Sonic stood up as he reached the top floor and the elevator came to a halt. The room was dimly lit, as if nobody was around, but the hero knew better. He stepped off the lift, and listened carefully for any sudden motion. The sound of his sneakers once again echoed off the walls.

"Sonic!" A cry suddenly cut through the silence. It echoed amongst the room causing the hedgehog to look around frantically. It was Tails, the young fox was still alive.

"Tails? Where are ya bro?" The hero did his best to look through the darkness for any sign of his friend. It didn't take long for him to notice a red glow about 30 yards away. A fox was bound above the source of the glow, in a harness and upon the end of a rope. Judging by the waves of heat blurring the light, and how Tails was acting, the reddish glimmer was probably caused by something that was extremely hot.

Seeing his friend in danger made Sonic oblivious to any other motion about him as he made a run for the fox. Suddenly the hedgehog felt himself hit by a fast moving object in the darkness, causing him to fall backward and land on his back.

With a groan the hero stood back up slowly, his ears toning back to his surroundings. As he had figured, he was not alone. Something was out there, and it wasn't Snively or a Swatbot. A clancking sound caused the hedgehog to spin about. He saw that he there he had more company then he first thought. A cell was lit by a yellow beam of light coming down from the ceiling. Three Mobians were in the cage, and Sonic could instantly recognize them.

"Sal!" The hedgehog cried out as he ran to the caged Mobians, once again letting down his guard. There was another strike causing Sonic to once again end up on the floor. Whoever, or whatever this was, it was attacking him very fast.

"Damn it…" Sonic groaned as he stood up once again. He didn't like playing this game of run around. As the hedgehog got back to his feet he noticed that Sally had aroused while he was distracted by the hit. "Sal! Are you guys ok?"

"We're fine Sonic!" She cried back. "Be careful, Snively has—"

The princess was interrupted by an annoying screech that caused the hero to plug his ears. It sounded as if someone had turned on some loud speakers. After a second, Sonic took his gloved hands away from his ears as the horrific sound died down. Another group of lights glowed revealing the large flying fortress; obviously it was where the nasty noise had come from.

"Well, Well, it looks like the rodent didn't follow my instructions to come alone." The voice of the short human echoed across the room.

"Snively! Let them go, it's me you want!" Sonic yelled, even though he wasn't sure if he could even hear him. But it didn't matter right now.

The voice continued, weather he heard him and chose to ignore him, or didn't hear him at all, Sonic couldn't tell."But… since I am such a nice person, I think I'll give you a second chance. All you have to do is beat my robot, and all of them go free. What do you say to that?"

"I can handle anything you throw at me Sniffles! Anytime, anywhere!" Sonic was becoming annoyed with this game of chase. He just wanted his friend back, so he wouldn't have to face the race of life alone.

With the response echoing in the air, another clank of a switch filled the air. Another light beamed into the room, followed by another, until all the darkness that surrounded the hero was enveloped with light. The scenery was very familiar, it was like the lower floors, only the hedgehog could see some dark pieces scattered about the floor. It didn't take long for Sonic to recognize them as some pieces of the Death Egg, which had its pieces fall onto Mobius from high in the sky. How most of them ended up on the mountain remained a mystery, but was not really Sonic's concern at this moment. As a glimmer of the metal caught his eye, everything became clear… how his friends were captured when he had Snively distracted, and what was attacking him in the darkness just these past few moments.

For some reason the hero could not comprehend, he smirked. "Well if it ain't Metalhead, back for another round?"

The metal likeness of Sonic glared back with his red eyes. "You will not defeat me this time hedgehog, before I was made to do exactly as you, but now I hold all of your strengths, without your weaknesses."

With a laugh the hedgehog shook his head. "It just looks like ya developed a new one, ya have a problem with jabbering."

"Sonic!" The suspended fox's voice cut through the conversation, causing the blue hedgehog to look to his dangling friend. In that instant the robot made his move, attacking Sonic. Before the hero could put up his guard he was struck by Metal Sonic, causing him to launch backward, landing harshly on his back once again.

Sally cried out, wishing she wasn't behind bars, having to bear witness to this. "Sonic, don't worry about us right now… just beat him!"

The robot lunged at the downed hedgehog, rolling up into a razor blade like roll as it plunged down to attack its adversary. Sonic gasped and rolled over to the right, the sharp blade-like metal scratched into the floor sending sparks into the air that stung a bit as they came in contact with the hero. "Workin' on it Sal!" He cried back to the princess.

Bunnie started to feel the world come back to her. "My stars…" she groaned, as she started to sit up. She tried to move her robotic arm, and to her surprise it moved. It must be that the electronic pulse had finished paralyzing her systems. As coldness ran through her, and it made her realize that she still was alive, she felt a rush of relief. Her celebration was cut short, however as the rabbot took in her surroundings. Metal bars surround where she was sitting, and she noticed she was not alone. The albino mouse from the Downunda region remained unconscious at one side of her, and Sally Acorn was looking out of the bars, watching something outside intensely.

Looking past the princess a cold metallic blur could be seen collided with one of blue. Obviously Bunnie could tell that the battle was on, and like the last time the two clashed, it was impossible to tell who was coming out on top. She looked to the white mouse and shook him hard, "Suga… hey!" the rabbot whispered harshly as she tried to rise him from unconsciousness.

Sally looked back to notice that her friend had awakened. She sighed in relief and rushed over to her aide, "Are you alright Bunnie?"

