Metal's hand as he walked her to the main hall. Along the way, the rabbit started asking questions about the robot's friendship with Elias and his relationship with Nicole. He believed the girl to be harmless, so Metal Sonic didn't think he would have to watch what he said about Nicole.
"So you two were all alone until you found each other?" Cream looked up. Cheese was resting on her head and did his best to stay on when she moved.
"Well…when you put it that way," Metal Sonic started to feel uncomfortable. Did he reveal too much?
"And even though no one really likes you, even Miss Sally, she stayed at your side?"
Even Cheese was looking at the robot with wondering eyes, waiting for his answer.
"Yes…she…did," he answered, a little unsure of where she was going but at the same time realizing what had really happened between him and Nicole.
"And you said that everything you have been doing was for Miss Nicole?"
"Yes, of course."
"I see," was all that Cream returned. Metal Sonic was dumbfounded, She…"sees"? What was the point of asking so many-
"Are you going to ask Miss Nicole to marry you?" Cream asked innocently once more.
The prince halted, "Ask to what me?"
"To marry you, silly!" Cream giggled again. But after she realized that her new friend didn't understand what she was talking about, both the rabbit and her chao gasped.
"You mean…you don't know what marriage is?"
"No…it is not in my databanks," the robot double checked just to make sure.
"Oh my goodness! Well, Mr. Metal, marriage is when two people who love each other very much decide that they will spend the rest of their lives together!"
While she continued to list things a "married" couple did together, Metal Sonic zoned out thinking about this concept of…"love". He had some idea of what it was supposed to be, and before he almost…the prince began to ponder this more. That is until he heard:
"…and they have children-"
The android tripped over himself and fell face first onto the floor. He instantly got back up and continued walking to regain his composure, but his voice exposed his true emotion, "W-What was that last part?" That's once more I've stuttered in my life…
Cream beamed back at him, "Well usually that comes later because the husband and wife have to have a wedding and a honeymoon first, which I think is a vacation or something."
"Why…why do you think…"
Cream didn't need to let him finish, "Well from what it sounds like Miss Nicole loves you very much, and you love Miss Nicole. Right?"
Metal Sonic reflected on the young girl's words. But before he could get really deep the trio had finally come up to the main hall where Nicole was waiting for them.
"Miss Nicole!" Cream squealed with happiness as she and Cheese ran towards the surprised and confused lynx. Excited to see her old friend again, the AI bent down to give the rabbit a hug while Cheese embraced her arm. Metal Sonic watched as a warm feeling started to grow inside of him. Even though he had just met Cream, Nicole obviously was good friends with the rabbit and when Nicole was happy, he was happy.
It was about this time that Honey had come up with Elias, Sonic, and Sally. After seeing that Cream was safe, Sally eased down while Elias and Sonic chuckled a bit. Since the rabbit had gotten lost on the tour, Honey volunteered to show her around and what she missed. Cream and Cheese were more than enthusiastic.
Only Metal Sonic, Nicole, Elias, Sally, and Sonic were all that remained in remained in the main hall. At first, no one said a thing and tension started to grow. Elias decided to speak up and walked over to shake his friend's hand, "Well, well, it seems you've built a kingdom as quick as winning one of our chess matches. I just want to be the first" –and maybe only- "one to say congratulations. It really has been too long, my friend."
"Yes, it definitely has," the prince returned the gesture, "But let's not waste time, there are very important matters we need to discuss. If you'll just follow me…"
Elias moved in the direction the robot pointed too and motioned Sonic to come with him. Sally and Nicole were left alone, neither of them making eye contact with the other. Nicole put her arms behind her back, while sally gripped her own.
"Nicole," the squirrel quietly started out, "I'm…I…I know what I said was wrong…I'm sorry for that, I just got caught up with what was going on…I was just so angry that Eggman was able to infiltrate our very home just because of…"
She sighed, and her eyes remained glued to the ground. She couldn't face Nicole after the impact of what she said that day. But the squirrel didn't notice that her friend was beginning to look up.
"It's…You don't have to forgive me…I'll never forgive myself, either…I just want to be there for you when you need me. I need you."
Suddenly she was hugged. Nicole tried to stop both of them from crying, "Sounds like you were the one who couldn't control their emotions this time."
