Author's notes: Nothing new.
Chapter 48: Neo-Shard Versus Metallix N3-0 (Metallix Neo)
[Sonic Forces OST- Battle with Metal Sonic, US version]
Neo-Shard was smashed into a temple wall by Metallix Neo before he grabbed Metallix Neo by the head and slammed him into the same wall. The colorless Metal Sonic quickly spun and deployed a pair of knuckle bracers before punching Neo-Shard in the stomach region and a sonic boom is heard a few seconds after the impact and the black and yellow metal sonic is sent flying back from the blow. The larger metal Sonic hits the ground twice before recovering and blasting back towards Metallix Neo.
Another sonic boom is heard as the two headbutt with each other; their back and foot boosters going full blast against the other.
"We are both Metal Sonics. I know what you will do and you know what I will do. Strange isn't it?" said Neo-Shard as the two Metal Sonics glared at each other before they both blast off into the sky, creating a glass crater where they had been moments before. As they fly up, Neo-Shard throws a punch at Metallix Neo but the colorless Metal Sonic catches it and goes for a kick only for Neo-Shard to catch it. The two then headbutt each other at the same time, creating yet another sonic boom.
The two quickly get some distance from the other before Metallix Neo has two four-round missile pods pop out of his shoulders and fires them at Neo-Shard who deploys several flares while also transforming his arm into a cannon and as the missiles explode as they hit the flares and then fires a plasma fusion lance beam at Metallix Neo who dodges it despite the smoke hindering his vision for a moment. The two quickly close the distance and both go for a punch, with their fists colliding and creating another sonic boom and knocking the other away. The sky around the island from the impacts also changes from a normal brilliant blue sky with some white clouds mixed in, to a slightly blue-purple sky with grey-black clouds.
Meanwhile, as the two Metal Sonics clash across the sky, the other five make their way towards the central temple housing the Master Emerald. TD watching the fight as he hung onto Tails' head.
"Looks like they're even." said the fox doll.
"Well, that seems to give us a bit of advantage then." said Slothic as he jumped over a rock.
"How is that an advantage?" asked Tails.
"He can hold off Metallix Neo until we get an actual plan."
"And if we don't?"
"Then we bring out the rifles we use on the Heavy Swats back home. We also miss normally with them but if he gets held in place by a Metal Sonic that can keep him in place, we might actually be able to hit him."
"Wait, the rounds you use are explosive anti-armor right? Isn't Neo-Shard in danger from the rounds as well?"
"He'll be fine. I'm not the one who will be shooting."
"We're careful with the aiming." said Frenzy as he used his cybernetic tails to cut down some jungle overgrowth in their path.
"Unless he gets in our faces and forces us to shoot in a different direction. Which he's done a few times." said Ravager, his eyes on the central temple.
"Luckily, our newer models of the rifles have a safety feature to prevent friendly fire accidents when he does that." said Frenzy.
"Well, I think Shard can win." said TD, still watching the two fight, "But I don't like how their fight is changing the sky's appearance."
"That is a bit alarming..." said Slothic as he cast his own eye skyward a moment and as the two Metal Sonics collide again, the sky changes to a dark purple with red clouds and black-blue cracks form in the sky as well although what the nearby blind hedgehog sees is a flash of white and white cracks forming in a black sky, "Hmmm...they might be too evenly matched..."
The five come upon the entrance to the tower and skid to a halt. Tails and TD look around and are on edge.
"Something's wrong. Usually Knuckles is guarding the entrance directly..." said Tails before Ravager pulls him out of the way of the other echidna's ground slam.
Tails recovers from the sudden pull and looks at Knuckles as the echidna stands up. Ravager growls as he slams his volcanic rock coated knuckles together.
"You got some explaining to do. Why's the island afraid?" snarled Ravager yet Knuckles remained silent, "Silent treatment huh? Fine. I'll just beat it out of you!"
