Chapter 13: Untamed Madness

"Do you really think you can win by changing into a monster again?" Vector declares, swinging his right pointer finger at the mechanical beast before giving orders to his two companions "Charmy, take to the sky and try to find a good spot for our robot ally to attack from. Espio, see if you can sneak up from behind and cut off one of his legs!"

Espio nods his head and swings his right arm to the side, becoming invisible and zipping forward to try and get between Metal Sonic's legs, only for the creature to scan the ground below him and detect Espio's movements. Then Metal Sonic swipes it's claw down at the chameleon, hitting him hard and sending him flying towards a large metal support beside his body. Vector is surprised by this, stating as he swings his right arm out in front of him and points at the beast "Well, that's new!"

While Charmy is flying into the air and swing his head back and forth to try and find a solid platform, Metal Sonic lifts his left hand up and fires off two of his metal fingers, using the ropes to wrap around the bee's body and quickly pull him towards his gigantic form. Metal Sonic immediately goes on to zap Charmy with electricity through his fingers. The bee cries out in agony, but Vector is quick to react to his youthful partner's pain by leaping at Metal Sonic and throwing a mighty punch against the palm that makes the metallic monster release his grip on Charmy.

Charmy is left in a bit of a daze because of the attack, but shakes it off and turns towards Vector as the crocodile lands on the ground and leaps away from the mechanical monster. In a thankful voice the bee says "Hehehe…Thanks Vector."

The crocodile proclaims to his young companion "Save it for later Charmy, we need to cover Espio while he recovers and tries to attack the legs again!"

Vector then reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out a piece of gum, putting it into his mouth and chewing it rapidly in preparation for another attack. Meanwhile, Charmy thrusts his stinger at the mechanical beast, sending tiny stingers out at his glowing green chest core to deal some minimal damage as they bounce off of the surface. Metal Sonic responds by throwing his pipe fingers at the Chaotix and launching flames from each one in a wide spread, forcing them to back off to avoid getting scorched.

While the flames are scorching the metal floor in spite of the rain, Shadow uses Chaos Control to warp in front of the creature's face so he could kick him straight up into the chin, cracking his head upward against it's will and breaking his control of the flamethrower for a few seconds. Meanwhile, Rouge runs underneath Metal Sonic and plants a couple of bombs on his underside, landing on the ground and dashing to the right between the legs as they go off.

The force of the explosions pushes Metal Sonic's entire body into the air, leaving his arms flailing in place for a few seconds before he collapses right on his backside, his legs suspending straight towards the air as Omega takes advantage of his fallen form to leap into the air and activate both his propulsion system along with his missile launchers on both arms. Metal Sonic's smoking underside is promptly bombarded by hundreds of medium-sized missiles as Omega's launchers whirls around in the cuff of his arms.

Shadow warps onto the ground beside Vector and looks at Metal Sonic's fallen body, saying in a calm tone to himself "That should hurt him…"

The crocodile smiles as he finishes chewing the gum in his mouth, saying in a somewhat muffled tone to the black hedgehog "But it's not enough to finish him." Vector then leaps into the air as Shadow glances at him, puckering his lips together and blowing gigantic pink bubbles filled with an explosive substance at the pillar of smoke and fire created briefly from Omega's barrage. Metal Sonic is then covered with a few more explosions, but the combination of smoke and rain makes it difficult to tell just how much this assault was affecting the titanic monster.

Once everyone is on the ground and the smoke starts to die down, a click is heard from each of Metal Sonic's legs, and in an instance they all flip around at the same time to prop the monster upright once more. Then the neck detaches from the main body and flies to the new front while the tail flips around to the back. Once everything is back in order, Metal Sonic swings his arms out and makes his eyes glow through the remaining smoke in an eerie flash of red.

With no sparks coming from the creature's underside, it was clear that Team Dark and Team Chaotix hadn't been able to break through the body with their combined efforts. Vector snaps his fingers in a partially disappointed manner and says "Well that's a bummer! Hey Shadow, think you ca-" Before the crocodile's comment reached the black hedgehog's ears, Vector turned and noticed that Shadow had already rushed at Metal Sonic the moment he got back onto his feet.

The black hedgehog lowers his speed just enough that he is able to bait Metal Sonic into swinging at him with his claw, at which point Shadow leaps into the air as the beast tears apart most of metal floor with the bottom of the claw. Once high enough the hedgehog curls into a ball while Rouge flies behind him, using a swing of her right foot to launch Shadow straight into Metal Sonic's head.

Shadow's impact dizzies Metal Sonic for a moment as he pulls his claw up, but the damage to the cranium is increased further as upon bounding into the air the black hedgehog is spiked back down by a swift dive kick from Rouge. This time the impact dents the monstrosities' head, causing his body to destabilize for a moment as the black hedgehog lands on the ground in front of him.

