(I do not own Sonic X etc.)

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO LET'S GO!

Episode 8: The New Big Bad Guy

After a dog fight with the Egg Carrier 3 and a crash landing into the side of the Space Colony ARK the Icarus' performance had been less than factory standard. In fact they were going so slow Tails was worried that they might not make it through the ring around the planet without receiving damage. There was little left on the ARK they could salvage for repairs so Tails had had to made do with what he had and by now, they were approaching the transparent ring that had been formed when the Eclipse Cannon had been fired.

The Chaos that had engulfed the ARK and the surrounding space only hours ago was now gone, all taken back to some place called Maginaryworld, a universe far beyond their own and Shadow was glad to see the back of it. That conflict was Void's concern not his and with his debt repaid, he could at last ignore it. Whether Void had won or lost mattered very little to him.

They would have been able to leave sooner, but Shadow insisted on leaving the colony near to how he found it.

"What is with these chaotic adventures?" Sonic asked with his feet up on the empty seat next to him. "It's just one thing after another with us." He added trying his best to sound irritated, but his tone failed to give over the impression.

"Don't give us that Sonic." Amy laughed, messing up his quills. "You love every second of it." The blue hedgehog forged a grin.

"Well, maybe a little." He admitted, putting his arms behind his head and leaning back.

"I on the other hand have better things to do then get involved with all this chaos." Knuckles remarked, sitting along near the front watching the planet get nearer and near through one of the windows. Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Geesh what are you the Grinch?" He asked looking up at the ceiling in exasperation and annoyance.

"He's right Knuckles, you should learn to live a little." Rouge told the red Echidna as she floated down in the seat next to him, leaning on him heavily making sure he had a more than close up look of her cleavage, turning him redder than he already was. "I could certainly teach you how to live the night life." She added with a near erotic twist to her voice. The Echidna muttered so quietly no-one could here it. Sonic tried to look around the edge of the seat to see what the she-bat was doing but Amy tugged him back again.

Cream sat at the back with Emerl, pointing out all the star constellations to her mechanical friend. Emerl himself could not see a picture of a hunter with a bow and arrow made out in the stars but he faked interest for her sake. Tikal sat next to them watching the stars as well. The stars were different than she remembered them as hardly any of the constellations she was used to seeing weren't there anymore, but she supposed a lot could change in over two thousand years but she had held the long belief that the heavens were eternal, never changing, not even after end of days.

Tails was busy in the cockpit busy trying to keep the make shift space ship on a steady course as they neared the ring. They were going to try to fly over it but the fox still wasn't convinced one of the asteroids wasn't going to spin out of orbit and hit them on their way down. He was having enough trouble getting the shields ready for re-entry.

Shadow, who didn't do much socialising was down in the storage area to the back of the ship with the off line Omega. The black and Red Hedgehog did not necessarily like being alone but he chose to be anyway. He needed to be by himself to put his thoughts together and right now he had a lot to think about. The trip to the ARK had reminded him of her, far more than he was prepared to admit.

"Ah man I'm hungry." Sonic complained for the tenth time. "Can't we make this thing go any faster Tails? I've starving."

"Of course we can go faster." Tails replied from the cockpit. "They'll be picking pieces of us up all over the world when we collide with the atmosphere, but if you insist…" Sonic let it drop. Yawning his relaxed back in his seat closing his, trying to sleep his hunger off. Perhaps if he went to sleep someone could wake him up by handing him a beef burger. A moment later, he felt someone lean on his shoulder. Opening one green lazily he saw that Amy had made herself comfortable using him as a pillow. A year ago he would have pushed her away but now all he did was close his eye and, dare he say it, enjoy her company?

"That's odd." Tails stated to himself, hearing a bleeping sound coming from radar device built into the ship's control panel. According to it, there was an object inbound towards them. It was altering it's course so that's it's direction would intercept them within a few minutes, definitely not an asteroid and it couldn't be the Egg Carrier. Illumina had nearly torn the entire battleship apart. Not even Eggman could have gotten it repaired that quickly.

"Er, Rouge. Are we expecting anyone from G.U.N to help us down?" He asked over his shoulder, but saw how busy she was trying to make Knuckles blush and turned back. He tried sending a signal to the approaching ship, but got no response. He tried again but once more only silence enduring from the com link device.

At this point, Tails was forced to assume that the approaching vessel was hostile. That assumed was verified when the ship came within firing range and a barrage of green laser fire crossed the divide between them, narrowly missing them, but sending shockwaves through the Icarus none the less.

Instantly Sonic was on his feet, looking this way and that like a startled ferret. Another barrage of laser fire struck them across the bow, making the entire Icarus tilt to the side so roughly Knuckles was thrown out of his seat and unto the floor, with Rouge on top of him.

