Sonic is © to SEGA.

Sonic woke up in a capsule. He looked around the room, recoiling as he saw different versions of himself, either in other capsules, or being repaired. He saw Mecha, Silver Sonic, Rocket Sonic, and Sonic androids everywhere. But what caught his attention was his reflection. Instead of two emerald-green eyes, full of adventure, he saw two cold, heartless, red eyes. That's when he caught sight of his hands.

His cold, metallic hands…

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Metal Sonic's servers kicked in. He expected to feel the cold, refreshing green stasis liquid as his eyes flickered to life. Instead, he felt something equally refreshing, but…warm…and soft…

His eyes shot open as he saw a ceiling above him. Was he being held prisoner? And if he was, by whom? And why? He glanced around. He saw ocean blue walls, blue drapes, a television, and an oddly-shaped white box with some sort of double-hand remote control attached. The top said 'Dream-Cast'. He looked on a wooden dresser with a ton of pictures on it. Whoever lived here must have loved pictures.

One of them had a yellow fox, a pink hedgehog, and a red…thing…in it. He recognized the beings as Tails, Amy Rose, and Knuckles. Then he caught a glimpse of his hands. His metal structure had been turned into a healthy tan shade, and a white glove covered each hand. He continued to look at the pictures. Then he saw his most hated nemesis.

"Sonic…my loathsome copy…" He growled. He snapped the frame in two.

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Amy Rose was down in the kitchen of her boyfriend's home. There had been a battle the other night and Sonic had told her to go to his house and wait for him to come back. She was wearing a pink apron with yellow flowers on it. She had let Sonic sleep in because she had found him exhausted, but alive after the fight.

She was cooking breakfast; sunny-side up eggs, toast, and coffee, when she heard a snap from upstairs. She took off her apron and rushed upstairs, to make sure that Sonic hadn't rolled onto the floor in his sleep. She knocked on the door once, twice, three times. When no one replied she peeked in and said, "Sonic? Are you alright?"

The room was empty.

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"Okay, okay, calm down, Amy." Tails said into the phone. "Now tell me exactly what happened."

On the other line, Amy was near hysterics. "Okay. I was making breakfast and I heard a snapping noise upstairs. I went upstairs to check on Sonic, but he was gone!"

Tails pondered. "Hmm…Okay. Stay at the house. I'll get Knuckles, Rouge, and Shadow ASAP and be right over to help look for him." He hung up the phone.

He went into the garage and looked at his Tornado biplane. It was covered in holes and dirt from last night's battle. He walked past it and climbed into a biplane he'd made in case the Tornado got too damaged. He took a look at the plane that had helped him and his friends on so many adventures…

He placed a hand on the nose of the Tornado. "Soon, old friend. Soon." Lastly, he placed a note on his kitchen counter.

Dear Cosmo,

If you are reading this, Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow and I are going to help Amy look for Sonic. If you want to help us as well, call my cell number. Also, try phoning the Chaotix if you can.

See you soon,

Tails

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Knuckles was inside the hut he and Rouge had built. Now that the Master Emerald was no longer a worry, Knuckles had had time to work a bit on his social skills. Rouge had given up thievery soon after the fight against Eggman Nega and she and Knuckles found that they had stronger attractions and similarities than they'd thought. Before anyone knew it, they were married and living on the floating paradise, Angel Island.

He heard the unmistakable noise of biplane rotors and looked on the horizon. Sure enough, there was Tails, flying the biplane straight towards the island.

"Well, whaddya know. Here comes Tails and--" He noticed something out of place. "…no Sonic…" He remembered that there had been talk of a fight the other day where Sonic had been hurt. Could it have been worse than let on?

His expression grew serious. Inside, his head kept repeating, "Oh my god, oh my god…"

Rouge didn't notice Knuckles's expression. She glanced nervously at her husband and cleared her throat.

"Uh, Knuckles? I think I should tell you--"

"Not now, Rouge. I'll be right back." Knuckles said, with the slightest hint of worry in his voice.

Rouge frowned sadly as Knuckles raced towards the oncoming plane. She wondered, was Knuckles mature enough to be a father yet?

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"I see, so Sonic's gone missing." Knuckles said, scowling as he said it.

"Yeah. Me and Amy are gonna go look for him. Are you and Rouge game?" He asked.

Knuckles's scowl disappeared as he gave his friend a thumbs-up. "Of course! Sonic's helped us out of situations before, and now it's time that we return the favor!" Rouge also said, "You bet! Not every day a girl gets to see some excitement!"

"Great! Now we just have to find Shadow." Tails shouldn't have said that. Immediately, Knuckles's fist connected with his shoulder. Harder than a friendly punch, for sure.

