"Go, go, go!" Omega blared, his metal soles grinding along the tracks in Rail Canyon. "We must cut off ALL Eggman trade routes."
"Remind me why we're destroying this place? Doesn't it seem a bit pointless?" Rouge asked as she kicked a train, derailing it and making it fall into the abyss below. A car of the train blew up on a stone pillar and sent board game pieces flying into Shadow's face.
"Peh," Shadow spat. Everybody waited for him to say something cool. "What are you all looking at me for? A puzzle piece was stuck on my tongue, so what?!" Omega fired a rocket at another train, blowing it to bits and sending now cooked eggs everywhere.
"Destroy his nourishment, make the bastard STARVE!" Omega exclaimed, spinning his hands all around.
"Omega? You have an owie," Aeshleigh mumbled, clutching onto the brim of Omega's visor. Omega looked down at a sparking gash on his knee. "That might be the Curse of the Colonel. You got what you deserved!" Omega leapt up to a hard-boiled egg in the air as it fell out of the destroyed train, and chomped down on it. His leg healed as he swallowed the egg, shell and all. He landed back on the rail.
"You can do that?!" Cherry cried, as they continued to invade Bullet Station. Tails and Knuckles looked on from the distance.
"Is that Sonic over there?" Knuckles asked, pointing at Shadow's silhouette grinding across the railway.
"It… might be," Tails sighed. "But what's he doing with those guys?" Suddenly, a blue beam of light shot over to them from around the corner of the pillar they stood by. "Sonic!" Tails cried, as Sonic's form appeared from the blue blur.
"Hey, guys!" Sonic exclaimed chipperly, looking into the distance. His back was completely turned to Tails and Knuckles. "Hmm… you chasing those guys, too?"
"Not exactly, we thought you were with them just now," Knuckles replied.
"You think I was hanging out with those bad guys? No way!" Sonic said as his red-black glass optics morphed into green and light blue eyes. He turned to his team. "C'mon, they're gonna destroy this whole cargo railway at this rate. The innocent citizens of the Robotnik Empire don't have to pay for their supreme leader's BS. Tails, fly!" They all linked together as Tails flew them towards Team Dark. Tails looked down at Sonic as he carried him along, a strange feeling of dread setting in.
Team Dark arrived at a platform circling around a metal tower. Rouge's ears twitched, and Shadow looked to her. "Do you hear that?" Rouge whispered, as a strange frequency whistled and chimed from the other side of the tower. They all poked their heads out from around the tower, to see a green-haired lady in a red-black striped dress poking the Badniks with a kind of spear. A blue light surrounded and was then absorbed by the Badniks. "What's she doing?"
"Aw nah," Omega whispered. "Magitek. It's a very strange technique invented in Yurashia a very long time ago. Something about humans trying to harness the powers of demons to control robots. Hide me." The lady twirled around with a disappointed groan.
"Why isn't this working?!" The Iron Queen fussed. "No matter what I do, I can't remove this weird corruption from Ivo's Badniks. There's firewalls everywhere." She noticed Team Dark looking at her, specifically Omega. In the blink of an eye, she had already jumped up and jammed her spear into the back of his head. Aeshleigh was thrown off of Omega. "Fascinating! An uninfected Eggman robot, and an E-Series at that…! What are the odds? Now we just download Eggy's biodata, and we'll be on our way."
"You're not downloading anything!" Rouge exclaimed. She leapt into the air and kicked Iron Queen off of Omega. Iron Queen landed on the edge of the platform, as Shadow approached her and lifted his foot above her fingers, igniting his Rocket Skates. "There, Omega. Don't let your guard down next time." Omega didn't respond. Shadow saw the Iron Queen smirk. "Omega?" Omega swatted Rouge into Shadow, then grabbed Aeshleigh and Cherry as Shadow and Rouge fell from the platform. Iron Queen got up.
"What do we have here? Some mercenaries trying to wreck Eggman's facilities?" Iron Queen asked, grinning at Aeshleigh and Cherry as they struggled and kicked. Cherry glared into her eyes, but Iron Queen's shades protected her Persona from being snatched. "Destroy them, Omega!" Iron Queen cackled. Omega tossed Cherry and Aeshleigh off the edge without a word. "C'mon, I finally have Eggman's biodata. If I hook it up to my tracker, I'll find the real deal in no time. You'll be my bodyguard from then on." Suddenly, Rouge shot up from the canyon depths with Shadow, Cherry and Aeshleigh linked together. Iron Queen groaned. "The bat flies. Of COURSE the bat flies…" She tossed her spear at Rouge, but Rouge dodged, quickly closing the gap between her and Iron Queen. Aeshleigh grabbed the spear as she tried to keep her grip on Rouge's ankles.
