"...why didn't you?"
"What do you mean?"
It was three years ago, in the area of the compound's house that would be referred to as Aleena's office. The mother hedgehog was sitting behind her desk, where her son and his friend were currently meeting her after getting caught sneaking out of the compound.
Aleena cocked her head curiously.
"Why didn't you go out and find him again? Weren't you angry that he caused your own family to…"
Sonic didn't finish that sentence.
"...I was." Aleena replied. "For a while, actually. I was angrier than I ever felt before."
"So what happened?"
"That anger… that feeling… it completely consumed me. It made me do things I'm not proud of… but I was always proud of the man you were becoming, which is why I never wanted you to find out…"
"Find out? About what?"
"...I killed Julian's wife. The mother of their son. In cold blood."
The teenage Sonic gasped, a hand going to his mouth. Aleena hung her head in shame, shaking it slightly as she cursed herself for her past transgressions.
"Mother…"
"I had to. He took Charles and my kids from me… I was looking for Julian, but… I found her instead. She screamed, and I just felt that anger consume me again…"
There was silence for a second. Suddenly, Sonic got up from his chair and went to Aleena, hugging her at her side. Aleena's yellow quills bristled for a moment, but she soon leaned into the hug.
"It's okay, mom. After everything that happened to you, I'm glad you could take something away from Julian. Him and his son deserved it."
"...thank you, Sonny. And thank you too, Bean."
From his seat across the desk, Sonic's childhood friend Bean the Dyna-Mite gave her a big thumbs up with a massive smile.
"You're welcome, Miss H! Can we go kill Julian now?"
"You bet!"
They all laughed together happily.
"End emulation."
The augmented reality program that produced the images before Neo Metal Sonic's eyes shut off, ending the scene before him. The house was back to what it was in the current day- the desk was rotted and destroyed, the chairs were gone, and vines were growing up the side of the painting of Uncle Chuck Hedgehog.
Neo Metal stepped aimlessly through the room, looking around in the silence of nature.
"Obviously my processors are in no working condition for appropriate memory playback." The android said aloud, to nobody in particular. "That memory didn't even make any sense. Why was Aleena yellow in that one?"
He paced around the room, hands around his back. Neo Metal tried to get his processors to work correctly- a futile attempt, seeing as most of his computer systems were pretty much fried to bits due to his multiple encounters with Chaos… among others.
"Aleena isn't yellow… Bean wasn't friends with Sonic back then… Ivo's mother died years prior to this event, and I don't think anyone but Bean would be ecstatic about killing an innocent woman. Ugh! What is wrong with me?" Neo banged his fist against his forehead. "Why is all of this wrong? Why can't I just play back the correct memory?"
He hit his head a few more times before letting his arm drop, standing there in silence in the middle of the house overrun with plants and insects. He looked outside, over to the overgrown strawberry fields- a few of the vines were actually now in front of the side of the old house.
From afar, there was a twinkling sound picked up by his sensors. Neo Metal turned his head slowly, looking at the wide open front door.
He walked away, stepping outside and standing on the porch, looking up to see the location of the twinkling noise that was getting ever so closer to him.
"Chaos Data Detected." The deep robotic voice spoke through Neo Metal before he could stop himself. He blocked the sun with a hand to make sure his oculars were clear, spotting a secondary ball of light coming down.
The red orb of light floated down and hovered in front of Neo Metal. After a second of floating there, with a bright flash of white, the red orb was transformed into an orange echidna- one that Neo Metal had seen just a few hours ago.
"Neo Metal Sonic."
"Tikal," The android replied. "What are you doing here?"
"I should be asking you the same question. I had sensed you were in need of guidance, and saw you had landed here. What is the thing you seek to find in this forgotten place?"
"...I need to find out what makes Sonic better than me. Why… why he's able to be a hero, and not me." Neo replied. "I've tried for so long to become the superior Sonic, but I realize that even if I could become the only Sonic, I would never be accepted."
"You don't have to be like Sonic, Neo Metal."
"I replicated him. I'm supposed to be an exact copy." The android said. "Why can't I understand? Why am I not like him? How can a robot created today have a change of heart and sacrifice himself for me when we barely knew one another, and why is Sonic so willing to sacrifice himself to save this planet when people outside of this city don't know him? I… I need answers. I need to understand how he's like this."
Tikal looked upon Neo Metal with a face of worry- perhaps even pity.
"You said I needed guidance. Please… guide me."
Neo Metal held his hand out towards Tikal. The echidna spirit continued to stare at him in silence, then glancing down at the outstretched hand for a moment. Slowly, she nodded in agreement.
Transforming back into a glowing ball, Tikal floated into Neo Metal's chest.
Suddenly, it all went light. Neo Metal Sonic's damaged processors were all filled with light, his body shining from the feeling of the spirit overtaking the entire computing system and sharing his mind, almost healing his wounded memory with the touch of positive energy.
The augmented reality system started up again, presenting another scene ahead of him- this time it was much clearer, and Neo Metal was ready to put the puzzle pieces together.
While they were tracking down the signature of the Chaos Emerald, Team Sonic (& Knuckles) were brought along in the GUN helicopter headed to Station Square- the same helicopter they approached the fleet in.
Sonic rubbed his leg where it had been broken- it was mostly healed, even though it was broken about thirty minutes prior. He knew the drill from the first time it was broken: no excessive running until you could walk on it without any limping.
Of course something like this would happen when he was required to save the world with speed. At least, that's what Sonic assumed, seeing as that was what he was known for.
He finally leaned back in his chair, sighing. It took calmness after the storm- that being attacking the fleet, skydiving without a parachute and facing Chaos again- for Sonic to realize just how tired he was. He could fall asleep right then and there.
However, he felt eyes on him. Sonic turned his head to look at his friends. Tails and Amy looked away quickly, acting as if they weren't looking at the blue hedgehog at that moment.
Sonic stared at them for a moment with squinted eyes, suspicious, before laying his head back against his headrest again.
Up in front, next to the helicopter's pilot (Molly, Sonic remembered) Topaz smacked the side of a device, clearly trying to get it to work. She grunted angrily, pressing buttons on it as well.
"What's the prob, girlfriend?" Rouge asked.
"The scanner isn't working. It runs on the GUN satellites, this shouldn't be happening."
"It's most likely atmospheric interference from Chaos." Knuckles spoke up to answer. "As his power grows, he begins to control the weather alongside the water around him. He's preparing the massive storm that will engulf the world once he gets the final few Chaos Emeralds."
"Well, that's reassuring." Topaz deadpanned. "The only reading I can really get is that the Chaos Emerald, and Neo Metal, are somewhere in the Mystic Ruins area. I can't find anything more specific than that."
"We need to inform Mayor Velox about the impending destruction from Chaos." Amy said. "The city should be evacuated in case Chaos floods the entire place."
"He barely took us seriously when we tried to tell him about it last time!"
"I am not talking to that man again." Rouge added to what Tails said.
"I'll talk with him. Maybe he'll take it seriously if it comes from my mouth."
"Doubt it." Amy grumbled in reply to Sonic. "I can help you out if you'd like."
"Unfortunately not, Rose." Topaz said. "Commander Tower has requested you use your psychic abilities towards efforts to discover where Ivo Robotnik is, as he's still currently wanted by the Guardian Units of Nations."
"What? I can't just use my psychic powers to, I don't know, find the god that's going to kill everyone?"
"It's Tower's orders. I don't like it any more than you do."
"Uuuuugh! What does he have against hedgehogs?"
"That's classified."
Amy looked at Topaz with a bewildered glance.
"Topaz, come in." The front radio said.
The blonde turned around and went to the front console of the helicopter, picking up the talking end of the radio and holding it up to her face.
"Go ahead."
"Hey, uh… you wouldn't happen to know if the Flagship of the Robotnik Fleet was supposed to be two halves, would you?"
"...what?"
"Well, we were collecting the ships as instructed, but suddenly Robotnik's flagship split into two halves. The front half fell into the ocean, and the bottom half disappeared suddenly."
"So you decided to just hop on the radio and tell me instead of actively attempting to find where Ivo Robotnik took half of his Fleet Carrier?"
"...huh. I guess so."
Topaz let out a long sigh, dropping the radio and rubbing her eyebrows with a hand.
