The groups of heroes were shocked by the reveal they were faced with. Each one of them peered into the cell to see none other than Robotnik sitting on the floor with a walkie talkie in hand.
"EGGMAN?!" Nearly all of Team Sonic and Team Rose exclaimed in unison.
"What is this?" Shadow questioned, his eyes narrowing. "I was under the impression that this Dr. Eggman was the one behind this entire operation."
"That's what it was meant to look like," Vector declared, smirking as he crossed his arms and began pacing in front of everyone, acting very much like a Mobian Sherlock Holmes. "However, every single time we've encountered Eggman, it's been nothing but a robotic copy, someone pretending to be the not-so-good doctor."
Eggman grimaced, chucking the walkie-talkie aside. "How did you figure out it was me?!"
"I had my suspicions when you commented on how obvious it was that the Eggman we encountered in Sand Blast City was a fake. Not to mention your vast knowledge of everything your doppelganger was doing. What sealed the deal was how angry you got whenever your 'good name' was insulted, or when you were referred to as Eggman."
"Of course," Chessie chimed in, recalling how she herself got made all those months ago. "Only Eggman hates the name Eggman."
"New designation noted," Omega responded. "Now labeling Robotnik: Eggman."
"Heh, looks like it's really catching on," Sonic noted to Robotnik. "Ya might as well embrace it."
"Not if it gives you any satisfaction," Robotnik scowled.
"Hey, speaking of," Charmy realized. "Does that mean we're not getting paid?"
"Oh, I assure you, you'll be rewarded handsomely for helping me," Robotnik reassured, getting to his feet. "As soon as I conquer the world, I will pay you."
The three detectives narrowed their eyes, not liking the sound of that.
"That's some nerve pal," Vector commented, cracking his knuckles. "Promising what ya ain't got."
"You lying scoundrel!" Espio accused, causing Robotnik to back away."
"Now j-just wait a minute," Robotnik insisted. "Let me explain-"
"Explain this!" Charmy declared, diving in to sting Robotnik.
Charmy went to town on Robotnik, stinging him endlessly as the others watched on. Rouge sympathy winced occasionally when he got a particularly nasty sting, but said nothing.
"So, anyone else just wanna leave him like this?" Amy asked.
"Hold on," Keith chimed in, stepping forward and holding up a hand. "I think there's a massive fact we're currently overlooking."
"He's right," Kat agreed, wringing her hands on her bat in a nervous manner. "If Eggman's been a prisoner this entire time… who exactly have we been fighting?"
That got all of them thinking, and an air of unease washed over them. When Robotnik came running by, hoping to throw the bee off, Knuckles stuck his foot out, tripping the doctor and sending him sprawling across the deck.
"Hey Charmy, hold off a second!" Sonic called out.
Charmy finally stopped, allowing Team Sonic to gather around Robotnik as he rolled onto his back.
"So, Doctor," Shadow spoke. "Who was it that locked you up in here and has been manipulating us all this time?"
"It… it was-"
Just then, a shot of lightning from outside rang out, followed by an ominous laughter filling the air. Sonic was the first to run outside, with Tails and Knuckles following close behind. The rest of their friends quickly trailed after them, along with a cowering Eggman. All eyes were directed towards the top of a nearby structure, where they saw a figure almost reminiscent of Sonic, but its skin was shinier, the spines were further apart, and a cape was flowing out the back.
"Greetings, Sonic," the foreboding figure greeted. "It's good to see you again."
"Have we met?" Sonic asked.
"Yes, it has been some time. When last we met, you believed you had defeated me. But now, we will see who is the 'real Sonic'."
That choice of words triggered something in Sonic, cluing him in as to who this new adversary was.
"No way… Metal?"
"Neo-Metal Sonic," the robotic doppelganger declared, clenching his metallic fist. "I have long since surpassed my older, obsolete form… as well as you, Sonic."
"Call yourself whatever you want! I kicked your metal butt before, and now I have friends to help me do it again!"
"I have already learned everything I need to know about your friends. They are as little a threat to me as you are."
Sonic quickly sped towards Neo-Metal Sonic, leaping into a spin dash and darting right at him. Neo-Metal Sonic simply lifted his hand, catching Sonic mid spin dash, much to everyone's astonishment.
