[CCs only] Orta recens quam pura nites

NOTE: This RP is for canon characters only. If you're confused by what a 'canon character' is, or if you don't own one and want to, please see this thread here.

The fall of the great Eggman warship was something to be remembered for the ages. As it fell from the sky, covered in flames and smoke that filled and polluted the air above with the sound of screeching metal filling the ears of those who witnessed it, as the ground below was pelted with slabs of steel that could kill a man, as the smog doused the battlefield and choked throats, one would wonder if the old ruins were salvageable at all. The collision caused the rock foundations to crumble and caves to collapse, the train station wrecked and ruined and all transport to the area ceased to be allowed due to safety for the citizens. The rumbling echo of the impact between ground and ship was heard for hundreds of miles. And hundreds of hearts stopped in that very moment.

While the mighty ship fell, it was known to very little and very few that a particular fight was occurring within the smoke-filled battlefield. A battle between man and machine. Between metal and flesh. A rivalry born from hatred of the another. For the blue blur known as Sonic himself, hero of the people, was against his own perfected self - Metal Sonic. Created to be flawless in every way, created to obey and destroy and be the Doctor's most brilliant, perfect creation to slay the hedgehog. Perhaps, in a twisted way, he succeeded. And the two did fight, as it was always destined to be, matched action for action and move for move. All the while above them the mass of steel made its fiery descent. But the battle was not won nor lost, and both suffered. Both could not best the other, and it was mere unholy misfortune that caused the metal doppelganger to be caught under the ship as it impacted the ground.

Mystic Ruins: 11:03 am
20 days after impact

The smoke had cleared. What had collapsed had finally settled, and the damage was done to the old ruins. The oasis, the train station, the walls of the ruins were all crushed under the weight of the great warship. If one were lucky to make their way over despite the warnings from authority of otherwise, they could salvage the remains of what had not been destroyed. Discover technology the good doctor may have been working on, or be unfortunate enough to find some activated robots ready to mow down intruders without hesitation. It was, in the end, the roll of a dice. Pray you strike a six if you wander those halls not yet touched.

The rubble was large, and extremely heavy. Fortunately for some, the smoke wasn't clogging up the view or oxygen nearly as much, so it was easy to navigate the area.

...'Easy' being an exaggeration. If you can get past all of the sharp deadly chunks of metal that were sticking out of the ground waiting for some unfortunate soul to trip and fall onto, and remain undetected by the spare robotic minions...

Sure.

Though the main issue wasn't the rubble, or the lesser robots. It was the fact that a certain robot lay underneath the rubble...

Mystic Ruins: 04:00pm
20 days after impact


Knowing fine well the danger that lay inside, why would someone want to come back to this place? Especially the flesh half of the battle, Sonic...

Wandering through the giant rubble filled area, his shoes making a gentle crunch and grinding sound as he stepped over the top of some wonderfully charred steel and iron, the blue blur himself seemed to be a bit... skeptical. Normally he didn't give too much of a care about what people did, even if it involved them getting in extreme danger. It was their choice, really.

Though this changed it.

If someone... some idiot was to roll a mere 1, the metallic half of the battle would be free, and not only would the person who stumbled upon it be tortured, the blue blur would have to face himself again.

However, Sonic knew one thing. The metallic counterpart would get free EVENTUALLY. It was inevitable. Fate. Their paths would cross again. Coming to a halt on top of a large pile of rubble, he frowned a little, the large scar down his left arm remaining from the battle he fought.

Why delay the inevitable any longer?

"I'm waiting for you, Metal..." He said, calmly.

Shhff... shhff..


The small fox's hands sifted through the smaller pieces of metal that looked easier to carry. He stood up from his kneeling position and sighed. It probably wasn't even worth it to come out here to look for spare parts. Most of them were too big and heavy for him to carry, and the others were either too small or far too banged up to be of any use. Not to mention, this wasn't exactly the safest place to be. He had just thought he could fly in real quick, scout out the area and get out of there. 

He spun his two tails and took off into the sky, looking around for the place that he came from. He was about to fly off in that direction and leave, but his ears twitched and he heard an all too familiar voice. Well, of course it'd be familiar. He looked in the direction of the noise, and landed on top of some blunted rubble. Tails looked out from behind a bigger piece of rubble in front of him where he was trying to look, and saw just who he expected to see-- it was Sonic! He had only clearly heard part of what Sonic had said, due to having been that far away when he heard it. 

