Ivo the Genius
by Dr. Mechano

Chapter 1 – The Story Begins

Scrap Brain Zone.

The pristine laboratory sat atop the highest mountain on South Island. Powered by solar energy, the skies above the lab were among the cleanest and clearest on the whole isle, and provided a gorgeous view of the various zones below. It was a peaceful, relaxing day when- oh god, wait, what the...?!

BOOOOOOOOM!

...An explosion rang out over the mountaintops, sending a flock of birds scattering away reflexively. This was a common occurrence here in Scrap Brain Zone, for the lab's owner and sole human occupant had a penchant for experimenting with unstable materials.

"Aw, beans! Another... hack! …miscalculation!" the man coughed as smoke filled his laboratory. He patted himself down, putting out small fires here and there on his clothing, and running a gloved finger through his slightly singed mustache. He was grateful that he was wearing a pair of protective glasses over his eyes, at the very least.

"Well," the man looked disconcertingly at his lab going up in flames, "I suppose I'd better put out this fire before it spreads. Budniks! I need your assistance!"

"Right away, Dr. Robotnik!"

A squadron of cute, colorful robots – all with designs based on various animals – charged into the laboratory.

"Ho ho..." the man chortled, "You all know you can just call me Ivo, right? But never mind that! Looks like I've gone and blown up the lab again! Work your mechanical magic, guys!"

"Take that, you silly fire! Whee!" One of the robots – which looked like a blue bumblebee – chirped happily as they flew over the fires and began spraying them down with an extinguishing foam.

"Excellent work, Buzzbomber!" Ivo cheered, "Caterkiller, I'm counting on you to salvage what you can from the wreckage!"

"Aye aye, Doc!" the caterpillar-like robot responded, stretching its long mechanical body into a pile of burnt lab equipment and pulling out whatever didn't seem irreparably damaged.

"I've got this!" a crab-like robot confidently boasted, walking sideways toward a heap of scorched scrap at the end of a ledge. They leaned over and attempted to rescue some lab notes that weren't too burned, but fumbled and lost their balance, "Waaah...!"

"Crabmeat!" Ivo called out, as the crab-bot fell into the still-burning heap. Reflexively, and with surprising speed for a man of his ponderous size, Ivo lunged forward after Crabmeat, landing in a still-burning section of the lab.

"Get out of here!" Ivo shouted, picking up the robot. He winded up, and – with all his strength – threw the crab robot out of the fire, breathing a sigh of relief... which was cut short as he realized that now he was on fire. "Oh no."

"Doc!" Crabmeat called out, panicked. "B-B-Buzzbomber, over here!"

"On it!" Buzzbomber broke from the section of the lab they were extinguishing and made a beeline for Ivo, spraying him down and putting out the flames.

"Whew, that was a close one..." Ivo sighed, climbing back up to where the rest of his Budniks were, each working on their own part of the lab. He looked at the crab robot sternly. "Crabmeat..."

Crabmeat tensed up, "S-sorry, I just... w-wanted to help..."

Ivo smiled gently at the little robot and knelt down, putting a hand on Crabmeat's metal head, "I know. But you have to be careful, okay? My lab notes and experiments are replaceable. You robots aren't. So just wait until Buzzbomber's done extinguishing before trying to salvage anything, okay?"

"Y-yeah..." Crabmeat sighed, relieved. Ivo wasn't mad. Of course he wasn't. He'd always been so kind and understanding to his robots. "You got it."

"Good!" Ivo beamed, before turning around to the other Budniks, "Now, let's finish up here and see what's left of the lab! Ooh hoo hoo!"

"Doc!" Crabmeat's eyes widened, seeing Ivo's back, "You're still on fire!"

"Wait, wha-" Ivo started, before Buzzbomber doused him in extinguisher, "...thanks."

Later...

"Geez, Doc!" Buzzbomber giggled, fluttering around as they surveyed the scorched lab, "What the heck did you even do in here?"

"I was experimenting with this," Ivo said, holding aloft a shiny grey gemstone, "The Chaos Emerald!"

"Ooh, shiny~" Caterkiller gazed at the rock, entranced, "What's it do?"

"Heh heh..." Ivo wagged his index finger – a tic of his whenever he was about to explain something, "This, my chrome comrade, holds the potential for unlimited energy! ...Unfortunately, my machines' energy capacity is, er... less than unlimited. Hence the big boom."

"Ahh, that makes sense," Crabmeat nodded, "So that thing's totally dangerous and you're gonna get rid of it, right, Ivo?"

"Ha! Not a chance!" Ivo grinned, "If I can just figure out how to tap into this brilliant bauble's energy, I could do anything! Imagine the good I could do for the world with unlimited renewable energy! No, Crabmeat, I can't let a setback like today get in the way of progress. I'm going to figure out how to use this thing, and in so doing, I'll change the world!"

The Budniks looked on in awe. Ivo was many things – reckless, absentminded, and short-sighted at the best of times – but one thing he wasn't was a quitter. If he set out to solve a problem, he'd slam himself headfirst into that problem over and over, until he figured it out. That was just the way he always was.

