Sonic and the Freedom Fighters
Chapter 9: Upgrade Part 2
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan-based work of fiction. All characters portrayed in this story, unless specified otherwise, belong to SEGA.
-Tails's House-
After Tails started the engine of the Tornado, and helped Sonic onto the wing of the plane, the pair took flight in the direction in which Metal Sonic escaped.
"I can't see them anywhere. Are you sure Metal Sonic went this way?" Tails asked in a panic, unable to see the robotic hedgehog anywhere.
"Positive!" Sonic replied vehemently, looking around for any sign of his metallic doppelgängar.
"I'm detecting a fast-moving electronic signal ahead of us. It is most likely this aforementioned Metal Sonic." Nicole stated, providing the two some relief that they were at least heading in the right direction.
Sonic, meanwhile, continued to look around until he noticed a strange flying object out of the corner of his eye, and turned to see Metal Sonic flying at a lower altitude, with Sally flailing about in his grip.
"There they are!" Sonic shouted, pointing at the robot.
"Okay, hang on! I'm taking us in close!" Tails said as he steered the plane towards Metal Sonic, positioning it behind the fleeing robot.
Noticing the two behind him, Metal Sonic changed course and headed towards an abandoned building on an isolated island, flying through the open doorway. Impatient, Sonic leaped from the wing of the plane as it flew over the island, landing on his feet in front of the building, and rushed inside. As he entered, he saw Metal Sonic hold his left claw threateningly near Sally's throat, pinning her against the wall, preventing her from taking any action against her captor.
"HEY!" Sonic yelled angrily, catching Metal Sonic's attention. "Let her go, you bucket of bolts!"
"ON ONE CONDITION. HAND OVER THE CHAOS EMERALD IN YOUR POSSESSION." The robot demanded, holding his other hand out while still keeping his left near his hostage. Sonic remained skeptical, as he knew there was no guarantee that Metal Sonic would keep his end of the bargain even if he did give him the Emerald. Thankfully, Sonic managed to think of a plan just as Tails entered and rushed towards Sally to try and help her, holding his arm out protectively in front of Tails as he turned to him.
"Tails, I got a plan. I'll distract Metal Sonic while you get Sal outta here." Sonic whispered before turning to Metal Sonic and pulling out the Chaos Emerald. "Hey, metal head! You want this?"
Sonic then threw the Emerald into the air. Metal Sonic flew up to catch it, only for Sonic to se his Homing Attack to crash into his robotic clone and catch the Emerald while sending the both of them crashing through the ceiling and onto the upper floor. Metal Sonic landed on his back when he hit the floor, while Sonic managed to land on his feet before facing the robot.
"Then you're gonna have to take it!" He shouted as he watched Metal Sonic clamber back to his feet.
"CHALLENGE ACCEPTED." The robot replied as he rushed towards the hedgehog. Meanwhile, back on the lower floor, Tails was helping Sally back towards the Tornado.
"Are you okay, Sally?" Tails asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Sally responded. She suddenly stopped before they passed through the doorway. "Will Sonic be okay, though? He took quite a beating earlier." Her question was answered when Sonic suddenly crashed through the ceiling and onto the floor. Concerned, Sally rushed back to help Sonic back to his feet.
"Okay, that didn't go so well." Sonic groaned as he got back up, while Metal Sonic calmly jumped down and landed in front of him. "Eggman's definitely given you a few upgrades."
"IT'S OVER, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. SURRENDER THE CHAOS EMERALD." Metal Sonic demanded. Sonic prepared himself to attack again.
"Sally, I have an idea." Nicole called out. "Connect the power ring to my system."
"What? Nicole, are you sure?" Sally asked.
"Yes." Hearing her reply, Sally hesitantly took out the Power Ring and clipped it onto the computer, and Nicole then quickly materialised between the two Sonics, leaving Sonic stunned and Sally practically speechless.
"N-Nicole?" She was barely able to mutter out.
"UNIDENTIFIED ENERGY-BASED FEMALE DETECTED. IDENTIFY YOURSELF." Metal Sonic stated.
"My name is Nicole. And you will not cause my friends any more harm." She answered. She clenched her fist as she spoke, causing it to spark with what looked like purple electricity.
"THREAT LEVEL UNKNOWN. ELIMINATING POTENTIAL THREAT." Metal Sonic stated before suddenly rocketing towards the digital lynx, while she thrust both of her arms forward with her hands open, hoping to block the robot's charge. What nobody, not even Nicole, expected to happen was for a blast of purple-coloured energy to fire from Nicole's palm and strike Metal Sonic, immobilizing the robotic hedgehog instantly.
Nicole stared at her hand in a mixture of surprise and confusion, while everyone else looked at her in shock. Before anyone could question what just happened, however, Metal Sonic got back up, his red optics flickering back to life.
Deciding to test out the abilities of her new body, Nicole held out her hands and focused her energy into the shape of a spear with a bifurcated head. Nicole had just enough time to hold the spear in her hands before Metal Sonic charged at her again and tried to claw at her. Nicole quickly swung the spear to the side to knock his metallic hand away.
"Sonic." Sally whispered, attracting the hedgehog's attention. "While Metal Sonic's distracted, you and I will attack him from the side."
While Nicole continued to block Metal Sonic's attacks with her energy spear, Sonic Spin Dashed into the robot's side, followed by a kick to the head that sent the robot off-balance. The robot recovered and turned to face the hedgehog, only for Sally to attack him with her blades from behind. When Metal Sonic tried to turn around to attack her, Sonic charged into him with another Spin Dash, sending him flying to the other side of the room.
