Knuckles, the echidna continued to will the floating island toward the giant mountain known as Gimmick. He noticed a resistance to the motion of the levitating land, one that usually signaled that he was heading toward a storm. Though it may have been coincidence, rough weather always seemed to spell trouble.

At this rate he would arrive at the destination within the hour. He wondered how the Freedom Fighters were holding out.

The rain started to poor down as the deep red eyes of the shaded hedgehog leered at the three Freedom Fighters. It was a harsh, heavy downpour that quickly caused the three creatures to have their fur drip and mat against their body, weighing them down a bit.

Jerome frowned. "He couldn't have robotosized Sonic that fast, could he?"

Sally shook her head. The wing fortress didn't have robotosizing equipment when they last looked upon the schematics. She remembered Sonic telling her of this machine Robotnik made that was supposed to match him. Well, maybe it was Snively's creation too, but that didn't matter, what mattered is that if it was that machine, they were all in danger. "No, that's not Sonic… it's a metal replicate, now be careful everyone…"

As soon as the princess said these words the form charged forward, catching them off guard. Its target was the squirrel who had just dared to call him a copy of Sonic. The blow came fast knocking Sally back a few feet down the side of the mountain, a jutting rock halting her from descending too far.

"Sally!" Bunnie cried as her friend didn't make any sign of moving. Part of her wanted to check on her friend, but she knew better, right now the rabbot let he anger bubble up, she had to take out this scrap of metal before anyone else was hurt.

The albino mouse was already on top of it though, and he removed the safety pin from his EMP explosive and hurled it at the intruder as it looked toward the princess. A machine-like voice came out coldly, directed to the fallen ground squirrel. "You should reevaluate analyzing me as an equal to that organic, weak hedgehog."

Metal Sonic picked up a reading on his surrounding current vibration detector. It 'sounded' like an object of some sort was coming toward his current position. He brought a metal foot around and kicked the grenade before it had a chance to land, sending it back toward the sender.

Jerome was a bit shocked to see the projectile come flying back toward him. He knew picking it up would be dangerous, it could explode at any second sending the casing outward. Since it was an EMP explosive, the impact wouldn't affect him since he wasn't a…

When the thought suddenly entering his mind, he cried out, "Watch out Bunnie!"

It was too late though, before the rabbit could react the blue flash enveloped the two Mobians. Jerome was blinded for a bit, and the metal hedgehog took the opportunity to attack. The mouse was struck in the back as he stumbled about. A shrill squeak rang out as the albino Mobian hit the ground.

Bunnie looked to her side as her vision started to return. "Jerome?" She asked as she tried to move, but her legs refused to budge. Her metal arm also refused to stir, feeling as if it were a huge weight, pulling at her side. It was painful, like when she first had to get used to using the heavy limbs. As she looked down she was the mouse laying on the ground, unmoving.

Before she had a chance to let out a gasp, Metal Sonic approached her slowly, blocking her view of her fallen comrades. "I can sense strain amongst your organic side. We will help you lose that weakness forever, the sensation of pain gone forever, you should be grateful."

With those words the rabbit took her organic hand and punched with all her might at the artificial hedgehog. A loud clang sounded as the punch smashed into the robot's cheek area, making it take a step back.

The sound of the collision covered up the sound of the rabbit's knuckles crackling at impact. A tear fell down her cheek as a huge shot of pain tingled through her hand. Whether it was because of the sensation itself, or because she knew this could be the last chance to feel injured, she did not know.

"Such frailty…" the robot said simply.

Rabbot leered at Metal Sonic's words. If her hand didn't feel as if it were broken, and her metallic limbs weren't paralyzed, she would have torn him limb from limb. However, all she could do was wait for the blow that would cause her to join her companions into the state of unconsciousness.

"Come on! You're not scared, are ya?" A blue hedgehog jeered at his friend, who was standing behind a rock. The rodent appeared young, around the age of five or four. His friend was about the same age, though it was obvious he was the older of the two, as the young buck couldn't believe he was letting this littler Mobian taunt him so.

"I'm not scared… those ghost stories are just… made up, yeah—they're made up…" The deer didn't sound too confident, but it was enough to let himself step forward a bit.

"Then how 'bout a race?" The young Sonic asked.

"You'd just beat me again… you with your super shoes of yours." Sonic's friend laughed, he had never believed that it was the hedgehog that was the one who could run that fast. Wrapping his head around the concept that a younger sibling could possess speed that out shown most adults he knew was just plain impossible. The only explanation is that those red shoes of his… the ones that were made by his Uncle gifted him with his speed.

The hedgehog kept his cockiness high though, and he started to take off his shoes… "Alright… if ya think it's da shoes, try 'em on. I'll go bare foot."

Looking at those shoes of speed the deer couldn't say 'no'. How could he? If he refused this the hedgehog would never let him live it down.

"So what are ya waitin' for? Put em on." The barefoot hedgehog grew impatient.