"Shadow?! Are you nuts? Didn't you notice how he's kinda, oh, I don't know, anti-social?" Knuckles growled.

"Well, yeah…but remember what he said? He said he'd always at least try and return the favor that Sonic did." Tails shrugged.

"Which was?"

"…"

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Shadow was sitting in a restaurant, looking at the menu…or at least pretending to. His eyes shot to the man sitting a few tables away. He took a shiny object from inside his coat, took aim, and fired. No one saw him do it, not like anybody could. That was why he was G.U.N.'s top assassin. He never got caught.

The gun he had was invincible to metal detectors, had an internal silencer, and the bullets were a small metal bug.

The bug, once landed on a living organism, would find a piece of skin, spray anesthetics on it, and burrow in. Between 40 minutes to two hours later, the target would die of a heart-attack. Once the person died, the bug would instantly implode, discarding any trace of it.

Shadow spoke into his watch. "Successful shot. Target has been infected."

"Nice work, Agent Shadow. Another one bites the dust. Heh…oh, the irony…assassins being assassinated…"

Even Shadow had to grin at the irony of it. This job suited his macabre sense of humor well.

"What would you like to order?" The waitress asked.

Shadow looked her right in the eye, grinned and said, "I'll have a plate of nachos and a Sprite, please…" He hated to admit it, but Sonic was rubbing off on him.

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Shadow walked into an alleyway and sat down on a railing, munching noiselessly on his nachos. Then, he saw the all-too familiar shadow of a hedgehog.

"Hmph…Sonic." He half-grinned at the blue hedgehog in front of him.

Then, Sonic spoke in a voice that sent chills even down Shadow's spine. "Shut up. I am not Sonic the Hedgehog…"

Shadow stared, took a sip of his Sprite, and stared some more. Then, he chuckled. "Another one of your dumb jokes, I see…"

The blue hedgehog was dead serious. "I am NOT Sonic." Shadow stared. "Oh, come on now. You look exactly like him! Blue fur, red sneakers. Why, even if you weren't Sonic, you're a perfect carbon copy of him, save for the voice and attitude."

'Sonic' growled. "I. AM. NOT. SONIC!" Then, he punched Shadow, sending nachos everywhere, some of them sticking to Shadow.

Shadow attempted to get up, but 'Sonic' kneed him in the chin, sending Shadow backwards into a wall. He saw 'Sonic' about to strike again.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

And Shadow was gone…

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Amy was pacing the room. When were the Chaotix going to be here? She heard the doorbell ring.

Tails hadn't found Shadow, but Cosmo had phoned the Chaotix to help. Amy dashed over and opened the door. "Finally you guys get your lazy a--"

Instead of Espio, Charmy, and Vector, she saw a black and red (and yellow) hedgehog in a coat step in.

"…" Shadow, covered in nachos and cheese, scowled. "Before you ask what happened…Sonic happened…"

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"Sonic did this to you?!" Amy exclaimed as Shadow wiped off the nachos with a towel.

"Tch. Yeah. That's what I said two paragraphs ago." He scowled.

"…But I don't understand. Why would Sonic--" Tails began.

"First off, he told that he wasn't Sonic. So I don't know if it really was him. Remember last time he was blamed for a crime? It turned out to be Metal Sonic in disguise."

"Hmm…" Knuckles thought. "But what kind of criminal would announce that he's not Sonic, if he were trying to impersonate Sonic?"

"…" Shadow, for once, was clueless. "…I don't know…"

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Metal Sonic was flying through the forest. He came to a clearing he recognized and looked around. He saw his destination and flew at it. He was just getting used to flying, so he was a bit wobbly. He smacked into the window.

He looked at the staring faces of his friends, and vice-versa. Then, he slid across the window to the door. He walked in, expecting to be greeted. He was greeted, but not in the way he'd thought.

WHACK!!

Knuckles punched him between the eyes, sending him back outside.

"AND DON'T COME BACK!" He shouted.

"…Wait…" Amy said, taking a close look into Metal's eyes. There was a tense moment in the group. "…Sonic?"

"WHHAAAAAAAAAT?!" Knuckles shouted.

Sonic got up, nodded, and walked over. Amy put a hand on his cheek. She felt a tear in her eye. "It is you…" She wrapped her hands around his neck in a hug. Sonic's robotic arms did the same.

Knuckles was the first to break the silence. "But I don't get it…How did Sonic turn into Metal Sonic?"

Sonic's eyes turned to question marks. "I guess that means he doesn't know…" Amy said.

Shadow scowled. "So if this is Sonic, then that means…"

Everyone looked at each other as everything fell into place. How Sonic turned into Metal Sonic would have to wait. Right now, Metal Sonic was wreaking havoc in Sonic's body.

And no one had ever truly defeated Sonic before…

To Be Continued…