"You all should look for where Ivo went. Tails, Knuckles and I will head through Station Square to find Neo Metal." Sonic interjected. "Tails and Knuckles can both track it down… as for Neo Metal, if he's evil…"
"He won't be. He's clearly changed."
"You never know, Amy. He's still obsessed with being better than me."
"You're the one who let him on the team. Any betrayal he performs will be purely on your hands." Topaz said simply. "Since that's the case, Rouge and Cream will stay here with us. You too, chao."
Cheese made a noise and looked up curiously as Topaz referred to him.
"Molly, land the chopper and let the boys out."
"Right away, Topaz. We'll head down in the cul-de-sac in front of Casinopolis."
The helicopter descended. Wind kicked up around the street in front of the giant casino, pushing around flyers for the business that featured Vickie Park on them- her pose featuring her with two thumbs up to show how fun her casino was.
Through the loudness of the still-spinning rotors above, Sonic could barely say his goodbyes. The best he really did was give Cream a fist bump, and another one to Cheese right behind her.
Before Knuckles could leap off, Rouge stopped him.
"Hey, big red… don't die. I still owe you for saving me back at that water park."
"Try not to get hurt yourself."
With that, the echidna hopped off the helicopter. After a hug with Amy, Tails hopped off as well, standing next to Knuckles on the concrete.
Sonic stepped up towards the edge of the helicopter, but was quickly assaulted by a hug from the side by Amy, making the blue hedgehog grunt with the strength of the hug. He swore he heard a few of his bones crack from it.
"Be careful. Don't run on your bad leg."
"C'mon Aims, I'll be alright." Sonic replied. "Don't worry about me."
"I usually do. Please be careful, Sonny."
"Heh. Whatever you say, Rosy."
He looked past Amy to Rouge, nodding to the bat in acknowledgement. Rouge waved Sonic goodbye, wiggling her fingers towards him with a small smile.
Sonic stepped down- his bad leg still felt tender- standing with Knuckles and Tails as they looked towards the helicopter. Amy kept standing in the opening of the chopper, looking down at the boys as she rose up into the air, worry evident on her face before she disappeared over the edge to step back into the helicopter.
After watching the helicopter leave, Sonic looked back down to see Tails already on his tablet, starting up a scanner to track chaos energy in the local area. Knuckles stood to the side, arms crossed, looking around.
"Anything?"
"Nothing yet." Tails replied. "I can only scan up to a few miles ahead of me. I'd ping off local satellites, but that atmospheric interference is really screwing me over. We're gonna have to walk all over Station Square to get any kind of idea where this energy is at."
"Sonic…"
"What's up, Knux?"
"I haven't been in town for a couple of months, so excuse me if I missed something, but… is Station Square usually this empty?"
Sonic and Tails stopped focusing on Chaos for a moment and looked around. Knuckles was right, the city was empty. Really empty. Even in an area like the Casino- though more lively at night- still had quite a few visitors during the day.
"...no. This is weird." Tails answered for Sonic.
They took the moment to look around again, just to be sure. A part of Sonic kind of wanted to stroll inside of the casino and see if Thomas and/or Vickie were in there. Not Titus though, Sonic was still iffy about that guy.
Tails' tablet beeped to get his attention. He looked down at the Miles Electric, glancing at the new reading that had come up- from what Sonic and Knuckles could see, it was saying that any chaos energy was somewhere east of the city. They'd have to head through town.
With the hedgehog still limping slightly, Tails took the lead to guide the others to where the tablet had picked up the energy signature, his face buried in the Miles Electric.
As they walked further from the casino, Knuckles glanced over at Sonic. He kept his focus on where he was walking, but every once in a while, he found himself looking at the hedgehog again- specifically, how Sonic was limping. He had been reassured that Sonic would be back at full speed within the next hour, but it was still eating at the back of his mind.
Sonic had noticed he was being stared at at one point, even though the echidna turned his head in an effort to casually look like he wasn't staring at Sonic's wounded leg.
The hedgehog's eyebrows furrowed.
"Knuckles."
"Hm? Yeah, what's up?"
"What're you doing, man?"
"Walking. Why, are you iffy about walking? Does your leg hurt?"
"It's a little tender but I'm managing. I'll be better soon… you've been staring at me, dude."
"What? No I haven't. The sun's been in my eyes."
"We're shaded by buildings."
"I was looking around, I've never been to this city."
"You've been here for months."
Knuckles grunted, frowning, looking ahead in silence again.
"Knuckles, c'mon."
"I dunno, man. Was the broken leg… my fault?"
"Your fault? I chose to fight Ivo in midair, I think it's my fault."
"You wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for my choice. I could've stopped Ivo, and the Chaos Emerald would've been in safe hands."
"Yeah, and then we all would've died from that ship exploding. If anything it's Amy's fault, but from the looks of it we were pretty pinned down. I kinda got the mentality that things that happen typically happen for a reason, so Amy flying a ship into that Flagship must've happened for a reason."
"...so me choosing to save you over stopping Ivo was for a reason?"
"I suppose. Like I said, if you gave into what your tribe taught you, we all would've woken up dead." Sonic chuckled a bit. "You picked the best choice at that moment, Knux."
"I suppose."
"Don't dwell on it. No matter what curveball chance throws at us, we'll be able to stop it together, you know? Even if I was down for the count, I know that you, Tails and Amy would be able to find a way to fix things."
"It's hard not to think about it."
"I know. It's better to accept what happened, though. As a speedster, I find it harder running in a straight line when you're looking behind you, instead of what's ahead."
The echidna let the statement process, before giving a thoughtful smile.
"It's harder to walk along others if your view is blinded by hindsight. Moss used to say that."
"I knew that fuzzy fortune cookie had a good message inside him."
They continued to walk, headed through the plaza near Emerald Coast and directly to the seaside square. The SS Central Station soon came into view- no trains were heard though, as it was still closed down due to lack of workers. Twinkle Park was re-re-opened nearby after the previous incident involving their orca.
The trio exited the plaza and reached the next area of the city. Sonic and Knuckles noticed something immediately.
"Uh, Tails?"
"The reading still says it's somewhere ahead. It honestly might be somewhere out of town."
"No, Tails, look."
At Sonic's request, Tails peeled himself to look at what was happening nearby.
There was another reason the SS Central Station was empty- there was a giant crowd standing outside of it. From afar, the trio could identify some citizens in the crowd like Dave, chao-sitters Roger and Craig, and Sonic's chilidog guy Ron. They even saw Thomas, next to a Mobian crow who the group could only assume is his elusive fiance, Desdemona.
On the steps of the Central Station, sweating heavily, standing at a podium with a television next to it, was Mayor Velox. The television had the words "A New Station For Tomorrow" on it. Team Sonic (& Knuckles) could barely make out the view of the protesting train station workers at the front of the crowd.
Everybody was yelling at once, all directly at the mayor, loudly complaining about multiple things that involved the train station.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please, please!" The mayor said desperately. "I'm trying to settle this in a very calm manner! We must stay focused on the matter at hand!"
"I've barely been to work in weeks because the station has been closed!" A patron in the crowd yelled. "This is absolutely unacceptable!"
"I've had to pay extra for drone shipping due to the station's closing! That's dozens and dozens of dollars flushed down the drain for your ignorance, Velox!"
"I hear you! I hear you." Velox said quickly. "I'm very open to having a public forum! I'll listen to everything you have to say! Just one at a time, please!"
Everyone quieted down after that. Velox wiped his forehead and sighed with relief. Up front, one of the protesters held up their hand to be selected first. Seeing this, the mayor pointed at him.
"Yes, you."
"I'm J. Bailey, with SXN." The reporter said. "Is your interest in a public forum directly tied to an attempt to diffuse the situation you caused by giving the workers in Central Station the bare minimum of what they requested?"
"I've provided them with a raise and an upgraded station!"
"You've raised their salaries seven percent. That's barely two dollars." J. Bailey replied. "Not even mentioning the 'upgraded station' you're proposing will take up to a year to construct, further preventing civilians from using our beloved train station."
"It's to assist in the workers' conditions. It won't take too long, and the workers will most likely have paid leave for the duration of construction! It will be like a vacation for them."
"And what if it isn't?"
The attention turned to a different person in the crowd, a young woman holding a child.
"Pardon me? Who are you?"
"I'm Miranda Curtis."
"Hi, I'm Matthew!"
