//------------------------------// // Chapter Twelve: Metal Meets Mecha // Story: A Displaced Machine // by Prince_Zodiac //------------------------------// Chapter Twelve: Metal Meets Mecha. In the void, a piece of the Master Emerald was floating. How it had gotten here, no one knew. It was about to fly into a peaceful world, when a skeletal hand reached out and grabbed it. The skeletal hand pulled the shard back to inspect it. The being that was holding it was a skeleton. He had a black cape, with a red gem holding it to his neck. He also had a staff that had a miniature Tirek skull on the top, and a spear tip on the bottom. His name, was Marx. “The hell is this thing?” Marx took a closer look at the shard. It had a faint energy signature in it, and whatever energy it did have was looked away. “Eh, nothing I could use.” He flicked it back behind him like a coin, and accidentally snapped his fingers. A portal opened, and the master emerald shard fell through. Marx, his eyes going wide, realized what he did, and ran to the portal. It was a portal to Gale’s world. Marx grabbed the edge of the portal and peaked in, watching the shard fall down into Equestria. “Oh no. Well, I sure hope Gale enjoys otherworldly shards from the void.” Marx looked around, trying to find the source of the shard. He saw a nearby universe and, through some calculating that made no sense but at the same time did, he deducted that the shard came from there. He walked up to the universe, and peaked in. When he did, he saw a displaced that looked like Metal Sonic. “Huh, this should be interesting.” Marx then noticed that there was a displacer nearby. Marx smiled, then used telepathy to talk to him. ‘Hey um, Author?’ ‘Oh, hello Marx, what can i do for you?’ ‘Can you tell me the displacer of that Metal Sonic?’ ‘...’ ‘What?’ ‘What did you do?’ ‘Nothing! I found a green shard floating around here and accidently threw it into Gales world.’ ‘Oh, is that all? It’s fine, I’ll send Metal Sonic over to retrieve it.’ ‘Wait, that’s your displaced?’ ‘Yeah. I’ll overlook this one slip up because you’re my friend and you got me out of that awful meeting with the displacers council. Metal Sonic is already floating about the multiverse right now in stasis. I’ll send him over right away.’ ‘Thank you, by the way how is your son doing in his Equestria?’ ‘He’s doing fine, he might be in a little trouble in the romance area, since he’s got two mares that like him.’ ‘You’re proud of that aren't you?’ ‘Hell yeah I am.’ Gale walked through the portal from the human world back to his Equestria. “Ah, now that all of that’s over, it’s time for some R&R.” He began walking through the woods towards ponyville, then a gold ring appeared in front of him. “Huh, what’s this? It looks like a power ring.” ”If anyone out there needs some assistance or just someone to hang out with, call Metal Sonic.” “Oh, a token.” Gale looked around and shrugged, he gripped the ring and tried to summon Metal Sonic, but the spell was canceled out. “Guess it's a bad time.” He began walking again, then a portal appeared beside him and Metal Sonic was thrown through it, causing him to smack against a tree. “Why do all the women in my life cause me pain?” He slowly peeled himself off the tree and looked around. “Where is Author, I need to get him back some way, and Celestia for that matter. I mean, who just throws someone into a gateway to an alternate dimension?” He sighed. “Well, I’m stuck here until I do whatever I’m supposed to do here.” “Ahem!” Metal turned to see Gale in his battle form (Mecha Sonic). “Oh, I take it you’re the one who summoned me?” “Was it a bad time?” “Not really, I just met my displacer a minute ago, and Shadow the Hedgehog and Mighty the Armadillo showed up.” “If you want I can send you back.” “I’m afraid that won’t be an option.” They looked up to see The Author floating with a book in his hands. “There was a slight mix up and one of your master emerald shards got sent here.” “Wait, is that Author? Does he know Marx?" “Indeed, he and I are good friends and we're even on the same council. Now, you two play nice, tata.” With that, Author was gone. Gale looked over to where Metal Sonic was and saw he was gone, he looked around and saw he was banging his head against a rock. “I can’t catch a break, every single day something crazy happens to me. Befriending a God of Destruction, the master emerald breaks, SEGA characters show up one by one, I end up in a love triangle, I fight Luna and Shining Armor, and now this.” “How long have you been in your Equestria?” “Not even a week.” Gale walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, why don’t we take some time off, calm down, get a milkshake, and get to know each other