Author's notes: Nothing new.
Chapter 43
The alternate Sonic called Slothic skids to a halt outside Knothole, watching the formerly hidden village silently, noticing the rebuilding going on. Despite being what he is, his heart sinks seeing the village having suffered. Despite his near blindness, his eye catches sight of something shiny out of the corner of it and he looks and it widens. He sees Neo-Shard exit the rebuilt command center, not knowing that Neo-Shard is a good guy. He instantly curls into a spin-dash and zooms towards the black and yellow Metal Sonic who despite being caught off guard, quickly catches the spin-dash, his metal claws grabbing the wheel-like move on the sides.
"You won't hurt anyone you metal monster!" snarled Slothic, still trying to spin-dash.
"Alternate Sonic detected. Reason for attack...me being a Metal Sonic?" said Shard, his voice having a unsure tone as he was trying to process why this alternate Sonic is trying to attack him.
Slothic escapes his grasp as he jumps away and uncurls, landing on his feet. Shard instantly notices that this alternate Sonic is almost entirely blind. Slothic gets into a ready stance to continue fighting the metal hedgehog before both of his arms get grabbed, catching him off guard. He looks and sees Bunny holding one of his arms while Tails holds his other.
"Let me go! Both of you! He's going to hurt everyone!" said Slothic as he tried to escape their grips.
"You need ta calm down sugar! Shard's working with us!" said Bunny, keeping her grip strong due to her robotic arm but found that even with that, this alternate Sonic was unusually strong.
"He's deceiving you then! Let me go before he hurts anyone!"
"You need to calm down! Whatever you've got in your home world, thing's are different here!" said Tails also struggling to restrain this Sonic as his shoes dug into the ground.
Slothic ignored them and tried to shake them off but didn't want to hurt them doing so, so restrained himself. He stops resisting as Shard approaches and looks him over.
"You need to listen to them. Whatever issues you have in your home world, are not the same here. I am not a threat to you or anyone here." said Shard as calmly as his robotic voice allowed.
Slothic narrowed his one functioning eye before he created a blue fireball in the hand on the arm Bunny was holding, catching her off guard to the point she let go of the arm and Slothic quickly swung it at metal hedgehog in front of him but the robot quickly moved out of the way and Slothic mentally cursed not noticing he carried the swing fully through.
"Tails! Look out!" said Shard to Tails quickly catching the fox off-guard before he got a faceful of blue fire.
"AAAAAAAAH!" yelled Tails as he grabbed his face as the flames burned it.
Slothic's eye widened and he quickly looked at the two-tailed fox and then realizes he had let the swing go its full arc instead of stopping it before it could hit anyone. He also saw Shard quickly bring out a extinguisher and put the flames on Tails' face out. Slothic had expected to see burnt flesh, maybe bone due to how hot his fire magic is but instead, he sees metal. He's caught off guard even more as Tails transforms one of his arms into a Plasma Cannon with two spikes running along the sides of the cannon's barrel.
"Wait, I didn't mean for that to hurt anyone beyond the Metal Sonic!" said Slothic raising his hands to end any hostilities as his thoughts were no longer focused on getting rid of the Metal Sonic called "Shard". Tails glares at him a moment before firing the two spikes into Slothic's chest, revealing the spikes to effectively be stun gun spikes, confusing the hedgehog a moment...until the electricity hits and he collapses almost instantly. Once he's incapitated, Tails retracts the spikes and Shard looks at Tails.
"You have a stun gun?" asked Neo-Shard, confusion in his robotic voice.
"I guess I do. Wait, you didn't know about it either?" asked Tails, surprised and Shard shakes his head, confirming that the Metal Sonic didn't know about it. The three look down at the unconscious hedgehog before Tails and Shard pick him up as Eggman exits the command center.
"What is going on out here?! There's so much commotion I can't focus on looking through the old data files!" yelled Eggman before noticing the hurt Tails and the unconscious alternate Sonic, "Who is that?"
