Final: To Protect the Future
Conquest the Bat slowed down as she passed the archway and entered the central chamber of the Ultimate Overlord. That was the one who'd sent those taunts to the flagship, the one that called himself Metal Mastermind. He was floating in the air between seven metallic pedestals, each holding a black Emerald.
"Fascinating properties," the Mastermind was saying to someone out of sight behind him. "Channeling the Emeralds' power with...ah...malevolent intentions seems to drain the very life out of them. A precaution installed by their creators, perhaps? No matter. The Chaos Emeralds have served their purpose. I have no intention of keeping them lying around for some champion of justice to barge in and recharge the Emeralds with pointless noble desires."
The pedestals started to sink into the floor, taking the Emeralds with them. Realising that the one chance left might be going with them, Conquest pulled out her gun and fired at the nearest one. She managed to hit only one of the pedestals before it was too late, freeing the black Emerald and sending it tumbling across the floor. In the process, she also drew the full attention of Metal Mastermind.
"Stowaways," he said. "How irritating."
Metal Mastermind raised his gauntlet towards the bat, preparing to focus a fraction of the violent electrostatic energy that formed his body towards her in a deadly beam. The attempt was interrupted when Shadow threw himself at the charged robot, only to get stunned by the intense field surrounding it.
"Shadow!" Conquest shouted with obvious concern.
Metal Mastermind, holding the black hedgehog by his furry chest, brought Shadow's face close to the two red points of light that penetrated his helmet.
"Why haven't I killed you yet?" Metal asked rhetorically.
-
Sonic crashed through the fragile concrete wall, and rolled instinctively. It was an instinct that saved his life, because Super Metal Sonic was relentless, firing a bolt of energy through the hole in the wall and torching the spot where Sonic would've been lying if he'd stayed put.
Blood from minor cuts, soot and dirt from the ruins he was beaten through, and toxic smoke clinging to everything - Sonic barely had a spot of blue left on his body. He'd never fought an enemy that was truly faster than him before. Luck and determination were all that kept Sonic alive.
Super Metal broke through the rest of the concrete wall. Sonic had no choice but to keep running.
-
Metal Mastermind tossed Shadow aside like a rag doll. The part of Conquest's mind that stayed detached from this whole nightmare came to realise something: Metal Sonic was a sick and twisted reimagining of the person Sonic the Hedgehog, but he was still bound by the traits that defined the heroic hedgehog. Sonic always chose a challenge over an easy win; he always gave Eggman time to escape into his next robotic monstrosity instead of running ahead of the bouncing scientist and taking him down. Metal Sonic was the same. Whether he was aware of it or not, the robot twin had no choice but to allow his enemies an opportunity, however small, to fight back and win. To cheat against that rule would be deny everything that made him the happy monster he was.
All that data absorbed into him; Metal had to be some kind of super-genius by this point, able to foresee a million different scenarios and plan ahead for each one. There was no way they could've penetrated the Ultimate Overlord without him being fully aware and able to destroy them if he chose every step of the way.
There had to be a risk to the Mastermind's grand plan. There had to be some chance, no matter how infinitely small, that he could fail. Metal didn't dare to violate that principle just yet, and that was why he threw Shadow across the room to where Conquest stood, instead of simply killing the hedgehog, which he could so easily have done.
Conquest held the unconscious Shadow in her arms, while Metal Mastermind continued to gloat. Even with the knowledge that one last hope still remained, somewhere, Conquest couldn't find it. She saw the black Emerald lying on the floor nearby. She reached out and grabbed it. Now what? How did you repower a Chaos Emerald? What was that noise?
The sound of so many running feet across metal floors was unmistakable. The cavalry had arrived.
"I'll take that," said Silver the Hedgehog.
Around him, the Angel Echidnas and the other surviving members of the GUE squad marched into the central chamber, taking up positions. Silver held the black Emerald over his head and closed his eyes in concentration. Blaze's face lit up as she watched the Chaos Emerald regain a healthy blue glow.
"How did you do that?" she said.
"I just believed that I could," Silver answered simply. "Now let's finish this!"
Metal Mastermind laughed. The reason why became immediatelly apparent, as hundreds of Metal Sonic copies poured out of every passageway as before. Even the darkness of the corridor that the heroes had entered through became lit up with glowing red eyes.
