Author's notes: Nothing new as for ownership.
"System Archive Restricted" = Shard's Internal systems
Chapter 38
Meanwhile, recently abandoned Freedom Fighter hidden safehouse, Mobian Division Mountains...
Shard, still disguised as Sonic, skidded to a halt in front of the formerly hidden entrance to the safehouse. The vines and ferns that had previously hid the facility burned to ashes. Shard knelt down and put his fingers into the ash before rubbing the tips of the three fingers that touched the ash together. While it looks like Sonic is looking at the ash with a stern face, Shard's optics behind the hard-light disguise show anger as his systems identify the ash as having been made by napalm-based flames. He stands up and heads for the door, ripped off its hinges. He cautiously heads inside, keeping a sharp optic out for any remaining threats although he eventually comes upon a charred corpse, recently burned too. Damage is from napalm-based fire.
He heads further into the facility, finding more and more napalm incinerated corpses. He stops a moment and listens. He quickly turns around but gets kicked into a wall, leaving a deep impact crater from the impact with the wall. He pulls himself free and his hard-light disguise flickers out of existence.
"I knew that the reports of Sonic still being around had to be false. Looks like I was correct." said Infinite as he readied his claws and the Phantom Ruby to deal with the metal Sonic imposter.
"I am Sonic's double and unlike him, I am not weakened by an unknown affliction." said Shard as he readied his own claws, "And, unlike you, I am fully machine. I do not have weak flesh to worry about."
"Yet, I have single-handedly nearly destroyed ALL of you in a one on one."
Shard is silent as he slowly circles Infinite. Meanwhile, within his robotic central processor...
"System Archive Restricted
Override
System archives accessed
Accessing Bio-Data
Select Bio-Data
Shadow
Shadow Selected"
Shard suddenly throws a Chaos Spear at Infinite but the cyborg Jackal avoids the spear before ducking under the spin-kick that destroys a nearby pillar with ease. Shard quickly uses his boosters to get some distance between him and Infinite.
"That's new." said Infinite as he readied a red-purple-pink cube.
Shard is silent.
"Searching System Archives...
Data found...
Neo-Metal Sonic Template Access...DENIED.
Override
Override Denied
Override
Override Denied
Searching for reason on Override Denial...
Reason found...
Admin Code Required"
Shard's optics narrow before he uses a Chaos Spear to destroy the Ruby Cube thrown at him before the world distorts and he falls onto the ceiling of the facility. He gets up quickly before trying to block a punch from Infinite but gets blasted into a wall again.
Meanwhile, back with Eggman...
Mama Robotnik swings her purse in a upward swing, cutting Fuzzy Wuzzy's heads on the chins and knocking the two-headed mutant toy thing onto his back before firing the umbrella laser/club at Fred FazBear; the trio siblings' combined form but the laser gets deflected by the black fox's cutlass. Mama Robotnik ducks under the deflected laser shot, which burns a hole through her hat.
"You'll pay for ruining my hat you freak!" snarled Mama Robotnik as she readied to swing the club at the black fox but a stun blast staggers her. Her attention then turns to Eggman and she charges him, umbrella ready for a overhead slam before a metal lasso wraps around it.
"I got it!" yelled Grounder as he used his treads to help him try to pull weapon away from Mama Robotnik but the enraged matriach of the Robotnik family yanks Grounder towards herself using the lasso against him, "I don't got it!"
Grounder screams before he's buried into the ground by Mama Robotnik's foot coming down on him which also blasted his arms and treads off.
"Hey, I'm the only one who gets to beat Grounder into the ground!" said Scratch as he grabbed one of Grounder's now dislocated arms and had the drill turn into a laser gun and setting it for stun and then firing it at Mama Robotnik who uses her purse to block the shot.
"That's my arm you know!" said Grounder as he began putting himself back together the fastest he could.
"Oh shut up! I'll give it back after! Whoa-ho-ho-ho!" said Scratch in irritation before ducking under the umbrella swung at him.
Mama Robotnik gets ready for a follow through swing before another stun blast hits her and she turns towards Eggman, breathing heavily now.
