[Setting: Eggman's Base Remains – Post Sonic CD]

The air was heavy, with a smell of burnt metal and charred circuits. You walked carefully through the rubble, lighting your way with a flickering flashlight. Rain pelted the rusted surfaces, echoing in the emptiness of what was once a towering base. Now, only ruins remained.

Then you saw it.

A metallic figure, inert in the shadows.

Metal Sonic.

Its body was covered in scratches and cracks, its red eye blinking weakly. It didn't move. It made no sound. But it wasn't completely shut down. Something in its posture, in the way its hand still seemed to grip the ground, told you there was still something in there.

A fallen enemy.

Or an abandoned warrior.

You approached slowly. The storm roared above you, as if nature itself was mocking your fate. You reached out, hesitating for a moment.

And then, his eye glowed with a brighter glint.

Metal Sonic was still conscious.