Ch. 53

Silver Metal

Dr. Eggman was having the time of his life as he continued to dominate both Gust and Sonic with his own two hands. The mad doctor knew he said he wanted to end it, but his true desire was just to make them filled with fear. He wanted to see them struggle for their lives to the point they realize how truly hopeless their efforts are, and give in; perhaps even beg for mercy. Suddenly, Eggman noticed something odd about his foes. It wasn't surprising to him that they were consulting on what their next move would be, but the one thing that stood out as suspicious was the smiles they had on their faces as if their fears were now at ease. This made Dr. Eggman irritated. It was as if Sonic and Gust were both gluttons when it came to torture.

"So, you really think you can take him down?", Gust asked.

"It's our best and only chance, that's all I know, and it's better than no chance. You'll have to give me some time though. It takes a while to charge up enough speed for the attack.", Sonic said.

Gust sighed. "I wasn't expecting to be put such a position where I have to rely on you so much, even against Eggman.", He said.

"I know. You must be really disappointed. It looks like you're not as tough as you thought you were.", Sonic said with a grin.

"I could've just left you here you know?", Gust said.

"Yeah, yeah . . . you chose to help me, because you 'respect me' so much.", Sonic said, talking with his hands.

"It's not a lie, Sonic. I assure you of that.", Gust said.

"Whatever, we'll settle that debate later, just try to keep him distracted . . . and don't die.", Sonic said.

"Don't underestimate me, Ogie. I may be some mere Overlander to you, but I'm the Shinobi Clan's top fighter for a reason.", Gust said, as he charged at Eggman while Sonic stayed behind.

Sonic crunched into a ball as he began to spin as though he was charging up in power.


In the meantime Bunnie and Omega were still at a stalemate with their persistent opponents. Omega was in a metal clawed lockup with Metal Sonic. The evil Sonic clone had one of his claws on Omega's gun preventing him from firing.

"Warning, release me now, or I'll be forced to blow you into 41,017 scrap segments.", Omega stated.

"Processing data from list of snappy comebacks . . . Up yours.", Metal Sonic stated as it's optical sensors began to glow.

Omega new instantly that Metal Sonic was about to attack as he was wide open at close range, so he quickly ejected one of his arms, and stepped to the side to avoid Metal Sonic's laser fire.

"Have a nice ride.", Omega said as he activated his foot jets to spin at fast rate with Metal Sonic still hanging on.

Bunnie dodged a giant right hook from Silver Sonic as she delivered a left upper cut, sending the silver behemoth reeling. Silver Sonic performed a sonic spin like maneuver and bounced off a wall and back at Bunnie. The legionized rabbit barely dodged it, but not before one of Silver Sonic's blade like spines grazed Bunnie's fully fleshed right arm.

She screamed in pain before landing on her feet, and went down to one knee as she grasped her slightly damaged arm.

"Yall may move like Sonic, but Ah reckon ya aint nothin compared to the one true sugah hog, ya big phony!", Bunnie yelled.

Silver Sonic didn't respond as it prepared to build up power from its chest.

Bunnie at first was confused as to what the silver menace was doing until it fired a wave of energy directly at her.

The legionized rabbit retaliated with an energy blast from her arm cannon. The two forces collided as one tried to overpower the other. The struggle went on for a few moments until both Bunnie and Silver Sonic cancelled out each other, and the opposing energy waves exploded, sending them both flying in opposite directions.

Omega who had just finished reconnecting his arm immediately moved in to catch Bunnie preventing her from crashing.

"Thanks, Sugah.", Bunnie said with a grin.

"A debt to me will not be necessary.", Omega said as he re-adjusted his focus on Metal and Silver Sonic who had regrouped.

"Those two are mighty tougher than Ah thought.", Bunnie said.

"It appears that Dr. Eggman has made some modifications to their designs. Their levels of performance are not only greater, but it's highly probable that they know all of our attacks.", Omega said.

"Ah think you're right. That slime ball always has somethin in his back pocket to pull out . . . which I reckon is hard to imagine knowin how fat he is.", Bunnie said.

"I CAN HEAR YOU; YOU KNOW!", Eggman yelled as he was nearly distracted from Gust who tried to hit him low, but Eggman leaped and flew into the air to avoid him.

"So what are they all doin now?", Bunnie asked.

It was then Silver and Metal Sonic's optics began to glow a bright greenish color.

"Yes . . . Yes.", Eggman thought with a giggle as he continued to fend off Gust's attacks.

"What the hell's happening over there?", Gust wondered.

The two sonic bots suddenly began to transform and separate as they started to merge together like pieces to a puzzle. Metal Sonic's limbs extended, and Silver Sonic's arms and legs connected to Metal's like armor. Silver Sonic's middle torso also connected to Metal's, but its big head merged with the torso region as well. Metal Sonic's head popped up at the top of the torso, ending the merging process.

"Ah reckon we're in trouble!", Bunnie said in fear.

The action between Gust and Eggman stopped for a moment as Sonic continued charging his attack.

"Well that's just great!", Gust said in sarcasm.

Eggman laughed. "You're friends are in for it now! Behold my masterpiece, the S.M.S, Silver Metal Sonic! You still think you can win now?", He said, with a smile.

"Oh no, Bunnie! . . . No, as much I want to help her, I can't just yet. I have to defeat Eggman.", Sonic thought.


