Chapter 2

A Trap?! The Race to Netherlake!

The sound of wind flowing through the rocks and canyons of the mountains that surrounded Netherlake was the only sound Metal Sonic could detect. His opponent was still far away. Not suprising though, for Netherlake was one of those rare places which the average person wouldn't even know about if not for the fame and mystery that The Little Planet granted the place. A beautiful and unspoiled valley in the middle of a mountain rage spanning miles each side.

The Little Planet itself was as unspoiled as the land it hovered above, no matter how much the humans from the East continent wished to study it. Though what is known about The Little Planet is this: it appears over the planet for about a week per month, give or take and this is not always a predictable event, also, those who have seen enough of the planet have determined that there is, or will a civillisation there at some point, evident by the ancient ruins and the small yet technologically advanced cities.

This is another feature of The Little Planet which adds so much mystery, it has no place in time, to some it would seem as if it was stuck billions of years into the past whereas another viewer will see the place florishing in technological brilliance. No one is quite sure where such massively varying accounts would come from, but since study is restricted and the mountains act as an effective blockade, only small pieces of information can be gathered per trip.

However this is not to suggest that The Little Planet is, by any stretch of the imagination, an unknown feature. Infact reports were first made on its discovery over a century ago and, as the tide of time sweeps most things into legend and myth, the stories of the planet of miracles were spread. Most believe it was once a planet floating through space, which contained stones of great power, much like the recently re-discovered Chaos Emeralds (which were once told in myths and legends about an ancient race, but that's a story for another day) which granted it the power to travel in time and at some point it was floating through space and transported itself through time and when it reappeared it was within the atmosphere of this planet. For unknown reasons, though myths and legends vary on wether the ancient gods protected the planet or the power stones protected both worlds, it stoped and settled calmly over Netherlake, though it still goes forwards or back in time at random junctures, which is the only valid explination for its disappearing act. Though with no momentum to carry it, it just sits still in space waiting to return to the planet it now calls home.

So it was on these mountains, listening to the breeze, Metal Sonic stood waiting, still feeling his masters orders to destroy him burning in his metal skull. He was created solely to defeat, destroy and surpass him. He was made with all of the originals powers and techniques, enhanced versions even and even some of his own unique tricks. Failure, to Metal Sonic, was an impossibility. 'But', he thought suddenly, 'He does have one thing on me, experience. If I am to attack him directly I would rather know what I am dealing with first hand. The files I have on his fighting style are detailed, but some things you need to see for yourself' and with that thought, he dived down into hiding and prepared a little welcoming gift for our hero.

Meanwhile, Sonic was racing towards The Little Planet as fast as he could, something about Eggman's message felt wrong, what was this playmate that Eggman spoke of, and why The Little Planet? It wasn't Eggman's style to attack an unpopulated (well, widely believed to be unpopulated) area where he had none of his friends held captive, and how did Eggman survive anyway? He was there, he knew Eggman was on the Death Egg when it landed in the sea. 'Oh well!' he said outloud 'Not like I wont find out this stuff later anyway' and with that he doubled his pace and entered the mountain region.

Amy Rose was also at the outskirts of the mountainous region, owing her early arrival to being closer to the scene than Sonic at the time of the announcement, by a couple of hundred miles give or take. Still, this was as far as her little car could take her, even an off-road veichle couldn't get through that. She let out a little sigh and continued on foot, cursing herself for not bringing any camping equiptment. She now knew it was going to be a long journey...