"This is my son Matthew." Miranda said. "After the kidnapping and disappearance of my husband Clay, about a year ago, you and your people in city hall barely compensated us after it was revealed one of the policemen was involved in the kidnappings by covering things up. Vanilla Tarte, the CEO of HEXAeco, personally compensated all the victims and their families herself, but we had to wait almost a year to get any word from you all. Since the station is under your jurisdiction, what if you do the same to them? Do you simply not have the funds?"
"W-Well," The mayor stammered. "We seem to have a misunderstanding. A lot of the funding we receive is personally delegated to the spots that need it the most. N-Next question?"
Another hand went up.
"Yes?"
"Desdemona Tobikoshi-Pen. I work as a teacher downtown." The crow beside Thomas spoke up. "What you're saying is an absolute lie. Most of your funds go directly to the police stations in town, when you need to fund other areas besides them."
"Defense is important in our town!"
"Oh yeah, enough that a super-fast hedgehog has to keep the city safe!" Thomas joined in.
"What do you say to the studies that have proven higher graduation rates create lower rates of criminal activity?" Desdemona continued. "You barely pay the educators and public transportation workers scraps, and now you're insulting us with a grand, self-gratifying speech about giving the train workers a one-dollar raise and renovations that the people have to pay for? What in the ever-loving name of Wes Craven is wrong with you?!"
Everyone started yelling all at once again. Velox was clearly freaked out, eyes wide and breathing heavily as he started mumbling over and over, as if trying to start to say something. His eyes were darting all around as if to look for an answer, someone who sympathizes with him, anything to work with… he found none of it.
His eyes eventually settled over to the back of the crowd, where he found Team Sonic (& Knuckles) still watching from afar, clearly intrigued and amazed by the spectacle.
After a moment, Velox's eyebrows went up as he got an idea.
"S-Sonic!" He yelled, pointing at him. "A water god is going to flood the city and Sonic is the only person who can stop it!"
"Oh! Mom, I gotta tell you this, last night I went super fast! Like Tails said it was at sonic speeds!"
"It's true, ma'am." The younger Amy nodded. "It was really cool."
"So I decided to rebrand myself as Sonic! What do you think?"
"Well, you'll always be Sonny to me…" Aleena began. She smiled. "But I really like it. Very cool, kiddo."
Sonic smiled wider at his mother's approval.
"End emulation."
The scene paused, before the holograms disappeared, the augmented reality program once again ending its processes. Neo Metal looked almost longingly at the small office as he finished that part of the scene.
"...everything seems to be in order."
"Have you found the answers you're looking for, Neo Metal?" Tikal asked. She was unseen, still spreading her energy and form across the nanites that made up Neo Metal's body.
"Not yet. I have the background information, but I'm no closer to the answer. If Sonic is truly willing to sacrifice himself regardless of superiority, then how did he get to that mentality?"
"His mother's guidance?"
"It cannot be so simple. There has to be other factors… There has to be an answer somewhere in what happened on this fateful day. There must be the key to why he's the way he is, and I'm unable to match him, somewhere here. This is his genesis."
"Very well."
Neo Metal turned away from the desk, stepping away and trailing out of the room. He gently pushed the front door open again, leading out to the porch, satisfied with the fixed memory that was inside.
"Begin emulation. June twenty-third, three years ago."
The holographic imagery came to life right in front of his eyes. Neo Metal stepped out of the way in time for the younger Amy, or "Rosy," to leap out and hit a GUN agent with her newly obtained hammer.
"Rosy, Rosy! Stop!" The younger Sonic said to her. "They're friendly! They're alright!"
"...oh." Rosy said. "Sorry."
"It's alright! We're all pretty invincible in this armor anyways." One of the soldiers waved it off.
"Yeah!" Another agreed. "It would take something far more powerful than that to hurt us!"
Sonic suddenly sneezed.
"Gesundheit." One of the soldiers said.
Suddenly, a laser beam came down and hit the ground between the two groups. Sonic, Tails and Rosy were sent flying back and into the house, collapsing on the porch.
As the smoke cleared, the attacker made himself known- Ivo J. Robotnik.
The brunette roboticist was floating down, standing atop a giant floating platform. His hands were behind him, looking down at the Mobians and the soldiers.
"Wait. This isn't right."
"Hm?" The simulation paused, Neo Metal turning his head to signal him speaking to Tikal.
"Ivo Robotnik wasn't the attacker here, Neo Metal."
"He wasn't? No… No, he wasn't. Who was?"
Tikal didn't reply. The android put his hand to his metal chin, thinking to himself.
"...his father. Julian Ovum Robotnik."
The emulation changed to reflect this. The large, ginger biologist was atop his floating platform now. After a moment, the visage of the younger Ivo appeared beside Julian in a prototype version of the Egg-o-matic… or, rather, the Robotnik Hover Unit (the rahoo).
"June twenty-third was not only the date Sonic's mother passed away, but the date that Ivo's father perished as well." Neo Metal said, as if taking audible notes. "Julian was there because he killed Sonic's mother with a particle beam weapon."
In front of him, the scene changed. Julian took the shot, firing into Aleena's back. The purple hedgehog took her last breath, and her son screamed for his mother before she collapsed.
Neo Metal watched the mother hedgehog fall, but felt nothing. The simulation paused.
"Neo Metal?"
"...I don't feel a thing." The android replied simply. "I'm supposed to be just like Sonic. Why does seeing the woman I would consider a mother die not fill me with any emotion?"
"I do not wish to be harsh, Neo Metal, but… Aleena was not your mother."
The android stared Aleena down, looking at the paused scene of her body on the ground. His head turned slowly to look over at Julian, and then to Ivo right beside him. Ivo genuinely looked horrified at what his father was doing.
"Ivo was there." Neo said. "He was there when his father died… Julian's death caused incredible damage to his mental state. But it appears that the same never happened to Sonic with his mother's death."
"It did. It still does. Everyone processes differently." Tikal replied. "Sonic was filled with anger, rage, sadness… everything negative after the death of Aleena. He just chose to not let those feelings destroy him, but… allow them to fuel him."
"What? How? Ivo was nearly destroyed by Julian's death. What makes Sonic so different?"
"He understood what Aleena was teaching him."
"...mother's guidance. Right." Neo Metal replied. "...would you be able to show me the memory of when Julian died? I remember that Sonic was involved, but… I don't remember much else."
"Neo Metal, I must warn you… that memory is palpable with raw emotion. Are you sure the answer you seek is there?"
"It must be. It has to be. I… I don't know where else it could possibly be… please."
"...very well."
It was bright all around the android for a moment, making his visual processors adjust to the sudden light in his face. Once his lens were re-adjusted, Neo Metal's eyes flickered on and off as if he was blinking.
The roar of an explosion filled his ears. Neo Metal Sonic watched Julian's Viper war machine explode and start to nosedive downwards to the ground.
The statement that Velox had made caused the crowd to go silent for a moment. Everyone in the crowd slowly turned around and looked back at Team Sonic (& Knuckles) in various different moods- confusion, shock, annoyance.
Velox quickly scrambled and got his phone- he was showing the things on the television screen from there- tapping through it and bringing up the old slideshow that GUN had shown him about what was happening. He spilled everything: Chaos, the Chaos Emeralds, Ivo Robotnik's angle and the heroes' involvement in it all.
The group in front of the Central Station all began to murmur and look back again at Sonic.
"Is this true?" Dave asked him.
"I mean… yeah?" Sonic said sheepishly. "We're getting everything under control."
"When is this supposed to happen?" Someone else asked.
"Today." Knuckles answered.
A gasp came over the crowd, and more murmuring started. Sonic elbowed the echidna and made a motion for him to zip his lips shut. Knuckles raised an eyebrow, confused about the gesture.
"Are we going to drown?"
"What about my home? What's going to happen?"
"Why aren't you out there stopping this from happening?!"
The crowd had now turned, gathering around Team Sonic (& Knuckles) and bombarding the trio with questions, nearly overwhelming them. The city that Sonic had gained trust with, helped and kept safe, were now turning on him because of the situation that was hastily spilled by the mayor.
Speaking of, in the confusion, Velox snuck away. He quickly ran to his car, hopping in and peeling rubber, leaving to head to city hall. Reporters quickly noticed, a few of their cameramen recording the cowardly mayor driving away once most of the pressure was off him.
