This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.

Chapter 5: Robotnik's Countermeasure

Dr. Robotnik watched as Shadow used his Chaos Control to reverse the damage he had done to the hedgehog's form.

"Unbelievable; he actually has the ability to reverse the roboticization process. I have clearly underestimated him. He may wish he kept some of that steel when he sees what I have ready for him next."

* * *

Shadow had finished his restoration; the last little bit of roboticized flesh was back to normal, and no trace of the assault on his person was left. Shadow gave a quick check to see if there was anything else amiss, but his attention was soon drawn to another part of the lab.

Covered in the darkness that so welcomes him, Shadow sensed another presence. In reality, it was his ears that told him of the other. The stranger made few moves, but all of them were accompanied by a sharp metallic clamp, despite how careful or quiet the movement was. Shadow turned to look at the dark silhouette, and a small motion was made in response to Shadow's movement.

Shadow couldn't distinguish the other, save for a silhouette and two red glows in the darkness. He walked around some of the rubble to get a better look, but made sure not to leave himself out in the open. Eventually, he walked so far that the stranger had to move his head to keep a lock, and Shadow heard the servomotors that certified that it was a robot.

"So, another of Robotnik's toys."

From the darkness, a stale computerized voice replied. "And you are the pest causing so much trouble."

"Oh, I see Robotnik got tired of not having someone to talk to."

"Very drole."

"I guess you're here to try and stop me, or better yet, to kill me."

"Something along those lines, but I have to say, I may owe you something."

"And what would that be?"

The stranger stepped out of the shadows and into the open. Shadow could now make out the metallic creature, a hedgehog, just like him; no, not like him, like Sonic.

"It's because of you that I even exist. Robotnik was getting most tired of your predecessor; so he started to build his greatest invention, a countermeasure against the one named Sonic."

{It would seem that Void wasn't alone in that particular venture.}

"But several months ago, Sonic was killed. At that point, Robotnik had put my development on hold, he wasn't sure weither to bother with completing me or not. Perhaps it would have been fun to send me against the others. Then you showed up. In a way, I owe you my very existence, but still, I'm going to destroy you anyway."

"I am uncertain if a robot could understand the whole irony of this situation, but it would seem that we have much in common. Now meeting alternate goals when our original quarry was taken from us. I came here seeking to do what you were originally designed for, our futures both thrown into disarray on his death, and now we stand here, ready to battle. How utterly contrived is this? Like some two-bit hack needed a vile reason to extend a drearily ostentatious serial."

Shadow couldn't help but laugh at the situation.

"So be it! Come for me robot, be it one copy or another that survives this battle, it is all equally stupid. But first, what is the name of my new doppelganger?"

"I am 'Metal Sonic', and I will crush you."

"Well, 'Sonic', it appears I will have my rematch after all."

* * *

"Why in Mobius did I give him the ability to talk, or a personality for that matter?"

Dr. Robotnik screamed at the communicator.

"Just shut up and destroy that black freak!"

* * *

Back in the lab, Metal Sonic heard the loud order from his creator and finally acted on it. From his shoes and back, several small rocket boosters extended and fired, propelling the metal hedgehog towards Shadow.

Shadow jumped to one side, then fired his Chaos Spear at the menace. Metal Sonic shifted to avoid the beam of light, and responded with a barrage of small missiles, launched from his chest plate. Shadow jolted, and the missiles hit the wall behind him; debris and dust flew from the hole in the wall. Though there was a fair bit of damage, the hole only broke though this side of the wall.

Taking a few steps to build up some steam, Shadow charged Sonic, and then leapt at him, curling up into a spiny ball. Metal Sonic's boosters fired and he aimed for the oncoming projectile. He also leapt up, and spun himself into a tight metal sphere with sharp spines all over the outer shell.

In the air, the two smashed into each other with a blaze of sparks. Sonic returned to the ground while his weight had propelled Shadow to the high wall; the latter started to run along the wall. Metal turned to watch him trace along the wall, then fired his rockets to fly up to the black menace.

Shadow pulled a quick U-turn on the wall to dupe the assault, and jumped out inside another spin attack. Sonic also tore into his spin attack and the two deflected of each other again. In mid-air, Shadow pulled out of his spin attack, and fired of his Chaos Spear. Metal Sonic stopped and turned, then fired a barrage of missiles at the oncoming beam. Most of the missiles where destroyed when they hit the beam; but two avoided, and kept going towards Shadow. By the time they got to him, Shadow had already fallen to the ground and the attack passed well overhead. The missiles hit the wall, creating another gap in the steel enclosure, sending more scrap to the floor.

Shadow fired another Chaos Spear at Sonic. The robotic hedgehog simply jumped over it and charged the flesh hedgehog. Shadow also jumped away. Metal Sonic turned and fired another barrage of missiles, which Shadow shifted to one side to avoid as well.

Shadow stood and glanced quickly around the room to get his bearings, studying the full layout, plotting an attack. Just behind him, he saw the decimated remains of the ballerina robot.

{No, there's been enough done here. You should rest in peace.}

He continued to scan the room and noticed one of the doors was now open.

