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It was well into the seasonal change of Autumn as trees gave way to their colourful shades, falling gently to the grass below. The temperatures began to get chillier and the nights freezing; but that wasn't about to stop one hedgehog from getting the last of his fishing hobby squeezed in before first frost.
Sonic was happily seated upon the river bank with a tackle box kindly lended to him by his friend Tails and a blue painted fishing rod in hand. The frogs croaked and the insects chimed their songs along the waters out of sight. Two bright red bobbers floated in the river, as Sonic wasn't the only one fishing.
The hero had dragged his metallic nemesis, Metal Sonic, to join him in a session of fishing to divert the robots obsessive goal of fighting Sonic again. He had offered Metal the alternative option of challenging him to a little fishing contest when the mech had sought him out for battle. Metal was less than pleased with this option, but when he saw that his rival was boringly refusing to fight back and was only dodging his attacks, he eventually caved and decided to agree with it.
The challenge was to see who could catch the most fish in a single session, the one who catches the most is the winner. So far Sonic has managed to catch a total of 4 fish which were collected into a bucket behind them to be cooked for dinner later. It's been a couple of hours in and Metal has so far... caught none.
The robot, his own fishing rod in hand, was fidgeting occasionally with agitation, yanking the rod every single time the bobber would so much as twitch. "This is horrible! I hate this fishing challenge. We should be fighting to the death right now!" the robot bleeped out in frustration.
Sonic sighed knowing that the outburst once again probably startled away any of the fish in the water. "Metal you're far too impatient, you need to slow down and relax a bit otherwise you're not going to get anything at all."
Metal glared to the blue blur next to him. "Says you of all other potential lifeforms who do not run at the speed of sound 78 times a day."
Sonic flattened his ears. "Can I just.... show you how to do it? Without you getting so angry?"
The badnik glowered at green eyes that meant well but still irritated him in doing so. He roughly passed over his fishing rod to the blue hedgehog, almost wacking him with it. "Fine. Show me how you preform this ridiculous task." he commanded angrily.
Sonic raised a brow at the aggression but took the rod in hand regardless and waited. Metal watched closely and tactfully, observing every little thing Sonic did so that he could apply it for himself to finally reel in a fish.
"You need to make sure the fish actually bites onto the hook. You can't just use the bobber as an instant indicator." Sonic informed quietly.
Metal observed and listened intently. The two waited patiently for several minutes before the bobber started to jerk in the water. Metal fidgeted at the sight. "There we go... " Sonic spoke quietly to not scare away the fish. "Let it test it a couple of times... make sure it actually takes the bait..."
The two watched intensley as the bobber continued to jerk and twitch in the water. Sonic waited to time his actions perfectly before violently tugging onto the rod, the fish evidently hooked as the line was frantically pulled into the water. "Got it! Now you gotta reel it in steadily."
Metal watched closely as Sonic would reel in a little bit then pull on the rod to drag the fish closer to him, then reel in a little bit again and repeat. The mech fell forward onto the bank onto his hands as he looked eagerly into the water, the fish coming into view just under the surface, a tail splashing wildly.
Sonic reeled the fish up out of the water. "Hah! There we go, a nice delicious bass!" Sonic cheered as the fish flopped around on the hook.
"Yes! I have caught a fish!" Metal exclaimed, causing Sonic to look at him in confusion.
"What? No you didn't, I did, and it was just for demonstration so this one doesn't count for either of us.
"NONSENSE!" Metal clenched his fist towards the mobian. "That is my rod, therefore that is my fish! I have caught a fish!" he affirmed.
Sonic laid his ears back with a frown, but his expression turned to one of surprise as the fish managed to free itself from the hook, flopping back into the water and swimming away.
Metal and Sonic stared at the rippling water in complete stunned silence, the robot dropping his arms limp to his sides in complete and utter disbelief. Sonic's wide eyes side-glanced to the mech, the robot not even moving in the slightest, just staring at the water.
...
Sonic chuckled nervously. "Well uh... that's... how you catch a fish."
Metal turned his head to look at Sonic threateningly slow. Sonic forced a grin as he handed the rod back to the badnik who roughly ripped it out of his grasp.
"I would not be so stupid as to let such a weak victim get away like that. You are inferior." the robot scolded his rival, who looked to the bot through half-lidded eyes before grabbing his own rod and continuing his fishing.
Sonic sighed. He didn't actually want to have Metal join him in fishing, it was something he wanted to do on his own so he could relax. But when Metal approached him looking and trying to fight him, he offered the robot the alternative option as this was supposed to be Sonic's chill day and he didn't want to fight. It wasn't that he isn't enjoying himself... but Metal's attitude was kind of a liability when it came to actually teaching the robot.
'Just be patient Sonic.... juuuust be patient. That's what fishing has taught you.' he tried to console himself as he took a deep breath in and then exhaled it slowly.