"Can… Can he do that?" Keith asked in astonishment.
"Apparently," Tails dreaded.
"Pathetic," Neo-Metal Sonic remarked, simply shoving Sonic away and sending him crashing into a wall.
Sonic slid down the wall as Tails and Keith rushed over to help. Knuckles turned towards the metal menace and rushed towards him. He leapt up towards Neo-Metal Sonic and unleashed a barrage of punches at him. Neo-Metal Sonic simply dodged and weaved between the punches effortlessly. Kat went to back up Knuckles, sending several explosive balls flying towards the massive robot.
"Eat baseball, robo-breath!" she screamed.
Neo-Metal just turned towards the oncoming balls, firing lasers from his eyes that destroyed the balls instantly. He then suddenly shot his hand out, catching something in the middle of the air. It was Espio, he began to decloak as Neo-Metal lifted him by the throat into the air. He tossed him into the air, tossing them into Kat and knocking them both to the ground. He leapt down to the ground level, approaching the heroes as a pair of cables wrapped around his neck. He turned to see Chessie pulling on them hard, before freeing one so she could whip it at him. Neo-Metal however, raised his wrist to catch the cable, before grabbing hold of both and swinging her around into a wall. Before Neo-Metal could do anything else, Cheese flew in and struck him across the face plate. This allowed Amy to run up and take a swing at him with her hammer, sending him skidding back. Amy ran up again, taking another swing, but this time Neo-Metal caught the hammer, about to strike before one of Chessie's cables wrapped around his arm. Big cast his fishing line out, hooking the other arm and causing Neo-Metal to let go. Amy quickly backed away as Shadow skated up and leapt into the air.
"Chaos Spear!" he let out, causing numerous energy bolts to rain down on him. Both Chessie and Big retracted their respective lines as they rejoined the others.
"Think that did anything?" Chessie asked.
"I hope so," Big replied, gently petting Froggy, who was perched on his shoulder. "That's a very scary robot…"
The smoke cleared, revealing Neo-Metal completely unharmed.
"Fools," he mocked. "None of you stand a chance and you have yet to see my true power."
He then rose into the air, firing a blast of energy from his hand at a nearby tower shaped like Robotnik. The blast tore the tower apart, causing the pieces to rain down. Before they could hit though, they all started floating in the air, moving towards Neo-Metal Sonic. More and more pieces of machinery and metal began to pull out of the surrounding ships, all circling around Neo-Metal Sonic. They sped up, spinning faster and faster until the bot was in the whirlwind of parts.
"What's happening?" Helen let out, clinging to Big in terror..
"I'm not sure," Sonic admitted.
As the parts continued spinning around, they began attaching to each other, beginning to take shape. Metal plates began snapping together as cables shot out, linking them together. As the plates moved upwards, forming a circular mid section, several pieces of metal shot out to opposite sides, forming large cylindrical structures connected to the main structure by copious amounts of wiring. On the end of one tube, five spikes shot out, seemingly functioning as fingers on a hand. On the other, a massive pincher adorned the end of the arm like structure. Running down the back of the structure were several pieces of metal that came together to form a large tail, with spikes shooting out along it. Once the pieces of metal came into place, Neo-Metal floated towards the top of the structure, shifting his appearance.
In the end, the resulting figure was a massive, intimidating metal dragon, with Neo-Metal serving as the head with two red eyes stacked on top of each other. The heroes and Robotnik stared up at this in terror.
"Metal Sonic has finally transformed!" Robotnik realized.
"Alright, Eggman, spill," Sonic demanded, reaching up and grabbing the doctor by his shirt and dragging him down.. "How is Metal Sonic back? I thought I kicked his metal hide to the curb last year!"
"You did! But somehow, he managed to siphon off some excess energy from the Chaos Emerald I used to power him. He's been piecing himself back together this whole time."
"He's the one who busted you out of prison," Knuckles pieced together.
"And in return, you upgraded him until he went mad and kicked you to the curb," Tails concluded.
"More like he forced me to upgrade him, threatening my life if I didn't," Robotnik corrected, pulling free of Sonic's grip and straightening his coat. "I was lucky to get my message to those Chaotix chumps."
"That explains why Bokkun was so on edge when he gave us that message," Keith realized. "Speaking of, what'd he do with Orbot and Cubot?"
