Translator

Metal Sonic wiped his claws against the air, trying to remove the black tar that once was part of the alien lifeforms the robot just slaughtered. While his information database held absolutely no knowledge about them, that wasn't an obstacle as they still obeyed the common law that said when enough damage is done to a body, it eventually perishes. And oh, boy, did he make sure they did.

If anything, the robot lets out a curt, "Pathetic." at the end of the fight. None of them had challenged in any way and even though their weapons proved to be unhackable due to their organic nature, the technology behind it seemed no more advanced than any other weapon of this world's military.

Though the horn communicator had gained most of his curiosity, which was soon replaced with disappointment when he found it broken on the floor, the one holding it must have fallen on it.

Speaking of military, that is where he must be. One of the GUN bases he would guess, a theory that's quickly proven right when he walks past the destroyed wall and sees several other creations of his former master, no, slave-driver. The soon to be culled Dr Eggman. He pays no mind to the insignificant relics, though he held in his ire and resisted the urge to destroy a display holding one of his earliest prototypes, that of Silver Sonic. For doing so meant there's something to feel insecure about and he has no reason to once he inevitably kills the hedgehogs they are based on. Sonic.

"We're Sonic Heroes!"

The damnable quote came back to his mind like a mocking whisper, and Metal's engine started to activate in response, allowing him to slightly float off the ground as he clenched his claws into fists and bore a hole with his gaze towards his lesser compatriot. "You'll be nothing once I find you."

With that determination in mind, Metal Sonic finally started his business. First, he would get out of here in order to gain enough signal and connect to the Egg-net, then he would find whichever bases haven't been discovered yet in order to gain resources and troops, then gain information about the enemy, find any weak points and start his conquest of the world once more. Perhaps he could even gather the chaos emeralds? Yes, he definitely has to. They were the key to his defeat and he refuses to let those mystic gems be once more the aid needed for his undoing. So he has to gather them first.

That shouldn't be too hard, especially when he can just focus into himself and use the gem tracker.

[ACTIVATE CHAOS TRACKER…..]

[SYSTEM ERROR: FEATURE HAS BEEN REMOVED]

Red LED eyes narrowing in annoyance, Metal Sonic looks for the reason why.

[SYSTEM SECURITY IS CHECKING BACK LOGS….]

[LOADING….]

[LOADING….]

[MULTIPLE ESSENTIAL FILES HAVE BEEN DELETED BY OUTSIDE PARTY]

[THE MOST ESSENTIAL ARE: PRIOR LIFEFORMS COMBAT DATA, CHAOS TRACKER, GPS, ADMIN PASSWORDS, AND MAXIMUM BATTERY HAS BEEN LIMITED TO 30%]

[RECOMMENDATION: HEAD TO NEAREST EGGMAN BASE FOR REPAIRS]

Even though he should have expected this, Metal Sonic still ends up annoyed, nay, severely outraged to the discovery that GUN has tampered with his interface. An emotion that he again expresses by gripping his fists so tight that were he organic, they'd turn white from the strain.

Even if he is under no threat of running out of energy any time soon. To have his energy be limited in such a way means he is unable to his most demanding techniques for long or at their highest outlet. At the most his Onyx Shield could last about 5 seconds a day and his Maximum Overdrive (One of the few moves that can harm even someone in a super form) is outright unavailable.

Though the destruction of GUN is already a part of his objectives, he adds it in a subset of number 3 so he remembers to punish these arrogant meat-sacks for touching something above their own.

The sound of a footstep prompts him to stop his evil thinking and swiftly turn around. And come to face with the same raccoon girl who reactivated him. Her hands and feet set in a sneaking motion as she makes shocked and sheepish eye-contact with him, still frozen in the motion, nearby a door.

"Uh...don't mind me?" She speaks after a second, clearly attempting to sneak out. Metal considers that proof that she at least has some survival instincts after her failed bargain. "Look, there was a situation and I needed some help, now I don't. So for all it matters, we can pretend we never met."

Her left hand is raised in a peaceful manner while the other limps with a small burn wound on her side, though she looks tempted to just bolt, she bravely keeps eye-contact with him, as if sudden movement might agitate him into attacking. Metal can sense with his newly gained ability that she's already gathered some water around her in droplets too small for the normal eye, ready to create a sudden water shield and bolt if he attacks anyway. The combination of those facts moves her from 'unimportant scum' to 'not so scum that could have info and be useful' in Metal's mind.