Metal Sonic loses control of his legs and tumbles about for a few seconds as his head spasms uncontrollably, something that Omega is not one to waste a chance on as he throws out his gatling guns and rapidly fires upon the mechanical monster's chest core. The piercing bullets eventually break the core apart, deactivating it for good and minimizing Metal Sonic's overall strength in the process. The robot boasts "This is far too easy. Kind of disappointing."

Vector slaps his head as Omega says this, swaying his arms in front of his body as he proclaims "Now why did you have to go an' say that you tin bolted idiot?!"

Sure enough, Metal Sonic starts creaking back to life, only there is a sharp difference in his behavior compared to before. Instead of silence, Metal Sonic declares in a booming, guttural voice that sounds similar to the real Sonic "Finally, I am FREE from that scientist's control!"

The implication of the metal monstrosities' words was that Shadow's attack managed to shatter whatever chip was allowing Eggman to keep Metal Sonic under his control. The monstrosity looks down at both teams, saying in an utterly overjoyed tone of voice "I suppose I should thank you meddlesome heroes for freeing me…But it was because of you that I was forced back under that foolish doctor's control in the first place!"

Metal Sonic wastes little time in using both his arms to puncture the ground on both sides of his body, causing the area around him to quake as his arms glow light-green and pure pulsating energy flows into his body. Emerging from his backside are multiple pipes that stick into the ground and siphon that very same energy from a chamber below the current battlefield.

The energy pumps into Metal Sonic's body, filling inside of tubes that push outward from the top of his body. It was raw nuclear energy that now added on to the monster's power, and once Metal Sonic had siphoned enough of it his body radiates with a nuclear green aura that pierces through the heavy rain surrounding him and makes the rest of his body look darker thanks to the glow. "This is nothing compared to the power of Chaos, but it shall do for now…Once I have burned all of you to nothing, I will deal with my loathsome copy!"

Metal Sonic thrusts his left hand in front of him, channeling some of the nuclear energy into his front two fingers to fire out streams of pure power at Shadow and Vector. As the two leaped out of the way, the nuclear energy melts right through the metal ground, increasing the tension that the crocodile felt in regards to this battle. "Hmmm…Espio is going to need to change targets."

However, while Vector was a little more worried, Shadow calmly said with a light smile on his face "Well, things just got more interesting…" He then goes on to say to both of his teammates "Rouge, stick to the air and focus on the head! Omega, try and destroy the tubes!"

The bat looks at the black hedgehog and says to him "And what will you do Shadow?" To which Shadow responds by warping in front of Metal Sonic's chest with Chaos Control and hitting him with a hard punch, using his shoe boosters to keep himself in mid-air as the monstrosity stumbles back a couple of feet.

Metal Sonic looks down at Shadow and wastes no time in trying to snatch him up in his claw, only for the black hedgehog to use Chaos Control to warp out of the way. But the mechanical monster remarks on this technique by saying to him "Your technique is irritating…But you forget that I learned how to use it during our last encounter as a free individual!"

The doppelganger thus brightens the intensity of his eyes and swings an arm up to activate Chaos Control, which bathes everything but himself in grey while Shadow is kept suspended in mid-air with a shocked look on his face. Metal Sonic first raises his left hand into the air and fires off a few tube-shaped missiles at Rouge and Charmy, hitting them and causing them to be encased completely in crystal that will drag them out of the sky the moment time is unfrozen. He then uses his claw on Omega, scratching him straight through the chest diagonally.

Finally, Metal Sonic ends his assault by reaching up for Shadow and pinching him between both of his claws right as Chaos Control comes to an end. He failed to hit Vector though, because the crocodile had vanished from sight before Metal Sonic could do so. Omega's circuits are broken thanks to Metal Sonic's attack, while Rouge and Charmy are left trapped in crystal on the ground. Shadow feels a bit of pain in his body thanks to Metal Sonic's claws as he is pulled in closer.

With the ultimate life form at his mercy, Metal Sonic says to him in a boastful manner "Can't free yourself with Chaos Control when you're focused on the pain, can you? A pity, but I know what you are capable of when pushed to the brink of defeat. I will thank that foolish scientist for that much at the least…"

Metal Sonic presses harder on Shadow's body, but the black hedgehog's insane durability makes it so that he does not exclaim in pain even as he hears a couple bones crack. "You are not my copy, but I will take great pleasure in destroying you all the same…Shadow the Hedgehog."

The monstrosity raises his left hand into the air, pushing all the fingers together as he readies his nuclear energy for a combined attack that will disintegrate Shadow into nothing more than atoms in his grasp. The black hedgehog shows no fear in the face of death, for if there's one thing he could count on is his ability to survive such dreadful encounters.

