Chapter Text
It was mid-morning, and Sonic was catching an extra bit of sleep on a large rock out in the sun, arms lazily poised behind his head. He was dreaming pleasantly with the warm sun on his face and the cool wind blowing through his quills. He wasn’t even awake but the weather was letting his body know that today would be a good day. His sleep was interrupted by a vibration coming from under his head, and his eyes cracked open slightly and began to blink away the harsh sunlight, as he turned onto his side and held his wrist up in front of his face. “Mmh.. Tails..” He groggily mumbled, hearing Tails’ specialized ringtone seeing the yellow fox’s two tailed symbol spinning in front of his face. He pulled himself up and stretched, taking his time with answering, letting out a big yawn and rubbing his eyes before finally pressing the symbol and smiling down at it. “Hey Little Bu-” “SONIC!!!!”
Sonic jumped a bit and hitched his shoulders, closing one of his eyes and folding his ears. “Yeowch! Jeez dude, where’s the fire?” He half smiled, his hand going to rub his ear. He would need to figure out how to turn this thing down. “Sonic! This is serious! We need you here!!! It’s Metal Sonic!” At first, Sonic wasn’t too worried. After all, Metal was a tough opponent but from Tails’ words it would be at least a three against one fight. That wouldn’t be so bad. But, his tone was a still bit concerning, so Sonic asked, “What’s so bad about Metal Sonic..?” “It’s not just Metal Sonic... He somehow became Neo Metal Sonic again!” Sonic widened his eyes and grit his teeth. That was a bigger deal.. “He’s on Angel Island! I’m not 100% sure what is goal is but I’m sure he’s after the Master Emerald! Knuckles can’t hold him back much longer!” “Don’t worry bud, I’m already there!” Sonic jumped to his feet and hung up the call, turning to the direction of Angel Island and blasting off. As he got closer, he could hear the thunderous booming punches of a very, very angry echidna and he could swear Angel Island was slightly tilting with each boom that rang out and visibly shook the trees from where he was. Sonic didn’t have time to wait around to find Tails. He sped around the perimeter of the island’s coast and found the massive spring laying by the edge of the sea beneath it. He jumped up and spindashed down into it, pushing it all the way down and launching up to Angel Island. As he landed, he saw Knuckles go flying into the sky. “Man..” He mumbled, before taking off to where the fight was. He caught Knuckles as he was falling and put him on his feet before he could say anything about it. “Hey Red.” Sonic smiled at the echidna, who was wiping his chin. “Stupid hunk of metal garbage..” Knuckles snarled, not even acknowledging Sonic as he stared forward with bared fangs. Sonic looked in that direction too, and sure enough, Neo Metal Sonic was standing there.
Sonic’s gaze hardened as he saw Neo look right at him. Even like this Metal couldn’t make expressions, but he could swear the robot’s anger rose when he saw him there. Neo dashed at the two of them, jets blasting behind. Sonic and Knuckles dashed at the robot, Knuckles swinging for his head. Neo spun on his heel out of the way of the shot and swung his arm around, the back of his hand colliding with Sonic’s cheek and he sent him flying. “Gaahh!” Sonic felt his shoulder run into Knuckles’ body and the two of them staggered. Neo took off deeper into Angel Island with the two of them regaining their footing and chasing him. Sonic’s ears twitched at the sound of propellors coming in behind them, and he smirked. He fell back a little and watched the Tornado’s artillery guns being fired at Neo Metal Sonic, the tall robot skidding from side to side to dodge them. “I can’t let him get to the Master Emerald..” Knuckles breathed as they chased him. “Don’t worry Knux, we won’t let him take it.” Sonic assured him, kicking it into third gear and speeding up after Neo. He was getting closer and closer, sticking his tongue out at the revengeful robot as he glared back at him. His taunting expression suddenly fell away though as Neo kicked on the afterburners of his engine, forcing Sonic to fall back as a massive blast of fire came flying out from the back of his body. “Agh-!” His arms crossed over his face in an X as he slowed down, his eyes shutting tight. “The Emerald!!”
Knuckles bolted past Sonic after Neo Metal Sonic as he reached the temple of the Master Emerald. He got close, but Neo turned towards him and paralyzed him with a shot of lightning from his hand. The red echidna grunted in pain and fell to the ground, the entire island giving a violent jolt as the Emerald was pulled from its altar. Sonic wiped his eyes and looked up, seeing the Tornado getting further away as the island began sinking. “Crap..” He grumbled, getting an angrier look as Neo started to take off with the giant gem. “Oh no you don’t..” With a well placed spindash, Sonic leapt up after Neo and grabbed onto his cloak, gripping it tightly. “Insolent beast..” He heard Neo’s voice growl out. “I liked you better when you couldn’t talk.” Sonic snapped back, seeing the look in the robot’s eyes darken. He took that moment to swing himself around and kick the Emerald from Neo’s hands. The two watched as it plummeted down to Angel Island again and Sonic let go to try and catch it. Neo flew down afterwards and the two fell onto the massive gemstone, sending it spinning in an angle. Neo turned his jets off and stabilized himself and the Emerald, his gaze locking onto Sonic and he reached over and grabbed the hedgehog by the arm. “-!” Sonic was thrown off of the Emerald and down to the ground, landing and spindashing back up without missing a beat. He bounced into the Emerald, sending it flying out of control before Neo could get enough control to fly off with it. The hit sent the three of them flying so far they flew from the edge of Angel Island and began plummeting to earth.