"As much as I would love to stay here and chat, I've got places to go; and I've had enough of the place, frankly."

Shadow ran to the door and into the corridor, Metal Sonic followed.

* * *

Through the hallways and corridors of the mighty spire, a white streak cascaded down long straightaways and tight corners. At each bend, it was followed by a loud rocket blast, carrying a steel shadow of the former.

Metal Sonic kept on Shadow's tail without giving him an extra inch of distance. Every time the path turned to a straightaway Sonic would fire a barrage of missiles at Shadow, who would perform a few quick steps to avoid them and the blasts; on occasion, he would resort to a corkscrew around the walls and ceiling, just to show off.

"It'll take more than a tin can to best me!"

Shadow took the next turn with out missing a beat; a second later, Sonic came around the bend, and quickly hit the wall as Shadow fired his Chaos Spear at him. Though the energy beam missed, before Sonic could remove himself from the wall, Shadow ran past, planting his foot on the robot's face.

"So, we're both copied from the same source. I guess we know who's the bad copy, huh?"

Sonic tore out of the wall, and looked upon his opposition that stood before him, taunting him. Ramming his booster rockets to full power, the machine lunged forward, charging straight for the black and white mockery of his muse. Just as he reached his target, Shadow phased out and appeared behind the metal monster.

"I think you missed."

Metal Sonic turned around to see Shadow skipping backwards towards the bend in the corridor. Swinging his arms wide open, Metal released another barrage of missiles at Shadow. With a huge grimace on his face, Shadow phased out of the way down the turn and let the missiles slam into the wall where Sonic had previously crashed into.

* * *

An explosion rocked the outside of the tower, and when the smoke cleared, a gaping hole was left in its place. Shadow jumped out and started to run on the side of the structure, and Metal Sonic followed suit, flying behind him. Out in the open, Sonic had a clear shot for his missile barrages, but they were all useless as Shadow dodged every one.

Shadow would soon have more to worry about. Robotnik had seen that he was outside, and ordered every flier in the area to home in on Shadow and attack. His speed was far too much for most of the robots to keep up, but for those that could, they were giving the hedgehog a major pain in the butt. Shadow dodged their attacks, but was definitely feeling the heat.

Shadow took a sharp turn, heading straight down; most of the robots flew past, but Sonic took the curve easily. In front of him, several fliers were already there, firing lasers and missiles at Shadow. Shifting from side to side, Shadow dodged it all and fired his Chaos Spear in a wide swath, cleaving all the oncoming robots in half. With the horde gone, Shadow turned to run along the side of the building again, this time in the opposite direction of before.

More robots were locking onto his position, and Shadow charged forward, spin attacking and blasting robots with his Chaos Spear, the whole sky above Robotropolis was ablaze in fire.

Shadow continued his high stepping rampage, destroying all who would dare to challenge him, tearing apart robots left, right and center. All the while, he left one free of his tyrannical devastation; and soon, all that would remain would be Shadow and his quarry.

* * *

Shadow stood on a projection from the main tower, a docking bay for any large vessels. He stood quietly, looking out to the sky; before him was the one he selected. Metal Sonic floated in the air with the aid of his rockets.

The two didn't move, simply holding position, almost in admiration of each other. Their eyes were locked on each other, waiting for the other to flinch. Shadow didn't give any indication to Sonic of breaking the current stare down; but slowly, he rolled his eyes up and looked towards the top of the tower. It was covered in was appeared to be smooth and very solid steel, but the very top gave way to a large wire frame structure. Stretching more than 50 metres into the sky, the very top of the tower was a large antenna, very straight and very alluring a target.

Metal Sonic had also gazed up to the tower's transmission antenna. He turned his head back to Shadow, who had also resumed his stare towards him.

"Race ya."

Shadow made a break for the top of the tower, and Sonic followed suit.

* * *

From outside the edge of Robotropolis, Rouge was hiding in a tree. Rouge had been watching the huge firefight outside the tower through a small telescope. It was hard to pick out anything through the fiery smoke hovering over the city, but now all the robots were wiped out and the sky was clearing up. Now there were two trails circling up the central tower; one a bright white streak, the other a smoke trail.

The white one was definitely Shadow, she was sure of it; but the other looked very strange, a metal hedgehog. The two weren't fighting, just rocketing upwards.

"What the Hell is going on over there? A race?"

* * *

Shadow and Metal Sonic continued the race up the tower and up the antenna at the top, but Shadow stopped halfway up and turned into his saw, cutting at the broadcast spire.

Metal Sonic reached the very tip of the top of the tower, then looked to see that Shadow did not follow him up there. He turned his head down to see the hedgehog gripping the sides of the framework.

"It looks like you've won, so here's your prize!"

With perfect form, Shadow lunged the antenna caber-style straight up into the metal copy, impaling him right through his steel stomach. Sparks flew out from the holes in Metal Sonic's front and back before chutes of red flame poured in both directions. An irritating metal scream came with the explosive end of Metal Sonic.

"I've had enough of your silly games, doctor. I hope you're ready, cause I'm coming for you next."

* * *

"Oh, but I am ready, hedgehog."

To be continued