Chapter 14: Bad For Business, Return of An Old Nemesis
Dr Eggman's Metropolis Lab. 11:20 am.
Dr Eggman had been spending a lot of time retrofitting his latest Death Egg Robot in spite of the injury to his head (one that he gave himself in frustration) but he was too angry to care about it. He had one goal as of right now, and for once it didn't involve defeating Sonic. At least, not the Sonic everyone thinks.
No, his goal was to utterly crush and annihilate Scourge the Hedgehog, so he spent a good two hours going over footage of the fight, learning from his mistakes, and utilizing what he found to fine tune his machine. But there was one piece still missing. Eggman sat in his chair, drinking his cocoa, pondering what else he could do to give his new machine an edge over Scourge without using the Chaos Emerald he kept in his possession for emergency use.
Just as he was about to resume his work, it finally hit him. HE didn't need any more fine tuning, nor did his Death Egg Robot. What he did need was to give something else the modifications.
Or rather, some ONE. One of his greatest creations, of course.
Dr Eggman: Sage.
Sage appears in the lab, looking concerned at Dr Eggman.
Sage: Yes father?
Dr Eggman: Thaw out cryo pod 2 in the freezer.
Sage went wide eyed. Both in a mixture of excitement, as well as fear.
Sage: … Are we waking HIM up?
Dr Eggman: Yes. Yes we are.
Sage nods and vanishes. Eggman got up, left the room and proceeded to the freezer, several levels below his main lab. Once inside, he enters a 65 digit code, one only he knew, and one he could perfectly remember. Then he had his eyes, face, and even his mouth scanned, before being allowed entry into the cryogenics area.
Cryo Pod 2 was already waiting to be opened and thawed. Sage appears next to Eggman yet again.
Sage: He's ready. It only needs your vocal authorization.
Dr Eggman: Code 52490457891998, authorization vector Alpha.
With that, the pod beeped, and slowly opened. Once the mist died down, inside the pod was one of Dr Eggman's greatest creations, stored away from the world and thought to be long destroyed.
The truth is said creation was never truly gone. Eggman simply put him to sleep until he had need of him.
Today was the day Eggman had longed for. Moments after the pod opened, two red eyes could be seen, followed by two metallic hands grabbing the sides of the cryo pod. Then the loud thunk of metallic red feet landing on the floor, as a 3 to 4 foot blue, robot hedgehog emerged from the pod, looking up at Dr Eggman with a blank face.
Metal Sonic: Online.
Dr Eggman: Metal Sonic. You are needed once more, and I have a proposal for you, should you choose to hear it, my boy.
Metal Sonic nodded, remaining silent. Eggman gave a light smile, then showed Metal Sonic a holographic image of Scourge.
Dr Eggman: Scourge the Hedgehog has decided to return. Your new objective is to destroy him. Before then, I must retrofit you with better parts.
Metal Sonic sat in silence again, but then his eyes flashed from red to green momentarily.
Metal Sonic: New target confirmed. Designation: Scourge the Hedgehog. Objective: destroy Scourge the Hedgehog.
Dr Eggman: Very good. Now update your secondary objectives, designation assistance. You will assist Sonic the Hedgehog when able.
Metal Sonic twitched, a jolt of electrical current briefly sparking from him before his eyes again flashed green.
Metal Sonic: Secondary Objective updated. Mission: Sonic support. Awaiting orders.
Dr Eggman: Good. Once Scourge is dealt with, you have free reign to engage Sonic at your leisure.
Metal Sonic nodded.
Dr Eggman: Now then. Let us get you refit, my boy! You will find your new chassis to be much more… flexible to what your mission will entail.
With that, Eggman and Metal Sonic exited cryogenics. Sage remained. She had discovered an encrypted log within Metal Sonic's EggNet Cloud Storage. It was titled "Self Awareness, Log 1." Curious, Sage cracked it.
What she found shocked her. The log entailed Metal Sonic having thoughts and emotions of his own. The first signs of a soon to be Artificial Intelligence.
She ran the simulations, and found there were only three scenarios. One led to Metal overthrowing Eggman, conquering Mobius, but ultimately bringing peace to the world. Another led to Eggman removing Metal's will entirely, reverting him back to a simple Virtual Intelligence, a machine.
The last one surprised her further. It was a scenario where Metal Sonic just… Leaves. He leaves Mobius.
Thankfully, none of the scenarios results in Eggman's death. Sage sighed in relief, but would still inform Eggman about it. She would have to choose how and when to do so carefully.
Angel Island, 12:00 pm.
Sonic and Tails had shown up on Angel Island to assist Knuckles in building another cabin for their latest guest, a Haldarian named Valkyr. To say Tails was excited would be an understatement.
Upon meeting the giant half Dragon woman, Tails was already asking her a million and one questions. Thankfully, Valkyr was answering as best able, and the four managed to get to work on the new cabin. Knuckles and Valkyr could do the heavy lifting, Sonic and Tails were the ones who used the power tools and put their carpentry skills to use.