All of the worried and freaked out civilians continued to crowd around the heroes, yelling and demanding answers in their fear-filled frenzy.
"Is that water beast going to hurt us?"
"It shouldn't if you can swim! Y-You should probably leave the city, though…" Sonic replied.
"Don't you have the situation under control?"
"We do! It's just a precautionary thing."
"What will happen if the city is flooded?"
"We can always rebuild." Tails said. "I'm sure we'll have measures to help the civilians get somewhere safe."
"You mean the mayor? You don't even have a plan for if that Chaos guy floods the entire city? My entire life is here!" A civilian grabbed Sonic by the collar to shake him.
Knuckles interjected, firmly shoving the man away from Sonic.
"Hey, back off!" The echidna barked.
After that, the civilians all went into a loud frenzy again, practically cornering the Mobians with questions, comments, and concerns about the impending watery doom their city may face.
The sound of loud static suddenly filled the air. Everyone was turned back to the podium up on the Central Station's steps, the television now disconnected from Velox's phone and showing white noise on screen.
It seemed to reconnect to something else, however, as the static slowly became more transparent. There was something behind it, coming on the screen.
Cheerful music played from the television speakers, a wooden sign coming into view. A hand painted giant letters in red paint- it started with "IVO SEZ" before the second word was painted over to say "IVO SAYS"
The view changed. It was a crudely painted set made of cardboard. There was another painted piece of cardboard in the foreground, blocking off the bottom of the screen partially.
A felt puppet shuffled onto screen- the puppet looked familiar, with a man bun and a graphic t-shirt saying "please like me" in bold letters on the front. The puppet was seemingly whistling.
Suddenly, Ivo stepped in from the other side of the screen. The puppet gasped.
"Wow! Is that two-time PhD holder Doctor Ivo Julian Robotnik?!" The puppet was clearly also voiced by Ivo, making a weird voice.
"Yes it is!" Ivo replied. "Hello, Mayor Kendrick Velox. How are you doing today?"
"I'm sad. It seems that nobody likes me! I've done a lot of things to try and get them on my side! I even changed my name from Velis to Velox in order to get people to think I'm way past cool! What will I ever do, Dr. Robotnik?"
"Oh, well, it seems that you're doing too much to convince others you're something you aren't. Have you ever considered that you just aren't cool?"
"But… I'm not cool! Are you saying I can't convince them I'm anything but that?"
"Oh, Kendrick…" Ivo kneeled down and patted the puppet's head. "You poor, desperate, very pathetic man. Haven't you ever heard that honesty is the best policy?"
"Honestly? What's so good about honesty?"
"I forget sometimes you're a politician, so that concept is foreign to you… honesty is incredibly important! If you aren't honest, you won't get anywhere in life! For example- did you know that the Robotnik family was one of the first major families in Station Square?"
"Whaaat? That's crazy! I totally knew that but pretended I didn't!" Puppet Velox said. "But I thought Moon River discovered this city first?"
"That's true, Moon River is the woman responsible for setting up the first village on the land that would become Station Square. However, my great ancestor- Spiegelei Robotnik- was the one who discovered the giant epithermal vein containing both gold and silver that ran directly under the city."
"Wowza! What happened next?"
"He mined it, synthesized it, and the Robotniks became a family of metalworkers, establishing the economy and allowing Station Square to flourish! The mine tunnels created by my family are still present under the city and Mystic Ruins to this day! However, unfortunately, my family was kicked out of the business a couple hundred years later. As a result, they went into the business of biological science! But that's another story."
"What's this have to do with honesty and me, Dr. Ivo?"
"Oh, Kendrick, don't call me that." Ivo patted his head again. "You see, you're trying to pretend that this city needs to follow you as their leader. However, from the perspective of anyone looking back on history, the Robotniks are more deserving of that title!"
"Oh… but I have that title!"
"I know! You should give it over."
"But I like having power so people finally respect me… what if I don't want to give away my power over the city to you?"
"This!"
Ivo picked up a bucket of water from behind the cardboard in the foreground, setting it in front of it so it was in plain sight.
Ivo grabbed the puppet of Velox, before smashing it down into the bucket of water with both hands. His arms jostled around as he held the puppet underwater, as if Pupper Velox was actually struggling against him.
"My message is clear, citizens of Station Square." Ivo said calmly into the camera. "I have the capability to drown each of you under the power of the god of destruction. My will cannot be deterred by politics, or even incredibly aggravating blue hedgehogs. This city will be mine… if not…"
He pulled the soaking wet puppet out of the bucket, letting it flop over and drip on the ground. Puppet Velox wasn't speaking anymore, the implications very clear.
"You get the picture. The choice is yours, Station Square. I suggest you choose wisely."
The television went back to static, leaning the crowd shocked at the content they were forced to witness.
Everyone turned back around to look at Sonic and his friends, but found they were already gone. The whirring of a motor was above them, and once they looked up, they saw the trio getting away in the Tornado II.
They weren't intending on mimicking their dear mayor, but Ivo had provided the perfect cover for them to escape such harsh and panicked questioning. Sonic had said what they needed to do: leave the city in case it floods.
Tails was in the front pilot seat, with Sonic having climbed into the seat in the back. Knuckles was holding onto one of the plane wings, looking back to watch the people get smaller and smaller as they flew away.
Following the Miles Electric, which was propped up in front of his plane's yoke, Tails steered the plane to face the direction of the most remnant chaos energy in the area, headed further towards the Mystic Ruins forest area.
Sonic slumped back in his seat, trying to relax as he felt his leg get better bit by bit. It wasn't aching quite as much now, and the limp towards the Tornado II to make their escape was more like a brisk power walk with a stiff leg.
It was nagging at him how the public seemed to turn their backs on the team because of the unveiling of Chaos, but something told him this information should've been released to them months ago. This was all very last minute, and maybe Sonic and his friends weren't as innocent as they thought they were- but Velox shouldn't have revealed it to the public to save his own skin.
Another part of his mind murmured about how it was so easy for the people to turn on the team when the chips were down. He understood how it could happen, the panic and stress of impending doom, but it still hurt. He wondered how easy it would be for them to turn on him when there wasn't a god about to flood the planet.
He sighed as he stared at the sky passing over them above.
"Sonic? Sonic."
Sonic picked his head up, looking down at the back of Tails' seat. The headset that was hanging there was buzzing with Tails' voice. The fox had installed a headset radio system for himself and his possible passengers when he built the Tornado II, but it was barely used, as Sonic usually liked riding atop the wings of the plane.
Slowly, the hedgehog slipped on the headset, turning the mic close to his mouth.
"Tails?"
"Hey." The teenager replied, his voice low in volume. It was a bit hard to hear.
"Tails, you can always just talk to me normally."
"I gotta focus my sight on what the tablet is saying. That and flying," Tails replied. "Besides, I needed to speak to you. The wind in Knuckles' ears at this speed should keep him from hearing us if we talk low enough."
"Alright… you wanted to talk?"
"...I heard what you were saying to him earlier."
Sonic's eyes flicked up from his hands to the back of Tails' head.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I just… I dunno. Did you mean what you said when you talked about us fixing stuff?"
"What? Dude, of course I did. You've taken care of plenty of stuff in my absence before. There's literally an instance of you all helping me out when I turned into that parkour-obsessed dirtbag a while back."
"I guess…"
"Tails, c'mon. You've never felt this way before."
"Because you've never possibly been on the cusp of getting beaten to death before."
"...right."
"I dunno, Sonic. Ever since Amy told us Chaos would be coming today, I can't help but keep thinking about the vision we had with the Dream-Caster. You're down for the count and I just… cry. I don't even try to help?"
"It's a tense situation. Tails, if that happens- which I don't know if it even will- I know you'll be able to handle yourself to help save the day."
"Are you not scared about it?"
"I'm terrified." Sonic replied. "For the first time, I have to focus on something ahead of me that seems to be set in stone, and it freaks me out. But I have comfort knowing you guys can help the city if I'm beaten up like that."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I'm friends with the world's strongest echidna, the most psychic hedgehog ever seen, and a highly intelligent fox. My speed isn't everything, Tails. I have faith you guys would be able to handle things together… or on your own."
It was quiet on the other end. Slowly, Tails took off his headset, setting it down in his part of the cockpit, having nothing else to say. Sonic slid his own headset off, hanging it on the back of the front seat again.
