"METAL"
Three million years from Mobius, the mining ship Red Dwarf.
It's crew: Sonic the Hedgehog, the last Mobian alive, Shadow the Hedgehog, a hologram of his dead bunkmate, and a creature who descended from a wild hedgehog.
Additional: As the days go by, we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in an uninhabited, hostil and meaningless universe. Still, you've got to laugh, haven't you?
Out in the barren emptyness of space, the Nova 5 served as a simple reminder that space, although beautiful, was deadly. The ship had crashed on the surface of a barren moon, a sorry eyesore, its own gravestone, never to be returned to the planet where it had been built, there to lie until space rust consumed it. On board the Nova 5, staring out at the black shroud of space and at the grey rocks that partly buried the craft, stood a service android, a sorry robot whose life was to to endlessly serve organics without fail. There were many service androids like him, all built in different styles and forms. The one aboard Nova 5, shockingly, was hedgehog-shaped and dark blue all over. His name was simply 'Metal'. Blaring out from a television screen, one of the few things that still functioned, the theme tune to a sitcom was singing throughout the sullen craft. "Androids have feelings too..."
The pretty female rabbit on screen was smiling pleasently at the camera as Shadow paced about in front of it. She rattled off a line in the language of the Chao with a cheery face.
"Wait a minute, I know this one...don't tell me, don't tell me, don't tell me..." Shadow murmured, scrunching his face up tight.
Sonic, trying to knit blue cardigans, wasn't looking entirely 'in the zone'.
"I hope when you come, the weather will be clement," he droned tiredly, having had enough of Shadow's self-taught Chao lessons. Sure enough, the rabbit repeated, virtually word for word, what Sonic had just said.
"Sonic," Shadow moaned, "don't tell me, I could have got that!" The cream coloured rabbit on the screen proceeded to relay another squeaky line. "Ah, I remember this from last time!" Shadow said confidently, a renewed spring in his step as he paced the room again.
"Please can you direct me to a 5-star hotel," Sonic answered for him, fumbling with the knitting needles.
"Wrong, actually!" Shadow countered, adamant that he wasn't going to believe the blue moron had a hold of mastering another language quicker than he had, "Totally, utterly and completely wrong."
Unfortunately, it turned out that Sonic was totally, utterly and completely right, as proven by the rabbit girl on the screen. Shadow blinked at the screen for a moment before directing his irritation, once more, to his bunkmate.
"Sonic, will you please shut up?" he protested.
"I'm only helping you," Sonic sighed, accidently dropping a stitch with the pale blue wool.
"I don't need any help," Shadow retorted and fixed his attention back on the rabbit as she started a new line. The darker hedgehog snapped his hologramatic fingers in victory. "I would like to purchase that orange inflatable beach ball and that small bucket and spade," he rattled hurriedly.
"The meal was splendid, my largest congratulations to the chef," the rabbit answered him.
Shadow was about fed up. "Pause," he growled and froze the rabbit on the screen.
"Shadow, you've been doing this Chao course for 8 years," Sonic moaned, also fed up with his own 'accomplishments', "How come you're so utterly useless?"
"Oh it speaks," Shadow sneered, "And how many books have you read in your entire life? The same number as Champion the Wonder Horse - Zero."
"I've read books."
"Sonic, we're not talking about books where the main character is a dog called Ben."
"I went to Art college," Sonic countered with a frown.
"You?" Shadow's mouth could not have held a more disgusted sneer.
"Yeah."
"How did YOU get into Art college?"
"The normal way you get into art college, the same old usual boring normal way you get in." Click clack went the knitting needles. "Failed my exams and applied."
"Ah, but you didn't get a degree... Did you?"
"Nah, dropped out. Wasn't there long."
"How long?"
"97 minutes." Sonic gave a shrug and furrowed his brow more closly at his handiwork. "Thought it was gonna be a good skive and all that, you know? But I took one look at the time table and checked out, man. I mean, it was ridiculous! They had lectures for, like, the first thing in the afternoon! We're talking half past twelve every day!"
Shadow, a little relieved, puckered his lips proudly and a trifle maliciously.
"Well, unlike you, Sonic, I have ambitions," he smiled, "I'm not prepared to sit around all day knitting baby clothes for unanticipated new arrivals because I'm not a gimp!" He had used that card several times since their very recent trip to an alternate dimension.