Tails: I can't believe there's a real Haldarian here.
Sonic: I can't either buddy. We knew there were other aliens out there, but this is the biggest shocker of all.
Tails: She's surprisingly sweet too! Even said my two tails make me look cool.
Sonic: Hey, I tell you that all the time!
Tails: You USED to.
Sonic: Well… Yeah. It goes without saying, little bro.
Tails just smiled as they kept working.
Tails: That reminds me, I called Amy, she's gonna drop by with some lunch.
Sonic: Wait how is she–
As if on cue, Amy showed up with Shadow, via Chaos Control. Amy smiled.
Amy: You forgot something, Sonic.
Sonic sat in silence then facepalms.
Sonic: I forgot to pick you up from work before I left!
Amy: Mhmm. Which means YOU have to do the dishes tonight WITHOUT using your speed!
Sonic: Yes ma'am…
Amy: So who are we building this for?
Valkyr came into view, talking with Knuckles while they both carried a bunch of recent cut trees. Amy sees Valkyr, and her jaw hits the ground.
Amy: HOLY–
Sonic: Amy? Meet Valkyr. She's a Haldarian.
Valkyr sets her bundle of wood down, giving Amy a nervous wave.
Sonic: It's okay, Valk, she's my wife.
Valkyr: Oh. Nice to meet you, miss.
Amy: Um…
Valkyr smacks herself, then tries again in English.
Valkyr: Sorry, I said it's nice to meet you, miss.
Amy: Oh, well nice to meet you as well. You are tall…
Valkyr smiles, closing her eyes and laughs nervously.
Valkyr: Hehe… Yeah… It's pure muscle…
Shadow had been quiet the entire time, keeping his eyes on Valkyr, trying to assess what kind of potential threat she might be. He found she didn't have any hostile intentions towards anyone, but he did notice she was… Angry. It was very faint right now, but he could identify that the anger was genetic. She was literally incapable of fully calming down. She must be quite able to mask it.
Shadow: Quite the guest we have.
Valkyr takes notice of Shadow, who was walking up to her. He offers her a handshake.
Shadow: I'm Shadow. Shadow the–
Valkyr suddenly started snarling violently like a Dragon, causing Shadow to step back.
Sonic: Whoa, easy! He's a friend!
Valkyr: He smells like Black Arms.
Shadow raises an eyebrow.
Shadow: You know of the Black Arms?
Valkyr: They tried infesting our homeworld. We drove them out.
Shadow: … That explains a lot… Well, either way, yes I have Black Arms DNA. It's… It was as a stabilizing agent to ensure I could leave my medical capsule during the days of Project Shadow, aboard the Space Colony ARK. If I didn't recieve the transfusion… Well. Let's just say I wouldn't be here now. You will be happy to know that the Black Arms are no more. I destroyed them all.
Valkyr calmed down a bit as Shadow explained this, then was visibly relieved upon hearing the Black Arms were gone.
Valkyr: I see. Sorry for getting hostile.
Shadow: No need to apologize. I can understand why you were.
Valkyr kneels down and shakes Shadow's hand… And nearly crushed it in the process!
Shadow: OW!
Valkyr: Sorry!
Shadow managed to reset his hand, popping it back into place and shaking it off before giving a smile.
Shadow: Quite the grip, miss.
Sonic: Anyways, let's get building. You mind helping us out, Shadow?
Shadow: Can't. I have an investigation to work on. Before I go, Sonic. I got something for you.
Shadow pulls an envelope out of his inner coat pocket, handing it to Sonic. Sonic went wide eyed at what was holding it shut: the Acorn family crest!
Sonic: A letter from Sally?!
Amy: Wait, Sally? As in Queen Sally Acorn?
Sonic: Come on Amy, how many people do we know by the name of Sally?
Amy: Touché.
Sonic opens the letter, reading it off quickly.
Sonic: It says she wants me, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Shadow to attend a ball. And RIGHT as I was about to toss my suit and tie…
Amy: This is rather sudden…
Shadow: I'm just as surprised as you all.
Tails: It will be good to see Sally again. I wonder how she's been…
Sonic puts the letter away. He was internally grimacing, as his relationship with Sally Acorn ended on a sour note, one that made them go their separate ways. Something told him she might still be the same, but time has a way of changing people. Him included. Some things remain the same, others change.
In Sonic's case, he still had a big ego, but he tried his best to curb it when the situation called for it, more so now than when he was younger.
Even though Sonic wanted to see Sally again, it would be as a friend, not a lover. And now he was dreading seeing her again…
Little did he know he would be in for both a pleasant surprise, as well as a nasty one, as he, Tails, Knuckles, Valkyr and Amy worked on building the new cabin. Prior to him leaving them, Shadow informed the group Metal Sonic had been reactivated, but was going to work with them to bring Scourge down.
As for the real reason the letter was sent, it was to mask the fact Sonic was about to lose someone who was just as close to him as Tails was.
/I live! :3