Chapter 49: Encore
"My sensors have concluded that Eggman is completely destroyed," Omega confirmed looking at the crumbled remains of the Egg Emperor mech at the bow end of the Egg Carrier.
"I thought we weren't going to kill him," Shawn said folding his arms. "Now how am I supposed to know what I missed?"
"Hey, Omega!" Rouge shouted as she stood near a locked door that was a few feet from the mech. "Could you be a dear and help me open this door? I think there might be something valuable inside."
"Coming, Rouge," Omega said, and stomped over to the door.
After examining it closely, Omega curled his metallic hands and punched the door so hard that a hole was ripped through. He then grabbed the hole and pushed the door open. The minute Rouge stepped inside, the room lit up revealing rows of Shadow lookalikes inside pods similar to the one Shawn was kept in at Ocean Palace.
"What does this mean?" Rouge wondered out loud. "That the guy we've been traveling with this whole time…was an android?"
"Negative," Omega said, which surprised Rouge. "If you look closely, these androids have hedgehog ears permanently attached to their heads. Shawn does not have such features, therefore he cannot be an android."
"So Eggman must've copied Shawn's DNA while he was inside the pod, which contained a fragment of Shadow's spirit essence, and made these things from it," Rouge said as she looked around. "But that still doesn't explain how Shawn ended up in the pod to begin with."
"I do not know the answer as I was assigned to guard him after he had been sealed inside, but you should probably head back to Shawn. I will destroy this place before he has the chance to see it."
"You would do that for me?" Rouge said in a bewildered tone.
"Please understand that I'm merely doing this to prevent Eggman from using these androids in the future, and Shawn shouldn't have to see what isn't true."
"Thanks, Omega," Rouge said and ran out of the room to see Shawn looking over the remains of the Egg Emperor.
"Did you find anything valuable in there to steal, thief?" Shawn asked bitterly without looking at Rouge.
"Was it really that obvious?" Rouge said sarcastically. "If you knew I was a master thief all along, why didn't you say something?"
"I suspected you were a thief because of your obsession with the Chaos Emeralds we collected, but I didn't know you were a master thief till now."
Rouge's cheeks flushed red in embarrassment and then said, "Well, if you must know I didn't find anything valuable in that room except worthless piles of junk."
The sounds of glass breaking and machines being crushed came from the room Rouge stepped out of, which got Shawn's attention.
"Is Omega in there?" Shawn asked.
"I told him to trash the place the minute I noticed there was nothing worth salvaging."
"Really? Mind if I watch?" Shawn stood up and turned to Rouge, who blocked him.
"Why were you looking over the remains of the Egg Emperor?" Rouge asked nervously. "Omega said Eggman was dead."
"Well Omega's scanners were wrong," Shawn answered. "The Eggman that's inside this mess is another fake, but it looks more realistic than the one we fought before."
As he spoke, something emerged from the wreckage behind him. It took on a gray liquid form, and then when it solidified Rouge gasped. But by the time Shawn turned his head the thing had flown off in a rocket-powered stream.
"What was that?" Shawn asked.
###
"I'm glad we defeated Eggman for good this time," Cream said looking at the wreckage of an identical Egg Emperor located on the starboard side of the Egg Carrier. "Though I hope we didn't hurt Eggman too badly."
"Who cares? Let's free our friends!" Amy said, and opened the hangar behind the Egg Emperor.
The hangar itself was dark, but Amy could hear faint croaking and snoring sounds coming from within.
"Froggy!" Big shouted running into the hangar.
"Chao! Chao!" Cheese said as he flew inside with Cream following him.
While Big cuddled Froggy and Cheese danced around in the air with the chocolate-colored Chao Chocola, Amy sighed in sadness.
I wish Sonic were here, she thought.
A patch of blue caught her eye, and Amy saw Sonic standing on the port side of the Egg Carrier with Knuckles and Tails on either side of him. Her heart raced but her mind was conflicted. A small tug brought Amy's attention to her side where Cream was standing.
"Go to him," Cream said.
After a brief pause, Amy nodded and ran towards Sonic through the maze of hangars and remaining robots that separated them.
###
"That was close call, guys, but we saved the day again," Sonic said triumphantly looking down at the clouds below them.
"Yeah, but that battle seemed too easy," Knuckles responded. "I was kind of expecting something more."
"Same here," Tails said.
"Sonic!"
In response, Sonic looked behind and saw Amy running towards him.
"Ugh, not again," Sonic whined and ran towards the rear end of the Egg Carrier.
