Chapter 20

Past Revisited Act 3

"So great, we're back here at the Ark. It's not going to fall again is it?" Knuckles groaned audibly.

"I…doubt it. The Ark looks somewhat damaged. Remember, it took a lot of damage when it fell to Earth" Tails replied.

"That being said, if one of the Meta Kings is up there they might be able to fire the cannon, chaos emeralds or no. At this point anything is possible" Sonic said.

"Hey guys" Amy Chimed "Do you think Shadow's here? I mean, I know he fell to Earth after stopping the Ark and Eggman found him but…maybe with the weird alterations to time he might…?"

Tails looked forward, Cosmo noticing a mixture of contemplation and light anger on his face. After a few seconds he seemed to notice her looking and shifted to a neutral expression before answering.

"No, I don't think he's here. Odds are the Meta King that's here wouldn't want him running around and potentially threatening their plans"

Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles looked down solemnly while Cosmo walked up to Tails and spoke in a near whisper.

"Tails…are you still angry with him for…that?"

Tails looked away from her.

"...kinda. I mean, I'm starting to forgive him since he did use chaos regeneration to save you alongside Sonic, and you are here because of that."

Cosmo pressed on.

"But?"

Sighing, Tails answered

"But he still tried to kill you. For something you didn't even know about! And how uncaring and cold he was about it…I'm sorry. I just need more time before I can completely forgive him"

Cosmo took Tails' hand in her own and nodded.

"Alright guys" Sonic spoke up "I'm willing to bet the Meta King is on board the Ark right now. So that's where we're going"

With precision, each of them began to make their way across the various asteroids as they climbed up towards the Ark, save for Cosmo who was being carried by Tails, her petal skirt being of no assistance due to the lack of wind to enable her to float.

Coming to a service hatch, Tails put Cosmo down as he tore off a panel and began messing with the wires behind it.

"Can't you just let me break the hatch open?" Knuckles complained

"Knuckles, if you did that it'd likely electrocute you. Not to mention we want to be able to close this hatch when we get in so we aren't pulled back out into space" Tails replied, still focusing on his work.

There was a small popping sound and the hatch opened up, the five heroes entering and Tails closing it behind them.

Only to be met with pitch black darkness

"Tails! What's going on? It's so dark I can't even see my hand in front of my face!" Sonic called

"The Arks systems must have shut down after we left due to losing so much power after all that happened. And theirs no need to call out, I'm right beside you!" Tails answered

"Do you think you can turn the power on Tails?" Cosmo asked, still holding his hand tightly in her own.

Before Tails could respond, their was a booming sound, followed by echoing whirring as the lights came on, the room upon being lit revealed to be full of large machines that lined the walls and green energy flowing below.

"Wow buddy that was fast" Sonic praised

Tails shook his head

"Forgive me if it sounds cliche, but it wasn't me"

Another large booming sound, this one more clearly a banging, was heard as a large shadow loomed over the five heroes from the opposite end of the room, the banging being the sound of someone landing on said platform.

"Get ready everyone here comes the next one" Knuckles said as he got into fighting stance.

Loud stomping echoes throughout the chamber as the third of the Meta Kings walking into view, his stance very proud and confrontational. His body was colored a deep crimson, which perfectly matched his eyes as they were red the same as all other Metal Sonics.

"Finally, I thought you'd never get here. What's wrong? My brothers give you too much trouble? Those weak meat sack bodies of yours getting tired?" he spat.

Sonic stepped forward "And I assume you're Ruby Sonic?"

Ruby crossed his arms in and tilted his head upward so as to mimic a smug posture "So you figured out the naming scheme then huh?"

"Well it wasn't exactly hard. I mean Emerald, Topaz, and then you being red. It's pretty obvious" Sonic replied "though it is weird that you guys have gem names and Neo is just..Neo. Like why not call him Sapphire Sonic?"

Ruby Sonic huffed "He inherited that name from our master. It puts him on a higher position then us" Ruby Sonic then shook his fists "BUT HE DOESN'T DESERVE IT! JUST BECAUSE HE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE META DID HE GETS SPECIAL TREATMENT!? I LOOK LIKE HIM TOO! I'M JUST A DIFFERENT COLOR!"