before we go searching for the emerald shard?” “Yeah, yeah I’d like that.” They began walking towards ponyville. “So, you got sent here as Mecha Sonic.” “Yep, although I have the copy ability of Hyper Metal Sonic.” “Y’know, I never tested to see if I had that ability.” “Alright then what abilities do you have?” “Let’s see, spindash, homing attack, black shield, boost, overdrive, laser, chaos control, super sonic. I’m sure I have more i just can’t think of them.” “Try playing back something from a fight in your memory.” He nodded and closed his eyes, he pictured his battle with Luna and how she summoned those energy swords. He scanned the memory and opened his eyes. “Lunar Princess data has been copied.” He held out his hands and two see-through swords appeared. “Sweet.” “Trust me, that becomes handy in a fight.” “Hold on, before we get that milkshake I’ll need to scan one more thing. I don’t exactly have a mouth.” After scanning several more memories. Metal Sonics arsenal had been doubled, and now had the ability to actually eat and drink. “Perhaps we should introduce ourselves, my name is Gale, or if you'd like, Meta.” He held out his hand and they shook. “Nathan, but I prefer to be called Metal.” The two robots walked through town and got a few odd looks, Metal rolled his eyes and continued looking at ponyville. “You seem to be very interested in the buildings here, why is that?” “I’ve spent all of my time in Canterlot, I did go to Ponyville one time but I didn’t stay, just had a race with Rainbow Dash that led to us crashing into a hill. I’ve kinda just screwed around most of the time, although there was that time that Luna got me to wear a suit and perform for the thestrals…” “Wait, Luna got you to wear a suit?” Gale struggled to suppress his laughter and failed. “Yeah yeah, laugh it up. I thought that I looked quite dashing in it.” “Please, I bet I could pull off a suit better than you ever could in this form.” “Willing to put your money where your mouth is, I’ve got my suit with me. Whoever wins has to do one thing for the other no matter what it is, unless it's unnecessarily creepy. What do you say we go to the one pony in this town that can give a professional opinion.” “Rarity?” “Rarity.” Fifteen Minutes later Metal stood in his suit, he wore a black tailcoat with small cuffs at the wrists, he had a dark blue shirt underneath and a black tie, black dress pants and black magic leather shoes, he also had black gloves and silver cufflinks. Gale wore a dark blue tux with a black undershirt. he wore a top hat and held a cane in his hand while wearing very posh glasses. Rarity walked around the two and eyed them up and down. She sat down in front of them and closed her eyes. “I have reached a verdict.” Both robohogs leaned forward in anticipation. “Gale..” “YES!!!” “...you cannot pull off a tux in that form.” “NO!!!” “It sits terribly and the way your body is the shirt has to remain unbuttoned at the top.” Gale hung his head and Metal patted his back. “Metal however, the way the suit is designed and the way his body sits, it makes it look more natural.” “You can thank my Equestria's Luna for that, with a few modifications by myself.” Gale grunted, and changed form. He became his alicorn form, and the suit changed with him. It was now better suited to his alicorn form. Also, his glasses became a monocle that sat on his right eye. "How about now?" Rarity nodded in approval. "Much better, but now I can't decide." Metal started chuckling. “You don’t need to decide, I’ve won.” “Now hold on, she hasn’t chosen yet.” “The bet was that whoever could sport a suit in their battle forms better would win, you just handed the victory to me.” Gales eye twitched for a second before registering his mistake. He smacked his forehead and sighed. “Alright, you won, what do you want me to do?” “Oh, I’m not cashing in my winnings just yet, you’re a nice guy, so I won’t subject you to something embarrassing. I just wanted a favour in the bank from someone across the multiverse.” Gale perked up at that and nodded. They took off their suits and went to Sugarcube Corner. Once they got there, they both ordered smoothies. Once they had them, they sat on a nearby table, and started to drink. “So, how come you’re an alicorn?” Gale stopped sipping his drink. “Short version or long version?” Metal thought for a moment. “Mid length.” Gale nodded. “Okay, well, you know how you came to Equestria? And no, I don’t mean by the merchant, I meant when you first entered.” “Not really, I kind of woke up after being turned online and had to get out of a pile of rocks.” “Hm, interesting. Well for me it was very different. You see, I came in when the princesses fought Discord for the first time. Marx sent me