"We don't know. He just showed up and attacked Shard." said Tails.
"Wait...TD!"
"Yeah?" asked TD as he walked into view, wrapping fresh bandages around his hand injury that hadn't fully healed.
"Do you know this hedgehog?" said Eggman pointing at the unconscious hedgehog being held by Tails and Shard. TD looks at him and looks thoughtful a moment.
"It...it's foggy but...I feel like there is a memory there of him but...I can't quite get it." said TD, confusion on his face as his gem turns a yellow-blue coloration.
"Hmmm. Bind him and bring him into the interrogation room. I don't think we have a threat on our hands but Tails, you watch him." said Eggman as he headed back into the command center.
"Why do I have to watch him?" asked Tails as he headed into the command center, carrying the hedgehog with him.
"He did get upset when he learned he hurt you." said Shard as he helped Tails carry the hedgehog into the command center and towards the interrogation room which was nothing more than a room off to the side with a table, two chairs and a single light.
"Let's hope he at least decides to talk about why he was so hostile towards you."
The two get the hedgehog into the room and set him in one of the chairs before Shard puts handcuffs on the hedgehog's wrists and then leaves the room as Tails sits down in the other chair and waits.
Two hours later...
Slothic groans as he wakes up. He blinks several times as his half blind eye refocuses and readjusts to the lack of light in the room. He looks around before he notices the handcuffs around his wrists, then the table and finally Tails. He then notices that the damage he inflicted isn't permanent as the burn damage is ninety-five percent gone and he lets out a sigh of relief but then confusion crosses his face.
"You're going to ask on how I'm healing from the fire damage, aren't you?" asked Tails calmly and Slothic slowly nods, "I'm biomechanical and it's a minor repair system. Mostly for the muscle, skin and fur I have."
"Listen, I'm sorry about that. But how can you trust a Metal Sonic?" said Slothic.
"Why do you assume our world is the same as yours? You're clearly surprised at me being biomechanical. You also clearly have a Metal Sonic, with a Neo form to boot, judging by how aggressive you were when you were focusing on attacking ours. So...there are some differences."
Slothic is silent and he looks down before sighing and looking back at Tails.
"Okay, you have a point. I jumped to conclusions when I came here to say "hi" to an old friend."
"And who is this friend?"
"Tails Doll."
"...what?"
"What do you mean what? I gave you an answer to it."
"No, I mean how are you and him friends? He's made no mention of you in all the time I've known him."
"No mention of me? Why..." Slothic stops himself mid-sentence and then starts laughing.
"What's so funny?" asked Tails, a bit on edge due to the sudden laughing.
"I'm sorry! It's just...I realize why he wouldn't tell you about me! It's because he doesn't remember me! Not fully anyway."
"What does that mean?"
"Go ask his creator."
Tails narrows his eyes and goes to leave before turning back and looking at Slothic.
"No escape attempts." said Tails sternly.
"Hey, I want to see him again so I can wait." said Slothic calmly.
Tails is silent before he leaves the room and then locks the door. He heads off to go find Eggman and TD. He finds the two in Eggman's makeshift lab and repair factory. TD doesn't look happy though as he talks with Eggman.
"What do you mean some of my memories are on those old control chips?!" snapped TD as he glared daggers at Eggman as his gem glowed a bright red.
"I didn't realize it when I removed them, but your on-board computer had used up all of the memory storage it had and had turned the control chips into additional memory storage." replied Eggman calmly as he held one of the old control chips with two fingers.
"How much storage did it have?!"
"About five hundred Petabytes."
"...HOW THE FUCK DID I USE UP THAT MUCH MEMORY?!"
"Your system was always making sabotage plans until something changed and it started making ways to show that you're not working with me and you were a good guy."
"Are you saying that I actually went rogue before Shard did?"
"Yes. I never bothered with it because you were harmless...until you weren't."
"What does that mean?"
"Your programming got corrupted somehow and it made a combat form to defend yourself."
"Is that what my usage of knives is from?"
