Disclaimer: This new robot bad guy dude? yeah, i do own that guy.
Chapter 3: Betrayal
He stood near the Master Emerald, everyone getting their first look of him. He stood six feet tall (which is almost twice the height of each member of the Sonic crew), and looked as though he was either built to look like some sort of creature Sonic and his friends had never seen, or used to be a creature that was roboticised. The robot's head was slightly elongated, and came to a sharp point hanging at the back. It's eyes were glassed, round and green. He had two artificial fangs hanging from what seemed to be a small breathing apparatus at his mouth. His body was encased in thin, flat, steel plates with thicker steel plates covering his chest, shins and forearms. A tattered cloak hung from a studded belt around his waist and he slowly turned his head towards the comotion that had disturbed his concentration. Then, Metal Sonic spoke up to the group of heroes.
"It's a shame you had to come all this way, just to die a pointless death." he said.
"You're going to try to steal the Sol Emeralds, aren't you?" Blaze yelled, getting ready to stop them from fleeing through the portal.
"How, very perceptive of you..." Metal Sonic looked towards the portal that was slowly getting bigger, then turned towards his companion, "Kaitan, the portal is big enough, please take care of these fools, while I go ahead to collect the Sol Emeralds."
Kaitan... that was the name of this new figure. Everyone looked towards him, curious of his response. Blaze wasn't going to back down, but she had to admit; he looked pretty intimidating.
"I'm afraid I won't be doing that," Kaitan responded, in a deep chilling voice.
Metal Sonic tried to decifer the message, only confusing himself, "What?"
Kaitan let out a small sadistic chuckle. "you weak fool... I would thank you for showing me the location of these precious gems, but I must be on my way, to collect the rest." Blaze would have attacked by now, but the current happenings resulted in utter confusion, and all she and the others could do was watch with a dumbfounded look, waiting to see what would happen next.
Metal Sonic was clearly getting angry, "Nobody double-crosses me!" He looked at his waist, as if trying to find something.
Kaitan held up a small sack in his hand towards Metal Sonic, "Looking for these?"
"You stole my emeralds!" Metal Sonic yelled, clenching his fist.
"What are you gonna do about it? You think you can stop me?" Kaitan picked up the Master Emerald and held it over one shoulder, while clutching the sack of Chaos Emeralds in his other hand. "Get in my way, and I'll turn you into a heap of scrap." He turned towards the portal, while Metal Sonic stood still, watching his former ally, not knowing what he should do. He was clearly no match for his new foe.
"You're not going anywhere!" Blaze yelled, charging at him. At the sound of this, the six foot monster dropped the sack of emeralds, turned around and at the same time, let loose at fisted back-hand while still holding the Master Emerald over his other shoulder. Luckily, Blaze had moved out of the way enough, at the last second to avoid taking too much damage, but was still hurt. She stumbled aside and held herself up against the wall.
Shadow's eyes widened and he ran to Blaze, to see if she was hurt.
Kaitan turned away, clearly not threatened, and picked up the sack of emeralds off the ground. "Is anyone else planning on trying anything funny?" he said, as he looked over at the group where Blaze was standing.
Knuckles growled at the statement, and was about to charge at the monstrosity, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to see Espio looking at him, and shaking his head at him. Knuckles knew that he stood no chance, and with that, Kaitan stepped through the portal and disappeared from view.
"We have to go after him! We can't just let him get the Sol Emeralds next, he'll be unstoppable!" Blaze said, as she regained her composure. "We have to get the Sol Emeralds before him."
"Let's not be so quick," said Espio, stepping forward. "We must avoid head on confrontation. Wait for him to pass far away from the portal before we head through. We may not be able to over power him, but we can still out smart him. Stealth will be our weapon."
"We'll get the Sol Emeralds from right under his nose!" said Knuckles, cheering up at the brilliance of this new plan.
Sonic turned to Tails, and knelt down in front of him, "You have to stay here, little buddy."
"What? But Sonic, I can help!" Tails retorted.
"I know, but it's too dangerous. Also, we need you to stay so you can tell the others we'll be gone for a while. We can't have them running around looking for us."
Tails hung his head down in sadness, until Sonic lifted up his chin and said, "Cheer up, buddy. We'll come back, I promise."
Shadow walked towards Metal Sonic who had been staring at the portal since Kaitan left. "Who is he? And where did he come from?"
Metal Sonic turned towards Shadow and and was silent for a moment. "He had been working silently as a bounty hunter for anyone who would pay him good money. I told him I could give him ultimate power if he'd help me... that is all I know." Metal Sonic then turned back towards the portal and slowly walked through. Shadow and the others who saw what happened decided to let him go. He wasn't much of a problem anymore.
"It's about time we head on, now" Espio said, "Once through, Blaze can direct us towards the Sol Emeralds."
One by one, they all walked through the portal, until Sonic was the last one left. He turned towards Tails and gave him a friendly salute, then continued through the portal.