Chapter 10: A Fickle Thing
Chapter 10: A Fickle Thing
"Doctor?!" cried out Orbot to the giant monitor, a fallen Dr. Robotnik lying on the metal floor outside his own tower.
"Come on Doc!" yelled Cubot. "Ya can't be out just yet! What're we gonna do when it comes time for payday!?"
"You idiot," responded Orbot. "We don't get payed. No one pays us."
"Oh," was all Cubot answered with. "Then what are we yellin' for again?"
Orbot could only facepalm at his partner's forgetfulness. "Because now both Sonic and Rainbow Dash are in the base! Without anyone to defend us!"
Cubot just waved this off in a nonchalant manner. "We're not completely defenseless. We have the rest of the badniks remember."
"Much good they've been," Orbot deadpanned. "Maybe if Robotnik just let them all attack all at one, maybe he would've succeeded."
Cubot then looked like he was deep in thought, which was completely out of character for his idiotic persona. "What about Metal? I'm sure he'd be more than willin' to help us out."
"That's a horrible idea," said Orbot. "I feel like he'd sooner dismantle us than help us."
"Nah," said Cubot. "He'd help us out. Look. He's already givin' the good doctor a hand."
This quickly caught the attention of Orbot. He swiftly turned to look at the screen and indeed did see Metal Sonic standing over the unconscious doctor. The metal hog then bent down and it looked as if he was looking over the large man.
"See," said Cubot in triumph. "What'd I tell ya. He's all concerned the master, too. And right after he's done with that, he can come give us a hand as well."
Orbot was ignoring his friend's statement on the matter. All his attention was focused on what was happening on screen, and he wasn't liking wha he saw. Cubot saw this and began waving his metal hand in front of his face, trying to bring him out of what've trace he was in.
"Yoohoo," he said.
Without responding, Orbot grabbed the top of his head and turned it to where he was facing the screen as well. Cubot's hand quickly fell to his side as he stared at the screen, too. On screen was Metal, who was still standing over Robotnik, but was no longer bent down to his level and was standing straight up, looking as if he was deep in thought. In his right hand, holding it at eye level, was a small remote with just three small buttons of varying colors on its surface. Metal must've taken it out of the doctor's pockets. He stared at it for some time, before giving it his equivalent of a glare as his red eyes grew brighter. Then he squeezed.
Both Orbot's and Cubot's jaw servos just failed them as they witnessed the remote being crushed in his grip. Bits and pieces fell from between his metal fingers before he opened them up and let the scrap fall to the floor.
"Did he just…" Cubot started.
"Break his shut down switch?" Orbot finished.
As if to answer their question, Metal faced the camera, and while they were in the control room and not right in front of him, they still couldn't help but flinch back in fear. He might as well have been looking straight in their eyes, the piercing red against the black background emphasizing the feeling. As his unearthly, purple aura flared to life and in a burst of speed he nearly vanished. It wasn't until the camera went dead did they realize just how much trouble they were in.
"Was that supposed to happin'?" Cubot questioned.
"No," Orbot answered, tightly gripping his metal cranium. "That wasn't supposed to happen at all."
"Which part?" came a voice from behind them.
The two jumped in surprise at the sound of the new voice and quickly turned around. What they saw involuntarily caused them to latch onto each other in fear, visibly shaking so much that they could've swore nuts and bolts were falling off them.
"Cause if I had to guess, I'd say nothings really been going your guys' way today," Sonic said as he rubbed the back of his head with a snarky smile.
Orbot was the first of the two to bring himself out of his terrified stupor. "Sonic?! H-How'd you get in here?!"
"Yeah!" Cubot joined in. "We had like, enough badniks to fill up the doctor's food storage guardin' the place!"
Without giving them an answer, Sonic simply gestured with his thumb behind him. The two followed the gesture back to the door to the room. What they saw was an absolute mess of things. The door was wide open, so they were easily able to the string of wrecked badniks here and there, assumedly the ones who were supposed to be guarding them.
"So, Metal's still up and kicking huh?" Sonic asked, partially to himself, and partially to the two small bots in front of him. "Kind of hoped he kicked the bucket earlier. Ah well. Guess he's more like me than I thought."
Even though he appeared to be in the middle of a thought process, it wasn't difficult for him to notice Orbot and Cubot trying to sneak away from him in a near synchronized manner. He let them get a couple of feet away from him before he let a grin grow on his face. He quickly rushed right in front of them, cutting off the route they were trying to take. The action again resulted in them both cowering in fear as the blue hedgehog looked down at them, his hands on his hips in a cocky demeanor.
"Hey, I didn't say you bucket heads could leave just yet," he said pointing an underhanded finger at them. "I need the knowhow of a couple of things, and I can't think of anyone better to tell me than you two."
