See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer
Chapter 12: A Old Enemy Returns
It was a bright and sunny morning, with sparsely any clouds in the sky; out in the remote countryside, an old raccoon farmer was shoveling piles of hay into a cubing machine while all around him his cows grazed on the grass and stray pieces of straw. He paused to take off his hat and ran his face with it as the heat was making him sweaty, "Well, that 'bout does for now. Better go and get these here hay bales into the barn", he said to himself.
Suddenly, a bright red light and a loud whirring sound caught the raccoon by surprise; a strong gust of wind nearing blew him off of his feet, the loud noise scaring the cows and made them run around in a panic. Up in the sky above, a small reddish purple portal appeared, swirling and whirring loudly; the raccoon farmer looked up in fear as a rather dented and damaged hovering vehicle emerged from the portal, the portal closing behind it. The raccoon looked on in horror as an arm came up and pulled up the body it was attached to; when the farmer saw who it was, he screamed in terror as he got up and quickly ran to his house, picking up the phone and hurriedly dialed a number.
Meanwhile at G.U.N Headquarters, Shadow and Rouge were in the break room drinking coffee and having a conversation. "I was thinking about teaching Maria how to use Chaos Control, so if she's ever in trouble she could just teleport herself somewhere safe", said Shadow. "Can't only you, Sonic and Silver do that? I wasn't aware that was something you can just teach someone and also, I would think that being an overprotective parent, you'd be constantly making sure that Maria isn't in any danger", said Rouge.
That's when Shadow started laughing, "No actually, that's funny you mention that because as it turns out Silver is more of an overprotective parent than me. Remember Maria's third birthday? There were three little hedgehog boys from next door at the party, I think they were maybe three or four as well, and they were arguing about which one of them would play with Maria, one of them was even holding her hand.
"And then Silver looks at them with this almost evil glare and says "If any of you hoodlums try anything funny with my daughter, you'll have to answer to me!", while holding up his hand which was glowing. And remember when I suddenly ran into the bathroom immediately after? It's cause I needed to be somewhere no one can hear me as I laughed my ass off. I've never laughed so hard in my life, and don't tell Silver I said this, but he's really sexy when he's pissed off", said Shadow.
Rouge started giggling as she had remembered that day and just how ridiculous and funny it was, "I never expected him of all people to be the easily triggered overprotective daddy, but hey, people can change over the years. Like did you know that Sonic started going to the gym and The Chaotix started a babysitting service on the side? Apparently they haven't been getting any calls to solve any cases or anything so to avoid their house being foreclosed, they put out an ad offering their services in babysitting", said Rouge.
Before Shadow could comment, the intercom system suddenly blared out. "Agents Shadow and Rouge, report to the main briefing room immediately!", said the Commander of G.U.N. Shadow and Rouge placed their empty mugs into the sink and rushed over to the briefing room, whatever they had been called for sounded urgent given how serious the Commander's voice sounded. They reached the briefing room where E-123 Omega was already there waiting for the Commander to address his summons. "You called us here, what's the emergency?", said Shadow.
The Commander looked at them with a grim expression, "I called you here to tell you something very serious and dire: he's back!", he said. At first, Shadow and Rouge didn't know who he was talking about, but then as it sank in, both their eyes widened in shock and fear. Rouge placed her hands over her mouth as Shadow ran to the nearest phone and began dialing a number.
Back at his house, Silver was placing a small load of dirty laundry into the washing machine inside the basement while Maria played on the swing set in the backyard; just then, Silver heard the house phone ringing. He went upstairs and picked it up, "Hello? Who's this?", he asked. "Silver it's me, Shadow. Where's Maria?", said Shadow. "She's playing in the backyard, Shadow what's going on? Why do you sound so tense?", said Silver.
"Silver listen to me carefully: tell Maria to get inside the house now! And make sure the doors and windows are closed and locked...I don't have enough time to explain but...he's back!", said Shadow. Silver tensed up before hanging up the phone, he walked outside and called out to his daughter. "Maria, sweetheart, your father called and he said you need to come inside right now!", he said. Maria was off put by her Daddy's fearful demeanor but she still listened to him regardless. As she went up to her room, Silver went around the house making sure the windows and doors were locked.
Meanwhile at Sonic's house, Sonic and his kids were in their werehog forms, taking a bath in the large plastic kiddy pool in the backyard; the three of them had been playing and rolling around in mud earlier but since they all couldn't fit in the bathtub they decided to bathe in the kiddy pool that Sonic and Amy bought for the twins to play in. Sonic stepped out of the pool on all fours and shook his wet shaggy fur vigorously until his fur puffed up. The twins laughed at the sight of their dad looking like a giant blue cotton ball.
Just then Amy came running outside with the house phone in her hands and a fearful expression on her face, "Ames, what's wrong?", asked Sonic. "Sonic, Shadow just called me...he said...he's back!", she said. Sonic's eyes widened before he suddenly had an angry expression on his face, and being in his werehog form, his expression of anger was pretty scary to look at.
In fact, it was actually scaring the twins. "Why Daddy so mad?", asked Speedy as she trembled in fear next to her brother. "It's okay, kiddos. Daddy's not mad at you two, I'm mad at someone else. But you two need to finish your bath and get back in the house with your Mother. Amy, tell Shadow I'll be over there in a minute", said Sonic as he dried himself off and turned back to normal before taking off.
