Not exactly my first idea for my first crossover, but I've got the most figured out for this one, so what're you gonna do? ENJOY! :P Oh, and this takes place after Sonic Lost World and Phantom Planet never happened.
Prologue: A Dangerous Team-Up
Deep in the reaches of outer space, you wouldn't think anything malicious would be lurking, ready to strike when one would least expect it. Yes, there was a comet or asteroid here, a black hole there way too far away to be threatening, maybe a couple of ripples everywhere else, but nothing sinister, surely.
Over Mobius, however, everyone knew space was home to one of the most malevolent beings on the planet: The lair of the nefarious Dr. Eggman.
Eggman grew tired of being bombarded by hate mail, death threats, and idiots rushing towards his walls with protests. "Ew, don't make so many robots, it's not good for the environment EHHHHH!" Enough was enough, Eggman thought as he finished packing his things. It was time for a new lair, somewhere away from all of the stupid animals. Somewhere very few could find him. It was time to retry the whole space lair shtick.
He hadn't built a lair in space since the whole Dark Gaia debacle. Yes, he built that one failed theme park, but lairs were much different. More comforting. More a place one could call home. Eggman had been so ecstatic from moving away from the planet that he decided to take a break and recuperate, not performing any evil deeds that weren't on his own robots. He didn't have to worry about anyone coming after him: He put in an anti-hedgehog chemical field around the base. Any hedgehog in the vicinity would be incapacitated by their own fear before simply being discarded onto the planet without a fight.
Why hedgehog? Well, because hedgehogs ALWAYS seemed to be sticking their noses where they don't belong with him.
It was two weeks into the vacation. He'd been a good little doctor, and made sure no one heard a peep from him, giving him time to think. As soon as he was ready, he would need a plan prepared. Couldn't let the dumb animals think he was off the grid forever now.
He was in his computer console researching for ideas when suddenly he received a transmission. The screen suddenly became full of static, startling the scientist.
"Cubot, did you spill hot tea all over my computer AGAIN?!" Eggman yelled to his incompetent lackey-bots, Orbot and Cubot.
"N-No boss. You banned me from drinking it around your stuff, remember?" Cubot said meekly.
"I think you're receiving a call." Orbot pressed the answer button and the doctor was soon face to face with a… rather odd fellow.
The man on the other end looked far too eccentric and wealthy to even dare associate with an evil psychopath such as Eggman, but the scientist could tell there was an air of sinisterness around him. The man appeared to be middle-aged, but was already full of an entire crop of silver hair, long enough to have to be tied back by a ponytail. He wore a long black suit with a tiny little red bowtie attached to the shirt. His eyes were cold, and their piercing gaze gave Eggman the shivers. To make it more obvious the man on the other end was bad news, in his lap was a pure white cat, who he stroked while staring right at Eggman. And, perhaps strangest of all, Eggman could see he had an odd obsession with at least two things: A woman, looking to be about the same age as him with striking purple eyes and gorgeous brown hair, and football. The two things were all around the room the stranger currently sat in.
Well this will be interesting… Eggman thought.
"What's the meaning of this? Who are you, and how did you get my number?!" Eggman yelled out in annoyance, though he couldn't help but feel the slightest bit intimidated.
"You must be Dr. Robotnik," the man began, unfazed by the other's screaming. "Allow me to introduce myself, Doctor. My name is Vlad Masters. As for your number, it was left on your website."
'Vlad Masters'?! His NAME even sounds evil… Eggman inwardly groaned.
"Wait, website?!" Eggman turned to his two idiot robots and glared. "WHO TOLD YOU YOU COULD MAKE A WEBSITE AND PUT MY PERSONAL INFORMATION ON IT?!"
"We got bored…" Cubot admitted.
"GET OUT BEFORE I TURN YOU INTO SCRAP METAL!" The two robots fled and the sound of Vlad's irritated groan returned Eggman's attention to him.
"I assume they're always like that?" Vlad asked, reconsidering in the back of his mind this plan if the doctor's creations were all as defective as those two.
"Unfortunately," Eggman said, focusing back on the matter at hand. "Now what do you want?!"
"I have a proposition for you." Vlad said as he put his cat down and got to business. "Maddie, dear, could you bring up the plan files?"
"Anything for you, honey!" a shrill, electronic sounding voice called from the background, and soon the screen came to life with files and images. Eggman was then given time to briefly skim through the files. They were full of heavy descriptions of… well, 'ghosts'. Eggman had seen ghosts and spirits in his own world before, so he took to the sights and identified them as such faster than Vlad thought he would, to his pleasant surprise.
"I see you're already well acquainted with ghosts." Vlad said, a bit shocked.
"I've built a base in a haunted castle before. This is really nothing new… except for one thing: what on Earth is a… halfa, is it?" Eggman was confused, and the scientist in him wanted to rectify this immediately.
"Ah, yes, halfas." Vlad said with a sly smile, knowing all along the doctor would be interested in the term. "Halfas are half human, half ghost. A mix of the two, as it were. If you're interested, part of the plan involves your 'investigation' of one such being." Vlad relished in the very excited look Eggman was giving him. He was playing right into his hands.
"R-Really?" Eggman squeaked out like a little fanboy. He barely knew this man, and he was just… GIVING him what was implied to be an incredibly rare subject? Oh, the fun he would have, learning the ins and outs of it.
And him being as depraved as he was, he didn't exactly care if it was technically human. He did a little, but not enough to really stop himself from going too into it.
"You're going to let me study a halfa? Just like that?!" Eggman said incredulously. Suspicion began to creep into his mind however. Evil's intuition told him there HAD to be a catch. "What's in it for you, exactly?"
"This particular halfa happens to be my 'arch enemy', as he insists. I wouldn't put it like that, but him not being constantly in my face would be a nice change of pace. I'm sure you can relate."
Eggman cringed at the thought. He would LOVE it if HIS arch enemy left him alone for an extended period of time.
"So, my plan is this. You can have the halfa, but you must return him in a few months. You can do whatever you want to him without killing him, and he needs to be alive by the time I get him back. No permanent physical disfigurement either. Mental scarring is fine, if you absolutely must. You do all of this and as a bonus, I'll even take of your little hedgehog problem personally."
That was when Eggman's jaw REALLY hit the floor. A chance to study an otherworldly being for his own nefarious purposes AND potentially be rid of that meddlesome Sonic the Hedgehog?! It was an offer he couldn't refuse now. Still, he had to ask, if only for the sake of it own neck..
"And if I end up killing or losing him?"
Vlad's tone suddenly shifted from businesslike, to dangerous almost scarily quickly, and for a moment, Eggman could have sworn Vlad's eyes flashed blood red for a moment. "Then I'll take care of YOU instead, doctor."
Eggman audibly gulped.
"Now, do we have a deal, Dr. Robotnik?" Vlad said, tone returned to what it was before.
"...Deal."
"Excellent. I shall send the subject to you right away. He'll be weak and unable to use his powers for three hours, so you have until then to contain him. I'm sure it'll be no problem."
"Wait, I'm up in a space station in another dimension. How are y-"
Suddenly, a bright green, swirling portal spawned in Eggman's computer room and spat out a ragged looking teenage boy. The boy yelped on impact and curled in on to himself in agony, biting back tears. When he recovered, he looked right at Eggman and glared.
"Hmph." The boy said, weak, but defiant, "I take it you're one of Vlad's froot loopy friends?