Sure enough, Metal Sonic suddenly surges with electricity across his entire body that causes him to swing his right arm out and jerk his other one down beside himself, letting go of Shadow in the process and flinging him towards the metal support that Espio was sent flying against earlier. However, the black hedgehog catches himself against the support by pressing his feet against it, flipping off of it and landing on the ground as Metal Sonic tries to regain control of his body.

Looking beneath the monstrosity, Shadow sees Espio zipping away after he had stabbed a kunai into the underside, which as it turns out had been weakened enough by the earlier assault for the chameleon's efforts to prove successful. While Metal Sonic is kept busy by the attack to his circuitry, Vector appears near Charmy's crystal cage and looks at Shadow, gesturing at Rouge's crystal with one hand while he shatters the young bee's cage with his other hand.

The black hedgehog gets the hint and uses Chaos Control to warp over to Rouge and free her with a roundhouse kick to the crystal. The bat lands on her feet and looks a bit dizzy, but otherwise was unharmed. Looking at Shadow, Rouge says to him in an appreciative tone "You are really good at this Shadow."

By the time this sentence was at an end, Metal Sonic had regained control of his functions and let out a powerful roar the echoed across the battlefield before proceeding to declare as he looked down at the Chaotic "You three are a nuisance beyond compare. Your organic lives will be deemed unnecessary once I create my robot kingdom!"

Vector crosses his arms and bluntly replies with "Yeah yeah yeah, like I haven't heard this from you before." The crocodile follows up on this remark by leaping into the air with both Espio and Charmy, taking both members and putting them into his mouth as they curl up and cover themselves in protective shielding. Vector launches them both at Metal Sonic's chest, pounding him repeatedly as the protected Chaotix rebound back into the crocodile's mouth after each impact.

Metal Sonic feels a bit of pain from this assault, and inevitably blocks the attacks by holding his right arm in front of his chest. Vector stops and lands on the ground with Espio and Charmy ending up right beside him. The three Chaotix members split up, with Vector attempting an attack on the underside while Espio and Charmy go for the legs. "You will not touch me again!" Metal Sonic proclaims in angered disgust.

In an instant, Vector is blasted with electricity from the underside, throwing his body straight out from underneath Metal Sonic while the plates on the monster's legs open up and fire two electric nets that hit and pin Charmy and Espio the ground, where they are shocked for a good five seconds before it shuts off, leaving them rather winded underneath the nets as Vector lands on the ground in front of Metal Sonic and notices both of his comrade's conditions. "Charmy! Espio! Darn it all, you'll pay for this Metal Sonic!" The crocodile shakes his fist at the monstrosity afterwards.

Metal Sonic responds by bending it's head down and proclaiming "A god cares little about the petty vengeance of a flesh born creature."

Before the monstrosity can launch an attack on Vector, his face is bombarded by a series of missiles from Omega, who had finally managed to recover from the earlier malfunctions brought on by the scar across his chest. The robot boasts as he finishes off his assault "God-like being has been subdued with missiles. This has been a successful attack."

While Metal Sonic recovers from the assault, Shadow says to Vector "Hurry up and free your comrades. We'll hold him off for you!" The crocodile gives an appreciative thumbs-up to the black hedgehog and runs off to free Charmy and Espio.

Rouge points out to Shadow afterwards though "Shadow, we can't keep holding Metal Sonic off. Eventually we are going to have to stop him."

"…" Shadow thinks for a moment as Metal Sonic starts to awaken from Omega's missile barrage. The hedgehog looks specifically at the nuclear energy tanks on the monster's back, saying to Omega as the robot walks up beside him "Omega, do you think you can break those tanks?"

The robot boasts as he whirs his arms in place "It would be my pleasure Shadow. But I would need some back-up so I won't be blown away."

Shadow gestures towards his robotic ally and points out "Use missiles to ignite the nuclear energy." Which makes Omega nods his head in response. Rouge is a bit confused by Shadow's plan, and asks him promptly "What are you up to Shadow?"

The black hedgehog says to her as Omega readies his attack "Without the Chaos Emeralds we can't hope to destroy Metal Sonic as he is now…Not by ourselves anyways. But if Omega breaks the tubes and ignites the nuclear energy…"

"It should be enough to blow Metal Sonic to smithereens!" Rouge enthusiastically ends Shadow's sentence with those words, and the black hedgehog nods his head in agreement.

Vector, having gotten the rest of the Chaotix freed and on their feet, says to Shadow loudly "You need a distraction Shadow?! We can provide one for your robotic pal, no problem!"