"You will give me answers." Metal Sonic states firmly, taking another step forward and raising one of his claws upwards to show what he'll do if she doesn't cooperate. "And you will live."

The proper term would have been 'or you will die' but Metal knows that sugar can be as effective in gaining results as salt does within the right circumstance, proof to that, the raccoon's ears flicker a bit in doubt, but she soon gives an obedient nod alongside a speculative look. "Ask ahead...bot?"

"You will refer to me by my unit name." Metal warns, but doesn't wait for an answer, instead quickly making a list of the most essential things he must know. "State to me the current year."

"Oh, you don't kno-wait, right, of course you don't. Ahem, it's 20X2."

There was a short pause as he registered that. "So, 2 years." that's not too bad, even if the hedgehog and his friends have become stronger within that time. He can easily surpass that kind of distance.

"Ayup, 2 years, Metal Sonic." She confirms, then speaks again, unprompted. "It feels like a whole lot longer, not gonna lie. Some of us feel like they might forget what the sun looks like eventually."

"Where are we?" Metal Sonic ignores her prompt, only really caring about his objectives, the sooner this is done, the sooner he can leave after all. The raccoon is blessed by this indifference, for if he registered her as even remotely a threat, he'd make sure to eliminate her before leaving.

"Uh, this used to be known as GUN Fortress, in some hidden island, about fifty, or so kilometers from New Central City."

Used to be? New Central City? One thing at a time. "The black creatures, what are they?"

"Oooh, that's a long story." The raccoon says with a bit more energy, somehow losing some of the fear she has the longer she talks. "Though I could give you a short version, if ya want, I mean."

"Spare no important detail."

"Ok." She doesn't and that's how five minutes quickly pass along. Metal nodded a couple of times as he listened while she told the story with various exclamations and sometimes what lesser lifeforms could consider comedic gestures for the immersion. Finally, he cuts her off.

"So Earth is now under the dominion of the Black Arms, with no sight of Sonic or other heroes?"

The raccoon nodded, though looked indifferent to the end result. "Yeah, rumors have it that they're either dead or like, imprisoned in some super secret space prison on the big bad black comet."

"That's incorrect." Metal Sonic firmly stated, even shaking his head once in dismissal.

"How do you know that?" The raccoon asks, then backpedals at his glare. "Hey! Don't look at me like that! It's not like I'm calling you a liar, yeah? I just want to know how'd you know that."

Metal Sonic stared at her for nearly half a minute, the stillness of the robot now bordering on the unnatural, like he suddenly became a statue. But inside Metal Sonic's head, there was intense conflict between the codes in his artificial mind. With Sonic out of the way the mission was completed, and yet, it wasn't because his death wasn't confirmed. He'd been programmed to defeat Sonic the Hedgehog only for their dark-furred counterpart to take away the honor. His duty, his destiny, his one chance to be the real deal was forever out of his reach now. To be never grasped.

However, soon enough. Another idea came…

Updating objective….

1) Defeat Shadow the Hedgehog (Primary).

If he defeats the one that defeated Sonic, then he proved he could do something Sonic could not! Not only was Shadow in his way of dominion, but he was now also the object of Metal's revenge!

"Shadow the hedgehog...you will meet your end by my hands." Metal Sonic declared, resolved.

"Wh-what?!" Marine gasped, taken aback. "Are you serious? You wanna take down THE Shadow the Hedgehog? Man, are you for real? The guy has a whole army that serves him! Ya know?!"

"Then the Black Arms will fall with him." The metal guy said in front of her, clearly visualizing the hedgehog as he crushed one hand into a fist again. Man, is the robot a fan of that gesture.

But seriously, that's the craziest thing she's ever heard and she didn't even expect it. Honestly, the robot looks and screams super villain and then he proclaims he'll save the world out of nowhere!

What's even worse is her own reaction to that, as before she knows it, she screams the words "Me too!" before the robot can move past her, frozen in the motion of grabbing her shoulder to shove.

Part of Marine always knew the new state of the world is completely messed up and could smell the start of an adventure from ten miles away. If this robot is as strong as GUN warned it to be, then it's going to need a just as reliable mechanic to make sure it won't break midway. That and well, even if it's not the most heroic thing ever, maybe she can influence it into anti-heroism along the way. That and it totally stole her technique! And there's no way she'd leave until she can mimic that tech!

