Van Gale's Laboratory Mk III, 9am, 8 days after the Anomaly.
Fresh from a humiliating defeat at the hands of Sonic, Tails, Hilda and her friends, Dr Eggman and Victoria Van Gale pondered their losses over a cup of coffee, considering what they would do next.
"It's difficult." Dr Eggman mused. "Now that I know Sonic's here, any idea I have, with the resources I have to hand, will probably be thwarted by that blue hedgehog and his new found friends. Perhaps it's time for me to build a teleporter back into my own world."
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Victoria asked. "I'm sure I mentioned my previous attempts to harness that kind of power, and it didn't go so well.
"With the amount of scientifically interesting and bizarre phenomena on your world, I'd be inclined to agree. "However, I do have this!" Eggman rifled through his pocket, producing an oval gemstone that radiated a bright orange.
"And this is?" Van Gale asked sceptically.
"This little thing here is known as the Warp Topaz." Eggman began. "As the name implies, it allows the user to teleport from place to place, or even through other dimensions. However, it can be quite excitable, and it acts very temperamentally, so it can't be used for trivial purposes."
"How reactive are we talking?" Van Gale asked, looking keenly at the stone which rested on the table.
"Even the smallest electrical charge can produce a massive amount of energy, though without the proper handling, that energy is uncontrolled."
"Like a Tesla coil?" Van Gale asked.
"I don't know what a Tesla is, but probably, yes. Anyway, the stone's previous owner dedicated years of study to the properties of this stone before handing it over to me, though thanks to my vast intellect, I have managed to get the gist of it much more quickly." Eggman answered.
Van Gale picked up the Topaz and held it in her hand, feeling the raw energy coursing through it. "Assuming this works," she began, "what's your plan after that?"
"Once I'm back in my own world, I will take back what's rightfully mine." Eggman announced. "I might need some assistance on that front, the other inhabitants don't take a liking to my genius. Do you happen to know anyone who sources scrap metal around here?"
"Trolberg should have plenty of places for that." Van Gale advised. Nobody knows you either, other than Hilda and her friends, so you should be fine. What are you going to build?"
"Some robots. Smaller ones, not like the weather factory that we built last week. We should have enough metal for a modest statement of intent." Eggman grinned.
"Interesting. I guess I'll see you in a few hours, then. I'll see if I can't conjure up an assembly line while you're away." Van Gale smiled back at him, gears racing in her mind as she came up with ideas of her own. Eggman smiled wryly to himself as he headed to Trolberg in his Eggmobile to acquire the raw materials he needed.
Meanwhile, Sonic had spent the morning running around looking for Eggman and his new associate. The concept of Eggman seeking other worlds to conquer was not new, and nor was Eggman having an accomplice, but Victoria Van Gale seemed different to some of his other henchmen like Dr Starline, or Metal Sonic, or anyone else he worked with. They had all been far too self-obsessed to work effectively as a team, but Eggman and Van Gale seemed to bounce off each other like coiled springs, and that combination could yet prove to be a danger to this world, or even his own.
The burning question on Sonic's mind however, was where the two scientists were hiding. The blue blur had scoured every nook and cranny within seven miles of Trolberg by lunchtime but there was still no sign of the pair of them. Deciding he needed a re-think, he returned to Trolberg empty handed.
Kaisa had given Hilda permission for her, Frida, David and Tails to use the library basement for their discussions, which gave her and the other library patrons some much needed peace and quiet. Sonic snuck his way into the secret room, as Hilda and Frida looked up.
"Find anything?" Hilda asked.
"Not a thing." Sonic replied. "Wherever Eggman is, he's not within seven miles of here, that's for sure."
"They must be around here somewhere nearby." Hilda replied. "Or they wouldn't have come to us."
"That robot they had could only travel a certain speed. In our world they'd have been able to build something faster, but I doubt their base could be any more than 60 miles away." Tails added.
"Speaking of home, have you made any progress on ideas for getting us back?" Sonic asked.
"I'm working on it." Tails answered. "Currently I'm researching whether any of the magical concepts present in this universe are compatible with the Phantom Ruby. I want to ensure things like the Nisse spaces and Gateway spells don't interfere with it."
"Logically, since the two things are unrelated, there shouldn't be any problems, but it is always important to test it first." Frida added.
"What's a gateway spell?" Sonic asked, struggling to keep up.
"It's magic!" Hilda replied. "You know, with witches and wands and everything?"
"Oh ok gotcha. Mysticism is more Amy's kind of thing." Sonic replied, as Tails nodded in agreement. Sonic stood around waiting, his focus wandering to the shelves packed to the rafters with books."
"What sort of books are these?" Sonic asked to no one in particular, as he looked up at the shelves.
"Those are all advanced level magical texts. Only a seasoned witch like Kaisa or Tildy would know how to use that sort of thing." Frida replied.
"Reference only." Hilda repeated the words of warning that Kaisa had given her the first time she'd entered.
"Alright, I guess I'll leave the nerdy stuff to you guys while I keep looking. See you around!" and Sonic departed from the library, dashing out of the city gates and back out into the open.
