A Desperate Future
"And that's how it all started, Eggman's uprising, or as so many liked to call it 'The End of the World.'
"Ironically it ended up happening on the day many people predicted it would, the 21st of December, 2012 at exactly 1200H. Quite a fluke if you ask me, though many people say it was destiny, well, the robots started to invade, within the day they already had managed to get round the whole planet, I know not of how they did it, I just know they did. They slowly managed to get within all government headquarters and force surrender on every single country... Sometimes we wonder how we could have made it so easy for Eggman? Couldn't we have prepared for him better?
"A couple of years later there were not many people left opposing the 'Eggman rule.' Just small groups of Freedom fighters trying to win back their freedom across the globe. We all kept in contact and helped each other out, but it can be very hard, there's just no one who is completely not scared of Eggman. Even Knuckles admitted to me that he was scared once, just once. That was just after they had managed to invade Angel Island and take away the Master Emerald, no one knew what they were going to do with that Emerald until it was too late…
"Suddenly the world started shaking! And we found ourselves in a jumbled up world, where somehow Eggman had managed to make Mobius and Earth fuse together! Eggman, soon after that started taking over all the bits of Earth that had come through, and little by little he took over them all as well, after a few more weeks, though it gave us more freedom fighters, and some of them were highly trained fighters, but none of that mattered, we are still all under rule. Under rule by a tyrant, an evil tyrant... We all wait for the day when that door is finally opened, that door that Eggman wants to open to get the Chaos Emeralds, it's been over five years since that door was sealed, as it is now 1st of January 2018, but we are sure it'll open again, one day, Sonic will come back! And, with him, our, freedom!"
Tails concluded his speech to all of the freedom fighters. He was attempting to prepare and encourage any and all of the new recruits, it wasn't for lack of survivors the resistance was small, but lack of willing fighters. The broadcast was on every freedom fighter channel being sent out, but someone else saw it, someone who should not have done.
"Oh will it really Tails? We'll just have to wait and see, I've finally found out how to use the Master Emerald to neutralise the Chaos Emeralds, so I can finally open that door, and claim the Emeralds as my own!" Robotnik starts to laugh manically, he laughs for so long that he starts coughing, and goes into a coughing fit. Quickly grabbing his inhaler he takes in a large 3 puffs. "Fucking hell, I should really go easy on the laughing the doctor was right, it'll be the death of me because of my asthma... And I'm still talking to myself!"
"Doctor." A mechanical voice filled the room as the large double doors leading to the room opened up. A robot looking identical to Sonic but metallic and more menacing walked into the room.
"Yes Metal Sonic, what is it?" Robotnik asked impatiently clearly irritated by the interruption. Turning round so that he could see one of his five greatest creations and achievements.
"We are ready to neutralise the Chaos field inside of the room Doctor. Should we proceed to doing it right away?" Metal Sonic stood there, red LED eyes unblinking, as Robotnik surveyed him.
"Yes Metal Sonic, I would like to see this door opened and my Chaos Emeralds to be retrieved as soon as possible." Eggman grinned evilly, stroking and twirling his moustache with his left hand. Metal Sonic started to walk out the room carry a strange contraption which was the height of an average human and 3 times wider than himself completely made of a heavy looking metal with various dials and lights on it. There was a small opening though that revealed the Master Emerald inside "Though Metal Sonic." Metal Sonic stopped in his tracks standing just outside the double doors. Turning round to face Robotnik but he still kept the object lifted up in his hands.
"Yes Master?" Metal Sonic had turned round fully now surveying his master.
"Before you start make sure to have Metal Shadow, Mecha Amy, and Mecha Rage with you, just in case." Eggman schemed. Knowing that as powerful as Metal Sonic was compared to his biological counterpart, he may not be able to take all five in there at once. Though Metal Sonic and Mecha Amy would probably be enough.
"But sir I..." Metal Sonic started, clearly wanting to prove himself to Robotnik.
"But! I did not make you to but! I made you to listen and follow my orders! Now wait for all of them to arrive or consider yourself scrapped." Eggman shouted angrily and slammed the doors shut with a button on his keyboard.
