Sonic the Hedgehog and all characters and locations used in this story are trademarks and properties of Sega of America and Sega Enterprises. Used without permission. Lord Snively said I could. So there. HEAVY METAL Chapter 4: Heart Runs Deeper Sonic vs. Metal Sonic...this isn't the first time and isn't likely to be the last. Tails and Antoine are being held by Swatbots and helplessly watch the fight. The badniks have cleared a large circle where the battle takes place. Sonic and Metal stand right across from each other and silently gaze into each other's penetrating stare. Sonic breaks the silence. SONIC: Make your move, Metal Moron...I'm losing my patience... Metal Sonic stands motionless and soundless. For a few tense seconds of what seems like hours, the fatal staring contest continues. It gets to the point where Sonic can't take it any longer, and breaks into a Spin Dash with a yell. SONIC: AAAAHHH! Faster than either Tails or Antoine can see, Metal leaps into the air to dodge Sonic's attack, then turns around. Sonic crashes into some badniks and hops to his feet. Before he can get a chance to turn around, Metal has his neck in a choking grip. TAILS: No! ANTOINE: EEP! Metal slowly rises several yards off the ground with his choking prize in a strangling grip. For a few brief seconds, Metal's eyes flash with contentment while Sonic vainly struggles for air. Tails and Antoine watch helplessly from the ground. Then, a new feeling overtakes Metal. His eyes stop flashing. He looks at his dying victim, and feels a new type of sensation...he glances down at Tails and Antoine. A tear rolls down Tails' cheek, and Antoine watches the murder with his mouth agape...too shocked to be scared. Metal looks back to the struggling Sonic. He loosens his grip. Sonic takes advantage of the rare moment by inhaling a tight lungfull of oxygen. Over a few moments, Metal's grip gets lighter and lighter, and Sonic drops to the ground. METAL SONIC: *Thinking* I-...I've just defied my own programming... Crabmeat is watching on a computer screen from Robotnik's central HQ. He communicates with Metal Sonic through a speaker placed on Metal's head. CRABMEAT: What are you THINKING?! You practically had Sonic six feet under! METAL SONIC: I...I don't know what happened. I just...couldn't....... CRABMEAT: Quit fooling around! Get him while he's still weak! METAL SONIC: Yes...I cannot deny my programming! Metal's eyes flash red again as he swoops for Sonic, who is lying on the ground refilling his lungs. Tails spins his two tails behind him and destroys the Swatbot that had him held back. He makes a lunge for Sonic's backpack and tosses the Power Ring to Sonic. TAILS: Sonic! Think fast! Badniks pile over Tails while Sonic grabs the ring and feels the power surging through his body. He zooms out of Metal's way just in time, leaving the robot Sonic to crash into the ground. Pumped with the energy of the Power Ring, Sonic moves Tails and Antoine out of harm's way, then runs in a tight circle, creating a whirlwind that is sucking in all the badniks. Metal helplessly gets pulled toward the vortex along with all the other bots and debris, when Sonic grabs him and runs away from the vortex. He places him down just outside the whirlwind's suction range, grabs Tails and Antoine and heads back to Knothole Village. Metal Sonic slowly picks his head up and watches Sonic and his friends escaping, too burnt-out to do anything. Hours later in Knothole Village, Sonic sits under a palmtree skipping rocks in a small pond. The blue sky is slowly turning pink and orange as the sun sets behind the mountains in the distance. The cool evening air awakens crickets and other nocturnal insects, who begin singing the gentle lullaby of the night. (How's THAT for cheesy dialogue, eh Jim and Al?) Princess Sally walks up from around a bush. SALLY: There you are...aren't you going to eat? Everyone's had dinner but you. SONIC: Yeah, I'll be there in a minute. SALLY: What are you doing back here anyway? SONIC: Nothin' much...just thinking... SALLY: Well, I guess the old saying is true... SONIC: What old saying? SALLY: 'There's a first time for everything.' Sally smirks playfully as Sonic attempts to skip another rock but misses. SONIC: Hardee-har-har. Someone stop me from laughing before I kill myself... SALLY: What are you thinking about? You're not upset because you blew the same mission twice, are you? SONIC: Normally I would be, but the second time it was Antoine's fault...big