The heroes looked up at the raging robot with with dumbfounded expressions. A moment ago the enemy standing above them had looked fairly menacing, now he resembled a whining child.

Tails spoke up "Okay I think I've got this one: you have Knuckles and Amy's temper. And I'm willing to bet this means you have a more direct method of trying to kill us"

Surprisingly, neither Knuckles nor Amy said anything at the mention of their respective tempers. Instead they looked back at Ruby Sonic with looks that said "Is that what I'm like?"

Ruby Sonic stood still and glared down "Oh you think you're so brilliant don't you? Yeah I do have their tempers and yeah, I do prefer to fight you directly instead of some cheap challenge or pointless strategy"

Ruby then jumped down from the platform and landed in the center of the room with a loud bang, the impact creating slight vibrations in the metal floor.

"I prefer the tried and true way of simply crushing your fragile bodies under my heel"

"Oh yeah!?" Knuckles yelled "We're weak? I bet you're brothers would say otherwise"

"They were weak too! I'll show you real power!"

Ruby then clenched his fists as he began to grow to a greater height. Heroes looked on as he grew until he was roughly the size of an Egg Hammer unit.

Unimpressed, Knuckles taunted once more "That's it? You get bigger and we're supposed to be scared? Do you know how many giant robots we've taken down before?"

Ruby made no reply, instead bringing his fists together and slamming them down on the ground, resulting in a large shock wave being sent their way.

"Everybody scatter!" Sonic called as he and the others rushed out of the way.

As Knuckles dodged the shock wave, he was suddenly slammed down by Ruby's fist.

"How does that feel organic filth? Not so tough now are ya?"

He then raised his fist and brought it down on Knuckles again, only to feel resistance.

His digital eyes widened as his fist was pushed back by the noticeably enraged echidna.

"You're supposed to have all our data right? Including mine? Well then you should know: this didn't work for Yellow Zelkova. AND IT WON'T WORK FOR YOU!"

Shoving forward, Knuckles pushed Ruby back before lunging forward and landing a solid blow to the side of Ruby's head which to both of their surprise, actually left a dent.

"AH! Why you little worm! You'll pay for that!"

As Ruby reared back, Knuckles prepared himself for a swift punch, and was surprised when instead the machine lifted his right foot in the air while raising his left fist back to strike.

"You may be strong, but with my size you won't be fast enough to dodge one of these attacks without me reacting in time to crush you with the other! And you aren't strong enough to counter both either!"

As Ruby began to attack, his foot was intercepted with a hard upward swing from Amy's hammer that sent Ruby falling onto his back.

"You talk way too much. Come on then big guy! Put up of shut up!" she said as she reared her hammer back in preparation.

Using the jet on his back, Ruby lifted himself up and roared at his foes.

"Fine! I'll take you both on!"

Swinging both fists down, Ruby roared out in rage as Knuckles and Amy coordinated their counter attacks to push back his fists. Amy following suite by throwing her hammer right between his eyes, leaving another large dent.

"I'm guessing Meta didn't make you out of very strong metal either" Amy said.

Seething, Ruby replied "I don't need stronger metal! I'm more than strong for you two!"

Ruby felt something drop down on his head, looking up he came face to face with a grinning Sonic.

"But what about me big guy? Whatcha got for me?"

Ruby immediately brought his fist up to smash the hedgehog, who promptly jumped off and dashed a small distance away.

Ruby just barely caught himself before his fist made contact.

"Ooooh no. I am not falling for that old trick"

Grinning, Sonic groaned in fake disappointment "Aw, I was hoping you'd give us a good laugh. Oh well, I guess you aren't as dumb as I thought"

Moving into a fighting stance, he continued "But Metal Sonics are supposed to be fast. And I haven't seen even one of you move with any real speed"

Powering up the jet on his back, Ruby yelled back

"YOU WANT FAST!? I'LL SHOW YOU FAST!"

Ruby rushed forward, claws outstretched to grab Sonic and crush him. He hadn't even made it halfway before Knuckles and Amy spiked him on the back of his head, slamming his face into the floor and causing damage to both the back of his head and his face.

Sonic began to roll over laughing "Tails was right! Meta must have build all of you with certain styles in mind! Yours is just strength!"

"W-what!?" Ruby cried out as he began attempting to stand, while Amy and Knuckles jumped back in case he attacked.