His ears flattened when he deciphered one of those words as being 'Metal'. Maybe he just meant.. a regular old robot, right? "... Sonic!" He called, jumping down from the rubble and landing flat on the ground. Tails knew he wanted to be here to help if something did happen.

Sadly, word didn't seem to travel all that fast on mobius these days or if it did, the doctor simply had not been paying attention to it. Engrossed in one scheme or another. However, word had reached him eventually. One of eggmans warships crashing was quite an interesting tidbit indeed. More over, this paticular crash had not only involved the hedgehog but it's metalic counterpart. That did indeed spike the echidna's curiousity and therefor roused him to action.

20 days however, was a lot of time and he was fairly certain some of the braver souls had started looting already. There was a lot to be salvaged from eggmans ships if one knew how to use it after all. Now if only he could warp back in time... now there was a thought, moving through space was one thing but perhaps he could adapt the warp rings to move through time itself..?

The albino eyed the warp rings around his wrists speculatingly. There was indeed a thought and the potential was there, powered by enough chaos energy...

He filed that paticular tidbit away for further exploration...later. He gave his wrist a slight flick and the warpring he'd been scrutenising dislodged from it, expanding with a soft fwoooom. He stepped through and out into the bright light and humid air of the mystic ruins.

The view was far from pleasant...

The first thing his eyes landed on was a blue hedgehog standing on a pile of rubble, followed by motion attracting his attention to the hedgehogs little pet brat of a mutant. His nose crinkled in distaste and his lips curled back from his sharp teeth in an annoyed grimace. He did not wish to deal with the hedgehog right now.

Why was the nuisance even here? he did not usualy hang around after the fireworks were over and he'd had his destructive little way. The only reason he could think of why the hedgehog would want to hang around this area would be...

oho..~

A slow maliciously delighted grin crept onto the echidna's face. He would only hang about if there were still a threat from the rubble. The metal replica must have survived then, but it was obviously burried beneath the rubble.

Well~ he suposed he aught to give the bot a little hand getting back on its feet and give it...a little edge...

He opened another warp ring, reaching into it for the paticular device that aught to do the trick. Normally he would have done so in a calm slow manner, but time wasn't exactly something that was on his side if the blue speedster had already spotted him. With his speed he'd be over in a split second.

The blue hedgehog was literally about to turn towards Finitevus, until the voice of his best friend caught his attention. He got a small smile on his face after seeing Tails. "Oh, hey Tails!" He greeted with a nice tone, until the smile turned into a small frown. He was very concerned all of a sudden.

Though he quickly got back to 'himself'. As far as Tails knew, this was just a regular old wreck. He'd made them before in the past and Tails had salvaged from them just fine. But there was definitely something else at stake.

Luckily for him, Tails hadn't rolled any dice; he didn't try to lift up any of the larger pieces of scrap because of his structure.

Keeping it that way would be wise.

Though Sonic couldn't help but feel on edge a little bit. He knew HE could fight Metal again if he suddenly resurfaced somehow, but could he protect Tails at the same time? If it all came to that it'd be as simple as telling Tails to leave. Obviously.

Or would it?

"So, you're out here salvaging scraps from fallen ship number 36,853?" Sonic asked pretty assumingly (probably rightly though), patting his hands together confidently, as if he was knocking dust and dirt off after a job well done.

Tails smiled at the greeting, always happy to see Sonic- of course. "Yeah!" He said, with a small laugh. "But.. A lot of the scraps around here are too heavy for me to carry so the salvaging hasn't gone so well." 

He looked pretty optimistic, however. "I'm sure I'll find something soon! ... What're you doing around here though?" He asked, trying to come off as unknowing- even after hearing Sonic mention Metal the first time. This didn't exactly seem like the place to stumble across on a leisure run. Perhaps there were some stray badniks that miraculously survived the crash of this ship, or... something of the sort.

Appearantly he'd gone unnoticed by the blue speedster. Very good, it would be tricky to have to deal with that good for nothing hedgehog. He could very well understand dr robotniks agitations with the critten. But now was not the time to muse over such things. No, it was time to take action after all, that WAS why he had come to this crash site. Metal Sonic was what had drawn him here and the fact that the speedster still preceived the wreckage as a threat made him more hopeful. He had not looked forward to tinkering with eggmans substandard outdated technology, however effective it might be at times..

