Mobius Mania
Prologue: The Doctor Is In
Today had not been a good day for one Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. Not only had Sonic and his entourage beaten him again but now he and the entirety of his Egg Reverie fortress were being sucked into a vortex courtesy of an out-of-control Phantom Ruby.
From what he could remember, Sonic had managed to use the Chaos Emeralds to get he and his friends to safety while he'd been tossed away with the rest of his latest masterpiece. The cherry on top of this misfortune sundae was when the trip through the portal finally ended and Eggman landed headfirst into a large pile of scrap metal.
"Gyaaaaaagh~! DOOF!"
The impact hit hard, but the pain only worsened as the rotund genius rolled over on the pile and landed on the muddled ground, followed shortly after by his trusty Egg Mobile.
"Blast that spiky blue rat!" Eggman swore. "He's the one who got sucked in by the Phantom Ruby first, why couldn't he just stay wherever he wound up and leave me and my world domination alone!" Expressing his intense frustration, Eggman slammed both fists on the ground before getting up and kicking his vehicle right in its hull. Once he realized what he'd done however, he quickly calmed himself.
"Easy Doctor. This thing is the only defense I have in this…wherever I am…so it's best to keep it as pristine as I can." He said to himself. "Speaking of…where exactly am I?"
Eggman surveyed his surroundings and from what he could see, it looked like he was on the outskirts of some sort of city. A heavily mechanized city at that, especially judging from the pile of metal he crashed into as well as the smell of burning oil and other fumes in the air.
"Hmmm…I don't know where this place is, but I love how they operate, and speaking of operations."
Eggman sauntered over to the Eggmobile and rolled it upright. Somehow, miraculously, it was still functional much to his delight. However, it wasn't in the best shape to fly. Pushing a button under its panel, Eggman revealed what appeared to be an emergency tool kit and got to work on repairing it as best as he could. Unbeknownst to the Doctor, his work was being observed by a small drone with a lens between four rounded plates.
Viewing the drone's feed was a small, balding man with a large nose clad in a green ensemble and a somewhat familiar looking large, rotund man in a mechanical throne clad in a red jumpsuit with a long, redhaired moustache and a cape.
"We've got visual on the intruder sir," said the small work.
"Good work Snively. Is it a Freedom Fighter?" asked the large man.
"No sir. In fact, the intruder doesn't look Mobian at all," said Snively.
"Oh?"
"Yes sir. He looks…human."
"Now isn't that intriguing," sneered the large man. "Capture him at once. Bring our new guest to me."
"Right away Dr. Robotnik."
[]
Eggman continued fiddling around with his Eggmobile until, "Eureka!" With the flip of a switch, the round vehicle began to hover above the ground. "Haha! Great to see you back in working order!" Hopping inside, Eggman began running a quick diagnostics. The Eggmobile couldn't fly very high, or at full speed. But on the plus side, the weapon system was functional, as was the homing beacon. "Hmmm…I wonder if…?"
"Halt intruder!"
"Wha-!?"
Before Eggman could activate the beacon, he quickly found himself surrounded by a squadron of dark-blue, humanoid looking robots. Some of them piloted their own flying crafts while most of them were on foot, their fists aimed at Eggman.
Getting over his initial shock, Eggman gave the metallic soldiers his own sneer. "Well, this is quite the welcoming committee. I really do like how things work around here. Except…" Eggman pushed a button on the panel and the cockpit was quickly sealed with a clear dome. "I'd prefer when it isn't done to me!"
Tugging on the joystick, Eggman took to the air and the robots started firing lasers at him. The Eggmobile took a moment to really get its proverbial footing, but its erratic flight patterns due to its damage made it a much harder target for the robots to hit. The downside was, due to its lessened speed, the robot pilots were quickly gaining on the retreating Doctor, and his room to dodge steadily began dwindling.
