Chapter 4

Kidnapped?! Amy Rose is held hostage!

'See, this Little Planet is like a paradox' Amy began 'It doesn't exist here, there or anywhere. It exists in the flow of time'
'Smart words for a little brat' Sonic interupted, rather annoyed 'Care to dumb it down a shade'
'Oh! Right!' Amy said, angrily 'Of course, I should have guessed that you was a big fat idiot!' Sonic's eyes lowered to see the innocent, and sweet girl was actually sporting a very large hammer which she was dragging along with her. Just my luck, a bi-polar fan-girl with a big hammer and a vicious streak.
'Well in SIMPLE terms' she said, switching back to her nicer side 'this place has 7 special stones, like the Chaos Emeralds'
She knows about the Chaos Emeralds!? How!
'Which keep this world stable, as long as they are kept evenly across the planet. If they're brought together everything becomes unstable and the slightest reaction can hurtle the world forwards or backwards in time'
'How do you know these things?' Sonic asked, starting to suspect the little girl of being far more than she seemed.
'It's a girl's duty to know these things Mr. Sonic. You stick with me and I'll be the brains to match your brawns, we'd make such a great team' she said, dreamily 'Just think of it, Sonic and Amy saving the world while everyone comments on what a cute couple we are' she let out a dreamy sigh and clasped her hands together, looking at Sonic 'Wouldn't it be wonderful'
'No thanks kid, I have a brains to match my brawns (though he is no match for me, if he ever thinks he is, I knock him back down to size) and his name is Tails'
'IDIOT!' shouted Amy, swinging her hammer at Sonic who, quickly, ducked 'You prefer boys! Don't you'
'Calm down!' Sonic shouted,'How dare you make those accusations at me anyway?! Who do you think you are'
The girl hmph'ed and walked on, in a grumpy mood. It wasn't a few seconds before Sonic heard a shriek.
'AMY!?' he shouted, running forwards. What he saw was a Metal Version of himself standing menacingly infront of the female hedgehog. Sonic's brain reacted with a simple command, ATTACK! He jumped straight forwards, preparing to smash the metal faker without even thinking of who or what it was. His speed peaked and he jumped forwards swinging his fist at the robot, but instead of a hard impact and the clang of his fist hitting metal, it swooshed through the air and Sonic's full speed drove him right into a wall.
Amy looked up at her fallen hero and inspected the Metal Sonic, it was a hologram of some kind, she followed the beam of light to the source, a projection unit. Again the girls rage surfaced and she smashed the box into oblivion using her hammer. The hologram vanished soon after.

'Sonic? Sonic? Are you alright?' Amy questioned, arousing Sonic from his second bout of unconciousness in the past hour. 'hehe. You're alot goofier in real life than I thought you'd have been'
Sonic was only half awake at that point, but Amy's words managed to anger him out of his groggy state and bring him straight to his feet. 'What the hell?! How dare you! I was trying to save your life. A little gratitude wouldn't go amiss'
'hehe. Silly hedgehog' she said, still laughing at the little prank that Eggman had set up 'It was just a hologram'
Sonic growled, Amy had to take a step backwards, she hadn't imagined the fun loving saviour of the planet to be so angry and mean. Apparently Eggman was rubbing him the wrong way and for a moment she even thought that she was causing him headaches, but she dismissed that thought as Sonic being stubborn. Her cards said that they were a match made in heaven. Amy Rose's cards were never wrong.
'Come on!' Sonic shouted, looking at Amy 'Seeings as you're intent on playing damsel and this planet seems to have a future where even I have problems staying alive, it's best you stick with me'
'Awww... you care about me!' she said, latching onto Sonic, who blushed instantly.
'Listen, kid! I care about this planet, I care about stoping Eggman and I care about the fact that you are about the only living thing here. You personally, I don't give a hoot about'
'You're just being shy!'Amy said, squeezing him tighter 'Silly kid! I don't have time for this!' he shouted, pushing her to the floor and running off. He'd barely taken a few steps before he heard another shriek. He turned his head and saw Amy being carried off by something, perhaps the thing in the hologram, without thinking he gave chase, pushing himself beyond his normal limits.
That tingling feeling again