As soon as Sonic was surrounded by rocks and cliffs he felt it was time to let rip and have a warm up session. As much as he loved running, there was little enjoyment to have from going in a straight line. These high peaks and jagged rocks were just the sort of playground Sonic loved to test his skills in.
He started off with a few little bounces, keeping his full speed and momentum, pushing himself from the side of cliffs or hopping over little rocks and spinning down deep ditches only to rise back up. He laughed outloud as he planted his hand on the tip of one of the cliffs, that was when he first saw it. His smile vanished instantly as he witnessed The Little Planet, fully coated in metal, floating in the air exactly as The Death Egg had in space.
Such disrespect for nature sent fire to Sonic's heart and his rage forced him on as fast as he could.
Metal Sonic was watching and saw this to be his chance, with a quick swish of his hand he cut through a gigantic rock he was standing by, then started kicking the pieces directly at Sonic.
The hedgehog reacted with a split second of shock, unsure on how or why the cliff would suddenly do that, his mind gave way to action though as he bounced off of the rocks coming towards him, running up the face of another, as he reached the top of the final rock he caught sight of something holding a much larger boulder, it seemed as soon as he was spotted the boulder was thrown and the figure was obscured by the gigantic mass of rock heading his way. There was no time to dodge and the rock he was standing on was going to fall and shatter in an instant if the boulder didn't get him first. Without thinking of the consequences or fearing failure Sonic dashed forwards and jumped straight towards the oncoming threat, spinning as fast as he could. The impact was hard, but Sonic's plan had worked, he drilled all the way through the boulder, landing on the other end and then using it to jump across to another peak.
'Phew' he said, resting for a second, 'that was tight' he looked around quickly, trying to find the figure, but whoever it was had disappeared.
'Maybe that was my playdate' he said, jokingly.

Metal Sonic was impressed, he was still watching his biological counterpart from the shadows and was happy at the data he had gathered. For a moment he took some form of pride to be based upon, and superior to such a person. He eagerly awaited the time he would get to fight him head on, but logic and a slight sadistic edge demanded he allow Sonic to reach The Little Planet and witness just what he and the Doctor had accomplished in a single day, as far as this planet was concerned.

'What the hell?!' screamed Sonic, after returning his attention to The Little Planet 'it's chained up!' his eyes were focused on a mountain which had been shapped to look like Dr Eggman's face, it's mouth was holding a giant chain which was keeping The Little Planet fixed to the planet. The beautiful fields and azure lake below the planet were unaffected by whatever evil Eggman had commited to change the planet into some form of metallic orb, Sonic pondered this for a second, but decided action needed to be taken, thinking about the little details was something to be saved for after each adventure, afterall.
He jumped down from the peak and spun down, hitting a slope and launching himself high above the lake. With a little effort he guided himself back down to the chain and made a mad dash for the top, to The Little Planet, and once again, into Eggman's evil schemes.

Chapter 3

Panic! A World Controlled by Eggman!

'Come on!' Sonic shouted to himself as he ran up the chain heading towards metal form of The Little Planet under Eggman's control. With every step he could feel his anger increasing.
Suddenly the hedgehog was swept off his feet as The Little Planet's gravity stole him away and dragged him upwards, through a bed of thick cloud buzzing with electricity.
It was a rough landing, but not his worst (that was reserved for falling from The Death Egg) and after shaking off his minor injuries he was able to look at the damage that Eggman had caused.
What Sonic saw, brought a tear to his eye. Everything was coated in metal, every individual blade of grass was coated with aluminium, steel palmtrees with whatever sick circuitry Eggman had installed hanging loose, some places were even on fire.
'Eggman... what have you done...' Sonic breathed to himself, looking around. He jumped out of the way as a large crackling current swept across the floor beneath him, he tried to look up but a thick blanket of black cloud obscured his vision of the world below him, lightning fizzed across the skyline and thunderclaps crackled and boomed almost constantly. It was a complete disaster, like all those Sci-Fi movies about post-apocolypic worlds.

There was a reving sound which count Sonic's attention, even over the constant thunder, he turned to see a swarm of robots, far more than he had ever seen in the past, each focused intently on Sonic, he turned again to see more robots swarming and surrounding him. There was no chance of running even if Sonic's pride and concience would allow it, he had to fight!

