All Hail Shadow! The Ultimate Lifeform embraced his heritage and aided the Black Arms in taking over the Earth and subjugating the foolish humans. Now nobody stands in his way, except two pests he didn't account for. Those being a tincan of the past and some brat from the future.
Black Empire rises (A Shadow the Hedgehog Semi Dark Ending AU)
- Thread starter Jacodu
- Start date
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 3
- Recent readers
- 0
- Threadmarks
- 3
-
Statistics (3 threadmarks, 11k words)
User Total Jacodu 3
Chapter 1 - Shadow Rises
"Finally, I've got all the seven chaos emeralds." Shadow declared as the red gem slowly floated to his embrace. Attracted by it's presence, the other six colored siblings float around the Ultimate Lifeform like a medal of victory, as the key to infinite power is now his and his alone to use.
However not everyone enjoys his latest acquisition, "Shadow…" Sonic, the iconic blue hedgehog groans out, trapped beneath the iron coffin that was once the most advanced battlemech of GUN, the Diablon. His fur is covered in dirt and bruises, and exhaustion is clear in his eyes. "What are you going to do with them?" The hero still finds the strength to ask, his hands futilely trying to push himself up, as if he could remove the massive weight on himself and fight another round if only his body could find the strength to do so. The pathetic flares of bravado impressing nobody, least of all Shadow and lesser off all the GUN Commander, whose fate is clearly spelled out by the red liquid pouring out of the completely crushed cockpit. Shadow looks down on the fool with a cruel grin.
Still, he supposes he could tell his self-declared rival what lies in store for the world, if only because he won't be there to witness it himself. He dramatically clenches both of his fists in the air as he looms over the hedgehog, proudly inheriting the dramatics of his true father. "I'm Shadow the Hedgehog." he declares, and continues speaking even as the other hedgehog replies with a snarky 'I already know that!' dismissing their sarcasm for what it is, a pitiful attempt to try and get on his nerves, if only to hopefully find some weakness within him or perhaps even gain some more time.
Perhaps that would have annoyed him before, but not now, no, nothing could possibly ruin the ecstasy of him finally knowing of his birthright and role in life. "For the longest time I believed I was created to bring justice and order to the humans. To guard the secrets of the Ark and preserve the legacy of Gerald Robotnik. However, it is with the aid of Black Doom that I now remember my truth: That they don't deserve to be protected. Humans are greedy and violent parasites, only capable of extending their lives by taking those of others. There is no salvation for them!"
"That's not true!" Sonic immediately shoots back, even though the shout flares up pain signals of pain in his chest and he has to resist the urge to wilter in front of Shadow's hate-filled glare. "People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a-"
"A basic goodness in our hearts?" Another voice interrupts Sonic's speech, one inhumanely gravely and devoid of all humanity. "Do not bother us with flowery nonsense." A scoff comes out as the owner of the voice reveals himself, a grey-skinned star fish like humanoid alien that slowly rises from the ground and floats to move besides Shadow's side. "The Black Arms have observed humanity for centuries, and during all that time, all the greatest of them proved to be madman that blindly put themselves ahead of others. The man with the weapon rules over the man who has none. The envious take from the weak! The malicious enjoy at the cost of others suffering! Even man's diet has them devour a variety of life forms. Yet our own kind only eats one or two. Compared to man, the Black Arms are frugal in comparison. This is why humans will never be perfect lifeforms."
"Black Doom!" Sonic snarls the name in recognition, his eyes turning shocked and outright unfriendly once the eponymous alien puts one hand or well tentacle on Shadow's shoulder to no protest from the other. The truth of Shadow's change becoming clear to him. "No...no! Shadow you have to be kidding me! Those black creatures want to devour all life on earth, not only humans! So why! Why would you ever want to side with them?!" he shouts, his tone full of betrayal and anger.
"Because that is my destiny!" Shadow shouts back, his eyes clear with purpose or from Sonic's point of view, unclouded madness. "As the ultimate lifeforms it is my duty to protect and serve the dark lord, Black Doom." the sentence naturally makes the alien and blue hedgehog react in pride and disgust each, yet Shadow is not done yet, emboldened by the clear disbelief in the defeated hedgehog, he makes one more attempt to try and crush their morale. "With the power of these Chaos Emeralds, this world will become the Dark Empire. A utopia where the Black Arms rule over the earth and have humanity put in their rightful place, for all eternity. THIS IS WHO I AM."
"You'll be stopped!" Sonic declares with such fervor that the Diablon upon shakes from the motion, the burst of strength though capable of slightly rising the machine still did not allow his escape. "Even if it's not me, there's still Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, and many others out there ready to fight the good fight! As long as the planet itself lives, there will always be those who will rise up to liberate it! That's why your reign will never last! That's why you won't win! Black Shadow!"
"SILENCE!" Raising his palm and slamming it down in a cut axe motion against Sonic's skull, Shadow silences the insolent hedgehog with one blow. Cleanly knocking them out.
"Calm yourself, Shadow." Black Doom passively notes as he watches his descendant fume because of his rival words. "Your strike has failed to truly deliver. The hedgehog is still alive."
"Good." Black Doom almost narrowed his three eyes at the tone, before he noted the malice within them. "He'll be more useful that way. You'll be surprised how many of his friends will lose the will to fight if we threaten to take his life in return." Instead a warm feeling rises in the alien's chest, proud of how clever his progeny can be even when his head is like dry forest set on fire.
"Very well." He croons, then with only hand outstretched he covers the robot and fallen hedgehog under a purple aura before they rise in the air. "Let us head deeper into the comet, and afterwards to the throne. Where I shall reward you for your devotion to us. My new general….Black Shadow."
"Don't call me that." Not when the damn blue hedgehog mocked him with it first.
"Very well, Shadow then." Glad his dark lord doesn't bother contesting this, Shadow follows right behind him, heading out of the battlefield and towards a new future where the Black Arms rule.
With the Black Comet and Space Colony Ark remaining occupied by the Black Arms, alongside the seven Chaos Emeralds being within Shadow's possession. The Guardian Units of all the Nations find themselves incapable of creating or finding a weapon that could even harm either location. Giving them and any other rebel a massive disadvantage as the Black Arms could easily strike and retreat from any point of the globe. Additionally draining morale through the drain as every day people worry if the alien invaders will use the planet destroying laser that was once close to annihilating them. Knowing that every day that passed with no progress could be their last, GUN found themselves forced to cooperate with the very same Mobians that once saved the world.
Working together with them to obtain various DNA's of their alien foes in the hopes of creating a bio weapon that could change the tides of war. But until then, they continued to suffer heavy losses.
Scratch that, heavy is an understatement. Any city that suffered an attack was quickly enough turned into outright ruins in less than a day. The mission to recover Cyber-Space turned out to be a failure as the Black Arms had laid an ambush in wait there. Finally after a world wide declaration from Black Doom himself that all cities that surrendered would be spared their wrath, major supporters of GUN left the organization as fate in them being capable of defending humanity was questioned more and more as times become more desperate. However, their final hope finally came to fruition as the genius fox known as Tails Prower managed to find a flaw in the Black Arms gene that could force the creatures to suffer the organic equivalent of being hit by an EMP. (Disrupting their psychic abilities and stunning them, if not outright killing the weaker creatures.)
Dubbing this final weapon, the White Hope. GUN cooperated with the heroic mobians to create a rocket that would safely deliver them to the Ark. Once there, the heroes could use the virus to hopefully quickly hijack the Ark and inject the remainder into the artificial chaos residing in there. Thus creating a natural predator to the Black Arms which would turn the tides of war their way.
After all, what better way to defeat a perfect species, than to create one that eats them?
They were never heard from again. Rumours have it that the Ultimate Lifeform himself intercepted them with all chaos emeralds in tow. And that none of them, despite their teamwork could defeat the general in his so called 'Super Shadow' state. It is with their failure, that all hope left humanity.
Six Weeks after what is now called the Black War, the remaining world leaders quickly ordered a ceasefire in the hopes of negotiating a surrender. This offer was met with surprising diplomacy from the Black Arms, and soon after. Earth now exists under the role of the Black Earth Collation (BEL for short), a 'benevolent' one world order ruled by our Black Arm superiors, who now share their advanced extraterrestrial technology for the betterment of mankind and the planet itself.
Jokes aside, the aliens rule with an iron first. Dissidents are made to dissapear (and consumed), soldiers are brainwashed and augmented beyond recognition, and only those on the fringes of society dare to think for themselves. Famous world wonders are replaced with giant statues of Black Doom and Shadow, the day the earth was conquered is now a national holiday where all must declare "All Hail Shadow! All Hail Black Arms!" in celebration of their new way of life and the Black Arms are treated as first class citizens, as they should, as they are man's rightful masters.
Who also happen to eat humans for lunch, but that's rebel propaganda I swear!
However, somewhere out there. Lurking in both the past and future respectively, lie two bizarre remnants of hope. Two creatures capable of immense power that could turn this around still.
One is the pinnacle of a certain madman, who dissapeared in the midst of the war. Designed after the world's fastest lifeform yet ever unable to defeat him. A creature's whose only motive to save the earth would be to conquer it for his own master. Metal Sonic shall join the fight.
The other is a young hedgehog, lacking confidence yet possessing great psychic powers. Having repeatedly traveled to the past to save the future. He now has to face one of his greatest allies turned foe, can Silver undo what went wrong? Will both heroes cooperate or go their own way?
Find out next time in Black Empire Rises.
However not everyone enjoys his latest acquisition, "Shadow…" Sonic, the iconic blue hedgehog groans out, trapped beneath the iron coffin that was once the most advanced battlemech of GUN, the Diablon. His fur is covered in dirt and bruises, and exhaustion is clear in his eyes. "What are you going to do with them?" The hero still finds the strength to ask, his hands futilely trying to push himself up, as if he could remove the massive weight on himself and fight another round if only his body could find the strength to do so. The pathetic flares of bravado impressing nobody, least of all Shadow and lesser off all the GUN Commander, whose fate is clearly spelled out by the red liquid pouring out of the completely crushed cockpit. Shadow looks down on the fool with a cruel grin.
Still, he supposes he could tell his self-declared rival what lies in store for the world, if only because he won't be there to witness it himself. He dramatically clenches both of his fists in the air as he looms over the hedgehog, proudly inheriting the dramatics of his true father. "I'm Shadow the Hedgehog." he declares, and continues speaking even as the other hedgehog replies with a snarky 'I already know that!' dismissing their sarcasm for what it is, a pitiful attempt to try and get on his nerves, if only to hopefully find some weakness within him or perhaps even gain some more time.
Perhaps that would have annoyed him before, but not now, no, nothing could possibly ruin the ecstasy of him finally knowing of his birthright and role in life. "For the longest time I believed I was created to bring justice and order to the humans. To guard the secrets of the Ark and preserve the legacy of Gerald Robotnik. However, it is with the aid of Black Doom that I now remember my truth: That they don't deserve to be protected. Humans are greedy and violent parasites, only capable of extending their lives by taking those of others. There is no salvation for them!"
"That's not true!" Sonic immediately shoots back, even though the shout flares up pain signals of pain in his chest and he has to resist the urge to wilter in front of Shadow's hate-filled glare. "People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a-"
"A basic goodness in our hearts?" Another voice interrupts Sonic's speech, one inhumanely gravely and devoid of all humanity. "Do not bother us with flowery nonsense." A scoff comes out as the owner of the voice reveals himself, a grey-skinned star fish like humanoid alien that slowly rises from the ground and floats to move besides Shadow's side. "The Black Arms have observed humanity for centuries, and during all that time, all the greatest of them proved to be madman that blindly put themselves ahead of others. The man with the weapon rules over the man who has none. The envious take from the weak! The malicious enjoy at the cost of others suffering! Even man's diet has them devour a variety of life forms. Yet our own kind only eats one or two. Compared to man, the Black Arms are frugal in comparison. This is why humans will never be perfect lifeforms."
"Black Doom!" Sonic snarls the name in recognition, his eyes turning shocked and outright unfriendly once the eponymous alien puts one hand or well tentacle on Shadow's shoulder to no protest from the other. The truth of Shadow's change becoming clear to him. "No...no! Shadow you have to be kidding me! Those black creatures want to devour all life on earth, not only humans! So why! Why would you ever want to side with them?!" he shouts, his tone full of betrayal and anger.
