Even Stronger Recruits

As Metal put his hands out at Amic, Amic froze in place. He could hardly move. He started to power up, but as he did, a sphere surrounded him, trapping him in it. His aura still flowed with the same power. Metal slowly got up, giving a small chuckle.

"You thought you had me, didn't you? But now I have YOU, and I will take this time to my advantage by killing you slowly and painfully."

"Don't think that just because you have me trapped, you're going to win this fight. I HIGHLY suggest that you don't get your hopes up."

"SILENCE!"

Metal punched Amic in the face. He continued giving hooks to his head. As he went on, he powered up and gave even faster and stronger swings. He kneed him in the gut a few times and then started scratching him. He tried to stab him, but Amic's aura was too strong for him to do it successfully. Metal turned Amic's head towards the ground.

"Do you see all of that land? Anything that this bubble touches that isn't me explodes. That's why I'm wearing you out. When you're weak and tired, I'll throw you to the dirt, where you will die a sudden death."

"Metal…you fool. I'm nowhere NEAR tired."

"ARGH!"

Metal continued to beat up on Amic. Mitsuko looked on in concern, thinking that Amic could be wrong in a few minutes. Soon, Amic started breathing harder and felt dizzy.

"This is where it ends FOR GOOD, hedgehog!"

Metal kicked Amic out above some mountains nearby. He charged up and shot a huge beam at him. Suddenly, a huge explosion occurred, covering all of the mountains.

"DADDY!" Mitsuko yelled. "I have to help him!"

"Let me come." Mitsuko turned around and saw Maria. "Maybe I can help."

Mitsuko nodded. "Ok. Oh yeah! But first, we need to find Shadow. He might be really hurt."

"He's ok. I can sense him. It's faint, but he's alive and well. I'd worry about your father. I can't sense him.

"YOU CAN'T?" Mitsuko tried to sense him, but he couldn't either. "LET'S GO!"

Mitsuko and Maria started flying towards where the explosion happened. But suddenly Metal appeared in front of them. They landed on a mountain peak.

"Let us go! I have to find my dad!"

"Stupid brat! You're not going anywhere."

"Go to hell!" Mitsuko cried out. Maria stood in front of him.

"Let us go, Metal. If you have any sympathy in you, you'd move out of the way."

"You've gotten on my last nerve, Maria. It's a shame that I have to kill a pretty little girl like you." He raised his hand to chest level. A green energy ball formed in it. Shadow landed in front of Maria.

"Over my dead body, Metal!"

"If that's how it's going to be, SO BE IT!"

Metal flew away, leaving the energy floating in front of Shadow. As he went into the sky, the energy expanded. Before everyone knew it, it caused a huge explosion, destroying the entire area. Shadow closed his eyes and put his arms out, creating a shield to protect Maria and Mitsuko. The green explosion continued to expand. When everything cleared, everyone was standing on top of a different yet mostly destroyed mountaintop. Shadow opened his eyes. He looked behind him, but didn't see anybody.

"Maria!" No answer, not even from Mitsuko. "MARIA!"

"I always get what I want, Shadow. You should have known that. Oh, wait. I have you mixed up with your clone. Haha, silly me." Shadow looked up at Metal, tears swelling up in his eyes.

"Face it, Shadow! You have always been weak! Even if you were close enough to kill Sonic before, you are still a weakling, and a failure. A failure at protecting your beloved Maria!"

"NOOOOOOO!"

As Shadow screamed, tears rolled down his cheeks. His eyes turned red. Golden strips of aura spun around him. He made fists and threw them out, transforming into Super Shadow. His aura destroyed the outer part of the mountaintop.

"WHAT? Him too?"

He charged at Metal and threw a punch. Metal smiled as he took the punch, not even fazed. Shadow became surprised as Metal punched him in the face. He then grabbed his face and slammed him to the ground. He flew back into the sky. Mitsuko appeared out of nowhere and landed next to Shadow.

"Shadow, how did you do that? That's SOOO cool!" Shadow slowly picked himself up. He pulled out his fake emerald.

"How did you get a chaos emerald? I thought Metal had them all?"

"This isn't a real emerald. It's a fake one I created. I brought it with me, not only to use Chaos Control, but also to test the emerald, to see if it really has the same properties as a real one. It's not as powerful as a real one, of course, but it gave me the ability to transform, just as I hypothesized. I was hoping I could help Amic in battle, but I guess I was wrong."

