//------------------------------// // Chapter Eight: Wandering Minds // Story: A Displaced Monster And Machine // by Prince_Zodiac //------------------------------// Chapter Eight: Wandering Minds ‘Metals father?’ ”Yes Lisa, the one you call Metal is my son.” I couldn't under what was happening, everything was going by so fast. With all that's been going on I really didn't expect to meet my best friends parents while said friend is corrupted by dark magic in an apocalyptic world. ‘I don't understand, why is all this happening?’ ”This was never meant to happen, someone has been tampering with the path this timeline is supposed to take.” ‘This timeline?’ ”Yes, there are multiple different timelines that are affected by what happens in this period of time around Alduin’s wedding. It was most likely the Nightmare Fuels and Xram that have been tampering with destiny.” ‘Why are you telling me this and not someone like Author or Marx?’ ”I am unable to reach them at this moment my dear. I am currently trying to keep this world from completely breaking apart, and so I must act through you Lisa.” ‘What do I need to do?’ ”For now just wait, you need to focus on keeping my son as close to himself as possible. You're the only one that he trusts right now, so I must ask you to stay with him. He holds you in very high regard my dear, you're one of the most important people in his life right now. Stay with him, and do not let harm befall that girl on the emerald. I shall speak to you later, for now you must wake up.” I felt myself returning to my body. Opening my eyes slowly I looked to my side to see that Metal was gone, with just me and the girl laying on the huge master emerald. I sat up and stretched my arms. Looking around I saw that Metal was patrolling around the shrine protectively. Getting off of the emerald I walked down the smooth stone steps of the shrine towards my friend, who must have sensed me as he stopped and looked up at me. He gave a very low growl, which I took as a greeting, before sitting down near the bottom of the steps. As I reached him I put a hand on his forehead and he leaned into the touch. “Come on Metal, let's go check up on Gale.” He just looked at me and placed a claw on the shrine. “Look, she'll be fine.” I held my hand up and large black tendrils grew out of the ground around the shrine, waving about and blocking any possible access to the girl. “That will let me know if anything gets down here and should fight them off. Now, let's go.” Metal gave me another low growl before getting up and walking towards the cave system that led to the surface. {Gale’s POV} Sleeping with a pack of timberwolves is actually pretty damn comfy. I knew that whenever they slept, they just turned back into branches and stuff for protection, but I had no idea that they could focus themselves into one thing. I don’t exactly know why, but these guys turned into a small little shack with a bed made out of leaves. It was surprisingly soft, and I slept like a baby. Anyways, I woke up to a horrid looking Equestria. It took me a second to remember that I was in Metal’s world, and not my own. ‘Gale? You there?’ I jumped up a little in surprise from the sound of my girlfriend’s voice in my head. Man I need to get used to this. “Huh? Oh hey Lisa. What’s up?” ‘We’re coming by to get you. We’ll be there in a bit alright?’ “Sounds good. I’ll be waiting.” ‘See you then babe.’ “Later.” I could feel the connection cut off and I looked around. Gregar was sleeping at the foot of the bed, a blanket of leaves draped over him. Damn, these were some nice timberwolves. Anyways I woke Gregar up and we left the little shack. The timberwolves must have noticed this because they turned back into their wooden wolf selves. To pass the time, I played fetch with them. Watching a timberwolf chase a stick was really weird looking. I mean, it was a bunch of sticks, chasing a stick. That threw my head for a loop. Thankfully it wasn’t a paradox. Now that would have been bad. So after an hour or so I saw Metal and Lisa walk out of the treeline. They stopped and watched as the timberwolves chased a stick, gaining the same confused expression I had. Lisa shook it off before she approached me. “Sorry we left you out here babe.” She gave me an apologetic kiss, earning just a very, very low growl from Metal. I simply shook my head. “No no it’s fine. Sleeping with a pack of timberwolves is actually pretty nice, considering they formed themselves into a shack with a bed in it for me.” “Really? Huh, never thought timberwolves could do that.” I heard a small growl from Metal. He sounded like he needed to be somewhere, and he sounded urgent. “Alright then let’s head back. Metal doesn’t want to be separated from that girl for too long.” “Wait, you understood that?” “Nope. Just good with animals.” She walked off back to the treeline, with Metal and I close behind. I looked at Metal and gained a sorrowful expression. ‘Don’t worry buddy. We’ll get you through this.’ As we continued on we passed more of the Timberwolves that were going about their business, if they strayed too close to Lisa they earned a hostile growl from Metal and then kept their distance. Sometimes I wondered just how close Metal wanted to be with Lisa, I just get that feeling that he wants to be more than just friends with her. Maybe it's just how much she reminds him of the girl that Lisa mentioned, I don't know. I decided to just keep an eye on Metal for now, he doesn't seem to be in absolute, scratch that, he doesn’t seem be in control at all, just following his instincts. While we were walking Metal suddenly walked ahead of me and to Lisa's side. I was surprised when he retracted the spines on his back and looked up to Lisa who petted his head and sat down on his back, allowing him to carry her. I just looked at Lisa confused and she just shrugged before Metal started walking again. As we reached a large clearing with a cave in the side of the mountain that was surrounded by a pack of the Timberwolves I just started wondering just how animal like Metal was if he was able to communicate and even command the wolves. As we entered the cave it started going downwards. Coming to different crossroads Metal just walked down one of the two paths without waiting, so I followed suit, now sensing the emeralds strong presence. I could feel the Super Emeralds with the master emerald, not surprised that Metal would try to use them to heal someone. As we turned the last corner and walked down the last hallway I was surprised to see a stone shrine surrounded by black tendrils. Lisa snapped her fingers and they all disappeared revealing the beauty of this place and showing the Super Emeralds surrounding the shrine on different pillars, with the master emerald somehow being twice it's normal size and placed at the top of the shrine where I saw a figure lying down. As I tried to step onto the shrine I was shocked to find Metals instantly jumped in front of me and turned to me with a hostile growl, making me back away from the shrine. He then used the blade on his tail to draw a line between the shrine and me before pointing to it and walking up the shrines steps towards the master emerald. I turned around to Lisa confused. “Just do what he wants Gale, he's just trying to keep that girl safe is all.” I sighed and nodded, feeling left out somewhat. I felt Lisa plant a kiss on my forehead before she began walking up the shrines steps and knelt down beside Metal who was sitting while staring at the figure on the emerald with worry. I watched Metal get up and move from emerald to emerald, checking them and moving them very carefully in some cases like he was trying to see if something was wrong with them or to make sure they were in proper placement. He eventually walked up to Lisa and gave a low growl before walking down the steps, passing me while giving me a glare, stopping as he reached the exit of the chamber before curling into his spindash, which was now a large ball of blue and silver spikes, and shooting up and out the cave. Lisa walked down the steps and began slowly walking through the beautiful flora surrounding the shrine before sitting down on a tree stump while looking at all the flowers. I walked over to her and sat down beside her. “What happened to him?” I asked. Lisa looked down at me with curiosity. “What?” “What happened to Metal? What caused all this to happen to him? What did he do to deserve all of this? His world torn apart, seeing one of his friends in such a condition, being possessed by dark magic and not being able to heal his friend. He treats you like you're his master or something, but he treats me like I'm gonna try and kill him at any given moment.” I looked to the shrine and then back to my girlfriend. “I don't know Gale, something is messing with all of us. I heard the voice of Metal’s dad last night while I slept and he said something about someone messing with destiny.” She said. “And I think we both know who could be behind that, or rather, which two beings are behind this.” “Xram and Nightmare.” We both said in anger. “So now he's torturing my best friend? Xram is gonna pay.” I said darkly. I got up and walked around to collect my thoughts. Great, I was just about to go to my brother’s wedding, but now I had something like this to deal with. ”FUCK!” “Gale-” “No! I’m tired of this shit! I wanna know what the hell happened here! I wanna know who the hell that girl is!” I stopped as Lisa hugged me, trying to calm my anger. “I wanna know what the hell Metal did to deserve this. What any of us did to deserve any of this.” “Gale, sometimes this is how fate works. For no reason at all, we were chosen to take part in this. At least we’re allowed to be there for him.” I nodded. She was right, at least we could be here for him. I calmed down a bit more after that. Metal came back, rolling down the path straight to us. When he uncurled, he growled at me, as if telling me to move back. But I stood my ground and let my eyes (eye?) glow red as I gave him my best death stare. That made him back off a bit. But it seemed to be out of surprise rather than fear, I don't think anyone has really stood up to him at this point. He just countered with his own glare, and I struggled to keep my cool. His eyes were just filled with so much unnatural anger and despair, it was hard not to flinch. But I stood my ground and began walking over to him while countering his glare. When I reached him I had to look down, trying to show dominance by showing that I was the bigger player...big mistake. Once he had figured out what I was doing he slowly began to rise onto two