"Give up Mama! You can't beat all of us, not by yourself." said Eggman as he held his laser pistol ready for another shot.
"NEVER! I'll make you pay for turning good you no-good son of mine!" snarled Mama Robotnik before charging towards Eggman only to get another stun blast, this time point-blank. She staggers back before she falls onto her giant rump. She then gets wrapped up with metal rope by Grounder driving circles around her. The black fox grabs the umbrella and breaks it in two with ease.
"We did it! We did it! We helped capture Mama Robotnik!" cheered Scratch and Grounder hi-fiving each other in celebration.
"Now then, Mama, who helped you escape the Warp of Confusion. Was it Cousin Warpnik? I swear if it was him, I'm going to kick his ass for this trouble." said Eggman as he put away his laser pistol and dialed the Mobian Home for Crazy Mother's number.
"No, that crazy idiot didn't help me escape. A green hedgehog knocked the guards out and gave me a way to escape, bypassing Warpnik entirely. And told me you were a future version of my now deceased son THAT HAD GONE GOOD." said Mama Robotnik, giving in to being beaten as the diamond-titanium alloy ropes were too strong for her. Eggman's glasses slide down his face as he turned back to her, his black-red eyes visible.
"Did you say a GREEN hedgehog?"
"Yes. A GREEN hedgehog! Clean out your ears!"
"What else did he have on him?!"
"What's so importa-?"
"EVERYTHING MAMA!"
"He had sunglasses, a biker jacket and three deep scratch scars on his stomach."
Eggman pinches his nose and inhales deeply before exhaling.
"Oh Mama, you poor fool. You played EXACTLY into his plans." said Eggman as he put his glasses back into place.
"WHAT?!"
"He wanted you to escape so that you would distract me, as well as anyone else who got involved with our fight. You did EXACTLY what he wanted you to do."
Mama Robotnik looks absolutely furious upon learning that she was played for a fool, just as the Mobian Amublance shows up. The medical team gets out of the vehicle, grabs Mama Robotnik who doesn't even fight as they lead her to the ambulance. She turns towards Eggman.
"When you get your hands on that green hedgehog, send him to me! NOBODY MAKES A FOOL OF ME AND GETS AWAY WITH IT UNLESS I DO IT MYSELF!" yelled Mama Robotnik before being thrown into the ambulance which drives off as fast as it showed up.
"Of course Mama. I'll be sure to send him as a birthday gift." muttered Eggman as he watched her drive off.
Fred FazBear decombines and reforms into it's three component Teddy Bears with razor teeth as Fuzzy Wuzzy shrinks down into his toy form. Bear opens his hinge mouth up and coughs up a cell phone. He cleans the saliva off it before dialing a number.
"Hey mom, we helped our friend. Can you pick us up?" said Bear into the phone.
The black fox also shrung down, losing the nightmare appearance. He holsters the sword and pulls out what looks like a cigarette and lighter as a bright blue-green portal opens nearby. He looks thoughtful a moment before moving out of the way of water from a bucket thrown at him. Said water hits Eggman and causes him to cough and sputter at the sudden bath.
"Scary! How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not actually smoking!" yelled the fox as he turned towards the portal where two figures where standing. One of which was holding a now empty water bucket.
"But they look like cigarettes!" said the pink scaled dragon/pony hybrid.
"I keep telling you, they're paper COLORED to look like cigarettes! Just because I'm biomechanical doesn't mean I'm going to risk lung cancer!"
"Then stop with the fake cigarettes! Those cause it too you know!"
"No they don't!"
"Yes they do!"
"Whatever! I don't have time to argue if my fake paper cigarettes are harmless or not!" said the black fox as he walked by Scary who looked annoyed at the black fox's arguing but didn't push it further.
The three teddy bears run over to the other figure and quickly climb up to her shoulders. She nuzzles the three of them gently before turning to head back through the portal.
Scary thinks before he pulls out a fake arm and gains a devious smirk before he gets grabbed bythe neck the black fox.
