-A/N- Here's the third chapter. It took a while, but I'm trying to stagger my writing to be more consistent for you guys in the future. In other news, here we hop in with a more recognisable character, so enjoy!


Day 1

11:20 AM – Professor Ivo Robotnik

Just north of Central city, a few miles outside of the city limits, where woods and lakes and bridges are found, lies a small, focused community. Residing in a small bunch of mid-rise buildings, its denizens spend their time moving from one archaic-looking hall to another, before retiring to the dorms for the night.

During the day though, the lecture theatres at Western falls University enjoy some spectacular lighting effects. And today was no exception; warm golden rays of light bursting through the pristine panes filled the room with an enchanting glow that, for the most part, went unnoticed by the crowd of students sat at their desks, intently watching their professor as he elucidated on some abstract concept far beyond the realms of understanding of any layman – the kind of concept the prestigious establishment was known to teach.

The professor himself was a tall man, his body shaped in a way that indicated that, in the past, he was a much heavier person than now – a barrel-shaped midsection resting atop strong, but toned-looking legs. The professor's stocky frame shook lightly as he scribbled away at the colossal wall-mounted chalkboard installed in the theatre. One look at the writing on the board would have clued you in on the intellect of the man: relevant identities on the far left; proofs, written efficiently with cancelling implied rather than shown in the middle; and the applications of them towards solving on the right. He knew what he was doing.

"...And we know that cosec-theta is the reciprocal of sine-theta, which leaves us with tan-theta over cosec-theta. That's it for today folks – you're free to go know." The professor turned round, revealing a jolly middle-aged man with an eccentric, spiky moustache dressed in a red and gold coat.

"Any questions, come see me now, before Pickle chews me out for using 'his room' too long."

Amid the scraping of chairs and the hefting of bags, a noise came from the class resembling a chuckle by rough consensus. Smiling, the professor gathered his things and left the room, deciding to clock out for the day. Finishing at 11:30 was one of the perks of being a man at the top of your profession.

The professor made his way out of the building and began walking to his office, cutting across the campus quad to get there, when a voice called, "Ivo! Hey, Ivo Robotnik!"

"Yes?" Turning around, Ivo's eyes met the voice's owner: a red echidna, standing at about 5ft tall with biceps like school buses.

"Knuckles!" He greeted warmly, grasping the echidna's gloved hand and shaking it with vigour. "I thought we were meeting at the gym – you weren't making sure I stay on my jogs, were you?"

Chuckling, Knuckles shook his head in response. "You know how Jimmy Philips got a C on that midterm? I've been helping him with his functions work, and thought I'd drop in and meet you early. Care to give me a ride there?"

Robotnik nodded and continued to his office, idly chatting with Knuckles on the way. The echidna was a good guy; not as impatient or brash as he used to be, and his heart, as always, was in the right place. They discussed... life. Knuckles had been tutoring some of the kids in Ivo's class – most of them saw a marked improvement on their bi-monthly assessment papers compared to before the echidna's help had been enlisted. Outside of the college, Ivo and the red guy had been prepping for the CCM '13 – the central city marathon. Done annually to raise money for charity, it was a great way for Ivo to keep fit.

After packing his stuff into the office, Ivo headed out to the parking lot with Knuckles and got in his car, a small black sedan. They drove towards Central City. Ivo would power-walk, but Western falls U had no local gym to speak of.

"So... how's young Mr. Philips doing?" asked Ivo, talking out of the side of his mouth – he was never one to allow his focus to drop.

"His identities are coming along nicely," the echidna replied, "but reciprocal functions are a bit of a weak point. And he does this really weird thing with-"

"With tan x?"

"Yeah."

"That keeps popping up. I'll need to call him in for a lunch session on that."

Training with Knuckles was a test to say the least. Ivo hadn't always been the fittest, but he'd become something of a cardio specialist in recent years. The professor's now-impressive stamina was nothing compared to that of the red echidna, and trying to keep up during the session had left Ivo exhausted by the end.