in while the elements of harmony activated, and used the elements open the portal into that Equestria thus, making it look like the elements created me. Anyways, after I was summoned I stopped Discord and went on from there. I stayed for a couple years, quickly befriending the princesses, honing my skills, and gaining new abilities. After a while, I stopped a tyrant from taking over Equestria, getting rid of everypony’s cutie marks, making the old ways the only way, and having a schedule for everything so nothing would change, by defeating him through change. I kept using my ever evolving ability to constantly change and defeat him.” “How strong was he?” “Okay, imagine Sombra, but as a powerful demon, and on steroids, and you pretty much have Moonglow Glimmer.” “His name was Moonglow Glimmer?” “Yeah, and now I’m starting to think that a pony named Starlight Glimmer is his descendant.” Metal nodded. “So what happened next?” “Well, by saving the world from Moonglow, which took two years by the way, the Tree of Harmony rewarded me by making me an alicorn. After that I fought Tirek, but lost to him because he got help from some creature, I can’t remember who it was though.” “How come?” “I got destroyed pretty badly during that fight. My memory receptors keep telling me that the data is corrupted.” Metal nodded. “So wait, it took two years to stop Moonglow Glimmer?” “Yeah, son of a bitch was really freaking powerful. I still don’t know how he got that power. My best guess is dark magic.” “Hmm, you’ll have to tell me about that whole adventure sometime.” “Yeah, maybe after we get that master emerald shard back.” Metal nodded. Finishing their drinks, they set out, intent on getting that shard. “So, where do you think it is?” “Well, according to my scanners it’s in Canterlot.” “Oh well that shouldn’t be too hard.” “Now it’s outside of Canterlot.” “Oh, did it fall off a wall or something?” “Now it’s a quarter of the way to the crystal empire.” “What?!?! How is that possible?!?!” “I don’t know, did maybe a-” Gale suddenly stopped. Metal looked at him confused. “Um, you okay dude?” “There’s only one thing in my Equestria that can move that fast besides me.” “What?” “Well, you mentioned something about SEGA characters coming to your world right?” “Yeah, why?” “Well, one came to my world too. He’s the one that helped Tirek, or rather, was tricked to help him. I just couldn’t remember him until now.” “Who?” “Sonic, the Hedgehog.” “What?” “Look I’ll explain on the way.” They both took to the skies, Gale leading, and Metal following. “So how is Sonic in your world?” “Well, when Marx displaced me, he just barely saved me from becoming displaced by the merchant. The merchant, in a thirst for revenge, sent an agent after me. Only now do I realize the agent he sent was Sonic.” “So wait, he has the master emerald shard?” “Yeah, he must think that it being here means the others will show up. He’s been here on his own for a long time and will believe anything that says his friends are coming, or that he’s going home. I hate to bring him the bad news but that’s what needs to happen if we want the shard from him.” Metal nodded, and the two blasted off at top speed, meeting the distance between Sonic and them in seconds. They saw Sonic running alongside the train tracks. He was going pretty fast, and he had the Master Emerald shard clutched to his chest. Gale and Metal flew down in front of him. Sonic noticed them, and stopped. He watched as the two metal beings landed in front of him. “Aw man, now eggman has sent the both of you after me.” Gale ignored the comment. “Sonic, give us the master emerald shard.” “Like heck I will. Knuckles needs this more than you ever would, so I’m going to keep it till I find him.” “Sonic I’ve told you this many times before, your friends aren’t coming.” “Then what’s this doing here?” Sonic flipped the Master Emerald shard in his hand. “That’s a Master Emerald Shard from my world. I need it so I can complete my Master Emerald.” “Yeah, what a load of crap. Sorry, if you want it, you’re going to have to fight me for it.” Sonic then pulled out a warp ring, and used it to escape. “Why’d he run?” “Well, he's standing against the two most powerful foes he’s ever faced that were created by doctor eggman. What’d you expect him to do?” Metal looked around and spotted the blue blur off in the distance. “There he is, you follow him, I have an idea.” With that, Metal flew off in a different direction. Gale looked at him confused but did as he was asked. He flew off full speed towards Sonic until he was right behind him. “Where’s your friend Mecha, did he give up?” “Nope.” “Then why are you here alone?” “A little thing called a distraction.” Sonics eyes went wide as they