Ducks quacked along the river as a small group of them swam near the two, Metal eyeing them from his spot on the grass. "Intruders approaching." the robot alerted, drawing Sonic's attention to them.
"... They're just ducks Metal, they're allowed on the river." he rubbed at his temples over the mechs hostility before observing the birds. "Hmm... figured they'd be going south for the Winter by now though." Sonic commented.
"They will be going into my masters oven if they come any closer." the robots red eyes glared at them.
"Don't you even think about it." Sonic pointed aggressively to the badnik who lowered his head while looking at the hedgehog.
Metal's eyes shifted over to the bucket next to Sonic, noting how it already contained 4 fish. He then looked over to his own beside him... empty. He released some form of a mechanical sigh; this was not as easy as he thought it would be. It wasn't until several minutes though that his bobber began to twitch again, the mech jerking in response to bring his full attention to it.
He stared at his bobber intensley as it moved occasionally, applying the data he received from Sonic's demonstration to his own method, waiting patiently. Sonic eyed him in his peripheral as Metal gripped his fishing rod tightly, one hand ready to reel in. He seemed to be calculating just like Sonic had.
Then... he yanked sharply on the fishing rod, timing it perfectly and hooking the fish. "I got it! I got it!" he excitedly called out.
"Great! Now do what I did to reel it in." Sonic cheered, excited for his fishing buddy to actually finally latch onto a catch.
Metal repeated the actions he observed Sonic doing, reeling in then pulling back the rod and reeling in again, until the fish came closer to the river bank. He could make out a bright colour of green and reeled up the...... frog?
Sonic and Metal stared at the large green frog of sorts that managed to get itself stuck on the hook. It had a strange tail for a frog and Sonic could've sworn he's seen it from somewhere before. It flailed a bit on the hook before breaking free and flopping to the ground.
Sonic and his counterpart both stared in disbelief as the frog hopped back into the river, kicking up a large splash of water which sprayed directly into Metal Sonic's face.
"..."
"..."
Metal shot up to his feet, eyes blaring red, claws at the ready and a loud engine whirring active as he charged up a massive core lasor to fire straight into the river.
"NO!" Sonic quickly latched onto Metal and shoved him off balance, causing the robot to cease his attack, the mech falling onto his behind.
Sonic panted slightly from that sudden moment of panic, bending to grab onto his knees, sighing in relief that he managed to prevent Metal from completely wiping out the entire river ecosystem. The robot stood back up to his feet, glaring at Sonic as he crossed his arms. The hedgehog sighed as he straightened his posture to look back at his rival.
"... Maybe fishing just really isn't your thing..." Sonic lowered an ear sadly.
"I guess... maybe it was just a waste of time after all..." he scratched at the back of his neck.
Metal noted the hedgehogs reserved attitude and tilted his head. "Body language indicates that you are sorry?" he questioned bluntly.
Sonic raised a corner of his lip as he stared at a spot on the ground. "Yeah, I guess I am. I mean, well... I did want you to kind of enjoy it... something to do other than fighting at least." the hedgehog shrugged depressedly as he turned around to pick up his bucket of fish. "It wasn't even really a competition... I just said that to deter you from fighting me because I wanted to go fishing and relax today... maybe it was just kind of selfish of me..."
Metal watched as his rival started packing up all of the fishing supplies and hesitated before moving to help him do so, closing the tackle box and taking apart his fishing rod. "I would not be so negatively inclined to admit that I did, on a very miniscule level... enjoy myself."
Sonic looked to him with confusion. "Really?"
Metal refused to look at him as he was kind of embarassed, just focusing on his task of preparing the fishing rod for storage. "I would not do it again though any time soon. But I do believe that I have obtained some useful data today... at the very least it should assist me during my master's vacations and occasional 'camping' trips."
Sonic stared at the robot who still refused to meet his gaze, a small genuine smile building up on his face knowing that Metal was just saying such to make him feel better. Another of the very rare occasions of Metal revealing his heavily guarded ability to care and feel emotions; Sonic always felt honoured that the robot would only feel comfortable in letting such hidden emotions slip through to him and only him. "Well... I'm glad you liked it... even if just a little bit." it kind of warmed his heart and made him feel loads better that such a cold-steeled personality as Metal would be willing to admit such a thing.
He knows Metal hates him to his very core, but he always knew that deep down the mech had some kind of internal conflict when it came to certain things with bonding. At least now Sonic knows that fishing can be added to that list.
Metal assisted Sonic in taking back all of the tools and supplies to his house where Tails came out to greet them, pretty surprised to see Metal. Sonic explained the entire thing to him, the fox just going with it and proceeding to bring things inside. Sonic thanked the robot for his help, earning a disgruntled response.
Metal gave no farewell to his nemesis when all was done and simply flew off to return to Eggman's base. He'll just go out and buy fish.