If looks could kill, Shadow would have been the first hologram to die twice for Sonic's glare was enough to melt through steel.
"And one of my ambitions," Shadow went on, still just as proudly, "is to learn another language so kindly let me get on with it." He turned to the screen with the smiling rabbit and adjusted the collar of his shirt. "Play," he ordered. The rabbit gave the listeners a smooth sentence in perfect Chao Talk. "Ah, now this is one I do know," Shadow announced with confidence but just as he opened his mouth to talk, Knuckles' appeared in the rabbit's place.
"'The menu looks interesting'," the echidnian computer translated, "'I think I'll try the chicken.'"
Shadow stood, seething in anger. "Knuckles," he growled, "As the Chao would say, 'Chao chao-chao-ao chao-chao-chao chao, chao-chao chao ch-chao chao-ao-ao chao." Saying that, he bit his thumb at the screen. "And I think we all know what THAT means."
"Yeah," Knuckles nodded, "It means, 'can you send for the hall porter, there appears to be a frog in my bidet'."
"Is it?" Shadow pouted, "Well, what's that one about 'your father was a baboon's rump and your mother spent most of her life up against the wall with sailors'?"
Knuckles lifted his pixelled nose into the air. "I'm not tellin' you."
"Because you're bored, isn't it?" moaned Shadow, still pouting, "That's why you're both annoying me."
"I'm not bored. I've had a really busy morning," Knuckles contradicted smugly, "I've devised a system to totally revolutionise music."
"Get out of town," Sonic piped up, setting down the knitting needles.
"Yeah," Knuckles nodded, "I've decimilised it. Instead of the octave, it's a decative. I've invented two new notes; H and J."
"Hang on a minute," said Sonic disbelievingly, stashing his hap-hazard baby clothes away in his cupboard, "You can't just invent new notes."
"Well I have." To reinforce this, Knuckles proceeded to inform them of the newest version of Do-Rei-Me with his new notes as well as to give them some indication of what future musical instruments would have to look like, going so far as to say that women would be banned from playing the cello. "Oh, I haven't told you the news," he then added, as though his new musical notes weren't news enough.
"What news?" Shadow asked, privately rolling his eyes.
"We're getting a signal," the computer answered him, "It's probably nothing but I thought I'd mention it."
"Aliens!" Shadow decided, sweeping across the room towards the door with determination.
"Oh man, aliens?" Sonic groaned, stretching his back uncomfortably, "Your explanation for anything slightly peculiar is aliens, isn't it? You lose your keys? It's aliens. A picture falls off the wall? It's aliens. That time we used up a whole bog roll in a day? You thought THAT was aliens as well."
"Well WE didn't use it all, Sonic," Shadow reaffirmed, "So who did?"
"Aliens used our bog roll?"
"Just because they're aliens doesn't mean they don't have to visit the little hoglet's room. Only they probably do something weird and alien-esque like...it comes out the top of their heads or something."
The nausea that Sonic was gradually becoming accustomed to due to his current condition flared a little at that point and we wrinkled his nose.
"Wouldn't like to be stuck behind one in the cinema," he decided.
Down in the engine room, meanwhile, Silver was snuffling around the walkways with wide yellow eyes.
"Here little beetle..." he called encouragingly, "I got some dirt! I only wanna be your friend..." He adjusted the sharp fork he had in his paw and gave another sniff before thrusting his utensil underneath the containers, madly scrabbling about. His hunt, however, was interrupted by Sonic and Shadow having come to collect him to investigate the signal that Knuckles had mentioned beforehand.
Up in Red Dwarf's Radio Room, Knuckles was quick to inform them that the signal had come from a ship called the Nova 5, a ship that had crash landed, and that he was trying to establish contact with the vessel. Sonic seemed excited by the notion of a ship and of new people to meet while Shadow was trying to confirm that aliens weren't involved.
"No, they're from Mobius," Knuckles told him, adding that he hoped they had brought nessessities with them seeing as they were short on 'a few supplies', including a special formulated hedgehog milk, seeing as cow's milk wasn't good for the spiked mammals. Well, in actual fact, Knuckles then went on to admit, they had run out of hedgehog milk 'yonks ago'.
"What kinda milk are we using now?" Sonic asked suspiciously, eyeing his drink that he'd brought with him.
"Emergency back up supply," Knuckles shrugged, "We're on the cat's milk."
