Chapter #9: The Final Confrontation

10:50 AM

Mystic Ruins Jungle

Everything was going well for Metal Sonic.

He and Sonic were running through the rainforest in a "game" of tag, and the hero was "It". So far he had been unsuccessful in catching Metal, due to three things: the narrowness of the paths Metal chose, the stream that constantly flowed across the paths, and the poison. The latter, much to the robot's delight, contributed the most to Sonic's failure. But the poison had a slight drawback: it was working a bit too well.

Metal needed Sonic to follow him to the drop-off, where he and Master Eggman would finish him off in his weakness. But sometimes the hero would stumble, and it was very hard to get him back up; Metal's only option was to jeer at him from a safe distance and show him the tube of liquid. The method worked, but it took longer each time.

For the fifth time, Sonic tripped on a rock and tumbled into the stream, his mouth filling with mud and water. Coughing and wheezing, he lifted his head and stared at his enemy with rage. Inside he was losing hope of ever getting his hands on that tube, but he dared not show it. However, Metal seemed to read his thoughts.

"What's the matter, hero? Giving up? Is this challenge too tough for the great Sonic the Hedgehog?"

Gritting his teeth, Sonic stood up and began to step forward. But then he swayed and leaned against a tree trunk; the poison was attacking him again, and the pain was almost unbearable. He was starting to hallucinate and see double of everything. He shut his eyes and shook his head; it cleared his vision, but the headaches remained. He darted after Metal, who was already running a few yards ahead of him.

Suddenly the growth of trees stopped, and Sonic nearly rocketed over a wide cliff. Teetering dangerously on the edge, he leaned back and fell tail-first on the ground. Then the hedgehog crawled to the edge and stared down at the rainforest below; the height of his near-fall made him dizzy, and he backed away cautiously. Getting on his feet, he looked around for Metal. He was nowhere in sight; had he gone over the edge?

Of course, the robotic hedgehog hadn't fallen off the cliff; he was standing in the tree line, his metal colored the same as the surrounding foliage—the perfect camouflage. He watched his bewildered enemy search for him, with his own puzzled thoughts.

Where was his master? He was supposed to ambush Sonic now, while he was looking for Metal. The timing was right, so why wasn't he attacking?

The answer, unknown to Metal Sonic, was that Eggman had forgotten a few special factors in the plan—the former hostages.


"Give us that antidote, Eggman!"

"You're such a creep, tricking Sonic!"

Tails and Amy had Eggman in a corner of the Echidnean ruins, with an overheated engine (just his luck); Eggman could only keep it a foot above ground, and he couldn't fly off, giving the two a chance to snatch the antidote from his clutches. They kept him on his toes, moving around him out of his range and then striking when they saw an opening. To Eggman, it looked like a random, thoughtless attempt, but he failed to notice Cheese flying above him, waiting for the perfect opportunity to dive…

"Be off, you little pests!" Eggman cried with fury as Amy dove for his right hand, which held the antidote. Just in time he jerked his hand out of her way and held it up out of reach. He expected her to leap for it again—a futile attempt. But she did something else.

"Now, Cheese!" Amy cried.

Something turquoise swooped down and went right past the doctor's head, and when he looked at his hand, the vial of antidote was gone! "What!"

Cheese landed on Tails' shoulder and handed him the antidote, and the trio started running away.

"Why you little brats!" he fumed. He pushed up on the gas throttle on his ship to chase the trio…then suddenly he stopped.

The communicator watch on his wrist was beeping…

He turned it on and scolded the caller. "Metal, I told you to maintain radio silence until we completed the last phase!"

"Forgive me, Master, but I am waiting for you with Sonic at the rendezvous point. Why the delay?"

"Our hostages stole the real antidote! They know about the trick, so they probably know you're at the drop-off." Eggman's temper and slight panic rose with every sentence. "They'll be heading your way! The mission is failed if they reach Sonic with the real vial!"

"What should I do to prevent their reaching him, Master?"

The doctor shouted into the communicator, "Kill the hedgehog, Metal Sonic! Kill him now!"

That was exactly what Metal had wanted to hear. "With pleasure, Master…"

As he turned the communicator off, Eggman spotted Tails, Amy, and Cheese hurrying off to the cliff with great haste, looks of horror on their faces.

They had heard every word.


