Was that Knuckles?! Tails wonders as he ascends higher in the sky.
The young fox carries the surprisingly light hedgehog away from the mountaintop with a mighty chaos emerald secured in their position. Internally, Tails wants to celebrate for a mission success, but he holds off for two reasons. One: things are certainly not over yet. And two: Sonic is currently nowhere in sight. He isn't the only one concerned over this. Amy looks up at him and asks:
"Do you see Sonic anywhere?"
He almost responds but is suddenly unable to speak. Unable to breathe. A tightening, suffocating grip wraps around the boy's neck, causing him instant pain. Because of it, his grip on Amy loosens, and the pink hedgehog begins falling twenty-two feet from the air, with the white chaos emerald still in her grasp. She screams in fear during her fast descent to the ground, but she never makes it there. Instead of falling onto the cold hard mountain, she lands in the warm embrace of her hero. Sonic the Hedgehog.
Talk about a close call, Sonic thinks as he breathes a sigh of relief, thankful he was able to speed up the mountain and make it just in time to save Amy.
She blushes in Sonic's arms and clings to his neck, much to his annoyance. It's unclear what happened to the black hedgehog, but Sonic doesn't have time to think about that. No, what has his and Amy's full attention is the monster holding their mutual fox friend captive. Metal Sonic. The metal menace stays suspended in the air with its thrusters as it squeezes the air out of the struggling child in its unescapable clutches.
Never in his life has Sonic felt so angry. Every muscle in his body wants to jump out at his clone, but after what happened in Grand Metropolis, he'll need more than his feet.
"Still putting your friends in danger, I see," Metal Sonic says, looking down at his organic counterpart. "I would say I expected better, but there's not much one can hope for concerning a simpleton such as yourself."
"WHAT DO YOU WANT!" Amy screams, watching in horror as Tails's face turns purple.
"Are you for real?" Metal Sonic asks. "Take a wild guess. Here's a hint: it rhymes with- 'Give me the chaos emerald or the fox perishes.'"
Unable to bear the sight of his suffering friend, Sonic acts quickly and takes the emerald from Amy. He gives her a look that says: "trust me."
"Fine," Sonic says, clutching the gem. "If you want the emerald... take it."
Without warning, Sonic chucks the emerald at his sinister doppelganger. However, as soon as the emerald leaves his hand, the hedgehog curls into a ball and shoots toward Metal Sonic at the speed of a rocket. Out of pure reflex, the robot throws Tails to the ground and uses its right arm to catch the emerald, and the other to block his opponent's attack.
"Impressive quick thinking..." Metal Sonic acknowledges as he's pushed back through the air. "And yet, ultimately futile. Only a fool would prioritize their friends with so much at stake."
Metal Sonic reels his head back and clashes it against Sonic's sending him crashing into the snow below. Amy starts running to him, but he holds up a hurt arm, stopping her.
"Get Tails and fly out of here!" he yells, pulling himself up. "I'll deal with the ugly mirror."
"WHILE HE MAY BE UGLY, AT LEAST HE IS NOT OUTMATCHED," a metallic voice says to Sonic's right, catching the hedgehog's attention.
To his side is E-123 Omega. Despite lacking any sort of facial expression, his bloodlust is unmistakable, especially with its lock and loaded shoulder canons and built-in machine gun aimed in the war hero's direction.
"You can say that again," an unfamiliar voice says behind Sonic, making him turn around.
A white bat in a hot-pink spy uniform hovers in the air, staring at the blue hedgehog with an intrigued gaze. Sonic looks over at Tails and sees him in the air, holding onto Amy. With a confident smile and a thumbs up, Tails reluctantly nods and carries Amy from the tense summit.
Thanks, Tails, I know how badly you want to help. Sonic thinks, turning to face E-123 Omega. But now this will be a lot simpler.
In a blur, Sonic sprints toward Omega who begins to fire dozens of bullets and a collection of rockets at the approaching Mobian. Effortlessly, the hedgehog dodges each of the incoming projectiles, feeling one of the rockets graze the fur of his arm. In a short time, he makes it to the robot, and flips over the mechanical terror, ripping off a piece of its yellow shoulder plating.
With the plating now under his feet, Sonic lands on the mountainside and begins his rapid descent toward the bottom. To no surprise of his own, Sonic can hear the burning fuel of his robotic nemesis close behind. A weave to the right and the young hero misses a swift strike from Metal Sonic who flies in pursuit of its target.