As the two were leaving the gym, Knuckles got a phone call.

Lifting the phone to his ear, the echidna answered, "K.T.E here."

There was a faint crackle over the speaker, but Ivo could make out the voice on the other end.

"Knux! What's going on dude? Not fallen for any more of Eggman's tricks have ya?"

"Is that Sonic?" asked Ivo. Knuckles nodded. "I'm not here."

"Sonic! I was talking to Ivo earlier, actually," the professor's friend replied, watching Ivo's reactions to make sure he was cool. "Now, what do you need?"

There was a pause. A worryingly long pause.

"You've been talking to Eggman!?"

Shrugging, the echidna gestured for some help from Ivo, who gave a tiny nod in acknowledgement. "Yeah. Weekly workout, remember? We were doing some cardio at the gym - he broke his 5k record, as a matter of fact. Something up?"

"...No. Everything's fine Kunx. Just... fine. I've gotta go. See you."

"Yeah, I'll talk to you la- He hung up on me." Knuckles sighed, and continued walking, pulling ahead of Ivo.

"Wow. He sounds desperate."

"You got that right. Anyways, we gotta stop by Smoky Joe's for a thing. You mind driving?"

"Uh, sure. Who's it with?"

"Vector, or as I like to call him, Sleaze ball McRuin-your-career."

"What?"

"You remember Chaotix, right? Trainwreck. I got laughed out of the business. I wasn't going to work for that scaly backstabber again."

"So... why are we going to see him then?"

"You'll see."

From an outsider's perspective, Smoky Joe's looked to be one of those family-owned cafés – the sort that would be really great, but would struggle to compete with the big chains like Ahabs and Atsoc. The reality was different; anyone who stepped inside, past the polished wooden door and professional sign, could see that Smoky Joe's was grimy. Dingy. Foul. Grubby. Any number of adjectives couldn't have done the place justice. It was simply unclean.

Ivo followed Knuckles to a table in the corner of the café. Around a rickety-looking table by the window sat two figures: one, a golden two-tailed fox; the other a hulking crocodile. The fox, who Ivo recognised as Miles Prower, was leafing through a book of some sort. It was a blank white outside and in, with more pages than most bestsellers.

As Knuckles and Ivo drew closer, the professor could see what looked to be doodles scribbled across the pages. Judging by the basic cartoon figures and the word 'BANG' written in a pointy cloud, Ivo guessed they were drawn by a toddler no older than six years.

"Alright Vector, you wanted him, here he is."

Miles looked up, and upon noticing Ivo, smiled in a way that looked too genuine. It was a smile on a face used mainly for scowls and frowns, like a clear spot on a dirty mirror.

"Hang on, he wanted me?" asked Ivo, incredulous.

Vector flashed a toothy grin at the professor. "O' course! Sit down, Eggy," he said, gesturing to the chair next to Miles. With a wave of his hands, Vector proclaimed his intentions.

"I wanna make you a star!"

From what Ivo could tell, wild gesticulations were Vector's primary method of communication.

"How so?"

"Imagine it," the crocodile stood, spreading his arms as if to reveal a logo-

"Not this again!" Miles groaned, slamming his head on the table.

Ignoring the indignant fox, the SEGA employee continued. "Sonic Lost World: Sonic an' Eggy team up! It's brilliant! We gave the monkeys - I mean writers - full control with this here script," a small thump was heard as Vector brought his fist down on the manuscript. "It could be the big one!"

From his face-to-face with the table, Miles gave a mumbled "hmph".

"Why would Ivo want to work with Sonic?" The fox asked, pulling himself up. "The two aren't exactly buddies y'know."

"Why not? The doc could stand to lose a' few pounds, sure, but he's perfect for it!"

"Are you serious? He's not going to work for you if you call him fat!"

Ever had one of those moments where a single decision has major long-term effects?

"I'll do it."


-A/N- Special thanks to my betas Eliza, turbo and Casey for making this more enjoyable.