Title: Trip To The Future
Summary: Dr. Eggman transports Sonic to the future. Here he meets the future Dr. Eggman, who was able to take over the world thanks to his disappearance. But this Dr. Eggman isn't happy with this future and wants Sonic to travel back to his own time to change it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog or any related characters.
"Fast! Get the emerald!" shouted Sonic and kicked another robot away from him, sending down another three that stood behind it.
Knuckles looked over his shoulder on the surrounded hedgehog. He himself wasn't in good position either. He threw a punch into the robot standing by his right, which just planned to give his own painful punch to the red echidna. "I can't! I'm surrounded!"
Sonic searched with his eyes for his other teammate and after few seconds he was able caught a glimpse of golden fur in another bunch of robots. "Tails!"
"I can't either!" screamed the young fox, which was now trying to avoid getting hit. It was hard task even with his small size and trained reflexes.
"Well...It seems that it's up to me again!" The blue hedgehog used his speed to break through the barricade of robots, like a knife slicing through butter.
However, those robots seemed to be faster and smarted than previous ones, so he needed to dodge even when moving at speed of sound, because robots purposely jumped into his way to stop him from proceeding towards the emerald.
Nevertheless, he was still able to make it trough. Sonic ran past Doctor Eggman, absolutely unaware of the smirk that spread on doctor's face. The blue hedgehog ran towards the pillar on which was the emerald placed. He snatched the emerald and triumphantly raised his arm into the air. "Got it!"
Both others Mobians looked at him, smiling, but their smiles disappeared when suddenly glass cover fell from the roof, imprisoning the blue hedgehog under it.
"Sonic!"
The named one stomped his foot angrily. "Oh, not again!" How could I fell for the same trick twice?! He turned to Eggman, who right now had a very big smile on his face.
He looked on the emerald. He couldn't feel any chaos energy inside it. "It's not even a chaos emerald, is it?"
He didn't wait for response and crushed the emerald onto the pillar, shattering it. The remains of the fake emerald didn't even had time to fell to the ground, before the hedgehog curled into a ball and launched forward to crush his glassy prison.
However, he was send flying into the other side of it, kinetic energy of the movement sending him back to his starting position. But neither of those hits even scratched the surface of the glass.
He got up and in a slow pace he started to walk over to the side, where Eggman stood, remains of the fake emerald crunching under his foot as he did that.
Sonic crossed his arms and started to impatiently tap his foot. "Okay, so, what is your plan?"
"Yeah, what's your plan?!" growled Knuckles as both him and Tails finally arrived, all their metal opponents, which right now were just piles of mechanical parts lying on the ground, behind them.
Doctor smiled. His posture was absolutely relaxed as he stood there. „It's quite simple," he waved his hand towards the pillar, which was the blue hedgehog's only companion under the cover, "That pillar will transport Sonic to some point in a time, where he will not bother me anymore."
All three Mobians gasped. "You can't do that!"
A cruel smile appeared on doctor's face. "Of course, I can." Eggman raised his sleeve to look at the watch that were hidden underneath. "And that will happen in...Oh, it's already the time!"
"Wait! Hold on for a sec-!"
But before Sonic could finish his sentence, the pillar had already started to emit a blinding white light.
-O-
Everything started to spin at neck-breaking speed. The blue hedgehog couldn't do anything to stop it because he was thrown back to the glassy wall and was being pressed against it by the huge centrifugal power the spinning produced.
Sonic watched as things started to change around him. The figures of his friends and Eggman disappeared along with the destroyed robots and was replaced by empty hall, which a second later fell into darkness, so he couldn't see a thing outside his prison.
The spinning stopped after a minute or so and he fell to his knees to regain his balance. His head spun and his legs felt unsure.
After two minutes the dizzy feeling was finally gone and he dared to stand up. He looked around, but couldn't see nothing. He used his hands to find the wall of his prison, but drew it back with hiss as he could feel sharp pain when touching it. The glass obviously broke when he landed.
He touched the glass again, this time more carefully, controlling the shape of the hole to find out if he could get through.
It was too small.
He made two steps back and then launched forward, already curled in ball. He broke through easily and landed on the metal ground of the hall.
Well, he hoped it was still the hall he arrived from.
He straightened himself. He made few steps, his arms outstretched before him, so he wouldn't bump into anything in this absolute darkness.
He walked forward until his hands finally touched the wall. He started to examine the structure of the wall with his hands, hoping to find some sort of switch to turn the lights on to see if his ears weren't betraying him. It was absolutely silent in the room, except his steps. It made him really nervous. Eggman's robots should already be here.
He finally found the switch and switched the lights on. The hall lit up in faint light, many of the fluorescent tubes either broken or worn out by the old age. Wait, worn out by the age...?
Sonic looked over the hall. It looked old, a lot of dust was around and corrosion already in process. It looked like it was there for decades. But Eggman finished this base a week ago...
