𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜: 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬

      Regular Sonic was running around as usual, looking into the open desert. Only the sand around was like in Africa. But thank Chaos that the sun was not so hot and a cool breeze was blowing slightly, which made life in this desert easier. Plus, most of the cacti in this desert had some small and beautiful flowers growing on them. Looking around, he sometimes admired the flowers on the cacti, but tried to find the fragment, which, according to the keeper, was somewhere here. — “We need to find the next fragment quickly!” Here he is! — the hedgehog rejoiced, running to a huge canyon and jumping down. The fragment, glowing with a blue glow, stood in place and no one touched it. So far there was no danger nearby. The blue hedgehog had already approached the fragment and was about to take it, when he heard a dull, but audible ticking. Out of curiosity, he listened carefully and walked straight towards the sound. A ticking sound came from behind the stone wall. Using his new vision, Sonic saw through the wall of a cave, and inside there was a bomb and Metal Sonic activated it. The ticking immediately accelerated and BANG, the explosion blew apart the wall. Fortunately, the hedgehog managed to jump away from the explosion. His metal double immediately flew out of the cave and abruptly grabbed the fragment into his iron clawed hand. — Lost something, faker? — Metal asked, imitating Sonic. — Oh, this is my old friend or enemy. Metal Sonic! — Sonic answered mockingly. — You know, after our games I wash my wounds and scars for months. — I have a new game for you and this time I definitely won’t lose to you. — Metal answered and was the first to attack, and Sonic managed to jump over him. — You always say that and still lose to me. Humble yourself and admit a long time ago that I’m cooler than you. — I'll shut your mouth. — the robot said briefly and rudely, revealing sharp and shiny claws on his free hand, swooped in again and hoped to scratch the hedgehog, and the latter, standing with his feet on the sand, dodged, pressing his back, arms and head back, like Neo. Metal's claws flew past, only slightly cutting off a pair of blue needles that did not have time to dodge along with Sonic. Suddenly Metal stopped and turned his attention to the shard. — What kind of program is this? — he asked out loud and opened his reactor on his chest. — If I were you, I wouldn’t do that! — Sonic asked, sticking out his index finger. But Metal did not listen and put the fragment into his reactor, absorbing its power. The metal flew into the air slightly, shrouded in blue lightning, and then its appearance suddenly changed. He became translucent all over, like a ghost, and some parts of his body slightly inflated and deflated in wavy waves. Black eyes with red pupils became completely green, like Chaos himself. Sonic hit himself in the forehead from what he saw. — Why doesn’t this tin can ever listen to me and come to terms with all the defeats in the past? — Wow. — Metal was audibly surprised, looking at his watery hands. — This stone gave me the power of Chaos itself? Unscientific, but I'm very happy about it. Now you're going to die, Sonic! After that, Metal turned into a huge water bubble and burst, beginning to swirl around Sonic in the form of a huge tornado of water. Sonic himself stood still, looking around and only slightly rising from the sand into the air, as if he were on the Moon, where gravity was weaker. — Metal!... — asked Sonic, but there was no answer for a minute and he asked again. — Metal!? — You're being torn total! — the water robot teased and, forming a huge fist of water on its side, threw Sonic away with one blow. Sonic did not have time to dodge and crashed into a stone wall made of a pile of stones, outside the waterspout zone, after which he tried to get up. — Great Chaos! I thought I was the only one with stupid jokes! - he said out loud, trying to stay on his feet and looking at the waterspout, which again formed in the form of a translucent robot made of water. Sonic approached Metal, got into a fighting stance, dodged a couple of times, allowing the robot to try to attack him with regular blows, after which he hit the water robot in response in the chest area. I was hoping to hit, but my fist just went right through and got stuck. The hedgehog pulled his hand a couple of times, but it did not pull out. — Oh-oh! — Ha! — said Metal, transformed his right clawed hand into a huge water fist, with which he hit Sonic so hard that he flew back to the same stone wall. As he tried to stand up again, Metal transformed his arm back. — A liquid life form cannot be