"Oh no you don't Scary!" said the black fox as he pulled the fake arm out of Scary's claws and tosses it away.
"Awwwwwwwww, but Grandma did a similar joke!" whined the dragon/pony dragon hybrid animatronic.
"I don't care! This is all of the cameo you get!"
"Not fair!"
The group disappears through the portal which quickly closes. Eggman picks up Fuzzy Wuzzy and is looking thoughtful before it all clicks together in his head and he looks shocked before he shakes it off.
Grounder's stomach phone begins to ring before he answers it.
"Hello? Oh, hi Orbot. What? You want to speak to the boss? Here you go." said Grounder handing the phone to Eggman.
"What is it Orbot, we have a situation that- Shard's asking for the admin code to reactivate Neo- Orbot, send him the code, "SAVESONIC"! Don't bring up the irony right now, SEND THAT NOW!" said Eggman before slamming the phone back into Grounder's stomach, causing the robot's head to vibrate.
"Uh, why would you give Metal Sonic a admin password?" asked Scratch, thinking it over but not coming up with anything for an answer.
"Simple. We need a NEW edge against Infinite and THIS will be perfect!" replied Eggman, clapping his hands together and chuckling sinisterly causing Scratch and Grounder to look confused...and slightly worried. Eggman then looks up at the sky as a comet shoots by overhead.
Back with Shard vs. Infinite...
Shard staggers back from the kick to the face he recieved, which also damaged one of his optics. He recovers and glares at Infinite before his internals recieve an update and he looks at them internally.
"Admin Password Received
Password: SAVE SONIC
Irony detected. Not priority
Password Accepted"
Shard stands straight up and gives Infinite the "bring it" gesture with two of his metal claws. The Jackal narrows his one eye before he charges Shard and goes for a punch, only for the metal hedgehog to not only block it but catch it.
"What?" said Infinite before he went for a kick only to have that caught too. He then realizes that he's rendered himself off-balanced before he's thrown onto his back.
"Bio-Data copied of. Infinite. Jackal. Cybernetic Augmentations detected. Bio-Data arcives updated. Activating Neo-Metal Sonic." said Shard as his optics began to glow blue and he began to transform.
[Sonic Generations OST- Rival Battle, Metal Sonic]
"WHAT?!" yelled Infinite as he jumped to his feet in time to see the metal hedgehog was in a completely different form and now towered over him.
"Transformation complete. Redesigning name. I am now Neo-Shard." said Neo-Shard as he clenched his claws and directed his attention towards Infinite.
"An increase in size and a design change won't-" began Infinite before he recieved a punch to the gut, knocking the wind out of him and flooring him. Neo-Shard taps his foot impatiently as he stands over Infinite. The Jackal recovers his breath and he gets up and goes for a claw swing at Neo-Shard before he gets kicked in the head from behind, sending him face first into a wall.
"You're too slow!" jeered Neo-Shard, his voice mimicking Sonic's before he side-stepped the Jackal's charge, caught the arm and then broke it at the elbow. Infinite staggers back as his world alteration fades.
"Impossible! No hedgehog can match a Jackal's speed!" snarled Infinite as he held his now broken arm.
"I am Neo-Shard. I am a vastly superior form of Shard. Your species' speed is now mine. You will not harm anyone else. Not while I function." said Neo-Shard as he glared down at Infinite as he extended his claws.
"I'll be back you bucket of bults." snarled Infinite as he turn and ran only to clothe-lined by Neo-Shard just as he exited the facility. Infinite landed hard on his back, seeing stars. Neo-Shard walks over and grabs Infinite by the neck and begins to squeeze the Jackal's windpipe, cutting him off from oxygen. Infinite grabs Neo-Shard's arm and claws at it, trying to get air yet his claws do nothing to metal hedgehog's newly reinforced armored arms beyond scratching the paint. His eye begins to roll back into his head as he begins to lose consciousness.