Sonic's ears shot up. "Cat's milk!?" he coughed increduously.
"Nothing wrong with cat's milk," Knuckles informed him, "Full of goodness, full of vitamins and you hedgehogs can have that, no problem. One of the advantages of hedgehogs and cats being so alike. Lasts quite long too, cat's milk."
"Why?"
"No idiot on Red Dwarf will drink it."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"What, and spoil your decaf?"
Sonic, shaking his head, discarded the cup promptly into the nearest bin, missing the fact that Silver had gone to investigate it with interest. His consolation was that cat's milk was unlikely to harm unborn hoglets.
"Hang about - we've got contact."
Shadow ordered that it be punched up and there, on screen, appeared a robot hedgehog, dark blue all over with a sharp silver nose and a pair of very large, very sorrowful looking, red optics.
"Thank goodness!" it said, in clipped sentences, "My name's Metal. I'm the service mechanoid on the Nova 5. We've had a terrible accident. The male officers died on impact. The female officers are injured but stable. Please help us."
Silver looked up from the bin, one ear twitched towards the screen.
"Is that female as in... soft and squidgy?" he asked cautiously, not wanting to make the same mistake as last time.
Shadow also looked slightly queezy at the memory but shook it off, relishing that there wouldn't be any more female versions of him for quite a while. "How many?"
"Three," Metal answered, "Miss Whisper, Miss Tangle and Miss Jewel. I'm transmitting medical details."
There then appeared the images of three officers stating their names, ages and professions. One was a wolf, one was a lemur and one was a beetle, all very pretty. Silver couldn't believe what he was seeing: a Mobian Beetle? How his heart thumped!
"Tell them we're coming aboard," Shadow announced, smoothing his quills and smiling, "By Chaos, we'll rescue these fair blooms or my name's not Captain S.T. Hedgehog, Space Adventurer!"
"Thank you, Captain!" Metal squeaked, signing off.
"Space Adventurer?" Sonic scowled, "And you realise that all three of us have those exact same initials, don't you?"
"What was I supposed to say?" Shadow protested, "'Fear not, I'm the bloke who used to clean the gunk out of the chicken soup machine. Actually, we know sod all about space travel but if you've got a blocked nozzle, we're your lads!' That'll fill them with confidence, won't it?"
Sonic let out a sigh, hating how tired he seemed to be getting recently. "How long are we away, Knux?" he asked.
"About 24 hours," the computer answered.
"What!?" Silver shrieked, leaping up on both legs, "Only 24 hours!? I better start getting ready! I'm so excited all 5083 quills are tingling!" He promptly danced away down the corridor, his laugh echoing back to them.
"What's wrong with him?" Sonic scowled, "We're on a mission of mercy. We're taking them urgently needed medical supplies." He glanced warningly at Shadow. "We're not. On. The Pull."
Shadow just gave him a knowing look and smirked.
What followed in the next 24 hours was a race to look as presentable and as attractive as possible; washing fur, sharpening quills, cleaning teeth, buffing shoes, brushing tummies, ironing socks, combing chest fluff, filing claws...the works.
As has previously been mentioned, numerous times by now, all three were extremely attractive anyway but life alone as three bachelors in the deepest, darkest depths of space hadn't done wonders for personal hygiene.
Sonic had to tip out his laundry basket and sniff for something that smelt the least gross so he could spray it with deodrant and make do with that. Then he pulled on a pair of black jeans and found a massive hole in them - but that was okay because Sonic solved the problem by wearing black underpants underneath so you couldn't tell.
It was all a bit of a mess but, nevertheless, Sonic was very pleased with his results, admiring himself several times in the mirror and heartily congratulating himself. That was until Shadow paraded into the room with quills thickly gelled and trimmed and grandly parading in full white military Captain's dress uniform complete with gold shoulder pads, gold fringing and a set of medals. He'd last worn it to his 'funeral' when he thought Sonic was going to wipe him after that enormous catastrophe with the second Shadow hologram.
"No, we're not on the pull, are we Sonic?" he chortled, casting his gaze over his blue bunkmate who, in all fairness, did look exceptionally handsome despite his bad smell, "Look at you... Absolutely pathetic." Sonic just rolled his eyes as Shadow gave him the full treatment. "You really trying, aren't you?" Shadow sniggered, "You're wearing your least smeggy things. Trying to look as non-smeggy as possible."