He smiled almost fondly at the memory of the burning city of Albion as he had lowered its protective cloaking device and had exposed it to the devastation of Eggmans warfleet, such a glorious day that had been. Such sweet vengeance to be rained down on those fools who had sought to utenise him for his brilliance.

He shook his head, slightly annoyed with himself, now was not the time to think fondly of old memories, he wasn't in the safest of places at the very moment and he was suposed to be busy giving one of eggmans toys a little hand. They were so very effective in accomplishing in what he sought to achieve and all he had to do was give them free reign.

He removed a device not much bigger then his palm from the opened warp ring. It didn't look like anything special but it was hard to figure out what it was. It was rather crude in design but when one didn't have much to work with one could hardly make something fashionably slick looking. The most important thing was that it would serve his purpose.

His bandaged fingers danced along the screen as he set up the strenght of the pulse it would emit before he opened another warp ring, this time one that opened up not far from the blue blur. He didn't give the hedgehog time to react though, thrusting the device through the ring. It went off with an ear splitting BOOM sending a shockwave of energy rippling across the wreckage, powering up any device or system intact enough to still be able to activate.

It didn't do much to the hedgehog and his fox friend though, other then maybe cause their fur to poof up under the amount of static electricity that now filled the air. He allowed himself a slight smirk. If Metal was able to activate itself, it certainly would. If not,he would need to quickly get himself out of there, he doubted that the blue blurr appreciated his little trick.

While the deactivated bots on the ship surged to life, ready to lay waste to those which passed them, and the lights flickered and wavered before finally beaming down as if new, and machines whirred to life in the bowels of the mighty ship to get to work and start once more, one robot in particular, trapped within the basement of the ship battered and broken (since, hey, face-first into a falling, fiery mass of metal isn't a good thing) found great pleasure in this sudden explosion of wonderful energy.

Funny how things are always found to be in your favour. The robot had calculated that he would escape eventually - that was certain of course. Fate was not existent but rather a little lie to tell children a reason for bad things, but curious adventurers and a massive electrical surge of energy was no lie. Nor was it a bad thing but a blessing. He was incapable of determining when he would escape. It could have been weeks to years, and he would have lay dormant and patient throughout. But this soon was something to laugh at, and something to enjoy.

The mechanical fiend jolted, feeling activation of the limbs, the mind, the body. It was a shame that he was caught under rubble - that was an irritant. A large slab of metal had found itself lodged above him and around him, and the dents in that shining blue body wasn't able to be hid, but the damage could have been significantly more lethal. Cold red eyes flared to life, body practically shaking with new-found power as claws gripped the metal pinning it to the floor from above. An inconvenience that could be corrected. A mangled mess of metal and wires was just an obstacle in the path to obtaining the power he so needed. A loud groan and a screech echoed through the hall as the annoying slab that was his prison was pried away and discarded slowly. Metal Sonic's rotors whirring to life was evident to those who were able to hear from within, in they were deep enough within the damned Doctor's ship.

No less than a second later, he zoomed through the halls. Taking note of the layout: what remained and what had changed since the crash. A steady hum coming from the robot as it paused every now and again to observe recently-activated pawns wandering the halls, paying the metal doppelganger no heed. Good. This was a start. Find and record the layout, deal with any pests that happen to crop up, and conjure up a plan of action. A simple set of tasks that would take no more than a day.

The blue blur jumped slightly, stumbling to the side holding his ears tightly, the shockwave flying over the entire wreckage, producing a force of actual wind that nearly blew the hedgehog off his feet. "What the heck is that?!" Sonic yelled against the roaring wind, suddenly sprung to attention, looking around, before spotting the doctor on the rubble ahead, his gaze immediately hardening and becoming ticked off.

"Oh, it's you!" The wind had died off, the smoke that remained completely gone with the gust. The piles of scrap had went flying a considerable distance and a load of robots sprung to life, many of which immediately seemed to be working on repairing the ship's state and salvaging what was necessary to please the good Doctor, Robotnik.

Clenching his right hand tightly, the sound of fabric stretching slightly being audible with the movement of the hand, the blue hedgehog got into a pose, ready to leap straight towards the doctor. "Whatever you just pulled, you're going to regret it!" My, my, quick to jump to conclusions.

