Metal Sonic dashed over to Tails. Before he could grab him Tails flew up into the sky. As Metal Sonic chased after him Tails spun into a ball and smashed Metal Sonic on his head, sending him crashing to the ground. Tails then flew to the ground and grabbed Metal Sonic by one of his legs and threw him into the city. Tails flew after Metal Sonic as he fell into a house. Metal Sonic got up and flew up to Tails and punched him in the face, Tails quickly recovered and grabbed Metal Sonic head. He forced Metal Sonic to the ground and punched him repeatedly in the head. As the battle between Tails and Metal Sonic unfolded, Shadow and Snivley watched from the Death Egg.
"Doctor, it appears that Metal Sonic has begun to battle Tails. Mecha Sonic has also been stopped by Shard," Shadow said as he looked at Snivley's computer screen. Eggman sighed.
"I knew this wasn't going to go as smoothly as I wanted. What about Mecha Sally?"
"Nothing, there hasn't been any sign of her and her camera is still down,"
"What should we do Doctor Eggman?" Snivley asked. Eggman thought for a moment.
"Shadow, go get Silver Sonic ready for launch, I have a bad feeling about this," he said. Shadow nodded and left. Eggman clenched his fingers together. "We are so close. This could be the end of my life long struggle,"
Shard kicked Mecha Sonic into the air and chased after him. As Mecha Sonic regained his balance Shard flew past him. Mecha Sonic turned to see Shard stopping almost instantly and flying back to him. Mecha Sonic blocked the kick from Shard. The momentum pushed him back a bit, when he looked up Shard was speeding towards him. Mecha Sonic fired a laser but Shard avoided it and punched him in the face, this sent Mecha Sonic flying through the air.
"Where do you think you're going!?" Shard said as he chased after him. When he caught up he grabbed Mecha Sonic's leg and slammed him down into the ground. Shard quickly backed away from Mecha Sonic as he fired another laser shot at him. Mecha Sonic slowly got to his feet as Shard yelled. "Hey faker, this one is on me!" Shard fired a large red laser blast at Mecha Sonic. He attempted to block but the blast overwhelmed him and sent him flying into a nearby house. Shard changed his hand back into a Knuckles type fist and flew after Mecha Sonic. He hovered over the destroyed house, waiting for Mecha Sonic to make his move. He could see big portions of wood and metal slide down as Mecha Sonic arose from the rubble. Shard came down and landed a few yards in front of the destroyed house.
"You're considerably tougher then my data informs me. Your upgrades must have been very affective," Mecha Sonic said as he brushed the debris off of his arms and legs. Shard crossed his arms and smiled.
"Don't sell yourself short, compared to Metal Sonic you're a lot tougher," Mecha Sonic walked from the crumbling house, kicked bits and pieces of wood and metal out of his way. He stopped a few feet from Shard.
"Nothing quite beats the original, especially not a recycled faker such as you," Shard laughed.
"Oh common, that hurts my feelings," Shard said as he stood ready to fight. "By the way, you might have been roboticized. However you have retained you're sense of humor and attitude,"
"Doctor reprogrammed my personality to somewhat resemble my organic self, he figured the rest of the Freedom Fighters would have moral issues attacking me," Shard nodded in agreement.
"Sounds reasonable enough, too bad it can't work on me,"
"I don't need it too," Mecha Sonic said. He came after Shard attempting to punch him but Shard took off to the skies. Mecha Sonic followed him faster than Shard anticipated and was hit in the chest. Mecha Sonic hit him again in the face sending Shard higher into the sky. Mecha Sonic flew past Shard and stopped a few yards ahead of him. Shard flew even higher as Mecha Sonic used both his feet to kick him in the back. He then flew above Shard and waited as he came closer. When Shard came within striking distance Mecha Sonic grasped both his hands together and brought them down directly on Shard power core. Shard dropped to the ground at a rapid speed before impacting the ground. Mecha Sonic landed on the ground next to Shard and picked him up by one of his arms. Shard tried to force Mecha Sonic to release him but his grip to too powerful, he began to change his free hand into a possible weapon but Mecha Sonic grabbed it and crushed it before it could finish. Mecha Sonic then reached for Shard's power core. "It's unfortunate that you have to die by my hands, I imagine you'd rather die by someone else other than the target you were created to destroy,"
"Heh, this would usually be the part where I try to convince you that you don't have to do this. Unfortunately for me you are a mindless slave," Shard said. Mecha Sonic dug his fingers into Shard chest and pulled out the power core. Shard stared at it as he slowly started to shut down. Mecha Sonic crushed the gem in his hands and let Shard's body drop to the ground.
