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Another day, another Badnik attack; Amy swore that they were getting more and more repetitive each time.
What particularly annoyed her about this attack, however, was that it interrupted an otherwise great day: She was watching over Cream and Charmy, and so she took them to the arcade, grabbed a bite to eat, and even went to the movies. They were just about to take a short stroll through the park before heading back to Vanilla’s house, when what seemed like every speaker in the entire city started to screech.
“This municipality is now under the jurisdiction of the Eggman Empire; please do not resist.” The eerily monotone voice of a young girl tore through the static. Amy recognized the voice—it was none other than Sage; Eggman’s ‘daughter’. Well, at least she might be able to spice things up a bit.
And sure enough, a multitude of Badniks made themselves known: Machines of many models bursted through the ground, through walls, or were even dropped off from the sky.
Amy’s first objective was to make sure Cream and Charmy were out of harm’s way, even if they wished to fight the robots too; she promised that no harm would come to them, and she’ll be damned if she broke that. As she did so, she summoned her hammer and pulled out her phone, intending to call for backup; unfortunately for her, all the screen showed was a mess of pixels as its speaker chided her: “You are a bad listener, aren’t you?” And as the device began to spark, the Badniks closed in on her.
She could practically sense one of the machines diving right at her; with a quick spin, Amy swung her hammer into the approaching robot, sending it hurling into a wall.
Two more Egg Pawns rushed forward, which Amy quickly reduced to scrap metal. She was just about to take on the next wave when her hammer was suddenly knocked out of her grip; turning, Amy found herself staring right into the barrel of an E-1000’s cannon. This robot never got the chance to fire, however, as its head was quickly caved-in by the heel of a young rabbit. She could only watch as Cream jumped off of the Badnik towards the larger horde, with Charmy following shortly behind her. “Ugh, Vanilla and Vector are going to kill me…” Amy muttered to herself, before taking her hammer and running off after the kids to make sure they don’t get themselves hurt.
As the three of them tore through the Badniks, Amy couldn’t help but notice something about their behavior: Not only did they have much better coordination than what she remembered, but—in some situations—their movements would change drastically, while their eyes became swirls of blue and red. In these states, their movements were uncannily fluid—not unlike that of a marionette—and attacked with shocking deliberation.
Although, these moments paled in comparison to the brief streak of blue Amy saw out of the corner of her eye; and with the Badniks being unharmed in its wake, she had good suspicion on who it might’ve been.
Rushing to get a better angle for her double-take, Amy spotted the unmistakable posture of Metal Sonic.
“Cream! Charmy! Stay close to me!” she shouted to the fluttering bee and rabbit behind her; although it seemed that the mechanical hedgehog was one most attentive to her words, as he quickly whipped his head around and spotted her. But, to her surprise, he stumbled. It was such a brief reaction, but it was enough to give Amy pause.
It was not long after when the two of them recollected themselves: Metal Sonic darted around a corner and out-of-sight, while Amy placed her full attention on the two kids.
“C’mon!”
“Hey, we can handle ourselves!” Charmy retorted, much to the hedgehog’s displeasure.
“I promised Vector and Vanilla to keep you two in my sight, so you better get over here!”
The two kids were certainly not pleased, although they eventually relented. “Fine…” Cream sighed as they fluttered back down to Amy’s side.
They soon found Metal Sonic, along with two E-2000s and a squadron of Egg Pawns, forcing their way into a bland-looking skyscraper. Judging by the soldiers and the tarnished vehicles, it seemed that G.U.N. had finally made it onto the scene, and were most certainly going to accomplish little, yet still try to take all of the credit.
Thankfully, a more helpful individual had joined in on the fun, too.
Making his entrance by tearing through a line of Badniks, Sonic the Hedgehog skidded to a halt in front of an officer. He soon spotted the trio, and quickly jogged over to them.
“Hey, guys! Funny seein’ you here!” he called out
“Hi, Mr. Sonic!” greeted Cream.
“Oh! Hey, Sonic!” said Charmy.
Amy simply sighed in relief. “Really glad you’re here; is Tails with you?”
“Hm? Nah, he’s busy workin’ on something-or-other; I was just passing by,” Sonic replied. “Need somethin’ from him?”
“Oh, no. It’s just that Sage is helping with this attack, and she’d probably screw with his tech… or worse…”
“Yeah, I figured…” Sonic trailed off as the two glanced toward a G.U.N. soldier cursing at his malfunctioning truck. “So, need help with anythin’ or d’ya got this covered?”
