Chapter 8: Friend or foe?

It came to pass after some driving, turns, backups, bridge crossing and some more driving that the RV finally stopped in Illinois. The sun was setting when they arrived in a small town, and that is where Big the Cat decided to go. Sonic the Hedgehog stopped the RV in a safe location, parked it, and then the door opened. Big gathered his things, and then he stepped outside.

"Thank you for the ride." Big said, very grateful for their help and kindness.

"No problem, Big. Are you sure this is the place?" Sonic asked again, to be sure.

"Yes, very sure." Big answered, nodding and so then, everyone said goodbye. Big watched the RV until it disappeared into the lovely sunset, and then he moved on, traveling on his own.

Back inside the RV, things were quiet for a while, and then later it was time for dinner. Everyone was hungry, so the RV stopped again. Tikal opened the icebox, looking for something to cook, but to her great surprise, it was empty. Everything from the eggs to the milk was gone.

"Oh, my goodness!" Tikal gasped. "The icebox is empty, look!" She pointed, and it was so.

Rouge opened the food closet, but it was also empty. "Same thing for in here." She said.

"Is there any thing at all?" Knuckles asked, and then Rouge looked inside the closet again.

"Oh, there's a bean." Rouge answered, and she stood holding the lone bean in her hand.

"If I wasn't so hungry, I would laugh at this." Tails said as his stomach growled again.

"With no doubt, Big decided to have a midnight snack." Shadow concluded.

"If that was a snack, I'd hate to see his meals." Sonic said, after shrugging his shoulders. "Well, I guess we'll have to stop in town, find a few things and restore our icebox."

"That's what I was going to suggest." Shadow said as the RV began moving again.

After shopping at a store, they were able to replace their needed supplies, Sonic refilled the RV, and then they returned on the road. Shadow sat as the driver, to let Sonic rest in the passenger seat. The girls made a simple dinner, because it was already late and everyone was waiting. Tails was working on his map, using his laptop computer, and then the thought came to mind.

"Hey, Sonic, we're very close to Wisconsin, right?" Tails asked the blue hedgehog.

"Yeah, that's right." Sonic quietly answered without opening his eyes.

"Well, I've been reading a little about it here. Wisconsin has some nice RV parks with forest areas, good hiking trails, excellent fishing, and other activities. What do you think?" Tails asked.

Sonic could not answer him. He was already asleep, very tired after driving so far.

Shadow winked his eye. "We'll be there before he wakes up to surprise him." He said, and so with Shadow as the driver and Sonic as a sleeping passenger, the RV drove to Wisconsin.

= = = = =

Location: Wisconsin…

Sonic opened his green eyes, and after blinking them, he looked and outside the windshield was nothing but trees. He wondered where they could possibly be now. He did not recognize the area they were currently in, and worse, he was not the driver. It was someone else, someone he knew, of course, but Sonic would only let him drive when very necessary. Then he heard a slurp.

"Shadow!" Sonic pointed to the hedgehog in the driver's seat that was drinking coffee.

"You're awake, I see." Shadow said, calmly with a grin on his face.

"Where have you taken us? Big Foot country?" Sonic asked, a little angry in his voice.

"No, no, no, I wouldn't dream it, but we're in Wisconsin." Shadow told him.

"Wisconsin, huh?" Sonic asked, and then he saw a blanket covering him. "Wait a minute, who covered me up here?" He asked, confused, and Shadow did not answer the question.

"I did!" Amy said, cheerfully. "I would never want my hero to catch a terrible cold."

"EW! Yuck! Gross!" Sonic said, and he kicked the blanket off before running outside.

Shadow drank his coffee faster, finishing the last drop. "Ah, good till the last drop." He sighed.

Later, it was dark outside the RV campsite; the air grew cold as silver clouds covered the light of the moon. The team gathered together nearby the RV, and a cold wind blew through the trees. They listened to the sounds of the night; calmly sitting together outside, but something seemed to be missing. Knuckles knew what it was before Sonic could even mention it.

"This place needs a campfire." The red echidna said, sitting beside Rouge on a log.

"All right, who wants to be hired to gather firewood?" Sonic asked his good friends.

"How much are you paying by the twig?" Tails asked, joking and everyone laughed.

"I'll go!" Tikal volunteered, standing up from sitting on a rock, holding a flashlight.