Then again, the mad echidna was never a good sign in any place ever, so his assumption was far justified. To Sonic, anyway. "Tails, step back, things are about to get real!"

A gentle breeze blew through the wreckage... Sonic's quills brushing along with the winds.

It's ironic how a great threat can be neutralized after such a long battle, and brought back, double in strength and power within only a few days...


Little did Sonic know, awaiting an answer from Finitevus, that the biggest threat was still yet to come...

(While I do read the comic, I'm actually completely unfamiliar with what happened with Dr. Finitevus- I just know that him and Tails are considered enemies. So, I'm gonna apologize right now for any mistakes I might make, lol) 

Tails' ears flattened at the noise as he raised his hands to cover them. His ears hurt, to say the least, loud noises don't do well for big fox ears. When he heard Sonic call out to the cause of the problem, he uncovered his ears and focused in on the Doctor. His ears perked, and he looked a little shocked at the sudden appearance- what could he have been doing here? Either way, he assumed an aggressive pose as if readying to back Sonic up at any moment.

But when Sonic told him to step back. "But-!" He started, it wouldn't have been any use to argue with the blue blur though. A second of thinking alerted him to this, and he spun his tails taking off into the air. He wasn't too far from the ground at all, but he backed up a little bit. If anything were to happen, if Sonic needed his help, if he needed to make a break for it, it would have been easier to maneuver in the air. He wasn't all that far, he wanted to be there in case Sonic needed his help after all. Tails figured he was far enough to suffice, however. He looked like he was about to move any which way at any moment.

Finitevus watched with delight as the shockwave kicked up dust and sent debris flying. Already he could see the shapes of robots emerging repaired from the wreckage to start repairing the damaged ship. If Metal was still in there it wouldn't take long for him to emerge. But that metalic moron had better get to it.. because by now he was quite certain his pressence had been noted. Not that he was paticularly worried, he could hold his own against the hedgehog, not to mention he could escape any time he wanted with his warp rings.

"Oh, it's you!"

His grin faltered a little, turning into more of a grimace as the hedgehogs voice grated through his skull. Another reminder as to why he rather avoided a direct confrontation with the so called 'hero of mobius'. Bah, hero indeed.. he really aught to get rid of him... but that was what this paticular little plan was for now wasn't it. Metal would do all the work for him and all he had to do was stand back and watch the show.

"Whatever you just pulled, you're going to regret it!"


"oooh I am simply trembling in my cloak..."he drawled at him, his voice carrying to the two heroes easily. "Since you obviously do not have the brain capacity to understand what is infront of your nose Blue, how about you ask your little boy genius hmmm?"He smiled his shark like toothy smile, spreading his arms in a wide gesture to encompass the scene infront of them. The activated robots, the repair.

He started to hum jeopardy, clasping his hands behind his back and rocking on his heels.

Any time now

But there was something on the sensor that would have made him grin if he had a face capable of doing so. Something on the sensor that made him grind to a halt upon the steel flooring with a slight screech. How familiar. How utterly brilliantly conveniently familiar that signature was. What a wonderful co-incidence that was, that his fated rival would crawl back to where he fell. No doubt to gloat. There were others - the little friends that clung to his side like annoying pests, but they were just sticks and stones in the river of the grand scheme, and it flowed heavily in the direction of ending that pathetic hedgehog. Electricity sparked at the tips of those steel claws. Power.

A lower-floor window shattered and out came the doppelganger.

Landing with a forward flip and a heavy thud, Metal Sonic wasted no time. No second. It was all planned, after all. His mind felt fresh. Better. That surge of power made him far more dangerous than what he seemed to be at first glance. An outstretched hand and a bolt of lightning towards the lesser blue hedgehog the second he left the ship. Although his body was battered and dented, his movements and his skills were in flawless condition. As to be expected from the doctor's most dangerous invention.

The hedgehog looked around... the entire area seemed to be full of robotic life all of a sudden. The shockwave. The sound. The wind. Silence was all that existed in the wreckage until the shockwave.

Despite what Finitevus thought, the blue hedgehog added two and two together, piecing the puzzle pieces oh so quickly together.

"...No." Sonic's heart suddenly sank. "...What DID you do?!" The blue hedgehog demanded, giving a very, very aggressive stare towards Dr. Finitevus, bending at the knees, about to leap straight at the mad doctor and give him a supersonic speed kick to the face, until...