"Finally, something worthy of a challenge," Terkal the Echidna announced, signalling to his men.
"Blaze, you stay here and protect Shadow and the Commander," said Silver.
Blaze had never heard him use such a commanding tone before. Her first instinct was to object, but seeing the look in Silver's eyes, all she could do was nod.
With GUE soldiers locked in combat with the interchangeable robots all around, Silver ran into the centre of the chamber, facing down Metal Mastermind.
"You truly believe you have a chance against me?" Metal Mastermind asked.
"No, I don't," Silver answered. "But that doesn't matter."
"Hahahahahaa! You are truly a fool. Very well, I will give you the death you desire!"
Silver gripped the Emerald tighter, feeling his pscho-kinetic powers grow. Wrapped in the distinctive aura, Silver levitated high up over the battlefield. Metal Mastermind flew up to join him. The two clashed.
-
Sonic staggered to the edge of the outcrop. The river of molten metal flowed beneath this crumbling ruin, which was sinking rapidly. He couldn't see anywhere to jump to, and even if he did, he wasn't sure he had the strength left.
Super Metal Sonic landed opposite the beaten hero.
"I don't know where this wonderful gift came from," Metal said as he strode forward, "but I intend to use it to its fullest. How many of your dear friends can I hunt down and kill before this power runs out, I wonder? Only one way to find out! Ahahahaaaahhaaa!!"
"You...dastard!" Sonic muttered.
-
Silver tore large chunks of material out of the ceiling with his power and threw them at Metal Mastermind, who effortlessly dodged them all. Metal countered by unleashing a powerful electrical surge aimed directly at the white hedgehog. Only by channeling all the power he had was he able to shield himself from the worst of it, but the sheer force was still enough to propel Silver into the wall, knocking the air out of him.
Silver fell a few feet, but managed to steady himself in the air again. Growling, Silver reached down and grabbed several Metal Sonics off the floor and hurled the robots one by one at their master.
Blaze and Conquest both watched the climactic battle with awestruck eyes, only breaking away when a Metal Sonic copy came too close and needed to be crushed. Shadow remained unresponsive throughout it all.
Silver launched himself up into the ceiling, unleashing a powerful psycho-kinetic shockwave towards Metal Mastermind. For a moment, the shockwave seemed to interrupt the villain's electrostatic composition, but Metal quickly recovered and extended the reach of his arm by twice his full length, grabbing Silver's leg. With Metal Mastermind closing in, Silver struggled to focus his power just to withstand the shocking energy surrounding him.
"This ends here," said Metal Mastermind. "Any last words, Silver the Hedgehog?"
Silver gave the robot a cheeky grin. Just then the resemblance shone through the many generations, and Metal found himself looking into the face of his eternal nemesis.
"N-409 Metal: Purge all data and shut down."
"What?" For the first time, Metal Mastermind sounded uncertain.
Terkal had managed to grab a Metal Sonic and was about to pummel it to bits, when the robot's red irises suddenly blinked out and the whole thing hung limply in his grip.
Blaze and Conquest looked around to see the doppelgangers shutting down one by one, falling down and lying as still as theatre puppets with their strings cut.
"This is impossible! I can't- NO! NOOOO!!!"
Metal Mastermind's final scream echoed on for long after the electrostatic flow faded and the villain's emptied armour fell to to floor in a pile.
Silver levitated down to the floor, and then finally breathed out a tremendous sigh of relief.
"W-what just happened? How did he do that?" Conquest asked.
Silver smiled. "Why don't you explain it, Blaze?" he suggested.
But Blaze was as confused as the bat. "Explain? But...Nega Metal was destroyed."
"You mean you didn't figure out?" Silver asked, sounding surprised. "Where do you think all the material to build those Metal Sonics came from? It wasn't like they could just create fresh metal and circuitry out of thin air, so everything handy had to be used. Half of the satellites the Ultimate Overlord gobbled up at first probably ended up being used just for robots. Seeing as we saw that many Metal Sonic copies come out of the same corridor we entered through, I figured that Nega Metal got recycled along with the rest of the bots we destroyed when we arrived. Assimilate and absorb data, that's all Metal Sonic has been doing since he was turned on. If the process was automatic by this point, then all of Nega Metal's programming would be swallowed up just the same.
