Metal Madness
It was a quiet day in the village of Knothole, All were trying their best to recover from what had happened with Enerjak. No one could explain why he had suddenly vanished. Rotor came up with a theory that perhaps Dimitri's body was just not able to support all the energy anymore, and he simply imploded upon himself. The mysterious hedgehog Shadow, however, was not convinced. He was a real mystery, as Knuckles had been when he had first arrived. Every day he spoke with Sally and Cap, who got more and more out of him each time. He had met Knuckles not too long after his family had been killed. Shadow himself had no recollection of his past. He had been released from a capsule in a secret base owned by both the Legion and Robotnik. He and Knuckles had worked together for a few weeks, but eventually went their own ways. Now Shadow was a traveling loner. Sally, of course, offered him a home in Knothole, which, after much convincing, he accepted. Life was getting better for the first time since the war started. Knuckles was getting better each day, and the doctor expected him to wake up in the next few days. All was peaceful. Leave it to the guys to spoil it.
Vipes had been vigorously training all morning. The Ravagers, the Chaotix, and the male members of the Freedom Fighters sat around and watched him, wondering what he was trying to accomplish. "This is great. A day relaxing with the guys," Mighty said as he stretched. "Yeah. Now can someone tell me what he's doing?" Espio asked. They watched as Vipes stood perfectly still, slashing at leaves as they fell and swearing in Japanese afterwards. "Yes, I make up funny words too," Vector said. "It's Japanese!" "Chill! What are you doin' anyway?" Sonic asked. "Making it harder to rake the damn leaves is what!" Grim growled. "I'm trying to cut the leaves in half." They stared at him for a second, then all the leaves cut in two beneath him. Not one wasn't cut. They then looked up at him and in unison said, "Come again?" "Not in half like you cut a cake! In half like as in through the middle! Like pulling a tissue into two tissues!" Now understanding what he meant, they snickered. "It'll take you a while, being you can't hit a spider on the floor," Freezie taunted. "Shut up! It's harder than it looks!" "It's alright, man. It takes a while to become a good ninja," Morph said. "I happen to be a good ninja. Watch! A good ninja can cut right through a tree in one swipe!" Tails jumped and said, "I don't think Sally will like this!" "She won't miss one tree. She isn't that strict!" Sonic said.
They watched as Vipes tensed before the tree, dashed at the tree and slashed. He landed, smiling confidently under his mask, until he noticed his sword was gone. He looked back and saw it wedged in the middle of the tree. "Crap!" he shouted as he went to try and pull it out, the others laughing wildly. "Shut up and give me a hand!" "Certainly, master ninja!" Vector said with a smirk. They all yanked, but couldn't get it to budge. "Jeez, you really wedged it in there," DJ said as he grabbed it and leapt up, placing his feet against the tree. "On three! One, two, three!" They all pulled with all their might, the sword slowly coming loose. DJ, of course, had to ruin everything and shout, "C'mon! Pretend its Grim's sister! " Grim, enraged, stopped pulling and growled. "I'm gonna kill you!" as he created a fireball. "NO, GRIM!" Cap shouted in a frenzy, but all too late. The fireball was launched, DJ dodged, and the tree went up in flames. Cap immediately panicked, running around screaming, "OH MY GOD! FIRE! FIRE!" Grim took after DJ, who ran like Godzilla was behind him. The others scrambled around, knocking each other over and tripping over each other trying to get water to put the tree out. "The tree!" "My sword!" "My sister!" "My God," Sally sighed as she opened the door to her hut. She ran out and organized the guys as Grim chased DJ throughout Knothole, and Cap ran around crazily shouting, "FIRE!"
Julie-Su shook her head as she peered out the window. Hopeless. They were all hopeless. She turned around and sighed. Knuckles' condition had improved from what it had been, but he was still in rough shape. She smiled, however, when she saw Mace snuggled up against his side. She took a damp cloth and rubbed it across Knuckles' forehead, trying to keep him cool. It had become rather hot in the last few minutes. No wonder why. She smiled again and turned back to the window.