heard a loud boom in the distance. He looked over only to be sent flying by Metal that had a dark blue aura bubble around him, the emerald shard got thrown into the air. “What was that?” “A boost, he would notice it too soon if I was right beside him.” Sonic got to his feet and saw Metal grab the emerald. “Hey, that doesn’t belong to you scrap brain!” “Actually if you would let me explain then you would find that I am currently guarding the master emerald!” “Lair!” Metal walked up to him and raised his hand in the air, Sonic closed his eyes expecting to be hit, but he felt something land on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw Metal had placed his hand on his shoulder and looked at him with soft eyes. “Look, I don’t wanna fight you Sonic, neither of us do. I get it, you’re in a world that’s unfamiliar to you and you’re alone. So are we.” Metal gestured towards Gale. “We aren’t the real Mecha and Metals, we’re just some guys that got put in their bodies. My name is really Nathan, that’s Gale.” “This isn’t some kinda trick, because Eggman’s done his fair share of those.” “Especially to Knuckles.” Gale stated and caused them all to chuckle. “Look Sonic, your friends aren’t coming to this world, because they’ve already been sent to another.” Metal realised what Gale was about to tell him and put a finger to his mouth. “Excuse us Sonic, I need to tell Gale something real quick.” They walked a few meters before Metal stopped them. “Look, there is a lot of stuff I gotta straighten up back home before I throw Sonic into the mix, a lot of complicated stuff.” “So you need me to take him in for awhile until things settle down?” Metal nodded. “Fine, but you better not take to long.” “Look, I’m gonna be honest with you here, the complicated stuff is a...love triangle.” Gale snickered. “A what?” “You heard me, I’ve got to get that sorted out, as well as find the master emerald shards, make sure Shadow doesn’t do anything stupid, look after Cream, help the other mobians get settled in, figure out what the hell is going on with my memory and make sure the space colony ark doesn’t show up randomly, to name a few, and I haven’t even been awake a full week yet.” He sighed and looked up to him. “I just need some time to get all of this sorted out, can you do that for me?” Gale sighed and nodded. “Thanks bro, I promise I’ll come get him when I’m done.” They walked back over to Sonic. “Sonic, I can promise you that your friends are safe, they are on my world, well, a few of them are.” He brightened up and looked at Metal with hopeful eyes. “However, there is tons of things that need to be done on my world before we can bring you there. I promise that I will come get you when everything is straightened out.” He nodded and Metal gave a sigh of relief. He grabbed Sonics and Gales arms. “Now this might feel a little weird Gale, since this is the first time you’ll be teleported this way.” Metal closed his eyes and he glowed. “Chaos...Control!” With that they were gone. The trio appeared outside of ponyville and Gale felt a little dizzy. “I’ve teleported before, why am I dizzy this time?” “It’s probably because of these.” Metal held his hands out and the chaos emeralds appeared and floated around him. “These things were the ones that Author used to send me to my Equestria.” He put the emeralds away and placed his hands on their backs. “Come on, I’ve had little to no downtime on my world, I’m gonna enjoy it while it lasts.” the tio walked around Ponyville, wondering what to do. Gale then got an idea. "Hey, do you guys want to spar?" Metal looked at him. "Well, an upcoming event that I'm taking place in kind of requires that I be good at fighting, and I haven't had a battle that has really tested my abilities in a while." Metal and Sonic thought about it for awhile. "Sure, why not? I haven't really been able to test my Super Sonic form's limits." "I could certainly use the practice." They nodded and walked to a nearby clearing, Gale had gathered some of the towns ponies to spectate, Pinkie and Spike were the announcers. “Welcome everypony to the battle of the hedgehogs!” “A lot of excitement from the ponies in the crowd Pinkie. Today we have three matchups in a friendly competition to test the warriors skills. The lineups are as follows. Metal Vs Sonic, Gale Vs Sonic and Metal Vs Gale!” “As we all know, Gale is our town's local hero. Metal Sonic is a being from an alternate version of Equestria and Sonic comes from a separate universe. Gale has saved Equestria from Discord and many other villains when he was in action almost a thousand years ago.” “Yes, he is really impressive Pinkie, but I think that these newcomers can give him a run for his money. Metal Sonic is a more