A/N: ...I'll talk later...

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Sonic (bla bla bla) I never will (bla bla bla)

Character Ages

Sonic: 23

Amy: 20

Tails: 16

Cream: 14

Eggman: Unknown

Metal Sonic: Unknown

Knuckles: 24

Rouge: 26

Shadow: Older than I'll ever live to be...

Vector: 28

Espio: 24

Charmy: 14

"What the…?"

"Amy? Are you alright?"

"Sonic? Sonic, is that you?" Amy blindingly groped forwards in the darkness until she felt a fur-covered arm.

"Sonic, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me." He strained his eyes to try to see her in the thick darkness. "Are you hurt?"

Amy shook her head. "No," she said out loud, realizing he couldn't see her. "Where's everyone else?"

"Right here," said a voice.

"Rouge?" guessed Amy tentatively.

"You got it," Rouge replied. "What happened?"

"I think Robotnik killed the lights on us," answered a voice that Amy would guess to be Vector.

"Why would he do that?" asked a slightly higher voice.

"Tails? Is that you, buddy?"

"I'll handle this," said a deeper, masculine voice. Everyone heard the sound of someone snapping, and then an almost eerie, yellow glow lifted up a bit of the darkness.

Sonic blinked at the sudden light. "Hey, Shadow! Long time no see!"

"Be quiet, Faker. We have to find the Master Emerald that you stole."

"That I what?" asked a slightly angered hedgehog. "Are you accusing me?"

"Don't act like nothing happened!" growled Knuckles. "You stole my Master Emerald, even used Rouge as hostage! Not to mention that you almost…almost…" Knuckles stopped.

"Almost what?" half-shouted Sonic, though he was afraid of the answer.

"YOU ALMOST KILLED AMY!" he roared back.

"You think I don't know that?" Sonic couldn't take it anymore. He had to let it out. "You think that I wanted to? That I did this willingly? You really think that I'd help Eggman?" Sonic gulped in air. This was the first time that he had shouted to his friends, but didn't they understand? "I would never do anything like this to Amy! Especially since I…" He clamped his mouth shut, realizing what he was just about to say.

"Sonic…" said a quiet voice. Nine pairs of eyes turned to Amy. "Knuckles said that you went to Angel Island and stole the Master Emerald. And…from… from what he said…" she swallowed, preparing to give the news.

"You… you almost killed him, Sonic."

Sonic's mouth dropped. A ringing filled his ears, his mind went blank. It was like his very breathing had stopped.

'You… you almost killed him, Sonic.'

Sonic looked up. No one was able to meet his eyes.

Not his rivals…

Not his friends…

Not even Tails, who was, in a way, his little brother.

He turned his attention back to Amy. "Amy…"

Amy's ears flattened at the way he said her name. She blinked back the hot, burning tears. Forcefully, she turned her head up to meet Sonic's eyes.

The question, 'Is this true?' died in his throat. One look at Amy was all he needed.

"Who else?" he murmured.

"Who else?" repeated Amy, not understanding.

"Is there anyone else… that I…"

"No…" said Amy, quietly. "Just me and Knuckles."

'Just…?' Sonic thought to himself.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" he said, weakly. The sound of his own apology echoed inside of him almost mockingly. "I…"

Amy walked up to him. "Sonic…you had no control…"

Sonic looked up at the girl. "Even so…" he voice shook a bit. "I almost killed you guys… What if… I really do kill you… all of you?" He stared remorsefully into jade green eyes. "How… how can you trust me not to kill you…?"

"I…" Amy was suddenly at a loss for words. 'Because I love you…' her mind whispered. Then how come she couldn't get her mouth to form the words that she so desperately wanted to say? Speaking suddenly seemed like trying to eat rocks.

"We trust you, Sonic," said a meek little voice.

Sonic jerked up his head. "Tails…"

"Sonic, all of us trust you…" he continued, his voice growing stronger with each word. "Sonic, if you didn't trust us, we never would've known someone like you. You're a hero, Sonic."