It was gone. Done. Burnt to the ground. The guys all stood around a large, charred circle on the ground where the tree used to be. Vipes bent down, pushed some burnt wood aside, and pulled out his sword. "Good thing you're magic," he said as he sheathed his sword. Sally circled behind them saying, "Just look at what your idiocy has done. The whole forest could have gone up!" "Well maybe if our fearless leader wasn't running around screaming, 'FIRE! FIRE!'-" "Shut up! I was panicked!" Cap shouted in defense. "You all deserve equal blame!" Sally shouted. They silenced, and went back to staring at the charred circle. "We killed it. One of God's creations. I feel awful," Mighty said sorrowfully. Freezie took a good look at the circle and chuckled. "It's not out yet. I'll fix that." As soon as they heard the zipper unzip, they all turned away in disgust. "Dude! That's what the outhouse is for!" Tails shouted. "That won't put this out!" Freezie shot back.
Suddenly, Bunnie came running over, calling for Sally. "What's wrong?" Sally asked, concerned. "We jus' got somethin' on radah. It's comin' heah!" All went silent. Knothole had been located. Or at least that's what they assumed. "This isn't good," Espio said. "No it isn't. What'll we do?" Sally though for a moment in silence. Finally, she turned to them and said, "We have to intercept it! We have to assume that it's only coming in this direction and doesn't know about Knothole. It we keep it out of here, we might be in the clear. Here's what we'll do…"
Sonic couldn't really hear her. He wasn't listening to her. He was listening to his heart. It was telling him to go out and fight whatever was coming. Even just hold it off long enough to make a difference. He took a deep breath, snuck back from the group a few steps, and dashed out of their view. A quick trip to the main computer and he would know where to go. Then he would be gone. This wasn't to prove his worth. It wasn't to show off. It was to protect his friends, and he intended to do just that.
"-Then Sonic, you'll…Sonic?" The others glanced where he was, and saw that he was gone. "Where'd he go?"
Sonic continued to sprint due east, in the direction the object was coming from. Swear poured from his brow, then broke up and evaporated milliseconds after splurting off. Who knows what he was running towards. Whatever it was, he knew he had to stop it. Suddenly, there was a flash in front of him. He saw the bolt coming at him and quickly side-stepped, narrowly missing becoming deep fried. He looked up and quickly jumped back in order to avoid a serious blow to the face. As he dodged, he got a look at his adversary. It was a machine. A machine that looked exactly like him! 'What the hell is this thing?' he thought to himself. He began avoiding a barrage of punches and kicks. After leaping up onto a large boulder, Sonic got ready to make his own offensive assault. However, his opponent had stopped, and was staring him down. "So…you are 'Sonic'? A pity. I expected more." The mechanized hedgehog said. Its sharp teeth flashed a grin. "What are you talking about? We haven't even fought yet!" Sonic shouted. The machine chuckled and said, "Fine. If you think you can beat Metal Sonic, then show me!" "Then here we go!"
"He isn't here. We've looked everywhere," Tails said. Sally wasn't sure what to feel like. She wanted to kill him, but she wanted to see him alive at the same time. "That idiot! He'll be killed! What'll we do?" "We'll go after him. Ravagers, time to boogey," Cap said as he turned around to his team, who were all wearing wireless headphones and listening to the Numa Numa song. "Damn. It's so catchy," Morph said to Swiper, who nodded. Cap sighed and lowered his head. "Why me?"
Julie-Su was in shock. First of all, Sonic had run off to fight whatever was coming, and now Knuckles was acting up. He was gritting his teeth and slightly trembling. Mace began to whimper, so she took him up into her arms and kissed his head. "He'll be okay. " She looked down at Knuckles and whispered, "What's wrong?" To her surprise, he whispered, so softly she could hardly make it out, "…sonic…"
Sonic panted heavily as his opponent chuckled. They were evenly matched, blow for blow. However, Metal Sonic wasn't becoming tired. "Are you ready to die? I could finish this now, or we could drag it on. Your choice." "What makes you think you can beat me so easily?" Sonic shouted. What trick did Metal Sonic have up his sleeve? "Fool. All this time, I've been collecting data. Your attack patterns, techniques, form, I've been downloading it all onto my database! And now…it is time for me to assume my ultimate form! Prepare to die!"
Metal Sonic growled as its red eyes began to glow green. The light that had reflected off of its metal exterior also began to shimmer green, becoming almost blinding. Sonic put his hand over his eyes to block the light. He could hear the machine's high-pitched voice becoming deeper and deeper. There was a bright flash, and Sonic looked up in awe. Metal Sonic had transformed! Embedded in its chest was a green chaos emerald! Its metallic quills had become longer, running down its back. Its mouth and nose were gone, leaving just a blank mouthpiece. It was more heavily armored, with a black cloak around its waist. It then let out a deep, deep chuckle. "I believe it is time for you to die. Goodbye, Sonic the hedgehog!"