"To be honest," Silver added, "I wasn't sure it would work."
"All this is givin' me a headache," said Terkal. "So what happens now?"
-
The golden glow faded from Metal Sonic's body. All the wear and tear of the recent battles reemerged, and the robot's confident stride turned into a stumble.
"No..." Metal Sonic uttered, looking at his hand.
Sonic gritted his teeth and managed to muster enough strength to stand up.
"Lo- Ugh! Looks like you just ran outta juice, Metal," he taunted.
Metal Sonic lunged at the hedgehog, who stepped smartly aside and elbowed Metal in the back of his head, causing the robot to fall forward over the edge. Sonic turned around to see Metal Sonic writhing around in the red-lit molten metal. The robot floated on the surface for a few seconds, then sank underneath. Its outstretched hand was visible for a moment before its joints melted and drifted away.
Sonic shivered as a very strange feeling washed over him. In a daze, he watched the wounds inflicted by Super Metal fade away, while at the same time all his strength returned.
The hedgehog looked up at the sky as he felt the sunlight on his back. Some kind of strange purple-ish web was barely visible. Whatever it was, it seemed to be breaking up...
Sonic the Hedgehog shrugged. With a single bound, the hedgehog made it across the burning river to safety. From there he started running, accellerating until he was a blue blur shooting across the horizon.
-
"I've got another one!" one of the echidnas burrowing into the floor yelled, before tossing a red Emerald out of the hole.
"That makes seven," said Shadow, making a half-hearted attempt to shrug out of Conquest's grip.
The sight of the famous anti-hero blushing like he had when he woke up and the GUE Commander hugged him tight was something Silver was never going to forget. It somehow destroyed the badarse image of the Ultimate Life-Form, and made him seem more like a real person instead of an enigmatic loner wrapped up in old legends.
The vibrations grew louder as the Ultimate Overlord broke apart and ceased to exist. Holes showing empty space kept appearing and disappearing all around the massive room where the champions were gathered.
"Silver, do you know how to use Chaos Control?" Shadow asked.
"Er..."
"Take those four Emeralds and learn fast. I'll take the other three. Chaos Control wielded by two different people in close proximity creates a warp hole through time and space. With all seven Chaos Emeralds, we should be able to create a hole large enough to bring everyone back to the future."
"Alright..." said Silver, holding the Emeralds gingerly.
The GUE soldiers were all looking at him with admiration now, worst of all Blaze as well, which made Silver feel incredibly uncomfortable, knowing that any mistake he made would meet the disappointment of so many people.
"CHAOS CONTROL! -OL!" the two hedgehogs shouted, slightly out of synch.
-
The last remnants of the Ultimate Overlord faded away...
-
It was now a full week since it all began...
"Are you sure it doesn't bother you?" Blaze asked, pulling the bowl of chili peppers closer.
Silver leaned back in his couch, smiling happily. "Nope," he said.
Saturday night. No jobs available. Where else would they be?
"It doesn't bother you one bit that no one in the world knows that you defeated one of the greatest evils of all time and saved history?" Blaze insisted. "It really doesn't bother you that the GUE Commander has labeled the whole thing classified, so we're not allowed to tell anyone about it either?"
"Blaze, seriously. It really doesn't bother me."
Was she kidding? This was the best reward he could've hoped for. The thought of the entire populace labelling him a hero and putting him all over the media would be a nightmare. To Silver, those few minutes onboard the Ultimate Overlord before they all returned to the present had been bad enough.
"Well, I still think it's unfair."
Eager to change the subject, Silver asked "What do you think is going to happen now that Shadow is coming back to work for GUE?"
-
"What do you mean I can't see the Commander? This is urgent, man!"
Terkal grinned in the face of the steaming general.
"If it's so dang important, handle it yerself, big shot," he responded. "The Commander is very busy 'interviewing' new staff. You ain't gettin' past me 'til she's good and ready, so why don't you pipe down, huh?"
Oh yes. This promotion to the GUE Commander's personal secretary was going to be a lot of fun. Terkal still had his other duties to attend to with the extended Angel Echidna squad, plus he now got the priceless privilige of pushing these high-ranking wind-bags around as he pleased.
Life was good.
-
The End.