"The cat's out of the bag, Metal! I know your secret! That means I can really cut loose!" said Sonic, ducking out of the way of another Chaos Spear.
"Is that supposed to be a threat? You haven't tasted a fraction of my real power," said Metal Sonic.
"Come on, then! Show me whatcha got!"
The moment a stunning flash of blue light illuminated the room, and a sudden blast of warmth raced through Sonic's body, he realized he would have been better off keeping his mouth shut.
Just missed that one. Ow. Don't think about it, don't think about it…ow.
Sonic couldn't help but think of an old saying Knuckles told him once. When exactly, he couldn't remember, but perhaps it was after that one time he kept trying to jump from Angel Island all the way back to shore in one go, just to see if he could do it. It was something along the lines of, "Insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting different results." Strange how such things lingered in the deepest corners of his mind, ready to be ignored until the moment he needed them the most. Maybe he was insane. Maybe he was doing the only thing he knew how to do. Or maybe he was doing the only thing that could be done. Who knew? It didn't have to be mutually exclusive.
Somehow this had seemed a lot easier in his head before the battle started. Take on a super-powered being, alone, with nothing to aid him except for the fists and feet he was born with. Big deal, right?
It was as if somebody had dangled a carrot on a string in front of him. Metal Sonic was right there. Just floating there, snug and secure in his own superiority. Taunting him. Ducking out from his aura of protection every so often to fire a Chaos Spear or two. Or twelve. One of them pierced the steel floor mere inches in front of Sonic, reducing it to molten sludge. Only a quick step to his left saved him from having his head caved in. Another two followed, forcing him back to his right. He could feel the radiant heat from each blast as they struck the ground, the microscopic fragments of shrapnel from the floor nipping at his legs. Explosive masses of fire singed away at fur that was already battered and blackened, tickling his lower extremities as they expended every morsel of energy they possibly could.
Try as he might, he couldn't blot out the pain. One does not simply shove aside the feeling of sprinting on hamstrings that have been twisted like pretzels. He couldn't even remember the last time his feet weren't in constant motion. Five minutes ago? Ten? Eternity. Eternity chased him down from behind with each energy blast that struck the ground. Speed was survival. Slowing down was certain death.
Sonic was never more alive.
"Heh! Is this supposed to scare me? I don't think you know me too well!" he said.
"On the contrary, hedgehog…" said Metal Sonic. "…I know more about you than you know about yourself."
"What's there to know? I'm just a guy who loves adventure…and smashing copycats!"
Sonic shot off into the distance with a hop, skip, and jump, turning back just long enough to leave a devilish sneer…almost as if he knew what was coming. Sure enough, a thunderous spike shook the ground into a seismic jolt, sending up a cloud of indescribable light and smoke and particle dust, accurate to within an inch of Sonic's projected position. Unfortunately for Metal Sonic, it was an inch behind.
"You dare to tie my ambitions to an insignificant blowhard such as yourself? You dare?" The words flowed softly out of Metal Sonic at first, almost too softly to be heard over the rapid fire of his laser cannon. But his uncontained fury built up in a grand crescendo, spilling out with the frustration of seeing Sonic cheat death again and again, always by the skin of his teeth. "Your stature in existence is meaningless! Nothing more than a pale blue dot in the void!"
Normally, Sonic would have a witty comeback or two in reserve. But this time around, his stockpile had run dry. His mind was otherwise occupied on higher-priority tasks such as not dying.
"Whereas I…" Metal Sonic continued.
Now, Sonic thought. And kept thinking. He planted his foot firmly in the ground, preparing to launch the attack that would end this prolonged and bitter stalemate. But every time he thought he saw his chance, it turned out to be a mirage, and a sudden blast of laser fire nudged him back to reality, forcing him back at the last moment.
"…I am merely a cog—"
"You certainly are," Sonic cut in.
There it was.
Metal Sonic kept going, as if Sonic didn't even exist. "…a cog in a machine far greater than your feeble mind could dare to imagine!"
The wounds in his legs only deepened with each step he took, leaving behind a conspicuous trail that marked his impromptu serpentine, zig-zagging, spiraling path around the ship's deck. Fear and adrenaline played their eternal game of tug-of-war with Sonic's nerves, rendering him paralyzed in a euphoric tingling sensation that compelled him toward the light. Raw, synaptic impulses from his sympathetic nervous system mounted a daring assault on his impenetrable sense of justice.
Daring, but futile. Not even the harshest twists and strains of his muscles could wipe the defiant smile off his face.