Knuckles stepped forward. "I… I'm… sorry, that I jumped you," he grunted out. "You know how much I hate apologizing… and Tails is right. You could've destroyed me the first time you met me, remember? I was… being foolish… I actually believed that Eggman wanted to help me…" he sighed, the memory still very fresh in his mind. "No matter how much I hate to say this to you… you're a good friend."

"Sonic…" started Cream. "You saved my mother…" she smiled. "I'll never forget that."

"I know you're a good guy, Sonic," said Rouge genuinely. The Chaotix Team nodded.

"Hmph," Shadow scoffed. "Just don't die on me, Faker." Then, he smirked. "Remember, I'm the one who's going to finish you."

Sonic stared at everyone gathered around him. "So… you… really trust me?" he asked in an-almost hopeful voice.

"Don't turn soft on us," replied Shadow sarcastically. "I don't think I'll be able to even punch you if you start bawling all over us."

Amy hugged Sonic, and he surprised everyone, even himself, by not pushing her away. "See, Sonic?" she asked. "We're all in this, together."

Sonic smiled, something that he hadn't done for days. A true smile, and it lit up his face like the sunlight after a storm. "Thank you, Amy," he whispered into her ear. Amy smiled back. Those three whispered words were something that she knew that she would always cherish in her heart.

"Alright, enough with the mushy stuff," interrupted Charmy, buzzing over their heads. "Let's grab that Master Emerald and bust out of here!"

Sonic nodded. 'My friends… they believe in me…'

'They even forgave me…'

'Now, I have to forgive myself…'

"Ok, Knuckles. Do your thing," Rouge cued.

Knuckles nodded. He closed his eyes. Slowly, he let his energy roam, doing a full sweep of the base.

Rouge tapped her foot. "Are you done yet?"

Knuckles opened one eye. "I don't see you helping."

"I left my detector at home," admitted Rouge, though she didn't seemed a bit sheepish.

Knuckles sighed, and went back to work. After several minutes of silence, he sighed again and opened both his eyes.

"Sorry, guys. My range isn't long enough to cover the whole base. This thing is huge."

"There's a simple solution to that problem. I'll just Chaos Control us all over to the other side of this building, and you can scan from there," Shadow answered. "Unless…" he turned to Sonic. "You're sure…"

"Stubborn as always, aren't you, Shadow?" The blue hedgehog grinned. "I don't have a clue on where the Master Emerald is," he said, very seriously this time.

"Can we get going?" asked Knuckles. "The sooner we get my Emerald, the sooner we can leave."

"You're Emerald?" Rouge narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I meant, my smelly Emerald that 'sinks of echidna,'" Knuckles smirked.

Amy giggled. 'They're still the same…'

"What? I… well…" Rouge sputtered a few more times. "Shadow! Let's go! Aren't we going now?"

Shaking his head, Shadow threw the Chaos Emerald up, before catching it again. "Chaos Control!"

"Ahh… so they're still coming for the Emerald…"

Robonik smiled in his chamber. It was amazing what something like turning off the lights could do. Not only did he get all the nuisances together, but the last Chaos Emerald he was looking for was in Shadow's possession too. He had planned to ambush them in the dark, but plans don't always work out, right?

"Metal…" A robot duplication of Sonic appeared beside him. "Greet our guests, will you?" The robot nodded. The door behind him slid open, and he heard the sounds of quiet clanking slowly fade away.

A.N: You don't know how tempting it was to end it there. Whoops, sorry. Keep reading.

A brilliant flash lit up the chamber of another room.

"Ok, we're here," said Shadow.

Quickly, Knuckles closed his eyes. A few moments of silence passed in the room, which, surprisingly, was dark as well.

"Sonic, why is this room dark?" Amy asked a bit nervously.

"Eggman could've bailed," answered Sonic, though he was a bit doubtful of that.

Abruptly, Knuckles opened both of his piercing violet eyes. "Duck!" he shouted.

Reacting quickly, Sonic pulled Amy down, and felt a whoosh pass his head.

"Looking for this?"