Amy wasn't too far behind, and after some effort she managed to catch him.
"Amy, get off me," Sonic said, trying to resist her attempts to kiss him.
"Aw, Sonic, don't I deserve a little reward for defeating Eggman?" Amy said pleadingly.
"Eggman? I think you've made a mistake."
"Why?" Amy asked.
"We just defeated Eggman."
"No way! Eggman can't be in two places at once."
"Then that means they were probably fakes," Shawn said approaching Sonic along with Rouge and Omega.
"Shawn?" Sonic said with a puzzled expression.
"We just fought Eggman as well, but he turned out to be a fake," Shawn answered.
"But why would Eggman create a bunch of fake versions of himself?" Amy asked.
"Allow me to explain."
Sonic and the others turned to see the Chaotix Detectives approaching them with Dr. Eggman being dragged along.
"Vector," Sonic said as Big, Cream, Tails, and Knuckles caught up to the rest of them. "What's going on?"
"This is the real Dr. Eggman, though technically his host Dr. Robotnik," Vector answered. "We found him locked inside a warehouse near the rear of the Egg Carrier being guarded by a fake Dr. Eggman inside an Egg Emperor mech."
"When was he locked up?"
"Three days ago."
"Wait a minute," Tails said stepping forward. "I thought you broke yourself out of prison, Dr. Robotnik. Why would you lock yourself up afterwards?"
"I wasn't the one who broke out of jail," Dr. Robotnik insisted. "Or lock myself up for that matter. This has all been the work of—
A metallic echoing laughter interrupted Dr. Robotnik. Everyone looked up at the Egg Carrier's tallest tower and saw a small figure standing on top of it.
"Metal Sonic!" Sonic exclaimed. "You were the one who did all this?"
"Of course, Sonic!" Metal Sonic responded. "I did the same thing last time."
"Last time? I don't know what you're talking about."
"You mean you don't remember? What a pity. After all, it was I who killed you."
"Killed me?"
"As our world was coming to its natural end, I merged with Mephiles the Dark to become a single being known as Metal Mephiles. With this new form, I slaughtered all your friends in order to get you to fight me. By the time you did, the world was nothing but fire and rock. We battled each other for several days until we both killed one another. I assumed that would be the end, but it's not. The world has been reformed and we have all been reborn inside these new bodies that serve as our vessels."
"But how could you have been reborn? You're a machine!"
"You think humans and animals are the only ones who have souls? Think again! Machines can have souls as well, especially when they are strong like mine."
"Then why do you remember what happened in our previous lives and I don't?"
"It must be because your soul is weak. Now, to finish what should've ended long ago!"
Metal Sonic raised his hand into the sky and released a bolt of blue plasma energy. In a few seconds, the Egg Carrier's main tower was destroyed, followed by a tornado with metal parts flying everywhere while Eggman's robots came running from the tower. They passed Sonic and the others as the metallic parts combined and reformed. By the time it was over, the tower was replaced by a terrifying metallic blue dragon with two cyclops eyes and large spikes on his head and tail.
"We're all doomed!" Dr. Robotnik cried. "Metal Sonic has completely transformed using the data he collected and the power of Chaos."
"Data?" Amy wondered. "What data?"
"Those fake versions of myself he forced you to fight were merely copies of himself," Dr. Robotnik explained as he turned to Sonic and the others. "He did this in order to collect data on your individual fighting skills and abilities to accumulate them into a suitable form that could destroy all of you."
"And that dragon-thing is the result," Sonic said, looking up at Metal Sonic's new form.
"But if that robot was possessed by Metal Sonic's spirit the whole time, then how come he didn't speak when I encountered him on Angel Island?" Knuckles asked.
"That's because that version of Metal Sonic wasn't possessed by Metal Sonic's spirit," answered Dr. Robotnik. "It wasn't until after my evil counterpart, Dr. Eggman, rebuilt him that he started to act strangely. But by the time I realized it, Dr. Eggman had already prepared the Egg Fleet with the intention of taking over the world once more and given Metal Sonic the ability to shapeshift and copy other's abilities."
"You sure know a lot for a guy who was fully possessed by his spirit for a long time," Tails noticed.
"Well, I…managed to work things out with Dr. Eggman, though as the Egg Fleet demonstrates we don't always get along," Dr. Robotnik said hesitantly.
"So how are we supposed to beat that thing if it's practically unstoppable, cousin?" Shawn said stepping forward.
"My goodness, Shawn!" Dr. Robotnik exclaimed. "Is that you?"
