I hoped to spend time on the racetrack alone with Amy Rose, but the result of the date was not so bad. I bested the person who called me a pet and claimed I had an inferiority complex. I completely obliterated Sonic the Hedgehog with my superior skill. My Master was excited for me for two of those races. Most importantly, Amy Rose was having fun while in the dress I learned I had a preference for, and she impressed me by somehow besting me.



Strangely, if there was anyone to best me, I would rather it be her. Losing to her did not make me angry or frustrated like it did others, even though I did always prefer winning. She was happy, so I had a hard time being upset.



The same could not be said for my Master... he could have caused harm to her on the track and I was helpless to do anything. Similarly, he did not view her win as an accomplishment in the same way I did, and spoke ill of her. I didn't want him to talk about her like that. I preferred he talked badly of me instead.



Amy defended me in front of everyone... She confronted my Master. While I could do nothing, I was reminded of why I loved her so much. She was so unafraid...



There was little to come from the outburst, thankfully. My Master sneered at her and she walked away, but... Her words took all potential sting out of my failure. I didn't even care how he later berated me for sending Rouge the Bat a harsh gesture in front of Sage.



...



But then Amy Rose was gone with her allies... and I was left with my Master and Sage. I had to travel by their side. My Master ranted about my Amy Rose for far too long and I had to steel myself. When he got tired of it, he praised Sage for her efforts. He praised himself. He forgot about me. Because I was involved with the last race, the defeat had more significance... He would have been upset regardless of who I raced.



I hoped they would both leave again the next day so I could go and be with Amy, but my Master wanted to go on an excavation with my company and entrusted Sage with the active base instead. We spent the next day getting our bearings, and then the day after that, we were about to leave. I at least hoped to seize the opportunity and strengthen my connection with my Master. I didn't mind not being my Master's favorite anymore since I was Amy Rose's favorite... but I did want to be useful.



Before we set out, my Master did maintenance on me. I stood in front of him with my head open as he sat in one of his lab chairs, beside us a movable monitor displaying all my data. He noticed I had another burned-out circuit... I forgot to replace that one.



"Hrnnnh... That's peculiar," he mumbled. "On the upside, this means you've been working your systems pretty thoroughly. Everything else in your statistics is great. Your CPUs don't seem to be overworking for the status quo..." He was talking to me, but he didn't really expect or even want me to respond. He was more just figuring out what he wanted to do with me.



But, uh... Yes. I have been working extra hard. Yes. I did not tell him that I actually was not doing extra work, I was instead introduced to another catalyst that could overload my systems. But... I would continue to improve, even if I didn't go through any overhauls.



He replaced the damaged circuit and did some other checking around my head. "Just in case, let's clear out some extra junk you might be keeping."



...!



'I already wiped unnecessary data up to yesterday,' I explained. I didn't like to talk too much in front of my Master, but he could understand me well enough. I was impressed how he could interpret my machine speech... though, he did make me.



"Oh?" He turned to examine the nearby monitor I was hooked up to. I did routinely clean out unnecessary recordings and video data... I kept quite a few of Amy, but I had to discard most to not have a sudden suspicious spike in storage usage... as much as I'd like to keep it all. The non-romantic stuff went in normal folders, while everything else I buried under other folders I knew wouldn't be checked much and spread around so nothing was all in one place. My Master rarely, if ever, went through my local files since he expected me to just tell him everything I knew. To his credit, I did just that... except when it came to my feelings about Amy.



"Huh... Good," he mumbled, returning to check through my wiring. "It might be time to give you a full upgrade. I'm thinking of revising your Neo design again."



!!!



I rotated my head to look at him. He would allow me to have such an upgrade? I could be Neo again?



My Master grumbled a little, rotating my head back so he could continue looking at my repairs. "I said I'm thinking about it. Neo may be useful for my next project. The races from before gave me some inspiration I needed." He finished up my maintenance, typed some things into the nearby console, then closed the back of my head. "I need to study you myself to see what exactly we need to improve on. Eh, plus, we need some special materials for the new base." He stood up and allowed me to unhook myself from the monitors.



'Are you pleased with the base's progress?' I asked, following him as he walked down the hall. He was heading to the bay with all of his favorite airships.



"Yes, the location is good! And with what we're going to find, it'll be even better," He said. I was curious what my Master was going to do, but I knew better than to just ask him; I'd find out myself. I was happy to simply be able to assist him this time.