"A course!" Cubot panicked, throwing his hands up as if the finger was a gun. "Whatever ya say! We'll tell ya whatever ya want!"
"Quiet bolts for brains!" Orbot said trying to shush his friend.
"My first question," Sonic said as he raised a single finger, "we're can I find the last Time Stone? Even Robuttnik isn't stupid enough to take it with him everywhere he goes. It has to be here somewhere. So, where is it?"
The two remained silent to his question, neither of their metal jaws moving an inch. They simply lowered themselves and hoped he wouldn't try to press any farther.
"Not taking huh," Sonic said. Another toothy smile appeared on his face as he started winding his arm up. "Whelp, there's always plan B."
Before he could even take a step in their direction, Orbot suddenly shouted," Wait! Wait! No need for that! We'll tell you everything you want to know! We didn't like the doctor anyway!"
"Yeah," Cubot said. "He was always being so angry and grumpy all the time. Plus, uh…he wasn't very smart and uh…big! He was big, too! He always took up so much space and—"
"Ok, he gets it Cu," Orbot said.
"Now you guys are speaking my language," Sonic said triumphantly. "So?"
"Well…you see," Orbot began, "Robotnik never really told us where it was exactly. He was always so secretive with it, we never even got to get a good look at it, even going as far as to send us off on menial tasks as it was coming through."
Even for a robot, Orbot swore that he was sweating bullets right about now. The way Sonic's cocky attitude slowly shifted to that of someone who was a tad impatient with the individual in front of them, tapping his foot on the cold, metal floor as he crossed his arms, made him shiver in his metal casing as their eyes were locked.
"You expect me to believe Robuttnik left you guys in the dark about the whole thing," Sonic accusingly deduced. "Every time I see you guys your hanging around the doc like you're his biggest fans or something."
"It's true!" Orbot defended. "We know its somewhere here in the building, but he never told us where!"
Sonic eyed the two bots intensely. He didn't buy it for a second that these two didn't know where the Time Stone was. More than anything they were just trying to stall for time, whatever good that would do them right now. Now he could easily try to force the info out of them with a quick beating. Not harm no fowl, right? Then again…
"Alright then. Since old Robo geek was too busy leaving you guys in the dark," he said with a sarcastic tone, "then maybe you can answer my second question. Where's that girl Amy at?"
"Oh!" Cubot shot up. "We can answer that! Can't we Or?"
"Yes!" Orbot joined in. "Yes, we can! If you would do the honors Cu."
Without saying another word, Cubot pulled out a small black remote from his back. The remote was lined with very few buttons, but that didn't stop him from somehow loosing track of the button he was supposed to be pushing. After another second or two, he found and pushed a big green button on the remote. On command, a circular hatch opened in the floor a few meters away from them, steam flowing out as it did. Out from the now opened hatch came a cylindrical cage, and as it stopped Sonic quickly noticed the small pink hedgehog girl within. Visa versa, she quickly noticed him.
"SONIC!" she shouted in glee. "I knew you'd come to save me!"
Sonic visibly sweat dropped at the appearance of his newly made friend. Suddenly he was having second thoughts about this whole thing. Well, too late for that.
"Hey Ames," Sonic nonchalantly said as he left the two robots and walked in the direction of his fangirl. "Hope the Robuttnik was a good host while you were here. He can be a bit hard to get used to sometimes."
Unknowing to Sonic, Orbot silently nodded his head to Cubot, gesturing for him to do something. This action was met with a hint of confusion as Cubot tilted his head.
"What?" he asked aloud.
"Oh for…" Orbot said as he simply went over to his friend and snatched the remote from him. Eyeing Sonic, he pressed a small yellow button to the side, his mouth forming a smirk if it visibly do so. As Sonic walked ever closer to the cage, he felt a slight shift in the floor beneath him. Out of reflex, he jumped back, barely avoiding the swiftly opening hatch in the floor. As he landed, he noticed another platform rising to his level. On the platform rose two, very tall robots, both dark in color with massive arms and torsos, armed with comically large sledgehammers in their hands. The two quickly spotted Sonic as he got into a crouched fighting position.
"Sonic!" Amy cried in worry.
"Time to go!" Orbot yelled as he darted to the door.
"We've got to gowoahoah," Cubot yelled as he followed suit.
The two bots quickly exited them room, leaving Sonic to face the two new foes they presented him with. Sonic glanced in their general direction in annoyance. Never trust an egg bot. He focused back on the two in front of him, both already readying their massive hammers at him.
"Sonic! Be careful" Amy warned.
Sonic smirked, partially at her, partially at his aggressors. Like these things would be a challenge for him.
"Just watch and learn girly," he exclaimed.
