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.  You wanna make somethin' of it?  Huh?  C'mon...let's 
take this outside!
                              HEAVY METAL
                          Chapter 7: The Vision
        Robotropolis...dusk.  Robotnik waddles into the central control stat
 wearing a nightcap and pajamas.  Snively is tapping at some controls 
while Metal Sonic hovers near one of the full-wall windows, gazing silently 
at the polluted cityscape.
SNIVELY:  "Have a nice nap, your roundness?"
        Robotnik yawns.
ROBOTNIK:  "Yes, it was pleasant.  No sleep so sure as that brought forth by 
assured interplanetary dominance.  Speaking of which, how is the weasel 
coming along?"
SNIVELY:  "Excellent, sir.  We've been absorbing the Chaos Emerald power out 
of him for 24 hours now.  We've just about obtained enough to begin 
transmission."
ROBOTNIK:  "Ooh, this is good...very good indeed, Snively!  Metal Sonic!"
        Metal Sonic looks over his shoulder without uttering a word.
ROBOTNIK:  "Metal Sonic, coordinate the "Heavy Metal" transmission program."
        Metal floats out the room to fulfill his orders.
ROBOTNIK:  "Snively, begin the countdown!  Tomorrow morning...Robotropolis 
becomes Neotropolis!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        In Knothole Village, the Freedom Fighters prepare for the 
counterstrike.  The entire population is gathered at the edge of the 
village, split into two groups...a large group of fighters preparing to 
head into battle, and a smaller group of children, elderly, and sick 
citizens who are remaining in Knothole.
        The group heading into battle includes Sonic and the Freedom 
Fighters, Knuckles and the Chaotix, the Wolf Pack, the Downunda Freedom 
Fighters, and the Arctic Mobiuns.  Foremost of those staying behind are 
King Acorn, who's semi-crystal condition keeps him from the battlefield; 
Rosie, who is remaining in the village to act as a "nurse and nanny"; and 
Amy Rose, who has no apparent battle abilities.  Princess Sally makes a 
final statement before heading into battle:
SALLY:  "This is it."
SONIC:  "Well said.  Let's move!"
ANTOINE:  "Wait!  Eez zis trip really necessariness?"
SONIC:  "Can it, 'Twan...we're not getting any younger here!"
        Rosie trades a few words with Dr. Quack as the battle group heads 
off into the Great Forest, with Robotropolis their destination.
ROSIE:  "What of that St. John fellow?"
DR. QUACK:  "They were never able to contact him..."
ROSIE:  "Hm.  What a shame...his battle abilities were quite impress-"
        Rosie stops short, and moves over to the rear of the exiting group.  
Amy Rose is sneaking along in the back, when Rosie grabs her shoulder.
AMY:  "Hey, let me go!"
ROSIE:  "I presume you have a ticket for this trip?"
AMY:  "C'mon, Rosie!  I want to go with Sonic!"
ROSIE:  "Amy, dear, we've had this discussion already."
AMY:  "But Tails gets to go, and I'm the same age as he is!"
ROSIE:  "Miles has had formal training from Sonic, and his mutation gives 
him special abilities."
AMY:  "Mutation?  You mean the one in his head..."
ROSIE:  "Now, we'll not have any of that.  Run along and be grateful that 
you don't have to risk your young life in this battle."
AMY:  "Yes, ma'am."
        Rosie resumes her conversation with Dr. Quack while Amy sneaks 
behind a hut, and through an alternate exit.
AMY:  "It'll take more than that to stop me.  I'm going to follow Sonic no 
matter what!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
        The group of Freedom Fighters set up a rough makeshift camp in a 
grove of trees on a cliff near the outskirts of Robotropolis.  It's now 
nightfall, and the lights from the city illuminate the horizon.  Princess 
Sally has just given the final battle preparation orders...they launch a 
low-profile, full-scale attack at the crack of dawn.  The Freedom Fighters 
take their final break before the upcoming decisive battle.  Sally heads 
into her tent to get to sleep early.  Knuckles, Hamlin, Mighty, and Bunnie 
do some sparring practice.  Lupe and the entire wolf pack hold a traditional 
prayer ceremony.  Vector kicks back and pumps the volume on his headphones 
up, while Antoine writes out a list of everything that could possibly go 
wrong, and Walt Wallaby sets up a chess game with Duck Bill.  Amy takes 
shelter in a large tree roughly fifty yards from the grove the makeshift 
camp is hidden in.  Sonic wanders out in the crisp night air to the edge of 
the cliff, and gazes at the cityscape below.  Tails currently joins him.
TAILS:  "Hi, Sonic...what's up?"
SONIC:  "Nothin'...I'm just taking one last look at the city."
TAILS:  "It's beautiful, isn't it?  And yet foreboding at the same time."