"Wait, I'll go with you!" Amy called, running to follow the female echidna.

"Hey, gals, don't go too far! Okay?" Sonic called out to them before they disappeared in the dark.

= = = = =

Amy and Tikal walked into the forest, but they did not go very far from the campsite. They stayed together and Tikal used her flashlight to see where it was safe to step. The trees were tall, they seemed to make the area darker than normal, and the cold breeze gave the girls a chill.

"Oh, it sure is dark out here, and chilly." Amy said, wrapping her arms around herself.

"That is why we must find wood for the fire, that way, everyone will be warm." Tikal said.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Amy nodded, and then she saw loose twigs on the ground.

"This will do perfectly." Tikal said as she knelt down to help Amy with the work.

The two girls quietly gathered the twigs for the campfire, on their knees, and they could not help but to sense that someone or something was watching them. It was a feeling that refused to go away, and the two faced each other, silent. Amy shrugged and then continued her work, and Tikal soon followed, gathering the twigs, but she felt something uneasy in the area.

"Oh, ouch!" Amy gasped in pain as a thorn on the ground hurt her finger.

"Amy, are you okay?" Tikal asked, worried and she looked at the finger.

"Yes." Amy answered, blinking her tears away. "But I dropped the firewood…"

Then out of nowhere, there was an electronic voice with a Russian accent. "Perhaps I could help you with that." It spoke to them, and it frightened the girls who thought they were alone.

Amy and Tikal froze. Nervously, they both slowly moved their heads upward, and they saw two glowing red rectangles. After a moment, the girls realized they were eyes. They could not bring themselves to move. When the moonlight returned, a form of a robot hedgehog was shown.

"If you wish, I could assist you." It offered to help them.

There was a long pause. Then shakily, Tikal managed to utter something to the stranger machine. "W-w-who a-a-are y-y-you?" Tikal asked, while Amy stared with disbelief and surprise.

The robot spoke calmly, but also firmly. "I am called Metal Sonic-2." It replied.

"Metal?" Tikal whispered with fear and dread, and then she dropped her firewood.

"Please, do not be afraid. I mean you no harm." Metal-2 said, trying to calm her.

Amy and Tikal could not believe what they were hearing. Metal Sonic, the name of the one that had tortured and attacked them all countless times, was standing there, offering to help.

"I--I don't understand." Tikal said, quietly and she trembled slightly with fear.

"I will explain later. Please permit me to assist you." Metal-2 offered to help again.

"Tikal, let's see what he can do." Amy whispered to the female echidna.

Not knowing what else to do, Tikal agreed with a nod. "Okay." She answered.

The robot knelt down, and quickly scooped up all of the sticks. "I have them. Where is your campsite?" Metal-2 asked them, after standing up again.

"It's over there." Amy gave an answer as she pointed toward the area.

"Thank you." The robot said, surprising the girls greatly that he would say such a thing.

The two girls nervously stood up, and Amy gripped her friend's hand for courage. The robot walked in the direction she had indicated. After several steps, Metal-2 stopped and looked behind him. He noticed that Amy and Tikal had not moved.

"Is something wrong?" The robot hedgehog asked the two young ladies.

"Uh…I uh…No." Tikal answered, quietly and Amy stood close beside her.

Tikal walked with Amy and up to him, and they continued. Tikal made sure to stay behind him so that he could not surprise her or Amy easily. After a short while, they were within sight of the camp. Metal-2 hid behind a tree, and he addressed the two-team members with him.

"I do not believe they will listen to anything I have to say. It would be best if you introduced me."

He said, and Tikal thought about this for a moment. Then she nodded, and ran toward camp. She emerged with Amy from the trees, and their friends at the RV campsite greeted them.

"What's the hurry, Tikal?" Knuckles asked, when he saw the breathless echidna.

"Yeah, and where's the firewood?" Sonic added a question before Tikal caught her breath.

"Well, I'm not sure." Tikal replied, and this confused the males of the crew.

"What? Say that again." Knuckles requested, being the first to find his voice.

"We ran into a friend in the woods." Amy answered before Tikal could speak.

"You didn't hurt him when you ran into him, did you?" Tails asked her.

"No," Amy replied, "In fact I was worried that he would hurt us."

"I'm guessing this 'friend' is actually an enemy, then." Rouge said with her arms crossed.

