10: Starline

When Eggman opened his eyes, he immediately know that something was off. Not only was he in a giant crater, with the only part of his machine around still being his Egg Mobile, but the only other person around was Sonic, who was out cold. Also, the Chaos Emeralds were glowing.

While under normal circumstances, Eggman would capture and imprison Sonic, he decided against it.

"If Sonic wakes up before I return to base, it could be trouble." Eggman said to himself.

As such, he grabbed the emeralds, and got out of there as quickly as he could, leaving the Hedgehog behind in the crater.

"Great, so now I have to start again from square one…" Eggman said as he began to approach one of his old bases. "That's weird… was this place always in such good shape?"

Deciding to not let it bother him, he entered the base, only to notice that it was completely abandoned.

"Weird, I could of sworn I had some robots stationed here… one of which was Metal Sonic…"

This being the final straw, he decided to get to the bottom of this, and went to the central computer in the base, and began to open communications between the other bases.

Eventually, an unexpected face showed up on the screen… or did it?

"Listen, this better be important. I am very busy right now." Said a familiar looking platypus on the screen.

"…Starline?!" Eggman said.

"Wait… Eggman?!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN ONE OF MY BASES?!" Eggman shouted.

"YOU'RE ALIVE?!" Starline shouted at the same time.

"OF COURSE I AM ALIVE!"

"I HAD TO TAKE OVER AFTER YOU DISAPPEARED!"

"Wait, disappeared?"

"Yeah, you know, you were gone for fifteen years… Where did you go anyways?" Starline asked.

"I… didn't go anywhere… unless…" Eggman said before going deep into thought. "Perhaps the destruction of my robot's generator, which was being powered by the chaos emeralds caused a reaction in the energy and triggered Chaos Control, which sent me, and the hedgehog, into the future…"

"So… time travel." Starline concluded.

"In theory, yes."

"I see, that would explain the lack of aging." Starline deduced.

"Yes, well, I appreciate you keeping everything in the empire afloat during my absence. Especially since I fired you and all."

"Heh, I almost forgot about that." Starline said. "And I honestly don't think I have been doing a good job. Things haven't really gone well since you left."

"I see… well, nothing a little elbow grease can't fix! Why don't you catch me up on everything?"

"Very well…"

A few moments later

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Eggman shouted. "YOU LOST METAL SONIC?!"

"It was a good plan, I assure you! I just didn't count on Shadow being there at that very moment…" Starline explained. "I tried to use my warp topaz to get him out of there but that fox developed tech to counter act it…"

"Of course he did… clever little runt…" Eggman sighed. "Speaking of the Warp Topaz, how…?"

"Well, It took me a while, but I managed to synthesize a copy of it using some phantom ruby energy from one of your labs." Starline explained. "That stuff is actually really helpful… and it would of been a waste to not make another one after all the research I put into it."

"I guess not… alright, how do we fix this now…"

"Doctor, I feel I should warn you, the fox has become quite… capable, during your absence."

"Oh? How so?" Eggman asked.

"Well, you know how I just mentioned the Phantom Ruby?"

"Why do I feel like I am about to regret ever using that thing…" Eggman sighed out.

"Well…"

After a moment of explanation, Eggman just sighed.

"Great, so the runt is pretty much the greatest genius in the world… outside of myself of course, and he is essentially a good guy Infinite now…" Eggman said.

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up." Starline said. "He's even married with a kid now and everything."

"Huh… who knew the runt had it in him…" Eggman said. "Say… who did he get married to? The rabbit?"

"The lemur, actually."

"Hmmm… she is actually a really competent fighter, so holding her hostage is out the window…" Eggman said, then he realized something. "Wait… you said he has a kid…?"

Starline then knew exactly what the doctor was planning. "Uh… doctor, I would highly advise against that…"

"Oh come now, there is no way that they would attack me at full strength with their precious child inside the machine I am operating!" Eggman said. "No-one would even… quick, when do you think they will all be together next?"

"That would be at the rabbit's birthday in four days, I was actually planning an attack when you called." Starline answered.

"Hmmm… four days… hardly enough time to draw out the plans for a robot, and then build it…" Eggman said. "Wait, you said that the fox has been building security robots lately, has he not?"

