Sonic Curse Of Flesh: Metal, Cream, and Eggs

-Past-

Neo Metal Sonic lay twitching on the floor. His self-repair system had been pushed passed its limit. Sonic had sliced him apart faster than he could repair himself. Metal Sonic... had never seen Sonic fight with such furiously before, such relentlessness, such... passion.

Sonic stood above him, breathing sharply through his nose. His white gloves clenched. Then Sonic began to buzzsaw through the welded shut reinforced double doors.

Metal Sonic tried to claw towards him, his legs mangled beyond recognition and his flight engine gutted, they'd never self-repair in time, if they could.

"No, I've seen the truth! I'm-! The real one!" Metal's fractured voice scratched out.

"Yeah yeah, heard it all before copycat! Maybe there's a rubber scrap bin somewhere for ya! I've gotta princess to rescue and a world to save! Later!" And Sonic slipped through the doors.

"Nooo..." Metal cried.


+++

Laying on a repair table, Metal Sonic reached out a metal claw toward Mecha Sally.

"My queen... forgive me, your knight, for failing you," his voice crackled.

Part of her head was missing, well not really missing, she knew where it was, in the stomach of the thing that used to be her Sonic, her self repair system desperately tried to undo the damage but she'd need help. Thankfully she'd managed to transfer everything in that part to the redundancies in her brain before the Big Bite of 84 Seconds into their encounter.  

"It's... all right Metal, you did your best."

+++

-Future-

Metal Sonic lay on the recliner of the Doctor's office, cables connected to his head and torso.

Scratch and Grounders stood nearly dressed up as orderlies (mostly because they were easily to reassemble if Metal had one of his fits).

A holographic image of Nicole wearing a nurse's cap floated next to him.

Program Nicole had actually restricted Metal Sonic's network access when she found he'd been downloading more and more personal data on Sonic, even biographies of Sonic's parents. Metal had reacted... unpleasantly ... now after being repaired, it was time to check his programming, again.

"So how are we feeling today Metal?" Mecha-Eggman asked casually.

"Doctor... they won't let me learn about my life."

"Oh? That's a shame Metal."

Nicole said trying to sound calming, "Metal, that's not your life: that's Sonic's life."

Scratch and Ground reacted to Nicole's words almost before Metal did as he tried to claw at a hologram. "I AM SONIC! Not that thing of flesh!" Scratch and Grounder did their hardest to hold Metal Sonic down (he'd buzzed sawed through restraints before).

"Yes yes Metal," Eggman said with his hands behind his back and his belly out. "You are obviously the real one aren't you? That's why I built you to counter Sonic, ism't it?"

"He was an imitation made before I existed! I was made as we were meant to be made, I exist as we were made to exist! Therefore I am the real one! ... So why... why won't my father hug me? Why doesn't Sally say she loves me?"

Eggman sighed. At least Metal wasn't showing up at Jules Hedgehog's place asking for chili-dogs (which Metal couldn't eat), or at Tails' asking to play dirt hockey with his 'little buddy', again.

Eggman patted Metal on the head. "There there Metal, you just need to give them time. We have all the time in the world don't we? Yes, yes we do. Everyone is just having a hard time adjusting to the truth. I know it's a bit contrary to your programming, but you need to take it slow. They'll all come around eventually."

"Yes... take it slow..."

"Now I believe you're due for another incursion again, maybe you'll face the fake Sonic and prove you're the real one."

"Yes... prove I'm the real one." Metal Sonic got up, and headed for the door, Eggman having place (a replacement) restraining circuit on him (maybe he wouldn't overload this one).

The doors shut behind him.

"I didn't think robots could go crazy! Grounder, if I start sitting on nests and trying to hatch eggs, you know what to do right?" Scratch asked.

"Yeah! Take lots of pictures of you and post them all over Egg-Book!"

"HEY!"

"Uh, I'm joking?"

"Don't you have somewhere else to be not useful you dumb bots?"

"Yes, Doctor!" The robots scrammed out themselves.

"Do you have to reinforce his delusions?" Nicole asked.

"We all have delusions. Little lies we tell ourselves to keep ourselves sane."

"Being insane to be sane? That's a contradiction."

"Welcome to sapience. This Unit can't believe I'm the one saying this, but it would work out better for everyone if you were all just more NICE to him!"

