Author's Notes: Usual disclaimer, Sonic © or related characters. Interestingly enough, I could use this very same intro to set up a similar but vastly different in execution story.

The perfect circumstances can have a way of changing one's life. One's destiny. And in a blink... it is over.

"CHAOS..."

The blue one had lost count of how many times he'd now done this. How many times had he called on the emeralds and their raw energies to help shape his destiny?

"...CONTROL!"

Always so brash, little quickster? Always so fast. Well, speed is your game. But there is so much you don't know, so much you always fail to learn. They call you the "blue wind" in some parts, and oh so like wind you are. Quick to change and always on the move, but in a way, that is your stability isn't it? I will protect you now, but I cannot see or stall what comes next.

Eggman had been so irrational lately. His attacks, successful or otherwise, had left deep wounds on the land and the freedom fighters. Antoine had been laid up in the hospital for several weeks, and they had only recently restored life to princess Sally. But at what cost? Nicole was confined to Freedom HQ's computer and now offline to the rest of the world. Prince Elias was missing now and presumed dead, and in the center of everything was Eggman.

And he was smiling. He had anticipated Sonic's blasted Emerald abilities. A fake emerald canon had been aimed at him from behind while more obvious guns and lasers assailed him from the front. Whether by luck or cunning, he finally had Sonic exactly where he wanted. And and at the most critical point of his teleport, the faux chaos canon had fired.

"OH HO HO HO HO HO HO!" Eggman laughed. "I got Sonic! I got Sonic!" he danced, forgetting any sense of composure. And just as fast, he stopped and stood still and his laugh turned to a frown. "Orbot! Cubot! Search for that hedgehog!"

"Sir...?" A round bodied robot asked of the rotund man clad in red who now twirled his bushy red mustache in contemplation.

"I said find him!" he repeated taking a far more serious and dangerous tone.

"... But the hedgehog's gone sir!" A yellow, square shaped robot replied.

"I said find him!"

"But..." The two shook before him.

"I can't trust my luck you know." Eggman said and wrinkled his nose into a sneer. "I've seen him get out of worse. I want to know where and.." after a thoughtful pause he continued, "when... he might appear next."

"...When? Sorry yer roundness but y'all aren't makin' much sense. He's been disintegrated!" Cubot said in confusion.

Eggman laughed heartily, but there was no mirth in it. Still, he smiled from ear to ear in a way that would make the grinch's blood run cold. A glint of light played off his pitch color glasses, "Is he?" he remarked almost casually. "Shouldn't I see a fine dusting of hedgehog covering the carpet?" he asked contemptuously and swiped a foot along the ground where the hedgehog vanished. No dust or any such thing stirred. "Hnn... Funny, I don't see any residue now do I?"

"So then..." the red orb of a robot said with all the curiosity of a mouse who knows he's talking to a hungry cat.

"Then he's teleported. Somewhere." Eggman shrugged. "Not that I mind. It's been a fun game. But there's the little matter of where? or when? Do come out and play Sonic. I was having so much fun." he chuckled darkly. He sighed in disappointment that the blue one didn't appear. "There must be some trace left... I at least wanted a trophy." he pouted, sounding more like a petulant child than a man to be feared.

"On it boss!" Cubot said hastily and parked in front of an undamaged station to begin his analysis.

"..In the meantime..." Eggman cleared his throat and turned his attention to other matters that had, before this diversion, engaged him. "...Let us say hello to my friends in New Mobotropolis shall we?" he guffawed and sat cross legged in a large recliner in the middle of his sparking and badly damaged Death Egg Mark III. "I'd hate to miss such a great show."