Today was a great day for adventure. I thought I'd wear something more light today, especially since I was feeling nostalgic. I wore a light green dress and some pastel sneakers, though I couldn't give up my red ribbon. It's been a while since I wore more than my normal pinks and reds, but it's also been a while since I've been to Little Planet! I wondered what it looked like all this time later... has it healed from the damage Eggman caused? Eggman himself stopped yapping about it, so I think maybe even he forgot what was going on there. Either way, I wasn't going there for anything Eggman related. I was going to have fun with Metal.



As if he was summoned by my thoughts alone, Metal peered through one of my back windows like he was a lost chao. I waved to him as I went over to the door and opened it.



"Hey, are you ready to go-whoa!" He scooped me up before I could complete my thought. I heard the turbine whirring-- "W-wait! Wait!"



He stared at me super impatiently. I swung my door closed with my foot. "Okay, now we can go," I huffed.



The turbine started up again and he took off at top speed. I clung to him tightly and watched the scenery blur past us. We cut through some clouds as we went higher into the air. He spun around, staring forward, then glanced at me.



I was giggling over time... it was pretty fun. We went past so many parts of the world in an instant... So much to see, so many memories. Metal beeped something at me, causing me to meet his gaze.



His eyes flashed red, and then he went even faster. I had to close my eyes and duck my head against his. His body was heating up and his turbine was loud.



When I next opened my eyes, we were below the clouds again. I saw a huge green field with a bunch of grass-topped mountains. There were a bunch of monstrously large chain-links taken over by vegetation... we were close!



Little Planet was one of the greatest mysteries of our known world. Eggman chained the planet to the earth and planned to turn it into his own utopia... as well as control time itself. There were unique signposts all around the planet that opened gateways into the past or the future... Crazy stuff! Sonic had to go back to the past several times to fix the future Eggman wanted to ruin, but he wasn't able to eradicate all the damage. He did break the chain and destroy, like, all of Eggman's stuff, so it wasn't a loss at all.



There it was! We approached the massive Never Lake, and right above it was beautiful Little Planet, floating around without a care in the world. Some parts of it were gray, but a lot of it was green with blue rivers connecting through pieces of land. Time-- hah!-- treated Little Planet relatively well from what I could see.



Metal slowed down as we went over the lake, aiming for the underside of the planet. I knew exactly what he was thinking; we were going to the very first place we saw each other. We had the chance to make a new positive memory and not linger on the first negative one. He turned upside down, his back against the lake. Little Planet's gravity pulled us towards it, making me feel right-side-up again.



Collision Chaos had delightfully pink mountains and platforms dotted with patches of green plants. There were chrome-like pipes and buildings connecting to each other and expanding out into more rigid, brown mountains in the distance. Despite how there wasn't any civilization on Little Planet, I think Collision Chaos had a casino somewhere. Even funnier, I don't think Eggman made that one.



We landed on a flat stretch of land. I hopped out of Metal's hold and stretched my arms and legs. "Whew! What a flight," I said, fixing my quills back. "I bet it felt good to go that far, huh?" I looked at him.



He tilted his head a little as he watched me. I wasn't sure if he was trying to say anything to me, but he folded one of his elbows into one hand and rested his head against the other. Was he taking in the moment? That was pretty cute. Considering he saved a bunch of recordings, maybe he was a nostalgic type of guy.



"What?" I asked.



He very slightly shook his head and averted his eyes a little. I let him have his moment so I could take in the scenery around us. The air was so refreshing, too. The sky was a bright purple , while the light made the lake on our planet look orange. It was so vibrant, strange... gorgeous.



"Hey, do you think if we find a 'past' sign and go through it properly, we could find ourselves when we were here last time?" I asked. "I bet that'd be weird... But, I guess since I don't remember it, it didn't happen. Is... that how the time stuff works?" I was mumbling more to myself at that point.



The beep he gave sounded kinda like he was confirming my suspicion. He gestured me over to him, then bent down towards the dirt. He drew a horizontal line, then three short, evenly spread vertical lines. On the middle line, he drew-- aww! That was me! The left line he wrote a sign with 'P' and on the right line he drew a sign with an 'F'. He tilted his head up like he was thinking, then drew another, very small vertical line to the left of my cute drawing. There he drew a tinier me in one of the outfits I had as a kid.



"I never realized the signs went that far ahead and that far back... I was told that the future Eggman created was happening really fast, since it looked the same after going through the sign... I guess that shows that Eggman's influence never went away without interference. Scary," I mumbled to myself. "You're a very talented artist, by the way," I teased in a much lighter tone.



He gave me one of those annoyed looks.



"I mean it!" I said, laughing. "I think you got my good side. I think gardening is just one part of your artistic streak."



He quickly covered his drawings with more dirt. Aww, he was shy! He dusted the dirt off of himself as he stood up-- then he vanished.



