Light of Hope

XIII. Mega Man

We appeared outside of the town in the middle of a downpour on a hill overlooking the city. Within seconds, we were soaked. The rain didn't help the chaotic scene in front of us. A group of Metal Sonics was attacking the city, the shield from before failing miserably under their power.

Sonic stared down at it, a grimace on his face. If he had spent a lot of energy using the Chaos Emerald, he didn't show it. He was beyond angry, his body shaking with rage. His eyes were burning, and if looks could kill, that would have made the first casualty. He was kind of scary sometimes.

"After all the times we let him go," Sonic said in a dangerously soft voice, "he attacks the city he knows is defenseless."

Sally looked as sad as Sonic was angry, sharing Sonic's thoughts. "And Nagus has done nothing..." Sally said quietly. "Nothing to help us. I..."

"That lousy-" Sonic started.

Leave it to Tempo to bring everyone back to reality, though. "The faster we get started, the sooner we bring these people away from the danger." Tempo said.

Sonic looked at her with surprise, then down at the Chaos Emerald in his hand, then back at the city. Suddenly, his expression changed drastically. He grinned in a way that unsettled me. "I have a stupid idea," he said.

"Oh no," I said.

Before he could enlighten us, he ran forward into the city. For a minute, Sally squinted at the city, as if she was looking for a certain blue dot in a sea of flying blue dots and people running around. Then she raised her hands into the air, exasperatedly.

"What's he doing?" I asked.

"The Metal Sonics have priorities," Sally explained, folding her arms with an annoyed look on her face. "But their first priority, aside from getting rid of anything that gets in the way of their objective, is bringing Chaos Emeralds back. Their attack on the city will stop, and-"

She stopped as Sonic came racing back toward us, gritting her teeth as she saw the five Metal Sonics following him. I readied my blaster, pointing it to the side and waiting for Sonic to run past. As he did, I let my charged shot go, heavily damaging one of them.

I smiled at my handiwork. "Four and a half to go," I said.

Shadow came running out of the city, stopping as he saw us. He looked bad, his body riddled with bruises and cuts and scrapes, a long gash running down his side. He stopped to catch his breath, his hands on his knees. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, his eyes dim and his face pale.

I nearly took a step back as Shadow chuckled. "He'll pay for stealing my thunder," he said.

"Is it always this many?" I asked, searching for Sonic. He had disappeared, the Metal Sonics stopping and assessing the situation. They didn't attack, and none of us moved.

Shadow shook his head. "No. But now isn't the time for a chat."

He wasn't wrong. Sonic came back our way, sidestepping and dodging as the Metal Sonics turned and swiped at him. If he had been any slower, he would have been taken down in seconds. But as Sonic was, he twirled around the robots like it was nothing, taunting and yelling and having a blast.

Sally didn't hesitate like I did, charging at the robots and swiping at them with her swords. Tempo went next, throwing one of her drills toward another. I charged up my blaster shooting at a third. Even Shadow got up, punching at the last.

All of our attacks missed, but they gained attention. We each had our own Metal Sonic to contend with, my sensors struggling to keep up as mine flew erratically. Shadow used Chaos Control, disappearing and appearing to try and catch his Metal off guard.