Twitch, twitch.


Sonic heard the sounds, and he turned around just in time to se-OH GOD METAL SONIC! The blue hedgehog's eyes widened in complete surprise, but his speedy reactions helped a lot. He quickly regained his composure as fast as he had lost it, and actually slipped under the metallic counterpart, grabbing the outstretched arm with both of his gloved hands.

He got a nasty electrical shock. Like very nasty. He grimaced, letting out a loud grunt of pain as he allowed himself to roll backwards. He maneuvered his body in such a way, in such a short time, as to have his feet touch Metal Sonic's shell, letting go of the hand, and finally kicking his legs violently outwards to launch Metal Sonic into a pile of wreckage. "Hyaaagh!" Landing near enough face first as a result of the maneuver, he stopped himself from faceplanting with his hands. Sonic's gloves were smoking a little bit from the electricity, pressed gently against the dirt and shards of metal that made up the floor. Without hesitance his eyes opened all the way, and he quickly got to his feet, looking towards the place he just tried throwing Metal Sonic into, his mind racing. He looked to Tails. Wanted him to NOT be here. This was something Sonic himself doubted he could finish off properly this time.

Metal was a lot stronger.

A lot stronger than he was back on the grand Space Station. The place where Sonic had battled Metal Sonic to the very end and won, the metallic monster falling from the atmosphere and into a scrapyard as a result. For once, Sonic was genuinely worried, but his mind suddenly shifted again.

Finitevus did this. Metal Sonic is around BECAUSE of Finitevus. Immediately, he turned his attention towards Finitevus for all but a split second, wanting to attack him right there and then, but he was distracted from Metal Sonic for that same split second.

That split second was all it would take for the metallic counterpart to have an opening to attack.

It was no doubt that whatever Finitevus had done caused all of this to happen, that much was obvious. If only he saw what exactly he was doing before it happened- then maybe..! Well, of course it'd be easier to figure out then- but so many things were happening at once now that focusing became difficult. Suddenly, the worst happened- and Metal Sonic had emerged from the wreckage causing Tails to shift his attention to Sonic's metal doppelganger. He followed Sonic's movements as he launched an attack against the machine- pupils dilating and ears lowering as Sonic's pained grunt reached his ears. 

His eyes met Sonic's, and he understood pretty quickly. He wouldn't just leave Sonic here to handle everything by himself- from the looks of it this would end up being a very long, difficult battle. He couldn't leave, not now. Tails turned his attention back to Finitevus, they still didn't know what he had done but... maybe they could find out. He moved in a little closer to the mad doctor, still keeping his distance- waiting for him to answer Sonic's question from before. He knew he wouldn't be getting a straight answer. Tails' glared at Finitevus and clenched his fists in anger.

Straight answer or not, the sound, the static, the shockwave itself- that was it. That was the something, it had to have been, because all of the pieces fell into place as he hovered there in place looking at Finitevus waiting for his next reply. Easy enough to figure out- but what did he have to say about it?

His grin wavered as sonic crouched, seeming ready to launch himself at him. But he quickly regained it as metal burst from the ship and imidiatly began his assault on his flesh and blood counter part, he seemed even more pleased when he heared the hedgehogs pained grunt even if he was able to counter metal. Good, it seemed his little boost had had the desired effect on the metal creature. He was loath to admit it but robotnik did know how to build machines.

"Well I did THAT among things"he drawled, his amusion at the hero's pain was as clear as day. "I simply woke things back up and gave them just that little extra boost they need to get rid of you.."his expression turned into an annoyed sneer at remembered slights. "I do think I am going to enjoy this...".

Probably not the wisest descision, the smart thing to do was to walk away and hole up in his hide out and wait for this clash of titans to end. He caught movement in the corner of his eye, seeing that the prower boy had moved a little closer to him. He snorted his disdain. What was the child going to do? cry at him? His chaos abilities were dorment unless he was near the master emerald, which was far away from them. Besides he doubted the child even knew how to use those abilities given the chance.

He dismissed the two tailed fox as a non threat. Turning his attention back to the fight and meeting the hedgehogs glare with a toothy shark like grin. The rodent was way to busy not being killed by metal to bother with him. He kept an eye on tails though, from the corners of his eyes.