"Yes, how unfortunate for you." Mecha Sonic threw the remains of the power core onto Shard and flew into the sky. "Doctor Eggman, I have destroyed Shard. I'm heading into the direction I last saw Mecha Sally. She was fighting with Jules,"
"Jules? It hardly seems as if Jules could take down Mecha Sally on his own," Eggman said. He thought for a moment before speaking to Shadow. "How is Silver Sonic?"
"He is ready," Shadow replied. Eggman smiled.
"Things aren't going to bad. Shard is out of the way and Metal Sonic is dealing with Tails, Mecha Sonic should be able to deal with whatever problem Mecha Sally has come across,"
Metal Sonic and Tails traded blows in the air as they each tried to get the upper hand on one another. Metal Sonic dodged a kick from Tails and grabbed his neck. Tails quickly kicked Metal Sonic in the chest and removed his hand from his neck. Before Metal Sonic could react Tails had disappeared. Metal looked around for Tails but saw no sight of him, as he searched he heard a quite flapping noise that quickly got louder. As he turned to his right, Tails using his momentum from flying punched Metal Sonic. He descended rapidly to the ground as Tails followed him. When Metal Sonic hit the ground Tails kneed Metal Sonic in the chest causing sparks to fly out. Tails jumped off and took a few steps back as Metal Sonic slowly got up.
"Do you now see that I'm superior to you?" Tails asked. Metal Sonic didn't respond, instead fired a laser from his chest at Tails. Tails flew into the sky quickly avoid the blast, but as Tails looked back at the ground Metal Sonic had disappeared. "Wait, he was just there. We'd he go?"
"Tails, why do you continue to fight? You know if you do manage to defeat me, you will still have to face Mecha Sonic. Do you really believe you can take down your own brother?" Metal Sonic said. Tails didn't respond as he continued to search for Metal Sonic. "You also have to deal with Mecha Sally, isn't she family to you as well? With your parents on the Death Egg, Mecha Sonic and Sally are all you have left. Can you really attempt to fight them as you are fighting me?"
"Stop hiding you coward!" Tails shouted. There was a moment of silence before Metal Sonic spoke again.
"I see you aren't interested in conversation. Very well, I'll end this here and now," Metal Sonic said. He flew out of the sky behind Tails, as Tails turned around Metal Sonic broung his knee into his chest cause Tails to hunch over in pain. He then wrapped his left arm around Tails' neck and hooked up his right arm with Tails' and held it behind his back. Metal Sonic proceeded to fly them into them towards the ground. When they impacted the ground a shockwave traveled from them and almost circulated throughout the city. Metal Sonic stood up as Tails lay on the ground unconscious, his suit slowly disappeared. "I think I'll let you live for now, the Doctor will enjoy tormenting you for a while," Metal Sonic laughed as he flew off into the sky.
Mecha Sonic was searching for Mecha Sally across the city but saw no trace of her. He was prepared to call in Doctor Eggman when Mecha Sally flew into the air next to him.
"Mecha Sally, what happened? Where's Jules." Mecha Sonic asked.
"He has been taken care of, as well as Uncle Chuck. Let's head back to base," she said. Mecha Sonic nodded as they turned around. They soon we're joined by Metal Sonic.
"Everyone except Tails has been captured and sent back to the Death Egg, I thought you'd like to capture Tails you're self Mecha Sonic," he said. Mecha Sonic smiled.
"Sure, why not," he said as they followed Mecha Sonic to where had left Tails. However Tails was no longer there. As they landed they searched for any sign of him. "Metal Sonic, where is he?"