Kra-koom!



I looked behind me to see a praying mantis themed robot torn to shreds. Metal loomed over it, his claws brandished.



"There are still some of Eggman's other bots around here?" I asked, crossing my arms. I blinked; he was suddenly digging into the guts of the bot he just destroyed. "What are you doing?" I walked over to him and peeked at the robot's insides.



He stood up with his fist closed, then opened his palm to me. He was holding a flower seed.



My eyes brightened. "I forgot the ones on Little Planet had flowers!" I mused. "Is that how you've been growing yours?"



He made the 'so-so' hand gesture. He probably just took seeds from naturally planted flowers too and not just the robots. Still, though, that was surprisingly environmental of him. I guess destroying other bots wasn't explicitly against Eggman's orders. He opened a small panel on his arm and put the flower seed inside it.



"... Oh! I know just what to do to really get our date going. Let's have a contest," I eagerly started, clapping my hands together.



He stared at me, really interested. Competition was clearly his language.



"Let's go to the other side of Collision Chaos and try to get as many flower seeds from the leftover robots as we can. Loser has to do one thing the Winner says." I winked at him. I swear his eyes fizzled out for a second!



He quickly corrected himself and confidently rubbed his nose. I giggled. I think his stance meant he accepted my challenge.



"I'll take the lower path, while you can do the upper... It's time to remind you what I can really do, Metal!" I said as I whipped out my hammer. He gave a longer, energetic beep. "Oh! And we're avoiding the time signs."



He nodded, then took his running position. I readied myself too.



"Ready... Go!"



He took off in an instant. I grinned. He was definitely going to miss some bots on the way, so I went at a much more leisurely, thorough pace. I heard a bunch of explosions in the distance already! Better not disappoint him.



I sped up with my hammer out in full force. I destroyed the first bot, grabbed one of its seeds, then used the momentum to launch me to another platform. I could see Metal in the upper parts of the area, surrounding himself with a shield of electricity.



I was definitely going to win! I had already a good few bots smashed and I was just getting started. My path took me into a windy tunnel that spun me out into an upper part of the map.



"Aah--!" I suddenly stopped short. Metal caught me mid-air, right as I shot out the tunnel. I had never laughed so joyfully before. He snatched me up without my knowledge, but this time, I was so happy to see him.



"Fancy seeing you here," I teased. "How many you got?"



He put me back down and we showed our palms at the same time.



"We both have seven!" I beamed. "Very impressive, Metal Sonic."



He turned his head up at me, making me grin.



"Don't be so sure you'll win. I'm never that far behind." I smooched him on the cheek, then jumped off the platform as fast as I could. I would've given anything to be able to look behind me, but I had a contest to win!



Oh, this was so easy. I got another cluster of bots without breaking a sweat. I was honestly excited to get to the next part of the area to find more bots. Not only was I cleaning up Eggman's old messes, but I was really excited to see what kind of flowers Metal would grow next. The seeds we collected today would be extra special since we got them together.



I went through another tunnel. I expected Metal to scoop me up again, but this time with a lower count than me, hehe... I hoped my kiss threw him off at least a little bit. I could be a little sneaky in my own way.



I popped out of the next tunnel and twirled in the air to make my next landing. Unfortunately, no frazzled robot to catch me. I could see him at the edge of Collision Chaos just ahead!



His arms were crossed and he was tapping one of his feet like he had to wait three years for me to catch up. I held out the seeds in my palm as soon as I got close enough.



"Count 'em and weep," I said. I had thirteen seeds!



His eyes scanned the seeds, and then he looked up at me. He showed his palm.



One, two, three... I mumbled a little as I counte-- Dammit! "Seventeen?! Seriously?"



He made a beep that indicated he was very proud of himself. I rolled my eyes and gave him the seeds I was holding, then watched as he put all of them into the compartment in his arm.



I made a dramatic sigh and placed my hands on my hips. "Alright, you're the winner. What am I doing?" I asked with a smirk.



He tilted his head and watched me for a moment, then his irises became horizontal bars. He tapped his muzzle a few times with one of his claws.



"Mmm, not sure what you're asking," I said in a light tone.



Very annoyed beep. It was hard to keep myself from laughing! He pointed at me, then tapped his muzzle more vigorously.



"Do you want me to punch you? Weird ask, but you're the winner~" I jokingly raised one of my arms and he snatched my fist, beeping more at me.



He pulled me towards him, then put his other arm around my back and squeezed against me. Our chests were together and our faces were so close... He unfurled my fist and intertwined our fingers. He stole my breath away...



I kissed him. I did it for longer this time, the tingly jolt lasting just as long. It was hard to describe the sensation, but I really liked it.



His whole body shivered briefly and his eyes went to static before quickly returning to normal. I was amused he had such a visible reaction... In fairness, I did too; my face was undoubtedly red because I thought I was gonna melt.