The fighters looked up at a huge computer that almost touched the ceiling. Two orange eyes glowed in the dark, and something brightly green was floating above his head.

"Hey! Isn't that that 'Metal Sonic' fella we fought way back?" asked Vector.

Gleaming metal teeth glinted. They curved up into a cruel smile. It clapped it's hands, and the lights flashed on.

"Yep, it's him," Charmy confirmed.

Metal Sonic sneered down at them all, a look of pure malice in his eyes which clearly guaranteed a painful death.

"Hello, low-lives," he said by the way of a greeting. "Enjoying your stay?"

Knuckles pointed an angry fist at him. "Give me back my Master Emerald!"

"Yeah! Give it to me!" demanded Rouge, pointing a finger at him.

"Do you want it that badly?" he asked, scanning them all with his eyes. "Well then…" he grabbed the Emerald and jumped down from the high spot, landing smoothly on the ground without a sound. He held it out. "Take it… if you can."

Blindly, Knuckles lunged at him, his eyes blazing.

Calmly, Metal jumped, his rocket boosters giving him an extra lift. Knuckles stuck his fists into the computer, and began climbing up. Meanwhile, Metal Sonic was hanging on the side of the computer, his hands and feet sticking helping him stick to it without falling off it, still holding out the Master Emerald with his other hand mockingly.

"Is that the best that the Guardian can give me?" he taunted.

"Hiya!"

The robot looked up to see the white bat coming at him, feet first. He held out his hand, and caught her by the boot.

Rouge barely had any time to register surprise. She was thrown down onto Knuckles, who had almost climbed all the way to where Metal Sonic was. They fell hard onto the ground, creating a huge dent where they landed.

Before they even had the chance to recover, Metal Sonic charged down towards them.

"Chaos Spear!"

The energy that Shadow called on threw themselves on Metal Sonic, who was thrown to the side into another computer and crashed through the screen. Shards of glass scattered onto the ground. Electricity crackled around him as wires snapped and started to wave dangerously around him. Tails jumped ran to the two fallen friends and dragged them to safety.

Knuckles slowly sat up, knocking Rouge off him in the process.

"Ugh…" Rouge rubbed her head. "What was the big deal? That hurt!"

"Who was the one who fell on top of me?" retorted Knuckles.

"We have bigger problems to worry about!" Charmy shouted. He pointed to Metal Sonic.

Metal Sonic slid down from the computer, and fell to the ground. Very slowly, he got back to his feet. He looked up at all of them, taking them all in. "Is… that the best you can do?" he challenged. "The Master Emerald isn't going to be coming to you. I'll take you all on." He faced them, his demeanor was very serious. He wanted a challenge, and he was going to get it.

The fighters faced off. It was like an understanding had gone through them, though no words were exchanged.

This time, they were all deadly serious.

"Get ready, Metal!" shouted Knuckles. He knew that he was ready this time. He raised his fists. "Hammer punch!" He threw his knuckles into the ground, and an earthquake shook the base. All the flyers grabbed everyone who didn't have the power of flight and lifted them to safety.

Knuckles looked up. He narrowed his eyes when he saw Metal floating gently in the air. He charged towards Knuckles.

Cream saw this. "Thunder shoot!" Immediately, Amy, who was being carried by Cream, curled into a ball. For a second she felt Cream's shoes on her back, before she was kicked towards Metal Sonic.

Metal Sonic was blown back by the combined forces of Cream and Amy's attack, but he dug his hands and feet into the ground, and managed to land upright. He jumped up just in time to avoid being melted by Vector's Fire Breath, and landed on the crocodile's head.

A whistling noise to the right made him duck. Kunai knives barely missed his head by inches, managing to only graze the metal of his spines. He jumped up, using the crocodile as a propeller, and floated in the air by his feet, prepared to attack the chameleon that he knew had thrown those knives at him. He was a bit confused when he couldn't see him.

"Leaf Swirl!"

Metal Sonic turned just in time to see the chameleon's legs turn visible and connect with his face. 'So he can turn invisible, eh?'