legs, I had thought he could only stand on his four claws. Once he was up he was taller than me by half a head, I now had a better view of most of his spikes. “Gale...just back away...I'll try to calm him down.” Lisa said as she tried to walk over. “No Lisa.” I held out my hand to stop her. “Let me do this, I need to show him I mean well.” “By intimidating him?! He's got the instincts of a fucking predator right now!” I screwed up, I'll admit. Metal grabbed me in his claw and smashed me into the ground. He then threw me into the wall. I was able to pull myself out, and when I did I saw Metal taking a defensive stance in front of Lisa like he was protecting her. Protecting her, from me. Ah hell nah. “I see. Since you don’t remember me, you don’t remember the relationship that I have with Lisa. You think she’s yours. Well, listen here pal, we may be friends, but no one steals my girl. If you think that being a primal monster is an excuse to take every female that’s to your liking,” my eye glowed an even brighter red as my power started rising, “you’re dead wrong.” Energy burst out around me as I donned my super form. Once the transformation was complete, I rushed up to Metal and grabbed him by the neck. “Let’s take this outside shall we?” I shot up and used Metal as a shield as we barreled through the earth. We blasted out the mountainside that held the cave we were in. I then shot downwards, right into the ground, smashing Metal into face first. There was an explosion, and I jumped off to the side. I watched the plume of smoke for any signs of Metal. Suddenly, a huge red laser was fired at me, but I managed to dodge it. “You’ll have to do a hell of a lot better than that.” As soon as I said that I felt a surge of dark magic behind me. Turning around I saw a faint red glow in the dust. Once the dust settled I saw Metal standing there, his body now glowing red and red electricity appearing all over his body. He crossed his arms and looked at me with a glowing eye. What he said next made me rethink my plan of attack. “Chaos...Blast…” With the built up Apocalypse Magic in him the normal Chaos Blast was now as strong as...well it was like a miniature nuclear bomb that's all I can describe it as. A violent wave of red energy swept across the area, I was unable to dodge or counter so I had to take the full force of the blast. As the energy stopped expanding it seemed to form a dome around the area, blocking any chance of escape while still dealing damage to its target, me. As Metal approached I tried to get off my knees but the magic had managed to paralyse me, so all I could do was watch as Metal stomped towards me, his sharp claws seeming to look even more threatening than before. He reached me and pulled his arm back, ready to take a swipe...but he stopped. He just stood there, unmoving. His glowing eyes were gone, making it look like he was in some kind of shutdown. I knew that it was a lost cause trying to restrain him, his monstrous strength could easily break through anything we bound him with, and his spikes could just saw right through the bonds. I took this chance to recover before punching him in the face, sending him flying backwards. As I approached him I saw his eyes flicker back to life before he used his extending tail to knock me off my feet before getting to his. He just looked at me, thoughtfully, it looked like he was studying me, it was like when he had first seen Lisa. Suddenly he started stepping back and gave a low growl. He had remembered me. He cancelled the dome and began walking back to the cave. He curled into his spindash and jumped down the hole in the ground that I had made when I had taken him out of the chamber. When I reached the shrine again I saw that Metal was lying on his side by the shrine with his eyes once again shut off, like he was sleeping. Lisa was sitting beside him with her back against the master emerald. “You need to stop assuming things Gale.” Lisa said in a hushed voice. “What?” “You need to stop assuming things.” She said louder. “You said that he thought I was his, but you were wrong, he remembered me for me, not the girl and he wasn't trying to steal me from you, he just didn't want to risk losing anyone else dear to him. I guess he just got confused with who was friend and who was foe.” She said in a calmer tone while placing a hand on Metals face. “If we're going to help him we need to get the real him out of there, he's in there I know it, I saw it. We just need to get in there somehow.” “Even if we did get into his subconscious who would look after the girl or protect us from harm while we're asleep?” I asked. ”I believe I may be of use here.” A voice spoke as a ball of purple light floated into the chamber. ”Hello you two, and good to see you again Lisa.” “Lisa who is this?” “That's Jasper, Metals dad.” ”It’s a pleasure to meet you Gale.” “Uh.., same here?” ”So, I heard you say something about getting into my son’s mind.” “Yeah! Do you have a way?” ”Yes, I do. But, I’m reluctant to do this.” “Huh? Why?” ”The mindscape is affected by a person’s state of mind. With the way Metal’s it running rampant, it could be very dangerous.” “So what? Metal is our friend, hell is gonna have to freeze over before we decide to leave him behind. Besides, Lisa and I can handle anything that Metal’s insanity