That way if the robot does blow up mid-journey, she can just make her own again and create some bot that knows a thousand techniques, kicks Black butt and saves the world, with her having credit.

The shock lasts only for a second though, as the next he just shoves past her. "I have no need of you." and looks at another door, seconds away from using his jet to go over the block obstacles.

"Wait! You j-jerk! Don't go thinking I'm some defenseless little girl, I'm a mechanic GENIUS!"

"Sure you are." The robot replies, paying her no attention. "Even so, this unit is self-reliant."

Ah, butterscotch. She's losing him. If she doesn't find a convincing argument here and now then the robot will ditch her and she won't have the chance to put her own mark in history. "What of your systems then? GUN clearly messed with those!" The robot stops, good, she has a hook! "I've got a lab that can fix whatever they messed with on my ship and I also know this world better than you."

"And you would offer these services for what reason?" Metal Sonic asks, suspicious and also annoyed, the robot's acting like taking her help would be something disgusting, the jerk.

"Revenge, d'uh!" She says, then looks down as some dark memories resurface. "When they came...they trashed part of my home island and they killed...so many of my friends…" Marine felt tears forming in her eyes, but kept looking at the robot with all the bravery she has. "So, please...I don't care for what reason you're doing this but let me help making them pay for their crimes!"

"This unit cares not for justice." Metal replies after a pause, "But revenge….revenge I understand."

"This unit will let you take them to your ship," he finally agrees.

"Awesome!" Marine whoops in joy, "Aw yeah, with a SUPER SPECIAL MURDER BOT and a SUPER SPECIAL GENIUS GIRL working together, no butt will remain UNKICKED!"

"However." Metal Sonic speaks up again, unamused. "If you fail to prove the claims you've stated."

"Then you'll like, make a scarf outta me. Got it, come on, let's get outta here, k?" Marine nods.

"Let's go." Metal Sonic says and without waiting a second more, flies off in super speed with his engine out of the room. Ignoring Marine's shout off 'wait up' and forcing the girl to hurry after.

For a second, she forgot he didn't know where her ship is and thus he will be waiting at the entrance. So she sped up as fast as she could, but even that wasn't enough as only after five seconds, she could no longer even see the smoke trail he left behind, only the noise of his engine fading further away as he scaled his way out of the labyrinth without waiting for her.

"Man, I shouldn't have said anything and just pocketed what I can." Marine grumbles in annoyance, but still continues making her way. "It's not like anyone will get a medal for TRYING to be a hero."

But even as she says that, she's determined to give it a try. Who knows?

With that jerk's help, she could make a difference.

Location- Green Hill Zone (Or what used to be it), South Island

Context for later: Distance from New Central City is about 200 kilometers.

A blue circular void with white contours appeared in the middle of the sky. A second after, out jumped a silver hedgehog with long leaf-like spikes and white gloves with green circles. A green energy surrounded the young man as he floated in the air and looked down with a sense of dread.

"Not again, something changed the future again and I'm here to fix it!" Declared Silver the Hedgehog, unknowingly appearing in a time that's two years too late. After his own future gained an earth that turned into a dead wasteland, he came here to fix and prevent it from happening.

"But why is the sky as dark as it back, uh, I mean forward in time as well?" He asked, looking at a sky covered with a reddish tint and dark foul clouds. Likewise the green hills this place is called for have turned either yellow, gray or deaddish as if it's been struck by a never-ending fall. Several large black mushrooms surround the place, their veins brimming with crimson energy as if they're sucking out the life of the land. The trees and sunflowers nearby completely devoid of any color.

"And there's no animals around either!" No fish jumping from pond to pond, no butterflies or squirrels, there was no natural sound around for miles. The only noise came from the staticky and electric-like noise the mushrooms made, each of them having a line at the top that connects them from one to another like an organic version of a power-line. It's obvious the earth has been taken over by the presence of some monster, or maybe a virus, or even another eldritch being of the week.

"Well, I guess I can start by destroying these things, free the island and then move to Westopolis!"

And it is with that resolve in mind, that Silver moves to fix the future. Knowing little of how much attention the following action is about to bring to him. And how that is a boon in disguise.