You see, the thing with power like that is that it makes you better. Makes you stronger. Makes you smarter. Now he was terribly beaten up. The dents and the damage caused him to be not as grand as he wanted to be. And although he had such a surge of energy, he knew he would have difficulty taking his damned rival out. And if Metal Sonic wanted to slay this damned hedgehog which had caused him so much frustration, well... there were other ways to do that. Those other ways had not occurred to him until that surge of electricity that coursed through his steel veins. For when you give a robot with free will and make them smarter and more powerful than they already are, well, it makes for a terrifyingly calculating foe.

What Metal Sonic had already deduced was what made Sonic stronger were his allies. That fox, for example. They kept his spirit up, boosted that annoying ego and helped him succeed. Pests. But he had dismissed them before. After all, he had no immediate quarrel with them. And all he could think about was that damned blue pest. He had not considered using them until now. To get what he wanted, sometimes it just took a little bit of, hm, persuasion.

The collision caused him to fly back from the severity of the impact, but the metal monstrosity had curled into a ball and used this momentum to his advantage. He ricocheted off a plate of steel from the ship and twisted himself to fly off in the direction he intended like a very forceful ping-pong ball. Right past Sonic. Right towards Tails. The distraction of both of them was enough time to do as he intended, which was uncurl with a heavy slam against the ground, feet skidding to a violent halt, and wrap an arm around Tails with his dreaded claws against his temple. A single bolt of electricity would be enough to fry the damned fox to a crisp in seconds. But would he?

Well, it entirely depended on what the hedgehog would do, now that he had a hostage.

Taking in a quick breath, the hedgehog heard the sound of the metallic doppleganger approaching him, snapping his head straight towards him, ready for another impact...

There was none.

The wind blasting past Sonic's face, the metallic look-alike causing it... the blue hedgehog's spines blew violently in the wind, the hedgehog wincing a bit, a lot of dirt being brought up as a result from the force, glancing after Metal, realizing exactly what his plan was in almost a millesecond.

"Tails! Watch out!" He yelled, making a quick mad dash towards the blue metallic monster, but the head start, output power of the metal look-alike, air travel FOR the metallic one too, and lack of decent ground to put the hedgehog's own feet on caused Sonic to not catch up in time. It was all down to Tails what would happen next. The hedgehog's heart was pounding in his chest. If he so much as laid a finger on his two-tailed best friend.. Metal would know about it. But avoiding anything of that sort was the best course of action...

Sonic had a short temper, but he knew when to control it. For Tails' sake.

Tails whirled around as he heard Metal ricochet off of the scrap. Then suddenly he was there. He barely had enough time to react, his movements were so fast. Tails tried, regardless, and kicked away from Metal. He felt the cold metal against his temple right as he did, almost managing to slip out of it. He didn't, and now he was stuck there- held hostage by a crazy copy. He stopped his movements when Metal had him and looked at Sonic, then looked at Metal. 

It was scary, it really was. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he observed the robot's damaged body. He trusted Sonic with his life, of course he did, he'd get him out of here in no time but... Tails couldn't let himself just stand there and play hostage. He had to formulate some kind of plan, some way to get away from Metal without getting fried. Yes, based on Metal's next actions, he would figure out what he had to do. He had to. While experiencing the kind of fear he was currently experiencing however, it wouldn't exactly prove easy.

He watched in amusement as metal proved more calculating then he had guessed and then sonic probably had guessed as the metal menace shot right past the hedgehog and at his foxy little friend. A hostage situation. His lips began to tremble a little as he tried to hold back the laughter he felt bubling up in his throat. Oh what the heck what did it matter. He hadn't had a good laugh in a good while, not since his last encounter with knuckles.

He couldn't supress it any longer and a deep booming laugh shook him, no cackles , but a deep throaty laughter that wasn't exactly unpleasant. It even failed to sound evil, but then again evil was a questionable term, for finitevus did not see himself as a force of evil.

Maybe he should move though and just leave this to metal. If he'd found anything from observing robotnik it was that his creations always turned against him and he didn't doubt that the metal creature would have little gratitude for him giving him a powerboost. He could as easily become its next target once sonic was out of the way. But it was so much more tempting to stay and watch the show...