grabbed and held. Without listening to him, Sonic curled up into a ball and rushed a bullet at Metal, but only hoped to hit him, but Metal, in a liquid state, split into two halves and thereby dodged Sonic’s attack. — Even Chaos was not capable of this. — Sonic recalled that it was easy to fight Chaos. — These are just flowers. Now take a swim in the icy water! — says Metal and stretching out both clawed hands, he slowly raised them to the top. Water began to form from under the sand and crevices, rising to the surface. It was essentially fresh water that could be drunk, but Sonic was still afraid of water, since he could not swim. There was nothing to do but jump and try to climb up out of that ravine. — You won't leave here anywhere. From the slowly rising river in the ravine, long watery arms began to rise and tried to grab Sonic. The latter, in turn, looked around carefully and tried both to try to jump from here and not to fall into these watery hands. One of the water hands clenched into a fist and tried to hit the hedgehog against the stone wall, but missed. The other hand tried to swat the hedgehog on one of the rocks like a fly. The third tried to grab him from behind, but Sonic managed to jump over her, grabbing with his hands a protruding branch on the stone wall, swinging on it and jumping to the edge of the ravine, getting out. Almost falling, he tried to hold on. One outstretched water hand tried to grab him, but only Sonic managed to grab onto a rope flying past in the air, which dragged him along and the water hand missed again. Tails, with his tornado, succeeds in saving his friend at the very last moment. — Tails! I'm glad to see you. — Me too. What happened there? Has someone unleashed Chaos again? — No, Tails, this is not Chaos. This is Metal Sonic, who received the power of Chaos from a fragment of the tablet. — What? — the fox didn’t understand. — I’ll explain everything to you later. We need to stop him before he floods the entire desert. At this time, the metal was the first to break out to the surface of the ravine, while the water kept rising, filling the entire ravine from fullness to height. At that moment, clouds covered the sun and it began to rain. — Even the smallest drop can give great life. — said the liquid robot and extended his arms again. Drops falling on the sand flowed to each other and formed water monsters with glowing red eyes and sharp claws instead of fingers. — Kill these two, servants! The water monsters rushed to attack after the corn plant, on which the two-tailed and supersonic ones were flying. Two of the monsters in the industry had water wings, on which they fluttered up and flew after the corn grower, catching up with him. Sonic, waving his fists and legs, holding his wing, fought them off. — Go away! Shoo! Shoo, nasty swamp kikimoras! — Where did these semblances of Chaos come from? — Tails asked, and Sonic, fighting off each water demon, continued to explain as he walked: — This is not Chaos, I tell you. This is Metal Sonic. He absorbed a piece of the stone tablet of order and it gave him the power of Chaos itself. There is no way we can defeat him or tear this fragment out of his chest. I can't even break through it. I tried to hit him, but my fist only went through him and got stuck until he sharply and painfully pushed me away with one blow. Suddenly, one of the lightning bolts from the thunderstorm hit the cornfield and the tornado fell onto the sand. The fox and the hedgehog could only simply run on. Fortunately, Sonic ran faster than sound, thereby he was able to break away from them, and the monsters could not run as fast and catch up with them. Metal in water form grabbed one of his servants by the head and dissolved him into a puddle, shouting: — IDIOTS, YOU ALLOWED HIM TO ESCAPE!!! FIND HIM AND RETURN HIM TO ME!!! DEAD OR ALIVE!!! Sonic managed to run far enough for the monsters to disappear. Tails, who had been holding onto the hedgehog's back all this time, looked around and realized that they were not being chased. — BRAKE-BRAKE!!! IT SEEMED TO HAVE COME AWAY!!! Sonic stopped abruptly near the cave in which he and his friend decided to hide. — I hope they won’t find us here yet? — Sonic thought, and Tails frowned at his partner. — Now explain to me more precisely and clearly what is the matter? And what did you mean about some tablet? — asked and Sonic told him in full about what happened to him in the museum when Neg attacked there and that he, along with other hedgehogs from other parallel worlds, were looking for pieces of that very tablet in order to restore it and save the entire multiverse. And if the villains find these fragments and use their powers, it will be very bad. And if they or the entire tablet