"I'm not sure, I knocked him out and left him here," he replied. Suddenly Metal Sonic was off his feet and was slammed back into the ground. Mecha Sonic and Mecha Sally quickly took flight as Tails who was back into his suit tried to spindash right through them. Mecha Sonic sighed as Tails came straight for him. He grabbed Tails before he could attack threw him into the ground. Metal Sonic by this time was back on his feet and kicked Tails in the back. Tails landed on his face as Mecha Sonic and Mecha Sally landed back on the ground. Metal Sonic picked him up by the back of his neck and held him up to Mecha Sonic.
"Nice to see you again buddy," Mecha Sonic said. He patted Tails on the head. "You have certainly grown since I began to work for Doctor Eggman."
"You mean since Eggman brainwashed you, I can't believe you let him do this to you Sonic. You even captured your own mother, your dog, Jules and Uncle Chuck are gone now as well, and none of this bothers you?" Tails said. Sonic thought for a moment before quickly replying.
"No, I am perfectly fine with this. While I worked with the Freedom Fighters I always felt held back by everyone. I always had to watch my back and others as well, but with Eggman. We watch each other's back and our own, not just me," Tails hung his head, tears rolled from his eyes as he realized his best friend had betrayed everything they had fought for. He gritted his teeth and waited as Mecha Sonic looked at him.
"So what happens now? You captured everyone except me,"
"It's simple, we capture you. Destroy the rest of this place, and enjoy life without consistent fighting. Isn't this what you Freedom Fighters wanted?"
"Not this way, not with our greatest hero betraying us," Tails said as he closed his eyes. Mecha Sonic raised the Capture Laser and took aim.
"I'll see you later then Tails," Mecha Sonic said. A bright light flashed as Tails eyes we're closed. He waited till the brightness dimmed before he opened his eyes. He saw a huge roll of smoke in front of him, he tried to move to see what it was but he realized he was still being held by his neck.
"Wait, what's going on?" Tails said. A figure stood up in the smoke, to Tails he seemed familiar but couldn't be sure.
"Thank you Mecha Sally, I owe you one for this," said the figure. Metal Sonic released Tails and went after the figure in the smoke. Tails watched at Metal Sonic was destroyed in a matter of seconds by the figure.
"Doctor Eggman, Metal Sonic has just been destroyed, Mecha Sonic has disappeared but Mecha Sally seems to be okay," Snivley said. Eggman jumped out of his chair.
"What! How could this happen? Get the Camera Bots closer to that area!" Eggman demanded. A few seconds the cameras zoomed in on the scene we're Tails and Mecha Sally stood on either side of a figure covered in smoke. As the smoke rolled away with the breeze Eggman realized that the figure standing between Tails and Mecha Sally was Sonic the Hedgehog and he looked to be in a terrible mood. "Egad! Sonic has been de-roboticized!"
"Shadow hurry and release Silver Sonic now!" Eggman shout as he ran back to his chair.
"Doctor, are you sure?" he asked. Eggman slammed his hand on his arm rest.
"Shadow, my arch rival has just been de-roboticized and judging by his appearance he isn't in the best of moods. I want him brought down before he can do any serious damage to the Death Egg or me!" Shadow nodded and ran off. He turned back to the camera as he watched Sonic dust himself off. He noticed that Mecha Sally was standing next to him. "Wait, why isn't Mecha Sally attacking him?"
"It is possible she has twitched sides," Snivley said. Eggman roared with anger.
"Impossible, she has been loyal to me. Even after the free will algorithm was installed!"
"Doctor, do you remember sometime after you installed Mecha Sally's free will algorithm, the original Shadow made a statement which you ignored, I've even tried to tell it to you but you refused to listen,"
"Out with it Snivley, we don't have much time!" Eggman said. Snivley gritted his teeth.
"Shadow said that giving her free will would be extremely risky. That giving a machine free will that previously had an organic life before it was roboticized would allow it to access its past memories as an organic life form,"
"So in other words, when she received the free will algorithm she remembered everything that has transpired between us!?" Eggman screamed as he jumped out his chair. He pointed a finger at Snivley. "This is your fault! It was your idea to give Mecha Sally free will!