"Because that is my destiny!" Shadow shouts back, his eyes clear with purpose or from Sonic's point of view, unclouded madness. "As the ultimate lifeforms it is my duty to protect and serve the dark lord, Black Doom." the sentence naturally makes the alien and blue hedgehog react in pride and disgust each, yet Shadow is not done yet, emboldened by the clear disbelief in the defeated hedgehog, he makes one more attempt to try and crush their morale. "With the power of these Chaos Emeralds, this world will become the Dark Empire. A utopia where the Black Arms rule over the earth and have humanity put in their rightful place, for all eternity. THIS IS WHO I AM."
"You'll be stopped!" Sonic declares with such fervor that the Diablon upon shakes from the motion, the burst of strength though capable of slightly rising the machine still did not allow his escape. "Even if it's not me, there's still Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, and many others out there ready to fight the good fight! As long as the planet itself lives, there will always be those who will rise up to liberate it! That's why your reign will never last! That's why you won't win! Black Shadow!"
"SILENCE!" Raising his palm and slamming it down in a cut axe motion against Sonic's skull, Shadow silences the insolent hedgehog with one blow. Cleanly knocking them out.
"Calm yourself, Shadow." Black Doom passively notes as he watches his descendant fume because of his rival words. "Your strike has failed to truly deliver. The hedgehog is still alive."
"Good." Black Doom almost narrowed his three eyes at the tone, before he noted the malice within them. "He'll be more useful that way. You'll be surprised how many of his friends will lose the will to fight if we threaten to take his life in return." Instead a warm feeling rises in the alien's chest, proud of how clever his progeny can be even when his head is like dry forest set on fire.
"Very well." He croons, then with only hand outstretched he covers the robot and fallen hedgehog under a purple aura before they rise in the air. "Let us head deeper into the comet, and afterwards to the throne. Where I shall reward you for your devotion to us. My new general….Black Shadow."
"Don't call me that." Not when the damn blue hedgehog mocked him with it first.
"Very well, Shadow then." Glad his dark lord doesn't bother contesting this, Shadow follows right behind him, heading out of the battlefield and towards a new future where the Black Arms rule.
With the Black Comet and Space Colony Ark remaining occupied by the Black Arms, alongside the seven Chaos Emeralds being within Shadow's possession. The Guardian Units of all the Nations find themselves incapable of creating or finding a weapon that could even harm either location. Giving them and any other rebel a massive disadvantage as the Black Arms could easily strike and retreat from any point of the globe. Additionally draining morale through the drain as every day people worry if the alien invaders will use the planet destroying laser that was once close to annihilating them. Knowing that every day that passed with no progress could be their last, GUN found themselves forced to cooperate with the very same Mobians that once saved the world.
Working together with them to obtain various DNA's of their alien foes in the hopes of creating a bio weapon that could change the tides of war. But until then, they continued to suffer heavy losses.
Scratch that, heavy is an understatement. Any city that suffered an attack was quickly enough turned into outright ruins in less than a day. The mission to recover Cyber-Space turned out to be a failure as the Black Arms had laid an ambush in wait there. Finally after a world wide declaration from Black Doom himself that all cities that surrendered would be spared their wrath, major supporters of GUN left the organization as fate in them being capable of defending humanity was questioned more and more as times become more desperate. However, their final hope finally came to fruition as the genius fox known as Tails Prower managed to find a flaw in the Black Arms gene that could force the creatures to suffer the organic equivalent of being hit by an EMP. (Disrupting their psychic abilities and stunning them, if not outright killing the weaker creatures.)
Dubbing this final weapon, the White Hope. GUN cooperated with the heroic mobians to create a rocket that would safely deliver them to the Ark. Once there, the heroes could use the virus to hopefully quickly hijack the Ark and inject the remainder into the artificial chaos residing in there. Thus creating a natural predator to the Black Arms which would turn the tides of war their way.
After all, what better way to defeat a perfect species, than to create one that eats them?
They were never heard from again. Rumours have it that the Ultimate Lifeform himself intercepted them with all chaos emeralds in tow. And that none of them, despite their teamwork could defeat the general in his so called 'Super Shadow' state. It is with their failure, that all hope left humanity.
Six Weeks after what is now called the Black War, the remaining world leaders quickly ordered a ceasefire in the hopes of negotiating a surrender. This offer was met with surprising diplomacy from the Black Arms, and soon after. Earth now exists under the role of the Black Earth Collation (BEL for short), a 'benevolent' one world order ruled by our Black Arm superiors, who now share their advanced extraterrestrial technology for the betterment of mankind and the planet itself.
Jokes aside, the aliens rule with an iron first. Dissidents are made to dissapear (and consumed), soldiers are brainwashed and augmented beyond recognition, and only those on the fringes of society dare to think for themselves. Famous world wonders are replaced with giant statues of Black Doom and Shadow, the day the earth was conquered is now a national holiday where all must declare "All Hail Shadow! All Hail Black Arms!" in celebration of their new way of life and the Black Arms are treated as first class citizens, as they should, as they are man's rightful masters.
Who also happen to eat humans for lunch, but that's rebel propaganda I swear!
However, somewhere out there. Lurking in both the past and future respectively, lie two bizarre remnants of hope. Two creatures capable of immense power that could turn this around still.
One is the pinnacle of a certain madman, who dissapeared in the midst of the war. Designed after the world's fastest lifeform yet ever unable to defeat him. A creature's whose only motive to save the earth would be to conquer it for his own master. Metal Sonic shall join the fight.
The other is a young hedgehog, lacking confidence yet possessing great psychic powers. Having repeatedly traveled to the past to save the future. He now has to face one of his greatest allies turned foe, can Silver undo what went wrong? Will both heroes cooperate or go their own way?
Find out next time in Black Empire Rises.
Chapter 2 - Metallic Awakening
Location: The ruins that were once known as the GUN Fortress – Former United Federation Continent.
Once the most secret and most secured stronghold of the human army. The one place that no foes could take by sea or sky, due to the place being carved on top of a sea-side cliff with vary narrow and treacherous land that leads to it's one and only land-entrance. This steel labyrinth used to be filled to the brim with the most advanced technology the planet could offer short of the inventions of Dr Eggman himself. And speaking of the latter's invention, it was also a place where one stored the most dangerous relics that are deemed too dangerous to be left open in the air...which happens to include many of the Doctor's inventions and found treasures. In other words, this used to be the most safest place in the entire world. Until the Black Arms came and trashed the entire place.
Not contending themselves with just destroying the mother computers that took care off managing the security and sending hidden messages to their task forces around the world. The Black Arms appropriated any treasure they deemed useful and destroyed any and all that they didn't. This alone made the ruins an unattractive place for any sort of raiders and treasure hunters as the odds were high that they would find nothing and even more likely that it would kill them if they did.
However, standing in front of the massive doors, already open. Stands one of the two exceptions, those being those that are brave and or foolish, a small and orange colored, raccoon mobian.
"I'm finally here!" She declares with one fist in the sky, her Australian accent blatant to any who hears, as in, nobody in the premise. "The fortress where man fell, ain't no way it's got no treasure left! That's why I, Marine the Raccoon will be the one to find them!"
Having come here with the aid of a brown-green air ship in the shape of her own face, the treasure hunter came to the fortress for two reasons, one so obvious it doesn't need to be said and as for the second? Well, that's because this might be one of the few, if not the only job left that doesn't have one of those Black Arm creeping on your side the entire time. That's not to say she hasn't tried!
Back on her home island, South Island (Original name, I know) she used to own a mechanic shop inherited by her father. The fact he was a well-known man and that she's the only person capable of fixing ship parts in a jiffy, gave her what would others call the easy life. Definitely not her words, as, honestly, she was really just saving up until the fateful time where she no longer needs to enviously look down the bay and see other sailors tame the wild sea if not go beyond it.
Not that those sailors were having it easy, per se. Not after the food tax each town in like, the whole world has to offer to our oh so great Black Leaders. Really, those alien guys basically colonized every nook and cranny of civilized life they could find. And by colonize, she means turning up into a new neighborhood, kicking out all those in charge and replacing them with their own guys and them basically expecting everyone to get along with that or try one of the three dreaded options.
1) Go ahead and try to live in the wilderness, the moment you make a big enough town they'll just come and colonize that place too. So honestly, option 1 isn't really an option, but more a delaying.
2) Try to rebel, which means they'll easily squash your force with their superior numbers and weaponry and will also put every relative you know on the 'to be executed like a traitor' list. That or they'll take you 'above the clouds' and then, nobody will even know if you're dead or alive.
3) Pay the tax in mula instead. Which isn't an easy thing to do when A) They've replaced the global currency with their own, alongside their own values on stuff. So things like diamonds and gold and rings are basically worthless now. And B) You'd need something more valuable than 40% of a town's food harvest. Which again, they decide if it's valuable or not. So, tough luck, buddy.
Long story short, "Once I find a treasure and take it back home, I'll be treated as a hero, mate!"
Now back to the adventure.
Somewhere in GUN Fortress, half a minute later….
Little did she know, it took only a few steps until no more natural light shines down the fortress, forcing Marine to take out her flashlight and head further into the dark abyss all on her lonesome.
Marine shivered and looked around at the destroyed corridors of the first floors, pieces of vehicles and combat machinery poking through here and there. All of them irreparably destroyed by brute crushing force as if some one man army went through them like they were made of paper maché.
"Man, this place gives me the jinkies. Still, ain't no way I'm stopping at the start-line!"
She looked forward to see a massive gate ahead, already open and leading deeper. Around its perimeter, several crushed crates with the GUN logo could seen around it, some guns left abandoned for reasons she can't tell.
"Huh, I'm not even a floor in and I've already found me some goodies!" She states curiously, but still picks up the weapons and stores them in her adventure loot pack. Maybe they could be sold to some gun nut and if not that, then perhaps for scrap metal. "Man, the stories of this place are overrated. If this whole place is like this, then I'm leaving a rich girl." With that in mind, she hurried on, eager to find out what secrets lay buried in the remains of the abandoned fortress.
Had she not been so intent on getting started on her treasure hunt, and had lifted her flashlight upwards, she might have noticed a dark reddish gump scattered all over the ceiling. One large tendril points to the floor and as she leaves the room, some figure throbs through it's vein-like figures before it pops out a black head with golden eyes. As it drops to the ground, two more follow, then three, until the group reaches five.
Communication through their alien language, the Black Arm grunts pick up their weapons and stalk after their intruder. After all, not leaving someone to dispatch their ilk would have been idiotic.
About half an hour later…
"Man, how big is this place anyway?! My legs are killing me!" Marine groaned. After running for half an hour, jumping over obstacles and even horizontally climbing across an inactive pulley, she'd finally reached the spot where the first mother core lies. Now she stood staring at the transparent floor she's standing on, knowing that if it were to suddenly shut down she'd fall into the ocean of electrified water. At least they illuminated the surroundings a bit, but still. Heading further along the surprisingly linear dungeon, she found herself in front of a sliding pole. Lying further below it were several passages leading further ahead. So clearly the only way for her to advance is to slide down and choose of the many, and she means, many, passages that are meant to get her to become lost.
"As if I'd fall for some simple trick. All I need to do is start at the bottom, keep heading right and if I get lost, I'll just walk all the way back!" She boasted proudly. Having said that, she jumped down without holding onto the pole. Quickly fidgeting her arms and feet alongside her tail, the rapid movements of which slowed her fall into a peaceful glide until she hit the bottom, unharmed.
"Aw, yeah. I still got it!" She replies, proud. Before taking the right passage and moving.
Five minutes later…
"Huh, wouldja look at that...a trap that still works!" Marine proclaims, now facing a straight hallway with a massive expanse of darkness in the middle of it. On the other side of it was a door, leading to the next area. If there was any tech worth getting, it has to be in there. Otherwise, why go through the trouble of setting up a trap like this? It appeared that the only way to get across is via a series of blocks that are constantly disappearing and reappearing above the pit. And it really is, for the side walls and even ceiling are covered in spikes to avoid any sneaky climbing. Unfortunately, after who knew how many years of operation, the timing mechanism for the platform has gone haywire. They were appearing randomly in about a zillion different spots and staying solid for widely varying lengths of time, or as was more common, didn't appear at all. There's no possible way to use them to get across anymore.
Still….Marine grinned.
"Even so, you'll need something better than that to stop me!" She boasted again, she really seemed to love doing that.