We went to the airship bay, and I watched as my Master strolled past several of his large, menacing creations. Though some of them haven't been used in ages, they were still shiny, polished, new. I thought he just liked having them around, since he had some clear favorites. He stopped at a smaller, one-person ship with a large trunk for storage. Like many of his vehicles, this one was a bright red with gray and black accents. He climbed in and typed into the console for a while.



Blip! I received coordinates to our destination. The engine of his ship started up, and then he rose in the air and took off. I blasted off to stay at his side. We rose high into the sky and began our journey to gather some important materials.



I had no trouble keeping up with him; though his ship was fast, it was hardly anywhere near my top speed. I allowed myself to twirl around, feel the air, touch the clouds beneath us. I wondered when it would next rain. Amy Rose enjoyed rain when she had nothing to do outside... I wondered what she was doing at all.



... I saw her a few days ago and I already missed her... This would be normal occurrence, especially since I had been so spoiled to see her so frequently. I crossed my arms as I soared through the air, watching my Master's ship above me with my back turned towards the ground.



Would Amy be fond of my Neo upgrade? She had so many positive adjectives about my appearance... She said I was handsome and cute. Would I still be handsome and cute to her if I upgraded? I thought I looked cool, but... I wanted to make her happy, too.



I thought for a while. Maybe it didn't matter if she preferred my appearance as Neo, since I could change form to something she did like more. I could look like anything for her, including my base form. Maybe she wanted a more organic appearance? I didn't know. She did seem happy with me currently... Amy Rose loved me.



Would I prefer she call me 'Neo' from then on? Maybe 'Metal' could still be a nickname... I liked how she said it... Neo was more a formal way to address my upgraded form for everyone else. But I would love the way she called me formally, too... Hmm...



I turned over to watch the scenery below me instead. We were over the ocean and about to fly past the cluster of islands. I remembered the one I visited with Amy very fondly. We also flew over the base being built... There were swarms of pawns constructing whatever my Master laid out. Looked fancier than his usual designs... I wondered if it, too, was going to be a vacation type area.



Our destination was somewhere past the islands. I've never been there before. We went to another, much larger island covered in mountains. My Master began descending, so I did the same, scanning around us to make sure we were in the clear.



While finding a suitable place to begin the excavation, my Master contacted me through my communicator:



"Did you receive any unknown or strange transmission from Little Planet, Metal Sonic?"



...!



'No,' I said. I was telling the truth; I received a voice processor and data from an arm from Little Planet. Belle received a file using my ID, but neither of us could confirm it was directly from Little Planet. My Master asking the question implied maybe he had received something... I was very curious.



"Initial scans of Little Planet this year provided fascinating results... I believe a future member of the Eggman Empire has been trying to make contact. Make no mistake, Metal: You follow me above all else, understand? I don't care if future me waltzes in with his brain floating in a jar."



I decided to not explore the train of thought his extended lifespan would send me down. 'You are the only version of Dr. Eggman I obey,' I reiterated. '... Why do you believe they've been making contact?'



"I received an interesting gift. We're getting roped into their mess, is what I'm gathering."



'Have you tried to meet them?'



"That's what's so strange. Travel to the future seems limited at the moment. If we're to make further contact, they have to do it instead, Time Stones be damned. We won't do that whole song-and-dance with that rat again."



My Master referred to the very first time we went to Little Planet, which was the home of the powerful and elusive Time Stones. Their power was similar to the Chaos Emeralds, but they, predictably, had power over time. My Master wanted to excavate all of them out to ensure his empire would take full reign... Of course, his plans were stopped by my loathsome copy. I wondered if the Time Stones had to do with the inability to travel into the future... Would that be a route for me to take to see the future for myself? My Master was right in that it'd cause trouble, though, and the process to gain them would both draw suspicion from the Hedgehog and count as disobeying my Master. Ugh... I'd take the risk if the results weren't potentially catastrophic.



I was interested in what the gift my Master received actually was... But, if this was a plan for the Eggman Empire after all, I didn't understand why my future self went through so much trouble sending something to me outside of his knowledge. The code that allowed me to see the flower in the file Belle received meant that my future self didn't give me a voice purely out of pity.



I took a particular risk: 'May I ask what the gift was?' I asked.