As Sonic fell, he felt his watch vibrating again, and when he looked, he saw that both Tails and Knuckles were calling. “Yeah guys?” He said, having answered by pressing the accept button with his nose, opting to keep both hands on the gem. “Sonic! You’ve got to get the Emerald back here! Angel Island is falling!” Knuckles shouted at him. “Yeah I got the idea Knuckles!” Sonic rolled his eyes, trying to figure out how to pry a gigantic gemstone from someone twice his size. “Do you need me to try to knock him off with my guns?” Tails asked, but before Sonic could answer, Knuckles butt in. “Don’t you dare! You’ll shoot my Emerald!!” He shouted, Sonic twisting his ear away from them and grumbling. “I’m not going to shoot the Emerald! My aim is perfect!” “They’re a moving target!!” Sonic was about to cut them off when he heard a whistle in his direction. He looked up from his watch and saw Neo Metal was looking at him. The second he looked up, the robot reared a fist back and punched him square in the face. Sonic hackled and his grip on the Emerald slipped. his hands scrambled to stay on as they kept falling, his legs sliding up and wrapping around the first thing they could find: Metal Sonic’s legs. Neo flinched and looked down, kicking and trying to get Sonic to let go. Instead of letting go, Sonic gave the Emerald a hard shove and managed to send it spinning away from Neo, just in time for the robot to grab him by the wrist and throw him far from the both of them.
-Metal was going to reach the Emerald if it weren’t for a flying echidna coming down on him and punching him directly in the head. The robot crashed down hard into the ground and growled low, sitting up and seeing the damned red creature going for the Emerald. He glanced at his surroundings and picked up a stone from the ground, and rearing back all the way, flung it at the echidna. His aim was flawless, perfectly calculated, and the red menace went spiraling out of control like a slapped fly, only to be caught by the yellow menace’s plane. His vision locked onto the Master Emerald as it fell to earth, and he ran after it. With its power he could have any and everything he wanted. He could do any and everything he wanted... Be anything he wanted... and he wanted to be one thing. The only Sonic. He reached out for the Emerald as it was about to fall into his hands, but right when it just grazed the tips of his claws, it was snatched. His optics darkened and he let out a glitched noise of anger, an anger that only grew when he saw who grabbed it: Sonic.-
Sonic struggled to keep a secure grip of the titanic stone, quickly realizing fighting with it would either lead to immediate trouble or trouble down the line with Knuckles.. He spun on his heels and sped off, trying to make his way back to the large spring, but he couldn’t see with the Emerald taking up most of his vision. Neo sped after him, grabbing a huge fistful of his quills. Sonic grit his teeth and glared at him, before gasping as Neo yanked him backwards and curved his back. The Emerald slipped from his grasp and Neo latched onto it, turning away from Sonic who tried to keep his balance, only for the tall robot to hold up one of his arms and block a barrage of bullets coming from a soaring plane. “I told you not to shoot near the Emerald!!” Sonic heard Knuckles yelling from the communicator. “I can’t leave Sonic to do this alone!!” He heard Tails argue back. The hedgehog grumbled and got up. “I gotta get that thing back in its altar before the island crashes and floods this place...” He mumbled, speeding after Neo as he started taking off again. He spin dashed up and after the blue bot, smacking into his hip and latching onto him again. He heard Neo growl and felt those burning eyes glowering down at him.
Sonic started climbing up Neo’s body, trying to get the Emerald as the bot flew unsteadily with Sonic being a counterweight on his side. Sonic tried to yank on his cape and forcefully steer him to the still falling island, but Metal Sonic alone was a force to be reckoned with, let alone Neo Metal Sonic. “Sonic! See if you can move to Metal’s front! I’m going to try and shoot out his jets!” “Gotcha!” Sonic yelled, climbing like a spider across Neo’s body. The robot thankfully seemed preoccupied with trying to get away with the Emerald, and Sonic squeezed as Neo began flying around sporadically when Tails began firing at them, trying not to fall. Right as Sonic reached Neo Metal Sonic’s arms the robot seemed to have had enough. He shifted the Emerald’s weight to one hand and grabbed Sonic’s arms with the other. “-!!!” Sonic kicked at Neo as he did this, watching helplessly as the robot turned around toward the attacking plane and full on threw the Emerald at them. “What the?!” Sonic started, watching in shock before trying to get free despite being a couple hundred feet in the air. He heard from a distance and from his watch as his friends cried out and the plane was destroyed in the collision by the giant stone. “Are you insane?!” Sonic started to yell at Neo, trying to see if his friends were okay, but the robot didn’t reply, he simply swung his other arm around and threw Sonic after the Emerald, Sonic trying to right himself but instead slamming his head into the Emerald and bouncing off of it. Neo flew after the Emerald and grabbed it again after using it like a projectile, glancing below as Tails and Knuckles glided to the ground.. But he didn’t see Sonic.
“Looking for someone?” A voice spoke up behind Metal, and he quickly whipped his head around, seeing Sonic bound off a piece of the plane and come flying at Metal, hitting him in the back and sending the two spinning again. Metal tried to keep his grip on the Emerald but the velocity in which they were spinning, coupled by the Emerald’s impressively smooth surface proved that an impossible task, and the two hedgehogs went sliding off of the Emerald and started to fall again. “Accursed..” He growled as he saw the Emerald go spinning into the air, but just as it seemed things were going to repeat themselves again, The Emerald seemed to freeze in the air. Metal’s optics locked on the floating gem as it seemed to ascend, glowing brighter and brighter, so much so that his optics started to malfunction and he temporarily had to turn them off “?!” “What the-?!” He picked up the beginning of Sonic’s voice behind him, but it was cut off when a deafening boom rang out across the land, sending them flying. Metal tried to turn on his visuals again but a burst of static screamed through his processors, and everything seemed to go blank. He was barely aware that something was clinging to him or the fact he wasn’t falling anymore, but in fact getting pulled into something..