"Wow, that's so awesome! I wanna do that one day!"

"Hopefully we'll live long enough to do so. Hey, where's Maria? Is she safe?"

"Yeah. She's lying on top of that mountain, but she's really weak. Actually, I think she's dead. Uh oh…"

"Oh no!" Shadow flew to Maria. He saw her lying there, bloodied up with some metal parts lying around her. Mitsuko flew to them.

"Oh no, Maria." Shadow looked at Metal. "You won't get away with this!"

Shadow flew at Metal again, but Metal kicked him in the gut. Shadow screamed as Metal started kneeing him in the face, and then threw him into a mountain. He shot a blast at the mountain, then looked at Mitsuko. He landed across from him.

"You should be ashamed of yourself, Mitsuko. You saw your friend and father in trouble. Why didn't you do anything? You could have saved them."

"Leave me alone, you jerk."

"You think your anger is going to scare me? You should be scared of me. Because now I am going to show you the meaning of anger. Too bad you had to die so young." Mitsuko stepped back a bit.

"P-please leave me alone. I don't want to fight you. I'm…I'm sorry for bothering you." Tears started swelling in his eyes.

"HA! Sorry? It's too late for that. I gave you a chance a long time ago. And you blew it."

"Mitsuko. Let it go." It was Maria, but she could barely talk. Mitsuko was surprised to see her talk.

"It's not bad, to stand up for what you believe in. I've just recently learned that lesson. I know how you feel, Mitsuko. You don't like to make people mad. But you don't also want anyone hurt. I know because I too have those feelings. But it's because you care about life and the people in it that you have to protect it." Mitsuko started shedding tears.

"Eww. This disgusting talk of care makes me sick. No one CARES about what you say, Maria." Metal walked to her. "Thanks for the help, but I plan on killing him with force, not words."

"Please. Face your fears. Protect the world I loved. You have the power too, not just Amic. My scanners sensed the chaos power in you. Just, let it go."

Metal stepped on Maria's head. Mechanical parts and blood skewed everywhere. Mitsuko was in huge shock, to see a nice person die in front of his eyes.

"Yet another person, you could have saved."

"Maria." Mitsuko thought to himself. "You loved life. You even went against Metal to save it. You were just an android, a clone, and I let you die. I can't do that. I won't watch anymore." Metal felt Mitsuko's power go up a bit.

"I won't watch this anymore!" Mitsuko screamed. He suddenly powered up with a golden aura. Electricity flowed through him. Shadow's head popped out of the ruined mountain. He saw Mitsuko's aura.

"No way…"

Another person far off could sense Mitsuko's power. "Mit..Mitsuko?"

"Haha! I would have NEVER known! What power you have, Mitsuko! You could have helped your friends a long time ago with that! But it still doesn't matter. I'll still kill you."

Mitsuko flew and punched Metal in the face. Metal just stood there. Mitsuko threw a series of punches, but in the end, Metal still stood there. He jumped and landed on Mitsuko's head, stepping on it.

"Stop…your…foolish…defenses! You…will…LOSE!" A blast hit Metal in the face. He turned and saw Shadow.

"Fool!"

Metal flew and punched Shadow. He flew for him again, but this time a kick interfered and sent him flying. He quickly stopped and saw Amic standing next to Mitsuko.

"Daddy. I knew… you weren't dead."

"You've gotten a lot stronger now. You should be proud of yourself."

"Thanks dad."

"Darn you! Why won't you DIE?"

Metal and Amic flew for each other. Metal threw punches as Amic dodged them all. Metal gave one last punch and missed, hitting a mountain. Amic was above him.

"That has to be your last attack, Metal. And even if it wasn't, you can't beat me. Face it, you lose."

"That may have been my last attack, but it's not my last strategy!"

Metal flew up far into the sky. He pointed his finger at Amic. A beam shot from it, but it didn't go for Amic. It went straight into the Earth. It went straight into the core, and suddenly, red electricity grew around it. Lava exploded out of where the beam went in. Everyone dodged the lava as Metal laughed.

"What did you do, Metal?" Amic was a bit confused as to why Metal did that.

"I hope you enjoyed this fight. I certainly did."

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Metal crossed his arms.

"Hug your son, and cherish your friends. Because this planet is going to explode in 5 minutes."