Rrrrrring! Rrrrring! The wall-mounted videophone notified Ivo that he was getting an incoming call – a rarity, given his secluded lifestyle in his mountaintop lab. Curiously, he clicked the "Answer" button on the screen, and found himself face to face with an old bespectacled owl.

"Hoothoothoot! Uh... hello?" the old owl stammered, "Is this..." The owl squinted behind his thick, round glasses at a notecard, "...Dr. Robotnik?"

"I am," Ivo answered, "Who, may I ask, is this?"

"Oh!" the owl grinned, "Hoothoot, nobody ever asks about me! I'm Old Man Owl! You might think that's a nickname or a title or something, but it's actually my legal name! I was known as 'Old Man' even when I was a youngster! ...It's a traditional Owl family name, you see! Of course, when I was young, I was quite the racer! Hoothoot, you should've seen me! A real ladies' man, I was...!"

"Er..." Ivo stared, clearly confused, "That's great? Wait, why did you call me, again?"

"Oh, right!" Old Man said, trailing off, "Huh... Why did I call you, anyway?"

"That's enough, Old Man..." a woman's voice could be heard off-screen, "I'll take it from here."

"Hey! Dr. Robotnik, right?" The camera turned to a human woman, flashing a friendly smile for the camera. She looked like she was in her thirties, though she had this bubbly, youthful demeanor to her, "Pardon my attendant. He's actually quite helpful, but he does love talking about 'the good ol' days.' Anyway, I don't wanna waste your time... This is Sara, the mayor of Star Light Zone."

Ivo blinked. The mayor of South Island's biggest city was calling him? He wondered what she wanted. He didn't forget to pay his taxes or something, did he? No, no – besides, he didn't even live in Star Light Zone's city limits, anyway. Also, this lady was the mayor? He looked at her leaning back casually and grinning on the video screen; she certainly didn't exude the serious, stern attitude Ivo usually associated with political leaders.

"The mayor of Star Light Zone, huh?" Ivo questioned, "And what might a mayor want with me?"

"Weeeell..." Sara glanced aside uncertainly, "Star Light Zone's city hall has suffered some, uh... structural damage recently. Like, big-time damage. I hear you're the best repairman on the whole island, and I'm willing to pay you very well for your work if you come out here and fix the place up. C'mon, whaddya say?"

Ivo glanced at the blown-out remains of his laboratory. He honestly could use the money, he thought.

"I say you've got a deal, Sara," Ivo said.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Sara cheered, before clearing her throat, "Ah-hem. I mean... Thank you... Ivo." Sara smirked. If he wasn't going to address her as 'Mayor Sara,' then she wouldn't bother calling him 'Dr. Robotnik.' It was only fair. "I'll be expecting you this afternoon. Meet me outside the building's main entrance and I'll show you what needs to be fixed up. Alright then! Byyyye~!"

Sara waved, and the screen cut to black as the call ended.

"Alright then!" Ivo glanced toward the Budniks, "I've got a job to do. You guys hold down the fort while I'm gone, okay?"

"You got it!" Buzzbomber chirped.

"See ya later!" Caterkiller 'waved' by swaying their whole body.

"Be careful out there..." Crabmeat nodded, clacking their crab-claws.

Ivo waved and turned to leave, but then his eye caught the grey Chaos Emerald on his worktable.

"Hm, perhaps I'd better take this with me, just in case..." Ivo said, pocketing the Emerald, "I wouldn't want to leave it here unsupervised, not after what just happened."

And with that, Ivo strode out the door and made his way to the neighboring Star Light Zone, expecting a routine day of repair work... but Ivo was in for anything but.

Elsewhere...

Meanwhile, in the back alleys of Star Light Zone... a gang of scruffy-looking animals were chatting among themselves. There was a pile of rings that two of the animals were squabbling over. One of the animals – apparently the leader – sat obscured in the shadows, watching his gang's petty bickering with ever-decreasing patience.

"C'mon, don't hog all the loot!" a rabbit snatched a container of rings, angering the squirrel who was attempting to hoard them all for himself.

"Ey, those are mine, Pocky!" the squirrel growled, "I lifted 'em from the Star Light Zone bank, fair an' square! Tell 'im, boss!"

"Enough!" the leader placed a gloved hand on their forehead, still just out of view from any curious onlookers who might be nearby, "C'mon, Ricky, hittin' the bank was my way-past-cool plan, so most of it's going to me. Obviously."

Ricky the squirrel frowned, but remained silent. He knew better than to argue with the boss.

"B-b-boss!" a blue bird flew into the alley, panting.

"Sheesh, Flicky, where's the fire?" Pocky the rabbit asked, still eyeing the rings covetously.

"I just... got back from city hall..." Flicky caught her breath, "I kept an eye on the place just like you told me, s-sir! Um, anyway... I just learned the mayor's gonna meet someone this afternoon. As in, she'll be outside, away from her security detail. Now's your chance, sir!"

"Aw yeah," the leader of the gang leaned forward – now visible in the light as a blue hedgehog – grinning menacingly, "This is happenin'."