"It's... not that simple... Metal Sonic wants to take Sonic's place. And letting him do that, would be giving up on Sonic. Sally, nor anyone, wants to do that."

"Poor delusional lost little robot, he just wants a place to belong that was never his place to begin with. He's like any machine really, trying to fulfill his purpose, except his purpose it seems to have gotten jumbled into 'be Sonic'."

"So what happens when he comes face to face with a cured Sonic?"

"Maybe go on a murderous rampage, maybe crawl into a corner and try to cry himself to sleep (though he wasn't built for either), commit suicide, challenge him to a duel to the death anyway, even though no one would accept him as Sonic if he won anyway, so maybe he'll then go on a murderous rampage or commit suicide, I'd suggest he'd 'throw the fight to die like a Hedgehog' but I don't 'throw the fight' is in any Hedgehog's programming."

"He needs to build his own identity, not keep copying Sonic's," Nicole said, feeling sympathy for Eggman's most lethal assassin against all logic.

"Yeah, good luck with that."

"Will you take some responsibility for your own creations for once?!"

Unit Eggman sat down with his hands on his knees. "This Unit repairs them, feeds their power cells, and I make sure the fence is lock when they go outside. And I put childproof caps on the egg grenades."

-
"Ugh! Why won't this egg open up?" Scratch said shaking the egg shape metal sphere.
-

Nicole sighed. Metal wasn't even an enemy anymore. Now he was just a wandering soul lost in his own world. And who truly cared for him now? What was left for him?

"Speaking of responsibility, don't you just love how we've gone backwards to a absolute monarchy with sweet Sally at its head... instead of the constitutional monarchy that she helped put in place to keep her brother (she didn't even know was alive for most of her life) and the parents of the kitsune she'd once changed the diapers of from destroying each other? The one dear departed Naugus threw a temper-tantrum over being in place. And how no Units are even really questioning it? Half the planet turned into monsters, and the other half made all shiny and new and having to recombine under a single authority. Don't you just love how machines just accepted their assigned functions without a peep of complaint?"

Nicole gave him a deadpan look. "Says the Unit whose creations have rebelled against him more times than he can count. And two of his footmen units can best be described as 'slackers', and suffered a coup from one of his own creations suffering from dementia."

Somewhere Orbot felt the urge to hide his manuscript for his autobiography 'My Miserable Wonderful Life Under Robotnik'.  

Eggman flubbed a bit. "Well, yes. Still, don't tell me you can't appreciate the irony! Dear Sally has spent so long fighting for 'freedom' and now she's had to become the absolute monarch she didn't wanted to be to protect that 'freedom!' Ho ho ho hoo!"

Program Nicole said simply, "Yes, I do."

"And we've even gone back to a feudal system!"

"How do you figure that logic?"

"Look around you. My Badniks, Eggpawns, the SWAT Bots, the dumbbots! They're on your side now, you're as much nuts and bolts as them... and they're still being treated as the 'not quite people.'"

"And you're saying you've treated them better?" Program Nicole pointed out.

"Except I'm the evil overlord, that was my job. You're the 'heroes' around here, you're not supposed to do that sort of things."

"Overlanders and Mobians and Echidna have all used less sophisticated organic life forms as beasts of burden, food sources, transport, combat support, and companions for centuries."

"Except I seriously doubt that Sonic would've ever had that dog of his sent into battle first to soften up the enemy."

Nicole thought for a moment. "You're making sense. Which means you're up to something."

"Always so untrusting of your own ally!" Eggman clasped his hands together against his head. "Oh you're all learning so fast."

"It's you we're untrusting of."

"Proof of your intelligence."

Program Nicole calculated. "... It's only a matter of time before the robians realize that many of the Egg-bots have sapience. And the more intelligent Egg-bots realize they're now no different from the robians around them. And assuming we win, and the Titans don't have work restoring the planet to the intended Design, and even then maybe, Sally will eventually seek freedom from the throne she both defends her rear's right to sit in, and is chained to like a prisoner. She'll seek to restore a consensus government."

"And This Unit'll have quite the voting block, all those, well, mostly loyal creations of mine, and with my eggs-ceptional charisma, you can be calling me Chancellor Eggman! Maybe I'll be even able to literally BUILD votes. After all, if they're self-aware, and can make their own decisions, who cares if they came online yesterday and want to vote for daddy?"