"Yes, that is correct."

Then, Eggman had a wicked smile on his face. "Very good... I have the perfect plan!"

And with that, the doctor went to work on what would surely be a long night.

Central City

"Uh… how did you know I was talking to Sonic yesterday?" Silver asked.

"I saw the footage from the security cameras we have set up in Tails' workshop." Tangle said.

"Oh… ok, so why do you want to know?"

"Sonic was acting a bit weird when he got back." Tangle said. "Like, he clearly has something on his mind, and it is bothering him."

"… I'm sorry Tangle, but I promised I wouldn't tell anyone…"

"Silver, please! He's done so much for Tails, and everyone really. I just want to help him with this one thing!" Tangle explained.

"That's the thing, you're part of the pr-" Silver started before swiftly covering his mouth.

"… I'm a part of the problem?" Tangle asked.

Silver just sighed. "Me and my big mouth… ok look. You figured this out on your own, and didn't hear it from me, got it?" Silver said.

"Got it."

Silver took a deep breath, before telling Tangle everything she wanted to know.

Later, when Sonic returned from G.U.N.

"Hey! I'm back!" Sonic said as he walked through the back door.

"Hey! Good timing! I was just making something to eat!" Tails said.

"Great! I'm starved!" Sonic said.

"It'll be ready in a bit… in the meantime though…" Tails said.

"What's up?"

"Tangle said that she wanted to talk to you, she's up on the roof waiting." Tails said.

"Ok then…"

Sonic then sped his way up to the roof, and saw Tangle just sitting there.

"Yo, Tails said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah, sit down." Tangle said.

"So, what's up?" Sonic asked as he took a seat.

"Well, I wanted to let you know that I finally believe that it's really you." Tangle said.

"Ok, that's good to know." Sonic said. 'At least she won't be strangling me any time soon…'

"That, and I just wanted to… reminisce a bit." Tangle said.

"You see, I used to REALLY look up to you. You were living my dream basically, living free, going around helping people, just having a new adventure every day… Truth be told though, I was jealous for a while."

"Jealous?"

"Yeah. Funnily enough, there was a Sonic fan club that some of the other kids in town started… I may or may not of told them that they should of had a Tangle fan club instead." Tangle said bashfully. "I then proceeded to tie myself into a knot as you came and saved everyone from a badnik…"

"You know, I do seem to remember a giant ball of fluff next to a bunch of kids who were being attacked by a robot…" Sonic said. "I guess it really stuck out to me!"

"Yeah, it was real embarrassing." Tangle said. "Honestly, I called you up here to just, get that off my chest, and apologize before you end up going back to your time."

At that words "back to your time" Tangle noticed Sonic wince a bit.

"Is that all? Tangle, it's fine! Don't worry about it."

"Well, that is a part of what I wanted to talk to you about… there is one other thing." Tangle said. "I told Tails this a lot when you disappeared, and I am going to tell you now."

"I know a sad face when I see one, and you got it."

"Uh… what are you…?"

"Sonic, are you worried about going back to your own time?" Tangle asked.

"H-how did you…?"

"I noticed you wince when I mentioned it." Tangle said. "So, tell me what's wrong."

Sonic sighed. "Sorry Tangle… but can we save this for another time? Don't get me wrong, I want to talk about this, and soon… but I just want to wait until after Cream's birthday."

"You don't want us to have it on our minds during the celebration I guess?"

"Yeah, exactly." Sonic said. "Don't worry though, right after, I'll talk to you and Tails about it."

Tangle just sighed. "Fine, but don't you dare forget."

"Never." Sonic said.

"Hey! Food's ready!" Tails called out from the back yard.

"Race you there!" Tangle said as she jumped off the roof, and used her tail to swing herself in through the back door.

"Hey! No fair!" Sonic said as he sped after her.

End of Chapter 10

So Eggman seems to be up to something, and Tangle figured out exactly what is going on with Sonic. Not only that, but they agreed to talk after Cream's birthday.

I thought a chapter about Starline and Eggman's reunion was in order, and I hope that I did a good job with it. However, I didn't think it was really enough for a chapter, so I decided to through the Tangle and Sonic encounter in there as well.

Next up, is the final sub chapter! You already know what it's about. So I will see you next time for that!