advanced model of Gale, or as his body is named, Mecha Sonic. While Gale may have tons of firepower, Metal has more speed and agility, as well as the same copy ability that Gale has. There is no telling what he’s scanned in his world. He’s defeated his worlds Princess Luna in combat, befriended a God of Destruction and bested Captain of the royal guard Shining Armour.” “And finally,we have the hedgehog himself. We’ve been told he is what Metal and Gale are based off of, and were directly designed to best or match him in any way. He has speed, strength and a whole lotta luck. He’s beaten Gods, spirits, monsters and aliens. Lets see if he has what it takes to beat his copies today.” The trio looked at each other and nodded, Gale walked over to the stands. As he sat down, Author and Marx appeared beside him on the bench. “Y’know something, I wanted to bring my son into this.” “You have a son?” “Yes Gale, his name is Symbol Shattered, remarkable boy. I didn’t bring him here because he has something to take care of, and he’s going to fight a displacer soon.” “You sure he can handle that?” “You know as well as I Gale that a displacers child is not to be underestimated, especially this one.” Marx looked at Gale with a serious expression. “Author is one of the most powerful displacers in the multiverse, and his son might even be stronger. He’d make a powerful ally, I’m sure that his token will show up here sometime.” Just then a small portal appeared and a small purple diamond fell out of it. “Huh...speak of the devil.” Gale picked up the diamond and listened to the message it held. “To those that need assistance, I will answer your call, Symbol Shattered.” Gale looked to Author who took the token. “Marx is right, my son is powerful, but only call him if you absolutely have to, the type of magic he uses isn’t to be trifled with.” “Alright, I’ll keep that in mind.” Author gave him the token and he stared at it. “The child of a displacer, interesting.” “Alright everypony, the match is about to begin!” They turned their attention to the large open field, in case the duo moved away from the audience a vision spell was cast, creating a large screen for the ponies. Some time during the preparations Luna and Celestia had shown up to watch Gale when it was his turn. The two fighters took defencive stances, they stared at each other until a bell rang, signalling the fight to start. They both curled into their spinballs and hit each other head on, resulting in a large gust of wind. Sparks flew as they grinded against each other until they broke off, they both jumped into the air and shot towards the other in homing attacks, they collided a few times until they started spinning in the air. They broke off their attacks, stared each other down and reached behind them. Sonic pulled out caliburn (Sonic and the black Knight) and Metal summoned two magical swords. They lunged at each other and traded blow for blow. Metal backpedalled and launched forward in a boost, when Sonic tried to dodge he used a quickstep (Sonic Unleashed, Colours and Generations) to hit him. Sonic closed his eyes and held caliburn, he glowed and was encased in golden armour. Metal, not wanting to lose the chaos emeralds before he fought Gale, closed his eyes and looked through his memories. He copied one of Shadow's abilities from Sonic 06 and started glowing red. His body was encased in a dark red aura and he shot towards Sonic who met the attack head on. They swiped at each other, neither of them flinching from the damage they received. Both of them charged up energy and were surrounded by blue auras. “READY!” They both cried. “GO!” They shot towards each other and met head on, both pushing with great force. Sonic started to run out of energy from keeping his excalibur form up and using a supercharged boost. Eventually, Metal sent Sonic flying, resulting in the end of the match. Metal returned to normal and caught his breath. “That...was for 06…” “And the winner is Metal Sonic!” Twilight ran over to Sonic and cast a healing spell, returning him to normal. The crowd cheered and a few thestrals, that managed to hitch a ride with Author from Metals world, cheered louder than they ever have before. “They are a loud bunch aren’t they.” Gale whispered to Metal. “They grow on you, I’ve earned so much respect from those guys they call me the prince of the night.” Gale nodded. “Okay! The next round will be between Sonic and Gale! Are you excited Spike?” “Definitely Pinkie. As we all know, Gale was originally created to defeat metal Sonic. Apparently Sonic was able to best Gale, but Gale has changed since then. Let’s see if those changes make a difference today!” The crowd cheered and the two combatants stood apart from each