"So you want a little dogfight action, eh? Fine!" Pulling back on the joystick, Eggman flipped his craft upside down just as soon as the robots were closing in on him. At the last moment, the bottom of the craft opened up revealing a large, wrecking ball with a brown checkerboard pattern on it. The giant orb slammed into the flying robots, sending them crashing down into their grounded piers, leaving all present in a massive pile of scrap metal and flames."
[]
"The first squadron has been…destroyed sir," whimpered Snively.
Robotnik's eyes narrowed as he viewed the mysterious intruder. He hadn't gotten a good look at his face after he retreated into his vehicle, but something about him, he found appealing.
"Sir?"
"Dispatch another Swatbot unit to pursue. His machine is better armed than we anticipated. However, I'm sure even you can tell that it's running on fumes."
"Of course you moronic bean," muttered Snively.
"WHAT was that Snively!?"
"I said, I'm sending a team sir."
Robotnik laid back in his chair before extending a hand, which was promptly sat upon by a scrap metal, robotic chicken. "Ohhh, it's going to be one of those days, isn't it Cluck?"
[]
After dealing with the Swatbots, Eggman retracted his wrecking ball. He took a moment to survey his surroundings and that's when his eyes finally lay on a giant, metal, monolith right in the center of the city. "Well now, that looks important. Maybe that's the place I can get some answers. "In the meantime, it's probably best to get to ground level. With the Egg-O-Matic being in the shape that its in, I'd rather not take any chances fighting any more of those droids." 'I'm certain that isn't the end of them.'
Nearly on cue, Eggman's dome was struck by a stray laser blast and the Eggmobile was knocked off balance. "What!? More already!?"
Sure enough, a second squadron of Swatbots, this time, all piloting hover vehicles were approaching Eggman with urgency, evidenced by their red lenses flashing. "Okay, change of plans. No sneaking around, I'm going straight for the heart!"
At takeoff, Eggman instinctively attempted to activate the Eggmobile's jets. Unfortunately, the engines only spat out a small puffer of smoke and flames before petering out.
"I knew I should've gotten the turbo."
BSSSSSH!
"Gyagh!" With little options, Eggman could only keep flying in a bid to avoid capture as the Swatbot squad continued to fire on their mysterious target. Unbeknownst to Eggman and the Swatbots, a small portal opened up right below their previous position, revealing a blue robot with a spiked head, a turbine in its chest, and an oddly shaped fuchsia gem in its hand.
[]
"They're gaining on him sir!" beamed Snively.
"I see that Snively, and I must admit, it's quite the spectacle," said a surprisingly gleeful Robotnik.
The pair had been watching the exchange between their mysterious guest and the Swatbots, and to be honest they were both impressed with how he managed to avoid capture. Ordinarily, such a thing would be cause for unyielding rage (except of course, in the case of traps), but the fact that their target was using such a brilliant piece of machinery, quelled most of the ire they felt from their failures. 'Most' being the key word. The longer the chase went on, the more annoyed Robotnik would get. The fact that the Swatbots were getting thrashed by everything from bombs, to fire blasts, and f course that accursed wrecking ball, started to grate on Robotnik. Finally he'd had enough.
"I've grown tired of these games Snively. Capture that intruder now!" Robotnik demanded.
Quickly composing himself, Snively issued an order to their forces. "All Swatbots converge at point 6-91. Box in the intruder and capture him."
The Swatbots did as commanded and soon Eggman had bogies on both his tail and dead ahead. "I can escape this. I just need to time this correctly!"
Speeding towards the blockade ahead of him, Eggman once again flipped his craft upside down, though instead of a wrecking ball, he instead launched a singular spiky bomb upwards. Under gravity's influence, the bomb naturally fell, just as the rear pursuing Swatbots were gaining. Once there was little distance between the front and rear Swatbots, Eggman once again activated the jets, again getting little in terms of feedback. It did however, give him the small extra boost he needed to ascend his craft above the blast zone as the bomb exploded right in the giant mass of machine soldiers, launching the Eggmobile high into the air.