Each missed laser blast took out another section of floor, and Sonic was running out of unblemished sections of the surface to roam upon. Every time his glance happened to fall upon the twenty or so security doors at the other side of the room, his nerves couldn't help but catch fire. It would be nice if one of them…just one…would conveniently open up for him.
Metal Sonic just kept talking, and talking, and talking. Whatever he was saying, it made no difference to Sonic, even if he could understand it. After long enough, the voice faded away into the background, as much a part of Sonic's ever-chaotic world as the tap-tap-tap of his feet. Omnipresent, strangely sooting, only noticeable by its absence.
Not that Metal got the hint. He still had a speech to run through. "I am part of something far greater than this…pathetic shell I occupy—"
"Are you trying to bore me to death?!"
"Spare me the formalities. The fact of the matter is…" said Metal Sonic, as an ominous glow overtook the room. "…I have already won."
Say what?!
Could he…could he have found out? About their plans? About Tails and Knuckles?
No…he couldn't have…
If anything could outpace Sonic's feet, it had to be his own mind. Unlike his feet, however, he didn't always have a say in where his mind wandered off, or when. He tried to keep it on the straight and narrow, but outside forces wouldn't allow it, pushing him toward the specter of his own failure. Brief, haunting images of the worst-case scenario flashed before his eyes – too brief for him to even comprehend, but just lo
He could hold himself together no longer.
"You! Just what are you up to?" said Sonic.
For once, he wanted Metal Sonic to add on, to say something, if only to soothe the burning hole in his mental state with some real answers. So of course Metal picked that very moment to keep his virtual mouth shut. Sonic was left to suck on the haunting silence once occupied by taunts and self-aggrandizement.
He struggled to see through the haze, to keep focused on the road ahead…only to find that the road ahead had already been torn asunder, and what was actually ahead of him was a concussive, superheated laser blast that could disassemble his molecular structure at the slightest touch. Had it not been for a last-second dive into a rolling somersault, it would have done the job.
The margin between life and death grew ever slimmer, from feet to inches to millimeters. Sonic felt the initiative wrestled from his grasp, his every move dictated by the will and the aim of his rival. No sooner could he take a step to avoid one bullet than he was forced to sidestep, or duck, or jump over another. Metal Sonic had pulled him into a deadly dance, his arms and legs acting nearly of their own accord to save the rest of the body from destruction.
Okay, that's it! No more running around! This ends now!
Sonic jerked his head up toward the ceiling, his eyes locked on with searing intensity. A flick of his leg guided him safely through an opening between two Chaos Spears, setting him on a collision course with Metal Sonic. No more would he let the cowardly ammunition of a clone play him like a puppet. His destiny was not one to be determined by anyone else, let alone this abomination. He would take his destiny…the destiny of that great big world outside these grey walls…and clutch them in his own hands.
It didn't even matter that Metal Sonic floated in place, making no effort to fire back or avoid Sonic's sudden charge. Good. He had long since gotten tired of this battle anyway.
The sweet spot beckoned. It was time. Time for Sonic to show just how insane someone could be.
Every limb in Sonic's body trembled and quaked with the sudden maneuver. But he couldn't turn back. He wouldn't turn back if his life depended on it. Right at the point of no return, Sonic launched himself headfirst into Metal Sonic, just as his attention was focused elsewhere…
…and then suddenly wasn't.
That moment, a stunning flash of golden light illuminated the room. By the time it dissipated, Metal Sonic had disappeared along with it.
Sonic's eyes bulged as wide as moons, staring unblinking into the distance as he attempted to sort out the debris in the wreckage of his train of thought. Time slowed to an agonizing crawl, as if to prolong the inevitable conclusion. The same omnipresent physical forces that once challenged and liberated him had decided to turn on him. He was headed on a one-way trip toward the far side wall.
Then a second flash pierced the air above him, as swift and as brilliant as lightning itself. A flash that Sonic knew all too well.
No…don't tell me…
He had put two and two together. But it was too late.
The next moment, Metal Sonic landed a two-fisted blow upon Sonic's head as they crossed paths, the full might of Chaos sending the hedgehog plummeting to the ground, all within a split-second. Cracks formed in the floors and crept their way up the walls, sending chunks of the surface hurtling through the air, as the battlefield itself buckled to an impact several thousand times the force of gravity. At the center of it all was a shallow crater and a broken hedgehog.
As Sonic fought to unscramble the pieces of what happened, he subconsciously uttered the two words that had been on the tip of his tongue during his brief but harrowing journey.
"Chaos…C…control…"
It wasn't until after he'd spoken, when he started to hack up the fine metallic dust he'd inhaled, when he realized he actually said that out loud instead of thinking it.
