Chapter 18

Past Revisited Act 1

A warm, serene light filled the sky as it shone down on South Island. The various inhabitants cheerful and content, unaware of the strange anomaly manifesting above them. This strange anomaly began to open, establishing a gateway of sorts. From this vortex fell a group of individuals, three of which the inhabitants of the island would recognize with praise and adoration for two and ire for the third.

Falling to the ground with a thud, Sonic, Tails, Cosmo, Amy, and the rest gathered their bearings before surveying the area, attempting to discern where the wormhole had sent them.

"Sonic, this looks like south island!" Tails said to his brother.

"Sure does! Haven't been here since we first met! Man does that bring back memories!" Sonic replied nostalgically.

"Bad memories" Eggman grumbled "I remember it as the first time you ruined my beautiful death egg and found the seventh chaos emerald….things have just been worse and worse for me since then"

"Hold on" Amy interjected "If this is the past…where are your past selves?"

"I don't know Amy" Tails answered "but I imagine we're somewhere around here…though given how everything looks peaceful I'd say we've already beaten Eggman so we're probably just wandering around. I can't really remember what we did right after we'd won."

"You set off for Angel island"

Everyone was startled, looking up to find a green metal sonic glaring down at them from a nearby tree: one of the Meta Kings.

"Hello, I am Emerald Sonic. I am pleased to finally meet all of you in person. We have so much fun to look forward to" Emerald spoke.

Sonic responded first.

"Alright then Emerald me, what's the game? A race? A Chase?"

"Something like that"

Emerald Sonic raised his right hand and from Sonic and Tails came a strange torrent of blue and yellow energy which seemed to condense in Emerald Sonic's raised hand.

"My master wishes to eliminate you and Tails from the timeline, but of course having harnessed the energy of the time stones your demise in the past will not effect him at all. As such he's given me and my brothers free reign to dispose of you in any way we see fit, and that includes having fun with it."

"You sure that's wise? Every time a bad guy gives us a chance to fight back they end up regretting it" Knuckles called from the ground.

"We were designed with all of your bio data in our systems, each of us has a specific trait from one or more of you. I hold Sonic, Knuckles, Amy and Tails' love for a challenge. So I intend to challenge both myself and all of you with my little game"

"Which is?" Tails asked cautiously

Without responding, Emerald dug his clawed hands into the sphere of energy which had accumulated in his palm, before the energy suddenly burst outward revealing the levitating forms of Sonic, Tails and Eggman's past selves.

"I'm going to send these three into the not so far future, further into the labyrinth of time pockets"

Sonic shuddered "Ugh…labyrinth…"

"I won't tell you where this time pocket leads, just that the entrance is located in the mystic cave zone. I'll be waiting there for you to come to me and stop me. You'd better hurry though, I'll only wait for about ten minutes before I end their lives. Better start running!"

And with this, Emerald Sonic vanished and took his three captives away.

"We have to hurry! I can't allow my glorious past self to perish! I'm too young!" Eggman cried.

"Wait! This all seems too simple don't you think? There has to be some manner of threat to this point in time aside from just Emerald Sonic. Like an army of metal sonics or-" Tails spoke before his suspicions were proven right by the sound of explosions coming from nearby villages.

"Why do you always have to be right?" Knuckles groaned.

"We don't have time to worry about the villages!" Eggman ranted "Besides, they're in the past anyway"

"Yeah, and if we let the meta army destroy them it will alter history and make Meta Sonic one step closer to winning" Sonic countered.

"He's trying to divide us!" Eggman countered back "Reducing our numbers to increase his chance of victory!"

"Fine" Vector interjected "We'll help fight off the robots and save the villagers, you guys go stop that Emerald guy"

"Yeah! Finally we get to be the heroes!" Charmy cheered.

"Alright then, lets go!" Tails rallied

And thus, Sonic, Tails, Cosmo, Amy, Knuckles, Rouge and Eggman rushed off in search of the entrance to mystic cave.

For several minutes they searched, finally coming upon a plateau and becoming more or less lost.

"I don't understand. I thought the entrance would be right here, but there's nothing!" Tails said exasperated.

"It is here! I'm sure of it! I remember bringing my drilling machine through the entrance somewhere around here!" Eggman spoke clearly panicking.

"Well allow me, finding hidden secrets is my specialty" Rouge boasted.

"Hah! You think you can find it? You can't even find most of the hidden passageways on Angel Island bat girl!" Knuckles scoffed.

"Oh? And you do you know I haven't already found them?" Rouge scoffed back.

As the two began to once again argue with Sonic Amy and Tails attempting to make them focus on the matter at hand, Cosmo began looking around further before she felt something shift beneath her feet followed by the ground shaking.

"Ah! Everyone! Something's happening!" she cried to get their attention.