"C'mon, Metal, show yourself! No more games!" Sonic called out to the tree line, knowing his enemy was hidden somewhere in that area. He paced around the edge of the cliff for a while, but then his headaches hurt something awful, and he was forced to sit down on a log. Suddenly something moved in the bushes, and the hedgehog leaped up and darted for the source. But what he found mystified him: a communicator watch lying in a puddle of water. "What the…this must be Metal's." He stepped into the puddle andreached down to pick up the watch…

Then suddenly a horrible electric shock went up his legs and through his entire body. Sonic cried out in pain and collapsed into the puddle, shocking him even more. Then, just as suddenly as it had happened, the shock stopped. The hero watched in surprise as the "puddle" moved out from under him and began to rise and take shape.

The puddle wasn't water at all…

"You fell for my trap, hero," Metal Sonic mocked his foe. "You've lost your touch."

Sonic clenched his fists and was about to make a comeback when the robot showed him the vial of liquid. "I wonder if you've lost your speed as well," he said. He threw the vial into the air and said, "Catch!"

With a cry of horror, Sonic leaped up and darted for the falling tube. But he tripped on an unseen rock and fell on his face. He looked up just in time to see the vial fall to the ground a few feet in front of him, and it shattered into a million shards with a sickening crack, spilling its liquid contents onto the ground.

Sonic scrambled to the site of the disaster and took some of the glass shards in his hands, staring at them with despair. With his confidence broken into millions of pieces like the vial, he lowered his head in defeat.

His only hope for survival was lost…

Metal Sonic couldn't help but laugh at his rival's helplessness, and that drew Sonic's attention back to him. Despair suddenly turned into rage, and Sonic stood up, his eyes full of fire. The robot was stunned by the sudden change in mood, and he stepped back as the hedgehog advanced toward him, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists.

Sonic darted for Metal, blinded by his fury and unable to think clearly enough. But Metal moved out of the way and tripped him up. The hero's momentum sent him into the air, and he landed on his back onto the hard ground inches from the edge of the cliff. Stunned by his landing, he groaned but didn't move.

Then Metal grabbed Sonic by the throat and pulled him up on his knees. "Master Eggman has given me permission to finish you off while you're weak," he told him. "And I will…in the best way I can think of." He lifted Sonic off his feet and tightened his grip harder than before.

As the robot's grasp allowed less air to reach his lungs, Sonic's vision was filled with shapes and colors; if he didn't get any air soon, he would faint…or worse. The hedgehog squirmed around and desperately tried to pry Metal's hand off his throat, but his enemy only tightened his grasp further. Slowly the hero's windpipe was cut off by Metal's death-grip, and he ceased fighting and began to go limp from the lack of oxygen.

Metal Sonic's merciless orange eyes glowed brightly with villainous pleasure, enjoying the hero's helplessness—like a cat toying with its caught mouse. He brought his prey close to his face and sneered, "This is the end for you, Sonic the Hedgehog."

Darkness crept into the hedgehog's vision, and soon everything started fading. The only things he could see now were those orange eyes…

There was noise coming from the tree line—a girl's voice calling his name, then a shout from Metal and a thud as something smashed into his face—but Sonic did not hear it well enough; it too faded. The last thing he remembered was falling to the ground and his head hitting a rock…and then everything went pitch black.


Gasping for breath, Amy and Tails darted out of the trees into the clearing. They desperately searched for any sign of Sonic or Metal, but there was none.

"Where are they, Tails?" Amy asked between gasps.

"I…I don't know," replied the fox as he searched their surroundings again.

"Are we too late? Has Metal…" She couldn't finish the rest of her sentence.

Tails bit his lip and looked down at the vial of antidote he held in his hand. "I hope not, Amy."

Suddenly Cheese, who had been studying the ground, cried out in surprise. The other two rushed over to see what he had discovered. They were mystified.

Close by the river on the muddy bank, there were three sets of footprints—one the size of a child, another the size of a near adult, and a third three or four times bigger than the second. Tails quickly figured out who had made the prints.

"Cream, Knuckles, and Big! They've been here!" he exclaimed. "And maybe they found Sonic!"

"Then what are we waiting for! Let's follow their tracks!"

Quick as a flash, the fox, hedgehog, and Chao were running along the tracks, hoping that Sonic—alive and safe—would be with their friends at the trail's end.