~Photos~

Mephiles was back in the abandoned underground laboratory on Prison Island, seeing that a part of his plan had failed. His intention was to have Sniper and Marilyn try to escape, using their powers in their attempt, then have them captured again and put in the research lab where he once was. That was also where he wanted his second target to be killed – Marilyn. However, the plan failed.

"She was just a minor victim…" Mephiles told himself. "Hopefully the rest of my plan will work."

…

Cynthia was walking in the fortress, a little exhausted from today's work, when she saw the GUN Commander.

"Oh. Hello, sir," she saluted.

"I would like a word with you, Agent West," the Commander announced.

From behind the Commander stepped out the robot Sonic. Cynthia never knew his name, but what she did know that he was once Ivo's machine. Even though he could never change his expression, he seemed rather smug – especially since he had his arms folded.

"…Yes sir," Cynthia responded to the Commander, walking ff with him, leaving the robot.

…

Ivo seemed very angry with Callie.

"Don't you realise just how much trouble you could have gotten yourself into!" Ivo asked, furious.

"Please, father, I only wanted to help Metal…" Callie replied nervously, not looking at Ivo.

"You were at gunpoint! Think about what happened to Emmi! You were lucky that you didn't have the same fate!" Ivo shouted.

"She wasn't saving anyone's life," Callie corrected.

"No?" Ivo asked rhetorically, sounding sarcastic. "Well, how about your cousin, Maria! She was just a year older than you when she was mercilessly shot by a GUN soldier while saving Shadow's life! Shadow was just like Metal to you, having been created to cure her, in a way, so she could visit Earth. She gave up her dream to save him!"

"She wasn't mercilessly shot," Callie, again, corrected, still a little calm. "The soldier panicked."

"Oh, and you know that, do you?" Ivo asked rhetorically again. "Were you there?"

"No," Callie answered. "But Emmi was when she was a robot."

Ivo remembered that. He then sighed. "Look, Callie. I only want you to be safe," he admitted. "If I lost you, I don't know what I'd do."

"And if I lost Metal, I'd feel lost," Callie compared.

"If I must be honest with you, Metal has been like a son to me from the beginning," Ivo admitted.

"Huh?" Callie asked, confused. "But I thought that you just saw all of your robots as slaves?"

"Not Metal," Ivo responded. "Ever since the moment Metal held you in his arms, I instantly saw something different about him, which gave me the generosity to give him a name. Metal may sound like a simple name, but it suited him, because that was what he was. He was metal. He was a metal hedgehog who became my greatest invention. Not only did I create a robot with healing powers, I created a defender. A son. A friend. And all these years, along with you, I've watched him change as if he was growing up."

…

1990:

While his daughter was on life support as an infant, Ivo had started to build a robot which he referred to as his "Greatest Creation". For once he gave one of his robots a free mind and gave him healing abilities, along with attacks for defence. This robot was built to save his daughter from dying of Robotto Koka.

"Success…" Ivo told himself after his robot's eyes switched on. He admired this new robot, whom was now standing up, trying to get used to his surroundings. "Come with me, my 'Greatest Creation'. You have a job to do."

From one's point of view, this robot seemed like a normal robot – emotionless, mindless and lifeless. However, when seeing the dying infant, he naturally knew what to do. He put his hands on her chest where her heart was located, his hands then glowing as he began to heal her. The baby then opened her eyes and blinked before crying, indicating that she was both healthy and very much alive.

The robot was holding the child, who had eventually stopped crying, grabbing his nose. Reacting, the robot held the young girl's hand. Hearing the child giggle made something happen inside the robot, as if he was feeling an emotion.

Ivo smiled at the sight. He had created a nice robot for once, one which almost had a heart. In fact, he took a photograph of this moment to put in a photo album.

"She likes you," Ivo eventually stated.

The blue hedgehog robot turned to face him.

"I think you should name her," Ivo continued. "And then I'll name you."

After a short time of thinking, the robot eventually came up with a name. "…Callie," he said in his deep, yet somehow not intimidating, voice. "Her name is Callie."