The first robot took the first move, bring its hammer over its head to bring down on the hedgehog. Sonic crouched down lower, letting his fingers touch the floor before he dashed forward, narrowly avoiding the strike as the hammer made a large, crumbled dent in the floor. He made it to its legs, swiftly climbing up its body in fast spirals. Before it even realized it, Sonic was now balanced on top of its head, his hand planted on it as to not fall. The other robot noticed rather quickly, however, and faced its partner with a now raised hammer. Without warning, it brought down its own hammer on its counterpart, smashing its head into its body with a loud crumble. The now defunct bot stumbled a bit as it dropped its weapon and felt around for its head, still able to stay standing as it did.
"Phew!" the other bot heard from behind it, its head turning to see Sonic standing there perfectly unharmed. "Gotta admit, you came pretty close there. I actually felt some wind on that one."
Without waiting for his foe to try anything else, the robot swung around and attempted another swing. Sonic quickly leaned back as far as he could, letting the hammer glide right over him. Ok, that time he actually did feel some wind. As the hammer passed, Sonic recovered before he saw the robot's upper body spinning independently from his lower, allowing it to keep spinning its hammer. Sonic jumped back as to avoid the next swing, but it didn't stop there. Somehow, the robot was still able to walk relatively well as it continued spinning, albeit a bit sluggishly.
Sonic let out a little laugh at the ridiculous looking display. "Alright! Keep coming big guy! Just follow the sound of my voice!"
The robot did just that. As it got closer to Sonic, he just did his signature sidestep to move away from him some more. Sonic was actually having a little fun playing with this guy. Couldn't stay here forever though. He glanced behind him as he continued to dodge the attacks, spotting the robot that was currently feeling around where its head normally was.
'Sorry dude,' Sonic thought. 'Hogs gotta do what a hogs gotta do.'
He then side stepped in the direction of the stumbling robot, guiding the attacking one ever closer. Just as Sonic got underneath the broken one, he waited for a couple more seconds, wanting this to be perfect. He saw the hammer coming at him fast and saw his moment. This time instead of side stepping, Sonic just rolled right underneath the attack, letting it go right over him before it found itself embedded in the stomach area of the already broken bot, stopping the attack dead in its tracks.
The robot that was missing its head was now motion less, smoke and sparks coming out of its open wounds. The other bot was trying to now remove its weapon from its partner's gullet, although struggling to do so.
"Checkmate!" Sonic yelled.
Before the bot could even compute what was happening, it found its vision obscured by a blue object, the said object impacting with its face. As it impacted, it unfortunately still had an iron grip on its still embedded weapon. This caused both of its large arms to be ripped off at their sockets, causing the bot to fall on its back with a loud thud as sparks flew from its wounds. Without missing a beat, the blue object, now seen as Sonic, was now perpetually falling as he rolled up into ball, coming straight for its exposed face. The battle was over the moment Sonic made contact, his body crushing the robot's face upon impact. Sonic's attack went straight through, allowing him to hit the floor and roll away, stopping himself just short of the cage Amy was in.
This pause allowed him to get a good look at his handy work. The bot who's head he just crushed was now lying motionless on the ground as its split head spewed a final wave of sparks. The other one was still standing, but it was easily out of commission. Its head was completely missing and it still had the massive hammer in its stomach. Sonic gave them a final smirk as he stood back up.
"See," he said as he turned to face Amy. "Nothing I can't handle."
The girl said nothing, but her large, shining eyes said it all for her; her mouth a huge, gleeful smile.
"Wow…" she let out almost as a sigh.
"Alright, let's see…" Sonic trailed off as he hopped on top of the cage.
Amy was about to ask what he was doing, but there was no need. Her answer came when she heard a click before her cage swung right open. Ready to be out of the cramped space, she hopped right out, seeing Sonic jump down next to her.
Before he could even turn to face her, he felt her whole body impact with him, nearly knocking him over if he hadn't have caught himself. He felt her arms go right around his torso as she began to squeeze. He swore that his eyes were threatening to pop right out of his skull at the force as he gasped for air.
"Amy…" he managed out, but only barely. "Too…tight. Please…let…go…"
After a couple more seconds, probably due to her having to think about it, she released him from his confines, allowing him to take a much needed breathe. He breathed heavily before he finally recovered and looked at the excited fangirl.
"Sonic," she began. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you! Ever since that other, robot you grabbed me I knew it was only a matter of time until you managed to get in her and rescue me! Hehe! It's like something out of a fairy-tail if you think about it!"
While Sonic was glad that he managed to rescue her, and that she was grateful, he could help but feel the chills go through his body at her choice of words. He knew she liked him, but dang. Girl's got issues.
"Heh. Like I'd leave a friend behind in a place like this." He really hoped she picked up on the word friend.
Amy ogled at him some more before she noticed something about the whole thing. Stopping her gaze at him, she got a good look at the room they were in, only seeing him and the two broken badniks.