He sped out towards the nearest swarm and began an assault, spinning, punching, kicking everything he saw. It wasn't even three seconds before a laser blast hit him from behind, Sonic immedietly recovered and focused his attack on the rear group, a robot rammed into his side knocking him down, 3 more jumped ontop of him. Sonic thrust himself up and ran back, bouncing off of a palmtree and returning to the heat of battle. He took down another 6 robots before 3 laser blasts knocked him back to the ground, panic and fear slowly started to creep into the hedgehog's mind as he swung a nearby robot into the oncoming ones to find that even more were approaching at the rear, before he could attack laser blasts from the side had already knocked him down and he was, once again surrounded.
Perhaps for the first time in Sonic's life, he felt no hope. He lowered his head and closed his eyes, expecting the worst, there were too many of them. He had walked directly into Eggman's trap like a fool.
'UUUUUH-HU-HU-HU!!!' laughed Eggman, as his Egg Mobile hovered above 'Is that all you've got Sonic? I'm disappointed'
Sonic's head zoomed up and he spied Eggman and felt his burning rage double within him, giving him the energy and will to keep fighting.
'EGGMAN!' he screamed jumping up towards his nemesis 'What have you done?! I'll never forgive you for this!' before he could make much distance he was smacked down by one of the hundreds of robots on the scene. Undetered Sonic sprang right up, determined to get at Eggman and finish him once and for all.
'Well, if you'd like to know Sonic. This is the future of this world if you were not there to protect it'
'What did you say?!' exclaimed Sonic, launching a robot into another swarm and dodging a few laser blasts 'Make sense, old man'
'Such insults!' cried Eggman, putting on a sound of mock hurt 'I thought I was the one in the position to be insulting you. As you can see, there is no chance for you to win'
'There's always a chance!' shouted Sonic, grabbing a flying robot and aiming it's laser canon to fire at the other robots 'As long as there is a single breath in my body I shall continue to fight'
'We shall soon see how well you fare then. If you survive this encounter you may learn some of the secrets of this wonderful planet' said Eggman, enjoying the little show 'I'll be waiting for you in this future whenever you think you are strong enough to defeat me. You've got all the time in the world!' 'You're full of crap' shouted Sonic, keeping a few oncoming robots at bay 'Whatever you've done to this world I can just as easily undo'
'Well then, I suggest you learn how to use these' Eggman said, lifting a jewel up 'What is that?' Sonic said, leaving his attention on the jewel long enough to be pounced by some more robots, he quickly removed them and regained his footing to continue defending his position.
'A Time Stone, Sonic, to allow me to travel freely through the past, future and present of this world'
'Really?' said Sonic, now fed up with the pointless and endless battle, 'Then I'll take it off your hands' he quickly grabbed a robot and swung it around, using it as a projectile to attack Eggman's hovercraft. It hit and jolted the Egg Mobile, but not enough to loosen Eggman's grip on the stone.
'Well if you wish to be rude' Eggman said, shaking his finger and putting the Time Stone back inside the hovercraft 'I'll just leave you to your little game' and with that he flew off, laughing with every bit of breath in his lungs.
'Curse you, old man!' Sonic cried, looking at his nemesis escaping, however the distraction only proved an opening for several robots to get more hits in.
'DAMN IT!' Sonic screamed, 'I'll have to retreat' feeling a slight pang of regret Sonic barged his way through the robot army, racing as fast as his feet would carry him, ignoring all attacks, just pressing on and on. His body was used to getting pushed this hard, but he felt a strange tingling sensation across his entire body like he had never felt before, it lasted for a few moments and after it had faded his body surrendered and he collapsed to the ground.

'He's here, I take it' said Metal Sonic, surveying the slight damage to Eggman's hovercraft 'Yes!' said Eggman rather amusedly 'and it looks like he survived the initial assault aswell.
'This was to be expected' the robot said, pacing around uncomfortably 'From what I saw a bunch of flower powered machines couldn't bring him down if he was blindfolded and tied down'
'You speak highly of him!' remarked Eggman 'Of course I do' replied the robot 'How can I insult the abilities of the one who I was made to mimmick'
Eggman smirked, but said nothing. 'So what is your plan of attack now he's here'
'They are my own' said Metal, if he had a mouth it would probably have smirked.
'What?! I command you to tell me what you are planing!' shouted Eggman 'So you can interferre? No chance! I am programed to destroy Sonic by any means, if that means keeping you, my creator, in the dark, so be it'
'Be warned Metal' Eggman said 'I can't reprogram you now you're active, so if your objectives come against my own'
'Then it'll be your own fault!' said Metal, walking out 'Where are you going?!' yelled Eggman 'To do what I was made to do!' he called back, racing off.