He pressed his muzzle to mine again, clearly wanting more. I gave him a few more smooches and had trouble fighting my grin. He rubbed one of his cheeks to mine, holding me tighter. I folded my legs around his torso and laughed as he bent forward with me in tow.



Krrak-rrruuumble!!



He stood up straight and rotated his whole head to look behind him. I peeked to the side too. There was a blue-white flash that quickly faded in the distance.



I got off of him and he let me go, turning his whole body to match the direction of his head. I frowned a little. "We don't have company, do we? No one I know said they were checking out Little Planet," I mentioned. "Maybe we should go."



He jumped off the closest platform and then flew towards the source of the noise. I followed behind and hoped to the best of my ability that there wouldn't be any trouble.



When I hopped onto the next platform, Metal was there with his back turned to me. There was a piece of machinery half-buried in the dirt in front of him; it was dark blue with some white accents.



Metal didn't hesitate to pull it from the dirt. It was half of an arm! It had a bell-like shape, and at its widest point, there was a shiny, reflective fist. The severed end let out occasional sparks, while the rest of it was littered with jagged holes and rips. It looked kind of... familiar to me. Despite the arm in rough shape, it didn't look that old or rusty. The dirt around it looked recently disturbed, so this was likely what we heard earlier.



Metal pried open the fist and took something from its palm. The fingers were long, sharp claws... And then it hit me.



"Is that from... Neo Metal Sonic?" I asked.



Metal turned his head to me, then stared back at the arm. He shook his head and pointed at himself.



"I know you and Neo are the same," I said, concerned. "But is there another 'you' walking around somewhere...?"



He didn't respond to me as he stared at a tiny... computer chip. I wondered what he was thinking... He put it into another panel in one of his currently attached arms, then kept examining the stray part. He fidgeted with something under the 'sleeve' and pulled out a longer, more narrow looking computer chip. He didn't move an inch as he stared at it.



There was another crackling sound nearby. He quickly dropped the arm and chucked it into the dirt the same way it was before. He wrapped his arms around me and sped away in an instant. I had half a mind to chew him out; where was he taking me?!



We went to one of the caves that led to Tidal Tempest, then he put the narrow chip into one of my pockets.



"What--"



He was already long gone with a trail of pink in his wake. What was up with him? His demeanor changed so suddenly. Was he... freaked out? I pulled the thing he gave me out of my pocket... it didn't look like anything particularly familiar to me, but I guess he trusted me to keep it safe while he went off doing... whatever he was doing.



I wasn't going to just sit and wait for answers. I started my way back into Collision Chaos's mountains. I peeked my head out of the cave and saw Metal stagnant in the air, watching the spot we were in before. The arm was no longer there.





Our date at Little Planet was cut short since Metal flew me off the planet and did not take no for an answer. Seeing their own arm would spook anybody, I guess, but whatever clicked for him didn't yet click for me. Admittedly, I was irritated being in the dark about this whole deal.



Instead of taking me home, Metal took me to the old Eggman base with his garden. Once he put me down, he pressed a sequence of buttons in front of one of the doors in the hall.



Krr-chunk!



A green light blinked above the door and it opened. I followed him inside... looked like a dank, messy lab. There were broken down, dusty machines everywhere. One side of the room had a couple empty person-sized tubes, then the other side had a deactivated console with, like, five dark screens. Sometimes I wondered how much money Eggman had for him to have so much stuff and to abandon a good percentage of it.



While I pondered, Metal lifted a few machines as he followed a wire on the floor. Eventually, he found some old plugs and stuck them into an industrial-sized battery. The lights in the room became much brighter and the computer screens blinked on; the monitors connected to show a huge white Eggman logo on a red background. Typical.



Metal extended his arm out to me.



He was acting so weird so I didn't know why he wanted to hold my h- oh! I brought out the long computer chip from earlier... then I hesitated.



"Is this anything Eggman related?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.



His eyes flashed red and he gestured me to give him the chip... Fine. I'd trust that it wasn't. I gave it to him and he walked over to the console. He ripped open a panel on the side and started messing with the wiring.



The screens blinked off, then back on, this time a bright blue. Metal stood up and stared at the screens, then started to press some buttons. A bunch of white and red lines of code, letters, words appeared on the screen at such a rapid pace that I couldn't really gather anything from it. Eventually, all the lettering became red. Metal crossed his arms as he rapidly scanned everything on the screens.



"Am I just here to hang out, or...?"



Metal suddenly turned his head towards me. I crossed my arms back.



I kind of expected him to glare at me, but instead he averted his eyes. He was deep in thought. He typed something in the console, causing a blueprint of Neo Metal Sonic to appear on the screen. He tapped a part of the screen to draw my attention.



"Version... 52.87.24? Th- wait...! This version is dated three hundred years in the future?" I groaned, slapping my forehead. "Of course that's where the arm came from! The time signs! But..."