SONIC:  "At this time of day, you can't see the pollution.  It's just a 
sparkling mass of lights."
        The duo stand silently for a few moments, when Tails speaks up.
TAILS:  "So do you really think this is it?"
SONIC:  "Dunno.  Robotnik with a Chaos Emerald...I just never thought it 
could happen...I didn't think Robotnik would get that power crazed."
TAILS:  "What do you mean?"
SONIC:  "They didn't earn the name 'Chaos' Emerald for nothing, li'l bro.  
No good can come out of those things, no matter how they're used, and 
Robotnik of all people should know that."
        Tails looks back down at the sparkling mass, then up at Sonic.
TAILS:  "Anything else?"
SONIC:  "Huh?"
TAILS:  "You look kinda weird."
SONIC:  "Gee, thanks."
TAILS:  "No, I mean you look like you have something bigger on your mind."
SONIC:  "Well..."
TAILS:  "It's about Metal Sonic, isn't it?"
SONIC:  "That's on my mind, alright...but that's not what I was thinking 
about..."
TAILS:  "Well?"
SONIC:  "I just have this funny feeling like things are never going to be 
the same..."
TAILS:  "Well, duh!  We ALL have that feeling!"
SONIC:  "No, I mean...like something...weird...is going to happen..."
        Suddenly, something in the sky that Sonic and Tails assumed to be a 
bright star began growing larger.  Sonic's attention went from Robotropolis 
to the light.
SONIC:  "Hey...hey, Tails...check that out!"
        The light continues to expand, and begins to take an 
indistinguishable shape.
TAILS:  "Whoah...what is it?"
SONIC:  "Your guess is as good as mine..."
        Several yards away, in the grove, the sparring match between 
Knuckles, Hamlin, Bunnie, and Mighty comes to a halt when Knuckles spots 
the same light.
KNUCKLES:  "Hey, hold the phone guys...get a load of that sparkler!"
        Knuckles points upward toward the strange light.
HAMLIN:  "Huh?  Where?  I don't see anything..."
MIGHTY:  "How can you miss it?  Open your eyes, pig!"
BUNNIE:  "Maybe mah vision's gone bad, sugars, but I don't see what y'all 
are talking about either!"
        At this point, Charmy flies up.
CHARMY:  "Hey, Knux, check out that light in the sky!"
HAMLIN:  "You see it too?  What's going on here?"
        The group looks over to the Wolf Pack.  They don't seem to notice 
anything.  Neither do any of the Downunda Freedom Fighters.  However, Espio 
turns visible from the tree he was reclining under and gets to his feet...
obviously staring at the same light in the sky.  Vector also takes off his 
headphones and gazes, jaw agape, at the strange sparkle.  Rotor and Uncle 
Chuck continue their technical conversation on mechanics, as though nothing 
was happening.  Hip and Hop, on the other hand, gaze out of their tent on 
the mysterious light.
MIGHTY:  "Man...something seriously weird is going on...how come not all of 
us can see that light?"
        At this point, Amy runs screaming from her hidden tree.  Knuckles 
turns around.
KNUCKLES:  "Amy Rose?  What's she doing here?"
BUNNIE:  "Nevermind that...can she see the light too?"
        Amy is running around in circles and maniacally waving her hands 
around in the air.
AMY:  "Help!  Help!  Look at the light!  What's going on?!"
KNUCKLES:  "Next question?"
        Down in Robotropolis, Metal Sonic is watching the same light from 
inside Robotnik's central HQ.  Snively is in the same room, typing something 
into a computer.
METAL SONIC:  "Wow...check it."
SNIVELY:  "Hm?  Did you say something?"
METAL SONIC:  "I said check out this light in the sky...what is it?"
        Snively walks over to the window.
SNIVELY:  "What light?  I don't see anything."
METAL SONIC:  "What are you, blind?  It's right there!  How can you miss it?"
        Snively scans the skies for a moment.
SNIVELY:  "Crabmeat is right...you're losing it."
METAL SONIC:  "Don't tell me you can't see that light!"
SNIVELY:  "Okay, I won't tell you...but I CAN'T..."
        Suddenly Robotnik bursts into the room, with an urgent look on his 
face.
ROBOTNIK:  "Up all security to maximum levels!  Send out all Arial Defense 
Units!  Focus sensors on that strange light in the sky!"
METAL SONIC:  "Aha!  I knew I wasn't the crazy one around here!"
SNIVELY:  "I think I've been working too hard..."
ROBOTNIK:  "Quit talking and get moving!  That light may be a serious threat!"
SNIVELY:  "I hate my life."
        Down in the power harnessing chamber, Nack the Weasel watches the 
same light through a window.