"Yes. Partly."
"I didn't bother looking through the memory files on the control chips because I figured they weren't important but now...I believe they are. Did you know one was recently tampered with and had all of its data erased?"
"How recently?"
"When our time's Tails was reactivated as a "sleeper bot"."
"...are you saying SOMEONE activated that old programming on me?!"
"Someone did and didn't want any of us to know about it."
"Who?! Who wanted this?!"
"I have a feeling I know who considering recent events."
"Who?!"
"Calm down TD! I believe it was Scourge."
"Scourge?! He was never one for planning though. How could it be him?"
"We forgot about him..."
TD goes to say something but then thinks it over a moment.
"Shit. You're right." muttered TD as he sat on a nearby stool and folded his arms angrily.
"The hedgehog says he knows TD." said Tails taking the moment to finally speak.
"He what?" said Eggman looking at Tails, lowering his glasses to look at Tails with his own red-black eyes.
"He said he knows TD. Apparently they're old friends."
"I do have some foggy memories of him but I can't place them." said TD, still angry about the fact some his memories where actually removed while Eggman looks throughtful before he grabs TD and begins digging through his messy head hair, "Hey! What are you doing?!"
"Looking to see if your old data ports are on this form of yours. Your hair's a mess!" said Eggman.
"My what?!"
"How do you think I got information out of you? I'd plug your head into a computer using USB cables. Now hold still!"
TD recovers his balance from the sudden grab and waits as Eggman digs through his hair.
"Ah HA! Found one!" said Eggman as he grabbed a nearby USB cable and plugged it into the USB port hidden behind one of TD's ears.
"That feels weird!" said TD as he shivered.
"It'll be gone soon. Just give me a moment." said Eggman as he went over to a container with compartments on it and begin going through them, "Now...which one was it...Ah! Here it is!"
Eggman pulls a small red-blue chip out of the container and goes over to a computer and puts it into a slot for said chips and then inputting several different commands, including "read only" and "disable "disable system control runtime"" and then plugging the cable connected to TD's head into the computer.
"This might sting a little." said Eggman as he pressed a button.
"Sting? Sting how?!" said TD, fear in his voice as his gem turned yellow before his vision went dark.
TD's vision slowly begins to come to, but he's not in Eggman's lab anymore. He's ridding on a tank made from a repurposed Mega-class Motobug.
Why does this feel familiar?
He looks around and sees everyone he knows now nearby, as well as several other Freedom Fighter Moto-tanks driving next to the one he's on. He notices that there's other Freedom Fighters as well, all looking armed to the teeth with makeshift yet high-grade armor and weapons. The tanks come to a halt before a massive metal wall and he feels a tap on his shoulder. He looks and sees Tails but...not his world's.
"Want to fire the first shot?" asked the alternate Tails as the tank's cannon is loaded. TD gets up, noticing that he's in a smaller version of his monster form, looking more Mobian aside from the claws and noticeable stitches. He gets into the gunner seat and takes aim at a the weak point hightlighted by the tank's targeting system. He presses the firing mechanism and the tank rolls back slightly as the 250mm shell is discharged from the cannon. The shell impacts with the wall and said wall explodes, creating a massive gap for both the Freedom Fighter foot soldiers and the Moto-Tanks. The Freedom Fighters charge into Robotropolis, met by SWAT-Bot defenders and Badniks.
What am I missing?
The next several moments happen so quickly that TD can't fully process it. The Freedom Fighters quickly gain ground, cutting through the robots and freeing the trapped Critters and Flickies within the Badniks as they make their way towards the city center. A blue blur shooting through the city, cutting through SWAT-Bots and Badniks easily, while freeing those trapped within the Badniks. Robians are sent out next, but are quickly disabled by Tails due to a city wide program virus being sent through the Robian control grid targeting only them and disabling them for the fight. The blue blur zooms up on the city's central spire of a command center and disappears inside. Fighting within the city's industrialized streets slowly ceases as the SWAT-Bot and Badnik supply is whittled down.