He reached forward to open the door that he got here in with Tails and Knuckles, but the door fell to the ground, echoing through the empty hall loudly.
He waited for any reaction, from Eggman's guards but none appeared. He made a step outside of the room carefully. The corridor before him was in the same state the hall he just leaved. Old, dust and corrosion.
He ran to the end of the corridor and broke down the door that separated him from the outside world.
But the moment his eyes fell on the land before him and his lungs were filled with outdoor air he immediately wanted to go back.
The land before him looked sick. Forest that was supposed to be here was gone and was replaced by giant metal structures he never saw before. The ground under him was like a dark desert, lifeless, not even single strand of grass anywhere around him. The sky was purple and with dark clouds. The air stung in his lungs and it felt like breathing fire.
He immediately took off his glove and pressed it on his muzzle. Even like this he couldn't breath properly, the air around him was poisoned too much.
He coughed as he looked back towards the abandoned lair. From outside it looked even worse than from outside. It looked like it would collapse any second.
I need to find Tails...and Knuckles...
He started to walk, but after few steps he could feel his legs turning into a lead and he fell to his knees.
I can't breath...
He collapsed to the ground, his body becoming too heavy for him to carry it. There wasn't enough oxygen around...
His eye-lids closed themselves and then the blue hedgehog fell into the world of unconsciousness.
-O-
Green eyes slowly opened. Their owner blinked few times. Where was he...?
He slowly sat up and looked around. He was in a small room. Its walls were completely made of metal and the only thing in it was a simple bed. The bed he was lying on.
He stood up, his body feeling normal again. He reached for the door, touching the cold handle by his bare hand.
Wait...bare hand?
He looked around himself. His glove was nowhere in sight. Well, it wasn't like he needed it, but he always felt weird without it. It felt like armor to him.
He pushed the door open and before he could even made a step outside he was stopped by a big metal hand blocking his way. He blinked and then peeked out. There were two big old-looking robot and by all those gun that they had on their arms, he judged they were a fighting ones.
"You have to stay inside," said the one that was blocking his path.
"Why?" Sonic raised an eye-ridge, crossing his arms.
"Order of the boss."
"Who is your boss?"
"...I don't understand the question."
"Who is giving you orders?" asked the blue hedgehog differently, hoping he will get the answer now.
"The boss."
Sonic had sudden urge to face-palm. Robot logic. "What does he look like? Is he taller than you?"
"He looks like a human. He is not."
Okay, that was stupid question from him. It wasn't hard to be smaller than seven feet tall robot.
The blue hedgehog sighed. "I would like to speak to your boss."
The giant robot gestured towards the other robot. The other robot immediately started to walk to the end of the corridor, where he then disappeared behind the corner.
Sonic started to tap impatiently. Surely he could just run out of this place, but he wouldn't stand a chance against the outer environment. And after all, that stranger that saved him, obviously didn't want to hurt him. He would just left him die outside if he wanted so.
The other robot returned after two minutes and when he was standing on his previous position by the door, he finally started to speak. "Boss said: 'Bring him immediately!'"
"Let's do it then."
-O-
Sonic had a feeling they took the bringing part too literally. He was hanging in the air, both robots holding one of his wrists. His left wrist felt okay, it was protected by his cotton gloves after all, but his right one, which was the one without the glove...he had a feeling he will have a quite a bad bruise in few hours.
They finally arrived to giant door, which immediately opened when they were just three feet away from it.
The robots stepped inside, their synchronized steps echoing through a giant laboratory, they had just entered.
The laboratory was huge, there were hundreds of unfinished robots lined by the wall and giant computer in its very center. Before the computer was standing a human man in white coat with his back turned towards him.
The man was quite wide and had no hair. It reminded him of Eggman.
And when the man turned, it reminded him even more of the doctor. The man had a big gray mustache, his eyes hidden behind a blue glasses. However, he looked much older than the doctor he knew. He actually looked more like Gerald Robotnik...
"You never stop to surprise me, hedgehog."
"Huh?" Sonic raised an eye-ridge. Should he knew him? "Do we know each other?"
The man laughed. "Of course we do. But it have been long time since we last saw each other...Well, at least for me."
The blue hedgehog was confused. He sounded like Eggman, but this man was too old to be him...
The man waved at the robots. "Let go of him."
Both robots immediately obeyed and the hedgehog fell to the ground, producing a surprised yelp. Sonic stood up, send a glare to the robots and crossed his arms. "Your robots are taking things too literally."
"I know. It's amusing."
The blue hedgehog had different opinion on this matter, but he didn't voice it out. "So, where are we?"
"In my laboratory obviously," said the man. That answer reminded Sonic of his talk with his guard. It seemed that man and his robots share the same logic.
"No, I mean...Where is your laboratory? Obviously not on Mobius. The sky is purple, after all-"
"We are on Mobius."
