Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ On the Road Again ❯ Do not ask ( Chapter 22 )

Chapter 22: Do not ask

After that trial and time in their lives, our heroes were reunited, together again with the RV, and they welcomed Metal-2 back to the crew, where he had come to belong. Yes, it was a fact that he was a machine, but to them, he became a family member. Sonic the Hedgehog led the way back to the RV, and after making sure everyone was well, they drove out of the area, leaving to keep moving on. Amy Rose and Tikal were baking cookies, using the RV's oven, which used the propane tank. Tails was resting with his wounded ankle recovering nicely, Rouge was reading a book, Knuckles stared outside the window in thought, and up front, Sonic was the driver with Shadow as the navigator in the passenger chair. Freeway was taking a nap, and Metal-2 stood by, watching the girls prepare to bake. The robot watched with the wonder of a child.

Tikal placed a cup down, and then she turned to her friend. "Amy, we need eggs." She said.

"I'll get them." Amy volunteered, and she opened the icebox with Metal-2 watching. Suddenly, the RV met a bump on the road, and Amy fell backward, but Metal-2 caught her. "Wow!" Amy gasped with surprise. "Thanks, Metal-2. I almost fell." She stood up again, unharmed.

"No problemo." Metal-2 said in his Russian accent, and Amy chuckled.

"Sonic must have taught you that." Amy said, pointing with a warm smile.

Tikal nodded. "No doubt, but how come you're so powerful, and yet, you don't destroy us?"

To answer the question, Metal-2 gently took one of the eggs, which Amy held in her hands. "I simply adjust the amount of power applied to motors in my body. For example, I can apply a little pressure to pick up this egg, or…" He crushed an empty sardine can in his other hand. "I can quite easily crush this. I am capable of far greater power, but this is just a demonstration."

Knuckles gulped. "Yeah, I think we've seen enough." He said, quietly.

Just then, Shadow opened his eyes. "Hey, something just changed." He said, mysteriously.

"What changed? Your mind?" Sonic asked, still driving the RV on the road ahead of them.

"No, we're in a different time zone!" Shadow announced, surprising the crew.

Tails sighed. "Now I'll have to change the clock again." He said to himself.

"We're entering Nevada!" Sonic told the others, and the RV drove onward into the State.

Rouge peeked from her book. "It all looks the same to me, in the middle of nowhere, a desert." She said after looking, and then she turned a page. "Chapter 22 is next for me."

"How can you read so fast?" Knuckles asked her, wondering.

"Well, for one thing, I don't talk much." Rouge teased him, and Knuckles growled.

Shadow leaned over, looking toward the steering wheel. "We're low on fuel, Sonic."

"Yeah, I know, thanks." Sonic said, "When we reach the next town, I'll fill it up."

"You mean IF we get to the next town." Shadow corrected.

Sonic shrugged. "We have enough fuel to make it, so what could possibly go wrong?"

"Don't ever ask that!" Knuckles warned him.

"What are you saying?" Sonic asked, and Shadow rolled his eyes.

"Because whenever you do, something happens." Knuckles reminded him.

"Like what?" Rouge asked, still reading her book. Suddenly, the RV began vibrate as if an earthquake has stricken the area. "I never should have asked!" Rouge gasped.

"Hang on, everyone!" Shadow warned them as Sonic tried to gain control back to drive.

The road was hard, rocky and dusty, so it was hard to see in front of them. Something was wrong with the engine, and Sonic did his best to keep it under control. It proved to be difficult.

"All hands, brace for impact!" Sonic warned, as he came toward a mountain.

Amy screamed, falling backward with a small bag of baking flour, and she crashed into Metal-2, so the flour exploded from the bag and covered the robot with flour, making his face white. Tails laughed for a moment, but then he held on again. Metal-2 shook his head, trying to remove the flour, and before Amy could apologize, she tumbled with Tikal to the bedroom, on the floor.

Rouge fell to the floor, but she held on to the sofa. "What's happening?!" She asked.