falls into the hands of Neg himself, even more so everything will be very bad and the entire multiverse may perish in any case. Tails listened to him carefully and was shocked that he didn’t even believe it at first. — Horrible! Sonic, what have you done? — Understand, Tails, I didn’t want to break it. I just wanted to stop Neg, and here this, and also Metal showed up at the wrong time and... — Sonic clenched his teeth, no longer really understanding what he was talking about and not knowing what to do next? Perhaps here he has already completely blundered and lost? In this case, the multiverse probably cannot be saved, and he gave up, simply in despair and giving up too early. The hedgehog sat down with his fifth point on the cold sand, clasping his legs with his hands and lowering his head onto his knees. — You are right! What have I done? Only Tails did not give up and judging by his face, he stands up and says: — You should be ashamed if you give up too early, Sonic! You accomplished so many heroic deeds without giving up, when, for example, Solaris almost destroyed our reality, and then in the case of some kind of tablet, because of which the entire universe could perish, you suddenly immediately give up? You have shown me more than once that even in the most hopeless situations you should never give up. After all, there will always be any way out. Even if he's not there. And you know what... I will continue to believe in it... And first of all... Help me with my new invention! Two-Tails put his drawings of an unfinished part on the sand, resembling a magnetic trap for antiparticles, with an ordinary jar. Sonic didn't understand what Tails was up to, but decided to trust him. — What are you doing, Tails? — Just trust me! I know what I do. And by the way, you can help me with this! First, run like a bullet home and back in a couple of seconds. Bring all the hardware and other parts from my hangar so I can start creating it. Although Sonic did not understand what his friend was up to, he listened to him and did so. In six seconds, he ran like a bullet to where Tails asked him and brought into the cave everything that Tails asked for. — Here! Everything you asked for. — Great! Silently, the fox got to work. Holding a pen with a ruler, he took another piece of paper and, drawing a new drawing, wrote complex mathematical calculations. Also remembering the events that happened in Station Square due to the fault of Chaos and what Metal is still capable of, Tails solved a couple of examples in a column and drew lines to depict the details for creating his new invention. — Give me the drill at five quarters! — Tails asked, taking a piece of metal and receiving a drill with a drill of the required size from his friend in his other hand, he began to drill seven holes. While Tails was still working on his invention, Sonic occasionally looked outside from the cave and looked around to see if Metal Sonic's water monsters were chasing them. — Five-eighths can opener! — asked the fox and the hedgehog gave him the necessary knife to cut through the extra metal sheets around. Tearing out a piece of silver tape with his teeth and taking a piece of wire with a red wire, he began to wrap them around a large transparent glass. He attached a powerful magnet to the side, screwing it through the two holes he made. While Tails was still working, Sonic looked outside with excitement and was still looking intensely in the direction where he and Tails ran away from. In the distance, silhouettes resembling a water wave could already be seen. Looking closer, he noticed that these monsters created by Metal Sonic himself were approaching. — Tails! — Looking to the side, without turning his head, he tried to attract his friend. — Ready! — said the redhead and raised his new invention, which was depicted on paper. — Meet my Chaos Trap Nine Thousand. The smallest, but the most durable. Even a giant-sized water monster that gets there will literally shrink to the size of a glass and will remain inside forever until we ourselves want to pull it out of there. — Hm-m. The idea is certainly good. But how will we then pull out the fragment of the tablet from there when we catch Metal Sonic himself in it? — asked the hedgehog. — It’s okay, we’ll think of something. In the meantime, the most important thing for us is to catch him before he floods the entire planet like Chaos! — You are right! Forward! — Sonic said, getting into a fighting stance. Tails bent him onto his back and holding on to him, they both ran at the speed of a bullet back straight towards the water monsters. The monsters, as they saw it, were immediately preparing to pounce and grab the blue hedgehog with the two-tailed fox, who was holding