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Dr. Eggman was scrambling to collect his paperwork and blueprints that were scattered across the floor in an unorganized mess. He grit his teeth as papers slipped from his hands, not wanting to stay in his grasp when this was the one time he needed them too.
He was just about done sketching a new weapon when the alarm went off, making him jump, sending the papers to the floor.
That damned rat was in his base.
He saw him on the security cameras, smashing away at everything he looked at like he was trying to get points for damage.
The doctor groaned, wiping sweat from his forehead as he ran out of the workroom. Today really didn’t seem to be the day he wanted the hedgehog ravaging his stuff, so he ordered Metal Sonic after him, hoping it would be a quick beat down.
The base was small, small enough to hear his robot’s jet propulsions vibrating through the walls. He didn’t care about the state of the base, so he told Metal to do what he needed to get the hedgehog out, because he wanted him gone.
Running into a hangar, the doctor exhaustingly climbed into his eggmobile, practically throwing himself in and shoved the papers into a glove box. He angrily slammed the small door of the box, crushing the papers that stuck out and groaned, opening it to push them in so they wouldn’t fly away.
Banging sounded on his left. The wall vibrated from Metal’s jet engine, probably scorching the steel to a black tint.
He started up the eggmobile and flew to where the banging ensued, just barely dodging a burnt mustache when Metal sped past him, a blue imbecile in his grasp.
Metal’s claws dug into Sonic’s torso as they flew around the large room. Sonic punched the robot’s face and pushed against him, trying to set himself free, but Metal was reluctant to let him go.
“Obliterate him already!”
Words of order fell on mechanical ears, and Metal threw Sonic into the ground and dragged him across the floor. The hedgehog felt his skin burning through his fur as the steel floor slid against him at a rapid speed. Putting his hands on the robot’s visor, he tried pushing away, but it only made him go further into the ground.
Thankfully, the robot stopped dragging him to get Sonic’s hands off his optics. The millisecond he wasn’t gripped by clawed fingers Sonic jumped and kicked Metal backwards. The robot fell and slid to the ground only to immediately get up and jump at him again.
Eggman watched with a heated frown, gritting his teeth and turning red from his anger. He just needed that pest out of here and gone. He had valuable items in this base and wasn’t going to let them be destroyed for the childish satisfaction of his enemy.
Hovering closer to an entrance that led to hallways that led to rooms that held these valuables, Eggman pressed a button and the entrance door shut. He hovered in front of the door, knowing that the hedgehog might suspect he was hiding something behind it, but also knowing that if he didn’t protect the door the hedgehog would break himself in, find the valuables, and destroy them, which he didn’t want that to happen.
“Metal, hurry it up! I have things to do!”
Metal didn’t need to give an acknowledgement, he just kept punching away at his copy.
“What’s the rush, doc? You hiding something from me?” Sonic’s witty remarks made Eggman’s face redder.
“No, I just want you out of here so I can get back to work! Can’t I ever do anything in peace?!”
“Not while I’m around!” The heinous grin the rat plastered on his face made the doctor’s blood boil slightly. It seized just a little bit when Metal spin kicked him square in the jaw. Now it was his turn to grin.
“That’s right, Metal! Wipe that nasty smile off his face!” Raising a fist in the air, Eggman watched as the two kept brawling. Metal seemed to be getting the upper hand in the fight with Sonic continuously getting picked up and thrown into walls.
He attempted to smash through the door Eggman was covering but got singed with laser beams from the doctor any time he got close.
He was starting to get bored, dodging the same punches and kicks, and he wasn’t getting through that door anytime soon with the way things were going, so he decided to move the fight somewhere else.
Running across the room into another room, Metal chased after him, as did the doctor. It was smaller, with items of various sizes scattered about.
Metal had a harder time flying through here. There wasn’t a lot of space and he had to maneuver his way around machinery. He opted for staying on the ground, much to Sonic’s pleasure.
Sonic and Metal came to a standstill in the middle of the room, Eggman in the entryway they came through.
Facing each other in a kind of basketball-esque standoff, Sonic jumped from side to side hoping to throw Metal off, Metal doing the same whichever way Sonic moved, and their eyes were locked in a heated stare down.
Sonic kept jerking from one side to the other and Metal mimicked him. It didn’t seem he wanted to let his copy get past him, so he played his little game.
Sonic found it amusing, not holding back his smile.
Eggman was growing impatient.
“Stop messing around and destroy that blasted rat!”
Sonic jumped to his right then quickly to his left. Then, making it look like he was going to back up, he jumped back, and Metal jumped forward to grab him, but Sonic then jumped forward toward Metal and made it look like he was going to attack, so Metal jumped back, but lost his footing on seemingly nothing.
Metal’s feet slipped under him, making his legs rush against the floor staggeredly to try and catch himself, and the robot fell to the ground with a loud ‘clank!’
“HA!” Sonic didn’t hold back his laugh.
Eggman, on the other hand, was bewildered.
“Oh, what?!” The doctor cried in disbelief.
The robot stammered on the ground, trying to push himself back up. A little too quickly though, because as he rushed to his feet, they slipped under him again and he fell with another clank.