The deer leaned down and picked up the shoes, and as he put them on his feet he realized something. "They don't fit on me that well…"

"We gonna race or not? Unless ya wanna stay in this ol' 'haunted' cave." Laughed the blue rodent, making reference to the old folk tales of the caverns being haunted by some ancient Mobian spirit, which the deer seemed to have complete belief in.

Pulling at the shoes a bit the buck felt he had them on the best he could. Now he was ready to prove that all his friend's abilities were all because of the footwear. "Alright, I'm ready… same rules as always?"

"Yep, ya can get a little head start… see ya at the entrance." Confirmed the young rodent, closing his eyes, he started to count.

With that signal, the buck ran into the darkness, moving at normal speed. "I guess it'll take awhile for them to kick in… but when they do, I'll be the one to beat ya." The deer's voice called from the darkness, his friend however just continued to count.

Twenty seconds later, and the hedgehog opened his eyes, it was time to start. The child sped forward like a bullet out of a gun, running though the dark cave as if he'd been living in them all of his life. A light came at the end of the long tunnel and the speedy rodent came to a stop just at the exit of the cave. He wasn't surprised to see that his friend was not their waiting for him… so he would be the one to wait.

Sonic had waited there, for what had seemed like an eternity. His impatience aside, he had started to become worried for his friend, as slow as the buck was he felt that he should have seen him by then. When it dawned on him that he never recalled passing the young buck, he decided to go back in and look for his friend.

All he found was his sneakers…

When people started to ask questions around Mobotropolis, Sonic told the adults that he saw John Doe, his friend, heading up to the mountain. Of course, his story made the hedgehog the coward, and he made up that he was too afraid to head up the mountain himself. He felt bad about lying… but he was a kid, and at that age you do dumb things, for dumb reasons.

It's funny how one thing can lead to another though. A sort of daycare was set up for all the children of Mobotropolis, even the king himself would send his daughter there, probably to show his support in the idea to let the children of the city have a place to hang out. Before then, Sonic had never met Rotor, Antoine, Sally, or Bunnie. He made quick friends with them, even though Ante was kind of a worry wart.

Even though he was asked by his new friends about his shoes, the hedgehog kept them close. He felt that the sneakers were a way to never forget that his old friend was out there, and that he had almost lost the footware before.

As the glowing of charging lasers lit up the room, Sonic was preparing himself to dodge. Why was he thinking of such things now? Maybe it was because he was afraid he was going to lose another of his friends to this mountain. It could also be because of all the swatbot weapons bearing down on him. There was a great chance that he would get hit, even with his great speed. He wouldn't give up without a fight though; he would do all he could to save Tails.

"Take your best shot lead-heads." Sonic called out. As if in response, hot red beams rained down upon the hedgehog. His eyes traced among the incoming projectiles and in his mind a path of escape presented itself. In a flash the speedy rodent charged forward, and then jumped to the left rolling underneath a beam that scorched his quills. Glowing holes smoked as Sonic charged forward again, luckily the Swatbutts' aim was still as poor as he had recalled.

His eyes moving ahead, feeling quite secure that the bolt-heads wouldn't shoot ahead of him, Sonic noticed that the elevator was back into its down position. Why would he do that? What was he up to? The human couldn't have been confident that his metal drones to do him in so quickly… Sonic didn't like it, Snively was up to something. Tails was still in trouble, so all the paranoid feelingswould have to be set aside.

The hedgehog jumped onto the platform and smacked the button to make it rise. Sonic ducked into the metal corner below the switch. Lasers still shot into the elevator as it started to shift upwards. A sharp pain in his right arm caused him to look down, he had taken a hit, but it could have been much worse. And if the ominous feeling in the back of his mind were true, then he would leave here with a little more then a bruise.

Snively couldn't help put grin as he noticed Metal Sonic had returned with some more guests. All three of them were inside a cell, and the metallic hedgehog was sure that they could not escape, and that the hedgehog would not be able to save them. More bait for the trap, and Snively now knew he wasn't going crazy and knows how Dulcy was damaged.

He noticed that the elevator was coming up. "The rodent is on his way, let's get ready."

"I don't see the objective in having me reveal myself after presenting the hostages. Why don't I just fight him upright." The robot's impatience was well present.

"It's to draw out his emotions. If he's concerned about his friends then he would be more likely to put up a more intense fight." Snively told the battle eager machine. The tyrant was lying, at least he hope he was. He was hoping that it would actually cause him to become distracted, and that way victory would easily be his.

"Perfect… it doesn't matter, because I'll still defeat him…" Metal Sonic laughed as he moved into the shadows as ordered. Snively smiled and went back to the Wing Fortress; he wasn't going to take any chances. If by any chance this mission failed then he would run away with the real Tails, to have him robotisized. It didn't matter what the hedgehog did, weather he won, or lost this fight, he would lose everything.

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Thank you for reading, next update in a week (4/28).