...What's this? Ciel is finally writing a new fanfic?
Yes, she is. And it has nothing to do with her other fanfics. In fact, I'll just be writing this one; no funny author notes here. I hope you enjoy, though.
Disclaimer: Sonic, Tails, Eggman, and all other related characters belong to Sega. A few zone names, the characterization of Metal Sonic, and Clive all belong to me. Thank you, and have a nice day.
It was nighttime, but it was not dark inside the giant metal base hidden deep in forest-steeped Needle Mountain Zone, only visible by its light when darkness fell. Not that there was anyone to see the building, for its creator had no neighbors for miles around. He had when he first started building, but he had taken care of those pests quickly enough. No one was to know the existence of Dr. Eggman's new lair, the Egg Rampart.
Currently, it was close to midnight, but there was no way to tell inside the Egg Rampart. The lights were always on, and Dr. Eggman was always at work. Even in his sleep, his mind was abuzz with plots, and his minions were at work building and preparing.
Soon, he'd be the dictator of this land, and after that, the whole planet.
More importantly, soon, he'd be rid of that pesky blue hedgehog and his annoying little friends.
"Would you like to know how I'm going to do it?" Eggman asked, glancing back at his most recent incarnation of Metal Sonic. No matter how hard he tried, they always ended up either rebellious or sharing some other dreaded trait with their original counterpart. This was number 6 in that line, still a prototype at best, but it was the first to test out the new Absolute Egg Authority Chip.
Metal Sonic 6 –or Metson, as he had taken to calling himself- let his red eyes flick on, staring at the Doctor. "Let me guess. Send a giant, flashy robot after him? Make a moon base and blast everything? Or perhaps we can awaken another sleeping deity. According to the old data banks, those plans always worked so well."
Eggman felt his face twitch. Metson was perfectly loyal so far, but his rebellious streak came in the form of sarcasm. A trait that must be isolated and destroyed later, but for now, he'd make due.
"No, Number Six. Nothing so…"
"Unnecessarily complicated, sir?"
"Indeed." Dr. Eggman leaned back in his chair, and took off his goggles for a moment. The room was a far lighter gray without them, the walls almost white except for the occasional button, switch, or door. One door was the entrance, one was the emergency exit, and the third…well, that was also an "emergency exit." The thought of it made the doctor smile. While much of the good doctor's effort had gone into creating his most lethal base yet, he'd indulged in a few…"amusements," such as that "exit" which actually led to the Egg-O-Dile. Not the most efficient robot, but enough to catch any foolish heroes off guard.
Eggman's grin widened as he recounted the other additions, most far less…asinine. There were vast amounts of weaponry, from turrets to bombs. Whole sections were rigged to blow up if necessary, on the off chance the heroes were trapped without the good doctor nearby. There was a secondary emergency base underground, and facilities for creating and manufacturing new robots. He'd gone back to basics with these bots, using the old life-as-fuel schtick. Just…improved. Just like his plan.
"Number Six," Dr. Eggman suddenly asked, "What is the one thing of mine that Sonic can never destroy?"
Metson mused on this for a moment, even making a hum to accompany the thought. "You, sir?"
"Too specific. Think about the big picture."
"You're a pretty big picture yourself, sir."
Eggman resisted the urge to fire one of the room's miniature spike bombs at the bot. It'd be a horrible waste of a bomb.
Metson eventually said, "Ah…your unconquerable will to take over the world?"
"Aside from that." Dr. Eggman slid his goggles back on, and the room was shaded in darkness. "The answer is…Sonic and his little friends can't destroy life."
"…That's pretty obvious, sir. Then they'd be in jail for murder."
Eggman shook his head, rising from his chair and towering over his bumbling creation. "Think about this, Number Six. In all the years we have fought, Sonic has never even tried to kill me." The Doctor began to pace around his control station, but never took his eyes from Metson. "The few times I used others in my plans, such as Knuckles, Rouge, and Shadow, Sonic did his best not to hurt them aside from the occasional skirmish. Even with some of your predecessors, he tried not to destroy them." He abruptly stopped mid-step, pulling himself to full height. "Do you realize what this means?"
Metson shrugged. "You already said it, sir. He can't take a life."
Metson probably expected a tantrum of frustration to follow, for the Doctor to curse the bot for repetition and lack of blah blah blah. Instead, Eggman just stopped. And smiled.
"So that's what can stop him, Number Six. A living person he'll refuse to kill…but who will have no qualms with killing him."
Sonic was one with the wind again.
That's what happened whenever Eggman was lying low. Sonic would take the time to travel the world, and neither hide nor hair of him could be found. Only his closest of friends knew where he was most of the time, and sometimes, even they were left in the dark.
Of course, Tails thought, it wasn't his job to keep an eye out for his big brother. He had far more important things to do, machines to build and problems to fix. And keep an eye on Eggman. It seemed that out of all of Sonic's friends, Tails was the only one who tried to figure out what Eggman was up to. Perhaps others kept tabs on the madman –Shadow had mentioned spying with Omega a few times, and surely GUN tried sometimes- but the twin-tailed fox certainly had no help with keeping track of Eggman.
To be honest, he hadn't found Eggman's new hiding spot yet. The Doctor had found an ingenious spot this time, that was for sure. Nor did Tails know what he was up to. There had been a few robot sightings, but that could be misleading, what with the existence of old and rogue bots.
There had been a few cases of small villages suddenly disappearing. That was disturbing, even if most incidents had been explained. Tails could practically smell the stench of Eggman from it, even if it was from the gut sense he rarely used.
Today, he'd been searching a whole day, with no such luck. He lay back in his chair, and slowly rubbed his closed eyelids. After a day of staring at computer monitors, the sight of nothing but darkness was comforting.
He wanted this to stop. He was bordering on his eleventh birthday, and what was he doing? Searching for a missing madman. At this rate, the fox would go mad himself, spending his days fighting enemies even after they were long gone. Hopefully, all of this would end before that happened. Eggman would come to his senses, or stay captured, or something. Anything, as long as there was an end to this mess.
Just as his thoughts began to drift from mad scientists to the prospect of finally eating dinner, the phone rang. He picked it up –it was a cellphone Amy bought him last year, now modified and perfect except for its horrid pink coloration- and asked who was calling.
"Tails, this is Vanilla." He was surprised, not by her calling, but by her tone of voice. This wasn't the Vanilla that asked if you wanted to go on a picnic, this was the Vanilla with a giant robot standing just outside her door with Cream nowhere in sight.
"What's wrong ma'am? Did you find something?"
"Y-yes. I just got a call from a friend in the Glory Forest Zone. She says there's a robot attack, and…"
"And what?" Tails was already calculating the code for Glory Forest into his computer, unsure of where exactly it was.
"…And there's something else, but she didn't say. The…the line went dead." At this point, the elder rabbit sounded practically in tears. "Please Tails, do something! Get Sonic, or-"
"I'll be right over there," the fox said. Hopefully, she wouldn't try to persuade him otherwise. If there was one thing he hated, it was people thinking he was too young to be doing what he'd been doing for years; fighting Eggman.
Instead, Vanilla managed to sob out a thank you. "And do be careful, Tails. Cream wouldn't be the only one upset if something happened to you."
With a hasty goodbye, Tails hung up the phone, and began to gather his things. For now, Eggman was still a villain at large –and today, it was up to Tails to stop him.