"Schematics I plan to build at the new base; it should make me untouchable. Enough dawdling; I want you to start searching for this--"



I received a file from him, showing a type of jewel I've never seen before. It was pretty, cut like any gem would be on a necklace, and it was an otherworldly black and teal... I had no idea what it did.



"Its a Shield Crystal; it has properties very similar to your own Black Shield and should be next to impossible to shatter. It's rare, but it should be anywhere in these mountains. Destroy whatever is in your way! Keep your feeds open and make sure my own path is clear."



I beeped an affirmative and continued to follow him to monitor his first stop. When we reached one of the mountains, a giant drill came out from the bottom of my Master's vehicle. He bore into the mountain, so I left to scan the area again and then began work at a location nearby.



I was always happy to destroy. There were few types of joy equal to the crumbling of earth by my own hands. I crackled with energy and blasted through a mountain, then went back through and raked through it to scan for any objects of interest. The mountains here were rich in materials, but the crystal my Master sought for hadn't shown itself to me yet.



I got in a routine of working, checking on my Master, scanning the area, then working again. In my destruction, I discovered a cave system and went inside. The area around was pitch black, but I could see with my night vision just fine... There were even more types of jewels around. I entertained the thought of gathering any for Amy, but... she did not wear much jewelry of her own. Plus, nothing could be as special as my flowers.



I thought back to the mission and why this particular crystal had my Master's attention to begin with. I had a hunch that my Master was not aware of the flower code... I wondered if my future self sent him anything at all or if it was someone else--



Movement. I hid behind a large stalagmite and listened very closely.



...



They stopped the second I did. We were aware of one another. I paid very close attention to my surroundings.



There was suddenly a green flash of light-- I immediately activated my Black Shield, which caused a black-purple prism to surround me and block any incoming attacks. The downside to my defense is that I couldn't move while using it, so I had no choice but to witness another disgusting hedgehog in front of me. He was a sight I didn't hate as much as Sonic but he was just as unwelcome: Shadow.



I dispelled my shield to lunge at him, but he just as quickly disappeared back into his cowardly Chaos Control vortex. I sped away from our initial confrontation to gain better ground. He reappeared, and lunged at me, which I dodged-- but he quickly vanished and reappeared again, successfully punching me.



When he next reappeared, I grabbed one of his legs and slammed him into the nearby wall. Rocks crumbled around us. I didn't throw him hard enough.



At least he wasn't one for words during combat. He sooner butted his head with mine and challenged my own strength, an attempt he would realize was futile. He was annoying me. He never wanted to actually fight without his little jewel.



"Oh, so nice to see you so soon~!"



Speaking of jewels... Rouge the Bat was here, too. I turned my head towards where I heard her voice. She proudly stood by another tunnel opening, then kissed her fingertips when our gazes met. She had a few different jewels in her hand and-- !!!



She had a Shield Crystal! That was mine.



I couldn't forget about the other rat. I put my turbine into overdrive to push him back-- he broke my hold and rolled away. I surrounded myself with electricity and charged at him. He dodged again, sending me into a wall by my own action. Little damage, it didn't matter. I quickly righted myself and strategized possible moves.



"Do you have what you came here for?" grunted Shadow over to his ally, though he was staring me down.



"Oh, yes, and even more," she purred. "Let's go, honey. Nice seeing you, Metal! Say hello to your Daddy for me!" she cooed, cheerfully waving before flittering away.



Shadow sped after her, but the chase was just beginning. I rocketed after them both; I needed to incapacitate Shadow or else Rouge would sneak away and evade my sights. While I had the chance, I quickly communicated with my Master who was here and what Rouge had.



My Master reached back: "Aaaagh!! Of course they would be here in the middle of nowhere when I want to get anything done!" he growled. "I don't care how you do it-- get rid of them and take the Shield Crystal! Even just one will further my plans tremendously!"



He didn't have to tell me for me to want to do it. When I charged at Shadow, he disappeared via Chaos Control again. Both of us were good at reading each other's moves; we had an equal chance of dodging and attacking one another. He brought out a few other fancy tricks, chucking spears of pure chaos energy at me. I dodged all of them and deflected one of them back towards him. I could not let anything made of chaos energy pierce me since it would cause me to go offline.



Shadow knew my wariness and he became more aggressive the longer the chase went on. I put myself fully on the defensive as I scanned the environment for anything that would aid me.



