Disclaimer: I only own Zeon, Rolm, and Garion. Other companies own the others.

On with it!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------

~~~~~TAILS

The tidal wave smashed into us and knocked the wings right off of the plane. We were underwater now, slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean. I suddenly thought of something and reached into my bag containing the Chaos Emeralds. I pulled out the purple one and focused all the power that I could into it. Slowly we stopped sinking and began floating upward. Large winds were pushing us back up to the surface. Soon we were back up above the water. Everyone was coughing and spitting water out of their mouths. I held my concentration with the Chaos Emerald. I slowly directed the winds to push us north. I began feeling weak and faint, but I knew I had to shrug off these feelings if we ever wanted to get back to land.

~~~~~ROLM

I saw what Tails was doing and I almost gave him a pat on the back. Just before I did I realized that that would break his concentration and we would head back down. I didn't want that.

"I'll help, Tails!" I said as I focused my power into the Chaos Emerald as well. We started moving faster. I saw a island just ahead.

"Just a little farther..."

~~~~~SONIC

I finished coughing and looked over at Garion. Steam was rising up off of his body where water had once been. His eyes were black, like they were when he ran out of energy at Eggman's base.

"I hate water..." he said as he passed out.

I looked behind me. Knuckles wasn't awake either, but at least he was breathing. Since there was no way that I could help Tails and Rolm, I leaned back in my soggy seat and tried to relax. It was such a hectic evening...

BAM!

I must've fallen asleep, because the jolt I had just felt meant that we had landed. I looked around and saw that Tails and Rolm both had collapsed from exhaustion. Casting spells must take a lot of energy. I got out of the wrecked plane and looked around. If we ever wanted to leave this place, we would have to find some sort of town that we could rent a plane from. I took out my soggy map from my pocket and looked at it. This island wasn't even marked on the map. Where the heck were we? I took a few more steps forward and looked around. A big hill was in front of me. I decided to climb it so I could see a little farther. When I reached the top, I saw something below me that I knew all too well. But how could this be? We weren't even on the continent, so HOW could Eggman's base be below me?

"He must've created a bunch of bases all over the place," I said to myself. "Well, I might as well go in if we want to get out of here."

I walked in and was immediately surrounded by a bunch of robots. I smashed through them all with no problems and continued down the hallway.

This base seemed different from Eggman's other base. For the most part, it felt empty, unused. Ere and there a light was broken, and computers were turned off. The only thing that seemed to be alive in the base were the robots that I just crushed.

I proceeded into the inner chamber. There were tables loaded with books all over the place. I suddenly spotted something in the far corner. I walked closer to see it was a deactivated Metal Sonic! On his head was painted the words 'Metal Two'.

I picked him up and brought him over to a table where I looked at him some more. I wondered why Eggman left him here... Unless he was a failure. I hesitated for a moment, unsure what to do. I decided to take the risk and switched him on. Instantly his red eyes flashed on and he looked around at where he was.

"Thanks for reactivating me," he said.

"What?! You can talk!?" I was surprised.

"Of course! I can do almost anything! Want to race?" He seemed awfully eager for a robot. He was acting like a kid who had too much energy.

"No thanks," I said. "Why were you deactivated?"

His red eyes seemed to dull for a second. "Eggman thought that I was a failure. He said I was too 'good' and then he left me here."

"Do you know how I can get off of this island?" I asked him.

"Sure! You could take one of the planes from here!" he replied. "Follow me!"

I wasn't sure whether or not to completely trust this robot yet. He was awfully friendly. But what if it was all a trap?

"Hurry up!" He said when he noticed that I wasn't moving.

"All right, all right," I said as I caught up with him.

"We will have to talk to EP-700 before we can take one of the planes, though. He is the guardian of transportation in this base," Metal told me. I just nodded.

Soon we reached a room filled with planes, cars, and other vehicles.

"Wait here," Metal said. "I'll go talk to him."

Metal walked up to a huge robot that I didn't notice when I came in. I recognized it as a copy of the giant robot that Garion battled in the other base. And Tails wasn't here to help out with his lightning. Crap.

I watched as Metal walked up to the giant and started talking. I couldn't hear what Metal said, but EP-700's voice was loud and clear. I wouldn't have been surprised if it woke up the others in the plane outside.

"WHAT?! USE THE PLANE? WHAT FOR!?" It boomed.

Metal said something and pointed at me.

'I'm dead.' I thought.

"THAT'S SONIC YOU FOOL! OUR ARCHENEMY!"

~~~~~METAL

"No, he reactivated me! I owe him one!" I tried to explain.

"YOU MUST BE MALFUNCTIONING. I MUST TERMINATE YOUR PROGRAM," EP-700 boomed.

"Just try it!" I said as I fired up my boosters so I was eye level with the giant. He swatted at me with his hand. I hovered above it and sprayed oil into his eye sensors. He stomped around blindly while I circled around behind him. He thrashed about all over as I fired my rocket launcher. The blow hit him in the back of the head. Parts of his head flew off. I circled around to his front and fired my turbo laser at him. The blow caught him in the stomach. Sparks flew all around as the jumbo robot fell to the ground, broken.

"Wow, you're tough!" Sonic yelled as he ran over to me.

"Well, I DO have more fighting capabilities than Metal Sonic 1 has," I admitted.

"You're almost like a human. Personality-wise I mean," Sonic said.

"I know. Eggman tried to make me that way, but he wanted me to be evil. I... just couldn't do that," I said.

"You know, there isn't any reason why you should stay here all by yourself," Sonic said. "Why don't you join me and my friends? We need all the help we could get right now."

"Do you really mean it?" I asked.

"Sure!" he replied.

"Cool! I'll help you out as much as I can," I said. I felt something inside me that I had not felt in my entire life. What was this feeling? Happiness? I guess it was, because I had finally made my first friend.

~~~~~GARION

I looked around and was surprised to see that I was on dry land. Thank god for that. I couldn't stand water. One of my only weaknesses...

I looked up and was surprised to see Sonic flying a gray plane down out of the sky.

'Where the heck did he get that?' I wondered.

He landed alongside of the busted plane that I was sitting in and gave me the thumbs up sign. I noticed that someone was sitting next to him.

"Hey Sonic! Who is that next to you?" I asked as I got out of the busted plane.

"This is Metal Sonic 2. He is going to help us out. Metal, this is Garion," Sonic said.

"Nice to meet you," Metal said as he shook my hand.

"Where did you find him?" I asked Sonic.

"I'll explain everything as soon as everyone else is awake. I don't want to say the same thing over and over," Sonic said. I nodded. "Now help me get everyone into this plane so we can get out of here," Sonic said as he got out.

Sonic, Metal Sonic 2, and myself helped load everyone into the new plane.

"Hang on!" Sonic said as the craft took flight.

And we took off, heading back towards Sonic's house, so we could come up with a decent plan...

But still, it looked as though everything was going to be futile. Zeon was the strongest being to ever live. How could we hope to defeat him? I sighed. No matter what happens, I will never give up. I would protect Rolm until the end of my life. That I swore to myself.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------

Next Chapter may take a while to write, since I don't write on weekends too much. Oh well. It will be up sometime soon though, that is my promise!