"There were seven of us to begin with," the monster said, as it began to explain its history to Dr Robotnik. "I don't remember how we came to be, none of us do, perhaps we too were created like everything else, and perhaps we have always been. It's not important either way.

"Needless to say we have been around for a very long time. As far as I recall we were around when civilisation first started to appear. The early tribes, the long forgotten peoples of this world, they began to appear around the same time we did."

"That would mean you're over seven millennia old."

"Really?" the monster replied, "it feels longer.

"The ancient tribes at first left us alone. They didn't consider us and we didn't consider them. To us, they were just an idle thing, something we watched, and ourselves learnt from. But we weren't the same. They had short lives, they constantly needed to gather food for sustenance, they could not create in the same way we could.

"The ability to create and remove at will," the monster continued, "this was what made us stand out. While they toiled and slaved away, we simply willed things into and out of existence. We passed our time watching these tribes. We watched them develop, grow, evolve. It was fascinating. In just a few short generations tribes could change so dramatically."

"But what does any of this have to do with what I asked?" Robotnik asked in frustration. With everything going on in his base, he didn't have time for the dramatic flair the machine was giving him.

"Patience," the monster replied, "This is merely the context."

"Okay okay," the human replied, "you watched history unfold. Then what?"

"Some tribes became powerful. Many did not and were quickly wiped out. The echidnas were the ones that stood out the most."

"Hmph," Robotnik replied, "I could've told you that. The legend of Perfect Chaos and how the tribe leader caused his civilisations ruined before using the Chaos Emeralds to ensnare Chaos in the Master Emerald."

"Yes, but that's ahead of where we're going. Many years ahead." The robot replied.

The monster continued his story, "The echidnas were an aggressive tribe. Hot headed, quick to anger, somewhat foolish and easily provoked. They were also the ones who took interest in us, and gave us the title of 'monster'. They observed our abilities to create, and our ability to destroy, and tried to become our allies. When we said no, they began to hunt us. For many years they pursued us.

"At first fighting them was easy. They were so primitive. They had nothing but sharpened sticks and rocks, which we were easily able to deal with. We let them do it, watching them make their feeble attacks only to fail was enjoyable.

"But we underestimated them. It was an oversight. One minute they came at us with nothing more than simple tools, the next they had developed all kinds of weaponry specifically to fight us. They had evolved in front of us, and we had missed it. They trapped us, thinking we would be there prisoner. But we escaped. Over and over. It became a cycle, until eventually they came up with a complicated prison.

"The 'Warps of confusion'," Robotnik nodded.

"It was more complicated than that." The turquoise monster replied, "The small dimensions, in which the emeralds resided. We were bound into them, unable to move from them if the emerald was in there, the doorway gone the second it wasn't. Even then, the door was locked behind a seal, one that only opened from this world, and needed the rings to open."

"They also bound us to the souls of the servers. They picked seven of their tribe, and made it so that we could not inhabit this world in our natural form without the blessing of the servers."

"So this is why you are granting requests?" Robotnik grinned.

The robot nodded, "The echidna tribe expected to last forever. Instead they fell, and our story was lost with them to history. As such the current Servers of Chaos don't know who they are, nor what they're giving up by asking their requests of us. All we have to do is play along, give them what they ask for and once we have the blessings of all of them we will be free.

"Things have changed since we were imprisoned. The temple that used to keep us bound was destroyed, and numerous other events over the years have made it easier for us. We now have these bodies to inhabit while we wait, something the Echidnas had deemed impossible."

Robotnik clutched the turquoise emerald in his palm. He looked at it briefly, then at the monster, still confined by the other emeralds. "There's just one thing I don't get," he said, "Why is it you have granted all their requests so easily, yet mine has taken so long?"

"Scale," the robot replied, "It is easy to move one person, or bring back one person. What you want is a complete change of reality, and even for us that takes time. Furthermore, the Emeralds are still here, and we cannot grant that request in their presence."

"I heard that the first time. Why can't you?"

"Even in this world, they are still a prison for us, just like these bodies you built us. Once we are properly free, we can grant your request. In fact," the creature said, its robotic eyes staring firmly at Robotnik, it's body stood perfectly straight, conditioned, ready to move at a moment's notice, "When we get our freedom, you too can be freed and join with us once more."

"You actually think I want that?" Robotnik sneered, "You think I want to be a … a monster? Hah. I'm Dr Eggman, the most brilliant mind on this planet, the man who commands an entire legion, and will soon rule this entire planet, and you think I want to change any of that? Don't make me laugh. I stand on the precipice of brilliance, and you, you might have some god-like tricks, but right now I have you doing my bidding now don't I?

"So here's the deal," Robotnik continued as he marched about the room proudly, making grand sweeping gestures as he talked, "You need me to get rid of these emeralds, because you can't do it for yourselves. For all your abilities and magic, you need some cold hard science to save your day, and trust me, a better scientist you will not find in a thousand lifetimes. But I need those emeralds too, and since I have everything you need, why don't we keep you in those bodies, and you guys can assist me in ruling this world. You get to be free under my rule, and I get what I want. Everyone is happy."

The robot simply nodded. The soul within the robot played along, all the while it was receiving a copy of the Neo Orbital Chaos Compressor blueprints via the doctors own Wi-Fi network. If the human wasn't going to build it, they would just have to make it themselves. And now they knew exactly how.