After a few minutes, an explosion is seen from that same spot where the blue blur had disappeared and a black blur comes out. Soon, fighting is heard again within the streets.
"Princess Sally! We have an issue! We've been engaged by a Metal Sonic!" came a voice over the radio before the operator on the other end went silent.
"It's too fast! We can't-!", came another before it too went silent.
"Fall back! Fall-!", another goes dead.
More and more groups begin going dead, reports of a Metal Sonic engaging them being the only thing they can get before the group sees the Metal Sonic themselves. The Metal Sonic has black armor, with only its joints and claws being unpainted. Its optics glow a sinister red. Antoine is the first to fall as the Metal Sonic quickly disarms him of his weapon and then impales him through the lower jaw with the sword. Bunny falls next, arm ripped off and head bashed in by it. Dulcy doesn't last much longer.
Why can't I do anything?
TD is then grabbed by the alternate Tails and thrown through a portal. The last thing he sees is that alternate Tails impaled from behind and that world suddenly going white.
TD stumbles forward and looks around quickly, breathing heavily. He realizes he's back in Eggman's makeshift lab but he's on edge.
"What the hell was that?!" said TD, that whole experience throwing him for a loop.
"A memory. Locked away on the old control chips." said Eggman calmly.
"That wasn't a memory! That was a nightmare!"
"What did you see?"
"I saw...us...or alternate versions of us winning the war against Robotnik. We were victorious but...then...then a Metal Sonic showed up...nobody stood a chance...I saw everyone die...and then the world went white...but the alternate Tails pushed me into a portal. He died too! It was all too fast! I...I also saw that hedgehog we have in the interrogation room in that memory but...he didn't have that scar nor was he half blind!"
"Hmmm...well, you should relax a bit. Seems that memory got you a bit worked up and-"
"He left." said Tails and Eggman rubs the sides of his forehead.
"He went to ask the hedgehog for answers didn't he?"
"Probably."
"Make sure he doesn't kill him."
"Okay."
Tails leaves the lab and goes to try to catch up with TD. Eggman sighs and removes the chip from the computer and looks at it silently.
"What did you go through over there?" muttered Eggman to himself.
TD entered the interrogation room and walked over towards Slothic.
"Well, that was fast. So, did you learn any-" said Slothic before he noticed he wasn't talking to Tails this time and he chuckles, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I thought you were this world's Tails TD. My vision is very limited."
"How did you get that scar and why are you half blind with the one you have remaining?" asked TD sharply. Slothic's eye becomes hidden by shadows.
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yes! I just saw that you guys almost won the war there! I was with you guys too! What the hell happened after your Tails pushed me through that portal?!"
Slothic is silent as he sits at the table.
"Answer me!" yelled TD slamming his hands onto the table.
"We lost." said Slothic, his voice almost trembling.
"What?"
"We lost. After Robotnik activated Metallix-Neo, the Metal Sonic that killed everyone, we were invaded by an outside force. It took control of everyone, made them into puppets and repeatedly lead them to their deaths. Do you know how many times I saw Tails die to Metallix? How many times I saw everyone die because this entity lead them to their deaths? I don't even know if it was one entity... I was the only one who was not a puppet. I was outside their control, probably because of what happened before me and Tails joined the Freedom Fighters but I tried so much to get that entity to see that there was more than what they thought. I left notes and messages in plain sight of the paths they had everyone take. They ignored them. I tried to cut the strings controlling my friends...they had Knuckles render my right eye useless before I could cut his originally...he stilled died to Metallix.
I finally got to Tails once before he was killed. He was forced to throw a Flashbang at me. I had no time to react as it exploded in my face and rendered my left half blind. He then died to Metallix anyway. I then took control away from the entity. It worked...for about three hours...then they locked me away using some sort of "world editor". I lost it..."
Slothic goes silent and he hangs his head.
"What did you do?" said TD, narrowing his eyes as he dug his claws into the table yet Slothic does not repsond, "What did you do?!"