A robotic laugh was heard to the left of Metal Sonic "You got told by Eggman." Mecha Rage was laughing at him, while leaning on a wall, slowly sliding down it because he was laughing so hard. Metal Rage was a hedgehog based robot. He was very similar to what a Shadow bot would be with black metal covering him where his quills would be but had blue stripes on him where Shadow would have his red. Also he had neon red eyes, being the only one of the cyborgs with Mobian eyes. This robot was slightly taller than Sonic or Shadow.
"I had the situ..." Metal Sonic started shouting. Enraged that Robotnik thought of him as that weak.
"Quiet you two, we have orders." Metal Shadow said calmly. Metal Shadow looked like his counterpart in almost every way. The only differences being his red LED eyes and metallic skin.
"Stop telling me what to do Metal Shadow." Metal Sonic Argued. Mecha Rage was still laughing and his laughter was suddenly joined by girlish yet mechanical giggling.
"You two are always so funny!" Mecha Amy sniggered as she arrived, she then proceeded to lean her back on Mecha Rage's chest, and a slight 'ting' was heard. Mecha Amy too was like her counterpart, but she had longer metallic 'quills' that reached down to her shoulders and dark pink LED lights for eyes.
"Let's just get on with this so I can return to my other, more important, missions please!" Metal Shadow said getting annoyed with the other three. None of them listened as well as he did and it annoyed him. Mecha Amy was the only one out of them he could stand let alone bare working with.
"Yes let's." Metal Sonic carried the machine outside making his way to the Chaos containment cell as the others followed. He placed it down in front of the cell and typed some things into the machine containing the Master Emerald. "Get ready, this should be fun."
"Hmpf, should be no problem." Exclaimed Metal Shadow. Getting himself into Shadow's usual defensive stance in preparation for battle.
"This should be fun!" Shouted Mecha Amy happily. Grabbing the large hammer, that's head was larger than her body and handle as thick as her arms, off her back.
"Let's get on with this. I want to watch some wimps lose." Mecha Rage said calmly, smirking, not even attempting to hold up a defensive position. The machine containing Master Emerald made a beeping noise. The Chaos Control created so long ago was ceasing.
As suddenly as it started, the inverted colours faded, Amy's face was still in front of Slayde's unmoving for the past five years slowly moved into a face of shock, it seemed like he was the only one with a mind that did not freeze, his body felt oddly different. He realised he was no longer kneeling, and, he was in fact standing. Though Amy's face was still right in front of him, if not a tiny bit lower than his face. He lets go of Sonic and Shadows fists and they too back away with looks of confusion and shock on their face. "What going on?" Slayde ask Amy, wondering if he had in fact shrunk and they had noticed.
"You-You-. You've changed." She stuttered, putting it simply. Face of bewilderment lighting up her features.
"Why? What do you see?" Slayde asked politely. Equally confused myself.
"A hedgehog, with black quills and blue streaks running through them, erm... And your eyes..." She said dreamily. "You have sapphire blue eyes that sparkle with life, that look so beautiful, and entrancing..." She told him in a dreamy way.
"Cool!" He exclaimed. "I always wanted to be a hedgehog again!" He smiled at Amy. Amy was about to say something but then the shouting started again.
"Why did you ram me you fool of a Rodent!" Shadow started preparing himself to pounce.
"Because you're a filthy god damn traitor is why!" Sonic came back with. Leaving Shadow looking confused.
"What the heck are you on about?!" Shadow shouted back. Looking at Sonic like he'd gone mad.
"I'm on about you turning to Eggman and...!" Sonic started but he was cut off by a rather irritated looking Slayde.
"Guys! Shut up!" He bellowed at them both. They both looked at him equally irritated, yet as they were both as annoyed at each other they stopped arguing to see what Slayde had to say. "Now, what went on Shadow?" Slayde asked calmly, sighing in exasperation.
"Sonic here, decided it would be funny if he hit me up against a wall! As if I did not already have enough problems without him being stupid!" Shadow spoke really irritated and edgy. Snapping at Slayde for interrupting their little argument. Sonic looked like he was about to say something but Slayde held his hand up to stop him. Slayde then checked that Shadow was finished and he nodded. Then he looked at Sonic.
"And why did you do that Sonic?" Slayde asked Sonic calmly, Sonic almost exploded with the rage he had been suppressing.
"Because Tails informed me that fake Hedgehog over there is working for Dr. Eggman." Sonic stated heatedly. "He had a picture of him killing a human!" Slayde quickly looked back to Shadow for his explanation.