This would be kind of fun if there wasn't a maniacal android after me... focus Sonic, focus.
A surge of blinding energy materializes behind the hedgehog, who looks back to see a yellow, electric aura surrounding his clone. Whatever is happening, it's nothing good. With the speed and intensity of lightning, Metal Sonic shoots forward at his prey. Sonic was not ready for such a fast attack. He just barely manages to jump over it, landing back on the makeshift snowboard as he watches Eggman's sinister creation plow through snow, burning all of it in his wake.
An explosion right in front of him causes Sonic to nearly tumble off the plating as snow falls all around him. He recognized the bolt of energy that created such a blast. A chaos spear. As soon as he reels his head, it's too late. The black hedgehog is already in the air, two fingers held up, ready to conjure another spear. Or at least he would have if a white-knuckled fist hadn't caught him in the face, sending him crashing into the snow.
Sonic's confusion dissipates when he hears from behind:
"Mind giving me a lift, Sonic the Conqueror?"
Sonic grins. Holding onto his back is Knuckles, joining him on his crazy ride down the mountain.
"Didn't want to miss the action, Knuckle-head?" Sonic chuckles.
"No way," he responds.
Several yards ahead of them, the duo watches as Metal Sonic flies back into view, headed straight for its targets.
"He's almost as ugly as you," Knuckles remarks.
"Get ready, this thing means business," Sonic warns. "By the way, that was just mean."
The two allies brace themselves for the incoming threat when something else draws their attention. Rumbling. A great rumbling. They turn around and their jaws simultaneously drop at the sight of a gargantuan mass of snow falling behind them.
"This just keeps getting better," Sonic grumbles.
"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Knuckles screams.
"Oh yeah, down here, we call those avalanches," Sonic shrugs. "If I had to guess, I think the explosions and chaos attacks might have something to do with it."
Metal Sonic extends its arm and from it emerges a canon. It shoots out a rocket that Sonic and Knuckles steer from, shielding their eyes from the rain of snow that results from the violent explosion. With only a second to react, Sonic braces his arms together to block a kick from Shadow who teleports in front of him, before the black hedgehog is once again knocked back by Knuckles.
Refusing to relent, Shadow teleports back in front of the two as Metal Sonic materializes to the pair's right. The ebony hedgehog chops down at Sonic who moves left of the blow as the metal one attempts an uppercut on Knuckles who instead ends up catching the fist. Before either of the friends can retaliate, the two attackers draw back. Shadow teleports to an unknown location and Metal Sonic simply flies away.
It becomes clear why once the echidna looks behind him.
"UM... SONIC!" Knuckles yells.
Sonic turns around just in time to see the giant sliding mass of snow right on top of them. He and Knuckles let out a scream that is subsequently silenced once the avalanche washes over them, effortlessly carrying their bodies with it.
...
Three minutes later.*
The red, scanning light from the titanium blue hedgehog's eyes survey over the endless pile of deep snow. Much to the robot's annoyance, it's yet to pick up any vitals. Particularly ones belonging to pancaked Mobians. To its right, Shadow stands with his arms crossed, ready to leave this freezing tundra. He begins to be distracted by his thoughts when he sees something overhead. Rouge, making her way towards the two hedgehogs with the white chaos emerald Metal handed to her before taking off to stop the war hero and his ally.
She lands in front of the two, her presence not distracting Metal Sonic from scanning for its targets' deceased bodies.
"That was quite a spectacle," Rouge says with her usual smirk, earning no reaction from either of her teammates. "Anyways, Eggman called. He wants his emerald."
"I am not leaving until I have verified the demise of my pathetic twin."
"And delay Eggman's flight for the fifth emerald?"
Metal Sonic stops scanning and turns to Rouge, silent for a few moments. Then, without any words, he takes off for the invisible Egg Carrier hovering above them.
"What's on your mind?" Rouge asks, noticing Shadow's concerned look.
"Nothing," he responds. "Just wondering where Zero is. Mind giving me a ride?"
"Yes, but I'll give you one anyway," Rouge says, spreading her wings, getting a small smile from Shadow.
He grabs onto her hand and she lifts off. As she gets further in the air, one thought occupies her mind.
Please be alive, war hero.
Unknown to her, Rouge's wish was already granted. If Metal Sonic had been scanning two miles below its previous location, with a few feet to the right, he would have surely detected Sonic and Knuckles's life signatures. If he had stayed two minutes longer, he would have even spotted them as Knuckles dug himself out and pulled Sonic to the surface.
...