"C'mon metalhead! You're faster than that!" Sonic taunted as the two blue blurs shot across the landscape. In response Metal revved up his engine more and shot forward. "Now that's more like it." Sonic smirked to himself and sped up to catch Metal.
Sonic shot Metal finger guns as he passed him again. Metal let out an indignant beep before working to catch up again. "Give me a challenge, Metal." He glanced back, Metal was slowly gaining on him. "Don't make me say it." If looks could kill Sonic had the distinct feeling he'd be dead several times over by now. "You're too-" he was cut off as Metal sped past. Dirt kicked up from the robot's engine caused Sonic to cough and swerve slightly. Thankfully it didn't take long to recover. "Not sure if that was on purpose or not…" He smirked. "But I'll let it slide this time."
Sonic was extra careful to make sure the two stayed away from any populated areas. First, he didn't want people to freak out if they saw Metal. Even if the two were just having a "friendly" race it would be understandable if people were concerned by it. They'd probably think Eggman was around and that'd be a whole other problem in itself. Second, he didn't really want anyone to see him. Chaos forbid word get back to Knuckles, or more importantly Tails that he wasn't on the island. The two were worried enough as is; he wasn't trying to add more fuel to that fire.
"Alright, let's kick things up shall we?" Sonic said, glancing at Metal. The robot seemed to return the same look Sonic gave him despite not really being able to emote. Boosting, Sonic once more took the lead from Metal. Based on the sound behind him, Sonic didn't even need to look back to know that Metal was upset and trying to catch up. Sonic was fairly confident he could do it, but Sonic was still gonna beat him. His record was pretty good; he'd won more races than he'd lost and he intended to keep it that way. Honestly that record probably kept Metal competitive. Always trying to prove he was the "superior Sonic".
The roaring of Metal's engine was slowly growing closer and Sonic risked a glance back. Metal had what Sonic would dare call a determined look. It was odd to be able to read Metal's expressions, especially since they didn't really change all that much. Sonic would take it though, it was really his only way of knowing anything about his counterpart's thoughts since Metal couldn't speak. Well, not normally anyway.
Metal shot forward with a burst of speed and Sonic had to jump in order to avoid getting hit. "Hey, watch where you're going Metal. You know the rules and I already let you have one freebie this race." Sonic smirked as he landed. Metal seemed to ignore him, yeah that was normal. The two were once more neck and neck, which was pretty normal for their races. Sonic had to hand it to Eggman, he could build a fun bot to mess with. Something large and blue ahead of them caught Sonic's eye. Ah, that would make things more interesting, and he was feeling daring.
The two's race led them to the ocean. Sonic barely hesitated as they both took off over the water. Metal had a bit of an advantage here, he could fly and Sonic couldn't, but Sonic could run fast enough to be ok. At least it made things more interesting. As much as he'd like to continue trying to taunt the badnik, he wanted to make sure he didn't fall into the water more. He shifted his focus to keeping on top of the water. Land was in sight thankfully so he should be fine.
He felt a wild smile spread across his face. Now this felt good, feeling free and able to go wherever. Having a worthy opponent to test himself against. His eyes flicked to Metal who was focused on moving forward. Sonic flexed a hand as he watched Metal. This was fun. Metal was someone who could keep things interesting. Though he could easily… Sonic shook his head sharply and did the one thing he didn't want to do: trip.
Hitting the water face first at the speed he was going wasn't something he'd recommend to anyone. A really 0/10 kind of experience. The first thing he really registered was the pain from the whole thing. Though he very quickly realized he was sinking as soon as he tried to take a breath. Right, he'd been on water. Water meant he could drown. That's when the panic set in. Logically he knew that panicking would only make it worse, but his thoughts were very much occupied by the illogical part of his brain which was screaming that he was gonna drown.
He paddled uselessly at the water in an attempt to get back to the surface. Maybe he really should have taken up Tails on his offer to teach Sonic how to swim. Well, was this it then? There's no way Metal would come back for him, heck he might not have even noticed Sonic tripped at all, and neither Tails or Knuckles knew where he was. The clear, blue water around him was oddly calm and peaceful; a contrast to Sonic's own racing thoughts as his struggles slowed down. His eyes started to slip closed, and then he swore he saw a flash of gold before he heard a voice. "Oh no, you're not allowed to die yet. Just let me get us out of this." Was that… the same voice from before? Sonic was pretty inclined to let the voice help, but at the same time he just knew it'd be a bad idea. Was drowning any better though? He had to think quickly, he didn't really have the luxury of time at the moment. Some part of him knew he shouldn't give in, as reasonable as the voice seemed to be acting right now. Saving was good, but Sonic had not the slightest clue as to how a voice was supposed to save him.