"Take this! Thunder Shoot!" Rouge exclaimed, tossing Cherry at Iron Queen with enough electric energy to shock her. Omega began to stomp towards them, shaking the entire platform. She then tossed Shadow, who harnessed the energy to cause an EMP that knocked out Omega. Then, Rouge shot Aeshleigh towards their target. Aeshleigh hit Iron Queen in the head with the blunt edge of the spear, knocking her to the ground. She sizzled with electricity as Aeshleigh spun the spear around and then stabbed it into the floor. Rouge stepped foot on the platform. "You. Give me that tracker." Rouge ordered.
"W-what?!" Iron Queen asked, looking towards Rouge.
"You heard me, queenie. Eggman tracker, make it snappy," Rouge repeated herself.
"Why should I?!" Iron Queen whined.
"We have plans for Eggman too," Rouge muttered, crossing her arms. "If you thought you'd have him all to yourself, you thought wrong."
"You… you want to make sure he's okay too?" Iron Queen mumbled. Team Dark exchanged strange looks.
"I want information about my past," Shadow finally growled.
"He owes me jewels after the whole mess on the ARK," Rouge sighed. Shadow glanced at her strangely.
"And what about the robot?" Iron Queen asked. Rouge looked to the powered-down Omega.
"He just wants Eggman dead," Cherry answered with a shrug. Aeshleigh nodded. "We're trying to keep these two under control so we can get what we want. You just want to make sure he's alright?"
"Yeah. I'm really worried! He's been missing for a while. I wouldn't expect peasants like you to know," Iron Queen stated. She laughed pompously.
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles watched from afar as Team Dark chatted. "Oh no… the Iron Queen's here too?!" Tails asked, Sonic staring down their enemies as Knuckles stretched. "And is that…? No, it can't be. It's Shadow!"
"Rouge too?! Grr! She's so clingy, I can't go anywhere without her spying on me," Knuckles groaned. Tails frowned. "Oh yeah. Shadow. I bet the Master Emerald energy protected him from the fall." Tails and Knuckles looked to Sonic. Sonic kept staring at Team Dark. His fists were shaking.
"Sonic, are you—?!" Tails asked, as a tall horned lady crept up behind them and went in to smack Sonic in the back of the head. As soon as her hand was about to make contact, Sonic spun around and held his arm up, blocking it without even flinching. Tails stumbled back from the force of the collision, as Knuckles cocked his head.
"Zavok!" Tails cried, as Zavok backed off. "Why'd you try to hit Sonic…?"
"Huh… oh, shoot! You're all the real deals?!" Zavok asked, backing off of the irritated Sonic. "I thought you were all robots. My bad."
"Why would we be robots?" Knuckles asked as he and Zavok's eyes met for the first time. A competitive zest shot through their muscles.
"I thought these two would have known about all the Metals running around by now," Zavok muttered, looking to Sonic and Tails. She grinned, holding up the severed arm of what appeared to be a Metal Charmy. "Sonic here was giving off similar vibes to some of these doppelganger bots I've been hunting down, but I guess their signatures are just that similar to his Chaos Energy. And yet his readings are way more potent."
"That's strange… could that mean they're powered by the Chaos Emeralds?" Tails asked. "Each emerald has power beyond imagination. Eggman could be using them to fuel an army. He's tried using them before."
"Ata, the meatbags are advancing rapidly enough to where they may find us out," Metal Sonic messaged Metal Ata through the EggNet without a sound. "Send in the warship."
"Beyond imagination? Nah, can't be. These guys can get pretty tough. But I've beaten every single one I've come across," Zavok replied, tossing the puny Metal Charmy arm with enough force to obliterate a good few yards of the railway. Sonic coveted this level of power. "The two energies are definitely related though." The wind began to blow louder.
"Brr… did anyone feel that gust?" Tails asked Sonic slowly turned around, looking up at a strange blimp shaped like a bird. "Shoot! Eggman found us!"
"Alright, Sonic. You ready to—?" Knuckles asked, approaching Sonic.