Ravager threw a punch at Knuckles with both echidnas' fists colliding and creating a shockwave, however Knuckles skids back a few inches from the impact and winces.
"The rest of you, get inside and get things ready for keeping the island afloat! I'll knock some sense into this knucklehead." said Ravager as he advanced on Knuckles, cracking his volcanic rock knuckles.
"Technically, doesn't that make you a knucklehead as well since he's technically you?" asked TD and Ravager looks at him with a "are you really pulling that joke now?" expression, "Neither of you can take jokes apparently."
Tails goes to move past Knuckles before the echidna catches him across the throat with his arm sending the biomechanical fox rolling back and knocks TD off as well. Tails gets up holding his neck before coughing.
"Okay, good news...that was full strength. Bad news, that still hurt." muttered Tails as he looked at Knuckles.
"Not...control..." said Knuckles straining heavily before he prepared to bring a foot down on the still stunned doll before Ravager catches the foot and throws Knuckles into a wall.
"And that tells me a bit more about the situation. Slothic, you're with me. Something's clearly long and you're the one who can see things better, at least spiritually. Tails, Frenzy and the doll will deal with the Master Emerald."
"Was kinda hoping that we wouldn't have to fight a Knuckles." said Slothic as he walked forwards calmly.
"So you don't lose your other eye to the knuckle-spikes?"
"No, so I don't have to do a lava dunk again."
Ravager freezes up a moment at the memory but then shakes it off.
"But I doubt he's got those puppeteers here. Alright, let's see the damage." said Slothic as he had his eye switch from the normal Sonic-like one to the thirty demonic red eyes in one socket. He looks at Knuckles as he pulls himself out of the wall and notices the red aura around the echidna but with a purple-black stain within it. He looks around before he spots a Flicky's aura with the same stain within. He then has his eye change back to normal.
"Okay, we've also got a corrupted Flicky. I can get the Flicky. Think you can hold down this alternate you while I free the Flicky?" said Slothic as he stretched a moment.
"Yeah. I think I can manage." said Ravager as he super-heated his arms and reformed the knuckle-spikes into more blunted forms, with the arms cooling off rapidly after.
"Alright. Be back soon." said Slothic before he turned into a blue blur, zooming towards the Flicky.
Tails, TD and Frenzy go to move past Knuckles but the corrupted guardian goes to intercept them only for Ravager to intercept him, grab him by the face and slam him into the ground, creating an impact crater. The other three head into the temple as Ravager and Knuckles fight.
Above the island...
Neo-Shard recovers in mid-air after the last clash with Metallix Neo blasted them apart. He glares at the other Metal Sonic while going over several different calculations at the same time. He also notices that this recent clash has created rifts around them. He begins going over combat data he's been gathering while fighting this alternate Metal Sonic.
Copying combat data:
Shoulder mounted missile system- copied
Titanium Knuckle Bracer- copied
Adapting...
Two missile pods, one on each shoulder pops out of Neo-Shard's shoulders although each pod only has two compared to Metallix Neo's four, before firing them at Metallix Neo. Unlike Metallix Neo's missiles though, the four missiles are much faster and smaller. Metallix Neo dodges one before firing a wrist-mounted laser at the second and third but gets hit by the fourth. The blast sends him flying back before he recovers only to have Neo-Shard's new knuckle bracer smashing into his face, sending him flying back again. He recovers and goes for a counter charge against the black and yellow Metal Sonic, bringing out his own knuckle bracer again.
As the two collide this time though, the impact turns the sky purple-red with photonegative clouds and a rift opens right on top of them. The two Metals get sucked into the rift but continue their fight. The rift suddenly blasts them out into a dark purple-black realm full of giant crystals and a black void beneath them. Their flight path takes them in front of a massive flying fortress with Eggman's symbol on it but as they fly past the command center of the massive fortress, five...Eggmen are seen. The two metals quickly disappear through another rift.
