-Chapter 155-

An Ocean of Trouble

Robotropolis

In the dungeons of Citadel Robotnik, the titular doctor and Grimer were both sitting in their cell. The sound of metal footsteps reached their ears and they both looked up to see Neo Metal approaching. He was dragging Kat by the back of her shirt, the girl limp in his grip and her arms sealed in thick Megatal restraints.

"My word…" Grimer gasped. "Just what did you do to her?"

"Put her through the Chaos Syphon, cranked up to three," Metal replied, as casually as if he was discussing the weather.

Robotnik gaped, his horror turning to rage at his rogue creation.

"You robotic psychopath! The Chaos Syphon isn't a torture device!"

"Well it is now," Metal replied coolly

"The higher settings of the Syphon are meant for Chaos-powered objects, not living creatures!" Grimer insisted. "The damage that thing can cause on a living body at such a high level-"

"Is something for me to explore another day," Metal interrupted as he opened the cell door. "Maybe I'll knock it up to four, or maybe five next time. But for now, I have other matters to attend to."

He tossed Kat in like a rag doll and she just dropped. He then slammed the door shut, then walked off. Grimer immediately hurried over to Kat, Robotnik not far behind, and quickly gathered her up. Feeling herself being moved, Kat weakly protested.

"Don't... touch me…" she wheezed as he set her down on the small bedroll in the corner. "Done... enough…"

"For once, the doctor and I mean you no harm, Kathryn," Grimer insisted.

"What Metal just did, I wouldn't wish on anyone," Robotnik added "Not even Sonic."

Kat let out a snort of disbelief.

"You can think whatever you want of me," Robotnik went on. "Yes, I'm a despot. A conqueror. A murderer. But I am not a sadist, or a torturer. I don't approve of senseless destruction and suffering."

She rolled over and gave him a dull-eyed deadpan stare.

"Shēngcún... village... asshole…"

"That had a pragmatic side," Grimer tried to defend. "Working on the Death Egg for his plans. What Metal did to you was nothing more than cold-blooded torture for the sake of being cruel and sadistic."

Kat just fell silent, remaining on the bedroll. "Scrap... when I'm... free."

"No." Robotnik shook his head. "I'll do it."

Kat perked in surprise.

"Metal Sonic has gone too far. He's mad with power, crossing all manner of lines. I don't want or need a maniac like that working for me."

Kat let those words sink in as sleep finally claimed her exhausted form.

Ocean Palace

Meanwhile, Teams Sonic and Dark were speaking with Keith on the com, the Kent boy contacting every member of the Freedom Fighters to inform them of what happened at HEXAeco.

"Metal Sonic's behind this mess, guys. He's had an upgrade, and apparently gotten smart enough to wonder why he had to follow Eggman."

"Metal, of course!" Sonic facepalmed. "That makes so much sense!"

"Metal Sonic?" Shadow questioned.

"Evil robot Eggman made based on Sonic," Kat clarified. "Everyone just calls him Metal."

Keith sighed. "He told me he's already used this Chaos Syphon on Kat."

"WHAT?!" everyone shrieked.

"He bragged about it. Claimed he had her begging for mercy like a dog."

There was a loud crack and everyone turned to see Knuckles with his fist through a rock, green mist rising off of him.

"Like hell that happened," he hissed. "There's no way in hell Kat would ever beg. Not to the likes of that scrap-heap."

As Knuckles composed himself, Tails turned to Omega.

"Omega, we don't wanna go in blind. Do you know any details about this upgrade Metal's had?"

"Negative," Omega replied. "Suggestion: have Hope access the database."

"I'm on it," Hope pulled Omochao out of her bag. "Omochao, initiate Eggnet hacking."

The second he started, his entire body started sparking.

"Error! Error!" he cried. "System shutdown initiated!"

His eyes went dark and he dropped.

"Omochao!" Hope cried.

She scooped up the robo-Chao. After a minute, he booted back on, looking around.

"Whoa... what happened?" he asked. "Where am I? ...Oh yeah."

"Are you okay?" Hope asked. "What happened?"

"Access to the Eggnet has been cut," Omochao replied. "Attempting to breach the firewalls has proven ineffectual… and painful."

"Blast it…" Tails cursed. "Metal must've upped the security. He's covered all his bases."

"Damn, I hate going in blind," Rouge sighed. "But it doesn't look like we have much choice."

They headed into the Ocean Palace, the building and its surrounding ruins composed of white stone with red patterns on them. What got their attention, however, were numerous statues which Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles immediately recognized as Drakon Sentinels.

"Yep," Sonic nodded. "This is a Drakon outpost, all right."

Shadow gave Hope a look.