"Callie… What a wonderful name," Ivo smiled. "And your name shall be… Metal."

"Metal…" the robot repeated to himself. He liked that name, and Ivo could tell, still smiling.

…

1992

Metal was chasing Callie around.

"I'm going to catch you~!" he laughed.

Callie could only giggle as she ran, before Metal grabbed her playfully. "Gotcha!"

"Hey!" Callie responded, still giggling.

Metal then set her down on the floor. "You're a speedy little one, aren't you?" he asked.

"I'm very fast!" Callie responded, striking a superhero pose.

"Indeed you are," Metal chuckled, ruffling her short brown hair.

Again, Callie giggled.

Ivo was watching the two through a camera, smiling. Of course, he didn't want to invade their life too much, but he always wanted to catch a nice photo of them to put in his photo album. So before he tuned in with the intercom, he had taken a picture of Metal chasing Callie playfully.

…

1993

"What are you painting?" Metal asked Callie, who was painting a picture in her Play Room.

"You as a fairy princess," Callie replied, giggling as she painted.

"Is that supposed to be my long blonde hair?" Metal questioned, pointing to Callie's attempt at painting hair, which was a yellow line down the side of what was supposed to be Metal's head.

"Yes," Callie answered, still giggling a little. "And I still need to do your pretty pink dress and wings!"

"Of course, how could you forget my dress!" Metal reacted playfully, as if he had forgotten, too.

Callie then pained on the dress, wings, high-heels and wand, laughing. "I'm finished~!" she announced.

"Wow, you are some artist, Callie!" Metal praised, looking at the artwork. "I think you should put that one up on the wall with the others."

"Okay~!" Callie chirped, putting the picture on her wall of paintings.

"It looks beautiful there, Callie," Metal commented.

"Thank you," Callie accepted.

Ivo, again, was seeing what they were doing, having taken a picture of when Callie was laughing as she painted the rest of Metal's features on. That was when he tuned in on the intercom, about to give his creation an upgrade so he could start rivalling against Sonic, who coincidentally looked like Metal.

…

1996

Callie zoomed past Metal on her scooter as he walked around the metallic hallways, having come back from a training course. He went at a mild speed using his booster to fly beside her.

"Are you having fun, Callie?" he asked.

"Yep~!" Callie replied. "I'm going SUPER fast!"

"Indeed you are," Metal chuckled.

Ivo was walking through a hallway nearby, seeing the two, smiling. He took a photograph of them, until something ran past him with some blueprints. Ivo realised that it was the robot he was just getting back to, known as Metal Sniper. Angry, Ivo began chasing the robot.

"Grr! You irritant little piece of scrap! Get back here with my blueprints!" Ivo yelled as he chased Sniper.

…

1997

Metal was driving around in his new Metal Booster in a large room aboard the Death Egg. He was having quite a good time, then noticing Callie beside EMMI. EMMI was a robot he had recently met after helping Sniper. He pulled up beside them.

"Hello there," Metal greeted.

"You learned to drive pretty fast," EMMI pointed out, smiling a little.

"I'm a robot, I watch and I learn," Metal reminded.

"I'm a robot as well," EMMI stated.

"What design?" Metal asked.

"…Malfunction android…" EMMI answered, sounding glum.

"I'm part robot," Callie added.

"You're a human with the abilities of a robot," Metal corrected. "Some abilities, anyway."

"I was nearly right," Callie responded.

"Indeed you were," Metal chuckled. "I think I might use this car for future use against Sonic."

"When I learn to drive, you can race me!" Callie chirped.

"You'll beat me," Metal predicted. "Because you'll get a faster car."

"I know!" Callie laughed.

Again, Ivo was passing by at this point. Hearing Callie laughing, he saw what was happening, smiling. "Metal sure loves that car," he said to himself. He took a picture of all three of them.

…

1998

Callie went into the Games Room, where she found Metal playing 'Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back'. He had just finished the 'Turtle Woods' level on the game.

Metal turned to look at Callie. "I did the first level," he said proudly to her.