"I'm not sure," Robotnik admitted. "But I can imagine he was much less than kind to them."
…
Elsewhere on the ship, Orbot and Cubot were dangling from the ceiling on harnesses, as Metal's attempt to keep them out of the way.
"It's as constrictive as it is degrading," Orbot commented, sagging in his restraints.
"Speak for yourself," Cubot replied, spreading his arms. "I never felt so free!"
…
"So this whole fleet thing was just a means for him to see us in action and copy our abilities," Rouge realized.
"But why take Froggy and Chocola?" Amy questioned.
"Because the frog once held Chaos' tail," Robotnik informed. "And Chaos himself was the guardian of the Chao."
"So those two would be the closest he could get to copy Chaos' data itself," Espio put together.
"Exactly. And now, Metal Sonic has combined the Chaos intel with all your data to become an unstoppable monster."
"In my experience, nothing's unstoppable until everyone starts stopping," Sonic retorted. "There's gotta be some way to take that tin toy down."
"The only thing that could take down this Metal Overlord would be all seven Chaos emeralds!" Robotnik declared, throwing his hands up in the air. "So unless they just appear by some miracle, we're completely-!"
One by one, everyone pulled out the Chaos Emeralds they had collected. Shadow held out the green one, Rouge the purple one, Sonic the silver one, Vector the red one, Cream the yellow one, Amy the cyan one, and Keith the blue one.
"-what?!"
"Hey, you wanted a miracle," Keith remarked.
"Don't get too excited, boy. Even with the Emeralds' power, our chances for victory are slim."
"Just leave that to me, doc," Sonic reassured, tossing the emerald to himself.
"You sure you can fight that thing alone?" Chessie asked. "Even as Super Sonic-"
"Don't worry. I can handle him."
"Not without me," Tails spoke, stepping up.
"Tails-"
"You can count me in too," Knuckles reassured.
"Knuckles…"
"They're right," Keith insisted. "This is one time you can't go alone."
"Agreed," Shadow added. "We'll keep that thing busy long enough for you three to power up."
Sonic turned to the rest of Shadow's group, who seemed ready for the fight. A glance over at Amy's team showed that they too looked ready for battle.
"You can count on us, Sonic!" the pink hedgehog declared.
A turn towards Team Chaotix showed they were thinking the same thing.
"You don't even have to ask," Vector reassured, cracking his knuckles.
Tails and Knuckles then went to either side of Sonic, causing a smile to grace his face.
"Ok then," Sonic declared. "Let's get ready to do this. Metal Sonic thinks he's got us beat because he's seen what we can do, but I say we show that creep some real strength in numbers!"
"Yeah!" everyone cheered.
…
Neo-Metal's monstrous form let out a massive roar as he prepared himself to dispatch the heroes. He managed to create monstrous legs for his dragon-like form, the ground shaking thunderously with each step he took. Keith and Kat exchanged looks with one another, sharing a nod before readying their respective weapons.
"Think you've a good enough arm to hit one of those eyes?" Kat quipped
"We're about to find out," Keith replied, priming an energy ball.
With a hardy swing, Keith chucked the ball towards Neo-Metal Sonic, actually managing to nail him in one of the eyes. He cried out in pain before turning towards the two teens.
"Well that worked," Keith let out. "Come on!"
He took one of Kat's hands in his own, bolting away. She stumbled slightly, but quickly kept up with him, pulling free and readying her bat. She selected a large paint ball, grinning as she smacked it right up at Neo-Metal's damaged eye. When it hit, there was a massive splat, and red paint covered his face. Neo-Metal let out a roar of frustration, attempting to clear his vision.
"You will suffer for this!" he cried out.
"Remind me to never insult the weird balls Tails came up with again," Kat declared, grinning as she kept running.
"Noted," Keith reassured, pressing a button on his watch. "Amy, you guys are up!"
…
"Right!" Amy called back through her own, climbing onto Big's back. "You ready?"
"You bet!" Big replied.
He then gripped his fishing rod before casting it out, allowing the line to hook onto a structure just above Neo-Metal Sonic. Big leapt off, swinging towards the metal monster. Big then grabbed hold of Amy and gave her a big toss, allowing her to pull out her hammer and strike Neo-Metal in the face. The sound the attack made rang through the sky as Neo Metal roared, swiping blindly at Amy.
