Metal and Belle went all-in on researching more about how Nova could contribute to the power source. Nova's DNA did react to the Shield Crystal as they expected, but the real question was how it was used and how it could possibly convert into powering a robot.



Metal's train of thought went to Nova's connection to nature. He tried everything that Nova touched, including plants in both gardens, but they had no special reactions to the Shield Crystal. Metal tried to make something new with samples he collected from Nova, but that didn't pan out, either. Despite no successful roads yet, they had much more energy and enthusiasm than before. I knew they could do it!



I could help the best by keeping tabs on Sonic and Tails, so I went to Tails's workshop to see their progress with Cavalier Sonic. With their permission, I was allowed into the secret room again, somehow even messier than before. Some good news, though: Cavalier Sonic had a brand new turbine attached to him! Tails did some crazy work.



"Well... I don't know his original power source, but I filled his container with a compatible plasma energy, sorta like his backup. His CPUs look good, his systems look normal... He should be back up and running. He just won't be able to use his usual arsenal," Tails said as he typed on a keyboard and stared at a computer screen. "We might at least be able to talk to him."



My eyes widened. Maybe he would talk more knowing that the other Metal attacked him. "Let's do it," I said.



Sonic was so excited that he looked like he would bonk his head into the ceiling from moving around. "Yeah! I'm excited to meet him for real!" he beamed.



"Here goes..." Tails typed something else, then flew out of his seat. He carefully took out the wires Cavalier Sonic was bound to, closed his head, then flicked a very small switch.



I heard the familiar whirring of machinery. Cavalier Sonic's eyes turned on, unfocused green... It was really similar to when Carillon Rose went online! His eyes moved around as he lifted his head. He stood up from his support and stretched his limbs with a grunt. Eventually, he focused on the three of us.



"Didn't expect this," he mumbled.



"Hahah!" Sonic was so giddy. "Hey!" he beamed.



"Hey!" Cavalier Sonic said back in the exact same cadence, exact same eagerness. "I remember you. Shorter than I thought."



"That's what many say. I can only contain so much of this charm," Sonic dramatically sighed.



Cavalier Sonic laughed. "I like you!" He looked over at Tails next. "... I remember you too. Sorry. I didn't have any control over myself when we first met," he said.



Tails nervously blinked. "Th-that's fine! Uh... Hi!"



"And I meet you again, too," he said, his voice softer as he looked at me. "Somehow, I expected you'd be around... But I thought I'd be--" He paused. "... My energy container is filled with a bunch of random junk! Why?! I can't do anything with that!" he groaned, grabbing his head.



"Sorry, we're still figuring out what you're powered with," Tails muttered. "U-uh, you could just tell us?"



"It's not so easy. None of you could make my power source. I need to head back to--" He gasped, lowering his hands. "Wait-- I remember everything now! Son of a bitch!" He clenched his fists.



Ooh. Never heard Sonic get mad like that.



"Cava, could you please tell us what happened? Why did your creator attack you?" I asked.



"I'm not supposed to give much away," he growled. "I'm also supposed to shut myself off until I have my proper power source if I lost it... which I did. But I'm starting to think that doesn't matter... We're kinda screwed." He lowered his head down, thinking for a while. "I'd love to play with y'all, but I need to borrow, hmmm.... You." He picked me up by the back of my dress!



"H-hey!! Put me down!" I yelled. "You can pick me up in a different--"



"Seeya!" he said to the other two. Cavalier Sonic sped away while holding me like some dirty laundry! Agh!



He landed in a giant tree and finally put me down on a branch. We were obscured by leaves both above and below... But I was pissed!!



"You're definitely modeled after Sonic!" I screamed. "Because you don't know how to handle women!!"



Cavalier Sonic laughed. "Sorry! It was just convenient," he replied. "But you are wrapped up in all this... And I have a question those two shouldn't hear yet."



"You have a question? I'm the one with a bunch of questions!"