All eyes turned to her as they too began to feel the shaking which lasted for several seconds before the ground just in front of Cosmo began to descend forming an underground staircase leading into a dimly lit tunnel.

"Nice going Cosmo! You found it!" Amy cheered

"This seems familiar…" Tails muttered.

"Show off…" Knuckles and Rouge muttered.

"Time is of the essence people! Chop chop!" Eggman called as he ran down into the entrance to mystic cave.

With the heroes following suite, they eventually came upon a particularly long corridor which seemed to have a glowing light at the end.

As they rushed along, Cosmo looked up to Tails who was carrying her in his arms as he flew alongside Sonic with them being at the front of the group.

"Hmm, Tails doesn't this remind you of when we were trapped in that metarex cave?"

Nodding with a nostalgic smile, Tails replied.

"Yeah. And there are even fireflies around us. I know this may not be the best time to say this, but you look so beautiful in the light of the fireflies Cosmo"

Blushing, Cosmo said nothing, merely smiling and holding Tails closer as they approached their destination.

Coming to the clearing at the end of the corridor, the group found the portal to the next point in time. Wasting no time, they immediately jumped in, the disorienting swirling of colors and shapes once again plaguing them as they seemed to just float there before being abruptly dropped down in a setting familiar to Sonic, Tails, Amy and Eggman: the Metallic Madness Zone. Sonic, Tails, Amy and Eggman recognizing it as the site where Sonic and Tails had destroyed Eggman's last machine and freed the little planet.

"So wait, we're on the little planet now? How does that work? I though the little planet existed outside of time" Amy asked.

"Well technically it does and doesn't. as a sort of manifestation of the time stones' chronos energy the little planet exists in all points of time simultaneously but cannot be affected by timeline alteration as everything else can. So anything that happens to it here won't cause any change to it in the future and-" Tails went on before being interrupted by an angry and confused Amy and Knuckles.

"Okay I get it! It's just here okay! That's all we need to know!" they yelled in unison to the embarrassed fox.

"The question is: where are Emerald Sonic and our past selves?" Sonic asked.

"Why we're right here" Emerald Sonic replied as the wall nearby opened up to reveal him and his hostages which now included past Amy.

"And look! I even acquired one more hostage!" he taunted.

"Alright Emerald! We played your little game and got here in time, now let them go!" Sonic called out.

"oh but we're not done yet! See, now its time for MY challenge!"

from beneath him a section of the floor opened up with a platform rising up from it, with a new machine emerging.

"Sonic and Eggman may recognize this unit as the "Silver Sonic" model that predated the metal series. Naturally I've improved it as you can plainly see" Emerald spoke.

And he wasn't kidding. Silver Sonic had been made much larger, now towering over the others present as well as Emerald himself. It had more spines on it's back which had been redesigned to be like individual chainsaw blades and were now individually motorized. Its fingers were now large high grade cannons and instead of its wheels on its feet, there were now spikes on the bottom.

"So what? You're going to have it fight us for you?" Rouge asked, unimpressed.

"No my dear, I'm going to fight you IN it!" Emerald shot back before his body collapsed into the strange metal liquid state the Neo Metal Sonic model was known for, which promptly seeped into the Silver Sonic.

The Silver Sonic's eyes lit up and the heroes could here Emerald Sonic's voice come from it.

"Think of this as a suite of armor. One which you must find a way through! My challenge is to best you in such a confining body! Lets go!" Emerald called out before activating his finger cannons, causing everyone to scatter. Eggman dove behind a nearby command console, Sonic and Rouge were making circles around the robot attempting to evade and distract it while Knuckles and Amy attempted to deal heavy blows to it only to be repeatedly drive back and Tails took Cosmo behind a large piece of shrapnel likely left behind during the battle that had taken place in the past between himself, Sonic and Eggman.

"Cosmo stay here, I'm going to see if I can do anything"

Tails turned to leave before Cosmo caught his arm.

"Tails wait! Let me help! Maybe I can hold him with my powers"

"Cosmo I don't want you to get hurt! This guys is serious!"

"So am I. I don't want you hurt either Tails" Cosmo replied, a look of finality and determination in her eyes.

Tails hesitated a moment, but sighed and nodded.

"Okay just- please be careful okay?" he pleaded.

"I will. You be careful too" Cosmo replied.

The two then made their way out into the open to rejoin the battle. Finding Sonic attempting to spin dash Silver Sonic's head but making no progress, Rouge attempting the same with her screw kick and Knuckles and Amy attempting to shatter the joints in it's legs but all having to fall back as Silver Sonic fired his cannons at them.

"This is getting us nowhere! How the hell do we break this thing!?" Knuckles yelled.

"All of Eggman's early robot Sonics had a structural weakness, we just need to find it!" Tails called back.

"What!? my machines were perfect! You just got lucky!" Eggman barked before turning away in a huff "But if you must know, Silver Sonic's weak pint was the locking joint that maintained its metal shell. It's located between his eyes."