"Guys, get ready!" she called out.
…
On the ground, Espio had one of Chessie's cables, which he shot out towards Helen, Cream, and the two chao. They each grabbed hold of their end while the rest of Chaotix took hold of theirs.
"Get ready!" Vector called out.
"Here he comes!" Helen shouted.
"Ready… now!"
The two groups pulled on their ends as Neo-Metal approached, causing his massive foot to snag. This small trip up sent the ginormous robot tumbling forward with a roar.
"Creamy!" Vector shouted, pointing up at Amy. "Catch her!"
Cream nodded before taking off into the air. She managed to catch Amy before she hit the ground, quickly circling around before helping Amy to steady herself on her feet.
"Thanks for the save," Amy commended.
"Anytime," Cream reassured.
"A noble attempt," Neo-Metal conceded. "But ultimately useless."
He held out his pincher hand, allowing it to spew fire towards the heroes. They quickly went for cover as the fire sprayed out, say for Espio who leapt up onto Neo-Metal's arm and ran along it.
"Your evil is at an end!" he swore, throwing several shurikens.
The shuriken embedded themselves in Metal's arm, but did little more than annoy him. He brought his other arm down to try and squash him, but Espio managed to leap off at the last second. Unfortunately, Neo-Metal did manage to swat him midair, causing him to collide with a nearby wall.
"You forget, I have all your data copied into my systems," Neo-Metal reminded. "There is nothing you can do that I cannot anticipate."
Just after saying that, Neo-Metal turned to see a barrage of missiles being fired by Omega. He raised his hand and fired missiles from his fingers to try and stop them, but a few got through, hitting them but doing minimal damage. While that was happening, Shadow managed to port Chessie and Rouge along the back of Neo-Metal. Shadow immediately took off up his back, leaping into a spin dash to strike him in the head. This allowed Rouge to strike at the robot's legs with a nasty screw kick. It was able to cause some nasty damage, which allowed Chessie to launch herself into the air with her cables. Once she was high enough, she electrified them both, snapping them like whips across the robot's back. The metal monster cried out in pain as it struggled to shake them off. As he did so, Charmy flew right into his face, blowing raspberries before circling his head. Neo-Metal tried to snap at him, but Charmy managed to dodge, allowing Rouge to kick him across the face.
Down on the ground, Amy swung her hammer repeatedly at Neo-Metal's leg, trying to damage it. Vector meanwhile grabbed a sheet of metal and chucked it at Neo-Metal's chest. While that was happening, Keith and Kat ran up to join in the fight, the former activating his gauntlets and stretching the electricity out to form an electric rope. He whipped it at the robot's leg, causing electricity to surge through it. Kat selected a hydro ball, launching it at the robot and drenching it. The water mixed with the electricity, doubling the effectiveness of the attack.
While all of this was going on, Shadow skated along a nearby wall, noting the damage to Neo-Metal Sonic's leg. Taking a chance, he leapt off and rolled into a spin dash, darting right at it. It severed the leg, causing Neo-Metal to topple over and crash towards the ground. Shadow landed on the ground as Keith and Amy ran up to him.
"That won't keep him down for long," Shadow informed.
"Right," Keith agreed before activating his watch. "Sonic, it's go time!"
Just then, Neo-Metal started stirring, his other leg instantly detaching as wires shot out from both sides. They grabbed onto several pieces of metal, pulling them towards his body and constructing what appeared to be giant wings. With hard strides, Neo-Metal rose into the air. Everyone took a step back as Neo-Metal Sonic rose above them, chuckling maliciously.
"Did you really think your paltry attacks would be enough to defeat me? I am now more than you could possibly imagine. For the final moments of your minute existence, you may call me Metal Overlord!"
As the megalomaniacal robot began to roar above them, a bright light began to emanate from where Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were standing, all seven Chaos Emeralds surrounding them. All three of them closed their eyes as the energy of the emeralds began to overtake them. Sonic's eyes snapped open first, his fur glowing gold as he became Super Sonic. Tails was next, his fur taking a sharp golden tone, and he grinned widely when he began to rise up off the ground without so much as a twirl of his tails. Finally, Knuckles began rising off the ground, his fur glowing a bright pink asn energy surged from his fists.
