Theme Song: "Another Way Out" by Hollywood Undead
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"Thank you again Sonic! Safe travels home!"

"No problem Miss Vanilla!"

It was agreed that everyone stay separated, but if anything were to happen, to get in touch with someone else immediately. Sonic had just escorted Cream home to her mother, Vanilla The Rabbit, just as Rouge advised.

Once that was done, Sonic headed back home alone. To stay safe from being outdoors for too long, Sonic relied on his speed to travel back. He zipped through back-roads, streets, and alleyways in a flash of blue that traced and illuminated the night. Although moving fast, Sonic was still able to see every little detail around him as if he were moving slower; it's how Sonic developed his reflexes. Speaking of so, Sonic spotted something black up ahead.

"Huh? What now?" he commented.

Unfortunately, he was only a few blocks away from his house (which in Sonic's case, a few seconds), but skidded to a stop to investigate his finding. He looked around for what he thought he saw, but it was gone.

"Uh...Hello? Is anyone here? I know I saw you! Come out, I don't bite!" he called out from the empty street.

Suddenly, a soft sound was heard behind him, like something had just appeared. Sonic turned around to be appalled by what was there. It was a small, black, shadow-like creature. It had small, beaming yellow eyes, two crooked antennas, arms with three-digit hands and two legs. It stood slightly hunched and was constantly checking its surroundings.

"What is that? What the-"

The creature then focused on Sonic. It leapt forward at him attempting to claw him. Sonic sped around it within a second and the creature missed the attack. Sonic balled up and charged a Spin Dash, then spun quickly forward before the creature could even turn around. Sonic dashed right through it, as the creature was defeated, fading into nothingness. Sonic unrolled himself and checked his surroundings again. Nothing was there.

"Huh...This night's just getting weirder!"

Sonic turned back to the direction of his home, but was startled with the figure he laid eyes on that invaded the night. Sonic recognized the figure as Metal Sonic.

"Hey! You better get outta my way if you know what's good for you!"

Metal Sonic began walking closer, "I know what is good for me Sonic..."

Metal Sonic stopped about ten meters away from Sonic. Sonic noticed his new physical differences. The darker coating, the yellow eyes, and the odd symbol on his head. He remembered it was the same one Ansem has above his chest.

"Oh yeah? What 'good' could you possibly desire inside that cold shell of yours?"

Metal clenched his hands, "Your demise!"

The mech then started reeking a smoky black aura from his build. His hands raised and on-command, more of the small black creatures arose from the ground, surrounding Sonic.

"Shadows, attack!" Metal commanded.

All at once, the Shadows lunged towards the middle at Sonic, but Sonic reacted quicker; he dropped to the floor and did a flare (as he calls it, the "Sonic Flare"), where every spinning kick knocked away the Shadows around him to give him space. When done, Sonic swung his legs up from behind him and followed through with a backflip, balled up, and spun himself in mid-air, homing down on a Shadow like a missile. The Shadow vanished on impact, and Sonic ricochet himself off that one, to the next closest one, and continued doing so in a bouncy-ball-like fashion.

Before he could unroll himself after the last one, Metal Sonic as well did a Homing Attack to bump Sonic out of the air. Sonic unrolled awkwardly and fell to the ground with an, "Oof!"

He looked up and saw Metal coming down on him with another Homing Attack. Sonic rolled back to his feet distancing himself away from Metal- who kept himself balled upon collision with the ground, and started charging a spin in-place, preparing a Spin Dash. Sonic readied one as well and in that instant, the two rivals propelled forward at each other. Their Spin Dashes collided, Metal Sonic slightly pushed back, but was able to unroll himself to a stand.

Sonic, however, must've felt more of an impact, as he was struck further a distance away from Metal, and wound up falling on his back.

Sonic was stunned. Their Spin Dashes were usually as strong as each other's and on the rare occasion, Sonic would prevail.

"He's...stronger? How is that possible?" he thought to himself.

He rolled and spun again on the ground, launching another Spin Dash.

One of Metal Sonic's major abilities is to mimic others' abilities; in this case, as Sonic drew close, Metal Sonic remembered Rouge's attacks. He used her deadly front-kick to punt Sonic away from him. Sonic flew back again, falling back-flat on the rigid gravel. With these falls, Sonic severely scraped his elbows, leaving them to immediately swell.

