Chapter 9: The Mean Green Killing Machine.

Metropolis, 5:45 pm.

Downtown Metropolis had become a disaster in the following hours that followed Shadow's hospital visit. Scourge had taken the liberty of making his presence on Mobius known, and now he was rampaging around, aimlessly killing civilians, laughing maniacally as he did!

Shadow had been chasing the green hedgehog down for the last couple hours, after his attempt to broadcast a warning to all of Mobius had gone south, thanks to Scourge making a surprisingly smart play and ambushing the black hedgehog at MDF GUN HQ. Now, the race is on, and so far? Scourge was winning.

Shadow was tailing the green hedgehog, having forgone any notion of tending to his injuries in favor of one thing and one thing only: executing Scourge with absolute abhorrence! Scourge looks back, grinning widely.

Scourge: Come on, edgelord! Don't have any ammo left?!

Shadow said nothing, and instead Chaos Snaps, appearing in front of Scourge to deliver a potent kick to the hedgehog's gut. Scourge tries to retaliate, but Shadow punches him in the face, uppercuts him and then knees him in the gut before spin kicking Scourge so hard, he knocks out a few teeth! Scourge was getting angrier by the minute, until his body was coated in green lightning, and then he yelled out, punching Shadow and then Spindashing him into not one, not two, but three buildings!

Shadow took the brunt of it, before he took off two of his inhibitor Rings, engaging his Chaos Boost to turn the tide of the fight. He had to finish this and fast, AND make sure Scourge had no Anarchy Beryl on him for revival!

Shadow: Look at all the damage you've done, Scourge. Every ounce you have delivered, I will give to you TENFOLD!!

Sunset Heights, 3:15 pm, two hours earlier…

Sonic was out on his daily run, trying to take his mind off of the news he had been informed about. Who could have put Eggman in the hospital, and why? It was trouble, and no matter how fast Sonic ran, he couldn't take his mind off it. He skids to a stop, just outside of Metropolis.

Sonic: Dammit. None of this makes sense. First the Cosmic Highway breach, then Eggman gets sent to the hospital… What's going on?

Sonic plops down, getting a chili dog out and eating it. He initially was going to speed eat it, but he stopped mid bite.

Sonic: Wait a second… Someone left the Cosmic Highway a mess… And the only thing that can do that is someone who has a… Super form…

Sonic racked his brain. The only people he knew that had Super forms were the Mobians, specifically, himself, Shadow, Tails, Knuckles, Ray, Mighty, and Silver.

And on the other side of the spectrum were the Moebians. Only one was confirmed to have a Super form…

Moebians…

MOEBIUS.

Sonic: … No fucking way.

Sonic flat out dropped his chili dog, zipping into Metropolis with all haste. He found the breach in Dr Eggman's lab and jumps down.

Sonic: Sage? Sage, are you there?

Sage appeared, making Sonic sigh in relief.

Sonic: Sage, listen, you probably already got asked this but who attacked your dad?

Sage: Their DNA matched that of you. Appearance wise, they were green with sky blue eyes and stripes, a black rotted jacket, cracked red sunglasses, torn gloves, and rough looking sneakers that were green in color.

Sonic: … Scourge. Sage, where is Shadow?!

Sage: Shadow the Hedgehog is currently in the hospital– Oh. Nevermind. He just left it.

Sonic: SHIT! Thanks Sage!

Sonic took off again. If Scourge was back, this was going to pose problems… But one question lingered in Sonic's mind.

He watched the live feed of Scourge's execution, courtesy of Zonic… How did he survive that?!

Metropolis, 6:15 pm.

Sonic had finally managed to catch up to Shadow and Scourge, seeing the two going full speed with Homing Attacks, but Shadow was now at his max strength, having taken off ALL his Inhibitor Rings. Sonic had to get them both clear of Metropolis before Shadow snapped! He dashed into the fray, kicking Scourge in the face and knocking him into a building!

Shadow: Sonic! Let me–

Sonic: Don't even give me that shit, Shadow! You're a hair's breadth away from nuking all of Metropolis!!

Shadow wanted to argue, but he took a glance at himself, realizing just how much Negative Chaos Energies he was covered with! He tried to balance it out and relax, but Scourge came zipping in with a Homing Attack, knocking Shadow back into a building. Scourge then grins before he uses a Boost to kick off a sound barrier, which then makes the already unstable building collapse on top of Shadow!!