surprise...that's not what I'm thinking about anyway... SALLY: Oh, I get it...maybe you'd prefer to talk about it with Rotor? SONIC: No, no...it's nothing like that... I had a rather unusual encounter with Metal Sonic today... SALLY: How so? SONIC: It's something of an ego-bruiser...lemme sleep on it and I'll tell you about it tomorrow. SALLY: Whatever you want. Now, are you going to come and eat or what? I'm starving! SONIC: Didn't you eat yet? SALLY: I was waiting for you...now the tables should be clear...it'll be just you, me, and this beautiful sunset. Sonic gulps, nervously taps his foot, and starts to say something, but keeps stuttering...when a huge object falls out of the sky and lands right in the pond with a huge splash. Sonic and Sally scream and leap behind a bush. SONIC: What in the heck is that?! The top of the object remains above the shallow pond...it's some sort of machine. SALLY: It...looks like a Robotropolis hovercraft... She gasps and grabs Sonic's arm. SALLY: Sonic, take us back quick! We need to sound the alarm and destroy that thing before Robotnik uses it to track Knothole's location! SONIC: Wouldn't the circuits be trashed after a burn like that one? SALLY: We can't risk it! Suddenly something out of the hoverpod surfaces, spits a fish out of its mouth and knocks water out of its ear. It's Espio the Chameleon. ESPIO: Yes! Right on target! I am soooo good! Sonic and Sally's jaws drop. Next Mighty the Armadillo surfaces. MIGHTY: Don't flatter yourself. Next Charmy Bee. CHARMY: My wings are soaked! I won't be able to fly for weeks! Vector the Crocodile gently floats to the surface on his back, and commences to do the backstroke. Knuckles the Echidna surfaces last. KNUCKLES: Showoff. Archimedes appears on the top of the hoverpod (Which is still above the surface), completely dry. ARCHIMEDES: Amateurs. Espio splashes water onto Archy, knocking him back into the water. ARCHIMEDES: Whoah! Archy climbs out onto the land. ARCHIMEDES: Nice goin', cabbage head! I can't breathe fire until I dry n- Archimedes notices Sonic and Sally staring from behind the bush. ARCHIMEDES: Oops...we've got an audience! Come one out, folks! We won't bite...well, atleast not MOST of us... *Glancing at Espio* ESPIO: Yeah, and that's not ALL I'll do, so stay back! Knuckles whacks Espio upside the head. KNUCKLES: Quit kiddin' around...can't you see we have crashed a romantic rendezvous? Sonic and Sally begin asking questions at once while Knuckles and the rest of the Chaotix climb out of the water. At this point, Tails and Amy run onto the scene. TAILS: What happened? Amy and I were playing Saturn when we saw something fall out of the sky and land over here... AMY: Are you okay, Sonic? Next Bunnie, Dulcy, and Hershey break in. DULCY: Whoah...I hope we're not too late for the party... SONIC: Knuckles, what's up? TAILS: How did Knuckles and the rest of the Chaotix get here? ESPIO: I landed right on target! I am too good for this world to handle! HERSHEY: Isn't that a Robotropolis hoverpod? AMY: EEK! Robotnik's landed here! He's going to take Sonic and turn him into a very un-cute badnik! VECTOR: Robotnik?! Where?! CHARMY: Doesn't anyone care that I'm not going to be able to fly for a week?! Rotor and Antoine join the confusion...Antoine being dragged kicking and screaming by Rotor, ofcourse... ROTOR: What happened? What landed over here? ANTOINE: Don't make me go! Don't make me go! Eet must be zee aliens from outer-inside space! Zey have come to take me and do horreeble experiments! KNUCKLES: I think the gang's all here... ARCHIMEDES: What? Did you say something? AMY: *Running and screaming mindlessly* Robotnik is here to roboticize Sonic! Robotnik is here to roboticize Sonic! TAILS: Boy, does that water look murky... SALLY: What is going on here?! BUNNIE: Mah stars, I haven't felt like this since New Year's Eve... DULCY: There's a party and I wasn't invited! MIGHTY: *Swinging Charmy around in the air* Look, Charmy! You're flying! VECTOR: Where's Robotnik?! I don't see anyone! ANTOINE: Eet eez zee meteorite with deadly cosmic fumes! Our flesh weell fall from our bones while we sleep tonight and zeen our bones weell rot into zee dust! CHARMY: I'm getting dizzy! SALLY: Can we PLEASE get things under control here?! SONIC: I dunno...this is kinda fun! Food fight! KNUCKLES: There's no food! ESPIO: I am a god! Worship me! Ha, ha, ha, ha! ARCHIMEDES: This has gone more than far enough...QUIET! QUIET! HEY! Noone listens as the buzz continues. Archimedes