Meanwhile on a grassy hill near the park, Espio sat on a picnic blanket next to Gadget, Nyx's cousin; after Silver introduced the two of them at Nyx and Infinite's wedding, they've been dating for the last three years. Also with all the free time he's had, Espio had improved in his cooking skills and now was just as good a chef as he was a ninja; in fact, Gadget was at the moment finishing a peach cobbler that Espio had prepared that morning. "Wow Espio, this is delicious! I can't believe you made this yourself", said Gadget.
Espio smiled, "Well, I've had a lot of spare time lately so I've had the opportunity to learn and get better as a chef. I mean, Charmy loves the triple fudge brownies I made the other day and the last time I made lasagna for dinner, Vector had about five helpings. Oh wait, Gadget you seem to have a bit of cobbler on your face", he said. Gadget started patting his face, "Really? Where?", he asked. Espio lifted a hand to touch his cheek, "Right there, on the corner of your lip. Here, let me get it for you", he said as he leaned forward and kissed Gadget on the lips.
Even after dating for three years, Gadget was still taken by surprise by the sudden kiss but since this is the first time he's been with another Mobian in the last seven years, he's just getting used to it again. Also, you're probably thinking that it's difficult for Espio to kiss Gadget with that pointy horn on his forehead, but he knew that which is why he filed his horn with a nail buffer it so he wouldn't end up poking Gadget in eyes.
Just then, Charmy came flying over to the two in a panic. "Espio! You gotta come quick, it's an emergency!", he shouted. Espio looked back at him in annoyance, "Charmy, can't you see I'm far too busy for yours or Vector's silly schemes?", he said before turning around to continue kissing Gadget. "But Espio, this isn't a silly scheme! It's serious! He's come back from Null Space!", shouted Charmy. Espio tensed up as Gadget's ears lowered in fear, they both knew exactly who he was talking about.
Shadow, Rouge and Omega stood outside of G.U.N headquarters waiting for all the people they called to meet them there; of course since most of them had children, the only ones who showed up were Sonic, Tails, Infinite, Gadget and the Chaotix. But at that point it didn't matter as they soon headed for the remote countryside where the distress call came from. When they got there, they found the farmer who sent the call hiding in a pile of hay. "Hey, it's alright. We're here to help, tell us where he is", said Shadow. "He's over there by mah apple trees!", said the farmer.
The group raced over to the apple orchard and when they stopped, they saw him.
"EGGMAN!", shouted Sonic and Infinite.
It was true: the rotund mad scientist was indeed freed from Null Space and had returned to Mobius, but the group quickly noticed that he didn't look the same as he did three years ago. His glasses were broken, his mustache was unkempt, his clothing was ripped in a few places and he looked considerably less round than before. To put it simply, Eggman looked like a total wreck and he was currently gorging himself on the apples in the orchard.
"Yeesh, Eggman you look like roadkill! Not that I really care, but what the Hell happened to you?", said Rouge. Eggman looked up but barely acknowledged their presence as he continued to munch on the apples, "My time in Null Space has been quite unkind to me, I once thought nothing existed there but there are actually these small and rather ravenous creatures living in there. And they tasted terrible but they helped keep me from starving to death. Tell me, how many years has it been? And what have you all been up to?", he said.
"Not that it's any of your business, Eggman, but it's been three years and we've all been enjoying the period of peace and harmony since you've been gone. The world's been put back on track, I've changed my ways and paid my debt to society and we've all started families of our own. And now that you're back, I think it's high time you go to prison where you belong", said Infinite.
Eggman sighed as he slowly stood up, "Fine then, take me away. I've lost track of how many times my plans have failed so I no longer care", he said in defeat. "There's one thing I don't get: how did you get back here?", said Sonic. "I had a small sliver of the Phantom Ruby left and with the broken remains of Death Egg Robot, I've been trying to find a way back. I didn't want to continue to rot in that place", said Eggman.
The group shrugged as Shadow had Omega contact G.U.N to send a prisoner transport vehicle to come and get Eggman; when the truck finally came, a few G.U.N soldiers stepped out and handcuffed him before leading him into the back of the truck.
The others watched the whole thing in disbelief and pity, they never really knew just how truly pathetic Dr. Eggman was but now after all the years of him trying to take over the world and making their lives a living Hell, and now that they've seen what a disheveled mess of a man he's become, they found they couldn't really hate him as much as before; they all thought there was no point in wasting the effort to hate someone so miserable and pathetic.
Don't get me wrong, they still didn't like him at all and were quite glad that he had given up and turned himself over to the authorities, not to mention if he did ever try anything again, he'd have no means of doing so since the President of the United Federation commission G.U.N to have all his bases torn down and destroyed. It was just...they never expected to see Eggman so beaten and broken and honestly, it disturbed them.
Author's Note: That ends Chapter 12. Eggman has returned but he's lost his drive and evil mojo, what will this mean for our heroes and their new families? Will the kids ever find out about it? Who knows? Next chapter, we jump ten years to see how the kids are adjusting to elementary school or in Maria's case, middle school. Will they survive? Find out in Chapter 13; until next time, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!