"That was Shatter energy!" yelled the old man Eggman while pointing his walking cane at the spot the rift appeared and closed.
The baby Eggman makes babbling noises.
"Doctor Babble is right. Ignore those two...Metal Sonics. They're not part of the Shatterverse so they're not important." said the most Eggman-looking member of the five.
"I don't know...that felt kinda important..." said the Eggman with more Asian-styled clothing while thinking deeply on what was just seen.
"Well, it's not! We've got more important things to do than find out where two robotic Sonics came from! One actual Sonic is bad enough!"
Unknown universe...
A rift suddenly tears open and the two Metals blast out of it, the two trying to overpower the other before they crash through a ruined skyscraper, the crash splitting them away from each other. Neo-Shard recovers and begins looking for Metallix Neo but his sensors give him a warning of heavy nuclear contamination as he looks across a ruined city and across the horizon a ruined planet. He refocuses back on the current fight as another rift opens and he gets sent flying into it as Metallix Neo barrels into him. The rift closes behind them as a figure watches from a nearby ruined skyscraper. The figure having two-tails and a cybernetic leg. He growls angrily.
Skies over Great Forest, unknown universe 2...
Another rift breaks open as the two metals fight but this universe seems to react negatively to the rifts as several open and the sky becomes a dark purple with black-red clouds. The two fighting Metal Sonics knock each other between the rifts, trying to get an advantage over the other but with no gain for either. Neo-Shard then notices the more standard-looking Tornado trying to avoid their fight path. He quickly shifts his attention back to Metallix Neo and tackles him through another rift. The sky returns to normal and the rifts all disappear as suddenly as they appeared, leaving the two in the plane confused about what was going on.
Green Hill, unknown universe 3...
A rift rips open and the two Metals blast out of it, Neo-Shard still tackling Metallix-Neo. The two crash through a loop-de-loop before crashing into a mountain. A Sonic-like figure watches their fight with both boredom and mild interest, his arms folded across his chest. A alternate Tails peaks out from his hiding spot by a small amount to see what all the noise is and sees the two fighting Metals distracting Sonic. He contemplates making a run for it with Sonic distracted before he decides to do so, only for the two Metal Sonics to disappear through another rift.
"Well, that was interesting." said the Sonic-like figure, his voice sounding off, "Oh, and Tails..."
The fox freezes up in fear at hearing his name and the Sonic's head looks at him, spinning 180 degrees with the sound of bones snapping as he does so.
"Did you really think you could get away with that small distraction?"
Tails the Machine universe, Angel Island...
Slothic grumbled under his breath at how this Flicky was avoiding him. He was right on its feathered tail but every time he tried to grab it, it avoided his grab. Like someone was piloting it. He then thought of a plan and went for a grab on it, from two different directions using his speed to create an after-image. This confused the bird and allowed him to finally catch it. It tried to escape his grasp through pecking at his gloved hands and clawing at him with its feet but he ignored it as he put a finger gently against where its heart would be. The Flicky seemed to be in pain as he drew out the dark energy corrupting it. As the dark energy was drawn out, its vibrant colors returned before it went limp in his hand once all the negative energy was drained. He used the hand holding it to check for a pulse and he sighed in relief that the negative energy extraction hadn't killed it. He then looked at the negative energy gathered into a small sphere above the finger he had used to extract it from the bird. It thrashed violently, trying to both get back into the Flicky and away from him. He opened a portal before flicking the sphere through it and then closing the portal. The sphere being launched into a realm of nothingness.
He then looked back at the Flicky and tried to wake it up.
"Hey, come on, wake up." said Slothic as he gently tapped its face.
The Flicky's eyes flicker open before it looks around and then notices the hedgehog holding it. It jumps up and stands on Slothic's hand, looking around quickly.
"Get out of here, it's not safe." said Slothic to the small bird and it looks at him before it nods and takes off. Slothic watches it fly off, a small smile crossing his face before he zooms back to Ravager and Knuckles.