can throw at us.” ”Very well, if you think you are ready, then I will send you.” I was about to nod before I stopped and turned to Gregar. “Hey buddy. Think you could watch over Metal and the girl for us while we’re gone?” “You can count on me.” I nodded before I turned to the purple flame that represented Metal’s father. “Alright, we’re ready.” The flame seemed to nod before a small ball of light formed in front of it. It consistently grew bigger and bigger until it enveloped us, causing everything to go white. Soon, everything was dark, not a single thing in site. “Is this Metal’s mindscape?” I turned to Lisa, and froze. “Whoa.” Lisa turned to me, confused. “What?” Suddenly she gained a look of surprise. “Uh, Gale?” “Uh, Lisa?” “You-” “-look-” “-weird.” {Third POV} Lisa and Gale finished their sentences simultaneously. Both looked at each other, mystified by their new appearances. Lisa looked… odd. Her normal form that was constantly seen, with the long black hair, the pale white skin, and faceless head was like a faded outline over a new body. This body still had the long black hair and the black dress. But the similarities stop there. She was a bit shorter, had light tan skin, and beautiful black eyes. This is what she looked like as a human. Gale had also changed. His Mecha sonic form was also a faded outline around a human body. Gale was in the human form he took when he went to Equestria’s human world. He had the long light blue hair the was spiked towards the ground. He had his red and yellow heterochromia eyes, a blue jacket with a light blue undershirt, blue jeans, and light blue shoes. “Lisa, why do you look like that?” “I could ask you the same question.” ”This is how you look in the mindscape. Everyone, looks like this.” “What? But when Xram invaded my mind I didn’t look like this.” ”That was different. When Xram entered your mind, it was by force so your mind put up a barrier, causing you to take that form.” “Oh… I guess that makes sense.” He turned to Lisa and eyed her. “So this is what you look like as a human?” “Yeah.” She then made a pose and stared into Gale’s eyes. “What do you think?” “Hot as ever.” She giggled and gave him a kiss. A real one now that they actually had lips. “Thanks babe. You’re not too shabby yourself.” Gale just chuckled and looked around. “Alright. Welp, we best get moving. Metal has got to be around here somewhere.” “But where would we even look to find him?” “Hmm.” Gale closed his eyes and listened for any sort of sound. Although it was faint, he could hear a piano playing in the distance. “I think I have an idea as to where he may be.” As the two began walking towards the sound details started to appear in the void around them. They seemed to be entering a hallway of sorts, but in shambles with lines of red energy spread around the place like wires in the walls. On the walls lay paintings that were blurred out by the red energy. “His memories...they're all faded.” Gale said quietly as he looked around. “These just look like random ones, most of them are just of him either playing video games or doing something to pass the time, I think we need to go deeper to find his more important memories.” Lisa said as she looked to one of the paintings. “Well to do that I guess we just follow the sound of that piano.” Gale said before walking on ahead. “You know, I never knew that Metal played the piano.” “Oh yeah that never came up with you two did it? When we first met Metal told me that Luna had gotten him to wear a suit and perform for the thestrals of his world.” Lisa just giggled as she imagined Metal in a tux playing a grand piano. “Oh my god really?” “Yeah, we even made a bet to see who could pull off a suit better in their battle forms...I lost.” “What were the stakes?” “I owe Metal one favour and I have to do it unless it's something unnecessarily creepy, but I doubt that will happen. He's still yet to cash in, I guess he was saving it for situations like this.” The two continued to walk through the corrupted hallways, occasionally blocked by large red crystalic walls forming in their way which they destroyed but with difficulty. Things followed a linear path until they came to a small lobby of sorts with two pathways branching out. “I think we should split up, cover ground faster.” “I don't think that's a good idea Lisa, you heard Jasper, there could be anything in this place.” “Do you really think that Metal would let something hurt me in here?” She asked with a raised brow. “...point taken.” They gave each other a kiss before heading down different hallways. As they turned their corners two signs flickered to life above each entrance. The one Glae had went down was labelled ‘Secrets’ and the one Lisa went down was labelled ‘Core Memories and Feelings.’ Meanwhile, deep inside the subconscious realm there lay a white chamber, in the centre lay a round stage where a white grand piano stood. Gentle notes filled the jar as the one playing expertly crafted a masterpiece of a song. The one playing wore a white tailcoat and dresspants, his hair spiked and black, looking no older than seventeen. His eyes...one was normal with the colour of blue while the other was black with a red glowing dot as a pupil, lines of red energy surrounding it like wires. He too had an outline, the outline of Metal Sonic.