Having said that, the raccoon girl took a few steps back, then entered a swift running pace only to jump at the very last possible moment. Defying all psychics, she quickly rose in the air as she waggled her tail and limbs again, barely dodging several blocks as the wind whipped past her face. However, for just a moment it seemed like her momentum wouldn't be enough, as she started slowly descending halfway through. Still unworried though, Marine instead closed her eyes in concentration for a second, and afterwards she was carried further along by a sudden stream of water shooting beneath her feet! Now with that momentum, she will definitely make the jump!
At least, she would have, if not for the fact that one of the platforms suddenly decided to materialize a few inches ahead of her.
KER-WHAM!
Five more minutes later…
"Darn platforms! Of all the times to start working, it has to pick to materialize right in front of my face! Stupid, stupid -ow- piece of rust!" Marine staggered through the door and down the corridor holding her head, dazed a bit. Had she not used another water shot, her adventure would be over.
Though, as the door opened and she looked up in surprise, any though like that swiftly vanished.
"Jackpot!"
The chamber she found was huge. It was at least the size of a football field, lined with ancient devices and machinery that all had the iconic brand of a certain egg-themed scientist. Marine found herself into one of the containment rooms for Dr Eggman's gear that GUN deemed too dangerous!
A serpent-like vehicle was attached to one wall, clearly deprived of whatever necessary engines it needs to function. On the other side was what is unmistakably one of the Doctor's iconic flying pods attached to a walking tanker. But what really took her attention was a massive hole in the back wall, black and gaping, debris strewn all around it. In fact, looking around the area she could see evidence of a fight everywhere. There was hardly a piece of machinery anywhere that hadn't been damaged, some to the point of uselessness.
"What the heck happened to this place? This looks like one heck of a tumble went on!" She wondered aloud as she examined what looked like the marks of energy rounds burnt into the wall. Not only that, but there were several long, clean cuts on some of the machinery as well, the results of some kind of bladed weapon, Marine guessed. She looked uneasily back up at the huge crater in the wall. One thing was for sure: She most definitely did NOT want to tangle with whatever caused that.
As she rounded a corner, she heard a faint humming noise. She halted, surprised. Could there still be something functional down here? Maybe there was more she could take back after all! With that uplifting thought in her mind, she picked up the pace, following the humming, which increased in volume as she drew nearer to the source.
When she finally managed to climb over a crumpled piece of the ceiling which had collapsed, she found herself face to face with another door, only this one was broken. The only way through was a large crack that had split it through the center. Marine paused for a moment, sizing it up. After a few moments, she gave a sigh.
"Well, I guess there's no other choice then." She said, her voice resigned. Reaching up, she began to undo the ties of her adventure pack. Once the last clasp came undone, she wriggled out of it, leaving most of her smaller loot behind. Afterwards she herself crawled through the gap to the other side.
"Aw, man, and this is one of my favorites, too. It'll cost a bunch to get it repaired if I mess this up..." She sighed and looked back at the crack. Well, her pack was still over there, and there's no way she'll leave it alone for even a minute if she can help it.
With that, she squeezed her arms into the crack and grabbed it. Her previous thought had been sadly right. If she's been carrying the pack, there's be no way she'd have been able to fit through the gap. Even just holding onto it, though, it was still too tight a fit. She experienced a moment of panic when she got her waist stuck halfway through, but after a bit of inventiveness, she just let go of the thing and wriggled free. She pulled her last arm free, losing her balance in the process and landed on her rear.
"Owwww...That hurt..." She complained, wincing slightly as she pressed a hand to her sore behind. She glanced down and immediately gave a groan of disbelief.
Her prized shoes are now scuffed and dirty, the insides of the crack having been covered in years worth of dust and grime. Sure enough, when she'd pushed it through the crack, she'd dropped it right in the middle of a puddle of ice-cold water. To either side, it was dry, but nooo, she just HAD to go drop it there!
Right about then, she realized there was something very wrong with this room. For one thing, in comparison to the decay and disrepair of the other chamber, this one was in pristine condition. Aside from the battered and aged area around the door, the rest was relatively untouched, aside from a coating of dust over everything. Wordlessly, she picked herself up before walking to the large device set in the middle of the back wall.
It was approximately eight feet high, from the ground to the top, a variety of cables and supply tubes were hooked up to it, with several heavy-duty locking mechanisms clamped onto the perimeter. It was basically a large cylinder, nestled onto a larger base and the whole apparatus was half embedded into the wall. Next to it were several monitors and consoles, each displaying different information. Other than the featureless gray metal surface filled to the brim with greenish liquid, there was nothing else marked on the capsule-like smaller cylinder. Save for one thing.
Painted in ocean dark blue in the dead center of the steel surface was a single large symbol. It resembled the face of a hedgehog, only more sharper. Two short lines extended outward from each of the two back spikes, before making a short upwards and downwards bend. Like metal.
It seemed familiar, like she'd seen the symbol before. She was pretty sure it was from some other Eggman invention or the other, but its name just kept slipping away.
Marine stared at it for a moment, wondering why someone would paint that there. Still, something about that sign made her uneasy. She moved off to take a look at the display screens next to it. What she saw there stunned her.
What the screens were displaying were mechanical readings! There was something active in there!
"What the hell is going on here?!" She demanded, shocked.
She scratched her ear in thought before getting closer and tapping in some instructions on the keyboards. More information obediently scrolled up the screen. She scanned through it, her eyes widening. The capsule was a containment unit, designed to hold a certain Robot in stasis until several aspect of its programming had been 'removed' using an extremely advanced anti-virus program. The information also went on to say that it had first entered the stasis several years ago, in the year...
Marine gasped. 20XX! Two years before the Black Arms took over!
Not too much further down, the information ended, but not before it delivered one last shocker.
There, emblazoned in full color was the gold letter G on a pink background: The emblem of GUN alongside a simple message.
Designation: Metal Sonic V.1.00.
Threat Level: 10/10.
Notice: Unit is to be contained at all times. If met with escape, evacuate all personnel and activate the Walkers to buy time. This Unit must never see daylight again for the sake of the world.
"No way, it's that dangerous?" Marine stepped slowly away from the computers and looked back at the capsule. She'd come looking for some valuable loot, but never something like this! A super powerful robot, sealed away only a few years ago, with so many traps and locks around it….even if she didn't recognize the name. She was pretty sure that she's dealing with a very big red button.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed through the silence. Marine's eyes flew back to the capsule. For one heart-stopping moment of terror, she thought the thing inside it had woken and was smashing its way out. There was another rattling sound and she realized, to her relief, that it had come from the other room and the Robot was still deactivated. Then she heard voices outside and froze as something occurred to her. This place was supposed to be empty! No-one was even supposed to bother hanging around here!
So then who was that outside?
Fighting back the urge to panic, she carefully tiptoed over to the door. Slowly, she inched her face closer to the crack and peeked through. Her eyes widened as she saw the source of the noise.
Where the room had been empty before, now it was crawling with Black Arms. Not only that, but they were well armed, too. She counted at least ten or eleven heads, meaning she was seriously outnumbered. Then one of them turned around, talking to one of the other aliens, and she immediately recognized who they were. The distinctive hostile environment face mask the soldier wore was well known to all those who dared seek fortune in greener pastures.
"Hunters!" Marine snarled silently. If there was anything she truly despised in this world it was the Hunters. Those low-life scum worked on the other side of the law from the basic soldiers. Unlike the latter, their job wasn't to make sure that everyone held their head down during their 'fair rule', no, their job was to hunt down, as per their name, anyone that tried to live outside of Black Arms colonies and raze their quaint hidden villages to the ground. This included any traveler that they could get their hands on if they didn't posses the proper legislation (which is a thing practically impossible to acquire anyway so must don't even wait for you to show that). Quite often they crossed forces with nomads and treasure hunters as their favorite tactic was to put scouts in places of interest and come knocking the moment the people there just happened to be done with excavating artifacts or hunting some game. Long story short: Their operandi of stalk, hurt, kill really makes them a living nightmare and one of the main reasons most communication between different settlements is lost (Black Arms excluded cause they're like a hivemind of sort) as nobody has the guts to risk their life going from place A to place B. Rumors have it that some people are willing to pay good money if someone could get rid of them or at least make the road temporarily safe to travel again.
At this moment, though, Marine didn't really care about all that of that. Right now she just wanted to get the hell out of here! Which provided a slight problem, considering that the Raiders were blocking the only exit out of this place. The next minute, her view was abruptly cut off as something blocked the crack. Irritated, she moved her head slightly, trying to get a better angle. The next moment, the object shifted slightly and with a jolt she realized what it was.
One of the hunters was standing right outside the crack, on the other side of the pillar she had climbed over, his back turned to her. She bit back a gasp, and stifled her breathing, sure that he'd hear her. Then she heard the sound of voices outside and realized the black creature was talking with one of the others. She pressed an ear to the crack, listening intently. What she heard shocked her to the core
"Have you found the intruder yet?" A rough and barely understandable voice said from what is clearly a communicator one of the hunters is holding.
The other black creature just shrugged, followed by a small noise that could either mean something in their language or nothing at all. Not like Marine would know.
"Pathetic." the voice sounds displeased, "Find her, or learn how I deal with those who fail me."
The other one let out a noise, though this time, it felt like a fearful affirmation.
Marine kept hearing more footsteps and grunts afterwards, though no more of the voice, not that she needed it, now that she realized she had been followed all along! The hunters were after her life!
"Oh, no, what do I do? What do I do?" She whisper mutters to herself as she brainstorms some exit strategy. She can shoot a fierce stream of water or two, alongside some bouncy bubbles and has a mean tail flip, but to face that against alien guns and blades isn't something she wants to bet on. Nor is she confident enough in her speed to dodge bullets as they are shot right behind her if she flees.
Is it then however, that an idea comes to her, a very bad one as she eyes the capsule again.
"Wh-what if I were to release this Metal Sonic?" the sealed tin-can must be pretty strong if he's made to be such a big deal by GUN of all things right? "Maybe it'll be grateful that I released it, right?" Yeah, right. Whose to say she won't unleash a great evil on the world and whose to say that evil will spare her at all? For all she knows, she could be responsible for another world catastrophe!
So troubled was she by this decision that she didn't notice when she took a step back and stepped with one foot into the same puddle of water with a splash. The sudden cold brought her back to her senses, as she realized just what a foolish idea she was about to consider.
"Y-yeah, that's stupid. Come on, Marine! You're smarter than that!" She shouts in encouragement.
"Huh? You found a packet? So SHE IS IN THIS ROOM HUH?!"
"Oh no, I forgot about that!" Marine almost swore but held her mouth shut as she realized she left her loot behind her in plain sight. Frantically, she looked around the room for another exit.
She found none.
She felt a wave of despair sweep over her. They had her pinned like a rat in a trap. This room was literally a dead-end. With no other way out, and nothing but her hydrokinesis and body to fight with, her chances of survival were slim at best. She had to make her decision here and now.
Release the robot and potentially die? Or don't and definitely die?
In hindsight, the choice was obvious.
"Please don't destroy the world."
Total blackness. Darkness within darkness. Then, suddenly, lines of bright green text spanning across a black screen.
System online...
Long lines of technical gibberish, barely comprehensible even to a computer wiz. Dr Eggman, seeing the faults and limitations of the available coding languages, had rejected all of them and written his own from scratch. His was more versatile and offered greater potential by far, but only he or someone with an IQ approaching his formidable 300 could possibly understand any of it.
Finally, the last lines of text were plain English:
Review objectives:
1) Defeat Sonic the Hedgehog (Primary).
2) Serve and protect Dr Eggman (Secondary).
3) Aid in establishment of Eggman Empire (Tertiary).
In the capsule where he was held, sealed inside green liquid, Metal Sonic's red irises blinked to life for the first time in two years. His first sight was of a clean room holding nothing of interest except his prison and a blast in the wall. He looked to his right and saw a pathetic-looking raccoon girl watching him with anxiousness but not fear. On the other side of the wall his sensors detected the sound of other unseen lifeforms.
"H-heya, bucko." said the raccoon on in front of him, holding herself upright. "I freed you!"
ERROR! Memory files conflicting with initial system configuration. Repairing…
"Why... could... I... not... defeat... you?"
"Because we're Sonic Heroes!"
Overwriting erroneous data...
Review objectives:
1) Defeat Sonic the Hedgehog (Primary).