The steel claw gently poked at the orange fox's temple, almost as if in contemplation, and idly so while the mechanical fiend kept its gaze upon the blue blur. The occasional spark of electrical currents flowed from the limb, causing the slightest static shock to course through the fox's fur. Harmless of course, if a little... shocking. But then something happened which caused quite a surprise, and of course no-one would have expected it. For that surge of power, that surge of magnificence, caused something other than a little power boost and a little intelligence. It also helped power up what was lost some time ago. 

A voice.

"You will not move..." Metal Sonic ordered, dismissing the echoing laughter from upon the rocks, no doubt another enjoying the little show here. They were irrelevant. The target they required was before them, and that was all that mattered, "...Unless you want this fox to be fried to a crisp," slightly poking at the fur once more to reach the skin at the fox's temple, it was pretty obvious this was a serious threat. No doubt he would feel that. The finger sparked again.

His second hand raised, and at the palm was an explosion of electricity which cracked with vicious and violent ferocity, "If you do not want this fox to be hurt, you will take the force of my blow. If you resist, he will take what you avoided. Do we have a deal?"

((GAH SORRY))

And, immediately all the movement was paused. It took a second to sink in, but the blue hedgehog saw it clearly. He stood there, eyes locked on the red lights that were Metal Sonic's eyes, a worried frown across Sonic's face. It felt like the winds had stopped blowing. All movement was gone. Sonic's quills were still, his breath was held, and he could only watch, before...

Wait, what? It spoke?! Sonic slightly gave a jump, before snapping back. Every time the dopplegangar gave a poke, a gentle harmless prod to the fox, the blue hedgehog's worry took a complete nose dive. And secretly, so did his temper. Though the worry was overtaking it completely. No matter how short his temper was, Tails was priority number one.

Taking in the words carefully, however, the blue hedgehog looked towards the palm of the robot's hand, outstretched and sparking. The hedgehog hadn't uttered a single word. He gave a simple glance to Tails to see if he was planning anything, and mostly hoping that the metal robot was being truthful. Would he even let Tails live after he was out of the picture? Why would he?

Nonetheless, Sonic didn't want to watch his best friend get fried before his eyes because of his own actions. His arms fell to his sides, and he stood completely still on the battlefield, no resistance. He couldn't resist it. Not right now. A small plan of his own was formulating in his head, but it was all risky. Very risky.

"You better not do a thing to him." The blue hedgehog said, consealing a very slight smirk. He had just remembered something that would be very... useful in this situation. Though right now, he wanted the metal being to believe that he'd won to make the shock even more powerful. ...On Metal, that is.

He did feel it, that small spark against his temple. It was hard not to flinch, he tried not to, but it really just happened on it's own. His breathing was hard, the tension was probably so thick it could be cut with a knife. Listening to Metal's commands, he did not move after flinching. He did not move an inch, he stayed completely still. He stayed so still that it probably would become uncomfortable after a while. Tails moved his eyes towards the torrent of electricity crackling around Metal's hand- then he moved his eyes towards Sonic. 

There was no way Metal could just hit him with that, right? But it seemed like he had given up pretty clearly. Tails knew that couldn't be the case though, right? Sonic always found a way out of a situation. And the plan that had been floating around in Tails' head had also started to take form. Whatever Sonic was planning, hopefully the two plans wouldn't conflict. Tails had a feeling they wouldn't, however. 

Sonic was definitely fast enough to dodge whatever Metal threw at him- but Metal still had his other hand to his temple. Could he fire off two continuous bolts strong enough to kill both of them? That was an important question, and it would probably soon be answered. For now, he just watched Sonic and waited- waited for the possible moment to be set free.

Oh? the metal menace was capable of speech? that was interesting indeed. He hadn't known it had been capable of that, perhaps a side effect of his energy booster? possibly, he would look into that.. maybe..sometime. Right now though this was proving much to entertaining. The robot seemed to have put sonic between the rock and the hardplace. Appeared being the keyword as he could see the hedgehog and the two tailed freak of nature exchange looks. Metal would probably notice too, or not concidering he wasn't able to see tails expression well enough.

His own eyes narrowed. They were up to something and that might not bode well for metal if not himself if they chose to go after him. He was going to count on Sonic moving and metals shot missing. A slow shark like grin creeped onto his muzzle as he shook his wrist, dislodging two warp rings. He tracked the angle metal was aiming in, calculated wind speed and gauged his own reaction time.

If sonic dodged that blast, he would make sure it hit him anyway~