They continued to fly, headed closer and closer towards the Mystic Ruins forest. It was clear that Sonic and Tails had a lot to think about, and sat in silence as they thought it over.
"I CAN SEE THE TRAIL!"
Sonic and Tails jumped in surprise, the latter keeping a tight grip on the yoke so he didn't turn the plane over. They both looked at the source of the yelling: Knuckles, who had his sunglasses over his eyes.
"What?" Sonic asked loudly.
"I can see the trail of chaos energy! It's yellow and making an arc!"
"Yellow? That's the emerald that Neo Metal went to get." Tails said. "Are there any indicators of where it's going?"
"It's moving like a stream of water. It's headed over there, where the trees part into that giant triangle, almost gem-shaped clearing!" Knuckles pointed in the distance.
"Clearing?"
Sonic moved up in his chair slightly, Tails leaning over to look down at the ground below. It was evident where Knuckles was pointed to- an area they hadn't seen for years. Aleena's compound.
"...home." Sonic mumbled.
Suddenly, above them all, a giant warping sound assaulted their eardrums. Team Sonic (& Knuckles) looked up, seeing the flash of green energy and what was brought to them- the back half of the Fleet Carrier.
Random debris flung through the air, brought along by the sudden warp to the area above them. It seemed that Ivo was able to locate the Chaos Emerald like they did- and now he was here for a reckoning.
"Oh, you are kidding me!" Sonic yelled.
From below the remains of the Carrier, a green beam shot downwards and onto the Tornado II- the tractor beam. It caught the plane and its inhabitants in the beam, ending down onto the ground and starting to pull up a tree.
Tails grabbed his tablet, stuffing it in his backpack as they were all pulled upwards.
"We gotta go! Jump for it!"
At Sonic's instruction, Knuckles quickly grabbed onto his friends, turning around and pushing off of the plane. His strength was enough to shove them out of the ray of the tractor beam, allowing them to fall towards the ground together.
They landed in the trees, facing a rough landing as the team tumbled across the leaves and branches of the forest.
When he landed on the ground, on his legs, Sonic felt a powerful sharp pain go through his weak leg. He let out a yell, falling to the ground almost immediately.
"Sonic!" Tails and Knuckles yelled after their own landings. They both scrambled over to the hedgehog, the echidna helping him up.
Sonic tried stepping onto his bad leg, but felt the pain return. He grunted, keeping hold of Knuckles to help himself stay standing.
"Are you alright?" Knuckles asked.
"Landed on my bad leg… I don't think I'm gonna be running anytime soon."
They all looked up, seeing the Fleet Carrier continue to pull the Tornado II closer to it.
"...let's get moving." Sonic said.
With Knuckles supporting him, Sonic helped lead the others away, towards the compound he was familiar with. He knew these trails, and this area, and he knew they would be there within the next ten or so minutes.
"But I got my revenge on her. And now… I'll get my revenge on you, too."
The replication of Julian's death was much clearer than the other memories. It possibly could've been of Ivo's doing, or perhaps it was so clear because Neo Metal had replayed the scene in his head numerous times when trying to understand how Sonic was better than him.
Or maybe it was because a spirit was possessing him. Whichever reasoning made sense.
When he had replayed this memory in his processors, certain parts skipped- like a record repeating a part of a song. It wasn't a perfect emulation, but it was definitely one that didn't have the numerous character swaps and inconsistencies of the last one.
Julian Robotnik was beaten- his robotic arm was torn off in the collapse of the Viper mech, built by his son. His dark sunglasses, which made him look like he had red eyes in a pool of blackness, were completely shattered. His copper brown eyes were exposed.
Sonic was standing there, with the younger Tails, Amy, and Ivo. Ivo was bald, trying to replicate his father's look in hopes of being like him- on his file, Neo noted that this was the origins of the fairly inconsistent nickname "Eggman," due to the round bald head.
The scene played out as normal.
"I will take over the United Federation! I will prevail! I am Julian Rrrrobotnik!"
Suddenly, there was a flash as the room filled with light- an explosion. Sonic and his friends were gone before it could carry out all the way through, and Neo Metal stood in the blank white void as the memory reached its end.
"...replay from the middle." Neo Metal said.
The emulation skipped back.
"...wow. That's it. I finally get what mom was talking about… about why she didn't come back to take you out after she escaped."
Younger Sonic was standing triumphantly over Neo Metal. The android tilted his head curiously as he watched the younger Amy call out for the blue hedgehog.
"You let the aspect of revenge overtake you. You ruined your entire life to do so. Dedicated technology to destroy us… destroyed your relationship with your son in pursuit of crazed vengeance. I'm not that person. Mom didn't want me to be that. Instead of taking it out on you… I'll use it to keep people safe instead. Just like she did."
"Just like she did." Neo Metal murmured the final four words in unison with his copy. "He gave up the chance to exact revenge to continue his mother's legacy."
"Revenge is an empty pursuit. Aleena knew getting her revenge would only lead her into more emptiness… She used that pain to relate to others and help them. Sonic is doing the same."
"He ignored personal satisfaction to help others."
"Is this the answer you seek?"
"...there has to be something else. There's something I'm missing from this."
"Answers are not always as simple as they seem, Neo Metal. Sometimes the answers are right in front of you, and you simply don't know."
The android was silent for a moment, staring down at the ground to think.
"Ask not what others can do for you, but what you can do for others."
Neo Metal looked up quickly to see the source of the voice- the emulation had paused for a moment, but suddenly skipped forwards a moment. Tails had said his line, as Neo Metal had seen dozens of times before.
His head tilted again as he studied Tails.
"He had brought Tails and Amy to the facility."
"Yes, he had."
"He was intending on killing Julian. I know he must've been… Why did he allow them to accompany him?"
"They're his best friends."
"They wouldn't want him to kill anyone… he was only sixteen."
"You're missing a vital piece to this puzzle, Neo Metal. Aleena was not only a mother to Sonic."
"...she was a mother to them, too. Were they here to kill Julian as well?"
"You're looking for answers in the wrong direction."
"They… were here to stop him. But why?" Neo Metal walked around the emulated scene. "Aleena was their mother as well. Shouldn't they be angry at Julian?"
"Perhaps their anger towards Julian was superseded by something else."
"Feelings of empathy… for their friend. And with them there, and going through the same… Sonic became Aleena." Neo Metal remarked. "They allowed him to focus on helping them and others, rather than executing his revenge."
"Have you found the answers you seek?"
"I… I think so. End emulation."
The star post motion sensors dinged the same as they did three years ago, the ball-and-pole spinning around, before the blue ball on the end turned a gold color. Sonic wondered where the sensor alert would go, if it still went anywhere at this point.
He was still painfully limping because of his re-injured leg wound, held up by Knuckles as the team traveled into the compound. Sonic thought about how they just left the Chaos Emerald in the Tornado II behind- they were desperate, and as long as Chaos didn't have the last emerald, they would be able to win.
Right?
The pain in his leg was so strong he couldn't even concentrate on that.
Knuckles took off his sunglasses, the brightness of the remnant chaos energy overtaking his sight. He managed to readjust his vision to look through the haze of energy in the air, finally able to see the thing that Sonic and Tails were looking at with normal vision.
Neo Metal Sonic was sitting on the edge of the porch at Aleena's home, staring blankly ahead, hands on his metal knees. He looked nonchalant… too casual. Very peaceful.
Tails and Knuckles slowed with caution, the entire trio staring at the android curiously.
Breathing heavy as he powered through the pain, Sonic nudged Knuckles and gestured for him to walk to Neo Metal Sonic. Hesitantly, the echidna did so, following the command. Tails walked close behind, almost hiding behind Knuckles as they got close to the android.
Once they were about a foot or two away, the eyes of Neo Metal flickered as if he was blinking back to life. He slowly raised his head, looking up at Team Sonic (& Knuckles).
"...Neo Metal." Sonic said, between breaths. "Are you cool, dude?"
"...I'm cool." Neo Metal replied.
He glowed for a moment, before the spirit of Tikal passed out of his body, floating up beside the android with hands clasped together. She looked upon the others with a friendly smile.
"Tikal?" Knuckles spoke.
"Hello, friends. I was assisting Neo Metal in a spiritual journey."
"Is that a play on how you're a ghost?"