"I tried to tell you that this might happen, but you never listen to me!" Snivley said. Eggman was about to grab Snivley as Shadow called in.
"Doctor, I'm about to send Silver Sonic. Do you want me to accompany him?" he said. Eggman sighed and sat back in his chair.
"Yes, go with him. Stall Sonic for as long as you can," he said. Eggman sighed again. "Snivley, let's go. It seems like we'll have to use it,"
Meanwhile Sonic looked around the battlefield. He didn't see much but destroyed areas and the bodies of Shard and Metal Sonic.
"Sonic how are you feeling, Is everything okay?" Tails asked. Sonic turned to Mecha Sally.
"Where are my father and uncle?" he asked her.
"They are on the Death Egg. After giving me the de-roboticizer they told me they would be safer on the Death Egg rather than fighting Eggman," Sonic nodded as he turned to Tails.
"How are you doing buddy?" he asked. Tails could tell the de-roboticizer had left him a little tired and he seemed to be very angry and vengeful.
"I'm fine Sonic, how are you? You don't look too good," Tails replied. Sonic smiled.
"I've been worse, but I'm ready to end this now. Mecha Sally, are you going to help me?" he asked. Mecha Sally nodded.
"I wouldn't have used the de-roboticizer if I wasn't," she said. "However I think we should wait for a little bit. Eggman now knows you are back to normal and I have betrayed them. I would imagine he's sending Silver Sonic after us now,"
"I'll finish him in a matter of seconds. I'm not letting Eggman get away,"
"Then we will take on Silver Sonic," Tails said. Sonic shook his head.
"No Tails, I'm not putting you at risk," he said.
"Sonic, do not underestimate Tails. He was able to hold off Metal Sonic. He may be young, but he is very experienced," Mecha Sally said.
"I know but I've already lost my family, my friends, and even you. I don't want to lose him," Sonic said.
"Sonic, I'll be fine. You need to stop Eggman without any distractions," he said. Sonic looked at Tails and smiled.
"It's nice to see you guys are reunited," said Eggman. He voice was being projected from an Camera Bot that had come closer. "Too bad it all ends here today,"
"If I had a ring for every time I've heard someone say that to me I'd be close to collecting my two billionth ring," Sonic said as he crossed his arms. Eggman growled.
"It doesn't matter how many rings you collect, nothing will save you from my new Silver Sonic!" Eggman said as a Silver ball crashed into the ground. Shadow landed on the ground next to it as Eggman laughed. "The two of you will be roboticized before the day is done. However Mecha Sally, you will be terminated for your betrayal,"
"Tails, I've changed my mind. You two take out Silver Sonic. I'll deal with Shadow the Betrayer," Sonic said.
"Enough Talk, let's finish this!" Shadow said. Silver Sonic unrolled out of his ball and dashed after Sonic. Mecha Sally pushed him out of the way as Sonic ran straight for Shadow. Tails' suit reappeared and he too went after Silver Sonic. Shadow dodged Sonic's spindash and fired a chaos spear into his back. Sonic landed on the ground and ran after Shadow again. Shadow fired multiple chaos spears at Sonic which we're dodged as Sonic kicked Shadow in the gut. Sonic jumped into the air and was about to drop his foot onto Shadow's head but Shadow ran off into the city. "Get back here faker!"
Sonic chased after Shadow. Mecha Sally dodged a strike from Silver Sonic as Tails kicked him from behind. Silver Sonic spun around and elbowed Tails in the chest, Mecha Sally swept his legs from under him and tried to plant one of her blades into his chest. Silver Sonic kicked her into Tails and began to change his left hand into a club.
"Whoa, Eggman has done some changes to Silver Sonic," Tails commented. Mecha Sally used her blades to block an incoming attack from Silver Sonic.