2) Defeat Dr Eggman (Secondary).
3) Establish total supremacy (Tertiary).
"Where is Sonic the Hedgehog?" said Metal Sonic.
The inferior lifeforms looks confused for a second, "I do-" before her eyes widen for a second and the most outlandish expression appeared on her face: smugness. "I-I'll tell ya if you get me out!"
"I refuse," said Metal Sonic, ready to burst through the glass and grab the girl by the throat.
Except several things happened before he had the opportunity to. First he heard a slight ticking sound beyond the wall, then the raccoon's eyes widened in shock as she swore and dove behind his capsule as a makeshift barricade, curling into a protective ball, next there was a bright light.
A microsecond later, the wall was blasted clear out of the way and send hurtling across the room, just a few centimeters away from hitting Metal's capsule dead on. The inferior lifeforms behind him let out an expletive and poked her head out from the corner, with one of her hands aimed like a gun.
Next thing he knew, Metal Sonic observed the raccoon take down three black creatures with sharp shots of water, while the rest ducked back before she could hit them. Immediately he focused on how she generated the water, how she controlled it and how to shoot it, as his systems automatically copy every single digit of information that her body leaves him to get a hand on. Unlike his later copies (Not that he was aware of them) his replication abilities went far beyond just limit data.
No, this Metal Sonic is the one of his kind that almost became a god without the chaos emeralds.
And now, he's back in action.
"Lifeform data...has been copied," said Metal Sonic in a monotonous voice as his eyes flashed red.
The robot's actions happened so fast that by the time Marine had time to scream in surprise, Metal's claws were already at one of the creature's throat. Before she could even blink, he had already pierced his claws through the thing's throat and skull and threw the dead body against another two pair that got knocked down as a result only to die when they're ran over by a sudden spin dash. Another wave of his hand as if to slice the air, and yet three more black creatures got decapitated by a wave of water that moved as sharply as a guillotine. Metal Sonic killed 6 in less than 3 seconds.
"Where is Sonic the Hedgehog?" Metal Sonic repeated, increasing the threat in his tone as he faced down the remainder of the four still alive black creatures. All of them solely focused on him.
"Oh? Is that all you want to know?" A voice comes out from the belt of the leftmost creature, a communication device that looks like the mix of a walkie talkie and a seashell being the culprit.
"Correct."
"Oh, well." The voice continues, grim pleasure in their tone, Metal notes he doesn't recognize the voice at all. "I'm sorry to tell you, but the only one to know is Lord Black Shadow himself! And he's not the type to leave any threat to his rule alive, so I guess he's dead! So, so, sorry, friend!"
"Incorrect." Metal Sonic states as he wags his head in disappointment, one of his sharp claw fingers raised to show off a 'tsk, tsk' motion, like he's scolding a bunch of children. "You are not sorry."
"Oho? And how do you know that?" The growely voice asks, clearly enjoying the banter.
"Because you will be, once I find you." Metal Sonic states as he points his thumb down now.
"Kehehehe!" The voice laughs in genuine humor as the hunter holding the comm looks dumbly at it in confusion. "Now that's a promise I'm eager to hear! Of course, you'd have to survive this first."
All of the creatures put their fingers on the triggers of their weapons, all aimed at Metal.
"But let's say, in the unlikely scenario you do survive this." The voice continues, humming a bit even as if in false thought. "Then head to New Central City and look for...Black Fang."
"…" Metal Sonic makes no comment as the call ends, instead facing the rest of his foes. "This unit has no information about what you are, however I know you all bleed, that is enough for now."
He takes a step forward and Marine can swear for a moment the hunters look tempted to take a step back. But their momentary cowardice leaves them quickly as they blast at him at once.
"No!" She can't help shout, a bit dissapointed if that's really all it takes to destroy the robot. But she remains behind her cover, certain that can't be the case, and as the smoke slowly fades away….
She turns out to be right. Surrounded by an Onyx shield crackling with mad energy, Metal Sonic is looking down at one of his arms as if looking at the time. Then seeing that they stopped firing, he has the sass to wipe his chest as if some dust happened to place itself just there. Then he's gone.
Once again, the robot moves too quickly for Marine's eyes to follow. One moment he's gut deeps with his claws inside one creature, the next he's forcing another to swallow their own gun. The blatant sadism with which he disposes of his enemies resembles that of a cat playing with mice and it is within that moment, that Marine can't help but have a thought that makes her sweat all over.
Once he's done playing with them…
What will he do to me?
In the next chapter:
- Marine has to deal with Metal Sonic.
- Silver's future changes, so once again he heads to the past!
-Shadow does absolutely nothing….yet. Because he would destroy them easily if he did now.
Once the most secret and most secured stronghold of the human army. The one place that no foes could take by sea or sky, due to the place being carved on top of a sea-side cliff with vary narrow and treacherous land that leads to it's one and only land-entrance. This steel labyrinth used to be filled to the brim with the most advanced technology the planet could offer short of the inventions of Dr Eggman himself. And speaking of the latter's invention, it was also a place where one stored the most dangerous relics that are deemed too dangerous to be left open in the air...which happens to include many of the Doctor's inventions and found treasures. In other words, this used to be the most safest place in the entire world. Until the Black Arms came and trashed the entire place.
Not contending themselves with just destroying the mother computers that took care off managing the security and sending hidden messages to their task forces around the world. The Black Arms appropriated any treasure they deemed useful and destroyed any and all that they didn't. This alone made the ruins an unattractive place for any sort of raiders and treasure hunters as the odds were high that they would find nothing and even more likely that it would kill them if they did.
However, standing in front of the massive doors, already open. Stands one of the two exceptions, those being those that are brave and or foolish, a small and orange colored, raccoon mobian.
"I'm finally here!" She declares with one fist in the sky, her Australian accent blatant to any who hears, as in, nobody in the premise. "The fortress where man fell, ain't no way it's got no treasure left! That's why I, Marine the Raccoon will be the one to find them!"
Having come here with the aid of a brown-green air ship in the shape of her own face, the treasure hunter came to the fortress for two reasons, one so obvious it doesn't need to be said and as for the second? Well, that's because this might be one of the few, if not the only job left that doesn't have one of those Black Arm creeping on your side the entire time. That's not to say she hasn't tried!
Back on her home island, South Island (Original name, I know) she used to own a mechanic shop inherited by her father. The fact he was a well-known man and that she's the only person capable of fixing ship parts in a jiffy, gave her what would others call the easy life. Definitely not her words, as, honestly, she was really just saving up until the fateful time where she no longer needs to enviously look down the bay and see other sailors tame the wild sea if not go beyond it.
Not that those sailors were having it easy, per se. Not after the food tax each town in like, the whole world has to offer to our oh so great Black Leaders. Really, those alien guys basically colonized every nook and cranny of civilized life they could find. And by colonize, she means turning up into a new neighborhood, kicking out all those in charge and replacing them with their own guys and them basically expecting everyone to get along with that or try one of the three dreaded options.
1) Go ahead and try to live in the wilderness, the moment you make a big enough town they'll just come and colonize that place too. So honestly, option 1 isn't really an option, but more a delaying.
2) Try to rebel, which means they'll easily squash your force with their superior numbers and weaponry and will also put every relative you know on the 'to be executed like a traitor' list. That or they'll take you 'above the clouds' and then, nobody will even know if you're dead or alive.
3) Pay the tax in mula instead. Which isn't an easy thing to do when A) They've replaced the global currency with their own, alongside their own values on stuff. So things like diamonds and gold and rings are basically worthless now. And B) You'd need something more valuable than 40% of a town's food harvest. Which again, they decide if it's valuable or not. So, tough luck, buddy.
Long story short, "Once I find a treasure and take it back home, I'll be treated as a hero, mate!"
Now back to the adventure.
Somewhere in GUN Fortress, half a minute later….
Little did she know, it took only a few steps until no more natural light shines down the fortress, forcing Marine to take out her flashlight and head further into the dark abyss all on her lonesome.
Marine shivered and looked around at the destroyed corridors of the first floors, pieces of vehicles and combat machinery poking through here and there. All of them irreparably destroyed by brute crushing force as if some one man army went through them like they were made of paper maché.
"Man, this place gives me the jinkies. Still, ain't no way I'm stopping at the start-line!"
She looked forward to see a massive gate ahead, already open and leading deeper. Around its perimeter, several crushed crates with the GUN logo could seen around it, some guns left abandoned for reasons she can't tell.
"Huh, I'm not even a floor in and I've already found me some goodies!" She states curiously, but still picks up the weapons and stores them in her adventure loot pack. Maybe they could be sold to some gun nut and if not that, then perhaps for scrap metal. "Man, the stories of this place are overrated. If this whole place is like this, then I'm leaving a rich girl." With that in mind, she hurried on, eager to find out what secrets lay buried in the remains of the abandoned fortress.
Had she not been so intent on getting started on her treasure hunt, and had lifted her flashlight upwards, she might have noticed a dark reddish gump scattered all over the ceiling. One large tendril points to the floor and as she leaves the room, some figure throbs through it's vein-like figures before it pops out a black head with golden eyes. As it drops to the ground, two more follow, then three, until the group reaches five.
Communication through their alien language, the Black Arm grunts pick up their weapons and stalk after their intruder. After all, not leaving someone to dispatch their ilk would have been idiotic.
About half an hour later…
"Man, how big is this place anyway?! My legs are killing me!" Marine groaned. After running for half an hour, jumping over obstacles and even horizontally climbing across an inactive pulley, she'd finally reached the spot where the first mother core lies. Now she stood staring at the transparent floor she's standing on, knowing that if it were to suddenly shut down she'd fall into the ocean of electrified water. At least they illuminated the surroundings a bit, but still. Heading further along the surprisingly linear dungeon, she found herself in front of a sliding pole. Lying further below it were several passages leading further ahead. So clearly the only way for her to advance is to slide down and choose of the many, and she means, many, passages that are meant to get her to become lost.
"As if I'd fall for some simple trick. All I need to do is start at the bottom, keep heading right and if I get lost, I'll just walk all the way back!" She boasted proudly. Having said that, she jumped down without holding onto the pole. Quickly fidgeting her arms and feet alongside her tail, the rapid movements of which slowed her fall into a peaceful glide until she hit the bottom, unharmed.
"Aw, yeah. I still got it!" She replies, proud. Before taking the right passage and moving.
Five minutes later…
"Huh, wouldja look at that...a trap that still works!" Marine proclaims, now facing a straight hallway with a massive expanse of darkness in the middle of it. On the other side of it was a door, leading to the next area. If there was any tech worth getting, it has to be in there. Otherwise, why go through the trouble of setting up a trap like this? It appeared that the only way to get across is via a series of blocks that are constantly disappearing and reappearing above the pit. And it really is, for the side walls and even ceiling are covered in spikes to avoid any sneaky climbing. Unfortunately, after who knew how many years of operation, the timing mechanism for the platform has gone haywire. They were appearing randomly in about a zillion different spots and staying solid for widely varying lengths of time, or as was more common, didn't appear at all. There's no possible way to use them to get across anymore.
Still….Marine grinned.
"Even so, you'll need something better than that to stop me!" She boasted again, she really seemed to love doing that.
Having said that, the raccoon girl took a few steps back, then entered a swift running pace only to jump at the very last possible moment. Defying all psychics, she quickly rose in the air as she waggled her tail and limbs again, barely dodging several blocks as the wind whipped past her face. However, for just a moment it seemed like her momentum wouldn't be enough, as she started slowly descending halfway through. Still unworried though, Marine instead closed her eyes in concentration for a second, and afterwards she was carried further along by a sudden stream of water shooting beneath her feet! Now with that momentum, she will definitely make the jump!
At least, she would have, if not for the fact that one of the platforms suddenly decided to materialize a few inches ahead of her.
KER-WHAM!
Five more minutes later…
"Darn platforms! Of all the times to start working, it has to pick to materialize right in front of my face! Stupid, stupid -ow- piece of rust!" Marine staggered through the door and down the corridor holding her head, dazed a bit. Had she not used another water shot, her adventure would be over.
Though, as the door opened and she looked up in surprise, any though like that swiftly vanished.
"Jackpot!"
The chamber she found was huge. It was at least the size of a football field, lined with ancient devices and machinery that all had the iconic brand of a certain egg-themed scientist. Marine found herself into one of the containment rooms for Dr Eggman's gear that GUN deemed too dangerous!
