Rip In Time: Espio Act 4

Act 4: Unlikely Chase Zone

Espio, Vector and Diamond ran through the crowd of frightened echidnas. There was a still a large amount of noise coming from nearby.

"What's going on?" Diamond asked a female echidna stumbling by.

"There's an armored being attacking the village!" she said, "I don't know why!"

"Armored? Is it the Nocturnus clan? I though they vanished!" Diamond said.

"The what clan?" Vector asked Espio.

"No! It doesn't look like them or one of their Gizoids!" The female echidna continued.

"Gizoid?" Espio said, confused.

"No time to explain!" Diamond said to his companions, "We have to stop whoever this is and quick!"

But they didn't have to look for the source of the disturbance; the creature attacking the village suddenly appeared before them, and Espio and Vector were shocked.

"Metal Sonic?!" Espio said in surprise. Sure enough, it was Metal Sonic. What he was doing there, they didn't know, but something looked wrong with him. He looked deranged and was twitching violently. There were sparks flying out of his joints and from around his head.

"You know this being?" Diamond said, putting his one fist up.

"Sure do! But I don't know what he's doing here!" Vector said.

"It looks like he's short-circuiting!" Espio said, noticing all the sparks, "Somethings wrong with him. He might not even be in control of what he's doing!"

Metal Sonic was writhing around and suddenly took off deeper into the village. The group began to run after him, but there was a sudden crash, and Metal Sonic flew back over them holding something.

"HEEELP!" Came the voice of Vanessa. Metal Sonic had for some reason captured her, and was flying off into the distance.

"Vanessa!" Espio said, "We have to go after him!"

"Get going Espio, you're faster than me!" Vector said, "I'll go back to the hut and see if Charmy is alright!"

"He's heading towards the cliff-sides." Diamond said, "I'll go with you, Espio!"

"Right!" Espio said, and he a Diamond took off after Metal Sonic.

The cliff sides were beautiful, to say the least. With trees along side them a streams pouring down their sides, it was an impressive site to behold. But site seeing was the last thing on Espio's mind. The fact that he was 4000 years in the past and his client's granddaughter just got kidnapped by a robot who was definitely not supposed to be there had him worried. Eggman couldn't possibly be here to, could he? If he was, that spelled trouble. And his dream still worried him, too. The fact that he had time traveled lead him to believe that the creature in the dream might be here somewhere. He had to stay on constant alert.

They encountered more of the Pseudo-Chaos along the way, but they were fewer in number, and little more than a nuisance this time. However, some them did form together into more complex forms, rather just forming into bigger blobs. Some had legs now, and some even had wings. But still, they weren't much of a threat. The real threat lied ahead.

Espio and Diamond reached a cliff side with a few small islands out in front of it.

"Look! Down there!" Diamond said, pointing to the closest island to the cliff. There was Metal Sonic, lashing about like a mad man, with a panicked and frightened Vanessa sitting by the waters edge. Diamond and Espio ran down a nearby path down the cliffs and waded through the water to the island.

"Metal Sonic!" Espio said, "What are you doing here?"

Metal Sonic didn't answer though, and he instead attack Espio.

"I'll get Vanessa to safety!" Diamond, picking the girl up with his one arm. Metal Sonic ignored them, and seemed solely focused on Espio now.

"I don't know what you're doing here, but I won't allow you to mess up the past!" Espio said, getting ready to fight. Metal Sonic lunged at him again, and the battle commenced.

Metal Sonic was still acting very erratically, even going as far as attacking nothing. When he did attack Espio, though, he was very spastic and hard to predict. Eventually, Espio hit Metal Sonic with a swift kick to the head. Metal Sonic's head spun around from the force of the kick and he collapsed on the ground.

"Glad that's over... huh?" Espio said, noticing a small crack in Metal Sonic's side, and something leaking from it. One of the Pseudo-Chaos poured from the crack and reformed on the ground next to him. Espio tossed one of his shurikens at the Pseudo-Chaos and destroyed it as it tried to get away.

"I get it." Espio said, "Metal Sonic must have been fighting them off, and one of them must have got inside the crack. Since it's like water, it caused him to short circuit."

"Hey!" Espio heard Vector call from the cliff, "Is everything ok?"

"Metal Sonic knocked me out!" Came Charmy's voice, "Did you kick his butt?!"

"He's been de-activated, it seems." Espio called back, "Is Vanessa alright?"

"I am!" Vanessa called over, "Thanks for saving me!"

Espio picked up Metal Sonic and headed back to shore. He met his group, all happy and congratulating him.

"I think it's about time we get Vanessa home." Espio said, "Don't you think?"

"Yeah, you're right! And we can bring this bucket of bolts back where he belongs." Vector said, lightly kicking the inactive Metal Sonic.

"You are coming back though, right?" Diamond said, "You said you would assist me in eliminating the Pseudo-Chaos!"

"Don't worry, we'll be back!" Charmy said.

"A promise is a promise, after all!" Vector said, "And I'd hate to disappoint someone who's willing to hire us!"

"Don't worry, we'll be sure to solve your problem!" Espio said, "That's Team Chaotix's job, after all!"

"Thank you, so much. Please, rest for a bit in our village first." Diamond offered, "Then, you can make your way back home."

"We gladly accept your offer!" Vector said. The group began their walk back to the village, and would soon head back to their present time. But Espio was still uneasy, and was worried about things to come. What would unfold in the past? Only time would tell.