"What!? why didn't tell us that before!?" Amy screeched as she dodged more gunfire.

"I don't like helping to destroy my own creations okay!? it was bad enough watching you pests destroy it once!" Eggman yelled back.

"Okay then, I've got a plan!" Tails called "Sonic! Spin dash! Knuckles! You and Rouge draw Silver Sonic's attention by attacking his head and legs! Amy! When I give the word, you launch Sonic right between it's eyes! Cosmo! Summon some vines and hold his arms when I say!"

"Right!" everyone replied.

Knuckles and Rouge went about attacking Silver Sonic, causing Emerald Sonic within it to growl in rage as he attempted to fight them off. Sonic began spin dashing in place building up more and more speed in his spin as Amy drew back her hammer and awaited the word to swing. Once Silver Sonic had raised his right arm to attack Rouge and lowered his left to attack Knuckles, Tails turned to Cosmo and called "Now Cosmo! Grab him!"

Throwing out her hands, Cosmo focused her senses on the plant life beneath Silver Sonic before throwing her arms up and closing her fists, causing large vines to erupt from the ground and wrap themselves around his arms and legs. Once he was ensnared, Cosmo pulled her arms downward, causing the vines to pull on the large robot and keep him from being able to move his limbs.

"Now Amy!" Tails called.

"YAH!" Amy cried out as she swung her hammer with all her might, sending Sonic like a bullet towards his massive silver double.

Withing Silver Sonic, Emerald Sonic's digital eyes dilated.

"NO!" he screamed as Sonic went through Silver Sonic's head like paper, at the same time doing the same to Emerald Sonic's head.

Using his momentum further, Sonic bounced off the wall behind the robot and hurled himself through the machines torso, continuing his collision based assault until the robot and its mechanical occupant were in numerous pieces and crumbled onto the ground.

As the group cheered, Eggman made his way over to the remains of their enemy, seemingly solemn.

"Ugh, I hate having to see such wonderful robotics reduced to scrap like this…" he sighed.

"KRZT- Don't mourn yet doctor -KRZT"

"EEP!" Eggman squealed, jumping back in fright as the rest gathered around the wreckage.

From slightly beneath it, Emerald Sonics head could be seen, his eyes heavily cracked, one iris gone and his mouth plate missing and three of his five spikes broken off.

"Y-you've only-KRZT-beaten me. You still haven't stopped my-KRZT-master" he barely spoke.

"We will soon. Especially if your brothers are pushovers like you" Knuckles gloated.

Emerald Sonic gave a garbled laugh, before a wormhole opened up several feet to the left of the group.

"G-go then-KRZT-heroes. Y-you will never…stop-KRZT-them…"

And with a low hum, all of his system shut down completely.

The first of the Meta Kings, Emerald Sonic, was beaten.

"Everyone! Look!" Cosmo called

Looking up, everyone saw the past versions of Sonic, Tails, Amy and Eggman take on a static like appearance as they faded away.

"What happened to them?" Knuckles asked

"Emerald Sonic was the tether holding them here, with him gone they've been sent back the their proper place in time" Tails answered.

Suddenly, the area around them changed in a flash of light, the metallic fortress changing to a beautiful hillside with plants that appeared to be perfectly merged with technology, a perfect union of science and nature.

"It's beautiful!" Cosmo cheered "I hope it stays this way!"

"It will, so long as Emerald stays down and we beat the others" Sonic replied.

Everyone stood still for a moment to make sure he'd stay down before Amy walked up and crushed his deactivated head with her hammer. Turning to the others, she gave a shrug.

"What? Now we can be sure he won't reactivate somehow"

No one replied as they all began making there way to the wormhole.

"Well guys" Sonic began "lets get going. Meta and his kings aren't going to wait around forever" he said as he jumped in.

Knuckles, Amy, and Rouge followed after, Eggman jumping after giving one more solemn look the two shattered robots behind him. As Tails and Cosmo prepared to jump in however, Tails turned to Cosmo and embraced her.

"You did great Cosmo! I'm so proud of you!" he said.

Cosmo's eyes teared up slightly with happiness as she hugged back.

"Thank you Tails, I'm glad I can be a more direct help now"

"Direct or not, you're always helpful" Tails said as the held each others hand and jumped in, ready to face their next challenge.

Okay, so another short chapter but it does say "Act 1" which is basically part 1 so…anyway I'm trying to give each of the Meta Kings their own personality quirks. Emerald's was that he liked to challenge himself much like how Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy do. The other three will also have traits from the "Main four" as Meta Sonic considered them the biggest threats so their bio data is the most prioritized. And here we saw South Island from Sonic 1 and 2 but after the events of 2. we also visited Metallic Madness from Sonic CD. Where to next? Next chapter. See ya!