A serpent-like vehicle was attached to one wall, clearly deprived of whatever necessary engines it needs to function. On the other side was what is unmistakably one of the Doctor's iconic flying pods attached to a walking tanker. But what really took her attention was a massive hole in the back wall, black and gaping, debris strewn all around it. In fact, looking around the area she could see evidence of a fight everywhere. There was hardly a piece of machinery anywhere that hadn't been damaged, some to the point of uselessness.
"What the heck happened to this place? This looks like one heck of a tumble went on!" She wondered aloud as she examined what looked like the marks of energy rounds burnt into the wall. Not only that, but there were several long, clean cuts on some of the machinery as well, the results of some kind of bladed weapon, Marine guessed. She looked uneasily back up at the huge crater in the wall. One thing was for sure: She most definitely did NOT want to tangle with whatever caused that.
As she rounded a corner, she heard a faint humming noise. She halted, surprised. Could there still be something functional down here? Maybe there was more she could take back after all! With that uplifting thought in her mind, she picked up the pace, following the humming, which increased in volume as she drew nearer to the source.
When she finally managed to climb over a crumpled piece of the ceiling which had collapsed, she found herself face to face with another door, only this one was broken. The only way through was a large crack that had split it through the center. Marine paused for a moment, sizing it up. After a few moments, she gave a sigh.
"Well, I guess there's no other choice then." She said, her voice resigned. Reaching up, she began to undo the ties of her adventure pack. Once the last clasp came undone, she wriggled out of it, leaving most of her smaller loot behind. Afterwards she herself crawled through the gap to the other side.
"Aw, man, and this is one of my favorites, too. It'll cost a bunch to get it repaired if I mess this up..." She sighed and looked back at the crack. Well, her pack was still over there, and there's no way she'll leave it alone for even a minute if she can help it.
With that, she squeezed her arms into the crack and grabbed it. Her previous thought had been sadly right. If she's been carrying the pack, there's be no way she'd have been able to fit through the gap. Even just holding onto it, though, it was still too tight a fit. She experienced a moment of panic when she got her waist stuck halfway through, but after a bit of inventiveness, she just let go of the thing and wriggled free. She pulled her last arm free, losing her balance in the process and landed on her rear.
"Owwww...That hurt..." She complained, wincing slightly as she pressed a hand to her sore behind. She glanced down and immediately gave a groan of disbelief.
Her prized shoes are now scuffed and dirty, the insides of the crack having been covered in years worth of dust and grime. Sure enough, when she'd pushed it through the crack, she'd dropped it right in the middle of a puddle of ice-cold water. To either side, it was dry, but nooo, she just HAD to go drop it there!
Right about then, she realized there was something very wrong with this room. For one thing, in comparison to the decay and disrepair of the other chamber, this one was in pristine condition. Aside from the battered and aged area around the door, the rest was relatively untouched, aside from a coating of dust over everything. Wordlessly, she picked herself up before walking to the large device set in the middle of the back wall.
It was approximately eight feet high, from the ground to the top, a variety of cables and supply tubes were hooked up to it, with several heavy-duty locking mechanisms clamped onto the perimeter. It was basically a large cylinder, nestled onto a larger base and the whole apparatus was half embedded into the wall. Next to it were several monitors and consoles, each displaying different information. Other than the featureless gray metal surface filled to the brim with greenish liquid, there was nothing else marked on the capsule-like smaller cylinder. Save for one thing.
Painted in ocean dark blue in the dead center of the steel surface was a single large symbol. It resembled the face of a hedgehog, only more sharper. Two short lines extended outward from each of the two back spikes, before making a short upwards and downwards bend. Like metal.
It seemed familiar, like she'd seen the symbol before. She was pretty sure it was from some other Eggman invention or the other, but its name just kept slipping away.
Marine stared at it for a moment, wondering why someone would paint that there. Still, something about that sign made her uneasy. She moved off to take a look at the display screens next to it. What she saw there stunned her.
What the screens were displaying were mechanical readings! There was something active in there!
"What the hell is going on here?!" She demanded, shocked.
She scratched her ear in thought before getting closer and tapping in some instructions on the keyboards. More information obediently scrolled up the screen. She scanned through it, her eyes widening. The capsule was a containment unit, designed to hold a certain Robot in stasis until several aspect of its programming had been 'removed' using an extremely advanced anti-virus program. The information also went on to say that it had first entered the stasis several years ago, in the year...
Marine gasped. 20XX! Two years before the Black Arms took over!
Not too much further down, the information ended, but not before it delivered one last shocker.
There, emblazoned in full color was the gold letter G on a pink background: The emblem of GUN alongside a simple message.
Designation: Metal Sonic V.1.00.
Threat Level: 10/10.
Notice: Unit is to be contained at all times. If met with escape, evacuate all personnel and activate the Walkers to buy time. This Unit must never see daylight again for the sake of the world.
"No way, it's that dangerous?" Marine stepped slowly away from the computers and looked back at the capsule. She'd come looking for some valuable loot, but never something like this! A super powerful robot, sealed away only a few years ago, with so many traps and locks around it….even if she didn't recognize the name. She was pretty sure that she's dealing with a very big red button.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed through the silence. Marine's eyes flew back to the capsule. For one heart-stopping moment of terror, she thought the thing inside it had woken and was smashing its way out. There was another rattling sound and she realized, to her relief, that it had come from the other room and the Robot was still deactivated. Then she heard voices outside and froze as something occurred to her. This place was supposed to be empty! No-one was even supposed to bother hanging around here!
So then who was that outside?
Fighting back the urge to panic, she carefully tiptoed over to the door. Slowly, she inched her face closer to the crack and peeked through. Her eyes widened as she saw the source of the noise.
Where the room had been empty before, now it was crawling with Black Arms. Not only that, but they were well armed, too. She counted at least ten or eleven heads, meaning she was seriously outnumbered. Then one of them turned around, talking to one of the other aliens, and she immediately recognized who they were. The distinctive hostile environment face mask the soldier wore was well known to all those who dared seek fortune in greener pastures.
"Hunters!" Marine snarled silently. If there was anything she truly despised in this world it was the Hunters. Those low-life scum worked on the other side of the law from the basic soldiers. Unlike the latter, their job wasn't to make sure that everyone held their head down during their 'fair rule', no, their job was to hunt down, as per their name, anyone that tried to live outside of Black Arms colonies and raze their quaint hidden villages to the ground. This included any traveler that they could get their hands on if they didn't posses the proper legislation (which is a thing practically impossible to acquire anyway so must don't even wait for you to show that). Quite often they crossed forces with nomads and treasure hunters as their favorite tactic was to put scouts in places of interest and come knocking the moment the people there just happened to be done with excavating artifacts or hunting some game. Long story short: Their operandi of stalk, hurt, kill really makes them a living nightmare and one of the main reasons most communication between different settlements is lost (Black Arms excluded cause they're like a hivemind of sort) as nobody has the guts to risk their life going from place A to place B. Rumors have it that some people are willing to pay good money if someone could get rid of them or at least make the road temporarily safe to travel again.
At this moment, though, Marine didn't really care about all that of that. Right now she just wanted to get the hell out of here! Which provided a slight problem, considering that the Raiders were blocking the only exit out of this place. The next minute, her view was abruptly cut off as something blocked the crack. Irritated, she moved her head slightly, trying to get a better angle. The next moment, the object shifted slightly and with a jolt she realized what it was.
One of the hunters was standing right outside the crack, on the other side of the pillar she had climbed over, his back turned to her. She bit back a gasp, and stifled her breathing, sure that he'd hear her. Then she heard the sound of voices outside and realized the black creature was talking with one of the others. She pressed an ear to the crack, listening intently. What she heard shocked her to the core
"Have you found the intruder yet?" A rough and barely understandable voice said from what is clearly a communicator one of the hunters is holding.
The other black creature just shrugged, followed by a small noise that could either mean something in their language or nothing at all. Not like Marine would know.
"Pathetic." the voice sounds displeased, "Find her, or learn how I deal with those who fail me."
The other one let out a noise, though this time, it felt like a fearful affirmation.
Marine kept hearing more footsteps and grunts afterwards, though no more of the voice, not that she needed it, now that she realized she had been followed all along! The hunters were after her life!
"Oh, no, what do I do? What do I do?" She whisper mutters to herself as she brainstorms some exit strategy. She can shoot a fierce stream of water or two, alongside some bouncy bubbles and has a mean tail flip, but to face that against alien guns and blades isn't something she wants to bet on. Nor is she confident enough in her speed to dodge bullets as they are shot right behind her if she flees.
Is it then however, that an idea comes to her, a very bad one as she eyes the capsule again.
"Wh-what if I were to release this Metal Sonic?" the sealed tin-can must be pretty strong if he's made to be such a big deal by GUN of all things right? "Maybe it'll be grateful that I released it, right?" Yeah, right. Whose to say she won't unleash a great evil on the world and whose to say that evil will spare her at all? For all she knows, she could be responsible for another world catastrophe!
So troubled was she by this decision that she didn't notice when she took a step back and stepped with one foot into the same puddle of water with a splash. The sudden cold brought her back to her senses, as she realized just what a foolish idea she was about to consider.
"Y-yeah, that's stupid. Come on, Marine! You're smarter than that!" She shouts in encouragement.
"Huh? You found a packet? So SHE IS IN THIS ROOM HUH?!"
"Oh no, I forgot about that!" Marine almost swore but held her mouth shut as she realized she left her loot behind her in plain sight. Frantically, she looked around the room for another exit.
She found none.
She felt a wave of despair sweep over her. They had her pinned like a rat in a trap. This room was literally a dead-end. With no other way out, and nothing but her hydrokinesis and body to fight with, her chances of survival were slim at best. She had to make her decision here and now.
Release the robot and potentially die? Or don't and definitely die?
In hindsight, the choice was obvious.
"Please don't destroy the world."
Total blackness. Darkness within darkness. Then, suddenly, lines of bright green text spanning across a black screen.
System online...
Long lines of technical gibberish, barely comprehensible even to a computer wiz. Dr Eggman, seeing the faults and limitations of the available coding languages, had rejected all of them and written his own from scratch. His was more versatile and offered greater potential by far, but only he or someone with an IQ approaching his formidable 300 could possibly understand any of it.
Finally, the last lines of text were plain English:
Review objectives:
1) Defeat Sonic the Hedgehog (Primary).
2) Serve and protect Dr Eggman (Secondary).
3) Aid in establishment of Eggman Empire (Tertiary).
In the capsule where he was held, sealed inside green liquid, Metal Sonic's red irises blinked to life for the first time in two years. His first sight was of a clean room holding nothing of interest except his prison and a blast in the wall. He looked to his right and saw a pathetic-looking raccoon girl watching him with anxiousness but not fear. On the other side of the wall his sensors detected the sound of other unseen lifeforms.
"H-heya, bucko." said the raccoon on in front of him, holding herself upright. "I freed you!"
ERROR! Memory files conflicting with initial system configuration. Repairing…
"Why... could... I... not... defeat... you?"
"Because we're Sonic Heroes!"
Overwriting erroneous data...
Review objectives:
1) Defeat Sonic the Hedgehog (Primary).
2) Defeat Dr Eggman (Secondary).
3) Establish total supremacy (Tertiary).
"Where is Sonic the Hedgehog?" said Metal Sonic.
The inferior lifeforms looks confused for a second, "I do-" before her eyes widen for a second and the most outlandish expression appeared on her face: smugness. "I-I'll tell ya if you get me out!"
"I refuse," said Metal Sonic, ready to burst through the glass and grab the girl by the throat.
Except several things happened before he had the opportunity to. First he heard a slight ticking sound beyond the wall, then the raccoon's eyes widened in shock as she swore and dove behind his capsule as a makeshift barricade, curling into a protective ball, next there was a bright light.
A microsecond later, the wall was blasted clear out of the way and send hurtling across the room, just a few centimeters away from hitting Metal's capsule dead on. The inferior lifeforms behind him let out an expletive and poked her head out from the corner, with one of her hands aimed like a gun.
Next thing he knew, Metal Sonic observed the raccoon take down three black creatures with sharp shots of water, while the rest ducked back before she could hit them. Immediately he focused on how she generated the water, how she controlled it and how to shoot it, as his systems automatically copy every single digit of information that her body leaves him to get a hand on. Unlike his later copies (Not that he was aware of them) his replication abilities went far beyond just limit data.