His laughter dying down, Sonic elaborated "Tails figured out that each of you were made with a certain challenge in mind. Emerald was basically the preliminary, Topaz was more the puzzle guy with how Tails and Eggman had to outsmart him, and you're just the combat guy. None of you were designed to be fast, and so you weren't moving fast enough to avoid Amy and Knuckles stomping you into the floor"

"Raaaagh!" Ruby roared

As for Tails, he and Cosmo were currently on the platform Ruby had jumped from, watching the fight go down.

"I knew it" Tails spoke aloud "This gives Sonic a good advantage. I just wish we could finish this sooner"

Cosmo looked to him with a confident smile "Tails we're surrounded by machinery. And you've been to the Ark before, so I'm sure you can find something to use against him right?"

Tails thought for a moment, he looked around the room and took notice of their surroundings. There were large, glowing humming machines that appeared to be generators. There were hundreds of cables and tubes running into them. And their was a brightly glowing green energy running through all of it. Where on the Ark had he seen all that?

Then his eyes lit up.

"I've got it Cosmo! This is the Arks power plant! That green energy is dangerously potent. If we can get it on Ruby, it'll dissolve him like acid!"

Cosmo cheered

"That's brilliant Tails! How do you think we could get it on him?"

Tails looked down at the battle raging below and then to the generators.

"Well, neither of us are strong enough to open the generators outer casing. And there are no plants here for you to use to open them...

Can't you just let me break the hatch open?

"That's it!" Tails spoke in a whisper, his eyes lighting up once more as a devious grin grew on his face.

"Tails?" Cosmo asked curiously

Turning to look at her Tails, still smiling, spoke hurriedly,

"Wait here"

"Tails!" Cosmo cried out as he jumped from the platform and rushed down to Sonic, who had just tripped Ruby over allowing Knuckles and Amy to land repeated blows to his face and chest plate.

"Sonic!" he cried out

Looking over, Sonic rushed over in worry.

"Tails! What are you doing!? look buddy I know you want to help but raw strength really isn't your thing! I mean I know you can move fast too but I'm not really-"

"Sonic listen!" Tails cut him off "I know how to defeat him!"

Stopping and seeing the lit up look in Tails' eyes, a look Sonic knew to mean his bro had come up with something good, the hedgehog grinned.

"Alright bro, what's the plan?"

"We're in the Arks power plant. Remember what happened when we went down here to shut it off?"

Sonic nodded "Yeah, we almost fell into all that green energy this place uses"

Tails nodded "Yes and if Ruby is covered in it…" he began

"He'll melt into nothing!" Sonic finished

Sonic chuckled "Good idea Tails! But how are we gonna break the casing for the generators?"

Tails' grin widened "Who says we have to?"

Sonic paused before getting the idea.

"On it" he said simply before rushing back towards the battle.

Satisfied, Tails flew back up to the platform and was met with a curious Cosmo.

"What's going on Tails?"

He smiled back "Just watch, this is gonna be good"

Down on the ground, Knuckles and Amy had made significant progress in damaging Ruby. Both of his shoulder plates were shattered, his head was covered in dents, his feet had chips and small holes in them and his left eye was cracked slightly. Unfortunately, the two fighters were getting exhausted, while Ruby was only getting angrier by the minute.

"Huff…huff…what is it with you? Aren't you done yet?" Amy said to the irate robot as she tried to catch her breath.

"You can't…huff..beat us…huff…so give up already!" Knuckles chimed in

Ruby's eyes dilated

"On the contrary, I'm just about to win. You're inferior fleshy bodies are tired. I am a machine. I NEVER TIRE!"

He lunged at them as they struggled to brace themselves.

Intercepting Ruby's movements, Sonic used his speed to create a gust that flung Ruby's fist right into his face. As the robot recovered, his looked angrily at Sonic, who stood in front of one of the generators pointing and laughing.

"hahahaha! I got you to do it! That was priceless!"

Slamming his foot down, Ruby roared back "OH YOU THINK THAT'S FUNNY!? WE'LL SEE IF YOU THINK ITS FUNNY WHEN I SLAM YOU INTO THE WALLS SO HARD YOU GET SUCKED INTO SPACE!"