Recovering, Metal Sonic turned back towards the trio and began gathering energy in his chest cavity.
"Watch out!" Sonic warned as he, Sally and Nicole managed to jump out of the way before Metal Sonic fired a powerful laser blast from his chest, leaving a large hole in the wall behind the trio.
After the blast subsided, Metal Sonic began charging energy again, but was interrupted when Tails suddenly struck him in the back of the head with his own Spin Dash. Metal Sonic tried to turn around and swipe at him, but the two-tailed fox managed to fly out of his reach. Seizing the opportunity, Sally attacked him, striking him once with her Ring Blades before the robotic hedgehog turned around and tried to counterattack, only for Nicole to block the attempt with her spear. The two teamed up and attacked Metal Sonic together, with Nicole blocking every one of the robot's strikes, while Sally struck the weak points that he left in his defences.
Metal Sonic eventually leapt back to avoid taking further damage, before he let out what could only be described as a metallic roar and charged at the princess. Sally avoided the attack with a backflip, while simultaneously kicking the robot in his metallic muzzle. The kick redirected Metal Sonic's charge towards the ceiling, forcing the robot to stop in mid-air, leaving him open for Nicole to fire a blast of energy that sent him plummeting to the ground.
Before he had any time to recover, Sonic quickly charged up another Spin Dash and rammed into Metal Sonic, sending the two through the hole in the wall and outside the building. Sonic then jumped into the air, still curled up into a ball and spinning into Metal Sonic's torso, before uncurling and kicking Metal Sonic, knocking him into the water, while the blue hedgehog landed on the edge of the island. As he looked over the edge of the island and caught his breath, Sally, Nicole and Tails rushed towards him.
Before anyone could say or do anything else, Metal Sonic burst out from the water, much to everyone's surprise, and hovered in the air above them. His body was clearly damaged as it was covered in several dents and cuts, one of his optics was slightly flickering, and his body was periodically twitching, accompanied by electricity sparking off his body.
"That thing still works?" Sally asked in disbelief. Metal Sonic was just about to attack when a notice informing him that Dr Eggman was contacting him appeared on his HUD.
"Metal Sonic! What's happening?" Metal Sonic suddenly heard Eggman shout through a communication link.
"RETRIEVING... CHAOS EMERALD..." Metal Sonic replied.
"Never mind that! You've taken too much damage. Return for now!"
"...UNDERSTOOD." The robot eventually relented and suddenly flew off in the direction of Eggman's base, confusing the four Freedom Fighters.
"Wait, where's he going?" Tails wondered.
"Guess Egghead decided to cut his losses." Sonic replied. Meanwhile, Nicole noticed Sally looking at her with a strange, almost sad expression on her face.
"What's wrong, Sally?" She asked.
"N-Never mind. It's nothing." She responded quickly, turning her head away slightly.
"More importantly, that was awesome!" Sonic said to Nicole, his excitement clear in his voice. "You totally kicked Metal's butt! How'd you do that?"
"You did say Metal Sonic was designed to be able to defeat you in combat, so I was able to determine that Metal Sonic would struggle against an unfamiliar opponent." She explained. "Still, I was not aware of the energy projection abilities that this body possessed. Was this an intended feature, Tails?"
"Actually, this is news to me." Tails admitted to Nicole's surprise. "I guess it would make sense if you were able to manipulate the energy your body is made out of. I'll need to run some tests when we get back, just to make sure your body isn't unstable."
"Yeah, that's great and all, but do you think we could continue this when we're NOT standing on a crumbling island surrounded by about a hundred feet of water?" Sonic asked anxiously, eliciting a small chuckle from Sally.
-Tails's House-
When they got back, Tails immediately began analysing Nicole's physical projection to test for abnormalities or malfunctions. It wasn't until nightfall when he eventually found that, to his and everyone else's relief, his previous theory was correct - she was capable of controlling the energy emitted by the Power Ring in various ways, such as altering her physical appearance, firing bolts of energy, and forming weapons out of it.
With the analysis finished, Nicole was sitting down on the grass outside and looking up at the night sky, the Power Ring still connected to her computer. She was interrupted when she heard the sound of a door opening, and looked over her shoulder to see Sally stepping outside.
"Nicole? What are you doing out here?" Sally asked.
"I was just observing the stars. I apologise if I worried you." Nicole stated.
"No need to apologise, I was just curious." Sally explained, walking up to her. "May I join you?"
"Of course." She replied, letting Sally sit down on the grass next to her.
"So, I take it you like your new body?" Sally inquired.
"Yes. I'm not sure why, but I've wanted this for a long time." Nicole admitted. "To feel the earth beneath my feet, feel the wind on my face, and see the stars. And not just analyse them and map out constellation, but to really see them, the way that you do."
Though she wasn't sure, Sally could have sworn that Nicole's voice became more emotional, as opposed to her usual analytical, monotonous voice. However, a series of beeps sounded from Nicole's computer, interrupting their conversation. Nicole picked it up and looked at the screen. "That's inconvenient."
"What's wrong?" Sally asked.
"I suppose Tails forgot to mention that my new feature drains my battery at a faster rate while it's active. I should deactivate it for now to preserve power." She replied, setting the computer down between her and Sally. "But, before I do, I want to thank you, Sally."
"What for?"
"For making me feel like I'm more than just a program." She said before her holographic form disappeared. Sally then picked up the computer and stared at it, a small tear rolling down her cheek as she sighed deeply, remembering when that statement was indeed true.
"Good to have you back, Nicole." Sally whispered, looking back up at the sky.