//------------------------------// // Metal Madness! // Story: Tails of Fate // by CroisSunnyPlay //------------------------------// Tails of Fate CHAPTER FOUR - METAL MADNESS! ((Tails POV)) I appeared inside the castle with the Chaos Control. I have to question this logic as apparently when I'm not in a fight I can use the Control and the Blast freely. I'll look at that later. I looked around the castle. Empty and silent. That's not a good sign, but I can use it to my advantage. Closing my eyes and focusing on my hearing, I let my feet carry me towards the direction of a faint noise, something that sounded like metallic steps. Even if the show portrayed Tails as an adorable and highly intelligent fox, the fact that he is still a predator didn't change, and so, I too had predator instincts, like the heightened hearing to guide me in the direction of a possible prey. But I had to admit, even if the time I passed here changed my body a lot, I could still play the 'cute, weak and innocent fox' card if I tried. Very good for luring other predators to me to strike them down if I want. But I'm getting sidetracked, back to the matter at hand. Minutes later, I stopped and opened my eyes. I was close to a corner where the metallic steps could be heard. Pressing my back to the wall and peeking around said corner, I saw some robots walking in front of a pair of big double doors, which apparently lead to the throne room, where I could hear some voices coming from inside. Just gotta find a way to get the robots out of the equation without making too much noise, I need the advantage of the element of surprise. Remembering some of the devices I found on my pocket dimension, I quickly took out a jamming device I modified to have an adjustable area of effect and programmed it to the area of this hallway. As silently as I could, I slid the device around the corner and towards the robots, and watched as their systems glitched and shut down. Perfect. Approaching the double doors, I took a deep breath and gripped one of my staffs tightly, before pushing the doors open just a crack, enough for me to squeeze through without attracting attention. I hid behind a pillar and observed the scene going on inside. I could see Eggman in his usual floating contraption, the Master Emerald laying in front of the throne and nearby on a cage with electrified bars, was Princess Celestia. Curiously, next to her was a smaller form, I couldn't see very well from this angle, so I couldn't identify the pony's features. I was about to continue my observations when suddenly the pillar I was behind crumbled, forcing me to leap away from it. I cursed under my breath as Eggman turned to face me, but my attention wasn't on him. I rose an eyebrow at the thing responsible for destroying the pillar, thinking that it looked familiar somehow. (Couldn't find a good image, so this will have to do for now.) I heard Eggman start chuckling. "So nice of you to join us, fox. Allow me to present you to my latest creation: Metal Changeling C-272!" Now I remember. I have read about changelings once, a race of shapeshifting bug-like ponies who fed on emotions. Sadly the information I had on them wasn't much, to my frustration. I hate incomplete information. "I don't have time to play with you now, but luckily I just have the perfect place in mind for you to test my new minion for me." Eggman laughed and pressed a button, causing a portal to open under me and the changeling robot. I didn't have time to react and fell through the portal at an alarming speed, barely managing to slow down by spinning my tails. I landed on the ground with a loud thud and cracked it a little bit. I sighed and stood up, looking around at my surroundings, and blinked at what I saw. "No. Way." It really was. I was in Stardust Speedway. I groaned slightly at the cliché of fighting against a metal being here. Eggman may not be the same as on the games, but it really feels like he is trying to be. I mean, really? Couldn't be a little original, like, fighting underwater with the robot? ...I guess I'm just rambling. I was always very vocal about things that displeased me in games (I almost shot the Sonic 06 copy I had, but I didn't have a gun). I should just focus on the fight ahead. Another loud thud signified the robot landing behind me. I turned to face it and took out one of my staffs. I tensed as it's eyes and horn briefly glowed, but it didn't seem to make any move to attack. I wondered what it was doing until it's entire body glowed brightly, forcing me to shield my eyes from it. When the light finally faded, I uncovered my eyes and looked back at the robot, but was surprised to find it absent. Instead, there was an exact copy of me standing in it's place. It opened it's eyes, revealing glowing blue orbs with no pupils. "No matter what trick you use, I will not lose!" Stardust Speedway Zone Vs Rival Boss Metal Changeling ((Third Person)) The clone also took out one of it's staffs and mimicked his stance. If it wasn't for the glowing eyes, Tails would say he was looking on a mirror. The two stared down one another for a moment before dashing forward and clashing their staffs against each other, neither giving an inch to the other. They then jumped back and started along the road in Stardust Speedway. Tails managed to collect as many rings as he could this time. The speed of the two was impressive, but equal to each other. Seems like the robot managed to turn itself into a exact copy of him, down to his abilities. They kept speeding up, until finally they broke the sound barrier, adjusting their courses to fly at one another and engage in combat again. They were blurs at this point, the only sign of their combat being the shockwaves that happened each time they collided. Tails managed to get some hits on the clone, but also received a few in return, causing him to lose part of the rings he collected, but he managed to grab most of them back before they could disappear. The two skidded back from each other after a particularly strong collision, both with eyes narrowed. Tails started building up energy and the clone did the same. "Chaos..." Yellow