"Zavok, I'm going to need your help with that Egg Albatross," Sonic said, leaping into Zavok's hand as a ball.
"W-what?! Why me?!" Zavok cried, blushing. "Do you WANNA get thrown?!"
"Into the battleship? Heck yeah!" Sonic replied. Zavok wasted no time chucking him right at the Egg Albatross.
"Wait, no!" Tails cried, reaching out to the shooting star that was Sonic as he landed aboard the blimp. "It's too risky for him to go it alone, you guys… We don't know who or what's inside that thing." Tails facepalmed, and flew after Sonic. Leaving only Knuckles and Zavok.
"So… where do you train?" Zavok spat. Knuckles watched as a cargo train flew off the bridge Zavok had broken.
"Depends. Where do you 'blimp'?" Knuckles sneered. Zavok's hair rose in anger.
"Sonic" walked right past the Egg Pawn crew aboard the blimp, and turned to liquid metal that seeped into a crack on the floor. When he rematerialized in the control room of the ship, he took the form of Shadow. Except his hair was slightly orange where there should've been red. His edges looked a bit sharper, and he had no mouth.
"All Egg Pawns…" Metal Sonic muttered. "Blast that fox back down to the ground where he belongs." The Egg Pawns fired the Albatross' cannons, Tails diving and flying between the cannonballs. He reached the blimp, only to see that his best friend was nowhere to be found.
"Sonic?!" Tails called, landing in the Cyclone's mech form and stomping two Egg Pawns into rubble. "Where are you?!" Tails rotated the top of the mech and shot down the remaining Egg Pawns. "Not again…" He groaned, as Knuckles and Zavok jumped up onto the Egg Albatross. "Guys, I can't find Sonic! Do you think they already captured him? Or worse?!"
"Tails, slow your roll," Zavok sighed. "Sonic's not going down that easy." Tails nodded, still nervous.
"Agreed, we need to stay calm and—!" Knuckles was cut off as a crackling green energy spear shot through the blimp, blowing the engine to smithereens in an instant. The blimp began to nosedive, flames spreading across the balloon and leaving behind a cloud of smoke. The metallic floor began to heat up.
"Grrrr…" Metal hissed under his breath, as his shell began to melt away from the sweltering heat inside the cramped control room. He slammed his hands onto the control panel. "Two platoons attacking me at once, my ship is sinking, my pawns have been destroyed. Team Sonic is aboard the battleship." Metal stood in silence while he melted. His optics then burst with electrical fury as what remained of his body jittered. A wicked grin split across his face. "Hah! Everything's falling into place..." Metal turned into little boiling droplets of molten metal.
CRASH!
…
Team Dark overlooked the site of the crash. The Egg Albatross was now smoldering, shattered into dozens of pieces at rock bottom of Rail Canyon. "Any Eggman robot on this airship must have met a horrible demise," Omega muttered. Iron Queen knelt down to the remains, scanning the charred metal with her spear.
"Weird… I'm picking up Eggman's biodata in here," Iron Queen mumbled. She then gasped. "Ivo!" She cried, equipping iron gauntlets and digging through the burning pile of metal. The rest of Team Dark stepped away as she carelessly tossed parts of the albatross all over the place. "Ivo, are you in here?!" She stopped digging for a second, and let out a short scream. Aeshleigh and Omega joined hands and watched on, starry-eyed.
Shadow carefully approached the Egg Albatross, shielding his eyes from the embers. Igniting his Air Shoes, he hovered above the Iron Queen's discovery as she stepped away from the Egg Albatross. "... Well?!"
Shadow grunted in shock. He saw a hand, connected to a wrist with an Inhibitor Ring locked onto it poking out from the rubble. The fingers were twitching. Shadow dug through the burning metal heap, the jagged shards scraping and burning his hands. He didn't care, grunting with every layer he scooped out of the mass in his frenzy. "Shadow?" Rouge asked, reaching for him. Her hand fell back to her side as Shadow held up a severed forearm. It was a nigh-perfect copy of his own arm. With sparking wires protruding from the end of it. Despite it being freshly removed from the body, despite being caught in the albatross' flames, it was already cold. Shadow breathed shakily, as an overwhelming sense of dread washed over him.
