I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog
CHAPTER 2 - A common cause
The wind whistled through the trees leaving behind a trail of leaves, but even the wind could not cut the tension that was created by the visitor. All eyes were on Metal, his body seemingly frozen in place. Finally after what seemed like forever his head rose and he pointed at the hedgehog.
"Hand over the Chaos Emerald, the Doctor demands it"
Metals metallic hand stretched out, almost mockingly towards Sonic. Both the blue blur's
Eye's never left each other, both twitching in expectation of a fight. Knuckles was edging towards the Master Emerald and Amy seemed to move more to Tails. Tails just didn't move, a thoughtful expression on his face. In a chain reaction of body language the two speed into the tree-lines, both running side by side
"You know Metal, it wouldn't hurt to say 'please' when you want something, or is Egghead that bad of an influence towards you? Dumb question, I know."
Metal glared and in an instant appeared in front of Sonic, a kick impacting his chin sending Sonic into the air. Wasting no time, Metal went after Sonic to grab his leg and fling him into the side of a tree only for Sonic to spring himself off the tree. Sonic tackled Metal out of the air, sending both to the ground and headfirst into the dirt.
"You..ha..done..yet?"
Sonic painted between breaths, slowly rising from the ground and standing tall. Metal reached for his counterpart. When Suddenly;
*BOOM*
"What the-"
"Anomaly detected: Searching Archives"
A crack, lines stretching out in front of them. One by one the strands in the sky start to multiply, a seemingly never ending abyss slipping through. Sonic and Metal could only stare into the void, images of a creature beyond their understanding slipping into their heads, regardless of flesh or machine. Sonic clutched his sides, his pupils shrunk and was struggling to breathe. His face screamed pain. But to Metal it was much worse. Metal had no pain, and in this case it was the first time metal experienced this concept.
"Ahh, hah, my...head"
Sonic could barely speak without collapsing, his body not listening to any commands.
"W-w-what i-is th-i-s, do-es no-t compute"
Metal grabbing handfuls of grass, his irises frantically moving in every direction. His body fizzing and heating up in response.
Then it all stopped. Both collapsed from the stress, no longer aware of their surroundings. Cracks in the sky slowly now receding back into a small dent in the sky before disappearing altogether all evidence of what happened gone. Suffice to say both were knocked out cold, not waking up any time soon.
"I think they ran over here Tails!"
Amy along with tails were quickly traversing the forest looking for any signs of the skirmish, but what they saw was not to their expectations. Amy quickly knelt to Sonic's side, while Tails went to see Metal.
"Sonic! Are you ok!? Please, talk to me!"
Sonic did not respond, instead a static fuzz from behind did. Amy turned around to see Tails prodding and poking at the machine, unscrewing Metal's chest to uncover the wiring.
"Amy, I think we need to figure out what we're dealing with, there's no way both of them knocked out each other. Take Sonic and head back to knuckles and the altar, i'll take Metal"
"But why! He's dangerous, deadly even!"
Tails looked behind his shoulder to face Amy, his expression grim yet soft.
"I have a feeling we might be able to figure out what went wrong quicker if we check what Metal saw, rather than words we'll see it for ourselves. Maybe even figure out what Eggman is up to as well"
Amy understood, nodded, then picked up Sonic and ran towards the altar. Determined to help in any way she can
"For now let's put you into 'off' and take you with me"
Tails also carried Metal and followed after Amy, intent on getting answers. He has a hunch but it's just that, a hunch.
Back with Knuckles, the Fox and Hedgehog came into view both carrying blue hedgehogs. Sonic, while not that damaged, looks exhausted. And Metal just looked off, with a slight spark coming off him every so often.
"What happened to them?"
Tails put down Metal, while bringing out the Miles Electric. He plugged it into Metal's system and began searching through the files until coming across automated reports. Tails opened the latest log and watched the fight from start to finish. But after the fight was over, all Tails could read in the logs were the words 'PAIN' before showing an image of a beast, a black figure with claws seemingly made of the shadow's around him. His mouth possessed nothing sharp teeth and his eyes non-existent.
"What is that?"
Amy looked over Tails's shoulder, her hand covering the expression she wore.
"Not a clue, but whatever it is, it's powerful to knock these two out"
Knuckles came over, a concerned look on his face as he addressed the fact.
"Amy why don't you take Sonic to the Master Emerald, it might do something to help"
Amy complied and walked up to the glowing gem, placing Sonic beside it.
Like before, nothing seemed to happen, until a glowing light seemed to resonate. A blanket of light covering Sonic until the blinding light seemed to cease revealing a missing hero.
"W-where...where is he!? Tails he's gone!"
Tails head snapped to the altar, while knuckles just gave a confused look.
"That was Chaos Control, where did-"
Knuckles cut himself off before thinking back. Before Metal came, the Master Emerald glowed similarly to earlier. Could Sonic have been sent to where he needed to be the most?
Tails also, was in thought. Although he was thinking back to the warning rather than Sonic's disappearance himself, until Tails got an idea.
"Knuckles I need you to be ready in case this backfires, but we might be able to do something and also get Eggman at the same time"
Knuckles walked over, clenching his fist as he glared at the robot.
"I hope you know what your doing, Tails"
Tails flipped a switch before responding
"Trust me"
A hum was heard from in front of Tails, Before Metal's eyes glowed neon red looking at the Fox who had a screwdriver in one hand, and a device in the other. Tails had operated on him, that he figured out.
"Threat identified: Defense activating"
Metal quickly got up, before moving several feet behind him, his fists raised in a ready position.
He calculated he had a 47% chance of winning if he took out the Echid-
"Wait, let's make a deal"
The two tailed fox had Metal stumped, a response he did not consider from the sidekick. He tilted his head sideways before approaching, his arms crossed and his eyes glued to the deal maker.
Tails responded with his proposition
"I'll give you the Chaos Emerald on two conditions"
Metal simply stared
"One; help people when you can while collecting the Emeralds, and two; meet with Sonic before handing the rest of them off to Eggman. You have to promise me"
Metal's processors whirled before coming to a stop
"How do you know I will comply with your conditions, I could walk away with my objective after I give you my word"
"Because Sonic never breaks a promise"
Sonic never breaks a promise, that line made Metal twitch. A new sort of feeling rising with the metal counterpart. He was the perfect copy, and Tails knew this better than anyone. Although normally Metal would just take the Emerald and be done with it but something strange has been happening since Metal woke up, as if, there was something new.
As if, on a whim, Metal put his hand out in front of Tails before replying
"I promise"
Tails smiled before handing Metal the Chaos Emerald and taking a step back, before watching metal rise flew away towards the sunset.
"Are you sure that was wise Tails?"
Knuckles spoke from behind Tails, voicing Amy's concerns as well
Tails only waved his hands to the two behind him and simply said
"Have a little faith, I have a feeling that rift did more than shut down Metal. Now to find out where Sonic went, and we might need the help of others to help locate him"
Amy asked the important question
"Who?"
Knuckles simply smirked after catching on to Tails's thinking
"Who else but the best Detective's around?"