"What are you looking at?"

The one eyed starfish alien, the loyal sentry keeping Shadow company jumped out of guilt that it had been caught looking at its master, and then apologetically flew around in circles over the hedgehog's head, making a point that it was looking elsewhere. The lifeform was notably more timid when it wasn't being possessed by Black Doom's will for the sake of easy communication.

"Hmph." Shadow grunted, and then continued to make his way through the long halls of the Space Colony Ark. It was several days after he'd last spoken to his father (Black Doom), and he was a little disgruntled that he was starting to miss their usual morning routine. That of he and him sitting on a table and getting to learn what the other did during the day over a cup of tea, like the blood in their veins is 1/3th british. The latter would coo or groan words of approval in his usual gnarly voice to communicate that he was proud of the initiative and changes Shadow has made around their newest colony. And Shadow would no show no reaction to them, because as the Ultimate Life-form it's expected he'd be the best at everything, even delegating and accounting of all things.

It had been a bother at first, but now the attempts at showing parental affection as bizarre as it is, had grown on him out of habit, and he couldn't help but feel restless when that all changed.

The sentry kept a safe few feet away from its master, fluttering its small tentacles as it tried to keep up with Shadow's brisk pace of letting his rocket boots hover him to where he needs to be. The little creature squinted it's eye for a few seconds, and then decided to send a brief image to its lord.

Shadow returned to solid ground, stopping his travel by hover when he saw the image in his head. It was a scene where Black Doom and his soldiers overrun a planet with grasslands and bizarre looking aliens of varying colors. The Black Comet wasn't the only one of it's kind after all, no, the Black Arms simply use them to invade different planets and while Black Doom personally attended to the new planet in sight, Shadow himself was entrusted with keeping the Earth in their dominion.

"I know that he is doing, cease your pathetic attempt at cheering me." Shadow sighed impatiently, though his tone held no heat against the sentry. He took a moment to look around at his surroundings, remembering the irony of him once running through them in fear instead of confidence and with that feeling a warmth came to his chest knowing the foolish humans would be punished for the sins they committed for the rest of their lives while he oversaw the process.

He finally arrived at the helm of the ship, to get a better view of the planet that belonged to him now. He'd paid a visit to the Spagonia region earlier this morning, to check on one of the temples there because his fellow brethren felt a sense of unease in it's proximity, only to find nothing of notice. He did find in that temple an altar where one could put in a chaos emerald but he had no reason to bother trying that, instead remaining contend with the fact that they remained sealed in a careful prison so that they cannot vanish around the planet and potentially be gathered by someone who wishes to usurp his rightful rule. That was part of the reason he wanted to use the Ark to shoot down Angel Island, but as if sensing the danger, the island hosting the Master Emerald dissapeared, now lost among the seas and oceans as if it never existed in the first place. However none of that mattered now, today was after all a peaceful day, one that won't be disturbed unless there's a-

An emergency that's transmitted to him via the sentry flashing another image before his eyes. This time it focused specifically on a flying white-furred Hedgehog causing havoc amongst the Black Arms camps lying within South Island. The familiar youth seemed to make it a mission of his to destroy any life-draining device that he found in some bizzarre attempt to protect the island, not realizing that by doing so, he was practically pressing every alarm button in the Black Arms hivemind. The destruction of one of their energy sources is always a prime priority.

"So we finally meet again, Silver the Hedgehog." Shadow started, a dangerous smile on his face, to which the sentry carefully backed away from. "I was wondering when you would show up."

The child was always there to change the future whenever it didn't satisfy. The ability to time travel makes him already a capital threat. One Shadow is better off disposing off himself, of course, he'd still give Silver a chance to join the right writers of history but if he refuses, there shan't be mercy.

Taking out the green and yellow chaos emeralds (the ones he by coincidence uses the most) and balancing them in one hand as he juggled them with grim satisfaction. Shadow confidently says, "No matter what I won't let you run away from me, for as long as I have two chaos emeralds, space and time are concepts that I can easily warp between. Prepare to meet your maker…."

"Chaos….Controll!" His declaration finished, he uses his iconic chaos technique to teleport himself towards the exit bay, then uses one of the emergency pods to reenter the atmosphere and land somewhere nearby the shores of South Island. It is there where he will begin his hunt for Silver.