"Long story," she said simply. "Not important right now."

"I'm assuming that I'll be given a full rundown of all the long stories I'm out of the loop on later," he surmised.

"We'll make snacks and I'll talk your ears off," Hope promised.

Tails looked at the Sentinels, appraising them.

"Wonder how long we have until these things are active."

As if on cue, they powered on, their heads slowly turning to look at the intruders.

"Not long!" he squeaked.

Everyone was immediately on the defensive.

"No use holding back on these things!" Sonic declared. "Trash 'em!"

"Commencing combat." Omega's hands retracted into miniguns, which he unloaded on the Sentinels.

"Wow," Rouge said as she landed a Screw Kick on another bot. "Gamma wasn't kidding when he called you a walking arsenal."

As one advanced on Shadow, he, purely on instinct, jumped back before launching through it with a Spin Dash..

"Nice one, Shad!" Sonic declared.

Shadow blinked. "What was that?"

"Spin Dash," Tails replied. "Your mind may not remember, but your body still does."

"Well, that answers the question of whether or not he can still fight." Knuckles remarked, punching through another Sentinel.

Sonic and Tails were back to back, fighting off Sentinels. Sonic grabbed Tails' wrists, spinning him around, the fox having his twin tails out straight to whip every bot near them as they spun in place. Hope picked up Omochao, reeling back.

"Initiate Projectile Mode!"

She tossed him, Omochao's limbs retracting and his body taking on the form of a sledgehammer head with his face. The Chao bot hammer landed on one of the sentinels, utterly destroying it. Before long, all of the Sentinels were scrap.

"Well, I needed that," Sonic remarked. "Everyone good?"

Affirmations abounded. At that moment, they heard sarcastic clapping, and looked up to see Metal riding in on the Egg Mobile. He stopped above them, looking each member over.

"Long time no see, Sonic, my loathsome copy." His attention turned to Omega. "E-123 Omega. Waste of a good Badnik for the horde."

Omega clenched his fist. "Dr. Robotnik squandered his greatest creation, and now I will break all his puny toys. Including you, Metal Sonic!"

"Greatest creation? You?" Metal chuckled darkly. "Don't make me laugh. That honor belongs to me."

"You bastard!" Knuckles roared. "Where's Kat and the Chao you took?!"

"Oh yes. This is the part where I explain the details of my evil plan, isn't it?" Metal scoffed. "Do I look like that fat imbecile of a doctor to you?"

"My friend asked you a question," Sonic warned. "I'd answer him if I were you."

"If this was before my upgrade, I'd regard your threats and his with some level of trepidation," Metal mused. "But as I am now... how can I put this? You and all of yours are completely and utterly beneath me. No threat whatsoever."

"And yet you came all the way out here to personally deal with us," Shadow noted. "Clearly you consider us some sort of threat to deal with us yourself."

Metal shrugged. "I'm just not taking any chances."

"Last chance, Metal!" Sonic shouted. "Where's Kat?! What have you done with her?!"

"I would assume Kent told you. She's the test monkey for what the doctor's Chaos Syphon does to a living being." Metal smirked. "Oh, how her screams were exquisite."

"You liar!" Knuckles shouted. "She'd never give you the satisfaction!"

"Well, not at first. But then I cranked the dial up higher than one. If you need proof…"

His hand shifted around, a working recorder forming from it. As it played, everyone stepped back in shock and horror at the sound of Kat's screams of agony, mixed with Metal's diabolical laughter. When it ended, Omega was the first to react.

"You barbarian!" the Goodnik shouted.

Hope was horrified, Shadow holding her. Sonic and Knuckles were both silent, an ominous air surrounding them both.

"You sick, twisted bastard!" Rouge screamed. "You... you recorded the whole thing?!"

"You're even worse than Eggman!" Tails exclaimed.

"Dr. Robotnik was too soft," Metal said flippantly. "And that was his problem. Only the truly heartless and aggressive conquer the world."

Suddenly, a blue blur rocked the Egg Mobile, dumping Metal out. Sonic, sparking brightly, kicked him into a wall, his face filled with rage as Metal chuckled darkly.

"You think this is a game, Metal?!" he shouted. "It's not! That was our friend you put through the machine, and YOU'RE ABOUT TO LEARN WHAT THAT MEANS!"

Knuckles followed him, misting like crazy.

"You crossed the line, Metal," he hissed. "And so help me, Aurora, you're gonna SUFFER FOR IT!"

Both launched into rage-fueled attacks on Metal, neither of them holding back as black began lacing their chaos energy.

"Uh-oh…" Hope gasped. "They're going Dark!"

"This is bad!" Tails cried.

