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Last time Sonic saw Metal Sonic, he was an illusion-
Why didn’t Eggman bring the real Metal to war? Couldn’t he have been better than just…a pitiful illusion?
In fact, the real Metal hadn’t been seen at all recently.
Sonic was confused- He knew Metal wasn't one to stay down,
But he wanted answers.
Luckily, Eggman was just running off as Sonic destroyed his last badnik,
Giving him the chance for a question.
“Hey, Egghead!” Sonic yelled, waving at Eggman as he ran.
“Where’s Metal?!”
…
Eggman stopped for a moment.
He went silent…
“Uh…..Metal is…”
“....”
Eggman put his hand on his chin, thinking.
“Sleeping!- Yes, Metal was tired...and went to sleep. That’s none of your business, though, rodent!” He lied, before continuing to flee.
Sonic facepalmed.
Meanwhile, a small beam of sunlight shone through the broken ceiling of an old, abandoned eggbase, one which had been falling apart throughout the war. Plants, moss, and vines, were all beginning to grow on it.
It was being retaken by nature.
…That wasn’t the only notable thing about the base either, however.
Metal Sonic was inside it.
Deactivated, lying against a wall as moss covered half his cracked visor.
He was starting to rust, and was clearly damaged by falling rubble.
He was abandoned. Left by Eggman, after he found a new warrior to fight for him- Infinite.
Surely the jackal would prove stronger than Metal, who had failed many times in the past…
And even if Infinite did fail, he could always go back to Metal, because the robot was horrifically loyal. It was in his brain- his programming.
He had to be loyal. He had to be a part of the Eggman Empire.
If he wasn’t a robotnik…
Then what was he?
…
A voice could be heard from outside the eggbase ruins.
“...Hello?”
Amy Rose.
She thought she heard something- or sensed something- near the eggbase.
Maybe she just heard a flicky. Maybe it was her girlish intuition leading her to someone hurt, in need of help- Someone she knew, even if they weren’t on the same side.
She spotted Metal in the corner of her eye as she walked into the eggbase.
“...Metal?- Oh god,-”
She ran over to him.
“What happened to you? What did Eggman do? ”
She easily pushed away the rubble, lifting Metal up, wiping the moss off his visor.
“...C’mon. Let’s get you out of here.”