"Then you were misinformed, or at least, Tails was and told you what he thought was right. The man I killed was a mass murderer who was giving the world a lot of trouble with avoiding arrest. I was forced to act outside the nations as that way there would be no panic." Shadow informed the group, finally calm. Thinking of Sonic as an idiot and a fool.
Suddenly the door started to open.
"Looks like hugs and kisses will have to wait guys, we have company." Slayde shouted as four beings walked in, well four robots, but each of them seemed familiar each of them looked like each of a respective hedgehog, except for Slayde's, who looked like Shadow but with blue stripes.
"Luckily, they are all still alive." Metal Sonic stated. Standing near the control panel. He was obviously the one who opened the door.
"Well that makes it all the more fun does not it?" Mecha Rage said, sounding quite happy and cheerful for a robot.
"Let's just get this over with." Metal Shadow said impatiently. Walking towards the doorway.
"Yay! Fight time!" Went Mecha Amy cheerfully. Jumping up and down on the spot.
All of Hedgehogs put up their defences. Shadow made the first move. Rushing at his doppelgänger and Chaos Controlling him further outside as Metal Sonic dived right for his organic counterpart. Amy pulled out her hammer and Mecha Amy ran away slowly, trying to tempt the real Amy into following her outside the room, and Amy followed her. The robot whom was unknown to Slayde just stood there and looked at him blankly. Sonic went flying towards the side of its head as it just stood there. The robot simply ducked and let Sonic fly over his head out the door as Metal Sonic rushed after him. Suddenly it spoke. "I was expecting a human to be here." It said bluntly. Neither happy nor unhappy about the fact he wasn't human.
"You must have been misinformed then. What's wrong? Disappointed?" Slayde said cheekily to the robot. In an attempt to provoke it. Its oddly realistic mouth simply smirked.
"On the contrary. As great as humans are with their intelligence they are no match for a Mobians strength or speed." The robot continued to watch him. Slayde carefully tried to work out why he hadn't attacked him yet. "I am called Mecha Rage, though I prefer just Rage. Who are you and how did you get in there?" Rage asked Slayde.
'The doctor knows as little as I thought he did. Good I don't want it to get out.' Slayde thought. Thinking upon his past. "I am Slayde Demise. Your average hedgehog." Slayde told the robot, intent on tricking him. Expecting Rage to come back with some kind of witty comeback.
"How odd, the human that was trapped in here was called that. I'm guessing the Chaos Emeralds did something to you. It did to the rest, haven't you noticed that you are all taller than normal Mobians?" Rage laughed slightly. He was incredibly calm for someone with orders to destroy. Slayde suddenly noticed that Rage was indeed right and couldn't work out how he couldn't have noticed that. Or indeed why it had happened.
"So I'm the human, what does that mean to you. Going to kill me?" Slayde replied to him cockily.
"Nope." Rage said simply. "If anything Robotnik would want you specifically alive. He would want to know why you've changed so much. He's better with biology now. I should know!" He smirked at Slayde. Still not making a move towards Slayde he glanced outside of the room. "How about we just watch and enjoy." He gestured outside letting my hand go. Slayde looked at him suspiciously but he didn't look like he was up to anything. "I would rather find out who looks like they will win this battle over all before participating. If I do at all." He said as he walked outside. Looking behind to him to check if Slayde was following him. They both walked outside together and a terrible sight greeted Slayde; the sky was black.
Slayde stood there staring at the sky, the whole thing was covered by black smog, and the sun barely came through. Slayde knew from being conscious that a long time had passed, but he would never have guessed that it was long enough for so big a change. It must have been years.
"Amazing isn't it?" Rage asked. Slayde looked at him in horror. "Such a large change has happened to the planet that you knew. This isn't even technically Mobius anymore." Rage looked slightly amused but, for some odd reason, he looked like he was unhappy underneath. "Shit happens I suppose." Sounding slightly... Disappointed? Slayde was unsure. Luckily he had a good pair of ears on him or he wouldn't have picked it up. As metallic as the voice sounded there was definitely some form of organic from it. In fact it sounded more like a Mobian trying to sound like a robot than a robot trying to sound like a Mobian.