Suddenly the world changed, everything was swallowed by a green aura which spread out and when it faded, left the world in a completely different state, the ground Sonic had been walking on was suddenly missing. Before he could even have chance to recover he found himself falling into a spike trap, there was no where to manouver and all seemed lost until Sonic noticed that several bat robots were floating above the trap. He praised his luck and span, hitting the robot and bouncing back to safe land. 'Ha! Call that a spike trap?! Nothing can beat the one I dodged in the Mystic Cave anyway'
Once he took a moment to regain himself he looked around the new place. It heavily reminded him of the Casino City from back home, except of course the Casino City wasn't decaying, under a steel sky or basically ruled by Eggman.
'I'm back in the future' he said to himself, making a note that the tingling feeling meant he was time travelling.
'Ah well' he sighed 'Guess I've got to live with it. Eggman said he'd be in the future anyway, so maybe I can vent my frustration of failing Amy on him'

Suddenly he jumped forwards, bouncing off of bumpers and springs, making his way onwards. Enemies were trying to attack him from all around as before, however with this much space to dodge and more obstacles to put in between him and his robot enemies, it was a much safer journey than he had expected, however twice as tiring. Bouncing off of bumpers wasn't as easy or simple as he made it look, infact it hurt quite alot and thanks to his previous injuries of the day it wasn't too long before Sonic's body caved in and dropped him from the sky. Wether it was luck or coincidence he landed on a flipper which launched him back into the air, instinctively he grabbed a at robot as he passed it and it proved a useful enough mode of transport, flying him above the rest of the zone, though one look at the upside down horizon was enough to make Sonic almost throw up.

'This is crazy!' he said to himself, 'I'll never defeat Eggman at this r-' before he could finish verbalising his inner thoughts, the bat had started to nose dive, thinking its life unimportant compared to killing Sonic. The hedgehog let go and managed to keep himself from a rough landing by bouncing from a few walls. The bat smashed into the ground and was reduced to a pile of rubble. As before a lone flower sprouted from the wreckage, despite there being no soil nor living flora anywhere in sight.
'Perhaps that's how he's powering them' he thought, aloud.
Suddenly the wall began to move towards him, pushing him down a chute. Unable to escape in time Sonic fell and was forced into a ball.
'READY FOR A GAME OF SONIC SPINBALL?!' called a familar evil voice EGGMAN!
Before he knew it he was shot into the air and found himself inside of a simulated Pinball table, no room to escape, except up, where Eggman's hovercraft was. Sonic landed on a flipper and awaited his chance to be launched up, hoping to aim himself towards his nemesis, though instead he found himself aimed at the wall which was lined with spikes Ok, Mystic Cave... all is forgiven.
Wether it was Eggman feeling generous or over ambitious, Sonic's flight was prevented by a laser blast from Eggman's hovercraft. He fell to the ground pretty heavily and was swept by a ramp back towards the flippers.
This is insane! I'll never beat him at this rate!

'Sonic! I made this room especially for you... Or I will make this room for you. I'm not sure, but what I know is that you shall die here!' Eggman laughed, watching the hedgehog struggle to keep himself from hitting the spikes.
'And look, more friends'
Suddenly bat robots filled the room and Sonic's face sported a smirk as hope was finally restotred. He launched himself off, swinging from robot to robot and finally attacked his nemesis, reaching the top half of the table. Another few well timed launched and he was free.

'Well... that was fun, don't you think?' Asked Eggman, looking at Sonic 'Want to play again'
Sonic didn't reply, he just looked angrily at the dictator.
'Awww... did I put you in a bad mood'
'Where is Amy?!' he said 'What?' Eggman asked, genuinly confused, what are you babbling about 'AMY! Where is she?!' Sonic looked more furious than Eggman had ever seen, he was scared.
'I honestly don't know what you mean Sonic, please, I really don't know'
'LIES!' Shouted Sonic, jumping up to attack, Eggman quickly closed the cockpit and turned the Egg Mobile and flew away full speed.
'YOU CAN'T OUTRUN ME!' shouted Sonic, giving chase. As he caught up he could feel that tingling sensation all over.
Oh no... not again... not now!
and once again, the world faded away in a green aura...