"Hey, where's that pony looking girl that was with you earlier?" she asked. "If you're here then she must be right?"
"Who? Colors?" he asked her back. "Yeah, she's here, but we got separated after we managed to squeeze into this place. You wouldn't believe how many badniks Robuttnik likes to keep cooped up in here."
"Colors?" she questioned as she put a finger to her chin. "But I thought I heard Robotnik call her Rainbow Dash a couple of times."
Sonic simply responded with a shrug before he turned back to the door, waving her over. "Ah, not important. But we need to juice. Wouldn't be surprised if there were more badniks headed our way. Plus, we need to find ourselves a Time Stone. You in?"
Amy felt like her heart suddenly sky rocketed out of her just as she caught a lump in her throat. Was Sonic inviting her on his adventure with him?! She knew she started out a simple prisoner, but now she felt like she was being asked to be part of a team. A team with her hero at the head. She could faint. But she didn't, and quickly shook her head to relieve some of the feels she was having, but only a little.
"Absolutely!" she yelled in excitement a she ran behind him.
"Rainbow?!" Silver yelled worriedly through his side of the earpiece. "Rainbow do you hear me?! Rainbow?!"
Rainbow Dash didn't answer. She didn't want to answer. Her mind was nearly blank at this point, a constant state of near shock going through it.
After she and Sonic made it into the tower, thanks no less to his insane burst of speed at the end there, they had gotten separated by a huge swarm of badniks who were guarding the place. They had no choice but to find some way to meet up somewhere else with this huge complex. After managing to lose her group of badniks, she had managed to crawl into one of the many air ducts that lined the infinite walls of this place. Now she was sitting with her back to the metal ventilation as she contemplated what had just transpired minutes earlier.
It wasn't everything that happened during the race that was on her mind, it wasn't her confrontation with Metal life threatening moments, it wasn't even the mass of badniks that she knew kept to this place. It was those last few seconds before they entered the tower, although those last few seconds lasted nearly an eternity to her. The only time she ever felt speeds like that was when she was taking advantage of her boost, at its fullest at that. But Sonic, he matched those speeds, without even a need for what she had! What was she supposed to think of that?! That this flightless hedgehog…this kid…?
She banged the back of her head against the back of the vent in frustration, not caring about the feelings of pain that she felt as she did.
"DID YOU HERE THAT?" said a synthesized voice from outside the vent.
Rainbow froze up at the sound of the voice. She really didn't need this right now. She could take on a few badniks, but the sheer number of them that she knew were going around the place made her hesitant to reveal herself. She just sat perfectly still, not making any noise whatsoever.
"GET BACK TO WORK," said a similar sounding voice in a somewhat commanding tone. "I HEARD NOTHING."
"THE MASTER SHOULD REALLY CHECK FOR ANY RODENTS THAT MAY BE IN VENTILATION SYSTEMS," said a third one.
Thankfully, they didn't seem to pursue the noise any further. She could already here the clanking of metal against metal as they walked off, away from her. She let out the breath she was holding in, sure that they were now far enough away as not to hear it.
"Rainbow?!" she heard Silver through the earpiece again.
Finally giving in, she spoke back, but in a tired tone. "What is it?"
"There you are!" he chastised. "You were just sitting there for who knows how long. Is something wrong?"
She thought about voicing her concern, but she decided against it. It's not like he could be of any help right now. This was more of a personal matter to her anyway.
"Of course not," she shot at him, but being careful not to raise her voice too much. "I just need some air is all. That race took it all out of me."
There was a couple of seconds of silence on the other end. Then she heard Blaze's voice come up. "Are you certain that's it?"
Rainbow couldn't help but here the accusation in her voice. Geez, she sounded like a mother trying to seek the truth out of her child. Rainbow held firm, however.
"Yeah," she answered. "What else would it be?"
Did she really need an answer to that?
"Look, I'm fine ok," Rainbow continued as she sat back up, bring herself to her hooves. "But I need to talk to you guys about something."
She started walking down the ventilation at this point, making sure not to move too quickly, as it would make even more noise.
"Yeah," Silver said. "My thoughts exactly."
"Did you guys see what was happening to that Metal guy?" she asked. "Was the whole bright red eyes and purple stuff around him normal?"
"Well, the red eyes, maybe," Blaze answered. "But the purple aura that was surrounding him, not that we recall."
"It looked a lot like that stuff that was around Robotnik when I first saw him," Rainbow explained.
"I noticed that, too," Silver said, and Rainbow could almost imagine his hand going up to his chin in thought. "It's obvious that the two are connected in some way, but what does it exactly mean?"
"Well, was there anything different about this Metal Sonic and the one you guys know?" she asked.
"I encountered him a couple of times closer to the present," explained Silver, "but there definitely was a difference between them. For one, I don't remember Metal being able to shoot electricity out of his arms as projectiles. Yes, he can manipulate the arcs, but usually not so far away from his body."