"That's just it," Tikal said, "I'm not sure. He looks like our enemy, but he was very friendly."

After hearing all this, Sonic stood up, alert in his eyes and cautious in his voice. "What does he look like?" He asked his friends who were the witnesses of the stranger.

"Metal Sonic…" Amy and Tikal both answered the same thing.

The crew heard the answer, and they were shocked. "What?!" They asked with disbelief.

Then Tikal explained to them, "He was different…kinder, and with a foreign accent. He helped me with the firewood." She said, and then Amy nodded with reassurance.

"Okay, so where is he?" Shadow asked, and then he stood up beside the wary Sonic.

Amy pointed toward the woods. "He's over there, behind the tree." She replied.

Metal-2 saw her pointing at him, and he took it as a signal to show himself. He walked up to the edge of the forest with the firewood. Now out under the night sky, they could more clearly see him. His appearance was different than that of the Metal Sonic they all knew.

"Metal!" Sonic growled with anger, and he stood while keeping his friends behind him. "What do you want this time, you evil piece of tinfoil?" He asked, pointing toward the robot.

"I wish to assist you. This wood is for a fire, is it not?" Metal-2 asked, holding it in his arms.

"Maybe…What's it to you?" Knuckles asked the stranger, while standing ready to defend.

"I will take that as a yes." The robot said, and then he walked into the middle of the circle that the others formed. He dropped the wood into a pile.

"Great, now how do we light it?" Rouge asked; surprised at the help that was given.

"It is not a problem…" Metal-2 pointed his right arm at the woodpile. From the top of his arm, a large panel of silvery armor extended. Attached to the bottom of it were two small, cylindrical objects. From the front of each of these extended a short, metal tube. "I will ignite it." He said, and then a laser shot fired from both of the tubes. Instantly, the wood was set ablaze. This startled everyone. Metal-2 retracted the blasters back into his arm.

"What was that?" Amy asked him as she gazed at the fire, which burned in the fireplace.

"Dual plasma discharge." The robot answered her.

"Okay." Amy said, slowly, still quite confused at what she saw.

"You see what I mean? He looks like our enemy, but he's helpful." Tikal told her friends.

"It doesn't matter!" Sonic said, furious. "He is an intruder, trying to deceive us!" And before the others could react, Sonic jumped toward the robot with a homing attack.

But Metal-2 was swift as he blocked the attack, and then he suddenly gripped the hedgehog's arms, stopping him. Sonic struggled to free himself, but the robot was too strong.

"Let me go!" Sonic demanded, and after he said that, the robot let him go. Sonic fell to the ground, unharmed. He quickly sat up. "Why on earth did you do that?!" He asked, angrily.

"Because you told me to." The robot answered, and then he offered Sonic his hand, to help him up. The hedgehog's eyes looked at the robotic hand, and flashbacks flooded his mind. He remembered something at that moment and he froze while staring at the hand, thinking.

[Sonic flashback]

"Don't go in, Sonic! What are you doing?! NO, SONIC!!" Tails cried out to him, but Sonic ignored his friend's calls as he made a jump for the pit below, and below was burning lava.

Using his hand, Sonic shielded his eyes, as the heat grew more intense. He was closer now, and when he looked down, he saw the machine, the robot hedgehog, badly damaged and it tried to climb up, but the robot was losing its abilities fast. Sonic moved toward it, calling.

"Grab a hold of my hand!" Sonic called, reaching out to it with his hand.

"Wait!" Knuckles called, and he grabbed on to Sonic, keeping him from going further down. "Don't do it, Sonic! He'll drag you under with him!" He warned, but Sonic continued.

Sonic clenched his white teeth, reaching for the sharp metal hand, which seemed to be reaching for his, but when it came close, it slapped his hand away, and then Sonic was confused.

"Huh?" He froze as he watched with horror, never blinking his eyes.

"There is only one Sonic." The robot told him, and then it melted in the burning lava.

"NO!! Don't!" Sonic cried, and he tried his best to pull away from Knuckles, but he could not.

"Don't do it, Sonic!" Knuckles said it again, unable to open his eyes because of the raging heat.

"METAL!!" Sonic cried out with his voice as his heart broke at the sight of the robot's destruction. The robot had turned from evil at its last few moments, but it was too late to save it.

To be continued in the next chapter…