hops to a rock on the edge of the crowd and breathes a large blast of flame, which instantly hushes the congregation. ARCHIMEDES: Now let's get priorities straight, here. First of all, Robotnik is nowhere around. This is NOT a party. Charmy is good and dry (albeit dizzy). We are not being abducted by aliens or will die from cosmic fumes. Espio is NOT a god. ESPIO: Am too. DULCY: Party pooper... SALLY: Archimedes...would you PLEASE explain what you and the Chaotix are doing here and how you got here? ARCHIMEDES: Despite this somewhat jovial entrance, we have a serious problem that concerns the fate of the planet Mobius. SONIC: It'll take more than stale melodramatic dialogue to stop this party, ant! Sally jabs Sonic in the ribs with her elbow and flashes him a disapproving look. SONIC: Ow! What? What'd I do? KNUCKLES: Enough beating around the bush...Robotnik has a Chaos Emerald and there's no time to fool around! The crowd is silenced. KNUCKLES: What? Are you all deaf? I said there's no time to act stupid! SALLY: H-...how did- ARCHIMEDES: It's a long story, and one that's irrelevant to the problem at hand. CHARMY: We nabbed this hoverpod from a cleverly set decoy, and flew here as soon as possible. The crowd starts buzzing again. Sally whistles and grabs their attention. SALLY: Let's take this over to the Knothole Council meeting room...there we should make speculations and devise a plan. Back in Robotropolis, Crabmeat watches the monitors in the central control unit. The door slides open and Metal Sonic flies in without raising his head. CRABMEAT: Well, let's have it...damage report. METAL SONIC: My left thrust booster has been fatally damaged and will need to be replaced. Other than that, I have significant damage in my soundwave decoder, and mild damage in my reaction monitor. CRABMEAT: But nothing's centralized, right? METAL SONIC: No. I'll live to fight another day. CRABMEAT: And that shouldn't be so! You COULD'VE had Sonic licked today! METAL SONIC: Don't even go there right now, alright? CRABMEAT: I can't help it, Metal. Really, what got into you? METAL SONIC: I don't know...I just don't know. I had him in my grip...I could've killed him...I WANTED to kill him...but something inside of me just kept saying "No, don't do this". CRABMEAT: Terrific. Now you're hearing voices, too. You'd better have them check you over better at the damage repair station. METAL SONIC: Look, just get off my back, Crabmeat. I need some time to think. CRABMEAT: Oh. To make up for all the thinking you DIDN'T do earlier? METAL SONIC: Crabmeat, if I didn't deserve what you're giving me, I'd destroy you. Now take the rest of the night off...I'll monitor the controls. I need some time alone. CRABMEAT: Whatever you say. If you need anything, just holler. Crabmeat leaves through the sliding door. Metal Sonic pulls a rolling chair up to one of the large windows that make up the walls and ceiling of the tower. It's been dark for about an hour now...Metal's favorite time of day was always night. The darkness hides the pollution and litter, and when the city lights flare up, it creates a futuristic and surreal cityscape that is truly a sight to behold. It's the one time of day when Robotropolis could actually be considered beautiful. It was easy just to stare at the sparkling mass and forget yourself in your own thoughts. But Metal's thoughts this evening are too heavy to forget. He heaves a large sigh and shuts his eyes. His thoughts run rampant. METAL SONIC: I used to dream of the day when I would destroy Sonic. I knew the day would come, and I knew I was only getting better with time. And yet...today that day became reality...and I let it slip between my fingers. Why? Why couldn't I kill Sonic? I wanted to, I could've, and it's in my programming. STRANGE VOICE: Heart runs deeper than desire, ability, and programming combined. Metal Sonic hops up and look around. METAL SONIC: Who's here? Who said that? No answer. METAL SONIC: Come out, I'm warning you! Metal Sonic scans the room with his heat sensor, but it's empty. METAL SONIC: Geez...Crabmeat's right...I'm hearing things now. God, what's wrong with me? At this point, the sliding door opens and Crabmeat walks in. CRABMEAT: Robotnik and Snively are arriving, Metal. Get this place cleaned up. METAL SONIC: Right. Crabmeat leaves the room again as Metal begins putting things back into place. METAL SONIC: I guess it's over now. STRANGE VOICE: It has just begun, Metal Sonic. *** End of Part 4 ***