-

Chapter 5

Rage! Metal Sonic's Dilema!

For future reference. Speed Time Travel thought Sonic as the green aura which now occupied the entire world faded, once again dropping Sonic from solid ground into unfamiliar territory.

When he landed, he found himself on a rapid current river trailling down a slope of some sandstone ruins, well they would be ruins, if they were ruined. Deciding to analyise his situation at a better time Sonic tried to free himself from the current, but the duel effect of flowing water and a downward slope were too strong. All he could do was ride it out until the end. Almost without warning he was sent hurtling into the air and had to react quickly to grab a ledge and pull himself up.
'Phew' he said to himself, looking down 'Glad I didn't fall. Looks like a pretty deep pool there, and I can't swim'
It was at this time he finally had the safety and comfort to analyse his new surroundings. Even his "act before thinking" mind was able to easily grasp the fact he was currently in the ancient past. Whatever civillisation constructed this place must have used the water here as their main supply. Thoughts about where this civillisation were, how clouds and oceans could form on a world within a world and other such things were forced to wait.
'Ok!' Sonic declared to himself, 'Whatever Eggman did to control this world must have started from the ancient past to affect the future. So I think it's time to go exploring'

Elsewhere in the future of the planet, at what seemed to be a city area with roads and buildings everywhere there was a tall billboard shaped as a pink castle to stand as a monument overlooking the happy, yet eerily uninhabited, city. From the front, all seemed well, mostly, Eggman's influence had yet to take over this area of the planet, but shadows of the dark future were already cracking in through the harmony of the true future. However, at the rear of this giant monument something different was going on. Metal Sonic stood, arms folded, starring up at the pink hedgehog he had tied up to the poles which supported the back of the castle.
'LET ME GO!!!' she screamed, angrilly, struggling to break free from the ropes 'What would I gain from such action' said Metal Sonic, calmly 'With your presence here, I need not search for Sonic. He will come to me'
'WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO WITH SONIC?!' she screamed, her rage was enough to burn through the ropes, however Metal Sonic was not very considerate when tying her up, it was too tight for her to move, she could have had all of Metal Sonic or Super Sonic's strength and still struggle to break those bonds.
'Quiet yourself or I shall do it myself' the robot said, studying the girl's expression with some interest 'As for my plan. I plan to do as I was created to do. I plan to destroy him'
'You'll never win! Sonic will beat you and save me! Just you see' Amy replied, trying to keep calm. Something about the metallic imposter terrified her, deeply.
'We shall see' he replied, keeping his arms folded and his synthetic voice as cold as his processor would allow 'But I must ask, why are you confident'
'Because, Sonic is fighting for something more than evil! He has to stop you or the world will be destroyed, I know my Sonic and he will never give up while people are in trouble'
Metal Sonic turned and looked out to the back of the city, towards the Metallic Maddness area, which has been a factory since the ancient past. Currently it was slowly degrading, shifting from a pleasant future into Eggman's control. 'I understand' he said, slowly 'However. You forget, My sole reason for existing is to defeat Sonic. Surely if my entire will is focused upon his defeat and that alone, then it will out-power his will to save the planet'
'YOU'RE WRONG!' Amy wailed, 'You may exist only to hurt him, but he will find a way! I know it'
Metal let out a small noise, his own recreation of a snort, it didn't sound right as a digital recreation, but the effect was far more chilling 'And again, I ask what makes you confident'
'Because...' she stammered, watching the zone infront of her, the good parts and the bad '...Because, Sonic looks at the world the way we are seeing it now. The future of if he wins and the future of if he loses. He's not fighting to prevent the bad future, he's fighting to create the good one'
Metal Sonic folded his arms and looked down, to the ground 'Wise words, for such a young woman' he said 'But how do you know I am not fighting to create my ideal future'
'Because Eggman didn't program you to! You exist only to destroy Sonic. Do you even know what you'll do, what Eggman will do with you, once that mission is complete' Her voice sounded kind of concerned, watching the way Metal Sonic acted reminded her of how she believed Sonic was. A cold and lonely spirit who was being forced by destiny to follow the path he had chosen, or perhaps even forced upon. She felt little sympathy for the robot during this whole ordeal, however right now would be the moment when she felt some at all, even if it was just a little.
'I am not programmed for such thoughts' the robot replied, the unmitskable sounds of fear and doubt in his synthetic voice.
'But you are programmed for emotion, I see' Amy said, still concerned in her own little way 'I pity you, Mr. Robot'
Suddenly Metal's anger flared, with a primal scream he ripped apart the support beam he was standing on and threw it as far as he could, Amy's eyes cried out in fear but her vocie failed her. She watched horrified as the robot began smashing parts of the frame, thankfully not causing too much damage to the structure as to make it topple completely.
Suddenly he stopped 'I see no logic for such an outburst. I am a machine. I have no soul. Such things as dreams or ambitions are useless to me. As is your company. I will return when the hedgehog arrives. Until then, I wish to be alone'
And with that, Metal Sonic flew off leaving Amy, alone and afraid.