A gunshot suddenly rings out and Neo-Shard is hit with an EMP dart in the chest causing him to spark heavily and for his grip on Infinite's throat to suddenly go slack. The Jackal gasps for air, coughing as he gets up and runs for it. Neo-Shard slowly reaches for the dart before his hand wraps around it and he pulls it out and he stops sparking and he quickly looks towards where the shot came from but finds nothing. He tosses the dart aside angrily before he zooms off for Knothole unaware of a metal fox with red optics decloaking way in the distance.
[End Music]
"Did he spot you?" came a voice over a comm-system within the metal fox's ear.
"Negative." replied the metal fox.
"Good. Get to the rendezvous point."
"Affirmative." said the metal fox as it cloaked again.
The comet that Eggman saw shoots by over the abandoned facility and then crashes in the distance near the base of a different mountain range.
"Comet" crash site...
A computer monitor flickers to life within the crater and a face that looks like Sonic, only with a dull blue-grey (1) coloring to his fur and quills appears on it and looks around.
"Of course my prison crashes down in the middle of nowhere! Now how am I supposed to get some poor sucker to let me out of this damn thing?!" snarled the hedgehog in anger before he hears footsteps and tries to locate them but his limited viewing angle prevents that, "Whose there? Show yourself!"
"Calm yourself. I have a proposition for you." came a voice from behind the monitor.
"And why should I listen to you? You sound like Sonic!"
"Because, we both clearly hate Sonic. And because of this..."
The hedgehog within the monitor winces as he feels a blade be dragged across the side of the monitor before it is also dragged partly over the screen.
"I...I can feel through the monitor? Shit. That means-" said the monitor hedgehog in terrified realization at what that meant but his sentence is finished by his visitor.
"You're at my mercy right now. So, care to listen?"
"Fine. I don't have a choice either way."
"I let you out of your prison and you cause as much trouble for this world as you want while also framing Sonic for them."
"How do you know how to let me out of my prison?"
The voice's owner steps to where the monitor hedgehog can see him and the voice's owner is a green hedgehog wearing sunglasses and a biker jacket with three stomach claw scars.
"Because my world's reverse you was a good guy." said the green hedgehog calmly as he smiled sinisterly while twirling the razor-edged bowie knife in one of his hands absent-mindedly, his teeth also razor sharp. The monitor hedgehog gulps nervously before he looks serious.
"Fine. You've got a deal."
"Excellent." said the green hedgehog as he reached over and pressed the power button on the monitor and a blast of light erupts from the monitor and the hedgehog within is released. He stretches his arms and legs before cracking his neck. The recently freed monitor hedgehog looks like Sonic, but with dull blue-grey fur and quills with said quills being more numerous than Sonic's and even serrated compared to Sonic's.
"Remember the deal. Or..." said the green hedgehog as he tapped the bowie knife against the monitor.
"Alright, alright. I get it. I double-cross you and I die. Don't need to rub it in my face wise-guy. So, who am I working for that looks like Sonic with green fur?" asked the monitor hedgehog calmly.
"Scourge the Hedgehog. And you?"
"Ha! If you're gonna kill me at some point, there's no reason to tell you."
"Fair point. Well, have fun." said Scourge waving the hedgehog off.
The monitor hedgehog quickly zooms off, leaving behind a blue fire trail instead of a normal colored fire trail. Scourge watches him leave before he turns towards a decloaking metal fox.
"Get that back to the base." snapped the hedgehog at the metal fox as he pointed at the now empty monitor.
"Yes sir." said the metal fox as it easily grabs and lifts the monitor and begins to walk away from the crash site. Scourge watches the metal fox leave before his ear twitches and he quickly throws his bowie knife at some bushes. Immediately after, a soft thud is heard. He goes over and finds a Chao (2) with his Bowie Knife lodged in its head. He chuckles as he stomps his foot down on the body, crushing whatever bones and organs are within before ripping the knife out of the Chao's skull. He then wipes the knife off on some grass and zooms out of the area.
END CHAPTER
Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to read, review, follow and/or favorite. CONSTRUCTION Criticism is allowed. DESTRUCTIVE is NOT.
Scary is co-owned between me and a friend.
(1) I'm colorblind
(2) This is a RANDOM CHAO, NOT CHEESE or CHOCOLA