Sonic: SHADOW!

Scourge: He'll live. He's survived worse. You on the other hand…!

Scourge tackles and pins Sonic, grinning at him with bloodshot eyes!

Scourge: I AM GOING TO CARVE YOU UP INTO TINY PIECES, AND MAKE SURE YOU STAY ALIVE FOR EVERY SECOND OF IT! THEN, I'M GONNA EAT YOUR BITS AND MAKE YOU WATCH!!!

Sonic had no other options. With one kick movement, he kicked Scourge right between the legs with every ounce of strength he had! Scourge flew off him, landing a few meters away, grabbing hold of the groin.

Scourge: YOU DESTROYED HALF OF MY ENORMOUS DICK…!!

Sonic snickers.

Sonic: Yeah, okay.

Scourge recovered fast, springing to his legs and glaring at Sonic.

Scourge: This isn't gonna end with you beating my ass, Sonic– WOW that came out wrong.

Sonic: Sounds right to me. Quick question though, why didn't you get new clothes and at least SHOWER?! You smell bad!

Scourge: Oh I know. But frankly, I don't care. Not anymore. Only thing I want now is to make you suffer!

Sonic gives Scourge a serious look, both hedgehogs becoming covered in blue and green lightning.

Sonic: If you think you can, come on then. You're gonna find out just how much faster I am now.

Scourge growls at Sonic, and then, the two bolted off at high speeds, exiting the wrecked downtown Metropolis, and headed to the Unarium Mine Mountains…

Metropolis Hospital, 6:30 pm.

The heart monitor beeped steadily as Dr Eggman lay in his bed. He was still heavily injured from his scuffle with Scourge. Under normal circumstances, it would take a long time for someone to wake up from as bad a condition as this.

Dr Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik was not the average person.

His eyes snapped open, full of fury, red iris with black sclera, and he gets one of his hands free to press a button on his vest, activating his emergency Medi Gel, which healed all his injuries in mere moments. He fell off the hospital bed, nearly fell face first onto the floor, but caught himself. He was mad beyond any reason.

But he wasn't directing his fury to Sonic today.

He was directing it towards Scourge. And ONLY Scourge.

He pressed another button on his vest to engage a teleportation device, getting back to his lab before the hospital noticed he was gone.

Dr Eggman: SAGE!! Initiate the Nightfall Protocol at once!!

Sage: Father?! You–

Dr Eggman: I DON'T. WANT. TO. HEAR. IT. Ready the protocol at once!!

Sage didn't argue further as Eggman stormed through his lab, into the lower areas of his lab.

Background Music: E.G.G.M.A.N. Sonic Adventure 2 OST.

Eggman stomped his way to a large factory-like room, and the moment he pressed his hand to the console, the whole place lit up like the 4th of July. He wasted no more time. He got to work, drawing out schematics for a Death Egg Robot, but one with the best retrofits he could give it. One that could dance with the likes of Scourge and win.

Once this was finished and deployed, however, Eggman had to scrap the design entirely, committing it to memory and memory alone, as well as ensure any traceable materials were kept off the radar as much as possible.

He was not going to pull his punches this time. He was originally going to use this as an experimental test bed for future designs and improvements for the Death Egg Robots, but now was not the time for tests.

Now was the time to take what worked, discard what did not, and put the design into the scenario it was designed for: the capturing or absolute and utter destruction of Sonic the Hedgehog. Or, in this case, a being of similar skills and powers.

Once the schematics were finished, he set them down, and let the immense factory get to work on putting the design together. Sage appeared, offering the doctor new glasses, which he took silently and pressed onto his nose to cover his eyes.

30 minutes later, it was done. The new Death Egg Robot stood, ready. Eggman was going to make Scourge pay for the pain he inflicted. IN SPADES.

FOR HE IS DR IVO ROBOTNIK! HE IS THE EGGMAN!

\\For those wondering, take the Death Egg Robot from the second Sonic movie and you get what Eggman has built with some marginal improvements. I won't spoil what. Cuz Im a cruel bastard. And no, the fic isnt getting to the endgame so soon, oh no no. The fun has just begun. Leave ya thoughts!