PoC: And now we come to it. PenFullofChaos819 doesn't own Sonic. Only the story that follows is mine.

Metal: Come to it? You don't mean…

PoC: Yes.

Metal: No.

PoC: Yes!

Metal: NO!

PoC: Yes, it is time.

Metal: Great, couldn't you have given me a little more notice? I can't meet my match looking like this! Hold on, if can just get polished up. No wait, PoC, do my quills look oily to you?

PoC: …You're starting to creep me out. The dreaded Metal Sonic would never worry about how others see him. Anyway, if you just act your usual destructive self, I'm sure you'll be fine.

Metal: You're right. Yes! I am Metal Sonic! I can have oily quills and unpolished hardware if I want to! And those who disagree will burst into flames!

PoC: Uh… Let me rephrase that…

-l-

Defective

-l-

A mission involving excessive firepower? Enjoyable and productive. Guarding a base? Tiresome, but with two guards, it can be fun. Cleaning up scrap metal? Tedious, but the leftovers make good target practice. Scrubbing the floors? Boring, but at least it involves movement.

Despite all these appealing positions, the 'great' Eggman decided to stick his most powerful creation here; a place where all Metal's training and abilities go to waste. Neither a single sound nor soul would ever visit this dank little cell chamber. To make the position worse, the copy's object to guard was, to put it lightly, not the most talkative fellow. Several times Metal tapped on the glass to get an answer, but to no avail. Eventually, he resigned his metallic rump against the over-sized container.

"This is foolishness…" Metal said sourly "I start one fight with the master's 'general', and I get reduced to this? Orbot's far better suited, and he's always screwing things up."

The metallic hedgehog recalled sphere's limited explanation for why he was being confined, but he still didn't understand. Why would he need to be kept away from the others? And why, if he was so dangerous, was he left to watch the next-most volatile robot on this base? None of it made any sense.

As he leaned against the capsule, Metal saw a small something flutter gently to the ground.

"Hm?" he knelt down to retrieve the recognizable piece of unique paper "This again…I never got to show it to E-85." his second examination left him just as baffled as the first "Really, this is pointless. I should just destroy this thing and be done with it." opening his clawed hands, Metal was ready to tear the useless thing into tiny bits. For some reason, one of his red irises locked on the faces in the picture. Doing so left his hands paralyzed, thus unable to complete the action.

"This is so…aggravating!" he strained "Why aren't my hands doing what I tell them?" he tried hard to defy the strange voice in his head that begged him to stop. After a minute-long clash with his inner self, Metal came to a decision.

"Grr… What's the matter with me?" he growled, returning the picture to his on-board storage pocket "I guess it wouldn't make sense to destroy it before figuring out what it is." he rationalized with himself. Leaving this thinking behind, Metal had to come up with something more practical to do. Staring at small chamber he hadn't noticed before, the copy got an idea.

"I might as well recharge while I'm here. It's not like anyone will bother us." he checked the cell out casually while saying "You don't mind me using this, do you?" he asked the larger capsule, only to get a silent bubbling in response "No? Oh you're too kind." he grumbled sarcastically, as he sealed himself inside. The hushed whirring was a rather soothing noise to Metal's cheap (in his opinion) audio receptors, and before long, he felt his body slipping towards comatose.

"I wonder…" he began drowsily "If a short…shut down…would be…alright…" he faded away before he could complete his thought. Now unaware of his surroundings, Metal didn't catch the curious little message on the prototype's terminal.

Test subject link-up verified. Searching for connection…

Connection confirmed. Rebooting main software. Synchronization commencing…

L

*Egg base: 3-3 Laboratory*

L

Gears, sprockets, and other miscellaneous objects scattered in every direction. Echoes of loud crashing and banging could be heard from every corner of the once quite place of research.

"It's not FAIR!" the full grown man whined angrily "I work and slave for this dang-near useless prototype, and what happens? My latest attempt to fix it blows up in my face, literally!"

"More accurately doctor," his eternal assistant commented "You brought one hundred pounds-worth of fist down on your work when the device suffered a meltdown."

"SILENCE! I make the rules around here! And if I say it blew up, it blew up!" Eggman insisted childishly "It's not my fault that this imbecilic computer can't memorize a simple cycle."

Rolling around, picking up the loose innards, Orbot said "At least it wasn't the prototype that 'blew up'. This little device should be an easy fix for man of superior genius like yourself." he comforted.

"It IS easy! I just don't want to have to mess it up for the tenth time!" the doctor moaned. Eggman removed and wiped down the lens of his glasses, as he eyed his ruined work "I can't see why the data won't take. A mobian mind can't be that hard to replicate. So why is my latest invention so defective?"