Elias was already in Metal Sonic's private study, as Sonic wanted a word with his counterpart alone. While the robot stood with his arms crossed, Sonic twiddled his thumbs trying to think of what to say.
"Look, Metal…about that day when we all ganged up on you…"
"What's this? The great hero of Mobius-Sonic the Hedgehog- is apologizing?"
The Mobian was caught off guard. He was never this nervous, but that dream he had…
"Oh don't worry about me. I'm just an emotionless monster; trying to destroy everything you know and love," Metal Sonic continued sarcastically, "Why on Mobius would you ever need to apologize. I should be the one to say sorry for being created, right?"
Sonic took a couple steps back. He was surprised at first, but the android's tone irritated him, "Dude, I'm trying to say I'm sorry! I actually mean it-"
"Yes you did. Every single word," the prince scoffed, "No need to give me a second chance, since I didn't have my own free will or anything like that, hedgehog."
Sonic tensed up. He was only ever called "hedgehog" like that by an enemy, something he had picked up from his line of work. The Mobian's eyes narrowed, "Why are you saying stuff like this? I'm sorry for being a jerk, and I know I should have given you a second chance!"
Metal Sonic turned away to his meeting with Elias, dismissing the entire conversation, "We can't be friends." That's right. I need you mad at me, I want you to come at me with everything you've got when the time comes…
As the door closed in his face, Sonic stood there trying to figure out what had happened. He was flabbergasted, confused, and angry. With a growl, he walked away to the main hall, hoping to find something to do. While he strolled away he noticed a slip of paper had been slipped in his shoe.
"When did that get there," he asked himself as he took it out. It was folded and taped, with a small note written on it that read,
Don't open until the time is right.
Looking around for anyone that might have passed by, Sonic slowly put the paper back in his shoe.
Metal Sonic clicked a button on his wall and the top of the table in the study flipped over to reveal a map of Mobius. He and Elias had just finished agreeing to peace terms, trade alliances, and the establishment of foreign embassies. Now they were on the more important subject: Eggman and Scourge.
"My reports indicate that Eggman has managed to achieve an alliance with the Battle Bird Armada. He's also got the Dark Legion backing him up and for some reason Scourge and the Destructix," Metal Sonic explained.
Elias looked over the map, "Why is he with Eggman? Scourge is supposed to be allied with Dr. Finitevus…"
Elias groaned, "Oh right, I forgot to tell you that the bastard is at it again. Knuckles left a week ago with Julie-Su to track him down. Finitevus may have some part in this."
"Hmmmm," was all the robot replied. He was musing over the idea that, like Mogul, Finitevus was wondering if he could use Metal Sonic to his advantage. I'd like to see him try…but from the data I've gathered on the echidna, it wouldn't be like him to directly confront an opponent…Scourge must be some sort of test…
"Elias, I don't want you involved," he suddenly spoke up, "Despite the growth of my kingdom, yours is still the heart of all Mobians. I have mixed races: Mobians, machines, few Overlanders…besides it's my fight and-"
"How is that any way to start diplomatic relations?" the squirrel joked, "You expect to form an alliance and yet you'll do all the fighting? Eggman is our enemy too; I don't think it will sit very well with the people if we don't have some part in his defeat."
"Does the Council know you're even discussing this matter with me?"
Elias chuckled, "You know, they were against this very meeting so I couldn't really give a damn. At least this was one choice my father approved of."
Throughout all the talking, Elias did not notice once the chess board Metal Sonic had forgotten to put away before the meeting.
Okay, I know that I said this chapter was supposed to me short, but I forgot I had a four day weekend and a TON of ideas hit me at once. Next chapter should be the shortest of the three Pendragon-visit saga (or whatever) as I didn't want to cram all the suspense into one chapter.
And concerning the introduction of Cream, I just couldn't help myself. She is the perfect little sister anyone could have :D And her innocence is perfect chemistry with Metal. Oh and Nicole's got a little surprise that might get negative responses from some readers, but that means it'll do its job. And what's this? Dr. Finitevus? I thought I said earlier that I wouldn't use him, oh well :D
You can review if you want…I mean, my begging for reviews has basically become a regular part of my Author's Notes, but if it annoys you guys let me know!