"Gyaaagh…!"
The force of the explosion was much greater than Eggman had anticipated however and he soon found himself tumbling out of control within his own aircraft.
Robotnik wasn't so happy either as yet again, his target managed to escape capture.
"Snively, where did he go!? Find him at once!"
"Yes sir. It seems we've still got him on visual feed."
"Good. Something around here still functions properly," Robotnik droned. "Calculate his trajectory find out where he'll land."
"I'm already on it sir…though I…don't think you'll like the results…." Snively whimpered.
Robotnik narrowed his eyes. "Now what makes you say that?"
"Because he's landing right in the command center sir!"
"Excuse me?"
Snively's response was silenced by a loud crash and the vehicle in question landing on the far side of the room. With a quick click, its pilot tumbled out and onto the floor, in a puff of smoke clutching his head.
"Doh curse it all…that's the second crash in less than two hours!" Getting his bearings, Eggman looked through the smoke to find a silhouette of a large rotund man in a cape. His most striking feature however, was the piercing, glowing, red gaze that shone down on Eggman.
"What in-ggh!"
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
Eggman was barely given time to react before he felt himself getting tugged by his collar and hoisted into the air.
"Who are you?" asked Eggman.
"I do believe that's my line. After all, you are the one who made a mockery of my army!"
While Robotnik stared down his newest capture, Snively could only tremble in disbelief at the scene unfolding in front of him.
"Th-th-th-th-there-there's-there's TWO OF-!?"
"Snively, quit your mumbling and get over to that vehicle of his. I want every nook and cranny inspected!" Ordered Robotnik.
"Yes sir!"
"Hey! You have no right to touch that!" Screamed Eggman.
"What makes you think you have the right to give orders to anyone?" asked Robotnik.
Eggman showed his captor his own twisted sneer before answering, "This!" From his sleeve, Eggman palmed a remote control and pushed the button, causing an orb shaped energy blast to fire from the Eggmobile's front lens.
Snively yelped as he dove away to dodge the shot, and Robotnik instinctively covered his head, giving Eggman the opening he needed to counter. Striking the dazed Robotnik in the eyes, the dictator was forced to release his captive who quickly scurried back to his vehicle. He quickly tried to take off again but to no avail. With little options left, he started pressing buttons at random, intending to create a distraction by firing all weapons, and it seemed to be working as Robotnik and Snively took cover behind the throne.
Unknown to him, in his hastiness, one of the buttons he hit was the switch to activate the beacon and a signal was sent out. This signal would be received by the seemingly inactive spiky blue robot, who's eyes flashed red before dying out. That small spark however caused a reaction to the gem in the robot's hand which was quickly covered in a negative force that quickly dissipated. The robots red eyes lit up once more before the jet on its back quickly roared to life. Getting to its feet, the robot ascended before blasting off at high speed.
[]
Back in the command center, Eggman's assault had come to an abrupt end as the Eggmobile was finally devoid of power, leaving Eggman defenseless. Peaking out from behind the throne, Robotnik sneered. "What's wrong friend? All out of tricks?"
"Not quite!"
Reaching into a compartment under the seat, Eggman produced a blaster and subsequently fired it at his opponent. Robotnik dove back behind the chair, but with only one thing to worry about, he was prepared to counterattack. Sticking out his left index finger, Robotnik fired his own laser at Eggman who turned the Eggmobile upright and hid behind it for cover. This shootout would continue with both doctors shooting and ducking, but neither of them hitting their targets. It seemed like it could go on until an alert shone on the main monitor.
"Ehhh, what's that?" asked Eggman.
"Hedgehog alert! Priority one!" shouted a robotic voice.
"Hedgehog?"
"The hedgehog is here!? Now!?" screamed Robotnik.
Hitting a button on the throne's panel, the screen switched to the feed of the spybots which revealed a blue blur blasting past, over, and through all of Robotnik's Swatbot forces.