"YES! Fight, my son! Crush the hedgehog like the insignificant ant he is!"
The command console, and the entire bridge along with it, trembled with three uproarious clangs of Dr. Eggman's fist. Each gruesome frame of video, each bright red pixel signifying the pouring of Sonic's blood, every angle imbued the doctor with life in inverse proportion to the draining of Sonic's own. The robotic underlings that maintained the ESS-1 found themselves in an atmosphere in which they were unable to perform their assigned tasks. They shuffled backward from their posts, forming an ever-widening circle of empty space around their master's command chair. They yielded every square inch to him, giving him free reign to do with it whatever he so pleased...just as long as they weren't in the line of fire.
"Yes! Crush him! Kill him! Destroy him-"
But his flight of childish glee came crashing to earth when the first of his many monitors spontaneously went blank, the picture tube collapsing into a white dot before fading away.
"Eh?"
One by one, the monitors in Eggman's chamber cut out, depriving him of the uplifting images of Metal Sonic's battle with Sonic. He rushed over to the control panel and went like a sledgehammer at the master power switch, hoping that would rouse the ailing system back to life. Instead, he watched as the bridge of the ESS-1 fell out of his control.
The deafening whir of the room-sized computer terminal slowly faded out. Overhead lights flickered and shut off. Buttons that were supposed to light up when pressed stopped lighting up when pressed. Telemetry systems printed complete nonsense before giving up the ghost. Sensing an apocalypse, some of the more panicky members of Eggman's staff gave up their positions and stormed off, fearing a spread of whatever "infection" had forsaken this ship.
"Fools! Traitors!" screamed Dr. Eggman, waving his fist. "The rest of you had better not be so keen to desert!" They obliged.
He turned away and clutched his forehead. How could he have gotten this close only to have…this happen? He had that hedgehog where he wanted him! Who else could have…
Oh. Of course! He should have known!
"Tails…that obnoxious little furball!"
He turned toward the rest of the room, with a new strategy in mind.
"Find him!" said Eggman, pounding both fists into the console. "We never know what that little brat might be up to, and I don't want to stick around to find out! I want every available force after him! Ground troops! Air troops! The whole lot! Leave no stone unturned!"
"But...the hedgehog?" asked a nearby Egg Flapper.
Eggman cupped his fingers in a triangle of contemplation. "Sonic will be dealt with. He may be able to win a race or two, but even he can't be in two places at once. Or, heaven forbid...three."
"You have your orders, boys! I want that fox out of my way once and for all!"
Eggman's staff flashed him a salute – which went unacknowledged – and scuttled toward battle, splitting off as they exited. He turned around, as if ready to walk away and end the conversation. But at the last moment, he paused and craned his neck back toward Flapper, who trailed the other attack robots in the group.
"Where do you think you're going?" he said, reaching out and clutching the robot.
"But—but I was…"
"You're coming with me."
Sonic's consciousness faded in and out, with total darkness being the only constant. He pushed himself against the suffocating edges of the bedrock, against a world that seemed to be closing in on him every second. But it was no use. His body had finally had enough of Sonic's antics, and for once, did not heed the call to respond. His breaths grew more hurried and stilted with each failed attempt, as the sharp creases of the floor's inner cracks buried themselves deep within his flesh. Nor could he shake this funny feeling in his left ear. It was hard to place, but it felt empty.
A dim glow provided an island of tranquility in the sea of chaos. Mere inches in front of his face, a cloud of golden sparks formed from thin air, growing in size and congealing upon each other, fireflies in a deadly cosmic dance. Recognizing the cue, Sonic forced his eyes closed for what little protection that would offer.
With a blinding flash of gold, the world came into sharp focus. And then it slammed shut.
There it was, the imposing figure of Metal Sonic, blocking out all light in front of Sonic's face only to generate more than enough of its own to compensate. Metal's cone-like feet, glistening off his radiant glow of Chaos Energy, stood mere inches away from Sonic's nose. Craning his neck up only added to the unwilling illusion that he was staring down a colossus.
Time passed. One second. Two seconds. With each tick of the clock, the question consumed him: Why? Why didn't this tin can just finish the job already? Sonic was a sitting duck. Metal Sonic was standing right there. He could have killed him seven different ways by now. There had to be some reason to keep him alive.
Then the "colossus" spoke. Blood still rushed back to Sonic's brain from his perilous fall, so it took him a few seconds to decipher the words. Or rather, word.
"…Predictable."
Clank. Metal Sonic's footsteps echoed against every surface. Clank. Sonic could just about explode. Why did each step have to take so long? Clank. Was he even moving at all or was he just marching in place to get a rise out of Sonic?