"He was also much faster here than he was in the present," Blaze said.
"Wait," Rainbow interrupted. "You mean whatever was affecting him was making him faster?"
"Basically," Silver answered, not too happy with this revelation. "That means that whatever is interfering with time is improving these enemies in some way. With the doctor on the Death Egg, he seemed to have better grasp of the situation before we did. Now with Metal, it looked as if it was enhancing both his speed and his abilities."
Rainbow was listening to every word with interest, but she couldn't help but pay close attention to the fact that Metal's real speed wasn't as fast as she initially thought. This actually made her feel a bit better about not being able to keep up with him earlier. Then another thought came to mind.
"So, if whatever was affecting Metal made him a lot faster than normal," she began, "then does that mean whatever happened to Sonic at the end there was the same thing?"
She hoped she didn't sound so desperate with her choice of words. She didn't really want to discuss this with them, but she couldn't help herself. She felt like she needed this. Maybe…
"No, I don't think so," Silver responded, much to her disappointment. "Although…"
Rainbow's ears perked at that. "Although what?"
"Metal and Sonic were always on par with one another when it came to speed," he deduced. "But this time Metal seemed to have the advantage. I've never seen Sonic's max speed, but whatever he did back there left Metal completely in the dust."
"So, it is affecting him then," said Rainbow.
"That wouldn't make sense," said Blaze. "If whatever's out there is after Sonic and his friends, why would it give him an advantage over his enemy? No, this was something else. But whether it was an outside source we've yet to encounter or just him naturally, we can't really say."
Rainbow's spirit fell a little at those words, and she nearly tripped over herself as the vent dipped a bit. So, was it that he was just naturally faster than her? Was it that he was meant to be the 'fastest thing alive' by default? Speed was what she was all about. Her entire life revolved around it. So personally seeing somepony who out sped her so easily was a lot to take in for her. Not only that, but it wasn't even somepony who could fly like herself, it was some annoying hedgehog kid that couldn't even bother to get her name right. For the first time, she was actually hating the idea of her getting some kind of boost like all the other times, as it meant that she needed it to be on par with somepony else.
Her thoughts were brought back to what was in front of her as she noticed the vent suddenly shifted to a complete drop. Gently jumping off, she let her wings glide her down, being careful not to let them hit against the side too hard.
"You seem very interested in Sonic's speed lately Rainbow Dash," Blaze said in a near accusing tone. "This isn't going to get in the way of anything, is it?"
Rainbow just let out a sigh at the question. In all honestly, she hoped it wouldn't, as she already promised to finish the mission, but she had nagging feeling that it would.
"I'm just curious is all," she lied. "You should know by now how much I care about that kind of stuff."
Before anypony could say another word, Rainbow spotted light coming from a vent covering at the bottom of the vent. It obviously led outside this ventilation system, but to where exactly, she didn't know. Deciding to take her chances, she extended all four of her hooves and gently fell to the vent. The vent must've been poorly attached, as she pushed through it with relative ease. The vent fell to the floor with a clang as she landed with it, getting a good view of them room she was in.
It was a small, but bright, white room, which was a nice change of scenery compared to the rest of the facility. To her right was a closed door, probably leading back into some hallway. To her left was a rather massive window for the small room, the entire wall taken up by its size, aside from another door that strangely seemed to lead to the other side. She nearly put it off, but then her eyes drifted to what was on the other side.
Being a window, right off the bat she would've expected to see the outside world on the other side. In reality, it was another room, this one much bigger and circular in shape. In very middle was a metal podium with an object seemingly floating above it. Rainbow had to squint her eyes to see it clearly. Floating above the podium was a small gem that looked similar to the Sol Emeralds back with the others, but this one looked flatter, smaller, and all round more clear cut.
"Hey!" she heard Silver nearly yell in surprise. "That's a Time Stone!"
"That's a Time Stone?!" Rainbow exclaimed in surprise. "Then this must be the one Egghead took!"
"It would appear so," Blaze said. "Now you just need to find a way in there."
"Way ahead of you," Rainbow said cockily as she crouched down on all fours.
"Rainbow?" What—"Silver questioned before seeing what she was doing.
With the skills of an acrobat, Rainbow suddenly flipped back through the air, her rear hooves impacting with the wall opposite to the window. She eyed the window one more time before pushing with all her strength off the wall.
"No! Wait!" Silver yelled, but it was too late.
The force from her push sent her flying toward the window. Using her wings, she did a front flip, positioning her rear hooves against the window this time. She impacted. The hit shattered the glass in a single strike, glass flying through the now open room. The glass hit floor, and Rainbow followed suit, landing on all four of her hooves as she puffed her chest out proudly.