Thankfully he was saved from having to make a decision as he felt a metal hand grip him roughly around the arm and yank him up out of the water. Sonic coughed to get the water out of his lungs after Metal had unceremoniously thrown him onto the land. Well it was better than drowning. He did feel a spike of irritation but it was easy enough to push down. Metal had saved him, that was nothing to get upset over. It was surprising that it had happened, but Sonic was grateful. Maybe it was a pride thing. Metal hadn't been the cause of Sonic's near death so the bot saved him. Whatever the reason Sonic was just happy to not be drowning anymore.
Shakily he stood up and gave Metal a thankful look. "Heh, thanks. Wasn't uh, sure I was getting out of that one." Metal stared at him. Sonic stared back until Metal tilted his head, questioningly. "Oh you're… wondering what happened there?" Sonic asked as he gestured back to the ocean. A nod. "Right uh, just got distracted is all. Lost my footing and unlike some people I can't fly." He brought a fist up to his mouth to cough into it. "Or swim."
Metal seemed to give him a look that read as 'I don't believe you, but know I won't get another answer out of you'. Crossing his arms, Metal nodded. "Sorry about cutting our race short. Can we call it a draw?" Sonic asked, rubbing the back of his head. Metal gave him a distinctly unimpressed look, but reluctantly nodded anyway. "Alright, cool. We can pick this up another time. When I'm less… distracted. That way we can have a proper rematch." Sonic glanced around and frowned before sighing. "Saaaay." Sonic looked back at Metal. "I don't suppose I could get you to drop me off somewhere…"
Sonic watched as Metal took off into the distance. Honestly the hedgehog was surprised that he'd managed to convince his counterpart to get him back up to Angel Island. It hadn't been a very comfortable journey, but at least he hadn't needed to figure out how to get back up to the island sneakily. It hadn't even take that much convincing to get Metal to take him either. Maybe some deep part of Metal cared? He was pretty different from most of Eggman's bots. Though Sonic didn't even pretend to fully understand his counterpart. Sonic shook his head, the badnik would always continue to surprise him. Now, hopefully Tails or Knuckles didn't see him. Speaking of, he checked his communicator and let out a relieved sigh when it turned on. Tails had probably made it waterproof just in case. Checking it Sonic was glad to see no messages. Well he really had mixed feelings about that. On one hand it meant there'd been no progress, but on the other they shouldn't have noticed his absence.
Sonic started stretching. At least he was feeling a bit better now; even if the whole thing was kinda dampened by almost drowning. Sonic stopped mid stretch as he recalled more clearly what had happened. The voice was back… They hadn't actually said anything to him since the first time. What had they said? He wasn't allowed to die yet? Also the voice was somehow going to save him if he'd let it. That meant that whatever it wanted to do it needed his permission? Shaking his head he frowned. Maybe he should bring this up to Tail and Knuckles; they'd probably have a better time figuring this out then he was.
Though if he told them about it he'd probably have to explain how he'd almost drowned, and that wasn't something he particularly wanted to do. Sighing in frustration he sat down on a rock. He should tell them, he really should. They were his friends and they cared about him as much as he cared about them. They just wanted to help, and this information might be useful. Putting his head into his hands he groaned. Why did this have to be so complicated?
Think Sonic. What was the best thing to do? Could he figure anything out on his own? He took his head out of his hands to look out over the landscape and took a deep breath to try and calm himself and focus. First, what did he know? Whatever this voice was, they were dangerous. They were somehow related to the chaos emeralds; though he had no clue as to how. At the moment he could feel spikes of their emotions and thoughts on rarer occasions. These were pretty easy to ignore though, for now. The voice could talk to him. Only sometimes maybe? They had been pretty quiet though. Their voice also sounded similar to his own, which was odd. Then… the voice could have saved him from drowning, somehow, but it had needed his permission. Whatever it was they wanted to do they couldn't do it without Sonic's ok. That seemed important. He perked up a bit. If he just didn't let them do… whatever it was they wanted to do things should be fine.
Sonic stood up, feeling confident. All he had to do was never give them permission to do anything and things should be fine. No need to worry his friends with the information of him almost drowning. Things were completely under control. At the very least he could keep things under control until they figured out how to fix it permanently. Yeah, all he had to do was hold out. He could do that.
The sun was starting to go down. Maybe he should hole up for the night. It had been quite a day to say the least. He did feel a bit lighter though after what he'd found out, so that was something. He'd probably sleep pretty good tonight between everything. Things seemed to be finally looking up.