…Clank.
Argh! This was torture. Metal Sonic knew exactly what he was doing here.
Finally, he poised directly over Sonic's prone body and raised one leg high above the ground, ready to stomp. Just as Sonic tensed his muscles to roll himself out of the way, his eyes fell across what exactly was below Metal Sonic's foot.
The communicator!
Sonic's heart sank when he saw the device in danger. He had seen the effort Tails put into assembling the three sets for the team, the dedication he put into assembling this entire operation. He shuddered to imagine what would go through Tails' mind. What would happen if he were to call out to Sonic, and he just…wasn't there?
No…this was non-negotiable. If anything could be salvaged from this, it would at least be Tails' pride and joy.
He struggled against the claustrophobic crevice of exhaustion with all his remaining strength. A primal growl escaped his lips, ascending into a full-on scream. His chest heaved and convalesced, and his heart rattled in his cage, almost too exhausted to take on the titanic responsibilities asked of it. Defying numbness and stabbing pain alike, he heaved himself into a roll along the floor, and flung his arm out to his full extent in a last-ditch effort.
He came up with nothing but air. The next sound he heard was a sickening crunch.
"Sonic? Do you read me? It's Tails!"
Four calls over the two-way radio system had failed to yield a response beyond ear-piercing static. Even when the system was disabled or busy, he designed it for there to only be silence. Pure static could only mean the …no, perish the thought.
After the stinging tightness in his chest faded away, he slinked to his left, giving himself a direct view of the circuit breaker. He had always kept a modicum of faith in his hunches, and this was no different. Experience taught him that 98% of the wiring ever used by Eggman was fake, merely soldered in as a security measure to ward off unauthorized modification. It was only a matter of finding the 2% that was vital to the ESS-1's operations. He had no idea just how vital.
The afterimage of the circuit breaker burned itself into Tails' retina, disrupting any effort to take advantage of the infinitesimal amount of ambient light afforded to him. Strange. Such an unremarkable object, not unlike the one in his own shack in the Mystic Ruins. But close to ten minutes of working in complete stillness will do that to someone, especially under millions of watts of incandescent light – which he just had to knock out.
Thirty seconds. Surely enough time had passed. Maybe there was enough in his radio system for a miracle.
"Sonic! I think I may have done something—"
A series of ear-piercing cracks, one louder than the other, resounded from the other end of the line - the last dying squeals of a machine. And then static.
Tails let out a gasp, his stomach churning, bundling into tiny knots. The amount of possibilities flooded through his mind, and all of them led to the same gruesome…no, unthinkable conclusion. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible had happened, but not knowing exactly what it was made it seem even more helpless.
His legs quivered not only from the exhaustion of the day's activity, but from a singular frenzied command.
What are you waiting for?! Hurry up, you idiot!
But a stark reality glued him to his spot.
Run where, exactly?
As sweat cascaded off his brow, forming miniature puddles on the floor, Tails flung his head in every direction, looking for even the faintest trace of light. No such luck. He looked over to his right. Nothing. He looked left. Nothing. No wall. No floor. No light fixtures. Just a thick, black cloud of darkness, flanked by swirling, waving patterns of static blanketing his vision, drawing him toward whatever deceptive horrors lay within. There was nothing for him to distinguish one angle from another, nothing that would at least give him one frame of reference.
Running could be scratched off the list. After all, he couldn't tell where to go, or even where "here" was. Tail-flight was out of the question. In these lighting conditions, he wouldn't have been able to make out his rate of ascent. Besides, his lower back stung like hellfire, making a chore out of taking a single step. The last thing he needed today was a concussion on top of everything else.
His gaze then fell upon the device tucked within his left arm.
The MilesElectric…could it light the way?
Tails shook his head as soon as the idea even crossed his mind. No…he needed to conserve every second of battery life for the sake of the mission, and that meant not using the screen as a high-powered flashlight.
Was he looking up or down? He didn't know. He couldn't accept not knowing. So he kept looking, turning his body 360 degrees just to make sure he didn't miss anything. He didn't. His digestive tract compressed itself into a vice-like grip, causing him to hunch over and hyperventilate as the feeling in his limbs slowly vanished.
This had to be a nightmare. No...no, if it were, he wouldn't need to remind himself. He would have awoken by now.
No...I can't stand around like this! They need me!
With no other options, Tails clung to his soldering iron as if it was his only child, holding it directly in front of his face. At that moment, a fit of irony struck him. The same apparatus that knocked the whole ship into darkness just happened to be his most effective means of navigating through it.
