Throwing this out there. To the Guest reviewer (so far, the only reviewer), a good guess… but not quite. More answers shall be revealed in future chapters ;)
NOTE: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE SONIC CHARACTERS!
Chapter 2
"OHOHOHOHO! I can't believe how easy it was to con those islanders!" Dr. Ivo Robotnik, AKA Dr. Eggman, rubbed his hands together in glee as he marveled at his newly-built factory - a foreboding steel structure outfitted with the latest security systems, an assembly line of Badniks ready to be sent out and invade at his command, and parking for his Eggmobile and other modes of transport. Inside, his generators hummed non-stop as his robots were assembled.
Here was the start of his new Eggman Empire. The location was perfect. Christmas Island was little more than a speck on the map so he barely gave a thought about it in the past. In fact, the islanders had never even heard of him. Albeit initially wary of him, they believed him when he had offered to build them a generator to supplement their village's power supply.
Three months after his arrival to Christmas Island, Eggman had finished building his factory and was ready to begin his conquest.
"Maybe I should invite the mayor over. She can be the first to be roboticized…" Eggman mused to himself as he sat at his desk, poring over the blueprints of his latest robot creation. The designs looked amazing. Now all he needed was a power source. Going Chaos Emerald hunting would take too much time so he was going to have to find an alternative.
'Perhaps I can gather a few little critters from the island's forest…' thought Eggman as reached for his coffee mug only to find it gone from its usual place on the right-hand corner of his desk.
"Orbot! Cubot! I told you two to bring me a coffee!" Eggman barked.
His two bumbling robot lackeys came in, bearing a large wooden box, looking equal parts frightened and confused.
"But, boss, we did. We even left you the whole coffee pot in case you wanted a refill," Cubot replied.
Grumbling, Eggman checked the surveillance footage from his office. Sure enough, the video showed the two robots coming in and placing his coffee mug and a full pot of the dark brew on his desk an hour ago. Suddenly, the footage went still before the whole screen filled up with static. Then the footage changed from static to current time.
"What is it with these security cameras? I've had to replace them six times in the past three months!" Eggman exclaimed.
CLANG!
Orbot and Cubot jumped as a wrench on another table filled with tools suddenly fell and struck the metal floor. Looking at the box they carried, the two robots approached the Doctor.
"Um… Sir… I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news but Cubot and me… Well…" Orbot twiddled his thumbs. "We think that you… mighthavebuiltthisentirefactoryoveraburialsite," he said quickly.
Cubot nodded, gulping, while Eggman gave them a blank look.
"You two have been watching way too many horror movies behind my back," Eggman deadpanned just as the lights started flickering.
Orbot and Cubot both whimpered and held onto each other, abandoning the box between them.
"Oh, great, now there's something wrong with the generators here…" Eggman griped, rubbing the bridge of his nose in vexation. "Where'd you idiots even get this idea of a burial site? The inhabitants of Christmas Island didn't say anything about a grave being located here."
"The Badniks dug these up shortly after we got permission to put up the factory here." Orbot went over to the box and, with trembling hands, opened the lid.
Eggman took one look inside and paled.
Inside the box were Mobian remains, the bones charred black and still carrying the faintest whiff of smoke.
"And you two couldn't have told me about this THREE MONTHS AGO?!" yelled the Doctor before the lights started flickering more violently.
Eggman let out an unmanly shriek as more tools joined the wrench on the floor, the entire table rocking violently and throwing them all down. Orbot and Cubot screamed, taking refuge behind their creator, as some of the lights blew out.
The air in the room suddenly turned cold, goosebumps forming on Eggman's skin. Objects started floating around them – including Orbot and Cubot, who both screamed in fright.
Grabbing the two robots, Eggman looked around wildly. "I-I'm warning you!" he shouted, although he wasn't entirely sure who he was addressing. "You're trespassing on the private property of Eggman Industries! Get out!"
A child's high-pitched laughter filled the room followed by the strong smell of smoke and… jasmine?
Eggman felt chills crawl up his spine as a ball of black fire suddenly burst into existence right in front of him. Then his fear was tempered by anger as he saw his precious coffee mug hovering beside the black fireball. "Hey, that's my coffee!" he flinched as the mug was thrown at him, hitting him right between the eyes.
"I'll never understand how you adults like that stuff."
The black fireball grew in size, changing its shape, morphing into arms, legs, hands, feet, and a head until the figure of a long-haired female hedgehog emerged. Black flames tinged with gray cloaked the hedgehog girl, emitting a sickly gray glow in the semi-darkness.
"Gh-gh-gh-gh-gh…" Orbot stuttered out before Cubot screamed, "GHOST!" for him and the two squirmed out of Eggman's grip and hightailed it out of there.
Eggman remained behind, frozen in his tracks. The ghost hedgehog floated closer to him, her eyes all white.