"Perhaps."
"I hate to seem like bad news bears, but…" Sonic interjected. "We need that emerald, now. Who knows where Chaos is right now… and we're running out of time."
Neo Metal was quiet, staring at his mammalian doppelganger blankly.
"...why did you not kill Julian Robotnik?"
"Wh… What?"
"It has to do with his journey. Please, Sonic, just answer." Tikal said softly.
"...Why didn't I kill Julian?" Sonic began. "Because… he let his obsession with my mother ruin his life. It destroyed his psyche, and his son. I saw him do that, and… I saw me. I saw what would happen if I carried out that vengeance. What did he have after killing my mom? Still no company, no projects, and a son that was afraid of him. I couldn't do that, especially since Tails and Amy were looking at me to help them. I was all they had left then… I couldn't turn my back on them just because I was angry."
The android stared at Sonic, his emotions unclear due to his stone-set face.
"Neo Metal, please…" The blue hedgehog held his hand out. "I understand you need to find yourself, and I… I want to help you. But we can't do that unless we stop Chaos together. I need the emerald… please."
After another moment of blank staring, Neo Metal reached to his chest and stomach, the nanites parting to place the yellow Chaos Emerald in his hand.
"...All this time, I attempted to be you. Then attempted to be better than you… But I get it now, truly. I get why I can never truly beat you… Sonny, I—"
As his hand hovered over Sonic's, as the android was about to transfer the gem to his copy, when his sentence was interrupted with a ground-shaking slam somewhere. The group was used to it at this point, looking towards the forests that was obscured by the fences surrounding the compound.
Neo Metal quickly put the emerald back in his body for protection.
Part of the fence covering the source of the sound exploded. Chaos-5 scrambled forwards on all fours, gripping the ground with icy talons. His green eyes settled on the four ahead of him, turning to Neo Metal Sonic as he sensed where the next emerald was.
"Oh god…" Sonic whispered.
Chaos-5 roared, presenting the dozens of icy spikes that made up his teeth.
Up above, there was a sound of sizzling energy, followed by something falling towards the ground. Everyone looked up, including Chaos-5, who turned in time to see the Tornado II being hurled towards him.
The plane crashed into Chaos-5, the body of the god morphing around it as if to catch it. After a moment, rainbow electricity arced off of the god's body as the sixth Chaos Emerald joined his body, separated from the aircraft.
"NO!" Tails yelled out.
More ice formed, cracking across the inside of Chaos-6 as it reformed itself to suit the new influx of power. On the ground, around him, the grass became dead as water was sucked from the plants to further assist in the growing power of Chaos-6.
Two more legs grew out, formed by crackling ice that contained two of the emeralds. The tail from his previous form lifted upwards, becoming akin to a scorpion tail. Chaos' body got bigger, the four other emeralds swirling around to float inside of him. Two long antennae formed on top of the front of Chaos-6's body, and jagged shards of ice formed the teeth in Chaos-6's mouth.
With the god's eyes swirling around, the green eyes settled on being on top of one another, both of them staring down at the four who opposed him. Six more, smaller eyes appeared over the top lip of his mouth, three on each side of his face.
Chaos-6 spat out the Tornado II, sending it flying towards the heroes.
"Get down!" Knuckles yelled.
The echidna scooped up Sonic and kneeled, not wanting to put pressure on his leg. Tails ducked down and got behind Knuckles, while Neo Metal strafed backwards to avoid the soaring aircraft. Tikal closed her eyes, letting the plane pass through her, spared by her intangibility.
The Tornado II landed right-side up in the strawberry fields, sliding across it slightly. Tails looked upon his plane, feeling relieved it wasn't totally destroyed but still upset about Chaos-6.
Up above, Ivo hovered down in his hovercraft, staring down at the group with disdain as the god roared again. It was clear that Chaos-6 still detected the final emerald inside of Neo Metal Sonic.
"You fools." The scientist said. "You can't disrupt the will of Ivo Robotnik! Give me that!"
He slammed his fist on a button. A metal claw shot down towards Neo Metal, the android quickly catching it in his hands to prevent it from grabbing him.
Nearby, Chaos-6 snarled, one of his antennae shooting out a watery spike that instantly impaled Neo Metal Sonic. Luckily for the heroes, the spike simply knocked the emerald from his body instead of being grabbed by the god.
Though Chaos-6 directed his attention towards the discarded gem, Tails quickly flew towards it and managed to grab it before another water tendril could. The Vulcan Cannon formed on his hand, firing down upon Chaos rapidly.
Chaos-6 roared in anger. Thunder crackled in the distance, the skies slowly going dark in a sudden overcast.
Knuckles hustled over to the house, setting Sonic down on the ground.
"Stay here."
"Knuckles…"
"It's not safe for you. Please."
The echidna paused before swiftly leaving. Sonic turned over, peering out the window to watch the fight go down.
Ivo pressed his console, a laser flipping down from under his hovercraft, firing a blue laser at Chaos-6. This laser instantly started freezing the transformed god.
The eight eyes of Chaos-6 looked at his freezing appendage, then back up at Ivo above him. A master at all forms of water, the god simply shattered his own arm, surrounding the ice with water and shooting a tendril out towards the hovercraft. The spike sliced off the ice laser, rocking Ivo's aircraft.
Suddenly, the god roared- not in anger, but in pain. Neo Metal Sonic had gotten behind Chaos-6 in time to slice into his back leg, the one with an emerald in it, his sharpened arm caught in the ice. It was much too thick for even his nanites to slip through.
The god's eyes slid around his body to stare down at Neo Metal. One of his ice-less legs raised up, kicking into the android like a perturbed horse, knocking him clear across the compound.
Tails paused his firing to watch Neo Metal get flung away, but was suddenly grabbed around the chest by a metal claw. Ivo directed the claw to him, grabbing the emerald in Tails' hand.
"Hand it over, you troublesome fox!" He yelled.
Still hanging onto the emerald, the metal claw ripped Tails away from Ivo, swinging him around and throwing him into Aleena's house. The fox slammed into the roof, rolling off the side and hitting the ground.
Ivo looked over the final emerald, before turning to look down at Chaos.
"Finally," He spoke. "Now… you're going to do—"
Unexpectedly, shockingly, very unlike a literal primordial god, Chaos didn't take kindly to being demanded by a mortal such as Ivo. Chaos-6 shot out multiple spikes towards Ivo, impaling his hovercraft multiple times and causing it to thrash around violently.
Ivo slammed against the side of the hovercraft, the gem flying from his hand as he hit the edge of his aircraft. It hit the roof of the house, like Tails, but bounced across it and landed near the strawberry field.
As ice started forming across the hovercraft, Ivo quickly climbed over the side of his hovercraft and jumped into the trees, landing there. He grunted as he hit a branch, hanging from the tree and looking over at Chaos.
Chaos-6 shot out a blast of water that hit Ivo, instantly freezing and trapping Ivo against the tree trunk, keeping him out of the fight.
His eyes slid across his body again, homing in directly on the last emerald resting in the grass. Chaos-6 reformed his body to face the other direction, bounding quickly towards it.
Tikal flew in front of Chaos, holding both of her hands out in front of her. A giant flash of light came from her hands, directly into Chaos-6's eyes, making the god roar and stop in his tracks. Though the spirit initially didn't interfere, she stepped in to take matters into her own hands.
Chaos-6's eyes opened one at a time to look upon the rebelling spirit. His mouth opened wide, beginning to suck in everything as if he was smaller, rounder, and pink.
Though Tikal wasn't affected due to her ethereal nature, she soon found her quills being pulled into the suction of the god's inhale, before a stream of green energy started being pulled from her body. She looked at her hands in horror, staring down at them as they slowly started deteriorating, her form rapidly decaying.
From where he was looking in the doorway, Sonic got the lovely view of Tikal's face practically melting as the chaos energy was drained from her body. Her body started becoming dark, horns growing from her head, Sonic witnessing the forced creation of a Hyudoro.
Neo Metal Sonic rocketed towards the god, swinging both his arms downwards, forming a flipping projectile that headed directly to Chaos-6. The projectile sliced through Chaos, interrupting the suction and freeing Tikal from the god's grasp.
In front of Chaos, Knuckles grabbed the emerald, holding it tightly in his hand as he stared the god down. Chaos-6 reformed, all eight eyes staring at the echidna guardian.