Crrrrrumble!



The cave began to collapse, rocks and stalactites breaking down all around us. Shadow's attacks lessened as he focused on dodging them instead.



!!!

A rock got him! He collapsed far behind me.



My Master revealed himself from above, drilling down near where Shadow was. I trusted he could handle him long enough for me to get the crystal from Rouge. I followed her out of the cave exit from the middle of the mountain and went at full speed. Anticipating one of her moves, I charged myself and tackled her down while flying by.



Successful hit. She kept a good grip on her jewels, but I damaged one of her wings, causing her to lose balance and spiral down a hill. I lunged for her and pinned her to a nearby rock formation.



She winced at me. "What do you want with little ol' me?" she asked, fighting her pain with an infuriatingly cheerful tone.



I scanned down at her arms, then snatched the Shield Crystal from her. I kept her pinned, glancing over to where my Master and Shadow were. Their battle was ongoing; I heard explosions, and the upper half of the mountain was looking worse for wear.



"Mm, I'm afraid you can't have that, sweetie," she said. "That's for somebody else. Now, you're very impressive for getting over your little crisis, but that doesn't mean you can treat a lady like this."



I glared at her. Was she always this chatty?



"Be a good boy and let me go before Shadow stabs that pretty turbine of yours." She-- she kissed me on the cheek! How dare she touch me!



I threw her as hard as I could away from me. Disgusting! Despicable! I was so angry!



She quickly righted herself, saving her body from hitting the ground. "Oh, dear. Seems I found a new button to push," she laughed. "Has a fear of women replaced your inferiority complex? Can't handle a little-- wooh!" She ducked since I sped forward and tried to punch her in the face.



Instead of her taking me seriously, she let out an irritating laugh! I couldn't believe I let her touch me! No one was allowed to touch me except Amy Rose! While she backed away, I charged towards her. She would die!



A giant cloud of smoke exploded from the ground right in front of her. She placed a smoke bomb while I was too focused on aiming at her. I dove into the smoke, then lifted myself in the air to try to find where she went.



"Now that is the Metal Sonic I fought in the past," she said, flying several feet behind me. "Too bad I didn't think to blow you a kiss on the racetrack, seeing as you're allergic to them. Ah, well. Toodles!" She tossed another bomb at me, which flashed in front of my face and briefly stunned me.



When I regained my vision, she was much farther away and she...! She had the Shield Crystal again! When did she grab it?! I wasn't going to let her best me! Not her! She tried to lose me by navigating through the trees closer to the ground. I overcharged myself to go after her at my top speed, destroying absolutely everything in my path. Trees cracked over my head as I sped through them. My Master said the Shield Crystal was nearly indestructible so I was about to test his statement.



I was going to burn out if I continued. I stopped and scanned the area, listening closely for any disturbances while my systems recovered from the heat.



...



SLAM!



I pinned Rouge to a tree. Got her! Despicable woman! I wanted to kill her right there! I kept my head away from her and took the Shield Crystal again. She quickly broke my hold and kicked me with one of her heels, the very edge grazing my chest-- I stepped back before she could actually damage me, then slammed against her head with mine while boosting forward with as much energy as I could create. The impact sent her flying back against a different tree and she fully collapsed. Not interested in any further banter, I sped away to regroup with my Master.



I followed his signal. He descended towards me, his ship heavily damaged and dented but still functional. The drill went back into its compartment, and in its place emerged a giant claw. He used the claw to snatch the Shield Crystal from my hand as soon as he had the opportunity.



"We're leaving!" he said, hurried. He quickly ascended back into the air--



I heard the metal of my body screech and tear. I couldn't move. T-too... Too much! My system overloaded and parts of me started to burn-- I saw a bright green light, then nothing. It was...



"Pathetic." Shadow?!



...



...



...



...



...



I was online. I quickly scanned my surroundings.



I was in my Master's main lab and on a repair table. I sat up. I didn't remember what took me offline. I reviewed my logs, hopefully not corrupted...



Oh. Shadow ripped through me with one of his Chaos Spears. I was too focused on my Master. I didn't see or hear Shadow until it was too late...



"Whew! Finally!" Cubot said, wiping his forehead. I realized he and Orbot were beside me. My Master wasn't in the room...



"You're awake, Big Bro!" beamed Orbot. "We were worried. Cubot was worried more, not me. I knew you'd be fine."