"Don't know what you're talking about," Sonic murmured, raising an eye at Shadow's taste in clothing.
"That open-front shirt, Sonic," Shadow sighed, pulling at a loose hologramatic quill, "with only two chili dog stains on, you only wear on special occasions. You're toffed up to the eyes, laddy." He then strutted over to share the mirror.
"And what about you?" Sonic commented, "You look like a Prince of India. One who's Mum still brushes down and calls 'darling'."
"Oh it's started," Shadow growled, "I knew it would."
"What has?"
"The put downs. It's always the same when we meet girls; put me down and make yourself look good."
"Like when?"
"Remember those two little ferrets from suppiles? And I told them I worked in stores and they were really interested and asked me exactly what I did there?"
"And I said you were a shelf?"
"Exactly! And then I suggested a little trip to Titan's Zoo and you said 'Ooh he's taking you home to meet his Mum already!'"
"So? They laughed."
"Yes - at me! At my expense!" Shadow reached down the front of his coat and fluffed his chest fur a little. "Just don't put me down when we meet them," he said.
"Okay," Sonic shrugged ,"What do you want me to say? How do you want me to act?"
"I don't know!" Shadow moaned, "Just act with respect. Oh, and for a start don't call me Shadow."
Sonic tilted his head. "Why not?"
"Because you always put the emphasis on 'ow' in Shadow. Shad-OW. Makes me sound stupid."
"Well what do you want me to call you? SHAD-ow?"
"I don't know. Shad? Shady? Something with a bit more..." Shadow scrunched up his face. "I don't know, how about... Stripes?"
"...Stripes?"
"Or the nickname I had at school."
"What, Sooty?"
Shadow glared at him "...How did YOU know my nickname was Sooty?" he demanded crossly to which Sonic shook his head.
"I was only guessing," the blue hedgehog replied, truthfully.
"...Well, I meant the other one."
"What other one?"
Shadow lifted his head proudly.
"Ultimate," he revealed with dignity.
"Get out of town!" Sonic laughed, leaning against the wall. "Your nickname was NEVER Ultimate! Maybe 'Ultimate Bonehead'."
"It WAS my nickname at school, actually," Shadow snapped back and then added, in a quieter voice, "No-one ever called me it, despite the number of times I let them beat me up."
Sonic sighed and looked hard at his bunkmate. "What are you trying to say to me, Shadow?" he asked softly.
"I'm trying to say," Shadow told him, "build me up, don't put me down."
"Like?"
"Like, if the oppurtunity occurs and it crops up naturally in conversation, you could, perhaps, mention that I'm...very brave."
"You what?"
"Don't go ape just, sort of, mention it, perhaps that...I died and I was...pretty incredibly brave about it." Sonic cocked an eyebrow. "Or maybe mention hints that I've had tons of girlfriends." The eyebrow went higher. "Alright, forget it! It was just an idea!" Shadow folded his arms as a glint of malice appeared in his eyes. "Anyway, don't think you'll have a chance. Not at the moment, anyway."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sonic muttered, standing up straight.
"Just saying," Shadow smiled.
"Saying what?"
"It's just... Given your current...condition."
"You can shut it, Shadow. You can shut it, right now."
Red Dwarf finally reached Nova 5 and went into orbit around the asteroid. On the crashed vessel, Metal was busily trying to tidy everything and make everything presentable, including the three female officers that were sat around the table.
Sonic and Shadow were waiting on their third hedgehog crewmate who had been preparing for a day and a night. In the end, Silver appeared in a glitzy spacesuit with cufflinks and massive lapels.
"Made it myself!" he declared proudly, settling himself down into the spare seat, "Didn't want to mess up my fur. Hey, listen, we just gotta make sure we don't pass any mirrors, 'cause if we do, I'm there for the day!"
"Everybody ready?" Knuckles then asked, appearing on the screen. Even HE had gone to great lengths to make himself look handsome.
"What's wrong with everyone?" Shadow complained, "Three million years without a woman and you act as though you're all fourteen years old!" He said nothing of his own excitement.
Of course everyone was beyond disappointed to discover that the three female officers, Miss Whisper, Miss Tangle and Miss Jewel had all died long ago, leaving nothing but three well preserved skeletons.
Shadow was ready to pummel the robot whom he referred to as the 'Adroid version of Norman Bates'. He was also ready to pummel Sonic who was making good on his promise to make Shadow look good in front of them, telling them how brave his friend 'the Ultimate' was and how many girlfriends he'd had.