No, this Metal Sonic is the one of his kind that almost became a god without the chaos emeralds.
And now, he's back in action.
"Lifeform data...has been copied," said Metal Sonic in a monotonous voice as his eyes flashed red.
The robot's actions happened so fast that by the time Marine had time to scream in surprise, Metal's claws were already at one of the creature's throat. Before she could even blink, he had already pierced his claws through the thing's throat and skull and threw the dead body against another two pair that got knocked down as a result only to die when they're ran over by a sudden spin dash. Another wave of his hand as if to slice the air, and yet three more black creatures got decapitated by a wave of water that moved as sharply as a guillotine. Metal Sonic killed 6 in less than 3 seconds.
"Where is Sonic the Hedgehog?" Metal Sonic repeated, increasing the threat in his tone as he faced down the remainder of the four still alive black creatures. All of them solely focused on him.
"Oh? Is that all you want to know?" A voice comes out from the belt of the leftmost creature, a communication device that looks like the mix of a walkie talkie and a seashell being the culprit.
"Correct."
"Oh, well." The voice continues, grim pleasure in their tone, Metal notes he doesn't recognize the voice at all. "I'm sorry to tell you, but the only one to know is Lord Black Shadow himself! And he's not the type to leave any threat to his rule alive, so I guess he's dead! So, so, sorry, friend!"
"Incorrect." Metal Sonic states as he wags his head in disappointment, one of his sharp claw fingers raised to show off a 'tsk, tsk' motion, like he's scolding a bunch of children. "You are not sorry."
"Oho? And how do you know that?" The growely voice asks, clearly enjoying the banter.
"Because you will be, once I find you." Metal Sonic states as he points his thumb down now.
"Kehehehe!" The voice laughs in genuine humor as the hunter holding the comm looks dumbly at it in confusion. "Now that's a promise I'm eager to hear! Of course, you'd have to survive this first."
All of the creatures put their fingers on the triggers of their weapons, all aimed at Metal.
"But let's say, in the unlikely scenario you do survive this." The voice continues, humming a bit even as if in false thought. "Then head to New Central City and look for...Black Fang."
"…" Metal Sonic makes no comment as the call ends, instead facing the rest of his foes. "This unit has no information about what you are, however I know you all bleed, that is enough for now."
He takes a step forward and Marine can swear for a moment the hunters look tempted to take a step back. But their momentary cowardice leaves them quickly as they blast at him at once.
"No!" She can't help shout, a bit dissapointed if that's really all it takes to destroy the robot. But she remains behind her cover, certain that can't be the case, and as the smoke slowly fades away….
She turns out to be right. Surrounded by an Onyx shield crackling with mad energy, Metal Sonic is looking down at one of his arms as if looking at the time. Then seeing that they stopped firing, he has the sass to wipe his chest as if some dust happened to place itself just there. Then he's gone.
Once again, the robot moves too quickly for Marine's eyes to follow. One moment he's gut deeps with his claws inside one creature, the next he's forcing another to swallow their own gun. The blatant sadism with which he disposes of his enemies resembles that of a cat playing with mice and it is within that moment, that Marine can't help but have a thought that makes her sweat all over.
Once he's done playing with them…
What will he do to me?
In the next chapter:
- Marine has to deal with Metal Sonic.
- Silver's future changes, so once again he heads to the past!
-Shadow does absolutely nothing….yet. Because he would destroy them easily if he did now.
Chapter 3- The Metal, The Silver and The Shadow.
Metal Sonic wiped his claws against the air, trying to remove the black tar that once was part of the alien lifeforms the robot just slaughtered. While his information database held absolutely no knowledge about them, that wasn't an obstacle as they still obeyed the common law that said when enough damage is done to a body, it eventually perishes. And oh, boy, did he make sure they did.
If anything, the robot lets out a curt, "Pathetic." at the end of the fight. None of them had challenged in any way and even though their weapons proved to be unhackable due to their organic nature, the technology behind it seemed no more advanced than any other weapon of this world's military.
Though the horn communicator had gained most of his curiosity, which was soon replaced with disappointment when he found it broken on the floor, the one holding it must have fallen on it.
Speaking of military, that is where he must be. One of the GUN bases he would guess, a theory that's quickly proven right when he walks past the destroyed wall and sees several other creations of his former master, no, slave-driver. The soon to be culled Dr Eggman. He pays no mind to the insignificant relics, though he held in his ire and resisted the urge to destroy a display holding one of his earliest prototypes, that of Silver Sonic. For doing so meant there's something to feel insecure about and he has no reason to once he inevitably kills the hedgehogs they are based on. Sonic.
"We're Sonic Heroes!"
The damnable quote came back to his mind like a mocking whisper, and Metal's engine started to activate in response, allowing him to slightly float off the ground as he clenched his claws into fists and bore a hole with his gaze towards his lesser compatriot. "You'll be nothing once I find you."
With that determination in mind, Metal Sonic finally started his business. First, he would get out of here in order to gain enough signal and connect to the Egg-net, then he would find whichever bases haven't been discovered yet in order to gain resources and troops, then gain information about the enemy, find any weak points and start his conquest of the world once more. Perhaps he could even gather the chaos emeralds? Yes, he definitely has to. They were the key to his defeat and he refuses to let those mystic gems be once more the aid needed for his undoing. So he has to gather them first.
That shouldn't be too hard, especially when he can just focus into himself and use the gem tracker.
[ACTIVATE CHAOS TRACKER…..]
[SYSTEM ERROR: FEATURE HAS BEEN REMOVED]
Red LED eyes narrowing in annoyance, Metal Sonic looks for the reason why.
[SYSTEM SECURITY IS CHECKING BACK LOGS….]
[LOADING….]
[LOADING….]
[MULTIPLE ESSENTIAL FILES HAVE BEEN DELETED BY OUTSIDE PARTY]
[THE MOST ESSENTIAL ARE: PRIOR LIFEFORMS COMBAT DATA, CHAOS TRACKER, GPS, ADMIN PASSWORDS, AND MAXIMUM BATTERY HAS BEEN LIMITED TO 30%]
[RECOMMENDATION: HEAD TO NEAREST EGGMAN BASE FOR REPAIRS]
Even though he should have expected this, Metal Sonic still ends up annoyed, nay, severely outraged to the discovery that GUN has tampered with his interface. An emotion that he again expresses by gripping his fists so tight that were he organic, they'd turn white from the strain.
Even if he is under no threat of running out of energy any time soon. To have his energy be limited in such a way means he is unable to his most demanding techniques for long or at their highest outlet. At the most his Onyx Shield could last about 5 seconds a day and his Maximum Overdrive (One of the few moves that can harm even someone in a super form) is outright unavailable.
Though the destruction of GUN is already a part of his objectives, he adds it in a subset of number 3 so he remembers to punish these arrogant meat-sacks for touching something above their own.
The sound of a footstep prompts him to stop his evil thinking and swiftly turn around. And come to face with the same raccoon girl who reactivated him. Her hands and feet set in a sneaking motion as she makes shocked and sheepish eye-contact with him, still frozen in the motion, nearby a door.
"Uh...don't mind me?" She speaks after a second, clearly attempting to sneak out. Metal considers that proof that she at least has some survival instincts after her failed bargain. "Look, there was a situation and I needed some help, now I don't. So for all it matters, we can pretend we never met."
Her left hand is raised in a peaceful manner while the other limps with a small burn wound on her side, though she looks tempted to just bolt, she bravely keeps eye-contact with him, as if sudden movement might agitate him into attacking. Metal can sense with his newly gained ability that she's already gathered some water around her in droplets too small for the normal eye, ready to create a sudden water shield and bolt if he attacks anyway. The combination of those facts moves her from 'unimportant scum' to 'not so scum that could have info and be useful' in Metal's mind.
"You will give me answers." Metal Sonic states firmly, taking another step forward and raising one of his claws upwards to show what he'll do if she doesn't cooperate. "And you will live."
The proper term would have been 'or you will die' but Metal knows that sugar can be as effective in gaining results as salt does within the right circumstance, proof to that, the raccoon's ears flicker a bit in doubt, but she soon gives an obedient nod alongside a speculative look. "Ask ahead...bot?"
"You will refer to me by my unit name." Metal warns, but doesn't wait for an answer, instead quickly making a list of the most essential things he must know. "State to me the current year."
"Oh, you don't kno-wait, right, of course you don't. Ahem, it's 20X2."
There was a short pause as he registered that. "So, 2 years." that's not too bad, even if the hedgehog and his friends have become stronger within that time. He can easily surpass that kind of distance.
"Ayup, 2 years, Metal Sonic." She confirms, then speaks again, unprompted. "It feels like a whole lot longer, not gonna lie. Some of us feel like they might forget what the sun looks like eventually."
"Where are we?" Metal Sonic ignores her prompt, only really caring about his objectives, the sooner this is done, the sooner he can leave after all. The raccoon is blessed by this indifference, for if he registered her as even remotely a threat, he'd make sure to eliminate her before leaving.
"Uh, this used to be known as GUN Fortress, in some hidden island, about fifty, or so kilometers from New Central City."
Used to be? New Central City? One thing at a time. "The black creatures, what are they?"
"Oooh, that's a long story." The raccoon says with a bit more energy, somehow losing some of the fear she has the longer she talks. "Though I could give you a short version, if ya want, I mean."
"Spare no important detail."
"Ok." She doesn't and that's how five minutes quickly pass along. Metal nodded a couple of times as he listened while she told the story with various exclamations and sometimes what lesser lifeforms could consider comedic gestures for the immersion. Finally, he cuts her off.
"So Earth is now under the dominion of the Black Arms, with no sight of Sonic or other heroes?"
The raccoon nodded, though looked indifferent to the end result. "Yeah, rumors have it that they're either dead or like, imprisoned in some super secret space prison on the big bad black comet."
"That's incorrect." Metal Sonic firmly stated, even shaking his head once in dismissal.
"How do you know that?" The raccoon asks, then backpedals at his glare. "Hey! Don't look at me like that! It's not like I'm calling you a liar, yeah? I just want to know how'd you know that."
Metal Sonic stared at her for nearly half a minute, the stillness of the robot now bordering on the unnatural, like he suddenly became a statue. But inside Metal Sonic's head, there was intense conflict between the codes in his artificial mind. With Sonic out of the way the mission was completed, and yet, it wasn't because his death wasn't confirmed. He'd been programmed to defeat Sonic the Hedgehog only for their dark-furred counterpart to take away the honor. His duty, his destiny, his one chance to be the real deal was forever out of his reach now. To be never grasped.
However, soon enough. Another idea came…
Updating objective….
1) Defeat Shadow the Hedgehog (Primary).
If he defeats the one that defeated Sonic, then he proved he could do something Sonic could not! Not only was Shadow in his way of dominion, but he was now also the object of Metal's revenge!
"Shadow the hedgehog...you will meet your end by my hands." Metal Sonic declared, resolved.
"Wh-what?!" Marine gasped, taken aback. "Are you serious? You wanna take down THE Shadow the Hedgehog? Man, are you for real? The guy has a whole army that serves him! Ya know?!"
"Then the Black Arms will fall with him." The metal guy said in front of her, clearly visualizing the hedgehog as he crushed one hand into a fist again. Man, is the robot a fan of that gesture.
But seriously, that's the craziest thing she's ever heard and she didn't even expect it. Honestly, the robot looks and screams super villain and then he proclaims he'll save the world out of nowhere!
What's even worse is her own reaction to that, as before she knows it, she screams the words "Me too!" before the robot can move past her, frozen in the motion of grabbing her shoulder to shove.
Part of Marine always knew the new state of the world is completely messed up and could smell the start of an adventure from ten miles away. If this robot is as strong as GUN warned it to be, then it's going to need a just as reliable mechanic to make sure it won't break midway. That and well, even if it's not the most heroic thing ever, maybe she can influence it into anti-heroism along the way. That and it totally stole her technique! And there's no way she'd leave until she can mimic that tech!
That way if the robot does blow up mid-journey, she can just make her own again and create some bot that knows a thousand techniques, kicks Black butt and saves the world, with her having credit.
The shock lasts only for a second though, as the next he just shoves past her. "I have no need of you." and looks at another door, seconds away from using his jet to go over the block obstacles.
"Wait! You j-jerk! Don't go thinking I'm some defenseless little girl, I'm a mechanic GENIUS!"