Back in the ancient past, Sonic was running through the ruins, searching for evidence of Eggman's influence among the ancient structures. There wasn't much to get in his way and for this, Sonic was gradually growing bored.
'I'm an adventurer, not an archeologamist... or whatever Tails calls them!'it was at this moment of carelessness that he stumbled onto a platform which was far less stable than the rest, it crumbled under his feet almost immedietly sending him plunging towards his worst nightmare, water!
For a moment Sonic could do nothing but struggle to get back to the top, he couldn't swim so it was a struggle in complete vein. Panicking he tried to run as fast as he could to activate a time warp, but the lack of friction in the water kept him running on the spot, without any progress.
this is bad! he thought to himself as he waded through the depths as best he could.
I can't hold my breath for that long Thankfully he was fortunate enough to notice a quick current running through the water, to his right, frantically he pulled himself towards it until he was swept in. The current pulled him swiftly through the waters and into a pipe, going up into fresh air. Feeling relaxed enough to breath he allowed the air to pull him, even if it was going back into the water, he was safe for the time being and could at least take a breath before going back in.
However, those thoughts took a back seat when he spotted something through the glass, some form of machine, which seemed to be churning out robots, as the platform it rested on was full of them. Most were flopping into the pool, but the rest remained, unable to get their circuitry wet.
'ALRIGHT' Sonic shouted 'That's what I'm after!' he span and smashed through the glass, landing on the platform and made a mad dash towards the device, destroying it with a single attack. Once it crumbled, all of the robots spontaneously combusted. Sonic wasn't quite sure if this was because the robots were sent from the future to protect this machine or if they were merely governing the robots, and without it, could no longer function. Either way, the result was the same. Ruins of metal covered the entire platform and, again, flowers began sprouting from the scrap.
For a moment, Sonic felt proud of himself and took a moment to relax.
'I bet every zone has one of these things, maybe if I break these I wont have to get those Time Stone things that Amy and Eggman mentioned'
'Did someone call my name?!' the voice of the villainous Dr Eggman replied 'I see you worked out my little secret, well done Sonic! Though in doing so you screamed your location to me across time and space. Prepare to die'
Eggman then steered his Egg Mobile straight downwards, smashing through the remains of the glass pipe and then the platform that Sonic was standing on.
The rivals were forced into the water and it was there that Eggman would have the supreme advantage. His Egg Mobile's thrusters charged up, creating a whirlwind of bubbles around him and he charged in on Sonic. The hedgehog dodged as best he could and sucked the air out of one of the bubbles, thanking his luck that they were there to keep him alive.
Eggman again swooped in low, but Sonic was, even underwater, too quick for him. The battle grew tiresome for both parties rather quickly, Eggman had no major form of attack besides trying to ram his nemesis and Sonic was being repelled by the bubbles which were, infact, saving his life.
'We'll call it a draw, for now' Eggman called over the speakers of his Egg Mobile, flying out of the water and disappearing in another time portal, probably created by his time stone.

Sonic frantically made his way back to the glass tube, the current had stopped since the glass was broken, but he was still able to use the sides to pull himself back into fresh air. After coughing out all the water he had inhaled, he lay resting for a moment 'I'm in the ancient past. I have time to spare... but watch it Eggman, I know your weakness now and I'll do my best to exploit it!'