"See," she said with a smirk. "Piece of cake."
The alarm blared loudly, the red warning light in the corner flashing in sync with the noise.
"Pony feathers…" she in annoyance.
Without waiting for Silver and Blaze's scolding, she quickly took off the floor and went up to the Time Stone. It really was just floating there, which was weird considering this world didn't seem to use magic as much as hers. Maybe just some weird science just she didn't understand, or cared to understand. She quickly swiped the stone, feeling it gently pulsing in her hand. It almost seemed alive in a way, like it had a heartbeat at its core. Very subtly, the light at its center started to dim, the pulsing shortening with each passing second. She stared at it for another few seconds, like she wanted to see what it would do. It wasn't very eventful she soon found out, however. The pulsing stopped and the light went out. If she didn't know any better, she could've sworn the thing was breathing, like it was just calmly asleep.
"HALT!" she heard a voice from behind her.
Rainbow instantly turned around, but her eyes widened at what she saw. In the now opened window was a whole squad of badniks, all of them pointing their guns right at her. All of them were the basic orange and round badniks she's seen many times now, but the large amount of them in the room actually made them look intimidating, especially seeing as they were blocking the only way out.
"IN THE NAME OF THE GREAT DR. ROBOTNIK, YOU ARE TO SURRENDER THE ASSET AND PROCEED WITH US TO THE ROBOTICIZER," the lead badnik said in its normal monotone body.
Rainbow just looked at the bot in defiance. "Over my dead body buddy! You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get this!"
One by one, the badniks slowly moved closer to her position. "WE WILL NOT ASK AGAIN! SURRENDER THE ASSET AT ONCE! IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY, WE WILL TAKE YOU BY FORCE!"
"I'd like to see you try," she said, letting a cheeky smirk grow as she flared her wings, getting ready to kick some robot flank.
She moved forward, and then fell.
She hit the floor with a thud, a pain splitting headache gripping her senses as she rolled onto her back, making sure to keep a firm grip on the Time Stone.
'What is happening?!' she thought frantically.
It felt like her head was trying to force itself open from the inside, her head forcibly twitching. She looked at the Time Stone she still held, seeing that it was now glowing brightly and was pulsing faster than it was before. Ever so slightly, she could feel the pain from her head move toward her eyes.
'What the hay?!'
Her vision was quickly enveloped by a white light, a flurry of random colors passing her by as if she was drifting. If any of the badniks were paying attention, they'd have noticed how her eye color was switching rapidly changing constantly.
Rainbow's eyes opened wide, the shock of what was happening coming over her in waves. She was now standing rather than lying down, but not where she was originally. She was in a plain of colorless smoke, it constantly whirling around her as she looked around frantically. It parted as it brushed against her hooves, almost magical in the way it moved. What had happened?! Where were the badniks?! What happened to the room?! What—
Her headache returned again, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut. It quickly passed, but not completely, elevating some of the pain she felt and allowing her to open her eyes again. The smoke was now passing her by quickly, like she was on some kind of rail system without tracks, the scenery going by and by. But then, the smoke stopped, and swirled in her eyes.
The bright light returned.
"How can you be better than the Wonderbolts if you can't even be better than me?"she heard as she saw a flash of Lightning Dust.
'What…' she asked as the image passed.
"My name is Silver the Hedgehog," she heard, this time an image of Silver and Blaze in front of her.
The image switched again.
"Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!" Sonic said as he suddenly flashed in.
'Is this thing just messing with me?!' she asked herself. 'Let me out of here!'
Her vision suddenly went dark, as if whatever was doing this heard her voice and was complying with her wishes. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Here vision slowly returned, but it was still hazy and dimmed, like all the light that was there earlier had left.
Then an all familiar sound entered her ears. That deafening roar from her dreams earlier today. That unholy noise that filled her heart with dread. But it didn't sound like malice, incidentally. No. It sounded like…screaming…
"A…del…" a hushed, womanly voice struggled to get out before her vision instantly left again and everything faded to black.
Rainbow's eyes shot open again, and she was expecting to see swirling mists again. Thankfully, she saw that she was in the white room again, still on the floor and the Time Stone right next to her. The alarm was still blaring in her ears as she tried to sit back up. Thankfully her headache was gone, but she still felt the slight dizziness from what had just happened.
"ALL UNITS, RETREAT!" she heard as she suddenly remembered that the badniks were still in the room with her.
She slowly managed to look up, but to her surprise, they were all leaving. Not just leaving, they were running. The smell of smoke entered her nose as she began to notice that some of them were busted and broken, their scrapped remains scattered on the floor. Her senses finally fully returned to her and she picked herself up. Although, she wasn't ready for what she saw when she turned. Those glowing red eyes, right in her face.