"Maybe I'll answer something in return. So, let's start: when I reactivated back at that weird base, you asked me what my power source was. Why would you need to know that?" His green eyes were trained on me. Sometimes, I didn't really know what to think of him... But I felt like I could trust him here.



I didn't know if it was the right choice to tell him about Lonnie, though. What if he went under someone else's control again?



His pupils dilated. "... Is Lonnie here?" he asked.



I immediately perked up from hearing her name. That probably gave it away.



"You know where Lonnie is?! She's here?!" he repeated with much more energy. "Maybe we're not screwed! Hah! Where is she? Maybe--" His eyes briefly flashed white, but then he averted his eyes. "Wait..." He let out a sigh. "Neo didn't tell me about her for a reason. It's probably her turn to do something."



I sighed. "Yeah, I asked about the power source because of Lonnie... She's okay. She's just missing the power source itself... Like you."



"That's such a relief. I guess I should give Neo more credit. He said there was only one plan that would work, so I guess we're still in it."



"Ugh, I want to ask what it is, but I know you won't tell me," I grumbled.



"You're as smart as you're cute," he teased, patting me on the head. "I can't help you with Lonnie... But she should be your priority. If I didn't know about Lonnie, then that means--" He suddenly shook his head. "No. Too much info."



I accepted it at this point. He really was tricked, but he still had trust in future Metal. "I have two questions for you... I understand if you can't answer them, but I hope you can."



"Sure, go ahead," he said, tilting his head.



"Just so I get the picture... You're on good terms with your Metal from the future?" I asked.



"Oh yeah. Sometimes he's a bit of an asshole, but so am I," he snorted. "We annoy each other... But I'll always help him without a second thought. If it's important, anyway," he said lightheartedly. "He's my best friend... Lonnie is, too."



I smiled a little. "I gather you didn't take it personally when he ripped out your chest, then."



"Admittedly, that's not the first time he's done that," he said with a laugh. "That being said-- uh... I can't get into it." He sighed this time. "... It's my fault. I should've been able to tell earlier... But... Maybe that's why he didn't tell me about Lonnie. I don't know. Sorry, I'll have to think about this on my own. What's your other question?"



"Wait, hold on. Two more questions. I got an extra one." I held up two fingers. "You're on really good terms with Neo, but you're basically built to destroy him? How does that work? Why did he decide to build you?" I blinked. "Okay, that counts as one question." I put one of my fingers down.



Cavalier Sonic chuckled. "Now we're getting to the good stuff. Sorry, Ames... I don't have a good answer for that one. I have my own theories..."



Ames... I felt surprised hearing that from him. It made me strangely sad... "I-I guess... My final question is why you waited for Metal to return to you when you fought him. Was it because I was there?"



"I'll respond to your question with another one," he said cheerfully. "Do you think the Metal you know would ever want me to endanger you?"



I couldn't help but blush. "I see..."



"To prevent you from being endangered further, I need to go offline until my real power source is restored. That's the downside to being an awesome robot, I guess. Hmm... I don't want to put your friends' workshop in danger, either. I have a favor to ask."



I blinked a few times. "Y-yeah? What's up?"



"Are you as strong as the legends say?" he asked with a joking tone.



I squinted at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"



He chuckled again. "I'm thinking of going offline here so I can't get traced back to your friends. Could you carry me somewhere else? It should be away from Lonnie, just in case."



"W-we're in a tree!" I yelled. "At least go offline when you're on the ground!"



"Okay, okay. I'll do whatever the lady says. See, I'm not so bad!" He jumped down the tree, so I followed him. He elegantly landed on the ground, then he lay back and yawned, crossing his arms behind his head. "Oh yeah, I'd like that crap out of my container."



"Metal clearly didn't teach you the magic words," I grumbled.



"Pretty please~"



"That's better," I huffed. "Alright... I'll make sure you're somewhere safe."



"I knew I could count on you, Ames. I hope to see you again," he said in the same cheery voice.