Metal Sonic's back jets erupted, causing the earth behind him to shatter as it dashed forwards. Sonic quickly evaded the oncoming threat, dashing off to the side and landing atop a large boulder. He sniffed a strange scent in the air, and realized something was burning. He looked at his spines to see that the ends of the spines on the right side of his body had been singed. Metal Sonic had gotten that close! Before he had time to do anything else, he heard a cracking sound. He looked beneath him only to see the boulder shatter, Metal Sonic bursting from the ground. The he heard a squishing sound. That was probably Metal Sonic's fist plowing into his stomach, but he couldn't be sure. All he could tell was that his stomach really, REALLY hurt. He then heard the rustling of the leaves as he flew up through them. Branches swatted him in the face as the momentum of the punch continued to send him upwards, and then they swatted his back as he began his eventual downward decent. Then he felt the ground. He didn't like the ground very much. Why couldn't it be nice and soft? He groaned as he lifted himself up. He reached for the nearest object to help pull himself up, and heard a chuckle as he grabbed something. Something metallic.
"What's wrong with him?" Julie-Su shouted, panicking as Knuckles got worse. He was growling loudly as he shook around. Sweat poured down his forehead as he clenched the sides of his hospital bed. The doctor tried to sedate him, but it wasn't working. He wasn't going out. "This can't be happening! He should be out like a light by now!" Doctor Quack said in confusion. They looked at him with great concern as he softly let out, "….get…up…".
Metal Sonic tossed Sonic aside and laughed as the hedgehog laid there, moaning in pain. "Fool. You never stood a chance. The great Sonic the Hedgehog. What a laugh!" Metal slowly walked over to him, its feet making a loud clang as it walked. It picked Sonic up by the throat and held him up before itself. Chuckling, it said, "Don't be sad. Your friends will be joining you as soon as I find them. And I will find them." Sonic couldn't even lift his arms. He couldn't believe it. He was going to die like this. 'After all we've accomplished…After all we've been through…I can't…let this happen.' Miles away in the village of Knothole, Knuckles opened his eyes, emitting a bright green light. His back arched as he continued to growl, more and more sweat pouring from his brow. Back in Metal's clasp, Sonic felt a sudden rush of energy. He opened his eyes as his spines began to stand on end. Metal let go so as to drop him, but Sonic's body didn't drop. There was a flicker, then a spark, and then a bright flash, revealing a glowing yellow hedgehog. Metal's eyes widened. Its sensors were overloading as its opponent's energy readings jumped through the roof. "What is this?" it shouted. "This is the end…for you!" Sonic shouted. The machine growled as it concentrated energy into its hands. "Fool! I will not be defeated!" He unleashed the full extent of his might, only to find the area around the hedgehog charred, but the hedgehog himself unscathed. "How? It's as if he neutralized my energy! But that's impossible! Only the Master Emerald can neutralize the power of the chaos emeralds! This cannot be!" Sonic simply held out his hand and said, "Guess again. Later," before unleashing a burst of energy, blasting Metal Sonic away, shattering every microchip into dust.
Sonic closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His spines lowered, and his color reverted back to blue. Back in Knothole. Knuckles' eyes ceased glowing, his pupils rolled back, and his eyes closed as his body slumped back down onto the bed.
Sonic turned around to see Sally standing there, staring at him. He wondered if she had seen his transformation, and if that was why she was looking at him like that. He smiled and said, "I…I guess I'm in trouble, huh?" She smiled, ran over to him, and threw her arms around him as she laughed. "Come on. Let's get back to Knothole. We can discuss your punishment for going off recklessly without orders when we get there," she said. He let out a sigh as he rolled his eyes to Heaven, then chuckled as the pair walked off holding hands.
When they came back into Knothole, they were greeted by a cheering crowd. Sonic simply smiled and waved once before walking off, which surprised Sally. She had thought he would bask in his accomplishment. Those in the crowd looked at each other as their hero walked into the medical hut.
"I hear you're a big hero now," Julie-Su said with a smile as he walked in. Sonic shook his head and said, "No. We are," he said as he sat next to Knuckles. He smiled and said, "You did something, didn't you? Didn't you?" "He was acting really strange. He started saying your name, and telling you to get up. He was so quiet you could barely hear him, but he did say it." Sonic smiled. He had been right. Somehow, Knuckles had created a link between Sonic and the Master Emerald. Apparently, the tensions between them had been relieved. He grasped the echidna's hand tightly and said, "Thanks buddy."