The nearly blind hedgehog skids to a halt in front of the central temple's entrance that is now heavily damaged and torn up from the fighting of the two echidnas. He looks around slowly before he spots Ravager having trapped Knuckles in a half-nelson and a headlock.
"Finally! Took you long enough!" said Ravager as he kept the strong grip on Knuckles.
"Well, the Flicky wasn't exactly easy to catch. Felt like someone was piloting it." said Slothic as he walked over.
"You got it freed right?"
"Yeah. And alive too."
"Animals are more difficult to extract negative energy from right?"
"Yeah. Seemed a bit spooked but I think it'll be fine. Knuckles will be easy though."
"Good. Toughest fight, besides Metallix Neo, I've had in awhile."
"He's you though."
"Well, he doesn't have elemental energy coursing through his veins, does he?"
Slothic rolled his eye as he put a finger against where Knuckle's heart would be and did the same procedure he did on the Flicky on the echidna. However, it seems to cause the echidna more pain but his color quickly returns to normal as do his eyes. He goes limp but is breathing heavily before he coughs.
"Okay, you can let me go now." said Knuckles as he glared at Ravager with a side-glare. The alternate echinda obliges...and drops him entirely. The dropped echidna landing on his back harshly, "NOT LIKE THAT YOU KNUCKLEHEAD!"
Ravager shrugs as Slothic sends the larger negative sphere he extracted from Knuckles into the same realm of nothingness as the last. Knuckles sits up, holding his head before he sees Slothic.
"Sonic? What are you doing here?" asked Knuckles as he slowly got to his feet.
"Not your Sonic. And borrowing the Master Emerald." said Slothic as he closed the portal.
"Wait...where's Mephiles?! He attacked the island!"
"So that's why the island was afraid." muttered Ravager as he looked thoughtful.
"Not only that but he corrupted Chaos!"
"Wait...Chaos, as in, if he gets all of the Chaos Emeralds Perfect Chaos-Chaos?" asked Slothic, his eye looking worried.
"Yes!" yelled Knuckles.
"Shit. That's gonna put a wrench in Neo-Shard's plans..."
"Who?"
"A Metal Sonic." said Slothic before he realized something, "A Metal Sonic that's on OUR side!"
"I don't have time for a full story on everything that's gone on beyond my island." grumbled Knuckles as he rubbed his forehead in annoyance.
At that moment, another rift opens over the island and the two Metal Sonics come flying out of it, still fighting.
"Okay, which is good and which is bad here?" asked Knuckles as he got defensive at seeing the two Metal Sonics.
"Black and yellow is good. Colorless is bad!" said Slothic as he turned and ran into the temple which took Knuckles a moment to notice.
"Hey! I didn't give you permission to enter!"
"Sorry, but if Metallix Neo can't see us, we're less likely to be a target."
Knuckles goes to argue but then drops it and follows the two inside.
Central Temple; Master Emerald's Chamber...
Tails, TD and Frenzy work as quickly as they on the device that was creating a duplicate of the Master Emerald to ensure the island remains in the air. Slothic and Ravager enter the room and look around the massively open chamber. Knuckles notices the three near the Master Emerald and quickly gets angry.
"HEY! WHAT DO YOU THREE THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" yelled Knuckles as he stormed up to them.
"Creating a duplicate so your island doesn't crash into the ground!" snapped Tails as he continued working.
"I didn't agree to this plan!"
"IT'S THE ONLY PLAN WE HAVE TO STOP SNIVELY AND HIS ALLIED OKAY?!" yelled Tails getting in the guardian's face catching Knuckles off guard by the outburst, "WE DON'T HAVE ANY OPTIONS BEYOND USING THE MASTER EMERALD TO GIVE SHARD A POWER BOOST! AND ON TOP OF EVERYTHING, OUR WORLD IS ON THE BRINK OF COLLAPSING BECAUSE SOME FALLEN GOD GOT BROUGHT BACK BY SCOURGE! DO YOU THINK YOUR PRECIOUS MASTER EMERALD MATTERS WHEN IT NO LONGER EXISTS?!"