Eggman growled. “Dammit!”
Sonic didn’t contain his amusement. He laughed hysterically at the robot, holding his stomach as he wheezed. He stopped fighting for a moment to let his laughter out.
Metal stayed on the ground for a few seconds to analyze his situation. It was enough time to look at his surroundings and note that there wasn’t anything on the ground that would’ve caused him to slip.
There wasn’t any liquid or cloth under him, and his feet didn’t have any substance on them either.
He heard the doctor yelling and brought his attention back to an uncontrollable giggling hedgehog. The robot’s circuits fumed.
Not wanting to slip again and embarrass himself more, he used his thrusters to jump from the ground and tackle Sonic. Sonic’s laughing ceased when a weight was thrown at him, and they crashed into a table.
A couple of small machines fell from the table above them when they slammed into it.
Sonic kicked Metal off of him and ran to the entrance. Eggman yelled at him from above and Sonic turned back just in time to see Metal run after him and slip on the floor again.
This was getting hilarious. Metal’s feet slid behind him as they lost friction with the floor and couldn’t keep a grip. Sonic had to stop to let out a snort. Eggman’s mouth was agape as he looked at his robot, completely and utterly in disbelief.
“What’s the matter with you? Why do you keep falling?!” The doctor’s angry shouts caused Metal to avoid eye contact, obviously embarrassed.
He, as slow but as fast as possible, stood up, and shot after Sonic. The hedgehog barely dodged, having to angle his body in an awkward position to avoid getting clipped, and decided this was his chance to smash through the door Eggman was blocking off.
He spin dashed a hole dead center and ran down the hallway into the first room that came up. The room held multiple small machines, some covered in sheets, some locked in cases, and he didn’t care what they were meant for because if it was owned by Eggman, it was for something bad.
He jumped into the air and smashed every little trinket in the room.
A hand grabbed him by the quills and pulled him away from the gadgets. Sonic’s face was illuminated by red light when Metal’s hand pulled his head back to look at him and he was thrown out of the room.
Now in the hallway, the robot jumped onto him and began ruthlessly ripping fur and quills out of his head.
“Ow, ow!” Sonic couldn’t hold back his pained sounds as his fur was ripped from his scalp. He grabbed Metal’s arms and pushed them away from his head. The robot pushed back, but Sonic held his arms up firmly, growling.
Pulling his legs to his chest, he put the soles of his shoes on Metal’s torso and kicked him off. Rubbing his sore head, Sonic decided he wasn’t going to speed off just then, because he wanted to see if Metal would fall again. And he did.
The robot, getting up and charging with a sprint, slipped on his side and banged his head on the ground. Sonic cackled.
“Oh, Chaos, stop falling!” Eggman appeared next to them, more than agitated. Metal reverted his attention from Sonic to the Doctor, holding up his leg at him and pointed to his foot with an irritated ‘beep’.
Metal didn’t understand why he kept falling so he brought the problem to his creator. Eggman felt a pang of scrutiny from his subordinate, so he yelled at him for being incompetent.
“Why are you looking at me? You’re supposed to be squashing that thing and getting him out of my sight! Not tripping on air!” Eggman hovered closer to Metal and towered above him to show his authority.
The robot gave a series of annoyed beeps and, perhaps, gave the doctor a bitter side-eye. As he got up, Eggman went from being offended to having a thoughtful insight.
“Did I give you slip resistants?” The Doctor’s frow burrowed, and Metal looked up at him quizzically. Sonic also stopped laughing to listen to his inquiry.
“Shoot, I don’t think I gave you slip resistants.” His face deadpanning, Eggman slumped in his chair, looking down at Metal. “Eh, it’s not that important right now,” he waved his hand, “I’ll give them to you once you get that hedgehog out of my base!” He yelled, pointing a harsh finger at the hedgehog of discussion.
Metal turned his head and his eyes locked on Sonic, making him jump and running for it.
After more chasing and finally throwing the blue menace to a place far, far away, Metal returned to the base where his tired and irritated creator waited for him in the repair room.
Walking inside, albeit a little carefully, he saw Eggman sitting in a swivel chair and was ordered to lay on the repair table.
Hopping up and laying down, the Doctor wheeled over and grabbed Metal’s left foot, inspecting it.
After a moment of inspection, Eggman let out a long, breathy sigh.
"Yeah, I didn’t give you slip resistants.” He mumbled, like it was some everyday issue that wasn’t really important. But there was a slight hint of defeat in his voice. It was a small detail to leave out, but it caused his robot to be inefficient and sloppy in a fight. Who knew this would’ve caused him so much trouble?
The doctor knew, of course. That’s why he gave them to him in the first place. But he guessed he just forgot to install them during his last repair.
After successfully inserting slip resistance pads on Metal’s feet, which you couldn’t really tell were there because they blended in with the soles, he ordered the bot to get up and do a series of tests to see if they worked.
He jumped up and down, ran, slid, and did basically everything he did in the fight that caused him to fall, which was mostly running and standing up.
Satisfied that they worked, Eggman dismissed his robot and watched him leave, shaking his head.
“Slip resistants.” He mumbled with a half-hearted laugh.