"What happened? Do you know how long we've been in there for?" The whole place seemed so odd to Slayde. Like where did the roof to the building go? Where was the rest of the base? How could it have just disappeared into nothingness? Why is the sky so dark? So many questions plagued his mind. Rage stood there. Gazing into the sky. It was like he was deep in a trance.
"You've all been in there for over five years." Rage eventually told him, the surprise on Slayde's face was evident.
"Five years? What in the name of Chaos!" Slayde looked extremely surprised and couldn't work out how or why his Chaos Control had gone wrong and done this. Slayde looked right at Rage as he continued to look into the sky.
"During that time. Robotnik has done many things, including taking over the world, he has fused earth and Mobius together by using the Master Emerald all within Sonic's absence." Rage turned away from the sky looking at Slayde while he was speaking, trying his best to look into Slayde's eyes his neon red eyes giving off compassion.
'A compassionate robot. Great. That's just odd.' Slayde thought. "So what are your plans?" Slayde asked the robot.
"I have two sets of plans. Just hush. Wait and see. I shall announce them at the end of the battles." Rage said. Turning his head slowly to observe the battles. "And now we wait." He announced.
"And now we wait." Slayde agreed. Watching the battles having decided that Rage was, at least currently, not a threat.
(I'm going to describe the following battles in first person so that I can explain thoughts and emotions easier.)
Shadows P.O.V.
I looked over to the opening door to see four robots standing on the other side. One looking like Sonic working the control panel. Scanning them I noticed one looking just like me, causing my blood to boil. I had enough copy cats on my plate with Sonic imitating me, I did not need another doppelgänger. The fake let its guard down slightly, I could easily tell thanks to my enhanced sight, so I decided to make the first move against them and charged at my foe at full speed with full intention to kill.
As I was dashing at him with my incredible speed, I noticed him start to smirk, he threw up some defences to make it impossible for me to kill him in one hit. I quickly changed the way I was attacking, making a last minute decision to use Chaos Control and teleport him outside a bit further away to ensure we weren't interrupted. As soon as the transport had occurred I looked back to check the room was still within sight, I knew instinctively it would be though as I knew I could only teleport so far without an Emerald or I would drain my energy.
Feeling a fist in my stomach due to my temporary lapse in paying attention to the robot caused me to cough. Winding me marginally so I shook it off catching its next punch thrown at my face. Quickly twisting its arm trying to break it, it threw another punch at my face forcing me let go before I managed to however and to dodge out the way. It looked at me from a few meters away. Surveying my every move and trying to work out my next move. I decided a feint was in order. Charging towards his right I started to swing a punch at him, suddenly shifting my direction with my airs shoes and coming from the left just as I was about to contact, and I found my fist caught in his hand. "You'll have to do a lot better than that to try and get one over on me." The robot taunted.
I threw a punch at him with my left hand as I tried to kick him with my right leg. He managed to catch the punch as he smirked but suddenly went flying backwards when my leg connected to his stomach. Causing it to fly backwards into and through a metal wall that was standing alone, the wall went all the way back to the room we were in. I pause to catch my breath, it seemed for this battle I would have to do what even I would not normally think to do. I put my sight back towards the hole in the wall to see the doppelgänger, clawing his way back through.
He looked up at me and charged, his metal fingers creating a blade which cut me slightly as I tried to stop the blow to the head. Quickly in less than a second I tore off my restrictors, giving me a sudden boost in power. I grabbed its fist as it swung it at me and I tore off its arm as blood poured out of the now open wound, it screamed in pain. It quickly tried to dispatch of me with its other arm as I stabbed it right in the heart area with the metal armour on the arm I had torn off. Hoping that it would work and this thing was indeed dependant on a heart. The cyborg shrieked at me loudly in my ears and started to take a swing at me. I flung up my hand in defence but all that was there to catch was a limp metal arm as the figure collapsed to the floor.
I looked round to see if anyone was fighting to see Amy kneeling on the floor next to her doppelgänger. I saw the ex-human standing next to the robot that looked like none of us, maybe a little like him but it would have been impossible for the Doctor to predict that would happen. Besides the eyes, the length of quill and type of quill were wrong. The robot had neon red eyes and the quills looked like a shorter version of Sonic's. Whereas the ex-humans quills looked like mine. I couldn't see Sonic so I assumed he was still fighting and shrugged, I quickly put my restrictors back on before I drained my own energy.