When he looked up again, someone was behind Metal, but he couldn't help but ruin his potential savior's plan to sneak-attack him. An injured Sally Acorn had an arm-blade ready.

"SALLY, STOP!" Sonic panicked.

Sally went to hack through Metal's neck, but Metal spun around and caught her by the arm. With his other hand, he gutted Sally hard enough to make her gag and go limp while Metal held her up by her arm.

"Stop!" Sonic howled, his whole body stinging in pain.

Metal Sonic analyzed Sally's blade, and just like that, he copied it. A red holographic blade sprung from his forearm to his side. He went to move, but felt a brush of wind and a tug at his arm. Sonic fought through his pain and had just caught Metal's arm to stop him from hurting Sally. Sonic was still on the floor, trying to recover.

"Stop, Metal! You want me, not her! Take me! FIGHT ME!" Sonic spat.

Metal Sonic hesitated at this. Somewhere in his original programming, he felt the need to kill Sonic right then and there, while he was weak...but his new Heartless power overwhelmed.

He turned to his doppelganger, "Such a brave heart...or rather, a foolish one. You were correct about one thing, I do not have a 'heart' that beats and pumps life throughout my infrastructure, that is what makes us different, and I suppose it may have been my possible flaw in our previous encounters. But now, my weakness is now my greatest strength...I have no remorse, no mercy...no 'love.' You however, do 'love.' From the information provided in my internal database, love is not meant to last."

"What are you saying?" Sonic coughed.

"Love drives you to be the so-called 'hero' you are praised to be. Love for friends, strangers, even your enemies- for you have spared mercy on me for every occasion. Nevertheless, I see your love is even more generous for Sally Acorn. For once, I will show you what it is like to feel hatred, Sonic."

At this, Metal Sonic powered through Sonic's weak grip, pulling his arm up, and sliced down on Sally's head...

Sally gasped and her eyes shut. Her breathing, slowed...

Yet constant.

She was still breathing. Her eyes opened to see the flashing red blade ever so close to her forehead, the heat radiating onto her face. Behind it, a hand was still grasping Metal's arm. Metal looked back again to see it was Sonic still holding his arm...but now he had a new strength, a new power.

Sonic's bright blue fur began to dim, turning as black as night. He laughed slightly, but it was no longer his lively laugh, it was laced with menace, almost sounding mentally unstable.

"S-Sonic?" Sally managed.

Metal Sonic turned his attention to Sonic, as Sally was let loose to drop, and she slowly shuffled herself away from the two, but worriedly observing Sonic. Sonic's head remained facing below, as he stood up fully recovered, and ominously on-par in strength with his doppelganger.

"You think love is the only thing that keeps me going? That's almost right," Sonic said, his voice much more gruff than usual, "But if you think you're gonna take the heart of my life from me, then let me tell you something, pal..."

His back-quills now pointed upwards and a dark aura similar to Metal's formed around him. He finally tilted his head up to meet with Metal's. This new side of Sonic was indeed horrifying, as he practically had no eyes; no iris and no pupil, just his white sclera. "You don't know a damn thing about me!"

Metal Sonic tried tugging his arm back, but Sonic held his grip. With a frown, in one full tug, Sonic tore off the arm Metal was going to use on Sally. Metal was stunned by this power, and was unsure if he was capable of mimicking it. In a blink of an eye, Sonic shoved a foot onto Metal's chest, making him fall on his back. Metal Sonic tried to retreat, but Sonic grabbed his legs, and yanked them off too. Metal tried to using his one arm to claw his sparking body away from his enemy. When Sonic came close, Metal retracted another blade from his arm and tried slashing Sonic with one quick rotation. However, in this state, Sonic's reflexes were light-speed. He caught the attack and easily ripped off Metal's final limb. The blade was still retracted, so Sonic stuck Metal's arm through the mech's torso and into the ground, skewering him in place.

Sonic snickered, "Like I said Metal, you will never be like me!"

He then removed the blade from Metal and tossed it elsewhere.

Sonic kneeled over the twitching robot and sneered, "Now you will pay!"