"Fine Sally-girl, just a massive ol' throb in da head. Nothin' too bad. Hope Whitey here is ok, he seems to be out pretty good." They looked to the downed mouse, who still felt warm to the touch, which was a good sign.

"He'll come back in time Bunnie." She said looking back out the cage to the battle in progress, the sounds of the rushing rivals, and the clashing of their attacks echoed throughout the room. It didn't take long before the rabbot got sick of watching and tried to take matters into her own hands.

Bunnie approached the cage bars. "Stand back Sally-girl!" she cried. Sally stood back, realizing that if anything could get them out of this situation, the rabbot's strength could. With a cry the metal hand of the bunny smashed into the metal bar, what caught her off guard though was that the bar did not budge, not even an inch. These bars were not made of ordinary metal that was for sure.

"It must be some kind of alloy." Sally explained as she observed the cage more thoroughly. "Metal Sonic probably was smart enough to realize the strength your robotic limbs would produce."

"Damn him…" Bunnie said lightly as she shook the vibrations out of her metal limb.

"What's with all the racquet?" A familiar voice called, causing the two to jump. It seemed that Jerome had finally come to.

"We were just trying to find a way out of here…" Sally said. "You think you could pick the lock? I've already tried."

The white mouse just rubbed his head and laughed, he couldn't believe that the princess would have been so stereotypical. "What do you take me for? I wasn't trained as a thief. Don't assume I am just because I am a mouse."

Apologizing, the princess sighed. "It's just Sonic's in trouble."

"Sugarhog will be fine… if any of us could bring down that tin can it'd be him."

Sally gave a nod; she really hoped that Bunnie was right. If Sonic lost this fight, then all they had fought for over the years would be lost to this mountain.

"Hurry Sonic!" The harnessed fox cried out, as Sonic was once again floored by a stray blow. Sitting up the hero whipped his mouth which was bleeding lightly. Hitting the robot was like smacking into a brick wall. The blue hedgehog's skin, however, was not as protective and he felt pain rising through him. He couldn't stop though, not with everyone counting on him, not with hope riding on his shoulders.

"Hold on bro! I'm a bit busy…" Sonic muttered to himself, finding that he was getting annoyed at the fox's impatience. He never knew that Tails could be so whiny, many early occasions his bud was very laid back, even when in the hands of the enemy. Sonic shook it off though; he'd probably act different if he were dangling above a hot lava pit.

It was kind of funny actually, it had been so long he had heard Tails in peril that it made him think of the first day he knew the two tailed fox who would be his best friend during these hard times, and how he had grown over the time they had spent together. Strange, how it took the foreboding of losing Tails to realize how much he had grown. From being so dependent, to become a very admirable Freedom Fighter, and he was only twelve. The hero blasted forward and cried out. He could not let his bud come so far, only to be lost now. Not here… Not now!

The malevolent robot just smirked as the sudden out burst from the organic hedgehog left an opening for him to strike. Sonic couldn't stop himself in time to avoid the sharp claws swiping at him. As the slash hit him hard, the blue hedgehog flew back and slid across the floor.

Audible gasps could be heard from the cage where the three other Freedom Fighters were being kept, and as Sonic tried to get up he could see, and feel why. A trail of red was laid out on the floor between himself and his adversary. His vision became blurry, that hit was vital… how could he have been so blind as to leave himself open life that?

As the hero's vision started to fade so did his hearing. He heard his bud cry out his name, again and again, and his other companions joined him. Unable to stand the condition he was in.

"Sonic!" Tails's voice rose above them all. "Sonic!"

"Sonic," the voice had suddenly changed, and sounded much older, like Selim's. "please… be with Tails and the other Freedom Fighters, they need you… you owe me that much…"

The hero recognized this phrase… it was the last request from the older fox, before he faced the shell that used to be his Uncle Chuck. He had lost a lot that day, but made good on his promise.

Cries for his name continued on in the woozy blur. It was becoming hard to identify who the voices belonged to when another voice had cut through.

"Sonic Hedgehog" the voice was one that was hard to place… but as the image of a red bird seemed to appear before his eyes, the hero realized he was being hit by another memory. "You have more then helped us in our task of showing the young Prower his path, but we implore you to continue this, and please don't let anything happen to him, the destiny of this planet depends upon his very survival. He is the chosen one as his uncle had told us. The things he does will make sure that this planet will one day have true peace, one this planet has never truly experienced."

A chill ran through the bleeding hedgehog. He couldn't stand letting his failures be shoved in his face again. How did he fail so miserably? He thought he was strong, and that he could protect his buddy, as he had promised to so many. The feeling of failure burst through him and caused a tear to run down his cheek.

As if the tear had cleaned his eyes and allowed him to see again, the hero's vision became clear again. He could see a cold metal foot in front of him. The figure that stood before him and let out emotionless cold words, "Do you finally see? How your weak emotions brought about your downfall? Farewell my loathsome copy…"

Metal Sonic kicked the fallen hedgehog hard causing him to lift off the ground and crash straight into rubble from the Death Egg the hero had destroyed so long ago, and buried the organic hedgehog in the metal debris. The harsh sound of the moving metal calmed to a still as the rubble settled in its new position, completely hiding the hero. Then there complete silence.

The Freedom Fighters watched, and hoped. Wishing for the slightest sign of motion, they stared upon the rubble. But as the long seconds ticked by, there was none…

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Sorry for the lateness, life got in the way and the site wasn't working right for awhile. Next update on May 5th.