I turned my attention back to my doppelgänger. It was odd so I decided some experimenting was in order. Grabbing the arm I ripped off, I proceeded to ripping off the armour.
Amy's P.O.V.
I tore my eyes away from the deadly enticement of Slayde's blue eyes to see four robots outside, I saw that three of them looked like us. The other one looked similar to Slayde but not quite the same. Suddenly Shadow shot towards his counterpart. Chaos Controlling them both outside. Immediately after Shadow had gone outside, the metallic Sonic dashed for Sonic, knocking him backwards. I clicked my fingers to summon my hammer into my hand. As my robotic copy ran slowly away from me, I could tell it was a taunt to get me to follow her. I decided that I would join in with the battle.
I ran out the doors after my robotic copy. For one of Robotnik's creations she sure was slow as I caught up to her within seconds, only a few seconds as I had hit her in the side with my hammer, causing her to stagger. She quickly turned round and watched me as I stared at her, each one of us avoiding making the next move, afraid to be countered. I suddenly saw Sonic go flying out the room with Metal Sonic in pursuit. In my moment of distraction she suddenly jumped at me and I held up my hammer as a barrier, she quickly grabbed the handle along with me as we started to wrestle over who would have my hammer. I noticed she start to kick so I quickly held up a leg to block it but as I did that my upper concentration slipped and I got a punch in the head barely missing my temple. Forcing me to let go of my hammer as I fell over smacking the back of my head on the ground.
The copy quickly held up my hammer over her head. Bringing it down suddenly. I rolled over to try and dodge it but she caught my left arm under the hammer and I felt it crack. I screamed in pain as the robot Amy laughed mechanically. Quickly getting up I put my right arm into a defensive position being completely unable to move my left arm. She swing the hammer down from atop her head again, this time I simply pushed it to the side with my right arm, I moved in behind the hammers head punching my enemy in the face. The punch caused her to stumble backwards but she didn't let go of the hammer. As I hit her the hammers edge hit me slightly, knocking me over, it made my vision go black for a split second before I pulled myself together, quickly standing up in order to watch her if she prepared another attack on me.
I looked round to find her but could see nothing. Quickly spinning round to see if she was behind me the hammer connected with my right arm, fracturing the bone of my right arm and rendering my last hope useless. I dodged a second swing from her as she grinned. "Why not just give it up? There's no Sonic to save you. He's still fighting." Amy dodged again. Ignoring the taunts and trying to think of a way to get out of this mess. Amy was suddenly pinned up a wall and suddenly feeling the wall shake, she thought that this would be her last moments as she watched the Amy robot lift the hammer above her head one last time.
Suddenly a sword came through her neck. The sword was coated in blood as she dropped the hammer and just hung there on the end of the sword. The sword was swiftly withdrawn causing the unmoving robots neck to leak out blood as the cyborg collapsed. Slayde stood there on the other side, sword in his hand. "Are you okay?" He asked. I nodded quickly, not wanting to show Slayde I was petrified of him. He used Chaos control to go back to the unknown robot and handed him the sword. It confused me but I was in too much pain to care. I quickly looked to see Shadow ripping off an arm and Sonic punching his doppelgänger in the face causing him to fly into a boulder.
Sitting down I realised I could move my right arm again. Thinking that my new powers gave me some kind of fast healing I held my right arm over my left. Attempting to heal it. I felt power coarse through my veins as the bone healed. Feeling drained I stayed sat and looked over at Shadow again. He looked like he'd finished his fight too.
Sonic's P.O.V.
I glanced over at the opening door to see four robots standing there. I noticed one of them specifically. "Looks like someone's brought good old metal back." I thought to myself bitterly. I saw Shadow teleporting one of them away as Metal came flying towards me, I attempted to raise my arms in time for a block but he knocked me back. I slammed into the wall and bounced back up immediately, just to get hit again from behind, I went flying over the only robot that was left unmoving he barely ducked in time or I would have took his head clean off. Flying outside the door I landed gracefully on the floor, quickly peaking to the side to see that Ames was fighting to the left of the door where as I was on the right. Looking back I found myself being smacked into again, flinging me further away from Amy. "Right that's enough of me getting hit for one day." I thought. Standing up and quickly preparing myself from him this time.