Turning to his comrades while pulling out a gigantic microphone stand from out of nowhere, Vector proclaims "You ready to put on a show guys?!"

Espio pulls out a strum guitar while Charmy whips out a drum with two sticks in each hand. Metal Sonic, having overheard everyone up until this point, proclaims as he whips around ready to burn the Chaotix to cinders "You shall do nothing!"

The Chaotix play a tune with their instruments, loudly filling the air with a painful noise that pierces Metal Sonic's sound receptors and causes the monster to spasm as his circuitry cracks in the wake of the music entering his body. Shadow and Rouge naturally plug their ears for the moment, while Omega floats in the air with missile launchers aimed at the nuclear energy tanks and comments to himself in a sarcastic tone of relief "Good thing I can shut off my audio receptors…"

Omega unleashed a barrage of missiles upon the nuclear energy tanks as the Chaotix ends their terrible song. Shadow and Rouge dash out of the way while the Chaotix do the same. The missiles that consume the back of Metal Sonic's body blow up the tubes, igniting the nuclear energy and dwarfing the mechanical monstrosity in a powerful blast that tears apart his body in an instance as he exclaims deeply in pain. The force of the explosion blows Omega back through the air, and the ensuing shrapnel from Metal Sonic's body scatters across the Egg Continent while missing everyone entirely.

All that remains of Metal Sonic is the head, which dissolves back into his normal body, which spasms in place at the edge of a massive hole created by the explosion. The metallic doppelganger is covered in electricity, his malfunctioning body failing to move even slightly as he states in a distorted manner "W-Why c-a-ca-can't I…Iiiiiiiiiiii….I am ultimate…Uitimate li-liliflifeform…S-s-soooonic the H-ed-ddddddgehog!"

Metal Sonic then falls flat against the ground, his body shut down by the damage greatly inflicted on him. Team Dark and Team Chaotix glance at him, with Vector walking up and making sure that the robot was down for the count before looking at his two comrades and mentioning "Alright boys, we got the job done!"

Charmy thrusts his fists into the air while declaring "Woo-hoo! That creep didn't stand a chance" to which Espio replies stoically with "It wasn't THAT easy Charmy."

Vector turns towards Team Dark, giving them a thumbs-up and saying in a cheerfully thankful tone "Hey! Couldn't have done it without your help!"

Rouge is the only one who responds in regards to the thanks, as she gives the big crocodile a wave of her right hand and says "That I can agree with."

Shadow is in a contemplating pose at the moment, with his arms folded against his chest while his eyelids are shut tight. Once he opens them up though he says to the Chaotic "If it's not too much to ask of you three, could you head down below and shut down the nuclear reactor Metal Sonic got his energy from?"

Vector smirks at the black hedgehog and asks "Any particular reason why?" To which Shadow replies with in a calm tone "The doctor has set up the nuclear reactor to detonate if he grows tired of our presence here. Now that we dealt with Metal Sonic, I can only imagine his patience won't last much longer."

The crocodile looks rather surprised at what he was told, and even the normally stoic Espio flinches for a moment. Vector responds without hesitation "You need a nuclear reactor disarmed? How hard can that be? Come on boys, let's get this job done!"

The Chaotix nod their heads at each other and run at the hole made by the explosion, bypassing Metal Sonic entirely as they leap down below. With those three out of the way, Shadow turns to Rouge and says to her and Omega "Unfortunately, this is where we part for now."

Rouge looks at her ally in a surprised manner and asks "Huh? Why is that Shadow?" To which the black hedgehog replies with "You and Omega need to find the communication jamming array and disable it before G.U.N. loses too many people."

The robot protests to this plan, saying as he pumps his fist towards Shadow "I am going to deal with Eggman, Rouge can handle herself just fine."

"While I don't doubt it Omega, it would be for the best if you covered her back while she disables the comm. Tower. I'll deal with Eggman in the meantime." Shadow states.

"…Very well Shadow." Omega says with only a hint of hesitation in his voice, and after Rouge looks at her friend for a moment she says to him with plenty of faith in her voice "We'll get our job done quickly, and then come back to help you out against Eggman. You can always count on us for that, Shadow."

The black hedgehog turns away from his two allies, holding his arms beside his body as he says in regards to Rouge's comment "Thank you, Rouge, and good luck."

Omega and Rouge then head off behind Shadow's back, allowing the black hedgehog to look over at Metal Sonic's unconscious body. Thinking about what Metal Sonic was likely up to while under Eggman's control, the black hedgehog dashes over to his body and quickly picks it up, thinking that he might be able to pull up surveillance footage as he looks towards the Final Fortress in the distance, leaping away from the battlefield towards the mighty fortress to confront Eggman mere seconds later.

Next Time: G.U.N.'s Ultimate Weapon