"He asked the cursed question!" Knuckles said, and then he gasped, gripping the small table's leg so he would not roll away, and Shadow was buckled, holding the frightened Freeway.

"We are having some difficulties!" Sonic told the others, having trouble controlling it.

"Make it stop!" Shadow shouted at him.

"I have to slow down first!" Sonic shouted back.

"Well, then do it for crying out loud!" Knuckles said, holding on as if for his very life.

"That's hard to do when you're going down a hill!" Sonic said, trying to slow down.

"I can't read; it's too bumpy in here!" Rouge complained as she closed her book.

"Stop the RV!" Amy and Tikal screamed in the back room, holding on.

"I'm trying, but--" Sonic stopped when he felt something push against the RV, pushing it back. "Huh?" He wondered with confusion, and Shadow looked outside through the windshield.

"It's Metal-2, he's out there!" Shadow pointed, and the robot was seen in front of the RV, helping Sonic to stop it, safely, and it finally did. The RV stopped near a beautiful mountain.

After the stop was complete, Sonic and the others stepped outside, and they came in front of the RV, where Metal-2 stood, unharmed, and he nodded his head to the crew with recognition.

"Thanks, Metal-2." Sonic said, "I still don't know what went wrong with this thing…"

"Just look at him!" Knuckles pointed to the robot. "He's ghostly pale in his face!"

Shadow gulped. "You even scare robots half to death when you drive!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Sonic defended. "I tried to stop, you know that. I did try."

Tikal sighed, but she knew that the driver did his best, like always. "Well, it stopped, and that's the important thing." She said, and then she helped Amy clean the robot's face.

"Good," Rouge said, "Now another important thing is to fix it, so it will work right."

"There's nothing around for miles!" Amy said in surprise when she saw the area.

"Calm down." Tails said, "Everything will be okay. We will have the RV up and running."

Shadow nodded in agreement. "Exactly, once we have the engine working, we will be on our way, which is on the road again." He turned to the RV. "This could take time…"

"It doesn't matter!" Sonic sang his theme song as he reached for the toolbox.

"It has begun!" Knuckles said, dramatically, and he walked up to help him.

"I always have to clean up his messes." Shadow snorted, and he shrugged, leaving to help Sonic.

Tails leaned against the RV for support, but he suddenly felt that his ankle was no longer hurting. He tested it a few times, and then he stood on both of his feet, and the ankle was healed. "That's good, but now I better hurry and download a Nevada map for my computer. I also have to find out where we are, so we'll know where to go next." And he entered the RV to work on his maps.

Amy watched the fox leave, and then she looked down to see Freeway, but the baby deer was missing. "Rouge, have you seen Freeway?" Amy asked her.

"No." Rouge shook her head. "I last saw her with Tikal, over there." She pointed.

"Freeway!" Amy called, and she came to the female echidna. "Where is Freeway?" Amy asked.

"I thought she was with you." Tikal said, and then she asked, "Is she missing?"

Amy nodded, sadly. "Yeah, I think so. I can't find her." She said.

"I will assist you." Metal-2 offered, and Amy and Tikal accepted his help.

"Okay, but we better tell Sonic first, so he will know where we are." Tikal recommended.

"I'll tell him," Rouge said, "You guys go hurry, and find her before it gets dark."

"Thanks, Rouge." Amy said, smiling and then she ran ahead of Tikal, following Metal-2.

"Where should we look first?" Tikal asked when they stopped on a small hill.

"From up here, we get a good view." Amy said, pointing. She looked around, but saw nothing.

Metal-2 stood, thinking, and he suddenly turned his head to the left. "This way!" He called, and the girls followed the robot down the hill, toward an area with rocks. When they came down, they saw Freeway, unharmed, playing on the rocks, hopping from one to the other.

"Freeway, we found you!" Amy called, happily, and she came running to her.

"Be careful, Amy!" Tikal warned, but Amy suddenly tripped over a rock, falling down.