Tikal hugged herself, quickly transforming into her orb form and flying into the house with Sonic.
The spirit reformed into her echidna form, landing on the ground and holding herself up by her arms. Sonic dragged himself over to sit next to her.
"Tikal, are you alright?"
"I'm… fine. I nearly lost myself there."
Sonic looked back outside at what was happening.
Knuckles dodged the spikes of ice and water coming towards him, ducking and rolling out of the way of a few of them. As he slid to a stop, the scorpion tail of Chaos-6 swung downwards to try and hit his adversary.
The echidna tossed the emerald into the air, bringing his fists down into the tail of Chaos-6, forcing it down into the ground. Knuckles pulled himself onto the tail, rolling up onto it and catching the emerald from the air.
He didn't have time to comment about how cool he was just then, as he ran up the tail of Chaos while the god was still distracted. Knuckles jumped upwards, feeling the heat in his body rise up once more with energy surrounding him.
With a powerful roar, Knuckles dove downwards, spinning his body quickly and clawing through the body of the god, tearing it apart. He landed on the ground harshly, still hanging onto the emerald but having gotten what he wanted.
The emeralds inside of Chaos-6 floated across the air, alongside the water that was making up his body. The water reformed with the emeralds swirling around it, starting with the tail, connecting to a bulbous body with all six emeralds he had inside.
Neo Metal grabbed onto Knuckles' arm, pulling him up to his feet.
Chaos-6's reformed body shook, ripples traveling through his body as it gathered energy for itself. Once it was finished, Chaos unleashed multiple spikes of water from himself- Knuckles and Neo Metal narrowly avoided the spikes, with Knuckles even having to fall backwards in order to dodge one headed towards him.
Up above, the reformed tail swung around, gathering up the energy of the emeralds within the end of the appendage. While the heroes were distracted, the god slammed his tail down into the ground, creating a shockwave of bright blue energy that knocked Knuckles and Neo Metal away.
The emerald was knocked from Knuckles' grip but was quickly retrieved by Tails, who was finally back up to his feet. The fox flew into the air, firing a dummy ring at Chaos-6 and letting it bounce off the ice on his body.
Activating the ring tether, Tails whipped the ring around and hit the areas that would land- the legs and mouth. He managed to shatter some of the teeth of the god with his ring flail, bringing them back around to keep attacking the god.
He dodged a swing of the tail, steeling his nerves and hanging onto the emerald as tightly as he could. Tails swung his tether around, spinning himself around quickly, headed directly towards the god with a tail-spin and tether combo.
The attack connected to the spine-like ice construct connecting the body to his tail, shattering it instantly. The tail fell to the ground, forcing Chaos-6 to reform himself back into his normal body.
Tails steadied himself, still hanging onto the emerald. He whipped the tether around again, ending it and letting the ring fly towards Chaos-6.
The god caught the ring in the air with one of his tendrils, staring blankly at the fox.
Sensing a shift in mood, Tails turned quickly and began to flew away, but was stopped with Chaos-6 grabbing onto both of his tails with a tendril. The fox was pulled away, letting go of the emerald in the air as he was flung into the fence across the strawberry field, sending him back to the ground.
Neo Metal grabbed the emerald, flying by and heading towards Tails. Chaos-6's tail reformed in time for it to reach out and grab onto Neo Metal Sonic, stopping him in midair. The android turned around, his chest glowing before he fired a unibeam towards Chaos.
The water beast simply reshaped his body to evade the laser, pulling Neo Metal towards the ground and slamming him into it. The emerald was left behind on the ground as the android was swung directly into the god's mouth. Surrounded by water, Neo Metal was suddenly unable to reshape his body.
Knuckles grabbed onto the emerald next, but was immediately targeted by the rampaging Chaos-6. The tail grabbed onto Knuckles' leg, picking him up and slamming him into the ground. He picked Knuckles up again, the grip lost on the emerald, causing it to land on the porch of the house.
Chaos-6 slammed Knuckles back into the ground, before quickly scrambling over to stand over him. The echidna was shaken by the sudden appearance of Chaos over him, giving the god time to charge himself up.
Beams of green chaos energy fired from all eight of Chaos-6's eyes, directly into Knuckles' chest. Though he wasn't harmed by the concussive force, Knuckles was forced underground quickly, the power of the lasers pushing the echidna further and further into the earth.
Sonic watched the god trap Knuckles underground, before his eyes traveled to the discarded emerald on the porch. He would reach for it, but his leg wasn't fully healed yet.
Satisfied with Knuckles trapped in the ground, Chaos began to turn around to look for the Chaos Emerald, but was suddenly hit with multiple energy balls. Tails was back up, firing as much as he could to the god in hopes to harm him somehow. Chaos-6 roared at Tails, slowly starting to make his way towards the fox.
A shock of fear went through Sonic's chest as he watched. He looked back at the emerald, then back towards the god descending on his best friend.
There was a rush of emotions going through his head and body. Chaos had completely wiped them out, annihilating them within minutes when he really decided to focus his power on them.
Slowly, he turned his head to look at Tikal, who was still floating in the house.
She had an unreadable face- sadness, fear, perhaps pity. She looked upon Sonic with an expression that said that she hoped this moment would never come, holding her hands in front of her idly as she floated in front of him. Tikal slowly nodded, answering a question that Sonic didn't even ask.
The blue hedgehog's jaw locked, and after a moment, he slowly got up onto a tender leg.
Outside, Tails was cornered against the fence of the compound, with Chaos-6 getting closer and closer to him. He kept firing, still trying in vain to damage the god somehow. Chaos-6's eyes glowed again, charging up energy to fire more lasers into him.
"Hey, drippy!"
Chaos' eyes slid around to look behind him, now looking upon Sonic.
Standing on the porch, the hedgehog had the emerald in his hand, tossing it up and catching it as nonchalantly as he could. He put more weight on his good leg, trying to look confident against the god that completely overpowered him.
Now ignoring the fox, Chaos-6 turned around completely to face two of his targets.
"Sonic, no!"
Tails' yell fell upon deaf ears as the god roared in anger. Chaos-6 sprinted on all of his legs towards Sonic, the hedgehog putting the emerald in his jacket pocket.
The hedgehog turned around and limped away, before charging up a spin dash to fly off the edge of the porch. He perfectly positioned his aim, bouncing off the nearby fence into the air as Chaos-6 slowed down to look up at him.
Boosting downwards, Sonic landed a homing attack on the god and caused his body to ripple. As he unfurled above Chaos, the water beast turned upwards, gathering the parts of Neo Metal inside of him and spitting them all out like the Tornado II before it.
Sonic would usually springboard off of the projectile, but with a bad leg that wasn't possible. The android crashed into the hedgehog, sending him down into the strawberries. Luckily, he didn't land on his leg again, but did land on his back. The wind was knocked from him, making him arch his back in pain, his mouth open as he tried to breathe.
As he was nearby, Tails rushed over to Sonic. Neo Metal slowly started to reform himself.
"Sonic! Sonic, breathe!"
After a moment, the hedgehog took a large gulp of breath as he got his bearings back. Chaos-6 roared again, beginning to charge towards the pair.
"Tails, you gotta get out of here."
"I won't leave you, Sonic! We're a team!"
"He's only after me, and I need you in case something happens."
"You don't know if something happens!"
Chaos rushed towards them with an outstretched mouth.
"Tails, you need to go!"
"I'm not going anywhere!"
"No!" Sonic got to his feet. "I lost my mom here, I'm not losing you too!"
Tails stared at Sonic, breathing quickly from fear, unsure what to say next. Another roar let Sonic know just how far away Chaos-6 was, forcing him to make a split-second decision.
He shoved Tails as hard as he could, pushing him away.
The tail of Chaos-6 slammed into Sonic, making the hedgehog crash through the nearby fence. Still hanging onto Sonic, Chaos swung him around and directly into the house, destroying one of the walls as he threw the hedgehog into there.
Tails tried getting up, but his arm was grabbed by the reformed Neo Metal, holding him back.
"Let go of me!"
"Tails, no. This has to happen."
"I don't care about some vision, that's my best friend!" Tails yelled at him. "Let me go!"
Wind blasted all of them, making both Neo Metal and Tails look upwards. The GUN helicopter from earlier hovered overhead, and from each side dropped the team's allies- Cream flew Amy down, while Topaz held onto Rouge for the bat to glide her down.