Metal Sonic skidded a bit along the floor, before he flipped backwards to land in a crouching position.

"Thunder shoot!" This time, Shadow the black hedgehog was heading straight for him, his stiff, hard spines ready to run right through him.

Metal Sonic held up a hand, catching him. He threw him back towards the one who called the attack, Tails, who was bowled over. They both landed in a heap on the floor.

Suddenly, Metal's back started to glow.

"What-?" Charmy was emerging out of his back! Everyone turned to stare.

"Gotcha!" cried Charmy. He crawled on top of his face and clung onto it.

Metal Sonic started to claw at him, but the brave and persistent bee stayed there, refusing to let go. Just as Metal Sonic was about to rip the little bee's arms off, Charmy flew off, and the robot was met by a face-full of blue quills.

Metal Sonic flew back, and this time, he went right through the huge computer in the middle of the room. He was starting to look pretty beat up. His face was a mess, with the glass that made up his eyes starting to crack, and wires were starting to show themselves. A few pieces of metal were barely clinging onto him, and he had burns here and there.

"Give up yet?" asked Sonic, looking down at his dangerous rival. 'One thing bad about him being exactly like me is that he probably won't give up.'

As if reading his thoughts, the duplicate weakly stood up. "H-h-how… how did that bee…?"

"Remember when I threw that knife at you?" asked Espio. "There was a flower on it, and when it grazed you, it fell off onto your back."

"Aaah…" said Metal, as if this was a classroom he was sitting in, and he'd just learned the meaning of life. "It was foolish of me to forget… that bee has the power to travel between flowers, doesn't he? And I suppose that he carries a flower around with him?" He got a nod from Charmy. "Yes… very foolish of me… but do you really think that I'll give up?" With that, he lunged at Sonic.

Sonic ducked. With Metal's Sonic belly above him, he jumped up, crashing his sharp quills into his belly, sending him rocketing up. Sonic leaped up, reaching him, then grabbing him and throwing him down to the ground where the floor cracked from the impact.

Before the dust could even clear, Metal erupted from the cloud, grabbing for the nearest person to him – Knuckles.

Knuckles held up his hands, managing to grab Metal Sonic by the face. "Power Flash!"

A burst of light released from his hands. Knuckles threw him, but this time, Metal Sonic was too disorientated and blinded from the light to get back on his feet. He felt himself slam into something hard, and he felt it splinter and crack beneath him.

"Black Wave!" Rouge waved her hands at the robot that was now almost paralyzed in the ground, but was still trying to get up.

Metal Sonic screeched out in pain. That attack had turned the blinding light into complete darkness. The abrupt change was overloading his sensors! Up no longer seemed to be up, down no longer up. He could hear the sound of a fly that was in the room amplified ten times, yet his rival and friends were soft and quiet. The ground felt fluffy, but the air around him seemed to crush his chest. Nothing made sense… nothing made sense! All he could do was scream and scream.

"Now!" Rouge shouted over the screams.

"Charm Ray!"

"Thunder Arrow!"

"Fire Breath!"

"Shuriken-stars!"

"Chaos Spear!"

"Storming Hearts!"

"Sonic Wind!"

The final attack roared as it neared Metal Sonic. No one could survive it. It was not just because of how strong it was… it was the beliefs that it represented as well.

Friendship…

Trust…

Love…

… Something, that as Sonic watched the one lone robot facing them realized, he had, and needed, to survive.

Everyone turned away from the increasingly blinding light…

A/N: I know! I'm so evil (smiles). Will Metal die? Or will he live? Find out!

I'm starting to answer to some anonymous reviews!

A man without a name: Sorry about the spelling mistakes. If you've read my note, I said that some of the letters and commas sometimes just dissapear. Bad uploader maybe? Oh well. Thnx for reading!

hedge8701: lol did I get the numbers right? Anyway, I update weekly (No, I can't go any faster). Maybe I shouldn't have added that cliffy... (covers head) don't hurt me!

Those are only the ones that reviewed chapter 8! I'll start answering the others... maybe...

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