"We're under attack!" Tails exclaimed, trying to bring the Icarus about so her weapons systems could defend her.

"Gee, ya think?" Sonic asked sarcastically, instantly at his side, glancing out the cockpit windows trying to see exactly what was shooting at them. The space ship closing on their right was a giant. Not as long as the Egg Carrier, but sufficiently taller. A deep dark blue in colour, it nearly blended into the background perfectly. It was shaped almost like an old galleon, with several spikes jutting out from its top side, all lined with red blinking lights. The wings stretching out on either side were curved with lined with spikes of their own. Out the back were a collection of rocket engines blasting a neon blue glow out into space, propelling the giant vessel along; a loud humming of mechanics at work radiating away from it. The bow of the ship had a long spike jutting out the front, the tip sparking sharply in the partial sunlight. The entire underside of the ship and wings was a forest of turrets, all barrels aimed directly at them. The Egg Carrier was longer, but this ship still dwarfed the Icarus. In true galleon fashion, engraved along the front of the ship was its name. The letters:

B E H E M O T H- stood out proudly against the cold blue metal.

"Is that Eggman?" Tails began. Sonic doubted it. While the scientist was famous for his battleships, Eggman's Carrier ship was probably still falling by now. There was no way he could contruct another one so quickly. Question was; if it wasn't Eggman then who was it? Another barrage rang out, striking the Icarus across the back, the engines going dead and power instantly leaving the cockpit. "We're dead in the water!" Tails exclaimed, trying to put some control back in the controls.

"Don't say water Tails." Sonic remarked dryly, staring up at the giant ship as it drew closer. "You know I don't like that word."

Shadow's eyes snapped open as he felt the Icarus shake. Sighing, he pushed himself up to his feet and let his senses radiate outwards. There was no doubt that they were under attack, but surely Eggman had learnt his lesson by now? Was that guy glutting for punishment or what. Beside him, the large lumbering form of Omega remained as silent and stationary as ever.

Either he was a very sound sleeper, or he had powered himself down for his required five hours recharge time. Either way, at the present moment the battle android would be of little help. Not that Shadow needed any to deal with a fat scientist who wouldn't quit.

The ship shook violent for a single moment and several stacked crates down in the hold fell over, a good deal of spare parts for the engines spilling out onto the floor. Shadow could sense that something had physically grabbed the ship. That hadn't been any sort of barrage blast that was for certain. They were being boarded.

A quick Chaos Control brought him to the part of the Icarus that served as an air lock. As the black and red hedgehog had guessed, these invaders where trying to get through here to get inside. He could see through a small reinforced glass window a long tunnel had attached itself to the ship from the outside.

Without warning the door went flying back with Shadow on the end of it, sending them both colliding into the wall on the far side. Being thrown against a wall as bade enough, but having a door smashed in his face did little to lift Shadow's bad mood. Seizing the door with large talons and pushed it large enough to climb through went the first of the invaders. A humanoid robot shaped very much like one of Eggman's badniks, but their armour was royal blue instead of black. These new type was a lot more streamlined as well, thinner arms and legs with a large set of missile launching pads on each shoulder. It's one large horizontal eye latched onto Shadow as he kicked the door off him and turned towards him, the hatches on its shoulders flying open and two missiles already in the air.

Shadow kicked them out of the air back towards the robotic solider, who shielded itself with its left arm against the blast before emerging fully into the ship. Shadow darted forward, landing a sharp kick against its chest before landing a punch on its round head. He raised another fist, but again without warning a shot rang out and a laser blast hit him square in the face, sending the black and red hedgehog flying backwards.

Emerging out of the tunnels came more robots, each one identical to the first, at least five more. Shadow growled, before gathering two Chaos Spear's between his fingers. Sonic was already on his way there after Tails had detected fighting down there, but never made as far as the door to the air lock. Racing down a metal corridor on his way, an explosion tore through the wall to his left, a torrent of flying shards of metal and dust that engulfed him completely. Forced to shield his eyes, Sonic waited until it died down before looking up.

Dust still floated freely through the air, the blue hedgehog didn't see the swing coming. Something with an amazingly strong grip grabbed his ankle and tossed him violently back through the gapping hole and into the chamber beyond, an empty part of the hold that served only as storage space. Flung against the side of a metallic pillar that lanced from the ceiling to the roof, Sonic tried to pull himself up, only to find a metallic fist come flying out of nowhere, landing several blows against his face before something hit him hard against the stomach.

The breath knocked out of him, his eyes wide, Sonic collapsed to his knees holding his stomach as if afraid it would fall out of place at any moment. His vision blurred and his other senses knocked seriously badly, Sonic didn't even notice the two red metal feet placed before him. The one thing he was aware of however; was the sharp pain in his left arm as something violently dragged him up to his feet. His vision returning, the blue hedgehog found himself staring into the face of the one person he never expected to see, least of all here.