At the last word, he threw a fist to Metal's eye-screen. Then another, then another, and another. He then started cackling maniacally as he did this, blow after blow, the metallic echo ringed through the night. Metal couldn't help but self-report, "ERROR" and "FAILURE."

"Goodbye forever! AAARRGH!" and on Sonic's final strike, his fist drove straight through Metal Sonic's head.

Sonic then pulled off the head from his body and oil spewed everywhere. Metal's eyes shut off and his original hue returned, the Heartless symbol fading away. The head was snug on Sonic's hand like a glove. Sonic's sinister laughter continued, as he pulled one more fist back to shatter Metal Sonic's head into oblivion.

"SONIC! STOP THIS, PLEASE, RIGHT NOW! The robot's dead already! Just stop!" Sally cut in.

Sonic's head snapped over to Sally's direction. She was in tears, scared of who she and everyone knew as their hero. She's never seen Sonic this way, he always tried to spare his enemies- if not, defeat them to the point where they gave up and not die. Something in Sonic then clicked. He looked around himself, seeing what he did to Metal Sonic. Even if was just a robot, Sonic didn't like the idea of taking life from anyone or anything.

Sonic unclenched his raging fist and shook off Metal Sonic's head from his other hand. In an instant, Sonic was blue again, his hair swayed down again, aura-less, and he had his emerald eyes once again.

"Sally..." was all he could muster.

"Sonic?...Wha-...I want you tell me what that was! What happened to you? This was obviously after you left Mobius, because I have never seen this side of you!" Sally mixed with anger, concern, and fear.

Sonic looked away, "That only happens when my emotions are tempted and the energies of fake Chaos Emeralds are around. Except this time was different, which leaves me confused. There aren't any fake Emeralds around here. I felt the anger...but for some reason, I also felt the energy Metal was powered with. Almost like I was fueled by it...Not a great feeling at all...I saw him about to kill you and I lost it, Sal'."

Sally ran up to Sonic and hugged him tightly.

"I never wanted you to see that side of me. Not you, nor anyone else again...Sally, what were you doing out so late?"

Sally wiped her tears and let out a sigh. "Blaze, Rouge, Amy, and I all went to take on Mephiles and Ansem. We lost, and Omega saved us...but was killed doing so."

"You...You what?!"

"I'm sorry Sonic! Blaze was so upset and I wanted-" she was interrupted as Sonic pulled her in close to him again.

He then said calmer, but now with a knot in his throat, "I'm not upset, because you left without me knowing. I'm upset because I almost lost you twice tonight. Sally, we need to stick together until this is all over."

"I agree...I love you Sonic."

"I love you too Sal'. I'm going to try my best to keep you out of harm's way and hope you never have to see that side of me again."

Suddenly, a black hole appeared out of nowhere behind them. It sucked Metal Sonic's scraps out of existence. Out from it, came Ansem.

"Stay back." Sonic put a hand out blocking Sally.

"Calm down, Sonic, I'm not looking for a fight...at least not yet." Ansem grimaced.

"Well, what do you want? Talk, or you're gonna get a fight!" Sonic now.

"Hmm, such bravado for such a small rodent. But even more surprising, the power within you."

"What about it?"

"You do have a heart, but there is an obvious amount of darkness in it! Heartless thrive on energies like yours."

"Where there is darkness, there is a light! I serve the light and I'll do everything in my power to shine through your evil!"

"But the more you let darkness linger, the more powerful it becomes. A light grows brighter, while the shadows behind it grow darker. You can't escape your darkness Sonic. You saw that tonight."

Sonic took this moment to absorb his words.

Ansem continued, "With a power like yours, joining Mephiles and I will put you to better use than what you do for the fools of this world!"

"Blah, blah, 'darkness,' 'shadowy-blah,' 'I forgot to pay my electricity bill-' blah, blah, and more blah! No matter how long you run your mouth, there's no way I'm joining your band of misfits. Now, leave!" Sonic filled in.

Ansem scowled, "Consider that your final warning, hedgehog!"

Ansem vanished into his black hole and the portal closed. Sonic took Sally's hand and smiled at her. She too returned one, and the two walked back home hand-in-hand.

*Vote, comment, and/or share if you liked! Thanks gals/guys.

*CHARACTERS INTRODUCED:

Vanilla The Rabbit

Shadow (Heartless)

Dark Sonic