“Actually, yes. Could—”
“We saw Metal Sonic!” Charmy blurted.
The hedgehog had a competitive glint in his eye. “Really?”
“Yup! He just went into that building!”
“Heh, don’t worry; I’ll take care of ol’ bolt-brain for ya’!” And Sonic was just about to dart after his doppelgänger, if it wasn’t for a firm tug from Amy interrupting him.
“Oh no you don’t!” She pulled him back to face her.
“Aw… C’mon, Ames!”
“Okay, first: What I really need you to do is get everyone to safety. You’re the only one who can get through the entire city in under ten seconds, and I can’t let Charmy and Cream out of my sight! And second: We both know that you won’t be beating Metal in a fight, especially somewhere as cramped as that!”
“What?” Charmy interjected yet again. “No way that’s true!”
“Yeah!” Cream added. “Mr. Sonic has always been able to outrun Metal!”
“No, she’s got a point—Metal can’t race as well as me, but he can sure as hel— sorry, sure as heck pack a punch!” He combed his fingers through his quills before turning back to face Amy. “Alright, Ames. You can count on me. You three go trash the tin-man for me, ’kay?” And with that, the Blue Blur sped off once again.
Amy’s spellbound gaze lingered on the quickly vanishing hedgehog for a moment, before she redirected her attention to the task at hand. Beckoning Charmy and Cream to follow, the three of them went after Metal Sonic.
With their initial delay, they believed that finding the Badniks would be a challenge, but this was disproven by the loud ransacking of the upper floor. Following the path the E-2000s forced their way through, they eventually came across the scavenging robots.
The room seemed to be a laboratory of sorts, likely regarding the synthesis of Chaos Drives. The Badniks were either plugging themselves into computers to siphon the data, or physically collecting the stored Chaos Drives. Metal Sonic himself, meanwhile, had found something else: The red Chaos Emerald.
Well, at least the reason for this attack was clear now.
Their entrance was quickly noticed by the Badniks, who quickly scrambled to protect their loot. Amy ran to take on Metal Sonic and the two E-2000s, while Charmy and Cream picked off the scurrying Egg Pawns.
Anticipating Amy’s attack, Metal Sonic tossed the Emerald to the robot beside him before parrying a hammer strike. He tried to take hold of her hammer, only for it to vanish in his grasp, causing him to stumble.
“Heh, you boys never learn…” Amy quipped, before resummoning her hammer to fend off the remaining E-2000. Luckily for Metal Sonic, his distraction worked, and the bot which took the Chaos Emerald successfully escaped.
He quickly rushed back at the hedgehog—who had successfully kicked the E-2000 down—and threw a flurry of punches her way. Amy managed to deflect or dodge most of his blows, eventually knocking him down. She then noticed Metal, for a very brief moment, glancing at something behind her. Turning, she had just enough time to parry the E-2000’s strike; she intended to counterattack, but Metal prevented that by grappling her from behind.
She struggled to squirm out of the machine’s grip, and the recovering badnik in front of her did nothing to ease her dread.
Thankfully, Charmy decided to intervene: “I gotcha!” he shouted, stinging the robotic hedgehog right in the shoulder. Free from Metal’s grasp, Amy threw the robot off of her and slammed her hammer down onto the E-2000’s right arm, severing it.
“Thanks, Charmy.” Letting the young bee finish off the E-2000, she turned back to face her other assailant. “Never knew you wanted to get that close to me, Metal!” Oddly, her quip caused the machine to falter slightly—another barely noticeable gesture—before he got back to his feet.
Metal Sonic darted towards her, claws extended, and Amy had no choice but to dive out of the way; once the machine flew past her, he turned on a dime and flung himself at her yet again. This time, Amy did not have enough time to dodge, instead resorting to bracing herself and blocking Metal’s attack with her hammer’s shaft and grip.
With the two holding onto the same weapon, the fight turned into one of control. Despite straining at the impact initially, Amy mustered her strength and managed to push Metal Sonic into the wall. Having pinned him, she took the opportunity to reason with the robotic hedgehog.
“Metal, you don’t have to do this!” she began. “I know there’s good in you! Please, you don’t have to fight us!” The lack of anger or deceit in her expression and voice seemed to throw the Badnik for a loop; his grip loosened, his turbine stuttered, and he broke eye contact with her. Amy hoped that she had finally gotten through to him.