"Didn't forget about us, did you?" Sonic taunted.
"Not at all Sonic. But now, I have become the true Sonic. You are nothing but my loathsome copy. Nothing but gnats to be crushed in my hand."
Not wasting a second, the three of them darted forward towards the metal monster. Metal Overlord shot several energy blasts from his chest, with Super Sonic easily tearing through them before grazing past him. Metal Overlord then whipped his tail, sending out several spikes towards the group, prompting Tails to dart out, spinning and using his tails to bat the spikes away before jetting forward and striking him in the chest. This knocked him back as Knuckles took his turn, plowing right into Metal Overlord. The giant robot managed to pull away and banked down into the clouds below, grabbing one of the ships in the fleet and chucking it at the trio. In a flash of light, all three of them teleported, avoiding the attack. The three darted towards him, only for Metal Overlord to suddenly disappear in a flash of light.
"What the-" Knuckles let out.
"He can use Chaos Control?!" Sonic realized.
"His powers are greater than we realized," Tails pieced together.
Just then, Metal Overlord appeared behind them, unleashing a massive laser blast at them. The three did their best to hold it back, straining against the power.
"He's tough, but he's not invincible!" Sonic declared. "Let's show him what we're made of!"
He then grabbed both their wrists and launched them towards Metal Overlord. Tails began spinning so his tails were constantly swinging out, and Knuckles went into his own spin with his fists stretched out. The two collided with Metal Overlord at separate points damaging him severely as Sonic darted up, hitting against him as well.
"Do not believe you can win, Sonic! I was created for the sole purpose of destroying you! Every action I have taken is to complete that imperative! I am now your superior in every way!"
"So that's what this is all about? You got your butt kicked by me so badly, the only way you thought you could win was by turning into a monster?"
"Correction, I will defeat you. And then, I will do what Robotnik could not, rule over this world as its most supreme being."
More spikes shot out as Metal Overlord grabbed another ship. Sonic and Tails quickly dispatched the spikes as Knuckles shot out towards the oncoming ship, using a surge of energy building up in his fist to shatter it to pieces.
"Is that all you've got?!" Knuckles boasted.
"Hardly, Echidna…"
Metal Overlord shot out a stream of fire towards Knuckles, forcing him to fly out of the way. Tails quickly flew up and spun his tails at him, creating a cyclone that began dousing the fire and knocking Metal Overlord back.
"You may be able to fight one of us, but now when we fight together!" Tails declared.
"Alone. Together. It does not matter. You will all fall!"
Metal Overlord flew over and tried bringing his hand down on Tails, but Sonic quickly flew up and grabbed it. Allowing Tails to do something he'd only imagined, roll into a spin dash and charge right at Metal Overlord's hand, severing it. Metal Overlord cried out in pain as he aimed his flame thrower hard, only for Knuckles to dart down towards it and tear right into it.
"Alright!" Sonic cheered. "Let's do it!"
Sonic charged in as well, the three of them flew in a screw-like formation, creating a spiraling pattern of pure Chaos energy. They flew in and out of Metal Overlord's body multiple times, doing more and more damage with each blow.
"No! Noooo! This cannot be happening!"
More and more the bot was torn apart, until finally, he came crashing down towards the ground below.
"Sorry pal, but it's all over," Sonic remarked. "For you."
The three dropped down to the ground, their super forms fading from their bodies as they found the remains of Neo-Metal Sonic pulling himself from the wreckage.
"I… don't understand… why… why can't I defeat you?" Metal Sonic asked, his body slowly reverting back to its original state.
"Because no matter how strong you get, or how many weapons you have, I possess the one thing you will never have." He walked right over to Tails and Knuckles, giving them both a sincere, heartfelt smile. "True friends."
…
With Metal Sonic down, the command ship crashed down into the water, the fleet finally shut down. The heroes reached the edge, seeing Station Square off in the distance.
"Welp, there it is," Sonic declared. "Home sweet home."
"We'd better get Helen and Cream home," Keith realized. "Dr. Birnbaum and Miss Vanilla are probably worried sick."
"Big and I can take care of that," Amy insisted, scooping up a sleeping Cream into her arms as Big scooped up Helen. "They're my team after all."