Sonic merely looked back with a smug look on his face and waved Ruby off.

"Yeah yeah, big talk. Look at you, you're all broken and dented. Face it man: you're at you're limit"

Ruby reared back as if struck before he began charging at Sonic in a blind rage.

"LIMIT? LIMIT!? YOU THINK I HAVE A LIMIT!?"

Sonic grinned as Ruby neared him and pulled back his fist to strike.

"Tails, what's he doing?" Cosmo asked

"Here it comes" Tails said

"I'VE GOT YOU LIMIT RIGHT HERE!" Ruby screamed as he hurled his fist at the grinning hedgehog.

Sonic effortlessly dodge the attack and rushed a great distance away. This was gonna be a big one.

Ruby's fist collided with the generators out casing and easily broke through, breaking through wires, then being immersed in the green energy powering it.

Ruby's systems made him aware that his right forearm was dissolving before he even had the chance to pull it back.

"What!?" he cried out as he saw sparks beginning to come from the exposed circuitry as the energy poured over it and dissolved it.

"Guys! Get clear!" Tails and Sonic called out, Knuckles and Amy wasting no time in finding cover as Sonic did the same, Tails and Cosmo ducking further back on the platform.

Ruby had barely enough time to pull his arm back as he realized what he'd done in his blind rage. He also realized what has to happen and worst of all for him, he realized he was powerless to stop it.

"Dammit. I can't believe I fell for that" he thought "Well, may as well stick with what I do best apparently"

Ruby let out his loudest roar of rage as they sparks ignited and the energy reacted with a powerful explosion, engulfing him fully and swallowing the room in a bright greenish light.

When the light died down, there were just enough generators still operational for the lights in the room to remain on, albeit dimly.

Coming out from their cover, Sonic, Amy and Knuckles walked over to look at where Ruby had been while Tails and Cosmo descended beside them.

They did not find parts, they did not find a pile of metal slag, instead they found a large blackened scorch mark that appeared to have nearly burned through the floor. Ruby had been completely dissolved by the explosion, his melting form nearly burning through the floor as his reached his feet before being erased completely.

The third of the Meta Kings was destroyed.

Wiping his brow, Knuckles sighed in relief.

"Phew, I'm glad that worked. Though next time could you give a heads up with your plan?"

"I'm just glad the fights over. I'll take another Eggman fight over that please" Amy chimed in

Tails looked around "Okay, Ruby's down. Where's the next portal?"

And once again, the portal manifested right on cue.

"Okay, anyone else getting the feeling this whole "Appear right after we say something" thing isn't a coincidence?" Sonic asked

"Like their being opened for us deliberately? Yeah" Tails answered.

"Well no point in worrying about it. Lets go, we've only got one more Meta King to beat and then it's on to the big guy" Sonic said as they walked up to the portal.

Just as they reached the portal, a large yellow beam of energy shot out of it and struck Sonic square in the chest, sending him flying across the room and into a wall.

"Sonic!" the others cried in unison.

"What the hell was tha-" Knuckles began before the same thing happened to him, followed by Amy.

"Guys, we coming!" Tails called out, preparing to rush over to their aid. He and Cosmo were then caught off guard as a pair of metal hands reached out behind then and grabbed them, pulling them into the portal.

"Tails! Cosmo!" Sonic cried out as the two were pulled in, the portal closing behind them thus leaving the other three looking on in dismay.

As they fell through the portal, the arms that had pulled them in seemed to disappear, and Tails and Cosmo were left falling through a corridor of endless shapes, swirls and colors.

"Tails! What's happening!? this doesn't feel like the last one we went through!" Cosmo cried out, reaching for Tails' hand

"I don't know! I think we're being pulled into a specific time! But something seems different about this time vortex!" he called back, reaching for her.

Before they could reach one another, the time corridor seemed to split into two paths, an unseen force pulling them from each other and into separate paths.

"Tails!"

"Cosmo!"

Both screamed for the other as they vanished from each others view. Their individual surroundings shifting as everything faded to white.

And there we go! Three Kings down, one to go! And then as Sonic said "The big guy". and where will this particular time vortex lead? What does Neo have planned? What's Meta doing? Did anyone get Ruby Sonic's reference to Archie Sonic #175? well we'll see next ya!