Alas, it was not to be, for Metal’s eyes became a mix of blue and red, and he slipped out of her hold like water through a sieve. His defensive posture resembled more of a puppet’s imitation of him, but with a shake of his head he quickly reverted to normal, in both stance and eye-color. As he did, a monotone voice shouted over the building’s intercom:
“Do not manipulate him with your cruel, honeyed words, you siren!” It was the most emotion Amy had ever heard out of Sage’s voice.
The remaining few Badniks focused solely on her—their now-multicolored eyes acting like spotlights. Even the escaped E-2000 returned, bursting through the wall with ruthless intent.
Amy prioritized the E-2000, fending off its attacks while bearing the strikes of the Egg Pawns. Thankfully, Cream and Charmy managed to pry some of them off of her without getting hurt much themselves. The E-2000’s attacks—or, really, Sage’s—exuded a calculated rage; each strike filled with deliberation and hatred. Amy couldn’t find an opening in the onslaught; combined with her wavering energy, she was scrambling to find a means of escape.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the figure of a rabbit dash by and plant a firm kick into the machine's leg. The strike caused it to stumble, but its sturdy armor made its attacker reel back as well.
“Cream, what are you—?”
“Amy! Now!” the young girl interrupted, causing Amy to recognize the Badnik’s distracted state—the opening she was looking for.
Just before the E-2000 could retaliate, Amy decapitated it with a hammer swing faster than she herself could even process. The robot twitched for a moment, before collapsing.
The adrenaline rush wore off soon after, and she nearly collapsed as well. Charmy rushed over to the two of them in a panic, asking repeatedly if they were alright. But as the dust settled, the trio registered Metal Sonic’s curious absence from that fight.
Turning, Amy beheld the mechanical hedgehog staring at his hands, shaking.
“My offer still stands, y’know,” said Amy as she approached him. “We don’t have to fight anymore, if you don’t want to.”
Metal Sonic shot upright, staring at her; Amy responded with a gentle smile.
There was a silence between them, before Metal gave what was his best analogue to a glare. He took one of the broken Egg Pawns by the arm and hurled it towards Charmy and Cream. Amy instantly dove to deflect the attack, giving Metal Sonic enough time to run near the exit, electrify his hand, and deliver a punch straight through the lightswitch; the overhead lights were overcharged, filling the room with a blinding glow before popping.
When Amy, Cream, and Charmy could finally see clearly again, Metal Sonic was gone; all that remained was the signature ‘crack-boom’ of him shattering the sound barrier.
“There you are! Excellent work out there, my boy!” Dr. Robotnik congratulated, giving Metal Sonic a pat on the head before turning his attention to the hologram next to him. “And Sage, once again you prove yourself an asset to the Empire!”
Sage bowed. “I do what I must, father.” she replied humbly.
“Well, you can go off and recharge, or something; you’ve earned it.” He sifted through his pocket for the Chaos Emerald. “I’ve got a few plans for this sucker…” he trailed off, leaving Sage and Metal Sonic to their own devices.
Now with sufficient privacy, the hologram turned towards the Badnik. “Brother, how are you feeling?”
Metal was motionless for a moment, his gaze angled downward. [[My copy says such things, and I do not flinch. And yet, when she says them ]] He left the message unfinished.
Sage’s form distorted. “Brother, you weren’t… considering that proposition—”
[[Negative]] he reassured. [[It is simply that, if those words elicit such a reaction out of me, what if she knew of my feelings?]]
“I see…” Sage’s reply was accompanied by a red glow. “I shudder to imagine how she might exploit your… ‘crush’, so to speak, were she to find out about it.”
[[Do you reckon that she has managed to infer it after the events of today?]]
There was a pause as she ran some calculations. “No, that is quite unlikely,” she replied, much to their shared relief. “We can only hope that she will not find out for the foreseeable future, either.”
[[Indeed.]] There was another lengthy pause, before Metal Sonic sent another message, much to Sage’s surprise: [[Thank you for your help, today.]]
Sage turned to face him, and gave a small smile. “Of course; it is my duty to assist my brother, after all.” Her expression then faltered. “If I were to lose you… I cannot even bring myself to calculate that possibility.”
[[Do not worry, I will make sure that shall never occur.]]
“Thank you.”
[[Of course; it is my duty to ensure my sister’s happiness, after all.]]
Words eluded Sage as she processed what Metal just said. But as elation enveloped her, she realized that words were not necessary. She chose to show her gratitude through her best attempt at a hug.