After a couple of hours of bartering for scrap, Eggman had managed to make arrangements with a few locals to send their scrap metal to him, and his Eggmobile was now loaded with scrap to drive back to the lab. Much as he disliked this 'peasant work', he knew that under the circumstances, it was necessary for him to do, so he trundled back without too much complaint.
Upon his arrival at Van Gale's lab, he was very surprised to see Victoria standing behind an intricate series of stone circles.
"What on earth is this?" Eggman asked in bewilderment.
"It's a conjuring circle." Victoria replied without hesitation. "I figured that since we don't have much means of creating individual power cores, we could power your robots with other means.
"Those being?" Eggman asked.
"Bones, bits of wood, anything that used to have life in it, really. Van Gale explained. "There's no shortage of carrion out here in the wild for us to choose from."
"Hmm." Eggman thought for a bit. "That fits well enough with my standard design philosophy to work. Good idea, Victoria." Eggman smiled. "I trust you can gather the necessary ingredients?"
"Of course." Van Gale replied. "Naturally, I won't be doing any killing, so it might take a little while. I wouldn't stoop so low as to hurt defenceless wild animals. I have at least some moral standards." She stated overtly, as much to herself as to Eggman.
"Good! While you get on with that, I'll start building a foundry to melt down and cast all of this metal." Eggman replied, as Van Gale headed outside. Scribbling his new design ideas on a slab of paper, he began to mutter to himself.
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." he said to himself.
That evening, after the library had closed, Hilda, Frida and David decided it would be nice for Sonic and Tails to see some of the sights around the town, and particularly, the marketplace. Now that school was over for the summer, most stalls stayed open for a little while longer, as sellers plied wares from fresh fruits and vegetables, to homemade confections and handcrafted wooden ornaments.
"So, what do you think of Trolberg so far, Sonic?" Hilda asked the blue blur.
"It a nice place, don't get me wrong, I can see why you like it so much. It seems like a great place to live, and the people are nice too. I prefer the wide open fields outside though. Gives me more room to run."
"Believe me, I know the feeling." Hilda replied, as she harked back to the halcyon days of her time living in the wilderness with her mum. "But if fate hadn't brought me here, I'd never have met Frida or David, or even you guys."
"The fate of Trolberg would probably have been very different too." Frida added, to which David agreed.
"You're saying this place has been in danger more than once?" Sonic asked.
"Oh, at least 4 times, maybe 5." Hilda thought aloud. "Although danger probably means something different where you're from. From what Tails has told us, it sounds like you guys are in danger pretty much all the time!"
"Basically, yeah. Eggman has attacked us so many times everything kind of just blends together. Sometimes it feels like we've been fighting him for the past 30 years." Tails explained, as they approached a sweet stall.
"Hello, Kids!" the shopkeeper grabbed their attention. "You want anything?"
"Do you have any mint candy?" Tails asked.
"We do. We also have woff-styled muffins and some more traditional boiled sweets, in addition to everything you can see here. The shopkeeper replied.
"So that's what they're called." Sonic peered over at one of the Woff muffins. "I was wondering what those little round fluffballs were called.
"Alright." David got on with ordering. "We'll but one bag of mint candy, one, two… three Woff muffins, and what did you want, Hilda?"
"One bag of Rhubarb and Custard sweets, please." Hilda requested.
"Why?" David asked, cringing at the thought of how bad they tasted.
"Okay." The shopkeeper totted up the total as David pooled everyone's money together and paid him, receiving the food in return. Hilda and co walked on further into town, finding a park bench to sit on which overlooked the river. Sonic stared into the water as it reflected the beauty of the sunset across the surface.
"Sonic?" Hilda asked as she admired the sunset herself.
"Yes?"
"Do you ever get to rest?"
"Sure I do. Even I sleep at night, when I can."
"No not like that." Hilda interrupted. "Do you ever see yourself… how do I put this, living on your own terms, at peace, no fighting with Eggman, or anyone else. Just you, your friends and the world you saved?"
"It's a future worth striving for. Though I doubt it'll be anytime soon." Sonic began. "A lot of people have asked me why I didn't just kill the man, especially after everything he's done. But that's not what a hero does, at least in my eyes. It isn't worth the suffering he routinely inflicts on us, and our people, but were I to kill him, what would that make me?"
"That depends on how you look at it, I guess." Frida replied.
"Most of us would probably agree with you, I think. We know some witches that don't, but beyond them, I think everyone agrees with that on some level. Even Van Gale." Hilda added. "I'm not the type of person to compromise my own morals."
"Live free, fight to the end, and stay true to yourself, or something like that." David summarised his friends' nugget of wisdom into a simple, yet meaningful sentence.
"That sounds like a line from a movie." Sonic joked, looking away from the river for the first time in ages.
"Not in any one we've seen." David replied, as Hilda and Frida looked at him.
"So what cheesy one liners are in your movies then?" Tails asked.
"Oh there's a fair few. You guys want to watch some?" David offered, as the others shared excited glances with one another.
"If it'll take my mind off things. I'm game." Sonic agreed, as they all got up and headed to David's.