…
"Ultimate Lifeform biodata copied. Open Cyberspace log," Metal Sonic ordered his own console after a few painful, anxious minutes of hoping Team Dark had discarded his voluntarily torn-off arm and left on their merry way. Metal reformed himself from his arm and the droplets of his body. Team Dark was nowhere to be found. A gallery of sorts opened in Metal's head, a museum displaying the memories of every organism he had copied the biodata of. "Odd. 'Project Shadow' does not have that many memories. But the information I have been given indicates that he was created over 50 years ago. Did Eggman modify him? Is this even the real Shadow? If so, has he suffered some kind of blunt head trauma to make him forget? Or did my Messiah lie to me…? So many questions. Let's see if Eggman's memories hold the answers. Metal scrolled to Eggman's memories.
"Sonic?!" A weak and muffled voice cried. Metal snapped out of his trance, and instantly shapeshifted into Sonic. He turned around, to see Knuckles and Zavok pulling Tails out of the wreckage. Metal forced a smile onto Sonic's face.
"Tails! Are you okay?!" Sonic exclaimed, hugging Tails tightly. "I was looking all over for you after the crash!" Tails limped out of the bruisers' arms and into Sonic's. Sonic barely registered that he was supposed to catch Tails as the fox fell forward onto him.
"Sonic? Can we have a minute?" Tails asked, hiding his face. "Knuckles, Zavok, you go on ahead. We'll catch up." Knuckles and Zavok looked to each other, then back to Sonic for a second as they walked off.
"What's up, Tails?" Sonic asked, his thoughts running a little faster than usual. Was Tails onto him?
"Sonic, Knuckles said something to me back on Whale Island that got me thinking," Tails muttered. He took an abnormally long pause. "We've known about NIDS for a while, we've found ways to work around it, even though it was going to end up killing me at some point. But Light Gaia… my responsibilities as him, I don't see a way around that. Light Gaia is destined to be sealed within the core of Erius for the planet's entire life cycle, before Dark Gaia splits it apart. Then Light Gaia must use the energy he's built up over the eons to put the pieces back together." Tails looked Sonic in the eyes. "You get it, right? If I stay up here, if I don't fulfill this duty, the planet will be completely annihilated once and for all by Dark Gaia." Sonic was stunned. He knew he had to play along, but at the same time, he wasn't prepared for… this.
"Well, I'm not going to let you throw your life away over some prophetic nonsense!" Sonic replied. Tails looked to him in disbelief. "Imagine if I had been used as a tool to protect Babylon Garden like Longclaw wanted, or if Pachacamac was able to harness my Chaos Energy. If I just gave in and did what I was 'supposed' to do, there wouldn't even be a planet anymore. I know there's a way through this, partner. For both of us."
"Sonic, I don't think you understand," Tails sighed. "My sacrifice will be a surefire way to save the whole world. Taking risks was easier back when we were the only people at stake. Placing bets now would be incredibly negligent…" Sonic gritted his teeth. He was in too deep now, he had to see this through. Information dating back one measly Erian year ago dictated that Sonic and Tails would never let each other go. No matter what was at stake. "And you know what? I think I kinda accept that. I know you're going to accept that as well someday.
"Tails, I don't think this is the way to—" Sonic retorted, before biting his own tongue. He knew that for his master plan to work, he must allow Light Gaia to blossom. But at the same time, he needed Tails to stay just the way he was. For the first time, the task of preserving what Sonic was supposed to be and developing what Metal believed it should be seemed impossible.
Metal held in the vestigial, mechanical urge to call out this logical error aloud. To scream it into the sky. To completely break down and repeat it over and over again.
"Sonic, it's okay. I know you're going to be okay," Tails chuckled, hugging Sonic as tightly as he could. "I know you'll pull through this. Even when I'm gone."
"Tails, if I lose you… it would be like losing a piece of myself," Sonic stated. "You're the reason I was able to pull through when this all started." Tails' smile fell slowly. "You're the reason I am who I am today."
"I haven't done anything at all, Sonic," Tails mumbled. "You're the reason. It was always you." Sonic's eyes widened.
"I'm the reason?" Sonic asked, shaken to his core processor.
"Of course! You've never lost your way. You've never given up on who you really are," Tails said, beaming at Sonic. "The thing is, you weren't ever satisfied with living to serve. Even when we were forced into the empire together, you were the one to set us both free. You never needed anybody else to live your life… why stop with me?" Sonic stared into Tails' eyes, saw his content smile, and nodded. He knew deep down that it was an empty gesture.