energy started cackling one their right hands, growing in intensity with each passing second. When the energy accumulated was enough to encompass most of their bodies, they launched the energy spears at each other. "...SPEAR!!!" The two energies collided in the middle and struggled for dominance for a moment before exploding, and in the middle of the smoke, Tails and the clone dashed at each other again and engaged in combat one more, even if vision was limited by the smoke. They seemed to really be evenly matched until Tails' attacks started to increase in speed, and soon, he began to overwhelm the clone, forcing it to lean more to the defensive. Finally, with a mighty swing of his staff, Tails knocked the clone into a wall, where it crashed through the wall and the two others after it, badly cracking a fourth. Various parts of the clone's body were sparking from the damage it took, but it wasn't defeated yet. It stood up and began to gather a large amount of energy, focusing it on a final attack. Tails did the same as he was dashing towards the clone, he would have to carefully time this, else he gets hit instead. When he was about twenty feet away from the clone, it unleashed a powerful shockwave, trying to hit Tails one way or another. When it was about to impact with Tails, he back flipped over it and brought his hands together by his side, the power he was charging forming into a purple ball of energy. Using the momentum of his jump, Tails turned his body and aimed his attack at the clone, who was too close to dodge now. "Soul... BLASTER!!!" Tails unleashed his attack in the form of a massive purple beam, carving a path of destruction in a straight line and utterly destroying the clone. As the beam stopped, Tails gazed at the destruction he caused, and took a moment to stare at his hands. "So much power..." He was brought out of his musings when the ground under him shook and he glanced behind him to see the entirety of Stardust Speedway falling apart. He cursed under his breath and started running away, weaving between falling debris and looking for a way out. Finally, after some seconds of running, Tails saw a shimmering portal in the distance. Putting a burst of speed, Tails desperately dashed towards the portal, dodging more debris. He was almost crushed twice by a particularly big rock, but managed to dodge, even if barely. When he was almost making it to the portal, the ground under his feet caved in, sending plummeting down. He quickly spun his Tails and managed to catch himself, and flew towards the portal with a sigh of relief. "That was close..." Mission Clear Exp. 79 rings = 790 exp Current exp. 820 To next level: 1000 Level up! Gear unlocked: Dual Katanas Level up! Gear unlocked: Telescopic Staff Current exp. 1610 To next level: 2100 Current level: 5 Tails nodded in satisfaction to his new stats and jumped through the portal, ready to put an end to Eggman's plans. Eggman floated his machine close to the cage where he was keeping the two princesses captive. He was enjoying mocking them, saying that it wouldn't be long before their supposed "hero" was destroyed by his creation. But, only one of the two royals was listening. Princess Luna was lost in her own thoughts. She had managed to catch a glimpse of the one that had came to save them before he fell through the portal. Something about him felt very familiar. Could it be... She thought to herself before shaking her head. No, it's been thousands of years already... He wouldn't be alive anymore... She then shot an annoyed glare at the fat man on his floating machine as he kept gloating about a "Eggmanland". He was worse than Discord! Meanwhile somewhere, a certain draconequss suddenly felt insulted for some reason. "...And when Eggmanland is built, I'm gonna display you two as trophies on my-" Eggman's statement was cut short by the fact that he suddenly found a staff sticking out of the control panel of his floating pod. "You should never celebrate before being making sure if you have won or not." Said Tails, retracting his staff and attaching it to his back again. "What! No! How did you defeat my robot!? It had the ability to copy everything you could do!" Eggman exclaimed, desperately trying to stabilize his pod. "That may be true, but even a robot cannot duplicate my full strength." Tails couldn't help the smugness in his voice, and it annoyed Eggman to no end. "Grrr, you may have won this time, but mark my words! I will be back, and this world will be mine!" Eggman managed to make his pod fly out of the window and escape. Tails briefly considered just ending his life by piercing his heart with his staff while he had his back to them, but decided he didn't want to go down that path. He turned his attention to the cage the royals were in an destroyed it with a single swing of his staff. Princess Celestia stood up along with the other pony he didn't recognize. Another Alicorn? But there's no mention of this in any of the history books I read... Tails thought to himself, but was interrupted by Princess Celestia catching his attention. "I deeply thank you for rescuing us from that "Eggman" as you called him. We would have defeated him ourselves but he somehow managed to overwhelm and cancel our magic..." Looking past the princess and to the Master Emerald, Tails noticed what seemed to be a small antenna atop it which was siphoning energy from the emerald. With one swing of his staff, the device was destroyed and instantly the two princesses felt their magic return. Even during all of this, Luna wasn't paying attention to anything but the two tailed fox in front of her. The presence, the way he carried himself, even his aura... Celestia glanced concernedly at her wide eyed sibling, who slowly approached their savior, as if in a trance. Luna stood a few feet apart from Tails, and gazed into his eyes, him doing the same. Some say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and that is true. One can catch a glimpse of another's soul just by looking into their eyes. And what the two saw into each other eyes, shocked them to the core. "F-Father?" "Me... Melissa..." Tails of Fate Opening Arc end