Sonic blinked . Have he just said what he think he said? "...What?"
"It seems you weren't listening to me back there..."
The blue hedgehog raised his eye-ridge. Back there? Back where?
"Thirty years ago I captured you and send you through time. Now, thirty years later...for you...We meet again."
Green eyes widened in realization. You have to be kidding me...
"EGGMAN?!"
Doctor widely smiled. "The one and only!"
Sonic stared at him in disbelief. He really traveled in time! He really did! This was future Eggman! But if he was in the future...
"What happened to this world?"
Eggman's smile fell. "Well, pollution..."
"Pollution?! What the heck do you mean by that?!"
Doctor walked back to the keyboard of the giant computer and in quiet voice he started to speak. "From the robots. You see...When you disappeared...Your friends tried to find a way how to save you...All my attacks...they went practically unnoticed by them...They were so tired after trying to find a way how to save you...I conquered one nation at time and after ten years I controlled the entire world. There were some rebels, of course. So I decided to robotize the entire world...After that, the Great Empire was finally born..."
The doctor turned to face him, but Sonic didn't see a great emperor. He saw a man tired of life...
"But after few years I realized this wasn't what I wanted. Everybody listened to every order I gave. Nobody fought back. It was...boring..."
"I wanted to de-robotize everybody. But it wasn't possible...I needed chaos energy...but that is produced by living beings and I was the only being left on Mobius..."
The blue hedgehog watched as the old doctor sat into a chair and then as he hid his face in his hands, refusing to see the world he created.
"I didn't realize this back there, but I didn't wanted to rule a world, where everybody would listen to me because their program say so. But a world, where everybody would listen to me because of fear. The world...where everybody feared me..."
After that last sentence, the room was filled by silence, leaving Sonic to take action. But the hedgehog wasn't sure what to do. Should he say something?
Sonic opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Eggman before he could even say the first syllable. "However, you can change it..."
The blue hedgehog blinked confusedly as the doctor looked at him.
"I can send you back..." Eggman jumped from his seat, startling Sonic in process. Doctor was quite fast for his weight and age. "Why haven't I thought about it before?!"
The hedgehog didn't even have time to react to this question as suddenly his wrist was gripped by Eggman and he was started to being dragged somewhere.
"Hey, Eggman! What the heck got into you?!"
But he got no response. The doctor seemed to be determined on his task as he continued to drag him towards an unknown place.
After few minutes they got to the hall he firstly arrived to. Sonic confusedly looked around. They got here through some hidden door, because the door, which he had used to get out, were right now being repaired by two robots.
He was so focused on the robots, he didn't even realize when the Eggman let go of his wrist.
"Fast! Get here! The level of the chaos energy is dropping every second!"
Sonic snapped out of the trans and run to the doctor's side, which right now gestured to robots to replace the broken cover.
"Go in, I'll send you back to your time. You'll appear one minute after your departure."
The blue hedgehog looked at him suspiciously. Should he believe him?
Eggman seemed to understand what he was thinking. "If you won't go now, you'll get stuck here with me! You really want that?"
Sonic didn't hesitate even a second after hearing that. He jumped to the pillar, just a moment before the robots let the cover fall to the ground.
The doctor smirked. "Let's change the future."
And after that said, the device started to spin once more.
-O-
"Get him back!" demanded Knuckles, holding Eggman by collar.
Doctor had his hands outstretched before him in weak attempt to defend himself. "I can't bring him back!"
"Tails!" roared Knuckles, glancing over his shoulder to look at the fox that has been trying to find a way how to save his brother in Eggman's computer.
"It's not here! Eggman is saying the truth! We can't control it from the outside!"
BOOM!
It had suddenly exploded without warning and the explosion send all three of them flying to the middle of the hall.
Tails hissed as looked up. The device was in flames with dark smoke coming from it.
No...Sonic...
And in that very moment that named hedgehog decided to ran out from the smoke as if his tail was on fire.
Which actually was, but that didn't mattered to the young fox at the moment.
"CRAP! SOMEBODY GOT ME WATER!"
"Sonic!" The fox immediately went after his brother, who thanks to his speed was already somewhere in the forest searching for the nearest pond, river or whatever that had water in it.
Knuckles run after both of them, leaving Eggman completely alone. The doctor slowly got up, dusting his clothes.
Another of his plan failed as it seems...
But suddenly his eyes caught a slightly burn envelope on the ground.
He picked it up. On the back of it was written: 'To my past self' in too familiar hand-writing.
His hand-writing.
He opened the envelope and took out the later. He immediately started to read.
My Dear Past self,
If you're reading this, it means my plans haven't went as I planned. Because of this I'll tell you what you had to do for them to succeed. Firstly...
And few moments later an evil laugh echoed through the empty lair.
AN: Reviews welcome.