'Mr. Sonic'
Sonic's head felt like bees were trapped inside of it and trying to burst their way out.
'Mr. Sonic? Are you alright'
His legs were burning in pain, his feet were throbbing inside of his shoes.
'Please wake up Mr. Sonic'
His body felt numb from all the attacks he had recieved.
Let me rest... I'm so tired 'Oh no! SONIC! HEEEEELP'
He could feel the comfort of soft grass beneath him and the calm flow of air flowing across his still body.
5 more minutes.
'I WONT LET YOU HURT MR. SONIC'
A loud crash.
Ok... ok.
Sonic's eyes slowly opened, when they were open a blinding light flashed in his eyes, he screamed in pain and covered his eyes then looked down.
'Sonic! You're awake!' cried a female voice, 'Better not look up, the sun is reflecting on the lake down there, makes a pretty blinding light'
Sonic looked around, he was in the same place he was before, he recognised it, but the metal was replaced with grass and the palmtrees were organic. The place looked absoloutely beautiful under the light of Netherlake's reflection. Life was flourishing here, it was shocking to think that a moment ago this place was all metal and chaotic. The thought of that future ruled by Eggman made Sonic's heart burn.
His attention was then grabbed by the female, he looked at her, a pink hedgehog, she was somehow familiar, but he couldn't put his mind on where he had seen her before, he also noticed the wreckage of a robot with a large sunflower resting in the centre, swaying in the wind.
'You did that?' Sonic questioned, looking at the robot.
'Hehe! Yeah! It was trying to hurt you Mr. Sonic, I had to do something!' she replied, in a bubbly voice.
'Well, thanks kid. I guess. Do you live here or something? What is this place'
'This is the Palmtree Paradise'
More like Palmtree Panic! Sonic's inner monoglouge thought, thinking back to the near death experience his body was still aching from.
'And I don't live here, I came here following you' she said, looking sternly at Sonic, annoyed that he was zoning off while she was talking.
'You followed me?' Sonic questioned 'How did you get here so quick'
'QUICK?!' Amy shouted angrily 'It took me a whole WEEK to get here and I almost died when the gravity sucked me off the chain. Oh Sonic, what happened to you? When I landed I saw you and you were hurt. I was worried'
Wow, angry to concerned in a second... this girl is seriously schizophernic.
'A week? I guess that makes sense... if Eggman was right I was in the future, stands to reason I could have come back a week later than I went there, or have I been unconcious'
'You was in the future and you saw Eggman?' the girl said, excited 'Does that mean you have the Time Stones'
'Time Stones? What are you babbling about, kid'
'Well if you're not going to be nice, I'm not going to tell you!' she said, folding her arms and walking off I hate to do this but...'WAIT!' Sonic cried, running towards the girl 'Ok, I'm sorry. Tell me what you know'
'Well....' she said, with a finger on her chin 'What I do know is' suddenly she tackled him to the ground hugging him tighter than anything Sonic had ever felt before 'You're the dreamiest hedgehog I've ever met'
Sonic growled, angrily and shoved her off 'Kid! I don't have time for this, go home to your parents'
'IDIOT!' she screamed, whacking Sonic over the head 'I am NOT a kid, I am a lady! and if you don't know about this planet I don't think you can beat Eggman. Now, stop being a jerk'
'Stupid girl' Sonic breathe under his breath, rubbing his head.
'Now, I already know your name' she said, 'so I think it only fair to tell you mine SEEINGS AS YOU FORGOT WHO I AM' with a single instant her expression went from angry to calm 'I am Amy Rose, it's a pleasure to meet you Sonic'
'The pleasure's all yours...' said Sonic quietly, wondering how he got himself into this mess.
'Alright!' she said 'Now here's what I know about this place...'

-To be continued-