Metal's hands began sparking with lightning, which he launched at them. The two easily dodged the lightning bolt before brutally pummeling the robo-hedgehog, bouncing him back and forth like a tennis ball.

"What does that mean?" Shadow asked.

Rouge perked. "I've heard rumors about Dark Chaos Energy… Can they really-?"

"Yes, and it's not pretty!" Hope shouted. "We need to stop them now before they lose themselves!"

Sonic grabbed Metal, slamming him against the wall.

"I'm gonna split you in two." he hissed, deadly calm.

Metal scoffed, more amused than anything. "Oh please, Sonic. If you had the guts for that kind of fun, you would have done that months ago."

Knuckles approached at that, his mist becoming a black smoke.

"Months ago, Kat wasn't in danger. Months ago, she wasn't put in a torture device while the scumbag who put her there recorded himself doing it! That's why this time, I'm not gonna stop him. I'm gonna help him."

They both reeled back, preparing to utterly destroy Metal when something shot out toward them, landing at their feet. Sonic and Knuckles looked down to see a grenade which released purple gas. The two coughed, waving their hands before their faces before collapsing, out cold. Omega lowered his arm.

"Threat neutralized," he reported.

"Well done, Omega," Metal remarked, dusting himself off. "Sonic and Knuckles had the chance to pull the plug, stop me once and for all, and you stopped them. For that, I thank you."

"I didn't do it for you." Omega replied.

Rouge grabbed Knuckles as Shadow grabbed Sonic. The group then fled with their unconscious members. Metal watched them go, then smirked.

"Bio-data acquired," he mused. "Sonic and Shadow data, successfully copied. All I need is the priority target's, and my plan will be ready."

Grand Metropolis

Meanwhile, Team Rose had made their way to Grand Metropolis, asking around for any sightings of Robotnik. They converged near the HEXAeco plant.

"Metal's gotten into the Eggman disguise," Amy reported. "Apparently, he went around gathering info on Chao care before he launched his attack."

"So he's at least keeping Drake and his friends healthy," Cream noted.

"Lucky for them," Julie-Su remarked. "But we need to know where he's keeping them."

"And Froggy," Big chimed in.

As they looked around, their attention was caught at a local Chao-centered pet shop. Team Chaotix was there, Vector questioning the vendor.

"Come on, you gotta give me more than that," he insisted. "I'm looking for someone buying Chao Berries in bulk. Trust me, no way he's growing his own where he lives. And not for a dozen or so Chao."

"Everyone else we talked to on the street said Dr. Robotnik was doing so," Espio added. "That he came here as well."

"Yes, he was here," the vendor confirmed. "He raided my shop for Chao Berries and books on how to properly care for them. That's all I know. I've got no reason to lie to you."

"Oh, come on!" Vector exclaimed.

"Hey, he doesn't know, okay?" Keith cut in. "Back off."

After a minute, Vector sighed, backing away.

"Mr. Vector!" Cream exclaimed.

The Chaotix turned to greet them.

"No surprise you came here," Amy mused. "No luck on your case, I guess."

"I wouldn't say we've had no luck," Ray clarified. "We did chase the Badniks out of the city."

"And find out Metal's the one behind all this," Mighty added.

"But aside from that, no leads," Keith included. "My mom suggested coming here since this is where she goes to get stuff for Chronic."

"Sorry I can't offer more to help," the vendor told them.

"No worries," Charmy assured. "You did all you could. We appreciate it."

"Then what do we do now?" Julie asked.

At that moment, they heard tweeting, looking to see a nest of Flickies in a nearby tree. An idea forming, Amy whistled for them. The Flickies flew over at that.

"Hey little friends, you mind helping us out?" she asked. "You know Eggman? We're trying to find him. Can you help us?"

One Flicky nodded.

"Do you know where he went?"

They chirped and tweeted for a few moments. Eventually, Amy thanked them, turning to the others.

"Metal's heading up north. From what they can gather, he was headed for Casino Park."

"That's all the way up in Empire City," Keith noted.

"Then we better get going," Vector said. "We've already lost a day. Anyone have a Warp Ring?"

Keith fished one from his pocket. "You've been there?"

"The old office is there," Mighty replied.

Vector took the ring, flinging it and opening a portal. "Let's move!"

They all jumped through one after another.

Author's Note:

Many of you may have noticed how monstrous and evil Neo Metal's become as a result of his upgrade. That's part of the point in the arc: Neo Metal has none of Robotnik's softer side or redeeming qualities. He's a vicious, serious menace who wants to take over the world and make Sonic and his friends suffer. Can the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix stand against such a menace?

Please R&R. Until next time!