"Eggman modified both his hands in a similar why NICOLE did to Shard. He's also constructed from tougher but lighter metal which makes him forty seven percent quicker," Mecha Sally pushed him off of her and swung at him with her right blade. Silver Sonic blocked it with a shield and then bashed her with the club.
"It seems he can change his hands quicker than Shard can," Tails said. Silver Sonic turned to him and came after him with the club. Tails dodged and grabbed the other hand. He held Silver Sonic in place as Sally came through and sliced off that arm. Silver Sonic kicked Tails into the air as Mecha Sally came around again. Silver Sonic dodged her blades and jumped into the sky. He rolled into a balled and flew directly at Tails. Mecha Sally jumped in front of Tails and blocked with her blades. As her blades and Silver Sonic's back spins collided sparks flew everywhere. Tails flew to the right of Silver Sonic and spin dashed him in the side. Silver Sonic fell over onto his side as Tails flew into the air and came down with a spin dash. Silver Sonic quickly unrolled and caught Tails, he tossed him into Mecha Sally. As Silver Sonic prepared to attack a chaos spear hit him in the back causing him to fall down. Tails saw in the distance Sonic and Shadow fighting around in the city. Sonic dodged another chaos spear and punched Shadow in the face. Shadow retaliated with a kick and a punch that knocked Sonic down. The two then spun into balls and began colliding with each other on the ground and in the air.
"Mecha Sally, quick before Silver Sonic has a chance to recover," Tails said as Sliver Sonic began to get up Tails and Mecha Sally began to attack him, Tails distracting him with minor attacks while Sally began to cut him into pieces. Tails finished him off by spin dashing through his head. What was left of Silver Sonic's body fell to the ground as Tails kicked one of his pieces into it. "That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, I guess I was right, Sonic copies aren't meant to fight other tough opponents,"
"Perhaps," Mecha Sally said. "What should we do now?"
"I'm not sure, I don't feel confident in taking on Eggman without Sonic, maybe we should go help him,"
"I believe Silver Sonic was Eggman's last line of defense, he hadn't counted on Sonic being de-roboticized. However, you should stay here while I go confront Eggman, if he does have a backup plan I will take it out. I will save Eggman for Sonic, I think Sonic would like a word with him," she said. Tails thought for a moment then nodded in agreement. As Mecha Sally left, Tails turned to the battle of Sonic and Shadow. Sonic had just ducked from a kick by Shadow and jumped back. As they stared at each other Shadow received a call from Doctor Eggman.
"Shadow, Snivley and I are almost finished. I need you to stall Sonic for five minutes then allow him to defeat you,"
"Yes Doctor, I understand," Shadow said, Sonic laughed.
"I can't believe it, Shadow the Hedgehog. The arrogant Ultimate Life Form, taking orders form an egg shaped man and his nephew. How the mighty have fallen," he said. Shadow crossed his arms.
"I do what must be done to benefit myself. I'm tired of being a team player,"
"Shut it faker, I don't care why you betrayed us. All I want is revenge, and you're the only thing preventing me from obtaining my revenge,"
"Sonic the Hedgehog, the hero of Mobius seeking revenge? That is very uncharacteristic of you Sonic," Shadow said as he smiled. "I've known you to be a lot of things over the years Sonic, but a man seeking revenge wasn't one of them,"
"What are you talking about Shadow? I've always wanted revenge on Doctor Eggman. I even wanted revenge on Doctor Robotnik before he killed himself. I've wanted revenge for everything they did to us, for everyone who was roboticized, legionized, tricked, brainwashed, or killed," Shadow paused for a moment.
"If that was true, why is Eggman still here? Eggman was in your custody only once, but during that time, you had the perfect opportunity to kill him, to be rid of him. Yet you showed him mercy," Sonic's eyes widen at what Shadow said.
"H-he was out of his mind. He couldn't even remember what time period he was in,"
"Is that really an excuse for not getting rid of the man who plagued your world for years, tormenting your friends and family?"
"As a Freedom Fighter, simply killing him wasn't apart of whom we are. We showed him mercy because we didn't want to stoop to his level," Sonic said. Shadow laughed.
