Sonic the Hedgehog

Look-A-Like

Not even the depths of their darkest imaginations could live up to the awful sight before them. Overflowing the streets are endless ZomBots, roaming their rightful kingdom.

From the aerial view, the horde of ZomBots look more like a disturbed ant colony. The source of their disruption is not hard to make out, being as it's where most of the tortured souls have gathered.

"There's someone down there!" Tails observes, making out a vague black dot surrounded by a circle of silver. A beam of familiar-looking, yellow chaos energy erupts from the dot, rippling through the large wave of approaching foes. "Is that...?"

"Shadow, right?" Sonic guesses, his fears realized. "Eggman beat us here. If we're to act, we need to act fast. Tails, can you land us on one of those rooftops?"

The request is enough to make the fox gulp. Landings are something he's hardly gotten the hang of, let alone mastered. But he knows he can certainly try. At this stage in the game, failure is not an option.

"On it," Tails nods with determination, lowering the small plane closer to the overrun city. "But it might be a little bumpy."

Sonic crouches down on top of the wing, steadying himself. The last thing he wants is to fall into the crowd below, who seem to have noticed the small aircraft and weakly stretch out their arms to reach it.

Knuckles is left speechless. Of everything he's witnessed in adolescence, he could never imagine a more nightmarish scenario if he tried.

Eggman has a lot more to answer for than theft. Knuckles' mighty fists clench tightly, imagining the moment they'd meet the Doctor's face.

"All of these people..." Amy mutters, unable to stomach seeing the enslaved innocents below, left long ago to eternally remain trapped. Her heartbeat accelerates, drowning out the air in her lungs.

"Hey."

She turns away from the awful view and looks up to see Sonic the Hedgehog, his emerald eyes looking into hers.

"I know it's scary," he continues. "I remember back when it all started. They advised me to stay away but I couldn't. Back then, there was just a fence, and... it was terrible. They were all piled against it, clawing mindlessly for a way out. There could have been survivors, but I was too... I was too..."

He trails off.

"You were doing your best," she finishes for him. "No different from what you're doing now. You see, I don't care if you consider yourself a real hero or not, Sonic the Hedgehog. You always will be to me."

Sonic lets out a light, nervous chuckle, more appreciative of Amy's comment than he's willing to show.

"Thanks, but I-"

"LOOK OUT!" Amy screams in horror.

As soon as Amy opened her mouth to deliver the warning, it was already too late. Sonic would've never had the time to notice and react to the blur of chrome blue that proceeds to strike him off the plane like a bolt of lightning.

Everyone on board the Tornado Two whirl around in fear and bewilderment, confused about what just happened.

"SONIC!" Amy screams, looking around for where he could've disappeared to.

"I see him!" Tails calls out, with the two passengers following his eyesight and seeing what he sees.

The familiar back jet of Metal Sonic.

All air is unable to squeeze through Sonic's tightened windpipe. He gasps for oxygen, desperate to free himself from the steel grasp of his metal duplicate. They both shoot through the air at speeds high enough to pierce through steel.