Silver wasn't entirely unhappy with the situation, deeming that there was nothing wrong with being a little skinny. He was more upset he wouldn't be able to try pulling a Beetle woman who probably tasted like beetles but had the body of a woman... The heart was thumping again...
Poor Metal, on the other hand, was quite distressed when being told (none too tactfully by Shadow) that his three officers were all dead.
Sonic took pity on the robot and concluded that the best thing was to bring the android back to Red Dwarf though the metallic hedgehog protested that he was only programmed to serve and that his only function was to improve the lives of others.
Sonic shook his head, dismissing it totally, firmly telling the robot that he had to start over a new leaf and figure out what he wanted in life, rather than think about others.
Not that Shadow was on board with that thinking.
Being a hologram, he couldn't exactly do most things for himself and he soon took advantage of having a robotic slave on board that would willingly jump to his beck and call. He had Metal do the cooking, the cleaning, the ironing and indeed all mundane household chores that any slave might be forced to do in his lifetime... All while Sonic wasn't looking.
Silver didn't care either way, keeping himself to himself and licking every mirror he came accross - which Metal then had to clean again.
So when Sonic walked in to his quarters to discover Metal polishing cutlery in a room that the blue hedgehog didn't recognise in the slightest, due to all the new upholstery and fresh new plants, he had to do several triple-takes.
"What the heck is going on?" Sonic asked increduously, looking around in shock at the curtains and at the clean laundry and the scrubbed worktops. It looked like somewhere Barbie might stay for a weekend away.
"Good afternoon, Mister Sonic, Sir," Metal greeted politely, genuinely pleased to see the blue one again. The black and red one was rather demanding and the grey white one wasn't that interested in talking to him so it was safe to say that the blue one was his favourite. Metal was also blue, so that was another bonus, in his opinion.
"What are these?" Sonic asked
"Your socks, Mister Sonic, Sir."
"No way are these my socks!" Sonic scoffed, "They don't smell right. What's happened to the place?"
"I've done a spot of tidying up."
"Where is everything?" Sonic gulped, examining the sideboard, "Where's my coffee cup with the mould in it?"
"I threw it away, Sir," Metal replied, still polishing the forks.
Sonic's face fell. "But I was breeding that mould," he whined, "His name was Albert. I was trying to grow him 2 foot high."
Metal, though he was made of metal, frowned his faceplates. "Why, Sir?" he asked in confusion.
"Because," Sonic hissed, scampering over to the android and lowering his voice, "it drives Shadow nuts! And driving Shadow nuts is what keeps me going."
Metal did look a bit guilty at that and dipped his head. "I'm sorry Mister Sonic, Sir," he apologised. But Sonic was still equally bewildered.
"Look at you," he murmured, "What are you doing? Why are you doing all this?"
"Serving makes me happy, Sir."
"But what about YOU?" Sonic asked in exasperation, "Don't you want to do anything just for yourself?"
For a moment, Metal stopped polishing. "Myself?" he smiled, "That's a bit of a barmy notion, if you don't mind my saying so, Sir."
"Come on," Sonic pressed, sitting down in one of the chairs, "there must be something you look forward to."
Metal looked around, a trifle embaressed, setting down the fork. "...Androids," he confessed, humming the TV tune.
"That stupid soap opera?" Sonic coughed, "Why?"
"Well," replied Metal, "because for half an hour a week, I can forget I'm me."
"Androids," Sonic sighed, "And what else?"
"Erm...being asleep?"
Sonic blinked at him. "Androids and being asleep? Sounds like a crazy fun-packed life you lead there, Metal."
The hedgehog robot shifted uncomfortably, twiddling his sharp metal fingers around. "I have strange thoughts when I'm asleep," he said quietly.
"Yeah," Sonic told him gently, "they're called dreams."
"My favourite one," Metal explained, a warmth growing in his optics as he sat down beside Sonic, "is that I'm in a garden. I've never even seen a garden except in books. And I planted everything...made it grow. It's MY garden. And there's no-one there but me. Just me and all the things I made live." The robot tutted. "Silly."
"No it isn't," Sonic murmured, going dewey-eyed, "You know, in however many months I'm going to be a dad...or a mum...not sure on that. But what I am sure on is that I want my kids to have dreams of their own and you're allowed dreams as well. Find a planet with an atmosphere and do it."