"This is your property?" She narrowed her eyes at the scientist. "Last time I checked, my house stood here. If anyone's trespassing, it's you," she hissed before lunging at Eggman.
Eggman screamed, expecting himself to get scorched by the ghost hedgehog's flames, then choked as he felt a numbing coldness spread all throughout his body. Then the cold was replaced with agony as the Doctor doubled over in pain. His head was pounding, memories flashing through his eyes, and he could hear the ghost whispering in his very mind.
"Oh, poor, poor, poor, Doctor Robotnik. Unappreciated, unloved, unwanted…"
He saw his mother abandoning him when he was just a little boy. His father ignoring him even when he finally succeeded in building his first robot. He clutched his heart, feeling the loneliness he'd always felt come back full-force.
"Turned all that pain into rage. And let it loose on the entire world."
He saw himself conquering cities and different zones, reveling in the screams of puny Mobians and his spineless fellow humans.
The ghost girl's voice took a hard edge.
"You've hurt so many people. And you deserve punishment."
Eggman sank to his knees, blinking his eyes rapidly, as the phantoms of all the Mobians and humans who had been killed in his conquests surrounded him.
"Murderer…" one Mobian cat, her face bloodied and torn, raised a claw at him in accusation.
"Traitor…" a young human wearing bloodstained clothes shook his fist at him.
"Monster!" the phantoms cried, circling him.
"N-No… No, stop… Stop… Please, stop…" Eggman gasped out as the spirits circled him, chanting.
"Monster, monster, monster, monstermonstermonsterMONSTERMONSTERMONSTER!"
"MAKE IT STOP!" screamed Eggman, clutching his head in his hands.
The hedgehog girl's laugh echoed in his ears. "Oh, but you're a really smart monster. I think I can use you," she purred.
Eggman suddenly felt himself stand up and walk towards his desk. He watched, morbidly transfixed, as his hands swiped through his blueprints on their own.
"You need a power source for your new robots, right?" The ghost hedgehog suddenly appeared next to him, her wide smile exposing sharp white fangs. "I can help you with that," she said before lunging at him again.
Eggman groaned, leaning over his desk, as he felt the ghost pick apart his mind again. So many memories being relived so fast… His brain felt like it was melting…
Then he saw all of his past defeats at the hand of that annoying blue nuisance, Sonic the Hedgehog.
The ghost's voice whispered in his ears, sounding surprised this time, "You know him…"
Before Eggman could even think of a response, he felt himself falling, falling, falling into darkness…
"Boss?" Cubot stuck his head into the room, shaking. Orbot was right behind him, clutching a frying pan. Things had finally settled down and the two robots, steeling their nerves, had returned to rescue the Doctor from the ghost's clutches.
"Dr. Eggman?" Orbot called out, him and Cubot entering the room.
"I'm sorry. Dr. Eggman isn't available right now."
Orbot and Cubot froze, staring at Dr. Eggman. But… it wasn't Dr. Eggman. A sinister black aura emanated from the Doctor. And, behind his blue spectacles, his eyes now glowed an insidious red.
"Orbot and Cubot, right? I'm Multo. Nice to meet you," The being-that-wasn't-Dr. Eggman said politely in Eggman's voice, holding out the Doctor's hand to the trembling robots.
Not wanting to invoke the ghost's wrath further, Orbot and Cubot shook hands with it. 'At least it's a polite ghost…' both robots thought.
"Wh-what have you done with Dr. Eggman?!" Orbot stammered, shivering when the possessed scientist patted his head.
"Oh, the Doctor's just taking a little vacation. Don't worry. You'll get him back," Multo reassured him and Cubot as she led them to the Doctor's desk where the blueprints for his new robot line were shown.
"But, for now, I'll take charge around here. We've got some work to do. Power up them generators and let's get building!" Multo said, clapping the Doctor's hands gleefully.
"B-But we don't have a sufficient power source for these robots…" Cubot mumbled.
A wide smile formed on the Doctor's face. If Orbot and Cubot had been flesh and bone, instead of steel and wires, they would have felt their blood run icy cold.
"Don't worry. I got it covered," Multo replied as she raised the Doctor's arms and started chanting, the dark aura around the Doctor's body now burning intensely until it looked like he was surrounded by black fire.
Orbot and Cubot clutched at each other as eerie balls of gray light seeped out from under the factory's floors. High-pitched cackling filled the room as more ghosts appeared, surrounding the possessed Dr. Eggman.
"Let's have some fun," Multo declared, the ghosts around her laughing with glee.
Well, we have our villain.
The next chapter will take a couple more weeks to write, I'm afraid. I'm down to the last 3 weeks of the semester in college so I need to focus more on my studies.
Until the next chapter. Please read and review.
-GuardianDragon98