"We were both worried!" Cubot exclaimed.



'Where is our Master?' I asked.



Cubot laced his fingers together, hesitant to answer, while Orbot leaned his elbows on the table I was sitting on. "Boss went back to the under construction base and sent some pawns to come get you. We fixed you."



'... Did he know I was damaged and went offline?'



"O-oh, well--" Cubot stammered.



"Yup," Orbot replied.



... He left me?



'How long was I offline?'



Cubot waved his hands. "Just a few days!"



"Those few days you were still collapsed on the island, by the way," Orbot replied. "We brought you back home earlier today."



"Bro! I don't think Boss wants us to say all that--"



"Yeah, that's why I'm saying it," Orbot yawned. "Sorry he's been neglecting you, Big Bro. You can neglect Cubot if that'll help you feel better."



"Yeah!" Cubot beamed.



...



I patted Orbot on the head, then patted Cubot afterwards as thanks for fixing me. I got up and left the lab. I wanted to be alone.



As soon as I was away from any surveillance, I checked both compartments in my arms to make sure neither were replaced. Everything was where it was supposed to be... I was relieved for that, at least. I scanned my systems to check over everything again. I deleted my last recordings and files. I didn't want them.



This was so... typical. Every time I felt hope, or when I thought I would have something more positive with my Master, something else happened to take it away. I successfully gathered the Shield Crystal he wanted, and I was offline for a few days because of it. Should I be thankful he sent pawns to come take my lifeless body? He could have easily forgotten about me again, and I would've rusted there.



The same thing happened at the race, but the stakes were much lower. I did well until I didn't. I won until I couldn't. Even defeating Sonic the Hedgehog brought him only temporary joy. He forgot my achievements quickly because he could only focus on my shortcomings. Him forgetting also made me forget. I was never enough. I was never enough.



Sometimes, my Master just... made me so angry. But I could do nothing. It's probably why he didn't care. I doubted I would get any sort of upgrade after that.



I felt useless and empty. When I was away from Amy Rose, I had to serve my creator on both his good days and his bad days, the days he was generous and the days he was selfish. I would have to serve him for the rest of his life, unless he changed my programming before then. Doubtful...



He brought up a scenario in which he existed three hundred years in the future, and the very idea filled me with dread. I hated that I felt dread. I felt a few things at the same time. I did feel loyalty towards my Master, but I couldn't help but be so... frustrated. At least in the future I had the freedom to--



... The future...



I already knew this, but... Amy Rose would not live that far in the future. Her life was as precious as it was short. I could just be fixed, but she... She would eventually break and no one would be able to fix her.



...



I didn't like thinking about it...



Why would such a cruel world exist where my Master could possibly live forever and the person who made me feel so full could not? Why did I still exist then? The world was already cruel enough to keep me around. Why was I there?



I didn't like thinking about it. I didn't like thinking about it.



I left the base.



I went back to my garden. If it's been a few days, then the flowers needed attention. I didn't want them to die, too.



When I entered the old base, I saw a note folded in front of the door. I leaned down and opened it to read the page:



I know you said you would be busy for a while, but I've been worried about you. I hope you're okay.



Please visit as soon as you have the time, alright? I miss you. I'm sorry we couldn't be alone on the track.



Amy Rose was worried about me... and she apologized for something that wasn't even her fault. Instead of gaining any joy from her writing, I re-experienced the same terrible feeling.



Dread consumed me.



One day, Amy Rose would be gone... No matter what. There was nothing that could prevent it. She would be gone, and even the letters she wrote would wither over time. There would be no one to speak for me when I couldn't, no one to provide me solace from my circumstances. No one to be close to me. No one to love. No evidence of her ever being alive.



I didn't like thinking about it, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I could never truly please my Master. He did not treasure me. Amy Rose did, but she...



I clawed my head. I needed to stop. I was on the verge of shorting myself out. I needed to stop. I would make it worse if I went offline again. Stop.



I unlocked the garden door and went in.



The flowers were dry, but they were alive. I checked them all and watered them. I needed to take care of them.



Take care of the flowers. Water the flowers.



I didn't feel like I was in my body anymore.



I was watching myself care for the flowers, but I wasn't sure it was me. I wished it wasn't me.



What was I doing? I was wasting time. I... I needed to see her. I needed to see her.



I installed my voice processor and left. I needed to see her.