They all landed in front of Neo Metal and Tails. Tikal floated up, a solemn look on her face.
"Tails! Tikal?" Amy spoke first. "What's happening?! Where's Ivo?"
"He's been detained. We need to help Sonic!"
Inside the house, Sonic crashed through the desk that once belonged to his mother, slamming into the painting of his uncle and knocking it into the ground. The hedgehog tried to get up, but the tail of the god slammed down into him again, forcing him downwards.
One of the tendrils grabbed onto the sleeve of Sonic's jacket, swinging him into one of the office walls and tearing off the sleeve. Another tendril grabbed his collar, slamming him neck-first into the ground and making him yell in pain.
Chaos-6 tore the jacket from Sonic's body. The hedgehog grabbed the emerald as it flipped in the air, keeping it away from the god. It was clear that Chaos did not like that, as he roared and shot a tendril into Sonic's face, forcing him into the back wall again.
Sonic kept his grip on the emerald as Chaos swung the hedgehog back and forth, slamming him into opposite walls once, twice, before tossing him into the ground again. The tail came around, grabbing the weak hedgehog and forcing him through the front wall of the house.
As soon as Tails expressed his desire to help Sonic, the hedgehog crashed through the house's wall, tumbling across the lawn with the emerald still in his hand.
Amy gasped in horror, her hands going to her mouth as she watched what was happening.
Rouge rushed forwards as the god crashed through the house next, unleashing a sonic shriek more focused than anything she'd ever done before. Topaz fired rapidly with her plasma rifle- for good measure, Neo Metal fired his unibeam towards the god.
Amy and Tails watched helplessly, unable to help for different reasons, as the god shrugged off all the attacks to his side. Cream held onto Amy in a side hug, burying her face into the pink hedgehog's arm to obscure her vision. Cheese did the same, but with his owner.
Chaos swung his tail around, gathering up energy and slamming it into the ground, creating a shockwave that hurled the heroes back and away from him.
"Tikal!" Amy said. "We have to do something!"
"I'm sorry, Amy. I truly am. But we are already too late."
"N-No… No!"
The god turned to Sonic again, reaching for the hand holding the emerald. Sonic kept his grip on it, even though his vision was blurry, trying to keep it away from Chaos.
Chaos-6 reacted by shooting out a tendril, hitting Sonic across the face as if he was punching the hedgehog. When he still didn't let go, Chaos swung the tendril across his face one time, two times, three times- the final time was the hardest, sending Sonic's face crashing into the ground.
With one more attack for good measure, Chaos-6 grabbed onto Sonic with his tail, lifting him up all the way, before swinging him directly into the ground again with a ground-shaking slam.
The emerald was let go, bouncing across the ground. Before anyone could react, Chaos grabbed it and brought it to his mouth.
Thunder crashed above them. It started to rain.
The heroes could only watch as the water was pulled from all the vegetation around them. Knuckles pulled himself out of his hole, finally, and Ivo's glasses fell in time for him to witness what was happening. With the ice melting, he started to wiggle himself out of the detainment.
Chaos floated into the air, all his features disappearing as he simply became a ball of water with seven emeralds floating inside of him. More and more water added to him, causing him to get bigger, before a shield of energy shielded him.
"The end times are here." Tikal said softly. "May Chaos have mercy on those who are innocent."
"He's in a cocoon?" Topaz asked her.
"He's gathering water from around him to build himself up. Once he's large enough to sustain the powers of the emeralds, he'll head towards Station Square, as that's the place he's prophesied to hit first."
The sounds of sobbing were heard over the rain. Tails had fulfilled his part of the vision, now huddled over Sonic and crying into the beaten hedgehog while the rain poured around him. Amy was kneeling on the other side of Sonic, holding onto his hand.
Knuckles walked up to them slowly, staring down at the bruised hedgehog.
Cream was still covering her eyes. Slowly, Rouge put her arm around the rabbit and her chao, obscuring her vision with the bat's patagium.
It was quiet as everyone was still in shock, the only thing heard being Tails' cries.
Ivo watched from afar, landing on the ground after having gotten out of his icy prison. He saw Sonic unconscious on the ground, his face unreadable. He quickly, with a shaking hand, pressed something on his wrist.
The tractor beam sucked Ivo into the remains of the Fleet Carrier. With a warping sound, the Flagship disappeared through the skies. Topaz noticed.
"Damn it… What do we do now?" Topaz asked, looking around. "Obviously there's something we can do. Sonic's not dead yet, is he?"
"He's barely there." Amy answered softly, a tear dripping down her cheek. "I can still feel him."
"Sonny's beaten to a pulp, girlfriend." Rouge said to her partner. "I don't know anybody who could possibly bring someone back from that."
"...Moss." Knuckles said. "He's healed the injuries of the guardians before. I don't know the extent of it, but… he might be able to help Sonic."
"We… We have to try." The pink hedgehog said, still watching Sonic.
Tails finally picked himself up, wiping his face off with his sleeve.
"We have to warn Station Square." He said, voice slightly hoarse. "They have to evacuate. We have to get them to leave. I… I can go do that. I can take my plane, it should still have residual energy."
"I'll go with you." Topaz said firmly. "If Velox won't shut up and work, I'll beat the evacuation order into him. You all need to get Sonic to Angel Island- Molly will fly you there, just tell her where she needs to go."
As Tails started to get up, Amy grabbed onto his wrist, making him stop.
"Please be careful." She murmured to him.
After a small nod, he leaned over and hugged Amy- the hedgehog hugged back tightly.
"We must hurry. With the rain, Chaos will not need much time until he is finally done." Tikal said. "We have very little time."
"What if somebody could block the rain from getting in?"
Neo Metal spoke for the first time since what happened. Everyone turned to him, and Amy got to her feet to see him. The android was watching Chaos quietly, as if studying him.
"Neo Metal?" The pink hedgehog called to him.
"What if somebody was able to encapsulate the body of Chaos? Not to stop him, but to stall him for as long as possible."
"...that would most likely help a substantial amount." Tikal said.
"Neo Metal, no." Amy walked to him. "You'll get fried immediately. You'll be destroyed!"
"You need as much time as you can to heal Sonic and evacuate the city. This is the only way."
"Metal…"
"There can only be one Sonic, Amy. It took this entire time to realize that."
He slowly turned his head away from the pink hedgehog, looking back at the floating Chaos.
"I understand now. Sonic has gone through so much pain, and heartbreak… the death of Aleena. But instead of letting that pain consume him, he allowed it to transform him into something greater- not someone who just wants to go fast, but somebody who wants to protect others like she did." Neo Metal spoke low. "And in the end, both him and the world could dip into the abysmal depths of despair and always be saved… by his friends. Sonic is the superior Sonic… not because he runs fast, but because of the people he slows down for along the way."
Slowly, the android touched Amy's hand, holding it up to look her in the eyes.
"Thank you… for believing in me back then. When nobody did." He said. "This is what I must do. You all need to go, now."
Amy was hesitant, but nodded. She pulled her hand away, quickly speeding towards where the others were. Neo Metal watched her leave, slowly turning his head to peer at the echidna spirit watching him.
He nodded towards her- his thanks to her. She nodded back.
Tails got the Tornado II running, forcing the propellers to start. He climbed in the front seat, with Topaz getting in behind him. He pressed down on the thrusters, using all the energy he could to make the plane take off.
The Tornado II flew away as the GUN helicopter landed on Topaz' demand.
Knuckles picked up Sonic, carrying the unconscious hedgehog towards the helicopter, followed closely by the others. They all climbed in- Rouge gave the pilot the coordinates to the island, before closing the doors on both sides.
Neo Metal stepped up to the floating orb of water, staring up at it.
He held his hands out, the nanites on his body flying off as if they were specs of dust. They covered the energy shield around the water, creating a barrier of liquid metal that held it back. The rain bounced off of the metal covering, preventing the god from getting any bigger.
Suddenly, rainbow electricity crackled from inside the orb, hitting the metal cover.
Amy watched from the window of the helicopter, staring down at Neo Metal giving himself to help save the world. As they passed into the storm clouds, she could hear the android scream in pain as the raw chaos energy started tearing him apart.
Perfect Chaos was here.
UP NEXT: Open Your Heart!