other. They took their battle positions. “Good luck Sonic. Let this first friendly battle of ours be a grand one.” “Yeah, you too.” “Okay! Is everyone ready?” “Ready!” they both stated their eagerness for battle. “Okay! Three. Two. One. GO!” Gales POV Sonic jumped and did a homing attack. I lifted up my left arm to block it, and sparks flew as he grinded on my arm. The moment he stopped, I punched him in the stomach with my right. “GAH!” He was thrown back into a tree, and rammed right through it. He recovered quickly and ran back at me. He jumped and tried to do a mid-air down kick, but I rolled out of the way. I stopped rolling and rushed him. I threw a punch, and he dodged. He threw a punch, I dodged. We started going at it, punching, kicking, and dodging, neither of us landing a hit. Eventually, our fists meet, and there was a shock wave from the sudden clash of power and speed. Metal put up his black shield to protect himself from the sudden gust of wind. "Woah, didn't expect that to happen in a fight, what is this anime?" We both leaped back and stood at opposite ends of the field, glaring at each other. Sonic smiled. “Huh, pretty good. I’m glad I saved this just for you.” Suddenly, the world rings appeared around Sonic. They came together, and there was a bright light. I had to cover my eyes (eye?), and looked once the light was gone. Sonic, had transformed. He was now Darkspine Sonic. “So, increasing the difficulty now are we? Very well, let us see if this makes a difference!” I charged forward, and so did Sonic. We clashed and started to attack each other once more. I threw a punch, his fist meet mine. He kicked, and my kicks countered. Our attacks kept clashing. Then, we teleported. We started to teleport all around the field, and every time we appeared, we had clashed. Every strike let loose a burst of energy. We kept teleporting and striking, teleporting and striking. We continued to fight with the best of our abilities. Metal’s POV As Gale and Sonic continued to fight, I began to think. How was Gale this strong? I mean, Gale was Mecha Sonic, a previous version of me, Metal Sonic. Now, even though the two had never fought, it was pretty obvious that Darkspine Sonic would destroy Metal Sonic. So how was he fighting this well? “Something up?” I turned to Marx. “It just doesn’t make sense.” “What?” “Well, I just don’t understand how Gale’s this strong. I mean, I know by being a displaced, he could increase his power, but he still shouldn’t be this strong. I mean, Darkspine Sonic is practically the representation of an Arabian god. And yet, Gale is able to take him on. Normally, Mecha Sonic would have to absorb some of the master emerald’s power to even get close to having the power to take on Super Sonic. But, he’s just in his normal form. And yet, he’s matching Darkspine Sonic blow for blow.” “Ah, well that would seem confusing.” “That’s not the only thing though. He’s holding back! He’s got a lot more power he could use but he’s not using it! Hell, there’s even more power than his body should be able to handle! It doesn’t make any sense!” “Well, perhaps you’ll get the answer of how he has this power once your battle starts.” I nodded and turned my attention back to the battle. Gale’s POV After a while of fighting, Sonic and I teleported to opposite sides of the field. I crouched, with my hands at my sides, and started charging up a lot of energy. Sonic did the same. “So, this’ll be our last attacks huh?” I nodded. “Indeed. Let’s make them worthy of this battle.” Sonic nodded. We charged up a little more, then threw our attacks at each other. The beams of energy fired and sped off. They clashed, and Sonic and I started to battle for our victory. This would be a battle of strength and endurance. We were giving it all we had, but we just couldn’t best one another. “AAAHHHH!” I yelled my defiance. “AAAHHHH!” Sonic also shouted his anger. We poured the last of our strength into our attack, and it created a giant explosion. “WOAH! That explosion is huge!” “And it’s still growing Pinkie!” The explosion was growing into a massive size. It even got to the point where Marx and Author had to create a shield around the crowd. Once the explosion cleared, Sonic and I were standing in the middle of the field, which was now a crater. Sonic had untransformed, and he had a couple wounds on him. Parts of my outer covering were bent, and I had some serious damage done to my inner systems. Sonic then fell to his knees, and then collapsed. “AND THE WINNER IS GALE!” Everypony cheered. I was glad for the praise, but I soon collapsed as well, my internal systems having taken too much damage. The last thing I saw before shutting down was Metal, Marx, and Author running towards me.