"Metal Sonic?" He stammered, only to have a metal fist coming flying out of the darkness, smacking him squarely on the face; forcing the blue hedgehog to the floor.

Looking up, Sonic could see the robotic hedgehog completely now. Now only had his body been restored but elevated, returned back to the form he assumed during the whole Egg Fleet thing. His quills were long and straight, each with a white streak lining their top side. The bracer of each arm was coated in armour plating, covering each hand with their serrated talons. A long purple cape was strapped to his shoulder, gently flapping out behind him.

Before Sonic could react, a hand lashed out, wrapping itself around his throat, lifting him high into the air. The blue hedgehog struggled against it, but the robotic hedgehog's grip was like a steal trap.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Metal Sonic asked. "Why, if it isn't the world renowned Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonic began desperately pulling against the talons but found his own strength far too limited. "You seem weaker than I remember." He heard his metal counterpart say as he looked up weakly, seeing the glowing eyes above him. "You didn't really think you'd get rid of me that easily did you?"

"I don't know what you're talking…" He didn't get the chance to finish the sentence. Metal Sonic drew his arm back and tossed him across the chamber, slamming his body into the side of a wall."

Deception won't save you this time." Came the bitter reply as Sonic's vision began to blur. "You honestly thought infecting me with your personality would keep me in line forever?" With a sudden flare, the glow from his half eclipsed red eyes expanded to his entire visor. "You're pathetic."

Amy's hammer was already in her grasp as the invaders pounded relentless on the door to the front section of the Icarus, a door Knuckles and Rouge were desperately trying to keep shut. Even their combined strength did not seem like enough to keep it closed forever through. Whatever was on the other side of that door really wanted in. Cream and Cheese were hiding near the front, with Emerl standing over them. Once again the robots only instinct was to protect her from anything and everything.

"A plan would really help right about now!" Knuckles stated, putting his shoulder to the door as those on the other side pushed against it as well, desperately trying to force it open.

"We're going to have to fight!" Rouge told him, her feet digging into the floor as he pushed against the door.

"There's never a non-violent solution is there?" The Echidna grunted, the door creeping open inch by inch. Now it was ajar enough for two large metal talons to poke through and take hold of it.

"Get ready to open the door." Amy told them, flipping her hammer around for the spiked edge went forward. They looked back at her with wide eyes, the question; are you insane; plain on their faces. Slowly the pink hedgehog approach the door, holding her hammer like a golf club. "On the count of three." She added. Knuckles and Rouge gave each other a startled glance, before stepping back.

The door flew open and one of the new variants of the badnik design came cascading in. Amy swung her hammer over her shoulder, before smashing its spark end straight through the robots head, tearing a giant hole through it. The robot staggered backwards for a moment before crashing to the ground. The victory was short lived as another climbed over it, walking all over it's fallen comrade as it pushed it's way inside.

Amy dodged around laser blasts, smacking a metal fist away with the blunt of her hammer before somersaulting over the robotic solider and coming down behind it with the sharp end of her hammer angled downwards, tearing a large hole down it's back.

A third came at her from behind with talons already raised. Rouge came flying through the air, landing a kick against it's face making it toppled over. Knuckles finished of by ploughing one of his super hard punches straight through it's chest, the tips of his spurs rocketing out the other side.

More robots kept coming and try as they might to drive them back, their numbers seemed to never cease. Tails was still desperately trying to shake the Icarus free of whatever hold the other ship had them in without much success and he was using most of the engines fuel up in the process.

If they didn't get away and soon they wouldn't have enough power left in the ship to safely land it.

Knuckles swung another punch back, deflecting a swing before doubling back. There were two many of them in the corridor beyond and more were coming. Even all three of them wouldn't be able to beat them all.

Somewhere, one of the intruders got a lucky shot in, hitting Amy across the face with a laser blast. The pink hedgehog swayed for a moment, before her hammer dropped from her hand and he toppled backwards to the floor, blood staining her already messed up quills. Cream was already by her side, trying to wake her up. But she didn't. The pink hedgehog just remained still, lying there lifelessly.

"Amy!"

Shadow, now irritated beyond all belief, rocketed forward in his own version of the spin attack, tearing through several of the invaders at once, leaving scattered robotic limbs lying everywhere.

Another came at him from behind, metallic talons flying through the air toward him. Back flipping, the black and red hedgehog came down behind him with a Chaos Spear already burning in his grasp.

The robot fell to the ground, it's metal surface boiling, torn fragments lying scattered here and there.

Using a chaos spear to dislodge one of arms, the one with a small laser built into it, aiming it straight back towards those still coming through, using it to slice on their heads clean of and carved a deep hole down several more. Stunned for a moment, they left their defences down for a brief moment. This all Shadow needed to push his hands forward and fire a double Chaos Spear straight through them, reducing those closest to ashes and shattering any others.