Knuckles is silent a moment before he relents.
"Fine. You can use it. But I expect it back in one piece got it?" said Knuckles sharply. Tails inhales then exhales slowly and nods.
"Heads up! Metallix got reinforcements!" came a yell from Slothic before the sound of two energy blades igniting is heard and Tails' optics widen at the sound. He quickly pushes Knuckles out of the way before catching the arms of the robotic chipmunk, the blades two inches from both his heart and power core. Mecha-Sally pushes forward, causing Tails to skid back as he tries to keep the energy blades from impaling him. His optics show fear as he stares into the cold and soulless optics of Mecha Sally.
"C-c-come Sally...don't...don't do this...not again...fight it please!" said Tails, the fear eating at his voice.
The robotic chipmunk makes no response apart from trying to impale him with the energy blades even harder, forcing the biomechanical fox to a knee. The fox's biomechnical heart beat being audible as pounds in fear.
"HEY! ROBIAN!" came Frenzy's yell and the robotic Sally looks at the alternate fox quickly, only to recieve a fist to the face, sending her rolling down the steps. Frenzy shows no reaction to the fist he used now being broken as he glares down at Mecha-Sally, "LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE YOU HEARTLESS SHELL!"
Frenzy's fur gains a fiery effect to it as it also goes from black to a red-orange coloration. Mecha-Sally gets up before quickly blocking three throwing knives thrown at her as TD shifts into his Mobian form. TD looks at the terrified Tails before getting his attention.
"Hey, you work on duplicator, we'll hold her off, okay?" said TD to the biomechanical fox who nods, optics still showing fear. TD then turns and charges down towards Mecha Sally. He gets thrown off balance for a moment as Frenzy uses him as a spring-board to lunge at Mecha-Sally. Unlike in previous fights where Frenzy uses his gauntlets, cybernetic tails, and deflector arms, Frenzy now uses his claws and goes for wild and frenzied slashes at Mecha-Sally with the robotic chipmunk avoiding the slashes with ease before delivering two quick punches to Frenzy's chest and the sounds of ribs being broken is heard as he coughs up blood but that only seems to make him angrier as he goes for the claw slashes again.
Mecha-Sally avoids them before blocking the katana swung at her and TD quickly jumps away as he disperses the katana and throws several kunai at the robotic chipmunk. The kunai bounce off her armored frame but she does shield her optics before she gets grabbed by the leg by Ravager and he slams her into the ground via spine-blasts two times before she manages to spin herself just right and smash through the volcanic rock coating his arm. He lets go as he grabs the arm in pain as the bones beneath the rock is exposed. He jumps away as he superheats the remaining rock to melt it back over the damage.
Mecha-Sally goes to capitalize on the damage but quickly spins and blocks Slothic's spin-dash who quickly unfurls and delivers an uppercut to what would have been her jaw, staggering her. Slothic staggers back, holding his hand. Mecha-Sally goes to advance on him now before quickly spinning and catching Frenzy by the neck as he leapt her. The catch stops him for a moment before he tries to get at her, swinging his claws at her. Mecha-Sally slams him into the ground, burying him in the dirt.
"Hey, think we should knock Frenzy out yet? The Rage Demon aspect seems to be getting a bit bad." asked Ravager as he finished fixing the damage done to his arm.
"Nah. He's got a target. If he doesn't calm down after THEN we knock him out." said Slothic as he tested his hand that he had used to uppercut metal and finds that it's not broken and gets ready to fight again.
"Wait, you used a Rage Demon to bring him back?" asked TD as he swung a katana and a machete at Mecha-Sally while dodging her energy blades himself.
"No and yes. I used the life essence of one to bring him back, not the actual demon." said Slothic as he went for a kick on Mecha-Sally's head but she caught it and used it to throw Slothic into TD.