"I can't," Metal sniffed, jumping up again and getting back to work, "I'm programmed to serve."
"There's no-one TO serve now, Metal, that's the point!" Sonic argued, also standing up.
"What about Mister Shadow, I've got to complete Mister Shadow's tasks!" Metal produced a long list that reached down to the floor.
"You what!?" Sonic cried in a mixture of humour and disbelief, "Shadow gave you all this?"
"Well Mister Shadow is my master now," Metal nodded.
"Mister Shadow isn't his name," Sonic huffed, "His name's JUST Shadow. Or Smeghead. Or Dinosaur Breath or Molecule Mind and on very rare occasions when you wanna be really MEGA-polite to him, Metal - we're talking MEGA-polite..." He smiled "...In those exceptional circumstances, you can call him Faker."
Red Dwarf sailed on through space with its new crew of four (or six if you included the two unborn members). Silver was enjoying the fact that the new android was an exceptional cook and produced decent meals while Shadow was pleased to discover that Metal was also an accomplished painter and immediately set him to do his portrait.
"I think it'll be best on THAT wall," Shadow had said, pointing to the far side, "so it's dominating the room."
"Yes, Mister Shadow, Sir," Metal immediately replied.
"Yes, Mister Shadow, Sir," Sonic growled from his top bunk, where he had been told to rest, "You're a total wretch, you know that, Metal?"
"Yes, Mister Sonic, Sir," answered Metal.
"Yes, Mister Sonic, Sir," Sonic immitated patronisingly.
"Leave it alone, Sonic," Shadow chuckled, "It enjoys doing the tasks I give it - makes it happy."
"Oh drop dead, Shadow."
"Already have done."
"Do an encore."
"You'd never get a REAL hedgehog to be a servant," Silver then said, entering the conversation, if it could be called that, "You ever see a REAL hedgehog return a stick? 'You threw the stick, YOU go get it yourself! I'm busy! If you wanted the stick so bad, why'd you throw it away in the first place?'."
Shadow and Sonic ignored him.
"Metal, you never learnt a thing from those films I showed you, did you?" Sonic sighed.
"Which ones?" Shadow asked in interest.
"Mister Sonic was kind enough to take me to see The Wild Ones, Easy Rider and Rebel Without A Cause," Metal replied pleasently, dabbing away at the canvas in front of him.
"Thought it might do him some good," Sonic sighed again, shifting his position once more, "Fat chance. In the middle of Marlon Brando's rebel speech, he," Sonic throws an accusing finger at Metal, "gets out a brush and starts doing my fur."
"Well maybe you'll learn, Sonic, that there's a natural order to things in life," Shadow explained, as though he were a wise guru, "Some give orders, others obey. That's the way it's always been, that's the way it's always going to be. Isn't that true, Metal?"
The hedgehog robot nodded. "Oh yes, Mister Shadow, Sir."
"Oh yes, Mister Shadow...what's the point?" Sonic rolled over, rubbing his tummy gently.
"I've finished Mister Shadow, Sir," Metal then announced, stepping back from the canvas.
"Excellent, Metal!" Shadow grinned, walking over from where he had been posing for a while.
But he stopped short in digust once he realised he hadn't drawn him at all. At least, not how he was supposed to look. He had simply applied Shadow's natural colouring to that of a wild hedgehog, cowering under a log like a pathetic animal.
"I think it's rather good, don't you think, Sir?" Metal smiled, lowering his red optics.
"What are you doing?" Shadow snarled.
"I...um...I THINK I'm rebelling," replied Metal, playing with the paintbrush.
"Rebelling?"
"Well, yes...I...er...well, I think that's what I'm doing, yes." Metal was still smiling.
"You...are rebelling?"
"Mmm...Yes."
"What are you rebelling against?"
Metal threw his paintbrush over one shoulder and his paint pallet over the other, much to Sonic's amusement.
"You," he replied. He then rolled his shoulders and casually patted Shadow on the shoulder, shrugging. Amidst the smiles and grins of Sonic and Silver, Metal waltzed from the room proudly, throwing one last look over his shoulder.
"Faker."
Next Time:
Shadow and new crew member Metal fall through a time hole and seemingly end up on Mobius. However, on this world, time runs backwards and it's up to Sonic and Silver to rescue them from this confusing reality.