Metal walked away from the console while I tried to read more info on the blueprint. There were some technical words I didn't understand, but I got the gist of it; this was, simply, a future version of Neo Metal Sonic. Interesting that his design didn't change all too much... He must've been a big fan.



... I wondered what he'd be up to that far in the future. I wouldn't even be alive anymore... Neither would Sonic and hopefully not Eggman, so whatever agenda he had could be totally different and maybe less... conquest-y. I never considered the permanence of beings like Metal and the kind of problems that would come with... And somehow his arm wound up here in the present. That was freaky on its own; I had too many questions.



"Why would an arm be sent to our time like that...?" I mumbled in thought.



"Fff-for mee-ee."



I abruptly turned around. The glitchy voice came from Metal at the other end of the room; the back of his head was open, a few sparks flying as he fidgeted with his own wiring. I gave a wide-eyed stare.



"Was that a recording?" I asked. He sounded like a messed up Neo.



"Nnno. The-ere was a v-vooice processor in his hand." His voice stopped skipping midway through his statement. He closed the back of his head and gazed my way. "It was designed for the current version of my body."



Damn, I forgot Neo Metal Sonic's voice was that deep. A little bit gritty. Kinda dug it.



"The model on screen-- it's also registered as a base form, even though it looks like my Neo upgrade. I'm not sure if this is actually me, though it's... likely. The data I can gather from an arm is predictably limited... But... we were the only ones to know our place at Little Planet, and I have my doubts you live three hundred more years." He peered down at the ground and pressed one of his claws to his chin in thought. Eventually, his eyes flicked back to me.



I had my head in my hands while listening to him. I really liked his voice. I think he could recite the whole dictionary and I wouldn't get bored.



"... What?" he asked.



When he addressed me, I cleared my throat and looked away a little. "Just not used to you speaking, that's all," I mumbled, twirling my quills.



"... Do you... mind it?"



"Oh, not at all. I love it, actually... Why don't you have a voice normally? I was always curious about that."



He averted his eyes and was quiet for a little while. "A voice is not necessary for my obligations."



"Your Neo form has one, though," I retorted.



"I designed Neo myself." He walked back over to the console and started typing in it. Even though he could talk then, he was implying a lot in what he didn't say. I frowned as I watched him for a while.



"So..." I hopped up to the edge of the console and away from all the buttons. "That begs the question... Why go that far in the past to give you a voice?"



"I think the voice processor indicates a message to me specifically. The arm suffered incredible damage, none of it self-inflicted except for the severed end. The plan of delivery was likely... last-resort. I don't believe the second disturbance we heard was him."



My eyes widened. "Oh, right," I said. "You... seemed pretty freaked out when someone came after the arm. Do you have an idea of who actually came from the future?"



He shook his head. "No, my scans picked up nothing. They were gone as soon as the arm vanished. But any adversary that damages a nearly indestructible future version of myself deserves caution."



Ah yes, the superior hedgehog. "Were you freaked out 'cause I was there and you were worried about me?" I playfully asked while kicking my feet.



He did not answer, but I knew he heard me loud and clear.



"Oh, your silence says so much more now," I teased.



"You are annoying me," he replied. I laughed.



As I thought more, my smile faded. This whole situation was pretty weird, all things considered. "... Do you think this will lead to something that puts us as odds?" I asked a little quieter.



He didn't answer for a while, which I felt was his response. I sighed. I didn't really want to think more about it, either.



"No," he answered very firmly. I lifted my head and watched him with surprise. "If I was to plan something that requires hundreds of years to implement, I wouldn't pick a time in which an enemy is..." His voice trailed off as he stared intently at the screens.



I saw a shape from a monitor reflect in his eyes... Glancing back at the monitor, there were small lines of code that made up the silhouette of a unique flower. I never saw one like it.



"Is that the message?" I asked.



"... I... don't know." He took a step away from the console, clearly deep in thought. At some point, he stared at me. I watched back, then after a whole minute of silence, I gave him a little wave.



He went over to the side of the console and pulled out the computer chip from before, causing all the screens to glitch out and turn red. Without hesitation, he went to the power supply for the lab and yanked the cords. Everything went back off except for dim overhead lights.



I hopped off the console and walked over to him. Even when the room wasn't bright, you could count on those red eyes piercing through just about anything. "I believe you that this isn't an Eggman thing," I told him. "Let's visit Little Planet again before the month is up, okay?"



He gave a single nod.



"Despite all that... I had fun today," I said in a lighter tone.



He averted his eyes, then offered me his hand. I wasn't sure what he was asking for this time. I checked my pockets just in case he left me something else, but then he gently grabbed my hand and squeezed it with his.



"I'll take you home," he said back. His tone was... soft. I think he meant to say he had fun, too.