"You too," I replied with a slight smile. I waved at him. After a short moment, his eyes blinked off, and then his machinery quieted down with it. He was offline just like that.



I sighed and hoisted him up. I felt petty enough to carry him the same way I did... if it was possible. I settled for holding him the best I could since he was way bigger than me anyway. Right as I was about to leave, a blue blur stopped just in front of me with Tails flying not too far behind.



"Whoa!" Sonic called. "What happened? Was there a fight?"



I shook my head. "No... Actually, he went offline to help you guys. Let's take him back to my house... I'll explain on the way."



We took the least obnoxious and most obscure route to my house, which luckily wasn't too far away. I didn't tell Sonic and Tails everything, but I told them that he went offline to protect our places from being targeted. I also mentioned that I was somehow undoubtedly involved... Cavalier Sonic said that future Metal wouldn't hurt me, but what he implied also made me wonder what I was supposed to do. What role was I going to play?



Was I supposed to help Nova with something maybe? I wasn't sure... Either way, I believed him in that Lonnie was the next step.



We got back to my house. I decided to put Cavalier Sonic in the storage room I cleared out and planned to make a little maintenance area for Metal. I figured Cavalier Sonic could take it for a spin first, heheh. I sat him down on a chair and let Tails know he could still study and work on him, but he shouldn't be brought back online until we found his real power source. Tails thought that was weird, but he at least respected my decision.



To be extra safe too, I put a bunch of boxes in front of Cavalier Sonic to hide him a little more. I closed the door, then sighed. I had so much I needed to tell Metal and Belle.



"What do you think he meant when he said you were involved?" Sonic asked me with a brow raised.



I shook my head. "No idea..."



Tails sighed. "Well, we got your back, Amy. We'll keep a watch for things on our end. I need to go back to the workshop to clean some things up in case his hunch was right about us getting an unwanted visitor." He slightly frowned, looking towards the front door.



"I'm always around, too!" Sonic beamed. "... Man, I hoped we could have a race before he went offline... He's got that speed! What a challenge."



I rolled my eyes with a smile. "Maybe there will be a future opportunity. For now, though, we're gonna respect his decision to take a long nap."



"Will do, Ames." Sonic gave me a silly little salute. "Alright, we'll head out. Stay safe, alright?"



"I will! You two stay safe, too."



We all said our goodbyes, then I had a minute to myself. Before I headed back to Metal's base, I wanted to clean up a little more and get my thoughts together. It felt weird to be dealing with two offline robots from the future... Hopefully it wouldn't take much longer to figure it all out.



I eventually left my home and made my way back to the forest where Metal's base was. After making sure I was alone, I went into the same cave as always, put in the same door code... No Nova to greet me again! They were probably helping Metal and Belle, to be fair.



I hoped the extra information I had from Cavalier Sonic would somehow help. I went down the hallway and got to the elevator, then I typed in the code to send the elevator up my way. I was used to the routine at this point.



I hummed quietly to myself as I waited.



Huh? I heard something clatter nearby. I turned my head--



A gun was pointed at my head. I froze. I glanced upward-- Eggman towered over me, his scowl as intense as the stare behind those glasses.



One of his hands clasped around one of my shoulders. The gun's frigid barrel pressed against my forehead. "The joyride ends here, you little pink rat. You're coming with me if you like your brain staying inside your skull," he said, voice low and quiet. "And I don't want a peep out of that bratty mouth of yours."



I grimaced. I let out a single breath--



"Ah-ah." He turned me around, then pushed me forward. He pointed the gun at the back of my head and forced me to keep walking. Eggman was a man of many exaggerations... Not this time. I thought he'd actually do it if I challenged him. I didn't know why he was here... I didn't know what it meant. Metal-- was he okay? Was Belle with him? Did Eggman know?



They'd find it weird I sent the elevator up, but didn't step inside. I never did that on accident, I never put in a code on accident. Eggman wouldn't get away with anything.