The air changed as I phased back into reality, the static of teleportation still prickling against my skin. I scanned the perimeter immediately, my eyes searching for the two familiar silhouettes.
"Oh, you're back," Z23 said, her posture relaxing only slightly as she adjusted the rigging on her shoulders.
"Did anything happen while I was gone?" I asked, my hand instinctively drifting to my belt.
"When they arrived, we were swarmed by multiple creatures," Z23 replied, her voice cool and professional despite the lingering scent of blood in the air. "But they were dealt with swiftly. We are secure."
I breathed a sigh of relief. "Where's Daiwa?"
Z23 jerked her thumb toward the rear of the clearing. "Over there."
I spotted her leaning against a jagged rock, her expression unreadable. I hurried over, the weight on my chest finally lifting. "Daiwa! I'm so happy you're safe."
She stiffened, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. She pointedly looked away, a faint dust of pink creeping onto her cheeks. "Hmph! It's not like I was worried about you or anything. Don't get the wrong idea."
Before I could respond to her classic deflection, a sharp, familiar voice cut through the clearing.
"Hey, you!"
I turned. Standing there was Sonic, but my eyes immediately locked onto the sleek, blue-and-black silhouette looming behind him. Neo Metal Sonic.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Eggman's voice crackled with indignation as he stomped forward, pointing a gloved finger at the mechanical doppelgänger. "Why is there another Metal? What is this preposterous imitation?"
I offered a dry smirk. "Oh, that's my Metal. An improved version far superior to your dated models, Doctor."
Eggman scoffed, his mustache twitching. "Like I'd ever believe that!"
"Believe what you want," I said, my tone shifting to something more businesslike.
"But there's something I need from you."
The Doctor puffed out his chest. "You need something from me? The Great Eggman? Ha! Very well, speak. What is it you desire? Scientific data? My tactical genius?"
"Do you still remember your bank details?"
Eggman froze, his jaw dropping as the bravado drained out of him.
Miles away, the sky was dark, torn apart by the clashing of titans. Silver the Hedgehog was gasping for air, his psychokinetic aura flickering like a dying candle. Before him stood Fleetway Sonic a golden, jagged nightmare of pure, psychotic energy.
"HAHAHA! IS THIS YOUR BEST? PATHETIC!" Fleetway roared, his eyes swirling with madness. "NOW DIE!"
He thrust his hands forward, unleashing a devastating wave of chaos energy. Silver closed his eyes, the weight of his failure heavy in his heart. "This is the end. Good luck, Blaze..."
The blast never hit.
A blur of cold steel intercepted the beam. Metallix stood firm, his metallic palms open, absorbing the raw chaos energy directly into his core. The air groaned under the pressure as the energy was forced into his chassis, his armor beginning to glow with a divine radiance.
[CHAOS ENERGY ADSORBED: SUPER FORM ACTIVE]
"Hahaha! I am the mightiest in the universe!" Metallix's voice echoed with a new, terrifying resonance. He vanished, reappearing instantly in front of Fleetway.
"WHAT THE—!?"
Metallix buried a fist into Fleetway's gut, the force of the blow sending a shockwave that leveled the surrounding trees. Before the golden hedgehog could recover, Metallix whispered, "Chaos Control."
He vanished and reappeared behind Fleetway, delivering a brutal hammer-fist that sent the God-form crashing into the dirt with a deafening thud.
"FINALLY!" Fleetway screamed, scrambling up with bloodlust in his eyes. "THIS IS GETTING INTERESTING!"
He fired another blast, larger than the last, but Metallix didn't even flinch. "Useless," the machine droned. He warped again, but this time Fleetway was ready. The hedgehog spun, catching Metallix with a high kick that sent the robot hurtling into the side of a nearby hill.
"HAHAHA! IS THAT ALL?" Fleetway unleashed a final, concentrated beam of light. The hill vanished in a gargantuan explosion.
[WARNING: HULL INTEGRITY AT 67%]
[CHAOS ENERGY DEPLETED. RETURNING TO BASE FORM.]
"HAHAHA! USELESS SCRAP METAL!" Fleetway cackled, hovering over the smoking crater.
Metallix rose from the rubble, his optics glowing a steady, defiant red. "I have let you live long enough."
Suddenly, Sage appeared by his side, her digital form shimmering as she reached into the void of her subspace. She pulled out the Master Emerald, its green light bathing the battlefield.
"I am Sonic," Metallix declared, his voice cold and certain. "The real Sonic."
He leaped onto the Master Emerald as seven smaller Chaos Emeralds materialized in a ring around him.
"WHAT!?" Fleetway charged, desperate to stop the transformation. Sage acted instantly, deploying a shimmering hexagonal shield that deflected Fleetway's desperate energy bolts.
The Chaos Emeralds began to spin, their colors bleeding together until they turned into the Super Emeralds. The power surge was so immense it felt like the world was holding its breath.