NACK:  "Geez, this machine's suckin' out all of my senses...now I'm 
hallucinating!  Either that or I'm seeing things..."
        All parties invovled watch the strange light grow larger.  After a 
few minutes, its shape becomes distinguishable.  It's the Ancient Walkers.  
The silhouette of the three strange masks continues to grow until it takes 
up the better portion of the sky.  By this point, even those who cannot see 
the spectacle have been aroused by the activity.
SALLY:  "Okay, Knuckles...describe to me what you're seeing."
KNUCKLES:  "I-it's...it's..."
SALLY:  "C'mon!"
        Espio, somewhat cooler despite the unexplainable circumstances, 
breaks in.
ESPIO:  "It's the Ancient Walkers.  All three of them."
SALLY:  "Are they doing anything?"
ESPIO:  "No."
SALLY:  "So they're not moving in any way?"
ESPIO:  "No...they're just--wait!  The shape is morphing!"
        Sonic and Tails stare at the shape from the cliff, utterly 
speechless.  Knuckles and the Chaotix gaze at it through the middle of the 
grove of trees.  Amy has hidden with Hip and Hop in their tent.  From 
within Robotropolis, Robotnik, Metal Sonic, and Nack watch the phenomenal 
spectacle as well.  The shape is morphing...slowly into the form of a very 
large Chaos Emerald...the Master Emerald.
SALLY:  "What is it now?"
ESPIO:  "I-i-it's...a giant Chaos Emerald or something..."
        Suddenly Espio lashes his head to the side and covers his eyes.  
All of his fellow "visionaries" do the same.  The image in the sky grew 
into a blinding flash...then vanished.  Espio looks back up.
ESPIO:  "It's gone.  It flashed, and now it's gone."
CHARMY:  "What...what was it?"
KNUCKLES:  "Man, something seriously warped is going on."
MIGHTY:  "I don't get it..."
VECTOR:  "I gotta go..."
        Hip, Hop, and Amy run from their tent.
HIP:  "It's the end of Mobius!"
HOP:  "But we're still here!"
HIP:  "Well what else could it be?!"
HOP:  "Uh...wrong number?"
AMY:  "Where's Sonic?  I want Sonic!"
SALLY:  "That's a good question...where is he?"
HAMLIN:  "I saw him and Tails walk over to the cliff a few minutes ago."
        The group walk out to the duo.  Sonic is still gazing skyward, 
short of breath while Tails stares straight ahead, apparently in shock.
SALLY:  "Sonic!  Sonic, did you see that mirage in the sky?"
SONIC:  "T-t-t-that was no m-m-mirage...it was a...a...a...foreboding..."
KNUCKLES:  "Foreboding of what?"
SONIC:  "I don't know...but...but...something is going to happen...something 
major.  I could feel it coming a long time ago."
        The whole group stares skyward for a few more moments.
VECTOR:  "Man, this party is freaked!  I say we turn out the lights and 
catch some Z's."
SALLY:  "Something just doesn't figure here...how come only some of you saw 
the aurora?"
SONIC:  "Some of us?  You mean you didn't all see it?"
HAMLIN:  "No...infact, most of us didn't.  The only ones who did were you 
and Tails, the Chaotix, Hip, Hop, and Amy."
TAILS:  "Sonic...what's going on?"
SONIC:  "I sure wish I knew...I wonder if ol' Buttnik saw what we did?"
	Back in Robotropolis, Robotnik, Snively, and Metal Sonic gaze out 
one of the full-wall windows in Robotnik's central HQ.
METAL SONIC:  "Whoah..."
ROBOTNIK:  "I suppose that's it..."
SNIVELY:  "I still don't see anything!"
METAL SONIC:  "There's nothing left to see."
SNIVELY:  "What was it like?"
METAL SONIC:  "First, it was the Ancient Walkers...then, it morphed into a 
giant Chaos Emerald or something.  Then, it flashed, and when the light 
dimmed it was gone."
SNIVELY:  "I wonder why I didn't see it?"
	Robotnik scratches his bald head, then shrugs, yawns, and walks 
over to the exit.
METAL SONIC:  "Dr. Robotnik...what do you plan to do about this situation?"
ROBOTNIK:  "Nothing inparticular."
METAL SONIC:  "Huh?"
ROBOTNIK:  "Tomorrow morning precisely at dawn, operation "Heavy Metal" will 
be put into effect.  Beyond that point, we will be literally invincible.  
What could happen between now and then?"
METAL SONIC:  "So where are you going?"
ROBOTNIK:  "To get to sleep early...because after tonight...after tonight, 
things will never be the same again..."
        Metal Sonic looks back out the window and thinks to himself.
METAL SONIC:  "There's more truth to that than he knows..."
                          *** End of Part 7 ***