The round helper smacked his forehead "Considering there are things that, to this day, remain mysterious about the brain? Come now doctor, you are trying to copy more than just a simple sleep-cycle. You are trying to measure 'emotions' mathematically. Such a thing is impossible."

As if cued by higher powers, the 'great' scientist sank to the floor; kicking and screaming as immaturely as possible "But I'm the greatest scientist in the history of mankind! Emotions should be easy for me to analyze! Nothing should 'impossible' for me! Tell me Orbot, why is life so unfair?" seeing his creator's distress, Orbot rolled up to his side.

"There there now, doctor. You can't be perfect." his words didn't seem to be helping, but he continued to say "Look now, why don't we try just linking the subject up with one of your current designs? You know, to give it something to work with, until you get your emotional problems solved." Orbot hoped Eggman would fail to see the double meaning behind his words.

"No no, that won't work…" the doctor sighed "If I connect it now, it'll be impossible to overwrite later." sitting up at last, he picked up his tools "I just need to get this done so I can truly trick and defeat that accursed blue hedgehog. Orbot, hand me those wire-cutters will you?"

"Sure, oh hey boss." the sphere-bot chirped "What about dealing with Metal's issue instead? You know what they say: If a man be bested by bear, better he then face the shark's snare."

The madman's focus slowly found it's why over to orb-modeled robot "What have I fried this time in your mental processor? Who in their right mind says that?"

"Well forgive me for trying to be eloquent." Orbot crossed his arms "Let me try again. You. Need. To. Switch. Projects! Working on this day and night can be bad for your health boss, not that eating between meals isn't…" he changed his tune when the boss raised his wrench threateningly "A-Anyways! I meant that it might be good to work on a more doable project. I mean, all we have to do for Metal is switch out that faulty Core of his. How bad can that be?" despite his attempts to cover his mistake, Orbot still suffered the back-end of the doctor's tool.

"Idiot! I can't just rip a Core out and put a new one in! If I did that, Metal's combat data could get scrambled! I need to build a non-defective Core from scratch! That being said, all of Metals data will be…" he paused briefly, as if weighing the consequences "No, I sure he won't miss it. I suppose you have a point, but," the doctor leaned in to place his hand atop the dented robot's dome "If I hear another slip about my, ahem, genetic imperfections, I'll be using your remains to build the Core."

Peeking his head out of his defensive state, Orbot chuckled "And by 'genetic imperfections' you mean your fully-manageable blubber, or perhaps your constantly spiking blood sugar?"

A war cry and a deathblow later, the doctor returned to work with his now not-so-vocal assistant.

L

*Activation Cells 1-8*

L

It's that light again, but something's different this time.

I can…think, feel, and understand things now. How strange.

Fluid drained out of the greater capsule. Once it was all gone, the base of the cell unsealed itself in a swift motion.

I hate how they lock my up like this. Wait, what does "hate" mean? And who taught me about it?

The dripping figure stepped over to the smaller capsule. Giving it a quick look, it touched the glass.

Was this here before? I don't think so. Wait, there's someone inside.

The figure examined the sleeping person. It was a very peculiar shape for a robot.

Whatever it is, it's sound asleep. Should I try waking it up?

Timing couldn't have been kinder, or crueler depending on perspective, as the small capsule deposited a now-drenched Metal onto the floor.

"What the?" where Metal's first words once he regained his senses "That was the weirdest nap I've ever had." without warning, he saw a large pair of eyes staring into his "By far…"

"Um… Hello." the figure greeted timidly.

-l-

End of Chapter Five

-l-

Am I an a**? Yes I am. I don't know when I'll get the chance to do a cliffhanger again, so here it is XD. Side note: Hey hey! I'm back on track again! :D

Serenity: Sorry to reward your patience this way, but what's a romance without a suspenseful intro? Anyway I hope you liked the chap. P.S. The revealing might not be what you were expecting, but I hope you like it (needless to say, the next chapter will be the hardest to write).

DanceDream: Glad the humor got you going last chapter :D. And yes, I'm cruel enough to cliffhanger this crucial part *wicked laughter*. Regardless, I hope it came out well. You might be a bit put off by the revealing at first, but give it a chance and think you might like it (not that you would hate it, but I thought I should warn you). P.S. My rut has been laid aside for now! So that I might finish this noble task of bringing fanfiction to the starved world of imagination! …Or maybe I'm just feeling better XD.

Until next time!