Metal and Tails walked through the forest. Though Tails was moving a bit more quickly then Metal, who was walking at a more casual pace.
"Come on Metal." Tails said, noticing Metals slower pace. "If we get to the Tornado quickly, we can get to the final Emerald in no time."
"We must be cautious though." Metal stated. "Eggman could be setting an ambush for us at the final emerald."
"That's why we need to get there as soon as we can. So Eggman doesn't have time to set up an ambush."
Metal simply stared at Tails and continued his casual pace. He knew they were getting close to the town, and he wanted to talk to Tails about Sonic's death soon.
After a few more steps, he figured that now was the time to talk. He immediately stopped walking and stood where he was.
After a few seconds of running, Tails noticed that Metal wasn't following him. Rather, he was standing still and looking straight at him.
"Uh Metal, you okay?" Tails asked, walking back over to him.
"Tails, we need to talk." Metal stated.
"About what?" Tails asked confused.
"What happened to you when I feel into the cave."
Tails flinched a bit, realizing what Metal was referring to.
"Uh, can we talk about this later?" He said, shuffling his feet nervously. "Like, after we get to the plane, or after we deliver the emeralds to Angel Island and we're back home."
"I would prefer that we talk about it now."
Tails gave a small, nervous chuckle. "Look, that panic attack I had when you fell in, I just overreacted. It won't happen again, I promise."
"I am not so sure about that." Metal replied. "With how you appeared to react, I have concluded that there is a high possibility of it happening again."
"It won't okay. Now can we please head to the tornado and get the last emerald?"
"No!" Metal said, a bit louder then before. "We must talk about it right here. If you do not confront it now, it could happen again."
"It won't, I swear." Tails said, trying desperately to get out of the conversation.
"I do suspect the cause of this panic attack." Metal continued. "And I suspect it was the result of trauma related to Sonic's death."
"Wh..what?!" Tails stammered. "I...I know that I was depressed for almost a couple of weeks after his death, but once you came along, I started getting better. It's just that you falling down the cave brought back bad memories, but I calmed down once I found out you were alive."
"It is true that you have recovered a bit from his death thanks to me. But I still detect signs of depression from you, and I suspect there is something that is preventing you from moving on."
"There's nothing that's preventing me from moving on, I'm fine." Tails said defensively, though it was clear he was struggling to keep his composure.
"I have seen evidence on the contrary." Metal stated. "You have clearly not gotten over his death yet, and there is something preventing you from doing so."
Tails said nothing, but Metal could see him beginning to shake. He did not like being forceful at Tails like this, but this was the only way to get him to confront his trauma.
"When I went into your workshop after Silvers visit, when you broke down, you said something about his death being your fault. When Lindsay talked to me, she mentioned saying something similar during your panic attack."
"Metal...please..." Tails said, tears were beginning to stream down his face. "I'm fine."
"Is the reason you are unable to move on from his death is because you blame yourself for it?"
Tails didn't reply. Instead, he began to collapse on his knees and began to cry.
Metal walked over to Tails and put his hand on his head. "It is okay."
"No it's not." Tails said in between sobs. "I caused Sonic's death because I didn't warn him."
Metal looked down at him. "You are referring to the instability of the tortoise's power source are you." He asked, recalling what happened when Sonic died.
"Yes." Tails said, lightly nodding as he continued to cry. "I didn't warn him of it, and now he's dead because of me. I could've found out and told him about what would happen if the energy became unstable, but I was to focused on landing the plane safely to tell him before it happened."
He then began to pound his fist against Metal's chest. "And now he's dead because of me." He said, saying each word louder then the first.
Metal simply stood and listened Tails cry for a minute. He knew Tails was letting out all that grief and sadness he had bottled up over the past couple weeks. There were times Metal saw some of those emotions leak out at points, but now he was witnessing him letting all of them out.
Tails continued to cry. "I should've been there when he died. Maybe then I could've prevented it."
Metal listened for a few more seconds. He knew that he had to find a way to comfort him and reassure Tails that it was not his fault that Sonic died.
"Tails, Sonic made the choice to sacrifice himself to save others." He said. "He did not appear to have any anger towards you for not warning him of what would happen if the tortoise's energy became unstable."
"Still doesn't change the fact that I didn't warn him." Tails said.
Metal was silent, he knew that trying to reassuring him will not be enough. He had to take a different approach, and he figured out something that might work.
"Would you have done it if you were in his place?" He asked.
Tails looked up at Metal, somewhat surprised by the question. "What?"
"If you were in Sonic's place instead of him when he had to take the tortoise away from the city to prevent it from being destroyed, would you have done it?"
Tails looked away from Metal, thinking about what he said. "I'm...not sure."
"I am certain you would do the same. Given how much you look up to him, you would want him to live as much as the others in the city."
"But…. How would Sonic react if I did so?"
Metal looked away for a moment. "I do not know. Perhaps he would have grieved your loss in a similar way."
He then looked back at Tails. "But I am certain he would not blame himself for your death if you sacrificed yourself."
Tails simply stared at him. He was no longer sobbing, but tears were still streaming down his face and his expression was sadness mixed with uncertainty.
Metal then kneeled down and gave Tails a hug. It took a few seconds for Tails to register the hug, but when he finally did, he hugged him right back.
They held on to each other for a few seconds before Metal released Tails from the hug.
"Come on, we should head to the Tornado." Metal said. "I think you should get some rest after what happened recently."
"I guess you're right." Tails replied. "Maybe some rest will help me to calm down and think about what you said."
Metal nodded. "That appears to be a good idea."
The two then walked back towards the tornado, walking through the town as they did so.