Rainbow froze up. Staring her right in the face was none other than Metal Sonic, although not looking in the best condition as he was before. His left eye had a glaring crack along it, his red eye flickering every few seconds. One of his ears looked bent from the tip and his entire body looked as if it was tossed in and out of a blazing fire. In truth, he was. So why was he here?!
She didn't even get to finish her thoughts, as she suddenly felt his cold, strong hands quickly grip her face tightly. She gasped in pain as she could feel herself being lifted off the floor. She instinctively reached and grabbed the Time Stone, making sure she had a firm grip on it. She sudden felt herself be chucked through the air, feeling the strangely sudden sensation of outside air. Rainbow frantically looked at her situation and saw that she was now outside of all places as she rag dolled though the air. It surprised her at first, but then she quickly noticed the gaping hole in the side of building she was thrown out of, more than likely the way Metal got in there.
As she fell down the side of the massive tower, she caught sight of Metal flying out of the hole himself and dive bombing straight towards her. His aura was now going insane, almost sporadic in its movements. Metal readied his right hand, pointing his sharp fingers straight at her. Rainbow's eyes widened with fright. She opened her wings wide as she attempted to stop herself from her fall. She succeeded, and quickly noticed Metal's rapid approach. She then twisted her body, dodging his strike, his fingers barely grazing her fur.
Now was her chance. Now that he was up close, she wrapped her hooves around the hand that just missed her. With a mighty yell, she flipped him over her, sending him to the ground below. Now that the tables were turned, Rainbow sped through the air, she now the one dive bombing him. Before Metal could react, he was struck on the top of the head by her hoof, further sending him to the depths of the metropolis.
Soon, all Rainbow heard was the loud echo of metal against metal. She breathed heavily, glad it was already over, but still feeling the effects of earlier events.
"Rainbow are you alright?!" Silver asked urgently.
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Rainbow breathed out. "But I thought this guy was scrap! How's he back?!"
"Maybe it has something to do with that aura," he answered. "It could be raising his durability. But what happened in there? You just keeled over like you were in pain."
"Wait, so you guys didn't see any of that?" she questioned.
"See what?" asked Blaze. "We just saw you—below you!"
Rainbow heeded her warning and looked down, but it was too late. Metal was suddenly upon her taking hold of one of her hind legs. She gasped in surprise, but it turned in yells as Metal started dragging her down to where he fell originally. The wind was blowing through her mane and into her eyes as the metal hog pulled her along. Tears were starting to form from her eye's constant exposure to the rapid punishment of air. Pretty soon, the ground was upon them and Metal threw her right at one of the buildings. Rainbow couldn't stop herself from crashing into a sign on the structure, letting out a pained yell as her back crushed the sign before she fell to the metal ground.
Metal gently landed a few meters in front of her, simply staring her down with his one good eye. Rainbow coughed as she picked herself up, eyeing the bot with a glare, which he seemed to gladly return. Rainbow's eyes soon drifted downward and she noticed that the Time Stone had fallen out of her hoof and was now on the ground in front of her. Out of reflex, she jumped over to it and swiped it off the ground, holding it tightly as not to lose it again.
Metal didn't even react to her sudden movements. He simply stood there as his aura just continued to gradually grow larger and larger. Then, something happened that Rainbow didn't expect.
"YOU ARE THE ALLY OF SONIC?"
Rainbow's eyes shrunk as she heard that. Was she hearing things, or did Metal just speak…to her? She wasn't completely convinced, but the voice then continued.
"YOU BOTH DEFEND ONE ANOTHER, BUT THE DOCTOR TAUGHT ME VERY LITTLE OF YOU," the voice said.
Rainbow couldn't deny it anymore. As every synthetic word was spoken, Metal's eyes lit up in sync with them. After the complete silence he had before, it was surprise to hear him speaking now. Maybe he didn't think her or Sonic were even worth talking to. But why now?
"Yeah, what of it?!" Rainbow replied, never taking her eyes off him.
"AS I SAID," Metal continued, "I HAVE LITTLE DATA REGARDING YOUR ABILITIES. THE DOCTOR NEVER MENTIONED YOU WHEN HE BUILT ME, YET NOW THAT YOU ARE HERE, MY THIRD PRIORITY WAS TO CAPTURE THE LIFEFORM KNOWN AS RAINBOW DASH."
That caught Rainbow's attention. "Me? What does that Egghead want with me? And third? What's up with that buddy?!"
"UNKNOWN," he responded. "FROM A LOGICAL STAND POINT, I CANNOT SEE WHAT THE DOCTOR SEES IN YOU. YOUR ABILITIES ARE ABOVE THE AVERAGE ORGANIC, BUT WHEN COMPARED TO ME YOU ARE LACKING. AS MUCH AS I LOATH TO SAY IT, EVEN MY ORGANIC COUNTERPART IS FAR BEYOND YOUR SKILLS."