"I did the only option left..." muttered Slothic as a tear falls from his eye.
"What?"
"I ended their misery." said Slothic, his voice barely audible.
"Can you repeat that?"
Slothic's eye flares to life with thirty demon slit red eyes.
"I KILLED THEM ALRIGHT?! I DID EVERYTHING I COULD THE WAY SONIC WOULD HAVE BUT I WAS LEFT WITH NO OTHER OPTION AT THAT! I COULDN'T SAVE THEM THROUGH WORDS, I COULDN'T FREE THEM FROM THE STRINGS WITHOUT METALLIX KILLING THEM SO I WENT WITH THE ONLY OPTION YOU ARE LEFT WITH WHEN SOMEONE IS IN SO MUCH PAIN THAT YOU CAN'T SAVE THEM FROM IT! I MERCY KILLED THEM! EVERYONE IN MY WORLD, I MERCY KILLED!"
TD takes a step back at the outburst as the eyes fade away and Slothic's half-blind green eye reappears.
"I failed my promise to the world's Sonic as he passed on. I said I would keep his friends safe...I couldn't do that. Do you know what it's like to fail your hero?"
Slothic hangs his head again.
"What about Metallix?" asked TD.
"He's still a threat to our world."
"What?"
"I brought everyone back. Using elemental spirit energy. Except Tails. I...I had to use something darker. He wasn't compatible with any of the spirit energies...But this made it so Metallix Neo could never harm anyone again."
"What about Robotnik?"
"I killed him out of spite and remade his body to show exactly what he was..."
"Wait, if that Metallix Neo is still a threat, why are you here?"
"Me and my world's Tails made bunkers and safety measures to keep him away. The safety measures act as early warning signals and the bunkers are so well hidden, he can never find them. We won yet lost. We haven't been able to beat him yet."
"So, you got forced into a bad situation by an outside force?"
"Yes. And they're probably here too."
"Is that a fourth wall break?"
"What's the fourth wall?"
"You don't...never mind. Why are you here?"
"I wanted to see how things were going for you. Tails threw you through a portal and then we never saw you again. We got worried about you. I'm also here because the Zone Admin can't enter the world."
TD goes to ask what a Zone Admin is before the room's door is slammed open and Eggman is standing there.
"DID YOU SAY A ZONE ADMIN IS HERE?!" yelled Eggman in shock and horror.
"Yes but he can't enter the world. Something is blocking him." replied Slothic looking confused at Eggman's reaction while trying to hide his anger at seeing any version of Robotnik. Eggman runs over and takes off the handcuffs on Slothic.
"GET GOING! IF THERE'S SOMETHING THAT'S BAD ENOUGH TO WARRANT A ZONE ADMIN TO SHOW UP THEN IT IS REALLY BAD! GET GOING! NOW HEDGEHOG!" yelled Eggman pointing to the door.
"What's got you all worked up egghead?" said Slothic as he rubbed his wrists.
"YOU DON'T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION WE'RE IN IF A ZONE ADMIN DECIDED TO SHOW UP! WE COULD VERY WELL BE IN THE SAME SITUATION YOUR WORLD WAS IN BUT ON A SCALE THAT IS MUCH WORSE! NOW GET MOVING WHILE WE STILL HAVE A CHANCE TO SAVE OURSELVES!"
"Nah. I think I'll hang out here awhile." said Slothic as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back in the chair. Eggman's face turns a bright red in anger.
"GET OFF YOUR ASS AND GET MOVING!"
"Alright, alright. Geez, can't take a joke can you." said Slothic as he got up and headed for the exit. He stopped next to TD and looked at him, "Catch up later?"
"Couldn't hurt. I want to know why care so much about me." said TD calmly.
"We're both monsters that wanted to change bud." said Slothic before he ran out of the command center.
END CHAPTER
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Note: A Zone Admin is a made up rank, for this story, above a Zone Warden of the Sonic Comic Series "Zone Cops".