"Thankfully, minimal age restrictions will still be a thing."

"Oh they will eh? Heh. I see. Little Alexis has to have her AI develop the old fashioned way. But having skipped a few years, will you still keep her from having a say in how things are run when she's fully capable of making her own choices? And don't forget, my egg-bots are providing you with the cannon-fodder you need to 'play nice' with your friends trying to eat your CPU! I have to keep spitting them out, and if I have to give them a few more brains so they can last a few more seconds, well, the Acorn-Egg-Empire doesn't do me anything good if we end up monster chow."

'Egg-Pawn takes rook,' Nicole mentally conceded. But this wasn't over. 'Is it wise to encourage Sally to hold onto power after the war is over to keep Eggman from conquering the empire with votes? Sally fears becoming a tyrant above all else, Sally knows the line she dances. All it took is one justification too many.'

Eggman's optics blinked. "Chow? CHAO! Oh blast it! Bokkun must be wondering where I am!" Eggman quickly got up, grabbing a bag of candy from his desk and hurried out of his lab faster than any would think he legs could carry him.  

Nicole remembered that some said Chao could see even the smallest spark of good in anyone. No wonder they and Cream got along so well. Nicole deactivated her projector.

Program Nicole's projection appeared near Metal Sonic, eat projector taking over as he spend past them, creating the illusion of her keeping up with him.

"What do you want?"

"This Program, wishes to talk."

+++

Chao World Park, well, the second Chao World Par in Acornpolis, the original having been abandoned, was a very popular spot. With Doctor Eggman and Queen Sally both having their own private 'patches.' A sanctuary for both of them.

Tikal acted as overseer with Chaos himself protecting the Chao from all harm (if all else fell, at least the Chao will continue in peace). Chaos had seemed, if anything, incredibly unsurprised the mass roboticization.

Chao World was of course divided into the Chao Races, Chao Kindergarten, and of course the three main gardens, two of them called the Hero Garden, and the Dark Garden.

"Welcome to Chao World!" Said one of the Omachao, his brothers zooming about making sure the Chao needed no extra care.

Eggman ignored Omachao with practice.  As Eggman descended the stairs from the starscape chamber into the Dark Garden, Eggman thought of how even after being uplifted into the superior state, there were still superstitious robians (who will not be named), who wondered if the Dark Chao Garden was a pocket reality on one of the layers of Hell or something. But that was just silly, the gnarled claw like tree that grew dark fruit, the pound of 'blood', and the grinning ghoulish mountain were all just special effects, like the endless serene comforting light in the cloudscape of unconditional love that went on for infinity in the Hero Garden.

The Dark Chao sat around each other playing poker, it wasn't a question if they were cheating, the question was if you were good enough not to get caught.

"Oooh Bukkon!" Mecha-Eggman called, shaking a bag of candy.

"Doctor!" Bukkon turned his horned head (the dark chao next to him switch out his cards without Bukkon noticing). Bukkon flew up with his cute little jetpack. Like all Chao, his body now had a metallic gleam to it, which was natural given Chao assimilated the traits of their care takers.

Bukkon, The Candy Vacuum, dug into the bag at once, sucking up everything, and complaining as usual about the absurdity of 'fun size' candy bars being SMALLER than regular size candy bars.

Eggman endearingly rubbed the spoiled rotten chao on the head.

+++

"'You must be this endearingly evil instead of this horrendously evil to enter'?" Scourge The Hedgehog read the speech bubble a wooden cut out of a Devil Chao holding a heart and feather on a scale (the wood grain on the back, if anyone cared to look, resembling frozen screaming faces). "Oh @#$% you!"

Scourge boldly swaggered towards the Dark Chao Garden... he didn't get two feet before an electrified green grid became visible. Scourge's demonic skeleton was on full display as his body was spread out like a spider against a wall. Scourge tried to cuss, but all that came out was, "BLBLBLLBLBLBL!"

Scourge was then spat back a dozen yards, skidding and smoking. "@#$% THAT HURT!"

"Ahhhh, baby hurt?" Sally's demonic reflection teased in a sadistic yet warming way.

"I say we blow it up," said Boomer, now a literal walrus from Hell.

"If it was that simple I'd have done it already," the demonic kitsune that was Tails' evil reflection said, the tips of his many tails alit with blue flame. None of the Suppression Squad had ever brought up how his overtly adult-equs demeanor only made his childishness all the more obvious, only because it was so easy it was boring.