Tails squeezed firmly on the ignition trigger, sending a concentrated blue flame roaring from the tip. Though not very large, the fact that it could be seen at all through the pitch-black gloaming was enough for Tails to jerk his head back in shock, his eyes seared by the sudden flash of light. Tears ran down his chin - not of sadness, but merely a natural response to the sudden stinging sensation in his eyes, plus the irritation of his fingers caressing them in a misguided effort to soothe the discomfort. As soon as he regained the strength to open them, he repositioned the soldering iron in front of his body...
...and noticed a flash of silver blocking his path. His heart jumped. Did he see what he thought he just saw?
A quick scan with the soldering iron revealed what appeared to be a torso to an unidentifiable body, with a very familiar texture and shape. He had to have seen this before, but he just couldn't place it. The final piece came together for Tails when he noticed the distinctive mark of Eggman's face just above one of the joints.
His arms froze, causing him to drop the soldering iron to the floor with a deafening clang that resounded off every invisible wall. With the trigger no longer engaged, the meager blue torchlight faded out of existence. As he scuttled backward in the hopes of salvaging his cover, his eyes drifted toward a piercing red glow a few feet above the torso. After closer examination of the source, he realized, with a great chill running through his body, that he preferred walking around in total darkness.
The eyes. He couldn't escape the eyes, as they faded between varying levels of bright red in a hypnotic, sensuous manner, permanently fixed in an expression of demonic fury. He could almost feel them physically searing into his spirit, piercing his will to fight. If they were the windows to the soul, then it was clear that any soul ever possessed by this creature had packed up and left town a long time ago. The tightness returned, gripping Tails' stomach as if it would never let go. Those eyes were pointed at him and him alone.
And then it spoke.
"YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR PERFORMING UNAUTHORIZED MODIFICATIONS. THE PENALTY IS DEATH."
Tails cringed, expecting the worst. A gun, a blade, perhaps even a combination of the two. Trapped in a cage with unknown boundaries, surrounded by obstacles he couldn't see, he sealed his eyes shut and prepared for his fate. Just then, Tails felt the cold, hard press of a heavy metal object against the side of his head.
Someone entered his personal bubble. Someone had to pay the price.
Within a split-second of the object brushing his fur, a shock reverberated through Tails' body, one which ironically seemed to be amplified by the expectation of one. In moments like these, years of accumulated knowledge vanished, leaving room only for raw, animal instinct.
Tails curled his body into itself and let loose a dizzying spin on his toe, leaving his twin appendages trailing behind him. After a full rotation, they made contact with the offending weapon – as well as the hand of the machine holding it – slicing them clean off the body. He slowly let himself back to stillness, clutching his tails in his arms and kissing both of them in a vain attempt to make the pain go away.
A shower of sparks signaled to Tails that he had taken out more than just its weaponry. With one final, whimpering creak, the beast toppled forward and collapsed, tossing a gentle gust of wind across Tails' fur on the way to its final resting place. Little but scattered pieces of scrap remained as the metallic giant virtually disintegrated upon impact.
Tails was riveted to his place, slack-jawed. He could not process the idea of this level of destructive power being enclosed within something so cuddly and soft. To his engineer's mind, it didn't seem physically possible.
As soon as the echoes settled, he noticed another sound off in the distance. Maybe it wasn't a sound at all. Maybe all this commotion had started doing a number on Tails' hearing, and his ears were just buzzing.
Or maybe they weren't.
There was another sound, exactly the same, just inches away on Tails' left. Only this one was loud enough to shock his bones out of his skin. And another one came in from his right that very nearly did. Soon enough, alarms blared far and wide from every angle, and menacing halogen spotlights hissed to life, forcing Tails to bury his head into his arms.
The first thing he noticed after he opened his eyes made him step back in horror. Frantic searching for an escape route turned up nothing. They were all around him. They were on his left, his right, even aiming down on him from the ceiling. That first one was just a rehearsal. Now they had sent reinforcements.
This would have been a perfect time to have a working communication system.
"Pardon me, master…but why was I not allowed to join the search for that treacherous fox?" asked the Egg Flapper. Following Dr. Eggman through the corridors was harder than usual this time – his master was in an odd huff.
"Because, dear Flapper, I need one of you for a special mission. I need you to…" Dr. Eggman paused to consider his wording. "…verify the status of my secret weapon."
"Oh, I can pull that up for you right away, sir. Metal Sonic's damage quotient is..." Gunner ran a quick query, tapping into the ESS-1's wireless neural network. "...zero percent. Everything is going exactly as you planned it, mas-"
"No, no, no, nincompoop!" Eggman paused and leaned toward Flapper's head, whispering the rest of his sentence. "The other one."