"Sounds good."
"You guys were great out there," Sonic commended, reaching out and gently petting Cream's head. "Sorry for underestimating you."
"Just make sure you don't do it again," Amy quipped before planting a soft kiss on his cheek. "See you around. Come on Big!"
"Coming, Amy!" Big called, following her off the ship.
Everyone watched them go, managing to hop from the crashed ship right onto the docks of the shipping yard. As they disappeared from sight, Rouge let out an exaggerated sigh.
"All that trouble, and not a single Chaos Emerald to show for it."
"That's life for ya," Knuckles remarked. "Whatcha gonna do?"
"Well, first I gotta let GUN know about Shadow over there." She gestured to the black hedgehog with her thumb. "After that, well…" she got a crafty smirk on her face, "if you're here, I might have a chance at a certain other Emerald."
Knuckles' face suddenly perked up, turning towards Rouge and seeing her smirk before taking off.
"Oh no you don't!" he declared before chasing after her. "Come back here!"
"Looks like Knuckles has his hands full," Keith noted.
Kat chuckled, shaking her head. "I swear, those two need to just get a room and get it over with already."
Up on one of the taller parts of the ship, Shadow was watching the sunrise, a contemplative look on his face. He had his glove off, looking at the cut still on his palm. Chessie came up behind him, looking somewhat nervous and reluctant. She cleared her throat, prompting Shadow to look up.
"Shadow?" she called out. "Are… are you okay?"
"Yes," he replied. "I was just… thinking."
"Yeah… me too." Chessie's thoughts drifted back to the room full of Shadow androids. She swallowed hard, then spoke once more. "Shadow… I… well… about… there's something you need to know. It's… about where you came from. You see-"
"You don't need to say anything."
Chessie paused in response. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, whether what the Doctor said is true or not, everything I've done since waking up has been my choice. I chose to go after Metal Sonic, I chose to stop his plans, and I chose to stand by you and the others. So even if I'm not real, I choose to be Shadow the Hedgehog," he clenched his fist at that last part. "This is who I am."
Chessie couldn't help but smile, taking a breath before nodding.
"You're right. Besides, if you were just an android, why would Eggman have assigned a powerhouse like Omega to guard you? It doesn't make any sense. You're Shadow. That's all that matters."
Shadow turned towards her, returning the smile in kind. He slipped his glove on, then held out a hand.
"Come on, let's go."
"Got somewhere in mind?"
"Let's see where the wind takes us."
As the two went off, the Chaotix team watched with curious eyes.
"Think we should go after them?" Espio questioned.
"Yeah!" Charmy declared. "That Shadow guy is pretty dangerous!"
"Maybe, but he did come through in a big way," Vector reminded. "We'll let him be for now, but I think we need to keep an eye on him."
Heavy footsteps drew their attention and the three detectives looked up, seeing Omega approaching them.
"Query: You seek to gain monetary payment from Dr. Eggman, correct?"
"Yeah, what about it?" Vector asked.
"Eggman is attempting to make an escape," the robot informed, pointing towards Eggman, who was creeping away with Orbot and Cubot tucked under his arms.
"Get back here you slimeball!" Vector called out.
Robotnik turned towards them, seeing their angry faces before running off. The four of them quickly giving chase, leaving Sonic, Tails, Keith, and Kat alone on the ship.
"Come on, guys," Keith declared. "Let's go home."
"Agreed!" Kat shouted as she threw her hands in the air. "I am going to sleep for a week!"
..
Later, Amy and Big finally got Helen and Cream home, the two slowly walking towards the house with Helen back in her chair.
"That was a great adventure," Cream commented, holding Cheese and Chocola in her arms. "Mother is going to be so happy we found Chocola."
"I hope mom and Vanilla weren't too worried about us," Helen responded.
"Mama knows how strong we are," Cream declared proudly. "And I'm sure your mom and dad are the same way."
"You're right, I-"
Helen was suddenly cut off by a rustling coming from some nearby bushes. She and Cream went over and looked inside, gasping at the sight of a damaged Emerl sitting in the bush. His eye screens were dull, and he didn't seem to be moving.
"What is it?" Cream questioned.
"I… don't know…" Helen replied.
The two just stared at the little robot as its eyes slowly flickered to life…