Rainbow could feel a vein growing on her forehead. Did he mean Sonic?! Of course he did. Why was it that everypony has to point out something she really didn't want to hear?! So, Sonic's skills were far above her own? Yeah right.
"You want to add my info so badly then?! Come at me! I'll show just how much of threat I really am!" Rainbow yelled out of anger as she crouched down.
"THERE IS NO NEED," Metal responded, his eyes flashing shades of green like he was processing something in his head. "YOUR DATA HAS ALREADY BEEN ADDED TO MY MEMORY BANKS. I KNOW YOUR SKILLS, YOUR TOP SPEED, YOUR WEAKNESSES AND HOW TO EXPLOIT THEM. NO. YOU ARE OF NOW INTEREST TO ME."
"PRIORITY #1: RETRIEVE THE TIME STONES FROM ENEMY POSSESSION."
"PRIORITY #2: ELIMINATE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG."
"PRIORITY #3: SUBDUE AND CAPTURE RAINBOW DASH. CORRECTION. [PRIORITY ERASED]."
"What did you say?!" Rainbow yelled.
Was this just some messed up way of taunting her or something, or did he really care nothing for her? No.
"So, what?! You came to make sure the last Time Stone wasn't being taken?!" Rainbow accused. "If that's the case, then way were all of your friends running like their tail feathers were on fire?!"
"FRIENDS?" Metal questioned. "IF ARE REFERRING TO THOSE POOR EXCUSE FOR BOTS BACK IN THE TOWER, THEN YOU ARE MISTAKEN. I AM MY OWN. I DO NOT BELONG WITH THE REJECTS."
"Then…" Rainbow continued, "if they aren't with you anymore, then why are you way out here?"
Metal remained silent to her question. Rainbow could see more flashing green lights in his eyes. It was like he was searching for an answer, unsure of what his motivation was. Wait…
"You're still being controlled, aren't you?" Rainbow pointed out, although not meaning to say it aloud.
Metal was taken out of his processing and looked back at the pegasus. "NEGATIVE. I HAVE OVERWRITTEN THE DOCTOR'S PROGRAMMING. HIS WILL IS NO LONGER MY OWN."
Rainbow had to wonder why he was still following his silly 'priorities' if that was the case. But that wasn't what she meant.
'Does he not know about whatever is affecting him or something,' she thought. 'He's glowing purple for Celestia's sake!'
"NOW," he said taking a step forward, "HAND OVER THE TIME STONE EQUINE. DO IT BEFOR—"
Metal didn't get to finish his speech as he suddenly lurched over. If he wasn't a machine, Rainbow would've thought that he was in pain or something with how he was shaking and grunting. She could see his aura growing yet again as a loud beeping noise was coming from him. It sounded like he was processing something again.
He grunted loudly as he small spark of purple electricity suddenly formed without warning, then vanishing just as quickly. "PRIORITY…" he struggled to get out, "#1…OVERRIDDEN. PRIORITY #2…OVERRIDDEN."
Rainbow had to raise an eyebrow at his behavior. Whatever was happening, she doubted she was gonna like it.
"NEW PRIORITY ADDED," he said as he lifted his head back up, sending a death glare right at Rainbow. "PRIORITY #1: KILL SONIC THE HEDGEHOG AND RAINBOW DASH."
To be continued…
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You put "must" in twice.
8327334
That's just how much they must do it!
8327334
Thanks for the heads up. I had to rush a couple things sadly when I uploaded it from Fanfiction to Fimfiction. It was about 3:00 in the morning and there were some things I needed to get done. Not that I'm making an excuse for sloppiness though. Plus, I don't really have a designated proof reader. If you see any grammar errors like this throughout the story it'd be more than helpful to give them a shout out so I can fix them. I hope it didn't put you off from the story, however.
8327376
IT'S SUPER IMPORTANT!
oh this is such a good story
8328534
I'm glad you think so! I'm wanting to get the next chapter out before the end of the month.
8328844 looking forward to it im amazed that you got 10 chapters done during just one day 😲
Shots fired!
8329141
No no no! I had these chapters done already. They are all on Fanfiction. I just moved them over here so I can have them on both. I am aiming to have at least one chapter out each month. It's possible for me to get more than one, but there will always be at least one.
8329592
Meh. At some point I decided, "why not."
8329755
. Also that's fine i'd rather not rush any writer it does'nt make someone look good if they rush someone.
oh ok my bad that makes more sense then what i said about the chapters being on here same day
8330137
You're all good. I didn't feel like I was being rushed. If anything, if people want to see more chapters then I must be doing something right.
So far, this story is pretty good. Looking forward to the next chapter.
8338956
Thanks! I always hope to impress. Of course if anyone can give any pointers on what writing could be done better then please tell. I'm always looking to better my writing skills.