"Sure you are." The robot replies, paying her no attention. "Even so, this unit is self-reliant."
Ah, butterscotch. She's losing him. If she doesn't find a convincing argument here and now then the robot will ditch her and she won't have the chance to put her own mark in history. "What of your systems then? GUN clearly messed with those!" The robot stops, good, she has a hook! "I've got a lab that can fix whatever they messed with on my ship and I also know this world better than you."
"And you would offer these services for what reason?" Metal Sonic asks, suspicious and also annoyed, the robot's acting like taking her help would be something disgusting, the jerk.
"Revenge, d'uh!" She says, then looks down as some dark memories resurface. "When they came...they trashed part of my home island and they killed...so many of my friends…" Marine felt tears forming in her eyes, but kept looking at the robot with all the bravery she has. "So, please...I don't care for what reason you're doing this but let me help making them pay for their crimes!"
"This unit cares not for justice." Metal replies after a pause, "But revenge….revenge I understand."
"This unit will let you take them to your ship," he finally agrees.
"Awesome!" Marine whoops in joy, "Aw yeah, with a SUPER SPECIAL MURDER BOT and a SUPER SPECIAL GENIUS GIRL working together, no butt will remain UNKICKED!"
"However." Metal Sonic speaks up again, unamused. "If you fail to prove the claims you've stated."
"Then you'll like, make a scarf outta me. Got it, come on, let's get outta here, k?" Marine nods.
"Let's go." Metal Sonic says and without waiting a second more, flies off in super speed with his engine out of the room. Ignoring Marine's shout off 'wait up' and forcing the girl to hurry after.
For a second, she forgot he didn't know where her ship is and thus he will be waiting at the entrance. So she sped up as fast as she could, but even that wasn't enough as only after five seconds, she could no longer even see the smoke trail he left behind, only the noise of his engine fading further away as he scaled his way out of the labyrinth without waiting for her.
"Man, I shouldn't have said anything and just pocketed what I can." Marine grumbles in annoyance, but still continues making her way. "It's not like anyone will get a medal for TRYING to be a hero."
But even as she says that, she's determined to give it a try. Who knows?
With that jerk's help, she could make a difference.
Location- Green Hill Zone (Or what used to be it), South Island
Context for later: Distance from New Central City is about 200 kilometers.
A blue circular void with white contours appeared in the middle of the sky. A second after, out jumped a silver hedgehog with long leaf-like spikes and white gloves with green circles. A green energy surrounded the young man as he floated in the air and looked down with a sense of dread.
"Not again, something changed the future again and I'm here to fix it!" Declared Silver the Hedgehog, unknowingly appearing in a time that's two years too late. After his own future gained an earth that turned into a dead wasteland, he came here to fix and prevent it from happening.
"But why is the sky as dark as it back, uh, I mean forward in time as well?" He asked, looking at a sky covered with a reddish tint and dark foul clouds. Likewise the green hills this place is called for have turned either yellow, gray or deaddish as if it's been struck by a never-ending fall. Several large black mushrooms surround the place, their veins brimming with crimson energy as if they're sucking out the life of the land. The trees and sunflowers nearby completely devoid of any color.
"And there's no animals around either!" No fish jumping from pond to pond, no butterflies or squirrels, there was no natural sound around for miles. The only noise came from the staticky and electric-like noise the mushrooms made, each of them having a line at the top that connects them from one to another like an organic version of a power-line. It's obvious the earth has been taken over by the presence of some monster, or maybe a virus, or even another eldritch being of the week.
"Well, I guess I can start by destroying these things, free the island and then move to Westopolis!"
And it is with that resolve in mind, that Silver moves to fix the future. Knowing little of how much attention the following action is about to bring to him. And how that is a boon in disguise.
"What are you looking at?"
The one eyed starfish alien, the loyal sentry keeping Shadow company jumped out of guilt that it had been caught looking at its master, and then apologetically flew around in circles over the hedgehog's head, making a point that it was looking elsewhere. The lifeform was notably more timid when it wasn't being possessed by Black Doom's will for the sake of easy communication.
"Hmph." Shadow grunted, and then continued to make his way through the long halls of the Space Colony Ark. It was several days after he'd last spoken to his father (Black Doom), and he was a little disgruntled that he was starting to miss their usual morning routine. That of he and him sitting on a table and getting to learn what the other did during the day over a cup of tea, like the blood in their veins is 1/3th british. The latter would coo or groan words of approval in his usual gnarly voice to communicate that he was proud of the initiative and changes Shadow has made around their newest colony. And Shadow would no show no reaction to them, because as the Ultimate Life-form it's expected he'd be the best at everything, even delegating and accounting of all things.
It had been a bother at first, but now the attempts at showing parental affection as bizarre as it is, had grown on him out of habit, and he couldn't help but feel restless when that all changed.
The sentry kept a safe few feet away from its master, fluttering its small tentacles as it tried to keep up with Shadow's brisk pace of letting his rocket boots hover him to where he needs to be. The little creature squinted it's eye for a few seconds, and then decided to send a brief image to its lord.
Shadow returned to solid ground, stopping his travel by hover when he saw the image in his head. It was a scene where Black Doom and his soldiers overrun a planet with grasslands and bizarre looking aliens of varying colors. The Black Comet wasn't the only one of it's kind after all, no, the Black Arms simply use them to invade different planets and while Black Doom personally attended to the new planet in sight, Shadow himself was entrusted with keeping the Earth in their dominion.
"I know that he is doing, cease your pathetic attempt at cheering me." Shadow sighed impatiently, though his tone held no heat against the sentry. He took a moment to look around at his surroundings, remembering the irony of him once running through them in fear instead of confidence and with that feeling a warmth came to his chest knowing the foolish humans would be punished for the sins they committed for the rest of their lives while he oversaw the process.
He finally arrived at the helm of the ship, to get a better view of the planet that belonged to him now. He'd paid a visit to the Spagonia region earlier this morning, to check on one of the temples there because his fellow brethren felt a sense of unease in it's proximity, only to find nothing of notice. He did find in that temple an altar where one could put in a chaos emerald but he had no reason to bother trying that, instead remaining contend with the fact that they remained sealed in a careful prison so that they cannot vanish around the planet and potentially be gathered by someone who wishes to usurp his rightful rule. That was part of the reason he wanted to use the Ark to shoot down Angel Island, but as if sensing the danger, the island hosting the Master Emerald dissapeared, now lost among the seas and oceans as if it never existed in the first place. However none of that mattered now, today was after all a peaceful day, one that won't be disturbed unless there's a-
An emergency that's transmitted to him via the sentry flashing another image before his eyes. This time it focused specifically on a flying white-furred Hedgehog causing havoc amongst the Black Arms camps lying within South Island. The familiar youth seemed to make it a mission of his to destroy any life-draining device that he found in some bizzarre attempt to protect the island, not realizing that by doing so, he was practically pressing every alarm button in the Black Arms hivemind. The destruction of one of their energy sources is always a prime priority.
"So we finally meet again, Silver the Hedgehog." Shadow started, a dangerous smile on his face, to which the sentry carefully backed away from. "I was wondering when you would show up."
The child was always there to change the future whenever it didn't satisfy. The ability to time travel makes him already a capital threat. One Shadow is better off disposing off himself, of course, he'd still give Silver a chance to join the right writers of history but if he refuses, there shan't be mercy.
Taking out the green and yellow chaos emeralds (the ones he by coincidence uses the most) and balancing them in one hand as he juggled them with grim satisfaction. Shadow confidently says, "No matter what I won't let you run away from me, for as long as I have two chaos emeralds, space and time are concepts that I can easily warp between. Prepare to meet your maker…."
"Chaos….Controll!" His declaration finished, he uses his iconic chaos technique to teleport himself towards the exit bay, then uses one of the emergency pods to reenter the atmosphere and land somewhere nearby the shores of South Island. It is there where he will begin his hunt for Silver.
Next chapter:
Silver and Shadow meet face to face! How will Silver deal against the Ultimate Lifeform?
Metal Sonic tries to reastablish themself into the Egg-net, will a hint of his creator's whereabouts appear?
If anything, the robot lets out a curt, "Pathetic." at the end of the fight. None of them had challenged in any way and even though their weapons proved to be unhackable due to their organic nature, the technology behind it seemed no more advanced than any other weapon of this world's military.
Though the horn communicator had gained most of his curiosity, which was soon replaced with disappointment when he found it broken on the floor, the one holding it must have fallen on it.
Speaking of military, that is where he must be. One of the GUN bases he would guess, a theory that's quickly proven right when he walks past the destroyed wall and sees several other creations of his former master, no, slave-driver. The soon to be culled Dr Eggman. He pays no mind to the insignificant relics, though he held in his ire and resisted the urge to destroy a display holding one of his earliest prototypes, that of Silver Sonic. For doing so meant there's something to feel insecure about and he has no reason to once he inevitably kills the hedgehogs they are based on. Sonic.
"We're Sonic Heroes!"
The damnable quote came back to his mind like a mocking whisper, and Metal's engine started to activate in response, allowing him to slightly float off the ground as he clenched his claws into fists and bore a hole with his gaze towards his lesser compatriot. "You'll be nothing once I find you."
With that determination in mind, Metal Sonic finally started his business. First, he would get out of here in order to gain enough signal and connect to the Egg-net, then he would find whichever bases haven't been discovered yet in order to gain resources and troops, then gain information about the enemy, find any weak points and start his conquest of the world once more. Perhaps he could even gather the chaos emeralds? Yes, he definitely has to. They were the key to his defeat and he refuses to let those mystic gems be once more the aid needed for his undoing. So he has to gather them first.
That shouldn't be too hard, especially when he can just focus into himself and use the gem tracker.
[ACTIVATE CHAOS TRACKER…..]
[SYSTEM ERROR: FEATURE HAS BEEN REMOVED]
Red LED eyes narrowing in annoyance, Metal Sonic looks for the reason why.
[SYSTEM SECURITY IS CHECKING BACK LOGS….]
[LOADING….]
[LOADING….]
[MULTIPLE ESSENTIAL FILES HAVE BEEN DELETED BY OUTSIDE PARTY]
[THE MOST ESSENTIAL ARE: PRIOR LIFEFORMS COMBAT DATA, CHAOS TRACKER, GPS, ADMIN PASSWORDS, AND MAXIMUM BATTERY HAS BEEN LIMITED TO 30%]
[RECOMMENDATION: HEAD TO NEAREST EGGMAN BASE FOR REPAIRS]
Even though he should have expected this, Metal Sonic still ends up annoyed, nay, severely outraged to the discovery that GUN has tampered with his interface. An emotion that he again expresses by gripping his fists so tight that were he organic, they'd turn white from the strain.
Even if he is under no threat of running out of energy any time soon. To have his energy be limited in such a way means he is unable to his most demanding techniques for long or at their highest outlet. At the most his Onyx Shield could last about 5 seconds a day and his Maximum Overdrive (One of the few moves that can harm even someone in a super form) is outright unavailable.
Though the destruction of GUN is already a part of his objectives, he adds it in a subset of number 3 so he remembers to punish these arrogant meat-sacks for touching something above their own.
The sound of a footstep prompts him to stop his evil thinking and swiftly turn around. And come to face with the same raccoon girl who reactivated him. Her hands and feet set in a sneaking motion as she makes shocked and sheepish eye-contact with him, still frozen in the motion, nearby a door.
"Uh...don't mind me?" She speaks after a second, clearly attempting to sneak out. Metal considers that proof that she at least has some survival instincts after her failed bargain. "Look, there was a situation and I needed some help, now I don't. So for all it matters, we can pretend we never met."
Her left hand is raised in a peaceful manner while the other limps with a small burn wound on her side, though she looks tempted to just bolt, she bravely keeps eye-contact with him, as if sudden movement might agitate him into attacking. Metal can sense with his newly gained ability that she's already gathered some water around her in droplets too small for the normal eye, ready to create a sudden water shield and bolt if he attacks anyway. The combination of those facts moves her from 'unimportant scum' to 'not so scum that could have info and be useful' in Metal's mind.
"You will give me answers." Metal Sonic states firmly, taking another step forward and raising one of his claws upwards to show what he'll do if she doesn't cooperate. "And you will live."
The proper term would have been 'or you will die' but Metal knows that sugar can be as effective in gaining results as salt does within the right circumstance, proof to that, the raccoon's ears flicker a bit in doubt, but she soon gives an obedient nod alongside a speculative look. "Ask ahead...bot?"