"Is that why he's gone rabid?"
"Yeah but he can usually calm down after. It's why he uses wrist blasters over the energy blade. Melee combat triggers it."
"And I assume Tails being in trouble made him angry enough for it to trigger?"
"Probably."
Mecha-Sally advances on the recovering fox doll turned Mobian and half-blind hedgehog before Frenzy jumps on her back and begins scratching at her head plating. She eventually manages to grab him and slams him into the ground, pins him with a foot and brings out an energy blade and readies it to impale him before her sensors warn her of incoming danger, but not fast enough as both Knuckles and Ravager's fist collide with her face at the same time. The impact shatters the protective glass over one of the optics and sends her rolling across the ground before she impacts with a wall and collapses. Her optics flicker before she powers down. The two echidnas then fist bump at the effective double-team.
Frenzy pulls himself out of the ground and lunges at TD. The fox doll turned Mobian quickly summons a quarterstaff and uses it to block Frenzy's lunge but gets knocked to the ground from the impact. He uses the staff to hold Frenzy at bay while the fox tries to claw at TD's face.
"A LITTLE HELP HERE?!" yelled TD as he used the staff to hold the rampaging Frenzy at bay.
"I got him!" said Ravager as he ran over to help before the two Metal Sonics crash through a wall and Neo-Shard crashes against the Master Emerald with Metallix Neo holding him by the throat, or what would be the throat, as he readies his claws to rip out Neo-Shard's power crystal.
"You lose, inferior traitorous model." said Metallix Neo.
Neo-Shard looks over at Tails as the robotic fox gives a thumbs up and the black and yellow metal hedgehog looks back at Metallix Neo.
"Actually, you lose." said Neo-Shard as his back opened up and liquid metal wrapped around the Master Emerald, "Your objective was to clearly keep us away from the Master Emerald. However, it seems you are designed to overpower an opponent with brute strength. Yes, you can match Sonic. Yes, you can match me. But you are steadfast in any given objective. However. You clearly lack the ability to plan ahead with calculations of possible events. I do not lack that flaw. Not anymore. Now, let's see what Chaos Energy does to your systems."
Neo-Shard gathers up Chaos Energy in one of his claws before slamming the orb into Metallix Neo's face and the colorless Metal Sonic staggers back as his systems overload from the energy. At that moment Frenzy jumps onto Metallix Neo's back and begins ripping at the metal with his claws. Despite the system overload, Metallix Neo reaches up for the fox, only for said fox to bite down on the metallic hand. Now normally, biting metal isn't a good idea but Frenzy's not a normal Tails and instead of broken teeth, they bite through the metal. Metallix Neo pulls against Frenzy's bite, but the pull causes Frenzy's claws to pop a few wires that also triggers Metallix Neo's back and foot boosters and the Metal Sonic goes flying uncontrollably through a wall of the temple, with Frenzy still clamped down on Metallix Neo's hand.
"After them! Frenzy won't last against Metallix like this!" said Slothic as he and Ravager give chase.
"Knuckles, grab Mecha-Sally!" said Tails as he activated the duplicator as Neo-Shard began transforming next to him, removing the Master Emerald from its spot.
"And I got you!" said TD appearing next to Tails, in doll form and teleporting out of the temple with the metal fox.
Knuckles runs over and picks up the deactivated Mecha-Sally and quickly ran out of the temple.
END CHAPTER
Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to read, review, follow and/or favorite.
Also, if you're wondering about the unnamed SonicdotEXE ("dot" used instead of the period symbol itself because I've had Fanfiction go stupid over periods and words), I literally used an unnamed version for a universe that Neo-Shard and Metallix Neo would fight through because I wanted a "dark universe". No, it will not reappear.
Sonic Prime makes a cameo and belongs to its rightful owners.
Another fanstory of mine makes an appearance in this story; post unfinished ending for both versions. Anybody recognize it?