"You do realise that I'm on 'Pack Attack', don't you?" Callie reminded, laughing.

"…Ah," Metal responded, remembering this.

Ivo had now made his cameras able to take pictures on moments that were perfect for photographs, and the camera took a photo of this moment. It never filmed anything, though, so their privacy was kept. Shame, because Ivo would have found out that his daughter was planning on going to the ARK, even though he was on Earth at the time.

...

1999

Callie was training with Metal.

"Why am I learning this again?" she asked.

"Haven't we gone through this three times?" Metal responded.

"You didn't explain it in a way I could understand," Callie stated.

"Fine," Metal replied, sighing. "I'll explain it again. You need to learn self-defence for when you visit Earth one day in the future."

"But who would attack me?" Callie asked.

"Everybody," Metal answered.

"Why?" Callie questioned.

"Callie, no more questions," Metal sighed.

"Okay," Callie responded.

"Alright. Now give me fifty punches," Metal instructed.

Callie began punching a punch-bag as hard as she could.

"Harder! Faster! More effort!" Metal snapped.

The cameras somehow detected this as a good moment to take a photo of, and of course, Ivo was a little concerned later.

…

2000

Callie was by Metal's sighed in the Medical Bay as he slowly fell asleep. Emmi had just been killed by the GUN Commander.

Even though this moment wasn't much, the camera in that room photographed this, almost sensing Callie's emotion towards Metal.

…

"So… You've been watching us change all this time?" Callie asked.

Ivo nodded. "There are also photos that you saw me take of you which you posed for," he said. "Some with Emmi, robot or hedgehog, and of course, Sniper." Ivo then handed the photo album to Callie. "Here. You can see the pictures for yourself."

Callie took hold of the album and looked through it, fascinated at how much she and Metal had changed.

…

Cynthia walked out of the Commander's room. She had been demoted to a regular agent now, though she had been a commanding officer since she was eighteen, keeping her agent title.

Brandon, the soldier who had been shot by Callie, was in the medical bay, speaking to some other comrades about what had happened.

"This kid… she was about eleven or something and she had a gun…" he described. "I don't know who she was…"

The Commander then came into the room. He had already heard the important detail of what had happened.

"I know who the girl was," he said. "Our robot agent told us since he used to work around her when she was younger. She's Eggman's daughter, Callie Robotnik. She's a mutant."

"A mutant?" Brandon asked with the other three soldiers.

The Commander nodded. "Also, we now know where the Death Egg is thanks to Metal Sniper. But since he has returned there, he will be destroyed along with the other murderous machines. All along Emmi was working with them, and now Marilyn has joined them, too. It's time to settle this once and for all. Soldiers, start to prepare yourself. We're going to raid the Death Egg."

"But, sir, remember what happened with Maria?" one soldier asked. "What if you kill an innocent life up there?"

"There are no innocent lives aboard the Death Egg!" the Commander barked. "Now that was an order! Prepare for a raid at once while I'll inform the other soldiers!"

"Yes, sir…" Brandon and the other responded.

…

Silver had gotten used to the time-travelling watch. Now he was on his own. He had discovered that Blaze was in fact a robot copy built by doctor Eggman Nega to deceive him, but of course, Blaze betrayed Nega and told Silver about herself. Unfortunately, Silver had to destroy her, and was now alone. He was sad about killing Blaze, since he had known her for a very long time. But he knew it was the right thing to do.

Now, he had to put the past behind him. Even Blaze wanted him to go back in time and save Emmi's life, and that was his quest. But his main aim was to stop Iblis once and for all.

…

Damnit, that end bit was rushed, okay? I was trying to think of something complicated, but this story is already complicated! Still, it looks like the final curtain call will be soon!

And if you're wondering why I didn't give Mephiles the Hedgehog a Sonic-bound theme song, it's because 'I Am… All Of Me…" suits both sides of him, hence the lyrics: "Black hearted evil, brave hearted hero."

Well, I'll be seeing you very soon! Just a few more chapters before the grand finale! But I may have to upload the last few at the same time. We'll see. Bye for now, readers!