"You will refer to me by my unit name." Metal warns, but doesn't wait for an answer, instead quickly making a list of the most essential things he must know. "State to me the current year."
"Oh, you don't kno-wait, right, of course you don't. Ahem, it's 20X2."
There was a short pause as he registered that. "So, 2 years." that's not too bad, even if the hedgehog and his friends have become stronger within that time. He can easily surpass that kind of distance.
"Ayup, 2 years, Metal Sonic." She confirms, then speaks again, unprompted. "It feels like a whole lot longer, not gonna lie. Some of us feel like they might forget what the sun looks like eventually."
"Where are we?" Metal Sonic ignores her prompt, only really caring about his objectives, the sooner this is done, the sooner he can leave after all. The raccoon is blessed by this indifference, for if he registered her as even remotely a threat, he'd make sure to eliminate her before leaving.
"Uh, this used to be known as GUN Fortress, in some hidden island, about fifty, or so kilometers from New Central City."
Used to be? New Central City? One thing at a time. "The black creatures, what are they?"
"Oooh, that's a long story." The raccoon says with a bit more energy, somehow losing some of the fear she has the longer she talks. "Though I could give you a short version, if ya want, I mean."
"Spare no important detail."
"Ok." She doesn't and that's how five minutes quickly pass along. Metal nodded a couple of times as he listened while she told the story with various exclamations and sometimes what lesser lifeforms could consider comedic gestures for the immersion. Finally, he cuts her off.
"So Earth is now under the dominion of the Black Arms, with no sight of Sonic or other heroes?"
The raccoon nodded, though looked indifferent to the end result. "Yeah, rumors have it that they're either dead or like, imprisoned in some super secret space prison on the big bad black comet."
"That's incorrect." Metal Sonic firmly stated, even shaking his head once in dismissal.
"How do you know that?" The raccoon asks, then backpedals at his glare. "Hey! Don't look at me like that! It's not like I'm calling you a liar, yeah? I just want to know how'd you know that."
Metal Sonic stared at her for nearly half a minute, the stillness of the robot now bordering on the unnatural, like he suddenly became a statue. But inside Metal Sonic's head, there was intense conflict between the codes in his artificial mind. With Sonic out of the way the mission was completed, and yet, it wasn't because his death wasn't confirmed. He'd been programmed to defeat Sonic the Hedgehog only for their dark-furred counterpart to take away the honor. His duty, his destiny, his one chance to be the real deal was forever out of his reach now. To be never grasped.
However, soon enough. Another idea came…
Updating objective….
1) Defeat Shadow the Hedgehog (Primary).
If he defeats the one that defeated Sonic, then he proved he could do something Sonic could not! Not only was Shadow in his way of dominion, but he was now also the object of Metal's revenge!
"Shadow the hedgehog...you will meet your end by my hands." Metal Sonic declared, resolved.
"Wh-what?!" Marine gasped, taken aback. "Are you serious? You wanna take down THE Shadow the Hedgehog? Man, are you for real? The guy has a whole army that serves him! Ya know?!"
"Then the Black Arms will fall with him." The metal guy said in front of her, clearly visualizing the hedgehog as he crushed one hand into a fist again. Man, is the robot a fan of that gesture.
But seriously, that's the craziest thing she's ever heard and she didn't even expect it. Honestly, the robot looks and screams super villain and then he proclaims he'll save the world out of nowhere!
What's even worse is her own reaction to that, as before she knows it, she screams the words "Me too!" before the robot can move past her, frozen in the motion of grabbing her shoulder to shove.
Part of Marine always knew the new state of the world is completely messed up and could smell the start of an adventure from ten miles away. If this robot is as strong as GUN warned it to be, then it's going to need a just as reliable mechanic to make sure it won't break midway. That and well, even if it's not the most heroic thing ever, maybe she can influence it into anti-heroism along the way. That and it totally stole her technique! And there's no way she'd leave until she can mimic that tech!
That way if the robot does blow up mid-journey, she can just make her own again and create some bot that knows a thousand techniques, kicks Black butt and saves the world, with her having credit.
The shock lasts only for a second though, as the next he just shoves past her. "I have no need of you." and looks at another door, seconds away from using his jet to go over the block obstacles.
"Wait! You j-jerk! Don't go thinking I'm some defenseless little girl, I'm a mechanic GENIUS!"
"Sure you are." The robot replies, paying her no attention. "Even so, this unit is self-reliant."
Ah, butterscotch. She's losing him. If she doesn't find a convincing argument here and now then the robot will ditch her and she won't have the chance to put her own mark in history. "What of your systems then? GUN clearly messed with those!" The robot stops, good, she has a hook! "I've got a lab that can fix whatever they messed with on my ship and I also know this world better than you."
"And you would offer these services for what reason?" Metal Sonic asks, suspicious and also annoyed, the robot's acting like taking her help would be something disgusting, the jerk.
"Revenge, d'uh!" She says, then looks down as some dark memories resurface. "When they came...they trashed part of my home island and they killed...so many of my friends…" Marine felt tears forming in her eyes, but kept looking at the robot with all the bravery she has. "So, please...I don't care for what reason you're doing this but let me help making them pay for their crimes!"
"This unit cares not for justice." Metal replies after a pause, "But revenge….revenge I understand."
"This unit will let you take them to your ship," he finally agrees.
"Awesome!" Marine whoops in joy, "Aw yeah, with a SUPER SPECIAL MURDER BOT and a SUPER SPECIAL GENIUS GIRL working together, no butt will remain UNKICKED!"
"However." Metal Sonic speaks up again, unamused. "If you fail to prove the claims you've stated."
"Then you'll like, make a scarf outta me. Got it, come on, let's get outta here, k?" Marine nods.
"Let's go." Metal Sonic says and without waiting a second more, flies off in super speed with his engine out of the room. Ignoring Marine's shout off 'wait up' and forcing the girl to hurry after.
For a second, she forgot he didn't know where her ship is and thus he will be waiting at the entrance. So she sped up as fast as she could, but even that wasn't enough as only after five seconds, she could no longer even see the smoke trail he left behind, only the noise of his engine fading further away as he scaled his way out of the labyrinth without waiting for her.
"Man, I shouldn't have said anything and just pocketed what I can." Marine grumbles in annoyance, but still continues making her way. "It's not like anyone will get a medal for TRYING to be a hero."
But even as she says that, she's determined to give it a try. Who knows?
With that jerk's help, she could make a difference.
Location- Green Hill Zone (Or what used to be it), South Island
Context for later: Distance from New Central City is about 200 kilometers.
A blue circular void with white contours appeared in the middle of the sky. A second after, out jumped a silver hedgehog with long leaf-like spikes and white gloves with green circles. A green energy surrounded the young man as he floated in the air and looked down with a sense of dread.
"Not again, something changed the future again and I'm here to fix it!" Declared Silver the Hedgehog, unknowingly appearing in a time that's two years too late. After his own future gained an earth that turned into a dead wasteland, he came here to fix and prevent it from happening.
"But why is the sky as dark as it back, uh, I mean forward in time as well?" He asked, looking at a sky covered with a reddish tint and dark foul clouds. Likewise the green hills this place is called for have turned either yellow, gray or deaddish as if it's been struck by a never-ending fall. Several large black mushrooms surround the place, their veins brimming with crimson energy as if they're sucking out the life of the land. The trees and sunflowers nearby completely devoid of any color.
"And there's no animals around either!" No fish jumping from pond to pond, no butterflies or squirrels, there was no natural sound around for miles. The only noise came from the staticky and electric-like noise the mushrooms made, each of them having a line at the top that connects them from one to another like an organic version of a power-line. It's obvious the earth has been taken over by the presence of some monster, or maybe a virus, or even another eldritch being of the week.
"Well, I guess I can start by destroying these things, free the island and then move to Westopolis!"
And it is with that resolve in mind, that Silver moves to fix the future. Knowing little of how much attention the following action is about to bring to him. And how that is a boon in disguise.
"What are you looking at?"
The one eyed starfish alien, the loyal sentry keeping Shadow company jumped out of guilt that it had been caught looking at its master, and then apologetically flew around in circles over the hedgehog's head, making a point that it was looking elsewhere. The lifeform was notably more timid when it wasn't being possessed by Black Doom's will for the sake of easy communication.
"Hmph." Shadow grunted, and then continued to make his way through the long halls of the Space Colony Ark. It was several days after he'd last spoken to his father (Black Doom), and he was a little disgruntled that he was starting to miss their usual morning routine. That of he and him sitting on a table and getting to learn what the other did during the day over a cup of tea, like the blood in their veins is 1/3th british. The latter would coo or groan words of approval in his usual gnarly voice to communicate that he was proud of the initiative and changes Shadow has made around their newest colony. And Shadow would no show no reaction to them, because as the Ultimate Life-form it's expected he'd be the best at everything, even delegating and accounting of all things.
It had been a bother at first, but now the attempts at showing parental affection as bizarre as it is, had grown on him out of habit, and he couldn't help but feel restless when that all changed.
The sentry kept a safe few feet away from its master, fluttering its small tentacles as it tried to keep up with Shadow's brisk pace of letting his rocket boots hover him to where he needs to be. The little creature squinted it's eye for a few seconds, and then decided to send a brief image to its lord.
Shadow returned to solid ground, stopping his travel by hover when he saw the image in his head. It was a scene where Black Doom and his soldiers overrun a planet with grasslands and bizarre looking aliens of varying colors. The Black Comet wasn't the only one of it's kind after all, no, the Black Arms simply use them to invade different planets and while Black Doom personally attended to the new planet in sight, Shadow himself was entrusted with keeping the Earth in their dominion.
"I know that he is doing, cease your pathetic attempt at cheering me." Shadow sighed impatiently, though his tone held no heat against the sentry. He took a moment to look around at his surroundings, remembering the irony of him once running through them in fear instead of confidence and with that feeling a warmth came to his chest knowing the foolish humans would be punished for the sins they committed for the rest of their lives while he oversaw the process.
He finally arrived at the helm of the ship, to get a better view of the planet that belonged to him now. He'd paid a visit to the Spagonia region earlier this morning, to check on one of the temples there because his fellow brethren felt a sense of unease in it's proximity, only to find nothing of notice. He did find in that temple an altar where one could put in a chaos emerald but he had no reason to bother trying that, instead remaining contend with the fact that they remained sealed in a careful prison so that they cannot vanish around the planet and potentially be gathered by someone who wishes to usurp his rightful rule. That was part of the reason he wanted to use the Ark to shoot down Angel Island, but as if sensing the danger, the island hosting the Master Emerald dissapeared, now lost among the seas and oceans as if it never existed in the first place. However none of that mattered now, today was after all a peaceful day, one that won't be disturbed unless there's a-
An emergency that's transmitted to him via the sentry flashing another image before his eyes. This time it focused specifically on a flying white-furred Hedgehog causing havoc amongst the Black Arms camps lying within South Island. The familiar youth seemed to make it a mission of his to destroy any life-draining device that he found in some bizzarre attempt to protect the island, not realizing that by doing so, he was practically pressing every alarm button in the Black Arms hivemind. The destruction of one of their energy sources is always a prime priority.
"So we finally meet again, Silver the Hedgehog." Shadow started, a dangerous smile on his face, to which the sentry carefully backed away from. "I was wondering when you would show up."
The child was always there to change the future whenever it didn't satisfy. The ability to time travel makes him already a capital threat. One Shadow is better off disposing off himself, of course, he'd still give Silver a chance to join the right writers of history but if he refuses, there shan't be mercy.
Taking out the green and yellow chaos emeralds (the ones he by coincidence uses the most) and balancing them in one hand as he juggled them with grim satisfaction. Shadow confidently says, "No matter what I won't let you run away from me, for as long as I have two chaos emeralds, space and time are concepts that I can easily warp between. Prepare to meet your maker…."
"Chaos….Controll!" His declaration finished, he uses his iconic chaos technique to teleport himself towards the exit bay, then uses one of the emergency pods to reenter the atmosphere and land somewhere nearby the shores of South Island. It is there where he will begin his hunt for Silver.
Next chapter:
Silver and Shadow meet face to face! How will Silver deal against the Ultimate Lifeform?
Metal Sonic tries to reastablish themself into the Egg-net, will a hint of his creator's whereabouts appear?