"Where's he going!?" Robotnik demanded.
Eggman held fire as he too watched the screen with intrigue. Things were starting to become clear, but there were still a few unclear factors. For starters, that blue-blur's destination. As the visual feed switched in order to keep up with the incredible speed, it soon unveiled the blur's destination.
"It looks like he's headed straight for us sir!" Snively exclaimed.
Robotnik growled. "Let him come, he'll never get inside the…!" The manic dictator bit his tongue as the blur took off from the ground and circled around the outer perimeter of the fortress. "The hedgehog flies now!"
"Ehehehehehe…Dahahahahahaha!"
Robotnik and Snively turned to find Eggman laughing almost hysterically. "What's so funny?"
"Now I understand. It all makes sense now, as does the fact that you've lost this battle, friend," he declared.
"So, you're allies with the Hedgehog are you?" Robotnik accused.
"Perish the thought…Doctor. But then again, that isn't the hedgehog."
"What?"
On cue, the blur zipped in through the hole Eggman's crash landing had provided and finally revealed itself to the trio. Robotnik and Snively could only watch in awe and disbelief as a mechanized marvel modeled after their greatest foe sauntered over to the newcomer.
"I'm so glad to see you in one piece, Metal Sonic," Eggman greeted.
Metal Sonic lifted his hand, revealing the mysterious gem. "And the Phantom Ruby too!? I guess that explains why you're still functioning after our latest little mishap."
"Metal Sonic?"
Eggman took the Phantom Ruby from Metal before stepping towards Robotnik and Snively in a non-threatening manner. "Gentlemen, I do believe we may have gotten off on the wrong foot here. Despite what I may have done to your soldiers, I assure you it was all self defense, and not an attempt to cause you any inconvenience. After all, I am a new arrival to this world."
"New arrival?"
"To…this world?"
Eggman nodded. "Allow me to introduce myself. These days, I am known as Dr. Eggman, but my truest name is Doctor Ivo Robotnik, and I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have."
The caped Doctor's eyes went wide before lowering in a twisted sneer. "Did you say, 'Robotnik'?"
Eggman merely let out a soft chuckle which Robotnik quickly joined in. As their maniacal laughter intensified, Snively could only cower as the shadow of the doctors bathed his diminutive frame.
"Great lords of Mobius, there really ARE two of them!" as Snively' consciousness faded, the Doctors' laughter echoed across the darkened skies of Robotropolis.
(A/N: [Cue Music] Look out when he storms through, Sonic the Hedgehog. Don't doubt what he can do, Sonic the Hedgehog…is not in this chapter, but don't worry. We'll be seeing him realsoon. The question is, which one? Anyways, yup. I'm actually starting another story. I've been wanting to write a Sonic fanfiction ever since I was a kid, before I even knew what fanfiction was. I've also wanted to do a crossover between SatAM and Game Canon. I remember once reading an old fan-comic that crossed over Game Canon (pre-Generations I believe) with the Archie Comics (pre-reboot), and while I'm not trying to recreate it and it wasn't exactly a direct inspiration for this story, I do want to shout it out (sadly its been canned for years so don't bother looking it up). But here's the twist: Unlike that comic, I'm only using Classic Era Sonic. Modern Era Sonic and friends are FAR too powerful to not be completely game breaking in the SatAM world. Granted, I do believe game Classic Sonic is also more powerful than SatAM Sonic, but not to the extent that Modern Sonic would be. Also, despite me saying 'Game Canon', I will also be taking supplementary material into account when it comes to the Game's side of things, mainly the Sonic Mania Adventures shorts and the IDW 30th Anniversary Comic (may also take a cue or two from the Genesis of a Hero story from Reboot Archie, but that may be a bit much). Anyways, next time we get to see what Sonic and friends are getting up to, but again, which Sonic and which set of friends? Stay tuned to find out.)