HYPER METALLIX.
The transformation was blinding. In a flash of white light, Metallix appeared above Fleetway. He struck with a force so monumental that even Knuckles would have envied the raw power.
"NOOOO! THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE! I AM A GOD!" Fleetway's screams were cut short as the impact forced the chaos energy right out of his body. The golden glow shattered, leaving a stunned, regular Sonic falling toward the earth.
"I am the mightiest in the universe," Metallix repeated. With a flick of his wrist, he triggered a mass Chaos Control, warping all nearby survivors to Agnes's coordinates.
"Metallix completed the mission," I noted, watching the data stream on my HUD.
"Good. Two left."
I turned to Daiwa and Z23. "Get the survivors onto the Death Egg. Now."
Eggman stepped up, looking uncharacteristically somber. "Agnes, the Death Egg still needs time to prime its main cannon. It's not ready to fire."
"I'll hold them off," I said, checking my inventory. "Just make sure that gun is ready when I give the signal."
Eggman looked at me, a rare spark of respect in his eyes. "Very well. Good luck... from one scientist to another. Kick that faker's ass."
"Heh. What a prideful man," I muttered, my tail wiggling.
"Scan indicates creator is having a increase of Oxytocin and has a low cortisol level." Eggman's metal sonic said.
"What am I even witnessing right now?" Z23 asked, her expression completely deadpan as she watched and heard what both agnes and eggman said plus metal sonic.
"Metallix, you ready?" The Hyper-form machine appeared at my side. "Mhm."
"Let's kick their asses!"
I reached into my inventory, pulling out the Master Emerald, the seven Chaos Emeralds, and seven glowing, multicolored hearts sealed in reinforced jars.
"EMPEROR!" I screamed.
The ground shook as a gargantuan shadow fell over the battlefield. Behind me, a massive, ornate war machine materialized, its plating shimmering with a dangerous look.
[TDX ONLINE]
[UNIT: EMPEROR — THE ULTIMATE INVENTION OF DR. XENON]
"I've upgraded him with Chaos Emeralds and... a few other surprises," I said, smirking. "Emperor, handle them."
In a blur of motion, the Emperor vanished, redeploying to stall the true nightmares: Lord X and Sonic.EXE.
"Oh, why hello there," Lord X rumbled, his stitched mouth widening into a horrific grin.
"More of Eggman's toys?" Sonic.EXE sneered. He snapped his fingers, expecting the machine to implode into digital dust. Nothing happened. "What!?"
"Strange..." Lord X murmured, his eyes narrowing.
The Emperor didn't wait. He slammed his massive poleaxe into the ground, and the earth fractured. From the cracks, an army of Eradicators rose mechanical soldiers bristling with miniguns and oversized energy blades. Then Lord x and Sonic exe summoned there own soldiers to fight Emperor Eradicators.
The two armies clashed. The Eradicators poured fire into the demonic hoard, but the supernatural powers of the entities began to take their toll.
"Chrono Control!" the Emperor commanded.
Time ground to a halt. The Emperor leveled his arm cannon, firing a point-blank blast at Sonic.EXE. But the demon's eyes flickered, and he broke through the temporal freeze with a scream of rage. He lunged, tearing at the Emperor's plating while Lord X curled into a spin dash, knocking the titan back.
"This is getting boring, EXE," Lord X said, yawning. "Kill him already."
The Emperor's optics flickered as his systems redlined. "My purpose... Was not to end you," the machine droned, his voice distorted. "But to weaken you. ACTIVATING OVERDRIVE."
He unleashed everything. Rockets, lasers, and localized nuclear warheads detonated in a continuous, blinding chain reaction, vaporizing the landscape.
[WARNING: HULL INTEGRITY 30%]
[LEFT ARM DESTROYED. RIGHT LEG CRIPPLED. LEFT EYE OFFLINE.]
[COMBAT STRENGTH AT 40%]
[ DEFEAT IMMINENT PREPARING LAST LIFE PROTOCOL]
[INITIATING PROTOCOL: UMA]
"You're just scrap metal," Sonic.EXE spat, stepping through the fire toward the broken machine.
The Emperor looked up, his one remaining eye glowing with a terrifying intensity. "You are nothing... but a fake god."
BOOM!
The Emperor detonated his core. The explosion was the equivalent of two Tsar Bombas, but without the lingering radiation it was pure, concentrated Chaos energy and other energys put together. The shockwave stripped the very landscape of life.
As the smoke cleared, Lord X stood amongst the ash, his form flickering. "I never thought a toy could pack that much punch." He tried to trace the source of the summoning, but found only a void.
"Strange," Sonic.EXE hissed, clutching his chest. "My power... it feels weaker."
"Same," Lord X agreed, his grin fading. "I sense an anomaly in this world. This isn't over."
With a final, lingering glare at the scorched earth, the two demons vanished into the shadows.
A/N: can you prise me some more...