"You haven't answered his question, Doc," Rouge said impatiently.
"But I would like to know—never mind. This isn't the proper time." Dr. Robotnik shook his head and said, "The only way we can defeat Metal Sonic now is with the Chaos Emeralds, and I have no idea where those could be!"
"Don't sweat it, Doc, we have some," Rouge said, and took the Silver and Red Chaos Emeralds from her cleavage.
"Same here!" Sonic said as Tails showed the Cyan and Green Chaos Emeralds he had been keeping in his pockets.
"Us too!" Big said, showing the Purple Chaos Emerald.
"Ditto!" Charmy said as Vector and Espio showed the Yellow and Blue Chaos Emeralds.
"Splendid!" Dr. Robotnik said trying to hide his surprise. "Now all we need is a miracle."
"I'll take care of that," Sonic said.
"Then I'm coming with you," Tails responded, taking a step towards Sonic.
"Yeah, we can't let you have all the fun," Knuckles said, doing the same as Tails.
"You guys," Sonic said hesitantly.
"We'll keep Metal Sonic busy," Shawn said with Rouge and Omega nodding in agreement. "So take as much time as you need to utilize those things."
"We're going to help too," Amy said as Cream and Big looked at each other. "Right, guys?"
After a pause, Cream and Big nodded their heads in unison at Sonic.
"Good luck, boys," Vector said giving a thumbs-up. "We'll do what we can to stall that metal creep up there."
"All right, guys, let's do this!" Sonic said with enthusiasm in his voice.
While the other groups went off to deal with Metal Sonic, Sonic Tails and Knuckles stood in a circle. As the seven Chaos Emeralds floated around their heads, they placed their hands into the center of the circle while Sonic closed his eyes. The three of them were then surrounded by multi-colored lights and from it emerged Super Sonic with Tails and Knuckles encapsulated inside bubbles of light.
Meanwhile, despite the groups' best efforts, Metal Sonic managed to grow metallic wings from his hands and take flight. As he flew off into the distance, Super Sonic Tails and Knuckles went after him. The others watched from the Egg Carrier's bridge in anticipation as flashes and explosions were occurring where Metal Sonic and Super Sonic had gone.
###
When the battle was over, Metal Sonic had lost his dragon-like form and resorted back to his original form of being a metallic lookalike of Sonny with hedgehog ears and tail. He was about to fall when Super Sonic caught him. As Super Sonic tightened his grip around Metal Sonic's small neck, the robot just laughed.
"You may have defeated me, but I'm probably not the last reincarnated enemy you'll ever encounter," Metal Sonic said weakly.
Super Sonic then punched a hole through Metal Sonic's face and let his body fall to the unseen ground below.
"If I meet enemies like you, Metal Sonic, I'll be ready for them," Sonic said, then he turned to his friends. "Let's head back to the Egg Carrier."
The flight back was quiet and by the time they reached the Egg Carrier the cloudy sky had cleared up and sunlight was streaming down. On the bridge Shawn seemed to be arguing with Rouge, but Sonic and his friends were too far up to hear what they were saying. As soon as they landed, though, Amy immediately went after Sonic who in turn ran away as the Chaos Emeralds left him to scatter across the world on their own. Big and Cream cheered Amy on while Dr. Robotnik tried to sneak away, but the Chaotix Detectives noticed and went after him to get the money he promised them.
"I don't believe you, Rouge," Shawn said turning away. "Not anymore."
"But…" Rouge said hesitantly. "But it's true."
"What's going on?" Tails said approaching the two but he was blocked by Omega.
"Hey, what's the big idea?" Knuckles complained.
"I don't think it would be wise to interfere," Omega said.
"Then can you at least tell us what they're arguing about," Tails offered.
"I'm not at liberty to speak of it."
"I thought robots can't lie," Knuckles said.
"The matter is concerning Shawn's identity and his apparent absence from current events."
"By current events, you mean the ARK, right?" Tails asked.
"I believe so."
"That's what I thought."
"Well, I don't get it," Knuckles said. "Mind filling me in?"
"It's quite simple. Shawn is the—
"Wait, Shawn!" Behind Omega, Rouge was flying after Shawn who was running to the edge of the Egg Carrier. "Where are you going?"
"To find the answers myself, about Shadow, the ARK, Gerard, and Marie's whereabouts," Shawn answered before he warped away.
"Shawn," Rouge the Bat muttered before transforming back into Rouge Baxter and sobbing uncontrollably.
To be continued…