Sally and her group accompanied by Snively were now getting close to the Chaos Emeralds. With Shadow leading the way, it was only a matter of time before they found them. Also Snively knew the Death Egg both inside and out, so he could point out any traps to help the others dismantle them before being triggered. Despite, how good of a job he's done, Shadow still didn't trust him. The black hedgehog made it clear to the pint sized Overlander, that if he ever backstabbed them, he'd rip his nose off, which made Snively shake like a leaf at the thought of it.

Shadow led them to a door, which no surprise was tightly secured with a small screen and keypad.

"I sense the chaos emeralds are somewhere in there.", Shadow said.

Snively jumped in."Oh, no need to fret. I know the password it's . . ."

Shadow cut Snively off as he blew the door down with a chaos spear. They walked in as Snively froze for a moment, nervously.

"That . . . always works too I suppose.", Snively said. He lastly followed the others.

"Blowing the door like that probably wasn't the best idea, Shadow. You could've set off an alarm.", Sally said.

"That's Shadow for you, Princess; always thinking with his chaos spear.", Rouge said as she and Sally giggled.

Shadow growled. "Women.", He thought.

The room led them down a long tunnel which at first glance didn't seem to have any end.

"Hey, little man, where exactly are we about to walk into?", Shadow asked.

"He's talking to you little man.", Tails told Snively with a smile.

"You're the one to talk.", Snively retaliated.

"Don't make me repeat myself!", Shadow said.

Snively grumbled silently at Shadow's rudeness. "It's the power ring matrix chamber, where Dr. Eggman keeps his power source, which is two things, power rings of course, and the chaos emeralds. It's protected by a very sensitive security system though, which you probably armed when you destroyed the door earlier.", He said.

"Enough about the door, already; if there's anyone or anything that gets in our way, I'll just crush it, we take the emeralds, and we'll be on our way!", Shadow said.

They spotted a light at the end of the tunnel. When they reached the end, Sally and the others took a moment to take in the setting around them. It was a large and mostly empty area with many strands of green lighting. Down below was nothing but bottomless darkness. In front of them was a narrow platform that led from the ground they stood on to the center of the power ring matrix chamber. At the other end, directly in the center was some sort of generator with seven slots in the middle; three of which were already filled. No doubt, they had found the chaos emeralds.

Sally noticed some strange things about this room. "Didn't you say there were power rings in here too?", She asked Snively.

"I see . . . there aren't any, because he probably used them all up some time ago while I was imprisoned. Those emeralds must be the only things that are keeping the Death Egg empowered.", Snively said.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go get them.", Shadow said.

"Wait, don't!", Snively yelled.

"What's the problem now!?", Shadow said in a irritated tone.

"Did you already forget what I told you earlier? Look!", Snively said pointing up.

Shadow looked up as did the others to see many red lasers moving different motions across the area.

"The security system is active. Those lasers are connected to some heavy artillery. If you cross even one of them, you'll get turned into Swiss cheese.", Snively said.

"It seems we have our work cut out for us.", Rouge said.

While the others continued to think, Sally had an eerie feeling as if something inside her knew that Sonic might be in trouble. She heard from Shadow that Gust, Bunnie, and Omega were there to aid him, but if Dr. Eggman is focusing on Sonic, then it's inevitable that Bunnie will be danger too. The sight of her dear friend's faked death not long ago made her feel like she lost a huge piece of herself. Sally was relieved greatly to hear that Bunnie was still alive as were Shadow and the others, but she didn't want to be put through something like that again. That's when Sally decided to speak up.

"Shadow . . .", Sally muttered.

"Hmm? Something on your mind, Princess?", Shadow asked.

"I have a request . . . I need you to go help Sonic.", Sally said.

"What?", Shadow said somewhat bewildered.

"I understand that he has help already, but . . . I don't trust Gust . . . The thought of someone as dangerous as he is who would put others lives at risk, and is now fighting alongside Sonic as a supposed ally makes me worried. How do you feel about him, Shadow? After putting you, Rouge, Omega, and Hope in that dangerous situation earlier, can you really trust him?", Sally asked.

Shadow gave himself a moment to think about Sally's question. Ever since that confrontation between the Queen and Gust, he began to have similar concerns. Queen Alisha and the Council of Acorn thought of him as a monster, but at the same time he remembered what Gust told him and his teammates why he formed the Underdogs to begin with. Not only that, He and Rouge chose to be part of the Underdogs to watch over Hope who willingly chose to follow Gust.

"I too have been questioning my trust in Gust. He makes dangerous decisions, but . . . Hope seems to . . . like him . . . a lot.", Shadow said as he face palmed.

"What, seriously!?", Tails yelled.

"She's actually attracted to that maniac!?", Snively asked.

"What's it to you? It's not like you care about her, anyway.", Rouge said.

"Don't be stupid, of course I care about her! Why do you think I tricked her into going to Station Square!? I sent her there for her protection!", Snively yelled.

"Everyone shut up! We can talk about this later, we're wasting time. If you're worried about him that much, I'll fulfill your request.", Shadow said.

"Thank you.", Sally said.

"Rouge you're more of an expert at stealing jewels than any of us. I'm sure you'll have no problem getting those emeralds.", Shadow said.

"There's nothing else I love more. It won't take long.", Rouge said with a playful wink.

Shadow smiled. "I'm off then.", He said as he raised the red chaos emerald he still had tucked away in his arsenal. With a simple utter of chaos control he was gone.

Sally prayed silently. "Please, everyone stay safe; you especially . . . Sonic."