*Meanwhile, on Eggman's island base*
Eggman typed away on his control panel as Orbot and Cubot hovered into the lab carrying his dinner tray. "Evening, Doctor!" Orbot chirped, "How did today's evil plan go?" Eggman growled, "Horrible! Sonic never showed up! It was just that bumbling Nibbles and Emohog, not even that two-tailed thing that he always hangs out with was there! I even dragged out the fight to give that blue rat more to time show up, but he never did, it was incredibly rude!"
"Are you sure he wasn't just sick at home or perhaps never got the notice of your attack today?"
"No! I made sure he got my notice; even without it, you could see the smoke from the fires and bombs for miles! And I checked the cameras I have posted around his shack, and he wasn't home. In fact, the last footage I have of him is from yesterday morning." Eggman sighed, rubbing his temples in frustration, "Maybe he just got sick and tired of fighting with ya all the time?" Cubot said, not helping the doctor's already thin patience. "No way! Sonic is too much of a goody-two-shoes hero just to let me barge in and burn the village to the ground."
He returned to watching the recordings of today's battle. Orbot places the tray next to his master, "Well, we can worry about Sonic later after dinner." his optic lenses gaze up at the screen. "I don't understand. I thought you said Sonic wasn't there today? He's right there." Eggman recoils, "What do you mean he's right there?! I was there in person! He never showed up!"
"Yeah, he is! He's right there under that table." Cubot points to the screen. Eggman zooms in where the robot is pointing and sees a familiar-looking blue blob, "Wait a minute..." he lowly mutters. Changing from one camera feed to another, this time he sees Knuckles stopping just in front of a Crab-bot's camera, protectively holding a blue object in his arms. Eggman takes off his glasses, furiously rubbing his eyes. "It can't be..." Putting them back on, he reverses the video and pauses, focusing on the blue object again, "But it is!" he whispers, a broad smile creeping under his mustache. He throws his head back in maniacal laughter, "Ahahahahhaha! I don't believe it, that blue pest has gotten himself turned into a drooling infant! Haha haha! This is too rich! Ooohhh, how the mighty have fallen." He wipes a tear from his eye, breathing heavily.
A few minutes later, having gotten that out of his system. He thoughtfully looks back at the picture, twitching the fuzz on top of his lips, an idea beginning to form, "Yeeeees, this is perfect. Why didn't I ever think of this before?!" Closing the footage, he pulls up a blueprint program and grabs a notepad nearby, hunching down, he intensely scribbles a list.
"Here," he rips the paper, handing it to Orbot, "Gather this list of supplies and have Mom-bot and Metal Sonic report to me immediately." Orbot scans over the requested items,
"Uh, sir, this list of supplies seems rather odd, doesn't it?"
"Of course not! Not for my most brilliant plan ever; this time, Sonic won't be able to stand in my way. Now get going, you useless pieces of junk!" Eggman insults his minions before returning his attention to the blueprints. Orbot mechanically sighs, clueless as to what the doctor's latest most brilliant plan is. "Yes, sir. Come along, Cubot." The duo leave the doctor to formulate his plan. The door closing behind them, Eggman reaches for a bite of his evil ham.