"Come on Sonic that isn't why you've kept him alive for so long, tell me the real reason," Shadow said, Sonic thought for a moment before answering, by this time Tails had flown in and was watching the two talk.
"It was because of Zonic," Sonic said. Shadow looks puzzled at the mention of this name.
"Who is Zonic?" he asked.
"Zonic is an alternate me from the No Zone. He's a Zone Cop that regulates people who travels from different zones, I asked him about arresting Eggman while I was turning in Scourge. He told me he couldn't, that my universe needed a Doctor Eggman to fight to keep our universe stable,"
"You're saying this Eggman wasn't the original, how is this possible?" Shadow looked confused as he tried to understand what was going on.
"Well the original Eggman was called Doctor Robotnik. He wasn't as sinister as Doctor Eggman. I imagine if Robotnik hadn't killed himself with his own laser we would have defeated him long before now. Doctor Eggman and Robotnik's timeline were very similar until Robotnik killed himself, once this happened Eggman killed off all of the Royal Family and the Freedom Fighters and made his way here."
"Even so you refused to kill this Eggman, a man not even from our universe. Because an alternate version of you said it wasn't a good idea?" Shadow asked. Sonic nodded as he hung his head down.
"Don't lie to me Sonic. You want me to believe you allowed Eggman to torment everyone because someone told you that you had to? No I don't believe that is reason, I think it's because you're weak. You don't have what it takes to finish him off," Shadow said, he sighed as waited for Sonic to reply.
"Sonic is right. We didn't kill Eggman because as Freedom Fighters we didn't allow ourselves to…" Shadow threw a chaos spear at Tails. Sonic quickly pushed Tails out of the way as the spear missed his head.
"Sonic, I'm going to finished you right here and now!" Shadow said. He was about to remove his inhibitors but was teleported out of the area. Sonic and Tails looked at each other as they tried to figure out what happened to Shadow. Soon a Camera Bot came out of the air and flew in front of Sonic.
"I'm sorry Sonic. It seems that Shadow has had little break down. In any case, please make your way to the Death Egg. It's time we finished this once and for all," Eggman said.
"With pleasure Doc," Sonic said. Tails grabbed Sonic's hand and began to carry them up to the Death Egg. "Hey buddy, where did Sally go?"
"She went ahead of us, she wanted to weaken Eggman's defenses for us," Tails replied.
"I hope nothing bad happened to her, Eggman can be full of tricks,"
Sonic and Tails made their way to Death Egg as it hovered a few thousand feet above a destroyed Metropolis. A door opened as they approached, Tails looked down as Sonic. He nodded, Tails flew them into the door, and they both landed on the ground and walked through another door that had opened. They found themselves in a fairly large room. It was dark and they could only see themselves since there was a kind of spot light on them, as if Eggman was putting on a show and they were the main attraction. Sonic tapped his foot impatiently as he waited.
"What is taking Eggman so long, are we going to do this or not?" Sonic asked as he looked around. Tails yawned as he stretched his arms.
"I'm sorry Sonic, I had to take care of Shadow before dealing with you," said Eggman as he walked into the room with Sonic and Tails. The lights came on in the room revealing that the large room was fairly empty with the exception of many Camera Bots that seemed to be installed into the walls. Sonic smiled and crossed his arms.
"Surely you don't plan on taking me on in a fist fight? That would ruin the fun," he said. Eggman laughed as he extended his hand to Sonic.
"Here's to an end of our rivalry," he said. Sonic hesitated for a moment before taking his hand. Eggman smiled as the room locked down, every door, window and vent became blocked by metal. "The only way it ends is by your capture or my death,"
"You're insane," Sonic said. Eggman shrugged as he took a few steps back.
"Perhaps, but it doesn't matter. I want to finish this here and now," he said as a platform opened behind him. He stepped onto it and sat in a chair that had risen from the platform. The platform slowly began to rise revealing a machine Eggman had built. As more and more of it became visible to Sonic, his smile began to fade into an expression of depression. When the machine has fully ascended into the room even Tails' face became stricken with sadness. Eggman laughed out loud as Sonic and Tails realized what they were up against.