"Ouch!" Amy yelped, and she fell to the dusty ground. She groaned as she sat up, holding her head. She blinked her eyes, and she felt no harm, but then she saw a rattlesnake. "Oh no." She whispered when she saw how close it was to her. She froze with fear, unable to move.

When the snake moved toward her to attack, lasers began to fire on it. It was Metal-2, and he destroyed the threat. Metal-2 stopped firing, and when the dust settled, the snake was gone.

"Is…Is it dead?" Amy asked the robot, trembling.

"Terminated." Metal-2 confirmed, and then Amy sighed with relief.

Then Tikal came running to her friends. "Amy, are you all right?" She asked, panting.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks to him." Amy pointed to Metal-2 as he deactivated his blasters.

Tikal helped Amy stand up, and she was unharmed. "Now, where's Freeway?" Tikal asked.

"There she is, over there!" Amy pointed, and Tikal looked to see the baby deer, using the rocks as stepping-stones, hopping from one rock to the next in a game she invented herself.

"What is she doing?" Tikal asked with wonder.

"I don't know, but she wants us to come. Let's go!" Amy called, and she ran with her.

Metal-2 shrugged his shoulders, and then he followed them. Amy reached Freeway first, and the baby deer hopped away, playfully chuckling. Amy learned the game quickly, and she followed the deer's leading from one rock to the other in circles, and Tikal joined them. Amy hopped down, laughing as she came to Metal-2 and she took the robot by the hand.

"Come on, Metal-2, climb with us!" Amy giggled, and she pulled him toward the rocks.

"I have no idea what I am doing." Metal-2 said with confusion heard in his voice.

"Look, just follow me." Amy instructed, and she hopped off the rock, and to the next.

Metal-2 considered it, and then he followed, jumping to the next rock with ease. He stood on one foot, keeping his balance once he landed, and the sight made Amy and Tikal laugh. Just then, Sonic and Shadow came running to them, because they heard the blasters fire.

"What happened? Is anything wrong?" Sonic asked his crew, and before they could answer, he saw Metal-2, standing on a rock with one foot, trying to keep his balance.

"Metal-2?" Shadow asked, while Sonic stared with a speechless mouth.

Metal-2 landed on the firm ground, and he stood in front of the hedgehogs. "I was assisting them. Freeway was missing, but I have located her here, and she is unharmed." He reported.

"That doesn't explain why you fired your blasters." Sonic said, cautiously.

Then Amy came to him, and she explained. "He saved me from a rattlesnake!"

Sonic looked to where she had pointed, and it was so. "Well, in that case, good job, Metal-2, and thanks again." He smiled, and Metal-2 nodded his head. Just then, a burst of wind arrived.

"What is that?" Shadow asked, "Is it just me, or do I smell a sandstorm?"

"No, Shadow, I SEE a sandstorm!" Sonic gasped, and he pointed, and it was true.

"Head for the RV! Run!" Shadow, called, and he ran with a surprised Freeway.

"Metal-2, take Amy and Tikal back, and hurry!" Sonic ordered.

"Good suggestion." Metal-2 said, and then Amy and Tikal held on to him, while Sonic ran after them, following the robot. They made it back to the RV, but the storm was dangerously close.

"Get under the RV, now!" Sonic ordered, and everyone dived under with no time to go into the RV, so under it was the only other safe place. Sonic and his crew fell flat on their stomachs.

"Metal-2, come with us!" Tails called, and Sonic had to hold the fox back.

Metal-2 crouched down, and then he rolled under the RV, joining them. They covered their heads, closed their eyes, and just in time, because the sandstorm came rushing passed them with a powerful wind. Metal-2 stretched his arm, keeping it over Tails when the wind blew with rage, but it all suddenly stopped, and there was a great calm. The RV was dusty with sand, though.

"Wow!" Sonic gasped. "What an adventure!" His eyes widened as he recalled everything.

Then Shadow spat sand out of his mouth. "Do not ask me if I enjoyed it!" He spat.

It was an interesting experience for the crew, and at least they were all safe and well. No harm came to the RV and after repairing it, Sonic and his friends moved on in the journey.