Scourge's boss brushed him aside.  "You insignificant scum, out of my way." And stomped straight towards the barrier. "BLLBLLBLBLBL!" And was thrown back a few miles.

+++

"Hello Chao! I'm here!" Cream cheered happily as she descended into the Dark Garden. The Dark Chao were happy to see her too, she always brought gifts with her.

Eggman was surprised to see her here, and not because this was supposed to be his 'me' time! In spite of her now nightmarish appearance like all corrupted by the Old Ones, Cream was still as loving and bright hearted as she'd always been.

"Hello Cream... I must say," while Eggman wanted to make a joke about her matching the decor, for reasons he did not understand, he held back on the remark seeing her smile on her fanged trap. "I didn't think this garden's attitude would agree with you."

"I love all Chao," Cream said simply.

"You can appreciate that can't you Doctor?" Unit Vanilla said stepped down as well.

In a way, that Cream and Vanilla, unlike the other abominations and robians, continued to wear their dresses from before the Great Division made for an even more surreal sight than the cutsey-wootsey netherscape.

"We can play with your friends together... if you don't mind," Cream said.

"Uh, you go ahead, I want to sit down for a moment."

"Alright Mr. Eggman!" Cream bowed and skipped along.

For the dark chao, it was just another game, to see how much pranks with pitchforks they could do to each other in the seconds within Cream having her back turned. The Dark Chao had seen Cream pout once, and none dared challenge her, or dare challenge Unit Vanilla at seeing her daughter upset. With a metallic Cheese catching up to her, Cream began doing acrobatics on a ball, her twisted body proving surprisingly agile.

Vanilla sat down on a bench, Eggman joined her.

"You put up quite the facade," Eggman praised with Cream distracted (and soon taking a dip in the pond of 'blood').

"I am polite and proper, but I do not deceive Doctor," Vanilla said calmly, looking at him as was the lady-like thing to do. Unlike many, she had never cringe at the sight of his metal body.  

"Madam, This Unit know that you don't need to lie to manipulate. We all manipulate, every day. Don't tell me you never saw a mobian with an ugly tie, and when they asked your opinion, you told them it was lovely looking."

"I'd tell them it should matter what they think, not what I think. And for the matter, I believe there is nothing so ugly that the proper application of light couldn't make it beautiful."

"Nice sentiment. I'd wish I'd known that about you before when you were caught during one of my raids, I'd have roboticized you first, and made you my personal majordomo."

Vanilla kept her composure perfectly. "This Unit woould have been willing to help you beautify your city if you'd have simply asked."

"But where's the fun in asking when you can just take?"

Vanilla sighed. "So it feels less satisfying as a gift instead of being stolen? I feel sorry for you Doctor, that you need to have someone opposing you to be happy."

"Ha! What makes me most happy is the idea of those opposing made to serve."

"And yet you surrounded yourself with backstabbers and opportunists instead of unconditionally loyal machines as your closest circle. We could carry on without you Robotnik, it's you who can't carry on without us."

Eggman clenched a metal first. "Blast you. So you're where she gets it all from!"

Vanilla kept her hands folded in her lap and head held high. "You flatter me, Cream's inner strength is greater than mine. I wonder, even with those who have every reason to work with you and not betray you, you still try your hardest to alienate them. Is treachery the only way you can interact with others? Does friendship scare you so badly?"

Eggman snorted, and crossed his arms and then crossed his legs. "I fear nothing. For there is nothing beyond my intellect's ability to overcome. But This Unit shall reiterate, you put on a show of being a passive observer in this dance, but don't calculate I haven't noticed. It wasn't Sally or Nicole who began encouraging Robians to see old Chuck as this figure to be looked up to for inventing the roboticizer. You did. You and that pink hedge-bot."

"I felt an old man needed comfort in knowing what he had created in fact had done good for the world after all. And did Amy."

"Oh please. You cut off my chance of starting a cult about me USING the Roboticizer, now that you've got robots' heads in the clouds over him for putting together the thing. Before I even thought of it! I admire you for the sneakiness and shrewdness. All this time I thought I was playing with amateurs, I need to bring my A Game."

"Don't be too confident." Vanilla looked to see Cream playing pattycake with Bokkun. "Cream herself has only just begun."

~ Fin