"This is getting old." He muttered to himself as others came through the air lock almost instantly to replace the others, knocking the smouldering wreckage of the fallen aside.

This seemed a good a time as any to test out a technique of energy manipulations he had been toying with. Chaos Spear and Chaos Control were powerfully attacks by themselves, but together they erupted in a burying white light that sent a wave of destruction rocketing forward, sending three several androids straight into oblivion and the others rocketing back wards into their ship which had anchored itself to the Icarus.

The connections served and a air tight seal broken, debris from the battle began being sucked out into space. Once all the robots had gone, Shadow slammed a fist down on the emergency shutters button and a large door came down, sealing off the air lock.

"Clever little hedgehog." A voice stated. Shadow whipped around to face another robot, but this one was off a far different design to the rest. It's design was the closest of any robot he had seen to the human anatomy, perfectly shaped arms and legs and almost knight like silver armour placed over it's entire body. it's head was encased by a helmet, a pair of glowing yellow eyes visible just behind a visor.

"Don't you robots have any brains?" Shadow asked irritated, firing a Chaos Spear straight at him. To his surprise, the robot side stepped with unexpected agility and the attack missed it. Shadow narrowed an eye, before firing again. The same result, the robot dodged around it. "Ok, who are you?" The black and red hedgehog demanded angrily, jabbing a finger forward.

"I am Equinox, second general of Metal X Machine Federation." The robot replied, removing his helmet. His actual head was more human than Shadow could imagine. "Servant of the lord Metal Sonic." His eyes were hidden underneath a thick layer of glass, a precise jumble of clockwork and lights. "From his descriptions, I imagined you've be taller." The eyes lanced from Shadow's head and foot, steadying the ultimate Life-form's antimony with scrutinising detail.

Metal Sonic hammered a punch into Sonic's stomach, before grabbing him by the arm and tossing him head first into the side of the wall. The blue hedgehog had never seen have the opportunity to put up a decent defence. Metal Sonic's attacks were relentless and without even the smallest shred of mercy. When he came at Sonic it was with such intense hatred the blue hedgehog could not help but flinch away from it.

He recovered enough senses to block a kick, before retaliating with one of his own. His foot was nearly crushed as Metal Sonic's fingers clenched around it, before the robot lifted him into the air, tensed his arm and smashed the blue hedgehog down on the floor.

"Where are your quick retorts now blue boy?" Metal asked, lifting him up by his quills before holding a flat hand to his stomach and blasting him with a concentrated attack of Chaos Energy. Taking the full brunt of it, Sonic was flung battered down to the floor.

His body aching, Sonic refused to give up. With super mobian effort, he paused himself to his feet, holding his fists out front of himself in a weak attempt at a fighting stance.

Metal Sonic tore through his defences like they weren't even there, smacking him several times around the head before landing a kick against his stomach.

"Alright, that's it!" Sonic growled, something inside him snapped apart from his ribs. Grabbing Metal Sonic's leg, he knocking the robotic hedgehog backwards before landing a succession of super fast punches against his torso. The blue hedgehog didn't stop there through, several kicks made their way through landing on she shoulders before one final blow from a spin attack sent Metal Sonic flying across the chamber to collide with a wall.

With a loud echoing thump, Metal Sonic fell down to the floor, lying limp. Sonic was incredibly out of breath. He paused, resting himself on his knees just long enough to catch himself again. As he did so he saw two metal red feet stand nearby.

Looking up in dismay, he saw Metal Sonic standing over him. His eyes glowing blood red and claws outstretched as if Sonic hadn't caused him any damage at all. He was like a bulldozer, tearing through anything that got in his way.

"Oh sh…" Before Sonic could finish, a sharp blow came flying out of nowhere knocking him to the ground.

"Your stupidity amazes even me." He stated, kicking Sonic as he tried to get up again. "Did you learn nothing from our last battle?"

A dark blue shape came darting forward, a kick landing itself straight across Sonic's stomach, making him double over.

"Why Metal…I don't…" He managed to splutter, trying to find the strength to push himself to his knees. Standing over him, Metal Sonic lifted a hand; gathering chaos energy attach between his fingers, forming it into a ball.

"You organics don't deserve this world." Was his reply as his hand began to glow bright green. "You won't be stopping me this time."

Flip card 2:

Name: Metal Sonic

Age: (Created just over a year ago)

Sex: (Robots don't have any.

Species: Robotic hedgehog

Description: Created by Eggman to destroy Sonic, Metal Sonic once broke his programming and tired to be a good guy. Since then, someone reprogrammed him to be evil. Now he is the leader of a new robot empire, the Machine Federation.