something in his right hand. They didn’t have time to see the truly incomprehensible thing. The hedgehog ran past them like a bullet, knocking them off the road, several merman flew into the air from such a fast run, and some even fell down and fell apart in the form of puddles, after which they had to recover again. Metal Sonic was standing in the same place at that time, and when he saw that Sonic and Tails were returning back to him, he thought out loud: — What are these two up to? — he asked himself and his red eyes shone more intensely. Suddenly, all the raindrops also began to glow with a slightly red glow, thus becoming his new eyes. With the help of falling drops, he was able to see in any area around him at three hundred and sixty degrees that Tails had in his hands a certain jar with pieces of iron and magnets. Seeing her, he laughed. — Naive fools. Do they really think they can trap me in such a small jar? — after what was said, he extended his right hand and raised it to the top. Thus, he summoned a wall of water, which stood in the hedgehog’s path. Sonic managed to stop at the very last moment and almost touched the wavy membranes from the wall of water with his nose. Suddenly, a huge water hand came out of the wall and tried to swat the hedgehog like a fly, but the latter managed to jump to the side. The Fox, without standing still, immediately let go of Sonic and flew with his invention towards Metal Sonic. Sonic himself accidentally landed in a puddle, which immediately grabbed the hedgehog by the legs and did not let go, not allowing him to jump, and the hand of the Wall extended even wider and was preparing to slam him. — I WILL NOT HURT MY FRIEND!!! — the fox shouted and was almost flying close to Metal Sonic, when suddenly a water tentacle grabbed him by the waist. Before Tails could activate the trap, he was captured. — Don't interfere! — said the water robot, raised his outstretched right hand, ordering the large water hand to rise and then suddenly lowered his hand, thereby causing the huge hand to slam the blue hedgehog. Due to the fact that the puddle held his legs and did not let go, he did not have time to jump away and was hit, falling onto the sand. Then the hand clenched into a fist and prepared to finish him off fatally. — NOT TODAY, METAL!!! — the fox shouted proudly and despite the fact that he was also being held by a water entity and pointed his trap with its open bottom at the water robot. Then he pressed the red button on the side and activated it. Electrical impulses emanated from the trap, which wrapped Metal Sonic around, forming a kind of field around him from under which the water robot could not free himself. He didn’t even have time to do anything before he was immediately pulled into a tight piece of iron and closed from the inside. The water tentacle dissolved, releasing the fox, and the latter, smiling sarcastically, looked at the trap. — Gotcha? At this moment, all the water monsters also disintegrated and only puddles remained, the water wall with a huge fist also disintegrated, the rain stopped pouring, and the clouds parted, revealing a view of the beautiful night sky with stars. Sonic was trying to get up at this time, feeling pain in his front ribs. — How painful it is! — he said through groans and tried to get up. Tails flew towards him on his tails. — How are you? — Don't worry! Things were even worse with me. — answered the blue hedgehog. -Did you catch him? Instead of answering, the fox himself showed the trap with the water Metal Sonic inside. — Let me out of here! — We won’t let you out! Finally, accept that I am tougher than you and that you will never defeat me. So don’t show off and give the fragment back! — the hedgehog said rudely, looking at him menacingly. — Fine. You defeated me... Again. — the water robot said emotionally and with resentment. Tails, like Sonic, smiled, opened the trap and released Metal Sonic out, and he, as promised, pulls out a fragment of the tablet from his chest, again becoming the same ordinary robotic double of Sonic. He was about to give Sonic the fragment, but when the hedgehog extended his hand, Metal removed his hand with the fragment and said: — I’ll still find a way to defeat you sooner or later, just so you know. — having finished, he hands the fragment to Sonic and he takes it. — Thanks, buddy. — the hedgehog answered smiling, despite all the anger and resentment towards the robot. Sonic in this reality was still able to get another fragment, of course, not without the help of his faithful and best friend. Let's also hope that Metal Sonic will eventually come to terms with it and stop trying to defeat Sonic himself!? How did other versions of hedgehogs act at the same time?