Eventually, they reached the plane and Metal simply stood near the plane and looked up at the sky, while Tails sat down against the plane and stared into the distance.
He thought about what Metal had asked him. What would he have done if he was in Sonic's situation?
Of course, he would probably try to figure out how to neutralize the tortoise's energy so it won't blow up. But what if there wasn't enough time to figure it out? Would he sacrifice himself to save his brother, as well as others?
He then thought about Sonic, and his possible thoughts when he sacrificed himself. He most likely knew he wasn't going to make it and was going to die, but he also knew that was going out making sure thousands of lives were saved.
But most importantly, he was going to die knowing that his brother was going to be safe, feeling no anger at him for not warning him. If he had to sacrifice himself to make sure of that, it would be fine by him.
Oddly enough, that idea felt reassuring to Tails, and he began to think of the situation with that mindset.
After a few minutes, he realized the answer to the question Metal asked him. He would indeed sacrifice himself if it meant that others would live.
With that thought, he gave a small smile and closed his eyes to take a brief nap.
Meanwhile, Amy was at Creams house, watching over her with as she drew. She was visiting her house at the request of Vanilla to have a friend to play with for today.
Cream had been drawing for about half an hour, with Cheese helping her by giving her crayons.
"So what are you drawing Cream?" Amy asked.
Cream stopped drawing and showed Amy what was on the paper, revealing it to be a drawing of Sonic.
Amy looked at it for a few seconds, feeling some sadness, before replying. "That's nice."
"Sorry if I hurt your feelings Amy." Cream said putting the drawing down. "I just really miss Mr. Sonic."
"Chao." Cheese said in sadness.
"No it's okay." Amy replied. "I miss him just as much as you do Cream."
"My mom has been helping me get through his death, but I'm wondering how the others are handling it." Cream said. "Especially Tails, since none of us have seen him since the funeral, and he was the closest to him."
"Don't worry, Tails is doing fine." Amy reassured Cream. "I visited a while ago and he's recovering."
'He has a killer robot version of Sonic living with him.' She thought to herself. 'But recovering nonetheless.'
At that moment, Vanilla came into the room. "Cream, lunch is almost ready." She said.
She then turned to Amy. "Are you gonna stay and have lunch with us Amy?"
Amy nodded. "Yeah, just let me clean up the table for you." She said as she began to clear the crayons from off the table, putting them in the box that they came from.
As she walked over where she got the crayons, she overheard a news story from the radio.
"In other news, a caving expedition turned into a nightmare when the rope snapped and ended up trapping one of cavers down in a small cave. He was trapped there for an hour before he was rescued." The reporter said. "Now get ready for the real surprising part, the identity of the one who rescued him is none other then Metal Sonic."
Amy stopped when she heard Metal's name and continued to listen.
"For those who don't know, Metal Sonic is a robot created by Eggman and has worked with him in his attempts to stop Sonic, so the idea that he saved someone might be surprising to both you and me. Not only that, but there have also been reports of him traveling around with Tails, Sonic's sidekick until the hedgehog's recent death. As of right now, his reasons for traveling with the former hero's robotic copy is unknown, but the question still remains. Just why is Metal Sonic traveling with Tails and saving others?"
As the reporter went on to her next story. Amy thought about her visit to Tails awhile back. She remembered Metal appearing and her attacking him, thinking he was a threat. Even after Tails had explained things, she didn't believe that Metal had turned good.
But now, after hearing the news report and thinking back to her visit, she began to rethink a few things.
She remembered in her visit, she realized Metal didn't attempt to attack her when she swung her hammer at him. Plus even before she attacked him, he didn't seem to appear hostile towards her or Tails.
On top of all that, she couldn't find another reason for Metal saving the caver other then the obvious answer.
The more she thought about it, the more she began to think that maybe Tails was right about Metal.
"Amy, did you put away the crayons?" She heard Vanilla cry out.
"Uh, not yet." She answered, snapping out of her thoughts. "I'll put them away as quickly as I can."
She moved quickly and put the box of crayons away before heading back to the dining table. While she was still uncertain of Metal, she made a mental note to ask Tails to speak to Metal the next time she met with him.
Meanwhile, on Angel Island, Knuckles was guarding the temple that contained the four emeralds there, as well as the Master Emerald.
As he did so, Knuckles took a brief look back at the temple. A couple days after Sonic's funeral, Amy had come up to him with the emeralds she had and told them to bring them to Angel Island to protect them.
He understood the reason why she wanted to protect them, with Sonic gone, the emeralds were going to a lot more vulnerable to Eggman. Plus, given Eggman's appearance at Sonic's funeral, it was likely he was planning something.
He didn't know where the other three were at the moment, though Amy had recently contacted him and told him Tails was working on locating them. The latter was surprising to him given that he assumed that Tails was still grieving from Sonic's death, but he assumed Tails had probably recovered from some of it.
Suddenly however, he heard noises coming in front of him. Turning his head back forward, he saw a swarm of robots coming towards him, led by a familiar Doctor.
"Oh ho ho." Eggman laughed as he and his robots approached Knuckles. "Why hello there Knuckles."
"What are you doing here Eggman?" Knuckles asked in anger. "On second thought, I know exactly what you're here for."
"Of course you do." Eggman replied. "I'm here for the emeralds you have."
Knuckles got into a defensive position. "Not a chance Eggman, you're gonna have to go through me in order to get them."
Eggman frowned at response. "Fine then, have it your way."
He then turned towards his robots and pointed at the echidna. "Get him."
The robots flew towards Knuckles as he prepared to defend himself.
Author's Note: And so the path to the climax has begun. But don't expect another chapter of this story yet, need to work on my other story.
See you next time.