I saw Metal heading towards me with a punch ready. I quickly prepared my own punch I swung my punch, meeting his punch head on with mine, we both stumbled backwards slightly due to the impact before quickly moving back towards each other. I threw a punch at his head, but he dodged, he threw a punch at my jaw, but I dodged it, both of us quickly moved back, staring each other down. This repeated for a few minutes.
I quickly charging up a bit of energy in my hand, trying to break the cycle, I yelled "Sonic wind" as I launched a bolt of blue energy at my foe. The blue energy shot by him creating a small dint in the large stone, a boulder, behind Metal but it did its job. I punch Metal in the face, causing him to go flying back into the boulder. I dashed over, rage getting the better of me as I started punching Metal in the face continuously, occasionally kicking him in the stomach creating a bigger and bigger dent in the boulder. Metal carried on screaming at me but I didn't care. I just wanted to be rid of him once and for all. I carried on until the LED light eyes faded out, confirming he was dead.
I just left him in the dented boulder, not wanting to be near him as he just pissed me off. I noticed Slayde looking at me, I guess he saw, but I don't care. Looking round I notice that I'm the last one to win. Amy had already walked up to Slayde and the robot standing next to him was grinning. Shadow was studying something not too far away from the others. "Ah shit!" I exclaimed as I heard something move behind me.
Halfway through the battles Slayde suddenly remember that there was a fifth person in the room. "Could you just excuse me for a second?" Slayde asked Raged politely. Rage nodded, keeping a close eye on Slayde as he re-entered the room. He could see her laying down in the corner of them room, back towards him.
"Hey, are you ok?" Slayde asked her quietly. No reply. "Hey! Are you okay?!" He half shouted at her to make sure she heard. Still no reply. He went up to the woman and looked over the top of her, because he couldn't see what she looked like from behind. Her face was gaunt like she had been starved for many years, freaked out and curious, Slayde tried to pick her up and her body just turned to dust inside the clothes. "Shit!" Slayde shouted dropping what was left of her body back to the ground in surprise. He looked to the floor and saw the Chaos Emeralds laying on the floor, he went over and placed them in his quills "Best not leave these laying round for the Doctor to find."
Slayde thought he best go back outside to watch the progressing battles, looking at Sonic's. Slayde can see that he and Metal Sonic are in an intense fist fight. Slayde then look over to Shadows battle, seeing him knocking his doppelgänger into the metal wall that ran all the way up to the room.
Slayde looked down the wall towards Amy seeing she was pinned up against the wall and Mecha Amy walking towards her hammer held high gave him an odd feeling, an urge to protect her, something he'd never felt for anyone or anything before. Slayde rushed towards her, to be stopped by Rage. "Move out the fucking way!" Slayde shouted at him.
"Wait." Rage threw him a sword. "Aim for the back of the neck." He said helpfully. Slayde nodded at him, using Chaos Control to stab Mecha Amy in the neck just in time. The body went limp on the sword and then Slayde quickly withdrew his sword.
"Are you okay?" Slayde asked Amy. Amy just nodded in response, clearly petrified by both the attempt on her life and Slayde killing off the robot. Slayde teleported his way back to Rage, giving him back his sword. "Thanks for the advice."
"No problem. I could see you have feelings for that one." Rage replied, grinning at Slayde in a knowing way.
"What do you mean by feelings?" Slayde asked. Genuinely confused.
"You know what I mean." Rage said knowingly. Slayde just ignored his comment, looking up to see Amy walking towards them fully healed and Shadow in the distance prying metal parts off the Shadow robot. Noticing that it was basically a Shadow with large chunks missing out of it. Like it was some sort of twisted cyborg.
I looked over to Sonic to see him beating the hell out of Metal Sonic, the copies eyes fading. He stood up and looked at me. Amy got to the group just as Sonic started walking towards us looking over Shadows way. Sonic shouted to himself. Obviously annoyed he was the last one to win. Suddenly there was movement behind Sonic, he started to turn but it was too late. Metal Sonic was seen on the other side of Sonic holding a sword dripping with red. Sonic just stood there still facing where Metal Sonic just was, a look of pure shock on his face. Metal Sonic pulled the sword out and blood spurted from his chest as he fell to the ground.
Sonic the Hedgehog was dead.